WWN Mercury Rising 2017: EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS
Drew Galloway Promo - He says he built EVOLVE and brought eyes to the company, he actually has an argument. He says that he now needs to save WWN from itself. Less than 24 hrs later, he'll sign with WWE. Riddle comes out and they brawl and piledrives Riddle. Catch-Point comes out to save Riddle. As Galloway keeps talking, Keith Lee comes out and kinda shuts Galloway up, Drew tries to recruit him. Lee manhandles Galloway like if he was 205.
Keith Lee then cuts a promo saying the world belongs to him and he is going to dethrone the king and claim his kingdom. Good promo. This whole thing went out too long. Lee at the end called out for his opponents...
Before the match starts, Stokely comes out and says that Thatcher is not a curtain jerker and he has negotiated adding Thatcher to the main event instead. Replacing him tonight is Darby Allin instead, Darby shouldn't talk, he's not that good at it. Before he can enter the match Page attacks him. Jesus, can we start the fucking match already! Ok, so the 4th man is Blaster McMassive. There's also a goth chick roaming around the ring. Match was ok, nothing special, I couldn't hear the commentary, room is super dark. Some of Lee's spots were good, but at the end, it felt like nothing happened, like Kincaid missed half of the match . Goth chick never did anything.
Post-Match - Lee cuts the same promo again and welcomes KOR, I had forgotten he was coming to EVOLVE, kinda makes it seem second rate coming from NJPW to EVOLVE.
SHINE Championship Match
LuFisto here for a funeral or something. LuFisto cuts a promo on Su Yung who apparently no showed tonight, then she does the 'no one can beat' me schtick, and so Toni fucking Storm jumps the rail and they just started fighting, do we not have officials to make this legit? is this still a title match? I need some clarification! Match was just tons of slaps and punches and stomps, the indicator that this was put on the last minute and these ladies have never worked together. Match got better towards the end, but that was like 2-3 minutes of good action.
Jim Smallman and Trevin Adams - Smallman makes Adams look like a dork. Jim just pretty much said thanks for the opportunity, and he tells the US crowd that there is only one rule in PROGRESS and that rule is DON'T.BE.A.DICK! Not sure if the US crowd can keep that rule.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
Really? The other Gatekeeper was too injured to come out? Crowd not singing "i face destruction with you" what is this!? Ok, some 5 people started singing afterwards. Smallman completely killed Adams in the introduction departments. Hearing these fans try to sing PROGRESS chants was sad. They brawled around the place, the fighting was good outside, ref never really tried to even start counting. Once inside the ring, the wrestling was pretty good, eventually the other Gatekeeper came out, who distracted Havoc and Page takes the win. Of all the PROGRESS guys, they couldn't put Havoc over, facepalm.
Post-Match - Page cuts a promo saying he he wants in the title match, PROGRESS can kiss his ass, blah blah. Darby Allin comes out and attacks them, him and Havoc join forces and take them out. meh. You could tell they were gonna get these two guys together eventually.
WWN should have really brought RJ to do commentary here, all commentary about the PROGRESS wrestlers has been quite sub-par. Also, crowd sounds pretty dead, not sure if usual, but we can blame the audio on it.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
The team of the hour! Camera angle didn't do them justice, but oh well. Travis Banks is usually the small guy in the room, Jaka and Dickinson makes him look huge, never realized how small they were. TK Cooper was the babyface in peril almost from the start of the match, TK took a good beating before being able to make the tag on Banks, who went all Kiwi Dragon on the Catch Point guys. Second part of the match was good, some good spots, not sure why Dickinson and Jaka had to do 'fighting spirit' spots, but at least at the end the right team took the win. SPPT offer the hand shake at the end, Catch Point takes it. I'd love to see this rematch in PROGRESS one day.
Commentary tonight is draining my life force, am I in a conference or something? Crowd's life force is also being drained, they're dead too. Also noticed that Smallman is at ringside watching all his guys wrestle. Class act.
