WWE Evolution Review 10/28/2018

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my review for WWE Evolution. This is the first ever all Women’s PPV event. Personally I dont think this event was promoted to the level that it should have been and only the two main events feel like they got a proper build up on weekly television. Myself, being a person thats driven my characters and storytelling when it comes to wrestling went into this without the same excitement I would have for a event that was strongly built creatively going into it. However, the card is stacked with unique matches and with my expectations low, I’m sure the show will exceed them. I have no doubt the women want to make this show the best show of the year with the intention to go out there and put on the best match of the night. I have faith that this event will be better than anybody than most of expect because of the extra motivation the women have. I mean I could be wrong but lets find out.

Image via WWE.com

This show is coming to us from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

– The show opened up with great hype video for the event. It got me feeling inspired. There was rock music performance to kick off the show.

– Michael Cole, Beth Phoenix and Renee Young are the commentators for all the matches tonight.

Trish Stratus & Lita def. Mickie James & Alicia Fox w/ Alexa Bliss
in 11:05 by pin fall
I just want to point out that the show is very dimly lit similar to the lighting of a house show. I’m not sure if this is because the lack of attendance or if they just wanted to give it this vibe. Trish and Lita both looked great. I like how Lita sort of wore gear reminiscent to her old gear and even showed her under garments like back in the day. Alexa Bliss played the role of a manger since she is injured. Bliss did credit Mickie and Fox as real pioneers of the women’s revolution. This means Alicia Fox replaced her making it Alicia Fox and Mickie James facing Trish Stratus and Lita. I was surprised that this open the show but it did make sense. It got the fans excited and they were hot for everything. There was excitement for almost anything Trish and Lita did. The stare-down and brawl between Trish and Mickie James got the crowd excited too. Bliss got involved when she needed too but relatively was a non factor for most of the match. There was a small botch wit Alica not getting in the ring fast enough to break a count that clearly threw everyone off including the announce team. The finish came after a Lita moonsault and chick kick by Trish on Mickie for the win. Great happy moment to kick off the show.

– The Bella Twins are interviewed by Kayla Braxton. Brie brings up how Ronda made it personal first. They then start to talk about how they are dedicating this match to Ronda Rousey’s mom. Nikki Bella says tonight she is walking out the Raw Women’s Champion.

– Pre-Recorded segments of the women talking about what Evolution means to them. Asuka, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia and Sasha Banks were featured here.

Nia Jax win the 20 Woman Battle Royal
in 16:10 by last eliminating Ember Moon
This participants to this battle royal were Naomi, Michelle McCool, Sonya Deville, Alundra Blayze, Carmella, Zelina Vega, Kelly Kelly, Tamina, Ember Moon, Lana, Maria Kanellis, Mandy Sacs, Molly Holly, Dana Brooke, Nia Jax, Ivory, Asuka, Torrie Wilson and The IIconics. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay come down cutting a promo on everyone else in the battle royal. This led to all the girls working to eliminate them right off the bat. There was a moment where all the current stars surrounded and circled around the past stars which broke down into a brawl. Sonya Deville and Mandy Sacs worked together showing to be a force eliminating the likes of Torrie Wilson and Kelly Kelly. Mandy Sacs eventually turned on Sonya Deville eliminating her. Nia Jax eliminated Alundra Blayze. They allowed Maria Kanellis to be showcased as she got a bunch of offence on Nia Jax and until Nia Jax eventually eliminated her. They went back to the Nia Jax and Tamina stare down which popped the crowd. They take out everyone but Lana tries to play peace keeper between them only to get eliminated. The two women showed love to Roman during this spot. The were this awesome quadruple suplex spot. This was followed by a DANCE BREAK as Carmella appeared out of nowhere when all the things were laid out. Ivory joined the dance break and Mandy Sacs tried to eliminate Ivory but failed too. Carmella eliminated Mandy Sacs. Michelle McCool looked dominant for a bit beating up Carmella and Ember until Ember eliminated her. Asuka and Naomi briefly work together on Tamina leading to Tamina eliminated Naomi. The final four are Nia Jax, Tamina, Asuka and Ember Moon. Ember Moon eliminates her old NXT rival Asuka. Ember Moon then eliminates Tamina. Zelina Vega shows up as we thought Jax and Moon were the final two. Vega thinks she eliminated both of them only forced to deal with an angry Jax who eliminates her. The crowd was behind Ember Moon but Nia Jax ended up picking up the win. This was a fun match with a ton of memorable spots.

– Nia Jax gets interviewed after the match. The fans chant you deserve it. Nia Jax said her mind is on the Raw Women’s Championship. When asked if she wants to face Ronda or Nikki, Nia said it doesnt matter because it won’t last long.

