Evolve Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | Evolve | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | September 8, 2012 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Date retired | July 2, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
The Evolve Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Evolve promotion. The inaugural champion was crowned on April 5, 2013, when A. R. Fox defeated Sami Callihan in the finals of an eight-man tournament. [3]
There have been ten reigns shared among ten wrestlers.
Evolve was founded in 2009 by Dragon Gate USA booker Gabe Sapolsky, Full Impact Pro (FIP) owner Sal Hamaoui and independent wrestler Davey Richards and held its first event on January 16, 2010. [6] [7] Originally, Evolve had no championships, instead putting emphasis on each wrestler's win–loss record. [8] On November 25, 2011, Evolve and Dragon Gate USA announced the unification of the two promotions, which would result in Evolve recognizing the Open the Freedom Gate and Open the United Gate Championships as its top two titles. [9] However, on September 8, 2012, Evolve announced that the promotion would be introducing its first own title, the Evolve Championship. [1] The title was defended outside of the United States for the first time on August 29, 2014, when champion Drew Galloway retained against Johnny Moss at an event in Kilmarnock, Scotland and then again the following day when Galloway defeated Andy Wild in a Battle of the Nations match in Aberdeen, Scotland. [10] [11] Following multiple successful international championship defenses by Galloway, he dubbed the title the "Evolve World Championship" on January 9, 2015, at Evolve 36. [2] However, with some exceptions, [12] [13] the promotion mainly continued referring to the title as simply the Evolve Championship. [14] [15] [16] [17]
During Galloway's record-breaking reign, the title was defended internationally in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Australia for promotions such as Revolution Pro Wrestling, British Championship Wrestling, WrestleZone, Rock N Wrestle, Future Pro Wrestling, Outback Championship Wrestling, Premier British Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Ulster. [18] During the subsequent Timothy Thatcher title reign, the title was also defended three times in Germany for Westside Xtreme Wrestling. [19]
The title was also defended outside of EVOLVE for US independent promotions, including Premiere Wrestling Xperience, Big Time Wrestling, Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment, MAGNUM Pro Wrestling, WWNLive, Pro Wrestling Force [20] and DGUSA and on a EVOLVE/WWN crossover event with Progress Wrestling. [21]
On February 8, 2013, Evolve announced that the inaugural Evolve Champion would be determined in a single-elimination tournament on April 5, 2013. [8] Based on their win–loss records, number one seed Chuck Taylor and number two seed Ricochet earned automatic spots in the semifinals of the tournament, while number three and four seeds A. R. Fox and Jon Davis earned spots in the first round of the tournament. [22] The second first round match was a four-way match made up of Rich Swann, Samuray del Sol, Sami Callihan and Jigsaw, seeds five to eight, respectively. [22] The entire tournament took place during the Evolve 19 internet pay-per-view (iPPV) in Secaucus, New Jersey. In their first round matches, A. R. Fox advanced with a disqualification win over Jon Davis, while Sami Callihan submitted Samuray del Sol to win the four-way match. [3] In the semifinals, both the number one and number two seeds were eliminated, when Callihan submitted Chuck Taylor and Fox pinned Ricochet. [3] In the end, Fox pinned Callihan in the finals to win the tournament and become the inaugural Evolve Champion. [3]
First round | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Chuck Taylor | Sub | ||||||||||||
7 | Sami Callihan | 8:37 [23] | ||||||||||||
5 6 8 | Rich Swann Samuray del Sol Jigsaw | Sub | ||||||||||||
7 | Sami Callihan | [23] | ||||||||||||
7 | Sami Callihan | Pin | ||||||||||||
3 | A. R. Fox | 19:11 [23] | ||||||||||||
2 | Ricochet | Pin | ||||||||||||
3 | A. R. Fox | 12:54 [23] | ||||||||||||
3 | A. R. Fox | DQ | ||||||||||||
4 | Jon Davis | [23] |
Name | Years |
---|---|
Evolve Championship | April 2013 – July 2020 |
Evolve World Championship | January 2015, sporadically |
No. | Overall reign number |
---|---|
Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
Days | Number of days held |
Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | ||||
1 | A. R. Fox | April 5, 2013 | Evolve 19 | Secaucus, NJ | 1 | 324 | 8 | Fox defeated Sami Callihan in the finals of an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural champion. | [3] |
2 | Chris Hero | February 23, 2014 | Way of the Ronin 2014 | Brooklyn, NY | 1 | 166 | 2 | [24] | |
3 | Drew Galloway | August 8, 2014 | Evolve 31 | Tampa, FL | 1 | 336 | 20 | Title sporadically referred to as the "Evolve World Championship" during this reign | [25] |
4 | Timothy Thatcher | July 10, 2015 | Evolve 45 | Tampa, FL | 1 | 596 | 22 | This match was also contested for the Open the Freedom Gate Championship. | [26] |
5 | Zack Sabre Jr. | February 25, 2017 | Evolve 79 | New York City, NY | 1 | 404 | 13 | [27] | |
6 | Matt Riddle | April 5, 2018 | Evolve 102 | Kenner, LA | 1 | 121 | 5 | [28] [29] | |
7 | Shane Strickland | August 4, 2018 | Evolve 108 | Philadelphia, PA | 1 | 85 | 2 | [30] | |
8 | Fabian Aichner | October 28, 2018 | Evolve 114 | Ybor City, FL | 1 | 48 | 1 | [31] | |
9 | Austin Theory | December 15, 2018 | Evolve 117 | New York City, NY | 1 | 329 | 12 | This was a three-way match, also including Roderick Strong. | [32] |
10 | Josh Briggs | November 9, 2019 | Evolve 139 | New York City, NY | 1 | 236 | 3 | [33] | |
— | Deactivated | July 2, 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | Deactivated when Evolve ceased operations. |
Andrew McLean Galloway IV, better known by his ring name Drew McIntyre, is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.
