WWNLive
World Wrestling Network is an American professional wrestling organization and digital media streaming and video on demand service. WWNLive operates as a governing body for promotions including Evolve, Shine, and Full Impact Pro, among others.
History
WWNLive was founded in 2011 by Sal Hamaoui and Tony Valamontes in 2001 as a DVD company and later an internet streaming and video on demand service. In 2003, WWNLive began producing Full Impact Pro DVDs.In early 2010, Gabe Sapolsky co-founded Evolve along with WWNLive COO Sal Hamaoui and wrestler Davey Richards. Evolve started out with the idea of featuring the upcoming wrestlers that weren't in Dragon Gate USA. Since that time, Sapolsky has honed his booking style. August 2014 saw a relaunch of Evolve, which has established a unique identity with the top talent going today.
Evolve and Dragon Gate USA are both under the parent company of WWNLive. In 2011, WWNLive launched its own live iPPV streaming service, www.WWNLive.com. Sapolsky helped market and produce content for WWNLive.com.
2014 saw WWNLive hold its first "supershows" with a two-week tour of China. The first WWN Supershow in the United States also took place in 2014. The idea behind the WWN Supershow is to combine title matches and talent from all the WWNLive brands as well as special guest attractions.
Dragon Gate USA held its last event in 2014 and is currently defunct. Sapolsky is now the Vice President of Talent Relations, Creative and Marketing of WWNLive with his main concentration on Evolve and WWN Supershows. Sapolsky also helps market the other WWNLive brands, including Full Impact Pro and Shine, an all women's promotion.
In November 2014, Evolve, along with Dragon Gate USA, Full Impact Pro and Shine Wrestling, all under the WWNLive banner, held a tour of China. The following month, WWNLive announced a long-term deal with Great-Wall International Sports Management for regular tours of Asia, starting in the spring of 2015.
In 2015, WWNLive opened a training facility in Trinity, Florida named "World Wrestling Network Academy".
During 2015, Evolve entered a relationship with WWE. Evolve's wrestlers were featured on WWE.com, while NXT wrestlers Sami Zayn, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan took part in Evolve events in non-wrestling roles. In January 2016, NXT General Manager William Regal and WWE COO Triple H attended Evolve 54. As part of the relationship, it was announced in March 2016 that Evolve would hold qualifying matches for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic.
On October 24, 2016, WWNLive and FloSports announced a new streaming service, starting on November 4. Through the service, subscribers can access both live streaming events as well as events from WWNLive's on-demand library, dating back to 2003.
On November 22, 2016, it was announced that WWNLive would be debuting a new promotion named Style Battle on January 7, 2017. Also announced was the creation of the WWN Championship on April 1, 2017.
On September 21, 2017, it was reported that FloSports had filed a $1 million lawsuit against WWNLive for breach of contract and alleged misrepresention of iPPV and VOD buyrates. WWNLive, meanwhile, claimed that FloSports had failed to live up to their contractual obligations. Because of the lawsuit, FloSports pulled all future WWNLive events from its streaming service. The following December, WWNLive launched a replacement streaming service, Club WWN.
Members
Championships
;ActiveChampionship | Current champion | Reign | Date won | Days | Location | Previous champion |
FIP World Heavyweight Championship | Jon Davis | 2 | Ybor City, Florida | Anthony Henry | ||
FIP World Tag Team Championship | The Skulk | 1 | Ybor City, Florida | The Precipice | ||
FIP Florida Heritage Championship | Jon Davis | 2 | Ybor City, Florida | Eddie Taurus | ||
Shine Championship | Ivelisse | 3 | Chicago, Illinois | Allysin Kay | ||
Shine Tag Team Championship | BTY | 2 | Fern Park, Florida | Team Aye | ||
Shine Nova Championship | Natalia Markova | 1 | Chicago, Illinois | Shotzi Blackheart | ||
ACW Combat Championship | Danny Vincent | 1 | Port Richey, Florida | Sawl Clover | ||
ACW Cruiserweight Championship | Sage Scott | 1 | Port Richey, Florida | Bobby Flaco | ||
ACW Heavyweight Championship | Damien Angel | 1 | Port Richey, Florida | Mitch Mitchell | ||
ACW Tag Team Championship | OAO | 1 | Port Richey, Florida | The International Superstars | ||
ACW Women's Championship | Avery Taylor | 2 | Port Richey, Florida | Natalia Markova |
;Defunct
Championship | Final champion | Date retired | Days held | Notes |
WWN Championship | Austin Theory | 119 | The title was then retired without an official announcement |