Evolve 102
1) Austin Theory vs DJZ- DJZ takes Theory to the mat by the arm. They’re back on their feet and trading wristlocks. DJZ hits a hurracanrana but Theory hits a clothesline. DJZ knees him in the gut and hits a back elbow off the turnbuckles. DJZ goes for a dive but Theory sneaks to the other side of the ring and hits a dropkick. Theory stomps on his neck and then hits a standing moonsault. Theory Irish whips DJZ and applies a chinlock. Theory gutwrenches DJZ into a powerbomb. Theory kicks DJZ in the head but DJZ rolls him up. DJZ hits a dropkick and throws some punches. Theory kicks DJZ in the gut but DJZ hits a neckbreaker. DJZ goes for a dive with Theory sneaking to the other side of the ring again. This time, DJZ backdrops him to the floor and hits a tope con giro. DJZ rolls him inside and hits a slingshot splash and a quebrada with Theory getting the knees up. Theory hits a blockbuster for a pin attempt. DJZ hits a chinbreaker and jumps off the top but Theory catches him in a torture rack and spins him into a powerbomb. Theory throws some punches and they trade waistlocks. Theory blocks an O’Connor Roll and a hurracanrana then hits a running forearm. Theory throws a punch but DJZ hits a superkick. Theory clotheslines DJZ who hits a German suplex. Theory gives DJZ a necbkreaker. DJZ hits a back elbow in the corner and goes up top. Theory gets DJZ on his shoulders but DJZ sunset flips him and gives him a DDT for the pinfall. Theory takes the mic and tantrums over the loss. Theory says he’s the FIP World Heavyweight Champion and tomorrow is a different day as he’ll be facing WWN Champion Keith Lee. Theory challenges Lee to put the WWN title on the line and he’ll put the FIP Title on the line. Theory says he’ll take the WWN Championship straight to WWE Axxess and that whether the fans like it or not, Evolve is his stepping stone to WWE.
2) Will Ospreay vs AR Fox- Ospreay misses a head-kick and they tie up. They break and Ospreay kicks him in the gut. They criss-cross and Fox gets a sunset flip. Ospreay goes to the apron and avoids a dive attempt by Fox. They fly around each other at ringside and return to the ring. They both attempt cutters and come to a stalemate. Ospreay hits a hurracanrana and a dropkick. Fox rolls outside and Ospreay fakes a dive. Fox returns inside where Ospreay hits a chop and a kick. Ospreay kicks a member of Fox’s entourage allowing Fox to hit a kick and a cutter. Fox kicks Ospreay in the corner, bodyslams him and works his injured neck. Ospreay fights back but Fox elbows him in the head. Fox hits a twisting suplex and continues to work the neck. Fox applies a chinlock but Ospreay fights out with forearms and hits a handspring front-kick. Ospreay blocks a kick and hits a chinbreaker and kicks Fox in the chest. Ospreay hits a back elbow in the corner then goes for a dropkick that Fox avoids. Ospreay kicks Fox in the ropes and goes to the floor and hits a double dropkick on members of Fox’s entourage. Fox hits Ospreay with a kick-flip off the turnbuckle then gives him a springboard codebreaker in the ring. Fox goes for Sliced Bread #2 but Ospreay throws him off and kicks him in the gut. Ospreay whips Fox into the corner and dropkicks him to the floor. Ospreay then hits a space flying tiger drop to Fox and his entourage. Ospreay rolls Fox inside and hits a springboard forearm and a standing shooting star press. Ospreay goes for a handspring but Fox knocks him to the apron and hits a kick and a springboard cutter. Fox goes up top and misses a swanton. Ospreay full nelsons Fox and kicks him in the face. They trade enzuiguris and Fox hits a German suplex. Fox hits the ropes but Ospreay gets him in a Spanish fly. They trade forearms on their knees and continue to do standing up. Fox hits a knee-strike but Ospreay nails him with a powerbomb. Ospreay hangs Fox on the ropes but Ayla Fox distracts him allowing Fox to hit him with a kick and do the lo mein pain followed by a 450 for a near-fall. Fly goes for a fisherman suplex but Ospreay counters with a cutter. Ospreay goes up top and hits a plancha on the entourage ringside. Ospreay hits a spin-kick in the ring followed by the Oscutter for the pinfall win.
