Gabe Sapolsky congratulated Ethan Page after officially being moved to the main roster: “Congrats to @OfficialEGO on his Raw debut! He was a key performer in the OG Evolve. We did some memorable stuff. Then we had a falling out. Then this past year we repaired the relationship like adults. Now I can be very happy to see him get what he has worked for.”
Jade Cargill and Trick Williams talked to 8 News Now Las Vegas following WrestleMania.
Matt Morgan, who was in OVW around the same time as Brock Lesnar, thanked him on social media.
The New Yorker has a story on Linda McMahon, comparing the similarities in her previous role as CEO of WWE to her current role as Secretary of Education.
John Cena on Danhausen: “One of my favorite #WrestleMania moments ever. So happy we got an updated photograph together.”
Jun Saito has pulled out of the AJPW Champion Carnival after suffering a orbital fracture of his right eye. He will forfeit the rest of his matches.
Kanji reflected on the one year anniversary of her match against Mercedes Mone: “To celebrate the return of @mercedesmone to @revprouk , here are some of the moments we all shared backstage after the show. There was a huge sense of community that Mercedes felt and she had to acknowledge it in a post match speech. The respect, loyalty and love we, as a roster, have for each other was so strong due to the support shown for me prior to going through the curtain. Everyone chanting and singing ‘Yes She Kanji’! It was so beautiful! And the applause when I came back after the match was deafening. Hugs, smiles and tears as everyone congratulated me on a huge milestone for British Wrestling. What a time to be alive. I’m so excited for whoever gets to experience this with her in July when she comes back, we have so many women who deserve this feeling and opportunity! And we’re so lucky Mercedes is happy and willing to come back and provide it. Thank you to the RevPro community! The fans, the crew, the wrestlers and Andy Quildan.”
WWE talent scout Gabe Sapolsky had high praise for indie wrestler Allie Katch after watching her compete this past weekend.
On Sunday, Katch was in action against WWE ID Women’s Champion Laynie Luck for Women’s Wrestling Revolution in Massachusetts. Sapolsky was at the show and called Katch vs. Luck one of the best indie bouts he’s seen since starting in his current role with WWE.
Yes it was. One of the best matches I’ve seen on the indies since I started my current job in Sept. 2022. https://t.co/vXOiB0uwI0
Sapolsky also noted that Katch is one of the most improved wrestlers he’s ever seen.
“Much respect to Allie Katch,” he tweeted. “Incredible WWE ID match vs. Laynie Luck at WWR yesterday. One of the most improved talents I’ve ever seen.”
Much respect to Allie Katch. Incredible WWE ID match vs. Laynie Luck at WWR yesterday. One of the most improved talents I’ve ever seen.
The 32-year-old Katch is an indie mainstay and regularly competes for Game Changer Wrestling, where she suffered a setback in January 2025 when she broke her leg at the promotion’s Hammerstein Ballroom show. Katch ended up having to spend most of the year out of action following that injury.
Luck, who retained her WWE ID title in Sunday’s match, called on WWE to sign Katch to the program despite her loss.
— Laynie✨WWE ID WOMENS CHAMPION (@LaynieLuck) March 23, 2026
Sapolsky, the former ROH booker who founded the original Evolve indie promotion, works for WWE as a domestic talent scout and creative consultant. He’s involved with the WWE ID program and weekly WWE Evolve show.
Indie wrestlers Notorious Mimi, Valentina Rossi, Fallyn Gray, and Airica Demia are the latest names to be signed to WWE ID deals.
While WWE NXT Level Up is no longer, another new show in addition to WWE LFG is apparently in line that will fill the void.
Reported by Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NXT Evolve will be coming at some point in 2025, headed up creatively by longtime wrestling executive and EVOLVE founder Gabe Sapolsky.
Meltzer reported that the essence of the show would be similar to Level Up in featuring NXT development wrestlers who aren’t regulars on TV but “that instead of just matches, to do angles and promos and book it more like a television show.”
The landing spot for such a show was not reported other than Meltzer saying, “It will be shows taped only for television/streaming.”
WWE purchased EVOLVE in whole in 2020 after entering into a partnership in 2015.
