TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the dethroner of Vacant's Universal title reign:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/24b7db581da6e0832bd95ea8d8e1f24e/tumblr_nwc2lkaKR21uvyu9yo4_400.gif

With the show built around a four-way for the vacant Universal title, Raw did some of its best numbers in a long time for a show that wasn't the day after a PPV.

In fact, the 3.41 million viewers was up three percent from last week's show, the day after SummerSlam. Even with the lack of major competition, under normal patterns that wouldn't be the case. It was the best number for Raw since the show the day after Money in the Bank.

The key is that the viewers cared about the Universal title match and it had a week of advertising directly ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.39 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.44 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.41 million viewers

They have one more week to beef up the numbers before Monday Night Football starts. Then pretty much until next May or June before no more real NFL/NBA Monday competition.

Jose Alberto Rodriguez, better known as Alberto Del Rio, will not be returning to WWE after the conclusion of his 30-day suspension for a wellness test violation.

WWE may make the announcement shortly, but Rodriguez being removed from all house shows he had been advertised for, even after his suspension was over, was WWE's indication that he is leaving.

Sources say he and WWE have come to terms on a release, leaving him free to work in Mexico and internationally imminently. He would also be free to work in the U.S. in a few weeks.

The Wrestling Observer had reported for some time that issues with Rodriguez and WWE stemmed from creative problems, and that the chances were solid that he may leave the promotion. It was considered likely last week and now, it is said to be a done deal ...

According to sources close to the situation, Rodriguez was unhappy, claiming he was given empty promises when they brought him back last year for a surprise return. He indicated he was promised a main event push which didn't materialize.

Similar issues caused him to leave Lucha Underground, because he said he was promised the main event of Ultima Lucha and was mad because his match was not in that position. There were also financial issues with that promotion, but the WWE situation has no financial issues tied to it.

It looks like things aren’t quite settled between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton.

Chicago's Allstate Arena announced on their verified Facebook page on Monday afternoon that Lesnar vs. Orton II will take place at the arena’s September 24th house show in Chicago, IL. Paul Heyman later confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

According to Dave Meltzer, WWE will announce the match today. The house show isn't currently scheduled to be a WWE Network special, but it would make sense for it to be given the profile of the match.

The match is scheduled for the day before Raw's Clash of Champions pay-per-view on September 25th in Indianapolis, IN. Neither Lesnar nor Orton are scheduled for the PPV, making the decision to put the match on a house show even stranger.

On the debut episode of his podcast released on Monday, Ryan "Ryback" Reeves opened up about what led to him leaving WWE ...

He said that he was never the company's guy and wondered why they put the Intercontinental Championship on him in 2015. After winning the title, he was presented with a new contract offer. Reeves said he wasn’t happy with the offer considering what he had done for the company.

But Reeves said he didn't leave because of monetary value of the offer. "Not about a money issue, just so everybody knows, I walked away from the WWE, the contract offer that I walked away from was a three-year $1.5 million contract.” Reeves said.

Reeves mentioned that there were other things he wasn't happy about. He said that there were merchandising opportunities that didn’t pan out and noted how expensive travel expenses were, saying the way professional wrestling has always done things isn’t always right.

Reeves said that he had been lied to at many times in his career about booking and other opportunities. He claimed that Vince McMahon told him that he would be the number one heel in the company and have the title put on him if he listened to McMahon and read his promos as they were scripted. Reeves also claimed that he was supposed to face AJ Styles at WrestleMania 32, with McMahon telling him that he would "squash that little twerp."

Though he was told that by McMahon, Reeves said that he didn't necessarily believe he would squash Styles given the way he was brought into the company.

That changed and Reeves would go on to face Kalisto on the WrestleMania 32 kickoff show. He said that he was set to sign a new contract but sent a revised offer to the company after not being happy about how he was handled.

On his last day at television, Reeves said he knew that WWE wasn't going to accept the revised offer and thought the booking of the show was intended to make him look bad before he left. He claimed he told Mark Carrano to take him off television, but didn't talk to McMahon because he had been lied to too many times before ...

He claimed that he was offered magazine covers but WWE wouldn't let him do them despite allowing other talent to. He said that WWE wanted Roman Reigns to appear on a cover instead of him at one point.
Part of a longer interview Ryback had and link to the podcast itself: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ryback-i-walked-away-3-year-15-million-wwe-deal-219676

With Michael Elgin retaining his IWGP Intercontinental Championship in a match against Donovan Dijak at ROH’s Field of Honor show over the weekend, Elgin’s match with Tetsuya Naito at NJPW’s Destruction in Kobe on September 25th will be for the title.

Ring of Honor announced that they will debut six-man tag team titles, with a tournament for the newly-created belts starting at their All Star Extravaganza VIII pay-per-view on September 30th. The tournament will feature an eight-team field, with ROH saying that The Bullet Club, The Cabinet and The Addiction & Kamaitachi are expected to compete in it.

Officially added to the WWE 2K17 videogame roster are Asuka, Bayley, Big Boss Man, Blake and Murphy, all three faces of Mick Foley, Diesel, Goldust, Dusty Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Kane, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Lex Luger, Luke Harper, Road Dogg, Roman Reigns, Undertaker, Vader, Seth Rollins and Steve Austin.

Sasha Banks was interviewed during the Raw Pre-Show. They acknowledged her back inury, which they stated happened during the Charlotte match at Summerslam (she actually went into the bout injured, as PWInsider.com reported that night). Banks noted that she would not require surgery for the injury and said that she is working hard to be cleared and return to the ring.

There are plans for Banks vs. Charlotte to take place on a future Raw brand PPV, PWInsider.com can confirm.

Global Force Wrestling is planning to run 10 straight nights of live wrestling action in September.

GFW announced Monday a partnership with the Tennessee State Fair to run pro wrestling on each night of the 2016 Fair from September 9-18.

In a battle of former WWE stars, Cody Rhodes pinned Kurt Angle in their first-ever match-up Saturday night in New York.

Rhodes defeated Angle at Northeast Wrestling’s highly-anticipated “Wrestling Under The Stars” outdoors wrestling show at the baseball stadium in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

The finish was Rhodes reversing the Angle Slam into Cross Rhodes to pin Angle.


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch podcast show had Observer's Dave Meltzer as its guest. http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/dave-meltzer-sicoms-richard-deitsch-talk-business-pro-wrestling-219751
Rolling Stone had a recent article about the downfall of Hulk Hogan's image in recent years: http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/how-hulk-hogan-became-the-ultimate-american-bad-guy-w435741
According to the Observer, Ceasro did not suffer a legit injury during his match against Sheamus. Likely is WWE's way of spreading out the matches for the Best of 7 series so it lasts longer.
Chris Jericho revealed on Twitter both Cody Rhodes and Zack Ryder will be this Friday's guests for Talks Is Jericho podcast show: https://twitter.com/TalkIsJericho/status/770586803447431168

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Suplex Appreciation Night:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/16676c8cd9d800469cd9fff2a86e40ad/tumblr_o933dzztRW1tx8dnyo1_250.gif

Following on the heels of a successful Raw rating, Tuesday's SmackDown had its best ratings since the July 18th live draft special. Tuesday's show was watched by 2,835,000 viewers, up 4% from last week's total ...

Since the July 25th show -- the first without RAW talent -- SmackDown has averaged 2,650,000 viewers, well up from the 2.1-2.2 million viewers the show had been doing when airing taped shows on Thursday nights.


#PWI500 Top 10:
1 Reigns
2 Okada
3 Balor
4 Styles
5 Lethal
6 Owens
7 Nakamura
8 Rollins
9 Ambrose
10 Cena
For some clarification, PWI's Top lists always weighs championships and star status heavily as a factor. Reigns being WWE's top star since the last list and WWE title being the top belt overall were the reasons why he took #1.

On WWE's weekly SportsCenter segment with Jonathan Coachman, Daniel Bryan again addressed his heated exchange with The Miz from last week's Talking Smack.

The confrontation between the two generated significant buzz online with many questioning how much of it was scripted. And in response to Coachman, Bryan finally answered the question.

“Very little, so I just knew that Miz was going to come up, we were just going to banter back and forth. But Miz and I have known each other for a long time, and we really know how to get like at each other’s nerves. I brought up the idea that he wrestled like a coward, and he knows I don’t like the way he wrestles, right? I just don’t like it; it’s not my thing. And I called him out on that. And then he called me out on something that’s very personal to me.”

Bryan said Miz knows he’s constantly having feelings of wanting to get back into the ring because he loves wrestling so much. But, Bryan says he knows it’s not a smart idea and his wife keeps him in check. Bryan reiterated his words from this week's edition of Talking Smack, saying he sometimes thinks Miz is right and he thinks of himself as a coward for not returning to wrestling.

Bryan noted that part of him wanted to punch Miz in the face during the segment, but he figured it wasn’t such a smart idea on live TV.

The WWE will be doing fund raising al month for pediatric cancer research. They will be selling bracelets and bandanas starting on Monday and through the end of the month with 100 percent of net proceeds benefiting Connor's Cure.

The WWE Network will be adding an Eddy Guerrero collection called "Eddie Guerrero: Viva La Raza."

ESPN’s Amin Elhassan drew the ire of Twitter’s wrestling community today after tweeting “Until someone told him it was scripted,” in response to a video of Kevin Owens’ son reacting to his father’s Universal title win. Elhassan went on to engage with wrestling fans throughout the day. ESPN’s Michelle Beadle and Jonathan Coachman have responded to his comments.
Didn't help he also made fun of Owens kid for having Autism which made the whole situation even worse.

Former WWE star Cody Rhodes has called upon WWE to cut bait with relationships the company has cultivated in recent years with TMZ and ESPN over transgressions against those related to WWE.

Taking to Twitter, Rhodes wrote the following:

WWE

Cut ties w/TMZ-they ran my Mother's 911 call

Cut ties w/ESPN-they insulted a child

Have balls. "'Mainstream" ain't always worth it.
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) August 31, 2016



In regard to the TMZ comment, the website ran audio of the 911 call made when Dusty Rhodes, Cody's father, fell ill before being hospitalized and passing away last year.

The ESPN reference is in regard to a comment made by the cable network's Amin Elhassin, responding to a video of Kevin Owen's eight year old son reacting excitedly to his father's WWE Universal title win by writing, "Until someone told him it was scripted." The Tweet set off a firestorm of responses over the last 24 hours from fans of the business, many of whom Elhassin has responded to with insults. WWE has been providing ESPN with talent every Wednesday for Sportscenter.

WWE is looking to sign more Cruiserweight wrestlers in anticipation of the Cruiserweight division starting up on the September 19 Raw episode after the Cruiserweight tournament concludes on Sept. 14.

Notably, PWTorch has learned that T.J. Perkins has signed with WWE ...

PWTorch has also learned that Noam Dar has signed, confirming his inclusion in the division after being highlighted on the August 22 Raw episode.

Another big name on WWE’s radar is Akira Tozawa, who is a potential signee ...

Top Cruiserweight Tournament Players’s Status

Kota Ibushi – signed
T.J. Perkins – signed
Gran Metalik – signed
Cedric Alexander – signed
Lince Dorado – signed
Tajiri – signed
Noam Dar – signed
Johnny Gargano (on NXT roster)
Tommaso Ciampa (on NXT roster)
Rich Swann (on NXT roster)
Akira Tozawa – ongoing negotiations
Zack Sabre, Jr. – ongoing negotiations
Brian Kendrick – status unconfirmed; highlighted on 8/22 Raw


Reeves claimed that deciding not to re-sign with the world's largest professional wrestling promotion was about creative and WWE limiting his opportunities to go his brand. Apparently, he and Triple H got heated during the course of their contract negotiations.

"Me and Hunter had many conversations in that last year and they were quite heated at times. And I would tell him, 'it's not about the money' and he goes, 'it sounds like it's completely about the money'. No, and he finally understood when we were finally done our last talk. It was about creative and it was about limiting me as a brand because I am responsible for my brand, the Ryback brand, the Feed Me More brand, that I believe so strongly in. And when I'm told that I have to go out there and lose in two minutes or not have any buildup for a pay-per-view match, which happened time and time again, when I'm not given opportunities to do promos and be myself, that's what truly bothers me."

Reeves added, "I think the wrestling business has been a certain way for so long, that just because they did some things a certain way, and people have gone with it for so long, that doesn't make it right. And I think it's time to start taking a look at things because the performers are the core of the brand. The WWE does not exist without the wrestlers and wrestlers still exist without the WWE. But the WWE is not where it is without its core, and that is the wrestlers."
Link of the interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0901/617138/ryback-on-heated-talks-with-triple-h/

As previously reported, Billy Corgan is the man in charge of TNA now, and Dixie Carter is on her way out. The way that Corgan took charge, with Carter being named “Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer,” is being done so that she can save face on her way out. She did not stay for the entire tapings, and the word is that she only cares about exiting without getting egg on her face.

Corgan still faces the same issues going forward, he is running a company that doesn’t create enough revenue to cover payroll and TV production, which is why he and Aroluxe had to invest in TNA in the first place. The company has also shown an inability to create profit off both live events and PPV for years.


Some other sheet news includes:

Website PhillyVoice.com recently reviewed New Day's Booty-Os cereal with the verdict of being decent as a cereal but great as a piece of wrestling merchandise. http://www.phillyvoice.com/bad-you-wwe-booty-os-cereal/
According to Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack, the WWE has dropped the Bryan vs Miz storyline as punishment for both going overboard and in a different direction than what the WWE planned for the segment. Punishment also extends into screen time with both no longer allowed to be together for future tv segments.
Chikara announced on Twitter Joey Styles will be a guest commentator for their upcoming King of Trios tournament. https://twitter.com/CHIKARApro/status/771497958810513408
Recent updates to the CM Punk vs Dr Amann medical lawsuit includes Punk claiming Vince McMahon is secretly financing Amann for his counter lawsuit. http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/09/01/dr-amann-vs-punk-cabana-lawsuit-vince-mcmahon-funding-opposition-punk/
Rolling Stone had a recent article about the best wrestling-based podcasts to subscribe or listen to: http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/pictures/18-wrestling-podcasts-you-need-to-follow-w437146/cheap-heat-w437158

[slik]

The guy who made fun of Kevin Owen's son is a piece of shit.

[Mercenary]

[QUOTE]According to Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack, the WWE has dropped the Bryan vs Miz storyline as punishment for both going overboard and in a different direction than what the WWE planned for the segment. Punishment also extends into screen time with both no longer allowed to be together for future tv segments.
[/QUOTE


WWE would do something stupid like that

[Ruien]

[QUOTE]According to Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack, the WWE has dropped the Bryan vs Miz storyline as punishment for both going overboard and in a different direction than what the WWE planned for the segment. Punishment also extends into screen time with both no longer allowed to be together for future tv segments.
[/QUOTE


WWE would do something stupid like that

Did that really happen? He's on ESPN talking about the damn segment so I am confused.

[Fignuts]

If that's true, then that's utterly retarded. Instead of capitalizing on something that EVERYONE is talking about, they are going to punish those involved?

Baffling.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

And Brock Lesnar continues to be allowed to do steroids and to bludgeon people with his elbows lol

[Ruien]

It has to be false.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd say that I can't believe the Miz/Daniel Bryan story, but I totally can.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Remember when the WWE had balls? Vince now lies down for ESPN and TMZ. I do wonder if does plan to sell the WWE to NBC Universal at some point in the future.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma:
http://giant.gfycat.com/TerribleJealousIndianelephant.gif

With the Daniel Bryan-Miz confrontation pretty much blown off on this past Tuesday's Smackdown, we've been asked why did it even happen and why was the situation dropped as quickly as it began. Well, while the scene was scripted by WWE for the 8/23 episode of "Talking Smack" in that Miz and Bryan were scheduled to banter on the show, it went in a direction that the company didn't expect thanks to improvisation on the part of Miz.

During an appearance on ESPN Sportscenter last night with Jonathan Coachman, Bryan explained that while the banter between the two was planned, where it went was not something Bryan knew about in advance. He noted that Miz knows how to push his buttons and was well aware of the feelings Bryan has had towards his February 2016 WWE-imposed retirement Bryan admitted that the nerves Miz hit were very real and played off of Bryan's own conflicts about whether he should remain with WWE (and stay retired) or take his chances elsewhere, risking his potential future health. Bryan also stated that he thought of legitimately throwing a punch to Miz to close the segment but given they were on live TV, felt it wasn't the smartest move. Instead, Bryan walked off to close the segment.

Bryan noted on the 8/30 episode of "Talking Smack" and again last night on Sportscenter that WWE intended to keep he and Miz far apart while on screen going further. Bryan praised Miz's promo that was cut after Bryan walked off the set and put over Miz's passion for pro wrestling. The unspoken implication was the interaction wasn't in WWE's plans and will likely be ignored going forward.

During the ESPN Sportscenter appearance, Bryan said that he has often talked off quitting WWE after seeing the reactions of the live crowds but his wife Brie will talk him out of it. Bryan also admitted that the brain testing that he underwent in New York, which led to he retirement earlier this year, after doing additional research, should not have been the determining factor in whether he retired. Bryan said that he feels 100% and that on nine out of ten days, he says to himself he's going to wrestle again but needs to convince others (and even himself on the tenth day) that it is safe for him to do so. While he enjoys being around the wrestlers and the action, it is hard to feel the energy of the audience and then just sit at ringside. He referred to the concussion issue as "subjective."
Some more details regarding the Bryan-Miz Talking Smack segment from last week and why WWE quickly pulled the plug on the potential storyline/feud.

On this week’s episode of MSL & Sullivan, available on MLWradio.com, former ROH & EVOLVE commentator Mister Saint Laurent and former WCW matchmaker Kevin Sullivan discussed the romantic relationship between Alberto Del Rio and Paige. WWE has gone to great lengths to split up the couple and MSL revealed some of the previously undisclosed details.

“Mark Carano, who fans might know from Total Divas, kind of like the office liaison guy, approached Del Rio and Paige individually and harassed each of them about their relationship. It was indicated that the office wanted them to sever their romantic relationship.”

“A lot of people speculated if this was the reason [WWE] split them up in the draft and that’s definitely what happened. The company did not want them together. They split them up in the draft by design and they threatened to fire Paige if she didn’t break up with Del Rio.”


NXT TakeOver is headed to Canada.

WWE announced on Friday morning that NXT will present one of its regular TakeOver specials on Saturday, November 19th from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The show will take place the night before WWE's Survivor Series pay-per-view in the same building.
Did come at a pretty big cost in terms of other NXT shows for Canada as revealed in the next story.

As reported earlier today, NXT will be doing a Takeover special on 11/19 in Toronto, the day before The Survivor Series event.

Because of that, the Meridian Centre in Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side), announced today that the 9/23 NXT event in their building has been canceled by WWE due to the announcement of the Takeover show. Niagara Falls is about 90 minutes from Toronto, so the company obviously doesn't want to do two shows that close together in such a short period of time.

Refunds will begin to be processed next week.

Also, the 9/22 show in Toronto and the 9/24 show in Kitchener have been canceled as well.

After creating controversy on Twitter earlier this week, ESPN’s Amin Elhassan issued an apology to Kevin Owens and his family. Elhassan had originally tweeted “Until someone told him it was scripted,” in response to a video of Owens’ son reaction to his father’s Universal title win. Elhassan went on to engage with wrestling fans on Twitter after making the comments.
Link to the apology: https://twitter.com/AminESPN/status/771803980460462080

TNA released a trailer for “Delete or Decay,” a Final Deletion-esque battle between The Hardy Boys and The Decay at the Hardy compound that will air on next week’s Impact.
Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCV-s2FVj8E

As was noted in today's WWN Alerts, Ricochet has agreed to “several more EVOLVE bookings” after his match against Zack Sabre Jr. at EVOLVE 69 in Queens, NY on September 11th.

The 9/1 edition of Impact Wrestling did 351,000 viewers, down from last week's 373,000 viewers.

When asked if Punk has received any words of encouragement from Vince McMahon, he said:

"Do me and Vince text? No, he's currently bankrolling a lawsuit against me, so I don't think he's going to be reaching out. 'Hey pal, how ya doing? I'm suing you, LOL!'"
Part of a recent UFC press conference CM Punk had for the lead up to UFC 203.

During an appearance on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson talked about how Vince McMahon wasn't aware that Gallows was previously the Festus character in WWE back in 2007-2008. Here is what Anderson said:

"The best part of the Festus character is that we heard from Talent Relations, or the Head of Talent Relations is that Vince doesn’t even remember that he was Festus."

Anderson also said this to Gallows about what Mark Carano told Gallows:

"We go up to the Gorilla Position, and Mark Carano would say, I’m going to go tell Vince and remind him that you were Festus. I would say, don’t tell Vince, I need this run right now."

Gallows added the following:

"I don’t know if we’re even allowed to say the word, but my wife didn’t even know that I was Festus when I married her, which is real."

Ex-WWE Superstar Mike Knox has NOT been contacted by the company in regards to a return … and the Facebook page claiming otherwise is a fake.

A person claiming to be Knox on social media posted a false update this week saying he turned down a WWE return and earlier today the story began to gain steam on news sites.

According to multiple sources though, the page doesn’t belong to Knox. We’re told he’s currently in Japan and will be doing what he can to have the imposter removed from Twitter once he returns home.

In the meantime, help him out by reporting the fake account. (@Mike_Hettinga)


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2nYDgFYw088" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website recently had an interview with Ember Moon: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/ember-moon-long-journey-to-a-dream
According to Spanish reports, Lucha Elite is currently rumored to be in talks with Alberto Del Rio on a possible deal once he leaves the WWE later this month. http://superluchas.com/2016/09/01/todo-sobre-alberto-del-rio-y-wwe-su-proximo-destino-es-liga-elite/
For those interested in AKI style wrestling games, an indie developer revealed they have started a Kickstarter for a game called Saturday Knights with the roster to be based on popular indie wrestlers. So far they have around 10 indie wrestlers signed and Joey Ryan as an extra character exclusive to Kickstarter backers as a reward. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joemethod/saturday-knights/description
For some laughs, Rolling Stones recently had an article involving a petition by WWE fans to have Roman Reigns vest removed as an illegal weapon. http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/roman-reigns-accused-of-cheating-fans-start-petition-w437756
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Zack Ryder's 8 tv and ppvs wins this year already doubles the amount of those wins he had in the previous three years combined. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/50ube7/this_year_zack_ryder_has_won_8_matches_on_raw/
According to website WWE Network News, WWE recently removed around 5 collection sets from the Network joining 11 other collections previously removed. Some of the content from the collections removed have yet to be restored to the Network as separate pieces. http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2016/09/02/wwe-network-removes-daniel-bryan-themed-content-multiple-collections-removed/

[Simple Fan]

Dropping the Miz/Bryan angle and punishing them is dumb. That was money and people loved it. Miz should not be punished for delivering one of the best promos of the year.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

There's no money in the angle if Bryan can't take bumps. It did what it was supposed to do. It created buzz and made The Miz look good. Now Dolph can lower to this feud and it's still a big deal that he did it.

If Bryan can't bump he shouldn't be involved in things like this. That's the shit I hate most about Stone Cold as the GM and Enforcer. He would stir shit, stun people every night and then couldn't do shit for comeuppance cause of his neck. It was bullshit.

[Ruien]

STD, you have more options than just Bryan getting in the ring. You can have Bryan continue to send guys at the Miz over and over and have the Miz continue to win clean. This can eventually bring Bryan to respect the Miz.

Or Bryan brings guys until he brings in like Joe for a hot debut win over Miz.

[Black Widow]

https://scontent-mia1-2.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/14114941_1076536042430607_4159460220945445794_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9

[Mr. Nerfect]

Still think that Hideo Itami being brought in to kick the shit out of Miz would have been the most Daniel Bryan thing to do in that situation. Bryan could sort of serve as a mouthpiece for Itami and you can get him on the roster ahead of Nakamura and put a belt on him pretty much right away so fans think "Oh, he is something," which I think he needs.

Miz could bounce back from the loss by telling Bryan he has become the authority he always hated.

[Simple Fan]

Eh, just don't think Itami is on Miz's level. Itami definitely doesn't need a title when he does get called up unless it the Cruiserweight title on Raw.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think Miz is on what people think Miz's level is.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol the idiot from espn had to apologize and Kevin Owens tweeted "I win" in response. Good for him because fuck that guy.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

They should've just fired him. In this day in age, people should know better.

[Black Widow]

I guess the porch monkey would cry discrimination if they fired him.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

fuck you

[Black Widow]

I appreciate that offer but my calendar is filled in that area rest of the year.

[Ruien]

Just a fyi. I am so happy this was made into its own thread. You are awesome Smelly Meatballs.

[KIRA]

Amin Elhassan can go fuck himself.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Return of Lucha Underground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6o1UfTSRrC4/VjjD9NeIWpI/AAAAAAAAoFc/SLHC5HOJ_pM/s1600/Entrance%2B3.gif

Meltzer reported that Rhodes is going to work in both TNA and ROH -- unusual given today's wrestling environment. However, Meltzer noted both deals are non-exclusive, giving him the opportunity to work anywhere he wants.

Meltzer said Rhodes hopes to work with Mike Bennett in TNA, someone he worked with recently in an indy appearance. That would also give Rhodes' wife Brandi an opportunity to work as well as Bennett is flanked by his wife, Maria Kanellis.

With ROH, Meltzer said Rhodes hopes to work with ROH Champion Adam Cole but nothing has been determined yet. Rhodes is slated to work ROH's December Final Battle PPV which would be his first with the company.

One thing that still has to be worked out is that he doesn't have the right to use the Rhodes name on television, but is still using the Rhodes name on the indies.

"To me it's like, they may have the legal right. But it feels so unfair to me that he's not going to be able to use the name Cody Rhodes on television, because they own the name. And I just feel like, they did not create Dusty Rhodes. Now, granted, Cody Rhodes only used that name in WWE. He never used it anywhere else. And usually, if you're going to have the rights to use your name, like CM Punk, going forward, you know, it's because you had prior usage before going there. And you know, he never worked for anyone but WWE. So he had no prior usage. But it's like, the frickin' Rhodes name goes back 50 years in this business. And he's a member of that family. And WWE did not create Dusty Rhodes. They did not come up with the name Dusty Rhodes. By the time he got there, Dusty Rhodes was one of the three biggest attractions in the country, before he got there in the first place. I guess they'll work things -- he's trying to work things out with them over that. I had seen stuff where he had tweeted that, I wasn't completely familiar if that was exactly the case. But that's exactly the case. If he's in ROH on television or TNA on television, he cannot be Cody Rhodes
More details on Cody not being allowed to use the Rhodes name from now on.

In the discussion on last night's show regarding whether Paige was threatened with being fired by WWE exec Mark Carrano if she didn't break up with Alberto De Rio, when MSL reported it, MSL never said directly that Paige had said that, although it was also obvious from how he talked that it was a source very close to the situation.

The much talked about "Hidden Gems" including the October 23, 1983 Last Battle of Atlanta between Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer, a cage match blow-off of a long feud, go up on the WWE network tomorrow. Apparently the 28 minute segment was produced, but never aired on television. It was one of those old-time arena single camera shoots most likely they they'd use was filming angles at the Omni. Also going up was the 1980 WWF vs. NWA champion battle with Harley Race vs. Bob Backlund.
Before it was found, it was presumed to have been lost forever due to legal issues or someone accidentally erasing the tape. PWI has some theories and possible explanations on how the footage was found: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/104540/mystery-solved-how-wwe-unearthed-the-battle-of-atlanta.html?p=1

For the first time ever, NXT is headed to Japan.

WWE announced on Sunday night that Osaka’s Edion Arena will host NXT’s first live event in the country on Saturday, December 3rd.

If he manages to hold the title until December, the show will be Shinsuke Nakamura's homecoming as NXT Champion. NXT Women's Champion Asuka is also scheduled to return to her home country for the show. She previously defended her title in Japan twice during WWE's tour of the country in July.

Not to be forgotten after recently returning from a lengthy absence due to a shoulder injury, Hideo Itami tweeted that he will appear on the show. Itami hasn't wrestled in Japan since joining WWE in 2014.

Amin Elhassan of ESPN finally apologized for a stupid tweet he sent out Tuesday targeting Kevin Owens' son, after nearly a week. As bad as it was, when he was called on it by wrestling fans, instead of apologizing he attacked them on Twitter. Obviously, since he at first went to war and then waited almost a week to apologize, many feel that he was pressured into making this apology.
Coachman revealed on Twitter he got involved once he got aware of what happened.

Luke Harper is expected to be going to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this coming week to get his knee checked out by WWE doctors, according to PWInsider.com. If Harper gets cleared, then he could return to WWE TV in the near future. Harper suffered a dislocated patella and torn MPFL ligament during a dark match on March 21st in Philadelphia.

Because of different contractual obligations, Eva Marie is filming Total Divas while on her WWE suspension.

As noted yesterday on PWInsider.com, EVOLVE will be returning to the New York market this weekend with events on Saturday 9/10 in Deer Park, Long Island and 9/11 in Woodside, Queens. The Long Island show may end up being the last time EVOLVE runs that market as the advance is extremely low and if the promotion doesn't draw, they won't return to the market.

"UNREAL: Inside the Crazy, Fun Show Business World of WWE", the memoir of WWE Executive Stephanie McMahon-Levesque has been pushed back to an unknown new date. Amazon has listed the release of Stephanie's McMahon book for 2020. While the book will undoutedly be released before that, it has been pushed back and will not be released next month as originally planned.
The original title of "Lady Balls" was recently rejected due to the trademark office not allowing WWE to get the rights to either word.

Pro wrestler Scott Hall was disqualified from a T.G.I. Friday's for being drunk, rowdy and disrespectful to the bartender.

A witness tells us Hall was at the Friday's in the Atlanta airport on Saturday ... drinking Coors Lights and tequila shots. He allegedly hit on the bartender and called her a bitch, and that's when trouble started brewing with the bartender's father ... who was at the bar.

We're told Hall didn't believe the guy was really her dad, and a manager stepped in and asked him to leave -- when he refused, someone called cops.

Law enforcement sources tell us officers responded to the intoxicated person call. They recognized Hall as his former wrestling alter ego, Razor Ramon ... shook his hand and calmed the situation. You can see in the video though, Scott didn't want to give up his beer easily.

We're told Scott left without further incident and no police report was filed.

Hall has a history with booze and drug abuse, but has said he's been sober recently. We've reached out to his rep.

Pro Wrestling Sheet spoke with Chyna’s mom, Jan LaQue, who says she talked to the Redondo Beach detective handling the case earlier this afternoon about her new request, and he was very cooperative.

Jan claims she doesn’t believe Chyna’s manager Anthony Anzaldo was completely honest in the wake of Laurer’s death, and now that time has passed, she believes some of his moves need to be further looked into. Most notably, LaQue points out that her daughter seems to have fired Anzaldo weeks before passing away.

In emails obtained by The Sheet … Chyna wrote her mom saying the manager stole money from her, so she was taking a break from the guy. Joanie added, “Please refrain from talking to Anthony at the moment.” At the time, Jan says she was worried her daughter was just dealing with personal demons.

Upon further thought in the time that has passed, LaQue fears that maybe wasn’t the case. Which is why she’s now speaking up about it.

And even worse, we’re told the manager gave away Joanie’s cello — the news of which was first brought to our attention via the Chyna for The WWE Hall of Fame Facebook page — and he’s been confrontational each time her mother has tried getting answers on who received it, where the rest of her stuff has been placed, or how the money that was donated to her estate is being used.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qw036qhwheA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

RAW's rating and viewership numbers have been delayed till later in the week due to Monday being a holiday.
For those interested, Season 3 of Lucha Undeground starts tomorrow.
Mick Foley recently on Facebook he has managed to lose around 83 pounds since the start of his exercising and dieting routine. Credits DDP's Yoga workout as one of the big reasons for his weight loss. https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley/posts/1397514826945318:0
Seth Rollins might be dealing with another online scandal soon after texts and a few NSFW images of him were recently leaked online. Supposedly a woman who he dated after RAW's show this week was the source of the leak.
Chris Jericho revealed on his Instagram page AJ Styles will be his guest for a special episode of Talk Is Jericho this November. https://www.instagram.com/p/BKBRdiUjyGf/
Recent episode of MLW Radio podcast speculated the reason Colt Cabana recently showed up to a WWE event might be due to him trying to settle out of the on-going Punk-Amann lawsuits. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/51hsci/msl_w_dave_meltzer_why_would_hecolt_cabana_be
Vince Russo recently defended the use of Bra & Panties matches in the WWE saying they were needed more than normal Women's matches in order to help the WWE win the Monday Night War. He took some offense to Sasha claiming they were part of the bad things about Women's wrestling before the Revolution. https://twitter.com/THEVinceRusso/status/772989517191970816

[slik]

How does a book get delayed from a month to four years...

[Mercenary]

Just a fyi. I am so happy this was made into its own thread. You are awesome Smelly Meatballs.

I'll 2nd this

[Black Widow]

At least he was smart enough to just tease this time.

[Frank Drebin]

Love Luke Harper. Hope he's back soon. Wonder if they'll put him back with Wyatt or let him be a singles competitor. He'd need to talk more or get a slight gimmick tweak if they go that route I'm guessing.

[Frank Drebin]

Funkasaurus, Luke Harper.

[Cool King]

"UNREAL: Inside the Crazy, Fun Show Business World of WWE", the memoir of WWE Executive Stephanie McMahon-Levesque has been pushed back to an unknown new date. Amazon has listed the release of Stephanie's McMahon book for 2020. While the book will undoutedly be released before that, it has been pushed back and will not be released next month as originally planned.

The original title of "Lady Balls" was recently rejected due to the trademark office not allowing WWE to get the rights to either word.

I actually see that as a good thing, as the term "Lady Balls" is just atrocious. I have no idea why they wanted to trademark that term so badly. It's just awful.

It makes Stephanie sound like a transsexual.

[Cool King]

It does reek of McMahon though.

It's a very McMahon term.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, "Lady Balls" is fucking gross and doesn't send off any sort of pro-woman vibe. It's more "women have to become men to compete." The title they have settled on is also shit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Cody Rhodes working for both TNA and ROH doesn't surprise me. Billy Corgan taking over is going to allow TNA to try and stop acting like a big league promotion -- it's not anymore. It's time to work with talent, to get over their ideas, to allow them to build their brands. Ideally, TNA will do more to work with ROH, New Japan and other promotions over the world, in order to get some of that good will it once had back.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seth Rollins getting caught in a scandal again might be much bigger than the first time. I could actually see him somewhat demoted for this one if it's serious.

[Big Vic]

goatse shots?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Sheamus cleaning the dirt off these sheets:
https://abload.de/img/sweep2ups1h.gif

The combination of a poor show, Labor Day, and college football led the Monday, September 5th edition of WWE Raw to fall to 3.06 million viewers on Monday night.

The ratings pattern is noteworthy because the first hour did well, coming off the curiosity from the HHH return and title change. But the second hour, almost always the highest rated hour during the summer, fell greatly when people realized there was going to be no significant follow up, nor any explanation for the previous week's finish that they were curious about.

The third hour, fell off a cliff with 30 of the worst minutes of Raw in recent memory until the Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn match, was way down.

- 8 PM: 3.35 million viewers

- 9 PM: 3.07 million viewers

- 10 PM: 2.79 million viewers
Pretty much erased a small cushion the WWE was building into the upcoming NFL season. For some comparisons, last year's Labor Day show had around 300k more viewers.

In regards to Monday Night Raw ratings, the drop of 16.66% from hour 1 to hour 3 was the third biggest drop in the last 19 months and the hour 1 to hour 2 drop was the 3rd highest since RAW went to 3 hours.

Cesaro defeated Sheamus at today’s house show in London to earn his first victory in their best-of-seven series. Sheamus now leads Cesaro 3-1 in the series.

On his Instagram account, Jack Gallagher said his last independent wrestling date may be at PROGRESS Wrestling’s show on September 25th at Brixton Academy. Gallagher was recently featured in a video on Raw that hyped the brand’s upcoming cruiserweight division.

Scott Hall tweeted a response to yesterday’s report from TMZ Sports that he was recently kicked out of an airport bar in Atlanta: “Thank you to everyone for your support and concern regarding my recent relapse. I'm back on track and doing well. #BadGuy #HallGood”
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/SCOTTHALLNWO/status/773485003850252290

Ricochet has been added to the EVOLVE 68 card this Saturday. He’ll face Matthew Riddle and Tony Nese in a three-way match.

Combat Sports Law has an article on the process of CM Punk being licensed for his fight against Mickey Gall on Saturday. The Ohio Athletic Commission requires that fighters have participated in a minimum of five amateur bouts with a winning record, and the article surmises that Punk must have been granted a waiver to fight.

Bernie Profato, the Executive Director of Ohio’s commission, responded to an inquiry from MMAFighting about the situation: "CM Punk has a wrestling background similar to Brock Lesnar being permitted to fight in the past."

He also noted that the commission has confidence in the UFC's matchmaker because of previous bouts the promotion had submitted in the state.

Scott Garland, aka former WWE Tag Team champion Scotty Too Hotty, has been officially hired as a full-time Coach for the WWE Performance Center and NXT brand.

Garland, who had been working as a fireman in the Orlando area, had a number of WWE trial runs working at the PC and with the NXT brand over the summer.

With Ring of Honor running a tour of the United Kingdom this November under the "Reach For The Sky" banner, British promotion Preston City Wrestling announced on 9/5 that they were severing their three-year relationship with the company.

In the statement, PCW noted that they had contacted ROH on 8/21 and had not received a response to a number of issues they had raised with the promotion, including that ROH was running Liverpool the same night as PCW and that the ROH Liverpool event was also going to hurt the draw for PCW events the following weekend that were booked 40 minutes away, that PCW regulars were placed on "standby" for events and never brought to the United States and that PCW's Cruiserweight championship (held at the time by Adam Cole) was never defended within ROH, which PCW claims ROH promised would happen.

PCW then announced that planned events with ROH had been canceled and that the promotion would instead partner with Combat Zone Wrestling, Westside Xtreme Wrestling and Beyond Wrestling for a major Cruiserweight tournament.

Lucha Underground returns tonight for its third season on the El Rey Network at 8pm Eastern. The preview of the show states that the fate of the luchadores will be determined by the spin of a wheel in the wake of Dario Cueto’s arrest to close the second season. The third season is scheduled for 40 episodes and will be the largest season to date


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2BQlze8jMgQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

On his official Facebook page, Mick Fpley recently clarified stuff about his promo involving his relationship with Stephanie McMahon from this week's RAW episode. https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley/posts/1397797530250381:0
Newest collection added to the WWE Network was revealed to be Eddie Guerrero themed.
WWE renamed both the WWE Tag Team belt and WWE Women's belt to RAW Tag Team Championship and RAW Women's Championship.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Jushin Thunder Liger is the only wrestler in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's history to be in every Top 500 list (26 years).
While Sasha Banks praised Fabulous Moolah as being one of the innovators for women's wrestling, r/SquaredCircle had an article about the dark side of Moolah's history when it came to women's wrestling in the US and the "Original Screwjob" moment in WWE history. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/51nz17/wrestlers_true_colors_series_the_fabulous_moolah/

[Simple Fan]

Ugh. Raw Tag Team and Women's Championships? Why not just brand them Universal and Smackdowns World.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Because Universal and World mean practically the same thing.

[Mr. Nerfect]

So the drop was during the show? I wonder who takes the blame for that? Kevin Owens for being a shitty champion? Sami Zayn for being a shitty challenger? Triple H for not being there? It'll be interesting to see.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Wrestling gif:
http://i.imgur.com/exXmdZJ.jpg

The 9/6 edition of SmackDown Live did 2,454,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,835,000 viewers. That is (barely) the lowest number since the show went live in July.

Billy Corgan announced during a Facebook Live broadcast that he is "actively engaged in negotiations" to purchase TNA Impact Wrestling. Corgan clarified that he was not saying he had bought the company, but was trying to do so. Corgan referred to the process as "complicated" but that he hoped to be able to pull off the purchase. Corgan noted that he hoped to soon not only run the "culture" of the company, but the business end of the company from top to bottom. Corgan stated that if it did not happen, he would explain why as well at a future date.

Alberto Del Rio will be holding a press conference in Mexico City tomorrow to discuss his situation with WWE. Del Rio has been in talks with different companies but at this point WWE has yet to officially announce a parting of the ways.

It’s been reported in Mexico that Alberto El Patron (Del Rio) may be headed to Elite, as opposed to AAA. Del Rio and his reps are hearing from just about every major company aside from WWE.

Stephanie McMahon has said that the reason her book isn't coming out as scheduled is because she has much more to share and that it would be released next year.

On the freedom wrestlers have in the Cruiserweight Classic that he felt after his first CWC match with Da Mack:
"It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. In 18 years, I had never been put in the ring and basically told just be yourself. It was the first time in two decades that's ever happened. It was cool to go in there and what people got to see was just very raw, like pure, organic me. It showed because you can tell I'm having fun and it just felt a lot different. It opened up a lot of people's perception of me."

On getting to work with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels at the last CWC tapings:
"It was good to be able to spend some time with him in a working environment where I could work with him on stuff from a philosophical point of view. It was great to get advice from him, to see how he operates and it's incredible. It's also encouraging because there's a lot of like-minded philosophy and when that comes about, you get to a point where there's no advice to be given because you guys are thinking on the same rhythm, then it encourages you because your education is better than you think it was. It was awesome to be in that environment. I wanted to tell him the whole time that my Mount Rushmore is your face four times (laughs)...or maybe three times and then Eddie (Guerrero) on the end. There's not a lot of people that I would hold in the same regard. It was so cool that he's in that environment and doing that. If you were to put people in tiers, he's above every tier."

On his matchup with Kota Ibushi in the Cruiserweight Classic finals and how big of a night it will be:
"We've never wrestled before and he's amazing. He's world class - an elite guy. It is the biggest situation I've ever been in mostly because it just seems unwinnable for a guy like me because he is who he is. It's the biggest match I've been able to be a part of because of the social significance among wrestling fans.
From a recent interview TJ Perkins had with TJRWrestling podcast show: http://tjrwrestling.podbean.com/e/tjr-wrestling-podcast-45-talking-cruiserweight-classic-with-tj-perkins-and-backlash-preview/

Before entering the Octagon for his first ever mixed martial arts bout against Mickey Gall at UFC 203 on Saturday, CM Punk met with his friend Ariel Helwani for this year’s edition of their annual sit-down interview.

Of note, Punk seemed to be having a difficult time dealing with having to cut weight for the fight. Helwani asked Punk how much he currently weighed, but Punk wouldn’t reveal the answer.

“When does this come out?” Punk asked. “It’s a thing I gotta do, it’s not going so well I guess.”

Punk said the process wasn’t fun, and he's never done a weight cut before. Punk noted that he hadn’t done a practice weight cut for the fight and hasn’t been working with a nutritionist. Punk claimed that the last time he weighed 171 lbs was in high school or eighth grade, but he wasn’t worried about making weight for the fight.
During the same interview, Punk implied WWE/Vince wants to bleed Punk dry of money and don't want the Punk-Amann lawsuit to end anytime soon. Punk believes if Vince never got involved, both lawsuits would have been settled a while ago. http://www.f4wonline.com/mma-news/punkweek-cm-punk-says-his-weight-cut-not-going-so-well-220336

Reigns pinned Jericho.

Jericho was cheered wildly so he cut a promo about how bad England is and how London is the anus of England. Reigns came out and was booed heavily. Jericho then grabbed the mic and started berating the crowd again. But they still booed Reigns.

When Jericho got Reigns in the Walls of Jericho, the place was chanting “tap, tap, tap.” Reigns speared him and the finish got loud boos except for some kids cheering.

JoJo plugged that Reigns merchandise was on sale and the place started booing heavily. She was trying not to laugh about the reaction

From a recent house show during WWE's current international tour. Thought it was pretty funny overall.

Cody is trying to fulfill his bucket list that he put on the Internet some time back and it looks like he's going to hit every one. He said he is not looking to sign with anyone. His major goal looks to be to trying to it as an actor on television. He did an episode of Arrow (he became friends with Stephen Amell when they did the WWE angle together) and is hoping that turns into a recurring role.

Besides indies and a lot of U.K., he is going to work multiple dates starting in December with ROH and noted in particular wanting to work with Adam Cole. Rhodes is also planning on working TNA with he and his wife Brandi doing a program with Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis after they worked together for Northeast Wrestling. He feels he will be able to work both TNA and ROH, even though both have television and to this point nobody has been able to work both. He got at least one set date in New Japan to work with Katsuyori Shibata, and it wouldn't be a surprise if they also work outside of New Japan as well. Cody has gotten offers to work with Damien Sandow since they had a WWE program, but felt he wants to right now concentrate on working with people he's never worked with before.
Some more details regarding recent Cody Rhodes news. Seems like his TNA and ROH stuff is only going to be temporary and not him signing an actual long term deal with either.

Although not announced there has been internal talk regarding a second annual Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament

There was more than one performer that were very upset with the Banks promo and the idea of it. The feeling was that it was bad taste because they tried to use the emotion of the Bryan promo, which it was a takeoff of (one veteran also brought up the Edge situation) and tried to work what ended up being a bad angle off of it. The feeling is the Bryan thing was real, really too real, and happened too short of a time ago and it cheapened it by trying to copy it for an angle, not to mention how bad the Banks angle turned out. Even though there was no promo, another name mentioned was T.J. Wilson (Kidd) who hasn’t been able to return for more than a year after breaking his neck. Wilson and Bryan were both very well liked across the board by the talent. Obviously some will note that WWE already did this with Mark Henry, but the difference was that Mark Henry’s situation was a fake retirement, but not regarding an injury. It’s the fact that career ending injuries are a very sensitive subject to those who are friends of those injured.

The idea right now is to do Takeovers in conjunction with the big four events. Since they have been running on a schedule of four Takeovers a year, that would either move them out of Full Sail (since Mania is in Orlando, Orlando will get at least one guaranteed NXT Takeover show) or they’ll have to add shows

The story is that Paige has gotten legal representation and at press time nobody seems to know whether she’ll stay or go. WWE has outright stated that the allegation of Paige being threatened with being fired by Carrano if she didn’t break up with Del Rio is not true. The reality is they were put on different brands when everyone in decision making power knew full well they were a couple and it’s impossible to believe them being a couple wasn’t figured into the decision. Carmella and Cass were as well but that was different in the sense they wanted to get Carmella over as a wrestler on her own and not part of the Enzo & Cass team so there was a business reason and that decision was made months ago when they didn’t bring her up as part of the act. But to outright say if you don’t break up with your boyfriend you’ll be fired, that’s more questionable. It’s just difficult for me to believe someone in that position would ever say that because of the legal implications. Between her suspension and Del Rio leaving you know the situation would be tenuous anyway, but this being said only makes it more difficult for both sides, but she has not officially at least left the promotion as of press time and is still under contract for a number of years. In fact, at press time, WWE has not even acknowledged that Del Rio is no longer with the promotion which is surprising since the belief was it would be acknowledged by now.
Update to recent Paige news. Supposedly Del Rio recently contacted the WWE's Total Divas rep about the firing allegations but the guy refused to comment on what actually happened.


Some other sheet news includes:

Slam Sports recently had an interview with Kevin Owens: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2016/09/07/22664812.html
ESPN recently had an article about why they have suddenly decided to cover pro wrestling. http://www.espn.com/blog/ombudsman/post/_/id/743/by-covering-wwe-espn-may-be-grappling-with-journalistic-challenges
2K Games recently released a new trailer for WWE 2k17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTz2MOY_xc
For those wanting a quick laugh, website WeAreMel compiled a list of hilarious FCC complaints against the WWE by both fans and people offended at what was going on for storylines. https://features.wearemel.com/there-are-a-lot-of-people-complaining-to-the-fcc-about-pro-wrestling-129708881d6f#.jvshpw5m5
According to the Observer, Season 4 for Lucha Undeground is in serious doubt due to nobody being told when the next set of tapings will occur (some teases at a possible October 2016 or January 2017 date) and the company still dealing with serious financial problems.
Also according to the Observer, WWE's recent deal to enter the Indian market will not allow them to kick TNA out of it. Was some speculation WWE would try in order to get the entire market but Sony who owns the tv channels showing wrestling actually wants more wrestling companies signed.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can totally imagine the WWE trying to split Paige/Del Rio up. Didn't they get shitty at Lana posting about her wedding to Rusev. Paige put up Instagram photos of her and ADR together. It's very easy to imagine a representative going up to one or both of them and saying "Hey, we don't like the look of that" with that underlying "Stop or you're fired" subtext.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Cody Rhodes vs. Shibata is going to be fucking amazing. I'd like to see them do at least two matches, but there's this part of me that thinks they'd make an awesome tag team too.

