WWE Evolve – 12.17.25

We start with It’s GAL in a pre-tape breaking down the big main-event, where the WWE ID guys vs. WWE PC guys. Team ID is Cappuccino Jones, Mike Cunningham, Aaron Rourke, and Marcus Mathers, but with Sean Legacy injured, we have a MYSTERY OPPONENT. Feel the excitement here. Team PC Keanu Carver, Brooks Jensen, Jax Pressley, Harley Riggins, and Braxton Cole, and I probably made one of those names up. It’s a gauntlet match, so no tags, just both guys competing til a fall and then the next one coming out until one team is eliminated. Apparently whatever team wins runs an episode of Evolve, and whomever gets the winning fall has an Evolve title shot. Huh, this is…more ornate than I expected. You got all that? No? Good, cause neither did I.

We start the actual in-ring stuff with Kendal Grey’s entrance and they talk up the Iron Survivor win and she has a mic in hand and she talks up her achievements and how much she loves and lives for the grind. She cannot let her guard down and she’s gotta keep busting her buns every week and she won’t back down and she loves pressure cause pressure makes diamonds and she’s just hitting every cliche. So she’s calling anybody to step up…and we get Kali Armstrong. Who is actually complimentary of Kendal and says she appreciates her work…but she’s ready to get her belt back and send Kendal back to Tik-Tok and Instagram (we will not slander Wrensday in this house!) and run back the greatest Evolve title match in history (well not a massive bar but Kali is right here). But to interrupt is PJ Vasa to remind Kali that Vasa beat up Armstrong the last time they met up…and she beat up Kendal too. And the champ is here to remind everybody that she is in fact, the champ, and she kinda teases a triple threat cause she doesn’t back down.

Kali is clearly the best promo of the three, but Kendal is getting a lot better on the mic. PJ is pretty generic so far, but hey, she has a cool look.

More talking as Wendy Choo apparently totally past the Sleepy Psycho gimmick and is bragging about screwing Chantel Monroe in her title match cause Monroe violated Wendy’s therapy session (TBF, pretty messed up heel move!) and Choo doubts the legality of such heelishness. Wendy mocks Chantel and says they’re not even and they’re going to have a no-DQ match tonight (I think that’s what she said but that feels…weird with the gauntlet match) and through therapy, Choo has realized she doesn’t need to hold back anymore.

Chantel now calls Wendy a freak and says that she did Choo a favor by attacking her during therapy cause therapy can’t fix her, and even if she could save Choo from herself…it can’t save Wendy from Monroe.

Decent little back and forth on the mic, no idea how babyface therapy Choo is gonna last, but she’s a good worker if nothing else and honestly decent on the mic. I’m high on Monroe as a very bare bones prospect but she feels like very early Mercedes and that’s a compliment from me.

The yappin’ don’t stop as we get Charlie Dempsey showing up to bother Timothy Thatcher about his challenge and the younger man threatens to train a carrier pigeon to send the next message before Thatcher reveals he had heard it and says he admires Dempsey’s moxie, but is just here to train and doesn’t want any glory. Charles is like “there’s always a point to stepping into the ring” and brags about being the future of technical wrestling but Thatcher says that they aren’t seeking the same things but does offer to train with Dempsey…who shuts him down and says his prior respect was flawed. I am sure that this will be the end of this and there will be more progression to the angle.

Team WWE ID (Aaron Rourke, Cappuccino Jones, Mike Cunningham, Marcus Mathers, and ???) vs. Team WWE PC (Keanu Carver, Brooks Jensen, Harley Riggins, Jax Pressley, and Braxton Cole) – Gauntlet Match for Control of Evolve

Background: So It’s GAL already gave a lot of detail up above, but I suppose I should tell you who people are. Aaron Rourke is an undersized and bedazzled bald dude who is gay and that’s kind of his gimmick but the show is just like “he’s FLAMBOYANT and FACED BULLYING” without using any specific letters, him and his partner Aaron Rourke have been a bit heelish and whiny recently and are probably the ‘workers’ of the match. Speaking of, Marcus looks like a long-last Rascalz member, and is sorta a scummy white guy with tattoos and greasy hair, high-flying. Cappuccino Jones is uh…he likes coffee, wears jorts, flips. Mike Cunningham is a REAL LIFE COWBOY and to describe his gear would be to imply that he’s wearing any, guy is in barely there trunks and it’s…a decision, the mystery partner is a mystery partner. Team WWE PC are the erstwhile heels with Keanu, (who was a face, then a heel, then a face, then a heel again in like 6 months) is a big jacked up dude who does THE POUUUUUUNCE, he recently hooked up with Harley Riggins and Jax Pressley who look like if Kevin Nash split into two separate people, they’re jerkwad jock bully heels, Brooks Jensen is the oldest looking 23 year old ever and wrestles like a WCCW mid-carder, Braxton Cole I think is an AI approximation of an OVW wrestler (to steal a joke from zbinks). This might be a disaster folks.

