TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random G1 Special gif:
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Matt Hardy indicated on Twitter that The Hardys' legal battle with Anthem over the ownership of the "Broken Hardys" characters could be reaching a positive resolution soon: "A MASSIVE 'Thanks' to all the Wrestling Fans that backed #HouseHardy in the latest #GreatWar.. We are days away from winning. KEEP FIGHTING!"

Ratings for both Raw and SmackDown this week will be delayed until Thursday due to the Independence Day holiday.

With NJPW having been in the United States over the weekend, Kazuchika Okada was backstage at Raw in Phoenix, Arizona last night. He's been at WWE events to visit friends while over in the US for shows with ROH before as well. Okada posted a picture with Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor tweeted a picture of Okada wearing his Balor Club jacket.
Link to the Okada tweet: https://twitter.com/rainmakerXokada/status/882161244744032257 , Link to Balor tweet: https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/882346938481463296

NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani said in an interview with Tokyo Sports that the G1 Specials in Long Beach were a "huge success" and they'd like to try a touring style in the US no later than March or April next year. Kidani also noted that they want to open an LA office this year and an LA dojo at the beginning of 2018. (thanks to Strigga for the translation)

Paige was apparently sitting ringside in a Dos Caras mask during Alberto El Patron's main event match at Slammiversary last night. Someone on Twitter posted a photo with her allegedly holding a visitor's pass that identified her by her real name.

Johnny Gargano may not be able to get revenge against his former tag team partner anytime soon. Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin reported Monday that Tommaso Ciampa may be out of action until March of 2018.

Kurt Angle told Esquire Middle East that he hasn't had a physical yet and doesn't expect to have one until WWE has plans for him to get into the ring, but he called an in-ring return in the company "more than likely."
Link to the interview: http://www.esquireme.com/content/21461-kurt-angle-is-back-in-action

While no other details about it were revealed, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced during Sunday's G1 Special that NJPW will be returning to the United States in 2018.

Ricochet made an appearance on the second night of the G1 Special in Long Beach, saying that he would've been there sooner if "a certain Underground fighting company weren't being pricks right now." He challenged The Young Bucks to defender their IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag titles against him and Ryusuke Taguchi at the G1 finals in August.

GFW/Impact revealed that the TV tapings that GFW did in 2015 will finally be seeing the light of day as a four-part series for their "One Night Only" pay-per-views.

GFW/Impact will be unveiling new title belts on the August 17th episode of Impact.

For those who missed it, next week's RAW will feature the premiere of the official WWE 2K18 pre-order bonus trailer with the RAW General Manager featured.

On June 26th, Roddy Piper's widow Kitty Toombs under 'The Kitty J. Toombs Trust' applied to register three trademarks - Roddy Piper, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Piper - for wrestling, merchandise and action figure purposes.

On June 28th, WWE applied to trademark XFL for entertainment use but for a series on wrestling, as opposed to football. The company had previously applied to register XFL also for wrestling purposes on September 4, 2012. That application is still active, with WWE requesting an extension of time to file a 'Statement of Use', also on June 28th. The National Football League tried to oppose that application in 2014, but records do not indicate that they followed through.

Some July highlights announced on the preview:

-As reported by Mike Johnson here on PWInsider a few weeks ago, "WWE 24: Kurt Angle" will air next Monday, July 10 following Raw. They have a nice extended preview of that documentary.

-They have a clip of tonight's "WWE Ride Along" following Raw with Kurt Angle, Big Show, Sheamus and Cesaro.

-They show a clip from the upcoming "Table for 3" episode with The Godfather, Ron Simmons and Mark Henry that will air July 24th following Raw.

-They also show a clip of an announcers-themed "Table for Three" with Lita, Corey Graves and Renée Young set to air July 31st following Raw

-A new "Bring It To The Table" will debut July 17th following Raw.
Details on upcoming new content for the WWE Network this month.

A fan wrote to Matt Jackson about wanting to see them face The Revival at some point. Despite The Young Bucks current "F--- the Revival" motto - in regards to who is the top tag team in the world - Matt would love to go against The Top Guys.

I love giving those guys a hard time but would love to wrestle them. #FTR https://t.co/dDBQGzSdBP
— The Young Bucks (@MattJackson13) July 3, 2017

WWE's ""Fight Owens Fight" DVD set was officially released today and is apparently, already a massive hit. In a situation I don't recall happening since the 2004 release of the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD, the Owens set has sold so well, it is sold out even on Amazon for fans who ordered in advance.

Our old pal Sideshow Shan sent the following,...The Kevin Owens DVD was released today and it's completely sold out on Amazon. I preordered it a few days ago, but still ordered in advance and I just received an email that I won't get mine for more than 2 weeks, despite Amazon's promise that a pre-ordered item would arrive on the release date.

I just called three random Best Buys in NYC and all of them told me the set was sold out as well and they just opened an hour ago.



Some other sheet news includes:

During Impact/GFW's recent set of tv tapings, Gail Kim announced she will be retiring from wrestling after this year. Same tapings also had the announcement of the return of the Super X Cup after a 12 year absence. http://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/impact-tv-taping-notes-gail-kim-announcement-super-x-cup-238556
Kevin Owens recently congratulated Kenny Omega on his IWGP United States Championship victory. https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/882009839249100801
Steve Austin announced Marty Scurll will be a guest on one of this week's episodes of the Steve Austin Show. https://twitter.com/steveaustinBSR/status/881998836486488065
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, one plan Creative had for Summer Rae's return from injury involved her being in RAW's authority but plans got shelved because they didn't like her being taller than Angle and most wrestlers. https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/882276649303121920
Recent episode of Wrestling Inc Podcast show had Shawn Daivari as the guest talking about 205 Live struggles and wrestling advice he has given his younger brother Ariya Daivari. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0704/627763/shawn-daivari-on-why-fans-resent-wwe-205-live/
Planeta Wrestling had a recent interview with Kurt Angle talking about WWE 2k18, WWE now compared to when he used to wrestle for the company, and NXT star he wants the most for RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0704/627741/kurt-angle-on-nxt-stars-he-wants-on-raw/

[BigCrippyZ]

LOLLLLLLL

Hot Topic: "Why don't we have rights to these shirts in our agreement? It looks like they're really popular!"

WWE Rep: "erm, yeah.....because they don't work here."

Holy shit that's bad.

[Lock Jaw]

It's a legit question from a non-wrestling company. Like if you knew absolutely nothing about comic books and were like "Hey, is Spiderman going to be in the Justice League?"

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by #AJStylesWeinerChallenge:
http://i.imgur.com/PKTxjZy.gif

Tonight's episode of NXT is the 400th edition of the show. It will have Bobby Roode vs. Roderick Strong for the NXT Championship and Hideo Itami & Kassius Ohno vs. Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe. Our JJ Williams called Roode vs. Strong "worthy of a TakeOver main event" in his report from the tapings.

Kazuchika Okada was again backstage at a WWE show for last night's episode of SmackDown. Rapper Mega Ran wrote that Okada was at gorilla position all show and talked to people before and after their matches. Okada has been to WWE shows to visit friends in the past and he was relatively close to the shows in Phoenix, Arizona with NJPW having been in Long Beach over the weekend.
Link to the Instagram posting: https://www.instagram.com/p/BWK-3khDTq6/?hl=en

WWE unveiled a new logo for the upcoming Mae Young Classic.
Link to the new logo: http://www.wwe.com/shows/maeyoungclassic

Kurt Angle tweeted that the fireworks that The Hardys got for their WrestleMania return were originally intended for when he was introduced as a member of the Hall of Fame class at the show.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/realkurtangle/status/882367641389850625

Bret Hart thanked everyone for the messages they've sent about the passing of Smith Hart. Bret also reflected on Smith's life and his passing.
Link to the Facebook posting: https://www.facebook.com/hitmanbrethart/posts/10155552438604443:0

As they've done before to promote the service, the first night of the G1 Climax will air for free on New Japan World on July 17th. That show will be headlined by Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Starting at 4:20 p.m. ET on Friday, AXS TV will be replaying the first night of NJPW's G1 Special in Long Beach. That will be the lead-in to them showing the second night for the first time. AXS TV Fights CEO Andrew Simon called the events a "huge success across the board."

Katsuyori Shibata wrote that he may be able to make a positive announcement on his blog next week. He's been posting updates about his health on the blog since his injury at Sakura Genesis.
Link to Shibata's statement: https://twitter.com/STRIGGA/status/882650671484370944

DeAngelo Williams told ESPN's Adam Schefter that his match at Slammiversary was a one-time deal and said that he definitely wants to continue playing in the NFL.

PROGRESS Wrestling confirmed that the main event of their big show at Alexandra Palace on September 10th will be Pete Dunne defending his PROGRESS Championship against Travis Banks.

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, a Piper's Pit Collection will be added to the WWE Network this Monday 7/10. WWE Network News is reporting a Razor Ramon Collection will be added Monday as well.

The WWE Network has added 10/24/77 Madison Square Garden "Old School" event. The event features:

*Larry Zbyzsko vs. Johnny Rodz.
*Tony Garea vs. Baron Mikel Scicluna.
*Larry Sharpe vs. Johnny Rivera.
*Butcher Vachon vs. Lenny Hurst.
*Kitty Adams & Leilani Kai vs. Wenona Little Heart & Vivian St. John in Leilani Kai's MSG match.
*WWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes in a Texas Death Match.
*Mil Mascaras vs. Jack Evans.
*WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji (with Freddie Blassie) vs. Peter Maivia & Chief Jay Strongbow in a Best of Three Falls match.
*Ivan Putski vs. Stan Stasiak.

As noted, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos referenced the recent private Paige video that was leaked during the Rap Battle with The New Day on this week's SmackDown. They said the following line: "Let's just keep it PG, you know what's good... don't get all Rated R like ya boy Xavier Woods."

It appears the jab was not approved ahead of time as it has been edited from the YouTube video of the segment.

Regarding the status of American Alpha, Gable says they thrive on competition and they want competition. He says they had their run with the titles, other tag teams are in the hunt for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles right now and they were kind of pushed to the back of the line but that's fine because all they want is competition in the meantime. Gable says Jordan supports his singles outings 100% and when Jordan gets his chance, he will show what Gable did - that they can hang with any single guy on the roster, not just the tag teams.
Came from last night's Smackdown Fallout video with Chad Gable and seems American Alphas are done as a team at least for the near future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0705/627775/wwe-edits-smackdown-youtube-video/


Some other sheet news includes:

Gamespot had a recent article about new features and stuff for WWE 2k18. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/wwe-2k18-devs-detail-revamped-story-upgraded-visua/1100-6451358/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Adam Cole celebrated his 28th birthday today.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has currently wrestled the most matches in the WWE so far this year at 83 matches while Tony Nese somehow is #1 for most TV matches this year. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6lg9j8/wwes_most_used_workers_in_2017_with_wl_records/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Kevin Thorn talking about the origins of the Mordecai gimmick and why it was shelved quickly. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0705/627799/kevin-thorn-on-vince-mcmahon-loving-the-mordecai-gimmick-and-why/
Website Cult of Whatever had a recent interview with Justin Roberts talking about working for Vince McMahon, toughest part about being a ring announcer, and the infamous Bryan tie chocking incident. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0705/627788/justin-roberts-on-the-daniel-bryan-tie-incident/
Recent episode of the Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard podcast show had Prichard talking about Triple H's early WWE career, Russo persuading Vince to see Triple H as a big star, and the MSG Curtain Call Incident. Claimed if Vince had listened to Jim Cornette, Triple H likely never becomes more than a mid-carder in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0705/627778/bruce-prichard-on-vince-mcmahon-thinking-triple-h-was-a-mid/

[JimmyMess]

i was hoping the mae young classic would be her topless shot. HAWT.

[#1-norm-fan]

I wonder what goes through Okada's mind watching WWE shows.

[#1-norm-fan]

Also, I barely know the guy who has wrestled the most TV matches for WWE this year. I know his name. Don't think I've seen him wrestle. Crazy.

[Cool King]

In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has currently wrestled the most matches in the WWE so far this year at 83 matches...

And 80 of them were against Kevin Owens.

[Big Vic]

So he's the one that will be injured next year.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma Bella:
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With the addition of two names today, half of the field for the Mae Young Classic is officially set.

WWE announced that Sage Beckett and Rhea Ripley would be taking part in the tournament. Beckett was most recently known as Andrea on the indies before signing with WWE, with her also having made a couple of appearances for TNA as Rosie Lottalove in 2010 ...

The full list of participants for the Mae Young Classic figures to be announced before it begins taping at Full Sail University on July 13th and 14th. Here are the wrestlers who have been confirmed for it so far: Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, Sarah Logan, Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Jazzy Gabert, Bianca Belair, Vanessa Borne, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Piper Niven, Beckett, and Ripley.

Tuesday night's Fourth of July edition of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.329 million viewers, down 11 percent from last week but right in line with what the show was doing just over a month ago ...

SmackDown was first for the night in viewers on cable television by quite a wide margin, with no other shows cracking the 1.8 million barrier. The episode was also first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.75 rating, which was much higher than the second place Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN2.

The show was up in the year-over-year ratings as the July 7th, 2016 episode of SmackDown did 2.241 million viewers for the taped show on Thursday night.

Monday night's episode of Raw on the USA Network averaged 2.836 million viewers, down five percent from last week's total. For just the third time in 2017, it was up in the year-over-year ratings, although last year the show fell on July 4th, traditionally one of the worst nights of the year for TV numbers.

The show averaged 2.825 million viewers for the first hour. It climbed to 2.912 million for the second hour, then fell back to 2.78 million in hour three ...

Raw was first for the night in total viewers on cable but finished second in the 18-49 demo to Love and Hip Hop Atlanta on VH1.

Former Ring of Honor champion Jay Lethal is backstage at tonight's Impact taping, the final scheduled taping leading into the 8/13 "Destination X" live episode. He is close friends with Sonjay Dutt and lives in Florida.

There are plans for additional AAA and Pro Wrestling NOAH talents to work the August Impact tapings in Orlando.

GFW talents will be touring for Pro Wrestling NOAH later this summer.

There will also be a GFW presence at the AAA Triplemania show this August.

Forbes is reporting that earlier this week Bob Dyachenko, from the Kromtech security firm, told Forbes he'd uncovered a huge, unprotected WWE database containing information on more than 3 million users, noting it was open to anyone who knew the web address to search. Looking at samples of the leaked information provided by Dyachenko, all data was stored in plain text.

The data included home and email addresses, birthdates, as well as customers' children's age ranges and genders where supplied, and was sitting unprotected on an Amazon Web Services S3 server. Dyachenko believes that the database was misconfigured by either WWE or an IT partner. WWE told Forbes that they were investigating the situation.

It wasn't clear which department put the information there but there was a lot of social media attached to the user accounts.

Once notified about it on July 4, WWE moved the database.

They quoted a WWE spokesperson as saying:

"Although no credit card or password information was included, and therefore not at risk, WWE is investigating a vulnerability of a database housed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has now been secured. WWE utilizes leading cybersecurity firms Smartronix and Praetorian to manage data infrastructure and cybersecurity and to conduct regular security audits on AWS. We are currently working withAmazon Web Services, Smartronix and Praetorian to ensure the ongoing security of our customer information.”

Is it true WWE was once going to make a Rey Mysterio cartoon?

Yes, there was a planned cartoon that was pitched in the early 2000s titled Hanging in the 619 that would have featured Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero and others as children. It never offiically went into production.
From a recent Q&A article by PWI about canceled WWE projects.

Northeast Wrestling announced the first-ever Ricochet vs. Cody Rhodes match in the United States for 7/14 in Danbury, CT

CODY RHODES INJURY UPDATE

Cody Rhodes tweeted the following:

Good news: the delayed MRI on my shoulder was essentially "negative"
-grade A separation
-no surgery
-no time off??
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) July 6, 2017

As noted, Alberto El Patron ripped WWE after last Sunday's Slammiversary pay-per-view. He was seemingly ready to shoot on WWE again after last night's Impact Wrestling tapings, however GFW reportedly turned his music up so loud that it stopped him. Here are details from Wrestling Inc. reader Lyne, who was at the show:

El Patron grabs a mic for a shoot. He says it's "that time of the night" when he talks about "that company in Stamford." His attorney, however, called him last night and asked him "what the f--k are you thinking" as he recently "lost enough money from his divorce." At that point, production cut the mic and played his music. El Patron shouted over the music saying he "has enough voice to scream." His music played louder. El Patron tried to continue before giving up.

GFW/Impact is reporting that James Storm suffered a grade 3 concussion during the Strap Match against Ethan Carter III at Sunday's Slammiversary pay-per-view. Above is video of when the injury happened and below is video of Storm receiving medical attention after the match. It's worth noting that Storm has not appeared at this week's Impact tapings in Orlando.
Link to the video of the injury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHCTfOlJyVg

As noted, Matt Hardy has been continuing his "Broken" teases online, and wrote earlier this week that they "are days away from winning." While there were reports that Anthem Media and the Hardys are getting close to a settlement that would result in the Hardys getting the gimmick back, PWInsider reports that the word backstage at the Impact tapings this week is that "it's actually much closer to the opposite with the two sides remaining very much at odds."

According to Wrestling Observer's Daily Update, ROH will be going from Comet TV to CHARGE, which is still under the Sinclair Broadcasting umbrella. Starting this Sunday, back-to-back episodes will air at 10pm ET.

PWG announced Jeff Cobb, Trevor Lee, and Flash Morgan Webster as entrants for this summer's Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Cobb and Lee are both PWG regulars, but Webster is making his debut for the promotion. He returned to the ring earlier this year after missing several months due to suffering a fractured ankle and dislocated shoulder in a Cruiserweight Classic qualifier against Zack Sabre Jr. for PROGRESS Wrestling last year.

The next member of the TNA/Impact Hall of Fame will be announced on the August 17th episode of Impact.

There is a television commercial project being worked on called “Cena 2.0,” which looks to be a short piece by WWE with the theme being how Cena has changed people’s lives. They are looking for people ages 10 to 80 of all ethnicities who have stories of how Cena has changed their lives. They want real stories that pull the heart strings of viewers and are offering $250 for every person who they decide to cast in the commercial

AJ Styles discussed his first job and choosing to deliver water over training at the WCW Power Plant in 2000.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DURVGD3GTjQ


Some other sheet news includes:

Tomorrow's episode of Edge & Christian podcast show will have Samoa Joe as the guest.
During a recent interview with WNPR Connecticut, former TNA/Impact wrestler Velvet Sky revealed she has retired from wrestling to focus on a career as a personal trainer.
WWE had Miz host a media call recently with topics including Maria and Mike Kanellis gimmick, future face run, Roman Reigns mixed crowd reactions, and wanting Maryse to induct him in the WWE Hall of Fame. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0706/627839/the-miz-on-kanellis-gimmick/
A new documentary about Vader's wrestling career and recent heath issues is currently in production called "Two Years to Live." Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ-vGvgH86g
Recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast show had Jeff Jarrett as the guest talking about the decisions to rename Impact to GFW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0706/627827/jeff-jarrett-explains-decision-to-re-brand-impact-wrestling-as/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Rhea Ripley is hot and Australian. Sign me up. She's only 20, so I imagine there are going to be a lot of green girls in that tournament, but I wouldn't mind seeing her bullied by The Iconic Duo in NXT.

[Cool King]

I'm at the point now where I really wish Del Rio and Paige would just fuck off.

[#1-norm-fan]

You always wished Paige would fuck off.

[ClockShot]

Sooooooooo, WWE had some unprotected data just sitting there wide open. Any of you network subscribers having second thoughts right now?

[TheTerminator]

http://i.imgur.com/krjuS8N.jpg


Thats right ladies and gentlemen the Kincaid cup has officially started and marks the return of GWC on air!
In this first match of what is sure to be a legendary tournament, the talented big man John Forge takes on the psychotic monster DARKSIDE! Who will win?
Who will survive?
You're chance to find out!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wz7mn3QBWwI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

[#1-norm-fan]

Sooooooooo, WWE had some unprotected data just sitting there wide open. Any of you network subscribers having second thoughts right now?

I feel like WWE may be the most unorganized major company in the world. Most of that feeling is just from the stuff you see on TV with the constant changing their mind and complete lack of order. But every once in a while, something like this happens.

[Cool King]

You always wished Paige would fuck off.

True, but since they can't seem to be separated, "Del Rio and Paige" is just what naturally came to my head.

I really didn't think about it until you pointed it out.

But yes, I've always wished Paige would fuck off.

[Cool King]

Paige seems to have really fucked him up though. I find Del Rio to be a massive asshole these days. Pretty much everything he does, I find annoying.

Before, I really liked the guy.

I really can't remember reading about Del Rio being this bad before he got with Paige, unless I've missed a few stories from the past.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Get it with Del Rio, but I kind of miss Paige. Looking at the RAW women's roster, assuming we had to do a one-on-one Women's Title match at Mania, I'd like to see it be Paige vs. Sasha Banks. Feels like that could get the most interest.

Their car crash lifestyles make me simultaneously sad and kind of excited by them, because they do whatever the fuck they want. I wish more people in the position to turn that into money had that attitude.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Flying Nothing:
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News of one of the more surprising WWE releases in some time came today, with WWE announcing in the late afternoon that Austin Aries is no longer with the company.

WWE posted a statement on their website: "WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Austin Aries. WWE wishes Aries the best in all of his future endeavors."

Not long before the news of his release was announced, Aries tweeted: "It's a beautiful day." He followed up by posting three emojis (a banana, a smiling face with sunglasses, and a thumbs up) when the news came out. We can confirm that he asked to be released.

Aries had been scheduled to challenge for Neville's Cruiserweight Championship at tonight's house show at Madison Square Garden until recently. He was replaced by Cedric Alexander.

After his lengthy feud over the title with Neville ended, Aries' last appearance on WWE TV came on the June 20th episode of 205 Live. He continued his partnership with Jack Gallagher, which was formed the week before when Aries claimed that he wasn't medically cleared to compete due to neck and leg issues.

There was a situation before that where Aries seemed to indicate on an episode of Busted Open Radio that he was taking time off due to injuries, but he later denied that was the case when asked about it in an interview with USA Today.


According to PWTorch.com, Aries requested his release from the company, and it was granted, as he was unhappy being pigeonholed as a Cruiserweight, and saw much more potential for himself outside of the role he was given on 205 Live.


>The report added that one source noted Aries had a bad attitude backstage in WWE, which might have made the decision easier for WWE officials to grant him his release. It’s likely Aries will end up back on the indie scene following his release, and he could also end up back in Ring of Honor or GFW if he is offered a return deal from either of those companies.
Some updates on the Aires situation

Dixie Carter was interviewed for the WWE 24 special on Kurt Angle that airs on Monday night.

WWE will report its business numbers on 7/27, so that will have the WWE Network subscriber number as of 6/30 as well as a full rundown of the WrestleMania financials.

The momentum built up by The Colons since they moved to Smackdown Live is about to come to a grinding halt … because Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Primo needs surgery.

As we first revealed on Wresting Sheet Radio this week, the former WWE tag champ recently injured his knee and is scheduled to have it surgically repaired soon.

The duo moved to Smackdown Live back in April as part of the Superstar Shake-Up and were repackaged as The Colóns. While they haven’t tasted championship gold since 2012, the two picked up impressive wins recently over the likes of American Alpha.

No word on when Primo is expected to return to action.

AJ Styles just defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE United States championship at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

The show is still ongoing so we will see if the switch sticks.

The 7/6 post Slammiversary edition of Impact did 345,000 overnight viewers, way up from last week's 268,000 overnight viewers.

Yesterday, WNPR ran an article that indicated Velvet Sky was retiring from pro wrestling as she looked to focus on going to college. Today, Velvet took to Twitter to clarify that she is retired from in-ring action, but not from pro wrestling as a whole, as she would still do appearances or conventions:

"Retired" was not the correct word to have been used in the article from yesterday. Please read my true & current status below. pic.twitter.com/52X174OUKv
— ?Velvet Sky? (@VelVelHoller) July 7, 2017

In response to others, she also said she never used "retired" in the interview, that came from the interviewer:

I never used the word "retired." The headline of the interview I recently did was very misleading in saying I was retired from the industry. https://t.co/sMi2RqZmZy
— ?Velvet Sky? (@VelVelHoller) July 7, 2017

Raw General Manager Kurt Angle recently spoke to the Dallas Observer about the event, and the interviewer couldn’t help but ask him about the name. Angle says that the show was dubbed Great Balls of Fire simply because Vince McMahon thought the name was hilarious, and he expects that this event will return in the future.

“That’s a pretty incredible name for a wrestling show, isn’t it? The head honcho Vince McMahon thought that the name was hilarious, and that’s pretty much the entire story. You never know when it comes to Vince, but he’s usually right, so we trust him. Vince loves the name, so I expect it to become an annual event.”

A new episode of WWE Music Power 10 will premiere on the WWE Network this coming Wednesday at 9pm EST. Below is the synopsis:

"The WWE Music Power 10 is back with an all-new June 2017 edition counting down the most spectacular Superstar entrances from all of WWE!"

There has been some pressure from Bobby Lashley's MMA team, American Top Team, about concentrating full-time on Mixed Martial Arts and pulling back on his dates with Global Force Wrestling, according to a report by PWInsider.

While details are unknown at press time, the report claims meetings regarding the situation have taken place and the pressure to focus on MMA over professional wrestling has been a topic over "the last several days."

WWE has stepped in to help Justin Credible after a troubling video he posted to YouTube on July 4, 2017. In the video, Credible, whose real name is PJ Polaco, said he was arrested, faced jail time and hadn't had a public defender get back to him. He noted his past with WWE and stated his life was on the line.
Some details and updates regarding Credible's situation: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0707/627864/wwe-helping-former-star-after-troubling-youtube-video/

Ambrose: Finally I heh went into his office... and would. not. leave. until he just agreed. I---- he --- went

(Vince): "No." I was like "Come on," (Vince): "NO." (Ambrose): "Come on," (Vince): "NO!" (Ambrose): "..." Come on,"

Jericho: How did you finally convince him?

Ambrose: I literally just wouldn't leave. I just kept goin "Come on,". I was - I was like "They're safe! They're stupid!" I was like "Vince, these marks, they're stupid. They love 'em. Guys like me and you, we're smart..., we know it's safe." Finally he was just sick of me being in his office and he was just like...

(Vince): "(exasperated gasp)... Jericho okay with it...?

Ambrose: I'm like "Yeah. Loves it. His idea."

(Vince): (exasperated gasp 2)... fine.

Ambrose: (laughing)

Jericho: So- so then I'm thinking like "listen did you wanna go in the thumbtacks? Do... uhh. Go for it man, good on 'ya." And then when he gets the approval... the finish of the match is him going over and I'm like ..."well he can't go in the thumbtacks and win... Thumbtacks has to be the worst thing! You get thrown in thumbtacks, you're done!" So then I realize... "Holy shit! I have to take the bump in the thumbtacks?! It's the only way! It's the only way!" And I'm like "Oh my gosh... this is just ridiculous"

Ambrose: I really screwed you over there didn't I.

Jericho: Yeah thanks a lot buddy. But it was one of those things I had never taken a bump in thumbtacks, never have. Never do it again.
From the Ambrose and Jeff Hardy episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show on how thumbtacks got approved for the Ambrose-Jericho Asylum match. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6lvnh6/ambrose_got_the_tacks_into_his_asylum_match_by/

There has been some talk about doing a women's WWE Royal Rumble match in January at the Rumble pay-per-view in Philadelphia, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

WWE officials have also discussed another tag team tournament for the WWE Network, similar to the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic that WWE NXT ran in 2015 and 2016. No word yet on if the next tag team tournament would have a different theme but at one point were rumors on the next Dusty Classic finals happening at Takeover in November.

WWE is apparently looking at doing another non-wrestling television show with the Bellas. They have applied for a trademark for the term “Bella Appetit,” which would be for a television show about cooking, food, recipes, restaurants, bars, travel, travel, health, fitness and nutrition

Nico Gendron, a rare female WWE writer who was on the staff for a short time in 2015, briefly wrote about her experience there in birthmoviesdeath.com “I was hired at WWE in the summer of 2015, right after they introduced `The Divas Revolution.’ In a male-dominated writers room, a female perspective was needed as WWE’s women wrestlers were expected to rise above their traditional role of full-time arm candy and part-time wrestlers to share consistent (though limited) air time with their male, Superstar counterparts. I learned quickly that this wrestling dynasty hadn’t caught up to the main cultural dialogue around feminism and female empowerment that was electric outside WWE. With a great deal of ground to cover, I realized I would have to embrace the little victories, like storylines that do not hinge on a disagreement over a male love interest, avoiding dialogue where male Superstars reduce female wrestlers by telling them to shut up, or by positioning them as getting in the way of their own success.

Kairi Sane is now likely to be allowed to use the elbow drop after all since the WWE press release announcing her signing specifically brought up that some people believe her to have the most beautiful elbow drop in wrestling.

Lucha Underground is on a definite upswing as the 6/28 show did 112,000 viewers for the first airing and 77,000 for the replay. The combined 189,000 viewers was the best total for the show since the episode that Johnny Mundo beat Sexy Star to win the title.

Gilbert Cosme, 42, best known as Mesias and Mil Muertes, has accused his cleaning lady of robbing him of $8,000. According to the news reporters, he came home on 6/28 at 1 p.m., to find an envelope with $8,000 in cash missing and his cleaning lady has since disappeared.


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of X-Pac 12360 podcast show had the Young Bucks as the guests talking about the G1 Special, Meltzer Driver, going to the WWE, and Hot Topic. http://www.pwinsiderxtra.com/ViewArticle.php?id=33553&p=1
Recent episode of The Ross Report podcast show had Steve Austin as the guest talking about the G1 Special, Okada, Cody, and Omega as one of his current favorites to watch. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0707/627851/steve-austin-on-njpw-g1-special-in-usa/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Triple H has had the longest match at Mania for 7 out of the last 8 years with his Mania 32's match being second longest of the card.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 21st anniversary of Hogan's heel turn and the debut of the nWo.
Impact/GFW recently tweaked their logo again removing "Wrestling" from "Impact Wrestling." http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0707/627848/photo-another-change-made-to-gfw-impact-logo/
WWE's official website recently rated Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne at Takeover: Chicago as the best WWE match of 2017 so far. http://www.wwe.com/article/top-10-matches-of-2017-so-far?sf96184052=1
WWE recently rejected two proposals involving Fenway Park hosting a future SummerSlam event and Gillete Stadium hosting a future Wrestlemania event. WWE did leave open the idea of Fenway hosting a NXT Takeover in the future though. https://twitter.com/DannyPicard/status/883346043517186049

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kurt Angle's Reaction to his Current WWE run gif:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/90db8457786323edb0ceed3c8f6541c3/tumblr_oswmq1ENlU1u1ljrzo2_540.gif

The pattern of a better showing in the ratings for WWE continued as last night's Raw, even with the competition of a monster number for the Home Run Derby, did 3.01 million viewers.

The number was up six percent, and given the competition, as the Home Run Derby did 8.17 million viewers this year as compared to 5.52 million last year, the increase was far more impressive than what six percent would show on the surface ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.05 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.07 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.91 million viewers

In terms of rankings, WWE took tthe #6,#7, and #8 spots. Got beat by MLB related shows, blood rival Love & Hip Hop, and another reality tv show.

A number of new names are expected to be announced by WWE in the coming days regarding the Mae Young Classic tournament, which films on Thursday and Friday in Orlando.

Prep work on the tournament is currently being done in Orlando.

Among the names not announced yet who are said to be involved are a number of U.S. independent women wrestlers including Shayna Baszler, Rachael Ellering (as Rachael Evers), Santana Garrett (formerly with TNA who has worldwide experience), Renee Michelle (who has done WWE extra work in the past), Barbi Hayden (a former NWA champion), Nicole Savoy
(from Northern California), Mercedes Martinez, Marti Belle (formerly from TNA), and U.K. wrestler Ayesha Ray.

The latest that all 32 participants will be confirmed is by Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET, with WWE broadcasting a "Mae Young Classic Parade of Champions" on Facebook Live to introduce everyone.

Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that WWE developmental signee Nixon Newell has suffered an ACL knee injury.

Due to this she will miss the Mae Young tournament.
Link to the article: http://squaredcirclesirens.com/newly-signed-nxt-superstar-injured/

Jim Ross tweeted last night that he spent 15 hours at the Performance Center getting ready for this week's Mae Young Classic tapings on Thursday and Friday. He also revealed that Medusa and Lita will be on this week's Ross Report Podcast to discuss the women's tournament.

Sky TV in the U.K. made an expected announcement regarding sports channels. There had been five Sky sports channels with a mixture of sports on all channels, as well as a 24 hour sports news channel and a Formula 1 racing channel. WWE has been mostly on Sky 5, including the live Raw and live Smackdown, which have had greatly declining numbers. Instead, there will be sports theme channels. It is believed that Raw and Smackdown will be moving to Sky Sports Main Event, which is an upgrade. The other programming will air on Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports Arena, including the prime time replays of Raw and Smackdown.

Matt Hardy needed nine stitches to close the cut from last night's Iron Man match. Apparently when he leaped out of the ring, he landed on Sheamus' knee.

The June 30, 1973 show from Madison Square Garden was added to the WWE Network this past week. The show was headlined by Pedro Morales defending the WWWF title against George Stele, and also included Victor Rivera vs. Black Gordman in a special match from California, Haystacks Calhoun vs. Moondog Mayne, Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Mr. Fuji, Gorilla Monsoon vs. Lou Albano and more.

The WWE Network has also uploaded the first 143 episodes of their version of ECW from 2006 to 2009.

Tyrus was on the Fox News Channel on Saturday night getting mad at people who call pro wrestling fake. He said he likes the term simulated combat sports. He then challenged anyone who wants to call it fake to meet him and he'll prove it's not. When Tyrus was asked to plug stuff, he pushed GLOW, Preacher and Impact Wrestling, mentioned GLOW on Netflix, Preacher on AMC and didn't say what station Impact was on since he got cut off by the host.

GFW Champion Alberto El Patron is being investigated for an alleged domestic violence incident at the Orlando International Airport yesterday.

Orlando police made a statement confirming that El Patron was detained at the airport: "There was an incident at the Orlando International Airport at about 3 p.m. Sunday involving Jose Rodriguez (DOB 5/25/1977). The reported incident was a domestic violence battery, and it is still under investigation. No arrests have been made as of this time, but the case remains open. That is all the information we have for release at this time."

In a report from TMZ Sports, it was noted that witnesses confirmed that El Patron was arguing with a woman in an airport terminal until cops were called when things escalated, with one witness saying that there was "an altercation."

Police wouldn't release the name of the alleged victim, but witnesses told TMZ that El Patron's fiancee Paige was at the airport with him. He and Paige had broken up a few weeks ago, but were back together days later.

Zak and Roy Bevis, Paige's brothers, posted on Facebook about Alberto El Patron being under investigation for domestic battery. Zak wrote: "I've got too say I'm very worried about my sister, Please keep a eye on her, she had one Prick Known as brad Maddox who took advantage of an 18 year old girl. Physically and mentally abused her. And now she's with a control freak who think he's a tough guy cause he's beats my sister and has money too cover his tracks..I love my sister she will end up like Whitney Houston or Amy Winehouse ....please share this,,I want the world to know that i care about my lil sister.....everyone keep an eye on her ...you'll be argry at me but I love you, I'm writing this on behalf of all the Knights."

Roy wrote: "We got pics from the last 6 months bro of her beating I'm glad she's finally sticking up for yourself..the reason there fighting yesterday is cause my uncle on his last legs in hospital and he wished him dead." Roy either deleted or made private a post that alleged that El Patron was trying to get Paige fired from WWE and wouldn't let her go back to the company.

Triple H again invited Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor to promote their boxing match on Raw. He wrote on Twitter: "Monday Night #Raw has plenty of LIVE microphones... #MayMacWorldTour @thenotoriousmma @FloydMayweather"

WWE posted a video on their YouTube channel with ICW's Mark Dallas announcing that Pete Dunne will be defending his WWE UK title against Wolfgang, BT Gunn, and Trent Seven at ICW's Shug's Hoose Party 4 night one show on July 29th.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqg-aTfmHU

PWG has announced four more participants for this year's Battle of Los Angeles, bringing the total number up to 14. Zack Sabre Jr., Sammy Guevara, Mark Haskins, and Jonah Rock were the four new names. Rock, an Australian wrestler who previously teamed with TMDK in Pro Wrestling NOAH, will be making his PWG debut and was an unexpected addition.

Former CZW champion and ROH star Lio Rush announced during tonight's CZW event that he would make a final appearance for Combat Zone Wrestling on 8/5 against Joey Janella in Voorhees, NJ. The word going around backstage at CZW is that Rush was in Orlando earlier this week at the WWE Performance Center and has been offered an NXT deal.

Rush, 22, was originally trained at the MCW school in Baltimore (his first tag team partner was current NXT talent "Velveteen Dream" Patrick Clark) and was under contract to ROH from 2015-2017 before exiting the promotion.

Dave Meltzer of WrestlingObserver.com reported on the latest episode of his podcast that Austin Aries was in fact released by WWE. He did not asked to be released from his contract, but was happy when he was.

Aries had not been happy with his role in WWE and according to Meltzer was not happy that his match with Neville for the Cruiserweight Title was not included on the WrestleMania 33 DVD and he was vocal about his displeasure about that and how the Cruiserweights were being used.

He is now being paid for 90 days, per the standard WWE contract.

It should be noted that the same site tweeted three days ago that Aries had asked for his release.

NJPW have launched an official website for the G1 Climax at g1climax.jp. The full cards for every show are available to view there.

Two title matches have been announced for the final day on August 13th.

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks vs Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi

IWGP Tag Team Championship: War Machine vs Cody & Hangman Page.

The G1 Climax kicks off in one week on Monday July 17th. Every show will be live and in full at NJPWworld.com.

Lucha Underground star Taya Valkyrie was asked over the weekend on Twitter if fans will ever see her on Impact. She tagged Jeff and Karen Jarrett and replied, "hopefully", and noted that she wanted matches with Diamante, Sienna, Rosemary and Laurel Van Ness as seen below:

@karenjarrett @RealJeffJarrett ??? ?????? hopefully. I want a shot at @DiamanteLAX @WeAreRosemary @Sienna @ImpactLVN https://t.co/phhsIhmeYm
— Taya - Kira Forster (@TheTayaValkyrie) July 8, 2017


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My Twitter account is blacked out to represent the future of the U.S. now that the United States Title is held by a terrible human being.</p>&mdash; Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/884848276218011651">July 11, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

2K announced WWE 2k18 will also be arriving on the Switch and the first time since WWE '13 a Nintendo platform got a game in the series. https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/QsALtaFJ5X
2K also released a new trailer for the game focusing on Kurt Angle as the pre-order bonus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSX4QDAREko
Fire Pro Wrestling World was released yesterday on Steam's Early Access service for $20.
NJPW is currently considering signing Matt Riddle to a deal after sending a scout to Rev Pro Wrestling.
WWE recently posted their Top 10 WWE Matches of 2017 So Far with Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne, UK Championship match at Takeover Chicago being #1. http://www.wwe.com/article/top-10-matches-of-2017-so-far
Madusa/Alundra Blayze revealed she will be helping the WWE with teh upcoming Mae Yougn Classic tournament. https://www.instagram.com/p/BWSKX2Zlcpy/
WWE currently rumored to have signed Shelton Benjamin to a deal based on a recent tweet by the WWE. The tweet hyped up Benjamin's aerial skills and mentioned him returning to Smackdown soon. WrestleInc revealed the text used for the tweet was the same when the playlist was originally made last year. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0711/628000/wwe-tweet-causes-speculation-of-former-star-returning/
Vader and DDP are currently involved in an online feud with each other. Vader claims DDP lied about offering to help Vader's health issues and DDP claims he never told Vader to retire but only to stop wrestling in order to be healthy enough to do DDP Yoga. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0711/628013/diamond-dallas-page-responds-to-vader-ripping-him-online/
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast show had Alexa Bliss as the guest talking about dealing with "What" chants, negative backlash for "This Is Your Life" Bayley segment, and the Tables Match she had with Becky at TLC 2016. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0711/628001/alexa-bliss-on-getting-angry-with-what-chants/
Matt Hardy recently tweeted if Anthem doesn't resolve the Broken trademark mess soon, Matt with start exposing dirty secrets and info regarding them and Impact/GFW. https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/884889390845239298

[Mr. Nerfect]

Matt and Reby really don't come off as too mature in this thing with GFW. I mean, I thought it was probably a silly idea for TNA to go to war for the fucking shitty act anyway, but Matt and Reby have just been insufferable with their personal tweets regarding the issue, and now I hope GFW win.

[Big Vic]

In terms of rankings, WWE took tthe #6,#7, and #8 spots. Got beat by MLB related shows, blood rival Love & Hip Hop, and another reality tv show.


CyNick? Where are you when we need you? :(

[Big Vic]

Oh here he is:

Try looking at the viewership. NO chance they fall out of the top 10 anytime soon. Every thing is fine
Try looking at the viewership. NO chance they fall out of the top 20 anytime soon. Every thing is fine
Try looking at the viewership. NO chance they get canceled anytime soon. Every thing is fine
WWE moved to destination america, they weren't canceled. Do you have any evidence from someone who isn't a disgruntled employee, or a reporter who obviously has a vendetta against vince saying they were canceled?
The WWE Network is what the WWE needs to be on right now. More people are on the internet now than ever in history!

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Artistic Interpretation of Angle's Secret:
http://botchedspot.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2017/07/2017-07-12-kurts-secret.jpg

As expected, SmackDown ratings were up following last week's Fourth of July episode. The show averaged 2.465 million viewers, up from the 2.329 million that it did last week.

Marti Belle and Mercedes Martinez will be competing in the Mae Young Classic, PWInsider has confirmed.

Also, WWE announced that UK competitors Kay Lee Ray and Ayesha Raymond have been announced for the tournament as well.
Link to the announcement: http://www.wwe.com/shows/maeyoungclassic/article/kay-lee-ray-ayesha-raymond

Kyle O’Reilly, one of the top stars on the independent scene, made his debut for WWE this evening by appearing at the NXT tapings at Full Sail University.

He debuted as a surprise against Aleister Black ...

O’Reilly’s contract with Ring of Honor expired at the end of last year and he made his last high-profile appearance on January 4th at NJPW's WrestleKingdom 11, where he lost the ROH World Championship to Adam Cole. He’s mainly wrestled for EVOLVE and other indie promotions in recent months.

As reported in previous issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, ROH legal threats over issues related to contract tampering have kept O’Reilly, Fish, and others from signing with WWE for the last several months.

Global Force Wrestling has suspended Alberto El Patron until the investigation into him for domestic battery is resolved.

The company issued a statement today: "Global Force Wrestling has indefinitely suspended Alberto El Patron, effective immediately, until the investigation is resolved following a recent incident in Orlando, Florida."

Prior to suspending him, GFW had noted that they were taking the incident seriously and that they would fully investigate it and cooperate with law enforcement ...

El Patron defeated Bobby Lashley at Slammiversary to become GFW's Unified Champion. He was one of the focal points of the post-PPV television tapings, and Jeff Jarrett clarified on a media conference call that he won't be edited out of upcoming shows.


Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has finished announcing the field for this summer's Battle of Los Angeles tournament.

The 24-competitor lineup is mostly a mix of PWG regulars and wrestlers who will either be getting their first chance in the promotion or have become recent mainstays. The final 10 names announced were: Brian Cage, Rey Horus (Dragon Azteca Jr. in Lucha Underground), Marty Scurll, Michael Elgin, TK Cooper, Matt Sydal, Sami Callihan, Matt Riddle, Ricochet, and Penta El Zero M ...

BOLA will take place on September 1-3. First round matches will occur over the first two nights before the winner is crowned on the third day, with whoever wins receiving a future shot at the PWG World Championship. The full lineup is:

Flamita
Keith Lee
WALTER
Travis Banks
Rey Fenix
Dezmond Xavier
Donovan Dijak
Jeff Cobb
Trevor Lee
Flash Morgan Webster
Zack Sabre Jr.
Sammy Guevara
Mark Haskins
Jonah Rock
Brian Cage
Rey Horus
Marty Scurll
Michael Elgin
TK Cooper
Matt Sydal
Sami Callihan
Matt Riddle
Ricochet
Penta El Zero M


Paige took to Twitter again to try and explain the domestic violence incident with Alberto El Patron after her first account was proven to be inaccurate. She claimed that she was the one being held for battery charges because she threw a drink at El Patron, but Orlando Police told Pro Wrestling Sheet that El Patron is the only suspect listed.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/885235926062047234

Kevin Kelly announced that he's no longer with ROH and will be focusing on his duties with NJPW and other opportunities. He had left his full-time position with ROH earlier this year.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/realkevinkelly/status/884964242050428928

Former WWE developmental star and Tough Enough winner Matt Cappotelli announced the following via his Facebook page this evening:

"Diagnosis is in.

I have a grade IV GlioBlastoma Multiforme (GBM).
This is not the news I was looking forward to hearing or sharing, but it will in no way deter me from continuing my fight. Spinal tap this Friday will determine if the cancer cells have spread to my spinal fluid. Monday is a follow up with my team of doctors to determine the treatment steps needed to beat this. Thanx to everyone on #TEAMCAPP"

Cappotelli announced in late June that the brain cancer that ended his in-ring career had returned after ten years.
Link to the announcement: https://www.facebook.com/matt.cappotelli?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf

During his media conference call today, Jeff Jarrett announced the 2017 Bound for Glory PPV would be Sunday 11/5.

He also noted they are looking at adding another PPV date in 2018, potentially Lockdown.

During the ongoing Jeff Jarrett conference call with reporters, Jeff Jarrett was asked if the Hardys have gotten the intellectual property rights to use the "Broken" gimmick in WWE.

He clearly said no, they have not gotten the rights from Global Force Wrestling.

After Jeff Jarrett maintained that Anthem owns the rights to the "Broken Hardys" characters and said that The Hardys haven't agreed to purchase them on a conference call today, Reby Hardy struck back on Twitter. She wrote: "We had agreement terms as of LAST WEEK. Included non-disparagement clause to the tune of 5k every time I tweet something about TNA...but according to @RealJeffJarrett, there is nothing ? OKAY ! Who's up for another run of #F*ckThatOwl shirts ? They'll be up by 2mor. I haven't said anything FOR WEEKS. Meanwhile, Jeff, Dutch & Ed all can't seem to be able to keep us out of their mouths. Snakes."

Reby Hardy wasn't the only person who took exception to Jeff Jarrett's conference call, with Shane Helms tweeting that Jarrett would "rather climb a tree to tell a lie than stay on the ground and tell the truth" in response to Jarrett saying that Helms and other agents were let go because they had too many of them.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/ShaneHelmsCom/status/885198400878260226

As Rebecca "Reby" Hardy stated this afternoon on Twitter, there has been a deal in place between Anthem Media and The Hardys that would allow the Hardys to utilize the "Broken Hardy" gimmick going forward.

In seeking to confirm Hardy's social media claims, PWInsider.com spoke with several sources who, under condition of anonymity, stated that all sides agreed to a deal in principle.

In a deal that it is believed Billy Corgan helped mediate, PWInsider.com has been told that all sides would have released a statement wishing each other well and would have agreed to no longer comment on each other publicly. The Hardys would have been able to utilize the "Broken" gimmick and (one would assume) Anthem Media would have received some sort of payment in exchange.

WWE was not involved in the deal, according to multiple sources.

The deal was then drafted by the Hardys' lawyers and sent to Anthem Media's Ed Nordholm to sign off on, but for whatever reason, several weeks have gone by without a response from Nordholm or any indication that the agreement was actually going to be signed.

One source stated that when Nordholm received the agreement in writing, he claimed that it wasn't what the two sides agreed upon, but confirmed that since that point, there had been no additional communication with the Hardys' side ...

A number of sources we spoke with today believed that unless Nordholm signs off on the agreement, the Hardys will have no last recourse but to file a lawsuit seeking ownership of the gimmick.
PWI's article with more details on the issue: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/110910/the-backstory-on-what-led-to-todays-gfw-vs-hardys-war-of-words.html?p=1

Dave Meltzer noted on Sunday's episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE stopped using pyro for ring entrances both as a cost cutting measure, and because they they no longer feel the need to.


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of The Ross Report podcast show had Lita and Madusa as the guests. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Lita-and-Madusa-Preview-the-WWE-Mae-Young-Classic
Same episode also revealed Madusa will be joining Lita and Ross as announcers for the Mae Young Classic tournament.
Sami Zayn recently announced he is partnering with Syrian American Medical Society on a fundraiser to build a mobile medical center in Syria. https://twitter.com/iLikeSamiZayn/status/885225209778782208
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, WWE made around $23.8 million from Wrestlemania 24's PPV buys. After deducting the amount owed to Floyd Mayweather, WWE made only $3.8 million from PPV buys for the event. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=243199951&postcount=8212
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Finn Balor talking about not wanting to reform Bullet Club in the WWE and chances on Okada joining the WWE in the future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0712/628038/finn-balor-on-why-bullet-club-shouldnt-reform-in-wwe/
Sports Illustrated also had a recent interview with Dixie Carter talking about her history with Kurt Angle, asked to work on WWE 24: Kurt Angle, and if she will be at RAW next week. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0712/628070/dixie-carter-on-if-she-will-be-at-next-week-raw/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Talking Smack Moment:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/754f422d1211d312a13c5c1866f88b26/tumblr_oszwymLVAP1u1ljrzo4_500.gif

WWE officially announced the full list of participants for the Mae Young Classic on a "Parade of Champions" broadcast prior to the tapings beginning tonight.

Notably, Serena Deeb will be returning to the company for the first time since being released in 2010. She became a full-time yoga instructor after retiring in 2015 due to concussion issues ...

Below is the full list of competitors:

Serena Deeb
Vanessa Borne
Rachael Evers (Rachael Ellering)
Sage Beckett (Andrea)
Tessa Blanchard
Lacey Evans
Santana Garrett
Nicole Savoy
Reina Gonzalez
Shayna Baszler
Sarah Logan (Crazy Mary Dobson)
Bianca Belair
Abbey Laith (Kimber Lee)
Candice LeRae
Miranda Salinas
Renee Michelle
Mercedes Martinez
Dakota Kai (Evie)
Xia Li
Zeda
Kay Lee Ray
Piper Niven (Viper)
Marti Belle
Toni Storm
Rhea Ripley (Demi Bennett)
Ayesha Raymond
Kavita Devi
Mia Yim (Jade)
Princesa Sugehit
Jazzy Gabert (Alpha Female)
Taynara Conti
Kairi Sane (Kairi Hojo)


WWE will be following up on the Kurt Angle storyline immediately after Raw goes off the air on Monday.

It was announced today that there would be a live interview with Angle on the WWE Network in the post-Raw time slot next week. Angle has promised that he'll be going public with information concerning the mysterious text messages he's been receiving earlier in the night.

Even though he was announced as being suspended, Impact sent out a press release today for a show on 8/6 in Bridgeport, CT at the Ballpark at Harbor Yards listing Alberto El Patron as one of the headliners. Bobby Lashley and EC 3 were also announced for the show.

Tonight on Impact Wrestling, Gail Kim announced that, due to injuries, she will be retiring at the end of 2017, but plans to continue wrestling throughout the rest of the year.

WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix is in Orlando, Florida for the Mae Young classic which begins taping tonight.

There has been talk that Alundra Blayze may handle some interviews at the tournament.

Nikki Matthews is also in Florida for the tournament which brings the total amount of women known to be there up to 34. PWInsider was told there would be about 40 talents in Orlando for the tournament including potential alternates.
Other notable guests at the tapings included Ronda Rousey, Cjarlotte, Mike & Maria Kanellis, Bayley, HBK, and rumors of Trish Stratus and Rock arriving to see the tournament.

Speaking of the 7/12 tapings, one person there noted to us a strange almost backfire of sorts revolving around Mauro Ranallo. At the tapings, the crowd was mostly quiet again. We’re told in some places if fans started to make noise, other fans would tell them to be quiet because the building is so small and Ranallo talks so loud that if there’s no crowd noise, you can hear the commentary, and a lot of the live fans want to hear the commentary

Wade Barrett (Stu Bennett) has made few indie wrestling appearances since leaving WWE in June 2016 but he did appear at a WrestlePro event last month in New Jersey. As seen above, Barrett delivered some "Bad News" and a Bullhammer to a local wrestler.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CEjvS063fw

Dave Meltzer discussed WWE's decision to do a Fatal Five-Way Elimination Match to crown a new number one contender for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship at their upcoming Battleground pay-per-view on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. During the segment, Meltzer revealed WWE is currently planning to do a RAW four-way women's match at SummerSlam when asked if he can believe that WWE is doing a five-way women's match at Battleground.

The Fatal Five-Way Elimination Match at Battleground is set to feature Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Natalya on July 23rd in Philadelphia.

Meltzer provided an explanation for WWE booking multiple person matches, explaining they're able to protect people without having to write strong personal storylines.

"Well, you know, that's what they're doing a lot of right now," Meltzer stated. "The thing with multi-person matches is you can always gimmick the finishes so nobody has to lose and it's easier for the bookers when you do that and plus when you have multiple person matches, inherently you're not going to do strong personal storylines so you don't have to worry about writing good stories because you know, you can do a little heat where they're all mad at each other, but that's all you can do in a multiple person match."

While this was probably not the reason for the split, since the split was teased months ago, Enzo Amore right now has a lot of heat on him. There was an incident on the tour bus when the talent was traveling together several weeks ago. We haven’t been able to confirm the details as to why this happened although it had to do with the business and it upset many to the point that Reigns kicked Enzo off the bus and for a time he was given “Miz treatment” in that he wasn’t allowed to dress in the locker room. The line where he talked about his real life being better than his fantasy life was something of a shoot in the sense he’s now based in Los Angeles and having a great time in his non-wrestling life. He was also legit not happy at the breakup of the team, because in reality, it’s hard to see what his prospects are on his own given the way he’s been portrayed as a guy who is a joke when facing real competition

Cass has some heat, particularly with his views on politics as he’s a strong Trump supporter in a locker room where many don’t share those views, but management is super high on him and unlike with Enzo, the reaction of the wrestlers to him will not affect his push, at least right now. But the reaction to him is pale compared to that of Enzo

Former WWE writer Brian Mann was a guest on Live Audio Wrestling's Review-a-Smackdown where he gave an interesting tidbit on WWE's use of fancam footage in documenting the title change from the recent MSG house show.

This is in reference to the opening video package of this week's SD Live.

It should be noted, and I'm gonna say this from firsthand, some of those are planted fan videos. When I was there at Summerslam (2011), I actually was sent into the crowd to film Kevin Nash on my cell phone so that we would have, and then we planted it on some fake Youtube account, but it was from the company. We planted fan footage.

...'cause clearly they knew a title change was gonna happen and I don't know if neccessarily every fan at ringside was just shooting at exactly the time the finish was coming. So maybe one or two of those, not to be unfair to the company, one or two of those might not be on the up.



Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Brock Lesnar celebrated his 40th birthday yesterday.
Pensacola News Journal had a recent interview with Charlotte discussing growing up as the daughter of Ric Flair and her career in wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0713/628105/charlotte-on-the-challenge-of-transitioning-into-a-babyface/
ESPN had a recent interview with Kassius Ohno talking about being on the indies after his first WWE stint, NBA-inspired ring attire, and wanting to be part of the new era of NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0713/628086/kassius-ohno-on-his-nba-inspired-ring-gear/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Chad Gable talking about being on the main roster, working with Kurt Angle, and Mania goals. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0713/628082/chad-gable-on-american-alpha-starting-over-on-the-main-roster/
During a recent fan Q&A session, former WWE ref Marty Elias revealed what happened backstage when news of Benoit's murder-suicide started to be revealed. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0713/628079/former-wwe-referee-on-how-roster-was-informed-about-chris-benoit/
Recent episode of The Steve Austin show had Austin discussing about Roman Reigns and if he needs to turn heel and advice for Big Cass. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0713/628081/steve-austin-on-roman-reigns-being-a-star/
For those in the Philly region, WWE is currently slashing ticket prices for Battlegrounds by $20 with the Observer stating its likely due to very poor ticket sales. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6n1p9j/wor_ticket_sales_for_battleground_are_apparently/
Update to Shelton Benjamin signing deal with WWE news as the recent Observer Newsletter reported no deal has been signed yet while Pro Wrestling Sheet stated the opposite. https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/885522042652475392

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Talking Smack Appreciation Day:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/e6e1c11774d5a1b530202db5eebdf966/tumblr_oszx32SEnZ1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

One of the staples of WWE Network original programming is having its broadcast schedule significantly reduced.

WWE issued a statement today confirming that Talking Smack will no longer air weekly and will instead only be shown after SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-views: "We continuously review WWE Network's programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 LIVE."

Evidently Renee Young wasn't given the heads-up on Talking Smack being canceled as she wrote on Twitter, "Hmmmm, that's one way to get news" to a tweet asking her about it. Then she wrote, "Really disappointed about Talking Smack. We tried to make the show great. Guess I'll go back to welcoming my guest at this time."

WWE issued the following statement to PWInsider:

"We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 LIVE."

The atmosphere was said to be really good last night at the Mae Young Classic, which comes down to the final two with 14 matches tonight. The talk going in was 5-10 contracts would be offered and you'll probably get a good idea of some of them based on who makes the final four. Unlike the cruiserweight tournament where they had figured everyone they liked would sign and that didn't happen, there is no avenue for the women to make big money in wrestling outside of WWE like there is for men, so it would be a surprise for anyone offered a deal to turn it down.

WWE had a lot more trouble trying to get contracts signed prior to the event than with the UK and CWC tournaments.

For the G-1 Climax tournament, the first four shows which are 7/17, 7/20, 7/21 and 7/22, and the last three shows from 8/11 to 8/13 at Sumo Hall will have English language commentary on New Japan World. All tournament matches will air with Japanese language commentary.

WWE's 30 Years of Survivor Series, first scheduled to be released on 10/3 has been moved to a 10/24 release date.

This week's Impact Wrestling episode, featuring Bobby Lashley and World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron defeating The LAX in the main event, drew 374,000 viewers. This is up 8.4% from last week's 345,000 viewers and a new record for 2017.

Impact ranked #99 on the Cable Top 150 this week, up from last week's #107 spot.

On his Twitter this afternoon, Austin Aries released a statement regarding his departure from World Wrestling Entertainment last week:

My official statement on my @WWE departure. Thank you to my supporters and detractors. Exciting announcements soon. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/7Y4NkUMFVz
— Austin Healy Aries (@AustinAries) July 14, 2017

Renee Young, in responding to a fan question on Twitter, stated that her WWE Network series Unfiltered, in which she conducted one-on-one interviews, has also been canceled.

Yep
— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) July 14, 2017

Ring of Honor announced three new dates for an October "Global Wars" tour in conjunction with New Japan Pro Wrestling, hitting all new markets for combined shows featuring talents from the two promotions ...

Three events in three days – October 12th in Buffalo, NY, October 13th in Pittsburgh, PA, and October 14th in Columbus, OH

For those wondering, SummerSlam will indeed be a four hour PPV. It begins on August 20 at 7 p.m. ET and has an (at least) four hour block.

Also, there is a lot of talk that Nikki Bella will be returning to action soon and appearing on the show. She is clearly in great shape.

On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer was discussing this past Tuesday's episode of SmackDown Live and how it appears that WWE is building to a John Cena vs. AJ Styles match at SummerSlam. When a rumored AJ Styles vs. Nakamura match at SummerSlam was mentioned, Meltzer said that WWE wasn't going in that direction at all. He noted that they may do that match someday, but they're not doing it now.

NJPW's G1 Climax 27 tournament starts on July 17 at 2am ET, which will be shown for free on NJPW World. To celebrate, NJPW also has the final show from each G1 Climax - going back to 2007 - for free on NJPW World.

As noted, WWE has stopped using pyro during entrances as a cost-cutting measure for the company and because they felt it's no longer necessary. On Twitter, Road Dogg responded to fans talking about the change by first reiterating the reasons mentioned above and then responding, "Pyro in a wrestling show isn't a priority in life."

"lower"? Are these things a "low" down move to you? It's just economics and neither are necessary
— Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) July 13, 2017


I agree. In 3 months it'll be the norm and no one will care, that's our current society. Pyro in a Wrestling show isn't a priority in life.
— Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) July 13, 2017

Though the dispute has gotten ugly at times, especially on social media, it was nearly settled within the past month, according to sources close to the negotiation. Both sides came to terms on an agreement, sources say, with the Hardys paying $10,000 to $15,000 for the rights to the trademark. The deal would have included a non-disparagement clause, which Matt’s wife, Reby, mentioned on Twitter. A $1,000 fine would have been levied for the first offense, and then $5,000 penalties would have been enforced thereafter. The Hardys were even willing to sign off on a press release, publicly ending the ordeal on good terms. Yet Anthem then wanted 50 percent of all Hardy revenue, including Jeff Hardy’s art and music, which was viewed by the Hardys as a monumental heist and money-grab.
Details regarding the "Broken" situation between Hardy's and Anthem. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/07/14/matt-jeff-hardy-boyz-broken-wwe-impact

There were mixed feelings in GFW and Anthem regarding how to handle the Alberto El Patron situation, but a suspension right now was the way to do it because an outright firing would look bad if charges were dropped. The company has a history of not doing much to stars under the Dixie Carter regime, such as no punishment for drug test failures (and they did drug test and there were many who fit into that category), and never punishing Kurt Angle for one DUI after another until finally after so many, they agreed to have him go to rehab. Some wanted him gone, since that would be the reaction from the corporate side, but realized until the case is settled that probably wouldn’t be the best option.

Others on the wrestling side, where the old school history is to back stars and cover up or overlook indiscretions in the past (the modern world makes that tougher) wanted to keep him, believing him to be a big deal, with the idea he may help them sell tickets to events or improve their television deal status both domestically and internationally with the idea of selling his star power based on Twitter followers and Hispanic media reach. There was also the thought that when Paige’s contract with WWE expires, that she may come here and they see her as a potential major star. But even from that side, it was clear right now he had to be suspended.

Bayley was on Austin’s podcast this past week and seems clearly frustrated by her position. She said that she went to HHH and asked about making a change in her character. She said HHH told her that would be up to Vince McMahon. Austin warned her about not being true to herself and her character and how his turn in 2001 was the biggest mistake of his career

Rapper Mega Ran was one of the people in the New Day entourage during the Rap battle segment on the 7/4 Smackdown. About two weeks earlier Woods, who is friends with Ran, had told him about an idea he had pitched for a rap battle and he helped prepare the Usos for it. The original script they were given had Wale doing a rap first and Big E was against that happening. Ran said he didn’t write any of the material but helped with the cadence. The New Day let the Usos see their script and lines but the Usos only ran their lines back to get the approval of one producer, so the New Day didn’t know what the Usos would be saying and didn’t know the Usos would make an R rated reference to Woods regarding the sex stuff with Paige (which also included Brad Maddox) from years ago when they were all in developmental together that leaked

According to those with New Japan, it’s actually unlikely they will be doing anything in New Orleans in conjunction with Mania week, at least at this point. From one aspect it would make sense since they’d be able to draw a big crowd, but they are usually in the middle of a Japanese tour at that time, plus I don’t think they want to be seen as piggy backing off a WWE event. There have been people who have talked about it and talked to New Japan about working with them on it, but at this point it’s not going to happen. The key is that New Japan doesn’t want to be positioned as an indie piggy backing off WWE’s biggest event, even though tons of U.S. companies and U.K. companies do that and it’s their biggest money week of the year


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE revealed Mattel will be debuting two new WWE action figures during next week's San Diego Comic Con event. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/885952127046123521
The Herald-Dispatch had a recent interview with Dean Ambrose talking about his "Unhinged" character, The Shield, and feelings when winning/losing titles. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0714/628116/dean-ambrose-on-the-shield-clicking-early-on/
ESPN had a recent interview with Nia Jax talking about her favorite rivalry and WWE's Performance Center. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0714/628132/nia-jax-on-her-favorite-rivalry/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, NJPW originally had plans for Kenny Omega to take over Bullet Club after Prince Devitt/Finn Balor left but changed plans once AJ Styles got hired. Omega revealed the plans during a recent episode of the Observer Radio show.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Road Dogg comes off like such a douche with no respect for the fans who view his product.

