EVOLVE 9: Gargano vs. Taylor, plus Finlay-Callihan

EVOLVE 9: Gargano vs. Taylor

Manhattan, NY

June 26, 2011

So this is EVOLVE, a retardedly capitalized name, but a pretty well thought-of company. They have an emphasis on win-loss records, trying to make wrestling seem more like MMA. I don’t like that, but I’ve never seen an EVOLVE show, so we’ll see how it works.

Immediately starting, I really like the atmosphere. It’s a tiny venue, I can’t imagine they can fit 500 people, but it’s a New York crowd, so they’re rabid. They’re at BB King’s, a venue in which I’ve never heard of.

EVOLVE 9 starts with Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano, the headliners talking. Nothing of worth here, basically just telling each other that they will bring it.

Eric Ryan vs. Bobby Beverly

I’ve never heard of these two. Will they surprise me?

We start with a tie up. Bobby Beverly takes control early with a flip armdrag, but Ryan comes back with stiff chops in the corner. Beverly makes his comeback with a dropkick for a two count. They’re working a good fast pace. Beverly nails a superkick, but Ryan turns things around and nails a coast to coast! Beverly bails and Ryan hits a great missile tope. Back in the ring, they trade forearms. They trade suplexes and knock each other down with simultaneous lariats. Kevin Steen comes in and causes the DQ at 4 minutes.

Post-match: Steen nails a package piledriver on both wrestlers. Announcers sell disgust. Steen grabs a mic, kicks Beverly out of the ring and shit talks ROH, or in his words Ring of Horseshit. He is absolutely hilarious in this promo, which lasts a pretty long time. Steen to the commentators: “Rob, I swear to God if you open your mouth one time while I have this microphone in my hands, I will rape your mouth.” Steen busts off so many awesome one-liners, verbally raping a heckler in the crowd. He even impersonates CM Punk by sitting in the middle of the ring.He shit talks a lot of people, particularly El Generico and Davey Richards. Jim Cornette gets a shit-talking to as well. Some guy named Bobby Fish comes out and steals Steen’s microphone, talks him down, and Steen exits, but I don’t think he’s done yet.

Analysis: ** Really fun match for the small time they were given. The post-match segment was fucking awesome. Beverly and Ryan worked one hell of a fast match. I’d love to see more of them.

Façade & Jason Gory vs. Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Player Dos)

I’ve heard of the Smash Brothers very vaguely, bit I’ve never seen them wrestle. I have no idea who Façade and Jason Gory are. Player Dos is a skinny guy, Player Uno is a big ol’ fat guy in a mask.

Player Dos takes control on Gory early. After foiling a comeback, he hits a spin kick. He tags Uno, who Gory takes control of. He tags Façade in, who Uno takes control. Double team reverse DDT by The Smash Brothers. Uno comes in, but Façade trips him up onto the second rope. Façade nearly botches a springboard bulldog. Gory and Façade make very frequent tags, but Uno comes back hitting a SICK DDT/reverse STO on them both. Player Dos tags in and hits a spinning plancha to the outside on Façade. Façade foils a double team by standing on his head in the corner. BUDDY MOONSAULT! Uno breaks the pin up. Uno sloppily powerbombs Gory into Façade. The Super Smash Brothers hit Fatality (gory special from Uno/ flip cutter from the top by Dos) at 6 minutes.

Post match: Lenny Leonard interviews the Brothers, but nothing really comes of it.

Analysis: ** It was a fun little sprint, but there were a lot of sloppy moves. Player Uno is very slow seemingly, but Player Dos has a lot of charisma and makes up for his partner’s shortcomings in the ring. Gory and Façade didn’t show me anything either.

Fit Finlay lectures some young wrestlers in the back. Nothing of note here either, but I’m pumped for his match later.

Sugar Dunkerton vs. Silas Young

I haven’t heard of either of these wrestlers. Silas Young comes down to the ring with a basketball, and shit talks Sugar, who waffles Silas with the ball.

