30Days/30Events Blog 1: EVOLVE 5 DVD review

30 days/30 Shows

Been wanting to do something like this for a little bit and figured following some down time after Thanksgiving I could start this little venture. I have a lot of DVDs to catch up on so I wanted to start off committing myself to watching them. Figured I could literally do 1 DVD per day if I really put myself to it. I then said to myself, why not make it interesting and blog about every event. Not just a typical review but just a fun look at my thoughts on the show match by match. This is beginning and it starts with EVOLVE 5. I have seen the main event of this show previously but really I wanted to watch the whole thing and so here we go. Feel free to follow me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/CGSTONG for live comments on it as well.

EVOLVE 5

Chuck Taylor 3-0 vs Mike Quackenbush 0-0

Fun back and forth match that brought out the story that Chuck Taylor felt direspected for not being in the main event even though he's the win leader/streak leader in evolve. I can def understand that sentiment and while he was the co-main event if you're going to emphasize that you're going to present a sports like atmosphere you should have your wins leader in the main event.

Just because the Raiders & Vikings are 2 of the most popular teams in the NFL you don't see them always getting prime time slotting on TV just because of their name sake. So I could def sympathize with Chucky T here. He ended up losing but that I guess is the name of the game and after three tries with the same pinning combination Lightning struck and got the win.

Aeroform 1-3 of Louis Lyndon & Flip Kendrick vs Up in Smoke 2-0 Cheech & Cloudy

A great story of these 2 tag teams and really it has been fun. I def encourage anyone to watch all of the EVOLVEs in succession as it is always a fun time to keep track of stats. At least for me being a big sports guy in general.

Wrestling in general when presented to the main stream doesn't put much stock in wins/losses and that is what definitely makes me a fan of a lot of these indy groups where that emphasis is much more important.

Up In Smoke win but to be honest I would rather see more of Aeroform. Nothing against the two guys in Up in Smoke but I just can never get into their characters.

Jimmy Jacobs 3-1 vs Adam Cole 1-1

Both of these guys are now in ROH but this was a great showing for them and if ROH officials saw this and it helped get them both back in then I'll say this is a match that everyone should see. Quality alone it is a fun match but pretty sure that it wasn't Jacobs character in this that got him back into ROH. This is supposed to be seen as a vet vs young lion contest but really this was going to be one of those matches that showcased what Cole could do in the ring. It was this match where I started to look up more Cole matches and found him to be doing really well in CZW. I'm sure to see good things in him for his tenure in ROH.

Fun match really with Jacobs getting the win but soon after Cole & Jacobs would leave for ROH but still a good match for the crowd.

Sami Callihan 2-0 vs Drake Younger 2-0

Both of these men I'm sure would be controversial figures on this website as some have voiced a dislike for both but really I see this for what it is. Two tough men who want to fight and are going to give fans that “American” strong style before Davey Richards started making that claim. Funny how Callihan in particular is such a polarizing figure on this site. While I can understand the argument against him I really don't find him all that bad as long as he's not the focal point of what I'm supposed to emotionally get invested in. I can take him as secondary player and for that alone I think he has great name value. Drake is much the same way and while I've enjoyed some of his stuff in CZW and other smaller indy promotions, I think it was good of EVOLVE to try to develop him and I'd like to see if that can continue.

Of course the blood begins in this match and what more would you really expect from these two? At the same time, a bit of criticism for the look of Drake Younger. The calf length pants really make you look like a dwarf. Get some different gear. A good strong match showing that the crowd really seemed into and that is all you can ask for. Good for Drake on the win.

Rich Swann 0-1 vs Frightmare 0-0 vs Jon Moxley 0-1 vs Gran Akuma 1-1 vs Johnny Gargano 2-2 vs Brad Allen 2-1

This is a match I'm looking the most forward to as I really like multi man matches for some reason. Gotta throw in the spot fest in there and it always gets me ready for some fun wrestling action. This match showcased some awesome talent which now are some of the top talents on the indy scene & 1 of them is bound for the WWE main roster some time soon.

