TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread [Archive] - Page 7

Emperor Smeat

10-13-2017, 10:35 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Wrestling Gif ... Well Sort Of:
https://i.imgur.com/8RPOCAj.gif

Dave Meltzer reported in today's daily update that current plans call for Raw's top champion to face SmackDown's top champion in a non-title match at November's dual-branded Survivor Series pay-per-view.

The match would be Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal, with neither the Universal nor WWE Championship on the line. What the card for Survivor Series looks like should be finalized in the coming weeks as both brands will begin building to the show ...

As noted earlier today, it appears that Mahal may still be champion when WWE tours India in December as he's scheduled to defend his title against Kevin Owens at those two shows.

WWE has announced Jinder Mahal's opponent for their two-show tour of India in December.

While doing media in India, Mahal appeared on the set of WWE Sunday Dhamaal (the company's weekly Hindi-language program) to reveal that Kevin Owens would be challenging him for the WWE Championship on the two house shows. Mahal defending against a heel would seem to indicate that he'll be presented as a complete babyface in the country.

The shows will take place at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on December 8th and 9th. Mahal, the Singh Brothers, and Owens will be appearing at them despite it being a Raw-branded tour. Others who have been advertised for the events are Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, The Miz, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.

A first-ever match with Matt Riddle vs. Minoru Suzuki takes place on the 11/10 Revolution Pro Wrestling show in Walthamstow, England.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/918862818266320896

Former TNA Knockouts champion Madison Rayne is at the WWE Performance Center this week.

There has been some talk that WWE had been interested in Rayne since mid-July, when she was backstage at a WWE taping in Nashville, TN.

Rayne quietly departed TNA a few months ago, we are told. It happened so quietly, we never heard about it. She had been working in the creative end of the Knockouts division prior to the Anthem purchase of the company.

Other names spotted recently at the PC include Serena Deeb and Austin Aries.

The 10/12 edition of Impact did 279,000 overnight viewers, up from last week's 251,000 overnight viewers.

WWE is running a tryout this weekend at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Among those there, according to the Squared Circle Sirens website:

*Northeastern independent talent Karen Q.

*Stuntwoman Karleena Gore.

*Fitness model Alexis Kelly.

*Russian independent wrestler Natalia Markova.

The official seating map for the 11/18 NXT Takeover: Wargames event was released on Ticketmaster.com and indeed, it will be a two-ring caged match, the first time in WWE history that has ever happened. We were told by a source that what we will see that night is something of an adapted version of the match with a WWE spin on it, but what that means, I don't know. They are already deviating from the original version of the match in that it will feature three teams.

ROH was in Buffalo, New York for the first night of their Global Wars tour last night. Here's a rundown of the event ...

The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega defeated The Kingdom to retain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team titles ...

After it was over, all of the "Being the Elite" crew celebrated the victory as Omega grabbed the mic. A "Jimmy Jacobs" chant started and The Elite said what's up to him.

Omega talked about how shocked he was at the reception he got tonight. He said he was only suppose to work the Global Wars tour show in Chicago, but supply and demand takes precedence and he goes where he's needed and wanted. Matt Jackson took the mic and mentioned the Bullet Club "invasion" of Raw to a huge pop. He talked about having the freedom to do what he wants and said he won’t get fired for taking a selfie with a friend or fan.

Matt mentioned how we help feed their families before Nick interrupted to say that they'll see their families on Christmas, referencing WWE having Raw live on Christmas this year. That drew a huge "F*ck Vince" chant. Matt said Vince McMahon takes fun away from fans and told the fans to tell Vince what we think -- with the entire audience giving a Too Sweet.

Omega quoted the movie "Braveheart" about never taking away their freedom, then he said goodbye and goodnight to the audience. The Bullet Club's music played and they jumped into the crowd to end the show.

Earlier this month, Alicia Fox did an interview where she mentioned being one of the only women in WWE without any merchandise. Today that changed, as she now has a "Crazy like a fox" T-shirt on WWE Shop. On her Instagram, Fox gave thanks for the new merchandise.
Alicia's announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/BaM6-jwHQqW/

Above is the press conference for IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and this year's G1 Climax winner, Tetsuya Naito. These two will face off in the main event on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

- NJPW also released an English text version with highlights from the press conference. For Okada, he's main evented this show for the past three years, but for Naito, it will be his first.

"I think with the ability I have, and the influence I've attained, it's the natural place for me," Naito said. "You heard it in the reaction last night, and the reactions all over the country. In NJPW, and Japanese wrestling in general, Wrestle Kingdom is the biggest event, and there's nobody better for that main event than Tetsuya Naito and Los Ingobernables De Japon."
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCZ27sHzYv8 , Link to English translation: https://www.njpw1972.com/15644

WWE has a new poll asking fans what match they're most looking forward to at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view. As of this writing, 78% voted for the TLC match with The Shield vs. Braun Strowman, Cesaro, Sheamus & WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz while 13% voted for Asuka vs. Emma, 6% voted for Mickie James vs. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and 3% voted for Enzo Amore vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto.

WWE has a new poll asking fans if The Shield can overcome the 4-on-3 disadvantage against Braun Strowman, Cesaro, Sheamus and WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view. As of this writing, 79% voted, "Of course! They are The Shield, and no one can stop them." The rest went with, "No. The addition of Braun Strowman will be too much for The Hounds of Justice to handle."

On tonight's episode of Impact it was announced Alberto El Patron will be returning at Bound for Glory on November 5. Back in July he was indefinitely suspended from the company and then in August, Alberto was stripped of the GFW Championship after an altercation with his fiance and WWE Superstar, Paige, at the Orlando International Airport. The latest tapings (which took place in August) ran all the way up until Bound for Glory and Alberto was not included in that set.

Huge return announced for BFG! @PrideOfMexico returns at #BoundforGlory #IMPACTonPOP pic.twitter.com/gMDrvFIpqi
— Jeremy Borash (@JeremyBorash) October 13, 2017

So this is the story regarding his contract. Lesnar last dates for wrestling on his current deal would be the upcoming WrestleMania, or perhaps television the next day, but April. There is an option built into the contract that would renew, and most expect that it will be renewed, given that Lesnar will be 41 next summer and that’s simply not the age you sign a three-year contract and turn your back on WWE. And Lesnar’s programs with Goldberg, Joe and Strowman jump started the main event scene at two different times that ratings were in the toilet and things were kind of blah. WWE does have certain rights to Lesnar that, if a new deal isn’t signed, will go through the first week of August. The entire dynamic has changed in the sense the Jon Jones fight would have been so lucrative that Lesnar would have let his contract expire, signed with fight Jones, and then, after the fight, probably returned to WWE. But that fight is off, and unless Jones gets a one-year suspension out of all this, it will probably never happen. The feeling across the board right now is that Jones vs. Lesnar will never happen. If Lesnar does want to do another UFC fight, if they wait until August, that would be the cleanest way to do so in the sense WWE would have no rights to him. One thing is that Lesnar evidently felt the deal last year, where he wrestled through Mania and fought in early July, left him too little time to get into top shape. It worked out because he won, but he would rather have a four month window as far as getting back into that kind of shape before a training camp, so if he did want to fight next year and the opportunity came up, he really wouldn’t want to do so until August anyway, so that explains why White said that date. Plus, those inside say that even though WWE is repped by WME IMG, the owners of UFC, that things aren’t smooth. White has said he has a good business relationship with HHH, but it’s more difficult with Vince.

Some other sheet news includes:

Based on fan reports, The Young Bucks debuted a new chant and hand sign during ROH Global Wars: Buffalo show called the "One Sweet." Its pretty much just making the number one sign with your finger.
WWE recently added a new collection series to the WWE Network called "New to the Network" which is basically curated new programmed added each week to the Network.
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Joey Ryan talking about how much money he makes in the WWE, if his character could even work in PG Era WWE, and his status in Lucha Underground. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1013/633082/joey-ryan-on-his-character-in-wwe/
Facebook recently held an interview with Triple H talking about if he will wrestle again, his relationship with The Rock, and possible plans for a match against The Rock in the future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1013/633079/triple-h-on-possible-match-with-the-rock-at-wrestlemania/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Bret Hart Says “Loser, Maggot” Eric Bischoff “Killed the Wrestling Business” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/bret-hart-says-loser-maggot-bischoff-killed-the-wrestling-business/)
Various: Jarrett vs. Ryback, Total Bellas Rating, Becky’s First Job (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-jarrett-vs-ryback-total-bellas-rating-beckys-first-job/)
Impact Results – Oct. 12, 2017 – Johnny Impact vs. Garza Jr. (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/impact-results-oct-12-2017-johnny-impact-vs-garza-jr/)

Sepholio

10-14-2017, 09:43 AM

LOL one sweet.

Cool King

10-14-2017, 12:00 PM

WrestleInc]Earlier this month, Alicia Fox did an interview where she mentioned being one of the only women in WWE without any merchandise. Today that changed, as she now has a "Crazy like a fox" T-shirt on WWE Shop. On her Instagram, Fox gave thanks for the new merchandise.

Alicia's announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/BaM6-jwHQqW/

It's good that she finally has her own merchandise, but I can't help but think that it's just about three years too late.

If this was on sale when Fox was at the height of her crazy gimmick, then I'm sure it would have sold quite well and we probably could have had more of the crazy Alicia Fox.

Now, she's not that crazy these days. Nowhere near as crazy as she was back in 2014.

And again, I can't help but think that this T-shirt won't really sell well for two reasons.

1. It's not even listed on the "New Arrivals" section of WWEShop.
2. To someone who doesn't watch wrestling, the design would insinuate that the wearer is a furry.

Cool King

10-14-2017, 12:00 PM

But hey, furrys will love it though and you're in heaven if you're a wrestling fan and a furry.

erickman

10-14-2017, 12:50 PM

It's good that she finally has her own merchandise, but I can't help but think that it's just about three years too late.

If this was on sale when Fox was at the height of her crazy gimmick, then I'm sure it would have sold quite well and we probably could have had more of the crazy Alicia Fox.

Now, she's not that crazy these days. Nowhere near as crazy as she was back in 2014.

And again, I can't help but think that this T-shirt won't really sell well for two reasons.

1. It's not even listed on the "New Arrivals" section of WWEShop.
2. To someone who doesn't watch wrestling, the design would insinuate that the wearer is a furry.
yeah if anyone should be pissed off and go to the indys it is her. isn't she the diva that has been there the longest?

Cool King

10-14-2017, 02:25 PM

If we're only counting the wrestlers who have never left since debuting, then Natalya is actually the longest serving female wrestler but only just.

She debuted in April 2008 and Alicia Fox debuted in June 2008 and both have been with the company since.

Emperor Smeat

10-17-2017, 10:41 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's Celebration of Halloween:
https://www.solowrestling.com/uploads/RESEM65009kino.jpg

The competition from the MLB playoffs and Monday Night Football led to last night's episode of Raw doing the lowest numbers since a June 12th show that went against the NBA finals.

Raw did 2.68 million viewers, down seven percent from last week ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.73 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.73 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.61 million viewers

In terms of rankings, RAW was #6,#7, and #8 while no Enzo in the main event broke a 3 week streak of the 3rd hour improving. Also continued the trend of majority of Reigns main events lead to the 3rd hour being lower.

Ahead of Mahal vs. Lesnar likely being set up for Survivor Series tonight, Mahal spoke to ESPN about wanting that match, his work ethic, striving to be the greatest of all time, and denied rumors that he has a shoulder injury. In a Twitter Q&A session, Mahal also said that he wants to defend his title against John Cena at WrestleMania 34.
Link to the ESPN interview: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/21031373/champion-jinder-mahal-fighting-greatest-ever , Link to Twitter Q&A: https://twitter.com/WWEIndia/status/919505851836129282

Triple H" Paul Levesque's nutritionist Dave Palumbo said WWE's drug policy allows wrestlers to take human growth hormone (hGH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hGC). Those performance-enhancing drugs are supposedly banned by WWE's wellness policy.

Palumbo did an interview with Matt Riveria, posted to YouTube today, where Riveria asked Palumbo what "supplements" Levesque took to get in shape for WrestleMania. The relevant comments start at about 29:45 into the YouTube clip.

Palumbo insinuated all WWE wrestlers are tested, saying "If you’re getting on that stage to wrestle, you’re gonna be tested. The good thing about wrestling is it’s not a professional sport, per se, it’s more entertainment
Palumbo ended up backtracking on his statement: https://deadspin.com/triple-hs-nutritionist-makes-walks-back-candid-steroid-1819599355

In response to a PWInsider query about the statement, WWE issued the following:

"WWE’s comprehensive Talent Wellness Policy, which is administered by an independent, third-party, clearly states hGH and hCG are among a long list of banned substances, however, due to certain medical conditions, there are a variety of therapeutic exemptions that account for approximately 7% of our contracted talent."

After teasing that they’d be discussing the first-ever “Impact Pizza” on a conference call, Impact Wrestling revealed some details about what that actually means. They’ll be holding a press conference at the Crust & Crate Fast Fired Pizza Pub in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on Friday, where they’ll be unveiling the Impact-themed pizza and an Impact signature beverage. Bobby Lashley and Eli Drake will be at the press conference to try the products, which will be available only at the Crust & Crate from November 4-10. There will be post-show parties with members of the Impact roster at the Crust & Crate on November 5-10 as the promotion is in town for Bound for Glory.
Link to the details: http://impactwrestling.com/impact-wrestling-crust-crate-fast-fired-pizza-pub-joint-press-conference-autograph-signing-session/

George Carroll, who is the director of NJPW operations in the United States, tweeted that NJPW will be making a major announcement at Power Struggle on November 5th.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/GCarroll77/status/920328424090202112

Impact will be taping a One Night Only show on Saturday in Shawnee, OK as part of the Imperial Wrestling Revolution show at the Fire Lake Arena. Eli Drake vs. Montego Seeka for the GWF title is scheduled, along with Bobby Lashley vs. Alberto El Patron, Ethan Carter III vs. Jack Swagger, Gail Kim vs. Rebel, LAX vs. Young Gunns and Trevor Lee vs. Malice vs. Fuego del Sol vs DJZ.

Next summer Diamond Dallas Page will be releasing a book: "Own your Life: How to Make Yourself Positively Unstoppable".

The company announced the signings of woman wrestlers Kavita Devi from India and Shadia Bseiso from Jordan. Devi was in the Mae Young Classic. She was actually signed some time back and is scheduled to not be in the country until January.
Both ended up becoming the first ever women signed to the WWE from India and the Middle East. Link to the announcement: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-officially-confirms-signing-kavita-devi-244581

Austin Aries posted a tweet claiming that he’s going to make more money in his first six weeks back on the indies than he did in his last four months in WWE: “Upcoming 6 weeks of 'bingo hall' $ >> Last 4 months of 'big league' $. Awesome to see the #prowrestling scene thriving around the [world].”
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/AustinAries/status/919202093738680322

Michael Cole worked tonight's WWE SmackDown in Seattle with Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. Cole noted that he will be filling in for Phillips for a few weeks as Tom is "on assignment." No word yet on what Tom is working on but we will keep you updated.

As noted, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal is the planned WWE Survivor Series main event, according to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline. Neither title will be at stake.

Meltzer stated on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE has apparently had the idea for a long time of doing RAW vs. SmackDown matches for the Survivor Series. Meltzer added that there may be more RAW vs. SmackDown matches at the show.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T will be appearing at the WWE NXT "Takeover: WarGames" event next month in his hometown of Houston, likely for the pre-show panel. He tweeted the following:

HOUSTON! I have been added to appear at @WWENXT #WarGames! Make sure you get your tickets now, more to come. Can you dig that? pic.twitter.com/mIj4Ti774K
— Booker T. Huffman (@BookerT5x) October 16, 2017

IWGP U.S. Champion Kenny Omega wasn't wearing his belt at this past weekend's ROH Global Wars event, where he defended his title against YOSHI-HASHI. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, it was a simple mix up as Omega and NJPW each thought the other had the belt, so it was never brought to the building.

There’s a rumor going around stating Nia Jax possibly pulled a Neville recently by walking out of Raw … and while we’re told it doesn’t appear as though she quit, here’s what we know.

The rumors began today when a Twitter account — same one who spread word of Neville’s walkout — tweeted about rumors of Nia also being upset and possibly walking out of Raw last week.

Our sources were unable to confirm if she left the show angrily … however, we’re told Jax HAS been granted a leave of absence for personal reasons by management. It’s unclear how long she’ll be gone or what spawned her decision.

We’re told filming for Total Divas is complete, so this likely won’t affect her role on the show.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BJS_mS7Dlmg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE announced tickets for Wrestlemania 34 will go on sale starting on November 17th via Ticketmaster. To get a package deal for all WWE events over Mania week, those tickets will go on sale starting on October 30th.
Recent episode of the LAW podcast show had Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest. http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/dave-meltzer-talks-jimmy-jacobs-and-neville-live-audio-wrestling-244671
Metal Injunction held a recent interview with Chris Jericho talking about Jimmy Jacobs firing and how much of a role Jacobs played in Jericho's recent run in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1017/633171/chris-jericho-on-wwe-firing-jimmy-jacobs/
During a recent interview with website Planeta Wrestling, AJ Styles revealed he wants to face Nakamura at Wrestlemania 34. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1017/633155/aj-styles-talks-who-he-wants-to-face-at-wrestlemania/
Rumor going around the net is Undertaker could make an in-ring return for this year's Survivor Series for The Shield's team. Rumored to be a possible reason for Kane's return to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1017/633151/speculation-on-kane-wwe-tv-return-at-raw/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kane's addition to TLC 2017 will make it the 21st year in a row he will have wrestled in a WWE ppv.
In another "WWE Did You You Know" type fact, yesterday was the 11th anniversary of The Miz's debut in the WWE. Miz celebrated the occasion on his official Instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/p/BaU2Un3nwXe/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Nikki Bella on DWTS, Main Event Results, Goldberg on Goldbergs (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-nikki-bella-on-dwts-main-event-results-goldberg-on-the-goldbergs/)
Final (?) WWE TLC Card – Seven Matches (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/final-wwe-tlc-card-seven-matches/)
WWE SmackDown Results – Oct. 17, 2017 – Jinder Makes Announcement (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-smackdown-results-oct-17-2017-jinder-makes-announcement/)

Mr. Nerfect

10-18-2017, 12:39 AM

Wouldn't Kane be going after Roman Reigns because he retired The Undertaker? If The Undertaker comes back to defend him, then why would Kane fight him? It makes no sense. Therefore it goes up in likelihood.

So Enzo was helping the 3rd hour ratings whereas Roman hurt them? Listening to the SCG Radio podcasts on the timeline, it's incredible to look back and see how much information WCW had in 1999. Things were going well in 1998, but they were getting feedback from the ratings where certain acts were scoring lower than the average rating for the show. It's obviously not that dramatic, but the 3rd hour doing well under Enzo but not under Reigns makes a very clear statement that is going to be very frustrating in retrospect.

Emperor Smeat

10-18-2017, 09:20 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE 2K18's Wacky Mode:
https://i.imgur.com/3KGqaii.gif

Last night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network was down six percent in the ratings, posting the show's fourth lowest number of 2017 at just 2.32 million viewers. This follows Raw on Monday night, which was down a similar percentage with its lowest audience number since mid-June.

After rumors that Nia Jax walked out of Raw started going around the internet yesterday, Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Jax has been granted a leave of absence by WWE due to personal reasons. There's truth to the story despite WWE denying it. Dave Meltzer will have more on it in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

A number of readers have asked about the status of Nia Jax with World Wrestling Entertainment over the last several days after she disappeared from appearing on Raw in recent weeks.

There was a story published in Great Britain yesterday that she had walked out of the company and quit. WWE sources have denied that Jax has quit the company to PWInsider.com.

PWInsider.com can confirm, however, that Jax was not at this week's Raw taping, although she was originally slated to be there. One source believed that the original plans for Sasha Banks going into the TLC PPV was for her to face Jax, not Alicia Fox.

Since Jax was not at Raw, the idea she "walked out" of the taping cannot be true.

PWInsider.com can also confirm that Jax is no longer scheduled to film material for the new season of Total Divas this week in New York City. She had been slated to film content tomorrow and Friday, one source close to the production of the reality series has told us. So, Jax is absolutely off the road for dates that she was originally slated to work for the company - but the root cause of that, whether that be approved time off or something else, remains to be seen.

On Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive discussed the Nia Jax rumors. It’s an odd story because no one has officially confirmed anything, other than a denial from WWE about her leaving. There’s also the story from Pro Wrestling Sheet with a source telling them that she took a leave of absence.

Alvarez said, “According to WWE, Nia Jax has not gone and she never left. That’s what they say. She was not at Raw on Monday so she didn’t walk out – that’s for sure.”

“I know that Nia Jax has been unhappy about things. I was told that Nia wanted the match with Asuka at the [TLC] pay-per-view and she’s not getting it. God bless her, I’ve seen that match live [and] I don’t want to see it at the pay-per-view. There were some other things that she was unhappy about.” To me, the fact that Emma got the match should not be taken as a slight to Jax because it’s likely that Asuka will get a squash win at TLC. Jax should be someone saved as a future (and more credible) opponent. Alvarez later added, “Something’s going on but I don’t know what it is. WWE claims there’s nothing going on. But things are going on but I don’t know what’s going on. Does that make sense?”

Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso reported that she is unhappy with her creative and pay scale. We noted earlier that she has leverage due to her family link with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson so there are options for her, namely with The Rock’s 7 Bucks Entertainment. Eva Marie is signed with 7 Bucks and the same company has been working on a movie about Paige’s family.

When Jax returns to WWE, the betting line is that she’ll probably have a bigger paycheck.
Link to the Sports Illustrated article: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/10/18/wwe-wrestling-news-neville-bullet-club

Several weeks ago, WWE talent Bo Dallas disappeared from TV with the Miz issuing him a get well soon message. Miz was telling the truth as the word backstage at Raw last night was that Dallas has been kept at home due to illness.

PWInsider.com has also learned that Bray Wyatt (Dallas' brother) and ring announcer JoJo (who dates Wyatt) have been kept at home as well in what appears to be a preventive move in case they may have also been exposed to the illness.

Sports Illustrated has an article about Neville’s situation with WWE, with it noting that Neville has been "miserable" since January and that he was unhappy when his match with Austin Aries at WrestleMania was moved to the pre-show and kept off the DVD of the event. Neville was still in the video intro for 205 Live as of last night.
Link to the article: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/10/18/wwe-wrestling-news-neville-bullet-club

In an update, Sports Illustrated reports that Neville was frustrated by the direction of his character, the lack of pay-offs and the rough WWE life on the road. Neville has reportedly been "miserable in WWE" since January of this year and the walkout came nine months later than expected by many people close to the situation.

It appears Neville's decision may be influenced in-part by Austin Aries, who left the company on amicable terms earlier this year. The SI report notes that Neville learned Aries would be making more in the next six weeks on the indies than Neville would in the same timeframe while with WWE. We noted before that Neville had pushed for his WWE release with the idea of working the indies and making a name for himself there.

Regarding his match being left off the WrestleMania 33 DVD, not only was Neville upset about missing out on the pay but he was said to be "infuriated" that the company "would disregard his service and value" after being as dedicated as he was. Neville reportedly felt that he was viewed as "nothing more than a very talented 'get-over guy' used to enhance" other Superstars
More details from Sports Illustrated's article.

The recent on-screen hiatuses of Neville and Nia Jax have caused some rumors stating that other WWE talent want to leave the company and have been asking Cody Rhodes about transitioning to the indies. Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer confirmed on Twitter that "several" WWE talents are thinking about leaving, although he would not confirm if wrestlers were asking Cody for advice:

Several are thinking about it, as far as asking Cody, it would make sense to do that but you'd have to ask him. https://t.co/cj3HNZn1BT
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) October 18, 2017

In an interview to promote WWE 2K18, Sting spoke about wanting a match with The Undertaker before he had to retire in 2015. “We’ve had a brief conversation, and I just told him, I said, man, I just always wanted to have that match,” Sting said. "It wasn’t necessarily reciprocated so I’m not sure where he stands or if he had any interest at all, to be quite honest. But I did. I don’t mind saying.”
Link to the interview: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/entertainment/2017/10/18/WWE-2K18-s-Sting-reveals-dream-match-conversation-with-Undertaker-.html

Jimmy Jacobs will return to Beyond Wrestling for their show in Somerville, Massachusetts on November 12th.

Travis Banks announced that he won’t be making his scheduled appearances for PWG this weekend because he’s in the process of renewing his visa and had to send his passport away.
Link to Banks' announcement: https://twitter.com/Travis_BanksPW/status/920732913729228801

Funko posted that there are upcoming WWE Pop vinyl figures for Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, The Rock, and Razor Ramon. Rock and Ramon will have two separate variants. These will be released in December.
Link to the announcement: https://funko.com/blogs/news/coming-soon-wwe-pop-s-1

Some other sheet news includes:

According to PWI, Kane's return to the WWE will only be for around a month before he resumes work on his mayoral campaign.
Jim Ross will be tomorrow's guest for Fox Sports 1's The Colin Cowheard show. Ross will also be a guest on ESPN's Sportsnation this Friday. Both appearances are to promote his new book.
According to Pro Wrestling Votes, who broke the Neville and Nia stories, WWE is currently dealing with an outbreak of viral meningitis with others also currently sick. The Pittsburgh Tribune reported this disease is why Bray and Jojo have been missing in recent weeks. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1018/633208/why-bray-wyatt-and-bo-dallas-have-missed-wwe-events/ , https://twitter.com/JustinLaBar/status/920763495016271872
Metro Sport had a recent interview with Finn Balor talking about wanting to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal title and if he currently enjoys feuding with Bray Wyatt. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1018/633199/finn-balor-says-he-needs-to-go-after-brock-lesnar-wwe-universal/
During a recent interview with website RealSports101, Fandango revealed Vince McMahon wants to make a guest appearance on a future episode of the Fashion Files parody show. https://realsport101.com/news/sports/wwe/the-right-to-remain-stylish-the-fashion-police-talk-comedy-bits-tag-team-chemistry-their-future-and-the-stylishness-of-wwes-legends/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Kevin Nash and X-Pac Defend Young Bucks Using “Too Sweet” Gesture (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/kevin-nash-and-x-pac-defend-young-bucks-using-too-sweet-gesture/)
Daniel Bryan Teases In-Ring Return + Brie Bella Says She’ll Return in 2018 (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/daniel-bryan-teases-in-ring-return-again-brie-bella-says-shell-return-in-2018/)
WWE News: SD Dark Matches, Tom Phillips, Jinder vs. Lesnar, Shane, More (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-sd-dark-matches-tom-phillips-jinder-vs-lesnar-shane-more/)

Emperor Smeat

10-19-2017, 11:03 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by DDT OUTTA NOWHERE:
https://i.imgur.com/VuiMmSU.gif

As noted, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar will be on Monday's RAW in Green Bay to respond to the Survivor Series challenge from WWE Champion Jinder Mahal.

The idea of doing a Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion match for Survivor Series has been discussed for a long time, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The current mentality within WWE is that this is not considered a major match. There's also the idea that this will just be something for Lesnar to do on a big show, to build to bigger matches for him. It's likely that Finn Balor will be Lesnar's opponent for the Royal Rumble in January and then the plan has been for Lesnar to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.

No word yet on the finish for The Beast vs. The Modern Day Maharaja but The Observer notes that Lesnar losing to Jinder makes no sense due to his recent wins over Bill Goldberg, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. A loss by Jinder makes SmackDown feel more like the B show. A finish with outside interference for a DQ or No Contest is always possible but finishes like that at major shows usually don't sit well with fans.

The night before NXT's next TakeOver special, Shawn Michaels will return to the ring as a special guest referee in San Antonio, Texas.

WWE announced today that Michaels will be refereeing an NXT Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Adam Cole, which will take place as NXT comes to the Aztec Theatre for a house show on November 17th. McIntyre is set to defend his title in Houston against Andrade "Cien" Almas the next day.

The likely reason for Michaels being added to the show is because Ring of Honor has a show in San Antonio head-to-head that night.

Originally McIntyre vs. Cole was to headline the TakeOver show in Houston until the decision was made to revive the War Games concept.

Another NJPW wrestler has been confirmed for Ring of Honor's WrestleMania weekend show in New Orleans, Louisiana next year.

ROH announced today that Kenny Omega would be wrestling at Supercard of Honor XII in 2018. The show will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena on Saturday, April 7th and will go against that weekend's NXT TakeOver special.

Omega is the second wrestler to be announced for Supercard of Honor 2018, joining Hiroshi Tanahashi. ROH has yet to reveal any details about the matches they'll be taking part in.

With both Omega and Tanahashi announced, it means NJPW isn't running a major date at that time, and also means that much of the New Japan talent will likely be available. Normally NJPW runs a major show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo on that weekend, and thus, the New Japan stars haven't been available to ROH for its annual Mania events.
Seems the plan by ROH is to break their all-time record for attendance which was set at last year's Mania week show. Link to the announcement: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/breaking-kenny-omega-will-compete-supercard-honor-xii

Nia Jax is out of action with WWE after the company had been denying it all week. Alexa Bliss, who is her friend, and who wouldn't do an interview without WWE approval, said to the New York Post that she wouldn't call it a leave of absence but that Jax is taking some time off, blaming it on the tough WWE road schedule. Bliss said that she took some resets while in NXT but nobody knew about them.

Jimmy Jacobs did an interview for Live Audio Wrestling that will air Sunday. He said that he made no mistake in posing for the photo and he's okay with how everything went down. He said that when he was fired, he was told the photo was the reason. When asked if anything else was part of the reason, he said, "If it was, I'm not aware of any of that. It's certainly possible but who knows."
Link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTLJOZCJr-c

We’re told WWE is prioritizing the idea of a South American star. That’s probably where the Taynara Conti push comes from, because she looks like they want a star to look and is a real athlete. Cezar Bononi has the size and look, and picked up realistic selling, almost at Japan quality in spots, but he’s still very green

The long-discussed and planned WWE UK series that would be produced and broadcast by the company is not just being conceptualized as simply a WWE Network exclusive, PWInsider.com has learned.

A source close to the situation has told PWInsider.com that the company has been ramping up pitches to several different UK broadcasters. The pitch revolves around the idea of carrying a WWE UK-centric property that would be produced in Great Britain featuring an all British cast of characters.

The current title for the series, we are told, is WWE King of The Ring. Obviously, that is a repurposing of the title of a tournament that has been around since the late 1980s, initially as an annual special event in the Boston market before graduating into its own PPV event in 1993. The King of the Ring PPV was halted in 2006 but was brought back from time to time as an attraction used to elevate talents to the next level. It was last used in 2015 with Bad News Barrett winning the tournament.

PWInsider.com has also been told that one of the broadcasters WWE is pitching is ITV, which is interesting on a number of levels.
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113008/lots-of-wwe-uk-series-updates-including-the-planned-title-for-the-series.html?p=1

WWE.com has an article on Samoa Joe making his comic writing debut alongside Michael Kingston, creator of "Headlocked", for the 13th issue of Boom Studios WWE series. The pair will tell the story of how The Samoan Submission Machine joined the Monday Night Raw roster earlier this year. The issue will the available this January.
Link to the article: http://www.wwe.com/article/samoa-joe-wwe-comic-book-writing-debut

The new main event for WWE's return to Madison Square Garden on 12/26 is The Shield vs. Miz, Sheamus and Cesaro.

So the group will stay together at least through the holidays as of this writing.

As noted, this week's "Flashback Friday" programming on the WWE Network will focus on WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall for his birthday. Below is the current schedule for the live stream:

* 3pm EST - RAW Flashback, 10/11/1993: Razor Ramon and Rick Martel battle for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship. The Rock n Roll Express are in Tag Team action.

* 4pm EST - WWE In Your House 6, 2/18/1996: WWE In Your House: Rage In The Cage features Bret Hart defending the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage Match against Diesel, and more. (NEW)

* 6pm EST - WCW Monday Nitro, 5/27/1996: This episode of Nitro features a shocking appearance that turned the wrestling world upside down. Sting battles Scott Steiner.

* 7:35pm EST - WWE Story Time, 12/19/2016: Pull up a chair for a 'don't try this at home' look back at some of sports entertainment's classic pranks, punks, and ribs!

* 8pm EST - WrestleMania 10, 3/20/1994: Yokozuna defends the WWE Championship against Bret Hart; Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels compete in an epic Ladder Match.

* 11pm EST - Beyond The Ring, 7/5/2016: Witness the rise, fall and redemption of one of the most polarizing and celebrated WWE Legends in history - Razor Ramon himself, Scott Hall.

On a related note, Sunday's TLC main event is expected to be very long. Confirmed matches for the pay-per-view include Finn Balor's Demon vs. Bray Wyatt's Sister Abigail, Enzo Amore vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto, Mickie James vs. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Asuka's debut vs. Emma, plus Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann vs. Jack Gallagher & Brian Kendrick. The Kickoff pre-show will feature Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox and a PowerPoint presentation from Drew Gulak. The Observer notes that if they need to fill more time there are various ideas for Elias plus the possibility of doing another Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson match.
Current plans for TLC this Sunday.

WWE went to great lengths to hide Kane's return, not letting any of the talent know. He actually didn’t fly into Portland, but flew into a different airport, was driven to Portland and hid the entire time. The show was constructed to make you think that a mystery fifth man that would join the heel team would be Curtis Axel. When it came out that it wasn’t a lot of speculation was on Samoa Joe, who is ready to return any time now. His return angle was strong and with all the gimmicks and all the people involved, it should be a wild match. But it’s very much a one-match show.

It’s unclear how long people will be held to their Lucha Underground contracts. The case of Ricochet and Rey Mysterio Jr. are different since both men’s contracts expired with this season, so they will both be free agents in January. A lot of the talent wants out, and believe that since they haven’t been paid since the summer of 2016, that the contracts are void. But nobody, including WWE, is testing that and offering deals to those guys until they get releases because nobody wants the legal problem. If the show isn’t renewed, there is a lot of good talent on the free agent market and even though WWE is making money and ROH and New Japan have both grown, the latter two already are overloaded with talent, and while I could see ROH making a play for guys like Penta 0M and Fenix, or perhaps others, there’s a finite number of people they can probably add. WWE can add as many as they want, but WWE is cutting back on spending to get their profit margins up and it’s not that there is a hiring freeze (although that term has been given to me when it comes to some departments), but they are very judicious in who they sign and most of the offers are not big money offers.

Joe Koff this past week in an interview with the AV Club said that ROH would have a streaming service launched by sometime in early 2018. He said that if ROH is perceived by people as a step to get to WWE, “I’m not sure that’s a terrible thing. They have their own developmental program, but it seems like the guys that come from ROH have somewhat more cachet.” I think that’s pretty obvious because if Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly had never become stars in ROH, it’s unlikely either would have gotten anywhere close to the level of push they’re getting now. Another quote that a lot of people have talked about was him mentioning he’s asked a lot if ROH is helped a lot due to its connection with New Japan and he said he wondered if the press is asking in Japan whether ROH is the reason why New Japan is so great. No, I don’t think the Japanese press is asking that

Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, Impact Wrestling is currently working on mending past issues with various indie promotions including ROH likely for possible talent swaps and maybe even co-promotional events in the future.
Observer currently reporting Bray Wyatt is dealing with an illness and his status for Sunday is currently unknown.
Pro Wrestling Sheet confirmed rumors and reports of the WWE currently dealing with a meningitis scare and could affect more of the card for TLC. https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/921108109434560513
Young Bucks recently denied rumors they accepted a deal by 2K Games to do some motion capture for next year's WWE video game. https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/921000292950462464
Recent episode of In This Corner podcast show had Finn Balor as the guest talking about his feud with Bray Wyatt, the difference between Finn and the Demon gimmick, and the difficulty of playing a babyface role in the PG era. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1019/633240/finn-balor-on-difficulty-being-a-babyface-in-pg-era/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, this year's TLC event will be the fourth year in a row a member of The Shield has been involved in the main event for TLC. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/77aotl/interesting_fact_about_the_tlc_main_event/
Brie Bella is currently planning to resume training for wrestling this November with the idea to return to the WWE by January.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE News: Shield Future, John Cena, WWE Earnings, Roode’s First Job (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-shield-future-john-cena-wwe-earnings-roodes-first-job/)
Various: HBK Guest Refereeing NXT Match, Global Wrestling Network/NOAH (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-hbk-guest-refereeing-nxt-match-global-wrestling-network-noah/)

Sepholio

10-20-2017, 12:33 AM

lol if Sister Abigail never even makes it to the ring. Being dead can't hold her down, but viral meningitis can.

Emperor Smeat

10-20-2017, 10:32 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Match That Won't Happen for $500 Alex:
https://i.imgur.com/I4ePeiK.jpg

There's been a major shakeup to the TLC card ahead of Sunday's pay-per-view.

WWE.com announced today that Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt are off of the show due to medical issues that are impacting them. In Reigns' place, Kurt Angle will be wrestling in a WWE ring for the first time in over a decade as he teams with Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins against The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman & Kane in a tables, ladders, and chairs match.

The in-ring reunion of The Shield, which the PPV was heavily built around in the weeks leading up to the show, will now be delayed until some point after TLC.

SmackDown's AJ Styles will fill in for Wyatt in his match against Finn Balor, which means that the two former leaders of the Bullet Club will be facing off for the first time on short notice. Wyatt, his brother Bo Dallas, and Jojo have been off of TV, with Dallas having an undisclosed illness.

After announcing some major shakeups to the TLC card earlier this afternoon, WWE issued a statement to ESPN about the reason behind the changes.

"We have confirmed that three of our performers have been diagnosed with a viral infection," a WWE representative told ESPN. "As a precautionary measure, we are ensuring in-ring performers and staff are tested and immunized in accordance with recommended medical guidelines."

The company revealed earlier this afternoon that Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt won't be wrestling at Sunday's pay-per-view due to medical issues that are impacting them. Reigns had been scheduled to team with Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose against The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman & Kane in the show's tables, ladders, and chairs main event but will now be replaced by Kurt Angle.

Kurt Angle posted on Instagram about returning to the ring at TLC on Sunday: “Is it true??? Oh It's damn true! Your Olympic Hero will be wrestling along side of The Shield at #TLC this Sunday. Be sure to watch. #yourolympicheroisback” Daniel Bryan replied to the news of Angle’s return by posting “Interesting…” and the thinking face emoji.
Link to Angle's announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bae69wQAoj_/ , link to Bryan's response: https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/921509111140716545

Kevin Owen's won't be appearing at WWE's three remaining house shows in South America this weekend.

WWE announced the news on their website today, citing personal reasons as to why Owens won't be at the shows in Argentina and Chile. Owens did travel to South America with the SmackDown roster and wrestled at last night's event in Buenos Aires, Argentina before missing the rest of the tour.

There really isn't much to the story of Nia Jax's situation with WWE, which has gotten overblown due to the lack of information out on it.

Jax has a few weeks off, until the European tour. You can call it a leave of absence, although she and WWE are both denying that, but that's a vague terminology and it could be called that.

WWE's tour of Europe will kick off in Glasgow, Scotland on November 1st.

Jax is just resting up since she wasn't figured into any major storylines, but according to those close to her, stories that she stormed off at Raw (she wasn't even at Raw to begin with), asked for a leave of absence, or is unhappy with her pay are all untrue.

Our Bryan Alvarez tweeted that Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles is currently scheduled to get a good amount of time on Sunday. Alvarez also noted that creative is working on big changes for Raw with Roman Reigns out of action.
Link to the tweets: https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/921483071286681600 , https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/921486698353184768

The mayor of Vancouver declared yesterday “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Day” due to The Rock’s upcoming “Skyscraper” movie being filmed in the city.
Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/MayorGregor/status/921441800706932741

Just a couple of months after she returned from retirement, Impact Wrestling announced today that Taryn Terrell is no longer with the company. “@IAmTarynTerrell & #IMPACT are mutually parting ways,” they wrote. “Taryn would like to pursue other career options and she has our full support. We wish Taryn well in whatever she does next.” It was revealed on last night’s episode of Impact that Terrell is no longer in the Knockouts Championship match at Bound for Glory, with it now being Sienna vs. Gail Kim vs. Allie.

Impact held their press conference at the Crust & Crate in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada today to reveal the Impact-themed pizza and beverage that will be available at the restaurant from November 4-10. Two types of pizza will be available, with customers choosing between the “Sriracha Scissor Kick” (spicy jerk chicken, roasted corn, black beans, salsa, red onion, jalapenos, and sriracha drizzle) and the “Pulled Pork Piledriver” (pulled pork, pickled onions, red chillies, jalapenos, bacon, and BBQ drizzle). The Impact cocktail has gin, rum, blue curacao, 7-Up, and splashes of lime and lemon.

The 10/12 edition of Impact did 267,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 279,000 overnight viewers.

With the second season of Total Bellas ending next week and the seventh season of Total Divas set to debut the following week, PWInsider.com has learned that WWE is seeking to expand its reality series net as part of its partnership with Bunim-Murray productions, which produces the company's E! reality series.

There have been two concepts floating around over the last several weeks:

The first would be a reality series similar to Total Bellas, but focused on the Miz and Maryse. The potential series, we are told, would focus on their in-ring exploits as well as their personal lives and adventures as a married couple in Hollywood. With the couple expecting their first child, one would think that could be one of the hooks that drive the series as the Hollywood night life is far removed from being first-time parents, We are told the concept for the series is that it would also feature the couple's best friends from real life, including WWE star Dolph Ziggler.

The second discussed series would be something of an amalgamation of the old Tough Enough series, the old Diva Searches and the competition era of the WWE NXT brand. The concept would "seek out" a new female WWE star. We are told the idea that has been passed around would be that the series places its competitors on the road with WWE as they all travel together via tour bus. There would be weekly competitions that would lead to eliminations before one final winner is crowned, earning a WWE contract. WWE has been looking to revive the Diva Search idea for some time but has yet to actually do so, so this may just be the latest effort in that attempt.

The 2017 WWE Tribute to the Troops special will air on the USA Network on Thursday 12/14, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

WWE will film the special on Tuesday 12/5 as part of the Smackdown Live taping in San Diego, CA at the Valley View Casino Center.

Jimmy Jacobs, who was released two weeks ago from WWE Creative, is returning to his roots as a professional wrestler. Billed as "Unprofessional" Jimmy Jacobs (playing off of the idea that he was so by taking the photo with Bullet Club outside of Raw in Ontario, California), Jacobs has been announced for dates with Beyond Wrestling and CZW.

CZW tweeted:

BREAKING - GET 100RT's:

Jimmy Jacobs RETURNS to the Combat Zone 11/11/17!#NightOfInfamy pic.twitter.com/Xoj7MBT8ga
— CZW Wrestling (@combatzone) October 20, 2017

Beyond Wrestling announced:

Wanna score tickets for #Unprofessional on 11/12 in Somerville, MA tonight?

Sign up for our email blasts ASAP: https://t.co/syXBUemLDf pic.twitter.com/PI9ltvufI6
— Beyond Wrestling (@beyondwrestling) October 20, 2017

WWE will begin airing Survivor Series commercials soon that focus on the RAW vs. SmackDown rivalry, according to PWInsider. The ads note that the brands are fighting for "bragging rights" at the big event that takes place on November 19th from the Toyota Center in Houston. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is set to take place but there's no word yet on other blue vs. red matches.

WWE is still having talks with UK promotions PROGRESS Wrestling and Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) to bring their programming to the WWE Network under the planned tiered-system that has not launched.

The most important is the health of the competitors. From 1984 to 2010, the death rate of major league pro wrestlers was ridiculously high. You can take nearly any profession, and even by percentage, people who served in wars (and we’ve run those numbers and people got inflamed by the results in all the wrong ways), rock stars, NFL players, and the death rates, particularly heart attack death rates of people who were heavily into pain pills and steroids, was high. The WWF did test seriously from 1992 to 1996, and during that period, things got a lot better. But for a combination of financial reasons, and competition reasons, they dropped the program. WCW tested, but everyone involved would acknowledge the WCW testing was a farce and during the early stages of the wrestling war, a generally older WCW main event roster was more physically impressive than a younger WWF roster. At one point Vince McMahon got so mad about it they ran skits accusing Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage of being on steroids, and at another point challenged WCW to do the same level of testing they were doing. When WCW started gaining in popularity, McMahon made the call to drop the testing. The death rate of wrestlers in the late 90s, and this cut across WWF, WCW and ECW, and all were bad, on a percentage basis there wasn’t much difference, was horrible. It was not the same in Japan and Mexico.
From this week's Observer Newsletter discussing wrestlers dying before the age of 50 and the origins for the spike in deaths.

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE announces the Finn Balor vs AJ Styles match will still feature the Demon persona for Balor.
WWE UK champion Pete Dunne recently got his first official piece of merch in the WWE. http://shop.wwe.com/pete-dunne-bruiserweight-authentic-t-shirt/1B1001.html?dwvar_1B1001_color=Black#q=pete%2Bdunne&lang=en_US&AID=11555879&PID=7604247&utm_source=CommissionJunction&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CJ&utm_content=7604247&start=1
WrestleInc currently claiming the illness spreading around the RAW roster is mumps. WWE has yet to confirm nor deny this being the actual illness. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1020/633270/exclusive-details-on-the-illness-affecting-wwe/
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Edge discuss about Nakamura's struggles to be a top star in the WWE and why he thinks Nakamura won't be able to do so on the main brands. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1020/633252/edge-is-not-sure-that-shinsuke-nakamura-will-get-there/
Fan Buzz had a recent interview with Ted DiBiase talking about his best moment from his wrestling career, his trademark laugh, difficulties of traveling during his career, not wanting his sons to be wrestlers, and managing Steve Austin in the WWF. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1020/633254/ted-dibiase-sr-on-advice-he-gave-steve-austin/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kazuchika Okada is currently 2 days away from holding the longest IWGP Heavyweight championship reign in NJPW history. Okada has held the belt for 488 days while the current record is 489 days by Shinya Hashimoto.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Cody Rhodes Makes More $ in ROH, Jacobs Wrestling, WWN/FITE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-cody-rhodes-makes-more-in-roh-jacobs-wrestling-wwnfite/)
JR Thinks Conor McGregor Will Get “Massive Check” From WWE in Future (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/jim-ross-thinks-conor-mcgregor-will-earn-massive-check-from-wwe-in-future/)

KIRA

10-20-2017, 10:39 PM

Earlier this month, Alicia Fox did an interview where she mentioned being one of the only women in WWE without any merchandise. Today that changed, as she now has a "Crazy like a fox" T-shirt on WWE Shop. On her Instagram, Fox gave thanks for the new merchandise.

:love: I cannot order this fast enough.

Done cant wait

10-21-2017, 04:15 AM

That Impact pizza better have 6 sides.

Simple Fan

10-21-2017, 03:31 PM

That Impact pizza better have 6 sides.

Not really an Impact Pizza just two Wrestling themed pizzas that fans will vote for. 6 sided pizza was a lay up though and they missed it.

The Sriracha Scissor Kick (spicy jerk chicken, roasted corn, black beans, salsa fresca, red onions, jalapeños, sriracha drizzle)

The Pulled Pork Piledriver (smokey pulled pork, pickled onions, red chillies, jalapeńo peppers, smoke bacon, BBQ drizzle)

They also have a drink the Atomic Drop made up of gin, tequila, rum, blue curaçao, 7-Up, and a splash of lime and lemon. Pretty sure its just a promotional thing for Bound for Glory and Impact tapings that follow.

Emperor Smeat

10-24-2017, 10:19 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Becky's Blue Crew:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/08a0a341f4c1dd63d46b8947ef9d68bf/tumblr_oyb56eFswN1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

One of the weirdest Raw ratings patterns ever took place last night, but overall the show did an average of 2.94 million viewers, up nine percent from last week due to the PPV bump, indicating a lot of curiosity coming off the TLC show.

However, the hour-to-hour drop was among the largest in history.

Raw finished third for the night on cable. The Washington Redskins vs. Philadelphia Eagles game did 11.28 million viewers, and the other show that beat Raw was the SportsCenter episode after the game ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.33 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.97 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.56 million viewers
Turns out the drop was the largest since RAW went to 3 hours after some more data crunching by the Observer.

On last night's RAW, Brock Lesnar officially accepted Jinder Mahal's challenge for a "Champion vs. Champion" match at Survivor Series. On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed more details about the upcoming match.

Meltzer noted that the WWE is planning on adding a special guest referee to the match, though the company hasn't yet settled on who that would be. John Cena's name was mentioned as a possibility, and Bryan Alvarez pointed out that it would make sense to insert Cena into the match in order to set up a storyline with Mahal for the future.

There are other names being floated around, so Cena is not a lock to referee the match. Without naming names, Meltzer said the other possible referees might not want to do the match, so Cena might end up getting the spot by default. The WWE's main goal in adding a special guest referee is to put someone in the ring who would be intriguing with Lesnar.

Alvarez raised the possibility of the referee being Goldberg or The Undertaker, considering they are two superstars who would definitely add some intrigue. Meltzer refuted that idea because both those rivalries have run their course and he doesn't see the WWE going back to them any time soon.

Roman Reigns is out of action with the mumps. It's not certain when he'll be back but it's not going to be a longtime thing, a couple of weeks is what people are saying. No word on Bray Wyatt or Bo Dallas but all are scheduled to be evaluated this coming Monday.

After having to leave SmackDown’s tour of South America last week because his family needed him at home, Kevin Owens tweeted a thank you to fans, friends, family, and others in the pro wrestling business for their outpouring of support. Karina Steen, Owens’ wife, also wrote a post on Instagram thanking people for the messages they’ve sent and saying that things are okay now: “Thank you all for the kind messages asking if everything was alright. It was one of the toughest weeks of our lives but we are ok now. This guy travelled half way around the world to get back to us and I don't know what I would have done without him. Best husband and dad we could ever ask for”

Less than two months after it was announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position with the company to focus on personal matters, Jeff Jarrett is officially gone from Impact Wrestling.

Impact broke the news in a statement that was posted on Twitter: "Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment Inc., effective immediately."

The statement also confirms that the company's rebrand into Global Force Wrestling is officially over, which was apparent when Impact started to shift their branding to remove references to GFW in September. Impact had announced an agreement to acquire GFW this summer, but the deal was never completed.

Regarding Jeff Jarrett, his official departure from Impact announced today had nothing to do with what happened over the weekend as we had heard late last week that the decision was being made and was more or less final and about to be announced.

What happened was Jarrett was to work shows in Calgary and Edmonton this weekend for Real Canadian Wrestling (we had mistakenly called it River City Wrestling yesterday as our first report just came in as RCW). He showed up in Calgary, in no condition to perform although he did do a match and it was said to be similar to his performance at TripleMania. The promoter said he didn't know Jarrett was in such bad shape until the match started but others there said that couldn't be the case because it was clear backstage. He told the promotion that he was held at customs and was told he had to return the next morning and would have to miss Edmonton. The promotion later found out that Jarrett rebooked his flight from Sunday morning to Saturday morning and left before the Saturday night show in Edmonton. The promotion said that Jarrett boarded a plane and left the country on his own accord Sunday morning and later said Jarrett "chose to leave the country due to his own issues."

For those wondering how today's announced termination of Jeff Jarrett will impact the current GFW Amped! PPV series, we are told the final installment of that PPV series will air as scheduled.

ROH posted a promo where the Bullet Club offered the McMahon family a 10 percent discount on tickets to ROH's show in San Antonio, Texas on November 17th. The promo was in response to NXT having a house show in San Antonio (with Shawn Michaels refereeing a title match between Drew McIntyre and Adam Cole) the same night.

Keith Lee challenging Travis Banks for his PROGRESS Championship is set for PROGRESS Wrestling’s show at the Electric Ballroom in London on Sunday. Pete Dunne addressing PROGRESS fans and management is also advertised.

WrestleCircus uploaded video of Jimmy Jacobs’ appearance and confrontation with Sami Callihan from their show last weekend.

Ric Flair will be making an appearance for the House of Glory promotion in New York on 12/16 at Club Amazura in Jamaica, Queens, NY.
ROH link: https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/922611272599908352 , PROGRESS link: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/922524338565328898 , WrestleCircus link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns27pdH8CPE

Harry Smith yesterday was driving in Calgary and saw a young woman hanging off a bridge and trying to commit suicide. He tried to talk to her and actually pulled her down from where she was and held her down until police came. He posted on Facebook that his knowledge and grip strength from all his grappling training allowed him to pull her her up from where she was hanging and she wasn't small either. He said he put her in a mount position and wouldn't let her move, for fear she had a gun, until the police arrived.

A.J. Styles said the "too sweet" sign at the end of his match with Finn Balor was something they decided and not something they were told to do. They said they wanted to show they haven't forgotten where they came from and that they love their Bullet Club brothers.

The Miz and Maryse had their gender reveal party Saturday, where they found out that Maryse will be giving birth to a baby girl. Miz wrote, “The #ItBaby is a GIRL! If she gets half the brains, beauty, and strength of her mother @marysemizanin then she’s gonna be a powerful woman.”
Link to the announcement: http://www.wwe.com/article/miz-maryse-reveal-gender-of-child

WWE officially announced that all their mobile games which include WWE Immortals, WWE Champions, WWE Tap Mania and WWE SuperCard are getting a zombie themed update. But the zombie invasion doesn't stop there it also includes Super Pixel Heroes WWEmoji, and Topps digital trading card app WWE Slam

WWE Network has added more Halloween themed clips to the Shorts Collection
Link to the mobile gaming announcement: http://www.wwe.com/article/zombies-invade-wwe-mobile-games-ios-android?sf124409886=1

Last night's 10-man cruiserweight match on WWE RAW in Green Bay was originally supposed to be an Elimination Match but plans were changed late in the day, according to PWInsider. That match saw Kalisto, Mustafa Ali, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Gran Metalik defeat WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, Ariya Daivari, Noam Dar, Drew Gulak and Tony Nese. It was also reported that Sin Cara was supposed to be in the match at one point but Gran Metalik was added. Another RAW change saw Alicia Fox added to the Sasha Banks vs. Bayley match to determine the women's Team Captain for the WWE Survivor Series match. Fox ended up winning that match.

Eric Bischoff was reportedly in New York City on Monday to work on a WWE-related project, according to PWInsider. No word yet on what that project is but we will keep you updated. On a related note, Bischoff tweeted about his "Bischoff on Wrestling" podcast returning after January 1st, 2018.

Some other sheet news includes:

John Cena recently joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help spread awareness about eradicating polio from the world. https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/922861636838453248
According to the WWE, there is no date set for Kevin Owens return to the company due to dealing with serious family issues at the moment.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, last Sunday was the 17th year anniversary of Kurt Angle winning the WWF title for the first time. He defeated champion The Rock for the belt at No Mercy 2000.
ESPN announced the 30 For 30 documentary about Ric Flair will air on November 7th. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113122/espn-ric-flair-documentary-to-premiere-november-7th.html?p=1
According to ESPN, WWE recently invested money in an eSports company called Cloud9. Official reason was this being something the WWE has wanted to do for a while for non-wrestling projects. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113110/wwe-investing-in-esports-company.html?p=1
During a recent episode of The World According To Wrestling podcast show with Rikishi as the guest, Rikishi revealed the origins of the stinkface move came from something a fan randomly shouted out he wanted Rikishi to do during a match at a house show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1023/633371/rikishi-reveals-which-wwe-hall-of-famer-helped-create-the/
New York Post had a recent interview with Alexa Bliss talking about her battles with anorexia, becoming a Women's Champion, and earning the respect of the locker room. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1024/633396/alexa-bliss-on-if-she-has-respect-in-the-locker-room/
Recent episode of Live Audio Wrestling podcast show had Jimmy Jacobs as the guest taking about why he wanted to stop wrestling, earning respect in the WWE as a writer, and his post-WWE plans. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1024/633402/jimmy-jacobs-on-if-he-wanted-an-on-air-role-with-wwe/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE SmackDown Results – Oct. 24, 2017 – Zayn vs. Orton (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-smackdown-results-oct-24-2017-zayn-vs-orton/)
Various: Austin Aries on Talk Is Jericho, Charlotte, Miz/Maryse Reality Show (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-austin-aries-on-talk-is-jericho-charlotte-flair-mizmaryse-reality-show/)
Current WWE Survivor Series Card (Six Matches) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/current-wwe-survivor-series-card-six-matches/)

Mr. Nerfect

10-24-2017, 11:55 PM

John Cena trying to eradicate polio from the world is lovely and all, but the WWE hasn't even eliminated preventable diseases from their locker-room.

Mr. Nerfect

10-24-2017, 11:56 PM

Becky Lynch does not annoy me as much as Eli Drake, for those wondering.

Mr. Nerfect

10-24-2017, 11:58 PM

The Raw ratings drop is interesting. Interest up, interest down, down, down.

Emperor Smeat

10-25-2017, 09:40 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's take on West Side Story:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/b049456c07c84e435b66be1cd09e72c9/tumblr_oyb3q6mvvO1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Despite competition from game one of the MLB World Series, SmackDown did its best numbers since September 12th for this week's episode. Last night's show had an average audience of 2.699 million viewers, up 16 percent over last week.

The increase in ratings was almost certainly due to curiosity over the SmackDown invasion of Raw the night before, which closed Monday night's show.

In what could be a sign for his future with the company, Neville was removed from the video intro for 205 Live this week. It’s the first time that he hasn’t been in the intro since the news that he wanted to leave WWE broke.

ESPN released a short excerpt from the upcoming 30 for 30 on Ric Flair’s life that will air on November 7th. In the clip, Flair talks about how people would live vicariously through him in the 1980s and video of athletes imitating him were shown.
Link to the clip: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21151921

Nia Jax replied to Natalya and Tamina on Twitter, teasing that she’ll be part of the Raw women’s team at Survivor Series.
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/923255222440546304

Triple H announced that “Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)” by Power Trip and “Play” by Marmozets are the official theme songs for NXT TakeOver: War Games.
Link to announcement: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/923289788521869312

Tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 12 at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th are now on sale. NJPW’s English-language website has a post about ticket information, with there also being travel packages available that include hotel accommodations and tickets (but not plane tickets) for people coming from outside of Japan.

NJPW also unveiled the poster for Wrestle Kingdom 12.
Ticket info: https://www.njpw1972.com/16228 , WK 12 poster: https://twitter.com/EvanDeadlySinsW/status/922899617330663424

WrestleCade announced that Jeff Jarrett won’t be attending any of their events in Winston-Salem, North Carolina next month (including a scheduled match against Ryback) due to personal reasons. WrestleCade called Jarrett a friend of their team and wished his family all the best.
Link to announcement: https://www.facebook.com/WrestleCade/posts/1127890204014921

AR Fox is returning to EVOLVE for their shows in Queens, New York and Melrose, Massachusetts on December 9th and 10th.

Adam Blampied, who recently departed WhatCulture and was their promotion’s on-screen general manager, put out a statement publicly apologizing for falsely claiming to several women that he was in an open relationship in an effort to get them to send pictures of themselves to him. Shortly after that, a woman detailed her experiences with Blampied and posted screenshots of messages between them. Cultaholic, the new website and YouTube channel that Blampied is involved with, announced that they’d be delaying the launch of their YouTube channel as Blampied is taking a short leave of absence.
For some reference think this was the person rumored a while ago about a major scandal being broken soon by the sheets but story was pulled due to legal threats. Link to apology: https://twitter.com/AdamTheBlampied/status/923278045506605056 , woman's statement against him: https://twitter.com/SRbackwards/status/923280960766070789 , Cultaholic's statement: https://twitter.com/Cultaholic/status/923279403370647555

On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore chat about Kurt Angle’s WWE in-ring return, and the situation surrounding the illness going around in the WWE. He also talks about Jim Carrey’s documentary about filming ‘Man on the Moon’, which his going to be on Netflix on November 17.

The King also discusses his new Memphis Wrestling television show, potential Vince McMahon biopic, and much more!

Here are some highlights:

On the WWE illness:

"I think it was probably some bug they picked up on one of the over seas tours or something like that.”

On Kurt Angle’s return to in-ring competition:

"Kurt and I talked at-length about that [in the past], how much he wanted to still wrestle with WWE.

He was happy with the contract and happy to be back with the WWE, but he was not crazy about the fact, I guess they had already told him that they didn’t think they wanted him to do things like get in the ring and wrestle.

I know he was lobbying for that [to wrestle] and I know he really wanted to do that. I’m happy for Kurt.”
Episode link: https://i1.wp.com/www.podavenue.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/lawler_show_image_32.png?resize=426%2C113

At 50 years old, is Kane back for one last run? Will he be back part time or full time? Where do you go with him booking-wise after TLC?

He is booked through Survivor Series last I heard. He is still running for Mayor of Knox County, TN so he will be part time. As I type this on Monday morning, it sure looks like he has a face off with Braun Strowman in his future ...

To me, it doesn't look good for Braun Strowman. They could do so much with him, but aren't. Now the latest with Kane returning to help him win the match with RR. Why would BS need help? It seems to take a lot of air out of the balloon, or am I just not getting it?

I like that you wrote BS for Braun because bringing Kane back felt like BS to me when it happened on Raw. I don’t get it either. It was totally unneeded to add him to the match. It actually made me care less, not more. The one good thing about Reigns getting sick was that at least they get another chance to do The Shield reunion. Hopefully they will do it the right way. They sure messed it up by making the TLC match a 5 on 3. As for Braun, I agree. Having him lose to one measly F5 in his match with Brock Lesnar was a huge mistake. WWE booking keeps making those. The fans want new, fresh talents to believe in and WWE just won’t give them to us ...

I saw the Impact One Night Only PPV pictures on the site. Was the crowd that bad for the entire show?

From what we were told, yes it was. We heard the number of fans for the show was 161. It says a lot about the drawing power of Impact, or lack thereof.
Several recent topics from PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

One WWE source believed that Eric Bischoff was in NYC this week to film an interview for the forthcoming WWE 24 special on Bill Goldberg.

There's been talk of doing a "Where are they Now" style program for the WWE Network. The company has had a running article of that type on their website.

There will be new WWE Network Collection on AJ Styles, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart in November, according to PWInsider. There's also been talk of adding a Mid-Atlantic Wrestling section to the Vault.

Celeste Bonin, who was formerly known as Kaitlyn in WWE, revealed that today marks a year since she checked herself into a hospital for a medical drug detox. Bonin wrote that she was in a bad place mentally and physically then and in a “terrible” marriage. She said that it took her a long time to admit that she was an addict but urged others to never be too proud to ask for help.

WWE just announced today that RAW General Manager Kurt Angle will be appearing at the RAW episode from Manchester, England on Monday, November 6th. Apparently Angle had not been scheduled for the show until this week. The dark main event advertised for that show is The Shield vs. The Bar and WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz in six-man action.

As noted, Impact Wrestling officially announced on Monday that it has terminated their business relationship with Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment Inc. Jarrett had been on a leave of absence since early September to "focus on personal matters." Jarrett had only returned to Impact Wrestling in January of this year after Anthem Sports & Entertainment purchased it from Dixie Carter. Nick Hausman of WrestleZone reached out to Jarrett for comment about his termination earlier this week, to which Jarrett replied, "Anthem is out of money." Anthem sent Hausman the following response to Jarrett's claim:

"That statement is inaccurate. Anthem and IMPACT Wrestling are looking forward to a successful 6-day tour in Ottawa, Nov. 5-10, and much more."
Link to Jarrett's and Anthem's statements: http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/894015-exclusive-jeff-jarrett-claims-anthem-is-out-of-money-impact-wrestling-anthem-issue-response

Forbes has ranked WrestleMania at #6 on their Most Powerful Sports Brand list. They value the brand at $195 million, up 8.3% from the year before. The top 5 were the NCAA Final Four at #5, FIFA World Cup, the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympics and the NFL's Super Bowl at #1 with a $663 million value. WWE announced the following on making the list:

WrestleMania makes Forbes' Fab 40 list of most powerful sports brands

WrestleMania has once again ranked on Forbes' Fab 40. The Showcase of the Immortals, which just celebrated its 33rd edition this past April in Orlando, ranked at No. 6 on the magazine's long-running list of the world's most valuable sports brands, above institutions such as the UEFA Champions League and the Daytona 500.

This year's WrestleMania broke the Orlando Citrus Bowl's attendance record with 75,245 WWE Universe members from all 50 states and 62 different countries. The previous Orlando Citrus Bowl attendance record – 74,635 – had been set by WrestleMania XXIV in 2008.

WrestleMania also ranked on Forbes' list in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Link to article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2017/10/24/the-forbes-fab-40-the-worlds-most-valuable-sports-brands-2017/#49ba6d043b84

Some other sheet news includes:

Sami Zayn was revealed to be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/EandCPod/status/923177222353051649
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 30th anniversary of The Ultimate Warrior's debut in the WWF. Warrior defeated Terry Gibbs during an episode of Wrestling Challenge on this day. Warrior's widow celebrated the occasion on Twitter. https://twitter.com/DanaWarriorWWE/status/923217986906968064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Recent report from Sports Illustrated claims The Rock played a role in Nia Jax's current leave of absence from the WWE. Supposedly Nia asked The Rock for some career advice and he told her to take a break if she was really unhappy with her direction in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1025/633444/rumor-on-the-rock-encouraging-nia-jax-to-walk-away-from-wwe-if/
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Goldust as the guest talking about the origins of the Goldust gimmick, Savio Vega playing a big role in its development, and Scott Hall not being a fan at all of the gimmick when they feuded. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1025/633427/goldust-on-which-wwe-hall-of-famer-fought-against-his-character/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Bischoff, Mojo vs. Hawkins on Twitter, Dusty/WarGames, Undertaker (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-bischoff-mojo-vs-hawkins-on-twitter-dustywargames-undertaker/)
Dolph Ziggler Responds to Raw/SD Invasion’s Logic Issues (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/dolph-ziggler-responds-to-rawsd-invasions-logic-issues/)
WWE: SD Dark Matches, Cena in Polio Video, Avril Lavigne w/ Miz & Maryse (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-news-sd-dark-matches-cena-in-polio-video-avril-lavigne-w-miz-maryse/)

Emperor Smeat

10-26-2017, 10:04 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Million Dollar Man's Laugh:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8385xXEiT1r270ozo1_250.gif

WWE reported this morning revenues of $186.4 million and profits of $21.8 million for the third quarter of this year, numbers that beat Wall Street estimates of $172 million and $15 million ...

The key are increases in profitability in most categories, with only WWE Studios and home entertainment falling below last year's numbers.

WWE Network profitability increased from $15.7 million during the third quarter last year to $24.3 million, due to a combination of more revenue and lower spending due to producing fewer original shows.

However, the 1,507,000 subscribers for the Network, while up four percent from one year ago, was a decline from the last quarter. There were 392,000 new sign-ups and 453,000 cancellations during the quarter. During the third quarter last year, there were 388,000 new sign-ups and 455,000 cancellations, so the trend was very close to identical.

This shows that the strength of the pay-per-views, as the main events were stronger this year, only has a very minor effect on subscription numbers. The other take is that the Mae Young Classic, with all the hype, really meant nothing for subscriber numbers.

They also predicted another drop in Network subscriptions, as much as 50,000, in the fourth quarter.

WWE also increased profitability of house shows, although it was by running more total events as the average attendance dropped from 5,300 to 4,900 per show.

Licensing profits went from $4.6 million to $6.7 million due to an increase in mobile game sales.
The Network's numbers dropping instead of growing is not a good sign. Still stuck in the 1.4-1.5 million range when they were expecting the 2-3+ million by now for original plans. Also some of their money increases has catches to them which can become a big issue down the line.

Once again WWE did not specify the breakdown of free vs. paid subscribers. It was announced in the post-WrestleMania 33 conference call that the Network had 1.959 million total subscribers - 1.661 million of those being paid.

WWE is projecting 1.47 million average paid subscribers for the Network in the fourth quarter of this year. They project 1.53 million average paid subscribers for the full year 2017, a year-over-year growth of 8%.
Some comparisons on the Network's numbers and splits for Mania 33.

During the conference call, WWE pushed the idea of localized television, like they have in the Middle East and India, and have secured 20 new advertisers for television. They pushed the worldwide aspect of the product by noting that of the athletes training at the Performance Center, 40 percent come from outside the United States.

The company pushed the new television negotiations. The deal with NBC Universal expires on September 30th, 2019, while deals in the United Kingdom and India, the other two largest revenue television deals, expire on December 31st, 2019.

They are targeting a new U.S. deal and announcement sometime between May and September of 2018.
Right now its probably a safe bet the next US contract won't be a major increase and could probably include the removal of the 3rd hour if WWE can find a way to recoup the $20-$40 million it brings in annually.

Kenny Omega has added another Ring of Honor date to his calendar.

ROH announced today that Omega would be appearing at their show in San Antonio, Texas on November 17th, which will go directly against an NXT house show in the same city that night. NXT has Drew McIntyre defending his title against Adam Cole with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.

ROH posted a promo earlier this week of the Bullet Club hyping up going against NXT, with them doing a skit where they extended an offer to any member of the McMahon family to purchase tickets to ROH at a 10 percent discount.

The ROH show in San Antonio will be the first night of this year's Survival of the Fittest. The final two nights of the tournament will take place in Dallas and Oklahoma City the following two days, with the winner getting a future ROH World title shot.
Link to announcement: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/kenny-omega-joins-ring-honor-san-antonio , Promo link: https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/922611272599908352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

As Dave Meltzer confirmed in this week's edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Jeff Jarrett checked into a rehab facility yesterday. Meltzer wrote that Jarrett came to grips with the fact that he had a problem, with Karen Jarrett working with WWE officials to set up the rehab stay.

The decision comes after Jarrett allegedly showed up late (with Jarrett saying he was held up at customs for three hours), was drinking and passed out backstage, and then wrestled while in no condition to perform at a show for Real Canadian Wrestling in Calgary last Friday. Jarrett then missed their show in Edmonton the next day as he returned to the United States.

Sinclair Broadcasting has come one step closer to purchasing Tribune Media after stockholders of Sinclair voted to approve the $3.9 billion acquisition. This would give Sinclair 42 new television stations and have television in 39 of the top 50 markets. This acquisition would greatly benefit ROH because it would be expected to get television exposure in those new markets. (thanks to Daniel Thomason)

New Japan announced last night that tickets for Wrestle Kingdom 12 via the e-plus English language site are sold out. There will be more tickets available soon. There are still plenty of tickets available at Japanese outlets. Who would have thought that wrestling in 2017 would have geographical limitations on ticket buying.

PWInsider reported the company is planning a major episode of Raw on 1/12 from the Barclays Center which would be the 25th anniversary special for the show that debuted at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in January, 1993.

A pre-roll on the WWE Network says we will get a "Table for 3" episode following Raw. One has to wonder if this is going to be the postponed Sting, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat episode. That episode was scheduled to air two months ago but was delayed due to the two time WWE Hall of Famer's dire health battles.

WWE Shop has new holiday items in the store. Some of these things include updated ugly Christmas sweaters for AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, The Hardys, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Braun Stroman. There are multiple ornaments sets of every variety including elf, gingerbread man and traditional sets for multiple different talents past and present. Plus, Santa hats as well.

There will also be a 25th Anniversary of Raw DVD set.
Some random WWE related news bits from PWI

WWE has a new poll asking fans which current Superstar are they or someone they know dressing up as for Halloween this year - RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Becky Lynch, The New Day, Bray Wyatt, Charlotte Flair, The Shield, The Fashion Police, "The Demon" Finn Balor, John Cena, The Hardy Boyz, Naomi, Sasha Banks, Shinsuke Nakamura or other. As of this writing, 21% voted for other and 21% voted for The Shield while 14% went with The Demon, 7% for Cena, 6% for Bliss, 6% for Banks, 5% for Nakamura, 5% for Breezango, 4% for Wyatt, 4% for The Hardys, 3% for The New Day, 2% for Becky, 1% for Bayley, 1% for Naomi and 0% for Flair.

WWE officials are still planning on doing the Horsewomen vs. Horsewomen match with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The match is now being planned for WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. One reason the match has been pushed back until then is because there's a RAW vs. SmackDown theme at Survivor Series, where the match was once rumored to take place. Another reason they're waiting until 2018 to do the match is the feeling that the extra time will help them get Rousey, Duke and Shafir ready for the ring.

Baszler continues to train at the WWE Performance Center under her WWE NXT deal and Rousey was at the Performance Center this past week. No word yet on the rumored Rousey vs. Flair singles match happening in the future but it was once rumored for WrestleMania.

We've noted before how WWE is looking to have a special referee for the WWE Champion Jinder Mahal vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar match at the November 19th Survivor Series pay-per-view.

John Cena is rumored for the role, which could lead to Cena challenging Mahal, something Jinder has pushed for WrestleMania 34. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Vince McMahon was also considering The Rock and WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin for the role.

No word yet on talks with Rock or Austin but the issue would be if they want to work the match, and with The Rock the main issue would be if his schedule would allow it, and how much WWE would have to pay him. It's unlikely that a Lesnar vs. Rock or Lesnar vs. Austin match would come out of the special referee gig at Survivor Series. The Observer notes that while Austin is done as a wrestler, there is still the intrigue of he and Lesnar being in the ring together.

Matt Riddle is not on the New Japan Tag League tour after all, and there’s no word who Jeff Cobb will be teaming with. The story is that Riddle had been in talks to do the tour and it was just about a done deal, but before being finalized, things changed. The belief is that Bushiroad, the New Japan parent company, found out about his UFC marijuana test positives and in Japan, marijuana has more of a stigma than in most places, and the deal fell apart and there is no start date ... Riddle twice failed tests in UFC and had wins overturned due to positive marijuana tests. This is a key reason why WWE has held up on ever making him an offer. Some time back at a conference call I was talking with Paul Levesque on this subject and Levesque said that everyone deserves a second chance, although I don’t know they’ve made him an offer even though it was WWE who originally hooked him up with Evolve after he did so well in a tryout shortly after he started in wrestling, but they wanted to test how he’d do before offering him a deal ... Usage of marijuana is prevalent in pro wrestling which is why this seems so weird from a WWE standpoint, since WWE does fine people $2,500 a shot for marijuana, but doesn’t suspend them for it, and it’s viewed in WWE as the pot tax

The new Lucha Libre promotion that Aroluxe (Ron & Don Harris) are behind with the idea they’d be looking to sign up talent from Lucha Underground that could get out of their deals or if LU is done, is scheduled to tape a pilot from 12/9 to 12/11 in Nashville. That’s the company that was interested in Vince Russo for creative, but I don’t know that the deal with him is in place or not

The last episode of Lucha Underground season three aired on 10/18 and the final graphic said “To Be Continued.” People are hoping that meant something but there is still no deal made going forward.

Christopher DeJoseph was on The Midweek War show teased the idea of Prince Puma continuing as a character, saying he’s got more in mind for the character. Obviously, if the character continues it would be somebody else playing the role. When asked about the future of Sexy Star, he said that decision will be made by people pay grades above him but they try and resolve every story. He did bring up being high on Rey Escorpion and Averno

Chris Roach, one of the writers, was on The MMM show and talked about how the reason they put the title on Sexy Star was a way to build heat for Mundo to cheat to have to beat her. The feeling is that if Pentagon was the guy who Mundo beat that his losing without coming back strong for revenge would have hurt him, and the idea for the season was to put as much heat on Mundo.

Apparently the reason the tapings are being done in Ottawa is because the building gave the company a tremendous deal. It’s going to be exceedingly difficult to draw for six straight nights, particularly since, unlike in Orlando, they are charging for tickets and aren’t in a theme park where tourists can be recruited to come in and watch. Right now for the tapings from 11/6 to 11/10 they are offering 50 percent off tickets
Reason why Impact is holding a series of tapings in Ottawa. Also getting rid of current ring announcer Dave Penzer to cut costs since it would be cheaper to hire a local one from the indies.

PW Insider wrote a story regarding the proposed U.K. television show and the basic gist behind the delays is as we had noted, they are looking to get a paid deal on TV in the U.K. for the show rather than have it be a WWE Network exclusive. The costs of the pilot shows where they did the U.K. tournament were very high and that’s why, after announcing they would be starting a weekly series, nothing has happened. It is still in the planning stages but it takes time to make TV deals. The PW Insider story said the working title for the show would be WWE King of the Ring. They noted the show was being pitched to ITV, which is the same thing we’ve heard, basically it’s being pitched everywhere. ITV would be the killer deal because of the reach of the station and because ITV itself was planning on doing its own weekly Saturday afternoon wrestling show.

A key point is that ITV earlier in the year was looking at doing a ten week run and then evaluating it from there. That was one of the reasons the deal with Impact fell through, although there were others regarding who would pay what costs. ITV has not dropped the idea of the show and was still looking at trying out wrestling at some point in 2018, so on the surface, WWE producing such a series makes sense for both sides. ITV gets a solid promotion which has top guys under contract and if they are on ITV, pretty much would be able to sign any U.K. talent except the guys with the New Japan or ROH deals. But one would think WWE would want more than a ten-week commitment
Some details regarding WWE's UK show plans and ITV's own wrestling show plans.

WWE has signed a multi-year deal with SPORT TV in Portugal for weekly Portuguese language WWE programming. Starting on 10/31, they will air Raw every Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Smackdown every Wednesday at 7 p.m., as well as air one hour edited versions of Raw every Thursday at 6 p.m. and a one hour edited version of Smackdown every Saturday at 11 a.m.
Might actually be able to watch this since the local cable company carries RTP which shows stuff from SPORT TV as well.

The most watched shows of the week on the WWE Network were: 1. TLC PPV; 2. Raw Talk after TLC; 3. Ride Along with The Shield, Bayley and Banks; 4. TLC pre-game show; 5. NXT from 10/18; 6. 205 Live from 10/17 (based on usual standards that is a great showing for this show); 7. Hell in a Cell 2017; 8. Story Time episode 5; 9. Ride Along with Sheamus, Cesaro, Angle and Show; 10. This Week in WWE

Some other sheet news includes:

According to PWI, WWE's stocks reached its highest value in 3 years due to the very positive fiscal report. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113166/wall-street-likes-todays-wwe-financial-numbers-stock-at-highest-number-in-over-three-years.html?p=1
WWE recently posted a photo of The Undertaker with Ric Flair as part of ESPN's early screening for the 30 For 30 documentary on Ric Flair. They also had an article on their website about other WWE stars who attended this event. Link to photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BautEsjAj1C/ , link to article: http://www.wwe.com/article/superstars-attend-espn-30-for-30-nature-boy-screening
Recent episode of X-Pac 12360 podcast show had Sean Waltman discussing a variety of topics including his thoughts on Jeff Jarrett's current problems, Nia Jax's status in the WWE, what his best promos were, and him being upset at a Chikara show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1026/633486/sean-waltman-on-rumors-of-the-rock-telling-nia-jax-to-walk-out/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, CM Punk celebrated his 39th birthday today.
According to the Observer, NHL's Philadelphia Flyers now have a tradition where the MVP of every game gets to wear a replica Ric Flair robe for official game photos as a reward. They recently purchased the replica robe for this season.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Jericho on Hot Ones, Nia Jax, Flair Documentary Premiere, Tozawa (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-jericho-on-hot-ones-nia-jax-flair-documentary-premiere-tozawa/)
WWE Rumors: Balor vs. Lesnar Off? Ricochet/WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/wwe-rumors-balor-vs-lesnar-off-ricochetwwe/)
Gargano vs. Shawn Michaels “Best Abs” Contest Added to NXT WarGames (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/gargano-vs-shawn-michaels-in-a-best-abs-contest-added-to-nxt-war-games/)

Ol Dirty Dastard

10-26-2017, 10:21 PM

The Raw ratings drop is interesting. Interest up, interest down, down, down.

the problem is you can have all the gaga you want in a main event... but the next night you're still watching RAW.

