WWE Evolve 4/30/2025

WWE Evolve 4/30/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/wwe-evolve-4232025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/wwe-evolve-572025.html

We are still at the Performance Center in Orlando, FL. Robert Stone and Pete Rosenberg are on commentary.

Kylie Rae talks. She says the teddy bear Wendy gave Zara was her son's teddy bear. She says it's been missing for weeks and she doesn't know how she got it. She says this has gone too far and it ends tonight.

Zayda Steel vs Layla Diggs

LD has Aria Bennett with her. Zay has Bryce Donovan with her. They lock up. LD slips out of a waistlock. Zay throws her over by the arm and armlocks her. LD throws her over the arm then armdrags her. LD hits another armdrag then forward cartwheel spears her. LD slingshots over her then spinning slams her. LD standing moonsaults her for 2.

They each hit forearms. Zay's arm is banged off LD's shoulder. Zay stomps on her. Zay codebreakers her over the 2nd rope for 2. Zay slaps her in the corner. LD takes her down and pounds on her. LD is tripped into the 2nd buckle and Zay double stomps her back for 2. Zay collar's her and LD hiptosses her.

LD hits shots to the gut then hits leg lariats. LD double underhook suplexes her for 2. LD misses a forward cartwheel. Zay headscissors her into a ddt and wins.

Thoughts: Diggs was a lot more impressive than Zay was here. I don't think she's awful but I don't see what WWE sees in Zay. Zay didn't hit her finisher clean here. It was just average but Diggs was a decent face.

TNT (Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe) vs Aaron Rourke and Freedom Ramsey

They called TD and Igwe "TNT" here so we will assume that's their name now. AR Gets a big entrance here. I think he and Freedom Ramsey are both making their WWE Evolve TV debuts here.

AR and Igwe lock up. AR slips out of a side headlock. Igwe side headlocks him again then shoulders him over. AR slaps him in the butt then slides out. Freedom gets in and is thrown off of Igwe.

Igwe slams Freedom. Freedom front facelocks TD. TD takes a double dropkick. AR goes up and over Igwe then shotgun dropkicks him in the corner. AR forward cartwheel double chops him. Igwe shoulders him over.

Igwe hits forearms then shoulderbreakers him. TD jumping lariats Ar in the corner. TD corner lariats AR. AR kicks him off the ropes. AR step up enzugiri's TD. Freedom comes in and hits a nice lariat on Igwe. He flying knees him then atomic drops him. Freedom leg lariats him then facebusters TD.

Freedom comes off the 2nd rope and is forearmed by Igwe. Freedom takes a jumping press + backdrop and is pinned.

Thoughts: I didn't like AR and Freedom losing in their debuts here. Igwe and Dupont looked solid as always though are such an explosive team. I don't really think AR is gonna work but he has some agility. Freedom is a bit goofy but in a likeable way.

Stevie Turner has a Town Hall Major Announcement next week. I guess it's for the Evolve titles but who knows.

Kylie Rae vs Wendy Cho

Choo takes her down and side headlocks her. She then takes her over. Choo wristlocks her. Rae headflips out. Rae rolls her with a wristlock. Choo snapmares her then is rolled up for 2.

Choo bangs Rae's head off the buckles then twists her neck with her feet. Rae side headlocks her. Rae shoulders her over. Rae hits a big forearm. Rae armdrags her off a hiptoss then superkicks her. Rae is sent into the post. We go to break and return.

Rae boots her out of the corner. Choo headbutts her then Rae russian legsweeps her. They trade shots. Rae lariats her then hits a corner forearm. Rae 2nd rope dropkicks her. Rae does a la mistica into a crossface. Rae superkicks her. 

Rae gets stuck up top. Choo overhead superplexes her down. Choo then brainbusters her for 2. Choo rips up the teddy bear that belongs to Rae's son. Rae yells and hits forearms. Rae hits mounted forearms. Rae spinning forearms her. Rae gets upset about the bear, Choo does her dirtnap submission from behind and puts her to sleep.

Thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of it. They wrestled it like a normal match until the teddy bear spot, then Rae finally hyped up and got mad. Rae should have been going for the bear all match and should have been attacking her out of the gate. They had a lot of story to work with here and didn't get as much out of it as they should have.

Choo then paints like a frown on Rae's face after.

Chuey Martinez talks to Kali Armstrong. He congratulates her on winning the four way two weeks ago. Kali says that's why she's here. she says she doesn't want anyone to tell her nothing when she gets the title. She said she moved her trophy aside for the Evolve title. She says the title is her future. She says she sees herself evolving and says the girls better look out as she gets more opportunities. She says she wants to hold the title so she can be the example. She tells everyone to think big and crazy and go for it. She says as her fire keeps going, she will burn this place down.

Keanu Carver and Harlem Lewis vs Swipe Right (Ricky Smokes and Brad Baylor)

Swipe Right has Zayda, Drake and Bryce with them.

HL pushes Brad back. KC tags himself in. KC pulls down Smokes off the lock-up then talks trash to HL. HL tags himself in. Brad clubs on HL then HL shoulders him over. 

Brad side headlocks KC and is shouldered over. HL slams Brad. KC tags himself in. KC hits a hard shot to Brad's gut. HL slaps KC's chest to tag himself in. KC and HL go face to face and argue. Brad pushes them, away to tag out. Brad and Smokes are then shouldered over. KC world's strongest slams Brad on the apron while KC gorilla press throws Smokes. 

HL lariats Brad over the top. HL takes a boot to the face and misses a corner spear. Smokes enzugiri's HL in the corner for 1. Smokes pounds on HL. Brad hits mounted shots on HL. HL gets stomped on by Swipe Right. HL hits a double suplex on Swipe Right. 

KC double lariats his opponents and hits a backbreaker on Brad. KC pops up Brad then hits a big fallaway slam. Smokes grabs KC. KC bridges him on the ropes and hits a big forearm. KC then hits a rare double pounce. HL tags himself in. He hits a jackhammer and KC twisting slams Smokes. KC and HL win.

Thoughts: The booking to get here was silly. KC and HL hate each other so they made them tag partners. That didn't make any sense. The big guys dominated as expected but I don't like them destroying the top faction like this even though they should have.

The big guys argue after and refs separate them. 

Stevie Turner says that was impressive in the back. Gallus walk in. They say they want next. Stevie asks if they want Swipe Right? Joe says he wants Keanu and Harlem. That should be good.

Overall thoughts: The opener was average and the 2nd match was fine. I didn't care for Rae/Choo. The main made sense wrestling wise but it was a burial for Swipe Right and that's not a good thing. I believe Rourke and Freedom made their WWE TV debuts here. I'd give the episode as a 4 out of 10 as it had issues and could have been better. I wouldn't recommend this.