Fred Yehi was the latest challenger for Timothy Thatcher as EVOLVE’s February weekender started in Maryland.
All of tonight’s matches were “first time in EVOLVE” affairs, which made for a refreshing line-up.
Anthony Henry vs. Matt Riddle
Oh yay, Henry had the wXw overdub theme that he always uses on WWN. Matt Riddle had the PROGRESS Atlas title around his neck since he’s blissfully wedded to that belt it seems.
Riddle grappled Henry into the ropes in the early going, but Henry tried for a guillotine choke – only for Riddle to roll into the ropes to get free. A roundhouse kick from Henry knocked Riddle loopy, as he followed up with a powerslam for just a one-count, before laying into the Bro with kicks and chops.
Riddle comes back with a knee strike as Henry went for a springboard off the ropes, then landed a German suplex and a leaping forearm, before an Exploder placed Henry firmly on the defensive. A leaping back senton gets a two-count, before Riddle tosses Henry around with a series of rolling gutwrench suplexes, finishing with a Doctor Bomb for another two-count.
Henry came back with more chops and forearms in the corner, before catching a leapover and dumped Riddle to the outside with a TKO-style of move. A low-pe knocked Riddle into the guard rails, before a tope con hilo kept the Atlas champion down. Back inside, a superkick and an Air Raid Crash gets a near-fall for Henry, but he looked to follow up off the top rope and fell into a Kimura… only to counter it with a cross-arm breaker as Riddle struggled to sink it in.
From there, Henry gets a DDT then rolls up into another cross-arm breaker that Riddle gets out of. They go back to the strikes, with Henry winning out with a kick and a snap German off the ropes, following up with a second German and a Vertebreaker… but Riddle flips out and takes down Henry with an up-kick. The Bro-to-Sleep is blocked and countered with a fold-up Regal-plex, as a brainbuster almost snatches the W for Henry.
Henry peppers Riddle with some kicks, but Riddle gets up and powers through with some more forearms and chops as they continued to go back-and-forth. A massive forearm smash rocks Riddle, but he launches into Henry with a springboard knee strike, before a Fisherman’s buster and the Tombstone slam give way to the Bro-mission for the tap-out. A fun back-and-forth outing, but this crowd barely made a peep, which is worrying. ***½
After the match, Riddle cut a promo saying that he wanted to win the FIP, EVOLVE and WWN titles this year… but first he’s got to get rid of Drew Galloway. He calls out Drew, but the rest of Catch Point come out instead to save Riddle from himself, and make sure the focus is directed onto Fred Yehi ahead of his EVOLVE title shot.
Chris Dickinson calls out the Gatekeepers, but instead we get Larry Dallas. Because whomever’s putting this show together hates us. Dallas stirs the pot by saying that whomever wins that Dickinson/Jaka vs. Gatekeepers match should be getting a title shot… at Yehi and Williams’ tag title belts. They all end up shaking hands, then disappear to the back.
Austin Theory vs. Darby Allin
We start with Theory trying to ragdoll Allin… but there’s a fair bit of stalling so the cameras can stop and focus on Priscilla Kelly at ringside. Oh God, they’re bleeding over Uncle John’s Friends aren’t they? Allin springboards into the ring and takes down Theory with a monkey flip, before his crossbody is caught… we then get a Coffin Drop onto Theory from a support column, but Austin comes back by throwing Allin to the outside and tried for a springboard moonsault. Except Theory overshot massively and landed in the crowd!
The crowd chanted “he’s okay” as Theory got back into the ring, following up with a running shooting star press for a near-fall over the Seattle youngster, but Allin comes back with a springboard ‘rana off the middle ropes. Another Coffin Drop out of the corner is caught and turned into the Unproven Cutter, and that’s all folks. Allin looked alright here, but perhaps a little on the choreographed side with his stunts, but this was fine. **¾
Jason Kincaid vs. Ethan Page
Page had his Gatekeepers out with him, but he was making light work of Kincaid early on with slams, before Kincaid escapes a side headlock by walking out on his hands.
Ethan tried to kick a meditating Kincaid, but it was caught and placed down on the mat carefully, before Kincaid sent Page to the outside, then landed an uppercut and a headscissor… walking up the ropes before scoring the takedown. Kincaid aborts another dive, but gets suckered into a false sense of security as Page was talking with his Gatekeepers, eventually taking a suplex onto the apron.
