Over the weekend, it was announced that rising Midwest indie star Curt Stallion has signed a contract with EVOLVE Wrestling.

While he’s made a name for himself in the US Midwest indie scene of late, Texas born and raised Curt Stallion started out in the Texas indies after training with Jastin Taylor and debuting with Top of Texas Pro Wrestling in 2013. He would soon find work with one of Texas’ top indies, Anarchy Championship Wrestling (ACW), by 2015, but he decided to move to St. Louis, Missouri to further his wrestling education and opportunity. In St. Louis, he began training under former Ring of Honor (ROH) World Champion and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Michael Elgin, and he slowly began to work in other promotions, such as New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC), Dynamo Pro, as well as several dark matches for ROH.

He really began to work more of the Midwest in 2016, wrestling for IWA Mid South, St. Louis Anarchy, and Wrestling Revolver, as well as working more Southern and Mid Atlantic indies like Pro Wrestling Freedom (PWF) and Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment (AWE), all while still wrestling for his Texas home, ACW, where he won the ACW Unified Championship in 2016. He also made his Canadian debut with Ethan Page’s company, Alpha-1 Wrestling and got his first taste of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) family (EVOLVE’s parent) in Full Impact Pro.

In 2017, he took another huge step, in starting to work with Chicago’s All American Wrestling (AAW), where he joined a stable alongside Chicago indie veteran Nick Brubaker and another young Midwest star on the rise, Jake Something. By the end of the year, they were challenging The Besties in the World for the AAW Tag Team titles. When his mentor opened up Glory Pro, Stallion became one of Glory Pro’s immediate stars, and he began working with a new upstart Southern promotion, Nashville’s Southern Underground Pro (SUP), becoming their inaugural SUP Bonestorm Champion and reigning for over 300 days, as well as Ohio’s top promotion, Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW).

Last year, Stallion exploded even further, making debuts with Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), Rockstar Pro, Beyond Wrestling, and NOVA Pro, and last December made his EVOLVE debut at EVOLVE 117 against AR Fox. His role in AAW also increased dramatically, when he and Something – alongside new valet Quinn McKay – joined David Starr and Eddie Kingston‘s stable WRSTLING. Stallion and Something are filling some big shoes, replacing Jeff Cobb (signed with ROH) and Trevor Lee (heading to the WWE), instantly elevating to the main event.

And now, Curt Stallion is starting off 2019 by signing his first big contract, with EVOLVE Wrestling, where he’ll continue to develop and work alongside some of EVOLVE’s biggest stars. And his signing got a ringing endorsement from one of his indie pals who made the leap to NXT in 2018, the “Bro” himself, Matt Riddle.