BRM Reviews Evolve 17: Generico vs. del Sol III

[Big Red Machine]

Evolve 17: Generico vs. del Sol III (9/8/2012)- Voorhees, NJ


Hello and welcome to BRM’s Monthly “This Day in Wrestling History” Review Series! As teased last month, this month we will be watching the conclusion of a trilogy we watched the first match in earlier this year. That trilogy was EVOLVE’s Samuray del Sol vs. El Generico trilogy, so this show must be Evolve 17: Generico vs. del Sol III!



JON DAVIS COMES OUT AND DEMANDS THAT EVOLVE SHOULD HAVE A TITLE- meh
The fans actually chanted “WE WANT TITLES!” Davis said that everyone in the locker room also wants there to be a title, and he invites them out. Any babyface of any sort of note who as on this show came out, other than Johnny Gargano and the guys in the main event… so it was really only about four people. A.R. Fox noted that he was one half of the DGUSA Open the United Gate Champions (along with CIMA), but he was ready for more gold.
Ricochet then came out and said something to Fox. His body language was impolite, but I’m not really sure what he said because it was impossible to hear him, even though he was holding a microphone. I definitely heard him tell Fox that he (meaning Ricochet) would be the first EVOLVE Champion. Lincé Dorado and Jigsaw tried to separate them. Fox faked a punch, and Ricochet ducked out of the ring.
Davis asked if anyone else in the locker room wanted there to be an EVOLVE Championship, and DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano came out. He said he respected what Davis was trying to do, but EVOLVE already has a champion, and it’s him. He said that he is a fighting champion who fights for the people, so he suggests that they make the people happy by having their scheduled non-title match tonight be for the DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship. Davis agrees.
Gargano then suggested that they do the match right now, seeing as how both were already in their gear (not sure why, but they were). Lenny Leonard hopped into the ring to ask Davis if the “win or go home” stipulation that he had imposed upon himself in the Style Battle Tournament still stood… and Davis said “HELL YES!”
WHY?! Wasn’t the whole point of putting that stipulation on the tournament that he would be able to prove to himself that he still has what it takes to be a top guy? Him continuing this stipulation makes the tournament feel completely unimportant, because apparently it wasn’t enough to prove this to Davis, which only denigrates everyone who was in the tournament. And, out of kayfabe, you’re now stuck with a stipulation where either the outcomes of Davis’ matches will be predictable or you’re going to have to go back on a stipulation.
This segment accomplished what it needed to accomplish narratively, but Davis calling the locker room out to support his demand for the creation of an EVOLVE Championship and then only having five guys come out made everyone involved look lame.

DGUSA OPEN THE FREEDOM GATE TITLE MATCH IN WHICH IF JON DAVIS LOSES, HE WILL RETIRE: Jonny Gargano(c) vs. Jon Davis- 7.5/10
Bryce Remsburg made his EVOLVE debut, joining Lenny Leonard on commentary here. He was quite irritating in this match, and the tone of his commentary all night long was far too goofy CHIKARA-esque.
Davis worked over Gargano’s injured back. Gargano tried to counter using his speed. Gargano won by count-out with a Hertz Donut on the floor, though Davis just barely missed making it back in time. They set the finish up really well. It the sort of count-out finish that wouldn’t have felt like a cop-out if they hadn’t insisted on having Davis come close to getting back in time.
Bryce Remsburg said he was sure we haven’t seen the chapter from these two, which shows you how little attention he was paying to the stipulation.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Gargano started to give the “I don’t want to win by count-out” speech and said that Davis shouldn’t have to retire because of a count-out, at which point Davis attacked him. Said attack consisted of a lariat and then an Awesome Bomb through a table that was already set up at ringside for some reason. The fans all cheered this heel turn. Everyone sold this as a big injury angle for Gargano. Injuring Gargano certainly removes the biggest reason to not create an EVOLVE Championship, but why did Davis attack Gargano when Gargano was about to nullify a loss that meant Davis would have to retire? If the idea is that it was some kind of “I don’t need your pity” reaction, then you still have to deal with the fact that Davis is now retired.

JIGSAW(1-1) vs. LINCÉ DORADO(1-2)- 7.75/10
Another banger (that’s what the kids are calling them these days, right?). This was one of the better matches under ten minutes that you’ll ever see. Just great Lucha Libre.

