WWE Evolve September 9th 2026

We have a special show that is showcasing all of the WWE ID program and a big gauntlet match, but before that, let’s take a look at what the greater WWE cinematic universe is doing.

Main Event – Impact – Smackdown – AAA – Sunday Night’s Main Event (I was there!) – Raw – NXT

We start with the Mog Squad walking and talking and they’re chads and that ID 1.0 folks can’t handle these chads and okay, let’s just pile in the catchphrases and whatevers. ID 1.0 got swept in an elimination match, Mog Squad is arrogant, let’s move on as none of them have a single drop of personality. So to get into something that matters, Max Abrams says Jacari Ball will start the gauntlet match. Whew, chad, mog, aura farming, chad, let us leave reddit now and talk about wrestling.

Commentary bigs up the WWE ID program and Blake Howard talks about how the ID program searches for and identifies (get it?) wrestlers for WWE. And then runs down the gauntlet match gimmick. Which we’ve had before and I’ve reviewed before here.

Flips, smoke, science, posing, it’s Evolve!

Gianna Capri vs. Anya Rune

Background: These are two of the new ID Prospects for women though they’ve been here for a while. Capri is a heel and a living New Jersey Eye-talian stereotype as the “sauce boss.” Anya is a face, has green hair, is “straight out of a manga panel” and her gimmick is that she thinks she’s an anime character and is…incompetent? She regularly fails to do moves and psyches herself out mid attempt only to lose. The angle has been Capri belittling and harassing Rune on behalf of Nikkita Lyons and Rune has finally started to stand up for herself. Of course while Evolve is taped in blocks, we do know that Anya was released by the company.

The Match: Capri with a big boot out the gate and some corner shoulders before gesticulating wildly. Anya comes back with a chop, ducks Capri and gets her own kick, but Gianna goes for a fireball but Capri breaks it up, stomps her down and gets a curbstomp into the corner before some ground and pound has Capri in control. Some trash talk and some very slow brawling but Anya blocks some punches and fires back with some horrendous chops. Corner uppercut, kick, and then Rune gets a sliding forearm to a kneeling Capri and Rune hits the fireball (I think some editing magic as opposed to flash paper) and an inverted facelock spun into a driving palm thrust gets 3 for The Main Character.

½*

Yeah these two do not have the athleticism to keep up with the women of WWE’s system. The fireball spot was cute at least.

Backstage Sloane Jacobs is laughing at Skylar Raye winning the four-way last week, and while Nikkita Lyons is on a championship break this week, Jacobs is here to let people know that Raye is going to go viral for the wrong reasons…and now here’s PJ Vasa (man how many released talent are we gonna see?) comes up and says she’s here to collect the favor she’s owed. Sloane says they LOST the tag match but PJ doesn’t care, so next week she’s going to declaw the Big Kat.

WWE ID! Journey to the top! Like uh…the Vanity Project…okay they probably need another win for that program.

We have the ID 1.0 guys (Chazz “Starboy” Hall, Cappuccino Jones, Aaron Rourke, Sam Holloway, Marcus Mathers) backstage hyping each other up, and Starboy is wearing the most ridiculous outfit, it’s a denim vest and a trucker cap and I am VERY confused by his styling here. Chazz hypes up his guys but Kale Dixon comes through and calls them dorks on his way to the ring.

And Kale and Alix Brooks make their way to the VIP Section…and Adrianna Rizzo (who ALSO got released) shows up to interview them. Kale is here to give the show some starpower and it makes him upset that indie twerps are getting this opportunity. Alix Brooks says they’re on Evolve as charity, they’re helping the show and giving people a reason to tune in.

Next week we’ll get Harlem Lewis defending his title against Cutler James, and in two weeks it’s an all women’s showcase for Evolve.

Mog Squad (Max Abrams, CJ Valor, Jacari Ball, and Santi Rivera) vs. ID 1.0 (Aaron Rourke, Sam Holloway, Cappuccino Jones, Marcus Mathers) – Gauntlet Elimination Match

Background: Both ‘indie’ groups, these guys have been beefing since April when Max Abrams turned heel against Cappuccino Jones and created a group of jacked up dudes that are all kinda the same. ID 1.0 are kind of a loser crew though Rourke was Evolve champion for a while, Sam is big and sorta serial killery, Capp is flippy and looks like a 70s cop show informant, and Marcus Mathers is the long-lost cousin of the Rascalz. The gimmick is what it sounds like, a series of 1v1 matches, as soon as you’re eliminated the next guy comes out, last team standing wins.

The Match: We start with Jacari and Rourke Ball takes down Rourke a few times with some amateur stuff. Rourke with a rollup but Jacari uses his power to toss Aaron around and then blocks an armdrag before hitting some corner strikes. Rourke uses speed to evade the Hellcat and then gets a shotgun dropkick and an exploder suplex for 2. Leapfrog into a dropkick from Ball and then he bounces Rourke off the ropes and poses. A series of elbow drops from the Mog Squad wrestler gets 2. Rourke is up with some boxing but Jacari gets some rolling gutwrench suplexes for 2.5. Some weak ground and pound by Ball and then he picks up Rourke…who fires off a series of strikes, fires up the crowd and then tosses Jacari to the apron, gets him wrapped up in the ropes, and dropkicks Ball. They fight ringside a bit and Rourke mocks Kale Dixon…and gets distracted going back in and Ball hits a pump kick and tries to set up Rourke for a superplex but Rourke fights him off and hits Over The Rainbow (Molly-Go-Round) for 3.