Mr. Nerfect

10-27-2017, 04:23 AM

the problem is you can have all the gaga you want in a main event... but the next night you're still watching RAW.

Well, I don't even know if the gaga in the main event was a good thing. They generate this interest for something and then they cut it down. Finn Balor has, by all accounts, a tremendous showing, and then he gets squished by Kane in 2017. How does one invest time into this?

Emperor Smeat

10-27-2017, 10:21 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Low Blow Appreciation Day:
http://33.media.tumblr.com/128f86fe6496c6e2c4acdf86b087f26a/tumblr_nrsx43YWc61sbzhteo1_400.gif

I was told that when they were coming up with different pitches for the match that Finn was gonna have as a replacement for him versus Sister Abigail, one of the things that was brought up was a 4 on 4 match where he would team with Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and AJ Styles to basically have a Bullet Club reunion of sorts.
Link to the podcast episode: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/episode-98-wrestling-sheet-radio/

AJ Styles was apparently not the first choice to fill in for Bray Wyatt against Finn Balor at WWE TLC last Sunday. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest issue of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Chris Jericho was contacted to face Balor, but he is on tour right now with Fozzy. It's not known if WWE contacted anyone else before asking Styles, who was overseas for the SmackDown tour in Chile.

We noted before that WWE Hall of Famer Booker T would be appearing at the WWE NXT "Takeover: WarGames" event in his hometown of Houston, likely for the pre-show panel. WWE posted this video of Booker talking about the WarGames match and how excited he is. Booker says a match like WarGames is a history making match and he still has bumps & bruises from the WarGames match he and brother Stevie Ray worked at WCW Fall Brawl 1993. That match saw Sting, Dustin Rhodes, The British Bulldog and The Shockmaster defeat Harlem Heat, Vader and Sid Vicious.

Booker says you only have so much time in this business to make history and while WarGames is one thing, the moment is everything. Booker says the competitors will be able to look back in 50 years and say they were a part of the biggest events & greatest spectacles in the business.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lLPjp6KzVo

AXS is airing the Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito G-1 finals tonight. There are reasons, because of the danger involved, that it was not my favorite match this year, but it got voted best match of G-1, and when you consider the competition, that's an incredible honor.

Tickets for ROH Final Battle on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York are now sold out. Tickets have been put on sale for the final TV taping of the year on 12/16 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

New Japan has announced that they are making more tickets available for U.S. fans for the 1/4 Tokyo Dome starting at midnight tonight Eastern time and 9 p.m. Pacific time. The original allotment of U.S. tickets sold out the first day.

There was a lot of talk last night about Cow Palace Wrestling coming up in new material released on the 1963 Kennedy assassination. Some have taken it as an implication that Roy Shire, the promoter, was an FBI informant.
Link to NJPW tickets news: http://eplus.jp/ib-njpw/ , Cow Palace links: https://deadspin.com/the-pro-wrestling-fan-who-wasted-the-fbis-time-claiming-1819912282 , https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32113668.pdf

Jeff Hardy will be launching an art gallery for his online web store on Tuesday featuring works he's been painting with his left hand only (due to his shoulder surgery). For more info you can go to JeffHardyBrand.com

Jake Hager (Jack Swagger) vs. Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact will headline the 11/25 WrestleCade show in Winston-Salem, NC which goes head-to-head with WWE's Starrcade show.

WWE has a new poll asking fans who they want to see RAW General Manager Kurt Angle face if he were to wrestle another match following his return at WWE TLC last Sunday - AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Cesaro, RAW Tag Team Champion Dean Ambrose, Finn Bálor, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon, John Cena, Kevin Owens, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura or WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz. As of this writing, 33% voted for Styles, 11% went with Cesaro, 8% for Shane, 7% for Nakamura, 6% for Joe, 4% for Rollins and 4% for Miz. The rest received 3% or less. Wyatt received 0%.

In playing off the main event of the original Starrcade, featuring Ric Flair vs. Harley Race in a steel cage, the Smackdown brand event will be headlined by two steel cage matches: WWE champion Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and WWE Smackdown Women's champion Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair, Ric Flair's daughter. Additional matches currently planned for the event feature:

*WWE United States champion AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Rusev.

*WWE Tag Team champions The New Day vs. The Usos: Tornado Tag Match

*Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler.

*Breezango vs. Aiden English & Mike Kanellis.

*The Rock N' Roll Express vs. Gallows & Anderson.

*WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat, Jeff and Matt Hardy, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn to appear

Reno Scum, the West Coast tag team brought in to Impact Wrestling at the onset of the Anthem regime, announced they have departed the company. Adam Thornstowe tweeted the following:

Parted ways with @IMPACTWRESTLING Thankful for the opportunity and support they gave me through injury. Let’s do it again down the road. Oi!
— Reno Scum Thornstowe (@Thornstowe_Scum) October 27, 2017

The team had been brought in by Jeff Jarrett but had to take time off when Thornstowe tore his bicep. The team returned to action earlier this month and have been working for a number of promotions on the West Coast including APW and Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.

The team's exit follows the recent departures of Robbie E, Low Ki, Eddie Kingston and Davey Richards.

House of Hardcore's 4/7/18 debut in New Orleans, LA on Wrestlemania eve are now on sale at www.Wrestlecon.com.

This will be the first undertaking for the Tommy Dreamer promotion over the course of a Wrestlemania weekend.

HOH will present the final live event at The Sugar Mill that weekend for Wrestlecon, with bell time scheduled for one hour after WWE NXT's Takeover event has ended.

LOS ANGELES, CA – This week's episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia on PodcastOne features second-generation WWE star Charlotte Flair discussing her rise in the WWE, the health of her father, Ric Flair, becoming an author, being compared to her father, overcoming abusive relationships, her brother Reid Flair's tragic death, adapting to the wrestling business, her fight for a SmackDown Title, working with Natalia, and more.

Below are highlights from the interview.

On Ric Flair’s Health

Flair: “Oh, he’s doing really well...

On Her Brother Reid’s Drug Overdose

Flair: “I got so frustrated towards the end. He was in Japan doing well before he passed. He asked me to promote something for him, and I didn’t want to because I was just angry at him for making mistakes, and I have a lot of guilt - if I had done things differently. But that’s my thing about the book. I was getting to write my letter to him, letting him know that what he wanted to do and become, I’m making sure happens. And I still haven’t really accepted that he’s gone…And I know it’s hard on my mom, for sure, hard on my mom that the only thing the world sees is her son dying of an overdose, instead of what a beautiful soul he was… So I think getting to write about him and what he meant to me in the book, meant a lot.”

On Getting Out of an Abusive Relationship

Flair: “At that time, we were young, and he had family issues as well, and I was constantly trying to make up for those - but when, in reality, we were both in unhealthy situations. And I kept thinking, 'Well maybe if I looked a certain way or acted a certain way, or if I did this better he wouldn’t do xyz.' But it really had nothing to do with me, so I was continuing to make excuses. And when you’re in a codependent relationship like that, you’re listening to what the person says, but even though they do something else and say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. It will never happen again,’ but that’s not really how it is if the behavior never changes.”
link to the episode: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Charlotte-Flair

Tickets for the 25th Anniversary episode of Monday Night Raw on 1/22/18 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY will go on sale officially on 11/3 with an online pre-sale a few days prior. We are told that the plan for that show is to bring in legends from the past to make an appearance.

We have also learned there are plans to release an official book commemorating the anniversary. WWE RAW: The First 25 Years by Dean Miller and Jake Black is scheduled to be released in May 2018. The book will be a hardcover coffee table style book we are told.

As we noted, there will also be a 25th Anniversary of Raw DVD set.

In a Los Angeles Times article, it looks like ROH's parent company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a bit closer to taking over Tribune Media. A vote was cast by Tribune's shareholders and more than 99% were in favor of the deal to bring Sinclair into the fold. What this would mean for Ring of Honor is being in 108 total TV markets - 39 of the top 50 - and it would cover about 72% of U.S. homes. The deal would still need to be reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but if it does happen, ROH will be available to an even wider audience on weekly basis.
Some more details about ROH's market expansion within the near future. Link to AL Times article: http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-sinclair-tribune-20171019-story.html

Some other sheet news includes:

Mick Foley revealed the list of locations for his upcoming tour for his new Christmas themed book. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113182/mick-foley-going-back-on-road-with-new-one-man-show-celebrating-20-year-anniversary-of-hell-in-a-cell.html?p=1
Recent episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd radio show had Jim Ross as the guest talking about the Cena-Reigns promo war, Cena on the road to being the next Rock in terms of non-wrestling success, and issues with WWE's traveling schedule. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1027/633494/jim-ross-on-john-cena-roman-reigns-promos-getting-personal/
Vice recently had an article lambasting the WWE's attempts to whitewash the Ultimate Warrior's hateful past in order to make their charity using his name more marketable.
Update to recent news regarding the former general manager of WCPW as Adam Blampied was recently fired from his new job with Cultaholic due to the fallout from his recent allegations involving him manipulating women for explicit photos. https://twitter.com/Cultaholic/status/923929669858136065

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

R-Truth Undergoes Surgery (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/r-truth-undergoes-surgery/)
Videos: Enzo/TMZ, Full WCW vs. nWo WarGames Match, Undertaker, More (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/videos-enzotmz-full-wcw-vs-nwo-wargames-match-undertaker-more/)
Triple H to Wrestle on Five Shows of Upcoming WWE UK Tour (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/triple-h-to-wrestle-on-five-shows-of-upcoming-wwe-uk-tour/)

Emperor Smeat

10-31-2017, 10:03 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wacky Classic WCW Gif:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/59dbaa27a803bb46043d56b3/1507568189501/Sting+throws+lid+at+Cactus+Jack.gif?format=300w

The men's Survivor Series match, according to multiple sources, will be Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns & Finn Balor vs. Shane McMahon, Bobby Roode, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura & AJ Styles.
Spoiler tags used since it reveals the current lineup for the Men's RAW vs Smackdown team match at Survivor Series.

Raw was slightly down in the ratings from last week, but averaged 2.83 million viewers which is a decent number by modern standards during football season.

The first show since the SmackDown invasion started out strong, but once again collapsed in the third hour ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.10 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.94 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.52 million viewers

In terms of demographic rankings, RAW took the #4, #5, and #6 spots for the night.

In her first public comments since being released by WWE, Emma took a positive approach to her future in a tweet last night.

Emma wrote, "I feel very fortunate to have the most amazing family, friends and fans in the world! I am excited for the future. The best is yet to come!"

Along with Darren Young and Summer Rae, Emma was part of a round of WWE roster cuts that were announced on Sunday morning. Emma was the only one of the three currently being featured on television and her release came less than a week after she had competitive matches with Asuka at TLC and on last week's episode of Raw.

After receiving significant blowback on Twitter for a joke he made about Emma being released by WWE this morning, Lio Rush tried to clarify his comments and apologized to fans who thought they were inappropriate.

Rush first referenced Emma losing to Asuka in Asuka's first two main roster matches at TLC and Raw last week. In a tweet that has since been deleted, he wrote: "I guess these are the things that happen when you're not TRULY ready for @WWEAsuka."

The joke received criticism pretty quickly, including Peyton Royce pointing out that Rush just got to NXT and telling him that professionalism goes a long way. Bray Wyatt was one of the wrestlers from the main roster to respond, saying that Rush "ain't gonna make it here with the wolves."

In response to the blowback, Rush issued a statement on Twitter (with paragraph breaks added by us) just a few hours after the original post:

"At the end of the day, there's a certain level of respect within professional wrestlers in the sports & ENTERTAINMENT industry that is noted within peers. With that being said, Emma I respect you and everything you've done for our business. It saddens me that the 'controversial tweet' got completely blown out of proportion and looked at in a very insensitive way.

As a family man with a 4 year [old] son and expecting another, I would never laugh or mock the fact of someone loosing there job because of how it can affect self person and there families. Whatever the situation may be regarding the release, You're an amazing performer and respected athlete by yours truly and I'm sure you will excel beyond [expectations].

To my fans who may have seen this as inappropriate as well as Emma's fans, I apologize and I love you ALL regardless of the responses. On Behalf of myself and the WWE Goodluck!"

While Jack Gallagher, Dash Wilder, and others weren't as accepting of Rush's apology, Scott Armstrong (who works as a producer for WWE) called Rush a class act and wrote that rookie mistakes are made to be learned from.

Tetsuya Naito will face Sami Callihan at the Logan Square Auditorium for AAW on February 17th. Naito will also be appearing for Pro Wrestling Revolver in Dayton, Ohio on February 16th and Michael Elgin’s Glory Pro Wrestling in Edwardsville, Illinois on the 18th.

Impact Wrestling surpassed 1 million subscribers on their YouTube channel.

Minoru Suzuki dawned a clown costume for Halloween.

Keith Lee vs. Walter for the WWN title was announced as the main event for Evolve on 12/9 in Queens, NY.

NJPW’s total attendance for 2017 has eclipsed last year’s numbers with two more months remaining in the year.
AAW announcement: https://twitter.com/AAWPro/status/925155896686243841 , Impact link: https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/925394997008044033 , Nightmarish Clown link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba5xfcJF_I_/?taken-by=suzuki.d.minoru , NJPW link: https://twitter.com/EvanDeadlySinsW/status/924361600227840000

Another title match was confirmed for Power Struggle as NJPW rounded out the show's card.

In his biggest match since moving up to heavyweight, Trent Barreta will challenge for Kenny Omega's IWGP United States Championship. The match was set up when Barreta challenged Omega at NJPW's road to Power Struggle show on Sunday.

This will be Omega's third defense of the title since winning it in Long Beach this summer. He previously retained against Juice Robinson at Destruction in Kobe and against YOSHI-HASHI at ROH's Global Wars: Chicago iPPV. Barreta also defeated Yujiro Takahashi in his first singles match at heavyweight at Destruction in Kobe.

There will be four title matches at Power Struggle, which will take place at the Edion Arena in Osaka on Sunday morning. The wrestler who has been billed in vignettes as "Switchblade" will be revealed at the show as well. Here's a look at the finalized card:

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Kota Ibushi
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Trent Barreta
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Marty Scurll
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defending against Toru Yano in a bullrope match
Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
Sho & Yoh vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH in the finals of the Super Junior Tag Team Tournament
Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Cody, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku
The Young Bucks vs. Dragon Lee & Titan
David Finlay vs. Katsuya Kitamura

Regarding rumors of Detroit hosting WrestleMania 35 in 2019, the Detroit Sports Commission, which would be in charge of such a bid, admitted they had made failed bids for 2017 and 2018, but claimed they did not submit a bid for 2019.
Link: http://www.wxyz.com/sports/could-detroit-be-the-host-city-for-wrestlemania-35-in-2019

WWE officials confirmed today that Roman Reigns is currently not medically cleared and will not be leaving tonight for the WWE's tour of Europe.

Reigns' absence wasn't unexpected since the announcement on Friday of Triple H appearing to wrestle on at least the first week of the Raw U.K. tour seemed to be to give the shows a major replacement for Reigns not being there.

In addition, since the tour was built around The Shield reunion in matches with The Miz, Sheamus & Cesaro, and that Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose were instead announced as being switched to tag team title matches against Sheamus & Cesaro also seemed to confirm Reigns' absence.

The current projection is for Reigns to return on the November 13th Raw show in Atlanta.
In regards to the other people sick, Bo Dallas managed to pass a medical test to be cleared for an in-ring return while Bray was backstage at RAW but not used.

As noted in last week's Observer, the stories regarding Jax that have been reported elsewhere were overblown as there were never any issues regarding her leaving, nor any walking out, nor any issues regarding doing a job. She had asked for a few weeks off and was always scheduled to return for the European tour and was always booked on Survivor Series.

WWE is going all-in for the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw.

The company confirmed today that the anniversary edition of Raw would be taking place at both the Barclays Center and the Manhattan Center in New York City on January 22nd, 2018. Matches from both venues will air on the broadcast and will feature wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown, along with legends making "special appearances" at the Manhattan Center.

The Undertaker (who hasn't been on WWE television since losing to Roman Reigns and indicating that he's retiring at WrestleMania), Shawn Michaels, and Kevin Nash were the first three legends announced as being on the show. WWE has yet to reveal any other details about their scheduled appearances.

A one-night return to the Manhattan Center is WWE bringing Raw back to where the first episode of the show took place. The venue was home to Raw in the early parts of its run.

The episode will also be the go-home show for the 2018 Royal Rumble, with that pay-per-view set to take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 28th.

Tickets for the 25th anniversary episode of Raw will go on sale this Friday via Ticketmaster.

Regarding two notes on Don Callis yesterday, PWInsider reported yesterday that Callis was leaving New Japan and would be coming to Impact. Callis denied it, saying he was going to Osaka this coming weekend and wouldn't be at Bound for Glory or the Impact TV tapings. There is smoke in the sense this isn't a made up story or one where there's no substance to it, but Callis said that he will be with New Japan as long as they want him.They also reported Tessa Blanchard to Impact which those at Impact have denied to us. They reported Sami Callihan to Impact, which last we heard was scheduled for the next tapings, and talks with Ricochet. As noted by us many times, everyone has made an offer for Ricochet, who becomes a free agent in mid-January. But we're told he turned down the Impact offer.

Mike Johnson said that there'll be more talent added to 205 Live within the next coming weeks and there may be more releases on the way, he was told that whoever doesn't go on the European tour, is more than likely on the cutting room floor.

PWInsider.com broke yesterday that Rockstar Spud recently received a release from Impact Wrestling. We have since heard from multiple sources that WWE is looking to sign the British star with the idea of adding him to the 205 Live roster. Spud was the first winner of British Boot Camp, the Impact Wrestling reality series and worked for the company in a number of roles from 2012 through earlier this year. He's extremely versatile and would be a great pick-up.

WWE is also looking at moving Japanese star Hideo Itami up from NXT with the idea that he would join the Raw brand as a member of the Cruiserweight division, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The idea has been pitched several times of late and we are hearing that while there is no current debut date set, the plan is to move Itami up as soon as creative is in place.

Some other sheet news includes:

Live Audio Wrestling radio/podcast show is currently on hiatus with its future looking bleak after Anthem released several long time staff of the show. PWInsider reported the relaunch of the show will be LAW in name only and have very few similarities with the former show.
For those interested, John Pollock & Wai Ting recorded one last Review RAW episode together. https://archive.org/details/OCT31RAWREVIEW
PWI's Mike Johnson reported Impact is planning on hiring a lot of local Canadian wrestlers for next month's set of tv tapings after Bound For Glory.https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113261/lots-of-impact-wrestling-updates-heading-into-bound-for-glory.html?p=1
Newest episode of WWE Network's Table For 3 series had Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins as the guests. WWE posted a clip from the episode about the trio talking about their lives after the first Shield split. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/925202249604784129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
ESPN recently posted a clip from the upcoming 30 For 30 documentary on Ric Flair. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1030/633582/why-impact-ring-announcer-wont-be-at-bfg/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Mick Foley talking about him not wanting Shane to take any more dangerous bumps, importance of storytelling in matches, and the biggest benefit of WWE's PG era. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1031/633601/mick-foley-wishes-shane-mcmahon-would-stop-taking-bumps-off-hell/
Recent episode of the E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness show had Edge discussing not feeling the hype for Asuka and Christian stating WWE's problem with hyping other big stars for the main roster. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1031/633602/edge-says-he-doesnt-get-the-hype-surrounding-asuka/
Kurt Angle recently posted a photo of new gear being made for possible future matches in the WWE. https://www.instagram.com/p/BazcCDMA6gm/?taken-by=therealkurtangle

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Sin Cara Signs New Deal, Don Callis Coming to Impact? (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-sin-cara-signs-new-deal-don-callis-coming-to-impact/)
Various: Main Event Results, Foley Raises $ for Puerto Rico, Daniel Bryan (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/various-main-event-results-foley-raises-for-puerto-rico-daniel-bryan/)
Rumored Raw vs. SmackDown Survivor Series Match – Angle Wrestling? (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/rumored-raw-vs-smackdown-survivor-series-match-kurt-angle-wrestling/)

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 12:33 AM

I cannot believe the WWE re-upped with Sin Cara, haha.

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 12:33 AM

I love Sin Cara, but come on.

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 01:38 AM

With Kalisto being so uncharismatic, I wonder if they are cutting their losses there and going with Sin Cara for the Hispanic push?

James Steele

11-01-2017, 07:51 AM

Kalisto is getting another cruiserweight title match at Survivor Series.

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 08:11 AM

Given that they switched the belt back, I imagine Enzo beats him again. Unless they have really given up on the division making sense.

Juan

11-01-2017, 09:19 AM

I love Sin Cara, but come on.

The only reason the Sin Cara character ended up where it did was because the original Sin Cara shit the bed and they pretty much gave up on the character after that. It’s been three weeks that they’ve actually put any effort into getting the guy over and it’s been going great

Juan

11-01-2017, 09:24 AM

I know you don’t even watch the shows, but at this point I rather much prefer Sin Cara over Baron Corbin

In the three weeks they’ve been pushing Cara, he’s already more interesting than Corbin has ever been

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 06:26 PM

The only reason the Sin Cara character ended up where it did was because the original Sin Cara shit the bed and they pretty much gave up on the character after that. It’s been three weeks that they’ve actually put any effort into getting the guy over and it’s been going great

But that's what I mean. Hunico has had the gimmick since 2013 now and they've done nothing with it. Four years and however many backstage fights later they decide they finally want to do something with it.

11-01-2017, 06:28 PM

If they really want to do something they need to give his mask a mouth hole (or give him a Kenny from South Park gimmick).

Mr. Nerfect

11-01-2017, 07:35 PM

Or they could tape vignettes and have him do voice-overs in them.

Emperor Smeat

11-01-2017, 09:39 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by TPWW's Annual Celebration of Nashvember:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/56085ecae4b03eb8da8500be/1458919932536/

The 11/1 edition of Smackdown Live did 2,119,000 overnight viewers, down over a half a million from last week's 2,699,000 overnight viewers, which followed the Siege angle on Raw.

We should have a full report from the show later, but the card for WWE’s first show on the European tour today had Triple H teaming with Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose against Cesaro, Sheamus & Bray Wyatt in Glasgow, Scotland. The lineups for the tour had to be reshuffled since Roman Reigns wasn't medically cleared to go on it. He was supposed to team with Rollins & Ambrose, though WWE later announced that they'd be defending their tag titles against Cesaro & Sheamus before changing the cards again. Triple H wore full Shield gear for the match after being given a vest by Rollins, who cut a promo trying to explain the logic of Triple H teaming with them by saying that it was a call that he never thought he’d make and that you always need to have a plan B.

The match in Glasgow was Wyatt’s first since being out for the last several weeks with a viral infection.

WWE is advertising Braun Strowman vs. Kane for several stops on Raw’s European tour shows, including a possible meeting at next week’s Raw television taping at the Manchester Arena.
link: https://twitter.com/WWEUK/status/925752147710480384

Les Thatcher has also been spending some time at the Performance Center as a guest trainer this week.
Link: https://twitter.com/LesThatcher/status/925119620553506816

The Squared Circle Sirens website reported today that Impact Wrestling has released MJ Jenkins, the talent who was signed to a deal after taking a LONG bus ride to Orlando to work as an enhancement talent. She had been used a few times but was never really given much of a TV presence. We have independently confirmed the release. Jenkins was obviously very early on in her career and needed seasoning, but something about the company letting her go really saddens me, given that what she was willing to through for a chance got her the job in the first place. That's the type of person you want on your roster. Hopefully she can continue to grow as a talent and rebound.

Although the talk when this round of tapings was moved to Ottawa is that the company was pretty much done with taping at Universal Studios Orlando for awhile, all indications internally are that the January TV tapings will indeed be back in Orlando, Florida.

Talks of tapings in Chicago, by the way, have greatly lessened.
More news and details regarding Impact Wrestling.

On Saturday evening 11/4, there will be a special VIP dinner for fans with the talents. There will not be an Impact Hall of Famer announced. The initial pitched idea by Jeff Jarrett several months ago was to induct his father, Jerry Jarrett, who founded the company, but that obviously isn't going to happen now. The decision was made to wait on any inductions.

James Storm, who the company listed in a video as entering the Hall of Fame, told us earlier this week no one ever actually approached him about an induction and if they had, he would have fought against it as he feels the HOF should be for someone at the end of their career - which he feels he is not. Storm was at the ESPN Atlanta screening of the Ric Flair ESPN documentary last week.

On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore chat about some of the monsters he booked during the classic Memphis wrestling days. From Dr. Frank to Freddy to Leatherface, The King shares some audio and the backstories behind these characters.

The King also talks about the 25th Anniversary of Raw coming up in January and if he will be a part of the celebratory events:

"I’m not really sure. I would expect to be. How could they talk about 25 years of Raw without including me in some sort of way?

I know I’m going to be a part of the Royal Rumble [show]. I don’t know about calling the match [like last year], but probably the kick-off show and all that sort of stuff. “

On early Raw shows at Manhattan Center:

"One of the things about was amazing about it, was the Manhattan Center wasn’t a very big venue. At the time, they didn’t know how successful this thing was going to become. It was in the very early stages. Just an infant being born at the Manhattan Center. And this place was small compared to the Barclays Center. It was a very small venue.

The main thing I remember is having to dress, get ready for the matches, and get ready for the show in the stairwells. There was just not enough dressing rooms. And guys were dressing every little nook and cranny and broom closets to get ready for the show.”

Being in the new WWE mobile game:

"Did a two-hour voiceover. It’s a mobile game. It is awesome. I had a chance to look at the graphics. And it is really good.

I’m on the commentary for this game. They wanted it to sound like the Attitude Era. I don’t know if they are going to use J.R. or who-else they are going to use. I just know I did a two-hour session and did almost 300 lines for it the other day. They are going to have me back to do some more.”
Link: http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5894593/height/90/theme/custom/autoplay/yes/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/backward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/2179bd/

Paige sent out a tweet today thanking Mandy Rose, Nikki Cross, Ember Moon, and Ruby Riot for helping her train for her comeback at the Performance Center over the last few weeks.
link: https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/925787104025743360

The National Wrestling Alliance released episode three of their digital series Ten Pounds of Gold late last night, featuring the announcement that former Impact Wrestling champion Nick Aldis (Magnus) would be challenging NWA champion Tim Storm on 11/12 at a Championship Wrestling from Hollywood event. The episode also features Corgan discussing the importance of the NWA championship and making reference to his attempts to help Impact Wrestling financially.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwnhA2pT5aY

Big Japan has launched their own streaming service BJW Core. It appears to cost ¥888 a month, which at the current exchange rate is around $7.79 US. Looking at their selection, they seem to currently only have events going back to 2016 available on demand, but will have past home video releases added.

We noted before that Kalisto vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore is now official for the November 19th WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view. It appears this was a late change as last week there was a plan for a 5-on-5 Traditional Elimination Match with the cruiserweights. The match was to have Team Captain Enzo, Noam Dar, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari taking on Team Captain Kalisto, Sin Cara, Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali and Rich Swann.

As noted, WWE announced on Sunday that they have parted ways with Emma, Summer Rae and Darren Young. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that Emma's departure had been in the works for some time as she had significant heat with company officials. The doors reportedly remain open for Emma to return down the line but some see her departure as "addition by subtraction" in the locker room.

Emma reportedly created enemies on the WWE writing staff and made those issues worse with the way she spoke out on Twitter. Emma did have as much respect as an in-ring performer as any other female Superstars in the locker room but her release sent a message to the locker room.

The decision to release Emma, Young and Summer reportedly came on Friday during Vince McMahon's routine budget meeting. The Superstars were told on Sunday before they would have needed to fly out for work on Monday. WWE then made the announcements on their website and social media accounts.
link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/11/01/wwe-wrestling-news-emma-release-rockstar-spud

Charly Caruso will be hosting WWE's "Best of RAW and SmackDown 2017" DVD that comes out on February 27th, 2018. WrestlingDVDNetwork.com notes that the set will have more than 8.5 hours of content. Below is the official synopsis:

"2017 saw new WWE Superstars win championship gold, legends return to glory, and moments that made the WWE Universe say, "This is awesome!" Relive every match and major moment from RAW and SmackDown Live and see why 2017 was a year that will never be forgotten."

Renee Young will be hosting WWE's "Best Pay-Per-View Matches of 2017" DVD that comes out on January 2nd, 2018. WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reports that this will be a three-disc set. Below is the synopsis:

"The New Era has arrived and the Superstars of RAW and SmackDown Live leave the WWE Universe on the edge of their seat with The Best Pay-Per-View Matches of 2017! Featuring the greatest matches from Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, Survivor Series, and more!"

Some other sheet news includes:

Former LAW hosts John Pollock and Wai Ting held a final Review Smackdown episode together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm3kPVIb8lE
During a Q&A session at Comic Con last week, The Rock revealed Triple H, Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar would be his choices if he were to ever have another match in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1101/633652/the-rock-names-three-current-wwe-superstars-he-wants-to-wrestle/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today would have been Bobby Heenan's 73rd birthday.
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had the Singh Bros as the guests talking about the advice HBK gave to them, their future goals after their current run with Jinder ends, and the table spot with Orton during the Punjabi Prison match. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1101/633636/singh-bros-on-eventual-split-with-jinder-mahal/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Dolph Ziggler Says “I Need to Rethink This Career, I Think” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/dolph-ziggler-says-i-need-to-rethink-this-career-i-think/)
Ticket Information for 25th Anniversary Raw in NYC + BK Pre-Sale Code (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/ticket-information-for-25th-anniversary-raw-in-nyc-bk-pre-sale-code/)
Updated Current and Rumored WWE Survivor Series Card (http://www.tpww.net/2017/10/updated-current-and-rumored-wwe-survivor-series-card/)

Triple A

11-01-2017, 10:05 PM

feel like I don't trust that "Justin Barrasso" Sports Illustrated guy anymore... He seemingly made up that story about The Rock telling Nia Jax to walk and that Nia was really unhappy and all this stuff and then Meltzer said none of it was true... seems like a lot of things he posts are just made up wild speculation based on something Meltzer posts...

Emperor Smeat

11-02-2017, 10:18 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wacky Braun Gif:
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Now that the main event for NXT's next TakeOver special has officially been announced on television, WWE has revealed the rules for this month's War Games match:

There will be a steel cage that surrounds two rings.
A member from each team will start the match, with there being three separate shark cages near the entranceway that the other wrestlers are put in before they enter.
After five minutes, the remaining two members from one team will be let out of their shark cage and into the ring. Following that, there will be a three-minute period until the next team's wrestlers are let in. There will then be a final three-minute period until the last team's members are allowed to join the match.
The match can be won by pinfall or submission once all of the teams have fully entered.

The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly), SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain), and Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain will be the three teams involved in War Games, which is the first time WWE has used the concept since acquiring WCW in 2001.

We noted before how WWE NXT newcomer Lio Rush picked up some heat online after he tweeted on Emma's WWE departure after the company announced her release on Sunday, along with the releases of Summer Rae and Darren Young.

In a now-deleted tweet that referenced Emma's back-to-back losses to new RAW Superstar Asuka just days before, Rush wrote: "I guess these are the things that happen when you're not TRULY ready for @WWEAsuka"

Rush received strong tweets from Bray Wyatt, Jack Gallagher, Peyton Royce, Dash Wilder and others in response. NXT General Manager William Regal wrote a tweet somewhat defending Rush. Dash deleted his tweet but he wrote, "So busy trying to be a comedian, you forget you're a dumbass." Rush later posted an apology to Twitter but the damage had been done. You can see his original tweet below along with the apology and some of the comments from his co-workers.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the heat on Rush was so bad that there was almost immediate talk of the former ROH star being fired from the company. It was also noted that Rush is going to have to put in work to get the heat off of him. It was speculated that Rush would have been released if it weren't for the apology coming soon after the original tweet, based on what sources were saying about the situation.

Jinder Mahal's title will be on the line when WWE comes to the Manchester Arena for next week's episode of SmackDown.

WWE announced today that AJ Styles would be challenging for Mahal's WWE Championship on the show. In a storyline update, Shane McMahon revealed the news on his Twitter account: "Due to @JinderMahal vicious attack on @AJStylesOrg, he will defend the #WWEChampionship against AJ this Tues. in Manchester, UK on #SDLive."

As part of his program with Mahal, Styles has defeated both Singh Brothers over the last two weeks. Mahal laid out Styles following Styles' match with Samir Singh on Tuesday.

Mahal vs. Styles was always the planned direction, likely for the final pay-per-view of the year on December 17th in Boston. Their program has already started as the main event on the
SmackDown brand house shows.

Styles had been scheduled to face Rusev in a Survivor Series qualifying match to determine the final member of SmackDown's men's division team next week, but whether that will still happen at some point isn't clear.
Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2017-11-07/article/jinder-mahal-aj-styles-wwe-championship-preview?sf137546722=1

Emma, Darren Young and Summer Rae are all currently being paid through the end of February on a non-compete deal so they won't be signing anywhere until March at the earliest.

Devon "Hannibal" Nicholson will be wrestling on the 11/7 Impact taping show in Ottawa.

Innovate Wrestling on 11/11 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium with Chase Owens vs. Shawn Schultz in the main event.

Defy Wrestling on 11/10 in Seattle at Washington Hall with Tom Lawlor, managed by Bryan Alvarez, facing Ethan Page.

Tickets for WaleMania IV go on sale at 10 a.m. Central time on Thursday. The show will be 4/5, a Thursday night, at Republic NOLA in New Orleans. There will be a meet and greet, an MLW live podcast and an after party with Wale performing live. Tickets range from $15 to $150.

MLW's next show on 12/7 in Orlando has added Jimmy Havoc from the U.K. & Darby Allin vs. Shane Strickland & ?, plus MVP, with Tony Schiavone and Rich Bocchini doing live announcing.
WaleMania tickets link: http://www.mlwtickets.com/

Ring of Honor announced the following:

On-Sale Dates Announced For Big ROH Shows In Tennessee, North Carolina, Atlanta

Professional wrestling has a rich history in the South, and Ring of Honor will continue that tradition when the Best Wrestling on the Planet comes to Tennessee, North Carolina and Atlanta for live events in January and February 2018.

ROH will be in Nashville, Tenn., at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on Saturday, Jan. 27 for an international TV taping; Concord, N.C., at Cabarrus Arena on Friday, Feb. 9 for an international TV taping; and Atlanta, Ga., at Center Stage on Saturday, Feb. 10 for a live event.

Tickets for each show will be available for RINGSIDE MEMBERS on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 10 a.m. Eastern. Tickets go on sale to the GENERAL PUBLIC on Friday, Nov. 10 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

For those asking if the stories of a Survivor Series poster that has John Cena being listed as the guest referee for the Brock Lesnar-Jinder Mahal are legitimate, yes it’s true. We reported over a week ago that Cena would be the guest ref for the match.
Image of leaked poster: https://statics.sportskeeda.com/editor/2017/11/c3bdb-1509597530-800.jpg

Lince Dorado posted the following interesting view from the top rope:

Here's a preview! First person view of moves done off the top rope & by your favorite @WWE Superstars! Check meowt! #Plancha! #SSP is next! pic.twitter.com/gKKuafi3XH
— Lince Dorado (@LuchadorLD) November 2, 2017

New Roddy Piper Film Production
A percentage of all sales go to Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

The 80's was a decade of excess, Reaganomics, moonwalks and big hair. It was also when the WWE exploded onto the national statge in no small part due to the bombastic stylings of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

A new film production is now available to stream from Nine Legends director David Sinnott which features never before seen footage of "The Hot Rod" titled: "Roddy Piper: In His Own Words". Dig deep inside a forty year career which was spotlighted in the WWE and WCW as well as the big screen, including the lead role in John Carpenter's 80's cult classic, "They Live".

A percentage of all sales will be donated to the Doernbecher Children's Hospital, a hospital which had a special place in Roddy's heart.
More details and trailer link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113303/raw-at-manhattan-center-presale-sells-out-in-seconds-triple-h-and-the-shield-and-more.html?p=1

WWE has a new poll asking fans how they would rate WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle's performance as RAW General Manager so far, on a scale of 1 to 5. As of this writing, 44% voted for 5, the best, while 29% gave Angle a 4, 18% gave him a 3, 5% gave him a 1 and 4% gave Angle a 2.

As noted, this week's "Flashback Friday" programming on the WWE Network will focus on 22 years of Big Show's pro wrestling career. Below is the live stream line-up:

* 2pm EST - Stone Cold Podcast: WWE Hall of Famer and Icon Stone Cold Steve Austin has a no holds barred LIVE interview with The World's Largest Athlete, The Big Show!

* 3pm EST - WCW Halloween Havoc 1995: The Giant battles Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title. Randy Savage faces Lex Luger. Sting and Ric Flair battle Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson.

* 6pm EST - SmackDown Flashback, 4/22/2011: Alberto Del Rio throws a Retirement Party for Edge. The Corre find themselves defending multiple championships. Rey Mysterio in action. (NEW)

* 7:30pm EST - WWE Swerved: Big Show becomes a bronze statue, a crazy fan invades the Performance Center, Becky Lynch and R-Truth set up a security checkpoint.

* 8pm EST - WWE Hell In a Cell 2012: CM Punk attempts to continue his historic run as WWE Champion when he faces Ryback inside Hell In A Cell.

* 11pm EST - Beyond The Ring, History of the World Heavyweight Title: The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.

WWE passed on signing top Japanese women's wrestler Io Shirai due to an issue they found with her heart during pre-signing medical tests, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It had been reported that there were issues with Shirai's back but the problems were heart-related. Shirai has been cleared by doctors in Japan for her neck and her heart but WWE doctors advised on not signing her.

Shirai had reportedly been offered a deal at the same time Kairi Sane was offered her contract. Shirai participated in a WWE Performance Center tryout this past March. It was reported that she accepted a deal but the offer was rescinded due to her medical examination.

Kane is being built for a match with Braun Strowman, and will probably go over Dean Ambrose on the way to that happening in December, according to Wrestling Observer.

Finn Balor will be booked to get his win back after the Strowman match and The Shield will take Kane out before he leaves the company, however.
Current rumored plans regarding Kane.

All Japan's attendance as of the end of October was up 58 percent from last year, which speaks volumes as there’s no major promotion who had that kind of year-to-year growth

ROH Final Battle on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom has already sold out

After it became the best selling shirt at Pro Wrestling Tees from day one, Hot Topic will be stocking “Cease and Desist” T-shirts before Christmas. That has become the best selling non-WWE T-shirt outside of Hot Topic

The city of Memphis made the decision to mothball the Mid South Coliseum, which these days is best known as the home of Monday night wrestling in the 70s and 80s. There was talk of a renovation of the building, as well as tearing it down, both of which could still happen. Members of the wrestling community including Jerry Lawler and Dave Brown have campaigned to keep the building open in some form. Lawler and Brown are featured in a documentary that comes out this week about the history of the building which was put together in hopes of keeping it alive. Right now the plans are to rebuild the roof and seal leaks and doors. There is talk of reopening the building as a youth sports facility as well

There will not be a Raw-specific brand PPV until February. The crazy schedule of a show every few weeks will be broken up at the end of the year. After Survivor Series, there will be a Smackdown PPV on 12/17 from Boston–Clash of the Champions, and then nothing until Royal Rumble on 1/28 in Philadelphia. February will have two shows and then they’ll do the build for Mania

Multiple producers have expressed interest in doing a film on Jim Ross based on his book, "SlobberKnocker".

The angle on the 10/23 Raw show where Smackdown attacked was mostly shot in the afternoon before Raw. The decision was made to do it ahead of time to make sure it looked violent enough and there were scenes edited out that they felt didn’t look enough like a fight. They couldn’t do the retribution angle this week because the Raw crew had to fly out to Glasgow before Smackdown. On 11/7, Raw has a show in Birmingham at the same time as Smackdown takes place in Manchester. The cities are 87 miles apart so they could easily do a pre-tape since the Raw crew will be in Manchester the night before, but couldn’t do it on the live show itself unless they wait until the 11/14 show in Charlotte

The ten most-watched shows this past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Table for 3 with The Shield; 2. TLC PPV; 3. Ride Along with The Shield, Banks & Bayley; 4. NXT; 5. 205 Live (the second straight week this show has finished well above what it had been doing); 6. Hell in a Cell PPV; 7. Story Time episode 5; 8. WCW Halloween Havoc 1995; 9. WrestleMania 33; 10. Halloween Havoc 1994

The key for growth going forward, with the network seemingly hitting a plateau no matter what the product that is offered, is television. And that doesn’t depend on the product as much as two factors, which are the state of the television, or OTT business as far as people willing to spend upwards of $150 million per year for the WWE contract.

The current signs, as noted last week, look good. Even though the number that FOX offered UFC currently to renew was a disappointment, it still represented a significant increase over the terms of the last deal, and more than USA pays WWE, even though WWE brings in far more viewers.

It is believed the value of UFC will serve as a benchmark for the value of WWE, and WWE is no longer losing viewers at a high rate as in the past, so the fear of it being yesterday’s news and wrestling as a declining industry really isn’t there now. I mean, it’s not increasing unless you use fake stats like social media, but the fan base is more willing to spend more money and the fan base is steady, with the mature total fan base numbers (TV ratings and attendance) declining some, and the newer parts of the business (WWE Network) increasing at a slow level. But last year at this time they were in double-digit declines, and that’s been steadied.

Chief Strategy and Financial Officer George Barrios noted that the current contract with USA for Raw and Smackdown ends on September 30, 2019, while the U.K. contract with Sky (which has seen drastic drops in audience in recent years) expires on December 31, 2019, the same date as the other of the big three deals, with Sony Pictures in India.

He said to expect an announcement of a new U.S. deal between May and September of next year, or more than a full year before the current deal expires. That would seem to indicate a renewal with USA if a new deal is being announced that far in advance, and that they are in talks and happy enough with how the talks are going and probably in the ballpark from a money standpoint. Losing Raw would be a huge blow to USA because they have nothing they can put on that would generate the kind of numbers WWE gives them for five prime-time hours weekly.
Some more details from last week's WWE fianancial report in regards to WWE's next tv contract.

Some other sheet news includes:

WWEShop is currently selling a RAW 25th Anniversary t-shirt.
WWE recent released a preview clip for this month's new collection sets for the Network. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMdewjdlLo
UK newspaper The Mirror had a recent interview with Johnny Impact talking about Coolest thing he's done since leaving the WWE, Eli Drake, and Impact Wrestling's future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1102/633707/johnny-impact-on-wrestling-being-cooler-outside-of-wwe/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Why WWE Didn’t Sign Japanese Star + Toni Storm Update (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/why-wwe-didnt-sign-japanese-star-toni-storm-update/)
The Bludgeon Brothers Debut With New Gear at WWE House Show in Ireland (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/the-bludgeon-brothers-debut-with-new-gear-at-wwe-house-show-in-ireland/)
Summer Rae Releases Longer Statement on Her WWE Release (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/summer-rae-releases-longer-statement-on-her-wwe-release/)
Four More Impact Wrestling Releases + James Storm Also Possibly Leaving (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/four-more-impact-wrestling-releases-james-storm-also-possibly-leaving/)

Emperor Smeat

11-03-2017, 10:53 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Alexa Bliss' idea for a new shirt:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/b2a98f1fb0fdfd963cadddf1408fd2ee/tumblr_oyss6bfQQQ1u1ljrzo2_540.gif

After being initially refused registration by the USPTO back in May for unacceptable specimens/documents provided as proof of use, Matt Hardy (through an IP Lawyer) submitted a new specimen on 10/31.

The new specimen is a promotional poster featuring Hardy as the Broken Matt character appearing for CWF Mid-Atlantic Wrestling during the 'Expedition of Gold' tour.

Hardy added an IP Lawyer based in Nashville, TN to assist with registering the trademark.

Following the departures of Emma, Darren Young, and Summer Rae earlier this week, another wrestler has been released from their WWE contract.

NXT's Sawyer Fulton posted a statement on Twitter today announcing that he's no longer with the company. He wrote that he worked as hard as possible to come back after being injured in 2016, but it didn't end up working out. He noted that he's going to continue in pro wrestling and vowed to get back to WWE in the future.

Chinese recruit Leo Gao was released from his WWE NXT contract today, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet. Gao never made it to NXT TV but he was said to be a favorite at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

A neck injury that Leo suffered while training back in August may have played a part in the departure. He was recently cleared to return to action but the injury was said to be very serious.

In a fitting stipulation for their guitar-based feud, WWE announced today that Elias and Jason Jordan would face off in a guitar-on-a-pole match on next week's episode of Raw from the Manchester Arena.

WWE has announced that Miz TV with special guest Raw GM Kurt Angle will kick off Monday's episode from Manchester, England.

Manami Toyota, one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time, regardless of gender, ended her career earlier today at a show in Yokohama by wrestling 51 straight matches, including a few against men, in Yokohama.
Every match supposedly had a 1 minute time for the special occasion. First match was a handicap match and the rest a mega gauntlet match not dependent on winning to continue.

For the New Japan Power Struggle show, it will start 2:40 a.m. Eastern time, but 12:40 a.m. Pacific time. That is figuring the clocks being moved back at 2 a.m., so if you don't move your clock back at 2 a.m. Eastern time, or do so early Pacific time, figure accordingly. The New Japan show is the last major show before the Tokyo Dome. Expect several Tokyo Dome matches to become clear on that show including several championship matches, as well as the identify of Switchblade being revealed and I was told there would be a major announcement as well.

Also on Tuesday, Fathom Entertainment will be presenting a Ted DiBiase documentary at movie theaters for a 7:35 p.m. showing across the country. ESPN 30 for 30 will do the Ric Flair story.

The Highspots Wrestling Network will have a live interactive show on 11/13 with Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Cody, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page called "Ask the Elite."

United Wrestling Coalition on 11/11 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly's Banquet Hall. Fans are encouraged to donate nonperishable good items as well as used coats, hats, gloves and scarves for distribution to the needy.

Wrestling DVD Network reported yesterday that WWE will release a DVD box set that will feature all the Hanna-Barbera WWE crossover animated movies called "4 Kids Favorites: WWE Tag Team Collection". This set will feature "Scooby-Doo & WWE: WrestleMania Mystery”, “Scooby-Doo & WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon”, “The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown”, and “The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania”. The set will be released 1/16/18. The site also revealed that two more budget DVD titles in "Iconic Matches" line are on the way for fans in the UK. Bayley and Sasha Banks will be getting their own DVDs early next year. Both DVDs are scheduled for January 29, 2018.

WWE announced that the "Beyond Phenomenal" AJ Styles WWE Network Collection will be added this Monday, November 6.

WWE are now selling mini replicas of the WWE UK Championship, Cruiserweight Championship, and Million-Dollar Championship as well as Green Bay Brock Lesnar "One Way Ticket" T-shirt along with "To Be The Man" and "Walk That Aisle "T-shirts for Ric Flair.

Impact is gearing up for a lot of media appearances locally in Ottawa over the next few days to promote Bound for Glory and the subsequent TV tapings.

There was scheduled to be a creative meeting last night to lock in final plans for the PPV including exactly what Alberto el Patron's role will be. There's been talk of everything from him being added to the Eli Drake vs. Johnny Mundo bout to refereeing to aligning him with a major heel but nothing had been settled yet.

Shop Impact is running a Black Friday sale the entire month of November, including new One Night Only DVDs as well as Bobby Roode and Eric Young Collections that are now available for preorder.

The 11/2 edition of Impact did 275,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 231,000 overnight viewers.

Rocky Romero ran down how well his 2017 went, which included a title run and introducing Roppingi 3k (who are already the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champs), now he wants a singles run to finish out the year. In the video below, Romero says he hasn't challenged for the ROH World Championship since Samoa Joe held it, but he wants a shot at Cody. Romero referred to the title as a "belt," and Cody responded on Twitter, "Belts hold your pants up. Titles on the other hand...I'll think about it." ROH then made it official, the two will meet at ROH Elite in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

A challenge has been issued by @azucarRoc for the ROH World Championship! #WatchROH pic.twitter.com/vVKrhYTPjm
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 3, 2017

Belts hold your pants up. Titles on the other hand...

I'll think about it https://t.co/qcM4RIKMj2
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) November 3, 2017

It's official! @CodyRhodes will defend his ROH World Title against Rocky Romero (@azucarRoc) in Ft. Lauderdale! https://t.co/OuZGUCA1E4 pic.twitter.com/vLlIc3Resi
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 3, 2017

It looks like WWE will not be signing Toni Storm and Piper Niven, who both worked The Mae Young Classic, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE officials told both competitors that they would be in touch after the finals of the tournament but it's believed that neither talent has been contacted. On a related note, Candice LeRae has not been signed either. LeRae, who is married to Johnny Gargano, appeared in the recent WWE NXT TV battle royal but she's just doing enhancement work.

Asuka garnered the top spot in the 10th annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated "Female 50." Asuka had held the NXT Women's title for the entire evaluation period (October 1, 2016 - September 30, 2017) before relinquishing the belt on August 24 due to an injury. She made her main roster debut for RAW at WWE TLC last week.

Rounding out the top 10 are Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Io Shirai, Natalya, Sienna, Naomi, and Kairi Sane.

This is the first PWI "Female 50" that ranks women who wrestle outside of the U.S. and Canada. Asuka, a 13-year veteran who competed as Kana before signing with WWE in 2015, is the first Japanese wrestler to earn the top spot. Earlier this year, Kazuchika Okada became the first Japanese wrestler to be named number one in the "PWI 500."

The issue containing "Female 50" (featuring Braun Strowman on the cover) can be purchased in print or digital formats at pwi-online.com.
For some reference, PWI weighs heavily on championships and WWE's status as the #1 wrestling company in their eyes for rankings.

WWE will once again tour the U.K. in May of 2018. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, November 22nd for the SmackDown taping in Birmingham on Tuesday, May 15th.

There were reports that WWE would be running a pay-per-view in Glasgow on their next U.K. tour, which is not true. The rumors started after Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes posted a photo on Twitter of an intermission sign and joked that it was a UK pay-per-view. McIntosh deleted the tweet, noting that it was causing false reports:

I had it as a joke but the fact it's getting reported wasn't my intent ?? took it down so it doesn't keep gaining traction
— Kenny McIntosh (@KennyMc1985) November 2, 2017

Was meant to be a light hearted joke. No ill will intended. Apologies if it was taken out of context ??
— Kenny McIntosh (@KennyMc1985) November 2, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE listed the contents for the upcoming Bret-HBK Rivalry collection set for the WWE Network. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113338/the-hitman-vs-hbk-highlights-next-weeks-new-additions-to-the-wwe-network.html?p=1
Recent episode of Ring Rust Radio podcast show had Stone Cold as the guest talking about his Broken Skull Challenge show, his current favorite WWE stars, and Bobby Heenan's passing. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1103/633738/steve-austin-reveals-which-wwe-stars-he-enjoys-watching/
During a recent interview with Good Morning Britain, Triple H teased it being a lot more likely WWE signs a deal with Ronda Rousey than Connor McGregor. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1103/633735/triple-h-on-if-a-match-with-the-rock-will-happen/
Recent episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast show had X-Pac discusses the recent releases in the WWE, Lio Rush's Twitter joke at Emma's expense, and the idea of Daniel Bryan wrestling another match. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1103/633721/sean-waltman-on-wwe-releases/
A recent article on website seekingalpha.com looked at recent data regarding WWE's tv business and why WWE is at risk of having another stock crash/decline occurring soon. The main worry is the WWE Network likely hit its ceiling for subscribers and might never break out of the 1.5 million range or the 2-3 million WWE was expecting by now. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4120201-wwe-heed-lessons-2014-crash-upcoming-tv-rights-negotiations
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Edge currently holds the record for most championships won in the WWE at 31. The record only counts belts won in the WWE and discards pre-buyout WCW and ECW reigns. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7am6pm/til_edge_still_holds_the_record_for_most/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE News: NYC Raw Sells Out Fast Again, Jim Ross Movie? Usos, Cass (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-news-nyc-raw-sells-out-fast-again-jim-ross-movie-usos-cass/)
Impact Results – Nov. 2, 2017 – Final Show Before Bound for Glory (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-results-nov-2-2017-final-show-before-bound-for-glory/)

Lock Jaw

11-03-2017, 11:03 PM

WWE should definitely sign Toni Storm and Piper Niven. Would have to be nuts not to.

Mr. Nerfect

11-04-2017, 04:35 PM

Toni Storm will end up there. She's only 22, so they might just want her to get a few years. Piper Niven is harder to say. I didn't see her work in the tournament. Is she good? They have a few "atypical" women already, so she might be brushed over for those reasons.

Emperor Smeat

11-07-2017, 10:11 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by tonight's Ric Flair Woooomentary:
https://i.imgur.com/dRNXagF.png

Being on tape doesn't seem to have even made the slightest difference in the audience for Raw last night from Manchester, England, as the show averaged 2.83 million viewers, identical to last week.

The show didn't start out quite as strong, and in a surprise during football season, it was the second hour that was the highest rated. There was a third hour drop, but not at the level of the previous two
weeks ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.94 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.96 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.63 million viewers

If you want to bear witness to WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne’s next colossal title defense live, there’s only one way to do so: By scoring a ticket to NXT’s debut at the Toyota Center in Houston on Saturday, Nov. 18.

Fresh off making his unforgettable debut on WWE Monday Night Raw, The BruiserWeight will put his WWE U.K. Title on the line against former NXT Tag Team Champion Johnny Gargano.

The match will not air as part of that night’s TakeOver: WarGames live special on WWE Network, meaning those lucky NXT fans in attendance in the Toyota Center will have an exclusive opportunity to watch the title bout unfold before their eyes.

Prior to wrestling at Survivor Series later this month, Kurt Angle will be in action in Birmingham, England today.

Though he was previously announced as just making an appearance at the event, Angle confirmed in a tweet today that he would be wrestling in Birmingham. He wrote: "Birmingham UK!!! WWE Raw is here! My first 'WWE live event' in 11 years, in which I will be wrestling. #itstrue"

For the first time since he was pulled from WWE's TLC pay-per-view due to a viral infection, Roman Reigns will return to television on next week's episode of Raw.

That news was announced towards the end of last night's show before Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose lost their tag titles to Cesaro & Sheamus. What Reigns will be doing next week or if he'll be wrestling at Survivor Series wasn't made clear, with Jason Jordan having been announced as the final member of Raw's men's division team.

Reigns was supposed to return on Raw in Atlanta, Georgia next week and be announced as the fifth member of the team. An angle could be shot to have Reigns replace Jordan, though another possibility for Survivor Series was opened up with The New Day costing Reigns' Shield stablemates their tag title match last night.

Brock Lesnar will also be on Raw next Monday, which will be the Survivor Series go-home show. Raw still needs to confirm the final participant for their women's team, with the storyline being that Alicia Fox wouldn't pick Bayley for it last night.
Rumor right now leans towards a Shield vs New Day match at Survivor Series with Reigns on team Shield to make it 3v3.

For as wild of a year as 2017 has been for pro wrestling, next year already appears to be following suit.

In a shocker, Chris Jericho will be wrestling Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome for New Japan Pro Wrestling on January 4th, 2018. Omega retained his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Trent Barreta at today's Power Struggle show and called out his next challenger after. It was teased that no one was left to challenge him, but Jericho then appeared in a video ...

After Power Struggle, the other matches that appear to be set for Wrestle Kingdom 12 at the Tokyo Dome are Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White (who returned to NJPW as Switchblade today) for the IWGP Intercontinental title, Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay vs. KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi for the Junior title, and Sho & Yoh vs. The Young Bucks for the Junior tag titles.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported talks between Jericho and NJPW had been on-going since August and Jericho's upcoming boat cruise likely played a role in why he signed a deal with NJPW. Supposedly he asked WWE first to partner and lend NXT talent for his cruise but they said no. Then asked ROH and NJPW with both saying yes.

“Nature Boy,” the 30 for 30 on Ric Flair’s life and career, airs on ESPN at 10 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Flair has been all over ESPN promoting it and Twitter has a Flair emoji for their “NatureBoy” hashtag. The special will also stream on ESPN3.

Dunne & Mark Andrews vs. Trent Seven & Tyler Bate is also set for WWE’s house show in San Antonio on the night before TakeOver.
Link to announcement: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/trent-seven-tyler-bate-vs-pete-dunne-mark-andrews-san-antonio-november-17?sf152376572=1

Bram is no longer with Impact Wrestling, with him announcing in a tweet today that he’s been granted his release: “I've been granted my release from @IMPACTWRESTLING. Thank you to everyone from top to bottom and to you the fans for your support”

ROH announced that Kenny Omega’s match for their Survival of the Fittest show in San Antonio on November 17th (which is going against an NXT house show in the same city) will be Omega teaming with Cody Rhodes against Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. The Young Bucks vs. Flip Gordon & Scorpio Sky is also set for the show.

Stephen Amell, who is the star of “Arrow,” is friends with Cody, and previously wrestled him in WWE, will be a special guest at Survival of the Fittest in San Antonio.

ROH’s TV tapings in Nashville have been rescheduled to January 20th.
Bram link: https://twitter.com/Thomas_Latimer_/status/927979660239081472 , Omega link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/cody-and-kenny-omega-team-take-addiction-survival-fittest-san-antonio , Amell link: https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/928049730298503168 , TV tapings link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/breaking-news-new-date-nashville-s-international-tv-taping

The NWA released episode four of their “Ten Pounds of Gold” series, focusing on the different roads Tim Storm and Nick Aldis have taken to their title match.

The first show of NJPW’s World Tag League tour will air for free on NJPW World on November 18th.
Link to new NWA episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeMjSMbJISk , NJPW link: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/927438947424153600

Josh Bredl, who won a WWE contract in the most recent season of Tough Enough, was released by the company at the end of last week, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Bredl had been rechrisitened Bronson Mathews after winning his WWE deal and moving to Florida to join the WWE Performance Center at the end of 2015. He had not been used in a long time and had not even been training at the PC after what was said to have been concussion-related issues.

Here's what the partial card for the Dome show looks like as of now:

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Tetsuya Naito
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Jay White
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho (NJPW has yet to officially confirm whether the title will be on the line)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Marty Scurll defending against Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA, and Hiromu Takahashi in a four-way match
ROH World Champion Cody defending against Kota Ibushi
IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Sho & Yoh defending against The Young Bucks

For those of you in Canada, TSN will air the ESPN 30For30 documentary Nature Boy on TSN5 this Friday 11/10 at 7 PM.

UK talent Jonny Moss has now moved to United States and is working full-time as a trainer for the WWE Performance Center.

Some other sheet news includes:

According to fan reports, Sin Cara got hurt during the weekend at a Smackdown house show but turned out to not be serious and was medically cleared on Tuesday.
According to the Observer, official reason Jericho is able to wrestle for NJPW is due to his WWE contract expired a while ago.
According to NJPW's owner, they are currently targeting around 30k ticket sales for Wrestle Kingdom 12. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/927281451208290304
According to PWI, former wrestler Matt Morgan won his election to become the new District 4 commissioner in Longwood City, Florida. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113430/former-wwe-impact-wrestler-matt-morgan-elected.html?p=1
WWE recently released the cards for their upcoming India tour in December. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1107/633870/top-match-changed-for-wwe-live-event-in-india/
Recent episode of the Busted Open Radio podcast show had Ric Flair as the guest talking about his ESPN documentary, his drinking problems, and Reid Flair's death. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1107/633850/ric-flair-on-when-he-really-went-to-work-drinking/
WrestleInc recently had an interview with Ted DiBiase talking about his new documentary, his family, and his most memorable moment in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1107/633872/ted-dibiase-talks-nixed-wwe-championship-run-against-hulk-hogan/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE SmackDown Taping Results – Nov. 7, 2017 – Spoilers (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-smackdown-results-nov-7-2017-jinder-vs-styles/)
Hideo Itami Close to Being Called Up to 205 Live (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/hideo-itami-close-to-being-called-up-to-205-live/)
“Diddy” Changes Name to “Brother Love,” Brother Love Responds (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/sean-diddy-combs-changes-name-to-brother-love-brother-love-responds/)
Impact Paying People to Attend TV Tapings in Ottawa This Week (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-paying-fans-to-attend-tv-tapings-in-ottawa-this-week/)

Danny Electric

11-08-2017, 12:34 PM

Can't find any confirmation online that Smackdown will be from Birmingham on the next UK tour

Danny Electric

11-08-2017, 12:35 PM

No you got my hopes up , it's in London

Cool King

11-08-2017, 04:05 PM

They always have Raw and SmackDown in London a few weeks after WrestleMania.

November is always a different city.

DaveWadding

11-08-2017, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by WrestleInc
It looks like WWE will not be signing Toni Storm and Piper Niven, who both worked The Mae Young Classic, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE officials told both competitors that they would be in touch after the finals of the tournament but it's believed that neither talent has been contacted. On a related note, Candice LeRae has not been signed either. LeRae, who is married to Johnny Gargano, appeared in the recent WWE NXT TV battle royal but she's just doing enhancement work.

This is super fucking dumb.

Mr. Nerfect

11-08-2017, 05:32 PM

Toni Storm is very young. They might want her to get more experience. Piper Niven is different, but they've got girls who are a different. It surprises me that they weren't offered contracts, because they love to sign almost everyone, but I'm not shocked.

Emperor Smeat

11-08-2017, 10:01 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ric Flair Appreciation Week:
https://whatistheexcel.com/wooobooru/_images/9ee54a33d449ee7d6b2b460e9bfb777d/8288%20-%20Dancing%20MizTV%20Raw%20autoplay_gif%20gif%20microphone%20ric_flair%20suit%20the_miz%20wooo%20wwe %20yelling.gif

After dipping to one of its lowest levels since moving to a live format for last Tuesday's episode that went against the World Series and Halloween, SmackDown was up 23 percent this week and averaged 2.603 million viewers. That number is near the viewership the show reached two weeks ago for the fallout of the SmackDown invasion of Raw.

SmackDown finished eighth for the night in total viewers on cable and was third in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating. The show trailed American Horror Story in that demo, as it usually does, but also the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the life of Ric Flair, which did a 0.91 rating and 1.831 million viewers.

That the show was taped did not hurt the SmackDown rating at all, and it may have even helped as WWE itself and several other websites had posted news about a title change before the show aired. AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win the WWE Championship in last night's main event.

Though details are sparse at this point, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been removed from WWE's European tour.

Our Dave Meltzer reports that Owens and Zayn aren't at SmackDown's house show in Leeds, England today and won't be appearing on the rest of the tour. Both were on television last night, where they interrupted Shane McMahon and The New Day in SmackDown's opening segment and traded words with them in a promo.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn went against a creative directive given to them before SmackDown last night and we’re told it contributed to them being sent home.

Multiple sources tell us Sami and Kevin were supposed to “feed” for New Day following Zayn vs. Kofi Kingston yesterday, but for some reason they didn’t follow directions and left the ring.

The PWTorch glossary of insider wrestling terms defines “feeding” as: “The heel’s role during a babyface comeback where he runs at the babyface only to be repeatedly fended off, with the hope that the series of bumps by the heel will generate positive fan heat for the babyface.”

Owens hit the ring as soon as the match ended and attacked Kofi as planned. However, he and Sami quickly bailed from the ring. New Day then stood waiting, same for the sound crew who didn’t play anyone’s music, and the segment ended awkwardly when the two wrestlers seemingly went off script by not taking their planned beating afterward.

Since publishing the story on Owens/Zayn being sent home, multiple sources reached out saying the duo have been slightly difficult to work with lately and seem unhappy backstage.

It’s worth noting that they were both close with recently fired writer Jimmy Jacobs and Neville (who hasn’t been heard from since walking out).
Link with the video from last night's Smackdown: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/details-zayn-owens-sent-home/

We are also told there was a situation where Owens was allegedly complaining loudly on a tour bus after the taping, which one person decreed was "the last straw following a long few days of touring." Another person who was on the bus cited that Owens was "just venting" and that it wasn't a major issue, but that the situation at TV may have exacerbated the situation, forcing WWE's hand.

Though he was originally scheduled to referee a match at the show, John Cena will instead be wrestling at Survivor Series.

It was announced today that Cena had been added as the final member of SmackDown's men's division team for their elimination tag match against Raw. Cena will team with Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Shane made the announcement about Cena joining the team on Twitter: "Further proving #SDLive is the superior brand, I'm happy to announce @JohnCena will be the 5th member of Team Smackdown at #SurvivorSeries."

Raw's team for the match is currently scheduled to be Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan.

Cena hasn't appeared on WWE television since losing to Roman Reigns at Raw's No Mercy pay-per-view in September. Reigns will return on next week's episode of Raw, possibly setting up his direction for Survivor Series.

In storyline, Cena is currently a "free agent" and can wrestle for both Raw and SmackDown. He was at one point planned to be the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series until plans were changed and it was decided that AJ Styles would win the WWE Championship from Mahal before the PPV.

John Cena tweeted a message about being added to SmackDown’s Survivor Series team: “I am ready to answer the call where ever and whenever I’m needed. Where? #SDLive When? #SurvivorSeries”

Rusev also posted an in-character tweet about Cena being added to the team: “Congrats to my friend John Cena who qualified for the survivor series fair and square...... go get them TIGER”
Cena tweet: https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/928329232807317509 , Rusev tweet: https://twitter.com/RusevBUL/status/928279470175375362

ESPN has full video of their Ric Flair 30 for 30 available to watch online for those with cable subscriptions.

Rory Karpf, the director of the documentary, wrote that The Undertaker brewed coffee and had snacks for their crew and was one of the nicest people he’s ever interviewed.

ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast series has an episode about the Flair documentary that includes an additional conversation with Flair and Karpf.
Link to documentary: http://www.espn.com/watch/collections/1601/30-for-30-nature-boy , Karpf: https://twitter.com/RoryKarpf/status/928102253399076864 , and podcast: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=21333568

Chris Jericho discussed his match against Kenny Omega at the beginning of today’s episode of his podcast. Jericho said he would tell the whole story later but noted that he’s been working on the match for a couple of months, that Omega is the best performer in pro wrestling today, and it’s a best in the world vs. best in the world type of situation with him coming off the best run of his career. Jericho said they’re working on other ways for people to see the match in addition to New Japan World. Later in the episode, Austin Aries made an appearance to discuss his release from WWE.
Link to podcast episode: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/AustinAries

Today is IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada’s 30th birthday.

Matt Riddle will face WALTER at EVOLVE 97 in Melrose, Massachusetts on December 10th. That show will also have Zack Sabre Jr. defending his EVOLVE Championship against Jaka.

Lian O’Rourke has a book on the life of Brian Pillman.

Book link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1976541247/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1510001021&sr=8-5&keywords=brian+pillman+book

PWInsider.com has confirmed that Rockstar Spud will be signing with WWE and will start with the company once all the proper visa paperwork has been completed. The plan is for Spud to be part of the 205 Live brand.

WWE Hall of Famer Edge was interviewed to promote the first-ever WWE Night at the New Jersey Devils tomorrow in Newark, NJ, announcing that Daniel Bryan would be there, among other WWE stars:

Diehard #NJDevils fan and @WWE legend @EdgeRatedR details why #WWE Night at The Rock will be the Game of Awesomeness. Be there: https://t.co/MPRql1Ladu pic.twitter.com/O7wYo8bLJF
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 8, 2017

WWE Night takes place tomorrow at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ when the Devils play the Edmonton Oilers.

Promotional material for the evening notes, "World Wrestling Entertainment will take over The Rock with an immersive wresting experience for fans all night, including special appearances by WWE personalities on the concourse, a one-of-a-kind opening video moment, musical tributes and in-game features highlighting past and current WWE Superstars. Special ticket packages will be made available and include a unique WWE-Devils t-shirt."

The Impact Wrestling veteran and ex-husband to WWE’s Charlotte has revealed that he will be asking for his release from the company following a frustrating year with the promotion. During an interview with Morgan Richards from Radio Cardiff at one of Insane Championship Wrestling's online tapings in Cardiff, UK on Monday, Bram commented on his situation with the company before receiving the release, commenting:

“Well Bound for Glory is today, I don’t know when this goes out but here’s a secret. I’m actually going to ask for my release after today. So Monday morning, the sixth (November) that’s when I’m going to ask for my release. As much as I love that company and ever since I’ve been there I’ve wanted to be there for as long as I can. It’s not the same place that I entered three years ago and I feel slightly stifled and let down by the place. So I’m very excited to be free, be a free agent and see what other avenues and options are out there for me because the last year I feel I’ve been miss used, mismanaged and it’s sort of a waste of a year really when it comes to my career besides doing what I do away from there”.

Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan is now official for WWE NXT "Takeover: WarGames" during WWE Survivor Series weekend.

Below is the updated card for Takeover, which takes place on Saturday, November 18th from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas:

WarGames
The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish) vs. The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) & Roderick Strong vs. NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain)

NXT Title Match
Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Drew McIntyre

Fatal 4 Way for the Vacant NXT Women's Title
Kairi Sane vs. Ember Moon vs. Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross

Ab Contest
Shawn Michaels vs. Johnny Gargano

The Velveteen Dream vs. Aleister Black

Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan

Pre-Show Dark Match for the WWE UK Title
Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne

WWE has a new poll asking fans which special appearance at the RAW 25th Anniversary special in January are they most looking forward to - The Undertaker, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash or WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels. As of this writing, 73% voted for The Deadman while 19% voted for HBK.

Some other sheet news includes:

Impact Wrestling announced the host of Main Event Radio will be making a special guest appearance during tonight's TV tapings in Ottawa. Other local special guests were also announced to be appearing at the tapings. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113456/impact-announces-special-guests-for-tonights-tv-taping-in-ottawa.html?p=1
ESPN's current schedule for the replays of the 30 For 30 Ric Flair documentary are November 9th at 8:30PM EST on ESPN 2 and November 19th at 10PM EST on ESPN.
According to PWI, Vince McMahon was the reason why changes were made for the WWE championship and Cena's inclusion for Survivor Series. Both were made last week and at the moment, no reason was given for Jinder's removal from the PPV nor the plans for him at it. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113438/john-cena-returning-at-survivor-series-in-much-bigger-way-than-originally-planned.html?p=1
Recent blog by Jim Ross had Ross talk about Bound For Glory's booking, Gail Kim's retirement, and Jericho challenging Kenny Omega. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1108/633907/jim-ross-on-chris-jericho-challenging-kenny-omega/
Edge revealed this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show will be Micheal Elgin. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/928368744899973125

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore Debuts on Twitch Tonight (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/tommy-dreamers-house-of-hardcore-debuts-on-twitch-tonight/)
The New Day vs. The Shield Likely for Survivor Series (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/the-new-day-vs-the-shield-likely-for-survivor-series/)
Jinder Mahal Responds to the “Haters” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/jinder-mahal-responds-to-the-haters/)

Evil Vito

11-09-2017, 09:20 AM

Pre-Show Dark Match for the WWE UK Title
Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne

Eat a dick, WWE.

SlickyTrickyDamon

11-09-2017, 09:33 AM

He's not even UK!

Cool King

11-09-2017, 02:53 PM

He's not even United Kingdom.

Emperor Smeat

11-09-2017, 10:06 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ric Flair Appreciation Week:
https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/K_COHsiZipmRuzs7giEZ0WTRd0Q=/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3383224/ric-flair-bret-hart-o.0.gif

As noted, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were sent home from the current WWE European tour following Tuesday's WWE SmackDown. The two reportedly went against a WWE creative decision, which would have seen them take bumps for The New Day after Sami's singles loss to Kofi Kingston on Tuesday's blue brand show from Manchester, England.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the match finish went down as planned but the problem came during the post-match segment. Owens ran in and attacked Kofi as he was supposed to, and The New Day chased him away. Owens and Sami then left together. Apparently Sami and Owens were not supposed to leave right away as they were supposed to stay and get beat up, according to multiple sources. Other sources indicate that this was a complete miscommunication, and it's not like Owens and Sami refused to get beat up by The New Day. There are reportedly no issues related to Owens and Sami being mad about putting The New Day over. The issues were related to the two being expected to get beat up after the match, which was supposed to build their feud to a tag team match next week at SmackDown in Charlotte, NC.

Sami and Owens were told to leave the arena, go back to the hotel and fly home. They are off the current tour but everything else is up in the air. They could be back for Tuesday's SmackDown but nothing is official other than their status for the current tour.

On a related note, the pre-match segment went as it was supposed to but SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon did mess up, which forced officials to make an edit. Shane was booed when he mentioned SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan returning next week, which flustered him a bit. He then realized that fans were booing because they wanted Bryan there that night, not because they don't like him. There was an awkward edit made during that segment and this is why. There was also a mention of "men of honor" and some fans believed that was a reference to Ring of Honor but that was not the case.

WWE announced today that Bayley, Mickie James and Dana Brooke will battle on Monday's Raw for the final spot on the Raw Women's Team for their Survivor Series match against their Smackdown counterparts.

The bout currently stands as: Team Raw Captain Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks and Asuka, with Monday's winner joining them, vs. Team Smackdown Captain Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Tamina and Carmella.
Link to the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf6X8Sew__Y

WWE are opposing The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame attempt at trademarking 'World Class Championship Wrestling' for action figures and clothing purposes. They mention that they acquired all WCCW trademarks from Kevin Von Erich around May 2006 and that there will be a likelihood of confusion if the trademark gets approved.
Based on court dates given, whole trial could end up lasting till mid-2019. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113479/maria-kanellis-addresses-the-haters-vince-mcmahon-puts-over-ric-flair-flair-taking-dates-and-more-wwe-news.html?p=1

WWE sources this morning confirmed Roman Reigns is cleared to return to the ring.

The plan for the 11/19 Survivor Series is a six man tag featuring The New Day vs. The Shield, which will be officially set up at Raw this Monday in Atlanta, GA.

Impact will have its second to last taping of 2017 tonight in Ottawa.

There have been quite a few talents that have privately remarked over the course of the week that it's yet another changing of the guard with Scott D'Amore taking the reigns as the lead creative force. There was some grumbling about the amount of attention being paid to Canadian talents at the show and a fear among those from the Nashville days that they are in the process of being shifted out. There was absolutely talk with some talents about taking lesser deals, which didn't help matters. There is a belief some higher paid talents will be the next to exit if they turn down attempts to get them to take less money.

D'Amore was the sole producer for the main event for the Impact championship at the Bound for Glory PPV. Sonjay Dutt and Abyss worked on producing other matches, some in concert with D'Amore, while Gail Kim helped produce the Knockouts championship bout.

Jimmy Jacobs was also working as a Producer this week. At the PPV, he helped set up the Team Impact vs. Team AAA bout.

The Alberto el Patron promo was cut from the UK airing of Bound for Glory. There were some in the locker room unhappy that Patron has his own private locker room (trailer) while the lion's share of the male talent this week has to share one locker room. Apparently, it's part of Patron's deal that he has a private locker room.

We are told Patron left Ottawa this morning, so he will not be at tonight's final TV taping.

All eyes have specifically been on James Storm given that his deal expires in January and the company isn't running again before that, so tonight could be his swan song with Impact. Storm has been with the company since the debut event in June 2002, with the exception of a short exodus to feel the waters out in NXT before returning.

We've heard from several wrestlers that there was a funny back and forth at catering before the Bound for Glory PPV where a X-Division star complained about the food, leading to Bobby Lashley sharply reminding him that he shouldn't even be commenting given his short time in the business before telling him to go buy food if he wasn't happy. Lashley popped a few of the veterans with his blunt response.

Santino Marella was pitched the idea of doing a pre-tape with Grado at Bound for Glory, but declined, instead doing an cameo where he sat in the first row.

The announcing line that Grado was wearing a shirt that Mick Foley gave him was a legitimate story. For those wondering why the match didn't go as well as hoped, we are told Abyss was back way too early from a knee issue. Grado was said to have been really beside himself backstage after the match over it not going well and Abyss was about the same. Despite the storyline stipulation, it's expected that Grado will be back next year.

The updated advertised matches for the annual 12/26 WWE event at Madison Square Garden are:

*The Shield vs. Bray Wyatt & WWE Raw Tag Team champions Sheamus & Cesaro.

*John Cena vs. Samoa Joe.

*Kane vs. Braun Strowman.

*Also advertised are WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz, WWE Raw Women's champion Alexa Bliss, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Matt Hardy, Bayley, WWE Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore. and more.

The Rock denied that he turned down the opportunity to appear in ESPN’s Ric Flair 30 for 30.
Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/927547420703186945 , Link to article with more details: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1109/633951/the-rock-responds-to-reports-that-he-turned-down-ric-flair/

Kenny Omega told Tokyo Sports that he’s staying in New Japan Pro Wrestling and called the promotion a place where wrestlers can be themselves. He said he wants to show how great a place NJPW is.

NJPW has video of everyone’s post-match comments from Power Struggle with English subtitles.

The NWA uploaded episode five of their “Ten Pounds of Gold” series, which is the final episode before Sunday’s Tim Storm vs. Nick Aldis title match.

Ethan Page made his debut for Impact at tonight’s tapings.
Omega link: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/928570261015707648 , NJPW video: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgqDyJZN9OYkNeQPP78lGzFvihJwI5b32 , NWA link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANGMpJeVf_8&feature=youtu.be , Impact link: https://twitter.com/OfficialEGO/status/928796554848239622

There's now speculation on WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar closing the November 19th WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view from Houston. It was believed that the men's Team RAW (Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe) vs. Team SmackDown (Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, John Cena) 5-on-5 Traditional Elimination Match would headline the event until AJ defeated Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title on this week's SmackDown, changing the top champion vs. champion match from Jinder vs. Lesnar to AJ vs. Lesnar.

As noted, The New Day started working the RAW brand side of the current WWE European tour following this week's RAW in Manchester. F4Wonline.com notes that The New Day were sent to the red side of the tour because of the feeling that they needed more star power on that side with Roman Reigns being out of action. Triple H worked RAW and SmackDown live events on the tour but The New Day and RAW General Manager Kurt Angle were added to the RAW side of the tour once Triple H went home this week.

WWE producer "Road Dogg" Brian James revealed on Instagram today that he filmed a future WWE DVD on The Hardys. He wrote:

Doing an interview for the Hardy Boyz DVD this morning. Theirs is a story of strength and perseverance! #OUDK
Link to Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BbSE-EmnJxH/

WWE has a new poll asking fans if Jinder Mahal will become WWE Champion again. As of this writing, 67% voted, "No. Some other title reigns may be in Mahal's future, but not the WWE Title." The rest went with, "Yes. Mahal will regain the WWE Championship at some point."

Some other sheet news includes:

ROH announced Dalton Castle will be challenging Cody for the ROH World Championship at next month's Final Battle PPV. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113481/ring-of-honor-announces-big-roh-world-title-match-for-decembers-final-battle.html?p=1
ROH announced a new match for their upcoming Survival of the Fittest PPV event which will be Madison Rayne versus Deonna Purrazzo. This will be Rayne's debut for ROH. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113476/madison-rayne-to-make-her-return-to-ring-of-honor-later-this-month.html?p=1
According to PWI, Neville is still under contract in the WWE at the moment. Previous sheet reports hinted at Vince being furious at Neville's departure and wanting to make sure his contract expired before letting him go.
Impact Wrestling revealed the next batch of content arriving for their Impact Global Network service. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113462/impact-global-network-update.html?p=1
For those with an Observer Newsletter subscription, Dave Meltzer had some problems with his computer earlier in the week which is why the release of this week's issue has been delayed.
India Today held a recent interview with Sasha Banks talking about Survivor Series, Being a face star on RAW compared to being a heel in NXT, and advice to aspiring women wrestlers. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1109/633965/sasha-banks-on-not-caring-about-being-a-face-or-heel/
Vince McMahon recently congratulated Ric Flair on his 30 For 30 documentary that premiered earlier in the week. https://twitter.com/VinceMcMahon/status/928698816844484608
WrestlingDVDNetwork recently released the entire list of contents for WWE's upcoming "Best Pay-Per-View Matches 2017" DVD set. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1108/633928/full-content-listing-and-cover-artwork-for-wwe-best-pay-per-view/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of both The Montreal Screwjob and Steve Blackman's debut in the WWF.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

Jonathan Coachman No Longer With ESPN (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/jonathan-coachman-no-longer-with-espn/)
Various: Chris Jericho, Ellsworth, House of Hardcore, The Rock/DC Comics (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-chris-jericho-james-ellsworth-house-of-hardcore-the-rockdc-comics/)
Have Harper and Rowan Already Dropped the Bludgeon Brothers Gimmick? (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/have-harper-and-rowan-already-dropped-the-bludgeon-brothers-gimmick/)

Emperor Smeat

11-10-2017, 09:26 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ric Flair Appreciation Week:
https://media.giphy.com/media/q0xDsfa43RM52/giphy.gif

Lucha Underground has been officially renewed for a fourth season. There is a lot to this, but officially the next set of tapings are to be filmed early next year. The talk we've heard is March. For some talent, this is good news, but for the talent under contract that wants to sign with New Japan or WWE, this is not good news. This doesn't make a difference regarding either Ricochet or Rey Mysterio Jr., who are gone from the promotion and their contracts have expired. But it does regarding people like Penta 0M, Jeff Cobb or others.