"In 3 months that will be the norm and no one will care, that's our current society."

God, fuck that guy.

[James Steele]

Is that really that offensive of a statement?

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's just dumb. It's wrong and it's out of touch, which explains a lot about the SmackDown product. It's also not a good public face for someone who is currently the head writer of one of your shows. "See, the thing is, people are dumb and will get used to anything I put out." Have some pride in your work.

But Road Dogg is constantly falling for dudes working him on Twitter and biting on bait set by the fans. He's one of those people who needs their Twitter account to be micro-managed.

[Blonde Moment]

"In 3 months that will be the norm and no one will care, that's our current society."



I am not so sure he isn't right about this. The New generation has usch a short attention span that it could very well be less than 2 months easily.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Baseless stereotypes. If anything, people invest in deeper and more interconnected television content than ever.

[Blonde Moment]

Most people I know binge watch

[XL]

But would they binge watch if there was no pyro!?

[Blonde Moment]

Probably, in the end it makes no difference. They have replaced pyro with Led's .. probably safer and maybe less for insurance

[Ruien]

Next time Kane comes out he better have his fucking pyro.

[Cool King]

I have to agree with Road Dogg. I'm sure in three months nobody will care because we'll all be used to it.

A good chunk of wrestling fans seem to be very protective of what they watch and along with some of them wearing their nostalgia glasses, they don't like change unless it's change that they want.

When the ropes changed to white a few years back, some fans complained. About a month or so later, nobody cared about the ropes.

When the stages for Raw and SmackDown changed to the HD setup, people complained. Again, a month or so later, nobody cared.

When Titantrons were scrapped in favour of what we have now, people complained, but now nobody cares.

And I really don't need to go into detail about when changes are made to the designs of championships.

But that's (some) wrestling fans for you.

Personally, I will miss pyro and I'm sure guys like Kane and special appearances from, for example, Batista (if that ever happens) will have their pyro but to me, it's no big deal.

Anyway, with the amount of cold openings Raw done before the second split, I'm used to not seeing pyro all the time.

[JimmyMess]

hold up... its not called the titantron? I referred to it as that like 2 days ago.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Most people I know binge watch

That requires more time cleared than watching an episode of something.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I have to agree with Road Dogg. I'm sure in three months nobody will care because we'll all be used to it.

A good chunk of wrestling fans seem to be very protective of what they watch and along with some of them wearing their nostalgia glasses, they don't like change unless it's change that they want.

When the ropes changed to white a few years back, some fans complained. About a month or so later, nobody cared about the ropes.

When the stages for Raw and SmackDown changed to the HD setup, people complained. Again, a month or so later, nobody cared.

When Titantrons were scrapped in favour of what we have now, people complained, but now nobody cares.

And I really don't need to go into detail about when changes are made to the designs of championships.

But that's (some) wrestling fans for you.

Personally, I will miss pyro and I'm sure guys like Kane and special appearances from, for example, Batista (if that ever happens) will have their pyro but to me, it's no big deal.

Anyway, with the amount of cold openings Raw done before the second split, I'm used to not seeing pyro all the time.

People still hate the ropes when they distract from the product. The 205 Live ropes still get criticized all the time.

It's not that nobody cared about the set designs. Every so often, things will come up like "How do you set the shows apart" and people say "different sets." It was like one of the most common pieces of input you'd see around the place.

I STILL hate the championship belt designs, but hate how they are booked even more.

There's a difference between people not caring and people just dropping an issue because it's done and they have to deal with it. People get sick of homogenization, and they eventually do things like stop watching show in enough numbers that you drop from #2 to #6.

Besides, the point isn't actually about the pyro, it's about Road Dogg being a public figure and talking down to audiences. Even if you do hold contempt for people, you don't go public with it and air it. "Unprofessional" isn't even the right word. It's Russo-level shit. Plus, it's more of that Vince McMahon/CyNick-spouted (in the wrestling sense, you see it all over the place) millennial trope bullshit that has been myth-busted time and time again. No, they're not lazy. No, they aren't dumb. No, their attention spans aren't worse. It's an old dude myth that gets perpetuated because it feels intuitively true to old dudes without anything to back it up. It fucks with every logic center in my brain.

It's talking out your ass. Someone in Road Dogg's position should not be doing that on Twitter. Period. Talk out your ass as a punter all you want. People will bust your balls with facts and data when they feel the need. But when you are in the position of representing the creative direction of a stagnant company, don't show yourself to be an ass-talker. Fuck's sake.

[drave]

Pyro is definitely noticeable. It definitely gets the crowd to react, even if it was just for the opening of a show. Definitely adds to "characters" to, when properly applied.

They should still do shit like that for "PPV's". Something needs to set them apart. If the PPV's start to feel like weekly program (as they are more and more), I will be inclined to cancel the sub and forget about it altogether.

I stopped weekly over a year ago and it increased my enjoyment of what I did watch when I watched PPV's. But if they get bland like weekly programming, yea....

[Maluco]

It's just another symptom of how boring and samesy it all is. It might be a small thing, but it's all those small things together that make the product to boring and unimaginative.

Making everything look the same is not going to help that

[Mr. Nerfect]

No, it's not, and it's a symptom of them needing to cut costs. I personally don't give a shit about pyro, but it reminds me of when the crowd was chanting "Fire Russo!" and Dixie Carter's response was to say "It wasn't even Russo who wrote that segment!". Um, there is a grander point here being missed...

[Sting Fan]

I have to agree with Road Dogg. I'm sure in three months nobody will care because we'll all be used to it.

A good chunk of wrestling fans seem to be very protective of what they watch and along with some of them wearing their nostalgia glasses, they don't like change unless it's change that they want.

When the ropes changed to white a few years back, some fans complained. About a month or so later, nobody cared about the ropes.

When the stages for Raw and SmackDown changed to the HD setup, people complained. Again, a month or so later, nobody cared.

When Titantrons were scrapped in favour of what we have now, people complained, but now nobody cares.

And I really don't need to go into detail about when changes are made to the designs of championships.

But that's (some) wrestling fans for you.

Personally, I will miss pyro and I'm sure guys like Kane and special appearances from, for example, Batista (if that ever happens) will have their pyro but to me, it's no big deal.

Anyway, with the amount of cold openings Raw done before the second split, I'm used to not seeing pyro all the time.


I admit I dont follow that avidly anymore but arent ratings down quite brutally across time? It seems a bit of a narrow view to think no one cares about those things if ratings are down.

I'm not saying thats necessarily the reason but any business taking a "they will get used to it approach" when one of its key metrics is falling seems short sighted to me.

[Emperor Smeat]

Yes for RAW but not really for Smackdown.

Them removing pyro is just going to make their usual show format even more bland or sterile going forward.

Cool King and WWE's Road Dogg are right about the complaints not being an issue after a while but WWE also keeps giving less reasons for people to stick around for the long term.

[RP]

I'm just going to be bummed when Renee Young gets fired next week.

[drave]

No, it's not, and it's a symptom of them needing to cut costs. I personally don't give a shit about pyro, but it reminds me of when the crowd was chanting "Fire Russo!" and Dixie Carter's response was to say "It wasn't even Russo who wrote that segment!". Um, there is a grander point here being missed...


Do you think they should attempt to make the PPV's "different" or stand out or anything?

Perhaps use pyro/effects ONLY on PPV's and/or mix up the set design just a bit. I dunno man, it is all starting to blend and become same same.

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

[KIRA]

Aww I'm gonna miss Talking Smack it figure when they have something genuine and enjoyable they ax it because that dinosaur Vince hates that its not heavily scripted bullshit

[Mr. Nerfect]

Do you think they should attempt to make the PPV's "different" or stand out or anything?

Perhaps use pyro/effects ONLY on PPV's and/or mix up the set design just a bit. I dunno man, it is all starting to blend and become same same.

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

Spending a bit of money on PPV shows to make them feel aesthetically different would go a long way to helping them stick in the memory. Maybe they don't always need to have completely unique sets or anything, but cool intro videos, specialized theme songs, different rope colors -- smaller genuine touches that don't require a whole load of money, but rather a little bit of creativity.

Pyro has its place in wrestling. Maybe not for every RAW or SmackDown or entrance, but if someone really calls for pyro -- give them pyro. It should come about organically as an aesthetic decision.

[XL]

I think we're potentially putting the cart before the horse; I agree that pyro and unique sets would help the appeal of PPV/specials but there's far more pressing issues that would help more.

The shoe-horning of feuds into gimmick matches to suit the theme of the PPV is a big issue for me. As are the throw-away multi-person matches, or rematches of luke-warm programmes (looking at you Mahal/Orton). Or needlessly racing through hot feuds.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, I don't think pyro is the biggest issue. It's just the attitude around the homogenization that bothers me. And the reason they need to cut costs is because their product is cold.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rollins channeling his inner chicken:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/50cc9c1682d0a18c3fc18a999a7de38c/tumblr_osatgw4jBn1v3mnbco1_400.gif

Fueled by the Kurt Angle reveal, Raw did its best numbers since April 17th, averaging 3.15 million viewers, a five percent increase over last week's show that went head-to-head with the Home Run Derby ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.14 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.24 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers


After months of speculation, the storyline surrounding Kurt Angle and his secret led to a revelation on Raw tonight: he has a son, and it’s none other than one half of American Alpha, Jason Jordan.

Angle made the announcement at the top of the third hour of Raw. He revealed that he had a relationship with a woman during his college years. They broke up, but nine months later she gave birth to a baby boy. The son was adopted to loving parents, with Angle being unaware of the pregnancy or the birth until recently, and eventually grew up to be Jordan, who he also announced as the newest member of the Raw roster.

CHAD GABLE COMMENTS ON JASON JORDAN'S REVEAL

Ummmmm..... what?
— Chad Gable (@WWEGable) July 18, 2017

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned the saga between Jason Jordan and Kurt Angle will be a central storyline on Raw over the next few months … however, his tag partner won’t be switching brands.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Jordan is set for a solid midcard level push following the reveal on Raw this week — in which Angle announced that Jason is his son — and his relationship with Kurt will grow as the Olympic athlete tries to be a father figure for Jason.

As for Jordan’s tag team American Alpha, it appears to be done for good. We’re told there aren’t any immediate plans to bring Chad Gable over to Raw.

Jerry Lawler announced that he'll be appearing on the Battleground pre-show on Sunday and on Talking Smack after the pay-per-view. Renee Young confirmed that she'll be hosting the show with him. That episode of Talking Smack will be the first since its weekly run ended.
Link to Lawler's tweet: https://twitter.com/JerryLawler/status/887159874517430272, Link to Renee's tweet: https://twitter.com/ReneeYoungWWE/status/887430304004276225

Taylor Wilde (who formerly wrestled in TNA) tweeted that she was considered for the Mae Young Classic but opted to stay in retirement after suffering an injury during training.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/TaylorWilde/status/887307014862508032

Ring of Honor announced today its next major event would be an iPPV on August 19th from Liverpool, England.

One match was announced for the show, a four-way elimination match for the ROH TV title with KUSHIDA defending against Dalton Castle, Hiromu Takahashi, and Marty Scurll.

The show will be called "War of the Worlds UK -- Liverpool," and will be available for $19.99 through the ROH website and FITE TV. It will start at 1 p.m. Eastern time on a Saturday afternoon and will be the company's first iPPV show outside of the U.S. or Canada, although they have also had streaming specials on New Japan World.

The iPPV is part of the War of the Worlds UK tour, with dates also scheduled for August 18th at York Hall in London and August 20th at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh, Scotland. Revolution Pro Wrestling's Summer Sizzler show is also set for York Hall on August 17th and is listed as a kickoff event for the tour.

After announcing that the show would be broadcast on iPPV, it didn't take long for Ring of Honor to reveal the main event of War of the Worlds UK: Liverpool.

It will be Cody Rhodes defending his ROH World Championship against Los Ingobernables de Japon member SANADA. Rhodes won the title at ROH's Best in the World pay-per-view last month when he defeated Christopher Daniels.

The G-1 tournament will continue on Thursday at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time from Korakuen Hall. That show has Kenny Omega vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano, Evil vs. Sanada, Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga and Juice Robinson vs. Satoshi Kojima. They did some teasing of some of those matches on today's show in Sapporo. Results are up, but people have been raving about today's first night of G-1.

We went into more detail on this on the show, but evidently the reason behind stripping Taya of her title without letting her know was part of a deal to bring Sexy Star back to AAA, as Sexy Star showed up as a surprise at AAA's tapings in Monterrey and won an elimination match for the Reina de Reinas title that Taya had until it was recently stripped from her for reasons that made no sense.
As expected, Taya was pissed on Twitter for both being stripped of the title and AAA not saying the reason why.

Lio Rush's final independent match before he starts with WWE will be on 8/12 for MCW in Joppa, MD. His last indie match will be in the same building where he started training only a few years ago.

At Friday's Mae Young Classic tapings, Triple H presented Sara Amato (Sara Del Rey) with a bouquet of flowers and credited her for starting the women's revolution in WWE. Stephanie McMahon wrote on Instagram: "#ThankYouSara for all of your sacrifices on the independent circuit all around the world, helping pave the way for women's wrestling, and ensuring its future as the first women's coach and assistant Head Coach in @wwe. #WeAreNXT #WomensWrestling #maeyoungclassic #WeAreReady"

What Culture Pro Wrestling announced that Will Ospreay will be facing Rey Mysterio at their Pro Wrestling World Cup show on August 23rd.

There is a major name on the free agent market in professional wrestling, and Sports Illustrated has learned that WWE and GFW/Impact are negotiating with Rey Mysterio.

Mysterio, 42, is currently seen on El Rey’s Lucha Underground. He is signed through the end of the third season, which is set to air in September, and would then be free to work with any company after his 90-day non-compete clause expires.
Link to the report: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/07/17/rey-mysterio-wwe-gfw-free-agent

There's speculation on WWE possibly trying to recruit 22 year old Iranian wrestler Hassan Yazdani, who won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic games. Yazdani was mentioned several times on last night's RAW as Ariya Daivari dedicated his win over Akira Tozawa to Yazdani, as seen below.

Tonight's match against @TozawaAkira is dedicated to Iranian wrestler Hassan Yazdani...
Can @AriyaDaivariWWE "make it a win"? #RAW #205Live pic.twitter.com/9kvAesd4Kf
— 205Live (@WWE205Live) July 18, 2017

After twenty-one years in the business, @TheMarkHenry discusses the next step in his @WWE career on #TableFor3! @WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/wXBsS09Tox
— WWE (@WWE) July 18, 2017

Above is video of Mark Henry talking to WWE Hall of Famers Ron Simmons and The Godfather on last night's "Table For 3" episode. Regarding his WWE future, Henry says his in-ring time is coming to an end as he goes from a talent to a behind-the-scenes employee in a few months. Henry talks about being focused on helping the company with new talents.

Regarding plans for the RAW Women's Title at WWE SummerSlam, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the title will no longer be defended in a Fatal 4 Way. No word yet on who Alexa Bliss will defend against but it looks to be a singles match. There have been rumors of Bliss vs. Nia Jax happening. As noted, next week's RAW will feature Sasha Banks vs. Bayley with the winner earning a SummerSlam shot from Bliss.

Emma expressed her frustration on Twitter last night about not being used on television.

Emma returned to action in mid-June after suffering a shoulder injury in early May. WWE teased a storyline with her and Dana Brooke during the Great Balls Of Fire Kickoff show last week but have yet to follow up on it.

During the Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss match on last night's RAW, Emma wrote, "watching Alexa Vs Bayley... Then Sasha and Nia.. Love watching others get more opportunities that I never get! Cool.."

Emma had signed a contract with WWE in 2011. She revealed her Emma ring name in August of 2012. She tweeted that she has been with the company for five years and was just sitting backstage at RAW.

You can check out Emma's tweets below:

Here in #WWENashville watching Alexa Vs Bayley... Then Sasha and Nia.. Love watching others get more opportunities that I never get! Cool..??
— EMMA (@EmmaWWE) July 18, 2017


Sitting backstage at #RAW on my 5yrs with @WWE... Happy Anniversary to me! ??#RAWNashville
— EMMA (@EmmaWWE) July 18, 2017

The first two nights of the 32-women Mae Young Classic tournament concluded on Friday. It was noted in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there were some people in WWE - the ones "who believe that WWE women all have to be hot" - that were not happy about the tournament. They reportedly felt that a lot of the women in it weren't good looking enough for WWE standards.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Next week is my one year anniversary of taking the <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse">@WWEUniverse</a> by storm, I should be celebrating on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash">#SDLive</a> but GM DB took that from me <a href="https://t.co/NYzotzKrU1">pic.twitter.com/NYzotzKrU1</a></p>&mdash; James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) <a href="https://twitter.com/realellsworth/status/887466103584280576">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Finn Balor posted a picture of the head gash he suffered from The Drifter's guitar shot on last night's RAW. https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/887131409172881408
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday was the 29th anniversary of the death of Bruiser Brody.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, there have been 46 title matches in the history of the Universal title so far with Kevin Owens competing in all except 3 matches. Brock Lesnar has the second most Universal title matches at 2. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6nuab5/the_first_universal_championship_match_was_330/
GFW recently announced they have extended their talent exchange partnership with Pro Noah Wrestling with more stars announced for upcoming GFW and NOAH shows. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/110986/gfw-announces-extended-partnership-with-pro-wrestling-noah.html?p=1
Recent blog posting by Jim Ross on his official blog talked about the Mae Young Classic, Angle-Jordan announcement, and Braun Strowman. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0718/628248/jim-ross-on-kurt-angle-and-jason-jordan/
Kevin Owens debunking rumors of adult photos of him being leaked online. https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/887146142294843394
WWE was warned recently of another batch of leaked adult photos and videos being made public soon. https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/887107666237173760
Chris Jericho revealed this Friday's episode of Talk Is Jericho will have Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest. https://twitter.com/talkisjericho/status/887175917864398848

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, I don't know how wise that move of Emma's is. They tried making her a star, but she couldn't pull it off. She's lucky to be there, given they fired her once.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Rey Mysterio would be a welcome attraction anywhere, but I can't really see where he fits into the current WWE landscape, to be honest.

[Juan]

He could be the star 205 Live needs

[Juan]

Neville and Mysterio could tear the house down

[Mr. Nerfect]

That seems natural.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

How is Rey's work right now? is he working his more plodding wwe style he worked towards the end of his run, or has the time off given him some more oomph?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I have the impression he's had more oomph, but I cannot bear witness to this myself. I don't imagine that anyone who hires him expects him to go full-time.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm just imagining a babyface team consisting of Chad Gable and Rey Mysterio going against The Usos.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Given the shit AAA pulled by screwing over Morrison and Taya, I can't imagine that either of them are long for the AAA/LU world. I imagine that Morrison is locked in, but I can see him getting out of it, because AAA are notoriously shit at contracts.

If he does, it wouldn't surprise me to see Morrison pop-up in the WWE for either a feud or partnership with The Miz.

[DAMN iNATOR]

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/07/19/shane-mcmahon-wwe-helicopter-crash-ocean-long-island

:eek:

[Big Vic]

Nothing compared to jumping off a 300 ft TitanTron

[Evil Vito]

Speaking of Rey, he'll be headlining a nearby indy show next month with Cody Rhodes.

That same promotion ran a show here in town last Friday that saw Cody and Ricochet have a banger of a main event. Jack Swagger and Dijak had a fun match earlier on the card too. I'd go see that promotion again.

[DaveWadding]

How is Rey's work right now? is he working his more plodding wwe style he worked towards the end of his run, or has the time off given him some more oomph?

The limited LU schedule really brought a lot of his swagger back. He's smaller now than he was at his WWE peak and he looks pretty great. Lemme dig up a recent LU match for you.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KpOPHiSn5yI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Given the shit AAA pulled by screwing over Morrison and Taya, I can't imagine that either of them are long for the AAA/LU world. I imagine that Morrison is locked in, but I can see him getting out of it, because AAA are notoriously shit at contracts.

If he does, it wouldn't surprise me to see Morrison pop-up in the WWE for either a feud or partnership with The Miz.

It's a work.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

thanks Dave, but it's not available in my country :'(

[drave]

thanks Dave, but it's not available in my country :'(


Download a browser addon called "Hola". It will let you get around any geo-location based DRM.

It will give you a little icon in the right-corner of your browser, you simply select what country you want to "spoof" your network settings from and viola.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I had Hola but the powers that be got wise to it :(

[drave]

huh? Your ISP?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

nah like there is just practices put in place to pwn Hola.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kofi Presenting the Goods to Whichever Uso This is:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/f8b6cc736f334a9821ddac1a37432af3/tumblr_otbannixVo1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Shane McMahon was rescued after the helicopter that he was traveling in had to make an emergency crash landing in the waters near Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York this morning.

McMahon and the helicopter's pilot were safely helped to shore by emergency responders after the helicopter went into the water around 10:30 a.m. ET. It was equipped with floats and both McMahon and the pilot were wearing life jackets. Neither were injured in the landing.

The helicopter departed from Westchester County Airport earlier in the morning. A mayday call was sent out before the crash landing and a commercial flight alerted the Federal Aviation Administration to it.

In continuing good ratings news for WWE, SmackDown was up three percent from last week to an average of 2.548 million viewers on Tuesday night.

The episode finished second for the night on cable behind The Rachel Maddow Show but was first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.81 rating ...

In year-over-year comparisons, SmackDown was actually down 20 percent, although last year's show was the live draft special which kicked off the current brand split and featured wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown.

Brock Lesnar is quietly back in the USADA testing pool for UFC, meaning that rumors about him potentially returning to fight have some substance.

Rumors broke today claiming that Lesnar and Paul Heyman were at the UFC offices over International Fight Week and talking about him fighting in Madison Square Garden on November 4th. That date would be impossible because Lesnar had a one-year suspension for two failed drug tests for Hydroxy-Clomiphene which dates back to his final positive test on July 9th.

Lesnar's one-year suspension was frozen in mid-February, meaning that he has five months left, putting a return to UFC competition at mid-December at the earliest.

Lesnar announced his retirement, meaning he was also out of the USADA testing pool.

Much of the story was denied to us, including Heyman being in the offices, however those in UFC did confirm the obvious interest in Lesnar fighting again if he would choose to do so. Putting himself back in the pool means Lesnar, who just turned 40, at least has some interest in fighting again.


Regarding Lesnar's status with WWE, Lesnar's contract is set to expire not long after WrestleMania 34 in 2018 and Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that he's already made it clear to WWE officials that he currently does not plan on re-signing. PWS adds that Lesnar has re-entered the USADA testing pool so he can make the right decision about his career once his WWE contract is up - return to MMA or re-sign with WWE.

Paige could potentially be facing charges stemming from the domestic violence incident with Alberto El Patron that took place at the Orlando International Airport earlier this month.

In a story that was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet, detectives at the Orlando Police Department have found that probable cause exists to charge Paige with domestic battery. The information has been forwarded to the state attorney's office for review and to decide if charges will be filed.

The investigation into El Patron is still ongoing.

After initially claiming that her and El Patron were the ones to get police involved, Paige released a statement on Twitter last week that said she was the one who was held for potential battery charges after throwing a drink at El Patron. Police noted that El Patron was the only suspect listed at that time.

WWE has a zero-tolerance policy regarding domestic violence. The policy states that a performer would immediately be suspended if they're arrested for such a matter. Upon a conviction, the performer would immediately be terminated. WWE also maintains the right to fine, suspend, or terminate a wrestler if "incontrovertible evidence of such illegal misconduct" is presented to them.

The G1 continues overnight with the first B Block show taking place at Korakuen Hall at 5:30 a.m. ET. It has an interesting styles clash in the main event with Kenny Omega taking on Minoru Suzuki. The full card is:

Omega vs. Suzuki
Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano
SANADA vs. EVIL
Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga
Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson
YOSHI-HASHI & Jado vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo
Kota Ibushi & Hirai Kawato vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado


Johnny Mundo went off on Vampiro over how AAA handled Taya being stripped of the Reina de Reinas title and Sexy Star returning and winning it: "The locker room thinks you, @vampiro_vampiro are a 2 faced lying d*uche bag who believes his own lies- #OfficeStooge -RT if you're with us"
Link to the tweets and response from Vampiro: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0719/628269/johnny-mundo-calls-vampiro-a-two-faced-lying-d-che-bag-over-taya/

During today's media conference call, Jeremy Borash announced that former Lucha Underground champion and WWE star John "Morrison/Mundo" Hennigan would debut for Global Force Wrestling during the company's live events in the Northeast the weekend of 8/5-8/7. The promotion has dates in Long Island, NY, Bridgeport, CT and Staten Island, NY that weekend.

Borash also announced that Drago (who debuted at Slammiversary), Taya Valkrie and Dave & Jake Crist would be working live events for the company as well but did not specify that Northeast weekend.

Jeremy Borash did a media conference call on Wednesday, where he revealed Gail Kim will be transitioning to a behind the scenes role in Global Force Wrestling.

"This may be known but we are happy to have on board as an agent for Impact Wrestling, who will be helping with our Knockouts, Gail Kim. Who announced that she would be retiring at the end of this year," said Borash.

"So she's going to be taking on a more behind-the-scenes role. Everybody may not know but Gail and I had a very strong friendship for the last decade," JB continued. "I obviously do stuff with her husband Robert Irvine, the chef. And she has an incredible mind and really somebody that's going to take the Knockouts to the next level. So she's in Orlando and Tampa training gals that you're seeing."

On the subject of contracts, the newest series of GFW contracts require talent to give 10 percent of their independent bookings back to the company, as well as 100 percent of their merchandise sold through the company.

Triple H announced the following theme songs for WWE NXT "Takeover: Brooklyn III" today: "Bleeding in the Blur" by Code Orange, "Poison Pens" by Creeper and "No Fear" by Phil Ade featuring Saba Abraha & Tate Kobang. He posted this look at the themes:

.@WWENXT is new blood. @codeorangekids, @creepercultuk & @philademusic are #NXTLOUD. pic.twitter.com/DVsDUZkrHv
— Triple H (@TripleH) July 19, 2017

WZ has learned that another reason why WWE decided to pull Taking Smack as a weekly series was due to cost in addition to low viewership. Sources note the show required its own production truck to produce live on a weekly basis, so the more expensive cost of the truck and show production, coupled with the fact that the show did not have strong viewership on the WWE Network, lead to its removal from the Tuesday night lineup.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry folks, next week after <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SmackdownLive?src=hash">#SmackdownLive</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/ReneeYoungWWE">@ReneeYoungWWE</a> and I will host a pirate version of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TalkingSmack?src=hash">#TalkingSmack</a> on TOUT <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fakenews?src=hash">#fakenews</a></p>&mdash; Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/887536622916354048">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of The Ross Report podcast show had Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/The-Ross-Report
This week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show was revealed to be AJ Styles. https://twitter.com/EandCPod/status/887685279322173440
In a "WWE Did You Kow" type fact, The Maharaja celebrated his 31st birthday today and the WWE's new Brand Split Era celebrated its first anniversary.
In another sign of poor ticket sales for Battlegrounds, John Cena recently pleaded for people to go to the event on Twitter. https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/887742679160958980
Fortune had a recent interview with Stephanie McMahon who revealed social media played a big role in the WWE dropping the term "Divas" for their women wrestlers. http://fortune.com/2017/07/18/wwe-diva-brainstorm-tech/
Recent episode of Fan Theory podcast show had Charlotte as the guest talking about her career, her family, and future goals for her career. http://www.app.com/story/entertainment/events/fan-theory/2017/07/19/charlotte-flair-talks-wwe-success-family-legacy-and-whos-next/488329001/
GFW announced they will be debuting a new post-Impact show called After Impact and debuts tomorrow. https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/887776396868812801
Wrestling DVD Network recently posted the opening video to WWE's upcoming DVD/BR set for Kurt Angle called Kurt Angle: The Essential Collection. Set itself arrives on July 31st for UK and August 1st for US. http://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/watch-intro-wwe-kurt-angle-the-essential-collection-dvd/138980/
WWE currently holding a 40% Off sale on clearance items on their official online store from now till 11:59pm EST tomorrow. Discount code is SALE40.
Australian news website News.com.au had a recent interview with Sasha Banks talking about watching WWE's women's wrestling as a kid, next milestone for the division, and Peyton Royce and Billie Kay's potential as future stars. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0719/628296/sasha-banks-on-wanting-to-main-event-wrestlemania/
Tampa Bay radio show 102.5 The Bone's Drew Garabo Live had a recent interview with Samoa Joe talking about helping Cena get a job in the WWE, Reason for him signing a deal with WWE, and Triple H. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0719/628271/samoa-joe-on-helping-john-cena-get-wwe-job/

[Maluco]

Lol, Bryan loves a TOUT joke...and I laugh everytime too

[Mr. Nerfect]

Bryan does not give a fuck.

[DaveWadding]

thanks Dave, but it's not available in my country :'(

https://windscribe.com/vpn-for-chrome

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Clothesline Appreciation Day:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/9a226e2d77cce6d76606832f7b80a64b/tumblr_otd8bei5Ne1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Jason Jordan was only told about the “Kurt Angle’s son” angle last week, according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. However, it appears that it may have been the plan all along, with rumors last month that a major angle was being set up involving American Alpha.

Chris "Donovan" Dijak, who was one of a group of wrestlers that included Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, that WWE pulled contract offers from after legal threats from ROH back in January, is headed to WWE like the aforementioned pair.

Dijak said on the New Age Insiders podcast that he will be finishing up his independent bookings and has since listed that various shows over the next month will be his final events working with different promotions ...

After getting WWE offers, he opted not to sign a new ROH deal in February, and his career has been on hold since, waiting for WWE's time frame on offering him a deal.

PWI reports he will be heading to WWE's Performance Center next month.

Perhaps to protect herself before WWE grabs a hold of it or its just coincidence, Mae Young Classic competitor Shayna Bazler registered to trademark her "Queen of Spades" nickname.

In an interview with Complex.com, John Cena talked about why he is suddenly a free agent in WWE.

He said:

"The reason that I wanted to be a free agent and the reason they kind of granted my request is because I don’t know if I’ll be available for Smackdown specific only or Raw specific only, and I also know that my days are numbered. I just turned 40 in April and we have so many young and talented performers, I don’t know how many years I have left. So in the time I have left, I’m gonna do what I can to dedicate to this company I just want to be able to do it the most time that I possibly can."

He was also asked about whether he would stay on with WWE after he hung up the boots:

"If the day comes when I’m not involved with the WWE that would come as a drastic surprise to me. I would certainly understand it because we all have our career paths and nothing lasts forever but WWE has been my family for the past 15 years and I’ve been very vocal about my passion and love for not just my time in the ring as a wrestler, but the company itself, what it stands for, the people that work for. I literally would do whatever they asked me to. In whatever capacity I can help the company I would love to do so."
Link to the interview: http://www.complex.com/sports/2017/07/john-cena-tapout-body-spray-interview

IWGP US Champion Kenny Omega and Jim Cornette seem to be having a war of words on Twitter yet again . After the legendary manager had twitter exchanges with fans discussing The Cleaner's recent exploits in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Jim then wrote the following:

So you're saying @KennyOmegamanX is such a weak, ineffective, pussy of a wrestler he physically can't make an 8 year old girl cry. #TRUTH https://t.co/ty7CLp5qQn
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) July 20, 2017

Being tagged in this Omega had the following response to Cornette:

I like you, Jim, but if you want to bury me, please don't tag me in it. We just started the G1 and I can't have this polluting my TL. Thanks
— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) July 20, 2017


More of your idiot fans needed slapped down. You polluted my eyeballs w/your blowup doll match. BTW how's the lil' girl you couldn't beat? https://t.co/fNHj4jLEmx
— Jim Cornette (@TheJimCornette) July 20, 2017
Link with more tweets: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0720/628320/jim-cornette-says-it-too-late-for-kenny-omega-to-be-respected-as/

In a follow up to yesterday's story concerning Brock Lesnar and a possible UFC return, MMAFighting.com is reporting that Lesnar has not re-entered the USADA drug-testing pool according to UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky. Lesnar must send written notice to both the USADA and UFC announcing his intention to come out of retirement before the process can start to get him back into MMA. At that point, he will have to serve the remaining six months of his USADA suspension, which he was given after a positive drug test last year before his fight with Mark Hunt.

It should be noted that the USADA did not responded to the outlet for comment.
Link to the report: https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/7/19/16001688/ufc-exec-brock-lesnar-has-not-re-entered-usada-drug-testing-pool-suspension-still-frozen

In an update on Brock Lesnar not wanting to renew his WWE contract past WrestleMania 34 in April, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports Lesnar's WWE deal has a renewal option.

Lesnar's contract with WWE does end in April 2018 but it renews if neither side informs the other they are ending the agreement, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Brock has yet to say he's leaving and reportedly has not made a decision on his future at this time.

Shane McMahon tweeted the following to all of the people who sent him best wishes after his emergency helicopter landing. He got a LOT of them, believe me.

I am humbled by the outpouring of love and good wishes. Feeling so blessed and grateful today.
— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 20, 2017


Today, WWE revealed Emma's bikini photo shoot. The WWE Star made news earlier this week after venting on not being used on TV, while it was also her five year anniversary with the company. You can check out her tweets below:
Link to the article: http://www.wwe.com/gallery/emma-bikini-swimsuit-photos#fid-40119773

Former TNA World Champion Magnus is no longer with Global Force Wrestling, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The report states Magnus, whose real name is Nick Aldis, turned down GFW's latest contract offer. He reportedly worked the most-recent television tapings in Orlando, Florida under a handshake deal so the company could "protect the lineage of the GFW title," which he lost to Alberto El Patron.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that most of the new contracts GFW has signed with talent gives them ten percent of the independent date money the talent makes. In addition, it's reported talent doesn't get a cut of merchandise sold with their likeness if it's sold directly by GFW.

With so many tickets left on sale, they discounted Battleground’s least expensive tickets last week. The $125 seats have been cut to $75. The $75 tickets have been cut to $55 and the $55 tickets have been cut to $25. They are pushing you can get into see the show for just $25. Even with Cena, the Smackdown PPV shows are harder to sell tickets for than the Raw shows, and even though Philadelphia is an historically good wrestling market, the Wells Fargo Center would hold around 15,000 seats for a PPV making it larger than most venues they run in.
Currently on track to be the worst performing PPV for the new Brand Split Era.

The situation with Taya and her losing her Reina de Reinas title is even weirder than it seemed last week. The story actually dates back to when Johnny Mundo was being brought to Mexico for a photo shoot with all three of his belts. They said they were doing shoots with all the belts and asked Mundo to bring Taya’s belt with him when he came in. Then when he was there, they said they needed to shoot more photos with the Reina de Reinas belt, so asked him to leave the belt there so they could do that. Then, when they had possession of the belt back, they announced that Taya had been stripped of the title because she used a choke when she won the title from Ayako Hamada (which was back on 4/21 in Tijuana in what has been called the company’s best match of the year) and that the title could only change hands via pin or submission. Yes, they tried to argue a choke wasn’t a submission as their storyline reason for stripping her of the title. Keep in mind it was two months after the match, and worse, the Taya-Hamada match was a no DQ street fight. The public got on Vampiro’s case since he’s the figurehead and he was the one who made the announcement, as when AAA made the announcement, they may not have even remembered it was a no DQ match. Vampiro tried to babyface himself on Facebook and try to quell things with Taya since the company looked bad. But then at the TV tapings over the weekend in Monterrey, Sexy Star returned, which nobody knew was happening and she left with very bad feelings toward AAA for walking about after being asked to lose a match and drop the mixed tag team titles she was part of ...

What makes that notable is that they also want Mundo to drop his titles which are the AAA Mega heavyweight, the cruiserweight and the Latin American heavyweight to Mascara de Bronce. Bronce had their version of a Money in the Bank briefcase, although he may not have it now since there was a winner gets the briefcase match on the 7/16 TV tapings where Mascara de Bronce lost to Kross. I don’t know how he’ll handle this but I can’t imagine he would be happy about any of this
Some new details regarding the situation between Johnny Mundo/Taya and AAA/Vampiro which likely played a big role in Mundo wanting out of Lucha Underground and AAA.

There’s a really notable power play going on with CMLL telling ROH that as partners they shouldn’t allow their contracted talent work at The Crash because they consider it their territory. The ROH wrestlers who are under exclusive deals like the Young Bucks, Cody, Jay Lethal, Silas Young, the Briscoes and others, aren’t allowed to work anywhere in the U.S. except PWG, but they’ve been able to work outside the U.S. and Ontario. But the pressure by CMLL is to make that also include Mexico. Some are unhappy because CMLL isn’t giving them bookings but is costing them bookings and Crash pays foreigners better than CMLL

Pete Dunne noted on Twitter that he’s looking for more bookings in September and October. There is still no word on the WWE doing the weekly U.K. show. As noted before, they had buildings booked starting in June for regular tapings and then pulled out. It’s pretty clear the entire U.K. division and signing the talent was to keep ITV from getting a foothold and the best young talent. Now they’ve got guys under contract who are actually quite good but they aren’t using them. They also spent a ton to bring Jim Ross back, and his major job was to host that show

We believe WWE is being significantly underpaid in its current Raw / SmackDown deal,” BTIG analyst Brandon Ross wrote in the new report, which notes that the two shows generate a staggering 260 hours of original programming a year a big ratings for USA Network. Ross estimates that USA Network is presently paying $140 million a year for its WWE broadcast rights and speculates that a new deal with USA, Facebook or other potential tech suitors could fetch $400 million or more.
:lol: WWE is not going to get anything close to that for their next tv deal. For some reference, WWE wanted somewhere around $400-$800 million for their last tv deal. Link to the article: http://awfulannouncing.com/wwe/analyst-suggests-wwe-move-live-programming-facebook.html


Some other sheet news includes:

Mattel's big announcement at San Diego Comic Con was the announcement of a new series of WWE women wrestling action figures. The new series is targeted at girls and more similar to fashion models or Barbie dolls. More details from WrestleInc: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0720/628325/wwe-launches-girls-product-line/
Sega and WWE announce a new game for mobile devices called WWE Tap Mania.
At The Shore had a recent interview with Kevin Owens talking about AJ Styles and his ideal Mania opponent. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0720/628321/kevin-owens-on-why-he-doesnt-like-working-with-aj-styles/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Bret Hart talking about SummerSlam 1992 and playing a good guy in wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0720/628315/bret-hart-on-losing-perfectly-to-the-british-bulldog-at/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has currently wrestled the most matches this year in the WWE at 100 matches with Jinder Mahal #2 at 99 matches. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6ogxmx/won_after_his_latest_match_on_smackdown_against/
Bad Luke Fale announced NJPW will be launching a new official distributor for NJPW merch called Silver Lion. https://twitter.com/TOKSFALE/status/888013314831261697
According to the Observer, Rey Mysterio's son has started training for a possible career in wrestling.

[DaveWadding]

According to the Observer, <s>Rey Mysterio</s> Eddie Guerrero's son has started training for a possible career in wrestling.


FIXED

[Juan]

Mysterio talked about that on the Ross Report a few months ago

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Man Cornette Hates the Most this Week:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/437450df9a56191464dce2e928fc782c/tumblr_ote2z8Gsee1u1ljrzo2_540.gif

Alberto El Patron is no longer considered a suspect in the domestic violence incident that took place at the Orlando International Airport earlier this month.

As Pro Wrestling Sheet first reported, the Orlando Police Department's investigation into the incident ended with them finding that only Paige should be charged for domestic battery. That information has been forwarded to the state attorney's office for review and to decide whether charges will be filed.

Paige had previously claimed that she threw a drink at El Patron and was the one who was held for potential battery charges.

Global Force Wrestling has yet to indicate whether the Orlando PD's findings mean that El Patron's suspension will now be lifted. He had been suspended indefinitely until the resolution of the investigation.

WWE's zero-tolerance policy regarding domestic violence states that Paige would immediately be suspended if she were arrested for such a matter. If she were convicted, she would immediately be terminated.


The WWE Network has begun uploading episodes of World Class Championship Wrestling from 1982 and 1983.

The forthcoming WWE book by Ric Flair and Charlotte, "Second Nature" will be released on 9/19. The book was co-authored by Brian Shields, who has done great work on WWE books in the past, including the first two versions of the WWE Encyclopedia.

The 7/20 edition of Impact did 322,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 374,000 overnight viewers.

WWE filed a response to the most recent version of the lawsuit filed against them by Scott "Raven" Levy and Marcus Bagwell on 6/29 in the United States District Court of Connecticut in regard to allegations that WWE owes them royalties from usage of material featuring their work in matches and segments from WCW and WWE on the WWE Network. As you might imagine, WWE pretty much reiterated that the two are not due any royalties from WWE Network and argued that the case has no merit.

WWE star Darren Young is expected to be cleared to return to the ring next month.

Young underwent surgery back in January after suffering an elbow injury during a WWE Main Event episode in a bout against Epico in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Orlando Sentinel reporting that the man that was shot outside of the Performance Center a few years ago has been deemed incompetent to proceed in the aggravated assault trial against him.
Link to the article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-armando-montalvo-incompetent-to-proceed-20170720-story.html

Nikki Bella did announce that John Cena and herself have set a wedding date but she did not divulge to the crowd when that was. Nikki also revealed that her neck is injured due to it not fusing properly and is waiting for it to heal. Bella says she hopes to get back in the ring soon

A new "Table For 3" with Corey Graves, Renee Young and WWE Hall of Famer Lita will air on the WWE Network after Monday's RAW goes off the air. Below is the synopsis:

"Renee Young, Corey Graves, and Lita dish on everything from career triumphs to their love of Pee-Wee Herman in a fun-filled Table for 3."

Matt Sydal suffered a dislocated shoulder at the most recent GFW Impact tapings, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Sydal worked an indie match last week in Israel but was limited in the ring. He is scheduled to face Ricochet at a UK indie show tonight. No word yet on details of the injury but it may have happened in the last match of the tapings, which saw Sydal team with X Division Champion Sonjay Dutt and World Champion Alberto El Patron to take on Trevor Lee, Low Ki and Bobby Lashley.

The GFW Bound For Glory pay-per-view is currently scheduled for Sunday, November 5th, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. GFW is also planning a run of Impact live events for the Midwest this coming October. As noted, the company will run their first live events since the fall of 2014 beginning early next month in Connecticut & New York.

Above is video of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon speaking at Fortune's Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado this past Tuesday. Stephanie commented on how the "Divas" name was once a good name for the WWE women's division, relating it to "divas of soul" Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. She also talks about how push-back from social media led to the re-branding of the division. Stephanie says the female Superstars have become a focal point of WWE programming since the re-branding.

Triple H noted that the women's TV segments are often the highest-rated segments across the board, almost on a weekly basis.
Link to the video: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628354/triple-h-stephanie-mcmahon-talk-women-revolution/

After recent spoofs on Walker, Texas Ranger and The X Files, WWE has a new poll asking fans which 90s TV show would they like to see get the "Fashion Files" treatment from Tyler Breeze and Fandango next. As of this writing, 31% voted for the crew of Star Trek's USS Enterprise while 30% voted for the vampire hunters of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 27% with Tim Taylor & Al Borland of Home Improvement and the rest voted for the doctors of ER.

The WWE website has posted photos of new figures revealed by Mattel at the San Diego Comic Con on Thursday at this link. New figures include firsts for James Ellsworth, Ember Moon, Jack Gallagher, Tye Dillinger, Braun Strowman, Elias Samson and others. Ellsworth tweeted the following on his first figure:

Hey @Mattel this is really cool, my first @wwe action figure, I collected all as a kid, now I have my own, finally some #JusticeForEllsworth pic.twitter.com/0r4WoWsy6m
— James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) July 20, 2017

WWE Home Video will be releasing "Iconic Matches" DVDs for John Cena, Finn Balor and Roman Reigns on October 17th, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. The DVDs can be pre-ordered for $12.35 each via Amazon

On episode 142 of Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, professional broadcaster and sports entertainment enthusiast Sam Roberts spoke with WWE United States Champion AJ Styles. During the conversation, Styles talked about WWE's Southpaw Regional Wrestling and divulged that he will be appearing on the second season of the parody show.

According to Styles, he recently did some work on Southpaw Regional Wrestling and it is one of 'The Phenomenal One''s most favorite things he has done in WWE.

"I just did something recently that is on the top of my list of very funny things, Southpaw Regional Wrestling. Oh my God…"

Styles insinuated that he portrays a car salesman from Louisiana called Malibu Al on an upcoming season of SRW.
Link with more from the interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628338/aj-styles-to-appear-on-new-southpaw-regional-wrestling-season/

A WWE source is strongly denying Sports Illustrated's report that Talking Smack was canceled because Vince McMahon was not pleased with the show and it did not serve the company's best interests, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The report explains if that were true, Vince would have canceled Talking Smack outright instead of continuing to air it after pay-per-views. Moving forward, the series will continue, but with the lower watched Tuesday episodes being canceled.

Vince McMahon doesn't hate Talking Smack, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but he does not watch it either. He gets a weekly report about the series every Wednesday. One segment Vince was reportedly unhappy with was when The New Day appeared on the series right after Kofi Kingston got cleared on the May 23, 2017 episode. This ended up being their Tuesday night debut and Vince felt their first appearance on Tuesday should have been on SmackDown.

Buddy Murphy may have suffered an ankle or leg injury at Thursday's WWE NXT live event in Cocoa, Florida, according to multiple correspondents in attendance.

During the main event, which saw Hideo Itami & The Velveteen Dream defeat Murphy & Kassius Ohno, Murphy went down early in the match after landing bad on his ankle.

A WWE trainer came down and talked to Murphy for a minute but our correspondent noted that it looked like Murphy wanted to stay in the match. Referee Drake Wuertz came down a few minutes after the trainer and talked to Murphy, apparently talking him into going to the back to get checked out. Murphy left before the half-way point of the match, forcing Ohno to work the match by himself.
Link to the article: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628333/wwe-nxt-superstar-possibly-injured-at-live-event/


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="no" dir="ltr">Luke Harper <a href="https://t.co/Ol4uBFBzt1">https://t.co/Ol4uBFBzt1</a></p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/888525382764318720">July 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

ROH is currently selling tickets for October's Global Wars tour for those interested and in the US/Canada. http://www.rohwrestling.com/product/global-wars-buffalo
During this week's San Diego Comic Con, Brie Bella mentioned about wanting to make an in-ring return for the WWE. https://twitter.com/TheEricGoldman/status/888124848370667523
Rumor going around the net involves Daniel Bryan getting very comfortable not wrestling anymore due to Talking Smack and Brie Bella convincing him it would be the best for both to be retired. Was rumored to even be interested in extending his WWE deal to do more non-wrestling stuff but now that's up in the air since both of his reasons to be retired are now gone.
Delaware radio show 105.9's Rob Petree on Eagle 977 had a recent interview with Seth Rollins talking about the Universal Title, Rock, and his greatest WWE rival. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628367/seth-rollins-on-the-rock-and-referring-to-him-as-an-old-man/
NJPW held a recent interview with Tetsuya Naito talking about the G1 Climax tournament and Kota Ibushi. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628365/tetsuya-naito-on-kota-ibushi-going-to-wwe-and-not-being-worthy/
USA Today had a recent interview with Jinder Mahal talking about Drew McIntyre, wanting 3MB to return, and John Cena. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628356/jinder-mahal-reveals-who-he-wants-to-face-at-wwe-summerslam/
Former WWE wrestler Ryback is currently dealing with online backlash related to sexist comments he made about Charlotte and WWE's women's division. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0721/628335/ryback-responds-to-claims-that-he-sexist-following-comments-from/
During the recent episode of Edge & Christian podcast show with AJ Styles as the guest, Styles revealed he came up with the idea for the standoff with Nakamura at Money in the Bank in order to convince Vince that fans would love a big feud/match between the two.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Daryl Appreciation Day:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/785b0882f2fb520e213135a4720debe5/tumblr_orytroKR9M1qf7xjao1_500.gif

Raw numbers dropped only three percent from last week's three-month high for the show coming off Battleground.

Raw averaged 3.06 million viewers, making it the most-watched show on cable television, beating Rachel Meadow on MSNBC at 2.91 million viewers, and beating everything except ABC, CBS, and NBC.

This is the third straight week that Raw has averaged at least three million viewers, which is the first time that's happened since April ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.16 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.13 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.92 million viewers

In terms of rankings, didn't get the top spot since that went to the ghost of Nitro called Love & Hip Hop show. Also in terms of comparisons, same week last year had around 272k more viewers.

As noted, AJ Styles was a heavy betting favorite in his match against Kevin Owens at this past Sunday's WWE Battleground pay-per-view once the smart money came in. The betting odds are usually accurate when the smart money is in, and Styles was the only favorite to lose his match on Sunday.

The finish of the match was awkward, which saw Owens roll Styles over while in the Crossface as a groggy referee counted three. Styles legitimately looked confused, and as noted yesterday, he stayed in the ring after the match and seemed upset. Because of the strange finish, there was some speculation that Styles might not have gotten his shoulder up in time and may have only heard the referee's hand hit the mat twice. Referees are supposed to call the match like a shoot, which would have resulted in the three count and title change.

According to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Radio, the correct person ended up winning, however the finish of the match was changed after the match had started. Alvarez said that the finish was changed in the middle of the match and not at the end. It's not known why the change was made, but the decision was made to have Owens win before the finish.

After she did some of the interviews on Raw last night, it seems that Renee Young will be on both Raw and SmackDown going forward. She posted a photo with Charly Caruso on Instagram and wrote: "Dream team back in the (RAW) hiiiizouse!!! @charlycarusowwe (and yes, I'll still be on Smackdown)"
Link to the Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BW85uS6FHwx/?taken-by=reneeyoungwwe&hl=en

John Cena and Roman Reigns have continued to build to a future match on Twitter. Reigns initially posted about the Philly crowd being quiet at Battleground, calling himself "The Big Fight" and saying that the crowd better bring their best when they return. Cena responded with: "Pride...always comes before the fall. Don't get too far ahead of yourself young man. But if U want a BigFight careful what u wish for... #RAW" Reigns told Cena to come to his yard if he wants to face him.

Brandon Howard has an article for Fightful that looks at which wrestlers in the women's division are getting the most views on YouTube. Nikki Bella (22), Alexa Bliss (22), and Bayley (19) were featured in the most videos with over 500,000 views from January 29th to July 10th of this year. Eleven of Bella's videos also included John Cena, though she hasn't been on TV since WrestleMania.
Link to the article: http://www.fightful.com/exclusive-nikki-bella-alexa-bliss-are-female-top-performers-wwe-youtube-views

Matt Hardy wrote about the ongoing legal situation with Anthem: "FUN FACT-Myself, Jeff & Reby spent $2500 & 4 days creating The Final Deletion set, with ZERO help from TNA, as it was our vision & creation."
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/889964648744722432?s=09

What Culture Pro Wrestling announced that they're bringing back their "Loaded" series, which had been canceled after YouTube's changes to how wrestling promotions can monetize their content. The next episode will debut on their subscription service on August 3rd, then will be on Twitch on August 4th before coming to YouTube on August 5th.
Link to the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypPH37tDgfQ

One of the reasons there was so little heat for the last two matches last night is that they put tickets for the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia on sale at the box office at 10:45 p.m., and hundreds of fans left to get in line for tickets rather than watch the last two matches.
:lol: at WWE doing this while a PPV was going on.

The WWE Network has added six new 1986 house show from the Boston Garden:

1/11: Roddy Piper & Bob Orton vs. Bruno Sammartino & Paul Orndorff, Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage, Terry Funk vs. Pedro Morales
2/8: Bruno Sammartino vs. Roddy Piper cage match, Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco, Tito Santana vs. Randy Savage, Hart Foundation vs. Killer Bees
5/24: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage
6/27: Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage, Paul Orndorff vs. Don Muraco, JYD vs. King Kong Bundy
9/6: Randy Savage vs. George Steele, British Bulldogs vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
10/4: Big Machine & Super Machine & Piper Machine (Blackjack Mulligan & Bill Eadie & Roddy Piper) vs. King Kong Bundy & John Studd & Bobby Heenan, Tito Santana vs. Harley Race


Finn Balor may have gotten banged up on Friday night's show in Fayetteville as he was wearing kinesio tape on his surgically repaired shoulder at last night's house show in Hampton.
His appearance on RAW last night ended up confirming rumors of him being injured. Doesn't seem to be as serious as his prior shoulder injury.

Kurt Angle answered a question about how he prepared himself for the Jason Jordan reveal on Raw: "I thought to myself what it would be like to see my son Kody for the first time ever, and didn't know it for 20 years. I thought if it were real, how would I feel?" He also wrote about Austin Aries' release: "I'm sure that neither side was happy. Austin is a very very talented wrestler. Love his style."
Link to the posting: https://www.facebook.com/realkurtangle/posts/10156426292138047?comment_id=10156426979198047&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D

With WWE scheduled to report their second quarter earnings for 2017 this Thursday, WWE released SEC filings that reveal a number of WWE executives recently sold WWE stock.

Kevin Dunn (83,737 shares), Michelle Wilson(81,951), George Barrios (81,856), Michael Luisi (13,601), Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque (10,417 each), selling at an average price of $21.29 per share.
Due to the timing of the sales, being seen as a very bad sign for the report. Rumor going around the net involves the WWE doing a batch of talent releases by the end of the week and Emma rumored to be among those being gone.

It was noted to me by several people that the company has cut back on production staff at TV of late, including stagehands and camera crew personnel.

Davey Richards announced the following this afternoon on Twitter:

Thank you to everyone @IMPACTWRESTLING !! Keep watching every Thursday night @PopTV !! pic.twitter.com/9EppwS9Hjj
— Wesley Richards (@RichardsWesley) July 24, 2017

Global Force Wrestling announced today that in addition to John Hennigan, TaGya and Drago will be working the promotion's announced live events in the Northeast next month.

GFW is running 8/4 in Long Island, NY at the Sports Arena in St. James, 8/5 in Staten Island, NY and 8/6 in Bridgeport, CT.

Daryl, the stuffed cat that Hiromu Takahashi has been carrying around, was ripped to shreds by Fale at this morning's G1 show. Fale posted an edited tribute video to Daryl, with it ending with him destroying the cat. Kenny Omega tweeted: "An extremely emotional and touching tribute. Bullet Club offers to cover any and all funeral expenses for your... ummm... thing. #RIPDARYL"


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Finn Balor celebrated his 36th birthday today. Balor gave thanks to everyone who sent him happy birthday messages. https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/889961442652377089
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kofi Kingston became the first wrestler in WWE history to win the WWE, World, Raw, and SmackDown tag titles. https://twitter.com/Maffewgregg/status/889889333687275520
In a third "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Jinder Mahal is one day away from having a longer WWE title reign than all of Daniel Bryan's combined WWE reigns. If he holds the belt for another month, he will have surpassed both Big Show and Jericho's combined time with the WWE/Undisputed belt. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6pj0id/as_of_tomorrow_jinder_mahals_wwe_championship/
In a final "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Asuka is only 4 days away from having the 3rd longest title reign in modern WWE. She can become #1 all-time for the modern era if she retains at Takeover Brooklyn III. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6pjmac/asuka_is_4_days_away_from_passing_the_new_day_for/
ROH recently gave their reactions and paid tribute to the demise of NJPW's stuffed cat called Daryl. http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ring-honor-officials-comment-passing-daryl
Ringside Collectable had a recent interview with Becky Lynch talking about the Four Horsewomen, WWE's women's division, and Mae Young Classic. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0725/628481/becky-lynch-on-wanting-a-tlc-match-and-women-tag-titles/
New blog posting by Jim Ross at his official blog talked about the Flag and Punjabi Prison matches at Battlegrounds, wrestling fans passion, and Natty winning the #1 contenders match. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0725/628479/jim-ross-on-the-punjabi-prison-match/

[TheTerminator]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j1CIO91OBUA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

WWE should do more intergender matches like this right here!

Enjoy!

[Big Vic]

In a third "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Jinder Mahal is one day away from having a longer WWE title reign than all of Daniel Bryan's combined WWE reigns. If he holds the belt for another month, he will have surpassed both Big Show and Jericho's combined time with the WWE/Undisputed belt. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6pj0id/as_of_tomorrow_jinder_mahals_wwe_championship/

DB's first 2 reigns were shorter than Kane's 1 WWF title run.

[TheTerminator]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j1CIO91OBUA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Check this awesome match out ladies and gentlemen and its worth a watch!

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Nakamura's Artistic Interpretation of Cena:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/a295c4019f2342ea741a6a59a3bd04bf/tumblr_otoczfAzYV1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The dark match from last night's Smackdown taping saw Jinder Mahal defend the World Title against John Cena. In ended in a disqualification when The Singh Brothers intervened. Cena made his own save.

The Great Khali was NOT with Mahal.

Spoiler tags used since it might be related to the results for next week Cena-Nakamura match and current status of Khali in the WWE.

Coming off of Sunday's poorly received Battleground pay-per-view, SmackDown ratings essentially remained even with last week's number. The show averaged 2.535 million viewers, down very slightly from last week's 2.548 million.

The episode was third for the night on cable, trailing the Rachel Maddow Show and Tucker Carlson Tonight, both of which aired opposite SmackDown. In the 18-49 demo, it fell to second this week with a 0.77 rating, trailing Sharks and the City on the Discovery Network.

With a full year having passed since the brand split and the move to a live format on Tuesday nights, the year-over-year comparisons are relevant again, and SmackDown was down about eight percent from this week in 2016, about the same as Raw has been doing.

The edition of 30 for 30 that ESPN has been producing on Ric Flair finally has its air date.

ESPN announced today that "Nature Boy," a documentary on Flair's life and career in pro wrestling, will premiere on Tuesday, November 7th at 10 p.m. ET. The project is directed by Rory Karpf and has been in the works since 2015.

Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Ricky Steamboat, Baby Doll, Tully Blanchard, The Undertaker, Arn Anderson, Shawn Michaels, Sting, and Road Warrior Animal are listed as being interviewed for the 30 for 30, along with Flair's first wife, his children, and others close to him.

Brock Lesnar isn't doing anything to quiet rumors about a potential return to the Octagon.

Speaking with the Associated Press, Lesnar responded to comments that Jon Jones had made on a Facebook Live session on Tuesday. Jones said that he would love to face Lesnar and called the matchup a massive draw, but noted that he didn't think Lesnar would take a fight against him ...

Speculation about Lesnar fighting in the UFC again became rampant last week, with reports of him entering back into the USADA drug testing pool in anticipation of an eventual return ...

Lesnar is currently under a one-year suspension from USADA for drug test failures stemming from his win over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 last July. The suspension was frozen when Lesnar "retired" from MMA in February, and it's believed he would have to be tested for at least five more months before being allowed to fight again.

That would place a UFC return at late December at the soonest but more likely in early 2018.

Lesnar is currently under contract with WWE through next year's WrestleMania after signing a three-year deal in 2015, and the company would have to give him approval to fight while under contract. There has also been speculation that, in part, Lesnar is using a possible UFC return to gain more leverage in contract negotiations with WWE.

Reby Hardy has continued to tweet about The Hardys' legal situation with Anthem over ownership of their "Broken" characters, including her claiming that Matt Hardy has taped all of his phone calls with Ed Nordholm and saying that Nordholm is lying about the situation. That was in response to a Sports Illustrated interview with Nordholm, where he said that Anthem is moving on after trying to reach a resolution and said that Matt is "prepared to tell falsehoods" about the contract that he had with TNA. Matt Hardy also wrote that he had the entire conversation with Nordholm recorded and said that Nordholm lied to defame him.
Link with the Sports Illustrated interview: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/07/26/ed-nordholm-broken-matt-hardy-global-force-wrestling

After SmackDown last night, Daniel Bryan tweeted video of the debut episode of "Smacking Talk," which is the "rogue edition" of Talking Smack that he had been tweeting about. Renee Young was the co-host of the show and Chad Gable was the guest. WWE.com posted an article about it, with Bryan responding: "After 5,000+ retweets and 15,000+ likes, @wwe finally acknowledged #SmackingTalk, then called it 'bewildering.' #YesMovementPart2 is coming!"

The state attorney's office in Florida confirmed that no arrest warrant has been issued for Paige after false reports claimed that one had. No decision has been made on whether she'll be charged for the airport domestic violence incident with Alberto El Patron.
Supposedly a website called Pro Wrestling Times got outed as the source for the fake arrest warrant story. They have ties to a former writer from Sportskeeda who was known to pass off fake wrestling news from time to time. Also has ties to a wrestling podcast show that got outed for selling stolen designs and bootleg wrestling merch.

Shawn Michaels announced that he'll be on the road with NXT and working backstage at their house shows in Milwaukee, Green Bay, and Minneapolis this weekend.

What Culture Pro Wrestling clarified that the return of their "Loaded" series doesn't mean that YouTube has changed the restrictions on wrestling promotions being able to monetize their videos.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/wcpw/status/890205031135313920

ROH announced that Brandi Rhodes will make her Women of Honor debut at their TV tapings in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday. She'll team with Sumie Sakai against Mandy Leon & Jenny Rose.

According to a WWE social media posting on Twitter, Thea Trinidad's WWE NXT name is officially Zelina Vega. There have been some other variations of the name making the rounds since she made her official debut on TV, but that's the official name and spelling.

Trinidad, a former TNA Knockout, was signed after picking up a role pretty much playing the role of AJ Lee in the forthcoming WWE Studios film Fighting With My Family, based on the documentary of the same name on the family of WWE star Paige.

I guess WWE felt the need to confirm the status for the future of Renée Young. They have a post on WWE.com saying that she will all be working both on Raw and Smackdown from here on out.

During a currently ongoing media conference call with GFW's Dutch Mantel and Bruce Prichard, the pair were asked about Alberto el Patron.

Mantel noted that Patron has been cleared as a suspect in the 7/9 Orlando airport incident, but the company has continued its own internal investigation and when that is completed, they will "release their findings." So, it appears that is why Patron remains suspended despite the Orlando Police stating he is not a suspect nor is he being charged.

When Bram was suspended following a domestic violence related arrest several years back, his suspension from the company ended four days after it was publicly announced that the charges against him had been dropped. Obviously, that was a different management team and ownership, however.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEGable">@WWEGable</a> I'll be a great Step Mom!! 😘 <a href="https://t.co/HGmOMgYCOR">https://t.co/HGmOMgYCOR</a></p>&mdash; Nikki &amp; Brie (@BellaTwins) <a href="https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/890059653819670528">July 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE will be releasing their second quarter fiscal report tomorrow along with answering questions from investors at 11AM EST.
Northeast Wrestling announced Chris Jericho will be making an appearance for their August 27th show in Wappingers, NY. Rey Mysterio and Cody were also announced to be on the card for the show. https://twitter.com/newwrestling1/status/890235671717322752
2K Games currently teasing details regarding the collector's edition of WWE 2k18 will be revealed tomorrow.
The Sporting News had a recent interview with James Storm talking about Impact's DDC storyline, Impact/GFW doing house shows again, and why he didn't stay in NXT for the longer term. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111158/why-james-storm-didnt-join-nxt.html?p=1
Smackdown producer Road Dogg currently lashing out on fans who were upset over WWE Battlegrounds and Nakamura-Cena match being thrown away on a regular Smackdown show. Been blocking people who were supporting the #FireRoadDogg hashtag on Twitter. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0726/628518/road-dogg-responds-to-wwe-fan-complaints-and-blocks-users/
Kenny Omega recently responded to comments made by Lance Storm and Davey Boy Smith Jr who were upset at the comedy match he had against Yano at the G1 tournament. Storm quickly backtracked when Omega asked him what was better, being successful at comedy wrestling or failing at serious wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0726/628515/kenny-omega-questions-another-wrestler-on-comedic-wrestling/
Recent episode of the Steve Austin show with Jim Ross as the guest had Austin complain about WWE's poor booking and handling of Nakamura on Smackdown. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0726/628508/steve-austin-frustrated-with-how-wwe-is-booking-shinsuke-nakamura/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kofi Kingston is currently the most decorated champion in WWE history to not win a WWE, World, or ECW championship (includes variants of WWE title). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6pqnta/kofi_kingston_is_now_the_most_decorated_champion/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, Road Dogg takes the bait every time.

