WWE fans hoping Evolution would finally become an annual event probably shouldn’t get too excited. Despite the positive reaction to last year’s all-women’s PLE, the latest word is that another Evolution isn’t expected anytime soon.
During a recent WrestleVotes Q&A, JoeyVotes was asked where things currently stand with Evolution after WWE brought the event back last year. He said he hasn’t heard anything about another show, which pretty much kills the idea that WWE was planning to make it a yearly tradition.
“I haven’t heard anything about Evolution. They didn’t do one this year, so it won’t become an annual thing that people thought coming off last year’s show.”
Joey then brought up something that has apparently followed Evolution all the way back to the original event in 2018. According to him, the story within WWE has long been that the first show didn’t pull the kind of WWE Network numbers the company wanted.
“The only thing I can say about Evolution, going back to the first Evolution in 2018 — the running tale within WWE is the show drew lesser numbers on the WWE Network viewership, both live and replay, than most of the TakeOvers around that time, which they were not happy about.”
WWE seemingly moved past those concerns enough to finally bring Evolution back last year. However, Joey noted that after all the excitement surrounding its return, the event has once again disappeared from WWE’s calendar.
“They seemed to get over that last year, but now it is nowhere to be found. I don’t think it’s coming soon.”
TC doesn’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing either. Instead of WWE forcing Evolution onto the calendar every year, he believes spacing the shows out could actually help keep the concept feeling special.
“It’s better off every couple of years, where you’re not shoehorning it, since it feels special when it pops up on the calendar. All-women’s wrestling is not everyone’s cup of tea.”
Joey then got to what may be the biggest issue from WWE’s perspective — the numbers. According to him, an all-women’s event simply doesn’t attract the same level of audience as WWE’s regular major programming, making the company less interested in pouring the same resources into it.
“It doesn’t draw as many eyeballs as a RAW or SmackDown or PLE does. WWE doesn’t want to put the resources in for something that isn’t going to return the same type of numbers that a standard PLE would.”
That’s a pretty different picture from the optimism coming out of last year’s Evolution. Rhea Ripley openly pushed for the event to become annual, saying the women had proven what they could do and hoping fans would come away believing WWE needed to run the show every year. For now, that doesn’t appear to be happening. WWE hasn’t announced Evolution 3, and if the latest word is accurate, fans could be waiting a while before the all-women’s PLE makes another comeback.
The door doesn’t sound permanently closed on Evolution, but yearly shows apparently aren’t part of the plan. WWE may instead treat the event as something that comes around every few years when the timing and business make sense.
What do you think about WWE not planning another Evolution anytime soon? Should the all-women’s PLE become an annual event or work better as an occasional special? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