The Trentonian interviewed Daniel Bryan at last night's WWE Night at the NJ Devils game. They quoted him as saying:

“I’m trying to get cleared as we speak. All my tests have come back fantastic, better than people who have never had any concussion-type stuff. But it’s a weird thing. We’re in a weird situation politically with the climate around concussions; right now, it’s very difficult. WWE would love to have me back, but is that the smart thing for me as a business to bring me back? If I was to come back, and they let me back, would they get a lot of flak for it? They have a ton of stockholders that they’re responsible for. It’s more than just, ‘Is he healthy to do it?’

There’s more than that to the whole situation. All the concussion doctors think that I’m healthy enough to do it, and that I should be able to do it — well, I don’t want to say all of them, I’m sure there’s somebody out there who doesn’t think that — but there’s a lot more than goes into it than just that. That’s the unfortunate situation with giant corporations and big business in the United States.”
Link to interview: http://www.trentonian.com/sports/20171109/wwes-daniel-bryan-talks-about-possible-return-to-ring

Dustin Rhodes will be brought to ringside for the War Games match at the 11/18 Takeover show in Houston. Dusty Rhodes invented the War Games match in 1987, although the reality is that he invented and what this match will be are very different and they are really just creating their own new match and using the name of a famous match.

The Bill Goldberg 24 documentary debuts after Raw on Monday night.

Jeff Hardy will be doing a concert on 11/25 in Greensboro at The Blind Tiger. This will take place after the conclusion of the Starrcade show at the Greensboro Coliseum that night.

WWE is working on a Matt and Jeff Hardy WWE 24 production currently.

With Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn having been sent home from the WWE European tour, it should be interesting to see if WWE Network airs their Kevin Owens 365 special as initially planned following the Survivor Series on Sunday 11/19.

Evolve has this new documentary in 4K on Keith Lee as WWN champion plus future plans for the title.

Pro wrestling returns tonight to the Cow Palace in San Francisco with Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix, Jeff Cobb vs. Jack Swagger and Reno Scum vs. Michael Elgin & Brian Cage as the top bouts.

Austin Aries made his first appearance since his WWE release this past Saturday night for Impact Pro Wrestling, which is not the nationally televised promotion of a similar name. that group has its 20th anniversary show tomorrow night in Algona, IA at the Locker Room Bar & Grill.

Wrestle Circus announced that Aaron Solow, half of the tag team champions (and the fiance of WWE's Bayley), has another wrestling commitemnt on 11/18 so he's off the show in Austin. So there will be no tag team title match. New matches announced for that show on Twitch are Jimmy Jacobs vs. Ethan Page, Jervis Cottonbelly vs. Joey Ryan and a five-way with Rey Hours vs. JT Dunn vs. Jordan Len-X vs. Serpentico vs ACH. Other matches are Brian Cage vs. Keith Lee, Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Riddle, Zack Sabre Jr vs. Andrew Everett, Tessa Blanchard vs. Chelsea Green (Laurel Van Ness), Jimmy Jacobs vs. Ethan Page and Shane Strickland vs. Scorpio Sky. (thanks to Jake Koch)
EVOLVE link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxYaoA2kuBU

PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that after being sent home from the currently ongoing tour of Europe, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are scheduled to be at this Tuesday's WWE Smackdown Live taping.

WWE have applied to trademark 'WWE Mixed Match Challenge',an interesting choice as it could be the title of a new series or event.

The cpmpany has also applied to trademark "Project Rock", which may or may not be connected to Dwayne Johnson's "Project Rock" brand released as part of Johnson's partnership with Under Armour.

Former WWE Announcer Jonathan Coachman tweeted the following:

Yes I? will be. Several projects in the works. When I? can discuss I? will. But it was just time to leave espn. Professional and personal reasons. But I? feel great and this show is for fun and to stay sharp. https://t.co/zw0Y9omDUj
— Jonathan Coachman (@TheCoachESPN) November 8, 2017

ESPN has had massive cutbacks over the year. It's not known if Coach fell victim to that.

Ring of Honor put out a vignette for former WWE Superstar, Simon Gotch, who now goes by Simon Grimm. Grimm will make his debut at their upcoming live event in Florida this weekend and it looks like he'll be doing some kind of MMA gimmick with the company.

Bleeding Cool reports that Asuka will make her WWE Comics debut in an upcoming issue of Boom! Studios' ongoing WWE comics series, WWE #14. The issue, which is the first of a four-party story, will be released in February and will feature the women's evolution. The story on Asuka will highlight her undefeated run in WWE NXT.

WWE UK competitor Wolfgang suffered an injury during the November 3rd WWE live event in Aberdeen, Scotland, in a loss to WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne. He has been pulled from Sunday's PROGRESS Wrestling "Chapter 57" event where he was set to face Doug Williams. No word yet on injury details or when he might be back in action.

As noted, today's "Flashback Friday" programming on the WWE Network will have a Veteran's Day theme. Below are upcoming themes for Flashback Friday:
* November 17th: Setting the Thanksgiving Table
* November 24th: Thanksgiving: Part 2
* December 1st: 27 Years of The Undertaker
* December 8th: WWE's Shortest Title Reigns
* December 15th: 'Tis The Season: Part 1
* December 22nd: 'Tis The Season: Part 2
* December 29th: Celebrating the New Year

Emma, Darren Young and Summer Rae were all given 90-day non-competes. Basically that means they are being paid their downside guarantees through 1/27, at which point they will be free to work anywhere. Not sure what will happen but we do know that Emma is actively looking to continue her career and has publicly said she’s looking for indie dates after 2/1. Emma, who will go by Tenille Dashwood, her real name, was in talks with Stardom to start when her non-compete ended, but negotiations have fallen through as her asking price of $2,000 per match, plus first class tickets and full creative control weren’t thought to be economically or business prudent by that company

The story of this match dates back to this past summer. Jericho was watching how much attention the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather fight got, and came to the conclusion that the reason it was going to be such a success (and it ended up grossing more revenue than any combat sports event in history) was because it was two top guys in a match people thought they would never get a chance to see, because they were from different sports and different companies that don’t work together. But they did.

He tried to figure out how he could use what happened there and worked so big in his own world. So he came up with the idea of doing a singles match with Omega, who had become the biggest star in the U.S. with a non-WWE pedigree coming off his win of last year’s G-1 tournament and his Tokyo Dome and Osaka main events with Kazuchika Okada.

Jericho pitched the idea to Callis over the summer, who spoke with Omega about it. Omega was likely going to wrestle Kota Ibushi at the Tokyo Dome, which also figures into why Ibushi will be challenging Cody for the ROH title at the Dome show.

Jericho’s last WWE contract was set to expire with WrestleMania this past April. When he signed the contract, the plan was for Jericho to go into WrestleMania as the Universal champion, and then lose the title at WrestleMania to Kevin Owens. Plans changed, as the decision was made to have Bill Goldberg, rather than Jericho, win the title from Owens, and then lose it to Brock Lesnar. That’s why Jericho vs. Owens turned into a program for the U.S. title. The angle was going to well that he ended up signing a one-month extension to last through early May, and then dropped the title and left, so he’s been a free agent for the past six months, contrary to a lot of reports published this past week.

That said, those close to the situation expect him back in WWE in 2018, with one person saying that they don’t know the date but it could be as early as the Raw 25th anniversary special with the idea he’d have just come from making news and then would return as a bigger deal than before, citing how big the crowds reacted everywhere to A.J. Styles when he made his WWE debut coming from New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Itami’s call-up for 205 Live is now expected imminently. It also should be noted that in Japan there is talk that Itami is interested in returning when his contract is up. As far as other call-ups, in the end, it’s Vince McMahon’s decision and they happen when they happen. Andrade Cien Almas was at one time on the list to come up in April, and here it is in November and they are still working on his character, and that’s been a good thing. The Authors of Pain were also on the list and haven’t been pushed as much in NXT of late, but it hasn’t happened yet.

As noted before, Ronda Rousey has been training regularly at the Performance Center of late, so it’s no secret or something being hidden. Right now the Horsewoman vs. Horsewoman match it scheduled for WrestleMania, which gives her, Marina Sharif and Jessamyn Duke, who have all been training there as well, several months to be able to get ready for the match.

As noted in the financials, there was no evidence at all that his [Jinder] being champion had generated new revenue out of India, but this is still a long-term play, in the sense his being champion did lead to media coverage that WWE would have never gotten in that country, and even if there is no money to be made now, the idea is a perception of being important in India could pay dividends years down the line when things are in place where there is money to be made with that huge population.

Bound for Glory itself drew 650 fans. The television tapings the next two days did about 350, which were a combination of letting anyone who had purchased a ticket for Bound for Glory in free, some who actually paid and there weren’t many, whatever comps, and they were paying for 50 to 75 fans each night to attend using a local casting agent who offered $50 per night for fans to attend the shows, and they were told they could be given signs to hold and said that if they bring signs they will be more likely to get their faces sown on television.

Mesias (Mil Muertes) is out of action after undergoing surgery on both knees on 11/2. That’s a tough comeback at 42 years old

The idea of a Hulk Hogan return is being revisited. It’s always down to the same thing, the feeling of whether sponsors would be okay with it and perceiving if there would be a media backlash where the racist quotes come out. With Hogan, it’s magnified far beyond anyone else, which is why they could name an award after Warrior and build their breast cancer program around him even though he said stuff far worse than Hogan, and unlike Hogan, he never apologized for it. Hogan was in talks about a return to wrestling of late, but not with WWE, with an angle that would have been huge, but in the end, it wouldn’t have made economic sense and the feeling is also that if he went anywhere, maybe it would be a tease like he did in the past and not go through with it and it would just be his angling to get WWE to bring him back

Regarding AJ Styles winning the WWE Title from Jinder Mahal on this week's SmackDown ...

No word yet on why Vince McMahon changed plans but lack of interest in Jinder vs. Lesnar may have been a factor. Jinder's WWE Title reign was done to help with their long-term expansion in India and it was widely believed that if Jinder were to drop the title, it would be after the India live events on December 8th and December 9th.

Cena was set to be the special referee for Mahal vs. Lesnar and that decision was actually finalized late last week, after the Styles vs. Mahal match was announced for SmackDown. There was speculation on Cena costing Mahal the match at Survivor Series, leading to a Cena vs. Mahal feud that could end with Cena winning the WWE Title again. The change in direction included removing Cena from the match as there was no reason for him to be there since his role was originally done to set up a future match. WWE is not planning on doing Cena vs. Lesnar or Cena vs. Styles.

For what it's worth, Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that as of last Thursday, Styles vs. Mahal was not to end in a title change but Vince reportedly changed his mind on Saturday.

WWE workers who needed to be aware of the title change were not told until around Monday, one day before the match. Those same people were not clear about whether Jinder would get the title back before Survivor Series as Lesnar's feuds are all booked in advance and Lesnar was told he would be facing Jinder all along. It's possible they have Jinder win the title back before the live events in India or Styles could be added to the India tour to do the change there, then the rematch at Clash of Champions. Styles is currently scheduled to work SmackDown live events while the RAW brand is in India but he could be added to the tour. Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers are the only blue brand talents currently booked for the India live events.

Some other sheet news includes:

NJPW announced they have signed a new tv deal for India on channel DSport which launched earlier in the year in the country. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113493/new-japan-pro-wrestling-signs-india-tv-deal.html?p=1
Website CYInterview.com had a recent interview with Jake Roberts talking about his current health status, working on a new book, and offering to help Ric Flair recover from his own struggles. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1110/633994/jake-roberts-says-ric-flair-is-going-about-everything-with-wrong/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Peyton Royce celebrated her 25th birthday today. WWE celebrated the occasion on their official Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/p/BbUkQ6hgHJh/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Impact’s Audience Numbers in Ottawa Were Pretty Low (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impacts-audience-numbers-in-ottawa-were-pretty-low/)
Impact Results – Nov. 9, 2017 – Johnny Impact and Alberto El Patron (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-results-nov-9-2017-johnny-impact-and-alberto-el-patron/)
Paige Says She’s Single (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/paige-says-shes-single/)
James Storm Leaving Impact Wrestling (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/james-storm-leaving-impact-wrestling/)

Mr. Nerfect

11-11-2017, 10:45 PM

A long play for India is a much wiser move than expecting instant success there. Plus it gives people a long time to forget how crappy Jinder Mahal was.

Emperor Smeat

11-14-2017, 10:01 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Death By Lariato:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/5928348b15cf7da57731c873/1495807175299/Ishii+lariats+to+Kenny+Omega.gif

The Survivor Series go-home edition of Raw saw a solid increase in numbers to an average of 3.02 million viewers, up nearly seven percent from last week ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.26 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.06 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.77 million viewers
In terms of hourly rankings, RAW went #2, #3, and #6.

WWE's tour of India is down to one stop.

The Times of India confirmed today that WWE's planned December 8th house show at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi has been canceled, with the December 9th date at the venue now being branded as a "Supershow."

In a match that was set up a few days ago, Triple H vs. Jinder Mahal has been announced as the main event. Mahal will be the only SmackDown representation on what is otherwise a Raw house show ...

Jeet Rama & Kishan Raftar, who are Performance Center trainees from India, will now be wrestling in their home country as they face Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas. Kevin Owens will no longer be appearing on the tour after originally being scheduled to challenge for Mahal's WWE Championship before he dropped it to AJ Styles.

Another pro wrestler is trying their hand at mixed martial arts.

While appearing on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani this afternoon, Jack Swagger (real name Jake Hager) announced that he's signed with Bellator MMA and will be debuting as a heavyweight in 2018. Swagger said he's wanted to do MMA for a long time and had been negotiating with Bellator since the summer, finalizing terms with them over the weekend.

When asked how the news would affect his pro wrestling schedule, Swagger said he wants to continue wrestling in addition to his new career in MMA. Swagger has been working on the independent scene since departing WWE earlier this year.

The WWE Network has started uploading episodes of the original “reality show” run of NXT.

WWE 365, which is focused on a year in the life of a wrestler, will be debuting on the WWE Network after Survivor Series. Kevin Owens is expected to be featured in the episode.

Link: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2017/11/14/wwe-network-begins-uploading-original-nxt-episodes/

NJPW announced that their revenue for the last fiscal year (August 2016-July 2017) was up 20 percent from the previous year.

Justin Credible credited the help of WWE’s wellness program for being able to live a life that he never thought was possible.

WrestleCircus announced that their show that was set for this Saturday has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, asking people to respect their privacy during this time. They have a form set up for fans who bought tickets to receive refunds. (thanks to reader Jake Koch)

In an interview with CBS Local Sports, Joe Koff reiterated that ROH will be launching an on-demand/streaming service in the first quarter of 2018. Koff said that they tested streaming events on last month’s Global Wars tour. When asked about pay-per-views, Koff noted that they might continue to have traditional PPVs but said the entertainment world is heading towards a streaming model.

NJPW link: https://twitter.com/EvanDeadlySinsW/status/930525401268531200 , Credible link: https://twitter.com/PJPOLACO/status/930472886569185286 , WrestleCircus link: https://twitter.com/WrestleCircus/status/930470325359345664

Former WWE Tag Team Champion Rob Conway is working as a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this week.

WWE has a new poll asking fans who will win the big champion vs. champion match at Sunday's Survivor Series pay-per-view. As of this writing, 54% voted for WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar while the rest went with WWE Champion AJ Styles.

There has been talk backstage today of adding another Kickoff show match with a Raw vs. Smackdown theme.

The official main event of the 12/26 Madison Square Garden return will be John Cena vs. Samoa Joe based on local advertising. That will be Joe's first time headlining in the Mecca.

There has been talk of doing a WWE 24 episode based around the 25th Anniversary of Monday Night Raw. The company is already working on one dedicated to the Hardy Boyz.
For some reference about another pre-show match, Survivor Series is going to be 6 hours long this year (2 hour pre-show, 4 hour PPV).

While the expectation in recent weeks has been that former WWE Cruiserweight champion Neville was on his way out of World Wrestling Entertainment, sources within the company have told PWInsider.com that there have been recent positive discussions between Neville and the company.

There is a belief among some in the company that talks have gone so well that Neville could actually be returning to action for WWE before the end of the month. One source even believed Neville could be back as soon as this week, but PWInsider.com has (as of this writing) not been able to confirm that. Obviously, we will see if that is soon the case ...

As we reported at the time, until Neville was actually released, there was always a chance that the two sides could come to terms, paving the way for his return to the company. If what we are hearing is correct, that road has been paved.

The updated 12/15 ROH Final Battle PPV in New York City at the Hammerstein Ballroom:
*ROH champion Cody Rhodes vs. Dalton Castle.
*Tommy Dreamer & Bully Ray vs. The Briscoes.
*ROH TV champion Kenny King vs. Punishment Martinez vs. Shane Taylor vs. Silas Young.
*Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll.
*The Addiction vs. War Machine.
*Matt Taven vs. Will Ospreay.

The show is sold out but will air on all PPV outlets.

Speaking of Jericho, he was recently interviewed by Viktre.com and discussed the night he won his first WWE World title.

"I was told in the afternoon that I was going to win when Vince McMahon said to The Undertaker at the catering table: 'Hey 'Taker, how do you know the business is going down the toilet? Because we're putting the belt on Jericho' and that's how I found out I was going to be the champion," Jericho said.

"I came back through the curtain, everyone was gone because when you're on last everybody leaves to get out of the traffic quicker. Sat there by myself and then drove to a hotel where room service stopped at midnight, it was 11:58. They wouldn't serve it, so I got pizza. They wouldn't bring it to my room, so I had to go down to the lobby to get it. When I went back up, I was locked out. Went back down to the lobby, the guy wouldn't let me in even though I just checked in a few minutes earlier. Dropped the pizza on the floor when he finally did let me in. So, I spent the night being the first undisputed champion eating cold, fuzzy pizza in a Ramada Inn somewhere in Anaheim, California. So, no hookers and blow there, kids."
Link to the interview: https://www.viktre.com/iamjericho/on-the-road-cold-fuzzy-pizza

Alisha Edwards, Swoggle (f.k.a. Hornswoggle in WWE), The Veterans of War (Mayweather & Wilcox) and Mahabali Shera have all been removed from the active roster of Impact Wrestling.

Mahabali Shera is gone from Impact Wrestling. The company removed him from their roster page on their website today, but we are told the departure quietly happened about two months ago.

As of today, no one from the Nashville office has been spoken with about what their future with the company will be once that office is folded into the office in Toronto. There is a belief among some that the Nashville office could be gone as soon as 12/1.

Per PWInsider Elite, Mike Johnson is saying Triple H was a last minute decision to put him in the match, it was legitimately decided within the last 48 hours and Jordan found out Sunday night.

Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, around 40 wrestlers have been released this year from Impact since Anthem started purging the company for costs reasons. http://wrestlingnews.co/impact-wrestling/5-more-impact-wrestling-departures-almost-40-people-have-left-in-2017/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, NJPW's Okada has had 6 IWGP title defenses this year totaling around 4 hours in length. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7cybma/okada_has_had_6_title_defenses_this_year_with_a/
Impact Wrestling's Rosemary is reported to have suffered a leg injury during a Shimmer show over the weekend.
PWI reported the WWE was considering plans during last weekend for Paige to be added as the 5th member of Team RAW for the Survivors Series match. Bayley ended up being announced as the final member during last night's episode of RAW.
According to the Observer, Jonathon Coachman was actually released by ESPN during the last batch of major cuts but only made public last week by a tweet from Coachman.
According to PWI, Marty Scurll recently applied for a trademark to his wrestling name.
The National had a recent interview with Ceasro talking about getting injured at No Mercy, dream matches in WWE, and working with the Hardys. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1114/634090/cesaro-on-his-recent-mouth-injury-how-he-doing-now/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

NXT Announces Three TV Tapings in Atlanta (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/nxt-announces-three-tv-tapings-in-atlanta/)
After Raw Went Off the Air + Paige Backstage at Raw (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/videos-after-raw-went-off-the-air-paige-backstage-at-raw/)
WWE News: Main Event Results, Eddie Guerrero, Daddy’s Home Box Office (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-news-main-event-results-eddie-guerrero-daddys-home-box-office/)
Daniel Bryan Says There’s a 20% Chance WWE Will Clear Him to Wrestle (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/daniel-bryan-says-theres-a-20-chance-wwe-will-clear-him-to-wrestle/)

Emperor Smeat

11-15-2017, 09:32 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by End of the Ellsworth Era:
https://i.imgur.com/SivDla8.gif

Following up on AJ Styles' WWE Championship win from last Tuesday, SmackDown ratings were essentially even for this week's Survivor Series go-home show -- averaging 2.607 million viewers.
Last week had 2.603 million viewers as the average.

After he was written off television last week, WWE announced that they've released James Ellsworth today.

The company's statement: "WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar James Ellsworth. WWE wishes Ellsworth the best in all of his future endeavors" ...

Ellsworth joins Emma, Darren Young, Summer Rae, NXT's Sawyer Fulton, Performance Center trainee Leo Gao, and former Tough Enough winner Josh Bredl as wrestlers WWE has released over the last few weeks.

Tickets are currently on sale for WrestleMania 34, which takes place on April 8th, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The online pre-sale, which is listed as ending at midnight tomorrow, can be accessed by going to Ticketmaster and using the password "TICKETS" in the Got Offers Code Box.

The show is tentatively scheduled to be headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.

It is the culmination of the biggest weekend of shows as promotions from all over the world will be running events in the New Orleans area. For WWE, the Hall of Fame ceremony, an NXT TakeOver special, Raw, and SmackDown will also be taking place in the city in the days surrounding WrestleMania.

For those in New Orleans, there will be an on-sale party at the Superdome tomorrow. Charlotte Flair will be making an appearance, and The Hardys, Mickie James, Mark Henry, Heath Slater, and Rhyno are scheduled to be there signing autographs. There will be some NXT matches as well, with Hideo Itami vs. No Way Jose advertised.

A new promotion called Arolucha, Inc. announced today that Charles "Konnan" Ashenoff has been named its head writer.

Arolucha is the promotion written about a few times in the Observer that Aroluxe is backing, and is expected to be running a television pilot taping in December in Nashville.

Ashenoff, who is the booker for The Crash promotion based in Tijuana, as well as working for Impact, was a key in gathering the talent roster for Lucha Underground, and was expecting to be used as the head writer there, but that company instead went with Christopher DeJoseph, and Ashenoff was out of the promotion by its second season, shortly after brokering the deal to get Rey Mysterio Jr. into Lucha Underground.

Vince Russo's name has also been mentioned as far as creative with this promotion. The name has come up as an assistant writer but there is no confirmation of a deal in place at this point.
Some more details via PWI: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113615/konnan-named-head-writer-of-new-promotion-being-launched-by-former-tna-minority-owner.html?p=1

WWE has added another house show in Abu Dhabi for Raw’s brief tour of the United Arab Emirates and India next month. The event will take place at Zayed Sports City Tennis Stadium (with another WWE show taking place there the night prior) on December 8th, which was previously the date of their first show in India before that was canceled. Triple H vs. Roman Reigns in a rematch of the WrestleMania 32 main event is set to headline on the 8th.

Charly Caruso, Booker T, and Sam Roberts will be on the panel for Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: War Games pre-show.

In his first match for the company in several years, Joey Ryan will challenge for Kenny King’s ROH TV title at their Survival of the Fittest show in San Antonio on November 17th.

Cody Rhodes vs. Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match is set for Survival of the Fittest in Dallas on November 18th.

In today’s WWN email alert, it was noted that they’re in four different negotiations regarding their streaming future and that will shape what the EVOLVE schedule looks like going forward.

Zack Sabre Jr. will defend his Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship against Matt Riddle at Revolution Pro Wrestling’s show in London on December 8th.

The NWA uploaded full video of last weekend’s Tim Storm vs. Nick Aldis title match. They also have video of Storm’s post-match comments and an interview with him.
Ryan link: http://rohwrestling.com/news/kenny-king-defends-roh-world-tv-title-agains-joey-ryan-san-antonio , ROH link: http://rohwrestling.com/news/texas-death-match-roh-world-title-signed-survival-fittest-dallas , RevPro link: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/930419602798055425 , NWA link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXjoeQBjoYY

WWE has a new poll asking fans who will win the two-ring main event of Saturday's WWE NXT "Takeover: WarGames" event. As of this writing, 44% voted for The Undisputed Era while 34% voted for NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY and the rest voted for the team of Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain.

WWE has not confirmed the fifth member of Team SmackDown for the women's 5-on-5 Traditional Elimination Match at Sunday's WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view as of this writing but it's believed that Natalya will get the spot. Charlotte Flair was on the team but she will now be facing RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss after winning the title from Natalya tonight.

There's also speculation on Paige possibly getting the spot as she was originally scheduled to return to the blue brand.

Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know"type fact, today would have been Macho Man's 65th birthday.
According to the WWE and city of Orlando, Wrestlemania 33 generated roughly $181 million in tourism and economic activity for Mania week. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/article/wrestlemania-generates-record-181-million-for-orlando-region
Rock recently claimed Bruno was the best face wrestler ever in WWE. The tweet was part of a fan poll pitting him against Bruno asking who was the better hero in wrestling. https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/930603506670735360?s=17
Update on Impact's recent departures news as it turns out Alisha Edwards was not released and an mistake caused her profile page to be removed from the roster page from Impact Wrestling's official website. Her profile was restored after the mix up occurred.
Main Event Radio held a recent interview with Bobby Lashley talking about being in Canada for Impact Wrestling, Impact young stars he's impressed with the most, Brock Lesnar, and Heyman contacting him whenever Lesnar pisses him off. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1115/634148/bobby-lashley-says-paul-heyman-reaches-out-to-him-when-he-upset/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

James Ellsworth Posts Some More on Social Media Following His Release (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/james-ellsworth-posts-some-more-on-twitter-and-facebook-following-his-release/)
Various: HHH vs. Reigns in UAE, SD Dark Match, New Lucha Libre Company (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-hhh-vs-reigns-in-uae-sd-dark-match-new-lucha-libre-company/)
James Ellsworth Released From WWE, Ellsworth Comments (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/james-ellsworth-released-from-wwe/)
Justin Credible Thanks WWE for Helping Him Get Sober, Teases Return (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/justin-credible-thanks-wwe-for-helping-him-get-sober-teases-return-to-wrestling/)

Emperor Smeat

11-16-2017, 10:17 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the long lost Bushwhacker .... Gobbledy Bushwhacker:
http://i.imgur.com/CmmJ7l7.gif

Following his first appearance on WWE television since his health scare, Ric Flair will be part of the company's Starrcade house show later this month.

WWE confirmed today that Flair would be appearing at Starrcade in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 25th ...

Here's the updated card for Starrcade:

WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Jinder Mahal in a steel cage match
SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair defending against Natalya in a steel cage match
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defending against The New Day, Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, and Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a fatal four-way match
United States Champion Baron Corbin defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
Dustin Rhodes vs. Dash Wilder
Appearances by Ric Flair, The Hardys, Ricky Steamboat, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express

While speaking with the pro wrestling media ahead of Saturday's NXT TakeOver special, Triple H discussed bringing War Games to a new generation of fans and confirmed another change from the original concept.

"We're not gonna have a roof," Triple H said on a conference call today. "I think it's a little bit limiting. I think the style has changed. Not saying that anybody is gonna do it in this match, but I think going forward as War Games becomes -- I try to think about the future. Look, Arn Anderson wasn't doing moonsaults off the top of the cage. So, I think there's a difference in how the business is done. This allows for there to a be a little bit of a different opportunity to do some things. I don't feel, personally, that we have changed the concept of what it is."

Though the rules have been tweaked, Triple H said he thinks they work better for today's generation. And while there are some changes, he said the match is still about teams "going to war" and it worked with the storyline that The Undisputed Era, SAnitY, and The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong are involved in.

Triple H noted that WWE using War Games and Starrcade this month was a coincidence and the decisions were made independently. He said he's always been interested in bringing back War Games and has been looking for the right time since NXT started up. He called TakeOver: War Games a chance to take something from the past into the future and slightly reinvent it while still staying consistent with Dusty Rhodes' vision.

Pete Dunne and Johnny Gargano's United Kingdom Championship match will be airing on NXT TV next week ...

In addition to that, Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville will also be taped for next week. The episode will feature video packages and post-match interviews from TakeOver as well.

Gargano is set to become the first wrestler born outside of the UK to challenge for the title.

Ahead of this weekend's pay-per-view, WWE has already announced the location for next year's Survivor Series.

Survivor Series 2018 will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on November 18th. As is the case with all WWE "big four" PPVs, the arena will host an NXT TakeOver special on the Saturday before Survivor Series and Raw and SmackDown in the days after the show.

WWE noted that ticket information for all four events will be made available in early 2018.

This will be the first time California has ever hosted a Survivor Series. It will also be the first time an NXT TakeOver event has taken place on the west coast.

New Japan opens its tag team tournament on Saturday morning with a live show from Korakuen Hall on New Japan World. There will also be shows on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday that will be put up on tape delay later those afternoons but with only the tournament matches. The complete lineups for each day is in the 11/13 issue of the Wrestling Observer.

The 11/25 WrestleCade show in Winston, Salem, NC will stream live on FITE TV headland by Eli Drake vs. Jack Swagger vs. Johnny Impact and Ivelisse vs. Taya Valkyrie.

Mike Davidson of Winnipeg got back into the wrestling promoting game and was set to debut a new promotion called Wrestling Supercard with shows on 11/23 in Thunder Bay, ONT, 11/24 in Winnipeg and 11/25 in Thompson using Santino Marella, Ken Anderson, Eugene and Shawn Daivari. On Tuesday, Davidson announced the shows were canceled due to low ticket sales.

The 12/26 return to Madison Square Garden has a new, updated lineup:
*John Cena vs. Roman Reigns, with Reigns replacing Samoa Joe, who had been advertised vs. Cena earlier this week.
*WWE Raw Tag Team champions Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose in a steel cage match.
*Braun Strowman vs. Kane.

The debut episode of WWE 365 featuring Kevin Owens will be narrated by actor and director (and big wrestling fan) Michael Rappaport.

Staffers at the Impact Wrestling Nashville office began to be let go yesterday, PWInsider.com has confirmed. We are told that there were "support staff" let go as the company begins to fold Impact's offices into Anthem's existing infrastructure in Toronto.

No new update on the Don Callis situation.

The continuation of Lucha Underground will not have a profound effect on their talents that are currently working for Impact. LU intends to ease off on the contractual restrictions when they are not taping in order to let talents appear on other televised promotions.

Ethan Page, formerly with EVOLVE, will be coming in as Chandler Park, the storyline cousin of Joseph Park.

There's been talk of Impact being interested in using LU star Brian Cage of late.

Sonjay Dutt has been taking an increased role in all aspects of the management of the company. One source noted they wouldn't be shocked to see him taking the lead in booking going forward.

According to PWInsider with the fourth season in play for Lucha Underground, wrestlers will be able to work for other televised promotions, when the company is not taping. Previously, wrestlers weren't able to do so until the a Lucha Underground season wrapped up.

On his podcast this week, Jim Ross noted during his interview with Chris Jericho that he renewed his deal with AXS TV for another year. So he would be able to voice-over his match with Kenny Omega when it airs on the channel.

Jericho noted during the interview that he is working with New Japan Pro Wrestling to have the Wrestle Kingdom event available through traditional PPV means, so people without access to New Japan World would be able to view it.

On whether Vince McMahon knew about his deal with NJPW before it was publicly announced, he said he would not go into any specifics but mentioned that being smart, he would not do anything that would jeopardize their relationship. He added that if Vince knew what an effect such a match can have on his own business, then he should not have a problem with it.

Matt Hardy's 'Broken Matt Hardy' trademark is close to being published for opposition.

On July 14th, two 'Aro Lucha' trademarks were filed by Arolucha, an LLC company based in Franklin, TN. One for wrestling and the other for merchandise. Both filings will be published on December 5th for any opposition.

WWE posted an article with WWE Superstars picking their dream Survivor Series team. Braun Strowman went with The Undertaker, Roman Reigns, Big Show, Bray Wyatt, and himself. Matt Hardy went with Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and himself.
Link to the article: http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/article/9-superstars-pick-their-survivor-series-dream-teams-2017-edition

NJPW Company business in the last fiscal year (August 1, 2016 to July 31, 2017) was up significantly, pretty much commensurate with the attendance increase. The company grossed 3.859 billion yen (which translates to $34,010,000) and had 926 million yen profit ($8,160,000). Revenue was up 17.8 percent and profits were up 99 percent. Full-time employees increased from 45 to 61. It would have been the company’s most revenue since 1997, but in those days, a far larger percentage of the revenue would have been ticket sales. The revenue was 2.007 billion yen in tickets, 1.196 billion yen in merchandise, 656 million in television rights fees (plus New Japan World revenue).

If you go with the idea that on average there were 55,000 New Japan World subscribers at $8, and it’s a 50/50 revenue share with TV-Asahi, that would be $220,000 per month or $2.64 million per years, so all their TV deals combined would only be $3.14 million per year which is the difference between a Japanese based wrestling business and an American based sports business where it’s all about television revenue and very little about ticket sales and merchandise. When Tanahashi first got hot and the company began its comeback, it was doing $9 million annually in gross revenue, so it has quadrupled business in about six years. It’s still not even five percent as large revenue wise as WWE, which will gross in excess of $700 million this year. Profitability the gap is a lot closer. From January 1 through September 30 of this year, WWE profits were $27.8 million
Some comparisons on how huge the gap is between NJPW and WWE in terms of revenues.

As figured last week, James Storm is no longer with the company. His contract was running out and he was on a guaranteed annual deal in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, which isn’t a big number but Impact can’t afford numbers like that anymore. We’ll see if he can get into WWE.

Regarding the Hall of Fame at Bound for Glory, once Jeff Jarrett left for good and they had nobody committed (the idea was Jerry Jarrett and Mike Tenay but Tenay wasn’t happening either way and Jerry, who did help start the company with Jeff and Bob Ryder and was a key guy in the early days, but left in a falling out with Jeff over Jeff using Vince Russo as booker and other things, in fact for years the two didn’t speak until reconciling) they decided to kill the concept, but James Storm was not on the list for being considered

The Flair 30 for 30 show doing 1,831,000 viewers, the best rating for one of those shows since the December 10, 2016, show on the 1988 Miami vs. Notre Dame football game and its aftermath, has led to a lot of talk about more wrestling shows. One of the reasons the show was delayed so many times is that ESPN had turned down two other versions, and the unique direction this one took is something that you really couldn’t get with almost any other wrestler. For a comparison, the show on the XFL did 917,000 viewers. Rory Karpf, who put together the piece, said they would be releasing a DVD that would include a lot more interview footage that didn’t air on the show

Just a clarification on Tenille Dashwood’s booking price, the $2,000 per show figure was for shows outside North America, for Europe, Japan and other markets. For North America the rate being quoted is $1,500 per show, plus round-trip airfare, hotel and ground transportation (on the indies promoters are expected to provide hotels and ground transportation, an expense that talent in WWE has to pay for on their own). That isn’t unusual for talent asking for bigger money booking fees for overseas shows since the travel is harder and you can often miss a day of regular bookings because of it. She’s also asking for a 50/50 split between her and the promotion for autograph and picture money and asking for 100 percent of her own other merchandise money (also consistent with most guidelines). She also asks for creative control, the ability to approve her opponent and do her own finishes, which in regular indies isn’t a deal-breaker since any top guy is basically going to have the right to approve that, but for some of the companies that run full-time and do storylines, that has been them balk. They are also asking for a 50 percent deposit ahead of time, which is also consistent with what most top stars on the market do unless they are working for a promoter they have a developed a long relationship with

Some other sheet news includes:

During today's media conference call, Triple H revealed more episodes of NXT will be taped away from Full Sail next year due to scheduling reasons. He stated they currently have plans for the first 13 weeks of 2018 to be taped at various locations.
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Rock's daughter revealed she is considering the idea of becoming a pro wrestler in the future. If it happens, she would become the 1st fourth-generation star in wrestling and/or the WWE. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113642/the-rocks-daughter-to-become-first-fourthgeneration-star.html?p=1
NWA is currently taking bookings for future NWA Championship matches after the Aldis-Storm II match. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113634/nwa-begins-building-aldis-vs-storm-ii-declare-they-are-open-for-business.html?p=1
Website UPI had a recent interview with Cody Rhodes talking about ROH's recent success, Arrow's Stephen Armell, and a possible future match with Kenny Omega. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1116/634182/cody-rhodes-on-if-there-are-plans-to-wrestle-kenny-omega/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Triple H Says There Will Be No Roof on WarGames Cage (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/triple-h-says-there-will-be-no-roof-on-wargames-cage/)
HOF Scrapped, Make-a-Wish, Staff Cuts, Lucha Underground, More (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-hof-scrapped-make-a-wish-staff-cuts-lucha-underground-contracts-more/)
Various: Pre-TakeOver NXT Matches, EVOLVE’s Future, House of Hardcore (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-pre-takeover-nxt-matches-evolves-future-house-of-hardcore-ep-2/)
More Wrestlers Comment on James Ellsworth’s Release (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/more-wrestlers-comment-on-james-ellsworths-release/)

DaveWadding

11-16-2017, 10:33 PM

Arolucha sounds like a fucking disaster waiting to happen.

Emperor Smeat

11-17-2017, 09:36 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Bliss-Jax gif:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/fcbe566bd81ca305ea9c3e310cfc8f3a/tumblr_ozj0lomfG51u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Ric Flair is suing Legacy Talent and Entertainment -- the company that represented him for several years until he parted ways with them in September.

TMZ first reported on the lawsuit today, noting that Flair is alleging Legacy Talent and Entertainment owes him at least $46,000 after hiring a lawyer to look into his finances. Of that money, Flair is saying they didn't inform him about $25,000 they received from First Row Films, which is Rory Karpf's production company. Karpf directed ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on Flair.

The TMZ report states that Flair also noticed a $12,000 royalty advance he never got for an endorsement deal with Jake's Fireworks. Flair says Legacy Talent and Entertainment told him they were using the money to pay legal bills when he inquired about it, something Flair denies he approved.

Shortly after his health scare earlier this year, Flair announced that he was parting ways with Legacy Talent and Entertainment and their CEO Melinda Morris Zanoni. He is now being represented by Get Engaged Media.

WWE performer David Otunga and longtime fiance Jennifer Hudson have split up and Hudson has filed a protective order against the former wrestler.

Hudson's publicists told People Magazine on Thursday that the two have been in the process of ending their relationship and she filed a protective order against him earlier in the day. The two had been a couple for nearly 10 years.

Tracy M. Rizzo, Otunga's attorney, countered to People, claiming Hudson is making up a story in order to gain custody of the couple's eight-year-old son, David Otunga Jr.

David Otunga has pulled out of appearing on the Survivor Series show (he was never advertised to appear on the show to begin with) after the bad publicity stemming from ex-girlfriend Jennifer Hudson accusing him of domestic abuse in what appears to be a child custody battle. She claims ongoing harassing and threatening behavior and that he once pushed her. In her court filings, she said they argued because he believed she was dating one of her producers and she denied that was true. She called police last night to try and get Otunga thrown out of their home. The police came and ordered him to leave the Chicago area home that she owns.

She says this was just the most recent in a pattern of escalating and threatening behavior and she says she's especially concerned because David is a 6'3" 240 lb professional wrestler.

Hudson goes on to say in legal docs, on occasion David left a gun and holster on their kitchen counter. He said it was a movie prop, but Hudson says, "David knows that I am and have been very sensitive to firearms after my mother and my brother were murdered by a firearm." She says, "I believe that he left it out to taunt, intimidate and frighten me, which he absolutely accomplished."
Link to the article: http://www.tmz.com/2017/11/17/jennifer-hudson-david-otunga-order-of-protection-custody/

Tonight's CMLL show is expected to draw one of the biggest crowds of the year with nostalgia nights, with major stars dating back to the 70s in four of the six matches. Black Terry, Canek, Cien Caras and Dos Caras, who all wrestled in he 70s in California, will be wrestling on the show, along with top 80s flyer Super Astro, boom period rivals Octagon and Fuerza Guerrera, and Hall of Famer El Satanico. Last year's show saw Negro Casas, Satanico & Fuerza Guerrera get huge reactions with the place going nuts, while the main event was one of the deadest matches of the year, but it drew a huge crowd. So they are repeating this with a similar main event with Rayo Jalisco Jr. (57) & Dos Caras Sr. (66) & Villano IV (52) vs Canek (65) & Cien Caras (68) & Mascara Ano 2000 (59). The show airs live, and will be available on the CMLL Facebook page for a replay viewing shortly after it ends.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Hiroshi Tanahashi for its 4/6 show in New Orleans which will be on Friday at 4 p.m.

Capitol Wrestling has inked a deal with Twitch as their live streaming partner with shows every Monday night.

WWE NXT star and former ROH champion Adam Cole was legitimately busted open last night at the WWE NXT event in Austin, Texas during a six man tag between The Undisputed Era and Sanity. Cody Walper, who was sitting ringside, noted, "They set up a spot on the floor literally right in front of me where Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly and Cole all got sent into each other head-first by Ssanity and it sounded like a soda busting in a freezer. Cole bled heavily and got pulled to the back to get cleaned up. The rest of the guys did an awesome job buying time until Cole came back out (never once breaking character) and continued the match."

The Undispted Era scored the win.

PWInsider.com has confirmed with several sources that Cole required several staples to close the wound. One source believed it may have been as many as seven.

The 11/16 edition of Impact did 272,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 250,000 overnight viewers.

Just in time for his return at Survivor Series, WWE Shop has the brand-new purple and green "Cenation Respect" John Cena gear.

Link to the new colors: https://www.instagram.com/p/BbnDGlWFSbt/

The 'Broken Matt Hardy' trademark will be published for opposition on December 19th, so any parties who want to oppose will have a 30-day period beginning from that date to file an opposition.

If there is no opposition, the trademark will officially be in the hands of Hardy and available for him to use, within WWE or independently of the company.

WWE announced some dates for their next European tour:

May 9 - Bournemouth, England
May 10 - Belfast, Northern Ireland
May 11 - Dublin, Ireland
May 14 - London, England (RAW TV)
May 15 - London, England (Smackdown TV)
May 15 - Birmingham, England
May 16 - Liverpool, England
May 17 - Newcastle, England
May 18 - Sheffield, England

Some other sheet news includes:

ROH announced a new match for next month's Final Battle PPV will be Jay Lethal facing off against IWGP Jr. Heavyweight champion Marty Scurll in a non-title match. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113668/lethal-vs-scurll-official-for-roh-final-battle.html?p=1
ProWrestlingTees announced they will be holding a 20% Off sale on all merch as part of their Black Friday sale this year. Sale itself runs from November 22nd to November 27th. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113665/prowrestlingteescom-announces-20-off-black-friday-sale.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, New York City has hosted the most episode of RAW in WWE history based on PWInsider's research. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113657/what-city-state-venue-has-hosted-the-most-raws-first-championship-matches-on-raw-most-surprising-country-that-has-never-broadcast-raw-and-more.html?p=1
Recent episode of Edge & Christian's podcast show had Tommy Dreamer as the guest. https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness/episodes/53f2dc4a-e0bd-4e81-9768-6176043b5ec4
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had NXT's Kyle O'Reilly as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Kyle-OReilly
WWE recently released a hype video for tomorrow's Fatal 4-way match for the vacant NXT Women's Championship at NXT Takeover: WarGames. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQUeGtNZ4ds
Calgary Herald held a recent interview with Bret Hart talking about punching Vince after the Montreal Screwjob, being lied by people he trusted during that infamous night, and his original goals when he became a wrestler. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1117/634213/bret-hart-says-punching-vince-mcmahon-was-the-most-beautiful/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Returns for Another UK and Ireland Tour in May 2018 (Schedule) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-returns-for-another-uk-and-ireland-tour-in-may-2018-schedule/)
Various: Ellsworth Update, The Rock’s Relives PPV Debut, Rock’s Daughter (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-james-ellsworth-update-the-rocks-relives-his-ppv-debut-rocks-daughter/)
Various: Kalisto at Grammys, Lana Video, Bully Ray Interview (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-kalisto-at-grammys-lana-video-bully-ray-interview/)

Impact Results – Nov. 16, 2017 – Eli Drake vs. Petey Williams (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-results-nov-16-2017-eli-drake-vs-petey-williams/)

Emperor Smeat

11-21-2017, 10:10 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random NXT gif:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/af5bca1555aa2237cf676ffa99ee57f1/tumblr_ozo6f0RLu71s05wxzo1_400.gif

Raw got a bump from coming the day after Survivor Series, doing its best numbers since football season started with an average of 3.06 million viewers last night.

As would be expected, the show did a strong first hour, but held up well in hour two. The third hour had the usual big drop, but it was still the most-watched third hour since August ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.24 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.19 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.79 million viewers

Even though recent weeks have been higher than same period last year, probably still end with a lower year average because of how poor the numbers were in the first half of the year.

It doesn't appear that Brock Lesnar vs. Finn Balor will be happening at the Royal Rumble.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio last night that Lesnar vs. Balor for the Universal Championship was originally scheduled for the pay-per-view, but WWE changed their plans yesterday as they decided to move away from that match. Meltzer mentioned that Vince McMahon thinking Balor wasn't over enough to face Lesnar right now was one of the reasons behind the decision.

Meltzer also speculated that McMahon may have made up his mind prior to the official change of plans given how Balor was positioned in the men's elimination tag match at Survivor Series. It isn't clear who will be challenging for Lesnar's title at the Royal Rumble at this point in time.

Balor lost to Samoa Joe by referee stoppage due to passing out in the Coquina Clutch on Monday's episode of Raw. After defeating AJ Styles at TLC, Balor lost to Kane on Raw the next night and was laid out by him the following week. The idea was apparently to build Balor back up prior to the Royal Rumble.

In another milestone for his career, Roman Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time on Monday's episode of Raw ...

Now that he's Intercontinental Champion, Reigns has completed WWE's Grand Slam of title wins. He's previously held the WWE, United States, and Tag Team titles in his career.

With no Raw-exclusive pay-per-views scheduled before the Royal Rumble, Reigns could be Intercontinental Champion heading into that PPV. Dave Meltzer has reported that Brock Lesnar vs. Reigns for the Universal Championship is tentatively scheduled to main event WrestleMania 34.

All Rollins needs is the IC belt for every member of the Shield to become WWE Grand Slam Champs.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that WWE is in talks with Facebook for the test run of a new weekly in-ring show that would air on Facebook Live. If it were to happen, it would be filmed after SmackDown on Tuesdays and would possibly feature Raw and SmackDown wrestlers, with mixed tag matches reported as a possible theme. WWE applied to trademark “WWE Mixed Match Challenge” earlier this month. Pro Wrestling Sheet mentioned that 205 Live taking place before SmackDown has been discussed if the new show comes to fruition.
Link to the report: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/facebook-live-wwe-show/#.WhS0Z7Q-cW9

The implosion of the Georgia Dome, which hosted WrestleMania 27 and Goldberg winning the WCW title from Hollywood Hogan in 1998 (among other Nitro episodes), took place yesterday. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta opened as the Georgia Dome’s replacement earlier this year.
In a bit of a LOL moment, Weather Channel tried to air live feed of the demolishing but picked a bad spot to do it since it was a bus stop and a bus showed up right as it started blocking the entire view of its collapse.

Christopher Daniels responded to some of the criticism he’s received for the flaming table spot he was involved in against Cody Rhodes for ROH over the weekend: "When people criticize me or my decisions with moronic comments (not valid critique), I fight the urge to draw attention to a vocal minority of fans, but I will say this: 1) Our business is up, 2) My paychecks are fine, & 3) My career won't be 1 day shorter. NOT. ONE. DAY.”

NWA Champion Tim Storm accepted CZW’s invitation to appear at this year’s Cage of Death show on December 9th.

MLW announced that their first show of 2018 will take place at GILT Nightclub in Orlando on January 11th. Matt Riddle is the first wrestler confirmed for the event.

Punishment Martinez won the six-way Survival of the Fittest ROH match in Oklahoma City last night, meaning he should get a shot at the ROH championship shortly.

Dainels link: https://twitter.com/facdaniels/status/933008161304223744 , NWA link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvrbz6cta6Y

Both Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian were injured at Ring of Honor events in Texas this weekend.

Kazarian took a bad bump taking the Indytaker move, a spike piledriver, during the finish of Friday night's main event in San Antonio, a match with The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes & Stephen Amell vs. Daniels, Kazarian, Scorpio Sky & Flip Gordon. Kazarian didn't work last night in Dallas, and flew back home to California before the show. It was thought on Friday to have been a possible stinger.

Daniels suffered mild burns last night in Dallas from a spot where he took a powerbomb through a flaming table. Cody defeated Daniels in a Texas Death Match to retain the ROH World Championship at the show.

Those at ROH believe the injury to Kazarian is not serious, but he won't be on tonight's (Sunday) show in Oklahoma City. The belief is that Daniels will be able to work tonight's (Sunday) show.

Regarding the term "Superkick" party, Matt Massie (Matt Jackson) registered the term for clothing in 2015. That doesn't prevent WWE announcers from using the term, like Byron Saxton did last night. It only means they can't merchandise the term for clothing.

WWE sent out an email to current Network subscribers offering them their first month free. They later issued a correction noting that the email was sent in error and apologized for any confusion, saying they hope you’ll enjoy Survivor Series.

Another WWE Network offer sent to some people advertised that you could buy Survivor Series as a one-time purchase and access Network content through Monday for $24.99. With the first month being free to new subscribers and it being $9.99 to anyone else, that wouldn’t seem to be much of a deal. Much of the appeal of still offering traditional PPV is to reach people without good internet connections, but you’d need one to watch Survivor Series with this option anyway.

Last night's WWE Intercontinental championship change, with Roman Reigns defeating the Miz, was done, due to the Miz taking time off to film a movie, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

One source believed Miz would be going to film the latest installment of WWE Studios' The Marine movie franchise. There have been five films thus far in The Marine franchise, with The Miz starring in the last three. We are told that there is no current timetable for Miz's return and last night was his final appearance until filming is completed.

Some updates on the lawsuit Flosports, Inc. brought against EVOLVE parent company WWNLive Inc. back in September.

The lawsuit, seeking $1 million in damages, was originally filed in the United States District Court of Travis County, Texas revolves around allegations that WWN, run by Sal Hamaoui and Gabe Sapolsky, had "robbed Flosports" by provided false information that led to the streaming provider paying inflated prices for WWN content.

WWN filed a motion on 11/13, requesting the lawsuit being dismissed, citing that the suit was filed in a venue (Texas) that lacks jurisdiction over WWNLive. Flosports had argued the case should be heard in Texas since they were doing business with WWN in that State. In their 22-page filing, WWN argued that their business was based in Florida, as are its business records and bank accounts ...

WWNLive also argued that Flosports has failed to actually state a claim regarding their allegation there has been "negligent misrepresentation" on the part of WWNLive. Flosports' lawsuit alleges that "WWN negligently or otherwise misrepresented the number of fans purchasing pay-per-view and video-on-demand access to their fighting events. 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." Thus, "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."

WWNLive responded by denying there were any falsehoods in the Spreadsheet data Flosports received from WWN, noting, "That data was pulled from and compiled by a now-defunct third-party company named Fineline Hosting that was based in Florida." WWN is arguing that since the data was compiled by a Florida company (one that is now defunct) and was emailed to Flosports from Florida, there is no actual merit to claiming "negligent misrepresentation" in the state of Texas - even if there was indeed inaccurate information ...

Flosports alleged that they have "Invested time and money that it will never recover in the market" noting, "since viewership drives FloSports’ subscription-base and its advertising revenue, WWN’s misrepresentations robbed FloSports..." WWN responded to that, citing, "Texas law is unequivocal, however, that benefit of the bargain damages are not recoverable for a claim of negligent misrepresentation" and claim that Flosports' own language in the lawsuit admits such, therefore the negligent misrepresentation count should be dropped.
Some more details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113738/updates-on-the-flosports-vs-wwnlive-lawsuit.html?p=1

ESPN has a story here about some of the charity work that WWE did over Survivor Series weekend in Houston. It was noted that Booker T and NXT tag team The Street Profits worked with Habitat for Humanity on a house for a family in need, AJ Styles and Mark Henry helped out at the Houston Food Bank while Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox worked with Americares to hand out medical kits hours before last Sunday's pay-per-view.
Link: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/21491264/wwe-gives-back-houston-charitable-partnerships-habitat-humanity-americares-houston-food-bank

WWE has apparently dropped the Network series Bring It To The Table, according to PWInsider. While there has been no official word on it being cancelled, Mike Johnson noted that the set was put in storage and there are no plans for future episodes. The series usually featured JBL, Corey Graves and Peter Rosenberg, although Paul Heyman filled in for Graves on a couple of occasions. It hasn't aired since JBL announced his WWE departure in September, with the last episode airing in late July.

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE recently announced more dates for next year's European tour. http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/article/wwe-live-events-europe-may-2018
Following their Ab-Off at NXT Takeover: WarGames, Johnny Gargano challenged HBK to another ab-off contest at next year's Mania weekend. https://twitter.com/JohnnyGargano/status/932789090570919936
Former WWF wrestler Kamala is currently on life support after a recent surgery but his outlook has improved since Sunday. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113735/kamala-update.html?p=1
Drew McIntyre is reported to have suffered a possible torn bicep during his match with Andrade Almas at NXT Takeover: WarGames. Could be out for up to 8-9 months depending on if he needs surgery.
WrestleInc held a recent interview with Gangrel talking about his goth vampire gimmick, teaming with Edge & Christian, and the idea for doing bloodbaths. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1121/634351/gangrel-on-when-he-first-pitched-vampire-gimmick-to-wwe/
The Manchester Evening News had a recent interview with Sasha Banks talking about a variety of topics including her best friends in the WWE, potential for a Women's Rumble match in the future, and who she wants from Smackdown to jump to RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1120/634313/sasha-banks-on-if-she-would-pick-aj-styles-or-shinsuke-nakamura/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Roddy Piper on Being Related to Bret Hart and Facing Him at Wrestlemania (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/roddy-piper-on-being-related-to-bret-hart-and-facing-him-at-wrestlemania-8/)
Various: Clash of Champions Main Event, NXT Wrestlers Backstage, Alberto (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-clash-of-champions-main-event-nxt-wrestlers-backstage-albertos-restaurant-closes/)
WWE: Russo vs. Graves, HBK vs. Gargano Ab Result, Hardy “Breaking Point” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-russo-vs-graves-hbk-vs-gargano-ab-result-matt-hardy-breaking-point-more/)
WWE Raw Results – Nov. 20, 2017 – Roman Reigns vs. The Miz (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-raw-results-nov-20-2017-roman-reigns-vs-the-miz/)

Emperor Smeat

11-22-2017, 10:16 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Gobbledy Gulaker:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/7cd61853a6bc5658136845ff0ebf2078/tumblr_ozuhwmqyj71u1ljrzo1_500.gif

This week's WWE SmackDown, featuring the fallout from Sunday's WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view, drew 2.662 million viewers. This is up 2% from last week's 2.607 million viewers. SmackDown featured Natalya vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair plus the debut of The Bludgeon Brothers advertised ahead of time. The main event featured Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens going over The New Day in a Handicap Lumberjack Match.

Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are now just listed as “Harper” and “Rowan” respectively on WWE’s roster page after returning to TV.

TMZ reported that David Otunga was granted the right to have custody of his son from 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving to 7 p.m. the following day. A hearing is set for Monday, where Otunga will ask the judge to vacate the order of protection Jennifer Hudson filed against him and will ask for temporary custody of their son.

Daniel Bryan named AJ Styles as the person he’d like to wrestle if WWE were to clear him to return to the ring.

Otunga link: http://www.tmz.com/2017/11/21/jennifer-hudson-david-otunga-custody-david-jr-thanksgiving/ , Bryan link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/11/22/wwe-wrestling-news-daniel-bryan-finn-balor

NJPW’s Takaaki Kidani tweeted that tickets for January’s Tokyo Dome show are selling at their fastest pace in “around 20 years” and a high proportion of fans are coming from overseas. Kenny Omega responded by telling Kidani “you’re welcome.”

After taking on Matt Riddle at their Global Wars UK show earlier this month, Minoru Suzuki is returning to Revolution Pro Wrestling for their High Stakes 2018 event on January 20th.
NJPW link: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/933174738280517632 , Omega link: https://twitter.com/KennyOmegamanX/status/933199308215656448 , RevPro link: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/933385647573929984

The current plan for WWE is to have 14 PPVs in the year 2018. The schedule calls for there to be 5 Raw shows, 4 Smackdown shows and 5 combined events.

The new co-branded event will be Money In The Bank, which is slated for June 17 in Chicago, Ilinois.

Longtime WWE wrestler and backstage staffer "The Brooklyn Brawler" Steve Lombardi quietly released an autobiography Brawler Unfiltered this month. It is currently only available via Amazon as an EBook for Kindle, featuring a foreword by Eric Bischoff.

A Big Van Vader autobiography has been completed and will be released around Wrestlemania 34. The book was co-written by Kenny Casanova, who did an amazing job on the Kamala autobiography and is working as well on the forthcoming Brutus Beefcake and Dangerous Danny Davis books.

April "AJ Lee" Mendez-Brooks' book Crazy is My Superpower will be released in paperback in April 2018. If you haven't read it, it really is an excellent book.

From November 24 until November 26 (ending at 11:59pm ET) ROH Shop will have a Black Friday Weekend Sale with 25% off apparel (Bullet Club apparel only on Friday), 35% off DVDs, and free shipping on U.S. orders over $100. You can check out the full details by clicking here.

ROH Black Friday Weekend Sales Announced! Save on apparel and DVDs, plus a special day just for Bullet Club merch: https://t.co/7UNPtcwHKC pic.twitter.com/rK63BIjOsM
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 22, 2017

Today is the 27th anniversary of The Undertaker's televised WWE debut at the Survivor Series in 1990. Taker debuted with manager Brother Love as a member of The Million Dollar Team, and was eliminated from the match for beating up WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes all the way backstage.
Video of his WWF debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-1gy7CcSzs

The latest collection of previously unreleased music by Jim Johnston, "WWE: Uncaged IV", is now available on iTunes. It features tracks for Brock Lesnar, The Ringmaster, Triple H, Lex Luger, Essa Rios, Kevin Nash, Droz, Chris Masters and D-X.
Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wwe-uncaged-iv/1314592354

Some other sheet news includes:

Update on Kamala's health status as he is currently able to breath on his own after being taken off of a ventilator. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1945412992389851&set=a.1458044844460004.1073741827.100007635078953&type=3&theater
According to PWI, WWE currently planning on holding more back-to-back RAW and Smackdown shows in the same cities and venues for next year. Likely as a way to reduce traveling and other costs.
Recent episode of The Ross Report podcast had Batista as the guest talking about not feeling ready for his initial big push, match with Taker at Mania 23, and feeling the match with Taker should have closed out the show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1122/634369/batista-on-why-he-was-upset-with-wwe-over-wrestlemania-23-match/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Carmella vs. Liv, Lana on New Arrivals, Mandy Rose Magazine Cover (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-carmella-vs-liv-morgan-lana-on-new-arrivals-mandy-rose-magazine-cover/)
Miz, Becky Lynch and Shawn Michaels to Star in Next “The Marine” Movie (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/the-miz-becky-lynch-and-shawn-michaels-to-star-in-next-the-marine-movie/)
Hideo Itami Is Officially Coming Soon to 205 Live (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/hideo-itami-is-officially-coming-soon-to-205-live/)

Emperor Smeat

11-23-2017, 09:52 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Gobbledy Gooker Appreciation Day:
https://i.giphy.com/media/NVxx5tl2FYkmI/giphy.gif

MCW on 12/1 in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena features an appearance by Sgt. Slaughter. Joey Mercury vs. The Bruiser is the main event. They also announced that on 2/17 they will have Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon together along with Rosa Mendes.

MLW announced its third show of the new run would be 1/11 in Orlando at Gilt Nightclub featuring Matt Riddle.

For the MLW show on 12/7 in Orlando, if you go to www.MLWtickets.com and use the code WON, and you are a subscriber, you can get $5 off all tickets.

Our Good Friends at www.RingsideCollectibles.com are starting their Black Friday sale early. It begins at 6 p.m. ET today. There will be a limited number of doorbusters at great prices so if you are interested in getting them, go to the site at 6 PM and get them before they sell out. They also new figures in stock, including an exclusive Shawn Michaels collectibles in stock.

Ring of Honor issued the following:

SAVE BIG WITH ROH BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND SALES

SAVE 25% ON APPAREL AND 35% ON ALL ROH DVDS!
PLUS A DAY TO SAVE 25% ON BULLET CLUB MERCH!
Thanksgiving is a time to relax, reflect, and spend quality time with the people you care about most. We also know this is prime time to knock out your holiday shopping. Here at Ring Of Honor we want to help you do both!

There’s no need to leave your family anymore to compete with long lines and overcrowded parking lots. ROH is hooking you up with big savings and even free shipping—and it all kicks off with BULLET CLUB BLACK FRIDAY!

For Friday only, all Bullet Club branded merchandise will be 25% off! Rep your favorite Bullet Club members including ROH World Champion Cody, ROH World Six-Man Champions The Young Bucks & Hangman Page, IWGP US Champion Kenny Omega, and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Marty Scurll!

In addition to BULLET CLUB BLACK FRIDAY, starting Midnight Eastern (Friday, Nov 24) through Sunday, Nov. 26, All ROH DVDs will be 35% Off and All Apparel** will be 25% Off! Not only that, but all orders over $100 will receive Free US Shipping!

The Pop Network, which carries Impact Wrestling on Thursdays, has been pulled from the Dish Network due to an ongoing contractual issue between Pop's parent company CBS and the satellite provider.

WWEShop.com has their Black Friday sale underway. You can save up to 75% on select WWE merchandise and an additional 25% off orders clicking here and using code FRIDAY at checkout.

Sasha Banks was recently interviewed by The Hindustan Times to promote the upcoming RAW live event in Delhi on December 9th. During the interview, Sasha talked about headlining WrestleMania as being her biggest WWE goal.

"My main goal is to feature in the main event of Wrestlemania. It is the biggest dream of any WWE wrestler and although there has never been an all-woman main event, I think it is about time," Sasha said. "We have already done great things like the Money in the Bank this year and it is my goal to create history by headlining the biggest show of the company."

Sasha headlined the 2016 Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, which was the first time a women's match headlined a WWE pay-per-view. Sasha lost her RAW Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair in the Hell In A Cell cage.

Below is the official poster for ROH Final Battle PPV in New York City on December 15. The main event will be Cody defending the ROH World Championship against Dalton Castle.

Final Battle comes to you live on PPV on December 15th! Order now: https://t.co/4Vx32fiypT pic.twitter.com/Ty2MA4ukmT
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 23, 2017

It appears that all the controversy regarding Owens from when he and Zayn were sent home is gone, but the same isn’t the case of Zayn.

Styles did an interview with boxhouston.com and said his goal right now it to work hard so he can enjoy it later noting that in a few years he’ll be able to see all of his kids sporting events. Styles in the past had told us he’s looking at retiring around the age of 42, and he’s 40 right now. But he’s making a ton of money right now and when you are, unless it’s an injury situation, the lure of one more year is pretty great. I can’t think of one person who truly walked away on his own except Michaels, although guys like Orton have remained with a reduced schedule and are really happy with it. There could be that compromise when his contract expires (early 2019) so he could still make good money while having more time to be with his family

Wrestle Kingdom won’t be on PPV in North America. New Japan refused to allow it, wanting the only way to see it live be on New Japan World. The feeling is with Jericho vs. Omega that they have the shot at greatly building the number of new subscribers overseas as the mentality of that match is it’ll put new eyeballs on the product and many will enjoy it enough to become regular customers. Fite TV offered New Japan is significant guarantee for PPV rights outside of Japan but New Japan wasn’t interested in the deal. It is leaving money on the table, because there are people who will order a PPV, and there would also be advertising for the PPV that will hit people that aren’t going to order New Japan World. But the New Japan mentality is they want everyone they can on New Japan World with the idea of this show building numbers and retaining them going forward. Really New Japan should at this point be working with American partners to do four major shows a year, the Dome, G-1 finals, Dominion and a fourth similar show from a major U.S. city, and put them on live PPV and then follow it a week or two later with TV specials on AXS similar to the big event boxing model

ric Van Wagenen of Lucha Underground on the Masks, Mats and Mayhem show said they would tape an episode count in the 20s from mid-February through the end of March, and the show would start airing in the late spring or early summer. He said taping so many episodes so quickly is due to the budget constraints and that the goal is to make it appear too the viewers that the shows don’t have a greatly lowered budget and noted cutbacks in things like vignettes. He said they’ll be taping every weekend during that period and may do some three nights of tapings (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) certain weeks. He said a deal is in place not only for next season, but also seasons five, six and seven, working with the new budget. He said the plan would be a set of tapings once a year, at the same time, so season five would, in theory, be taped in the spring of 2019.

Because of only using talent two months a year, they are relaxing the restrictions on where the talent is allowed to work as far as television goes. The original idea was for them to be exclusive on North American television to Lucha Underground. Now the idea is that they would allow talent to work on TV in other groups and said in specific they are opening doors to ROH (which explains Joey Ryan in ROH this past weekend), NOAH, Impact and Stardom. He said they are also open to letting people out of their contracts who don’t want to stay. He said they would give people releases who don’t want to stay, but asked that they return for at least part of next season so they could write their characters out or have them drop championships if they have them. If that is the case, then the issue a lot of talent had should be rectified if they are able to get releases if they ask for them. It’ll be interesting who decides to stay at that point, because the one issue is that WWE won’t use anyone under contract to another company and don’t want to have a tampering case, so it’s been hands off on bringing people in for tryouts or directly offering people from here any deals. The one issue is they don’t have a location to tape at this point as the studio in Boyle Heights is being used, but the hope is to find a place in the Los Angeles area.

The January television tapings are going to be back in Orlando at the Impact Zone. Even though they could appear, I don’t anticipate either Taryn Terrell or Jim Cornette being back. Both were gone because the tapings were being done in Canada and in the case of Terrell, she couldn’t get in the country, and with Cornette, while he may have been able to, he didn’t want to take the steps to do so

Cena was only in for Survivor Series and right now is not scheduled for the 12/17 Clash of the Champions, even though it’s in Boston. He is scheduled to start back at the Raw house show on 12/26 in Madison Square Garden

With six new women characters all starting at once, that has left a lot of marginal talent nervous about spots because when there are a lot of additions there are likely some subtractions coming

WWE sent another marketing survey asking some people who their favorite wrestler was, including current stars, all the major stars from the past (Savage, Flair, Sammartino, Piper) and the NXT stars. The key name not listed was Hogan

It’s notable that ever since Lio Rush made the ill-advised joke on Twitter when Tenille Dashwood was fired, which he quickly apologized about, he hasn’t been used on any shows. Hopefully for his sake this blows over but it is a lesson not to mock people who have just lost their jobs, even though he wasn’t really mocking as much as trying to be clever and not realizing it was the wrong time. People in the company see Rush as a down the line main roster legit superstar but he also has a lot of heat on him with the tweet being a catalyst and he’s been on ice every since

However, what has come interesting is that FS 1 has had talks in recent months with WWE. The feeling is if they lose UFC programming, they can plug in WWE programming on FS 1, which would be significantly higher rated for a station that has been struggling to garner consistent viewership. WWE programming alone would up FS 1's prime time average, but the negative is that as a sports station, there is the question as to whether WWE should fit into that category. For WWE, their audience would surely decline moving from USA to FS 1, both because USA has a much higher base prime time audience and because (based on August numbers), USA is available in 91,898,000 homes whereas FS is in 84,221,000 homes. Less audience available means and lower profile television which means fewer fans, although the difference in tens of millions annually greatly overrides whatever decline that will cause. And there are ways to reach fans other than television that are more meaningful than in the past. Nobody knows how quick the migration will be regarding the value of television time from a promotional standpoint, as well as monetary, as compared with streaming. Since UFC events on FS 1 stream and air on television, we do have actual numbers and of late, it’s still more than 98 percent of viewers will watch the FS 1 shows on FS 1 as opposed to streaming it on their television or watching it away from their television.

What makes this notable is that if FOX does keep UFC, the value of WWE for them goes down significantly. They could easily air both, since UFC is mostly Saturday nights and WWE is Monday and Tuesday, but it’s questionable that the station would want to pay the costs for both promotions.

WWE also met with CBS, Disney, Amazon and YouTube, to get ready for its next round of negotiations. Right now, no serious negotiations can take place because NBC Universal, the parent company of the USA Network, has an exclusive negotiations period that ends in about four months.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Batista said he’s been speaking with Vince McMahon regarding a possible return to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> on JR’s podcast. He’s interested in returning to the WWE with a full-time schedule; including House Shows. <a href="https://t.co/4pcrFts94C">pic.twitter.com/4pcrFts94C</a></p>— PWStream (@PWStream) <a href="https://twitter.com/PWStream/status/933711753963327489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

Observer currently holding a Black Friday sale on one month subscriptions to the Observer Newsletter and other membership exclusives. Sale lasts till end of November 24th. https://www.f4wonline.com/news/f4wonlinecom-sale-one-full-month-unlimited-access-only-399-202426
Website Uproxx held a recent interview with Charlotte talking about being part of Triple H's Mania 30 entrance, wanting a women's singles match to happen at Mania 34, and who she'd want to face at Mania 34. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1123/634398/charlotte-reveals-who-she-wants-to-face-at-wrestlemania-34/
Recent episode of Secrets of WCW Nitro podcast had Tony Schiavone talking about WCW's downfall, lack of communication within WCW's management, David Arquette angle, and matche he wanted to see the most while in WCW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1123/634399/tony-schiavone-talks-botched-ultimate-warrior-run-in-during-bret/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Finn Balor Responds to Rumors of Vince Not Thinking He’s “Over” Enough (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/finn-balor-responds-to-rumors-of-vince-not-thinking-hes-over-enough/)
WWE NXT Results – Nov. 22, 2017 – Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-nxt-results-nov-22-2017-pete-dunne-vs-johnny-gargano/)

slik

11-24-2017, 12:30 AM

Finn's response to "not being over enough" to face Brock...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I AM NOT OVER<br>Cooking the turkey<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HappyThanksgiving?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HappyThanksgiving</a> <a href="https://t.co/lrajiyLIeg">pic.twitter.com/lrajiyLIeg</a></p>— Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) <a href="https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/933813256564723712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr. Nerfect

11-24-2017, 06:17 AM

None of those New Japan guys are funny. It's really uncomfortable.

mike adamle

11-24-2017, 07:18 AM

That's how most people feel when they read your posts

Ruien

11-24-2017, 09:27 AM

Mr. Nerfect

11-24-2017, 02:25 PM

That's how most people feel when they read your posts

That none of those New Japan guys are funny? It's weird they would make that connection.

Mr. Nerfect

11-24-2017, 02:27 PM

I don't get it......

Because the latest rumor is that Vince feels he is not over enough to face Brock at the Rumble, Finn's made a post where he's forced the phrase "I'm not over" into the sentence, and he's capitalized it for emphasis. See, it's funny because he's not over and he capitalized "I'm not over," even though no one would use the sentence "I'm not over cooking the turkey."

Ruien

11-24-2017, 04:00 PM

Oh... ha.

Mr. Nerfect

11-24-2017, 05:41 PM

Yeah. Exactly.

Emperor Smeat

11-24-2017, 09:50 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rasslin Nut Punch Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/gwrRQeU.gif

There is a funny story about Tuesday's WWE Smackdown tapings in Lexington. It is the first time in six years that WWE has done a television taping from the city. While they did run house shows, they wouldn't do a taping or a PPV because the Kentucky commission had a rule that pro wrestling matches had to be stopped if there was bleeding, and WWE didn't want to run TV with the chance a match could be stopped over their heads. A lobbying effort led to the repeal of that rule and now they are back doing TV in the state. What makes this story funny is it's written that blood is a huge part of WWE, when it hasn't been for years, and that 99.99 percent of the time there is blood, it's theatrics, when actually, unless it's Vince McMahon or Brock Lesnar, and both of them would deny that's the case for them as well, blood is always accidental and theatrical blading has been banned in WWE for years. They acted like this would bring tons of tourism money for hotels, restaurants and shopping into town, which may be the case to a degree for a minor PPV and more for a major one, but hardly for Smackdown tapings that have been struggling to draw for the last several months.

On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore talk in-depthy about numerous topics surrounding professional wrestling.

Here are some highlights transcribed:

Undertaker backstage at Survivor Series, and if he will return to ring:

"I think he might have looked too good. I think when you get when you hang around or you show up and you look that good, they in the WWE, they're ready for you to come back. You know, closer to the time after WrestleMania and I think I said that I believe we've seen the last of Undertaker in the ring. Now, I’m going to I'm going to go back on my word. Just looking at him the other night, I think there's some more matches left in the Undertaker.

So there's a TV and monitor to watch the show. There were three seats. Three chairs in front of the monitor and I was sitting in the one on the left hand side and in the middle now, to my right, sitting next to me, was Undertaker. And to his right sitting next to him was Kane.

We were all just sitting here watching the show talking about old times and stuff, and all of a sudden, the door happened to be open. All of a sudden, we saw John Cena. He went past the door and glanced in, and then he just went past. Suddenly we saw him backing up, he just backed up, and he looked in at the three of us sitting there - and he said, ‘that's pretty cool.’ And he just walked on."
More highlights and link to the episode: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113800/jerry-lawler-gives-his-thoughts-on-whether-undertaker-will-return-to-the-ring.html?p=1

Dustin Rhodes tweeted the following indicating he may go old-school for tomorrow night's Starrcade:

Packing for #Starrcade ........ , I hope one half of #TheRevival is ready . @Gbocoliseum @WWE #Red . Well they call him........??????
— Dustin Rhodes (@Goldust) November 24, 2017

The 12/9 WrestlePro event in Rahway, NJ, which features Impact Wrestling content being taped for future inclusion for that series, features the following announced lineup:

*Impact Wrestling champion Eli Drake vs. Alberto el Patron.

*Colt Cabana vs. CPA.

*WrestlePro Silver champion Dan Maff vs. Anthony Bowens.

*Maria Bokara vs. Bobby Wayward.

*Sienna vs. Kasey Catal.

*LAX vs. the Apple Corps.

Also scheduled to appear are Sonjay Dutt, Pat Buck, KM, Fallah Bah, CAQ, The Beach Bums and more.

CBS and Dish Network resolved a dispute over the fees the satellite TV provider pays to the broadcaster, ending a three-day blackout that affected customers across 26 states.

CBS said late Thursday it reached a multi-year agreement with Dish for carrying its local stations as well as three cable channels. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The agreement comes just ahead of the Southeastern Conference football coverage over the weekend. The blackout had prevented nearly 3 million Dish subscribers from watching the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers play the Dallas Cowboys on the Thanksgiving holiday.

The CBS channels are being restored, Dish said in a separate statement.

CBS content was pulled off Dish networks on Tuesday over a dispute that revolved around how much Dish would pay for 28 local CBS channels as well as three cable channels: Smithsonian Channel, Pop, and CBS Sports Network.

Negotiations between content distributors and programmers have become increasingly fraught as more viewers opt to watch their favorite shows online.

CBS went dark for about 12 hours during a similar carriage dispute with Dish in 2014.

This Friday "Flashback Friday" will celebrate the 27th anniversary of the Undertaker.

Friday at 2 PM Eastern, it will be the WWE Network Original "Undertaker's Greatest Rivals" part one. At 2:30 PM Eastern it will be part two. Both episodes feature roundtable discussion between JBL with Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

Friday at 3 PM, it will be "Survivor Series" 1990 featuring the debut of The Undertaker.

Following that at 5:30 PM Eastern, it will be the "Undertaker: 25 Phenomenal Years" special.

Then at 6 PM Eastern, it will be the " The Undertaker: Gravest Matches" special.

At 8 PM Eastern, it will be "Wrestlemania 12" featuring The Undertaker versus Diesel.
This is for next week's set of new content for the Network.

Following Monday following Raw, it will be "Table for 3" with Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Sting. This is the episode postponed due to the Nature Boy's recent health scare.

Vince McMahon is reportedly against the idea of having Braun Strowman face Brock Lesnar again at the Royal Rumble in January. For one, the match has already happened and Lesnar won clean. Second, Strowman is being readied for a match against Triple H and isn't going to be losing while Lesnar isn't going to have anyone kick out of his F5 until Roman Reigns does it at WrestleMania.

No matter what is booked, Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be appearing at the Royal Rumble in some capacity but it's possible he may not be defending his title. With Finn Balor seemingly out and Braun Strowman not a realistic possibility, the only wrestlers left are guys like Bray Wyatt, Elias, Jason Jordan - who are actually in worse position than Balor.

Samoa Joe is a possibility and would likely be the best alternative as it could be a singles match for the title.

NXT Star, Aleister Black, addressed fans who wanted to send him things. He asked that they spend money on those who need it more or a charity of their choice. Last weekend, Black was successful in defeating The Velveteen Dream at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.

For those who have been asking me if they can send me stuff for the holidays, please spend that on giving to people less fortunate or a charity of your choice. Thank you
— Devil's Blood (@WWEAleister) November 23, 2017

Speaking of the Young Bucks, Matt Jackson announced that their shirts are now the top selling merchandise in Hot Top, beating out cartoon characters, Rick and Morty, and any other band tees in the store.

Young Bucks officially have the top selling shirt in @HotTopic, beating Rick & Morty & every single band tee in the store. Blown away. Thanks everyone!
— The Young Bucks (@MattJackson13) November 23, 2017

In the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted that the recent Kevin Owens 365 special, which played on the WWE Network after Survivor Series, did “huge numbers” for the streaming service.

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of Ring Rust Radio podcast show had Lucha Underground's Brian Cage as the guest talking about his future plans for LU, his gauntlet storyline in Season 3, and his brief time in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1124/634414/brian-cage-talks-his-wwe-release/
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Miz stated he would love to have a match with Daniel Bryan in the WWE if he gets cleared for an in-ring return. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1124/634411/the-miz-says-he-wants-to-beat-up-daniel-bryan/
NJPW recently opened a new English language Youtube channel. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/934209805362675712
Sports-based website Deadspin recently had an article lambasting WWE's poor camerawork in modern times. https://deadspin.com/wwes-production-should-be-its-strongest-asset-but-it-k-1820652041

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Impact Results – Nov. 23, 2017 – Thanksgiving Special (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/impact-results-nov-23-2017-thanksgiving-special/)

Mr. Nerfect

11-25-2017, 09:50 PM

Would actually like to see Dustin Rhodes vs. Dash Wilder, but I've got no clue what Dustin is talking about.

