[Emperor Smeat]

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Originally Posted by Observer The story we've gotten is WWE and Vince McMahon have signed off on allowing ESPN to use archival Flair footage for the 30 for 30 special they are currently working on. The special is supposed to cover Flair's entire career, the plane crash, personal life and financial issues, his son's death and everything else, with a focus on his heyday in the 80s. Flair was interviewed this past week for four hours for the special.

Originally Posted by Vanityfair It’s been six months since Bill Simmons left ESPN, and three since he announced he would be partnering with HBO, and yet the exact future of the Simmons entertainment/sports empire is still shrouded in mystery. But according to a new report, we may have the first solid piece of the puzzle. Simmons and HBO will join forces, according to Page Six, for the most entertainment/sports crossover subject you can think of: a documentary about André the Giant ... So, rags to riches, a pop-culture icon, and a tragic end? Sounds like Simmons has the perfect subject on his hands. Richard Johnson of Page Six reports that 30 for 30 director Jonathan Hock has followed Bill Simmons “out the door from ESPN,” and there have been some rumblings that, like the recently shuttered Grantland before it, the popular sports documentary series is floundering since its creator, Simmons, departed.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...princess-bride

Originally Posted by Observer An original on the books plan for the Tokyo Dome is a singles match with Jay Lethal vs. Michael Elgin, possibly with the ROH title at stake. This would be Lethal's introduction to New Japan as a star. Given that Elgin is now a free agent, that would mean if he inks a deal with WWE (or TNA), this could have to be changed.

Originally Posted by Observer Another controversy came from our reporting of his downside guarantee of $1.45 million. WWE said that while he could very well make $1.45 million per year, his downside was significantly less, claiming it as under $500,000. Others who are close to him are insisting that's WWE trying to save face when the word got out. I tend to believe WWE on this one, because the negotiations started right after his Lucha Underground deal fell apart. The timing made me think he was going to them, not them to him, and if that's the case, the downside wouldn't be as high. But saying that contradicts people who had been kept abreast of the situation, who claim Paul Levesque called him first. I do know that it was an issue within WWE because the doctrine is that nobody gets more than a $1 million downside guarantee (although Brock Lesnar got far more, and guys like John Cena or possibly Undertaker may– but the belief is that the Randy Orton types are getting a $1 million downside, but end up earning far more than that).

Would have made a bit more with Lucha Underground for less days had he taken their deal but the bonuses and merch sales likely pushed him towards taking the WWE deal for less downside and more dates.

Originally Posted by Observer For the new season of Lucha Underground, we're told the cost-cutting will not be so much cutting the production costs of the show itself, but taping fewer episodes of the show. The new season has 12 taping dates, and if they do two episodes per taping, as they were doing at the end of last season, that would be 24 shows, down from 39 the first season.

Originally Posted by Observer The Young Bucks deal was a one-year contract, which means that in about six to nine months we'll have all the rumors all over again about them going to WWE. Just for a clarification, the deal with ROH is exclusive for North America with the exception of PWG, so that means U.S., Canada and Mexico. New Japan strongly encouraged them to sign the deal because they knew how hard they were working on the indies and didn't want them to get hurt by working so many dates. Plus, since they work with ROH, both sides will be able to coordinate the dates. They are supposed to also do a ten week minimum with New Japan on a separate deal . Essentially, between the two, they are guaranteed more money than they've ever earned before and will be working considerably less dates. The PWG aspect of the deal was something they insisted on, and they also get to keep their merchandising rights and Pro Wrestling Tees business. Nobody else under ROH contract, even those with non-exclusive deals, are allowed to be affiliated with Pro Wrestling Tees.

Part of a new plan by parent company Sinclair to help boost ROH with extra funding than usual when needed. Budget also going to go up gradually over the next couple of years to help ROH more.

Originally Posted by Observer Not that there was much in the way of business that this relates to, but ROH is no longer allowing any contracted talent, whether they have exclusive or non-exclusive deals, to work for AAA.

Was implied the ROH-NJPW deal played a bit in a role why ROH dropped all remaining ties with AAA. NJPW has a working deal with CMLL only and ROH wpuld have had some scheduling issues with upcoming events if they sent guys to both Mexican promotions and NJPW.

Originally Posted by Observer In a follow-up of Marc Etkind moving from Destination America as General Manager a few weeks ago, it was Etkind who made the call to drop TNA and it came after the alleged e-mail Dixie Carter accidentally sent to the head of the Discovery Network that was saying Etkind was an idiot in regard to not releasing the DVR ratings, like Spike often did, since TNA was doing 20 percent increases over its same night viewing when you add in those who watched over the next week on DVR. While there is no indication anything has changed in that regard, we were told that all programming decisions are now being evaluated. For what it's worth, it seems like those in TNA believe they are still done in January, while those in ROH say they are awaiting word of what their future on the station is.

Originally Posted by Observer Coming on the heels of TNA's announcement of going to India, WWE has announced shows on 1/15 and 1/16 at the Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Dehli, headlined by Cena. Daniel Bryan was sent to India to make the announcement. The last time WWE went to India, in 2002, it was a disaster in the sense payoffs were horrible because the profit margin was low and several guys claimed at the time they'd quit the company rather than go back because so many people got sick. Regal got terribly sick. When media asked officials if Khali would be there (he's now affiliated with TNA), Rajesh Sethi of Ten Sports Network, which is bringing them in, started talking about how big the Big Show is and that he would be there.

Originally Posted by Observer More important when it comes to the value of Raw, if you take Raw out of that week's ratings, the USA average for the week drops to 1,203,000 viewers, and would only be in 12th place, which would be considered disastrous for a network that for years was No. 1. That's why even with Raw's ratings decline this year, it is at this point more important for USA to keep Raw than it would have been two years ago when Raw's numbers were higher, because USA is dropping at a far greater pace than its competition. While Raw always helped, until two years ago, USA would have been No. 1 even without Raw. Now they aren't No. 1 even with three hours of Raw and would be an also-ran without it.

RAW managed to become more valuable to USA not because it was doing good but instead USA's new shows haven't been able to maintain the viewership nor ratings the previous shows did for them. Big reason why RAW can get away with the declining numbers since USA has nothing at the moment worthy to replace it.

Originally Posted by PWI The 9 p.m. airing of Impact on 11/4 did 262,000 viewers, down from last week’s 266,000 viewers. The replay did 81,000 viewers, down from last week’s 98,000 viewers. Overall they did 343,000 viewers, down from last week’s 364,000 viewers. The 11/4 edition of Ring Of Honor did 141,000 viewers, way down from last week’s 227,000 viewers.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Bayley recently debunked rumors on Twitter about her getting a new theme song due to her recent house show match in Ireland. Said it was her choice to mix it up for the tour.
• Based on recent house show reports in the UK and WWE's own website, Damien Sandow got repackaged back to his original Intellectual Savoir gimmick (or something very similar to it). Image from recent house show event http://i.imgur.com/2jGGsMv.jpg
• For those going to the WWE UK tour shows, it was announced Big Show has replaced Seth Rollins for tour appearances. Wrestled against Kane for the recent show in Cardiff, Wales.