By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

RADICAN’S PRO WRESTLING EVO DVD REVIEW SERIES
#FOLLOWTHIS
OCTOBER 8, 2011
CONCORD, N.C.

(1) Trevor Lee & Ben Tyler beat Chiva & Joe Black

(2) Big Country beat Mike Merletti

(3) Jake Manning beat Zack Salvation (***)

(4) Arik Royal beat Circo

(5) PWI International Ultra J Champion Caleb Konley beat Kirby Mack (***1/4)

(6) Pro Wrestling EVO Champion Marcellus King beat Cedric Alexander in a No DQ match (****)

Overall thoughts: (7.0) Pro Wrestling EVO is a small wrestling promotion based out of North Carolina. They launched last year and like many independent wrestling companies that launch, they’re still trying to get their brand of wrestling out to the masses. I’ve watched a lot of smaller independent wrestling shows over the years and although I’ve seen some good matches, I’ve never been hooked to go back and make time to watch them again.

EVO is different and they make up for it with good storytelling surrounded by in-ring action. There’s plenty of room to grow, but when the show was over, I was left wanting more because of the storytelling.

Chris Shore and Ryan Jacobs handle the commentary and do a good job of getting across all of the issues in each match. Right away, they established the big match on the card was the main event featuring heel Pro Wrestling EVO Champion Marcellus King taking on Cedrick Alexander. Throughout the night, Shore and Jacobs touched on all of the storylines, so even though I hadn’t seen EVO before I felt I had a grasp as to what was going on in the promotion.

Chris Shore, who writes over on Pro Wrestling Dot Net, has been telling me about EVO and I have to admit I was skeptical that it was worth checking out. It turns out that Shore was right, which I hate to admit because he’s wrong when it comes to just about anything wrestling related (just kidding).

The card started off with a fun tag match. Chiva is a wrestler that would fit right into CHIKARA and although the crowd was small, the kids could be heard cheering him along during the match. The card does build as it goes along. I thought the Jake Manning vs. Zack Salvation match was a really good back and forth battle on the match. The match was contested as a Manscout Merit Challenge where Manning puts his career on the line if he loses. The shenanigans at the end of the match established the heels and allowed Manning to get the win. I got a kick out of the backstage segment with Manning trying to apologize to Salvation, who wouldn’t open the door to his locker room.

The semi-main event saw DGUSA/EVOVLE regular Caleb Konley defend his PWI International Ultra J Championship against Kirby Mack in a very good back and forth match that built nicely without resorting to a ton of nearfalls or high flying, although they did pull off some great exchanges down the stretch.

Up until this point, I had enjoyed the show, but the main event blew me away. In terms of storytelling, it doesn’t get much better on the independent scene than what King and Alexander pulled off in the main event. I’ve seen a lot of Alexander’s work in ROH teaming with Caprice Coleman, but he showed me a lot about his worth as a singles wrestler in this match. The announcers did a good job highlighting that Alexander was out for revenge on EVO Champion Marcellus King and they had a heck of a war. It was hard to hear the crowd at times because the announcer audio seemed to overshadow the crowd a little bit, but you could hear the kids rallying behind Alexander during the match, which logically built up and then slowed down. Alexander looked to have the match won and there had been a lot of drama leading into the finishing sequence already, but he lifted King’s head before the three count and went outside to grab some chairs before delivering a conchairto.

Alexander sold shock at what he did to King, who convulsed on the mat. The announcers sold this incredibly well as several people came out from the back to check on King. The level of storytelling here was really good and I had no idea what was coming when King was finally lifted to his feet. King pulled the rug out from everybody in the building when he nailed Alexander with a low blow and finished him off with a chairshot. The main event of this show is something that I think everyone will enjoy from a storytelling standpoint and that’s something that is missing from the independent scene.

EVO is a promotion to keep an eye on this year. There is a lot of talent in the promotion that are working to establish their names in the business. Sure, I would have liked more backstage segments to set up the main event and some highlight packages would have been great. The show runs just over an hour and a half, which is quite short for what the standard is for most companies. If the company can continue to present compelling storylines and develop their roster, they have a chance to grow. This show gets a solid recommendation.

You can purchase this release at ProWrestlingEvo.com

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