Emperor Smeat

11-28-2017, 10:39 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the King of Rasslin Schnozes:
http://i.imgur.com/hAcdcWf.gif

One of the more interesting planned non-WWE pro wrestling shows of 2018 appears closer to becoming a reality.

After Cody Rhodes posted a picture with The Young Bucks and Marty Scurll on a "scouting trip" at a venue earlier this month, Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Cody and The Young Bucks are in talks with multiple venues to self-finance a 10,000 seat show in 2018. The report noted that the show, which has been talked about for months, is currently planned to be called "All In" and mentioned Chicago, London, San Francisco, and Ontario, California as possibilities for where it could take place.

The idea originated from a Twitter exchange between Dave Meltzer and Cody in May, with Cody taking it as a challenge when Meltzer answered "not any time soon" when someone asked if Ring of Honor could sell over 10,000 tickets to an event. Cody and the Bucks would be partnering with ROH on the show if they're able to reach an agreement.
Cody and Bucks still need to get ROH's permission to do the show and no non-WWE promotion since WCW's demise has pulled off a 10k crowd show.

WWN is bringing in an outside name for a few of their WrestleMania week shows.

After Gabe Sapolsky hyped him up as someone he's been trying to book for years, it was announced today that Daisuke Sekimoto will be wrestling at EVOLVE shows on April 5th and 6th and the WWN Supershow on the 6th in Louisiana. Sekimoto will be in action exclusively at those events, which will take place at the Pontchartrain Center.

Sekimoto, who received votes for Most Outstanding Wrestler in the 2016 Observer awards and in years past, wrestles for Big Japan Pro Wrestling, as well as AJPW and other promotions. His matches for WWN will be the first time he's appeared stateside in several years. No opponents for him have been announced yet.

EVOLVE will be going against a Revolution Pro Wrestling show on April 6th, with Hiroshi Tanahashi previously confirmed for RevPro. Tanahashi (along with Kenny Omega) is also scheduled for ROH's Supercard of Honor XII on April 7th in New Orleans.

Arolucha, a new promotion run by Aroluxe, the former part-owners of Impact, working with Konnan as booker, announced its debut event at the same arena where TNA ran in its early days.

It's been known they were doing a December 10th show in Nashville, but it was announced for the Fairgrounds, the former "Asylum" in the TNA days and weekly stop in the heyday of Jarrett Promotions and even dating back to the Nick Gulas era.

The idea is to attempt to do a Lucha Libre television show based around high flyers. The first show will be a pilot to attempt to sell the series and has a lineup of mostly wrestlers that work for The Crash promotion in Mexico.

The first show lists:

Rey Mysterio & Pentagon (using that name) vs. Rush & John Morrison
Jack Evans, Hurricane Helms & Maximo vs. Garza Jr., La Mascara & Daga
MVP vs Sammy Guevara
Keira & Lacey Lane vs. Vanilla Vargas & Taya
Demus 3:16 vs. Mascarita Dorada (who was El Torito in WWE)
Mr. 450 vs. Willie Mack

wXw announced Tenille Dashwood (formerly Emma) for their Superstars of Wrestling show in Oberhausen, Germany on May 5th. Dashwood will also be wrestling for AIW in Cleveland on February 23rd, for Wrestling has a Tomorrow in Providence on February 11th, for Standalone Wrestling against Brittany Blake in Mays Landing on February 24th, for AML Wrestling on February 25th, and for Remix Pro against Britt Baker in Marietta on April 21st. Her match for WrestlePro in Rahway on February 3rd will be against Angelina Love.

Cody Rhodes will be defending his ROH World Championship against Jay Lethal for Revolution Pro Wrestling at York Hall on December 8th.

ESPN ran a profile on Joey Janela and his career in pro wrestling. In the piece, he says he originally wanted Matt Riddle vs. Ken Shamrock for his Spring Break show over WrestleMania weekend, but Shamrock was asking for $10,000 and they got Dan Severn for 10 percent of that.

PWX announced Juice Robinson for January’s X16 tournament.

Angelico announced that he’ll no longer be wrestling for AAA or residing in Mexico as of January 1st, 2018. He thanked everyone in AAA and Mexico for his time there and noted that he’ll be taking bookings out of Spain for next year.
wXw link: https://twitter.com/wXwGermany/status/935221864389103616 , RevPro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/935464865342291968 , ESPN: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/21505638/joey-janela-independent-wrestler-era-making-work-sheer-willpower , Angelico: https://twitter.com/AngelicoAAA/status/934206545138679813

As would be expected, ratings for Impact were down big on Thanksgiving. The show averaged 169,000 viewers after doing 272,000 the week prior.

The reason Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson weren't at the Starrcade show last night as first advertised is they were pulled to work on the Nashville card, which was the Raw crew show.

In a post on Facebook, Kurt Angle wrote that he tore a muscle in his leg doing wind sprints two days before Survivor Series. He said he feels good and should be 100 percent in a week.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/realkurtangle/posts/10156854976663047?comment_id=10156855024433047&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D

WWE sent out a survey to fans on their mailing list today, seeking feedback on 205 Live as it approaches its first anniversary. Interestingly, one of the questions posed to fans was whether they would be more likely to watch 205 Live if Raw and Smackdown stars appeared and interacted with Cruiserweight talents. They also asked fans how they watched the series, live or via VOD and sought feedback on different aspects of 205 Live.

What is the reason why Starrcade was not broadcast live on the WWE network? Are there any plans to release a network special of the show at a later date? It doesn't make sense that all the fans worldwide who weren't in attendance won't be able to see such a special event.

As Mike Johnson wrote on the site yesterday, “The show was never slated to be a special and was produced as a house show, but WWE did film it with several cameras (they typically film every live event) so they would have it in their archives to offer via the Network down the line if they choose to do so. The show itself was written by Michael Hayes, who was the person that pitched the revival of the Starrcade name back in June. We are told that Hayes, realizing that WWE was running Greensboro over Thanksgiving weekend, seized on the importance of the timing and the tradition in the market to pitch that the show be branded as a "Starrcade" event. Vince McMahon approved the idea and it was announced several months later. The show was specifically written by Hayes with an eye on paying tribute to names who were important to to the market during the Jim Crockett Promotions era and with throwback graphics for the show.”
Some details regarding WWE's Starrcade event from PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Former WWE NXT champion Drew McIntyre commented on the injury he suffered several weeks ago at Takeover: Wargames in Houston during the closing moments of his title loss to Andrade Almas today on Twitter, writing:

Unfortunately I did suffer an injury during my title defense at TakeOver. I’ve dealt with setbacks before. The reality is, I always come back better...There's a scary thought for whomever is NXT champion come 2018... #TickTock
— Drew McIntyre (@DMcIntyreWWE) November 27, 2017

In asking around, PWInsider.com has been told that McIntyre is already rehabbing his biceps injury. It is hoped he will return sometime in early April. Obviously, returning for Wrestlemania weekend, when the next NXT Takeover is set, is the goal.

Brie Bella appeared on the latest episode of Lilian Garcia's podcast, Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia, which features a "throwback" to an exclusive interview with Brie Bella from the vault, as well as an all-new exclusive interview. During the interview, Brie discussed Daniel Bryan returning to the ring.

"From like, literally, the day they told him he couldn't do it anymore, he has flown himself all over the United States to all different doctors to figure out what he could do to help turn that 'no' into a 'yes'," Brie said. "There's been like eight doctors who are like, 'You can wrestle'. A lot of doctors can't see why he can't get in that ring again."

Bryan has been out of action since 2015 after retiring due to his history with concussions. Bryan has since been visiting doctors who have apparently cleared him to wrestle, however WWE has been apprehensive about clearing him.

"I think [the WWE is] looking at it," Brie said. "He is on such a mission to get back into that WWE ring, it's crazy, which caused a lot of arguments in our marriage in the beginning, especially when I was pregnant."

There had been some speculation on WrestleMania 34 plans possibly changing for Roman Reigns after he won the WWE Intercontinental Title from The Miz last week but Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that plans have not changed. As of a week ago, the plan for the WrestleMania 34 main event is for Reigns to challenge WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. No word yet on if Reigns will be going into WrestleMania with the Intercontinental Title but it's believed that he will drop it before then.

Nothing has changed between these three friends! #TableFor3 @RicFlairNatrBoy @Sting @REALSteamboat pic.twitter.com/Q2vGSMZvLJ
— WWE (@WWE) November 28, 2017

Above is a clip from last night's "Table For 3" on the WWE Network with WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair, Sting and Ricky Steamboat, which was filmed back during WrestleMania 33 week. Flair says everyone has grown up & matured except for him. Steamboat recalls a $1,000 bar tab they had back in the 70's and Flair mentions having a $3,000 bar tab just the night before.

NJPW announced Wrestle Kingdom 12 tickets are selling at 180 percent of the pace Wrestle Kingdom 11 tickets sold at with already over 20,000 sold to fans. Thanks to the influx of overseas fans, NJPW is saying the Tokyo Dome could potentially sell out for the event. Last year's show had 26,192 fans in attendance.

Ring of Honor announced their weekly TV show will now air on Watch Stadium at 12am ET. Watch Stadium is a 24/7 multi-platform sports network that will air ROH via broadcast television and on a number of other devices.

Starting this Wednesday Ring of Honor will be available on @WatchStadium https://t.co/dhlGZFmVXX pic.twitter.com/Uzt7rE9f20
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) November 27, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

Nielsen ratings for RAW have been delayed a day due to last week's Thanksgiving holiday.
Chris Jericho recently launched his official Youtube channel. https://youtu.be/Y7UMzZPhSLw
WWE announced a new book about The New Day will be getting released March 2018 and is called "The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It." http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1128/634501/wwe-announces-book-on-the-new-day/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Edge talking about Vince McMahon, keeping in touch with Vince since retiring, and his close relationship with Vince leading to his success as a wrestler in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1127/634475/edge-on-his-close-relationship-with-vince-mcmahon/
Recent episode of the Ross Report podcast show had Batista as the guest talking about his disagreements with Vince while in the WWE, his time in OVW, and being in touch with The Rock. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1128/634488/batista-on-upsetting-vince-mcmahon/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Jennifer Hudson Drops Restraining Order Against David Otunga (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/jennifer-hudson-drops-restraining-order-against-david-otunga/)
WWE: Kane Rally After Raw, Main Event Results, Most-Liked Instagram Pic (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-kane-rally-after-raw-main-event-results-most-liked-instagram-photo/)
More “Broken” Matt Hardy Teases Last Night on Raw (Video) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/more-broken-matt-hardy-teases-last-night-on-raw-video/)
WWE Raw Results – Nov. 27, 2017 – Jason Jordan vs. Kane (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-raw-results-nov-27-2017-jason-jordan-vs-kane/)

Mr. Nerfect

11-29-2017, 06:08 AM

It's going to be really interesting to see how close to 50% The Bullet Club get that 10,000 seat arena.

Emperor Smeat

11-29-2017, 10:08 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wrestling Without Context:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/cbb0ce019e8403db58f27efb972a173e/tumblr_p05ouuuNIF1u1ljrzo3_500.gif

Raw dropped ten percent from last week, doing its second lowest total of the football season with 2.75 million viewers on Monday.

For whatever reason, the key to the low number was both a low start, but also a much larger than usual drop from hour one to hour two ...

The October 16th show did 2.69 million viewers, the only Raw episode this football season to do a lower number. There were also four shows this year during the NBA playoffs that did lower numbers than Monday ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.96 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.72 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.60 million viewers

SmackDown ratings were up for the fourth straight week, with Tuesday night's episode on the USA Network averaging 2.68 million viewers.

That's in contrast to Raw's ratings this week, which were down 10 percent from the prior Monday and marked the show's second lowest viewership since the start of the NFL season.

While WWE's plans for Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble have yet to be made apparent, that should be changing over the next few weeks.

The Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island announced on their social media accounts yesterday that Lesnar would be in the building for the December 18th episode of Raw. Lesnar hasn't appeared on television since defeating AJ Styles at Survivor Series and hasn't been advertised for next Monday's Raw in Los Angeles or for the December 11th show in Cleveland.

The night before Raw takes place in Providence, WWE will present their final pay-per-view of the year with SmackDown's Clash of Champions event in Boston. The build for the Royal Rumble should pick up around that time, with the following two weeks of Raw being live shows on Christmas and New Year's Day.
Depending on prices and scheduling, might have a chance to go to this show.

WWE Studios announced that they’re expanding into television and digital content. Vince McMahon said in a statement: “Given the size of our fan base and their appetite for WWE programming well beyond our core in-ring shows, this is the ideal time to further establish the WWE brand with new genres across platforms. WWE Studios is open for business with this new TV and digital initiative.”
Link: http://deadline.com/2017/11/wwe-studios-expands-tv-digital-michael-luisi-1202216228/

NXT is taping its next round of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. With the first three tapings of 2018 set for Center Stage in Atlanta, this will be the last time NXT’s at Full Sail for a few months. Triple H said on his pre-TakeOver conference call that Full Sail is still their home and the tapings in Atlanta were due to logistical/scheduling issues with their regular venue.

In a rematch of what might have been WWE’s best match of the year, Pete Dunne will defend his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate at the tapings.

Matches taped at NXT house shows prior to TakeOver will air on tonight’s show. Those include Kairi Sane vs. Peyton Royce, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs. Pete Dunne & Mark Andrews, and The Street Profits vs. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss.

As noted, this week's WWE RAW saw Matt Hardy really crank up the "Broken" gimmick teases as his losing streak continued with a loss to Bray Wyatt. It appears WWE is moving forward with the gimmick change, which may see Hardy become "Awoken" instead of "Broken" like before.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that WWE will be creating their own new character for Hardy and that it will not be labeled as "Broken", but it will be very similar.

Regarding the legal matters between Hardy and Anthem Sports & Entertainment over the ownership of the "Broken" intellectual property, SI reports that there have been no new negotiations between Hardy and Anthem's Ed Nordholm, and there have been no talks of revenue sharing over profits made off merchandise. SI reached out to Anthem for an update and Nordholm issued the following statement:
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/11/29/WWE-Wrestling-Cody-Rhodes-Matt-Hardy-Ric-Flair

The former Ruby Riot’s name is now Ruby Riott on the main roster. Her, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan are known as The Riott Squad.
Reason appears to be due to WWE's trademark of "Ruby Riot" got opposed. https://twitter.com/TubbyEmu/status/935651690157608960

Cody Rhodes said his dream main event for the 10,000 seat show he and The Young Bucks are planning is him vs. Daniel Bryan for the ROH World Championship.

Rhodes also spoke to David Bixenspan for an article about the show.

Jeremy Botter, who was formerly with the company, tweeted that FloSlam was “officially killed off” earlier today.

David Bixenspan has the latest on the most recent documents Flo filed in their lawsuit against WWN, including financial details that WWN provided them.
Rhodes link: https://soundcloud.com/siriusxmrush/cody-rhodes-on-the-10000-seat-all-in-show-in-2018-says-he-wants-daniel-bryan-in-the-main-event , Deadspin interview: https://deadspin.com/cody-rhodes-is-planning-the-biggest-indie-wrestling-sho-1820809050 , FloSlam tweet: https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/935985309422161920 , FloSlam article: https://www.fightful.com/flosports-reveals-wwn-financial-details-and-internet-ppv-numbers-new-court-filings

It's not exactly Christmas yet, but all Impact Wrestling talents will soon be receiving a gift from management - the rights to their characters and all everything that goes with them, lock, stock and barrell.

After digging in their heels on the ownership of the Hardys' "Broken Universe" for the last year, Impact Wrestling, under Anthem Media, has made a complete about-face on their position when it comes to ownership of characters. PWInsider.com has been told by several sources that going forward, all contracted Impact Wrestling talents will be given and retain complete ownership of their intellectual property ...

We are told this week's decision was one made by Ed Nordholm. There is no word yet what sparked the decision, but it opens the door for the company to try and mend fences with fans angered by the company's former stance against the Hardys ...

The move also appears to be made as a way to open things up between the company and its wrestlers in a way that has never been done before by a major, national promotion. It would allow the company to partner with its contracted talents to build characters and intellectual property together, as opposed to Impact claiming ownership of those characters if and when the talents move on at the end of their Impact run.

WWE UK Superstar Wolfgang has been cleared to return to the ring from the injury he suffered during the WWE European tour earlier this month. He worked tonight's WWE NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University and defeated Kona Reeves in the dark match. Reeves had Chinese recruit Ming with him at ringside and Ming distracted Wolfgang early on to help Reeves get the upperhand. Wolfgang later took control and fought off another distraction from Ming to get the win with a senton.

WWE officials are already talking about doing another Starrcade live event in 2018, according to PWInsider. Saturday's special live event in Greensboro, NC was a success as there was a huge bump from the previous live event in Greensboro. The show was written by WWE Hall of Famer Michael "PS" Hayes, who was the one that pitched the revival of the name back in June of this year. Vince McMahon ended up approving the event and it was announced a few months later. There are no plans for the event to air on the WWE Network. The event was never meant to be a TV program and was produced as a standard live event. WWE did film Starrcade with several cameras, as they often do at live events, so there is footage if they decide to air it at a later date.

It looks like former WWE Champion CM Punk may be ready for his second fight in the UFC as UFC President Dana White noted at a media lunch in Las Vegas yesterday that Punk will be heading to Detroit for UFC 218 this weekend and he wants to talk to the boss, presumably about his next fight. White made these comments to journalists:

"CM Punk is coming to Detroit and wants to talk to me. I love the guy. We'll see what he's doing." - Dana White
— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) November 28, 2017

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Day 3 on the set of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M6?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#M6</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ShawnMichaels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShawnMichaels</a> & I just found out that <a href="https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@beckylynchwwe</a> has been hiding the good coffee ☕️ FOR 3 DAYS!!!! She’s been getting pampered while we’ve been roughing it. And yes, Shawn is getting his beard trimmed while I’m getting my hair done. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ManlyStuff?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ManlyStuff</a> <a href="https://t.co/smwzPvhHvO">pic.twitter.com/smwzPvhHvO</a></p>— The Miz (@mikethemiz) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/935853836400578565?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

According to website WWENetworkNews, the every episode of NXT aired so far (including the seasonal era) is currently available on the WWE Network. The last batch of missing episodes were recently added to the service to make the series complete. http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2017/11/29/complete-nxt-library-now-available-on-wwe-network-for-on-demand-viewing/
Website Black Sports Online had an article revealing more details regarding the dropped custody order against David Otunga. Basically Jennifer Hudson used it soley as a way to prevent Otunga from being with his kid and to smear his name while she cheated on him with a gospel singer. https://twitter.com/BSO/status/935546398476505088
AJ Styles recently debunked rumors of next year's Mania being his last in WWE and retiring afterwards. https://twitter.com/AJStylesOrg/status/935858763491311618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Edge hinted a new season of the Edge & Christian show could arrive next year on the WWE Network. He also debunked rumors of the show being canceled and him being busy with other projects is why no Season 2 has happened yet. https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/11/29/WWE-Wrestling-Cody-Rhodes-Matt-Hardy-Ric-Flair
NJPW recently released the official match posters for Wrestle Kingdom 12 featuring Omega-Jericho and Naito-Okada. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7giq04/official_poster_for_the_main_event_of_wrestle/ , https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/935666782521647104

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE NXT Results – Nov. 29, 2017 – Bate/Seven vs. Dunne/Andrews (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-nxt-results-nov-29-2017-bate-seven-vs-dunne-andrews/)
Various: WWE Says Naomi Is “Injured,” Birthdays, PWG Previews (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/various-wwe-says-naomi-is-severely-injured-birthdays-pwg-previews/)
Have The Singh Brothers Been Written Off SmackDown? (Speculation) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/have-the-singh-brothers-been-written-off-smackdown-speculation/)

Emperor Smeat

11-30-2017, 10:49 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Deletion of Today's Sheet News:
https://i.imgur.com/sFKvewi.gif

John Cena is on Ford's $#&% list for allegedly flipping his new $500k '17 Ford GT -- violating a contract with the company -- and they're takin' him to court.

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Michigan, Cena was "selected from thousands of applicants for the opportunity to purchase the Ford GT."

Ford says Cena signed a deal in which he agreed to hold onto the car for at least 2 years ... prior to unloading it.

However, Ford claims, soon after receiving the car, Cena flipped it for a big profit.

"Mr. Cena has unfairly made a large profit from the unauthorized resale flip of the vehicle, and Ford has suffered additional damages and losses, including, but not limited to, loss of brand value, ambassador activity, and customer goodwill due to the improper sale."
Link: http://www.tmz.com/2017/11/30/john-cena-sued-lawsuit-ford-gt/

The Young Bucks & Hangman Page will be defending their Ring of Honor World Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Flip Gordon, Dragon Lee & Titan at next month's Final Battle pay-per-view.

ROH announced the match yesterday after it was the only thing for the card not revealed at their two most recent sets of television tapings. Dave Meltzer previously reported that Gordon would be teaming with two wrestlers from CMLL in the match, though it hadn't yet been confirmed who they would be at that point.
Link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/international-dream-team-challenges-roh-6-man-titles-final-battle

With Impact giving up its IP property claim on the Broken gimmick, Matt Hardy has opened a Vanguard 1 twitter account.

Hardy link: https://twitter.com/Vanguard1AAR/status/936322454653407234

NJPW's King of Pro Wrestling show from 10/9 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo airs as a three-hour special on AXS TV tomorrow night from 8-11 p.m. The key matches are Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil for the IWGP title, Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Kushida vs Will Ospreay for the IWGP jr title, Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe, Kenny Omega & Cody & Marty Scurll vs. Yoshi-Hashi & Baretta & Jado and more.

Bad Luck Fale's pro wrestling school in New Zealand is open with Fale and Dempsey Walker, a boxer and Muay Thai champion, as trainers, teaching both pro wrestling as well as striking and conditioning.
Bad Luke Fale link: http://www.faledojo.com/

Following tonight's WWE NXT taping at Full Sail University, official for WWE NXT Takeover: Philadelphia is Johnny Gargano challenging NXT champion Andrade "Cien" Almas.

New Japan Pro Wrestling English Youtube Channel debuts December 1, 2017

As reported earlier this week on PWInsider.com, New Japan Pro Wrestling has launched an English language YouTube channel. NJPW issued the following today:

The New Japan Pro Wrestling team is working hard on global branding and this is the next step.

The official New Japan Pro Wrestling English language Youtube channel will feature exclusive content, interviews, pre and post match comments from all New Japan Pro Wrestling stars including subtitles.

The 500th episode of CBS Radio's The Taz Show will stream and broadcast live tomorrow at www.TazShow.com with Chris Jericho, John Hennigan, Jim Ross and Today Show's Katie Lindenoll all appearing as guests. The show will air from 12 PM noon to 3 PM. Congratulations to Taz and his entire team.

WWE filed a trademark on the term "Kidz4Kidz" on 10/31. The name is going to be used as part of the company's community outreach programs as the description with the following noted, "Community outreach services in the fields of bullying, diversity, inclusion and pediatric cancer; organizing and conducting volunteer programs in the fields of bullying, diversity, inclusion and pediatric cancer; charitable services, namely, organizing and conducting volunteer programs and community service projects aimed at increasing awareness of bullying, diversity, inclusion and pediatric cancer; administration of a program to promote community service; charitable services, namely, organizing and conducting volunteer programs and community service projects; charitable services, namely, organizing and conducting volunteer programs and community service projects for children."

Future Stars Of Wrestling has reached an agreement to join the Global Wrestling Network. FSW will provide GWN with thousands of hours from its extensive library, featuring Impact Champion Eli Drake, Matt Hardy, John Morrison, Kenny King, Reno Scum, Willie Mack, Lance Hoyt, Kevin Kross, Sami Callihan, Brian Cage along with the many superstars FSW has had come thru its doors including Ricochet, Rich Swann, AR Fox, Tony Nese, Chris Sabin, Austin Aries, Keith Lee, Kevin Nash, Chris Masters, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Roderick Strong, ACH, Young Bucks, Trevor Lee, Shane Strickland, Jeff Cobb, and more. To see more FSW footage go to www.youtube.com/futurestarswrestling.

Defy Wrestling announced that not only will a match between Randy Myers and Sami Callihan from DEFY9 be shown on this week's Impact Wrestling but the Washington state-based promotion will be a part of the Global Wrestling Network.

After running the last set of Impact Wrestling tapings in Canada, the next set of tapings will take place from Universal Studios in Orlando, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The tapings are currently scheduled for January 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th. This will tape Impact Wrestling through March 2018. There are plans for the March tapings to take place somewhere in Canada but not in Ottawa as it was hard to draw a crowd there. The Observer notes that it's believed Impact will hold more tapings in Canada because they are less expensive to hold there and the company is trying to do everything they can right now to trim the budget and not lose money.

Over Thanksgiving week, The Young Bucks merchandise surpassed Rick & Morty for the first time to become the best sellers at Hot Topic. The two major items, which were instant sellouts, was a new headband with the Bullet Club logo in neon orange and green, which sold completely out on 11/18, the first day it was available, and then more was put in stock on 11/22, and it sold out by the next morning. Hot Topic sold out of three new pro wrestling shirts during its Thanksgiving week sale, the best seller being the “Cease and Desist” T-shirt, the current seller overall at the chain, as well as a Bullet Club USA shirt and the most popular of the Kenny Omega shirts.

Matt Hardy, and likely Jeff when he returns, will be doing the broken character, although I believe it will be termed Woken instead of Broken. Anthem has changed its policy regarding intellectual property, some of which is surprising as they stated to Sports Illustrated that “Our new talent agreements all incorporate language that allow talent to continue to use their Impact personas after they leave the company. We are working with our legal team to amend our existing agreements to extend this to all of our current and former talent.” That’s almost unheard of in television. In particular, the agreement with the Hardys is that the Hardys will now retain ownership and all rights to the personas they used in TNA. The story behind it is that the Hardys were able to show financial and contractual digressions which left Anthem in a bad way, and this may be a public saving face for the company of just saying that they are being good guys and will be letting talent keep their gimmicks because of the feeling that it would end up that way based on a precedent that would be set in the Hardys case.
Some more details regarding Anthem dropping their fight for the Broken gimmick.

Even though it went head-to-head with Starrcade, the WrestleCade show in Winston-Slam was said to be the biggest to date and ran as an iPPV. The biggest news was the Cornette retirement speech. The bad news is that the cash box was stolen after the 11/24 show, which drew about 800 fans. Supposedly they had surveillance cameras and there is video.

Based on the schedule, it looks like the 1,000th episode of Smackdown would be on October 16, 2018. So they are likely to make that one a major show. What’s notable is that’s five days before a Raw PPV and if they are doing a show that’s expected to be big ratings, it would also be smart to promote the Raw feuds on it. So they’ll have both the Raw 25th anniversary and the Smackdown milestone show next year

Regarding all the women that were called up and given the timing, the natural inclination is to think women’s Royal Rumble. Right now nobody has been talking about a women’s Rumble as if it’s been green-lit, and there are obvious pro and con debates on the issue. My thought is that it should happen, a 20 women Rumble would be about right, but the question is would you be burning out the concept before the men’s match by doing an identical women’s match that would have to last a minimum of 30 plus minutes? Still, with the emphasis on women’s wrestling, my thought is a women’s Royal Rumble, like women’s Money in the Bank, should be an annual event.

The reason for all the women call-ups is just that the feeling was with the same seven or eight women on each brand being featured, you’ve pretty much burned through most of the match-ups and there had become a sameness to the women’s divisions, and this would shake things up. Really, on the Raw side, they still hadn’t gotten to the Bliss vs. Jax program that was being built up and has subsided, and you’ve still got Asuka’s run and Paige was coming back either way (although originally earmarked for Smackdown). Smackdown was always building to Charlotte’s title win and there was still the Charlotte vs. Tamina feud they were building toward, but that side did need more new names ...

The book on Logan is that she’s a good worker but she hadn’t gotten any push in NXT and really was in developmental for a short period of time. It’s not a negative on her, but it does say that those in charge are looking more heavily at working ability for the women than ever before with that decision, unless there is some gimmick or idea that we don’t know about that is why that decision was made. But she was just brought up as part of a group, and maybe the idea is that she can be the workhorse of a team with Liv Morgan. I guess the next few weeks will give a better idea

The ten most watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. Survivor Series; 2. NXT on 11/22; 3. NXT Takeover Houston; 4. Table for 3 for Flair, Sting and Steamboat; 5. WWE 365 Kevin Owens; 6. WWE 24 Bill Goldberg; 7. Table for 3 with The Shield; 8. 205 Live on 11/21; 9. WrestleMania; 10. Table for 3 with Sean Waltman, Scott Hall and DDP

Sources within IMPACT Wrestling have told us that current IMPACT Wrestling Knockout Laurel Van Ness aka Chelsea Green recently asked for her release from the company after the most recent set of tapings.

While IMPACT has yet to grant her a release we are told it should be coming shortly ...

If her release is granted she will join MJ Jenkins, Madison Rayne, and Taryn Terrell as Knockouts who have left the company recently.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8ouGJnkuFQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some other sheet news includes:

Beyond Wrestling announced they have signed a multi-year streaming deal with Powerbomb.tv to carry Beyond programming. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113895/beyond-wrestling-signs-multiyear-streaming-deal-with-powerbombtv.html?p=1
Uproxx held a recent interview with Carmella talking about fan backlash to her winning the MitB case, being separated from Enzo and Cass, and the mixed gender match between Becky and Ellsworth. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1130/634570/carmella-on-backlash-from-first-mitb-win/
Figure Four Films recently released a trailer for the Jack Gallagher documentary currently available to rent ($5.99) or buy ($10.99) on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/anextraordinarygentleman/244059333
According to ProWrestlingTees, over 417k Bullet Club shirts have been sold at Hot Topic stores in the past 4 months. https://twitter.com/OneHourTees/status/936276386569957376
WWE's longtime composer Jim Johnston is currently rumored to have been recently released by the company. WWE's also rumored to be canceling their Uncaged album series on iTunes due to Johnston no longer working for the company.
According to the Observer, Lucha Underground is currently scouting for new female wrestlers for Season 4.
Also according to the Observer, Impact Wrestling currently has no plans to hold their annual Genesis PPV live next year. They do have plans to hold a special event during the first week of next year but as a taped event.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: 365 With AJ, Sgt. Slaughter, Singh Bros Update, Stephanie McMahon (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/wwe-365-with-aj-sgt-slaughter-singh-bros-update-stephanie-mcmahon/)
Rumor / Possible Rumor Killer on Lio Rush’s Status With WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/11/rumor-possible-rumor-killer-on-lio-rushs-status-with-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

12-02-2017, 01:33 AM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Powerbomb Appreciation Day:
https://media.giphy.com/media/l0CLVsxXgOFfk6scU/giphy.gif

Impact officially closed their Nashville office yesterday so everything is now based out of Toronto.

During his appearance on Chris Jericho's podcast this week, former WWE Creative Team member Jimmy Jacobs revealed that he put himself in a 30 day rehab for a opiate addiction following Wrestlemania 33 earlier this year. As we noted in our reporting of his departure at the time, Jacobs "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." Rehab was the reason.

Jacobs said that after he went through rehab, he didn't care as much about the job or about working for WWE and when asked if he was trying to get fired by taking a photo with the Young Bucks he commented he wasn't trying to get fired, but wasn't trying to not get fired either.

John Cena, who was sued by Ford for breach of contract for selling a 2017 Ford GT that he was able to purchase at a low price with the provison he would keep it for two years, then sold it for a large profit, has apologized to Ford and said he's willing to work with Ford to make things right.

WWE released a new survey today, asking fans for feedback on celebrities fans would want to see in "WWE matches" with the following potential choices:

Actor Terry Crews
UFC fighter Conor McGregor
UFC fighter Ronda Rousey
UFC fighter Cris Cyborg
UFC fighter Meisha Tate
Boxer Vladimir Klitschko
Race Car Driver Danica Patrick.
Oakland Raider Marshawn Lynch
New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski

As always with these types of surveys, whether WWE decides to move forward with such ideas remains to be seen, but it is interesting to see they are gauging their audience's interest in such spectacles and storylines.

Verizon Media's show "The 5th Quarter" has an episode called "Wrestlestock," the idea that in 1968 there was a Woodstock but for wrestling fans, which debuts on Thursday. Among those in the series are John Morrison, Joey Ryan, Damien Sandow, Rocky Romero, Ryan Nemeth and JTG.

Evolve announced that Shane Mercer would be debuting with the promotion with the shows next weekend in Queens, NY and Melrose, MA.

Baja Stars USA on 2/17 in San Diego at 3020 Coronado Ave has Penta 0M & Rey Fenix vs. Bestia 666 & Garza Jr.

The USA website is listing that NXT will air on their network on Wednesday 12/13 at 7 p.m. It has been picked up by many cable guides includling Comcast, which owns USA, FIOS and DirecTV. It precedes the movie Thor.

It's possible that it's a mistake, but it's also the week that WWE takes over the USA Network so it's also just as possible that they will get a national showing of the great NXT product. The fact that USA is listing it by name is interesting.

If this is indeed NXT's show that will air it will be the first time that the current incarnation of the product airs on the USA Network.

The twitter for Edge and Christian's podcast tweeted that there will be a big announcement coming tomorrow:

Big announcement coming tomorrow, Hosers...
— Pod of Awesomeness (@EandCPod) December 1, 2017

On the latest edition of The National Wrestling Alliance's Ten Pounds of Gold, the series documents the NWA title returning to the 2300 (fka ECW) Arena in Philadelphia, where Shane Douglas threw the title down, rejecting it in favor of naming the ECW title a World championship. The story is that Tommy Dreamer invited champion Tim Storm to House of Hardcore in Philly. Interestingly, Douglas, who was on the HOH show, declined the chance to appear on the episode
Link to the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuoYOeslWGg

The 11/30 Thanksgiving edition of Impact did 255,000 overnight viewers, well up from the Thanksgiving edition's 169,000 overnight viewers.

As he has been apt to do over the years, Matt Hardy has taken to social media to stir interest in his personality and character. With his "Broken" persona on the verge of finally appearing in WWE, Hardy posted the following towards Bray Wyatt, who defeated him on Raw:

Thank you for reigniting my WHITE MAGIC with your BLACK MAGIC, @WWEBrayWyatt.. https://t.co/6dFET3MTeJ

In return, it is now my DUTY to DELETE your DEMON. https://t.co/ZeTvau9kVT
— #WOKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) December 1, 2017

WWE Network sent out an email detailing what is currently "trending" on the WWE Network and what is coming in December. As previously noted Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn Network Collections are coming to the service. But newly announced is a new show for commentator for Corey Graves called "Straight to the Source" is also on the schedule.
Graves first show debuts after the end of next week's episode of RAW with Roman Reigns as his first guest. WWE also released trailers for the Nakamura and Sami collection sets. Sami - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1kCjnttC0 , Nakamura - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxMryfwaarU

WWE has a new poll asking fans which General Manager has the harder job. As of this writing, 64% went with RAW General Manager Kurt Angle while 36% voted for SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vlIr1QkJ1SY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some other sheet news includes:

ROH recently released the updated card for next month's Final Battle PPV. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113932/updated-roh-final-battle-ppv-lineup.html?p=1
WWE announced a new collection set for the Network called "WWE Match of the Year 2017" will be arriving on December 7th. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113930/wwe-network-to-release-match-of-the-year-collection-full-listing.html?p=1
According to PWI, Impact Wrestling recently signed Matt Sydal to a contract while Eddie Edwards current contract expires in February 2018 and likely will be given a new deal to stay in the company.
Also according to PWI, rumors of Laurel Van Ness leaving Impact are false since she is still with the company. Her contract doesn't expire till end of Summer 2018.
Website WWENetworkNews recently leaked the entire content listing for Sami's and Nakamura's collection sets arriving for the WWE Network. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113911/full-listings-for-upcoming-zayn-and-nakamura-network-collections.html?p=1
According to PWI, WWE currently only has one new collection set planend for the month of January 2018. It will be a RAW 25th Anniversary themed set.
Al Arabiya English held a recent interview with Cesaro talking about teaming up with Sheamus, why he originally objected to the team idea, and his recent mouth injury. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1201/634595/cesaro-on-when-he-found-out-he-would-team-with-sheamus/
ESPN held a recent interview with Edge talking about his life after retiring from wrestling, starting his podcast show with Christian, and Daniel Bryan wanting to resume his wrestling career. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1201/634592/edge-on-life-after-pro-wrestling/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Announces Three New Title Matches for Clash of Champions (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-announces-three-new-title-matches-for-clash-of-champions/)
Long-Time Entrance Theme Creator Jim Johnston Released By WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/long-time-entrance-theme-creator-jim-johnston-released-by-wwe/)
Vince Russo Criticizes WWE Match, Says Only Marks & Kids Watch Anymore (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/vince-russo-criticizes-wwe-match-says-only-marks-and-kids-watch-anymore/)

Emperor Smeat

12-05-2017, 10:09 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Happy Rusev Day!
https://i.redd.it/2y5qxp0x9zyz.gif

A wrestling-heavy Raw last night was up very slightly from last week's low mark, doing 2.78 million viewers ...

There was a major drop in every demo throughout the show. The message was pretty clear that a series of long matches, as opposed to long matches with main event talent, are not good for retaining viewers.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.15 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.86 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.43 million viewers
In terms of rankings, RAW took the #3, #5, and #6 spots. In terms of comparisons, this week was only 54k higher compared to last week and around 200k less than last year's show.

Crash Lucha Libre based in Tijuana announced today that booker Charles "Konnan" Ashenoff is no longer with the promotion.

Rumors had started about two weeks ago coming off the conclusion of a tour around Mexico that saw some small crowds and canceled shows.

The promotion released a statement saying, "The Crash Lucha Libre brand is known for the way we treat people and value each and every single person that works in this company. Bettering the economical and habitual needs. Showing the support for each element and giving opportunity to new talent. In this way, the value and professionalism shown between each of its partners. Not being able to comply to the Crash Lucha Libre code of ethic is something we do not tolerate in this company. With that being said, we now announce that Carlos Santiago Espada, 'Konnan,' will be longer be working with The Crash."
Some more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/mexico/crash-lucha-libre-announces-konnan-no-longer-company-247381

The 205 Live roster will be hitting the road in January.

Just over a year after the series debuted, WWE made the announcement today that the first three 205 Live-exclusive house shows will be taking place across one weekend in January. All three venues that will be hosting the events are smaller buildings where NXT road shows have taken place.

Here's the schedule for the events:

January 19th -- The Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island
January 20th -- The Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts
January 21st -- The Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York

Vince McMahon previously mentioned the idea of cruiserweight-only house shows on a conference call in February, but no timetable for them was given then. PWInsider reported that the 205 Live tours in January and potentially February will be an experiment by WWE to determine if it's a financially viable concept.

On Sunday, AXS TV will officially announce a three-hour Wrestle Kingdom 12 special to air on Saturday, January 6th, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time, the main focus of 11 straight hours of New Japan programming starting at noon that day.

All of the top main card matches -- IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito, US Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho, and IC Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White -- will be on the special.
More details: https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/axs-air-three-hour-njpw-wrestle-kingdom-12-special-january-6-247311

WWE officially confirmed that NXT will be airing on the USA Network on Wednesday, December 13th at 7 p.m. Eastern time as part of “WWE Holiday Week.” It’s listed as a one-hour special from Full Sail with Andrade “Cien” Almas, Ember Moon, SAnitY, Adam Cole, Aleister Black, and more advertised. With that, it would appear that the show will be one of the episodes filmed at the latest television tapings.

Our Paul Fontaine notes that last night's first-to-third hour viewership drop was the second largest in history since Raw became a three-hour show.

Chris Jericho is a no for WrestleMania, since he is starting a U.S. concert tour with Fozzy on 2/28 and will be in concert on WrestleMania night in Hampton each, NH.

Ron "R-Truth" Killings underwent shoulder surgery on Monday. He posted on it a few times on Twitter.

WWE link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/article/usa-network-presents-wwe-holiday-week , RAW rating: https://twitter.com/PaulAceFontaine , Jericho link: https://twitter.com/FOZZYROCK/status/937703148516454402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Mia Yim is taking time off until March or April due to an injury.

In documents filed in his ongoing divorce, Rob Van Dam claimed that a concussion he suffered working on the indies caused visual impairment and disqualified him from wrestling for WWE.

PROGRESS Wrestling announced that a “Thunderbastard” match (an elimination match with staggered entry) is scheduled for their WrestleMania week show in New Orleans on April 6th.

British Championship Wrestling thanked Impact for helping resolve their issues with Matt Sydal and getting them their deposit back in full after Sydal missed his flight for their show this weekend due to traffic issues.

Yim link: https://twitter.com/MiaYim/status/937799979602792448 , RVD: https://theblast.com/wwe-rob-van-dam-concussion-visual-impairment/ , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/938173750125760512 , BCW: https://twitter.com/bcwofficial/status/937730091987193858

The basic gist is BCW asked Sydal, because he missed the show, to repay his deposit, which was $1,500. Sydal's agent, Bill Behrens, repaid his $300 portion of the deposit. Sydal has not returned his and said he is entitlted to it because he attempted to work the show. The promotion said they are owed $1,200. Sydal said he felt he didn't have to repay it because he made every effort to make the show, that he missed his flight due to traffic and was able to get a new flight, which would have cost $1,333, and would have made the show with the new flight, but the promoter wouldn't pay for the new flight. Sydal said he'd use the deposit money toward working another date for the promotion but the promotion said they didn't want to book him again. He said that he offered to pay some of the extra money to get the new flight because he felt bad about missing the show and claimed the promoter didn't pay for the new ticket.
Some details regarding the above BCW story.

The implosion of the Pontiac Silverdome got a lot of coverage in Detroit, all over the local news. Some stories talked WrestleMania III and others didn't. Things like the Lions, The Who, the Rolling Stones and such got more play. They tried to blow up the stadium this morning, but the stadium was still standing after the explosion. The story is the building was built a little too well, but enough damage was done that the building will eventually collapse, they just don't know when.
Ended up needing 2 explosion sets in order to demolish most of the building. First one failed to do any real damage and the other still left parts of it standing.

The reason Luke Harper didn't work the Smackdown shows the last two nights was that his wife gave birth to a son, Nolan Rhino Huber. His wife had to deliver due to medical reasons a month-and-a-half early and he rushed home from Lima, Peru and the baby was born five minutes after he arrived at the hospital. Congrats to the family. Erick Rowan has been teaming with Mojo Rawley.

When Raw Women's champion Alexa Bliss faces Sasha Banks on the U.A.E. event on 11/7, it will be the first ever women's match presented by WWE in that country.

Aleister Black and No Way Jose each suffered injuries over the course of this past weekend's NXT live events, PWInsider.com has confirmed. They are not said to be serious issues, but the company still opted to hold them off the last NXT show of the weekend in Bel Air, Maryland. That is why Adam Cole worked twice at that show.

For those who have asked where 205 Live's Gran Metallik and TJP have disappeared to, we are told neither is injured but it's a case of WWE not having anything for them at the moment. Rather then spend money to fly them around the country to hang around backstage, they are being kept at home until creative works them back into the mix.

WWE filed a trademark on the Paige crew "Absolution" on 11/27. I would suspect they are in the process of doing the same for "Riott Squad."
Original filing for "Ruby Riot" got contested which is the reason for Ruby Riott's new name.

Austin Aries appeared as the surprise new signing of Defiant Wrestling General Manager Stu Bennett, f.k.a. Wade Barrett, on Monday. In front of a sold out crowd at the Newcastle O2 Academy, Aries confronted Defiant Wrestling champion Marty Scurll and said that he signed a six-month contract with the promotion. After the main event, Aries joined Mark Haskins and Chris Ridgeway to attack Martin Kirby and Scurll.

WWE has a new poll asking fans which fate is worse - being "burned" by Bray Wyatt or being "deleted" by Matt Hardy. As of this writing, 85% voted for "Woken" Matt.

The "WWE NXT: Best of 2017" three-disc DVD has been confirmed for a March 20th, 2018 release in North America, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. Along with matches, word is that the set will include some never-before-seen footage.

Some other sheet news includes:

2K Games announced the Switch version of WWE 2k18 releases on December 6th.
Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show podcast had Sasha Banks as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Sasha-Banks
Recent episode of Edge & Christian podcast show had Dolph Ziggler as the guest. https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness/episodes/11ccc33e-3067-45ac-8d6a-4510bf5fa921
As part of his training for his next UFC fight, CM Punk recently earned a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
For those interested in celebrating Rusev Day, WWE recently released a new shirt for Rusev. https://shop.wwe.com/rusev-happy-rusev-day-authentic-t-shirt/HA3001.html?dwvar_HA3001_color=Black
In some somber news, Former ROH and current NXT star Kyle O'Reilly's mother passed away last week due to losing her battle with cancer.
PWI had a recent article about new details regarding the FloSlam lawsuit against WWN and EVOLVE. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/113974/evolve-vs-flo-update-fite-tv-carrying-evolve-ippvs-this-weekend-and-more-.html?p=1
Wales Comic Con held a recent Q&A event with Sting as a guest answering a variety of wrestling related questions. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1205/634695/sting-on-which-raw-star-hed-like-to-face/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Schedule and Info for USA Network’s “WWE Holiday Week” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/schedule-and-info-for-usa-networks-wwe-holiday-week/)
Impact: More Departures Likely, Mantel Gone, More Frequent Tapings, More (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/impact-more-departures-likely-mantel-gone-more-frequent-tapings-more/)
Impact Hires Don Callis and Scott D’Amore as to Help Run the Company (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/impact-hires-don-callis-and-scott-damore-as-to-help-run-the-company/)
Kevin Owens Deletes Instagram, Wife Says She Was Hacked (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/kevin-owens-deletes-instagram-wife-says-she-was-hacked/)

Emperor Smeat

12-06-2017, 10:07 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Drew Train, next stop Cruiser Gold City:
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After nearly matching Raw's numbers last week, Tuesday's episode of SmackDown was down to 2.493 million viewers. That's seven percent short of last week and the third lowest number since the start of the fall TV season.

This marks the first time SmackDown has been down from the previous week since the episode that fell on Halloween night, though this Tuesday's show was up for the third straight week as compared to the previous year. The December 6th, 2016 edition of SmackDown averaged 2.479 million viewers.
Pretty much has been within its usual viewers range for the Live Era since late September.

Bret Hart has filed a lawsuit over an allegedly botched wrist surgery that he underwent in 2015.

The Calgary Sun broke the news of that yesterday, with Hart claiming that the surgery Dr. Justin Yeung performed left him unable to use the index finger and thumb on his right hand.

The lawsuit notes that Hart suffered an injury to his wrist all the way back in 1981, with him wrestling most of his career with it. Hart visited plastic surgeon Dr. Yeung in Calgary in 2015 and later had surgery on November 23rd of that year. When he returned several weeks later, Hart said the right index finger and thumb didn't function and complained about the swelling and pain. He was allegedly told to wait and see how it healed, but Hart's condition didn't improve in later visits.

It's alleged that doctors left "a tourniquet on Mr. Hart’s right arm on too long, such that the circulation of the nerves and tendons to his right thumb and index finger were damaged by a prolonged insufficient supply of oxygen."

Paige tweeted that she’s recording an episode of Lilian Garcia’s “Chasing Glory” podcast today. The show will be uploaded on Monday.

As would be expected with her having been at at the Performance Center, USA Today noted that Ronda Rousey is finalizing the details of her plans with WWE.

Roman Reigns’ match against Triple H at WWE’s house show in Abu Dhabi on Friday will now be an Intercontinental title defense for Reigns,

Tickets to NXT’s WrestleMania weekend TakeOver show in New Orleans will go on sale at 12 p.m. local time on December 15th.

Kevin Owens, Bret Hart, and Eugene Tremblay have been voted into the Quebec Wrestling Hall of Fame. The voting panel consists of journalists, experts, historians, and former wrestlers.
Paige link: https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/938494819176869888 , Ronda: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2017/12/06/ronda-rouseys-move-wwe-appears-imminent/928384001/ , NXT Mania week: https://twitter.com/SmoothieKingCtr/status/937773749117571073 , Quebec: http://www.pwinsiderxtra.com/ViewArticle.php?id=33999&p=1

The WWE United Kingdom Championship will be on the line as Pete Dunne defends against Joseph Conners at PROGRESS Wrestling’s show in Sheffield this weekend.

Smash Wrestling in Canada announced that they’ve suspended Michael Elgin’s bookings for December 17th and January 19th and Limitless Wrestling in Maine announced that Elgin has been replaced by Jeff Cobb on their January 19th show. The issues stem from how Elgin handled a sexual assault allegation that was made against Sean Orleans, who was a former student of Elgin’s and wrestled for his Glory Pro promotion until being let go after the allegation was made public. Both promotions released statements about their shows being inclusive, welcoming, fun, and safe environments, with Smash Wrestling citing Elgin’s potential knowledge of the incident before it was publicly revealed as the reason for their decision. Cobb being announced as Elgin’s replacement comes after private messages of Elgin criticizing Cobb as a tag team partner in NJPW had been released. Elgin issued a statement about the situation before later deactivating his Twitter account.

Jay White will be back in NJPW for the World Tag League finals show as the build to his match against Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome continues.

ROH’s 16th anniversary weekend will take place at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas on March 9th and 10th, with a pay-per-view and television tapings scheduled for those dates. Tickets are on sale now for Ringside members and will go on sale to the general public at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

WWE UK Title: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/938492713862946816 , Smash Wrestling: https://twitter.com/smashwrestling/status/938447036508020736 , Cobb: https://twitter.com/LWMaine/status/938181544392478722 , White: https://twitter.com/JayWhiteNZ/status/938161853942980610 , ROH: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ticket-information-announced-roh-16th-anniversary-weekend-las-vegas

There will be an online pre-sale tomorrow for the post-Wrestlemania 34 Raw and Smackdown tapings at the Smoothie Center in New Orleans via Ticketmaster.com.

The pre-sale code is NOLA34.

Fans can purchase tickets for the individual tapings or a combination ticket that would cover both tapings.

As PWInsider.com previously reported, the WWE Network is working on a WWE 24 documentary on Matt and Jeff Hardy's return to the company.

Earlier today, WWE cameras were at the Hardy compound in Cameron, North Carolina, filming footage, including an interview with Rebecca Hardy:

"Matt will never get hired because of your mouth."

"WWE wouldn't touch you with a 10 foot pole."

Ok cool cool. pic.twitter.com/QzPFrdlft1
— Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) December 6, 2017

Here is the lineup for the 2017 Tribute to the Troops special that will air next Thursday 12/14 on the USA Network:

*The Shield vs. Raw Tag Team champions Cesaro and Sheamus & Samoa Joe.
*WWE champion AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn & Jinder Mahal.
*WWE Smackdown Women's champion Charlotte vs. Ruby Riott.
*Absolution vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks & Mickie James.
*The New Day & WWE Smackdown Tag Team champions The Usos vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable & Rusev & Aiden English.

JBL, Sgt. Slaughter, Mark Henry and Ricky Steamboat were all in attendance at WWE's Tribute to the Troops yesterday.

For those who are wondering if the Nia Jax-Enzo Amore faceoff on Raw is leading anywhere, well, it's leading to Jax heading to 205 Live.

The 205 Live events in January will be headlined by Kalisto challenging Enzo Amore for the WWE Cruiserweight championship with Nia Jax as the guest referee.

Hideo Itami, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher are also set for the dates.

There is an online pre-sale for the 1/20/18 date in Lowell, MA at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium using code 205LIVE via Ticketmaster. The other shows will be having online pre-sales as well shortly.

Whose cornflakes did Finn Balor pee in to deserve being destroyed by everyone? I would have loved to see him and Joe battle evenly with Joe having to cheat or get disqualified to set up a feud. Instead, Joe dominates him after being destroyed by Kane and Strowman previously.

That is the WWE way of booking. If you aren’t at the top of the card they often don’t protect you the way that they should. They aren’t down on him, it’s just how they do things at times. If he can stay healthy I think he will get his chance. If he doesn’t, then that will be the reason he doesn’t get a great push.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the recent handling of Finn Balor on RAW.

The Chicago Tribune has an interview with former Raw General Manager Mike Adamle about his struggle with the effects of CTE brought on by his career in the NFL. It was noted that the type of epilepsy he deals with it is related to bruising of the brain (likely from his football career) and that while he is independent, he can no longer drive himself and lives his life in routines, because one thing can set him off. On knowing his own mortality, Adamle said, "“You pop up like this. It’s hard not to, it happens to a zillion people every day on the planet Earth. I’ll be gone. I’d like to make that a little longer and I definitely don’t want to spend it in an old folks home; that’s never going to happen. So we just keep on going until.”
Link to the interview: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/ct-spt-mike-adamle-struggles-crusade-20171205-story.html

Matt Hardy will apparently have creative license with his "Woken" character, according to a new report by Justin Barrasso at Sports Illustrated. It was noted that Vince McMahon "sees opportunity and the opportunity to cash in on a character that is already established."
Sports Illustrated link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/12/06/wwe-wrestling-news-matt-hardy-earl-hebner

We've noted how several WWE Blu-ray releases were nixed this year. That trend continues as the Royal Rumble 2018 release will be DVD-only, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. It appears that all future releases, except for WrestleMania 34, will be DVD-only releases, at least in North America. The reason for the Blu-ray cancellations is said to be lack of demand and the added expense of producing them. WDN currently has 7 WWE titles confirmed for 2018, from January 2nd through April 8th, and none of them are Blu-rays.

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of The Lapsed Fan podcast show had Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about the 20th Anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZjVRMy7QGk
Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Earl Hebner talking about leaving Impact after getting his pay cut, Impact using local refs for Bound For Glory, and a potential return to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1206/634729/earl-hebner-on-if-he-would-return-to-wwe/
The Miami Herald had a recent interview with Alexa Bliss talking about Paige's new stable, intital fan complaints regarding her call up feeling too soon, and working to improve her skills and keep her character fresh. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1206/634714/alexa-bliss-on-being-happy-for-paige-her-return/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Tribute to the Troops Results – Taped Dec. 5, 2017 to Air Dec. 14, 2017 (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-tribute-to-the-troops-results-taped-dec-5-2017-to-air-dec-14-2017/)
Various: Cody 10K Show Update, Rock Walk of Fame Star, Bret Hart Lawsuit (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/various-cody-10k-show-update-rock-gets-walk-of-fame-star-bret-hart-lawsuit/)
WWE: SmackDown Dark Matches, Hawkins’ and Asuka’s Streaks (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-smackdown-dark-matches-hawkins-and-asukas-streaks/)

Emperor Smeat

12-07-2017, 10:15 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wrestling Mustaches Appreciation Day:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/a6733cb6f1933edc50e2a30a99ed0893/tumblr_p0lps6vDer1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Impact is attempting to work with both ROH and New Japan as far as exchanging talent goes and working together in whatever fashion can be beneficial. As of right now, there are no plans for talent trading with New Japan, but that can always change.

One thing for certain is that with Callis in a power position, that Bruce Prichard won’t be back, although that seems to have been already in the cards since Jeff Jarrett left. When they did the angle on television getting rid of Prichard, he was to return as a heel manager, but there have been so many changes since that angle was shot and his name hadn’t been mentioned since, but this would probably lock the door on that one happening because of past heat between the two from WWE.

Callis and D’Amore will be part of a three-man creative team, with Sonjay Dutt, who remains head of talent relations and day-to-day creative. Callis and D’Amore will also manage and execute company business. Callis is unlikely to become an on-screen character as when he was studying the company since a deal was expected to go down, he felt that Jim Cornette was a great performer but felt the authority figure regularly appearing on a wrestling show gimmick was played out.

Anthem has given Nordholm the directive to get the company into a break-even position, and as difficult as that sounds, the belief is with enough cost-cutting, which means getting rid of people with high salaries, and having few if any full-time contracted wrestlers, use guys on daily deals and no longer compete with ROH or WWE money for young talent that everyone wants, perhaps that is possible. But the talent level will decline. The company has its fixed income sources, mostly the Sony Six television deal from India and the other international deals. The company had talked a few months ago about getting back in the house show business, but after booking a group of shows in the New York area that didn’t draw well, they have scheduled nothing since.

Regarding Jim Ross and AXS TV, both sides have verbally agreed to a contract extension and everyone is proceeding with the idea it is happening. The actual contract has yet to be finalized and signed. Since Ross isn’t appearing on WWE television, and right now isn’t doing anything with WWE (he was hired for the U.K. show, which hasn’t transpired yet, and hasn’t done play-by-play work for WWE since the Mae Young Classic), WWE did not stand in his way of the deal. His WWE deal allowed him to continue doing existing work

Regarding the big show that the Young Bucks and Cody are working on putting together, the latest word is that the probable location will be either an arena in the Chicago area or an arena in Southern California. There are other places like London, Toronto and San Francisco that have been talked about, but based on recent discussions, they are now less likely. They are working on a few sponsors.

On this week’s Being the Elite show, they showed the Young Bucks and Cody in Dallas at TGIF Headquarters being cooked a meal. While nothing was said, the reason they were there was for a meeting regarding sponsorships or being involved in some form with the show.

Sexy Star was back in the news regarding a match that fell apart on a show in Monterrey back on 11/19 because the video surfaced. The part of the video that I saw showed Diosa Quetzal, her opponent, who is a TV star who does pro wrestling, kicking Sexy Star, going by the name Sexy Dulce, in the face hard and then Dulce started back and it broke down into a sloppy fight. There is a claim that Quetzal stiffed her because Sexy wasn’t cooperating, while Sexy said she was the victim. Quetzal said everything she tried to do, that Sexy was uncooperative and said she was a fan of Sexy Star and was disappointed. She also said Reyna Isis is as unprofessional as Sexy Star. It also could be old-school mentality that a TV star comes into pro wrestling and the wrestlers try to teach her respect by making it difficult for her. I’m not advocating this, as everyone outside the business would say this is silly, and you don’t hear much about it in the U.S. business anymore, but it was part of the business in the U.S., Mexico and Japan until the modern era

Add Eddie Edwards, whose deal is up in February, to the list with Bobby Lashley and Ethan Carter III, whose contracts are coming due. The word is that Impact will only be offering the new per-day contracts rather than significant money guaranteed deals like all three are signed for, so there’s a good chance all three may leave. It’ll be interesting to see if Lashley, at 41, tries to go back and fight because he pulled out of Bellator to concentrate on pro wrestling because of his contract, and that storyline was kind of a weird way real life mimicking storyline. The belief right now is WWE and ROH have interest in Edwards, with the WWE interest likely for NXT. They passed on him years ago, but that was when they had the negative mentality toward ROH stars that is no longer the case, and it was also as a tag team with Davey Richards, and they are no longer a team

The situation with Chelsea Green (Knockouts champion Laurel Van Ness) is that after she won the title, hours later, she asked for a release and it was turned down. The company was really upset because they had already gone through several days of tapings and angles to build for her winning. She admitted she had made a mistake in not asking for the release on the first day of the tapings and then going through all the plans of making her champion without saying anything. Apparently there was an agreement that, since she held the belt, that this wasn’t supposed to be talked about publicly anywhere until she lost the title. Unless they arrange something at an indie show quickly, that wouldn’t be until the January taping and the last word we heard is that it would be at the January taping.

The ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network ths past week were: 1. NXT on 11/29; 2. 2017 Survivor Series; 3. Table for Three with Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Sting; 4. NXT Takeover Houston; 5. 2015 Night of Champions PPV Rollins vs. Sting; 6. WWE 365 Kevin Owens; 7. 205 Live from 11/28; 8. NXT from 11/22; 9. WWE 24 Bill Goldberg; 10. WrestleMania 33

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has made it clear to SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan that Dr. Joseph Maroon will be the person that makes the final decision regarding Bryan possibly being allowed to wrestle in WWE again.

Meltzer notes that the angle between Bryan and Shane McMahon is not designed to lead to them having match against each other.

Keep in mind that things could change and there is talk about Bryan being allowed to work a limited schedule in WWE if Maroon clears him. If WWE doesn’t clear him, then Bryan has made it clear in interviews that he wants to wrestle again in October once his WWE contract expires.

While there has been speculation about Bryan turning heel, a Shane heel turn is also being rumored for the Clash of Champions PPV.[/QUOTE]
Link with more details from the Observer Newsletter: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7i7ocz/won_on_daniel_bryan_returning_to_the_ring_for_wwe/

While they said Sheamus was out of action last week because he was on a trip back to Ireland, he’s actually rehabbing spinal stenosis, which is not a good thing at all. Spinal stenosis ended the careers of Edge and Steve Austin.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned there have been serious internal discussions within WWE regarding a possible Global Warning pay-per-view event that would take place next year in Australia.

For those who don’t remember, WWE Global Warning Tour 2002 took place in Melbourne and over 50,000 people attended the live event. We’re told officials want to top that in a big way next year.

Sources with direct knowledge say WWE have discussed running Global Warning II in October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which holds 100,000 people. This time, however, they want to broadcast the event on PPV and the WWE Network.

Nothing official has been set quite yet, but we’re told things are headed in the right direction.

A video that aired during this week's episode of NXT hyped the arrival of a new addition to the roster.

The teaser featured the silhouette of a wrestler and the word "soon," with spades replacing the middle letters of the word. That Shayna Baszler appeared at the most recent set of television tapings and that her nickname is "The Queen of Spades" seemed to hint that she was the person who would be debuting, and Dave Meltzer said that the video was for her on Wrestling Observer Radio last night.

Baszler has wrestled at house shows in Florida since losing to Kairi Sane in the finals of the Mae Young Classic, but her appearance last Wednesday was the first time she's been featured on an NXT TV taping. WWE announced in October that Baszler had officially signed with the company.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUingTdSjC4

WWE has sent out marketing surveys of late for those who have attended recent house shows as well as to those in the U.K. to learn their television viewing patterns.

The WWE NXT episode that airs next week on the USA Network will be the same as the one that airs on the WWE Network and internationally. The episode will feature Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole and WWE NXT Women's champion Ember Moon vs. Peyton Moon.

GLOW received four nominations for the 2018 Critics' Choice Awards.

The series received a Best Comedy Series nomination, while Alison Brie received a Best Actress in a Comedy Series nomination, Marc Maron received a Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and Betty Gilpin received a Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nominations.

Winners will be announced 1/11/18 Live on The CW Network.

According to the Twitter of Hiromu Takahashi, Darryl Takahashi Jr., the son of his stuffed animal pet and his stuffed animal pet’s wife Carol, was born on 12/3

Some other sheet news includes:

HBO recently announced their upcoming Andre The Giant documentary will premiere Spring 2018.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 13th anniversary of Lita & Trish becoming the first women to main event an episode of RAW.
Recent episode of the School of Morton podcast show had Ric Flair as the guest talking about his recent illness, life advice, and a story involving how Morton once saved his life. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114051/ric-flair-discusses-his-health-issues-advice-after-what-hes-been-through-the-matt-lauer-scandal-and-more-with-ricky-morton.html?p=1
According to a recent episode of PWI's Elite show, WWE is currently considering the idea of holding a 15 women Royal Rumble match at some point next year if its not at the Royal Rumble itself.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpge:

Austin Aries Says He Turned Down Impact After His WWE Release (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/austin-aries-says-he-turned-down-impact-after-his-wwe-release/)
Five Matches Announced for Raw Including Strowman vs. Kane (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/five-matches-announced-for-raw-including-strowman-vs-kane/)
WWE: NXT/USA Info, Cena on Tonight Show, Total Divas Ratings, Birthdays (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-nxt-on-usa-info-cena-on-tonight-show-total-divas-ratings-birthdays/)

12-08-2017, 02:27 PM

Looking forward that Ember Moon vs Peyton Moon match. Full moon.

Cool King

12-08-2017, 03:20 PM

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned there have been serious internal discussions within WWE regarding a possible Global Warning pay-per-view event that would take place next year in Australia.

For those who don’t remember, WWE Global Warning Tour 2002 took place in Melbourne and over 50,000 people attended the live event. We’re told officials want to top that in a big way next year.

Sources with direct knowledge say WWE have discussed running Global Warning II in October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which holds 100,000 people. This time, however, they want to broadcast the event on PPV and the WWE Network.

Nothing official has been set quite yet, but we’re told things are headed in the right direction.

And where the hell is the UK's PPV?

Evil Vito

12-08-2017, 03:22 PM

Up your butt and around the corner.

Cool King

12-08-2017, 03:25 PM

https://s8.postimg.org/ymojoxp6d/ezgif-4-a5ef73721b.gif

Mr. Nerfect

12-08-2017, 08:57 PM

WWE doesn't seem "hot" here. I know that we're like their fourth biggest market or something, but I can't see them doing 50,000 again. Unless they have Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar for the show.

Mr. Nerfect

12-08-2017, 08:59 PM

I actually really hope that Bobby Lashley, James Storm, EC3 and Eddie Edwards all sign with WWE. Lashley, Storm and EC3 would all "fit" the main roster WWE. Lashley has grown enough to be "money." Storm would be a great supporting player aligned with Bobby Roode. EC3 could be a stock WWE "star" (whether or not he ever moves the needle). Edwards is a solid hand and might be the one best off going to ROH/New Japan or whatever.

Emperor Smeat

12-08-2017, 10:29 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Classic WCW gif:
https://static.tumblr.com/82bc96fe0b43cddb678370c45739be99/rsu73nf/3ZCp0jsbs/tumblr_static_filename_640_v2.gif

A lawsuit filed by Marcus "Buff" Bagwell and Scott "Raven" Levy against WWE attempting to open the door for wrestlers to get royalties for appearances on the WWE Network was dropped officially yesterday in an agreement between the lawyers for both sides.

WWE had filed a lawsuit against Levy claiming he had made false statements about a prior lawsuit, where Levy and several other former wrestlers had sued to attempt to get employee status for wrestlers claiming they were not independent contractors. In that case, it was thrown out due to the statute of limitations from when the deals were in place to when the lawsuit was filed having expired. Levy, on a Chris Jericho podcast, had apparently said that Vince McMahon had paid off a judge.

The agreement was made between lawyers that both lawsuits were to be dropped. However, in the settlement agreement, WWE retained the rights to refile the lawsuit against Levy if he were to ever sue WWE again on any contractual matters.

After recent depositions by WWE of Bagwell and Levy, their lawyers opened up settlement talks regarding dropping of the case.

New Japan World will be carrying a press conference on Monday night at 1 a.m. to announce the full card for the Tokyo Dome. It will be free even if you are not a subscriber.

The Nashville Tennessean has a story on Aro Lucha. The story notes Jason Brown, head of Aroluxe, saying the goal is to do a family friendly product and get it on regular and digital television and do house shows. Konnan is mentioned as booker. As for the obvious comparisons with Lucha Underground, Ron Harris said, "We're trying to do it on a much bigger level and build it into a much bigger company." The show Sunday will be taped for marketing use and also to get new investors into the project. Vince Russo's involvement, which we had written about for months, was released by the company earlier today. He was to be the assistant writer.
Link: http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2017/12/07/lucha-libre-style-wrestling-association-launches-nashville/930770001/

They are advertising Roman Reigns vs. John Cena for the IC title as the new main event for the 12/26 show in Madison Square Garden.

The company announced today at its show in Abu Dhabi the signing of Nasser Airywayehi, first person from Kuwait ever signed by WWE.

WWE will be doing both Raw and Smackdown on 2/20 and 2/21 in Phoenix. Tickets go on sale a week from today.

The 12/7 edition of Impact did 226,000 overnight viewers, well down from last week's 255,000 overnight viewers.

Why haven't we seen Darren Young since his WWE release?

I know Young has been asking for, what I believe, to be a pretty hefty appearance fee for someone who wasn't a top name in WWE. I've had a few promoters tell me that Young's reps have sent word he wasn't going to do jobs on the independents either, which isn't a reasonable request either. My guess is that sooner or later, we'll see him pop up wrestling again.

From PWI's weekly Q&A article about the lack of news about Darren Young's post-WWE career.

Entertainment Weekly has named Netflix's GLOW as the best television series of 2017, describing the series as "The silliest, smartest, greatest TV event of the year. Creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensche went to TV history for inspiration, returning to the golden age of syndication to conjure up the pop epic for our streaming age."

The series, which been renewed for a currently shooting second season, is based on 1980s women's promotion The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
Link: http://ew.com/tv/best-and-worst-shows-2017/2017s-best-and-worst-tv

New Japan Pro Wrestling issued the folllowing:

Tanahashi suffers injury to right knee; will miss remaining World Tag League tour dates.

Due to an injury suffered to his right knee, New Japan Pro Wrestling has come to the decision to remove Hiroshi Tanahashi from December 7’s Yamaguchi card. Further, Tanahashi will be out of action for the remainder of the World Tag League tour, which ends December 11 in Fukuoka ...

At the present time, precise details on the condition of Tanahashi’s knee are unknown. Tanahashi is currently undergoing a thorough medical assessment, and when more details become clear, a decision will be made as to his future appearances.

WWE has a new poll asking fans which match they're most looking forward to at Clash of Champions. As of this writing, 31% voted for Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens with Shane McMahon as special referee while 24% voted for The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. Aiden English & Rusev vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos, 21% voted for Jinder Mahal vs. WWE Champion AJ styles, 14% voted for Dolph Ziggler vs. Bobby Roode vs. WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin and the rest voted for Natalya vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair in a Lumberjack Match.

WWE's DVD set for the RAW 25th Anniversary can now be pre-ordered on sale from Amazon at this link. The three-disc set will feature the entire RAW 25th Anniversary episode that airs on January 22nd plus a compilation of greatest matches & moments from the show. The set will be released on April 3rd, 2018.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077VCJQG2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=prowrestlin04-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B077VCJQG2&linkId=b851a6cd05c337f0adc4dd15cbc9b6a3

Adam Pearce, who works the weekly WWE 205 Live TV shows, revealed on Twitter that he will be producing the upcoming 205 Live non-televised live events in January. He tweeted:

I'm honored to produce these inaugural #205Live events. Join me as another block of the cruiserweight foundation is laid. You won't regret it! https://t.co/GEBzTbNrB3
— Adam Pearce (@ScrapDaddyAP) December 7, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

Hulk Hogan recently signed a deal with online retailer ProWrestlingTees to sell Hogan related merch at their online store.
NWA recently released a new episode of their 10 Pounds of Gold Youtube series focusing on champion Tim Storm's appearance this weekend at CZW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwNY9oTJAWc
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Micheal Cole celebrated his 49th birthday today.
WWE recently released a video on their official Youtube channel focusing on 5 wrestlers they would like to see back in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdBQB4CzKk
Rolling Stones had a recent interview with Chris Jericho talking about his upcoming cruise, his non-WWE projects next year, and if he is currently on a part-time deal with the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1208/634774/chris-jericho-on-if-there-are-plans-for-a-wwe-return/
ESPN had a recent interview with Tito Santana talking about his favorite match during his WWE career, life after he retired, and transitioning from wrestler to teacher. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1208/634794/tito-santana-on-which-match-stood-out-in-his-wwe-career/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Impact Results – Dec. 7, 2017 – Drake & Adonis vs. Impact & Williams (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/impact-results-dec-7-2017-drake-adonis-vs-impact-williams/)

Mr. Nerfect

12-11-2017, 05:54 AM

Watched that YouTube video. Can't the WWE just re-hire all these people? It's an odd piece of business.

12-11-2017, 01:07 PM

Not sure if it’s the case now but there used to be a point where wwe.com =/= WWE (as in Vince didn’t have for final say) so it could very well be a top 5 of whoever made the video or signs off on .com content. It could be them “testing the waters” to see who gets the best reaction in the comments.

Mr. Nerfect

12-12-2017, 06:24 PM

That seems likely.

Emperor Smeat

12-12-2017, 10:16 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Miztourage embracing their inner Finn:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/4bc5a32dc12ca08cf5871636d5f21ac7/tumblr_p0tzutqrQB1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Raw dropped four percent from last week, doing 2.68 million viewers, making it the lowest-watched show since the June 12th episode that went against the NBA playoffs which would make it the lowest number since the revitalization of Raw with the strong series of building PPV main events in the late summer and fall ...

The bad news is the second hour drop was significant, resulting in the second lowest rated hour number two on Raw in history, only beating the episode that went against the Trump-Clinton debate in 2016. That means it was even below hour two on July 4th in the past ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.61 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.57 million viewers

Rich Swann was arrested on domestic battery and false imprisonment charges.

Gainesville Police released the arrest report for the incident, which happened in Gainesville, Florida at 10:30 p.m. The victim is listed as Vannarah Riggs (independent wrestler Su Yung), who Swann has been in a relationship with for approximately five years and has been married to for nine months.

The arrest report states that Swann and Riggs were involved in an argument after Riggs had wrestled at a show in Gainesville. Swann was critiquing Riggs' performance and began getting angry with her. Riggs got out of the vehicle they were in after getting scared that the argument was going to escalate. He chased her and yelled for her to get back in, then allegedly grabbed her by the arm and around the neck with his arm after Riggs said she didn't want to get back in, putting her in a headlock and dragging her back to the vehicle.

A witness to the situation said they saw Swann push Riggs back into the vehicle while she screamed for help. They also said Riggs was beating on the window and screaming for help as they drove away. Another witness said they saw the vehicle driving erratically, with Riggs jumping out of it while it was still moving and Swann getting out of it while it was moving to chase her. The vehicle wasn't put in park and rolled until it hit a telephone pole.

Riggs told police that she was afraid because Swann "has a temper sometimes," and that she was trying to get away from him because she was afraid the argument would escalate into physical violence. Riggs said she told him to stop the vehicle so she could get out before having to jump out while it was still slowly moving. She said Swann grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back in despite her not wanting to go with him.

Swann denied grabbing Riggs and putting her back in the vehicle, saying she got in on her own and he never physically touched her. He said he was trying to get home and her phone had the GPS on for directions.

The domestic battery charge is listed as a misdemeanor and the false imprisonment charge is a felony. Swann was taken into custody around midnight last night and was in custody as of this morning.

Under their zero tolerance domestic violence policy, WWE issued a statement saying that Swann has been suspended indefinitely.

The IWGP Tag Team Championship match for the Tokyo Dome is seemingly set after this morning's World Tag League finals.

After both won their respective blocks, SANADA & EVIL defeated Guerrillas of Destiny to win this year's World Tag League tournament ...

The team that wins the tournament usually gets a shot at the IWGP Tag Team titles at Wrestle Kingdom, and SANADA & EVIL called out champions Killer Elite Squad and challenged them after their win. Lance Archer got on the microphone to accept the challenge, with Davey Boy Smith Jr. saying the titles will stay with KES forever.

Ahead of their match at the Tokyo Dome, Chris Jericho made a surprise appearance and got into it with Kenny Omega in an angle at this morning's World Tag League finals.

Omega & The Young Bucks defeated Rocky Romero, Sho & Yoh at the show, with Omega pinning Romero with the One Winged Angel after the others had fought to the back. A video of Jericho aired following the match. He congratulated Omega, asked if he's ready for Wrestle Kingdom at the Tokyo Dome and said we'll find out who the best in the world is then, and told Omega he's going to beat the hell out of him.

When the video stopped playing, Jericho appeared inside the ring and gave Omega the Codebreaker. Jericho continued to beat Omega down and hit him with the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. He laid out the referee and one of the young lions before continuing to attack Omega, who had been bloodied by this point. Omega briefly fought back until being hit with another Codebreaker.

Don Callis went into the ring to check on Omega as Jericho started to walk away, but Jericho came back and gave Callis a Codebreaker.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has one more title match scheduled before Wrestle Kingdom 12 at the Tokyo Dome.

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI will defend their titles against Bad Luck Fale & Guerrillas of Destiny at NJPW's Road to Tokyo Dome show on December 17th. With SANADA & EVIL challenging Killer Elite Squad at Wrestle Kingdom, a title change would clear the way for the NEVER tag belts to be featured on the card.

The updated lineup for the Wrestle Kingdom event, which will air on 1/6/18 on AXS TV, features:

*IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
*IWGP United States champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
*IWGP Intercontinental champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
*IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
*IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team champions Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yo) vs. The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson).
*ROH champion Cody Rhodes vs. Kota Ibushi
*IWGP Tag Team champions The Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA)
*NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team champions SANADA & EVIL & BUSHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & The Guerrillas of Destiny.

After the way Raw ended with Braun Strowman and Kane going to a double countout, Dave Meltzer noted that Brock Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane is the plan for the Royal Rumble on Wrestling Observer Radio last night.

Lesnar will officially return to television on Raw next week. He hasn’t appeared on TV since beating AJ Styles at Survivor Series.

Ric Flair now has his own YouTube channel. Responding to a question, he said his three favorite matches of his career were against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24, against Ricky Steamboat in Chicago, and against Harley Race at the first Starrcade.
Flair link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-peM015o2w

Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega are on the cover of the latest issue of Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine in Japan.

Yoshihiro Takayama will be a DLC character in Fire Pro Wrestling World, with all of the proceeds going towards Takayama’s medical expenses.

SANADA & EVIL will face Aussie Open at Revolution Pro Wrestling’s High Stakes show on January 20th at York Hall.

Spoofing the list that Cody Rhodes put out after he left WWE, James Ellsworth posted a list of women’s wrestlers he wants to face in intergender matches.

Darren Young’s first post-WWE indie appearance will be for WrestlePro in Union, New Jersey on March 9th. He’s scheduled to wrestle and take part in a meet and greet.

Impact announced 1/10 to 1/15 dates at Universal in Orlando for TV tapings.
WPW magazine: https://twitter.com/IAmJericho/status/940477141497495553 , Fire Pro: http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2017/12/11/fire-pro-wrestling-world-gets-takayama-charity-dlc/283076/ , RevPro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/940612236673941504 , Ellsworth: https://twitter.com/realellsworth/status/940393587153555462 , Young: https://twitter.com/WrestlePro/status/940279824567980033

There were two Golden Globe nominations that have pro wrestling tie-ins. Alison Brie was nominated for Best Actress on a Comedy TV series for her lead work in GLOW. Ferdinand, an animated movie where John Cena plays the voice of the lead character, was nominated for Best Animated Film.

There was a story going around that Brock Lesnar was in line to play Drago's son in the movie Creed 2. The storyline is that Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, faces the son of the man who killed his father, with Dolph Lundgren back as Ivan Drago. The tease was Brock Lesnar playing Lundgren's son. I was told right now that is more a publicity stunt for the movie and no deal is in play at this point.
Some more details via PWI: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114131/update-brock-lesnar-joining-the-rocky-film-franchise.html?p=1

Nick Aldis beat Tim Storm to win the NWA title at last night's CZW Cage of death show in Sewell, NJ. Austin Idol was brought in (much of the crowd had no idea who he was) before the match and he introduced Brian Hebner as the referee for the match.

Joining the list of promotions who have addressed Michael Elgin’s status with them due to his handling of a sexual assault allegation against Sean Orleans (a former student of Elgin’s who wrestled for his Glory Pro promotion), AAW issued a statement saying they’re pulling Elgin from their shows until the situation “can be resolved with all parties.” Jeff Cobb, who lost to Elgin in the finals of this year’s Jim Lynam Memorial Tournament, will challenge Rey Fenix for the AAW Heavyweight Championship on December 30th.

The Charlotte Observer reports that a scarlet & silver robe worn by WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair during his WWE & WCW days sold for $27,000 at an auction on Saturday. The robe, listed as a "true relic from one of the most beloved entertainment careers in American history," was also autographed by The Nature Boy. Sports memorabilia collectors called the price "incredible," but some estimated it would sell for more.

WWE has a new poll asking fans if they would like to see another rematch between RAW Tag Team Champion Cesaro and WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns after their match on last night's RAW, which saw Reigns retain. As of this writing, 57% voted, "Yes. It was an amazing match and Cesaro deserves another opportunity after a close fight." The rest went with, "No. Reigns earned the victory and should move on to other challengers."

Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 7th anniversary of Ruby Riott's first ever wrestling match. Riott celebrated the occasion on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcm8WJQlx8f/
For those in the UK, the recent ESPN 30 For 30 Ric Flair documentary will air on channel BT Sport 2 on December 15th at 10 p.m.
Triple H ended up defeating Jinder Mahal in a match during WWE's recent tour of India. Tour itself was originally planned for two shows but got changed to just a single show due to abysmal ticket sales.
According to recent medical reports, former Tough Enough winner Matt Cappotelli has roughly 5 years left to live as a best case scenario due to his brain cancer reaching the stage where it was impossible to remove it all without possibly killing or severely damaging him. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114143/update-on-matt-cappotellis-battle-with-brain-cancer.html?p=1
Irish Mirror had a recent interview with Rosemary talking about Impact's current Knockouts division, teaming with Allie, and going from being a heel to a face star. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1212/634896/rosemary-on-the-impact-knockouts-division/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE SmackDown Results – Dec. 12, 2017 – Owens vs. Nakamura (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-smackdown-results-dec-12-2017-owens-vs-nakamura/)
Rockstar Spud Expected to Debut for WWE Soon (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/rockstar-spud-expected-to-debut-for-wwe-soon/)
Various: Sheamus Working Through Injury, DJZ Injured, Main Event Results (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/various-sheamus-working-through-injury-djz-injured-main-event-results/)
Kenny Omega Retaliates, Attacks Jericho at NJPW Press Conference (Video) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/kenny-omega-retaliates-attacks-chris-jericho-at-njpw-press-conference-video/)

Cool King

12-13-2017, 03:25 PM

For those in the UK, the recent ESPN 30 For 30 Ric Flair documentary will air on channel BT Sport 2 on December 15th at 10 p.m.

Oh, well that's random.

Emperor Smeat

12-13-2017, 11:14 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Yep Movement:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/6611b958998c00dc8f76801ff423a5ef/tumblr_p0vo3fQ56K1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

SmackDown ratings were down for the second straight week on Tuesday night, though they didn't fall as sharply as Raw did this week. The show averaged 2.481 million viewers, down just 12,000 viewers from the previous Tuesday.

This was the first week in a long time that SmackDown finished outside of the top 10 in terms of total viewers on cable, with Tuesday being a particularly strong night for news channels due to coverage of the special election in Alabama. SmackDown was sixth in the 18-49 demo with a 0.71 rating. The show is usually either first or second in that demo on cable.

For the fourth straight week, SmackDown was up in the year-over-year ratings as they continue to hold up well since the WWE Championship was switched over to AJ Styles.

Hideo Itami will be arriving on 205 Live next Tuesday.

After a few weeks of hype videos, one final video was shown last night and announced that Itami would be making his debut next week. On commentary, Nigel McGuinness called Itami one of the most intimidating opponents that he's ever faced.

Itami has been wrestling on NXT house shows while waiting to debut on 205 Live, but he hasn't appeared on television since losing to Kassius Ohno in a no disqualification match that aired in September.

Though NXT aired on the USA Network tonight as part of WWE Week, Ember Moon and Peyton Royce’s non-title match is only going to be on the WWE Network version of the episode, which is likely due to time constraints.

Former WWECW roster member Colin Delaney made a cameo on SmackDown last night as he and Juan Francisco de Coronado from CHIKARA were squashed by The Bludgeon Brothers. WWE posted video of a brief interview with Delaney after the match.

WWE Shop is selling “Yep Movement” T-shirts after Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn wore them on SmackDown last night.
Delaney link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er6-cnnuH0g, Yep Shirts: http://shop.wwe.com/kevin-owens-and-sami-zayn-yep-yep-yep-t-shirt/ZK0001.html?dwvar_ZK0001_color=Black#curr=USD&start=1

Tokyo Sports announced the winners of their annual awards today. Tetsuya Naito won MVP for the second straight year, Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega from the January 4th Tokyo Dome show won best match, Io Shirai won the top women’s award, and Katsuyori Shibata was honored with the Fighting Spirit award. Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa won tag team of the year and Yuma Aoyagi from AJPW won rookie of the year.

Rolling Stone interviewed Kenny Omega about his match with Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12. When asked about using blood in the angle they did at the World Tag League finals, Omega said: “I've been lucky where I've asked for a little bit of trust from the company. When you put yourself in a situation like that, you either hit consecutive home runs or you're dead in the water, because there's a lot of money on the line, there's a reputation on the line. And a lot of times I really forced them to step out of their comfort zone. Between last year's G1 and now with Jericho, I have done a lot of things the company isn't necessarily comfortable with, but they're seeing positive growth from it. Drawing blood is a faux paus. They don't like it at all. Our parent company makes its money through anime and card games.”

MLW uploaded their Never Say Never show for free on YouTube. It features Matt Riddle vs. Tom Lawlor and Jimmy Havoc & Darby Allin vs. John Hennigan & Shane Strickland in a no DQ match.

ROH is hyping that there will be a major announcement for Women of Honor at Final Battle on Friday.

Zack Sabre Jr. will face Amazing Red for the first time at House of Glory’s show in New York City on Saturday.

Tokyo Sports: https://twitter.com/STRIGGA/status/941053208369254400 , Omega: http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/new-japan-wrestler-kenny-omega-on-chris-jericho-wrestle-kingdom-w514025 , MLW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHvgV4HhVuU , ROH: https://twitter.com/ringofhonor/status/941067497482092545 , Sabre: https://twitter.com/HOGwrestling/status/940435643775311872

Variety reported that Facebook is paying WWE for distribution of the new Mixed Match Challenge series. The series will air for 12 weeks and will be added to the WWE Network VOD section after a certain window has passed.
Link: http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/wwe-facebook-show-raw-smackdown-live-1202638949/

Dave Sahadi, who had worked for the last decade as a Director and Producer for Impact Wrestling, was let go by the promotion yesterday, PWInsider.com has learned. It was the latest cost-cutting move from the company under Anthem Media's ownership and came a day after Rafael Morfi, who worked as Impact's Live Event Manager, announced he had left the company as well.

Sahadi was responsible for crafting a lot of the video features and material that aired before PPVs and was considered an extremely talented Director.

Sahadi came to Impact in March 2006. He had previously held the post of Director of On Air Promotion for WWE and when he later joined TNA, it was considered a major hiring for the company.

The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were revealed today with Netflix's GLOW receiving four nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series - Alison Brie as Ruth Wilder.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series - Marc Maron as Sam Sylvia.

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series

Should the cast win Best Ensemble, that may make Kia Stevens aka Awesome Kong the first professional wrestler to ever win a SAG Award.

The SAG Awards will take place on 1/21/18, airing on TNT and TBS.

WWE has a new poll asking fans which brand has the stronger roster of Superstars competing in the new Mixed Match Challenge series that will premiere on Facebook Watch in January. As of this writing, 60% voted for RAW (RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Alicia Fox, Asuka, Bayley, Braun Strowman, WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore, Finn Balor, Goldust, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, The Miz, Samoa Joe) while the rest voted for SmackDown (Becky Lynch, Bobby Roode, Carmella, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso, Lana, Naomi, Natalya, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, and a Final Fan Vote to select a member of The New Day).

It's worth noting that the WWE website lists Samoa Joe, and no "Final Fan Vote" option, for the RAW brand but he was not announced earlier. It looks like they may have spoiled the "Final Fan Vote" for RAW, indicating that some of the voting in this competition is rigged.

Zack Ryder noted on Twitter that he and former tag team partner Curt Hawkins may be starting a podcast on wrestling action figures soon. He tweeted the following:

.@TheCurtHawkins & I are starting a wrestling FIGURE podcast......maybe. Any good names for it? ??????
— Zack Ryder (@ZackRyder) December 13, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

Website Digital Spy had a recent interview with John Cena talking about teh constant call by fans wanting him to turn heel and wanting people to know more about him beyond his wrestling character. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1213/634935/john-cena-on-how-fans-would-react-if-he-turned-heel/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Mark Cuban discussing AXS TV, NJPW, and his opinion on Vince McMahon. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1213/634933/mark-cuban-talks-wanting-to-expand-njpw-and-vince-mcmahon/
Recent episode of In The Corner podcast show had Triple H as the guest talking about the potential for NXT to become an equal brand to Smackdown and RAW, NXT pushing the main roster to be better, and his thoughts on The Drifter. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1213/634926/triple-h-on-elias/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE NXT Results – Dec. 13, 2017 – Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-nxt-results-dec-13-2017-aleister-black-vs-adam-cole/)
With Mixed Match Challenge on Tues. at 10, What About 205 Live? (Updated) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/with-mixed-match-challenge-airing-tuesdays-at-10-where-does-this-leave-205-live/)
Noam Dar Out With a Knee Injury, Will Undergo Surgery (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/noam-dar-out-with-a-knee-injury-will-undergo-surgery/)
WWE Announces New In-Ring Series to Air Exclusively on Facebook (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-announces-new-series-to-air-exclusively-on-facebook/)

Emperor Smeat

12-14-2017, 10:27 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Classic WCW Rasslin:
https://i.imgur.com/N0VS6SN.gif

While airing on the USA Network as part of WWE Week, NXT averaged 841,000 viewers for last night's episode ...

Given the value of wrestling programming, that's not a number that would seem to make USA try to add it to the package regularly since Tough Enough did better numbers and wasn't renewed, though the 55-minute episode of NXT did air at 7 p.m. Eastern time instead of what is traditionally considered prime time for television.

Former WWF manager Yamaguchi-San — who was paired with Kaientai during the Attitude Era — has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke.

Shunsuke Yamaguchi, one-half of WWE’s Japanese announce team and the Kaientai manager’s real-life brother, posted an update on Facebook revealing the unfortunate news.

He explained, “Some of u might have heard but my brother Yusuke aka Yamaguchi Wally or Yamaguchi San had a stroke. This is a pic from 1 am est. Don’t know how long he has. Some of his friends from school and Gong Magazine have visited him. Love you brother!!!”

Funaki tweeted afterward offering his prayers.
For some reference, he was the guy famous for the "choppy off pee pee" line during Kaientai's feud with Val Venis.

Wally Yamaguchi, a very important figure in the Japanese wrestling business in the 80s and 90s, had a major stroke and as of earlier today was in a coma and his condition is not good. He was a key figure in both the magazine business, as well as the independent wrestling business having helped start FMW which was the first really strong Japanese indie group. He was a major figure helping Giant Baba with All Japan, and a major editor of Gong Magazine in that magazine's heyday. He was also Yamaguchi-san in WWE as the manager of Kaientai, and also worked for WWF for years as its Japanese industry liaison. His brother, Shun Yamaguchi, works for WWE today as a Japanese language television announcer live at the PPV shows.

ROH will be debuting a new world heavyweight title belt for Cody tomorrow night at the Final Battle PPV.

Ric Flair will be appearing for House of Glory Wrestling in Jamaica, NY on Saturday at Club Amazura. The show is headlined by Zack Sabre Jr. vs Amazing Red.

Those under contract to Lucha Underground have been forced to cancel indie dates for weekends starting in mid-February. Right now the battle plan is for tapings for the new season to start on 2/16. This could get in the way of some wrestlers working the February New Japan tour. Pro Wrestling Revolution has announced that Rey Fenix and Penta 0M are off the 2/24 show in San Jose due to tapings.
ROH link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114204/roh-unveils-new-world-heavyweight-championship-belt.html?p=1

Variety has an exclusive interview with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson about his possible candidacy for President of the United States. In the interview, Johnson says that he will not be eligible for the 2020 election due to his busy schedule for the next few years. However, The Rock says it feels realistic to look towards the 2024 election cycle.

The Jumanji star says the whole idea came out of the blue and he never expected to catch fire like it did. He said the following:

“It was never something that I trumpeted and beat my chest and ever said publicly, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ but as that story picked up, Americans picked it up and there was this sentiment of, ‘We’re not joking, and we would really love the idea if you would run,'” Johnson recalls.

“In that, I knew I had to listen to the people and really, really think about it,” he continues. “That’s where I’m at right now — I’m well aware politics is not the business I’m in, so the best thing I can do is continuing to listen and learn as much as I can. I’m continuing to watch our presidency and watch how every new development is handled. I continue to watch our leaders in government, and like all Americans, I continue to be hopeful that our leaders exhibit poise, perspective and the ability to bring our country together during these tough times — which I don’t feel our presidency is currently doing — so that’s where I’m at.”
More highlights and link to the interview: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114205/the-rock-weighs-in-on-running-for-president.html?p=1

Following the Final Battle PPV tomorrow in New York City, Ring of Honor will return to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA for a TV taping. Announced thus far for the taping is:

*The Young Bucks vs. Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor vs. Dragon Lee & Titan.
*Flip Gordon vs. Marty Scurll.
*War Machine vs. Coast 2 Coast - Coast 2 Coast will disband if they lose.

ROH will also feature a number of Women of Honor bouts featuring Deonna Purrazzo,Mandy Leon, Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Brandi Rhodes, and Kelly Klein, among others. ROH has been teasing a special announcement about the WOH division, which may the crowning of its first champion, something that has been talked about for some time.

It's programming for WWE Week on the Network, nothing more, but if it does a great number, the door opens for USA to be more interested in the brand obviously..What would you think if NXT did well next week and then went to USA as replacement for hour 3 of Raw? Do you think the ratings for hour 3 would go up? Would they stay up if Vince allowed HHH to produce the segment exactly as NXT is being produced now?

Let's go backwards on this. One, if the series was being produced for the USA Network, it would have Vince McMahon's fingerprints all over it and like ECW on Syfy or the original incarnation of NXT, it would be a brand that was designed for the average fan in mind and would feature all the usual tropes of a WWE broadcast. Even the NXT episode that aired last night wasn't the same one that aired on the WWE Network - there would be massive changes to how much time they had and whether the product could remain what it is on the Network. It wouldn't be the NXT that everyone has come to at this point.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on why NXT being a regular tv show would be a big mistake considering past history.

WWE have applied to trademark "The Most Patriotic Show on Television," obviously referring to their annual Tribute to the Troops show, the latest of which will air tonight on the USA Network.

Meanwhile, WWE are opposing Mudder Technology, a company based in Hong Kong, who have applied for a U.S. Trademark for the word "wrestler" for use with cases for smartphones and other smart devices. WWE have requested for an extension to file an opposition.

Konnan, who is working as the head writer for Aro Lucha, announced the promotion would hold its first live event on 1/20/18 in Lubbock, Texas at the Fair Park Coliseum On The Fairgrounds.

This Mixed Match Challenge experiment is two-sided. Facebook will get to see what type of response and value WWE programming would have. For WWE, if Facebook sees the value as being worth a ton of money, it can use Facebook to either leverage up the television rights fees for programming for its next contract, or even move Raw, Smackdown or both, to Facebook if they make the best offer and the feeling is they won’t lose audience in such a move.

Another key is with Facebook being worldwide and not just U.S., moving the key shows to a streaming service like that in late 2019 or early 2020, which would be the earliest a move could be made, would mean the payment would have to cover not just U.S. rights fees but the combined worldwide rights fees as if that move is made, it would affect every television partner worldwide.

Between Facebook being clearly interested in WWE programming, and the positive news about UFC being virtually a lock to get an increase in revenue from its new contract, meaning WWE would be expected to get the same next year, the stock price has increased to $31.88 at press time, giving the company at $2.458 billion market value. There are analysts throwing out $400 million annual numbers, which has also led to the stock increasing and could lead to the similar big fall that took place the last time out when the rights were sold for far less than the stock market was led to believe they would be.
According to the Observer, WWE's stocks are way over-valued right now due to them being around 3x more than the average and only because everyone once again is expecting a massive boost to their next tv contract.

An interesting note on the situation with Chris Jericho at the Dome. We’re told that New Japan officials, while seeing that ticket sales for the Tokyo Dome show are strong, have found out in recent weeks just how little their audience knows about Jericho’s past in Japan. The fans all know that he’s a major WWE star, but that’s really all they know and it was surprising how few fans knew that he grew up to an extent in the Japanese business in the 90s with WAR. The current New Japan fan base, that came in when the company has gotten hot in the past few years, is similar to the WWF fan base that came in during the Steve Austin era that had no idea of any WWE history prior to that point and Jericho’s career in Japan was mostly the early-and-mid 90s, aside from working WWE shows when they came to the country, and he’s noted he’s had 60 Japanese tours which would be on the high end historically. The response has had of late has been to heavily promote Jericho’s history in Japan

Joey Ryan & Candice LeRae World’s Cutest Tag Team T-shirts are being test marketed at some Hot Topic locations to see if there is enough interest to distribute them nationally

It also appears that Impact and AAA will be working more closely together going forward and with Callis in a power position and seeing New Japan up close, one has to think he’d be looking at ways to bring in their key foreign stars, although in some cases that would also make it necessary to start a working agreement with ROH

Brian Cage has been talked with about coming into Impact. He’s also been talked with about New Japan, after how well he did with NOAH in that incredible match with Katsuhiko Nakajima over the GHC title

The expectation is that Bobby Lashley and Ethan Carter III will leave when their contracts are up, and one or both will end up with WWE

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE is currently reported to have signed German MMA fighter Nicoli Salchow to a developmental deal and will start next month at the Performance Center.
ROH recently released the updated card for tomorrow's Final Battle PPV event. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114119/ring-of-honor-final-battle-ppv-tomorrow-how-you-can-order-updated-lineup.html?p=1
WWE recently canceled a scheduled show for early next year in Edmonton, Alberta Canada due to a new ban on combat sports in the city. The ban was passed as part of the fallout from the June death of a boxer in the city. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114187/wwe-cancels-return-to-edmonton-after-boxing-death-leads-to-ban-on-all-combat-sports-.html?p=1
Edge revealed Curt Hawkins will be tomorrow's guest for the E&C podcast show as part of a 10th year anniversary reunion of the Edgeheads. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/941333789791412224
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 9 year anniversary of Jeff Hardy winning the WWE championship. https://twitter.com/ProWrestlingMag/status/936940810049871872/video/1
One of Booker T's former students and wrestler at his Reality of Wrestling promotion was recently charged with the murder of his girlfriend. Only reason he got busted was due to his car getting stuck in a creek where he dumped the body and a friend being called for help but instead called the police when he saw the real reason why he was needed.
According to the Observer, Elgin might be filing a lawsuit against the woman who released chats between the two implying at the sexual harassment by Elgin and his wrestling school.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Jim Ross Says He’d Be “Shocked” if Hulk Hogan Isn’t Back in WWE in 2018 (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/jim-ross-says-hed-be-shocked-if-hulk-hogan-isnt-back-in-wwe-in-2018/)
The Rock Gets a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Video) (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/the-rock-gets-a-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame-video/)
Triple H Says We’ll Probably See Main Roster Wrestlers Move “Down” to NXT (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/triple-h-says-well-probably-see-main-roster-wrestlers-move-down-to-nxt/)

Emperor Smeat

12-15-2017, 10:36 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Super <s>Cena</s>Reigns:
https://i.imgur.com/0657D0S.gif

Roman Reigns is not scheduled for any of the Raw house shows this coming week nor for Raw in Providence. Strangely, the WWE web site also doesn't list Brock Lesnar for Providence even though that has been scheduled for his return and as of this writing Lesnar is "absolutely" scheduled for the show. We'll update on this later today. Randy Orton is also not scheduled for the only Smackdown house show this week which is in Portland, ME.

WWE Tribute to the Troops last night did 1,401,000 viewers. Last year's show did 1,383,000 viewers but it was way down from all prior years.

Low Ki vs. MVP was announced for the 1/11 MLW show in Orlando at Gilt Nightclub. Matt Riddle, Jimmy Havoc, MVP, Jeff Cobb, Tom Lawlor and Shane Strickland are also on the show.

AAW on 12/30 in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street has Windy City Classic 13 with Rey Fenix vs. Jeff Cobb for the AAW title, Eddie Kingston vs. David Starr with the loser having to manage the winner for one year in a street fight, Sami Callihan & Dave & Jake Crist vs. Myron Reed & Stephen Wolf & Trey Miguel, Matt Riddle vs. ACH, Sean Waltman & Paco vs. Connor Braxton & Jake Something.

There is a show on 12/17 in Kennedale, TX at the Soccer Zone Arena with Penta 0M & Rey Fenix vs. M-ximo & La Mascara, Black Taurus vs. Keith Lee and Sammy Guevara vs. Flip Gordon vs. Ultimo Ninja vs Draztick Boy.

It appears that Noam Dar will be out of action for the next several months.

After WWE announced on 205 Live this week that Dar had a knee injury that would require surgery, an article on WWE.com noted that Dar underwent successful surgery on his left knee in Orlando yesterday. WWE claims that Dar suffered the injury, which was a "bucket handle" tear of his meniscus, in the cruiserweight fatal four-way match on the November 27th episode of Raw. He then got an MRI done this Monday after weeks of lingering issues.

While the exact time it will take him to recover from the injury hasn't been confirmed, Dar said in the WWE.com article that he's more than likely going to be out for around five months. Dar also said he hopes training at the Performance Center will reduce the timetable.

Enzo is mad at the DMV in Delaware because they have an issue with him using a drawing of genitalia as his signature. I am not making this up. I almost wrote "Enzo says he is a dick" as the headline.
TPWW Frontpage has more details and the wiener drawing used as his signature.

ROH is holding a big Final Battle sale with 25% off apparel and 35% off DVDs and Accessories, which you can shop at by clicking here.
Link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/shop

Impact Wrestling star Grado announced that his mother passed away today, writing the following tribute on his official Facebook page:

"After a long fight, my Mum passed away peacefully this morning. She was my biggest inspiration for everything I’ve ever done. I had to beg her to be in the first Insane Fight Club and I am glad she eventually gave in. I’ll never forget her watching the telly waiting on Eastenders coming on and the trailer for it appeared and they had used a clip of her moaning about seeing me getting skelped with a steel chair during a match and there being blood pouring everywhere. “GRAEME YOU GET DOON THIS STAIRS THE NOO, AM AFFRONTED”

Then at The Hydro when Al Snow asked me during the day if she would be up for getting involved in our match. I gave her a phone to get her thoughts. She was in the boozer with all my mates and shouted to everyone “HERE, Av to slap Al Snow the night!”. I had to bite my lip to stop me from peeing myself when it happened, her and My Dad steaming in the front row trying to leather Al Snow.

I am absolutely heart broken, she was my biggest fan. I hope I will continue to make you proud. #GradosMaw"
Link: https://www.facebook.com/gradowrestler/photos/rpp.261063714060055/902415636591523/?type=3&theater

Becky Lynch is being figured into creative plans on the Smackdown brand for early January, so she is about to finish up filming the latest Marine film.

World Wrestling Entertainment will present the 2017 Clash of Champions PPV from Boston, MA this Sunday 12/17, featuring the following announced lineup:

*WWE champion AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal.

*WWE Smackdown Tag Team champions The Usos vs. New Day vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin vs. Aiden English & Rusev.

*Lumberjack Match: WWE Smackdown Women's champion Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya.

*WWE United States champion Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Bobby Roode.

*Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as guest referees. If Zayn and Owens lose, they are fired from WWE.

*The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Breezango.

*Mojo Rawley vs. Zack Ryder. (Kickoff Show)

TMZ is reporting that a deal between WWE and Ronda Rousey is nowhere close to being done. They claim in their story that after speaking to multiple sources on each side that a deal between the UFC fighter and WWE hasn't even got off the ground. One source stated that Rousey had not even begun negotiations with WWE yet.

This flies in the face of a recent Sports Illustrated report that Rousey's WWE deal was "imminent."

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, there has been communication between the two sides and Rousey, sometimes privately, has worked out at the WWE Performance Center. Rousey made an appearance at Wrestlemania several years ago alongside The Rock doing a segment with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and appeared in the crowd at a number of Mae Young Classic events, teasing the idea of the MMA Four Horsewomen against WWE's own Four Horsewomen in Bayley, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.

While the idea of that eight woman tag has excited WWE fans, it appears it's not just yet on the horizon.

A new episode of "Table For Three" will air on the WWE Network after Monday's RAW goes off the air. The episode will feature Finn Balor talking with The Hardys. Below is the synopsis:

"Finn Balor and The Hardys discuss the motivations behind their most extreme personas and share personal tales of their paths to WWE."

As noted, former Impact Wrestling X Division Champion & British Boot Camp winner Rockstar Spud (James Michael Curtin) is scheduled to debut with WWE at next week's RAW in Providence, RI and 205 Live in Newark, NJ. In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer revealed that officials at Impact weren't happy with Spud's signing.

Spud is expected to immediately start in WWE's cruiserweight division. After he signed a contract with the WWE in October, the company was waiting on his working visa to come through so he can get started. Meltzer wrote that some people at Impact were upset because they had spent a significant amount of money to assist Spud with getting his visa taken care of before he quit to accept the WWE offer.

Spud had previously worked for Impact since 2012, when he beat Marty Scurll to win the British Boot Camp reality show to earn a contract. Impact spent nearly $20,000 in legal fees straighten out any issues with the immigration offices in the U.K. so Spud can return to the U.S. Two weeks after he returned to the country, he asked for his release from Impact and was granted it in September.

As noted, former WWE cruiserweight champion Rich Swann has been suspended indefinitely following his arrest on Sunday. In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer noted how the rest of the WWE locker room reacted to the news.

According to Meltzer, many superstars were shocked to hear what happen but the people who knew Swann and his wife Vannarah Riggs, who works the indies as Su Yung, well knew that a situation like this was possible. Many who knew them from their time on the independent circuit would describe both of them as "broken" because of events in their lives before wrestling. They were able to find love in each other, but the relationship was believed to be combustible to begin with.

With Swann's future in the WWE currently up in the air, other superstars feel bad for how this might affect him and his wife financially. Meltzer noted that it's possible his WWE career is over for good.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My RottenPancakes Review of <a href="https://twitter.com/LukeHarperWWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LukeHarperWWE</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DamnationTV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DamnationTV</a>:<br>97%<br>Harper’s beard hairs command the screen. The gravely tone of his voice doesn’t grate, nay, it titillates. He has a good neck on him and is clearly comfortable on the top rope. Nude scene would push his grade to 100%.</p>— ShinigamE (@WWEBigE) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/941528166329409536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE recently signed a new tv deal with IB Sports channel for South Korea. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114212/wwe-announces-new-deal-that-will-bring-live-programming-to-south-korea.html?p=1
Alexa Bliss currently denying she opposes Net Neutrality after people noticed she favored a tweet from Paul Ryan who favored its removal. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7k2van/alexa_bliss_on_twitter_when_youre_reading_up_on/
NFL Network recently hired Summer Rae to be a host for their Fantasy Football show on the network. https://twitter.com/Michael_Fabiano/status/941550898433724416
Starsport had a recent interview with Ric Flair talking about Randy Orton not wanting to have a Cena-like role in the WWE, Cena being booed by fans, and who he thinks are currently the best performers in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1215/635009/ric-flair-on-randy-orton-and-john-cena-roles-with-wwe/
ESPN had a recent interview with Dalton Castle talking about Cody leaving the WWE, Cody being similar to him, and going from a fan to a wrestler in ROH. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1215/635008/dalton-castle-on-skepticism-towards-cody-rhodes-coming-to-roh/
During a recent interview with NBC Sports, Triple H implied the reason he defeated Jinder in India was due to the WWE feeling he was more popular and deserving of the win for their match. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1215/634994/triple-h-reveals-why-he-beat-jinder-mahal-at-wwe-live-event-in/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Rich Swann Update, Finn Balor “fOreVER” Shirt, More (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-rich-swann-update-finn-balor-forever-shirt-more/)
Macaulay Culkin Interferes in Wrestling Match Using Home Alone Antics (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/macaulay-culkin-interferes-in-wrestling-match-using-home-alone-antics/)
Enzo Amore Refuses to Remove “Penis Signature” From Driver’s License (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/enzo-amore-refuses-to-remove-penis-signature-from-drivers-license/)

Emperor Smeat

12-19-2017, 10:04 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Drifter's Denial of a Hug It Out Moment:
https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/elias-bayley.gif?w=650

A weaker NFL game than last week saw Raw increase four percent to 2.78 million viewers last night.

Unlike last week where they loaded up the third hour and it was the second hour that had a big decline, this week had two normal hours and a huge third hour decline.

The third hour did the second lowest number since June. Raw is often helped coming off a PPV but logically, even with the Shane McMahon/Daniel Bryan intrigue, that should not help the Raw number ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.09 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.80 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.47 million viewers

With New Japan Pro Wrestling having no more shows between now and the Tokyo Dome, the full card for Wrestle Kingdom 12 has been revealed.

There will be 10 matches on the show. Most of those had already been announced going into NJPW's Road to Tokyo Dome events, but two more title matches and the pre-show Rumble have now been confirmed.

NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki will officially defend his title against Hirooki Goto in a hair vs. hair match, with another stipulation being that no other wrestlers will be at ringside for it. The NEVER Six-Man Tag Team titles will also be on the line in a gauntlet match at the Dome ...

The Tokyo Dome will host Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4th. It will air live on NJPW World with English commentary available, then a three-hour special with the top matches will be shown on AXS TV on January 6th. Here's the full lineup for the show:

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Tetsuya Naito
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Chris Jericho in a no DQ match
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Jay White
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Marty Scurll defending against Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA, and Hiromu Takahashi in a four-way match
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defending against Hirooki Goto in a hair vs. hair match
IWGP Tag Team Champions Killer Elite Squad defending against SANADA & EVIL
Kota Ibushi vs. Cody (w/ Brandi Rhodes)
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bad Luck Fale & Guerrillas of Destiny defending against Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Beretta, Togi Makabe, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi, Michael Elgin & War Machine, and Zack Sabre Jr., Takashi Iizuka & Taichi in a gauntlet match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Sho & Yoh defending against The Young Bucks
The New Japan Rumble (pre-show)

New Japan Pro Wrestling has added a stipulation to Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho's IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship match at the Tokyo Dome.

At a press conference prior to this morning's Road to Tokyo Dome show, NJPW revealed that Omega vs. Jericho would now be a no disqualification match. The stipulation is the result of two angles that took place last week. Jericho first attacked and bloodied Omega at NJPW's World Tag League finals, then Omega tried to get retribution by attacking Jericho during a press conference the next day.

A big name is returning to Raw on next week's holiday edition of the show.

WWE announced tonight that John Cena would be back on television for next Monday's Christmas Day episode of Raw. It will be the first time Cena has been on WWE TV since he was part of SmackDown's men's division team at Survivor Series. Before returning for that pay-per-view, Cena lost to Roman Reigns in September as their feud ended at No Mercy.

Cena is currently still a "free agent" in storyline and can wrestle on both Raw and SmackDown. Next Monday should tell whether he's just being added to give Raw a boost on Christmas or if he'll be on the brand more often as we head into Royal Rumble season.

Next week's Raw will take place in Chicago, Illinois and will be the first time the show has ever aired live on Christmas Day. The following Monday, Raw will also air live from Miami, Florida on New Year's Day.

Dean Ambrose has a legitimate right elbow injury even though on television it appeared to be an angle.

We're not sure of the severity of the injury but he came to television hurt and the show was rewritten to cover for it.

WWE ran an article on their website this afternoon, featuring an update on Dean Ambrose's arm injury.

“An MRI has shown suspicion for a high-grade triceps tendon injury, possibly a tear, so he is undergoing surgical exploration and most likely surgical repair of the torn triceps tendon,” WWE's Dr. Chris Amann told the website “That surgery will be happening later this evening, and we should have some further updates either later tonight or tomorrow morning as to what the findings were, what the structures that were damaged were, and also a timeline for recovery.”

Tom Zenk, a bodybuilder turned wrestler who was one of the most popular guests on Wrestling Observer Live after his career in wrestling ended, passed away on December 9th at the age of 59.

Few details are available at this point other than he passed away at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

A member of the WWE main roster is set to wrestle for PCW (Preston City Wrestling) in February.

PCW announced today that Apollo Crews would be taking part in their Road to Glory 2018 tournament on February 10th. PCW noted that Crews is returning for one night only and thanked WWE, Triple H, and William Regal for allowing him to do so.

When he was still known as Uhaa Nation before heading to WWE, Crews held the PCW Heavyweight Championship from November 2014 to March 2015. He joins Zack Sabre Jr. as the first two wrestlers who have been confirmed for the tournament.
Link: https://twitter.com/PCW_UK/status/942140006747066370

With Tribute to the Troops airing on the USA Network as part of WWE Week, WWE and Impact Wrestling went head-to-head in the ratings this past Thursday night.

And the results weren't good for Impact. This week's show averaged 161,000 viewers, the lowest number for a new episode of Impact since debuting on Pop TV. It was even lower than the audience for the Thanksgiving edition of Impact this year, which did 169,000 viewers. Earlier this month, Impact did 226,000 viewers for the December 7th episode.

The first-ever women's Royal Rumble match will be taking place next month.

Though few other details were announced, Stephanie McMahon appeared at the end of tonight's episode of Raw to reveal the news. She mentioned the evolution of WWE's women's division and the times they've made history over the last few years. She then said the first all-women's Royal Rumble match will take place at next month's pay-per-view.

Both Raw and SmackDown wrestlers will be featured in the women's Royal Rumble

Becky Lynch posted the poster below on Instagram stories showing a poster for the women's Royal Rumble match featuring RAW and SmackDown stars as well as Billie Kay, Peyton Royce and Ronda Rousey, which has got some fans talking. It should be noted that the poster is fan-art, and WWE obviously wouldn't have Rousey on the poster only to put her way in the back. However, as Marc noted earlier, Dave Meltzer did state on Wrestling Observer Radio that there are women who are scheduled to be in the match that believe that Rousey will be a part of it. We did speculate on last night's episode of the Wrestling Inc. podcast right after RAW that we could see Rousey winning the Rumble and Asuka winning the RAW Women's Championship from Alexa Bliss, which would lead to Asuka defending against Rousey at WrestleMania 34.

As noted, the women's Royal Rumble match will feature RAW and SmackDown Superstars competing for a women's title shot at WrestleMania 34. There's speculation on WWE NXT Superstars and stars from the past being brought in for the match but that has not been confirmed.

WWE announced a first-time ever in Mongolia with a two hour edited version of Raw airing on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Smackdown airing Sunday at 11 a.m. on SPS HD, Mongolia's leading sports channel. It will be available in the country in both English and Mongolian. It will also be available for 14 days on video-on-demand. This will be the first time WWE has ever had television in Mongolia.

Hideo Itami makes his show debut on 205 Live tonight after appearing on Raw last night.

Elias is the first wrestler announced for next month’s men’s Royal Rumble. He was also the guest on today’s episode of the Steve Austin Show.

WWE celebrated their YouTube channel reaching 20 million subscribers.

The movie "Ferdinand," with John Cena voicing over the lead character is estimated to be doing $13,325,000 in its first weekend out. It was second to Star Wars which is estimated at more than $220 million. Fox 2 in Detroit reviewed it and gave it a thumbs up, saying it was good, but not great as a family film and said they felt sorry for it and every other movie out this weekend.
Elias link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/royalrumble/article/elias-declares-his-intentions-to-enter-to-2018-royal-rumble-match , Austin podcast: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Who-Wants-to-Walk-With-Elias , WWE: http://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-youtube-channel-reaches-20-million-subscribers?sf176712061=1

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyler Bate & Trent Seven for their show at York Hall on January 20th.

Lucha Forever issued a statement saying that they’ll “no longer be a trading company” as of this month and that any future shows have been canceled unless it’s stated otherwise in the message.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega from Dominion won NJPW’s fan-voted Match of the Year award. Omega also won the MVP award.

Style Battle in Brooklyn on January 14th will have Matt Riddle, WALTER, Nick Gage, Joey Janela, Shane Mercer, Kyle The Beast, Joey Lynch, and a wrestler from the last WWN tryout. WALTER vs. Gage is the first match announced for the event, which will take place in the afternoon before an EVOLVE show later that night.

Emma will face Deonna Purrazzo for Northeast Wrestling in Waterbury, Connecticut on March 2nd.

RevPro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/943218467842461697 , Lucha Forever: https://luchaforever.com/ , NJPW: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/943094259879616512 , Okada: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/943096196519751681 , Emma: https://twitter.com/DeonnaPurrazzo/status/943230929123803138

Here's an update from Dave Meltzer on Wally Yamaguchi’s health: “He was out of his coma yesterday after suffering a serious stroke. He was breathing on his own. He has no movement on the right side of his body, but the left side of his body is okay. He can't talk but he can listen and does understand what people are saying. He has improved greatly from the past two days. His former reporters from the heyday of GONG Magazine are there every day with him.”

The word making the rounds at the WWE Performance Center over the last several days is that members of the latest class being signed for WWE NXT, which will be revealed in January are:

*Ricochet aka the former Prince Puma in Lucha Underground, who had been expected to sign for some time. Impact Wrestling had made a run at him, but was unsuccessful.

*Warbeard Hanson and Ray Rowe aka War Machine in ROH. It is believed the team (who were not under contract) finished up with the promotion at Final Battle and the Philadelphia TV taping the following day. They will finish up with New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom.

There are other names circulating as well as potentially being signed, including a very prominent female independent talent.

While promoting his new animated film Ferdinand, John Cena was asked by The Independent in the UK about the idea that WWE "isn't good anymore" and whether that belief is simply those missing the Attitude Era being nostalgic for that time period. Cena gave a long response, noting that WWE, as a product, is unique is that it appeals to all age ranges and transcends all nationalities and religions.

During the interview, Cena pointed out, "What I love the most about it - next time you watch - so they always shoot the ring in a certain way, it's called the hard camera shot. Look beyond everything, look at the audience, that's the perfect picture of what I love, it's everybody. And that's why - I mean you wanna go deep down the rabbit hole - that's why everybody nowadays is polarising, because our audience is too big, so that's one of the problems that we have to fix but at the same time it's a great problem because if your audience is the world how are you going to please everybody?" Cena then pointed out that in the Attitude Era they were playing to a certain male demographic, therefore it was easier to nail what worked and what didn't.
Link to the interview: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interviews/john-cena-interview-wwe-wwf-attitude-era-backlash-response-fan-reaction-ferdinand-a8116826.html?amp&__twitter_impression=true

Some other sheet news includes:

Vince McMahon is currently rumored to be reviving the XFL with speculation of it being targeted towards those boycotting the NFL due to the kneeling issue. Also speculated Vince wants Trump to give his official approval as a way to generate more appeal. https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/rumors-vince-mcmahon-reviving-xfl-get-mainstream-media-buzzing-248066
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast show had Jim Ross as the guest talking about Nakamura on Smackdown, Matt Hardy's "Woken" character, talent working with Vince McMahon, and who he would sign today for the WWE. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114300/jim-ross-comments-on-what-talents-hed-recruit-to-wwe-today-why-its-important-to-build-a-relationship-with-vince-mcmahon-matt-hardy-and-more.html?p=1
According to reports, former WWE wrestler AJ Lee will be having a tv series made based on her autobiography book called "Crazy Is My Superpower." http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1219/635135/aj-lee-crazy-is-my-superpower-book-being-made-into-a-tv-show/
The list of matches for WWE's upcoming Best of RAW & Smackdown 2017 DVD set was recently revealed by website WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1219/635132/asuka-reacts-to-royal-rumble-news-video/
Recent episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast show had "Fake"/nWo Sting as the guest talking about his character's creation, joining the nWo, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1219/635129/the-former-nwo-sting-talks-the-original-concept-for-his-gimmick/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, "Mean" Gene Okerlund celebrated his 75th birthday day.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Rockstar Spud Backstage at SmackDown (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/rockstar-spud-backstage-at-smackdown/)
Randy Orton Possibly Taking a Couple of Months Off (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/randy-orton-possibly-taking-a-couple-of-months-off/)
Various: Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan on Twitter, McGregor Says “F*** WWE” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/various-becky-lynch-vs-liv-morgan-on-twitter-mcgregor-says-f-wwe/)
WWE: Lesnar’s Rumble Opponents, The Revival Returns, Main Event Results (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-the-revival-returns-main-event-results-big-men-breaking-tables-video/)

Emperor Smeat

12-20-2017, 09:26 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Jolly Rusev Claus:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/cedf45163ba80913a5eab4f0026bd164/tumblr_p18w5uugzR1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

The 12/19 edition of Smackdown Live did 2,578,000 overnight viewers, well up from last week's 2,481,000overnight viewers.

Three months after the end of their partnership with FloSlam, WWN has launched a new on-demand service.

The service, named "Club WWN," will cost $9.99 per month (with the first month free for subscriptions that begin by January 31st) and will include on-demand access to shows from EVOLVE, Shine, Style Battle, FIP, Dragon Gate USA, and other WWN promotions. The service doesn't include access to live iPPVs. Shows will be added approximately two weeks after they take place, and subscribers get a 50 percent discount on iPPV purchases.

When asked about the two-week delay, Gabe Sapolsky tweeted: "It is the best we can do as a small business at the $9.99 price. If we get a huge response, can consider other options, but right now it's impossible for us to give live iPPVs at that price. We are trying to follow PROGRESS [Wrestling's] model with this."
Link to announcement: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Game-Changing-Announcement-Is----.html?soid=1103872774606&aid=gg5V5f5tpDM , tweet: https://twitter.com/BookItGabe/status/943586466306850816

AXS TV officially announced today that Jim Ross and Josh Barnett have signed new contracts and will continue to host New Japan Pro Wrestling on the station.

"I'm excited to be returning to AXS TV, and with my partner, Josh Barnett, we look forward to another exciting year with AXS TV and their NJPW programming," Ross said. "NJPW has some of the finest athletes in the world performing for them and it's an honor to be able to add a narrative to their bouts."

WWN announced this morning to Sports Illustrated that Will Ospreay will be returning to the promotion and wrestle two dates over WrestleMania weekend.

Ospreay will be on the April 5th EVOLVE show and the April 6th WWN Supershow. Gabe Sapolsky told Sports Illustrated that on the latter show, he's 90 percent sure that he's putting Ospreay against Matt Riddle. Ospreay and Riddle had their first singles match against each other for PROGRESS Wrestling last year.
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/12/20/wwe-news-chris-jericho-kenny-omega-daniel-cormier

A number of PWInsider.com readers have noticed that Will Ospreay is being announced for independent events outside of Ring of Honor for Wrestlemania week in New Orleans. The word is that when his ROH deal expires, he will begin taking independent dates again, as opposed to being exlcusive to ROH. Whether this means he has officially departed the company, I do not know. There are many cases of talents who continue working for Ring of Honor after their deals expire.

In regard to the much discussed Cody Rhodes/Young Bucks self-financed event in a 10,000 venue, we are told the current plan is for it will be in the Chicago area.

WWE sources have told PWInsider.com that after last night's Smackdown Live, United States champion Dolph Ziggler will not be appearing on upcoming Smackdown episodes but as of this afternoon, is still scheduled to be working live events. It appears that he will be off TV to sell last night's angle.

Former TNA Director Michael Vedder has returned to the company and will be replacing Dave Sahadi, who was recently let go by the company, as the lead Director and Producer of television producer.

As noted earlier this week, tomorrow's Impact Wrestling will be a "Best of 2017" episode. Announced for the first Impact of the year, 1/4/18 is Impact Wrestling champ Eli Drake vs. Alberto el Patron, Impact Wrestling X-Division champion Trevor Lee vs.Taiji Ishimori and James Storm vs. Dan Lambert with the idea that Storm would leave Impact if he loses. I think we all know how that one will go.

Bill Behrens will be working with Impact going forward on getting contracted talents third party bookings.

There has been continued talk within the company that one of the goals for the new year is to try and rebuild their old relationship with New Japan.

As noted, Dean Ambrose underwent successful surgery to repair a torn triceps on Tuesday but there's still no word yet on when he will be back in action. Ambrose is already being replaced on cards for upcoming WWE live events by Jason Jordan. Jordan is now scheduled to team with Seth Rollins to face RAW Tag Team Champions The Bar at the December 26th WWE live event at Madison Square Garden.

WrestlingInc.com owner Raj Giri recently interviewed hardcore wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer and they discussed the fall of ECW, his time brief stint with TNA, his upcoming House of Hardcore show and much more.

When ECW folded in 2001, Dreamer had hoped the company would survive. He said Paul Heyman's relationship with Vince McMahon is what hindered them from continuing.

"I did think it was going to survive, there were opportunities for it to survive," Dreamer said. "The biggest thing is none of us knew that Paul was in Vince's pocket the whole time, so it couldn't have survived because of that."
Link to the interview: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1220/635164/tommy-dreamer-says-ecw-couldnt-survive-because-paul-heyman-was/

WWE was doing some Virtual Reality testing at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view this past weekend. Justin LaBar, who hosts Chairshot Reality right here on Wrestling Inc., noted that WWE had some extra cameras on the top two ring posts and two outside of the ring for Virtual Reality testing being done.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that only a few people knew that Stephanie McMahon would be announcing the women’s Royal Rumble on Raw and that the wrestlers in the ring weren’t told about it in advance.
Link: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/womens-rumble-left-dark-wwe/#.Wjr4OVQ-cW9

Some other sheet news includes:

Online retailer ProWrestlingTees is currently selling an Omega-Jericho Wrestle Kingdom 12 themed shirt. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114323/pro-wrestling-tees-has-one-sweet-jerichoomega-tshirt.html?p=1
Rolling Stone recently named The Miz as the winner of their 2017 Wrestler of the Year award. https://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/wwe-wrestler-of-the-year-the-miz-w514141
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Chris Jericho talking about keeping his character fresh with fans, NJPW stars upset at Wrestle Kingdom 12 having a double main event, and comparing his current feud with Omega to past feuds. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1220/635173/chris-jericho-on-part-timers/
Rolling Stone had a recent interview with Edge talking about why former WWE wrestlers don't reinvent themselves on the indies, wrestling getting mainstream coverage again, and if social media is a hindrance to a wrestler's persona. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1220/635155/edge-on-not-being-interested-in-social-media-at-first/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Dean Ambrose Undergoes Surgery on Torn Triceps (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/dean-ambrose-undergoes-surgery-on-torn-triceps/)
WWE: Kalisto Hit With Water Bottle, SD Dark Matches, “Wrestler of the Year” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-kalisto-hit-with-water-bottle-smackdown-dark-matches-wrestler-of-the-year/)
WWE 205 Live Results – Dec. 19, 2017 – Alexander vs. Gulak (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-205-live-results-dec-19-2017-alexander-vs-gulak/)

Emperor Smeat

12-21-2017, 11:13 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev Claus Dislike of Pancakes:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/86629b620412e80e8ad8bcc01632dfbe/tumblr_p18vydLZuJ1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

In a move that could indicate a big step toward getting involved with professional football, WWE chairman Vince McMahon sold 3.34 million Class A common shares of company stock Thursday for what could be in the ballpark of $100+ million dollars ...

"The shares sold by Mr. McMahon represent approximately 4.3% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. After the sale, Mr. McMahon beneficially owns 32,193,375 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock, which represents approximately 82.8% of the Company’s total voting power and approximately 41.8% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of common stock."
One side effect of the huge sell by Vince to fund his potential XFL revival was it also caused WWE stocks to take a hit for the day by almost a dollar.

On 12/16, McMahon applied for five new XFL trademarks, for football games, merchandise, downloadable software, and tons of other items. That would indicate that he's looking at using the XFL name for his football league and not the other names in prior trademarks that were filed in September.

Alberto El Patron spent eight hours earlier this week working to help distribute more than 8,000 toys to needy families in the San Antonio area this Christmas season.

Hot Topic for today only in the stores themselves has 35 percent off all Bullet Club merchandise. That includes the new Chris Jericho "Alpha Club" shirts.

Bar Wrestling after getting all that pub for the Macauley Culkin appearance returns on 1/18 in Baldwin Park, CA with Billy Gunn, Joey Janela, Scorpio Sky, Dan Barry, Bill Carr, Jeff Cobb, Willie Mack, Taya Valkyrie, Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae, Delilah Doom, Brian Cage and more. (thanks to Jake Koch)
El Patron link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114338/alberto-el-patron-raising-money-for-earthquake-victims-in-mexico-more-impact-news.html?p=1

With yesterday's announcement that former WWE and ECW star Taz would be co-hosting a new morning drive radio show for CBS Sports Radio with Marc “The Moose” Malusis, the question remained as to what would happen to The Taz Show, the former ECW World champion's current radio show, which has surpassed 500 episodes.

During a Taz Show podcast episode that was released this morning, Taz stated that The Taz Show was not going to go away and would resume live episodes sometime in January. With his new morning drive show, the Taz Show would air later in the day, likely two days a week, live from New York City.

Taz noted that everything is being worked out, but if that stands, he'll be broadcasting at least 19 hours a week for CBS Sports Radio between the two shows, as opposed to the 10 hours a week he had been doing on The Taz Show.
Link to announcement: http://podcast.radio.com/audio/the-taz-show/

There is talk of Impact taping more content in February at another WrestlePro event in New Jersey.

Ethan Carter III applied to trademark 'EC3' on 12/15.

Also on 12/15, former WCW and WWE developmental star Daffney Unger applied to trademark her name.

On December 19th, the 'Broken Matt Hardy', 'National Wrestling Alliance' and WWE's 'He Hate Me' trademarks officially began their 'opposition to trademark' phases, the last step towards official ownership being assigned to those filing for the trademark.

Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir are no longer training for pro wrestling at this time, and were until not too long ago. That would seem to indicate the Four Horsewoman vs. Four Horsewoman idea for a possible Ronda Rousey debut has been changed. Another indication is that Shayna Baszler is being pushed as a major debut in NXT, for a regular spot, and if they were doing that program, they should debut on television with an association together like originally happened at the Mae Young Classic tapings.

There had been behind-the-scenes buzz that the remake of the Elite promotion hadn’t been paying talent, but nobody had said anything publicly until 12/19 when Garza Jr. said that he, Fuerza Guerrera, Bandido and Charly Manson hadn’t been paid. Two hours later an Elite official claimed Garza was lying and that he had been paid in advance and threatened legal action. He posted a series of text messages he had sent asking for his money. Then the other guy posted a check with the name and date blacked out for 650 pesos which is $34. I mean, that couldn’t have been more incriminating if they had tried. Garza talked about how ridiculous that was to make anyone think he’d work a show for 650 pesos and told people not to work their Christmas show. Then they threatened to sue Garza and would use their contacts to get him fired from Impact which I can’t even imagine happening
Some details regarding the check incident: https://twitter.com/luchablog/status/943264674988150784

Dave Bautista, who turns 49 next month, is very serious about going back for a relatively lengthy (six months to a year) final full-time run. He doesn’t need to do it but it appears it’s something he wants to do. He’s doing well in Hollywood but the problem is if you sign with WWE, they own your contract and if something comes along, the company wanting him will have to negotiate with WWE, which makes the deal more difficult. As far as doing a thing like Goldberg or Lesnar where he works a few dates as a big attraction, that makes all the sense in the world, but he’s talking a more regular schedule. The last time he was in WWE, he noted how much more he enjoyed doing house shows than television, so that may play into it, but he didn’t work a full house show schedule. Plus, I’m not sure what you would do if he’s there for a year as a weekly character. Jericho can get away with it, but Jericho is a far more versatile performer and more entertaining, and also Jericho doesn’t care about winning and losing and is fine working midcard away from the title scene as long as he can be creative, since he has the mentality he’ll get anything he’s in over

Speaking of Batista, at one point he was talked about for the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame, but the feeling is if he’s coming back, that would be delayed, but he’s not on the list. Brad Shepard, who broke the XFL story, listed five people as being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year as Bill Goldberg, The Dudleys, Bam Bam Bigelow, Kid Rock and Ivory. The XFL story was legit, even if it could be another name used. The list seems believable to me since we’d heard Goldberg as the probable headliner for some time, as well as the Dudleys names being talked about. We had not heard the other names.

We’d been told many in the company were wanting Jim Johnston, but they’ve never inducted a guy who wasn’t on-camera talent (even James Dudley, who worked closely with Vince’s father dating back to the 50s, did have a run as a manager and was inducted as a “manager extraordinaire” as Vince put it even though almost nobody even remembered his brief role as a performer). I don’t know that it can’t happen, and obviously it should happen given the importance of entrance music and the iconic nature of many of the tunes he put together, but the political nature of his being gone this year would seem to make that awkward

Mahal in a video confirmed that he tore his labrum in his right shoulder back in September but continued to work on it, but he had to cut way down on the amount of weight he could use, although he said he’s okay now. Still, his body looks very different today from when he first won the title and before when the decision was made to push him

Regarding Rich Swann, he and his wife, Vannarah Riggs (who wrestles as Su Yung) were back together by midweek if not earlier and were said to be doing well. Friends knew and she made it public writing on Facebook, “I can not wait to see my husband tomorrow. After such an awesome weekend of wrestling debuting in two different promotions across America, nothing would be better than to see his face.” I would suspect that she won’t be pressing charges. Ian Pickens, Swann’s attorney told Alex Marvez at The Sporting News that no charges have been officially filed and that the state attorney will make their decision on whether to file the charges. If no charges are filed legally, WWE may bring him back, but I don’t know if that would be a certainty. In theory, no charges should mean the slate is clean and he should return, but given the time we’re living in, they could simply decide not to use him

All the stuff last week about creating history when Bliss and Banks wrestled in Abu Dhabi was untrue as it turns out. There have likely been women wrestling on independent shows in Abu Dhabi before, but even if not, TNA ran on November 29, 2010 in Abu Dhabi and one of the matches on the show was Madison Rayne & Sarita vs. Velvet Sky & Angelina Love. The funny thing is Sarita actually works for WWE now as a coach so they should be aware of that. But they write their own history all the time. On television this week, Stephanie McMahon, when pushing the narrative, changed it from the first time women had wrestled in the Middle East to the first time WWE women had wrestled. If you consider Egypt part of the Middle East, and almost everyone does, that wouldn’t be correct either as WWE has had a women’s match in Egypt. So by the time Smackdown rolled around, it had been qualified again to the first women’s championship match in the Middle East

WWE has filed a claim for $6,105.40 against Scott Levy (Raven) and Marcus Bagwell (Buff Bagwell) for costs of depositions and transcripts in the lawsuit that was dropped. As noted, the case was dropped with no money going to Levy and Bagwell and before the case itself was discussed based on the WWE filing a countersuit against Levy and him backing off, and statements made by Bagwell which basically ruined his case

The most-watched shows for the week on WWE Network were: 1. Clash of Champions; 2. Clash of Champions Talking Smack; 3. Clash of Champions pre-show; 4. NXT on 12/13 (notable because this was the show that aired on USA, and based on its placing, it likely did the same or more viewers even though it aired on USA); 5. Table for 3 with Balor and Hardys; 6. 205 Live from 12/12 (up from usual); 7. This Week in WWE; 8. Replay of a Raw episode from about a month ago; 9. Ride Along with Breeze & Fandango; 10. WWE Main Event (which almost never cracks top 20)

Kalisto got injured as a result of being struck in the face by a water bottle that a fan threw on this week's episode of 205 Live from Newark, New Jersey.

The incident occurred as Kalisto was laying outside of the ring to sell a beatdown from Gentleman Jack Gallagher and The Brian Kendrick (teaming with Gran Metalik against Kendrick and Gallagher, the match got ruled a disqualification after Kendrick attacked Kalisto while Gallagher was the legal man).

The incident got caught on camera and shows a water bottle bouncing off the floor and nailing Kalisto in the mouth.

According to Kalisto's wife in a post on Instagram on Thursday, the assault required stitches and an MRI. She also speculates that her husband may have suffered a fracture.

A fan tweeted William Regal and asked if he could wrestle one person from either the current main roster or NXT, who would he pick? Regal went with Shinsuke Nakamura.

@RealKingRegal if you could have one more match (which you can!) with anyone on the current @WWE or @WWENXT roster who would you pick?
— Alex Fernandez (@superfernandez1) December 20, 2017

@ShinsukeN
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) December 21, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

For those in Canada, the ESPN 30 For 30 Ric Flair documentary will air at 7PM EST on December 22nd on channel TSN 2.
WWE's website recently listed their Top 25 Matches of 2017. http://www.wwe.com/article/top-25-matches-of-2017
NBC Sports had a recent interview with Sasha Banks talking about which legend she wants to see in the Women's Rumble, being the face of WWE, and not being handed moments by the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1221/635196/sasha-banks-on-wanting-to-be-the-face-of-wwe/
Orlando Sentinel had a recent interview with AJ Styles talking about playing video games with other WWE stars, his debut at last year's Rumble, and being proud at having quality matches. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1221/635192/aj-styles-on-royal-rumble-debut/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Wrestlers Did Not Know About Women’s Royal Rumble Announcement (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wrestlers-did-not-know-about-womens-royal-rumble-announcement-beforehand/)
Brock Lesnar’s Upcoming Schedule, Cena & Lesnar on 25th Anniversary Raw (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/brock-lesnars-upcoming-schedule-cena-and-lesnar-on-25th-anniversary-raw/)
Raw and SmackDown to Be Commercial Free for First Hour Next Week (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/raw-and-smackdown-to-be-commercial-free-for-first-hour-next-week/)

Cool King

12-22-2017, 03:41 PM

Whoa, spoiler tags for the HoF stuff.

Cool King

12-22-2017, 03:41 PM

It's a bit late now though, I'm sure I caught a few names. :(

Emperor Smeat

12-22-2017, 10:39 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ziggy's Walkout of the Sheets:
https://i.giphy.com/media/3o7526YpQXVGyyGGnS/giphy.gif

Kalisto appears to have been injured when a fan threw a water bottle at him on Tuesday's episode of 205 Live.

The bottle was thrown at Kalisto while he was laying outside the ring after he had teamed with Gran Metalik against Jack Gallagher & Brian Kendrick. The faces won by disqualification, with Gallagher & Kendrick continuing to attack them after the match. As Gallagher & Kendrick were walking away, the camera cut to a shot of a bottle, which wasn't empty, bouncing off the ground and hitting Kalisto in the mouth.

Abigail Rodriguez, Kalisto's wife, posted an update yesterday which revealed that Kalisto needed stitches, had an MRI done, and suffered a possible fracture. Rodriguez didn't reveal any specifics about the potential fracture.
Some more details and statements: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/kalisto-injured-after-fan-throws-water-bottle-him-205-live-248486

With Vince McMahon having sold 3.34 million shares of WWE stock yesterday, the stock price fell $2.32 per share to $29.55. I wouldn't consider that anything alarming. There was a key stock analyst downgrade, as Citigroup downgraded from buy to neutral. However, the big picture is the same as it was and as long as the TV negotiations look positive, the company is in a good position to be more profitable. If it was WWE starting a new football league and not Vince McMahon on his own, that would be a very different story.

When McMahon sold his stock, he did so at slightly below actual market value so the actual money he got was $95,791,200 and not the $106 million if he had sold the stock at its going rate. He has been selling bits of stock over the years at lower than market value.
Some details via PWI: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114349/noon-update-wwe-stock-continues-to-slide-due-to-vince-mcmahons-xfl-announcement.html?p=1

Zack Sabre Jr. contracted contagious bronchitis and had to pull out of the wXw 17th anniversary show tomorrow night in Oberhausen, Germany. The promotion announced that today, noting Sabre isn't allowed to travel. They were building it around Sabre's first match with the promotion in 16 months. Pete Dunne is being brought in as a replacement to face Marius Al-Ani. However, the match won't be allowed to air on wXw's streaming service. Al-Ani is said to be the most athletic guy on the German scene and a potential breakout star. Bad Bones defends the wXw title against Ilja Dragunov in the main event, while tag champs Walter & Timothy Thatcher face The Young Lions.

An update on the lineup for the MLW show on 1/11 in Orlando, FL at Gilt Nigh Club. So far announced is Shane Strickland vs. Jimmy Havoc in a death match, MVP vs. Low Ki, Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb vs. Tom Lawlor & Seth Petruzelli, Penta 0M vs. Rey Fenix, Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevera, Brody King vs. MJF plus Santana Garrett, Jimmy Yuta Jason Cade, Barrington Hughes, Rhett Giddins, The Dirty Blondes, Saieva Al Sabah and Vandal Ortagun.

Pro Wrestling Revolution on 2/24 in San Jose at Mount Pleasant High School with Ultimo Dragon vs. El Hijo de Trump (Eli Drake) for the PWF title plus Dragon Lee and Titan from CMLL appear.

Wrestle Pro runs 2/3 in Rahway, NJ at the Rec Center and will be taping content for Impact using Eli Drake, Matt Sydal, Bobby Lashley, Moose, Alberto el Patron, Sonjay Dutt, Allie, KM, Braxton Sutter, Eddie Edwards and Mario Bokara.

Ed Leslie has released an autobiography called "Brutus Beefcake: Struttin & Cuttin"
Brutus Beefcake link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114348/ed-brutus-beefcake-leslie-releases-autobiography.html?p=1

It appears that TNA founder Jeff Jarrett has completed his rehab as his wife Karen posted a photo of Jarrett back at home and his longtime friend Hermie Sadler wrote on social media about how proud he is of the former WCW and NWA champion:

Today's a big day for @RealJeffJarrett and his family. Wanna say how proud I am of him and thanks to @WWE for their help. Love ya bud.
— Hermie Sadler (@HermieSadler) December 21, 2017

PWInsider.com has confirmed that Jarrett returned home from Tampa, Florida last night.

Jarrett entered a rehab program shortly after it was announced that Impact Wrestling had severed their relationship with him. That came after Jarrett had taken time off from the company for personal reasons. Whether any of this means Jarrett and the company will mend fences and work together again remains to be seen.

Jarrett spent the last two months in the WWE-sponsored rehab, only leaving for two short trips home for family events.

As first reported last month here at PWInsider.com, WWE confirmed that Crockett Promotion's Mid-Atlantic Wrestling would be added to the WWE Network's Vault section next month with 100 hours worth of episodes.

WWE confirmed the PWInsider.com report while announcing the following content listing for the upcoming January WWE Network Collections:

Raw 25: Celebrating 100 Moments

Celebrate an unmatched TV milestone with the greatest moments from Monday Night Raw’s 25-year history ...

New Classic Content: January 2018

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling makes its WWE Network debut with this month’s new on-demand offering. Featuring nearly 100 episodes and over 70 hours of throwback action, travel as far back as 1981 and see the very early careers of WWE Hall of Famers such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair, and more. Enjoy a small taste of the latest offering with this New Classic Content collection, featuring 10 memorable episodes from 1981-1983 ...

Coming in February

• Celebrating Black History

• Alexa Bliss
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114365/midatlantic-wrestling-to-debut-on-wwe-network-next-month-complete-wwe-network-collections-update.html?p=1

The 12/21 "Best Of 2017, Part 1" edition of Impact did 269,000 overnight viewers, well up from last week's abysmal 161,000 overnight viewers.

There's been continued talk of a Total Divas' spinoff titled "The It Couple" based around Miz and Maryse's life in Los Angeles. The series, as it has been pitched, would also feature Dolph Ziggler and musician Ryan Cabrera as well as Maryse's best friend and her mother as regular characters on the series.

Earlier today, Kurt Angle did a Q&A with his fans on Facebook. Here are some of the highlights:

Favorite WWE match of 2017:

" Lesnar vs. [AJ] Styles [at Survivor Series]. Classic!"

[B]The Shield's future:

"The Shield will come together again. Not right now. Bad timing with Roman [Reigns] getting sick and [Dean] Ambrose getting hurt. There will be another reunion. Promise!"

What match got him into the main event scene during his first year with WWE:

"The triple threat versus Triple H and Rock at SummerSlam. It was crucial to my title run. I got my bell rung in that match, but I toughed through it."

Who will win the Women's Royal Rumble match:

"Nia Jax. Need I explain why?"
Link: https://www.facebook.com/realkurtangle/posts/10156959228243047

Director Stephen Merchant announced this week that he has finished WWE Studios' "Fighting with My Family" movie that is based on Paige and her wrestling family, produced by The Rock's Seven Bucks Productions company. PWInsider notes that there are plans to do an advance screening of the movie during WrestleMania 34 Week in New Orleans but there's no word yet on when the movie will be released.

The Rock will make an appearance in the movie as himself. Florence Pugh stars as Paige while Lena Headey of Game of Thrones fame will star as Paige's mother, Sweet Saraya. Nick Frost plays Paige's father while Vince Vaughn appears as WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts and WWE NXT Superstar Zelina Vega (Thea Trinidad) stars as AJ Lee. Indie star Tessa Blanchard was Pugh's stunt double for the in-ring scenes with Trinidad.

The new "Happy Rusev Day" shirts are apparently a big hit. With the exception of the 5XL size, all the other sizes are sold out at WWEShop.com and are expected to be back in-stock on Monday, January 1, 2018.

Today marks 20 years since the nWo took over WCW Monday Nitro for the first-ever (and only) nWo Monday Nitro on December 22, 1997. At the time, WCW was launching Thunder on Thursday nights and the plan was for Nitro to be an nWo-branded show while Thunder would be WCW. Eric Bischoff was set to face Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade that Sunday with the stipulation that Bischoff would get control of Nitro for the nWo if he were to win. The episode above was done as a test and the rating sharply dropped, which caused WCW to quickly change their plans. Zbyszko went on to defeat Bischoff and Nitro remained a WCW-branded show for the rest of its existence.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTC2Axk_znc

Some other sheet news includes:

Observer reported filming for The Marine 6 has finished which means Becky Lynch and The Miz are expected back soon for the WWE.
In another potential sign of the XFL's return, WWE recently had the league's website redirect to a 404 Page instead of WWE's official website. http://xfl.com/
Recent episode of the School of Morton podcast show had One Man Gang as the guest talking about facing Hulk Hogan, memories of the Z-Man, and working with Andre the Giant. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114350/one-man-gang-talks-working-against-andre-the-giant-hulk-hogan-and-more.html?p=1
ESPN had a recent interview with Rey Mysterio talking about his current status, WWE's struggles with 205 Live, and if he wants to return to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1222/635228/rey-mysterio-on-if-he-would-want-to-return-to-wwe/
Mauro Ranallo is currently dealing with a family emergency due to his mother being rushed to a hospital recently. https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/943733049065398272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Big E on Turning Heel, Total Divas, Lucha Underground Schedule (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/various-big-e-on-turning-heel-total-divas-ratings-lucha-underground-schedule/)
Kurt Angle Says Reaction to Jason Jordan Storyline Is Going as Planned (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/kurt-angle-says-reaction-to-jason-jordan-storyline-is-going-as-planned/)
Dean Ambrose Injury Update and Possible Return Time Frame (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/dean-ambrose-injury-update-and-possible-return-time-frame/)

Lock Jaw

12-22-2017, 11:07 PM

In another potential sign of the XFL's return, WWE recently had the league's website redirect to a 404 Page instead of WWE's official website. http://xfl.com/

So, did someone hear the rumours of the XFL coming back and then just kept trying to go the website and then jumped into action to report that it had an error message now?

Just imagining someone constantly refreshing XFL.com

Juan

12-23-2017, 02:36 AM

Shocked that 3XL and 4XL sizes sold out

Mr. Nerfect

12-25-2017, 11:44 PM

Rusev is such a glorious man. For a long time, he has reminded me of Steve Austin. I can't put my finger on exactly why. If they just got out of his way, he could be a huge star.

Emperor Smeat

12-26-2017, 10:59 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Hawkins reaction to the sheet news:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/3c2a6e159ee8dec8458170545d19b366/tumblr_p1lfdsPAdL1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Though he was injured when a fan threw a water bottle at him on 205 Live last Tuesday, Kalisto didn't miss any time because of it.

Kalisto was back in the ring before Raw went on the air last night and got a win against Tony Nese on Main Event. Abigail Rodriguez, Kalisto's wife, had posted on her social media accounts last week that Kalisto needed stitches and had an MRI done due to the water bottle being thrown at him. The bottle, which wasn't empty, bounced off the ground and hit him in the mouth.

According to a tweet from a WWE employee, the person who threw the bottle was caught by security.

“WWE Photo Shoot” with The Miz will debut after Raw next Monday. The concept of the series is wrestlers being shown pictures from throughout their career and telling stories about them. WWE has already uploaded the episode online.

Johnny Gargano surprised his parents by giving them his first action figure before it’s released in stores.

Last night's show wasn't commercial-free in the first hour for at least some international markets. The same will likely be true for SmackDown tonight.

Jack Gallagher picked his top 10 video games of the year for Giant Bomb.

Chris Harrington found that Jimmy Uso is the new iron man of WWE (someone who is wrestling the most without taking a break of 40 days) after Dean Ambrose’s injury.
New show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeO4C8e4pjw , Gargano: https://twitter.com/JohnnyGargano/status/945458293392191488 , Reigns: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2017-12-25/article/roman-reigns-fined , Gallagher: https://www.giantbomb.com/articles/jack-gallaghers-top-10-games-of-2017/1100-5662/ , Uso: https://twitter.com/mookieghana/status/945719997774655489

NJPW will be making a video game-related announcement at their fan festival on January 3rd.

NJPW has a hype video for Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White at the Tokyo Dome with English subtitles. There’s also a video for the four-way Junior Heavyweight title match.

wXw uploaded WALTER vs. Ilja Dragunov from the 2017 16 Carat Gold Finals for free for 24 hours. It got some praise as one of the best matches of the year.

Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb will be part of Fight Club: PRO’s 2018 Dream Tag Team Invitational.
NJPW game: https://www.njpw1972.com/19643 , Tanahashi-White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHQ33nl_CQM , 4-Way Jr title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7kh6kyjans , wXw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoWyWAo4Ci4 , Fight Club PRO: https://twitter.com/Fightclubpro/status/945383476873846786

The first major match between Brock Lesnar and Kane is now being advertised for the January 27th house show in Baltimore, which is the night before the Royal Rumble.

Lesnar has been added to the card as a replacement since the main selling point locally, The Shield in a six-man tag, is off due to the injury to Dean Ambrose.

Local advertising is billing it as the first-ever meeting between the two in a Universal Championship match.

The original main event, as was the case with most house shows in January, was The Shield vs, Sheamus, Cesaro & Samoa Joe. It's now being broken up as Roman Reigns defending the Intercontinental title against Joe, and Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending the Tag Team titles against Sheamus & Cesaro.

Lesnar's next appearance on WWE television will be on the New Year's Day episode of Raw. He'll be on the show to further the build to his triple threat title defense against Kane and Braun Strowman at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

NXT wrestlers Alexander Wolfe (formerly Axel Tischer) and Marcel Barthel (formerly Axel Dieter Jr.) returned for a surprise one-time appearance at wXw's 17th anniversary show in Oberhausen, Germany today. They made the save for their former Ringkampf stablemates WALTER and Timothy Thatcher against the RISE stable.

After Alexander Wolfe and Marcel Barthel appeared for wXw yesterday, Kairi Sane returned to Stardom for an appearance today to say goodbye to Yoko Bito as Bito is retiring.

Kassius Ohno is also in Japan (since Rachael Ellering is wrestling for Stardom) and was spotted at the most recent DDT show.

Finn Balor tweeted about Raw being live on Christmas: “Its always hard leaving home, even harder on Xmas eve. I told my mum ‘I’m sorry that we have RAW on Xmas day & I have to go wrestle’ She replied ‘Well isn’t it better than you NOT being able to go wrestle on raw on Xmas day!’ Perspective”
Sane: https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/944904603455258624 , Ohno: https://twitter.com/narukiroy/status/944778963838226433 , Balor: https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/944978227038244864

NJPW released the official promo video for Wrestle Kingdom 12.

NJPW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnhujUGb6j4

With Money in the Bank scheduled to be a dual-brand show in 2018, it appears that there will be an NXT TakeOver special in conjunction with the weekend.

Dave Meltzer reported in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that an NXT TakeOver show is currently planned for June 16th, 2018 in Chicago, which is one day before Money in the Bank will take place at the Allstate Arena. With the already announced "big four" weekend specials, the addition of another show means that there are five TakeOvers scheduled for next year.

Any word lately about Neville? Is he simply waiting for his WWE contract to expire??

There was a little movement a month or two ago, but nothing since. Generally WWE can suspend contracts with talents that are hurt or not working so if that is the case, he could be waiting a long time. If he wants out he should talk to management about getting a release.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about the status of Neville. Seems WWE is just going to wait till Neville's contract expires before letting him go.

The territory system was massive before Vince McMahon decided to take New York to a global entity. We always hear about Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, AWA, & WCCW and the impact they all had on the wrestling business. Which other territories, in your opinion, doesn't get the credit they deserve? Which are overlooked and underappreciated?

The UWF under Bill Watts comes to mind. That was a company that could have gone national as a wrestling product but the oil recession in their territory hurt their business. I always loved Memphis Wrestling. It was a highlight of my week, always fun to watch. Portland Wrestling was really good too, as were Georgia and Calgary.
Also from PWI's weekly Q&A articles about underappreciated wrestling promotions.

What is the status of ITV's World of Sport? There was so much hype that it would be brought back in the UK. What happened?

They cancelled their tapings in April and nothing has been announced since. Their twitter account hasn’t posted in over six months. At this point is seems as if it’s on hiatus, at best. If/when WWE starts their UK territory my guess is it will stay on hiatus.
Final tidbit from PWI's recent weekly Q&A articles this time about ITV's World of Sport

SpikeTV, which was the home for Monday Night Raw when WWE partnered with Viacom and then later became the home for TNA/Impact Wrestling, will end on 1/18/18, replaced by The Paramount Network. It would have been a completely different world for Impact had Dixie Carter accepted a lower rate for the company in 2014 instead of pushing for a raise, which led to SpikeTV moving on, setting the stage for Impact to go Destination America, PopTV and eventually being sold to Anthem Media.

WWE has a new poll asking fans which victorious Superstar had the merriest Christmas on last night's RAW. As of this writing, 60% voted for new RAW Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan while 14% voted for John Cena, 9% for Braun Strowman, 8% for Absolution, 4% for Finn Balor, 2% for Samoa Joe, 1% for Hideo Itami, 1% for Kane and 1% for the team of Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali.

Some other sheet news includes:

Ratings and viewership for RAW has been delayed by a day due to this week's Christmas holiday.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 34th anniversary of The Iron Sheik defeating then champion Bob Backlund for the WWF title at MSG in New York City.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Rusev celebrated his 32nd birthday yesterday.
Based on early betting odds, John Cena is currently favored to win next year's Royal Rumble followed by Roman Reigns. In terms of Smackdown, Shinsuke Nakamura currently has the best odds at winning for the brand and is #3 overall.
The next episode of WWE Network's newest show called "WWE Photo Shoot" will air at 11:36PM next Monday and feature Ceasro as the guest.
Recent episode of School of Morton podcast show had Tommy Dreamer as the guest talking about forgiving Paul Heyman and ECW's demise, working for Vince McMahon, and favorite part about working backstage for the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1225/635267/tommy-dreamer-on-working-for-vince-mcmahon/
NewsHub held a recent interview with Charlotte talking about NXT, her wrestling debut, NXT's Four Horsewomen, first ever Women's Rumble, and possibly facing Ronda Rousey at Mania 34. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1225/635278/charlotte-on-becky-lynch-possibly-winning-the-rumble/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Brian Kendrick Injured After Being Hit With Hideo Itami’s “Go to Sleep” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/brian-kendrick-injured-after-being-hit-with-hideo-itamis-go-to-sleep/)
WWE: Women’s Rumble, Sami for Syria, Rusev Day, Christmas Video (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-womens-rumble-sami-for-syria-rusev-day-christmas-video/)
WWE Says Dean Ambrose Will Be Out for Nine Months (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-says-dean-ambrose-will-be-out-for-nine-months/)
WWE Fastlane PPV Main Event Possibly Revealed (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-fastlane-ppv-main-event-possibly-revealed/)

Emperor Smeat

12-27-2017, 10:22 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Simon System bodybuilding supplements, now available at the TPWW Store for the low price of $9.99:
https://media1.tenor.com/images/cbfb4b4e5d54b327483b6070430d2564/tenor.gif

Even with coming on Christmas night and against a strong NFL audience, Raw only dropped three percent from last week with 2.69 million viewers ...

Unlike Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, which traditionally do bad numbers, Christmas doesn't seem too bad and New Year's night historically has done okay, as it's a big night for overall television viewing, but usually has strong college football competition.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.95 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.62 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.54 million viewers

RAW also lucked out of NFL having a poor choice of games for the night and avoiding going against Cavs-Warriors for the NBA's set of games. Wasn't as lucky for rankings since their highest hour was #6.

Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura have been officially announced for the 2018 Royal Rumble match. They join Elias as the only wrestlers to be confirmed for it so far. Ruby Riott and Natalya will be in the women’s Rumble, joining Naomi and Asuka as the first four announced for it.

Hideo Itami tweeted that he hopes Brian Kendrick gets well soon after accidentally breaking Kendrick’s nose and orbital bone with a GTS on Raw. Itami used the Rings of Saturn, which Neville had been using prior to his absence, instead of the GTS for the finish of his match against Jack Gallagher on 205 Live.

AJ Styles, Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Jinder Mahal was the dark match after SmackDown and 205 Live last night. Daniel Bryan was the special guest referee for it and did a comedy spot where he ran the ropes with Zayn.

Goldberg, Cesaro, and Zelina Vega are all celebrating their birthday today. Goldberg turned 51, Cesaro turned 37, and Vega is now 27.

Mae Young Classic participant Jazzy Gabert (Alpha Female) will be the guest on Friday’s episode of the Edge & Christian podcast.
Itami: https://twitter.com/HideoItami/status/946098692116725760 , Bryan: https://twitter.com/coupdebanks/status/945920565042323456 , Gabert: https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/status/946080928153161728

Sports Illustrated spoke to Kenny Omega about Wrestle Kingdom 12 and his upcoming match with Chris Jericho. Omega said he wants it to be a wake-up call to both NJPW and WWE and hopes it will lead to more crossover between the companies for the sake of good business. He claimed the match will “evoke a new kind of emotion from people watching.”

The Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact main event from Bound for Glory, which featured interference from Alberto El Patron, will air on Thursday’s best of 2017 episode of Impact.

Impact won’t be shown on Spike TV in the UK this week, but the recap episode and a new show will air on January 5th.

XWA UK has started to put their events on Pro Wrestling: EVE’s on-demand service, including Kota Ibushi’s appearance from earlier this year and Keith Lee vs. Daisuke Sekimoto.

Omega: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/12/27/wwe-news-kenny-omega-chris-jericho , Impact: http://impactwrestling.com/best-2017-part-2/ , XWA UK: https://eveondemand.pivotshare.com/categories/xwa-wrestling/9534/media

A six woman tag during the WWE Holiday Tour at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island was halted after Paige was taken out by a kick to the back of her neck from Sasha Banks and went down.

According to several readers, Paige had her back to Banks and it appeared she didn't realize the kick was coming. Paige was out of the ring for a long time following a neck surgery in 2016.

The match was stopped and officials immediately tended to Paige, who was walked to the back after several minutes. WWE officials had brought a stretcher to ringside but Paige was walked out.

The scene was described as "awkward" and "serious" and did not appear to be the planned finish for the match.

PWInsider.com is working on additional details. Stay tuned.

With the Carolina Panthers now for sale, do you think Vince may try to buy them instead of relaunching the XFL?

There are a lot of rumors out there saying that may be his goal with the stock sale. He may want to buy the Panthers, and he is originally from the area, but he will need a lot more than 100 million dollars. Forbes has them valued at $2.3 billion so Vince would need a lot more money to make that purchase on his own. It could be that he wants to be a minority partner. If so, I don’t understand why he would need to form a new company to do that. From where I sit, buying into an NFL team is not something that would drive away stockholders. Starting the XFL again? Obviously that would be. My hope is that if it's a decision between buying the Panthers or retstarting the XFL, he does the former.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about the growing speculation Vince is buying a NFL team instead of reviving the XFL.

