Tag: catch point

EVOLVE 75 recap: A new era for Catch Point

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Sunday night brought a new era for Catch Point, but it seems that a new era for all of EVOLVE may soon be on the horizon.

“Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams defeated Drew Gulak in the main event of EVOLVE 75 to cement himself as the leader of the promotion’s top stable. The two worked hard and battled in a long match that culminated with Gulak tapping out to the crossface.

The storyline going into the night was that Gulak had said Catch Point was dead and a failure, while Williams was adamant that the group was bigger than Gulak. Gulak claimed that Williams would always be his protege, but he closed the show by passing the baton to him as Catch Point’s new leader.

Gulak won’t be able to participate in the upcoming WWN title tournament as a stipulation of the match, but that won’t matter as he said goodbye to EVOLVE and will be heading to WWE. After Chris Dickinson and Jaka hit the ring to ask to join the group, Williams made the decision to let them into the stable.

But the biggest news of the night was another impending farewell. We broke the news that Chris Hero would be heading back to WWE shortly before tonight’s show began. Losing Gulak and Hero is an obvious blow to EVOLVE. They are two performers that you can match pretty much anyone up against and expect a good match. And the departures come after the promotion had already lost Johnny Gargano, TJ Perkins, Tony Nese, and others to WWE recently.

Losing Hero hurts EVOLVE and independent wrestling as a whole, but no one is more deserving of a spot in the biggest wrestling company in the world than him. There is no stage too big for him. There is nowhere that he doesn’t belong. There is no card that he doesn’t improve. He’s worked seemingly every opponent, every style, and every place in the world this year while producing consistently mind-blowing results. I have no doubt that he will succeed in what comes next.

Hero was victorious tonight against DUSTIN after connecting with two piledrivers. It certainly wasn’t his best match in 2016, but it was another reminder that Hero can work well with almost any opponent.

In what was likely the best match on the show, Matt Riddle tapped out Ricochet with the Bromission after hitting the Bro to Sleep and jumping tombstone in the semi-main event. I’d love to see a longer contest between the two of them, but this was very good for the time it got. Their styles worked well together and the highlight of the match was Riddle catching Ricochet in a triangle after a People’s Moonsault attempt.

Dickinson and Jaka earned EVOLVE contracts earlier in the night after defeating Darby Allin and Peter Kaasa in a tag team match. They should be solid additions to a roster that needs bodies with so many people leaving. It would also be nice to see Kaasa in EVOLVE more, as he really seems to shine in tag team bouts.

Dick Togo completed his weekend in EVOLVE in losing fashion in a solid match against Ethan Page. Togo lost after Page pinned him with the Spinning Dwayne, but he stood tall after the match and fought off Page’s Gatekeeper (Blaster McMassive) to the delight of the crowd.

The show’s opener saw Jeff Cobb get his second win in as many nights. He defeated Fred Yehi after hitting the Tour of the Islands in a good match, then motioned that he wants the EVOLVE Championship after it was over.

Final thoughts:

EVOLVE 75 was a great live experience. This was far from their best card of the year, but everything was at least solid and worth checking out. It will be interesting to see where EVOLVE goes in 2017 with so much roster turnover.

I was also at Beyond Wrestling’s show earlier in the day. It streamed live on FloSlam and was a really fun time. Ricochet vs. Jonathan Gresham was probably the best match of the entire day, Brian Fury had his Beyond farewell in an emotional match against Donovan Dijak, and the Spirit Squad were in action.

EVOLVE 75 results:

  • “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams defeated Drew Gulak
  • Matt Riddle defeated Ricochet
  • Chris Hero defeated DUSTIN
  • “All Ego” Ethan Page defeated Dick Togo
  • Chris Dickinson & Jaka defeated Darby Allin & Peter Kaasa to earn EVOLVE contracts
  • Jeff Cobb defeated Fred Yehi

EVOLVE 74 recap: Catch Point put their tag team titles on the line

Posted on by Joseph Currier

It was likely inevitable that EVOLVE would eventually encounter streaming troubles on FloSlam, but the timing couldn’t have been much worse than during Saturday night’s main event between Chris Hero and Dick Togo.

The stream went out completely for a decent portion of the match but returned with some minor issues for its conclusion. In what seemed to be the caliber of bout that everyone hoped it would be, the Japanese veteran pinned Hero with his second Pedigree of the night and a senton from the top rope.

FloSlam tweeted that they’re trying to get the full replay of the main event up as soon as possible and blamed the problems on a cable getting accidentally unplugged.

