Rumor: WWE to Purchase EVOLVE? EVOLVE Joining WWE Network?

As noted before, WWE has been rumored to be considering adding both ICW and PROGRESS Wrestling to the WWE Network within the near future. Besides those two indie companies, WWE also has a working relationship with EVOLVE and has been rumored to be interested in the idea of adding EVOLVE to the WWE Network as well.

However, rumors of WWE preparing to purchase EVOLVE soon are not entirely true, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer, though it could still happen at any point. Meltzer reported that this has been a topic of discussion between both companies since their partnership formed in 2015 and WWE recently lending Adam Cole to EVOLVE and having EVOLVE wrestlers at WrestleMania Axxess is not a signal of a purchase being imminent, since WWE has done things like that with EVOLVE in the past.

Meltzer also reported that Vince McMahon is still very undecided on plans to include ICW, PROGRESS Wrestling, and EVOLVE on the WWE Network and has been that way for almost the past two years, even saying yes at some points then changing his mind. FloSlam’s launch and then failure as a streaming company was one reason for his indecisiveness, since the potential threat of it being competition to the WWE Network is now gone.