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Super Smash Brothers vs Jake Manning & Drew Gulak: Manning and Gulak are accompanied to the ring by Chuck Taylor, who introduces them as the members of his new stable, the Gentlemen's Club. Gulak has been featured pretty heavily in CZW, while Jake Manning is, among other things, the mind behind the cult phenomenon known as 5 Dollar Wrestling. Pretty standard tag team opener, the Gentleman's Club establish their characters as Gulak shows off his substantial mat wrestling skill while Manning regularly consults his scoutmaster's guide to form a strategy for the match. It's like an old school version of Alexandra York's computer, I guess. Unfortunately for the Gentlemen's Club, they debut with a loss when the SSB pick up the win after hitting the Fatality.
Josh Alexander vs MK McKinnan: This is one of the matches that was booked at the last second due to the travel issues. McKinnan didn't impress me, he seemed to rely a lot on flippy-dippy moves and dropped himself on his head at one point trying a springboard something. Alexander was solid and worked a ground game, wearing McKinnan down before hitting a devastating looking Pedigree into a double shoulderbreaker for the win.
Mike Rollins vs Ashley Sixx: Another match between two local guys I'm not familiar with. Rollins is a big imposing guy, Sixx is a smaller guy with decent striking skill, and both are intense metal guys. Nothing really to write home about with this one, it was short and Rollins looked like he potatoed Sixx at least three or four times before putting him away with a sitout Tombstone. It was whatever, and I wouldn't want to have to work with Rollins given how sloppy he looked here.
John Silver vs Alex Reynolds: NOW we're talking. I absolutely love these NYWC guys, that company is the best kept secret on the independent scene and I'm always happy to see anyone from NYWC on a Dragon Gate USA or EVOLVE show. Silver is a tiny dude who has a ton of intensity and some great striking and submission skills, while Reynolds is reminiscent of a young Matt Hardy in terms of appearance and wrestling style. They did it all in this match, starting with a fast paced back and forth lucha sequence before going to the mat for some wear downs and submission attempts, then getting back to their feet to trade strikes. Silver was in control for a lot of this and really seems to enjoy being the sadistic guy who enjoys surprising people with what a badass bully he can be. Silver brutalized Reynolds with kicks and suplexes, but Reynolds drilled him with a superkick and hit a pump handle neckbreaker for the win out of nowhere. Great match between two guys who could be big deals in EVOLVE if the right spot opened up for them.
Johnny Gargano vs Chuck Taylor vs Samuray Del Sol: This was originally scheduled to be a singles match between Taylor and Del Sol, but Gargano came out to confront his former partner and talk about how he stuck up for Taylor when DGUSA wanted to get rid of him and the rest of the locker room didn't like him, only for Taylor to turn on him in the end. He says that since AR Fox isn't here, they ought to make this a three way dance. Everyone's in agreement, so off we go with elimination rules in effect. Fresh off a win over Masato Yoshino in his debut weekend in DGUSA, Del Sol is now in the ring with the two top wins leaders in his debut match in EVOLVE, and he actually gets the advantage over both Gargano and Taylor for a couple of minutes until Gargano takes him out with a spear. Taylor picks and chooses his spots to do maximum damage while taking minimal abuse himself, and steals the pinfall on Del Sol after Gargano did all the work. Now it comes down to Gargano and Taylor, and they brawl out of the ring and through the crowd as Gargano dishes out a beating to his former partner. Taylor suddenly turns the tide by suplexing Gargano onto the ring apron, injuring his bad back in the process. Taylor attacks the back like a shark, Gargano tries to fight back and catches Taylor in the Gargano Escape twice, but Taylor survived and trapped Gargano in a half crab. Gargano again tried to tough it out, but too much damage was done to the back and Gargano passed out, forcing the referee to stop the match and declare Taylor the winner.
Taylor has defeated his former partner and is now the sole wins leader in EVOLVE, and I thought Taylor came out looking great because he used his cunning to get in Gargano's head by stealing the pin on Del Sol before mercilessly working over Gargano's back and trapping him in a hold he was in no condition to try and fight out of. Taylor's never going to carry a 45 minute chain wrestling match, but the thing I like about him is that he knows how to tell a story with his matches. He sometimes comes off a little goofier than he needs to, but I'd rather see a guy that knows how to tell a story like Taylor and Gargano did than 20 wrestlers who do nothing but spots. Gargano also came out looking like a million bucks because he refused to give in until his body gave out on him.
Adam Page vs Caleb Konley: Konley's partner Scott Reed didn't make it across the border, so now he gets shuffled into singles competition against Page, a promising youngster who has also gotten a look from ROH and seems like someone with a lot of potential. Page looked good here, he put up a good fight against Konley and they had a nice competitive match before Konley forced Page to submit to a double-arm trapped Boston Crab. A lot better than your typical "back from intermission" match, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Page getting more bookings in either company. Though he's obviously nowhere near as experienced, Page has that same kind of "redneck who has a ton of heart and can go" appeal that James Gibson did.
