WWE Evolve – 03.11.26

After the mostly nothingburger of last week’s Succession II: The Vanity Project Strike Back, we’re onto the next episode of Evolve which…starts with the theme song? Posing! Science! Lyrics! Purple!

We start with Robert Stone in the ring, and surrounding it is the Evolve roster. Stone puts the brand over, but says that along with ambition we need authority, and so we have a new Evolve GM…Timothy Thatcher. Stone explains that Thatcher’s history with Evolve, as well as his endeavors scouting talent around the world, makes him the perfect choice. Timothy appreciates the trust and the support, but he says he’s no GM…but because Evolve is about hard work, because Evolve is about constructing talent…he’s the Foreman of Evolve! Stone accepts, but says that there’s some hard choices to be made about the two champions of Evolve, Jackson Drake and Kendal Grey, who are full-time on NXT. Thatcher understands, and says that Evolve is about moving things along, so he’s asked both champions to defend their titles one last time in a FINAL EVOLUTION, and if they win, the title is vacated. So tonight it’ll be Kendal Grey defending against Tyra Mae Steele, and next week it’ll be…and Harlem Lewis interrupts and say that title shot is his. Thatcher shuts this down and says that he expected this, and he’s got a match for Lewis…and it’s right now!

I have zero issues with Thatcher as the GM…errr…Foreman, he’s got credibility, he’s honestly not bad on the mic, and his sorta crusty demeanor is a unique variation from the other WWE GMs. The Final Evolution thing is a bit corny, but they kinda booked themselves into a corner here and they do desperately need to get the belts off both champs.

But before that, we have Kendal lacing up her boots in the locker room and monologues about how she’s got one last chance to represent Evolve, and puts it over as a place where she found herself, where she got more confident, and the wrestlers and fans that supported her and cheered for her. Evolve will always be her first home…but tonight is business, Kendal puts TMS over as dangerous, she’s an Olympian, she’s more technically skilled, but Grey isn’t afraid, she’s never backed down from a challenge. Kendal lists the talent she’s beaten, and Tyra is next.

Kendal is a special talent, she’s not blowaway on the mic at all, but there are wrestlers with decades more experience who are worse on the mic, and as she said herself, she has confidence.

Harlem Lewis vs. Sam Holloway

Background: So Harlem is a big scary bruising power dude who is chasing the Evolve men’s title (as we previously established). Holloway has been missing for a while but he’s this sorta bigger quasi-serial killer-ish dude, except he’s maybe a babyface, and he does a LOT of dives. Think if Mike Awesome was also Amish Roadkill.

The Match: Hot start with Lewis just charging the bigger Holloway and throwing shots…but Sam catches him for a couple of slams, but he whiffs an elbow drop and Lewis clotheslines him over the top. Lewis keeps the aggression up with a baseball slide and brawls on the outside…but Sam picks up Harlem for an atomic drop and uh…drives him crotch first into the ring post. Sam breaks the count and keeps the beating on the outside…and then rolls Lewis back in and springboards in with an elbow drop. Harlem tries to fire back with a slam but Sam is too big and then he leapfrogs Lewis and drops him with a big boot. Corner choke from Sam but Harlem reverses and throws some punches but we get a shotgun dropkick from Sam for 2. Sam cranks in a double-arm stretch but Harlem fights to his feet and breaks and then hits his own dropkick and then stops a charging Sam with a second rope elbow and tries for a suplex that gets turned into a Holloway gourdbuster. Harlem dodges a charge but gets caught with a Sam ura-nage for 2. Harlem tries for a slam again but Sam breaks and gets a double-arm suplex into the corner for 2.8. Sam gets a goozle but Harlem counters with a jumping knee and a northern lariat and now he lands the slam (rule of 3) and the Boomslang gets 3.

**¼

Well…I don’t know about Harlem selling, selling, selling, and selling and then getting the Randy Savage comeback, but if they want him as a WWE babyface, I get the logic. I will say, Sam looked a LOT better this match as a big monster and not a guy leaving his feet all the time, he dialed it down to 2-3 spots and mostly did power stuff…I mean he still lost, but he at least looked like a monster.

We have a vignette next for…uh, well Luca Crusifino, my goodness his look has changed. He’s got a leopard print Jamiroquai hat, a ton of bracelets and…he’s a raver now?! He’s vibing, he’s tripping, he’s feeling the bass, and he’s found his inner-self…and when he’s flowing on his frequency of love, he’ll make his opponents see colors they’ve never seen before.

I like Luca…this is…a mountain to overcome. I also have the distinct memory that Eddy Thorpe and Javier Bernal also got an “I really care about music!” gimmick before uh…they no longer worked in WWE.

