WWE Evolve May 6th 2026

Welcome back Evolvemaniacs as we have two big announced matches as Cappuccino Jones, Chazz “Starboy” Hall, and Romeo Moreno take on ID 2.0’s Max Abrams, Jacari Ball, and Santi Rivera, plus, Wendy Choo defends the Evolve women’s championship against Laynie Luck, but before all that, if you want to catch up with what’s happening in the Greater WWE Media Space we got some reviews.

Impact – SmackDown – AAA – Raw – NXT

And if you’re curious about where some of these overseas Evolve talent are coming from, I got some reviews of All Japan’s Champion Carnival…and this isn’t a joke, Elio and Dorian were in the Carnival last year, who knows where the next Evolve star will come from? Or perhaps Evolve talent will end up in All Japan! Former NXT LVL Up talent are in the tournament and I once again am not joking.

And we start with a post-show exclusive as last Evolve left off with victorious champion Aaron Rourke being menaced by Kam Hendrix and Harley Riggins on one side and Brooks Jensen from the other, but as Kam and Harley storm the ring, the champ takes them both down and successfully evading the ambush and we will hear from him LATER ON TONIGHT!

But first it’s Wendy Choo monologuing, it’s her first title defense and she’s nervous, it took her a long time to win her first championship and Kali Armstrong and Kendal Grey are big shoes to fill. Wendy then puts over fellow champ Rourke and is interested in what he’s going to say tonight. Choo runs down the card and brings up the opening six-man, and the new talent, who is hungry, who wants it. But Choo reminds us all that it takes more than hunger, and Luck, to become an Evolve champ.

Choo remains good on the mic to the point where he mute gimmick seems wild in retrospect. That said, that her title match got like 2 lines maximum and most of her promo was spent running down the card doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement about the main-event.

Flips! Posing! Rapping! Chemistry! Purple! It’s Evolve!

ID 2.0 (Max Abrams, Santi Rivera, and Jacari Ball) w/ CJ Valor vs. Cappuccino Jones, Romeo Moreno, and Chazz “Starboy” Hall

Background: Okay, so Max Abrams used to be named Mike Cunningham, and he was a sorta scrappy rising babyface who bragged about his Main-Man Energy and was sorta teasing a heel run via testiness with vets and not getting his due, and then he changes his name to Max Abrams, turned heel by costing Cappuccino Jones a Bullrope Match, and is now a sorta sleazy arrogant mob boss with his crew of jacked up indie guys from the ID crop. Last time the ID guys were the de facto babyfaces, now they’re the heels, we don’t really know why they’re a group or why they’re together, but CJ, Santi, and Jacari are the goons, and they tried to recruit Starboy who turned them down so they jumped him and Romeo before they were due to have a match, so it’s OG ID guy Cappuccino teaming with newer ID guys Romeo and Starboy (who honestly have far more credible indie and international experience than Abrams crew). You got that? Does it make sense? If it does please explain it to me cause I don’t really get what’s going on but it’s wrestling baby! We roll with the punches. TLDR: Max Abrams turned heel by costing Jones a match, and then tried to recruit Chazz who turned him down and got a beatdown along with bystander Romeo. Anyway, Max is in neon green trunks, Santi is in red trunks, Jacari is in grey trunks. Capp is in baggy dark pants, Starboy is in denim overalls (sigh) and Romeo is in dark holographic trunks with striped sides.

