| Evolution | |
|---|---|
 The logo of Evolution | |
| Stable | |
| Members | See below |
| Names |
|
| Debut |
|
| Disbanded | August 25, 2022 |
| Years active | 2012–2022 |
Evolution is aprofessional wrestlingstable in theAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)promotion. Originally started as atag team namedLast Revolution (ラスト・レボリューション,Rasuto Reboryūshon) byJoe Doering andSuwama in October 2012, it was later turned into a stable whenKaz Hayashi,Shuji Kondo andYasufumi Nakanoue joined the two. The stable was disbanded in June 2013, when Hayashi, Kondo and Nakanoue left AJPW, but Doering and Suwama came back together under the new name Evolution the following September and recruitedHikaru Sato as the stable's third member in February 2014. Suwama has held theTriple Crown Heavyweight Champion twice and Doering once as representatives of the stable. The two are also former one-timeWorld Tag Team Champions and won the2013 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. In July 2014,Atsushi Aoki joined Evolution, bringing theWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship to the stable with him. As part of Evolution, Aoki and Sato formed a tag team namedHentai Jieitai (変態自衛隊,lit. "Pervert Self-Defense Forces"),[1] becoming two-timeAll Asia Tag Team Champions and three-time winners of theJr. Tag Battle of Glory tournament.
On October 21, 2012, two longtime "generational rivals",[2]Joe Doering andSuwama, faced each other in a match, which ended in a draw, after both men were counted out of the ring. After Suwama successfully pleaded for the match to be restarted, it ended in another draw less than three minutes later, when neither man was able to continue. Following the match, the two men shook hands, before Suwama announced that he was going to be taking part in the upcomingWorld's Strongest Tag Determination League and nominated Doering as his partner.[3] On November 13, Suwama held a press conference to announce that he and Doering had come up with a name for their newtag team, "Last Revolution" (L/R), combining the names of the finishing moves of the two men; Suwama'sLast Ride and Doering'sRevolution Bomb.[4] In the tournament, which ran from November 17 to 30 and was contested for thevacantWorld Tag Team Championship, Last Revolution made it all the way to the finals, before losing to Get Wild (Manabu Soya andTakao Omori).[5][6][7]
On March 4, 2013, Suwama announced that in order to counter the momentum of the newBurning stable, Last Revolution had recruited a new member,Shuji Kondo.[8] Before the end of the month, Kondo's longtime tag team partnerKaz Hayashi also joined Last Revolution, while veteran wrestlerMasahiro Chono acted as an unofficial advisor for members of the stable.[9] On March 17, Suwama defeatedMasakatsu Funaki for AJPW's top title, theTriple Crown Heavyweight Championship, bringing Last Revolution its first title.[10][11] On April 29, Hayashi and Kondo facedSushi andYasufumi Nakanoue in a tag team match. Despite Hayashi pinning Nakanoue for the win, he and Kondo afterwards offered the rookie wrestler a spot in Last Revolution. Nakanoue immediately accepted the offer, thus becoming the stable's fifth member.[12] However, the following June, after Nobuo Shiraishi took over as the new president of AJPW,Keiji Mutoh quit the promotion and was joined by wrestlers loyal to him, which included Hayashi, Kondo and Nakanoue, leading to Suwama announcing that Last Revolution would be disbanding following the June 30 AJPW event.[13]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2023) |
On September 23, 2013, it was announced that Doering and Suwama were coming back together full time under the new team name "Evolution", challenging the reigning World Tag Team Champions, Burning'sGo Shiozaki andJun Akiyama, to a title match.[14] The match took place on October 22 and saw Evolution defeat Burning to become the new World Tag Team Champions.[15] With the win, Suwama, now holding the three Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship belts and two World Tag Team Championship belts, became AJPW's first "Quintuple Crown Champion" in 12 years.[16] However, just five days later, Suwama lost the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship toAkebono.[10][17] On December 8, Doering and Suwama solidified their spot as AJPW's top tag team by defeatingXceed's Go Shiozaki andKento Miyahara in the finals to win the2013 World's Strongest Tag Determination League.[5][18] On February 16, 2014, Evolution was once again turned into a stable, when Suwama acceptedHikaru Sato's direct appeal and made him Evolution's third member, tasking him with bringing theWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship over to the stable.[19][20] Suwama and Doering's reign as the World Tag Team Champions came to an end on June 28, when they lost the title toWild Burning (Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori).[15][21] However, the very next day, Suwama defeated Omori to recapture the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.[10][21][22]
