EVOLVE 8

-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.

EVOLVE 5

-This release has EVOLVE's best layout yet. Great color scheme, simple, effective, but different and engaging
-DVD menu is back to the "EVOLVE theme music" I guess you'd call it, I'm into it, much prefer it to the DGUSA theme music. Stick with this from now on!
-We start off with a backstage segment with Chuck Taylor and Up In Smoke. I guess the documentary crew idea is already dead? We're back to the typical pro wrestling fly on the wall style promo here. Decent idea in what they're trying to get across but Taylor can't help but smirk his way through it as usual. Good way to get UIS involved in a promo without having them have to actually do much of any mic work though
-Swann, Younger, Ricochet and Cole give their thoughts on who will win the main event. This is a cool idea for a series of quick promos, very different
-It might be time to redo the intro video, it mentions the documentary crew and features multiple clips of guys who are already out of the company

-Mike Quackenbush VS Chuck Taylor. Aside from the opening matwork, this felt very different from the other opening/early card EVOLVE matches thus far. It was more of a typical indy match but Quack still keeps Taylor reigned in and it wasn't bad at all. The lighting is the worst of any EVOLVE event yet, but it can't really be held against them as this was a day show. The audio on the other hand is spot on.

-Up In Smoke VS Aeroform. Wow, this was by far the best I've seen UIS call a match. They clearly lead Aeroform through this and it works out very well. This is a match where the wins/loss gimmick EVOLVE is based around really feels relevant. Even though UIS are only 2-0, compared to Aeroform's 1-3 you know coming into this the dichotomy of the match and both teams play it up well. Areoform still flub a few spots but on a whole this was a nice spotty tag and a particularly impressive performance from UIS. Decent angle at the end too. This match bodes well for EVOLVE's tag division.

-Larry Dallas segment. I don't know what they're going for here. I mean I know we're leading to Dallas sponsoring fighters, but it sure is taking them a while to get there. I don't care if Larry Davis gets into the show or not. I just don't care.

-Jimmy Jacobs VS Adam Cole. So apparently Jacobs is Tenryucito in EVOLVE, playing the veteran trying to get the young guys over as credible opponents and making them look good. Fair enough, it's a good role for him. He lays into Cole like a son of a bitch here, and Cole responds like a limp wristed bitch. Ironic considering Jacobs is the one playing up the homosexual man crush on Adam leading into this. I was pleasantly surprised by how good this was and would gladly sit down to it again sometime down the line.

-Sami Callihan VS Drake Younger. Yet another excellent Callihan performance. It's interesting to hear the crowd so behind Sami and turn on Younger. Is my hatred for him catching on? Younger does give a very good effort here though and I have to admit I enjoyed the match start to finish. Still this was surprisingly long and developed for where it was on an EVOLVE show and once again didn't gel with what I've come to expect from the company.

-Danielson warms up backstage and Sawa does the splits. I always appreciate little stuff like this, cool to see.

-Brad Allen VS Johnny Gargano VS Gran Akuma VS Jon Moxley VS Frightmare VS Rich Swann. Super choreographed looking spotfest. Moxley probably looked best here but this was just a waste of booking 6 guys. It's really strange in a promotion that's based around win/loss record that a flukey win in a match like this is just as important to the standings as winning a singles match.

-Mercedes Martinez VS Amazing Kong. Probably the most anticipated match in EVOLVE yet and it's totally ruined by the booking. What the hell? They keep building and building Martinez, can we finally get a worthwhile match for her? This started off really strong but never had the chance to hit its stride. It's a shame because both women looked ready to lay it all out.

-Kyle O'Reilly VS Ricochet. Decent match but fairly disappointing given the upward trajectory of Ricochet's career as of late. This was basically destined for failure as soon as they decided to do the "kicker takes out high flyer's leg" routine as neither guy is good enough to pull this off convincingly yet. There are a few moments where it seems like they might actually make it work, where Ricochet is fighting from his back and selling effectively. They give up on it quickly though and get back to running through their spots. And there are a few great spots, but overall this was underwhelming compared to what I've seen from both thus far.

