Evolve (professional wrestling)
Encyclopedia
Evolve Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion
based in the Northeast founded in 2010 by former Ring of Honor
booker and current Dragon Gate USA
vice president, Gabe Sapolsky
, Full Impact Pro
owner Sal Hamaoui, and independent wrestler Davey Richards
. The company features a roster of independently-contracted
wrestlers from all over the country, as well as several competitors from Japan. The promotion has a close working relationship with Dragon Gate USA.
. After this more videos were produced promoting more performers, as well as featuring some blog
s written by the wrestlers about their feelings regarding the company. The first show, Evolve 1: Davey Richards vs. Ibushi, was held on January 16, 2010 in Rahway, New Jersey
at 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 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 Ring of Honor
.
The concept of the promotion is to be the company's emphasis on the wrestlers' win-loss records. They have divided the company into two divisions: a singles wrestlers and tag teams
. 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 Dragon Gate USA
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
and Open the United Gate Championship
as its top two championships.
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
based in the Northeast founded in 2010 by former Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...
booker and current Dragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate USA is 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, serves as the promotion's Vice President....
vice president, Gabe Sapolsky
Gabe Sapolsky
Gabe Sapolsky is a wrestling personality, the current vice president of Dragon Gate USA and owner of Evolve, and the former booker for Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro.-Early life:...
, Full Impact Pro
Full Impact Pro
Full Impact Pro is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Florida. Their shows are taped and then sold as DVDs. Full Impact Pro was the sister promotion of Ring of Honor until 2009...
owner Sal Hamaoui, and independent wrestler Davey Richards
Davey Richards
Wesley David Richards is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Davey Richards.Richards is currently under contract with Ring of Honor, where he is the current ROH World Champion, but also wrestles for several companies on the independent circuit, including Pro Wrestling...
. The company features a roster of independently-contracted
Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions. They are roughly analagous to a minor league for pro wrestling, or community or regional theatre.Specific promotions on the...
wrestlers from all over the country, as well as several competitors from Japan. The promotion has a close working relationship with Dragon Gate USA.
History
In 2009, Gabe Sapolsky announced a new wrestling promotion via some viral videos featuring one of the company's competitors, Jimmy JacobsJimmy Jacobs
Chris Scobille is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He is best known for his time in Ring of Honor , where he is a four-time World Tag Team Champion...
. After this more videos were produced promoting more performers, as well as featuring some blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s written by the wrestlers about their feelings regarding the company. The first show, Evolve 1: Davey Richards vs. Ibushi, was held on January 16, 2010 in Rahway, New Jersey
Rahway, New Jersey
Rahway is a city in southern Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area, being 15 miles southwest of Manhattan and five miles west of Staten Island...
at Rahway Recreational Center.
During interviews with wrestling newsletter Figure 4 Weekly on its radio show, Sapolsky told editor Bryan Alvarez
Bryan Alvarez
Bryan Alki Alvarez is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and the editor and publisher of Figure Four Weekly, a newsletter that has covered professional wrestling since 1995. Alvarez credits a portion of his pro wrestling training to pro wrestler Buddy Wayne, and is credited in training...
, that Evolve would have stronger emphasis on rules 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 Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor ' is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2002 by Rob Feinstein and Gabe Sapolsky. From 2004 to 2011, the promotion was under the ownership of Cary Silkin before being sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May 2011...
.
The concept of the promotion is to be the company's emphasis on the wrestlers' win-loss records. They have divided the company into two divisions: a singles wrestlers and tag teams
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
. 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 Dragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate USA is 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, serves as the promotion's Vice President....
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
DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship
The first holder of the Open the Freedom Gate Championship was crowned following a 14-man tournament held at DGUSA Freedom Fight on November 28, 2009. The title is also recognized by Dragon Gate USA's parent promotion, Dragon Gate, and it has been defended at a Dragon Gate show in Japan. The title...
and Open the United Gate Championship
DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship
The DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship is a tag team championship within the Dragon Gate USA promotion. The first champions were World–1 and were crowned at United: Finale in a the tournament final, which was held in Union City, New Jersey. It aired on March 11, 2011 on pay-per-view tape...
as its top two championships.
