WWNLive
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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]
History
[edit]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]
Brands
[edit]Active
[edit]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] |
Defunct
[edit]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 |
Championships
[edit]- Active
Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days | Location | Previous champion(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIP World Heavyweight Championship | Jon Davis | 2 | February 21, 2020[22] | 1,648 | Ybor City, Florida | Anthony Henry |
FIP World Tag Team Championship | The Island Kings (Jaka and Sean Maluta) |
1 | November 1, 2019 | 1,760[23] | Ybor City, Florida | The Precipice (Chance Auren and Omar Amir) |
FIP Florida Heritage Championship | Troy Hollywood | 1 | May 22, 2021[24] | 1,192 | Ybor City, Florida | Vacant |
Shine Championship | Ivelisse | 3 | December 14, 2019 | 1,717 | Chicago, Illinois | Allysin Kay |
Shine Tag Team Championship | BTY (Jayme Jameson and Marti Belle) |
2 | January 19, 2020 | 1,681 | Fern Park, Florida | Team Aye (Aja Perera and Big Swole) |
Shine Nova Championship | Amber Nova | 1 | December 10, 2023 | 260 | Clearwater, Florida | Ivelisse |
ACW Combat Championship | Danny Vincent | 1 | February 2, 2019 | 2,032 | Port Richey, Florida | Sawl Clover |
ACW Cruiserweight Championship | Sage Scott | 1 | September 7, 2019 | 1,815 | Port Richey, Florida | Bobby Flaco |
ACW Heavyweight Championship | Damien Angel | 1 | December 1, 2018 | 2,095 | Port Richey, Florida | Mitch Mitchell |
ACW Tag Team Championship | OAO (Hunter Law and Troy Hollywood) |
1 | July 6, 2019 | 1,878 | Port Richey, Florida | The International Superstars (Blanco Loco and Joey Ozbourne) |
ACW Women's Championship | Avery Taylor | 2 | July 6, 2019 | 1,878 | Port Richey, Florida | Natalia Markova |
- Defunct
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 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "About". WWNLive. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
- ^ "Brand Pages".
- ^ Johnson, Mike (2014-09-19). "Evolve heading to China (no, really)". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
WWNLive, the parent company of Evolve, Shine, FIP and Dragon Gate USA.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2014-12-03). "Newswire: WWNLive announces long-term China plan, Ross talks importance of Tokyo Dome, New Japan's subscription goals, latest World Tag League standings, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-12-04.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2015-02-19). "WWNLive news: Official new training facility announced". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2015-02-19.
- ^ Melok, Bobby (2015-10-15). "NXT's next breakout stars?: Meet the 5 Evolve wrestlers you need to know". WWE. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
- ^ "10/17 Evolve 49 Results – Zayn, Gargano, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
- ^ "NXT GM & Tag Team to appear at Evolve show". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2016-01-11. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
- ^ "Evolve 54 iPPV results: HHH & William Regal make an appearance". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
- ^ "WWE to hold GCS matches at future EVOLVE event". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2016-03-19. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
- ^ Nason, Josh (2016-10-24). "FloSports announces deal with WWNLive, launches pro wrestling streaming service". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (2016-11-22). "WWNLive debuting new Style Battle promotion on FloSlam". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (2016-11-23). "WWNLive launching new title, new brand". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2016-11-24.
- ^ Radican, Sean (2017-09-21). "Breaking: FloSports files lawsuit against WWN for misrepresentation of iPPV & VOD buyrates, WWN planning countersuit (w/Radican's Analysis)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (2017-09-22). "Evolve events pulled from FloSlam schedule". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2017-09-22.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (2017-12-20). "WWN launches new on-demand service". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2017-12-20.
- ^ "411MANIA". Gabe Sapolsky Says Goodbye To Independent Wrestling.
- ^ "411MANIA". WWN Launching New Brand Eddie Kingston’s Grindhouse, Will Debut Next Month.
- ^ "411MANIA". WWN Live to Create New WWN Championship to be Defended Across All Promotions.
- ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Viva La Lucha! (VLL)". cagematch.net. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
- ^ "Viva La Lucha on WWNLive.com". WWNLive.com. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
- ^ Trionfo, Richard (2015-07-04). "FIP Declaration of Independence report: Swann versus Konley for the world title, Savages versus Solow and Cade for the tag titles, ladder match, and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2015-07-04.
- ^ "Cagematch|The Internet Wrestling Database". cagematch.net. Retrieved 2021-11-19.
- ^ "FIP Florida Heritage Championship". Cage Match. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
External links
[edit]Defunct promotions | |||||
National promotions | |||||
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Independent promotions and regional territories |
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Governing bodies and interpromotional alliances | |||||
Notable programs |
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