At this point Galloway was announced as injured AKA signed to fucking WWE.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
Dunne went for the finger snap early in the match, ACH never sold it. Match was a lot of mat wrestling and hold-by-hold wrestling, at one point it seemed like it could become more technical vs aerial, but Dunne quickly brought it back to the mat again, who had a really good showing on how to torture someone. Match was somewhat boring at times, it could be the life draining or just ACH, but it never felt like momentum was building, and when it did, it was kinda meh. ACH kinda came off looking like a geek in this match, he's tapping Dunne in the dick and he still couldn't get close to winning; Dunne didn't even need to hit his finisher to win, and talking about low blows, ACH no selling the low blow was stupid.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
For matches doing tons of hold-by-hold wrestling and submission work, this did a whole lot better job than the previous match. Both men worked each other's arms, Haskins working towards the Star Armbar, and Sabre likely towards the armbar or Octopus hold or one of the other 60 submission finishers he knows. They later proceeded to work each other's legs, and then head, and I guess at the end, just trying to target anything that can make a snap sound when put under stress. There were some great sequences towards the end of the match, one were Sabre countered the Star Armbar into an Octupus, which Haskins countered to a Stretch Muffler and so on.
There was a 'let's go Haskins' vs "Sabre Jr" chant battle between like 4-5 people. It was underwhelming, but probably the loudest chant til now. God bless those 4 fans that were excited.
Post-Match - Cuts a promo saying that wrestling is for everyone. Ok I guess.
Andrew Lazarchik with some Candy girl present the new Championship - This is why you don't allow wrestling fans inside the ring, it's awkward and no fashion sense.
WWN Title 6-Way Elimination Match
I fucking hate what they've done with Thatchers song, I hope the story is that Stokely is brainwashing him into bad matches and terrible music sense. Parrow reminds me of the territory days when the territory just sends off their biggest guy regardless of the wrestling proficiency. Yehi didn't bring the FIP title with him, then again Parrow didn't bring his title either, and Riddle's PROGRESS title wasn't even mentioned.
FINALLY! Two men in the commentary booth, and the audio is finally fixed.
Riddle took a piledriver early on and only sold it for one minute. Thatcher eliminated Parrow via choke out, kinda dumb to allow Catch Point to gain numbers on you and Davis. Case to Point, Catch Point join up and eliminate Thatcher next. Numbers game gangs up on Davis and is eliminated next, it really looked like a gang beating up an innocent civilian, really heelish from Catch Point. And now the expected 3-way between the Catch Point guys, Williams makes Yehi join him (tag champs after all) and they now gang up on Riddle. They beat the shit out of Riddle and you have to imagine that Riddle HAS to leave Catch Point after this, but Williams betrays Yehi and rolls him up for the elimination. Williams and Riddle go at it, Riddle recovers from the beating and goes toe-to-toe with Williams, Tracy says that this is personal. Riddle at the end did a nice thing by breaking up his own bridge pin because he can't hold the weight on his neck, that some Kawada/Misawa selling right there, and then he kept kicking out of piledrivers and kept fighting. At the end Riddle locks in the Bromission for the win and the neck ain't hurting that much anymore.
The overall match was great, some of the booking felt really off because the Riddle turn (was it even a turn?) wasn't all that well executed once Williams and Yehi betrayed him. The Riddle vs Williams stuff at the end was good, but they really overdid the neck injury.
Post-Match - Good babyface promo, except he's not leaving Catch Point and they're still his 'boys'. Cool to have a friend who you can try to break his neck and he's still cool with you.
Not a fan of this show, crowd and commentary really sucked the fun out of this show, like seriously, at least play with a beach ball or something, you can tell that these fans are just the leftovers who didn't get WWE/ROH tickets and had nothing else to do. They sold this show as PROGRESS vs EVOLVE, and PROGRESS wasn't taken seriously here, just as a quick midcard spectacle. The wrestling was good, so I hope we get to see those 'dream matches' somewhere else, because this show sucked.
Keith Lee then cuts a promo saying the world belongs to him and he is going to dethrone the king and claim his kingdom. Good promo. This whole thing went out too long. Lee at the end called out for his opponents...
