Who gets their shot at Kali Armstrong?

Karmen Petrovic and Tyra Mae Steele battle in a “Title Eliminator,” the winner challenging Kali Armstrong for the WWE Evolve Women’s Championship!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Tate Wilder VS Brooks Jensen; Jensen wins.
• Dante Chen VS Edris Enofe; Dante wins.
• Zayda Steel w/ Bryce Donovan VS Layla Diggs w/ Masyn Holiday; Layla wins.
• WWE Evolve Women’s Championship Eliminator Match: Karmen Petrovic VS Tyra Mae Steele; Karmen wins and Tyra is OUT of the title picture.

PLAY BY PLAY

Tate Wilder VS Brooks Jensen!

The Cowboy is back in the saddle, and he’s ready to prove he belongs! But will he be able to overcome “The Lost Cause?” Or will Jensen show he’s not just a cautionary tale, but he’s Tate’s future?

The bell rings and the two circle. The fans rally behind Tate and that annoys Jensen. The two tie up, go around, and Jensen headlocks. Jensen thrashes the hold, but Tate powers up and out, only for Jensen to run him over! Jensen tells Tate to just get outta the ring and go to the back already. Tate storms up so Jensen shoulders him down again! The fans boo but Jensen headlocks. Jensen grinds the hold but Tate powers up. Tate pries the headlock open, then he wrenches Jensen into a headlock of his own. Jensen powers up and out, Tate RAMS him, and the fans cheer. Tate runs and RAMS Jensen again!

Tate gets going, RAMS Jensen one more time, and Jensen drops to a knee! Tate runs, ducks ‘n’ dodges, then FLYING SHOULDER TACKLES! The fans fire up and then Tate DROPKICKS! Jensen tumbles out of the ring, the fans fire up, and Tate goes to the apron. Jensen grabs a leg but Tate kicks him away! Tate goes up a corner to ASAI MOONSAULT! The fans fire up with Tate as he throws caution to the wind! Tate drags Jensen up and into the ring, but Jensen kicks him from below! Tate still RAMS into Jensen, slingshots to sunset flip, TWO! Tate hurries to headlock, but Jensen counters with a BIG back suplex!

The fans boo but Jensen slaps some sense into himself. Jensen KICKS Tate while he’s done, then DECKS him anyway! Jensen clamps onto Tate, ELBOWS him in the head, then drags him out of the ring. The fans chant, “Brooks, You Suck!” Jensen CLUBS Tate, ELBOWS him in the head again, then storms up to the apron. Tate kicks from below! And kicks again! Tate and Jensen get up, Jensen goes to suplex but Tate cradle counters! TWO, and Jensen hits another BIG back suplex! Cover, TWO! Jensen clamps onto Tate with a chinlock. The fans rally, Tate fights up, but Jensen wrangles him back down.

Tate endures, the fans rally, and Tate fights up. Tate runs to a corner and RAMS Jensen into the buckles! Jensen staggers, he takes a swing, but Tate counter punches! And counter punches again! Tate fires more hands, but Jensen back suplexes! Tate lands out this time! BACK ELBOW! BACK ELBOW! And then a LARIAT! The fans fire up and Tate hits a BIG back suplex of his own! Jensen flounders, Tate says time to rope ‘n’ ride! Tate goes up, up, MOONSAULTS, but he rolls through as Jensen dodges! SOUTHERN LARIAT! Jensen runs to SOUTHERN LARIAT again!! Cover, Jensen wins!

Winner: Brooks Jensen, by pinfall

Tate may be a cowboy, but Jensen’s an outlaw! Will the Lost Cause find his way to the top of Evolve soon enough? WAIT, JORDAN OASIS IS AFTER HIM! They brawl, Oasis DECKS Jensen, then DECKS him again! The Nomad dares Jensen to bring the fight! Jensen says Oasis has to wait his turn. Will Prime Minister Stevie Turner like the look of this showdown?

Wendy Choo watches back her last match.

She smiles and laughs as she watches herself put Carlee Bright down with the Dirt Nap, and surely hopes to do the same to everyone else in the Evolve Women’s Division. Will Kendal Grey be just another victim?