On July 27, after successfully defending the World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hikaru Sato,Atsushi Aoki announced he was joining Evolution.[23][24] Later that same event, Evolution's two original members faced off in a match, where Doering defeated Suwama to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the first time.[23][25] On October 22, Aoki and Sato won the2014 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory, defeatingÚltimo Dragón andYoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals.[26][27] On January 3, 2015, Doering lost the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship to Go Shiozaki in his fourth defense.[28][29] On March 27, Aoki lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship toKotaro Suzuki.[30][31] On October 23, Aoki and Sato won their secondJr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by winning theround-robin tournament with a record of three wins and one loss.[1][32][33] In late 2015, following Go Shiozaki's departure from AJPW, Suwama offered his tag team partner Kento Miyahara a spot in Evolution. Though Miyahara turned down the offer, he agreed to team with Suwama in the2015 World's Strongest Tag Determination League.[34] After winning the tournament, Miyahara expressed interest in continuing to team up with Suwama, but was attacked by Suwama, who instead announcedNaoya Nomura as the newest member of Evolution.[35][36]
On January 2, 2016, Suwama defeated Jun Akiyama to regain the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.[10][37] However, Suwama was stripped of the title only ten days later after suffering anachilles tendon rupture.[38][39] On February 21, Aoki defeated Sato in the finals to win the2016 Jr. Battle of Glory and the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[40] Aoki went on to lose the title to Sato on June 19.[41] On July 16, the secondSuper Tiger joined the stable.[42] On July 24, Aoki and Sato defeatedIsami Kodaka andYuko Miyamoto at aBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) event to win theAll Asia Tag Team Championship, bringing it back to AJPW.[43][44] On July 30, Naoya Nomura left Evolution to join Kento Miyahara's Nextream stable.[45] On August 28, Sato lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Soma Takao in his second defense atDDT Pro-Wrestling'sRyōgoku Peter Pan 2016.[46][47] On September 19, Suwama defeatedZeus in the finals to win the2016 Ōdō Tournament.[48][49] On November 17, Aoki and Sato won their thirdJr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by defeating Soma Takao andYuma Aoyagi in a playoff match.[50][51] On November 27, Aoki and Sato lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to veteran wrestlersAtsushi Onita andMasanobu Fuchi, who became the 100th champions in the title's history.[52][53]
On January 2, 2017, Joe Doering returned to AJPW after being sidelined for 18 months due to a brain tumor, teaming with Evolution stablemates Hikaru Sato and Suwama in a six-man tag team match, where they defeatedJake Lee, Kento Miyahara and Naoya Nomura.[54] On April 28, Sato defeatedKeisuke Ishii to win the World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[55] On June 20, Aoki and Sato defeated Onita and Fuchi to regain the All Asia Tag Team Championship.[56][57] On July 30, Sato lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship toTajiri in his fifth defense.[58] That same day, Doering quit Evolution, which was followed by Sato also quitting the stable just four days later after losing to Suwama in a grappling match.[59] Suwama and Doering immediately startedfeuding with each another,[60] with Doering vowing to kill his former stable.[61] On September 23, Suwama first defeated Doering in the semifinals and thenShuji Ishikawa in the finals to win his secondŌdō Tournament in a row.[62][63] On October 9, Suwama defeated Kento Miyahara to regain the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.[64][65] He lost the title to Doering on October 21.[66][67]
On June 3, 2019, the World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Aoki died in a motorcycle accident.[68]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| L | Leader |
| Member | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|
| Atsushi Aoki | July 27, 2014 –June 3, 2019[a] | |
| Dan Tamura | July 13, 2020 – present | |
| Hikaru Sato | February 16, 2014 –August 3, 2017 February 8, 2023 – present | |
| Joe Doering | * | September 23, 2013 –July 30, 2017 |
| Naoya Nomura | December 6, 2015 –July 30, 2016 | |
| Super Tiger II | July 16, 2016 – present | |
| Suwama | * L | September 23, 2013 –May 22, 2022 June 9, 2023 – present |
| Yusuke Okada | February 3, 2018 –July 13, 2020 | |
| Member | Tenure | |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Doering | * | October 21, 2012 –June 30, 2013 |
| Kaz Hayashi | March 23, 2013 –June 30, 2013 | |
| Shuji Kondo | March 4, 2013 –June 30, 2013 | |
| Suwama | * L | October 21, 2012 –June 30, 2013 |
| Yasufumi Nakanoue | April 29, 2013 –June 30, 2013 | |