The Match: Jones and Abrams start but Max immediately tags out to Jacari. Jones gets a few jabs but Jacari, who is the Hellcat apparently double-leg lifts Jones but Cap slips out, gets a schoolboy and Jacari uses his size to take Jones down before the vets’ superior speed confuses him. The rest of ID 2.0 run-in as Jones gives them dropkicks but Max bails out before Cap get to him and this distracts Jones so Jacari hits a clothesline from behind and then a slam and brings in Santi who immediately whiffs an elbow drop and Jones armdrags him and brings Rivera to Jones corner for a Hall tag. Chazz works the arm with wristlocks and befuddles the larger wrestler with a springboard armdrag and then a leapfrog and a tag to Romeo who gets a sneaky springboard dropkick and Jones hits a diving axe handle and once again tries to go at Max who bails. Romeo hit a rebound kick on Santi as Peter Rosenberg says that Evolve has the best weekly action in wrestling…uhhhhh no. Romeo does some more unique evasion with one-armed handstands to get a shoulder thrust and then a whip into a corner gamengiri but Jacri distracts him on the apron and Moreno runs into a Rivera clothesline and now Max tags in to put the boots to the Spaniard and then hits a Disaster Kick (Max went to Cody’s school) for 2. Ball tags in with a gutwrench suplex and then another, and a third as he tags in Santi who now hits the jumping elbow. The rest of ID 2.0 run-in and try a triple team as they whip Santi at a cornered Moreno, but El Freestyle ducks and Rivera tumbles outside. Romeo splits the uprights and brings in Starboy who clears the ring with evasion and counters and sends all the heels tumbling outside and Jones cuts off a recovered Santi with a Cactus Crossbody before Romeo hits a confused ID 2.0 with a springboard plancha. And Chazz takes down the straps and hits a Sasuke Special and the babyfaces all celebrate as we go to a break. We come back with everybody still ringside but CJ Valor gets in Starboy’s face and the distraction sets up Jacari smashing Hall into the post and the apron. Back inside and we have Jacari hitting a backbreaker and Santi adding a neckbreaker afterwards before tagging in Max who adds a legdrop. Starboy slugs away and Max jumps on each shot in a pretty cartoonish fashion. Hall clears the apron and then tries to leap for a tag but Abrams snatches him and drives him back to the corner and more quick tags set up sequential corner attacks for a 2 count by Max who then chokes Starboy on the ropes and CJ adds a neck snap from the outside for 2. Rivera in now with a snapmare and then a chinlock and some trash talk. Jacari in now with a chinlock and Starboy tosses him away but Max has tagged in and cuts off the escape…but Hall slips away anyway but Romeo and Jones have been yanked off the apron and ID try to triple team Starboy again but he just counters all of them and tags in Jones regardless. So it’s finally Jones vs. Abrams with none for Max to tag. Abrams begs off and offers a handshake, but Cap sniffs out the sneak attack, catches the boot and lariats Max down. A few more have Max out of sorts and Cap follows with a giant corner dropkick and some junk talk as Cap cuts off an interfering Santi and Jacari again and Max tries the sneak attack before Jones ducks and hits a half-and-half suplex for 2.7. Max finally gets offense with a jumping knee and we get some quick ID tags as Jacari clears the face corner and hits Jones with a Manhattan drop into a Santi slingblade for 2.6. Santi tries a powerbomb but Cap slips out the back and brings in Romeo for a springboard dropkick, now the faces do quick tags and a Romeo brainbuster/Espresso Shot (not the actual name for Cap’s punch but if you go all in, go all in) sets up Starboy for a SSP and that’s 2.9 as ID breaks it up. That really should have finished. And now we get a six-man staredown into a pier-sixer as it’s breaking loose in Orlando! We settle down with Rivera catching a Starboy handspring into a Dominator, Jacari gets a belly-to-belly, and Max adds a frog splash for 2.9 as Romeo breaks it up. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FINISH! Jones hits Jacari with the Decaffeinator (corkscrew neckbreaker) but Santi hits a springboard single-knee facebreaker on Cap, Starboy hits Rivera with a 540, and then jukes and jives Max’s ambush with a kip-up into a Pele kick. Starboy sets up Max on the top-rope but Abrams tosses him off before Romeo comes in with a Spanish Fly…but Valor cuts off Romeo…and then It’s GAL cuts off CJ before Thatcher’s new security drag off GAL. It’s GAL hitting his signature taunts and poses while being carried out of the ringside area is pretty great. Anyway Max Abrams hits a distracted Romeo with the Main Objective (Kotaro Crusher/leapfrog into a one-handed bulldog) for 3.

