Phrederic Reviews Evovle — page 2

Welcome back to Evolve as we’ve had a string of announced cards and this one is the same, with a title defense as Wendy Choo defends her Evolve Women’s Championship against Sloane Jacobs (to the chagrin of Nikkita Lyons), Romeo Moreno taking on Harley Riggins, the return of PJ Vasa, and the in-ring debut of Elijah Holyfield. But before we continue, here’s what you missed in the greater WWE sphere.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA Noche de Los Grandes – Clash In Italy – Raw – NXT

And we start with the POST SHOW EXCLUSIVE of last weeks show as the Mog Squad of Max Abrams, Santi Rivera, CJ Valor, and Jacari Ball ambush the Evolve Champ Aaron Rourke, but Cappuccino Jones returns with Marcus Mathers and Sam Holloway for the rescue and everybody brawls. In the chaos Max Abrams manages to hit his Main Objective (leapfrog bulldog) on Rourke and commentary announces that it’ll be Abrams vs. Jones IN THIS VERY RING!

And we got Nikkita Lyons running down the card with Sloane Jacobs. Elijah Holyfield will make his debut! Mog Squad will Mog ID 1.0. And the women of ID 2.0 will have Gianna Capri taking on Masyn Holiday. And Lyons reminds Jacobs of her title match tonight and Nikkita seems a bit salty about Sloane getting the shot and not her, but Sloane promises to win.

RAPPING! POSING! SMOKE! FLIPS! FIRE! PUNCHING! SCREAMING! It’s Evolve!

Welcome back as we actually have a pretty big show tonight. We got our champions in action as Wendy Choo partners with Laynie Luck to face Nikkita Lyons and Sloane Jacobs, and Aaron Rourke defends his title against Tristan Angels, while Braxton Cole and Harlem Lewis resolve their feud in the middle of the ring. Plus an announcement with THE FOREMAN Timothy Thatcher and Elijah Holyfield. My goodness, an actual card before the show.

But before we get to that, here is the fine work of my colleagues as you can catch up on the greater WWE wrestling sphere.

Impact – SmackDown – SNME – AAA – Raw – NXT

We start with a pre-tape of Aaron Rourke running down the card. The Foreman has an announcement and Rourke talks about the opportunities that might emerge from that. Rourke talks about Harlem Lewis vs. Braxton Cole and brings up that he’s faced them both and Rourke knows that Lewis can’t wait for another match…but Aaron has his own title defense tonight against Tristan Angels. Tristan has earned the shot, but he’s also earned a whooping.

These promos are awkward but Rourke has enough personality to make it work.

Welcome back to some more refreshing, life-affirming, scintillating Evolve action. We have a MIDCARD CONTRACT SIGNING between Evolve champion Aaron Rourke and the new #1 contender, Tristan Angels, and we also have…we also have the final showdown between Kam Hendrix and Tate Wilder! Anyway before we get to the show, check out what’s happening in the greater WWE sphere.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Raw – NXT

And we start with Kam monologuing about how long he’s  been at odds with Wilder, with footage from the Team ID vs. Team PC feud and the culmination with Tate as the special guest ref and Kam’s team losing. And then Tate brings up how many beatdowns he’s suffered at Kam’s hands while footage of the various attacks by Hendrix plays. Tate Wilder is a man who won’t lay down, and Hendrix says that’s a good thing cause he’s happy to give Wilder a long night. Various tough guy terms are said and we’re on tonight!

Welcome back to Evolve where we have a star-studded show tonight…okay we don’t, but we do have Karmen Petrovic against one of Nikkita Lyons or Sloane Jacobs, as well as a number one contendership 4-way for the Evolve men’s title between Tristan Angels, Kam Hendrix, Brooks Jensen, and Dorian Van Dux, but first catch up all the greater WWE TV space.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Raw – NXT

We start with Harley Riggins and Kam Hendrix talking about last week with Tate Wilder and how Harley got pinned, both of them beat him down afterwards so it was all worth it. None of that matters though cause Wilder is out of the picture and it’s Kam’s time since he’ll win the match later on and then the title afterwards. Riggins talks up the numbers they did running the show once, and now doing it every week. With Brooks and two Europeans, it’s Showtime, and it’ll be Lights, Kam, Action.

Smoke! Moves! Fire! Posing! Scowling! It’s Evolve.

