"100,001" Replies (Wrestling Forum)

[Poit]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ARQVpKrE2LQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

:wtf:

[Lock Jaw]

Pretty terrifying..... would like to see them feud with the Wyatt Family.....

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/zVDfVut.gif

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Booker is a thief!

[Tom Guycott]

http://i.imgur.com/zVDfVut.gif

Booker is a thief!

Nah, he's just showing off for all the Parkamaniacs! You don't need the 411 when you got the 1-4-1-4... one for me, and one for all my homies!

[#1-norm-fan]

I didn't mind the Ziggler win, honestly. Corbin (and Big Cass) have been presented as big guys that are still finding themselves in the ring. It takes the need for them to be batting 100 off a little.


You're giving WWE's writing thought process way too much credit.

[Emperor Smeat]

A former WWE writer recently revealed what one of the plans for the Anonymous RAW GM was and Hornswoggle being the actual payoff was just meant as a joke. Also the joke being a lot more detailed than what was done on tv.

The anonymous GM was running Raw in the spring of 2011 when I was talking with WWE about a job on the creative team. As part of the process, I was asked to submit a story line in which the identity of the anonymous Raw GM would be revealed.

My choice for the anonymous one was Kevin Nash. My idea was that Mr. McMahon put Nash in charge of Raw because he wanted someone that would stir things up with both babyfaces and heels.

The story was that Nash, who was in TNA when the anonymous Raw GM began appearing on Raw, had to keep his identity a secret because he was under contract with another wrestling company. I figured Nash was a logical choice for the role and a big enough name that it wouldn't be a disappointment.

For the reveal, my idea was that one of the wrestlers had learned that the anonymous Raw GM was sending emails from a production truck outside the arena. Inside the truck, the anonymous GM was hidden behind a curtain. As the wrestler approached the curtain, the GM sent an email that said, "Ignore that man behind the curtain." When the curtain was pulled back, Nash was there in a wizard's hat, a clever nod to his infamous run as Oz in WCW.

Fast-forward to 2012. In the lead up to the 1,000th episode of Raw, former Raw GM's were being brought back each week to run the show for a night. On the July 9 episode, it was the anonymous Raw GM's turn.

Recalling how bad it was when the payoff to the story line of Mr. McMahon's illegitimate son was Hornswoggle, one of the head writers jokingly said during a brain-storming session with the creative team that Hornswoggle should be the anonymous Raw GM.

We all started laughing and throwing out suggestions for how it would play out and what the back story would be. It was all so ridiculous that the head writer actually thought it could be a so-bad-it's-good scenario that Vince just might go for.

The idea was that after Hornswoggle was outed as the GM, he'd reveal who he truly was. Saying that his name was Lou Manfredini (the last name of one of the writers), he would speak with a W.C. Fields-like accent, chomp on cigars and refer to women as "dames."

He would say that he hated being the lovable Hornswoggle character, but playing the role was what he had to do to get a job with WWE. Being the anonymous Raw GM gave him the opportunity to mess with all the Superstars that (in his mind) laughed at him because of his size and treated him more like a mascot than a person. We had planned on making Hornswoggle a heel manager going forward.

The idea was pitched to Vince, and sure enough, he OK'd it. There was only one problem: Hornswoggle couldn't pull it off.

I was the writer assigned to work with Hornswoggle the night on the reveal on Raw. He did take after take as the Lou Manfredini character backstage, but he still sounded like Hornswoggle. It just wasn't working, and one of the producers went to Vince and told him so. In Hornswoggle's defense, it's not like we gave him weeks to prepare for the role.

Vince decided that we would still do the segment, but after Hornswoggle was revealed as the anonymous Raw GM, that would be the end of it. Sadly, Lou Manfredini would never see the light of day. Understandably, Hornswoggle was pretty bummed about it.

So instead of a train wreck segment that could've been entertaining, it ended up just being a train wreck. In fact, it was so bad that Vince apologized to Jerry Lawler for involving him in it.
http://kevineckwrestling.sportsblog.com/posts/17702882/former-wwe-creative-writer-reveals-the-story-behind-hornswoggle-being-the-anonymous-raw-general-manager.html

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol at Vince apologizing to Jerry Lawler.

[Evil Vito]

Somewhat disturbing to me that a room of writers were all laughing at the thought of yet another Hornswoggle punchline.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, that they thought that any of it was good is terrifying.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kevin Nash as RAW GM would have been something, but the reveal is dumb. Writing something for a guy that is under contract someone else is dumb too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lynch hour!

https://38.media.tumblr.com/2a0822c7b305f47d028f629e391ea0e4/tumblr_nvampoMBst1sbr34po1_250.gif

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9b/f3/0b/9bf30bbd85f420eda3f0c71bf6be2e1c.jpg

http://pa1.narvii.com/5945/36825e72b98c5847062089e0572981a3ad5f9f3e_hq.gif

http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/becky-1.gif

[Mr. Nerfect]

And for fun, here's an Andre the Giant Pedigree:

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/IndolentSkinnyBinturong-size_restricted.gif

[Emperor Smeat]

Same former WWE writer also revealed Sheamus was meant to be Cena's successor for years before the WWE finally gave up and went with Reigns instead. Also confirmed Triple H was the big source of CM Punk's problems with WWE Creative.

Former WWE writer Kevin Eck was a recent guest of Wade Keller on the PW Torch Livecast, where he shed some very interesting light on a WWE creative meeting with Vince McMahon from several years back.

“John Cena is on 24-7, whether it’s the Make-A-Wish stuff or just the way he represents the business when he goes on a talk show or makes a personal appearance. I remember distinctly, we had a meeting at one point. As much as Vince loves Cena and sees his value, he’s always looking ahead at who’s going to be the next guy, and who should we start grooming, and who can fill that position. And we had a meeting about that one time. Who’s cool… who’s our next guy.. we need the cool factor. And I spoke up and I said ‘the coolest guy we have on our roster is CM Punk, and maybe he could be that.’ And I remember, Hunter was in that meeting, and he weighed-in immediately and said ‘Punk can’t be that guy that goes out and, it’s just not in him.”

It should be noted that Eck was on the WWE writing staff between 2011 and 2014, and Punk walked out of WWE in January 2014. Eck never specified when this “John Cena Successor” meeting took place, but it’s safe to narrow down sometime in 2012 or 2013. Punk was a main-eventer during that time, with WrestleMania matches against Chris Jericho (for the WWE Championship) and the Undertaker, but he never seen as the guy.

Eck went on to say in the Livecast that he persisted on Punk, asking Triple H and Vince what if they got behind Punk more and pushed him to be the next John Cena, but Hunter said you can’t change who you are. Even though Punk wanted to be the man inside the ring, he wasn’t willing to go the extra mile out of it. Interestingly enough, they did come to a conclusion as to who would take John Cena’s place as the face of the company: Sheamus.

Sheamus had many of the qualities that John Cena had that required a certain superstar to be at the forefront all the time. But Eck argued that Sheamus lacked the cool factor that CM Punk possessed, and it was partly to blame for the Celtic Warrior never quite capturing what WWE was hoping for. So in the three to four years since that meeting, WWE has continued to look for the next John Cena while Cena is still an active member of the roster. The fans forced Daniel Bryan on the WWE, and the WWE forced Roman Reigns on the fans.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3085432/wwe-news-backstage-insight-into-past-wwe-creative-meeting-to-decide-john-cenas-successor/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting. You could tell they always wanted big things for him. They gave him too many World Titles too soon.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Between Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio, I don't think I've ever seen two former multi-time World Champions that are so cold with crowds.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Del Rio will probably get more shine on Total Divas than he does on RAW or SmackDown.

[XL]

HHH is/was right about Punk tbf. I'm a massive Punk fan but he really would not have faired well in Cena's position, at least not in the MAW/charity/publicity stuff.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Probably not, but does a top wrestling star need to do that? I don't remember that being the case made against Triple H when he was constantly hitting Mick Foley over the head with steel chairs. That a top star needs to do the talk show circuit and all that is one of those modern expectations that you can't help but wonder might be a little forced.

[Mr. Nerfect]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You sure are taking great pleasure in my misfortune you stupid <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@wwe</a> idiots. Well now you're BLOCKED! <a href="https://t.co/aRLLrZOytq">https://t.co/aRLLrZOytq</a></p>&mdash; Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho/status/731892413027913728">May 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
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[Mr. Nerfect]

I kind of miss Trevor Murdoch a lot. The guy is still only 35 years old. I mean, that's no spring chicken, but he's still got some years left for a potential run somewhere, whether it be as a singles act or as part of a team/faction. I'd be extremely happy to see Murdoch given another run as a henchman to Chris Jericho or a member of The Wyatt Family. Why do they all need to be huge monsters?

I got thinking about him, because I saw Jax Dane's name pop up somewhere and I had no clue what he actually looked like, so I Google imaged and the guy and he's got that truck driver look. A guy with a Dane association is Rob Conway (former NWA World Tag Team Champions). Conway always had a good reputation for being a good guy to work with, a professional attitude, and despite being 41, he still looks like he's in good shape. Apparently the WWE did offer him a trainer position, but he still feels like he has something to offer in the ring. Why not sign Conway and give him sort of a "he's a multi-time champion that has been training and is ready to make one last run" sort of thing.

Hell, sign both Murdoch and Conway and put them together as a tag team. Murdoch is a guy with an...unusual physique, and Conway looks like he was carved out of granite. There's an interesting dichotomy there and there could be something charming about two guys who had tag team success with two very different partners in the past. Even if it were just a run in NXT to work with younger guys.

Murdoch singing Conway's theme could be comedy gold too. "Just look at him."

[Mr. Nerfect]

If they do eventually do a brand split, pumping up RAW and SmackDown with veteran talent that still has something to give would definitely be a good way to pad things out. I'd love to see some older girls like Victoria be given another shot too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Johnny Jeter is still only 34 years old too. :(

Really had high hopes for Jeter. Here's a video of a match between him and former partner and friend, Matt Cappotelli:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p0Cjw8F7G1w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Jeter would have been like 23 at the time.

[Mr. Nerfect]

And of course I miss sexy Doug Basham back before the WWE got him to shave his head.

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/d/dougbasham/01.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

Chris Masters is only 33 years old. He's now a 14 year veteran. He's obviously got a passion for wrestling, as he's still doing it after all this time. The guy was finding himself just as he got fired. When you're looking for guys who look good? Fuck, why wouldn't you sign this guy back? I don't understand it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It actually looks like he's leaned down a lot too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

When you're looking for Hispanic talents you could realistically get, and that always had a good relationship with the crowd, I don't know why you wouldn't make Carlito a reasonable offer. The guy's got a lot of know-how at this point. Put him with his brother and cousin and have them war with New Day. Hell, have Carlito spit apple in Shane's face and have them fight on a PPV.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting little factoid about Carlito: He's been the MWF Heavyweight Champion since sometime in 2013. That's the promotion owned by John Cena's dad.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Here's a heel Rey Mysterio against Eddie Colon in the WWC circa 2002.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JJrED9L7EeY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

14 years ago, Primo would have been 19.

[Lock Jaw]

https://66.media.tumblr.com/6a6f5cb2723c5f09d2c30329b7e11636/tumblr_o74sbq64ut1rrvy2po1_250.gif https://66.media.tumblr.com/0dae3f96352190b5e66d29308e39c358/tumblr_o74sbq64ut1rrvy2po5_250.gif
https://66.media.tumblr.com/f8f151c6181cb294fa38645f0fa7cbdd/tumblr_o75fhn3VlW1uft4l8o1_500.jpg
https://67.media.tumblr.com/ede1aa47f541e2f2f4657b87d9da8b2e/tumblr_o756knk3Vl1rxqftbo1_500.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

God dammit, she is perfect.

