Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 13, 2015 8:15:10 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/93020/the-evolve-column-looks-at-timothy-thatcher-as-the-next-major-indy-star-the-unification-of-the-evolve-and-dgusa-titles-this-weekends-evolve-events-in-florida-and-more.html?p=1
THE EVOLVE COLUMN LOOKS AT TIMOTHY THATCHER AS THE NEXT MAJOR INDY STAR, THE UNIFICATION OF THE EVOLVE AND DGUSA TITLES, THIS WEEKEND'S EVOLVE EVENTS IN FLORIDA, AND MORE
By Stuart Carapola on 2015-04-13 09:49:34
With the next set of EVOLVE shows already upon us this weekend, I wanted to check in with a quick column looking at the latest happenings in the WWNLive world coming out of the Wrestlemania weekend events.
Far and away, the guy I considered the standout over Wrestlemania weekend was Timothy Thatcher. This guy is just unbelievable, he is just a totally old-school, athletic, rugged, and real badass who makes the way he controls and beats everyone he wrestles look easy. I hate drawing comparisons between current wrestlers and people from the past, but in his case I can't help but see him as a younger Bryan Danielson with more of an aggresive streak. In the five matches I saw him in between EVOLVE and King of the Indies, he impressed me more than anyone else I watched or covered the entire weekend.
Honestly, the only thing I can see as a knock on Thatcher is that some people might see him as being too mat wrestling-centric. I personally don't feel that way because I am a big fan of guys who can go on the mat, but I was totally blown away by how over he is with the fans who clearly are not bothered by that in the slightest. So if they're into it too, then woo hah. He's an awesome wrestler, he knows how to tell a story and build to the finish in his matches, everything he does in the ring matters, I just love the guy, and I really think he's going to be one of the guys who is going to break out and become one of THE top independent guys over the next 3-5 years.
Also over the course of Wrestlemania weekend, the EVOLVE Title and DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate Title were unified, a move that made perfect sense given the fact that Dragon Gate USA pretty much existed in name only by this point. Drew Galloway came out on top of Johnny Gargano to become the first unified champion, and I was really impressed by how well they worked together. Obviously I consider both of them to be great workers, but I wasn't sure how well Johnny Gargano's style would work with a guy the size of Galloway until I saw him believably pull off moves like the Gargano Escape and the lawn dart into the middle turnbuckle. They went probably about a half hour before Galloway finally put Gargano away, and he gave a great postmatch promo putting over Gargano's contributions carrying the DGUSA Title and putting both companies on the map, and was very gracious in saying that the moment belonged to him too.
As good as Gargano has been for the WWNLive family of promotions, I agree that Galloway was the guy to go with, for a few reasons. For one, Gargano had pretty much been on top of the companies for the better part of three years and, for as great a champion as he's been, I think it's good to change things up just to freshen the scene a bit. Galloway has really hit his stride since leaving WWE, he had what I think was his best match ever with Gargano (possibly Gargano's best as well), and the fans are into him big time. Plus, there's no reason Gargano can't beat him to take the title back later on if it seems like the right thing to do, so now we'll have a chance to see a little more of what Galloway brings to the table as the flagbearer for WWNLive.
Let's wrap up by looking at this weekend's shows, as EVOLVE 41 and 42 will be taking place in Florida this Friday and Saturday night. Friday's show at 9 PM in Ybor City will be headlined by two matches that have MOTYC written all over them: Roderick Strong faces Timothy Thatcher in a two out of three falls match for a shot at the EVOLVE Title, and Johnny Gargano faces Davey Richards. I've already mentioned how much I think of Thatcher, and Strong is simply one of the best workers in the world. I don't think there's anyway this match isn't off the charts. As for Gargano and Davey, aside from the fact that they're both tremendous wrestlers, there's also a bit of interest for the history buff since Davey was headlining ROH while Gargano was on top of DGUSA and EVOLVE, so this will give us a chance to see the dream match that, for political reasons, would never have happened back in 2011-2012.
Saturday's show at 7 PM in Orlando will see the Open The United Gate Tag Team Title defended in the main event, as the Premier Athlete Brand of Caleb Konley and Anthony Nese defend against Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann of Ronin in a streetfight. The PAB has had a great run in EVOLVE, but I really think it's time to pull the trigger and put the tag gold on Ronin. Gargano's obviously a proven championship caliber guy, and Swann has been one of the chief mainstays in that company for several years now, and I really feel like he deserves some gold around his waist.
Speaking of the Open The United Gate Title, I wouldn't be surprised to see it go through some kind of transformation soon that results in a name change. While there's obviously no EVOLVE tag title to unify it with like the singles title was, it's still a title belonging to a company that, at best, is frozen in carbonite. I think whoever comes out on top here should declare it the EVOLVE Tag Team Title and completely leave the last remnant of DGUSA behind.
Other matches to keep an eye on at the Saturday show are Roderick Strong vs Biff Busick, and Timothy Thatcher taking on TJ Perkins. Strong and Busick are two of the hardest hitters around and both can take it, too. This should be a really good slugfest that continues until one of them can't. TJ Perkins adds a lucha flair to his style that Thatcher doesn't, but he's another one of the most entertaining mat/submission wrestlers out there, and I'd like to see he and Thatcher get a good 20 minutes to show what they can do out there.
