Met William Regal
-It was an honor to meet him. Absolute class act as an ambassador for WWE and NxT. Had a quick conversation about his 1997 match with Ultimo Dragon for the WCW Television Championship and his 2004 promo aimed at Triple H about Eugene. Such a wonderful person, especially for such a despicable heel.
Tommy End def. Tracy Williams
-Dan and I came into the match about 3/4 of the way through the match, so we didn't get too much into it. Stiff strikes as to be expected between the Anti-Hero and Hot Sauce. End won with a submission, I think it was either a Half or Boston Crab.
-The cute British announcer Joanna Rose got a nice chant. It was great that she was able to compose herself with business as usual, considering Joey Styles' comments the night before that led to his firing.
-Dan and I came into the match about 3/4 of the way through the match, so we didn't get too much into it. Stiff strikes as to be expected between the Anti-Hero and Hot Sauce. End won with a submission, I think it was either a Half or Boston Crab.
-The cute British announcer Joanna Rose got a nice chant. It was great that she was able to compose herself with business as usual, considering Joey Styles' comments the night before that led to his firing.
Jaka def. Darby Allin
-This was the first official match for Evolve 73. It came off of Darby Allin interrupting Stokely Hathaway.
You see, Hathaway was telling the audience that Timothy Thatcher wasn't going to be defending his Evolve Championship against Tony Nese due to the damage from the previous night's title defense against Drew Gulak. (BOOOOOOO). Jaka wasn't involved with Hathaway, but had a match against Allin after the night before, where Jaka had defeated Darby in a tag team match alongside tag partner Chris Dickinson. Solid match live....(insert analysis after watching the match through WWN's eyes.)
-This was the first official match for Evolve 73. It came off of Darby Allin interrupting Stokely Hathaway.
You see, Hathaway was telling the audience that Timothy Thatcher wasn't going to be defending his Evolve Championship against Tony Nese due to the damage from the previous night's title defense against Drew Gulak. (BOOOOOOO). Jaka wasn't involved with Hathaway, but had a match against Allin after the night before, where Jaka had defeated Darby in a tag team match alongside tag partner Chris Dickinson. Solid match live....(insert analysis after watching the match through WWN's eyes.)
Jason Kincaid def. Icarus
-I got to heckle Icarus (BUCKET LIST!). Back when F.I.S.T was still a concept in Chikara, Icarus was the only member of that team that I admittedly didn't give many cares about. He was awesome when he came back as a face in 2014's reboot of Chikara. But, I yelled out a cheap shot about not having his signature water bottle and got a nice Nazmaldun glare back. (YES!) Kincaid looks like a pirate. It was a pretty short and average match...UNTIL THE last few moves. Holy crap Kincaid is cool! He hit this crazy dive, followed by a reverse double foot stomp off one of the poles.
(Turned out, the move was a tope suicida into a sitting cutter. SICK!)
-I got to heckle Icarus (BUCKET LIST!). Back when F.I.S.T was still a concept in Chikara, Icarus was the only member of that team that I admittedly didn't give many cares about. He was awesome when he came back as a face in 2014's reboot of Chikara. But, I yelled out a cheap shot about not having his signature water bottle and got a nice Nazmaldun glare back. (YES!) Kincaid looks like a pirate. It was a pretty short and average match...UNTIL THE last few moves. Holy crap Kincaid is cool! He hit this crazy dive, followed by a reverse double foot stomp off one of the poles.
(Turned out, the move was a tope suicida into a sitting cutter. SICK!)
Ethan Page def. Chris Dickinson
-This match didn't do it for me. Nothing against either competitor. Maybe it was because I was looking forward to a package piledriver, but while the smack talk was good...these two brutes just didn't click for that night. (Dickinson's tights were smaller than I thought live. Page is still pretty cool)
-This match didn't do it for me. Nothing against either competitor. Maybe it was because I was looking forward to a package piledriver, but while the smack talk was good...these two brutes just didn't click for that night. (Dickinson's tights were smaller than I thought live. Page is still pretty cool)
Drew Gulak def. Zack Sabre Jr.