[Emperor Smeat]

I can totally imagine the WWE trying to split Paige/Del Rio up. Didn't they get shitty at Lana posting about her wedding to Rusev. Paige put up Instagram photos of her and ADR together. It's very easy to imagine a representative going up to one or both of them and saying "Hey, we don't like the look of that" with that underlying "Stop or you're fired" subtext.

Yeup and think there were some rumblings about Vince not liking Rusev and Lana as a couple. Something about him being baffled at why Lana would want to date and/or marry someone who looked like Rusev.

Think it was the Observer who said Vince and the WWE have a long history of butting into the lives of couples if they don't like or approve the people getting together.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, wasn't that the rumored reason behind the Rusev/Lana split? That was horrendous by the way. Rusev should have gone up to Vince and asked him if he has a problem with who he sleeps with like a man. He'd be World Champion by now if he gave Vince a man-to-man scare.

[Simple Fan]

Hope they do another Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Would like to see it opened up like the CWC and not be NXT exclusive.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Are there lots of free agent tag teams even worth a look right now? The WWE has done a really good job of giving the impression that tag team wrestling isn't how you get to be a star. I can imagine a few guys being brought in, but this really seems like a place where you'd put over Gargano & Ciampa or TM61.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Really liked Gargano & Ciampa as a tag team in Brooklyn. I hope they don't split them up because cruiserweights. American Alpha, The Revival, DIY, Harper/Rowan, The Usos, The Alpha Models, Enzo & Cass, The New Day, TM61 -- there are nine awesome tag teams. Ten if you make the effort to bring in Charlie Haas to team with Shelton Benjamin for a program against American Alpha. What a division that would be.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and if you split Anderson & Gallows and put Jericho with Anderson like my most recent fantasy, that would be swell too.

[Cool King]

So the drop was during the show? I wonder who takes the blame for that? Kevin Owens for being a shitty champion? Sami Zayn for being a shitty challenger? Triple H for not being there? It'll be interesting to see.

Kevin Owens being shit.

That's my guess anyway.

[Black Widow]

The NFL is starting so they got an excuse til February.

[Simple Fan]

I don't think it's Kevin Owens. It was the show itself. They had people guessing what would happen this week after HHH got involved. Then Raw has no follow up. Show should have started with HHH in my honest opinion. I don't care if it's a 20 minute Authority promo it's better than nothing like we got. Raw has been booked like shit since the split.

[XL]

Putting him against Zayn didn't help. As good as their matches are they were supposed to wrestle for the last time at Battleground. Even I skipped through it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seeing Reigns/Owens interact made me consider Owens' size a bit more than I usually would. I'm not usually a "physique guy," but the aura of Owens' NXT gimmick, and what I suppose is his main roster one, doesn't really click against a guy like Reigns.

People want to see Owens go against a guy like Brock Lesnar, but I don't think people realize that Owens will look like a school boy next to him.

[Droford]

It does reek of McMahon though.

It's a very McMahon term.

Lady Grapefruits

Works on two levels

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Bliss Appreciation Day:
http://i.imgur.com/lIlqKSR.gif

It’s said that the tournament is there for Kota Ibushi to win if he signs a full-time deal. Zack Sabre Jr. also probably could have won it if he signs a full-time deal. Of the final four, Perkins and Metalik are signed, Sabre Jr. isn’t and doesn’t look to be, and Ibushi has said that he isn’t going full-time and they want the cruiserweight division to be full-time guys
Spoiler tag used since its related to the rumored winner of the CWC tournament and some backup plans in place.

Ahead of a press conference he has scheduled in Mexico later today, WWE officially announced that they have mutually come to terms with Alberto Del Rio on his release from the company.

The company's statement: "WWE and Jose Rodriguez (Alberto Del Rio) have mutually agreed upon the terms of his release as of today, September 9, 2016."

Del Rio tweeted on Friday morning: "My business relationship with @WWE has come to an end in good terms...thanks for the opportunities they gave me. Termine mi relación con WWE."

Del Rio held a press conference in Mexico on Friday afternoon to address the situation.

Notes from the conference:

Paige was there but didn't sit down at the table or give any interviews.
Del Rio said that he didn't feel comfortable in WWE anymore and thought about leaving for a couple of months. He wasn't happy with his second stint with the company and was losing his passion for wrestling in WWE. He felt that he'd done everything in WWE and had nothing left to prove.
Del Rio asked to be released from his contract and came to a mutual agreement with the company.
WWE's traditional 90 day no-compete clause doesn't apply to Del Rio. He's free to work in Mexico now and will be able to work in the US soon.
Del Rio said that he's in negotiation with AAA, CMLL, and Elite, but doesn't want to be exclusive to any promotion. In a point of confusion, he later said that Elite hasn't contacted him. He only wants to work 60 matches a year and has already started to think about retirement. He wants to retire in two years and said he's in talks to work in management for an MMA promotion.
Del Rio would like to return to Arena Mexico.
The banner at the press conference identified Del Rio as Alberto El Patron. He will once again be wrestling under that name.
Del Rio is in negotiations for a commentating job somewhere, but didn't specify if it was in pro wrestling or MMA.
Del Rio didn't mention either his or Paige's wellness policy suspensions.



Paige was there at the press conference but wouldn't talk to any reporters.

According to those with direct knowledge of her situation, she was basically in the same situation A.J. Lee was on when C.M. Punk left. At one point this week it did appear she was gone, right now that isn't the case, but it can change and the situation will be weird. The big difference is there is no legal action being taken against Alberto like there was against Punk.

Crossface, the long-talked about movie about the life of Chris Benoit, is back on the radar after many years with the official announcement that director and Academy Award nominee Lexi Alexander is attached to the project.

Variety reported the news Thursday, although Alexander (Punisher: War Zone, Johnny Flynton) has teased it on Twitter. It also had been reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter several months ago that she was in talks to do the piece.

The project is based on the book "Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry" by Matt Randazzo V. Randazzo V and Ram Getz are the executive producers of the movie, while Alex Ginzberg and Tony Lee (Let it Play) are the producers.

No anticipated release date was mentioned.

I don't know the story behind this but on Wednesday, WWE sent out word to everyone who works in the web department to not promote Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks at Clash of Champions and if there are any stories with any language where the match is mentioned to amend it.

The 9/9 edition of Impact Wrestling, featuring the "Delete or Decay" spectacle, dropped to 337,000 viewers, down from the previous week's 351,000 viewers. The kickoff of the NFL season on NBC certainly took a bite out of TNA.

Ethan Carter III appears to have signed a new deal. They had wanted to get him on a deal where the office books his indie dates. He’s told indie promoters that he’s worked for that they have to go through the office going forward so that would seem to confirm it

Metalik will be moving his family to the U.S. so there may be a delay in him relocating and being in full-time, although he is in and it was announced that Raw this week that he was part of the division. That’s why he’s still taking bookings in Mexico as Mascara Dorada, but he is coming in for the cruiserweight division.

The company applied for a trademark for the term “Skull King,” for a performer. It also could be used as the new nickname for HHH

On Jim Cornette’s Criticisms:
I got that all the time, the shape you’re in, or the gear, get a singlet. I wrestled in a singlet for a while, but it just wasn’t me, or my attitude. People would say, I have a bad attitude. The thing is, the people would say that I had a bad attitude were the people who I didn’t see eye to eye with, so today, I know Jim Cornette says that the reason why I’m successful now is because I changed my attitude and I listen to what people tell me now, and I used to not listen to him, but the thing is, I used to not listen to him, or question his methods because I didn’t agree with them, and I didn’t share his vision. I really didn’t change who I am, I mean, even you, when we’re working on something and I don’t see it, I’ll say, I don’t know about that. I don’t do anything blindly, which is what Jim Cornette would want me to do back then. For what it’s worth, from the moment I’ve gotten here, everyone from the Producers, to the Writers, everybody…I have a really good relationship with everyone. I remember one specific time that I didn’t like the idea they had for me that night, and I spoke up about it and ultimately did it the way they wanted it, and it turned out fine, you know what I mean? Like, I was told, it’s really not a big deal, and I would respond with, no I think it is a big deal, and they would say, no it’s really not, and they were right, it wasn’t a big deal, but I still voiced my opinion, but I really haven’t had any encounters where my bad attitude would take over. I remember, actually, it was Kevin Kelly. I might put some blame on Kevin Kelly. I remember he came into Ring of Honor to do Commentary and work behind the scenes as well. I remember him telling me that he used to work with Rock and Austin and he would see how I would react if there was a pre-tape and I didn’t like how it was, and I would ask for a re-do, which would annoy some people, and the production guys or whatever, or even you know, whoever wrote the pre-tape, and Kevin said look, that might be viewed as you being hard to work with some people, and I’m not going to put you in their league, but I’m saying Rock and Austin used to do the same thing. To me, that was a huge compliment, so listening blindly to what people are telling you, if it’s not you, it won’t work. Somebody can have a very precise vision of what they want, but if you can’t alter it just a little bit, in the smallest way to being you, in a way people will want to watch, so him telling me that, it really prompted me to, not set my ways, but question something of Jim that I didn’t like, but that was the first example where I felt like, being me, is important and motivated me to see that since the top guys are doing it, why not me?

On Vince Russo’s Criticisms:
People immediately went to Jim Cornette and saying you were wrong, because Cornette was on record to say that I’m not the kind of guy who would never wrestle with over 200 people in the crowd. From what I know, I don’t think Jim said anything negative about me winning the title, he just said, I don’t care about it, I won’t watch it, whatever, but he did it because he changed his attitude, but whatever. The one person that kept hearing about was Vince Russo, because Vince Russo is very vocal about how I don’t look like a star or whatever. He said this stuff about Finn Balor and Sami Zayn. He wants me to respond to him and I don’t because the thing is, I truly believe, I just know that Vince Russo doesn’t believe what he is saying. He knows I’m good. He knows Sami Zayn is good, he knows Finn is good, he knows that me being champion is good. He’s just saying that because he wants to piss people off and that is what gets him ratings and attention, and it’s true, because when he says it, I get a million tweets about it. I don’t think he believes in anything he says; he’s just really upset that I blocked him on Twitter years ago, like he made one comment about the Young Bucks and I blocked him, and then I remember somebody showing me last year when he started talking crap about me, he would say that he knows that I blocked him on Twitter.
From a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast with Kevin Owens as the guest.


Some other sheet news includes:

CM Punk recently wrote an article for website ThePlayersTribune about his MMA training and him having no desire to return to the WWE. http://www.theplayerstribune.com/the-most-important-thing/
Finn Balor recently revealed on Twitter his rehab process has gone well to the point he can play with LEGOs again. https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/774240508059189248
MLW Radio podcast currently debunking rumors regarding the WWE not willing to offer a contract extension for Tyson Kidd and waiting for it to expire next month. https://twitter.com/MLW/status/774319455903944704
Seth Rollins might be dealing with another social media related problem after it was discovered his official Instagram account included him ridiculing Paige for her issues with the WWE.
WWE recently had an article on their website about how they found the tape for Last Battle of Atlanta and why it inspired WWE's Hell in a Cell idea. http://www.wwe.com/classics/last-battle-of-atlanta-rich-sawyer
According to reports, the late Rick Rude's son recently passed away after getting into a car accident last week.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kevin Owens actually seems level-headed about Jim Cornette there and seems to somewhat accept the criticisms of him as a performer, which are valid.

[Cool King]

Crossface, the long-talked about movie about the life of Chris Benoit, is back on the radar after many years with the official announcement that director and Academy Award nominee Lexi Alexander is attached to the project.

Variety reported the news Thursday, although Alexander (Punisher: War Zone, Johnny Flynton) has teased it on Twitter. It also had been reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter several months ago that she was in talks to do the piece.

The project is based on the book "Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit and The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry" by Matt Randazzo V. Randazzo V and Ram Getz are the executive producers of the movie, while Alex Ginzberg and Tony Lee (Let it Play) are the producers.

No anticipated release date was mentioned.

I actually got that book as a Christmas present from an old friend way back in 2008 but I've never actually gotten around to reading it.

Maybe I should read it before seeing the movie.

[Cool King]

That is, if I decided to watch it when it's released.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Kevin Owens just praised Terry Taylor in an interview for being honest about not seeing anything in him. He's baiting right?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by JACKET OUTTA NOWHERE:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/dd5d0e979dde9361a8dd70fe02d1e3ee/tumblr_odf2692lTc1saykaxo1_400.gif

Everyone knew that the first week of football season was going to take a bit out of the Raw ratings, but even in a worst case scenario, I don't think anyone expected this.

The feeling was that Raw would struggle to top 3 million viewers, and fall under it some weeks, and probably start out in the 2.9 million viewer range, similar to how it did against the Olympics.

Last night's Raw did 2.68 million viewers, barely beating out the 2.62 million for the July 4th show this year. Aside from that show, from a ratings standpoint this will probably be the lowest rated show since October 14, 1996, and that's when it was going head-to-head with another wrestling show, major league playoffs and an NFL game ...

The individual hours were:

8 p.m. 2.83 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.72 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.52 million viewers

In regards to rating comparisons, this week being a 1.8 managed to tie what WCW Nitro did for its lowest in history. TNA's highest ever for Impact was a 1.5 rating which was the Hogan debut episode. Lowest ever in RAW history is a 1.5 which was hit in late 1996.

Ryback has been unable to go by his former wrestling name since leaving WWE, but that's something he's trying to change.

On an episode of his podcast that was released on Monday, Ryback said that he was attempting to change his real name to his wrestling identity.

“It’s not uncharted territory, but it kind of is too in a way. I legally went and changed my name to Ryback, for many reasons, one of which it was one thing that I did not own, and I created and I used before my time with WWE.

And it is something that is associated with my brand and who I am that I am very proud of. So, I went through the proper steps in Clark County in Las Vegas. And it cost a little bit of money, and I go in front of a judge September 1st. But when this airs, you know, hopefully everything is approved and I would be known as Ryback Allen Reeves moving forward.”

As of now, it isn’t known if the attempt was successful. He still goes by “The Big Guy” on Twitter and is still being advertised under that name for his wrestling appearances going forward.
Link to the podcast episode: https://soundcloud.com/user-487477986

Vince McMahon was injured recently. WWE has confirmed that McMahon did get injured and in fact had surgery, but the nature of the injury and surgery are still unknown. The story going around in the company is Vince suffered a torn quad while squatting.

Alberto Del Rio did an interview with Mas Luchas claiming that he failed the WWE drug test because he was using legally prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. It's not exactly a secret that WWE had banned all TRT usage years ago but may have amended that, but even when amended, even if prescribed by a doctor it has to be approved by the WWE's own medical staff. He also said that Andrade Cien Almas wasn't happy and wants to return to Mexico. He said the problem is that when you go from Mexico to WWE you have to learn English and also start from scratch and forget everything you know. He said Almas asked him if things get better when you make the main roster, and he said he told him that things get worse.

In reply to a fan asking if he would ever fight in UFC, Randy Orton tweeted, “I like making $. Over and over. Not once every 6 months… plus I'd prob fake punch the guy and get choked out. #lol”
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/randyorton/status/775594899223838720

After Decay “kidnapped” Senor Benjamin at the end of last week’s “Delete or Decay” edition of Impact, Matt Hardy tweeted a photo saying that they found Benjamin and the footage of the rescue will air on Impact this Thursday.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/775517764253470720

After wrestling each other all over the world for the last few years, Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay will be bringing their rivalry to Ring of Honor.

ROH announced in a video update on Tuesday that Scurll will face Ospreay on the promotion’s upcoming tour of the United Kingdom. It was recently revealed that both men would soon be making their ROH debuts.

Madison Square Garden has made it official that the show on 12/26, a Monday night, head-to-head with Raw, will be a Smackdown brand event advertising John Cena, Dean Ambrose, A.J. Styles, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Becky Lynch and Naom
WWE started doing this yesterday with having a mostly empty Smackdown house show go against RAW.

EVOLVE set new attendance records for their events in Long Island and Queens. There was a lot of fear going into Long Island in particular because the advance was so bad, but in the end, they sold out and had people standing, so they will be back in Deer Park down the line. Queens was expected to be down because they were running opposite the Backlash PPV but in the end, the crowd was actually up from the previous show. Queens' return date is 11/12.

As noted previously, TNA's Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana were at the show in Queens. The story backstage among wrestlers is that they were actually at a nearby restaurant and since they were in the neighborhood, came by to see the show. There were no business talks between the companies or anything like that and EVOLVE didn't even know they were coming until 15 minutes before they arrived.

Emma, who has been out of action with a back injury, was backstage at Raw last night in Baltimore, Maryland.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">we will get <a href="https://twitter.com/HeathSlaterOMRB">@HeathSlaterOMRB</a> soon. But this wed we will find out from <a href="https://twitter.com/AJStylesOrg">@AJStylesOrg</a> how this year has been climbing the ladder to the title</p>&mdash; Jonathan Coachman (@TheCoachESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheCoachESPN/status/775500077976739840">September 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Ryback. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/09/12/ryback-wwe-ryan-reeves-wrestling-vince-mcmahon
AJ Styles will be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
Rolling Stone had a recent article on the possibility for CM Punk's future as an MMA fighter. http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/cm-punks-ufc-loss-what-happens-next-w439068
According to Japanese media sources, Kota Ibushi will not be signing a contract with the WWE after the CWC ends and wants to return to Japan instead. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/775831515473203201
Chris Jericho revealed James Ellsworth, the guy Braun squashed and got beaten up by Miz, will be this Friday's guest for Talk Is Jericho podcast show. https://twitter.com/TalkIsJericho/status/775703221230772224

[Simple Fan]

I think Ryborg would be a better name for Ryback anyway. Needs to just run with that name. Fits his character more I think.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

"The Big Guy" Ryan Reeves is a pretty great name. Don't know why he'd wanna keep using such a gimmicky name. Just use your real name and build your brand off something only you can own.

[Emperor Smeat]

Think WWE might still be fighting to get ownership of "The Big Guy" trademark away from Ryback. He still owns the trademark which is why he uses it but not sure if he actually won his fight against the WWE over it yet.

Him getting legally named as Ryback could be some insurance in case he lost the trademark to "The Big Guy."

[Lock Jaw]

Should legally change to THE RYBACK

Including bold font and underline

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Bliss Appreciation Day:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/e8d9e21be0cce64474afe649ce0019ed/tumblr_odh027vACH1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

The 9/13 edition of SmackDown Live garnered 2,658,000 up from last week's 2,454,000 viewers. Smackdown had the best audience for anything on cable last night.

Paige took to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon to address her recent wellness policy violation, being suspended by WWE, and rumors that she would be leaving the company.

Paige's statement (with paragraph breaks added) is available below:

"First, I’d like to thank all my fans for their love and support the last few weeks. Let me begin by saying that the rumors that I’m leaving the WWE are completely false! I certainly look forward to returning back to action at some point, once my injury is treated and on a healthy return.

Although I was disappointed by my suspension, I respect the WWE’s Wellness Policy. However, let me be clear that I was not suspended for failing a drug test, it was merely due to a procedural issue. I took the test, I passed it. I arranged said test to happen after I wasn’t at my home when aegis contacted me. So I drove 200 miles to do it. Unfortunately I didn’t do it in time, according to Aegis. Once again, thank you for all the love and support!”


While there has been discussion about the WWE future of former WWE Divas champion Paige given the departure of her boyfriend, Alberto Del Rio, from WWE and her Wellness Policy suspension last month, PWInsider.com can confirm that she will be returning to the road next week.

We have been told by multiple sources the two sides have been communicating over the last several days. Paige is booked for next week's Raw taping in Memphis, TN as well as subsequent live events for the Raw brand.

Paige's WWE Wellness Suspension officially ends on 9/17.

While making an appearance to throw out the first pitch at a Philadelphia Phillies game on Monday night, Daniel Bryan spoke to the Associated Press about his concussion history and retirement from in-ring competition earlier this year.

And as he has done in most recent interviews, Bryan once again expressed uncertainty about closing the book on his in-ring career.

"I honestly do," Bryan said about hoping to wrestle again. "All the real concussion specialists who deal with concussions every day, all of them think I am fine."

But Bryan noted that he understood why WWE wouldn’t clear him.

"You can see it from their point of view," Bryan said. "If something happens to me...and then they let me back in the ring, and something happens to me, even if these other doctors say I'm cleared, they're not the ones who the media will blame. Because concussions are such a hot topic issue and everyone's afraid of that sort of thing, that's one of the reasons why I wasn't cleared" ...

Bryan said that there are times where he gets worked up and wants to call and ask for his release, and that he might have tried harder to get out of his contract and wrestle elsewhere if he didn’t have a family to look out for.

"Hell, I might even be wearing a mask at an independent show next week dressed up as Star Man," Bryan said. "Because it's what I love to do. But, it becomes different when you have a wife and you're trying to have kids."

While laughing, Bryan claimed that he wasn’t given a choice about accepting his new role as general manager of SmackDown. He said that he’s under contract so he shows up when he’s told to.


ROH World Champion Adam Cole will appear on the ROSS REPORT hosted by the legendary Jim Ross this coming Tuesday, September 20th, 2016 at 9pm Eastern and it will be available on iTunes and PodcastOne.com.

Katsuyori Shibata is reportedly off this weekend’s house shows for NJPW after suffering an undisclosed spinal injury.

A student at Seth Rollins wrestling school died recently. The autopsy was inconclusive but no foul play is suspected. The student began feeling ill during practice and was told by instructors to sit out. His condition worsened and he was taken to the emergency room where he died shortly after.

We've been asked about the TNA status of Rebel over the last few hours as she removed TNA from her social media. We are told that her TNA deal expired and she is done with the company. She's been appearing regularly for OVW of late, so she is still pursuing the business.

Gene Snitsky was backstage at Smackdown Live in Philly last night. Snitsky lives in Pennsylvania.

For those who asked where Kalisto has disappeared to, the word we are getting is that he is dealing with a back issue.

The New York Comic Con announced there would be a Lucha Underground panel with Rey Mysterio Jr., LU Executive Producer Eric Van Wagenen, Ivellise Velez, Katrina, Marty Elias, Taya, Doran Roldan and more appearing.

The series will debut in Japan on Samurai TV this October.


Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent rehab update, Finn Balor's current goal is to be ready by next year's Mania. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QndQelzNoHc

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Glorious One:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/d730f6007e21a221cc10c2ef82574ff5/tumblr_odisweR2FM1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Paige was with Del Rio at the press conference but never spoke. At one point this past week she did quit WWE, but there were talks afterwards of attempting to mend fences and at press time things had been settled and she was scheduled to return, perhaps as early as the 9/19 Raw in Memphis, which would be after her 30 day suspension expired. In actuality, her return depends on her various injuries and there is no date scheduled as of yet, but that would be the earliest date possible. It was a touchy situation since a decision was almost made to fire Paige several weeks ago, to the point I was alerted about a firing to come on deadline, which was to be her, but at that point there was a change of heart. That was back during the week where several people had been let go and before the announcement of her Wellness policy failure. She had gotten legal representation this past week.
Update to recent Paige news.

With the exception of Sabre and Ibushi, everyone on the final episode of the CWC has been signed by WWE, along with people like Rich Swann, Jack Gallagher, Akira Tozawa (finishing up in Dragon Gate) and possibly Ho Ho Lun, because of the company wanting to create stars for China. Several will be starting this coming week. Metalik is still working Mexico until he moves his family in, so TJ Perkins was the only one of the four who could have won.

As we reported yesterday in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, Brian Kendrick, Rich Swann and Jack Gallagher are all scheduled for the Raw taping this Monday in Memphis, TN. I would think you can add Perkins to that list as well.

There is already talk of doing a similar CWC style series in 2017, perhaps focusing on female talents. There's been early discussion of doing something in the first quarter of 2017 but that was nowhere written in stone.

As we noted earlier this week, Emma was backstage at Raw in Baltimore.

We are told that Emma, who has been out of action with a back injury, is slated to be on the road this coming week for WWE so she will be returning shortly.

The 9/26 Raw could do a disastrous number because it's up against both the NFL and the Presidential debate. What could save it is that there is a traditional Raw bump the day after a PPV show.

WWE is advertising a 9/25 show in State College, PA with A.J. Styles vs. John Cena for the WWE title, Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler vs. Bray Wyatt and The Miz vs. Apollo Crews for the IC title.
Possible signs of post-No Mercy ppv plans for Smackdown.

Restrictions & limitations in the CWC: We had agents. We had to deal with agents as well and plan it out. I know for me personally, I wanted to do a stalling suplex from the second rope and they completely scrapped that. They said no way can you do that. For whatever reason, Me & Zach were supossed to be 50/50 right up to the end and it was more of a showcase for Zach which is understandable, right? I get it. There weren't major handcuffs put on, but they did want to steer the ship the way they want to steer it. So as we go along and get more progressive into it, they're easing up on it. Tozawa is known for that snap german suplex with a hold for the pin and they were adamant on saying no absolutely no head drops at all and when push came to shove, Tozawa did put (Ken) Johnson directly on his bean for that snap German suplex. Its the same as anything. It's wrestling politics. Either you kind of bite the bullet and ask for forgiveness later or you just do your stuff. I'm sure to God that burning hammer (Brian Kendrik's) was not discussed. WWE doesn't even let the tombstone fly other than the Undertaker.
From a longer interview Tyson Dux (Rd 1 loss in CWC) had on a recent episode of Shining Wizards Wrestling podcast show. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/104744/getting-deep-inside-how-the-cruiserweight-classic-was-booked.html?p=1

TNA President Billy Corgan posted the following video on Facebook, responding to reports (not sure where these may have originated) that he was lining up investors to buy TNA, stating that he was using his own money to attempt to purchase the company and has been using his own money to invest thus far into the process.

Bray Wyatt did a media jaunt for WWE this week. When asked by The Springfield News-Leader if he had any heroes in the pro wrestling world, Wyatt commented, "Oh, man. I have a lot of heroes. I have a lot of people that I’ve looked up to. We touched on Dusty already. As far as, you know, me having a hero, I would say Blackjack Mulligan (Wyatt's grandfather), who just passed away, you know, not too long after Dusty did. He’s up chasin' down shots of Jack and gettin' in fistfights with Dusty in heaven. Blackjack was just a man bigger than life. He was huge, by the way, 6'9". He was just a huge man. Just seeing him come into a room, how he handled himself. You couldn't help but look up to someone like that. He was the last cowboy — maybe the last real cowboy outlaw that will ever be. Wyatt noted that Dusty Rhodes gave him the "Eater of Worlds" moniker. To read that complete interview, click here (http://www.news-leader.com/story/entertainment/2016/09/14/q-bray-wyatt-wwes-eater-worlds/90308076/).

Wyatt was also interviewed by Tupelo, MS's Daily Journal. On growing up in a pro wrestling family, Wyatt commented, "Growing up in that environment is a strange thing,” he said, laughing. “Most people couldn’t imagine it. When I was a child, I thought everyone was a wrestler. I thought when you went to work, you went to go wrestle. It was weird hearing kids talk trash about your family from what they see on television, but it kind of molded me and made me what I am today – thick-skinned."To read that interview click here (https://djournal.com/lifestyle/wyatt-assures-violence-wildness-wwe/).

The second stage of this is impossible to defend. The WWE was aware Orton had a concussion, and covered it up. Orton, likely to protect the company, also downplayed his injuries, even to friends and co-workers who were not aware of this. He was pulled from house shows, but was at television and kept from anything physical.

However, the WWE was promoting Orton vs. Wyatt the entire time. The company knows full well that the time line for recovery from a concussion is impossible to predict. It could be a few days. It could be a few weeks. It could be a few months. There is no way to defend the company for promoting a PPV match with a concussed wrestler when they had no way at all of knowing whether he’d be able to perform ... The fact is the scenario with Wyatt vs. Kane was something planned as a backup for some time, so they were fully aware from the start. Worse, after he was checked out before Backlash that day, and it was ruled that he would not be able to do the match, the WWE not only hid that from the audience, but continued to heavily promote the match on social media hours after the reports were already out that he was off the show, as well as during the pregame show ...

According to one doctor who is a concussion expert and some wrestlers who know the bump, they questioned allowing a wrestler not cleared to deliver an RKO.

Bret Hart, whose career for all real purposes ended due to a concussion, said, “Absolutely, he shouldn’t take any falls. The impact of any bump will pose problems. The brain is usually swollen and can’t be banged about.”

While WWE can defend itself for usage of the Impact testing of Dr. Joseph Maroon as its guideline, and other sports use it as well, it’s well known in football how to cheat on those tests. That’s not saying Orton did, but there may be better systems to use. A lot of that becomes political in the sense WWE’s head of medical is the guy who was at the forefront of the program they use. But it does feel like WWE may be behind on the curve on the nature of its testing.
From a lengthy article by the Observer about the WWE purposely hiding Orton suffering from concussion problems since Summerslam. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/52w0ct/meltzerwon_randy_orton_suffered_a_concussion/

Backlash only drew 7,000 fans, and that was with a lot of papering around town in the days before the show. There were reports of tickets being given away at night clubs as well as outside a Comic book convention the day before the show. In addition, for the first time in recent history, a WWE PPV show didn’t crack the No. 20 searches for that day

It’s notable that the recent WWE Network commercials have more and more Hulk Hogan on them, including two voice clips in the latest commercial. In the past, they’ve not pushed Hogan on network commercials. We’ve all known that WWE was looking at bringing back Hogan when they thought the time was right and when they wouldn’t get a backlash for doing so. I sense this is some testing of the waters. Most wrestling fans don’t care, and Hogan will always have a nostalgia thing going for him no matter what he does, but the racist comments are a tough one to come back from, and the company can’t plead ignorance if a sponsor gets mad over it. Still, while this is not a perfect analogy at all, but seeing Ryan Lochte doing “Dancing With The Stars” so soon after he basically became the poster boy for the ugly entitled American abroad with no sponsor backlash says a lot

Eric Barnes, who was the last person left in the marketing department, is no longer a full-time employee. Barnes’ official title was Senior Director of Consumer Engagement and Integrated Communications. He is still having an involvement with the company as a consultant. He was the last person left in the marketing department.


Some other sheet news includes:

Bleacher Report had a recent article about the downfall of the late Chyna's career and life. http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/the-great-fall-of-chyna
2K Games recently released a new trailer for WWE 2k17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=oSIFzBMI5w4
For those interested, the guy who got squashed by Strowman and almost main evented Smackdown, James Ellsworth, is currently selling wrestling related merchandise on ProWrestlingTees website. http://www.prowrestlingtees.com/wrestler-t-shirts/ellsworth/fighting-chance.html
Update to rumors of Cien Almas wanting to leave the WWE as it turns out the interview with Del Rio was mistranslated. Almas doesn't want to actually leave the WWE although he does miss being in Mexico.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Emma coming back much sooner than I thought she would. SmackDown needs the help more than RAW, but as the hottest woman in WWE right now, Emma would plug really well into a feud against Charlotte for the Women's Title, with Dana Brooke being forced to choose a side.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Becky Lynch Appreciation Friday:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/8c31ea95029286e52854d407989d65b7/tumblr_odjzo4GHp51vtwjglo1_500.gif

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon announced that AJ Styles would be defending his WWE World Title against a returning John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match at WWE No Mercy.

We have been told that Styles’ is expected to have a lengthy title run and isn’t expected to drop it anytime soon. WWE officials are very happy with AJ and have been since arriving to the company.

Even thought Cena has been teasing that he wants to tie Flair’s record for title wins, it doesn’t seem logical at this time as Cena is expected to take time off from WWE shortly after the WWE No Mercy event.

It looks like the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic may become an annual tradition.

William Regal announced at Thursday night's NXT TV tapings in Winter Park, FL, that the tournament would return for its second annual edition. It will begin at tonight's tapings, with the winning team being crowned at NXT TakeOver: Toronto on Saturday, November 19th.

The tournament debuted last year to honor the life of Dusty Rhodes and what he meant to NXT.

In addition to new WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins, WWE.com confirmed six more names that will be joining Raw's upcoming cruiserweight division when it launches next Monday night.

Brian Kendrick, Rich Swann, Gran Metalik, Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado, and Noam Dar are all headed to the Raw roster. But WWE didn't reveal which wrestlers will be in action when the revamped cruiserweight division launches next Monday.

Notably, the list seems to indicate that Akira Tozawa, Jack Gallagher, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa won't be headed to Raw immediately. All four were featured in videos hyping the division in previous weeks. Lince Dorado wasn't included in those videos, but will apparently be joining the division right away.
Link from WWE's website: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2016-09-19/article/cruiserweights-arrive-raw?sf36134052=1

The 9/15 edition of Impact Wrestling did 366,000 viewers, well up from last week's 337,000 viewers.

TMZ is reporting that Brandi Rhodes, wife of Cody Rhodes, has signed a deal to wrestle for TNA. The article notes that while she was a ring announcer before leaving WWE shortly after her husband did, she is coming into TNA to be a knockout and wrestle.

Variety reported today that WWE Studios' "Killing Hasselhoff" will open the San Diego Film Festival on 9/28 ...

This is the WWE Studios film that ended up being delayed due to scenes featuring Hulk Hogan that was edited out of the final product after Hogan was let go by WWE in the summer of 2015 when taped revealing Hogan making racially-tinged comments were leaked to the public.

Speaking of the Rock, his Seven Bucks Productions and WWE Studios are now in pre-production on "The Fall Guy" feature film adaptation, which will be the first time Rock has starred in a WWE Studios film.

Ring of Honor announced that former TNA Knockout Jessicka Havok would debut tomorrow at the ROH event in Lockport, New York.

Since the subject of Adam Cole’s contract has been asked about, since it’s no secret WWE wants him and was at one point directly saying they’d fast-track him to the NXT title, but he’s now the ROH champion, this is the situation. He’s under contract through 12/31, but because he missed four months due to his injuries, ROH is claiming the contract continues through the end of April

New Japan’s total gross revenue from wrestling operations in the September to August fiscal year was $32 million, up 18.5 percent over the past year. That’s significant because they did that with lower attendance and with the loss of a number of key people like Shinsuke Nakamura and A.J. Styles. They or CMLL would be the No. 2 pro wrestling company in the world right now, but they are less than five percent of that of WWE when it comes to total revenue
Figured that was interesting in showing how huge the gap is between the #1 and #2 promotions in the world.

Billy Corgan has publicly talked of wanting to buy a majority interest in TNA. It is believed that as of right now, TNA is owned by Dixie Carter, Corgan and Aroluxe. Corgan and Aroluxue got their points in the company by funding the recent television tapings. Carter at this point still owns in the neighborhood of 70 percent of the company, but Corgan was able to get control and the Presidency of the company for putting recent money in. Aroluxe didn’t raise enough money by the end of August to buy the company, which had been expected to happen. Corgan and his investors are working on putting together a deal. The winner in this appears to be John Gaburick. The feeling was he was gone if Aroluxe had gotten the company, while he’s apparently on Corgan’s good side. Carter apparently wants at least $4 million for her stock in the company. There is the feeling this deal needs to go through because they need the money to do the next set of tapings which start on 10/2, which will cost somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 total. If they get the tapings done, TNA will at least have everything in the can through the end of November, at which point the new ownership would have to fund another set of tapings
Some details regarding Billy Corgan trying to buy TNA. Also TNA once again facing serious money problems.

The WWE filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Connecticut on 9/8 attempting to get a ruling that would ban Robert Windham (Blackjack Mulligan, who has passed away), Thomas Billington (Dynamite Kid), James Ware (Koko B. Ware) and Oreal Perras (Ivan Koloff) from filing suit against the company for any damages related to concussions. WWE, who has sued all four wrestlers, basically in an attempt to keep them from suing, is attempting to get a ruling from the court that all four cases are time barred. That is strategic because if they get that ruling, then all the other wrestlers from that era in the other case will have had a court precedent set as far as a statute of limitations from brain injuries

Shelton Benjamin had his surgery on 9/7 to repair a torn rotator cuff. He’s expected to start working at WWE after recovery, which is likely in about six months

With all three Shield members as faces, there is talk of setting up another Shield reunion type spot at one of the joint branded PPVs, whether it be in the Rumble or something at Survivor Series

Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling are looking to sign several stars to combined deals for 2017 and beyond.

ROH is facing a potential big roster turnover with several deals set to expire at the end of the year, but they are hopeful that working with NJPW will prevent that.

New Japan is also looking to prevent what happened at the start of 2016 when the company lost Shinsuke Nakamura, A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows to WWE.

NJPW has also expressed interest in running solo shows in the U.S. in 2017, prompting their attempt to sign U.S. stars to mix with the New Japan roster.

One of the first ROH/NJPW stars to be offered a combination deal is Matt Sydal, who is currently under contract to New Japan for another year. To our knowledge, Sydal has not signed the offered combo deal.

Notably, the ROH contracts for Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly of the ReDragon tag team are set to expire at the end of the year.

New Japan has expressed interest in signing Fish and O’Reilly once their ROH deals expire. However, talent believe New Japan and ROH will work together in free agent situations to offer combination deals that would prevent the two companies from bidding against each other.


Some other sheet news includes:

Sporting News website had a recent interview with TJ Perkins about his CWC tournament victory: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/tj-perkins-cruiserweight-classic-wwe-cruiserweight-championship-kota-ibushi-gran-metalik-raw/ydqq3qbrskd91sv6459szt954
British tv channel ITV recently released a hype and interview video for Jack Gallagher's upcoming WWE debut. http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-09-15/is-wwe-ready-for-the-extraordinary-gentleman/
Some new details regarding a recent trainee's death at Seth Rollins wrestling school were released. http://qctimes.com/news/local/year-old-dies-after-medical-emergency-at-seth-rollins-wrestling/article_f688a967-84dd-53c6-ab4a-2a5ab9464af3.html
A WWE sponsored documentary about Pat Patterson was recently released online as part of the hype for his autobiography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp03sbfWhjY
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, John Cena will pass Triple H and Undertaker for most ppv main event matches all-time in the WWE if his match against Styles next month at Smackdown's No Mercy ppv is the main event. Cena previously broke the record in 2014 but both Taker and Triple H regained the record the past 2 years. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/532cke/when_john_cena_main_events_no_mercy_in_his_triple/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, a member of the Shield has main evented every ppv except 3 shows since their breakup.
According to the sheets and from recent house show reports, Emma is very likely getting added to RAW's Women's division once she returns from her injury which is very soon.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It would benefit ROH and New Japan to work together on such things. It also helps keep talent fresh. I think the weekly television flow of professional wrestling has forced some people to forget that wrestling works well when hot acts aren't on every week and get some time away -- even if they are a top star.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's newest tag team Enzo & Big Foles:
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/14316918_1410783975618403_1605809545143993815_n.jpg?oh=c9008bf8c6b8501ef73483d8b4fe8eb3&oe=58388FD2

It was bad news for WWE for a second week, as the ratings for Raw last night were almost identical to the week before, which at the time were considered shockingly low.

The three plus hour broadcast averaged 2.68 million viewers, identical to the week before. Actually there were 2,000 more viewers last night, so it would just barely beat out last week's show as the lowest non-holiday episode of the show since 1996 ...

Unless the company does something major, or gets a pay-per-view bump, next week, with the presidential debate, has a good chance of being the lowest rated episode of the 23-year history of the program. The record low rating number is a 1.78 on October 14, 1996, a show which went against a live Nitro, as well as the NFL and major league baseball playoffs ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.73 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.63 million viewers
Only real positive was at least the hourly drops weren't bad although numbers were low to start with.

It was reported over the weekend in a number of German newspaper outlets that WWE's current TV home in Germany, TELE 5 will not renew it's current contract when it ends in March 2017. The decision was made despite the fact that Raw is one of the most successful series on the network.

Stefan Kastenmüller, General Manager and WWE VP Europe, has told local media that Smackdown may also leave move as the current deal it has with Pro7 Maxx ends also in March 2017. Kastenmüller noted that WWE has a lot of interest from broadcast, digital and paid subscription channels in the market and expects to sign a new deal shortly.
Will become Network exclusive for a bit if the current deal expires before WWE finds a new home.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned it’s only a matter of time before Luke Harper returns to the ring … sources with direct knowledge tell us he’s officially been cleared for action.
Report from the Observer seemed to imply he's going to RAW since he was seen backstage there during last night's show. Hanged out with Emma who is also rumored to be on the RAW brand now.

Emma tweeted that she's been cleared to return to the ring for six weeks.
Tweet itself revealed she's been frustrated at having nothing to do since being cleared. https://twitter.com/EmmaWWE/status/778052789134102528

As noted, Paige was backstage at Raw but not used.

ESPN posted a critical recap (written by Brian Campbell) of last night’s Raw. “As far as go-home episodes are concerned, this week did almost nothing to build excitement ahead of Raw's first exclusive PPV since the July brand extension and draft. If anything, the majority of Sunday's compelling storylines were set back.” Campbell wrote.
Link to the article: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17594288/monday-night-raw-recap-creativity-bottoms-heading-clash-champions

AXS TV’s “Inside MMA” is coming to an end with the final episode of the show set for September 30th.
Main reason is related to Mauro Ranallo's contract with AXS TV expiring after this month.

After TMZ reported last week that Brandi Rhodes had signed on with TNA Wrestling as an active wrestler, the company confirmed the news in a video on Monday morning.

In a short interview with Josh Mathews, Brandi noted that she was excited for the opportunity and had wanted to get in the ring for a long time.

“I am so excited to finally be in battle. I have wanted to wrestle for some time, and now that the opportunity has presented itself to be a part of the TNA Knockouts, I am just, just so excited. I cannot wait to get out there with some of those great, great Knockout gals and see what I can do.” Brandi said.

Brandi said that her intent when she entered the wrestling business was to compete inside of the ring but had other talents that she explored.

We have no update on Terry Funk past what was talked about last night. Funk was reported as being dizzy and that he probably shouldn't have come from Texas to Philadelphia for the show, but it's Funk and he wasn't going to miss a booking for Tommy Dreamer. He got in the ring to cut a promo and said that it might be for the last time.

WWE Superstars:
*Darren Young pinned Curtis Axel.

*Goldust and R-Truth defeated Jinder Mahal and Titus O'Neil.
Guess the WWE pulled the plug on the Young-Titus feud.


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN's weekly wrestling segment included ROH's champion Adam Cole for this week. Cole held a live Q&A session on ESPN's official Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/WWEonESPN/videos/595869107252832/
Fox Sports had a recent interview with Jim Ross about how he signed The Rock to the WWE and how much the WWE spent to snag him away from USWA. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/wwe-jim-ross-describes-how-much-money-it-took-to-sign-the-rock-091716
According to PWI, Austin Aires has still yet to sign an exclusive deal with the WWE which might mean he's unlikely to ever get called up till it happens.
During a recent interview with ESPN, Ceasro revealed he doesn't like his current entrance theme and wanted it to be changed once he got the Bonds-like entrance. Also revealed he's somewhat upset Vince still doesn't see the potential in him as a possible big star. http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17589368/wwe-superstar-cesaro-feels-sooner-later-denied-top-level-performer
Summer Rae currently denying rumors she's dealing with an injury after images of her wearing a neck brace looking device surfaced recently. https://twitter.com/RealSummerWWE/status/778075202001498112

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Smackdown #1 Announcer <s>Funaki</s> Renee Young:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/db2a456d9fdc20a9c46add95e4f6f613/tumblr_odtz8kVMB71saykaxo2_500.gif

After SmackDown's viewership nearly equaled Raw's last week, Tuesday night's show returned to retaining 85% of the Raw audience like it had usually been doing since the brand split.

Tuesday's episode of SmackDown was watched by just 2,292,000 viewers. That's the lowest number for SmackDown since moving to a live format on Tuesday nights ...

It will be interesting to see if next week's SmackDown will beat Raw in the ratings, with an advertised World Championship match headlining the show and Raw going against both Monday Night Football and the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
If Smackdown doesn't win next week considering the huge competition RAW will face, might prove the theory bad RAWs negatively influence Smackdown shows more than Smackdown itself regardless of the show's quality.

WWE is apparently going to tone down the cruiserweights on Monday Night Raw, so they aren't doing as many big flips and high spots.

Enzo & Big Cass vs. The Shining Stars could be added to Clash of Champions as a second pre-show match.

TNA is teasing a debut for Thursday's episode of Impact, and all signs point to it being Cody Rhodes.

The company released a video on Wednesday afternoon advertising that "He is coming." The video claims that the debuting wrestler's past is behind him, his future is now, and all roads lead to tomorrow night. The video features a man in a suit, but never reveals who it is.

Thursday's episode of Impact has already been taped without Rhodes or anyone else debuting in front of the audience, so it seems likely that whoever debuts will be doing so in a pre-taped segment that wasn't seen by the crowd.

Austin Aries, The Godfather, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Kerry Von Erich, Mojo Rawley, Papa Shango, Tye Dillinger, and Eddie Guerrero were announced as playable DLC characters for WWE 2K17.

The Mexican Senate designated today as Dia del Luchador, basically it’s the Luchador Day.

Chris Featherstone, host of Pancakes and Powerslams, has written an article on former WWE Tag Team Champion Rico Constantino’s declining health. Featherstone started a campaign for him to raise money to cover medical bills and ongoing hospital visits. Please share.
Link to the article and another link to the fundraiser: http://www.inquisitr.com/3529941/former-wwe-tag-team-champion-rico-constantino-in-declining-health-gofundme-account-set-up-for-medical-bills/

Ian Hamilton has a column at backbodydrop.com about how certain British groups are potentially ruining parts of the British scene for themselves and others with by cutting ticket prices.
Link to the article: http://backbodydrop.com/blog/commentaries/britwres-inadvertent-race-to-the-bottom/

“WWE failed to take into account that it didn’t make a lot of sense,” he said. “Remember, I hated Alberto Del Rio, and he hated me. So, all of a sudden, I disappeared and came back. But it’s not necessarily the first step in wrestling that is the most important, because it’s the second step that identifies and clarifies the first one. That’s what we didn’t do. There was no chemistry, but there was also no logical explanation as to why I would be with Alberto. I said to the guys in the back, ‘I’m not getting the story,’ but people kept saying, ‘Just wait.’ I’ve walked on enough wrestling floors, and I know if a crowd isn’t getting a certain vibe. The chemistry wasn’t there with me and Alberto" ...

“I suggested that I get back with Jack. What I really wanted to say during my return was, ‘When I was away, I realized that, instead of building walls, we should be building bridges. Instead of hating on people, I should be loving people.’ That was the build-up, but then we’d find out that, while I was away, I was really having a s— fit about every son of a b—- who f—– me over, and Alberto was one of them. So my plan was to convince Alberto to let Jack join us, and then we’d do the big turn at the end, and that would have helped everybody. They didn’t see it that way, and Del Rio wanted to stay a heel. So I worked six weeks with Alberto, then they went their way and I went mine.”
From a recent interview Zeb Colter had with Sports Illustrated. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/09/20/dirty-dutch-mantell-zeb-colter-wwe-wrestling-interview

A new book "Rowdy: The Roddy Piper Story", which began as an autobiography Piper began writing himself before he passed away, later being completed by his son Colt Toombs and daughter Ariel Toombs will be released on 10/4 by Random House.

It's time for my road to WrestleMania 32 documentary be released. You can help by mentioning @WWE and using #ReleaseTheBear
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) September 21, 2016

On last night's edition of "Talking Smack", Daniel Bryan noted that he wanted to ask fans to push WWE to release a produced but never seen documentary on a planned Daniel Bryan return to the ring at Wrestlemania 32 that would have seen Bryan wrestle a bear. Yes, a bear.

