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GARGANO INJURY UPDATE, WHY LAST ECW ARENA EVENT CLOSED THE WAY IT DID, LOW KI AND FINLAY IN DGUSA UPDATES AND LOTS MORE EVOLVE NEWS

By Mike Johnson on 2012-01-16 19:40:20
Injury update on Johnny Gargano: Gargano was injured right after the first spot of the match and pushed himself through, so he worked the entire bout injured as he didn't want to let down the audience since it was the "last main event" in the ECW Arena as well as his first title defense. He was in terrible pain but was released from the hospital the day after the show to fly home to Ohio. He's undergone a CTScan to try and determine exactly what the injury was but they haven't pinpointed the issue yet.

Ahtu was also injured as he was legitimately knocked out by Low Ki in the first spot of the show. Ahtu was OK backstage after the math.

The Low Ki return was the subject of a lot of discussion after the show by longtime ROH fans. Ki and Gabe Sapolsky made amends over their issues after KI departed WWE but it took until now for them to work out a return. The plan is for Ki to be booked on almost all Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE events going forward, which adds a hell of an in-ring performer to their cards from both a drawing and performance standpoint. Ticket sales for the DGUSA Miami events shot up after he was announced for the Wrestlemania weekend events. Ki is going to be a major part of the promotion going forward. His promo where he commented, "I want my profession back" was pretty much a shoot as there had been rumblings that he was disgusted with the state of pro wrestling and had quietly talked of leaving the business last year. EVOLVE will be releasing the Ki footage online this week.

The EVOLVE 10 show on Saturday was easily the company's biggest gate and attendance in its short history. They were pretty much bestowed a gift when they ended up with the final ever show in the building's history as that was the real draw of the weekend. The DVD is already in production.

Sabu will be back for more matches and appearances to follow up the Sami Callihan angle. There's no current plans for other former ECW talents to appear at this time. Gabe Sapolsky specifically booked the ending of the show to put heat on Callihan and create a buzz for the company and told me he's happy with the response to the angle. There were a LOT of people I spoke to after the show that felt that the final show in the Arena shouldn't have been used like that, but well, that's pro wrestling.

At one point, Sandman was scheduled for the EVOLVE 10 show but a personal issue kept him from making the show. The original plan was to do a Sandman run-in with the entrance and a big beer bash before getting to the Callihan angle. The comments about the continuous ECW revivals and farewells and homecomings were pretty much comments I've heard Sapolsky make in the past. Sapolsky has always been hugely against every reunion and revival for the ECW brand, feeling they were no different than TNA or WWE pushing aging talents on top and only served to push the business back five years. So, this was his way of getting it out of his system once and for all.

Finlay will be back for limited dates this year for a program with Jon Davis.

TNA's Jeremy Borash was backstage visiting after the EVOLVE event. He drove in after TNA's house show in Reading, PA so he could see the venue, where he promoted Hardcore Homecoming and worked a few TNA events in, one last time and visit with some of the guys who had worked with TNA in the past, like Sabu and New Jack.

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