Wrestling fans have a new place to see stars before they are stars. It’s called Evolve and it’s the latest streaming venture from WWE.
The WWE has already firmly established itself as a streaming presence with Peacock as the home of its library and live PLE’s. In January the WWE launched a blockbuster deal with Netflix. Internationally the promotion houses its shows and older content exclusively on Netflix. But this weekend the company made a major announcement that the new developmental promotion “Evolve” will debut a weekly show on Tubi TV.
The free ad-supported streaming service which is owned by FOX, a longtime WWE TV partner, will be the place to see the beginnings of careers. If you are wondering what that means for NXT, WWE’s original developmental TV promotion, don’t worry. It’s not going anywhere. But if you have been paying attention to NXT you may have noticed that it has become less of a place to break in and more of a place to become a name, hone skills, get back in the swing of things post-injury and break in established stars from other companies so that they can learn the WWE style without being in front of 16 thousand people and millions on TV. NXT is like Tripple A baseball now. It is as high as you can go without being at the top. The current WWE roster is littered with alums from NXT Notably Gunthar, Bayley and Bron Breaker. In addition to the fact that so many stars came through that program you can see big names in action on the NXT brand regularly. And as evidenced by the most recent Women’s Royall Rumble, the talent can play at the big leagues too.
According to WWE head of creative Paul Leveque, Evolve will be much more like what NXT used to be. A place where new talent from its NIL program, which it dubs, Next In Line, indie wrestlers looking for a shot at the big leagues and other potential tallent that needs more polishing to work on timing, character development, promos and the rest of the business in front of fans and cameras on what has become a premier free streaming service. Its like Single A baseball. If we extend that metaphor a step further the WWE’s Double A may just be TNA, which is an independently owned promotion that has been working closely with WWE and just signed a 5-year partnership agreement.
Tubi is available on all major streaming platforms as well as via its website.