Bryan mentioned the documentary a few weeks back while being interviewed by Michael Cole, stating that actually wrestling the bear was the hardest thing he had ever done

It was pointed out by Reddit user Original CheezIt last night that John Cena’s pinfall loss to Dean Ambrose on Smackdown Live was his first pinfall or submission loss on RAW or Smackdown in nearly seven years.

The last time Cena lost clean on either show via pinfall or submission was on the October 19, 2009 edition of RAW in a match against Triple H.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gscd5MrnLHc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

SuperBestFriends podcast show had Xavier Woods as a special guest this week: http://superbestfriendsplay.com/podcast/sbfc-163-titancrimes-feat-austin-creed-v1/
While UFC's Dana White previously hinted it wasn't going to occur, current rumors are teasing at CM Punk getting another fight in UFC within the near future. Current estimates for UFC 203 have it as a big success for the company and Punk as a possible big reason why.
Buff Bagwell's on-going lawsuit against the WWE regarding unpaid royalties recently had Raven joining the suit. Raven is also alleging the WWE owes him money from unpaid royalties due to the WWE Network.
The Revival's Scott Dawson recently debunked rumors of him being injured: https://twitter.com/ScottDawsonWWE/status/778735372939374592
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, John Cena hasn't won a ppv singles match since Night of Champions 2015 (November). Currently his longest ppv singles win drought of his career. Also currently the longest amount of time he has gone without being a WWE/World champion which will his around 413 days when No Mercy occurs.
Ric Flair recently held a AMA session on r/SquaredCircle. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/53phhq/im_the_16_time_world_champion_2_time_wwe_hall_of/

[Fignuts]

Damn, super best friends movingnup in the world.

[thecc]

Damn, super best friends movingnup in the world.YOU HAVEN'T SEEN DEATHNOTE??!!

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm obviously fascinated by the ratings news. I can't imagine Vince abandoning a plan due to his very stubborn nature, but I could see some pressure from USA Network to end the draft if someone with executive power sees it as a division of fruit instead of two unique and growing brands.

[Fignuts]

I hope not. I've been enjoying the product to the point where I'm actually watching raw and smackdown. Haven't watched either in like 5 years.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Samoa Bottom:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/e94c9a3d1720bbc6b11c56e13f16a423/tumblr_odjwdm5jxH1s05wxzo1_400.gif

Matt Hardy has gotten feelers from intermediaries that HHH wants him when his contract expires, which would be next spring. The problem is that he’s got pretty much creative control of his character here in TNA, plus can make his own schedule and he does extremely well on the indie scene, particularly when you throw in merchandise. With WWE there’s the killer schedule which probably isn’t the best thing for him physically right now. Granted, if something happens to TNA, that equation changes because he’s loaded with ideas for his character and he would need television to get them over

As expected, Cody Rhodes has signed with TNA. He tweeted the following about joining the promotion.

When I released wwe I had no idea the opportunities & places I was bound for...#BoundForGlory https://t.co/hN3J7AbQO8
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) September 23, 2016

The political situation with Alberto El Patron is that at least for now, he’s debuting in the main event of the 10/2 Heroes Inmortales show. AAA is apparently the only promotion in Mexico that was willing to pay $4,000 per appearance as CMLL simply isn’t going to pay anyone that much. Elite was paying bigger money to AAA guys to jump, but with the limited capacity of Arena Naucalpan, where they are now running, it just makes no sense to pay that much for one guy. The problem is that working here dooms Alberto for New Japan. New Japan made him an offer for a schedule similar to that of A.J. Styles when he was there, but he’d have to work CMLL in Mexico. He wasn’t interested in being in Japan that much anyway.

This may not happen, especially since it would be months away if it does happen, but there’s been a pitch for Benjamin, Swagger and Ziggler as a Varsity Club/shooters type group on Smackdown. The thing is from an international standpoint, the most accomplished wrestler on Smackdown would be Gable, who went to the Olympics, although Benjamin, who placed third in the nation as a senior would be the most accomplished NCAA wrestler on the brand. Gable in NXT at one point headed up a shooters group and it was dropped because of the idea that Vince hates those kinds of gimmicks and it would hurt everyone involved

Talent has been told over the last week or so that New Japan is looking to expand into new international markets. This may lead to more of the foreigners getting contracts, similar to Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Rocky Romero, Tama Tonga and Michael Elgin where they are New Japan as their home group. .. Expect Adam Cole & Young Bucks to work together as a trio more going forward as key players in the trios division.

TNA has announced a Bound for Gold match for the 10/2 Bound for Glory PPV. Essentially it's a Royal Rumble match with the winner getting a title match.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it doesn’t look like Ricochet will be heading to WWE like many thought. The reports says that he is looking at staying with New Japan for the foreseeable future. Lucha Underground also made him a very good offer, and he may choose to keep working there and filling the rest of his dates with indie and NJPW dates. He recently posted, “Think I just got some great news. 2017 may just be my best year to date! Not WWE,” on Twitter, which the WON says is in regards to his NJPW opportunities.

Ryback has legally changed his name to Ryback Allen Reeves, in his attempt to continue using the Ryback name for wrestling and other marketing ventures after WWE claimed ownership of the name.

John Cena’s hiatus that beings midway through next month for the second season of American Grit will be over by the end of the year. Wrestling Inc reports that Cena, who will likely work Survivor Series in the middle of his hiatus, is scheduled for the December 26th Smackdown house show in Madison Square Garden in New York City. This is about on par with when he returned last year.

Former WWE and TNA talent Kia Stevens, best known as Awesome Kong and Kharma, has joined the cast of Netflix's forthcoming comedy "GLOW", based on the 1980s female wrestling league The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which aired for several years and even did a national tour based on the success of the series' syndicated TV series, according to Deadline.com.

There really isn’t much of an update on the future of TNA in regards to a sale. Billy Corgan is the President as is running the company, and Dixie Carter is largely out of decision making power. She still owns about 70 percent of the company but is looking to sell because the company needs money to continue and she doesn’t have it, and the company is heavily in debt, which is a key. Corgan is said to be the most likely buyer.

The Dudleys may not be doing a lot of indie stuff as there is talk of Devon taking a job as an agent with WWE while Bubba would continue to work as a single on the indies, and both would continue to co-own their Florida wrestling school

Ryan Reeves (Ryback) did an interview with Sports Illustrated, and gave some clues as how he was able to keep his physique in a drug tested environment. For years several in WWE would bring up to me how guys weren’t happy because he was allowed to keep his physique, so to speak. I always thought that meant he just had access to stuff that you couldn’t catch, but in actuality he was given a testosterone use exemption because he had burned out his own system by taking steroids. He said that he had low testosterone, saying he used steroids when he was younger, his natural production was shut down and it never came back. He said he was given an allowance for TRT. WWE had banned usage of TRT for its talent in 2007 except for those who they had already given approval to before that time. In theory, that makes sense, because if you allow people usage of TRT, the theory is the body becomes dependent on it and won’t function well without it.

In Chael Sonnens latest podcast he has Chris Jericho as his guest and Chael asks Chris how he feels about guys like AJ Styles who not only makes it into the WWE, but winning the title as well. Chris goes on to say he feels prideful that he got to introduce the audience to AJ and getting the styles clash unbanned from WWE. Apparently the move was banned before AJ got there. Also claims to hook viktor from ascent up with a job. It's on ep.128 of "You're Welcome with Chael Sonnen" around the 41:00 mark
Source is from r/SquaredCircle

Bleacher Report writer Jason King, the author or “The Great Fall of Chyna,” was recently on X-Pac 1,2,360. During his appearance, he spoke about working on the article and revealed that Chyna left WWE over a contract issue. King shared the information, which came from Chyna’s sister, Kathy…

“Getting ahold of Kathy [Hamilton, Chyna’s sister] to me was the key to the whole story. She and Chyna’s mom had never really spoken much to the media and there was just a lot of questions about what was Chyna really like before she became a wrestler. And not only that Kathy and her were still very close during the time she was in the WWE and that was obviously when she was dating Triple H, and that was when she had the contract issues. And you know Chyna had kind of pushed a narrative once she was no longer in the WWE that she was let go or fired or however you want to call it, or didn’t get her contract renewed, and that wasn’t entirely true. According to her sister she was offered $400,000 a year to renew the contract and she turned it down. She wanted a base salary, downside of a million.”

From sources in Germany, Tele 5 had enough of WWE. WWE is attempting to set up a bidding war for rights since both Raw and Smackdown deals are about to expire. ProSieben told WWE that the shows produce adequate ratings but are net money losers due to them not being able to sell advertising inventory. In Germany, nobody except WWE licensees have showed a lot of interest in advertising on the shows, even German subsidiaries of companies that advertise on the USA Network. A lot of the deal was based on ProSieben getting PPV revenue from WWE shows, but with the PPV revenue dead, there was no economic incentive. The feeling is if WWE loses broadcast TV and goes back to Sky (pay TV) in Germany, they’ll be back to half houses.

So, I am watching old WCW on the WWE Network. Can you explain to me WHY Robocop appeared at Capital Combat? Was he in storylines? Why did they subject the great Gordon Solie to silly vignettes? WHY?

The appearance was a promotional appearance to help promote the Robocop 2 film, which was about to be released theatrically. He appeared on the PPV and a few commercials with Sting but that was it. It was beyond silly.
WCW story from back in the day from a recent Q&A report by PWI.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website recently had an interview with Mark Henry about his 20 year career in the company. http://www.wwe.com/article/mark-henry-20-year-anniversary-interview?sf36666376=1
According to PWI, Paul London is currently an agent for Lucha Underground.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Dean Ambrose currently has wrestled the most matches in 2016 with 146 matches according to website cagematch.net. Wrestled 3 more matches than Isami Kodaka who is #2 and 8 more matches than Owens for closet WWE wrestler. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/541nh2/dean_ambrose_is_1_in_having_wrestled_the_most/
Update to recent Rico health issues news as the GoFundMe fundraiser set up to help fund Rico's medical costs likely is a scam due to Rico's manager revealing they are not involved with it nor did the person in charge ever contact them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm actually glad to hear the Rico thing is a scam. I hope it means he's not in those sorts of dire straits.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Really intriguing about the WWE allowing some of its guys to dope up and not others.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma Friday:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/bda59e8d75e8895f5edf12838f6011ee/tumblr_o5ngd1DwE41u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Today would be the 99th birthday of El Santo, the most famous wrestler in Mexico and most of the Spanish speaking world. When you go to google.com and see a Lucha Libre depiction, it is meant as a celebration of Santo's birthday.

The 9/22 edition of Impact Wrestling did 377,000 viewers, up from last week's 366,000 viewers. It was the second increase in as many weeks and was the highest audience for the series since the original "Final Deletion" episode back in July. It was also the highest audience for the series on Thursdays on Pop.

Regarding Cody Rhodes, he will be doing Bound for Glory on 10/2 but is still scheduled for ROH starting with Final Battle on 12/2 and will be working somewhat regularly with ROH in the first few months of 2017. He can't use the name Cody Rhodes which is why last night on TNA he was just called Cody, but they can call his wife Brandi Rhodes, and she will be wrestling there as well. While Mike Bennett is working with Moose at Bound for Glory, the eventual program is Cody & Brandi Rhodes vs. Bennett & Maria Kanellis, which will probably be pushed at the post-BFG tapings.

This is notable because Cody can’t use the Rhodes name, particularly in TNA or ROH, at least as of right now. The difference is that WWE registered the name Cody Rhodes and he had no prior usage before WWE. WWE never registered Brandi Rhodes as a name, and she never used that name in WWE, so she can use it anywhere she wants. The clever aspect is that if she’s there as Brandi Rhodes and they do mixed tag feuds, they can bill it and the announcers can say Cody & Brandi Rhodes, with the idea that his ring name is just Cody (which he can obviously use as his real name). The last I’d heard, he was going to just use the name “Cody” when doing television

Kurt Angle was on the Dan LeBatard show and claimed at his worst he was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin daily. He noted that everybody was drinking in TNA so he drank and took meds and would save them all for the night, noting it led to four DUI's in five years. He finally went to rehab in 2013 and claimed until that point that the drug addictions were ruining his life.
Link to the interview: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17619709/former-wwe-star-kurt-angle-says-took-65-extra-strength-vicodin-day-height-addiction-issues

Randy Orton will be the guest on Booker T's radio show "Heated Conversations" on Sports Radio 610 in Houston on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Eastern). He's going to talk about his Tweets on the flag, the national anthem and more.

There will be a Lucha Underground panel on 10/9 at the New York Comic Con at 4 p.m. in Room 1A06 with Rey Mysterio Jr., Eric Van Wagenen (Executive Producer), Ivelisse, Catrina, Taya, Dorian Roldan and others.

WWE's William Regal made a surprise appearance at tonight's Chaotic Wrestling event in Woburn, MA. Regal, who was not advertised, appeared as a guest General Manager for the promotion, setitng the stage for a championship match between Chaotic champion Chase Del Monte and challenge Scotty Slade.

Regal was at the promotion tonight because he was scouting talent for WWE.

In regard to a story making the rounds online about ROH champion Adam Cole being angry the company has extended his contract several months, that is blatantly incorrect. As PWInsider.com Elite subscribers may remember, when I interviewed Cole back on 6/23, we discussed the extension and how that was something that he requested the company do - because he felt loyal to Ring of Honor for paying him for several months even though he was out with his arm injuries.

Emma (Tenille Dashwood, 27) was brought to television last week and went on the road this week as a referee on the Raw tour. I don’t know that makes it a lock she’s on the Raw brand or not, and wouldn’t be until she’s actually on television, but it does look likely. If that’s the case it would be splitting up of a couple since her boyfriend, Ryder, is on Smackdown. She’s been out of action since May with back surgery. She wasn’t expected to be back wrestling until around November but has been cleared to perform

Add Summer Rae to the injury list. She’s out of action with a neck injury, as well as back and elbow issues and hasn’t worked in about a month. There’s no listed return date

A GoFundMe page has been set up in support of former WWE Superstar Rico Constantino … and the fund has grown considerably today thanks to a sizable contribution from Chris Jericho.

Jericho — using his real name — donated $3,000 to the fund, which was established to help Constantino pay for medical expenses, as he’s recently been dealing with serious health problems.

According to the GoFundMe’s description, Rico has visited the doctor five times and was forced to stay twice. It also says he has two leaky heart valves, two blood clots, and traumatic brain issues — which they claim is due to his time in the ring.

Constantino is hoping to raise $10,000 in total. At present he has raised $3,467.
Seems like the GoFundMe fundraiser is legit or at least Rico's manager recently gave his approval even though he doesn't know when Rico will actually get the money. Still would rather want people to donate to PayPal since they don't take a cut of the funds generated.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to PWI, Ring of Honor will be putting a bigger focus on their Women's division from now on.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, next month would have been the end of Bret Hart's original 20 year contract with the WWE. Signed a new deal in October 1996 although rumors of it being worth $1 million a year were debunked.
Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer is currently dealing with some online backlash regarding explaining on Twitter why the word "mark" is considered derogatory in the wrestling industry. The main problem was invoking the N word for comparisons on similar derogatory words used within wrestling. Tweet itself was quickly deleted and he apologized for trying to imply both were the same in status. https://abload.de/img/1474653650788ylbdl.png
Rumor going around the net involves Seth Rollins possibly getting a new entrance theme within the near future. Musical band Downstait revealed on their official Instagram page they were working on something for Rollins. https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ8j3vphnnk/
The Tomorrow Show had a recent interview with DDP with topics including WCW considering him being the one to break Goldberg's streak and leaving almost $500k on the table to break his AOL/Time Warner contract to go to the WWE. http://411mania.com/wrestling/ddp-discusses-how-much-money-his-wwe-run-cost-him-rumors-that-he-was-ending-goldbergs-streak-more/

[Simple Fan]

ROH has the women to have a women's division. The Women of Honor show are not bad but they really need a ROH Womens Championship to take that nesmxt step.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seth Rollins should use Black Flag's "Slip It In" as an entrance theme.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm unfamiliar with a lot of the women under contract, but I like Amber Gallows and Taeler Hendrix. ODB and Jessicka Havok are different from the norm. It'd be nice if they could get Amazing Kong, but I think she has signed on with that GLOW show. Jeff Jarrett should really let them use Mickie James and Christina Von Eerie.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kevin Owens pulling an Enzo:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/eed70cec90871e733aedc777ee8f623c/tumblr_oe579zJX251u1ljrzo1_500.gif

In a number that you can basically throw out as not being indicative of much of anything, WWE Raw did set its all-time low mark last night doing 2.46 million viewers.

The rating itself, not yet in, is a virtual certainty to be the lowest in the history of the show, and lowest for any WWE wrestling television show ever on Monday night dating back to the Prime Time Wrestling era ...

It will likely be the lowest rating for the for a long time, but the circumstances or judging anything by it are as silly as saying the NFL is dying because it dropped 34 percent in one week. Raw was down eight percent, but it would have been a lot worse had the debate started at 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.85 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.38 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.20 million viewers

In terms of rankings, RAW's best hour (8PM) ended up being ranked #11 and overall #15 for stuff on cable last night.

This capped off a month with the lowest average viewership in over 20 years for the WWE’s flagship show. For the month of September, the show averaged 2.719 million viewers. As a comparison, the show averaged 4.127 million viewers in September 2012, the year the show moved to 3 hours.
More on RAW's ratings and viewership struggles in regards to the whole month and not just because of last night's onslaught.

D-Von Dudley tweeted from Raw last night that he’s liking his new role in WWE. Dave Meltzer reported in last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there had been talk of D-Von taking a job as an agent with the company.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/TestifyDVon/status/780513200299212801

With Roman Reigns winning the United States Championship against Rusev at Clash of Champions, every member of the Shield has now won both the World and US Championships.

Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll will team up to take on The Young Bucks during Ring of Honor’s upcoming tour of the United Kingdom. The match will take place at ROH’s stop in Leicester on November 19th.

After signing with TNA as an active wrestler, Brandi Rhodes is training with Chris Hero.

WWN contracted wrestlers Drew Gulak and Tony Nese wrestled on WWE Raw last night in Cruiserweight Division matches. Both Gulak and Nese are now featured on the WWE.com Raw Roster section. This is another step in the building relationship between EVOLVE/WWN and WWE. We are very happy to say that Gulak and Nese will continue to wrestle in EVOLVE while they compete in the WWE Cruiserweight Division. Gulak is set to team with Tracy Williams to challenge EVOLVE Tag Team Champions DUSTIN & Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 70 on October 15th in Orlando, FL. The losing duo can never team again. Tony Nese returns to EVOLVE on November 12th in Queens, NY and November 13th in Joppa, MD.

Over a year after being released by the UFC, former MMA fighter Shayna Baszler is receiving a tryout at the WWE Performance Center.

Baszler, a longtime pro wrestling fan, made the transition from the Octagon to the squared circle after asking for her release because her contract didn't allow her to do pro wrestling. She made her in-ring debut in September of 2015 and has gone on to wrestle for a number of promotions.

WWE announced a new television deal in Germany for both Raw and Smackdown after the current deals expire in March 2017.

7Sports will be airing both shows, making it the first time WWE has been able to get over-the-air deals for both of its flagship shows in that market.

They will moving from Tele 5 (Raw) and Pro 7 Maxx (Smackdown). The former announced the decision last week not to renew its contract.
Declining viewership was revealed as the main reason why the current network didn't bother to renew the deal. WWE revealed they average around 500k for viewers in the German market.

Randy Orton appeared last night on Booker T's radio show in Houston. He talked about going AWOL before he was a wrestler saying, "I didn't have the courage to die for my country. You could see from them the courage to die for this country, that they would be willing to risk everything for this country, for our freedom. that's why you should stand for the pledge. That's why you should stand for the anthem." He also said he respects what Colin Kaepernick was kneeling for but doesn't respect what he's doing.

The NXT Twitter account just noted that "The Drifter" Elias Samson would be returning to action at the NXT house show in Lakeland, FL on Thursday.

Samson fractured his ankle at a June NXT show in Nashville.

Kofi Kingston received 8 stitches after his bout on Raw against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

Former WWE star Ryback has been in talks over the last week with Bellator MMA about fighting. He teased an announcement on Twitter and Bellator has confirmed there have been talks, but nothing serious.

"Spoke, but nothing close," said Bellator CEO Scott Coker.

Sources close to the wrestler confirmed to us that he's interested in fighting and in the end it will come down to money. He spoke about the situation today on Las Vegas radio.

On the subject of Cena's pursuit of world title reign number 16, Flair indicated that he hopes Cena ties his record.

"Well, first of all, I text John. I love John. He's always, even when I'm not there, he throws me name out there and keeps me in the public eye. I would be elated if John got that. I mean, he [has] worked hard enough and it's never going to affect my legacy. I think the world of John Cena as a person, as a man."

Flair added, "but I think the world of John and I think that when I look at what he has done for the company, and, of course, the company has done a lot for him, but his work ethic is incredible. He's a great guy. He's a great ambassador. And if he won that title for the sixteenth time, I'd be the first to congratulate him."

'The Dirtiest Player In The Game' admitted that he would love to face Cena at WrestleMania if Cena wins his sixteenth world championship. Flair went on to say that there is no big name he did not wrestle with except for Cena and the former members of The Shield.

"Well, I would love for John Cena to win the title and them to give me six months to get ready because I could wrestle again very easily, but I would need six months just for cosmetics and a couple months of everyday training in the ring at the [WWE] Performance Center. I would love that, for that to happen. I don't think it ever will, but I could be in that kind of shape if I got the head's up in the next month or so." Flair said, "I wrestled everybody except for John, in a single, and, of course, The Shield, the new guys, and that. There's nobody I missed. I think that's what makes my career unique, is I wrestled everybody"
From a recent podcast episode of The Ric Flair Show: http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0927/617870/ric-flair-on-wanting-john-cena-to-tie-his-record/


Some other sheet news includes:

Website Team Rock had a recent interview with Sami Zayn in regards to his choice of entrance music. http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-09-27/the-story-behind-wwe-superstar-sami-zayns-punk-entrance-music
ESPN had a recent article about Becky Lynch's rise in the WWE. http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17611954/becky-lynch-says-everybody-knows-four-horsewomen-deserve-main-event-wrestlemania
According to a recent Observer Radio show, WWE is once again interested in purchasing TNA and mainly due to Billy Corbin's attempt to buy the company taking longer than expected. TNA has no money left to fund tapings or ppvs with cable providers already refusing to accept orders for TNA's upcoming ppv. TNA could end up shutting down as earlier as this Friday and stay that way till more funds are raised. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/54q2lk/meltzer_on_wor_latest_on_the_tna_sale_wwe_is_back/

[Mr. Nerfect]

B-but Matt Hardy is a genius. How could this happen?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Perfect 10:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/a8becb00b6bd102c5357fa6cbd1304d0/tumblr_oe8ntdStpq1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The Tuesday, September 27th edition of SmackDown Live on USA Network drew 2.340 million viewers, headlined between WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose.

That number was up 2% from last week, which was the lowest the company had experienced for SmackDown since the brand spli ...

Smackdown is now averaging 2.564 million viewers since the brand split, which is well above what the show had been doing when airing taped on Tuesday nights. Over the same time frame, Raw has averaged 3.004 million.
Probably safe to assume by now RAW does have a negative effect on Smackdown if Smackdown still can't take advantage of RAW's decline during the new brand split era. Also pretty much proves another theory WWE's floor for viewers is a little over 2 million regardless of the quality of shows.

scored a 1.75 TV rating, down 11 percent from last week’s show.

The previous standard-week, low-point for Raw was a 1.8 back in October 1996. However, there was a Christmas Week episode on December 23, 1996 that scored a 1.5 rating to set the all-time low-point.

Raw’s three hours averaged 2.478 million viewers, down eight percent (about 206,000 viewers) from last week.

It was the least-watched show of the year, but the first hour helped the show avoid falling completely off the table.

First Hour: 2.850 million viewers, the most since Labor Day
Second Hour: 2.381 million viewers, down about 300,000 viewers from last week
Third Hour: 2.203 million viewers, down about 430,000 viewers from last week
The third hour of Raw was likely one of the least-watched hours in the history of the show. It also continued the streak of Raw’s third hour declining from the second hour for the 28th consecutive week.
Some more details about RAW's historic low this week. All-time low for RAW in WWE history but not when including holidays.

Daniel Bryan tweeted a video clip of the mockumentary he’s trying to get WWE to release chronicling his supposedly scheduled WrestleMania 32 match with a bear.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/781214457565437952

John Cena appeared on Talking Smack after WWE SmackDown last night. During the segment, Cena spoke with Daniel Bryan and Renee Young, Dean Ambrose's real-life girlfriend, about Ambrose calling him a lazy part-timer last week.

Cena said that while there may be a little truth in Ambrose's comments, he's getting them twisted and his record speaks for itself when it comes to be being called "lazy." He said that when Ambrose talks about him riding on a private bus or a plane after the shows, he's correct. But what he doesn't know is that while Ambrose's day ends right now, he's going to work and he's flying to New York to promote Total Bellas this week while Ambrose gets to go home to recuperate.

Cena noted that Ambrose makes millions of dollars from WWE and he works hard for it, and he doesn't appreciate when people say that he's high and mighty because he hopes they aspire to do for the business what he is trying to do. He said that he didn't get a chance to be a part of the first SmackDown Live pay-per-view because he was in China helping global relations between WWE and the country so hopefully years from now Ambrose or other stars can be on a SmackDown Live pay-per-view or a WrestleMania in front of 100,000 people in Beijing or Shanghai. Cena said that he knows it won't happen to him, but he's happy to open that door and help to get that ball rolling.

Cena brought up Ambrose saying that he doesn't dress in the same locker room as the other wrestlers and admitted that he didn't, saying that you are the sum of the five people you spend your most time with and that "Dean Ambrose would slow me down." He said that while Ambrose may hang out with the Samoans or Jack Swagger, he can ask them who they go to for genuine advice in WWE when they really need help, and they will respond that "it's me."

Cena later once again said that he's getting ready to head to New York to promote Total Bellas, and it will be his pleasure because he wants for it to be a success because Nikki Bella works her butt off. "Like I said, you are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with and I surround myself with people that just go," Cena said. "The Vince McMahons of the world, people who are the first to show up and the last to leave. "No, I don't stand and dress where Dean Ambrose dresses, but this is where someone has twisted reality. Dean Ambrose said 'John Cena and Dean Ambrose don't like each other.' No. Dean Ambrose doesn't like John Cena. John Cena doesn't care about Dean Ambrose. And if Dean Ambrose wants me to care about him at No Mercy, he'll either need to step up or step aside."

Cena said that "Ambrose cashed in a suitcase to win the championship, won a match and then lost the title. He noted that when The Shield first debuted, Ambrose looked special. Cena said that right now there are two bonafide WWE superstars from the group: Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, and that Ambrose is still trying to figure it out".
Link to the Talking Smack video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nr4XrxcInc

Billy Corgan appeared on SiriusXM's "Busted Open" radio show discussing TNA and where things stand for the company this afternoon leading into Sunday's Bound for Glory PPV.

Corgan said there were a lot of people "at the table right now" and said, "Whatever is going to happen this week or this weekend is going to change the director of the company forever...and this is not a wrestling angle."

When asked about the potential that Bound for Glory would not take place this Sunday, Corgan said he would be in Orlando "rain or shine" and said that the last three rounds of tapings, he has been the person who agreed to financially float those PPV/tapings so they could take place, noting they were deals where the "ink was drying" as TNA went to the ring. Corgan said that he's done everything in his power to make sure that Bound for Glory takes place from a personal and financial level - noting that he was using money from "his own pile" to attempt to purchase the "majority ownership" of TNA - and that he had put everything in place on his end. He said that at the end of the day, it's not up to him but he would personally be in Orlando "rain or shine."

Corgan said that the funding is part of the negotiations and the question is, what are the people funding the show getting for their money? Corgan said that where it gets complicated is that it's one thing to fund the company, but it's another to set the company up to be solvent and successful. Corgan said he didn't want to be having the same conversation with Busted Open in three months. Corgan said he has the funds to step forward, but if that means in two months, talents are in the same boat yet again, then what would be the point. Corgan said that all of talents he's spoken with are on board and hopeful he can "win" and steer the TNA ship going forward ...

Corgan also noted that he met with Pop TV President Bradley Schwartz last week in Los Angeles and Schwartz was very much on board with TNA and the "culture" Corgan wanted for the company.

On October 29th in Baltimore, MD, Ring of Honor will tape television focusing solely on the Women of Honor.

Seth Rollins wrote the following on Twitter:

Wrestling hurts, but that's part of the price paid to live in dreams. Crushed ribs or not, I'll be in LA for #Raw next week..ready to fight.
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) September 28, 2016

For those who have asked, Noam Dar is scheduled to debut next month on Raw for the Cruiserweight division. Gran Metallik will be in regularly once he completes his Mexico commitments.

Wade Keller said today on the PWTorch Livecast with Jason Powell that Vince bans use of his name at WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies because he wants it to be about the wrestlers and not about people thanking him and stuff.
Would follow previous rumors and reports about Vince's views of the Hall and never wanting to be inducted (at least while alive).

According WNW, Roman Reigns got heat and schooled when he came back through the curtain this past Raw. He was told, as a face, to hit Rusev across his back, but decided to sit down before doing what he was told. Vince and Triple H both agreed that what Roman did was 'dumb'.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xHyVum7bzXo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

IGN had a recent article about WWE's upcoming comic series which debuts early next year. https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/27/wwe-ongoing-comic-series-enters-the-ring-in-january-2017
TJ Perkins recently revealed on Twitter he was responsible for the gaming style tune for his entrance theme on RAW. https://twitter.com/MegaTJP/status/781240069902389252
During a recent Ross Report podcast episode, Bobby Lashley teased he'd be willing to return to the WWE one day if a possible dream match between him and Lesnar were to occur at Mania. http://www.sescoops.com/brock-lesnar-bobby-lashley-wants-wrestlemania-match/
Matt Hardy recently clarified claims of him being anti-vax by stating children need vaccines and he never meant to imply he doesn't allow Maxel to get them. https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/781206429646544896

[Simple Fan]

Corgan really seemed like he wants to then TNA around but he has realistic doubts about the future of the company. Part of me would like to see WWE buy them but I also would like to see what Corgan has in mind for the company as it seems he wants to make a lot of changes. Might start the Impact thread early as it might be the last Impact.

[Black Widow]

I wish Cena would just leave nobody gives a FUCK anymore!

[Simple Fan]

Also cool to hear Reigns has some heat backstage with Hunter and Vince. It was dumb what he did if he is a face.

[Emperor Smeat]

Corgan really seemed like he wants to then TNA around but he has realistic doubts about the future of the company. Part of me would like to see WWE buy them but I also would like to see what Corgan has in mind for the company as it seems he wants to make a lot of changes. Might start the Impact thread early as it might be the last Impact.

Feeling around the net is Corgan finally realized how deep TNA's problems are and stretching himself thin financially just to buy the company (and probably its debts).

[Simple Fan]

I think his best bet is to just hope WWE buys it and he takes what they dont wants and starts his own promotion. I don't imagine WWE would want a whole lot of their talent but I could be wrong with a lot of veteran's turning them down for returns.

[Fignuts]

I wish Cena would just leave nobody gives a FUCK anymore!

You are not a real person.

[Fignuts]

I think his best bet is to just hope WWE buys it and he takes what they dont wants and starts his own promotion. I don't imagine WWE would want a whole lot of their talent but I could be wrong with a lot of veteran's turning them down for returns.

Matt Hardy
Eddie Edwards
Davey Richards
Bram
Abyss
EC 3
Mike Bennet
DJ Z
Rockstar Spud
All the knockouts, except Gail Kim

Could see WWE going for any of those people, unless they have heat with tje company I don't know about, or a past PR stain.

Wish WWE would reach out to Kong. Thought she left on good terms, but her history of backstage controversy might be preventing her fro m returning. All I know is Asuka vs Kong is THE women's dream match right now.

Seeing Gail Kim in the current enviornment would be great, but no way does she ever sign a contract with them again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mike Bennett is married to Maria who seems to have real life heat with The Bellas. If that's the case, there is no way the WWE takes them, even though I'd take Maria over Nikki Bella any day.

The Wolves had a tryout with WWE and ignored the call to go home after a scary bump and they weren't offered deals. One could easily image that blowing over, but I'd expect to see them in ROH/New Japan before we see them in WWE.

Bram isn't going back to WWE. Multiple occurances of domestic violence and the ex-husband of Charlotte. Abyss is interesting. I don't know how legit the talks were, but there were solid rumors of him jumping to the WWE years ago, but he sort of swerved everybody and signed with TNA. I always imagined that was it for him. I can't imagine there is massive heat on him, but I don't think they need him, and I don't know how much they'd do with him. Maybe they'd put him with Bray Wyatt as his new monster?

EC3 I imagine would get signed. DJ Z? Eh, they've already got their token Filipino. Spud's iffy. I could see him coming in as the man-servant to someone, or as an obnoxious prick in the Cruiserweight Division. He's basically a British Brad Maddox as far as his gimmick goes, isn't he?

Cherry Bomb is a maybe. Mia Yim is also a maybe, but they already had a look at her and passed over her. Still, I could see her in NXT. Marti Belle I can see in NXT dancing along with No Way Jose. Sienna could replace Paige as the "alternative girl." I think Brandi Rhodes, Gail Kim, Chelsea Green, Maria, Madison Rayne, Raquel, Reby Hardy and Rosemary are passed up on. Well, maybe they do bring in The Decay and Rosemary is a part of that?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can very easily see Braxton Sutter and Allie as a power couple in NXT, since they haven't done one of those, from memory.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Final Deletion of TNA?
http://67.media.tumblr.com/b0bf214332e8c7f61324210dfc8dcee6/tumblr_od7rrfbHJD1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

With Bound for Glory and television tapings scheduled for this week, the expectation was that TNA would be sold by now, although that’s been the feeling for weeks.

As of press time, it still hasn’t happened.

This puts the company in a tough position because Dixie Carter is still the majority owner of the company with 70 percent of the stock. But, she has no money to fund this coming week’s shows.

This has been the case for every set of tapings going back several months, where in the end, either Aroluxe at first and Billy Corgan of late, have funded the tapings in exchange for ownership. We’ve also heard word that Fite TV has a stake in the company.

The shows are all written. The talent has tickets for Orlando. But the money isn’t there to produce the shows, which would be around $600,000. The frustration across the board has grown with fingers pointed at Carter for making a mess of the sale negotiations.

“There are a lot of hurdles and games being played,” said one person with knowledge of how the sale talks are going. “She (Dixie Carter) has really made a mess and is responsible for all of it.”
They have till tomorrow to raise the money needed or else have to shut down future tv tapings and ppvs till it happens.

Billy Corgan was on the Dan LeBatard show on ESPN and said he doesn't believe a WWE purchase of TNA is going to happen and said there was a standoff among different sides as far as what is going to happen. He said that since he's a part owner, he'd know if a WWE deal was going to happen. He couldn't answer when asked if Bound for Glory would happen on Sunday past saying he doesn't believe people want to do something that would put people out of work. Corgan is attempting to finalize ownership of the company this week but it's been a slower process than hoped for.

Dixie Carter Tweeted the following this evening, obviously in reference to all the stories surrounding the company:

Look forward to sharing news soon! @IMPACTWRESTLING has the BEST fans & and an amazing show on NOW #ImpactOnPop
— Dixie Carter (@TNADixie) September 30, 2016

As far as the big question of the today besides what is up with TNA, Kota Ibushi has not signed with WWE. He has agreed to work dates in the tag team tournament and is open for taking any dates in WWE, but at this point not willing to sign a full-time deal.

WWE had a victory in court this past week in getting the concussion class action suit (the one headed by James Laurinaitis, Jimmy Snuka, Paul Orndorff, Butch Reed and 50 other former wrestlers) transferred to Judge Vanessa Bryant's court. Bryant has in the past made favorable rulings in WWE's favor on other concussion suits regarding cases being time barred. Based on her own past rulings, virtually every case would be thrown out. They are also trying to get the Buff Bagwell/Raven case regarding WWE Network royalties transferred to Bryant's court. (thanks to Chris Harrington).

Paige will be undergoing neck surgery so it likely to be out of action for some time to come. She tweeted that she had two different surgery options.

Regarding Royal Rumble, the announcement is expected to take place this coming week of the location. The cities mentioned the most are San Antonio and Los Angeles. WWE officials have consistently denied Los Angeles to us.

BOOM Studios new WWE comic book series will be launching in January. The first story will be about Seth Rollins trying to win the WWE championship.

Revolution Pro announced an 11/10 show at Bethnal Green in London featuring Chris Hero vs. Tomohiro Ishii.

Scott Coker was on Eric Bischoff's podcast and asked about Ryback in Bellator and said: "I can comment on it and really it's a very short conversation because their management did reach out. We had a very brief conversation. I'm not sure where it's at but I don't think it went very far. If they don't have some type of background in either Jiu Jitsu or collegiate wrestling or Thai boxing or a combat sports background, it's tough for them. It's like someone from a martial arts background trying to be a pro wrestler. If you're not schooled and don't go through the education process of how to do it, then you're going to have a hard time. I think that's what you saw with the C.M. Punk situation."

A number of prominent unsigned wrestlers are receiving a tryout at the WWE Performance Center this week.

In an article on WWE.com on Thursday afternoon, WWE revealed many of the wrestlers receiving tryouts and highlighted former UFC fighter Shayna Baszler and Eddie Kingston among the names. Our Dave Meltzer confirmed earlier this week that the 36-year-old Baszler would be receiving a tryout at the Performance Center.

Some of independent wrestling's top women's wrestlers are trying out alongside Baszler, including Heidi Lovelace, Nicole Savoy, Kimber Lee, and Su Yung. WWE also noted that a female referee is receiving a tryout, along with endurance athlete Ella Anne Kociuba.

Cedric Rougeau, the son of former WWE wrestler Jacques Rougeau, is among the male wrestlers in the group. Other male names confirmed by WWE are Jacob Fatu of the Anoa’i wrestling dynasty, Canadian tag team Jeff Parker and Matt Lee, and former Buffalo Bills fullback Corey Knox.

Link to the WWE article: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/shayna-baszler-eddie-kingston-attend-wwe-tryout

The Cruiserweight Classic finale won't be the last we've seen of Kota Ibushi in WWE.

WWE announced on Thursday afternoon that Hideo Itami would be teaming with Ibushi in the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

There’s nothing new on the proposed Lucha Underground house shows in October. Talent was contacted about dates for three shows in October, but from what we’re told, nobody has heard anything since and a lot of the talent because of hearing nothing, started taking bookings for those dates. At this point nobody has been told anything about when the fourth season filming will begin

Will Ospreay is going to be in ROH as a regular starting as soon as his Visa goes through. The same goes for Marty Scurll. Both are starting on the November tour of the U.K

The stuff about Andrade Cien Almas not being happy was no surprise in Mexico as what Del Rio said was common knowledge among fans there nor him speaking out of turn. It’s possible the higher ups in WWE didn’t know

Gran Metalik (Mascara Dorada) did an interview in Mexico saying he won’t be leaving Mexico until the end of October because he wanted to fulfill all of his promised bookings. He said he didn’t want to burn any bridges in Mexico as he hopes to return some day. The one thing about him is that most guys on the way out would have done the bookings and worked safe matches, as he’s talented enough that he doesn’t have to do as much as he does. But for the last couple of months, every time I’ve seen him, it’s all out and the match he did at the cruiserweight classic with Akira Tozawa was really his usual level of performance I’ve seen on a number of shows over the past few months


Some other sheet news includes:

According to PWI, WWE is waiting till the asking price for TNA's lowers before making an official bid for the company. They still are rumored to only want the table library but also are demanding as terms for no-compete clauses be included for TNA's management.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Cody Rhodes is currently on track to become the first wrestler ever to have competed at Mania, TNA's Bound For Glory, and ROH's Final Battle within a single year. Also the first when including PWG's Battle of Los Angeles for major wrestling ppv events in the US.
According to reports, New York State Commission is updating their wrestling rules to include more MMA-like rules and restrictions. Several indies are already complaining it will make it a lot harder for them to run shows in the state. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/553mp0/to_adapt_to_the_legalization_of_mma_the_new_york/
During a recent RF Video teaser with Matt Hardy as the guest, Hardy blamed both Hulk Hogan and Eric Bishoff for being the huge reasons why TNA is still in a mess. Also said TNA has done a terrible job with the X Division compared to earlier years. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0929/617941/matt-hardy-on-hogan-and-bischoff-rape/
Eric Andre revealed Chris Jericho will be his guest for tomorrow's show on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. https://twitter.com/ericandre/status/781521016250073089

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Funaki Fridays:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/68ad415bf95bbf2d0f51dc4253a1a13a/tumblr_o7agst7GNf1u1ljrzo3_540.gif

The story of James Gibson (Jamie Noble) being stabbed twice and hospitalized is correct but. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported the story this morning and WWE sources confirmed the story is accurate and the company was also hoping to get more details. The Mercer County (West Virginia) Sheriff's Office is listed as saying Gibson returned home this morning after a long drive (Cleveland most likely) and left the house to get a snack while his girlfriend took a bath. Upon his return to his Mobile home park, a driver pulled up behind his car and started yelling at him for cutting him off on the road. The story is that Gibson apologized but the two men in the other car continued to yell at him. Gibson took one of them down and two more men got out of the car and one pulled out a knife and stabbed Gibson in the upper back and mid-spine before they sped off. Gibson was rushed to the emergency room. The story said he was no longer in the emergency room but still was hospitalized.

The 9/29 edition of Impact Wrestling did 365,000 viewers, down from last week's 377,000 viewers.

Wednesday's episode of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network drew a total of 123,000 viewers - down from last week's total of 134,000 viewers and the lowest total going back to season 2, according to PWTorch. The previous low came on June 15th during season 2, 128,000 viewers.

The Royal Rumble will be held on 1/29 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, the same building that they drew 60,525 fans in (48,014 paid) in 1997, so this is the 20th anniversary of that event. Tickets go on sale on 10/14 for the Alamodome show.

Regarding TNA, this is what we know. The talent has been told to come to Orlando and that everything is on. Nobody knows who is paying for it. Nothing has been announced regarding a sale. Nobody has officially said the shows are on, particularly Bound for Glory, but talent is under the impression that the shows are on.

Drew Galloway is off the show Sunday. No word on who will face Aron Rex in the finals of the Grand Championship tournament. Galloway will be on the show in some form most likely, but isn't able to wrestle due to a neck injury.

Stories regarding flights being canceled to Bound for Glory as far as we can tell are untrue. Everyone we're aware of who would be booked on the show is still booked on the show in some form or another.
Observer's report came before TNA made an official announcement regarding Galloway's replacement.

According to multiple sources, TNA's crew arrived this morning at Universal Studios Orlando to begin loading in the company's set, lighting, ring, etc. for this Sunday's Bound for Glory PPV.

Meanwhile, TNA's Dixie Carter posted the following on Twitter: "I don’t make it a habit to reply to speculation, but I'll say if you're close to Orlando this Sun-Sat YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THESE TAPINGS! Going to be an INCREDIBLE live #BoundForGlory on Sunday and big things planned for @ImpactWrestling shows. @PopTV"

Michael Elgin may become the first person ever to headline a PPV in the U.S. and Japan within a seven day period, which will make for an interesting trivia note, since he headlined the Destruction in Kobe on Sunday and is headlining ROH All-Star Extravaganza tonight. You have to remember that PPV wasn't a thing in Japan in the early 90s when Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan would headline in the U.S. and Tokyo Dome shows.

More 1993 and 1994 ECW episodes have been added to the WWE Network. Some apparently were taken from old VHS tapes because the masters are either unusable or not there. The September 28, 1993 and October 5, 1993 episodes are actually identical. What is listed as the November 8, 1994 issue is actually the November 1 issue. The real November 8 issue wasn't uploaded as of yesterday.

In what was described to PWInsider as a "mutually agreed upon decision", WWE has released NXT performer Stuart Tomlinson aka Hugo Knox, 31. Knox had not worked a match for the brand since this past August.

Knox, a former soccer goalkeeper from Great Britain, had been signed to a WWE developmental deal in December 2013. He had not been a featured regular on the NXT TV series.

The recent exodus of so many wrestlers from AAA is because of pay issues. There are guys who are as much as two months behind on pay, which doesn’t sound good. TripleMania payoffs were much lower than expected and we also heard it wasn’t that hard in Mexico City to find free tickets to that show. The top guys are being paid on time because they have to do that

Fenix is this week’s AAA departure, but that’s been expected ever since he moved from Mexico City. He’s now working as Rey Fenix. Nobody yet knows how this will affect his standing in Lucha Underground. Because of the value of the dollar vs. the peso, he can make far more working indies in the U.S. than in Mexico, like his brother, Pentagon Jr., who is still affiliated with AAA. Venum has also quit the promotion.
Pretty much the Mexican equivalent of TNA when it comes to recent money and management problems. Past 2-3 years has been a really bad decline for the company.

New Japan owner Takaaki Kidani gave the annual company financial rundown. In the 2015-16 fiscal year which just ended, the company grossed $32 million and posted a $4.1 million profit, which would be high points for the company in both categories dating back probably 15 years. Last year’s numbers were $27 million in revenue and $3 million in profits. WWE is roughly 20 times larger than New Japan. He noted that New Japan is more popular in Japan and throughout Asia, but he also said it’s rare to find an industry where the No. 2 group in the world is that far behind the No. 1 group. His goal remains $100 million in revenue. The big thing is that while live attendance is not up, like in the U.S., those who are going are really hot for the product as the merchandise numbers at the house shows are great.
According to NJPW's owner, NJPW World has around 40k subscribers since its launch with only 8k from outside of Japan.

For those wondering about the negotiations for the next TV contract with USA, even with the lower ratings, USA’s inability to create new hit shows continues to make WWE more valuable to the station. So much can change in TV in three years so it’s not something you know about until we get to 2018 and the lowering audience may not justify a rights increase, or maybe it will depending on the television landscape. But WWE is more valuable to USA than it was three years ago even with the big ratings drop. For the week ending 9/18, USA averaged 1,346,000 viewers in prime time, putting it in fifth place overall. But take Raw and Smackdown out of the picture, that average falls to 932,000, putting them in 11th place. It was only a few years ago that USA was not only No. 1, but would have remained No. 1 even without WWE programming.
Baring a sudden change of fortunes the next couple of years, USA Network is pretty much going to be in a lose-lose situation with the next WWE tv contract talks. Either keep them and spend more than getting back or drop them but have a weaker channel till something equivalent replaces it.

The Bellas are in New York City this week promoting next week's series debut of E! reality series "Total Bellas" and appeared on AOL Build, an afternoon streaming interview series that airs live from a small studio in NYC.

During the interview, Brie Bella admitted that when she retired, she had two months to go on her own WWE contract and wanted to enjoy them and have a happy ending, but the retirement of Daniel Bryan and wanting to support him as he exited the ring made that difficult. She noted they were already filming the series when the decision from WWE came to retire Bryan came about and there was talk of shelving the series. Bella admitted that she didn't want to retire at that point but it was a hard place to be in and now she is concentrating on the next stage of her life, joking that back bumps and baby bumps don't mix.

Brie noted that some of the material in the series is very sad because Bryan was dealing with his "dreams being taken away" but fans know there is a happy ending coming because he is back on screen as the Smackdown General Manager.

During the interview, Nikki Bella told a story of confronting Bryan because she felt he wasn't being supportive enough of Brie, which led to a massive argument including Bryan cursing, which was out of character for him.