I hope that she and Sasha Banks form an alliance to battle Emma & Dana, but then they have a #1 Contender's Match and Becky wins. Sasha backs up Becky in the match, because "she's the better woman right now," but then throws the towel in for Becky when she's in the Figure Eight, despite Becky not tapping. Sasha and Becky then start a vicious blood feud against each other.

It could all build to another Triple Threat at SummerSlam. Fuck, throw a ladder in there. Paige can feud with Charlotte in the meantime.

[Emperor Smeat]

HHH is/was right about Punk tbf. I'm a massive Punk fan but he really would not have faired well in Cena's position, at least not in the MAW/charity/publicity stuff.

Probably not, but does a top wrestling star need to do that? I don't remember that being the case made against Triple H when he was constantly hitting Mick Foley over the head with steel chairs. That a top star needs to do the talk show circuit and all that is one of those modern expectations that you can't help but wonder might be a little forced.

Agree with both.

Punk probably would have burnt out a lot faster if he had to take on a Cena workload with public stuff on top of the regular wrestling stuff. Based on the past stories about him, he seemed to be the type that rather be left alone or relaxes whenever he's not wrestling.

Like a lot of things, modern WWE (Cena Era to present) tries way too hard to force a mainstream appeal instead of letting it occur naturally or the other way around. Makes sense they use Cena the most since for the past 10+ years, the company has revolved around him even if others were more popular in the mainstream. Even their charity stuff has a forced feeling when lots of times its either used to prevent Cena from getting booed or inflate their own PR image like with the Warrior Award.

[Lock Jaw]

I think they need to do a double turn with Sasha/Becky. I mean, everyone cheers Sasha anyways, but she isn't actually "officially" a face or anything. Meanwhile, fans just don't seem to get into Becky as much as they should.

So do the double turn where Becky just snaps and turns into a badass submission machine (more than she is now), who is fed up with being overlooked, getting no respect, and the fans wanting nobody but Sasha Banks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can understand the merit in that idea. I just love Becky too much right now. I think if they do the eventual heel turn, they should do it on Bayley after Bayley has won the Women's Title. Her motivation could be a combination of Bayley's popularity and success.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Heel turns do seem to make almost any girl in WWE hotter though...

[Mr. Nerfect]

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/gallery_img_l/public/2016/05/026_wwecesaro_05_07--f064db9a2c3d4d8234d390a8851c6abe.jpg

Cesaro chilling out at Mt. Rushmore in a suit because.

[Evil Vito]

I would do such unforgivable things to enjoy Lynch Time just once.

[Mr. Nerfect]

From WWE's RAW page:

http://www.wwe.com/2016-05-16#full-detail-40005368

They are saying that "The Club" haven't won a match yet. Didn't they win the first 6-Man Tag on RAW two weeks ago?

[Evil Vito]

Hearing Becky talk about how much she admires Finn Balor I'm pretty certain they must have fucked at least once.

[Evil Vito]

Double teaming Becky with Finn Balor would actually be A-OK with me, come to think :y:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hearing Becky talk about how much she admires Finn Balor I'm pretty certain they must have fucked at least once.

Don't say that. All the power to them, but my pristine fantasies cannot be shattered right now. I must cling to them like a Dis-Arm-Her.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It'd make sense to play off their past relationship. I'm really feeling a Finn Balor heel alignment with The Club though. Becky Lynch as "The Balor Girl" would make sense, provided they have plenty of faces to put against her.

I'm surprised we haven't seen "Becky Club" t-shirts.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Emma and Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch is pretty emphasized on the RAW preview. I'm not sure how accurate those things usually are, but there might still be time to get her and a partner (Sasha) vs. EnD on the PPV.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I finally got around to checking the Women's Title history on WWE.com. I heard a bit online from people a bit confused about it, because there used to be a Women's Championship, so obviously it would tap into that lineage. But this new belt is more a continuation and "upgrade" of the Divas Championship, which was unified with the old Women's Championship under Layla.

For those curious, on WWE.com they list the current belt as the "WWE Women's Championship," whilst the old title is just the "Women's Championship." They seem to only officially put "WWE" in front of titles that they consider to be on the "World" level.

Eg. The United States Championship doesn't have a "WWE" in front of it; nor does the Intercontinental Championship, Cruiserweight Championship or Light Heavyweight Championship.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interestingly enough, WWE.com is still counting Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Title reign. He's up to 881 days and 19 hours. Orton to return with the Big Gold Belt? :shifty:

[Evil Vito]

Interestingly enough, WWE.com is still counting Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Title reign. He's up to 881 days and 19 hours. Orton to return with the Big Gold Belt? :shifty:

Where do you see that? That's hilarious if true. :lol:

[Mr. Nerfect]

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/worldheavyweight

Go down to the most recent decade and hit the "See More +" option. He's right at the top.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Agree with both.

Punk probably would have burnt out a lot faster if he had to take on a Cena workload with public stuff on top of the regular wrestling stuff. Based on the past stories about him, he seemed to be the type that rather be left alone or relaxes whenever he's not wrestling.

Like a lot of things, modern WWE (Cena Era to present) tries way too hard to force a mainstream appeal instead of letting it occur naturally or the other way around. Makes sense they use Cena the most since for the past 10+ years, the company has revolved around him even if others were more popular in the mainstream. Even their charity stuff has a forced feeling when lots of times its either used to prevent Cena from getting booed or inflate their own PR image like with the Warrior Award.

Yeah, this pretty much. I think they are very stuck in their own "WWE" world and have a hard time adjusting to anything outside of it. All of the PR and charity work is reactive and not proactive. They are very out of touch with reality.

[Mr. Nerfect]

This would make Orton the longest reigning champion in the belt's history, almost doubling Hogan's longest reign in WCW.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Would love for Cody Rhodes to beat Kalisto and bring back this belt:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nAFaNW4gDew/maxresdefault.jpg

[Lock Jaw]

Think that they stretch Emma & Dana vs. Becky until past the PPV (Maybe she fights one of them one on one and loses at PPV) and then Bayley debuts to help her out after the PPV.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hmm. Would be an intriguing way to call Bayley up. She'd probably make a more natural partner for Becky than Sasha.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They can almost definitely drag it out.

[owenbrown]

Would love for Cody Rhodes to beat Kalisto and bring back this belt:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nAFaNW4gDew/maxresdefault.jpg

Do it and bring the five plate belt back not the three plate used in the latter half of WCW's existance.

[Maluco]

Chris Masters is only 33 years old. He's now a 14 year veteran. He's obviously got a passion for wrestling, as he's still doing it after all this time. The guy was finding himself just as he got fired. When you're looking for guys who look good? Fuck, why wouldn't you sign this guy back? I don't understand it.

Did you not think Masters was underwhelming any time he was with WWE? He also posted a photo of his completely bent spine x-ray, which I am sure would make WWE wary of signing someone.

As for a 41 year old Conway, hardly an option when they are letting guys like Sandow go to make room for new, young stars. He looked old when he was with the WWE 10 years ago, I can't imagine now.

I am totally with you on Murdoch, really liked him and Cade as a team with WWE and think he had a real retro look. Different sizes and styles are aorely misisng from WWE and I would def be up for giving him another run.

If Cody Rhodes wanted to honour his father, having a throw back, NWA style champ gimmick (trash talking, back raking, eye poking, rope for leverage etc...), having Murdoch as a lackey would be such a great look. Would love to see something like that.

[Evil Vito]

Chris Masters is only 33 years old. He's now a 14 year veteran. He's obviously got a passion for wrestling, as he's still doing it after all this time. The guy was finding himself just as he got fired. When you're looking for guys who look good? Fuck, why wouldn't you sign this guy back? I don't understand it.

One of my favorite lines from Punk's several "shoot" promos in 2011 was him acknowledging that Masters had spent a year and a half working his ass off to get better. I was glad to see him getting the recognition even after he was gone. He had been putting on consistently great matches on Superstars.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Did you not think Masters was underwhelming any time he was with WWE? He also posted a photo of his completely bent spine x-ray, which I am sure would make WWE wary of signing someone.

As for a 41 year old Conway, hardly an option when they are letting guys like Sandow go to make room for new, young stars. He looked old when he was with the WWE 10 years ago, I can't imagine now.

I am totally with you on Murdoch, really liked him and Cade as a team with WWE and think he had a real retro look. Different sizes and styles are aorely misisng from WWE and I would def be up for giving him another run.

If Cody Rhodes wanted to honour his father, having a throw back, NWA style champ gimmick (trash talking, back raking, eye poking, rope for leverage etc...), having Murdoch as a lackey would be such a great look. Would love to see something like that.

I hated Masters up until his work with and against Carlito. You have to keep in mind that the guy was working for like three years until that point. He was green as all hell and his gimmick was this outdated throwback to the 80's. Bodies weren't cutting it in anything from the Attitude-era moving forward. They wanted personalities, and his was underdeveloped.

When he turned face, he actually clicked somewhat. He was still sold on commentary as being cocky and arrogant, but in the ring he had this really likable "coming onto his own" thing. His matches were good, and when he got a chance to show some personality on NXT Redemption, he was actually quite funny as a babyface cocky prick. No way did he flat-out suck by the end of it, and he looked like a million bucks. In my opinion, he's way better than Ryback.

Was that the reason Sandow was released? If age is a problem, why are R-Truth and Goldust still on the roster? Both members of The Ascension are older. Curtis Axel is older. Sin Cara is older. I honestly thought he was let go because of the old "creative has nothing for you" excuse, fueled by a measure of politics because the guy got over when he was supposed to fall back into line and be a waste they could re-push at their own leisure years down the track when they got their shit together. Age wasn't the problem with Sandow, it was a lack of intent behind his presence on the roster.

We're in agreement about the others, and fair points. Cody Rhodes with lackies would be a good thing. I'd love to see him take over Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. Maybe...MAYBE have Heath Slater in there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

One of my favorite lines from Punk's several "shoot" promos in 2011 was him acknowledging that Masters had spent a year and a half working his ass off to get better. I was glad to see him getting the recognition even after he was gone. He had been putting on consistently great matches on Superstars.

I honestly only have very, very vague memories of that. Was that the ice-cream promo? Good on Punk for mentioning it. The guy got really quite good.

[Droford]

I'll always remember Chris Mordeski in the Global Force thing doing the "master lock"

You couldn't call him Chris Masters how the he'll can you use the name of the move

[Mr. Nerfect]

He should have called it "The Mordetzki Conundrum."

[Emperor Smeat]

Was that the reason Sandow was released? If age is a problem, why are R-Truth and Goldust still on the roster? Both members of The Ascension are older. Curtis Axel is older. Sin Cara is older. I honestly thought he was let go because of the old "creative has nothing for you" excuse, fueled by a measure of politics because the guy got over when he was supposed to fall back into line and be a waste they could re-push at their own leisure years down the track when they got their shit together. Age wasn't the problem with Sandow, it was a lack of intent behind his presence on the roster.
Besides the usual "creative has nothing" deal, think the WWE also soured on Masters once he started to slim down due to Wellness Policy reasons and think they even once publicly ridiculed him on tv because of it.

He did manage to improve somewhat as a wrestler over time but by that point had become another case of the WWE losing all interest once the initial luster was done. In his case it was the Master Lock Challenge streak and once it broke, that was the highest he was ever going to climb the star ladder.