We cut to Tyra Mae Steele who is elated that she’s finally got a title match in WWE. Tyra puts over Kendal as an undefeated amateur, and puts over her victories in Evolve, but she’s never faced an Olympic gold medalist. Tyra acknowledges that the mat and the ring are different places but it doesn’t matter. TMS says that she knows that Kendal is leaving, she knows that this is Grey’s FINAL EVOLUTION and she’s going on to NXT with a win or a loss…but Tyra cannot afford to lose and she won’t be happy until she’s etched in history as the next Evolve Women’s Champion.

Alright! Good stuff from Tyra, good intensity, I like that she started by being condescending and ended with the classic hot sell of a match, good rasslin’ here.

Harley Riggins w/ Kam Hendrix vs. Trill London

Background: So it seems that Team PC has mostly broken up, but Harley and Kam are sticking together (with Riggins regular partner Jax Pressley hurt) as jerk jock heels, they had previously taken Tate Wilder out of action and are looking to continue their job as bully heels. Trill London is a former NFL CB who is uh…a Jeff Hardy fan? He dresses weird, has a hockey mask, dances, is ‘eccentric’ and takes silly bumps.

The Match: Lockup goes Harley’s way but Trill gets a float over and back handspring and then an armdrag confuses Riggins before Harley reverses into an armbar and just leans on Trill before yanking his hair to slam his head into the ground. London gets a springboard armdrag and a dropkick to send Harley outside and follows with another to send Riggins down before hitting a Whisper in the Wind off the ringpost to ringside area. Back in and Riggins hotshots Trill, German suplexes him, and then gets some ground and pound and then lands his own dropkick to a kneeling Trill. Tilt-a-whirl slam by Harley gets 2 and he cranks in a headscissors before Londo turns that into a rollup. Trill goes running and throws elbows and gets a trip and a flip senton for 2. Trill goes up and REMOVES THE SHIRT (no screaming ladies for this one) but Harley cuts him off and hits a TKO for 3.

**

Not QUITE a squash but adjacent, lets call it a melon, perhaps a delicious cantaloupe. The Jeff Hardy cosplay from Trill…it’s a fine starting point but he cannot be THAT obvious with his influences. Harley is a pretty solid big mean dude who makes sure to actually y’know, cheat. Pretty solid stuff and it didn’t overstay its welcome while Trill still managed to get some shine. No complaints.

Post-match Chuey interviews Harley and asks if him and Kam are a new tag-team, and Harley, who apparently not only dresses like Diesel, is stealing some Nash mannerisms on the mic and says that around here “we do WHATEVER we want.” Chuey says that Tate is gonna return, but Harley doesn’t care cause they’ll take him out again, him and Kam are in the butt-whoopin’ business and business is…BOOMING!

And a wild Dante Chen appears! And Dante will not stand for them representing the Performance Center as jerks, so Kam is like “those are fighting words, lets fight next week” and Hendrix is apparently “Showtime.” Okay, sure whatever.

So we have Timothy Thatcher in his office before a wild Aaron Rourke appears! They banter a bit but Rourke has a proposition, he knows that opportunities are earned, but he doesn’t think Jackson Drake deserves to be able to leave Evolve as champion like he built it. Rourke is fed up with Vanity Project and their cheating, their egos, their outfits, and also walking out during the ten-man tag. Rouke thinks he represents Evolve and has proven it over the last year, and Rourke wants the title shot at Drake’s FINAL EVOLUTION. Thatcher puts over Harlem for his performance earlier, but he’ll get a shot down the line, it’s Rourke’s shot next week.

Well…that promo was a bit too long, but it was heartfelt. Good shot for Rourke and hopefully he shows out next week. And I’m liking the sorta doofy weird blue-collar vibe of Timothy.

Kendal Grey (c) vs. Tyra Mae Steele – Evolve Women’s Championship

Background: So Kendal is our fighting champion and probably the centerpiece of Evolve, and of course has been getting some real buzz on NXT as well including some big title shots. She’s a hardscrabble babyface, the Ice Woman, a bit undersized but clever, skilled, athletic, and gutsy. Tyra has a lot of babyface vibes as a high-energy gold medalist, but she’s recently started being very condescending about her accomplishments and sorta side-eyeing other women for not measuring up to her. As they’ve talked about before, TMS is the one person with more amateur accolades than Grey, and is also bigger, stronger, and possibly faster, but Grey has guts and experience.