[BigCrippyZ]

He really does. I just don't get how he doesn't just let it go. You don't have to respond or even read them.

[Mr. Nerfect]

And he can't take criticism in any sort of meaningful way. It's always the fault of the audience member if they don't like it. That's not really how entertainment works.

[BigCrippyZ]

And he can't take criticism in any sort of meaningful way. It's always the fault of the audience member if they don't like it. That's not really how entertainment works.

It is if your name is Vince McMahon or you work for him.

[Fignuts]

2k releading collectors edition info before any screenshots or video of the game. Typical.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Bliss & Nia Gif:
http://i.imgur.com/3SC2mJt.gif

WWE announced Thursday that they set a record for revenue of $214.6 million for the WrestleMania quarter, finishing with $5.1 million in profits as compared to $199 million in revenue and $800,000 in profits for the same quarter last year

The big key was less spending on the WWE Network. With fewer original non-wrestling shows, the profit margin for Network and pay-per-view was $1.2 million for the quarter instead of $8.3 million in losses for the same period one year ago. Actual subscribers were up four percent as of June 30th, but the number of people who canceled was also the largest in the history of the Network.
In terms of the Network it went from around 1.9 million to around 1.6 million although unlike before, didn't bother to reveal the split between free and paid accounts.

Television, based on new deals and escalating deals, also increased in profitability and when it comes to overall profitability, it is still television and live shows that carry things. Live event profitability was down even though business was steady. North American shows were slightly up in attendance when you factor out WrestleManias each year (with WrestleMania, things were down based on the larger venue capacity last year).

North American non-Mania attendance went from 5400 to 5500 due to the increased number of pay-per-views that draw a larger attendance. Including WrestleMania in the average, it would be a decline from 6600 to 6400. Overseas shows fell from an average of 8000 to an average of 6300, but the drop was partially due to adding a lot more events in new markets.
Pretty much everything that went up also had something go down or had a catch for the increase.

A question regarding moving Raw and SmackDown to Facebook came up and George Barrios noted that Raw and SmackDown is the company's biggest revenue stream and felt that at some point, social media platforms will mean as much as television does which is why they are working on their social media following.

When asked about the much-discussed weekly UK television show, Barrios really didn't answer or give a timetable. As noted before, WWE had contacted venues for monthly tapings that would have started in June, but then backed off with no announcements.
More details from the financial report: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-q2-financials-record-revenue-big-network-churn-240016

WWE 2K18 will have a collector's edition celebrating the 15th anniversary of John Cena's debut. It includes playable versions of Cena, Rob Van Dam, Batista, and Kurt Angle, a Cena action figure, and a plaque autographed by Cena.
Link with details: http://www.wwe.com/section/wwe-2k18/article/wwe-2k18-john-cena-nuff-collectors-edition-announcement

Mike Kanellis tweeted to someone who called him a joke in Impact and WWE, with Kanellis writing that the difference is that he gets paid now. Matt Hardy responded: "It is truly DELIGHTFUL to get your check every week, on time, without having to chase it down for months."
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/RealMikeBennett/status/890618587781636096, Matt Hardy's response: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/890693381638291456

WWE is putting out an exclusive Brock Lesnar shirt for those in attendance at their last show at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Saturday. Lesnar is facing Samoa Joe in a Universal title match at the house show.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/HeymanHustle/status/890624971994787840

Skip Chaisson, the El Rey Network's chief creative officer, told IGN that things "look good" for Lucha Underground being renewed and said that they're discussing where to place it on their schedule.

PROGRESS Wrestling announced that Candice LeRae will debut for the promotion at their show in London on Sunday in a Women's title match against Toni Storm. That show will also have British Strong Style defending their tag titles against Mark Haskins & Jimmy Havoc.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/890660609867472896

Global Force Wrestling has added two more dates to their scheduled August tapings in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. The company will now tape from 8/17-8/22, six days total.

The company also officially announced the lineups for their 8/4 event in St. James, Long Island and 8/5 debut in Staten Island. No sign of Alberto el Patron.

We noted before that several WWE RAW Superstars met up with GFW wrestlers at a bar after the July 17th RAW in Nashville.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Karen Jarrett approached Braun Strowman at the bar but it's believed that Strowman had no idea who she was. Karen commented that Braun was one of her son's favorite wrestlers and asked for an autograph for her son. Strowman was reportedly rude to Karen and may have sworn at her. This turned into a scene at the bar as Karen immediately "cut a major loud promo" on Strowman for blowing her off.

While Karen was ranting at Braun, she mentioned that she was going to tell her son's father, RAW General Manager Kurt Angle, about what happened. Strowman then changed his tune and said he would sign the autograph, begging Karen not to tell Kurt or anyone else. Strowman also apologized. Karen said she was still going to tell Kurt, which led to Braun saying he would get on his knees and beg her not to.

The Observer noted that Braun then got on his knees in front of a bunch of WWE talents and begged Karen not to. Karen said something to the tune of, "you're acting like that because you found out that Kurt Angle" is the father of her son, but even if he wasn't, Braun should not have acted like that to a mom who was trying to get her son an autograph. Braun said that she was right and he was sorry.

There has been talk of doing another Superstar Shakeup after next month's WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, according to new reports by PWInsider and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE previously held a roster Shakeup in April after WrestleMania 33.

While it might seem early for another Shakeup, The Observer notes that there is definitely talk of making a few roster moves in the fall. There has also been talk of sending one or more Superstars from the main roster to WWE NXT. The moves from the main roster to NXT would be for talents that were major stars in NXT that Vince McMahon simply is not going to push on RAW or SmackDown, even if they are over, or talents who are doing nothing on the main roster with the feeling that they could be more useful as top stars in NXT.

Khali was kept secret and away from everyone. It wasn’t a secret that Mahal was winning, but the Khali interference was not well known. Khali wasn’t at television after, nor is he advertised at this point for any shows going forward. The one thing is that Khali is a legitimate well-known star in India. Since business growth in India is the big goal right now, even as limited as Khali is, using him makes all the sense in the world. Plus him being with Mahal, even in a limited capacity, may help get Mahal over to a higher level and be the modern Indian superstar the company is trying so hard to make

Thus far, business is G-1 is also strong. At press time, every show but one, the 7/25 show in Fukushima, sold out in advance, and that show did end up being sold out. It was almost weird on 7/24 when the word was out the day before the show that there were tickets available. For a comparison with last year, four of the first even nights were legitimate sellouts and overall business based on the same period last year is up nine percent from what was considered a strong tour.

Another amazing stat is that the Japanese language feed of opening night, which was available free, did 600,000 live views. What that shows is that in Japan, there is great interest, but the mentality of paying for a streaming service isn’t there as New Japan World only had just over 60,000 paying subscribers at that point. The WWE Network, for the same reason, hasn’t done well in the Japanese market.

While at the San Diego Comic Con, Johnny Mundo was asked if he was 100 percent done with AAA, and he said, “Never say never in wrestling.” He also said, “I still have the AAA titles. We still have business to take care of. We’re working things out, with several different companies and we’re dealing with a firestorm with the comments that have been flying back-and-forth on Twitter because of the situation, so I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Regarding Vampiro, he said, “Vampiro is a yes man. Vampiro just says yes to everyone, and he’s got his nose was up Dorian’s turd cutter and all it does is tell people what they want to hear. And ultimately, it sucks, because he tells us what we want to hear, and he tells someone else what they want to hear, and ultimately, he’s just lying to everyone.

Both were later at a 7/21 show in Tijuana where they tried to turn their Twitter thing into an angle. Not sure how well it worked since their beef was in English and most AAA fans don’t follow the company on Twitter, and particularly don’t in English ... After the match, Mundo brought all three of his belts and threw them on the ground in front of Vampiro. Vampiro then praised Mundo and Taya (who wasn’t there) and said he was disrespecting the belts. Mundo ran down Vampiro like it was on Twitter and said he would come to Aguascalientes (where AAA has its TV taping) if they paid him what he was owed. Mundo also threw the mic at Vampiro. Vampiro teased fighting Mundo. The belief is that Taya is not going back, but Mundo will be doing business and at least working TripleMania, but it’s unclear what his plans are after that point

To save money and not have to tape content for the “One Night Only” shows, they are using footage from the GFW tapings a few years ago in Las Vegas with Chael Sonnen and others as monthly PPVs and free monthly specials for India and the U.K. Bobby Roode was on the tapings and they were marketing the next show around the idea that what was Bobby Roode doing in Las Vegas for the GFW show, like the show was new and Roode was showing up for it. Decades ago, Bill Watts did a segment on his shows where they’d show old footage of guys who were in WWF at the time, from Mid South months to years earlier, losing to wrestlers who were in Mid South, usually clean on their way out of the territory. Watts would air the footage, pretend the matches had just happened and how the WWF guys were looking for real competition, and then talk about how when they came in to test the Mid South guys they ended up not being able too hang

There was also talk about ROH, with Nordholm saying that ROH wants an answer but they can’t give ROH an answer (this would be regarding the proposed Hardys vs. Young Bucks program that was to go on for months in both promotions trading the tag titles back-and-forth) unless Matt signed his deal. Matt talked about being at the tail end of his career and wanting to make sure he made the right deal for his family and said he was open for negotiations, and was willing t come to Orlando for TV, but Nordholm said that unless he signed a new deal, even if it’s a short-term deal, they can’t put him on TV
Seems its not just the Hardys who are currently pissed with Impact/GFW's new management.


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Triple H celebrated his 48th birthday today with people in the Performance Center singing him a happy birthday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_anKwirT5E
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Rock revealed the origins for his wacky Stunner sells was from him making beer bets with Austin on how crazy he could sell the move at a given night. https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/890624770089168897
In a third "WWE Did You Know" type fact, The Drifter Elias Sampson recently joined the "No Longer has a Last Name" stable in the WWE. WWE's website revealed his new name is just Elias. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6q060l/elias_samson_has_lost_his_last_name/
Moose announced he has signed a new 3 year deal with GFW. https://twitter.com/MooseNation69/status/890364903609053184
Sneak peak of the upcoming Kurt Angle WWE Network Colelction set was recently released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=BSfir9t9P-k
Latest episode of Corey Graves Superstar Ink had Jeff Hardy as the guest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPChqPS93v8
The Charlotte Observer had a recent interview with Cody Rhodes talking about leaving the WWE, NJPW G1 Special, and his lucky charm for wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0727/628549/cody-rhodes-on-planning-an-escape-from-wwe/
Recent episode of Edge & Christian's podcast show had AJ Styles as the guest talking about winning the US title at a house show, wanting Nakamura for a Mania match, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0727/628544/aj-styles-on-why-wwe-did-us-title-change-at-msg/
The Observer's Dave Meltzer wrote an article about the changes in wrestling over the years and pulled an article he wrote 24 years ago about this same situation. Basically it talked about not becoming disgruntled because things are no longer like the old days since entertainment has to evolve. Also not become just another person who gets seen as being out of touch because they refuse to see the good in modern wrestling. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6px680/won_dave_meltzer_on_changing_times/
WWE is currently selling a new Braun Strowman shirt which is basically his catchphrase at the start of his theme. http://shop.wwe.com/braun-strowman-brraaauuunnn-t-shirt/JQ0002.html?dwvar_JQ0002_color=Black#start=6
AAA/LU's Vampiro is currently dealing with a scandal involving him and a wrestling camp being alleged to have stolen money from students. Supposedly the camp shut down after all the students paid. The camp claims Vampiro took his share of the money and then refused to work for them. Vampiro claims he never dropped out, never was paid, and wasn't the person who handled the money from the camp.

[Ruien]

What the hell? Dixie and Kurt have a kid? I think I am missing something.

[Simple Fan]

What the hell? Dixie and Kurt have a kid? I think I am missing something.

Somehow you have mistaken Karen Jarrett for Dixie Carter.

[Fignuts]

Disappointed Cody isn't in tbe G-1. Would have been a great way for him to develop his skills.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Disappointed Cody isn't in tbe G-1. Would have been a great way for him to develop his skills.

Probably too expensive. Honestly this has been the best quality G1 of the modern era too, so not even sure who I would want dropped for him. Fale maybe, but that wasn't going to happen and I ended up really enjoying seeing ZSJ work the big man down.

[Emperor Smeat]

Disappointed Cody isn't in tbe G-1. Would have been a great way for him to develop his skills.
Probably would have had a better chance if he wrestled more for NJPW or had signed a long term deal with ROH a lot earlier.

[Sepholio]

So I take it black Friday was averted?

[Emperor Smeat]

Possible they could still do it at a later date but yeah seems the source of the rumor was full of shit as usual. Hyped up both the financial report and today as being gloomy for the WWE and neither happened.

Seems to now imply it didn't happen because the WWE cut a lot of costs for the Network instead or brushing off ever having any big news to reveal.

[Lock Jaw]

A rumour on the internet was wrong?!?

How is this even possible?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random HBK Gif:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/57a7510846c3c411bbd5ea9d/57a751425016e1838cd4ca9f/1470583124618/Hulk+Hogan+shoulder+block++to+HBK.gif

Current rumor going around the net teases at a Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon match to occur at SummerSlam.

The original plans were supposed to have been Owens wins the US belt via cheating at Battlegrounds, Shane appears and demands the match to be restarted, and Styles wins after the restart.

http://i.imgur.com/rfD7XzA.jpg

Owens appearance at Talking Smack was meant to be him trashing Shane and starting to goad him into doing a match at SummerSlam.
Spoiler tag used since its related to rumored SummerSlam plans.

There was a story making the rounds over the last week, one version of which we are told was reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer about a back and forth between WWE's Braun Strowman and GFW's Karen Jarrett. One version of the story is that Jarrett asked Braun for an autograph for her son and he blew her off, leading to her going off and telling him her son was Kurt Angle's son, at which point Braun begged off and apologized, not wanting to offend Kurt Angle. Another version that made the rounds last week is that Jarrett was being belligerent to Strowman. We are told the incident happened at a bar after Jeff Hardy's musical show following Raw in Nashville. A witness to the event told PWInsider, "It was a drunken conversation between two drunk people in a bar that got loud, nothing more."

For readers who have passed along the theory that Alberto el Patron remains suspended so GFW doesn't have to use or pay him for the live events, sources have denied that to us. The Patron suspension appears to be a decision Ed Nordholm is holding to and not something Jeff Jarrett or anyone from the wrestling side have continued to push. There has been communication between the two sides, almost daily. Nordholm did not respond to a PWInsider.com request for comment on the situation.

Ratings for Impact were down for the second straight week. Thursday's show was watched by 286,000 viewers on Pop TV, which is in comparison to last week's 322,000.

GFW announced that its 8/6 show in Bridgeport, CT was canceled. The reason given was unforeseen circumstances and logistical challenges. Tickets will be refunded. Anyone who has a ticket can also use that ticket for the 8/4 show in St. James, NY or the 8/5 show in Staten Island, NY.

Bo Dallas discussed conspiracy theories with Chris Jericho on today's episode of Talk is Jericho.
Link to the podcast episode: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/BoDallasConspiracyTheories

The WWE movie "Pure Country: Pure Heart" with Shawn Michaels will be available on DVD and Blu Ray on Tuesday at Walmart and on Digital.

A Go Fund Me has been set up for former WWE Tough Enough winner Matt Cappotelli as he battles a horrible form of brain cancer.
Link to the Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/mattsbiggestbattle

NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT SATURDAY IN NAGOYA AT 5 A.M.EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Michael Elgin & David Finlay vs. Seiya Sanada & Bushi
Toru Yano & Jado vs. Evil & Hiromu Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki & Taichi vs Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi
Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kenny Omega & Chase Owens
Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
Yuji Nagata vs. Togi Makabe
Kota Ibushi vs. Bad Luck Fale
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Tournament took yesterday off and resumes tonight. Next break is on August 3rd.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross appeared on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast this week and revealed that he is set to work 40 dates per year for WWE.

Ross commented on how he enjoys staying busy since his wife Jan passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Ross also said he is happy with the schedule that he and WWE officials agreed on.

Ross last worked for WWE calling The Mae Young Classic with fellow Hall of Famer Lita in July. He will also be calling the live finale in September. Ross made his return to WWE at WrestleMania 33, calling The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns. Ross also called the WWE UK Title match between Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate at WWE NXT "Takeover: Chicago" in May. It was reported earlier this year that Ross signed a two-year deal with the company.

On the Matt Hardy-Ed Nordholm back and forth, sources close to the Hardy family stated that in the conversation Nordholm referred to during his Sports Illustrated interview a few days back, Matt never asked for an additional $100,000 in order to stay. The Hardy side of the story is that Hardy explained to Nordholm that since the company had taken so long to get him his contract, it was now three days until expiration and he felt it was in his family's best interest to see what WWE's interest was in him and that Nordholm admitted they wouldn't be able to match a WWE offer. But, there was no "if you give me X, I will stay" conversation, according to that side. All signs are that the Hardys are preparing a lawsuit against Anthem.

WWE recently sent a survey out to fans on their mailing list earlier today, seeking input into which talents who are not currently on the WWE roster that fans consider their favorites. The names were all from GFWM ROH, New Japan and Lucha Underground, including The Young Bucks, Tiger Mask, Fenix, The Briscoes, Santana, KUSHIDA, The Mac, Ethan Carter (EC3 obviously), Pentagon Dark, Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hangman Page, Sienna, Taya, Kelly Klein, Marty Scurll Deona Purrazzo, Ortiz, Will Osprey (sic), Son of Havoc, Killshot, Kenny King, War Machine, Lashley, Angelia (sic) Love, Jushin Thunder Liger, Mil Muertes, Tetsuya Naito, Texano, and Zack Sabre Jr.

We are hearing Davey Richards' release from GFW was unconditional, which means he could pop up anywhere he wanted to wrestle for going forward. Richards stated he asked for his release to pursue medical school.

Chris Jericho filmed material for the next round of Southpaw Regional Wrestling episodes while backstage at this week's WWE SmackDown, according to PWInsider. Jericho appears in the series as Clint Bobski.

On July 24th the WWE filed a new trademark for Taboo Tuesday. For those who may remember the WWE ran two PPV’s under the name Taboo Tuesday, the first being October of 2004, and the second in November of 2005.

The Taboo Tuesday PPV has fans vote online what stipulations and which opponents certain wrestlers should have. Past stipulations included outfit for a diva battle, weapon of choice match and what type of gimmick match should take place.

The PPV eventually changed it’s name to Cyber Sunday, with the last one taking place in Phoenix back in 2008.
Link with some more details: http://heelbynature.com/2017/07/29/wwe-bringing-back-taboo-tuesday-exclusive-details/


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website had a recent interview with Kofi Kingston talking about his accomplishments as a tag wrestler. http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/article/kofi-kingston-the-new-day-tag-team-title-records
Channel Guide Magazine had a recent interview with HBK talking about WWE's Performance Center, future of wrestling, and his current favorites in NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0728/628582/shawn-michaels-on-his-role-at-the-wwe-pc/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Harley Race talking about his current health status, inspiring future generations of wrestlers, and being a world champion. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0728/628580/harley-race-gives-health-update/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Curt Hawkins' winless record streak in the WWE recently reached 100 matches lost in a row. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=2749&page=4&s=0
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Miz currently holds the record for most ppv matches in a row involving the IC title at 11. It grows to 12 if he manages to defend the IC title at SummerSlam. Last ppv without Miz involved in the IC title was Fastlane 2016 (Ziggy vs Owens). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6q6tug/the_miz_has_the_record_for_most_consecutive/
During a recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show, Edge revealed his comedy show on the WWE Network was canceled due to costs. The second season was cancelled early into the filming process. http://www.tpww.net/2017/07/ec-show-that-totally-reeks-of-awesomeness-too-expensive-for-network/

[Evil Vito]

Fuck's sake, sick of Shane getting awkwardly shoehorned into a match at every big PPV.

[Black Widow]

Del Rio or Paige need to pull a Robin Williams.

[Big Vic]

I don't think either have the talent to pull off a leading role in a comedy.

[Big Vic]

Chris Jericho filmed material for the next round of Southpaw Regional Wrestling episodes while backstage at this week's WWE SmackDown, according to PWInsider. Jericho appears in the series as Clint Bobski.Best news of the week!

On July 24th the WWE filed a new trademark for Taboo Tuesday. For those who may remember the WWE ran two PPV’s under the name Taboo Tuesday, the first being October of 2004, and the second in November of 2005.

The Taboo Tuesday PPV has fans vote online what stipulations and which opponents certain wrestlers should have. Past stipulations included outfit for a diva battle, weapon of choice match and what type of gimmick match should take place.

The PPV eventually changed it’s name to Cyber Sunday, with the last one taking place in Phoenix back in 2008. On the same night as SDL?

[XL]

They could do it as a special episode of SDL?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun's Words of Wisdom:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/6b7a0f5eef612bb0e9986f3f4aeacabb/tumblr_otzgxaWab61u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The WWE's television ratings momentum continues to be positive as last night's Raw did 3.16 million viewers, the best number since the April 17th show which was the superstar shakeup episode, and a show that had far more reasons to do big numbers ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.19 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.28 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.02 million viewers

Still can't beat the Ghost of Nitro, Love & Hip Hop for the #1 ranking spot. WWE has a few more weeks to build up a buffer before the begin of the NFL season onslaught.

All four Broken Universe-related trademarks that TNA Entertainment (now Global Force Wrestling) filed for registration have been given an initial refusal by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The "Broken Matt" trademark was refused for various reasons. The primary reason given was likely confusion with Matt Hardy's own filing for a 'Broken Matt Hardy' trademark, which Hardy filed first ...

The "Brother Nero" trademark was refused because GFW needed to indicate whether it identifies a living person, and if it does they would need Jeff Hardy's consent. Nero is Jeff Hardy's legitimate middle name.

The "Broken Brillance" trademark was refused because GFW must specify whether "Broken Brillance" has any significance in professional wrestling or whether it's just a "term of art" in the wrestling industry.

The trademark for "Vanguard1" was refused due to likely confusion with a non wrestling-related trademark.

It was also noted that all four trademarks were also refused because it was ruled that the wordings used for identification and classification of goods and services in the initial filing were too broad, thus the USPTO ruled those filings needed additional clarification.

ROH issued a correction on yesterday's announcement about Kenny Omega wrestling at Global Wars, saying that there's no confirmation that Omega will be defending his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship on October 15th in Chicago.
Link to the previous announcement: http://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/update-kenny-omega-scheduled-roh-global-wars-chicago-240231

Hiromu Takahashi commented on Bad Luck Fale ripping up Daryl (Takahashi's stuffed cat): "Do you find that kind of thing fun? Is it a joke to you? You see that kind of thing, laugh along, hahaha? Because if you do, I'm sorry, I want nothing to do with you. I have no room for cruel, barbaric people in my life. If you got caught up in all that, if you sick people enjoyed that, then please forget about me, and forget about poor Daryl. If you truly love me and Daryl, then I'm here for you."
Link to the comments: https://www.njpw1972.com/card_result/11401

With the status of WWE's plans in the United Kingdom still undefined, Pete Dunne hasn't had a ton of opportunities to defend his UK Championship since winning it at TakeOver: Chicago.

His first defenses came at NXT's house shows at Download Festival in June, then he defeated Trent Seven, Wolfgang, and BT Gunn to retain the title in ICW last Saturday. Next, he'll be putting it on the line when PROGRESS Wrestling comes to New York later this month.

PROGRESS announced yesterday that Jack Gallagher would return to the promotion to challenge Dunne for the WWE UK title at their show in New York on August 12th. It will be the second time that the championship has been defended in PROGRESS, with Tyler Bate having previously retained against Mark Andrews over WrestleMania 33 weekend in Orlando.

WWE also posted a story about the Dunne vs. Gallagher UK title match on their website.

Like with the UK plans, WWE has yet to officially reveal any updates about PROGRESS and ICW events being shown on the Network, but Dunne's title defenses are proof that the relationship between the companies remains strong.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/892225446007406596

In addition to the Pete Dunne vs. Jack Gallagher WWE UK title match, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate will defend their PROGRESS tag titles against Travis Banks & TK Cooper (w/ Dahlia Black) at PROGRESS NYC on August 12th.

TMZ had a report on Chris Jericho in an incident after his Friday night tribute concert for the late musician David Z. The report said that a lot of people were approaching Jericho for autographs, he was signing, then he wanted to leave and got frustrated and told people he wanted to leave. One person started yelling at him and then they started swearing back-and-forth which was taped and the video is available on the TMZ site. Jericho issued an apology for his actions saying, "David Z was a good friend of mine and I was mentally and emotionally shattered after paying tribute to him and essentially saying goodbye to him Friday night. I was not in a good state of mind at that time and instead of ignoring a pushy (aka rude) fan, which is what I would usually do, I snapped. My apologizes to all involved and God bless David Z."

WWE and Mattel have come to terms on a new deal that leaves Mattel as the exclusive toy licensee in the U.S. through 2021.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Kairi Sane is currently on the injured list after the recent WWE signee sustained a concussion during the Mae Young Classic tapings.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the wrestler formerly known as Kairi Hojo is also dealing with some neck pain … but officials expect her to be cleared for return in early August.

It’s unclear which match the injury occurred during, or how exactly it went down.

Because officials have been told Kairi will get the green-light next month, the injury shouldn’t stop her from wrestling in September at the MYC finals in Las Vegas.
Spoilers related to Mae Young Classic Tournament.

John Cena has booked his next movie role, and it appears to be his biggest yet.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that Cena would be playing a lead role in "Bumblebee." The film is a spinoff of the Transformers franchise and will be directed by Travis Knight, with Cena starring alongside actress Hailee Steinfeld.

Cena wrote about the news on Twitter: "One of the most exciting projects I've been fortunate to be a part of. Thrilled to join the #Transformers franchise!" Details of his role haven't been announced yet.

In the Hollywood Reporter article, it's noted that Paramount Studios hopes that "Bumblebee" will be the first in more prequels and offshoots of the Transformers series. The film will be set in 1987 and the plot is described as: "Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. Charlie (Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary yellow VW bug."

Production started today and the film is scheduled to be released on December 21st, 2018.

How this will affect Cena's WWE schedule isn't known, though he's advertised for both SummerSlam in August and No Mercy in September.

WWE announced a number of new additions for the WWE Network this morning.

There will be a new Table for 3 next Monday featuring Sean Waltman, Diamond Dallas Page, and Scott Hall. The following Monday will see the debut of another Table for 3 episode featuring the incredible trio of former NWA World champions and WWE Hall of Famers Sting, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat.

WWE also pushed a new episode of Bring it to The Table, The Mae Young Classic, Summerslam and NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III.

WWE will also be adding a Kurt Angle Network Collection as well as their third wave of "Hidden Gems."

WWE filed for a trademark on the term "3:16" on 7/26 for merchandising purposes, specifically releasing t-shirts with different cities (such as the Los Angeles 3:16 shirt that was sold at the last Raw taping there.)

It would appear that Brandi Rhodes is gone from Global Force Wrestling.

The promotion recently updated its roster section on ImpactWrestling.com and she is no longer listed as an active Knockout. She is also not listed in the Alumni section since her profile was deleted altogether.

Rhodes has not addressed her status with Global Force Wrestling.

Rhodes, who joined the promotion last September, was last seen on Impact Wrestling in April, competing in a Knockouts #1 Contender Gauntlet Battle Royal.

Rhodes is now wrestling for Ring of Honor's Women of Honor Division. She made her ROH debut last Saturday at a television taping in Concord, North Carolina, where she teamed up with Sumie Sakai against Mandy Leon and Jenny Rose.

The legendary Terry Funk has not wrestled his last match.

Funk, now 73, is advertised to wrestle on Sept. 23 for Big Time Wrestling in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

For the first time ever, Funk will team with The Rock N' Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. Their opponents in a six-man tag team match are Jerry "The King" Lawler, Doug Gilbert and Brian Christopher.

According to PWInsider.com, Funk has not made any wrestling-related appearances since last September when health issues forced him to leave a wrestling show early.

John Cena's days as a member of the blue brand appear to be coming to an end, at least for the immediate future.

We mentioned over the weekend that Cena, who is currently billed as "a free agent," is scheduled for his first RAW pay-per-view since the Draft last year with WWE No Mercy at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, September 24th. Cena will actually stop working SmackDown televised events with the SummerSlam go-home show on Tuesday, August 15th. After that, he is only scheduled to work Monday Night RAW tapings and RAW pay-per-views.

As for live events, Cena is headed to the red brand much sooner. Cena will only be working RAW live events starting this month with one exception - the SmackDown live event on Monday, August 14th at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA.

There are major cutbacks going on all over WWE right now, including the cancellation of WWE Network programs and no longer doing the pyro at shows.

Dave Meltzer stated on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE "promised everyone" they were going to have bigger profits in 2017 than they had in 2016 and they're not anywhere close.

"So last year's profits were about $30 million," said Meltzer on the August 1, 2017 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. "And this year we're about halfway through and — I don't have the exact numbers in front of me - but it's like five or six million, which means there's a lot of catching up to do."

This is believed to be the reason why there is no longer a pyro at WWE shows and a lot of shows on the WWE Network are getting canceled, in an attempt to lower production costs.

"They're not in any financial trouble but the Network subscriber number is a genuine disappointment," explained Meltzer. "The growth coming out of WrestleMania that would have been expected wasn't there."

One thing that has not helped the growth of the WWE Network is doing brand specific pay-per-views for RAW and SmackDown but it's not expected that WWE is going to go back to just one pay-per-view a month.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE teasing Dana Brooke as the next member of Titus Worldwide stable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0MLVCjAAGY
WWE recently moved Great Khali's profile on their website back to the alumni section fueling more speculation his Battlegrounds appearance was a one-night only deal.
WWE and Hardys rumored to be going ahead with using the Broken gimmick after reports of GFW's recent trademark filings were rejected. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111288/forget-broken-the-hardys-have-been-woken.html?p=1
Possible sign for Enzo's WWE future might have been revealed during last night's Bring It to the Table episode on the WWE Network. JBL mentioned Enzo has almost no chance of success in the WWE due to his backstage heat. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0801/629694/jbl-says-odds-are-completely-against-enzo-amore-making-it-in-wwe/
FOX 8 Cleveland held a recent interview with Baron Corbin talking about the MitB case and his NFL career. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0801/629692/baron-corbin-talks-mitb-being-terrifying/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Reby Hardy talking about the "Broken" legal situation between the Hardys and Anthem/GFW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0801/629709/reby-hardy-on-if-they-are-willing-to-face-anthem-in-court/

[Corkscrewed]

Maybe if they did better shows, more people would watch and subscribe, and they would have better profits?

[Mr. Nerfect]

You'd think it would really be that simple to them?

[erickman]

the problem is they go from 50 buck wrestlmania ppv to 10 buck network. the 4 big ppvs should not be on the network they should have kept them as real ppvs.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Classic WWF Gif:
https://media.tenor.co/images/1b6ef90a9994aaec1509998e6d2968e3/tenor.gif

Despite heavy promotion for last night's John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura main event, SmackDown ratings were only up a bit more than one percent from last week. The show averaged 2.569 million viewers, the highest number since June 27th.

WWE.com posted an article last night stating that Bayley’s shoulder was injured during her match against Nia Jax on Raw this past Monday. The injury appears to be legitimate, though the severity of it isn't currently known.

The article mentions that the official diagnosis was inconclusive due to the amount of swelling suffered following the bout. The injury seems to stem from either a spot where Jax threw Bayley out of the ring under the bottom rope and her shoulder hit on the mat hard or when Jax gave her a double chicken wing slam.

Dr. Chris Amann stated in the article that Bayley would be undergoing more diagnostic testing later this week to determine the extent of the injury once the swelling goes down.

New York City's WPIX Channel 11 News announced that Paul Heyman would be appearing on tonight's 10 PM news broadcast around 10:45 PM alongside Scott Stanford (who is a news anchor for the station on top of his WWE announcing duties) with "breaking news" about the 8/20 Summerslam PPV in Brooklyn, NY.

Heyman teased his appearance earlier this evening via Twitter:

Hey @scottstanford1 why do I have eight messages from @pix11sportsdesk and your news trucks in front AND behind me?
WTF? This is insane! pic.twitter.com/6kZvRjgsxd
— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) August 2, 2017

Scott Stanford responded:

If you'd pick up your phone, we wouldnt have to follow you!! @PIX11News @HeymanHustle @WWE https://t.co/Up6SwKmVPU
— Scott Stanford (@scottstanford1) August 2, 2017

WPIX later announced the following:

EXCLUSIVE tonight: @HeymanHustle joins @scottstanford1 in studio at 10:45 with breaking news on @WWE @SummerSlam Weekend pic.twitter.com/FzIE9xpbnx
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) August 2, 2017

WWE Network has begun uploading the second half of the WWE ECW episodes as well as more World-Class Championship Wrestling.

John Cena took to Twitter to comment on his bout with Shinsuke Nakamura last night and his bad bump right before the finish of the bout while responding to something Kevin Owens wrote about the match and Cena:

Did kinda tip my hand there. I know U can't C me, but there's #Morethanmeetstheeye much #Respect to @ShinsukeN good luck at #SummerSlam @WWE https://t.co/CqhYy4NJoz
— John Cena (@JohnCena) August 2, 2017

Daniel Bryan posted the following on Twitter:

Sorry everyone, rogue #SmackingTalk only lasted one week before being shutdown. We'll keep on fighting the good fight. @ReneeYoungWWE #TOUT
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) August 2, 2017

Dakota Kai, who was formerly known as Evie before signing with WWE, will team with Dahlia Black against Jinny & Deonna Purrazzo at PROGRESS NYC on August 12th. Jack Gallagher will also be challenging Pete Dunne for the WWE UK title at that show.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/892852827898490881

Paul Heyman is reportedly pushing for Brock Lesnar to drop the WWE Universal Title to Samoa Joe at SummerSlam later this month, according to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated.

As noted, Heyman announced on this week's RAW that he and Lesnar will leave WWE if Lesnar loses the title in the SummerSlam Fatal 4 Way with Joe, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Barrasso points to how a SummerSlam loss would allow Lesnar to take needed time off to begin training for the rumored UFC return fight against Jon Jones, who would have to move to heavyweight.

Lesnar is signed to WWE through WrestleMania 34 in 2018 and there is no chance of him opting out early. SI reports that Lesnar's UFC return is imminent and that he will still work the 2018 Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 34. The UFC fight has been rumored for November or December of this year. As noted, Lesnar is also advertised for the No Mercy pay-per-view in Los Angeles, CA from the Staples Center on Sunday, September 24th.
Link to the article: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/02/wwe-wrestling-news-brock-lesnar-jon-jones-matt-cappotelli

Speaking of Flair, we noted that The Roman Show caught up with the Nature Boy this past Friday night. Flair said that he is a big fan of rap stars Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and others. He also said that he was "honored" that Ross' hit song Bout that life was dedicated to him.

"I love Rick (Ross)," Flair said. "I see him when I am down here. He lives in Atlanta [by the song]. I am honored. I've done stuff with Post Malone. I like Rick Ross, Post Malone, 50 Cent... My my closest friend, Snoop, is on 30 for 30. I am a big fan of Snoop Dogg."

Flair later added, "Snoop gave me credit for creating swag."
Link to the interview: http://rodolforoman.com/wordpress/ricflairtalksfavoriterapperjohncenarecord/

Heath Slater is launching the Face 2 Face Wrestling School, a privately owned training facility for new as well as previously trained wrestlers starting next Wednesday, August 9th in Atlanta, Ga. The facility will boast more professional wrestling and training experience than any other training center in the World with lead trainers Mr. Hughes, WWE Hall of Fame Superstars Teddy Long and Ron Simmons along with Jazz, Kiera Hogan and Odinson. The 7200 sq. ft facility has two new 18' rings, a full media room and a promo room as well as a full time strength, conditioning and nutrition coach. They have 4k live action cams recording every in ring move as well, and they can provide pricing packages that include housing long or short term.

Below is video from this week's Bring It To The Table with Peter Rosenberg, JBL and Corey Graves. JBL says a reunion of The Shield is not necessarily a positive thing. JBL believes Roman Reigns is the guy they want to carry the company and sell the tickets but Reigns with The Shield didn't sell tickets. JBL says Reigns is the guy everyone comes to boo, and that sells tickets & merchandise. Graves loves the potential for Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose but he wonders if the WWE Universe would react differently to Reigns if they did a full-blown three-member reunion.

Could @WWERollins, @TheDeanAmbrose and @WWERomanReigns benefit from a #Shield reunion? The #BringItToTheTable panel has some doubts... pic.twitter.com/kJptLDqhrg
— WWE (@WWE) August 1, 2017

Karen Jarrett was asked about the reported altercation between her and Braun Strowman at a Nashville bar a few weeks back during a conference call with the media on Wednesday.

"Oh my goodness, I can clear the air," said Jarrett. "It was a silly incident where you have two people in the wrestling business playing their characters, being silly and it got blown way out of proportion." ...

"And the fact that the two of us are still in the news and it's still being talked about, that's a question that you took the time to ask I think is hysterical, to be honest with you," Jarrett continued. "It's silliness. It's the wrestling business, we had fun with it and somebody took it and turned it into something more than it was."

Former WWE superstar Jack Swagger could possibly be on his way to Global Force Wrestling after departing WWE earlier this year.

Dutch Mantell, who is now working as head of the GFW creative team, commented on Swagger during a conference call with the media last week. Below is what he said when In Ring Pop asked Mantell if we could see Swagger in GFW:

"I talk to Jack every couple of weeks. Since he left WWE, he has expressed some interest and we have some interest in him," said Mantell. "He was on the road for 10 years, and I think right now he is enjoying his time off. But, I am interested in bringing him in. I think he is a great in-ring talent and performer. Even better than that, he is a great guy to be around. I think you could possibly see him in GFW soon."

Mantell worked side-by-side Swagger during their time in WWE together as his manager Zeb Colter. The two had separate pairings together from 2013–2016. Colter left the company last year, while Swagger requested and was granted his release in March.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Those freaking out over <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCena">@JohnCena</a>'s rough landing must have missed the fact that he was revealed to be an actual transformer the day before.</p>&mdash; Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/892687762662535170">August 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

ESPN had a recent interview with Booker T talking about being in WWE's Hall of Fame and running for mayor in Houston. http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=20220542
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had Nia Jax as the guest talking about her wrestling career, Dusty Rhodes, Bayley, and more. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/NiaJaxx
2K Games announced first batch of screenshots for WWE 2k18 will be released tomorrow. https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/892874673066725376
Metro had a recent interview with Cody talking about his current indies career, dealing with WWE Creative and management, and issues with Creative. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0802/629735/cody-rhodes-on-if-he-was-punished-in-wwe-for-speaking-up/
WrestleInc had a recent interview with Buff Bagwell talking about 3 Hour Nitro era and his firing from the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0802/629736/buff-bagwell-on-three-hour-nitros-leading-to-wcw-collapse/

[Ruien]

What is it with WWE wrestlers running for office?

[SenatorJPO]

What is it with WWE wrestlers running for office?

It's because they want to leverage their social capital for personal gain.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Scott Norton taking a mid-match nap:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/ad79daac8e3e11e4ace28d21bdd7869c/tumblr_ou1x6jNfRZ1s24yedo4_400.gif

As far as the finish goes for Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe at SummerSlam, the attempt is very strong to keep this one under wraps, so it’ll be interesting the last day or two when it comes to the odds. The story as it is said right now is that nobody on the writing team, no producers, and no participants except Lesnar (whose deal is that he knows everything well in advance) will be given the finish until the last minute. Between Vince McMahon and Heyman, they try to play the realism and brutality game in Lesnar’s matches at times, like the first John Cena match or the Randy Orton match where Lesnar hit them up with dangerous elbows to bleed, or when Lesnar would hard way himself on purpose to get blood as well, which would not be allowed for anyone else. The only thing we know is that Lesnar and Heyman are with the company at least through April, no matter what the outcome and storyline that follows the match.

WWE.com inadvertently posted in their SmackDown Live recap that Baron Corbin interfered during John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura on this week's episode of SmackDown Live. A run-in that obviously didn't happen ...

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plan was for Corbin to run-in during the SmackDown main event and try to take out Nakamura. It would backfire and lead to him taking out Cena and Nakamura going over, ultimately leading to Corbin vs. Cena and of course Nakamura facing Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter isn't sure if it was Cena who wanted to put Nakamura over clean, which is significant in its own right, or if Vince McMahon just changed his mind. However, WWE.com leaking the original plan was a mistake.
Corbin ended showing up after Smackdown to attack Cena and Nakamura leading to Cena AA'ing him through a table.

In a big surprise, at the 7/30 Stardom show in Shinkiba, Io Shirai returned. Shirai who many considered the top woman wrestler in Japan, had done her farewell there and was to start here. There was an issue with a neck injury when WWE did their testing of her several months back, which led to her announce she was taking time off for the neck injury and that was the reason she gave for leaving Stardom. WWE hadn’t finalized the deal, and wrestlers are not allowed to say they publicly they are going to WWE until the company announces it first ...

Shirai announced her return on 8/13 at Korakuen Hall, and that she would also be in the upcoming Five Star Grand Prix tournament (which is their version of G-1, and Jim Cornette should be proud of that name). She also issued a challenge to Team Jungle for the Artist of Stardom championship. This is because she’s not coming to WWE after all. She contacted Rossy Ogawa and Stardom on 7/28 and said that she was ready to return full-time. Nobody has publicly said WWE changed their minds at bringing her in, but obviously that is what happened. The phraseology being used for Japan is that she got some bad news and told Ogawa she was ready to come back. Nobody has directly said that WWE decided against offering her a contract due to her neck issues that they found in her physicals, but they had stalled on offering her a contract months ago when they found out about the injury while she did her medicals in the U.S.

After she did her medicals, WWE wanted her to take time off to rehab her neck. She did that and was just cleared by doctors to return to the ring after her therapy. Then WWE seemingly decided against offering her the deal. While every case is different, WWE has had a general rule of not wanting to bring in new talent that either has concussion issues or neck issues. It also could be that with Kairi Hojo and Asuka they already have two Japanese women and had discovered more women from other nationalities that they wanted to sign from the Mae Young Classic.

Paul Heyman announced last night on WPIX television in New York that he would be doing a talk show with Jim Ross on 8/18 at the famed Gotham Comedy Club in New York. Heyman said if Lesnar didn't leave SummerSlam with the belt, that he and Lesnar would leave WWE and noted that in ECW, the one thing he always believed in was upholding stipulations. When he was asked about Jon Jones vs. Lesnar, he said he would leave that to Lesnar's comments already made publicly.

Alberto and Paige were on the Busted Open radio show today talking about the incident on 7/9 at the Orlando Airport. They downplayed the incident, saying they argue like a normal couple but it's under the media spotlight. She said that the reason her family wrote what they did is they don't know the situation and respond based on what they read in social media. He said that they argue, and three minutes later they are fine. Alberto said that he has an agreement with GFW regarding his suspension and when it will be lifted and will be back to work soon. She said she had a CT scan earlier today and can't wait to get back to WWE once she gets clearance. Paige said Alberto can be an asshole at times but he's her asshole.
Highlights from the interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0803/629788/paige-alberto-del-rio-talk-recent-airport-incident/

Sami Zayn is raising money for a mobile medical center in Syria at SamiForSyria.com. He's raised more than $41,000 of his $48,000 goal.
Link to the update by Sami: https://twitter.com/SamiZayn/status/892849665766510593

Another match is official for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.

It was announced today that Aleister Black would be facing Hideo Itami at the special. The match was set up on last night's episode of NXT TV after Itami demanded respect and tried to take over the ring before Black's match with Kyle O'Reilly, with Black then laying out Itami with Black Mass when he tried to attack him from behind.

WWE then uploaded video of a post-show angle where Black and Itami brawled in the parking lot after Itami tried to ambush him. Itami had been feuding with Kassius Ohno before the program with Black began.
Link to the video: http://www.wwe.com/videos/fan-footage-shows-hideo-itami-trying-to-jump-aleister-black-in-the-parking-lot-wwecom

WrestlingInc.com is reporting that WWE Cruiserweight Classic competitor Hoho Lun has been released from his developmental deal. Lun represented Hong Kong in the tournament last year.

WWE sources indicate the release actually happened several weeks ago.

As if the Fite App didn't carry enough quality content, they announced today they have come to terms with All Japan Pro Wrestling to carry their events via the Fite App. The events will kick off this weekend with each show priced at only $4.99 with unlimited replays included.

A fan asked Steve Corino if you ever get in the commentary booth for WWE NXT much like he did for years with Ring of Honor:

Zero chance. Those days are over.

Plus, I love our NXT commentary team. I wouldn't be able to keep up with them. https://t.co/iNv3ZTIfPI
— Steve Corino (@WWECorino) August 3, 2017
Corino is currently a trainer at WWE's Performance Center.

Cathy Kelley looks at new WWE Network Collections on RAW General Manager Kurt Angle and Hidden Gems in this new video.
Link to the preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWcuLaOtBDk

GFW World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron and Paige appeared on Busted Open this afternoon to discuss their dispute at the Orlando airport last month. During the interview, El Patron discussed his suspension from GFW and said that he "is going to work soon."

.@PrideOfMexico "I'm going back to work soon. At this point I do not know exactly when. But I will be back soon." #GFW
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 3, 2017

El Patron noted that a date has been set for his return. He will not be working this weekend's GFW live events on the east coast, but he said that he'll "be back soon." GFW will hold their next set of television tapings from August 17-20 in Orlando.

.@PrideOfMexico "We've set a date for the suspension to probably be lifted. I won't be at the live events but I'll be back soon" #GFW
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 3, 2017
Likely will be by August 17th since that is when the next set of GFW Impact tapings will occur.

Following a report that Brandi Rhodes is no longer listed by Global Force Wrestling as an active Knockout on its official website, it is now confirmed that she is no longer with the organization.

According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rhodes was recently released from her contract. It is not clear whether GFW opted to release her, or she asked to be let go.

A big reason for her departure is that she's being filmed for a non-wrestling television show in Atlanta, Georgia and GFW weren't cooperative about it. Rhodes debuted for Ring of Honor last Saturday and the promotion is more than willing to work with her on the show.

The situation with Amore was discussed on the 7/31 episode of “Bring it to the Table,” where our report from several weeks ago regarding his being kicked off the bus by Reigns due to heat with the locker room was acknowledged ..... The incident in question we were told that broke the camel’s back and this happened some time back, was him talking very loudly on his phone to someone and saying things that those who couldn’t help but hear him thought were negative about the business while bragging about how much money he was making from the business to that person.

It was reported last month that Amore had significant backstage heat and was kicked off a tour bus by Roman Reigns. The story was brought up on WWE Network's "Bring it to the Table," where JBL said "the odds are completely against Enzo [Amore]" making it in WWE due to his backstage heat.

In that same episode, Corey Graves revealed he personally doesn't like Amore. He said Amore is exactly like his character 24 hours a day; with him being loud and abrasive and talking about who he partied with in Los Angeles getting old. However, Graves stated he feels Amore is valuable to the company.

There has been talk of moving Amore back to NXT, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The idea is that it would be away from Vince McMahon where he can be a big name talent who can help sell tickets to road shows or they could move him to 205 Live, to help garner reactions on a show that struggles with that. Graves stated on "Bring it to the Table" that he feels Amore should be moved to 205 Live.

This is a legit amazing thing, considering what it takes in, including the entire WWE product line and all the legendary rock bands and pop culture figures, but for last week at Hot Topic, top selling T-shirt was Rick & Morty Portal (characters on Adult Swim), but No. 2 was the Young Bucks Bullet Club shirt and No. 3 was the Cody Bullet Club shirt. This would be from figures gathered from stores nationwide and would be out of literally thousands of T-shirt designs carried

Jericho is still not advertised for anything going forward so it appears his Smackdown appearances was just a one-shot surprise out of nowhere for a surprise pop and a way for Styles to get back the U.S. title without Owens losing on television. Jericho’s latest book, “No is a Four Letter Word,” is coming out in a few weeks and he’ll be starting a publicity tour for the book at that time. .. Jericho’s band Fozzy’s song “Judas,” was ranked No. 1 on the Sirius rock station Octane for the second week in a row

As of right now the plan is for Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews to be brought to the U.S. in a few weeks. Exactly what role they’ll play is uncertain. It could be appearing on either the NXT Takeover show or on the NXT TV tapings that take place right after SummerSlam. Right now the plans for the U.K. show are still on hold, since the first taping was to be in June, and nothing has been announced


Some other sheet news includes:

Brie Bella recently announced on Twitter she is currently training for an in-ring return back to the WWE. https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/892897643399061508
Sporting News had a recent interview with Seth Rollins talking about almost missing Mania 33, being cheered instead of booed, and the grey areas with WWE's faces and heels. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0803/629759/seth-rollins-on-how-close-he-was-to-missing-mania/
For those interested, SquaredCircle had a video about all the clean losses Cena has suffered in singles matches since 2007. Only counts standard matches and not gimmick matches. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6rbqms/every_time_john_cena_has_lost_a_oneonone_standard/
Observer reported ITV is still working on plans to launch their World of Sport series by the end of this year.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Paul Ellering's Stance on Monsters:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/5cd149a6daee594357d19b65882506a7/tumblr_ou4t65no0b1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

As has been expected for a while, Eva Marie is officially no longer with WWE.

She announced on Instagram today: "Today is a bittersweet day, as @WWE and I have agreed to part ways. It has been an incredible 4 years, and I am truly grateful to Vince, Paul, Stephanie and the entire WWE team. I would not be where I am today without their continued support."

Marie went on to mention the moments that she got to experience in the company like visiting the troops in Afghanistan and working alongside WWE in their support of the Special Olympics. She thanked her fans and concluded by writing that she'll continue to pursue a career in acting.

WWE also posted the news on their website: "Eva Marie and WWE have mutually agreed to contractually part ways as of today, Aug. 4, 2017."

Marie was suspended for a wellness policy violation shortly before SummerSlam in 2016 and never returned to the ring, with her instead focusing on other projects. It was revealed earlier this year that she wouldn't be returning to Total Divas either.


Sports Illustrated reported that WWE had no interest in signing Rey Mysterio due to not wanting to work with his management team, which would mean Konnan. Mysterio has been talking with both GFW and WWE and we had reported GFW was more likely.
Suppossedly Vince doesn't like that Konnan is Mysterio's agent and having some beef with Konnan decades ago. Link to the article: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/04/wwe-rey-mysterio-vince-mcmahon

Will Ospreay announced earlier today at a show in Sydney, Australia for the PWA promotion (run by woman star Madison Eagles), after he won their heavyweight championship from Robbie Eagles, that he was moving to Australia in the near future and would be back working for PWA and the other independent promotions in the area. Ospreay said he feels he can help the Australian independent scene grow while the U.K. scene doesn't need him top be there. Ospreay told us later today that he might be moving there as his base, but that is he committed to New Japan and ROH either way.

ROH tickets for the 10/15 show in Chicago with Kenny Omega went on sale today. In just a few hours, the company has already broken its all time ticket sales record for the market and it's a lock to be one of the two biggest crowds in company history.

HoHo Lun was announced today by WWE as having been released by his own request due to personal reasons. The release actually took place earlier in the week but WWE officially announced it today.

Friday's WWE Network programming appears to be a block dedicated to D-Generation X on the 20th anniversary of the group's beginnings on television. Starting at 3 PM Eastern, it will be One Night Only 1997. The UK exclusive pay-per-view features Shawn Michaels defending the WWF European title against the British Bulldog in Birmingham, England. At 6 PM Eastern, it will be Smackdown from November 25, 1999 featuring Triple H versus X-Pac, The Hardy Boyz versus The New Age Outlaws in a steel cage. At 7:30 PM Eastern, it will be Smackdown from December 2, 1999 which features D-Generation X versus Big Show and the Hardy Boyz in a six man tag. At 9 PM Eastern, it will be the first time airing on the live stream of Raw from September 7, 2009 which features Bob Barker as guest host with Randy Orton and Chris Masters versus DX. At 11 PM Eastern, it will be a look at of the Greatest Wrestling Factions in Beyond the Ring.

"Hidden Gems" has become its own section in the WWE Network's Vault, indicating that more installments will be added.

The 8/3 edition of Impact did 276,000 viewers, down from last week's 286,000 overnight viewers.

As has been reported earlier in the Elite section of the site, John Cena is advertised for all RAW TVs starting the night after SummerSlam leading up to the No Mercy PPV on 9/24.

The only RAW he will be missing is 9/18 (go home to No Mercy) as he will be with the Smackdown brand in China the night before.

Unified GFW World Heavyweight Champion Alberto El Patron remains under suspension from Global Force Wrestling, the company confirmed in a statement issued to PWInsider.com.

"Alberto El Patron remains under suspension while GFW continues its internal look at the situation."

El Patron addressed his suspension on Thursday during an interview with Paige on Busted Open Radio ... Del Rio and Paige then confirmed they will be returning to work soon and they'll be letting fans know when soon. El Patron added that a date has been set for his return and that while he will not be working this weekend's GFW live events on the east coast, he'll "be back soon."


Some other sheet news includes:

For those interested in a good laugh, a video spoofing WWE's Royal Rumble match using the New York subway system was recently uploaded on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLj714wNEH8
IGN had a recent interview with Seth Rollins talking about the WWE 2k18 commercial, WWE Studios, and working on a film called Armed Response. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0804/629803/seth-rollins-talks-new-wwe-studios-movie-out-today/
WWE had a recent article about Curt Hawkins current 100 match winless streak. http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/article/curt-hawkins-100-match-losing-streak

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Gallows quest to rid the WWE of NERDS:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/0fd12c65a8658a90527cfe09cdb7b32a/tumblr_oucl2tvAiR1u1ljrzo2_540.gif

Raw had another increase in ratings last night to 3.23 million viewers, up two percent from 3.16 million last week, making it the most-watched episode of the show since April 17th ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.26 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.31 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.14 million viewers

Even with current streak with rises, still can't top the Beast of Mondays known as Love & Hip Hop for the #1 ranking spot.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Scott Dawson recently suffered a bicep injury … and we’re told it’s looking like he may require surgery.

Sources tell us Dawson ruptured his right bicep and surgery options are currently being discussed, which means that a SummerSlam match involving The Hardy Boyz may be off the table.

It’s unclear when the injury occurred, but his arm looked heavily wrapped on Saturday at an event.

According to information found online, a partial tear would heal in three to six weeks. However, if surgery is needed, a full recovery would take four to six months.
WWE posted a video on Youtube confirming Dawson is out for an unknown amount of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsvgPXk_54

Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks sent Scott Dawson a get well message on Twitter: "Hate seeing anyone get hurt. Get well. But #FTR."
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/894721559943708672

It appears that Bayley won't be able to wrestle at SummerSlam.

After she suffered a shoulder injury in a match against Nia Jax last week, WWE released a video updating Bayley's status today. It claimed that she won't be able to compete at the pay-per-view following an evaluation that revealed that she separated her shoulder.

Bayley had been scheduled to challenge Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship at the PPV

Disney announced that its acquired majority ownership in BAMTech, who partner with WWE on the Network, in advance of starting their own streaming service.
Link to the announcement: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/walt-disney-company-acquire-majority-ownership-bamtech-2/

AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn made cameo appearances on the latest episode of The Young Bucks' "Being the Elite" YouTube series.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmGffToghmg

Today's G1 show in Kanagawa set things up for the B Block finals. Only Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega remain in contention heading into their match, with Okada at 13 points and Omega at 12. That means that Okada can advance with a win or draw against Omega, but Omega needs to win the match to go to the finals. Okada went to a 30-minute draw with Minoru Suzuki this morning, Omega beat SANADA, and Michael Elgin defeated EVIL to remove him from the mix.

The B Block finals will be on August 12th at Sumo Hall. The A Block will be decided the day before that, with the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito advancing to face either Okada or Omega on August 13th.

Last night[Saturday] at the WrestleCircus show where Cody Rhodes returned to Austin, TX (where his father grew up), he pinned Scorpio Sky with the crossroads on a pile of thumbtacks. Sky slammed Rhodes in the thumbtacks before the finish. Rhodes said that he wants to return to Austin and bring other Bullet Club members with him. He then auctioned off his boots, which got $1,000, that he donated to the "Austin Pets Alive" animal shelter. He also said that anyone leaving him tips on Twitch will have the money donated to the charity. Also on the show, Adam Cole & girlfriend Britt Baker won the company's tag team titles over Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta when Baker pinned Baretta. Baker took a piledriver from Baretta and jumping double knees as well. Romero thanked the fans and said he didn't know when they would see them again.

Mick Foley did an angle with Joey Ryan at yesterday's -Saturday] OTT show in Dublin, using the socko claw in the groin and then taking the flip.

HoHo Lun did an interview with WWE.com where he explained why he asked to be released. “I went to Hong Kong for vacation about three weeks ago and that’s when I realized that my mother is sick,” Lun said. “That’s why I decided to tell Matt Bloom, the head coach of the PC, that I wanted to request my release.” The article credits Lun for helping WWE's Chinese recruits acclimate to the United States and he teases that he may return in the future.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated's Extra Mustard blog wrote a piece on Enzo Amore's heat backstage in WWE among previous reports of being kicked off of the European tour bus for being annoying, and they exclusively reveal the following:

"Sports Illustrated also learned that Amore is guilty of bringing a series of questionable guests into the locker room. The visitors broke locker room etiquette by filming and taking pictures of the wrestlers. The talent in the WWE believe that Amore–who is 30-year-old Eric Arndt–should know better."
Link to the article: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/07/enzo-amore-wwe-antics-locker-room

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley is currently running a memorabilia auction via Ebay with all proceeds going to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Foley is auctioning off items that he wore over the course of his career, original handwritten manuscripts from his books and even childhood items.

On Twitter, Foley wrote:

Thanks to all who are ALREADY making the #MickFoleyMemorabiliaAuction a success. 2 hours in & almost 4K for @RAINN01https://t.co/ASamndzBhM
— Mick Foley (@RealMickFoley) August 8, 2017

Former ECW World champion Taz announced during this morning's edition of The Taz Show on CBS Radio that he would soon be undergoing surgery on his hand in an attempt to repair nerve damage that has led to a loss of feeling and an inability to grip with right hand.

Taz noted on the show that nerve damage in his neck from his pro wrestling career has trickled down to his hand and that surgeons will be going through his wrist in an attempt to bring some of the nerves "back to life", describing it as similar to a carpal tunnel surgery but on a grander scale.

The former WWE star noted that the surgery and recovery would mean he would have to miss a few episodes of his radio show, which airs Monday to Friday from 7-9 AM EST, streaming from NYC at www.TazShow.com.

We noted before that there has been talk of doing another Superstar Shakeup after the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. PWInsider notes that the idea is to do two shakeups per year instead of just one major WWE Draft. WWE previously held a roster Shakeup in April after WrestleMania 33.

Unified GFW Knockouts Champion Sienna took to Twitter last night and called out Charlotte Flair for copying her look and mannerisms.

As of this writing, Flair has not responded but she did post a photo with a "#TeaTime" hashtag this morning. You can see both posts below:

I ignored the feathers & the makeup, but the pinky? Really? If you need anything else from me, let me know. @MsCharlotteWWE #PinkiesUp ???? pic.twitter.com/xfLjkMcy3O
— Sienna the Savage ?? (@Sienna) August 8, 2017


Good morning ???? #SDLive #TeaTime pic.twitter.com/ZQfqmIsWwr
— Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) August 8, 2017

Experience the biggest event in @WWENXT history when #NXTTakeOver: Brooklyn III streams LIVE on @WWENetwork August 19 at 8e/5p! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/zRRcG6WHj2
— WWE (@WWE) August 8, 2017

- Above is a new promo for the WWE NXT "Takeover: Brooklyn III" event on August 19th from the Barclays Center during WWE SummerSlam weekend. As noted, matches confirmed for the show include: Drew McIntyre vs. NXT Champion Bobby Roode, Ember Moon vs. NXT Women's Champion Asuka, SAnitY vs. NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain and Hideo Itami vs. Aleister Black.


Some other sheet news:

Chris Jericho announced Tyler Breeze will be this Friday's guest for Talk Is Jericho podcast show. https://twitter.com/TalkIsJericho/status/894675341603516416
Batista recently appeared in a music video promoting the upcoming DVD/BR release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MMMe1drnZY
New Ted Dibiase documentary will be released in a very limited one-day run in theaters on November 7th. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111460/official-details-on-ted-dibiase-documentary-coming-to-theaters.html?p=1
Former Tough Enough winner Sara Lee recently revealed she recently started training again for another attempt at a career in wrestling. https://twitter.com/TeamVisionDojo/status/894710371436699648
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast had Jim Ross as the guest talking about commentating on Taker's final Mania match and working for Triple H on his WWE side projects. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0808/629928/whose-idea-it-was-to-have-jim-ross-call-undertaker-match/
Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show had Austin talk about if he could succeed in modern WWE and if Okada would be used properly if he ever went to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0808/629904/steve-austin-on-whether-he-would-have-gotten-over-in-today-wwe/
Website Fightful.com reported Ronda Rousey has recently started training for a possible future wrestling match or career at Brian Kendrick's wrestling gym. https://www.fightful.com/what-s-ronda-rousey-and-wrestling-exclusive-look
Matt Riddle recently hinted at a possible deal with NJPW being made very soon. https://www.fightful.com/exclusive-matt-riddle-wrestling-njpw-it-s-possibility-it-could-happen

[Mr. Nerfect]

Matt Riddle in New Japan would be cool. Ronda Rousey training is good news for everybody.

[ClockShot]

The Revival must be cursed. First Dash got a broken jaw and is out for a little while. Now Scott Dawson might have to go under the knife.

Off to a really bad start since getting called up.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I feel sorry for them, honestly.

[Big Vic]

So the broken stuff can continue?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Gallows quest to rid the WWE of NERDS:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/0fd12c65a8658a90527cfe09cdb7b32a/tumblr_oucl2tvAiR1u1ljrzo2_540.gif


Even with current streak with rises, still can't top the Beast of Mondays known as Love & Hip Hop for the #1 ranking spot.


WWE posted a video on Youtube confirming Dawson is out for an unknown amount of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bsvgPXk_54


Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/894721559943708672




Link to the announcement: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/walt-disney-company-acquire-majority-ownership-bamtech-2/


Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmGffToghmg










Link to the article: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/07/enzo-amore-wwe-antics-locker-room












Some other sheet news:

Chris Jericho announced Tyler Breeze will be this Friday's guest for Talk Is Jericho podcast show. https://twitter.com/TalkIsJericho/status/894675341603516416
Batista recently appeared in a music video promoting the upcoming DVD/BR release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MMMe1drnZY
New Ted Dibiase documentary will be released in a very limited one-day run in theaters on November 7th. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111460/official-details-on-ted-dibiase-documentary-coming-to-theaters.html?p=1
Former Tough Enough winner Sara Lee recently revealed she recently started training again for another attempt at a career in wrestling. https://twitter.com/TeamVisionDojo/status/894710371436699648
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast had Jim Ross as the guest talking about commentating on Taker's final Mania match and working for Triple H on his WWE side projects. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0808/629928/whose-idea-it-was-to-have-jim-ross-call-undertaker-match/
Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show had Austin talk about if he could succeed in modern WWE and if Okada would be used properly if he ever went to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0808/629904/steve-austin-on-whether-he-would-have-gotten-over-in-today-wwe/
Website Fightful.com reported Ronda Rousey has recently started training for a possible future wrestling match or career at Brian Kendrick's wrestling gym. https://www.fightful.com/what-s-ronda-rousey-and-wrestling-exclusive-look
Matt Riddle recently hinted at a possible deal with NJPW being made very soon. https://www.fightful.com/exclusive-matt-riddle-wrestling-njpw-it-s-possibility-it-could-happen



LOVE AND HIP HOP HOLLYWOOD VH1 8:00 PM 2,284 1.1
WWE ENTERTAINMENT USA 9:00 PM <b> 3,314 </b> 1.1
WWE ENTERTAINMENT USA 8:00 PM <b> 3,263 <b> 1.1

Fake News.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It's a tie in demo but WWE has more viewers than whatever that show is every week.

