Evolve 1: Richards vs. Ibushi

Evolve 1: Richards vs. Ibushi, was a professional wrestling show produced by Evolve Wrestling and was held on held in Rahway, New Jersey at the Rahway Rec Center. This was the inaugural event produced by Evolve Wrestling. Lenny Leonard and Leonard F. Chikarason served as the commentators. In the main event, Davey Richards, accompanied by Kyle O'Reilly and Tony Kozina, faced against Kota Ibushi, who was accompanied by Michael Nakazawa.

Background

In 2009, in a series of viral videos featuring Jimmy Jacobs, Gabe Sapolsky announced Evolve. After this, more videos were produced promoting more wrestlers who were to be feature in the inaugural show, as well as featuring blogs written by other wrestlers expressing their thoughts about the promotion.[1]

During interviews with the Wrestling Observer's Figure 4 Weekly on its radio show, Sapolsky told editor Bryan Alvarez that Evolve would have stronger emphasis on rules and would not limit anyone based on their own respective style of wrestling in favor of showcasing the talent's individual strengths and covering up their flaws.[2]

Storylines

The show included matches resulting from various scripted storylines from Evolve and their sister promotion Dragon Gate USA.

On November 30, 2009, the main event for Evolve's debut show was announced which would feature Davey Richards taking on Kota Ibushi.[3]

On January 29, 2010, Sapolsky announced that Evolve would no longer be booking Davey Richards as he had signed a new deal with his former employer Ring of Honor. He was also dropped from Dragon Gate USA shows including their WrestleMania weekend shows.[4]

Results