WWE Evolve 7/8/2026

WWE Evolve 7/8/2026

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2026/07/wwe-evolve-712026.html

We are at the Performance Center. Robert Stone and Blake Howard are on commentary.

Sloane Jacobs is on a phone in the back trying to plan Nikkita Lyons' celebration tonight. She says we will celebrate her as champion with the grandest party ever seen.

Robert Stone and Blake Howard welcome us to the show and are in front of the ring.

The Mog Squad come out. Max says they are on a generational run by looksmaxing and winmaxing. Max talks about their win and CJ Valor says it was more than just a win. Max says they swept their opponents last week. Ball says they are the fastest rising team in Evolve. Max says CJ is the x factor and no one wants to mess with him. Max says "mog real quick" and they all pose. Max says they are taking it all the way.

Timothy Thatcher comes out. He says we will find out if CJ Valor is the x factor right now. Cutler James comes out. 

CJ Valor vs Cutler James

Cutler side headlock takeovers him twice and Valor headscissors him twice. Cutler shoulders him over and side headlocks him. Cutler hits a big spear and Valor rolling armbars him. Cutler fireman's carry takeovers him. He armdrags him then hiptosses him for 2.

Valor dropkicks him from behind. Cutler hits corner spears. Cutler pop up euros him. Cutler misses a corner spear and goes out. The heels pose. We go to break and return. Valor backrolls him into a german. Valor hits punches and sends Cutler shoulder first into the buckles.

Cutler's head is banged off the buckles and Valor dropkicks him. Valor spinebusters him for 2. Valor knees him in the gut and short arm clotheslines him. Valor misses a 2nd rope splash. Cutler lariats him and back elbows him. Cutler swinging backbreakers him. 

Cutler pop up drops him and hits gutbusters. Cutler hits a whirlybird and pins him.

Thoughts: I didn't like it. One of my big complaints about the new Evolve guys is that they are smaller guys. Valor looked like a midget compared to Cutler. He absolutely mogged him...and Valor is part of The Mog Squad. Cutler's not exactly Andre the Giant either. I don't know who we were supposed to cheer for either here since both guys are heels that aren't super over to begin with. This was just bad matchmaking.

The Mog Squad go to leave. Timothy Thatcher asks where they are going. He says they are the fastest rising team here and they need to get back in the ring.

The Mog Squad (Santi Rivera and Jacari Ball) vs Noam Dar and Romeo Moreno

Ball takes down RM and rolls him. RM rolls him and release overhead suplexes him. SR wristlocks Dar then Dar fireman's carry takeovers him. Dar hits chest kicks then punches him down for 2. Dar bangs SR's arm off his shoulder. Ball side headlocks Dar. Ball takes an overhead throw and is PK'd for 2. Ball matchka kicks RM out. 

We go to break and return. We see Sloane Jacobs inviting girls to the celebration tonight. Zena Sterling comes in and Sloane tells her to get out. SR hits corner spears on Dar. Ball then hits corner spears. RM boots SR out of the corner. 

Ball jumps off SR's back and Ball corner splashes RM. Ball dropkicks RM for 2. RM hits punches on Ball. RM hits a double clothesline. Dar comes in. He gets offense in on the heels and high kicks Ball down. Dar dropkicks Ball. Dar then puts Ball in an armbar. Ball turns it into a pin attempt.

Ball takes a bridging cutter + springboard dropkick for 2. RM kicks SR off the bottom rope. RM misses a top rope moonsault. RM takes a codebreaker into a german. The ref counts 3 but RM's foot is on the ropes. The Squad think they have it won and go out. RM tope con hilos The Squad. RM springboard dropkicks Ball. Ball takes like a double suplex and is pinned.

Thoughts: The match wasn't anything too special. I don't get why they had The Squad lose here. They went over big last week with 3-0 win in an elimination match and they start off 0-2 here. Why? With that being said, the heels did get screwed as they had a 3 count counted but the match continued.

Max Abrams blames Thatcher for the loss. Thatcher says Max is going to wrestle next week against a guy he attacked in Chazz "Starboy" Hall. 