Ring of Honor announced a Fan Appreciation sale that is now ongoing, featuring up to 35% off on shirts, DVDs and more at this link.

After their great Final Battle PPV, the promotion will hold its first TV taping of 2018 in Nashville, TN on 1/20/18 at the Nashville Fairgrounds.
Link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/shop

Some other sheet news includes:

Smackdown's ratings and viewership for this week has been delayed till tomorrow.
TV Insider had a recent interview with Jim Ross talking about calling matches with Jerry Lawler and Vince, working with Macho Man, the 1-2-3 Kid vs Razor Ramon match, and missing out calling Foley's 1st WWE title victory. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1227/635343/jim-ross-on-wwe-raw-moment-he-regrets-missing/
MLive had a recent interview with Kevin Owens talking about the reactions he wants from fans, HBK, and his Hell in a Cell match against Shane. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1227/635339/kevin-owens-on-getting-reactions-like-roman-reigns-and-john-cena/
During a recent interview with The Orlando Sentinel, Laurel Van Ness reveals her current contract with Impact Wrestling expires June 2018. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1227/635329/laurel-van-ness-on-when-her-impact-wrestling-contract-expires/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Omega Says Nakamura Hasn’t Done Been Compelling In-Ring Yet in WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/kenny-omega-says-nakamura-hasnt-done-anything-compelling-in-ring-yet-in-wwe/)
WWE: Matt Hardy Uses Piano Theme, SD Dark Matches, SD Title Picture (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-matt-hardy-uses-piano-theme-sd-dark-matches-sd-title-picture/)
WWE Confirms Brian Kendrick Suffered Broken Orbital Bone and Nose (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-confirms-brian-kendrick-suffered-broken-orbital-bone-and-broken-nose/)

Emperor Smeat

12-28-2017, 10:16 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's Most Prestigious Star Ever ... Vacant:
https://i.imgur.com/gbTKjmb.gif

Paige was checked out by WWE doctors following her match at the Nassau Coliseum but we have not heard she was sent to a local hospital.

The word backstage was that she suffered a stinger when she was kicked from behind by Sasha Banks. If that is the case, I would expect WWE will pull her from the remainder of the live events this week as a precautionary measure, especially given her history with neck issues.

After the first two matches took place on SmackDown this week, WWE has revealed the bracket for the United States Championship tournament.

Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley and Xavier Woods vs. Aiden English are the two remaining matches in the first round. The winner of Ryder vs. Rawley will go on to face Bobby Roode, with the winner of Woods vs. English advancing to face Jinder Mahal.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whjd7kzki7E , Bracket itself: https://www.f4wonline.com/sites/www.f4wonline.com/files/field/image/usbracket.jpg

Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2,656,000 viewers, which was up three percent from last week and nearly matched Raw's ratings on Christmas Day the night before.

SmackDown finished a higher-than-usual third for the night on cable and first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating. For the second straight week, SmackDown was down year-over-year as the December 27th, 2016 episode featured the return of John Cena on a stacked show. That episode is still the only show to beat Raw since the WWE draft edition of SmackDown that kicked off the brand split.

SmackDown finished 2017 averaging 2.546 million viewers per week, up slightly from the 2016 average of 2.487 million for the live shows that started in July of that year. The 2017 average for those same five months was almost identical to the year-end average, coming in at 2.541 million. As a comparison, Raw numbers were down an average of 5.1 percent.

Tommy Dreamer announced these first round matches for his TV title tournament on 1/26 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia:

Luchasaurus vs. Willie Mack vs. Matt Cross
MJL vs. Crazzy Steve
Brian Cage vs. ?
Austin Aries vs. Matt Riddle
Dan Maff vs. Ace Romero
Kevin Kross vs. Little Guido
Eddie Kingston vs. Bull James
Alex Reynolds vs. Super Crazy
Kenn Doane vs. Lisa Marie Varon
Mike Mondo vs. Swoggle

Scheduled for Evolve on 1/14 in Brooklyn is Keith Lee vs. Chris Dickinson for the Evolve title, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Walter and Timothy Thatcher vs. Fred Yehi. I saw Sabre vs. Walter in PWG and it was an incredible match. There will also be an eight-man Style Battle tournament earlier in the day with first round matches of Matt Riddle vs. Rayo, Shane Mercer vs. Kyle the Beast, Walter vs. Nick Gage and Joey Lynch vs. Joey Janela.

Low Blows Wrestling Parties will have a Wrestle Kingdom party on 1/4 at Buskers on the Ball in Dublin. The party will run from 5-11 p.m. This will be the barometer to test interest in non-WWE parties that would continue in 2018. Rick Nash of Low Blows gave a preview for bandwagoners to catch up on everything they need to know about NJPW and WK12 next week.

House of Hardcore: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114437/house-of-hardcore-announces-tv-title-tournament-brackets-for-rumble-weekend-return-to-philly.html?p=1

For those wondering if WWE did anything special for the talent for working through the Christmas holiday, not only did the company throw a Christmas party for all of them after Raw on Monday, but we have also heard that WWE picked up the Chicago hotel bill for both the Raw and Smackdown rosters as a thank you for being away from their families over the holiday.

Legendary Japanese star The Great Muta will make a rare appearance in the United States on Friday 1/19/18 for PCW Ultra in California, teaming with Penta El Zero M to face Sami Callihan and Johnny Ultra.

The event will air live on FiteTV for $14.99, which you can download for free for your cell phone or mobile device by clicking here.
Details and rest of the event's card: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114449/great-muta-returning-to-united-states-next-month-for-californias-pcw-ultra-event-to-air-live-on-fite-tv.html

Here are the first confirmed WWE DVD releases for 2018:

1/16 - WWE Tag Team Collection (4 animated WWE Studios movies)
1/23 - WWE Clash of Champions 2017.
2/6 - Best of Raw and Smackdown 2017.
3/6 - 2018 WWE Royal Rumble.
3/20 - Best of WWE NXT 2017.
4/3 - Raw 25th Anniversary.
4/17 - WWE Elimination Chamber & Raw PPV TBA.

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, WWE has tentative plans for the following DVD releases as well:

*Best of 2017 - PPV matches.
*30th Anniversary of Summerslam.
*A new title devoted to The Shield.
*Best of the Hardy Boyz.
*"Unreleased" Collections devoted to Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels.
*A feature documentary on AJ Styles.
*Shane McMahon's "Craziest Moments."
*A collection of WWE 24 documentaries.

Next Wednesday's WWE NXT will be a two hour year in review broadcast. NXT will tape TV in Atlanta, GA at the former WCW Saturday Night home, Center Stage.

Officially set for the 1/27/18 WWE NXT Takeover: Philadelphia event is NXT champion Andrade "Cien" Almas (with Zelina Vega) vs. Johnny Gargano.

Speaking of NXT, Johnny Gargano noted on social media that he gifted his parents his first-ever NXT action figure for Christmas in advance of its official release. Gargano noted that growing up, his parents bought him lots of WWE toys and he wanted to return the favor. That is pretty awesome.

For those who have asked why Gail Kim is on the same USO tour that WWE sent The Miz and Alicia Fox on, Kim's husband Robert Irvine is also on the tour. It's not a sign of Kim returning to WWE, although you'd be surprised how many emails we received asking if it was.

AXS TV is doing a New Japan marathon on 12/29, playing the three Omega vs. Okada matches from 8-11 p.m. Eastern and then 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. for West Coast prime time, and then airing Power Struggle from 2-4 a.m

To show how bad things are in Puerto Rico, WWC has still not run a show since the island was crippled by the hurricane. CWA has run two shows since the hurricane and WWL is talking about coming back in February or March. The hurricane basically destroyed a wrestling industry that had been having regular shows for about 45 years.

Young Bucks Merch is now a subsidiary of a new parent company called Killing the Business, and they’ve filed for trademarks on “Being the Elite” and “Killing the Business.

The Kingdom has apparently signed exclusive ROH U.S. contracts as they did their final date for Northeast Wrestling on 12/17

Another person let go at Impact was Bob Rosen, who built and transported the rings, headed the ring crew and did various other functions.
In regards to Impact news, supposedly Rosen almost had a major heart attack while working for Impact recently and only took a break after management noticed how tired he was at work. Doctors found out his heart was 99% blocked and he barely avoided having a life threatening situation occur. He felt with the recent staff cuts, he couldn't take a break due to lack of manpower and his big reward for being that loyal was getting the pink slip afterwards.

Although there are rumors about Styles vs. Cena at Mania, I’m told that right now that is incorrect, and Cena is in a much bigger match than Styles. The only thing I was told is it will be clear within a few weeks what that match is. Bigger than a WWE title match seems to limit it to a non-regular or surprise guy and the only names I can come up with would be Undertaker, Batista, Goldberg or Hogan, and at Hogan’s age with his back problems, it would surprise me if he could get cleared even if the sponsors were okay with his returning. My guess is the top of the Mania card will be shot largely on the 25th anniversary Raw because that will be the show with the largest viewing audience of the year most likely

Canyon Ceman told the Los Angeles Times that in 2016, WWE was focused on signing people from China, but in 2017, it was the Middle East. The reasoning is he claimed they had 11 million Facebook followers in Egypt. Ceman claimed that the Performance Center gives wrestlers ten years worth of experience in three years. I’d love to see who is farther along, ten year vets working for legit promotions or guys who have had three years since starting at the PC. Ceman also noted that WWE could no longer do stereotypical Middle Eastern heels like the Iron Sheik and General Adnan. “Now you neither want to nor can you get away with that so easily,” he said. “There is evolving complexity over how to portray someone’s cultural heritage in a way that is respected, interesting and creates love or animosity in the audience.” Granted, they’re not Middle Eastern heels, but exactly how is Mahal or the portrayal of Rusev until a few weeks ago any different from the stereotypical Anti-American heels that date back to the beginning fo time

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. Clash of the Champions; 2. NXT on 12/20; 3. Beyond the Ring Holiday special with Mick Foley; 4. Survivor Series; 5. Best of Ride Along; 6. Table for three with Hardys and Balor; 7. WrestleMania 2017; 8. Royal Rumble 2017; 9. Ride Along with Rusev, Breeze and Fandango; 10. 205 Live from 12/19

WWE has published an article naming the top 10 Superstars of 2017. The list looks like this:

10. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore
9. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar
8. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns)
7. Kevin Owens
6. The Miz
5. Jinder Mahal
4. The New Day and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Tie)
3. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss
2. Braun Strowman
1. WWE Champion AJ Styles

Some other sheet news includes:

A former WWE Board of Directors was recently forced to resign from his duties at MLB due to a long history of inappropriate behavior and alleged sexual harassment while working in MLB's management.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum recently awarded Gerald Brisco with their Outstanding American award.
Observer reports Velveteen Dream is currently expected to return to NXT next month after mysteriously being dropped from TV post-Takeover WarGames event. Rumor going around speculates he got busted by the Wellness Policy and WWE wanted his suspension to be a quiet one.
CBS Denver had a recent interview with DDP talking about the rumors of Vince going back into football, helping Justin Credible after being drunk at a recent indie event, and possibility of making another surprise Royal Rumble appearance. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1228/635372/diamond-dallas-page-on-vince-mcmahon-potentially-getting-back/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Paige Pulled From WWE House Shows This Week After Injury Last Night (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/paige-pulled-from-wwe-house-shows-this-week-after-injury-last-night/)
Impact News: Next PPV, More House Shows Planned, GFW “Returns” (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/impact-news-next-ppv-more-house-shows-planned-gfw-returns/)
Becky Lynch Returns at WWE House Show (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/becky-lynch-returns-at-wwe-house-show/)

Lock Jaw

12-28-2017, 10:24 PM

I can see Mojo beating Ryder and Roode to get to the finals. Meanwhile, Xavier beats Aiden English and then upsets Jinder Mahal.

Finals are Xavier vs. Mojo Rawley and Mojo wins the title after some distractions from Jinder.

Jinder and the Singh Bros feud with New Day, and Mojo gets a chance to show what he can do as a heel with the US title.

Mr. Nerfect

12-29-2017, 04:06 AM

Simple Fan

12-29-2017, 10:48 AM

Y'all are crazy, this is Jinders tournament to win. No one else has a chance, that's why it English and Xavier instead of Rusev and Big E. Weak tournament but I guess it's the land of opportunity.

#BROKEN Hasney

12-29-2017, 12:47 PM

I can definitely see that happening. I was under the impression that it was just going to be Mahal vs. Roode in the finals and didn't realize the tournament was wider. Woods vs. Rawley is my pick now.

Hell, Xavier didn't realise the tournament was wider.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WHAAAAAAAAAAT <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WoodsUSchamp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WoodsUSchamp</a> <a href="https://t.co/4xBsV6tmLA">pic.twitter.com/4xBsV6tmLA</a></p>— 🍩Austin Creed🍩 (@XavierWoodsPhD) <a href="https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/946495518238281730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Danny Electric

12-29-2017, 12:56 PM

That is awesome.

Ye can definitely see it being Roode v Mahal in the final , give Roode the title and cement Mahal back in the mid card.

Then Roode should turn heel with the belt , come out and cut a promo about how glorious he is with the belt and how the audience Is all trash for even doubting he could lose to Mahal.

Mr. Nerfect

12-29-2017, 08:32 PM

Y'all are crazy, this is Jinders tournament to win. No one else has a chance, that's why it English and Xavier instead of Rusev and Big E. Weak tournament but I guess it's the land of opportunity.

Mahal seemed like the obvious winner, but when you take into consideration that the US Title does not matter at all, I don't think anything is out of bounds.

Danny Electric

12-29-2017, 08:38 PM

Come to think of it I can see Corbin interfering to take out Roode and Ziggler will have some part to play in the outcome of it too.

Mr. Nerfect

12-29-2017, 08:44 PM

Got no clue what they are doing with Ziggler. And not in the good way.

Emperor Smeat

12-29-2017, 10:06 PM

Final Sheets Report of the Year sponsored by Big Show in a Diaper:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/24bdeca666199c8726f045501fd14dfc/tumblr_myazinAfAH1qcluu2o2_250.gif

While appearing on the Edge & Christian podcast this week, Mae Young Classic participant Jazzy Gabert detailed how neck issues led to the contract offer she received from WWE falling through.

Gabert said the contract was sent to her in the mail after being asked by someone in WWE to be patient following the tournament. She traveled to Orlando for an NXT dark match and to have medicals done, then eventually visited Dr. Joseph Maroon in Pittsburgh to be examined.

Maroon found that she had something wrong with her neck and scheduled an MRI, which revealed that she had three herniated discs in her neck. Gabert also said that the bones were "all over the place."

"Of course they sent the results to the WWE doctor," Gabert said. "And then the WWE doctor contacted me and they said to me, 'We're really sorry Jazz, but we cannot give you our clearance and you are disqualified and you cannot work for WWE.'"
Link to the podcast show and more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/jazzy-gabert-says-neck-injury-disqualified-her-working-wwe-248906

Roman Reigns will again defend his Intercontinental Championship against Samoa Joe on Monday's episode of Raw.

Kurt Angle made the announcement on Twitter today, with an added stipulation being that Reigns will lose the title if he gets disqualified: "On the first #Raw of 2018 @WWERomanReigns will defend his #ICTitle against @SamoaJoe; if Roman is DQ’ed, he’ll lose the match AND his title"
Link: https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle/status/946838373636784128

Sid Vicious was scheduled for a rare match for AIW in Cleveland but he didn't board his flight. After several phone calls went unanswered, the promotion used Swoggle's phone to call him and he did answer. He claimed Donald Trump's travel ban prevented him from flying to Cleveland due to an unpaid speeding ticket and he didn't have his passport with him. I don't know about you, but traveling within the U.S., I've never brought a passport or needed one. The promotion recorded the call and will be playing it either on a podcast or at the show tonight. But they wanted everyone to know ahead of time that Vicious won't be appearing as advertised.

We have some bad news to report. Our greatest fears have come true,Sid did not board his flight this morning. After several phone calls he finally answered when we used Swoggle's phone to call.

Sid claimed The Donald's travel ban prevented him from boarding his flight to Cleveland this morning because of an unpaid speeding ticket and he claimed this is new government policy since he didn't have his passport even though he was traveling within the United States and is a United States Citizen. We recorded his cancelation call just so there is proof of all this and we we will do our best to play the audio tonight or on a future episode of our podcast.

We apologize to all of the fans who were excited to meet Sid tonight and unfortunately this is something 100% out of our control. We invested quite a bit of money in this appearance and we have now lost out on close to $1,000 we will never get back on airline tickets, hotels, and merchandise we had made for Sid.

We are going to try and do our best to find a replacement and plan on spending the rest of the day making phone calls and trying to get somebody there to replace Sid.

From the promoter's side of the story involving Sid.

AW tomorrow night in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street has Windy City Classic 13 with Rey Fenix vs. Jeff Cobb fot the AAW title, Eddie Kingston vs. David Starr street fight with the loser having to manage the winner for one year, Sami Callihan & Jake & Dave Crist vs. Myron Reed & Stephen Wolf & Trey Miguel, Matt Riddle vs. ACH, Sean Waltman & Paco vs. Connor Braxton & Jake Something, Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett vs. Curt Stallion & Brubaker, Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier vs. Shane Strickland & Keith Lee, Teddy Hart & Penta 0M vs. AR Fox & Joey Janela. That is one loaded show.

Samoa Joe tweeted:

Awoke to learn we lost this bad ass today. Pets rule, cancer sucks. RIP Ozzie pic.twitter.com/hxfDiwscXW
— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) December 29, 2017

The 2018 Impact Wrestling Lockdown PPV will be held on 4/22/18, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

As PWInsider.com broke yesterday, the steel cage-centric event will resume being a PPV event next year after spending the last three years as a specially branded episode of Impact Wrestling's weekly TV series.

The 12/28 "Best Of 2017, Part 2" edition of Impact did 285,000 overnight viewers, up from the previous week's 269,000 overnight viewers. That is the highest number that they have done in over four months.

Sports Illustrated listed their top ten wrestlers of 2017 with wrestlers appearing in NJPW getting three of the ten spots. Cody Rhodes at number nine, Kazuchika Okada at number six, and Kenny Omega at the number one spot. The article pointed out three matches in particular that stood out on Omega's resume: Kazuchika Okada (Wrestle Kingdom 11), Juice Robinson (G1 Climax), and Tomohiro Ishii (New Japan Cup).
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2017/12/29/top-10-wrestlers-2017

WWE has a new poll asking fans which veteran Superstar is most likely to win a world title in 2018 - Triple H, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, The Undertaker or Bill Goldberg. As of this writing, 36% voted for Angle while 34% voted for Triple H, 19% for Taker and the rest for Goldberg.

Giant Bomb posted an article with Kenny Omega and Xavier Woods discussing their top ten video games of the year. The two are die hard gamers and have bumped into each other at big conventions over the years, building up a bit of a friendly rivalry along the way. In regards to their top picks of the year, Woods went with Tekken 7 and Omega picked Resident Evil 7.
Link: https://www.giantbomb.com/articles/kenny-omega-and-xavier-woods-top-10-games-of-2017/1100-5717/

Some other sheet news includes:

Besides Omega and Woods, WWE's Jack Gallagher also gave a Top 10 games list for website Giantbomb. https://www.giantbomb.com/articles/jack-gallaghers-top-10-games-of-2017/1100-5662/
For those interested, John Pollock and Wai Ting recently released their Christmas episode of their new Post-Wrestling podcast show for free. https://www.f4wonline.com/punch-out/jnpo-inside-launch-post-wrestling-248901
WWE currently rumored to be raising ticket prices on house show merchandise based on a recent show in Pittsburgh had shirts going for $40.
WWE's official website recently released a list of their Top 10 Underrated Matches of 2017. http://www.wwe.com/article/10-most-underrated-matches-of-2017
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 19th anniversary of Mick Foley defeating The Rock to win the WWF Championship. WWE taped that week's episode and later aired it on January 4th, 1999 which is infamous for both WCW's attempt at spoiling the results and the Fingerpoke of Doom incident. Both hurt WCW more than it helped since 600k+ viewers switched to watch WWF and Hogan getting the WCW title back is seen as the turning point of the Monday Night Wars.
Recent episode of With Spandex Podcast show had Braun Strowman as the guest talking about being thrown in a garbage truck at TLC 2017 and lack of time in NXT before getting promoted to RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017/1229/635400/braun-strowman-on-getting-throw-into-a-garbage-truck-at-wwe-tlc/
Rumor going around the net is Taker will be wrestling at next year's Mania with the opponent to be revealed during the RAW 25th anniversary show. Supposedly he's been in very good shape compared to last year and WWE still refuses to consider him as officially retired. Source of the rumor could also be completely lying since it mentioned he already had hip surgery when other more reliable sheet sources said the surgery is a career ending type.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Christmas Party, Reigns vs. Joe, Classic Titles, Most Wins of Year (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/wwe-christmas-party-reigns-vs-joe-classic-titles-most-wins-of-year/)
Various: Hardy Thinks Reby Will Join Him in WWE, Kane/Bitcoin, Lockdown (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/various-matt-hardy-thinks-reby-will-join-him-in-wwe-kane-bitcoin-lockdown/)
Impact Results – Dec. 28, 2017 – Best of 2017, Part 2 (http://www.tpww.net/2017/12/impact-results-dec-28-2017-best-of-2017-part-2/)

Mr. Nerfect

12-29-2017, 10:41 PM

I was like "No way is Taker wrestling again," but lately I've just been more...convinced. There's something in the air about it. Probably him versus Cena.

Emperor Smeat

01-02-2018, 10:24 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bo Dallas' critically praised cowbell performance:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/a814b10ee1e4c43386278d8557978f7e/tumblr_p1wx4iVBSa1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

WWE Network announced they will be conducting maintenance tomorrow 1/3 from 7 - 10 AM Eastern, so you may have issues with the Network during that time.

Beth Phoenix will be part of the commentary team for WWE's upcoming Mixed Match Challenge series.

WWE announced today that Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Phoenix would be calling the show. Mixed Match Challenge is a 12-episode series that will debut on Facebook Watch at 10 p.m. Eastern time on January 16th. It will air live for 20 minutes after SmackDown each week and will feature a single-elimination mixed tag team tournament that includes wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown.

Phoenix previously made a guest appearance on the Mae Young Classic announce team to call Jazzy Gabert, Kay Lee Ray & Tessa Blanchard vs. Sarah Logan, Santana Garrett & Marti Belle on the second day of tapings in July. Phoenix was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame over WrestleMania weekend last year.

Renee Young and Byron Saxton will be the hosts for Mixed Match Challenge.
Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-mixed-match-challenge/article/beth-phoenix-announced-for-wwe-mixed-match-challenge

Here’s the updated list of announced entrants for the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches:

Men’s match: Elias, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, and Finn Balor
Women’s match: Naomi, Asuka, Ruby Riott, Natalya, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Paige, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville.

Enzo Amore, who was supposed to wrestle Cedric Alexander in a Cruiserweight Championship match last night, wasn’t on Raw after being hospitalized due to the flu. Amore’s hospitalization was built into the show as Nia Jax chose to visit him over helping Alexa Bliss in her match against Asuka. Drew Gulak also cut a promo for Amore.

WWE’s stock today reached its highest point since the first week or so after the company went public. It closed at $34.41 per share.

The Rock sent a message of encouragement to Curt Hawkins amid Hawkins’ losing streak: “Haha what’s up my man! F*ck that losing streak. You’re still #1 to me. That should be your next t-shirt to sell: ‘F*ck a losing streak’. I smell a top seller!”

The Washington Capitals have started to use Oney Lorcan’s theme music as their official goal song.

The complete collection of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling from 1981-82 will be on the WWE Network by 1/8.

On “WWE Film Room,” Big Show tells the story of his WrestleMania 24 match against Floyd Mayweather.
Stocks: Link: https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/948279692183810048 , Rock: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/948054360562343938 , Capitals: https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/washington-capitals-adopt-oney-lorcan-theme-as-goal-song , Big Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7zflRwG-3c

NJPW has a video interview with Jay White ahead of his Intercontinental Championship match against Hiroshi Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome.

DDP gifted Cody Rhodes a fur coat that was originally owned by Dusty Rhodes.

The latest episode of the NWA’s “Ten Pounds of Gold” series focuses on the day after Tim Storm lost his Worlds Championship.

High Spots Wrestling Network has a two hour documentary on Jim Crockett Promotions called, “Jim Crockett Promotions: The Good Old Days” It’s “free” to watch if you have the website $10 a month subscription.You can also buy it individually for $15 or just rent it for $5.

NJPW: https://njpwworld.com/p/o_original_0008_293 , DDP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VElFEHAHF-A , NWA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FDr6v0jvv8 , High Spots: https://www.highspotswrestlingnetwork.com/media/jim-crockett-promotions-the-good-old-days/38833/preview

Jericho announced that his podcast and the shows from his podcast network are moving from PodcastOne to Westwood One at the start of 2018. The most recent episode of his show was the last on PodcastOne, and Jericho noted that nothing else is changing aside from the places where it can be heard.
Link: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Naked-Beekeeper-Wild-Charles-Wieand

Cody Rhodes tweeted that he and The Young Bucks have a location confirmed for their 10,000 seat show, but the contract hasn’t been signed yet. Nick Jackson followed up by writing he knows the date for the show.
Cody link: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/946770300921962496 , Bucks link: https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/946794500650819584

Oddly enough, despite the fact Impact has tapings on 1/10-1/15 in Orlando at Universal Studios, there is no information posted anywhere with the taping schedule, either on the Impact or Universal websites.

There's been talk of running California later this year.

With New Japan Pro Wrestling's Tetsuya Naito announced for AAW's 2/17 "Showdown" event at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL, all 500 tickets for the event sold out completely within 90 minutes of being put on sale. Our February 17 event "Showdown" featuring Naito vs. Sami Callihan sold out 90 minutes after tickets were available to the general public. All 500 tickets for the event at the historic Logan Square Auditorium are now gone. It will be Naito's first appearance for the company.

Paige is backstage at Raw in Miami, but the word making the rounds backstage is that she has not yet been cleared to return to the ring.

Paige was injured wrestling at the Nassau Coliseum last Wednesday during a six woman tag when Sasha Banks nailed her from behind with a kick to the upper back. The belief is that Banks may have accidentally kicked her a little high. Paige went down and suffered what is believed to be a stinger before being walked out.

WWE has added the top Raw moments WWE Network Collections to the streaming service counting down from 100-26 in three separate playlists. I noticed a problem however there is no 74 moment it skips from 75 to 73. 25-1 will debut January 15 after Monday Night Raw.

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler noted on Twitter that he's still hoping to be on the RAW 25th Anniversary episode later this month from New York City. The King noted during a recent podcast that he was "99.9% certain" that he and fellow WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross would be reunited for the portion of the show that airs from the Manhattan Center that night but there's no word yet on if that is happening. Lawler did tell a fan that he will not be on next week's RAW from his hometown of Memphis.

WWE has a new poll asking fans who was the top RAW Superstar of 2017. As of this writing, 26% voted for Braun Strowman while 17% voted for Dean Ambrose, 17% voted for WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns, 8% for Finn Balor, 7% for RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, 6% for WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, 6% for The Miz, 6% for RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, 2% for Bayley, 2% for Samoa Joe, 2% for WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore and 1% for Bray Wyatt.

WWE's "Best PPV Matches 2017" DVD was set to be released today but it's been pusjed back to January 9th, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. As noted, the set will feature more than 9 hours of content and is hosted by Renee Young.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy New Year, man. <a href="https://t.co/fDLd3wbyoh">pic.twitter.com/fDLd3wbyoh</a></p>— BLACKHEART (@ProjectCiampa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/947700299740995584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

This week's RAW's ratings and viewer numbers have been delayed till tomorrow due to New Years holiday. With the holidays and how competitive the college bowls games were, possible Smackdown could beat RAW this week for viewership. Next week also has stiff competition with RAW going against the NCAA Football title game.
According to PWI, Braun Strowman missed last weekend's set of house shows due to illness but managed to recover in time for last night's RAW.
Recent episode of The Steve Austin Show had "The Drifter" Elias as the guest talking about finding his groove on RAW, recent IC match he had with Reigns, and career goals. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0102/635494/elias-talks-working-with-roman-reigns/
Recent episode of The Ross Report had Konnan as the guest talking about Jinder Mahal's heel heat since winning the WWE title, Elias being one of his current favorite wrestlers in the WWE, and issues with WWE's Creative process. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0102/635485/konnan-on-jinder-mahal-heat/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Enzo Amore Illness Update (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/enzo-amore-illness-update/)
Carmella Removes Photos of Big Cass From Her Instagram (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/carmella-removes-photos-of-big-cass-from-her-instagram/)
Ring of Honor Unveils Newly Designed Championship Belts (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/ring-of-honor-unveils-newly-designed-championship-belts/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-03-2018, 04:07 AM

Bo Dallas is starting to look rougher. Given how quickly Bray is falling, it would not surprise me to see Bo & Bray actually end up as a tag team at some point.

Lock Jaw

01-03-2018, 02:50 PM

Pretty weird @ Washington Capitals using Oney Lorcan theme...... out of all the themes, they choose that one....

Not that I don't like Oney Lorcan's theme.....

Mr. Nerfect

01-03-2018, 05:47 PM

Is it one of those ones in the public domain?

Lock Jaw

01-03-2018, 06:01 PM

It's a CFO$ theme, so dunno

Emperor Smeat

01-03-2018, 06:35 PM

I'd assume its just similar to deals WWE makes to get licensed songs for live events.

Think Triple H's "Game" theme might be the most popular for sports. Capitals are either huge fans of Lorcan or someone there thinks it fits well as a crowd pumping tune.

Emperor Smeat

01-03-2018, 10:19 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Lesnar channeling his inner Taker:
https://i.imgur.com/cOtQhp0.gif

Even with the toughest competition of the winter, with the college football playoff semifinals, Raw was up six percent on Monday night to 2.86 million viewers.

Raw was 10th for the day on cable, but every show that beat it was on ESPN and was related to the football doubleheader and this number has to be considered a major success ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.97 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.91 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.71 million viewers
Hour rankings ended up being #10, #14, and #15 with Love & Hip Hop being the only non-football related show to outrank RAW.

New Japan Pro Wrestling's biggest show of the year takes place overnight as the Tokyo Dome hosts Wrestle Kingdom 12.

The annual January 4th event will air live on New Japan World and will have options for English (with Kevin Kelly and Don Callis) and Japanese commentary. The pre-show begins at 2 a.m. Eastern time with the New Japan Rumble, which is a Royal Rumble-style battle royal featuring surprise entrants from the past and members of the NJPW roster who aren't otherwise booked, before the main card kicks off at 3 a.m. Eastern time.

Mr. Lariato on Twitter has some time zone conversions:

Wrestle Kingdom start times:

Japan: 5PM (4PM pre-show)
Europe: 9AM (8AM pre-show)
UK: 8AM (7AM pre-show)
Atlantic: 4AM (1AM pre-show)
Eastern: 3AM (2AM pre-show)
Central: 2AM (1AM pre-show)
Mountain 1AM (midnight pre-show)
Western: Midnight (11PM pre-show)#NJPW #njwk12

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) January 3, 2018

For those not watching live, Wrestle Kingdom will be available on New Japan World shortly after it ends. AXS TV will also be showing a three-hour special of the top matches on Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Card and more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-wrestle-kingdom-12-full-card-start-time-more-249191

Daniel Bryan told Sports Illustrated that he assumes he won’t be wrestling with WWE at all if he doesn’t wrestle at WrestleMania. Bryan said about the process of potentially being cleared: "It’s not a black and white answer. There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE. They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It’s an interesting situation that will develop."

After being shown in the crowd on SmackDown, Basketball Hall of Fame member Karl Malone got into the ring and did the “Glorious” pose with Bobby Roode following last night’s post-show dark match. Malone was also interviewed by Dasha Fuentes and spoke about wrestling for WCW in 1998. Roode teamed with AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Jinder Mahal after SmackDown and 205 Live went off the air.

Maria Kanellis-Bennett wrote a blog post about her reaction to private photos of her that were leaked online.
Bryan: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/01/03/wwe-news-daniel-bryan-wwe-future , Malone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPW5bTJgf7Q , Maria: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMariaKanellis/posts/1744194292278836

It was announced at NJPW’s pre-Wrestle Kingdom 12 fan festival that the company is partnering with Spike Chunsoft, the development company behind Fire Pro Wrestling, in time for Fire Pro Wrestling World’s release on PS4. The game will be out on PS4 before the 2018 G1 Climax and the NJPW collaboration will include some licensed characters and a story mode where you start as a young lion with the goal of winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Also at the fan festival, Yuji Nagata revealed that there had been 32,600 tickets sold in the pre-sale for tonight’s Tokyo Dome show before walk-ups are accounted for.

In a piece on the Players’ Tribune, Jericho named Ultimo Dragon, Dean Malenko, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and Kevin Owens as his five personal favorite opponents throughout his career and wrote about facing Omega.

Jericho re-posted a fan-made drawing of Jericho with Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit behind him that said they're back in NJPW. Jericho, who has gotten criticism for posting the image, wrote that he really liked the fan art and that he's dedicating his match with Omega to "the fallen brothers."

Will Ospreay mentioned entering NJPW’s heavyweight division as a future goal of his.

Fire Pro: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/948395689867804672 , WK 12 tickets: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/948476555155537926 , Jericho's favorites: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/chris-jericho-kenny-omega-wrestle-kingdom/ , Jericho Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdfXpUjlQnS/?hl=en&taken-by=chrisjerichofozzy , Ospreay: http://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/912415-new-japan-pro-wednesday-wrestle-kingdom-central-feat-exclusive-interview-w-will-ospreay-full-card-viewing-info-predictions-njpw-news-more

In addition to Mayu Iwatani, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and HZK from Stardom will be in ROH’s tournament to crown their first Women of Honor Champion.

The Crash Lucha Libre hyped that a collaboration with Dragon Gate is coming soon.

In a match that was originally scheduled for last month, Pete Dunne will defend his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Joseph Conners for PROGRESS Wrestling in Birmingham on January 14th.

The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, and Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Ranch were the top three merch sellers on Pro Wrestling Tees in 2017.

ROH Women's Title: https://twitter.com/we_are_stardom/status/948503739601649665 , Crash Lucha: https://twitter.com/TheCrashLuchas/status/948413823370674177 , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/948631357391032320 , ProWrestlingTees: https://twitter.com/OneHourTees/status/948647278113378308

If Vince does move forward with reviving XFL, will Hunter take over booking Raw/Smackdown?

No, I don’t see that happening. Vince IS the WWE product right now and I don’t see him giving up control of the direction of the product.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the possibility Vince gives up booking of WWE in order to focus on XFL's revival.

Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that Former Lingerie Football player Susan Cashdollar is scheduled to be a part of the next WWE Performance Center tryout next month. The Ohio native has had a look from the company before in 2014 at the same tryout as Liv Morgan Aliyah, and Zahra Schreiber. According to their article, she has been recently training with AIW.

Although Enzo Amore was the only wrestler sent to the hospital at RAW this past Monday night, Wrestling Inc. has learned that there were many other wrestlers that were sick backstage and several were given an IV. It wasn't confirmed if they had the flu or some other illness, but many wrestlers also skipped going out on New Year's Eve the night before because they were sick.

Some other sheet news includes:

ROH announced their upcoming streaming service will be called "Honor Club."
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Jim Ross celebrated his 66th birthday today.
Recent episode of The Ross Report podcast show had John Morrision/Johnny Impact as the guest talking about Impact's six-sided ring, issues with wrestling in a six-sided ring, and wanting to work in NJPW in the future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0103/635521/john-morrison-on-which-company-has-the-coolest-wrestling-today/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: JR/Lawler at Raw 25th, Alexa/Murphy’s Relationship, Bayley (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-jr-lawler-at-25th-anniversary-raw-alexa-murphys-relationship-bayley/)
First Two Teams Announced for WWE Mixed Match Challenge (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/first-two-teams-announced-for-wwe-mixed-match-challenge/)
Updated Royal Rumble Card and Participants After SmackDown (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/updated-royal-rumble-card-and-participants-after-smackdown/)

Emperor Smeat

01-05-2018, 09:52 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wrestle Kingdom 12 highlight:
https://i.imgur.com/X4cByUF.gif

The first night of the three-show 205 Live tour on 1/19 in Kingston, RI was canceled today. The public term is logistical problems. The other two dates, 1/20 in Lowell, MA and 1/21 in Poughkeepsie, are still on. Even though it's listed as 205 Live, the main event for both shows is Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt.
For some reference, the arena of the cancelled show has a capacity for 7k which shows how bad tickets sales must have been to be a factor in its pulling.

Sonjay Dutt just went in for surgery due to a torn right Achilles tendon. That's a major injury with usually about a nine month to one year recuperation time.

John Morrison aka Johnny Impact said on today's Impact Wrestling media call that he is not wrestling on the AAA event January 26 that is his being advertised for and he blames Vampiro for the situation.

Combat Zone Wrestling on 2/10 in Voorhees, NJ at the Next Level Coliseum with Penta 0M, Rey Fenix, Dave & Jake Crist & Sami Callihan headlining.

Revolution Pro has its women's tournament on 1/6 and 1/7 in London with first round matches of Deonna Purrazzo vs. Britt Baker, Zoe Lucas vs. Zan Phoenix, Jinny vs Nia Samuels and Charlie Evans vs. Millie McKenzie.
Morrison link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBet_aGau0

New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially announced ticket information for the March 25th Strong Style Evolved show in Long Beach, California at the Walter Pyramid, a 5,300-seat arena on the campus of Long Beach State University.

Tickets will go on sale on January 29th at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Information on where to get tickets hasn't been announced.

No matches are yet announced for the show, and there likely won't be any officially confirmed until after the February 10th New Beginning show in Osaka, if not later.
Some more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-announces-ticket-information-long-beach-show-249326

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 was seen by 34,995 paying fans and 43,000 total at the Tokyo Dome. Based on the stage and configuration, that's a near-sell out and the biggest crowd for a Japanese pro wrestling event in about 15 years.

The 2017 event drew 26,192 paid to watch Kazuchika Okada successfully defend his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega in the first of three outstanding matches the two had throughout the year.

While they got the biggest one-day boost since the New Japan World site was launched, they are really hurting themselves with it being so difficult for English language fans. I know, many of you and me were able to sign up but you have to really want to and it's not user friendly. With the company having television in the U.S. and doing great in merchandise sales here, they really need to get a separate English language site for both easier sign-up and navigation.

After Wells Fargo upgraded the WWE stock to Outperform, saying "it checks all of the boxes for us and we believe it has a clear path of catalysts through 2018," and raised its target price to $43 per share, the stock jumped big to $32.34 at the start of the day today. However, by the end of the day, most of the gains were lost and it closed at $30.88, just up from $30.77 before the upgrade.

The 1/4 edition of Impact did 309,000 overnight viewers, up from the previous week's 285,000 overnight viewers.

The Beer City Bruiser and Dalton Castle's Boys have signed deals with ROH.

Delirious was in Japan for New Japan'sWrestle Kingdom 12 event. Cheeseburger worked as a surprise in the New Japan Rumble and worked today's New Year's Dash event, teaming with Ropponi 3.0 in a loss to Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks.

Ring of Honor announced the following lineup for their 1/20 TV Taping in Nashville:
*ROH champion Dalton Castle vs. Punishment Martinez.
*ROH Six Man Tag Team champions The Young Bucks & Hangman Page vs. So Cal Uncensored.
*ROH Tag Team champions The Motor City Machineguns vs. Best Friends.
*Shane Taylor vs Marty Scurrl.
*Cody Rhodes vs. Matt Taven.
*Jay Lethal vs. Flip Gordon.

With James Storm officially departing Impact with his final TV appearance last night, Jeremy Borash and Abyss are left as the final original members of the roster. While Abyss didn't officially debut for a few weeks, he was on the first taping back in 2002.

Several weeks ago, we noted that WWE was looking to sign a prominent female independent talent. That talent, Candice LaRae, is backstage at tonight's WWE NXT taping in Atlanta.

Also backstage are Lio Rush (who had not been brought on the road recently) and Dakota Kai, the NXT talent who worked the Mae Young Classic but had not really been used on NXT TV since.

Katsuyori Shibata revealed that he was told that his condition was so bad after his match with Kazuchika Okada due to the brain injury that he had only an 18 percent chance of survival

We had Kenny Omega on for an interview and he noted that he and Kota Ibushi have turned down singles matches a few times because the setting hasn’t been right. Years ago, when they did a match for DDT at the Tokyo Dome that was a match of the year candidate, they pretty much said they wouldn’t do another singles match because there’s nothing left to do. But he said that he does see it as viable now in New Japan. He also talked about wanting to work a program with Tetsuya Naito, as well as with Hiroshi Tanahashi, and perhaps do something against other members of the Bullet Club

Penta 0M and Rey Fenix have pulled themselves off the 3/9 to 3/11 wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament due to working the tapings here. The dates for the season four tapings at this point look to be 2/23 to 2/25, 3/2 to 3/4, 3/9 to 3/11 to 3/16 and 3/17. About 21 episodes are scheduled to be taped for a probable summer debut on El Rey. What is interesting is Jeff Cobb is still on those shows, although that may be temporary as Cobb is expected to return for the season. I think that a lot of the guys who were unhappy and looking at getting out of their deals see it as a month of weekends that they have to cancel so it’s not that bad, and it is television exposure.

Some guys who have asked for their LU release have gotten them. Some guys on previous seasons may not be brought back due to budget cuts. Some guys who are looking to leave haven’t been given their releases and were told they need time to write them off. There may be more of a move to get out if WWE was interested, because when it comes to other groups like Impact or New Japan, they could work there while still under contract with Lucha Underground.

For New Year’s weekend, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” starring Dwayne Johnson, did $50,355,000, putting it just behind “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” at No. 2. Jumanji has done $170 million domestic and $153 million international as of the weekend, its second weekend out. “Ferdinand,” the animated movie where Cena has the voice of the lead character, was No. 5 at $11.4 million, giving it a three week total of $53.6 million domestic and $72 million international

The most-watched shows of the past week on WWE Network were: 1. NXT on 12/27; 2. Photo Shoot with Cesaro; 3. Photo Shoot with Miz; 4. Clash of Champions; 5. Survivor Series; 6. 2017 Royal Rumble; 7. 2017 WrestleMania; 8. Best of Ride Along; 9. Table for 3 with Balor and Hardys; 10. Raw’s Greatest Moments 100-75. The 12/26 episode of 205 Live was in 11th place for the week

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of the X-Pac12360 podcast show had Justin Credible as the guest discussing Brian Pillman Jr's wrestling debut, Credible not adapting to WWE style, Credible's recent drinking problems, and more. http://www.pwinsiderxtra.com/ViewArticle.php?id=34079&p=1
According to the Observer, both War Machine and Ricochet have officially signed deals with the WWE.
Also according to the Observer, WWE is close to a deal being made for Candice LeRae.
The Times of India held a recent interview with Charlotte talking about impact of NXT trainer Sara Amato, her pick to win the Women's Rumble, and highlight of her WWE career so far. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0105/635609/charlotte-on-her-pick-to-win-the-women-royal-rumble/
Rolling Stone had a recent interview with Ellsworth talking about his former WWE contract, his final WWE match, rumors of Vince wanting him to be a transgender wrestler, and not caring if he was remembered for being a jobber. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0104/635582/james-ellsworth-talks-wwe-run/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Two More Teams for Mixed Match Challenge: Naomi/Uso and Nia/Crews (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/two-more-teams-for-mixed-match-challenge-naomi-uso-and-nia-crews/)
John Cena Will Be a “Special Guest” at the WWE Fastlane PPV (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/john-cena-will-be-a-special-guest-at-the-wwe-fastlane-ppv/)
WWE Uploads Tyler Bate Vs. Pete Dunne From NXT Takeover: Chicago Free (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-uploads-tyler-bate-vs-pete-dunne-from-nxt-takeover-chicago-free/)
Current NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Card – Four Matches (Spoilers) (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/current-nxt-takeover-philadelphia-card-four-matches-spoilers/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-05-2018, 09:59 PM

Remember when The Motor City Machine Guns were the coolest team in wrestling?

Ol Dirty Dastard

01-05-2018, 10:11 PM

Remember when The Motor City Machine Guns were the coolest team in wrestling?

i know they've lost their lustre over the years, but that's still a badass as fuck name.

Mr. Nerfect

01-05-2018, 11:02 PM

Sabin hasn't felt noteworthy since he got crushed under the weight of the TNA World Title. But he seemed off before then. Alex Shelley was the shining gem of wrestling for a while there, and then he left TNA and he's been around, but he's never...exploded like people thought he would.

Ol Dirty Dastard

01-05-2018, 11:12 PM

Meh kinda just your typical indy workhorses. They were in their prime at the wrong time.

Mr. Nerfect

01-05-2018, 11:18 PM

Yeah, I suppose. Good looking guys and Shelley had some personality about him. It's a bit of a shame.

Emperor Smeat

01-09-2018, 11:17 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Dropkick Appreciation Day:
http://content.invisioncic.com/r244578/monthly_2018_01/tumblr_p224uyEBga1qf7xjao2_500.gif.94e8be215174052ad735ee376fd8f63e.gif

Raw dropped four percent from last week to 2.75 million viewers, but considering the competition, that's got to be considered a healthy number ...

The Raw audience should start its seasonal increase with next week's show, and the 25th anniversary show in two weeks is likely to be the highest rated episode of the year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.99 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.78 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.50 million viewers

This week also had some Good/Bad news with the good being it didn't get as hammered for the demo rankings and the bad being it still suffered a sizeable drop compared to same week last year.

Charlotte Flair and Bobby Roode are calling their Mixed Match Challenge team the “Robe Warriors.”
Link: https://twitter.com/MsCharlotteWWE/status/950538996219830277

Chris Jericho teased sticking around with NJPW for a while in a post on Instagram.

NJPW has a subtitled video of post-match comments from the main event of New Year’s Dash. It includes Tetsuya Naito responding to Jericho attacking him.

NJPW’s Leo Tonga is now known as Hikule’o and Shota Umino is going by Shota Unno.

Travis Banks will defend his PROGRESS Wrestling Championship against Chris Brookes in Birmingham on Sunday. Banks and Brookes are stablemates in CCK.

Candice LeRae will face Joey Ryan for Bar Wrestling in the Los Angeles area on January 18th. (thanks to reader Jake Koch)

Jericho: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdutd97lJNP/ , NJPW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNns8zItiSs , Tonga: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/950662970983399424 , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/950814496569942016 , Bar Wrestling: https://twitter.com/BarWrestling/status/950576466835619840

After more than a year of talking about it, New Japan Pro Wrestling suddenly announced a four-city tour of Australia for February.

While it was known they would tour in 2018, particularly after the great reception Kazuchika Okada got in his appearance with Melbourne City Wrestling for his match with Slex, it was a surprise it would come before the next United States date.

"New Japan Fallout Down Under" will consist of four shows, a February 16th date at the Adelaide Titanium Arena, a February 17th date at Festival Hall in Melbourne, February 18th in Sydney at the Quay Centre, and February 19th in Perth at HBF Stadium. All four shows will be configured for crowds of less than 5,000 fans. Festival Hall is best known as the weekly home of World Championship Wrestling during the heyday of pro wrestling in Australia.

Wrestlers announced for the tour are Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Minoru Suzuki, The Young Bucks, KUSHIDA, Cody, Tomohiro Ishii, EVIL, SANADA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Juice Robinson, Bad Luck Fale, and Lance Archer. Will Ospreay is also booked for Sydney and Perth.

The first WWE vs. NJPW singles champion match in 24 years will take place on 1/17 in Milton Keyes, UK for the IPW promotion as WWE UK champion Pete Dunne will face IWGP jr. champion Will Ospreay.

Brad Stutts, the booker and TV announcer for the CWF Mid Atlantic promotion, and who was The Scribe in the TNA version of Matt Hardy's broken universe, was let go by the promotion for what the promotion said was "what we believe is inappropriate behavior."
According to Voices of Wrestling, the reason this remained a silent story until recently was due to worries about exposing the sources and getting them blacklisted from wrestling if it was reported earlier. https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/950801344180387841

There has been more fallout from CWF Mid-Atlantic firing Brad Stutts as booker of the promotion. Charlie Armstrong's Modern Vintage Wrestling, a promotion that also runs North Carolina that shared Stutts as booker, canceled their scheduled 1/20 event after a number of talents, many of whom were CWF regulars, publicly announced they would not be appearing on the show, which was scheduled to be headlined by appearances by Tommy Dreamer and Ricky Steamboat. After a number of the cancellations were announced, the decision was made to drop the show. Last night, MVW announced that Stutts had stepped down as booker and would also no longer be involved in Gimmick Tree Entertainment, a related business that brought talents in for conventions.

Nova Pro Wrestling in Virginia would also later announce that they were no longer working with Stutts.

Sources close to CWF have noted that the company felt so strongly about the Stutts situation that storylines were being changed specifically to break away from direction that may have been associated to Stutts' work.

CWF released the following statement on their social media yesterday: "We want to thank the tremendous outpouring of support for CWF Mid-Atlantic in this difficult time. CWF Mid-Atlantic had no choice in this matter. We have standards that we all must adhere to be in a position to represent our company. Our locker room is strong and united over this and we intend to not only persevere, but grow stronger with the dedication of all our team. We ask that our fans stick with us as we move forward. Thank you again for your support!"

Of course, the major question obviously in your brain if you are reading this is, "What the hell did Stutts do?" The reality is that there are a lot of stories that have made the rounds related to Stutts and Charlie Armstrong over the last 48 hours, but no one has been willing to go on record with the situation, so until someone does, it's not going to come out beyond whispered allegations. I can report that most of the stories center around alleged inappropriate communication with a staffer for CWF. That's about all I feel comfortable writing currently. Stutts, who finally responded to PWInsider.com last night, declined to comment and as noted, no one else has gone on record.

Former WWE star Serena Deeb was spotted in Pittsburgh, PA today.

In checking with WWE sources, we are told there has been interest in bringing her back to the company of late. It appears she was in the Steel City for the usual pre-signing medical testing.

Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that Su Yung is booked for this week's Impact Wrestling tapings.

Impact Wrestling has announced their Global Wrestling Network is now available on Apple TV.

Impact are now selling a new Laurel Van Ness T-shirt.
Su Yung: http://squaredcirclesirens.com/su-yung-to-appear-on-impact-tapings/

Impact Wrestling will begin taping much of its weekly television leading into the 4/22 Lockdown PPV starting tomorrow at 6 PM in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. The promotion will be running every night starting 1/10 through 1/15 with doors opening at 5:30 PM.

The current plan is to hold tapings in March in Canada leading into the PPV itself.

Northeast Wrestling announced last night that former WWE World champion Mark Henry will be appearing at their 3/2 Wrestlefest XXII event in Waterbury, CT, which is one of the company's big cornerstone events of the year.

Henry will be appearing before the show for autographs and photos. He will obviously not be wrestling but will be appearing over the course of the event as well. The former Emma, Tennille Dash will face Deonna Purrazzo on that event with Rey Mysterio and Flip Gordon also already announced. Rey Fenix and Penta 0M had been slated for this date but were pulled to work Lucha Underground TV tapings.

Some other sheet news includes:

Samoa Joe recently announced he will be working as a voice actor for a new Transformers animated series. https://twitter.com/SamoaJoe/status/950751889041346561
According to the WWE, Enzo needed 4 stitches to close a wound above his eye after his match on last night's RAW. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/950598945356447744
Luke Gallows announced he will be opening a new wrestling school in Jenkinsburg, Georgia. https://twitter.com/LukeGallowsWWE/status/950635790253674497
A famous make-up artist for celebrities and WWE wrestlers recently leaked how huge the wage gap is in the WWE in regards to top stars. While the top male star is currently making $12 million (its Lesnar although only $6 million if counting Cena and $1-2 million if only counting active stars), the current top female star is only making $400k (its Nikki Bella although the figure is around $300k if only counting active stars). Also a good chunk of the women's main roster is still only making NXT levels of money ($25k). http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0109/635714/former-wwe-employee-calls-out-the-company-for-unequal-pay/
According to Triple H, WWE currently planning for the 25th anniversary RAW show to be 5 hours long. https://twitter.com/OfficialTCA/status/950875514461409283
According to PWI, Paige still hasn't been medically cleared to return to the ring after suffering an injury late December.
Website AL.com held a recent interview with Kevin Owens talking about his social media presence, importance of winning the WWE title, and head butting Vince McMahon. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0108/635671/kevin-owens-on-headbutting-vince-mcmahon/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Samoa Joe Injured, Elias and Bayley Teamed Up for Mixed Match Challenge (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/samoa-joe-injured-elias-and-bayley-teamed-up-for-mixed-match-challenge/)
WWE: Cena’s Schedule, Main Event, Raw 25 Match, “Funniest Moments” (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-cenas-wwe-schedule-main-event-tapings-raw-25-match-funniest-moments/)
Enzo Amore Addresses “Thrown Off the Tour Bus” Rumors (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/enzo-amore-addresses-thrown-off-the-tour-bus-rumors/)
The Miz and Maryse Get Their Own Reality Show on USA Network (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/the-miz-and-maryse-get-their-own-reality-show-on-usa-network/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-10-2018, 05:23 PM

* I was thinking "cool gig" for Joe. He's joining the cast with Mark Hamill, Ron Perlman, Jamie King and Mikey Way. I had to look up Mikey Way, but I know plenty of people who used to listen to My Chemical Romance during "that time." Everyone else is a fairly big deal. Good for him.

* Who would go to Luke Gallows to learn how to wrestle?

* Is anyone shocked that the Women's Revolution is complete and utter bullshit?

Emperor Smeat

01-10-2018, 10:02 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by King Macho's Royal Approval:
https://i.imgur.com/zP6ED4Y.gif

As we broke in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, two names have been discussed heavily in WWE Creative discussions for appearances in the first-ever women's Royal Rumble on 1/28 in Philadelphia.

The first is former WWE Women's Hardcore champion Molly Holly, who sources have told us is booked for the Rumble. Holly has been working as a trainer at Shawn Daivari and Ken Anderson's Academy Wrestling School in Minneapolis. Holly's last match for the company was the women's battle royal at Wrestlemania 25.

The second is former WWE Divas champion Michelle McCool, who recently teased on social media during an interaction with Charlotte Flair that she would be interested in returning for a final match. We are told McCool is not yet 100% locked in but has spoken with the company about an appearance.
Spoiler tags used since its related to possible surprise entrants for the Women's Rumble.

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.603 million viewers, down four percent from last week's total.

The show was eighth for the night in terms of total viewers on cable but did finish first in the important 18-49 demo with a 0.76 rating.

For the second week in a row, and for the sixth time in the last eight weeks, SmackDown was up as compared to the same week from the previous year. The January 10th, 2016 show did 2.533 million viewers.

Another thing brought up in the Boom! Comics story is how some felt like AJ was a "rookie" - the "Redneck Rookie" being the actual moniker used. "I was like 'Uh, I've been doing this for 16 years.'" Styles said. "I'm not a rookie and I'm not even the age a rookie would be coming into anything. So yeah, I kind of tried to squash that as quickly as I could."
From a recent interview Styles had with IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/01/10/aj-styles-on-writing-his-first-comic-book-story-and-finn-balors-bullet-club-reunion

While the venue and location have yet to be announced, Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks apparently have a date for their "All In" 10,000 seat show.

Cody revealed the official Twitter account for the event today and teased that it will be taking place on September 1st. The account follows Cody, Matt & Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega, "Arrow" star Stephen Amell, Marty Scurll, and Hangman Page. All seven tweeted out that they're "All In" for the show.

The idea for "All In" began when Dave Meltzer tweeted last May that Ring of Honor couldn't sell out an arena with over 10,000 fans any time soon. Cody took that as a bet, and it was revealed in November that Cody and The Young Bucks were planning to self-finance the show.

September 1st is on a Saturday during Labor Day weekend. That weekend is traditionally when Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Battle of Los Angeles tournament takes place. In an interview with the AV Club last October, ROH's Joe Koff said he believes Daniel Bryan is under contract with WWE until September. If the deal expires after the 1st, it would mean Bryan is unavailable for the show regardless of what his future with WWE ends up being.

TMZ reported that Triple H had dinner with Ronda Rousey and her agent in Los Angeles last night. Though the article noted that it was a big deal for Triple H to miss SmackDown for the dinner, he and Stephanie McMahon were already in LA for Television Critics Association press events to celebrate the 25th anniversary episode of Raw.
Link: http://www.tmz.com/2018/01/10/ronda-rousey-triple-h-wwe-dinner/

Triple H and Stephanie noted WWE is waiting for the legal process to play out in Rich Swann’s arrest. They reiterated that Swann will be immediately released if he’s convicted, which is what WWE’s zero-tolerance domestic abuse policy calls for.

The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, which will host Fastlane on March 11th, put out a WWE-produced video that continues to advertise AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn in a fatal five-way match as the PPV’s main event.

Xavier Woods posted a video where Carmella trained with pancakes in preparation of teaming with Big E in Mixed Match Challenge.

Rusev teased that a Rusev Day calendar may be getting released soon.
Swann: https://www.thewrap.com/rich-swann-wwe-raw-205-live/ , Fastlane: https://www.facebook.com/NationwideArenaColumbus/videos/2008718589155023/ , Woods: https://www.facebook.com/xavierwoodsphd/videos/922448714587198/ , Rusev: https://twitter.com/RusevBUL/status/950928669786169344

WWNLive's Gabe Sapolsky will be signing an official contract with World Wrestling Entertainment as a consultant, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Sapolsky, 45, has been working on a handshake agreement with WWE for months, helping out specifically at the WWE NXT tapings. We are told Sapolsky will retain his position and responsibilities with WWN and the EVOLVE promotion and this is seen as a growth in the relationship between WWE and WWN.

The deal puts Sapolky and long-time mentor Paul Heyman, technically, back under the same roof for the first time since the original ECW closed in 2001. Before his current position with EVOLVE/WWN, Sapolsky was the initial booker for Ring of Honor and worked behind the scenes for ECW, including authoring the promotion's official program and heading up a Sabu Fan Club.

Impact Wrestling is back to having a four-sided ring for this week’s television tapings in Orlando. There’s also a Twitch logo on the side of the ring, which could mean they’re partnering with the company.

Austin Aries returned to Impact at the tapings.

Jericho also discussed the business impact of the Omega match when appearing on Busted Open Radio. Jericho said he’s interested in doing the “Brock Lesnar idea” with NJPW if it works out. He said he has to reevaluate and see what he wants to do next, where the next big impact can be, and what time he has available.

In addition to Cody and The Young Bucks, Omega, Marty Scurll, Stephen Amell, and Hangman Page have tweeted that they’re “All In” for Cody and the Bucks’ 10,000 seat show. The location for the show will be revealed on a future episode of Being the Elite.

Madison Rayne will be taking part in the tournament to crown the first ROH Women of Honor Champion. She’ll be facing Mandy Leon in a first round match at ROH’s television tapings in Nashville on January 20th.
Impact: https://twitter.com/taiji_ishimori/status/951133508319182849 , Jericho: https://twitter.com/BustedOpenRadio/status/950859236556378115 , Jericho's "Lesnar" idea: https://twitter.com/BustedOpenRadio/status/950861043898765312 , 10k Show: https://twitter.com/ALL_IN_2018/status/951232897431822336 , ROH: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/madison-rayne-compete-woh-championship-tournament

Impact Wrestling star Moose suffered a knee injury during tonight's Impact Wrestling taping while competing in a Four Way bout. We will update with additional details when they are confirmed, but the belief right now is that he did not tear anything. More as we get it.

In regard to Impact Wrestling having the Twitch logo on their ring aprons at the TV taping tonight, we are told that there is a deal in place that will see the company producing content specifically for the streaming provider.

There will be a media call tomorrow AM with Don Callis and Scott D'Amore

There was a backstage meeting with all talent before tonight's Impact taping, including a chance for talents to ask any questions they had from management. We were told it was a very positive meeting.

Former WWE referee Marc Harris started with Impact tonight.

Kiera Hogan, who has a great look and a ton of potential, officially started with the company as well. She had been signed awhile back but not used.

Tickets for the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the Smoothie Center in New Orleans will go on sale on Friday 1/19 at 11 AM EST, so we should have the first honoree announced around that time.

Triple H announced today that the official theme songs for WWE NXT "Takeover: Philadelphia" will be Asking Alexandria's "Into the Fire" and "When the Lights Come On" singles. Above is a preview of the songs.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPlMBV27JbU

WWE has a new poll asking fans who is the favorite in the WWE United States Title tournament. As of this writing, 64% voted for Bobby Roode while 20% voted for Jinder Mahal, 12% for Xavier Woods and 4% for Mojo Rawley. As noted, next week's SmackDown will feature Mahal vs. Woods and Roode vs. Mojo will take place in 2 weeks. The winners of those matches will face off in the finals at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Attention everyone....I have an important announcement!<br><br>...TOMORROW! <a href="https://t.co/OJkmOEWXfC">pic.twitter.com/OJkmOEWXfC</a></p>— John Cena (@JohnCena) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/951221209940811777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

According to Meltzer, WWE currently considering between 3-4 legends/celebrities for the Women's Rumble and 7-8 from NXT to fill out the spots needed.
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had Kenny Omega as the guest. https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jericho/kenny-omega-returns-to-talk-alpha-vs-omega
Amarillo Globe-News held a recent interview with Seth Rollins talking about who he'd like to face at a future Wrestlemania, fans reaction to the Shield reunion, and if his match against Cena and Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2015 proved he deserved to be a top star. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0110/635760/seth-rollins-on-the-shield-reuniting/
Update on recent news of RAW's 25th anniversary show being 5 hours long as the source of the news, Television Critics Association, issued a correction saying it will be a regular 3 hour show. https://twitter.com/OfficialTCA/status/950925235796156416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Triple H Says There Can Be “No Exception” for Daniel Bryan to Return (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/triple-h-says-there-can-be-no-exception-for-daniel-bryan-to-return/)
Eric Bischoff Reportedly Booked for Raw 25th Anniversary (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/eric-bischoff-reportedly-booked-for-raw-25th-anniversary/)
Matt Hardy and Anthem’s Ed Nordholm Make Up (Photo) (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/matt-hardy-and-anthems-ed-nordholm-make-up-photo/)

slik

01-11-2018, 05:45 AM

According the latest Wrestling Observer -- the Top two matches at WM34 are planned to be Cena vs Undertaker and Brock vs Roman. An angle will likely be shot at RAW 25 to hint at it.

FOX has shown some interest in buying WWE according to Meltzer in the latest Observer. Never say never when it comes to Vince McMahon, depending on the price.

Damian Rey 2.0

01-11-2018, 07:38 PM

Fox buying a good thing or bad thing?

Ol Dirty Dastard

01-11-2018, 07:49 PM

Cena versus Undertaker will be awful

Emperor Smeat

01-11-2018, 08:53 PM

Fox buying a good thing or bad thing?

Depends. FOX has a stronger tv reach than USA Network but would also be owning a product with weaker viewer appeal than UFC. Also depends which network of theirs gets the WWE since regular FOX has a much larger base than FS1 but has to deal with local news demands while FS1 viewership might not be fond of having WWE mixed with pro sports.

Also possibly they could be like AOL was to WCW and be a lot less forgiving or hands-off if WWE keeps struggling with viewers. They already have shows doing a lot better than RAW/Smackdown so WWE loses a big advantage there.

Emperor Smeat

01-11-2018, 10:03 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev's Reaction to today's sheet news:
https://68.media.tumblr.com/2da11511f0faf2df95fed27540a56102/tumblr_p2coq7nx4p1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

There’s really not a lot new with the men’s Rumble. If the winner of the Rumble is getting a Mania title shot, and it’s not a storyline thing that will change, then it’s still possibly Roman Reigns (although his winning the Elimination Chamber match for a title shot also makes sense) or someone from Smackdown, with Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton being the favorites and Baron Corbin being a longshot. John Cena wouldn’t be expected to win since he’s not getting a title shot.
Spoiler tags used since its related to possible Men's Rumble winners.

NXT talent has been told that nine women on the NXT roster will be in the Rumble but the decision on which nine hasn’t been made.
In regards to more possible surprise entrants Nikki and possibly Brie are planned to be in the match. Same for being involved in this year's Mania.

With Tessa Blanchard now pushing for indie dates for 2018, it’s pretty clear she’s not coming to WWE in any time imminently

Scott D'Amore and Don Callis at Impact did a press call this morning. They noted that there will be an Impact channel on Twitch including old and new content, behind the fourth wall and wrestlers not in a studio setting. Don Callis said the move to a four-sided ring was because the talent preferred it. Callis also said he has no plans to appear in front of the camera. They will be introducing new championship belts in April.
More details and highlights: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114719/complete-scott-damore-don-callis-impact-wrestling-media-call-coverage.html?p=1

Regarding Moose, he suffered a torn lateral collateral ligament in his knee at the tapings last night. We're told he's not expected to miss the tapings the rest of the week. He said the knee was stiff but he'll be fine.

The Miz is replacing Samoa Joe in some bookings for a main event position including 3/16 in Madison Square Garden where he's in a three-way for the IC title against John Cena and champion Roman Reigns.

Both Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose are battling the flu.

The WWE will open Monday's show with another Martin Luther King Jr. package, which they do every year on MLK Jr. Day.

WWE Hall of Fame tickets go on sale a week from tomorrow, so expect the announcement of a major name on Monday.

Brian Cage is in Orlando for Impact so he'll be debuting at this set of tapings. Tyrus also returned for the tapings.

The NWA is working with Impact because on Sunday they will be filming an empty arena match with Jocephus vs. Tim Storm from the Impact Zone in Orlando with the winner being top contender for champion Nick Aldis. The match will be filmed before the Impact tapings that night.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyler Bate takes place on 2/3 in Dublin for Over the Top Wrestling.

John Cena is returning to host this year's Kids' Choice Awards and has announced two other projects that he's working on with Nickelodeon.

After teasing that he'd be making a "major announcement" today, Cena and Nickelodeon revealed that he'll be hosting the Kids' Choice Awards for a second straight year, will be voicing a character named "Baron Draxum" in their upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, and will be executive producing a game show called "Keep It Spotless."

The 2018 Kids' Choice Awards will take place on March 24th. Both “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” where Cena's character will be a recurring villain, and "Keep It Spotless" are scheduled to premiere later this year.

Tyrus aka the former Brodus Clay just made his return to Impact Wrestling at tonight's TV taping.

Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions' first US trademark application 'Impact Grand Champion' which they filed for in October 2017 has been given an initial refusal for various reasons. The Goods and Services identification that Anthem applied for was "Belt buckles of common metal for use as awards"
Trademark: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114727/impact-wrestling-updates-includes-spoiler.html?p=1 ,

When did the "Wooing" for Ric Flair chops begin?

To the best of my knowledge, it actually started in the original ECW. Fans used to do the "Woo" at Shane Douglas when he was nailing (or being hit with) chops to get under his skin, since he had ragged on Ric Flair so much. That evolved into fans doing it whenever there were chops and eventually, it moved over to fans watching other promotions doing the same, similar to fans doing the "One Fan" back to the ring announcers, which originated with UK fans.
Part of PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the possible origins of the "Woo" chant.

ESPN featured a story on WWE and their relationship with Ronda Rousey with a statement from Paul "Triple H" Levesque, answering speculation about a recent dinner between Rousey and the WWE executive in Los Angeles.

"We are talking to Ronda, as we've been for a while," said Levesque "She has a lot of things going on. We have a lot of things going on. But we have a great relationship with her, a very friendly standpoint for a long period of time now. It was great to catch up with her. We have nothing to announce at this time, but she's a huge fan of what we do and she's incredibly interested in what we do and the opportunities that lie there. We're fans of hers and incredibly interested in what those opportunities could be with us. But there's a lot of things to walk through. We're talking. We're having conversations."

Ronda Rousey was asked for comment by TMZ about the dinner, responding, "I like fine dining."

Hunter said he would love Rousey and WWE to work together.
Link: http://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/22031182/ronda-rousey-wwe-executive-triple-h-dinner-los-angeles-fueling-talk-possible-leap

As far as the numbers, this is the pattern for New Japan World, which is similar but much smaller than WWE Network. Last year, WrestleKingdom 11 saw the numbers increase over the week from 45,000 to 60,000. After, it dropped back to about 50,000, so most of the increase didn’t hold. It jumped back to 70,000 for the G-1 finals and hovered at that level most of the rest of the year. It was at 65,000 in December and jumped to 70,000 on 1/3 in the U.S. It was up to 82,000 a few hours before the show started, and between the show and New Year’s Dash the next day, it was at 95,000 after Dash ended and 97,000 by the next morning U.S. time. On the afternoon of 1/9,it had increased to 99,784, so it likely topped 100,000 by the end of that day. So the increase in subscribers last year for the show was 15,000 and this year was 35,000. It still pales compared to WWE numbers, but it’s amazing growth. The key is of those 35,000 newcomers, how many continue through February? Most probably won’t, but nobody was counting on most, just an increase from what was the previous long-term base.

In theory, it should have been slightly more difficult to grow this year than last because the service is a year older, but interest in New Japan is also up. It’s probably unfair to credit Jericho vs. Omega with 20,000 new subs over and above what they’d have gotten, but 15,000 is not a stretch at all, and that’s a $128,000 value alone let alone if it adds 5,000 to the base it’s worth another $484,000 for the year.

The Rumble will set the record for the most workers on a PPV show. With the 30 men and 30 women, and both title matches being with three men, two tag title matches, a U.S. title final and a cruiserweight title match, that would be 78 wrestlers. It is possible the cruiserweight title could be moved to the pre-show or even one of the tag title matches, but that’s still 72 to 76 wrestlers. There’s probably going to be at least one or two more pre-show matches since they do a two-hour pre-show for big cards, and probably one will be multiple person match. So the whole nearly six hour show will probably end with more than 80. The all-time record for a PPV main show up to this point is 60 wrestlers, held by the World War III show from WCW which had a 60 man Battle Royal once, and WrestleMania 30 which booked 60 people. This past year’s Mania had 33 on the main show but 37 on the pre-show, for a total of 70.

Stardom attendance increased 20 percent in 2017, which is pretty strong considering one year ago there was significant fear regarding the future with WWE after its top talent and both Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo looking at leaving and Yoko Bito looking at retiring. Shirai ended up not being signed due to medical reasons and returned to Stardom as its top star

Viper, Kay Lee Ray and other women from Stardom have gone on social media to ask people to buy merchandise from Kris Wolf to help her out with her being injured. Her injury was not been announced but she’s been out of action this past week

For what it’s worth, the people running the ITV World of Sport remake are claiming that the project is back on, that the plans are to restart over the summer (which would likely mean a rush by WWE to get its U.K. project up as well and sign up more talent) and that Anthem won’t be involved. Some talent has been contacted to be patient for the relaunch of a weekly TV show. My feeling is to be skeptical. I think that’s the feeling of much of the talent at this point

Stephanie also noted what is clearly obvious, that WWE is distancing themselves away from President Donald. She was asked why in a video they put out showing celebrities that have done WWE, that Donald wasn’t in it. She said that the company made a strategic decision to stay away from partisan politics. It was the only move they could make that makes sense. While Donald appointed Linda McMahon to a cabinet post, Donald is a very divisive character. He’s beneficial to the company in many ways. Donald has spearheaded legislation for tax cuts on businesses like theirs, which is one of the reasons the stock price has grown. But while they support him, their fan base leans heavily the other way, as WWE fans skew heavily Democratic, heavy Mexican-American and heavily low income and there is no logical point in doing anything to alienate your fan base.

A lot of the reactions of wrestlers finding out who their partners were in the tournament were legit. Some obviously knew. For example, the spot with Lynch & Zayn, obviously Zayn knew. Lynch was told to go outside as they wanted to film her signing autographs, and then hid Zayn as a fan for the reveal. The series is a test to see whether both companies can do more together going forward

The top ten most-watched shows of the week on the WWE Network were: 1. 2015 Royal Rumble; 2. NXT year-in-review show on 1/3; 3. Clash of Champions; 4. Royal Rumble 2017 5. Royal Rumble 2016; 6. Photo Shoot-Cesaro (this is the second week in a row the Cesaro feature beat Miz); 7. Survivor Series 2017; 8. 205 Live from Jan. 2; 9. WrestleMania 2017; 10. Photo Shot-Miz

Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview with The New Indian Express, Great Khali stated WWE's recent efforts to cater to the Indian market have been a failure. http://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/other/2018/jan/10/wrestler-the-great-khali-says-wwe-used-him-to-grow-in-india-1749608.html
According to the Observer, WWE wants the basis for a new television deal to be done by this May instead of waiting till near the end of the current tv deal which expires in October 2019.
Recent episode of Inside The Ropes podcast show had Chris Jericho as the guest discussing becoming friends with Owens, original Mania 33 plans and why they got changed, and the Festival of Friendship. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0111/635796/chris-jericho-reveals-his-original-wrestlemania-33-plans/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Match Brackets Released for Mixed Match Challenge (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/match-brackets-released-for-mixed-match-challenge/)
Mean Gene Okerlund Booked for 25th Anniversary Raw (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/mean-gene-okerlund-booked-for-25th-anniversary-raw/)
FOX Possibly Interested In Purchasing WWE? (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/fox-possibly-interested-in-purchasing-wwe/)
WrestleMania 34’s Top Matches & Hall Of Fame Headliner (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wrestlemania-34s-top-matches-hall-of-fame-headliner/)

DaveWadding

01-11-2018, 11:57 PM

The NWA is working with Impact because on Sunday they will be filming an empty arena match with Jocephus vs. Tim Storm from the Impact Zone in Orlando with the winner being top contender for champion Nick Aldis. The match will be filmed before the Impact tapings that night.

If they want to film an empty arena match, they could just film during the tapings...

JimmyMess

01-12-2018, 08:43 AM

If they want to film an empty arena match, they could just film during the tapings...

HEYYYYOOO!

Simple Fan

01-12-2018, 09:35 AM

The Jocephus story has been pretty decent. I hope he beats Storm.

Emperor Smeat

01-12-2018, 09:01 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Drifter politely fixing Cena's posture:
http://i.imgur.com/8jOBOM1.jpg

The OVE vs. LAX barbed wire massacre match that we were told was the highlight of the Ottawa tapings will not be airing on Impact after all. The match will instead debut on Twitch. The story is that it was too brutal for television.
Tweet from Konnan: https://twitter.com/Konnan5150/status/951851352287784960

WWE sent out a press release for the Mixed Match Challenge listing the 12 charities being represented by the different teams. The winning team gets $100,000 for their charity. In addition to the grand prize, each charity will receive $10,000.
Braun & Bliss were revealed to be competing for WWE's own Conor's Cure charity. Some details regarding the charities involved: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114738/wwe-announces-charity-involvement-in-the-mixed-match-challenge.html?p=1

The WWE Mixed Match Challenge will feature a special “second chance fan vote” in which the WWE Universe will have the ability to give an eliminated team a second chance in the tournament by re-entering in the semi-final round.

On his podcast, Jerry Lawler said that he would be doing a second autobiography, picking up where the last one left off in 2001, as well as a book of his art work. He's working with historian and publisher Mark James on the projects. James has done all kinds of great history books on that territory working with Jim Cornette and Jerry Jarrett among others.

Dana Brooke announced on social media this afternoon that she had officially entered the first women's Royal Rumble match on 1/28 in Philadelphia, PA.

Officially announced as competing are Asuka, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Lana, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Naomi, Natalya, Nia Jax, Paige, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Sasha Banks, Sonya Deville and Tamina.

ROH announced Deonna Purrazzo has signed a non-exclusive contract. They are looking at signing several women to deals where they can work with other companies as opposed to exclusively work for ROH.

In this week's Green Lantern comic book, four Green Lanterns call themselves the Four Horsemen and then argued which one was the Ric Flair of the group. None of them stepped up to be the Steve "Mongo" McMichael.

Keith Lee vs. Ray Rowe and Juice Robinson vs. Dom Garrini headline for AIW on 1/29 at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Cleveland.

Names currently listed for the 2/17 WrestleCircus show are Chelsea Green, Brian Cage, Scorpio Sky, Kevin Condron, Shane Taylor, Gregory James, Christi Jaynes, Leva Bates, Jordan Len-X and Colin Delaney.

2016 into 2017 was one issue after another for WWE star Paige. 2017 into 2018 was supposed to be her major comeback to WWE, her redemption. Inside the ring, sadly, that will not be the case.

In a situation described as similar to WWE Hall of Famer Adam "Edge" Copeland's medical disqualification from the ring, WWE star Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis, 25 years old) was informed this week that she will not be cleared to return to the ring after her most recent in-ring injury, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources. It is believed Paige was given the news at the Raw taping this past Monday. We have been told by multiple sources she is "done" as an in-ring wrestler.

During a six woman tag team bout on 12/28/17 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, Paige had her back to Sasha Banks, who was behind her against the turnbuckles. Banks used the ropes to pull herself up and kicked with both legs into Paige's back. Paige, obviously not ready for the bump, went down ...

It was believed at the time that Paige had suffered a stinger, leading to her losing feeling in her extremities. Given her previous neck surgery, WWE pulled her from the ring and set up further testing that led to this week's decision ...

The irony of the situation, a number of sources have pointed out, is that no one would think there was anything physically wrong by looking at Paige, making it even more unthinkable that she, at 25, is being removed from WWE competition ...

While Paige will not be allowed to wrestle going forward by the company, we are told that she is extremely well liked by management, so one would think she would remain with the company in some capacity. She was featured on reality series Total Divas, so that's a possible vehicle for her, as are WWE Studios feature films. It's also possible the company could tap her to Coach in the NXT system or attempt to transition her into another on camera role.
More details from PWI: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114747/paige-done-as-inring-performer-for-wwe-.html

The 1/11 edition of Impact did 276,000 overnight viewers, down from the previous week's 309,000 overnight viewers.

The show had been up the previous three weeks.

If the WWE Network skips a show (say Mid-South) and never adds it to the chronological listing, does that mean they don't have the show?

Pretty much. Some of the libraries they've purchased were not 100% complete as the standard in the era was to utilize the same tapes over and over. While WWWF maintained an archive, most TV promotions did not, since there was no way to monetize the tapes. There were no VCRs, much less the idea of streaming technology coming up on the landscape. So, some of the content has been lost forever. When WWE can, they do their best to fill the gaps, including reaching out to private collectors.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on why certain shows from classic promotions are missing on the Network.

WWE are opposing a 'Cactus Jack' trademark that rapper Travis Scott is attempting to register for music production purposes. Scott has a 'Cactus Jack Records' music label as well as uses a 'Cactus Jack' nickname sometimes.

Interestingly, WWE does not seem to have an active 'Cactus Jack' trademark. They did have one that was abandoned in 2010.

The Cactus Jack name, obviously, was created by WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley and has been used by Foley since he first debuted in professional wrestling in the late 1980s. The name was actually a tribute to Foley's father, as told in Mick's first autobiography Have A Nice Day!

