[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Renee Young gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2,626,000 viewers, down just 1,000 from last week's show. As has been the case with episodes following brand-specific pay-per-views since the roster split, there was no PPV "bounce back" this week following Sunday's Elimination Chamber show.

Originally Posted by Observer Vader posted a sad tweet regarding his health on Twitter: "As I enter my final days, proud of the Father Son Brother Football player Pro WrestlerThe Super Heavy Big Man Goat Im Grateful for the Time."

Vader previously revealed he was suffering from heart failure with original estimates giving him at least 6 months left to live. Either his health drastically changed for the worse or doctor(s) were too optimistic with their evaluation. Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/itsvadertime/sta...39440909021185

Originally Posted by Observer The entire immediate McMahon family visited Washington, DC yesterday as Linda McMahon was confirmed and sworn in as the new administrator of the Small Business Administration, which produced what will become a memorable photo in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump. As has been noted, nearly half of the people in the picture, including the President of the United States, have been recipients of at least one stunner from Steve Austin.

Link to the photo: https://twitter.com/WONF4W/status/831873452843872256

Originally Posted by Observer Last night's SmackDown and Talking Smack were interesting in terms of WWE's booking for WrestleMania season. It was announced on Talking Smack that there would be a battle royal to determine a new number one contender to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania after Randy Orton refused to face Bray Wyatt, which figures to be a storyline that plays out over the next few weeks. WWE also began to set up tension between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon with Styles complaining that he didn't get a one-on-one rematch for the title and Daniel Bryan not taking responsibility for the decision.

Originally Posted by Observer A new WWE.com video series premieres tomorrow. The show is called "My Son is a WWE Superstar," and the first episode features Finn Balor and his parents.

Link to a teaser: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/831963971271827456

Originally Posted by Observer Jay Lethal will face either Adam Cole or Bobby Fish in a top contenders match at Ring of Honor's 15th Anniversary PPV in Las Vegas on March 10th. Lethal's opponent will be whoever loses the Cole vs. Fish ROH World Championship match prior to that at Manhattan Mayhem.

Originally Posted by Observer Mark Andrews vs. Shane Strickland is set for PROGRESS Wrestling on February 26th at the Electric Ballroom in London. That show will be headlined by Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havoc & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate.

Originally Posted by Observer The Tampa Bay Times has an article featuring wrestlers from the area sharing Andre the Giant stories following the announcement that HBO would be partnering with WWE to make a documentary about Andre's life.

Link to the article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/tampa-a...f-espn/2313260

Originally Posted by PWI Finn Balor is officially advertised for the May European tour for RAW shows.

Originally Posted by PWI Goldberg is advertised for the March 27 RAW Taping in Philadelphia which should be no surprise as its the go-home RAW for WrestleMania

Originally Posted by PWI Prior to the Rumble it became apparent (a lot due to betting odds being 1/25 at one point) that Randy Orton was winning the Rumble. All last week it was apparent again due to similar reasons that Bray Wyatt was winning the WWE Title. Goldberg becoming champion is now a similar situation, with almost everyone knowing the results pre event, and even the WMania33 Card being online before matches are announced, Cena/Nikki vs Miz/Maryse springs to mind. My question I guess is how does Vince feel about this? Does he even pay attention to the online sites getting everything correct from sources et al pre event? Surely he doesn’t want viewers knowing what happens in advance? He knows that stuff gets out there and most of the time doesn’t make changes because of it. If he believes in his plans, he shouldn’t either. But make no mistake, he hates that it leaks and if he finds out who did it, he will fire them in most, if not all, cases.

From a recent Q&A session PWI holds weekly with one topic involving Vince's feelings when it comes to leaks.

Mick Foley recently appeared on Lilian Garcia's podcast. During the interview, Foley brought up an incident where Vince McMahon yelled at Braun Strowman: "I was about to go out there a couple weeks ago, and I heard Braun Strowman say, I want a title shot. Mr. McMahon's behind the curtain, at the board watching the monitor, and he goes, oh god, it's not a title shot. I was thinking to myself, then what is it? That's exactly what I would go to call it when I would go out there. You want a title shot? He's like, it's a title match. It's a match! So if you ever wonder what it's like to see a six-foot-eight, three hundred pound behemoth get chewed out, you should've been there."

Wacky Vince story from not-so-back-in-the-day.


Some other sheet news includes:

• Recent update for the WWE Network included support for Google Chromecast devices.
• For those interested, WWE is releasing a new book called "The Official WWE Book of Rules: (And How to Break Them)" and arrives on February 28th. https://www.amazon.com/Official-WWE-.../dp/1942556101
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, recently retired Rose Mendes' ppv record in the WWE was 0 wins and 3 losses. Had one ppv match in 2009 and wouldn't have a second match till 2013. Biggest surprise was all there of her matches happened in the Big 4 tier of ppvs (2 at Mania, 1 at Survivor Series). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...eer_here_is_a/
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, supposedly the earliest known footage of someone body slamming Andre the Giant prior to Mania III is from 1972 during a match Andre had in Japan against Strong Kobayashi. Harley Race also slammed Andre once in 1979 for pre-Hogan slams. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...ostcount=12141