[Lock Jaw]

http://38.media.tumblr.com/42b9628aa04e9a0aaf26c2eb238551a7/tumblr_nf0o9vrE6H1qcluu2o2_500.gif
https://33.media.tumblr.com/4f69b3d50435fcb74ed734618e4c4a2f/tumblr_inline_o2nu1dHEzH1rsvcjz_500.gif

[Black Widow]

Dolph/Corbin is a bargain bin version of Styles/Reigns.

[GD]

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/worldheavyweight

Go down to the most recent decade and hit the "See More +" option. He's right at the top.

I find this to be quite amusing, Noid.

Also, would like to remind everyone that there are a lot of quality control issues with the new website. Most notably in the title history section, where they are confusing former World Tag Team Champions as WWE Tag Team Champions.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwetag

^ The Hart Foundation, and Edge and Christian never held the strap.

Similarly, http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/worldtagteam

^ Team Hell No, The Shield, and MNM were never "World" Tag Team Champions.

A lot of fuckery going on in there.

[GD]

I finally got around to checking the Women's Title history on WWE.com. I heard a bit online from people a bit confused about it, because there used to be a Women's Championship, so obviously it would tap into that lineage. But this new belt is more a continuation and "upgrade" of the Divas Championship, which was unified with the old Women's Championship under Layla.

For those curious, on WWE.com they list the current belt as the "WWE Women's Championship," whilst the old title is just the "Women's Championship." They seem to only officially put "WWE" in front of titles that they consider to be on the "World" level.

Eg. The United States Championship doesn't have a "WWE" in front of it; nor does the Intercontinental Championship, Cruiserweight Championship or Light Heavyweight Championship.

"Cruiserweight Champion of the World" :shifty:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z5Rv978rZIE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Innovator]

I would do such unforgivable things to enjoy Lynch Time just once.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XFMlE3E2ZNM/VuVKym-oRUI/AAAAAAAA9fA/_nMjVcJLJwk/w426-h240/2016%2B-%2B1

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/7b0Ap2f.gif

[Evil Vito]

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XFMlE3E2ZNM/VuVKym-oRUI/AAAAAAAA9fA/_nMjVcJLJwk/w426-h240/2016%2B-%2B1

If my inclination that Finn Balor has bedded her is correct, this is probably an apt GIF to describe me by comparison.

[Mr. Nerfect]

http://38.media.tumblr.com/42b9628aa04e9a0aaf26c2eb238551a7/tumblr_nf0o9vrE6H1qcluu2o2_500.gif
https://33.media.tumblr.com/4f69b3d50435fcb74ed734618e4c4a2f/tumblr_inline_o2nu1dHEzH1rsvcjz_500.gif

Love that top look for Becky Lynch. The steampunk thing is cool or whatever, but something works about that top look for her too.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I prefer her hair color in the top one.

[Emperor Smeat]

POP TV rumored to be dropping TNA Impact within the near future. They recently had a media event outlining the upcoming tv season/sweeps and Impact wasn't listed.

[Evil Vito]

loltna

[GD]

I find this to be quite amusing, Noid.

Also, would like to remind everyone that there are a lot of quality control issues with the new website. Most notably in the title history section, where they are confusing former World Tag Team Champions as WWE Tag Team Champions.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwetag

^ The Hart Foundation, and Edge and Christian never held the strap.

Similarly, http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/worldtagteam

^ Team Hell No, The Shield, and MNM were never "World" Tag Team Champions.

A lot of fuckery going on in there.

So the WWE rectified the mistake and now Orton's reign as World Heavyweight Champion is only a minute long.

They're still sticking to the messed up images on the tag team titles pages.

[Innovator]

Love that top look for Becky Lynch. The steampunk thing is cool or whatever, but something works about that top look for her too.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jA6qsmxC4xc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Droford]

Mexigaria

[Lock Jaw]

:heart: Becky Lynch.... Seems real cool....

[Volare]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PYgprWU0TDY?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Emperor Smeat]

Cody Rhodes teasing again online at the Stardust era ending soon.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CimucsdXAAIMPk7.jpg

[Volare]

Cody Rhodes teasing again online at the Stardust era ending soon.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CimucsdXAAIMPk7.jpg

Him in that suit still makes me think of the Rhodes enterprise gimmick.

[DAMN iNATOR]

So the WWE rectified the mistake and now Orton's reign as World Heavyweight Champion is only a minute long.

They're still sticking to the messed up images on the tag team titles pages.

Not terribly surprising considering they took somewhere around a year and a half, give or take, to update the World Tag Team Championship graphic on March 22, 2004 RAW with the design that had been introduced c. September, 2002. I honestly couldn't believe it took so long for such a simple change to be made.

[Gerard]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nrEhN8sU63U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

:(

[Evil Vito]

Cody Rhodes teasing again online at the Stardust era ending soon.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CimucsdXAAIMPk7.jpg

It's probably for the best. I love Stardust as a character but WWE don't seem inclined to do anything with him.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

http://i.imgur.com/0aDUYOm.jpg

[Lock Jaw]

Gross. Really should be using TPWW Blue.

[GD]

http://i.imgur.com/cE00dsj.jpg

[Volare]

ROFL

[Savio]

Hmmm wonder what post of mine she is reading

[Savio]

Hmm its this one :)

http://www.tpwwforums.com/showthread.php?t=131551

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Wondering if we can ban Owenbrown.

[Evil Vito]

Wondering if we can ban Owenbrown.

I support this idea.

[Vastardikai]

Since she's checking out TPDub.

Steph, I want my residuals check for christening Anderson, Gallows, et al. as "The Club."

Also, could you please hire Noid for Creative?

[GD]

Randomly remembering Shane O'Mac staring at Steph's chest (dysfunctional family) during the commercial for the Network "tell all" podcast from last week's edition of RAW.

[Evil Vito]

http://i.imgur.com/0aDUYOm.jpg

It would be so amazing if this were real :(

[owenbrown]

Wondering if we can ban Owenbrown.

I support this idea.

So you support banning me but not the 7294748284829294028483929484849290394 socks that have been harassing me for the better part of a year? That's ass backwards mentality right there.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

So you support banning me but not the 7294748284829294028483929484849290394 socks that have been harassing me for the better part of a year? That's ass backwards mentality right there.

Hey, woah. I was just saying what Steph was doing. I can't control what she browses.

[Evil Vito]

I would much prefer to ban the sock accounts. But since that doesn't seem to ever happen.....http://www.tpwwforums.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[Evil Vito]

Or you could retire, that sure has held up before http://www.tpwwforums.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[VSG]

Just ban everyone and start fresh then.

[Evil Vito]

ah who am I kidding, my TPWW contract ends on May 23rd and who knows. Maybe I'll start posting on the New Japan Pro Wrestling forum. Maybe I'll go to Rajah of Honor.

[Big Vic]

owenbrown loves the attention therefor it will never stop.

[Tom Guycott]

Kevin Nash as RAW GM would have been something, but the reveal is dumb. Writing something for a guy that is under contract someone else is dumb too.

He it for The Rock.

[Tom Guycott]

http://i.imgur.com/0aDUYOm.jpg

See? Even double double E agrees this, the *correct* TPWW setting, is what's BEST FOR BUSINESS!

[Big Vic]

He it for The Rock.
Honestly I remember hearing that former writer in an interview before and his ideas were all awful. The only one that made it on air was when Kane was heel all the lowcard faces were having a BBQ for the forth of July. Kane walks by and starts the fire by doing the thing with his arms.

Hearing this thing about Nash in a wizard hat makes me wonder what other awful ideas he had.

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/duEV8cB.gif

[Sixx]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0wYs-0EO0ts" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[owenbrown]

owenbrown loves the attention therefor it will never stop.

I don't want any fucking attention I just want the socks to go away

[VSG]

See? Even double double E agrees this, the *correct* TPWW setting, is what's BEST FOR BUSINESS!

I'll have you know TPWW Blue won the huge color wars already.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I don't want any fucking attention I just want the socks to go away

lol guy you take yourself far too seriously.

[Emperor Smeat]

I'll have you know TPWW Blue won the huge color wars already.

Thought TPWW Classic/Wolfpac won?

[Innovator]

http://i.imgur.com/qnq5QiN.png

[drave]

^ that's funny.


loltna

[Volare]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yqithQryFyE?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[drave]

So fucking good.

[Bad News Gertner]

So you support banning me but not the 7294748284829294028483929484849290394 socks that have been harassing me for the better part of a year? That's ass backwards mentality right there.

The "socks" (we don't know if Owen Brown is a sock yet) are better posters. That's why.

[Bad News Gertner]

Another weird "Did you know" that I came across.

2 years before Mr T appeared in the WWF, he approached Verne Gagne about doing something similar. Verne Gagne declined Mr.T's offered because "that's not how we do wrestling".

Oh Verne.

[Volare]

Jesus, how many "big things" did he say no to? That and Hogan obviously but I wonder what else.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Vince Sr. said no to Andy Kaufman.

[drave]

Another weird "Did you know" that I came across.

2 years before Mr T appeared in the WWF, he approached Verne Gagne about doing something similar. Verne Gagne declined Mr.T's offered because "that's not how we do wrestling".

Oh Verne.

Verne wasn't fond of the kneegrows.

[Nicky Fives]

Vince Sr. said no to Andy Kaufman.

Everyone said no to Kaufman except Memphis.... hindsight is a hell of a drug....

[Sixx]

Only thing about Verne Gagne I'm interedested in is the footage of the retirement home fight where he tossed some 97 year old around and the guy died after.

Would love to see this.

[owenbrown]

The "socks" (we don't know if Owen Brown is a sock yet) are better posters. That's why.

You must be on some bad drugs.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Tortillia Tuesday:
http://i.imgur.com/IBnsdaF.gif

A big third hour drop and a massive NBA playoff game resulted in WWE coming close to seasonal lows for the May 16th edition of Raw, but ending just above that mark.

The show did 3.17 million viewers -- just above the 3.12 million viewers for the April 25th show -- but lower than any other non-holiday Raw outside of football season since 1997 ...

The key is that even though there are more viewers of Dancing With The Stars (11.64 million) than the NBA game (8.1 million), the latter seems to have impacted Raw more significantly ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.38 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.30 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.89 million viewers

1st hour saved RAW in regards to the bad historical stuff since it went unopposed for any real competition.

NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor in a steel cage match will be the headliner for the June 8 NXT TakeOver show at Full Sail. They used the post-match brawl in Portland, OR, at a house show this weekend as the impetus for the move.

On Monday, McMahon sold 2,191,894 shares of WWE stock for approximately $36,165,921 before taxes, said to be for estate planning purposes.

The WWE's primary owner and creator is left with 37,080,747 shares which represents 48.8 percent of the company. For most of the past 15 years, McMahon had owned closer to 63 percent of company stock before sales over the past few years.
Him and Stephanie have been selling a ton of stocks over the years but the family combined still holds enough to keep a majority ownership active. https://twitter.com/adecorativedrop/status/732374010999246848

The company applied for a trademark for the term "Lady Balls" last week according to Pro Wrestling Sheet. The theory is that's the title for Stephanie McMahon's autobiography that was announced earlier today.

Stephanie McMahon revealed Monday that she was writing her autobiography, set for release on September 27 and a $26.95 list price through Regan Arts.

Regan is pushing the book around McMahon having 1.5 million Twitter followers and 1 million Instagram followers, implying that she has a mobilized fan base who have seen her for years. They also pushed WWE's YouTube numbers and worldwide exposure, and are hoping for the success Regan had with Ronda Rousey, and in particular trying to attract a non-wrestling audience to purchasing the book thinking McMahon hasn't had a lot of mainstream media coverage, and in particular they could market her heavily in women's magazines.

