EVOLVE Florida triple shot (5/30 - 6/2)

[Warner2BruceTD]

May 30th - Orlando Armory
June 1st - Jacksonville Edge Concert Hall
June 2nd - Ybor City Orpheum

"These events will start a new chapter for EVOLVE. There will be some tweaks and changes to presentation. One of the changes will include adding a variety of wrestling styles. The roster for the Florida tripleshot will feature wrestlers with skill sets that emphasize European, Japanese Dragon Gate, Lucha Libre, Heavyweight and Cruiserweight styles. Here is a list of the athletes confirmed for all three EVOLVE cards in Florida:"

EVOLVE Champion AR Fox
Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano
Open the United Gate Champions The Young Bucks
Chuck Taylor
Samuray Del Sol
Jon Davis
Anthony Nese
EITA (EVOLVE debut)
Tomahawk TT (EVOLVE debut)
Caleb Konley
Brian Cage (EVOLVE debut)
Tommy Taylor
Lince Dorado
Shane Strickland (EVOLVE debut)
Plus more will be added!!!

"We can confirm that the EVOLVE Title, DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Title and DGUSA Open the United Gate Titles will all be defended during the tripleshot. The top contenders are being finalized now and the contracts will be signed over the weekend. We will have the official announcements of all these title defences in Monday's WWNLive Alerts."

Ricochet will be on the New Japan tour (BotSJ), and it looks like Scott Reed, Rich Swann, & Uhaa Nation will be in Japan for Dragon Gate.

Other than that, hard to complain. Loaded lineup so far, all three titles in the DGUSA/EVOLVE universe on the line, lots of new faces (well, at least to the EVOLVE side).

Good to see Brian Cage back, and Tony Nese as a regular moving forward. Can't complain about EITA & Tomahawk TT, giving these some Dragon Gate flavor. I always enjoy Tommy Taylor, who ticks the box for "european style". Also, this will be the first tour for heel Gargano.

 

[XavierDZ]

I hope to see Tomahawk TT & EITA face off with the Young Bucks; would be a fun match. Surprised there is no mention of the Super Smash Brothers yet, especially with their showing at Wrestlecon. Thinking they would be in line for a title shot against the Young Bucks despite their loss at Open the Ultimate Gate. Would be cool to see that rematch.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'll be in Tampa/Orlando a week before...so no can do on going to the live events.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Some stuff announced...

Title matches have been signed for Florida!!! We'll start off with the first ever EVOLVE Title defense. The first EVOLVE Champion AR Fox has made a request and we have accepted it. Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks pinned Fox at the two DGUSA events that followed the EVOLVE Title Tournament. Fox is embarrassed by this and wants to even the score. As a result, Nick Jackson has been granted the first ever title shot. It will be AR Fox vs. Nick Jackson for the EVOLVE Title on May 30th in Orlando! Can Nick Jackson become a double champion and lead The Young Bucks to ruling the EVOLVE/DGUSA scene?

Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks will go one-on-one vs. Johnny Gargano in Orlando. Gargano's Open The Freedom Gate Title will not be on the line.

Two huge title matches have been signed for the June 2nd event in Ybor City, close to Tampa. Open The Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano will face the challenge of Samuray Del Sol. The luchador was awarded the title shot for his single match victories against EITA and Ryo Saito last January.

...and XavierDZ gets his wish:

The Young Bucks will defend the Open The United Gate Titles against EITA & Tomahawk T.T. on June 2nd in Ybor City. EITA & T.T. earned the title shot with their victory over The Super Smash Brothers at WrestleCon. This gives the Sunday night live iPPV from Ybor City two can't miss title matches!

So the top matches are looking real good.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

We want to congratulate and say how proud we are of Ricochet, who will participate in both the Dragon Gate King Of Gate and New Japan Best Of The Super Juniors tournaments this summer. This proves that Ricochet is among the elite wrestlers in the world. The improvement Ricochet has shown from when we first saw him in EVOLVE until now is inspirational.

 

[XavierDZ]

Ricochet is the next big thing. He is innovative, works great matches and he almost never makes any mistakes. Ricochet is a good guy, he was real nice to me when I tried out. So I may be a bit biased, but in retrospect he deserves it.

