EVOLVE 97
Melrose, MA
December 10, 2017
PRELIMINARY MATCH ONE: Craig Mitchell vs. Dominic Garrini
This one didn’t go long. Mitchell got to put on a nice little athletic flurry until Garrini finished him with a pop-up into an armbar for the win. After the match, both guys were destroyed by The End as they came in and ran wild. This served it’s purpose to get Garrini over as dangerous and The End as maniacs.
WINNER: Dominic Garrini
PRELIMINARY MATCH TWO: Brandon Watts & Stephen Wolf vs. Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce
This was an okay tag match. Knicks and Fierce were doing athletic moves that they didn’t fully pull off so it ended up hurting the vibe of the match, including the finish which was an Unprittier/Moonsault double team that didn’t look great. The upside is that Watts got a huge reaction for his hot tag, so they at least built to that well.
WINNERS: Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce
PRELIMINARY MATCH THREE: Jarek 1:20 vs. Jason “The Gift” Kincaid
The structure of what they were going for was right on as the match ended with Kincaid in control ready to get a tap out when the bell rang. Kincaid, who is pretty athletically talented, was pretty on point outside of a couple of slip ups. It was an okay match.
WINNER: Time Limit Draw
MAIN SHOW
MATCH ONE: Shane Mercer & KTB vs. James Drake & Anthony Henry
Drake ended up getting the win after a huge moonsault. There wasn’t much of a story to this one. It was more in line with both teams doing whatever they could to get a win and going back and forth. Impressive moonsault from Drake considering his size. Everyone involved did a good job and it was an effective opener.
WINNERS: James Drake & Anthony Henry
MATCH TWO: DJZ vs. AR Fox
They had a great bit where everytime DJZ yelled out “DJ!” a hip-hop remix horn would play.
This was a really terrific match that blended athleticism and storytelling. Fox had his posse at ringside and they got involved slightly once during the match to help him out, but otherwise, it was straight up with Fox playing an effective heel to DJZ’s fantastic babyface. Fox got the win with his top rope Spanish Fly and the Foxcatcher (Snow Plow).
WINNER: AR Fox
MATCH THREE: Keith Lee vs. Darby Allin vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams (with Stokely Hathaway)
This is a “High Stakes Triple Threat” with the winner getting to choose any match they want at a future date.
This was a fantastic triple threat. It told a great story of Keith Lee being an unstoppable force, with the only way he was able to be taken down was Darby and Williams teaming up on him. Everything made sense and every guy in the match did an excellent job. Williams looked to be in control with a crossface on Lee when Darby did a Coffin Drop on Williams, then got the Gibson Lock for the pin.
After the match, Stokely got in Lee’s face. Lee took out Williams and was about to drop Stokely when Jaka came in to try and save him. He got taken out. That lead to Dickinson running in and hitting a huge German suplex on Lee. It was followed by Dickinson and Jaka hitting the Doomsday Chokeslam to leave Lee laying.
Stokely cut a promo after calling Catch Point the greatest faction in EVOLVE history. He then said that Jaka has wanted to be World Champion since he met him, and tonight he would make it happen. Then he gave Lee a few cowardly stomps for good measure. Very good and effective promo.
WINNER: Darby Allin
MATCH FOUR: FIP Championship – Fred Yehi (c) vs. Austin Theory (with Priscilla Kelly)
There was nothing wrong with this match. Both guys worked very hard and the story they ended up having a fantastic finish. In addition, their work is really crisp and believable. It just seemed that they didn’t establish a heel/babyface dynamic and the crowd didn’t invest in it because they didn’t know who they were supposed to invest in. Yehi has a ton of personality and is a really good worker. Theory is super athletic and has tremendous upside and knows how to sell, but personality wise he’s not fully clicking yet. That’s why overall that this match, while hard worked and finished strongly, didn’t quite click.
The finish saw Yehi looking to have the win when Priscilla put his foot on the rope. Theory was able to rebound and hit a half package neckbreaker/powerbomb for the win and the title.
WINNER: Austin Theory
MATCH FIVE: WALTER vs. Matt Riddle
Riddle took the mic and said he had a no rope break match with Fred Yehi the night before in Queens and he thinks it’s the future of the business, therefore, he challenged WALTER to the same thing. WALTER accepted.
This was an absolute masterclass in storytelling and believability. WALTER spent most of the match on top with Riddle doing a world class job in selling and firing up for comebacks. WALTER had Riddle in a rear naked choke in when he was able to roll out of it and get him in a mount and win with a ref stoppage via strikes. The great part was that WALTER was in the ropes, but with the stipulation, he had no way out. After the match, the crowd chanted for WALTER and Riddle joined in. He went for a hand shake, but WALTER dropped him with a boot to the face and left.
WINNER: Matt Riddle
MAIN EVENT: EVOLVE Championship – Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) vs. Jaka (with Stokely Hathaway)
This was a tremendous main event. They took their time and went with the slow burn. Sabre, as usual, used his technical prowess to break down Jaka while Jaka came at him with strikes. Jaka was in dire straits and rolled to the floor when Chris Dickinson, who had been barred from the building, came out and played motivational speaker to fire him up. Sabre and Jaka went back and forth before Sabre got a modified stretch muffler/toe hold combo for the victory. Jaka did a great job in selling while Sabre was fantastic in picking the leg, foot and even toes down before getting the submission.
After the match, The End came out and destroyed Jaka, Dickinson and Tracy Williams (who came out to help). It was a vicious and believable beat down. Dickinson recovered enough to dive out on all three members of The End and they fought to the back.
WINNER: Zack Sabre, Jr.