The Match: Both start in an amateur stance, Kendal tries for an anklepick, Tyra sniffs it out and gutwrenches Kendal across the ring. We cut to the VIP section with Laynie Luck and Wendy Choo observing the match. Kendal tries a gutwrench of her own but Tyra reverses and just rolls her around the ring for a few pin attempts and is womanhandling the champ. Fireman’s carry takeover and Kendal is getting nothing. Grey tries speed and then gets a springboard armdrag and Tyra smirks in response. Grey then gets a few low dropkicks for a quick cover and then tries a front facelock as Grey calls spots. Tyra picks Grey up and drives her into the corner and then biels the champ across the ring before whipping Kendal into the turnbuckle not once, not twice, not thrice…but on the fourth Kendal gets her feet up and does her up and over into a slide through the legs but when she hits the ropes (while selling her back cause she’s awesome) Tyra catches her for a slam. Kendal rolls to the apron, exposing her back to the ring…and Tyra follows with a baseball slide to the spine as Grey tumbles to the floor in agony and we go to a break. Back inside and we have Tyra doing running shoulder thrusts to a cornered Kendal before Tyra gets a double-leg into another slam for 2. Tyra cranks in…a funky looking STF. Kendal gets to her feet with some elbows and slugs away before Tyra snatches her up again, but Kendal turns that into a sunset flip for 2. The champ throws a kick and some chops as she’s getting some momentum and she whips Tyra into the corner…who gets a backwards hip check to knock Kendal to the ground. Tyra smacks her own rear to indicate her superior posterior in this regard. Tyra gets three Karelin lift suplexes but doesn’t cover and hits another shoulder thrust into the corner and then covers for 2. Tyra cranks in a camel clutch next and cranks on the neck before Kendal powers up again but Tyra drops the champ with a knee to the gut and goes for another gutwrench, but Kendal flips out and lands on her feet. We get a rope-running sequence into a double crossbody and it’s a double-down. Kendal is up in the corner and Tyra tries another shoulder thrust but Grey gets a knee up and staggers the challenger. Another charge is whiffed as Grey floats over and Kendal gets a series of running back elbows, and with footwork manages to set Steele up for a somewhat clunky rebound German suplex. Kendal DROPS THE STRAPS and she’s in the Grey Area! T-Bone Suplex! Grey sends TMS into the corner and gets a step-up DDT off the second rope (?!) for 2.5. Grey clutches the back and climbs to the top very slowly…and Tyra pops up and tries for a superplex but the champ elbows her down, but is still too slow to land something as Tyra pops up again and Kendal has to bail out by jumping down, only for Tyra to catch her with an Olympic Slam for 2.7. Steele looks a bit out of sorts by this and hesitates before going for a fireman’s carry which Grey turns into a schoolgirl for 2 and then tries a cazadora, but Tyra stuffs it and turns it into a German. Tyra goes for ANOTHER German but Kendal turns that into a victory roll and they both reverse that before breaking, Tyra is up and goes for a spear and it’s SHADES OF GREY OUTTA NOWHERE for 3.

***

Well that is definitely the match of Tyra’s career so far, and it might be a while before she hits that again. TMS has incredible upside, she’s crazy athletic, strong, is developing her personality, her offense looks incredible, the amateur stuff is dynamic, she can bump pretty well, but it was noticeable that when they started doing more ‘pro wrestling’ sequences that Tyra’s footwork was off, some weird reversals and whenever it’s not a straight rope run I could see Steele getting confused. Interesting that it seems that Kendal was calling some stuff considering her relative inexperience as a wrestler. Grey of course, just a special, special talent, the way they used the early sequences to establish Tyra being the superior wrestler, physical specimen, and athlete was good stuff, and Grey being incapable of getting anything going except for a few flash counters and then finally Tyra lost sight of Kendal’s flash finish and fell victim to it. Grey couldn’t out grapple her, but she could out wrestle her.

Post-match Kendal grabs the mic, thanks the fans, talks about how much it did it for her, and just like she took over Evolve, she’s gonna take over NXT! She hugs Thatcher, hands the belt over, and that’s a wrap for Kendal Grey in Evolve.

Well, I’d probably have her lose on the way out, but at the end of the day, it’s just Evolve, y’know? She has undoubtedly been the MVP of the show and uh…boy I hope we find another one soon if I’m gonna keep reviewing this! But also Jackson Drake BETTER lose next week.

We end with a big sizzle reel of Kendal Grey’s accomplishments that I have to imagine is going to get a lot of play, yet again, she’s a special talent that I see big things for. Weirdly this show felt more consequential than Succession II: Wrestling Boogaloo.

Well folks, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, and thanks for Evolving. #GreyGraps