Adrenaline Drip is in the gym.

Cappuccino Jones finishes up some squats, Jack Cartwheel says Jones is doing great. Jones thanks Jack, and says Jack did great against Jamar Hampton. But it just seems like their opponents keep getting bigger and bigger. Jack says that’s why they’re here. They can turn the double shot into the triple! They dap it up, but then can’t help but overhear the big guys next to them finish a heavy bench press. Harley Riggins asks if they just saw that. Impressive, right? Maybe one day, they can lift as much as that.

“Space Cowboy” Jax Presley says he and “Gnarly Harley” Riggins are getting their pump on so they can look extra shredded. After all, Evolve’s newest signees have to stay ready for their debuts. Great, more muscle heads… What was that? Cartwheel & Cappuccino are getting a little comfortable around here, thinking they can handle D1 studs like them. Cartwheel gets heated but Cappuccino has him stand down. If they wanna see them in the ring, we’ll see who really belongs. Adrenaline Drip heads out, but will they be able to climb the mountains that just moved in?

The Vanity Project meets in the backstage lounge area.

Swipe Right is talking up dating app matches, but then in walk Bryce Donovan & Zayda Steel. Jackson Drake sarcastically says, “Hey, look who it is! Mr. Fumble the Bag himself! You wanna tell me what the hell happened out there last week?” Bryce grumbles that they all saw what happened. Drake says yes, Bryce had one job, and that was take Keanu Carver out. Instead, Bryce got his ass handed to him! Bryce dares Drake to say that again but Drake says Bryce heard him! Swipe Right steps in, and Brad Baylor says he is not liking the tone Bryce is giving #HeartbreakDrake right now. Ricky Smokes agrees, you don’t talk to the champ like that.

Drake says thanks to Bryce, Keanu got one step closer to getting this Evolve Championship. Drake asks Bryce, he doesn’t want Keanu to become champion, does he? Bryce says no, he does not. He apologizes for losing. Swipe Right says that’s alright, VP always bounces back. Bryce agrees, and so that’s why Bryce went to Stevie Turner. Zayda Steel has a match with Layla Diggs tonight! W-wait, tonight? Yep! But not only that, Bryce got Swipe Right a WWE ID tag team match next week. Whoa, wait, couldn’t he have given them all better notice? Well, what happened to bouncing back? They surprised him, he returned the favor. Ease up.

Bryce leaves, Drake sarcastically says that’s real nice. Zayda complains, she’s not even dressed! Swipe Right complains that they had plans next week! Drake says y’know what? It’s fine, they’ll all do way better than Bryce did against Keanu. Then, they can all celebrate with an afterparty. But will Vanity Project learn this is what they get for how they treated their “friend?”

Dante Chen VS Edris Enofe!

The Singaporean Warrior may have been caught off guard by the Epitome Of Excellence stooping to new lows, but he vows not to let it happen again. Will Dante get even with Edris? Or will the EOE snatch another 1-2-3?

Wait, during his entrance, Edris takes a buckle pad off right with his posing on the corner? He’s already putting in the fix! The bell rings and Dante runs up to ROCK Edris! Dante fires haymakers and CHOPS, and RIDGE HANDS, but Edris body blows! Dante blocks the buckle bump, but then Edris drop toeholds! The ref sees what happened to the buckle pad and Edris claims it was not him at all, it was like that when he got here. The ref knows better than that, and he goes looking for the pad. Dante rolls Edris up! The ref hurries back into the ring, TWO! Dante keeps going as he whips Edris to ropes.

Edris grabs ropes, stops himself, and he KICKS Dante! Dante scowls, dodges Edris, and then LARIATS! And ELBOWS! And then he wrenches to HALF NELSON SLAM! The fans fire up and Dante whips Edris to the corner. Edris reverses, and Dante hits bare buckle after all! Dante clutches his rib and armpit, but Edris runs in! Dante dodges, and now Edris hits bare buckle!! Dante runs to BOOT Edris down! Edris flops out of the ring, the fans rally behind Dante, and Dante hurries out after Edris. Edris tries to get away but Dante drags him back out! Edris kicks Dante away, crawls inside, but Dante pursues!

