EVOLVE officially announced today that they would be streaming tonight’s show in Summit, Illinois on WWNLive.com.
This had been expected when they, at the last minute, streamed last night’s show in Livonia, Michigan on their own after FloSports announced they would no longer be broadcasting any of the WWN events. This came one week after FloSports filed suit against WWN alleging they were defrauded regarding business information.
WWN announced tonight’s show would be available as an iPPV for $9.99, which includes the live broadcast and video-on-demand showing. However, if you have proof of a subscription with FloSlam you can get a $5 refund so the price would be $4.99. To get the discount you have to send proof of your subscription to [email protected].
The show tonight from the Summit Park District, near Chicago, will start at 9 p.m. Eastern time:
Matt Riddle vs. Tracy Williams in an anything goes match for the WWN title
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Keith Lee for the EVOLVE title
Ethan Page & ACH vs. Chris Dickinson & Jaka for the EVOLVE tag team titles
Stevie Fierce vs. GPA vs. Matt Knicks vs. Bryce Benjamin for the championship of Freelance Wrestling
Darby Allin vs. DJZ
James Drake vs. Austin Theory
Anthony Henry vs. Jason Kincaid
There will also be a live Cedric Alexander vs. Fred Yehi opener, but that will take place before the broadcast goes on the air since WWN was not given permission to put Alexander on its streaming portion of the show.
The relationship between FloSports and WWN, Inc. took another turn for the worse this afternoon.
Despite the ongoing legal situation, EVOLVE’s shows in Livonia, Michigan tonight and Summit, Illinois tomorrow had been scheduled to stream live on FloSlam — but that now won’t be happening. WWN’s Gabe Sapolsky announced on Twitter today that FloSlam won’t be airing tonight’s show.
“FloSlam is refusing to broadcast tonight’s EVOLVE event,” Sapolsky wrote. “We apologize, but this is their decision. Please contact them for customer issues.”
Sapolsky added that WWN is doing their best to get tonight’s show on their own website as soon as possible, which is how they used to offer events before their deal with FloSports began last year.
No WWN events are currently listed on the FloSlam schedule. IPW:UK’s Supershow 12, which will air on November 19th, is the only upcoming event currently listed.
News broke yesterday that FloSports had filed a lawsuit against WWN on September 15th in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas that asked for more than $1 million in damages. It alleged that WWN provided them with “just plain false” data on how many people were ordering events, causing FloSports to make a deal based on those numbers.
FloSports and WWN announced a five-year agreement in October of 2016, with shows from WWN promotions (EVOLVE, FIP, SHINE, and Style Battle) anchoring the streaming service’s content lineup since.
WWN attorney Samuel Heller released a statement earlier today claiming that FloSports was using the press to spread false statements about WWN. Heller also wrote that FloSports had failed to live up to their contractual obligations and that FloSlam is a mismanaged and failing platform.
UPDATE: FloSports confirmed that WWN events will no longer be available on FloSlam going forward: “Planned coverage of WWN events will no longer be available on FloSlam. This includes EVOLVE, SHINE, FIP, Style Battle, and ACW events. We know fans are excited about these events and we’re disappointed to share that we will no longer provide the coverage you deserve and expect. If you’d like a refund, please email [email protected] with the subject line ‘FloSlam Refund Request,’ and our team will assist you.”
Tonight’s EVOLVE show will be available on WWN’s website and they’re offering a $5 refund to FloSlam subscribers who purchase it if they send proof of their subscription.
What looks to be an ugly split between WWN, Inc. (the parent company of EVOLVE, FIP, and Shine) and FloSports, which has been airing their events on its FloSlam platform, continued today with WWN’s attorney making a statement alleging FloSports had failed to live up to their contracted obligations and called FloSlam a failing subscription streaming platform.
FloSports filed a lawsuit for more than $1 million on September 15th in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas, alleging that WWN misled them by providing inflated numbers for how many people were ordering the EVOLVE events on Internet PPV, which caused FloSports to make a deal based on those numbers.