Sugar starts with an armbar. Silas tells Sugar to make him laugh while he works over the arm, but Dunkerton gets the better of him. Dunkerton comes back by taking out Young’s knees for 2. Sugar lightens up Young’s chest with chops, but Young drops him on his face after an attempted headscissors. Young goes for some headstanding move off the top, but Dunkerton kicks him off and hits a tope. Young sends Dunkerton into the ringpost to buy himself some time. Young attacks Sugar in the ring and plays to the crowd. Young doesn’t shut the hell up in the ring, and it’s pissing me off. Young calls Dunkerton “boy” non-racist like, and a hilarious fan yells, “Who you callin’ boy?!” Young nails a Perfectplex for two and Silas puts in a resthold. Dunkerton comes back with a lariat for two, with a Northern Light’s Suplex also getting him 2. Young buys himself some time, but Dunkerton hits a nice diving reverse STO for two. Young gets to the ropes after a Koji clutch. Sugar comes back, but Silas hits the Pee Gee Waja Plunge (headstand/springboard moonsault) for three at 9 minutes.

Post-match: Johnny Gargano comes down and talks to Young about how he got him to drink, but he didn’t know of Silas’ past, whatever that is. Young refuses a handshake.

Analysis: **1/4 It wasn’t much of an action packed match, but they told a decent story with Sugar Dunkerton trying to prove he isn’t a joke anymore. Young showed promise, but he needs to shut up in the ring if he wants to be taken seriously. Inoffensive but unmemorable match.

Sami Callihan warms up for his match against Finlay later.

Pinkie Sanchez vs. Lince Dorado

I’ve not heard of either of these guys either, but Pinkie seems to have somewhat of a following evidenced by his crowd reaction early.

Lince Dorado takes control early. Dorado hits a BEAUTIFUL corkscrew armdrag, then fakes Sanchez out with a dive. Pinkie comes back around and Dorado hits a corkscrew plancha. Sanchez dropkicks Dorado in the middle of of a quebrada. Pinkie takes control from there. Dorado kicks Pinkie in his face for a two count shortly thereafter. Sanchez resumes control quickly though. Sanchez starts to work on the leg. Dorado bitch slaps him though. Kevin Steen joins the commentary booth! Sanchez continues to work on the leg. Dorado comes back with a crossbody, but Pinkie takes control again. Mutoh Moonsault misses for Sanchez, and Dorado nails a dropkick. Lince hits a sloppy frankensteiner and a shooting star press for a close two count. Pinkie builds momentum and hits a sweet springboard DDT. Pinkie puts on a figure four leglock and Dorado taps at 9 minutes.

Analysis: **1/4 Nothing of note here really. Pinkie impressed, Dorado impressed, and they had a nice little sprint. I’ve heard a lot about Pinkie Sanchez, but there wasn’t nearly enough here to form a decent opinion. He looked pretty crisp and he was pretty over, so I’ll assume he has a good reputation among the indies.

Post-match: Sanchez shows off his personality, which is that of a jackass, whether it’s intentional or not. It’s funny in a way, but it isn’t going to get him very far.

Jon Davis hypes himself up, taking in Finlay’s words to heart.

Lenny Leonard brings out Larry Dallas (who?) for an interview. Larry brings some big old motherfucker with him. Larry introduces Caleb Konley and Scott Reed, The Scene. Konley used to look a shit ton like Brian Kendrick, but now he looks like a douchebag with a bell cut.

Cheech and Cloudy vs. The Scene

I’ve heard of Cheech and Cloudy, who were in ROH for a cup of coffee.