A GoFundMe campaign has been started to pay for the medical expenses of Mae Young Classic Competitor Jazzy Gabert, who recently revealed on the Edge and Christian Podcast that she had three herniated discs in her neck which led to her WWE contract being rescinded. They are currently at $1800 of a $4000 goal.
Link: https://www.gofundme.com/alpha-female-surgery-support

Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, Mark Henry has officially retired from the WWE.
F4WOnline's Bryan Alvarez reported Smackdown's lead writer, Ryan Ward, is currently in charge of WWE's Mixed Match Challenge series with both Vince and Kevin Dunn having very little input and involvement with the show. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7pyvs4/bryan_alvarez_the_mmc_is_a_ryan_ward_project/
Recent episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast show had Pete Gas as the guest talking about playing dominoes backstage with the Undertaker and Kane, Bob Holly punching him as an act of earning his respect, and finding out New Day are fans of the Mean Street Posse. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114730/pete-gas-talks-bob-holly-trying-to-break-him-playing-dominos-with-the-undertaker-new-day-and-more.html?p=1
USA Today had a recent interview with Triple H talking about the impact of early era RAW on the wrestling business, early days of live television in the WWE, and Stone Cold's impact on RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0112/635820/triple-h-on-what-steve-austin-meant-to-wwe-raw/
During the same interview with USA Today, Triple H also praised JR and Jerry Lawler for the impact they brought to WWE shows. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0112/635835/triple-h-praises-jim-ross-and-jerry-lawler-for-what-they-brought/
According to TMZ, David Otunga has been recently cleared of all domestic violence charges against him. http://www.tmz.com/2018/01/11/david-otunga-domestic-violence-investigation-no-charges-jennifer-hudson/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Cena on Nickelodeon, Total Divas Ratings, Moose Injury Update (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/various-cena-on-nickelodeon-total-divas-ratings-down-moose-injury-update/)
Kenny Omega Re-Signs With NJPW Until 2019 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/kenny-omega-re-signs-with-njpw-until-2019/)
Impact Results – Jan. 11, 2018 – Lashley/KM vs. Moose/Edwards (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/impact-results-jan-11-2018-lashley-km-vs-moose-edwards/)

owenbrown

01-12-2018, 10:18 PM

so clearly WWE is going to make sure Braun and Alexa win :nono:

Emperor Smeat

01-16-2018, 10:23 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun taking his pet Cole for a walk:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/7cceb678f9d51991f8db6dfcf6b50bd6/tumblr_p2muo3XKIn1u1ljrzo2_540.gif

Kevin Owens has missed the last two nights of WWE Smackdown Live events due to what was described as an existing injury the former Universal champion has been working through, PWInsider.com has learned

Owens appeared on the first night of the Smackdown Live tour this past weekend in Hildalgo, Texas but did not appear the second night in Hildalgo or Monday night in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The belief among those I've spoken with is that it's not considered a serious issue and that WWE likely pulled Owens as a preemptive measure to insure he would be OK and healthy for the 1/28 Royal Rumble, where Owens and Sami Zayn are slated to challenge WWE champion AJ Styles in a handicap match in the main event for the Smackdown brand on the joint PPV in Philadelphia.

Seth Rollins used his old Curb Stomp finisher, which had been banned by WWE, to defeat Finn Balor on Raw last night. Rollins wrote on Twitter about using the move again: “Welcome back, old friend.”
Link: https://twitter.com/WWERollins/status/953141652528488448

Aaron Solow & Ricky Starks, who team together as Extra Talented, were the enhancement tag team that The Revival defeated on Raw. Solow is also engaged to Bayley.

Following the announcement of Ricochet officially reporting to the Performance Center, WWE has also confirmed that Candice LeRae and War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) have signed with the company.

LeRae's final independent wrestling appearance will be against Joey Ryan, her longtime tag team partner, for Bar Wrestling on Thursday. Rowe will make his last appearance for AIW on Friday, and Hanson said farewell at Chaotic Wrestling this past week. War Machine had their last match for Ring of Honor in December and made their final appearance for New Japan Pro Wrestling at New Year's Dash.

LeRae is one of two Mae Young Classic participants who are joining the Performance Center in this class, with Kavita Devi also reporting to Orlando.
Link with others revealed to be in the newest class for the PC: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/candice-lerae-war-machine-officially-sign-wwe-249951

Tessa Blanchard has been announced for Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks’ “All In” show on September 1st.

Jazzy Gabert had surgery on her neck yesterday and posted that the road to recovery starts now.

Ric Flair announced that his daughter Megan is engaged to MLW podcast host Conrad Thompson.

As she departs the company, Chelsea Green (Laurel Van Ness) thanked everyone that she worked with in Impact Wrestling. Green spoke to the Orlando Sentinel about leaving Impact.

Travis Banks will defend his PROGRESS Wrestling Championship against TK Cooper in London on January 28th. The two are tag team partners as the South Pacific Power Trip.

Blanchard link: https://twitter.com/Tess_Blanchard/status/953416632113811456 , Gabert: https://twitter.com/alphafemale1/status/952952426637725696 , Flair: https://twitter.com/RicFlairNatrBoy/status/953298872952123392 , Green: https://twitter.com/ImChelseaGreen/status/953094783593041920 , Orlando Sentinel: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/wrestling/os-chelsea-green-future-20180116-story.html , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/953380125713760262

Impact Wrestling officially announced a partnership with Twitch today, with the promotion set to launch a 24/7 channel on the service that will include exclusive content.

The press release that was issued notes that the channel will feature monthly live events and house shows, along with lifestyle programming that will showcase Impact wrestlers outside of the ring. The channel will launch on Wednesday, and Barbed Wire Massacre III, which was taped in Ottawa in November and pitted LAX & Homicide against OVE & Sami Callihan, will debut on Twitch on Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Link with more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/impact-wrestling-announces-partnership-twitch-249946

Jason Jordan was out of action this weekend due to an injury. WWE has not released any details on the injury.

Bobby Lashley finished up with Impact Wrestling last night at their television tapings in Orlando, Florida.

Lashley joined Chris Adonis, Ethan Carter III, and Laurel Van Ness as top names who have left the company this week.

Lashley worked two matches with Brian Cage at the tapings, losing both nights. Cage, who made his debut on Thursday, was also the guy used for EC3 to be laid out by so he's getting the monster push.
According to the Observer, earliest WWE can sign him to a deal is February 1st making it impossible he makes a surprise appearance at this year's Rumble.

Ethan Carter III is legitimately gone from the company. They taped the Feast or Fired briefcase show and he got the fired briefcase. As has been noted, his contract expires before the next set of tapings and he's not renewing so this was a way to write him out.

- The April 22nd pay-per-view has been changed from Lockdown to Redemption. The new hierarchy in the company was against the idea of an all cage match show.

- Eddie Edwards was injured during the tapings. Sami Callihan hit a chair with a baseball bat and the bat ricocheted off the chair and hit his eye. It was a scary situation because there was so much blood and they were scared for his eye. Edwards was rushed to the hospital. I'm told he's okay now.

- The Grand Championship has been dropped.

- Jerry Lynn was brought in as an agent.
Some notes from Saturday's set of tv tapings for Impact Wrestling.

PWInsider.com broke last year that Bradley Cooper had been offered the role of Vince McMahon in Tristar Pictures' Pandemonium, the life story of WWE's Chairman and CEO and has been is awaiting an updated version of the film's screenplay before making a decision on whether to take on the role.

PWInsider.com has confirmed that the updated screenplay has been completed and turned into the studio. Should they approve, it will be sent on to Cooper and his team.

Plans have been for the film to begin filming in the Spring of 2018, but that has always been contingent on getting casting completed and a final, approved shooting script in place.

The script to Pandemonium was originally written by Craig A. Williams (who wrote Disney's live action Underdog adaptation few years back) back in 2015 and has undergone several drafts. The belief was that once WWE Studios became involved with the project, the existing script would undergo heavy rewrites to remove some of aspects of the film that the McMahon family would not be happy with. That has now happened.
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114845/update-on-the-planned-vince-mcmahon-movie.html?p=1

I was reading your answer to the question about how WWE writers don’t write an edgier product within the PG Rating constraints and it got me thinking about their take on ratings in general. They post more mature content on the Network from the Attitude Era and don’t seem to be worried that it will cut into ad rates on their main programs or the impact that would have on their stocks. Have they ever thought of working with USA to create an edgier show during the 10-11 hour? Keep 8 to 10 PG and get those sponsors while also keeping Raw to two hours to cut back on creative and ratings fatigue. And from 10 to 11, develop an edgier product that would be sold to a different set of advertisers and reach a different audience while the kids go to bed. It would be something for kids to graduate to when they outgrow Raw and would open up a different revenue stream. Anyways, I am just spitballing an idea. Would love to hear your thoughts.

First, the content on the Network that you refer to is older and behind a pay wall. It is not the current product and isn’t subject to advertisers. I can’t say if USA would be amenable to your idea or not, but even if they were, sponsors like Mattel wouldn’t be. WWE would rather have the better perception from Wall Street and potential partners than appealing to an older audience. Also, keep in mind that Vince McMahon has always been about marketing to kids. We only ever got the Attitude Era because the then-WWF was losing badly to WCW and Vince McMahon stepped out of his comfort zone with the product. Once he won the war, he went back to doing what he likes to do.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the likelihood WWE ever goes back to TV-14 or higher for their shows.

Serena Deeb is at the WWE Performance Center today, according to PWInsider. The 31 year old worked for WWE from 2009 through 2010. During that time, she was a member of The Straight Edge Society with CM Punk and Luke Gallows. She returned to the company last year in the Mae Young Classic where she defeated Vanessa Borne in the first round before losing to Piper Niven in the second.

As noted, WWE announced on last night's RAW that Chris Jericho will be one of the special appearances for next Monday's RAW 25th Anniversary episode, which takes place from two locations in New York City - the Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

It's worth noting that WWE reportedly announced Jericho without there being a deal for the return. It was noted on today's edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Jericho will likely appear next Monday but WWE did announce him prematurely. Dave Meltzer added that a deal could be signed today, if it hasn't been made already.

The talk of Jericho appearing at RAW 25 goes back several months. New Japan Pro Wrestling officials also knew that Jericho would be appearing at RAW 25 when they recently worked with him. Jericho is not signed to any kind of exclusive NJPW contract and he's not currently signed to a WWE deal.

"Woken" Matt Hardy tweeted the following and indicated that we may be seeing Senor Benjamin, Queen Rebecca Hardy, King Maxel and other "Broken" characters in WWE soon for The Great War with Bray Wyatt:

The INCOMPARABLE @BenjaminSenor is currently OPTIMIZING the green beans within the Greenhouse Garden at The Hardy Compound..

Trust me, #WOKENWarriors.. #SenorBenjamin, Queen Rebecca, King Maxel, Lord Wolfgang & @Vanguard1AAR will all be appearing IMMINENTLY..

STUPENDOUS! https://t.co/aymjtR1xD6
— #WOKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) January 16, 2018

The official Twitter account for Benjamin also tweeted a shot at John Cena, seen below:

Hola @JohnCena if you are not using can I borrow your shovel? Gracias
— Señor Benjamin (@BenjaminSenor) January 16, 2018

Some other sheet news includes:

RAW ratings and viewership numbers have been delayed due to Monday being MLK Jr holiday.
Hulk Hogan revealed on Twitter he will not be appearing at next week's RAW 25th anniversary show. https://twitter.com/HulkHogan/status/953061040924717056
According to fan reports, both Scott Steiner and Tommy Dreamer made their returns to Impact Wrestling during Monday's set of tv tapings.
According to the Observer, Kairi Sane is currently dealing with a minor injury as the official reason why she hasn't wrestled in NXT for a while. https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/951643288112529408
PWI had a recent article explain the reasons why several notable past big stars won't be at next week's RAW 25th anniversary show. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114830/so-what-major-names-from-the-past-havent-been-announced-for-raw-25.html?p=1
Recent episode of the Pancakes and Powerslams Show had Eric Bischoff as the guest talking about WWE's current product and RAW celebrating its 25th anniversary. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0116/635969/eric-bischoff-shares-his-thoughts-on-the-current-wwe-product/
Current rumor going around the net is the winner of the US Championship tournament will end up facing off against Dolph Ziggler at the Rumble to determine who is the undisputed US champion.
Inside the Ropes had a recent interview with Chris Jericho talking about wanting to feud with Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor during his previous run in the WWE and The List of Jericho. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0116/635956/chris-jericho-talks-pitching-big-wwe-ppv-matches-against/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Jey Uso Arrested for DWI (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/jey-uso-arrested-for-dwi/)
WWE Officially Signs Ricochet and War Machine (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-officially-signs-ricochet/)
Paige Officially Pulled From Royal Rumble “Due to a Neck Injury” (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/paige-officially-pulled-from-royal-rumble-due-to-a-neck-injury/)
Jericho, Bischoff, Torrie Wilson, Kelly Kelly, More Confirmed for Raw 25 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/jericho-bischoff-torrie-wilson-kelly-kelly-confirmed-for-raw-25/)
Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler Will Be Commentators on 25th Anniversary Raw (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/jim-ross-and-jerry-lawler-will-be-commentators-on-25th-anniversary-raw/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-17-2018, 12:09 AM

Why the fuck would anyone want to see Matt Hardy's fucking family on television?

TNA are against Steel Cage PPVs, but not against guys getting fired for winning matches.

Wrestling is broken.

Emperor Smeat

01-18-2018, 10:13 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by New Day's Pancake War against The Maharaja:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/81a3d64990d68bb0ff5ce23a146e7cea/tumblr_p2oearLATI1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Bret Hart is really hoping for The Hart Foundation to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, more for Jim Neidhart because he’s battling significant health issues and if it doesn’t come now, he may not be able to enjoy it and perform on stage and at this stage of his life it would mean a lot to Neidhart

Spoiler tags used since its related to this year's WWE Hall of Fame class.

The end of football season provided a bigger than expected bounce-back for Raw on Monday night as the show was up 17 percent from the January 8th episode, with 3.22 million viewers ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.57 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.36 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.81 million viewers

Tuesday night's SmackDown averaged 2.602 million viewers on the USA Network, essentially even with last week's 2.603 million ...

For the first time in 2018, SmackDown was down year-over-year as the show one year ago this week did 2.652 million viewers ...

It's notable that SmackDown ratings had been up since AJ Styles won the WWE Championship and since the main event storylines have revolved around Styles, Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. This week, there was virtually no advancement in that storyline. Owens and Zayn didn't appear and Style only did a brief interview segment.

The episode instead revolved around the semifinals and finals of the United States title tournament and featured Jinder Mahal wrestling for almost 40 minutes.

Before Raw 25 goes on the air, there will be a pre-show on the WWE Network, WWE.com, and some of the company's social media channels. It will start at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will be hosted by Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg, David Otunga, and Sam Roberts, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler also appearing from the Manhattan Center.

Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/article/stone-cold-steve-austin-returns-raw-25

The AP ran a story on Hulk Hogan not being on Raw Monday. WWE, when asked about the possibility of Hogan returning, said "At this time, WWE remains committed to its decision." Hogan said, "I'm ready to jump on a plane and fly to Japan and get involved with that Bullet Club, man, I'm so excited about those kids."

On Wednesday, WWE star Roman Reigns released a statement regarding claims earlier this week that he was a customer of an accused steroid dealer.

"I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition. I learned from the mistake I made nearly two years ago and paid the penalty for it. Since then, I've passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program."

This began when a phone interview with Rodriguez was released on YouTube where he alleged that he dealt steroids to Reigns and actors Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel under assumed names. Rodriguez, owner of a gym in Miami, Florida, is facing charges for conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and money laundering in a $10 million operation that crossed international waters. Wahlberg also has denied the claims.

The 'mistake' the 32-year-old Reigns is referring to was his 30-day suspension in June 2016 after failing a wellness test for what Dave Meltzer reported was Adderall.

The basic gist of the story is this. Based on previous WWE policy, most notably the 2007 Signature Pharmacy raid where 12 WWE wrestlers and one front office member had steroids and/or Growth Hormone distributed to them, if there is a paper trail, even without a positive test, the company will suspend the wrestler involved ...

Based on this, if there is an actual paper trail or evidence, past this video, that implicated Anoa’i, he would likely be suspended for 60 days. If there isn’t, it is unlikely any action will be taken.
Turns out WWE has the power to suspend people under the Wellness Policy even if they don't actually fail tests.

The first episode of Mixed Match Challenge currently has 1.2 million views on Facebook. It peaked at over 100,000 viewers for the live show.

Kenny Omega has been added to NJPW’s four-show tour of Australia in February. Jay White and Henare have also been announced.

Hiroshi Tanahashi is off the New Japan tour of Australia. We don't have details at this point.

After some other wrestlers asked fans to keep him in their thoughts, Fred “Tugboat” Ottman said that he’s feeling better but not out of the woods yet. Ottman said he’s dealing with an infection in his left leg.

CZW announced that Joey Ryan will be wrestling for them on April 7th during WrestleMania weekend in New Orleans.

Daisuke Sekimoto & Munenori Sawa vs. WALTER & Timothy Thatcher is set for EVOLVE’s show in New Orleans on April 5th.

AAW on Saturday in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium has Rey Fenix vs. Matt Riddle for the AAW title, Mat Fichett & Davey Vega vs. Shane Strickland & Keith Lee for the AAW tag titles, Sami Callihan & Jake & Dave Crist vs. David Starr & Trevor Lee & Jeff Cobb, MJF vs. Juice Robinson, Jessicka Havok & Kylie Rae vs. Allysin Kay & Scarlett, Eddie Kingston vs. Kevin Lee Davidson, Jake Something & Curt Stallion vs. Zero Gravity plus ACH, Myron Reed, AR Fox, Teddy Hart and Paco.

THR 3 Media announced a movie being worked on called “Santo, El Mascarado de Plata,” which would be movie about the life of El Santo. The story said they are starting production on the movie this year. El Hijo del Santo will be heavily involved as he’s said he wants the movie to tell the real story about his father’s life.

WWC, one of the oldest promotions in the world, still hasn’t comeback since Hurricane Maria and hasn’t said anything about a return. There are three major promotions on the island with CWA currently being No. 1 and has been running 200-seat buildings even after the hurricane. WWL, which averaged 512 fans per show before the hurricane, has the best talent and the best matches. That’s the group that Savio Vega is a part owner of and that Hector Melendez and Dennis Rivera (Savio’s son) are bookers, and Konnan has worked with. Melendez was on track to get a role with The Crash, but his contact was Konnan so that fell apart. The high interest level of Wrestle Kingdom in Puerto Rico was explained as how the fan base has changed and are less interested in American storylines or the heavy juice style and are more interested in match quality and Japanese strong style and Mike Mendoza has gotten a good fan base by combining freestyle wrestling and Jiu Jitsu with fast pacing and heavy strikes.

Jeff Cobb will be working the next season of Lucha Underground as Matanza Cueto. It’s known he’s been looking to get out so he may be on the list of guys who are coming back to be written out. Obviously Cobb is looking at working more regularly with New Japan, and Impact has shown an interest (although his Lucha Underground contract wouldn’t block him from Impact) and we don’t know about ROH but him going to ROH would seem to make sense

Omega: https://www.facebook.com/784525241686198/photos/a.932592766879444.1073741829.784525241686198/980769825395071/?type=3&theater , Tugboat: https://www.facebook.com/fred.ottman.7/videos/vb.100000409794275/1778304505526525/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab , CZW: https://twitter.com/combatzone/status/953435483253637121 , EVOLVE: https://twitter.com/WWNEVOLVE/status/953073163214172160 , MLW: https://twitter.com/MLW/status/953775499930755072

At the Impact Wrestling TV taping on Monday night, there were reference made to the 4/22 Redemption PPV taking place in Toronto, but earlier today John Pollock of PostWrestling.com reported there was no deal in place for the show to currently take place in that city.

In asking around, we are told that is correct and should Impact not run Toronto, the back up plan is to attempt to return to Universal Studios and hold the PPV in Orlando, Florida.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross disclosed this afternoon that the charges brought against the driver who struck his late wife Jan have been dismissed. On Twitter, Ross wrote:

This morning norman judge Steven Stice felt compelled to dismiss vehicular homicide charge against the 17 year old in my wife Jan’s death. The state objected to no avail.

The driver never even lost his drivers license.

Sad world in which we live, folks. pic.twitter.com/97GqJMHzab
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) January 18, 2018

PWInsider reported that the word at the tapings was that Lashley won't be able to sign with any other company until February 1st, while EC3 is free to sign with any company now, which means he could appear at The Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 28th.

EC3 was originally booked for a Renegade Wrestling Revolution independent wrestling event in Houston on the day of th Rumble, however EC3 backed out of the show last week. The promotion commented on EC3 pulling out of the event, writing on Facebook:

"BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! Do to reasons out of RWR control EC3 will not be able to attend RWR "OVER THE TOP". EC3 has said he will be back to RWR in the near future. We here at RWR wish EC3 the best and will see him soon. But the show must go on so straight from the office of RWR a new main event has been set Champion Ayden Cristiano will now have defend his title verus not 1, not 2, but 3 of the regions top Heavywieghts. So on January 28th at RWR "OVER THE TOP" you will see Ayden Cristiano vs Able Andrew Jackson vs Big Daddy Yum Yum vs Ryan Davidson. Plus so much more. Check out our new flyer to get all the information"

For what it's worth, when asked this week why he pulled out of the show, the promotion replied, "Unfortunately it is a private family matter. He is ok just has to be with family. But don't be discouraged there isn't shortage of talent on this card"

WWE Network officials were planning to add Coliseum Home Videos to the vault soon but it appears WCW Thunder may be the next big classic uploads to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show next month, according to PWInsider. Thunder was to be added a few months back but the uploads were delayed due to the lawsuit filed by former WCW stars Raven and Buff Bagwell, which has ended. WWE Network workers are also preparing old WWWF TV episodes to be added to the Network later this year.

Some other sheet news includes:

The Mirror held a recent interview with HBK talking about RAW's 25th anniversary and wrestling on the 1st ever RAW episode. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/wrestling/wwe-legend-shawn-michaels-id-11869216
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had Kevin Owens and his best friend Sami Zayn as the guests. https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jericho/owens-zayn-together-again
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Mark Henry talking about his current wrestling status, why he's been inactive from the WWE in recent months, and his first appearance with the Nation of Domination. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0117/636027/mark-henry-says-he-not-retired/
According to the Observer, Samoa Joe is currently expected to be out till at least mid-March as the best case scenario.
Also according to the Observer, Bobby Lashley can be a surprise entrant in this year's Rumble even though WWE can't officially sign him to a deal till February 1st. It involves getting Impact's permission to use Lashley while his non-compete clause is in effect.
WWE's website had a recent interview with The Undisputed Era talking about their success on the indies, their chemistry as a group, and them wanting to "conquer" NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0118/636065/the-undisputed-era-on-conquering-wwe-nxt/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Nash and Foley Won’t Be at Raw 25, Jeff Hardy and Mark Henry Will Be (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/kevin-nash-and-mick-foley-wont-be-at-raw-25-jeff-hardy-and-mark-henry-will-be/)
Ethan Carter III Spotted at WWE Performance Center (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/ethan-carter-iii-spotted-at-wwe-performance-center/)
Jim Johnston Gives First Interview Since Being Let Go By WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/jim-johnson-gives-first-interview-since-being-let-go-by-the-wwe/)
NJPW Has Had Preliminary Talks With Goldberg (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/njpw-in-preliminary-talks-with-goldberg/)
Impact’s Sienna Hospitalized With Blood Clots in Lungs (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/impacts-sienna-hospitalized-with-blood-clots-in-lungs/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-18-2018, 10:30 PM

Really interested to see if there's a paper trail with this Reigns stuff. And what happens with Bobby Lashley.

Emperor Smeat

01-19-2018, 10:05 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Finn Balor channeling his inner Sasha Banks:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/e0093e1d17baa2bbc7278ab59f435c35/tumblr_p2okfkLpk01u1ljrzo1_500.gif

As noted, WWE confirmed this week that Bill Goldberg will be headlining the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony this year in New Orleans. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Paul Heyman is currently the one planned to induct the former WWE Universal Champion ...

Other rumored names for this year's induction ceremony include The Dudley Boyz, Ivory and the late Bam Bam Bigelow, plus Kid Rock going into the Celebrity Wing. Those names have not been confirmed but there's been speculation on WWE possibly announcing The Dudleys in the next few weeks, perhaps at the RAW 25th Anniversary as where they will be appearing live.
Spoiler tags used since its related to this year's WWE Hall of Fame class.

While nothing has been announced, the 3/25 New Japan show in Long Beach on New Japan World is listed is airing like only outside the U.S. but will be available after the show is over on VOD. That sounds like AXS will be airing it live and has exclusive live rights to the show. New Japan will have English language announced for both ROH shows on 2/23 and 2/24 from Korakuen Hall, as well as for next weekend's two shows in Sapporo. Nothing from Australia is currently listed as on the service.

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson announced that they were going to make pro wrestling now exempt from the ban of combat sports in the city during 2018. WWE had canceled its February show. Iveson said it was because pro wrestling had predetermined outcomes.
More details via PWI: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114913/edmonton-ban-on-pro-wrestling-overtuned-paving-way-for-wwe-to-return.html?p=1

Barrios was at the Needham Conference yesterday and asked about independent contractor status and said WWE isn't looking at locking talent up and they are free to leave anytime they want in very short order. I guess two years is considered very short order given Daniel Bryan has been looking at getting out of his deal forever and Rey Mysterio had to wait forever to get out of his, and Neville is sitting and waiting. Actual contracts even include language of up to one-year non-competes in not only pro wrestling, but MMA as well.
Link: https://www.fightful.com/wwe-executive-talks-wrestling-audience-talent-contracts-tv-rights-wwe-network

Candice LeRae had her final indie show last night at the Bar Wrestling show in Los Angels: Brian Cage b Scorpio Sky, Heather Monroe & Laura James & Brody King b Dan Barry & Bill Carr & Taya Valkyrie, Jeff Cobb b Luchasaurus, Delilah Doom & Eli Everfly b Joey Janela & Penelope, Billy Gunn b Hot Young Briley (Dolph Ziggler's brother), Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas won three-way over Willie Mack & B-Boy and Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful, Candice LeRae b Joey Ryan.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCH0Ng0N0PQ

The 1/18 edition of Impact did 309,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 276,000 overnight viewers.

WWE Raw Tag Team champion Jason Jordan will be held off this weekend's Raw brand live events, PWInsider.com has learned.

Jordan was held off last week's tapings with an injury that has yet to be confirmed. He was at Raw this past Monday but not involved in any physical contact with other WWE talents beyond tripping Finn Balor during Balor vs. Seth Rollins.

Jordan is scheduled to be at Monday's Raw taping.

WWE has a new poll asking fans which match they're most looking forward to at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 28th. As of this writing, 45% voted for the 30-man Royal Rumble match while 29% voted for the first-ever 30-woman Royal Rumble match, 18% voted for Kane vs. Braun Strowman vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, 4% voted for Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. WWE Champion AJ Styles in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, 2% voted for Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in a 2 of 3 Falls match, 1% voted for Cedric Alexander vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore and 1% voted for The Bar vs. RAW Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan.

Former WWWF Champion and WWE Hall of Famer "Superstar" Billy Graham needs a "total hip revision" medical procedure and does not have the funds or insurance to cover it. Graham has been getting around with the use of crutches for years and has been told that he will soon need the permanent use of a wheelchair if his left hip is not fixed. Graham has started a "Go Fund Me" page for fans that are willing to donate anything to help him out. His goal is to raise $40,000 for the procedure. You can donate by clicking here.
Link: https://www.gofundme.com/superstar039s-emergency-medical-fund

WWE is working on a new DVD for WWE Hall of Famer "Macho Man" Randy Savage to be released on May 29th, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. The DVD comes after the success of WWE's "Unreleased: 1986-1995" DVD that came out in 2017. The new three-disc Savage DVD will feature never-before-seen and unreleased matches. WWE has also been planning a similar DVD on WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels. The synopsis for "Randy Savage Unreleased: The Unseen Matches of The Macho Man" reads like this:

The Macho Man has had legendary bouts with Hulk Hogan, Rick Rude, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, and many others. The WWE Universe may be familiar with many of them, but there were several excellent matches that have never made it to DVD. Now fans can own some of the Macho Man's greatest matches that have never been released on WWE Home Video before.

As noted, WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson turns 77 years old today. Vince McMahon wrote the following on the brains behind the Royal Rumble match:

Wishing a very happy 80th birthday to my longtime friend and @WWE's first Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson! pic.twitter.com/xEszrgac9j
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) January 19, 2018

WWE recently filed to trademark "WWE Straight To The Source" for Corey Graves' WWE Network show. They also filed to trademark "Kane" for various merchandising such as packaging, wrapping paper, calendars, notebooks, posters, pencils and similar items.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vijK9nA824U" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some other sheet stuff:

Radio show 107.7 The Bone with Baby Huey & Bimbo Jimbo had a recent interview with Lana talking about Rusev being on Total Divas, not using her accent on the show, any backstage heat on her engagement being made public at the time, and Women's Rumble: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114915/lana-talks-about-dropping-her-accent-getting-rusev-on-total-divas-being-in-the-rumble-and-more.html?p=1
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Batista as the guest. https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness/episodes/d869d094-9e5a-49ca-9d1f-9a00156d7de9
CBS Sports had a recent interview with Silas Young talking about ROH, not being interested in going to the WWE in the near future, being ROH TV champion, and ROH's Women of Honor tournament. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/114905/silas-young-comments-on-his-ring-of-honor-status.html?p=1
talkSPORT had a recent interview with Sasha Banks talking about the possibility of feuding with Bayley in the near future, her favorite RAW moment, and who she wants to see in the Women's Rumble. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0119/636099/sasha-banks-says-she-the-greatest-women-wrestler-ever/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Alexa on TMZ, WWE on Fallon, Divas Ratings, Jan Ross Case (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-alexa-on-tmz-wwe-on-fallon-divas-ratings-jan-ross-case/)
WWE Comments on Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan Comments on WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-comments-on-hulk-hogan-hulk-hogan-comments-on-wwe/)
Alberto Says He Made Up With Triple H and Would Return to WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/alberto-says-he-made-up-with-triple-h-and-would-return-to-wwe/)
Howard Finkel, Harvey Wippleman and More Names Added to Raw 25 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/howard-finkel-harvey-wippleman-and-more-names-added-to-raw-25/)

Emperor Smeat

01-23-2018, 10:01 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by One of the Very Few Highlights from RAW 25th:
https://i.imgur.com/qBKJtS7.gif

One day after a rape allegation against him was made public, Enzo Amore has been released by WWE.

The company's statement: "WWE has come to terms on the release of Eric Arndt (Enzo Amore)."

Amore had been suspended by WWE yesterday. On Twitter, a woman using the handle "missgucciwitch" shared her story alleging that Amore had raped her last October. Phoenix Police confirmed that they responded to a local hospital on October 23rd, 2017 for a call of a sexual assault that had reportedly occurred on October 19th, 2017 at 401 West Clarendon Avenue. The investigation is still ongoing ...

UPDATE: Amore's accuser, whose name is Philomena Sheahan, spoke to TMZ about the incident. She told them Amore ripped her tights open and, despite her saying no countless times, he sexually assaulted her in the hotel room they were in.

Sheahan said Amore threw her on the bed and she passed out from smashing her head. When she woke up, she says he was still raping her and wouldn't stop when she said no and told him to get off of her. She doesn't know when Amore stopped, but says he was still there in the morning.

According to the Post Wrestling podcast show, the police investigation is expected to conclude soon. Supposedly WWE only found out about the allegations on the night of RAW 25 and only after getting questions by a reporter for an interview.

According to Sheahan, there were drugs all over the hotel room, which would later play a factor into her becoming incapacitated. Sheahan said that she was 8 months sober from all drugs outside of her prescribed medication before the alleged meeting on October 19.

"I walk into the hotel room and there's cocaine everywhere. They're smoking weed and everything. We just started doing drugs," she said. "Then they pulled out a different bag. I expected it to be a better version of cocaine -- like top shelf that they had. They started giving it to me and I did like three lines in a row. It must have had meth or something I don't even know, because I was literally was sitting there on the couch. I could hear what they were saying, I couldn't speak, I was frozen. I can't say I was unconscious, but I was not there."

While incapacitated, Sheahan specified that she could hear a conversation between TooPoor and the WWE Cruiserweight Champion with some disturbing dialogue.
Some more details on the alleged incident involving Enzo. Link: http://www.fightful.com/enzo-amore-accused-rape%C2%A0

On the day he was officially released from WWE, the legal team of Eric Arndt (aka Enzo Amore) released a statement via Arndt's Twitter account:

"Over the last two days, Philomena Sheahan has made multiple public allegations against Eric Arndt (also known as Enzo Amore with the WWE), including allegations of sexual misconduct concerning an October 2017 incident in Phoenix. Mr. Arndt fully and unequivicoally denies these accusations. He is cooperating with the authorities in this matter and looks forward to having it resolved in a timely manner. Neither Mr. Arndt nor his counsel will be making any further public comments on this matter."

On Monday via Twitter, Sheahan accused Arndt of raping her on October 19th. Phoenix police confirmed they responded to a call from the local hospital on October 23rd for an incident that reportedly occured on the 19th. Sheahan spoke with TMZ and told her side of the story which was very graphic and troubling.
Enzo link: https://twitter.com/real1/status/955955140896460801 , TMZ: http://www.tmz.com/2018/01/23/enzo-amore-accuser-philomena-sheahan-rape-wwe/

Deadspin's David Bixenspan also noted on Twitter that there has been no change in the status of his case, according to the Phoenix Police Department. He tweeted:

Per the Phoenix Police Department, there has been no change in the status of the Eric "Enzo Amore" Arndt case since yesterday. This plus WWE pivoting from suspension to firing suggests that not telling WWE he was being investigated was indeed the catalyst for the firing.
— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) January 23, 2018

ABC 15 has a story here about WWE releasing Enzo Amore following a woman accusing him of rape earlier this week. As noted, the incident happened on October 19th, 2017 at The Clarendon Hotel & Spa. Officers responded to a local hospital days later on October 23rd. Despite WWE releasing Enzo Amore today, ABC 15 noted that the case is still under investigation.
ABC link: https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/enzo-amore-suspended-while-phoenix-police-investigate-sexual-assault-allegations

Following Enzo Amore's release, what's next for the Cruiserweight Championship will be made clear at the beginning of tonight's episode of 205 Live.

WWE announced that Daniel Bryan will kick off the show by addressing the situation with the title. Cedric Alexander had been scheduled to challenge Amore for the championship at the Royal Rumble on Sunday before Amore was suspended and later released.

It also appears that there will be a general manager named for 205 Live, with WWE's announcement noting that Bryan will also address rumors of a potential GM.

Before he was suspended (and later fired) by World Wrestling Entertainment, Enzo Amore was originally slated to wrestle Goldust at last night's Raw 25 event.

In a bout that was scheduled for the third hour of Raw at the Barclays Center, Amore vs. Goldust would have led to The Dudley Boyz getting involved after the Zo-Train interfered and attacked Goldust and Cedric Alexander with the Dudleys putting someone through a table before celebrating with Alexander and Goldust.

With Amore having been removed from the show, WWE rewrote the segment to feature Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno to set up the Dudleys appearing and putting Slater through a table. The re-write (and a pre-tape that set up the new match) was finalized around 7 PM last night.

Goldust and Alexander were removed from Raw completely while members of the Zo-Train were instead sent to the Manhattan Center to work dark matches if needed.

As expected, the 25th anniversary of Raw drew monster ratings, averaging 4.50 million viewers.

While the number wasn't close to the 6.02 million viewers of the similar 1,000th Raw special in 2012, nobody expected that kind of a figure. It was the biggest number in several years and will most likely be the largest number of 2018 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 4.80 million viewers
9 p.m. 4.64 million viewers
10 p.m. 4.15 million viewers

In terms of rankings, RAW took the #1, #2, and #3 spots.

Another NJPW regular has been added to Ring of Honor's upcoming WrestleMania weekend show.

ROH officially announced this morning that Kota Ibushi will be wrestling at Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans on April 7th. He joins Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi as wrestlers who have been confirmed for the show.

ROH's announcement mentions the post-match angle that Ibushi was involved in at New Year's Dash where Omega stopped Cody Rhodes from hitting Ibushi with a chair and Omega and Cody argued after ...

Supercard of Honor XII will take place at the UNO Lakefront Arena on the same night as the Smoothie King Center hosts NXT TakeOver. ROH is looking to break their all-time attendance record, which was set when over 3,000 people were present for Supercard of Honor last year.

Link: http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/international-superstar-kota-ibushi-signed-supercard-honor

The Hollywood Reporter reported that John Cena is in negotiations to star in “Duke Nukem,” which is a film adaptation of the video game franchise.

“Ferdinand,” with Cena having voiced its lead character, was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the Academy Awards. Cena thanked the Academy for recognizing the movie: “So happy @FerdinandMovie was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. The cast, crew, directors, producers, and more importantly, its message, are amazing. Thank you to @TheAcademy for recognizing a story that reminds us to be proud of who we are. #Oscars2018”

While appearing at an event at the Empire State Building yesterday, Triple H said “I will tell you this -- stay tuned” about Ronda Rousey potentially appearing for WWE again.

Despite being on the commemorative chair, Lita tweeted that she didn’t make the guest list for last night.
Duke Nukem film: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/john-cena-talks-star-video-game-adaptation-duke-nukem-1077194 , Ferdinand film: https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/955845060616183808 , Triple H: https://theblast.com/triple-h-stephanie-mcmahon-ronda-rousey-wwe/ , Lita: https://twitter.com/AmyDumas/status/955654559115788288

After 36 hours of labor, Melissa Santos and Brian Cage welcomed the birth of their daughter. They named her Skylar Faith Button.

NJPW’s two Road to New Beginning in Osaka shows at Korakuen Hall next month will have English commentary.

The NWA congratulated WWE on Raw’s 25th anniversary.

Toni Storm has been announced to be making her Shimmer debut on 4/7 in New Orleans against Nicole Matthews.

Santos: https://twitter.com/ThisIsMelSantos/status/955775627667189761 , NJPW: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/955713520607232000 , NWA: https://twitter.com/nwa/status/955598733298806785

Randy Orton's wife, Kim, took to social media today to vent over Randy not being booked for tonight's loaded RAW 25 show. Despite there being no SmackDown live event tonight, only a handful of SmackDown talents have been advertised for the event: Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, The Usos, Charlotte, WWE Champion AJ Styles and The New Day.

"Can someone pls explain to me how @randyorton isn't on the Raw 25th anniversary tonight?" she wrote. "He's been on more episode of Raw then anyone besides HHH, Michaels, Taker, Kane and Cena. Impressive list right? So why NOT @randyorton? He's had some of the most memorable moments in Raw history too. He's also on the Promo pic but isn't on the show. Just doesn't make sense to me. Enjoy the show tonight guys. I'll be playing MarioKart with my kids"
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeQwAZclyjB

A new WWE 24 documentary will air on the WWE Network after Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view goes off the air. The one-hour special will take fans behind-the-scenes of WrestleMania 33 in Orlando. Below is the synopsis:

"WWE 24 cameras go backstage and follow the Superstars behind the curtain at WrestleMania from Orlando, Florida!"

There was some speculation on Roman Reigns possibly being punished for the recent steroid allegation story with his title loss to WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz at last night's RAW 25 special but there is no heat, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Reigns is still planned to face WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 34, as of this week. There's a feeling within WWE that the story on Reigns being implicated in the steroid ring is a non-story.

Regarding The Miz, Meltzer noted that he is currently in the beginning of a monster push. Miz is scheduled for a major WrestleMania 34 match but there's no word yet on who he might be facing. The Miz is scheduled to be booked as a top guy during WrestleMania season and the new "Miz & Mrs." USA Network reality TV show with Maryse may tie into that.

WWE RAW General Manager Kurt Angle revealed on Instagram that he filmed an upcoming episode of Table For 3 with AJ Styles and Shane McMahon. He noted that in addition to their matches and families, they will talk about TNA Wrestling.

"Very intriguing 'Table for 3' coming soon on the WWE Network," Angle said. "AJ Styles, Shane McMahon and Yours' truly..... We talk about our matches together, our families, unheard stories and even TNA Wrestling. Must see."

Angle worked for TNA / Impact Wrestling from 2006 - 2016, while Styles was a part of the company from 2002 - 2013.

WWE has a new poll asking fans their favorite Legend appearance at RAW 25. As of this writing, 46% voted for Steve Austin hitting Stunners on Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon while 18% voted for The Undertaker's "sacred ground" promo, 10% for DX's segment with The Balor Club, 8% for Chris Jericho putting Elias on The List, 7% for Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler calling Manhattan Center action and 4% for The APA's poker game. Christian hosting The Peep Show, The Dudley Boyz putting Heath Slater through a table, The Godfather's segment with Mark Henry, Ric Flair's appearance with his daughter, "Mean" Gene Okerlund interviewing WWE Champion AJ Styles and the "bizarre Legends" interacting with Kurt Angle all drew 2% or less.

Some other sheet news includes:

FW4online had a recent interview with Ellsworth talking about life after leaving the WWE, his pre-WWE career, early days as a wrestler, going from jobber to full time wrestler in the WWE, and more. https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/james-ellsworth-his-wwe-run-and-post-wwe-life-250271
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 34th anniversary of Hulk Hogan defeating The Iron Sheik for the WWF championship.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kane has wrestled the most matches on RAW out of everyone who ever wrestled on the show since its launch in 1993. In regards to most wins ever, John Cena owns the record for men and Trish Stratus owns the record for women. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/7s99yf/who_won_the_most_matches_on_raw_over_25_years_or/?st=jcr6cl01&sh=c709b843
WWE's official website had a recent interview with Kofi Kingston talking about his decade long career in the company, disappointments of his WWE career, and future goals. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0122/636190/kofi-kingston-on-why-he-still-salty-over-the-slammys/
Website Waypoint had a recent article about an indie promotion using Twitch to help book and run shows. https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/d34jaa/this-isnt-twitch-plays-pro-wrestling-but-its-damn-close

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Undertaker vs. Cena Still On? SmackDown Matches, After Raw Video (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-undertaker-vs-cena-still-on-smackdown-matches-after-raw-video/)
Why Bret Hart Wasn’t at Raw 25 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/why-bret-hart-wasnt-at-raw-25/)
Jim Ross Says He and Lawler Weren’t Asleep at Raw 25 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/jim-ross-says-he-and-lawler-werent-asleep-at-raw-25/)
Off-Air Manhattan Raw 25 Notes: Crowd Chants, Jeff Hardy, Flair, Miz Rollins (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/off-air-manhattan-raw-25-notes-crowd-chants-jeff-hardy-flair-miz-rollins/)

Emperor Smeat

01-24-2018, 10:19 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Indie Wrestling gif:
http://i.imgur.com/ygPMYMT.gif

Coming off the biggest Raw audience in years didn't seem to have a spillover to SmackDown as Tuesday night's show averaged 2.58 million viewers on the USA Network. That's just 57 percent of the audience for Raw's 25th anniversary episode ...

SmackDown was up very slightly in the year-over-year comparison as the Royal Rumble go-home show in 2017 did 2.556 million viewers.

Asuka submitted Carmella with an armbar as Asuka & The Miz advanced over Carmella & Big E on Mixed Match Challenge last night. The show peaked at over 90,000 viewers live and has over 680,000 views as of now. Both of those numbers are down from last week. Asuka & Miz will face Sasha Banks & Finn Balor in the next round, with their match set for week seven of the tournament.

Next week’s Mixed Match Challenge match is Alexa Bliss & Braun Strowman vs. Becky Lynch & Sami Zayn.

Samir Singh will be out of action for a while due to tearing his ACL. Singh revealed that he suffered the injury last week and wrote that the past week has been emotional for him.

Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon, and AJ Styles will appear together on an upcoming episode of Table for Three.

Styles made his WWE debut in the Royal Rumble on this day two years ago.

WWE uploaded their annual “by the numbers” video for the Royal Rumble.

Samir: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeUOScvnFIc/ , Angle: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeREZ2qBSCM/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_legacy , Rumble video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOYxjjIJfKs

PWG announced the card for their next show, which will be called Neon Knights and will take place on February 16th:

PWG World Champion Chuck Taylor defending against Trent Barreta
Keith Lee vs. Matt Riddle
Flip Gordon (making his PWG debut) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
David Starr vs. Travis Banks
Dalton Castle vs. Joey Janela
Adam Brooks vs. Matt Sydal

Impact Wrestling will have a live road show with Border City Wrestling and Destiny Wrestling at the Don Kolov Arena in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada on March 4th. The show will be on Impact’s Twitch channel. (thanks to reader Jake Koch)

Hirai Kawato is set to make his CMLL debut as a rudo at Arena Mexico next week as he heads there on excursion. NJPW has post-match comments with English subtitles from Kawato’s final match before going to Mexico.

wXw announced that Keith Lee will replace Jeff Cobb in their 16 Carat Gold tournament in March. The tournament will take place on March 9-11, and Cobb had to withdraw due to Lucha Underground tapings being scheduled.
Impact: https://twitter.com/DestinyWrestle/status/955980979537174528 , NJPW-CMLL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3JBcdBD7II , wXw: https://twitter.com/wXwGermany/status/956179792575062016

WWE is bringing the Royal Rumble to Arizona next year.

The company announced via The Arizona Republic today that Chase Field in Phoenix will host the Royal Rumble on January 27th, 2019. Chase Field, which is a baseball stadium, is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. WWE estimates that over 40,000 people will attend the pay-per-view.

This will be the first time that a WWE show has taken place at Chase Field. It's also the first time that a baseball stadium has hosted a Royal Rumble.

The Arizona Republic's article mentions that the women's Royal Rumble match is "an event that will be repeated in Phoenix."

Like with all "Big Four" PPVs, there will be an NXT TakeOver special, Raw, and SmackDown in the days surrounding the Royal Rumble. The Talking Stick Resort Arena will host TakeOver on the 26th, Raw on the 28th, and SmackDown on the 29th.

The decision to terminate Amore the next day was again, not a belief internally that Amore was guilty, but a determination that Amore failing to inform the company was, as several people described it, "the last straw" for Amore within the company.

It isn't news that Amore had been an controversial figure behind the scenes, something that was openly talked about in his recent WWE Network interview with Corey Graves. Sources indicated that there had been a number of issues previously with Amore's behind the scenes conduct, including the company being unhappy that he had gone on social media to mock Big Cass' legitimate injury when he hadn't been instructed to do so last year as well as the well-known situation in Europe where he was thrown off a tour bus for, allegedly, being loud and not letting talents sleep in the middle of the night even after he was asked repeatedly to quiet down. Within the company, among the wrestlers, Amore had been one of the least liked members of the locker room, often dressing and traveling on his own.

In the end, WWE sources tell us, there were too many instances of problems in recent months that were already building against Amore. His decision to not come to the company about criminal allegations that are obviously extremely serious and horrible, while knowing about them for months, was the watershed moment that led to them finally terminating him.

The latest "vintage" WWE Network addition will be old WWF Coliseum Home Videos, PWInsider has learned.

There will be 38 videos uploaded to the Network's VOD section the first week of February.

The Coliseum videos had been planned for some time, although there was talk internally of instead adding old WCW Thunder episodes since the lawsuit brought against the compan by Buff Bagwell and Raventhe lack of royalties for in regard to their appearances on the WWE Network has been dismissed. That lawsuit led to WWE delaying the addition of Thunder and WWE Sunday Night Heat to the Network, but now that WWE successfully defended themselves against it, the door is now open for that content to be added.

PWInsider.com can also confirm the frontrunner to be added in March are old episodes of WWWF All-Star Wrestling from the 1970s.

DK Publishing will be releasing a new hardcover WWE book focused on The Rock this October, similar to one they released on John Cena last year.

Other additional WWE books currently scheduled:
* 3/8 - WWE Superstars Guide (Second Editions) by Jake Black
* 3/13 - The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.: From WWE's The New Day
* 5/8 - Raw: The First 25 Years.

For those of you wondering how WWE handles producing Raw this past Monday, Vince McMahon oversaw things at the Barclays Center with Michael Hayes and Adam Pearce producing matches. Triple H oversaw The Manhattan Center with Mike Rotunda producing the matches.

Billy Corgan's Lightning One, Inc. company, which is the production company attached to the National Wrestling Alliance, applied to trademark 'The Dupont Network' for wrestling purposes. That may be a takeoff of the Dumont Network, which was the name of the first television network that broadcast professional wrestling.

Sports Illustrated has learned that much of the Raw 25 anniversary show was rewritten approximately three hours before going live after the creative team learned that Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon could not arrive at Raw early enough in the day for pre-tapes and segments with many WWE legends.

Plans for backstage segments with Fallon, including the general manager segment, ultimately became introductions and waves to the crowd.
Link to article: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/01/24/jimmy-fallon-enzo-amore-raw-25

Triple H revealed during today's media call that Kassius Ohno vs. The Velveteen Dream has been added to Saturday's WWE NXT "Takeover: Philadelphia" card. You can check out the full call in the video above.

It was also revealed that the January 31st NXT episode will be filmed at the Wells Fargo Center before Takeover hits the air on Saturday. The tapings will feature TM-61's return to TV plus appearances by Roderick Strong and Nikki Cross ...

Below is the updated card for Takeover:
NXT Title Match
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas

NXT Women's Title Match
Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon

NXT Tag Team Title Match
The Authors of Pain vs. Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish

Extreme Rules Match
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black

Kassius Ohno vs. The Velveteen Dream

WWE has applied to trademark the "Miz and Mrs." name, which is the title of the USA Network series on Maryse and WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz that will premiere later this year.

Some other sheet news includes:

Edge revealed Corey Graves will be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/EandCPod/status/956226126866800643
WWE announced they will release their fiscal report for the year on February 8th. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115038/wwe-to-announce-fourth-quarter-complete-2017-earnings-next-month.html?p=1
According to PWI, WWE currently has 4 inductees locked for this year's Hall of Fame class and others still being under consideration.
Bleacher Report had a recent interview with Naomi talking about possibility of a Women's tag division, Mixed Match Challenge series, and not getting to face Charlotte in a feud for the Smackdown's Women's championship. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0124/636290/naomi-on-getting-another-shot-at-charlotte/
Miami Herald had a recent interview with Kaitlyn talking about her upcoming return to wrestling, if she plans on returning to the WWE, and being in NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0124/636276/kaitlyn-on-if-her-upcoming-comeback-match-is-for-a-wwe-return/
Sports website Deadspin had a recent article on why WWE disappointed and doesn't care about disappointing their fans with how RAW 25 was handled. https://deadspin.com/raw-25-proved-that-no-wwe-doesnt-care-about-its-bigges-1822364641

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

The XFL Is Set to Return in 2020 (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/the-xfl-is-set-to-return-in-2020/)
WWE: Stephanie on Rumble Commentary, SD Dark Matches, Raw 25 Videos (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-stephanie-on-rumble-commentary-sd-dark-matches-backstage-raw-25-videos/)
“Woken” Matt Hardy Teases Becoming “Broken” Matt Hardy (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/woken-matt-hardy-teases-becoming-broken-matt-hardy/)

Evolution

01-25-2018, 10:31 AM

The XFL is coming back.

I wasn't able to watch the first season as a) I live in Britain; and b) I was 15 so didn't get a say.

Now it is coming back with more forethought, planning, care and easier access, I'm inclined to check it out.

As a side note, with WWE owning all of the WCW names and trademarks, would they call their version of the Superbowl the Superbrawl?

Emperor Smeat

01-25-2018, 10:13 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Triple H channeling his inner Drifter:
https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/trips.gif?w=650

At this point it appears nothing at the top has changed for WrestleMania. As of right now the plan is for The Miz to defend the IC title against Braun Strowman, which is why Miz’s win was as clean as it was, since the IC title will be one of the biggest matches at Mania. But a lot can change. There are people who believe Strowman should win the three-way at the Rumble and it’s the time to make him champion, but at least after Raw that was not the way McMahon was thinking. The allegations last week against Reigns were described to us as a non-issue as far as potential cold feet on pulling the trigger on Reigns at this year’s Mania after a couple of pullbacks of plans to do the same dating back three years.

Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane for the Universal title is the non-Rumble main event. The winner of this match would either face the winner of the Rumble, or more likely, the winner of the upcoming Elimination Chamber match if someone from Smackdown wins the Rumble. As noted, the Lesnar vs. Reigns destination dating back nearly one year still hasn’t been changed as of this past week.

The name Daniel Bryan has been listed as among the betting favorites. What we can confirm is that Bryan has not been cleared to wrestle as of earlier in the week and that is not expected to change this week. An idea that somehow he could be involved but not take a bump has been speculated on and somehow winning that way. I can’t say it’s impossible but it’s not like they are going to do a Styles vs. Bryan match, so it somewhat defeats the long-term usual Royal Rumble winner purpose. But it’s wrestling and you can change things and rules at any time. If we go with the idea Reigns wins the Chamber match, that would leave someone from Smackdown. Reigns could win the Rumble, although the reaction in Philadelphia would almost surely be very negative if he does ...

The other thing is that the Bryan stuff has gotten enough play in the last two weeks, even mainstream coverage in the U.K. with the idea he’s winning, that there are likely fans attending who believe it’s the secret storyline. They’d better have a heel at No. 30, because if it’s a face and anyone other than Undertaker or a surprise of that level (I’m not sure Ethan Carter III or even Bobby Lashley would fit), the reaction to that face at No. 30 may not be pretty.

On the women’s side ... There is no confirmation of Rousey being in the match and obviously her role in WWE is being kept a closely guarded secret. Asuka and Jax are being presented as the favorites.

Spoiler tags used since its related to possible Rumble and Mania plans.

All charges against Rich Swann stemming from his December arrest were dismissed today.

Court records cite insufficient evidence to sustain a conviction as the reason why the case isn't moving forward. Swann was arrested in Gainesville, Florida on December 10th and charged with false imprisonment/kidnapping, which is a third degree felony, and misdemeanor domestic battery (touching or striking).

The arrest report from the incident stated that Swann had gotten into an argument with his wife Vanarrah Riggs, who wrestles as Su Yung, after she performed at an indie show. The report alleged that Riggs got out of their vehicle due to fearing that the argument was going to escalate, and Swann grabbed her by the arm and around her neck, dragged her back to the car, and pushed her in as she screamed for help. Swann denied physically touching Riggs.

In mid-December, Riggs posted a positive message about Swann on Facebook: "I can not wait to see my husband tomorrow. After such an awesome weekend of wrestling debuting in two different promotions across America, nothing would be better than to see his face."

Swann was indefinitely suspended by WWE after the arrest, which is what the company's zero-tolerance domestic violence policy called for. WWE has yet to comment on Swann's status following the charges being dismissed.

Nobody asked what type of salaries they are going to pay and how that compares to the CFL, as they will be competing for the same type of player. As far as public interest, I don't see this being any different from last time or any of the attempts at second pro football leagues. But the environment is completely different today than in 2001. Whether that allows them to make it is a different story, but it's all about broadcast rights and if you can get a deal that allows you to make money, it doesn't matter about merch sales or ticket sales. And if it's just merch sales and ticket sales, but no significant money from broadcast rights, this doesn't have a chance. There are a lot more outlets, but television and OTT, looking for fringe product and you don't need that many viewers to stay on the air. But you need for someone to pay you a lot to be on the air, so this depends far more on the television/OTT market than the football market.
Meltzer on XFL's chances of success from a players and television viewpoint.

WWE stock wasn't hurt by the XFL announcement as it was up 64 cents per share to $34.13, the highest the stock has been since 1999.

Vince was asked how this will affect his day to day control with WWE. He said that there will be no change.to his role as Chairman of the Board and COO of WWE.
Part of the Q&A section from today's XFL revival press conference.

The updated main events for the 3/16 WWE return to Madison Square Garden:
*WWE Universal champion Brock Lesnar vs. Kane vs. Braun Strowman.
*John Cena vs. Elias.
*WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz vs. Roman Reigns.

It was announced today that the Philadelphia intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Way, which is right outside of the Wells Fargo Arena, the host venue of the 2018 Royal Rumble, has been renamed this weekend as Royal Way and Rumble Road.
Image of the road sign: https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26904739_1662862320418940_5667862884490803171_n.jpg?oh=d649f281995d636e184bc044c34f6eeb&oe=5ADB9024

WWE posted the following:

Congratulations are in order for Chad Gable: WWE.com has learned the former SmackDown Tag Team Champion and his wife have welcomed their second daughter into the world. Meadow Ann arrived on Jan. 24 at 7 pounds, 14 ounces. Join us in celebrating this exciting new addition to Gable’s family!

Alexa Bliss spoke with Sky Sports promoting Sunday's Royal Rumble. The Raw Women's Champion was asked about the first ever Women's Royal Rumble Match and whether this means if the Women's Evolution in WWE is complete.

She responded with, "You're never done. The WWE has been at the forefront of promoting women in sports entertainment and athletics. But it would be awesome if one day we main event WrestleMania. That would be amazing. At the moment, the fact that we're making history is very exciting. I'm very excited by this Royal Rumble match because the revolution didn't start with just one or two women. So the fact you have every woman included is awesome." Bliss is thankful for past generations blazing the trail that led them to this historic moment. "I don't think it really started with our generation," she said. "It started with the previous women, the divas. If they hadn't have had the types of matches they had then and been given the types of opportunities they had then, we wouldn't have what we have now. So I think it's great to see how we're perceived now and everything but it started before us. The fact that the fact notices that change is amazing and it's leading to us main eventing and having historic matches and it's been an amazing thing for women."
Link to the interview: http://www.skysports.com/wwe/news/14203/11221995/wwe-champion-alexa-bliss-womens-journey-not-over

William Regal noted that he just hit 25 years since he first came to the United States:

Two days ago marks 25 years since I arrived in the https://t.co/xCySkE82tb is the 25 anniversary of my debut in WCW.A “WCW Saturday Night” taping at Center Stage,Atlanta.Thank you to all that helped and watched for allowing me to entertain you.
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) January 25, 2018

On last night's episode of Total Divas, it was revealed that the due date for Miz and Maryse's first daughter is 4/6, which is just a few days before Wrestlemania 34.

One person close to the situation said that when WWE announced the suspension, they had already decided to let him go. The key reason was that in a meeting with him when the news broke, he admitted being aware of the Phoenix police investigation and had never told the company, which is something they strongly frown on. The belief internally is that they never would have featured him so prominently, kept the cruiserweight title on him, and continued to build 205 Live around him if they had known he was the subject of an ongoing police investigation.
Some details regarding how furious WWE was over finding out about Enzo's legal problems.

The biggest question involved the return of The Undertaker. Undertaker came out at the Manhattan Center and did an interview that left most people confused. He talked about how Stone Cold, Mick Foley and even his own flesh-and-blood (Kane) had all answered to the reaper, how they all tried and they all failed. But then teased the idea that he was retired as opposed to shooting an angle with John Cena.

Instead, Cena was in Brooklyn and an angle to put over Elias, designed to build the Royal Rumble, although that was never actually said on the broadcast as Rumble hype was minimal at best, with none of the top stars bringing up the Rumble match and the only Rumble-related promos, one by A.J. Styles and the other by Paul Heyman, were about the two major championship matches.

Elias was put in the Samoa Joe position as someone designed to work a key spot in the Rumble with Cena as well as perhaps do house shows with him. The house shows were to be Roman Reigns vs. Cena vs. Joe for the IC title, but with Joe injured and Miz winning the title, everything is likely to change.

It is still not clear what will happen with Lesnar, whose contract expires after Mania, although there are aspects of the contract that tie him up through August. Prior to August, Lesnar would need Vince McMahon’s approval to do UFC. Dana White this week indicated that he believed Lesnar would fight in UFC in 2018. McMahon did give his approval for the Mark Hunt fight in 2016. Lesnar vs. Jon Jones was in the cards for 2018, but it fell apart when Jones was suspended. But White also said that he expected Jones to fight in 2018, meaning he expected some extenuating circumstances would keep Jones from being suspended as long as first feared. Still, just as the last time his contract was due, it’s hard to believe at 41, which Lesnar turns this summer, that Lesnar would do UFC past one giant payday that a Jones fight would bring, and that whether that would be part of his new deal, or he’d take a few months off and then return, that Lesnar wouldn’t end up long-term back in WWE for the next several years.

For years, WWE has claimed, and in many places, the claim has gone unchecked, as being the longest running episodic weekly show in the history of television.

Of course, that claim is false. Episodic meant to remove sports shows, which have gone on since the beginning of time, and weekly news shows, like Meet the Press. Weekly was meant to exclude soap operas, which are episodic and daily.

Raw has produced more episodes, as has Smackdown, of any weekly network prime time show.

According to the Observer, the real record either belongs to Portland Wrestling (1953-91 with 2k shows) or Atlanta Wrestling (1972-2000 but can also be traced back to 1950) depending on the criteria used. Memphis Wrestling has 40+ years worth of weekly televised shows but doesn't count since it was 2 companies during its history.

Evolve announced its top matches for 2/17 in Queens, NY at LaBoom and 2/18 in Joppa, MD at the MCW Arena. The first night will have Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Austin Theory for the Evolve title, Keith Lee vs. AR Fox for the WWN title plus Chris Dickinson & Jaka vs. The End for the tag titles. The Joppa show is headlined by Matt Riddle vs. Austin Theory vs. Darby Allin vs. Jaka in an elimination match, Sabre Jr. vs. Dickinson in a non-title match and Lee vs. Tracy Williams in a non-title match.

The first [ROH] PPV of the year will be the 16th anniversary show on 3/9 from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. At the TV tapings on 1/20 in Nashville two matches were set up that are official. They are Dalton Castle vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title and Silas Young vs. Kenny King for the TV title. At TV, they also teased a tag title match with Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley either against Mark & Jay Briscoe or a three-way including Baretta & Chuckie T

The situation with Bobby Lashley is that he was actually under contract, for a good amount of money, through May, but since it was clear that he wasn’t staying past that point and he asked to be released early, they did so. The feeling would be he’s expecting a good deal elsewhere, whether that be WWE or New Japan, and was willing to forego the last three months of his contract

With the exception of Chris Adonis, who just quit, all of the departures were expected. Adonis & Eli Drake were going to work a tag title program with LAX when he quit

The company is looking at doing a deal where they focus on 6-8 top guys. Brian Cage is looking to be one of them as they are giving him a monster push. They toned him down as far as doing wild moves as at first they just want him destroying people like a Goldberg and then when he’s in bigger matches he’ll start to do more of the flying. Names we heard they were very happy with included Austin Aries, Matt Sydal, Su Yung and Sami Callihan. As for Eddie Edwards, it was really scary because there was fear when the injury first happened that he could lose his eye, but he was a real tough guy and came back all bruised up and still did run-ins at the next TVs. His deal is coming up and they are hopeful of keeping him

The WWE has made an offer to people who have canceled the WWE Network that they can come back for a three month subscription starting now, which takes them through WrestleMania, for just $1.99 total. Other former subscribers were sent mailers that offered the same three month period for free. The key to this is the day after WrestleMania, when WWE announces its subscriber numbers, the people who signed up at $1.99 for three months would be listed as paid subscribers, not free subscribers, thus it would artificially create a gain in the year-to-year numbers. This would make it look like strong growth, or at least some growth, and would help the stock price even though it’s a gimmick. If there was no growth from last year, WWE would be questioned about if the network has peaked. There would be questions since Netflix has just announced record growth making people expect that of other major streaming services right now. The web site also has pop up ad offering two free months, which would expire two weeks before Mania

There were negotiations a few months back for Hogan to be part of The Bullet Club, as legit they have said the only outside guys they’d want in would be C.M. Punk or Hogan. The feeling was that Hogan wanted too much money and he’d bail on them the minute Vince called, and the feeling was that he was negotiating in the first place to get Vince to bring him back.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Vince McMahon asks who wants to sit through a 3 - 3 1/2 hour and have games under that time frame - yes, who could imagine sitting down for three hours every week?</p>— John Pollock (@iamjohnpollock) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamjohnpollock/status/956622324928733184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

After previously being redirected to WWE's official website and later a 404 Error page, XFL's official website relaunched earlier today. https://www.xfl.com/
Radio show 107.7 The Bone with Baby Huey & Bimbo Jimbo had a recent interview with Natalya talking about RAW 25, talking with Trish Stratus backstage, Trish being an inspiration to her career, and the Women's Rumble. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115062/lots-of-wwe-news-and-notes.html?p=1
According to PWI, at least 5 indie companies recently sent Enzo Amore booking offers for their shows.
According to reports, Jey Uso has been pulled off of Nickleodeon's Paradise Run show due to his recent DUI arrest. Rumor going around online hints at the Usos losing the Smackdown tag titles at the Rumble as part of Jey's punishment.
According to the Observer, USA Network would actually make more ad revenue if they dropped WWE shows than keep them. They'd drop a lot in network rankings (#3 to #10) and have a smaller average audience for prime time shows but in return can get higher paying advertisers without the negative stigma of wrestling being around.
Recent episode of the X-Pac12360 podcast show had X-Pac talk about his Mt Rushmore of Wrestling, the Enzo allegations, and WWE going to commercial during Scott Hall's entrance at RAW 25 show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0125/636319/sean-waltman-on-enzo-amore-allegations/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Vince McMahon Officially Announces the Return of the XFL in 2020 (Updated) (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/vince-mcmahon-officially-announces-the-return-of-the-xfl-in-2020/)
Ronda Rousey Says She Won’t Be at the Royal Rumble (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/ronda-rousey-says-she-wont-be-at-the-royal-rumble/)
Final NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia Card (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/final-nxt-takeover-philadelphia-card/)

owenbrown

01-25-2018, 10:26 PM

ugh... Vince really wants Philly and New Orleans to burn to the ground in the next 3 months doesn't he?

Emperor Smeat

01-26-2018, 09:47 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Asuka's approval:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/7d2906d2d89eb31d7f9ff02f41c84244/tumblr_p31rb7YAtu1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

According to FW4Online's Bryan Alvarez, No Way Jose is currently set to be one of the surprise entrants in the Men's Royal Rumble match.

Alvarez made the announcement during a recent Bryan & Vinny Show.

Spoiler tag used since its related to a surprise entrant for the Men's Rumble.

It took until the Friday before the pay-per-view, but Roman Reigns has finally been announced for Sunday's Royal Rumble match ...

With the addition of Reigns, the men's Royal Rumble is up to 18 confirmed entrants. There have also been 18 participants announced for the women's match, which is everyone on the current roster who is available and doesn't hold a title. There are 12 spots remaining for both matches heading into the weekend.
Link: http://www.wwe.com/article/roman-reigns-officially-enters-the-2018-royal-rumble-match-this-sundayhttp://www.wwe.com/article/roman-reigns-officially-enters-the-2018-royal-rumble-match-this-sunday

Prior to TakeOver: Philadelphia going on the air tomorrow night, there will be a WWE United Kingdom Championship number one contender's match on the pre-show television tapings.

Roderick Strong will be facing Tyler Bate, with the winner getting a future shot at Pete Dunne's title. Strong vs. Bate will air on Wednesday's episode of NXT television.

Bate was the last person in WWE to challenge Dunne for the title, losing to him in a match that aired on December 20th.

Nikki Cross vs. Lacey Evans and the in-ring return of TM61 have also been advertised for Wednesday's episode and will be taped prior to TakeOver.

There will be an hour-long pre-show before TakeOver begins. Renee Young and Corey Graves will host the NXT year-end awards, and Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts, and Samoa Joe will appear on the pre-show panel.

ROH has switched its upcoming shows and the 2/9 show in Concord, NC, that was to be a TV taping will now be a house show. The TV taping will now be on 2/10 at Center Stage in Atlanta. The Atlanta matches are now in Concord with Cody & Marty Scurll & Adam Page vs. Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan and Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham. One match in Atlanta for TV will be Chuckie T & Baretta vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe.

Progress Wrestling is headed to Australia with shows on 4/17 in Perth, partnering with Explosive Pro Wrestling, 4/18 in Sydney, partnering with Pro Wrestling Australia, 4/20 in Melbourne, partnering with Melbourne City Wrestling and 4/21 in Ivercargill, New Zealand.

Hirai Kawato's debut at Arena Mexico was moved from this coming Tuesday to a week from tonight due to some immigration issues.

Lanny Poffo has set up a Kickstarter program for a comic book based on his WWE gimmick called, "The Genius Lanny Poffo, Wrestling's Smartest Man."

Jushin Liger, Rocky Romero and Puma King headline for Pro Wrestling Revolucion on 3/10 in San Francisco at John O'Connell High School.

The 1/25 edition of Impact did 310,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 309,000 overnight viewers.

Sumie Sakai and Stacy Shadows have been announced for the upcoming Women of Honor Championship Tournament

No word yet on whether Rich Swann has been officially reinstated by WWE after all charges against him were dropped in Florida yesterday afternoon.

On his latest podcast, Jerry Lawler confirmed what some had speculated, that WWE made the call to have some additional talents brought over the Manhattan Center due to the negative reactions of the fans live to what they were getting in person in that venue during Raw 25. In asking this morning, I was told that Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy were always scheduled to appear there but The Miz and Seth Rollins were added over the course of the night ...

During his podcast, Lawler also noted he would be part of the Royal Rumble broadcast as part of the Men's Rumble bout.

Eddie Edwards stated yesterday that Impact would remain his home "for the foreseeable" future. His current deal expires in February.

Alberto el Patron's deal expires in March, but given that he is locked in to headline the 4/22 Redemption PPV, it would appear the two sides have come to terms on some sort of extension. Impact sources would not confirm that Patron has signed a new contract.

Impact will be filming a Moose vs. Alberto el Patron bout taking place this weekend for Future Stars of Wrestling in Las Vegas.

Bobby Lashley has been pulled from all scheduled Impact-related appearances. He is free and clear to go anywhere he wants as of 2/1. We have heard his next move is to concentrate on MMA fights, but one would think WWE would be interested.

Impact Wrestling promised that next week's episode would kick off a "new era" for the company:

Next week is the beginning of a new era but one thing will remain constant. Every single week we're looking to present the very best wrestling show we can and our crew and our immensely talented roster give you everything. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week. #Genesis
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 26, 2018

Impact's relationship with Crash in Mexico is done.

WWE announced that Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts and Samoa Joe will be part of the NXT:Takeover pre-show panel this Saturday at 7 pm ET, on all the usual WWE platforms.

Renee Young and Corey Graves will host the NXT Year End Awards during the pre-show.
Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/nxt-takeover-philadelphia-2018-01-27/article/nxt-takeover-philadelphia-pre-show

Matt Hardy recently spoke with 2K to promote the recent WWE 2K18 DLC Pack and commented on how he would compare Woken Matt vs. Broken Matt. He said:

"They are very similar. Basically, Broken Matt broke down the barriers in his mind and could use more of that ability. And returning back home, the reception that we received when we came out at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, it held my condition, the Broken mind, dormant for a matter of months. And then, after touching the magical creature known as Bray Wyatt, it actually houses Sister Abigail, which I was able to draw from her magic and it reignited the magic within me. So I became Woken and realized all of my broken brilliance.

It's very interesting. They are very similar. There's a little bit of difference because the Woken Wisdom is the second rebirth. Now that my Woken Wisdom has finally been realized and I am conscious of everything that is going on now, I think that the wrestling fans are going to be in for a truly special run."
Link: https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/interview-with-matt-hardy-on-wwe-2k18-dlc-and-more

The T-Mobile Arena posted the ad below on their Facebook page hyping next month's RAW branded Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. In the plug, they asked which of the 12 RAW Superstars will make it inside, which would suggest that there will be two Chamber matches since there are six people in a Chamber match. It reads:

ONE MONTH 'til the #EliminationChamber! Which of the 12 @WWE Raw Superstars will make it inside? ??: http://tmobilearena.us/PtfsoT

Alexa Bliss and Samoa Joe are both pictured on the post, suggesting separate men and women's Chamber matches. There has never been a women's Chamber match since the concept was introduced in 2002. The first-ever women's Royal Rumble match will take place this Sunday, and it appears that all specialty pay-per-view matches will feature separate men and women's bouts.

WWE Elimination Chamber takes place on February 28th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Tickets are available at this link. You can check out the full post below:
Link to the ad: https://www.facebook.com/tmobilearena/posts/1755513747834023:0

We've noted how RAW Tag Team Champion Jason Jordan has been out of the ring for a few weeks now due to an undisclosed injury. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Jordan has been dealing with a bad back. Jordan and Seth Rollins are still scheduled to defend the titles against The Bar at Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

Jon Bravo, who is working on a documentary looking at the Iron Addicts Gym which was owned by jailed steroid dealer Richard Rodriguez, released another interview with Rodriguez ...

In the new video, Rodriguez said that he specifically named Reigns, Wahlberg and Duhamel to get a better plea deal. He said that there are bigger names that haven't been released that will be revealed in his documentary, even teasing that he might have some secrets on advisors in President Donald Trump's administration. Rodriguez said that Reigns was introduced to him years ago by a wrestling enthusiast. He also said that he will release "snippets of proof" in the next week of text messages, tracking numbers and addresses where products were shipped that will be tied to each of the accused.

"That information with us communicating with Roman via text messages will be provided to the appropriate party, which will then be disclosed prior to our documentary that's going to be filmed soon," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez added that his protocol with Reigns would change depending on "the varied times in which WWE wrestlers get tested."
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xBdZEugfE0

WWE's Cruiserweight division is in peril over the past nine months, as their roster has been decimated with injuries, releases, legal issues and more.

The belief among talent is that WWE has frozen Neville's contract as opposed to letting it expire. We've seen this in the past with injuries, such as Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan. Bryan was able to get his "service time" moving along by accepting a role as WWE Smackdown Live GM. However, we're told that Neville returned to the UK a while back, until he returns, or WWE changes their mind, it's not likely his contract time will run down.
Link: https://www.fightful.com/exclusive-update-neville-s-status-wwe

Some other sheet news includes:

WWE is currently scheduled to release a "Best of Shane McMahon" DVD set on June 11th.
Twitch will be holding a 10 day marathon of indie wrestling featuring various indie companies starting today. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115097/twitch-announces-10-day-wrestling-celebration-with-house-of-hardcore-impact-aaa-classic-wrestling-and-more.html?p=1
Recent episode of Dinner With The King podcast show had Lawler discussing the photo of him and JR asleep during RAW 25, issues with the Manhattan Center of the show, Triple H making changes on the fly due to negative crowd reactions, and getting in trouble for saying "puppies" during the show. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115087/jerry-lawler-discusses-behind-the-scenes-of-raw-25-changes-made-based-on-fan-reactions-in-nyc-the-pressure-on-he-and-jim-ross-getting-in-trouble-for-saying-puppies-and-more.html?p=1
According to PWI, WWE is rumored to not have decided on who will be the general manager for 205 Live will be yet.
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Edge discussing his pick to win the Royal Rumble, wanting Nakamura vs AJ Styles at Mania, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0126/636345/edge-on-who-he-would-like-to-see-win-the-royal-rumble-and/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Lawler’s Contract, Raw 25 Changes, Menounos at Rumble, NXT (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-lawlers-contract-raw-25-changes-menounos-at-rumble-nxt-tapings/)
Three Matches Announced for Royal Rumble Kickoff Show (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/three-matches-announced-for-royal-rumble-kickoff-show/)
Trailer for HBO’s Andre the Giant Documentary Released (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/trailer-for-hbos-andre-the-giant-documentary-released/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 02:08 PM

The news of USA Network actually making more revenue if they dropped WWE is fascinating and potentially huge. I mean, that's quite shocking. Watch those Network subs too. Not a "sky is falling" post. I imagine that their subs are going to sit around the same mark and nothing changes with the stock price. But the TV thing is interesting. Things were looking really great for them with the FOX news, but if you're a suit, you'd be a fool not to look into that revenue information.

Emperor Smeat

01-30-2018, 05:01 PM

Normally, that shouldn't be possible considering RAW and Smackdown prop up the network a lot for viewers and rankings but USA Network still has a net negative for ad revenues and still can't get really good paying advertisers to join up without NBC's help.

Was a lot easier for NBC to drop WWE programming from their network since they already have shows that do better than WWE's for prime time and for ad generating.

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 06:03 PM

That's scary. Having those viewers should translate into revenue. That it doesn't really doesn't make the WWE an appealing product. This sounds very similar to when Nitro was getting great ratings compared to other things in 2001, but the company was bleeding money, which is all anyone in that position is going to care about. It's different in the sense that NBC Universal does not own WWE, but that value to advertising is basically the only reason that viewership number means anything.

Emperor Smeat

01-30-2018, 06:23 PM

Normally it would but USA Network got way too desperate at wanting to improve RAW.

Gave WWE a 3rd hour for RAW thinking it would be very beneficial to both parties and instead its been a $40 million per year sinkhole for them.

Wanted Smackdown to go live as a way to boost their Tuesday rankings and while its been a lot more beneficial, they had to give WWE an extra $50 million outside of the current tv deal to make it happen.

With the current tv deal, they had to get NBC involved mainly to help them out with advertisers since they were losing way too much money and struggled to get really good paying ones to join.

Right now its expected WWE is going to get at least a 30% increase with their new tv deal which still won't put them anywhere near NASCAR-like levels (around $600-$800 million per year) but way better than they ever did before (around $250-$260 million projected).

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 06:32 PM

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 06:39 PM

That third hour's always been detrimental. I know they get paid for it, but when it affects viewership and basically means fewer eyeballs are going to be seeing that time you're feeling, it makes you less effective for the bottom-line. If you're WWE, at some point getting that wheelbarrow of money for a third hour or a live show doesn't stretch to what you're missing by having a more viable product. But given how boring and shit SmackDown has been, losing that hour is not necessarily going to help Raw.

Emperor Smeat

01-30-2018, 06:56 PM

But why would NBC pay more? That made sense to me with decreased viewership but them still being one of the most viable properties USA has in a dying cable industry, but with it being an allegedly detrimental relationship, you'd probably better off running Psych re-runs.

USA Network probably going to cover the bulk of any increases just like they have been doing with the current tv deal. Similar to El Rey and Lucha Underground with El Rey's parent company Univision providing nominal help at best.

NBC's direct involvement with WWE pretty much ended when they dropped the Saturday Night's Main Event revival show on their network. Since then, they mainly leave it up to USA Network which is why WWE Week rarely has stuff on NBC itself.

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 06:59 PM

I get the particulars of what you're saying, but why? Who in the USA Network exeuctive board is saying "You know, WWE makes us nothing off advertising and costs us money, so let's pay them more this cycle instead of less or just getting rid of their taboo asses"? The narrative has always been that WWE might be decreasing in terms of viewership and numbers, but has always been one of the most watched cable shows around, therefore making it a viable property. For it to come out that it's a money pit for the network is just...weird.

Emperor Smeat

01-30-2018, 07:29 PM

Funny thing is I think the head of USA Network is actually a big supporter of the WWE and played a big role in getting WWE back after Spike TV was no longer interested.

Also was the one who pushed for RAW to get a 3rd hour and Smackdown being live regardless of the costs for the network.

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 07:35 PM

At some point it's a case of "What have you done for me lately," though. Bonnie Hammer's not there. The ratings and viewership were cute at the start, but at some point that needs to translate into revenue, or it's a case of "we're not going to pay you hundreds of millions more to be down $60 million" or whatever. Surely. That's how money works, right? At some point a hot-shot young executive looking to build their stock in the company is going to come in and say "Um, guys. I can save us millions and millions by just cutting out this WWE crap no one wants to watch anymore."

Loyalty might extend to the point that they don't replace Raw or SmackDown with other wrestling, which it is possible to theorize that people would still watch out of habit and you can realistically pay a lot, lot less for, but I don't think that's the same as willingly running at a deficit because Vince McMahon was useful to you in 1993. In fact, USA has dropped them before. It's not inconceivable that it's a pragmatic possibility again.

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 07:46 PM

I need to engage with these numbers more. I've always been led to believe that although ad revenue from WWE is comparatively low to things with that viewership, it was still making them money. Am I wrong in assuming that ad revenue is basically how the USA Network makes its money. I'm just trying to wrap my head around why they would pay the WWE more money to keep its television afloat with diminishing returns.