Shortly after the release of the WON, PWInsider posted some additional notes about the rumors, saying there’s a belief tapings would be at the Performance Center and using talent under WWE ID deals, perhaps a reason some of those prospects were shown on camera recently on NXT TV.
They also added that Sapolsky signed a new contract with WWE in late-2024 and that the impending WWE LFG on A&E is still considered as the successor to Level Up and not whatever this show could turn out to be.
*Wrestler of the Week and Match of the week *John Cena’s early career and his return, as well as an update on his WrestleMania prospects *In depth on why television and streaming are cutting back on new programming and how this impacts the pro wrestling business. *If you asked people to name a pro wrestler, how many could name one and who would be the first person they’d name, and the reality of “mainstream” knowledge of today’s pro wrestlers. *Complete coverage of UFC’s last show of the year as well as a sad lesson about getting injured the week of your fight. *A look at one of the best shows of 2022, the TakaTaichi promoted show at Yoyogi Gym in Tokyo *The most detailed look at TV viewership for every major show over the past week *New weekly streaming live show debuts *Promotion doing rematches of its best matches of 2022 *The story behind the voting for tag team of the year in Japan *Stardom has one of its biggest shows in its history this week *Notes on the upcoming show at the Tokyo Dome *A week of incredible matches *Ospreay vs. Ishii *El Hijo del Vikingo in the U.S. working dates *Impact next PPV *AEW makes major new broadcast deal that will be announced in a few weeks *The mystery man on Dynamite this week *Tickets sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows *WWE & AEW streaming numbers *International TV ratings *Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows *UFC PPV numbers for this past year *A bill expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate that would greatly change the MMA world *Dana White talks about luck and timing *Judging controversies *Two fighters feud on Twitter and got into it at the UFC gym *Sports business analyst predicts NBCU buying WWE and we talks about what is and isn’t valid about that *Post-Christmas WWE touring *Most popular WWE names in social media *Current WWE market value
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Monday Update
We had some schedule changes this week as far as shows. Our show for today wit Bryan is already up because there is no new Raw tonight, being a Best of show. I will be doing a show with Jim Valley Wednesday night and there will be a ton on that. We’ll also have a big show with Garrett Gonzales on Friday. Bryan and I won’t do another show together until Jan. 1 and from there we will be back on schedule, including a big show on Jan. 4 covering the Tokyo Dome and Dynamite. Plus we will have a special show immediately after Battle of Los Angeles the week after next.
We have a gigantic history piece in the next issue of the Observer, which talks about the early days of the NWA, Sam Muchnick, Vince McMahon Sr., promotional battles around the country, when the government investigated wrestling, when the NWA encouraged promoters not to air arena matches on television for fear of hurting live attendance, wrestlers strikes, talk of heath care for wrestlers all revolving around Johnny Doyle, a promoter show life story is fascinating.
Raw is a Best of 2022 show tonight. No doubt they will heavily push the Friday Smackdown show where the expectation is for the biggest match rating for WWE this year. As noted yesterday,. FOX heavily pushed the Cena & Owens vs. Reigns & Zayn match during its football broadcasts Saturday and Sunday. Raw tonight goes against the Indianapolis Colts vs. Los Angeles Chargers NFL game. With a highlights show I suspect the numbers will be way down, perhaps a record low, but it would be silly to try and read anything into this week’s rating.
We are looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows from Madison Square Garden and Columbus, OH, results, finishes and highlights to [email protected] There is talent that was having problems getting into New York for the show. Even though Ricochet took six stitches, that match was actually on 12/16, not Friday, so he’s fine for this week. As noted on Friday, Drew McIntyre is still off this week’s shows due to a busted eardrum suffered at Survivor Series. He did work matches after the injury not realizing the severity of it.
There were 9,700 tickets out for MSG with a show headlined by Braun Strowman & Kevin Owens vs. Usos. Columbus and all the Raw house shows this week have Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins. Most shows are doing very well attendance wise since this is traditionally the easiest week to draw for live shows of the year.