The book is apparently also designed to attempt to break her out into a larger media figure with a contemporary approach to the media.

The book is particularly aimed at women, and S&S notes 40% of the television viewership of WWE are women, and pushing her as a mother of three girls who has to balance a home life with being Chief Brand Officer for the company.

Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins has been down at the WWE Performance Center working out over the last several days.

WWE sources indicate that Rollins is slated to return to WWE TV on the week of June 6th, but could be back sooner than that if needed.

The following was announced on Twitter, indicating the next WWE Cruiserweight Classic qualifying match will be on 5/28 at the American Combat Wrestling show in New Port Richey, Florida:

WWE #CruiserweightClassic Qualifier Lince Dorado takes on Romeo Quevedo at ACW The Tradition Continues! pic.twitter.com/F9UbZzyOYJ
— ACW Florida (@ACWFlorida) May 17, 2016

At yesterday's NBC Upfronts presentation, Nikki and Brie Bella were interviewed by Maria Menounos for E!, discussing the forthcoming "Total Bellas" reality series that will see Brie and Bryan Danielson move in with John Cena and Nikki to assist with Nikki after her neck surgery ...

Nikki Bella noted she will find out in July if she can return to the ring but right now, it appears the bone in her neck is fusing properly. She teased a Summerslam return.


Some other sheet news:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 53rd anniversary of the start of Bruno Sammartino's 8 year reign as WWF champion. Beat Buddy Rodgers in around 47 seconds to win the title.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Dean Ambrose is currently #2 all-time for most ppv main events appearances without ever being a WWE or World champion. Ambrose is at 7 ppvs main evented while #1 all-time is British Bulldog at 10 ppvs. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4jmu0w/dean_ambrose_has_the_2nd_most_wwe_ppv_main_event/
According to Mauro Ranallo on Twitter, Micheal Cole played a big role in him getting hired by the WWE. https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/732370072996564992
TNA Impact rumored to be getting dropped by POP TV in the near future based on a recent press report by the network about their upcoming tv seasons/sweeps plans for this year. http://press.poptv.com/Press/pressItem/20162017upfrontprogrammingslate
A new comedy film called The Bet was revealed to include DDP, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, and other wrestlers as part of the film's cast. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102045/first-details-teaser-trailer-for-the-bet-featuring-roddy-piper-ddp-tommy-dreamer-jake-roberts-more.html?p=1
Luke Harper recently had an interview with Qwality Tv with topics including his currently injury, when he hopes to return, and future plans once he's back wrestling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryC2W3KM10Y
During an impromptu interview with TMZ, Cena confirmed he rushed his recover and won't be close to being fully healed even by his standards when he returns in 2 weeks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiFGPm6fEtE

[Bad News Gertner]

Jesus, how many "big things" did he say no to? That and Hogan obviously but I wonder what else.

He said no to selling the AWA to WCW in 1990 when the company was pretty much dead.

[Vastardikai]

Luke Harper named his son Brodie? Clever.

[Simple Fan]

Thought Lince Dorado was already in the Cruiserweight Classic. Hes already cut some promos about it. Maybe just giving him a proper qualifying match.

[Evil Vito]

Vince selling his stock for "estate planning purposes" sounds like he's mostly just trying to lessen the tax burden for his family when he eventually passes.

[Volare]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Iy72vkOetoc?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Volare]

The last line Cole said made me laugh.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Wow that interview was great. It'd be nice to see it used to build the feud on live tv.

[Evil Vito]

Styles is the man.

[Sepholio]

Too bad they are feeding him to Roman Reigns.

[Simple Fan]

Great interview, really hope he comes out WWE WHC at Extreme Rules. Also hope they give The Club a real name. The Club sounds so much like TNA calling the NWO The Band. Bulletproof would be the best option I believe. Don't know if they are waiting for Balor or what but they need to capitalize off Bullet Club success and get some merchandise moving.

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/Hb4cVGZ.gif

[Maluco]

My guess is they don't want any gun/bullet names on PG TV?

[Hanso Amore]

http://i.imgur.com/Hb4cVGZ.gif

Fucking loved the 1996 lethal lottery, battle bowl and lord of the ring tournaments

I remember marking hard for this move. Scott was a beast in this era before he lost all mobility. Fucking screwdrivers and suplexes everywhere.

I remember him crushing Men At Work on a episode of worldwide. I had been away from wrestling for 5 years and all I knew was rock and wrestling wwf. The moves he was doing blew my fucking mind.

[Hanso Amore]

Seriously, 12 year old me was a real sucker for the pre nwo wcw nitro days.

Remember marking hard during the lethal lottery drawings on wcw Saturday night.

Looking back, the drawings were overly booked. Every match had a split team or a friends vs enemies bit.

And they really went weak in the final 8.

But slamboree 1996, not a bad ppv all said.

Yes I'm wearing rose colored glasses.

There wasn't a ton of mid nineties wcw without hogan around, but it was all pretty decent shit.

[Emperor Smeat]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From now on May 16th is the official PRETZEL day. And every Monday is to be known as HUMBLE DAY. <a href="https://twitter.com/GEICO">@GEICO</a> I'm available for commercial shoot</p>&mdash; Rusev MACHKA (@RusevBUL) <a href="https://twitter.com/RusevBUL/status/732790190952054784">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Rusev is glorious. His ring name should be Rusev the Glorious.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I want to see a Sin Cara vs. Kalisto feud pretty bad right now. I don't know how much good it'd do either man, but I'm being selfish.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Can't stop saying Kevin OOOOOOOOOOOOwens and humming his theme song.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, they've had a few guys that were confirmed work qualifiers. I think it's good for those promotions.

[Mr. Nerfect]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jA6qsmxC4xc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

She's wonderfully adorable. Have you watched part two? "What else can you make last?"

[Emperor Smeat]

Our friends at www.RingsideCollectibles.com also sent along the following images of the forthcoming WWE Defining Moments Ultimate Warrior action figure from Mattel, which you can pre-order now and use code PWINSIDER for 10% off your order:

https://www.ringsidecollectibles.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/dm_002_ultimate_warrior_pic2_P.jpg

https://www.ringsidecollectibles.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/dm_002_ultimate_warrior_pic3_P.jpg

Seeing that thing made me think Ryback would have been way better going in the Warrior route than Goldberg route for character at least initially.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Samoa Joe is so fucking good.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Art of Rasslin:
http://i.imgur.com/svLjogO.gif

On last night's Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that he recently got eyes on WWE's ad rates, and he mentioned that despite their viewership and market share (numbers most other cable shows would love), the ad rates they get are still fairly terrible.

He didn't give any specifics on prices, but put forth that the rates are significantly less than that of the UFC, which already gets lower rates than regular cable shows because of the violence factor that comes along with it. This is even more significant because the WWE does a million more viewers each week on average than the UFC, and even more than that for most cable shows which get those higher ad rates.

Dave posits that the WWE gets 1/10th the ad rates than that of a regular cable show, which is down significantly from the past when the WWE would get about half the cost in ad rates than the standard show.

Following this through to TNA, he speaks about ad rates being one of the big factors in Destination America dumping the promotion last year, and may be souring Pop TV on TNA right now. According to PWInsider, the ad rates for Impact are about $350 per 30 second spot, which is very, very low. And because of the revenue share aspect of the TV deal, Pop only sees half of that.

So, long story short: Wrestling fans still have a reputation for being cheap and advertisers aren't willing to spend any real money because of that. Vince's 30 year plan to calling pro wrestling "sports entertainment" has done nothing except bother his actual fans.

Emma underwent successful surgery today to repair a ruptured disc in her back, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

It appears the plan is the broadcast the WWE Cruiserweight Classic finals live on the WWE Network.
In terms of tapings, the WWE is splitting the tournament between four days (June 23, July 14, August 27, and September 24) while tickets themselves go on sale this Friday.

“Kimbo Killer”, former MMA fighter and Tom Lawlor BFF Seth Petruzelli is busy teaching WWE’s NXT rookies how to throw a punch.

Will Ospreay says the nerve damage in his back has recently started affecting leg movement
https://twitter.com/TheFrayMovement/status/732915481225617408

The former Curt Hawkins (Brian Myers) talked about what recently released WWE/NXT talents can expect when they hit the indies, especially the differences guys like Hornswoggle and Alex Riley will face.
Link to the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast episode with Hawkins: http://tmptow.podomatic.com/entry/2016-05-16T21_00_00-07_00

The main event of the 6/11 EVOLVE "WWE Cruiserweight Classic Flashpoint" Elimination bout will feature Johnny Gargano vs. Drew Gulak vs. TJP with Stokely Hathaway vs. Lince Dorado vs. TBA.

The 5/17 episode of Impact Wrestling on Pop garnered 311,000 viewers, up from last week's 280,000 viewers. It was the highest audience for the series in several weeks.

As someone who grew up as a wrestling fan, I’m beyond appreciative to have had the opportunity to do something so many dream about.

I’m incredibly grateful to have learned from so many great minds in the business. In particular, I will always cherish learning from and getting to know Dusty Rhodes.

Calling the action for some of the cornerstone moments of NXT as it grew was amazing. Hopefully my enthusiasm and passion translated to viewers.

I’m proud of what I accomplished during my run with WWE. I know I grew as a wrestling announcer, and definitely got better as an all-around play-by-announcer and TV presenter.

I can hold my head up high knowing I worked hard, treated everyone with respect, and generally went about my business quietly behind the scenes.

There’s excitement for what the next chapter brings. I have a passion for hockey and would enjoy calling games again, and feel my style of calling wrestling could fit somewhere if the opportunity arises.
Official statement by Rich Brennan regarding his recent firing which he thanked the WWE for the opportunity and time he spent there. http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/rich-brennan-wwe-firing-statement/

WWE gifted young Elijah Mainville, the young boy with cancer who was "signed" to a WWE deal as his persona "Drax Shadow" in the ring a few years ago with a special one of a kind action figure of his WWE character. Mainville's father posted the following Youtube video about the gift from WWE's Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, which is pretty damn awesome
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5kKDZYVNKM

We noted earlier this month that there was a lot of criticism within WWE over how Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have been booked.

The criticism continued last week with people openly discussing how Anderson and Gallows were both pinned, taking shots at WWE creative.

Word is that Triple H is still pushing for WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns to look strong but Vince McMahon may be backing off that. There’s a feeling that Vince is growing tired of the Reigns experiment, and that this may lead him to bring WWE NXT Superstars like Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe to the main roster sooner than later.
Source itself is pretty questionable in terms of sheet standards but assuming its true, Vince and Triple H basically have switched on their view of Reigns within the past few months. Before it was Vince who was Reigns strongest supporter and Triple H wanting a different or slower direction instead.


Some other sheet news includes:

ROH's Adam Cole had a recent interview with Busted Open Radio with topics including his recent heel turn, joining Bullet Club/Elite, and his feeling on the WWE doing their own version of the stable. https://soundcloud.com/siriusxmrush/adam-cole-on-joining-bullet-club-if-he-or-kenny-omega-is-the-leader-wwes-version-and-more
For those fans of UK wrestling, British legend Johnny Kidd announced his retirement match will occur on May 28th as part of Chikara's current UK tour. Will be facing the owner of the company Mike Quackenbush in a World Of Sport style match (8 rounds with 3 minutes per round). http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102076/all-time-great-johnny-kidd-set-to-retire-next-week-at-chikara-uk-tour.html?p=1
For those interested, PWI had an article involving the current status of Jimmy Snuka's trial with the court currently deciding if Snuka is mentally fit to stand trial. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102066/snuka-competency-hearing-continues-today-in-pa.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 14th anniversary of The British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith's passing.
WWE's website had a recent article dealing with Sabu's forgotten role when it came to the creation of the Attitude Era and the shift in wrestling during the mid-90s. http://www.wwe.com/article/how-sabu-changed-wrestling-and-everyone-forgot

[Mr. Nerfect]

Interesting. I think that objectively speaking, Reigns isn't ready. The Rock was ready to be a top star after three or four years in the business, but Reigns just isn't the same guy. He's good -- I'd accept great -- but he's just not the sort of guy you can throw out to sharks and expect to ride them back to shore.