CJ Valor is out and we go to a break. Back in and CJ Valor (who is tiny, just teeny tiny) tosses around Rourke and then cranks in a chinlock. Hip toss by CJ, a few stomps and then a Chaos Theory…but Rourke counters with a cazadora to toss CJ into the buckles and Rourke fights back with running strikes before a handstand huracanrana sends CJ off the top rope, Rourke with a shotgun dropkick, a cartwheel elbow into the corner, but Kale Dixon distracts Rourke who is going to the top rope and Valor yanks him down for a deep rollup for 3.

Sam Holloway is out next for ID and CJ is sucking wind. Both guys have been beefing a bit over being the power guy of their team (though yet again, CJ is maybe 5’5”) and Sam is a giant. Holloway boots Valor’s head off, big slam and then an inside out springboard elbow for 2. And even though we were told people will go to the back after they get eliminated, Jacari Ball is ringside. CJ gets an exploder suplex and then stomps away at Sam. CJ with more strikes and a flying shoulder takes Holloway down and uh…this is horrendous agenting. Sam finally realizes CJ is the size of a small dog and butterfly suplexes him into the corner. Goozle and a chokeslam…but CJ transitions into a juji-gatame. Okay, sure. Valor slips out of a slam and hits the Chaos Theory and my eyes are rolling. Anyway it gets 2.8. But CJ just runs into a chokeslam and that’s 3. Whatever.

Santi Rivera is out next and we go to a break. Back and Santi is doing some butt drops to the back and then grinding out Sam with a chinlock. Sam is up and swinging but Santi dodges and gets the face crusher and then a springboard codebreaker for 2.8. Sam backdrops out of a powerbomb, hits a big dropkick and then a chokeslam gets 3.

Max Abrams comes out and the heel leader is…fighting back 1v3? Huh. Anyway. Max has his mask on and he immediately catches Sam in a sleeper. Sam fights off, Max goes up and dives into a fist that knocks the mask off but the Mog Squad yank him out of the ring (yet again, we were told they would GO TO THE BACK BY COMMENTARY) and then Cutler James runs in to hit a pump kick on Sam Holloway and Max gets the Main Objective (leapfrog legdrop bulldog) for 3.

Marcus Mathers is out next for ID 1.0 and Max immediately stomps him out, cause Marcus Mathers is a geek. Max misses a corner charge, the mask comes off and Marcus gets his Wrestling School 101 offense before a springboard stunner sets up a suplex but Max fights out and gets a leaping back elbow and retrieves his mask and tries another Main Objective but Marcus gets a hook kick to the face to send Max outside and Marcus follows with a flip dive that is almost caught by the Squad. We go to a break and we’re back inside and guess what? Marcus Mathers is getting beat down. And guess what’s backstage? Cappuccino Jones got beat up by Shido Ash! Cause we need to remind everybody that ID 1.0 are losers that always lose. Sigh. So the Mog Squad, who YET AGAIN ARE BANNED FROM RINGSIDE BY THE RULES OF THE MATCH play air hockey with the mask and give it back to Max who has taken out Marcus with a springboard kick. The ref removes the mask and Max goes up top and Mathers cuts him off with a kick and then a Spanish Fly gets 2 and then a 450…but Jacari Ball distracts the ref and CJ breaks the pin…and then the ref finally sends the Squad packing? Marcus moonsaults into a kick and the Main Objective gets 3.

Timothy Thatcher says that since Cappuccino Jones is out, the Mog Squad win…but It’s GAL comes in! He’s a house a fire and he’s beating Max pillar to post and then hits an iconoclasm but Max ducks the discus lariat and hits a tiger knee to cut GAL off…but Abrams runs into a big slam It’s GAL hits the discus lariat and then whiffs a springboard dropkick and Max hits a somersault neckbreaker. Main Objective attempt but It’s GAL ducks and a double-rotation Blue Thunder Bomb gets the 3.

**

Boy so much of this didn’t work for me, but I did appreciate the fake out into the finish and Big Daddy Red FINALLY getting a win, but Mog Squad just blatantly cheating all night long and commentary openly saying “I don’t know how they’re out here” is silly, silly, SILLY stuff that makes the ‘rules’ of wrestling as they are look bad and artificial. Maybe I’m just tired of the Mog Squad who have Bad Heat with me, CJ tossing Sam around was also ridiculous. Whatever.

Post-match ID 1.0 celebrate and they finally embrace It’s GAL and they all pose together. Hooray! He found friends!

Backstage and Harley Riggins is angry and vows to cool this off.

Well, that was certainly a show, not a good show, but it was a show. Lotta released acts tonight make it hard to get into what’s going on and that gauntlet match was just very, very frustrating though I guess part of the heat was to set up the finish, whatever.

Join us next week when I’ll hopefully be in a better mood and have a better show as Cutler James challenges for the Evolve championship held by Harlem Lewis, keep on reading, and I’ll keep on writing you Evolvemaniacs!