Cheech and Reed start. Reed takes control and tags Konley early. Cheech buys some time with a jawbreaker. Cloudy (who’s very short) tags in, and gets a two count with a tope con hilo. Cheech tags back in, and they put in a great looking double boston crab. Up in Smoke hits a dropkick/tiger feint kick combo, but Konley takes control of Cheech with a sick slam on the top turnbuckle for two. Reed tags in and kicks Cheech in the face for 2. Konley tags in and puts on a rear chinlock. Cheech tries to take both members of The Scene by himself, and he ends up buying himself some time with a powerslam on Konley. They tag their respective partners. Cloudy takes Konley out of the ring, and hits an AWESOME spinning suicida onto him. Reed hits a crucifix bomb and Cheech breaks the pin. Konley hits a good flurry of strikes and a leg sweep for two. Reed tags in and gets a two count with a jumping elbow. He nails a delayed vertical suplex and Cheech cockily breaks up the pin. Cloudy puts Konley down with a missile dropkick, and tags Cheech, who cleans house. Cheech hits a nice pumphandle suplex on Konley, who lands on Reed. Up in Smoke hits a double enziguri, and Cloudy hits an AWESOME partner assisted DDT. Cloudy nails shotgun knees, but Konley breaks it up and nails a Gory Bomb. Cheech comes in and foils a submission, but Reed comes in and gets two on a Falcon Arrow to Cloudy. Cheech cleans house, sends Konley out, and Cloudy nails Reed with an elbow. Caleb Konley suplexes Cheech on the apron and The Scene hits a DDT/wheelbarrow suplex for a 3 count at 12 minutes.

Analysis: *** Damn, this was a fun match. The double team moves here were something you rarely see, and even though it ended up being a debut pad for The Scene as a team, Cheech and Cloudy took their time to impress. The Scene didn’t shine all that much to me, but they still did good, not botching anything and keeping the crowd into it. Up In Smoke did a fantastic job of putting the transitions in there, and Cloudy is small enough to play a wonderful face-in-peril, even if the heat segment ended early. The sprint to the finish was the icing on the cake. 

Post-match: Larry Dallas and his big ass bodyguard (who Steen and Rob Naylor kindly point out that he is in fact, a large black man) come in and celebrate. The Scene and the aforemention large black man exit the ring with Dallas. CHEECH TURNS ON CLOUDY! Want your statement? There’s your statement says Cheech. Not as good as the Osirian Portal break up at CHIKARA High Noon, but a great segment nonetheless.

Finlay laces up his boots backstage.

Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis

Apparently, Jon Davis is EVOLVE’s new golden boy, along with Johnny Gargano. Bobby Fish came out earlier to talk Steen down, but he also faced Bryan Danielson in the Dragon’s first EVOLVE match.

We start with a technical wrestling exchange. Fish puts in a headlock, but Kevin Steen’s all FUCK YOU BITCHES and wrecks the match at 40 seconds.

Post match: Jon Davis proposes a three way, and the ref agrees. It’s unsactioned. Whoopee. Any Kevin Steen is good Kevin Steen as far as I am concerned.

Bobby Fish vs. Jon Davis vs. Kevin Steen

Davis punks out the referee to start. Fish and Steen go to the floor and brawl it out, soon joined by Davis. Davis and Fish trade kicks, and Steen eventually breaks stuff up with a double face-rake. Now I’m just waiting for Kevin to rape someone in the mouth. I know it’s a morbid thing to say, but independent wrestling does some screwed up stuff nowadays. Davis falls prey to a Steen Codebreaker back in the ring, and Steen follows with a cannonball. Steen heads to the outside with Fish, and Steen powerbombs Bobby on the apron. Davis intervenes and nails a reverse DDT on the apron. Bobby Fish dives out onto Davis. Fish works over Steen in the ring. Davis nails a powerbomb on Fish for a two count, and Steen breaks up their fight, hitting rope hung DDT on Davis for 2. Fish targets Steen’s legs and gives him a Saito Suplex for two. Davis eats a Steen suplex, and Steen eats a spin kick. Davis decides to join the fun and he clotheslines the dick out of Fish. Fish nails an Exploder Suplex, but Kevin breaks up the pin. Kevin puts Bobby in a sharpshooter, but he eats Davis’ boot. Davis puts him down with a Jackhammer, but Fish breaks the pin. Davis is sent to the floor, and Fish counters a package piledrive from Steen. Fish puts in a Fish Hook after a sunset flip. Davis breaks the hold, and Kevin Steen nails Fish right in the grapes. POUNCE BY DAVIS! Argentine Bomb from Davis gets 3 at the 7 minute mark.