[#1-norm-fan]

Jeeeeeeeeeeesusssssss

[Destor]

Those numbers have dipped below Russo Era Nitro numbers.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Whatever Vince is Trying to Do ... Pee Pee Dance?:
http://i.imgur.com/RTrZI8m.gif

Last night’s SmackDown Live brought in 2,584,000 viewers, slightly up again from last week’s 2,569,000 viewers.

SmackDown was #1 on cable for the night in the 18-49 demographic.

This time last year, the August 9, 2016 episode of SmackDown Live brought in 2,455,000 viewers.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reportedly isn't happy with Shinsuke Nakamura after the former NXT champion inadvertently dropped John Cena on his head during a match on the Aug. 1 edition of SmackDown Live.

However, according to Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, McMahon still "has not lost faith" in Nakamura's abilities.

Nakamura beat Cena to become the No. 1 contender and earn a challenge for Jinder Mahal's WWE Championship at SummerSlam on Aug. 20.

During the SmackDown bout, Nakamura hit an inverted exploder suplex that caused Cena to land on the back of his head. Afterward, Nakamura appeared to apologize to the 16-time champion, to which Cena replied, "Don't be sorry."
Link to the article and source link to Sports Illustrated: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2726553-report-vince-mcmahon-furious-with-shinsuke-nakamura-after-john-cena-suplex

Jon Jones continued to tease a future fight with Brock Lesnar, writing on Twitter last night that he's thought about showing up in the front row at SummerSlam.
Link to the tweet: http://twitter.com/JonnyBones/status/895156364267409408

James Ellsworth returned to TV last night after his "30-day suspension" came to an end.

Cathy Kelley tweeted that her NXT Insider YouTube show that debuted recently is no more.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/catherinekelley/status/895400427952496643

Though she suffered a concussion at the Mae Young Classic tapings last month, Kairi Sane (formerly Kairi Hojo) is set to make her NXT house show debut this week.

WWE advertised today that Sane will be in action at NXT's show in St. Petersburg, Florida this Thursday. Most of the television roster will be on the road while that event is going on, with a tour beginning in Los Angeles, California tonight before stops in Bakersfield, San Jose, and Sacramento.

Pro Wrestling Sheet first reported that Sane suffered a concussion at the Mae Young Classic tapings and was dealing with some neck pain, though it was noted that she was expected to be cleared to return in early August. Her working the show in St. Petersburg would mean that has happened.

On this week’s Dinner With The King co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore are joined by “The Mouth from the South” Jimmy Hart to talk about Hulk Hogan and his career in Memphis. The question about a possible Hulk Hogan return to the WWE came up and both The King and Hart answered (37:44 mark of show).

Lawler: "In the wrestling world, you nerve say never. I thought it was way big overreaction what happened with Hulk in this most recent situation — the reason why he’s not in WWE at the moment. But I think that has definitely blown over. It was never a big deal to begin with. And I don’t think anybody even thinks about that anymore. I do think a lot of people would like to see Hulk come back. I think, right now, the ball is in Hulk’s court. If he wants to come back, I think he would definitely be able to come back.”

Hart: "You have seen clips of the Hulk being sprinkled into video packages lately on WWE programming. So I think one day that Hulk will be back where he deserves to be, with the WWE. I really do.”
Link to the episode: http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/7/9/6/7961d2b87ac57842/king_episode_21_080917.mp3?c_id=16345362&expiration=1502334041&hwt=aa387a8b482f273e753797707279da51

GFW will be holding their latest media conference call later this afternoon with Sonjay Dutt, Low Ki and Trevor Lee.

The belief among those I've spoken to in the last few days is that GFW will time the ending Alberto el Patron's suspension with the 8/17 Destination X live Impact Wrestling episode.

There is scheduled to be a status conference this week in Nashville, TN in regard to the lawsuit Fraley International, LLC brought against TNA Entertainment, LLC last year. Fraley International, which handles importation of merchandise from overseas, sued over money owed from shipments of TNA merchandise being brought to the United States after they were produced in the Far East. Last April, the attorneys repsresenting TNA withdrew as their representation and filing asking the Chancery Court in Nashville to allow them to do so, citing lack of payment.

WWE is running a poll on their website asking fans to choose what career first they want John Cena to achieve next. The options are:

*Break Ric Flair's record and win a 17th World Championship

*Win his first IC Championship

*Win the King of the Ring tournament (which would mean it presumably will be coming back at some point)

*Face Roman Reigns one on one.

*Battle the Undertaker at WrestleMania
Link to the poll: http://www.wwe.com/polls/which-career-first-do-you-want-to-see-john-cena-achieve-next


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t6F96Oqmd0c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pCXwKBDvWl8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Alexa Bliss celebrated her 26th birthday today while today is also the 18th anniversary of Jericho's debut in the WWE.
ESPN had a recent article about Asuka nearing 500 days as NXT Women's champion. http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/20287720/wwe-nxt-asuka-historic-nxt-women-championship-reign
Recent episode of The Rack Radio Show had HBK as the guest talking about working on Pure Country Pure Heart film, working as a trainer for NXT, and future stars he sees from NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0809/629966/shawn-michaels-on-why-he-went-on-the-road-with-nxt/
WWE is currently offering 60% Off discount coupons for the PS4 version of WWE 2k17 to WWE Network subscribers. The offer is being sent via email for those interested.
WWE is also holding a one-day only $10 Off sale on t-shirts at their online shop. No discount coupon is needed for the offer and offer itself ends at 2:59 EST, August 10th. http://shop.wwe.com/wwe-t-shirt-sale/
Website WrestlingDVDNetwork recently revealed the content listing for WWE's upcoming "30 Years of Survivor Series" DVD arriving on October 24th. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0809/629951/full-content-listing-and-artwork-revealed-for-wwe-30-years-of/

[Mr. Nerfect]

1.1. Wow.

[#1-norm-fan]

What was TNA's highest rating ever?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

The 1.1 is the rating for the "Key Demographics." It's not the actual ratings.

[#1-norm-fan]

... JEEEEEEEEEEEESUSSSSSSS

[#1-norm-fan]

Corbin ended showing up after Smackdown to attack Cena and Nakamura leading to Cena AA'ing him through a table.

He didn't AA him THROUGH the table. He was AA'ed ONTO the table and landed on the pieces after they broke. He never actually went THROUGH it.

#STD post

[Mr. Nerfect]

The 1.1 is the rating for the "Key Demographics." It's not the actual ratings.

Key word being "key."

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

It's still number one in viewers and demo. People just aren't watching cable or tv in traditional form as much as they once were.

[Emperor Smeat]

What was TNA's highest rating ever?

Somewhere around a 1.4 to 1.5 for ratings overall from the first live Monday episode with Hogan's debut.

Also the highest they ever had for viewers at around 2.2 million for the average.

[#1-norm-fan]

It's still number one in viewers and demo.

No it's not. You do realize that "1.1" is a rounded number, right?

http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Final-Cable-2017-Aug-07.MON_.png

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun's Road to Motherhood:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/5fe75b573efa54419ffaa21d68c10e13/tumblr_ouhrlouVdq1u1ljrzo2_500.gif

WWE announced today that the WWE Network would be available for the first time in mainland China.

WWE and PPTV, a Chinese sports media streaming service that carries the company's programming, will be partners in getting the Network into the final major country in the world it isn't already in. The Network will be debuting on August 18th, in time for SummerSlam weekend ...

Regarding the WWE Network in China, the price in that country will be 30 yuan monthly ($4.50) or a one year package for 198 yuan (just under $30). WWE and PPTV will split the revenue. WWE noted that the NBA has had some success with a subscription model in China.

The company is pushing that tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of the formation of DX, which debuted on the August 11, 1997 TV show. In honor of this, the WWE Network will be doing a weekly series called Flashback Fridays, starting at 3 p.m. Eastern, which this week being a marathon of DX material.
Link to the new show announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7g0Ori8DGs

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Darren Young will soon be making his return to the ring … because he’s been cleared for action by WWE‘s medical staff.

Sources tell us Young had his evaluation this week and passed as expected, therefore he’ll be able to make his return to WWE as soon as next week.

Darren underwent surgery back in early February to repair his injured elbow.

No word on when he’ll be back on TV, or if his relationship with Bob Backlund will continue, but our sources say he’s still scheduled to appear on the Raw brand.

Freemantle International, which is WWE's European DVD distributor, noted about the decision originally made not to release SummerSlam on Blu-Ray and that over the last two years, sales of WWE Blu-Rays have declined and there hasn't been enough demand to continue. However, the decision was made to release SummerSlam on Blue-Ray as a test. "We will closely monitor the performance of this release and it will directly affect our future Blu-Ray plans."

All Japan Pro Wrestling will be available on The Fite App starting Saturday. There are six shows available on VOD. They also have an Impact One Night Only show from the GFW tapings in Las Vegas on Friday night.

This year's Lucha Libre World Cup, which will feature talent from Lucha Underground and AAA, will take place on 10/9 and 10/10 in Tokyo.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/luchalibreaaaJP/status/895587556384833537

Lio Rush's final match before he goes to WWE will be Saturday at the MCW Arena in Joppa, MD for Fan Appreciation night. Rush vs. his trainer, the Bruiser, will headline.

Alexa Bliss tweeted that she will be spending all day at ESPN tomorrow in promotion for next Sunday's SummerSlam:

excited to spend the day @espn tomorrow stay tuned for more details #Summerslam #fixedit hahah
— Alexa Bliss (@AlexaBliss_WWE) August 10, 2017

Deadline has officially announced Netflix has renewed "GLOW" for season two.

GLOW tweeted the following:

Here we #GLOW again... Season 2 is coming. pic.twitter.com/LXF8OIxcNG
— GLOW (@GlowNetflix) August 10, 2017

Recently, you left Global Force Wrestling. There was a report that the company wanted a cut of your revenue from a non-wrestling-related television show. What’s the story there?

Unfortunately, that story is kind of a mess. There are some valid statements that I’ve seen, but it’s really not as dramatic as people want it to be. Basically, Cody and I were very candid with what we were doing after WWE as far as contracts go. People are confused. I never signed the contract that people think I signed with Global Force stating that they got percentages.

What I did sign was a tentative contract with Impact Wrestling when they were still Impact. That contract had a clause for me, because I was already working on some stuff in other areas of television. That clause basically said that if something else in television were to happen for me, they can’t be uncooperative. And if they were uncooperative, we would be able to part ways. And that is honestly what happened. So, I am filming something awesome in Atlanta, but I can’t say what it is.
From a recent interview Brandi Rhodes had with CBS Radio. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111515/brandi-rhodes-explains-why-and-how-she-was-able-to-exit-gfw.html?p=1

WWE NXT will return to Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center on Saturday 8/19 for Takeover: Brooklyn III, featuring:

*WWE NXT champion Bobby Roode vs. Drew McIntyre

*WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Ember Moon

*WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering vs. SanitY

*Aleister Black vs Hideo Itami

*Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas with Zelina Vega

As seen below, Boom! Studios has released a new WWE SummerSlam 2017 Special comic with cover artwork from Rob Schamberger. You can use the link in the tweet to find the special in-stock at a comic shop near you.

New @SummerSlam comic is the cure for the summertime blues-w/ tales spanning 30 years of history!
Find comic shops: https://t.co/i2T8p4bLmw pic.twitter.com/xM392xoY3h
— WWE Publishing (@WWEpublishing) August 10, 2017

Regarding rumors on Dolph Ziggler's WWE status, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Ziggler has been off TV and pay-per-view because the company just has nothing for him creatively. The former World Heavyweight Champion is currently in the same blue brand boat as guys like Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Tye Dillinger, where officials have nothing significant for them to do.

Ziggler worked several live event matches in July, usually losing to Shinsuke Nakamura, but his last TV match came on July 4th - the Independence Day Battle Royal that was won by AJ Styles. Before the battle royal, Ziggler's last singles TV match came on the June 20th SmackDown episode, another loss to Nakamura.
Also likely very busy dealing with the murder trial involving one of his brothers.

Everyone is hurt. Nobody has missed one match. Many are keeping their injuries secret. Tanahashi is working through a right biceps tear. Naito has a right shoulder problem, that got bad with matches with Zack Sabre Jr. and Togi Makabe, the latter where, in it playing no part of the match, he was clearly in a lot of pain. He’s said to be a little better going into the Tanahashi match, and potential final match with Okada or Omega. But he’s likely got his two hardest bouts to come. Yuji Nagata, at 49, the oldest wrestler in the tournament and perhaps the best, was physically wearing down and has back issues. Tomohiro Ishii has a knee issue. Okada may or may not have a neck issue, but in his match with Suzuki, worked like a guy completely banged up and his neck was taped, although it also played into the match. Omega’s neck had stiffened up, and there was a scary moment in his match with Seiya Sanada where he landed almost on the top of his head on the floor when Sanada was out of a position to catch him on a moonsault block on the guard rail. But while it clearly banged him up at the time, apparently he was fine from it after. Evil was knocked silly at least once, if not twice.
Health status regarding all the competitors in this year's G1 Climax tournament.

The medical report on Hiroshi Tanahashi torn right biceps is essentially what was reported. It was noted that in most cases with a distal biceps tendon rupture that one would opt for surgery to repair the arm. Tanahashi said that he couldn’t be out of action for the six months after surgery. The belief was that his brachialis muscle can compensate for the function of the torn biceps so the decision wasn’t that bad

Katsuyori Shibata wrote that his doctor is very surprised about how well his recovery has gone. He also talked about being very depressed because it doesn’t feel like summer to him without being in the G-1 tournament

WWE has announced what will be a six-hour plus presentation for SummerSlam, a two-hour pre-show that starts at 5 p.m. and a main show from 7 p.m. until probably around 11:30 p.m. It’s almost a lock that a lot of the post-show talk will be regarding how the show went too long.

Lawler and Bill Dundee filmed a pilot for a proposed new television show called “Jerry Lawler’s Classic Memphis Wrestling.” The attempt to is sell it to a local station as a nostalgia show, since Memphis Wrestling was a television institution there from the 60s through the 90s, and particularly big from 1969 to 1987. Lawler talked about how he’d like the show to air on the WWE Network after it first has its run on Memphis television. He said he’s got a lot of the footage and claims that he owns it, although the ownership of the tape library has been in question for decades since Lawler sold the promotion and its IP, but the owners went bankrupt and nobody bought its IP in bankruptcy court

The reason the Hardys were off all the shows this weekend was because they couldn’t fully clear up whether Jeff Hardy would be able to cross the border given his felony drug conviction from years ago. They were working on it and time ran out, and he had to be pulled from the shows. Originally Matt Hardy was going to be in Toronto for Raw to shoot an angle with The Revival for their match, but with Scott Dawson’s injury, that was pulled from the show. The expectation right now, while not a certainty, is they’ll be able to clear it up in time for the next Raw Canada swing

Sports Illustrated reported that WWE had passed on Rey Mysterio because of issues with his management team, citing Konnan in particular. While they had talked, we’d heard the Mysterio talking with WWE was overblown in the first place and that he was looking at GFW because it would allow him more freedom to do side projects and Mysterio at this stage of his career isn’t going to be able to work the WWE schedule ...

Another aspect is Mysterio had a very good contract with Lucha Underground, and the fact he’s looking elsewhere when he was the biggest name in that company, is not a strong sign for Lucha Underground as you’d think they’d want to keep their biggest name and not have him sign with GFW. Mysterio had a great deal with LU, working a minimal number of matches and a deal that would have made him one of the higher paid wrestlers in the world, although the offer he signed was less then the numbers offered when he was first told about their interest, but was far more than he could get anywhere else and he could still work indies and such with that deal. But after a couple of years with no movie (never promised but it was part of the pitch), no house show touring, long delays between tapings, no merchandise to speak of and money issues in getting what he signed for, it looks like the money isn’t there for him to be able to be offered what his prior deal was. It looks like both sides are parting ways and that’s where the GFW talks came from

Regarding the Sports Illustrated story, Konnan said he had not negotiated for Mysterio when it comes to WWE. The way the story was reported was that WWE had rebuffed Mysterio stating they had problems with his management team, specifically Konnan, although that story stated it was for Konnan not coming to WWE to do Max Moon after they spent all that money on the gimmick. That was 25 years ago and almost nobody except Vince who was in the company then is even in the company now. Konnan said that if Mysterio was wanting to go to WWE, and anyone in WWE saw his involvement as a negative, that he’d stay out of it and Mysterio would negotiate for himself

WWE officially announced Kyle O’Reilly as having signed, even though his appearing at the last TV tapings confirmed it. They didn’t make the announcement until his first match with Aleister Black aired. As for Adam Cole, even though Cole & Britt Baker won the Wrestle Circus tag titles from Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta on 8/5 in Austin, TX, Cole is headed here. It’s just a question as to how and when they introduce him. I don’t know that it’s happening at Takeover Brooklyn, but that’s certainly possible

"How Kurgan turned into an Oddity, after WrestleMania where [Austin] took the [world title] belt from Shawn [Michaels], I'm at the afterparty and Kurrgan's there with his wife and Kurrgan says, 'my wife is going to have me dancing. I'm going to get up and dance and I'm sure you're going to have a laugh.' And I go, 'dude, don't do it.' He's like, 'why?' I go, 'don't let Vince see you up dancing.' And he's like, 'well, my wife wants me to dance, blah, blah, blah.' I'm like, 'don't do it.' He got up, he's dancing, disco dancing, he's pretty good, but I'm not watching him. I'm watching Vince and I saw [him] catch [Vince's] eye and I'm like, 'he's not a giant anymore.' And within a month, he was in a tuxedo dancing and that's the night I learned 'don't do anything in front of Vince that you don't want to do in front of millions of people."
From a recent episode of The Steve Austin show with Don Callis as the guest. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0810/629984/don-callis-on-incident-that-caused-vince-mcmahon-to-give-kurgan/


Some other sheet news includes:

Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Matt Bloom (Prince Albert/A-Train/Tensai) talking about the training process at NXT. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/10/wwe-matt-bloom-finn-balor-nxt
Newest article by Jim Ross on his official blog talked about the Bayley and Dawson injuries, WWE title match at SummerSlam, and WWE's UK show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0810/629985/jim-ross-on-bayley-and-scott-dawson-injuries/
According to the Observer, WWE is still interested in doing a 4 Horsewomen (WWE) vs 4 Horsewomen (MMA) feud and could start planting the seeds as early as next month.
Also according to the Observer, WWE is about to suffer a severe drop in their 3rd largest tv market in terms of viewers due to a new TV deal made. The new deal for South Africa will move WWE shows from its regular channel to a pay channel. WWE is expected to suffer a drop as high as 80% in viewers as a result.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Powerbomb Appreciation Day:
http://i50.tinypic.com/2mi5onm.gif

Tetsuya Naito beat Hiroshi Tanahashi earlier today to win the A block in the G-1 Climax tournament. Naito will face the winner of tomorrow's Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega match. If Okada vs. Omega goes to a 30:00 draw or double DQ or double count out, Okada will advance to the finals. Omega needs a win in less than 30:00 to meet Naito in the finals. Since I've been flooded with questions on this, Okada vs. Omega 3 should start at 7:45 a.m.to 8 a.m. Eastern time, as far as the match itself goes. The show will start at 5:30 a.m.
Spoiler tags used since its related to the G1 Climax A Block finals from earlier today for those who haven't watched it yet.

Scott Dawson had the surgery for his torn right biceps this week and the current timetable for a return is early December. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported this earlier today and WWE has confirmed it.

Regarding rumors of Gabe Sapolsky working for WWE as a producer in NXT, the story is that he was at the last set of tapings and they were talking regarding different ideas but he said he is not with WWE, has no official role there and there's no talk of him getting an official role there, and he's still with the WWN group.
Debunked an earlier report from PWInsider stating he was in talks to become a possible member of NXT's Creative.

Paul "Triple H" Levesque was interviewed by CBS Sports concerning online rumors that former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey was training for a WWE debut.

About Rousey attenting the Mae Young Tournament taping Levesque said, "I don't know that I ever once looked out at the crowd and saw her without this ear-to-ear grin on her face. She was like a little kid after every break there would be when I would talk to her -- like a little kid. What that means? Unsure. What that means down the line? I think she's unsure."

But as to whether she is training to appear for WWE, Levesque said, "I think [Rousey] is in a transition period in her life and is in a great place. I think she's getting married soon or something. Look, she has got a lot going on, but I'm all about creating opportunities. That's what the Mae Young Classic is all about -- creating opportunities for these women that they never had before. If Ronda Rousey wants that opportunity, I'd be happy to talk to her about it."
Link to the interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0811/630048/triple-h-on-if-there-have-been-conversations-with-ronda-rousey/

WWE Network has added the July 15, 1988 LA Sports Arena house show and the November 24, 1983 Philadelphia Spectrum house show to the Old-School section in The Vault section.

WWE Network continues to upload 1982-1984 WCCW TV episodes. 1984 is now complete.

The 8/10 edition of Impact did 277,000 overnight viewers, up slightly from last week's 276,000 viewers.

As noted early, PROGRESS Wrestling will run shows tomorrow in Queens, NY and Sunday in Boston, MA (that event is sold out) with a number of WWE contracted talents appearing, including UK champion Pete Dunne.

PWInsider.com has learned that after this weekend's events, the UK talents working the loop as well as PROGRESS promoter Jim Smallman are all being sent by WWE to Florida, where they will be at the WWE Performance Center. Some will be there for several weeks.

Jericho revealed on his latest Talk Is Jericho podcast that he was in Richmond, Virginia to film his role in an episode of Southpaw Regional Wrestling and to interview Tyler Breeze and Fandango for his podcast. But he got talked into doing a match.

"That's actually why I'm here today, to film that show Southpaw and talk to you guys," said Jericho. "And now I got roped into having a match."
Pretty much confirms the rumors of Jericho's appearance being a one night only deal.

As noted, former WWE Champion The Rock revealed his updated Brahma Bull tattoo earlier today. You can see the evolution of the trademark ink at this link. RAW announcer Corey Graves took advantage of the moment and invited Rock to appear on his "Superstar Ink" series for the WWE website. Graves tweeted the following to The Great One:

Hey @TheRock, badass new tattoo!

I have this show, @wwe #SuperstarInk...it could totally use some #electrifying!

You busy? Haha
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) August 11, 2017
Link to the Instagram photo of the new tattoo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXqJMxXFsui/


Some other sheet news includes:

Website Popsugar had a recent interview with John Cena talking about proposing to Nikki Bella, the mixed gender tag match at Mania 33, and if the wedding will be taped for Total Bellas. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0810/630011/john-cena-on-when-he-decided-to-propse-to-nikki-bella-at-mania/
Orlando Sentinel had a recent interview with Finn Balor talking about missing this year's Rumble and Mania, Bray Wyatt, and evolving his goals in wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0811/630031/finn-balor-on-missing-royal-rumble-and-wrestlemania-33/
Several clips from Alexa Bliss' appearance on ESPN to promote SummerSlam today was released. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0811/630039/alexa-bliss-on-possibly-facing-nia-jax-or-sasha-banks-at-wwe/
2K Games recently released a new trailer for WWE 2k18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbcSJ7FEPfw
Update to Sami Zayn's Syrian mobile hospital charity news as the fundraiser hit its goal of $48k earlier today.
For those interested in watching a funny wrestling-related gaming stream, NewlegacyInc is currently holding a 2-day Rumble marathon for charity. 30 games from a variety of platforms are being streamed and Canadian Cancer Society as the charity being supported. Link to the stream - https://www.twitch.tv/newlegacyinc , Link to donate - https://twitch.streamlabs.com/newlegacyinc

[Cool King]

As noted, former WWE Champion The Rock revealed his updated Brahma Bull tattoo earlier today. You can see the evolution of the trademark ink at this link. RAW announcer Corey Graves took advantage of the moment and invited Rock to appear on his "Superstar Ink" series for the WWE website. Graves tweeted the following to The Great One:

Hey @TheRock, badass new tattoo!

I have this show, @wwe #SuperstarInk...it could totally use some #electrifying!

You busy? Haha
— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) August 11, 2017

Link to the Instagram photo of the new tattoo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXqJMxXFsui/

Damn, that's an ugly-ass tattoo.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Fists That Reunited Shield Bros:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/8d270cac2e23159523c98f2213e76786/tumblr_oupadviTmw1saykaxo1_400.gif

Raw started higher and fell more last night than in previous weeks, ending up at 3.22 million viewers, which was a one percent drop from last week's number. Last week's rating was the best for the show since April 17th ...

My feeling on this is the huge first hour was curiosity regarding what would be said about Ric Flair, which was covered early and it was clear it wouldn't be talked about again. Even in males 18-49, which usually has its best hour in number three, it dropped 11 percent from one to three ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.29 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.99 million viewers

Managed to do the impossible and break Love & Hip Hop's grip on the #1 ranked demo spot for the week.

Ric Flair remains in critical condition as of last word in a hospital in Atlanta.

Flair underwent colon surgery yesterday to remove a blockage that was the catalyst for a number of different health issues that followed including kidney failure. Those in WWE were made aware that Flair is on kidney dialysis as well. A key is being able to get the kidneys back functioning.

The surgery was considered a success, but as noted there are more issues involved.

With fans and people within the pro wrestling industry sending well wishes for her father, Charlotte Flair posted a message thanking people for their support this morning.

She wrote on Instagram: "Hi guys, On behalf of my family and I, we want to THANK everyone for the prayers, texts, calls and support. Our Dad is a FIGHTER and your continued thoughts and prayers MEAN THE WORLD to us. We will update everyone when we have more information."


PWInsider reported today and a WWE source confirmed to us that Adam Cole has officially signed with WWE.

The fact this was confirmed before NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn means there is a good chance that will be his debut.

Cole signing with WWE has been expected for at least one year and would have happened sooner had the WWE and Ring of Honor legal issues not taken place. Once WWE started signing guys like Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, Cole, who the company has had eyes on for years, was imminent as far as coming in.

Cole's debuting has been a foregone conclusion since he finished up with ROH and New Japan. Fish and O'Reilly both debuted on NXT TV recently.

Cole said goodbye to ROH at their War of the Worlds pay-per-view in New York and post-PPV television tapings in Philadelphia in May and has since worked some indie matches.


Mike Kanellis posted a message on Instagram about overcoming an addiction to prescription drugs. He wrote that he kept the problem from everyone and it has haunted him for three years after dislocating his kneecap. Kanellis noted that the addiction started to spiral out of control over the last year and a half until he decided that he couldn’t keep hurting his wife and himself in this way. He said that he was sharing the message as a symbol of hope to anyone else battling addiction issues.
Link to the posting: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXzYcdpldcz/

Paige said that she hopes to return to TV within the next couple of months and that she still needs to be cleared by WWE doctors.
Link to the posting: https://twitter.com/ChelseyKENS5/status/897279091153489920

GFW announced its decision this morning to strip Alberto El Patron of his Unified World Championship which would seem to indicate he will not be appearing at the television tapings this week.

Sources in the promotion had told us that the decision had not been made over the weekend.

Because they are taping television through the end of October, everything leading to Bound for Glory, if Alberto is not at television, and it appears he won't be, all the main event plans would have to be changed and a new champion would have to be crowned.

Ed Nordholm would have been the person with the final say on this matter and we had heard that even though Alberto was cleared of all charges regarding the Orlando Airport incident, that his long-term behavior had been a concern.
Official reason related to GFW being upset at Alberto's attitude and actions while suspended. http://impactwrestling.com/alberto-el-patron-indefinite-suspension-update-2/

After being stripped of the GFW Unified World Championship yesterday, Alberto El Patron released a statement on Instagram. He claimed that being stripped of the title was his idea and that the sides came to an agreement that works best for both parties.
Link to the posting: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXyrTz1AqIc/?hl=en&taken-by=prideofmexico

Brandon Howard has an article for Fightful.com analyzing this year’s G1 Climax from a business perspective. Total attendance for the 19 shows was 80,639 people, up from 74,383 in 2016. The estimated gate for the final night at Sumo Hall was $1.3 million, also up from an estimated $850,000 the last two years.
Link to the article: http://www.fightful.com/analysis-njpw-g1-climax-draws-over-80000-tour-13-million-gate-final-night

SummerSlam is returning to Brooklyn, New York for a fourth straight year.

WWE announced last night that the Barclays Center would be hosting SummerSlam weekend again in 2018, with four shows in four nights. There will be an NXT TakeOver special on August 18th, SummerSlam on the 19th, Raw on the 20th, and SmackDown on the 21st.

WWE released the official word to the New York Post before also posting an article on their website. The announcement comes ahead of the company's upcoming trip to the Barclays Center for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, SummerSlam, Raw, and SmackDown starting this weekend.

SummerSlam first took place at the Barclays Center in 2015 and tickets have either sold out or mostly sold out right when they're put on sale every year that the venue has hosted the pay-per-view. Prior to that, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California was home to the show for six straight years from 2009 to 2014.

Link to the announcement: http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/article/summerslam-week-to-return-to-barclays-center-in-2018

The G-1 tournament ended up being amazing. Tetsuya Naito beat Kenny Omega in the finals although the highlight was the return of Katsuyori Shibata ...

Both Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito are said to be fine after all the chances they took in their match this afternoon in Tokyo. There were tons of scary spots, but the worst two were a piledriver off a table to the floor, which was not supposed to happen, and a superplex spot that ended up with Naito being DDT'd on the top of his head on the top of the ring post.

On a lighter note, the stuffed cat, Darryl Takahashi returned and gave Naito a paw bump after he won the tournament. Darryl had a bandage on his hind paw after he was torn limb from limb by Bad Luck Fale, until he was put back together again.

Kevin Owens celebrated 3 years with WWE this past weekend. He is now a one-time WWE NXT Champion, a three-time WWE United States Champion, a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a one-time WWE Universal Champion. Owens tweeted the following on Saturday while preparing to face United States Champion AJ Styles at SummerSlam in Brooklyn this coming Sunday:

3 years ago today, it was announced that I had signed with @WWE. Worked out pretty great for everyone...

You're welcome! #ThankYou
— Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) August 12, 2017

The "Table For 3" episode with WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair, Sting and Ricky Steamboat that was scheduled to premiere after last night's RAW did not air, apparently due to Flair's weekend hospitalization and the surgery that he underwent on Monday. A one-hour "Ric Flair: Forever The Man" special aired instead. That special can currently be found in the "Originals" section of the WWE Network. No word yet on when the "Table For 3" episode will air.

WWE has a special John Cena collectible at ToysRUs to help benefit Special Olympics. You can buy it by clicking here.
Link to the special collectable toy for those interested: https://www.toysrus.com/product?productId=127564646&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz-XnuazX1QIVBY5pCh1TAA4HEAQYASABEgK4oPD_BwE&camp=PLAPPCG-_-PID25904725:TRUS&cagpspn=plat_25904725&eESource=CAPLA_DF:127564646:TRUS

Finn Balor tweeted that there will be an exclusive Brooklyn edition of the Balor Club T-shirt at the Barclays Center and available soon at WWE Shop.

Spread love it's the Brooklyn way
Exclusive Bálor Club Brooklyn Shirt @wweshop & Barclays Center pic.twitter.com/DWdZAKJkYI
— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) August 15, 2017


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Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview with E!, Brie Bella revealed she's currently targeting a return to wrestling at some point in 2018. http://www.eonline.com/ca/shows/total_bellas/news/873465/brie-bella-reveals-her-mommy-breasts-are-getting-in-the-way-of-her-wwe-training-it-was-weird-to-land-on-these-boobs
PROGRESS announced they will be running shows in New Orleans on April 6 & 7 as part of next year's Mania week. https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/897185931626762240
WWE announced the reason for JoJo not attending RAW last night was due to her sister's recent passing and being given time off for grieving.
Miami Herald had a recent interview with MVP talking about indies, evolution of wrestling, and both Lesnar and Lashley's MMA careers. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0815/630144/mvp-on-brock-lesnar-taking-on-jon-jones-or-bobby-lashley/
Website Uproxx had a recent interview with X-Pac talking about embarrassing moments in DX, Chyna's importance for the group, and why the Outlaws were added. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0815/630135/sean-waltman-on-what-embarassing-thing-he-did-with-dx/
2K Games announced the roster reveal for WWE 2k18 will start tomorrow. https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/897618650403831809
According to reports, PROGRESS' first ever event in NYC ended up having several serious and potentially illegal problems occur. http://www.tpww.net/2017/08/progress-nyc-event-plagued-with-series-of-problems/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Fashion Peaks Appreciation Day:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/a19370f1eda201f262b3cfc13a0c1b2e/tumblr_our8x7IkwU1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Tuesday night's SmackDown averaged 2.53 million viewers for the SummerSlam go-home show, down two percent from last week. It was the lowest number for the show since July 11th.

The Barclays Center sent out a tweet today advertising Universal Champion Brock Lesnar for the post-SummerSlam episode of Raw. The tweet was taken down after complaints about spoiling the SummerSlam main event, though Lesnar is advertised for more dates after the pay-per-view as well.

Spoiler tag used since it could be related to the results of the Universal title match at SummerSlam.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque conducted a conference call with the pro wrestling media earlier this afternoon ahead of TakeOver. When it comes to working with other promoters, such as Gabe Sapolsky, Levesque noted that these promoters aren’t officially employed by WWE, but there’s an opportunity to be around each other and learn. He also talked about the Mae Young Classic, saying that some people who worked on the crew said it may even be better than the Cruiserweight Classic. When asked about 205 Live’s scheduling conflicting with the Mae Young Classic final on September 12th, Levesque noted that the logistics haven’t been finalized yet.
Link to the media call: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/nxt-takeover-brooklyn-media-call-audio-hhh-talks-nxt-and-myc-241101

Ric Flair’s fiancee Wendy Barlow has given an update on the condition of Ric Flair, stating that he is still in critical condition. She said that she took Flair to the hospital on Friday with severe abdominal pain. From there, it progressed to multiple organ problems. She said that it was not colon surgery he went under, but a different surgery.

PWInsider posted quotes from an interview with Bayley earlier today regarding her injury. She noted that the injury was a grade two separation and that she would be out for a few months.

The New Day defending their tag titles against The Usos at SummerSlam has been moved to the pre-show. Big E and Xavier Woods will be the New Day team in that match.
Updated card for SummerSlam: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0816/630187/title-match-moved-to-wwe-summerslam-pre-show/

On this week’s Dinner With The King co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore dedicate the episode to “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. They two talk about Flair’s condition, his career and time in Memphis. The King also shares some classic audio and stories from their handful of matches over the years ...

Also, Lawler shares that his pilot episode of Jerry Lawler Classic Memphis Wrestling has been picked up and they will begin shooting episodes soon.

"We did a pilot episode of our classic wrestling show here in Memphis. And it got picked up! September 9, we are going to get Bill Dundee back in the studio and we are going to shoot the first episode of Jerry Lawler’s Classic Memphis Wrestling. The Memphis wrestling that everybody grew up here in Memphis watching Saturday mornings. That’s going to be a weekly show coming up in Memphis on Channel 30, CW 30 here in Memphis.”
Link with more highlights and episode of the podcast: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111657/jerry-lawlers-classic-memphis-wrestling-tv-series-picked-up-lawler-on-ric-flair-more.html?p=1

Tyrus announced on his social media accounts this afternoon that he would not be working this week's GFW Impact Wrestling tapings in Orlando Florida.

In his video posting, Tyrus claimed that he was being treated like a "second-class citizen" and not being used the way that he should be. He said he had been playing phone tag with GFW officials all day and if they wanted to treat him that way, he would not be working the tapings.

You can see the posting below:

Full version on @tyrussmash ig @IMPACTWRESTLING pic.twitter.com/ejQ5URAFTl
— Tyrus (@PlanetTyrus) August 16, 2017

In regard to Ric Flair's condition, he is still currently in critical condition in Atlanta, GA.

A source close to the situation told PWInsider.com that while reports are out there that Flair had surgery on his colon, those are incorrect. It appears those stories began because Gene Okerlund mistakenly said colon on social media.

The surgery was actually on Flair's bowels due to a massive obstruction caused by a health issue that was complicated by other health issues that Flair had been dealing with, including heart issues that he was already aware of. The situation turned dire when Flair's kidneys shut down due to the obstruction and he is currently undergoing dialysis that will hopefully fix the situation and allow them to return to normal.

Flair was in extremely bad shape several days ago but the outlook, we are told, is better. However, we were cautioned that he is still in critical condition and anything can happen, so he's not out of the woods yet and is expected to need at least one more surgery in the weeks to come.

This is NOT a case where Flair will wake up tomorrow and leave the hospital the next day.

While it was known that Nikki Bella was expected to sit ringside for the John Cena vs. Baron Corbin match this Sunday at Summerslam, she may have someone to keep her company.

Brie Bella will be in New York City this weekend, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Brie will be in town to take part in filming of material for Total Divas over Summerslam weekend.

While GFW announced this week that Alberto El Patron has been stripped of the Unified World Heavyweight Title due to the recent domestic incident with Paige at an Orlando airport, it looks like Patron vs. Low Ki is still scheduled for this week's GFW Destination X episode on POP. As noted, GFW Executive Bruce Prichard will be at Destination X to make an announcement on the title that "will rock GFW and IMPACT to it's very core."

GFW's announcement on Alberto mentioned that no decision had been made on when he will be brought back from suspension but we've noted that the plan has been for the suspension to end with Destination X.


Some other sheet news includes:

Daniel Bryan was revealed to be this Friday's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/EandCPod/status/897885937186820106
2K Games revealed the first batch of wrestlers totaling 47 people for WWE 2k18's roster. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-2k18-roster-reveal-first-47-wrestlers-announced-241091
AXS TV announced they will be showcasing this year's G1 Climax tournament for the next set of NJPW episodes starting on August 18th. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111668/axs-tv-to-air-a-lot-of-g1-climax-footage.html?p=1
NBC Elmira had a recent interview with Sting talking about the nWo, Ric Flair, and his match at Night of Champions 2015. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0816/630195/sting-on-his-final-match-with-seth-rollins/
WWE's online store is currently holding a 2-Day Sale on select merch with discounts in the $5, $10, and $15 off range. No discount code is needed for the sale. http://shop.wwe.com/wwe-51015-deals/
John Cena recently released a teaser image on his Instagram page hyping up Season 2 of Southpaw Regional Wrestling. https://www.instagram.com/p/BX3t2XqjbFh/?hl=en&taken-by=johncena

[Simple Fan]

Tyrus has been under used by GFW. Been the lackey for a few main eventers that could have turned into big fueds for him but they haven't pulled the trigger on him. Guess he wasn't a big enough star in WWE.

[#1-norm-fan]

He should have been a bigger deal in WWE and a MUCH bigger deal in TNA. The guy was getting over as The Funkasaurus until they made him into a jobber. Crazy charismatic and likable.

[Evil Vito]

Supposedly he had a really pissy attitude when he was given the Funkasaurus gimmick. Despite the fact that it was getting over he felt he should've been booked as a monster and he was just bitching about it the whole time.

[erickman]

I wonder if the tyrus vid is a work it kind of looks like a work to me how much time does he have on his contract

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Supposedly he had a really pissy attitude when he was given the Funkasaurus gimmick. Despite the fact that it was getting over he felt he should've been booked as a monster and he was just bitching about it the whole time.

He refused to be on Total Divas.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Tony Nese's Abs:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/9ed1c347cde45af1af39d9e4f66cdd71/tumblr_okzkbh4lbx1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

We have an update Ric Flair. Flair is doing significantly better than he was earlier in the week, but he is still in critical condition. He was given an external pacemaker and his heart is beating at normal levels and getting stronger. He is still battling an infection and on kidney dialysis. This is going to be a very slow process.

Per a source close to the family, Flair did not undergo heart surgery nor did he suffer a heart attack. Upon medical attention, what was thought to be an intestinal blockage wound up requiring part of his bowel be removed.
Some more details regarding Flair's current condition from Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/17/ric-flair-heath-update

Immediately after SummerSlam, the WWE Network will air a preview special for the Mae Young tournament, which starts on 8/28.

Former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team champion Shelton Benjamin has signed a deal to officially return to WWE, PWInsider.com has learned.

WWE planned to sign Benjamin last summer as part of their brand split and even ran videos promoting his return to the company, only to learn the 42-year old had a torn rotator cuff during the standard pre-signing medical testing. Benjamin underwent surgery to repair the injury while WWE quietly stopped running the videos ...

There is no word when Benjamin will return to TV or what brand he will be assigned to as of this writing, but one WWE source stated it would be "soon."

Topps and WWE are partnering for Connor's Cure. They are making a special autographed card with Stephanie McMahon and HHH offered on Topps.com exclusively along with some Great Moments in SummerSlam history cards with proceeds going to Connor's Cure. The card will be available Monday.

GFW announced Latin Night on Tuesday at Universal on the final day of this week's TV tapings, which started today. It will be a joint promotion between GFW and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando. They are pushing that GFW features a number of Latin stars including LAX, Garza Jr., Laredo Kid, El Hijo del Fantasma and Drago.

Another match has been added to the SummerSlam pre-show.

It was announced in a video today that The Hardys would again team up with Jason Jordan against The Miz, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas on Sunday. The New Day defending their SmackDown tag titles against The Usos is currently listed for the pre-show as well, along with Neville getting his rematch against Akira Tozawa for the Cruiserweight Championship.

The Hardys & Jordan vs. The Miztourage is also a rematch from this week's episode of Raw. The faces won that first meeting after it was turned into a six-man tag when The Miz got disqualified in a singles match against Jordan due to Axel and Dallas' interference.

The addition of the six-man tag brings the SummerSlam lineup up to 13 matches.
Link to the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxP_KZM1X4

While appearing on the "From the Top Rope" podcast alongside her sister, Brie Bella gave one of the strongest indications yet that Daniel Bryan will eventually end up wrestling again -- whether it's in a WWE ring or somewhere else.

Brie said about Bryan possibly coming back: "I told Bryan, ‘You do have a daughter, so always remember that. But if the doctors finally give you the green light,’ I say, ‘Go. Like this is your dream and passion. You have one life to live and I will never hold you back -- because I love to wrestle, and I would hate if someone told me you can’t do it."

"And if WWE doesn’t allow it, then I said, ‘Go somewhere else. It’s all on you,'" She added. "Obviously he would love to be able to get back in that WWE ring, but I know for a fact my husband is going to find his way back to the ring. Like, he honestly is.”

Brie also noted that Bryan has been going to doctors and undergoing testing since retiring. She said that he found Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and has undergone about 40 treatments across the country. Dave Meltzer wrote in this week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Bryan would have likely first looked into those around WrestleMania week.

Regardless of being cleared by outside doctors, Bryan would need WWE's Dr. Joseph Maroon to reverse his decision if he is to wrestle for the company again.

Jim Cornette returned to Global Force Wrestling at tonight's TV taping for Destination X, which will air later tonight on Pop.

Cornette had worked for the company as an on screen authority figure and as a producer behind the scenes before being let go by Dixie Carter during a time period where she was purging anyone close to Jeff Jarrett.

As of midnight this morning, Asuka surpassed Rockin' Robin's long-standing record of 502 days as WWF Women's Champion. This means that Asuka is now not only the longest-reigning women's champion of any of that title's incarnations, but she has also now become the longest-reigning champion in WWE history period, other than the years-long title reigns achieved by Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales, and Hulk Hogan in the pre-national expansion days, none of which are likely to ever be surpassed.

Goldberg tweeted the following to Asuka on her 500 day title reign as NXT Women's Champion: "Congratulations and good luck to @WWEAsuka on her incredible streak as @WWENXT Women's Champion. We'll be watching. #WhosNext #NXTTakeOver #shesnext"

The WWE NXT "From Secret to Sensation" DVD and Blu-ray will be released on November 14th, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. Below is the synopsis:

WWE: NXT – From Secret to Sensation on DVD, Blu-ray & Giftset 11/14/17!

In recent years, NXT has emerged as an incredible box office draw for WWE with sold out live network specials from Brooklyn to Dallas to the United Kingdom! But things weren't always this way: watch WWE's "developmental" system churn out future Hall of Fame superstars and grow from its underwhelming infancy in Louisville through 2017!

A countdown of the greatest NXT superstars of all-time, featuring brand new exclusive interviews with all the major stars (current & former) that helped make NXT into a unique and popular brand.

"The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero announced on social media that he is leaving GFW.

Dinero worked for TNA as a wrestler from 2009-2013. He returned to the company in 2015 as a color commentator using the name, Da Pope. He returned to action on the April 5th episode of Impact Wrestling, losing to Lashley in a street fight

Another thing we’ve heard is that they were at least looking into, if not doing, a live music-accompanied entrance for Aleister Black for his match with Hideo Itami, like they’ve done in the past for Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura. Code Orange, the band that does the events theme song and Brendan Garrone, of the group Incendiary, playing him to the ring. Incendiary is big on the New York scene so this should be great if it does happen..

HHH did a media call and talked about the Mae Young tournament. He said that the binge release, where four or five episodes will be released on 8/28 and the rest on 9/4 was an experiment. He said that the viewership for the Cruiserweight tournament faded in the later weeks of the tournament so this was an experiment to see what would happen if everything was released over a two week period instead of a ten week period. He also said it hadn’t been determined exactly what the situation would be on 9/12 regarding whether it would just be one match, or a one-hour show with other matches leading to the championship match, or what the situation would be regarding 205 Live that week
Link with more highlights: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0817/630226/triple-h-explains-why-mae-young-classic-is-being-released/

Zayn is raising money for Syria, a cause called “Sami for Syria” to raise money for a mobile clinic. They’ve hit their original goal of raising $48,000. He said that from 8/14 through 8/20, he will match every dollar donated up to $10,000

As far as the U.K. ratings are concerned, the most up-to-date numbers we have are for 7/31 and 8/1, where Raw did 29,000 viewers and Smackdown the next night did 19,000 viewers. This is for the live showings which start at 1 a.m
Some perspective on how RAW and Smackdown have been doing in the UK. They were in the 100k weekly range only a few years ago.


<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It has returned. <br>Friday. 10am. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SRW?src=hash">#SRW</a> <a href="https://t.co/pNgbynwfkz">pic.twitter.com/pNgbynwfkz</a></p>&mdash; John Cena (@JohnCena) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/898288502353350660">August 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

GFW recently posted pictures of the designs for the set of new championship belts debuting during tonight's show. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111692/gfw-posts-picture-of-their-new-title-belts.html?p=1
Sporting News had a recent interview with Drew McIntyre talking about Brooklyn III, origins of his "Chosen One" gimmick, and getting contacted by Triple H to return to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0817/630237/drew-mcintyre-on-vince-mcmahon-chosen-one-moniker/
During this week's pre-Takeover media call, Triple H revealed how he handles issues with Vince when it comes to calling up people too early from NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0817/630212/triple-h-talks-vince-mcmahon-wanting-to-move-nxt-talent-early/
PWI had a recent interview with Bayley discussing her current shoulder injury and rehab. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0817/630202/bayley-gives-an-update-on-her-shoulder-injury-and-rehabiliation/
ESPN had a recent interview with Alexa Bliss talking about her call up to RAW, future career plans, and being on Total Divas. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0817/630203/alexa-bliss-on-not-thinking-she-was-ready-to-leave-nxt/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Return of Southpaw Regional Wrestling:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/3905fae698dbf0a181be5e07a061686f/tumblr_on0w73n0Cs1u1ljrzo2_500.gif

Daniel Bryan was the guest on Edge and Christian’s podcast this week. One of the highlights from the interview was him discussing his forced retirement due to his concussions, primarily the lesion that was found in his brain. He says that he was originally cleared by three different doctors, two of which WWE recommended. WWE still would not clear him, and instead they sent him to do some experimental testing, which is where the lesion was found. When he told this to one of the doctors that originally cleared him, that doctor told him that a lesion was a vague term when it came to brain injuries, that something may be there, but not necessarily a lesion. When talking about his brain and reflexes, Bryan noted that he found out the testing they did on him, and the results thereafter, noted that while his reflexes were slower than that of NFL or other athletes that have taken the test, they were not slower than a normal person, which he considers himself to be.
Link to the podcast episode: https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness

Former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team champion Shelton Benjamin has signed a deal to officially return to WWE, PWInsider.com has learned.

WWE planned to sign Benjamin last summer as part of their brand split and even ran videos promoting his return to the company, only to learn the 42-year old had a torn rotator cuff during the standard pre-signing medical testing. Benjamin underwent surgery to repair the injury while WWE quietly stopped running the videos ...

There is no word when Benjamin will return to TV or what brand he will be assigned to as of this writing, but one WWE source stated it would be "soon."

Triple H appeared on CBS Sports’ “In This Corner” podcast ahead of SummerSlam. When asked which promotion is WWE’s biggest competition, he said: “When you say, 'What's the No. 2 promotion?' and 'WWE doesn't have a promotion knocking on its door and pushing them,' Raw and SmackDown do. Raw and SmackDown have a promotion right on their tail pushing them to do more. That promotion is going to run a show on Saturday night at the Barclays Center, and it's called NXT."
Link to the interview: https://www.cbssports.com/wwe/news/triple-h-dishes-on-wwes-biggest-competitor-whether-njpw-has-forced-an-evolution/

Impact ratings got a boost from last night’s Destination X special, with the show doing 320,000 viewers as compared to last week’s 277,000.

Jim Cornette as an authority figure and Taryn Terrell were surprise debuts at last night's first night of the Impact TV tapings. Impact will be taping constantly over the next several days, finishing up on Tuesday. There will be 12 weeks of tapings done this week, taking the company through the end of October and everything leading to Bound for Glory is being taped.

John Hennigan, using the name Johnny Impact, a spoof on his old Johnny Nitro name in WWE, will debut on Impact next week.

A fan jokingly asked Meltzer on twitter if the heated verbal exchange between him and Corbin was the reason why Baron lost his Championship match, replying to which he revealed that John Cena and Mojo Rawley are the reason behind it:

While Dave didn’t open up much about the issue, another report from Cage Side Seats shed some more light on how the two mentioned stars were responsible for it.

According to it, Officials lost faith in the Money In The Bank winner because he couldn’t stand in the verbal battle against John Cena. His twitter rant with fellow SmackDown roster member Mojo Rawley only contributed to Official’s distress.

While it’s widely believed that Corbin wasn’t ready to hold the WWE title, it’s also true that there were many other ways to take the contract away from him and the quick defeat which added nothing to any of the involving star’s profile could have been avoided.

We expect to receive some more updates on Baron Corbin’s failed cash in, in the next few days and we’ll keep you posted as new details come to light.

As seen below, WWE and PUMA have released a new SummerSlam collection of gear for Foot Locker stores.

The @PUMA x @WWE Summer Slam Collection Tsugi Shinsei is available online now. | https://t.co/p4hNailZbR pic.twitter.com/FTvZfwtkRe
— Foot Locker (@footlocker) August 18, 2017


Salute To The Legends.@PUMA x @WWE Summer Slam Collection is in stores & online now.

?? https://t.co/MeC16X6agI
?? https://t.co/USQQSG6D5N pic.twitter.com/aYyavCPBIe
— Foot Locker (@footlocker) August 18, 2017

WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg is scheduled to appear at the WWE 2K18 media event in New York City tonight, according to PWInsider. No word yet on if Snoop might appear with cousin Sasha Banks this weekend as she challenges Bliss for the title.

Sunday's WWE Summerslam is not yet sold out, according to TiqIQ. They sent work that as of Friday morning, both lower level and floor seating was still available through Ticketmaster from $400. There's over 1,000 tickets listed on the secondary market with cheapest seats listed for $99. Lower level seating is available from $269 with ringside from $450. The $99 starting price marks the cheapest secondary market "Get-In" of the past 3 Summerslams at Barclays Center.

Of the surrounding events, Tuesday's Smackdown Live is the hottest on the resale ticket, with tickets starting at $42. Saturday's NXT Takeover starts at $38 on the resale market, and Monday's WWE Raw is the cheapest of the lot, with tickets listed for as low as $19.

Dolph Ziggler appeared on The Tom Shillue Show with Fox News' Kennedy and Jimmy Failla this week. During the show they discussed the terror attack in Barcelona and President Donald Trump's controversial response to the attack in Charlottesville, VA last weekend. All the panelists agreed that Trump didn't handle the situation ideally, however Ziggler felt that Trump would have been criticized if he denounced white supremacists immediately anyway. Ziggler felt that people would have said that if he mentioned those hate groups by name, people would have seen it as Trump giving them a nod. You can watch the segment below, Ziggler's comments about Trump's response in Charlottesville start at the 10:30 mark.
Link to the video interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0818/630265/dolph-ziggler-on-president-trump-response-to-charlottesville/

WWE announced in celebration of SummerSlam they have opened own GIPHY channel to celebrate some of the PPV's biggest moments over the years. In the announcement, WWE wrote: "GIPHY is the largest search engine for GIFs online, and powers popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, Slack, WhatsApp, Tinder, Gmail and more!" WWE has already posted over 600 gifs on the channel
Link to the official channel: https://giphy.com/wwe

WWEShop.com has a SummerSlam sale starting through today and ending Sunday night, August 20th at 11:59pm PT. You can take 20% off orders $25+, 25% off $50+ and 30% off orders $75+ by clicking here and using code SLAM at checkout.WWEShop.com has a SummerSlam sale starting through today and ending Sunday night, August 20th at 11:59pm PT. You can take 20% off orders $25+, 25% off $50+ and 30% off orders $75+ by clicking here and using code SLAM at checkout.

In an interview with USA Today's "For the Win" section, Samoa Joe talked about why he wears a towel to the ring:

"I think partially it was the grapplers that I enjoyed wore a towel to the ring and they looked like they were ready to rock and roll. Mike Tyson used to come out with the towel poncho. I didn't get the towel poncho. Just the towel. It's something I just started to do and never stopped."
Link to the interview: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/08/samoa-joe-summer-slam-ric-flair-seth-rollins-dean-ambrose

Kurt Angle: "AJ is the best today. He's the standard. He sets the bar very high. I had some of my best matches with AJ. Maybe one more?"
From a recent Q&A session Angle held on his official Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/realkurtangle/posts/10156510279018047?comment_id=10156510290353047&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D


Some other sheet news includes:

Adam Cole was recently seen with NXT crew heading to New York fueling more speculation of him making a debut at tomorrow's Takeover: Brooklyn III. http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/adam-cole-nxt-crew-photo/
WWE recently uploaded Season 2 of Southpaw Regional Wrestling totaling 6 episodes overall. http://www.wwe.com/playlist/southpaw-regional-wrestling-season-2-the-showdown-at-the-swamp
2K Games revealed The Rock curated the soundtrack for WWE 2k18.
WrestlingDVDNetwork recently revealed the content listing for November's NXT: From Secret to Sensation DVD set. http://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/full-content-listing-wwe-nxt-secret-to-sensation-dvd/140591/
WWE recently released a new set of Southpaw Regional Wrestling merch in honor of Season 2's debut. https://shop.wwe.com/southpaw-regional-wrestling/
USA Today's "For The Win" section had a recent interview with Triple H talking about Asuka in NXT and her importance for the brand. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0818/630277/triple-h-on-which-nxt-star-he-asked-to-keep-when-vince-mcmahon/
that's Magazine had a recent interview with Charlotte talking about Ric Flair, pressure following his footsteps, and how much of her character is based on her real life personality. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0818/630263/charlotte-on-if-ric-flair-reputation-is-a-burden/
Update to WWE's lawsuit against CM Punk in regards to medical claims as website Fightful reports the WWE is currently asking for CM Punk to pay around $120k in legal fees as part of a subpoena request demanding more information and documentation. Punk is arguing WWE papered the numbers ($240k) to squeeze him out of more money. Punk is also arguing his agreed share should be around $40k instead. http://www.fightful.com/exclusive-cm-punk-subpoena-request-wwe-could-cost-him-120000

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by A Blissful No Mercy:
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Monday’s post-SummerSlam Raw brought in an average of 3,404,000 viewers, up from last week’s 3,233,000 viewers.

That’s Raw’s highest number since the Superstar Shake-up episode on April 10, 2017, which did 3,429,000 viewers.

This time last year, the August 22, 2016 post-SummerSlam Raw did 3,315,000 viewers.

Raw was #1, 3, and 4 on cable in the 18-49 demographic for the night. A pre-season NFL game between the Giants and Browns on ESPN was #2 with 3,574,000 viewers.

Hourly breakdown:

8PM: 3,416,000
9PM: 3,581,000
10PM: 3,216,000

When Bobby Roode lost his NXT Championship last Saturday, the only question was how soon it would take for him to arrive on the main roster.

It turns out that we didn't have to wait very long. Roode made his debut on SmackDown tonight by defeating Aiden English, with Roode hitting his Glorious DDT to finish the match ...

Shelton Benjamin is the newest addition to the SmackDown roster, nearly a year after being set to return to WWE.

In a backstage segment on SmackDown, General Manager Daniel Bryan was talking to Chad Gable, who was growing tired of hearing about Jason Jordan’s new singles career -- he was worried about his own. Bryan said he understood that, and that is why he made a deal with Kurt Angle: in exchange for Jordan, Angle would help Bryan sign one of his friends.

The domestic violence charges against Paige have been dropped. A representative for the 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office told TMZ that the case is closed because the the victim, which would be Alberto El Patron, did not want to press charges.
Link to the TMZ article: http://www.tmz.com/2017/08/22/paige-off-the-hook-in-domestic-violence-alberto-del-rio/

Bodybuilder Dallas McCarver, boyfriend of Dana Brooke, passed away early this morning, TMZ reported. He was just 26. It appears he choked on food and was found unconscious shortly after midnight. He was then transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say there’s no sign of foul play. Brooke, who spoke to TMZ, told McCarver’s fans to stay strong.

It was announced today that Tony Schiavone will return to pro wrestling announcing by calling the action at MLW: One-Shot on October 5th. He’s done virtually no pro wrestling broadcasting since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro in 2001. He will be joined by Rich Bocchini, formerly Rich Brennan of NXT.
Link to the announcement: https://mlw.com/2017/08/22/tony-schiavone-is-back-calling-pro-wrestling-for-mlw-one-shot/

NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki will have his first United States match in 25 years next month as he is scheduled for the Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view and subsequent TV tapings on September 22nd and 23rd in Las Vegas.

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Suzuki and KUSHIDA as appearing for ROH on those dates, noting that they will leave the September New Japan tour after the September 16th show in Hiroshima to head to the US.

Suzuki, who was an MMA pioneer that UFC attempted to book on its early shows but at the time Pancrase didn't want its top stars doing UFC, has never been among the talent sent previously to ROH, and he was not at the Long Beach New Japan shows.

On a week where the eyes of the fight world are on the UFC lightweight champion making his debut in a boxing ring, a budding megastar with a troubled past has once again given the UFC a black eye.

TMZ is reporting Tuesday night that UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for the anabolic steroid Turinabol and has been stripped of the title he won by knocking out Daniel Cormier last month at UFC 214 -- his first fight back since coming off a one-year ban for his first USADA violation. A second positive failure could mean up to a four year ban from the sport.

UFC confirmed the news, saying the positive test was taken on July 28th after Jones weighed in.
Pretty much puts an end to the Lesnar-Jones and Lesnar MMA rumors. Link to the TMZ report: http://www.tmz.com/2017/08/22/jon-jones-tests-fails-drug-test-steroids-ufc-214-cormier-title-stripped/

Global Force Wrestling taped again last night[Saturday] for an episode of Impact that will air on September 7th. The show featured the debuts of AAA talent Pagano, El Texano Jr. and Taya Valkyrie. The show ended with an angle where Jeremy Borash announced that Bobby Lashley was quitting GFW. Lashley came out and said he wanted one final match in the promotion, and he wants it to be against Moose.

There are plans to air a special on Madusa aka Alundra Blayze in September, timed with the finals of the Mae Young Classic.

We are told that the week the Classic airs live from Las Vegas on 9/12, 205 Live will indeed air following the finals. It's a good thing they are broadcasting from Vegas.

September will also feature the second season of WWE's animated series Storytime.

The September Collections for the Network's VOD are said to be dedicated to Sting and The Undertaker.

For those of who you have asked about these two series, I was told that WCW Thunder and Sunday Night Heat are both in line to be added to the Vault section later this year. I am hoping personally they keep adding some more World Class and old school WWE house shows.

There are no plans to add the Table for 3 episode with Ric Flair, Sting and Ricky Steamboat until Flair's health situation improves to the point he is out of the woods.

Several fans were ejected from the Barclays Center during the Finn Balor vs. Jason Jordan match on Raw when beach balls they were bouncing around ended up over the barricade and in the ringside area. There had been a ton bouncing around during the taping after the incident at Summerslam. My guess is those items will soon be added to the list of prohibited items at WWE events.

John Cena is currently filming Transformers: Bumblebee but is already being eyed for another potential Hollywood franchise film that is being adapted from a classic '80s TV property - Knight Rider.

ScreenRant.com is reporting that a comedic reboot of the property from The Weinstein Company has been eyeing both Cena and comedian Kevin Hart for leading roles. Cena is envisioned as playing Michael Knight, the role that made David Hasselhoff a massive international star while Hart was pitched as the voice of KITT, the futuristic super-car that Knight drives. The idea is to do a take on the series similar to the feature film version of 21 Jump Street, turning the original concept into an action comedy.

The original series aired for several years on NBC in the early 1980s and has seen subsequent made for TV sequel series and films in the past, most recently a 2008 series (which was quite good) but only lasted one season.
Link to the report from ScreenRant.com: http://screenrant.com/knight-rider-movie-reboot-john-cena-kevin-hart/

The Wrap has an interview here with WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who was promoting the new season of Broken Skull Challenge on CMT. During the interview, Austin was asked about wrestlers using someone else's finisher and the right way to go about it.

"There's different ways to go about it," Austin said. "Sometimes people will check with other guys. I'm down with anybody using the Stunner. I would prefer that it be used as a used a finisher, and not as the current routine with the DDT, where it's basically one of the lamest false-finishes in the business after being one of the most devastating finishers in the history of the business."
Link to the interview: http://www.thewrap.com/stone-cold-steve-austin-stunner-wwe-cmt-broken-skull-challenge/

As seen on RAW last night, WWE started planting seeds for a Roman Reigns vs. John Cena feud, which would suggest that the match will be taking place soon and not at WrestleMania.

Dave Meltzer reported on last night's Wrestling Observer Radio that the current plan is once again for Brock Lesnar to face Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 34. At one point Cena vs. Reigns had been rumored for WrestleMania after WWE briefly changed the SummerSlam main event from being Brock Lesnar defending the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman to Lesnar vs. Reigns.

WWE later changed the SummerSlam main event to a Fatal 4-Way featuring Lesnar vs. Reigns vs. Strowman vs. Samoa Joe, and the scheduled WrestleMania main event was back to Reigns vs. Lesnar.

Emma recently spoke with NewsHub to promote the September 13th WWE live event in New Zealand and commented on her recent "#GiveEmmaAChance" social media campaign:

"There are so many talented females on our roster, so yes it can be hard to stand out, but in saying that I have one of the biggest social media following on the entire WWE roster. It has really worked for me recently because of my fans, the comments I had been getting from them made me react to it and you can see it's really paid off in the last few weeks. It's about time too, the whole #GiveEmmaAChance thing is real. I mean when do I get my chance at the championship, I have never had that and it just goes to show how social media can help."
Link to the interview: http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2017/08/wwe-superstar-emma-pinching-herself-as-career-comes-full-circle.html


Some other sheet news includes:

Cody Rhodes was revealed to be this week's guest for Jerry Lawler's Dinner With the King podcast show. https://twitter.com/DinnerWithKing/status/899833138129580033
WWE confirmed both Asuka (collarbone) and Big Cass (left knee) suffered legit injuries the past couple of days. Asuka broke her collarbone at Brooklyn III while Cass suffered a potential ACL injury during last night's RAW.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Cena's win over Baron Corbin at SummerSlam was his first singles win at the event since 2010.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the two year anniversary of Bayley-Sasha NXT Women's championship match at Takeover Brooklyn I.
WWE officially confirmed reports of them signing Lio Rush to a contract. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/wwe-signs-lio-rush
Observer stated former ROH star Donovan Dijak is expected to be the next big name officially announced by the WWE soon.
Recent blog by Jim Ross on official blog talked about Black-Itami match at Brooklyn III, Universal title match at SummerSlam, and Jim Cornette. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0822/630439/jim-ross-on-calling-nxt-match-with-mauro-ranallo/
WSVN-TV held a recent interview with Sami Callihan talking about his time in the WWE, Triple H in NXT, and his current time in the indies. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0822/630457/sami-callihan-says-he-became-a-b-ch-in-wwe-talks-how-triple-h-is/

[Simple Fan]

Dijak has a killer Finisher, hope he brings it with him.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Triple H Doing a Magic Trick:
https://i.redd.it/jrezzotrj7hz.gif

Coming on the heels of SummerSlam, SmackDown had its biggest audience since April's roster shakeup episode, coming in at 2.685 million viewers. That was up six percent from last week.

