YMMV / Evan Bourne

• Ensemble Dark Horse
  • Sydal got "Fuck Em Up Matt, Fuck Em Up" chants in GCW. That chant is usually reserved for big "shoot" wrestlers like Tazz or Samoa Joe. The fact we just called Tazz "big" should give an idea at how irregular it is to hear this directed at a guy of Matt's size.
  • Evan Bourne's indie roots and natural skill make him a smark favorite though WWE rarely books him as really strong.
• Never Live It Down: His AEW debut at All Out 2020. It's one thing to mess up your finishing move in such a high profile spot. It's another thing to mess up the famous Shooting Star Press during your grand debut in a new company after building up a decades-long reputation for being consistent and safe with performing it, all in a botch that likely wasn't your own fault^note it's generally agreed that either Michael Nakazawa's oil or humidity from the fog machine that was turned on during the match caused the ropes to be much more slippery than he was expecting and fireworks going off from a nearby event at the same time He notably began using the Shooting Star Press far less after this moment, adopting the less athletically-demanding Lightning Spiral instead as his primary finisher.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The height Bourne gets on some of his aerial moves - especially his Shooting Star Press - has to be seen to be believed.
  • Ending up on the receiving end of The Shooting Sta-RKO.
  • Shooting Star Press, 5 opponents, and a twenty-foot ladder. Three guesses what the audience started chanting after they saw this spot.
  • He then teamed up with Kofi Kingston. That's every bit as insanely awesome as it sounds.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!
  • In some circles, simply mentioning the name "Evan Bourne" will get you ridiculed, as there is a strong insistence WWE ruined Matt Sydal forever. This is largely dieing down due Sydal wrestling away from WWE again and Bourne remained fairly popular among RoHbots, naturally. This is odd actually because thanks to Youtube and his interview with Colt Cabana on art of wrestling, he had to choose the name over being called Jason Jackson and other Jackson names, so he went to Joey Styles who helped him pick the name, Evan for his old room mate and friend and Bourne cause of the Bourne movie series. When he started backyard wrestling he was Sydal (Sabu is suicidal and every other "sydal" so he's just Sydal and then he chose the name Lance Sydal. When he started training in GCW he was too young to have a last name so he was MATT like KENTA. According to him he chose Matt Sydal in his stint in TNA combining both names. When he came up with Evan Bourne, Colin Delaney came up with the Red Baron " Air Bourne", Matt was surprised he didn't think of it, cause he loves puns and word play.
  • This was referenced by Delirious and The Briscoes before Sydal's return, where they would acknowledge and call all the independent circuit wrestlers such as Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson by the names they knew them but always make sure to call him Evan Bourne or act confused by the name "Matt Sydal".