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World Wrestling Entertainment promoted this Saturday's EVOLVE 10th Anniversary event from the 2300 Arena on tonight's edition of Monday Night Raw, pushing an affiliated independent promotion on the company's flagship for the first time since the early 1990s, when Smoky Mountain Wrestling was plugged as part off Jim Cornette's association with the then-WWF. WWE painted the picture that EVOLVE was the breeding ground for future WWE NXT and WWE main roster stars before plugging that the Anniversary event will stream live on the WWE Network from Philadelphia.
EVOLVE was founded by Sal Hamaoui and WWE NXT Creative team member Gabe Sapolsky, holding its first event in January 2010 in Rahway, NJ. WWE has been working on a handshake agreement with EVOLVE for several years, finally officially signing a contract to put their relationship in writing several months ago. There has been talk of streaming EVOLVE events on the WWE Network dating back to 2016.
The EVOLVE event has been promoted heavily on WWE's website and social media over the last week, with EVOLVE alumni now contracted to WWE discussing the promotion's importance to their careers:
Scheduled for the EVOLVE event this Saturday:
*WWE NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. 205 Live star Akira Tozawa.
*EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. WWN Champion JD Drake - Title vs. Title.
*EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy vs. AR Fox & Leon Ruff (with Ayla Fox and The Skulk)
*Matt Riddle vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak (non-title.)
*Anthony Henry vs. Arturo Ruas.
*Babatunde vs. Colby Corino.
Curt Stallion vs. Sean Maluta vs. Stephen Wolf vs. Harlem Bravado.
*Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene.
The EVOLVE event will be the first independent wrestling card streamed on the WWE Network.
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