Welcome back Evolvemaniacs as we have two big announced matches as Cappuccino Jones, Chazz “Starboy” Hall, and Romeo Moreno take on ID 2.0’s Max Abrams, Jacari Ball, and Santi Rivera, plus, Wendy Choo defends the Evolve women’s championship against Laynie Luck, but before all that, if you want to catch up with what’s happening in the Greater WWE Media Space we got some reviews.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Raw – NXT

And if you’re curious about where some of these overseas Evolve talent are coming from, I got some reviews of All Japan’s Champion Carnival…and this isn’t a joke, Elio and Dorian were in the Carnival last year, who knows where the next Evolve star will come from? Or perhaps Evolve talent will end up in All Japan! Former NXT LVL Up talent are in the tournament and I once again am not joking.

And we start with a post-show exclusive as last Evolve left off with victorious champion Aaron Rourke being menaced by Kam Hendrix and Harley Riggins on one side and Brooks Jensen from the other, but as Kam and Harley storm the ring, the champ takes them both down and successfully evading the ambush and we will hear from him LATER ON TONIGHT!

Welcome back to Evolve and we have uh…big things afoot if you caught NXT, we got callups, debuts, chaos, random happenstance! Evolve is taped so all the fallout probably won’t pay off here, but you never know where these talents might show up, so please, check out my talented colleagues.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Raw – NXT

We are getting some big matches tonight, as Tyra Mae Steele faces Kali Armstrong with a perhaps less in doubt finish than we’d hope given the recent news (taped shows…) and a triple threat for the Evolve title with Aaron Rourke defending against Braxton Cole and Harlem Lewis. But before all that we start with Harlem Lewis monologuing to the camera about how he’s just here for gold and it’s taken a long time and though it’s not the one on one he wants, nothing will stop him from dropping both his competitors and walking out with the gold. Lewis runs down the card and talks about how poetic it is that his match is on the same night as Kali’s last in Evolve and puts her over as the first woman’s champion of Evolve.

Bit awkward to tie those two matches together but Harlem is a pretty decent promo here.

Flasks! Smoke! Fire! Flips! Posing! Rapidfire lyrics I can’t understand! It’s Evolve!

After the biggest week of the year for WWE, it’s back to our regular Evolve action, but if you want to keep up with what’s happening in the greater WWE-space.

Impact – SmackDown – WrestleMania Night 1 – WrestleMania Night 2 – Raw – NXT: Revenge

We start with a walk and talk with Cappuccino Jones as he’s got his cup of joe and says that normally he wakes up in a good mood, but today he ain’t happy cause Brooks Jensen hit him with that cowbell it woke Jones up and gave him a flavor nobody has ever seen. It’s the first bullrope match in Cap’s career, and he’s going to savor that flavor.

COFFEE PUNS! GET IT! COFFEE! Decent babyface fire at least.

And we have Brooks response, and he tells us that tonight there are not coffee puns (preach) and no escape, both of them tied to an unforgiving bullrope with a chunk of steel in the middle, there is no fun tonight, but there is one thing, and that is pain for Cappuccino Jones, courtesy of the Bad Man from Ala-bam-bam-bam-bam-bama.

Okay, this Brooks can talk a little bit.

Welcome back to more Evolve action as we are finally going to get the next Evolve women’s champion with an 8-woman gauntlet match and probably (maybe) some other stuff.

But if you want to catch up on everything going on in the greater WWE wrestling sphere…

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Rebellion – Raw – NXT: Revenge

We start with Karmen Petrovic talking to the camera about the gauntlet match and the Evolve title and I guess she’s our lucky number 8 (called it!). Karmen runs down the rest of the participants, Laynie Luck, Wendy Choo, Nikkita Lyons, Kali Armstrong, Tyra Mae Steele, PJ Vasa, and Sloane Jacobs and puts them all over and how big this match is for everybody.

Science! Chemistry! Posing! Moves! And some new faces in the mix!

Welcome to Evolve, but before we begin, here are some links if you need to catch up with what’s happening in the greater televised WWE universe.

