EVOLVE 88 Results
July 8, 2017
Charlotte, North Carolina
1. JACON KINCAID def. CALEB KONLEY. Great opening match with a fast pace and ton of awesome spots including an apron powerbomb, coast-to-coast dropkick, and a double foot stomp from Kincaid out of the rafters.
– ACH came out for his match with Austin Theory but wasn’t dressed to compete, and said that the match wasn’t happening because he refused to wrestle at the bottom of the card.
2. AUSTIN THEORY def. ETHAN CASE. Case, who frequents PWX in North Carolina, answered the call after ACH bailed. Case looked good here and took advantage of the opportunity, and had a crazy series of offense at the end with two Ace Crushers, but couldn’t quite get it done. Theory won with a TKO.
3. KEITH LEE def. ETHAN PAGE. Another really good match but not quite as excellent as their last EVOLVE encounter. They threw everything they had at each other. Page hit the R-K-EGO on the apron and a diving Frankensteiner. Lee gave him two Pounces. They went back and forth with forearms, headbutts and elbow strikes until Lee finally got the win by attrition.
– Keith Lee got on the mic after his win and called out Tracy Williams and Stokely Hathaway. Hot Sauce makes his way out and the two went at it in a brawl. Lee gets his hands on Stokely but Tim Thatcher ran out to make the save. The heels beat down Lee two-on-one until Darby Allin made the save.
4. TRACY WILLIAMS def. DARBY ALLIN. Hot Sauce worked over his opponent’s arm throughout which came into place late in the match as Allin had to fight back with a big handicap. Williams eventually won it with a crossface transitioned into the omaplata.
– Fred Yehi confirmed what Gabe had announced earlier in the night, that Trent was out of action with an elbow infection and could not compete. He issued an open challenge for his #1 contender contract and out came ACH who was still not in ring gear but decided to fight anyways.
5. FRED YEHI def. ACH. Second best match of the night depending on who you’re asking, with an insanely high pace and non-stop action. ACH looked to have it won with a huge lariat and a vertical suplex, but got caught looking for the 450 Splash and Yehi tapped him out to the Koji Clutch.
6. ANTHONY HENRY & JAMES DRAKE def. CHRIS DICKINSON & JAKE (c) to become the new EVOLVE Tag Team Champions! Huge moment for the local boys in front of a largely PWX local crowd. Drake hit Dicksonson with the Drill Bit for the win.
7. ZACK SABRE JR. (c) def. TIMOTHY THATCHER to retain the EVOLVE World Championship. This was the epitome of both technical wrestling and hard-hitting brutal striking as both guys just beat the hell out of each other and exercised every hold in the book. It looked like Thatcher was going to win the title with a deep armbar locked in, calling back to his win over Matt Riddle over 20 shows ago, but Sabre worked his leg at the same time and they went back and forth slapping the taste out of each other. Eventually ZSJ put him in the Octopus Stretch and got the win.
– There was a lot of tension between the champion and defeated challenger after the match. Sabre said that he used to respect Timothy but can’t after he refused to hand over the title the right way when he beat him for it. Thatcher asked for the title and Stokley Hathaway gave it to him. He pondered a bit, then handed it to ZSJ to cement him as the EVOLVE Champion.