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 Vice President of FIP.
Akira Tozawa is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand and is a member of the Alpha Academy stable. He is a former one-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion and 16-time WWE 24/7 Champion.
Dustin Lee Howard, better known by the ring name Chuck Taylor, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he also works as a coach. He is currently on hiatus due to an ankle injury. Known as "The Kentucky Gentleman" and "Sexy Chuckie T", he was a member of the Best Friends stable alongside original tag team partner Trent Beretta, Orange Cassidy, Kris Statlander, and Danhausen. Howard has wrestled on the independent circuit since 2002, most notably appearing for Chikara, where he held the Campeonatos de Parejas twice, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he is a former two-time PWG World Champion. He is also known for his work in larger national and international promotions like Ring of Honor (ROH) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Trevor Dean Mann, better known by his ring name Ricochet, is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2024, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2018 to 2024, where he is a former WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE United States Champion, NXT North American Champion, the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winner, and the inaugural WWE Speed Champion.
Marc Dionne, better known by the ring name Stu Grayson, is a Canadian professional wrestler.
Samuel Alton Johnston, better known by the ring name Sami Callihan, is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a former Impact World Champion. He previously wrestled for Lucha Underground under the ring names Jeremiah Crane, and later, Jeremiah Snake, and on the independent circuit.
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 Dragon Gate USA's parent promotion, Dragon Gate, and it has been defended at a Dragon Gate show in Japan. The title was also recognized by the Evolve promotion.
Evolve Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2010 by former Ring of Honor booker and Dragon Gate USA vice president, Gabe Sapolsky.
John Anthony Nicholas Gargano is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Gargano is best known for his time in NXT, where he became the first-ever NXT Triple Crown winner by winning the NXT Championship once, the NXT North American Championship for a record 3 times, and the NXT Tag Team Championship once. His popularity in NXT led him to be nicknamed "The Heart and Soul of NXT".
The DGUSA Open the United Gate Championship was a tag team championship within the Dragon Gate USA promotion. The first champions were World–1 and were crowned at United: Finale in the tournament final, which was held in Union City, New Jersey. It aired on March 11, 2011 on pay-per-view tape delay entitled United We Stand. 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 is also recognized by the Evolve promotion. On May 30, 2015, Gargano retired the titles after a title defense.
The Bravado Brothers were an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of real-life brothers Harlem Bravado and Lancelot Bravado. The duo have worked for several independent promotions, including Ring of Honor, Chikara, and Full Impact Pro, and have also appeared in Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah.
Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, currently performing under the ring name Samuray Del Sol. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Kalisto, as a member of both the Lucha Dragons and Lucha House Party.
Thomas James Ballester, better known by his ring name AR Fox, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. He is also known for his work in promotions like Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Dragon Gate USA, and Evolve. Fox has also worked for Dragon Gate in Japan, Full Impact Pro (FIP), where he won the 2011 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). He currently serves as the head trainer of the WWA4 wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia.
Richard Anthony Swann is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Impact X Division Champion and Impact Digital Media Champion. He also wrestles for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he is the Former CZW World Heavyweight Champion in his One Time.
Albert Christian Hardie Jr. is an American professional wrestler, currently known by his ring name ACH.
The Evolve Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Evolve promotion. The inaugural champions were crowned on January 24, 2016, at the end of an eight-team tournament.
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, as well as content from third-party organizations.
The Inner City Machine Guns was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Rich Swann and Ricochet, which competed in various independent promotions, such as Dragon Gate, Evolve, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and Westside Xtreme Wrestling.