Joshua Gavin, who worked for WWN, in a Fightful article backed up claims in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was clearly an attempt to get out of the terms of the current contract.
WWN attorney Samuel Heller released a statement earlier today regarding the lawsuit saying:
“While we prefer not to litigate cases in the media, it is clear that FloSports is attempting to use the press to create leverage in this dispute by spreading false, defamatory and misleading statements about WWN. In reality, FloSports has wholly failed to honor its contractual obligation to promote WWN’s events, and has been unable to successfully integrate WWN into its mismanaged and failing subscription streaming platform. At no time has WWN provided incorrect, false or misleading information and this lawsuit is nothing more than a transparent effort to FloSports to avoid its responsibility to WWN, its talent and its fans. We are confident that the litigation will result favorably to WWN.”
It should be noted that FloSports did not go to the media, nor have they at this point commented to the media, but only filed suit.
Both sides were promoting the EVOLVE shows tonight in Livonia, Michigan and tomorrow night in Summit, Illinois, on the service.
What used to be just one big show a year has turned into an entire week of action as WrestleMania week is finally upon us.
There will be more events than ever in the Orlando area this year as hundreds of wrestlers will compete for various promotions. Many of these shows will be available to watch live, whether they’re on the WWE Network, FloSlam, or standalone iPPVs.
We have a master list for you, including times, locations, and big matches going down for all the live streaming action starting later this week.
Featuring: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. ACH for the EVOLVE title, Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi vs. Michael Elgin & Donovan Dijak for the EVOLVE tag titles, Drew Galloway vs. Matt Riddle
Featuring: Pete Dunne vs. Mark Haskins for the PROGRESS title, Tyler Bate vs. Mark Andrews for the WWE United Kingdom Championship, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jimmy Havoc, Matt Riddle vs. Trent Seven for the Atlas title
Featuring: Mercedes Martinez vs. Candice LeRae for the SHIMMER title, Vanessa Kraven & Tessa Blanchard vs. Mia Yim & Kay Lee Ray for the SHIMMER tag titles, Santana Garrett vs. Shayna Baszler
Featuring: The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the ROH tag titles, Christopher Daniels vs. Dalton Castle for the ROH World Championship, Marty Scurll vs. Adam Cole for the ROH TV title, Cody vs. Jay Lethal in a Texas bullrope match
Featuring: Bobby Roode vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the NXT Championship, Asuka vs. Ember Moon for the NXT Women’s Championship, The Authors of Pain vs. DIY vs. The Revival in an elimination match for the NXT tag titles, Aleister Black vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
Featuring: Drew Galloway vs. Fred Yehi vs. Jon Davis vs. Matt Riddle vs. Parrow vs. Tracy Williams to determine the first WWN Champion, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Mark Haskins for the EVOLVE title, Pete Dunne vs. ACH, Ethan Page vs. Jimmy Havoc
Featuring: Michael Elgin, ACH, Keith Lee & Sammy Guevara vs. AR Fox, Sami Callihan, Dave Crist & a mystery partner, Fred Yehi vs. Dezmond Xavier for the FIP World Championship, Martin Stone vs. Jon Davis for the FIP Florida Heritage title
WrestleMania 33 pre-show (5 p.m. ET)
Location: Camping World Stadium
Where to Watch: WWE Network and other online platforms (full pre-show)/USA Network (second hour only)
Featuring: Neville vs. Austin Aries for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, the 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Carmella in a six-pack challenge for the SmackDown Women’s title
Featuring: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal title, The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns, Triple H vs. Seth Rollins in a non-sanctioned match, John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse, AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon, Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
Two promotions in the United Kingdom have announced changes to upcoming cards for FloSlam broadcasts as it seems WWE is setting guidelines for where their UK contracted talent is allowed to appear.
