Impact News: EVOLVE's Gabe Sapolsky states that he will no longer book Impact Wrestling talent

What’s the story?

EVOLVE’s Gabe Sapolsky has addressed Impact Officials pulling Impact World Tag Team champions LAX from upcoming events in December. Gabe Sapolsky makes it clear that he will no longer book contracted Impact Wrestling talents in the future.

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In Case You Did Know…

EVOLVE announced that the Impact Wrestling World Tag Team champions would be in action for the weekend of December 15th & 16th.

LAX was set to take on AR Fox & Leon Ruff and EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins – better known as The Street Profits in WWE NXT- in a triple threat tag team match on the 15th in Queens. The next night, LAX & Austin Theory vs. Ford, Dawkins and Darby Allin in a six-man match was booked for the Long Island show.

However, on November 27th, EVOLVE's Gabe Sapolsky announced that Impact officials had pulled LAX from both events.

According to the Wrestling Observer, the reason the company pulled their World Tag Team champions from the show was due to Impact officials not wanting LAX to appear on a show that could ultimately end up streaming on the WWE network nor did management want LAX to lose to lower tier NXT talent as it would present the Impact champions as weak.

The heart of the matter

Wrestletalk has the statement of Gabe Sapolsky detailing the situation around Impact Wrestling pulling LAX.

Sapolsky doesn’t fault LAX as the tag team was simply caught in the middle, but makes it clear that he has no intentions on booking contracted Impact talents because of this incident.

You can read the full statement from EVOLVE below:

"We are sorry to inform you that Impact Wrestling has pulled LAX off the upcoming EVOLVE dates. EVOLVE officials were contacted by LAX and informed that they were needed for something else that weekend. No other explanation was given. Impact Wrestling didn't contact EVOLVE officials and left it up to LAX.

There is no heat on LAX as WWN understands the situation they were put in. EVOLVE officials had told LAX that the plan was to have matches with EVOLVE Tag Team Champions The Street Profits of Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins that weekend. EVOLVE was informed that LAX would not be able to lose in those matches. In order to avoid any political issues, EVOLVE made one night a triple threat match and the other night a six-man tag. This would give the fans the LAX vs. Street Profits matches they wanted while protecting all parties politically.

Unfortunately, Impact Wrestling waited until the matches were announced and then pulled the talent the next day. This all could have easily been avoided by not allowing LAX to take the dates in the first place.

EVOLVE will no longer consider booking Impact Wrestling contracted talent moving forward. EVOLVE officials are currently working on a replacement and will have news early next week.

We apologize for the lineup change, but assure you that EVOLVE will produce something special on for EVOLVE 117 December 15th in Queens, NY and EVOLVE 118 on December 16th in Deer Park, NY. Thank you for your support."

What’s Next?

This situation can actually be harmful for Impact talents going forward in terms of working with other independent companies like EVOLVE. Other promotio may see this situation and become hesitant to book Impact talents in the future.

LAX (Santana and Ortiz) are set to defend their World Tag Team titles against the Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. and Fenix) at Homecoming on Jan. 6 at the Asylum in Nashville.

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Edited by Alan John