Ratings will be delayed by one day this week. So the Friday numbers will be out tomorrow and the Raw number will be out Wednesday afternoon. It’s not a lock that Dynamite numbers will be out Thursday. They have been out on Thursday after other holidays this year but there have also been holiday weeks they aren’t out until Friday.
WWE is pushing a Pitch Black match for the Royal Rumble in conjunction with a Mountain Dew sponsorship deal.
The Ric Flair documentary is up on Peacock right now. We’ll talk more about this later in the week.
WWE’s Gabe Sapolsky is doing a seminar on 1/21 at the WWN Training Center in Port Richey, FL which will include tryout matches and those at the seminar will have the right to use their footage of their tryout matches to send promoters and Sapolsky will talk about what WWE is looking for, ideas on promos and more.
Athena defends the ROH women’s title against Kiera Hogan on Dark Elevation tonight. Also Dralistico faces Blake Christian.
AEW had 3,700 tickets out as of this morning for Wednesday’s show. It’s normal range for what they’ve been doing these days before walkup, but they are well ahead of the pace they were for their first time in the Denver market, which you can’t say about a lot of the recent shows. On paper it’s a strong show with Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow for the TNT title, match six in the best of seven with The Elite vs. Death Triangle, Bryan Danielson vs. Ethan Page, Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs Dante & Darius Martin and Ruby Soho & Willow Nightingale vs. Tay Melo & Anna Jay.
Regarding Wednesday’s AAA show in Acapulco they are listing Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo defending the mixed tag titles against Octagon Jr. & Lady Shani and Komander & Sexy Star. Obviously that isn’t happening as Melo is booked for Dynamite in Broomfield, CO that same night. From what we talked about on today’s show, here is an update. the visa issue that kept Guevara & Melo from the last tapings in Mexico where they were to defend has been cleared up. However, AEW had an illness that changed original plans for a women’s match on Wednesday so last week they set up Melo & Jay vs. Nightingale & Soho, which means Melo was pulled from Acapulco. We are told there will be a mixed tag title match but Guevara & Melo will be stripped of the titles and new champions will be crowned. Two other things we were told is that Konnan will be at the show, which will be his first TV taping back since his health improved due to undergoing kidney dialysis, and we were told Larry Dallas would be there announcing. Dallas had said he was going into rehab but we just heard from him today and he’s doing much better. The main event is El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Bandido for the Mega title and FTR vs. Dralistico & Dragon Lee for the tag titles.
Bandido beat Vikingo in a non-title match on Christmas Day for Bandido’s Big Lucha promotion championship belt. Yes, this is the same as if MJF or Roman Reigns worked an indie show and lost to that company’s champion. Well not exactly the same.
UWC on 1/7 in Bordenton, NJ at the Elks Lodge has a show with an 80s theme wit wrestling mixed with music from the 80s.
Jeff Molina has been suspended by the Nevada Athletic commission. The reasons were not disclosed but Molina is associated with James Krause, who was suspended in the recent suspicious battling scandal. Molina’s profile on mixedmartialarts.com listed “this fighter is currently serving a suspension by an ABC-recognized athletic commission” and note it is from Nevada.
With Volador Jr. out due to testing positive for COVID, Soberano Jr. takes his place on tonight’s show in Puebla. Volador Jr. is scheduled for the main event on Friday night teaming with Titan to challenge Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja for the CMLL tag titles.
AIW on Friday night in Akron, OH at the Tadmor Shrine with Brian Myers, Tom Lawlor, Matthew Justice and Joey Janela. They also just announced a 2/11 date in Youngstown, O at West Side Bowl.
Orton has been out of action with a back injury since the May 20 edition of SmackDown. His condition is said to be causing concern within the company.
“There is a lot of concern regarding Orton’s back injury and its severity,” Meltzer wrote.
Reports surfaced in June that if Orton’s injury required surgery he would miss the remainder of 2022.
Potential changes to WWE Day 1
WWE is considering making some changes for the Day 1 PPV on New Year’s Day.
“A decision will be made this week regarding the date of the Day 1 PPV show. Right now the show is scheduled for 1/1 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. There is talk that it could be changed and the announcement would be made next week if that’s the case, although we were told that either way it would remain at the building,” Meltzer wrote.