-Martinez & Homicide segment backstage. Nice promo but Martinez being bummed about the match just accentuates how disappointing it was.

-Moxley comes out and demands a rematch VS Brodie Lee. Sounds great but unfortunately it never happened! Bummer.

-Bryan Danielson VS Munenori Sawa. This had more of a big match feel than the Bobby Fish match did on the previous EVOLVE card. Great intensity from both guys. Sawa has a few good moments throwing kicks off his back, some good slaps and desperation dropkicks, but his performance otherwise is lacking. His selling is inconsistent and it felt like he had a lack of credible offense compared to Danielson. But Bryan gives a great performance and this is up there with Hero/Hidaka among the best matches the promotion has run as of yet.

-Strangely enough this was most likely the best show the company has run in terms of match quality, and yet was one of the least memorable shows. It just didn't feel as much like an EVOLVE event. It started off very good but hit a wall in the second half and Callihan/Younger, the 6 way and O'Reilly/Ricochet all felt like they'd be better off in JAPW or CZW. I'd recommend the DVD to all interested but I'd like to see a return to the shorter, more physical style matches the company was built around. And it'd be especially nice if someone other than Danielson or Quack seemed to give a shit about mat work.

1980s Texas Set Discs 9-10

The final two discs of the Texas Set felt completely different from the rest. While the dying days of WCCW and its transformation into the USWA had its moments, I'd be lying if I said I didn't greatly prefer the prime years of the promotion. Eric Embry certainly put together a miracle year in '89 and Percy Pringle showed great range transitioning from a preening heel manager to Embry's babyface cheerleader. But not only are there very few matches here that are top contenders on my ballot (really only the top 2 listed below), after about the halfway point of these 34 matches we are most likely looking at bottom third fodder.

But as for a project on a whole, this set was an absolute blast and I'm looking forward to revisiting some of the matches to shuffle together my four mini rankings into one final ballot. This wasn't a set that featured a ton of variety in terms of the talent and in-ring style. There were some interesting cameos and changes of pace of course, but WCCW showcased a very similar core roster for the better part of the decade, and that made things look a little daunting when glancing over the matchlist coming in. But now that I'm wrapping it up I have to say that there are few rosters in pro wrestling history that were so consistently entertaining and just plain good. There were some all-time great performances and moments, but that wasn't really what Texas was about. It was a territory built around values, around family, and around fast paced violent action. And they found new and interesting ways to deliver this package year after year.

As always, hats off to the crew that assembled this set, and to everyone who has worked on the DVDVR Best of the 80s sets. This is going to be a fun one to see the final results for, because for many of these matches. it's anyone's guess what will end up where.

1. Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bruiser Brody (8/4/86)
2. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Badstreet Match) (2/12/88)
3. Eric Embry vs. Gary Young (Thunderdome Cage Match) (6/9/89)
4. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich vs. Samoan Swat Team (8/12/88)
5. Eric Embry & Mil Mascaras vs. Buddy Roberts & Super Zodiac (Baseball Bat On A Pole) (5/5/89)
6. Al Perez vs. Kerry Von Erich (3/6/88)
7. Abdullah the Butcher vs. Kevin Von Erich (7/25/86)
8. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (Cage Match) (11/25/88)
9. Chris Adams vs. Buzz Sawyer (6/16/86)
10. Black Bart vs. Scott Casey (Texas Bullrope Match) (12/1/86)
11. Michael Hayes vs. Buddy Roberts (5/13/88)
12. Chris Adams vs. Cactus Jack (7/14/89)
13. Eric Embry vs. PY Chu-Hi (Cage Match) (8/4/89)
14. Terry Gordy vs. Botswana Beast (9/23/88)
15. Eric Embry vs. Jerry Lawler (9/8/89)
16. Chris Adams vs. Dutch Mantell (6/16/89)
17. Terry Gordy & Shaun Simpson vs. John Tatum & Jack Victory (5/13/88)
18. Chris Adams, Steve Simpson & Kevin Von Erich vs. Terry Gordy, Iceman Parsons & Buddy Roberts (Cage Match) (12/25/87)
19. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (Title vs. Title) (12/15/89)
20. Eric Embry & Chris Adams vs. Gary Young & Billy Joe Travis (12/1/89)
21. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (9/23/88)
22. Chris Adams & Brian Adias vs. Buzz Sawyer & Matt Borne (7/11/86)
23. Matt Borne vs. Terry Taylor (2/26/88)
24. Kamala & Botswana Beast vs. Samoan Swat Team (12/18/88)
25. Al Perez vs. Michael Hayes (2/26/88)
26. Jimmy Jack Funk, John Tatum & Jack Victory vs. Terry Gordy, Shaun & Steve Simpson (Texas Tornado Match) (8/26/88)
27. Iceman King Parsons vs. Kerry Von Erich (No DQ Last Man Standing Match) (5/13/88)
28. Eric Embry & Brickhouse Brown vs. Iceman Parsons & Gary Young (1/6/89)
29. Michael Hayes & Jeff Jarrett vs. Samoan Swat Team (11/25/88)
30. Eric Embry vs. Gary Young (Loser Leaves Town Match) (2/10/89)
31. Chris Adams vs. Gary Young (7/21/89)
32. Gary Young vs. Bill Dundee (Texas Death Match) (6/23/89)
33. Eric Embry & Chris Adams vs. PY Chu-Hi & Gary Young (8/11/89)
34. Eric Embry & Bill Dundee vs. Gary Young & Billy Joe Travis (11/3/89)

Top 10 Heroes VS Villains

The internet is full of Top 10 lists, and I know my idea to run a new list once a month here is hardly the most original I've ever had. The only thing I can hope is to bring some fresh concepts to the subjects of these lists and give my take as spontaneously and bluntly as possible. For my first list we have a subject that has seen a lot written about both sides individually, but not so much written about the two halves as a whole. For a hero to be truly great he or she needs a great villain, and the same applies vice versa. The thing about the very concept of good VS evil that speaks to the human condition in such a base manner is the need for the battle to always rage on. For good to truly be good doesn't it need evil to define it?

The only requirement to qualify for this list is that the feud had to be taken from some sort of work of fiction. Past that I didn't try to focus on any one area more than another. I worked on a rough draft in my head for about a month, took a field of about 25 possibilities and narrowed it down to the list you'll find below. I'm sure with many of these lists I'll be tempted to give some honorable mentions that just missed the cut, but I think that would cheapen the list itself. This project is the Top 10s of 2011, not the Top 10s of 2011 (and a Few Picks that Just Missed). So enjoy the Top 10, and only 10, Heroes & Villains of all-time.

1980s Texas Set Ballot Discs 7-8

I wasn't necessarily planning on recapping the last 4 discs of the set 2 at a time, but when I finished the 30+ matches on discs 7-8 I knew that I needed to sit down and sort them out. There's a lot of good wrestling on these discs, but not much great wrestling, and after the death of Gino Hernandez you can feel it's the beginning of the end for WCCW. Which is odd in that it feels like Gino's death, and not one of the Von Erich's, was the final straw. It may just be how I'm interpreting things through watching this set, but within months they brought in Lance Von Erich and rehashed the Von Erichs/Freebirds feud, two moves that reeked of desperation.

It seems that every section of discs I review here has one stand out manager, and this time around it's Percy Pringle III. While I wouldn't put Percy's work on the level of Sunshine's or Gary Hart's, he does a tremendous job here handling Rude as he comes into the territory and quickly becomes the World Champ. The change from recognizing the NWA title to WCCW's American Championship becoming a "World" belt could have been an abrupt one, but Pringle and Rude play it so smooth that you really never question it (I can't say the same for say, Al Perez later on). Pringle's character, like Sunshine and Hart's, is different than your typical heel manager. There's a great promo here where he talks about learning about discrimination (with a capital D) as a child. He's flamboyant, a bit homoerotic, self righteous and most of all sinister, but you can also tell he loves what he's doing and is truly behind his man Rude.