Edris snatches Dante to a cradle! TWO and Dante deadlifts Edris for a suplex! Then Dante rolls through, facelock and lift, SIT-OUT BUSTER WHATEVER! Cover, TWO!! Edris survives whatever you wanna call that, but Dante reels Edris in. Edris fights the lift, Dante CLUBS him, but Edris CHOP BLOCKS the leg! Edris TOSSES Dante to the apron, but Dante ROCKS Edris! Edris KNEES Dante’s shoulder tackle down! Edris goes out but Dante JAWBREAKERS! Dante CHOPS Edris, then brings him around, but Edris fights the suplex! Edris hops down, SWEEPS the legs, then he THROWS Dante into the steps!

Edris puts Dante in, climbs up the corner, MACHO ELBOW! Cover, TWO!! Dante survives the “Elbow of Excellence,” and he tells Dante to just stay down! The fans rally for Dante but Edris STOMPS Dante on the face! Edris tells the camera to zoom in, so they can see Dante suffer! Edris STOMPS Dante again! Edris talks trash on Dante, drags him up, and SLAPS him! The fans boo and Dante scowls. Dante SLAPS back! Edris kicks low, then KAMI-GOYE! But Edris isn’t done, KAMI-GOYE!! And then KAMI-GOYE!! Edris fires off three “Knee-O-E,” then he goes back up the corner. But Dante UPPERCUTS first!

Dante climbs, he brings Edris to the very top, and then SUPER DUPER PLEXES! Both men are down and the fans fire up! Dante crawls his way to a cover, TWO!! Edris survives and Dante is beside himself! The fans rally and the two go forehead to forehead. Dante fires a forearm, Edris fires a haymaker! Dante fires another forearm, Edris fires another haymaker! The fans cheer Dante and boo Edris as the shots go back and forth! Both men rise to their feet, throw more hands, then Edris rebounds to ROCK Dante! Edris kicks low, whips, but Dante ducks ‘n’ dodges, then he catches the rana! RUNNING SPINNING POWERBOMB!

The fans fire up and Dante roars! Dante winds up, Edris rises, THE CHEN-TLE- NO!! Edris ducks the “Chen-tle Touch” to roll Dante up! With tights!! But this time, the ref sees it! The fans cheer as justice is served! Edris protests, but then Dante rolls Edris! High stack, TWO!! Edris escapes, but the CHEN-TLE TOUCH connects!! Cover, Dante wins!!

Winner: Dante Chen, by pinfall

Dante has evened the score, but that just means they’re 1-1! When and where will we see these two have it out in a tiebreaker?

Ridge Holland finds Tate Wilder backstage.

Yorkshire Grit smirks as he points out, that’s two losses in a row for the Cowboy. Such a shame. If only there was a superstar much wiser and more experienced who told him to get out. Tate says two losses is not how he sees it. Those were two lessons. Because that’s what Evolve is about: Growth. You get knocked off the horse, you just get right back up. That’s what Ridge refuses to see in Tate. Tate is not afraid to jump off a cliff, land on his face, wipe the dirt off, and keep going. Well, then Tate will surely get used to failing, because that’s all he’s gonna do. Tate says if Ridge thinks he’s such an easy target, let’s finally get in the ring and find out.

Ridge says he declines, he’s focused on bigger and better. Next week, Ridge will make Sean Legacy learn the hard way the big difference between someone who has been on Raw, SmackDown and NXT, and someone who is just on Evolve. In fact, pro tip: When Ridge is done with Sean, go have a chat with him so that Tate won’t have to bother Ridge with his silly little requests. Ridge leaves, but will “Super Sean” be the one teaching Ridge a thing or two?

Kylie Rae talks with Stevie Turner.

The Evolve Prime Minister thanks the inaugural WWE ID Women’s Champion for seeing her, because Kylie always conducts herself very well. Kylie thanks Stevie for her time today, and wants to start with how Chantel Monroe keeps cutting her done, and Kylie is done with it. Stevie stops Kylie there, and completely understands. Kylie says no, sorry for interrupting, but Kylie was just going to say that Kylie has learned from dealing with Wendy Choo that it is okay to stand up for yourself. Stevie agrees, and that is what she loves about Kylie. So here’s an idea: Kylie VS Chantel next week! And it’ll even be a Championship Eliminator!