Here’s a scary stat. Between everything, the WWE writing team will this year be responsible for 580 hours of first-run programming in 2016 (with all the various shows including shows for the network and international). That explains why the TV is often not inspired and the burnout and turnover rate on the team is so high

WWE has officially released the Daniel Bryan vs. The Bear "documentary", which Bryan has been talking up and pushing fans to get WWE to release via Twitter:

Watch Part 1 of Daniel Bryan's "Documentary," #DanielBryanVsTheBear. @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/n456dItvuh
— WWE (@WWE) September 30, 2016

"Do you know how much heart it takes to defeat a BEAR??!!" - @WWEDanielBryan

Watch Part 2 of #DanielBryanVsTheBear. pic.twitter.com/CG9FEQsGUJ
— WWE (@WWE) September 30, 2016

“This is going to be ME and the BEAR … TO THE DEATH!” - @WWEDanielBryan

Watch the conclusion of #DanielBryanVsTheBear. pic.twitter.com/2UaXyyVTfn
— WWE (@WWE) September 30, 2016


Some other sheet news includes:

Chris Jericho is currently rumored to be leaving the WWE after Hell in a Cell ppv to work on a new Fozzy album and tour. Possible he could be out for almost all of 2017 or announcement his retirement like he's teased recently.
According to PWI, WWE ended up being successful in getting the class-action concussion lawsuit against them to be moved to a more pro-WWE court and are currently trying to get the Bagwell/Raven unpaid royalties lawsuit moved to the same court. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/105044/wwe-concussion-bagwell-lawsuit-updates.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, the only reason the final Nitro episode was aired with RAW was due to Turner Broadcasting already spent money for new episodes prior to WCW's sale. PWI revealed the WWE didn't want to spend any more money on WCW once the sale was official. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/105043/what-happens-if-wwe-buys-tna-mantaur-wcws-minotaur-and-more.html
According to the Observer, both Dixie and John Gaburick are rumored to be responsible for getting the WWE involved with TNA sales talks. Gaburick rumored to have played a bigger role and doing it since he believes he is getting fired once Corgan buys the company. Rumored to be doing everything possible to stall Corgan's attempt or persuade the WWE to offer him a job if they bought it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

There's some great talent in that tryout. I really like the look of some of those women. I imagine that they will be doing a women's tournament not unlike the CWC at some point in the future, and that some of the women will be brought in for that and signed to NXT deals, etc.

Heidi Lovelace has a good look for a heel, and her experience will make her pretty valuable. Nicole Savoy is "cuter" and looks more plucky. Ella Anne Kociuba is an interesting one. I wish they'd look at Helen Maroulis.

Cedric Rougeau has got "the look." Never seen him work though. Not sure how I feel about Eddie Kingston. Would he make a good commentator?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jayme Jameson also tried out. She is hot as fuck.

Lauren Pappas is some sort of "fit DJ" so I imagine she'll be signed and given some sort of DJ gimmick.

Constance Ezugha ran track and seems to do a lot for the community. She'll probably be signed and be a young, female Titus O'Neil.

Nikkan Lee seems like she'd be the referee getting a look.

I'd probably leave the other girls, besides Savoy and Lovelace right now.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I imagine Jacob Fatu will be signed. He looks like what you'd get if you took an Uso and dipped him into some Umaga.

Alex Chamberlain is a legitimate Russian with a pretty boy look.

Billy Reilich tried out, and he played Nick the Gardener in one of the Magic Mike movies. I wonder if Kevin Nash recommended him? I can imagine Shawn Michaels fast-tracking him.

Charles Keith Davidson, Jr. turns up a bunch of amateur looking stuff on Google. If you're going to be bringing in guys like Billy Reilich, having someone with a legitimate sports background to balance things out is cool too.

Corey Knox would be the football player. He was cut from the Bulls and made quite the protest. I can imagine him being given the gimmick of a guy who "wants it more" than anyone else.

If they sign Jeff Parker and Matt Lee from Canada and don't call them "Terrence and Phillip," they are missing the boat. At least call them Terry Parker and Phil Stone.

Josh Wade turns up nothing but mug shots, a music guy and some amateur wrestling.

Marcus Carey Lewis comes off to me like a black Trevor Lee.

Royce Isaacs has a good look and has this almost silver-blonde hair thing going on.

Will Hobbs is another amateur guy. Steven Pena might be the same, but he might also be another underwear model.

[The CyNick]

Interesting stuff posted here from the Observer about USA and TV ratings. You would swear he was reading my posts from six months ago. Good to see them catching up to my level.

Now back to my hiatus.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Meltzer sheep.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Curse of Papa Shango striking again:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nj-tmBYAK44/TjGI4OsGupI/AAAAAAAAAwY/y-O7RCH72Pw/s1600/shango-curse_o_GIFSoup.com.gif

Eddie Edwards won the TNA title tonight at the Impact tapings in Orlando, FL, for the show that will be airing on Thursday night.

The storyline for the show was that every title would be defended.

Lashley was told he could pick his opponent, with his choices either being a rematch with Ethan Carter III, a match with Edwards or Moose. Lashley picked Edwards and said it was because it would be the easiest match ...

Also on the tapings, it was announced that Cody Rhodes would receive a title shot. Edwards vs. Cody will be taped tomorrow night for the title.

Spoiler tags used since its related to TNA's recent tapings.

Raw last night, built around the Sasha Banks Women's title win over Charlotte, did its best numbers since the NFL season began.

While 2.79 million viewers during football season would have been viewed badly if you said that's where things would be one month ago, it solidly beat the 2.68 million number of the first two weeks of football season and last week's low point of 2.46 million viewers going against the presidential debate ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.87 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.64 million viewers


UPDATE: Top Rope Press reports that Erick Rowan suffered his torn rotator cuff at a recent house show. He last competed at the September 26th show in Wheeling, West Virginia where he lost to Apollo Crews.

The site says Rowan might be out of the ring until March.

ORIGINAL: According to prowrestling.net, WWE Smackdown performer Erick Rowan underwent surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. The surgery was performed this morning in Birmingham, Alabama. Typical recovery time for a torn rotator cuff is four to six months.
Probably not a wise idea by the WWE to tease the Ghost of Papa Shango last night with the Kendrick-Perkins match.

After no-showing AAA's Heroes Inmortales show on Sunday night, the wrestling world was left wondering what happened to Alberto Del Rio (real name Jose Rodriguez) and where he would end up next.

But it turns out the reason Rodriguez missed the show may have been out of his control. He took to social media on Monday night to set the record straight, and alleged that he had been attacked by a knife-wielding criminal inside of a restaurant prior to the Heroes Inmortales show.

AAA released a statement wishing Rodriguez a speedy recovery.

Rodriguez posted a graphic photo of the wounds he allegedly suffered in the attack. He also released a statement (with paragraph breaks added) on his Instagram account:

"Mr. Rodriguez (“Alberto El Patron”) shortly after eating a meal before his flight was assaulted by a criminal with a knife outside the restaurant. Mr. Rodriguez suffered multiple lacerations on his arm and other parts of his body defending against the criminal as Police were called by witnesses. Mr. Rodriguez received medical attention and went back to the Police Department and was unable to make his flight."

"Mr. Rodriguez has spoken with the ownership of Lucha Libre AAA WorldWide and given them the documentation of the incident. Mr. Rodriguez greatly regrets not being there yesterday for his fans in Mexico and promises to everyone he will make this up as soon as possible. Despite the graphic lacerations Mr. Rodriguez will not miss any of his shows for the remainder of the year and is ready to compete this weekend in the UK."


Tony Nese & Drew Gulak and SAnitY were the final teams announced for the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Added to the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament are HoHo Lun & Bin Wang and Rich Swann & No Way Jose.

What was started as an autobiography of Roddy Piper, which, after his death was completed by his children, will be released tomorrow by Random House books. They are pushing the 400 page book as the biggest book release since the Bret Hart release.

Ex WWE big man Ryback will be making his first UK appearance since leaving the WWE for Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) at the end of the month. He'll be taking on a well known UK tag team called The Legion of Lords made up of UK indy workers Prince of Mumbai Rishi Ghosh and Lord Gideon Grey.

Former WWE and WCW superstar Marc Mero talks about his recent heart surgery and how he is feeling today: “I had heart surgery just three months ago and they, about a four and a half hour surgery they replaced my heart valve and they fixed in it my aorta and about a four and a half hour surgery they stopped my heart for 40 minutes to complete the surgery and I feel like a kid again. It’s amazing. I’m back in the gym. I’m back to most of the same weights I was doing before working out.” Marc also talks about speaking out after Chris Benoit's death, his professional boxing career that never was, a message to the wrestling fans and much more.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Sara received the news on Friday, but there’s no word at this point on why she was cut from the company.

Lee beat out 7 other women last year to earn a $250,000 contract. She debuted at an NXT live event in March, but hasn’t been used much since.

Runner-up Mandy Rose, who the trainers clearly wanted to win, was instantly signed to a deal and given a role on Total Divas. She’s since made multiple appearances on NXT programming.

There's nothing new to report on the TNA front. What we do know is that the money that allowed them to pay for the downlink, so the PPV could be broadcast, came in on Thursday, but who is funding this is still unknown.

TNA majority owner Dixie Carter held a locker room meeting last night prior to the TNA Impact Wrestling taping in Orlando, Florida. According to several sources we have spoken to, Carter spoke to talents about a number of different issues and allowed talents to ask questions.

One of the issues we were told was discussed was regarding late payments to the talents and Carter stated that there are times were payments are made late, stating that is because the company is waiting for money they are owed to come in.

Carter was also asked about rumors that WWE was about to buy the promotion. Carter, we are told, acknowledged that WWE did want to purchase but stated that she would not let that happen, although she could have. Carter also stated that the company still owns their own tape library in regard to rumors that WWE was purchasing that.

Carter made it clear that she is still the majority owner of TNA but acknowledged there has been some in-fighting and a power struggle amongst the other owners of the company.

In regard to the financial issues leading into Bound for Glory, Carter said that the show was never not going to happen but acknowledged that they "scrambled" leading up to the PPV.

Jay Briscoe vs. Dalton Castle for the first time has been announced for the 10/14 Ring of Honor "Glory By Honor Night One" event in Chicago Ridge, IL. The promotion also announced Colt Cabana vs. Mark Briscoe and ReDragon vs. ROH champion Adam Cole and Adam Page.

My addiction started when I was prescribed painkillers for a neck injury in 2003. I didn’t know how powerful the opiate drug was until I found myself taking an insurmountable amount of Vicodin. To be exact, I was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin per day. I started taking one pill a day, and before long kept doubling the dose over and over again. I loved the feeling it gave me, because it allowed me not to feel anything ...

But it was almost taken away from me, AGAIN, when I broke my neck again in 2003. I had surgery and was put on pain medication. That was the beginning of my dark journey.

The pills made me feel invincible and kept me in the game, until my sister Le’Anne died of a heroin overdose, not long after my surgery. I didn’t want to feel pain, or anything. I had not grieved for my father, my grandmother, my coach or my sister, and I wasn’t about to begin.

I then broke my neck 2 more times over the next 2 years, and the bad relationship/marriage I was in made me feel more alone than ever. I decided that I could not handle the rigorous schedule of WWE and I felt guilty about being a liability to Vince McMahon. So I asked for my release and I swore I’d get my life together.

After I went to TNA, I was taking a lower dose of medication but I didn’t entirely quit. I started drinking alcohol excessively and went through a bad divorce. Eventually, I found the true love of my life, my wife Giovanna. But I kept taking the pills and drinking until I passed out each night. I knew it wasn’t fair to my wife or my kids, but I did everything I could to hide my feelings and emotional pain.

I’ve witnessed my mother suffer and die from cancer (leukemia) and my brother David go to jail for admitting to killing his wife while he was high on drugs. But I’ve dealt with those issues sober. I have allowed myself to experience true emotional and physical pain, even from the past. It’s not easy, but it’s the right way to live life.
Part of a recent posting on Kurt Angle's official blog about him struggling with pain killer addiction and why he left the WWE. http://kurtanglebrand.com/anglestrong/


Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview in Japan, Kota Ibushi revealed he has no desire of ever signing a long term deal with the WWE. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/783426590801735680
Sporting News had an interview with The Glorious One, Bobby Roode involving signing with WWE and his entrance theme: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/bobby-roode-wwe-nxt-glorious-theme-music-tna-wrestling-takeover-brooklyn/1tp37ndli3bbe1is9tyog9nk1o
The Rock recently released a video on his official Youtube channel involving the 20th anniversary of his debut in the WWF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-YFZHY9Uo
According to a recent Observer Radio show, WWE is currently in serious talks with Goldberg in regards to an in-ring deal and a contract very close to being signed if it hasn't happened yet.
Also according to the Observer, WWE currently has Sasha vs Charlotte for the Women's title planned as the main event for the upcoming Hell in a Cell ppv.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Goldberg going on a PPV streak would be a kind of fun angle. Might as well try it and keep it going for as long as it works.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I'd be down for it.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Powerbomb Appreciation Day:
https://abload.de/img/mikeawbcsae.gif

Last night's episode of SmackDown averaged 2.316 million viewers, down less than one percent from last week's show.

The show had heavy competition on cable with baseball's American League wildcard game scoring 4.195 million viewers, and debate coverage on various networks dominating the top of the ratings charts.

This was the second lowest total since the brand split, beating only the September 20th show, which did 2.292 million viewers.

Former WWE and WCW World champion Bill Goldberg is set to appear on ESPN Sportscenter tonight with Jonathan Coachman to promote the release of next week's WWE 2K17 videogame and possibly announce his return to WWE for the first time since departing at Wrestlemania 20 in March 2004.

As previously noted on PWInsider.com, the two sides have been in discussions since at least August. While Goldberg was in New York City for WWE 2K17 promotional material, the two sides had discussions that amplified after WWE officials saw how loud chants for "Goldberg" were all three nights in New York City after the trailer for the game played in the Barclays Center.

Goldberg, in speaking to PWInsider.com that weekend, noted that if WWE wanted to come to the table with an offer, he would consider it, but a deal wasn't something he was pursuing. He admitted he was surprised that WWE even signed off on him appearing in the 2K videogame as a pitch by videogame producers to include Goldberg had been shot down by WWE years prior.

At this point, a Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg match is all but confirmed for WWE Survivor Series on November 20 in Toronto.

There had been rumors from inside WWE that a deal for such a match had been completed over the weekend and two WWE sources over the last two days also indicated such a match was either finalized or at least in heavy negotiations.

We had reported on Monday night on the subscriber-only edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that serious negotiations were going on for a Lesnar vs. Goldberg match. On Twitter, Jim Ross indicated the same with more than one source.

Numerous sources have stated this is the battle plan for the show.

The confrontation took place in San Antonio when the driver of a car hit Del Rio’s car. Del Rio and the driver both exited their cars and then some words were exchanged before the driver pulled a knife. As Del Rio went to walk away he was attacked from behind and slashed. Del Rio then tried to turn around and as he did the man tried to slash his face but Del Rio was able to move and was instead slashed in the head.

Del Rio then took the man down and in the process the driver slashed and stabbed Del Rio’s arm. Del Rio eventually was able to get the knife from the driver but in the end the driver was able to get in his car and leave. Witnesses were able to get the driver’s license plate number but there’s no word on if he’s been arrested. Police came, a report was filed and Del Rio went to the hospital to get stitches. He lost a lot of blood but is he said to be alright.
Update to recent Del Rio stabbing news.

Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan are expecting their first child in the spring of 2017. "It has always been a dream of mine to become a mother," Brie said in an interview with E! News. "Now that it is finally real, it fills me up with so much happiness. I can't wait to see my husband, Bryan, be a father to our child. I am so excited for this new chapter in our lives."

Bryan said, “The day we found out, I just couldn't stop smiling. We are so excited to be parents. Every time I look at Brie's stomach, I'm amazed that there is a little life in there."

NXT has rescheduled two Florida house shows this week because of the impending threat of Hurricane Matthew. Friday’s show in Crystal River has been rescheduled to October 29th, while Saturday’s show in Fort Pierce will now take place on October 14th.

Despite Hurricane Matthew potentially threatening the area, Dixie Carter tweeted that the remainder of this week’s TNA Impact tapings will go on as scheduled as long as Universal Studios remains open. (UPDATE: TNA tweeted that they will tape at 1 p.m. on Thursday, not tape on Friday, and tape twice on Saturday)

Johnny Jeter, one of the original members of The Spirit Squad, was not part of the min-Spirit Squad reunion on Smackdown (Kenny, Mikey, and Dolph Ziggler were part of the segment; Mitch and Johnny were not). The Pancakes and Powerslams Show contacted Johnny and asked him if he had been asked by WWE to appear. He told them that he was asked to appear, but that he declined because it would have been a conflict of interest with his current employer and that he is no longer in the pro-wrestling business.

Las Vegas' Future Stars of Wrestling announced the following today:

Future Stars of Wrestling Heavyweight Champion, Kevin Kross has officially signed with Lucha Underground, and will start full time for Season 4.

Kross has performed in a number of dark matches during the third season's filming. The belief is that Season Four of the series will begin production towards the end of 2016/early 2017.

As seen on Monday's RAW from Los Angeles, the announcers referred to the crowd as "fans" instead of the WWE Universe when Rusev kicked United States Champion Roman Reigns over the ringside barrier. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, this was an intentional change.

No word yet on if this is a permanent change but Meltzer indicated more minor changes could be coming:

"They've taken stock of things. Last week's rating... believe it or not, after all the ratings, last week's rating made them... I don't know exactly everything but the verbiage isn't supposed to be as bad now."

He also indicated that WWE is actually trying to improve RAW, pointing to the upgraded entrances with the use of the ramp and the big screen.

Jim Ross discussed on his Ross Report podcast that WWE is very close to a deal to purchase TNA's tape library but WWE would not be buying the actual company. Reporter Justin LaBar wrote the following about the situation:

"Just got a text saying #WWE to buy TNA video library & Billy Corgan is going to be new majority owner of TNA that he'll likely rebrand. Wow!"

LaBar also responded to another comment about everyone getting what they want:

"Exactly. Dixie gets a payday on selling to Corgan and a payday on selling the library to Vince."

In regards to the re-branding, Corgan mentioned in a recent interview that he would likely change TNA's name if he bought the company.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-57hw7WNn6I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

The late Roddy Piper's children recently had an interview with CBC Radio about the life and career of their father. http://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-wednesday-october-5-2016-1.3791945/rowdy-roddy-piper-s-children-reveal-the-man-behind-the-wrestler-1.3791970
WWE recently revealed the bracket for the second Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament: http://i.imgur.com/T0OCkZO.jpg
WWE announced their next fiscal report will be released on October 27th.
WWE also recently sent a massive takedown notice to Youtube with over 260k WWE-related videos and reviews removed.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 19th anniversary of the debut of the Hell in a Cell match, Kane's debut, and the death of Brian Pillman.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Luke Harper's Glorious Return:
http://i.imgur.com/wSBUOVS.gif

There's talk of Ziggler actually losing the match on Sunday, according to Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live.
Furthermore, it was noted on MLW Radio and Ric Flair's podcast that WWE officials are looking at Ziggler to transition from an in-ring talent to a producer's role like Jamie Noble and others have done.
Spoiler tags used since its related to possible No Mercy plans.

During Bill Goldberg’s appearance on ESPN SportsCenter on Wednesday night, the former WWE Superstar expressed a willingness to return to WWE and named Brock Lesnar as the dream opponent who could draw him out of retirement. Although he stopped short of announcing an official return, the Wrestling Observer maintains that Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar is the plan for Survivor Series as recently as Tuesday.

If you’re wondering why WWE doesn’t hold off until WrestleMania for the match to take place, the idea is to use the hype surrounding this blockbuster bout and cross promote WWE 2K17. According to Meltzer, the match will be a one-off and is not leading to a longterm feud.

The WWE has announced that this year’s Rumble will be 30 men (always subject to change) featuring wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown, with the winner getting a title shot at WrestleMania on April 2, 2017, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The next few days of TNA Impact tv tapings in Orlando were canceled due to Hurricane Matthew bearing down on central Florida.

The original plan was to do an afternoon taping today as they would be unable to run a show tonight due to expected weather issues. They plan was then to cancel Friday and return for two Saturday tapings.

However, based on the weather, the tapings tonight, Friday, and Saturday afternoon are off. They will now run at 6 pm Saturday night, and two Sunday shows set for 1 pm and 6 pm.

In related news, NXT rescheduled two Florida house shows becasue of Matthew. Friday’s show in Crystal River has been rescheduled to October 29th, while Saturday’s show in Fort Pierce, FL, will now take place on October 14th.

There was a bad scene at a Seth Rollins autograph signing today in Santiago, Chile, at the Costanero Center. A huge crowd showed up and fans started skipping in line and it led to shoving and fights. One fan tried to steal Rollins' hat. It got so bad the entire session was canceled, which led to more fights and fans looting at the center.
Link to a video during the riot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhoIW96KES0

Alberto Del Rio worked his scheduled What Culture Pro Wrestling show in Newcastle today. He flew in last night. He wrestled in a T-shirt and the arm that was stabbed was all taped up, but he was out there taking bumps. I watched some of it but not enough to tell what kind of a match it was. Jim Ross & Jim Cornette, at least early on, were fun to listen to and had their old chemistry back immediately even if neither knew who Desperado was when he kept interfering in the Minoru Suzuki vs. Joe Coffey match. They very much knew Suzuki. Suzuki blew off a Jim Ross handshake in playing heel after his match after Ross had been putting him over like crazy on the commentary. Bret Hart made a surprise appearance and really put over Ross as an announcer, as well as put over Cody Rhodes and Kurt Angle.

The San Antonio police have yet to confirm any records of a Del Rio stabbing. They have asked for an address and those close to Del Rio have not been able to provide an address. Plus, there are some different stories that are out there. Paige was there when the incident took place but has not said anything publicly about it.

Alberto El Patron (Del Rio) was interviewed by The Record in Mexico to discuss the stabbing incident that he claims led to him missing the AAA Heroes Inmortales event in Mexico over the weekend, claiming that WWE star Paige was on the scene during the incident and was actually assaulted by the perpetrator.

According to The Record, Del Rio and his girlfriend Paige were in the parking lot of a restaurant when a drunken homeless man approached them. Del Rio turned his back to the man, who turned pulled out a knife and attacked, causing two wounds to Del Rio. According to the story, Del Rio managed to take down the attacked, who still wielded the knife and Del Rio again again. The attacker was able to hit Paige and when Alberto went to check on her, the attacker ran. By the time, Del Rio was able to file a complaint and get medical attention, it was too late to travel to Mexico for the event. The article stated that Del Rio's flight was scheduled for 6 PM and by the time he was done dealing with everything, it was 11 PM.
Another version of the events from the recent Del Rio stabbing incident. At the moment, nobody is exactly sure where the attack occurred and WWE might be getting involved due to Paige supposedly being attacked as well.

Total Bellas last night debuted with 632,000 viewers, which given the level of the promotion of the show, has to be considered a major disappointment.

WWE sent out an e-mail today to some former WWE Network subscribers offering them a free month and pushing you can get No Mercy free.

Tony Nese is booked on all EVOLVE shows going forward after October and you can expect him to get a massive push to coincide with his Raw appearances in the Cruiserweight division.

Regarding the Spirit Squad segment on Smackdown, WWE did attempt to get all of the members together for the segment. Johnny Jeter has another job outside of wrestling and didn’t want to miss work to make the appearance. Nick Mitchell became very religious and now lives in Israel.

John Gaburick last week visited with Kevin Dunn, who he has been close friends with for decades, and brought WWE back to the table so there were talks with them as late as this past week. The WWE deal would have been to purchase the TNA tape library as they had no interest in buying anything else the promotion had.

Dixie Carter has long been criticized for a perceived lack of knowledge in regards to the wrestling business. On Friday's episode of the Fightful.com Podcast, former TNA writer Vince Russo may have helped lend more credence to those claims.

"This is my favorite wrestling story of all time. I’ve never told this because it’s a little embarrassing to Dixie but it’s so hard not to tell because it’s so funny," Russo said. "There's somebody that I gotta protect and I’m not gonna mention his name, because he'd get all upset. It’s after a TV taping and we’re out getting dinner, and it's the the usual suspects-- Irish Pat Kenney, Terry Taylor, Al Snow, Matt Conway. I’m sitting next to somebody at the table. This somebody gets a phone call and it’s Dixie Carter" ...

As it turned out, the target of Carter's frustration were WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, and longtime Executive Producer of WCW, Eric Bischoff.

"So I get on the phone," says Russo "Dixie what’s up?” [Dixie says] 'You’re not gonna believe what happened. I just went into the restaurant andHulk and Eric were having dinner and the minute I walked up to the table I heard the both of them say under their breath kayfabe, kayfabe, kayfabe. Vince who the f are they to kayfabe me? This is my f'n company! Who the f do they think they are kayfabing this boss? I can’t believe it. Screw Hulk. Screw Eric. Nobody is going to kayfabe me.'"

According to the former WCW Champion Russo, he told carter that she should have confronted the two about it right away. However, Carter had a potentially embarrassing reason for making the 2010 phone call in the first place.

"Finally I hang up the phone with her. I give the phone back to the person who got the phone call. So I said to the person, 'Bro, why did Dixie call you and not me?' Like this was a phone call that should have went directly to Vince. Why did she call you and not me? Like, what was your conversation with Dixie? Wha—what did she want to talk to you for?” You ready? The guy, who I won’t sell down the river, said to me, “She wanted to know what kayfabe meant.” Eight years in and she was throwing the term around to me like she was a 30 year veteran of the business. Of all the stories bro that’s my favorite story of all time, and I never say it because it’s kind of embarrassing but its funny embarrassing, you know what I’m saying?," said Russo.
Wacky Dixie Carter story from back in the day.


Some other sheet news includes:

Luke Harper made his in-ring return for the WWE earlier today as part of WWE's current overseas tour. Also ended up confirming rumors of being on the RAW brand due to him wrestling for RAW during today's co-brand event.
Website Highspots announced they have started taking DVD/BR orders for PWG's Battle Of Los Angeles 2016 tournament with shipments to start tomorrow.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is Bruno Sammatrino's 81st birthday.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, former VP of talent relations John Laurinaitis was the main reason why WWE's original Cruiser division failed during the 1st Brand Split Era. Apparently Laurinaitis never seriously considered the ideas Creative had and hired midget wrestlers as a way to prove to Vince the new division was not worth the time. http://www.wcwworldwide.com/2016/09/mlw-john-laurinaitis-sabotaged-planned-2005-wwe-cruiserweight-reboot/

[Black Widow]

Originally Posted by Observer
There was a bad scene at a Seth Rollins autograph signing today in Santiago, Chile, at the Costanero Center. A huge crowd showed up and fans started skipping in line and it led to shoving and fights. One fan tried to steal Rollins' hat. It got so bad the entire session was canceled, which led to more fights and fans looting at the center.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/56a3aa365827c304a0080460/56a3aa4069492eb24c3b11cd/1453566545473/bretlol.gif

[Lock Jaw]

At least no one was stabbed

[Simple Fan]

Yeah and he kept his hat. Might of had to stab somebody if the hat got stolen.

[Cool King]

Nick Mitchell became very religious and now lives in Israel.

Talk about random.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I guess there are very few things left to do after banging Torrie Wilson.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The List of Sheets:
http://i.imgur.com/2pejYdw.gif

The 10/6 edition of Impact Wrestling did 305,000 viewers, down from last week's 365,000 viewers.

Corgan has ideas, including a name change. It’s been said that they are looking at a different location for taping as well, but the reason they’ve stayed at Disney all along is because it’s far less expensive than taping on the road, as the road tapings put the company heavily into red ink.

T.J. Wilson, 36 (Tyson Kidd), is starting to talk publicly about the injury he suffered that nearly killed him. Wilson was wrestling Samoa Joe on June 1, 2015, in San Antonio and suffered a badly broken neck on a muscle buster. His injury was similar to the injury that Christopher Reeve suffered. Essentially, there was a 95 percent chance of death, and when he didn’t die, there was almost no chance of anything but paralysis. However, due to a lot of incredible luck, he’s been able to live a largely a normal life. But his head is numb and his range of motion in his neck is limited. The feeling in his head was expected to come back after surgery and never has. He had not talked about the subject publicly at all, although it had become clear that he would never be able to return to wrestle, which is what he’s done since he was very young, growing up as practically a member of the Hart family with Teddy Hart and Harry Smith, among others, before marrying into the family.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and WWE have joined forces for a Ninja Superstars action figure line. They will be marketed by Playmates Toys and available exclusively at Walmart starting in early November. Leonardo will be John Cena, Raphael will be Sting, Donatello will be Undertaker and Michelangelo will be Randy Savage.
The 100k Replies Wrestling thread has an image of the WWE TMNT toys.

Tim Wiese, the former German star goalkeeper, makes his pro wrestling debut on the 11/3 show in Munich, teaming with Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Carlito & Primo & Bo Dallas.

Another issue, now that we are in October, is that the annual late January tour of the U.K. hasn’t been announced. That tour usually takes care of six weeks worth of television, and with larger and hotter crowds (although the crowds were way down this past year) it’s the one time where TNA comes across as a major league looking group. However, television ratings on Challenge declined greatly in the past year, and as noted, TNA had cut back to three shows last year and none of the three drew well.
Some more problems TNA is currently dealing with.

Bret Hart on being embarrassed about WWE Hall of Fame

"I'm never going to take anything away from any of the inductees that they've had. But to me, the HOF this year I have a voice of protest as sort of a legendary figure of the industry. I am embarrassed that there's so many great wrestlers out there that have never been given their credit. Never got their due."

Hart went on to identify Ric Rude, the Fabulous Rougeaus, the Demolition and the Hart Foundation as deserving potential inductees. He was also critical of recent inductees the Freebirds:

"Why have they been overlooked when you can induct the Freebirds who never did squat in WWE? Ever. Never drew any money, never did anything. When I remember the Freebirds, they were all drunk and passed out at the gate at one of the airports in my first day in WWF. None of them even made the show that day, they were too drunk to make their plane."

Bret Hart on Andre the Giant "firing" The Freebirds, Owen Hart in the Hall of Fame:

"A few weeks later—when I was wrestling, I was just starting in WWF—they showed up at the building at about 9:30 in Providence, Rhode Island. And I remember Andre the Giant said 'you guys are fired,' and I remember Michael Hayes cutting a promo on Andre telling him 'you can't fire me,' and 'who do you think you are?' and 'we'll see who's fired tomorrow!' And I remember Andre saying 'we'll see who's fired tomorrow.' They were fired, they were gone the next day."

"I've always gotten along with [Michael Hayes], but as far as their contribution to wrestling, gimme a break. They were all pill heads and, for lack of a better word, they were all screw-ups.

"They're not picking the cream of the crop, they're picking whoever the first person they see on the list and they go 'he would be easy to fly in.'"

"If you're going to have a Hall of Fame, you've got to have Owen Hart in the Hall of Fame."

Hart has a petition online to get Owen Hart into the Hall of Fame which you can visit at OwenHartForHallofFame.com.
From a recent interview Bret Hart had with Forbes: http://blogs.forbes.com/housemoneystudios/?p=879%C2%A0

Wrestling DVD Network is reporting that the first confirmed WWE DVD/Blu-ray release in 2017 is a career retrospective on former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page.

Former WWE champion Alberto El Patron (fka Del Rio) will be appearing for an autograph and photo session at the 20th Anniversary Jersey All Pro Wrestling event this November in Rahway, NJ

TMZ asked Cena if he was offered, would he take a co-host spot on “Live with Kelly.” He said that if they give him that chance, he would take it and do the best he can. “I’ll answer the phone, but I’m not going to sit by the phone.” But he gave an answer to make sure to not garner the ire of wrestling fans to chant “You sold out,” saying, “It’s really cool to sit down with a suit and tie in the morning and then fly to Smackdown Live and be a WWE Superstar.” If he does get the gig as a daily host of the show, I don’t see him being able to do pro wrestling except for major shows

Expect big pushes between now and the end of the year for O’Reilly, Bobby Fish and Ricochet. In particular, New Japan wants to establish Fish & O’Reilly as credible foreign heavyweight division stars. Owner Takaaki Kidani, a big MMA fan, in particular is high on O’Reilly because of his ability to work Jiu Jitsu into having great pro wrestling matches. Ricochet will remain in the junior heavyweight division but become higher profile

Yuki Shiraishi, who is from Seoul, South Korea, but best known as Nikkan Lee, worked at NXT over the weekend. The shows were tryouts and she has not been signed. Shiraishi, 41, who is married to Japanese wrestler Ryuji Ito, was one of only two female referees on male promotion shows in Japan. She had been the main referee for Big Japan Pro Wrestling for some time, and has more than 17 years of experience as a referee. and has also wrestled

We were on our way over to Iraq, which is a really, really long flight. And we were actually flying from New Finland to Rammstein airforce base in Germany. This is like twelve hours into the flight, people passed out and lots of alcohol consumed. It was a C17 transport plane, a big, wide open plane. People are scattered all over the place. 90% of the people were sleeping. Vince, a sixty-five year old billionaire, was low-crawling around being super stealthy with a bag of hard candies tucked under his arm. He'd hide behind something, pop his head up, throw a candy at their face, then pop down again. They'd wake up, look around and see nothing then go back to sleep. Then he'd pop up and do it again. Just kept doing it.
Wacky Vince story from back in the day from a recent Mr. Kennedy AMA session on r/SquaredCircle.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, TNA talent still haven't been told who helped fund the recent ppv and set of tv tapings. Also once again upset at the sheets doing a better job than management at keeping them up to date with TNA's issues.
Website GamesRadar had a recent interview with Big Show with topics including WWE 2k17 and what is his current favorite game to play. http://www.gamesradar.com/kanes-gloves-smell-like-yak-meat-big-show-talks-wwe-2k17-his-destiny-addiction-and-er-wrestler-hygiene/
Amazon recently dropped the ability to pre-order Stephanie McMahon's upcoming book on their website due to the lack of a new release date.
Observer recently debunked rumors of the WWE wanting or already having Paul Heyman work on Creative for one of the brands.
Chris Jericho revealed his recently finished writing a new book with a planned May 2017 release. Unlike his previous books, this one will be a self-help type book.
According to the Observer, WWE is currently having problems selling tickets, mainly the expensive ones, for NXT's upcoming tour of Australia.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, you can tell Paul Heyman isn't working creative at the moment, that's for fucking sure.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That Tyson Kidd story. :(

[Mr. Nerfect]

I assume that story about Tim Wiese means Epico, Primo & Bo Dallas. Carlito being back would be cool as hell though.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Am I the only one who finds Kyle O'Reilly incredibly boring?

[Cool King]

T.J. Wilson, 36 (Tyson Kidd), is starting to talk publicly about the injury he suffered that nearly killed him. Wilson was wrestling Samoa Joe on June 1, 2015, in San Antonio and suffered a badly broken neck on a muscle buster. His injury was similar to the injury that Christopher Reeve suffered. Essentially, there was a 95 percent chance of death, and when he didn’t die, there was almost no chance of anything but paralysis. However, due to a lot of incredible luck, he’s been able to live a largely a normal life. But his head is numb and his range of motion in his neck is limited. The feeling in his head was expected to come back after surgery and never has. He had not talked about the subject publicly at all, although it had become clear that he would never be able to return to wrestle, which is what he’s done since he was very young, growing up as practically a member of the Hart family with Teddy Hart and Harry Smith, among others, before marrying into the family.

Fuck you Samoa Joe.

[Cool King]

I will also never tire of reading Crazy Vince stories.

[Simple Fan]

Am I the only one who finds Kyle O'Reilly incredibly boring?

Nope. Im not a fan of the guy. He's trying to beef up a bit and has but still looks skinny. His in ring style reminds me of Daniel Bryan which could also be a reason I don't like him. Feel like he's in line for a big push in ROH and will probably be the one that beats Adam Cole for the ROH World title. I can stand him with Bobby Fish as Red Dragon but Fish is the better singles competitor between the two.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Fuck you Samoa Joe.

It was a freak accident on a move he did 10000 times.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Nope. Im not a fan of the guy. He's trying to beef up a bit and has but still looks skinny. His in ring style reminds me of Daniel Bryan which could also be a reason I don't like him. Feel like he's in line for a big push in ROH and will probably be the one that beats Adam Cole for the ROH World title. I can stand him with Bobby Fish as Red Dragon but Fish is the better singles competitor between the two.

Fish has got something there. O'Reilly wants to be Bryan as badly as Drake wants to be Rock.

[Mr. Nerfect]

O'Reilly would work if he had a larger tag team partner. Someone like a War Machine guy to tag out to.

[Simple Fan]

Nah, him and Fish make a great tag team.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fish can do better.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The launch of WWE 2k17:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/6468e2742c6597b38db6a368cca557b8/tumblr_oe87ufyTdS1sj4xr4o1_500.gif

Raw ratings were once again good when you look at everything, as going against both Major League playoffs and the NFL, Raw did 2.75 million viewers, down only slightly from the 2.79 million viewers last week ...

The three hours of Raw were:

8 p.m. 2.79 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.61 million viewers

WWE is attempting to set the record straight on Paige's suspension.

In a statement to the New York Post, WWE publicly pushed back against claims Paige and her family had made that she failed a wellness test for prescription painkillers.

“Saraya-Jade Bevis tested positive for an illegal substance, not a prescription drug,” WWE said in a statement to The Post. “In addition, WWE is providing world-class medical care for her in-ring injury.”

Almost immediately after her suspension was announced on Monday, Paige spoke out on Twitter. "Same sh*t different day. Kids..Please don't get prescriptions or doctors notes. Not acceptable." Paige tweeted. "Rules apply depending on your status."

Her comments were then followed on on by her family, with her father posting on Facebook that Paige has had a long-term neck injury that he didn't feel was being dealt with. He claimed that she had been prescribed painkillers that were apparently against the wellness program.

Matt Hardy posted the following today on his Twitter:

I am interested in purchasing @IMPACTWRESTLING if the owners will sell to me.

I would inject my #BROKENBrilliance into every iota of it.
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) October 11, 2016



If I buy, 1st move is to DELETE the OBSOLETE TNA acronym.

The poor play on words retards the brand from reaching its full potential.#TND
— #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) October 11, 2016

Becky Lynch missed last night's show and is expected off the road for a short period of time due to a perosnal health issue that is not serious. The stories going around of a neck injury have been denied to us. She may be hurt in the sense everyone is hurt, but that's not the issue.

It was announced on Raw last night that TJ Perkins would officially defend his WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Brian Kendrick at Hell in a Cell later this month.

There will be three Hell in a Cell matches at the PPV, with Kevin Owens defending the Universal title against Seth Rollins and Sasha Banks defending the Raw Women’s title against Charlotte inside of the structure. The two matches join the already announced US title Hell in a Cell match between Roman Reigns and Rusev.

WWE uploaded a clip from the Samoa Joe vs. William Regal match that took place 16 years ago today. The full match is available on the WWE Network as part of the Hidden Gems collection.
Link to the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKfvE7gkuUg

The WWE announced that the 14th annual Tribute to the Troops show would be taped as part of the SmackDown tapings on December 13th at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

The show, which previously was taped overseas at military bases, in recent years had been taped in cities with large amounts of servicemen. This will be the first time it's been taped in DC.

New Japan tonight announced the Power Struggle lineup, which is the final major show of the year on November 5th at the Edion Arena in Osaka.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin for the IC title is the main event, although Elgin suffered a broken eye socket in his left eye at yesterday's King of Pro Wrestling show in Sumo Hall from a low dropkick by Naito. As of right now, there is no word on whether he'll need surgery, which could force a change in the main event.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was officially set for Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4th of 2017 after Okada successfully retained his title against Naomichi Marufuji and Omega defeated Hirooki Goto to retain his Tokyo Dome title shot on NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling pay-per-view.

The pre-show match on King of Pro Wrestling drew significant attention after it appeared that Kota Ibushi was wrestling under a mask as Tiger Mask W. The match was based off of the recently released Tiger Mask W anime series, and Tiger Mask W used many of Ibushi’s usual moves during the match. Assuming it was Ibushi under the mask, it would be the first time he has worked for NJPW since October of 2015.

Former WWE champion Alberto El Patron/Del Rio was officially announced as the President of MMA promotion Combate Americas this evening during a media event at Stage 48 in New York City. We should have additional details forthcoming.

The second season of FOX's "American Grit" is slated to begin production next week, so Cena will take a leave of absence after this week.

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, TNA is planning an episode of Impact Wrestling that will be filmed at the Hardy compound in Cameron, North Carolina as their final episode of the year featuring original content. The episde will be titled "Total Nonstop Deletion" and is scheduled to be filmed the first week of November.

The episode is set up by a Matt Hardy promo where he invites tag teams from around "time and space" to compete in the main event of the episode, Tag Team Apocalypto. We are told that this is going to be a Falls Count Anywhere on the compound match. During the promo, Hardy invited "The Bucks of Youth", "The Express who Rocks and Rolls", "The Bulldogs who are British" and "The Days of The New." The idea is that TNA will be bringing outside teams in for the match. We have confirmed that Jeremy Borash and Matt Hardy have been contacting outside teams over the last few days to book them for the taping.

The episode will also feature the "in-ring debut" of King Maxel, the son of Matt and Reby Hardy as well as a planned "match" between Grado and Smoking Joe Frazier, the kangaroo that appeared before "Delete or Decay" with the story being that he is the reincarnation of boxing great Frazier.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BulgarianBrute?src=hash">#BulgarianBrute</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RusevBUL">@RusevBUL</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RavishingRussian?src=hash">#RavishingRussian</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LanaWWE">@LanaWWE</a> give you YOUR first look inside the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE2K17?src=hash">#WWE2K17</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/WWENXT">@WWENXT</a> Collector's Edition! <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEgames">@WWEgames</a> <a href="https://t.co/TiIwiv3sSX">pic.twitter.com/TiIwiv3sSX</a></p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE/status/785591168356581376">October 10, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Trish Stratus recently revealed she is currently pregnant with a second child on its way soon. http://www.wwe.com/article/trish-stratus-announces-pregnancy?sf38595820=1
Sporting News had a recent interview with Bayley about WWE 2k17 and WWE's Women's Revolution. http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/bayley-wwe-2k17-videogame-goldberg-raw-womens-wrestling-sasha-banks-charlotte-becky-lynch
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today would have been Dusty Rhodes 71st birthday.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the TPWW Universe:
http://i.imgur.com/zX9iB4z.jpg

In the SmackDown version of a post-PPV bump, ratings were up six percent for Tuesday night's show following Sunday's No Mercy PPV.

The show averaged 2.448 million viewers, up from 2.316 million the previous week.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Hideo Itami hurt his neck at a recent NXT live event and we’re told the injury will keep him from wrestling for months.

The injury occurred while taking a powerslam gone wrong during a tag match on October 1st where he teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura to take on Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli.

No word on his exact injury, but we’re told it’s related to his neck.

Itami recently returned from a shoulder injury that kept him out of action for over a year. He and Kota Ibushi were also just announced as a team in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic — which he more than likely won’t be able to participate in now.


While WWE ran a promo from Curt Hawkins (seen above) to explain his disappearance from last night's Smackdown Live, where he was announced for an official in-ring debut, the real reason Hawkins did not appear is that WWE pulled his segment from the show at the last minute.

WWE sources indicate that several segments early on in the Smackdown Live broadcast ran over their alloted time, requiring later segments to be trimmed and Hawkins' segment to be cut. The plan is for the debut to happen next week.

Brock Lesnar will make his return to WWE television on the October 24th edition of Raw from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN.

On last night’s SmackDown, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan proposed three traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team matches pitting SmackDown against Raw at the upcoming November pay-per-view. The matches would feature the best of the brand’s men’s, women’s and tag team divisions against each other.

Shinsuke Nakamura will defend his NXT Championship against Samoa Joe in a cage match at NXT’s live event in Melbourne, Australia on December 8th.

Mick Foley tweeted to Paige about her suspension: “Thinking of you @RealPaigeWWE and a song I've loved since I was 7 - 'Tomorrow's Gonna Be a Brighter Day.'" Alicia Fox also tweeted a message of support.

Michael Elgin posted a video update on his injury status after suffering a fractured orbital bone at NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling earlier this week. He confirmed that he will need surgery, but vowed to get his IWGP Intercontinental Championship back. Elgin is scheduled to challenge Tetsuya Naito in the main event of Power Struggle on November 5th.

Former WWE, WCW and ECW star Perry Saturn recently announced on Twitter that he's suffering from a Traumatic Brain Injury from the many concussions he's suffered throughout his career. You can see his tweets at the bottom of this post.

Saturn has a GoFundMe page set up at this link. As of this writing, the campaign has raised $5,230 of their $100,000 goal with 14 people in 23 hours.
Link with more details about the GoFundMe fundraiser: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/1012/618365/former-wwe-and-wcw-star-perry-saturn-dealing-with-health-issues/

During Smackdown, the woman who got an interview from Dean Ambrose was indy worker Desi Dereta.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Maria Kanellis-Bennett responded to unearthed footage of Donald Trump firing her from Celebrity Apprentice for “locker room” comments. She was also interviewed by the Providence Journal and Newsweek.
Link to the interview: http://www.etonline.com/news/200192_maria_kanellis_on_donald_trump_firing_her_from_celebrity_apprentice_for_locker_room_talk/

WWE announced that John Cena made history at No Mercy by competing in a PPV main event for the 68th time, the most by anyone in WWE history. They also noted that prior to No Mercy, the last time he main evented a PPV was November 2014.
Guess WWE really does count multi-man events as actual main events even though everyone else only counts the final match for official records. Would be the 2nd time Cena has broken the record due to Triple H and Taker retaking it during the last two years.

Ahead of being announced as the new president of MMA promotion Combate Americas on Tuesday, Alberto Del Rio (now known as Alberto El Presidente) spoke to TMZ in New York about allegedly being stabbed recently and his future plans in professional wrestling.

Del Rio referred to the stabbing incident as a "street fight" and claimed that it was caused by someone disrespecting his girlfriend Paige. He said that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time while at a friend's restaurant in San Antonio, TX.

When asked if he called the police, Del Rio said that he didn't want to talk about it anymore and only put it out there out of respect for Dorian Roldan, the promoter of AAA. He said that the problem with putting something out there on the internet is that people make assumptions and try to tell a different story.

Dave Meltzer wrote in last week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the San Antonio police department has not responded to requests for any records regarding the incident, nor did they confirm that they have records of it.

The alleged incident caused Del Rio to miss AAA's Heroes Inmortales show earlier this month.

Also in the interview with TMZ, Del Rio commented on what's next for his career in pro wrestling. He claimed that he will be working dates for Ring of Honor, as well as TNA if they get the money to pay him. Del Rio made similar comments in a separate interview with ESPN.
Link with videos of the TMZ interview included: http://www.f4wonline.com/mexico/alberto-del-rio-allegedly-being-stabbed-working-tna-roh-222566


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m4ns2dwzyXM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN had a recent interview with "The Face That Runs the Place" AJ Styles: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17780322/aj-styles-discusses-video-game-addiction-rise-top-wwe
UFC's Dana White revealed during a recent Colin Cowherd show UFC has no plans of bringing CM Punk back for another fight.
Paige revealed on her Instagram account she will be out 6-7 months to recovery from a recent injury. https://www.instagram.com/p/BLePP0UjAzA/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, musical band Downstait was working on a new theme for Alex Riley prior to his release. The band posted the unused theme on their official Soundcloud page: https://m.soundcloud.com/downstaitjc/say-it-to-my-face-20
According to reports, ACH is rumored to want out of ROH or at least have his current deal restructured. The basis involves a recent promo ACH did many took as a shoot against the company considering his recent history with management. Also fueling speculation is ROH will be having a talk with ACH prior to this weekend's events. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/105332/interesting-achroh-situation-glory-by-honor-this-weekend-.html?p=1

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Fifteen Knuckle Shuffle:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/8c789f271107ef2711892b906134ad71/tumblr_oexsb8m88l1vufq1no1_500.gif


It was announced at Thursday night's NXT TV tapings that Mickie James would challenge NXT Women's Champion Asuka for her title at NXT TakeOver: Toronto on November 19th. The news was also confirmed by WWE in an Instagram post.

Despite his status for the tournament being put in doubt when Hideo Itami was forced out of action with an injury, Kota Ibushi continued on in the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

It was announced by William Regal at Thursday night's NXT TV tapings that Ibushi would team WWE Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins in the tournament. Ibushi and Perkins previously faced off in the semifinals of the Cruiserweight Classic, where Perkins picked up the win before going on to defeat Gran Metalik in the finals.