It was a stronger than usual night for cable TV viewership as, despite that high number, SmackDown was only sixth on cable, trailing news shows on CNN and Fox News. It was first in the 18-49 demo with a very strong 0.87 rating.

SmackDown was actually slightly down from last year as the post-SummerSlam episode in 2016 had an audience of 2.714 million viewers.

It appears that the severity of Big Cass' knee injury is as bad as was initially feared.

WWE posted an update on Cass last night, with it saying that he will have to undergo surgery. Dr. Chris Robinson noted that it looks like Cass suffered a torn ACL and possibly a medial meniscus tear. Robinson said that they would have to wait for a radiologist to evaluate Cass' MRI before making any final determinations.

If Cass did tear his ACL, the injury would keep him out of action for several months. Robinson said that the typical recovery time from the injury is nine months.

Along with recap and fallout from TakeOver: Brooklyn, tonight’s episode of NXT includes matches that were taped before the special at the Barclays Center on Saturday night. Those matches are Pete Dunne & Wolfgang vs. Tyler Bate & Trent Seven (which was Dunne’s first match back since being busted open in a match and missing PROGRESS’ weekend in the US earlier this month), Peyton Royce vs. Sarah Logan, and Lars Sullivan attacking No Way Jose.

Anthem's Ed Nordholm has said on the record that he feels GFW has ownership of the Broken Hardys gimmick.

Matt Hardy tweeted the following, which certainly seems to make that claim a bit tenuous.

FUN FACT-Benjamin, Maxel & Scribe weren't paid & DID NOT sign releases from TNA/GFW to allow their images to be aired on ANY media, esp TV. pic.twitter.com/W8fVhpKehk
— REBORN by FATE (@MATTHARDYBRAND) August 23, 2017
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/900456503521554432

Twitch announced a partnership with AAA that will feature the platform streaming Triplemania XXV in both English and Spanish for free on Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. There will be a “best of” Triplemania marathon leading up to the event.
Link to the Twitch channels: http://twitch.tv/Luchalibreaaa_En , https://www.twitch.tv/luchalibreaaa

Numerous sources have confirmed to PWInsider.com that former X-Division champion Low Ki is gone from Global Force Wrestling, having departed over the course of this week's TV tapings.

There are several different accounts making the rounds. One version is that there it was a financial dispute that led to the departure. Another version (from sources within GFW) states that Ki was not happy with the creative for him going forward as the original plan for him leading into Bound for Glory was to be part of an Ultimate X match while he wanted to be in the GFW championship mix. I can understand that mindset as Ki was built to being a title challenger for Patron and being added to LAX, so him being slotted back into to the X-Division, logically, makes little sense.

The one thing all accounts are in agreement with is that Ki made the decision to leave the company. He was not let go. A GFW source stated the departure was "amicable."

Following a number of incidents involving beach balls at Summerslam and Monday Night Raw this week, WWE officially banned not just beach balls but all pool-related paraphenalia from last night's Smackdown.

We are told an edict from WWE was issued to all security staff at the Barclays Center informing them that beach balls, pool noodles or any other inflatable items that could be bounced around were banned from the event. There were several moments where fans sent beach balls out to be bounced around during Smackdown's broadcast, but the balls were quickly confiscated by Barclays Center staff and removed from the arena.

One would think the ban will be permanent going forward.

Former ECW World champion Taz is undergoing surgery on his hand today in an attempt to repair nerve damage that has led to a loss of feeling, muscle atrophy and an inability to grip with right hand.

Taz has nerve damage in his neck from his pro wrestling career has trickled down to his hand. Surgeons will be going through his wrist in an attempt to bring some of the nerves "back to life", similar to a carpal tunnel surgery but on a much grander scale.

The surgery and recovery means Taz will have to miss a few episodes of his radio show, which airs Monday to Friday from 7-9 AM EST, streaming from NYC at www.TazShow.com.

John Cena's move to Monday Night Raw reportedly has WWE officials salivating over potential marquee matches against the new era.

This week "The Franchise" made his first appearance on Raw in over a year, and many viewed the move as a business decision to draw bigger ratings for WWE's flagship show. But Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso reports that the move was made with an eye to the future as Cena will be counted on to elevate the up-and-coming superstars, namely Roman Reigns.

"Vince McMahon wants Cena to elevate and give the rub to Roman Reigns," Barasso wrote. "The prevailing factor behind Cena's move to Raw is all about his opponents. The decision was not made solely because Cena is going to draw ratings, but rather because of who Cena is going to draw ratings with."
Link to the article: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/23/wwe-wrestling-news-daniel-bryan-jerry-lawler-cody-rhodes

"I did not see or hear him mentioned at all [backstage at SummerSlam]. I dress in the talent relations room where at one point or another everybody on the card came through that room and I never saw him. But you know what? Here’s something that I just realized. He may have been there because they were doing scans for a new game. Everybody that was on the show that night, myself included, had to be scanned. This company, it’s not the 2K people, it’s a different game that’s gonna be coming out next year. So everybody had to have their face scans and their body scans.”
From the recent Dinner With the King podcast episode where Lawler debunks the Undertaker rumors and also starts a new rumor of a new WWE game in development not by 2K Games.

This week's "Flashback Friday" series of programming on the WWE Network will focus on SmackDown turning 18. The content begins at 3pm EST on the live stream with the following classic blue brand episodes airing:

3pm EST, SmackDown 12/2/1999: Six-man main event featuring the Hardy Boyz and Big Show vs. D-Generation X. Mick Foley vs. Chris Jericho. A message from Stephanie McMahon.

4:30pm EST, SmackDown 7/12/2001: As WWE continues to battle the alliance going into Invasion, Mr. McMahon asks Stone Cold Steve Austin to change his leadership strategy.

6pm EST, SmackDown 7/15/2004: Eddie Guerrero battles John 'Bradshaw' Layfield for the WWE Championship inside a steel cage. John Cena looks to regain his U.S. Title.

7:30pm EST, SmackDown 4/21/2005: WWE Champion John Cena faces United States Champion Orlando Jordan in the main event. JBL and Kurt Angle take matters into their own hands. (NEW)

9pm EST, SmackDown 10/12/2007: Rey Mysterio and Finlay battle for a shot at the World Heavyweight Title. The Brothers of Destruction take on Matt Hardy and MVP. (NEW)

10:30pm EST, SmackDown 6/14/2013: Dolph Ziggler and cohort Big E Langston face Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho. Team Hell No and The Viper Randy Orton face The Shield. (NEW)

The man who played the clown in the Gentleman's Duel between Jack Gallagher and Brian Kendrick on last night's WWE 205 Live episode was indie wrestler Rory Gulak, younger brother of WWE cruiserweight Drew Gulak. As noted, the Duel ended with Kendrick putting Gallagher through a table to set up a No DQ match between the two on next week's 205 Live show.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">They think it'll make people like him more. <a href="https://t.co/roWNQz9e0V">https://t.co/roWNQz9e0V</a></p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a href="https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/900444853431025664">August 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

2K Games released the next batch of wrestlers for the roster of WWE 2k18. http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/23/wwe-2k18-roster-reveal-37-more-superstars-revealed
For those who missed the original airings, WWE posted the entire bracketology special for the Mae Young Classic on their official Youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqt7KuIvhqA&t
Besides the bracketology special, WWE also released a video showcasing their first ever female ref, Jessika Carr (Kennadi Brink in the indies). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sT5GTw0d78
Dana Brooke is currently holding a Go Fund Me fundraiser in honor of her late boyfriend with money raised going towards helping underprivileged children. https://www.gofundme.com/dallas-mccarver
Recent episode of Dinner With The King had Cody Rhodes as the guest talking about his ROH career, indies career, and status of the Rhodes naming dispute with the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0823/630503/cody-rhodes-thinks-he-can-get-last-name-back-from-wwe-if-he-asked/
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast show had Sami Zayn as the guest talking about WWE evolving beyond stereotypes, Jinder Mahal's gimmick, and if his character is meant to be an annoying babyface. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0823/630475/sami-zayn-on-if-wwe-has-evolved-beyond-stereotypical-gimmicks/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, singer Bruno Mars got the inspiration for his stage name because of Bruno Sammartino. It was also his nickname as a child. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYIEmcoBsKL/?hl=en&taken-by=brunomars
During a recent episode of The Ross Report podcast, Jim Ross revealed he and Lita had to redo commentary for the Mae Young Classic due to WWE suddenly changing their minds on how they wanted it to be presented. Also rumors of one of the participants having heat backstage causing some plans to be changed. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6vklfn/on_the_newest_ross_report_jr_says_he_and_lita_had/

[Simple Fan]

A beach ball can fold up to the size of a wallet even smaller, if they think they'll be able to keep those out their crazy.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Neville's Death Stare:
http://i.imgur.com/AKbXz8P.gif

Due to an ankle injury that he suffered earlier this month, TK Cooper won't be able to compete in this year's Battle of Los Angeles.

PWG officially announced the news last night, with Joey Janela being confirmed as Cooper's replacement in the tournament. Janela will be taking on Sammy Guevara in place of Cooper on night two.

Cooper and Travis Banks (as the South Pacific Power Trip) were scheduled to face The Young Bucks in non-tournament action on night one, but that match is now off and The Young Bucks won't be appearing on the first night. They'll still be teaming with Kenny Omega against Penta El Zero M, Rey Fenix & Flamita on night two.

It looks like WWE will be doing a Rock clothing line in some form since they've applied for a trademark for The Rock for clothing purposes.

Former ECW champion Taz underwent surgery on his hand yesterday in an attempt to repair nerve damage that has led to a loss of feeling, muscle atrophy and an inability to grip with hisright hand.

Taz took to Instagram last night, noting that the surgery took longer than was originally intended because surgeons needed to do more intricate work than they originally believed they would need to. They also did work on Taz's left thumb due to the beginnings of issues with that extremity as well.

The surgery and recovery means Taz will have to miss a few episodes of his radio show, which airs Monday to Friday from 7-9 AM EST, streaming from NYC at www.TazShow.com. The plan is for Taz to return tomorrow with a video and audio feed from his home as he is currently unable to drive from Long Island to CBS' studio in Manhattan.

An update on the Low Ki departure. The financial story that was making the rounds that we mentioned yesterday has continued to be shot down by multiple sources, who all state that it was more a difference of opinion on where he was going to be slotted going forward. The company wanted him back in the X-Division for Bound for Glory and going forward after that. Ki, who had been positioned as a title contender for Alberto el Patron, wanted to remain in that realm. We are told Ki has not been issued a release and remains under contract through October. He had been a great part of revitalizing the X-Division in recent months.

Ricky Steamboat is in the process of trademarking his name. He did have a previous trademark that was filed in 1987 that was cancelled in 2009. He applied for another trademark also in 2009 that was abandoned later that year. His ex-wife Bonnie applied to trademark his name in 2013 but that was abandoned the following year. For some reason, The Honky Tonk Man tried to trademark his name in 2010 but was unsuccessful too.

The MLB Network will air a special SummerSlam edition of Play Ball this weekend, featuring The Hardys and other WWE Superstars. The WWE footage was filmed during SummerSlam weekend in Brooklyn, as seen below:

A special #SummerSlam edition of #PlayBall coming Saturday - starring @cgrand3, @theajramos, @TheMayorsOffice, @RoFlo and @WWE superstars! pic.twitter.com/2mnf1XzHoW
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 24, 2017

Homicide did not appear at the recent GFW TV tapings but he is not injured, according to PWInsider. Word is that the company opted to not bring the LAX member in as he wasn't needed to help further the current LAX storyline. PWInsider adds that GFW officials were much more judicious with how many talents they brought in for these tapings. There were a number of talents based out of the Northeast that were not brought in.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rusev reportedly lost to Randy Orton at WWE Summerslam in seconds because it was WWE’s way of starting a program between the two. The idea behind it is that it was a “fluke loss” for Rusev. It was also done to give Orton a PPV win after his poor run of PPV matches with Bray Wyatt & Jinder Mahal, and not to punish Rusev.

WWE posted "5 things you need to know about NXT's newest Superstar, Adam Cole," including the number of current WWE Superstars he's wrestled in the past, being inspired by Bruce Lee and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and his catchphrase, "Bay Bay!" WWE also posted a gallery showing him working for ROH and other promotions. Cole made his NXT debut over the weekend at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, when he (along with Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) took out the newly crowed NXT Champion, Drew McIntyre.

You need to get educated on @WWENXT's newest Superstar @AdamColePro, and we can help with that...BAY-BAY! https://t.co/gIogjDaeTV
— WWE (@WWE) August 24, 2017

As noted, there is apparently backstage heat on Baron Corbin, which resulted in him cashing in the Money In The Bank contract and losing. That was followed by Corbin losing a basic match to John Cena at SummerSlam on Sunday night. When WWE uploaded a clip from the match on their YouTube channel, they only showed Cena's entrance.

It was rumored that Corbin may have had heat over some of the comments he's made on Twitter, including to a military veteran, which he apologized for. However, Justin Barraso of Sports Illustrated appeared on Wednesday's edition of the Wrestling Inc. podcast, as seen above, and said there was another reason for his heat.

"I heard the kiss of death was Cena," Barasso said, which you can watch at the 4:30 mark of the video. "[Cena said] that Corbin wasn't ready. I can't say anymore right now, that's kind of what I'm trying to work on as we speak.

"I haven't heard about the social media," Barasso continued. "I mean, he's a heel right? So he should play one on social media. I don't think that was the issue, but then again they kind of pick and choose who they defend in those cases, Raj. I don't know, but right now, I don't think that's [social media] the reason."
Link to the podcast episode: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0824/630515/top-wwe-star-responsible-for-baron-corbin-losing-his-push/

There were apparently some rumors floating that Rusev and Lana requested their WWE release. The rumor was never posted here at Wrestling Inc.

Lana swiftly shot down the rumor, as seen below.

@LanaWWE did you ask for your release from @WWE???
— Bryan Hopkins (@dh_bryan) August 23, 2017


That's called don't believe the pathetic villagers that pretend that they are "journalist" with real facts... hahahahah!!!! https://t.co/EfaoxRsdhJ
— CJ (Lana) Perry (@LanaWWE) August 23, 2017
Source of the rumor was the Dirty Sheets podcast show which has a habit of making BS sheet news.

Prior to SummerSlam, it appeared that The Miz was going to be involved in a feud with Jason Jordan for a while and the son of Kurt Angle will get a shot at the Intercontinental Championship sooner or later.

However, the only match these two had was a 6 men tag team match at SummerSlam in which Jordan teamed with the Hardy Boys and was defeated by the Miz and the Miztourage.

After this, the two stars didn’t interact on this week’s episode of Raw. Now it appears that this feud is over and WWE is planning something else for both the IC title and the Miz.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about the main event of this week’s episode of Raw and speculated that Samoa Joe could be next in line for a shot at the title.

Meltzer noted that their tag team match on Raw was possibly the start of a new rivalry and it could culminate in form of an Intercontinental Championship match at the upcoming No Mercy PPV.

It was also noted that if The Miz does gets involved in a programme with Samoa Joe the later may turn face for the feud and it shouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up snatching the belt from the former WWE Champion.

The four days in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center saw NXT draw 10,300 fans on 8/19, SummerSlam on 8/20 was the lone sellout, with about 13,200 fans, Raw did 12,100 on 8/21 and Smackdown did 11,500 on 8/22. The Smackdown crowd was well up from what they would have gotten anywhere else. But it was different from the previous two years when they did three nights, and all three nights sold out in advance. Part of the difference is that scalpers took a bath on last year’s NXT show, so the only show they heavily bought was SummerSlam, which was the one that had the most interest.

GFW has announced its own streaming service called The Global Wrestling Network. The one thing they should try and do with it is include shows from The Crash, NOAH and AAA, their partner organizations. The Impact shows will go up on the network and they will be available free. They also announced they will be coming to Germany, Switzerland and Austria “sooner rather than later.”.

A new idea for New Day, and this may explain their quickie title win and loss this past week, is to not only make them the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history, which they are, but to establish them as the so-called greatest tag team of all-time down the line by holding the titles more times than any team in history. Right now they have three title reigns. The record would be the Hardys and Edge & Christian, who each have seven title reigns..

People have been very high on the women’s tournament which will have its first several episodes released together on 8/28. People raved about it live but they did a lot of post-production work which I’m told makes it even better. Levesque was asked this past week regarding the format of the finals on 9/12 and how that night will be done regarding the usual 205 Live show that would take place. There is nothing official right now, but the last working plan was to shoot a one-hour woman’s final, airing live right after Smackdown ends in Las Vegas. As noted before, many, if not all of the 32 women are being brought to Las Vegas, including several being flown in from Japan or the U.K. just for this show. The idea is to have a series of other women’s matches, three being the going number right now, on that show.


Some other sheet news includes:

Wrestling Observer stated their web host was recent hit with a DDOS attack causing the Observer Forums and paid services to be down for a while.
The Bellas announced they will be launching their own wine brand called Bella Radici.
For those interested, ROH is currently holding an End of Summer Sale on their official website with discounts up to 35% off. http://www.rohwrestling.com/catalog/end-summer-sale
Also for those interested, WWE released a new series of 8-bit wrestlers shirts including Randy Savage, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dusty Rhodes, Jake Roberts, Iron Sheik, and Shawn Michaels on their official online store. http://shop.wwe.com/search?q=8-bit
Funko tweeted a limited edition Zack Ryder Funko Pop figurine will be on sale exclusively at the upcoming NY Comic Con event. https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/900507987533484032
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the two year anniversary of Braun Strowman's debut on WWE's main roster. Strowman celebrated the occasion on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYMD9bRnxAE/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Miz recently passed Ultimate Warrior to become 6th all-time in combined days as Intercontinental champion in WWE history. Miz celebrated the occasion on his Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYMPV8OjdiF/
Channel Guide Magazine had a recent interview with AJ Styles talking about his career in the WWE, seeing friends and veterans of his past making it to the WWE, and Wrestlemania goal. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0824/630527/aj-styles-on-his-wrestlemania-goal/
Bleacher Report had a recent interview with John Cena talking about helped Roman Reigns, if younger talents come to him for advice, and if he ever felt about turning heel for his career. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0824/630524/john-cena-on-if-he-helped-roman-reigns-with-crowd-reactions/
Edge announced Kenny Omega will be tomorrow's guest for the Edge & Christian Podcast show. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/900822455710867457

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random WCW Sid Gif:
http://i.imgur.com/1y6MKFF.gif

After over 500 days as NXT Women's Champion, Asuka has vacated the title and could soon be on the WWE main roster.

An in-ring segment where she relinquished the championship closed tonight's NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University, with it being noted that William Regal has (in storyline) begun negotiations for her to move up to Raw or SmackDown. The locker room emptied as she departed NXT and Triple H came out to give her a bouquet of flowers and take the title.

Asuka capped off her run as NXT Women's Champion by defeating Ember Moon at TakeOver: Brooklyn III last Saturday night. It was reported by WWE that she had suffered a broken collarbone in that match and would be out of action for several weeks.

The Enzo Amore debut on 205 Live did more than 1 million YouTube views which is better than anything does on that show. The biggest numbers this week were the Lesnar-Strowman angle with 4 million, John Cena's segment with 2 million and Bobby Roode's debut with 1 million.

Carmella, girlfriend of Big Cass, posted the following update on her Twitter:

He's in more agony over the lack of pizza than he is over the surgery ?????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/5RtidhMmDX
— MS Money in the BANK (@CarmellaWWE) August 25, 2017Big Cass had his surgery yesterday. Carmella wrote that he's in more agony over not being able to eat pizza than he is over the knee operation.

WWE is pushing that Jessika Carr will be the first female referee ever with her appearances in the Mae Young Classic this coming week. That's not the slightest bit true, by the way, as half the women's roster has worked as a referee and the first that I know of would be Rita Chatterton in the mid-80s.

The 8/24 edition of Impact did 296,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 320,000 overnight viewers.

Where is Dolph Ziggler? Is he on his way out, or do they just have nothing for him right now?

Ziggler returned to WWE TV this past Tuesday. He told PWInsider.com over the weekend that he had requested for time off TV. He had been working live events that entire time.
Reason likely related to the botched burglary murder trial involving one of his brothers.

Impact announced on social media following: last night's episode that the following Global Force talent will be at AAA Triplemania XXV tomorrow

Many are packing for #Triplemania @luchalibreaaa from @GFWWrestling: @_AndrewEverett & @IAmDJZ @fightbobby @TheMooseNation & @WeAreRosemary pic.twitter.com/B2bKIdk6ns
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) August 25, 2017

The four-way match at TripleMania 25 is for the AAA Tag Team Titles.

They announced that Andrew Everett and DJ Z will be a part of a four-way tag team match on the show. The X-Division competitors were revealed as a mystery team facing Scoria and Cuervo, Drago and Aerostar as well as AAA Tag Team Champions Monster Clown and Murder Clown.

Kurt Angle spoke with Myles at the WWE 2K18 Kickoff over the weekend and was asked about a potential in-ring return with WWE. Over the summer, it was hinted that Angle could meet Triple H in the ring, but that has yet to come together. On getting back in the ring, Angle responded it could be sooner than later.

"Well, you can talk to Vince McMahon about that," laughed Angle. "No, but I think it will happen, I'm guessing end of this year, early next year. It ultimately is up to Vince McMahon, he's gonna make the decision."
Link to the interview and more highlights: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0825/630564/kurt-angle-hints-at-in-ring-return-later-this-year/

Jimmy's Famous Seafood in Baltimore, which is frequented by WWE talents when the company is in town, ran a social media campaign where they promised to donate $1 to Make-A-Wish for every "like" that a tweet on Roman Reigns received. The campaign ran for 24 hours this week and raised $12,200. As noted, Reigns granted another wish when he met Wish Kid Adam at Monday's RAW in Brooklyn. Donations were at around $3500 before Reigns re-tweeted the campaign to his followers. You can see both tweets from Jimmy's below:

For every "like" this tweet receives by noon Thursday (8/24), we will donate $1 to @MakeAWish! #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork pic.twitter.com/U2XkPZnQ6B
— Jimmy's Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) August 23, 2017


???? We did it! Thanks to you, we will be donating $12,200.00 to @MakeAWish on behalf of @WWERomanReigns and the #RomanEmpire! ???? pic.twitter.com/CsnJuvvFTV
— Jimmy's Seafood (@JimmysSeafood) August 24, 2017

Dave Meltzer indicated in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Fish were put with Adam Cole in WWE NXT because of Cole's size as a heel. It was noted that the feud with Cole vs. NXT Champion Drew McIntyre brings an interesting dynamic with a small heel battling a large babyface.

WWE sent out a survey to fans this week asking to select their 10 favorite WWE Superstars, NXT Superstars or WWE Legends. It should be noted that Hulk Hogan doesn't appear in the list of legends on the survey. Some of the legends on the survey include Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes, Eddie Guerrero, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels, Sting, Steve Austin, Randy Savage, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H and The Ultimate Warrior.

As seen on SmackDown Live this past Tuesday night, Shelton Benjamin returned to WWE television after seven years. Benjamin was set to return to WWE last year when the company announced their brand extension. Vignettes aired on WWE television hyping his return, however plans were nixed after a shoulder issue was found while taking the company's physical.

While rumors of Benjamin returning to WWE have been floating since Benjamin was cleared to return action in March, The Wrestling Observer reports that Benjamin didn't officially sign his WWE contract until last week.

Ric Flair is still hospitalized and in critical condition in Atlanta after undergoing surgery almost two weeks ago for a bowel obstruction, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

However, things are apparently looking up and Flair appears to be getting better each day, though he is not “out of the woods” yet. Flair is now conscious and speaking, but is still on dialysis and his kidneys are still not functioning properly. There is also an infection that needs to be cleared and Flair will likely require surgery for a pacemaker. He is currently using an external pacemaker, which is stabilizing his heart beat.

pic.twitter.com/5Xudk4CdYh

— Charlotte Flair (@MsCharlotteWWE) August 24, 2017


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a beautiful Friday in Parts Unknown. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and I am the current 2-time <a href="https://twitter.com/WWENXT">@WWENXT</a> Women's Champion.</p>&mdash; Vacant (@WWEVacant) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEVacant/status/901066748828495872">August 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

For those interested, spoilers from NXT's next set of tv tapings were recently released. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/nxt-tv-taping-spoilers-fallout-brooklyn-241631
Recent episode of Sean Waltman's X-Pac 12360 podcast show had Kenny Omega as the guest talking about his favorite matches, comedy vs serious wrestling, Daryl, and hinting at his time as Bullet Club's leader near its end. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0825/630560/kenny-omega-on-why-he-might-not-be-fit-to-lead-the-bullet-club/
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Christian discuss why he went to TNA in 2005 and Edge revealing he seriously considered going to TNA in 2008/2009. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0825/630544/edge-reveals-past-talks-with-tna/
WWE recently gave well wishes to Mauro Ranallo as he heads to Las Vegas to announce tomorrow's Mayweather-McGregor fight. According to the Observer, fight itself is already on track to become the most betted event ever in sports history. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/mauro-ranallo-calls-floyd-mayweather-conor-mcgregor?sf109199923=1
One of the wrestlers contracted by ITV for their World of Sport project confirmed rumors of GFW and Jeff Jarrett being the main reason why the project is basically dead. Too much bickering between the sides and contracts needing to be changed due to things Jarrett demanded. https://snapmarenecks.com/2017/08/24/a-pint-and-an-interview-with-sha-samuels/
Current rumors regarding Asuka's main roster status: Pro Wresting Sheet reported she will be heading to the RAW brand and her first match to be at the TLC ppv in October.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Greatest Elbow Drop since Macho Man:
http://i.imgur.com/UpBBBrz.gif

While down from last week's day after SummerSlam number, which also had tougher competition, Raw did its second best number since April 17th last night with 3.30 million viewers ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.38 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.36 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.16 million viewers

In terms of compasrisons, same week last year had 110k more viewers. In terms of weekly rankings, RAW took the #1, #2, and #4 spots.

The latest updates on Ric Flair's condition following the health issues that he's been battling continue to be positive.

WWE posted an update on Flair's status today, with it noting that he is recovering and set to begin physical therapy shortly. That came after Wendy Barlow, Flair's fiancee and formerly Fifi the Maid as an on-screen character in WCW, announced the news on Facebook.

She wrote: "I wanted to update everyone on Ric's progress as So many people have been reaching out and offering their Prayers and Support. He is doing very well for a Man who has been through so much! He will begin Physical Therapy shortly and will be stronger than ever and back out enjoying all the fans sooner than you would think. I can Honestly say I have witnessed a Miracle."

A message from Flair's social media accounts was also sent out this morning. It said: "Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been, to stand up taller than you ever were. The Nature Boy will be back better than ever. Keep up the well wishes!"

WWE officials have confirmed that Xavier Woods will be undergoing a medical evaluation today for an apparent left knee injury that he suffered during Monday's SmackDown brand house show in Texarkana, Arkansas.

News of the injury appeared on social media as soon as it happened last night. A video of it was later tweeted out, with it showing Woods immediately grabbing his left knee when being put down by one of the Usos after going for a tornado DDT.

Woods rolled to the apron and eventually out of the ring. The match went to its finish, then Big E, Fandango, and Kofi Kingston motioned for medical attention as Woods continued to grab his knee. The video ends with referee Charles Robinson putting up the "X" symbol.

Woods had to be carried to the back by Kingston, Big E, and a WWE physician after the match was over and was clearly in great pain.

While playing WindJammers with Becky Lynch and Renee Young, Woods stated that he had an MCL sprain. Becky Lynch noted that she recently had a similar injury and that it shouldn't take longer than a month to heal. Lynch added that she wrestled the whole time with the injury.

Woods didn't specify if he had a grade 1 or a grade 2 tear. A grade 1 tear can take up to a week to heal, while a grade 2 can take 2 - 4 weeks. Regardless, Woods shouldn't be missing much action.
Link to the the UpUpDowDown video of his injury update status: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fukhVzFKsA

Samoa Joe, who was scheduled to headline Raw tonight against John Cena, missed the show due to a knee injury.

The injury was suffered most likely at a Saturday night house show in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he faced Cena. Joe missed both the Sunday night house show in Tupelo, Mississippi, causing the card to be rearranged, as well as not being able to wrestle on tonight's Raw ...

Right now the word is that Joe will be out of action for six weeks or less.

There was an incident involving Rosemary (Holly Letkeman) and Sexy Star (Dulce Garcia) at last night's Triplemania show that resulted in Rosemary's elbow popping from an armbar finisher.

The reports are that Garcia put the move on legitimately to end a four-way match for the Reina de Reinas title that also involved Lady Shani and Ayako Hamada.
Making things worse for Sexy Star was her trying to blame Rosemary for the injury and refusing to apology until forced by Vampiro. Already got blacklisted by at least one company with other wrestlers refusing to work on shows she is booked.

Cleveland.com reported the brother of Smackdown Live star Dolph Ziggler, Donald Nemeth, was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and kidnapping charges in relation to the January 2016 shooting of 34-year old Joseph Mascol at an area hotel.
Link to the article and more details about the trial: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111970/dolph-zigglers-brother-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison.html?p=1

Championship Wrestling from Hollywood announced that former WWE and GFW champion Alberto el Patron would debut for the promotion in advance of their deal this fall where the promotion will air on 110 CW Network affiliated stations across the country. Patron will be working a number of dates for the promotion starting with their 9/10 taping at the Oceanville Pavilion in Port Hueneme, CA, his first appearances on American television since his GFW suspension last month. It is expected, however, that he will be returning to GFW and could even be working the Bound for Glory PPV on 11/5.

CWH also announced that Jake "Jack Swagger" Hager wll be working their 8/23 taping.

Donovan Dijak has relocated to Florida in advance of his start at the WWE Performance Center.
Only a matter of time till he makes his official debut.

Primo Colon, who has been out with a knee injury, is at the WWE Performance Center this week working out in advance of being cleared to return to the ring.

WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is not currently scheduled for next Monday's RAW in Omaha. He is slated to appear on RAW the following week on September 11th in Anaheim, which is his last scheduled RAW before the No Mercy pay-per-view on September 24th. His last currently scheduled WWE date is the RAW live event on Saturday, September 30th in Winnipeg.

Also today at WWEShop.com, you can 30% off select t-shirts and 20% off select championship titles by clicking here and using code TITLESANDTEES at checkout.

John Cena and Roman Reigns took part in a noteworthy verbal confrontation on last night's episode of Monday Night RAW. The war of words got personal at times, with Reigns stating that Cena buries younger talent while Cena called Reigns "a cheap-ass corporately created John Cena bootleg."

Dave Meltzer reported at F4WOnline that the segment was "completely" scripted ahead of time. The main verbiage for the promo was mostly from the writing team and was not Reigns or Cena ad-libbing, although Reigns did get lost once and Cena called him out on it.

We noted earlier that Samoa Joe was scheduled to face Cena at last night's show, however missed it due to a knee injury. Meltzer noted that while Joe's injury caused changes to the show, the Cena - Reigns confrontation was always the plan for RAW and was not added due to the show being revised.

Today, the first set of episodes for the Mae Young Classic were uploaded to the WWE Network and it was announced during one of the shows that Kacy Catanzaro and Shadia Bseiso have signed with the company.

Catanzaro gained attention on NBC's American Ninja when she became the first women to ever complete the show's qualifying course and has made Sports Illustrated's "Fittest 50" list. Back in January, she tried out for the WWE (which you can see in the video above) and talked about making the transition to the WWE.

"I think a lot of the things from my background, from gymnastics to obstacle course racing - the physical and the mental, the speed, agility, strength, all of that - [and] being able to mentally prepare for that and go in front of a lot of people and be on point that second that you have to... I think that all of that could be a really big advantage for me coming into the WWE."

Shadia Bseiso tried out for WWE in Dubai and is a TV personality with a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Bseiso is also fluent in both English and Arabic.

We reported last week that Enzo Amore's backstage heat has gotten even worse lately for some unknown reason, according to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer noted that Amore was backstage sometime in the last couple of weeks bragging about his life in L.A. when he's not on the road. It was noted that Enzo was talking about all the stars he's hanging out with and "he won't shut up."

That's likely not going to get any better this week. As noted, Enzo was at the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight last night in Las Vegas, and showed his $10,000 ticket on Instagram, which WWE posted a story on today. Enzo then name dropped and posted several photos with celebrities on his social media,


Some other sheet news includes:

Seth Rollins announced he is currently selling shirts from BlackAndBrave Apparel with 100% of the proceeds going towards those affected by Hurricane Harvey. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYYv1Q4BR0m/
CFO$ stated they were not the group who worked on Emma's new theme after receiving criticisms for it online. https://twitter.com/cfosofficial/status/902531062777171969
After Natty hyped about finally getting some new merch, WWE revealed it to be a shirt based on her cat. http://shop.wwe.com/natalya-paws-out-claws-out-authentic-t-shirt/FR0002.html?dwvar_FR0002_color=Black#q=natalya&lang=en_US&start=2
Cody Rhodes revealed he recently taped a new interview for a future episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show. https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/902543167282696192
Chris Jericho's newest book called "No is a Four Letter Word" was released earlier today.
For those interested, a new batch of NJPW merch was recently added to their official store on ProWrestlingTees website. http://www.prowrestlingtees.com/
Fox Sports Australia had a recent interview with Emma talking about her previous injury and rehab, current goals in the WWE, and feelings about next month's WWE tour of Australia. https://www.foxsports.com.au/wwe/building-and-rebuilding-the-body-of-a-wwe-star-emma-opens-up-on-injury-and-wrestling-comeback/news-story/ed2a0bc5b1fdd2311e1fc7c048b80430
During an interview with The Sun, Kurt Angle revealed original plans for his WWE return didn't include being the new GM of RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0829/630646/kurt-angle-says-he-was-never-supposed-to-be-raw-gm/
Muscle & Fitness had a recent interview with Triple H talking about the Mae Young Classic. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0828/630622/triple-h-on-what-the-mae-young-classic-could-lead-to/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Happy Bo:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/2f5855e07ca9c2dedea9f3a67d981207/tumblr_ovf88pLN601u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network did just 2.455 million viewers, the lowest number for the show since July 4th. Factoring in that episode falling on a holiday, you'd have to go back to June 13th for a number this low.

It was down nine percent from last week's post-SummerSlam episode, and year-over-year the show was down 13 percent from the same week in 2016.
In terms of comparisons, same week last year had 380k more viewers.

Though she wasn’t on SmackDown last night, WWE uploaded a video of Charlotte Flair from TV giving an update on Ric Flair’s condition and thanking people for the messages they’ve sent to her family. Charlotte said that her father has a long road ahead of him but that things are looking good and she wouldn’t be back if she didn’t think think it was okay to be.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEb-jDRGIcs

Shelton Benjamin tweeted about his first match back with WWE on SmackDown last night: “The road back tough. Full of physical/mental high/lows. To hear the roar of the @WWEUniverse tonight made it all worth It.”
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/Sheltyb803/status/902743749033414658

Nakamura noted that yesterday was the 15th anniversary of his pro wrestling debut. Kazuchika Okada replied that yesterday also marked 13 years since his debut.
Link to Nakamura's tweet: https://twitter.com/ShinsukeN/status/902744797970083840 , Link to Okada's tweet: https://twitter.com/rainmakerXokada/status/902750424821846016

Rosemary tweeted an update on the injury that she suffered from a legitimate armbar from Sexy Star at Triplemania. She wrote that the injury is less severe than anticipated, with it being a strained tricep/bicep with swelling around the area. She wrote that she’ll return to the ring when doctors are happy with her strength and range of motion, but that she’s optimistic that she won’t miss much time. The latter part of the statement was focused on moving on from the situation and focusing on the positives of the weekend.

GFW posted their own statement on the Rosemary/Sexy Star incident as well. Similarly, it focuses on the positives of Triplemania, the weekend, and their relationship with AAA. It says that AAA has confirmed that appropriate measures are being taken and that both the company and Sexy Star have apologized to Rosemary.
Link to the official statement: http://impactwrestling.com/gfw-update-triplemania-xxv-weekend/

Destiny Wrestling announced Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Mundo for their show in Toronto on October 15th.

Wrestle Circus is offering free tickets to their September 9th show to those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.

Keith Lee tweeted that he won’t be selling T-shirts for a while due to donating them to those in need in Houston after the hurricane.
Link to Destiny Wrestling: https://twitter.com/DestinyWrestle/status/902688707848916992 , WrestleCircus tweet: https://twitter.com/wrestlecircus/status/902935299600384000 , Lee tweet: https://twitter.com/RealKeithLee/status/902941646844825600

On this week’s ‘Dinner With The King’ episode with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and his co-host, Glenn Moore, The King answers questions and voicemails from fans. But before he got to the questions, he talked about returning to Raw this past Monday in Memphis.

King on this return to Raw (2:05 mark of show):

"Originally, they were going to do something with Pelvis Wesley and wanted me to be there to introduce him. So I knew I was going to be on the show. And it wasn’t basically until 3 p.m. in the afternoon, I got a text message from Michael Cole saying, ‘Get your ass down to the FedEx Forum; you’re going to be doing the commentary tonight.’

But it was great to be back. I wish I would have been able to do more with Corey Graves, as far as going back and forth with.

Vince McMahon said, after the show, that I hadn’t missed a beat and gave me a hug.”

Lawler was able to share some more insight about how serious Ric Flair’s condition after talking with Ricky Steamboat, who visited Flair in the hospital (29:39 mark of show).

"Apparently it was really a touch and go situation, they explained to him [Ricky Steamboat], and when the Nature Boy had that first surgery, the doctors said that Ric had a 20% chance of survival of making it through that surgery. But we all know that he did pull through. And I heard yesterday, he’s already cutting promos on nurses.”

Ron Simmons spoke with the Jobbing Out podcast (h/t Pressbox) about being the first African-American to win a major world championship 25 years ago, this month. Simmons talked about the victory and how it inspired others.

"It's something that you never forget, that you always relive, and I've done that ever since that happened. It's something that you never get over and you are not only proud of yourself, but also it gives you special meaning when people come up to you and say, 'Thank you for giving me that inspiration from when you won that title that night. Not just because of it being the title but because of it giving me inspiration to go on to do other things with my life.' Now you can't ask for a better compliment than that."
Link to the interview: https://www.pressboxonline.com/2017/08/30/wwe-hall-of-famer-ron-simmons-recalls-historic-title-win-in-baltimore


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'd like to thank all the <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@WWE</a> Superstars that honored me last night. This business is all about earning the respect of your peers. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash">#RAW</a> <a href="https://t.co/TXmfLeXaJT">pic.twitter.com/TXmfLeXaJT</a></p>&mdash; Brian Myers (@TheCurtHawkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheCurtHawkins/status/902685561735000068">August 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

IGN revealed 41 more playable wrestlers for WWE 2k18's roster. http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/08/30/wwe-2k18-the-next-42-playable-superstars-revealed
Pro Wrestling Illustrated revealed Kazuchika Okada took the top spot for their annual Top 500 List. First time in the history of PWI a Japanese wrestler took the #1 spot. https://twitter.com/OfficialPWI/status/902889999787585536
An indie company in Oklahoma is currently facing a criminal investigation after an untrained person died during a match. The event itself was unsanctioned by the state and the injury occurred as the result of a spine buster taken incorrectly. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0830/630696/indy-wrestler-dies-at-unsanctioned-wrestling-event-in-oklahoma/
For those interested, Ringside Collectable is currently holding a Labor Day sale on a variety of WWE related merchandise. https://www.ringsidecollectibles.com/
ProWrestlingTees announced from they will be holding a store-wide 15% off sale this weekend and a portion of the money raised going towards helping those affected by Hurricane Harvey. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111992/prowrestlingteescom-launches-labor-day-sale-this-friday.html?p=1
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had LU/GFW star Taya Valkyrie as the guest talking about AAA's management problems, Lucha Underground, and more. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/TayaValkyrie
During a recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast show, Jericho confirmed the ending to Styles-Owens at Battlegrounds was a botch and his original plans were to only face Styles for the US title for his one night only return. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0830/630686/chris-jericho-on-aj-styles-and-kevin-owens-wwe-battleground/
NJPW recently held an interview with Zach Sabre Jr talking about why he didn't sign with the WWE, the G1 Climax, and wrestlers misusing Strong Style wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0830/630701/zack-sabre-jr-on-not-signing-with-wwe/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kevin Owens has wrestled 456 matches in the WWE with Sami Zayn involved in 25% of them (115 matches). https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/902699518621310978
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has wrestled in around 476 matches in the WWE with Owens involved in roughly 24% of them. https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/902701042818834432
In a third "WWE Did You Know" type fact, 43% of all of Seth Rollins matches in the WWE have involved Dean Ambrose while 25% of all Ambrose matches have involved Rollins in them. https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/902923520086298624

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Asuka gif:
https://i.giphy.com/media/xT45jR5cDpVlu/giphy.gif

I don’t know if this is considered good news or not, but GFW and Pop TV signed a new agreement to continue carrying the show in 2018. It’s good in the sense they have a station that isn’t dropping them and are guaranteed TV for another year. The bad news is the deal is not financially effective and it also means they failed to get a deal that would pay them anything but an ad revenue split which is said to mean little or anything, and also that they are likely spending at least another year at that 300,000 viewer per week mark.

Whether this happens or not, the current plans are for the U.K. show to begin before the end of this year. Original plans were to start taping in June and now we’re almost in September and a first date for a taping still hasn’t been announced. There are a lot of things to work out, including that the original U.K. championship tournament was apparently a big money loser.

Regarding Corbin and his losing the briefcase and having the lackluster match with Cena, that had nothing to do with Cena, well, the match had to do with Cena as his dance partner, but his fortunes falling temporarily was not Cena related. It also had nothing to do with Twitter, although the Twitter stuff did him no favors, particularly with a lot of the wrestlers because it’s considered bad form to go on a blocking spree of your fellow wrestlers. It was an entirely different situation outside the ring that happened a few weeks ago that happened here.

Sexy Star was on the reality show Bailadmios, a dancing show she was on but eliminated from and did anything but apologize. She said, translated into English by Fightful.com:

"These past days have been very difficult for me. On Saturday, I had a championship match and it was rough. I think everything just got out of hand. I don't know. It's a situation that right now, I'm still a bit confused about. I want to remain silent for the time being and when the time comes, I will touch upon this topic. Men and women want to end me, retire me from the sport. I'm here like I said from the beginning and I won't stop representing all the women that have been mistreated and abused physically and psychologically. I have to be stronger. At one time, I went through depression and I managed to get out of that predicament and I will get out of this one as well. I was doing what I felt needed to be done, what people deserve, and that is to fight tooth and nail to the end. That's what happened and I made her surrender. It seems that (Rosemary) is injured. I just don't know. That's the only thing I can say."

Brooke Adams, who lives in Houston, and whose home has not been affected by Hurricane Harvey, has started a GoFundMe to help raise money for people who have been displaced.
Link to the fundraiser: http://www.gofundme.com/4ceqxi8

WWE star Sami Zayn announced this afternoon that the mobile health clinic he led crowdfunding for over the last month officially opened today:

Tears of joy on the proudest day of my life.

Our mobile clinic in Syria is up & running!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCEhttps://t.co/gvJde51MvN pic.twitter.com/e4SYtiKosZ
— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) August 31, 2017

Velvet Sky has been selected for Maxim Magazine's "Maxim Finest" contest where the winner will receive a $25,000 modeling contract among other things. Sky has said that if she wins, she will donate a significant portion of the prize money to the animal shelter she volunteers for, Animals for Life.

To vote for Velvet Sky to move on to the next round click: https://maximsfinest.com/2017/velvet-sky

Dave Meltzer is reporting that Dave Bautista's name is being floated around for the headliner of 2018 WWE Hall of Fame in New Orleans.

It makes sense that he could be inducted next year as it would be four years removed from his Wrestlemania 30 appearance in the same city. And given his high-profile movie roles in "Guardians of the Galaxy","Blade Runner 2049" and the upcoming "Avengers: Infinity War" it would be a good way to draw mainstream interests and sell tickets.

Especially since the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion has been very vocal about the company's PG direction and what he feels was botched by his 2014 return. This more than likely will lead to some interesting views on the Network.

Above is the intro for the "WWE Unreleased: 1986-1995" DVD that comes out next week, courtesy of WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. The set features 45 never-before-seen matches and hidden gems, hosted by former WWE announcer Sean Mooney and Charly Caruso.
Link to the intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieJGDIDfKos

Alberto at this point is scheduled to return to GFW for the November tapings, so even though they had Jim Cornette wish him the best in his future endeavors and gave the impression he was gone and kind of buried him on the way out, the plan right now is to bring him back. The original idea would be he’d come back as a heel against the company to do the idea he was mad about his suspension

Strowman wasn’t on Raw this week as a creative decision for the Lesnar vs. Strowman program. The feeling was to keep the two of them apart after the physical angle last week. Strowman was taken off this show with the idea you can’t have them both on the show at this point without interacting. On 9/4, Lesnar and Heyman won’t be on Raw in Omaha so Strowman will return. They at this point are scheduled to both be on the 9/11 show in Anaheim

The company is pushing that Jessicka Carr (real name Jessicka Heiser, 25, formerly known in ROH and indies as Kennadi Brink) debuted on the Mae Young Classic as the first women’s referee in company history. Of course that’s far from the truth as a ton of the women have worked as referees on touring shows when they had an odd number of women on tours, and the first women’s referee in WWE history was Rita Chatterton, known as Rita Marie, in the 80s. She’s erased from history as she had a falling out, to say the least, with Vince McMahon.

For the top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network over the past week, it was dominated by the Mae Young Classic. The top four spots were taken, in order, by episodes one through four. From there it was: 5. Summer Slam; 6. Mae Young Classic bracketology; 7. NXT from 8/23; 8. NXT Takeover Brooklyn; 9. WrestleMania 33; 10. 205 Live for 8/22 featuring Enzo’s debut

Regarding the mention of Mel Phillips and WWE television. We’re told that the attempt is to not show him on the WWE Network. There are plenty of things where he was doing ring announcing or in shots where they’ve edited him out but there are also things that have fallen through the cracks such as the angle in 1985 on a Saturday Night’s Main Event where Terry Funk beat him up and used his branding iron on him. There are some shots of him in the background but all the stuff of him as ring announcer has been edited out. Phillips was a ring announcer at house shows as well as the guy in charge of the ring crew and was fired in 1992 after allegations of his actions with some of the ring boys which included one settlement that was publicized with Tom Cole which included an agreement by WWF that Phillips and Terry Garvin would never work for the company again


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE released the content for both of Undertaker's and Sting's upcoming collection sets for the WWE Network. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/112017/full-details-on-wwes-new-undertaker-sting-collections.html?p=1
WWE's online shop is currently holding a sale on Legends related merchandise.
During a recent interview with The Hannibal TV Youtube show, Sid Vicious revealed the reason he left the WWE in 1992 was due to the backstage antics of Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0831/630745/sid-vicious-on-hulk-hogan-yelling-at-vince-mcmahon-backstage/
Triple H recently made an appearance on ESPN's First Take show talking about Mayweather-McGregor fight, chances on Ronda Rousey wrestling, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0831/630737/triple-h-on-what-wwe-can-learn-from-mayweather-vs-mcgregor/
Recent episode of Sean Waltman's X-Pac 12360 podcast show had Steve Austin as the guest talking Ric Flair's health, Southpaw Regional Wrestling, Roman Reigns, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0831/630736/steve-austin-on-roman-reigns-john-cena-promo/
Uproxx held a recent interview with Batista talking about origins of his WWE name, if being in the WWE helped his acting career, and not beign a fan of his original Deacon Batista gimmick. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0831/630724/batista-on-what-terrified-him-in-wwe/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, last Saturday's main event of AAA's TripleMania XXV was the most watched wrestling match in North America in almost 30 years, according to the Observer. Match itself generated a 22.8 for tv ratings and Dr Wagner Jr was paid around $255k for the mask vs mask match (largest ever for a lucha libre match). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/6x7fdz/wor_aaas_triplemania_main_event_of_dr_wagner_vs/
According to recent numbers from Wrestlenomics, NJPW World currently has around 60k subscribers which puts it as the #2 biggest streaming service in Japan. Japan's pro baseball league has the most with around 100k subscribers.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Big Boot Friday:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/ebd04b4c76a1f9afcbed9095dd87763b/tumblr_ovixbiTcoz1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Former WWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield announced Friday night that he is going to be "stepping away" from WWE SmackDown to focus on charitable endeavors instead.
Link to his full statement: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/jbl-announces-his-departure-wwe-smackdown-242111

A cage match will headline next week's episode of Raw.

WWE announced today that Big Show and Braun Strowman would be facing off inside a steel cage on Monday. That's the second match officially confirmed for the episode, with The Miz also set to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy after Hardy won a battle royal to get the title shot ...

Strowman vs. Big Show has main evented two episodes of Raw already this year. Their last meeting ended in a no contest after WWE did a ring-collapsing angle when Strowman hit a superplex on Big Show.

Monday's Raw falls on Labor Day, which means that next week's ratings will likely be delayed due to the holiday.
Link to the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3avrpSSC0Hk

PWG's Battle of Los Angeles kicks off in Reseda, California tonight. First round matches in the tournament take place tonight and tomorrow, with a few non-tournament matches as well. The schedule is listed below. Though he won't be wrestling on at least the first two nights, Chuck Taylor tweeted that he'll be at the shows to do commentary.

PWG BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES SATURDAY NIGHT IN RESEDA, CALIFORNIA
Sammy Guevara vs. Joey Janela
Trevor Lee vs. Donovan Dijak
Sami Callihan vs. Jeff Cobb
Michael Elgin vs. Matt Riddle
Mark Haskins vs. Travis Banks
Keith Lee vs. Walter
Ricochet & Matt Sydal vs. Marty Scurll & Zack Sabre Jr.
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix & Flamita


KUSHIDA will defend his ROH TV title against Kenny King at the Death Before Dishonor PPV in Las Vegas on September 22nd.

Fox Sports Mexico will be airing a new weekly Spanish-language show called "WWE Saturday Night."
Link to the announcement: http://corporate.wwe.com/investors/news/press-releases/2017/09-01-2017-160016313

The mobile health clinic in Syria that Sami Zayn raised money for this past month started in operation yesterday.

The 8/31 edition of Impact did 268,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 296,000 overnight viewers.

The upcoming WWE DVD release schedule is as follows:

9/5 - WWE Unreleased: 1986-1995
9/19 - WWE Summerslam 2017.
10/3 - WWE Dawn of Attitude 1997
10/17 - Iconic Matches: Roman Reigns
10/17 - Iconic Matches: John Cena
10/17 - Iconic Matches: Finn Balor
10/24 - 30 Years of Survivor Series
11/14 - WWE NXT From Secret to Sensation.
12/26 - Survivor Series 2017

WWE's next major book Second Nature by Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair with Brian Shields will be released on 9/18, looking at the intertwined careers of father and daughter.

PWInsider.com has learned that WWE star Samoa Joe was in Birmingham, Alabama earlier this week to have his knee injury diagnosed and fixed.

We are told the updated outlook for Joe being out of the ring is 4-6 weeks.

Primo Colon is cleared to return to action after rehabbing his knee injury, PWInsider.com has learned. He is slated to be back on the road ASAP for the company.

We are hearing the next major addition to the VOD component for the WWE Network looks to be WCW Thunder.

Darren Young is also cleared to return to the ring we are told. No word on when he will return.

The current plan is to air the Table for 3 episode with Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Sting on Monday 9/11 following Raw.

The second season of Story Time, the WWE Network animated series recreating stories told by WWE performers, is set for 9/18 following Raw.

WWE will be timing the WWE Network Collection of Hell in A Cell (which they announced yesterday) for October for a bit of Halloween-theming. I am surprised they haven't opted to do a WCW Halloween Havoc like Collection as well, but perhaps next year.

WWE Hall of Famers Beth Phoenix and Madusa are being brought in for the 9/12 Mae Young Classic Finals, which will air live on the WWE Network from Las Vegas.

Interestingly, Madusa had filmed backstage interview at the tournament but thus far, they have not appeared on the broadcast or online.

PWInsider.com has also been told a planned WWE Network special on the Hall of Famer has been pulled from airing. It was originally set to air the same week at the finals.

Alberto el Patron and Paige have been getting local publicity from the local FOX Affiliate in San Antonio for buying out hotels and housing those who have been displaced by flooding from Hurricane Harvey. That is a pretty amazing effort there. The following video clip of Paige speaking to local media popped up on Twitter:

@PrideOfMexico @RealPaigeWWE you guys are amazing!! Giving people a safe place to stay.. We should all do the same and donate!! pic.twitter.com/APWZ3w1p3N
— Real Del Paige (@RealDelPaige) August 30, 2017

John Morrison/Mundo/Impact and Joey Mercury/Matthews each announced they would be reuniting as a team for the first time in years on 9/22 for All Pro Wrestling wrestling against Reno Scum, which also means that GFW team is ready to return to action

Stoked for our rematch 9/22 at @allprowrestling!!@Thornstowe_Scum & @legendbaby81 vs@WWEMercury & @TheRealMorrison
???????????????????????????? https://t.co/aUMSgxZjm8
— John Morrison (@TheRealMorrison) August 31, 2017

Attn: Promoters-@WWEMercury & @TheRealMorrison are back together starting 9/22 and we've never been this good.......looking. #ItsOkToStare https://t.co/jMw0ahHY51
— Joey, from Wrestling (@WWEMercury) August 31, 2017

House of Hardcore owner Tommy Dreamer announced this evening that any orders made for House of Hardcore t-shirts through the company or the Pro Wrestling Tees sale that kicks off Friday at 12 PM Noon, Dreamer will match the order by donating shirts and shipping them to Houston to help provide clothing to victims of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated Houston and the surrounding areas
HoH link for those interested in buying some shirts: http://www.houseofhardcore.net/

"So Vince McMahon is sitting wherever Vince McMahon sits on a Monday morning and he's seeing me on the Today Show and I look good in a suit. I'm representing the company. I look good in a suit. And I'm wearing the title and then he sees this package of me stomping another man's head into the ground and it being called The Curbstomp on national television. And he thought to himself, 'well, that's not a good representation of what I want my top guy to do,' so he just had a meeting with some of his people, and they decided, 'well, we don't need it - we can figure out another finish for you' and the rest is history. I get it. I hate it. I think it's silly, but it is what it is and it's not my company. I'm doing the best I can with it."
Rollins on why his curbstomp finisher was banned during an interview with the Sam Roberts podcast show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0901/630754/seth-rollins-on-why-vince-mcmahon-banned-the-curbstomp-and/

While recently appearing on Sam Roberts' podcast, Sasha Banks talked about how NXT creative was different from the main roster:

"We kind of always knew where we were going, so it helped me prepare and think about it ahead of time about how can I make this better. But when I go to RAW, it's legit like I have no clue what I am doing so I don't even know what to prepare for. I get handed something and told something and am like 'okay, I have one hour to get... okay let's just do it.' Honestly, I wish we had the opportunity to know what we are doing in the next three months."

Sasha continued, "'Oh, maybe you'll have a tag match maybe you'll have a promo. maybe you'll have this random match that doesn't make any sense,' or who knows, maybe you'll just sit in catering, who knows. None of them [WWE Superstars] know what's going on when you see Monday Night RAW, we're all surprised and sometimes were confused and sometimes they don't even follow through with a storyline."

When asked about her short title reigns, here was Sasha's response:

"I don't know if it was something with me or they just want to keep on flipping flopping, I don't know!"
Link: http://popculture.com/wwe/2017/08/31/sasha-banks-expresses-frustrations-wwe-booking/


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yup, like I said before, COSPLAY WHATEVER YOU WANT! <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@WWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SashaBanksWWE">@SashaBanksWWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/itsBayleyWWE">@itsBayleyWWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Themikalmosley">@Themikalmosley</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DragonCon">@DragonCon</a> <a href="https://t.co/i4IoCbsK9M">pic.twitter.com/i4IoCbsK9M</a></p>&mdash; Find me @ DragonCon (@XavierWoodsPhD) <a href="https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/903690514511384584">September 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

As previously reported, ProWrestlingTees is currently holding a Labor Day Sale with a portion of proceeds going towards the Houston Food Bank to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/112025/massive-prowrestlingteescom-sale-kicks-off-today-portion-of-sales-to-be-donated-to-houston-food-bank.html?p=1
Daniel Bryan held a recent fan Q&A session on the Bellas Official Youtube channel with highlights including his favorite moments in the WWE, favorite rivals, and Team Hell No. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0901/630760/daniel-bryan-on-the-best-team-hell-no-moment/
Argus Leader held a recent interview with Kevin Owens talking about scripted promos, not wanting to be a face anytime soon, and toning down the heelish aspects of his Face of America gimmick. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0901/630757/kevin-owens-on-toning-down-face-of-america/
PWI debunked rumors claimed to have originated from them about Taker currently training for a return to the ring. https://twitter.com/MikePWInsider/status/903723723265585153
Observer also debunked rumors regarding Taker's status during SummerSlam weekend saying he wasn't involved in supposed scanning for an unannounced WWE game.

[Cool King]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Yup, like I said before, COSPLAY WHATEVER YOU WANT! <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@WWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SashaBanksWWE">@SashaBanksWWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/itsBayleyWWE">@itsBayleyWWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Themikalmosley">@Themikalmosley</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DragonCon">@DragonCon</a> <a href="https://t.co/i4IoCbsK9M">pic.twitter.com/i4IoCbsK9M</a></p>&mdash; Find me @ DragonCon (@XavierWoodsPhD) <a href="https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/903690514511384584">September 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That is terrifying.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Destroyer of Kisses, Kairi Sane:
https://i.imgur.com/KEpAlpC.gif

Global Force Wrestling announced today that Jeff Jarrett is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his regular position with the company to focus on personal matters.

The company's statement: "Effective immediately, Jeff Jarrett is taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as Chief Creative Officer to focus on personal matters. Jeff will be available on a consultative basis as needed."

As noted earlier on PWInsider.com, Global Force Wrestling Chief Creative Officer Jeff Jarrett has taken a "leave of absence" from the company that he initially founded in 2002 and returned to after Anthem Media purchased TNA Impact Wrestling. We are told by several people that the decision was one Ed Nordholm made today and that he met personally with Jarrett in Nashville, TN this afternoon ...

The belief among those we have spoken to is that unhappiness with Jarrett involving alleged "erratic behavior" (as one source described it), claiming that was a driving factor in Nordholm's move today, not an unhappiness with the company's creative direction. We are told that the situation had been building for months and the final tipping point appears to have been Triplemania several weeks back, where Jarrett was obviously not in the best of shape, as he had put on weight and seemingly stumbled down the ring steps before wrestling for just a few short minutes before journeying around ringside for an extended period. The Triplemania appearance led to a lot of people talking about whether Jarrett needed time off. It should be noted that Ed Nordholm was in Mexico at the show.
More details from PWI about this situation: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112128/what-led-to-todays-jarrett-exit-gfw-ownership-ripple-effect-thus-far-reactions-and-more.html?p=1

If Anthem was really utilizing those letters without having any actual ownership, all they did was help raise the profile of the Global Force Wrestling name internationally, which in hindsight, was a really dumb business decision.
Seems Anthem never bothered to buy or transfer the rights to GFW from Jarrett so he still legally owns the name and all trademarks associated with it. Could result in another name change for the company if Jarrett can't return.

The status of Alberto el Patron is also in question as sources indicate that Nordholm was willing to cut bait on Patron after the July airport incident while Jarrett had been intimately involved in calming that situation. With Jarrett out of the picture and less than a year believed to be left on Patron's deal, the when for Alberto's return may be back to "if he returns."
Would explain why El Patron is still suspended.

Officially confirming what has been known about for a while, WWE announced today that Donovan Dijak has signed with the company and has arrived at the Performance Center.

WWE touted the signing with a post on their website, focusing on Dijak's pro wrestling career from the New England indies to working for promotions like Ring of Honor, EVOLVE, and PWG. The article also mentions Dijak having been a standout football and basketball player in high school and college.

Dave Meltzer reported in July that Dijak would soon be heading to WWE. Dijak has been wrapping up his dates on the independent scene since. His final match on the indies took place at PWG's Battle of Los Angeles on Sunday night

The fallout from the incident where Sexy Star injured Rosemary at Triplemania took another turn last night as AAA announced that Sexy Star had been stripped of their Reina de Reinas title.

AAA posted the news on Twitter during a show on Monday night. In a statement that Global Force Wrestling previously released about the Sexy Star/Rosemary situation, it was noted that AAA executives had confirmed to them that "appropriate measures" were being taken.

Similarly to how it began, Sexy Star's women's title reign ends in controversy. She returned to AAA and won the then-vacant championship in July after Taya Valkyrie had been stripped of it, with the explanation then being that Valkyrie used a choke to unfairly win it in a street fight match months earlier. Valkyrie hasn't returned to AAA since.
Sexy Star still refusing to apologize and claiming the whole thing as an attack on her reputation probably did her no favors. Link to her statement: https://twitter.com/Sexydulceg/status/904767985784471552 , Link to English translation: https://pastebin.com/qpVnixL5

WWE ratings are delayed this week due to Monday’s Labor Day holiday. Raw ratings will be out tomorrow, with SmackDown's likely pushed back a day as well.

With both Christmas and New Year's Day set to fall on Mondays in the upcoming months, WWE has already announced their broadcast plans for those holiday-themed episodes of Raw.

The company revealed today that Raw will air live on both Mondays. WWE.com's announcement said: "This marks the first time that WWE will present Monday night’s hottest show live on the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. These unprecedented broadcasts aim to best serve you, the WWE Universe, during the holiday season."

It would appear that this is actually the second time that the show will air live on New Year's Day, with the January 1st, 2007 episode having been a live broadcast.

Both December 25th and January 1st are fairly significant days for sports on television in the United States. The NBA has a few marquee matchups on Christmas, with New Year's Day having historically been a big spot on the college football bowl game calendar.

According to Jeff Hardy's wife, this was USA Network's decision and not WWE's decision to do a live show. https://twitter.com/BethBrittHardy_/status/904846202038083585

All signs are that the 12/25 Raw and 12/26 Smackdown tapings will be in Rosemont, IL right outside Chicago at the Allstate Arena.

The Christmas Raw will be the first live event held on Christmas Day by the company since 1986.

Pro Wrestling Sheet’s James McKenna wrote that he’s hearing Big Show is getting surgery for a slight hip issue very soon.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/chillhartman/status/904863701156601856

Ring of Honor announced that Kenny Omega will be appearing at two of their shows in Florida in November. He is set to compete at their live event in Fort Lauderdale on November 11th and their TV tapings in Lakeland on the 12th.

Kazuchika Okada is now the second longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in NJPW history after surpassing the Great Muta today. Okada has 1,239 total days as champion in his four reigns. Hiroshi Tanahashi has had seven title reigns and has been champion for 1,358 total days.

Rumor in Hollywood right now is that John Cena may be up for the role of Captain Marvel in Warner Bros.’ upcoming movie adaptation of the comic book superhero.