3) Evolve Tag Team Title Scramble: Chris Dickinson and Jaka vs James Drake and Anthony Henry vs Tracy Williams and Domnic Garrini vs Odinson and Parrow- This should be interesting to review. All eight men brawl in the ring. Dickinson and Jaka do Total elimination on Parrow. Garrini and Williams give Odinson a double suplex. Williams DDT’s Odinson on the floor. Henry and Drake take on Dickinson and Jaka. Garrini suplexes Drake. Williams gives Henry a back suplex. Garrini and Williams face off with Dickinson and Jaka but Stokely Hathaway tells Garrini to lie down and he does. Williams breaks up a pin attempt. Dickinson and Jaka go to work on Williams. Dickinson gives Garrini an enzuiguri. Drake trades chops with Dickinson in the corner. Dickinson kickshim in the head. Dickinson and Jaka go to work on Drake including a superplex and splash. Parrow and Odinson come in and chokeslam Dickinson and Jaka and give them a super collider. Odinson hits Drake with chops while Parrow gorilla presses Williams to the floor. Drake gives Odinson and twisting suplex followed by a top rope splash by Henry. Garrini gives Drake a snap suplex. Garrini slams Henry then goes for a choke but Jaka breaks it up. Henry rolls up Garrini and Williams breaks it up. Williams and Garrini go for a double suplex but Henry hits a knee-stirke. Henry gives Garrini a tornado DDT. Dickinson gets Henry on his shoulders and Jaka goes up top but Drake knocks him to the floor. Drake gives Dickinson a twisting DDT and Henry gives him a double stomp. Drake hits a moonsault but Dickinson F5’s Henry onto them to break up the pin. Henry hits a double missile dropkick on Odinson and Parrow. Henry goes to the apron and soccer kicks Drennan. Parrow and Odison gives Henry a double suplex. Parrow gets Henry on his shoulders and Odinson hits him with Hell On Earth (flying back elbow). Parrow and Odinson get the pin on Henry but don’t get the tag titles as they didn’t beat Dickinson or Jaka.
4) Darby Allin vs WWN Champion Keith Lee- They lock up and Lee throws Allin. Allin comes back in and slaps Lee but fails to Irish whip him. Lee charges Allin in the corner and takes a boot to the face. Allin springboard off the ropes and knocks Lee outside. Allin does a dive but Lee catches him up and picks him up for a spirt bomb on the floor but Allin fights out and hits a tope suicida. Allin follows up with a tope con giro. Back in the ring, Allin goes for a springboard back elbow but Lee knocks him away. Lee forearms Allin to the mat. Lee goes for a powerbomb but Allin grabs him in a guillotine. Lee puts Allin down on the apron but Allin guillotines him on the top rope. Lee pulls Allin off the ropes by the back of his pants and throws him across the ring. Lee avalanches him in the corner and then slaps his chest. Lee gives Allin a huge beel throw. Lee misses a charge in the corner and Allin fights back with punches. Lee throws him into the ropes but Allin trips him up and gives him a coffin drop. Allin hits a stunner followed by a springboard into a roll-up. Allin hits two back elbows in the corner but Lee catches him on the third attempt and tosses him overhead. Lee hits a diving crossbody. Lee knocks Allin down with strikes. Allin fights back with strikes but gets knocked down again. Allin continues to throw strikes but Lee knocks him down with an elbow and gives him a spirit bomb. Lee hits an elbow and a spinning headbutt followed by ground zero (jackhammer) for the pinfall. Lee then grabs the mic and says if Austin Theory wants to challenge him to a champion vs champion match he is more than willing to add another belt. Allin then crawls to Lee and asks him to keep kicking his ass. Lee picks him up and throws him down. Candy Cartwright comes out to distract Allin and then Jarek 1:20 attacks Allin.
5) Daisuke Sekimoto and Munenori Sawa vs Walter and Timothy Thatcher- Sawa and Thatcher start and feel each other out with some grappling. They go after each other’s wrists and Thatcher gets his back and applies a chicken wing. Sawa rolls him up and grabs the ankle. Walter and Sekimoto tag in and tie up then dramatically trade chops. They shoulder-block each other a few times until Sekimoto goes down. Sekimoto gets back up but Walter kicks him in the face and bodyslams him. Thatcher tags in and works the back. Walter tags back in and Sekimoto fights back with strikes but gets chopped to the mat. Thatcher is in again and gets Sekimoto in a single leg crab. Walter tags in and stomps Sekimoto’s neck. Walter picks him up and chops him down. Sekimoto gets up and they trade massive chops. Thatcher tags in and gives Sekimoto a Les Artesse Lift. Walter is in and charges Sekimoto who tries to bodyslam him but Walter gets out and they trade more chops. Sekimoto hits a clothesline. Thatcher and Sawa tag in and trade rapid strikes. Sawa backs Thatcher into the corner and hits lightning-quick strikes. Sawa kicks Thatcher and then does a double dragon-screw legwhip on Thatcher and Walter. Sekimoto tags in and gives Thatcher two cross-knee backbreakers. Sekimoto puts him in a Boston Crab and Sawa applies an armbar at the same time. Walter breaks it up with a chop. Sawa gives Thatcher a power drive elbow and works over Thatcher’s knee. Sekimoto and Sawa double-team Thatcher in the corner and Sekimoto starts stomping away on him. Sekimoto and Thatcher trade chops and Sekimoto headbutts him. Sekimoto goes for a suplex but Thatcher floats over and hits an enzuiguri and then hits another one on Sawa. Walter tags in and throws some chops. He gets Sekimoto’s back but Sawa makes the save. Walter hits them with clotheslines and then gives Sawa a German suplex and a butterfly suplex. Walter and Sekimoto trade strikes and Sekimoto bodyslams him. Sekimoto goes up top and hits Walter with a missile dropkick. Sekimoto gives Walter a German suplex. Walter blocks a lariat and trades a ton of chops with Sekimoto. Walter hits a kick to the face but Sekimoto hits an elbow and they collide and fall to the mat. Thatcher and Sawa tag in and trade strikes again including slaps to the face. Sawa hits a head-kick. Sawa goes for a big punch but misses and Thatcher grabs him in a Fujiwara armbar. Thatcher hits knee-strikes and hammerfists and goes for a suplex but Sawa blocks and hits the punch. Sawa puts Thatcher in an octopus. Sekimoto puts Walter in a torture rack. Walter and Thatcher escape and apply sleepers but get thrown into each other. Sawa and Sekimoto hit stereo punches. They Irish whip Thatcher into the corner and hit a lariat followed by a double suplex. Walter takes over and hits a suplex followed by a kojira clutch. Thatcher holds off Sekimoto and Sawa taps for the RIngkampf victory. Both teams shake hands after the match. Stokely Hathaway then comes out and gives then 24 hours to back out of their tag title match tomorrow Catch Point. Darby Allin comes out and says to Walter that they shouldn’t wait until tomorrow but he gets beat up by Thatcher and Walter anyway.