-A match that I enjoyed, but also understood that this was completely a niche match. You can only ground and rest hold for so long. It was fun to watch, but admittedly could have been more if it had a slightly more frantic period like their CWC 2nd Round matchup. Gulak winning was fantastic. (Yeah, 30 minutes of ground work and rest holds when simplified is very hard to stomach and digest, especially if you don't have the time to analyze it)
-A match that I enjoyed, but also understood that this was completely a niche match. You can only ground and rest hold for so long. It was fun to watch, but admittedly could have been more if it had a slightly more frantic period like their CWC 2nd Round matchup. Gulak winning was fantastic. (Yeah, 30 minutes of ground work and rest holds when simplified is very hard to stomach and digest, especially if you don't have the time to analyze it)
Chris Hero def. Matt Riddle
-I think I chanted at least three to seven different inflections on the word...."BRO" and admittedly was a flip-flop fan for this match. If it was time to cheer for Riddle, ALL THE BROS came out but if it was time to cheer for Hero, well....as the fans say "CHRIS HERO AIN'T NUTHIN' to F*** WITH!" Hands down the match of the night that would have translated well on both the Indies and The WWE Main Roster. Back and forth action, with a decisive victory. Fantastic to watch both on FloSports TV OR Live. Just amazing how good Riddle is for just under a Year of experience and how amazing Chris Hero is live. Considering he's supposedly going back to WWE soon, no one deserves the second opportunity more than Hero.
-I think I chanted at least three to seven different inflections on the word...."BRO" and admittedly was a flip-flop fan for this match. If it was time to cheer for Riddle, ALL THE BROS came out but if it was time to cheer for Hero, well....as the fans say "CHRIS HERO AIN'T NUTHIN' to F*** WITH!" Hands down the match of the night that would have translated well on both the Indies and The WWE Main Roster. Back and forth action, with a decisive victory. Fantastic to watch both on FloSports TV OR Live. Just amazing how good Riddle is for just under a Year of experience and how amazing Chris Hero is live. Considering he's supposedly going back to WWE soon, no one deserves the second opportunity more than Hero.
Catch Point (Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams) def. Chris Hero(Replacement for Drew Galloway) & DUSTIN, Drew Gulak & Tony Nese, and The Gatekeepers (Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch) to win the EVOLVE Tag Team Championships
-Fun match to end the in-ring activities. It was cool to see Chuck Taylor/DUSTIN wrestle live....marked out like a fangirl to no end. Dustin getting both the win and the loss was a mixed bag of euphoria and disappointment. Yehi's Koji Clutch as a finisher really shouldn't be a finisher.....but it was a good match overall. Interesting storyline points with Gulak leaving the new EVOLVE Tag Champs high and dry due to "Catchpoint being a failure."
-Fun match to end the in-ring activities. It was cool to see Chuck Taylor/DUSTIN wrestle live....marked out like a fangirl to no end. Dustin getting both the win and the loss was a mixed bag of euphoria and disappointment. Yehi's Koji Clutch as a finisher really shouldn't be a finisher.....but it was a good match overall. Interesting storyline points with Gulak leaving the new EVOLVE Tag Champs high and dry due to "Catchpoint being a failure."
William Regal comes out and presents a WWE Contract to Tony Nese
-Wonderful moment, and Nese's speech wasn't too bad.
Met Zack Sabre Jr. , Chuck Taylor, Chris Hero, and Matt Riddle
-I got really nervous as I walked up to Sabre Jr's part of the merchandise table, got the last Leaders of the New School Shirt that had Sabre and longtime tag partner Marty Scurll's faces on it. I mentioned that the first time I had seen him wrestle and talk was Chikara's 2011 King of Trios, and even got a chance to quote the pre-match promo....to which he revealed "I never did get to meet those Ice Cream fellows." Mentioning BOLA 2014 and getting a shameless selfie (five minutes after I left, because I turned around and saw a family just get a photo with him for no cash)....Bucket List check 2 on the night.
