The World Wrestling Network is an
American 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- ...
organization known for and branded after its
video streaming service, WWNLive.
WWNLive hosts content both from WWN's "brands", including
Full Impact Pro
Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the president, while Trevin Adams is the ...
(FIP) and
Shine Wrestling, as well as content from third-party organizations.
History
World Wrestling Network was founded by Sal Hamaoui and Tony Valamontes in 2001 as a DVD company before it later evolved into an internet streaming and
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...
business.
[ In 2003, WWNLive began producing FIP DVDs.][
In November 2014, Evolve Wrestling, ]Dragon Gate USA
Dragon Gate USA (DGUSA) is an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2009 as an international expansion of the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate.
Gabe Sapolsky, former head booker of Ring of Honor, served as the promotion's Vice Presi ...
(DGUSA), Full Impact Pro
Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the president, while Trevin Adams is the ...
(FIP) and Shine Wrestling held a tour of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
under the WWNLive banner. The following month, WWNLive announced a long-term deal with Great-Wall International Sports Management for regular tours of Asia, starting in the spring of 2015.
In 2015, WWNLive opened a training facility in Trinity, Florida named the "World Wrestling Network Academy". That year, Evolve began a partnership with WWE. Evolve's wrestlers were featured on WWE.com, while NXT wrestlers Sami Zayn, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan took part in Evolve events in non-wrestling roles. In January 2016, NXT General Manager William Regal
Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for ...
and WWE COO Triple H
Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer.
Levesque began his wres ...
attended Evolve 54. As part of the relationship, it was announced in March 2016 that Evolve would hold qualifying matches for WWE's Cruiserweight Classic.
On October 24, 2016, WWNLive and FloSports announced a new streaming service to launch on November 4. Through the service, subscribers can access both live streaming events as well as events from WWNLive's on-demand library, dating back to 2003.
On November 22, 2016, it was announced that WWNLive would be debuting a new promotion named Style Battle on January 7, 2017. Also announced was the creation of the WWN Championship
The WWN Championship was a professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship promoted by the WWNLive governing body. The inaugural champion was crowned on April 1, 2017, when Matthew Riddle, Matt Riddle defeated five othe ...
on April 1, 2017.
On September 21, 2017, it was reported that FloSports had filed a $1 million lawsuit against WWNLive for breach of contract and alleged misrepresentation of iPPV and VOD buyrates. WWNLive, meanwhile, claimed that FloSports had failed to live up to their contractual obligations. Because of the lawsuit, FloSports pulled all future WWNLive events from its streaming service. The following December, WWNLive launched a replacement streaming service, Club WWN.
In July 2020, Evolve's assets were sold to WWE and Sapolsky left WWN. A few weeks later, WWN announced the creation of Grindhouse, a new brand promoted by Eddie Kingston.
Brands
Active
Defunct
Championships
;Active
;Defunct
References
External links
*
{{VOD services
American professional wrestling promotions
Evolve (professional wrestling)
Organizations established in 2001
2001 establishments in the United States
Internet television channels
Subscription video streaming services
Professional wrestling streaming services