Hero put over Togo after the match and praised the crowd at La Boom in Queens, New York, by calling it a special place. That brought out DUSTIN with a chair. DUSTIN offered to face him right there instead of tomorrow at EVOLVE 75, but Hero struck him and walked off while flipping him off.

Prior to the stream issues, EVOLVE 74 was one of the most fun cards that the promotion has put on all year. The highlight of the show came prior to the main event when EVOLVE Tag Team Champions “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi successfully defended their titles against the team of Ricochet and Peter Kaasa in an excellent match.

The finish came when Kaasa attempted a shooting star press on Williams but missed and got caught in a crossface. Yehi prevented Ricochet from breaking up the submission and the Catch Point team held onto their titles as Kaasa tapped out. The match was at its best when Ricochet and Yehi were in the ring, but Williams and Kaasa managed to shine as well.

Williams appeared earlier in the show in an in-ring interview segment with former stablemate Drew Gulak. The returning Larry Dallas interviewed Gulak after his win over Jaka. Dallas asked him if Catch Point was dead, to which Gulak replied that Catch Point is a failure and it’s time to focus on the next chapter of his career — maybe the WWN title.

That brought Williams out to the ring, where he said that Catch Point is bigger than Gulak and always has been. The two will face off in Melrose, Massachusetts, tomorrow.

Gulak was able to get back on the winning track against Jaka in the show’s opener. The match was really good and it was by far the best Jaka has looked in an EVOLVE ring. He held his own with Gulak, who was also excellent in the bout. Gulak won with the dragon sleeper after a great slapping sequence.

Jaka’s tag team partner was also unable to get a victory on the show as Chris Dickson fell to DUSTIN after he hit the Awful Waffle. Dickson and Jaka will take on Darby Allin and Kaasa tomorrow, with Dickinson and Jaka getting EVOLVE contracts if they win.

Allin was in action against Brian Cage tonight. The two put on the exact type of match that you would want to see them have. Allin dove onto Cage as he was making his entrance and then hit a trust fall inside of the ring. Cage took control on offense after that and was victorious after launching Allin onto the stage. Allin lost by countout despite his best efforts to dive back into the ring, but he was able to keep his promise that he wouldn’t be pinned by Cage.

Ethan Page and one of the Gatekeepers (Blaster McMassive) then came down to the ring. Page handed Cage a check and thanked him for taking care of business after his problems with Allin. Page cut a promo on Cody Rhodes before the Bullet Club’s newest member came out for their match.

The overbooked contest saw shenanigans at the end with ref bumps and interference. The Gatekeeper and Cage interfered, causing Allin to come back out and attack Cage. Rhodes gave him a too sweet, but then threw him onto the pile on the outside. Rhodes won with a low blow and the Cross Rhodes.

In his EVOLVE debut, Jeff Cobb defeated Matt Riddle with the Tour of the Islands. The two put on a good match that culminated with Riddle almost getting the win after the Bro to Sleep and jumping tombstone. Riddle tried to apply the Bromission, but Cobb was too big to put the hold on. The two were previously booked against each other in a tag match in PWG and a singles match in AAW before bringing their rivalry to EVOLVE.

Stokely Hathaway hit the ring after Cobb’s win. He said that for the first time in his life he was almost speechless. He attempted to recruit Cobb to the Dream Team by saying that he’d never have to work for anything in his life again. Hathaway said that if there was a dictionary that defined what a professional wrestler should be — the three examples would be TJ Perkins, Timothy Thatcher, and Cobb.

Hathaway offered him a contract to join the Dream Team, but Cobb said the only contract he wants is one for a shot at the EVOLVE Championship against Thatcher.

Final thoughts:

Despite the stream problems at the end, this was a fun show that is worth going out of your way to see. The tag title match was the obvious highlight for me, but Cobb vs. Riddle and the opener with Gulak and Jaka were also very good.

The highlights of tomorrow’s show look to be Williams vs. Gulak, Ricochet vs. Riddle, and Cobb vs. Yehi. I’ll be in the building for it and Beyond Wrestling earlier in the day.

EVOLVE 74 results:

  • Dick Togo defeated Chris Hero
  • EVOLVE Tag Team Champions “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi defeated Ricochet & Peter Kaasa 
  • Jeff Cobb defeated Matt Riddle
  • Cody Rhodes defeated Ethan Page
  • Brian Cage defeated Darby Allin by countout
  • DUSTIN defeated Chris Dickinson
  • Drew Gulak defeated Jaka