5/6 EVOLVE 60 Live Event Report – Hero vs. Sabre, Gargano, more perspective

EVOLVE 60 iPPV Live Report
May 6, 2016
Joppa, Md. at MCW Arena
Aired on WWNLive.com
Live Report by PWTorch reader Mohammad Rahman

Before the show, Lio Rush, Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre, Jr., Johnny Gargano, Drew Gulak, and a few others were out on the merch table. I had the opportunity to talk to Gargano, and he came off so personable. After watching all these guys, I wish them nothing but the utmost success! On to the show…

(1) Lio Rush beat Caleb Conley at 10:20 via Frogplash. Hometown kid Rush was a huge favorite. Conley did a great job heeling it up.

(2) Bravado Brothers beat the Devastation Corporation at 8:23 via double-team Cross Rhodes. The pace was really slow the first two minutes, almost comical, and then it broke out to a complete brawl on the outside that amped up the energy.

(3) Matthew Riddle beat Anthony Nese via cross-armbreaker submission at 11:32. Riddle looks so much like a Bro MMA version of Kevin Von Erich. Very hard-hitting match.

(4) Johnny Gargano beat Marty Scurll at 20:23 via Gargano Escape. Just awesome stuff. Two pros going at it.

Afterward, Gargano cut a promo on Drew Galloway and their conflict over WWE’s current involvement with EVOLVE. It ended with Drew beating up Gargano (withut saying a word) before Ethan Page made the save, which led to….

(5) Drew Galloway beat Ethan Page at 10:04 via low-blow and Future Shock DDT. Drew delivered a fantastic promo about the hypocrisy among the wrestlers in the back who are jumping on the WWE ship. I’ve really enjoyed his work as the pure babyface in TNA, and it’s a testament to him as a performer that he can tailor that character into a bitter heel. Drew kept beating on Page, delivering multiple Future Shocks, when Gargano came in with a chair. At the end, Gargano left Page hanging.

(6) EVOLVE Tag Team champions Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams retained over TJP & Fred Yehi at 17:17 via Dragon Sleep Submission (Gulak made TJP tap). The ending saw a miscommunication between TJP and Yehi that led to things breaking down.

Afterwards, Gulak called out EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher (not in attendance) for having to defend the belt against a member of Catch Point. Riddle came out to say he’s the real champion. Their manager, Stokely Hathaway, walked to the back with Riddle.

(7) Chris Hero beat Zack Sabre, Jr. at 29:15 via Tombstone Piledriver. Fantastic match. I’m curious to see how it came off on PPV, but great live match.

Afterward, Hero got on the mic and thanked us for coming and announced they are coming back to Maryland on August 19.

Overall, great show. I will definitely check out EVOLVE again at a great value of $20 for a ticket. It was an awesome time and the crowd was into everything. Besides Johnny Gargano and Anthony Nese, this was my first time watching all the wrestlers live. The last independent show I went to was a DGUSA show in NYC a few years back where the Young Bucks headlined a TLC match.

The event was great, but I remember there being a lack of storytelling and just an emphasis on non-stop action. It really made it hard to remember each match or each feud and what characters the wrestlers portraying. I was a little down thinking I’d witness something similar after the first two matches of tonight’s show, but the pacing was great. The placement of each match on the card made sense.