Impact – SmackDown – Stand and Deliver – AAA – Raw – NXT

We have a title defense tonight as Aaron Rourke defends his Evolve championship against Chazz “Starboy” Hall and then the odd couple of Tate Wilder and Luca Crusifino take on Harley Riggins and Kam Hendriz. And speaking of Chazz, we start with him monologuing at the camera as he walks backstage, he knows the opportunity he has, he became a big star on the indies at 23 years old (okay what?) and now he’s in Evolve and he’s worked NXT, so Raw, SD, and WrestleMania are next. Timing is of the essence and the time for the Denim Dragon is now-but we hearing clanging and the cameraperson runs over to Kam Hendrix and Harley Riggins standing over a prone Tate Wilder and Luca Crusifino with weapons in hand as they talk trash.

Snarling wrestlers! Rapping! Science! Flips! It’s Evolve!

Welcome back to Evolve, but before I start I realize I should include some links into the other WWE-verse reviews we have.

Impact – Smackdown – Sacrifice – Rey de Reyes Part 3 – Raw – NXT

We were promised some new and exciting news with new talent being showcased and a 4 5-way to determine placement in the gauntlet-rumble-thing for the vacant Evolve Women’s Championship.

We start with Evolve Men’s Champion Aaron Rourke talking about how it’s a new chapter and he puts over the 5-way women’s match and the debuting talent and I already did that Aaron! Jeez! He’ll keep his eyes peeled cause he knows they’ll want a piece of his gold. And because WWE ID did so much for him, he’s going to raise the stakes, whomever wins the triple threat between these three new prospects will challenge for his title.

Science! Scowling! Wrestling! Purple! Rapping! It’s Evolve!

Welcome back to some more Evolve as we seem firmly looking into the future as both our long-term champions, Kendal Grey and Jackson Drake, have relinquished/lost their championships (respectively) and have graduated to NXT. What’s next for Evolve? We’ll find all that out and more!

And we have our commentary team of Pete Rosenberg and Blake Howard running down the card before we have a COMMOTION IN THE RING as the “Sheriff of Justice” Tate Wilder is calling out Kam Hendrix and Harley Riggins for ambushing him in the parking lot, all because they blame Tate for costing them the big Team ID vs. Team PC match because Tate called it down the middle and Kam couldn’t get the job done, so Tate asks them to come out and see if they can beat him legit…and Kam, accompanied by Harley and Kai Kavari (who I’m pretty sure used to be Cyrus, he’s sorta shrimpy but is apparently some football guy, slot receiver maybe?) accompany him. Kam and Harley do their cliche mean jock stuff as they mockingly wish Tate well and are glad that he’s back as they guffaw like good goons. They seem to be upset about Tate betraying “PC guys for ID guys” (ugh, let this feud end!) and they do some more bad lines about putting Tate in the hospital again. But while they’d love to beat Wilder up, there’s a long line of guys that want their chance first, and Harley calls Wilder “Tater Tot” and brings up that Wilder messed up Kai’s debut, putting him down in front of his kids, his parents, his wife, and how despicable that act was…and Kai takes his shirt off, runs in, and gets immediately put down by Tate’s dropkick…and we have a match!

Welcome back to more Evolve action as we have the FINAL EVOLUTION of Jackson Drake as he defends his title against Aaron Rourke, will we have a new champion crowned or will Drake be able to walk away and relinquish the gold?

We start with The Vanity Project’s Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor, and Ricky Smokes in their frathouse talking about how Evolve made them and they hype up their achievements. Jackson Drake says that he’s fine with a Final Evolution as he’ll happily embarrass Aaron Rourke and show why Vanity Project is the foundation of Evolve and the future of WWE.

Entrance theme! Faces! Posting! Science! Moves! Evolve!

After the mostly nothingburger of last week’s Succession II: The Vanity Project Strike Back, we’re onto the next episode of Evolve which…starts with the theme song? Posing! Science! Lyrics! Purple!

We start with Robert Stone in the ring, and surrounding it is the Evolve roster. Stone puts the brand over, but says that along with ambition we need authority, and so we have a new Evolve GM…Timothy Thatcher. Stone explains that Thatcher’s history with Evolve, as well as his endeavors scouting talent around the world, makes him the perfect choice. Timothy appreciates the trust and the support, but he says he’s no GM…but because Evolve is about hard work, because Evolve is about constructing talent…he’s the Foreman of Evolve! Stone accepts, but says that there’s some hard choices to be made about the two champions of Evolve, Jackson Drake and Kendal Grey, who are full-time on NXT. Thatcher understands, and says that Evolve is about moving things along, so he’s asked both champions to defend their titles one last time in a FINAL EVOLUTION, and if they win, the title is vacated. So tonight it’ll be Kendal Grey defending against Tyra Mae Steele, and next week it’ll be…and Harlem Lewis interrupts and say that title shot is his. Thatcher shuts this down and says that he expected this, and he’s got a match for Lewis…and it’s right now!