IPW:UK, who will be airing a supershow on FloSlam live on Sunday, posted on Facebook that Pete Dunne will now face Tom Dawkins in a bonus match for the live crowd that won’t be streamed on the service. Dunne had been scheduled to face Matt Riddle, who will now face Ryan Smile instead. Joseph Conners has been pulled from the show entirely.
The promotion posted, “Unfortunately in the early hours of this morning we learnt that due to contractual obligations with the WWE, certain wrestlers will be unable to appear on our FloSlam live broadcast this Sunday, namely in this instance, Pete Dunne and Joseph Conners.”
In a move that seems to be related given a tweet they posted, Lucha Forever also announced that the main event of their debut show on April 17th would now be Shane Strickland vs. Travis Banks after Strickland had been scheduled to face Dunne, who will still be appearing on the show in some capacity. The promotion recently signed a deal to broadcast events on FloSlam.
Though he recently returned to NXT as Kassius Ohno, Chris Hero’s final two matches for EVOLVE during Royal Rumble weekend still seem set to appear on the service.
The news comes during what could be looked back on as a transformative period for professional wrestling going forward as WWE attempts to further expand into the UK market after last weekend’s tournament. Dave Meltzer reported on the moves being made in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, including a deal for ICW events to appear on the WWE Network with possibly more to come.
FloSlam has found another international streaming partner.
The service announced on Wednesday morning that Ireland-based Over The Top Wrestling would be streaming two events on FloSlam later this month. OTT is the second international promotion to join the platform after it was previously announced that IPW:UK would be a regular addition to its lineup.
OTT: The Dream Before Christmas will take place on December 17th but will stream as a FloSlam World Premiere on December 28th. The show will be headlined by the next match in the rivalry between Ricochet and Will Ospreay. The two high flyers previously faced off in EVOLVE, NJPW, and PWG, with their Best of the Super Juniors match in particular drawing online attention.
FloSlam will also debut OTT’s Invasion Belfast show as a World Premiere on December 29th. That event will take place on December 18th before it comes to the service.
Both OTT shows will stream live at 8:30 p.m. ET and will be available for unlimited viewing as part of the FloSlam library. They were the only two events mentioned in FloSlam’s announcement, and the company later clarified that they are the only two scheduled for now.
When FloSlam announced the addition of IPW:UK, they detailed that World Premiere events would be pre-recorded shows that make their way to the platform shortly after to be streamed just like their usual live events.
FloSlam announced a new promotion and event for its streaming service, as it has inked IPW:UK for a deal which will start with the company’s December 18th show and will continue with 12 events from the promotion in 2017.
Events will air both live and on a tape delay, with all of the promotion’s 2017 Supershows broadcast live and exclusively on FloSlam.
The first event will air on a delay from the Casino Rooms Nightclub in Rochester, Kent, UK, headlined by Cody Rhodes vs. Will Ospreay.
Other matches on that show will include Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Matt Riddle, Jimmy Havoc defending the IPW:UK Championship against Sammy Smooth in an I Quit match, and Tom Dawkins vs. Joseph Conners.
IPW:UK is the first promotion from outside the U.S. that has been announced for the streaming service, joining previously announced groups like EVOLVE and other WWN promotions, Beyond Wrestling, and House of Hardcore.
Another promotion will soon be joining the World Wrestling Network roster on FloSlam.
It was announced on Tuesday that Gabe Sapolsky would be debuting a new promotion, called Style Battle, on the new streaming service at the beginning of next year. The promotion will feature a tournament on every show and Style Battle’s premiere event will take place on January 7th at The Orpheum in Ybor City, FL.
Events for the new promotion will occur “almost monthly” and will be structured in seasons. There will be nine events in each season, with the first eight shows all featuring an eight-man single elimination tournament. The winners of those tournaments will then face off on the season finale to crown a winner.
“Tournaments can provide drama and excitement unlike anything else in wrestling,” Sapolsky said. “This will be a unique opportunity for upcoming wrestlers, today’s stars and veterans looking to prove something to showcase their wrestling style.”