Mae Young Classic Finals
Toni Storm def. Io Shirai
in 10:20 by pin fall
These two have a ton of history facing each other outside of the WWE. Toni Storm participated in Mae YounG Classic last year but lost in the semi-finals to the tournament winner Kairi Sane. This year Storm was determined to go the entire way but another Japanese sensation stands in her way. This was great match that felt like a competitive sprint. I’m not sure if they were given less time but they sure as hell made the most out of it. This felt like the first real good technical match on the show. There were some near falls and suspenseful moments such as when Storm hit the first Storm Zero. The springboard missile drop kick and moonsault by Io Shirai was impressive. In the end, it was the second Storm Zero that finished the match giving Toni Storm the victory to become the 2018 Mae Young Classic winner. Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and Sara Amato arrived to award Toni the trophy and both women with flowers. This was the best match so far on the show.

– Pre-Recorded segments of the women talking about what Evolution means to them. Alundra Blayze, Naomi and Eve Torres are featured here.

Sasha Banks, Bayley & Natalya def. The Riott Squadd
in 13:10 by pin fall
This was the match I said we could have gotten on Raw and didn’t feel like a big time PPV match with the lack of build up that it had. Yet this ended up being a really good match totally feeling like a match that belonged on this PPV. All six women busted their asses and gave us a great match. It was also really fun. The Riott Squad is such a well oiled machine and truly feel like a strong unit. Its also great that every member of the Riott Squad has different strengths and weaknesses. Also their characteristics are so well defined. Ruby Riott is the technician and the wrestlers wrestler. Liv Morgan is this scrappy, bratty complete wildcard. Sarah Logan is aggressive, strong and violent. In some ways they remind of the Shield. On the other side of the ring, you have three of the most talented and established women of the division. They are also three woman who are passionate about being the best and trying to have the best match on the card. That is what they did here. Natalya and Sasha hit a Hart Attack in the way the Hart Foundation used too which was cool. They did a great job of having the Riott Squad in charge for the majority of the match making it seem like Sasha, Bayley and Nattie were working from the bottom trying to overcome the odds which they eventually did. I found Bayley laying on top on Sasha to protect her from splash hilarious. I have no idea why she wouldn’t pull her out of the way. Lack of energy? I loved the finish with Liv getting the power bomb from Nattie, followed by a flying elbow from Bayley who then did a suicide dive to the outside to take out Ruby and Sarah which allowed to Sasha Banks to finish the job with a frog splash in homage of Eddie Guerrero for the win.

– Pre-Recorded segments of the women talking about what Evolution means to them. Molly Holly,  Alica Fox and Nia Jax are featured here.

NXT Women’s Championship
Shayna Baszler def. Kairi Sane (C)
in 12:10 by submission
I swear Kairi Sane has really grown on me this past year. This a rematch for the NXT Womens Championship which Sane beat Shayna for a couple of months ago at NXT Takeover.This was a really good match and another more technically sound matches. The match started off slow with the two trading holds most of the time until Baszler really started focusing on working of Kairi Sane’s arm. Things took a turn when Kairi went for a really high cross body onto Shayna who was outside of the ring. Kairi got some real air-time with this move. Kairi would throw Baszler into the crowd where the other two Four Horsewomen members Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir were sitting. This began their involvement with interfering in the match. Sane would fight off Duke and Shafir the first two times but the third inference attempt worked allowing Shayna to lock on the clutch. Kairi never gave up or tapped out but the referee called for the bell when it seemed like she was unconscious. It took the help of Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir, but Baszler is the champion once again and it’s time to get ready for the trio to run wild in NXT. This was great stuff, about on the level of their Takeover match. I wish the interference would have been hidden a bit better, but it gives fans more of a reason to hate Baszler. I’m sure this trio will work against Kairi and her friends. There have been matches at house shows where the three have worked against Kairi, Shirai and Yim so it’ll be interesting to see if that continues. I also think babyfaces on the chase for the championship and trying to overcome the odds is usually better than them always being the champion that overcomes the odds.

– Pre-Recorded segments of the women talking about what Evolution means to them. Ember Moon, Vickie Guerrero, Ata Maivia and Maryse are featured here.

