WWE is adding content from four wrestling promotions to the WWE Network starting this Saturday: the recently-acquired EVOLVE, PROGRESS, wXw and ICW. While this news has been heavily rumored for months, Sports Illustrated confirmed the imminent additions today.
A large push for this content will reportedly be “Best-Of” collections showing current WWE Superstars in their earlier days, including WWE Champion Drew McIntyre’s time in EVOLVE (under his real name, Drew Galloway). WWE Network subscribers will be able to watch matchups such as McIntyre vs. Chris Hero in 2014, Ricochet in 2015, Matt Riddle in 2017, and much more.
McIntyre was asked for his thoughts on the announcement by SI, saying, “I absolutely never imagined matches from these companies, the places where I found myself in wrestling, are now going to be on the WWE Network. Hopefully they’re as good as I remember.”
This won’t be EVOLVE’s first time on the WWE Network — even before the acquisition by WWE, the promotion’s 10th anniversary special event was streamed live on WWE’s over-the-top streaming platform.
It appears that content will be added in chunks, much like the tape library for shows such as WCW Nitro and Thunder were years ago. Scheduled to be released this Saturday are ICW’s Shug’s Hoose Party 5: Night 2, wXw’s Femme Fatales 2019 and AMBITION 11, and PROGRESS Wrestling’s Chapter 92.
PROGRESS is based in England, and has worked with WWE an increasing amount in the past few years. In 2019, founder Jim Smallman took on a production role for WWE’s United Kingdom brand NXT UK.
Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) is based in Essen, Germany, and was founded in 2000 by Peter Wiechers, who goes by the ring name “Hate”.
Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is based in Glasgow, Scotland, and was founded in 2006 by Mark Dallas. Its first-ever world champion was current WWE Champion Drew Galloway/McIntyre. Galloway was inducted into the ICW Hall of Fame in 2018.
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