By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
WWE Evolve (Episode 68)
Taped in Orlando. Florida at the WWE Performance Center
Streamed July 8, 2026, on Tubi in the United States and YouTube.com internationally
Blake Howard and Rob Stone provided commentary; no Peter Rosenberg tonight! Tubi lists this as “Season 2, Episode 19.”
* We learned last week that Nikkita Lyons was going to have a title celebration ceremony tonight! Sloane Jacobs narrated the opening sequence, talking about that celebration later tonight.
* The Mog Squad hit the ring, all wearing identical gold trunks. Max Abrams got on the mic, saying they are “win-maxxing.” He boasted about them winning an elimination match last week 3-0. Max told Santi Rivera and Jacari Ball that they are rising as a tag team. Jacari said they are the best team in Evolve. Max said that CJ Valor is the team’s “X-Factor.” They essentially did an Edge-and-Christian five-second pose, and that earned boos. CJ said they are unstoppable.
* Evolve Foreman Timothy Thatcher came to the ring! He has a match for CJ Valor! Out of the back came … Cutler James. A heel-heel match?
1. Cutler James vs. CJ Valor (w/the Mog Squad). Cutler is tall; he has a significant height and weight advantage. Rob Stone admitted he doesn’t watch the product right off the bat. UGH. He hasn’t seen the Mog Squad lately and wasn’t aware of their cocky attitudes. Cutler hit a hip-toss and was in charge early on. He hit his Claudio-style pop-up European Uppercut. (He’s been doing a lot of signature Castagnoli offense.) James crashed shoulder-first into the ring post, allowing CJ to take control.
CJ hit a Chaos Theory rolling German Suplex at 3:30. He missed a top-rope splash. Cutler hit a backbreaker over his knee at 6:00, then a gutbuster over his knee, and another. Cutler hit a spinning, release Razor’s Edge-style powerslam for the clean pin. Not sure what that accomplished for anyone. Cutler is even more bland as a babyface than he is as a heel, and I wasn’t sure that was possible.
Cutler James defeated CJ Vallor at 6:25.
* Timothy Thatcher told the Mog Squad not to leave … he has another match for them!
2. Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar vs. Jacari Ball and Santi Rivera. Jacari and Romeo opened. Noam jumped in and kept Santi grounded in a headlock, and he twisted Rivera’s arm. The Mog Squad worked over Romeo as they went to a commercial. [C]
* Coming out of the commercial break, we saw a hidden camera in the women’s locker room as they argued. Sloane Jacobs and two other women were trying to eject Zena Sterling. Sterling turned and left. An odd placement for this coming back from the break. (And do we really want WWE showing footage of hidden cameras in the women’s locker room? Seems to set a really bad precedent.)
OKAY, back to the ring, the Mog Squad continued to work over Moreno in their corner with some pretty basic offense. Romeo hit a double clothesline at 6:00. Noam got a hot tag and hit some clotheslines, and he dropped Ball with a spin kick. Noam tied Ball in a cross-armbreaker. Santi hit a chinbreaker over his knee. Max grabbed Romeo’s ankle. Romeo went for a top-rope Lionsault but missed.
Rivera hit a Lungblower to the chest, and Jacari hit a German Suplex for a nearfall. The Mog Squad thought they had won, but Romeo had a foot on the ropes, so the ref had stopped counting. Romeo hit a flip dive, going over the ref, to the floor on the Squad. In the ring, Romeo hit a missile dropkick on Ball. Romeo and Dar hit a team suplex on Ball for the pin.
Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar defeated Jacari Ball and Santi Rivera at 9:08.
* Thatcher informed Max Abrams that he will face Chazz “Starboy” Hall next week.
* Also, next week will be Aaron Rourke vs. Harlem Lewis. They spoke backstage. They have respect for each other. Harlem said he’s going to end Rourke’s chapter as champion. He said he doesn’t have people opening doors for him. All his anger will be directed at Rourke next week. Rourke told him people have been betting against him for years. Good segment. [C]
* Kale Dixon and his still-unnamed “business associate” (that is what Blake Howard called her!) were posing for a photoshoot backstage. She kept talking about how “hot” they are.