Aaron Rourke and Harlem Lewis talk in the back. Lewis says he won't let his title opportunity go. He says the title represents his future. AR says he knows his history and he doesn't have to explain. He says Lewis showed him the man he is against The Mog Squad. Lewis says AR made history but every story comes to an end. Lewis says all we have is what we are willing to fight for. Lewis says he's been suppressing anger all his life and he's done suppressing when they fight. AR says he's been beaten down too an he doesn't show it. He says he will show the world he's glamour and grit. They pound fists.

Kale Dixon and his new girl do a photoshoot. They talk about how good they look and take photos. 

Harley Riggins vs Ulka Sasaki

This is Ulka Sasaki's WWE TV debut. He's from NOAH in Japan and he used to do MMA. NOAH basically sent him here to get more seasoning.

Ulka offers a handshake and HR kicks it aray. Ulka hits euros and they shoulderblock battle. Ulka jawbreakers him then shoulders him over. Ulka rolls him into an armbar. HR tilt-a-whirl slams him. 

HR facekicks him and punches him in the corner. HR piefaces him and elbows him over the back of the neck. Ulka sunset flips him. HR blocks a cradle and suplexes him for 2. HR side headlocks him and elbow drops him.

HR is tripped into the buckles. Ulka hits chops and forearms. Ulka spinning forearms him and pumping knees him from the side for 2. HR pop up knees him in the face and pins him.

Thoughts: Ulka got no hype or anything here and he basically looked like a guy they just pulled off the street. The match went alright. Ulka loses in his TV debut for unknown reasons.

Adrianna Rizzo is the new ringside interviewer and she talks to Harley Riggins. She asks where Kam Hendrix is. HR says it's time The Big Rig rides alone. He tells Tate Wilder to go back to medical and says he parks his big rig where he wants.

Elijah Holyfield works out with Noam Dar in the ring. Eli shows him clips of his match with Brooks Jensen. He wants a counter for getting his face pulled into an exposed buckle. Dar say Brooks is a vet and they practice the position. Brooks Jensen walks in and watches without them seeing him. We cut ahead. Eli thanks him and Dar says he can't wait to watch him put the work in. Dar says Brooks sucks.

Shido Ash and Viktor Zanov do a video. They said they started off at security are judo Olympians and are more than that. They says they kicked the door down. They say they are bigger, better and badder than everyone in Evolve. They say their time at security is over and they aren't leaving. Zanov says they will do what they want when they want.

They have a table set up with some decorations for Nikkita Lyons' title celebration. 

Sloane has Gianna Capri and Veronica Haven with her. They bring Nikkita Lyons out. Lyons signs her theme song to the ring. Sloane says no one deserves this more than Lyons. Lyon says she envisioned this moment and makes a crack about more people not being here. Sloane says she should invite more guests out. No one else comes out.

Lyons wants to talk about her next challenger. Sloane kisses more butt. She says Choo's title run was a fluke and Luck got a handout tile shot. 

Wren Sinclair comes out. Lyons tells her its the wrong show. Wren says she got an invitation. She says Evolve is where anything can happen and says she wants to add the Evolve Title to the NQCC. Skylar Rae then comes out. She says Wren has a good point and she should be in contention for the title due to winning LFG. Layla Diggs then comes out.

Sloane complains and says this is a party and everyone's coming out to challenge for titles. Diggs says she's going to be on her own. She says she beat Lyons once and wants to run it back. Diggs and Capri face off, Diggs is hit from behind and all the girls fight. Everyone but Lyons fights to the back. Laynie Luck, with new hair, comes in and AA's Lyons through the table. Luck then holds up the Evolve Women's Title.

Thoughts: It's hard to have wrestlers in two promotions at once and we saw one of the problems with that here. Diggs is aligned with Lyons in NXT, but not in Evolve and Diggs was making challenges at Lyons here. This wasn't much of a celebration and maybe it not being super flashy was part of the point.

Overall thoughts: It wasn't a good episode of Evolve. We had a bunch of random matches. The Mog Squad won big last week then dropped two matches in a row here. They exposed CJ Valor by putting him up against Cutler James. Ulka Sasaki debuted with no hype and lost. Adrianna Rizzo is the new interviewer, which I don't have a problem with as she's a very entertaining person but seems to be injury prone. We then had a celebration for Nikkita Lyons where they forgot that Diggs and Lyons are aligned in NXT and had Diggs challenging her here. I'd give this a 3 out of 10 as this show was bad.