Putting him with AJ Styles has been a good move, because it means that Reigns gets to work with one of the better wrestlers in the world, which is only going to help him get better, but that's the sort of thing you do with the best wrestler in the world as the champion or over a secondary title.

Plus, once you get a guy with the World Title, that big moment is gone and spent. Reigns is now a three-time World Heavyweight Champion. He's never going to get that "he finally makes it" moment now. He might get a run that people actually really want to see, but there is a lot of bloom off the rose.

The WWE did the same thing with Sheamus. I wonder what perceptions would be of the guy if he hadn't won a World Championship yet?

[Bad News Gertner]

HHH is pushing Reigns because he beat him at Wrestlemania and doesn't want to look weak.

[Bad News Gertner]

New "WWF Did You Know"

In 1990 the Legion of Doom joined the WWF. Later on, Paul Ellering joined the two along with the infamous puppet/dummy Rocko.

There were rumors that the WWF were thinking about bringing in Bob Backlund to potray a real life Rocko.


Can you even fucking imagine.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wow.

[Mr. Nerfect]

My ideal MITB card:

All or Nothing Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
If AJ Styles doesn't win the title, he doesn't receive another opportunity
Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles

-At Extreme Rules, Anderson & Gallows attack The Usos in the parking lot. They are not expected to factor into the main event. After beating the piss out of each other, Gallows & Anderson get involved, but then The Usos return and cancel out The Club. In the chaos, Reigns capitalizes and Spears AJ, retaining the title. Styles is not satisfied with any of this though. He wants one more shot against Reigns, who doesn't seem particularly fussed either way. To make it worth Reigns' while, Styles proposes that since they're going to be in Vegas, he'll make a gamble: If Reigns wins, he's done with Styles forever -- he'll never compete for the World Heavyweight Championship again. This piques Reigns' interest. The lines between face and heel are still blurred, but it suits their program. Anderson & Gallows are not sure they approve of what Styles has done. AJ is confident though and plans to use this as fuel to make himself even better than phenomenal. You could add Shane McMahon as the special referee because stakes are so high, and to give the impression that something major might happen, but it's not necessary. I guess this is where you go full heel with AJ, with him finally winning the World Heavyweight Title. It'd be a surreal moment, wouldn't it? Going forward from here you can run Reigns, Ambrose & Rollins vs. AJ, Anderson & Gallows at Battleground.

Women's Championship
Charlotte (c) vs. Paige

-Charlotte gets a credibility building win against Nattie at Extreme Rules. She brags about it on RAW and Paige interrupts. She reminds Charlotte about beating her on RAW a few weeks back. Charlotte reminds her that she lost the Divas Championship twice, while Charlotte was the undefeated champion and has never been beaten for the Women's Title either. Charlotte tells her to run off and make some Del Rio babies. Paige and her fight, and Flair looks to get involved, but Del Rio runs out and makes Flair back up. He eventually tells Flair that he respects him, so if Flair gets involved in Paige's business, he's going to get the best of Del Rio, and he's not going to like that. Flair sells Del Rio as a big deal. You probably don't switch the belt here, because their end-game is probably Sasha, but they could have a hell of a match. Charlotte can win with Natural Selection so Paige doesn't look too bad. If the program is hot though, you can probably get away with Paige winning and celebrating with Del Rio post-match. Charlotte can always get it back, or Paige could end up the one dropping it to Sasha.

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

-I was thinking of good first opponents back for Rollins. I actually thought Jericho would be a good first opponent back for him, but that could be a television match too. They don't have that real swelling reason to fight either. Rollins' first goal upon returning should be to prove that he is still worthy of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He can promo about how he never lost it, then Kevin Owens can come out and say that he never lost the Intercontinental Title either. He didn't get pinned at Extreme Rules and there is no way Crossfit Jesus is jumping in front of him in any title picture. A match is made between him and Rollins and I'm sure it will be a lot of awesome.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Alberto Del Rio vs. Baron Corbin vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Cesaro vs. Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus

-A weird group, but I think it would work. Del Rio is in because he's their biggest Hispanic star. He'd be involved in the Charlotte/Paige stuff, but he'd be a good hand to have in here. Plus he's a former winner and four-time World Champion, so he adds that "star power." Baron Corbin beats Ziggler at Extreme Rules, putting him out with an End of Days with a chair around Ziggler's neck. I'm not too chuffed on him yet, but they obviously want to push him, and he'll get something working with so many veterans. Bray Wyatt returns and it makes sense for him to seek his absolution. His leg injury is a worry, but I'm sure he's clever enough to work smartly. Cesaro isn't pinned in the Fatal 4-Way at Extreme Rules, so he moves on to bigger and better things, respecting Zayn's run as the IC Champion...for now. Chris Jericho invented the match and finds a way in to get another opportunity to hurt Dean Ambrose. After beating Jericho at Extreme Rules, Ambrose has a mission to win that briefcase so he's got a clear shot at the World Heavyweight Title. Kofi Kingston is in because he's fun in Ladder Matches...right? Kofi is the most experienced of The New Day, the one best suited for this level match, and I imagine he'll have even more crowd support than the one he was in last year. It could be a thing every time he almost wins the match. Sheamus has that movie coming out and he won the match last year. He seems like a logical choice to enter. He'll be a good base for Kofi and Ambrose too. Corbin shouldn't win, and as much as I love Cesaro, it just isn't his time. Sheamus shouldn't win again. Del Rio could win, but if he's getting over as a face it might push him back some to be given the duke over more "urgent" babyfaces. Kofi could win, but The New Day gimmick seems like it would dilute that title picture. Maybe next year, Kofi. Jericho doesn't need a World Title at this point. His work hasn't really been demanding it either. It's time for him to move back down the card a bit, save the odd occasion. It's down to either Wyatt or Ambrose really. Of those two, Ambrose seems like the more interesting choice, given that Reigns and Rollins are likely to be in the title picture. If you're doing The Shield vs. The Club at Battleground, then Ambrose holding the briefcase adds some real tension.

United States Championship
Rusev (c) vs. John Cena

-Rusev wins the US Title at Extreme Rules, his Accolade putting Kalisto on the shelf. Sin Cara tries to fight for revenge, but Rusev does the same thing to him. John Cena returns on Memorial Day to interrupt Rusev bragging about hurting people and being the US Champion again. Cena gets a match against Rusev, but it is heavily hinted by commentary that there is no way he is 100% and Rusev has been hurting people lately. I'd have Rusev retain, but he doesn't manage to injure Cena.

Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
The New Day (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows vs. The Usos

-I personally like The Vaudevillains, but I don't really see them being a long-term viable team for WWE, and I don't think they should end this meaty reign of The New Day. Kofi Kingston gets a spot in Money in the Bank, so it's Big E & Prof. X defending the belts here. I would like to see The Shining Stars get some sort of push, but I'm not sure they'd be more than stop-gap opponents for The New Day here. Anderson & Gallows and The Usos have gotten enough shine recently to warrant being inserted into the title picture, and the possibility of a title change feels very real here. You could probably have The New Day retain in the chaos here, but you could move towards some sort of Shield vs. Club feud for Battleground. The New Day chasing their belts back would be a good supplementary story for that show. The crowd might hate the change, but The Usos could use a more heelish direction anyway since their face act is wearing thin on older members of the audience.

Intercontinental Championship
Sami Zayn (c) vs. The Miz

-Zayn pins The Miz in the Fatal 4-Way match at Extreme Rules. The Miz obviously wants another shot. He condescends Sami at every point -- making fun of his "normal" looks. Zayn ends up saying something to Maryse in French to mess with The Miz's head. Zayn gets the submission win here, introducing the main roster audience to his Koji Clutch.

#1 Contender's Match for the Women's Championship
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

-Becky has been frustrated by recent losses and Sasha Banks manages to do what Becky can't -- beat Dana Brooke. Sasha rubs it in and the two eventually come to blows, with Becky eventually winning a Beat the Clock competition against Sasha to earn her way into title contention. The two fight to a time limit draw to open the show, and then continue fighting with no real contender named.

[Bad News Gertner]

Finished Bob Backlund's book. The best wrestling book I've ever read. It's amazing, although if you weren't a fan of his era then some of the stories might not make much sense to you

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm genuinely glad he's back. Crazy Bob has that larger than life quality wrestling needs. I'd rather see him with Cesaro though.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Random thought: Dolph Ziggler really needs a heel turn. With John Cena and Seth Rollins returning, most likely as babyfaces, things are way too stacked on that side. Ziggler seems like an easy choice to turn sour and prove he belongs.

He's always been better as a heel, when you really think about it. His second World Title win got a huge pop, but it was technically as a heel. He gets to show more intensity and stops looking like such a lightweight flopping around for everyone too. He's always better when he has people around him as well.

Make Dolph Ziggler great again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I didn't watch much of RAW this week, but fuck did Epico look so much bigger. Is it just me that thought this? He used to be billed as 217lbs or something. This week The Shining Stars were 440lbs. It wasn't a 50/50 split.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fuck did Epico look great with those rolling suplexes too. The back suplex into the German into the brainbuster. The Trileda I think he calls it. Fucking great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That double underhook move was gnarly too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Given that they are looking for Hispanic stars and they've proven that they don't really know what they are doing with Kalisto, I wonder just how long it is before they beg Rey Mysterio to come back?

[Mr. Nerfect]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's arguable that &quot;the slap&quot; is my character's finishing maneuver. Who do you think was hit the worst? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StephBook?src=hash">#StephBook</a><a href="https://t.co/rXuSEYY8Pn">https://t.co/rXuSEYY8Pn</a></p>&mdash; Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon/status/732964148674338817">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Plus it helps to get guys over!��And it builds a great angle for when you get your receipt�� it looks good�� I tried! �� <a href="https://t.co/m4zlY9BzeJ">https://t.co/m4zlY9BzeJ</a></p>&mdash; Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveBautista/status/733041852664811520">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Batista Bomb dropped.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Really want Dutch Mantel and Kevin Sullivan to get the book for a company with Dave Bautista, Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio in it.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Today, May 19th, 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the date which was the focal point of a bizarre storyline designed to confuse fans (and sell tickets to WWE Films' "See No Evil", starring Kane). It eventually led to this even more bizarre match at Vengeance 2006 featuring Kane taking on the Impostor Kane who had been tormenting him the whole time, and the finish is even more inexplicable:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1pPqucmEdEc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[GD]

Today, May 19th, 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the date which was the focal point of a bizarre storyline designed to confuse fans (and sell tickets to WWE Films' "See No Evil", starring Kane). It eventually led to this even more bizarre match at Vengeance 2006 featuring Kane taking on the Impostor Kane who had been tormenting him the whole time, and the finish is even more inexplicable:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1pPqucmEdEc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.wwe.com/f/styles/gallery_img_s/public/2016/04/Luke_Gallows_stat--70ddb67cc267623e934e1c49432593ce.png

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Wtf. Never actually bothered to see the match or look at fre result. Was that the end of the storyline?

[Cuzziebro]

Best part of that match was the two great theme songs.

[Volare]

Shawn Michaels sounds like he's going to GM 5 of the Pens/Bolts series because of Pit's "HBK-Line" ( Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel).

