Evolution is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

in the

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

(AJPW)

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Originally started as a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

named by

Joe Doering Joseph Doering (born April 16, 1982) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he was a member of Violent By Design. He is currently inactive due to cancer surgery. He is a former two- ...

and Suwama in October 2012, it was later turned into a stable when

Kaz Hayashi , best known by the ring name , is a Japanese business executive and retired professional wrestler who last competed in Gleat and serves as the company's chief technical officer (CTO). He is best known for his work in World Championship Wrestlin ...

Shuji Kondo is a Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler. Prior to becoming a pro wrestler, he played Rugby union, rugby. After starting his career in Dragon Gate (wrestling), Toryumon, Kondo eventually joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where h ...

and

Yasufumi Nakanoue is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name , currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division, where he was the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wre ...

joined the two. The stable was disbanded in June 2013, when Hayashi, Kondo and Nakanoue left AJPW, but Doering and Suwama came back together under the new name Evolution the following September and recruited

Hikaru Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by the ring name . Sato started his MMA career in February 2000, fighting for Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. During the next eight years, Sato fought, on average, five t ...

as the stable's third member in February 2014. Suwama has held the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion twice and Doering once as representatives of the stable. The two are also former one-time World Tag Team Champions and won the 2013 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. In July 2014,

Atsushi Aoki was a Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as a wrestler, president of talent relations and head trainer at their dojo. Aoki began his career in Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, where he went on to become a tw ...

joined Evolution, bringing the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to the stable with him. As part of Evolution, Aoki and Sato formed a tag team named , becoming two-time All Asia Tag Team Champions and three-time winners of the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory tournament.

History

Last Revolution (2012–2013)

On October 21, 2012, two longtime "generational rivals",

and Suwama, faced each other in a match, which ended in a draw, after both men were counted out of the ring. After Suwama successfully pleaded for the match to be restarted, it ended in another draw less than three minutes later, when neither man was able to continue. Following the match, the two men shook hands, before Suwama announced that he was going to be taking part in the upcoming

World's Strongest Tag Determination League __NOTOC__ The , more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actuall ...

and nominated Doering as his partner. On November 13, Suwama held a press conference to announce that he and Doering had come up with a name for their new

, "Last Revolution" (L/R), combining the names of the finishing moves of the two men; Suwama's '' Last Ride'' and Doering's '' Revolution Bomb''. In the tournament, which ran from November 17 to 30 and was contested for the vacant

World Tag Team Championship In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...

, Last Revolution made it all the way to the finals, before losing to Get Wild (

Manabu Soya is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Pro Wrestling NOAH. He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling, and he previously lived in Canada training at the Can-Am Wrestling School under Scott D'Amore, working ...

and

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler, working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Championship ( ...

). On March 4, 2013, Suwama announced that in order to counter the momentum of the new

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

stable, Last Revolution had recruited a new member,

. Before the end of the month, Kondo's longtime tag team partner

also joined Last Revolution, while veteran wrestler

Masahiro Chono is an American-born Japanese retired Professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestler and actor best known for his 26-year stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). As the leader of New World Order (professional wrestling), nWo Japan, Tea ...

acted as an unofficial advisor for members of the stable. On March 17, Suwama defeated

Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF) ...

for AJPW's top title, the

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. The current champion is Jun Saito, who is in his first reign. Title history The championship was established after the unifica ...

, bringing Last Revolution its first title. On April 29, Hayashi and Kondo faced

Sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

and

in a tag team match. Despite Hayashi pinning Nakanoue for the win, he and Kondo afterwards offered the rookie wrestler a spot in Last Revolution. Nakanoue immediately accepted the offer, thus becoming the stable's fifth member. However, the following June, after Nobuo Shiraishi took over as the new president of AJPW,

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and duri ...

quit the promotion and was joined by wrestlers loyal to him, which included Hayashi, Kondo and Nakanoue, leading to Suwama announcing that Last Revolution would be disbanding following the June 30 AJPW event.

Evolution (2013–2022)

On September 23, 2013, it was announced that Doering and Suwama were coming back together full time under the new team name "Evolution", challenging the reigning World Tag Team Champions, Burning's Go Shiozaki and

Jun Akiyama (born October 9, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, rep ...