Analysis: **3/4 They had a really fun three way, in which the rules didn’t make much impact on the match. They busted out some strong offense, in order to make all three men look good. Davis impressed the most of all with his powerful demeanor and his overall presence made the match a little better weirdly. Not much substance, but they traded high impact moves and had fun.

They promote WWNLive.com, the website EVOLVE, DGUSA, and FIP runs their iPPV’s on.

Tony Nese vs. John Silver

Nese was on Impact a few times last year, and Silver is an unknown commodity.

The two trade basic holds until Nese takes control of Silver’s arm. Silver flips out of it and nails a European uppercut. They miss respective strikes, nail simultaneous dropkicks, and GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! That was a sick exchange though. Nese grabs Silver’s arm, but Silver reverses. Silver goes to work on Nese’s arm. Nese just picks Silver up with one arm and bombs Silver into the buckle. Nese nails a running boot for a two count. Nese bitch slaps Silver, who nearly yells “Aww SHIT.” Silver evades a moonsault, but kicks waffled in the face with a kick on a sunset flip attempt. Silver takes control again, knocking Nese down with an enziguri. Silver eats Nese’s boot in the corner, but drives his knees into Nese’s face on an attempted sunset flip. Nese lariats the hell out of Silver before John can dive to the outside. The two meet in the middle of the ring and trade strikes. Silver hits a springboard tornado DDT for a two count. Nese hits an awesome dead-weight German for a 2 count. This match is great. Silver kicks Nese in the head, but Nese foils a top rope moonsault. SPIDER SUPLEX! I love that move. Silver gets back up and hangs Nese in the tree of woe and he hits a SICK DOUBLE KNEE DROP! That gets a close 2 count. Nese puts Silver in the corner and hits a Ciampa-esque running knee for a 2 count. Silver looks for a reverse hurricanrana, but Nese SMASHES HIS FACE IN THE TURNBUCKLE. Jesus, that looked vicious. Nese hits a sit-out backdrop bomb for a two count. You’d know it if you saw it. Nese nails a couple enziguris that seem to knock Silver out for a second. Nese covers for a two count, but Silver was playing possum and he takes control. Both men ascend the ropes, where Silver crotches Nese. Nese does likewise. They bitch slap each other until Nese gives Silver a vicious kick to knock him down. Silver moves out of the way of a 450 splash, and he hits an inverted Backstabber for the win at 13 minutes.

Analysis: ***1/4 Man, what a great match. They literally went balls out for every single second they were given, and got this hesitant crowd into the match, moreso than any match on the card yet. They no-sold a bit, which detracted from the match a bit, but damned if they didn’t put effort into it. They brought this crowd alive with some awesome moves, and I think we’ve seen a new prospect in John Silver.

Video preview for EVOLVE 7. Jon Moxley had his farewell here, and is now Dean Ambrose, by vote for the future of WWE.

Fit Finlay vs. Sami Callihan

Finlay is probably one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time, but the fact is, is that he is an absolute machine and one of the most productive workers WWE had for the latter part of the decade. I know he fucked up, but WWE shouldn’t have released him for what he did. But oh well. I’ve heard of Sami Callihan, who apparently became EVOLVE’s top heel at EVOLVE 10, the last ever ECW Arena show. He was in ROH for a while too when Adam Pearce was booking.

