EVOLVE 4 Results from Union City, NJ

Results from last night’s EVOLVE card in Union City, NJ. Report courtesy of J.D. Risotto and Wrestling Observer:

Evolve IV took place at the intimate Ace Arena in Union City, NJ. The place was near capacity, which means about 150 people. The building was very hot, which might have effected crowd energy. But, one of the better features of the building is the low ceilings, so there is nowhere for the noise to go. Direct quote from Gabe Sapolsky: “I like this building a lot, it’s like a mini ECW Arena.”

-Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee went to a no contest. Fun brawl. Lee’s offense looked so much better than Moxley’s. Ref called for the bell when they both grabbed chairs. They did a cool spot where Lee kicked a chair into Moxley’s face as he was protesting the stoppage. Crowd was pretty hot for the match. But, it was the opener.

-Drake Younger beat Chris Dickerson, Ricochet, and Rich Swann in a four way match. Younger pinned Swann, so he gets the loss. This was a really fun match. Ricochet and Swann worked together most of the time doing high flying spots. Younger and Dickerson worked together and brawled. Younger took a sick back bump onto the floor. Dickerson was choking out Ricochet as Younger pinned Swann. So he was upset with the ending and continued his “hot head” gimmick.

-Mercedes Martinez pinned a local worker. The match was short and essentially a squash. A video played as Mercedes was being interviewed showing Amazing/Awesome Kong ripping up a picture of Mercedes and then a graphic read “challenge accepted”. Match will happen at the 9/11 show.

-Adam Cole pinned Johnny Gargano with a small package. They did a great job of selling this as an upset. Match was pretty blah. Gargano has tons of charisma, but looks like he is moving in slow motion at times. Jimmy Jacobs came out as Cole was being interviewed and laughed at Gargano. Jacobs then made some homoerotic remarks towards Cole including wishing there was a shower in the building so they could take one together. Cole wasn’t amused and challenged Jacobs at the 9/11 show. Jacobs said he wasn’t interested in a match and left.

-Jigsaw & Hallowicked beat Aeroform. The crowd was really into the Chikara guys. Decent, fast paced match. There seemed to be some timing issues early.

-Sami Calihan beat Arik Cannon with a submission. Very good match. They worked stiff and did some neat spots. Crowd was really into this match after being pretty quiet for the previous couple of matches.

INTERMISSION

Lenny Leonard was in the ring, thanking the fans for coming out. Johnny Gargano came out. He had some funny lines, but the interview was pretty pointless. He played up the hostility between him and Jacobs.

-Up in Smoke beat The Osirian Portal. Fun match. Crowd was really into The Portal. Up in Smoke seemed to have no choice but take on the heel role.

-Chuck Taylor beat Jimmy Jacobs. Chuck won with the awful waffle, which seemed to come out of nowhere. They didn’t build towards the end of the match. As was the case all night, crowd was really into the Chikara guy(s). They did some fun spots including Chuck throwing a woman’s purse into the ring. Jacobs cut a promo before the match (which essentially gave away the result) and said he would wrestle Adam Cole at the 9/11 show.

-Bryan Danielson beat Bobby Fish. Crowd gave Danielson a superstar reception. A bunch of ties got thrown into the ring instead of the usual streamers. Match was very good and stiff. Fish’s elbow got busted open hard way and the back of his legs looked like he was in a MMA fight. I thought the match suffered a little bit because no one in the building thought Fish was going to win. Afterwards, Danielson said he wanted Munenori Sawa on 9/11!