6) Evolve Title: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Matt Riddle- They circle and Riddle geos after the leg. Sabre goes for a cross armbreaker but they stand up. Riddle gets his back but Sabre goes for the ankle. Riddle fights out and they trade submission attempts until getting caught up in the ropes. Sabre takes control of Riddle’s arms and rolls him up but Riddle goes for a cross armbreaker attempt. Sabre rolls into an ankle-lockand Riddle grabs the ropes. Riddle monkey flips Sabre into a cross armbreaker but Sabre grabs the ropes. Sabre takes Riddle down by the ankle but Riddle gets the ropes again. Riddle gives Sabre two gutwrench suplexes followed by a senton. Riddle kicks Sabre in the corner and hits him with running elbows. Sabre manages to get Riddle’s ankle. Riddle gets the rope break but Sabre jumps up and stomps Riddle’s ankle. Sabre twists up Riddle’s leg and grabs a leglock and armbar. Riddle escapes but Sabre grabs him in another leglock/armbar and Riddle gets the rope break. Riddle throws an up-kick but Sabre stomps his knee. Sabre grabs an ankle-lock and starts twisting Riddle’s toes. Riddle chops his way out and starts throwing elbows but Sabre sweeps his legs. Riddle goes for a tornado DDT but Sabre grabs him in a bodyscissors/armbar and goes for a cross armbreaker. They trade uppercuts and strikes. Riddle throws a flurry of chops and an up-kick. Riddle goes for a German suplex but Sabre counters into a guillotine. Riddle gives him a fisherman buster. Sabre grabs a kimura but Riddle hits a fisherman buster and cradles him. Riddle goes for the Bro 2 Sleep but Sabre escapes, goes for a rear naked choke and goes for an armbar. Riddle escapes and goes for a cross armbreaker. Sabre gets out and gets the ankle. Riddle lifts Sabre who hits an up-kick. Riddle suplexes him with one arm. They go to opposite corners and charge each other with Sabre hitting a series of uppercuts. Riddle goes for a slam but Sabre rolls him up. Riddle goes for a choke but Sabre rolls him up again. Riddle powerbombs Sabre who goes to the ropes. Sabre is on the mat and Riddle kicks him in the chest repeatedly. Riddle charges but Sabre takes him down. Riddle grabs a rear naked choke but Sabre floats over into a pin attempt. Sabre hits two penalty kicks for pin attempts and then grabs a kneebar submission attempt but Riddle gets to the ropes for a break. Riddle kicks his leg and works over the knee. Riddle gets to his feet and Sabre uppercuts and slaps him. Riddle slaps him down and hits a knee-strike. Riddle hits a Bro 2 Sleep followed by a bridging German suplex. Riddle hits a senton and goes up top. Riddle does a top rope senton but Sabre catches him in a cross armbreaker attempt and goes after the leg as well. Riddle attempts a pin and Sabre flies at him in a triangle attempt and transitions into an octopus. Riddle goes for a tombstone but gets caught in another octopus. Riddle then gives Sabre a Gotch-style tombstone. Riddle goes for a Bromission but Sabre counters into a brutal leglock. Riddle fights out and applies a Bromission and Sabre taps to give Riddle the championship victory. They did a great job on commentary of going over the history between the two as well as what Sabre accomplished in New Japan in March. Sabre presents the Evolve Championship to Riddle who celebrates with the title. Sabre goes for a handshake but Riddle insists on fist-bumping instead which they do.
Everything on this show was at least good. Sawa and Sekimoto vs Thatcher and Walter was great and I really hope Sawa is back for more than just this weekend as he is a great fit for the promotion. Walter and Thatcher have to be one of the best tag teams in the world. And then I loved the main event thinking it was the perfect title change at the perfect time. I would actually rate this as my #3 match of the year, behind Gargano vs Almas and Omega vs Jericho and it’s a match worth going out of your way to see.
