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Bobby Fish vs Sami Callihan
They go right after each other with hard hitting offense, Fish killing Callihan with kicks while Callihan lays him out in the corner and hits a running facewash. Fish dumps Callihan to the floor and slingshots over the top rope onto him, then sends Sami back inside and goes up top where Fish beats him into the ring and comes off the top rope with a flying headbutt. Fish with a drop toehold and fires kicks into Callihan's chest until he goes down and covers him for 2. Fish whips Callihan hard face first into the corner and he goes down again. Fish charges and Callihan gets his boot up, but Fish catches it and legdrags him, but Callihan lays him out with a stiff kick of his own that sends Fish out to the apron where he kicks him high over the ropes. Callihan tries for the springboard clothesline out of the corner, but Fish has him scounted and just yanks him off the corner and into the ring. Callihan fires back with chops and kicks that tear Fish down like a tree trunk. Callihan goes for a bicycle kick but Fish dodgesand kicks Callihan's leg out from under him, he goes for a figure four but Callihansmall packages him for 2. Fish goes for the figure four again and Callihan tries to block, but Fish headbutts him and completes the hold. Callihan sits up and spits in Fish's face, so Fish just cranks on the hold and Callihan collapses to his back. Fish gets several two counts off the figure four, but Callihan reverses the hold and Fish is forced to go to the ropes to force the break. Fish unloads on Callihan with more kicks put Callihan rocks him with a right hand square to the jaw. Callihan goes for a charge but Fish catches him and suplexes him into the corner. Fish puts Callihan up top and they duke it out on the top rope, Callihan goes for a sunset bomb but Fish blocks, so Callihan kicks his leg out from under him and completes the powerbomb for 2 and then locks Fish in a figure four. Fish gets out of that and catches Callihan in a heel hook, but Callihan makes the ropes. They both get to their feet and trade kicks to the other's legs, then change it up and go to forearms, then back to the kicks until Fish kicks Callihan's leg so hard he simply crumples to the mat and Fish covers for 2. Callihan suddenly pops up out of nowhere and plants Fish with a backdrop suplex and then kicks straight on the inside of Fish's knee and traps him in the Stretch Muffler. Fish absolutely refuses to submit, so Callihan really cranks it on and Fox starts smacking Fish from the outside to fire him up, and Fish is somehow able to cradle Callihan for 2. Fish goes back to kicks, but Callihan blocks one and clips Fish's knee out from under him. Callihan gets distracted by Fox at ringside and goes for the Stretch Muffler again, but Fox spits at him and Callihan gets distracted again, allowing Fish to hit a backdrop suplex and trap Callihan in the heel hook right in the middle of the ring, forcing him to finally tap out.
Winner: Bobby Fish
I enjoyed the hell out of this match and the battle of attritition as they both tried their damndest to not be the first one to go down, but I was not a fan of Fox's involvement in the end. Fox gets in the ring to call Callihan a bitch and make fun of Callihan, leading to referee Mike Kehner trying to separate them. Fox handcuffs himself behind his back to give Callihan an easy target, and Pinkie Sanchez comes out to hand Callihan a beer bottle. Callihan badly wants to crack Fox with the bottle, and has to repeatedly restrain himself before leaving entirely.
It's main event time!
Open The Freedom Gate Title Match: Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet
This match is not being held under EVOLVE rules and will not affect their records in EVOLVE since a DGUSA title is on the line. Gargano has Taylor and Swann at ringside, while Ricochet has Uhaa Nation in his corner. Ricochet gets a go behind and they trade wristlocksbefore going to a stalemate, Gargano takes Ricochet down and goes to an armbar, but then they go to a fast paced, back and forth sequence that again ends in a stalemate. Another back and forth and this time Ricochet gets an armdrag and a dropkick to finally build a bit of momentum. Ricochet with a European uppercut in the corner and hits the Guile kick in the corner, but Gargano ducks a clothesline and hits a Flatliner into the second turnbuckle and then goes for a neckbreaker, Ricochet backflips through it and goes for a standing shooting star press, but Gargano misses and this time hits the neckbreaker. Gargano comes off the second and Ricochet gets the knees up, then hits the Zig Zag on Gargano but, amazingly, only gets a one count. Ricochet with an over the backstretch and walks over and starts swinging his body to slam Gargano's head into the turnbuckle. What a heel! Ricochet goes for a suplex but Gargano blocks with a kneestrike and then a boot to the head and clotheslines Ricochet to the floor. Ricochet pops back in and Gargano goes for the spear from the apron, but Ricochet moves. Gargano clotheslines him back out and hits a dive through the ropes, Ricochet misses a moonsault but lands on his feet, and Gargano twice tries to pop Ricochet onto his shoulders, but fails so he goes for a powerbomb and takes two tries to get him up and barely powerbomb him into the guardrail without killing him. Gargano rolls him back in and covers for 2, then hits an unassisted Sliced Bread #2 for 2. Gargano goes for Snake Eyes, Ricochet escapes and gets a springboard Ace Crusher out of the corner and gets 2. Ricochet with a cradle suplex into the corner and then a springboard senton for 2. Ricochet just starts slapping Gargano in the head until he gets up and they start going blow for blow and then trade enziguiris until Gargano went for the running Snake Eyes into the turnbuckle, Ricochet no-sells and hits the Pelle Kick, and Gargano superkicks Ricochet and they're both down. Gargano with a running dropkick in the corner, then Ricochet gets one, then goes to a top rope Frankensteiner but Gargano blocks and goes to the Gargano Escape. Ricochet escapes the Gargano Escape and comes off the second rope but Gargano catches him with a Zig Zag and goes back to the Gargano Escape. Ricochet gets out and dumps Ricochet to the apron, but goes after him and Ricochet hits a German suplex on the apron and then a Space Flying Tiger Drop, then rolls Gargano back in and hits a shooting star press for 2. Ricochet goes back up for a shooting star press and Gargano superkicks him on the way down and hits Hertz Donut for 2. They trade blows in the middle of the ring and Ricochet hits a series of superkicks followed by a twisting piledriver and an inverted Frankensteiner. Gargano gets back to his feet but Ricochet hits a knockout kick for a very close 2. Ricochet htis the 630 splash and covers Gargano, who again kicks out at 2. Ricochet goes back up again, but thistime Gargano evades the 630, hits another Hertz Donut, and goes to the Gargano Escape to finally force Ricochet to tap out.
Winner: Johnny Gargano
The crowd kind of turned on this one by the end, but I think part of that is because the match was kind of on the long side and the fans had been sitting here for eight hours already. I think if it weren't such a long day, this would have gotten a much better reaction because they told a good story with the two of them being so even that they were literally going back trading the same move to try and top one another. Ricochet looked great and the one spot where he hit the 630 I honestly thought he was going to get the win. Gargano appeared to get hurt somewhere during the finish and laid on the ring apron for several minutes while getting checked out by the commission doctor before being helped to the back by Taylor and Swann.
The Tribute to the Arena is up next on Page 4!
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