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] | 1,522 | Ybor City, Florida | Anthony Henry |
FIP World Tag Team Championship | The Island Kings (Jaka and Sean Maluta) |
1 | November 1, 2019 | 1,634 [23] | Ybor City, Florida | The Precipice (Chance Auren and Omar Amir) |
FIP Florida Heritage Championship | Troy Hollywood | 1 | May 22, 2021 [24] | 1,066 | Ybor City, Florida | Vacant |
Shine Championship | Ivelisse | 3 | December 14, 2019 | 1,591 | Chicago, Illinois | Allysin Kay |
Shine Tag Team Championship | BTY (Jayme Jameson and Marti Belle) |
2 | January 19, 2020 | 1,555 | Fern Park, Florida | Team Aye (Aja Perera and Big Swole) |
Shine Nova Championship | Natalia Markova | 1 | December 14, 2019 | 1,591 | Chicago, Illinois | Shotzi Blackheart |
ACW Combat Championship | Danny Vincent | 1 | February 2, 2019 | 1,906 | Port Richey, Florida | Sawl Clover |
ACW Cruiserweight Championship | Sage Scott | 1 | September 7, 2019 | 1,689 | Port Richey, Florida | Bobby Flaco |
ACW Heavyweight Championship | Damien Angel | 1 | December 1, 2018 | 1,969 | Port Richey, Florida | Mitch Mitchell |
ACW Tag Team Championship | OAO (Hunter Law and Troy Hollywood) |
1 | July 6, 2019 | 1,752 | Port Richey, Florida | The International Superstars (Blanco Loco and Joey Ozbourne) |
ACW Women's Championship | Avery Taylor | 2 | July 6, 2019 | 1,752 | 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 |
WWNLive, the parent company of Evolve, Shine, FIP and Dragon Gate USA.