Smackdown Women’s Championship
Last Woman Standing
Becky Lynch (C) def. Charlotte Flair
in 28:40 by being the last woman standing
Becky Lynch and Charlotte are going into this match being 5-5-1 against each other in main roster matches. These two really went all in for this match and left nothing behind. After a few hot shot finishes or no contests, these two put on a banger of a Last Woman Standing match. If they were trying to showcase that they can put on a match at the same level as the men, this was it. If someone had to choose which match on this card would be the one people will specifically remember it for, I would say it would be this one. Not only was this match one of the only two that had proper rivalry and feud coming into it out the main roster matches but these two also trust each other and work really well together. This stipulation allowed them to tell a different story than their previous matches as well. The fans were still very behind Becky Lynch although Charlotte was the real babyface here. The only downside of this match was that it did feel real long but considering the time given to all the other matches it makes sense why. It also did hurt my enjoyment of the match. There were a ton of great spots in this match. There were kendo sticks, chairs, tables and ladders. Both women did very well at selling and telling the story. They both took some nasty bumps. The one time the table didn’t break when Charlotte hit moonsault on Becky was laid out on the table, instead of making it seem like an obvious botch, they tried it again with Charlotte going for a swanton putting Becky through the table. Becky took some hard bumps on a stack of chairs and even flew off a ladder with leg drop putting Charlotte through an announcer’s table. The final power bomb table bump looked brutal, They did a great job of being innovative and making it seem like either one could win. Becky did very well selling Charlotte’s comebacks and making it seem like her championship reign was really in jeopardy. In the end Becky Lynch retains and I feel like this was the perfect blow-off to their feud for the time being. I wouldn’t say this was the best technical wrestling match on the card considering the gimmick that really helped them tell the story. I think the best technical match would go to one of the matches featuring the NXT girls but for me personally this was the best match on the card when focusing on storytelling and really feeling invested in what I was watching.

Raw Women’s Championship
Ronda Rousey (C) def. Nikki Bella w/ Brie Bella
in 14:15 by submission
I was really curious to see how this match would go. I understood the reasons for booking this match but I was really curious to see how it would play out. We have seen Ronda Rousey sell quite a bit more in recent matches but we’ve also seen Ronda Rousey mow through her opponents too. I know there is a portion of the fanbase that would expect Ronda to destroy Nikki Bella but also a portion of the fanbase who expect to see there Bella Army leader get a formidable amount of offence. They actually went longer than I expected and delivered. I thought they told a great story. Ronda did sell more than I expected which made Nikki feel like an actual threat. I think we should also factor in that Rousey also had to deal with Brie Bella outside the ring and getting in the sneaky cheap shot like an ultimate opportunist to help her sister. Initially, Nikki tried trading holds with Ronda but of course Nikki was no competition for Rousey in that style. There was a sweet spot where Rousey had both Bella Twins on her shoulders at once and took them out. Ronda also raged and tossed Brie over the the announcer’s table to eliminate her. This allowed Nikki to gain the upper-hand on Ronda by hitting an Alabama Slam for a near fall and then a rack attack 2.0 for another near fall. Nikki started to get frustrated and she went to the top rope only to be caught by Ronda and eventually put in the arm bar which forced Nikki to tap. They went longer than I expected but had me and the crowd invested the entire time. I’m not sure how I feel yet but I’m curious to see if these longer matches where Ronda is forced to sell more will hurt her in the long run or benefit her.

– They showed Nia Jax watching backstage while Ronda celebrates as we’re going back to that feud tomorrow

– All the women backstage (and Triple H) come out to the stage to celebrate this historic event. The two champions Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch were front and center. They go to video package highlighting this event similar to how they do with Wrestlemania and it gave me chills for some reason. The WWE has some of the best video package people.

Final Thoughts
This was a great event and way better than I was expecting going into it. I should had faith that the card was going to deliver considering the talent booked for it. However, being a guy driven by stories and characters, only the two main events were really built up creatively leading up to this event. I was clearly incorrect to think the lack of promotion and build would hurt this show because I should have realized that the woman on the show would do whatever it took to make it a must see event and thats exactly what they did. There are a lot of people that may complain about the little things or silly things but from my perspective there really wasn’t a bad match on this card. I was entertained throughout the entire show and every match brought something different to the table. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch stole the show for me but I would recommend to watch the entire show. This isn’t the first ever all women’s wrestling PPV and there are wrestling promotions out there that exclusively feature women but for the WWE this is the first ever all Women’s PPV and that is what makes it historic. The WWE has been a leader in Sports Entertainment for over 4 decades and it wasn’t until 2018 that they got to this point. People can say whatever they want about PR and their public brand image which may all be true but for the women who participated in this event, it meant more than all of that. For all the girls out there that dream of becoming wrestler one day working for the WWE, this was history and inspiring. I am pretty sure and really hope there will be more of these but if that is the case…there will never be a first one again. This was it and its in the books. It didn’t disappoint at all. Thank you.
Final Rating – 9/10

What were your final thoughts on Evolution? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.