EVOLVE 51: Results and 5 Great Moments

EVOLVE 51 is in the books, here’s the results, some reactions, and five great moments from last night.

Last night (Nov. 6, 2015) EVOLVE 51 was an action-packed event that showed a promotion that understands how to entertain every type of wrestling fan by showcasing its roster in a variety of styled matches. Aside from the solid performances by their talent, we began to see WWE’s slight influence on Evolve, in both subtle, and not so subtle ways.

Part way through the show the announcers (Lenny Leonard and Rob Naylor) actually plugged both NXT and the WWE Network, sneaking in the whole “$9.99” bit, as well. At the end of the night Drew Galloway came out to challenge EVOLVE champion, Timothy Thatcher, to a title match and closed the night with “now that’s best for business!” These “tip of the cap” to the WWE are going to be fun to watch going forward, here’s the quick results from last night’s event.

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Bonus Match
Peter Kaasa def. Ethan Page

Special Challenge Match #1
Matt Riddle def. Drew Gulak

Top Prospect Showcase
Lio Rush def. Fred Yehi

Pure Wrestling Clinic
Tracy Williams def. Martin Stone

Special Challenge Match #2
TJ Perkins def. Anthony Nese

Grudge Match
Drew Galloway def. Caleb Konley

EVOLVE Championship Match
Timothy Thatcher def. Johnny Gargano

Now, let’s check out five great moments from last night’s show!

(1) Opening Match

To open the night, we got to see “All Ego” Ethan Page take on recent newcomer, and high-flying extraordinaire, Peter Kaasa. With widely different styles, the match wasn’t as smooth as I hoped, but there were plenty of entertaining moments throughout. Early in the match Kaasa performed some back flips, not to be outdone; Page mocked him by doing a horrible looking cartwheel, although he was quite pleased with it.

Later, Kaasa put Page in a stretch muffler submission hold, to which Page sold his ankle injury for nearly the entire match, really commitment that’s nice to see. Kaasa did his usual amazing aerials including a springboard corkscrew to the outside floor, eventually finishing Page off with a 630 from the top rope!

(2) Shoot Match?

Drew Gulak and Matt Riddle started out working mostly on the mat, for fans of that style, it was extremely well done. Eventually, the match opened up to a variety of attacks including suicide dives, dropkicks, open palm strikes, and even a Gotch-style powerbomb. Not going to lie, there were a few moments where it felt a bit more “real” than a wrestling match should be. I don’t want to paint a picture that these two started shooting on each other, but their competitive ways did show through, especially on the mat. Riddle was able to get the win with an impressive Judo Throw off top rope into an arm-breaker.

(3) Lio Rush

Coming in as solid prospects, Lio Rush and Fred Yehi put on a showcase of fantastic striking abilities. I’m not talking about just punches and kicks, they used head butts, spinning back fists, foot stomps to the hand, and punches to the foot, this match literally had everything! One of the quicker paced matches, both guys were sharp and their moves remained crisp. Rush eventually got the win with a marvelous Frog Splash, that was more in the style of D’lo Brown’s “Low Down”.

Both wrestlers should get another shot in EVOLVE, but the buzz around Rush is true, you can see the potential in him, and I feel like this one match didn’t show off everything that he can do inside the squared circle.

(4) Diversification

The great thing about last night’s event was that every single match was different, I mean really different. Starting with the opener, here was the basic style of each match: aerial, mat/submissions, strikes, submission/power moves, mixed, brawling (partly in the crowd, Drew Galloway also got himself a beer mid-match), and heavy mat wrestling in the main event.

I truly felt like each group of guys said “okay, we’re working this style tonight” and stuck with it, which helps make the product appeal to a variety of fans. I wasn’t a big on Galloway and Konley’s brawl around the venue, but I can appreciate them mixing it up from what was previously seen in the show, but that’s the point, some stuff didn’t work for me, others will love.

(5) Thatcher vs. Gargano

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In the main event, Gargano tried to go toe-to-toe with Thatcher and his very unique style of mat wrestling, but couldn’t quite outsmart the EVOLVE champion. Look, Thatcher feels very genuine, I don’t see a “gimmick” with him, it’s just how he is when it comes to pro wrestling, and that should take him a long way. Thatcher does an amazing job of selling injuries, fighting off submissions as he claws towards the ropes, with his face wrought in pain, lot of fun to watch.

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By the end of the match, Gargano had put a massive beating on Thatcher’s shoulder and knee, so bad that the EVOLVE champion couldn’t lock in certain submissions due to the pain. The detail work – from both wrestlers – in this match was incredible; I honestly couldn’t take my eyes away for fear of missing something. The only negative was the crowd, they were either overly tired or too drunk to really get into this match, a few chants or claps here and there, but overall these guys didn’t get the praise – during the match – that they truly deserved. Aside from that, it was a wonderful match to cap off a quality night of wrestling. If you haven’t given EVOLVE a chance, there’s another event tonight, so don’t miss out!