By Liam Byrne @tvtimelimit
With the big title change at EVOLVE 102, EVOLVE 103’s main event would see the new EVOLVE Champion, Matt Riddle, take on Daisuke Sekimoto in a match that would pique the interest of many an independent wrestling fan and act as the main match in an ‘EVOLVE versus the World’ sequence. It did look like the weaker show on paper, but with some injuries and some shuffling around, it’ll be interesting to see whether it will hold up to what was a solid enough first night for the promotion.
We know what the first match is going to be after the challenge was laid down yesterday – Keith Lee versus Austin Theory, title for title, WWN vs FIP. The crowd are firmly behind Lee with him conducting them like an orchestra. Despite jumping Lee from behind, Theory is mauled throughout the opening minutes with huge forearms to the face and a massive biel out of the corner. Theory even resorts to using the referee to halt a Lee charge, which is unsuccessful, but a trip and standing moonsault does allow Theory to build some momentum. However, Lee shrugs off some punches by Theory and hits a flurry of strikes, including a huge double chop.
Theory’s roll-heavy offense sees him roll straight into a big chokeslam, but have more success with a rolling dropkick and rolling blockbuster. Lee nails Theory with a punch to halt him, yet a Doomsault setup allows Theory to stop him by using an Around the World for a nearfall. As Theory mocks the crowd, Lee pops him up in a Spirit Bomb, only for Theory to kick out at two. A scuffle sees the ref take a bump, Theory hit a low blow and a TKO and get the surprise three count! Theory is the FIP and WWN Champion. A solid start to the show, though Theory does feel like a step down from Lee in terms of being WWN Champion in particular. With rumours of Lee in the WWE sometime soon, shifting the belt does make sense at this point.
Dominic Garrini is out next as he faces Timothy Thatcher, another wrestler who has a pretty epic workload this week. Unsurprisingly, the match goes down to the canvas, though an unclean break by Garrini has Thatcher riled up early. They both scramble for position, with Thatcher winning out with some punches and a half Boston crab, before Garrini forces Thatcher into the ropes with a kimura from the bottom. The two men forgo grappling for some striking, with Garrini eventually winning out and landing a German suplex. A cross armbreaker sees Thatcher have to reach the ropes to break the hold, though this sparks a fire in the RINGKAMPF member as he blasts Garrini with slaps, hits his jumping kick and a butterfly suplex for the three count. It was over very suddenly, which possibly was for the best as the concern would have been for the grappling to extend far beyond the bounds of interest. At least the right man won.
The next match is dubbed a ‘Four-Way Freestyle’, but with only Jason Kincaid in the ring, DJZ’s music hits, yet it is Jarek 1:20 who tries to jump Kincaid instead, with little success. DJZ is the next man out, followed by AR Fox (with the Skulk) and Chris Brookes, a personal favourite of mine. The referee makes an enemy of me by throwing the Skulk out before the match even begins. Moments into the match, we get a Brookes’ wet willy on DJZ to set the tone on his debut for EVOLVE, whilst Kincaid gets an early nearfall with a handspring kneedrop on Fox. Fox shows off his aerial ability with a handspring armdrag/headscissors that takes over Brookes/DJZ respectively, whilst Kincaid hits a double headscissors on the DJZ/Brookes combo. Having been cut off by Brookes earlier, DJZ manages to hit a tope con hilo to the outside, only to be one upped by a Kincaid coffin drop and then a Fox corner tope con filo.
Fox has some great offense, planting Kincaid with something akin to a rolling fisherman buster, though he is almost defeated by a Brookes’ slingshot cutter. A sequence of reversals leads to DJZ hitting a neckbreaker on Brookes that also DDTs Fox, before Kincaid hits a Fox-assisted facebuster on Brookes and a stunner on Fox for a nearfall. The action is coming thick and fast, with a DJZ 450 double stomp that uses Kincaid’s back to springboard, following that with a German suplex that drops both Fox and Kincaid. As is Brookes usual want, he does the Sick Fucking Tag Move with anyone around him, using DJZ to hit it on Kincaid. Just as Brookes is picking up momentum, Fox hits Lo Mein Pain and the Fox Catcher fisherman buster into a pin for the three. An action packed spot show, though one played out against minimal crowd noise once again. The biggest cheer is for the return of the Skulk to celebrate with Fox.
One of the changes forced by an injury (Travis Banks) has led to a match between Chris Dickinson and Mark Haskins instead in an ‘EVOLVE versus the World’ series of matches. Haskins has the better of the early grappling, with a quick jacknife pin attempt for two as well. The video does have some issues, freezing and coming back to Haskins hitting Dickinson with a boot to the back and kneedrop to the throat. Dickinson ups the pace after having little success thus far, taking Haskins down with some strikes and planting him with a running powerslam for two. Haskins attempt to get respite at ringside fails, with Dickinson sending him crashing into the ring steps arm first and causing a cut on the shoulder of the Brit.
Dickinson is completely in control now as he sends Haskins into the corner with a hard Irish whip, whilst kicks to the back of the thigh has Haskins roaring in pain. Sending Dickinson over with a back body drop sees Haskins begin to fire up, blasting Dickinson with kicks and multiple running European uppercuts in the corner. An attempted schoolboy rollup by Dickinson sees Haskins transition into a crossface that requires Dickinson getting the ropes to break the hold. Haskins picks up another nearfall following his roll through sitout fireman’s carry slam.