**½

Alright, so like…this was probably 25-30 minutes of match condensed down into 15. These guys worked hard, they had a core story they followed, but my goodness zero moments could breathe, at all, everything felt super tight and almost claustrophobic. I won’t remember any of this tomorrow morning other than the heels winning and maybe It’s GAL showing up. Is that just wrestling in 2026? Maybe, but I think it’s okay to teach guys that you can just…hit a chinlock and let the crowd react and take it in and clap for the babyface instead of just rushing through everything. It feels like kids trying to dress up like their parents, they know what these matches are supposed to look like, but they don’t know why so it all just sorta tumbles together. The work was crisp, the story was solid, but it could have been a lot better if they did a lot less, and that’s a shame.

Post-match we have Chuey Martinez interviewing WWE ID and CJ Valor who trashes Marcus Mathers and Sam Holloway for not taking opportunities. Jacari then says Cappuccino Jones just got mauled. Santi adds some sarcastic clapping and calls the other ID guys mistakes. Chuey compares these guys to the Vanity Project but a lot worse (shoot comments…) and just cuts it short to throw to a Laynie Luck interview.

Yeah these guys are still painfully generic.

Laynie talks about how this is the biggest match of her life and she’s curious how she even got here. Luck remembers driving 8 hours back from her school and at 2 in the morning in a rainstorm her tire explodes and she breaks thinking about it. She remembers getting back into her car after trying to replace her tire and wondering if any of this was worth it. The tiny shows, the lame events, she could have easily given up, but she’s not that girl, she got back out there, she changed her tire, she drove 3 more hours home soaking wet because she knew she couldn’t give up and she knew her dream could happen. Wendy Choo proves that if you work hard enough your dreams will happen And now it’s Laynie’s turn.

I feel like I’ve heard some variation of this promo a thousand times before, she gave it a bit of spunk but Laynie Luck remains tremendously generic as The Indie Girl, but maybe that’s the point.

We cut to Karmen Petrovic working out before strobe lights and smoke herald the arrival of Nikkita Lyons and Sloane Jacobs who need the gym for music video rehearsal and they don’t want Karmen’s vibes for it. Petrovic says Lyons positivity is fraudulent and she’s a narcissist that the locker room is tired of. Jacobs calls these fighting words, and Karmen agrees and we’ll get a match next week against one of them.

We cut to the ring where THE FOREMAN Timothy Thatcher puts over both of his champions and how unique they are. Wendy Choo has reinvented herself multiple times to get to the top and will be having her first title defense later tonight. But right now it’s about who will be next for Aaron Rourke and the men’s Evolve title. Cue Rourke as he sparkles his way with a distressed jean jacket, sparkly crop-top, vinyl pants, and a bedazzled backwards baseball cap. Slay. Rourke thanks THE FOREMAN and says he’s more than ready for whomever is next. Rourke will do whatever it takes to keep this title, cause that’s who he is. He’s not the diamond cause it’s cute, it’s cause he’s built from pressure and thrives in it. We saw it against Starboy, and we saw it against Jackson Drake, and even though people might not like Drake, Aaron puts him over as a competitor. Rourke asks Thatcher to line them up cause it doesn’t matter…and here comes Kam Hendrix with Harley Riggins by his side. Hendrix says that since Aaron is looking for a challenge he’s got the perfect guy, and he puts his hand on Riggins shoulder…before saying its himself. Kam has charisma, athleticism, and starpower. Riggins does not seem super happy. Kam says he’s the best GM in Evolve history as well, so Hendrix says why not do this next week? But we have a promo parade as Brooks Jensen comes out and says Kam can’t cut in line again, Jensen has a win over Rourke’s friend and as far he’s concerned the number one contender is the Bad Man who hails from Ala-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-interruption as Tristan Angels comes out now and calls for order. Angels puts over the hustle and how everybody is kissing up to Thatcher for that title shot…but the rest of these guys are all ugly so only Angels is fit for this spot. And it continues as Dorian Van Dux comes out, but before he can talk Tate Wilder runs out and takes out Kam…but Thatcher has had enough and shuts this down. It’ll be Brooks vs. Dorian vs. Kam vs. Tristan in a fatal four-way next week, to determine the title shot in 3 weeks, and Thatcher clears the ring…except for Tate Wilder and Harley Riggins at ringside, and Thatchers says that since both guys want to fight, lets do it right now as Vicky D’Errico slides into the ring.

