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Evolve 80 Report: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. ACH, Matt Riddle vs. Drew Galloway

Written by

Chris Stephens

in

Evolve 80
March 30th 2017
airing on FloSlam App

1. Drew Galloway vs. Matt Riddle

They did not start things slow here. Galloway took the mic away from the ring announcer and cut a promo about how WrestleMania weekend is really “wrestling weekend”.
This match spilled to the floor early and they spent most of their time out there. Eventually Galloway managed to piledrive Riddle through a table. He rolled him back in the ring, gave him a double arm DDT then another piledriver and pinned him. After the match Galloway looked to attack Riddle some more but Chris Dickinson and Jaka came in for the save. Riddle had to be helped to the back. Possibly the reason why Riddle was on first was because he was wrestling 58 year-old Dan Severn on a GCW show later the same evening.
Winner: Drew Galloway

2. Chris Dickinson (Catch Point) vs. Timothy Thatcher

During the ring introduction the announcer did a worked flub by almost referring to Thatcher as the champion. This enraged Hathley.
This was Thatcher’s first match in Evolve since losing the title to Zach Sabre Jr. at Evolve 79. He had previously held the championship for 596 days.
Finish of the match came when Thatcher kicked Dickinson in the face and locked in his Thatcher stretch for the tapout.
Winner: Thatcher via submission

3. Jaka (Catch Point) vs. Jason Kincaid vs. Lio Rush

Rush wasn’t originally announced as being in the match, but the ring announcer simply stated that Rush couldn’t wait to return to Evolve, so this match was now a 3-way.
Rush will wrestle Galloway at Evolve 81. It was a successful return to Evolve for Rush, he picked up the pin over Kincaid after a frog splash. After the match Kincaid stayed in the ring and meditated and chanted a little.
Winner: Lio Rush (pinned Kincaid) 

4. “All Ego” Ethan Page w/the Gatekeepers vs. Austin Theory

Page cuts a promo beforehand, basically just saying he demands to be in the Evolve title picture. Finish of the match came when Page hit a series of front kicks and then a Rock Bottom-like side slam for the 3 count.
After the match Priscilla Kelly sauntered down to ringside and just kind of wandered around Page in the ring. Then the camera cut to a large smoky area in the audience, which was never explained. After that, a bunch of people dressed as zombie like medics carried a bodybag, with a body in it, into the ring. Page ordered his two Gatekeepers to slam and beat up the bag until the body stopped moving. They finally unzipped the bag and inside was Darby Allin, who then spontaneously recovered and started hitting everyone with some type of pipe. Afterwards he got on the mic and said there would never be an “era of ego” while his heart was still  beating.
Winner: Ethan Page

5. Keith Lee vs. King Ricochet

Very good giant vs high flyer match. They did a great job of playing up the power difference between the two, with Ricochet not able to gain an inch in a lock up. Lee dominated early with power moves, but Ricochet fought back into it with kicks, a hurricanrana and even a 619-esque move.
The beginning of the end here was when Lee attempted, but missed, a moonsault. Ricochet then hit a springboard 450 for a 2 count. Then he hit a shooting star press for another 2 count. Ricochet then hit yet another shooting star press but Lee grabbed him by the throat this time and picked him up. Ricochet countered with a series of strikes however, and that set up the 630 senton to give him the win.
Winner: King Ricochet

6. Evolve Tag Team Championship Match
Michael Elgin and Donovan Dijak vs. Fred Yehi and Tracy Williams (Catch Point)

Dijak really got to shine early in this match, with commentary putting over his athleticism. Finish of the match started when Yehi gave Michael Elgin the Code Red(Canadian Destroyer for the Petey Williams fans), then Tracy Williams locked Dijak in a crossface for the tapout.
After the match Larry Dallas came out and talked about how Catch Point allowed Riddle to get injured earlier. He tried to stir up trouble and mentioned how 3 members of Catch Point are all entered into the elimination match to crown the first ever WWN champion on Sunday. Tough to tell whether there was dissension or not there with the members of Catch Point.
Winners Catch Point (Dijak tapped out to Williams’ crossface)

7. Evolve Championship Match
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. ACH

This was Sabre Jr’s first title defence since defeating Timothy Thatcher for the belt. After Zack won the title it was ACH who ran to the ring to defend him against Ethan Page, who attacked the new champion after the match. Not surprisingly there was a healthy amount of technical wrestling here. Sabre Jr. kicked out from ACH’s brainbuster and then countered a 450 splash into a triangle. He then transitioned from the triangle to a modified octopus stretch and ACH tapped.
The two opponents shook hands after and were all sportsmanlike about everything. Sabre Jr. cut a promo after the match thanking the fans when Michael Elgin got in the ring. Elgin sort of implied he would like a title shot and then dropped Zack with a backfist. Bit of a heel-ish move from Elgin there. Sabre Jr faces Elgin at Evolve 81.
Winner: Sabre Jr. (1st title defence)

 

 

 

 

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