Let’s get caught up!

To be perfectly honest and transparent, I am doing way too much wrestling (again), and I clearly let Evolve lapse during all the G1 Climax and the regularly scheduled everything else WWE and AEW have been doing. I need to get two episodes done before the new one this Wednesday, and the fastest way to do that is to just watch them, no play by play. I know that’s what I’m about, but I just can’t right now for a show that’s free on Tubi and YouTube.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

7/29

• Tate Wilder VS Harley Riggins; Riggins wins.
• Kale Dixon w/ Alix Brooks VS It’s Gal; Gal wins.
• 8 Woman Tag: Nikkita Lyons, Sloane Jacobs, Gianna Capri & PJ Vasa VS Wren Sinclair, Thea Hail, Skylar Raye & Zena Sterling; Wren, Thea, Skylar & Zena win.

8/5

• Santi Rivera & Jacari Ball w/ The Mog Squad VS Shido Ash & Viktor Zanov; Ash & Zanov win.
• Skylar Raye VS Anya Rune; Skylar wins.
• WWE Evolve Championship Fatal 4 Way: Harlem Lewis VS Aaron Rourke VS Tristan Angels VS Max Abrams; Harlem wins and retains the title.

MY THOUGHTS

Very good match from Wilder VS Riggins, I really liked the innovation from Tate on his apron splash, and then his slingblade into the back2backbreaker, but a little surprised Riggins won. I suppose this was their way of writing Tate back off Evolve so he can stay full time on NXT. Good match from Kale VS Gal, though this is still not how I was expecting/hoping Gal would turn Face. Evolve is still taking their sweet time figuring out Meghan Walker’s onscreen name, as I understand they had to change from Kylee Quinn to Alix Brooks. Honestly, just take part of her real name and change the other, i.e. keep “Meghan” but change the last name.

Well, perhaps Gal is more tweener with how he argued with Cappuccino and Marcus Mathers later on. As the feud of WWE ID OGs and Mog Squad continues, we got a good promo from Sam Holloway to call out CJ Valor and set up a match. And as a follow-up, good promo from Marcus Mathers with Noam Dar, Romeo Moreno, and more WWE ID OGs like Gal and Cappuccino. Apparently Gal is more tweener since he was arguing with Cap, and then Marcus going up against Cutler James is gonna be some good stuff. Honestly, not sure what WWE is doing with the OGs, but I suppose it’s hard for everyone to shine when there’s still only one title per division.

Meanwhile, Mog Squad’s promo… I suppose as a 90s kid, I just can’t get behind this… is it Gen Z now? All this dumb slang that exists these days… But at the same time, that’s kinda what they’re up to, getting Heel Heat just from how obnoxious they are. And I guess putting Ash & Zanov against The Mog Squad is the easiest way to turn Ash & Zanov into Faces without having to change who they are. With all of them being physically fit, being badass fighters is better than being vain athletes. Decent promo from Vanta the Unknown, hopefully she shows up sooner than later though.

Good promo from Ash & Zanov to explain their origin story as rivals turns friends. On some level, it feels like Authors of Pain, but that’s not to talk down on these two. AOP deserved to be so much more than they were, maybe Ash & Zanov can prove themselves worthy of that. Good ringside interview promo from Adrianna Rizzo and Brooks Jensen with Jensen pissing off Elijah Holyfield to where Holyfield rushed him. The third time around between those two should be something where Jensen can’t just cheat again, but I feel like No Disqualifications just lets Jensen cheat legally.

Good promos from the two teams in the 8 Woman Tag, and I figured PJ Vasa would want a title match for joining Team Lyons. Starting with a brawl is a great start to the match, and we even got another one in the middle. All eight women really brought it in the match, and Zena is making her switch from the pretty face girly girl to this more rough ‘n’ tumble style is good character work. Wren and Sloane end up fighting their way to the back, that might be a rivalry in the making. And Anya Rune stopping Gianna Capri from cheating was good stuff. Great win for the Faces by extension, and Thea with the submission on Lyons, that has to be the next title match.

Anya also got a very good match with Skylar, and they’re not just playing up her obsession with the anime powers, but also the self-doubt in her high-flying moves. Good win for Skylar, though, she needs to get going as an LFG winner. Gianna attacking Anya after the match was expected, and clearly we need Anya VS Gianna to happen. Anya will definitely find that anime power of self-belief and get her big win off Gianna. Good promo from Starboy with Thatcher to give us a Triple Threat. Why did they change Thatcher’s office, though? Well, I suppose reusing the NXT GM office was a bit lazy in itself, so Thatcher now being in some storage locker is more his style anyway.

I was right in predicting a Fatal 4 Way for the Evolve Championship, great main event. Also, I appreciate that in a world of wrestling where management hardly ever thinks to keep Heels under control, Thatcher bans Mog Squad from ringside so Max had to figure it out on his own. And nice debut for Ryan Katz as Evolve’s ring announcer. I also like that his style is more casual with the purple tracksuit and newsboy cap. Great first defense for Harlem, taking advantage of damage done by Rourke on Max, but it wasn’t like he snoozed through either, he got a lot of his own offense in. Not sure if he and Rourke run it back 1v1 for like Rourke’s Final Evolution, but Harley Riggins is also calling his shot. Hopefully Riggins is an easy win for Harlem just to humble Riggins’ character for a minute.

My Scores:

7/29: 8.5/10

8/5: 8.6/10