Dave Meltzer first reported on the new promotion in the October 31st edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The FloSlam era began at EVOLVE 72 with the promotion’s first show on the new streaming service, but that didn’t bring a change for the EVOLVE Championship.
Timothy Thatcher’s reign continued as he picked up the win over Drew Gulak in a Squared Circle of Survival match. The ropes were deconstructed before the battle began and there were no holds barred in the match. The two had another good brawl to follow up their street fight at EVOLVE 71, and the stipulations greatly enhanced the last two matches of the feud.
They tore apart the ring as the match went on. Gulak seemed to almost have the win with a sick looking dragon sleeper, but Thatcher fought out of it. Thatcher retained his title in a somewhat flat finish with a back suplex on the exposed ring.
A dejected Gulak said that Catch Point had failed after the match and left his partners behind. Drew Galloway came out and said that the only mission he’s concerned with right now is exterminating Matt Riddle, but Riddle only said “Bro” before leaving a furious Galloway and DUSTIN to close the show.
Unfortunately, what should have been a landmark night for EVOLVE was marred by comments made by Joey Styles on commentary shortly before the main event began. Styles was overbearing all night to the point where it became an annoyance, but an incredibly tasteless misogynistic and politically-themed joke he made was particularly heinous.
Gabe Sapolsky apologized for Styles’ comments almost immediately and confirmed that they have parted ways with him. The quick action should be applauded, but it was really the only choice to be made. You have to trust someone to give them a live microphone and Styles failed in the worst way tonight.
The high point in the show came right before Styles’ comments as Chris Hero and “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams put on a genuine EVOLVE Match of the Year contender. The two have amazing chemistry, which was evident in their match earlier this year at EVOLVE 56. This might have been even better with Williams coming even more into his own since then, and Hero continues to show that he might be the best wrestler in the world. The sheer amount and variety of his great 2016 matches is becoming mind blowing.
Williams got the surprise win by getting Hero to tap out to the crossface. The match started hot with Williams taking it to Hero and they exchanged stiff strikes almost all match long. In a clever spot, Hero used Williams’ own shirt against him and threw it at him for a distraction before hitting a strike. They traded massive near falls with Williams kicking out of a piledriver and Hero kicking out at one after a lariat and then at two after another before Williams finally got the win.
The FloSlam era kicked off with Matt Riddle as the first wrestler to pick up an EVOLVE win on the streaming service. Riddle figures to play a huge part in both EVOLVE and FloSlam’s plans, and he started things off with a solid match against DUSTIN. Riddle won after hitting the Bro to Sleep and a fisherman buster into a cradle.
Catch Point was also successful with Fred Yehi beating Jason Kincaid in the next match. Yehi got the win with the Koji clutch, but Kincaid continued to impress in EVOLVE and would be a great addition to the promotion’s roster. He hit a nice looking sunset flip powerbomb into the guardrail earlier in the match.
In a match that’s likely to have future title match implications, Ethan Page stayed on the winning track by beating Zack Sabre Jr. The Gatekeepers were by Page’s side for the match, but he surprisingly got a clean win over Sabre by hitting the spinning Dwayne after a good closing sequence. Page called out Cody Rhodes after the match.
Tony Nese wrestled twice in the night, first getting a win over NXT’s Tommy End in a dark match that was added to the card after Galloway wasn’t able to compete due to injury. Nese then appeared on the live show by turning a scheduled Darby Allin vs. Chris Dickinson singles match into a tag team affair. Dickinson teamed with Jaka in a winning effort over Allin and Nese. At one point earlier in the match, Allin botched a dive to the outside multiple times before just flipping himself onto a sea of bodies.
Dickinson complained about not having a permanent spot in EVOLVE before the match, and seemed to possibly move towards that goal with his team getting the win with Total Elimination.
Final thoughts:
It would be hard for me to recommend giving EVOLVE and FloSports your money if Sapolsky didn’t come out so strongly against what Styles said, but they deserve credit for their quick action. I’m not sure if his failed joke will be edited out or not, but he was bad enough on commentary that his presence will still be unwelcome otherwise.