Kylie thanks Stevie and says this is why Stevie is a great Prime Minister. Kylie hugs Stevie, heads out, and says hi to Jordan Oasis on his way in. Oasis says hi back, then asks Stevie about how she wanted to see him. Yes, of course, take a wild guess as to why. The bloody hell has gotten into him? Well, when you travel the road on your own, you really only have yourself. Your word is your bond, and Jensen went back on all of that. Stevie understands, but Oasis cannot keep interfering in matches. Oasis says fine, but he knows he pissed Jensen off. If Jensen wants to handle it, he knows where to find Oasis. Stevie says take a week, cool down, and SHE will figure this out.

Oasis also accepts that, then heads back out. What will the Prime Minister’s decision be in regards to the tension building on this roster?

Zayda Steel w/ Bryce Donovan VS Layla Diggs w/ Masyn Holiday!

Sure, this was a last minute move by Bryce Donovan, but if Zayda Steel is the Real Deal, then it’s no problem, right? Will Vanity Project bounce back like they “always do?” Or will Layla dig deep and get a big win?

The bell rings and the fans rally for Layla already. Layla and Zayda tie up, Zayda waistlocks, then she throws Layla by her hair! Zayda taunts Layla, but Layla snapmares Zayda right now! Layla taunts Zayda right back and now Zayda is annoyed. Zayda runs up, but Layla wrenches her to a wristlock. Zayda wrenches but Layla wrenches back. Zayda pulls hair, Bryce swipes at Layla’s foot, but the ref saw that! Zayda runs up, Layla dodges to headlock and she hits a takeover. The fans rally behind Layla but Zayda powers her way to a headscissors. Layla kips free, Zayda wheelbarrows, and Zayda arm-drags!

Zayda headlocks, hits a takeover, but Layla rolls to a cover. ONE, but Zayda holds on and grinds the hold. Layla headscissors, Zayda kips fere, and Layla headlocks. Zayda powers up and out, but Layla ariels over her! The fans fire up, Layla sweeps the legs and runs, BLOCKBUSTER! Cover, TWO! Zayda survives, Bryce gets on the apron, but the ref stops him. Zayda CHOP BLOCKS Layla in the distraction! Zayda bumps Layla off buckles, stomps away on her, then sits her down. Zayda puts the bad leg in the ropes to KICK it! The fans boo but Zayda drags Layla to a HALF CRAB! Layla endures, reaches out, and the fans rally up.

Layla pushes up, rolls, and she kicks Zayda away! Zayda comes back, but into body shots! And more body shots! Zayda staggers, Layla CLOBBERS her! And CLBOBERS her! And LEG LARIATS! The fans fire up but Layla still hobbles. Layla fights through the pain, runs and handsprings to RAM Zayda in the corner! Layla reels Zayda in, HALF HATCH PLEX! Cover, TWO! Zayda survives and Layla grows frustrated, but then Bryce sneaks a chair into a corner! Bryce distracts the ref, the ref SEES the chair! The ref reprimands, pushes the chair out of the ring, and he EJECTS Bryce! The fans cheer while Bryce throws a fit!

Zayda can’t believe what’s going on, but this lets Layla get up and kick low! Layla reels Zayda in, and she suplexes to DIGGITY SPLITS! Cover, Layla wins!

Winner: Layla Diggs, by pinfall

Layla did indeed dig deep to fight through the pain, and she now has a win over The Real Deal! But what was up with Bryce? Doesn’t he know how to cheat better than that? Or… Was it all obvious on purpose?

Jamar Hampton finds It’s Gal backstage.

Jamar asks Gal what was up with him showing up ringside just to watch the match last week. Gal says that wasn’t him. Bro, we all saw you, no one else looks like you. Gal says you know it, baby! Mr. Tanned & Jacked, ready to attack, It’s Gal! There is only one in the world. Yeah, only one in the world, and he was watching Jamar’s match. So again, what was that about? Gal says that must’ve been CGI, or AI, or something with an I. Well, Jamar’s eyes didn’t lie, he saw what he saw. If Gal wants to keep lying, fine. Jamar’s gotta hit the gym anyway. Wait, wait, wait! What’s he hitting? Chest day.

