WWE.com The six-man tag team main event of Mercury Rising saw a trio of wrestlers who competed at the first EVOLVE show - Johnny Gargano, TJP, and Kota Ibushi - join forces to defeat Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Tommy End. The bout was a crazy spotfest that saw Ibushi and Ospreay deliver stereo moonsaults off of a tin awning in the arena, and Ibushi pin Ospreay after a vicious Last Ride powerbomb. After the bout, Johnny Gargano took the microphone to thank the audience, rebuke Drew Galloway's earlier (kayfabe) assertion that the EVOLVE-WWE relationship is bad for wrestling, and to acknowledge that 2016 is a crazy time in the sport - and thinking about it, he couldn't be more right. Three months ago, I was in Japan for Wrestle Kingdom, watching one of the best shows of all time. Today, Shinsuke Nakamura is in NXT, AJ Styles in is WWE, and Kota Ibushi is wrestling teddy bears for Kaiju Big Battel (and probably going to WWE). Guys like Johnny Gargano are wrestling for independent companies and WWE in the same day, and even though there seems to be a split between the WWE/EVOLVE side of things and the New Japan/ROH/CMLL side, the line is frequently crossed at indy shows such as these. It's a confusing, complicated, and weird time to be a fan - but we're also getting some of the best wrestling of all time. Let's make sure we appreciate and enjoy it!
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
