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Following up on yesterday’s column looking at the formation and first three events of EVOLVE, let’s continue on to look at the next several events.
EVOLVE 4 - Danielson vs Fish: 7/23/2010 in Union City, New Jersey
The obviously highlight of this event is the appearance of Bryan Danielson in the company he helped conceive and was originally supposed to be a partner in. Danielson had been fired by WWE for reasons I won’t go into here (mostly because I thought the reasons were absolutely ridiculous), but the upshot is that independent fans who thought they had seen the last of Danielson on the independents would be treated to his unexpected return. He wound up back in WWE before too long, but while he was available, Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE didn’t waste any time bringing him in to add some much needed star power, especially on the EVOLVE side.
His opponent in his EVOLVE debut was Bobby Fish, who you might recall from the last column is now 0-3 in EVOLVE, but took tremendous amounts of punishment in each of those matches and went down as hard as just about anybody you’ve ever seen. This was a great opportunity to Fish who really was in a no lose situation because even if Danielson beat him (which of course we all knew he would), all he needed to do was go out and have another good match and make Danielson need to pull out every big gun in his arsenal to beat him.
That’s exactly what they did, going out and having a great 25 minute match before Danielson finally caught Fish in a leglock and forced the tapout. Danielson gave a really classy interview after the match thanking the fans for coming and telling them to continue supporting independent wrestling before challenging Munenori Sawa to a match on EVOLVE 5. As for Fish, he was so disappointed by the loss that he went home and skipped EVOLVE 5 entirely to reevaluate things and figure out what he needed to get back on track.
The war of words between Jimmy Jacobs and Johnny Gargano continued on this event, as Gargano faced Adam Cole and was in control of the match, but got rolled up and pinned out of nowhere to give Cole his first win in EVOLVE. Jacobs came out to mock Gargano after the match, but Cole jumped in and challenged Jacobs since Jacobs had been disrespecting Cole since the beginning of EVOLVE as well. Jacobs cockily accepted the challenge, but his aura of overconfidence disappeared later in the evening when he suffered his first loss in EVOLVE to Chuck Taylor, who now went up to 3-0 even though he technically had won four matches.
Also on EVOLVE 4: Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon had an absolutely brutal and stiff war where they just pounded the crap out of each other in the ring, on the floor, and everywhere else they could manage. Callihan tapped Cannon out to the stretch muffler, and this was an early indication of the chemistry they’d show when they formed the DUFs the following year. Brodie Lee became the first person to ever get suspended from EVOLVE due to flagrant misconduct when he knocked Jon Moxley out with a chair. Also, Mercedes Martinez again successfully defended the WSU Title by defeating Tina San Antonio, and was informed afterward that Amazing Kong had accepted her challenge and wound appear to face Mercedes at EVOLVE 5.
EVOLVE 5 - Danielson vs Sawa: 9/11/2010 in Rahway, New Jersey
Bryan Danielson had returned to WWE by the time this event happened, but like a gentleman, he honored the commitments he made during his time away, and so this became I believe Danielson’s last match on the indies. Danielson could have taken it easy since he had a contract lined up and wasn’t coming back, but he still went out there and had a great match with Sawa that was very stike intensive and saw a lot of kicks being thrown. Danielson tapped Sawa out to the LeBell lock, then again thanked the fans for coming and gave another classy promo about how it was nice to finally be able to wrestle in the company he helped in the creation of.
Chuck Taylor, who had been on a roll and had really broken out as a main player, found himself screaming a bit too loudly about not being in the main event of this show and wound up wrestling in the opener instead against Mike Quackenbush. Taylor suffered his first loss in EVOLVE here, but he came back from the experience and found himself main eventing again at EVOLVE 6.
The thing with Jacobs, Gargano, and now Adam Cole still continued, and this time Jacobs faced Cole so he could beat him and rub it in Gargano’s face since Gargano lost to Cole last time around. Jacobs did end up winning, but Cole made him work for it and escaped multiple attempts by Jacobs at both the End Time and the Contra Code, but Jacobs did finally hit the Contra Code to pick up a very hard fought win.
Gargano did emerge victorious later in the evening in a six way Fray, but his postmatch celebration was interrupted by Homicide, who had recently returned to the independents and said he had his eye on Moxley and wanted him in the ring to prove that he was still the king around here. This led to a brawl between the two at Dragon Gate USA the following month, as well as a very memorable angle that happened at EVOLVE 6 which we’ll get to in a moment.
Also on EVOLVE 5: Mercedes Martinez finally got her wish and got a match against Amazing Kong, but Kong spent almost the entire match destroying her until she got herself disqualified for attacking the referee. A rematch was obviously planned, but never happened since Kong left for WWE shortly afterward. Sami Callihan was again in the hardest hitting match of the night, this time against Drake Younger, who defeated Sami after hitting Drake’s Landing and going up to 3-0 in EVOLVE. Kyle O’Reilly and Ricochet had a very good match despite the fact that you might expect their styles to clash, and Ricochet survived O’Reilly’s onslaught and came out ahead after hitting the 630 splash.
EVOLVE 6 - Aries vs Taylor: 11/20/2010 in Union City, New Jersey
EVOLVE made their point to Chuck Taylor at EVOLVE 5, and were willing to allow him back into the main event for the sixth event, but gave him another stern test by matching him up with Austin Aries, a man who had competed against and defeated the very best the independent scene had to offer. Instead of the “Greatest Man Who Ever Lived†character he had run with for most of the previous two years (and has since reverted to in TNA), he returned as the clssic Austin Aries who had ended Samoa Joe’s World Title reign and had a legendary, years-long series of matches with Danielson that Aries eventually came out on top of.