Just as it appears Haskins has things going his way, Dickinson catches him in a leglock that has Haskins crawling to the ropes in order to halt the pain. Fighting on one leg, Haskins blasts Dickinson with a kick to the face and a double foot stomp off of the top, following up with a sharpshooter. Dickinson manages to work his way out of the hold, re-apply the leglock and get the submission victory. A good match that had legwork that paid off in the finish, which is always nice and both men share a handshake and hug post-match. It was also a match that did get the crowd more engaged, though still fairly sporadically.
Continuing the EVOLVE versus the World series, Tracy Williams is the stand in for Darby Allin as the opponent for WALTER. Poor bastard, though he does avoid an early attempt at a chop from the big Austrian. It doesn’t last; a Williams kick sees a chop in return. Anytime Williams tries to fire back, he is only seconds away from a chop caving in his chest. We get the gojira clutch/release German suplex combination, which leads to a ‘WALTERmania’ chant. Williams is game, but a side suplex attempt is easily blocked and leads to a butterfly suplex. Williams does manage to avoid a butterfly superplex, only to be slammed instead.
Williams does eventually land a side suplex to his credit, whilst also hitting a turnbuckle DDT and jumping DDT off of the top. Seizing his opportunity, Williams hits a top rope splash and locks in a crossface, even fighting off an attempted reversal to slap on a sleeper. WALTER does throw Williams off of him, but a gojira clutch attempt goes wrong and has him back in Williams’ crossface, this time needing a rope break. WALTER is in the most trouble he has been in, yet it only takes a big clothesline, several forearm strikes to the chest and an arm trap gojira clutch to earn him the victory from a position of weakness. A very good match, primarily because Williams fought so well from underneath.
The third match of the EVOLVE vs the World series sees Munenori Sawa take on Jaka, with the bell signalling the start of some scrappy brawling and a sequence of exchanges on the mat. Sawa targets the hamstrings with some kicks, before taking the match outside and greeting his opponent with a slap. This sparks some stiff strike exchanges that take the fight all around the ring so all the fans get an up close and personal view of what is happening. Sawa misses a charge into the guardrail, leading to a superkick and running knee by Jaka, though Sawa has a smile on his face throughout.
Back in the ring, Jaka hits a meaty clothesline and a falling headbutt for a two count, with the same result following a sitout choke bomb. He turns to submissions, using a sharpshooter and an STF to wear down Sawa. Sawa begins his comeback with a kick to the chest of Jaka, before the two men trade spinkicks and Sawa reverses a German suplex into an armlock that requires a Jaka suplex to break. They trade headbutts, slaps and punches whilst on their knees, with a straight right as they get to their feet sending Jaka crashing to the canvas. This sets up for the Octopus Hold and Sawa is victorious! Another good match in this series as Jaka was able to match Sawa in terms of his strikes, with some fun brawling throughout.
Post-match, The End hit the ring to beatdown Jaka, but Dickinson comes in and makes the save. Garrini also hits the ring, but the End win out and corner Stokely Hathaway in the process. It is Tracy Williams who comes down to save Hathaway, with Catch Point standing strong following some issues as recently as the previous show.
The main event is next as Daisuke Sekimoto challenges for the EVOLVE Championship against Matt Riddle. Sekimoto chooses to remove his boots to match up with Riddle, whilst a pre-match promo has Riddle make it clear that all title defenses will be no rope break matches. This is played on instantly as the two me end up grappling in the ropes with no intervention from the referee, with Sekimoto throwing himself backwards to break a chinlock. Sekimoto teases a sumo contest to the confusion of Riddle, though the challenger uses it primarily to briefly lock in a bear hug. The no rope breaks rule allows Riddle to hit several chops to break a leglock that sees both men wrapped up in the ropes. Sekimoto’s escapes are more…muscular, picking up Riddle and dumping him hard into the canvas to stop a triangle choke attempt.
Some chops and a slam earn Sekimoto a two, with a Boston crab the next mode of offense for the challenger. As Riddle breaks the hold, Sekimoto gets smashed with several punches to the face and almost loses the match by grabbing the ropes instead of kicking out of the resulting pinfall. Sekimoto is generally in control though, hitting a gutwrench suplex and a shoulder charge into the champion’s stomach, before offsetting Riddle landing on a German suplex attempt by dumping him on his head with a lariat. A ripcord-style knee and fisherman buster allow Riddle some concerted offense, landing three back sentons in a row with some big knees to the side to set up the gutwrench suplex.
Sekimoto blocks a Bro2Sleep, slapping on a torture rack that Riddle turns into a headtrap kimura whilst using the ropes for additional leverage. Unceremoniously, Sekimoto knees Riddle in the face to break the hold. Mid-ring, the two men trade chops, each one by Sekimoto accentuated by a guttural roar. An upkick, Bro2Sleep and German suplex combination almost retains the title for Riddle, but Sekimoto absorbs a raft of kicks from the champion without even flinching before returning to firing back his chops and a headbutt for good measure. Just as it looks like Sekimoto is firing up to take the match to Riddle, two knees by the champion and hammerfists force the referee to stop the contest! A somewhat surprising finish, but the match was good, if not great. It was nice to see Riddle in a position where he reigned in some of his more over the top spots and just had a good match, even with it lacking tension due to the title stipulation.
In the grand scheme of things, it probably didn’t quite live up to yesterday’s show, but it was another EVOLVE event that would have played out better in front of a more engaged audience. The changes to the show didn’t help it, but everything was at least passable to good, which means it was an investment of time that felt worthwhile.