3. Ulka Sasaki vs. Harley Riggins. I’ve seen Ulka maybe three times in Japan’s NOAH, and this is his Evolve debut. Harley is again wearing his Diesel-style black pants with tassels on the legs. He kicked away Ulka’s handshake. Ulka immediately pulled Harley to the mat and applied a Fujiwara Armbar. Howard wondered where Kam Hendrix was. Harley hit a suplex for a nearfall at 2:00. Ulka dropped him with a discus forearm to the jaw, then a running knee to the side of the head for a nearfall. However, Riggins hit a pop-up knee strike for the pin out of nowhere. Well… that was anti-climatic.
Harley Riggins defeated Ulka Sasaki at 3:21.
* Adrianna Rizzo is our new ringside reporter! Rizzo asked Harley where Kam Hendrix is. Harley said it’s time that he “rides alone.”
* Earlier in the day, Noam Dar and Elijah Holyfield were talking in the ring. Noam gave Holyfield some tips on how to reverse some moves. Brooks Jensen was seen spying on their workout session.
* A promo backstage from Viktor Zanov and Shido Ash. These are the security guards whom Timothy Thatcher just “fired.” They boasted that they are former judo champions. These guys “do what we want, whenever we want.”
* Back to the PC! Sloane Jacobs, Veronica Haven and Gianna Capri were in the ring. A table with some presents was in the ring. Haven wore a flowery dress — WWE has so completely ruined her “fallen angel” look and character and what has made her so special that she got the ID deal in the first place. (To me, this is like bringing in Danhausen and giving him a whole new gimmick, with no makeup or weird vampire character.) Nikkita Lyons came to the ring.
Lyons wants to “get this party started” and invited others out of the back, but no one came out. Sloane said everyone is just jealous of Nikkita. Wren Sinclair came out and said, “Happy Wrens-day!” She wants to add Lyons’ belt to her collection! Then, Skylar Raye came to the ring, and she thinks she should be the No. 1 contender. Layla Diggs also came out of the back. Layla let Nikkita know she’s “going forward on her own” (because Masyn Holliday has left WWE).
Everyone jumped into the ring and brawled. Everyone vanished to the back except Lyons. Laynie Luck jumped in the ring from behind and slammed Nikkita through the table. Luck stood over Lyons and held Nikkita’s title above her head. (This was clearly from a new taping; Laynie’s hair is really dark here. She’s clearly dyed it recently.)
Final Thoughts: One of my least favorite Evolve episodes ever. None of the matches were above-average. I have no interest in Cutler James or Harley Riggins. The tag match was decent. Maybe the highlight of the hour was a good promo between Rourke and Lewis — it felt authentic, and both men clearly laid out the stakes.
Where are the guys who interest me? Cap Jones, Marcus Mathers, Sam Holloway? Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly praised Fallyn Grey and Airica Demia as top-notch talents. WWE wisely signed them both to WWE ID deals — but has so far stripped both of them of what made them unique talents worth checking out. Veronica Haven in her “Sunday best” dress? That’s not the fallen angel who got over on the indy scene. Last week, with Anya Rune trying to throw imaginary fireballs from her hands? I was defending Demia on Twitter this week, trying to explain she’s a good wrestler and being botched by Evolve. I think my Danhausen comment is spot-on — they brought in a character and let him be that character, no real change at all. So, why not let Fallyn Grey be Fallyn Grey? And I’m not talking about the name… I’m talking about the character.
Okay, it may be a small, trivial matter, but if Rob Stone finds Evolve too unimportant to watch every week, why should I? Every WWE commentator should be praising each show, trying to convince the viewers that they need to tune in or they are missing out on something special. I recall Jim Ross once telling Jerry Lawler about an angle going on, and Lawler responded by cackling and asking “What?” because he wasn’t aware. It’s just a bad look.
A shorter episode than normal, at 49 minutes.
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