That's it for this week, I'll be back soon to discuss the results from this weekend's EVOLVE shows and whatever else comes to mind, so until then, thanks for reading and send all feedback to stupwinsider@gmail.com!
THE EVOLVE COLUMN LOOKS AT TIMOTHY THATCHER AS THE NEXT MAJOR INDY STAR, THE UNIFICATION OF THE EVOLVE AND DGUSA TITLES, THIS WEEKEND'S EVOLVE EVENTS IN FLORIDA, AND MORE
By Stuart Carapola on 2015-04-13 09:49:34
With the next set of EVOLVE shows already upon us this weekend, I wanted to check in with a quick column looking at the latest happenings in the WWNLive world coming out of the Wrestlemania weekend events.
Far and away, the guy I considered the standout over Wrestlemania weekend was Timothy Thatcher. This guy is just unbelievable, he is just a totally old-school, athletic, rugged, and real badass who makes the way he controls and beats everyone he wrestles look easy. I hate drawing comparisons between current wrestlers and people from the past, but in his case I can't help but see him as a younger Bryan Danielson with more of an aggresive streak. In the five matches I saw him in between EVOLVE and King of the Indies, he impressed me more than anyone else I watched or covered the entire weekend.
Honestly, the only thing I can see as a knock on Thatcher is that some people might see him as being too mat wrestling-centric. I personally don't feel that way because I am a big fan of guys who can go on the mat, but I was totally blown away by how over he is with the fans who clearly are not bothered by that in the slightest. So if they're into it too, then woo hah. He's an awesome wrestler, he knows how to tell a story and build to the finish in his matches, everything he does in the ring matters, I just love the guy, and I really think he's going to be one of the guys who is going to break out and become one of THE top independent guys over the next 3-5 years.
Also over the course of Wrestlemania weekend, the EVOLVE Title and DGUSA Open The Freedom Gate Title were unified, a move that made perfect sense given the fact that Dragon Gate USA pretty much existed in name only by this point. Drew Galloway came out on top of Johnny Gargano to become the first unified champion, and I was really impressed by how well they worked together. Obviously I consider both of them to be great workers, but I wasn't sure how well Johnny Gargano's style would work with a guy the size of Galloway until I saw him believably pull off moves like the Gargano Escape and the lawn dart into the middle turnbuckle. They went probably about a half hour before Galloway finally put Gargano away, and he gave a great postmatch promo putting over Gargano's contributions carrying the DGUSA Title and putting both companies on the map, and was very gracious in saying that the moment belonged to him too.
As good as Gargano has been for the WWNLive family of promotions, I agree that Galloway was the guy to go with, for a few reasons. For one, Gargano had pretty much been on top of the companies for the better part of three years and, for as great a champion as he's been, I think it's good to change things up just to freshen the scene a bit. Galloway has really hit his stride since leaving WWE, he had what I think was his best match ever with Gargano (possibly Gargano's best as well), and the fans are into him big time. Plus, there's no reason Gargano can't beat him to take the title back later on if it seems like the right thing to do, so now we'll have a chance to see a little more of what Galloway brings to the table as the flagbearer for WWNLive.
Let's wrap up by looking at this weekend's shows, as EVOLVE 41 and 42 will be taking place in Florida this Friday and Saturday night. Friday's show at 9 PM in Ybor City will be headlined by two matches that have MOTYC written all over them: Roderick Strong faces Timothy Thatcher in a two out of three falls match for a shot at the EVOLVE Title, and Johnny Gargano faces Davey Richards. I've already mentioned how much I think of Thatcher, and Strong is simply one of the best workers in the world. I don't think there's anyway this match isn't off the charts. As for Gargano and Davey, aside from the fact that they're both tremendous wrestlers, there's also a bit of interest for the history buff since Davey was headlining ROH while Gargano was on top of DGUSA and EVOLVE, so this will give us a chance to see the dream match that, for political reasons, would never have happened back in 2011-2012.
Saturday's show at 7 PM in Orlando will see the Open The United Gate Tag Team Title defended in the main event, as the Premier Athlete Brand of Caleb Konley and Anthony Nese defend against Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann of Ronin in a streetfight. The PAB has had a great run in EVOLVE, but I really think it's time to pull the trigger and put the tag gold on Ronin. Gargano's obviously a proven championship caliber guy, and Swann has been one of the chief mainstays in that company for several years now, and I really feel like he deserves some gold around his waist.
Speaking of the Open The United Gate Title, I wouldn't be surprised to see it go through some kind of transformation soon that results in a name change. While there's obviously no EVOLVE tag title to unify it with like the singles title was, it's still a title belonging to a company that, at best, is frozen in carbonite. I think whoever comes out on top here should declare it the EVOLVE Tag Team Title and completely leave the last remnant of DGUSA behind.
Other matches to keep an eye on at the Saturday show are Roderick Strong vs Biff Busick, and Timothy Thatcher taking on TJ Perkins. Strong and Busick are two of the hardest hitters around and both can take it, too. This should be a really good slugfest that continues until one of them can't. TJ Perkins adds a lucha flair to his style that Thatcher doesn't, but he's another one of the most entertaining mat/submission wrestlers out there, and I'd like to see he and Thatcher get a good 20 minutes to show what they can do out there.
That's it for this week, I'll be back soon to discuss the results from this weekend's EVOLVE shows and whatever else comes to mind, so until then, thanks for reading and send all feedback to stupwinsider@gmail.com!