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Evolve Wrestling was one of the indie darlings of the industry and loved by thousands of fans around the world. The company was a throwback to the early 2000s and showcased a similar style and look to early Ring of Honor. Co-founded by former ECW employee and ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky, Evolve helped develop a number of wrestlers that moved on to WWE, AEW, and New Japan.
Despite the success the company had and its working relationship with the WWE, it emerged that Evolve had shut down in June having not been able to run a show since January.
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Why is Evolve closing?
It is rumored that Evolve Wrestling was sold to the WWE but Sapolsky was vague on details when releasing a private Facebook group message stating all future shows had been canceled. Sapolsky did say it wasn’t the “end of the road”, yet it is unknown currently about what he meant.
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WWE had allowed NXT wrestlers to appear on Evolve shows in the past to get experience as part of their working relationship. The WWE Network even aired Evolve’s 10th Anniversary show in July 2019. In January 2020, Evolve ran its last show in Florida and featured the likes of AR Fox and Eddie Kingston in front of a packed house.
According to a Wrestling Observer Newsletter report, Evolve was in serious financial trouble and it could have facilitated Sapolsky selling the company to WWE. In need of content for the WWE Network and to keep engaging fans with new shows, the WWE may have purchased he Evolve video library. WWE previously purchased Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling video library helping the manager cover his debts and have published some of the promotion’s content online.
Evolve’s legacy
Evolve’s legacy will be that of a small-time promotion that helped a number of wrestlers reach greater heights. One of the biggest issues that Evolve had – fans will disagree – is that it followed the same path as early ROH and offered a product that continued the videogame smash-up wrestling that didn’t appeal to a wide range of fans.
Sapolsky had previously lost his job with ROH due to an inability – or lack of desire – to break the promotion out of its mold and appeal to a wider range of fans. It is the same problem that Evolve had and may have lived a hand to mouth existence.
Although there are a lot of wrestling fans that loved ROH and Evolve the way they were under Sapolsky’s leadership, it cannot be denied that no matter how good matches were, neither promotion could achieve anything more than they did. If it isn’t the end of the road, Evolve could find its catalogue of 144 shows on the WWE Network for a wider audience to view.