Oh, chest day is best day! Gal has this one workout that destroys the pecs every time, and you don’t even need heavy weights to get a ferocious pump. Jamar says, “Sounds good…?” Gal will show him how it’s done! Wait, so… They’d train together? If Jamar insists. Follow him, dummy! Let’s get it! Gal heads out, Jamar sighs, but he didn’t say no… Will Jamar actually learn something useful from Mr. Mint Condition?

Sit-down interview with Sean Legacy.

Chuey Martinez is with #SuperSean and says they gotta talk about it: The match against Keanu Caver did not go how Sean wanted, but where is his head at afterward? Sean says he is disappointed, because he wanted to avenge what Keanu did to Timothy Thatcher, he wanted to defend the WWE ID Program, but he fell short. He failed. But the thing about failure is that you can either stop, quit, and go home, or you can learn from it. That is what Sean is doing. Keanu is going after Vanity Project, and Sean doesn’t like any of them, so when the dust settles, Sean’s eyes will still be on the prize, that WWE Evolve Championship.

Chuey says speaking of prizes, Ice Williams had some rather unsavory things to say about Sean. It was sometime last month when Ice was in the House of Champions for their WWE ID Showcase event, and Ice says there is a lot of talk about who is the #1 WWE ID Prospect. Ice is pretty sure he should be in the conversation, but for some reason, Sean Legacy is. But we all know that’s cap! Because there can only be one number one, and THE number one WWE ID Prospect is the Coldest on the Planet, Mr. Ice (echo echo echo) Williams! Chuey asks Sean’s thoughts. Sean says the thing about chasing a goal, you’ll make enemies.

But Sean doesn’t see Ice as an enemy. Ice’s style is cold, he has charisma, and he is killing it on the indies. But at the end of the day, talk like that is just noise. Sean always gets back up, brushes himself off, and keeps moving forward, looking towards the future. Right now, Sean is seeing himself fighting the biggest dog in the Evolve yard, and that is Ridge Holland. Ridge and Sean both want the Evolve Championship. Sean took a step back against Keanu, but if he can beat Ridge, that’ll be more than enough to get back in the picture. Chuey says you heard it here first. Look out, Ridge! Chuey and Sean shake hands and do the Super pose, but will Sean be feeling super against big bad Ridge?

WWE Evolve Women’s Championship Eliminator Match: Karmen Petrovic VS Tyra Mae Steele!

The Blackbelt Beauty brought up that she never really got to finish her title match with Kali Armstrong, but the LFG Season 1 Women’s Champion pointed out that you don’t just get handed things in Evolve. So while this match doesn’t outright make someone the #1 contender, will it at least prove Karmen deserves a proper rematch? Or will #MissAmerica be going for more gold in her wrestling career?

The main event introductions are made, and we see who gets one step closer to Kali Armstrong!

The bell rings and Tyra runs up to pick Karmen up! Karmen sunset flips, TWO, and both women run back in. Tyra GERMAN SUPLEXES Karmen across the ring! Karmen tumbles but she is still in this, and Tyra looms over her while Evolve goes to break.

Evolve returns, Tyra has a chinlock on, but Karmen endures. The fans rally as Karmen fights up, and Karmen fires body shots! But Tyra gets Karmen up for a SPINEBUSTER! Tyra says this is why she’s Miss America! Tyra clamps onto Karmen and snap suplexes! Karmen flounders and the fans rally up. Tyra storms over to Karmen, brings her up again, and snap suplexes again! Cover, TWO! Karmen toughs it out but Tyra pushes her around. Tyra stalks Karmen to a corner, but Karmen kicks her away! Tyra gets annoyed now, and she drags Karmen from the corner. Tyra YANKS Karmen around, ties up the legs, and has a modified deathlock!