Welcome back with more Evolve action as we have a supercard of sorts, yes, I said it, a supercard! We got Jackson Drake defending his Evolve Men’s Championship against Cappuccino Jones, Kendal Grey defending her Evolve Women’s Championship against PJ Vasa in a streetfight, and Brooks Jensen and Harlem Lewis duking it out in a special stipulation match, no titles on the line, DQs count, and one fall to a finish (with falls only counting inside the ring), unique gimmick match here and I’m looking forward to it!

If you want to watch you can do so totally free on Tubi right here.

We start with Vanity Project’s Jackson Drake, Brad Baylor, and Ricky Smokes meeting in their…club house (apparently they’re Nascar fans!) and the champ brags a bit about how good it’s going for them and runs down his achievements. Brad Baylor adds that he saw the girl that Joe Hendry swapped with a while back and adds that after Drake takes care of business, it’s party time. Jackson agrees and then says that Cappuccino better be ready, cause you need to be on another level when you step into the ring with Dr. Thirst (that name ugh).

While the Vanity Project definitely can play their characters in the ring, extended monologues are not their strength, it was awkward.

Welcome to the season finale of Evolve! No, I don’t know what that means either. We start with Peter Rosenberg (yes that Peter Rosenberg) running down Team PC vs. Team ID’s 10-man tag match later on in the show. And we jump to previous footage with Team PC’s Kam Hendrix, Harley Riggins, and Cole Braxton talking about the plan, Keanu Carver texted to say he’s good for tonight, and Harley cracks about Jax Presley (his partner) blew out a pec benching 495, which he adds “is my warmup weight.” Kam brings up that Team ID can’t win in a fair fight, and it’s next man up so he introduces…Cyrus, who is apparently some college football guy and a “blue chip athlete.” Hendrix vows to “make a few open roster spots” after he destroys Sean Legacy and Swipe Right.

Pretty generic stuff which is what we can expect from these guys, Harley Riggins at least has the ability to add a bit of extra-jerkishness to his act and is the only one to me that stands out at all.

Opening credits! Purple! Belts! Science! Flips! Posing!

At first we were in the primordial ooze of professional wrestling, but with luck and chemistry we will all Evolve! Okay that was probably too much, anyway we’re back with more Evolve and we got…stuff happening before the season finale and Succession 2: Pro Wrestling Bugaloo, so we’re setting the table so to speak. We start with Nikkita Lyons and Arianna Grace in a cold open, Lyons hasn’t been this excited since “Mercury stopped being in retrograde” and Grace brings up that while Kendal is doing well, she does have PJ Vasa 1v1 at Succession II: The Revenge. Lyons prods about how that’s not the exciting thing, so Grace brings up that it’s because of Laynie Luck repping WWE ID and Nikkita is frustrated before Arianna brings up Tyra Mae Steele’s official announcement as an Evolve talent! Lyons continues to be angry and reminds Arianna that the real excitement is that they’re going to have a match with Layla Diggs and Masyn Holiday later on and both Lyons and Grace vow to get revenge against them! And also they’re happy for Laynie Luck.

Okay that worked a lot better than the WrenQCC version of this last week cause Lyons and Grace are such cartoons that them doing whacky sitcom stuff actually works pretty well.

PURPLE! WRESTLERS! SCIENCE! It’s Evolve, only on Tubi!

It’s time, it’s time, it’s Evolve time! After two high concept (of a sort) shows the last couple weeks it seems that we’re returning to business as usual with Kendal Grey defending her Evolve Women’s Championship against Karmen Petrovic.

And speaking of…we open with Kendal and Wren in the lockerroom talking about how things are feeling a bit weird, they talk about how Kali Armstrong is on a bit of a losing streak, though they’re sure she’ll bounce back, Kendal brings up Tyra Mae Steele and PJ Vasa as rising threats. Wren brings up that Kendal is doing herself no favors with all these title defenses, but Grey isn’t RUNNING FROM THE GRIND (cough cough) and that pressure is a privilege and being on both shows is just a sign that people have faith in her (shoot comments…yadda yadda). Kendal brings up that she won the title at Succession, so she’s definitely going to defend it at the upcoming Succession II. Wren of course is supportive and agrees to help Kendal train before the match.