PROGRESS Wrestling announced that Zack Sabre Jr. will be wrestling at their show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday with the storyline of him issuing an open challenge.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/904800038454521857

In an interesting title stat, The Miz is approaching a combined 444 days as WWE Intercontinental Champion through his seven reigns with the title. He surpassed Tito Santana’s 443 days and will surpass Honky Tonk Man’s record of 454 this week. Pedro Morales currently holds the record with 619 days.

Dave Meltzer on last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio mentioned that both Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb are heading to New Japan for an upcoming tour. There doesn’t seem to be any specifics as to how they will be used or when they will arrive, but it is possible that they could be one of many teams participating in the World Tag League this December. Riddle and Cobb have teamed on the indies as The Chosen Bros.

WWE has announced that a documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze will premiere on the WWE Network later this month. No word yet on when "Trailblayzer: The Alundra Blayze Story" will debut but we will keep you updated. The former Madusa recently did backstage interviews for The Mae Young Classic and teased on Twitter that she could be doing more backstage TV work for WWE in the future.

Chris Jericho recently appeared as a guest on The Other Guys Podcast for an interview.

During the discussion, Jericho spoke about how he found a clever way to convince Vince McMahon to unban A.J. Styles' longtime finishing move, "The Styles Clash."

"I knew it was a great move, I knew it was an easy move to take, and I knew it was something that could help A.J. and give him extra colors to paint his pictures with," Jericho said. "I basically went to Vince and started using it during matches just so Vince could see it, so I figured if he saw it and didn't want me doing it he would know."

Jericho continued, "Eventually I went to Vince and I said, 'Did you see that move AJ did?' Never using the words 'Styles Clash' because I knew Vince might not even know what the move is, but that name is taboo. I said he should use it as a finish. [Vince said], 'Yes absolutely, use it as a finish.' So I was able to kind of indirectly get the move unbanned by just doing it and not asking for permission and never using the name 'Styles Clash' while taking about it with Vince. Now it's one of AJ's biggest moves."
Link to the podcast episode: https://audioboom.com/posts/6248816-baby-huey-bimbo-jimbo-chris-jericho-interview-08-29-17?t=0


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE currently rumored to be considering signing another batch of big name indie stars after Pro Wrestling Sheet reported William Regal was at PWG's Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Last time it happened, WWE eventually signed several competitors from the tournament.
WWE currently rumored again to be considering a Four Horsewomen (WWE) vs Four Horsewomen (MMA) match within the near future. Another tease by the company happened during Round 2 of the Mae Young Classic. http://www.tmz.com/2017/09/05/ronda-rousey-wwe-first-promo-career-ufc/
Newest trailer for WWE 2k18 focused on the game's new carrying system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiiEhyeIeYs&feature=youtu.be
Bret Hart was revealed to be this week's guest for Dinner With The King podcast show. https://twitter.com/DinnerWithKing/status/905091461854765057
WWE announced Corey Graves will be replacing JBL for Smackdown's announce team going forward. Nigel McGuiness was announced to take over Graves spot on 205 Live and Main Event. http://www.wwe.com/article/corey-graves-new-smackdown-live-commentator
PWG's Battle of Los Angeles tournament ended with Ricochet defeating both Keith Lee and Jeff Cobb (Mantanza in LU) in the finals. http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/pwg-bola-night-three-results-winner-crowned-242236
Kenny Omega made a special taped appearance at the PAX Rumble from last weekend's PAX West expo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjxzwgpJXv4
CM Punk recently posted on Instagram of his next MMA fight is tentatively schedule to happen before the end of this year. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112119/cm-punk-fighting-again-later-this-year.html?p=1
Recent episode of The Other Guys podcast show had Chris Jericho as the guest talking about him not being in a rush for another WWE run, will return if WWE comes up with a good storyline for him, and him not caring who he works with as long as the story is good. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0905/631866/chris-jericho-on-what-would-get-him-to-return-to-wwe/
PWI had some details regarding what caused Corbin's heat with the company and it was due to a CTE meeting with WWE's main doctor resulting in Corbin blasted attempts by him at downplaying the seriousness of CTE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0905/631849/backstage-news-on-a-recent-incident-at-wwe-talent-meeting-with/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Tower of 205 Live Doom:
https://i.giphy.com/media/3o7aCYxzdQMWHYerpm/giphy.gif

Monday night's Labor Day edition of Raw on the USA Network did just 2.916 million viewers, down 12 percent from the previous week. In addition to the holiday, Monday marked the first week of the season against big competition from football ...

Hour one opened with 3.069 million viewers and both hours fell from there, which buckles the recent trend of hour two usually being the highest rated.

Raw fell to 2.975 million viewers for the second hour and hour three, with an 18-minute overrun, fell all the way to 2.75 million.

For some comparisons, last year's Labor Day week show had 3.063 million viewers for the average.

Kenny Omega will miss most of the upcoming Destruction tour with a left meniscus injury, but he won’t miss the tour entirely.

New Japan made the announcement early this morning that he would be out for a majority of the tour. They didn’t mention any further details regarding the injury, but did mention that his IWGP United States title defense against Juice Robinson is still scheduled for September 24th in Kobe.

Leo Tonga is set to take his place in the upcoming tour. He is the brother of both Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa, as well as the son of Haku.


Yesterday, Global Force Wrestling announced that Jeff Jarrett, who was running the wrestling end of GFW and is part owner of the company, was taking an indefinite leave of absence from the company to deal with personal issues.

According to those close to the situation, the personal issues aspect of the story is legitimate and the public story is accurate.

It was clear that the decision was not something he knew about in advance because he sent out a tweet that morning talking about going back into the office to start a day of work. He was scheduled to host a party for the company staff at his home that day, which ended up being canceled.

However, others in the company were aware of the decision for at least a week.
Confirmed the reports from PWI about what caused Jarrett to step down from the company at least for the near future.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported Wednesday that with Anthem losing significant money, sources close to the situation say Anthem is ready to pull out of running a wrestling company and is ready to sell. Sources in the company denied that, but that type of story is also always going to be denied until it happens for the obvious morale reasons, and also because even those at the top would not be in the loop on a sale.

As noted in the Observer Newsletter last week, the company's inability to get a new U.S. television deal is hurting them because it’s clear the company can’t grow financially while on Pop TV and their current situation doesn’t appear to have any other way to make money. After testing the waters with three house shows in the Northeast (one of which was canceled and neither of the others drew well), no future house shows are on the schedule, nor is anything past the television tapings in November after Bound for Glory.
Link to the Sports Illustrated report: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/09/06/jeff-jarrett-global-force-wrestling

On the same day as the Sports Illustrated report about Anthem being ready to exit the wrestling business, GFW sent out a press release today touting a few broadcast initiatives, including their plans to launch the Global Wrestling Network (an on-demand service), plans to launch a channel on Pluto TV, a deal with 7Sports to bring Impact back to screens in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland via ran FIGHTING, and the announcement that they’ve extended their deal with Pop TV to carry Impact.
Link to the GFW announcement: http://impactwrestling.com/global-force-wrestling-announces-global-broadcast-digital-expansion-initiatives/

Booker T is doing a live show in Los Angeles prior to No Mercy with all proceeds benefiting victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/BookerT5x/status/905559613596200961

On his podcast this week (which also included an appearance by Bret Hart), Jerry Lawler said that WWE didn’t contact him about joining the SmackDown commentary team on a full-time basis when JBL left. Lawler noted that it would have been a difficult decision to make if they did.

The Kingdom will be facing The Briscoes & Bully Ray in a match at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, with the winners going on to challenge The Young Bucks & Hangman Page for the six-man tag titles later in the night. Jay Lethal vs. Silas Young in a last man standing match is also set for the PPV.

PROGRESS Wrestling revealed that there will be an eight-man scramble match at their Alexandra Palace show on Sunday. Mark Andrews, Eddie Dennis, Zack Gibson, James Drake, Jack Sexsmith, Chief Deputy Dunne, Strangler Davis, and Flash Morgan Webster will be involved in it.

73-year old former NWA and ECW World champion Terry Funk is returning to the ring later this month. Funk is being advertised for the 9/23 and 9/24 events being run by Big Time Wrestling in Raleigh, NC and Charleston, SC.

Funk will team with former NWA World Tag Team champions The Rock N' Roll Express for the first time ever to face the Memphis-themed trio of Jerry Lawler, Doug Gilbert and Brian Christopher.

Funk has not made any appearances in months after a health issue led to him leaving a House of Hardcore event in Philadelphia, PA earlier this year.

GFW has announced that footage from AAA's TripleMania event from late August will air on this week's GFW Impact episode. As noted, Thursday's show will also feature Allie & Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell & GFW Knockouts Champion Sienna plus DJZ's return and Matt Sydal vs. GFW Global Champion Eli Drake in the main event.

Emma and Nia Jax teamed up on this week's Raw to defeat Sasha Banks and Raw Women's Champion, Alexa Bliss. Along with the win, Nia and Emma were added to the No Mercy Women's Title match between Sasha and Alexa. On Twitter, Emma let it be known Nia should be thanking her for a title opportunity that she doesn't deserve. Nia shot back, reminding Emma about her never-ending Emmalina vignettes that she never capitalized on.

.@NiaJaxWWE should be thanking ME for getting her a match she doesn't deserve. This is about me. @ #WWENoMercy it'll be #EmmaNewWomensChamp
— EMMA (@EmmaWWE) September 5, 2017


?? did you thank Vince for the 6 month vignette push you had but never capitalized on? How much MORE do you deserve ?? https://t.co/JbPQXx3PPC
— Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) September 6, 2017


Some other sheet news includes:

IGN revealed the final batch of wrestlers for WWE 2k18's roster. 47 wrestlers were revealed in the fourth roster announcement. http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/09/06/wwe-2k18-the-next-47-playable-superstars-revealed
For those interested, PWI released a list of current stars in the WWE (and NXT) not in the roster for WWE 2k18. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112150/what-wwe-performers-are-not-included-in-wwe-2k18-yet.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Braun Strowman celebrated his 34th birthday today.
During the recent episode of The Other Guys Podcast show, Chris Jericho revealed his favorite moment in the WWE was the "Festival of Friendship" skit. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0906/631915/chris-jericho-reveals-what-is-likely-his-crowning-jewel-in-wwe/
Al Arabiya English held a recent interview with Finn Balor talking about changes made in the WWE, Karl Anderson trying to persuade him to not use face paint for the DEMON Balor, and the process for his paint designs. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0906/631897/finn-balor-on-who-initially-told-him-not-to-use-face-paint/
During a recent episode of the Bruce Prichard podcast show, Prichard credits the backstage work and influence of Paul Heyman to why Brock Lesnar became a huge star for the WWE. Also confirmed stories of Vince hating the idea of managers and how they found a way around it by calling Heyman an "agent" instead for Lesnar. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0906/631895/bruce-prichard-on-which-ecw-stars-paul-heyman-didnt-want-wwe-to/

[Big Vic]

Is Otunga just not coming back?

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems he might just be busy with side stuff like his acting career and maybe still as part of WWE's legal team.

He was on the pre-show panel for SummerSlam.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Daniel Bryan and his Balls:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/bc33228098875cdd8135469b3bfc1626/tumblr_ovwabyxf4N1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown rebounded to 2.582 million viewers, up five percent from the previous week. The show was fifth for the night in total viewers on cable and was second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.8 rating.

SmackDown was crushed by the season seven premiere of American Horror Story, which averaged 3.933 million viewers and a 2.02 rating in the 18-49 demo.

A first-time ever number one contender's main event between Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton headlined SmackDown this week. The show was also up five percent in the year-over-year ratings as the September 6th, 2016 episode did 2.455 million viewers.
Smackdown has a big chance next week at topping RAW due to the start of Monday Night Football and Smackdown having a loaded show.

As Florida prepares for Hurricane Irma, WWE has announced the postponement of four previously scheduled NXT house shows.

The shows that were set to take place in Daytona Beach on Friday night and Crystal River on Saturday have been postponed, along with events that were planned for Lakeland on September 14th and Dade City on the 15th. The Dade City show has been rescheduled to October 5th, with WWE noting that tickets that have already been purchased will be honored on that date.

WWE has yet to indicate whether the next set of NXT television tapings, which are supposed to take place at Full Sail University next Wednesday, will go on as scheduled.

After Asuka vacated the NXT Women’s Championship last night, WWE uploaded a video where William Regal said he’d be letting people know about the future of the title in the next few weeks.
Rumor going around the net is WWE is considering the idea of giving the belt to whoever wins the Mae Young Classic.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Michael Elgin for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Destruction in Fukushima on Sunday will be a lumberjack match after the stipulation was set up on NJPW’s show this morning.

FreeSports, a new freeview channel in the UK, announced today that Five Star Wrestling will be airing weekly live shows on the station starting in 2018. The announcement came after PCW had already indicated that they’d be working with FreeSports, with PCW posting today that the deal is off after months of FreeSports pursuing them. The promotion wrote that they could only promise what they can deliver. Amid controversy and backlash from some wrestlers, Five Star Wrestling announced earlier this year that their 128-man tournament and arena tour had been postponed until next February.

CBS Radio's The Taz Show, hosted by former WWE and ECW star Taz, announced this evening that starting this Monday 9/11, the show will start in a new timeslot, airing Monday to Fridays from 8 AM - 10 AM Eastern:

BREAKING: #Monday #TheTazShow #WeOver - pls RT. pic.twitter.com/SZ8XIc0xqh
— TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) September 7, 2017

In regard to the Justin Barrasso report on Sports Illustrated's website that Anthem is seeking to sell off GFW, we are told that in meetings this week, all discussion was about plans going forward and there was no inkling of plans to shut down or sell off the video library. We've heard nothing from the WWE end that such discussions are underway and they would be the most likely buyer. Although any discussions would be attempted to be kept under wraps as long as possible, my personal belief is that with WWE in cost-cutting mode and having slowed down other aspects, such as original WWE Network programming, they likely aren't looking to rush into a major acquisition,
PWI's report with more details surrounding the current status of GFW: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112170/gfw-creative-update-correction-from-a-few-days-ago-and-more-news.html?p=1

The updated lineup for the 9/23 Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor 2017 PPV features:

*ROH champion Cody Rhodes vs. Minoru Suzuki in Suzuki's first match in the United States in 25 years.

*ROH TV champion KUSHIDA vs. Kenny King.

*The Kingdom vs. Bully Ray & The Briscoes.

*Winners challenge ROH Six Man Tag Team champions The Young Bucks and Adam "Hangman" Page.

*Las Vegas Street Fight: Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez.

*Jay Lethal vs, Silas Young.

Death Before Dishonor will air via all traditional PPV carriers as well as the Fite app. The App is currently offering a $10 credit with ROH PPV pre-orders.

Ric Flair posted the following on his Facebook page:

"As of Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, I have parted ways with Melinda Morris Zanoni and Legacy Talent Entertainment, LLC. I Will Announce New Representation Tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the new beginning and the great opportunities that await me. WOOOOO!"

Did Billy Corgan ever buy the NWA?

Yes, he did. We are hearing he is waiting until after the current licensing agreements with partner promotions expire this October to begin working on that project as he had a musical tour coming up.
Current status of Corgan's ownership of NWA from PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

On the latest edition of his Jim Cornette Experience podcast on MLW.com, Jim Cornette stated that he is booked for the 11/5 Bound for Glory PPV but is not currently slated for the TV tapings that follow. In regard to some reader questions about whether Cornette was or is on the GFW creative team, he is not and has not been. He was brought in as a performer and has offered his insight backstage when necessary but is not on of the creative team.

It was announced after the recent WWE NXT TV tapings that undefeated NXT Women's Champion Asuka relinquished her title due to the collarbone injury that she suffered at "Takeover: Brooklyn III" in the win over Ember Moon. That segment aired on tonight's NXT episode and partial video is above.

WWE is recognizing Asuka's reign at 523 days - from April 1st, 2016 when she won the title at "Takeover: Dallas" by defeating Bayley to tonight's episode when she was forced to relinquish.

The storyline is that she is forfeiting the title to pursue new challenges in WWE.

During tonight's segment with Asuka and NXT General Manager William Regal, it was noted that Regal has started negotiations with RAW General Manager Kurt Angle and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan for The Empress of Tomorrow's call-up to the main roster.


Some other sheet news includes:

NJPW recently revealed the logo for next year's Wrestle Kingdom show. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/905706494657609729
Recent episode of Pro Wrestling Illustrated's podcast show had Kazuchika Okada as the guest talking about him being #1 in this year's Top 500 List. https://pwi.podbean.com/e/pro-wrestling-illustrated-presents-the-pwi-podcast-episode-77/
WWE announces they will be launching a new 1 hour replay of RAW with French commentary for Canada starting on October 18th. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112161/wwe-announces-new-french-series-in-canada.html?p=1
GFW announced they have signed a new tv deal for Impact Wrestling in Germany. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112155/global-force-wrestling-announces-european-tv-deal.html?p=1
John Cena currently dealing with some online backlash after an insult he sent to Roman Reigns on Twitter as part of their online feud made light of recent white supremacists issues in the US. Cena quickly deleted the tweet afterwards.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Alberto El Patron stated he expects to return to GFW soon. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0907/631955/alberto-el-patron-on-if-he-will-be-returning-to-gfw/
Recent episode of Sean Waltman's X-Pac 12360 podcast show had Steve Austin on the guest talking about Superstar Billy Graham, a couple of wrestling stories from his career, and being involved in the acting industry. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0907/631953/steve-austin-on-talking-with-ultimate-warrior-on-the-phone/
This week's "Flashback Friday" episode for the WWE Network was revealed to be focused on the history of WCW Nitro. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0907/631945/john-cena-in-total-bellas-bonus-clips/
During a recent episode of the MLW podcast show, Austin Aries revealed he left the WWE due to needing a lot of time off to deal with injuries and neck issues. Currently unsure when (or if) he can make an in-ring return to wrestling.
For those subscribed or read the Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer had to delay this week's Newsletter due to recent hard drive problems.

[#1-norm-fan]

Still really curious what Billy Corgan could possibly be planning to do with the NWA.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random "Ciem" Almas gif:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/fcb1e8cb644250991ecf9d44a54d10ee/tumblr_ovx59jZLN51u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Before the Mae Young Classic finals take place next Tuesday, WWE will be broadcasting a red carpet special earlier in the afternoon on Facebook Live.

Ronda Rousey will be making an appearance and participating in interviews ahead of possibly taking part in the follow-up to the Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen angle. WWE's Four Horsewomen will be represented on the red carpet too, with Charlotte Flair and Bayley advertised to be there.

Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Nikki and Brie Bella, and soccer star Hope Solo will also be appearing on the red carpet show, with WWE hyping that cast members from Netflix's "GLOW" series will be present on Tuesday as well. The show will be hosted by Cathy Kelley at 6 p.m. Eastern time, then the tournament finals will stream live on the WWE Network at 10 p.m. ET.

The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada will host SmackDown, Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler in the MYC finals, and 205 Live next Tuesday. Dave Meltzer noted in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the tentative plan is for 205 Live to air at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Link to the announcement: http://www.wwe.com/shows/maeyoungclassic/2017-09-12-mae-young-classic-finale/article/mae-young-classic-red-carpet

Regarding Tuesday, because the Raw crew leaves after the show for Australia, unless they make special arrangements and Sasha Banks misses the first night of the Australia tour, she won't be able to be in Las Vegas on Tuesday for the expected Horsewoman vs. Horsewoman angle.

One would expect an angle on the 9/12 live show in Las Vegas. The rumors have been that Rousey would do a Horsewomen vs. Horsewomen match at Survivor Series and that would lead to another match at WrestleMania, singles match with Stephanie McMahon and Charlotte being the names most talked about

Impact Wrestling's Global Wrestling Network, an attempt to be positioned as the alternate brand to the WWE Network, will be launched next week with 850 to 900 hours of content and a $7.99 monthly price point, according to Ed Nordholm, the Executive Vice President of Anthem Sports and Entertainment.

Nordholm appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio Friday and spoke of the company's future, saying the goal is to break even and eventually make money, but they knew full well when they purchased the company that wasn't going to happen overnight.

"We're invested in this company. We're growing it. We know it's not going to turn around tomorrow."

The key news revolved around the announcement of the streaming service. The service will have both a free and a pay tier. There will be a one-month free trial period for everyone who signs up.

For those in North America, the free tier would include episodes of Impact Wrestling released ten days after they air on Pop TV. Of the company's approximately 3,000 hours of tape in its library, about 850 to 900 of those hours will be part of the archives in the pay tier.

As far as selling the library to WWE, that makes no economic sense at this point.

"I know full well how the WWE Network would monetize the content and what they could pay for the library," he said. "It makes no sense for me to sell it for that kind of price. I'd rather keep it, put it up on the app, and monetize it myself."
More details from Nordholm's recent appearance on the Observer Radio show: http://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/anthems-ed-nordholm-streaming-service-plans-commitment-gfw-242536

The 9/7 edition of Impact, which partially went against the NFL opener, did 227,000 overnight viewers, way down from the 268,000 overnight viewers that they did last week. They did 320,000 viewers less than a month ago.

The woman who played Miss Elizabeth to Dolph Ziggler's Randy Savage on Smackdown Live this past Tuesday was Stephanie Dinsmore, a former Miss South Dakota who is married to former WWE star Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore.

Above, Daniel Bryan continued his fan Q&A (first part here) and answered questions about if he'll grow his beard long ago like before (Bryan said he won't), his closest friend on the WWE roster (Brian Kendrick was named first, followed by Kane, John Cena, Cesaro, Seth Rollins, and others). Bryan also talked about who in wrestling he looked up to when he was younger.

"I have to say Dean Malenko was my absolute favorite," Bryan said. "He was the guy I watched and was like 'wow.' Because I wasn't the most athletic guy in high school, so I saw Rey Mysterio and he was 5'3" and he was doing all of these crazy things. And I would say "Wow! That's amazing!" but I could never do any of those things. I saw Dean, and he was like 5'7" and I saw the style he worked, I loved the submission stuff and he was so good at it."
Link to the Q&A video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdpLqy7u4F8

Triple H stated on the second episode of The World According To Wrestling podcast this week that the World of Sport revival in the U.K. late last year slightly affected their plans for a U.K. division. A World of Sport special aired last December on ITV, which is the #2 network in the U.K. WWE followed by holding the United Kingdom Championship Tournament this past January.

"Did it change our timing a little bit because of when they positioned their show? Yeah, but we are talking by maybe months or something not speeding up the process in terms of getting it done," Triple H said. "We've been working on this for a long time. Any other show aside, if they are successful I'm happy for them. And, at the end of the day, it all helps the industry so we just do what we do. And I think we do it better than anyone else on the planet."

Samoa Joe is slated to return to action at the end of October, according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Joe has been out of action since late August after suffering a knee injury during a match with John Cena at a WWE live event. Joe was scheduled to wrestle Cena on RAW on August 28th, however the match was dropped.

Ranallo’s primary issues were not with Layfield, but with the culture in place at the time headed by Vince McMahon. Layfield was part of it, but not the key part of it. Layfield’s actions were the straw that broke the camel’s back in a situation that has been resolved enough to where Ranallo returned with the proviso he’s working and reporting to Michael Cole and Paul Levesque, neither of which he ever had any problems with and they were the two people who recruited him into the company in the first place.

The Mae Young Classic is clearly a huge hit on the WWE Network. For this past week, the top eight most-watched shows on the network were all eight episodes, which means that the four episodes released a week ago were all still head of both NXT and 205 Live both last week and this week. In fact, episodes one through four, even a week later, were ahead of the new 205 Live released on 9/5, even though they were released on 8/27. The top ten rankings for the week were: 1. Mae Young Classic episode five; 2. MYC episode six; 3. MYC episode seven; 4. MYC episode eight; 5. MYC episode four; 6. MYC episode three; 7. MYC episode one; 8. MYC episode two; 9. 205 Live from 9/5; 10. SummerSlam 2017. The NXT episode on 8/30 was in 11th place

Regarding the weekly U.K. show, there are two stories going around. One said that it was still in the plans but the hold-up is the expense of doing the tapings because the original U.K. tournament that was supposed to be the kickoff show lost so much money. But the company was also looking to get the show on television in the U.K. and thus far hasn’t been able to make a deal

Lucha Underground is heavily talking about Ultima Lucha on television so the season is winding to a close. None of the talent knows anything. The basic word we’ve heard is that El Rey would like a new season, but nobody has yet come through to fund the season. After season one lost so much money, they were able to get one of the owners to put up money for two more seasons so they could reach 100 episodes, a milestone they reached. They never tried touring and at WrestleMania in Dallas it was clear there was a huge buzz on Lucha Underground that isn’t there anymore and missed it. This stuff was taped 15 months ago and nobody has gotten paid since then but are under contract, so this has really screwed with the guys because ROH and WWE won’t touch anyone here. GFW has a relationship so have been able to get a few people. But there are a lot of talented guys who will be on the free agent market soon unless a new season is announced

Due to their success is moving merchandise at Hot Topic, there will be a full line of Young Bucks, Bullet Club (with the different characters) and Elite merchandise not only in Hot Topic but several other chains are expected to pick it up around the second quarter of 2018

Heyman is always controversial as there are people in management and creative who don’t like that he comes in and gets Lesnar segments changed so often. Heyman does have a lot of pull with Vince and the reality is most of the unique Lesnar creative, whether it’s the angles or match strictures and finishes, are out of the box and for the better such and my belief is the Joe program helped spark a business turnaround that led to the even stronger momentum the great four-way and the Strowman program. The belief is that if Heyman wasn’t around, than Lesnar would be more apt to do things the way they are originally written instead of the changes


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 21st anniversary of Glacier's debut in WCW. https://twitter.com/Monsoon_Classic/status/906081802204393475
UK's The Mirror had a recent interview with DDP talking about the failed feud with Taker and the Invasion storyline. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0908/631976/diamond-dallas-page-on-why-his-feud-with-the-undertaker-quickly/
The Whig had a recent interview with Drew McIntyre talking about his friendship with Jinder, his NXT title win, and his career in the indies. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0908/631965/drew-mcintyre-on-cutting-out-the-negatives/
Pro Wrestling 24/7 held a recent interview with Sexy Star and once again Sexy Star refused to even offer an apology for injuring Rosemary at TripleMania XXV. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0908/631961/sexy-star-on-rumors-of-backstage-confrontation-before-rosemary/
According to the Observer, Sami Callihan recently accepted an offer from NJPW and will be making his debut for the company later this year.
According to website Fightful, talks between Rey Mysterio and GFW over a possible deal have fallen apart. https://www.fightful.com/mysterio-negotiations-gfw-now-dead-ending-plans-el-patron-match-bound-glory

[DaveWadding]

Lucha Underground is heavily talking about Ultima Lucha on television so the season is winding to a close. None of the talent knows anything. The basic word we’ve heard is that El Rey would like a new season, but nobody has yet come through to fund the season. After season one lost so much money, they were able to get one of the owners to put up money for two more seasons so they could reach 100 episodes, a milestone they reached. They never tried touring and at WrestleMania in Dallas it was clear there was a huge buzz on Lucha Underground that isn’t there anymore and missed it. This stuff was taped 15 months ago and nobody has gotten paid since then but are under contract, so this has really screwed with the guys because ROH and WWE won’t touch anyone here. GFW has a relationship so have been able to get a few people. But there are a lot of talented guys who will be on the free agent market soon unless a new season is announced

Everything I've heard points to them taping mid-October or mid-November. Ivelisse posted a thing on Instagram about booking dates and had one of those specifically blocked off with no comment (others were like 8/26 - SHINE or something).

I haven't heard anything from a direct, reliable source about them having money problems. I expect season 4 to be announced shortly and taped on schedule.

[Emperor Smeat]

Most of their financial problems is related to plans meant to secure a long term future that never really happened after Season 1.

They spent a ton of money on Season 1 under the assumption networks and companies would line right up for the company and it didn't happen. Touring was also meant to be a big plan to generate funds but they only held a few shows at most. El Rey was only meant to be a temporary home till they found a better network but good money in the TV wrestling market has dried up a lot.

They should get a Season 4 but then they'd be right back with the same uncertain future for Season 5.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, people should trying to use Heyman changing Lesnar's stuff as a reason to try and change other things instead of just complaining about it.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I love that after all they've been through, Heyman has so much pull with Vince.

[DaveWadding]

Most of their financial problems is related to plans meant to secure a long term future that never really happened after Season 1.

They spent a ton of money on Season 1 under the assumption networks and companies would line right up for the company and it didn't happen. Touring was also meant to be a big plan to generate funds but they only held a few shows at most. El Rey was only meant to be a temporary home till they found a better network but good money in the TV wrestling market has dried up a lot.

They should get a Season 4 but then they'd be right back with the same uncertain future for Season 5.

I don't think that the future is as uncertain as it is being reported. They are being dumb about announcing the seasons and scheduling, but I think the money is there and the interest will only be going up at the beginning of the 4th season, after a whole cycle of advertising because the 3rd season will probably head to Netflix...

[mike adamle]

Don't mind Smeat, Dave, he tries to pass everything the dirt sheets write as fact.

[BigCrippyZ]

Lol, people should trying to use Heyman changing Lesnar's stuff as a reason to try and change other things instead of just complaining about it.

A huge portion of the roster is just happy getting their paycheck and being part of the team. I.e., they're like a college football player who, while talented, is happy being second or third string, or giving minimal effort or taking plays off even as a first string, and just likes the benefits (attention from girls, $ from bagmen, etc.) of being on the football team.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the RAW Women's Division Upcoming Doom:
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After vacating the NXT Women's Championship, Asuka is officially headed to the Raw roster.

The announcement was made on tonight's episode, with Corey Graves saying that Kurt Angle signed the hottest free agent in the industry. A video package hyping that Asuka would be coming to Raw soon aired, then Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax reacted to it in a backstage segment.

As seen on RAW last night, Braun Strowman left Brock Lesnar laying after being challenged to the ring by Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman made it a point during his promo to state that Lesnar is the underdog heading into his match with Strowman at No Mercy on September 25th.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that the original plan was for Lesnar to retain the title at No Mercy.

Lesnar's appearance on RAW last night was his last date before the pay-per-view, as Lesnar isn't scheduled for next week's RAW at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, which is the go-home show for No Mercy. Meltzer noted that it was WWE's call to not use one of Lesnar's dates for the go-home show and instead use it for last night's RAW. Strowman is scheduled for next week's RAW.

Lesnar did film some material last night that will air on next week's RAW, so he will have a presence on the show despite not being there. As of this writing, Lesnar is not advertised for any upcoming RAW shows, including the post-No Mercy RAW on September 25th in Ontario, California.

The Big Show will be out of action for the foreseeable future with a hip injury.

WWE put up a video on their Twitter account saying that Big Show suffered a right hip injury during the steel cage match against Braun Strowman on last Monday’s edition of Raw. Mike Rome cited a WWE.com article saying that Big Show realized something was wrong when he was thrown against the cage, breaking it and sending him to the floor. He also mentioned in the article that he felt something snap when coming off the top rope with an elbow, but worked through it via adrenaline.

While that is the kayfabe storyline, the real situation seems to be that this was something being planned for a while, at least before Raw went on the air. James McKenna from Pro Wrestling Sheet mentioned that Big Show was getting surgery for a “slight hip issue” right before the Raw broadcast started last week.

WWE’s video mentioned that Big Show was scheduled for surgery this week, but due to the events of Hurricane Irma it was instead pushed back to September 29th.


Mick Foley announced earlier today on Twitter that he was undergoing surgery to get his right knee replaced.

He wrote, "I'm getting my right knee replaced in about five minutes! I'll check back when I kick out of anesthesia."

Foley, a Hall of Famer, also underwent hip replacement surgery in April, which was the catalyst for his being replaced as Raw General Manager to set up the current run by Kurt Angle.

Foley had been in tremendous pain last year and just traveling and getting through the airports to do his General Manager role on television had been extremely uncomfortable for him. He hasn't been on Raw since being "fired" from the position by Stephanie McMahon as their storyline came to a close in March.

After Maryse and The Miz announced that they’re expecting their first child on Raw last night, Miz wrote a post on Instagram promising to Maryse and the baby that he’ll be the best father he can be and thanking WWE for letting them break the news on television because the company is where they first met.
Link to Miz's announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/BY9D51lnkLK/?hl=en&taken-by=mikethemiz

This week’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University have also been postponed until Thursday due to the hurricane. They had been scheduled for Wednesday.

Kia Stevens (known as Awesome Kong and Kharma in pro wrestling) was one of the cast members from “GLOW” to appear on the Mae Young Classic red carpet broadcast on Facebook Live.

Rosemary has been cleared to return to the ring following the incident where she was injured by Sexy Star at Triplemania.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/WeAreRosemary/status/907710887422722048

OVW is running a benefit show for Matt Cappotelli at Davis Arena in Louisville on September 23rd to help support Cappotelli as he battles brain cancer for a second time. Jim Cornette confirmed that he’ll be at the show and signing autographs and taking pictures with those who donate.
Link to the OVW announcement: https://twitter.com/ovwrestling/status/907411582187175941 , Link to Cornette's announcement: https://twitter.com/TheJimCornette/status/906908984237608960

Global Force Wrestling's Global Wrestling Network officially went live this evening at this link

A video narrated by Josh Mathews lists the streaming service at $5.99 a month, promising that cost includes archived GFW/Impact/TNA content, discounts on live PPV events, discounts on merchandise, material from international partner promotions "coming soon" and an ad-free experience.

Currently listed on the service are old episodes of Impact Wrestling, old TNA PPVs from 2004-2017, old One Night Only PPVs, both season of British Bootcamp, the Unfinished Business PPV series, the TNA Legends series and the TNA Greatest Matches series. No sign yet of Xplosion.

The network is currently available via iOS and Android stores. Mathews' narration promises that the service is "coming soon" to Roku, X-Box and FireTV.
Link to GFW's Network: http://globalwrestlingnetwork.com/videohub/TNA%20IMPACT%20WRESTLING%202016/67200292V/

GFW Creative team member John "Big" Gaburick confirmed during this afternoon's media conference call that former WWE and GFW champion Alberto el Patron would be returning to the company, finally, as of the 11/4 Bound for Glory PPV and the subsequent TV tapings to follow at Universal Studios Orlando.

"We have plans for Alberto," said Gaburick. "We're excited that he's gonna be coming back at Bound For Glory" ...

Patron has not appeared for GFW since their June TV tapings after the Orlando Airport incident involving girlfriend (and WWE star) Paige. That led to GFW stripping Patron of their championship and suspending him this past July.

Highlights from this afternoon's Global Force Wrestling conference call with Creative Team Members Scott D'Amore, Sonjay Dutt and John "Big" Gaburick:

*Ross Forman started the call noting there are no updates on Jeff Jarrett or his status and asked that reporters not ask about him.

* When asked, they did not address the GFW name situation and said they were putting their energies into the best creative possible for the company, no matter what it may be called.

*On the Justin Barrasso story that Anthem is looking to sell GFW, they referred everyone to Ed Nordholm's comments last week shooting that down. They said there was no "backstage" reaction to the story.

*They confirmed Low Ki is done with the company and noted he was on a short term deal. Ki walked out shaking everyone's hands and told D'Amore and Dutt it was one of the more positive experiences in his career. They did not close the book on a return down the line.

*When asked about the status of Eddie Kingston, who all but disappeared after Anthem took over the company, Scott D'Amore admitted "we don't know" and said they would have to see where his contract stands and what plans are made going forward.

*Gaburick denied there were plans for Rey Mysterio to work Bound for Glory. As PWInsider.com reported on 8/23, negotiations between those two sides ended without a deal.

The Raw brand will be holding two live events this December in New Delhi, India at the 16,000 seat Indira Ghandi Indoor Stadium, the first time the company has toured that country since launching its localized weekly series WWE Sunday Dhamaal in Hindi.

WWE will run the stadium on Friday 12/7 and Saturday 12/8.

It will be interesting to see whether the current WWE champion Jinder Mahal or the Singh Brothers, technically Smackdown talents, will be working that tour.

The current plan for WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops special is to film it on Tuesday 12/5 as part of the Smackdown Live taping in San Diego, CA at the Valley View Casino Center.

Speaking of Cena, Apple today revealed the iPhone X. The phone comes with a new facial recognition feature called Face ID, which lets users unlock their phone or use Apple Pay just by looking at it. That causes a problem for John Cena, as he tweeted the following:

Sooo #iPhoneX about #FaceID ...ummmmm .... what do I do?
— John Cena (@JohnCena) September 12, 2017


Some other sheet news includes:

Ratings for both WWE RAW and Smackdown and possibly GFW Impact are delayed this week due to Nielsen shutting their data center in Tampa Bay, Florida on Sunday due to Hurricane Irma. No announcement was made for when the ratings data will arrive.
WWE announced Vince McMahon will be a playable character for WWE 2k18. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/907604827064160256
ROH announced The Young Bucks will be wrestling in two matches at their upcoming Death Before Dishonor PPV event. One match to defend their ROH Tag belts and the other match defending their 6-Man Tag titles with Hangman Page. http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/young-bucks-defend-roh-tag-titles-against-mcmg-death-dishonor
205 Live star Jack Gallagher revealed he got married on Friday. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYye9d_lAPR/?taken-by=mrgentlemanjack
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Bobby Roode talking about his favorite moment from his TNA career, NXT made him interested in wrestling again, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0912/632062/bobby-roode-reveals-one-of-the-highlights-of-his-career-in-tna/
ICW announced Kassius Ohno will be making an appearance at their next show this weekend and is challenging current ICW Heavyweight champion Jeff Cobb for the title. https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/906563377996156928

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Macho Man Approved Elbow Drop:
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After winning the Mae Young Classic tournament earlier tonight, Kairi Sane will get a chance to become the next NXT Women’s Champion at the TakeOver event in Houston on November 18th.

Triple H confirmed the news to ESPN following tonight's tournament finals. "[I'm] very excited that she's the first champion, and now the question is 'What's next for her?' I can tell you what's next for her," Triple H said. "On November 18th at the Toyota Center at the next NXT TakeOver, Kairi will be fighting to determine a new NXT Women's Champion."

James McKenna of Pro Wrestling Sheet mentioned that Sane may be one of the participants in a multi-woman match to determine the next champion.

WWE posted video of Ronda Rousey’s appearance on the red carpet prior to the Mae Young Classic last night. When asked if she would be doing more with WWE going forward, she said the night was about Shayna Baszler and that she doesn’t want to be the kind of friend who ends up talking about herself all night.

Rousey was also interviewed by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto after the event. She discussed how proud she was of Baszler and again said that she wanted to keep the spotlight on Baszler when not answering a question about what’s next for her.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal asked Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Becky Lynch how Rousey would fare in WWE.

Though Full Sail University will remain closed on Thursday in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, tomorrow’s NXT television tapings will go on as scheduled
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/FullSail/status/908054814298427397

PROGRESS Wrestling is running an eight-woman tournament on October 2nd to determine a number one contender for their Women’s Championship.

Link to tournament: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/908085495946780675

Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly's stable finally has its name.

WWE Shop released the first shirt for the trio of former ROH wrestlers today, with their merchandise page calling them "The Undisputed Era." The name of the stable is displayed on the front of the shirt, along with the letters "CFO" for Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly. "Shock The System" is written on the back of it.

This is the first time that the stable has been identified by name. They joined together and attacked Drew McIntyre as Adam Cole debuted at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn last month, which came after Fish and O'Reilly attacked SAnitY earlier in the night. Fish and O'Reilly had already debuted in losses to Aleister Black on NXT television prior to TakeOver.
Link to the new shirt: http://shop.wwe.com/the-undisputed-era/

This is the updated card for the WWE show this Saturday in Osaka, Japan.

Jinder Mahal w/The Singh Brothers vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship.
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens for the US Championship
Randy Orton vs. Rusev in a Last Man Standing Match
New Day vs. Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin
Naomi, Charlotte and Becky Lynch w/Asuka vs. Natalya, Tamina, Lana and Carmella w/James Ellsworth
Sami Zayn vs. Aiden English
Luke Harper vs. Eric Rowan

Alberto El Patron tweeted a press release noting that he will be taking legal action against Mexican promotion company XL Entertainment for not paying him and several other wrestlers including Blue Demon Jr, Latin Lover, Cibernetico and Tinieblas Jr. after they booked them to appear for Mexican promotion Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre (FULL) for shows in May this year.

Prensa y aficionados al hermoso deporte de la #luchalibre #nomasestafadores #respetoalluchador @Multienfoque1 pic.twitter.com/ooaPJePwW1
— Alberto El Patron (@PrideOfMexico) September 13, 2017

Filming will commence on the second season of Netflix series GLOW on 10/16 in California, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The cast are scheduled to begin training and preparing for the season next week. The second season, like the first, will be ten episodes.

Loosely based on 1980s female wrestling league The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the first season of GLOW was a critical success, telling the talent of a fictional troupe put together to film a TV pilot, which airs as the first season ends.

As we reported last night on PWInsider.com, the Global Wrestling Network launched last night, except it really didn't. While we heard from scores of readers that the streaming service had launched, what had actually happened is GFW made the service live as they were tweaking the infrastructure, making it possible for those who visited the site to begin streaming and watching all the content - for free. We are told that it was not meant to be a public launch in any way but that they were working on preparing the site for launch. The problem was, they didn't put the work behind a wall so that fans couldn't access the site. Once the company realized that word was getting around that the site was being used and that it was being reported it was live and operational, they shut down the entire thing.

The interview WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair tweeted about a few days back, where he was sitting in front of the camera, was for People Magazine.

ESPN is putting the finishing touched on their Flair 30 for 30 documentary, which will air this November. There has been talk of doing an advance screening in NYC and the hope is Flair will be well enough to travel for that.

It looks like WCW Thunder will finally be added to the WWE Network later this month, according to PWInsider. Episodes of World Class Championship Wrestling are also being added this month. 18 WCCW episodes from 1985 and 1986 were added just this week.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Baron Corbin's backstage heat stemmed from an argument with Dr. Joseph Maroon during a wrestlers' meeting in August. The latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has revealed yet another wrinkle in the situation that could explain Corbin's halted push.

Corbin, a former professional football player, took exception to Maroon downplaying the link between concussions and CTE and started an argument with Maroon. The argument was described as awkward and uncomfortable, with many believing that Corbin should have addressed the matter privately rather than in the middle of the meeting. It's highly likely that WWE officials grew even more uncomfortable once they found out Corbin's involvement in a football players' concussion lawsuit against the NFL.

"It also came out in the discussion that Corbin was one of the players suing the NFL in a concussion lawsuit, which makes things weird given he's now working as a pro wrestler," Dave Meltzer wrote in the Observer. "Plus WWE apparently wasn't aware of this fact until this past month."


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Also, have you done any fun family bonding activities with your son Chad Gable? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TOUT?src=hash">#TOUT</a></p>&mdash; 🌹 andrew 🌹 (@burstanddecay) <a href="https://twitter.com/burstanddecay/status/907830450810445824">September 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This morning <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEGable">@WWEGable</a> and I had a good grapple session where I taught him some takedowns I learned in my one season of jv amateur wrestling <a href="https://t.co/3J77zy4AnE">https://t.co/3J77zy4AnE</a></p>&mdash; Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/907831704844476416">September 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Stephanie McMahon announced her autobiography book has been delayed indefinitely from its potential 2017 release date. https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon/status/907724297631698944
2K Games revealed the changes and details for WWE 2k18's MyCAREER mode. https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-mycareer
Recent episode of Dinner With The King podcast discussed how WWE contracts work for indie dates, Lawler not having a will, and his burial plot being next to Issac Hayes. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112276/jerry-lawler-discusses-the-anniversary-of-his-cardiac-arrest-where-he-plans-to-be-buried-why-wwe-stars-dont-take-independent-bookings-and-more.html?p=1
PWI recently reported GFW still has plans for this year's Hall of Fame show to air on November 4th.
Sasha Banks ended up missing out being at the Mae Young Classic Finals after the WWE decided to not give her an exemption from RAW's current tour of Australia.
James Ellsworth recently cerebrated the one year anniversary of his Smackdown debut. https://twitter.com/realellsworth/status/907982523669528578

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Low Blow Appreciation Day:
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Buoyed by the return of Vince McMahon to television, SmackDown on Tuesday night did its best viewership since April and the fourth highest number of the year.

The show averaged 2.754 million viewers, good for second on the night on cable in both total viewership and the 18-49 demo ...

SmackDown ratings were up seven percent from last week and were up almost four percent year-over-year.

After being delayed due to Hurricane Irma, ratings for this week's Raw are in -- and despite the opening night of Monday Night Football on ESPN, ratings were essentially even from the previous week. They were also up over eight percent from the same week in 2016.

The show averaged 2.897 million viewers, down less than one percent from last week's average of 2.916 million. In both total viewership and the 18-49 demo, Raw was second for the night on cable behind the two NFL games on ESPN.

Raw opened with 3.022 million viewers in hour one. It dropped slightly to 2.987 million for the second hour, then fell all the way to 2.699 million viewers for hour three. The drop of 10.7 percent from hour two to three was a worse drop than usual.

Lio Rush arrived in NXT at tonight's television tapings.

Rush made his in-ring debut against Velveteen Dream, who was formerly his tag team partner in their pre-WWE days. Rush quickly got a standing ovation, but he lost when Velveteen Dream hit a hop-up elbow drop.

The match was a result of Rush being attacked by Velveteen Dream earlier in the night when making his first appearance in NXT. That attack stopped Rush from facing Aleister Black, and Velveteen Dream continued his storyline with Black by taunting him after defeating Rush.

WWE announced Rush's signing as he reported to the Performance Center in August. He finished up his indie dates shortly before that, including having his final matches for EVOLVE, CZW, and MCW. Rush previously left Ring of Honor in April.

NXT is taping its next round of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. Shane Thorne returned for his first match since suffering a knee injury in January as TM61 faced Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. Triple H also did a promo thanking everyone for being there after Hurricane Irma and saying that the area is NXT’s home as well.

Shayna Baszler is backstage at tonight’s tapings.

Some live reports from the show in Hawaii indicated that Kofi Kingston may have suffered a knee injury in a match where The New Day defended their tag titles against Dolph Ziggler & Baron Corbin, though Kingston was able to get through it and finish the match.

WWE Network Flashback Friday tommorrow will take a look at Goldberg's 20-year career.

Take a journey throughout the 20-year career of @Goldberg TOMORROW as @WWENetwork presents @WWE #FlashbackFriday! https://t.co/9nwHvlmHkn
— WWE (@WWE) September 14, 2017
Link with list of the episodes for this week's Flashback Friday: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0914/632149/wwe-flashback-friday-line-up-for-tomorrow/

Jim Cornette also clarified that he will indeed be at the November Impact TV tapings post-Bound for Glory and that the two sides are negotiating on how many days he will actually be at the next set of TV as Cornette said he cannot be there for the full week. Cornette explained that his role was never intended to be long-term and full-time work and made it clear that as long as the company wants him involved Jim is open to it. Cornette was originally brought in to replace Bruce Prichard at the August TV tapings as Prichard had outside conflicts that week.
From a recent episode of Cornette's podcast show.

After three straight weeks, there will be no in-ring confrontation between John Cena and Roman Reigns on RAW this Monday. Cena is not booked for Monday's No Mercy go-home episode of RAW in San Jose since he will be heading to China this weekend for Sunday's SmackDown live event in Shenzen. It is a 17+ hour flight from Shenzen to San Jose.

As noted, Brock Lesnar is also not scheduled for Monday's RAW, while Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman are scheduled for the show.

For today only, you can get 30% off select t-shirts at WWEShop.com by clicking here and using code TSHIRT30 at checkout. The sale ends Thursday, September 14th at 11:59 pm PT.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated recently interviewed The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson. Below are a few highlights:

WWE sending them a cease and desist order to prevent them from using the "Suck it!" catchphrase:

Matt: "They're bringing people back from the dead [Adam Cole, who was killed on their Being The Elite series]. They're sending out cease and desists written on toilet paper. And now they've taken our dear friend Hangman [Adam Page]. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it felt like they were trying to go to war with us."

Nick: "The WWE apparently can bring people back from the dead. That shocked me to my core. I'm very happy for the ghost of Adam Cole though. I hope he makes millions of dollars one day."
More highlights and link to the interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0914/632137/the-young-bucks-on-wwe-sending-them-a-cease-and-desist-letter/

We noted before that WWE's "1997: Dawn of the Attitude" DVD and Blu-ray that comes out on October 3rd will feature a roundtable with Kane and WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels, The Godfather, Ron Simmons and Mick Foley. Renee Young will host the discussion. WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reports that the roundtable will have a runtime of 58 minutes and will make up the entire disc 1 of the set.

WWE has a poll asking fans what other type of tournament they would like to see on the WWE Network - Tag Team, Women's, Heavyweight, Hardcore Rules, Six-Man Tag Team, WWE Germany Title or Celebrity. As of this writing, 43% voted for Hardcore Rules while 20% voted for another Women's tournament, 11% went with Heavyweight, 9% went with Tag Team, 8% voted for Celebrity and 6% voted for Six-Man.

Nordholm also revealed that Anthem did not have a concrete business plan upon purchasing the company, and that different avenues are still being explored to generate more revenue. He also confirmed that the company is struggling to break even. Although Nordholm did not touch on this in the interview, GFW/Impact moved to Skyway Studios last summer and split production with their warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee. The warehouse in Nashville is now closed and all operations are based out of Canada in another cost-cutting measu

Sane over Toni Storm was the originally penciled in finish before the tournament started, which was switched to a semifinal when the plans were made to go all out with Sane and Baszler with the Horsewomen angle. One person close to the situation said in the end, the idea was done early in the week to make the final night about Sane and save the Horsewomen angle for later with the decision to go with Sane being made most likely on Monday.

Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Vince getting busted open was planned. The hypocrisy of the angle was noted, as other wrestlers have been fined for blading. Batista was fined $100,000 for bleeding in a cage match with Chris Jericho in 2008.

It is unknown just how the cut happened. While there is a chance that the blood could have been a result of a hardway shot, Meltzer noted that it was unlikely because you can't guarantee blood from a single headbutt. Meltzer wrote that people that he spoke to that have been in the business for decades believe that Vince bladed before the segment and covered it up with nu-skin, which would lead to the wound re-opening with a lot of blood. It was noted that you could see the difference in the skin where the cut was opened from a close-up freeze frame.

There was someone who gets all the WWE finishes that made a killing at SummerSlam because not enough smart money came for them to adjust the line, and also, none of the actual finishes were changed at the last minute. He did a $3.36 parlay on ten matches, all of which he got right, and won $45,600. That was a key thing where I mentioned after the show that a lot of the gambling sites were considering dropping WWE because insiders that knew could make a lot of money and that level money was ridiculous. The company that got hammered hasn’t done parlays in a long time, and won’t be doing them again. It was noted that the one guy alone may kill the landscape because companies don’t want to open themselves up for those kind of losses in what is usually considered a minor fun thing of having odds on pro wrestling matches. It also should be noted that there are WWE talents betting heavily which is where some sites recognize and switch the odds when those bets come in

Right now WWE has four clear major stars that they are protecting, Cena, Strowman, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. All are on the Raw brand, so the lip service to separate but equal which was said leading into the latest brand split during the summer of 2016 is clearly out the window. Of those big four who in some form are likely to headline WrestleMania, there are now no new fresh matches. Lesnar and Reigns has been the plan since March or earlier for the 2018 WrestleMania main event, but plans change regularly and there was a time when that match was moved to SummerSlam. Then, because Samoa Joe did so well in his originally scheduled one-and-done program with Lesnar, the decision was made to change SummerSlam to a four-way.

ROH Final Battle, which is traditionally the company’s biggest PPV show of the year, is officially on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. That should be the next PPV after the 9/22 show in Las Vegas

Will Ospreay is returning to ROH in October. He’ll be working on the combined NJPW & ROH shows that month as well as the show in Philadelphia. He’s also working on most of the November shows

Eddie Colon (Primo), 34, who has been out of action since June due to knee surgery, should be back imminently. Epico has been kept off television although has been working the house shows regularly with Primo out of action. It is possible they could be the mystery team plugged into the Breezango storyline that has stalled and gone into reverse, although there are still those in the company who have said the plan when the storyline was first executed was Harper & Rowan back together, and they have also not been used on television in months


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 1 year anniversary of TJ Perkins winning the Cruiserweight Classic and becoming the new Cruiserweight Champion.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Miz recently passed the Honky Tonk Man to become the 3rd longest reigning IC champ in terms of total days in WWE history. Miz only needs another 87 days to pass Pedro Morales for most combined days all-time as IC champion.
CBS Sports had a recent interview with the Young Bucks talking about their careers, the Hardy Boys, and Marty Scurll joining Bullet Club. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/09/14/young-bucks-interview-ring-honor-champions-pro-wrestling-sherpas/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Inaugural Inductee in the Sheamus Hall of Fame:
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Kofi Kingston appeared to have been injured at last night's show in Honolulu. He slipped off the top rope during a tag title match against Baron Corbin & Dolph Ziggler and limped the rest of the way and needed to be helped to the back. Those in WWE say he has been cleared and will be working the rest of the weekend.

GFW's Bound for Glory on 11/5 is being moved from Orlando where it was originally scheduled. A new location will be announced on Monday. PW Insider reported it as Toronto.
Some details below regarding the reasoning for the decision via PWInsider

The belief among many sources is that Global Force Wrestling is finalizing plans to hold Bound for Glory in Canada, likely the Toronto area. We are told that it was an Anthem Media call, which makes sense as they own GFW now and are based in that area.

The impression I get is that the post-PPV TVs would not be at Universal Studios Orlando, but somewhere in Canada as well. We are told this does not mean that GFW has pulled up stakes at Universal as a TV taping location going forward.

Lacey Evans (Macey Estrella) noted that her home was flooded and she suffered major losses due to Hurricane Irma. She said the worst was that all of her photos of her father were damaged and that was all she had of him.

Charlotte Flair will be touring and promoting a new autobiography of herself and her father which comes out Tuesday at these locations:

9/21 in Ridgewood, NJ at Bookends at 7 p.m.
9/27 in Orlando at Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m.
9/28 in Tampa at Barnes & Nobles at 7 p.m.
9/30 in Boise, ID at Barnes & Nobles at 3 p.m.

Some more details regarding the book: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112192/ric-charlotte-flair-second-nature-book-to-be-released-this-tuesday-charlotte-book-signing-tour-dates.html?p=1

AXS TV has an all-night G-1 2017 marathon. There will be a new show airing at 8 p.m. with the Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi match which was one of the best of the tournament. The first five G-1 episodes will then air from 11 p.m. Eastern to 4 a.m.

Tickets are on sale now for ROH Final Battle on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 10/7 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds featuring Jimmy Valiant vs. Doink the Clown.

Mike Kanellis noted on social media that he's now hit two months of sobriety after overcoming a pain pill addiction. Congratulations to him. We wish him many, many, many more anniversaries of this nature:

Today marks 2 months clean. I've never been more thankful for my wife,family,friends & everyone I work with ???????? #sobriety #RedemptionTour
— Mike Kanellis (@RealMikeBennett) September 13, 2017

The 9/14 edition of Impact did 239,000 overnight viewers, up from the 227,000 overnight viewers that they did last week.
Good/Bad News with the Good being it increased but the Bad being its the 2nd least watched show of the year so far.

Have you ever had a source publicly reveal themselves?

There were two, and they actually revealed themselves on Elite audio here well after the fact. Beyond that, no, and I won't reveal my sources, ever. The second you do that, it sends a message that you can't be trusted by those who are trusting you to keep them anonymous.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. Found it interesting mainly because of threads and posts within the year on TPWW about the distrust of anonymous sources, thinking they are cowards for wanting to be anonymous, and/or not understanding why they can't be revealed.

NXT will fill the vacancy for the Women's championship at Takeover: Houston with a Fatal Four Way.

Shayna Baszler was backstage for last night's WWE NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University and took time to pose for a few photos with fans before the show. She did not work the tapings and there's been no confirmation on her signing with the company but there is speculation on her status after Triple H welcomed both Baszler and Kairi Sane to the company with a tweet before Tuesday's Mae Young Classic finals.

There will apparently be another Hell In A Cell match at next month's WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported on his podcast that the current plan is for WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day to defend their titles in the Cell against The Usos.
Link to the podcast episode: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/episode-92-wrestling-sheet-radio/#.WbxIy9N95E4

WWE has a new Bayley "Huggers Gunna Hug" sweatshirt, as seen below. As Bayley mentioned in the post, starting today and through this weekend, WWEShop.com has 30% off regular priced merchandise and 40% off clearance merchandise. There is no promo code necessary, just use this link. Please note that the sale excludes title belts, the AJ Styles vest, the Finn Balor jacket, WWE 2K18, the MITB Blue briefcase and WrestleMania plaques.
Link to WWE Shop website: http://shop.wwe.com/

The next set of WWE NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University have sold out. They take place on Wednesday, October 4th and will be the final tapings before "Takeover: Houston" on November 18th. The tapings that took place this week should carry them through the October 18th episode.

Sasha Banks is featured on the latest episode of "Her Take" from Champs Sports. The interview was filmed at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The Boss talks to host Steph Lecor about her journey to WWE, the state of women's wrestling, sneakers, cutting promos and more. Sasha also does a "Her Take" segment and picks WWE NXT over RAW, Chyna over Sable and Steve Austin over The Rock. Sasha adds that she loves Austin and Rock but she picks Austin because he once "slid into her DMs" on Twitter to compliment her on a match.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0rKR9klFKs

There has been talk of bringing former NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain to the WWE SmackDown roster soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. No word yet on if WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering would get the call-up with Akam and Rezar. The AOP won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in November of last year and then won the NXT Tag Team Titles from DIY at "Takeover: San Antonio" in January of this year. They just lost the titles to SAnitY at "Takeover: Brooklyn III" in August.

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair continues to recover from his recent hospitalization. As seen below, The Nature Boy received a visit from NBA legend Charles Barkley on Thursday:

Look Who Popped In Today! Sir Charles ?? pic.twitter.com/GVl3elpDAH
— Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) September 14, 2017

Sports Illustrated spoke with a source close to Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who noted that the photo was not posted by mistake. Levesque’s management style is to surround himself with bright minds, which is evident by the men in the picture ...

A source close to SI explained Levesque is open-minded to different viewpoints, values the chance to hear them, and prefers a think-tank culture to bring wrestling into the future. He has built an unselfish environment at NXT, with people welcome to contribute whenever they see fit.
From a recent article about the mindset Triple H has for WWE's future compared to Vince. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/09/07/wwe-wrestling-news-bobby-roode-triple-h


Some other sheet news includes:

Hulk Hogan currently dealing with online backlash after tweets he made ridiculed those in Florida who were affected by Hurricane Irma. Claimed those who lost power and water shouldn't be complaining like "crybabies" since they should be lucky it wasn't worse for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/09/15/hulk-hogan-calls-irma-victims-crybabies-for-lamenting-loss-of-power-water
NBC Sports had a recent interview with Kairi Sane talking about being the winner of the Mae Young Classic, her elbow drop becoming famous in the wrestling world, and differences between Japanese and American audiences for wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0915/632189/kairi-sane-on-performing-for-american-fans-vs-japanese-fans/
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had LU's Taya as the guest talking about the incident in AAA of her getting stripped of a title because of Sexy Star, why she left AAA, being upset with Vampiro in AAA, and Jericho banning Sexy Star from ever appearing on his podcast show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0915/632161/chris-jericho-issues-lifetime-ban-to-wrestler-from-his-podcast/

[Lock Jaw]

Would be cool for GFW to do an event in Saskatchewan and for them to use our production truck........ we did some MMA for the Fight Network once......

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Appreciation Day:
https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-09-2015/nusbI9.gif

Raymond Louis "Bobby" Heenan, generally considered the greatest pro wrestling manager of all-time, passed away this afternoon [Sunday].

He had been battling serious health issues for many years after contracting cancer first in 2002. Heenan was 72.

Jessica Solt, Bobby Heenan’s daughter, spoke to the Tampa Bay Times for an obituary on her father. The article notes that Heenan died of organ failures that were brought on by his battle with cancer.
Link to the article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/wrestling-star-bobby-the-brain-heenan-of-largo-is-dead-at-73/2337830

WWE will be filming a lot of stuff backstage tonight on Heenan with everyone giving comments for what would likely be a documentary. I expect the Raw rating to be up slightly as that's usually the case when a figure of this level passes away. I would expect something big, or at least hope that's the case for tonight's show.

With competition from both Monday Night Football and Dancing With The Stars, Raw dropped to 2.82 million viewers last night, a drop of three percent from last week ...

The first hour did a stronger than expected number, which is likely at least partially due to curiosity regarding how the company would handle the death of Bobby Heenan. Both the second and third hours had far larger than usual drops and the third hour was the lowest rated hour since the end of the NBA playoffs.

Raw still remained in second place on cable, trailing Monday Night Football, which did a strong 12.29 million viewers for the Detroit Lions vs. New York Giants game. Dancing With the Stars, which featured Nikki Bella, and was never mentioned on Raw for obvious reasons, did 10.71 million viewers.

The first-to-third hour drops were the biggest among women, notably teenage girls which dropped from hour one to three by nearly 40 percent ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.12 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.84 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.53 million viewers

3 of the past 4 weeks have averaged 100k less viewers than the week prior. With the way the 3rd hour has been dropping, could be looking at sub-2 million being a trend by the end of the year.

Chris Jericho announced today an ambitious vacation type of rock and pro wrestling entertainment venture, called "Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea" that will run next year from October 27-31 from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas.

The cruise aboard Norwegian Jade will feature both rock and pro wrestling entertainment events, including a Sea of Honor tournament presented by Ring of Honor and hosted by Jim Ross.

Names listed as being on the cruise include Diamond Dallas Page, Mick Foley, Ricky Steamboat, Rey Mysterio, Raven, Konnan, Disco Inferno, Hurricane Helms, Lance Storm, Don Callis, and members of the Busted Open radio show.

Musical guests will include Fozzy, Kyng, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, The Vies, Jim Breuer (who will also do comedy) and The Loud and Rowdy, Shoot to Thrill, Blizzard of Ozzy and the Dave Spivak Project.

The Sea of Honor tournament will have 12 ROH wrestlers competing in an outdoor wrestling ring.

Bound for Glory is headed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Impact Wrestling announced today that the Aberdeen Pavilion would be hosting the pay-per-view on November 5th, with television tapings also set for the venue on November 6-10.

When the word got out that the tapings were being moved to Canada, a number of people in wrestling inquired about the status of Jim Cornette, who has been all over the recent television shows as the head of authority for the promotion.

Cornette hasn't been to Canada for years because he was turned away at the border in 2010 when they ran his record, which included a number of assaults, mostly stemming from incidents involving fights with fans who attacked him while he was a manager at matches in the 80s ...

Because of that, Cornette won't be at the next set of tapings and is done with the promotion, which he said there is no heat over and it's just a matter of circumstances.

Ed Nordholm told the Ottawa Citizen that Impact Wrestling’s tagline is “Less Talk More Action.” The article states that the company hopes to get about 500 fans a night at the Aberdeen Pavilion for Bound for Glory and the subsequent TV tapings.
Link to the article: http://ottawacitizen.com/sports/local-sports/ottawa-lands-bound-for-glory-wrestling-pay-per-view

Though details are still sparse, WWE is reviving the Starrcade name for a SmackDown live event during Thanksgiving weekend.

The Greensboro Coliseum announced today that they would be hosting WWE Starrcade on November 25th, which would be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The venue at least partially hosted the first four Starrcade events from 1983-1986, with the shows in 1985 and 1986 being split between the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina and The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.
More details and planned card at the moment: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-starrcade-set-november-25-live-event-243021

PWG announced that their next shows will be on October 20th and 21st as part of All Star Weekend 13. Ricochet tweeted that he won’t be at WrestleCircus’ first anniversary show on the 21st due to it conflicting with PWG.

PWG also uploaded the preview video for the DVD of the first night of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles.