Tate Wilder vs. Harley Riggins w/ Kam Hendrix

Background: So Harley is the goon of Kam who, for long and boring reasons, dislikes Tate and has been ambushing him for months and injuring him and buddies. They’ve done a few tags and brawls and jumped each other and I guess we’re getting this right now as Wilder is all riled up and Riggins feels some sorta way about Kam dissing him. Tate is a pretty generic looking guy with a cowboy daredevil vibe and he’s the SHERIFF OF JUSTICE, Harley Riggins is a long haired football guy with ugly tattoos and an overall mean, nasty bully demeanor. Obviously Tate is now on NXT so uh…spoilers.

The Match: We start with Harley missing a boot as Tate throws hands at him before eating a kick in the corner but Tate gets a back suplex slam and a lionsault for not even a cover as he trash talks Kam and clotheslines Harley over the top. Tate gets on the apron for some kicks but he tries a dive and gets hit out of the air and back suplexed on the apron. Back inside and Riggins gets some stomps and a senton for 2 and then whips Tate off the ropes for a livershot and then a second. Snapmare and a nerve hold by Harley before he gets a double-arm crank as Tate is bleeding from the mouth. Wilder breaks free and slugs away but his crossbody is caught for a Catatonic and the commentary puts over how “old school” Harley is before he goes up for a whisper in the wind as Lou Thesz used to do. Quick cover and Harley picks up Tate for some trash talk but Wilder slips out of a back suplex and we get a double clothesline for a double down as Vicky checks on Tate and has the BLACK GLOVES OF BLOOD. Both guys are up to slug it out but it’s a three bump comeback for Wilder as Harley pinballs around before Wilder gets a Whiplash for 2. Wilder heads up to the top and randomly sells his back in the middle of it. Riggins cuts him off but Wilder flies around and gets a dropkick but Harley gets a floatover into a backstabber (?!) for 2. Riggins then slugs away and then a gutshot puts WIlder down and Riggins continues with the heavy hands and trash talk before Riggins tries a backdrop but Tate rolls through for a sunset flip for 3.

*½

That was…abrupt. Pretty lame match where everybody went too fast, sometimes Tate would remember to sell, he’d rarely remember to play to the crowd. Riggins was a perfectly fine big mean guy before trying out his DragonGate audition tape. I don’t know who is in the PC telling big guys they need to leave their feet all the time but they need to stop it. Riggins is a pretty solid brawling bully, him doing springboards and fancy aerial counters for nearfalls is pointless. Wilder remains sloppy, generic, and not very charismatic, but beyond that he’s fine.

Post-match Kam slides in and hits Lights, Kamera Action (Back suplex ura-nage) and him and Harley pose and bark over the battered SHERIFF OF JUSTICE. Please let this feud end.

And now a Dorian Van Dux promo to remind everybody in a VERY thick accent that he’s not a guy to be pushed around or ignored and somebody is going to pay the price next week. Dorian is not going to waste time or take unnecessary steps and he’s going to make an impact immediately and that’s why next week he’s not going to let this moment pass him by. He’ll take them all out next week and get his hands on Rourke and the title.

That accent is…THICK, but hey, he’s a sorta serious, goals-focused guy.