That's pretty bad ass.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Wtf. Never actually bothered to see the match or look at fre result. Was that the end of the storyline?

No. I think it actually ended with Kane taking back his old mask from the impostor and screaming "I BELIEVE THIS IS MINE!" before whipping the impostor's ass on the RAW the night after the PPV (June 26th RAW).

[Volare]

I thought he through him out a door or something weak. Why not set the other Kane on fire?

[DAMN iNATOR]

I think because he took 2 months off after that. Went to Europe promoting his film, didn't come back until SummerSlam.

[Innovator]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You haven't lived until you've dropped your son off at school to the tune of a bunch of 10 year olds screaming John Cena's theme song at you</p>&mdash; Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/733294349639778307">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

speaking of John Cena...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCena">@JohnCena</a> will host the 2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ESPYS?src=hash">#ESPYS</a> LIVE on <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC">@ABC</a> on Wednesday, July 13! <a href="https://t.co/7YCNU9PTFN">https://t.co/7YCNU9PTFN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPYS">@ESPYS</a> <a href="https://t.co/GIdC32NedH">pic.twitter.com/GIdC32NedH</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/733325045431476225">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Volare]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You haven't lived until you've dropped your son off at school to the tune of a bunch of 10 year olds screaming John Cena's theme song at you</p>&mdash; Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/733294349639778307">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Waiting for the incident of Owens' kid powerbombing all the others.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Be careful around <a href="https://twitter.com/KaneWWE">@KaneWWE</a> today, because...<br><br>IT'S MAY 19th!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/May19th?src=hash">#May19th</a><a href="https://t.co/rrp3oEQVmD">https://t.co/rrp3oEQVmD</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/733334106872778753">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Evil Vito]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It's arguable that &quot;the slap&quot; is my character's finishing maneuver. Who do you think was hit the worst? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StephBook?src=hash">#StephBook</a><a href="https://t.co/rXuSEYY8Pn">https://t.co/rXuSEYY8Pn</a></p>&mdash; Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon/status/732964148674338817">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Plus it helps to get guys over!��And it builds a great angle for when you get your receipt�� it looks good�� I tried! �� <a href="https://t.co/m4zlY9BzeJ">https://t.co/m4zlY9BzeJ</a></p>&mdash; Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveBautista/status/733041852664811520">May 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Batista Bomb dropped.

I fucking love Batista.

He's 100% spot on. Stephanie slapping guys constantly gets mega heat for her because everybody knows the guy can't retaliate in this era. But it does nothing at all for the guy who got slapped.

Oh and the one time they finally decided to have a wrestler give her her commupence, we ended up getting Roman Reigns poisoning her coffee. What a face.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I fucking love Batista.

He's 100% spot on. Stephanie slapping guys constantly gets mega heat for her because everybody knows the guy can't retaliate in this era. But it does nothing at all for the guy who got slapped.

Oh and the one time they finally decided to have a wrestler give her her commupence, we ended up getting Roman Reigns poisoning her coffee. What a face.

So..... her getting speared nearly in half was what?

[Evil Vito]

They presented that as though it was just something that happened in the line of duty with the match. It's not like he went ahead and Speared her on purpose to try to get revenge.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You haven't lived until you've dropped your son off at school to the tune of a bunch of 10 year olds screaming John Cena's theme song at you</p>&mdash; Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/733294349639778307">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Owens gets it lol

[Big Vic]

<iframe title="Twitter Tweet" data-tweet-id="733041852664811520" style="██████████ static; visibility: visible; display: block; width: 500px; height: 209px; padding: 0px; border: medium none; max-width: 100%; min-width: 220px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" id="twitter-widget-1" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Batista Bomb dropped.
Almost want to follow Batista after that.
<iframe style="██████████ absolute; visibility: hidden; display: none; width: 0px; height: 0px; padding: 0px; border: medium none;" allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" id="rufous-sandbox" frameborder="0"></iframe>

[Emperor Smeat]

https://67.media.tumblr.com/ac23cddf36dcd022dd7091a02695968c/tumblr_o7bsgsns281swrlico1_400.gif

[Black Widow]

speaking of John Cena...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCena">@JohnCena</a> will host the 2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ESPYS?src=hash">#ESPYS</a> LIVE on <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC">@ABC</a> on Wednesday, July 13! <a href="https://t.co/7YCNU9PTFN">https://t.co/7YCNU9PTFN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPYS">@ESPYS</a> <a href="https://t.co/GIdC32NedH">pic.twitter.com/GIdC32NedH</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/733325045431476225">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>At least ESPN probably has better joke writers than WWE.

[Poit]

Today is May 19th.

Fake Kane is main evening Smackdown tonight.

[Gerard]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3kBectvqEYY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Crowd really got into this match with some modern day chants at the end. :lol:

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Waking up, opening Twitter, and seeing that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NationalSendANudeDay?src=hash">#NationalSendANudeDay</a> is a thing. <a href="https://t.co/GPSC7no5Qx">pic.twitter.com/GPSC7no5Qx</a></p>&mdash; Xavier Woods (@XavierWoodsPhD) <a href="https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/733324071224496128">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Bad News Gertner]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3kBectvqEYY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Crowd really got into this match with some modern day chants at the end. :lol:

David Sammartino is such a twat. Lol it is though the only time I've seen Ron Shaw win a match.

[thekrow]

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13267784_1196001990434713_3448324252319374021_n.jpg?oh=53a4e7489c7f3ca609044872fa47ab3b&oe=57D3943FHOLY DHIT GUYS!


CHW champ Agent X will be having an interview with Carlin this Saturday on Carnage!
What do u guys think is gonna happen?


Id really love to see an angry Ric Roberts confront Agent X about "his" title.

[Cool King]

I was thinking of making this its own thread, but I'll just post it here, but if you've checked out my thread in the casual forum, you'll know that I pretty much stopped watching wrestling all together in September.

However, I did get little bits and pieces of information via social media so I wasn't completely in the dark with what was going on, and I did watch Royal Rumble but that was it, and I've only just began watching everything that the WWE Network has let me, from WrestleMania onwards. So it's not a lot. Basically, I'm up to Payback.

So, I'm pretty much seeing the WWE through "fresh eyes" so to speak, and a lot has changed since I last watched the product properly in September and there is stuff I'm not a fan of, but there are things I do like.

As I haven't watched or spoken about what's going on for around nine months, I have questions and opinions, that I get the feeling will be in the minority. Anyway....

Women's Division

What's up with the Women's Division? Is it good now?

It's great that the Diva's Championship is gone and the division has completely changed since I last watched Raw regularly in September. Now, we have the likes of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks kicking about and Natalya challenging for the title, which I'm a fan of. I've always liked Natalya.

However, I'm not really "feeling it" with Charlotte, Lynch and Banks. This could be because they're new to me and it may take a while for them to grow on me, but on the plus side, I haven't seen much of Paige.

Tag Team Division

The Tag Team Division is great. I'm loving The New Day and I'm happy to see The Lucha Dragons are still going and that Kalisto is the United States Champion. I also enjoy The Social Outcasts, but it's the newer teams that get my attention. More specifically, Enzo and Cass.

Now, I'll admit, I don't watch NXT so these guys were pretty much brand spanking new to me when they debuted on the main roster. I had heard of them but I never watched them. My first impressions were not good. I didn't like them, but instead of skipping their stuff, I watched them but not much changed.

I like Big Cass. From what I've seen of him, he reminds me of Test from back in the day. I think he could really go places on his own. I'm a fan.

As for Enzo, I legitimately cannot stand him. He's really annoying. He looks like the lovechild of Little Guido and LMFAO and about 95% of his popularity seems to be down to his entrance, and speaking of their entrance, I'm always reminded of The New Age Outlaws when I see it. Their entrance is catchy, and I've found myself quoting parts of it in my head today, but I get the feeling that it'll get old to me pretty soon. How is Enzo anyway? Last thing I watched was Payback when he got a concussion. Is he back?

I haven't seen much of The Vaudevillains, but they seem pretty cool. It's good to see an old school gimmick like that on the main roster these days, and talking about good to see, it was good to see Luke Gallows return and this time he brought a friend. I've always liked Gallows but I'm not really familiar with Karl Anderson and I've yet to see him in a match, but they look promising.

I was surprised when I saw that Los Matadores had been killed, and about time too. I've yet to see Primo & Epico debut with their new gimmick, but I know it's happened, so I look forward to that.

Singles

I'll get it out the way now and say that I'm still not a fan of Kevin Owens. He's up there with Paige and Enzo as talent I legitimately cannot stand. I'm also not a fan of AJ Styles, and I never have been really.

As for Sami Zayn, I want to watch him and perhaps like him, but I can't, as every time I do, the crowd does an "Olé" chant. I get it that he was previously El Generico and the "Olé" chant was his thing, but he's not El Generico now. He's completely different, so why do it? It's annoying and it makes no sense. That's like the crowd chanting for Scotty Flamingo when Raven is in the ring. If Zayn was a heel, then it would make more sense as he could possibly be annoyed by it.

Baron Corbin is another new face for me, and I'm still unsure about him. I get a Kevin Thorn vibe from him in both looks and ability, but when it comes to his promos, I get an "Unmasked Kane from 2003" vibe. Is that just me?

And the final new face is that of Apollo Crews. I like Crews, but like Corbin, I get vibes from him, with those vibes being "Bobby Lashley V2" and oddly enough, Crash Holly. Don't ask me why, I just do. But I do like Crews.

Overall, from what I've seen, I can't help but think that the WWE are still doing what they've been doing for a few years now, in that the company seems to revolve around a small selection of talent. It seems that the "magic number" is four.

The main event scene seems to focus mostly on Reigns, Styles, Owens and Zayn.

The Mid-Card scene: Crews, Corbin, Cesaro and Ambrose.

The Women's division: Charlotte, Natalya, Lynch and Banks.

And the Tag Team division: New Day, Enzo & Cass, The Vaudevillains and Gallows & Anderson.

On the plus side, it's good that every area is receiving attention compared to a while back when it was just the main event scene that got all the attention and both the Women's and Tag Team divisions were severely neglected.

But are there a lot of injuries and that's why not a lot of talent is being used? It just seems like if you've been with the company for more than two years, you don't really matter anymore and all you'll ever really be used for now is to job to the new guys and maybe fill some time with a match or a comedy skit.

Obviously this is just my opinion, but I can think of a lot of names on the roster that would be good to see be involved in title chases and storylines, but they're not. Although I was pretty surprised when Zack Ryder won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.

[Cool King]

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13267784_1196001990434713_3448324252319374021_n.jpg?oh=53a4e7489c7f3ca609044872fa47ab3b&oe=57D3943FHOLY DHIT GUYS!


CHW champ Agent X will be having an interview with Carlin this Saturday on Carnage!
What do u guys think is gonna happen?


Id really love to see an angry Ric Roberts confront Agent X about "his" title.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t7YFGU5WdME" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Cool King]

I really enjoyed WWF Attitude.

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy Birthday to the Eighth Wonder of the World, Andre the Giant. <a href="https://t.co/H2fG0ByiCM">pic.twitter.com/H2fG0ByiCM</a></p>&mdash; Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon/status/733387160515170305">May 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Frank Drebin]

Seeing that whole "wwe hates employing fans of the business" thing rearing its head again always makes me sad.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Seeing that whole "wwe hates employing fans of the business" thing rearing its head again always makes me sad.

WHAAAAAAA...?! PLEASE tell me that's nothing more than just a terrible terrible rumor.

