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WWN LIVE PRESENTS: EVOLVE 123
Friday, 3/15/19, Melrose Memorial Hall, Melrose, Massachusetts
It was a hot crowd in Melrose, Massachusetts at the Memorial Hall. They claimed their largest attendance in that building to date. It looked to be a near sell out with very few empty seats in the venue.
Curt Stallion b. Colby Corino (with The Unwanted members Eddie Kingston, Shane Strickland & Joe Gacy)
•Solid opening match with Stallion getting the win despite interference by The Unwanted. Colby seems to improve with every match I see him in. Stallion gets the win with a cannonball while Colby was sitting up in the middle of the ring. (6:11)
Josh Briggs b. Darby Allin (5:56) with his M-5
Darby’s new entrance theme is so bad it seems like a rib. Regardless of that they had a solid, if not brief, match as Allin got all his standard spots in while still playing the underdog to the much bigger Briggs. Post match Priscilla Kelly came out & Darby ended up accompanying her to the back. No idea if they’re finally going to put the married couple together or not at this point.
Adrian Jaoude b. Rory Gulak (3:55)
Not much to describe here as Jaoude seems limited. Gulak was there just to put over his offense. Jaoude won with a reverse cross knee bar type submission hold.
AR Fox & Leon Ruff (with The Skulk) b. The Work Horsemen (JD Drake & Anthony Henry) (23:45)
This was easily the match of the night. There was a long heat spot that lasted about 8 minutes with Leon Ruff being cut off from his corner. He took multiple knife edge chops & roundhouse kicks to the chest, not to mention a JD Drake centón. When Ruff finally made the tag to Fox the crowd just about exploded. There were moments of miscommunication between Drake & Henry that eventually led to the finish where Fox pinned Drake with a 450° splash. There were criticisms among fans that the heat spot went on too long, but it gave the match a unique old school feel to it that is rarely seen in modern day wrestling.
Austin Theory b. John Silver to retain the EVOLVE championship (9:32)
John Silver was announced as “The Meat Man”. Austin Theory came out & announced that this match was an open challenge for the title. Silver got a lot of offense in & looked like a credible challenger before Theory took him out with his finisher. Silver was over strong with the crowd.
Shane Strickland b. Harlem Bravado (15:55)
This match came on after intermission. This had an awkward feel to it as it was a battle of heels. The ring ropes seemed very loose & were never tightened up for the remainder of the show. It was because of this that Strickland slipped up on some moves. The crowd was dying down the longer the match went. The match seemed to go a good 5-6 minutes longer than expected. Strickland eventually won by submission with a short arm scissors.
The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy) (with Shane Strickland & Colby Corino) b. The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) (c) to win the EVOLVE tag team championship (9:25)
This match started out as an all out brawl. It was very hard hitting with Ford & Kingston bringing the bulk of the fight. Dawkins was hitting such brutal spears that not only did he take out Colby Corino, who attempted to interfere, but at one point even his partner Ford accidentally got knocked over during an attempted double team spot. Eventually Strickland distracted Ford enough to get him to chase him away from ringside. That’s when Kingston & Gacy took advantage of the situation hitting Dawkins with repeated spinning back fists & forearm shots with Kingston pinning Dawkins for the title win. The fans gave a post match thank you chant to the Street Profits.
Velveteen Dream b. Orange Cassidy (12:33)
Velveteen Dream refused to play along with Orange Cassidy’s antics. Dream seemed to big league Cassidy & guzzled him. Some fans believed Dream might’ve re-injured his knee on a top rope spot early in the match. Dream trash talked him & tossed him around in & out of the ring. Cassidy did get some offense in but Dream still hit the Dream Valley Driver & Purple Rainmaker for the win. To say the least it was a bit of a disappointing match, especially since the crowd voted Cassidy into the match & that it was the main event of the show.
Overall it was a pretty decent show with the last two matches before intermission being the best matches. On 6/9 Beyond Wrestling & EVOLVE will be doing a double shot at Faneuil Hall. EVOLVE returns to the Melrose Memorial Hall on 7/14.
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