Back inside, Page stomps on Kincaid’s hands, then on Kincaid’s legs before dropping a fist onto him for a near-fall. A jawbreaker gets Kincaid some breathing space, before he blocks an RK-Ego and lands a springboard blockbuster to score an eventual two-count. An overhead kick rocks Page who comes back with a back elbow, only to get clotheslined through the ropes as Kincaid hits a slingshot neckbreaker for a near-fall.
Page tries to charge at Kincaid, but misses in the corner as we get a tornado DDT for a near-fall. Ethan blocks a submission attempt, then drills Kincaid with a forearm and an Iconoclasm, as the Tanned Sheamus kick gets a near-fall. An attempt at the Spinning Dwayne is elbowed out of, then rolled out of, as Page instead lands a reverse tiltawhirl slam off the ropes.
Kincaid hits a slingshot off the ropes into a Stunner, but Page rolls to the floor, where he takes a slingshot X-Factor to the floor. Kincaid climbs up that support column, but Page powerbombs him off it into the ring, then follows up with the RK-Ego, and that’s enough for the win. Decent stuff, with both men getting their stuff in… and again, I don’t get why Ethan Page has his haters. He’s not a technical wizard (man!), but he’s good at the act he’s portraying. ***¼
Chris Dickinson and Jaka hit the ring almost immediately, and I guess we’re segueing to the next match!
The Gatekeepers vs. Chris Dickinson & Jaka
Again, the Gatekeepers have no names, so in the interests of not flagging up race, I’m going by “bald” and “not bald”.
The two team’s baldies go at it in the ring, whilst Jaka and not-bald pair off, ending up with not-bald taking a double shoulder tackle. The Gatekeepers come back by taking down Dickinson with a forearm and a discus lariat for a near-fall, then again with an avalanche clothesline for another two-count.
Not-bald Gatekeeper tags in, but the Gatekeepers get knocked down with stereo German suplexes as Jaka goes for a pescado… which not-bald catches before throwing him into the apron. Dickinson tries to help but takes a big boot for a near-fall from bald Gatekeeper, and we’re back to him being worked over again.
Jaka distracts the referee, which delays a cover on Dickinson sufficiently for him to kick out at one, as he mounts something of a comeback on not-bald, finishing with a double clothesline. Finally, Jaka makes the hot tag, throwing not-bald onto his head with an Exploder suplex for a two-count, before both Catch Point members go after bald, taking him off the apron with a superkick.
Not-bald tries to chokeslam Jaka, but he’s met with a Dickinson enziguiri and a roundhouse kick, before Jaka returns with a diving knee that’s gets a two-count as bald breaks up the pin. Bald Gatekeeper throws Jaka into the post, as Dickinson runs into a Bossman Slam and a double-chokeslam… but that’s still only good for a two-count.
The Gatekeepers try to finish off Dickinson with a back suplex, but he flips out before a Doomsday Side Effect from Jaka picks up the win. Again, not horrible by any means, but this match struggled to captivate me. Those Gatekeepers need names damnit! **¼
ACH vs. Tracy Williams
Williams tries for a reverse Judo throw early on, but ACH lands on his feet as the pair go through a feeling-out process. A headlock takedown gets Williams a near-fall, before he goes to a toe-hold that ACH pushes out of.
Williams counters a leapfrog into a roll-up for a near-fall as the back-and-forth continued. A knee bar is fought out of by ACH, who leaps into another side headlock, then cartwheels away into a dropkick for a near-fall. ACH keeps up the pressure with some chops to Williams in the corner, but a shotgun dropkick from Williams gets him back into the match. From there, Williams nails a butterfly superplex for a near-fall, but he’s quickly met with some chops from ACH, before a side slam cuts him off. An armbar attempt is speedily broken up via an ACH rope breaks, as they go to the outside, where Williams gets caught and thrown into the apron by the quicker ACH.
A pescado from ACH keeps Williams down, before he tries for a big splash off the top, only to leap into Williams’ boots for a near-fall. Williams follows up with a modified chinlock, which turns into a side Russian legsweep from the EVOLVE tag team champion, who keeps up the attack with kicks at ACH. They trade leapovers in the corner, before Williams kicks at ACH, who replies with an upkick out of the corner.
