EVOLVE 118

December 16, 2018 – Deer Park, New York

King of awkward for Fabian Aichner to be in the marketing for this show when he didn’t appear on it at all.

Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford def. Austin Theory & Harlem Bravado {EVOLVE Tag Team Championship Match}
This was a really paint-by-numbers match, and a rather anemic follow up to Theory’s title win the night before. Dawkins’ interesting spears were the best part of the match. His uneven selling and blatant positioning might have been the worst part of the match. The lame WWE-distraction finish was awful too (the jilted Priscilla Kelly took Theory’s attention away from the match), and totally bombed with the crowd. **½

Roderick Strong def. Darby Allin
These EVOLVE crowds are so weird. Allin is so much fun in the ring and the crowd is just silent between his spots. Strong was the perfect kind of guy to have a banger with Allin, as he was more than capable of keeping up with the little guy’s pace. This didn’t have the same drama toward the end as Allin’s match against Ohno, but it had more fire all the way through the match. This and said match with Ohno are a great one-two punch if you’re curious about Allin. Triple H apparently wasn’t interested enough, as the kid signed with AEW instead of WWE. ***¾

Kassius Ohno def. Anthony Henry
This felt like it was an hour long, though it was only around twenty. They worked out a few segments that should have been interesting, but the execution wasn’t great. Also, those segments seemed to be tacked together with staples. I just wasn’t feeling any of this, and while the finish was a clear ending to the angle (Henry hated that NXT guys were coming back to EVOLVE, so Ohno beat him with a Pedigree) it felt completely separate from the rest of the match. Ohno cuts a farewell promo after the match, putting over NXT and the fans in EVOLVE. **½