As for the wrestlers themselves, this is a tough time to rank for WCCW. The Von Erichs/Dynamic Duo feud comes to a conclusion with a series of great matches, but as I start to work through disc 9 and peek ahead to 10 it looks like it may have been the last great feud of the company. Kerry has some matches after where he looks particularly out of it even by his standards. Adams goes through a transitional period to return babyface after Gino's death and has to work with an eye patch, which he does an impressive job of. Before that he also has a nice feud with the surprisingly babyface Great Kabuki which provides a number of really solid matches. One Man Gang has some strong showings as well as Iceman King Parsons, and the two of them put together one of my most memorable matches of the set with the Taped Fist bout.

The matches on these 2 discs in general are very good. It was an easy watch and I could only say I actually disliked the last 2 matches on my rankings below. Hell even match I've got #28 here, Chris Adams, Kevin & Lance Von Erich vs. One Man Gang, The Great Kabuki & Rick Rude (5/26/86) was a lot of fun. But the thing is very few of these matches have a shot at cracking say my top 15. There are a lot of "top third" matches, but not many "top tier" matches. Still the set continues to please and I'm looking forward to checking in with my thoughts on the last 2 discs soon.

1. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Texas Tornado Cage Match) (11/28/85)
2. Iceman King Parsons vs. One Man Gang (Taped Fist Match) (10/6/85)
3. Rick Rude vs. Iceman King Parsons (2/3 Falls) (11/4/85)
4. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Hair vs. Hair Match) (10/6/85)
5. Chris Adams vs. Kevin Von Erich (7/13/85)
6. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry Von Erich & Kabuki (6/14/85)
7. Chris Adams vs. Kevin Von Erich (No DQ) (9/2/85)
8. Chris Adams vs. The Great Kabuki (7/4/85)
9. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (7/4/85)
10. Chris Adams vs. The Great Kabuki (7/8/85)
11. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Lance Von Erich & Brickhouse Brown (3/21/86)
12. Kerry Von Erich vs. One Man Gang (11/15/85)
13. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (12/25/85)
14. Kevin Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/5/85)
15. Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (Texas Tornado Match) (7/26/85)
16. John Tatum vs. Scott Casey (9/16/85)
17. Iceman King Parsons vs. John Tatum (2/17/86)
18. Chris Adams vs. Gino Hernandez (Hair vs. Hair) (1/27/86)
19. Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Kabuki vs. Bruiser Brody, Kevin & Lance Von Erich (4/7/86)
20. Chris Adams vs. The Great Kabuki (6/28/85)
21. Chris Adams, Kevin & Lance Von Erich vs. Blackjack Mulligan, The Great Kabuki & Rick Rude (6/13/86)
22. Kerry Von Erich & Bruiser Brody vs. Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy (4/4/86)
23. John Tatum vs. Scott Casey (9/2/85)
24. Rick Rude vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/85)
25. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Kerry & Kevin Von Erich (2/21/86)
26. Little Mr. T vs. Little Tokyo (3/21/86)
27. Chris Adams vs. John Tatum (5/16/86)
28. Chris Adams, Kevin & Lance Von Erich vs. One Man Gang, The Great Kabuki & Rick Rude (5/26/86)
29. Rip Oliver vs. The Great Kabuki (2/3 Falls) (6/24/85)
30. Steve Regal & Jack Victory vs. The Fantastics (2/3 Falls) (3/3/86)
31. Rick Rude vs. Kerry Von Erich (3/7/86)

The Top 10s of 2011

Partially inspired by my good friends over at WingQuest 2011, I have decided to act on an idea I've had for a year or so. I am a compulsive list maker and for a long while I've wanted to make a list of the top 10 heroes and villains of all-time. My original idea was to post a new top 10 list on the 10th of every month this year, but my genetics got the best of me and I missed the deadline. The new plan is to post a new list on the last day of every month. So we'll start with my flagship list on January 31st and move on to whatever whim I have next on February 28th. I am going to state for the record that these lists are meant to be highly subjective. I am who I am and I can not pretend to give a neutral opinion on these topics. If you agree with my lists then more power to you. If you don't then leave me a comment! I'd love to hear your version of the list. Here's to a list filled 2011.