ACH gets the better of a chopping battle, before he sends Williams onto the apron and follows up with a springboard dropkick. A PK off the apron takes Williams down, but back in the ring, ACH goes for that big splash again, and this time is smart to the big boot from Williams, whose crossbody is caught and turned into a swinging backbreaker.
More chops from ACH keep Williams at bay, but “Hot Sauce” fights out of a superplex attempt, and goes for an armbar on the top rope. ACH fights out, only to get shoved to the mat, where he eventually rolls onto the apron and falls to the floor. Williams drags him back in by the arm, and drills ACH with a back suplex for a two-count.
ACH mounts another comeback with a bicycle kick and a clothesline, before he flicks back out of a lariat and hits a brainbuster for the win. I was torn with this match – technically it was fine, but this crowd was largely dead for it, and neither guy seemed to do much to change things. ***
There seems to be an awkward jump-cut a Larry Dallas comes onto the stage to confront Tracy Williams over his loss. He asks Williams if Fred Yehi’s ready for his match tonight, but all we can see is silhouettes as there’s no lighting on the stage, and Williams pretty much doesn’t answer the question.
Jeff Cobb vs. Drew Galloway
Drew’s paranoid descent into madness continued here in Joppa, which is as good a place as any for it to happen, to be honest.
The big lads’ match starts with Cobb ragdolling Galloway with waistlocks, but the Scotsman comes back by taking Cobb into the corner with some chops, before his crossbody is caught and turned into a big suplex. Galloway takes a walk, but that suckers Cobb in as he’s chopped across the crowd barriers, only to reply with an Irish whip that sent Drew into the post.
Galloway gets a receipt when he posts Cobb off the apron, as the Scotsman takes Cobb under the ring for a slingshot choke into some of the supports underneath the ring. A single-arm DDT sees Galloway start to target the arm in what was the first sustained period of pressure from the former champion. Cobb makes a comeback with a dropkick and a standing shooting star press for a near-fall, but his Tour of the Islands slam was lost because of the damage done to the arm, as Galloway capitalised on his earlier work. The pair trade strikes and headbutts back and forth, before another dropkick gets Drew a near-fall.
A swinging back suplex sees Galloway’s superkick attempt end badly, as he’s forced to kick out of a German suplex, but he ends up going for a backslide… which also goes badly until he flips over using the turnbuckles, landing a Futureshock DDT on impact for the win. Another decent outing, and at least the crowd woke up for this, but this felt like neither man got out of second gear here. ***½
After the match, Galloway gets the microphone and taunts Riddle’s lack of words towards him. Galloway calls out Riddle, who answers the challenge, and they go at it! The preview for their match at EVOLVE 79 ends with Galloway throwing Riddle into Cobb, who delivers a Tour of the Islands slam to his Chosen Bro partner… just as Catch Point come out to make the save.
Keith Lee vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Zack looks to be almost half of Keith Lee’s size here, which makes for an intriguing contest as he tries to grapevine Lee to the mat… but Keith withstands it and pulls Zack back up into a knuckle-lock… a hold that Sabre bridges out of, then breaks and rebuilds, despite having Lee on top of him!
My feed stutters like crazy (come on FloSlam, New Japan World doesn’t even buffer this badly), as Lee lands a backbreaker and a big clothesline to Sabre, before he takes Sabre into the corner for some clubbing blows and buffering. Lee just stands on Sabre, but he can’t turn that into a pinning attempt, so we just get some more shots.
Sabre worked around Lee into a sleeperhold, then an armbar attempt as it looked like Zack was mounting a climbing frame… except this frame replied with a bear hug, then tried to push Sabre through the ropes to the outside with a boot. After getting back in, Sabre took a massive chop, then had to fight out of a bear hug as he went back to using his speed to outsmart Lee… who then just bulldozes into him with a shoulder tackle.
Zack tries to come back by manipulating Lee’s wrists, but he just gets sent into the corner for an avalanche. Another avalanche misses, as Sabre lights him up with forearms, before he’s just charged back up to the top rope, where Sabre lands an uppercut, then a diving dropkick to finally take Lee off his feet. A PK succeeds for a two-count, but Lee launches Zack into the air from that kick-out!