The Match: We start with Rourke and apparently this match is not main-eventing as we will be getting Chantel/Choo later on. #GiveDudesAChance. Keanu Carver is the starter for Team PC and uh…oh boy Rourke. Rouke dodges a Keanu charge and smacks his ass but Carver takes Rourke down, before Aaron does more uh…gay-baiting stuff and Keanu just stomps him down in the corner and tosses him around before landing a massive military press gutbuster and beats Rourke down but Aaron reverses a slam into the corner with a crossbody and tries some brawling before getting shut-down…and Rourke gets a spin kick and a 619 before going up for a Molly-go-Round for 2.8. Keanu with a big boot and a powerslam and that’s 3.

Next up is Mike Cunningham with a series of dropkicks…but Carver just shoves him down, tosses him around, and commentary is going crazy putting over Carver. Keanu just demolishes Mike with repeated slams and then a 1 count (?!) as Mike has THAT FIGHTING SPIRIT! Mike is throwing back some terrible punches and throwing all those desperate strikes before going up with a missile dropkick for 2.9. A crossbody follows…but Keanu catches Mike and gets another powerslam for 3.

And up next for Team ID is Sean Legacy?!? But he’s not cleared! Dramatic commercial break follows, and well, Sean is still not cleared, but Sam Holloway is in! And he’s like this big creepy serial killer sorta dude, like if Dexter Loomis and Amish Roadkill did the fusion dance. Anyway he dropkicks Keanu by surprise, chokeslam, and a diving splash gets 3. Well that feels like…chicanery here.

Following up is Brooks Jensen for Team PC who runs into a boot and a double-arm suplex. Sam clotheslines Brooks out of the ring and they brawl outside, rather, Sam beats up Brooks. Jensen finally gets halfway something approaching offense after getting tossed into the ring by stomping Sam going inside, but Hardway Holloway tosses him aside and gets a slingshot elbow for 2. Sam runs him over, Brooks powders, Holloway goes for a dive but Jensen runs back in for a spinebuster and a brainbuster for 2. Chinlock by Brooks and some corner offense but Sam takes over with his own chops and then a lariat on Brooks. Both slug it out and uh, if Sam is supposed to be this big monster, maybe don’t have him trade blows with Brooks Jensen. And Holloway maybe proves me wrong with an ura-nage…for 2. Sam with a suplex lift but Brooks knees Sam in the face with his kneebrace, running knee lift with the brace, and a rolling wheel kick gets 3 for Brooks. El, and might I add, oh el.

Cappuccino Jones is next up for Team ID. Jones with an early rollup attempt and then some cruiser stuff before he flummoxes Brooks who just does the big awkward heel business as Jones gets a headscissors out of the corner and then a dropkick for a quick cover. Both guys reverse and counter a fair amount of stuff before Brooks lands on the top-rope and slingshots him back in….as our DRAMATIC COMMERCIAL BREAK continues. Jones eats a backbreaker out of the corner and a stomp. Brooks goes for a knee drop but Jones dodges and then kicks at the leg as Jensen is selling and goes for another gourdbuster on the ropes but Cappuccino counters into a springboard dropkick…and Jax and Riggins come out with a chair…but Tate Wilder shows up, distracts the ref and Jones gets a reverse Japanese prawn hold (don’t ask me that’s how it’s translated) for 3. And Brooks is ANGRY and he chopblocks Jones and stomps the knee.

And it’s Braxton Cole out there…and Cole is just a big juiced up guy with a broccoli haircut and…my goodness, he looks like if Will Ospreay was on the super soldier serum. He starts with a chopblock and just demolishes Jones’ leg. We get Braxton with a strutch muffler as we cut to backstage where they inform us that due to the match going long, the Choo/Chantel match is being pushed back THREE WEEKS! And Karmen Petrovic freaks out on Chuey Martinez for that and asks WHAT IS GOING ON? Anyway back to the match for a Jone rollup for 2 but Cole beats him down and they do a sunset flip spot and Jones gets some slaps and Cole kicks the knee, but but Jones gets the Decaffinator (somersault neckbreaker) for 3.

