The relationship between WWE and World Wrestling Network’s EVOLVE continues to be strong. Over the last few years, that relationship has resulted in WWE sending a number of talents from its NXT brand to EVOLVE events and promoting those events on WWE’s digital platforms. As well, EVOLVE vice-president Gabe Sapolsky has been working as a consultant for NXT. The relationship has been beneficial for WWE, as EVOLVE has served as a developmental territory for the company since WWE has signed many performers after they have risen to the top of the independent promotion. This annoucement involves EVOLVE, NXT and 205 Live.
The latest, and perhaps biggest, example of this partnership was announced today on the WWE website. EVOLVE has four big events taking place, all in honor of the 10th anniversary of the promotion. In order to make this the biggest event possible, top NXT superstars Matt Riddle, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Tommaso Ciampa and current NXT champion Johnny Gargano, as well as 205 Live superstar Drew Gulak, will be appearing at some or all of these EVOLVE events.
The appearance of these performers makes sense, since all of them wrestled for EVOLVE before joining WWE, and many of them were champions or at least frequent performers. EVOLVE fans will be thrilled to once again see these men who they have cheered and supported in the past, and it is only fitting that they are present when the promotion celebrates a big milestone.
Intriguingly, Gargano and Ciampa, who are strictly doing meet and greets at the July 13 and 14 events in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Melrose, Massachusetts respectively, will be doing those meet and greets together, reuniting the #DIY tag team. Ciampa, who has already done recent EVOLVE meet and greets, will also do solo ones at the June 29 and 30 events in Queens and Brooklyn.
But the appearance of WWE superstars will not be confined to autographs and photo ops. Strong, O’Reilly and Fish will be in action at the June 29 and 30 events, while Riddle and Gulak will face off at the July 13 event, which is the company’s official 10th Anniversary show. These two recently had an outstanding match on NXT TV, and they were previously part of the Catch Point faction in EVOLVE along with the inclusion of 205 Live talent.
Further details can be found at the WWNLive website https://wwnlive.com/events/?v=3e8d115eb4b3 and the official announcement is on the WWE website at https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/gargano-ciampa-nxt-superstars-evolve-summer-2019