The Day 1 event, currently scheduled for Sunday, January 1, 2023, falls between Survivor Series on November 26, 2022, and Royal Rumble on January 28, 2023. The first-ever edition of Day 1 took place on New Year’s Day 2022 from Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. The idea was for it to become an annual event.
Gabe Sapolsky’s new role in WWE
It was reported last week that the co-founder of ROH has returned to the company after having previously been released in January. Meltzer confirmed that Sapolsky’s new role is as a creative consultant for the main roster.
“Gabe Sapolsky is back. He was another member of the Levesque team let go in the purge of NXT. His role is said to be as a creative team consultant for the main roster,” Meltzer wrote.
According to a report from PW Insider, the co-founder of Ring of Honor has returned to WWE after having previously been released by the promotion in January. Sapolsky will be working on the creative team but it is not clear if he will be dealing with the main roster or developmental. He had previously worked behind the scenes in NXT from 2018 until his departure in early 2022.
Sapolsky posted to social media on Friday and noted that he will still be doing Twitter Spaces for independent wrestlers and promoters.
“I am very happy to say that I will keep doing Twitter Spaces for independent wrestlers, promoters and others involved in the independents,” he posted to Twitter. “Follow me to keep up to date on when the next one is.”
I’m sure most of you don’t know the news, but I just want to let the Web3 community know I love them and you were there for me this year. I’m not going anywhere and will see you all in Spaces soon ❤️
Sapolsky was part of a series of cuts WWE made to its developmental program earlier this year. On January 5, the company released William Regal, Road Dogg, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch, Hideki Suzuki, Cathy Corino (Allison Danger), Dave Kapoor, Scott Armstrong, George Carroll, Ace Steel, and Ryan Katz. WWE re-hired Road Dogg last month as its new senior vice president of live events. Katz also recently confirmed that he is returning to WWE as well.
Gabe Sapolsky has been released by WWE during this week’s round of Performance Center/NXT staff cuts.
On Thursday morning, Sapolsky posted a tweet announcing his WWE departure. “Looks like the end of the road,” Sapolsky wrote. “Thank you everyone. Love you all!”
Sapolsky had worked behind the scenes in NXT since 2018. After starting his career in ECW, Sapolsky served as a booker for ROH, was the vice president of Dragon Gate USA, and founded EVOLVE Wrestling. EVOLVE was sold to WWE in 2020.
William Regal, Road Dogg, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch, Hideki Suzuki, Cathy Corino (Allison Danger), Dave Kapoor, Scott Armstrong, George Carroll, Ace Steel, and Ryan Katz were released by WWE on Wednesday. WWE issued the following statement regarding the cuts: “With the continued evolution of NXT 2.0, we’ve decided to part ways with some of the staff based in our Performance Center. We thank them for their many contributions throughout the years and wish them the best.”
Candy Cartwright is suing Matt Riddle, WWE, EVOLVE, and Gabe Sapolsky for $10 million per defendant in a sexual assault lawsuit.
In a press conference in Chicago Thursday, Cartweight (real name Samantha Tavel) and attorney John Chwarzynski of Hale & Monico discussed her side of the story that first emerged in mid-June during the #SpeakingOut movement.
While working for EVOLVE in May 2018, Cartwright said she and Riddle were in a van with three other wrestlers. After the others had fallen asleep while traveling, Riddle overtly propositioned her for sex. She refused, but said Riddle grabbed her throat and threatened her with “What if I just made you?” She said she eventually gave him oral sex to get out of the situation.
Chwarzynski said Thursday that incident was one of “a multitude of sexual assaults committed by Matt Riddle against my client, Candi Cartwright” from 2017 through January 2020. In April 2017, it alleges Riddle raped Cartwright after an EVOLVE show in Brooklyn, New York, while in a parked vehicle and that he bragged about it to Sapolsky and others. The suit says the EVOLVE co-founder “tacitly approved of this conduct” and allowed it to happen, even encouraging it.