Finlay knocks Sami on his ass to start. Callihan backs off after Finlay punks him out again. Finlay toys with Callihan in the corner and hits a sick short lariat. You can already tell this match is going to be great. Callihan counters into a headscissors. They stare each other down, and like a badass Finlay just headbutts Callihan. Callihan tries to do the same, but Finlay’s all FUCK YOU HO and puts on an armbar on the mat. Callihan backs off again after a rollup. Sami nails some VICIOUS chops. Jesus, those are sick. Finlay gets pissed and throws Callihan into the corner. Callihan nails some more vicious chops. Finlay tries to go after the legs, but Sami gets to the ropes. Finlay eats a bitch slap, and some more chops. Finlay slides under the ropes and just pulls Callihan out. I am loving this match so far. Finlay works the leg on the outside. Callihan is thrown into the ring, kicks Finlay off, but Finlay whacks him as soon as Callihan gets to the floor again. Callihan takes control and hits two MONSTROUS chops. Back in the ring, Finlay takes control again. Finlay hits a body slam, but makes sure Sami’s knee straddles the rope. Rinse and repeat that spot. Finlay goes to work on the knee masterfully. Finlay puts on a sick Indian deathlock and Callihan eventually gets to the ropes. Sami sells his knee wonderfully as well, and Finlay attacks the knee after distracting the referee. Callihan tries to go toe-to-toe, but Finlay attacks him again. I’m loving the story in this match too. Callihan breaks a Stretch Muffler. Callihan comes back with a pump kick and a DVD for two. Finlay catches a baseball slide, and for his troubles Sami eats the guardrail on the outside. Callihan knocks Finlay down with an enziguri and nails a couple more chops. Jesus, Sami’s chops are killer-esque. Finlay has had enough and he just shoves Callihan over the top rope. Finlay hits a bodyslam to Callihan on the outside. Callihan nails a Saito suplex for a 2 count. Finlay eats a Forearm to Remember, but Finlay grabs the ropes before the ref can count 3. Finlay heads to the outside and dodges a suicide dive as Callihan EATS the guardrail. Jeezus. Finlay foils a top rope move for a 2 count. CELTIC CROSS! One, two, thr—NO! Awesome nearfall there. Crowd and I thought that was the end. Callihan flips him off, so he eats ANOTHER CELTIC CROSS! One, two, th—NO! Callihan flips him off again, so Finlay nails a tombstone piledriver! One, two, three! Finlay picks up the win at 23 minutes.

Analysis: ****1/4 My God, what a match. These two provided something drastically different from any match you’ll ever see on the independent circuit, and it provided an amazing change of pace from the tedious fast paced spotfests you see. They wrestled an old-school match, which was fitting (no pun intended) because of Finlay’s involvement. He has such a grasp on how to work a match, how to play to a crowd, and how to build up sympathy for his opponent. He barely ever got to show these kinds of chops in WWE, and now that he’s on the indies, even at 50+, he shows why he’s one of the best around. Sami Callihan impressed the sam hell out of me here. I was initially confused as to what role he was playing, considering his persona was that of a heel, but as soon as Finlay started beating the holy crap out of him, it was obvious he would play the babyface for this match. He did a wonderful job garnering a little bit of sympathy, but still not looking like a bitch, matching Finlay’s stiff shots with some absolutely SWELTERING chops. Ths story they told here was simple, but highly effective as Finlay played the wily veteran, outsmarting Callihan at every turn, even when Callihan looked to be in control. Callihan was very game here, but Finlay proved that the veteran knows best when he finally finished what was a unique, exquisite old school match. I really want to see more of Finlay in the indies, so that maybe he can bring a change of pace from a lot of the no-selling you see and end up bringing hard-hitting, technical constests that tell a story. I can’t enough wonderful things about this match, so you just have to go see it for yourself.

Post-match: The crowd chants “Thank you Sami” in a nice showing of gratitude. Finlay thanks EVOLVE for the opportunity and Sami for kicking his ass. He puts Sami over as one of the toughest wrestlers he ever faced, which has to be a HUGE compliment, considering who Finlay has been in the ring with. The two embrace on the outside.

Bobby Fish gripes about his inability to win, as he is 1-5 in ROH.

Johnny Gargano vs. Chuck Taylor

I’ve seen Taylor wrestle in PWG, and he is great there, as he displays a lot of charisma. I’ve never heard of Johnny Gargano outside of a few mentions of his time in DGUSA. Larry Dallas comes out and tries to prevent this match from happening. It doesn’t work. No shit, right?

