Evolve Wrestling (stylized as EVOLVE) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

founded in 2010 by former

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

booker and

Dragon Gate USA Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2009 as an international expansion of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. Gabe Sapolsky, former head booker of Ring of Honor, served as the promotion's Vice Pr ...

vice president,

Gabe Sapolsky Gabriel Sapolsky (born September 26, 1972) is an American professional wrestling promoter, creative writer, and booker who currently works for WWE. Sapolsky has also held various creative and marketing positions in the professional wrestling indu ...

. The company featured a roster of wrestlers from all over America, as well as several competitors from Japan. The promotion had a close working relationship with sister promotion Dragon Gate USA until Dragon Gate USA's closure in August 2015. In 2015, Evolve formed a relationship with

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, allowing WWE to scout Evolve talent and potentially sign them. On July 2, 2020, Evolve was officially purchased by WWE.

History

In 2009, Gabe Sapolsky announced a new wrestling promotion via some

viral videos A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

featuring one of the company's competitors,

Jimmy Jacobs Christopher Scoville (born February 17, 1984) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He was recently signed to Impact Wrestling as a member of the creative team and producer. He is best known for his 1 ...

. After this more videos were produced promoting more performers, as well as featuring

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

s written by the wrestlers about their feelings regarding the company. The first show, Evolve 1: Richards vs. Ibushi, was held on January 16, 2010, in

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...

at the Rahway Recreational Center. During interviews with wrestling newsletter ''Figure 4 Weekly'' on its radio show, Sapolsky told editor Bryan Alvarez that Evolve would have stronger emphasis on

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule perta ...

and would not limit anyone based on their own respective style of wrestling in favor of showcasing the talent's individual strengths and covering up their weaknesses. On January 29, 2010, Sapolsky announced that Evolve would no longer be booking Davey Richards as he had signed a new contract with

. The concept of the promotion was initially an emphasis on the wrestlers' win–loss records. They divided the company into two divisions: singles wrestlers and

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

s. As per the website, some wrestlers would need to earn their way onto the roster by winning a qualifying match, but that since has been dropped. On November 25, 2011, Evolve and

announced the unification of the two promotions. Evolve and Dragon Gate USA will still promote separate events, but the two share rosters, including stables, and Evolve recognizes Dragon Gate USA's

Open the Freedom Gate Championship The Open the Freedom Gate Championship was the major title in the promotion Dragon Gate USA. The first holder of the title was crowned following a 14-man tournament held at DGUSA Freedom Fight on November 28, 2009. The title was recognized by Drag ...

and

Open the United Gate Championship The DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship was a tag team championship within the Dragon Gate USA promotion. The first champions were World–1 (Masato Yoshino and Pac) and were crowned at ''United: Finale'' in the tournament final, which was hel ...

as its top two championships. In February 2013, Evolve announced that they would be holding a tournament to crown the first Evolve Champion as they were eliminating the records system at that time. The tournament was held in

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,WrestleCon WrestleCon is a professional wrestling fan convention held annually each Spring since 2013 by Highspots, a digital professional wrestling retailer. The event features guest appearances, question-and-answer sessions, and live matches. Traditional ...

in April 2013. Evolve used the records of the talent to determine the seedings in the tournament; the top two were Chuck Taylor (10–5) and

Ricochet A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...

(5–2), and both received byes into the second round. On April 5,

A. R. Fox Thomas James "T. J." Ballester (born September 5, 1987), better known by his ring name A. R. Fox, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. He is also known for his work in promotions like Combat Zone Wrestlin ...

defeated

Sami Callihan Samuel Alton Johnston (born September 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by the ring name Sami Callihan, currently signed with Impact Wrestling and is a former Impact World Champion. He also wrestled for Luch ...

in the final to become the inaugural champion. On September 18, 2013,

Vito LoGrasso Vito Joseph LoGrasso (born June 18, 1964) is an American actor and professional wrestler, best known for his work in World Championship Wrestling as Big Vito and more recently World Wrestling Entertainment and working for their " developmental te ...

announced that his new Wrestling School signed an agreement to be the Development Center for Evolve. In November 2014, Evolve, along with Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA),

Full Impact Pro Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the President while Trevin Adams is the ...

(FIP) and

Shine Wrestling Shine Wrestling (stylized as SHINE Wrestling and often referred to simply as SHINE) is an American, New York based independent women's professional wrestling promotion. It is the sister promotion to Shimmer Women Athletes and airs events on Int ...

, all under the

WWNLive The World Wrestling Network is an American professional wrestling organization known for and branded after its video streaming service, WWNLive. WWNLive hosts content both from WWN's "brands", including Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Shine Wrestling ...

banner, held a tour of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The following month, WWNLive announced a long-term deal with Great-Wall International Sports Management for regular tours of Asia, starting in the spring of 2015. In 2015, WWNLive opened a training facility in

Trinity, Florida Trinity is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pasco County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,907 in 2010, according to the most recent census. The Trinity Community is named after Trinity College of Florida, a Bible college founded i ...

named "World Wrestling Network Academy", which Evolve shares with DGUSA, FIP and Shine. During 2015, Evolve entered a relationship with

. Evolve's wrestlers were featured on WWE.com, while

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

wrestlers

Sami Zayn Rami Sebei ( ar, رامي سبعي; born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn, and is a member of The Bloodline. Prior to join ...

Chad Gable Charles Edward Betts (born March 8, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Chad Gable. He is a four-time tag team champion in ...

and

Jason Jordan Nathan Everhart (born September 28, 1988) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Jason Jordan. He is currently signed to WWE, where he works as a Producer (professional wrestling), producer. He has not wrestled sinc ...

took part in Evolve events in non-wrestling roles. In January 2016, NXT General Manager

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is known for his over 20 years spent in WWE, as both a performer and an on-screen authority, and for his ti ...

and WWE COO

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as on ...

attended Evolve 54. As part of the relationship, it was announced in March 2016 that Evolve would hold qualifying matches for WWE's

Cruiserweight Classic The Cruiserweight Classic, formerly the Global Cruiserweight Series, was a professional wrestling tournament and WWE Network event produced by WWE. All participants were billed at a weight of 205 lbs or less to determine the inaugural WWE Cruiserw ...

. On April 1 and 2, 2016, Evolve held shows at Eddie Deen's Ranch in the build-up to

WrestleMania 32 WrestleMania 32 was the 32nd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It took place on April 3, 2016, at the AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. This was the last Wres ...

. On October 24, 2016, WWNLive and FloSports announced a new streaming service, which would host events held by the WWNLive promotions, including Evolve. Evolve was the subject of the

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

documentary, The Wrestlers, Episode 1. On July 13, 2019, Evolve held its 10th Anniversary Celebration, an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Dragon Gate USA's founding. The event was streamed on the

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American entertainment company WWE. It primarily distributes original professional wrestling events, films, television and ...

. This marked the first Evolve event and the first independent wrestling event to air on the WWE Network. On July 2, 2020, it was announced that after months of negotiation, the

had purchased Evolve Wrestling, giving them full rights to the name and video library.

Championships

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evolve (Professional Wrestling) Entertainment companies established in 2010 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2020 WWE