Though it's been known for some time that he had signed with WWE, Roderick Strong officially made his NXT debut at Thursday night's TV tapings.

Strong was announced as Austin Aries' mystery partner in the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The duo took on Niko Bogojevic (now known as Otis) and Tucker Knight in a first round match.

Strong and Aries have regularly teamed together in the past, including a reign as Ring of Honor tag team champions.

Spoiler tags used since its related to the recent set of NXT tapings.

Billy Corgan has filed suit against Impact Ventures (TNA), Dixie Carter, Serg Salinas (Carter's husband) and COO Dean Broadhead in court today. The documents are sealed but the gist is that things between Corgan and Carter fell apart over the past week or so, where Corgan was expecting to buy the company and for whatever reason, that was not going to happen. Corgan then wanted them to pay him back the money he had put into the company in funding the recent tapings and obviously they couldn't do it. Corgan was asking for an injunction and will have a hearing on it this coming Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Corgan is requesting a jury trial. There are also issues with music rights for the show that airs tonight to the point at one point there was a question if Pop would air the show but the show is airing. The lawsuit being filed was not a surprise but everyone involved has gone silent since the suit was filed. There are also claims that in negotiations that key financial information was withheld.

There is a second lawsuit that was filed two weeks ago by Audience of One Productions, LLC against Impact Ventures (TNA), Aroluxe LLC, Ron Harris of Aroluxe and Dean Broadhead as well. This suit, filed in Richmond, VA, was for Audience of One doing production for TNA TV tapings in June and July 2015, as well as for last year's Bound for Glory show. On October 23, 2015, Audience of One sent an invoice for $288,039.04 for the production of those events. On November 9, Broadhead of TNA sent them a letter saying TNA was working hard at closing a new television deal and to please hung in there with us. They sent another invoice of November 17, 2015. Broadhead continued to stall them from collecting. Broadhead on January 29, 2016, paid some of the workers a total of $29,001.57. Broadhead then proposed a payment plan for six payments from March through August. TNA made the first payment but haven't paid anything since, according to the complaint. They are asking for the remaining owed $222,123.43 plus interest.

According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the TNA ownership situation is still in limbo as nothing was settled at last week’s tapings. TNA doesn’t have to worry about money for tapings until the beginning of January, and at that time some international TV revenue is coming in. But the company still owes a lot of money to several different people.

Aroluxe and Corgan are still both in the game in regards to buying the company, but things are reportedly heated behind the scenes involving Dixie Carter, Billy Corgan, Aroluxe and John Gaburick. There is a lot of heat on Carter for not getting deals done and the vibe was said to be depressing. The other group that was reportedly interested (that wanted to do live events and expand the company) is out of the running to buy the company. WWE is also said to be out of the picture right now.

There is no word on where the money came from to finance Bound for Glory and the TV tapings, but it was likely one of the three minority owners; Fight Network, Corgan or Aroluxe. Talent is hoping that Corgan gets the company, and are aware of how bad the situation is right now. The blame for the Carter/Corgan talks going south is on Carter with talent feeling that she had been deceptive and that she didn’t address any issues before the PPV. Some even thought that she was “playing dumb” to avoid addressing the situation.

Talent on guaranteed deals are scheduled to be paid on October 15th and the 30th. The talent not on guarantees and production people are also owed money for the last tapings.

Update regarding the mess involving TNA trying to get new ownership.

Due to a neck injury he suffered at an NXT live event earlier this month, Hideo Itami is officially out of the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Itami announced the news in a video on Thursday afternoon. He was scheduled to team with Kota Ibushi in the tournament before being forced out of action.
Itami's hoping to be back before the upcoming NXT tour of Japan at the end of this year as a goal. Link to the video from Itami: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/786605069282123776

“She has moves to show off that you’re not going to believe, as long as she lives through it,” said Flair, discussing Charlotte’s upcoming battle with Sasha Banks. “She isn’t afraid of anything, and she’s going to go out and make a statement again—and there is no talking her out of it. You didn’t see me do any moonsaults off the top of a cage, but she has something really special in mind for the cage.”
From a recent Ric Flair podcast teasing Charlotte and Sasha have something big planned for their Hell in a Cell match.

Cena is once again in the news as his television show, “American Grit,” starts filming this week and he’ll be out of action for several months. His timetable is likely similar to last year, where he left in October and returned right after Christmas. He’s missing Survivor Series, and will likely miss the 12/4 TLC Smackdown brand show in Dallas. The No Mercy PPV was his final TV appearance, which explains his losing the fall in the main event, as well as why at the house shows in the three-way matches, he would lose the fall to A.J. Styles instead of Dean Ambrose, since Styles vs. Ambrose has to carry the brand the next few month.

Cena married Elizabeth Huberdeau in 2009, but the couple was divorced in 2012. Cena supported Laurinaitis' idea to sign a pre-nup, saying it was a necessary safety net. He then revealed that before Nikki Bella moved in with him, she had to sign a contract.

“Having been through that process, here is how I view it. It is like buying a handgun for home defense. It gives you a sense of security, and it gives you a failsafe in case something happens. And those who buy a handgun for self defense pray, pray they never have to use it. Without it, it’s a dog fight.

I had to have your sister sign an agreement to live in the house. And that’s - it wasn’t a one-page, it’s a 75-page agreement.”
Link to the article: http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/nikki-bella-had-to-sign-a-75-page-agreement-before-moving-in-with-john-cena-101316

Regarding the Chris Benoit documentary, Matt Randazzo V, who is with the project said the current screenplay is based on his book, “Ring of Hell,” and will be a factual adaption of the movie and he’s had no talks about playing loose with the facts. He said as long as he’s been involved with the project that nobody has ever suggested anything to portray Kevin Sullivan as a suspect, nor giving Johnny Grunge the storylines of things that didn’t happen

After fracturing his orbital bone at NJPW’s King of Pro Wrestling show earlier this week, Michael Elgin is officially out of his scheduled Power Struggle main event match next month.

Elgin was scheduled to challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on the November 5th show, but the eye injury has forced him out of action for the time being. Jay Lethal will replace Elgin and challenge Naito for the championship.

The official WWE Australia Twitter account announced that cameras will be filming material for WWE Network at the December 8 live event in Melbourne:

For one night only…we'll be filming content for the @WWENetwork at #NXTMelbourne. Be there for another NXT first! https://t.co/wwfJRsHb8j pic.twitter.com/1fjpbbjlHk
— WWE Australia (@WWEAustralia) October 13, 2016

The main event on that card has already been announced as NXT champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe in a steel cage match.

Yesterday it was reported that Paige is set to undergo neck surgery next Wednesday and will be out six to seven months. According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE doctors believe that she doesn’t need surgery and the situation has reportedly become a legal issue.

Bret Hart on Facebook wrote an apology to Michael Hayes, HHH and Seth Rollins regarding things he's said about all three in the past. He said it was unfair what he wrote about The Freebirds because they did great business in Texas with the Von Erichs and that Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts and Ronnie (he meant Jimmy) Garvin always treated him with respect. But he did say that he believes Owen Hart, Brian Pillman, Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, Jimmy Hart, The Rougeau Brothers,The Killer Bees, Demolition, Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang should all be in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Link to the apology: https://m.facebook.com/hitmanbrethart/posts/10154639035499443

Not sure if Hayes cut a promo on Hart on Ric Flair's podcast because I don't know if it has been taped yet. But Hayes was planning to do so as he wasn't happy with what Hart said about The Freebirds not belonging in the WWE Hall of Fame.

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley penned a post on Facebook regarding Seth Rollins' in-ring style leading to the former WWE champion being labeled dangerous ...

"I have been hesitant to write this article, because one of the people advancing the opinion of Seth as unsafe is "Hitman" Bret Hart, a WWE Hall of Famer, certified legend, and one of the elite performers in the history of our business. I have nothing but respect for Bret and count him as a good friend going back 20 years. Let me make it very clear that I have absolutely no desire to get into any social media feud with Bret Hart. But because Bret is so highly thought of in the wrestling community, his words carry an incredible amount of weight, and that reputations of Rollins as a dangerous performer has been gaining momentum. I won't even pretend that I am the player in this business that Bret is, but I know quite a few people respect my viewpoint, and I feel like I owe it to Seth, and the fans who make his living possible, to share my feelings, and hope they are considered before a verdict on the safety of Seth Rollins is reached.

The evidence against Seth seems to focus on the two injuries from the Rollins "turnbuckle bomb", to Sting and Finn Balor, and the broken nose John Cena suffered in a match with Seth. I wrote about that injury to Sting in a Facebook post from September, 2015, in which I opined that certain moves become more and more difficult to pull off and to absorb as safely as we age. I speculated that while the old adage "the legs are the first to go" for a boxer at age 30, that in pro-wrestling, it's the muscles of the neck - so necessary for keeping the chin tucked firmly to the chest during landings - that may be the first to go. This could very well have been the reason why the Rolins turnbuckle bomb, used safely on hundreds of occasions, created a whiplash effect in the neck of Sting, 56 years old at the time of the match. In my opinion, the injury was not Seth's fault, not Sting's fault, or WWE's fault; it simply may have been a case of trying to push back the hands of time a little too far, a little too fast ...

The broken nose to Cena was just an accident. I broke Goldust's nose in WCW by accident, while Vader broke mine on purpose a few months later. Goldust does not blame me, and I do not blame Vader.

Sometimes, injuries just happen. It's part of what we do. Seth Rollins is a safe wrestler. He works an intense, highly physical style, as do most of the WWE Superstars. Those moves look good for a reason; there's a sense of realism to so many of them – a realism that is absolutely necessary in today's day and age, when there is such a vast array of alternatives to watch on television, tablets, laptops, YouTube – and even our own WWE network. Current fans often express their discontent with the direction of the company, especially the direction of Raw. That's fine. Sometimes I think the discontent is a little overblown, but I can live with it. But man, does it bother me when people overlook hard work, dedication and the willingness to try new things, often at great expense to themselves that today's WWE Superstars endure in their effort to excite, excel and entertain. Seth Rollins embodies this spirit. He deserves to be remembered for his dedication to his craft, and for his willingness to go above and beyond to participate in great matches for WWE fans around the world. That's the Seth Rollins you need to know - the real guy, not the rep!"
Link to Foley's Facebook post that has more of his personal stories about injuries: https://www.facebook.com/RealMickFoley/posts/1434653193231481:0


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">INVITED. If MeekMahan allows The Day of New to appear at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TotalNonstopDELETION?src=hash">#TotalNonstopDELETION</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/APOCALYPTO?src=hash">#APOCALYPTO</a>, I'll make an appearance on MeekMahan's Show. <a href="https://t.co/ouDAM6GT2A">https://t.co/ouDAM6GT2A</a></p>&mdash; #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/786383273270382592">October 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, next week's AJ Styles vs James Ellsworth WWE title match will be the first time since January 2015 a member of the Shield wasn't involved in a WWE title match.
For those in the UK, ITV announced they have plans to start taping wrestling shows for their channel with the idea of a pilot show to be taped by mid-November and consider the idea of a weekly series within the near future. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/57d1co/major_uk_channel_itv_plans_to_restart_wrestling/
During a recent interview, Gran Metalik revealed he won't be returning to the WWE till his CMLL commitments ends after November.

[Cool King]

For those in the UK, ITV announced they have plans to start taping wrestling shows for their channel with the idea of a pilot show to be taped by mid-November and consider the idea of a weekly series within the near future. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/57d1co/major_uk_channel_itv_plans_to_restart_wrestling/

Sounds interesting but I get the feeling it'll be a short lived (probably two months) thing that'll be shown every Saturday at 7:00 before Britain's Got Talent at 8:00.

Stephen Mulhern will probably present it as he's the "go-to guy" when it comes to ITV shows.

[Cool King]

I don't see why ITV don't just sign a television contract with ICW and show Fight Club at 10pm on a Saturday night.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Clothesline/Lariato Appreciation Day:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/52a8d393e4b0b732574db488/1386795942492/?format=500w

The 10/13 edition of Impact Wrestling did 284,000 viewers, down from last weeks 305,000 viewers.
Lowest since moving to POP TV.

The situation with TNA continues to get worse. We had an update last night covering the lawsuit filed by Billy Corgan as well as more on who the dots are connecting as far as who paid for the most recent Bound for Glory and TV tapings and what the status the company is in, some notes on what is believed to be in the sealed lawsuit and even how for a period of time yesterday it was possible that the TV show wouldn't have even aired and why.

A correction from last night's show is that MCC Acquisitions Corporation was listed as being owed money as of 9/30. Keep in mind that 9/29 was when the money came in to allow them to tape. MCC Acquisitions shares the same physical address as Anthem Sports and Entertainment, which is the parent company of The Fight Network. On last night's show, we said it was Anthem Sports that was just owed more money based on filings on 9/30. Anthem Sports is owed money as well. David Bixenspan and Kris Zellner have the story (http://www.sescoops.com/exclusive-who-funded-tnas-latest-tapings-dixie-carter-owes-billy-corgan-money/).

The total debt owed by TNA to Aroluxe, Anthem and MCC Acquisitions is listed at $3.4 million. TNA has already sold some of its tape library to Anthem.

The latest is a story by David Bixenspan who found out that the Davidson County Register of Deeds and the State of Tennessee had issued a tax lien against TNA Entertainment, LLC on 9/8. The company owes back taxes in an amount unspecified and got so far behind in paying it that the state has the right to seize company property if the debt isn't repaid. While the company is no longer TNA Entertainment, LLC, now called Impact Ventures LLC, Tennessee law allows the government to go after successor companies. It's a financial disaster, between this, getting evicted from their offices due to being unable to pay rent several months ago, and Corgan's attempt to buy the company falling apart.

The Tennesseean featured an article today noting that the State of Tennessee has filed a lien against TNA for unpaid taxes. The amount owed is not listed in the article, which you can read by clicking here. Thanks to everyone who sent that along.

The New York Post featured an article on Billy Corgan filing a lawsuit against TNA, Dixie Carter, etc. The article claimed that Corgan was upset because his investment in the company did not gain him a "majority stake as he had been promised." The article quoted a source noting, "He expected to have more control after investing in TNA but it hasn’t turned out that way.” The odd thing about that quote is Corgan became President of the company and is currently the final word on the creative team, so the idea that he didn't have enough control just seems off.

The music rights issues regarding themes that were pulled from Impact Wrestling last night are said to be that songs that were written for Dale Oliver and according to two sources, a pay issue for that material is at the center of whether TNA had the proper rights to the songs or not. A story making the rounds is that TNA President Billy Corgan informed Pop about the issue (I cannot 100% confirm this to be the case, but have heard it from multiple sources) and TNA production had to spend a few extra hours on last night's episode to make sure it was fit to see air. There were some in the production circle grumbling about Corgan because of the extra work but to be fair, if there wasn't a question about the rights to begin with, no additional editing would have been necessary. If the music returns down the line, that means TNA and Oliver were able to come to terms. We are told that Serg Salinas, Dixie Carter's husband, would be who oversees TNA's musical rights.

In regard to rumors we have been asked about regarding wrestlers saying they are going to file breach of contract if their pay is late, it's possible that could happen as it was talked about by some at TV last week, but whether anyone actually does remains to be seen. TNA usually pays talents two weeks after they appear on television.
According to the Observer, several are already rumored to be preparing to leave the company after next week.

Regarding the TNA sale, Aroluxe and Billy Corgan are still involved in trying to make the purchase but one unidentified party that was previously involved is no longer interested as they do not feel a deal is worth it. WWE has also apparently lost interest as they have backed out.

After missing shows for New Japan Pro Wrestling last month, it appears we have some clarity on what happened to Matt Sydal.

According to a report from Nikkan Sports on Friday, Sydal was arrested at the Kansai International Airport on September 23rd after a flight to Japan. Sydal was allegedly caught with slightly over two grams of liquid cannabis that was contained in a hidden pipe, as well as a pipe attached to an electronic cigarette.

The entirety of the punishment that Sydal could face isn't immediately clear, but Japan is known to have strict drug laws. And he faces a potential, if not likely ban from the country.

Royal Rumble tickets went on sale at the Alamodome for the 1/29 show, and it's kind of weird. Even though the lowest ticket price is listed at $25, all seats priced at $125 or less were held back to make sure the ardent fans who bought on day one and were going no matter what bought tickets of $125 or more. When I checked a few hours ago, all the $125 tickets were gone and the cheapest price to get in was $175.

Pro wrestlers Kevin Nash and Mike Bennett are lead cast members of a movie called "Anders Manor." It's a horror movie. Nash will play a Reverend of all things. Bennett will play an unruly redneck character named Drasaw.

Highspots.com has released a DVD called "I Never Quit: The Story of Magnum T.A." to commemorate today as the 30th anniversary of the automobile accident that changed the life of Terry Allen, going from the heir apparent to the NWA world heavyweight title and really, perhaps the role, mantle and career that Sting ended up getting (perhaps, because so many things were in play you never know what would have happened, but he was only 27 years old and was one of the biggest stars in wrestling when this happened). But Terry went on to live a very productive life outside of wrestling, raised a family (including one current pro wrestler, Tessa Blanchard) and is really one of the most inspirational characters this business has produced.

Both Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will be appearing together, likely for an angle, on the November 14th Raw episode from Buffalo, NY.

As is WWE's usual custom, the Raw before a major PPV is considered an "all hands on deck" show so the key part-timers are generally scheduled for the show.

As things stand right now, this will be the only Raw where both Lesnar and Goldberg appear.

Both will be on alternate Raws over the next few weeks, while neither are scheduled for the November 7th show in Glasgow, Scotland.

EVOLVE announced the return to AR Fox this Saturday with the storyline being that Drew Galloway was bringing him in . Fox and EVOLVE did have a falling out a year or so ago, which they are playing up as part of the storylne.

While I cannot confirm whether The Spirit Squad have been signed to official full-time WWE contracts as of this writing, we were told by a creative source to expect them to pop up in the weeks ahead on Smackdown Live.

This past week the decision was made to add the Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins Universal title match to the Hell in a Cell match at the HIAC PPV, apparently with the idea the big title would seem not as big if it wasn’t in the cage with the other two singles titles matches and that belt is supposed to be the brand’s focal point. In doing so, the other change was to take Chris Jericho out of the match. As it appeared from watching TV, they were building the three-way but when the decision was made to put it in the Cell, they dropped the idea. It is possible he could be inserted into the match as a referee, because he’s all over that match’s storyline.

Lucha Underground is now working on house shows on 10/23 in Phoenix, 10/30 in Houston an 11/5 in San Diego, which is something doing a show on two or three weeks notice. All shows are expected to have free admission, with Rey Mysterio Jr. and Prince Puma booked as the top stars on the shows. All they key top talent has been contacted but not all will be on every show. The plan is if the shows go well, they will do a real tour after the end of season four.

Shelton Benjamin has posted that he’ll start taking appearances and autograph sessions in November, but noted no physicality, as he’s still recovering from surgery for a torn rotator cuff. No word on whether WWE is still interested in him when he recovers, as he was slated to start on the Smackdown brand but upon an examination, they found he had a torn rotator cuff, which he wasn’t aware of and had been working on in Japan.

While not officially announced, although the show itself has been announced, the plan right now if for a NXT Takeover special on 1/28 in San Antonio at the Freeman Coliseum, the night before Rumble. That’s the new general idea is the Takeovers will be the same weekend as the major PPVs and in the same city, with the idea of copying the Brooklyn success and try to draw more travelers to the shows. There will also be Evolve shows on 1/27 and 1/28 in San Antonio


Some other sheet news includes:

Based on a recent report from SEScoops, TNA is likely facing a third lawsuit within the near future over money owed and Aroluxe Media likely was the mysterious investor who funded their recent ppv and tapings. http://www.sescoops.com/exclusive-who-funded-tnas-latest-tapings-dixie-carter-owes-billy-corgan-money/
According to the Observer, the secrecy by Dixie and a few others in TNA regarding the mysterious investor even extends to most of TNA's upper management still are unaware or haven't being told who actually funded the recent ppv and tv tapings. Current speculation is Aroluxe based on recent financial files.
Based on recent speculation around the net, Billy Corgan is estimated to have spent between $2 million to $3 million funding TNA's tapings prior to this month and push to become its new owner.
WWE revealed Bruno Sammartino will be next week's guest for Legends With JBL show.

[DaveWadding]

Lucha Underground is now working on house shows on 10/23 in Phoenix, 10/30 in Houston an 11/5 in San Diego, which is something doing a show on two or three weeks notice. All shows are expected to have free admission, with Rey Mysterio Jr. and Prince Puma booked as the top stars on the shows. All they key top talent has been contacted but not all will be on every show. The plan is if the shows go well, they will do a real tour after the end of season four.



SDGHFGJCFGJDFGJRFGJJXDRTJKXRJKXRYKXRTYKXRKXRTYKCRTYKCTYOKX RFTJKC GYULVUY8OPC V

[owenbrown]

I think Wadding legit had a stroke :-\

[Black Widow]

I for one loved that Spirit Squad is thrown into a rivalry with Dolph.




That way I just have to skip one segment instead of two

[Sepholio]

MeekMahan should accept the invitation. Do it do it do it.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

What would he have to lose honestly?

[Cool King]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">INVITED. If MeekMahan allows The Day of New to appear at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TotalNonstopDELETION?src=hash">#TotalNonstopDELETION</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/APOCALYPTO?src=hash">#APOCALYPTO</a>, I'll make an appearance on MeekMahan's Show. <a href="https://t.co/ouDAM6GT2A">https://t.co/ouDAM6GT2A</a></p>&mdash; #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/786383273270382592">October 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I must have missed this.

I get the feeling that this is a very subtle attempt by Matt to get back into the WWE.

Probably because he knows TNA is on life support right now and probably won't make it to see in the new year.

[Sepholio]

I honestly think the idea is solid. You know Vince would negotiate it out that The New Day would be the ones to go over. It would get other teams some spot light, teams that WWE might consider picking up when TNA goes belly up. It gets Matt on RAW for a little bit, and while that may not seem like a big deal, it will get a little ratings boost, will get the crowd super hot, and if they played the segment right and intended to bring the Hardys back, then it could be the start of something epic.

I mean honestly Broken Matt would get interrupted by Bray and we could have the most fucked up and entertaining segment ever.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I must have missed this.

I get the feeling that this is a very subtle attempt by Matt to get back into the WWE.

Probably because he knows TNA is on life support right now and probably won't make it to see in the new year.

The Hardyz are doing a show Saturday in the Boston Area.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Greatest WWE Champion ever Gillberg:
http://i.imgur.com/TOQ4N6r.gif

It was expected that Bill Goldberg's return, with a full week of hype behind it, would lead Raw to its biggest numbers of this year's football season.

Going against both the NFL and baseball playoffs, Raw did 3.13 million viewers, up 14 percent from last week. It will be interesting if there is staying power and in particular, the ratings on November 14th when Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will appear on the same show ...

8 p.m. 3.17 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.11 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.12 million viewers


Another lawsuit for unpaid bills against TNA Entertainment, filed over the summer, was by American Express Travel Related Services Company for unpaid bills.

American Express filed suit in the Supreme Court in the state of New York on July 20th claiming nonpayment of $269,049.50 in travel related expenses. The claim is the company used their American Express Corporate account to charge various items and American Express was not paid.

The claim is that the company agreed to payments on the receipt of monthly billing statements as well as to pay court costs if the case went to court. It claimed the agreement included that the defendants were to pay all reasonable costs when it came to American Express collecting the money owed, including finance charges and delinquency frees.

The lawsuit asked for payment of the $269,049.50 as well all legal costs for having to go to court and rectify the bill.

Apparently another reason for the lawsuit is because TNA forgot to tell them their offices moved to a new location so American Express kept sending bills to the old place and never getting any response in return.

There have been pictures floating around the internet over the last week where The Undertaker was seen using crutches to walk.

From what we have been told, he recently had hip surgery and is using the crutches during his recovery.

What that means as to whether he will work at WrestleMania next year, I can't say. As usual, it's up to him if he wants to wrestle.

Goldberg tweeted a thank you to the fans for the reaction he got on Raw last night and said he was humbled by the response.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/Goldberg/status/788372100377477120

Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay was announced by PROGRESS Wrestling for their show on December 11th in Sheffield.

The jabroni in the red pants who wrestled Braun Strowman last night, is named Johnny Proof. He's the local champion for the New Era Wrestling promotion. (thanks to Anthony Sullivan). The red haired goofball from last Monday night, portraying Steve Splash, is Santa Cruz wrestler Seabass, aka stand up comedian Mikey G.

One of the local guys in the Braun Strowman match cut his head pretty bad on the turnbuckle spot and was helped to the back with a towel on his head.

Mick Foley announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning that Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte is set to main event Raw's upcoming pay-per-view later this month. If the match does main event, it would be the first time that a women's match has gone on last at a WWE PPV.

Banks vs. Charlotte will also be the first ever women's match to take place inside of Hell in a Cell. Banks will be defending her Raw Women's Championship against Charlotte in the match.

Foley's Facebook post: "Forget for a moment about Stephanie McMahon's jumping high-five or my awkward attempt to hug the #RAW Comissioner. The biggest moment of the night for us came when the #WWE cameras were off, and Stephanie and I just looked at the #HIAC poster, realizing that for #WomensWrestling, history is upon us - as Sasha Banks and Charlotte will main event the #HIAC PPV. I am so happy for Sasha, for Charlotte, for all the women who paved the way, and all those who aspire to follow in their footsteps. It is no exaggeration to say that looking at that poster gave me chills...and they were multiplying."

Hell in a Cell is scheduled for October 30th in Boston, MA.

UPDATE: Foley posted a clarification on Facebook, noting that the match order for Hell in a Cell is not yet final: "The match order for #HIAC Will probably not be finalized until hours before the actual show, so each member of the WWE Universe can decide for themselves what their main event is. Regardless of where the women's match is placed on the card, both Sasha and Charlotte should absolutely feel like they are the main event -- as should Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. It's a competitive business, and that competitive spirit should bring out the best in everyone on October 30th."

Cricket Wireless announced Friday that they will be sponsoring the first Lucha Underground house show tour with events scheduled for October 23rd in Phoenix, AZ, October 30th in Houston, TX, and November 5th in San Diego, CA.

Alberto Rodriguez and girlfriend Saraya Jade-Bevis are in the news one more time as they have just gotten engaged.

It was Bevis, better known as Paige, who popped the question earlier tonight while inside the ring in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

Rodriguez, also known as Alberto El Patron, Alberto Del Rio and now El Presidente, was working the WWC Aniversario weekend when in the ring she pulled out a ring and popped the question and he accepted.

There's been some mainstream press this weekend regarding Linda McMahon having donated $6 million to a super PAC that supported Donald Trump, with donations in August and September. The donations were noted because when Trump was going through primaries, she was critical of his remarks about women, and this goes back months before all the latest news stories came in. "He's not helping, certainly to put women in the best light," said McMahon a few months ago. "Maybe he regrets them, maybe he doesn't. I realize he punches hard when he punches back, but that's just over the top." But she since publicly stated she was a strong Trump supporter. For those thinking Trump's comments should kick him out of the WWE Hall of Fame, it would appear that isn't about to happen.

Emma, even though listed on Raw, is working for the Smackdown brand this weekend as a replacement for Becky Lynch.

Cody Rhodes was interviewed by Live Audio Wrestling in Canada for the Fight Network and when asked about potentially presenting the trophy for the Dusty Tag Classic finals, commented, "“I told them Truth can hand out the trophy this year – no I didn’t (laughs). I think this year is probably a really tough sell but I definitely don’t want people to think that’s because I don’t love my dad more than anything on earth. I think this year I will probably hand over my responsibilities as such to Dustin and maybe his daughter Dakota. They currently have a lot better of a situation with themselves in WWE than myself but again, that night has nothing to do with me or WWE, really. It has everything to do with young guys getting their shot and Dusty Rhodes in general so I don’t know. I haven’t been reached out to yet so if I was, I definitely would not just flat out say no.”


Some other sheet news includes:

CBS Boston had a recent interview with James Ellsworth: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/10/18/interview-with-james-ellsworth-wwes-most-unlikely-star/
Observer is currently speculating TNA might be filing for bankruptcy soon but would probably drag out the official announcement since Dixie wouldn't want to take all the blame for its downfall.
ROH recently signed a tv deal in Portugal with Sport TV which is the biggest sports channel in the country. Currently expected to start airing shows this week.
Observer currently debunking rumors of Papa Shango's curse claiming Bayley as its newest victim. Speculation started after WWE reported Bayley went to doctors after her match against Dana and the odd way the match ended.
WWE is currently selling James Ellsworth merch on WWEShop: http://shop.wwe.com/james-ellsworth-authentic-t-shirt/W12527.html
According to SEScoops, its possible TNA could face a 5th lawsuit depending on what happens to the American Express lawsuit. It involves one of TNA's management needing to use a personal credit card to cover travel expenses when American Express cut off TNA's buisness card with the company. http://www.sescoops.com/update-on-american-express-non-payment-lawsuit-and-other-tna-debts/

[Cool King]

One of the local guys in the Braun Strowman match cut his head pretty bad on the turnbuckle spot and was helped to the back with a towel on his head.

Yeah, looked and sounded painful.

It looks like he bashed his head with some speed and force on the rim of the metal LED post.

https://s21.postimg.org/fjx1auvzb/ezgif_3452282644.gif

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Fucking ouch

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bliss Appreciation Day:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/c8dea20b03876e3507aa0247f8ea2cd3/tumblr_of9sjkacrM1u1ljrzo4_540.gif

The Twitter account for "Live Audio Wrestling" in Canada, which is operated by The Fight Network, sent out the following:

Have confirmed that the TNA / Billy Corgan hearing has been moved to next Wednesday, Anthem will be putting out statement today
— Live Audio Wrestling (@LAWradio) October 19, 2016



Anthem is also offering to fund TNA in order to repay the loans of Billy Corgan
— Live Audio Wrestling (@LAWradio) October 19, 2016

Anthem refers to Anthem Sports and Entertainment Corp, the parent company of The Fight Network, which acquired a minority stake in TNA several months back as part of a deal that saw them receive the worldwide streaming rights to the TNA Library. It should be noted that the financing for the most recent batch of TNA Impact Wrestling tapings, as well as the 10/2 Bound for Glory PPV came from MCC Acquisitions Corp. in Canada. MMC's address is exactly the same as Anthem Sports and Entertainment Corp.
Being reported Fight Network now owns the US tv rights to TNA as part of the deal. Could be a potential sign for TNA's future on POP TV since that deal is on a year-to-year basis.

With all the talk surrounding the future of TNA, it should be noted that the company has reserved dates to film Impact Wrestling and One Night Only PPVs in January 2017.

PWInsider.com can confirm that there are dates on the Universal Studios Orlando calendar for the company to film at the Impact Zone from 1/4/17 through 1/10/17.

Ratings for last night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network were down two percent from last week's post-No Mercy show, coming in at 2.405 million viewers.
Wasn't able to maintain the post-No Mercy ppv bump from last week.

WWE developmental talent Terrance Jean-Jacques was arrested on Sunday on charges of assault and battery, kidnapping, witness intimidation, destruction of property and threatening to commit a crime. He is alleged to have hit his pregnant girlfriend.
WWE suspended him as a result and are waiting on the criminal investigation to be done before a firing decision is made.

ITV officially announced that they will produce a one-off World of Sport special later in the year. Jim Ross will be doing commentary for the special.
Link to the announcement: http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/world-sport-wrestling

Ricochet will miss shows for New Japan Pro Wrestling on October 21st and 23rd due to visa trouble.

The love story between Paige and Alberto Del Rio is not shied away from on the upcoming season of Total Divas … in fact, we’re told it’s her main storyline in the first few episodes.

Production sources tell us Paige is in every single one of first few recently completed episodes and spends most of her time gushing over Del Rio. E! first mentioned this week that Season 6 would feature the couple’s blossoming romance, and we’re told Alberto did film material for the show.

Viewers with a keen eye noticed the 24-year-old was absent from recent show promos — including the full cast commercial shoot — but we’re told it was due to her injury.

Our sources say the suspended wrestler was at the doctor when they were filming the footage.

No word on how much the relationship will continue to be shown after the first few episodes, since that’s all they’ve completed in the editing room at this point.

Lance Storm's new podcast, disappointingly NOT called "A Serious Minute," with Lance Storm and Cyrus the Virus, discuss the return of Goldberg in their first episode. It is also available on iTunes.
Link to the podcast show: https://www.podcastone.com/killing-the-town-with-storm-and-cyrus

Though it had been known for some time that they would be headed to NXT, WWE officially announced on Wednesday afternoon that Tommy End, Big Damo, and "Crazy" Mary Dobson have reported to the company's Performance Center.

Paige posted the following after her neck surgery today:

Thanks to @NatbyNature for taking the time to come visit me. What an angel ?????????? her day off and she just got home and saw me. #RealFriend
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) October 19, 2016



Also surgery went well. The hernia was bigger than expected and my neck was straightened now this girl has 3 screws in her neck. Pics soon????????
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) October 19, 2016



Thank you dr Uribe. Best surgeon out there and everyone here at the hospital for the great hospitality. ??
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) October 19, 2016



We've talked about you a lot. He's great!! Sending hugs and kisses your way. Thanks for the text too. Nothing but love to you and Brie ?????????? https://t.co/8ifDxWQz1h
— PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) October 20, 2016

The storyline he pitched to Vince McMahon for a Lesnar match:

“The last year I was in WWE, myself and Hunter, myself and Vince, had a lot of conversations about the contract and creative issues. One of the ideas I had – and there were several WWE Superstars I am friends with I shared the idea with – they thought it was an amazing, creative angle. I went to Vince. I had been asking for Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania the last three years. I told Vince you have to build this up properly. I told him it will break records if you build it up properly. I go, you need to let me go away for six months. I live in Las Vegas. MMA is hugely insanely popular. It’s the breeding ground. Let me join a training camp full time for six months. We’ll make it look like I’m about to go do a real fight. I’ll come back and challenge Brock Lesnar to a fight at WrestleMania. The way that I look, people already buy into it. Now I add the other skills into the mix and people already know Lesnar’s MMA background. Now I say we have a WrestleMania-worthy match. Vince, it went right over his head. I remember sitting there dumbfounded. Jesus Christ, you can’t f***ing be this out of touch! Maybe he didn’t want me to go away for six months.”

Wacky Ryback and Vince story from back in the day.

Paige was removed this week from the open on Raw. If you wonder why she’s still with the company, obviously there is the idea there would be litigation most likely if she was let go (unless she gets three strikes in which case she would probably be released) and the company policy, which there have been rare exceptions to, is not to release people who have an existing injury and are still recovering from it.

The new network subscription number will be announced at investors call on 10/27. The company was hoping for 1.49 million subscribers on 9/30, but that was before they went to two PPVs per month instead of one.

Early reaction to Roderick Strong is that they love him. That doesn’t always mean a major push, but it does mean they were impressed. He is one of the best workers in the business and his work translated into New Japan which is a different and usually tougher standard, definitely tougher than NXT although getting main roster over in WWE is the hardest of anything because of the booking and political land mines

Hideo Itami is looking right now like he’ll be out of action for about two months from the neck injury when Riddick Moss dropped him on his head with a twisting powerslam off the ropes. That’s good news because with surgery he’d be looking at another six plus months off

We’re not sure of the situation regarding James Ellsworth past as of a week ago he was also on a per date basis and not under contract. Still, as of the day before Smackdown, he wasn’t told of any future dates or bookings, and he probably wouldn’t know because he’d be one of those guys contacted late if there’s an idea for that week’s TV.


Some other sheet news includes:

Papa Shango's curse claimed Charles Robinson after Robinson recently tweeted he hurt his foot and will be out for a while as a result. https://twitter.com/WWERobinson/status/788490527117148160
Paul Heyman was revealed to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
Current rumor going around the net is Corgan might have sealed his lawsuit against TNA to prevent or delay more of TNA's roster from filing breach of contract claims. A few were already rumored to be preparing the paperwork but more could end up joining once the lawsuit gets unsealed. https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/788739181493248000 , https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/788738828282564609
Rolling Stones had a recent article about the return of Jobbers in the WWE and how they can make a positive impact in the WWE:
www.rollingstone.com/sports/jobbers-return-to-the-wwe-to-lose-to-bigger-wrestlers-w445338
According to the Observer, Trish Stratus was WWE's first choice for Asuka's opponent for NXT Takeover in Toronto prior to her announcing she was pregnant.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Some of the guys in NXT really don't need to be down there. You don't need to re-train Hideo Itami to be a "WWE-style wrestler." You signed him because he's fucking KENTA. He's not going to learn fluent English and cut Rock-style promos in whatever time there is left in his career.

Some guys you just need to say "Alright, go" with. Give them vignettes, promote what they can do and why they've been signed, and then let them sink or swim. Every time I see Nakamura put in a chinlock by a jobber in NXT a part of me dies. Developmental should be guys you are looking to tweak the gimmicks of or definitely need more time in the cooker, or great wrestlers that you want to recharge. Guys like Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Epico & Primo once upon a time, etc. Guys winding down their careers but aren't ready to completely call it quits but will benefit with a schedule with less travel -- Goldust, R-Truth, etc.

The guys that are ready to go NOW and are ready to make money NOW need to be up on the main roster being given the best chance they can be given in order to have that success -- instead of being dropped on their heads by guys who aren't really ready to get out of beginners' class.

[mike adamle]

How did Roderick Strong's work translate well to New Japan when he never worked there??

[mike adamle]

Hideo Itami does kind of need to be in NXT. I'd agree with you if you were talking about Shinsuke, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, or maybe even Austin Aries. But what match has Hideo Itami had in WWE yet that has actually been talked about? I get that he's been injured for the better part of a year, but he was there a while before he got injured the first time.

I was starting to sour on KENTA before he came to WWE. His best years were 2005-2010. He's never been the same since he tore his ACL before coming to WWE.

Also Daniel Bryan retiring really hurts Hideo Itami's appeal. I remember when they signed KENTA there was one match I wanted to see him involved in at WrestleMania; Hideo Itami vs. Daniel Bryan. They had two classics in ROH, the one from Glory By Honor V Night 2 is considered to be the best match in company history by quite a few. They also had quite a few awesome battles in Noah in Japan, I believe one even went 60 minutes. There styles meshed so well. It's a shame we'll never get to see what they could do in a WWE environment.

[Emperor Smeat]

How did Roderick Strong's work translate well to New Japan when he never worked there??

He wrestled an event there but I assume Meltzer is also including the ROH-NJPW stuff that occured in the US for him being able to mesh well with puro style.

[The CyNick]

Ryback is my new favorite delusional wrestling personality. Getting close to Cornette levels.

[Innovator]

Ryback is my new favorite delusional wrestling personality. Getting close to Cornette levels.

"Vince, Listen, give me 6 months off, paid, to fuck around at home then give me a huge Wrestlemania match with Brock and let me win."

[Mercenary]

Some of the guys in NXT really don't need to be down there. You don't need to re-train Hideo Itami to be a "WWE-style wrestler." You signed him because he's fucking KENTA. He's not going to learn fluent English and cut Rock-style promos in whatever time there is left in his career. .

Injury prone Kenta is more like it

[Black Widow]

Guess that Ryback idea is the inspiration for bringing Goldberg back.

[mike adamle]

He wrestled an event there but I assume Meltzer is also including the ROH-NJPW stuff that occured in the US for him being able to mesh well with puro style.

No, he wrestled on the ROH shows in Japan. New Japan didn't want him as a junior but didn't think he was big enough to be a heavyweight and never booked him on one of their shows.

He did have the greatest matches on the 2015 ROH/NJPW Global Wars/War of the Worlds tour.

He killed it with KUSHIDA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, and at Field Of Honor Kazuchika Okada. All in ROH, never in New Japan.

[The CyNick]

"Vince, Listen, give me 6 months off, paid, to fuck around at home then give me a huge Wrestlemania match with Brock and let me win."

Vince: thanks for the idea, pal. But we're going in another direction.

Ryback: okay thanks *kicks garbage can on the way out

Ryback (to dirt sheet writer): they won't do anything with me. They are lying to me. I'm leaving!

[Innovator]

No, he wrestled on the ROH shows in Japan. New Japan didn't want him as a junior but didn't think he was big enough to be a heavyweight and never booked him on one of their shows.

He did have the greatest matches on the 2015 ROH/NJPW Global Wars/War of the Worlds tour.

He killed it with KUSHIDA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, and at Field Of Honor Kazuchika Okada. All in ROH, never in New Japan.

NJPW doesn't like shitty little boots

[mike adamle]

Like Tomohiro Ishii??

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YMT1HTgBKlM/T9Ycdo6wFGI/AAAAAAAAKw4/F4aExKj7yMc/s1600/DSC05440.jpg

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Low Blow Appreciation Thursday:
http://i.imgur.com/8Hc5mN2.jpg

WWE RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks has been training hard to put on more muscle, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, with the idea that it will make her more resilient.

The Observer adds that this is related to Sasha's match with Charlotte inside Hell In a Cell later this month because the female Superstars feel they have to do something to make the match memorable, which likely means bigger spots than usual.

We've noted how Vince McMahon reportedly feels that The Boss is too injury prone, once comparing her to Daniel Bryan. Vince has said on multiple occasions that he believes Sasha knows only one speed - all out.

Paige underwent neck surgery, having three screws put in her neck yesterday in Florida. The surgeon was the same one who did Nikki Bella's recent neck surgery.

Lucha Underground finally announced some matches for Sunday's show in Phoenix at the Arizona State Fair. Johnny Mundo faces Brian Cage in a falls count anywhere match to headline the Noon show. A 3 p.m. show will be headlined by Pentagon Dark vs. Mil Muertes with Vampiro at ringside. Others announced for the shows are Drago, Jack Evans, Ivelisse, Taya, Mariposa, Son of Havoc and Aerostar.

A documentary on Eric Bischoff will air after Raw on Monday night on the WWE Network.

The WWE Studios film "Resurrection of Gavin Stone" featuring Shawn Michaels will be released in theatres 1/20/17.

AJ Styles has the Royal Rumble circled on his calendar.

The Rumble returns to the Alamodome in Texas, and Styles wants to defend the WWE championship against the “Heartbreak Kid”— Texas native Shawn Michaels.

“I would love the opportunity to wrestle him,” said Styles. “I’d love to learn from him, but who’s to say if that’s going to happen. Right now, it’s all speculation and rumors that I’m finding out like everyone else is, but man, what a match that would be.”
From a recent interview Sports Illustrated had with AJ Styles: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/10/20/aj-styles-shawn-michaels-royal-rumble

AJ Styles just Tweeted the following:

Interesting photo..... is it not? pic.twitter.com/MKgF4XoAF1
— AJStyles.Org (@AJStylesOrg) October 20, 2016

While that match would be amazing, especially in San Antonio (Michaels' hometown the site of the 2017 Royal Rumble), there's no word that a match between AJ Styles and Shawn Michaels is actually being planned by WWE, Styles tweeting the artwork (which we are told was made by a fan) certainly is newsworthy.

The 10/20 Total Bellas episode on E! garnered 625,000 viewers, down from the series premiere's 756,000 viewers. It was the lowest rated episode of the series thus far.

Havok then recounted her TNA run, noting that she was brought in and was "d**ked around about a contract for about 9 months before they decided awesome kongs return was a bigger deal than they anticipated, and signed her instead." She said that from that point, the company wrote her out, booking her to lose a series of bouts, that a number of women there didn't want to work with her for fear she would legitimately hurt her and that she had to deal with contradictory instructions. She noted, "I’m leaving out a lot of the sh***y things that would make them look 100 times more unprofessional if I repeated it. I won’t be that guy. I also don’t care who gets mad about it. "

Havok noted that WWE's Sarah Del Rey learned she was never signed to a TNA deal and invited her to a WWE Performance Center tryout. Havok recounted the tryout, writing that she was killing it the first several days, but on the third day, once word of her involvement in the tryout was reported, online fans dug up old social media comments that she made when she was younger.
Part of a longer article about Jessicka Havok's problems while in TNA and why the WWE cut her early in tryouts. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/105494/jessicka-havok-comments-on-her-treatment-within-tna-her-social-media-controversy-possibly-costing-her-a-wwe-deal-why-she-regrets-apologizing.html?p=1

After announcing he was going to take a break from Twitter, Mick Foley returned, noting he didn't think it was fair to ignore his 1.6 million followers just because of the actions of one of them.
Foley didn't like how the leaked DMs made it seem like he nor the WWE didn't care about Summer Rae. Also didn't like how proud the other person was with his ridicule and trolling to himself and others online about the issue.

James Ellsworth's new t-shirt is currently the top selling item at WWEShop.com, outranking the new Goldberg, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins merchandise.
He's dropped in rankings since the original announcement although mainly because his stuff sold out and won't be restocked till mid-November. Also the stat only covered new arrivals to WWE's online store and not just shirt merchandise in general.

Both La Parka and El Hijo del Tirantes (the heel referee) were critical of the comments made by Jack Evans (that were reported last week). Parka is mad that Evans called him a terrible wrestler. The funny part is that it was a compliment in that Evans said Parka was a terrible wrestler but you could learn a lot from him because he’s so over. Evans got a lot of office heat for talking about how things were better than Konnan was around. Evans was pulled from the Japan show likely due to the comments he made and was also pulled from the recent TV’s, and hasn’t worked anywhere since he returned from Europe where he did the interview that got him in trouble. Angelico is slated to return this week ...

Vampiro is the new Head of Talent Relations and is also working as an agent at the TV tapings ...

They were trying to get Brian Cage and Rey Mysterio Jr. to work exclusively here (and Lucha Underground), with the caveat of not working any shows anywhere that have CMLL talent, that involve Konnan, L.A. Park or El Hijo del Santo. Mysterio didn’t agree to it
Some recent Mexican wrestling related news in regards to AAA.

Goldberg and Lesnar are both currently booked for the 11/14 Raw show in Buffalo, which makes sense since you do the all hands on deck on the go-home show so they an do a confrontation. Lesnar is also booked for the 10/24 Raw in Minneapolis, while Goldberg is scheduled also for the 10/31 Raw in Hartford. Heyman is booked for the same shows as Lesnar. Heyman wasn’t booked for this week’s show until the last minute, although it made sense to have him on the show.

The appearances of Kenn Doane & Mike Brendli (the Spirit Squad) are on a per-show basis and neither is under contract, at least as of late last week. They are expected to be used more going forward.

Josh Bredl, the winner of Tough Enough, hasn’t been around because he’s been suffering from a severe concussion for several months


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NR8bmbrwtO8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

According to PWI, ROH and CHIKARA star RD Evans is among the former wrestlers who are currently writers for the WWE.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Scott Hall celebrates his 58th birthday today.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, tomorrow will mark the date Bret Hart's original 20 year contract with the WWE would have ended.
According to reports and speculation, Dixie Carter personally owes money to Fight Network after managing to convince them recently to cover her debt with Corgan and help fund another set of tv tapings.
According to the Observer, Lucha Underground recently reworked the contracts for all their talent to now cover house shows for dates and pay.

[Black Widow]

Sasha Banks: Legit Hoss

[Innovator]

Like Tomohiro Ishii??

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YMT1HTgBKlM/T9Ycdo6wFGI/AAAAAAAAKw4/F4aExKj7yMc/s1600/DSC05440.jpg

No one has the guts to tell him

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtshets sponsored by King Bookaaaaaaaaaaah:
http://rs475.pbsrc.com/albums/rr119/KELLIE_MOVIES_TV_STUFF/TV%20STUFF/WWE/KING%20BOOKER%20T/BOOKERT.gif~c200

PWInsider has reported that the Billy Corgan lawsuit against TNA will be unsealed on Tuesday, however, they are rewriting the complaint to remove sensitive material Corgan didn't want out (which is why it was sealed in the first place) before the release. However, that means the lawsuit hasn't been dropped even though Fight Network was willing to pay Corgan off his investment money.

One of the documents unsealed was Corgan's request for a temporary restraining order against the defendants, which was approved and is still active through the hearing scheduled for 10/26 in Nashville, TN before the Chancery Court.

