Live from the Melrose Memorial Hall in Melrose, MA.
Josh Briggs vs. Dominic Garrini kicks off the show. Both of these guys the last two in the Fray at Evolve 105. Briggs gives Garrini a big boot to the face. Garrini comes back with a German Suplex into the turnbuckles. Garrini tries to counter Briggs’ size with submissions including a leaping triangle. Briggs reverses a guillotine into the M5 (chokeslam onto the knees). Stokely Hathaway grabs the mic and says that Briggs was impressive and offers Briggs a contract. Briggs takes the contract and walks off. Josh Briggs continues to impress in Evolve.
As the Skulk make their entrance a fire alarm goes off. The crowd chants “Burn it down.” Adrian Alanis says that this is ruining his moment. When the fire alarm turns off the Skulk celebrates. Bshp Kng makes his entrance wearing a New York Yankees ballcap and states that he was the one that made the fire alarm go off. The two have a short and decent match. Bshp Kng attempts a swanton but Alanis gets his knees up and rolls him up for a 3 count.
The following is billed as a grudge match between Jarek 1:20 and Darby Allin. Jarek makes his entrance to boos. Darby takes the early advantage in the match until he is hung up in the tree of woe. Jarek follows up with a huge leg drop from the top rope. As Jarek controls the match the fire alarm goes off again. Crowd starts to chant “use your magic.” Darby gets tied up in the tree of woe once again but Darby is able to avoid a coast to coast attempt from Jarek. Darby follows up with not one but two coffin drops for the win. Even in defeat, Jarek had a great showing on this weekend’s shows.
The next match was set up from the previous night (Evolve 106), where Timothy Thatcher attacked Anthony Henry post match. Henry wastes no time and attacks Thatcher with strikes and a tornado DDT. The match has a lot of back and forth trading of strikes until Henry goes after Thatcher’s left leg. Henry uses a figure four leg lock against the ringpost to further damage. At one point Thatcher tries to come back but he collapses from the weight on his injured leg. Henry locks in an ankle lock and once its grapevined Thatcher taps out. WALTER comes out to check on Thatcher and gives Henry a big boot to the face. WALTER helps Thatcher to the back as Thatcher has a big smile on his face. This was Anthony Henry’s biggest win as a singles competitor.
DJZ is set to face off against Austin Theory in a FIP rules match, which means there are no rules. During the introductions Theory grabs a mic and says that last night was a fluke. As long as he is still FIP Champion, he’s still the face of WWN. Joey Janela makes his entrance and tells Theory to put the FIP title on the line and to him to the match. The match starts and is now a triple threat match for the FIP Championship. Janela and Theory start to brawl on the outside. DJZ dives over the top rope and takes them both out as he lands in the front row. There’s a huge reaction from the crowd. The match had non stop action. Penelope Ford takes out Theory with a crossbody off the top. Priscilla Kelly follows up with a sommersault senton off the ring apron taking out Penelope Ford. Janela looks to end the match the same way he won the WWN Title the night before. He hits an avalanche brainbuster on DJZ but Theory stacks Janela for the pin and steals the victory. A lot of action in this match. I said it before with Jarek 1:20, and I’ll say the same for Austin Theory. Evolve 106 and 107 were his best showings in the company.
We are back from intermission with a four way match that has Saieve Al Sabah, Jon Davis, Bad Bones, and Jaka all battling. All men got to shine in this match. Sabah takes out Jaka with a twisting blockbuster from the second rope. He ends up getting the pin and an upset victory.
A shaved Tracy Williams makes his entrance as he is set to take on his former Catch Point teammate Chris Dickinson. The match is contested under Catch Point Rules, which is essentially the old Ring of Honor Pure Wrestling Rules. Williams gets disqualified right away as he uses closed fists on Dickinson. Tracy Williams goes after Stokely Hathaway but Dickinson makes the save. Williams takes out Dickinson and out comes Dominic Garrini. Garrini is also taken out. Williams has Stokely but once again he is saved, this time by Jaka. Josh Briggs comes out. Lays out Jaka with a big boot and then delivers chokeslams to both Garrini and Dickinson. Briggs takes out the contract and the crowd starts chanting “rip it up.” Briggs listens to the crowd and does just that.
AR Fox makes his entrance along with Ayla Fox and the Skulk. Fox has on shorts and is barefoot. It looks like he wants to beat Matt Riddle at his own game. Lenny Leonard says on commentary that in all the years he’s never seen Fox wrestle without boots. Riddle sets up Fox on the apron and hits a fisherman buster off the apron, taking out the Skulk. Later in the match Riddle goes for a powerbomb but Fox fights out of it, which makes Riddle transition to the Bro 2 Sleep. Fox counters the Bro 2 Sleep in mid air into an ace crusher. Fox follows up with a springboard crusher into a submission. Awesome sequence. Riddle rolls to the outside and Fox follows up with a dive over the ring post. Fox follows up with a 450 splash for only a two count. Fox nails Riddle with the foxcatcher for only a near fall. Riddle becomes the first person in Evolve to kick out of the foxcatcher. Fox hits another 450 but Riddle rolls to the floor to avoid the pin. Riddle comes back with a knee strike, powerbomb followed by 4 knee strikes. Riddle pounds Fox with forearms and the referee stops the match. Austin Theory comes out and lays out Riddle with a TKO. Crowd starts to chant “Austin sucks.” Fox and Theory have some words before Theory heads to the back. Riddle grabs a mic and puts over Fox. This was a great main event to end another entertaining show from Evolve.
Overall: Another great show from Evolve from the packed Melrose Memorial Hall. There was a lot of new eyes on the Evolve product with the dark match of WALTER vs. WWE NXT North American Champion Adam Cole. This show was a great attempt to get these new fans hooked to the promotion. The main event between AR Fox and Matt Riddle was excellent. The Anthony Henry vs. Timothy Thatcher and FIP Championship matches were great. Everything else in the undercard was entertaining. Good weekend of shows from WWN with Evolve 106 and 107. You can read my Evolve 106 review HERE.
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Quick Results/Star Ratings:
Josh Briggs def. Dominic Garrini ***
Adrian Alanis def. Bshp King **
Darby Allin def. Jarek 1:20 ***½
Anthony Henry def. Timothy Thatcher ***¾
FIP Championship Match: Austin Theory (c) def. DJZ & Joey Janela ***¾
Saieve Al Sabah def. Jon Davis, Bad Bones & Jaka ***
Catch Point Rules Match: Chris Dickinson defeat. Tracy Williams via. DQ. N/A
EVOLVE Championship Match: Matt Riddle (c) def. AR Fox ****¼