Taylor had a great showing not just by hanging in there with somebody of Aries’ caliber, but also because he injured his shoulder midway through and wrestled the rest of the match one-armed and with a very visible lump coming out of his shoulder. Aries came out ahead, but did a postmatch promo putting Taylor over and calling him a future star despite the way he had run his mouth leading into the event.
Aries and Taylor may have main evented, but by far the most memorable segment of the night (and possibly in EVOLVE history) was the interaction between Homicide and Jon Moxley. I say interaction because while the match was good, it was only the beginning. They brawled all over the building before heading back into the ring where Moxley caught Homicide in a crossface chickenwing until the referee stopped the match. What followed was one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in wrestling period, as Homicide began protesting that he wasn’t ready to submit when the referee called for the bell, and Moxley proceeded to mock Homicide to goad him into attacking Moxley so he would get suspended like Brodie Lee had on EVOLVE 4. For the next ten minutes, Homicide would brutalize Moxley and then try to leave, but Moxley would pick the microphone back up and continue running his mouth until Homcide came back to the ring to dish out more punishment. By the end, Homicide had destroyed Moxley with every trick in his book, including the old screwdriver to the groin, before piledriving Moxley to knock him unconscious and close his mouth for good.
After all the bickering back and forth, Jimmy Jacobs and Johnny Gargano finally got back in the ring with each other at EVOLVE 6. Their second encounter featured several really innovative spots, including one where Jacobs sat Gargano on the guardrail and then came through the ropes from inside the ring with a dive that sent them both tumbling into the crowd. Later on, they used the low ceiling in the ACE Arena to their advantage by holding onto it while tightrope walking across the top rope to do battle literally on the top rope while trying to knock each other into the ring. Jacobs went for the Contra Code, but Gargano rolled through and cradled him to pick up the win. Larry Dallas, a non-wrestler whom Jacobs had been vocally against having in the locker room since he had no reason to be there, joined them in the ring. He had come out earlier in the evening with Reby Sky by his side and announced that he would be sponsoring wrestlers in EVOLVE and had earlier announced Chuck Taylor as his first protege, but now announced that Gargano would be joining the team as well.
Also on EVOLVE 6: Bobby Fish returned from hiatus and finally scored his first win in EVOLVE in a rematch with Kyle O'Reilly from their first bout on EVOLVE 1. Fish survived O'Reilly's striking and submission offense and put O'Reilly down with a knockout kick to go 1-4. Silas Young returned for the first time since EVOLVE 1 and ended the winning streak of Drake Young, and has yet to lose since. Ricochet also continued his momentum with a win over Adam Cole, who finished up with EVOLVE at this event.
EVOLVE 7 - Aries vs Moxley: 4/19/2011 in New York City, New York
Austin Aries again main evented an EVOLVE show against one of the top members of the DGUSA/EVOLVE roster in Jon Moxley, but things were a little different than they were at EVOLVE 6. Moxley, who had been a huge part of both companies, had signed a deal with WWE and this would be his final appearance on the independents before transforming into Dean Ambrose. It was interesting to watch because Moxley had always gotten a somewhat positive reaction from live crowds even though he was technically a heel, but he was the full on babyface here and it was a little strange to watch. Aries pinned Moxley by reversing a sunset flip to a cradle, then said he was going to defy EVOLVE tradition and let the loser of this match have his say.
He handed the microphone to Moxley and walked off as the crowd started a "thank you Moxley" chant, something Moxley said was weird to him because he usually got off on making the fans mad, but he told the crowd they're the best fans in the world and said the F word a bunch because he can still do that for a few more days, leading to the crowd chanting the F word. He shared beers with some of his fellow wrestlers before Sami Callihan came over and told him it's time to stop being modest and go become a star in WWE.
Aside from Moxley's final appearance, we were also guaranteed that one man and one man only would emerge from EVOLVE 7 as the sole wins leader. We came in with a three way tie, as Jimmy Jacobs, Johnny Gargano, and Chuck Taylor (who had finally had his qualifying match win credited to his record thanks to Larry Dallas) all came in with 4-2 records. Jacobs lost his match to Shiima Xion and was out of the running early (in what turned out to be his final EVOLVE appearance as well), but Gargano got by Jon Davis and Taylor defeated Akira Tozawa to move to 5-2 records. Since we were guaranteed a wins leader, EVOLVE officials ordered an impromptu tiebreaker between the two right on the spot. Larry Dallas, both men's sponsor, was vehemently against this match happening and threw the towel in on Taylor only a few minutes in, screwing Taylor and making Gargano to wins leader at 6-2 while possibly doing permanent damage to the stable he had only formed the event before.
Also on EVOLVE 7: Zack Sabre Jr made his EVOLVE debut against Sami Callihan that somehow went above and beyond even your typical Callihan match in terms of stiffness. Callihan did end up getting the win, but Sabre made him work for it and Callihan had to not only get Sabre in the stretch muffler, but stomp on his head while he had him in the hold to finally end the match. AR Fox, who had made an appearance in a four way match on EVOLVE 6, had his first singles bout in EVOLVE against Rich Swann in a match that was as much a Jackie Chan movie as it was a wrestling match. There weren't a whole lot of wrestling holds exchanged, but lots and lots of jaw dropping athletics from two guys who were moving fast enough to give Masato Yoshino a run for his money. Fox picked up the win to officially go to 2-0 in EVOLVE.
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Only two more shows to go and we’re caught up. I’ll be back tomorrow with the full DVD review for EVOLVE 8: Style Battle, and until then, you can click on the poster at the top of the column for information on ordering this weekend’s iPPV when EVOLVE will close out the former ECW Arena.
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