MARTI BELLE vs. CHRISTINA VON EERIE- 2.5/10
CVE won a short match cleanly.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Larry Dallas came out and asked Marti Belle to come part with the Scene. Marti turned him down. It was very hard to understand both of them. The Scene menaced Marti, so Pinkie Sanchez, who we last saw as a heel, came out to defend her. Sami Callihan, who was also a heel the last time we saw him, came out to back Pinkie up. Then Tammy Sytch came out to usher Marti Belle to the back. That’s a random appearance. This all led to an impromptu matchup of...

D.U.F. Sami Callihan & Pinkie Sanchez(0-0) vs. the Scene(Scott Reed & Caleb Konley)(4-0) (w/Larry Dallas)- 4.5/10
Sami is returning from a suspension for attacking EVOLVE officials, and Lenny Leonard told us that EVOLVE officials were very happy with Sami for serving his suspension without complaint. Lenny also told us that seems to have a new outlook on things after serving this suspension, so that explains this babyface turn. Sami won with his new finisher, the Callihan Death Clutch. This went less than six minutes, but was very good for the time it got.

SAMI CALLIHAN PROMO- fine
He called out MASADA for the originally-scheduled…

SAMI CALLIHAN(3-6) vs. MASADA(0-0)- 5/10
This match came about because Sami Callihan offered MASADA a place in the D.U.F.s while Sami was suspended, but MASADA turned Sami down. It would have been nice to have the footage they were talking about shown to us at some point earlier in the show. Stories work better when we are shown things rather than being told about them secondhand.
MASADA won a short match over the tired Sami. A good win for MASADA in his debut. Officials came out to check on Sami.

JOHNNY GARGANO BACKSTAGE PROMO- okay
You could barely hear him. There was no reason this wasn’t re-shot. The promo itself was a decent promo telling Jon Davis he’d have to do a lot more than what he did tonight to take him out.

RICH SWANN & SUPER SMASH BROS. vs. THE GENTLEMAN’S CLUB (Chuck Taylor, Drew Gulak, & Orange Cassidy) (w/Dr. Colonel Nolan Angus, Jake Manning, & the Swamp Monster)- 7.5/10
This was a great six-man tag that was made less enjoyable by the cartoonish personalities of the Gentleman’s Club. The babyfaces won when Swann pinned Gulak. The Gentleman’s Club did goofy bullsh*t after the match, turning everything into a cartoon.

A.R. FOX(6-3) vs. RICOCHET(4-2)- 7.5/10
They had a great video package to hype this up before the match. The match was a fine match-up of high-flyers, but in what was billed as a match to determine who was the best high-flyer in the world, it was disappointing that neither of these guys seemed as cool-flippy as Jigsaw and Lincé Dorado did earlier. The story of the match was them matching each other move for move, and Ricochet being arrogant. Unlike in a lot of other promotions, said arrogance did not cost Ricochet the match. He won cleanly.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Ricochet cut a promo on Fox calling him a “wanna-be Ricochet.” Fox was sad about his loss.

TAMMY SYTCH GIVES MARTI BELLE AND CHRISTINA VON EERIE ADVICE BACKSTAGE- snore
She tells them that she doesn’t want them to go down the same road that she did. CVE did not seem receptive. I don’t know what they were planning on doing here, but I’m certain it never went anywhere. This also fell a little flat for me because it feels like what Gabe tried to do with Tammy in ROH in 2008, and she disappeared quickly then, too.

EL GENERICO(2-3) vs. SAMURAY DEL SOL(2-3)- 8/10
This was definitely the least of this trilogy, which is never really a great thing, unless all three matches are at such a level that people can argue which one is the best and it really comes down to personal preference (although, for the record, I do think that the third Joe vs. Punk and Flair vs. Steamboat matches are also the worst of their trilogies). Generico got the win here, which surprise me, as I’d think that at this point, he would have told Gabe about his impending return to ROH, and Gabe would have put Samuray del Sol over. Hell, I would have put Samuray over here anyway. EVOLVE is in a place where it NEEDS to make new stars, and Samuray del Sol feels like he is much closer to becoming one than guys like Jon Davis.
During this match, we were told that the decision was made to eventually create an EVOLVE Championship.


This was another solid show from EVOLVE. The creative struggles are once again evident, but it certainly seems like Gabe recognized that and started to try to retool things, with several turns, MASADA coming in, and the announcement of the new title (which had been teased before, but this was where they played it up the most and made it official). It’s a show that gives more hope than other recent EVOLVE shows have. Speaking of probably-futile hope that things will get better, next month an interesting world title match will see us take a chance on a follow-up to one of the most miserable viewing experiences I’ve ever had.