10 Live Observations From Attending EVOLVE Wrestling Over WrestleMania Weekend

10. Good Officiating Is Important

As good as both shows were, the weekend got off to a bit of an inauspicious start.

The opening match of the Friday show pitted EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Drew Galloway and Johnny Gargano against the Premier Athletic Brand of Anthony Nese and Caleb Konley. According to the stipulation, if Nese and Konley were to lose, they'd never be allowed to team up again, so stakes were high.

The match was a great opener, but a botched finish left live fans confused and unhappy. Gargano had Konley locked in the Gargano Escape and Konley tapped, but for some reason the referee waved it off and declared that the match was still going on.

Assuming that Galloway was legal, Gargano tagged out, and Galloway applied the Gargano Escape to Konley. Again Konley tapped, and again, the referee waved it off. In the next instant, the match was declared over, with Gargano and Galloway winning.

Hopefully, the announcers were able to make something up for the iPPV crowd, but those of us who were watching there live in the arena were baffled. Galloway then took the microphone to explain what was supposed to happen (the submission was the finish), and while kayfabe was broken, the crowd was happy.