BRM Reviews Evolve 16 (disappointing, despite the great wrestling)

[Big Red Machine]

Evolve 16 (6/30/2012)- Jacksonville, FL


CHUCK TAYLOR PROMO- meh
He is shirtless in an open field, with Gentleman’s Club antics going on behind him. He cuts a promo claiming that he had Johnny Gargano beaten multiple times last night and he got screwed. He says he will beat Samuray del Sol tonight and says that he will prove that the Gentleman’s Club is serious. To symbolize this, he kicks over the sticks that Manscout Jake Manning is trying to use to build a fire.

LENNY LEONARD BRINGS JOHNNY GARGANO OUT TO ANNOUNCE THAT HE CAN’T WRESTLE TONIGHT BECAUSE OF A NAGGING BACK INJURY- fine
He first said that the doctors would not clear him, but then said he had been “advised” not to wrestle tonight. Between that and the fact that it’s a back injury (which has been talked up over the past few shows), I suspect that this is a work. Gargano’s scheduled opponent for tonight, Tony Nese, came out and complained about this much-anticipated match getting taken away from him. He said some other mean stuff to Gargano, who got fired up and said that he would sign whatever waivers he has to in order to be allowed to wrestle tonight.

KENNEDY KENDRICK & DAMIEN ANGEL(0-0) vs. THE SCENE (Caleb Konley & Scott Reed)(3-0) (w/Cammy)- 4.5/10
Larry Dallas was apparently in Japan tonight. The Scene won a short match cleanly.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- hated it
We started off with Lenny Leonard being extremely unprofessional, noting that he didn’t want to do his interview and has avoided interviewing the Scene after their previous wins, but this time he was ordered to do so by management… “but that doesn’t mean I have to give a rat’s ass about what you have to say.” He took his expected digs about the possibility of the Scene and their female friend for the night all having STDs. The Scene themselves were very annoying. This was all just bad.

STYLE BATTLE TOURNAMENT MATCH: A.R. Fox(4-3) vs. Tommy Taylor(0-2)- 6.75/10
The story of this match was Fox managing to pull out the win despite Taylor doing a great job of negating most of his usual high-flying offense.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Lenny Leonard interviewed A.R. Fox, who said that he will carry the momentum of this win forward. He noted that he just signed an extension with EVOLVE. Lincé Dorado came out and complained about having been “overlooked,” which is the kayfabe way to cut the “where’s my push?” promo. It was eye-rolling, but not as bad as it could have been. Lincé challenges Fox to a match, any place, any time. Despite noting that he has just wrestled, Fox suggested that they have the match right here, right now.

A.R. FOX(5-3) vs. LINCÉ DORADO(1-1)- 7.5/10
Fox won a great showcase match for both men.

JON DAVIS PROMO- great
He put over everyone in the Style Battle tournament but noted that he had beaten A.R. Fox and Tommy Taylor already, and reiterated to us what was on the line for him tonight (he has promised to retire if he doesn’t win the tournament).

JOHN SILVER & ALEX REYNOLDS(0-1) vs. MIKE CRUZ & CHEECH HERNANDEZ(0-1)- 6.5/10
As Cheech and Cruz were coming to the ring, there was some annoying, cartoonish screaming sound. It turns out that John Silver decided to randomly scream like a goofball, over and over again. How has this man not been murdered simply for being so f*cking annoying?
Oh my G-d, he just keeps making stupid noises and stupid facial expressions. Now I’m angry at Gabe for ever bringing him back after this. This bullsh*t so clearly doesn’t fit EVOLVE’s brand. The annoying people won.

TONY NESE (2-3) vs. JOHNNY GARGANO(6-4)- 8.25/10
These two had an excellent match, with Nese working over Gargano’s already-injured back. Gargano won cleanly, which seemed like a mistake to me. He has the excuse of the injured back, so why not let Nese win and set up an Open the Freedom Gate Title shot as well as (perhaps more importantly) give Nese something to hang is hat on. The star up-and-coming athlete loses something when he can’t beat a guy with an injured back.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Gargano put Nese over the on the mic, then built up his upcoming Open the Freedom Gate Title match against Akira Tozawa.

BOBBY FISH PROMO- decent build for the main event.
SAMURAY DEL SOL(1-3) vs. CHUCK TAYLOR(9-3) (w/the Gentleman’s Club)- 7.5/10
Samuray del Sol picked up a huge win here, beating the Wins Leader… but it didn’t feel anywhere near as big as it should have.

STYLE BATTLE TOURNAMENT MATCH: Bobby Fish(5-4) vs. Jon Davis(3-3)- 7.25/10
They did some good stuff, but the outcome was inevitable because you knew Davis wasn’t going to retire, so none of Fish’s nearfalls felt like believable finishes. That one completely baffling booking decision killed this entire tournament.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Lenny Leonard interviewed Style Battle winner Jon Davis. Davis said the usual stuff, then said that EVOLVE needs a title.

DUMB VIDEO OF JAKE MANNING CELEBRATING STARTING A FIRE WITH STICKS- Why? Just… why? This was so un-EVOLVE. Yes, I realize that that is what the Gentleman’s Club is supposed to be, but the whole reason they are supposed to be heels is that they are not taking things seriously like management wants everyone to take things. Management are the ones who make the editing decisions on this DVD. Why would they include this pointless bit of someone they don’t like acting in a way they don’t like.


Despite some great wrestling, this was a disappointing show from EVOLVE. The promotion just feels extremely cold, and I’m getting the sense that even Gabe has given up on what the ethos of the promotion was supposed to be. Now throw in baffling booking decisions that took away what could have been interesting moments such as Jon Davis’ storyline making his victory in Style Battle painfully predictable, and you have a promotion that is becoming downright depressing to watch.


BONUS MATCHES:
2010 JEFF PETERSON MEMORIAL CUP SEMIFINAL MATCH (from 12/4/2010): Jon Moxley vs. Arik Cannon- 6.5/10
They brawled on the floor forever. At some point (embarrassingly, after a fan mentioned it) the referee started to count them out. Cannon controlled most of the match, and Moxley bled a lot. This was odd, considering that Cannon was the babyface. Moxley cheated to win. This was fine for the ten minutes it went. It certainly did not deserve the “THIS IS AWESOME!” chant that some people gave it.

2010 JEFF PETERSON MEMORIAL CUP SEMIFINAL MATCH (from 12/4/2010): Sami Callihan vs. Rich Swann- 2/10
Swann used a very bad word to describe Sami. Swann’s shoulder was heavily taped. Sami swung it into the barricade early in the match. Swann managed to take control back with a superkick, but then show-boated too much, allowing Sami to counter his splash and lock in a Koji Clutch for the submission victory in about three and a half minutes.

2010 JEFF PETERSON MEMORIAL CUP FINAL MATCH (from 12/4/2010): Sami Callihan vs. Jon Moxley- 6/10
Sami won in about seven minutes. This tournament was so blah that I’m a little angry at Gabe and Sal for putting it on these past three DVDs and thus making me feel like I had to watch it. I mean… what was even the purpose of putting these here? I cannot imagine that anyone who was buying EVOLVE DVDs would want to check out FIP after seeing matches that were so short and completely lacked any storyline context (and there was no commentary on the bonus matches to provide us with any, either).