BANKIE EVOLVES: EVOLVE on Tubi Review - #1: 3/5/25
After a month of promos and hype throughout WWE programming, WWE EVOLVE made its debut on Tubi on March 5, 2025 at 8 PM.
To understand what EVOLVE is, you really have to look at the man who put this whole thing together - Gabe Sapolsky.
In my opinion, the current day of professional wrestling has Mr. Sapolsky’s fingerprints all over it.
Cutting his teeth in the wrestling business under the tutelage of Paul Heyman in Extreme Championship Wrestling, Sapolsky’s booking and development of the original Ring of Honor put an importance and emphasis on what transpired in between the ropes. Countless wrestlers plied their trade under his eye and, in turn, came out the other side as more complete performers, like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Paul London, Homicide, Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Kevin Steen, and El Generico, among others.
After being let go from ROH in October 2008, Sapolsky returned with a vengeance in the Summer of 2009, becoming the Vice President of Dragon Gate USA. Six months later, he founded EVOLVE, which was meant to be the next generation of independent wrestling.
Similar to ROH, Sapolsky’s vision helped cultivate countless individuals to become bigger names within the industry. Johnny Gargano was the face of DGUSA as Open the Freedom Gate Champion over a multiple year span. Ricochet became the premier junior heavyweight across two continents. Men like Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Drew Galloway, and Austin Theory came out made men, while Shotzi Blackheart and Priscella Kelly broke out and gained recognition due to their undeniable heart and passion.
After a very successful 2019, including being the only non-WWE product to air a live event on the WWE Network on July 13 from the ECW Arena in South Philadelphia, PA, the promotion was primed for a very strong 2020.
Then…the world went to Hell in a handbasket.
The majority of the wrestling world were preparing for WrestleMania in Tampa, FL. With “the Showcase of the Immortals” emanating from Raymond James Stadium for WrestleMania 36, several top independent promotions were planting their flags within the area to provide the incoming mass of wrestling fans with events throughout the week.
On March 13, 2020, the entire world effectively shut down due to the unpredictable and dangerous COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants and stores were closed. Jobs were either made remote, put on hiatus, or shut down indefinitely. Most of all, all forms of entertainment, from film and television to sports, were suspended or cancelled outright.
EVOLVE was not immune to this fate. Sadly, they were forced to cancel their “WrestlExpo” convention and lose a boatload of money, due to cancellations on the building, plane tickets, and refunds to fans who had already purchased tickets to various events.
Sadly, due to the myriad of issues, the World Wrestling Network, the umbrella in which EVOLVE was housed, sold the rights to the promotions, as well as the tape libraries of DGUSA and EVOLVE, to WWE in the Summer of 2020.
Mr. Sapolsky began working as a consultant with NXT, WWE’s developmental brand, full-time. With the exception of a few month period in 2021, Sapolsky has been working there ever since. With a tremendous eye for talent, Sapolsky began traveling to various independent promotions and hosting seminars on what it took to become a prospect on WWE’s radar.
For the last few years, Sapolsky’s relentless drive and passion for the future of the industry, as well as the love for the independent wrestling scene that crafted his career, helped develop into a revolutionary concept called WWE ID.
According to https://recruit.wwe.com/wwe-id:
“WWE Independent Development™ (WWE ID) is designed to provide independent wrestlers a clear pathway to a potential career in WWE.
Following the success of WWE's NIL program, WWE ID has been constructed to support independent wrestling prospects and schools with world-class training, development and mentorship, in turn raising the profile of and strengthening the independent wrestling ecosystem.
WWE will provide the most prominent independent wrestling schools in the U.S. with the "WWE ID" official designation, with the goal of guiding new trainees and existing talent at these select institutions with enhanced developmental opportunities.
WWE ID will identify the top independent wrestling prospects with an official "WWE ID Prospect" designation and support their developmental journey. WWE ID will give fans the opportunity to follow the paths of these standout prospects on the independent wrestling scene through curated, behind-the-scenes content, as well as highlights and matches showcased across WWE's social platforms.”
Countless independent performers were signed and designated to this program, including Zayda Steel, Marcus Mathers, Cappuccino Jones, Jack Cartwheel, and Kylie Rae. The independent wrestling scene, which has been in a lull since the advent of All Elite Wrestling and, coincidentally, the pandemic, started buzzing with anticipation.