, to a title match. The match took place on October 22 and saw Evolution defeat Burning to become the new World Tag Team Champions. With the win, Suwama, now holding the three Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship belts and two World Tag Team Championship belts, became AJPW's first "Quintuple Crown Champion" in 12 years. However, just five days later, Suwama lost the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to Akebono. On December 8, Doering and Suwama solidified their spot as AJPW's top tag team by defeating Xceed's Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara in the finals to win the 2013 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. On February 16, 2014, Evolution was once again turned into a stable, when Suwama accepted

's direct appeal and made him Evolution's third member, tasking him with bringing the World Junior Heavyweight Championship over to the stable. Suwama and Doering's reign as the World Tag Team Champions came to an end on June 28, when they lost the title to Wild Burning (Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori). However, the very next day, Suwama defeated Omori to recapture the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. On July 27, after successfully defending the World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hikaru Sato,

announced he was joining Evolution. Later that same event, Evolution's two original members faced off in a match, where Doering defeated Suwama to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the first time. On October 22, Aoki and Sato won the 2014 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory, defeating

Último Dragón , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, ...

and

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. He also works as a backstage producer for NJPW. Professional wrestling career ...

in the finals. On January 3, 2015, Doering lost the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki in his fourth defense. On March 27, Aoki lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to

Kotaro Suzuki , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Gleat. He is best known for working for the Pro Wrestling Noah and All Japan Pro Wrestling promotions, where he was a four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Cha ...

. On October 23, Aoki and Sato won their second Jr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by winning the

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

with a record of three wins and one loss. In late 2015, following Go Shiozaki's departure from AJPW, Suwama offered his tag team partner Kento Miyahara a spot in Evolution. Though Miyahara turned down the offer, he agreed to team with Suwama in the 2015 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. After winning the tournament, Miyahara expressed interest in continuing to team up with Suwama, but was attacked by Suwama, who instead announced Naoya Nomura as the newest member of Evolution. On January 2, 2016, Suwama defeated Jun Akiyama to regain the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. However, Suwama was stripped of the title only ten days later after suffering an achilles tendon rupture. On February 21, Aoki defeated Sato in the finals to win the 2016 Jr. Battle of Glory and the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Aoki went on to lose the title to Sato on June 19. On July 16, the second Super Tiger joined the stable. On July 24, Aoki and Sato defeated Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto at a

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagas ...

(BJW) event to win the

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). Originally, it was the top tag team title in the JWA, but its status became secondary once the NWA International Tag Team Championship was brou ...

, bringing it back to AJPW. On July 30, Naoya Nomura left Evolution to join Kento Miyahara's Nextream stable. On August 28, Sato lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Soma Takao in his second defense at

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

's Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2016. On September 19, Suwama defeated

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

in the finals to win the 2016 Ōdō Tournament. On November 17, Aoki and Sato won their third Jr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by defeating Soma Takao and

Yuma Aoyagi is a Japanese professional wrestler working for All Japan Pro Wrestling. A member of the Zennichi Shin Jidai stable, he is a former AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a two-time All Asia Tag Team Champion ...

in a playoff match. On November 27, Aoki and Sato lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to veteran wrestlers

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing the hardcore wrestling, deathmatch style of professional wrestling t ...

and

Masanobu Fuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is also a director and the co-head booker. Fuchi has exclusively worked for All Japan since his debut in 1974, and holds the record for the longest World Ju ...

, who became the 100th champions in the title's history. On January 2, 2017, Joe Doering returned to AJPW after being sidelined for 18 months due to a brain tumor, teaming with Evolution stablemates Hikaru Sato and Suwama in a six-man tag team match, where they defeated Jake Lee, Kento Miyahara and Naoya Nomura. On April 28, Sato defeated Keisuke Ishii to win the World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time. On June 20, Aoki and Sato defeated Onita and Fuchi to regain the All Asia Tag Team Championship. On July 30, Sato lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Tajiri in his fifth defense. That same day, Doering quit Evolution, which was followed by Sato also quitting the stable just four days later after losing to Suwama in a grappling match. Suwama and Doering immediately started feuding with each another, with Doering vowing to kill his former stable. On September 23, Suwama first defeated Doering in the semifinals and then Shuji Ishikawa in the finals to win his second Ōdō Tournament in a row. On October 9, Suwama defeated Kento Miyahara to regain the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. He lost the title to Doering on October 21. On June 3, 2019, the World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Aoki died in a motorcycle accident.

Members

Evolution

Last Revolution

Timeline

Championships and accomplishments

( 4 times, current) – Aoki and Sato (2), Tamura and Sato (2) **

( 6 times) – Suwama (5) and Doering (1) ** World Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 4 times) – Aoki (2) and Sato (2) **

( 1 time) – Doering and Suwama ** Jr. Battle of Glory (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) – Aoki ** Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) – Aoki and Sato ** Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) – Sato and Okada ** Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

) – Sato and Tamura ** Ōdō Tournament (

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

) – Suwama **

(

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) – Doering and Suwama *

Tenryu Project is an independent Japanese professional wrestling promotion. The promotion was founded by and is owned by puroresu legend Genichiro Tenryu, who has owned and operated it since its creation in 2010. The Tenryu project is the successor to Tenryu's ...

** United National Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – Suwama and Tamura

Notes

References

{{Navboxes , list1= {{All Asia Tag Team Championship {{World Tag Team Championship (AJPW) {{World's Strongest Tag Determination League {{United National Tag Team Championship All Japan Pro Wrestling teams and stables Japanese promotions teams and stables