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/WwsxMyb.jpg

[Lock Jaw]

Always thought Ted DiBiase looked like a lion

[Droford]

Its time it's time it's angry knickers face time lok

[VSG]

Lol nana

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Andre the Giant Appreciation Thursday:
http://abload.de/img/andreentersjcuh4.gif

Today would have been the 70th birthday of Andre The Giant. That has led to a lot of Andre talk today. There is a story in the New York Daily News. There is a photo in that story of Andre with Chuck Wepner, who is 6-foot-5, which pretty much gives away he wasn't 7-feet tall. When that match took place in 1976, it was reported that Andre was 6-foot-9 and 370 pounds.
Link to the NY Daily News article: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/beginning-bizarre-andre-giant-career-article-1.2642652

The WON reports that we will likely see a lot more of Stephanie McMahon heading into and through the fall. As was reported earlier this week, McMahon’s book is set for a September 27th release date and it is expected that she will be featured heavily through that date.

Stephanie is being marketed with the book as a popular part of WWE with a heavy social media presence, meaning that WWE will go heavy in social and mainstream press in promoting the book. McMahon is being pushed as the business face of the company, making it even more likely that she’ll be featured prominently to promote the book.
Would explain her sudden face or face-like turn the past couple of weeks.

Zack Sabre Jr., who was scheduled to defend the PWG title tomorrow night against Michael Elgin, but is out of action, suffered a lesion to his right forearm in a 5/13 match in Magdeburg, Germany in a match with Big Daddy Walter. The match was immediately stopped and he was rushed to the hospital. The rupture to the forearm was caused by a collision into the post that left a 4 centimeter cut that needed five stitches. He'll be out of action for a few weeks, returning on 6/12 for a match with Revolution Pro Wrestling, where he faces Kurt Angle.
In terms of WWE's Cruiserweight tournament, he'd be back about 2 weeks before the 1st set of tapings.

TNA President Dixie Carter, Executive Vice President (Creative & Talent Relations) John Gaburick and Chief Strategy Officer at TNA Entertainment Eric Sherman are scheduled to travel to India this weekend, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

The trio are heading to India for meetings with their broadcast partner SONY 6.
Likely setting up dates for the required India tours in order to stay on air in the country. Missed out on doing last year's tour due to money problems and been rumored they might have to do an extra tour this year to make it up.

Goldust noted today is the eight year anniversary of the day he decided to become sober. Congratulations to him on the big milestone.
https://twitter.com/goldust/status/733284829085761537

Owens has been impressing a lot of people with his work on the mic and in the ring and it has turned Vince McMahon into a big supporter of his. Vince is reportedly past his issues with Owens look and its also been reported that he is currently penciled in for a main event push once his feud with Zayn ends.


With Emma currently sidelined due to injury, there is talk behind the scenes of Eva Marie becoming Brooke’s new partner.

AAA will be remaining on The Fight Network in Canada after all. The deal was put together by Court Bauer, who is no longer with the promotion, and AAA had expressed issues with The Fight Network signing a deal with CMLL. The CMLL and AAA shows will be airing together on Thursday nights.

The Saturday replay was canceled after only four weeks, so TNA is down to just one airing at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays. In theory that hurts because TNA’s deal with Pop was a revenue sharing deal but there really has been very little revenue from advertising to be shared (a 30 second spot on Impact goes for $335), and less than little for the replay show so it’s not really a financial hit. It’s a minor exposure hit but it’s not like TNA is doing anything with its exposure. The scary part is more just how quickly Pop nixed the show after moving it. The whole idea of the replay show is to hit the West Coast audience in prime time. Destination America last year had multiple replays and ended up canceling them early, but always kept the one replay even after the decision was made to cancel the show. There was a story going about how Pop TV did its upfront presentation for the 2016-17 television season, there was no mention at all of TNA, which is true, but Pop’s upfronts were in late March. So at least dating back to that time they already had no plans to promote TNA as key programming on the station going forward.
New details regarding the POP-TNA tv situation at the moment. Turns out POP TV made the decision to drop all support for TNA as early as March of this year.

With all the social media talk, an audit showed that 35 percent of the WWE’s twitter followers were fake, as in not actual humans. That isn’t unusual in the Twitter world. For a comparison, UFC is almost identical with 36 percent fake and that’s about what would be expected. John Cena’s are 24 percent fake, which is lower than many celebrities.

With 7/4 coming on a Monday, it’s a lock that the lowest rated Raw of modern times, if not all-time, will be on that date. But it’s a number not even worth worrying about because it won’t signify anything.
Real issue will be if either the bounce from the next week ends up being weak or lower than the non-holiday week prior. RAW and/or Smackdown had a couple of weeks like that last year where the bounce back was lower than the 2 weeks prior.

Regarding the releases, the Steve Lombardi release was partially due to what somebody said was a small mistake he made that gave them cause for letting him go.


Some other sheet news includes:

Sports Illustrated had a recent article about a few Andre the Giant stories from back in the day. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/05/19/andre-giant-sports-illustrated-profile
ROH announced Stevie Richards recently signed a contract with the company. His debut will occur at the June 3rd show in Illinois.
Apparently TNA completely forgot to promote an upcoming ppv occuring tomorrow and includes several former TNA talents since it was taped a while ago.
SyFy currently rumored to be carrying WWE shows again after recent channel listings had a replay for RAW planned to air tomorrow. Unlike the Hulu replay, SyFy's replay is rumored to be 2 hours long. http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/543421/raw-on-syfy
According to the Observer, the official reason Lucha Underground fired MVP a while ago was due to his podcast show spoiling stuff that hadn't aired yet this season. Catrina revealing herself as a old sorceress ended up being the breaking straw for LU even though the podcast and guests were praising the show a lot.
Observer also revealed LU had plans to bring back Konnan for Season 3 prior to his big fallout with their parent wrestling company AAA.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, the state of Kentucky is currently in negotiations to bring WWE shows and ppvs back to the state. The state is working on a new sports commission which would lessen some of the restrictions for live events.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, baring a sudden major injury Kevin Owens is set to become the 2nd wrestler in WWE history to be on every card for a ppv show (not counting Specials or pre-show matches) within his debut year in the company. The other person to do the same was the Undertaker during his first year in the WWF.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Peyton Royce would be a better choice to join Dana Brooke than Eva Marie. Peyton can be Dana's "new Australian."

[Mr. Nerfect]

So..... her getting speared nearly in half was what?

An accident. Imagine what it'd be like if the big heel in the WrestleMania main event slipped on a banana peel left in the ring to lose.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Today, May 19th, 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the date which was the focal point of a bizarre storyline designed to confuse fans (and sell tickets to WWE Films' "See No Evil", starring Kane). It eventually led to this even more bizarre match at Vengeance 2006 featuring Kane taking on the Impostor Kane who had been tormenting him the whole time, and the finish is even more inexplicable:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1pPqucmEdEc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's very weird to think about Luke Gallows being involved in WWE PPVs ten years ago. Beating former WWE Champions too. That sounds like it'd be a "Did You Know?" fact in an old WWF SmackDown video game strategy guide.

[Mr. Nerfect]

WHAAAAAAA...?! PLEASE tell me that's nothing more than just a terrible terrible rumor.

It was asserted by Alex Reyes who was released recently in regards to himself, Kyle Edwards and Rich Brennan being let go.

[Simple Fan]

Peyton Royce would be a better choice to join Dana Brooke than Eva Marie. Peyton can be Dana's "new Australian."

I know a lot of people don't like her but I think she'd be great for that role. I'm not sold on Dana Brooke though and feel she should still be in NXT. Looks like she stole Natalya wardrobe as well.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I love Eva Marie as a heat magnet, but I'd rather her gimmick stand alone.

[Mr. Nerfect]

And I do think she should still be in NXT.

[DAMN iNATOR]

It was asserted by Alex Reyes who was released recently in regards to himself, Kyle Edwards and Rich Brennan being let go.

Fucked up if true. I say "if" because obviously you can never tell what someone might say about their former employer right after being fired. Still hope it's not true, but sadly seems like it wouldn't be terribly surprising if it ever is proven to be.

[Volare]

I'd say Dean did a good job with the "troll rape face."

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uN9YJYQXu6A?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[GD]

Did not realize that the cage was black in color.

[Helmsphere]

It's very weird to think about Luke Gallows being involved in WWE PPVs ten years ago. Beating former WWE Champions too. That sounds like it'd be a "Did You Know?" fact in an old WWF SmackDown video game strategy guide.

Funny thing is, this was actually the last WWE Event I attended that I paid for (I managed to go to Tribute to The Troops in 2010 due to my then brother in-law being stationed in Fort Hood, Also would of been the last time I got to see Edge compete inside a ring, since his retirement came 5 months later.

But yeah it's hard to believe looking back at that ppv, Gallows being Fake Kane, Dolph Ziggler was still a member of the spirit squad, I also believe it was Kurt Angles last WWE PPV Match as well in a losing effort to Randy Orton. Seeing a 2 out of 3 falls match between Mick Foley and Ric Flair actually ending to 2 falls, not to mention one of the wrestlers on the card is now deceased in UMAGA.

In fact looking back at it. Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler are the only people featured on the card who still actually wrestle in WWE now.

[Helmsphere]

Forgot to two aforementioned Kanes as well

[#1-norm-fan]

I thought face Sheamus was very likeable and would be a much better choice for face of the company than Reigns.

I know I'm in the minority here... but I'm a sucker for the "badass with a sense of humor" character.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A8-2YPu9ACc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I mean, he wasn't all that funny or anything. But it's wrestling. I didn't judge him on his comedy the same way I thought rapper Cena was awesome regardless of how legitimately good he was as a rapper. Face Sheamus could have worked. I don't know.

[#1-norm-fan]

On a side note... Jesus Christ, Roman Reigns is boring.

[Jordan]

Well look sir we don't care much for funny accents here in 'Merica.

[Frank Drebin]

Fucked up if true. I say "if" because obviously you can never tell what someone might say about their former employer right after being fired. Still hope it's not true, but sadly seems like it wouldn't be terribly surprising if it ever is proven to be.

Companies do it apparently. It's very surreal. I know because I was fired from a job for the exact same reason. Still very bitter about it.

It's a very petty and paranoid way to conduct business and frankly dumb. This is why you see so many missteps in wwe. They have lots of people who just view it as a job and don't have much of a passion to see the company succeed. But what else would you expect from a guy who hates people if they sneeze in his presence?

[thekrow]

TOP STORY: CAN NIKKY RECLAIM HIS PRIZE?


"The King of Clubs" Nikky Chance has a golden opportunity this Saturday as he will finally get his 1-on-1 shot against the CHW Interstate Champion, Robb Banks.


But this isn't going to be Nikky's 1st shot at this title. In fact, it seems that he's had his sights set on this belt ever since he walked into the doors of Crazy Hardcore Wrestling back in 2014. Robb Banks was ironically one of the heads he stepped on en route to challenging Matt Rage back in Season 5.


Though unsuccessful, Nikky Chance carried on with his mission and captured the prestigious title at the beginning of Season 6 by vanquishing Robb Banks, Scythe and Xacutor in a Table 4-Way Match. After over 100 days, Nikky lost the belt (and his hair) to Swede Savard.


Since that time, Nikky has been keeping himself busy, engaging in an intense rivalry with Ric "The Mic" Roberts. Now that a new champion has emerged, "The King of Clubs" has refocused on the CHW Interstate Title. He was mere inches away from stopping Robb Banks in the 5-Way Scramble Match and literally had the belt slip through his fingers in Balls To The Wall.


This Saturday, there will be nowhere to run as CHW Management has signed a 1-on-1 match between these two hungry competitors. Will Robb Bank's inconceivable winning streak carry on? Or will history be made as the 1st ever 2-time Interstate Champion be crowned? Be sure to tune in to find out!