We start with a tie up. Gargano nails a rana, and they reach a stalemate. Not a GENERIC INDY STANDOFF!~! which makes me happy. Johnny puts in a headlock, but Larry Dallas tries to screw with Chuck Taylor and throw in the towel. Gargano pie faces Larry Dallas, and “fires” him. I don’t know what that means here, but okay. Chuck drops Johnny with a dropkick, and hits a missile dropkick moments later. Taylor stretches Gargano. Taylor misses a Stinger Splash and Gargano hits a double stomp, followed by a neckbreaker. Gargano hits a SICK tornado DDT from the apron, but the crowd doesn’t respond, burnt out from Finlay-Callihan. They dodge each other’s moves, and Gargano hits a slingshot spear. Gargano goes to work on Taylor’s shoulder. Taylor comes back with a stunner to stall things for Gargano momentum-wise. They head out to the apron and slug it out there, until Taylor hits a reverse DDT. Taylor leaps off the guardrail onto Gargano (sick spot), and they head back in the ring shortly after. Taylor nails a uranage back in the ring, and gets a two count with a superkick. Gargano nails Taylor with a superkick coming off the ropes, Benjamin-Michaels-esque for a nearfall of his own. Taylor catches Gargano on the top rope and they fight it out up top, and Taylor hits a fallaway slam. Gargano no-sells and puts in a crossface, which Taylor reverses into one of his own. Gargano hits Sliced Bread for 2. Gargano reverses a move into an enziguri, but Taylor pops right back up and misses an Awful Waffle, and Gargano reverses into Emerald Flowsion. Gargano dodges a suplex to the outside, but Taylor counters a slingshot DDT onto the stage! Gargano doesn’t move for a while, but heads back into the ring at 18.  Gargano pops right back up like an idiot for a small package, but to no avail. Taylor goes up top, but Johnny pushes him off and hits a cannonball to the outside. Hurts Donut gets a two count. I’m not digging this match all that much for some reason. Hurts Donut gets another two count, so Gargano puts in a crossface. Gargano hits a superkick, but Taylor nails an Awful Waffle for the abrupt 3 count at 20 minutes.

Analysis: *** I wasn’t as in love with this match as others were. They did a lot of things right and got the crowd into it at the end, but they didn’t build any drama, and when they tried to, they showed no fire or emotion. I was much more impressed with Taylor in PWG than I was here, and while both wrestlers hit their moves well, no emotion was put into what they had to offer. I hate matches that try to be dramatic, but the wrestlers’ faces are monotone throughout the whole match. It defeats the purpose. I thought they worked extremely hard and tried to get the crowd into it—eventually succeeding—but the problems that Richards-Edwards III had were ever so present here, i.e. popping up after high impact moves, needless striking exchanges, and no fire in their actions. However, with all that criticism piled on, I thought they worked their asses off for what it’s worth, and they earned my respect, selling or not. That’s what my rating is for because a lot of wrestlers don’t even give effort. And while flawed, they went 20 minutes, balls out, to try and prove their worth. I’d love to see them go at it again, but this match wasn’t as good as people tend to say it is, much less a MOTYC that I have seen people pimp it as. I do have different tastes and I am much more stingy in indy matches than most people, so take a gander at the match for yourself.

Larry Dallas is fired backstage by Chuck Taylor. Larry promises The Scene big things in their future. And SCENE.

Final Rating?

I give this show an 8 out of 10

Why?

The reason I give this show such a high score is because of it’s consistency. There wasn’t a bad match on the card, and even though there were some short, filler-esque matches, they were all fun in their own way. EVOLVE proves that Gabe Sapolsky can book a wrestling show, as he booked a LOT of variety here. The one reason to watch this show is Finlay-Callihan, which is an absolute spectacle. They had a hard-hitting match that got the crowd fully invested, and burnt them out for the main event, which turned out to be a mild disappointment. Tony Nese and John Silver pulled a spontaneous good match out of themselves, and we saw an interesting angle with Cheech turning on Cloudy, which will lead to an inevitable feud. This show is so fun to watch top-to-bottom, and even if my criticism on a lot of stuff is harsh, it’s all fun to watch as a whole. Big recommendation for EVOLVE 9, which you can pick up at Highspots, DGUSA store, or watch at WWNLive.com.