Keith Lee vs Jason Kincaid vs Austin Theory vs Blaster McMassive - 5/10
Before the match starts, Stokely comes out and says that Thatcher is not a curtain jerker and he has negotiated adding Thatcher to the main event instead. Replacing him tonight is Darby Allin instead, Darby shouldn't talk, he's not that good at it. Before he can enter the match Page attacks him. Jesus, can we start the fucking match already! Ok, so the 4th man is Blaster McMassive. There's also a goth chick roaming around the ring. Match was ok, nothing special, I couldn't hear the commentary, room is super dark. Some of Lee's spots were good, but at the end, it felt like nothing happened, like Kincaid missed half of the match . Goth chick never did anything.
Post-Match - Lee cuts the same promo again and welcomes KOR, I had forgotten he was coming to EVOLVE, kinda makes it seem second rate coming from NJPW to EVOLVE.
SHINE Championship Match
LuFisto (C) vs Toni Storm - 6/10
LuFisto here for a funeral or something. LuFisto cuts a promo on Su Yung who apparently no showed tonight, then she does the 'no one can beat' me schtick, and so Toni fucking Storm jumps the rail and they just started fighting, do we not have officials to make this legit? is this still a title match? I need some clarification! Match was just tons of slaps and punches and stomps, the indicator that this was put on the last minute and these ladies have never worked together. Match got better towards the end, but that was like 2-3 minutes of good action.
Jim Smallman and Trevin Adams - Smallman makes Adams look like a dork. Jim just pretty much said thanks for the opportunity, and he tells the US crowd that there is only one rule in PROGRESS and that rule is DON'T.BE.A.DICK! Not sure if the US crowd can keep that rule.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
"All Ego" Ethan Page w/One Gatekeeper vs "King of the Goths" Jimmy Havoc - 7/10
Really? The other Gatekeeper was too injured to come out? Crowd not singing "i face destruction with you" what is this!? Ok, some 5 people started singing afterwards. Smallman completely killed Adams in the introduction departments. Hearing these fans try to sing PROGRESS chants was sad. They brawled around the place, the fighting was good outside, ref never really tried to even start counting. Once inside the ring, the wrestling was pretty good, eventually the other Gatekeeper came out, who distracted Havoc and Page takes the win. Of all the PROGRESS guys, they couldn't put Havoc over, facepalm.
Post-Match - Page cuts a promo saying he he wants in the title match, PROGRESS can kiss his ass, blah blah. Darby Allin comes out and attacks them, him and Havoc join forces and take them out. meh. You could tell they were gonna get these two guys together eventually.
WWN should have really brought RJ to do commentary here, all commentary about the PROGRESS wrestlers has been quite sub-par. Also, crowd sounds pretty dead, not sure if usual, but we can blame the audio on it.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
South Pacific Power Trip w/Dahlia Black vs Jaka and Chris Dickinson - 7.5/10
The team of the hour! Camera angle didn't do them justice, but oh well. Travis Banks is usually the small guy in the room, Jaka and Dickinson makes him look huge, never realized how small they were. TK Cooper was the babyface in peril almost from the start of the match, TK took a good beating before being able to make the tag on Banks, who went all Kiwi Dragon on the Catch Point guys. Second part of the match was good, some good spots, not sure why Dickinson and Jaka had to do 'fighting spirit' spots, but at least at the end the right team took the win. SPPT offer the hand shake at the end, Catch Point takes it. I'd love to see this rematch in PROGRESS one day.
Commentary tonight is draining my life force, am I in a conference or something? Crowd's life force is also being drained, they're dead too. Also noticed that Smallman is at ringside watching all his guys wrestle. Class act.
