WWE Evolve Review 09.10.25

Greetings, everyone. I swear I was doing this only ten hours, but here we are. Note to self: Just review the damn LFG on Sundays, like God intended me to. Now that this is out of the way, let’s head back to the PC for some Evolve action.

THEN. NOW. THERAPY. TOGETHER.

The Vanity Project tells us the odds are stacked against the Evolve World’s Champion, Jackson Drake, as he defends his championship against Brooks Jensen and Keanu Carver. The VP run both opponents down and, holy hell, Jackson Drake looks 14 clean-shaven. Put some facial hair back on that boy.

To the ring we go…

CARLEE BRIGHT (STILL W/ KENDAL GREY) VS. LAYLA DIGGS

You know you don’t really have to show up here anymore, Kendal, right? I mean, Wrendal IS a thing. Layla and Masyn Holliday do their 1994 SWV dance as part of the entrance, and I’ve got to be honest, it does not make me weak at the knees. Collar-and-elbow tie-up to start, and they do some decent mat stuff to begin. Layla eventually elbows out of a hammerlock, and takes Carlee down into a submission. Carlee with a couple of good armdrags, and Layla cartwheels out of a headscissors. Not too shabby, ladies. Code of Evolve is respected with a handshake, and I bet it’s Layla who goes heel here. Roll-ups are exchanged, and they both do a choreographed missed double dropkick into a kip-up. Layla works on the back with some elbows, and a cartwheel senton gets two. Layla catches a crossbody attempt from Carlee into a powerslam and hits another moonsault for two. Carlee misses her own moonsault, rolls out, and meets that beautiful scissors kick from Layla that probably really is the best in the biz. Layla misses another cartwheel-something into the corner, with Carlee hitting the tornado DDT for two. Carlee gets out of the Diggety Splits, or whatever it’s called, and hits a Play of the Day variant called the Brightside for the three.

WINNER: CARLEE BRIGHT

Match Rating: B Nothing particularly wrong, although while I wouldn’t say both ladies were working at half speed, it was more like 75% speed. For two women who could be in consideration for the chopping block in the future, this wasn’t bad at all.

Bright: B Smooth mat work, and good control of her aerial stuff. She’s done nothing to distinguish herself personality-wise other than standing next to Kendal, but I hold out hope.

Diggs: B A better effort, but I think she goes to the gymnast well more than once to often with her stuff. The scissors kick is still great.

Brooks Jensen, as is usual for this show, hits the resistance bands backstage. Someone needs to lift a weight around here.

HHH shakes hands with Stephen A Smith during a Wrestlepalooza ad in a visual I never thought I’d see.

Carlee and Kendal are in the ring, and Kendal calls out Wendy Choo. Kendal’s promo skills have definitely improved. Kendal also sets her sights on Kali Armstrong after she beats Wendy, and heeeeere’s Kali. Kali reminds Kendal she needs to beat Wendy Choo before she can get to her and……there’s suddenly a brawl backstage, and I swear that was Colt Cabana for a second. Imagine that. However, it’s Ridge Holland and Tate Wilder brawling from the back into the ring. Stevie Turner calls for a match to start NOW as the ladies just magically disappear, like poof.

TATE WILDER VS. RIDGE HOLLAND

From a Brawling Brute to me thinking he looks like Colt Cabana. The mighty have fallen indeed. They brawl in the ring. Holland with the knees in the corner, and Ridge has been eating his Wheaties the way his physique looks. Tate sends Ridge to the outside, hits the dive, but gets sent into the post. I can’t buy a guy as bean-polish and dorky-looking as Tate having a chance here. Headbutt from Ridge, and he gets sent outside again. Tate hits a knee on the apron but gets clotheslined for his troubles. Ridge ragdolls Wilder in the ring and gets two. Wilder revs up and tries to hit the comeback but gets hit with THAT belly-to-back suplex by Ridge. Ridge hits a second one for two. That’s ended careers, I hear. Tate escapes a powerslam, and comeback #2 ends with his getting dumped on the mat. Ridge cinches on the half-Boston crab, pulling Tate away from the ropes, and I can’t imagine we get a tap from this. Tate kicks away, but gets shoved into the corner. Tate hits a crossbody off the top for two, but gets slammed again. Ridge misses an elbow, then a charge, and Tate is on the attack with some punches and clothesline in the corner. Ridge comes back with a headbutt, but an Irish whip is reversed into a backdrop. Second rope senton by Tate, followed by an enziguri, gets two. Ridge comes back with a big slam, shoving him into the corner, and hitting a cannonball. Gut-wrench powerbomb gets the three.

WINNER: RIDGE HOLLAND

Match Rating: B- That false comeback attempt only felt like forever, but this was a decent little David/Goliath match, which David didn’t win.

Ridge: B He looks better physically than ever, but you’ve seen all of this before, and all it’s gotten him is lower and lower on the totem pole.

Wilder: C It’s all gimmick right now, as the rest is indie dorkiness at the highest level. Not seeing it there right now.

Marcus Mathers and Aaron Rourke are backstage. Rourke admits they look like complete opposites, but they’re more alike than people think, citing their indie background, their WWE ID status, and they both think the other is cool. You can expect grit, determination, aerial artistry, and perfection from both. Rourke is awesome.