Low Ki vs El Generico: These two are very familiar with each other, they had a pretty heated feud in Jersey All Pro Wrestling back in 2005 that saw a heel Low Ki try to not only beat, but humiliate Generico in many of the same ways Kevin Steen did in ROH during their feud. It's been several years since they've been in the ring with each other, since 2008 according to Lenny Leonard, but the aggression between the two doesn't seem to have died down at all. Low Ki tried to intimidate Generico early on, but Generico has been through this with Low Ki before and wasn't going to back down. They went toe-to-toe and Generico came up on the short end as Low Ki took the match outside and dropkicked Generico into the ringpost. Generico again surprised Low Ki with a dive over the ropes to turn the momentum in his direction, and he capitalized by planting him with a Blue Thunder Driver. Low Ki countered a backbreaker attempt to the Dragon Clutch, Generico made it to the ropes and Low Ki tried to change it up to a guillotine choke, but Generico reversed that to a falcon arrow suplex for 2. This just served to piss off Low Ki, who began hammering Generico with kicks to the chest. Generico sidestepped an attempt at shotgun knees and tried for the top rope brainbuster, but Low Ki slipped out and landed on his feet while Generico came down hard and was stunned. Low Ki quickly went to the top and hit the Warrior's Way for the win, earning a "that was awesome" chant from a crowd that was on their feet for the closing minutes of the match. That was a tough win for Low Ki, but it didn't change his tune on Generico because he got a microphone and told Generico that he's not as good as he thinks he is and then walked out without any further elaboration Interesting twist for Low Ki, who up to this point had been respectful of everyone he had been in the ring with in DGUSA/EVOLVE, and it sets up rematches where Generico will now have to try and beat the respect out of Low Ki.
Sami Callihan vs Dave Finlay: This is a rematch of their first encounter at EVOLVE 9, which was voted as the EVOLVE Match of the Year for 2011. That match saw Callihan get in some good shots, but more or less be completely dominated by the much more experienced Finlay, so this is Callihan's shot at redemption. Finlay busts Callihan open hardway with a straight headbutt less than a minute in, and Callihan tried to use that to fire himself up and nail Finlay, but Finlay no-sold and drilled Callihan with a punch that sent him tumbling to the floor. Finlay proceeded to pound mercilessly on Callihan's injured face and cut off Callihan's repeated attempts to crawl away from him. Callihan defiantly flipped Finlay off, but Finlay casually went about ramming Callihan's back into the ring apron before no-selling more right hands and dragging Callihan back into the ring to flatten him with repeated kneedrops to the skull. Callihan desperately tried to fishhook Finlay's mouth to pry him off, and succeeded in gaining Finlay's back to throw rabbit forearms and roll him over for a pin attempt. This opens up a cut on Finlay's forehead, and it slowed Finlay down enough that Callihan was able to take him down and begin attacking his knee. It barely slowed Finlay down, as he knocked Callihan on his ass with a hard forearm and then whipped him face first into the corner so hard it jarred the ring. Finlay does that again for good measure, and the next several minutes saw that cycle repeat itself over and over: Finlay beats Callihan up like it's the easiest thing in the world, Callihan gets a few of his best shots in, and Finlay easily shrugs it off and goes back to smacking Callihan around. Callihan knocks Finlay to the floor and takes him out with a dive, Finlay pops right up and shoves Sami off the top rope and starts bodyslamming him into the ring ropes. Callihan dropped Finlay face first on the top turnbuckle and tried the stretch muffler, but Finlay shoves Callihan through the ropes and onto the timekeeper's table. Finlay hit the Celtic Cross and Sami kicked out at 1, so Finlay hit it two more times and Callihan again kicked out. Finlay flattened Callihan with a short clothesline and a Tombstone piledriver, but Callihan kicks out again. Finlay's starting to look a little frustrated as Callihan rolls toward Finlay and flips him off yet again, and Callihan escapes an attempt at a third Tombstone and bicycle kicks Finlay in the ribs. They lay each other out with simultaneous bicycle kicks three times in a row, Callihan gets up first and goes for the stretch muffler, but Finlay kicks Callihan's leg out from under him and catches him in a cross armbreaker. Callihan desperately tries to get to the ropes, but is eventually forced to tap out. Finlay does a postmatch promo telling Callihan that he has the potential to be great, but he's his own worst enemy and he needs to get his head on straight before he gets there. This was an excellent match, but it makes Callihan look like he can't get it done because he loses every single blowoff match he's ever in, and this comes only a couple of weeks after he got beat by Sabu as well.
The show closes with Jon Davis cutting a promo on Dave Finlay, whom he will face at the next EVOLVE event in Charlotte. He says that Finlay disrespected him and slapped him in the face, and Finlay may be one of the best in the game, but now it's time for him to step up and not just hold his own, but win because he's tired of watching Finlay walk around the locker room like he's better than everyone else.
* * *
In spite of the troubles at the border, EVOLVE came through with a really good show for their Canadian debut. Low Ki-Generico and Finlay-Callihan were both excellent, and I liked the booking of the three way, it presented Taylor well and gave him a legitimate claim to a title shot instead of just getting one because he turned on Gargano. The fill in matches with the local wrestlers were kept short so the focus remained on the EVOLVE guys, and I thought the show was good enough overall that I don't think we missed much from the folks who didn't make it into Canada. If you didn't know about that, you'd never tell the difference between this and any other EVOLVE show.
Thumbs up for EVOLVE 11, and you can find information on ordering the DVD at www.dgusa.tv or the iPPV at www.wwnlive.com.
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