At this point Galloway was announced as injured AKA signed to fucking WWE.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
PROGRESS Championship Match
ACH vs "Bruiserweight" Pete Dunne (C) - 6/10
Dunne went for the finger snap early in the match, ACH never sold it. Match was a lot of mat wrestling and hold-by-hold wrestling, at one point it seemed like it could become more technical vs aerial, but Dunne quickly brought it back to the mat again, who had a really good showing on how to torture someone. Match was somewhat boring at times, it could be the life draining or just ACH, but it never felt like momentum was building, and when it did, it was kinda meh. ACH kinda came off looking like a geek in this match, he's tapping Dunne in the dick and he still couldn't get close to winning; Dunne didn't even need to hit his finisher to win, and talking about low blows, ACH no selling the low blow was stupid.
PROGRESS vs EVOLVE
EVOLVE Championship Match
Mark Haskins vs Zack Sabre Jr (C) - 8.5/10
For matches doing tons of hold-by-hold wrestling and submission work, this did a whole lot better job than the previous match. Both men worked each other's arms, Haskins working towards the Star Armbar, and Sabre likely towards the armbar or Octopus hold or one of the other 60 submission finishers he knows. They later proceeded to work each other's legs, and then head, and I guess at the end, just trying to target anything that can make a snap sound when put under stress. There were some great sequences towards the end of the match, one were Sabre countered the Star Armbar into an Octupus, which Haskins countered to a Stretch Muffler and so on.
There was a 'let's go Haskins' vs "Sabre Jr" chant battle between like 4-5 people. It was underwhelming, but probably the loudest chant til now. God bless those 4 fans that were excited.
Post-Match - Cuts a promo saying that wrestling is for everyone. Ok I guess.
Andrew Lazarchik with some Candy girl present the new Championship - This is why you don't allow wrestling fans inside the ring, it's awkward and no fashion sense.
WWN Title 6-Way Elimination Match
Timothy Thatcher w/Stokely Hathaway vs Parrow w/Drennen vs Jon Davis vs Matt Riddle vs Fred Yehi vs Tracy Williams - 7/10
I fucking hate what they've done with Thatchers song, I hope the story is that Stokely is brainwashing him into bad matches and terrible music sense. Parrow reminds me of the territory days when the territory just sends off their biggest guy regardless of the wrestling proficiency. Yehi didn't bring the FIP title with him, then again Parrow didn't bring his title either, and Riddle's PROGRESS title wasn't even mentioned.
FINALLY! Two men in the commentary booth, and the audio is finally fixed.
Riddle took a piledriver early on and only sold it for one minute. Thatcher eliminated Parrow via choke out, kinda dumb to allow Catch Point to gain numbers on you and Davis. Case to Point, Catch Point join up and eliminate Thatcher next. Numbers game gangs up on Davis and is eliminated next, it really looked like a gang beating up an innocent civilian, really heelish from Catch Point. And now the expected 3-way between the Catch Point guys, Williams makes Yehi join him (tag champs after all) and they now gang up on Riddle. They beat the shit out of Riddle and you have to imagine that Riddle HAS to leave Catch Point after this, but Williams betrays Yehi and rolls him up for the elimination. Williams and Riddle go at it, Riddle recovers from the beating and goes toe-to-toe with Williams, Tracy says that this is personal. Riddle at the end did a nice thing by breaking up his own bridge pin because he can't hold the weight on his neck, that some Kawada/Misawa selling right there, and then he kept kicking out of piledrivers and kept fighting. At the end Riddle locks in the Bromission for the win and the neck ain't hurting that much anymore.
The overall match was great, some of the booking felt really off because the Riddle turn (was it even a turn?) wasn't all that well executed once Williams and Yehi betrayed him. The Riddle vs Williams stuff at the end was good, but they really overdid the neck injury.
Post-Match - Good babyface promo, except he's not leaving Catch Point and they're still his 'boys'. Cool to have a friend who you can try to break his neck and he's still cool with you.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Not a fan of this show, crowd and commentary really sucked the fun out of this show, like seriously, at least play with a beach ball or something, you can tell that these fans are just the leftovers who didn't get WWE/ROH tickets and had nothing else to do. They sold this show as PROGRESS vs EVOLVE, and PROGRESS wasn't taken seriously here, just as a quick midcard spectacle. The wrestling was good, so I hope we get to see those 'dream matches' somewhere else, because this show sucked.