Men's Division
- Brad Allen
- Arik CannonArik CannonArik Cannon is a professional wrestler known for competing in companies such as Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, IWA Mid-South, All American Wrestling and Wrestling Society X.-Career:...
- Sami CallihanSami CallihanSam Johnston is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "The New Horror" Sami Callihan. He competes for promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA, NWA Force One Pro Wrestling, EVOLVE Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Absolute Intense Wrestling, and Insanity Pro...
- Adam ColeAdam ColeAustin Jenkins is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Adam Cole. He competes for several independent promotions, including Combat Zone Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Northeast Wrestling and Ring of Honor....
- Chris Dickinson
- Kenn DoaneKen DoaneKenneth George Doane is an American professional wrestler best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment where he wrestled on its Raw and SmackDown brands under the ring names Kenny and Kenny Dykstra....
- Jack EvansJack EvansJack Edward Miller is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jack Evans. He currently performs for the Mexican-based promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, where he is the current World Cruiserweight Champion and a former World Tag Team Champion. He is the cousin...
- Bobby Fish
- Johnny GarganoJohnny GarganoJohn Anthony Nicholas "Johnny" Gargano is an American professional wrestler, who performs primarily in the Absolute Intense Wrestling, Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Ohio professional wrestling promotions. He has also made appearances for World Wrestling...
- Chris HeroChris HeroChris Spradlin is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Chris Hero. He is a mainstay of many independent wrestling promotions, including Ring of Honor, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla as well as Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan...
- Ikuto HidakaIkuto Hidakais a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Zero1. Hidaka was the regular partner of Minoru Fujita, with whom he has held the Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team and Intercontinental Tag Team Titles, making them the only team to do so...
- Shane Hollister
- Homicide
- Kota Ibushi
- Jimmy JacobsJimmy JacobsChris Scobille is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He is best known for his time in Ring of Honor , where he is a four-time World Tag Team Champion...
- Caleb Konley
- Brodie LeeBrodie LeeJon Huber is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Brodie Lee, who performs primarily in the Chikara, Dragon Gate, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve Wrestling and Jersey All Pro Wrestling professional wrestling promotions...
- Kyle O'ReillyKyle O'ReillyKyle Greenwood is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Kyle O'Reilly. He competes for several independent promotions including Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Evolve, and signed a contract with Ring of Honor in September 2010.- Extreme Canadian Championship...
- RicochetRicochet (wrestler)Trevor Mann is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Ricochet. He currently performs mainly for the American promotion Dragon Gate USA and its parent promotion, Japanese Dragon Gate. In both promotions he is a member of the Blood Warriors stable...
- Munenori Sawa
- Rich Swann
- Chuck TaylorChuck Taylor (wrestler)Dustin Howard is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Chuck Taylor. He is currently competing most notably in Chikara, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Evolve Wrestling and Dragon Gate USA...
- Silas Young
Tag teams and stables
Stables are permitted to wrestle their matches under the Freebird rule, which allows any combination of two of the stable to compete at one point.- Aeroform
- Chikara Sekigun
- Dark City Fight Club
- Up In Smoke
Staff
- Jason Harding
- Mike Kehner
- Bryce Remsburg
- Lenny
- Larry Dallas
Current champions
| Championship | Champion(s) | Previous | Date Won | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship The first holder of the Open the Freedom Gate Championship was crowned following a 14-man tournament held at DGUSA Freedom Fight on November 28, 2009. The title is also recognized by Dragon Gate USA's parent promotion, Dragon Gate, and it has been defended at a Dragon Gate show in Japan. The title... |
Johnny Gargano Johnny Gargano John Anthony Nicholas "Johnny" Gargano is an American professional wrestler, who performs primarily in the Absolute Intense Wrestling, Chikara, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Ohio professional wrestling promotions. He has also made appearances for World Wrestling... |
YAMATO Masato Onodera is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, known by his ring name Yamato , who competes for Dragon Gate and its international expansion Dragon Gate USA.-Dragon Gate:... |
November 13, 2011 | Manhattan, NY |
| DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship The DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship is a tag team championship within the Dragon Gate USA promotion. The first champions were World–1 and were crowned at United: Finale in a the tournament final, which was held in Union City, New Jersey. It aired on March 11, 2011 on pay-per-view tape... |
Blood Warriors |
Junction Three |
September 11, 2011 | Milwaukee, WI |