But it would be impossible for me not to recommend a show that had a match as good as Hero vs. Williams. Everything else was at least watchable, with Thatcher vs. Gulak, Riddle vs. DUSTIN, and Yehi vs. Kincaid as probably the other best bouts on the show.
EVOLVE returns tomorrow with a show from Joppa, MD with the third match in the Hero vs. Riddle trilogy, Nese vs. Thatcher for the title, Gulak vs. Sabre, and more.
UPDATE: Thatcher suffered a concussion on tonight’s show and won’t be able to compete tomorrow.
EVOLVE 72 results:
EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher w/ Stokely Hathaway defeated Drew Gulak to retain his title
“Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams defeated Chris Hero
“All Ego” Ethan Page w/ The Gatekeepers defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
Chris Dickinson & Jaka defeated Darby Allin & Tony Nese
Fred Yehi defeated Jason Kincaid
Matt Riddle defeated EVOLVE Tag Team Champion DUSTIN
In an announcement on Friday, FloSports revealed that independent promotions Beyond Wrestling and PWX would be airing live events on the streaming service. FloSlam will stream Beyond’s December 11th event in Melrose, MA, along with PWX’s two-night X16 tournament on November 19th-20th.
The promotions are the second and third announced additions to the lineup, with the company previously announcing that they had reached an exclusive multi-year deal to stream events from EVOLVE and the rest of the World Wrestling Network.
Beyond tweeted that, for now, their deal is only for the December 11th show and 90-day rights to its VOD.
Beyond is based in the Northeast and prides itself on featuring a unique atmosphere with standing-room crowds, and the promotion has regularly been home to some of the region’s top talent. The December 11th show will take place in the same building before EVOLVE 75.
The North Carolina-based PWX has already announced Zack Sabre Jr., Matt Riddle, Fred Yehi, Trevor Lee, Davey Richards, and others for the 16-man X16 tournament.
FloSlam will broadcast its first live pro wrestling show tonight with SHINE 38. The subscription costs $20 a month or $150 for a year.
It’s a big day on the show as Les Thatcher is celebrating his 76th birthday! Sadly, Vic forced him to talk lots of WWE so it may not be the happiest of birthdays but Les soldiered on. Actually, we start with a little bit on the TNA lawsuit and the state of the Impact TV show.
After that we talk Hell in a Cell (8:35), with most of the discussion being around Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte. Specifically, whether or not the women’s title match should close the show and why or why not, as well as the decision to put them in the Cell in the first place. In addition, some thoughts on that vignette on Raw with TJ Perkins and Brian Kendrick.
The other big wrestling news this week regarding FloSlam (28:38) is also on the table as we look at the potential pros and cons of having multiple promotions who might possibly be using much of the same talent on shows available on the service. We’ll also answer a question about Rock Hunter, (46:35) who was a frequent in ring opponent for Les early in his career.
We’ll finish by asking Les if he ever had a plan B when he started in wrestling at the age of 19 (56:00) and Les does some investigative work at his local Walmart (yes, seriously).
A live webpage seemingly tells the story of news that is about to break regarding a new pro wrestling streaming service.
FloSports, which already streams live events in a number of sports including gymnastics, softball, amateur wrestling, grappling and track and field, is the group behind the new FloSlam website where the service would be hosted.
The page currently lists a monthly rate of $20 with a $12.50 monthly discount for a year commital. If it is like other similar services, the idea would be regular live streaming of events.
In the past, we have had Chael Sonnen on Wrestling Observer Radio talking about FloSports with relation to grappling events he promoted that air on their grappling-specific section.
In the People section, several WWE and NXT talents are featured as well as Jay Lethal, The Young Bucks, and Matt Riddle.
It is expected more news will break on this story imminently and it will be a major part of tonight’s Observer radio show in some form.
As noted on this website before it was announced, WWE is an investor in FloSports as they participated in a recent round of funding, but this is completely independent from WWE.