From one odd couple to another, It’s Gal calls Jamar Hampton a ten on the Stud-o-Meter. Apparently, Mathers is 3 out of 10, and Aaron Rourke is both a dork and a 2.5 out of 10. Alrighty then.

Keanu Carver asks us to get that camera out of his face and hits the ring for the main event.

JACKSON DRAKE VS. KEANU CARVER VS. BROOKS JENSEN (WWE EVOLVE MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP TRIPLE THREAT MATCH)

Before the other two guys can come out, we hit the back, where Wendy Choo has taken Kendal Grey out. How dare you do that to my woman, Wendy. How DARE you.

We have a Headway commercial for corporate mental health. Please, people: support your private practice clinicians if you seek therapy. These venture capital conglomerates are terrible for the field as a whole.

We return to Brooks Jensen’s totally 1985 Mid-Atlantic entrance, followed by clean-shaven Jackson Drake, on his own and without the rest of the Vanity Project. Robert Stone is way too excited at Drake winking at him. Get a room, you two. Big match entrances from Blake Howard to start. By the way, have we seen Referee Hottie lately? Maybe I just haven’t noticed. I think we belt Keanu here to set up further discontent among the VP.

It looks like this thing’s getting sixteen minutes as we start. Jackson teases going after Keanu, but launches at Brooks instead. This backfires, as Keanu clothesline the living hell out of Jackson out of the ring. Brooks and Carver square off, and Brooks can’t take Keanu down with a shoulderblock. Somehow, Keanu can’t take down scrawny-ass Jensen with a series of shoulderblocks, and this leads to Drake sneaking up from behind and clipping Keanu. Keanu hits the outside as Brooks and Drake square off. Jensen with some clotheslines in the corner, a week-ass chop, and a nice powerslam. The Dustin Rhodes punch from the outside gets met with the POUNCE from Carver on the outside on Jense. A second one is hit on Drake, as Keanu manhandles them both. Double-slam from Keanu leads to a two-count on Drake. Drake with a beautiful dropkick, over Keanu, on Jensen, while Keanu is shoulderblocking Jensen in the corner. This leads to a roll-up for two on Keanu by Drake as everyone but Drake hits the outside. Drake hits a tope on both as we go to break. We return to Drake and Keanu in the ring, and Keanu is taking exception to a series of kicks from Drake, but Drake escapes a slam attempt, and Jensen takes Keanu down with a crescent kick. Jensen attempts to hit a splash off the top on Drake, but Drake moves, and he hits Keanu. Drake and Jensen square off again. Drake escapes a powerbomb, hits another kick, and a fisherman’s buster gets two. Drake hits another dive at Carver on the outside, almost flying into the first row. Back in the ring, Drake and Jensen exchange punches and headbutts. Drake went for a southern lariat but gets caught in a slam into a kick in the back by Jense. Carver attempts to come in but gets tossed out again. Way too much manhandling of the big man here. Keanu finally gets back in the ring, and skinny men are being tossed around. Drake comes back with some kicks to the gut on both. Jensen attempts to lift Drake up for something, but Drake meets the POUNCE in the air. Big slam on Jensen gets two for Keanu. Drake takes Keanu down again, and a standing shooting star press gets two. Keanu lifts Drake from that position, attempts to fallaway slam him, but Jensen goes behind them both and hits a German on Keanu along the way. Jensen misses the southern lariat again and gets an enziguri from Drake for his efforts. A second one hits Keanu, but that’s no-sold, and an electric chair/spinning kick off the top combo gets two on Drake. Jensen goes to the top again but gets caught by Keanu. Keanu hits the superplex, but a springboard senton by Drake stops that. Keanu rolls out of the ring, and another attempt at a dive by Drake leads to his getting nailed right in the face. Nice callback to the first two dives. Bryce Donovan comes out to take Keanu out, however, and eats a kick from Jensen. Roll-up from Jensen gets two, and there’s the southern lariat for……two, as Bryce saves the day again. Oh I know where this is headed. Donovan hits Jensen with a big right hand, and a big kick from Drake gets three. I guess I didn’t know where it was headed.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: JACKSON DRAKE

Match Rating: B+ All three guys showed up and had a solid three-way, with some predictable “there’s no DQ” interference coming into play.

Drake: A The man can do no wrong. Except shave.

Keanu: B+ A bit too much offense taken here by Carver, but his power stuff looks better than ever. Truly a mini-Oba in the making, at least in that department. If he were as good a package as The Ruler, he wouldn’t be in Evolve right now.

Jensen: B+ More than competent enough, but it’s Brooks Jensen. See “Holland, Ridge” above, although I’m digging the old school feel with him a bit more.

The Vanity Project celebrates, as we cut to Stevie Turner in her office. Stevie’s found a Post-it calling for an “I Quit” match from someone, and she decides it has to be from Wendy Choo. I mean, has Wendy ever written a drawing before?

Overall Rating: B+ Easy and breezy this week, with enough combination of pros and newbs to keep things going strong.

Thank you for reading and commenting, and I’ll see ya when I see ya for LFG.