Acronym | WWNLive |
---|---|
Founded | 2001 (DVD company) 2010 (Governing body) |
Headquarters | United States |
Founder(s) | Sal Hamaoui |
Owner(s) | Sal Hamaoui |
Website | http://www.wwnlive.com/ |
The World Wrestling Network is an American professional wrestling organization known for and branded after its video streaming service, WWNLive. [1] WWNLive hosts content both from WWN's "brands", including Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Shine Wrestling, as well as content from third-party organizations. [2]
World Wrestling Network was founded by Sal Hamaoui and Tony Valamontes in 2001 as a DVD company before it later evolved into an internet streaming and video on demand business. [1] In 2003, WWNLive began producing FIP DVDs. [1]
In November 2014, Evolve Wrestling, Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA), Full Impact Pro (FIP) and Shine Wrestling held a tour of China under the WWNLive banner. [3] 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. [4]
In 2015, WWNLive opened a training facility in Trinity, Florida named the "World Wrestling Network Academy". [5] That year, Evolve began a partnership with WWE. Evolve's wrestlers were featured on WWE.com, [6] while NXT wrestlers Sami Zayn, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan took part in Evolve events in non-wrestling roles. [7] [8] In January 2016, NXT General Manager William Regal and WWE COO Triple H attended Evolve 54. [9] As part of the relationship, it was announced in March 2016 that Evolve would hold qualifying matches for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic. [10]
On October 24, 2016, WWNLive and FloSports announced a new streaming service to launch 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. [11]
On November 22, 2016, it was announced that WWNLive would be debuting a new promotion named Style Battle on January 7, 2017. [12] Also announced was the creation of the WWN Championship on April 1, 2017. [13]
On September 21, 2017, it was reported that FloSports had filed a $1 million lawsuit against WWNLive for breach of contract and alleged misrepresentation of iPPV and VOD buyrates. [14] 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. [15] The following December, WWNLive launched a replacement streaming service, Club WWN. [16]
In July 2020, Evolve's assets were sold to WWE and Sapolsky left WWN. [17] A few weeks later, WWN announced the creation of Grindhouse, a new brand promoted by Eddie Kingston. [18]
Promotion | Key People | State | Years |
---|---|---|---|
American Combat Wrestling | 5th Avenue Entertainment | Port Richey, Florida | 2001–present [19] |
Full Impact Pro | Sal Hamaoui | Largo, Florida | 2009–present |
Grindhouse | Eddie Kingston | 2020–present | |
Shine Wrestling | Dave Prazak | Ybor City, Florida | 2012–present |
Viva La Lucha | Ruben Zamora [20] | San Diego, California [20] | 2006–present [21] |
Promotion | Key People | State | Years |
---|---|---|---|
Dragon Gate USA | Gabe Sapolsky | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 2009–2015 (Library owned by WWE) |
Evolve Wrestling | Gabe Sapolsky | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 2009–2020 |
Style Battle | Gabe Sapolsky | Ybor City, Florida | 2017–2020 |
Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days | Location | Previous champion(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIP World Heavyweight Championship | Jon Davis | 2 | February 21, 2020 [22] | 1,548 | Ybor City, Florida | Anthony Henry |
FIP World Tag Team Championship | The Island Kings (Jaka and Sean Maluta) | 1 | November 1, 2019 | 1,660 [23] | Ybor City, Florida | The Precipice (Chance Auren and Omar Amir) |
FIP Florida Heritage Championship | Troy Hollywood | 1 | May 22, 2021 [24] | 1,092 | Ybor City, Florida | Vacant |
Shine Championship | Ivelisse | 3 | December 14, 2019 | 1,617 | Chicago, Illinois | Allysin Kay |
Shine Tag Team Championship | BTY (Jayme Jameson and Marti Belle) | 2 | January 19, 2020 | 1,581 | Fern Park, Florida | Team Aye (Aja Perera and Big Swole) |
Shine Nova Championship | Amber Nova | 1 | December 10, 2023 | 160 | Clearwater, Florida | Ivelisse |
ACW Combat Championship | Danny Vincent | 1 | February 2, 2019 | 1,932 | Port Richey, Florida | Sawl Clover |
ACW Cruiserweight Championship | Sage Scott | 1 | September 7, 2019 | 1,715 | Port Richey, Florida | Bobby Flaco |
ACW Heavyweight Championship | Damien Angel | 1 | December 1, 2018 | 1,995 | Port Richey, Florida | Mitch Mitchell |
ACW Tag Team Championship | OAO (Hunter Law and Troy Hollywood) | 1 | July 6, 2019 | 1,778 | Port Richey, Florida | The International Superstars (Blanco Loco and Joey Ozbourne) |
ACW Women's Championship | Avery Taylor | 2 | July 6, 2019 | 1,778 | Port Richey, Florida | Natalia Markova |
Championship | Final champion | Date retired | Days held | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
WWN Championship | Austin Theory | November 9, 2019 | 119 | The title was then retired without an official announcement |
Chris Spradlin, better known by his ring name Chris Hero, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. As of July 2023, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer. Hero has worked for a number of independent wrestling promotions, including Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Ring of Honor (ROH), Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and Chikara, as well as Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan. Hero has had two stints in WWE, both as part of their development territory NXT, under the ring name Kassius Ohno. His second tenure with the company saw him work as a "player-coach" for the trainees in NXT and NXT UK.
Gabriel Sapolsky is an American professional wrestling promoter, creative writer, and booker who currently works for WWE. Sapolsky has also held various creative and marketing positions in the professional wrestling industry, notably as Paul Heyman's personal assistant with Extreme Championship Wrestling, the co-founder and head of talent relations (booker) at Ring of Honor, the vice-president of Dragon Gate USA, vice-president of talent relations, creative and marketing of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) and creative writer (booker) and founder of EVOLVE. Sapolsky also worked in a booking capacity for various other promotions including Full Impact Pro and Style Battle, as well as for special events like the WWN Supershow and the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup.
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.
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Mercury Rising is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event currently produced by the World Wrestling Network (WWN) under the name WWNLive Supershow: Mercury Rising. The event takes place during WrestleMania weekend, at a venue in the same metropolitan area the WrestleMania is held, and features talent from WWN's affiliate promotions, including EVOLVE, Full Impact Pro and SHINE.
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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.
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WWNLive, the parent company of Evolve, Shine, FIP and Dragon Gate USA.