CHW Backyard

www.CHWbackyard.com (http://www.CHWbackyard.com)


https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13241362_1196618690373043_3662739360494840343_n.jpg?oh=87aa86edc73732e109db08c7adac9b86&oe=579DE853


Also remember, Agent X will be on hand to be interviewed by comedy legend Carlin!
Here's an exclusive pic of Agent X escaping with the title in Balls to the Walls match last show


https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13220857_1195320583836187_6464296543033997495_n.jpg?oh=b863625d4f75bc1fe5aeaf0eb5c2ce4c&oe=57D918FE


Guys you CANT miss this show

[Mercenary]

Gay Orgy Mania?





https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13220857_1195320583836187_6464296543033997495_n.jpg?oh=b863625d4f75bc1fe5aeaf0eb5c2ce4c&oe=57D918FE

[Volare]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d0_ecfuGdko?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[DAMN iNATOR]

Funny thing is, this was actually the last WWE Event I attended that I paid for (I managed to go to Tribute to The Troops in 2010 due to my then brother in-law being stationed in Fort Hood, Also would of been the last time I got to see Edge compete inside a ring, since his retirement came 5 months later.

But yeah it's hard to believe looking back at that ppv, Gallows being Fake Kane, Dolph Ziggler was still a member of the spirit squad, I also believe it was Kurt Angles last WWE PPV Match as well in a losing effort to Randy Orton. Seeing a 2 out of 3 falls match between Mick Foley and Ric Flair actually ending to 2 falls, not to mention one of the wrestlers on the card is now deceased in UMAGA.

In fact looking back at it. Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler are the only people featured on the card who still actually wrestle in WWE now.

Cena beat Sabu in an Extreme Lumberjack match, RVD successfully defended the WWE Championship in his only PPV title defense of his shortened run due to drug possession charges, Undertaker beat Show I that stupid Punjabi Prison match, and King Booker defeated Rey in the main event, marking the start of his WHC run which would see him go on to reign over the SD! locker room for 5 months before dropping it to Batista at Survivor Series, but not before successfully defeating WWE Champion John Cena and ECW Champion The Big Show in a Champion of Champions match at Cyber Sunday with an assist from one Kevin Federline, who for some reason was thrown into a feud with Cena until January 2007.

[evanbrown]

The Roman Empire will reighn supreme at Extreme Rulse!

[owenbrown]

shut the fuck up terrorist

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/rOYBx9a.gif

[Droford]

https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/lord-steven-regal-dancing.gif?w=650

[Emperor Smeat]

http://www.wcwworldwide.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/assasss.png

[Lock Jaw]

Bret would clearly win because he is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

[drave]

Depends on whether the match is on US or Canadian soil......

[Droford]

Captain America vs Mr America?

[Droford]

RAW is on syfy Friday night's for 2 hours now

Doesnt make sense

[Mr. Nerfect]

Funny thing is, this was actually the last WWE Event I attended that I paid for (I managed to go to Tribute to The Troops in 2010 due to my then brother in-law being stationed in Fort Hood, Also would of been the last time I got to see Edge compete inside a ring, since his retirement came 5 months later.

But yeah it's hard to believe looking back at that ppv, Gallows being Fake Kane, Dolph Ziggler was still a member of the spirit squad, I also believe it was Kurt Angles last WWE PPV Match as well in a losing effort to Randy Orton. Seeing a 2 out of 3 falls match between Mick Foley and Ric Flair actually ending to 2 falls, not to mention one of the wrestlers on the card is now deceased in UMAGA.

In fact looking back at it. Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler are the only people featured on the card who still actually wrestle in WWE now.

2006 was a really weird year for the company. I'd recommend checking out the Square Circled Gazette Radio guy's rebooking of the year on their podcast.

[Mr. Nerfect]

RAW is on syfy Friday night's for 2 hours now

Doesnt make sense

I guess it gets the WWE product circulated more. A two-hour format is more digestible too. I can't help but think that the WWE really wants to go back to two hours, but they just can't.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Paige's empire of houses:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/002d7f99ca4a19352c7dcaccd1fbcee6/tumblr_o7hi1vbVqm1rxqftbo1_500.jpg

A.J. Styles is off the weekend house shows to rest for Extreme Rules. He has a bad ankle. Styles hasn't wrestled since 5/9. He was to work in Utica and Reading.

Terms of Turner's new NBA deal kick in, setting up a new night of pro hoops for TNT. Monday nights, once the NFL season wraps.
Being teased, WWE might have around just 2-3 weeks of no NFL or NBA competition for Mondays starting next year.

The 5/19 episode of Smackdown did 2,295,000 viewers, up a bit from last week's 2,262,000 viewers.

New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which started in 1988 and has become an annual spring tradition since 1991, opens up with a 5/21 show at Korakuen Hall. The company announced this week that every tournament match will be airing on New Japan World, with seven shows live, including the last four. The other seven shows will air shortly after completion on a short delay.

Smith Hart, 67, the oldest son of Stu Hart, will be undergoing chemotherapy in his battle with cancer. Even though Bret’s cancer got more publicity, those in the family have said that Smith’s situation was far more serious as they didn’t catch his prostate cancer early as they did with Bret, and it had spread.

Cedric Alexander, who was not under an ROH contact, finished up with the company at the New York show on 5/14. He had a recent WWE tryout and was expected to be in the cruiserweight tournament, so this would make that more likely. His name popping up on Evolve future shows pretty well confirmed he was finishing here because it’s been made clear that even if you aren’t under contract to ROH, they don’t want you working Evolve. Lio Rush, who did both, was a temporary thing and once his Evolve dates advertised are completed he won’t be working there.

A note on Enzo Amore. There are different beliefs regarding his injury, both the idea that he was first knocked silly by a knee a spot before his head whiplashed on the middle rope, and that he was knocked out twice, or that it was the head whiplashing that knocked him out, and led to his head hitting the apron. The impression we have is Amore believes it was the latter.

Dixie Carter, Eric Sherman and John Gaburick are doing a business meeting in India this week. Topics will include the tour of India that their contract with Sony Six stipulates plus TNA's attempt to sell a percentage of the company.
Small update to TNA's management trip to India.

Starting tonight, Syfy will be airing a two-hour edited version of the Raw from Monday, airing from 8-10 p.m. The idea would be to boost the Syfy ratings. It's interesting because for years USA has had the belief of not airing a Raw replay for fear it would hurt the original numbers. Syfy was out of the top 25 cable stations in prime time ratings last week. USA was No. 6, although without wrestling they would fall to No. 11.
In a bit of irony, main reason SyFy wanted Smackdown off the network was due to low ad rates and them wanting to go in a new direction for the channel. Smackdown drew some of their highest audiences but very little carried over to their other shows.

Paul London on his time in WWE from the Pancakes and Powerslams show: When you work there, you eat so much crap. It's like middle school all over again when you work there, on any level that you're at. I don't care if you're the megastar or the opening guy, corporate office guy, whatever. At some point in your tenure there, you're gonna be treated like garbage, absolute garbage. And like less of a human being, like the stuff you wipe off of your shoe that you stepped in by accident. And you're gonna be treated like that constantly. It's a constant mental hazing. It's disgusting. It's a horrible, horrible place to work, absolutely awful place to work. So, it's not good for human beings of any nature. It was just things that would numb you to life working there.
http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2016/5/20/11720974/former-tag-champ-paul-london-says-wwe-is-a-horrible-place-to-work


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, The Club vs Reigns feud is rumored to be continuing after Extreme Rules based on upcoming house show plans.
The Club vs Reigns/Cena/Ambrose is planned to occur at several house shows after Extreme Rules. Usos not included in those plans. May or may not end up replacing rumored plans for Sheamus vs Reigns title feud to be next.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Marvel and WCW had plans to work on a cross-over comic series somewhere between 1998-2000 before those plans were dropped. The source of the story stated WCW ended up backing out of talks due to unexplained reasons. http://www.wcwworldwide.com/2016/05/marvel-vs-wcw-comic-art/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 5th anniversary of Macho Man's passing.
Correction to yesterday's "WWE Did You Know" type fact involving Kevin Owens as Undertaker was not the first guy in WWE history to be on the main card for every ppv during his debut year. Kurt Angle or Chris Jericho might have been the first depending on the stipulations used. Charlotte is currently on track to join the list next month baring a sudden injury or Creative issue.
PWI had an article about recent updates to the Jimmy Snuka trial with Snuka himself on the stand for today's stuff. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102138/jimmy-snuka-takes-stand-at-mental-competency-hearing.html?p=1
WWE recently released a new trailer for the upcoming Scott Hall blu-ray/dvd set: http://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/trailer-wwe-scott-hall-dvd-first-look-eric-bischoff-documentary/116008/

[Mr. Nerfect]

In that interview, Paul London tells a pretty funny story about Billy Kidman being upset he used the shooting star press off Kendrick's back, and Ted DiBiase, Sr. disrespecting them to MNM leading to London needing to control Spanky's temper.

[Emperor Smeat]

From the cancelled Marvel-WCW comic book:
http://i.imgur.com/2waHNJg.jpg

[FourFifty]

So NXT has a new team called TM61.
All I could think is Will-O-Wisp...

[GD]

Reminds me of Tazz Dan :(

[FourFifty]

http://i.imgur.com/rOYBx9a.gif

It's nice to see I'm not the worst 450 on tpww...

[Vastardikai]

http://i.imgur.com/rOYBx9a.gif

If nWo didn't come to WCW, I honestly believe Regal would have been World Heavyweight Champion.

[Bad News Gertner]

In my opinion, Regal wasn't nearly as good on the mic in WCW as he was in the WWF. Plus Regal had a lot of personal problems during his WCW run. He wasn't very reliable.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

You are what you eat. Regal was given shit sandwiches in WCW. Saw Lesser guys like Johhny B. Badd advance as US Champion.

[owenbrown]

Johnny B. Badd was never U.S. Champion :wtf:

[Bad News Gertner]

Owenbrown licks men

[Bad News Gertner]

You are what you eat. Regal was given shit sandwiches in WCW. Saw Lesser guys like Johhny B. Badd advance as US Champion.

He was pilled out of his mind in WCW. He was an upper mid card guy at best in WCW. He was much better in the WWF

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Johnny B. Badd was never U.S. Champion :wtf:

Oh right. He was a 3 time TV Champion and then had a US title match against Sting or something.

[Lock Jaw]

In honour of The Ryback, may he rest in peace:

http://i.imgur.com/bFiBnAC.gif

[Bad News Gertner]

Lol that's awesome

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Just listened to Diana Smith on the PWTorch Saturday Morning Lifecast. It was torturous. Was playing a video game so I didn't exit out of it.

[Poit]

So NXT has a new team called TM61.
All I could think is Will-O-Wisp...

That tag team has an 85% of inflicting burn.

#pokemonjokes

[#1-norm-fan]

In honour of The Ryback, may he rest in peace:

http://i.imgur.com/bFiBnAC.gif

Ryback is/was tremendous.

[Emperor Smeat]

http://i.imgur.com/lcI6LCf.gif

[Volare]

Frankenbombsteiner!!!

[Volare]

http://i.imgur.com/rOYBx9a.gif

A man with intellect....and sadistic rage.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hImofL_MgWc?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Evil Vito]

Fucking love Regal.

[Volare]

Sorry one more, :)

The other highlight of his career (IMO).

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZKE4_Zw0WrI?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Lock Jaw]

Fucking love Regal.

Why don't you marry him then?

[Fignuts]

I would gladly be your best man.