SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
-Last weekend, an email was leaked that was sent ahead of EVOLVE 92 and EVOLVE 93 to the roster. The email appeared in an article written by David Bixenspan on Fightful.com this past Sunday. EVOLVE Pod, a podcast on VoicesofWrestling.com also later revealed they had received the email as well. The email caused a great deal of stress for EVOLVE management and according to PWTorch sources, it set off a witch hunt of sorts to find out exactly who had leaked the email.
The full transcript is an obvious effort on Sapolsky’s part to aid talent in becoming ready to make the transition to NXT should WWE sign them at some point.
The full transcript that appeared originally on FightFul.com reads as follows:
Hey everyone,
This is an important email so please read it through.
We are about to enter a transition period. I want to use this weekend to prepare for that. A major part of this will be the in ring work. You are all awesome, obviously, or you wouldn’t be booked. However, I want to change some things you do in EVOLVE to make EVOLVE different and also prepare for what’s next.
I will explain more in person, but this weekend please concentrate on these things:
-Make every lock up on the show count. I saw Regal last week and he was at BOLA. I was surprised for him to say that he didn’t see many good lock ups there. Honestly, he said he barely saw one good lock up. I know this might be surprising, especially since some of you were on the show. This is a major thing. It’s about starting your match up with believability. Please let’s put on emphasis on lock ups where you fight for position rather than go into a spot.
-Don’t look into the floor camera at anytime. This is a Vince/WWE thing. I really don’t care if you look into the camera or not, but this is a habit you will have to break as soon as you go to WWE/NXT, so you might as well break it now. I can explain this more in person. It’s a huge thing there, so don’t discount this.
-Make every kick, strike and chop count. I don’t mean go in there and beat each other up. Just don’t waste your kicks, strikes, chops and sell it. In addition, consider who your opponent is. If Keith Lee is striking you, sell it bigger than if someone smaller was striking you. Keep the situation and opponent in mind with your selling and how you do kicks, strikes and chops.
-Don’t do cool stuff for the sake of cool stuff. Everything should be about winning the match. I’m not saying don’t do cool stuff, but don’t do it just to do it.
Have it make sense in your match.
-Challenge yourself to break your normal routine of spots. I don’t care what match rating you get on Twitter. This is small picture stuff. I want everyone to think big picture and long game. I can explain this better in person.
-I’ve been traveling with Chris Dickinson a lot lately since we are from the same area now. We have talked about this stuff extensively in the car. I feel he has a good grasp of it and can explain it from a worker’s perspective, which I can’t. Please get with him on any questions. I’ve also told Chris to take more of a leadership role and point things out, so please be open to what he has to say. Thank you.
-Some other notes:
-Belltime each night is 8pm. Please be at the venue by 5:30pm.
-Sal is is getting hotel in a little bit. If you are flying in, we’ll tell you where to go soon to hang out. Brandon Tolle is arranging all the rides. Please get with him on rides. If you don’t hear from us by tonight, let me know.
-Please remember the EVOLVE rules when it comes to:
-No swearing
-Nothing derogatory towards minorities, women, ethnicities or any other groups.
-No piledrivers.neck bumps, apron spots, anything that drops you on your head.
-Nothing hardcore without permission -No unprotected headbutts
-No mic work without permission
-Be super nice to kids
-No guests in your hotel rooms! We are not going to pay for an extra hotel room cause someone is your ride or you are bringing someone along. We arrange three per room. We are not budgeted for more hotel rooms. No one gets added to these rooms. It is for the comfort of everyone in the room.
-I will send out booking info late night. This weekend is going to be mostly about wrestling. We aren’t going to go big into storyline stuff or angles during this transition period. I want everyone to really concentrate on their matches, think of the fundamentals and making everything solid and make sense.
-If you need anything call or text me [number redacted]. If you can’t reach me and it’s an emergency contact Sal at [number redacted].
I look forward to a fun weekend. Thank you, Gabe
William Regal felt the need to respond about his comments in regard to lock ups during BOLA weekend earlier this month.
Regal tweeted out the following response after the email was leaked:
When asked, I told everyone the same. I preceded to tell them how incredibly hard everyone worked and how much I enjoyed the show. I was asked the same question by everyone. One that was asked universally was, “Anything that stood out,.” I answered that the only problem is that there are too many great bouts and I don’t envy any of the talent because everything was so good, and trying to top it must be really difficult. I made mention to several people and several on the BOLA show of their collar-and-elbow-tie ups (lock ups). I proceeded to show several talent who asked a few ways to help. This information has been used by other people to explain ideas to talent they are working with and some of it appeared in today’s leaked e-mail. This long-winded note is just my way of explaining that I don’t want this taken out of context and people assuming I was in any way criticizing the quality and hard work of the talent. It’s an general observation that I always talk to people about as I believe the first lock up is the most important tool you have to grab the attention of your audience.
WWN management was very concerned about how the leak would impact their relationship with WWE. Members of management and the roster that PWTorch spoke to last weekend saw it as a huge breach of trust and it made an already rough weekend worse after FloSports sued WWN and pulled the EVOLVE iPPVs off their streaming platform last weekend. WWN management worked throughout the weekend and up until last night to find out who had leaked the email. Gabe Sapolsky tweeted out Wednesday night that the leak had been found. He tweeted that he could now focus on the next round of EVOLVE shows in October. “Found out who leaked the email,” tweeted Sapolsky. “I love EVOLVE, WWN and our entire locker room of professionals. Can’t wait for 10/14 in NY & 10/15 in CT.” PWTorch has learned from multiple sources that the source of the leak came from outside EVOLVE.
-Ethan Page and EVOLVE have parted ways. Page put a post up on twitter thanking WWN management for his past three years working in EVOLVE saying he had finished up with the promotion and mentioned that now had open dates during the next EVOLVE weekend of Oct. 13, Oct. 14, and Oct. 15. “I’m excited to dig deeper into the independent scene & truly survivor on my own reputation & name, wrote Page. “No company behind me. No brand, Just ‘All Ego’ Ethan Page, the goofy Canadian ready to entertain the masses. Page mentioned in his post on Twitter that he won’t say why he left and that he’s going to do a shoot interview down the line and he will use that platform to discuss the situation and profit off of it.
Sources informed PWTorch last week ahead of EVOLVE’s events that Page was finishing up with the promotion. Page & ACH captured the EVOLVE tag titles at EVOLVE 92 before dropping them to Jaka & Chris Dickinson at EVOLVE 93. Gabe Sapolsky claimed on Twitter the parting between EVOLVE and Page was amicable and it was just time for both sides to part ways.
Radican’s Analysis: Page had been given several big pushes during his time in EVOLVE, but every time he got a big push, he fell short of winning the EVOLVE Championship. It felt like after falling short of winning the EVOLVE Title multiple times that Page had done all he could do in EVOLVE. Page recently formed an entertaining tag team with ACH called The Troll Boyz. They were a fun act and will be missed on EVOLVE shows. PWTorch sources indicated that WWN management felt last weekend was a good way to end Page’s EVOLVE tenure and it didn’t make much sense to bring him back for the next set of EVOLVE shows in October to have two meaningless singles matches from a storyline standpoint.
It will be interesting to see what Page has to say on his shoot interview about the end of his time with EVOLVE when he decides to release it.
-EVOLVE sent out an email update today saying they were considering all options for how to stream their shows in the future. The email claimed that several companies had reached out to WWN about streaming all WWN content. WWN is also considering steaming all WWN content in house. Fans were urged to tweet using the #WWNLive hashtag to let WWN know how they would like the company to stream future events.
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