The fans rally as Karmen endures, but Tyra also chinbars her. Karmen endures this modified Bow ‘n’ Arrow and the fans rally up. Karmen pushes up with her arms, reaches out, but Tyra shifts to a gut wrench! Tyra carries Karmen around, the fans rally up, and then Tyra THROWS Karmen away! Tyra watches Karmen flounder to a corner, then runs in, but Karmen dodges! Tyra POSTS herself! Tyra staggers back, storms up on Karmen again, but Karmen ELBOWS her away! Tyra still goes after Karmen but Karmen fires forearms and CHOPS! The fans rally but Karmen KNEES low. Tyra brings Karmen up to whip her into the corner.

Tyra runs in, Karmen BOOTS her away, but Tyra comes back again, only for Karmen to ENZIGIRI! Karmen fires up, runs up, and she rallies with big forearms! And a SLINGBLADE! Then another SLINGBLADE! The fans fire up for Karmen and she brings Tyra around. Karmen whips, Tyra reverses, but Karmen goes up, only for Tyra to block the sobat! Tyra YANKS Karmen down, waistlocks, but Karmen victory rolls, STOMP 182! Then Karmen goes to the corner, runs back up, PETRO-FIED! Cover, Karmen wins!

Winner: Karmen Petrovic, by pinfall (ELIMINATES Tyra Mae Steele from contention)

Talk about a knockout! It was a rough start but Karmen toughed it out, and now she is one step closer to the title. Kali Armstrong walks out on stage to applaud, she is clearly ready for whenever Karmen wants her shot. Will Karmen make sure the Pride of Inglewood is absolutely Petro-fied? Or will there be a Kali Connection in Karmen’s future?

My Thoughts:

A great episode for Evolve, and I really like how Evolve is doing some innovative stuff. At least, innovative from the normal WWE. Vanity Project had another promo that felt very “fly on the wall” a la TNA, and I like that Bryce passive aggressively got back at his “friends” by setting them up for failure. Bryce definitely meant to cost Zayda there, but I don’t think it’ll be so easy to mess Swipe Right up. Depends on who they’re facing. And I personally wouldn’t mind seeing Bryce split off from Vanity Project to then face Jackson Drake and take the title from him. Bryce is tall, in great shape, he’s figuring out his character, he could be a great second champion.

The other innovation is that these “eliminator matches” really are as they say, the loser has to wait until a new champion is crowned. I would think that’s something inspired by AEW using their “Title Eliminators,” but I do appreciate WWE seeing the value in that booking. With that, great match from Karmen VS Tyra, and a great win for Karmen. Tyra is now delayed in going for the Evolve Women’s Championship, but we did just see her back on NXT to join Tavion Heights against Ethan Page & Chelsea Green. This could be a sign that Tyra gets another chance at an NXT title, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Very good opening match from Tate VS Jensen, very good win for Jensen, and then great stuff with Oasis going after him. Jensen VS Oasis will be good stuff when they put it together, and I also appreciate they finally got us back to Tate and Ridge. Good promo from them, but it is rather odd that Ridge VS Sean Legacy is first. Sean Legacy had a good promo to not only address his loss to Keanu but to address his coming match with Ridge, and address how Ice Williams is going Heel just to call Sean out. I have a feeling Ice shows up to either cost Sean or attack him. If nothing else, there’s quite a wild Six Man Tag in the works of Oasis, Sean & Tate VS Jensen, Ice & Ridge.

Great match from Dante VS Edris, and naturally Dante wins to get even with Edris, but they were very clever with Edris taking that buckle pad during his entrance. I don’t think I’ve seen a move quite like that, way to go in thinking outside the box. Wendy Choo’s promo was quick but it does add to her character a bit. And good promo from Kylie to sorta call out Chantel, though I do wonder why they ditched they story of Layla & Masyn trying to get to the “real” Chantel. We got a good promo from Jamar and Gal, and I really like this tease of an odd couple team-up. Jamar may not want to right now, but I bet he comes around once he and Gal do the workout and all that. Gal is an entertaining character, he could probably make a decent Face.

And a pretty good promo from Cartwheel, Cappuccino and the new guys, “Gnarly Harley” and “Space Cowboy” Jax Presley. They’ll have a great match, a real David VS Goliath style tag match, but I would think Adrenaline Drip wins to stay strong while we wait on an Evolve Tag Team Championship story.

My Score: 8.6/10