The suit said Cartwright had bookings with both WWE and EVOLVE on January 31st, 2020, but that she refused to perform sexual acts on Riddle and had her bookings cancelled due to “issues with the talent.” That was because Riddle allegedly told WWE and EVOLVE that because Cartwright wouldn’t perform sexual acts on him, he didn’t want her working for either group and that both complied.
At the press conference, Chwarzynski said he is going to send copies of the lawsuit to both the state attorney’s office and the Summit (IL) Police Department where the incident allegedly took place as he wants them to open an investigation.
Riddle, who was called up to the WWE main roster days after the allegations went public, denied them on two occasions, the second in a video in which he admitted having an affair with Tavel but never sexually assaulted or abused her. When he first denied it, he said he and his lawyer were going to seek an injunction for cyberstalking but it’s unclear whether that happened.
As of this writing, neither Riddle or his attorney have made a public statement.
The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, but in a statement to WrestlingObserver.com, a representative from WWE said they “have not been served with a lawsuit by Ms. Tavel. However, if served, we will vigorously defend ourselves and contest it.” Fightful got a quote from Sapolsky that said, “News to me.”
At the press conference, Chwarzynski said, “WWE has painted a picture over the course of the years that female performers are to comply with certain rules. The WWE, since its inception, has hyper-sexualized female performers and they’ve profited from male aggression against these female performers.”
In reading through the lawsuit, there are errors, specifically that Riddle worked for WWE on/prior to May 2018 when he didn’t sign a deal until that summer. There are also some questions regarding how WWE and EVOLVE’s relationship is portrayed in the suit.
After WWE purchased the company he co-founded, longtime wrestling promoter and booker Gabe Sapolsky released a statement Wednesday where he said he is retired from promoting and booking indie wrestling.
In July, Sapolsky and co-founder Sal Hamaoui sold the rights to EVOLVE and the content library for both that company, Full Impact Pro and Dragon Gate USA to WWE for an undisclosed sum after several months of discussions. Hamaoui is continuing with streaming service WWN which was not part of the deal.
Sapolsky has been a consultant for NXT since 2018 and is expected to remain in that position.
“With WWN announcing the new Eddie Kingston Grindhouse show on September 26th, it is the right time for me to clearly state I have parted ways with WWN. This is amicable and mutually decided. I look forward to seeing new minds and ideas come to the forefront on the independent scene. I feel Eddie Kingston is perfect to lead the charge.
I still love working with talent, have a passion for talent development and enjoy the bell-to-bell aspect of putting on shows. However, the down time due to Covid-19 has made me realize how much I do not miss the day-to-day aspects of running an independent promotion. I no longer have the drive to continue the constant grind of running an independent wrestling promotion.
I consider myself retired as an independent wrestling promoter and booker.
I want to give my most heartfelt and sincere “thank you” to everyone who supported any independent promotion I was associated with over the years. I also give my deepest gratitude to everyone who worked with me.
The final stats are:
507 shows from Feb. 23rd, 2002 to March 1st, 2020.
Ring Of Honor – 208
EVOLVE – 146
Full Impact Pro – 81
Dragon Gate USA – 50
Style Battle – 9
WWN Supershow – 5
WWN China – 4
Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup – 2
WWN Recruitment Camp Do Or Die – 2
Thank you for all the good times! I am excited to follow independent wrestling as a fan. I hope I can be a positive influence and help talent. I look forward to seeing most of you again down the road. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
‘Left My Wallet’ is back with EVOLVE VP of talent relations and creative Gabe Sapolsky!
One of the most cutting edge minds in the wrestling business of the last 25 years starts by talking about his love of baseball. The fellow New England native and I discuss our mutual love of the Red Sox growing up and the memories we have growing up with their heartache throughout the 80s and 90s.
Gabe talks about going to Fenway Park, his love of the 80s era Celtics, the magic that encapsulated Boston sports back then, and more. He then describes what endeared him to also become a fan of Philadelphia sports, the defining moment that led him to love the Phillies, his favorite player, and his excellent booking dea for making baseball more interesting and creating those can’t miss pitcher vs. hitter matchups.
Gabe also discusses the huge events coming up for EVOLVE this weekend, their talented roster, and his outlook for independent wrestling in 2020.
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.
