Evolve Championship

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Infobox pro wrestling championship The Evolve Championship was a men's professional wrestling championship that was created and promoted by the American promotion Evolve. The inaugural champion was A. R. Fox and the final champion was Josh Briggs. There were 10 reigns among 10 different wrestlers. The championship was deactivated on July 2, 2020, after WWE acquired the promotion.

In May 2025, two months after the relaunch of Evolve as a WWE brand division, a new WWE Evolve Men's Championship was created, but it does not retain the lineage of the original Evolve Championship.

History

Inaugural champion A. R. Fox.

Origin

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.[1][2] Originally, Evolve had no championships, instead putting emphasis on each wrestler's win–loss record.[3] 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.[4] However, on September 8, 2012, Evolve announced that the promotion would be introducing its first own title, the Evolve Championship.[5] A. R. Fox defeated Sami Callihan in the finals of an eight-man tournament on April 5, 2013, to become the inaugural champion.

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.[6][7] Following multiple successful international championship defenses by Galloway, he dubbed the title the Evolve World Championship on January 9, 2015, at Evolve 36.[8] However, with some exceptions,[9][10] the promotion mainly continued referring to the title as simply the Evolve Championship.[11][12][13][14] 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.[15] During the subsequent Timothy Thatcher title reign, the title was also defended three times in Germany for Westside Xtreme Wrestling.[16] 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[17] and DGUSA and on an EVOLVE/WWN crossover event with Progress Wrestling.[17]

The Evolve Championship was deactivated on July 2, 2020, after WWE acquired Evolve and ceased operations.

WWE revival

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". In January 2025, it was reported that WWE were planning to revive Evolve as a brand.[18] At Royal Rumble on February 1, WWE announced that Evolve would premiere on Tubi on March 5 in the United States and on YouTube internationally.[19] On the May 7 episode of Evolve, Evolve Prime Minister Stevie Turner announced the creation of the WWE Evolve Championship and the WWE Evolve Women's Championship; the men's title does not retain the lineage of the original championship.[20]

Tournaments

Inaugural tournament

On February 8, 2013, Evolve announced that the inaugural Evolve Champion would be determined in a single-elimination tournament on April 5, 2013.[3] 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.[21] 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.[21] 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.[22] In the semifinals, both the number one and number two seeds were eliminated, when Callihan submitted Chuck Taylor and Fox pinned Ricochet.[22] In the end, Fox pinned Callihan in the finals to win the tournament and become the inaugural Evolve Champion.[22]

Template:3RoundBracket-Byes

Title history

Names

Name Years
Evolve Championship April 2013 – July 2020
Evolve World Championship January 2015 (sporadically)

Reigns

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References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mehaffy, Gary (November 9, 2009). "Gabe Sapolsky interview on Dragon Gate, Evolve". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Radican, Sean (February 16, 2010). "Radican's Evolve DVD Review Series: Evolve 1 - Richards vs. Ibushi, Sawa vs. TJP". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Caldwell, James (February 8, 2013). "Evolve News: Evolve Title tourney seeds, plus fundamental changes to the promotion announced". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Evolve evolves -- now unified with DGUSA". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. November 25, 2011. Archived from the original on November 28, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Radican, Sean (September 8, 2012). "Radican's Evolve 17 iPPV report - Virtual time coverage from Voorhees, N.J." Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."9.03.14". WWNLive. September 3, 2014. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WrestleZone Battle Of The Nations 2014 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Trionfo, Richard (January 9, 2015). "Evolve 36 report: Strong versus Galloway; Gargano faces a swerve; Ronin returns tomorrow night; and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."3.23.15". WWNLive. March 23, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."3.26.15". WWNLive. March 26, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."3.10.15". WWNLive. March 10, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."5.27.15". WWNLive. March 10, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."7.10.15". WWNLive. March 10, 2015. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."8.16.15". WWNLive. August 16, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Evolve Championship". Cagematch. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."wXw Shotgun Live Tour 2016: Hamburg". Cagematch. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  17. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."WWNLive SuperShow - Mercury Rising 2017: EVOLVE Vs. PROGRESS « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thomas, Jeremy (January 22, 2025). "Latest On Potential Plans For WWE Revival Of EVOLVE". 411Mania. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Thompson, Andrew (February 1, 2025). "WWE Evolve announced, premiering March 5th on Tubi". POST Wrestling. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lambert, Jeremy (May 7, 2025). "WWE EVOLVE Championships Unveiled | Fightful News". Fightful. Retrieved May 8, 2025.
  21. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Caldwell, James (February 8, 2013). "Evolve News: Full Evolve Title tournament announced". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
  22. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Evolve19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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