Sabre comes back with an up-kick to the arm, then an Octopus, but once again Lee’s able to overpower him. An armbar’s turned into a pop-up powerbomb that almost wins it, before Zack leaps out of a second one and launches into Lee with corner uppercuts and forearms. He tries to wheelbarrow the big guy, and it actually works as he rolls into a near-fall, before Sabre hangs off of Lee with an armbar, which is then turned into a Death Valley Driver X Jackhammer-like slam called Ground Zero for the win! That was a huge surprise win, as Sabre lost to the man-monster Lee. I really enjoyed this, particularly all the ways Sabre was trying to wear down Lee to get a submission on, but in the end, Lee was just too powerful on this day ***¾
Stokely Hathaway comes out – with the EVOLVE title – as he goes on about “change in EVOLVE” and asks fans to play Usher’s “Confessions”… because they’ll need something to listen to when Fred Yehi fails to win tonight. Sabre’s still in the ring as Timothy Thatcher comes out for our main event…but Zack swears that he’ll win the title tomorrow night, and whomever has it will have to hand it to him. Huh…
EVOLVE Championship: Timothy Thatcher (c) vs. Fred Yehi
Almost all of Catch Point were at ringside supporting Yehi… with Matt Riddle not present, and highlighted as such.
As you’d expect with Thatcher, this started off with grappling as he instantly went for a Kimura, only for Yehi to escape and mount Thatcher’s back, ending with the champion grabbing a heel hook instead. The back mount leads to Yehi rolling him up for a near-fall, before Thatcher grabbed an ankle from the kick-out as the grappling continued.
This match, like a lot of Thatcher’s, resembles more of a MMA fight than a wrestling contest, as Thatcher keeps Yehi grounded with some knees to the ribs, before going into a chinlock. More strikes keep Yehi on his knees, but he finally makes a comeback with some chops before Yehi launches into his stomp-based offence on Thatcher. Yehi scores a two-count out of a snap suplex, before an uppercut doubles over the champion, only for Thatcher to drop to a knee to block a powerbomb.
More stomps from Yehi get him free, but Thatcher quickly drops him with a back suplex, before transitioning into a sleeperhold with some fish-hooking for good measure. Yehi fights back, only to get a back elbow off the ropes, before he’s forced to fight up out of another grounded submission. A butterfly suplex is blocked, as Yehi lands dropkicks to the leg and head for a near-fall, which is where the challenger starts to take over as he peppers the head of Thatcher with shots.
Thatcher counters some bodyscissors with another ankle lock, but Yehi rolls him over into some more clubbing shots, forcing the champion to cover up and reach for the ropes to end a period of serious trouble… that the crowd hardly acknowledged. From there, Thatcher goes all Ronnie Garvin with stomps to Thatcher’s legs, throwing in an Indian deathlock for the hell of it as well.
A forearm from the ground up frees Thatcher, but Yehi comes back with a forearm off the ropes before he teased giving Thatcher a taste of his own medicine, only to counter a gutwrench with a German suplex for a two-count. Yehi’s piledriver’s blocked and met with a forearm, then a belly-to-belly off the ropes by Thatcher, whilst Stokely Hathaway continued to praise someone up above for Thatcher retaining the title.
Thatcher gets those gutwrenches in for a near-fall, then a butterfly suplex for another two-count, only for Yehi to come back with a rolling elbow for a near-fall. Yehi slingshots into the ring to nail a dropkick as he unsighted Thatcher, before landing another German suplex… then his powerbomb for a near-fall. From there, Yehi gets the Koji Clutch, but he’s way too close to the ropes as Thatcher’s legs easily got the ropes.
After getting back to his feet, Thatcher turned a missed lariat into a sleeper, but he was taken down as Yehi went for another Koji Clutch, only to end up getting taken down in a Bully Choke for a flash submission. Well, the crowd barely made a peep again, but this was another technically fine, yet unremarkable title defence from Thatcher, who instantly headed to the back after the win. ***¾
With Thatcher gone, the post-match stuff sees Chris Dickinson and Jaka stare longingly at Yehi and Tracy Williams’ tag titles before handing them over, as the show ended on a rather cold note.
Whilst not a bad show, EVOLVE 78 was hurt by the dead crowd for the first part of the show, with perhaps the first-time-only exhibition matches not playing well with the Joppa crowd. Out of the two, Sunday’s EVOLVE 79 was easily the better of the two (going on feedback from the shows), but since this show is already available to you with your FloSlam subscription, it’s not that bad. Perhaps more for the completionists than anything else, unless the card tickles your fancy…