My whole thing on multi man matches is that it's obviously an easy way to get fans into talents without having to build a strong feud or story around them. You can see what they can do and see the fan reaction befo

re you put them into something meaningful. At the same time it should always showcase names against up-n-comers so that the promoter can see who they should start focusing on. For this match that man is Brad Allen who I really haven't seen a whole lot from but the man should be given some more attention and I hope he gets it. But Johnny Gargano won and now he's one of the true diamonds in the rough now in the wrestling world.

Homicide showed up post match during the interview w/ Lenny Leonard and man you could feel the dream match being made. Of course then Cide vs Moxley became the match everyone wanted to see and deservedly so.

Amazing Kong 0-0 vs Mercedes Martinez 4-0

Sorry really not into women's wrestling. Nothing against them but I follow so much other stuff that while I watch the matches here and there when they show up I know so little about it that I don't even feel the need to commentate on it. It would do the match a great dis-service if I even tried to commentate on it.

Ricochet 1-2 vs Kyle O'Reilly 2-1

Seriously what can I say about these 2 men that isn't already known? Kyle O'Reilly just had an awesome match on ROH tv against Champ Davey Richards & Ricochet is making history in Japan being a triple crown champion in Dragon Gate and making waves around the world. These two men are going to be the ones to watch and no doubt they are going to further this business. Anything with Ricochet involved to me has become near must buy & Kyle O'Reilly is getting close to that range as I see him develop as a talent.

This match really does showcase the future of what wrestling is nowadays and while I was told to check this match out so much back last year I now can see why this was a true show stealing candidate if the main event hadn't been so epic. A cork-screw leg drop from Ricochet onto O'Reilly on the barricade is just a sight that has to be seen. With all DVDs on sale currently at DGUSA.tv from EVOLVE & DGUSA you owe it to yourself to buy this DVD. This final match really reminded me of what I love about indy wrestling in that we can get congruent wrestling story telling in the ring even if there is not a deep seated feud where the two talents can go out there and bust their ass for a match that will equal dividends to their career.

Of course the general consensus is that these types of top notch talents should not compete at such a high level for “the smaller shows” but sometimes you have to put it all out there so that if someone is watching it will mean something and obviously it will equal more business and for these two it has obviously turned into success. I can't fathom that without the performances Ricochet has put into DGUSA & EVOLVE that he would be where he's at and the same can be said for Kyle O'Reilly.

Main event time
Bryan Danielson 1-0 vs Munenori Sawa 1-0

As I said in the beginning I can understand why Gabe put this on lats as it is considered a “special attraction” but it was not announced as such and thus there should have been something for Chuck Taylor since he was 3-0 before his loss. But at the same time I can understand that a lot of fans were excited for this match and that it would have been hard to follow. It's a fine line booking and there are some that do it better than others. I can't fault Gabe for putting it in the main event slot but then don't remind us as fans during the Taylor match that despite some minor complaining Taylor really didn't do anything to deserve being part of the opening contest.

That said this match truly was for me a top ten match of 2010 on the indy scene hands down and I really would hope that many of you supported EVOLVE to see it. Get it now while it is on sale on the DGUSA.tv website. This was the height of Daniel Bryan deciding to take up MMA training and it really showed in his ground game as he seemed to be a lot more snug, and he was snug enough to begin with. At the time I felt this was the future of what American wrestling matches would look like and while we may be a few years from that we are getting closer and closer to it.

While I write this the Smackdown! has aired where Bryan Danielson cashed in his MiTB and technically won the World Title but because of a announcement early in the show he was given his MiTB back & Mark Henry is still the World Champion but oh well. This is just one of many examples as to how Daniel Bryan deserves to be making good money in the WWE but that I truly miss him on the indy scene.

A great ending sequence to end one of the best matches with reversals and strikes a plenty. Damn this match is just as awesome the third or fourth time as it was the first time. I have to say EVOLVE really should put this out there for new fans to check out for free.

Anyway thanks for reading fans. I'll be doing EVOLVE 6 tomorrow and we'll see what happens. 29 days/ 29 events left. Feel free to leave any comments you have and follow me on twitter @ http://twitter.com/CGSTONG