WWE Evolution Live Blog and Results

It's gonna get nasty at Nassau Coliseum as Ronda Rousey faces Nikki Bella and Becky Lynch battles Charlotte Flair!

It's time to Boo the Woo!

WWE's Evolution PPV represents history-in-the-making - though one could easily argue the build up to the show has been lackluster. All we can hope for now is that the matches deliver and the crowd on-hand at the Nassau Coliseum is loud, raucous, and hungry for women's wrestling.


As WWE's first-ever all-women's PPV, Evolution is a monumental and prestigious happening. Though ever since its announcement, this past July, Evolution's been grossly shoved to the side for the sake of promoting two international supershows - Australia's Super Show-Down from the beginning of the month and Saudi Arabia's Crown Jewel, happening next Friday - which more or less serve as four-hour paid tourism commercials for those countries. Yes, Evolution's been woefully underserved, often taking a back seat to all other events while also, more recently, getting stifled by the controversy surrounding WWE's decision to still go forward with their Crown Jewel event.

But now we're here! Let's try to shake all this off and give Evolution the focus it deserves. Ronda Rousey is defending the RAW Women's Championship against Nikki Bella while Becky Lynch puts her SmackDown Women's Championship on the line against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match. Plus, there's the final match of the Mae Young Classic II, Kairi Sane defending her NXT Women's Championship against former champ Shayna Baszler, and more!

Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Mickie James & Alicia Fox


Firstly, it's a bummer that Alexa Bliss got concussed and could't wrestle tonight. A silver lining might be that she didn't have to job to a nostalgia act. Then again, maybe Lita and Trish went over tonight because Alexa was swapped out. Who knows?

Anyhow, this match was perfectly okay. And I don't mean that in a snarky way. It wasn't, you know, a great match, but it was exactly what it needed to be and a fun opener. The crowd is loud (yay!) and nicely darkened. Yup, I love having the lights down in the arena. It works for TakeOvers and indie events and it adds a fantastic, intimate vibe to everything.


Were Trish and Lita rusty? Yes. But they got in there and did their best and their best was good enough. It was a grand idea to put them in one match into having them split up into two encounters. They played all their hits, Lita took a tiny bit of damage, and then it was all about the finish. Double Litasault (which looked pretty damn good, actually), Chick Kick, and that's all she wrote. The first 30 minutes of Evolution were also aired free on Twitter so they may have started with this match in an attempt to utilize, and weaponize, the Hall of Famers.

Winners: Lita and Trish Status

Women's Battle Royal Match (for a future Women's Championship opportunity)


Oof. It seemed so much like Ember Moon was going to pull this off. The crowd really wanted her to do it too. After doing not much of anything since her main roster call-up, it seemed like she was due for a big win (plus title shot) like this.

Of course, Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey also have unfinished business from last spring, so this works too. But Ember would have been better.

So yeah, Nia Jax took this one, after the final four were her, Ember, Zelina Vega, and Tamina (all women of color, which was also awesome!). She last eliminated her friend (of, like, a month) Ember Moon and took home a big, historic win.


This wasn't the smoothest outing, overall, but the legends of yesteryear did fairly well\ Michelle McCool looked good. Ivory could still go too. Kelly Kelly and Torrie Wilson were fine. Alundra Blayze was formidable. Fans seemed pretty upset that the Iconics got thrown out right away, but all in all the reactions and energy stayed strong and present. We even got an Ember Moon/Asuka NXT showdown (where Ember finally got one over on Asuka) along with a Roman Reigns tribute from Nia and Tamina...

Winner: Nia Jax



This was an excellent match - and a nice match to have to go third after two matches featuring (and only slightly hindered by) legends from the past lacing up the boots after years away from the ring. Storm vs. Shirai could have even gone on a bit longer, in fact. It wasn't short, but I feel like there were two to three more minutes in there.


It was a much better, and more appreciative, setting for a Mae Young Classic final round than last year when Sane and Baszler had to wrestle in front of a larger, but also largely disinterested, SmackDown crowd. This was the perfect setting for them and the right woman won (in my opinion).

These two battled fiercely, though Storm battled rougher and Kairi Sane's BFF, Shirai, couldn't overcome Storm's power and tenacity.

