-No intro video or documentary crew/backstage interviews-Lenny Leonard post match interviews are still a nice touch but don't always have the best angle/lighting on this show
-Rob Naylor... he's off to FCW now so I can't really complain, but his over the top enthusiasm does not compliment EVOLVE's style well
-Nice layout, and I like that they take advantage of the clear DVD case with double sided print
-Back to the DGUSA theme music for the DVD menu, which I wonder if they'll use moving forward since they are now part of the same universe. I hope not as I dug the EVOLVE theme
-Disclaimer: I normally keep my reviews spoiler-free, but for a one night tournament such as this that's not really possible. So for this one review due to the nature of the show I'm going to give some spoilers. This includes talking specifically about a few of the finishes.
-AR Fox VS Rich Swann. I have seen two or three AR Fox matches coming into this show so this will be a good indicator to me if he lives up to the hype or not. This match didn't do anything to convince me, but I have yet to see a Rich Swann match that wasn't actively bad, so I won't hold it against Fox. Still this was everything that's awful about current indy wrestling, full of obviously choreographed, illogical sequences of moves that aren't even hit particularly well, as well as way too overboard for the first match of a one night tournament. I am not trying to sound pretentious, but in all honesty at no point did this look or feel like a pro wrestling match to me.
-Tony Nese VS Jon Davis. This did a decent job of cleansing the palette after the opener. I'm just starting to see the potential in Jon Davis as a singles wrestler, although I still think him and Kory Chavis compliment each other extremely well and am disappointed they are both doing their own thing. However if EVOLVE can continue to book Chavis as they did for this night, I could actually see a money program between Davis and Chavis, unlike most tag team feuds which just feel forced. Anyway this match was good for its spot on the card, Nese didn't bring a lot to the table but he wasn't bad either. I'd need to see more of him to really get a feel for his "standing style" of combat (that will be the one and only time I'm going to comment on the awful style names/choices they came up with for this tournament). Davis hit a lot of great looking power offense and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him in singles action after this match.
-Brodie Lee VS Sami Callihan. My only real criticism of this match was that it went a little long and had a few too many nearfalls in the end. Otherwise this was a total blast and one of my favorite matches of the year. This was as nasty and hard hitting as any match the promotion has run thus far, which is especially impressive taking into consideration Sami had two more matches to wrestle that night. The one seated elbow smash he hits on Brodie looks like it could knock out anyone of any size. Brodie's size advantage maybe wasn't played up as much as it could have been, but with the style Callihan wrestles and the way he's being pushed at this point, it doesn't feel like a big man/little man match by any stretch. The finish is ballsy both in terms of booking and for Brodie to agree to, to tap out clean in the middle of the ring like that to someone so much smaller, but they did a great job building to and executing it. Obviously Gabe already made this decision regarding Callihan, but these are two guys that this promotion should be built around. Early on it wasn't clear how Brodie would adapt to EVOLVE but this and his match with Moxley are the proof that he should be at the top of the card here.
-Austin Aries VS Bobby Fish. Wow, Callihan/Lee was a tough act to follow but this was very good as well. They were smart to work a slow paced, methodical, mat based match after the slugfest that was the previous match. I've criticized EVOLVE for lacking in the matwork for a "shooty" promotion, so I have to give credit where it's due- these guys worked some awesome hold for hold wrestling here. The only downside is this also went a little too long and got a bit sloppy during the finishing stretch on top of that. After seeing this and his match VS Danielson, I'm not sure if Fish is ready to go 20+ minutes against anyone who isn't a top level opponent. I still dig his stuff overall though and in a promotion like EVOLVE there's nothing wrong with being a 10-15 minute man. I also dig the Fish Hook (heel hook) as his new finisher and I liked his post match interview here. Aries not surprisingly was great and did an outstanding job putting Bobby over. If you pick up this show, it'll be for this match and the one before it.
-Larry Dallas & Reby Sky interview. Every angle I've seen on an EVOLVE DVD featuring Larry Dallas has felt completely pointless. Reby helps a little but this needs to go somewhere or end already. If they aren't going to let Dallas function like a normal heel manager then they need to find some way that he adds to the product, instead of just paying him fan service by throwing him a segment here and there.
-Jon Davis VS AR Fox. This was better than the Swann match but that's not saying a lot. I'm starting to see some of the positives to Fox aside from his obvious athleticism- he has decent natural charisma and his taller stature than most indy high flyers gives some of his offense more impact. Still a lot of his moveset seems superfluous and I'm still not getting the impression he has much of an idea how to put a match together. Davis hits one of the greatest pounces I've ever seen here which sends Fox sprawling into Mike Keener. Past that, there wasn't much to this.
-Sami Callihan VS Bobby Fish. This started with a fun striking feeling out process, and then ended very early. The finish was cool but I wanted more, even as far as short matches go. Please run these two in a rematch!
-The SAT VS The New Havana Pitbulls. No. I do not want to watch this in 2011.
-8 Man Fray. The good parts of this match were Kory Chavis running wild over fools, and Pinkie Sanchez's underdog story. The rest of this was baaaaaad, like even as far as these spotty multiman matches Gabe loves to run, really really bad.
-Sami Callihan VS AR Fox. This was decent, pretty spotty without much substance but a fun match to end the tournament with. I left this event with my stock in Callihan as high as ever but without my opinion of Fox going up very much, which I think was the entire point of the show. I will say that Callihan needs to drop that rope assisted rebound splash though... even when he hits it correctly, it just looks awkward.
This felt like it a minor show for EVOLVE but the tournament itself featured two very good bouts, some fun matchups throughout, and a nice change of pace in general. I'd like to see this become an annual event for EVOLVE, but with some better and more varied styles next year than "Standing Combat," "Rich Swann Style," and "Hybrid." Alright I lied about not bringing that up again. But seriously... c'mon.
I'd give this show a mild recommendation if you were interested in either Callihan/Lee or Aries/Fish, or if the concept of the tournament appealed to you in general.
