Did Gabe Sapolsky Owner of EVOLVE (and current employee of WWE) Really Say, THIS!?

Yes he did and now let's break it down.

The above shot you see I caught floating around Twitter last night. I find it funny that Gabe Sapolsky, owner of EVOLVE Wrestling, AND.. Current employee for the WWE posted this (and from what I've heard, has quickly deleted it as well). The fact is, indy wrestlers DO travel that long almost every weekend for a payoff like that, if they're even lucky to get 'that' for a payoff. They want the work, they want the exposure, the experience of working in front of a live crowd, working for different promotions, etc. It's been this way for years.

I know this for a fact from when I worked for a group called the Eastern Wrestling Alliance (when they were based in Maine), guys from Rhode Island drove from there to Lewiston, Maine. And visa versa when the Maine guys went to work shows in Rhode Island. I can go to Youtube right now, post links from shows and point out who drove several hours from where. I even saw acouple guys drive up from the southern part of Mass. To Farmington, Maine in hopes of 'maybe', getting booked on a show if there was a spot open, someone no showed, whatever. The point is Gabe says this shouldn't be happening but it's been happening for years and years and still is happening to this very day. Trying to drop WWE's name into it doesn't help or work either because WWE has had a long habit of just snatching up talent, refusing to let them finish off their indy dates, and since the story broke yesterday, prohibits them (again) from working for other indy promotions. Yanking them off their finished dates and pretty much fucking over those promoters who had long range plans in place. OR, don't even have a chance to at LEAST, close out whatever story line that talent was involved in in said promotion.

Maybe Gabe has forgotten about what a lot of State Boxing and Wrestling Commissions require when it comes to an indy promoter putting on a show. I know about this from the fact I locally promoted shows in NH for two different indy promotions, as well as asked about regulations in Maine. Like the Paramedic required part of Gabe's post. Sometimes it's a State Boxing And Wrestling Commission requirement, or in the case of Rochester, NH where I locally promoted two shows for WWA New England, it was a “City” requirement. Rochester, NH is known as a 'permit town', you have to get a permit from the city in order to promote a wrestling show there. Which means going thru a long ordeal of getting your proposal on the City Council's agenda for their next meeting, HOPING, they approve it and then going thru the city management committee which is the Fire chief, Police chief and the city manager. They required either a paramedic or a licensed EMT to be on hand. I must be a lucky one because one of the guys who was helping me set chairs, tables, ring, etc up was what? A Licensed EMT. I was able to meet the requirement with Dave but only after going thru yet another process of bringing copies of Dave's drivers license and EMT license to the city manager's office who was giving me this skeptical look when I said “Call the fire chief, he knows who Dave is”. He didn't have to because the Fire Chief was walking by the city manager's office, saw me and walked in to ask how the show idea was progressing. I pointed at the city manager and said “I think he's looking for another reason to give me hurdles to hop”. I explained the situation and the Chief saw Dave's driver's license and said “He works for AMR and I saw him at an accident two days ago” So the fire chief helped get Dave approved.

While Rochester required the EMT or Paramedic, Manchester NH didn't but Dave being there on a Sousa Show months before this Rochester show came in handy as you see by the shot I posted, which comes from this article I wrote for a long forgotten web page I don't utilize anymore. http://prowrestlingmemories.angelfire.com/beingaplant.html so it's sometimes a city or sometimes a state commission thing, something I guess Gabe who is an owner of an indy company, seems to have forgotten. Maybe he should research the towns he runs EVOLVE in and find out what the requirements really are. OOOOHH what a concept, eh?

Now trying to drop WWE's name and attempt to be sarcastic on it with his “They Are Evil” crack isn't getting him over at all. Because look at what the WWE is doing now with the restrictions on wrestlers they signed in the UK. FIRST they say there's no restrictions but NOW, as the news broke yesterday, WWE is again (or still) going back on their word (like they haven't done THAT before). Locking up talents from appearing on other indy shows when their own NXT house shows in the UK weren't sell outs shows that WWE aren't really thinking their UK plan thru very well. But pulling talents from their upcoming indy dates not only fucks over the wrestlers themselves, it fucks over the fans who bought tickets to see those advertised talents, AND it fucks over the promoters who have had ongoing story lines going with these talents.

But hey, Sapolsky doesn't have to worry about that because HIS promotion EVOLVE has a working agreement with WWE and, Gabe gets a paycheck as well from the WWE. So I guess it's easy for him to make these little flimsy claims, huh.

Previously the NXT UK Superstars were only restricted from other promotions with distribution deals, but now they will be barred from all other promotions. The only exceptions are those companies that WWE had partnered with including Progress, EVOLVE, ICW and wXw (Germany).

But what about the other promoters who are now getting shit on because of this? What about the fans who paid their money for tickets to see these talents that are getting yanked, and especially, what about the talents themselves? Not only do they get whatever payoff for appearing on the show but what about extra money they make from merchandising their t-shirts, pictures, dvds, etc? Are these 'big money deals' (cough cough) the WWE has given good enough to offset whatever losses these talents will experience because of being pulled off dates they agreed to appear on? Seeing how WWE's UK shows were disappointing attendance wise it makes you wonder why these talents are thinking about all this.

Of course Gabe Sapolsky doesn't have to think about it because he's getting two paychecks. From his own company and WWE, which again I say why it must be real easy for him to make little snide statements like the one that's posted at the beginning of this article. He tries to toe a WWE company line but seconds later deletes the post? why has he deleted it? What's he so afraid of that he had to quickly delete the post? If you meant it then stand by it. Make up your mind, is it that much of a challenge for him to do so?

Maybe in the end when it comes to things like this, it might be in Mr. Sapolsky's best interests to just.. Shut the fuck up.