I just wasn’t getting enough NXT content on the WWE Network, so I stole an idea from Kevin Ford and decided to review the matches that NXT wrestlers have in their part-time Double-A league, EVOLVE. Is it irony that this show took place the same day as WWE Evolution? Irony probably isn’t the word I’m looking for. It’s probably more an indictment of the wrestling industry’s ability to come up with interesting and varied names for things.
October 28, 2018 – Ybor City, Florida
Priscilla Kelly def. Jessie
This match wasn’t originally included in this post because I forgot who Jessie Elaban was, having only seen her for a couple minutes in the Mae Young Classic and in an annoying video about her touring New York City on the WWE Performance Center’s YouTube channel. WWE’s Evolution show was happening at the same time as this show, featuring the finals of the Mae Young Classic, so that’s some weird counter-programming. Sad she’s lost her last name before even really debuting on TV. This started off really rough, as I was worried that Elaban would just embarrass herself straight up and down. They picked things up a bit with a fast pace, so there’s hope. **
Adriane Jaoude def. Joe Gacy
This is the match that more or less establishes EVOLVE as a place where guys lower on the NXT totem pole can get experience in front of a live crowd. Jaoude was accompanied by Cezar Bononi, which is nice. Lenny Leonard pronounces Joude’s last name differently than Mauro Ranallo does, and it sounds like Leonard is the one that’s probably getting it right. This match wasn’t pretty, and the finish was pretty damn awkward, but it was based mostly on the mat which is something I could stand to see a bit more of from guys who can do it will like Jaoude. I didn’t get any sense for Gacy here, though. **½
Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford def. Chris Dickinson & Jaka {EVOLVE Tag Team Championship Match}
This match got set up on Twitter in the 24 hours that preceded it. I remember people getting kind of stirred up that the Street Profits won the tag titles here, but I have no real skin in this game so it seems fine to me. They’re also babyfaces with the live crowd, while Doom Patrol gets booed. This match was never bad (well, Ford keeping his leg held up so that Dickinson could remember to grab it was pretty embarrassing), but it never found any kind of serious flow either. At fifteen minutes I think this was the longest Street Profits match I’ve seen, and Doom Patrol wasn’t the team to help them make something special out of it. **¼
Adrian Alanis def. Dan Matha, Liam Gray & Shawn Dean {Fatal Four Way Match}
I don’t want to watch this. I don’t like anything about Matha, and I’ve not heard of anyone else in this match. Mostly though I just don’t like anything about Matha. This isn’t technically a handicap match, but it’s mostly Matha holding everyone else in headlocks. The other three dudes are stablemates together in the Skulk, and their leader AR Fox eventually comes out to help dropkick Matha out of the ring. The big guy can’t sell for crap. I don’t mean that he’s no-selling. I mean that he can’t believably react to things that are happening to and around him in the ring. He bails on the match after that, and the minute or so that plays out without him is worlds better than when he was in there. Seriously, Matha is Nathan Jones bad. ¾*
Fabian Aichner def. Shane Strickland {EVOLVE Championship Match}
I could be wrong but I don’t think there was really any build to Aichner winning the title here, so it must have been jarring to EVOLVE fans for this dude to show up and win the top prize (unless the WWN title is the top prize? It’s a bit confusing) on his first night in. It’s fitting that EVOLVE came from Gabe Sapolsky not long after he gave the world Dragon Gate USA, because this match had me thinking a lot of Dragon Gate PPV main events. Like Dragon Gate PPV main events, this started with Strickland working over Aichner’s arm for quite a while. Then that was ignored for the bulk of the match while the wrestlers whipped the crowd into a frenzy with exciting big move exchanges. Then Strickland went back to the arm down the stretch, but because it had been so long since it was a focal point the crowd never really bought that Aichner was in Danger. Then Aichner won with his flashy finishing moves. Also it was about five minutes too long. That said, the attempts to excite certainly worked, it just didn’t come together as well as I think a match between these two could. And as an aside, Aichner is better as a heel and from what I’ve seen I like Strickland better as a babyface but they worked opposite here. ***½