Winner: Toni Storm

Sasha Banks, Bayley & Natalya vs. The Riott Squad


Though not without a few spots of clunkiness, this was a fun match that wound up meaning more, on this night, because of the context and specialness of the entire PPV. On RAW, this would have been rather meaningless, and story-wise, it still is, but here - at Evolution - everything just has a much more heightened energy. Sasha nabbing the winning pin with the Eddie Frog Splash made things feel even sweeter.

If I had to shift things a little, this match would have been shorter and the Storm/Shirai match a bit longer, because it's when this bout shifted into its second act, after the hot tag to Sasha, is when it started to crumble a wee bit.


But everything came back together in the final minutes and I love how the Riott Squad has managed to become a true, fully-formed "thing" considering that they started as a random assembling of NXT gals. It really speaks to the idea of keeping teams together so that they have time to create moments, develop chemistry, and create a legacy.

Winners: Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Natalya

NXT Women's Champion Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler


Hey, it's the super evil friends of super babyface Ronda Rousey to the rescue!

It's always been strange that Ronda Rousey - who's friends with fellow (alternate) "Horsewomen" Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir - is a babyface on RAW but then has to heel it up whenever she shows her face down in NXT in support of Baszler. Well, Evolution is the first WWE PPV to feature the defense of an NXT title, and it just so happened that Baszler was in the match - and she didn't beat Kairi Sane for the title clean. She had help.

So what becomes of Rousey in all this? Does she leave this PPV in more of a grey area? Or does she just continue to, basically, play two roles for two different brands?

Anyhow, this was a solid, stiff match that felt like a fitting third in the Sane/Baszler trilogy. Sane got to be more aggressive here than she was at TakeOver because Baszler was going over. It also helped fully realize Baszler as a heel. She was already, mostly, because of her attitude, but she had skills to back up her braggadocio so it was more of a Lesnar situation. Here she took a tainted win, with help from her friends, over a much smaller opponent.

Winner, and new NXT Women's Champion: Shayna Baszler

SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair (Last Woman Standing Match)



Naturally, we all knew going in that Becky vs. Charlotte - just based on build, storyline, and stipulation - should have been the "last match" main event. And we also knew it'd be something special. Welp...

...this surpassed all expectations. This was an instant classic. I think this match may even be the next great match in the lineage of groundbreaking women's PPV matches after Sasha vs. Bayley at TakeOver: Brooklyn and the Triple Threat at WrestleMania 32. Women's wrestling has made huge strides, and had many important firsts since those matches, but this bout actually matched the in-the-moment specialness of that those others had. This one was edge-of-your-seat amazing, with bone-crunching spots that got everyone on their feet.


Becky is riding a fantastic anti-hero wave right now. Though Cole refers to her fans as a "cult," this so-called cult was large and in charge in the Coliseum, with loud and crazed "BECKY!" chants the entire time. Suplexes on ladders and chairs, kendo stick whacks, flying leg drops through tables, powerbombs from the top rope to a table outside - this was a devilish delight. And the best part was that creative, and Vince, are listening to the groundswell of admiration and support for Becky. They have that rare "lightning in a bottle" that they're always trying to capture. They best not squander it.

Winner, and still Smackdown Women's Champion: Becky Lynch

Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella


You know what? That wasn't half bad. And - most importantly - the crowd was still there for it. All of it.

Not to knock Nikki Bella, but the only real hinderance to this was believability. Even Cole mentioned, a few times, how "surprised" he was that Nikki was getting in so much offense. To make this story work, Ronda was more or less working an unofficial handicap match, with Brie constantly attacking her and thwarting her efforts at every turn. And fans either really wanted to see Nikki tap out in pain or Ronda lose due to shocking chicanery. I think they would have been down for either finish, honestly.

Just tracking Ronda's journey from her one-sided quick won over Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam, she's been selling more and more in each match. So now, a few months later, she's ready to actually work a full match, and look weak and vulnerable for her foes. It's just that she's now looked her most weak and vulnerable in front of a performer (underrated, for sure) who's probably the least believable threat so far. Not from an actual skill level, just a kayfabe abilities level. But still, no one in the arena was s***ting on this at all. And it wasn't bad either. Though the unanimous choice for match of the night, and probably the year, is Becky vs. Charlotte.

Winner, and still RAW Women's Champion: Ronda Rousey


In This Article


Release Date: March 29, 2015
More Like This