The request included the following passage:

"As demonstrated in the memorandum of law filed herewith, plaintiff is likely to prevail on the merits of its claims because Impact Ventures LLC is insolvent, and, as a result, plaintiff is entitled to exercise controlling voting rights in the company pursuant to an equity pledge agreement between the plaintiff, Ms. Salinas [Note from Mike: Dixie Carter] and Impact Ventures. Furthermore, if not enjoined, defendants' conduct will cause irreparable hard to Plaintiff."
One of the claims recently revealed from Corgan's lawsuit. According to the judge, neither Dixie nor anyone on TNA's management will be allowed to sell the company till the case is finished. Also Corgan gets final say for any potential new deals during this time as terms of the restraining order against Dixie. Courts also get final say over any sale regarding TNA's assets while the case is active.

*All documents related to Impact Ventures being insolvent or unable to pay all of its debts in full as it came due from January 1, 2016 to the present.

*All documents sent to or received from World Wrestling Entertainment or any of its representatives from January 1, 2016 to present.

*All documents sent to or received from "any third party" regarding that third party's potential acquisition of Impact Ventures LLC, TNA Entertainment LLC or any of the assets owned by either entity.
Terms from Corgan's lawsuit in regards if TNA refuses to admit they are insolvent or they broke the agreement with Corgan when he helped fund the company.

The 10/20 edition of Impact Wrestling did 353,000 viewers, well up from last week's 284,000 viewers.

Regarding Michaels and A.J. Styles rumors, what we do know is that the last time Michaels was asked about doing one more match he was firm that he was not going to do it. People do change their mind but that wasn't long ago.

Shawn Michaels was listed for the cast of the new "Avengers of Justice" movie, which is a spoof of superhero adventure movies. Michaels, Stephen Rannazzisi (of the FXX show "The League") and Amy Smart are listed as the stars of the movie in a release to Variety today. Rannazzisi will play SuperBat, a former crime fighter who has lost it all and Michaels will play his mentor, who gets him back into shape to fight his rival, the Dark Jokester.

For this weekend, Becky Lynch is advertised to return for the all of the SmackDown shows. Chris Jericho is not advertised for Raw tonight in Hammond but the rest of the regular crew all is. Jericho is scheduled for Milwaukee, Rochester, MN and television. On the SmackDown side, Randy Orton has the weekend off, but is scheduled for Green Bay on Tuesday. John Cena is filming a television show so he's right now off every show except possibly Survivor Series in Toronto between now and Christmas.

Variety reported on Friday that Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions, along with Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Productions, is developing a professional wrestling-based sitcom pilot for Fox. The series is based on Johnson and former Raw head writer Brian Gewirtz's relationship and their experience in the industry.

Just five years ago, TNA’s total revenue, largely due to Spike, was multiples of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Since then, each company went in opposite directions. One created stars and put on great shows even with a major television handicap of a horrible time slot. The other squandered talent and did angles that nobody bought, thinking it was the only way, and made no stars. New Japan is now multiple times ahead of TNA, even in the United States where New Japan’s audience, when you factor in the homes available, is roughly identical to that of TNA -- even on a far worse television night and airing matches ten months old.

In fact, TNA was even able to be profitable for a time, although it overextended itself in 2010 when trying to directly challenge WWE, signing Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Jeff Hardy, and Rob Van Dam, and moving to Monday nights. The second Monday Night War was hardly like the first one. Instead of a legendary conflict, it was pro wrestling’s equivalent to the 1967 Six Day War, a quick and painful one-sided massacre.

A mistake was made right off the bat as instead of starting one hour earlier in a move that would give TNA the edge, Bischoff made the call to go head-to-head. That may have ended up making no difference in the long run as they did switch time slots weeks later, but that didn’t work out either and they were quickly off Mondays.

The other killer financially was a move that seemingly had to be made: moving out of Orlando and touring arenas for television tapings although they couldn’t make it work fiscally,

TNA is still alive today, although it is in intensive care and the pulse is weakening. The health issues may date back to that period mentioned above, but the critical condition dates back to July 15, 2014."
Observer was able to pin point the date when everything went downhill for TNA leading to their on-going financial crisis. They actually managed to rebound a bit from the disaster Hogan and Bischoff did to the company in 2010 but mid-2014 is when it became impossible for TNA to recover under Dixie.

Former Bellator fighter Jordan Parsons and 90s ECW stars Brian Knighton (Axl Rotten) and John Rechner (Balls Mahoney) were diagnosed with CTE based on brain examinations by Dr. Julia K. Kofler at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian, who was in conjunction with Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic pathologist whose work was highlighted in the movie "Concussion."
Official statement by WWE's main lawyer implied the company likely will challenge the results and claimed the lawyer in charge of the class action concussion lawsuit is pushing to get the WWE blamed.

On Bischoff on Wrestling, James Ellsworth explained that AJ Styles protected him when he tucked his chin taking the Styles Clash. This is what he had to say:

I got it back at the last second. He took care of me too. In practice everything was fine and all that. It’s just that instinct thing for a wrestler to, “tuck your chin.” That’s the one move you don’t do it on. I felt so bad about it afterwards. They were all cool about it and everything because it looked good on TV. It looked like he killed me. It’s not like it looked bad or anything. It was just that instinct of, “tuck your chin.” I’ve been told to do it for fourteen years and that’s all it was. I was ok. It was fine. I didn’t get hurt obviously and AJ is, like I said earlier in my humble opinion, is the best in the world. He knows how to adjust to things and everything was ok afterwards.


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN had a recent article about the rise of Kenny Omega's career in Japan. http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17851597/kenny-omega-breaks-japan-wrestling-barriers-become-true-champion
Dixie Carter recently responded to the terms of Billy Corgan's lawsuit claiming TNA is neither insolvent nor would allow Corgan to have more influence on the company prior to purchasing it. Claimed Corgan has been trying to replace people on TNA's management with more pro-Corgan people to give him a better chance at owning the company.
According to TNA's former head of talent Bruce Prichard, TNA's management used to do several scummy things in order to delay paying talent with the worst being them legit not bothering to mail the checks to them. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/58ox1k/bruce_prichard_on_tna_pay_issues/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Clash of Champions 2016 was the first time in Brian Kendrick's WWE career he had a singles match on ppv.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hideo Itami does kind of need to be in NXT. I'd agree with you if you were talking about Shinsuke, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, or maybe even Austin Aries. But what match has Hideo Itami had in WWE yet that has actually been talked about? I get that he's been injured for the better part of a year, but he was there a while before he got injured the first time.

I was starting to sour on KENTA before he came to WWE. His best years were 2005-2010. He's never been the same since he tore his ACL before coming to WWE.

Also Daniel Bryan retiring really hurts Hideo Itami's appeal. I remember when they signed KENTA there was one match I wanted to see him involved in at WrestleMania; Hideo Itami vs. Daniel Bryan. They had two classics in ROH, the one from Glory By Honor V Night 2 is considered to be the best match in company history by quite a few. They also had quite a few awesome battles in Noah in Japan, I believe one even went 60 minutes. There styles meshed so well. It's a shame we'll never get to see what they could do in a WWE environment.

That is exactly the point.

[Fignuts]

Injury prone Kenta is more like it

Anyone would have been injured by that powerslam to the neck botch. THat wasn't his fault. It was wwe's for putting him in there with green nobodies.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Anyone would have been injured by that powerslam to the neck botch. THat wasn't his fault. It was wwe's for putting him in there with green nobodies.

This. :y:

The dude was dropped on his fucking neck.

[mike adamle]

That is exactly the point.

He had plenty of chances to have good matches with credible opponents before he got injured the first time in NXT. He wrestled Adrian Neville and teamed with Finn Balor.

The reason good wrestlers like that are down there is so some of the hosses that have no training can actually get better, which they aren't going to do if you take the talented ones away like Neville and Balor without offering someone to replace that talent, like Itami, Joe, and Nakamura. I expect those guys will be called up when they can be replaced so the actually rookies down there can learn and get some experience.

It's up to the great talent to make chicken salad with chicken shit.

With that said, it's professional wrestling. Injuries happen. Yeah someone green injured Itami. Former world champion Seth Rollins injured Balor. Who's to say that wouldn't happen if Itami was on the main roster?

Injuries happen.

[Black Widow]

TNA needs to end the embarrassment and just die!

[Mr. Nerfect]

TNA needs to end the embarrassment and just die!

Yes.

[Mr. Nerfect]

He had plenty of chances to have good matches with credible opponents before he got injured the first time in NXT. He wrestled Adrian Neville and teamed with Finn Balor.

The reason good wrestlers like that are down there is so some of the hosses that have no training can actually get better, which they aren't going to do if you take the talented ones away like Neville and Balor without offering someone to replace that talent, like Itami, Joe, and Nakamura. I expect those guys will be called up when they can be replaced so the actually rookies down there can learn and get some experience.

It's up to the great talent to make chicken salad with chicken shit.

With that said, it's professional wrestling. Injuries happen. Yeah someone green injured Itami. Former world champion Seth Rollins injured Balor. Who's to say that wouldn't happen if Itami was on the main roster?

Injuries happen.

Yeah, and those matches were fine. When he's allowed to work his style, he's fine. Itami was one of those pre-Joe signings that they felt they had to give the WWE makeover. Some of it is really good -- I like his ring garb and entrance theme. They are trying to emphasize some of his strengths presentation-wise. I don't like the wrestling re-education though. A large part of what you're talking about in the matches that weren't as good as the Neville/Balor ones, etc. is because he's holding back and trying to work like a more generic wrestler.

It is too late for the dude to re-train himself. If you don't want him on your roster -- that's fine. That's your prerogative. But I don't see the sense in hiring these international stars and then telling them "Hey, don't do what got you over in the first place." Itami is never going to work like The Miz or be able to project his personality like The Rock. You're slowing him down to the benefit of no one.

Some veterans having a presence in NXT is definitely a good thing. I've been vocal in the past about the WWE signing Tajiri and Nick Dinsmore and allowing Finlay to wrestle. I doubt he'd do it full-time, but I'd be interested in seeing Lance Storm come back too. I'm also fine with Mickie James coming back to work with Asuka. I'd like to see more main roster guys cycled down into NXT to keep things fresh and allow regenerate themselves so they don't get stale. Fandango & Tyler Breeze, The Shining Stars, Curtis Axel, Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro would all benefit from some NXT glory, in my opinion.

My problem is with bringing in these guys that are as ready as they will ever be and letting them idle in developmental. Joe has a good shot at being a noteworthy performer for WWE. His intensity is incredible, and he can actually promo. Not just talk, but promo. Nakamura is electric. He shouldn't be on television every week, but he could be a huge deal showing up every couple of RAWs or SmackDowns. Austin Aries has been leaving me cold, but as I've said, I'm all for him being a side-player in the Bobby Roode story. Sign James Storm and call-up Austin Aries and Roderick Strong to serve as an anti-New Day faction. Maybe Strong will catch some personality by osmosis?

Some veterans working with the younger talent is good, but you also need to remember why you truly signed some of these guys in the first place. If it was to give them a shot, then give them a shot.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Dazzler:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/bb5f959e035d289c32f1d16c60bfdad3/tumblr_ofl7rvZzuJ1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Ratings for last night's episode of Raw were down 10% from last week’s total that was bolstered by the return of Goldberg. But last night's show was still the second highest number since the start of the NFL season.

The show opened relatively strong with 2.983 million viewers but dropped sharply in hours two (2.806 million) and three (2.669 million). Raw finished with an average viewership of 2.807 million people.

The drop-off of just over 300,000 viewers from hour one to hour three was one of the bigger such drops in recent weeks. Percentage-wise, it was the fifth largest drop since April 18th, which was two weeks after WrestleMania.

The Nashville Chancery Court is slated to unseal a redacted version of the lawsuit TNA President Billy Corgan filed on 10/12 against TNA Entertainment LLC, its parent company Impact Ventures LLC, Dixie Carter, Dean Broadhead and Serg Salinas.

The lawsuit, based on details culled from documents that have already been unsealed, charges that TNA, as a company, is insolvent and that Corgan, based on the agreement he signed with Carter when he invested, has the right to take over the company and replace member of management. Carter has denied that the company is insolvent in court documents, stating that the company's assets are worth more than their current debts.

A redacted version of the 41 page lawsuit TNA President Billy Corgan filed against TNA, its parent company Impact Ventures, Dixie Carter, Dean Broadhead and Serg Salinas was officially released to the public today by the Chancery Court in Nashville, TN, revealing a lot of insight when it comes to why Corgan filed suit.

The lawsuit alleges that Corgan initially invested into TNA because "Impact Ventures was in severe financial distress" and that by investing, he was preventing the company from suspending operations and going into "immediate foreclosure" to Aroluxe Media, described as the company's production company. PWInsider.com first broke in April 2016 [Elite subscribers, click here] that the way Dixie Carter's deal was structured with Aroluxe, they were putting out the financial cost of TNA's TV productions and TNA would pay them back installments - and if Carter failed to make the payments, she could lose control of the company. Well, that was the very scenario that, as if turns out, led to Corgan stepping in last June.
Portion of the details from the unsealed file revealing Aroluxe Media were ready to take over as the new owner of TNA till Corgan stepped in. Had to do it a couple other times to prevent Aroluxe's potential takeover based on terms TNA had with the company.

The Undertaker appeared in full gimmick attire at the Cleveland Cavaliers opening night championship celebration ahead of their first game of the season and ring ceremony tonight against the New York Knicks.

Chris Jericho announced his next book, titled “No is a four-letter word,” for May 2017

WWE announced a show on 12/17 in Peterborough, ONT, which is the home city of Bobby Roode. It will be interesting if they bring him to the main roster to work the show. NXT runs Las Vegas the same day

Yet another lawsuit filed against TNA was by Bankdirect Capital Finance, LLC which filed a lawsuit asking for $207,612.29 plus late charges, interest and attorney feels against TNA Entertainment LLC on 9/29 in Circuit Court in Cook County, Illinois. On November 30, 2015, BankDirect entertained in an agreement where it would pay TNA $400,146.00 so TNA could pay certain insurance premiums and TNA agreed to make ten monthly payments of $41,032.45 with the first payment on November 13, 2015. As of the time of the suit, TNA had paid nearly half but still was $207,612.29 behind.

Becky Lynch and Kalisto both returned at last night's Smackdown brand house show in Sioux City, IA. Kalisto had been out with an injury and Lynch with a medical condition.

The latest promotion to announce a streaming service is DDT from Japan, a comedy group with mostly women fans that also put on some incredible main events.

On Monday, FloSports and WWNLive announced a deal that will make FloSports the exclusive source for streaming Evolve Wrestling and a myriad of other independent wrestling promotions.

The deal calls for FloSports to take over worldwide, exclusive live streaming rights from WWNLive in addition to hosting their on-demand event library back to 2003.

Similar to other streaming services, all events will be available for a $20/month subscription with a deeper discount for a one-year committal. FloSports is available on both AppleTV and Roku, making it easier for users to access the service.

In conjunction with the announcement, FloSports officially launched FloSlam, a pro wrestling focused website that will feature the streams, news, and documentaries.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but it is a five-year deal that will cover roughly 60 shows yearly. It begins on November 4th with SHINE 38.

In addition to groups like FIP, SHINE, WWN Supershow and Dragon Gate, the Evolve wrestling inclusion makes this partnership all the more interesting given WWE’s recent interest in bringing on more independent wrestling as part of a tiered Network package as well as their past working relationship with Evolve.

An added layer: WWE recently was part of a group that invested in FloSports. Unless a deal can be worked out, WWE will have to look elsewhere for new sources of non-WWE wrestling content.

PWG so far has been the only indie promotion to reject offers to join FloSports new streaming service. Being rumored ROH agreed to a deal to be on the service.

FloSports managing editor Jeremy Botter took part in a Twitter Q&A and noted that WWE are investors in the company and were aware of yesterday's news. Botter also said that FloSlam is looking to get the WWNLive library up quickly starting with the most recent shows. EVOLVE 71 is currently up for subscribers of the service.

WWE issued an announcement today spotlighting new signings who will be training at the WWE Performance Center and the NXT brand:

Alvin Abitz, an Army veteran with a rugby and kickboxing background from Wisconsin.

Theophilus Agbi, a collegiate wrestler named to the NCWA All-American team from Brooklyn, NY.

Sarah Bridges aka Crazy Mary Dobson

Demitrius Bronson, a former running back for the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins.

Tom Budgen aka Tommy End

Victoria Gonzalez, the daughter of Rudy Boy Gonzalez, who trained Bryan Danielson, Brian Kenrick and others.

Chris Lindsey aka Roderick Strong.

Damian Mackle aka Big Damo.

Taynara Melo de Carvalho, a Brazilian female competitor with a black belt in Judo.

Curtis Axel took to Twitter to comment on fan signs supporting him being taken from fans at Raw last night, which was held in his hometown of Minneapolis:

At home. Great night tonight in #WWEMinneapolis! I find it bizarre when I heard @WWE was confiscating Axel signs at ringside! #Skol
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) October 25, 2016



Why??? https://t.co/B5bItHWcvF
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) October 25, 2016

Why????? https://t.co/bFbrGNqziF
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) October 25, 2016

Someone took them??? Why @WWE ? https://t.co/Ag35UfHX3R
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) October 25, 2016

Jim Ross has posted his latest blog online. On rumors of AJ Styles facing Shawn Michaels at the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV, he wrote:

“The odds of Shawn Michaels wrestling at the Royal Rumble vs AJ Styles is a definite long shot as HBK has stressed to me on multiple occasions including the Ross Report podcast that he's done with in ring activities in the wrestling biz. However, Shawn is a 'company man' and if WWE really needed a main event that could move a large amount of tickets in San Antonio at the Alamo Dome, I think that HBK would consider the company's request. Without question, a Michaels vs Styles match in San Antonio at the Royal Rumble would be coveted by all involved if it were to occur. I'd realistically put the odds of this main event happening at less than 50-50 but I'd love to be wrong on this one.”

Diamond Dallas Page‘s daughter says she and bunch of other famous famous female offspring are starting their own wrestling league … and they claim to be eyeing TNA as the competition.

Brittany Page explained the new venture to TMZ … saying, “Were basically starting a women’s league and it’s gonna kinda go against Impact Wrestling, TNA, and so we’re really excited about it.”

Partnering with Page are Brooke Hogan, Lacey Von Erich, Roddy Piper‘s daughter Ariel Toombs, and JCVD’s daughter Bianca Van Damme.

Former TNA creative team member Christy Hemme is apparently involved as well and Brittany sorta-kinda says her dad may also show up.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE recently signed former NFL player Demetrius Bronson to a developmental deal.
WWE recently released a Top 10 video for Hell in a Cell moments as part of the hype for this weekend's ppv. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXQSZ151VKA
Pro Wrestling Sheet recently leaked a set of emails between Dixie/TNA and Billy Corgan pretty much proving Dixie is lying about the claims in Corgan's lawsuit. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/59e2xw/corgantna_emails_leak_out_ryan_satin_posts_them/
Also the recent unsealed Corgan lawsuit files revealed Corgan never actually held any real ownership stakes in TNA unliked previous reports implied or stated (around the 30% range). Likely a big reason why Corgan put in strict terms for newer deals with TNA to not get potentially ripped off again.
According to a recent episode of the Observer Radio show, WWE is currently undecided on having Sasha-Charlotte open or close the upcoming Hell in a Cell ppv. Implied WWE doesn't want the match to be near the middle of the card since Vince fears people might start to walk out or no longer care about the rest of the event due to that match having the most public interest.https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/59ahac/according_to_bryan_alvarez_charlotte_vs_sasha/

[Simple Fan]

Sasha and Charlotte have the most public interest? I have fast forward through their segments on Raw the last couple weeks so I'm not to interested.

[Juan]

I think they mean the majority of people, champ.

[Innovator]

Anyone would have been injured by that powerslam to the neck botch. THat wasn't his fault. It was wwe's for putting him in there with green nobodies.

Seriously who does he think he is Necro Butcher?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think they mean the majority of people, champ.

More and more I've been noticing the trend of people assuming that there interest equates to public interest.

[Simple Fan]

I never said my interest was equal to public interest. Read the damn post.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's just a trend I've been noticing.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Lass Killer, Alexa Bliss:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/21490ec1b20e0ee322f8b8d3223460b7/tumblr_ofmpscVqgG1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Against heavy competition from game one of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians (19.368 million viewers on FOX) and the opening night of the NBA season, SmackDown reverted to similar numbers that it was doing when airing taped on Thursday nights.

The show averaged just 2.127 million viewers, down 11 percent from last week, beating the previous low of 2.292 million set on September 20th, which was the opening week of the new fall TV season ...

This was the lowest rating for SmackDown since the July 14th episode of the show, which did 2.068 million viewers. That was the last time the show did not air live and was the final episode before the draft special.

The latest WWN alerts provided context on the company following their deal with FloSports:

“WWNLive.com will remain active. If you purchased past VODs on WWNLive.com, they will still be available for you to watch. In addition, WWNLive.com will continue to stream 3rd party content.

Headbanger Mosh tweeted that The Headbangers are returning to SmackDown next week for a Survivor Series qualifying match.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/ChazMosh/status/791693687835258880

WWE announced today that tickets to WrestleMania 33 will go on sale Friday, November 18 at 10 AM ET. WrestleMania 33 will take place on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at the Orlando Citrus Bowl and will be broadcast live around the world on WWE Network. Ticket prices range from $38-$1,065 (taxes included). There will also be a limited number of “Gold Circle” VIP Packages available for $2,130 (taxes included). The Gold Circle packages include seating in the first 10 rows ringside, access to a Gold Circle VIP Stadium Entrance and a commemorative WrestleMania 33 take-home folding chair.

WWE is holding their Q3 review conference call Thursday morning, but released some of their financial documents already, showing a slight drop in average Network subscribers for the July-September timeframe.

The Network closed the quarter at 1.444 million subscribers and averaged 1.458 million paid subscribers worldwide. Both are down from Q2's 1.511 million close and 1.517 million, respectively. Q2 included Wrestlemania.

The free Wrestlemania promotion saw 370,000 free users at the time of WWE's big event with 1.454 million paid ...

- Q3 revenue was $164.2 million, "on par" with 2015 Q3 revenue.

- Revenue to date is up 8% to $534.3 million.

- Their video content had 11.5 billion views on social media and digital platforms, way up from last year.

- Raw ratings were down 14% from the year prior while SmackDown was up 13%. In the same timeframe, USA Network was down 11% while the top 25 cable networks were down 6%.

- Social media followers and engagement totals continue to increase.

- Live event attendance was slightly down from Q2 in North America, but slightly up internationally. However, revenue was up.

Possible the 1.5 million range might be the peak of what the WWE can get with the Network if sub numbers have already started to decline. 1.4 million to 1.5 million would still keep them in the break even range but well below the 2+ million they were expecting by now.

The WWE stock was down well over a dollar at the open today due to their third quarter filing. It was mostly due to missing Wall Street’s estimates. As the day went on, the market digested the numbers, which on the whole were good, and the stock actually ended up closing up 4 cents, at $19.17.

Terrance Jean-Jacques, 24, who signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in April, was released to the custody of his parents following a dangerousness hearing in Haverhill District Court Tuesday. Jean-Jacques will be wearing a house arrest ankle bracelet until December 6th.

The estate of Chyna will no longer be run by her former manager … the mother of the recently deceased wrestler says she’s just been appointed by the court to take control.

Janet Laque sent us a statement saying, “My petition to the LA superior court to become Joanie’s estate administrator with “special letters” has been approved and gone through. YEAH!!!!!! This is a very big deal for me.”

As we previously reported, Chyna’s mother recently requested that detectives take a closer look into the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death — in particular, claims made by her former manager in the wake of her passing.

Both Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo have gotten offers to start in WWE in 2017 in the last week or two. Both told Stardom management about it this week. Shirai said she was going, and said that she was called by Shoichi Funaki. Hojo was contacted by Shinsuke Nakamura and Simon Inoki. Hojo at first didn’t make a final decision and there is some question if she can pass the physical because she’s had two major concussions in the last two years. In July, when WWE ran at Sumo Hall, Hojo was introduced to Nakamura through Simon Inoki, who knew her because they had worked together when Hojo did an IGF tour. Nakamura pushed to Hojo that she’d do great in WWE. Hojo most recently told the Stardom office that she’s interested in going to WWE. Stardom officials believe Shirai is gone for sure, but they are working to keep Hojo and Hojo then said she’s not sure what she’s going to do.

There is a belief that Hojo doesn’t want to go to WWE so much as prove she’s better than Shirai. Among the fans, Hojo has always been No. 2 to Shirai because Shirai is considered the better wrestler of the two, even their hardcore Stardom fans like Hojo more. It’s been pushed to Hojo that if she stays, she’ll be the No. 1 female wrestler in Japan, but if she goes to WWE, that will never happen, and that because Shirai is the “bigger star” and better looking in WWE’s eyes along with being a better wrestler, that she would never surpass her going there.
Would be a huge blow to Stardom if they lose both of their top stars.

Right now there are no plans for bringing Nakamura to the main roster. At least for now, he’s pegged to be the flagship star of the NXT brand.
Pretty much became the new Finn Balor in terms of being NXT's marketable mega star once Balor got called up.

WWE Survivor Series takes place at Toronto's Air Canada Centre on November 20th. Traditionally one of the biggest shows of the year, Survivor Series will be WWE's first inter-brand PPV since August's SummerSlam, but SmackDown may be heading towards it without one of their biggest stars.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer is reporting that Randy Orton will be taking some time off in November, including the PPV. Meltzer reports that Orton's wife is expected to give birth to a baby girl on Nov 22nd, and that The Viper has been granted the week off beforehand. He is not scheduled to return until Nov 29th's SmackDown Live.

This year's Survivor Series features three traditional Raw vs. SmackDown elimination matches. Not only will SmackDown be shorthanded on that front, but it looks like Orton's ongoing storyline with Bray Wyatt will also need to wait. As it stands, Orton will miss two full weeks of television.

In addition, the Los Angeles Times have reported that Orton is on the move after selling the St. Charles, MO home he built in 2013. The 2,600 square foot house went for $775,000, and it is believed that he'll be moving to a bigger home to accommodate the new addition to the family.

Currently, WWE has the 2017 Hall of Fame Ceremonies scheduled for Friday 3/31/17 and the WWE NXT Takeover event set for Saturday 4/1/17, so those events are swapping days for Wrestlemania 33 weekend in Orlando, Florida.

As noted earlier the planned 11/2-11/4 TV Tapings have been postponed. I noted earlier that these were in Orlando, but that was a typo. They were for the "Total Final Deletion" episode of Impact Wrestling. While Billy Corgan's lawsuit filing stated that the tapings were pushed back due to finances, we have heard from other sources the tapings were pushed back to allow for some logistical planning. Some of the material will be taped in Cameron, NC next week.

CrossingBroad is reporting that Philadelphia has submitted a bid for Wrestlemania 34 in 2018.

Citing an anonymous WWE tipster, Crossing Broad says Philadelphia has submitted a plan to host the event at Lincoln Financial Field, with NXT and RAW events held at the Wells Fargo Center, and a FanFest held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Baring any surprise announcements like with the Rumble, Mania 34 likely between Minnesota and Philly for the host. Link to the article: http://www.phillymag.com/business/2015/08/31/wrestlemania-philly-2018/


Some other sheet news includes:

Mandy Rose is currently facing some online backlash due to a recent post she made on Snapchat insulting black women's hair. http://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2016/10/26/reality-star-mandy-rose.html?sf39973188=1
Sports Illustrated had a recent article written by Cody Rhodes about the relationship he used to have with his father prior to his passing. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/10/26/cody-dusty-rhodes-father-son-relationship
According to F4W, Becky Lynch is currently rumored to be getting a lot less promo in the future due to WWE's head of production, Kevin Dunn, hating her accent and can't stand hearing her voice. Wouldn't be the first time Dunn despised something in women's wrestling in the WWE based on past stories by former employees.
According to a recent episode of the Observer Radio show, WWE is pretty much split between Vince and everyone else in regards to Sasha-Charlotte being the real main event for Hell in a Cell ppv. Vince doesn't want the match to go last and currently has final say for the card's order.
According to the Observer, Vince McMahon would consider selling the WWE to a new owner but only if the price was right. Was part of a recent Q&A session held with investors in regards to UFC's recent sale for around $4 billion. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/59onmj/vince_mcmahon_in_regards_to_selling_wwe_were_open/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, had Eric Bischoff managed to purchase WCW in 2001, Joey Styles would have been Nitro's new lead announcer due to talks both had around the time. Styles revealed this during a recent episode of Bischoff's podcast show.
Papa Shango's Curse recently claimed another victim in the WWE after Austin Aires got injured in the face against Nakamura during a NXT house show match. http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com/photos-videos-top-wwe-nxt-star-injured-last-night/

[Droford]

I'm going to WM 34 if it's in Philly.

[Mercenary]

Like to know which four cities were in the bid

[DaveWadding]

Crazy Mary in NXT = <3 <3 <3

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fuck Kevin Dunn.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Joey Styles as WCW lead announcer would have added street cred. :y:

[Cool King]

Headbanger Mosh tweeted that The Headbangers are returning to SmackDown next week for a Survivor Series qualifying match.Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/ChazMosh/status/791693687835258880

http://25.media.tumblr.com/21fc9a75bc98ac5aed554bda05d7dd96/tumblr_mqa74zuxte1qhi74ko1_500.gif

[Cool King]

According to F4W, Becky Lynch is currently rumored to be getting a lot less promo in the future due to WWE's head of production, Kevin Dunn, hating her accent and can't stand hearing her voice. Wouldn't be the first time Dunn despised something in women's wrestling in the WWE based on past stories by former employees.

In one of those rare occasions, I can actually see where Dunn is coming from.

Lynch's voice is just awful but I know it's not her fault and she can't really do much about that. It's just the voice she was given.

I have mentioned my dislike of her voice before and how she should be kept away from a mic, but also how maybe she should have a manager to do her talking for her. Maybe that would help in some way, I dunno.

[Maluco]

In one of those rare occasions, I can actually see where Dunn is coming from.

Lynch's voice is just awful but I know it's not her fault and she can't really do much about that. It's just the voice she was given.

I have mentioned my dislike of her voice before and how she should be kept away from a mic, but also how maybe she should have a manager to do her talking for her. Maybe that would help in some way, I dunno.

Honestly, I would go the other way. Everyone is so samesy, bland and boring and things like this just make it even harder for people to stand out.

WWE relentlessly pushing out hours and hours and hours of content with the same matches and samsy, tired characters with no edge whatsoever is the reason I don't watch anymore.

Let people be individuals and bring back some exciting characters and stories. Cutting down on differences even further should be the last thing they do.

[Lock Jaw]

I would give her MORE mic time and not "generic face promos"....... Couple times on WWE.com and on Talking Smack I have thought she has been "very good" on the mic..... but for some reason she never gets to actually show it on the main show, though.

[KIRA]

On KENTA:For me there are two things that really hurt him the first was Finn Balor the second was getting hurt by aforementioned green asshole.

Everything about Just Finns presentation (from kENTA introducing him as his mystery Partner to Finn showing up to Takeover as The Demon) blew KENTA outta the water and its sad.I still want him to face Joe and Nakamura but right now they just seem to be trying to build him back up.

About Kevin Dunn, fuck that Beaver Faced dick-hole

The fans don't seem to mind Lynch's voice and her accent while a little hard to understand at times is a welcome change she stands out more and as champ she should.

[Blonde Moment]

I would give her MORE mic time and not "generic face promos"....... Couple times on WWE.com and on Talking Smack I have thought she has been "very good" on the mic..... but for some reason she never gets to actually show it on the main show, though.

My guess it's the accent but imo opinion that gives someone a bit more personality. it sets them apart.
Imo a gimmick works alot better if the wrestler is able to put a little of themselves into it

[Mr. Nerfect]

I do get that the accent is thick, but it can add charm. "Becky Balboa, baby!" I've mapped out how the next two years could realistically go for the WWE, and Asuka vs. Becky Lynch is my SmackDown Women's Title match at WrestleMania 34 in Philly, where Becky wins and becomes a three-time Women's Champion. :y:

She works a lot better when she's not scripted. She's got that plucky girl next door personality people love. Just let her talk and find her own voice to connect with the audience.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Dropkick Appreciation Friday:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/d2c9cc3c56695e97abe3b74f941360aa/tumblr_ofmy9lQMM61sbzhteo1_500.gif

If Corgan does not get his injunction, it appears what will happen, based on Corgan's discovery, is this: Anthem pays off Corgan and he exits the picture. Anthem takes 85% of the control of the company, as Corgan's attorneys learned through their discovery. Aroluxe takes a secondary ownership stake of 10%, setting up their own CEO Jason Brown as the CEO of Impact Ventures for at least three years. Dixie Carter retains a small ownership stake at 5%. Anthem would then fund the company going forward and for the short-term, the company would tape TV 3-4 times a year and that would be it.

What will be interesting to follow is this: if Corgan ends up out, that's the exit of someone who was extremely well liked within the locker room while Carter would remain in some capacity. Corgan had a lot of communication with the talents in comparison to the other parties involved in current ownership, including Dixie Carter, and was seen as a babyface in the scenario by a lot of (but not all) of the wrestlers. If Carter retains her power, going forward, she then has to deal with the fact that she told the locker room she would not let WWE buy the company, when court documents revealed that not only was she willing to let that happen, but there were talks of a sale all the way back to June of this year. Just a few days before her locker room talk, WWE submitted a non-binding offer to purchase the company's library and assets - which means that unless WWE was going to take all the talents (we are told by a WWE source that they believe that was not the case), everyone involved would have been out of a job. Carter told talents on 10/3 she wasn't letting a sale happen. On 9/25, Dean Broadhead was sending WWE documentation that was requested to help WWE follow through with due dilligence. That is quite the bridge Carter is going to have to mend with the locker room.
Recent update to the Corgan-TNA lawsuit and the potential aftermath if Corgan loses the lawsuit. Link with more details: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/59vhc4/update_on_tna_per_pwi_article_inside_post_since/

Lesley Floyd, a lawyer in the state of Tennessee, cited to Fightful.com Tennessee Code Ann. 45-151-1005, which she says could very well destroy Corgan's case. According to this, you're not able to make a title pledge loan in the state of Tennessee without being registered. Corgan isn't registered, and it very well could ruin the case for him.

Floyd notes that unless Corgan got licensed under an entity name, it's quite possible that he could walk away with nothing. That statute that Floyd cites could mean that he also may have forfeited the rights to repayment from Dixie Carter and TNA as well.

Chancellor Hobbs Lyle will rule on the matter Monday, but TNA has a bevy of lawsuits to handle outside of Corgan's.
Some recent details regarding Corgan's lawsuit against TNA. Link with more info: http://fightful.com/exclusive-tennessee-law-states-corgan-may-walk-away-nothing-including-repayment

The 2016 Survivor Series PPV on 11/20 in Toronto is being expanded into a four hour PPV broadcast. The PPV itself will begin at 7 PM and run until 11 PM. There will be a Kickoff broadcast starting at 6 PM.

WWE expanded Summerslam into a four hour PPV starting with the 2015 edition.

Yesterday, Ticketmaster began informing ticketholders that the start time for the live event is now 6:30 PM.

The 10/27 "Treat of Delete" edition of Impact Wrestling did 363,000 viewers, up a bit from last week's 353,000 viewers.

The official word from WWE is that Austin Aries has not been medically cheered to perform as a precautionary measure regarding the rest of this weekend's NXT shows. Aries, whose left eye was stitched up and swollen badly, looking like someone who has an orbital bone fracture, although there is no diagnosis of the injury, took to a kick to the eye on Wednesday night from Shinsuke Nakamura in Fresno, the opening night of the NXT tour.

WWE stock fell $1.10 to $18.07 per share today, a major drop coming off the investment call yesterday. Usually the drop comes the day of the call, and there was a big drop at first, but the stock came back as the network subscription number being disappointing and earnings being blow most analysts projections was warded off by the meme that they would have $100 million in OIBDA in 2017. But today, Wells Fargo, KeyBanc Deutsche Bank and Pacific Crest all downgraded the stock, leading to the drop.

The company's 10-Q filing released yesterday included several notes, including that the WWE's financial stake in Flo Sports is $1 million, so they are a very small percentage owner and as part of the deal are silent partners meaning they have no input. There are a lot of people who have speculated that the Flo Sports channel is a WWE experiment to see if there is value in adding indies to the WWE Network, but the two are very much competition that the WWE initially was not happy about.

A new 10-Q filing from WWE shows that a "wrestling contract extension" between WWE and Stephanie McMahon was recently signed.

The contract extension will see Stephanie stay with the company at least through October 7th, 2019. The deal will then be extended yearly until either party gives a 90-day notice prior to the termination date.

Former ECW World champion Sabu, 51, underwent a successful hip replacement surgery on Tuesday 10/25 in Marietta, GA. He had been raising money for the surgery via a GoFundMe campaign for some time.

WWE announced the following this afternoon:

Get your tickets for #SDLive from @CdnTireCtr in Ottawa on Nov. 22 to also see a special taping of @WWENXT! Tix: https://t.co/POzy6weE3q pic.twitter.com/Mx74aBOALF
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) October 28, 2016

The episode will follow the 11/19 Takeover: Toronto special and will mark the first time NXT, in its current incarnation, has been taped at a WWE TV taping, as opposed to its own tapings.

Jack Evans has been fired by AAA, essentially, if you read his interview that he did, for being honest. If you read everything in context, there was nothing he should have been fired for, but he said that the company was far better off when Konnan had power and was still there. His knock of La Parka wasn’t bad in context. He said there’s so much to learn from him because he gets over everywhere even though he’s a terrible wrestler. I mean, that’s pretty much the truth. AAA is already losing a ton of talent.
Might have been fired from just AAA but gets to stay or finish whatever commitments he has with Lucha Underground. Fenix is another who left AAA but got to stay on LU although rumored he might have to leave LU as well due to some demands AAA recently made.

Scott Norton, 55, on Twitter has been teasing returning to NJPW. I could definitely see Norton in the Battle Royal at the Tokyo Dome. Norton worked on-and-off here from 1990 to 2006 and was a two-time IWGP heavyweight champion and was either one of the top foreigners or the top foreigner during his entire run.

TNA are going to start filming the one or two Hardy shows for 12/15 and 12/22 this coming week. It’ll be filmed at different times on different dates on a very small budget with the filming scheduled to be completed on 11/17. However, there is a snag. Dates for the tapings had been moved because TNA claimed they couldn’t book travel due to the restraining order by Billy Corgan. The restraining order regarded selling assets, not locking them up from booking travel for a taping, so this sounds like one of those TNA excuses. One person close to the situation regarding the Hardy tapings noted to us that they have no idea what is and isn’t real because both sides are trying to sell everyone on their particular spin, and it’s maddening.

MMA Junkie reported that Lesnar could be in significant trouble with the Nevada Athletic Commission over his two positive tests for Clomiphene. Howard Jacobs, the noted attorney that everyone with money hires to defend them before the Nevada Commission, and no matter how good or bad his case is, they then suspend the guys longer because they hired Jacobs, wrote to the commission that they tested all of Lesnar’s supplements and couldn’t find any of them tainted with Clomiphene, which is not a good sign. He then wrote that they still needed to test his eye medication and foot cream.

The problem is, when Lesnar filled out his medical form on if he was taking any medication prior to his fight with Mark Hunt, actual question being “any medication, drug, cream, inhalant, intravenous infusions, or injection, whether prescription, over-the-counter, from anyone or anyplace, in the last month,” Lesnar responded, “No.” Right there alone could be viewed as lying on his commission medical form, which is a suspendable violation if he was taking something, since the medical forms are considered legal documents, which would add a new count against him. Lesnar did claim to be using multivitamins, creatine and protein powder when asked what nutritional supplements he had been using.

Lesnar remains on the temporary suspended list meaning in the states that do license pro wrestlers, Lesnar would not be allowed to perform, and he’s facing potential suspensions from both USADA (which wouldn’t apply to pro wrestling in his case because contractually he’s exempt from the company’s Wellness policy, although as the Billy Gunn precedent showed, if it was someone else, they could suspend or fire him for the positive test) and separate discipline from Nevada (which would be a suspension from pro wrestling in every state that still licenses pro wrestlers, which isn’t many and Lesnar doesn’t wrestle many matches so it’s may not come into play at all).

Ryback and WWE are battling over the trademark of “Feed Me More.” Ryback tried to trademark the phrase for pro wrestling on 8/1, but WWE also attempted to trademark it in January. Ryback won’t be able to get the trademark unless WWE abandons it or gives up on trademarking it. However, Ryback had attempted to trademark it himself for a clothing line in July 2015.


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN had a recent interview with Sasha Banks, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch: http://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/feature/article/17902184/in-their-own-words-leaders-wwe-women-revolution
Baring any late changes, F4W is reporting Sasha-Charlotte will not be the real main event of Hell in a Cell ppv due to Vince refusing to drop his stance on not wanting it to go last.
Update to recent Kevin Dunn hating Becky Lynch's accent rumors as Becky recently tweeted a response to the rumors regarding her accent. https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/792152352019116033
According to the Observer, WWE flubbed some of their numbers from the recent fiscal report and investors meeting. WWE claimed they made $100 million in profits for the quarter when in reality they made $11 million in profits plus another $9 million for dividends. In terms of actual cash reserves, they lost around 34.8 million compared to last year ($102.4 million to 67.6 million).

[Cool King]

Ryback and WWE are battling over the trademark of “Feed Me More.” Ryback tried to trademark the phrase for pro wrestling on 8/1, but WWE also attempted to trademark it in January. Ryback won’t be able to get the trademark unless WWE abandons it or gives up on trademarking it. However, Ryback had attempted to trademark it himself for a clothing line in July 2015.

If he loses, he could always trademark "Feed Me Moar" instead.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or change his name to it.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Queen of the Women's division:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/a8e80152b6d02b38c1b1ce9d672916eb/tumblr_ofxpso6K161s05wxzo2_400.gif

The Monday, 10/31 edition of WWE Raw did 2.59 million viewers, the second lowest number in the last 19 years.

The Halloween edition of the show finished just ahead of a 9/26 show that drew 2.46 million viewers and went head-to-head with a U.S. presidential debate ...

8 p.m. 2.75 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.62 milion viewers
10 p.m. 2.44 million viewers


TNA was dealt a fairly significant blow on Tuesday morning as the company's television partner in the United Kingdom, Challenge TV, announced that they would no longer be carrying Impact Wrestling starting in the beginning of next year.

Challenge's statement: "We know that many TNA fans will be disappointed to hear this, but we wanted to let you all know that as of January 2017, Challenge will no longer be the home of TNA in the UK. TNA has been a huge and important part of Challenge’s story over the years and we will treasure some great moments like the British Bootcamp and UK tours. We have been proud to bring UK viewers coverage of TNA and have huge respect for the company and its fans. TNA is packed with great talent and we know they will continue to do great things -- we wish them all the best."

Largely due to their TV deals, the UK has been one of the best markets globally for TNA. The promotion has regularly run tours of the UK in front of some of their best crowds of the year, but they haven't yet announced a tour for 2017.

TNA responded to the news on Tuesday with a statement of their own on the company's Facebook page. In the statement, TNA mentioned spoilers as a reason that they would no longer be airing on Challenge and said that they are looking forward to announcing a new opportunity soon that will allow them to air Impact closer to when the show is broadcast in the United States.

The drama that has unfolded over the last month regarding TNA's future continued in a Nashville, TN, courtroom Monday as Billy Corgan's request for control over the troubled wrestling company was rejected.

In her ruling, Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle said that the temporary injunction Corgan was seeking didn't meet the burden of proof required to attain it. He is due to be paid back on several loans he had made the company that included the option to take over Carter's voting rights if TNA became insolvent. That was the basis of Corgan's case due to the amount of money TNA owes in contrast to the amount of revenue the company has.

Corgan is due to be paid back on Tuesday, November 1st. The musician had sued the company, Dixie Carter, and more in an effort to get voting rights and control.
According to the Observer, Aroluxe's CEO is currently in charge of TNA in the wake of Corgan's lawsuit.

The main thing in the TNA ruling is that Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ruled against Billy Corgan in his attempt to get a restraining order that would prohibit TNA from selling off any of its assets. This opens the door to selling to Anthem Sports aka The Fight Network. Jason Brown of Aroluxe will be in charge of the company. Dixie Carter will still have a position in the company, but whether she was any power, and she won't have final power, is uncertain. Corgan appears to be looking at continuing his legal challenge for ownership, and there are unanswered questions but Hobbs Lyle's ruling didn't appear favorable to me to him regarding his key points of contention. As far as what will and won't change, it's too soon to tell.

The key to this is TNA will continue with Anthem Sports funding the company. Everyone should start getting paid. As far as what happens with the budget given little revenue is coming in, that's another thing to soon to tell. Another question is who stays and who goes. For now, Corgan, even though listed as President, won't be part of it unless he comes to an agreement with the new owners, but doing so would kill his lawsuit that he said he is continuing.
Some more details about the potential aftermath from Corgan's lawsuit.

Pro Wrestling NOAH has reportedly been sold to Japanese IT company Estbee.

PWInsider.com has confirmed that WWE NXT star Austin Aries has suffered a large orbital fracture from the evil looking kick he received from Shinsuke Nakamura at the NXT house show last week in California.

Aries is slated to undergo surgery later this week in Birmingham, Alabama and will be out of action at least until first quarter of 2017.

WWE superstars like Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Xavier Woods, Sasha Banks, and more are coming to Boom Studios in comic book form. The series will follow multiple wrestlers going about their daily business, like breaking tables, fighting in the ring, and grilling out on top of a WWE truck.

On November 9, the publisher will debut its first comic utilizing the WWE license: WWE: Then. Now. Forever, and you can see a preview of this issue below. This is an introduction to what Boom Studios has in store for fans, when the ongoing WWE series launches in January.
Link to the article with some images and more details: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/wwes-biggest-stars-get-their-own-comic-book-series/1100-6445015/

I haven't been in the ring yet. That's the one thing after those 12 years that is probably the most important to reacquaint yourself with, but I'm going in for one match. I'm not going to get into the ring for 20 days straight to reacclimate myself to hitting the ropes because, hopefully, the only thing that will be hitting is my fist hitting Brock's face and him hitting the mat, so the reality is I'm going to be taken to Suplex City. I'm going to take some suplexes in this thing. Yeah, but it is what it is. It ain't like I didn't play in the NFL, dude. I may be old, but I know what I'm getting myself into.
Part of an interview Goldberg had on a recent Booker T podcast episode.

Eric Bischoff's podcast has been added to the MLW Radio network starting on 11/3.

"You're talking to me and I'm not even answering you because I'm constantly thinking towards ways in which words play," Amore said. "Just things that are funny to make people interact and to keep the audience participating. My mind is always going in that direction." The result is a notebook that he estimates is well over 1,000 pages of written promo material. Everywhere Amore goes, the book comes with him.

"I have it backed up on the internet up in a cloud somewhere [too]," he said. "There is no question about that."

Amore believes the process of writing it down helps to imprint the material into his brain. When a fellow superstar says something to him on live TV and it sparks something he wrote down two years ago and forgot about, he is able to deliver an instant comeback. "That's the way my mind works," he said. "All of a sudden it's flying out."

From a recent interview ESPN had with Enzo Amore. Link to the interview itself: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17935307/enzo-amore-excelling-wwe-dedication-fashion-uncanny-ability-mic

WWE have already abandoned trademarking Drew Gulak and Tony Nese. [Note from Mike: I wonder if this was a case of the left hand and the right hand not knowing what the other was doing as neither of them are, as of this writing, signed to WWE deals.]

Al Snow announced on his Facebook page that The Al Snow Wrestling Academy will be the "Global Development Center" for TNA Impact Wrestling.

It appears that the ACH situation we wrote about a few weeks back did not go without ripple effects after all as PWInsider.com has confirmed from multiple sources that he is finishing up with the company.

ACH is currently signed to an exclusive deal but will not be signing another deal with the promotion. There is always a possibility he will to be used down the line on a per-date basis, but we have heard that after the end of the year, the two sides will part company.

