THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR DEBUTS ON THE BIG STAGE

Chandler Marcy has divided fan opinion after he aligned himself with the Gotti Crime Family but what is not in dispute is how much better Marcy has gotten over the last year. He went in against a former Apex Champion and looked completely at home. Flyboy had no answer for Marcy’s power and shocking athleticism and the former football standout got the victory with a Marcy Bomb. Later in the show, Omega Woods called Marcy out by name and challenged him to a RAW Title match next week.

Yamamoto has accepted Kenny Omega’s help and the GAW legend stood in Moto’s corner as she took on the rookie Ava. Moto has fought dangerous and unpredictable opponents before and now with Omega’s help she is even more dangerous. Ava barely got a shot in, Moto dropped her with a tombstone piledriver for the win.

The Rookie of the Year winner and the first official rookie of the year makes his highly anticipated Evolution debut against Lee Carr. Conspicuous by his absence was Mr. Sinister but that didn’t affect Takahashi in the slightest. Carr put him through the ringer, absolutely blitzing the rookie with a flurry of offense and even a Green Out. But Takahashi was up to the task, surviving everything and hitting Carr with the vaunted spinning heel kick to win his first Evolution match.

In the main event, Eddie Hernandez battles Xavier Cross. Earlier in the show, Kurt Andrews bragged about how much smarter he is than Eddie, clearly implying that he has some dastardly plans for his challenger, but he was nowhere to be seen in this main event. Hernandez had everything about Cross figured out: he stayed away from the dangerous Kronwalled Hawk Slayer, didn’t allow Cross to utilize his dirty boxing, and got him down for long enough to a spectacular Speakeasy for the win. After the match, Hernandez called out Kurt Andrews directly and told the champ he would never run away from a challenge.