 

[XavierDZ]

And hell yeah Bucks vs the Kings of Chop(My guess on a cool name for the two Dragon Gate youngsters)

 

[FedEx227]

Ricochet is the next big thing. He is innovative, works great matches and he almost never makes any mistakes. Ricochet is a good guy, he was real nice to me when I tried out. So I may be a bit biased, but in retrospect he deserves it.

No, he definitely worked his ass off to get to another level of greatness. I've always been super into him because I'm a geek for flippy dudes, but I can see how it turned people off at first. Over time though, he's reeled in his high spots, seems to have more psychology than ever and yeah he's great at showing in-ring emotion and getting the crowd into his work. I don't know if he's "the next big thing" because I'm not entirely positive he makes a smooth transition to the perceived top of American wrestling but he's definitely going to have a long, fruitful indy/International career.

 

[FedEx227]

On paper, with the addition of TT, EITA and the integration of basically every DGUSA champion this has to be the best looking EVOLVE show ever, right?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

They are pushing hard that this will be a new direction for EVOLVE, so I expect guns blazing. Lots of talent booked, even without some regulars like Ricochet.

The biggest issue, as usual, will be if they can draw some decent crowds. Last time in Florida was a disaster. Even the WrestleCon crowd, while larger in numbers, wasn't very hot. Doesn't matter how good your matches are if you have 100 apathetic people sitting on their hands.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Maybe they should try Texas. Texas fans might not be into "flippy doos" like the northeast or Chicago or SoCal, but it's worth a shot. I've yet to be part of a dead crowd in Texas.

 

[XavierDZ]

No, he definitely worked his ass off to get to another level of greatness. I've always been super into him because I'm a geek for flippy dudes, but I can see how it turned people off at first. Over time though, he's reeled in his high spots, seems to have more psychology than ever and yeah he's great at showing in-ring emotion and getting the crowd into his work. I don't know if he's "the next big thing" because I'm not entirely positive he makes a smooth transition to the perceived top of American wrestling but he's definitely going to have a long, fruitful indy/International career.

Ricochet has come a long way since Helios. Watching him work, shows his strength in psychology in the ring instead of just high spotfest like he use to be and I think Dragon Gate had a lot to do with that. I believe if WWE ever picks him up, he may be put in a Pac situation. Which I believe Pac, Hero and guys who were big in the indys are now in NXT to get the show over, and may not get pulled up to the Main Roster before solidifying the NXT brand.

 

[FedEx227]

Maybe they should try Texas. Texas fans might not be into "flippy doos" like the northeast or Chicago or SoCal, but it's worth a shot. I've yet to be part of a dead crowd in Texas.

Shit, go to Austin. Those ACW crowds are intense. Hipsters gotta love flippy doos, right?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I don't think Ricochet gets through 2013 without a WWE deal. He now has a true major league look, and he's not just a stunt man. He's dynamic to the point he will blow people away, even if they reign him in like they did with Evan Bourne. He's the kind of guy that you can't take your eyes off of when he works.

 

[FedEx227]

He's also a good looking dude too (no homo) but when looking at guys that are easily marketable at the next level, he's one of them. I'm not convinced they'll treat or use him any better than Evan Bourne but I guess that's not the worst thing that can happen.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'll throw my hat in the ring and say Ricocht is WWE bound in 2014. I think this is going to be a big year for him on the Indies as a singles wrestler and by year's end he'll be feuding with CIMA and AR Fox in winning singles gold on the Indies.

 

[XavierDZ]

My question is who does WWE pick up first. Ricochet or Uhaa Nation. Ricochet is the better wrestler but Uhaa has that big man look that Vince gets off too. Would be cool to see both get hired.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

My question is who does WWE pick up first. Ricochet or Uhaa Nation. Ricochet is the better wrestler but Uhaa has that big man look that Vince gets off too. Would be cool to see both get hired.

I think both are locks.

Also, with the news breaking today it looks like these shows could be the Samuray Del Sol blow off. Next set of shows are June in NYC. Samuray & Callihan may be in FCW by then.

 

[XavierDZ]

Yeah Samuray would be a great addition. He is a great worker without the issue of trying to break into a new style liek Mistico did. So I can see them being good. I think Sami Callahan may end up the same path as Cabana, but we will see, all these guys are workhorses. They will get built through NXT when its back on tv for sure.

 

[XavierDZ]

Gabe Sapolsky
:
EITA vs Tomahawk T.T. in a Dragon Gate Showcase match has been signed for EVOLVE on May 30th in Orlando.

Sounds like a King of Chops rematch may break out here.