It's been obvious for some time there is a rift. Several weeks ago, ACH worked a pair of events, AAW's Jim Lynam Memorial events in Illinois and at one of the events, used the mic to make veiled comments that many believed were about ROH. That upset a number of people in the ROH locker room that felt ACH was being disrespectful, especially since he wouldn't have been able to work the shows without getting permission from someone in ROH management.
PWI thinks WWE could be a likely destination depending on how interested the company is in signing him once his release is official.

EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher vs. Fred Yehi in a non-title encounter has been announced for the 11/12 EVOLVE event in Queens, NY. Thatcher vs. Tony Nese is set for the 11/13 EVOLVE event in Joppa, MD, teasing the idea that should Nese win the belt he could take it and appear on Monday Night Raw with it.


Some other sheet news includes:

Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Joey Styles: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/11/01/joey-styles-wwe-ecw-broadcasting-interview
According to the Observer, Sasha was originally planned to beat Charlotte the day of their Hell in a Cell match but Vince forced last minute changes to be made to both the result and parts of the match itself. Being speculated around the next this might have been Vince's way of getting some payback on being forced to make the Women's match as the real main event for Hell in a Cell.
According to reports ITV messed up on selling tickets for their World of Sport pilot show taping with over 1000 more tickets sold than seats possible at the arena used.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It'll be interesting to see how, if at all, having a new parent company will effect NOAH's relationship with New Japan.

[Simple Fan]

So TNA wants to find a new TV partner in the UK because of spoilers but continue to tape 3 months of TV at a time? I'm sure their India deal will be next.

[XL]

That's the TNA spin on the story. They're getting dumped because Challenge get higher ratings from 30-year old episodes of Bullseye.

[Cool King]

Obviously, because you can't beat a bit of Bully!

[Cool King]

If TNA does appear on British television again, it'll probably be on some random rubbish channel that nobody watches like W, Sony Channel, TruTV or DMAX.

[Cool King]

The best thing that can happen for TNA in the UK is Dave picking it up.

They occasionally show boxing so why not wrestling?

But I really doubt Dave would go after TNA.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Shock of Jericho:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/84017729a640e7037d63a8c46b7d1b7b/tumblr_ofy1g75BUW1uta6xoo4_500.gif

The 11/1 edition of SmackDown Live garnered 2,187,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,127,000 viewers.
Next week is going to be brutal since its a taped show and Election Night.

World Wrestling Entertainment announced this afternoon that they will debut a new weekly Cruiserweight series titled "205 Live" on Tuesdays at 10 PM Eastern on the WWE Network. The title of the series is a play off the weight limit for the CWC.

The series will debut on Tuesday 11/29. PWInsider.com has confirmed that the plan is for the series to broadcast live on the Network after Smackdown Live goes off the air on the USA Network. "Talking Smack" would follow the Cruiserweight series at 11 PM Eastern.

Unlike the CWC, which was taped at Full Sail Live, "205 Live" will be broadcast live from that week's Smackdown taping, which means that the Cruisers will be working both Raw and Smackdown tapings going forward, making them the only talents to do that on a weekly basis, post-brand split.

It is possible they could tape the Cruiser series before they broadcast Smackdown, but everything we have heard thus far is that the plan is to have a live Cruiser broadcast every week on the WWE Network, 52 weeks a year. The idea here is to create new, original content to make the Network an even more enticing overall package for subscribers. The weekly Cruiser series was among the potential additions to the Network that had its interest tested in recent fan surveys.

More announcements for the Raw vs. SmackDown traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches were made on SmackDown last night. The SmackDown men’s team will consist of AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, and Baron Corbin. The women’s team will be Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Naomi and the team will be coached by Natalya. American Alpha and The Usos also won qualifying matches and will be part of the SmackDown tag division’s team.

Also on last night’s SmackDown, Dolph Ziggler issued an open challenge to any member of the Raw roster to challenge him for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series.

Brock Lesnar will face Rusev at WWE’s live event in Mexico City on December 3rd.

In the press release about the WWE Network’s new cruiserweight series, Akira Tozawa is billed only as Tozawa and Brian Kendrick is referred to as The Brian Kendrick.

The Mohegan Sun arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA announced on their social media accounts on Wednesday that Undertaker would be returning on November 15th for the 900th episode of SmackDown. No indication was given as to what Undertaker would be doing during the appearance.

Mystery has seemed to surround Undertaker since he last appeared on WWE television at WrestleMania 32 in a victory over Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match. Dave Meltzer has reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Undertaker told everyone after that match that it was his last, but nothing has been officially announced by Undertaker or WWE.

Stardom president Rossy Ogawa has confirmed Dave Meltzer’s report that Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo have gotten offers from WWE.

It was officially announced today that WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has settled his legal issues with Gawker.com as part of a confidential settlement. Hogan had acquired a $140 million legal judgment against the website, its owner Nick Denton and the editor responsible for reviewing and posting snippets of a Hogan sex tape that Hogan was not even aware existed, Albert "AJ" Daulerio earlier this year. Hogan had been pursuing payment of the judgment since.

Deadline.com is reporting the settlement was for $31 million.
Also gets around $10 million from Gawker's owner and a portion of the amount from Gawker's recent sale as part of the terms. Link with more details about the breakdown in the settlement: http://www.wsj.com/articles/gawker-media-settles-with-hulk-hogan-in-privacy-suit-1478107236?mod=e2tw

While the lawsuit Billy Corgan has filed against TNA, etc. is still moving forward, it is interesting to note that based on the documentation revealed over the course of that case that TNA was required to pay Corgan back the $1.8 million he had lent them on 11/1. PWInsider.com has not been able to confirm whether that actually has happened or not, but one would think TNA would be opening themselves up to even more legal procedures if they have not.

As if TNA hasn't had enough headaches in recent weeks, their server has crashed, leading to all of the company email being down.
Corgan was owed his $1.8 million back yesterday although Fight Network's parent company teased they and not TNA were going to be the ones paying him back.

MMAFighting.com has an interview with Kid Kash where he mentions that he has no respect for CM Punk because he had everything given to him in wrestling, and would like to knock him out in an MMA fight if given a chance.

Kash will be fighting for Valor Fights this Saturday in Nasville, TN.

Just when you thought there might be some stability to TNA-related stories for the time being, we’ve discovered yet another lawsuit filed against the company over an unpaid debt. While this one, which dates back to June, was filed in the same court as Billy Corgan’s lawsuit, quirks in the court’s online search system made it difficult to find. In this case, TNA has been sued by the company that handles the design, import, and export of their merchandise for ShopTNA.
TNA is being sued for around $44k.


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN had a recent interview with Edge about his life after retiring from wrestling: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/17951856/edge-focused-fatherhood-acting-post-wwe-career
NJPW announced they will be holding a show in New Zealand on November 12 and the card to include ROH's Dalton Castle wrestling against Tanahashi. https://twitter.com/sakuraevents1/status/793756152911663104
Davey Richards announced on Twitter he will be retiring from wrestling after next year. https://twitter.com/RichardsWesley/status/793527261307793408
During a recent Ric Flair podcast show, Flair hinted rumors of Vince changing plans at the last minute for the Sasha-Charlotte Cell match are true. Claimed at least two big spots were meant to occur in the match but didn't in the end. http://www.cagesideseats.com/2016/11/2/13504688/ric-flair-wwe-changed-charlotte-hell-in-a-cell-match-avoid-sasha-banks-injury

[Mr. Nerfect]

Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo are both your cutesy style Japanese girls. I don't know how they work, but I'm curious to see how they do in WWE.

[Fignuts]

They work far better than any opposition Asuka currently has.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u0-schfYQ4w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Outta Nowhere Inc.:
http://i.imgur.com/zX9iB4z.jpg

Shortly after an email was sent to talent and the staff, Anthem Sports & Entertainment and Impact Wrestling sent out a joint press release Thursday confirming what had previoulsy been stated about Anthem funding the company and taking over.

From the release:

"Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. and Impact Ventures, parent company of TNA Impact Wrestling, today announced that Anthem has provided a credit facility to TNA to fund operations.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. is a global sports media company that operates Fight Network, Impact Wrestling's exclusive broadcaster in Canada, as well as exclusive worldwide digits streaming partner for all TNA programming. It is also an equity stakeholder of Impact Ventures.

The agreement includes the appointment of Anthem Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm to the Impact Ventures Board of Managers. The company will be managed by the Board with Mr. Nordholm representing the Board on all major operation and restructuring decisions. Dixie Carter will continue as Chair of the company, a well as her position on the Board of Mangers. Billy Corgan is no longer with the company" ...

Talent was told that Carter would remain on the board but would no longer be part of day-to-day operations.

What is also notable is that Corgan was supposed to be paid back his money owed with interest on Tuesday. As of today, he claimed he had not been paid yet.

"FACT: TNA was supposed to pay me two days ago, which they swore in front of a judge," wrote Corgan on Twitter. "Yesterday they asked for a day to get $ together upon which, (yesterday or today), they'd reach out directly to settle all claims. So they lied again and have used the time as a weapon."

Corgan is planning on continuing his legal battle for control of the company.

"FACT: I have still not been paid, and I'm exploring all remedies including new filings with court and converting to 36 percent equity."

Carter also stated that Aroluxe Media, described in the letter as "also an equity stakeholder" will continue on as the production team overseeing TNA's shows in 2017. Carter's letter stated the next set of tapings would be in early January, confirming PWInsider's report several weeks back that they would be taping 1/5/17-1/10/17.

TNA knew that their deal with Challenge was in jeopardy months ago so they began shopping around Impact Wrestling to various networks in the U.K. with little interest from anyone. One group they met with was Premier Sports, a pay sports channel in the U.K. formerly known as Setanta Sports. The station ended up being completely discouraged by what they learnt of TNA's past dealings with networks in the U.S. when they did their research on how TNA's deals with both Spike and Destination America saw them canceled due to a mixture of poor ratings and mishandled business relationships, along with declining viewership on Challenge in the U.K. Despite this TNA told Premier Sports that they would be off Challenge and available in the U.K. in January

The plan for right now is to do a Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns champion vs. champion program in December. Keep in mind that will change every week between now and then.

BILD, the leading newspaper in Germany, claims that Tim Wiese's contract with WWE is for $332,000 per year. Wiese made his debut on today's show in Munich. I'm skeptical of that figure but it has not been denied to me either.

Despite all the talk that the series would delve into Bryan Danielson's depression issues following his retirement from the ring, the 11/2 episode Total Bellas episode on E! only garnered 536,000 viewers, a series low and down from last week's 630,000 viewers.

Obviously, Game Seven of the World Series helped hurt the ratings as they drew an audience of over 40 million.

ACH and ROH have evidently come to a verbal agreement on a mutual release although as of this writing it was not signed nor official, but that is likely the end result of this week.

PW Insider first reported he was finishing up with the company when his contract expired, but then we got word that instead of waiting for the contract to expire, they came to an agreement for a mutual release ...

We did hear that ACH wasn't happy it became the story it did and wished he'd never said it. But after the situation came to light, he did tell ROH officials he was frustrated in the promotion. We don't know the details of his frustrations but it's likely over his push.
According to PWI, ACH will become a free agent after December 31st.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, here is the latest on the new WWE 205 Live show. The announcement of the show was in response to a fan survey, which asked fans about a weekly live cruiserweight show. The cruiserweight wrestlers will continue to work Monday nights on Raw and shoot angles for the Tuesday show. Cruiserweight talents will also be working NXT weekend tours so that everyone is getting enough dates. WWE has been using Drew Gulak, Tony Nese and Ariya Daivari for the division, but at this time they aren’t signed and they have not been advertised for the show.
Some new details regarding the upcoming Cruiser show. Also seems some of the guys originally brought in from the CWC tournament are getting cut or given the part time treatment soon.

Speaking of women, it now looks like Kairi Hojo is coming with Io Shirai. Stardom knew last week that Shirai was leaving and Hojo was on the verge, and was pushing for Hojo to stay noting she'd be their top star. Right now both are scheduled to stay with Stardom through about April of next year. Shirai will have her 10th anniversary big show on 3/20 at Korakuen Hall and that will be her last major event. Hojo will have a homecoming show in April and then also probably be leaving, although Stardom is trying to convince her to stay because losing one won't be so bad but losing both will be devastating, in particular because they have nobody at their level to elevate to take their places. The promotions' big three of late have been those two and Mayu Iwatani.

The U.S. paid WWE Network subscribers went from 990,200 in the U.S. and 242,900 outside the U.S. to 1,070,800 in the U.S. and 373,400 outside the U.S. So the increase over a full year was 80,600, which is still going up, but nowhere close to the rate projected. Originally WWE had projected U.S. network subscribers by this point would be 2.5 million to 3 million.

Right now the plan is for the NXT women's tournament, which will be similar to the cruiserweight classic with an international field and a weekly WWE network show to be taped in either January or March. The funny thing is there are women who have been contacted that don't work for WWE for the tournament, and some have been told January and some have been told March regarding being available. But several women have been contacted and told they are in, and dates to be available. It could also be like the cruiserweight tournament where they tape over a series of months, but the talent wasn't told that and some talent contacted have dates on overseas tours they have to get rearranged if they are to be in the tournament.

Stephanie McMahon was on "The Chew" on ABC, a cooking show where she was promoting Survivor Series and Goldberg vs. Lesnar and talked about how much fun she has playing a bad guy on television. One of the hosts asked why they used to call the women "Divas," and her response was that the fans demanded it and Vince always listens to the fans.

The Spirit Squad isn't expecting a deal as they've just put themselves on the market as a tag team to work independent dates being booked by Bill Behrens.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE announced Tommy End will be making his debut tomorrow at an NXT house show in Florida. https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/794289834634444800
Observer is currently speculating Orton-Taker as a possible Mania match and Orton joining the Wyatts was meant to be the actual start of his heel turn to build into that match for Mania. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5ay51o/dave_meltzer_the_reason_orton_joined_the_wyatts/
Akira Tozawa recently ended his 12 year career at Dragon Gate and gave a farewell message thanking the company on his official Twitter account. https://twitter.com/TozawaAkira/status/794176734727794688
Austin Aires revealed on Twitter his eye surgery was a big success. https://twitter.com/AustinAries/status/794282738564157440

[The CyNick]

Dave's obsession with putting down the network numbers is comical.

[Cool King]

TNA knew that their deal with Challenge was in jeopardy months ago so they began shopping around Impact Wrestling to various networks in the U.K. with little interest from anyone. One group they met with was Premier Sports, a pay sports channel in the U.K. formerly known as Setanta Sports. The station ended up being completely discouraged by what they learnt of TNA's past dealings with networks in the U.S. when they did their research on how TNA's deals with both Spike and Destination America saw them canceled due to a mixture of poor ratings and mishandled business relationships, along with declining viewership on Challenge in the U.K. Despite this TNA told Premier Sports that they would be off Challenge and available in the U.K. in January

Haha, even Premier Sports wont take them.

If Premier Sports doesn't want you, then you're pretty much screwed over here.

[Simple Fan]

Dave's obsession with putting down the network numbers is comical.

Just about as comical as you being obsessed with WWEs business adventures.

[Big Vic]

Stephanie McMahon was on "The Chew" on ABC, a cooking show where she was promoting Survivor Series and Goldberg vs. Lesnar and talked about how much fun she has playing a bad guy on television. One of the hosts asked why they used to call the women "Divas," and her response was that the fans demanded it and Vince always listens to the fans.Ugh stop.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Obviously, because you can't beat a bit of Bully!

https://youtu.be/RibYzexBfEo

anything like the American version?

[XL]

No, no, no.

https://youtu.be/bY14xvvXZCs

[Cool King]

Personally, I always preferred the animated intro.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/umA1YevBTSI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Cool King]

Also, here's Jim Bowen rapping.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NjxP4XYEiFc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Just about as comical as you being obsessed with WWEs business adventures.

And can't tell the difference between revenue and profit.

NOTE: It is important for businesses attempting to expand to increase their top line, but that is not my point, although you watch "expert debater" CyNick go straight for that.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Jericho gif:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/ef0d4794eb9e84b1f4908134cd6b11a9/tumblr_o5le893u9g1sksspbo2_500.gif

The 11/3 edition of Impact did 359,000 viewers, down slightly from last week'a 363,000 viewers.

The situation with TNA and Billy Corgan had a few twists and turns this morning stemming from a New York Post article by Richard Morgan.

The key to the story at this point is that even though TNA is being controlled and funded by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, for reasons of saving money based on the Corgan contract, they are claiming they haven't been sold, even though for all real purposes they have.

The point to this is that Corgan's deal with TNA when fronting them $1.8 million (a figure Corgan has now confirmed) is that if the company was sold, he was entitled to a 50% transfer fee, meaning the company would owe him $2.7 million. Anthem Sports has been willing to pay Corgan $1.8 million, or at times $1.9 million (claiming they were willing to pay six
percent interest), but not $2.7 million, and also insist on him dropping his lawsuit against them before they would pay him.

Corgan is asking for the money, but refuses to drop the lawsuit, and claims that if they don't pay him he has the right to convert the payment into 36 percent of TNA stock. It would be a minority interest. Anthem is clearly avoiding the term purchase of TNA and going through with an actual purchase, in order to avoid the transfer fee.

In court they had said they would pay the amount of $1.9 million (they said the number owed plus six percent interest) on November 1st. As of today, it had not been paid. TNA is demanding that if they paid the money, that Corgan sign a release, breaking all ties between the company which would mean that he would have to drop the ongoing lawsuit and could not sue the company going forward.
Link to more details from the Observer and containing the link to the New York Post report: http://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/billy-corgan-im-formally-requesting-repayment-my-loan-tna-223961

Scheduled for 12/26 in Madison Square Garden: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena (which may be his return) vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kane vs. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz cage match for IC title, Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. Usos vs. Breezango vs. American Alpha for tag titles, Becky Lynch vs. Nikki Bella vs. Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Natalya vs. Alexa Bliss for women's title, Apollo Crews & Jack Swagger & Hype Bros vs. The Ascension & Vaudevillains, Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin

New Japan is also likely to announce at least some of the Tokyo Dome matches for 1/4 either tonight or at a press conference over the next few days. What is most likely is they will shoot a lot of angles tonight, since Power Struggle usually is an angle-filled show, and then the match announcements will take place in a few days.

TNA head writer David Lagana announced today that he has left the company ...

Lagana started with TNA in 2011 after being hired from ROH.

In a farewell article he noted learning from Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman, Dusty Rhodes, Pat Patterson, Gerry Brisco, Shawn Michaels, Paul Levesque, Michael Hayes, Brian Gewirtz, Adam Pearce, Hunter Johnston, Matt Conway, Billy Corgan, Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard, Jeff Jarrett, and Dutch Mantel.

It is very notable he did not include John Gaburick or Dixie Carter on that list.

Lagana was expected to be a more powerful player in the new TNA under Corgan, but he was expected to be in a tenuous position when Corgan didn't get control of the company.


In an announcement on Friday, FloSports revealed that independent promotions Beyond Wrestling and PWX would be airing live events on the streaming service. FloSlam will stream Beyond's December 11th event in Melrose, MA, along with PWX's two-night X16 tournament on November 19th-20th.

The promotions are the second and third announced additions to the lineup, with the company previously announcing that they had reached an exclusive multi-year deal to stream events from EVOLVE and the rest of the World Wrestling Network.

Beyond tweeted that, for now, their deal is only for the December 11th show and 90-day rights to its VOD ...

FloSlam will broadcast its first live pro wrestling show tonight with SHINE 38. The subscription costs $20 a month or $150 for a year.

Drew Galloway just posted on twitter that he would be out of action longer than he had hoped for.

Update on return pic.twitter.com/V7bUJNG9fC

— Drew Galloway (@GallowaySpeaks) November 4, 2016

Galloway, who suffered a neck injury in September when he was dropped badly on his head, and hasn't been able to wrestle since, formally announced that he would be missing his November 11th date in London, England, where he was to face Tomoaki Honma on a joint show with New Japan and Revolution Pro Wrestling, which was actually a pretty big deal because he'd be seen by New Japan officials, and his November 12th date in EVOLVE where he was to headline the show in Queens, NY, against Matt Riddle ...

UPDATE: WWE has given Tommy End permission to work the EVOLVE shows on November 12th in Queens, NY and November 13th in Joppa, MD to replace Galloway. However they are not allowing the End matches to stream on FloSports.


With Tommy End replacing Drew Galloway on next week's Evolve shows, the lineups are changing for both the show in Queens, NY and in Joppa, MD. The new lineups are expected to be announced on Monday. End's matches will not be allowed by WWE to air on Flo Slam, which I guess tells you what WWE really thinks of the Flo Slam. In a similar situation, New Japan is allowing its talent appear on Revolution Pro's streaming service when they go to the U.K. for shows next week.

According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is looking at bringing Japanese talents Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo into the company.

The women are reportedly leaving Japan’s Stardom promotion, but it was said Stardom is said to be attempting to retain Hojo. Both of them leaving would reportedly ‘devastate’ the company because they are two of Stardom’s biggest draws, but they could both possibly stay with Stardom through March or April of next year.

It’s unknown what either woman’s role would be with WWE as the Observer was not clear if they would be full-time or part-time, or what brand they would start with, just that WWE was showing interesting in them both. Sharai will reportedly finish up in Japan after an anniversary show in Japan on March 20th, and Hojo will work a homecoming show in April.

The timing is interesting because the Observer also mentioned on a related note that the reported women’s tournament in WWE would start to tape in January or March.
Some new details about possible dates for when both Japanese women wrestlers could be leaving Japan for the WWE.

TNA began filming their "Total Nonstop Deletion" episode of Impact Wrestling this past Tuesday PWInsider.com has confirmed.

TNA is filming the entire episode, planned for the last episode of 2016, at the Hardy compound in Cameron, NC.

Hogan remained in the discussion when Hall harkened back to WCW’s World War 3 pay per view from November of 1997. Hall won the 60-man World War 3 match, which—allegedly—assured him a future title shot with the WCW champion.

“I won at World War 3, and I was supposed to get the title shot at SuperBrawl,” explained Hall. “That was traditionally a big draw for WCW, and I was supposed to be the main event there vs. Sting. But Hulk c---blocked that and he took the main event spot and I never got the title match. That’s WCW in a nutshell.”
Hogan being a dickbag story from back in the day. Story comes from a recent interview Scott Hall had with Sports Illustrated. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/11/02/wwe-wrestling-scott-hall-hulk-hogan-jesse-ventura


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/WWERomanReigns">@WWERomanReigns</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight">@FightOwensFight</a> for the WWE Universal Championship live at Roadblock: End of the Line on 12/18! <a href="https://t.co/8mJYGzKvuz">https://t.co/8mJYGzKvuz</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZqQektgohy">pic.twitter.com/ZqQektgohy</a></p>&mdash; PPG Paints Arena (@PPGPaintsArena) <a href="https://twitter.com/PPGPaintsArena/status/794550354188836865">November 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of ESPN's Cheap Heat podcast show had Goldberg as its guest and Goldberg revealing he's been offering some advice to Roman on how to improve the look of his spear finisher.
According to reports, Eva Marie's return to the WWE will be longer than originally expected due to being involved with another film at the moment. Production itself is currently planned to last till November 22nd. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5b4dla/eva_marie_is_shooting_another_movie_currently_a/
During a recent interview with TMZ, Stephanie McMahon teased the WWE preparing to offer Ronda Rousey a deal once her MMA career is over. Rousey herself recently teased about retiring very soon from both UFC and MMA. http://fightful.com/stephanie-mcmahon-says-wwe-going-try-go-after-ronda-rousey

[The CyNick]

And can't tell the difference between revenue and profit.

NOTE: It is important for businesses attempting to expand to increase their top line, but that is not my point, although you watch "expert debater" CyNick go straight for that.

No most businesses that introduce a new revenue stream don't need to spend any money to launch it. It's pretty much common sense for business experts like Noid and Meltzer.

[owenbrown]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Jericho gif:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/ef0d4794eb9e84b1f4908134cd6b11a9/tumblr_o5le893u9g1sksspbo2_500.gif






:y:

[Mr. Nerfect]

I am both endlessly fascinated by that Chris Jericho/Colin Mochrie gif, and don't want any further context.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The GIF of Jericho. Pixel it in mannnnnnnn

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Wrestling Gif:
https://abload.de/img/dfsvdfsdsf6nswh.gif

Even with a taped show, the 11/7 edition of WWE Raw bounced back after Halloween, drawing 2.76 million viewers which better than it has been averaging for live shows of late, particularly those without special attractions ...

The positive is in the hourlies, but it's also a negative:

8 p.m. 3.07 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.73 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.51 million viewers

In regards to the hours, 8pm was the 2nd highest since NFL started while the 9pm and 10pm drops were both 4th biggest in RAW history (9pm) and 3rd biggest in the 3 Hour Era (10pm).

WWE, in the form of a tweet by Shane McMahon, announced that Edge would be appearing on the November 15th episode of SmackDown.

Edge, who is currently working on a second season of Edge & Christian's network show, "The Edge and Christian Show that Totally Reeks of Awesomeness," will be doing a Cutting Edge segment.

The company is trying to promote the show from Wilkes-Barre, PA, which also includes the return of The Undertaker, as a major event celebrating the 900th episode of SmackDown.

Tom Phillips has joined the SmackDown announce team, giving the show a four-man booth. He'll remain on the NXT announce team as well.

ROH announced a "Decade of Excellence" tournament that will begin in December.

Ric Flair tweeted that he voted for himself for president.

2K today announced that WWE 2K17’s “Goldberg Pack” is now available to fans everywhere as downloadable content, enabling access to playable characters and arenas focused on legendary WCW and WWE star Bill Goldberg. Arriving on the heels of Goldberg’s return to WWE after more than 12 years, as well as his upcoming match against WWE 2K17 Cover Superstar Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, the WWE 2K17 “Goldberg Pack” offers content previously available to those who pre-ordered WWE 2K17 or purchased the WWE 2K17 Digital Deluxe Edition, including: Two playable Bill Goldberg characters (WCW and WWE); Playable WCW Monday Nitro and Halloween Havoc arenas; Availability on all platforms for $4.99.

The WWE has canceled NXT shows on 12/5 in Auckland, New Zealand and 12/6 in Wellington, New Zealand. They are cutting short the overseas tour and moving the scheduled 12/5 show in Perth at HBF Stadium from 12/15 to 12/5 and the 12/4 show in Canberra, at the AIS Arena from 12/14 to 12/7. No public reason was given for the changes in plans.

The 11/20 ROH show in London, England has been moved from the Seymour Leisure Centre to York Hall at Bethanal Green. The show is almost sold out but there are some balcony seats available.

Brooke Hogan told TMZ today that Vince McMahon has been talking to her father about a WrestleMania return. It's always been a matter of when not if, based on the time they felt it would not be a issue with sponsors for Hogan to be back.

The company is starting to promote its next major U.K. tour. Instead of coming right after WrestleMania, the next tour will be in May. Some dates announced are 5/7 in Liverpool, 5/8 in Bornemouth, 5/9 in London, 5/10 in Birmingham, 5/11 in Sheffield and 5/12 in Newcastle. It appears that the TV's will be show at the O2 Arena in London on 5/8 and 5/9.

Edge & Christian are working on the second season of their WWE Network show.

TNA held a conference call this afternoon with the TNA roster. We are told by sources that during the call, Carter officially introduced Anthem's Eric Nordholm as a member of the Board of Managers for the company, stating that the Board will be guiding the company going forward.

Carter praised the new relationship with Anthem Media, stating they have injected capital and resources into the company and will bring it to the next level. Nordholm addressed the roster and praised them for their hard work and said that the new agreement will be a great opportunity for both TNA and The Fight Network.

The idea of an over the top network utilizing TNA content was brought up. It was also noted that the company is looking towards getting back on a touring schedule (I would assume this means for live events) as well as strengthening it's relationship with their India TV partner, Sony Six.

When asked about creative changes, Dixie Carter noted that Dave Lagana tendered his resignation last week and that Billy Corgan was no longer with the company. She said that going forward, they would be going back towards a collaborative effort. It was noted that the creative department current consists of John "Big" Gaburick. Matt Conway and Madison Rayne and they are looking to hire more people to add to that end of the company.

Former ECW World champion and current ROH announcer Steve Corino is in Orlando, Florida this week, apparently working as a Guest Coach at the WWE Performance Center.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross (who is bringing his one man show to Nashville, TN tomorrow) wrote in his latest blog that he spoke with Chris Jericho about the incident with Sin Cara Sunday evening on the Euroean tour.

Ross wrote, "Caught up with Chris Jericho Monday morning to check in regarding the reports of a ‘fight’ that Y2J had at a WWE event in the U.K. with Sin Cara. Chris said it was largely about nothing and that it resembled more of a scuffle than a full fledged fight. Sin Cara threw one punch and then the minor melee was broken up. Tensions often times rise on these extended, international tours which can bring out the worst in people. This scrap apparently occurred on the bus in route to Glasgow. At the end of the day, it was seemingly much to do about not that much on a slow news day online. (Bill Watts would have made the two fight to get the angst out of their systems. Cowboy did just that with Butch Reed and John Nord.) "

Ross also teased that there is a big announcement coming next month from AXS TV in regard to their relationship with New Japan and coverage on AXS TV. Man, could you imagine if they started broadcasting NJPW events live?

As of this morning, Billy Corgan had not filed any new legal paperwork with the Chancery Court in Nashville. His lawsuit is still active, so it would appear that he and TNA are negotiating a settlement.

We are told by sources in Nashville that Anthem Media is taking a deep look at every aspect of TNA's business right now. Anthem is expected to become the majority shareholder in the company, but have not yet. It would appear they are waiting for the Corgan situation to be settled and for him to be out of the picture before any official sale is made.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Is there a reason that Tom Phillips has been added to SmackDown? That announce team should really just be Mauro and one other guy. I know places have had four-man teams before, but that aesthetic for the sake of it just seems weird to me.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I figured it would be Otunga getting the boot because his wife not wanting him to travel. Maybe Phillips is 3rd when Otunga cannot make it.

[ClockShot]

Madison Rayne part of the TNA creative team. I find that funny for some reason.

Smackdown sabotage continues. 4 mouths at the commentator table, too much.

[Cool King]

The company is starting to promote its next major U.K. tour. Instead of coming right after WrestleMania, the next tour will be in May. Some dates announced are 5/7 in Liverpool, 5/8 in Bornemouth, 5/9 in London, 5/10 in Birmingham, 5/11 in Sheffield and 5/12 in Newcastle. It appears that the TV's will be show at the O2 Arena in London on 5/8 and 5/9.

"UK Tour"?

More like "England Tour".

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Powerbomb Appreciation Wednesday:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/3909349e0014633d554f61e4018eb37e/tumblr_ogcrqkVVur1saykaxo2_400.gif

The 11/8 edition of SmackDown Live garnered 1,921,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,187,000 viewers. Election coverage definitely tapped into their audience.
Lowest in the Live era even though it was a very special case this week (Elections and being taped). Also ended up being the least viewed Smackdown episode for this year.

The latest episode of The Kevin Gill Show was released this past Monday. New episodes with new interviews will be coming out every Monday going forward.

This week's episode featured The Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall & Sean Waltman). Some of their comments about Shawn Michaels taking over the WWE Performance Center have been transcribed below. You can also find some comments from Kevin regarding WWE's new show 205 Live.

On Shawn Michaels joining the WWE Performance Center:

Nash: How many people, including the two guys to my left, know that the new Head of the WWE Performance Center is Shawn Michaels?

Hall: Oh yeah, I knew that.

Waltman: Is he actually moving to Florida? I can't believe that.

Nash: Oh yeah, he's moving to Florida with the family and everything. If you thought that NXT was something wait til that son of a bitch gets down there and gives them his magic. There is nobody better than him. Physically nobody better. Psychology nobody better. It's going to be a game changer. I don't know what the hell they are paying him but it's got to be a lot because to get Shawn to do the 9-5...

Waltman: Whatever it is is a bargain.

Nash: His son wants to do graphic design. His daughter wants to be a veterinarian. Sea World is down there. There's a lot of advantages to being in Orlando over Abilene, TX. Nothing against Abilene. I hear there's a lot of good things going on there.

Gill: I don't think Full Sail has opened a branch out there.

Nash: Graphic design is something you have at Full Sail. "Go with Dad to work."

WWE wrestler Terry Gerin, who works as Rhyno, one half of the SmackDown tag team champions with Heath Slater, failed to win a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives Tuesday night.

Gerin was running as the Republican nominee in the 15th district, which covers Detroit suburbs like Dearborn, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Taylor and Monroe. After winning in the primary, he garnered 13,452 votes in the general election, or 38.2 percent of the votes, compared to 21,739 for Democrat Abdullah Hammoud with 100 percent of the precincts reporting.
Supposedly did better than other Republican challengers in nearby districts.

After Baron Corbin was removed from the SmackDown men’s division team, Shane McMahon took his spot and was added to the Survivor Series match on last night’s SmackDown. Breezango also won the last qualifying match to earn a spot on the tag division team.

For whatever reason, the decision was made to do an injury to Baron Corbin to open up the spot for McMahon. It was done in a way to more strongly focus on Corbin, so it was clearly not a decision that they’ve given up on a guy who they seem to be building long-term as a loner babyface but has little going for him but his height and look.

Pete Dunne and other UK talent received a WWE tryout on the company’s overseas tour.
Link with more details: http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/article/wwe-tryouts-glasgow-scotland?sf41659047=1

The World Wrestling Network/EVOLVE announced that they have signed Matt Riddle to an exclusive multi-year deal.

Riddle will face Ricochet at EVOLVE 75 on December 11th. Ricochet was previously scheduled to team with Dick Togo in a match for the EVOLVE Tag Team Championship. DUSTIN will team with a partner of his choosing in a title defense at EVOLVE’s show on Sunday in Joppa, MD.


WWE Smackdown’s James Ellsworth appeared earlier this week on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast and prior to be announced as Team Blue’s mascot for the upcoming Survivor Series elimination match he discusses with John Poz and Chad how this Cinderella story of his dream coming true is still somewhat developing. Detailing his previous opportunities battling AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and playing second to Dean Ambrose as a main addition to the WWE title feud, James talks his approach to each show and how his current run does not look to be ending anytime soon.
Link to the podcast episode: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/tmptow/episodes/2016-11-07T21_00_00-08_00

On the latest edition of his podcast (transcript via wrestlezone.com), Booker T spoke about his run as WCW TV Champion, his thoughts on James Ellsworth, and more…

On Raw Talk:
I think that is what is really cool, to get the real side of what these people are going through. It’s easy to talk about nothing, it’s easy to make up something to talk about, but when it’s something that already there, it’s nice to be real. When I asked Charlotte on the show last week, and talked about Reid, it’s real talk, it’s stuff people out there really want to know about, and want to know how they deal with it and how they cope with it. Me, myself, personally I’ve gone through a whole lot, people can talk to me about anything, and I believe I can relate with them in some form of fashion ...

His Thoughts on James Ellsworth:
It is old. I’m tired of seeing James Ellsworth. This kid had one hell of a run, but send him back to the independents. I’ve seen this guy at a convention, I was appalled, but this guy is going to live this run for quite some time. He’s probably getting a good price out there on the Indy show. They’re probably bringing him in as an attraction, but the thing of it is, me personally I’m not a hater, but you must ride it for as long as you can. Look at Hornswoggle, he worked with WWE for 6-7 years, you can’t hate people like that, but you wonder how James Ellsworth fit into the WWE mold? It just makes you wonder. There are people in my Reality of Wrestling just scratching at the door, so when I see Ellsworth, there’s just gotta be a way, but you have to wait your turn, but it’s definitely getting a little old.
Link itself has more highlights: http://411mania.com/wrestling/booker-t-says-james-ellsworth-is-getting-old/

It was previously reported that The Undertaker, Michelle McCool and the Ultimate Warrior’s family were at the opening home game for the Cleveland Cavaliers, which included a championship celebration. WWE set up the appearance and wrote about it on WWE.com. The Undertaker was apparently set to meet and pose with LeBron James, but it never happened. When asked about it, Cleveland.com‘s Joe Vardon explained why it didn’t happen.

He wrote: “I love this question. For a quick review, The Undertaker was stationed outside the locker room at The Q for an uncomfortable hour (give or take) on opening night, apparently to meet James (with cameras and cell phones rolling for the fine folks at WWE to capture the moment and spread the footage around the globe). The reason, besides the huge publicity it would generate for the WWE, was James wore a T-shirt from Homage with The Undertaker’s likeness on the front on practice day prior to Game 5 of the Finals.

James arrived at The Q before the wrestler and his posse, and claimed not to know he was out there. But of course the word immediately spread through the locker room that The Undertaker was waiting outside.

Here’s a life lesson. If you don’t have an appointment, don’t already know James personally, aren’t a business associate or a small child, the odds of “meeting” James before or after a Cavs game in or near the locker room are not great. I once saw Houston Astros stud second baseman Jose Altuve try to get a meeting with James after a game against the Houston Rockets in Texas. The request came through various team PR officials. Let’s just say James had no interest.

Another rule. James is not cool with someone purposefully trying to make money or gain fame through him, away from the court. In other words, no PR stunts that don’t benefit James. He wore an Undertaker T-shirt. For him, that’s enough.“

Technically at this point Dixie Carter still owns 92.5 percent of the company, but if and when they get the Corgan thing settled, the ownership is expected to be broken down as 85 percent Anthem, ten percent Aroluxe and five percent Carter. Carter is pushing hard for John Gaburick to keep his job, and at this writing he is still there.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A government agency just contacted &amp; informed me that I've received 1000s of votes for President of the USA.<br><br>How flattering &amp; delightful!</p>&mdash; #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/796083557718495232">November 8, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

For those interested, this week's Observer Newsletter had a section about this year's Presidential election and past elections victories involving wrestlers and celebs. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=223875582&postcount=6043
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is Chris Jericho's 46th birthday.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 19th anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob.
While not a big surprise, next year's Royal Rumble is currently being advertised as a 4 hour long show based on recent ticket notifications. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5c4tqb/royal_rumble_ppv_changed_to_now_be_a_4_hour_show/
For those interested, the first issue of WWE's new comic series was recently released and is priced at $3.99. https://www.comixology.com/WWE-Then-Now-Forever/comics-series/80814?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L2Rlc2t0b3Avc2xpZGVyTGlzdC9zZXJpZXNTbGlkZXI

[Black Widow]

He can win Booker over with a Chin a Roonie.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Classic Ric Flair gif:
https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3618326/rcEiVmp.0.gif


For the impending TakeOver show in Toronto, Paul Ellering will be hung above the ring in a shark cage for the Authors of Pain vs. TM 61 Dusty Rhodes Classic final, Evidently, somebody watched a tape of the Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer match from 33 years ago where they put Ellering in a shark cage above the ring, and decided to do it again.

Spoiler tag used since its related to upcoming Takeover Toronto stuff.

ESPN announced in a press release on Thursday morning that an edition of their 30 for 30 documentary series focusing on the XFL would premiere on February 2nd at 9 p.m. ET. The project -- titled "This was the XFL" -- was previously announced by Jonathan Coachman on an edition of The Ross Report with Jim Ross last May.

It seems that Vince McMahon will be heavily present in the documentary, with ESPN's press release touting that it will feature both McMahon and NBC executive Dick Ebersol. Director by Ebersol's son Charlie, the documentary will focus on McMahon and Ebersol's friendship as they attempted to build the failed football league.

Apparently Sasha gained heat with Vince after the match, as the planned finish was for Sasha to go through the table and then get a natural selection for the finish, but as the table didn't break (because basically Sasha is not a 200lb+ guy that can easily break a table with his weight), the finish ended up being odd for the arena viewers.

Most of the people in the creative meeting tried to defend Sasha and explain to Vince the finish didn't worked out because people was pissed that Charlotte won clean (if Charlotte would have pulled the tights or the referee would have called an audible maybe the story would be different), but Vince was 100% convinced that his idea of Sasha losing clean in her hometown was the right move.

Meltzer also said that some people argued that if that was his plan all along, he should have moved the match to the middle, so people would not have to go home right after seeing Sasha losing her title.

TNA issued the following:

... What started with “The Final Deletion” and evolved to “Delete or Decay,” and most recently “The Great War,” at Bound for Glory, something special has been happening on IMPACT Wrestling from the Broken Brilliance of Matt Hardy.

Now, on December 15, 2016, from Cameron, NC at The Hardy Compound, the world will witness “Total Non-Stop Deletion!”

If you’re the Hulkster himself, you get on your buddy Eric Bischoff’s podcast and try to squash that stuff. Hulk Hogan was on MLW’s Bischoff on Wrestling show and said no one has contacted him about working WrestleMania 33 in Orlando next year - and the story Brooke told TMZ about discussions between himself and WWE was a fabrication on her part:

Brooke’s running around on TMZ and made the statement about me and wrestling and WrestleMania. For the record, she needs the big boot to the head. I haven’t talked to anybody about WrestleMania. I just need to put that to rest. I asked Brooke, “What are you doing?”

She goes, “Oh, well, I’m just starting it up.”

I said, “Thanks Brooke.” It was kind of funny. I said, “No harm. No foul.” It was all in good fun.

According to other reports, WWE scrapped plans to bring Hogan back anytime soon after it was revealed he's involved in more lawsuits related to the tapes of his racial slurs being made public.

EVOLVE announced that William Regal will be appearing for the live crowd at this Sunday's event in Joppa, MD as he is "on assignment" for WWE and that will have the crowd "buzzing." Regal will only be appearing for the live crowd, not for the Flosports stream of the show.

The 11/9 season finale episode of Total Bellas on E! garnered 663,000 viewers, well up from the previous week's 536,000 viewers.

The average audience for the series' premiere season was 640,000 viewers.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant dismissed wrongful death lawsuits against WWE filed by Michelle James, the girlfriend of Matt Osborne, and Cassandra Frazier, the widow of Nelson Frazier Jr.

Osborne, best known as "Maniac" Matt Borne and the original Doink the Clown, passed away on June 28, 2013, in Plano, TX, from an accidental opiate overdose at the age of 55.

Frazier, who wrestled as Viscera, Mabel and Big Daddy V among other names, passed away due to a heart attack at age 43 while in the shower at his home on February 18, 2014.

In both cases, the lawsuit was a claim that both men suffered brain injuries while working for WWE that in some form led to their early deaths. In both cases, neither wrestler's brains were examined after death to see if there was an issue with CTE.

Bryant ruled that James didn't provide facts that would indicate that Osborne had CTE or his overdose death was in any related to that CTE. Frazier was cremated without an autopsy ...

With Frazier, the case was dismissed because the planitiffs failed to allege a plausible casual relationship between his death and any wrongful acts by WWE.

Bryant noted that the lawsuit stated that "upon information and belief" both Frazier and Osborne had CTE, but neither lawsuit contained any information where such a belief could be derived. With no diagnosis of either man, she wrote that it was impossible to plausibly allege, much less prove, that either man developed CTE from their tenure working for the company.

She also noted that the complaint failed to establish any link between CTE and Frazier's heart failure, and the allegation that Frazier could have survived the heart attack if he didn't have CTE was "another bald and baseless allegation, which the court deems unworthy of the barest measure of credibility."

While Bryant wrote that lawyer Konstantine Kyros' "false and misleading statements" were "highly unprofessional," she did deny the WWE's request to take sanctions against him regarding these cases.

WWE is planning on utilizing Heyman and Layfield more on the network with a variety of different programming ideas, including a show as a takeoff on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption (in which Pete Rosenberg as their pro wrestling reporter was also under consideration for the spot) and trying to bring back a lot of the ECW characters to look back at that era, including Taz, The Dudleys, Dreamer, etc.'

AAA has gotten a lot of heat with former wrestlers as they’ve beaten guys to the punch and registered names like Rey Fenix and Sexy Dulce, which are names they’ve never used. They also registered El Patron and are trying to get full rights to Octagon to prevent the original Octagon and El Hijo de Octagon, from using the name on indies. At least with Octagon, it was a gimmick Antonio Pena came up with, although Octagon started and became a star first in CMLL before AAA even started. Sexy Dulce is the name Sexy Star started using after leaving AAA and Rey Fenix is the name Fenix started using after quitting the promotion. They also registered Cero Miedo, which is the catch phrase of Pentagon Jr. Pentagon Jr. is still with the promotion but since his brother (Fenix) quit and he earns a lot more working in the U.S., there’s the fear he could leave

Leon “Vader” White, 61, was in a bad auto accident this past week. He described it as near fatal, and that he was unconscious and trapped in the car upside down for about 35 minutes. His head ended up completely misshapen, being badly elongated and his face was badly bruised up, including two black eyes

Drew Galloway won’t be given clearance to wrestle until 11/16, so his matches this coming weekend are off. He was to face Tomoaki Honma on the 11/11 Revolution Pro Wrestling/New Japan joint show in London. That’s a bad break for him because he’s a guy who could be a real star in New Japan, but the timing had never worked out. With his TNA contract expiring soon, he’d be free to go in 2017. He’s also off the Evolve shows on 11/12 in Queens, NY and 11/13 in Joppa, MD.

It’s going to be very interesting in ROH because most of the key players in the promotion are under one-year contracts that would expire at or around 12/31, including The Young Bucks, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, Jay Lethal, Ray Rowe, Hanson, Kenny King, Steve Corino and B.J. Whitmer. The question becomes which on those list would have viable alternatives. It’s a weird situation because of the New Japan relationship. Some of the talent likes the ROH/New Japan mix because they get the Japanese bookings, although Michael Elgin for one has a New Japan contract and works ROH between tours and through New Japan, while the names on the aforementioned list work New Japan through ROH. Nobody knows how much of a factor TNA would be, particularly since the one person in TNA most knowledgeable about ROH and who pushed to sign ROH guys, David Lagana (who used to work for ROH), is no longer with TNA.

At least some would be good additions for NXT, but the question is would WWE pay the same or more of what key guys make in ROH and New Japan combined, plus there is far more freedom in these companies to do what you want and wrestle how you want than there would be in WWE. Of course, if you hit it big in WWE, like many former ROH guys like Owens, Zayn and Rollins, you’re in a completely different stratosphere, but NXT contracts are generally the same or substantially less than the key ROH deals, depending on the person, and that’s not even figuring the New Japan money and the merchandise money (since ROH talent keep a far higher percentage of merchandise money than WWE talent does, although obviously if you’re pushed on WWE television, the difference makes that merch money night and day in favor of WWE). However, anyone of the names on this list, if WWE truly wants them, they can get them because they can afford to pay much more if they want them, and WWE will constantly need new real talent for its NXT tours when the current headliners move up

With the network subscription numbers declining in September even with going with two PPVs, they are going to make another change when it comes to PPV. It hasn’t been completely worked out but the last word was there would be a few less shows in 2017 than were originally planned

Cena is returning from filming the second season of “American Grit” after Christmas. He’s been scheduled for the 12/26 show in Madison Square Garden, which is the first Smackdown brand house show of the holiday week, and traditionally the company’s best drawing U.S. house show of the year.

The situation with Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo reported here originally, where both were contacted by WWE and told the Stardom office they were going to leave around the spring of 2017, has changed again. Shirai, whose leaving was believed to have been a definite the way she told the company, is reconsidering. Hojo, who had gone back-and-forth on the decision before last week saying she was going, is also reconsidering. Both received new offers to stay and are thinking that they have sure things in their home country if they stay, and if they leave, it’s a shot in the dark and uncertainty. The big picture is that NXT is going to need some quality women wrestlers to work with the less experienced wrestlers, unless they never bring up Asuka (and at first Asuka was not brought in for the main roster, but simply to have her in NXT).