WhatCulture announced today that several key staff members (Adam Blampied, Adam Pacitti, Ross Tweddell, Sam Driver, and Jack King) will be leaving the website to focus on other projects. Blampied was WhatCulture Pro Wrestling’s on-screen general manager and the promotion will reveal his replacement at their “Refuse to Lose” show on October 2nd.
Link to Ricochet's tweet: https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/909955814848290816 , Preview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6t7wZx7j4 , and WhatCulture announcement: https://twitter.com/whatculture/status/910081043142725632

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced that this year’s Global Wars UK shows will be taking place in Bethnal Green on November 9th and Walthamstow on the 10th. Minoru Suzuki is the first wrestler confirmed for the shows.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/909092595447603201

There is a WWE 24 documentary in the works covering Bill Goldberg's comeback from last year and earlier this year.

An hour-long documentary on Madusa called “Trailblayzer” will be premiering on the WWE Network after NXT on Wednesday. It will focus on her career and Hall of Fame induction.

Announced for the 2017 WWE Hell in A Cell PPV on 10/11 from Detroit, Michigan is:

*WWE champion Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.

*Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon inside Hell in A Cell.

*WWE Smackdown Women's champion Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair.

*WWE Smackdown Tag Team champions The New Dayvs. The Usos.

Ursula Hayden, who performed as Babe the Farmer's Daughter for the original Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and holds the rights to the original GLOW video library, filed a trademark on the term GLOW on 9/1.

What is interesting is the description of the trademark, which would include the premise of the Netflix series of the same name, which is based on the original GLOW television series
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112383/glow-trademark-filed-and-not-by-netflix.html?p=1

As noted, Bayley returned from her shoulder injury on tonight's WWE RAW from her hometown of San Jose, California. After Nia Jax defeated RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss in a non-title match, Bayley returned and ended up helping Sasha Banks to take out Jax and then Bliss.

WWE has announced that Bayley is being added to the No Mercy card on Sunday, making the RAW Women's Title match a Fatal 5 Way.

The WWE NXT live event scheduled for Friday at the Mark Lance Armory in St Augustine, Florida has been canceled due to the National Guard using the armory for Hurricane Irma relief operations. NXT tweeted the following information for ticket-holders:

Due to the Nat'l Guard activating after Hurricane Irma, the 9/22 LE in St Augustine is cancelled. For tix info email NXTTickets@wwecorp.com
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) September 19, 2017


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is Rene Young's (32), WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco's (71), and Eva Marie's (33) birthdays.
WWE's newest book focusing on Ric Flair called "Second Nature" was released today.
First gameplay trailer for WWE 2k18 was recently released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX2ApPUn05c
Anthem is currently rumored to changing the name of GFW due to possible legal issues related to Jeff Jarrett. Likely will be going back to the Impact Wrestling name.
CBS had a recent interview with The Young Bucks talking about Marty Scrull in Bullet Club, talking with WWE stars, and not seeing a legal situation like the Broken Hardys occur with them in ROH. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0919/632332/the-young-bucks-say-wwe-stars-have-been-reaching-out-to-them/
Former WWE writer Court Bauer revealed during a recent episode of The World According To Wrestling podcast show what the original plans for the post-Vince limo explosion story were prior to Benoit's actual death. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0919/632325/former-wwe-writer-on-why-storyline-with-vince-mcmahon-real-life/
Mae Young Classic competitor Toni Storm became the first foreigner to win the 5 Star Grand Prix tournament in Stardom history. https://twitter.com/tonistorm_/status/909921751429136384

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Happy Rusev:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/bf20bc505c205c7ce4e0551ef315725b/tumblr_owjyyb29Y41u1ljrzo2_500.gif

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.51 million viewers and was down nine percent from the previous week ...

However, this week's number was up nearly 10 percent over the same week in 2016. That's the third straight week that SmackDown has had a year-over-year ratings increase ...

With the start of the broadcast TV season next week, and with CBS, ABC, and NBC all airing shows with audiences typically in excess of 10 million viewers, SmackDown should see a decline for the next few months.

In response to criticism that Jinder Mahal's promo from SmackDown -- where he was scripted to mock Shinsuke Nakamura's looks and race -- has received, WWE issued a statement on the segment to the Washington Post last night.

“Just like many other TV shows or movies, WWE creates programming with fictional personalities that incorporates real world issues and sensitive subjects," the company said. “As a producer of such TV shows, WWE Corporate is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide" ...

The statement was a response to some mainstream criticism the segment got, including the story that was being worked on by the Washington Post. The Washington Post article also included quotes from Dave Meltzer, who called the segment embarrassing for WWE and discussed the history of the foreign heel character in pro wrestling.

“Wrestling was always in its own little world,” Meltzer said. “Now everyone watches it, and you can’t get away with those kind of old tricks. The fan base will blame it on the company and not on the heel.”

Even the New York Times got involved with the reporter who interviewed Jinder a while ago hinting Jinder lied about never accepting to do a racist-like promo in the WWE. Link to the Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/09/20/wwe-has-dealt-with-racism-before-but-a-scripted-rant-has-fans-chanting-thats-too-far

In his first interview since last month's health scare, Ric Flair detailed just how dire the problems were and how decades of alcohol abuse led to the situation.

Flair and Wendy Barlow, Flair's fiancee and formerly Fifi the Maid in WCW, spoke to People magazine last week at the physical therapy center Flair's recovering at in Georgia.

"The day he told me he had a stomach ache and it was really bad and he didn't feel good and we had to go was the day that saved his life, because he was slowly dying," Barlow said about the day she took Flair to the hospital. The years of heavy drinking led to organ problems and his bowel was "dying" before being put in a medically-induced coma and undergoing surgery.

Barlow noted that doctors told her that Flair only had a 20 percent chance of surviving the surgery. Flair said that he didn't know how bad things were at the time, but Charlotte told him that a doctor told her to go see her father because he wasn't going to make it ...

“I didn’t think I was an alcoholic, but obviously I was," Flair told People. “I’ll never drink again. I never want to go through this again.”
Link to more stuff from the interview and video of the interview: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ric-flair-admits-alcoholism-vows-never-drink-again-243161

While we don't have much in the way of details on this, FloSports has sued WWN for $1 million over the idea that when they signed the contract with them, they were misled about their streaming numbers. The suit was filed in Travis County Court in Texas, the location where FloSports is based. The belief is that WWN is going to countersue. WWN matches this weekend will remain on FloSlam.
More details from website Fightful: https://www.fightful.com/flosports-sues-wwn-1-million-alleges-they-provided-just-plain-false-business-records-during%C2%A0

All CMLL shows in Mexico City are canceled until anything changes due to the effects of the Earthquake on Tuesday that hit Mexico City. The government in the city has asked that all sports and entertainment events be canceled as long as the city is in a state of emergency. Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo are fine to be used after a government inspection, so wrestling will start back up when the state of emergency ends. It's notable that today in Mexico is the national holiday, Dia de Lucha Libre.

Daniel Bryan on Twitter emphasized he would be coming back to wrestle, saying on a scale of 1 to 10, his wanting to return when he's contractually able (one year from now) is an 11. He talked about wrestling members of the Bullet Club, the Young Bucks, Cody, Kenny Omega and Marty Scurll, as well as wanting to do a hair vs. mask match at Arena Mexico with Atlantis.

A Go Fund Me has been set up for Shayna Baszler's 33-year-old sister Eileen who is battling stage three breast cancer. She will need six months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and then radiation and hormone treatment.
Link to the fund for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme/eileens-breast-chance

Booker T will be hosting a podcast on 9/24 at 9 p.m. at Lucky Strike Hollywood on the corner of Hollywood and Highland after the conclusion of the No Mercy show. Appearing with Booker T are Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Corey Graves and Dustin Runnels. All money raised will go to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Terry Funk told Jerry Lawler on his podcast that he sincerely means that he’s retiring from wrestling whenever he says it, but he loves wrestling too much to turn people down when they ask him to come back. He said that one of these times he knows that he’s going to “go to heaven.”
Funk's official reason for why he keeps unretiring a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRvAzXWVqSM

EVOLVE announced this afternoon that WWE 205 Live star Cedric Alexander will be replacing former ROH champion Davey Richards on this weekend's EVOLVE 92 this Friday 9/2 in Livonia, Michigan and EVOLVE 93 this Saturday 9/23 in Summit, IL. The promotion was able to secure Alexander through their relationship with WWE as Gabe Sapolsky has been at the recent NXT TV tapings working with Triple H.

The revised lineups for this weekend, airing on Flosports, with the exception of Alexander's matches, which will not be part of the broadcasts.
Revised card for both EVOLVE shows: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112434/cedric-alexander-heading-to-evolve-this-weekend.html?p=1

Ohio Valley Wrestling will hold a benefit event this Saturday 9/23 to assist former WWE Tough Enough winner and long-time OVW alumnus Matt Cappotelli with the mounting medical bills he and his family face as he battles brain cancer for the second time.
More details about the event: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112230/ovw-holding-matt-cappotelli-benefit-event-this-saturday.html?p=1

ROH will return to PPV this Friday 9/23 with the 2017 Death Before Dishonor event, which will air via all traditional PPV carriers as well as the Fite app. The App is currently offering a $10 credit with ROH PPV pre-orders.

The lineup for Death Before Dishonor 2017 PPV features:

*ROH champion Cody Rhodes vs. Minoru Suzuki in Suzuki's first match in the United States in 25 years.
*ROH Tag Team champions The Young Bucks vs. The Motor City Machineguns.
*ROH TV champion KUSHIDA vs. Kenny King.
*The Kingdom vs. Bully Ray & The Briscoes.
*Winners challenge Six Man Tag Team champions The Young Bucks and Adam "Hangman" Page.
*Las Vegas Street Fight: Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez.
*Last Man Standing: Jay Lethal vs, Silas Young.
*Marty Scurll vs. Chuck Taylor.

According to WWE Network News, the first season of Southpaw Regional Wrestling will be coming to the WWE Network on Monday, September 25. The popular series is currently only on WWE's YouTube channel. No word yet on when season two will be coming to the Network
Link to the article: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2017/09/21/exclusive-southpaw-regional-wrestling-coming-to-wwe-network/

As noted, Paige started training at the WWE Performance Center on Monday as she looks forward to her return to the ring for WWE.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Paige has already received full clearance to return, she's just getting back into ring shape now. The former Women's Champion has been out of the ring for more than 1 year after having neck surgery.

Paige On Why WWE Suspended Her, If She Does Drugs
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Paige On Why WWE Suspended Her, If She Does Drugs

Word is that WWE officials already have a storyline for Paige's return and that it will be for the SmackDown brand.

WWE officials are still interested in doing a Horsewomen vs. Horsewomen feud as multiple ideas have been discussed, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

One issue being discussed is making sense of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch being on SmackDown while Sasha Banks and Bayley are on RAW but that could be solved by having the match on a joint pay-per-view such as the Survivor Series in November. There's also been talk of doing a Flair vs. Ronda Rousey singles match at some point. It was previously believed that Ronda's first singles match would be against Stephanie McMahon.

There are unconfirmed reports that Shayna Baszler has signed a contract with WWE. She was backstage for the first set of WWE NXT TV tapings after The Mae Young Classic finals but she was not used. After being booked strong in the tournament, the 37 year old was expected to sign with WWE when she stopped booking new indie dates.

The main event of this past Tuesday's SmackDown was originally scheduled to be a triple threat match with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Naomi, according to PWInsider. The plan was changed late in the day for Tamina to be added in the match.

There was a lot of backstage talk at last night's WWE SmackDown in Oakland over the "that's too far chant" during WWE Champion Jinder Mahal's promo on Shinsuke Nakamura, where he referred to Nakamura as Mr. Miyagi, according to PWInsider. It's worth noting that the segment was not uploaded to YouTube. Another hot topic backstage last night was the low attendance. We noted before that the building was believed to be 30-40% full.

Part of the feeling is the company wants to rebrand itself and get away from the negativity associated with the TNA reign, and that as long as they are in Orlando, the feeling is they are TNA wrestling. The negative on this is that the few fans left watching regularly are likely die-hards of TNA wrestling, and with all the wrestling product available, particularly from WWE, it’s harder than ever before to get fans to watch non-WWE television because they can’t even keep up with WWE television, and it’s no longer the case where there’s any debate over product quality in fans’ eyes left, leaving the promotion in a very difficult position. As noted before, the long-term goal is to make Impact a Canadian company, due to some economic advantages, and also because Anthem is based in Toronto.
Some details on why Anthem wants to move Impact/GFW to Canada for future events.

The Rey Mysterio situation is very interesting right now. He's one of the biggest, arguably the biggest name on the free agent market right now. But he's also the most expensive to book. With both New Japan and ROH looking to expand, he'd seem like a great fit because he can work with so many of their guys, as long as it's a limited schedule. He looked great with Will Ospreay and Ricochet for What Culture a few weeks back. But his price is way above what ROH pays for anyone which is why nothing has happened there. We've never heard much about him and New Japan, but with New Japan eyeing running more on the West Coast, he'd be very valuable to them, but his price, which can be $10,000 per match, is more than New Japan is likely paying for anyone. He's getting enough bookings at that price to be making a good living on the indies, but he lives a superstar lifestyle and it's night like he's getting enough bookings to make the seven-figure annual WWE money he made. But at last word, all talks regarding him and WWE had also fallen through


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent survey by the WWE asked fans their interest in non-WWE promotions for the Network, potential new features for the Network, and special goodies for a new pay tier on the Network. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-surveys-fans-premium-network-tier-content-options-243191
Ric Flair returned to his home today after a lengthy stay in a hospital due to his recent health problems.
During a recent interview with In Touch Magazine, the Bellas Twins hinted they want to return to the WWE at some point next year and likely as a tag team.
During a recent Q&A session on Twitter, Daniel Bryan revealed he currently is planning on resuming his in-ring wrestling career once his current WWE contract expires. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0920/632386/daniel-bryan-on-dream-wwe-match/
CBC's Q Radio Show had Chris Jericho as the guest talking about why Jericho feels Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is the greatest wrestling talent of all-time. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0920/632377/chris-jericho-talks-why-bobby-heenan-may-be-the-greatest-all/
This week's Flashback Friday episode for the WWE Network will focus on the Cruiser Division and be a replay of the entire CWC tournament. The collection set starts at 12PM EST and ends at 11PM EST. http://www.wwe.com/wwe-network-flashback-friday
Anthem has officially changed the name of GFW back to Impact Wrestling with the Observer stating all references to GFW have been removed from press releases.
According to the Observer, Toni Storm currently isn't expected to be signing a deal with the WWE either this year or next year.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Daniel Bryan's new persona:
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The relationship between FloSports and WWN, Inc. took another turn for the worse this afternoon.

Despite the ongoing legal situation, EVOLVE's shows in Livonia, Michigan tonight and Summit, Illinois tomorrow had been scheduled to stream live on FloSlam -- but that now won't be happening. WWN's Gabe Sapolsky announced on Twitter today that FloSlam won't be airing tonight's show.

"FloSlam is refusing to broadcast tonight's EVOLVE event," Sapolsky wrote. "We apologize, but this is their decision. Please contact them for customer issues."

Sapolsky added that WWN is doing their best to get tonight's show on their own website as soon as possible, which is how they used to offer events before their deal with FloSports began last year.

No WWN events are currently listed on the FloSlam schedule. IPW:UK's Supershow 12, which will air on November 19th, is the only upcoming event currently listed.
Statement from WNN and updated announcement from FloSports in regards to the future of WNN on the service: http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/wwn-events-pulled-floslam-schedule-243271

What looks to be an ugly split between WWN, Inc. (the parent company of EVOLVE, FIP, and Shine) and FloSports, which has been airing their events on its FloSlam platform, continued today with WWN's attorney making a statement alleging FloSports had failed to live up to their contracted obligations and called FloSlam a failing subscription streaming platform.

FloSports filed a lawsuit for more than $1 million on September 15th in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas, alleging that WWN misled them by providing inflated numbers for how many people were ordering the EVOLVE events on Internet PPV, which caused FloSports to make a deal based on those numbers.

Joshua Gavin, who worked for WWN, in a Fightful article backed up claims in the lawsuit.
Some details via PWInsider on the lead-up to the split between FloSports and WNN: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112460/more-details-on-what-led-to-the-wwnflosports-breakdown-how-wwn-will-stream-this-weekends-evolve-events.html?p=1

“WWN induced FloSports to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars based on data that was not only inaccurate and unreliable; it was just plain false,” reads the complaint. “When pressed for the data that backed up WWN’s spreadsheet of viewership, WWN originally claimed it had lost or deleted that information. Ultimately, WWN sent records listing many subscribers more than once and including purchasers of DVDs instead of broadcast services. Even with that artificial inflation of viewership, the numbers WWN attempted to account for were far less than those represented in its initial spreadsheet.”
Report from Fightful that backs up FloSports claims against WNN: https://www.fightful.com/flosports-sues-wwn-1-million-alleges-they-provided-just-plain-false-business-records-during

Cyber Agent, a Japanese company that streams events, has purchased 100 percent of the stock of the DDT promotion. They will stream DDT events on AbemaTV.
Some details via tweets from an unofficial fansite for DDT wrestling: http://abload.de/img/ddtiglxa.png

Congratulations to Ryan Parmeter, who is Konnor of The Ascension, who announced his son, Elijah, was born today in Tampa.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/KonnorWWE/status/911233695368978432

Impact will be taping segments for its TV show on 11/25 in Winston, Salem, NC at the Wrestlecade show that goes head-to-head with the billed Starrcade house show in Greensboro.

WWE announced this afternoon that Elias vs. Apollo Crews has been officially added to Sunday's No Mercy PPV and will be airing on the Kickoff Show.

Former WWE World, WWE Universal and WCW World champion Bill Goldberg was interviewed by the WWE website to mark the 20th anniversary of his debut in WCW today at this link.

When asked whether he may be up for another return, Goldberg commented, "Ask your boss! [Laughs] Hey, man, never say never, dude. Stranger things have happened. I did sit [around] for 13 years and then suddenly appear back in the ring. Let's just say it ain't gonna take nearly the effort to get me ready again that it did last time. So, I'll see you on the rebound for damn sure."

Goldberg has not wrestled since Wrestlemania 33, where he lost the Universal championship to Brock Lesnar.
Link with highlights and interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0922/632430/goldberg-on-possibly-returning-to-wwe-again/

Flair appeared on The Dan Le Batard Show this week and admitted that his heavy drinking contributed to the near-fatal incident.

"I just drank too much," Flair admitted.

Flair stated that drinking was a way of life when he started in the business. Flair reiterated that he never drank before he wrestled, even on days when they did two shows, but he would drink heavily afterwards.

As for his recent near-death scare, Flair said that he did the math and calculated how much he was drinking each day.

"I've done all my math, [I was drinking] between 3,700 and 4,000 calories worth of booze — soda, splash of cranberry — in my body every day," Flair revealed. "Like 20 drinks a day."
Link with more details and interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0922/632449/ric-flair-reveals-the-crazy-amount-that-he-would-drink-each-day/

A new thirty-minute episode of WWE Story Time will air on the WWE Network after Monday's post-No Mercy RAW goes off the air. Below is the synopsis:

"Hear from a handful of WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers on how their journeys to stardom weren't without some challenges along the way."

WWE posted this rare Triple Threat between The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart today. The match took place after the September 22nd, 1997 RAW from Madison Square Garden went off the air.
Link to part of the match's footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hNBaot3gU

WWE has a new poll asking fans where The Miz ranks among the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time. As of this writing, 38% put Miz in the top 5 while 32% put him in the top 10. 15% voted, "The A-lister is on his way to becoming the greatest. If he passes Pedro Morales for longest combined reigning champion he will be the best." while the other 15% went with, "The Miz is the best. He's singlehandedly kept the title's prestige alive during his last few title reigns."

Edge and Cena refer to each other as "shoe" because working each other was the equivalent of putting on an old shoe. They talked about the great chemistry they have together in the ring and how much they wrestled each other.

Edge says Cena may have found a new shoe in AJ Styles. Cena praised AJ and Christian said Cena's chemistry with AJ was similar to his chemistry with Edge. Cena said AJ was the culmination of WWE signing very gifted performers in a physical aspect. Cena loves being given the chance to showcase guys like AJ, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.

Cena talked about some NXT callups struggling to adjust to the main roster and the scope and scale of a global audience. Edge used Nakmaura as an example of someone not finding it initially. Cena says that with a character like Nakamura you have to explain what the interesting is. He said he knows he's working hard on conveying to the audience better and on his promos. Cena says that while the roster is more gifted then ever he feels that with the absence of a marquee personality there is a giant grand canyon of relationship between superstar and audience and he doesn't know who are lot of these guys are.

Cena said the amount of complacency is staggering. He said there has never been a better time to make a name for yourself in WWE with all it's platforms. Cena said every single day he goes out there and takes chances. Edge once again said establishing a dialogue with Vince is incredibly important. Cena said he thinks these guys feel like a piece of a system rather then a creative force.

Edge said Roman felt out of his element up against Cena yet he still feels it was his best promo performances as he tapped into his emotion. Cena's biggest hangup with Reigns is his inability to connect with the audience. Cena says he has a respectful but definitive rivalry with Roman because they both want to be number 1. Cena wants to help Roman tap into his personality and emotion.

Cena made a promise to himself that as soon as he feels himself getting a step slow in there he can't justify performing for the audience because he doesn't want to be that person, he hasn't gotten there yet but he has some talks with himself. He said he is still far from done with WWE. He feels like WWE is his home and feels massive amount of loyalty to Vince. He feels like it is time for guys to stand up and take it.
Link from r/SquaredCircle: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/71rryk/some_notes_from_john_cenas_appearance_on_edge_and/


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE recently uploaded a video featuring Seth Rollins and Sting commentating on their match at Night of Champions 2015. http://www.wwe.com/article/sting-seth-rollins-360-interview
WWE also recently uploaded a Bobby Heenan collection set to the WWE Network. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112450/bobby-heenan-collection-added-to-wwe-network.html?p=1
Recent blog post by Jim Ross on his official blog talked about the passing of Bobby Heenan, Paige working towards a WWE return, and Lesnar-Strowman match for No Mercy. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0922/632423/jim-ross-on-paige-working-towards-her-wwe-return/
DC101 held a recent interview with Charlotte discussing her new book, NXT, how wrestling helped her life, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0922/632432/charlotte-flair-on-why-she-was-hesitant-about-her-new-book/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Stone Cold Steve Austin's first Stunner done to Vince McMahon. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/71shr9/20_years_ago_today_stone_cold_stunned_vince_for/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Cena is not wrong.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets Sponsored by High Flying Appre... ehh Powerbomb Appreciation Day:
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Coming the day after No Mercy, Raw got a small bump of three percent in the ratings to 2.90 million viewers as compared to last week ...

Raw was fourth for the night on cable, trailing the NFL game with the Dallas Cowboys vs. Arizona Cardinals, the SportsCenter after the game, and Hannity on Fox News.

There was a lot of competition as the NFL game did 13.69 million viewers, Dancing with the Stars featuring Nikki Bella did 8.67 million viewers, which is very low for that show, Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon both topped 17 million, and The Voice, The Good Doctor, and Kevin Can Wait all topped 10 million viewers.

The second-to-third hour drop was far bigger among men than is normal, but was consistent in every demo.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.12 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.08 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.57 million viewers

In terms of demo rankings, RAW took the #4-6 spots trailing MNF, Sportscenter, and blood rival Love & Hip Hop.

While parodying DX’s invasion of Nitro, members of the Bullet Club “invaded” last night’s Raw by appearing outside of the building. Matt Jackson sent out a message inviting fans to meet them at a Hot Topic in Ontario, California and they then went to the venue. The invasion played into storylines from "Being the Elite” and was chronicled on the latest episode, including Cody Rhodes doing the speech from Independence Day.
Supposedly WWE was really upset this happened and revealing fans got free tickets because of poor sales for the show.

Triple H explained why he takes pictures with NXT wrestlers after big moments and posts them on social media: “You know why I take pictures with everybody? Because I'm more famous," he said. "When I do that, and I take a picture, just on Twitter alone I got six million people that see it when I tap that picture. I make them something bigger, and that's the attempt." He added that he helps them if he can and steps away when they don’t need it anymore.

Matt and Jeff Hardy, Elias, Ruby Riot, Drew McIntyre, Lars Sullivan, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Beth Phoenix, and Aleister Black were revealed as downloadable characters for WWE 2K18.

2K announced that WWE 2018 is currently in development for Windows PC and will be available on the same launch day as the versions for PS 4 and Xbox One.

Shane McMahon discussed doing his own motion capturing for the video game.
Link to Shane's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNOoKp2nLpI

Ric Flair has gotten some publicity for saying in an interview for his upcoming 30 for 30 that he’s slept with 10,000 women in his life. “I wish I hadn’t said that because of my grandkids,” Flair told People. “I only love one now. I have never done anything since I met Wendy.”
Link to the interview: http://www.tmz.com/2017/09/26/ric-flair-10000-women/

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced a big first-time match between Tomohiro Ishii and Keith Lee for their November 9th Global Wars UK show at York Hall.

Nick Jackson tweeted that over 100,000 Young Bucks shirts have been sold at Hot Topic in the last three months.

Aaron Bentley has an article for Voices of Wrestling on a leaked email that Gabe Sapolsky sent to EVOLVE talent and Sapolsky’s reaction to finding out it was leaked.
Rev Pro tweet: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/912683749715914752 , Bucks tweet: https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/912535330472914944 , EVOLVE article: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2017/09/25/email-leaks-lawsuits-evolve-uncertain-future/

Kenny Omega will defend his IWGP United States title stateside for the first time, as he will face YOSHI-HASHI at ROH Global Wars: Chicago on October 15th ...

Ring of Honor had originally announced he would be defending the title back in August when it was first announced he would be wrestling on the tour. The next day, ROH released a statement saying that while he would be on the tour, they could not confirm if he would be defending the title or not. ROH officially confirmed yesterday that the title would be defended.

Kenny Omega is scheduled for all four stops of the Global Wars tours, which include October 12th in Buffalo, October 13th in Pittsburgh, October 14th in Columbus and October 15th in Chicago.


Steve Austin was referenced on Rick & Morty, the sci-fi cartoon on Cartoon Network. On last night's episode, Rick's daughter started talking all tough and Rick started sarcastically calling her Stone Cold Steve Austin, and they later posted his picture on the Rick & Morty Facebook page.

Confirming what had been feared, WWE announced today that Jeff Hardy will have to undergo surgery for his shoulder injury.

WWE noted that Jeff suffered a torn rotator cuff in the six-pack challenge main event on last week's episode of Raw and that it was a "full thickness tear of his supraspinatus tendon and a couple of other areas in the shoulder."

Jeff will be undergoing surgery for the rotator cuff tear on October 3rd. He also told WWE.com that he has a torn labrum and said the doctors will figure out more about what else needs to be repaired when they do the operation ...

Dave Meltzer reported on Saturday that Jeff initially injured his shoulder in July when taking a bump to the outside during the Iron Man match for the Raw Tag Team titles at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view but had been working on it since.

Timeline for his recovery is usually around 6 months but could be up to a year for worst case scenario.

According to those close to the situation, Cesaro did not get his teeth cracked or knocked out when he went mouth first into the post last night after taking a catapult into the corner spot by Dean Ambrose.

What actually happened is that the blow caused Cesaro's front teeth to be jammed into his gums.

According to someone familiar with this type of situation, the teeth possibly could be saved by having oral surgery to pull the teeth down and stabilize them, although that would require a root canal. But it was noted in a WWE.com post that Cesaro will see “a maxillofacial surgeon today, most likely removing the teeth and then having some implants made” and that they hope to have him back in action by mid-week.

The injury took place at last night's No Mercy pay-per-view in Los Angeles where Cesaro & Sheamus were challenging Ambrose & Seth Rollins in a match for the Raw Tag Team titles. Cesaro wrestled much of the match badly bleeding from the mouth, and it appeared that his teeth had been knocked out

For those who have asked, all signs are that former WWE Divas champion Paige has been cleared to return to the ring.

The belief is that although she was drafted to Raw in 2016 during the brand split, that will be ignored and she will return to the ring as part of the Smackdown brand next month.

Paige has not competed for WWE since the summer of 2016, when she was suspended for the first of two infractions under the WWE Wellness Policy. Since that time, she has also undergone neck surgery, which she was just cleared to return from and well, a lot of, for lack of a better word, drama surrounding her relationship with Alberto el Patron.

Deadline.com reported this evening that Universal has acquired an as of yet untitled buddy cop comedy film that will star John Cena and comedian Kumail Nanjiani (who was excellent in The Big Sick) attached to star.

This is the latest film project for Cena, who is putting his focus on Hollywood and is not slated for any WWE appearances until Survivor Series in November.

Cena will be one of the stars for the forthcoming Transformers: Bumbleebee and has been rumored for the role of DC Comics hero Shazam! in the long-gestating feature film adaptation of that character, which has long had The Rock attached to play Shazam nemesis Black Adam.

Below is the updated confirmed card for the HIAC pay-per-view from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan:

Hell In a Cell Match
Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens

Hell In a Cell for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles
The Usos vs. The New Day

WWE Title Match
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Women's Title Match
Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya

WWE United States Title Match
Baron Corbin vs. AJ Styles

Randy Orton vs. Rusev

Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler

WWE's latest poll asked fans: "Could The Miz and The Miztourage have defeated The Shield?" As of this writing, "No. The Shield would have destroyed them" is leading with 89 percent of the vote.

As noted, former TNA Tag Team Champion Crazzy Steve left Impact Wrestling earlier this year after WWE reportedly showed interest in him. Steve attended the WWE tryouts this past June, however Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio this week that WWE ended up not signing him.


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, The Empress of Tomorrow (Asuka) celebrated her 36th birthday today.
Maria recently announced on Instagram she is currently pregnant with her first child and is around 13 weeks into her pregnancy. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/maria-kanellis-bennett-mike-bennett-expecting-first-child-243451
WWE officially announced Asuka will be making her RAW debut at the TLC ppv on October 22nd.
ROH recently announced Cody Rhodes has signed a long term deal with the company and teased to be the richest in company history. http://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/cody-rhodes-officially-signs-ring-honor-243376
Upcoming episode of Talk Is Jericho will have Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about Brian Pillman. Episode will be released on October 4th which is the 20th anniversary of Pillman's passing.
107.7 The Bone with Baby Huey & Bimbo Jimbo had a recent interview with Steve Austin talking about Lesnar-Strowman match, his heel turn at Mania X-7, if there can be another hot era for wrestling/WWE, and Cena-Reigns feud crowd reactions. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112531/steve-austin-gives-his-take-on-the-lesnarstrowman-finish-from-no-mercy.html?p=1
Like with recent WWE shows, yesterday's episode of RAW had lots of empty seats with the upper section being around 2/3rd taped off based on PWI's report of the show.
Jim Ross' new book called Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling will be getting released on October 3rd. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112528/jim-ross-autobiography-to-be-released-next-week-full-details.html?p=1
Former WWE women's wrestler Kaitlyn recently revealed on Instagram she is currently training to make a return to wrestling. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZZAgKIgM8i/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by 205 Live's Road to Drewtopia:
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Last night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.542 million viewers, up one percent from last week despite going against strong competition from the broadcast TV networks.

NBC and CBS both averaged over 10 million viewers with their season premiere episodes directly opposite SmackDown. In terms of cable competition, SmackDown was fourth for the night in total viewers and second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating.

After Karl Anderson began building up the match on Twitter, PWInsider reported that Anderson & Luke Gallows would be facing The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express at the WWE Starrcade house show in Greensboro on November 25th.
Link to The Club tweet: https://twitter.com/KarlAndersonWWE/status/912805455386365952 , PWI report: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112573/starrcade-update.html?p=1

A number of WWE NXT stars are taking part in raising money for the Special Olympics as part of the annual event where they will take part in a plane pulling competition. For more information on how you can support and donate money to the cause, check out the Tweet embedded below:

Please RT!

Please donate below to help me and the @WWENXT superstars raise money for @soflinfo by pulling a plane!https://t.co/nCmbOcJJzx pic.twitter.com/4mAaxQOnZf
— Donovan Dijak (@DonovanDijak) September 27, 2017

Several readers sent word that they had received messages from Amazon noting that Jim Ross' autobiography Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling would be delayed two weeks. In checking, we are told that was an error. The book is still slated to be released this Tuesday 10/3, chronicling the WWE Hall of Famer's career and life

On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore devote the show to discussing The Rock’s career, including his start in Memphis as Flex Kavana. Some classic Memphis wrestling audio, including the first few promos of The Rock, are played throughout the episode ...

Roman Reigns becoming the “Face of the WWE” following match:

"The reason for that match was, we talk about mythical passing of the mythical torch, I think that’s what that match basically represented. In WWE, you have to have, there always have been and always will be, a pecking order in the talent roster. And you usually have that one featured guy that is considered “the guy.” That, obviously, is a Vince [McMahon] decision on the final say-so on who will be "the guy." You have to feature him, or “push.” Sometimes if the fans don’t feel that person is ready for that big push, they resent it."

Does this mean Reigns becomes the locker room leader?

"Yeah, I think so. You know what is a funny thing in the business? When you get to be “that guy,” you suddenly no longer dress in the same locker room as all rest of the guys. You have your own bus. You have your own locker room. You’re not in the one big male talent locker room. There is a little bit of a fallacy in the fact of the guy that is “the guy” is the locker room leader; that is just not necessary real. A guy like Brock Lesnar; you never see Brock. He’s always on his bus or his own locker room. You never see him. He stays in there until basically it’s time for his match. He goes out and comes back, and then he’s gone."

Link to the episode: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.podavenue.com%2Fking&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNE1McWYTlYe5AHZ2RcfWKjZNzDSxA

For those who have asked about the Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory and TV taping pre-sale information for Ottawa, Ontario, here are the details:

The pre-sale, which kicks off today at 10 AM Eastern, for both the 11/5 PPV and the subsequent TV tapings can be found by clicking here using pre-sale code IMPACTCANADA. The pre-sale runs through late Thursday 9/28.

Bound for Glory Ringside tickets are priced at $40 with general admission (rows 4 back and bleachers) priced at $20 Canadian before all the usual ticketing fees.

The TV tapings will be priced at $30 ringside with general admission at $15.

Impact will be offering multi-night combination deals, including a three event combo where you pick the three shows you wish to attend and save near 20% on the total cost and a six event combo that saves you nearly 40%.

The company is also selling VIP ticketing for the entire week exclusively at www.shopimpact.com.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday at 12 PM Noon Eastern.

Courtesy of WrestlingDVDNetwork.com, above is a new clip from WWE's "1997: Dawn of The Attitude" DVD that hits stores on October 3rd. The clip features Kane talking about his debut at WWE "In Your House: Badd Blood" in October of that year. As noted, the DVD features a roundtable hosted by Renee Young with Kane and WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Ron Simmons and The Godfather.
Link to the video: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0927/632614/kane-roundtable-clip-from-new-wwe-attitude-era-dvd/

As noted, this week's "Flashback Friday" programming on the WWE Network will feature WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino for his birthday. Below is the line-up:

* 3pm EST - Old School, 3/17/1975: Old School Card from MSG features WWF Champion Bruno Sammartino defending against Spiros Arion. Killer Kowalski, Ivan Putski, and more.

* 4pm EST - Tuesday Night Titans, 5/10/1985: Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Bruno Sammartino, Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, and Ivan Putski.

* 5pm EST - Old School, 4/14/1975: Bruno Sammartino defends the WWE Title against Spiros Arion in a Greek Death Match. Greg Valentine makes his Madison Square Garden debut. (NEW)

* 7pm EST - Legends with JBL: JBL sits down with Bruno Sammartino to discuss some memorable exploits from his extraordinary career in sports entertainment.

* 7:45pm EST - WWE Story Time: Everyone has a story, and these WWE Superstars and Legends share tales from the good old days before they were shining in the WWE spotlight!

* 8pm EST - Old School, 10/23/1978: Ernie Ladd challenges Bob Backlund for the WWE Championship. Blood is shed in a bout between Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham. (NEW)

* 9:31pm EST - Table For 3: Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Bruno Sammartino - 3 Champions spanning 3 generations share amazing stories from their legendary careers.

* 10pm EST - Old School, 3/25/1978: Old School Card from Philly features Bob Backlund defending the WWWF Title against Spiros Arion. Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera and more.

Kurt Angle was asked on Twitter why WWE announces Nia Jax's weight when they don't do that for other female stars. Angle replied:

Because she's proud of her weight. She's beautiful!!!!! #itstrue https://t.co/nS0UkIge6T
— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) September 25, 2017

Nia replied to Angle, tweeting:

Aww thank you Kurt! #ItsDamnTrue ???? https://t.co/5JA1mo5Azo
— Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) September 26, 2017

After months of joking about it, and just one day after Bullet Club “invaded” Raw, WWE sent The Young Bucks an ACTUAL cease and desist letter over the “Too Sweet” hand gesture.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has confirmed WWE reached out to the popular Ring of Honor/NJPW tag team to say they own the copyright to the “Too Sweet” hand gesture and have discovered that the brothers have been using it in other companies, as well as on merch.

Therefore, WWE is demanding the Bucks stop using WWE intellectual property in-ring and on any merchandise immediately. If not, they may be hit with $150K in damages or more.

They also want an agreement in writing saying the brothers wont use WWE IP again in the future.

It’s unclear at this point whether The Young Bucks plan to fight this, but sources tell us they’ve consulted with a lawyer and will figure out what’s best in the days to come.


Some other sheet news includes:

Randy Orton was revealed to be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/Christian4Peeps/status/912846931981946882
Bayley was announced to be competing at this year's Nintendo World Championships event next month. http://www.wwe.com/article/bayley-nintendo-world-championships-2017
2K Games recently revealed all the DLC pricing for WWE 2k18. https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-dlc-revealed
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho included a tribute to Bobby Heenan. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/BobbyHeenanTribute

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Art of the Clothesline:
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Vince McMahon came in with a very distinct vision for No Mercy, that this show and what would happen in the two key matches were not about now, or the day, but about telling the story of getting to WrestleMania, which is all about Lesnar and Reigns being the two superior guys in the company, and nobody else is on their level. Lesnar is being kept super strong so Reigns beating him means the most. Reigns is put over everyone clean so he’s the strongest challenger possible.

The idea was Cena would hit Reigns with every big move, over-and-over, and he couldn’t beat him, while Reigns would beat Cena with his usual stand-byes, the Superman punch and spear.

Similarly, Lesnar would survive multiple Strowman powerslams, and win clean with one F-5. He also wanted Lesnar vs. Strowman to be kept inside the ring (other than the one spot outside the ring involving the post, but nothing with tables and such), which kind of exposed Strowman, who got over on doing stunts outside the ring. The mentality, whether it’s right or not, was the short-term not so great match (I’m sure he was expecting a far better crowd response for the main event when he had the vision but going in it was going to be a short match with one F-5 as the finish) was the small picture and the big picture was both guys being as strong as possible for Mania.

Samoa Joe did an interview with Sky Sports today and said he's undergone two operations. He suffered a torn meniscus and had surgery. He said he's actually needed the knee surgery since joining NXT but didn't have time to take time off. He also said he's had nasal surgery since he's broken his nose eight times and was only breathing at 60 percent and feels a lot better.
Link to the interview: http://www.skysports.com/wwe/news/14203/11055456/battered-samoa-joe-on-wwe-road-to-recovery

Ethan Page has left EVOLVE. Regarding rumors, given the timing, that he was the person who leaked the wrestlers memo out, we're told that has nothing to do with him and the belief it was leaked by a wrestler who doesn't work for the company. We were told that Page was going to finish up with WWN next week, but after how things went this past week, they decided to end it there.

EVOLVE will headline the 10/14 show in Queens, NY at LaBoom with Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee in a last man standing match.

Fightful.com and Chris Harrington have an article on Samantha Rotunda, who is filing for divorce from Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), and has requested all of his pay records from 201 to the present. WWE agreed to produce his 1099's, booking contracts and some licensing contracts but claimed the cost of compliance with the subpoena would be between $247,500 and $483,000. On 9/22, the lawyers for Samantha Rotunda filed a motion in Superior Court in Stamford, CT saying that the WWE was acting in bad faith and attempting to intimidate the litigant from going through discovery and finding out her husband's true financial picture.

Our friends at www.Highspots.com sent word that all three nights of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament promoted by California's Pro Wrestling Guerrilla are now available for pre-order in both DVD and Blu-Ray format at this link.
Link to pre-order: http://www.highspots.com/c/Preorders.html

Any word on WWN suing Flosports? I saw they made a lot of WWN content free this week, which had to be a way to hurt WWN, right?

As of this writing, we have not heard back when we asked if a countersuit had been filed. To me, making that library free has to be a way to drive down its worth for WWN outside of Flosports and flip the bird at WWN. That decision, depending on what an attorney says, could be actionable in civil court. WWN could certainly claim damages, because why would I want to order Dragon Gate Open the Gabe Email Gate if I can stream it for free? WWN has 50 days to respond to the Flosports lawsuit, so we may have some waiting to look forward to. If and when there is a countersuit filed, we will cover the story.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

WWE Universal champion Brock Lesnar is currently advertised for the 11/13 WWE Raw TV taping in Atlanta, GA which is the Raw go-home episode for Survivor Series. Lesnar is not currently advertised for the PPV itself.

The top advertised matches for the annual 12/26 WWE event at Madison Square Garden are Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and WWE Tag Team champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus.

Also advertised are John Cena, Samoa Joe, Miz, Alexa Bliss, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, Bayley and more.

As noted, The Young Bucks revealed that they received a cease & desist letter from WWE after staging a Bullet Club "invasion" outside of this week's WWE Raw in Ontario, California. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported WWE claimed in the letter that The Young Bucks were using their intellectual property, mainly the "Too Sweet" hand gesture. WWE claims ownership of the hand gesture due to their purchase of WCW's intellectual property. Via the Young Bucks Merch Twitter account, they are now auctioning off their "Too Sweet" Ring Worn Tights on eBay with 100% of the funds going towards the Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation.

"Too Sweet" Ring Worn Tights up for auction NOW! 100% of the funds are going directly to @childrensatl https://t.co/LYhVDXzWjy pic.twitter.com/UVVhmjdCCw
— Young Bucks Merch (@YoungBucksMerch) September 28, 2017

Above is a sneak peek at the WWE Network Collection for Asuka that premieres this coming Monday. As noted, the undefeated Empress of Tomorrow will make her RAW brand debut at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view.
Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU0ENLV571Y

Figure Four Films & Paragon Pictures have announced the "Extraordinary Gentleman" documentary on WWE Superstar Jack Gallagher, to premiere on Sunday, November 5th in Manchester, England. Below are full details with an Instagram post from Gallagher, noting that the doc was filmed around the time of WWE's Cruiserweight Classic in 2016.
Announcement by Gallagher: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZl3sJYlpmA/

Daniel Bryan continued to fan the flames of speculation for his in-ring return during his and Brie Bella's latest Q&A session on Instagram (h/t Reddit). Bryan's hair is beginning to reach the length it was during the latter part of his WWE career, but it's not simply a fashion statement. Bryan said he hopes it would lead to Lucha Libre matches in Mexico.

In the video, Bryan commented that his hair looked weird and Bella pressed him to reveal why he's growing it out. Bryan was coy at first, but then he revealed his plan.

"We don't need to talk about why I'm growing my hair out," Bryan said. "It may or may not be because I want to do apuestas matches in Arena Mexico. It may or may not be that."

"That's what he wants and that's what he keeps telling me," Bella chimed in.

In Mexican wrestling luchas de apuestas, which translates to "matches with wagers," are a commonality where wrestlers in heated rivalries would put their masks on the line in a mask vs. mask match to put an end to the feud. Also common are mask vs. hair matches and hair vs. hair matches, both of which would suit Bryan just fine.

"Imagine a hair vs. mask match vs. Atlantis, or a hair vs. hair vs. Rush," Bryan said.
Link to the Q&a session: https://streamable.com/fyonh

We noted earlier how The Young Bucks revealed that they received a cease & desist letter from WWE after staging a Bullet Club "invasion" outside of this week's WWE RAW in Ontario, California.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports WWE claimed in the letter that The Young Bucks were using their intellectual property, mainly the "Too Sweet" hand gesture. WWE claims ownership of the hand gesture due to their purchase of WCW's intellectual property. The Bucks have removed all references to "too sweet" from t-shirts for sale on their YoungBucksMerch.com website and on their ProWrestlingTees.com store.

The Bullet Club appeared outside of the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario after doing a signing at a Hot Topic store in the area earlier that day. The "invasion" was filmed for their "Being The Elite" series on YouTube as a continuation of recent storylines they had been doing on the show. The storyline, which essentially turned into reality, was brought on by two things - BC member Cody Rhodes no longer being able to use the Rhodes name since WWE claims it as their property, and The Bucks receiving a cease & desist letter from the owners of Comedy Central's Rick & Morty Show after they produced a Rick & Morty parody t-shirt.
Link with more details: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0928/632631/why-wwe-sent-a-legal-letter-to-the-young-bucks/

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore is reportedly looking into starting a rap career. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that he would not be able to use that name outside of WWE.

Billy Corgan will be taking over ownership of the NWA on 10/1. All of the NWA affiliate promoters won’t be able to use the name unless authorized by Corgan, and his ideas aren’t to use the name for indie promoters to use, although David Marquez’s group, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, will probably use the name. They did an angle on Marquez’s show where Tim Storm, who was the NWA champion, was confronted by Nick Aldis, which makes Aldis favored to get the title since Storm is from the old regime. Regarding the NWA on Demand streaming service and the Paul Boesch Houston wrestling library, that service will be discontinued next week. The site was run by Bruce Tharpe and he has to shut it down by 10/1. As part of the NWA sale purchase, Corgan owns the licensing agreement to market the Houston library and he would be in control of how to use it in the future. Valerie Boesch still owns the actual library. The reason the service was set up was because Tharpe had tried to sell the library to WWE, but the offer was so low that they felt more people could see it since WWE likely wouldn’t release most of it, and they could make more money on it from doing their own streaming service. But the number of subscribers to the service wasn’t significant

It’s not a definite thing, as the decision will be made over the next few weeks, but Cody vs. Dalton Castle for the title has a good shot at being the Final Battle main event. They did the injury angle in Europe for Castle and there have been hints for it so at some point soon Castle will be returning and will be doing a match or more likely a program with Cody

U.K. wrestler Johnny Moss was hired as a new coach at the Performance Center. He’ll be starting in about two weeks. Moss, 37, will both train wrestlers as well as work backstage on the touring shows. He had a hand in training Balor years ago. He has a U.K. farewell match on 10/14 in Whitehaven against Joe Coffey, and will be turning over his School of Hard Knocks and Hammerlocks to Josh Terry


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, WWE management is considering the idea of former women's wrestler Kaitlyn making a return to the WWE within the near future.
Enzo Amore is reported to be considering starting a rap career soon although Observer's Dave Meltzer stated Enzo can't use his WWE name for it.
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Jack Swagger talking about why Ceasro should be a world champ, indies career, and almost considered a career in MMA. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0928/632635/jack-swagger-on-cesaro-being-his-favorite-wrestler/
Pete Dunne and Will Will Ospreay were recently involved in an incident with fans at an event in Liverpool. Match between the two was delayed a bit when both started yelling at several fans for using homophobic slurs during their match. https://twitter.com/heelalexthomas/status/913514546878435333
Researchers recently identified a potential biomaker that could lead to CTE diagnosis being possible while someone is alive. Wrestling and football are among the biggest risks for CTE and both WWE and NFL have also been among the most vocal opponents about its severity. http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/health/researchers-identify-cte-biomarker-that-may-lead-to-diagnosis-while-alive/index.html
According to the Observer, Mexican promotion AAA currently has no plans to use Sexy Star any time soon due to the incident and backlash involving her at TripleMania XXV.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Charly Caruso gif:
https://i.imgur.com/SpWPt3M.gif

Monday Night Raw will be without its regular play-by-play voice on next week's episode.

WWE.com announced in an article today that Michael Cole would be missing Raw on Monday to attend his son's wedding. Tom Phillips will fill in for Cole on play-by-play alongside Corey Graves and Booker T, which means that Phillips and Graves will be on commentary for both Raw and SmackDown next week.

The article notes that it's only the second time in Cole's 20 years with WWE that he has missed a week of television.

For this coming weekend's house shows, Brock Lesnar is working the Saturday night show in Winnipeg, but he's not scheduled for Raw on Monday. This is Lesnar's last date with the company for a while. John Cena is off the house shows this weekend and will be off for several more weeks. Randy Orton is not working any of the SmackDown house shows this weekend but he is scheduled for Denver on Tuesday.

In the if you thought this was going to end quietly department, The Young Bucks have now come out with a Cease & Desist T-shirt. They are also auctioning off "Too Sweet" wrestling tights that were used in episode 47 of Being the Elite, with 100% of the sale price going to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, which they visited a few weeks ago when doing the TV tapings at Center Stage. The auction, which was last up to $1,775, is up on Ebay. Because of legal threats by WWE, they have decided not to wear the tights any longer.

Linda McMahon encouraged small businesses to be creative and innovative and that if they were, they could survive against the monster businesses. The irony of this coming out today is rich.
Link to Linda's statement: https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/09/29/sba-administrator-mcmahon-says-small-business-can.html

Judge Vanessa Bryant made a ruling earlier today regarding three different CTE lawsuits against WWE and Vince McMahon, saying the opposition lawyers have 35 days to amend their complaints and that she is requiring the opposing attorneys to submit affidavits from each plaintiff regarding the claims, under penalty of perjury. She said failure to comply will mean in 35 days she will dismiss all three suits.
More details via PWInsider: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112610/wwe-concussion-lawsuit-update-plaintiffs-ordered-to-get-their-claims-in-order-under-oath-or-else.html?p=1

Kurt Angle did an interview with Fox Sports saying that he is being drug tested while in WWE, but he has not yet been asked to take a physical. He still believes he will be wrestling at some point.
Link to the interview: https://www.foxsports.com.au/wwe/wwe-drug-testing-part-of-olympic-gold-medallist-kurt-angles-inring-wrestling-return/news-story/f26d162cf822086bfea5978b22774afc

Rob Straus, who wrestled as Robbie E, has gotten his release from Impact Wrestling. He hasn't been used in a while and really the only thing he did of note lately with the company was represent TNA in a NOAH tag team tournament with Bram as his partner.

ROH, which has sold out its 10/12 show in Buffalo (just over 900 seats), is opening up 100 standing room tickets. Besides ROH regulars, also on the show are Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kushida and Hiromu Takahashi.

The 9/28 edition of Impact did 264,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 277,000 overnight viewers

While Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida has been the home for TNA/GFW/Impact Wrestling for much of its existence over the last 15 years, sources have indicated that while they may return there at some point, the company is focused on running other markets when they tape television. According to a well placed source, New York City, Toronto and Chicago are being eyed for future TV taping locations for 2018. At one point, Chicago was planned for a live event before the end of 2017 but the company decided to hold off on those plans.

John Gaburick has been taking the lead in recent creative meetings and conference calls with talent. Ed Nordholm has had a much less reduced role in the day to day running of the company, PWInsider.com has been told as another Anthem executive has been far more involved overseeing things. Nordholm is still involved in the legal affairs of the company and the Global Wrestling Network.

There will be a big push for Alberto el Patron when he returns.

The 12/9 WrestlePro event in Rahway, NJ will feature a lot of material being filmed for Impact, so expect a lot of talents on that show. Eli Drake and Alberto el Patron have already been announced. Sienna will also be on that event.
More Impact details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112601/impact-not-returning-to-florida-anytime-soon-and-more-backstage-news.html?p=1

Where did Nigel McGuinness disappear to this week? He wasn't on No Mercy or 205 Live.

In asking around, no one seemed to know except for one person who believed he had off for a personal commitment. It was weird timing, since the shows were in California, where McGuinness resides. If he's back on TV next week, it's a non-story. If he isnt, it's something we have to dig deeper into.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that a decision was made to hold off on the WCW Thunder series being added to the WWE Network. We were not able to 100% confirm why but it is likely because of the ongoing legal issues with Buff Bagwell and Scott Levy suing the company regarding the company not paying royalties on WWE Network material for content that talents would receive royalties for if it was released via physical media, such as DVDs. I speculated on this in an article earlier this week and this morning, confirmed the company specifically made a decision to not release Thunder (which is 100% ready to go, we are told) and instead release World Class Championship Wrestling episodes instead. WCCW was already slated to be the October "classic content" and we are told that the Network will be promoting the WCCW drop with an "Everything Bigger in Texas" theme.

Sunday Night Heat, which was slated to be added before the end of the year, is also now on the backburner, we are told.

Also coming in October is a Hell in a Cell WWE Network Collection and new "Classic Content". It's interesting to note that the original preview listed a collection "The Corporate Stooges: Brisco and Patterson" but now that is nowhere to be found.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, the ban on wrestling events in Mexico City due to the aftermath of the recent earthquake there is expected to be lifted this Tuesday. CMLL has been unable to run any events in the city due to public safety reasons since September 19th.
Website Joe.co.uk had a recent interview with Sami Zayn talking about traveling on the road, long term risks with high flying wrestling, and the status of El Generico. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/0929/632672/sami-zayn-on-high-risk-moves/
Highlights from Randy Orton's appearance on the recent episode of Edge & Christian's podcast show: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7380m6/highlights_from_ortons_appearance_on_ecs_podcast/
According to fan reports, Kyle O'Reilly was involved in an incident with a fan which resulted in the fan getting kicked in the face and thrown out of the ring. It happened during a NXT house show in Tampa Bay. https://twitter.com/PrestigiousGfx/status/913924879421931520 , https://twitter.com/AnnetteReid24/status/913937682098728961?s=09

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Countdown till the Doom of RAW's Women's Division:
https://i.imgur.com/cwcwNMA.gif

Even though the football competition was down, Raw fell five percent from the prior week last night, to the lowest rating the show has done since June 12th, during the NBA finals.

The episode did 2.77 million viewers, the sixth lowest watched show of 2017 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.95 million viewers
9 p m. 2.76 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.62 million viewers


EVOLVE released a video teasing that their next two shows would be the end, with it saying that “everything evolves to dust.” Various images of destruction were mixed in with the video and Matt Riddle and Keith Lee’s faces were crossed out on today’s WWN Alerts, likely meaning that it’s leading to an angle.

PROGRESS Wrestling revealed that all three days of next year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament will be taking place at Alexandra Palace, which was the venue that hosted their biggest show of the year this year. SSS16 will take place on May 5-7 in 2018.

Wolfgang will make his PROGRESS in-ring debut in an Atlas title match against WALTER on October 29th.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Tetsuya Naito vs. Marty Scurll for their November 9th Global Wars UK show at York Hall in London. Their show in Walthamstow the next day will have Toru Yano vs. Zack Gibson.
PROGRESS announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/915260495397089281 , Wolgang debut: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/915310539588456448

Confirming what had been expected, WWE officially announced today that Shayna Baszler has signed with the company.

The news was revealed in an article on WWE.com, with it noting that Baszler has begun training at the Performance Center. Baszler, a 37-year-old former UFC fighter, made her WWE debut in the Mae Young Classic after starting a career in pro wrestling in 2015.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and twisting limbs off and breaking bodies,” Baszler said in an interview with WWE.com. “I can't wait.”

The pro wrestling world lost one of its most treasured voices this morning.

Lance Russell passed away at 91 years old after complications from a fall. He was hospitalized after breaking his hip in a fall on Friday, which was the second time he had fallen last week.

Russell's daughter also passed away on Friday after battling cancer. We all send our thoughts to the Russell family during this difficult time.

Aside from being the host and voice of Memphis wrestling, Russell was considered one of the nicest people to ever be part of the pro wrestling business. He was also a television program director, putting wrestling in its Saturday morning time slot in Memphis where it had tremendous success.

Russell worked for WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling towards the end of his career as well.

Jerry Lawler first announced Russell's passing on Twitter and the Russell family then confirmed the news. They thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers and wrote that Russell was surrounded by family when he passed.

Kenny Omega's first stateside defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship will be available to watch live on iPPV.

Ring of Honor announced today that they would be broadcasting Global Wars: Chicago on ROHWrestling.com for $19.99. That show will take place on October 15th, with Omega putting his US title on the line against YOSHI-HASHI as the most heavily promoted match.

The main event of the Chicago show will be the Bullet Club team of Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks & Hangman Page facing Motor City Machine Guns, Jonathan Gresham & Jay White. Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi is advertised as well.

The New York Daily News reported today that Shane McMahon had filed a lawsuit last year that accused the owner of a company based in growing marijuana of duping him out of $500,000.

The gist of the story the way it was reported was that the son of Linda McMahon, the head of the Small Business Administration, had put up $500,000 for a large stake in EnviroGrow, which was a company developed to sell prefabricated modules for growing marijuana in states where pot is legal for medicinal and recreational use ...

McMahon's lawsuit accused Palmieri of misleading him about the state of the company. The lawsuit said Palmieri told McMahon that the modules were the state-of-the-art in growing marijuana. McMahon invested in the company and went to Fort Collins, Colorado, to their manufacturing plant and according to the lawsuit, found it virtually nonexistent, and demanded a return of his investment money, and Palmieri refused.
Link to the report: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shane-mcmahon-poured-500g-legal-cannabis-company-article-1.3535458

PWInsider reported that Bradley Cooper has been offered the role of Vince McMahon in “Pandemonium,” which is the biopic on Vince’s life that is in development. The offer was apparently made weeks ago and it isn’t known if Cooper was open to the idea.
Link to the report: https://pwinsider.com/article/112622/exclusive-huge-hollywood-name-offered-role-of-vince-mcmahon-in-biopic.html?p=1

Charlotte Flair told ESPN that she wants to face Ronda Rousey in the main event of WrestleMania next year. “I hope that's the main event of WrestleMania," Charlotte said. "That's my dream. I hope we can make it happen. She really opened the doors for a lot of women. Having that opportunity would be huge. I don't know what her goals are, but it's just cool that she wants to be a part of our world."
Link to the interview: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/20861586/wwe-charlotte-flair-wants-main-event-wrestlemania-ronda-rousey

DualShockers interviewed Breezango about how their team came together, their future in the SmackDown tag team division, and WWE 2K18. When asked about the team’s beginnings, Tyler Breeze said: “ Yeah, it had been brought up a couple times and it was one of those things where he was doing nothing; I was doing nothing; we were just tossed together to see what happens. I don’t even know if they were banking on us clicking the way we did. Especially stumbling upon something like Fashion Files that took off and people really enjoy it. It was, kind of, a lot of luck and one of those things you try real hard at.”
Link to the interview: https://www.dualshockers.com/wwe-2k18-interview-breezango/

The Young Bucks’ “Cease and Desist” shirt, which played off of the cease and desist letter that WWE sent them, is already the top selling shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees for the month of September.

Following the departure of some of WhatCulture's key staff members, What Culture Pro Wrestling will also be undergoing some changes before the end of the year.

The promotion announced today that they would be rebranding as Defiant Wrestling in December. The first show under the new name will be a live iPPV called "WeAreDefiant" on December 4th at the O2 Academy in Newcastle, which will air on their new Access Defiant on-demand service and will be available on the FITE app.

Stu Bennett, who was formerly known as Wade Barrett in WWE, was revealed to be the promotion's new on-screen general manager after former authority figure Adam Blampied was among those to leave WhatCulture earlier this month. Bennett will open their Refuse to Lose iPPV broadcast on October 2nd, which will be the last show branded as a WCPW event.
More details: http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/wcpw-rebranding-defiant-wrestling-wade-barrett-be-new-gm-243751

After 25 years between matches in the United States prior to challenging Cody Rhodes for the Ring of Honor World Championship at Death Before Dishonor earlier this month, it won't be quite that long until Minoru Suzuki's next trip back to the US.

ROH announced that Suzuki would be on all four stops of their Global Wars tour next month. His matches will be:

October 12th in Buffalo, New York teaming with Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. War Machine & Mark Briscoe.
October 13th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a singles match against Silas Young, which comes off an angle that was taped on the post-PPV television tapings in Las Vegas.
October 14th in Columbus, Ohio, teaming with Archer & Smith Jr. vs. Toru Yano, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI in a Suzuki-gun vs. Chaos match.
October 15th in Chicago teaming with Archer & Smith Jr. vs. Jay Lethal, Kenny King & Mark Briscoe.

In addition to that, ROH revealed that KUSHIDA would be challenging for Cody's title at the Global Wars stop in Columbus and that Kenny Omega would be teaming with The Young Bucks in a six-man tag against The Kingdom in Buffalo.

Some updates on the lawsuit Scott "Raven" Levy and Marcus "Buff" Bagwell in regard to their allegations that WWE owes them royalties from usage of material featuring their work in matches and segments from WCW and WWE on the WWE Network, allegedly breaching their contracts by failing to pay direct sales royalties as well as WWE allegedly not paying within a 90 day window following the end of each financial quarter.

On 9/29 attorneys representing Bagwell and Levy filed a notice with court that the pair are withdrawing certain claims that they alleged in the most recent version of their lawsuit.

After information was exchanged between the parties, Bagwell and Levy stated that they would not be pursuing claims as a class action on "behalf of individuals who are parties to the following contracts and are part of the following alleged subclasses in this matter: (1) Titan Sports, Inc. d/b/a World Wrestling Federation Booking Contract fromthe signing period of January 1, 1993 until December 31, 1993; and (2) WCW, Inc. Booking Contract from the signing period of March 24, 2001 until January 1, 2004."
A couple more details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112678/bagwell-and-raven-withdraw-claims-in-lawsuit-against-wwe.html?p=1

As seen on last night's episode of WWE Monday Night RAW, Bray Wyatt teased finally introducing Sister Abigail, who was believed to be dead in storyline. Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that WWE will NOT be introducing a female character, but rather Bray Wyatt will wrestle at TLC as Sister Abigail. Wyatt will reportedly wear a different outfit, similar to Balor having a different look for The Demon gimmick.
Link to article: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/sister-abigail-debut-bray-wyatt/

WWE is emailing some former Network subscribers a promotion where they would get the Network free for three months, which would allow them to watch the remaining WWE pay-per-views for 2017 at no cost. This includes Sunday's Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, WWE TLC on October 22nd, WWE Survivor Series on November 19th, and WWE Clash of Champions on December 17th.
Current Network numbers must be well below what the WWE wants if they are giving away the rest of the year for free.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today, I woke up to no less than 150 tweets asking me if I'm Sister Abigail.<br><br>RUN <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEBrayWyatt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WWEBrayWyatt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RAW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RAW</a></p>&mdash; Mika Rotunda (@MikaRotunda) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikaRotunda/status/915145824329457665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Mickie James was announced to be getting inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame later this month. In terms of ancestry, she is part Powhatan. https://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/news
UK's Metro held a recent interview with Bayley talking about her shoulder injury, if she's ambitious, and possible heel turn in the future. http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/03/wwe-star-bayley-talks-heel-turns-paramore-nia-jax-and-coffee-6974136/
AV Club had a recent article trashing the WWE for rewriting Ultimate Warrior's hateful past and expanding the Warrior brand into more of their charitable works. https://www.avclub.com/on-raw-wwe-continues-rewriting-ultimate-warriors-hatef-1819106332?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing
Will Ospreay‏ was recently hit with a cease & desist order from the WWE regarding two of his shirts being sold. https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/status/915227586233618433
According to the Observer, former WWE announcer Kyle Edwards (Arda Ocal) was at the site of last weekend's Las Vegas shooting but was unharmed during the incident.
Also according to the Observer, both Dean Ambrose and Renee Young were in the city for the weekend but left prior to the shootings taking place.
According to PWInsider, the site's Dave Scherer was also in the city at the time of the shooting but in a different location and unharmed from the night's events. He currently lives in the city.

[Sepholio]

Wait.....They are making Bray trans? Really confused about that whole angle r/n.

[#1-norm-fan]

Trans Bray Wyatt, you say? Hmm.

WWE so topical.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Smackdown Gif:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/5134bea9c47de94f8416439cea1c3bc2/tumblr_oxa0ik1kDA1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The 10/3 Hell In A Cell go home edition of Smackdown Live did 2,323,000 overnight viewers, down significantly from last week's 2,542,000 viewers.