This was not one of Kendal’s better promos, but in her defense nobody sounds good doing the super awkward exposition stuff, at least her and Wren’s chemistry remains undefeated.

Credits! Purple! Science! Moves! Posing! And I think one of the lyrics is “you know what I’m doing this for” maybe, possibly.

Swipe Right (Brad Baylor and Ricky Smokes) w/ Jackson Drake vs. Mike Cunningham and Eli Knight

We’re back with Evolve, filmed in the Evolve Dome! Where all the Evolvemaniacs are about to lose their Evolve-loving minds! We got a title match with Jackson Drake defending the Evolve men’s title against Kam Hendrix and some other stuff too I’m sure.

And we start with Harley Riggins and Jax Pressley talking about how they lift while Keanu Carver calls it a lie while they trash their locker room and Kam talks about how well it went last week and how he’s gonna win tonight. Braxton Cole walks in brings up that Sean Legacy is gonna clean this all up. And here’s Sean to start his janitorial services via the stipulation for last weeks lost.

Theme music! I think one of the lyrics talks about keeping it 100, we have stars, backflips, posing, lab fires, microscopes! It’s purple! It’s dangerous! It’s Evolve! Only on Tubi!

Tyra Mae Steele vs. Carlee Bright

Background: So Tyra, if you don’t remember (and it’s been a while) is of course an Olympic gold medalist wrestler signed to WWE and is still very, very happy to be here, though she’s updated her look a bit from last I remember. She’s just bursting with joy and energy during her entrance and has a bit of the “nice until she isn’t” thing. Bright of course is a bubbly cheerleader and the former partner of Kendal Grey who wanted to make her own path and start trying to win on her own…I uh…don’t like her chances here.

We’re back with more Evolve action in the Evolve Zone as I cannot remember who runs the show tonight. Oh right! Pete Rosenberg reminds us that since Team PC won the gauntlet match a ways back, they have total control tonight and a title match later, so Kam Hendrix, who won the shot, is calling it in next week…but this week he’s set up Evolve Men’s Champion Jackson Drake for a 3v1 beating. Nefarious!

We now cut to a walk and talk with Team ID with Cappuccino Jones talking about being from “Decafeteria” and stating they’re not scared, Sam Holloway adds that they’ve grinded too hard to be kicked out of the arena, Laynie Luck adds that she’s been making towns for 10 years to earn her spot, Aaron Rourke (in a sheer top) adds that Team PC doesn’t understand the struggle of working tiny venues and long car rides to get to where they’re at, Eli Knight is next to say they’re ready before Sean Legacy basically immediately cuts him off and says it doesn’t matter what Team PC’s plan A, B, or C is, they’ll be ready cause the only thing worse than Jackson Drake as Evolve champ is Kam Hendrix. A ref now comes up to inform them that Team PC told them that Sam, Aaron, Mike, and Eli are not booked and gotta go home or there will be fines and suspensions. Somehow this shocks and baffles Team ID, and it’s just Sean Legacy, Laynie Luck, and Cappuccino Jones tonight.

We’re back with more Evolve action, it’s faaaaaantastic! We open with Karmen Petrovic doing a walk and talk outside (though intelligently enough she’s avoided the parking lot) where she runs down the general goings on in Evolve (WWE ID vs. PC! Harlem Lewis!) but most importantly it’s about her versus Kali Armstrong who is coasting off being the first Evolve woman’s champion and doesn’t deserve all her continued title shots. Harsh words!

Powerslams! Beakers! Unintelligible lyrics! A purple color scheme! It’s Evolve!

Wendy Choo makes her way to the ring, and even though she’s now a smiling babyface she still has the creepy theme and tron. Choo is kinda sassy on the mic and says she has three resolutions, to be unbothered, unfiltered, and unapologetic. Wendy is a bit upset she’s never had a real shot at the Evolve women’s title, and so she’s calling out the person that made sure “I’ll never shut up again” in Kendal Grey. The champ comes out, but is cut off by interviewer Chuey Martinez (who is now the authority figure?) who says that due to last week’s title defense, Kendal isn’t supposed to wrestle again…but Grey is a fighting champ so if Wendy wants some, she can get some and out comes the ref.