Melrose, MA
December 10, 2017
PRELIMINARY MATCH ONE: Craig Mitchell vs. Dominic Garrini
This one didn’t go long. Mitchell got to put on a nice little athletic flurry until Garrini finished him with a pop-up into an armbar for the win. After the match, both guys were destroyed by The End as they came in and ran wild. This served it’s purpose to get Garrini over as dangerous and The End as maniacs.
WINNER: Dominic Garrini
PRELIMINARY MATCH TWO: Brandon Watts & Stephen Wolf vs. Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce
This was an okay tag match. Knicks and Fierce were doing athletic moves that they didn’t fully pull off so it ended up hurting the vibe of the match, including the finish which was an Unprittier/Moonsault double team that didn’t look great. The upside is that Watts got a huge reaction for his hot tag, so they at least built to that well.
WINNERS: Matt Knicks & Stevie Fierce
PRELIMINARY MATCH THREE: Jarek 1:20 vs. Jason “The Gift” Kincaid
The structure of what they were going for was right on as the match ended with Kincaid in control ready to get a tap out when the bell rang. Kincaid, who is pretty athletically talented, was pretty on point outside of a couple of slip ups. It was an okay match.
WINNER: Time Limit Draw
MAIN SHOW
MATCH ONE: Shane Mercer & KTB vs. James Drake & Anthony Henry
Drake ended up getting the win after a huge moonsault. There wasn’t much of a story to this one. It was more in line with both teams doing whatever they could to get a win and going back and forth. Impressive moonsault from Drake considering his size. Everyone involved did a good job and it was an effective opener.
WINNERS: James Drake & Anthony Henry
MATCH TWO: DJZ vs. AR Fox
They had a great bit where everytime DJZ yelled out “DJ!” a hip-hop remix horn would play.
This was a really terrific match that blended athleticism and storytelling. Fox had his posse at ringside and they got involved slightly once during the match to help him out, but otherwise, it was straight up with Fox playing an effective heel to DJZ’s fantastic babyface. Fox got the win with his top rope Spanish Fly and the Foxcatcher (Snow Plow).
WINNER: AR Fox
MATCH THREE: Keith Lee vs. Darby Allin vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams (with Stokely Hathaway)
This is a “High Stakes Triple Threat” with the winner getting to choose any match they want at a future date.
This was a fantastic triple threat. It told a great story of Keith Lee being an unstoppable force, with the only way he was able to be taken down was Darby and Williams teaming up on him. Everything made sense and every guy in the match did an excellent job. Williams looked to be in control with a crossface on Lee when Darby did a Coffin Drop on Williams, then got the Gibson Lock for the pin.
After the match, Stokely got in Lee’s face. Lee took out Williams and was about to drop Stokely when Jaka came in to try and save him. He got taken out. That lead to Dickinson running in and hitting a huge German suplex on Lee. It was followed by Dickinson and Jaka hitting the Doomsday Chokeslam to leave Lee laying.
Stokely cut a promo after calling Catch Point the greatest faction in EVOLVE history. He then said that Jaka has wanted to be World Champion since he met him, and tonight he would make it happen. Then he gave Lee a few cowardly stomps for good measure. Very good and effective promo.
WINNER: Darby Allin
MATCH FOUR: FIP Championship – Fred Yehi (c) vs. Austin Theory (with Priscilla Kelly)
There was nothing wrong with this match. Both guys worked very hard and the story they ended up having a fantastic finish. In addition, their work is really crisp and believable. It just seemed that they didn’t establish a heel/babyface dynamic and the crowd didn’t invest in it because they didn’t know who they were supposed to invest in. Yehi has a ton of personality and is a really good worker. Theory is super athletic and has tremendous upside and knows how to sell, but personality wise he’s not fully clicking yet. That’s why overall that this match, while hard worked and finished strongly, didn’t quite click.
The finish saw Yehi looking to have the win when Priscilla put his foot on the rope. Theory was able to rebound and hit a half package neckbreaker/powerbomb for the win and the title.
WINNER: Austin Theory
MATCH FIVE: WALTER vs. Matt Riddle
Riddle took the mic and said he had a no rope break match with Fred Yehi the night before in Queens and he thinks it’s the future of the business, therefore, he challenged WALTER to the same thing. WALTER accepted.
This was an absolute masterclass in storytelling and believability. WALTER spent most of the match on top with Riddle doing a world class job in selling and firing up for comebacks. WALTER had Riddle in a rear naked choke in when he was able to roll out of it and get him in a mount and win with a ref stoppage via strikes. The great part was that WALTER was in the ropes, but with the stipulation, he had no way out. After the match, the crowd chanted for WALTER and Riddle joined in. He went for a hand shake, but WALTER dropped him with a boot to the face and left.
WINNER: Matt Riddle
MAIN EVENT: EVOLVE Championship – Zack Sabre, Jr. (c) vs. Jaka (with Stokely Hathaway)
This was a tremendous main event. They took their time and went with the slow burn. Sabre, as usual, used his technical prowess to break down Jaka while Jaka came at him with strikes. Jaka was in dire straits and rolled to the floor when Chris Dickinson, who had been barred from the building, came out and played motivational speaker to fire him up. Sabre and Jaka went back and forth before Sabre got a modified stretch muffler/toe hold combo for the victory. Jaka did a great job in selling while Sabre was fantastic in picking the leg, foot and even toes down before getting the submission.
After the match, The End came out and destroyed Jaka, Dickinson and Tracy Williams (who came out to help). It was a vicious and believable beat down. Dickinson recovered enough to dive out on all three members of The End and they fought to the back.
WINNER: Zack Sabre, Jr.
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