Shelton Benjamin's first match at a WWE pay-per-view since 2010 will be on the Hell in a Cell pre-show.

It was announced on last night's go-home edition of SmackDown that Benjamin & Chad Gable would be facing The Hype Bros on Sunday. The match was set up in a SmackDown fallout video last week when an interview with Benjamin and Gable was interrupted by Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder arguing about losing to The Usos.

Benjamin & Gable previously defeated The Hype Bros on an episode of SmackDown last month, with Ryder refusing to shake hands with the winners after the match.

Though it had been advertised that Breezango's Fashion Files would be coming back on SmackDown last night, it will instead return on Sunday with a new segment airing during Hell in a Cell. There was also another stipulation added to Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens at the PPV, with it now being a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match.

The Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan will host Hell in a Cell on Sunday. Here's the updated lineup for the show:

Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens in a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match
WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day defending against The Usos in a Hell in a Cell match
SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya defending against Charlotte Flair
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Baron Corbin
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Hype Bros (kickoff show)


NXT is taping its next set of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. The shows will feature the final build to TakeOver: Houston. With Triple H in India to promote WWE’s December tour of the country, he’s missing the tapings for the first time ever. Road Dogg tweeted that he and Shawn Michaels are two of the people holding down the fort while Triple H is away.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/WWERoadDogg/status/915708086912000001

Jeff Hardy underwent a successful surgery on his torn rotator cuff yesterday.

Hardy is expected to be out 6-9 months from action.

Dave Meltzer tweeted that AJ Styles is being saved for dark matches after SmackDown so that the crowd doesn’t leave before 205 Live ends. The post-show dark match last night was Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton vs. Baron Corbin, Jinder Mahal & Rusev.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/915396533427638272

During tonight's WWE NXT TV taping, it was announced the NXT Takeover: Houston event next month would be headlined by Wargames.

Yes, as in Wargames: The Match Beyond, the bout created by Dusty Rhodes during the summer of 1987. The bout, a two-ring steel cage match with a roof over the cage, became one of the most popular signature matches for Jim Crockett Promotions. The match was held regularly in the late 80s and early 1990s for JCP's successor World Championship Wrestling before settling into an annual attraction that anchored the WCW Fall Brawl PPV. The bout was last held in September 2000 by WCW, but the concept was used by a number of independent promotions over the years.

WWE had toyed with bringing the match to the main roster a decade ago, but instead created the original Elimination Chamber ...

The Wargames match at Takeover will feature Sanity (Eric Young & Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong.

The scheduled book The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.: From WWE's The New Day, which was slated to be released on 10/31 has been delayed to a March 2018 release. PWInsider.com has been told the release was done, in part, to time it closer to Wrestlemania 34.

On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore pay their respects and remember Memphis wrestling legendary announcer, Lance Russell, who passed away Tuesday morning.

Russell passed way at the age of 91, and if it wasn’t for a phone call to Lawler, The King’s career would have never happened. Lawler and Moore share classic Russell audio clips from Memphis wrestling, and also share some stories.

Below are some highlights:

Lawler on Russell’s effect on his career and life:

"You know, a lot of times when a loved one or a great, close friend passes away, you are left with the feeling that I never really got to say goodbye or I never really got to tell the person how I felt about them. But I’m happy in the fact that over the years, I did have several opportunities to tell Lance how much I thought I thought of him, how much I loved him, how important he was to me. Without Lance, there would be no me. And I knew that, and I had the opportunity to say that to Lance Russell. I loved Lance Russell. There’ll never be another person like him.”

Should Lance Russell be in the WWE Hall of Fame?

"I think he’s certainly deserving. Even though he didn’t ever work for the WWE, hey, WWE is putting a lot of people in the Hall of Fame that didn’t necessarily work for them. Which I think is a great thing. Even though it’s called the WWE Hall of Fame, they are opening their arms a little further; it’s more of a wrestling hall of fame. At least in my eyes, he’s the greatest wrestling commentator ever."

Some WWNLive updates:

There has been no movement in the lawsuit FloSports has brought against WWN Inc. as of this writing. Court records do not indicate WWN has even been officially served. WWN has stated they will be counter-suing, but obviously cannot start that process until they are actually served.

The October EVOLVE events will stream at WWNLive.com. EVOLVE is running 10/14 in Queens, NY and 10/15 in East Haddam, CT. There will also be ACW and SHINE events streamed on that platform this month.

There is currently no Style Battle event scheduled. That promotion was launched as a special monthly event for the Flosports service. The plan was to hold the final tournament's "debut season" for the brand over Wrestlemania weekend in New Orleans, so they have tons of time to run the 8th event to cement the last finalist.

WWN will be taking the month of November off from running live events. The initial plan was to run Houston over Survivor Series weekend, but the planned venue was badly damaged by Hurricane Harvey. There was talk of moving the shows to Florida, but it was decided the company would be better off taking off November and then run in early December. The company will end up taking about 6 weeks off in total from running events.

"The End" video that was released yesterday was not teasing the end of the EVOLVE brand.

John Cena is booked for several WWE live events in December. As of this writing, Cena is scheduled for several RAW live events after Christmas, as well as a SmackDown live event on December 30th. Below are the live events that Cena is currently scheduled for:

* Tue. Dec 26: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (RAW)

* Wed. Dec 27: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (RAW)

* Fri. Dec 29: Times Union Center, Albany, NY (RAW)

* Sat. Dec 30: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL (SmackDown)

As noted, Cena was advertised for The Survivor Series in November. WWE has since removed Cena from advertising for the show, so it appears as if Cena will not be returning to WWE until the end of the year.

Everything seemed to be relatively normal in WWE, then one day Austin Aries showed up with a banana in his pocket. It became a signature feature for Aries, and he never offered an explanation for the banana until now. In the latest episode of The Tomorrow Show, Aries said it all started during the 2016 WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony.

"I'm just going to say this about the banana. The Hall Of Fame is long, okay? And I saw lots of people dressed to impress that night. Lots of nice suits. Lots of nice dresses. Let me tell you something, about three and a half hours in, I guarantee about 40 percent of that audience wished they had a banana in their pocket instead of a pocket square, because I got famished," Aries explained. "I was running low on some energy, and that pocket square wouldn't do me any good. But I got a nice little shot of some natural sugars and potassium, and then I just used my sleeve to wipe my mouth off. And I didn't need the pocket square. So sometimes the thing comes in handy in a pinch. You never know."
Link with more highlights: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1004/632781/austin-aries-reveals-where-the-banana-idea-came-from/


Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview with TMZ, John Cena stated he has no desire to ever retire from the WWE since he considers the company as a family to him. http://www.tmz.com/2017/10/04/john-cena-never-retire-wwe-family/
Eddie Kingston announced on Twitter he has recently left Impact Wrestling.
UK's Daily Mail had a recent interview with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows talking about who they want to join The Club, their goals in the WWE, and their careers in Japan. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1004/632800/luke-gallows-and-karl-anderson-on-who-they-would-add-to-the-club/
Gamespot had a recent interview with Bobby Roode talking about being on Smackdown, WWE stars he wants to face in the near future, and Asuka going to RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1004/632798/bobby-roode-on-asuka-continuing-her-dominance/



Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Various News: SmackDown Dark Matches, Angle as Col. Sanders, Ric Flair. (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-news-smackdown-dark-matches-angle-as-col-sanders-ric-flair/)
Daniel Bryan Helping Kane Campaign For Mayor (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/daniel-bryan-helping-kane-campaign-for-mayor/)
WWE News: Matt Hardy Tease, Alicia Fox “Embarrassed” of Career, Baszler (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-another-matt-hardy-tease-alicia-fox-embarrassed-of-career-shayna-baszler/)

[Maluco]

That hell in a cell card is awful

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Classic WCW Nitro Moment:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/584f15fccd0f688bd1ae99a0/584f16111b631b5affc353f6/1481578042778/Sting+ziplines+into+ring.gif?format=750w

Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Brian Pillman. I will be doing a podcast with Chris Jericho that drops tomorrow on the Talk is Jericho show covering Pillman.

In addition, it was announced today that a biography called Crazy Like a Fox: The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later" will be released later this month on Amazon. The book covers Pillman's personal and professional life with interviews with members of the Pillman family, myself, Kim Wood (a former coach of the Cincinnati Bengals who was like his father figure), Bruce Hart Raven, Jim Cornette, Mark Madden and Les Thatcher.

The next WWE media investors call will be Thursday, 10/26 at 11 a.m. with Vince McMahon, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios. The WWE will announce the network subscriber number as of 9/30 at the call.

WWE bringing back War Games for NXT Takeover next month was reportedly a late decision.

Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that the original plan for next month's Takeover main event was Drew McIntyre defending his NXT Championship against Adam Cole. Also originally scheduled for the show was SAnitY defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish.

The War Games match, which hasn't been used since an episode of WCW Monday Nitro in 2000, will feature NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe) vs. Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish). Also at NXT Takeover, NXT Champion Drew McIntyre will defend his title against Andrade "Cien" Almas in the co-main event.

NXT TakeOver: WarGames takes place on November 18th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

According to Deadline, Batista has partnered up with STX Entertainment to star in and produce a new action-comedy franchise. No other details were given on the upcoming project. Batista most recently appeared in Blade Runner 2049, which will be released in the U.S. tomorrow.
Link to the article: http://deadline.com/2017/10/dave-bautista-stx-action-comedy-franchise-guardians-of-the-galaxy-blade-runner-2049-1202182825/

Chris Jericho said he's asked all the time what his favorite match is from his career and his pick is against Shawn Michaels at No Mercy in 2008. Including the build-up, the match itself, and the finish, Jericho put it at number one.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ4JbVBFErg/

WWE has a new poll asking fans which Superstar has done the most to grow the Women's Evolution - Charlotte Flair, Sasha Bank, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Emma, RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Asuka, The Bella Twins, SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya or other. As of this writing, 28% voted for Flair while 20% went with Banks, 14% voted for The Bellas, 11% for Bliss, 7% for Asuka and 7% for other. The rest received 4% or less.

The WWE 24 special on Bill Goldberg will premiere on the WWE Network after RAW goes off the air on Monday, November 13th. Below is a preview for the special.
Announcement by WWE: https://twitter.com/wwenetwork/status/916053037235412992 , Link to the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJofJhxCY4

Due to the problems with the earthquake, the 9/29 and 10/1 Arena Mexico shows, as well as the 9/30 Arena Coliseo show, were canceled. The Mexico City government gave CMLL permission to start running again regularly on 10/3.

The 10/3 return to Arena Mexico also drew poorly, barely 1,000 fans as people just aren’t ready to return to regularly going to wrestling. The feeling is that it’ll be a while that business will remain down due to the problems in the city. Tourists aren’t coming to Mexico right now and those who are coming aren’t going to wrestling, and that’s a lot of their crowd and people aren’t attending any events in the city in large numbers yet.

There will be casting being done on 10/20 and 10/21 with a TV pilot for what is being called a television show similar to Raw and Smackdown, but it will have an element of Lucha Libre to it. The casting call said that there will be a lot of outside the ring segments so they are looking for experienced actors. From what we understand, the people behind the promotion are Aroluxe, which formerly did the production and also for a time were funding TNA. Aroluxe is the company with Ron & Don Harris & Jason Brown in charge. The mentality behind it is that Lucha Underground was a strong concept but done wrong in the sense it was aimed at the English speaking audience primarily, and that this would be a Lucha Libre product with the attempt to sell it to Spanish language television. The production company is looking for both pro wrestlers and actors who have some pro wrestling experience.

The idea is to use experienced wrestlers who are good flyers and workers, and use a few actors to do scenes with them with the idea of replicating the success of Dario Cueto ... They will be filming the pilot in December, probably in Nashville, and hope for a 2018 pickup and to run a promotion from there, which would include house shows. One of the ideas is the feeling was that Lucha Underground wasn’t going to continue so that they could go after all of that talent as the nucleus for a new group, but Lucha Underground isn’t completely dead, even though a large percentage of its talent wants to be released from their contracts since they haven’t gotten paid since last summer. Those with no pro wrestling experience have to have acting experience, be athletic, and willing to train ...

The company involved is not named but the hint out was that it claims it has run both television shows and pay-per-view live that have run both nationally and internationally (they were behind TNA shows). The punch line to all this is they are interested in hiring Vince Russo as a television writer, for a Lucha Libre show aimed at the Hispanic audience.

Right now it looks like Lucha Underground may continue, but with much a much smaller budget. Eric Van Wagenen was on Afterbuzz TV and asked about the future of the show. He said he didn’t have any hard news but said it was a better than even chance there would be a season four and said that he expects a decision to come from El Rey sometime over the next month. Wagenen said that El Rey has a certain time frame to announce the renewal before they would lose the rights to the show and if that was the case, then they would shop it elsewhere. Making a new deal won’t be easy, as noted by the fact that since season one, they haven’t made a Spanish language deal and season one was viewed far more by the Spanish station (Unimas) than El Rey. His explanation is that MGM and El Rey have different opinions on the costs of the show. The reality of this is that El Rey wants the show, and they will pay something for the show, but nowhere near enough to actually fund the show. Up to this point, nobody has been willing to come through and fund the next season.

The people who funded seasons two and three aren’t willing to put more money into it. He didn’t say this, but word of talks broke about two weeks ago that they have some funding to do a fourth season, but it is nowhere near the money they had in the past, which means lots of budget cutting will have to be done. Regarding the talent appearing on Impact, he said that was Dorian Roldan’s call (not mentioning him by name) and said he was at first against it, but is now no longer negative because since they aren’t giving the talent work right now and hope that everyone can get work elsewhere. Obviously that explains their ability to work with Impact in allowing talent to appear

Meltzer noted that many of the stars that he's spoken to that are under contract with Lucha Underground want their release. Ricochet told Sports Illustrated in July that even though his contract with the company expired, his no-compete doesn't expire until 90 days after the conclusion of the third season.

"My contract finished last June," Ricochet told Sports Illustrated. "I'm on the no-compete for the rest of Lucha Underground's season three, then I have 90 days after that. I can be on any TV as long as it's not American TV. I can work indies, I can do iPPVs, most anything, really, just not on American TV. I'm not sure about a Season 4 with Lucha Underground. I'm busy until October, and I might take November off to heal up again. I really want to work on my diet and get myself in the best shape possible."
Link to the interview from July: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/07/25/ricochet-rey-mysterio-xwa-providence-diary

Even though The WWE did not contact or threaten them on it, The Young Bucks are going to dump the “suck it” stuff from their marketing. The cease & desist letter from WWE led to, just a few days later, them coming up with a “Cease and Desist” T-shirt showing them doing the hand gesture with censored being written over it, and then on the bottom saying “TOO SW#%T!” When they put the shirts for sale on 9/29, it led to the most first day sales of any t-shirt they had ever released and even though it was released with only two days left in September, it was the most purchased T-shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees for the month

The plan now is for Impact to tape from major markets with multiple shows in a row, such as New York, Toronto or Chicago, although many are skeptical of them taping outside of Canada. They are getting tax breaks for filming in Canada and the expense of New York or Chicago would be high for a company that right now isn’t in the position where they can make any money and is trying to cut budgets as much as they can. The company got itself into major financial trouble the last time it started taping on the road, but they were going into large arenas, which I don’t see them doing this time, and not doing multiple nights in the same building. Still, the product is cold and selling tickets won’t be easy

While it hasn’t been pushed hard on television, there are plans, or at least were as of two weeks ago, to induct a new Hall of Famer at Bound for Glory. Earlier this year the word got out that it would be James Storm, and given that Storm has been with the company from the start and is still there, and his played every role and done everything imaginable, he’d have been a good choice. The word going around is that it would be someone else

PWInsider reported that Cena will not be getting the part of Shazam! in the upcoming Shazam! movie. They reported Cena met with director David F. Sandberg last month, but is no longer in the running for the part. Dwayne Johnson has been talked about as playing Black Adam, but they reported he would not be in the first Shazam! film

Regarding the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit with C.M. Punk & Colt Cabana, Cabana was on Live Audio Wrestling and said, “The update is that it’s still going on, it’s costing me a lot of money, and that’s the extent that my lawyers will allow me to talk. So nothing breaking here. But just do know that it’s always on my mind. It’s always a very sad thing.” “It’s always in the back of my mind now, which is a little upsetting. But that’s the way of the world, I guess.


Some other sheet news include:

Recent episode of Ring Rust Radio podcast show had Ted Dibiase as the guest talking about what he wants people to remember the most about his career, origins of the Million Dollar Man gimmick, and Bobby Heenan. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1005/632829/ted-dibiase-on-vince-mcmahon-creating-the-the-million-dollar-man/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Kane's debut in the WWF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLT_1nySIsw
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Shinsuke Nakamura currently has the highest win percentage all-time in WWE history at 92.6% with El Torito in 2nd place at 91.8%. This only counts main roster matches and not anything from NXT or other development brands. http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers-with-highest-wwwf-wwf-wwe-win-percentages.html
Sami Callihan is currently rumored to be leaving Lucha Underground for Impact Wrestling within the near future, according to the Wrestling Observer.



Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE News: HHH Misses NXT, WWE/India, CFO$ Interview, Total Bellas (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-hhh-misses-nxt-wweindia-cfo-interview-total-bellas-ratings/)
John Cena No Longer Advertised for Survivor Series, Brock Lesnar Now Is (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/cena-no-longer-advertised-for-survivor-series-but-lesnar-now-is/)
Spoilers: NXT TV Taping Results – Oct. 4, 2017 – Four Weeks of Shows (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/spoilers-nxt-tv-taping-results-oct-4-2017-four-weeks-of-shows/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

Put the WWE Title on Nakamura and emphasize that fact. Point out that he is the best win-loss ratio in WWE history and keep him fucking strong.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Yummy brand Eli Drake Cakes now available at your local TNA/Impact/GFW/Impact store:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/abbd6c2c942a7d1678b709ffd3b60441/tumblr_oxdxg6R83W1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The Talking Audiobooks Podcast is teaming up with Novel Audio to give away 10 copies of the audiobook version of 'Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling' by Jim Ross and Paul O'Brien. Click here to enter. The deadline is 12:00 PM on November 6. Worldwide entries accepted.
Link for those interested: http://talkingaudiobooks.podbean.com/e/october-bonus-giveaway-slobberknocker-my-life-in-wrestling-by-jim-ross/

WWE is working on a new series for the WWE Network titled 365, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

The concept of the series is to review a year in the career of a WWE talent in a documentary style presentation. We are told the first episode of the series will focus on Kevin Owens, reviewing his career from 2016 to present.

The first episode is slated to debut following the 2017 Survivor Series PPV on Sunday 11/19.

Three matches have been added to the 10/15 ROH iPPV from Chicago: Flip Gordon vs Will Ospreay, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Kushida & Cheeseburger and Toru Yano vs. Colt Cabana.

ROH has also announced that Darryl Takahashi will be at every Global Wars show next week.

Also new announced for 10/14 in Columbus, OH is Daniels & Kazarian vs. Jonathan Gresham & Jay White, 10/13 in Pittsburgh with Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Young Bucks vs. Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan for the ROH tag titles, Daniels & Kazarian vs. Trent Baretta & Chucky T, and Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page vs. Josh Woods vs. Matt Taven vs, Kushida vs. Kenny King with the winner getting a shot at the TV title that night unless King wins the match.

Friday's "Flashback Friday" features the theme of "Friday the 13th"

At 3 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from February 13, 2009 with the following description: "Jeff Hardy makes his return to address his sibling rivalry and quest to reclaim gold. Plus, a Fatal 4-Way Match main event and more!"

At 4:30 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from November 13, 2009 which has the following description: "Y2J and The Undertaker meet one-on-one for the first time. Rey Mysterio and Batista sign the contract for their upcoming match."

At 6 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from August 13, 2010 which features the following description: "World Heavyweight Champion Kane faces Kofi Kingston. Rey Mysterio battles Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler in the main event."

At 7:30 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from September 13, 2013 which has the following description: "Big Show deals with the repercussions of defying Triple H on Raw. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton exchange verbal jabs on The Cutting Edge."

At 9 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from June 13, 2014 which has the following description: "WWE COO Triple H promises to update the WWE Universe regarding the WWE Championship Ladder Match at Money in the Bank."

At 10:30 PM Eastern, it will be the following episode of " Swerved": "Boogeyman and Big Show experience technical difficulties, Rosa's patience gets tested, and Superstars sit down for a stinky lunch."

At 11 PM Eastern, it will be the Beyond the Ring presentation of " Sting: Into the Light".

At 12 AM Eastern on Saturday, it will be live stream debut of World-Class Championship Wrestling TV from October 13, 1984 which has the following description: "Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams take on Gino Hernandez and Jake Roberts. Plus, Buck Zumhofe, Tony Torres, and many more in action!"
This is for next week's Flashback Friday episode set.

Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions have registered to trademark "Impact Grand Champion".

The 10/5 edition of Impact did 251,000 overnight viewers, from last week's 264,000 overnight viewers.

With WCW Thunder and Sunday Night Heat being indefinetly held up from being added to the WWE Network, we are told that the company is planning for the reality series era of WWE NXT to follow World Class Championship Wrestling onto the VOD component of the streaming service. Those episodes would feature Daniel Bryan's official debut for the company (which, if you've read his autobiography, he wasn't thrilled about during that time period) as well as the introduction of a lot of talent including Heath Slater, AJ Lee, Titus O'Neil, Kaitlyn, David Otunga, Wade Barrett, a pre-EC3 Derrick Bateman and a pre-Bray Wyatt Husky Harris.

The NWA social media posted the following teaser of footage of NWA champion Tim Storm in advance of his appearance on this week's Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. As Dave Lagana explained in an interview this past Monday in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, this would be the beginning of the story for the NWA under its new ownership:

VIDEO TEASER!

See it first on our new IG and YouTube.

Instagram - https://t.co/c4S0pV1sci

YouTube - https://t.co/f0qSQoXyOC pic.twitter.com/jHVndunpzu
— NWA Wrestling (@NWAWrestling) October 6, 2017

Above is the latest WWE Network Pick of the Week with Asuka promoting her new WWE Network Collection. The Empress of Tomorrow says the RAW division is not ready for her and every Superstar in the division needs to watch her Collection to see their future. The undefeated Superstar is set to make her main roster debut at WWE TLC on October 22nd.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igL191aKwak

The next top indie star expected to sign with WWE is Fred Yehi, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion and FIP World Heavyweight Champion lost a Cruiserweight Classic qualifying match to TJ Perkins back in 2016.

WWE has already released a new T-shirt called “Thrwish Thyborg” showing a photo of Cesaro from No Mercy with his front teeth jammed up into his gums, with the idea with no teeth he would talk with a lisp and that’s how Swiss Cyborg would sound
Link to the shirt: https://shop.wwe.com/cesaro-thwith-thyborg-t-shirt/7Y1001.html

There is no doubt Enzo was a key as the 9/26 205 Live show was up to seventh place last week in the most watched shows on the network. Usually 205 Live is around the same level as the NXT show from the prior week (which was 16th) and is always behind WrestleMania, which is beat this week. The top ten shows were: 1. No Mercy; 2. NXT from 9/27; 3. 1997: Dawn of the Attitude Era; 4. Storytime episode three; 5. Storytime episode two; 6. Hell in a Cell 2016; 7. 205 Live; 8. The NXT episode from a few years ago featuring Asuka’s debut; 9. Asuka undefeated streak; 10. WrestleMania


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Bruno Sammartino celebrated his 82nd birthday today.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 4th anniversary of the Rhodes vs Shield tag match at Battlegrounds 2013. https://twitter.com/ProWrestlingMag/status/916287739485618177
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had the Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about Brian Pillman as part of the 20th anniversary of his passing. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Pillman-20YearsLater
WWE and IGN recently partnered together on a Marvel vs Capcom Infinite tournament. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=43&v=p3KnFxxW-gU
For fans of AVGN, the Nerd recently had an episode dedicated to mostly terrible NES and SNES/Gensis era wrestling games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=592&v=OOwfl8yY7nc
Newest survey from the WWE asks fans on their feedback towards certain stars on the roster in terms of category ratings and overall familiarity with them. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112748/wwe-seeks-feedback-on-their-talent-from-fans.html?p=1
Website Give Me Sports had a recent interview with Lita discussing a possible tag team title for the women's division, working on the Mae Young Classic, and if she wants to join the Hardys again. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1006/632857/lita-comments-on-rumors-of-a-new-wwe-title/
During a recent episode of the Dan Lebatard show with Dana White as the guest, White revealed Brock Lesnar's current WWE contract doesn't end after Wrestlemania 34 but instead August 2018.



Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Various News: Next WWE Indie Signing, Brian Pillman, Young Bucks / Suck It (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-news-next-wwe-indie-signing-young-bucks-suck-it-pillman-anniversary/)
WWE News: Roode Almost Had Different Theme + Natalya / Total Divas (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-bobby-roode-almost-had-different-theme-natalya-likes-nia-alexa-and-carmella/)
Impact Results – Oct. 5, 2017 – Impact vs. AAA (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/impact-results-oct-5-2017-impact-vs-aaa/)

[Mr. Nerfect]

God, that Cesaro shirt is awful. "Swiss Cyborg" is a cool nickname though.

[#1-norm-fan]

Not only is that an insanely dumb idea... That is not even close to what "Swiss Cyborg" would sound like with a lisp. Jesus.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just have to say: I really fucking hate Eli Drake. I don't know if another personality has ever rubbed me the wrong way as much as he does. He's the perfect example of how you can have mic skills but absolutely no charisma. His catchphrases are not catchy -- they fucking suck. It's annoying he would lampoon his own and think that it's witty. You came up with them and then though of words that rhyme?

Fucking hell, sorry, I just really hate the guy. Actually, it's probably babyface Miz Host of SmackDown bad. It's that completely phony, club promoter, "I think I'm really cool," being loud means you're funny cunt-up of a fucking personality. I would pay money not to watch him. He is an anti-draw to me.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Who is it here that likes him? Simple Fan? Fuck you, Simple Fan. This is one case where you're not allowed to like what you like. He is measles in human form. Fuck anyone that would allow him to spread. Get your kids vaccinated. Turn off on Eli Drake.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Do we have a thread for wrestlers we just really hate irrationally. I want to ramble more about Eli Drake. Just look at him:

http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/003/670/592/ba385bdf7ab34213056b2defccda8e3e_crop_north.jpg?h=533&w=800&q=70&crop_x=center&crop_y=top

He looks like every insecure dude who hits his 30's, starts losing his hair, so hits the gym and takes cocaine to substitute for a personality. Then he comes off as urgent and needy to women and he can't understand why they won't fuck him because he works so hard at the gym and thinking of pick-up lines.

I mean he might genuinely be a sweetheart in real life. Good for him landing a job and whatever. I just fucking hate his guts and I'd cancel any television show he ever appeared on, even if it did have The Rock on it. And I'd burn them in a trash can. Any money he gets paid to be a professional wrestler is money that starving kids in Africa don't see. I want people to remember that when they hear him go "Dummy! Yeah!" five times until it catches on to the mike adamles in Florida that go along to that shit-show that they are supposed to repeat this crap too.

Fuck Eli Drake and fuck everyone that has ever invited him to a party so he thinks he's cool.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Eli Drake is like bad Alex Riley. And I have accepted that Alex Riley was not good. I was wrong about that. But give me A-Ry until I'm neck-deep in the Pacific Ocean's rising levels than five minutes of Eli Drake being the absolutely worst personality ever. I'd rather smear Vegemite on my balls until the yeast starts to burn through my actual testes, leaving me infertile and smelling like a lunchbox than know he is going to be on a show in the same town as me. The knowledge that he is there would ruin my life.

Am I making it clear how much I do not like Eli Drake?

[#1-norm-fan]

Goddamn. Tell us how you really feel, Noid.

[RP]

Noid's girlfriend was obviously fucked by Eli Drake.

[Lock Jaw]

I have literally never heard of Eli Drake before now.

[Droford]

Who was better

Eli Drake
Eli Cottonwood
Eli Blu

[Mr. Nerfect]

Noid's girlfriend was obviously fucked by Eli Drake.

Eli Drake couldn't fuck my girlfriend with Fandango's dick.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Who was better

Eli Drake
Eli Cottonwood
Eli Blu

Holy shit, what a selection. Has there ever been a good wrestler with the same "Eli?" Might make for an interesting discussion: Worst wrestling name. Like, statistically, which names generate shitty wrestlers and which ones generate good wrestlers. I imagine that "Chris" is probably the best wrestling name.

Eli Cottonwood had the most potential by the way.

[#1-norm-fan]

I'm just gonna throw this out there...

I've seen very little of Eli Drake but based on what I have seen... He's WAY more entertaining than most of the TNA/Impact/GFW roster.

[#1-norm-fan]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CmI9gGt4H7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Guy seems like a natural

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not acknowledging your attempts to bait me, #1-wwf-fan.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ken Anderson is less annoying than Eli Drake. Ken fucking Anderson.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Although, to find truth in your statement, most of the TNA/GFW/Impact roster does probably suck a big one. Most people got a clue that they're better off working for an indy that they can get plucked by the WWE from. Every left are either no-hopers or guys with histories of domestic violence.

[#1-norm-fan]

Ken Anderson? As in Mr. Anderson??? As in Mr. Kennedy!?!?!?!

Alright, now we're definitely at an impass. Mr. Anderson was fucking great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

For a while. I was his first Fanderson on here. But then it turned out he was the problem.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not going to lie and say I always hated the guy though. I fell for the act for a long while.

[#1-norm-fan]

He got by on his over-the-top personality. Which is the same vibe I get from Drake to a lesser extent. The guy is comfortable and cocky when he talks in a way that isn't all that common nowadays. I can't see people just kinda not caring for him but for someone to HATE him with such passion, especially considering the boring-as-fuck personalities we get up and down the line in wrestling nowadays, seems... odd.

[#1-norm-fan]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gtx3AfSFYCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I WISH more guys could pull off a cocky heel promo like this.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not watching it. I was exposed to an Eli Drake promo once and it scarred me for life. "Dummy! Yeah! Dummy! Yeah!" What the fuck does that even mean? Fuck him. TNA is going down the drain exclusively because of him.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Anyway, that is more anyone has ever talked about Eli Drake in his life, and more than they should. Let's change subject: You know who I wouldn't mind WWE bringing back from that dumpster fire that is TNA? Bobby Lashley. They were pushing him way too hard and there was some resistance to accepting him. But he would no doubt be a lot better now, and have a lot more of an organic personality, surely.

I'd accept Bobby Lashley as my WWE Champion.

[Sepholio]

Noid has a secret man crush on Eli Drake and is feigning hatred to try and subside his true feelings.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That's not true at all. If I develop a man crush on someone I will admit it like a man. Eli Drake couldn't pay for my time if I needed the money for a life-saving operation.

[Cool King]

I have literally never heard of Eli Drake before now.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gtx3AfSFYCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I WISH more guys could pull off a cocky heel promo like this.

Meh, nothing special about it. I wouldn't really call it a "cocky heel promo" though.

Seems pretty generic to me.

[Cool King]

Actually, it was like he was just trying to be Ric Flair and failing.

[Lock Jaw]

I got trying to be Bobby Roode trying to be Ric Flair.

Also, wow.... light/neon green ropes are hideous.......

Also I see Chris Masters is there too now.......

[Cool King]

I was actually originally going to say "Triple H trying to be Ric Flair" but I just went with "Ric Flair".

[Lock Jaw]

Trying to be Bobby Roode trying to be Triple H trying to be Ric Flair

[Cool King]

I look forward to the day when we see someone trying to be Eli Drake trying to be Bobby Roode trying to be Triple H trying to be Ric Flair.

[#1-norm-fan]

Actually, it was like he was just trying to be Ric Flair and failing.

Other than the thing with the jacket, it was more Rock-like.

Point is, he seems more comfortable than most on the mic. Like... the worst you would expect of a reaction toward the guy is "Meh. Not a fan." Not "I want him to die a slow death."

[KIRA]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CmI9gGt4H7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Guy seems like a natural

Ugh ok I get it. He feels and looks like the worst parts of Batista and test combined and obtained a body.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Other than the thing with the jacket, it was more Rock-like.

Point is, he seems more comfortable than most on the mic. Like... the worst you would expect of a reaction toward the guy is "Meh. Not a fan." Not "I want him to die a slow death."

I'm obviously exaggerating. I don't wish genuine harm on another human being. If Eli Drake can prove his humanity, I have no problem with him staying alive.

I'm actually not game to watch those videos. I believed someone who said he was a good promo, and it was absolutely obnoxious (and not in the good way) catchphrases that didn't mean anything. I can see what you mean about The Rock thing, because I remember thinking that it was like they got this guy who was on this show hosted by The Rock and told him to act like Rock, but he has none of the charisma that makes The Rock The Rock.

If he's doing Bobby Roode doing Triple H doing Ric Flair now, more power to him. At least he's not trying to be the most charismatic man on the planet anymore. I mean, I get your appreciation for someone trying, but it's fucking gross. He should try and actually promo to get a point across before he tries and acts like some larger than life personality he can't live up to.

I remember him trying to wrestle like The Rock too. It was fucking hilarious. If Abyss is their like Asylum Films parody of Kane, and Eric Young was their Asylum Films parody of Daniel Bryan, then Eli Drake is their Asylum Films parody of The Rock.

[RP]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gtx3AfSFYCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I WISH more guys could pull off a cocky heel promo like this.

Chris Masters with a weird body, wearing skinny jeans and flooding real hard, is all I see in this video.

[Simple Fan]

Let me talk to ya. Eli Drake is awsome. Has all the confidence that a pro wrestler should. Love those catch phrases and even have his dummy button app.

[Simple Fan]

Who is it here that likes him? Simple Fan? Fuck you, Simple Fan. This is one case where you're not allowed to like what you like. He is measles in human form. Fuck anyone that would allow him to spread. Get your kids vaccinated. Turn off on Eli Drake.

Sorry Noid but he's really my favorite wrestler right now. I mean he's a heel and your not supposed to like him so I guess he's doing something right. Although I believe you are stuck on one promo you heard from the guy when he was on his Dummy button. Has come a ways since then but that was still entertaining stuff. Damn though man, you are really passionate about wrestling and I'd love for you to find something that fits your taste.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I admire your moxie, and I'm glad you get enjoyment out of Eli Drake. I don't though. He doesn't get a good reaction out of me. I will go out of my way to avoid whatever show he is on.

[Simple Fan]

I admire your moxie, and I'm glad you get enjoyment out of Eli Drake. I don't though. He doesn't get a good reaction out of me. I will go out of my way to avoid whatever show he is on.

More power to you, you're not the only one not watching Impact. I doubt Eli Drake is the reason most people don't watch though. He just commands attention and I think that is one of the best qualities a pro wrestler can have. His catchphrases may be cheap and low brow but its better than alot of scripted stuff I see in WWE every week.

[Simple Fan]

By the way I recommend the Eli Drake Dummy Button app. You get the Dummy Yeah button plus other catchphrases and access to fis social media and merchandise of course. It's .99¢ though but can be very entertaining at times.

[#1-norm-fan]

Alright, now Simple Fan's just going the other extreme. lol

[Simple Fan]

Had to push that app. Plus the dude is really entertaining in a time that not alot of wrestlers are.

[Simple Fan]

That last page was great though. Don't know what got Noid on the subject of Eli Drake though but it took up a whole page and I almost missed it.

[Droford]

Holy shit, what a selection. Has there ever been a good wrestler with the same "Eli?" Might make for an interesting discussion: Worst wrestling name. Like, statistically, which names generate shitty wrestlers and which ones generate good wrestlers. I imagine that "Chris" is probably the best wrestling name.

Eli Cottonwood had the most potential by the way.
Ric/Rick/Ricky
Flair Rude Steamboat Steiner Martel Morton

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just saw that gif at the top of one of the posts, lol. Ric/Rick/Ricky is a good shout out for great wrestling names.

[Lock Jaw]

John Cena
John Bradshaw Layfield
John Morrison
Johnny Curtis
Johnny Gargano
Johnny Ace
Just John

[Mr. Nerfect]

John Cena
John Bradshaw Layfield
John Morrison
Johnny Curtis
Johnny Gargano
Johnny Ace
Just John

One of those names does not belong. And it's not Curtis.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Who is Just John? Did you mean Just Joe?

[Juan]

Lol

[Fignuts]

Noid is correct. Johnny Ace hasn't been an active competitor in decades.

[Evil Vito]

Eli Drake couldn't fuck my girlfriend with Fandango's dick.

What if you had the opportunity to spit roast Becky Lunch with Johnny Curtis and all you had to do was watch a 5 minute Eli Drake match first?

[Lock Jaw]

Who is Just John? Did you mean Just Joe?

Close enough

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev's Quest to get Orton to Celebrate Happy Rusev Day:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/9dab9cb2a08be4653a02ca9571b74814/tumblr_oxa92weKrS1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Even with competition coming from both Monday Night Football and the Major League Baseball playoffs, The Shield reunion and Enzo Amore look to have provided a strong 1-2 combination for WWE in the ratings.

Last night's show did 2.89 million viewers, a 4.6 percent increase from last week on a show that, based on the competition, figured to do the lowest mark of the fall.

The big news, and this is attributable to Amore, is that the third hour, at 2.71 million viewers, didn't drop nearly as much as expected and was ahead of the last few weeks. The third hour was promoted with Amore vs. Kalisto for the Cruiserweight title, which Kalisto won in an impromptu decision, as the focal point ...

The key to the third hour was the much lower level of women tuning out than has been usual for the show, and a big increase in teenage boys from hour two to three to almost compensate for the loss of the over-50 audience, WWE's largest viewing audience, which fell nine percent from hour two to hour three.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.01 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.89 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.71 million viewers

Somehow Enzo being in the main event for 3 weeks straight has lead to the 3rd hour doing better than the previous week. Not even Reigns had this type of consistency for the 3rd hour.

There were a number of changes made to the Raw script over the course of last night's Raw. The original plan was to feature a Three-Way between Emma, Nia Jax and Alicia Fox, where the winner would face Asuka at the TLC PPV. Then, the decision was made to move that match to next week's show and hold a six woman tag. Then, the decision was made to have a Five Way instead and hold it this week so the company could better promote Asuka's debut on the go-home show.

As we reported last night, the original plan to headline the show was for Neville challenging Enzo Amore, but that was changed to Kalisto instead.

Anthem Media announced today the launch of the Global Wrestling Network, a service that Ed Nordholm had discussed several weeks back on Wrestling Observer Radio.

While TNA Impact would be the major library used, the network will also use tape libraries that are owned by The Fight Network, including several years worth of Wrestling at the Chase from St. Louis, and a collection of tapes that aired on Canadian PPV produced by Aaron Weiss of some older promotions. In addition, there will be other Canadian independent content including Border City Wrestling, the promotion run by Scott D'Amore.

The company announced the service would debut with 1,000 hours of content at GlobalWrestlingNetwork.com. There is a 30-day free trial available and the price point after that is $7.99 per month

The service will be available on iOS and Android platforms and they state it will be coming soon to Roku, Xbox, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV.

The service will also include the weekly episodes of Impact after they first air on television in the United States, Canada, and the UK, as well as episodes of Xplosion and weekly digital content produced for the service.

Small warning to those interested since the service itself might still be vulnerable with handling personal info.

Following King of Pro Wrestling, NJPW has announced the first three matches for their next big event.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defending his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Kota Ibushi will main event Power Struggle at the Edion Arena in Osaka on November 5th. That match once appeared to be a possibility for King of Pro Wrestling after Ibushi challenged Tanahashi, but they were involved in a tag team match at that show.

Ibushi defeated Tanahashi in this summer's G1 Climax to set up him challenging for the title at Power Struggle.

Will Ospreay's first defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title will be at Power Struggle as he faces a familiar rival in Marty Scurll, with Toru Yano set to challenge Minoru Suzuki for the NEVER Openweight Championship at the show as well. Both of those title matches were set up at KOPW.

NJPW has yet to reveal the full lineup for Power Struggle, but it will also feature the finals of this year's Super Junior Tag Team Tournament. KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato, Sho & Yoh, Dragon Lee & Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH, and Taka Michinoku & Taichi will be the teams in the tournament.


On a conference call, Roman Reigns seemed to take a shot at The Young Bucks by saying that WWE doesn’t need guys running around doing Too Sweets and acting like they’re DX from 15 years ago. Reigns said that they need original characters and that they’re trying to create something new. The comment came after Reigns had discussed his in-ring programs with Strowman and him as a wrestler. Matt Jackson responded to what Reigns said, noting that he was disappointed a current top guy would say what he did: “You expect old-timers/shock jocks to bury you, but not current, young, top-guys that you respect. Disappointing. #usVSthem”

In a report that should be taken with a grain of salt, the Irish Sun reported that Conor McGregor is in talks to do a match at next year’s WrestleMania.
Might end up as the most expensive guest appearance in Mania history unless WWE gets him for very cheap. Current record is Mayweather since his rumored cost was around $20 million for Mania 24. Link to the report: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4650041/conor-mcgregor-wwe-wrestlemania/

Daryl Takahashi, Hiromu Takahashi’s stuffed cat, is now married to another cat named Carol.

The Ric Flair/Sting/Ricky Steamboat Table for 3, which disappeared when Flair had his health issues last August, is now slated for a December airing on the WWE Network.

The Kevin Owens documentary that will look at a year in his life will air under the title WWE 365.

The Hardy Boys and Breezango each recently filmed footage for WWE Ride Along on the WWE Network.

PWInsider.com broke several weeks ago that Bradley Cooper had been offered the role of Vince McMahon in Tristar Pictures' Pandemonium, the life story of WWE's Chairman and CEO.

According to a source intimately familiar with the project, Cooper is awaiting an updated version of the film's screenplay before making a decision on whether to take on the role.

The current plans are to begin filming in the Spring of 2018, but that is contingent on getting casting and a final, approved shooting script in place.
Some more details about the film: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112804/exclusive-vince-mcmahon-movie-update.html?p=1

There’s a rumor going around stating Neville requested his release from WWE last night … and while we haven’t been able to confirm it quite yet, here’s what we know.

Sources say Neville was initially scheduled to lose to Enzo Amore in the main event lumberjack match on Raw. However, plans changed after the ex-cruiserweight champion walked out before the show.

In case you missed it, Kalisto was given the spot instead and won the Cruiserweight title.

While our sources haven’t been able to confirm this information officially, an account using the handle @WrestleVotes tweeted today saying Neville quit and most people we’ve spoken with say there does appear to be some truth in that claim.

It’s worth noting that not all wrestlers who ask for a release are immediately granted their request.



Some other sheet news includes:

Sports Illustrated had a recent report about the making of Ric Flair's 30 For 30 Film. https://www.si.com/tech-media/2017/10/08/ric-flair-nature-boy-30-30-documentary
Both Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas are rumored to be dealing with unknown issues at the moment, according to the Wrestling Observer.
Jim Cornette and Santino Marella ended up getting into an altercation at convention event in Michigan over the weekend. Cornette also currently dealing with backlash regarding pulling out his wiener in front of a crowd during a live Bruce Pritchard show in Detroit.
For those interested, PWG's Battle of Los Angeles 2017 tournament is currently available for purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray at website Highspots.com.
Website Pop Culture had a recent interview with Jim Ross talking about if WWE should make changes to Reigns' push as the next mega-star and which floundering star on RAW will be the next to get a title push. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1009/632941/jim-ross-on-if-wwe-should-change-roman-reigns-push/
Both Aiden English and Vickie Guerrero recently celebrated the memory of Eddie Guerrero on what would have been his 50th birthday yesterday. English also gave thanks to Eddie for having a wonderful daughter, Shaul Guerrero, who became his wife last year. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1009/632940/aiden-english-and-vickie-guerrero-remember-eddie-guerrero/


Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Billy Corgan Has Plans for Free Weekly NWA Show (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/billy-corgan-announces-free-weekly-nwa-show/)
WWE SmackDown Results – Oct. 10, 2017 – Corbin vs. Styles (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-smackdown-results-oct-10-2017-corbin-vs-styles/)
WWE News: Unseen HIAC Match, Birthdays, Bayley / Nintendo (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-unseen-hiac-match-birthdays-bayley-nintendo/)

[Emperor Smeat]

So after doing some quick reading, turns out GFW legit didn't bother to fix the vulnerability from the first time their Network-like service briefly launched. Until a few hours ago, anyone who put in payment details had their personal info exposed due to the payment system not being secure.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GWN is a non-secure Wordpress site <a href="https://t.co/QAu5asDR5J">pic.twitter.com/QAu5asDR5J</a></p>&mdash; Brandon Howard (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/917778180852932610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey there - SSL is now installed on GWN, and payment processing and CC information were already being handled securely via PayPal. Enjoy!</p>&mdash; GWN (@GWNapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/GWNapp/status/917887920459087872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Simple Fan]

Checked it out. Didn't sign up for anything and only downloaded the app. Has a bunch of Border City Wrestling episodes and a few other Indy promotions. Without signing up though only thing I could watch was Impact recaps and Xplosion episodes.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Steamboat's Artistic Combat Selling Skills:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/59dd533a6f4ca3809697f6a4/1507677055659/Rick+Rude+sledge+to+Ricky+Steamboat.gif?format=750w

With no big sports competition and coming off the curiosity following Sami Zayn making the save for Kevin Owens at Hell in a Cell, ratings for last night's SmackDown were up by six percent as the show did 2.467 million viewers.

Jimmy Jacobs, who had been a writer with WWE, is no longer with the company.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported the news earlier today and we were able to confirm it with multiple sources.

The reason behind Jacobs being let go was that he posted a photo on Instagram taken at the Raw show in Ontario, California with The Young Bucks, Adam Page, and Marty Scurll. This came when the Bullet Club was doing a mock invasion of Raw for their "Being the Elite" YouTube show.

Jacobs captioned the photo with, "Pleasant surprise to see old friends in lovely California. #BCInvasion #RAW #youngbucks #bulletclub #villian #hangmanpage #WWE"

Several WWE wrestlers had actually appeared on Being the Elite in recent times, including Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and AJ Styles making cameo appearances on an episode that was released in August, but the situation clearly changed when the reaction to the mock invasion wasn't taken well by WWE.

Link to the report from Pro Wrestling Sheet: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/jimmy-jacobs-leaves-wwe/#.Wd6hU2hSxPY

The future of Neville in WWE seems to be uncertain.

Sources confirmed to us that Neville walked out before Raw on Monday and appeared to have quit the promotion, though WWE has officially denied that he's quit. Monday's Raw featured Kalisto winning the Cruiserweight Championship from Enzo Amore in a lumberjack match, with Neville not appearing as one of the lumberjacks. He also wasn't on 205 Live this week.

Today would have been Dusty Rhodes’ 72nd birthday. Both Cody and Dustin Rhodes posted happy birthday messages to their father on Twitter.
Cody tweet: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/918178344738402304 , Goldust tweet: https://twitter.com/Goldust/status/918114490834673664 . Vince also sent a tweet honoring Dusty Rhodes: https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon/status/918144261736030208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Young Bucks received their licensing contracts for the Bullet Club Funko Pops that will be available at Hot Topic next year.

Tickets are now on sale for EVOLVE 94 this Saturday at 6 PM in Queens, NY at La Boom and EVOLVE 95 this Sunday at 6 PM in East Haven, CT. Order tickets now at Ticketfly or watch on WWNLive.com

EVOLVE 94 is headlined by Matt Riddle defending his WWN Championship in a Last Man Standing match against challenger Keith Lee. EVOLVE Champion Zack Sabre Jr will face 1/2 of the EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Jake in a Non Title Match. Former Catch Point Team Members Tracy Williams w/ Stokely Hathaway vs Fred Yehi. Also appearing is Darby Allin, Jarek 1:20, Chris Dickinson, Jason Kincaid, Austin Theory, Priscilla Kelly and some debuting new talent.

EVOLVE 95 is headlined by Zack Sabre Jr defending his EVOLVE Championship vs Tracy Williams (if Williams Wins at EVOLVE 94). WWN Champion Matt Riddle in a Non Title Match with Fred Yehi as well as Keith Lee vs Darbin Allin. Also appearing is Austin Theory w/ Priscilla Kelly, Jason Kincaid, Jarek 1:20, EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Chris Dickinson and Jaka and More!

As noted, this week's "Flashback Friday" series of programming on the WWE Network will have a Friday The 13th theme. Below is the current schedule for the live stream:

3pm EST: SmackDown, 2/13/2009: Jeff Hardy makes his return to address his sibling rivalry and quest to reclaim gold. Plus, a Fatal 4-Way Match main event and more! (NEW)

* 4:30pm EST: SmackDown, 11/13/2009: Y2J and The Undertaker meet one-on-one for the first time. Rey Mysterio and Batista sign the contract for their upcoming match. (NEW)

* 6pm EST: SmackDown, 8/13/2010: World Heavyweight Champion Kane faces Kofi Kingston. Rey Mysterio battles Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler in the main event. (NEW)

* 7:30pm EST: SmackDown, 9/13/2013: Big Show deals with the repercussions of defying Triple H on Raw. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton exchange verbal jabs on The Cutting Edge. (NEW)

* 9pm EST, SmackDown: 6/13/2014: WWE COO Triple H promises to update the WWE Universe regarding the WWE Championship Ladder Match at Money in the Bank. (NEW)

As noted, Nigel McGuinness missed the recent WWE No Mercy pay-per-view and last week's WWE 205 Live episode. PWInsider notes that Nigel missed the shows because he was out of the country and reportedly had a commitment that required him to need some time off. Nigel was back to work this week calling 205 Live with Vic Joseph.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently spoke with ESPN to promote his new "Slobberknocker" book at this link. It was noted that today's WWE commentary style is nothing like the sound of the company in 2005 or the late 90's, and that JR has sympathy for the weekly WWE announce teams. He said:

"A lot of folks get angry at today's commentators, but it's how they're produced. It's their skill-set, a lot of them, and it's what is asked of them to perform and to do ... the demands on today's wrestling broadcasters are extensive. The job description of that role has evolved and changed over the years. People can hear, and they can certainly tell that.

"It's changed a lot, and that's due to the fact that there are a lot of producers who are dictating what the product sounds like on the air. It's a different mindset, they were raised differently. They have different values and they perceive things [differently]."


Some other sheet news includes:

Kevin Owens was revealed to be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian Podcast show. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/917911101211402240
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had the Sing Bros as the guests. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/SinghBrothers
Santino Marella recently issued a statement regarding his altercation with Jim Cornette last weekend. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112836/santino-marella-comments-on-cornette-incident.html?p=1
Website SPORTbible had a recent interview with Wade Barrett talking about if he wants to resume his wrestling career, why he left the WWE, and the downfall of his Bad News gimmick. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1011/633026/wade-barrett-on-leaving-wwe/
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast show had Bret Hart as the guest talking about 1997 being his favorite year of his career, WCW killing his desire to continue wrestling, why he hated working with Eric Bischoff in WCW, and making amends with HBK. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1011/633021/bret-hart-on-loser/



Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE News: Small Tozawa “Injury,” New Day 2K18 Unboxing, Lawler/Jericho (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-small-tozawa-injury-new-day-2k18-unboxing-lawlerjericho/)
WWE Clarifies Shane’s Kayfabe “Injury” After Mainstream News Reports (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-clarifies-shanes-kayfabe-injury-after-mainstream-news-reports/)
IPW Pulls Live Events From FloSlam (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/ipw-pulls-live-events-from-floslam/)

[Simple Fan]

Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and AJ Styles have all appeared on Being The Elite but Jacobs gets fired for something on Instagram.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, that Santino statement is hilarious.

"His overall contribution to the industry has been quite damaging and by no means, is he an authority. He was merely tolerated and permitted, by real men, to be around the business during one of the best eras in history. Hey don’t get me wrong I’m not an authority either but I’ve been around great men in this business that truly are and trust me he is NOT on that list."

Followed up with:

"I was not opposed to learning from him, in fact I regret not being able to"

Which one is it?

"Put it this way, when I grow up I wanna be like Vince, but if I ever end up like you, I will consider my life a failure."

"He sh**s on the comedic component and my in ring ability but duh I’m from OVW so he’s actually sh**ting on himself and the company that he partly owns. He’s also sh**ing on his “friends” Rip, Danny, and Al, that all had a hand in my development and training, plus I can list off many great and iconic comedic wrestlers, 1st and foremost however is the late great Bobby Heenan."

That's just the precursor stuff before his account of events, which don't seem to match what you see in the video at all, or include the part about him accusing Jim Cornette of rape.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets Sponsored by the Random John Laurinaitis gif:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/424450566bd69691a793d819294b8ca7/tumblr_oxoy4hHZyY1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

A few updates on the Neville-WWE situation:

*There have been reports that Neville walked out of Raw. That is incorrect. He was never on the road this past weekend as he did not work any of the live events and was not backstage, at any point, during Raw this past Monday. Mustafa Ali worked the Raw house shows, wrestling Enzo Amore, replacing Neville, who was originally slated for those shows.

*The original plan for Raw was Neville vs. Enzo Amore, but that was changed late in the day when it became known Neville would not be at the taping (possibly when everyone was made aware he wasn't going to be there, because there was discussion of making it a non-title match after it was noted Neville technically could "not have" a title shot vs. Enzo), the decision was made to go with Kalisto and put the belt on him as a way to tie him to the legacy of Eddie Guerrero, as it was Guerrero's birthday and he legitimately helped inspire Kalisto to get into professional wrestling.

*According to two different sources, Neville has pushed for a release with the idea of leaving the company and building his name outside of it, similar to what Drew McIntyre did prior to his return to NXT. Obviously, New Japan would be thrilled to have him back and he'd make a killing on the independent and international scene.

*We have been told there were several factors Neville was unhappy with. One source claimed a souring point was being left off of the Wrestlemania 33 DVD, which meant no royalties from what is traditionally the biggest selling WWE DVD of the year.

*Neville is still under contract to the company and has not been released. It is entirely possible the two sides will come to terms and he will return to the company, but as of right now, we are told he is not factored in any of the current plans for the Cruiserweight division or any other WWE brand and is not slated to travel to any house shows.

FITE TV will be broadcasting 15 different live events this weekend from all over the world this weekend, the most in its history. The two big events Rizin from Fukuoka, Japan which starts at 1 a.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Pacific on Saturday night, and features Frank Shamrock vs. Kazushi Sakuraba in a grappling match, and ROH Global Wars at 7 p.m. Sunday with Kenny Omega vs. Yoshi-Hashi for the U.S. title in Chicago.

Sunday's ROH show in Chicago will be before the second largest crowd in the history of the promotion, in excess of 2,400. Tonight's ROH show is sold out in Buffalo but there will be standing room tickets available.

An attempt by WWE performer Thaddeus Bullard (professionally known as Titus O'Neil) to have the lawsuit brought against him by a cameraman that alleges he was injured by Bullard thrown out was denied on 10/12 after the plaintiff, Donald Anderson, filed an amended complaint on 10/2.

The amended lawsuit, seeking $1.2 million in damages, now lists World Wrestling Entertainment as a defendant. The original lawsuit listed only Bullard and 1-300 "John Does" as the defendants.

In the suit, Anderson alleges he was placed into an unsafe environment and was physically attacked by Bullard while filming content for Swerved, WWE Network's Jackass-inspired reality series. The incident in question that Anderson was filming saw WWE talent Paige shocking Bullard with an electric shock stick. The complaint alleges that Bullard became enraged and went after Anderson, kicking his camera out of his hand, leading to injuries on his hand, wrist and fingers to the point he could not work. Anderson also claims in the suit that he was instructed to leave the scene out of fear that O'Neil might go after him again and was "whisked" from the scene.
More details about the situation and lawsuit: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112881/update-on-titus-oneil-lawsuit-wwe-added-as-defendant-by-cameraman-seeking-12-million-in-damages.html?p=1

As of today, WWN still has yet to be served in the lawsuit Flosports Inc has filed against them in Texas. Interesting to note that IPW-UK, the last promotion scheduled to have a live broadcast on that streaming service, announced this week they would no longer work with Flosports, so the future of that service looks to be very dark.

In an email to talent today, Gabe Sapolsky noted the company are mulling over different possibilities for how they will stream their events going forward, but made it clear that WWE Network was not one of the current options, noting he wanted to kill any rumors.

As we noted earlier, the company would be dark for November, so this weekend's events in Queens, NY and East Haddam, Connecticut will be the final EVOLVE events until December with SHINE as the final WWNLive event overall until December. As we noted previously here on PWInsider.com, WWN will be cutting back on events as they had expended to five events a month as part of their deal with Flosports. Financially, there's no way WWNLive cannot be hurting, especially given they claim they are owed months of payments from Flosports.

UFC's Dana White was on Good Day New York this morning and was asked about rumors that Conor McGregor would appear at WrestleMania 34. White said it was not true and he had just been talking to Vince McMahon about it via text. He showed the text from Vince which said, "news to me". The conversation that went along the lines of maybe some day, but not now.
Link to the interview: http://www.fox5ny.com/news/ufc-president-dana-white-shoots-down-mcgregor-rumor

Jacobs had posted the photo on his personal Instagram account and if that was indeed the only reason for his firing, it can't be seen as anything but petty, especially since Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn had all appeared, in person, on the actual YouTube series and lots of WWE talents have posed for photos with talents contracted to others companies on social media.

The difference is those talents are stars, while Jacobs was "just" a writer and there is a culture behind the scenes where if you are seen as trying to get yourself over, when that isn't your role, it backfires on you, even if that wasn't what you were trying to do. I have had a number of WWE sources swear to me that a major reason Brooklyn Brawler was let go after decades of service to the company was his social media usage and other things that put him in the sights of the wrong people in the company who didn't like it, because "that wasn't his role ...

However, there was also a feeling from WWE sources that by going outside during an active TV taping when he was supposed to be working as a writer,Jacobs was seen as "ignoring his job" to get himself and his friends over. One WWE source believed that the while the photo was being used as the reason to fire Jacobs, it wasn't the only issue, noting that he had taken some time off to deal with a personal issue before returning to work this past summer, and that may have put a target on his back.
Some more details about the situation: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112860/jimmy-jacobs-gone-from-wwe-creative-.html?p=1

Above is video of former WWE talent and Mae Young Classic competitor Serena Deeb talking about the WWE NXT locker room and the WWE Performance Center, where she's been working as a guest trainer for the past week. The wrestling veteran says the ambience & energy at the Performance Center is incredible and unlike anything else in wrestling. Deeb also says teaching feels natural to her as she comes from a lineage of teachers.

Deeb says she's been around the business for more than a decade but she's never seen a locker room this powerful & talented. The former Straight Edge Society says the future is in good hands and there's something really special going on in WWE developmental.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo8Cj_KH6zM

Stephanie McMahon spoke at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, and she revealed some details about just how much the WWE Universe impacts the company's strategy.

McMahon, the Chief Brand Officer for the WWE, described how audience feedback can force the company to adjust its plans. She said that plans for WrestleMania are set a year in advance, and then they can be changed based on how the WWE Universe reacts to the storylines.

"Our audience tells us what they love, what they don't like and worse, what they don't care about. And you have to be listening, and in WWE, yes, we do, we pivot on the fly," McMahon said. "It's an advantage that we're live. We do set our storylines out a year in advance, WrestleMania being our Super Bowl and then we program backwards, but things happen. The audience might not be invested in a character that we think they will be invested in for whatever reason. There could be an injury that happens, because we really are an incredible athletic event as well. Anything can happen, so that ability to pivot and twist is really important."
Link with her talking about NXT and interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1012/633042/stephanie-mcmahon-on-what-causes-changes-to-wrestlemania-plans/

In an interesting twist on the situation between WWE and The Young Bucks, the brothers were contacted to do WWE 2K19 work just one day after they received their cease & desist letter from WWE following the recent "invasion" outside of a RAW TV event in California. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the company in charge of the WWE 2K franchise contacted The Bucks to ask them about doing motion capture work for next year's video game. The game creators felt like they needed all of the signature YB moves in the game because so many people playing last year's edition were using the Create-A-Wrestler mode to play as the brothers.

The latest on the future is this. The owners are trying now to make a television deal away from El Rey. Essentially they are shopping the show around hoping that another station will pick it up and pay enough to produce the show at nearly the previous levels. The people who put the money in for the last two seasons are not putting anymore in because the show drove almost no revenue. As noted, El Rey will pay something for programming, but not nearly enough to produce the show at close to the level it as been done at. El Rey and Robert Rodriguez would maintain having an ownership stake if it moves to a new station. The obvious issue is what television station would want a show with a budget of $400,000 per episode that draws 100,000 to 175,000 viewers weekly over two airings, and more importantly, where viewership generally has been down this season and not up, and overall buzz is way down. According to one person close to most of the parties involved, there is a major divide among the management team. On one side, they want to shut the project down, arguing that the costs are too high and after three seasons they’ve never made any money. The feeling on that side is that you know where you stand, the audience isn’t growing, and anything more would be throwing good money after bad. Two key executives are of that belief. On the other side is Eric Van Wagenen, Dorian Roldan and Vampiro, who all believe in the project and feel it just needs time and better exposure to watch on. Alex Garcia and Antonio Cue-Navarro, who put up the money for the last two seasons, have refused to put more money into the project. Right now it appears that unless they can find new funding, or get a new TV station to pay the costs, the choice is to stay on El Rey for a heavily stripped down version or to close it down.

The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in Wichita Falls, TX is under investigation by local police after discrepancies were found in financial records and when board members discovered them, they all resigned. All local members of the board resigned on 8/24. On 10/4, an embezzlement complaint was filed with the Wichita Falls police saying that a review of the monthly bank statements conducted by current and previous board members on 8/30. They found that the Hall of Fame’s bank account was significantly overdrawn and that looking at bank records they found significant expenses that looked to be questionable and found significant spending that was done without board approval nor that the board was even aware of. Some were found to have no correlation with the operations of the Hall of Fame. Former wrestler John Lusk, better known as Cowboy John Mantell, who is the President of the Hall of Fame, said that there were internal issues and they are in the middle of trying to work out their internal problems, but wouldn’t say anything more

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Hell in a Cell; 2. Hell in a Cell post-game show; 3. Hell in a Cell pre-game show; 4. Story Time episode three; 5. Story Time episode four; 6. No Mercy 2017; 7. NXT from 10/4; 8. Story Time episode two; 9. Story Time episode one; 10. WrestleMania 2017. 205 Live was down to 15th place this week, including behind two an Asuka special and a NXT episode from a few years ago that they were pushing on the network which had Asuka’s NXT debut on it, as well as behind this year’s SummerSlam show


Some other sheet news includes:

Card manufacturer Topps recently released a new set of WWE trading cards featuring the past, present, and future of WWE's Women's division.
According to PWI, a new wrestling drama show called "Heels" from Starz Network recently offered CM Punk a role on the show but at the moment the project has been put on indefinite hold by the show's producers due to issues with the project. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/112875/exclusive-cm-punk-tested-for-starring-role-in-starz-drama.html?p=1
According to the Wrestling Observer, Kalisto's reign as Cruiser champ is going to be short since the new long term plan for the division involves Enzo as the champ instead.
Rumor going around the net regarding EVOLVE's "The End" storyline is besides it being the newest big storyline for the company, supposedly its going to lead to Gabe Sapolsky bolting from EVOLVE and WNN in favor of the WWE. Been rumored for a while people in EVOLVE are worried about Sapolsky getting too close to the WWE and being vague about the future of EVOLVE. https://twitter.com/LeakyGabe
Rumor going around the net involves Dean Ambrose versus Seth Rollins for Wrestlemania 34 with Ambrose triggering it by being the one who betrays The Shield this time.



Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: New John Cena Movie Trailer, New Mick Foley Book, EVOLVE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-new-john-cena-movie-trailer-new-mick-foley-book-evolve/)
James Ellsworth Says Carmella Pitched Their Pairing to Vince McMahon (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/james-ellsworth-says-carmella-pitched-their-pairing-to-vince-mcmahon/)
Free New Japan Pro Wrestling Based Horse Racing Game Released (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/free-new-japan-pro-wrestling-based-horse-racing-game-released/)

[Cool King]

http://78.media.tumblr.com/424450566bd69691a793d819294b8ca7/tumblr_oxoy4hHZyY1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Fantastic.