Shirai and Hojo are both pretty, and are excellent wrestlers, smoother technically than almost anyone, men or women, now on the roster. But they still may leave. The situation is also that there is the sense of loyalty in Japan to their company. They realize if both leave, the popularity of Stardom will fall greatly because there are no replacements. Shirai and Asuka also have past heat and Shirai has had people tell her that Asuka being in NXT will limit her upward mobility since Asuka got there first and is already a star, with the idea Asuka may be going nowhere, and that WWE isn’t going to push two Japanese women to be dominant on a roster at the same time. Shirai is a lot younger than Asuka, which works in her favor, and wrestles well, but doesn’t project the badass aura that Asuka is so good at getting over even though Asuka is not very big

It’s interesting that Vince didn’t have them follow up on it because he loved the term sparklecrotch. On the show where it was used, he was laughing like a maniac every time Rollins said it which is why he had Rollins say it over and over again. But he didn’t order it scripted after the first week

Mascara Dorada will be moving to Orlando soon as well. He did an interview where he said CMLL wasn’t on board with his doing the cruiserweight tournament, but he did it anyway. He said they didn’t seem unhappy about his going to WWE, probably because they figured at that point it was inevitable. He said that he and his wife went to a WWE live show in Mexico City many years ago and at that point decided he wanted to go there. He credited Balor for opening the door for him. He also said that WWE wanted him to take off his mask, but he was adamant about not doing it


Some other sheet news includes:

According to a report from Metro US, Vince and the WWE are currently distancing themselves away from Donald Trump since his election victory even though Vince previously donated to his campaign. Nobody knows the exact reason why considering they like to latch onto people who had ties with the WWE and become very successful elsewhere. http://www.metro.us/boston/wwe-vince-mcmahon-still-don-t-acknowledge-donald-trump/zsJpkj---uyI31diKVZwE/
Triple H will be holding his traditional NXT Takeover Q&A session tomorrow instead of next Friday.
For those interested, Walmart will be having WWE 2k17 on sale for $27 for this year's Black Friday sales.
According to the Observer, Roman Reigns has been pulled from the rest of the current European tour due to non-serious family related issues.
Also according to the Observer, TNA is currently behind paying Billy Corgan the money he was legally due to collect as the requirement to force him out of the company. He was owed the money on November 1st while Fight Network and TNA are trying to get the due date changed and/or amount legally reduced.

[Lock Jaw]

Imagining Vince laughing "big McMahon laughs" at "sparkle crotch", and everyone around him just "nervously joining in" on his laughter.....

[Volare]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXqAKNZvt4s?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

They wanted to take the mask of Mascara Dorada? Good lord.

I hope the Japanese girls do sign with the WWE. It does seem weird for the usually "box ticking" WWE to sign two pretty young Japanese girls, because I could imagine the WWE thinking that the average fan might get confused. I'm sure the heat between Shirai and Asuka will be smoothed out by Triple H and possibly even be presented as a grudge match.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Of the ROH guys, while you hear that they are interested in a few, I think Adam Cole will go to the WWE after his dates finish up after WrestleMania (smart) and that if they sign people from that list, Jay Lethal actually has the best chance. The company was apparently looking at him years ago, and now he's just got it all down. He's been a cornerstone for ROH in recent years, but he's done about as much as he can do there.

I can see Steve Corino going there as a trainer/commentator/Network personality.

[Emperor Smeat]

They wanted to take the mask of Mascara Dorada? Good lord.

I hope the Japanese girls do sign with the WWE. It does seem weird for the usually "box ticking" WWE to sign two pretty young Japanese girls, because I could imagine the WWE thinking that the average fan might get confused. I'm sure the heat between Shirai and Asuka will be smoothed out by Triple H and possibly even be presented as a grudge match.

For some reason Vince and the WWE don't like masked wrestlers even if the mask itself isn't completely closed. When they usually have them, its either for the short term or prefer just one for mask sales.

[Mr. Nerfect]

You're absolutely right, I can see the value in not having a bunch of masked guys running around, but so often it crushes the guy they do it to. Juventud Guerrera got something out of losing his mask in WCW. That's it.

Since Rey Mysterio left, they haven't been able to plug the hole. Sin Cara is not going to cut it, and Kalisto was forced in an odd sort of way and it just didn't feel right. Gran Metalik's performance in the CWC made him appear like a "heavyweight" (not literally) masked player that could be something. I'm glad they went that way instead of just making him some Mexican dude.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Daniel Bryan's Saggy Balls Appreciation Day:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/23ffe7033cae0bbce84a121c5b51a96e/tumblr_ogembc71jX1u1ljrzo1_540.gif


We have been told that as of a week ago the plan is to have Kalisto defeat Brian Kendrick to capture to WWE Cruiserweight Championship at Survivor Series and the whole division move to SmackDown Live. As noted, WWE has a new show titled, “205 Live” that will air live directly after SmackDown on Tuesday night. The show will showcase the cruiserweight division, so it would make the most sense for the company to move the division to the SmackDown brand

Spoiler tags used since its related to potential Survivor Series stuff.

In a surprising move Friday, Billy Corgan announced on Twitter that he signed a settlement with TNA & Anthem Sports & Entertainment.

The leader singer of the Smashing Pumpkins didn't say much but did mention he'll be doing some media next week to "fill in the blanks" and "spell out what is/isn't in" the settlement.

Anthem property The Fight Network tweeted that they are "happy with arrangements made w/Mr. Corgan, allowing Impact Wrestling to put this behind them and focus on producing great shows."

The arrangement ends a contentious fall season for Corgan, Anthem, and TNA which saw Corgan file a lawsuit against TNA over gaining control over the company due to unpaid loans. The judge denied that claim, but as of the November 1st deadline to be paid back, Corgan still hadn't been made whole which led to a formal request for payment, hampered by a complicated contract arrangement.

As has become tradition, Paul Levesque (better known as Triple H) participated in his regular quarterly conference call with the pro wrestling media this afternoon ahead of next week's NXT TakeOver: Toronto Network special.

The most noteworthy moments on the call were Levesque shooting down recent rumors. When talking about the NXT Women's Championship match between Asuka and Mickie James at TakeOver, Levesque said that James was their first choice for the match and noted that she wasn't a conciliation prize. Levesque seemed to be referencing rumors that had emerged claiming that Trish Stratus was initially their choice to face Asuka given that the match was happening in Toronto.

Levesque also clarified that Shawn Michaels isn't the head coach of the WWE Performance Center. The idea originally came from an interview that Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, and Scott Hall did on the Kevin Gill show, but Dave Meltzer reported in this week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Matt Bloom still held that title.

While making the clarification, Levesque said that Bloom is doing a fantastic job in his role and said that Michaels' involvement at the PC is still to be determined. Levesque said that he thought Michaels would be most helpful in polishing talent that are almost ready for the main roster.

Addressing a recent survey that mentioned the possibility of NXT airing live, Levesque said that they're open to the idea if there is a big demand but said that there are no current plans for it ...

Levesque said that it's been interesting to build this TakeOver given recent turnover in the roster after the WWE Draft, calling it a rebuilding phase. He noted that the decision was made to have James challenge Asuka because he wanted time for other women to grow in NXT.

Ring of Honor's upcoming tour of the United Kingdom won't be the last time we see Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll wrestle for the company.

ROH officially announced on Friday that Ospreay and Scurll had signed contracts with the promotion that will see them compete inside of ROH rings beyond the upcoming "Reach for the Sky" tour of the UK. ROH previously announced that both Ospreay and Scurll would be competing on the tour.

In their announcement, ROH referred to the contracts as "exclusive."

The two breakout British stars will be wrestling each other on the tour, as they're set to meet at ROH's show in London on November 20th. The night before, they'll team together in a non-title match against ROH tag champs The Young Bucks in Leicester. And Ospreay will face ROH TV Champion Bobby Fish in a non-title proving ground match in Liverpool on November 18th, with Scurll squaring off against Dalton Castle on the same show.

The following press release was issued in support of "Slobberknocker", the official autobiography of WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross:

NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2016 - His voice is known around the globe as THE voice of the WWE. Now the world we'll get to know the man behind that voice in an intimate autobiography from independent book publisher Skyhorse.

The book, entitled Slobberknocker, is due out in the fall 2017 and is Ross at his most personal, sharing his life from a simple upbringing to becoming one of the most recognizable figures in professional wrestling.

Ross has been involved in wrestling for over forty years. Not only is he a whiz behind the mic, but he also has an incredible eye for talent, helping sign such wrestling icons as "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and John Cena, to name a few.

This tell-all, named after his famous catch phrase, will cover Ross' life and career, with a climax at WrestleMania 15. After a second bout of Bell's palsy, J.R. was removed from the broadcast booth, only to return and call the main event between Steve Austinand The Rock.

Taz appeared this morning on CBS Sports Radio's Tiki and Tierney to announce that he will be hosting a special, live episode of The Taz Show from 11 PM - 2 AM following the WWE Survivor Series on Sunday 11/20 ...

Taz tweeted out the following preview for the special:

BREAKING: Nov 20 on LIVE 11p-2a ET @CBSSportsRadio SPECIAL #TheTazShow #SurvivorSeries React pic.twitter.com/P9OUbDEL8h
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) November 11, 2016

Chris Jericho was scheduled to do a Live Talk is Jericho podcast with AJ Styles on November 20th in Toronto, but promoters Mark Out Moments tweeted that due to a change in Styles' WWE schedule, Kevin Owens will be appearing instead. There will also be an NXT: Takeover Toronto after party on November 19th hosted by Christian and The Miz.

The Fight Network’s The LAW recently interviewed Chris Jericho (here), who revealed which WWE writer came up with the idea of “The List”:

So what happened was the gift of Jericho and I wish I could take credit for saying I came up with it but Jimmy Jacobs, who has become a writer in WWE, his name is Chris Scobille but his wrestler name is Jimmy Jacobs, no stranger to anybody who is a fan of Ring of Honor or any of those big independent companies. He said I’ve got this idea of the List of Jericho and you put a couple names on it. Oh yeah, that’s a great idea and we did it. Of course you do it once and it was kind of funny, that’s pretty funny, let’s do it again. So we do it again the next week, it gets a little bit of a buzz and then I go to the props truck and say can you make me big, thick list in case I want to use it to hit somebody over the head with and engrave something on. Then, they just put a red piece of paper on it that said the List of Jericho. Meanwhile, this thing is growing. Then, the one week where I said you just made the list and people cheered, it’s like holy (expletive) this is not what we expected. Then, the week we were in there with New Day and I put all three of them on the list, I said the secret is when I put you on the list, you have to sell it like it’s a horrible thing and Woods was great. If people are laughing at it, then it doesn’t get over but because it’s a serious thing, to be on the list is horrible then suddenly we have this whole new world of stuff to deal with.
Link to the podcast episode: http://fightnetwork.com/law/nov-6-edition-of-the-law-feat-chris-jericho-bobby-roode/

As noted, Hulk Hogan recently appeared on Eric Bischoff's new MLW Radio podcast and dismissed daughter Brooke Hogan's comments about people from WWE calling The Hulkster for a WrestleMania 33 return. Hogan said:

"I know if I don't bring it up nobody will. So anyway, Brooke's running around on TMZ and made the statement about me and wrestling and WrestleMania. For the record, she needs the big boot to the head. I haven't talked to anybody about WrestleMania. I just need to put that to rest. I asked Brooke, "What are you doing?" She goes, "Oh, well, I'm just starting it up." I said, "Thanks Brooke." It was kind of funny. I said, "No harm. No foul." It was all in good fun."
Hogan was actually working in New York City two weeks ago and speculation is that he was there filming WWE Network material, according to PWInsider. There have also reportedly been talks between Hogan and WWE about how the two sides can move forward and start working together again. We noted a while back how it was no coincidence that Hogan started appearing in WWE ads once again.

As of this writing, Hogan has not been re-added to the WWE Hall of Fame roster page.

According to the Daily Star, it's being rumored that Linda McMahon could possibly become part of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet in the Commerce Department. It has been noted that the McMahon family donated around $7 million dollars towards Trump's presidential campaign.

Braun Strowman has been featured in “Bodyslam Challenges” with The Big Show during the recent European tour. Those challenges are expected to continue through the month of December at upcoming WWE Live Events.

It’s believed that a feud between Stroman and The Big Show will kick off after the Survivor Series event on weekly WWE programming. The company will most likely bill the match as a “Battle of the Giants” or something along those lines.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE will be selling a version of their official rule book called "WWE Book of Rules" starting early next year for $16. Besides the rules, it also gives details regarding different match types in the WWE and who have broken certain rules over the years. http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV162122
During a recent interview with Les Francs-tireurs, Kevin Owens revealed Ryback's only IC reign in the WWE was meant to last longer than it did. Ryback pissing Vince off the week before Night of Champions ended up being the main reason why Owens won the belt for his first IC reign. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5cemor/owens_with_2_interesting_tidbits_on_his_latest/?st=ivekx3wg&sh=72e74beb
Jeremy Borash was recently announced to become TNA's new head of Creative starting next year. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/5cgu6g/jeremy_borash_promoted_to_head_of_creative/?st=ivekxfc6&sh=b9b5b4ca
Recent updates made on WWE's official website ended up confirming rumors Akira Tozawa got his first name dropped for his upcoming main roster debut. Also revealed Jack Gallagher has finished his indie commitments since he was also added to the superstar page.

[DaveWadding]

Can't wait to have Fenix y Pentagon Jr. in WWE.

Also, of all the ROH guys that I could see leaving, Ray Rowe might be the most likely since Crazy Mary is his +1 and she already signed with NXT

[Cool King]

According to the Daily Star, it's being rumored that Linda McMahon could possibly become part of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet in the Commerce Department. It has been noted that the McMahon family donated around $7 million dollars towards Trump's presidential campaign.

I really wouldn't believe anything that's printed in The Daily Star.

[Lock Jaw]

But Clark Kent used to write for them

[Mr. Nerfect]

Would like to see War Machine as Bray Wyatt's new guys.

[Mr. Nerfect]

And fuck it, throw in Sister Mary as well.

[KIRA]

"Braun Strowman has been featured in “Bodyslam Challenges” with The Big Show during
It’s believed that a feud between Stroman and The Big Show will kick off after the Survivor Series event on weekly WWE programming. The company will most likely bill the match as a “Battle of the Giants” or something along those lines."

Oh god If true NASH in his infinite wisdom and glory would probably say this was a stupid idea if his comments on himself facing Big Show is any indication.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was hoping that leading into Survivor Series, Braun would start hanging out with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. They can even present him with his own scarf.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Vader Time Appreciation Day:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/4be5950e68d5cd2bdd1db95f19c6488e/tumblr_mtwtvgVc8f1qivspno2_400.gif

Raw last night, built around appearances of Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg, Shane McMahon, and Daniel Bryan in preshow promotion, did 2.87 million viewers, a number that would be the second highest of this football season, trailing only Goldberg's debut ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m.. 2.96 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.93 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.74 million viewers


After being fired for making a misogynistic and politically-themed joke toward ring announcer Joanna Rose at EVOLVE 72 on Saturday night, Joey Styles addressed the matter in an open letter that appeared on PWInsider.

Styles attempted to explain the misstep by claiming that he panicked after the segment occurred at ringside instead of in the ring as he anticipated:

"I told Joanna before the show that during my promo with her and Stokely in the ring, I was going to ask her about English tailoring so we could compare my suit with Stokely Hathaway's suit.

I had no idea what to say when Stokely Hathaway and I were at ringside about to trade promos and I didn't have Joanna with us to ask about English tailoring.

I panicked and I did exactly what Gabe Sapolsky told me not to do earlier in the week and made a political joke. The joke included a partial quote from the President-Elect that was meant to mock him and then, in-turn, my scripted nemesis, Stokely Hathaway.

I started the joke and stopped quoting the President-Elect without using the offensive word.

Again, I did not utter the offensive word.

I then turned to Stokely Hathaway and said "the word that I will not use, brings me to you."

In the letter, Styles also said that he was the one to suggest that EVOLVE head Gabe Sapolsky fire him publicly so that Sapolsky wouldn't be put in the position of having to decide to fire someone that he'd known for so long:

"After the event, I looked Gabe in the eye, apologized to him, and as not as to put him in the awkward position of having to fire someone he has known for 20 years, told him to fire me publicly and then shook his hand.

I apologized to Joanna who said she said she wasn't upset because she knew it was a joke about the President-Elect. It didn't matter if she was upset or not, therefore I apologized to her again, repeatedly."

Styles said that he apologized to the EVOLVE locker room as well:

"I apologized to the locker room and the wrestlers weren't upset. It didn't matter if they were upset, therefore I apologized to the wrestlers again, repeatedly."
The manager for FloSports who was at the event pretty much tore apart Styles apology on Twitter claiming Styles lied or fibbed on a lot of stuff in his apology.

Before the night's main event featuring Timothy Thatcher and Drew Gulak, Styles said on air toward ring announcer Joanna Rose, “Joanna, you look great tonight. And if our next President were here tonight, he’d want to grab you by the..."

The reference is, of course, related to President-elect Donald Trump's infamous comment made on a tour bus in 2005 that was picked up by a hot microphone he was unaware was on.

Styles had said on-air that he was told to not get too political on air, essentially setting up the comment.

EVOLVE head Gabe Sapolsky was not thrilled with Styles' choice of words.

I deeply apologize for Joey Styles' comments and am furious

— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) November 13, 2016

And then 30 minutes later, Sapolsky delivered some news shortly after the show had wrapped up:

We've parted ways with Joey Styles and that's my final comment on this. Thank you for your support.

— Gabe Sapolsky (@BookItGabe) November 13, 2016

Both CHIKARA and Beyond Wrestling announced on Monday that they have terminated their relationships with Styles. Botter also commented on the situation in a series of tweets, refuting Styles' claim that he wasn't upset about the comments.

Botter's tweets: "For the record: Joey Styles' claim that I wasn't upset is false and a mischaracterization of what actually happened. I was upset. When Joey approached me to apologize, I was more concerned about Thatcher, who was being loaded into a car going to the hospital. But to say I was not upset is false, and I support Gabe's decision 100%. This will be my last comment on the matter."
In terms of business reasons, Beyond has both ties with EVOLVE and FloSports while CHIKARA was rumored to be a possible future addition for FloSports. Both owners of the companies were also personally disgusted at what was said.

Ex-WWE wrestler Ashley Massaro claims she was sexually assaulted in ’06 at a U.S. military base that WWE sent her to visit … and in new docs filed, she says the company convinced her to keep it quiet.

Massaro filed documents this week to join the head-injury lawsuit that now includes over 50 former WWE employees, and in it mentioned a horrible incident in Kuwait as proof of their negligence.

Ashley claims the assault happened while she was in the Middle East on a WWE sanctioned trip with Maria Kanellis, Jimmy Hart and Ron Simmons. This was not for Tribute to the Troops.

According to the docs, “Upon her return to the United States, she was seen by Dr. Rios who interviewed her about the incident. Dr. Rios reported the incident to WWE executives who soon thereafter met with Massaro to apologize for their negligence but persuaded her that it would be best not to report it to appropriate authorities.”
In a bit of irony, Massaro had an interview with WWE's website prior to the trip saying she wasn't worried about going overseas and assumed WWE would do everything to keep her safe.

Tony Nese has officially signed a new deal with WWE in an angle shot last night at the EVOLVE show in Joppa, MD.

The segment was dark because it involved William Regal, who offered Nese a contract at the show and he signed it. This took place after the broadcast ended. They did an EVOLVE farewell to Nese at that point ...

Regal said that more talent would be signed, which led to a loud "Bro" chant in regard to Matt Riddle, who EVOLVE is building around being its top star right now.

Drew Gulak, the other non-contracted wrestler who has been appearing regularly on Raw in cruiserweight matches, was also offered a contract. We don't have confirmation that he signed, but the expectation was that he would.

Timothy Thatcher suffered a concussion at EVOLVE 72 last night and will be out of action. No replacement has been named. Instead, Tony Nese has an open contract for a match. Sapolsky tweeted that Thatcher's condition is improving.

HHH, who was at MSG on Saturday night, pushed that Conor McGregor would be great for WWE. "He could come over. He's got it all, man, he's got the personality, the skills, the talk. He's an entertainer for sure." He said he's got smaller guys than McGregor who are stars. He compared it to Floyd Mayweather working with Big Show.

Seth Rollins wore a blue wrist band last night on Raw to remember Jonah Snyder, a student who died at his school a few months ago.

Vader posted a sad health update on Twitter, noting that doctors have told him that he may only have two years to live: “Told by 2.heart Drs at this time that my heart is wore out from footbal&wrestling I have 2 yrs to live , conjestive hesrt failure reality”

Mick Foley responded to the news in a Facebook post that urged WWE to induct Vader into the Hall of Fame: “IT'S TIME...TO PUT VADER IN THE HALL OF FAME. I have been talking with Leon White the past few weeks, so I knew the news might be coming. But seeing it in print this morning was a shock nonetheless. Leon is dying. He has been told by doctors that he may have less than two years left to live. His legacy is so important to him, and he has told me that being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame would mean so much on both a personal and professional level. On a global level, Vader was one of the greatest attractions the pro wrestling business has ever seen. I have talked with people at the highest levels at WWE, and hope and pray that Leon's name will be included in the class of 2017 Hall of Fame inductees.”

It would appear that Taz will not be appearing on tonight's WWE Smackdown 900 broadcast. He tweeted the following:

Thanks @WWE for the kind hospitality today backstage at #SDLive900 - much appreciated. Been a loooong time. pic.twitter.com/5kEAmsnxRV
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) November 16, 2016
Was a rumor going into the show Taz might be appearing or doing something special but turns out he was just visiting some old friends backstage.

TNA is currently filming Total Nonstop Deletion in Cameron, NC. Filming will take place over the next several days. The episode will air on 12/15.


Some other sheet news includes:

Summer Rae recently confirmed rumors of being away from the WWE due to an injury. https://www.instagram.com/p/BMvdlViB0MY
WWE is currently offering almost 3 free months of the WWE Network to former subscribers from now till next year's Royal Rumble.
Mickie James could be facing some potential backlash due to publicly supporting Joey Styles after the incident he had in EVOLVE. Claimed the joke he made shouldn't have gotten him fired and "PC" being a reason why he got fired. Also implied it shouldn't have been a big deal due to the wrestling industry itself having its share of sleazy stuff happening. https://www.facebook.com/mickieljames/posts/1640214492670850
Based on recent reports, early ticket prices for next year's Mania is higher than usual for the event while both Taker and Rock have been advertised to be at the event.
People's Magazine recently revealed The Rock won their "Sexiest Man of the Year" award for 2016.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Hogan Gif:
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160924/2c0362bd701c49d217b6951f97a8c3f5.gif

Tuesday night's heavily hyped 900th episode of SmackDown earned the show's third highest ratings since the draft special in July.

Featuring Edge and The Undertaker, the show averaged 2.725 million viewers, up 42 percent from last week's show, which went against election coverage. It was the highest number since the August 29th show, which did 2.835 million viewers.

Bill Goldberg says he tweaked his shoulder on RAW and his body feels “horrible” in the days leading up to his in-ring return against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.

During an interview with Scott Dargis of NBC Sports, Goldberg spoke about the reaction he got during his first WWE TV appearance in 12 years, what he’s done to train for his fight against Lesnar and his son finally getting able to watch him wrestle. Fans will remember several weeks back that Goldberg slipped in the ring while brawling with Rusev. When asked if the slip was Goldberg’s body telling him it’s time to take it easy, Goldberg replied, “Oh God yes. Absolutely…”

Goldberg told Brock Lesnar, “You’re Last” – an indication that his return match at Survivor Series will be the last time we’ll get to see in the ring. Goldberg said that’s his current mentality, but he’ll have to see how he does on Sunday. “I’m sure acting like it. At the end of the day, it’s all that I’m concerned about. I take one day as it is,” he said.

He also revealed, “My body feels horrible” and he suffered a minor injury on RAW during his in-ring altercation with Brock Lesnar. “I tweaked my shoulder last night (on Raw), but that doesn’t mean in five days that I’m not going to come out kicking ass and taking names like I always do.”

WWE uploaded video of William Regal extending a contract offer to Tony Nese after EVOLVE 73 last Sunday.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlZXwlFavY4

WWE.com has updated Donald Trump’s Hall of Fame roster page to note his election win.

Economists predict that WrestleMania may bring in up to 170 million dollars in revenue for the city of Orlando. WWE.com has an article on WrestleMania 32 generating $170 for the Dallas/Arlington region.

PWG returns with their first show since this year’s Battle of Los Angeles on December 16th with BOLA winner Marty Scurll challenging Zack Sabre Jr. for the PWG World Championship.

Episode #217 of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling features a huge double dose of Lucha Underground with both Melissa Santos & Karlee Perez aka Catrina. The following except features Catrina’s view of how her character has evolved over the first three seasons of the El Ray Network standout show.
Link to the episode: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/tmptow/episodes/2016-11-14T21_00_00-08_00

WWE are trying to oppose Ryback from trademarking "The Big Guy."

Interestingly, the trademark they are opposing is the one that Ryback applied for dietary and nutritional supplement use, not the trademark he applied for wrestling.

WWE has until Feb. 15, 2017 to file an opposition or request more time.

On this morning's edition of the Taz Show on CBS Radio, former WWE and ECW star Taz discussed his visit to WWE's Smackdown taping last night, where he filmed material for the WWE Network.

Taz said he had a great time there, but obviously could not divulge everything that went on but did something for ECW with Paul Heyman, The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer and Corey Graves.
CBS Radio announced Taz will be holding a special live 3 hour podcast episode following Survivor Series this weekend.

Sin Cara continues to be punished for his tour bus scuffle with Chris Jericho during the WWE European tour. As noted, Sin Cara was going to be sent home at one point but was instead "exiled" to the SmackDown leg of the tour, even though he never worked a SmackDown live event. He had to do the six-hour drive to Monday's RAW instead of using the company's charter flight to Buffalo, NY. PWInsider reports that at RAW, Sin Cara was not allowed to use the regular locker room for WWE talent and had to change in the "extras" room.

My original plan when I came back last January was to stay until WrestleMania... four months. Then, it started going so good, I re-signed I think until July and then I re-signed until October and then I re-signed until November. Now it's basically a month by month thing. I've got a certain time frame in mind but I can't even say that because what was supposed to be four has already been ten because I am smart enough to know this ...

I love working with Owens and Rollins and Reigns and Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose and AJ. Those guys are re-invigorating my love for the business because I have been through a lot of generations of the business.

Also, keep this in mind, my generation of guys, as sad as it is to say this, my best friends have either passed away or retired so now I have this whole new group of guys who it starts with a little bit of hero worship, that's great but now let's get down to it, just start working and having some fun.

These are like my best friends on the job right now, I love hanging out with the guys, they're all really great guys and there's no reason for me to stop because I'm doing something for the right reason because I love doing it and that's why I do anything at this point. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about any financial issues, I do something because I love it.

Right now, in the WWE, I'm enjoying this run as much as I had anything in my entire career and I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can and continue to build it and continue to entertain for as long as I can in the WWE, for sure.
Portion of an interview Jericho had on a recent episode of the LAW podcast show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQx6UEEUjko


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE announced they will be holding shows in Kentucky next April due to the state recently repealing restrictions involving wrestling shows and blood. The previous rules demanded matches to be stopped if blood occurred during tv and ppv shows. http://insiderlouisville.com/metro/wwe-raw-coming-back-to-louisville-next-april-following-repeal-of-state-regulation/
E! announced they have ordered a second season of Total Bellas and the new season to air next year.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, James Ellsworth currently has a better W-L record in the WWE than Sting after recently winning a dark match. Even has more wins this year than the Ascension have as a tag team.
According to rumors and reports, WWE is currently struggling selling out shows for NXT's upcoming tour of Canada while their upcoming tour of Australia is facing similar issues.

[Black Widow]

So another reason for me to hate the no chin Motherfucker!

[Sepholio]

The chinless wonder will be wwe universal champion by mania.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Talking Smack:
https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6ZsY43zMnC6BiQxO/giphy.gif

Despite much of the focus being on this Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view, WWE is already making plans for next year's event.

The Houston Chronicle reported on Wednesday night that Survivor Series 2017 is set to take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX. Like this year's show, WWE is planning a marathon weekend around the "big four" PPV but will instead run four straight nights in the building in 2017.

The Toyota Center also confirmed the news on Twitter.

Kicking off the weekend will be an NXT TakeOver special, which is set for Saturday, November 18th. Survivor Series, Raw, and SmackDown will then take place on successive nights. Tickets for Survivor Series go on sale at 11 a.m. ET on December 9th, and WWE will also have travel packages for the event going on sale at 12 p.m. ET on December 6th.
WWE might end up doing something special since it would the 30th anniversary of the ppv.

Having experimented with three straight nights of action at Wrestlemania and SummerSlam, WWE will expand out their micro-takeover plan for cities, starting with April's WrestleMania 33, according to ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell.

After announcing that the 2017 Survivor Series would see four straight nights of WWE-owned action, Rovell reported Thursday that the four-in-four approach will expand out to all of their "Big Four" events: Mania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam.

That would mean NXT TakeOver shows on Saturday, WWE's PPV on Sunday, Raw on Monday, and SmackDown on Tuesday. Packages for all four nights will be made available.

As discussed on Wednesday's Wrestling Observer Radio, the approach is designed to create more interest among bidding cities due to the potential economic impact four nights of WWE can bring.

From a fan standpoint, the question will be whether four straight nights of events will lead to a burnout factor, especially with SmackDown on Tuesdays being the weekend finale.

We'll get our answer starting in 2017.

Timothy Thatcher has gotten clearance and has flown home to California. He suffered a severe concussion on Saturday's Evolve show against Drew Gulak, and had to stay in New York because he was unable to fly.

Regarding the story on the WWE Network and marketing plans in the new Observer, WWE has said that not everyone who cancels will be offered a free month. The policy is that if you cancel the subscription and never have received a free month in the past, that you will be offered a free month. We're told the policy is that if you have in the past received a free month, that offer will not be given.

The names of the other new plaintiffs in the concussion lawsuit against WWE that were not listed in the new Observer are David Silva (Sylvano Sousa), John Jeter, Charles Scaggs (Too Cold Scorpio/Flash Funk) and Charles Wicks (Chad Wicks).

James Ellsworth has contacted indie promoters that he's taking no new dates which means he's either signed or about to sign a WWE contract.
http://i.imgur.com/SivDla8.gif

Colby Corino has announced that he will be joining NJPW as a young lion in January. You can see his tweet below.

Yeah, stuffs about to go down. #Blessed #NJPW pic.twitter.com/3ez2RoUQYi
— Colby Corino (@Generation_Ace) November 17, 2016

This is the current advertised card for NXT's debut in Osaka, Japan on 12/3

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship
Tye Dillinger vs. Bobby Roode vs. Elias Sampson
#DIY vs. Tajiri and Tozawa
Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss vs. The Revival
Oney Lorcan vs. Andrade Almas
Liv Morgan and Aliyah vs. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay

Also appearing

Asuka
Hideo Itami
TM61
Buddy Murphy
Wesley Blake
Ember Moon

It was announced during last night's WWE NXT episode that footage will be filmed for the Network.


On the long-term health effects of pro wrestling:

I got this hotspot on my brain. They’re not sure if it’s from ecstasy, that superglue, or chair shots, or all of the above. I remember they called me in when I broke my neck. They took longer to clear me for my head injury. They were like, it’s a blessing you came in here with a neck [injury], you were going to be a vegetable soon. They go, you got a dark spot on your brain. I’m like, I do? They go, yeah. Are you OK? I go, I’m fine. I’m here because my neck hurts, not my head. But it was a blessing that they caught that.

His response when approached for the class action lawsuit filed against WWE by former wrestlers:

I didn’t jump on it. Somebody reached out to me a long time ago. But if I wanted to sue them I would’ve done it a long time ago when I got burned in the elevator, or when they hung me on TV and I died, basically.

How he nearly died in front of a live crowd when being “hung” by The Boss Man:

Remember when The Boss Man was going to bring The Brood into The Ministry? He threw me over the rope with the thing. Richie told him, don’t use that rope. Don’t use it. It was a brand new rope and they wanted to do it anyways. They wanted to do that angle. So they threw me over and then…I bounced off the apron but the rope cinched up. I remember sitting there on TV and everything was just going away. I made my peace with God…I couldn’t get [the rope off]. It was locked tight. Dennis looked over. There are pictures out there. Boogers were out of my nose, belly was pushed out. I said goodbye to the world. I made peace with God. I was going out, and then all of a sudden everything came right back just as fast as it was going away. It was Dennis going, Davey, Davey! You OK?! You OK?! Luna, she flipped out, and they actually fired Luna over getting upset in gorilla.
Some hihgights from an interview Gangrel had on a recent X-Pac 1,2,360 podcast show.

Joey Styles got very negative reviews for his commentary even outside of the Donald Trump remark in question, and the feeling was the commentary was far better the second night with Lenny Leonard going solo.
Even without the recent incident, EVOLVE was probably going to fire Styles anyways. The general reaction to his commentary since he joined the company has been pretty bad overall.

As noted last week, after it was almost a sure thing Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo were WWE bound, they’ve both reconsidered and now are looking at staying and trying to build up Stardom.

WWE is allowing Mick Foley to appear via satellite at the ICW Fear and Loathing show this Sunday. WWE pulled him from the show which he made a commitment to months ago, because he was needed for the Survivor Series that day in Toronto. WWE sent Finn Balor as a replacement and he’ll be a guest enforcer.

Jim Ross inked a deal with Skyhorse Publishing to do his long-worked on autobiography. The book, called “Slobberknocker,” is scheduled for a fall 2017 release. The book is similar to Chris Jericho in that it’s designed to build to a sequel. The book covers Ross’ life through second bout with Bell’s Palsy that looked to be the end of his broadcasting career in 1999 when Michael Cole had replaced him on Raw and Vince Russo had done the skits making him ths deranged guy who thought he was still the announcer and would come out there and call matches even though he’d been replaced, only to have Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson ask for him to call their 2000 WrestleMania IV main event, and he did so well he was brought back as the lead voice of Raw for several more years. The idea would be for a second book from 2000 to the present. Ross and Paul O’Brien did the book together which started out as a collaboration with Ross and the late Scott Williams

Nobody has said anything officially about the filming of Lucha Underground season four. At one point it was talked about for a November start and then a January start. Right now the talent is of the impression filming will start in late February, but nobody is certain

After Raw television, as punishment for the incident with Jericho, Sin Cara was removed from the rest of the European tour. Instead of being sent home, he stayed in Glasgow the second day and traveled the rest of the tour with the Smackdown crew. He was then flown home to get to Raw this week, but for whatever reason, wasn’t flown into Buffalo, and had to fly from Europe and then drive six hours to get to Buffalo. He was also not allowed to dress in the talent dressing room, and had to change in the room with the extras like the fake security guys

Here is the situation roughly regarding Shawn Michaels and the Performance Center. As noted last week, Matt Bloom is still the head coach there and as best we can tell, there are no plans to change that. There’s a lot of writing of reports and setting up schedules and stuff that goes with the head coach job and it’s not to say Michaels couldn’t do it, but those close to the situation as well as friends of his don’t think it would be a good fit. They are trying to do a structure that’s still in the making but it was told to us it’s something like this. Bloom and Regal would remain in their positions. Norman Smiley would be a guy to teach guys how to execute moves. They would be hiring a psychology coach, which would no doubt be a veteran wrestler. Terry Taylor’s role would be “finishing” in the sense to put the final touches on the guys who are at the advanced level.

Michaels’ job figures to be along the lines of the bridge between NXT and the main roster, in the sense he’d have however many guys, a half a dozen or so, depending on the situation, but it would be the guys they expect to call up over the next six months and Michaels would work exclusively with them to get them ready for Raw and Smackdown. He’d also recommend who needs more time and who is ready. In the past, the company has brought up some impressively looking guys early, given them big pushes and in some cases it has worked out well while in other cases it hasn’t, then they give up on them and you never hear about the guys again, or by the time they’re ready like a Chris Masters or a Drew Galloway, they’ve already been destroyed by the booking

WWE has purchased the intellectual property rights to Lince Dorado from CHIKARA Pro, which came up with the character


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE announced they will be taping a new episode of NXT as part of Smackdown tapings next week.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of The Rock's debut in the WWE. Rock made a "react" video about his debut a few weeks ago about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-YFZHY9Uo
Observer recently speculated TNA might consider a deal to get Joey Styles now that they solved their money problems and possibly wanting some changes to their commentary team. They had the chance in 2014 to sign him but at the time Styles didn't want to quit his WWE website job.
According to the Observer, Emma is currently expected to be making her RAW debut by next month due to her being advertised for Christmas week RAW and house shows.

[Big Vic]

After Raw television, as punishment for the incident with Jericho, Sin Cara was punched in the mouth by Jacques Rougeau with a roll of quarters, had Randy Orton shit in his bag, Curt Hennig shaved off his eyebrows, Seth Rollins leaked his nudes, and he was chased by Sycho Sid with a squeegee.

[Black Widow]

Way too waste money Vince!

Some fan's will cheer anything these days.

[Simple Fan]

Styles would be a good get for TNA. Mathews and Pope are a pretty bad team. If they signed Styles I'd like to see him and Tenay at the desk but Josh Mathews would probably be put with him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They'd copy the WWE and do a four-man team. Josh Mathews, Pope, Joey Styles and they'd re-hire Taz or put Simon Diamond or Al Snow in there.

[Simple Fan]

Only problem I have with WWEs 4 man team is they look silly crammed into a 3 man table. Need to make the table longer.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Lariat/Clothesline Appreciation Day:
https://giant.gfycat.com/RegularWarmBabirusa.gif

The 11/17 edition of Impact did 336,000 viewers, up from last week's 319,000 viewers.

Ring of Honor's three-show tour of the United Kingdom kicked off with a bang on Friday night in Liverpool with the ROH Wold Television Championship changing hands.

In his ROH debut, Will Ospreay captured the title in his home country by defeating Bobby Fish.

ROH announced last week that Ospreay and fellow English standout Marty Scurll had signed exclusive contracts with the company. Ospreay is scheduled to team with Scurll against The Young Bucks on tomorrow's show in Leicester before the two face off in an ROH ring for the first time as Ospreay defends the TV title against Scurll in London on Sunday.

Before the title switch, Fish was set to defend his title against CMLL star Dragon Lee on December 2nd at Final Battle in New York after Lee had defeated him in a proving ground match. Dave Meltzer reports that the Final Battle TV title match will now be a multiple person match involving Sunday's winner, Fish, and Lee at least.

Paul Heyman, The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer and Taz filmed a ECW-centric roundtable discussion special discussing the original Extreme Championship Wrestling this past Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre, PA. We are told that WWE filmed several hours of content which will be edited down into a shorter special. Corey Graves hosted. WWE is toying with when to debut the special and may actually, if editing is done in time, debut it as soon as this coming week.

As reported in the Observer, Rush ended up being Tetsuya Naito's mystery partner in the New Japan tag team tournament which started this morning. They beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson in today's main event at Korakuen Hall on the first day. Today's show is up for free on New Japan World. Subscribers will also get every match of the tag team tournament as well as the complete cards on both late Saturday/early Sunday and late Tuesday/early Wednesday that were just added to the schedule.

On his Facebook page, new WWE talent Tony Nese announced his final four independent dates:

Friday 11/18 - World's Finest Wrestling in Deer Park, Long Island.

Saturday 11/26 - New York Wrestling Connection in Deer Park, Long Island.

Saturday 12/3 - House of Hardcore in Waukesha, WI.

Friday 12/16 - House of Hardcore in Philadelphia, PA.

WWE announced today that Story Time, their new animated series, will debut this Sunday 11/20 following the Survivor Series PPV. The official announcement notes:

STORY TIME TO PREMIERE AFTER SURVIVOR SERIES ON WWE NETWORK

Story Time, a new animated short-form original series on WWE Network, will premiere this Sunday immediately following Survivor Series. Story Time paints an animated picture of some of the most entertaining stories in WWE, as recounted by the Superstars and Legends who lived them. As history is retold with imagination and illustration, these tales that took place behind the scenes and beyond the ring are finally revealed and brought to life.

Sunday’s episode will take a trip down memory lane with stories from Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Ron Simmons, Ric Flair, Bubba Ray Dudley, and Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts as they recall life on the road.

WWE Network News noted that the December 15, 1986 episode of Prime Time Wrestling has been uploaded to the service. This is the first episode added of the WWF television staple in quite some time. It could give some indication of what the next classic content drop may be.

James Ellsworth was spotted in Pittsburgh a few days ago, likely to do WWE medical testing to finalize his WWE deal. He's been pulled from th Big Event convention in NYC tomorrow.

The sixth season premiere of Total Divas on E! on 11/16 garnered 724,000 viewers. That was way up from most of the latter half of season five, but way down from the season five premiere, as you can see below.

TOTAL DIVAS SEASON FIVE
Date Total Viewers
1/19/2016 1,115,000

Is Lucha Underground renewed for a season four?

There has been no official announcement that the series has been picked up yet.

When celebrities appear at ringside for WWE, are they paid?

Not in most cases. They are either promotional appearances to promote a project or they have reached out to WWE to come as a guest and visit at the show, so WWE showcases that.
Highlights from a recent Q&A article PWI holds weekly.

“I only remember one thing from that Cauliflower Alley show. I was wrestling Brian Kendrick on the show, and beforehand, we were talking backstage.

Brian turned and saw a skinny young wrestler doing a stretch on his back while kicking his legs over his head and leaving them there. Brian walked up to the kid, whom we’d never met before, and casually said, “Hey, you know that’s the best way to suck your own cock, right?” The kid was terrified as he watched Brian get down on the ground next to him and demonstrate the motions.

With that, Nick Bockwinkel—a wrestling legend and the man responsible for my winning the King of the Indies tournament—entered the room, dressed to perfection. Brian didn’t see him come in, so Bockwinkel saw the entire demonstration as Brian told the kid to just “let gravity do all the work.” Brian looked up just in time to see an appalled Bockwinkel shake his head in disgust and walk out of the room. I nearly fell over laughing.”
Wacky Brian Kendrick story from back in the day from Daniel Bryan's book.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mL3y2CZsMnk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

USA Today had a recent interview with Paul Heyman about his current run in the WWE and hyping up Lesnar-Goldberg match this Sunday. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/11/paul-heyman-brock-lesnar-bill-goldberg-wwe-survivor-series
According to PWI, Goldberg vs Lesnar is currently planned to be the main event of Survivor Series as of today.
Recent episode of the Steve Austin Podcast show had Becky Lynch as the guest. http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=436&pid=1691715
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Wikipedia has a wrestling page dedicated to just the negative crowd reactions Roman Reigns gets on tv. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_and_reception_of_Roman_Reigns

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Powerbomb Tuesdays:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5rFldHj5MyA/V5ntbncYobI/AAAAAAABANk/37OeXbddfgMM5W1X2fgS9sohmbBhYCZ8ACLcB/s400/rIZtUU.gif

There’s a reason Goldberg was made to look so dominant during his return tonight at the Survivor Series … The Sheet has learned he recently agreed to appear in the upcoming Royal Rumble.

Sources tell us the 49-year-old made the deal this week that will see him participate in a Rumble match for the second time in his career. This year’s event is in January at the Alamodome ...

No word at this point as to whether any sort of WrestleMania match is in the works

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported today that Bill Goldberg agreed to a deal this week to appear in more shows, which explains the finish of tonight's match with Brock Lesnar.

The story noted that Goldberg will be at the Royal Rumble at the Alamodome. The original deal was for only this one match, but Goldberg got over so well, as expected, that both sides made the decision to keep him going.

It would be expected that Goldberg and Brock Lesnar would meet at the Rumble, although that has not been confirmed at this point ...

There was a late odds swing in favor of Goldberg just before the show started which turned out to be smart money from people who knew the finish.

Interest coming out of the Survivor Series pay-per-view led Raw last night to top the three million viewer mark for only the second time going against football this season.

Last night's show from Toronto did 3.04 million viewers, second to only the 3.13 million viewers on the October 17th show for the return of Bill Goldberg ...

The three hours of Raw were:

8 p.m. 3.14 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.10 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.77 million viewers


Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch detailed ESPN’s upcoming 30 for 30 documentary on Ric Flair and spoke to the project’s director Rory Karpf. In addition to Flair and his three children, Sting, Triple H, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, Jim Ross, Eric Bischoff, and Flair’s first wife, Leslie were all interviewed for the documentary.
Link to the article from Sports Illustrated: http://www.si.com/tech-media/2016/11/20/ric-flair-wwe-espn-30-for-30-monday-night-football-mexico-city

Jake Roberts recently appeared on Primo Nutmeg, and during the interview Roberts called WWE legend Honky Tonk Man a “real piece of s**t.” Below is what Roberts had to say about Honky Tonk Man:

Working with the Honky Tonk Man at the time was okay, but since then he has become a real piece of s*it, you know, because he’s trying to buy people’s names and own them, and if you try to use your name you would have to pay him. He has tried it with too many people now. He has a few names under his belt; he took The Patriot, he has the trademark registration, so now any money that is made by The Patriot, the money goes to him. He even tried that with my name–can you believe that? That scumbag piece of s*it also owns Jim Duggan’s name. I hate to be The Honky Tonk Man when Jim Duggan gets a hold of him. It’s not going to be pretty.

Honky Tonk Man responded on Twitter with the following:

@PeterBahi I decided not to trademark his name since I thought he would not live very much longer, investment would not be worth it!

— Honky Tonk Man® (@OfficialHTM) November 22, 2016

Randy Orton and his wife Kim welcomed their new daughter into the world on Tuesday.

Kota Ibushi talked about wanting to return to New Japan Pro Wrestling and challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, wanting to wrestle Shinsuke Nakamura in NXT, and being interested in what Kenny Omega is doing.
Link to the translated interview: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/800857607611162624

Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion will broadcast three live events on FloSlam in December.

Another promotion will soon be joining the World Wrestling Network roster on FloSlam.

It was announced on Tuesday that Gabe Sapolsky would be debuting a new promotion, called Style Battle, on the new streaming service at the beginning of next year. The promotion will feature a tournament on every show and Style Battle's premiere event will take place on January 7th at The Orpheum in Ybor City, FL.

Events for the new promotion will occur "almost monthly" and will be structured in seasons. There will be nine events in each season, with the first eight shows all featuring an eight-man single elimination tournament. The winners of those tournaments will then face off on the season finale to crown a winner.

AT&T Uverse has picked up the El Rey Network so that will add a significant amount of new potential television homes for Lucha Underground. For people who look at success by just comparing total audience numbers, this should give the look of success, just as there are ways to say TNA ratings are up from last year since they are on a station with more penetration than they were last year.

The WWE announced today a new Bella Twins YouTube channel, which will be built around fashion tips, travel, fitness and health. There will be daily videos with them, as well as John Cena and Daniel Bryan, Nikki will do live on the road videos, Brie will chronicle her pregnancy and putting together her nursery and more.

Despite publicly announcing that he and TNA had come to an agreement on their legal issues regarding the lawsuit he filed against TNA, Dixie Carter and others, the lawsuit Billy Corgan filed in the Nashville Chancery Court continues on.

On 11/14, the court issued an order extending the defendants' time to answer the lawsuit or otherwise plead in regard to the case until today, 11/22. The order noted that it was at the request of counsel for both Corgan and the Defendants and that the extension "further the interests of judicial economy and efficiency."

So, either the two sides have settled and it will be officially filed with the court today or the defendants will be filing some sort of official response to the case, such as a motion to dismiss.

Wrestling DVD Network has a sneak peek of the upcoming "True Story of the Royal Rumble", featuring still images and an intro video, you check that out by going here. The DVD/Blu-ray is set for release next month in the US.
Link to the images and video: http://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/sneak-peek-wwe-true-story-of-royal-rumble-dvd-documentary/126659/


Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview on the MMA Hour podcast show, CM Punk revealed he's likley to get another MMA fight in UFC after a recent meeting he had with Dana White. Currently targeting the fight to occur either January or February at the earliest but also admitted he needs to improve training-wise if he wants to make that date possible. http://www.f4wonline.com/ufc-news/cm-punk-im-pretty-confident-my-next-fight-will-be-ufc-225061
Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth were revealed to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
Apparently two refs from last night's RAW show had an incident happen after the show which needed a third ref to step in and defuse the situation. https://streamable.com/l6sn
WWE taped a new episode of NXT prior to tonight's Smackdown show.

[Black Widow]

What a ridiculous ego Punk has but I'm all for seeing him embarrassed again.