-I gushed and nearly cried (yup....felt the tears coming) when I met DUSTIN/Chuck Taylor. After discovering ROH, I was wondering around YouTube and found a ridiculous video of some southern dumb heel throwing an invisible grenade at a bunch of wrestlers dressed up as ants. And the indy wrestling obsession officially began. If it wasn't for that video, I would have never found out who that southern jerk was....and how much I enjoyed hearing kids cry at wrestling shows. I wouldn't have discovered Johnny Gargano until later, I wouldn't have discovered Icarus...or Dragon Gate USA...which meant not discovering Rich Swann, or Luke Harper. Simply put, there are 2 guys I owe my obssesion with Indy Wrestling to: Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) and DUSTIN (Chuck Taylor).....well Colt Cabana also gets credit for his podcast but that's another day.
-It was surreal to talk to Chris Hero afterwards. Man, I couldn't believe I was talking about Podcasting and World of Sport with him. It was SO COOL! Still geeking out, and he gave me a twitter page to find, so I could find this gigantic playlist of Japanese Matches that I had yet to see. (I'm sad to say I'm only 1/8th of the way through right now) I would love to be able to talk to Hero 1 more time before his run, but still it was amazing!
-Finally, my friend and I got to have a fantastic conversation with Matt Riddle. Dude is as chill as his Mushroom tattoo on his person. The dude is equally as chill out of the ring as he is in the ring. He talked to us as just more bros and we talked about his potential calling with WWE later on and his part in the PWG Battle of Los Angeles. My god he made a fan out of me, and it was before I saw the footage of his face turn in Evolve. Recently, I saw how well he was being received internationally considering that not only did he get a huge reaction in Progress Wrestling, but he beat Will Ospreay and then competed for the Progress World Championship....in his first night with the company. Awesomeness there man....awesomeness.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show and it was equally as cool as WWE BattleGround. Ecstatic to go back in February.
-I gushed and nearly cried (yup....felt the tears coming) when I met DUSTIN/Chuck Taylor. After discovering ROH, I was wondering around YouTube and found a ridiculous video of some southern dumb heel throwing an invisible grenade at a bunch of wrestlers dressed up as ants. And the indy wrestling obsession officially began. If it wasn't for that video, I would have never found out who that southern jerk was....and how much I enjoyed hearing kids cry at wrestling shows. I wouldn't have discovered Johnny Gargano until later, I wouldn't have discovered Icarus...or Dragon Gate USA...which meant not discovering Rich Swann, or Luke Harper. Simply put, there are 2 guys I owe my obssesion with Indy Wrestling to: Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) and DUSTIN (Chuck Taylor).....well Colt Cabana also gets credit for his podcast but that's another day.
-It was surreal to talk to Chris Hero afterwards. Man, I couldn't believe I was talking about Podcasting and World of Sport with him. It was SO COOL! Still geeking out, and he gave me a twitter page to find, so I could find this gigantic playlist of Japanese Matches that I had yet to see. (I'm sad to say I'm only 1/8th of the way through right now) I would love to be able to talk to Hero 1 more time before his run, but still it was amazing!
-Finally, my friend and I got to have a fantastic conversation with Matt Riddle. Dude is as chill as his Mushroom tattoo on his person. The dude is equally as chill out of the ring as he is in the ring. He talked to us as just more bros and we talked about his potential calling with WWE later on and his part in the PWG Battle of Los Angeles. My god he made a fan out of me, and it was before I saw the footage of his face turn in Evolve. Recently, I saw how well he was being received internationally considering that not only did he get a huge reaction in Progress Wrestling, but he beat Will Ospreay and then competed for the Progress World Championship....in his first night with the company. Awesomeness there man....awesomeness.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show and it was equally as cool as WWE BattleGround. Ecstatic to go back in February.