Wendy Choo (c) vs. Laynie Luck – Evolve Women’s Championship

Background: Both are babyfaces, Wendy doesn’t actually seem super focused on this and might be overlooking Laynie as she has her eyes on other wrestlers on the card while Laynie is putting over this as the biggest match of her life. Laynie is in a maroon and pink two-piece and is very hyper for the entrance. Wendy is in a crimson velvet singlet with black accents.

The Match: We start with some standing grappling as I quickly see that Laynie is a LOT taller than Choo. They trade takedowns and quick covers for not even one counts as the feeling out process continues. Laynie gets the better and offers a hand that Wendy daps before we get a Greco-Roman knucklelock into a monkey flip and bridge sequence. Both flip and confound each other with reversals before Wendy gets the better and Choo offers the hand…and Luck accepts only to sneak in a go-behind and a headlock. Luck gets some springboard armdrags and a dropkick before she plays to the crowd and then a rope-running sequence ends up with a schoolgirl by Laynie and then some more dueling pinfalls as this has been basically pure babyface. Back and forth sunset flips and jackknife pins for a while to blow up the ref but Choo gets an armdrag and a handspring corner elbow, Yakuza kick and a running boot gets 2 for the champ and then she tries the Dirt Nap (Cobra Clutch) but Laynie gets into the ropes to break and gets Choo on the apron for a slingshot stomp that whiffs, but Choo’s trip attempt is foiled by a Laynie cartwheel evasion and a superkick drops the champ. Luck tosses Choo back in and follows with a sorta step-over springboard senton bomb off the middle-rope for 2.5. Borth are up and trade shots but Choo is still staggered and Laynie gets a spin kick, suplex, a sliding trip (a la Kendal) and then another step-through splash from the middle rope (that’s an unique aerial setup I don’t remember seeing that often, I think Gargano does it for his spear, wonder if they share a trainer) gets 2.7. Luck gets a grounded headscissors armbar but Choo reverses for a pin to break and then gets some strikes, Choo gets a pair of clotheslines and then a hammerlock lariat for 2 and Peter Rosenberg is just burying Wendy. Saying she needs to win or she’ll be a one-hit wonder and implying she’s only champion cause Kendal and Kali left the division and how Nikkita and Karmen see the division as wide-open. C’mon man, she’s the champ. Laynie gets some reversals and a spin kick before a shining wizard (we’ll be generous and accept that call) gets 2 for the challenger. Fireman’s carry by Luck but Wendy slips out but Luck gets the O’Connor roll, but Choo turns that into the Dirt Nap but Laynie immediately gets the Bret reversal for a cover but Choo is immediately up with the Snooze Button (full-nelson slam) for 2.8. Wendy puts Laynie in the tree of woe but attempts a basement dropkick before Laynie sits up to evade…but Choo recovers and follows her to the top and tries a superplex and they fight it out before Choo finishes it. Both get up to their feet but Sloane Jacobs and Nikkita Lyons run-in for the non-finish.

**½

On track for more as it told a smart story with the less talented Luck having Wendy scouted and just keeping on the champ. Whenever Wendy had a bit of space she could dominate but Luck had a gameplan and kept at it. With the right finish that could have been good, as is, I’m disappointed but not angry, that said, I don’t know if we couldn’t have just given Wendy the win here and then set up the attack.

Lyons and Sloane give a beatdown to both competitors and once again Jacobs is doing these in stiletto heels. Seriously woman, you’re going to break an ankle. THey clobber both of them with kicks but Karmen uh…slowly saunters out and then runs to the ring as WE’RE OUTTA TIME FOLKS! Is Bischoff consulting Evolve now?

Well…they can’t all be winners. I dunno if I’m grumpy over work or just a lackluster show, but this wasn’t great. The MVP was 30 seconds of It’s GAL or maybe that Aaron Rourke promo, but while it’s the nature of taped shows, it’s hard to care about certain acts when we know they’re about to be on NXT and probably away from Evolve. Still, I’m sure some will like that tag-match more than I did.

Thanks for reading and catch you next week for some Karmen vs. Lyons/Jacobs action as well as the fatal-fourway for the number one contendership!