PROGRESS, EVOLVE, RAW

PROGRESS Chapter 83: Remove Child Before Ironing: Ilja Dragunov vs. Timothy Thatcher

This was the smackfest it promised to be on paper. Thatcher largely dominated things & Ilja fought from underneath. Both guys rocked their roles well - Ilja has that great passion to him when he fights from underneath, it's definitely a role he excels at. Thatcher of course ruled on top with his great strikes, and some neat little touches like grabbing Ilja by the NOSE to get him up. A very good match! ***1/2

EVOLVE 119: Eddie Kingston vs. JD Drake

GODDAMN Kingston RULES. This is the first match of his that I've seen in at least a year, and his performance was absolutely delightful. He brought some unique psychology into the thing with him being obsessed over Drake's EYES. He gets the first control of the match and goes to work on those EYES & generally just mauls Drake with his amazing strikes. LOVE those crossface shots. JD is pretty good from underneath, but the match definitely goes down a few levels once he makes his comeback & it becomes more 50/50. Still a really good one overall, because of THE MAD KING being insanely awesome. ***3/4

EVOLVE 119: Fabian Aichner vs. Darby Allin

The usual Darby formula of him getting his ass kicked & making awesome comebacks. Aichner was extremely generic & dull on the beatdown side of things, and it wasn't until they went outside & he started swinging Darby to the barricade, that the match got real good. Aichner hurt his knee by hitting it on the post, so Darby naturally goes to work on it once they're back inside the ring, and Aichner's selling of it is great; loved it giving out when he tried to set Darby up for a powerbomb. The finish was also really good & set up the re-match for the next night perfectly. It was definitely not a great match overall, as like I mentioned, Aichner's beatdown seg on Darby wasn't very interesting, but everything from the barricade-swinging on was pretty fantastic. ***

EVOLVE 120: Eddie Kingston vs. Montez Ford

The match vs. JD Drake already did it, but damn, I really need to watch more Eddie Kingston this year. Just like the night before, he was absolutely wonderful here. They went with the underdog formula of Ford fighting from underneath, as Eddie delivered a lovely beating to him. Ford was also really good on his role; loved the fire & intensity he showed after he got the better of Kingston outside the ring, early on in the match. This actually should've probably been A BIT longer for my liking, as the finish felt very sudden, but hey, I can't complain, because it was still absolutely awesome. ***1/2

EVOLVE 120: Fabian Aichner vs. Darby Allin

Their match the night before was good, but this was bordering on great. There's much more energy & intensity to this, and Aichner's performance was much better here. He showed some very nice swagger throughout & was way more charismatic and vicious too, overall. Great continuity of the knee psychology, good selling + a great beatdown by Aichner, and some really good comebacks by Darby. ***3/4

WWE RAW 01/28/19: Bayley vs. Ronda Rousey

This was just a lil' notch below the Sasha match. Nice continuity of the arm psychology from the night before, and some additional knee psychology. Ronda sells very well throughout. ***