Next is…Kam Hendrix? Wait, huh? Did…Harley and Jax get eliminated or something with the chair deal? I missed that if so. Anyway we have a dramatic ad break here and Kam Hendrix looks like…I dunno, the most generic OVW guy ever. Jones with a floatover but Kam gets a dragonscrew and some dancing and he’s OVERCONFIDENT and CONCEITED and OMG he’s just…the most OVW guy ever. Jones does some quick stuff to dodge some corner attacks and a jumping neckbreaker for 2. But Kam goes back to the leg and then a ridiculous rolling lariat out of the corner before he gets a back-suplex side slam for 3.

And last up for Team ID is Marcus Mathers. He flips out of a back suplex, gets a high back kick, and then lands a somersault plancha before Marcus goes back in for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Kam shoves down Marcus who fires up and I guess he’s totally face now. Kam stomps him down and tries to emote and then goes for his back suplex side slam again but Marcus hits a DDT for 2.8. Mathers goes up but gets caught for a superplex and a double down. We cut back to Chuey Martinez talking to Chantel who is VERY MAD her match got cut, and then Arianna grace is like “oh she seems sad” but in a jerky way and OH GOD Nikkita Lyons walks up (badly) and then talks (oh no). We cut back to a slug fest between Mathers and Kam but Hendrix gets a strike flurry before eating a jump kick…but Kam is still alive as he just shrugs off of all of Marcus’ stuff before a diving stunner loads up a German…for 2. Mathers goes up and gets cut off again, but Mathers gets a gamengiri with the ropes, goes up, and…whiffs a double stomp and eats a dropkick. For 2. Which is a shame as this means the match continues. Rollup fof 2, a kick, another springboard deal and Kam catches Marcus and gets Lights, Camera (or Kamera), Action which is the back suplex side slam deal for 3.

*

This match was not without value, as it at least gave some showcase time to people that probably deserved it, but as an actual match it exposed a lot of the flaws of the Gauntlet concept. Look, with experienced workers you can make something like this happen. But these guys are trying to tell an exhaustion story and also get their own characters across…but these guys are KIDS, they don’t really know what they’re doing and you stagger out the decent workers and it’s sort of a mess. The only reason to watch this is if you’re a psycho obsessed with z-grade developmental wrestling…like uh…other people.

So, to pay tribute to a departed BoD member, I’m going to give letter grades for all the people here. Graded on a curve, obviously.

Aaron Rourke C+: Dude has some talent, but man I don’t know about this gaybaiting stuff. Look is probably locked out as a serious wrestler too.

Keanu Carver: A-: Man they did their best to make him look like a killer, and oh boy he delivered, that said, he still feels like he needs his hand held a bit. But best look, offense, and presence in the match overall.

Mike Cunningham D: Look he’s jacked and decently athletic, but he feels like a long-lost Von Erich brother outside of WCCW, what’s the point exactly for this jamoke?

Sam Holloway B-: You give him the big win against Keanu and then he loses like that?!? I don’t like Big Guys Who Can Fly, but he was presented as a big force of nature, that said…woof, Brooks whooping that ass feels like an immediate lessening of that impact.

Brooks Jensen A+: So uh, holy poop, I’ve always dug Brooks but he was the best worker in this match by a wide margin, and his surly “22 year vet in a 24 year old body” gimmick might have legs. Guy can kinda go? Good, gnarly offense, only dude that bothered selling, good ugly look, I’m optimistic here.

Cappuccino Jones C+: Bog standard flippy underdog babyface, but he hit his stuff clean and sold his leg okay. Needs more charisma but as is he could be midcard fodder on NXT and be okay with that as his hard ceiling.

Braxton Cole F+: Oh man, oooh man, just…put this guy back in the lab, absolutely zero presence in the ring. He needs a ton of time to become anything. Good abs though.

Kam Hendrix D+: He has a bit of personality even if it’s super generic, but my goodness he feels like he should be part of DarkState…that’s not a compliment.

Marcus Mathers A: Yeah, he’s a scrawny indie guy who flips a lot, but he’s got energy and spark and brought me in a little bit. That’s what I want, and the rest, the sorta mediocre look, the lack of size, the limited offense, he made me care.

Well.

Not a show to watch if you like good wrestling, but if you just want to be exposed to a bunch of people who might matter later, check it out.

Also why the heck did Kam Hendrix get swapped in for Harley Riggins and Jax Pressley? Like what? Huh? Was it a MAGIC gauntlet order?

Appreciate y’all that read my stuff, have a good one and see ya next time.