So when WWE EVOLVE made its debut last night on Tubi, you knew that I was going to do my damnedest to make sure I was on the recliner in the Bank Vault (I’m trying to make my apartment a bigger deal than what it is, readers) and tune in.
And indeed, I did.
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Here are the results from last night’s debut episode of WWE EVOLVE on Tubi:
KENDALL GREY and CARLEE BRIGHT defeated the tandem of KALI ARMSTRONG and DANI PARKER
KEANU CARTER destroyed TRILL CARTER
SEAN LEGACY, JACK CARTWHEEL, and CAPPUCCINO JONES upended the team of JACKSON DRAKE & SWIPE RIGHT of BRAD BAYLOR AND RICKY SMOKES.
Now, unlike the majority of other wrestling reviews, I’m not here to write about how the matches were and give a star rating on each contest - I’m not qualified to. However, I will discuss the things that I enjoyed.
THE THINGS I LIKED
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: This first episode of WWE EVOLVE gave me vibes of the Ring Of Honor pay-per-view series in 2007 and 2008. The program opened with a segment on why the program was taking place, who was in charge, and what characters were meant to have a spotlight on. You knew that this was tightly knit to the NXT Universe, with NXT General Manager Ava in charge. You saw the emphasis placed on being the inaugural match and the main event. Throughout the night, you saw little video packages, detailing the history of EVOLVE and the importance it made to the stars of today, as well as character defining videos and promos.
You also got to see an intricate build of characters. Kali Armstrong, who was not involved in the decision of losing the first match in the show’s history, demanded another opportunity by the end of the night via the commentator’s table. It’s Gal (right behind Love, Doug as the weirdest name in wrestling history) and Luca Crusifino from the D’Angelo Family on NXT were sitting in the VIP section. Even at the end of the night, there was a hype promo for next week, with emphasis placed on Harlem Lewis, Brinley Reece, and Layla Diggs.
On a personal note, I definitely see a wealth of potential in several talents. Armstrong has the power and strength of Bianca Belair, Dani Parker gives off Becky the Farmer’s Daughter vibes (GLOW reference), Keanu Carter is, to me, Monty Brown 2.0, and Cappuccino Jones’s character is very unique, bordering on a hipster barista loaded with caffeine-infused energy. Everyone worked hard and, just by watching the passion and youth of the performers, it reminded me of going to independent shows in the early 2000s and seeing young talents going all out to achieve their dreams.
THE AESTHETIC: WWE EVOLVE had a hodgepodge of the colors that are congruent with the original promotion: purple, gray, and black. The video tron was basic and provided a little sizzle, while being bare bones enough to not come off mainstream. Seeing the size of the crowd and tightness of the venue brought me back to the days of Florida Championship Wrestling and the early days of NXT in Florida. Obviously, the top notch production that WWE provides makes it an easy watch, but the subtlety of the emphasis of pro wrestling was there.
ROSENBERG AND STONE ON COMMENTARY: Full disclosure - I am not a Peter Rosenberg guy. I wasn’t a big fan of his on the Michael Kay Show on 98.7 ESPN radio nor on his program on Hot 97. However, I thought he worked really well with Robert Stone on commentary. Watching Mr. Stone over the years as a performer (Rob Eckos, Robbie E in TNA), he had the gift of gab and was a lot of fun to hear talk on the microphone. I personally think he’s tailor-made to be a broadcast journalist.
In fact, I dare say that Rosenberg and Stone have the potential of being the modern-day Michael Cole and Tazz. And I’m sure that, over time, Mr. Rosenberg will be just fine as a commentator - as long as he doesn’t bring those ENN segments over to EVOLVE. Lord, they drove me nuts.
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Needless to say, I will most definitely be reviewing WWE EVOLVE over the coming weeks on Tubi. For the first show, it was simple and told a good story. I can’t wait to see what will come together in the following weeks.
And, on a fanboy note, congratulations to Gabe Sapolsky. I hope this show succeeds, as well as WWE ID, and you get your flowers down the line. You’ve earned it.
IT’S TIME TO EVOLVE.
Bankie Bruce
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