Is it because that withdrawing financial support is going to stifle the product even more? If so, that's a pretty good reason to kind of resent the WWE, haha. You're locked in a dance with no real positive outcome, because it's not realistic to assume that the WWE is just going to start turning in more ad revenue. Is the idea that it's a long-term investment by the USA Network to prop them up and challenge the idea that wrestling can't advertise?

Is there some sort of money-making element I am missing? Is there some way that the WWE makes money for USA that isn't through ads? Is there something about ad revenue without much viewership > viewership without ad revenue that I'm confusing?

Emperor Smeat

01-30-2018, 10:33 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Dana Brooke displaying her exceptional skills as a statistician:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/b08e8b7ca8143b823a65d411d6a1bba5/tumblr_p3cq6gNPp21u1ljrzo1_500.gif

As noted, WWE announced that Ronda Rousey has signed a full-time deal with the company following her debut after last night's women's Royal Rumble match.

The current plan is for Rousey to face Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag match at WrestleMania 34, according to F4Wonline.com. It was believed that Rousey's handshake with Stephanie was to squash their storyline beef but apparently not.

No word yet on Rousey's partner but there had been rumors all week of WWE trying to put together Rousey and The Rock vs. The Authority. It's unknown whether or not that match can happen as Rock hasn't been able to wrestle a significant WrestleMania match due to movies he has had to film during recent WrestleMania seasons.

It's believed that Rousey has signed a multi-year deal with WWE.

Spoiler tag used since its related to potential Mania plans for Ronda Rousey.

Last night's Raw did 3.38 million viewers, down 25 percent from last week's 25th anniversary special.

There was no way the show would have come close to last week's numbers, but a better comparison would be last year's episode the day after the Royal Rumble, which did 3.61 million viewers, or a six percent year-to-year decline. In television today, that's considered neither bad nor good.

What is notable is that the first hour of Raw after the Rumble, at 3.66 million viewers, beat last year's first hour of 3.63 million. The difference is that last year the audience stayed through the show, with only a 1.5 percent decline in audience from hour one to hour three. This year's decline was 16.4 percent from the first hour to the third hour.

Also notable is that the male audience was much higher by percentage than for a normal week of Raw, with a 65/35 split, which is more in line with several years ago. That's notable because it indicates that if there were curiosity viewers regarding Ronda Rousey, they were far heavier male. Last year's day after Rumble show did a 60/40 male/female split ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.66 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.46 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.06 million viewers

Following last night's women's Royal Rumble, the WWE women's division is already set for another first-ever match.

Stephanie McMahon opened Raw tonight and confirmed that Alexa Bliss would be defending her Women's Championship in an Elimination Chamber match on February 25th in Las Vegas. None of the other participants have been revealed yet, but there will be five challengers for Bliss' title ...

The T-Mobile Arena, which will be hosting the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, had been indicating that there would be two Chamber matches in their advertising for the event. And the Sporting News reported earlier today that the women's Elimination Chamber would be happening.

WWE posted a behind-the-scenes video from Raw 25. It’s over eight minutes long and features an out-of-character appearance by The Undertaker.

Mick Foley tweeted about Sasha Banks’ dive from her Raw match against Asuka: “I really don’t want to see Sasha try that dive again. Too many close calls. Time to take that item off the menu.”

Ten of the Coliseum Home Videos coming to the WWE Network next week have been revealed. They are:
Bloopers, Bleeps, and Bodyslams
Most Unusual Matches
Villains of the Squared Circle
Brains Behind the Brawn
Funniest Moments
Mega Matches
Wrestling’s Greatest Champions
Battle at the Royal Albert Hall
World Tour ‘92
Invasion of the Bodyslammers

RAW 25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMuiD4Oxg0A , Foley: https://twitter.com/RealMickFoley/status/958178931500290048 , WWE Network: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2018/01/30/wwe-reveals-10-coliseum-video-releases-coming-to-wwe-network-next-week-how-will-their-section-they-be-labeled/

Lance Storm will be the special guest referee for Tenille Dashwood vs. Rachael Ellering at Wrestling Has A Tomorrow in Providence on February 11th. Storm trained both wrestlers at his school.

The main event of Joey Janela’s Spring Break 2 in New Orleans on April 6th is set to be Janela vs. The Great Sasuke.

Minoru Suzuki has been announced for Revolution Pro Wrestling’s WrestleMania week show on April 6th.
Storm: https://twitter.com/WHATomorrow/status/958399427324018689' , Janela: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/958153849977606144 , Rev Pro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/958411224168980480

According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Ronda Rousey was brought to Miami via a private charter plane from Colombia, where she was filming a movie on Saturday and then traveled to Philly (I am guessing on the WWE jet) and was hidden until right before she walked out on stage at the Royal Rumble last night. As we reported this morning, basically no one not named McMahon knew Rousey was walking out.

Shelburne also noted that Rousey has been training secretly at the WWE Performance Center for months, which we've noted previously in the Elite section of PWInsider - that she was training there late at night when no one was in the facility beyond her a select few others.

Rousey has filed a number of trademarks on the term "Rowdy Ronda Rousey" so she, not WWE, will own that name and moniker.

The company acquired permission to use Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation" last night, and if they were smart, they would acquire the rights going forward if they haven't already

The reason so many women from the past were booked, more than originally planned, was because they were filming a documentary on women's wrestling. They are going to heavily push women, even more so than before, since at least right now the company's biggest mainstream star is a woman.

There is also talk of pushing the Andre Battle Royal harder this year because the HBO special coming out on Andre will be on the Tuesday after WrestleMania. WWE realizes that if they get a good rating and showing on HBO for that, then it could lead to more projects involving wrestlers of the past, especially since Bill Simmons, the guy behind the project, is a longtime wrestling fan.

The Jeremy Borash hire was a Triple H call and according to numerous sources, he will be working in the developmental/NXT system going forward. It does not appear he was brought on board to take part in the Matt Hardy storyline, but there's always a chance he could be tapped to work on that. There's no word when Borash officially starts with WWE but one would think he would be at the NXT tapings in Atlanta, GA this week. There's also no word as to where he will appear on screen.

Borash's departure will change Impact Wrestling plans tremendously, at least in terms of their announcing plans. Sources within Impact state the initial plan was to move Josh Mathews into more of a character on the show, positioning him with Matt Sydal as Sydal's "spiritual advisor." That happened at the last set of TV tapings. Their plan for announcing had been to put Borash and Don Callis together as the announcing team, but obviously that is out the window.

New Japan Pro Wrestling have applied to trademark the following U.S Trademarks: Strong Style, King of Sports, and Strong Style Evolved. They applied all three for clothing purposes.

They are also applying 'Strong Style Evolved' for the following:

"Educational and instruction services relating to arts, crafts, sports or general knowledge; arranging, conducting and organization of seminars; arranging, conducting and organization of conferences, lecture meeting, workshops, symposiums; production of radio or television programs; Production of videotape film in the field of education, culture, entertainment or sports (not for movies or television programs and not for advertising or publicity); organization, arranging and conducting of sports competitions; organization, arranging and conducting of martial arts; booking of seats for show; presentation of live show performances; presentation of magic performances; direction or presentation of plays; presentation of musical performances"

Ring of Honor announced that STARDOM competitors will be announced all throughout the week for the Women of Honor Championship tournament. The first competitor announced is Kagetsu. PWInsider.com has confirmed there will be four stars from Japan announced.

ROH commentator Ian Riccaboni tweeted the following teasing an announcement for later today regarding Supercard of Honor:

https://twitter.com/IanRiccaboni/status/958026685667991552

As we reported last night on PWInsider.com, currently, the Rey Mysterio return was just a one night appearance, although the monster pop he received certainly caught the attention of WWE management.

WWE and Mysterio have had off and on talks about a return over the last year, but the main bone of contention has been that WWE has wanted Mysterio back full-time while Mysterio, 43, would rather work a part-time schedule.

Mysterio appeared on the third season of Lucha Underground, but his deal with that series has expired. He has had talks with Impact Wrestling and at one point, a deal to debut at the last set of Impact tapings brokered by Konnan was so close that travel arrangements had been made before the conversations ended without a deal. Impact had been working on the idea of trying to get Mysterio to debut at their April tapings with the idea of debuting him at the 4/22 Redemption PPV.

We mentioned last week that last Monday's RAW 25th Anniversary show was apparently rewritten three hours before going live. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reported that there were plans for backstage segments with several legends, including the stars that were involved in the general manager segment, with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.

According to sources within WWE, any of the changes that were made on the show had nothing to do with Fallon. Fallon was rumored to have caused the re-writes because he had arrived late to the show. Sources noted that the re-writes were nothing out of the ordinary, as the development of RAW is an iterative process.

Some of the names backstage for Sunday's WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view were The Undertaker, WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson, WWE Hall of Famer Nikolai Volkoff and Paige, according to PWInsider. The Undertaker was there to see wife Michelle McCool work the women's Rumble and gave no real indication to what his WrestleMania 34 plans are. Patterson, the creator of the Rumble match, was there to lend his expertise and advise. Volkoff was just visiting and came in from nearby Baltimore where he lives. Paige was backstage but not used due to her injury. Several WWE NXT Superstars were also backstage for the whole show while some left after finding out they weren't needed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Major TV rights negotiations for RAW/Smackdown are underway, WWE’s biggest source of revenue. They’re showing TV networks they’ll have Rousey long term, can grab mainstream headlines.</p>— Brandon Howard Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/957841157849079808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Some other sheet news includes:

Edge revealed Johnny Gargano will be this week's guest on the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/EandCPod/status/958467155217059842
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Becky Lynch celebrated her 31st birthday today.
Rumor going around the net implies the reason why the Bellas were in the Final 3 and Nikki eliminating Brie was only due to Total Divas wanting a big Rumble storyline for an upcoming season and it had to involve the Bellas.
USA Today had a recent interview with Triple H talking about signing Ronda Rousey, Rousey's star potential for the WWE, and backstage reactions to Ronda's signing. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0129/636479/hhh-on-if-wwe-expects-ronda-rousey-to-bring-a-new-audience/
For those interested in a nice laugh, Cageside Seats held their annual Royal Rumble Dumbest Ass Award revealing the nominees and winners fof this year's Rumble. Sasha took the award for being the dumbest in the Women's Rumble and Sheamus in the Men's Rumble. https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/1/30/14440928/royal-rumble-2017-dumbest-ass-award-chris-jericho

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Why Rousey Wasn’t at Raw, Original Plan for Adam Cole, Bellas, More (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-why-rousey-wasnt-at-raw-original-plan-for-adam-cole-bellas-more/)
WWE Hires Jeremy Borash (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-hires-jeremy-borash/)
WWE: Lashley to WWE? Hall of Fame Rumored Names, Nigel McGuinness (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/wwe-lashley-to-wwe-hall-of-fame-rumored-names-nigel-mcguinness/)
Alicia Fox Out for Months With Broken Tailbone (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/alicia-fox-out-for-months-with-broken-tailbone/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-30-2018, 11:09 PM

Very interested to see how these TV negotiations go.

Emperor Smeat

01-31-2018, 10:38 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by #BeatUpJohnCenaDay Appreciation Day:
https://78.media.tumblr.com/c0be29fe5568e24fc46b7b498c1062da/tumblr_p3an698KXf1wyspnlo1_500.gif

Despite this being the first episode after a Royal Rumble that received a ton of mainstream media attention, SmackDown was down three percent in the ratings this week.

Last year's show following the Royal Rumble saw a 10 percent increase ...

With Raw having a better than average number following the Rumble and the hit that SmackDown took due to the tough competition, the show retained just under 75 percent of the Raw audience from the night before. It was also down almost 11 percent in the year-over-year ratings, the biggest decline since August 29th and the second largest since the show moved to a live format on Tuesday nights.
In terms of the actual number, this week generated 2.509 million viewers.

Dixie Carter tweeted about Rockstar Spud (who is now known as Drake Maverick) debuting as the 205 Live general manager: “Oh my sweet @RockstarSpud. So very proud...but OF COURSE I’ve seen this in you all along! Best #BritishBootCamp decision. Best memories as YOUR sidekick, not the other way around. Best @WWE decision. #205Live #SDLive”

Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss defeated Sami Zayn & Becky Lynch on Mixed Match Challenge last night when Bliss jumped off Strowman’s shoulders and hit Twisted Bliss on Lynch. The live viewing numbers were down for the second straight week, but the total views are up slightly from where last week’s episode was at this time. The second episode has 1.7 million views compared to the first episode's 1.9 million as of now.

Rory Gulak, who is Drew Gulak’s brother, and Chris Wylde were the team that faced the Bludgeon Brothers on SmackDown last night: Drew tweeted right before Rory’s appearance: “Man, I feel bad for whoever has to fight the Bludgeon Brothers next on #SDLive.”

Kenny Omega praised The New Day in an interview with Sports Illustrated: “When I see Big E, I clearly see someone who could be world champion. The guy is on another level. Kofi is one of those guys who is good in all situations and can challenge for all titles, and Xavier is another great athlete who is talented in the ring and confident on the mic.” In response, Big E replied to someone who posted the quote where Omega complimented him: “You making this quote up? Don’t play with my emotions.”
Dixie: https://twitter.com/TNADixie/status/958703802470854656 , Gulak: https://twitter.com/DrewGulak/status/958516595684495360 , Omega: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/01/31/wwe-news-ric-flair-tom-brady-kenny-omega , Big E: https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/958861913655529474

Despite Braun Strowman competing on tonight's episode of WWE Mixed Match Challenge, the show suffered another big drop in live viewership in week three.

Tonight's show peaked at around 62,400 live viewers right after the conclusion of the match pitting Strowman & Alexa Bliss against Sami Zayn & Becky Lynch. Bliss pinned Lynch to earn the win, making it the third straight week where the woman earned the victory for their team.

The episode was down 32% from last week's episode, which featured The Miz & Asuka defeating Big E & Carmella. It was down 54% from the premiere, which peaked at 135,600 live viewers.
Some details about this week's numbers for Mixed Match Challenge.

Impact’s show with WrestlePro will take place on Sunday and stream on their Twitch channel on February 9th at 8 p.m. Eastern.

A rematch between Keith Lee and Tomohiro Ishii is set for Revolution Pro Wrestling’s Epic Encounter at York Hall on May 11th. The two had a great match together last year.

Simon Gotch will be making his MLW debut by teaming with Seth Petruzelli against Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta on February 8th.
Impact: http://impactwrestling.com/twitch-brace-impact/ , RevPro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/958800567714897921 , Gotch: https://mlw.com/2018/01/31/simon-gotch-debuts-in-tag-team-action-on-february-8th-in-orlando/

After Alicia Fox was pulled from the tournament due to injury, Goldust will be teaming with Mandy Rose in Mixed Match Challenge.

That announcement was made towards the end of last night's episode. Goldust & Rose will be taking on Jimmy Uso & Naomi next Tuesday, and the winning team will go on to face Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss in week eight of the tournament.

It appears WWE Network is filling in the gaps with the World Class Championship Wrestling TV library a few episodes have been uploaded today.

The early word on March's vintage addition to the WWE Network's Vault section is that it will be episodes of WCW Saturday Night. WWE will be adding Coliseum Home Videos to that area this Monday.

Ring of Honor announced:

Stardom’s dominant Oedo Tai faction is well-represented in the tournament to crown the first Women of Honor Champion! In addition to the leader of Oedo Tai, Kagetsu’s tag team partner, one half of the Goddess of Stardom Champions, second-generation star Hana Kimura has entered the tournament to crown the first Women of Honor Champion!

With Jeremy Borash having left for WWE, the announced revival of Live Audio Wrestling on Impact's Twitch channel is off. No word on if or when it returns.

New 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick (the former Rockstar Spud in Impact Wrestling) had plenty to celebrate as last night was not only his WWE debut, but his birthday as well.

And there was a little reunion as King Maxel met with a former foe...

This #DrakeMaverick guy seems so familiar, but I just can't place him.... ???? #205Live pic.twitter.com/R2nEPzcJYi
— KING MAXEL (@BABYHARDYBRAND) January 31, 2018

The latest "This Week In Wrestling" article at Sports Illustrated features an interview with Kenny Omega, who discussed The New Day. Omega said that they are three of his favorite wrestlers in WWE, and feels that Big E could be a world champion.

"When I see Big E, I clearly see someone who could be world champion," said Omega. "The guy is on another level. Kofi is one of those guys who is good in all situations and can challenge for all titles, and Xavier is another great athlete who is talented in the ring and confident on the mic."

Omega also noted that New Day being in the same spot in the company for years makes him hesitant about possibly eventually signing with them.

"It's things like that that really make me think twice about what I would be getting into if eventually I do go there," said Omega.
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/01/31/wwe-news-ric-flair-tom-brady-kenny-omega

After making a surprise appearance as a participant of the men's Royal Rumble match this past Sunday, Rey Mysterio is headed to the U.K. to face Zack Gibson for 5 Star Wrestling's event in Liverpool this Thursday. The event is headlined by Rob Van Dam facing John Morrison for the 5 Star Championship. Jake Hager (f.k.a. Jack Swagger), Carlito and Chris Masters are also scheduled to be in action.

The official twitter account for fast-food restaurant Wendy's showed why their Twitter game is on another level. When a user asked them why they didn't enter the Royal Rumble, they replied:

We heard we could just show up later and point at the mania sign
— Wendy's (@Wendys) January 31, 2018

As noted, Alicia Fox missed the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match and was pulled from WWE's Mixed Match Challenge due to a broken tailbone she suffered in the pre-Rumble rehearsals. PWInsider reports that Fox is not expected to be cleared to return to the ring for at least a few months. Fox was said to be very upset about missing her chance to work the first-ever women's Rumble.

WWE has a new poll asking fans if the "Yep! Movement" will survive the match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on next week's SmackDown. As noted, the winner will go on to face WWE Champion AJ Styles in the main event of the Fastlane pay-per-view in March. As of this writing, 74% of fans voted, "Nope. With The Road to WrestleMania underway, even a friendship like Owens & Zayn's will crumble with a WWE Title Match hanging in the balance." The rest went with, "Yep! Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn are best friends, and despite having to face off in such a high-stakes match, SmackDown LIVE will continue to be the 'Kevin & Sami Show.'"

Some other sheet news includes:

Chris Jericho announced he will be holding a live edition of Talk Is Jericho on February 16t with Kane as the guest as part of Kane's mayoral campaign. https://www.facebook.com/ChrisJericho/photos/a.499974060090878.1073741825.214040098684277/1592071460881127/?type=3&theater
Zelina Vega recently revealed her gear at NXT Takeover Philly was in tribute to Lita. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/zelina-vega-lita-tribute-takeover-philadelphia?sf180903548=1
Karl Anderson recently teased The Balor Club will be appearing on Season 3 of WWE Network's Ride Along series. https://twitter.com/KarlAndersonWWE/status/958750966370750465
In a possibly interesting piece of news, USA Network reportedly is now more laxed about the F-word being used on television. Main reason is due to the upcoming Tupac and Notorious BIG show for the network. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kateaurthur/saying-fuck-on-tv?utm_term=.wmLv62veA0#.bd11OA1xrX
According to reports and the NPR, Rock's chances of being and/or wrestling at Wrestlemania 34 are really low at the moment. Besides current filming commitments, it likely would cost the WWE at least $350k just on The Rock's film insurance in order to get him to appear at the event. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0131/636566/the-rock-next-movie-starts-filming-in-may/
6 ABC Action News had a recent news with Mark Henry talking about if he will return to the ring, his current status in the WWE, his pick to win the Superbowl, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0131/636554/mark-henry-on-if-hell-be-back-in-the-ring-again/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Rumor: WrestleMania 35 Will Take Place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/rumor-wrestlemania-35-will-take-place-at-metlife-stadium-in-new-jersey/)
Impact Comments on Departures of Borash, EC3 and Lashley (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/impact-comments-on-depatures-of-borash-ec3-and-lashley/)
Epico Colon Injured, Undergoes Surgery (http://www.tpww.net/2018/01/epico-colon-injured-undergoes-surgery/)

Mr. Nerfect

01-31-2018, 11:31 PM

I hope the USA Network tells the WWE to "Get the F Out." I want change, dammit.

Bobholly138

02-01-2018, 10:35 AM

Big surprise that someone with major attitude problems didn't get signed to WWE. Tessa has the same issues her Dad Tully did years ago.

Emperor Smeat

02-01-2018, 09:24 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun's dirty mind:
https://i.imgur.com/wQjOSrH.gif

As far as the WrestleMania scene, Reigns vs. Lesnar is the Universal title match and Ronda Rousey’s first match will be the match most heavily pushed in the advertising most likely. If they go the mixed tag route, Kurt Angle could be there given Angle vs. HHH was a direction coming off the Angle/Stephanie dynamic, but that hasn’t been played up much of late.

Unless Undertaker backs off, his match with Cena would be also heavily pushed. Given Cena is in the Chamber match, the earliest they’d start building the Cena vs. Undertaker program would be 2/26. Styles vs. Nakamura for the WWE title and Miz vs. Strowman for the IC title are also planned. Other matches heavily talked about this week would be the respective women’s title matches, Bliss vs. Jax and Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka as things stood over the weekend. Given the storyline in recent weeks, there looked to be a Jason Jordan vs. Seth Rollins direction but nothing regarding Jordan can be locked in right now. There will be one, if not two Battle Royals, to get everyone on the show.

Spoiler tags used since its related to potential Mania plans and matches.

A lot of episodes of WCW Saturday Night will be added to the WWE Network in April.

The Forbes website edited an article that stated that Raw was the longest running episodic show in U.S. television history after running it and has changed it to being the longest running weekly episodic show still in production.

ECW Press announced that a book called "Creating the Mania: An Inside look at how WrestleMania comes to life" about the build to this year's show will be released in August.

Mania book: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115256/new-book-follows-the-creative-path-to-wrestlemania-34.html

Ed Nordholm, Don Callis and Scott D'Amore of Impact are in the U.K. doing business and scouting talent for Impact.

The NWA announced today that Nick Aldis is looking at defending the NWA title against 20 different opponents over 60 days starting on 2/11. They are calling it the Aldis Crusade with Ten Pounds of Gold. He's looking at defending the title in North America, Europe and Asia. The matches will be filmed for a documentary. Austin Idol will be involved in this as well as his representative.

ICW announced today that Drew Galloway aka Drew McIntyre will be on their 2/12 show in Glasgow at the O2 ABC and be induced into the ICW Hall of Fame. WWE has given its approval for him to make that appearance.

Austin Aries vs. ACH has been added to next Thursday's MLW show in Orlando at Gilt Night Club.

Evolve on 2/17 in Queens, NY has Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Austin Theory for the Evolve title, Keith Lee vs. AR Fox for the WWN title and Chris Dickinson & Jake vs. The End. 2/18 in Joppa, MD has Lee vs. Tracy Williams in a no holds barred non-title match, Sabre Jr. vs. Dickinson and a four-way elimination match with Matt Riddle vs. Austin Theory vs. Darby Allin vs. Jaka.
MLW: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/wrestling/os-wrestling-austin-aries-ach-mlw-20180131-story.html , NWA: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115259/nwa-announces-nick-aldis-to-defend-championship-20-times-over-60-days.html?p=1 , ICW: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115255/drew-mcintyre-to-be-inducted-into-icw-hall-of-fame-this-month.html?p=1

The "WWE Shorts" are of the WWE Network has added a series of of clips with Hall of Famers Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund discussing the good old days entitled "Conversations with Bruno and Bob." The pieces have been running in rotation on the Network's linear programming in between shows for some time, but this is the first time they have been available via VOD.

The timing of the announcement of Ronda Rousey's signing is perfect, and not because it’s WrestleMania season, but because it’s contract season. Having Rousey under contract right now is perfect timing. It’s not even about WrestleMania. It’s about the company making its most important business deal in five years, its multi-year television contract. Having Rousey both helps the company as far as being a mainstream entity that they crave to be and with television partners who are well aware of Rousey’s history as a drawing card. It also drives up the value of the company’s stock. Whether it will work as far as traditional drawing power, which actually matters little here in the big picture, is a very different story.

Supposedly the women’s winner came down to Asuka or Nia Jax. Asuka’s undefeated streak was clearly being set up for Ronda Rousey at some point, but probably not this point.

In Japan, there wasn’t much talk of the Rumble winners in mainstream media, and the coverage was limited to mostly newsstand sports newspapers, some of which stopped covering wrestling years ago and did give good coverage too this.

Because the show was designed to end with Rousey, the women were moved to the main event position. The word of them going on last came the morning of the show, and while nobody, including the participants, were told about Rousey, most everyone figured out that was the reason. The women were taken off the road on both the Raw and Smackdown tours over the weekend to work on the match and do run-throughs.

About 4,700 tickets were sold for the NJPW Long Beach show as some tickets were held back for members of the New Japan Fan Club traveling from Japan. Only 314 tickets were available at press time on the secondary market and the price for entry is $140.
Based on recent ticket sales numbers, NJPW reserved up to 800 tickets for their Fan Club members.

Jeremy Borash will be moving to Orlando to work with the NXT brand where he’ll wear several different hats, similar to what he did with TNA over the years. Those close to the situation said that he surveyed the changing landscape in pro wrestling and felt that this was the time to make a move that he’d avoided making in the past ...

While clearly a very valuable part of the company from the start, one person in the company noted that the idea going around that he did everything when it came to production was way overblown. “The narrative that JB did everything is wrong. Yes, he was a hard worker and talented, but our team now has been busting their ass and taking care of the majority of production. They need credit. Day-to-day operations don’t change one bit at all other than getting another on-air play-by-play (announcer).” Kevin Sullivan, who did the production work for the Internet hype of Wrestle Kingdom 9 that Jeff Jarrett promoted, has been handling much of the video work.
Seems very likely WWE got fooled on Borash's real value assuming the stuff about his production skills and input is true.

New Japan's paid attendance for January overall was up 20 percent from last year, although that’s mostly due to the effects of the Tokyo Dome show. Taking that out of the equation the increase was five percent

The Australia advances are strong across the board and they are just now starting to promote the shows in the local markets. Melbourne and Sydney are expected to sell out

As had been reported here a few weeks ago, Bob Backlund, 68, will be returning to Japan for matches on 4/20 at Korakuen Hall and 4/21 in Osaka for Tatsumi Fujinami’s Dradition promotion. Backlund will likely work against Fujinami in tag matches. Backlund and Fujinami had a famous WWF title match on January 1, 1982 (that was the night where Backlund met Karl Gotch and saw how incredible Gotch was and changed his methods of training to rely more on body weight exercises and repetitions instead of heavy weights). Fujinami is pushing this year as the 40th anniversary of when he first won the WWF world junior heavyweight championship and got his first major push

The new season of Lucha Underground doesn’t look like it’ll be taped at the Temple in Boyle Heights. That’s still up in the air but they are looking for a new location. Dario Cueto was killed off in the final episode of last season. Since this is Lucha Underground, that doesn’t mean he’s dead but there are major financial cutbacks and he may be one of them.

There is a working idea (meaning it’s kind of the plan but could change) for the announcement of the location of All In on 9/1 being announced on or around 3/1. Within wrestling, everyone thinks it’s Chicago (not sure of the building, as the choices would appear to be All-State Arena or Sears Center) just because of the idea they could do a convention in association with it and with Pro Wrestling Tees in Chicago it’s the most convenient location when it comes to merchandise. We have heard other cities mentioned as well. The only thing we were told is that the Cow Palace in San Francisco was out because while the rent of the building was extremely low for a place that can hold as many as 14,500 or so for wrestling, that the costs of streaming live would be high. I guess that tells you that live streaming is part of the component

Regarding questions about Penta 0M or Rey Fenix coming here, several months ago Impact was sent a letter (as was NOAH, as Fenix was scheduled for a tour there that ended up being canceled) that both were under contract to Lucha Underground and MGM (the parent company) would not allow them to appear on television for either group. At the time it came out that MGM really didn’t care, but Dorian Roldan was behind it. Roldan has been behind sending cease and desists to the two wrestlers over their names because they quit AAA and have turned down every offer from him to return. Lucha Underground offered Penta 0M a new contract, but in the contract, it specified that he would be exclusive in Mexico to AAA, and he turned that down. However, since AAA does have a relationship with Impact, it’s possible they could work it out but that was the latest on that, but for now the legal letters have blocked both men from working here.

Several people including likely The HBO Andre the Giant documentary that Bill Simmons’ crew worked on will premiere on 4/10. Simmons has said for years that he has always wanted to do a documentary on Andre, who passed away 25 years ago this past week at the age of 46. The documentary is notable because a lot of myths may be dispelled (it’s hard to say what will and won’t because the WWE is co-producers and they have their own storyline and mythology and what is and isn’t in the finished product is going to be interesting). But they spoke extensively with Andre’s family in France, as well as a lot of movie stars such as the ones who worked with him on “The Princess Bride,” as well as Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan and Andre’s closest friends who are still alive. Pat Laprade, who is writing a book on Andre, who is now announcing Raw for TVA Sports in Quebec was a Field Producer of this documentary. I was interviewed for the documentary several months ago and it was mostly finished by then and I saw some clips of it and it looked great, and the people who asked the questions really wanted to get as much of the true story as possible

WWE will report its full 2017 financial numbers as well as the fourth quarter numbers on 2/8. This would include announcing the WWE Network subscriptions numbers as of 12/31. As noted, you can see a major push to get paid numbers up artificially for Mania season with the $1.99 for three month offers

In big news for WWE stock, Morgan Stanley has upgraded the stock and given it a $40 target figure. As noted here, there reasoning behind it is the expectation of a big number for the next television contracts, most notably in the U.S., U.K. (Notable since the ratings have collapsed there) and India markets. Morgan Stanley noted that there has been a major increase in spending for content, particularly in sports. In their analysis, they still believed the network would eventually reach 3-4 million paid subscribers, which is not happening anytime soon.

Terri Runnels, on her podcast, said that she and the other women brought in for the 25th anniversary show were disappointed in how they were used. “I wanted a brief moment, some sincerity, and I didn’t like that it went straight to this cartoon crap.” “I felt like, `You’ve got a lot of talent and we are just standing there waving.” She said that at 11 a.m. that day they were brought out to rehearse their wave and were then told that was their only role on the show. “We all kind of dropped our jaws and were like, `You’ve got to be kidding me.’” “I didn’t hear anyone express anything different than what I just said to you.” She also mentioned on the podcast that she had documented proof of being sexually harassed in her life. When asked by co-host Matt Koon if this happened in WWE, she said, “Maybe.”

The Women of Honor tournament to determine the division's inaugural champion is a 16-woman, single-elimination styled format with 15 of the 16 entrants announced so far. Many names are from within the division and some are from the Japanese wrestling promotion, Stardom. Here's the updated list of participants: Brandi Rhodes, Jessie Brooks, Karen Q, Kelly Klein, Madison Rayne, Mandy Leon, Deonna Purrazzo, Holidead, Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Stacy Shadows, HZK, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Mayu Iwatani.

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show podcast had Chris Jericho as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Chris-Jericho-7861
WrestleInc had a recent interview with Molly Holly talking about how she got hired by the WWE, her early career in the WWE, her favorite moment from her WWE career, and Charlotte. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0201/636590/molly-holly-talks-about-her-favorite-time-during-her-wwe-run/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Rumored Elimination Chamber Match Competitors (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/rumored-elimination-chamber-match-competitors/)
Jason Jordan Has a Potentially “Serious” Injury + More Injury News (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/jason-jordan-has-a-potentially-serious-injury-rollins-owens-also-banged-up/)
New Impact Opening Video and Graphics (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/new-impact-opening-video-and-graphics/)

Destor

02-01-2018, 09:34 PM

This thread is awesome because you can go back and see how often the sheets are wrong

Emperor Smeat

02-02-2018, 09:48 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev-a-Mania:
https://i.imgur.com/MQhf8nX.gif

One of NXT's newest arrivals made their debut at tonight's television tapings.

Ricochet, who wrestled using that name, took part in his first match for NXT by facing Fabian Aichner. Ricochet got loud reactions during the match and won with the 630. Whether he'll continue using that name going forward remains to be seen.

Triple H also posted a photo of Ricochet on Twitter tonight to hype up his debut.

After it had been known that he was WWE bound for a while, it was announced on January 16th that Ricochet had officially signed with the company and had reported to the Performance Center. He wrestled his final independent match for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla at their Mystery Vortex show on January 12th.

Ricochet was shown sitting in the front row on the TakeOver: Philadelphia broadcast last Saturday night. Candice LeRae, War Machine, and EC3 were all shown as well.
Link: https://twitter.com/FLWrestlingFan/status/959585673190797313 , Triple H: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/959591101198950400

WWE sent out a questionnaire with questions about why people weren't coming to New Orleans for WrestleMania, asking for reasons. What was notable is that in the questionnaire they outright asked fans if they want to see Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka win the titles.

SoCal Pro Wrestling's 11th anniversary show is 4/14 in Oceanside, CA at the Oceanside Boys and Girls Club. Penta 0M and Juventud Guerrera will be wrestling on the show. There will also be Southern California Hall of Fame inductions.

AAW tomorrow night in LaSalle, IL at the Knights of Columbus with Rey Fenix vs. ACH for the AAW title.

Stardom announced they would be hosting two matches in ROH's Women of Honor tournament on 2/24 in Osaka, with Mayu Iwatani vs HZK and Kagetsu vs. Jenny Rose.

The 2/1 edition of Impact did 319,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 310,000 overnight viewers.
Outside of January 11th, Impact has been pretty steady at the 300k+ for viewers this year. Doing better on average for the start of 2018 than they did for 2017's start.

The planned 205 Live events in California this month (which were never officially announced publicly) are off but we are told there are still plans to continue with live events for the Cruiserweight brand down the line.

AAA announced that, much like Impact Wrestling, they will be a launching a 24 7 stream of content on their Twitch Channel beginning tomorrow
Link: https://twitter.com/luchalibreaaa/status/959133242883543040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

With all the talents who have left, who are the names we should be keeping an eye on in terms of potential departures?

Eddie Edwards’ deal is up this month, but he has stated he is staying. Alberto el Patron’s deal is up in April around the time of the next TV tapings, so you have to wonder what the future holds for him, especially since Vince McMahon has always loved him. Eli Drake’s deal is coming up in the next few months as well. Konnan is paid a good salary for someone who’s not in the ring wrestling, which given the state of the company, makes me think of him as well – but I say that not knowing his contractual obligations and I am just speculating here, given the company’s attempts to cut costs. Given the others’ placement on TV, those are the names that I would be paying most attention to.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles discussing the contract status of Impact's remaining top stars.

WWE producer Tyson Kidd responded to a fan who asked if he held any animosity towards Samoa Joe for the injury he suffered in the ring that halted his career as an active superstar:

I have zero animosity with Samoa Joe. I found him my first day back at WWE after my injury and we had a very good heart to heart. I wish him nothing but the best https://t.co/LpVSnGeoYQ
— TJ Wilson (@TJWilson) February 2, 2018

The question came up after this week's episode of Total Divas, where Natalya is concerned that Kidd will get upset over not being able to wrestle again after Lana asks him for help training her in the ring.

WWE will be releasing a new "Shane McMahon's Craziest Matches" DVD on June 12th of this year, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. The three-disc set will feature a compilation of the SmackDown Commissioner's greatest moments, high-risk moves and leaps of faith. Below is the official synopsis:

"Shane McMahon is known as a huge risk-taker, who provides "OMG" moments on a regular basis. This compilation features all of his greatest & craziest matches, spanning his entire time in WWE. Featuring battles with Undertaker, Big Show, Randy Orton, Mankind, Kane, & more."

Vince McMahon put the 2018 men's Royal Rumble match together along with two producers, Jamie Noble and WWE Hall of Famer Michael "PS" Hayes, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We noted before that WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson, the creator of the Rumble match, was also backstage to offer his expertise.

Yesterday, there was a joint press conference with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Bushimo (video game subsidiary of Bushiroad). Owner, Takaaki Kidani, and Tetsuya Naito both made an appearance to announce a future NJPW mobile video game due out before 2020. Kidani also said that the Strong Style Evolved U.S. show actually sold out (4,500 tickets) in 10 minutes (the original number was 20) and that they could have sold 10k tickets this time around. Translations by Chris Charlton.

Bushimo and New Japan teaming for a pro wrestling game the world can play together in time for 2020. #njpwworld
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) February 2, 2018

Strong Style Evolved apparently did 4500 tickets in just 10 minutes. Kidani says they could have done 10,000. #njpwworld #njsse
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) February 2, 2018

"Nobody was pissed off. It was a ball of fun in our dressing room, but I had to tell you, that was another interesting thing," she said. "We were put in a basketball court; we were blocked off with black curtains, and there was another area where male legends were blocked off as well. Next to that they were filming all day the APA vignettes so because of that the overhead lights couldn't be on. We were trying to be ready in almost pitch black dark. They brought one little light and shun it over but it was still dark over there. We kept asking if we can please get lights and how much longer the vignettes were done and they're like, if we don't get them done we have to get them done live so we may not be able to put the lights on at all. I couldn't see to get in my suitcase; I couldn't find stuff, it was dark. We did not have a mirror. I asked for a folding mirror; they actually gave me that, but there was no running water to wash our hands close by. That was very interesting."
More from Terri Runnels recent podcast show on how bad the conditions were backstage for RAW's 25th anniversary.

Some other sheet news includes:

For those interested, the entire listing of episodes for WWF Home Coliseum Videos launch on the WWE Network was recently revealed. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115275/complete-list-of-coliseum-home-videos-being-added-to-wwe-network-next-week.html?p=1
During a recent episode of Dinner With the King podcast show, Jerry Lawler revealed he got into a backstage incident with Mark Henry during the Royal Rumble. Supposedly Henry didn't like Lawler's on-air jabs at Peter Rosenberg since he personally helped Rosenberg get a job in the WWE and is his close friend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU0QhlItEdA
According to the Observer, Oney Lorcan is currently dealing with several injury issues and the official reason why he hasn't been on NXT television in recent months. None of the injuries were reported to be serious but he simply just needed some time off to heal.
ESPN held a recent interview with Shinsuke Nakamura talking about winning the Rumble, his NXT career, and facing AJ Styles at Mania 34. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0202/636629/shinsuke-nakamura-on-picking-aj-styles-over-brock-lesnar/
The Times of India had a recent interview with Stephania McMahon talking about WWE working with Make-A-Wish, WWE trying to stay relevant with storytelling, and Triple H being responsible for the Women's Revolution. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0202/636624/stephanie-mcmahon-on-triple-h-being-responsible-for-women/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Rollins Denies Injury, Total Divas Viewers, Rousey, Goldust/Rose (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-rollins-injury-update-total-divas-viewers-rousey-goldust-rose/)
Impact: World Championship’s Name + Execs Scout UK Wrestlers (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/impact-global-championship-renamed-execs-scout-uk-wrestlers/)
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament Returning This Year (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/dusty-rhodes-tag-team-classic-tournament-returning-this-year/)
Kenny Omega vs. Cody Rhodes Announced for ROH Supercard of Honor XII (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/kenny-omega-vs-cody-rhodes-announced-for-roh-supercard-of-honor-xii/)

Mr. Nerfect

02-03-2018, 06:00 PM

If Eli Drake starts working NXT, I might have to stop watching Takeovers. Hopefully WWE remember why they cut him all those years ago. Rock fucking wannabe with zero charisma. "E-LI DRAKE! Dummy! Yeah! Dummy! Yeah!" The fuck does that even mean? Shoot him into the sun and watch the world's problems slightly ease.

Simple Fan

02-03-2018, 10:09 PM

You know what it means. You know you'd still watch those Takeovers to.

Mr. Nerfect

02-04-2018, 11:30 AM

You know what it means. You know you'd still watch those Takeovers to.

No, I don't. I literally don't. It's like yelling "Idiot! Yeah!" What does that mean? He's an idiot? His opponent is an idiot? It's him making noises because he's a fucking moron who can't even construct his own catchphrases. It's worse than The Miz's "Hoorah!".

And no, I don't think I would. I haven't watched Takeover Philly, and that doesn't have Eli Drake on it. I'm very capable of avoiding them.

Simple Fan

02-04-2018, 12:27 PM

The Miz says hoorah? Don't guess I've ever heard that buy it makes sense with him being in the Marine. Drake is a natural on the mic and would instantly be the best talker in NXT if he came in.

owenbrown

02-04-2018, 12:27 PM

The Miz hasn't said that in several years

Mr. Nerfect

02-04-2018, 05:45 PM

The Miz hasn't said that in several years

That's really irrelevant to the point I was making.

Mr. Nerfect

02-04-2018, 05:49 PM

The Miz says hoorah? Don't guess I've ever heard that buy it makes sense with him being in the Marine. Drake is a natural on the mic and would instantly be the best talker in NXT if he came in.

I think being a natural on the mic comes with being able to make choices and displaying good instincts for a promo. He needs to be mowed down and started from scratch as to the psychology of one. From the last I was subjected to of him in TNA, anyway. If he came in, I imagine he'd just do his TNA shtick, because they love fan servicing that niche market, for whatever reason, and he'll do his TNA stuff with a slightly better entrance.

You're allowed to like the guy. I'm not here to kink-shame. But as I said: I hope the WWE remembers why they axed this guy years back and, at 35 years of age, they don't trust his aging firefighter-looking ass.

02-04-2018, 06:54 PM

That's really irrelevant to the point I was making.
I think this;
The Miz hasn't said that in several years
Was in response to,this;
The Miz says hoorah? Don't guess I've ever heard that buy it makes sense with him being in the Marine. Drake is a natural on the mic and would instantly be the best talker in NXT if he came in.
Not this;
No, I don't. I literally don't. It's like yelling "Idiot! Yeah!" What does that mean? He's an idiot? His opponent is an idiot? It's him making noises because he's a fucking moron who can't even construct his own catchphrases. It's worse than The Miz's "Hoorah!".

And no, I don't think I would. I haven't watched Takeover Philly, and that doesn't have Eli Drake on it. I'm very capable of avoiding them.

SlickyTrickyDamon

02-04-2018, 07:47 PM

Eli Drake in NXT? Well, they had a good run.

Mr. Nerfect

02-05-2018, 04:27 AM

Oh, fair enough. It felt like the tone was more in direction to what I was saying. Like "he said it years ago" would have been more in line with a reply I would have expected towards Simple. Semantics though.

#1-norm-fan

02-06-2018, 05:04 PM

Gonna swoop in on Smeat's territory here but... Raw dropped down to 3,055,000 viewers this week. Down just about 1.5 million in 2 weeks from that horrid anniversary show. Damn.

Mr. Nerfect

02-06-2018, 05:20 PM

So if you take the amount of people that watched this week and halved it -- that is roughly the amount of people who wanted to give this shit a chance but said "Nope." Fucking hell.

Emperor Smeat

02-06-2018, 05:35 PM

It was always a lock to happen because of the very special nature of the RAW 25 show compared to the usual RAWs. The drop between the post-Rumble and this week is more of the typical range considering the post-Rumble and post-Mania shows are usually the highest RAWs of the year.

The real issue is them getting very close to hitting a sub 3 million number on the Road to Mania and 3rd hour going under 3 million just a week after the Rumble.

They have maybe 3 weeks at most to pop the number to post-Rumble levels before Mania (post-Chamber, go home Mania, and Ronda's RAW debut).

Emperor Smeat

02-06-2018, 10:26 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bray finally snapping over the direction of his character:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/7f9e75ea63167adf45bdd7000236873b/tumblr_p3pg5ruXsY1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

There was a unique and surprising ratings pattern last night, but in the end Raw was down nine percent from last week.

The show averaged 3.08 million viewers ...

What was notable is that the audience grew in the second hour, which hasn't been the case in a long time, but fell big in the third, which is a pattern, even with John Cena and Braun Strowman both saved for the television main event. In addition, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins challenging Sheamus & Cesaro for the Tag Team titles was also in the third hour ...

It's hard to explain what caused the second hour increase, although the first hour was lower than would be expected for this time of year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.16 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.21 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.79 million viewers

A day after he was written off television for the time being, Jason Jordan underwent "minimally invasive" neck surgery today.

WWE.com announced that Jordan underwent a procedure called a "minimally invasive posterior cervical microdiscectomy" this morning. The announcement noted that the timetable for Jordan's return isn't yet known.

"He had an injury to a disc in his neck which resulted in significant pain that was refractory to all conservative measures,” Dr. Joseph Maroon said. “It was decided to do a minimally invasive operation to decompress the nerve, to allow it to heal.”
Link: http://www.wwe.com/article/jason-jordan-surgery-february-2018?sf181475497=1

A tag team main event is set for the first show on New Japan Pro Wrestling's tour of Australia.

At the Titanium Arena in Adelaide on February 16th, Kazuchika Okada will team with Tomohiro Ishii against The Young Bucks. The other main event matches for the four-show tour will be announced this week.

After the Adelaide show, the tour will have stops at Festival Hall in Melbourne on February 17th, the Quaycentre in Sydney on the 18th, and HBF Stadium in Perth on the 19th. The shows aren't listed on the New Japan World schedule.
Links: https://twitter.com/njpwaus/status/960807722240294912 , https://twitter.com/njpwaus/status/959989209619513344

Coming off his surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio seems hopeful about returning to WWE for a longer stay.

"I want to say that there is a big possibility that I will be back," Mysterio said in an interview with The Mirror that was conducted prior to him wrestling for 5 Star Wrestling in Liverpool last Thursday. "[We're] figuring out what the situation is, you know from both ends. But there is definitely a positive feedback on behalf of the fans, on behalf of the WWE staff, and behalf of myself man."

"I think we're possibly going to sit down and negotiate something where we can both work together and have a good time and enjoy," Mysterio said.
Link: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/wrestling/exclusive-rey-mysterio-says-theres-11970816

William Regal denied reports that WWE is working on putting together a Latin American tournament: “I usually use this account for entertainment purposes only. This is official though. The @WWE has no Latin American tournament booked at this time despite the news that is being reported today.”
Link: https://twitter.com/RealKingRegal/status/960920463445807104

Bubba Ray Dudley thinks it would make sense for Paul Heyman, Edge & Christian, or The Hardys to induct The Dudleyz into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Link: https://twitter.com/bullyray5150/status/960937581822214144

ROH’s Ian Riccaboni confirmed that the company has already broken their all-time attendance record with tickets sold for Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans. There were 3,828 tickets sold as of yesterday morning.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb vs. Aussie Open for their Epic Encounter show at York Hall on May 11th.

Riddle vs. Pete Dunne is set for Fight Club: PRO in Wolverhampton on February 23rd, along with Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Angelico.

ROH link: https://twitter.com/IanRiccaboni/status/960652671626735616 , ROH tickets: https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status/960516483108491265 , Rev Pro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/960951509415612416 , Fight Club PRO: https://twitter.com/Fightclubpro/status/960204045041446912

According to WWE Network News, a short scene where The Undertaker was shown “undergoing pain relief injections and talking about doing such things in order to give the fans the best performance possible” was removed from the WWE 24 documentary on WrestleMania 33.
Link: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2018/02/01/exclusive-information-on-deleted-undertaker-scene-from-latest-wwe-24-special/

WWE is reportedly set to tape a Latin American tournament this summer. Planeta Wrestling reports that WWE will look to Latin America for their latest tournament, following the Cruiserweight, Mae Young Classic and UK tournaments.

According to the site, the tournament will feature wrestlers from Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and other countries and will be held in Chile sometime by the end of August. At this time, there are no plans to crown a new champion or guarantee a full NXT contract to the winner.
Link: https://www.wwenews.eu/exclusive-wwe-tape-latino-tournament-soon/

On January 25, Alpha Entertainment applied to trademark the new XFL logo, as well as applied a bunch of trademarks for 'Alpha Entertainment' and that company logo as well.

WWE announced a new theme song for Monday Night Raw, presumably debuting with Monday's episode:

The sound of #RAW is reborn. "Born For Greatness" by @paparoach is an #OfficialThemeSong for Monday Night #Raw! pic.twitter.com/VgKQGGtwir
— WWE (@WWE) February 5, 2018

The National Wrestling Alliance announced today that NWA champion Nick Aldis would defend the title against former ECW champion Tommy Dreamer at the 3/24 House of Hardcore return in Philadelphia, PA at the 2300 Arena, which will stream live on the promotion's Twitch.tv channel.

The announcement was made today by NWA President Billy Corgan.

The NWA previously announced that Aldis would make twenty championship defenses over the next sixty days as part of their continued plan to elevate the prestige and profile of the NWA and its top championship.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM3_Qvs_3PU

Nia Jax's opponent on last night's episode of RAW was St. Louis talent and current Zero1 USA Women's Champion Savanna Stone. At 17 years old, Stone is the youngest champion in Zero1 USA history.

We noted before how former WWE NXT Superstar Shaul Guerrero was getting back into pro wrestling. The daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero and wife to Aiden English is set to make her indie wrestling debut on February 17th for Reality of Wrestling's Ladies Night Out all-women's invitational, which is a joint show from Title Match Wrestling & Booker T's Reality of Wrestling. Shaul cuts a promo on the event in this new video from Title Match Wrestling. You can stream the event live on TitleMatchWrestlingNetwork.com.

Some other sheet stuff includes:

Karl Anderson revealed on Twitter he is currently expecting his forth child to arrive this August. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bevce5NA1GN/?taken-by=karlandersonwwe
Recent article on WWE's official website listed Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, Nia Jax, and Charlotte Flair as dream opponents they want to see face off against Ronda Rousey in the WWE. http://www.wwe.com/article/5-ronda-rousey-wwe-dream-matches
According to reports, the reason for RAW's low attendance this week was due to a snowstorm affecting host city Des Moines, Iowa.
The Mirror had a recent interview with Ric Flair talking about the early years of the Monday Night War, refusing to trash talk the WWE during that time, being excited at seeing the possibility of Charlotte defending her title against Asuka or Ronda as rumored opponents at Mania, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0205/636707/ric-flair-talks-hating-wcw/
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Christian reveal a prank him and Stone Cold played on each other during the RAW 25th anniversary show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0205/636723/edge-and-christian-on-dont-look-at-me-game-with-steve-austin/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Jason Jordan Undergoes Neck Surgery (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/jason-jordan-undergoes-neck-surgery/)
WWE Signs The Miz to a New Four Year Contract (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-signs-the-miz-to-a-new-four-year-contract/)
Update on Why Lars Sullivan Has Been Absent From NXT (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/update-on-why-lars-sullivan-has-been-absent-from-nxt/)

Corkscrewed

02-06-2018, 11:07 PM

Yeah.... "snow storm"...

Mr. Nerfect

02-07-2018, 05:47 PM

"Raw has become so popular we have had to cut down the number of shows we do, in order to service the fans."

Mr. Nerfect

02-08-2018, 08:00 AM

Rusev and Lana are wonderful.

slik

02-08-2018, 10:06 AM

From the Observer today

Currently there are 8,000 tickets sold for Elimination Chamber on 2/25 in Las Vegas at the T Mobile Arena, so it won’t be close to a legit sellout.

Cena is releasing a children’s book called “Elbow Grease".

Miz just signed a new four-year deal, locking him up through 2022. With the fans turning Strowman face, the only other big heels on the RAW side are Samoa Joe and Elias. Sheamus & Cesaro have been headlining the house shows as the biggest heels on the card. The Smackdown side isn’t much better for heel depth with Mahal, who was demoted, and Corbin, who they expected to be a superstar by now and hasn't happened at all. Mahal and Corbin's failure to catch on as major stars is why Sami Zayn has ended up being a top heel with Owens for the blue brand.

slik

02-08-2018, 11:45 AM

Per Wrestling News World this is the planned WM card...

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE title
Shane McMahon and a partner vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
Ronda Rousey and a partner vs Triple H and Stephanie McMahon or Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair
Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship
The Miz vs. Braun Strowman for the Intercontinental Championship

are the current major matches they are planning

*First time I've used that site as a source, bought a 'day pass' since they claimed to be 'legit'...ya never know...

slik

02-08-2018, 11:51 AM

PostWrestling / @iamjohnpollock seems 'legit' too...doesn't charge people for news either...just has a patreon

#randomthoughts

Emperor Smeat

02-08-2018, 09:50 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Original Mayor of Suplex City:
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Regarding Undertaker and The Rock at WrestleMania, there is nothing new on either front. Given that John Cena is in the Elimination Chamber, if Cena vs. Undertaker is the plan, and it was the plan as of a few weeks ago, it would make no sense to shoot the angle until the Chamber is over and Cena hasn’t won.

As of last week, the plans were Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka for the Smackdown title and Bliss vs. Jax for the Raw title for WrestleMania. However, on TV this week, Angle said that if Jax beats Asuka on the PPV show, that the Mania match would become Bliss vs. Jax vs. Asuka. Last week the idea was that Asuka hadn’t said which title she would challenge for, nor would she until after the Chamber match. This week Angle outright said she was in the Raw title match. Whether that’s a change of plans or they were looking to throw the fans off scent, isn’t clear. They could do a disputed finish with Asuka vs. Jax, because Asuka beating Jax and then Bliss vs. Jax stemming from it, while it can be done, doesn’t seem the best way to do it. Jax beating Asuka to end her streak before Asuka faces either Flair or Rousey makes even less sense.

Jason Jordan’s surgery was a posterior cervical microdiscectomy, to decompress the nerve issue that caused the problems. There was no report on a return date but we’re told that Jordan vs. Rollins at WrestleMania is not a dead issue, but it’s far from a certainty.
Spoiler tag used since its related to possible Mania plans.

In an interview that was posted on WWE.com today, it was revealed that Serena Deeb has joined the Performance Center as a coach.

Deeb told WWE.com that she'll be a coach for the women's wrestlers and the goal is that she'll eventually be teaching her own class.

After retiring in 2015, Deeb wrestled twice in the Mae Young Classic last summer. PWInsider reported last month that she was at the Performance Center after previously being spotted in Pittsburgh, which they noted was possibly to undergo medical testing ahead of returning to WWE in some capacity.

"The offer presented itself initially almost a year ago," Deeb said. "It was pre-Mae Young Classic. I knew of the tournament and was aware of it, and then I was contacted by the company to see if I had any interest in being one of the talent in the tournament, but it was also coupled with the idea of potentially coming in as a coach following the tournament."

"The tournament was the first stop on the tracks, and following that, I came back in a week in the fall for an official coaching tryout, and following that, it was pretty quickly offered," Deeb said.
Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/article/serena-deeb-wwe-performance-center-coach-interview

The subject of Ronda Rousey's contract was probably the biggest news outside of the financial figures covered at the WWE investors call this morning, along with strong hints regarding multiple suitors for the television deal that expires in the United States in September 2019.

Paul Levesque said that they are finalizing the Rousey contract right now and that it was a multi-year deal. WWE will be her priority and will be the first option on her schedule. He said that Rousey wants to be part of the DNA of the WWE ...

As far as the numbers went, WWE produced more revenue in the fourth quarter, at $211.6 million, than ever before, but overall profits were down. WWE profits for the quarter were $4.8 million, although that was largely due to $18.9 million in income taxes in the quarter. In 2016, the quarter generated $194.9 million in revenue and $8.0 million in profits, but the tax was $4.8 million.

For the year, WWE produced a record $801 million in revenue and generated $32.6 million in profits. In 2016 they generated $729.2 million in revenue and $33.8 million in profits ...

The decline in profits was due to a one-time charge of $11.3 million from the enactment of a new tax law, $10.9 million of which was a non-cash charge due to the remeasurement of deferred tax assets and $400,000 regarding foreign earnings.

However, Donald Trump's new tax law change will greatly benefit the company in 2018 and lead to a significant increase in profits. It is a virtual lock that profits will finally break past the pre-Network numbers in 2018.

So while profits were slightly down this year, normalized they would have been up, although still below pre-Network years ...

In the fourth quarter, there were declines in profits of arena events, largely due to running two fewer shows and mostly due to a significantly less successful European tour. Also down were profits in arena merchandise and a slight decline in WWE Shop profits even though revenue in that sector was up.

On December 31st, the WWE Network had 1,065,000 U.S. subscribers, 406,000 subscribers outside the U.S., and 76,000 people getting it for free, for a total of 1,547,000. One year earlier, the Network had 1,033,000 U.S. subscribers, 370,000 subscribers outside the U.S., and 70,000 people getting it for free, for a total of 1,473,000. The outside growth was due to it being available in more places ...

During the fourth quarter, there were 413,000 people who dropped the Network and 377,000 who added, for an overall decline of 36,000. Last year's fourth quarter saw a decline of 41,000.

The most interesting thing from the entire report is WWE's profits still have yet to reach pre-Network levels which shows how much of a money drain its been to the company and why all those free sub offers are not helping. Trump's new tax plan is likely going to be the only reason why the next fiscal report will be able to post a pre-Network level of profit.

Vince McMahon said she fits in with what they are doing now. Stephanie McMahon said that they’ve seen the women go to main event performers and revenue driver. She brought up the first-women’s bout ever in Abu Dhabi leading to a “This is hope” chant from men and women. The fan response for the women, Rousey included, exploded in terms of social media and engagement. The segments with the women are proving to be some of the highest rated segments.

Vince McMahon said it all shows what the women’s evolution means to them. Stephanie said everyone, including their media partners, have great interest in the movement. The audience demanded it and their women are rising to the occasion with every opportunity.

Triple H said that the increased popularity in the women’s division has led to Ronda wanting to be involved and be part of this globally around the world. It’s just starting to attract women like Ronda in wanting to be involved in WWE.
More from today's investors meeting dealing with the growth of the Women'd division and it becoming a new revenue driver for the company. More details from the rest of the meeting: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115394/ronda-rousey-contract-update-vince-on-whether-xfl-will-change-his-day-to-day-wwe-duties-when-mizs-reality-series-will-debut-wheres-the-tiered-wwe-network-more-complete-wwe-earnings-conference-call-coverage.html?p=1

Evolve on 2/17 in Queens, NY has Sabre Jr. vs. Theory for the Evolve title, Lee vs. AR Fox for the WWN title, Dickinson & Jaka vs. The End for the tag titles, Matt Riddle vs. James Drake, Tracy Williams vs. Anthony Henry, Fred Yehi vs. Dom Garrini and Darby Allin vs Jason Kincaid vs Jarek 1:20.

For Stardom on Saturday night, the main event is Io Shrai & AZM vs. Momo Watanabe & HZK, who are members of Queen's Quest facing each other.

Big Time Wrestling on 3/30 in Altoona, PA at the Jaffa Shrine has James Ellsworth vs. Emma (billed under that name) with Mick Foley as the special enforcer plus appearances by Mark Henry, Tony Atlas and Hurricane Helms.

William Corgan's Lightning One has introduced the NWA Network audio platform. Episode One “Fortune Favors The Brave,” focuses on the famous Ten Pounds of Gold and the man who currently holds it, Nick Aldis.
NWA: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nwa-network/id1346415923

This morning, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Jay White & Will Ospreay) vs. Bullet Club (Young Bucks & Cody Rhodes) as the main event for 2/18 in Sydney, Australia.
Link: https://twitter.com/njpwaus/status/961510345670979584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

All Japan Pro Wrestling announced its own streaming service, “All Japan Pro Wrestling TV,” debuting in March. The price will be 900 yen per month ($8.17). No other details were given but when it comes to All Japan, one can argue that when it comes to actual great matches, it has the potential to have the best library of any company in the world, since almost all of its great matches from 1972 on were taped, and at many times in the 70s, 80s and 90s, they had the best wrestling in the world. The service will go into effect just before the annual Champion Carnival tournament, which take place between 4/7 and 4/30. This looks to be one of the most loaded tournament since the glory days of the promotion with a number of key outsiders including Naomichi Marufuji, Shingo Takagi and Yuji Hino.

The never-ending Impact pay issues are that now the checks come six weeks after the appearance and some guys now, since Impact is booking guys for indie dates, are mad at losing their own indie dates where they’ll get paid that night and working indie dates for Impact where they’ll be paid six weeks later instead

There have been people now openly talking about next year’s WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium (before it was something talked about, but not in public to fans), so one would think the official announcement should come soon

Currently there are 8,000 tickets sold for Elimination Chamber on 2/25 in Las Vegas at the T Mobile Arena, so it won’t be close to a legit sellout. The Raw on 2/12 in San Jose only has a 7,000 ticket advance, which for this market is very soft. For 2/19 and 2/20, they are doing both Raw and Smackdown in Phoenix. There are combined tickets and such to help Smackdown in particular and the expectations right now are about 8,500 for Raw and 6,500 for Smackdown. The house shows coming up this weekend in California don’t have strong advances. The one thing that is different this year from the past is that January through end of March is the season, where everything is up. But this year the house shows have been well below expectations and the Raws seem that way as well

The key to Rousey is more about Stephanie McMahon, which is why they want that super high-profile match (and if they can get Johnson, it makes it even more high-profile). Stephanie McMahon is a big star in wrestling, but she is not a mainstream star at all. It was explained to me that the key in all this goes back to what made Vince McMahon a big star, which was the program with Steve Austin, and what made Steve Austin a breakthrough star past being a pro wrestling top guy, which was hardly an interview at King of the Ring or the WrestleMania match with Bret Hart, as legend has it, but the angle in Fresno with Mike Tyson.

Rousey is a major sports star. The idea that she was the single most searched female athlete in the U.S. on the Internet in 2017, a year she never competed and for the most part laid low in, speaks volumes. The idea for the program is to make Stephanie a star outside of just the pro wrestling world.

The next WWE 24 special will once again feature the Women's Evolution. It is titled, WWE 24: Women's Evolution 2. A premiere date has not yet been revealed. The first WWE 24: Women's Evolution aired in August of 2016 and focused on the Women's Division having a primary spot on the WrestleMania 32 card.

Some other sheet news includes:

ROH announced they will be airing a free live stream of tomorrow Honor Reigns Supreme show starting at 7PM EST. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115406/ring-of-honor-presenting-free-live-stream-of-tomorrows-live-event-from-north-carolina-complete-details.html?p=1
Edge announced The Drifter will be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show.
As part of recent tradition, WWE recently sent replica WWE Championship belts to the Philadelphia Eagles as celebrations of their Super Bowl win. One of the belts was displayed during the team's championship parade.
PROGRESS announced the card for their upcoming Chapter 63 show features a tag team match of British Strong Style (Trent Seven & Pete Dunne) vs. David Starr & Matt Riddle. https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/961678574049783809
Daily Star had a recent interview with Braun Strowman talking about the stiff punch he took from Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, being a Big Man wrestler in today's wrestling, and teaming with Alexa Bliss. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0208/636823/braun-strowman-on-teaming-with-alexa-bliss/
CBS Local Sports had a recent interview with Edge talking about Paige's neck injury, if Cena or Rock is the better actor, remaining life goals. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0208/636818/edge-on-paige-neck-injury-that-ended-her-wwe-in-ring-career/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Licenses Broken Hardys Content From Impact (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-licenses-broken-hardys-content-from-impact/)
WWE Fastlane Main Event to Be a Fatal 4-Way, Adding Corbin or Ziggler (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-fastlane-main-event-to-be-a-fatal-4-way-adding-corbin-or-ziggler/)
Triple H May Gain More Control in WWE Because of the XFL (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/triple-h-expected-to-gain-more-control-in-wwe-because-of-the-xfl/)

Ol Dirty Dastard

02-09-2018, 08:04 AM

They are right that the Tyson angle put Austin over the edge. But Stephanie McMahon is neither Austin nor is she Vince. She is somewhat talented but over exposed at best, and a complete fucking hack at worst.

slik

02-09-2018, 11:24 AM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Moments ago I received an update from a source in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE</a> on Daniel Bryan’s in-ring status. I’m going to reveal that information on Fridays episode of Backstage in WWE.</p>— Brad Shepard �� (@TheBradShepard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBradShepard/status/961788717651386368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I skimmed thru the entire hour and five minute borefest. Here's Brad's news:

* KO t-shirts are no longer selling well.

* Daniel Bryan is not likely to wrestle at WrestleMania.

Mr. Nerfect

02-09-2018, 07:10 PM

Mr. Nerfect

02-09-2018, 07:48 PM

Actually intrigued by that All Japan service. Maybe even more so than New Japan World. I think All Japan has some big years coming up.

mike adamle

02-09-2018, 07:59 PM

Based on what...

Mr. Nerfect

02-09-2018, 08:33 PM

It having one of the biggest growth years of any promotion in 2017. It's far from its glory years (obviously), but it's trending in a good direction, and it's got plenty of room to go before it hits a ceiling, and its classic footage will only help with that, provided they can get it onto a streaming service.

You fucking cunt.

Emperor Smeat

02-09-2018, 10:40 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ref Bump Appreciation Day:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/b86ef7cf821471d5c6fc514b82d40345/tumblr_p3k0rdJP2U1s24yedo1_400.gif

PCW Ultra on 3/16 on Fite TV has Penta 0M vs. Rob Van Dam for their championship, Douglas James vs. Jordan Devlin for the light heavyweight title plus Flip Gordon vs. Garza Jr., and Swoggle vs. Kikutaro. (thanks to Jake Koch)

Going forward for the foreseeable future, Josh Mathews and Sonjay Dutt will be the announce team for Impact Wrestling.

One story making the rounds over the last 24 hours is that Jeremy Borash and Josh Mathews did voiceovers for last night's episode that were discarded. That is incorrect. Impact usually does voiceovers on Wednesdays for the episode that airs the following night on Pop TV as a way to keep them as fresh as possible. When Borash informed Impact he was leaving for WWE, only last week's episode had been voiced over. Last night's episode was done with Mathews and Dutt this week. The later episodes that will air from the most recent set of TV tapings have yet to be voiced over.

The One Night Only "Canadian Clash" PPV will be exclusive to the Global Wrestling Network beyond the usual PPV distribution via cable and satellite systems when it debuts on 2/16. Here is the official promo video for the PPV:

The PPV, which was taped in Ottawa, Ontario, will feature:

*Alberto El Patron vs. James Storm.
*Moose vs. EC3.
*Rosemary vs. KC Spinelli.
*LAX vs. Trevor Lee and Caleb Konley.
*Dezmond Xavier and Eddie Edwards vs. OVE.
*Bobby Lashley vs. El Hijo del Fantasma.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3QuO4AJ4E

The 2/8 edition of Impact did 294,000 overnight viewers, down from last week’s 319,000 overnight viewers.

In an update on the Dwayne Johnson action film Red Notice bidding war from yesterday, Universal Studios and Legendary Pictures won the film. They are no strangers to Johnson projects as they are distributing this summer's Skyscraper. Reports are that lots of major players in Hollywood were bidding on the project including Netflix, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony.
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115426/universal-lands-the-rocks-red-notice.html?p=1

Major League Wrestling announced that legendary wrestler and manager Col. Rob Parker (Robert Fuller) will be debuting for the promotion next month, bringing a "Stud Stable" to the promotion.

During his media call yesterday promoting Impact Wresting, Impact champion Austin Aries noted he is not currently under contract to the company. His discussions to return began as soon as he was a "free agent" but they initially began as talks of Aries working behind the scenes to get involved to help "right the ship." When the new team became in charge, those talks turned to him returning as an in-ring talent. Aries said he didn't feel pressure being the nucleus of the company as they try to rebuild. He said that one of the aspects of the return that interested him was the ability to continue to work independently and go off to different companies and "collect belts."

In regard to Rey Mysterio, the word that has made the way among the talents in the company is that the company had negotiated a deal with Mysterio for him to debut, but once Konnan (who reps Rey) got involved to seal the deal, something went wrong leading to the agreement never getting finalized and signed. Thus, Rey's debut was canceled. That explains why we heard travel was set at one point. There was hope of trying to get him to debut in April at the TV taping, but with Mysterio making it clear that he and WWE are in a courtship phase of trying to work something out, he obviously won't be coming into Impact unless something falls through with WWE. The big sticking point with WWE and Rey is that they want him back full-time, but he, at 43 and with an infinite number of knee surgeries under his belt, wants to work part-time.

Xavier Woods posted a video on his Instagram showing New Day and WWE personality Renée Young popping balloons on a game show set with the title "Who Knows?"

It could be that WWE is filming a pilot for the WWE Network. As previously reported by PWInsider.com, there was a pilot filmed for a R-Truth hosted game show that was originally set to go forward, but was then canceled.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Be6b-MKhNqD/

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced this morning that IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada and Rocky Romero vs. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Evil and Sanada in a non-title match will main event their 2/19 event in Perth, Australia.

Also announced was The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Gino Gambino, Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale) vs. The Mighty Don't Kneel (Jonah Rock, Slex, Marcus Pitt and Damian Slater.)

On Thursday's earnings call, WWE CFO George Barrios said that Facebook was "very happy" with Mixed Match Challenge so far. However, it was also stated on the call that in the 4 weeks since the debut of the series, the show had produced over 6 million views and 12 million minutes watched. The 6 million views would have probably been as of the end of the day on Wednesday. Regardless, that means that the average person only watches two minutes of the 20 minute broadcast

Emma made her debut on tonight's ROH Honor Reigns Supreme event and was announced as the final participant in the Women of Honor tournament to determine the first champion for the division. ROH announced Emma by her real name, Tenille Dashwood.

The tournament is a 16-woman, single-elimination styled format. Many names are from within the division and some are from the Japanese wrestling promotion, Stardom. Here are the other 15 participants: Brandi Rhodes, Jessie Brooks, Karen Q, Kelly Klein, Madison Rayne, Mandy Leon, Deonna Purrazzo, Holidead, Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Stacy Shadows, HZK, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Mayu Iwatani.
Link with the announcements by Emma and ROH: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0209/636855/emma-debuts-on-tonight-roh-honor-reigns-supreme/

Jason Jordan's neck injury reportedly caused changes to the men's Elimination Chamber match at the upcoming WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view later this month. According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Jordan's injury forced both himself and his tag team partner, Seth Rollins, out of the match. It was noted that they might have been in there to work an angle to build to a match between the two at WrestleMania.

Tamina Snuka recently underwent surgery for a torn rotator cuff. Snuka last appeared at last month's Women's Royal Rumble match and wrestled with the injury. She had the surgery two days later ...

Jeff Hardy has been out of action since undergoing surgery for the same injury last October. The timetable for a return from the surgery is usually 6-8 months.

Some other sheet news includes:

Based on upcoming scheduled events, Kane is currently expected to return to the WWE next month.
For those interested, the full card for NJPW's New Beginning In Osaka event was recently released. The show itself airs this Saturday at 3AM EST. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115418/new-japan-road-to-new-beginning-tour-finale-tomorrow-complete-lineup.html?p=1
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had The Drifter as the guest talking about his "Walk With Elias" catchphrase, Cena playing a role in its creation, and his musical routine. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0209/636848/elias-on-how-john-cena-helped-him-with-wwe-stands-for-walk-with/
Planeta Wrestling had a recent interview with Tyler Breeze talking about his career in NXT, creation of the Fashion Files, and being left off the Royal Rumble card. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0209/636842/tyler-breeze-talks-being-left-off-wwe-royal-rumble-pay-per-view/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Lars Sullivan Returns to the Ring + Injury Update (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/lars-sullivan-returns-to-the-ring-injury-update/)
Jerry Lawler on Rumble Commentary, HHH Joking About Him “Sleeping” (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/jerry-lawler-on-rumble-commentary-hhh-joking-about-him-sleeping/)
Booker T Invites Corey Graves to “Clear the Air” (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/booker-t-invites-corey-graves-to-clear-the-air/)

Emperor Smeat

02-13-2018, 10:21 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun's Musical Masterpiece ... or not:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/c831fa82650dddf271e2af0f576a72e8/tumblr_p42kdp2WEH1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

PWI's Elite section reported Jeff Jarrett is currently rumored to be among this year's class for WWE's Hall of Fame.

Spoiler tag used since its related to a possible member of this year's Hall of Fame class.

Raw delivered well last night when going against the Winter Olympics, actually increasing over the week before.

Raw had some of its lowest numbers in history in 2016 against the Summer Olympics, but last night's show did 3.10 million viewers, up one percent from the 3.08 million viewers the prior week ...

It appears the 3.0 million to 3.2 million level will be the range at least until the NBA playoffs, which is the next period that usually hits Raw hard.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.28 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.22 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.84 million viewers

John Cena appeared to reference The Undertaker on Raw, with him doing a promo and calling WrestleMania a place that can bring a legend back from the dead.

Kevin Owens posted a tweet noting that today is the one-year anniversary of the Festival of Friendship where Owens turned against Chris Jericho.

David Bixenspan wrote about a letter Jerry Lawler sent to prosecutors in his 1993 statutory rape and sodomy case. Those charges were dismissed in 1994 as part of a plea agreement.

Drew McIntyre thanked ICW after being inducted into their Hall of Fame yesterday.
Cena: https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/963217713316421634 , Owens: https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/963504468594647040 , Lawler: https://deadspin.com/jerry-lawler-wrote-a-really-dumb-letter-to-prosecutors-1822790447 , ICW: https://twitter.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/963183127307800576

New Japan World uploaded a nearly 30-minute long video where Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi speak about their reunion, teaming together as the Golden Lovers again, and the ongoing Bullet Club split.

Filming for Lucha Underground season four will begin in Los Angeles later this month as three days of tapings were officially announced for February 23-25. They’ll be filming at a different venue than the previous three seasons, and Uproxx got a look at the new location.

Matt Riddle and Tom Lawlor will face off in a semifinal match in Orlando on March 8th as part of MLW’s tournament to crown a World Heavyweight Champion.

Riddle won a fan vote against Jonah Rock and will be challenging for Travis Banks’ PROGRESS Wrestling Championship in London February on 25th.

David Starr vs. Mike Quackenbush is the second match announced for Joey Janela’s Spring Break II on April 6th during WrestleMania week. Janela vs. The Great Sasuke will headline the show.
NJPW: https://njpwworld.com/p/o_original_0002_63 , LU: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/lucha-underground-16771024101 , LU new location: http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/lucha-underground-season-4-new-temple-pics-tickets/ , MLW: https://mlw.com/2018/02/13/riddle-vs-lawlor-set-for-semi-finals-on-march-8th-bro/ , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/963522625237643264 , Janela: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/963228707312848896

Shouldn't it be the inductee's decision on who can induct him/her into the WWE Hall of Fame? Seriously, the way this company micromanages everything is pathetic.

I think for a Hall of Fame where the person is voted in by a (mostly) impartial group of voters, yes they should be able to choose who inducts them. But that isn’t what the WWE Hall is. It’s a company event where they choose who gets inducted. People have a voice in who want to induct them but the final decision rests on WWE. I understand that too as this is their feel-good celebration event of the year and they want to have a degree of control over how it comes across on the Network. Yes, they are very micromanaged, but they always have been.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on why inductees don't get to pick who gives their speech for WWE's Hall of Fame.

WWE issued SEC filings announcing various executives received performance stock bonuses:

Kevin Dunn - 52,062 (239,233)
Stephanie Lesvesque - 46,963 (38,507)
Paul Levesque - 43,145 (38,507)
Michelle D. Wilson - 42,770 (232,157)
George A. Barrios - 42,349 (231,780)
Michael J. Luisi - 28,398 (30,805)
Casey Collins - 23,622 (27,725)
Basil V. Devito Jr - 13,002 (16,173)
Blake Timothy Bilstad - 10,994 (12,322)
Mark Kowal - 8,358 (9,627)

Numbers in brackets is how much performance bonus they received last year.

The increase in the number of live events WWE runs isn't paying off as strongly as the company might've hoped. WWE ran more live events in 2017 compared to previous years, but the increase in volume hasn't led to strong increases in profits related to events. In fact, according to WWE's new annual report, sales of merchandise at venues was down slightly for the year, despite more events and attendees.
More details and charts: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0212/636930/wwe-merchandise-sales-at-events-down-despite-more-events-and/

Ethan Carter III in a recent interview with Newsweek talked about what led to his decision to leave Impact Wrestling and join WWE. While Impact has a track record of financial problems, that wasn't a factor in his move, he told Newsweek.

"My decision to leave Impact had nothing to with their business or finances and everything with me wanting to challenge myself to something new," he said on January 23. "Leaving Impact was a very difficult decision as I had six months left on a very lucrative and talent-friendly contract. Anthem lived up to that contract and always treated me with the utmost respect as a businessman and a person."
Link: http://www.newsweek.com/impact-wrestling-2018-jeff-jarrett-wwe-ec3-management-802632

WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin tweeted the following on Ivory joining him in the Hall this year, indicating that he will be there in New Orleans for WrestleMania 34 Week. Austin and Ivory shared the cover of Entertainment Weekly back in December 1999 for what was considered a big score for WWE. Austin wrote:

Congrats to @MorettiIvory on making it into @WWE HOF!!!! I have been a fan ever since your days in #GLOW. Looking forward to talking w you!
— Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) February 13, 2018

The 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Collection on the WWE Network will go live this Friday at 10am EST on-demand. The Network updated their Shorts section earlier this week with a "Then & Now" Collection on SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and a "Playback" Collection on The Miz.

Some other sheet news includes:

NJPW and ROH recently revealed the cards for this month's joint promotion Honor Rising event. https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-roh-honor-rising-cards-omega-teams-ibushi-251636
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 21st anniversary of HBK's "Lost My Smile" speech and vacating the WWF Championship due to a "knee injury."
According to reports, WWE likely made last minute changes to the main event of RAW due to accidentally spoiling the winner of the Last Chance match for the Chamber. Their ad for the Chamber leaked Balor as the final competitor before it was quickly pulled.
ESPN had a recent interview with Ivory talking about being inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame, today's era of women's wrestling, Vince McMahon, and more. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115483/lots-of-wwe-news-and-notes.html?p=1
WWE currently dealing with some online backlash due to their PR Twitter account retweeted an article from far right/alt-right website Breitbart. Also for being revealed they gave the writer ring side seats as possible gift for writing a favorable article.
Indie wrestling streaming service Powerbomb TV recently fired one of the co-owners of the company due to issues related to Micheal Elgin's recent sexual harassment controversy. The co-owner was fired after objecting to Elgin matches being streamed on the service while the other co-owner and company did not want to risk losing their deal with Smart Mark Video who helps deliver indie content to the service. https://twitter.com/newfoundmass/status/963457287078719488

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Rumor: WWE Backlash Will Be a Dual-Brand PPV (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/rumor-wwe-backlash-will-be-a-dual-brand-ppv/)
Ronda Rousey Raw “Contract Signing” Announced for Elimination Chamber (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/ronda-rousey-raw-contract-signing-announced-for-elimination-chamber/)
Seth Rollins and Finn Balor Both Added to Elimination Chamber Match (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/seth-rollins-and-finn-balor-both-officially-added-to-elimination-chamber-match/)

Mr. Nerfect

02-13-2018, 11:08 PM

Apparently the Jeff Jarrett rumor has already been killed.

Shadrick

02-13-2018, 11:22 PM

Apparently the Jeff Jarrett rumor has already been killed.

I literally said out loud "Yeah I'll believe that bullshit when I see it"

Emperor Smeat

02-14-2018, 10:15 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun Strowman Musical Performance of Sheet News:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/fe17edb8e7efe4fcfcdb31f5055c0fba/tumblr_p42jmeVm2l1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Rumor going around the net is Carmella might end up cashing in her MitB case during next week's episode of Smackdown. The rumor teases if she does, it opens the door for Charlotte-Ronda at Mania and if she doesn't, it means the match isn't happening at Mania.

Source of the rumor has been sketchy recently though.

Spoiler tag used since its related to possible upcoming Smackdown and Mania plans.

For the sixth straight week, SmackDown ratings were down on Tuesday night.

Last night's show averaged 2.449 million viewers, the lowest number since Halloween. Ratings have been down since the January 2nd episode averaged 2.720 million viewers ...

This was also the third straight week, and fourth in the last five, that SmackDown ratings were down year-over-year.

Kenny Omega's match against Cody Rhodes for Ring of Honor won't be the only time he'll be wrestling during WrestleMania week.

WrestleCon announced last Friday that Omega would be appearing at their SuperShow on April 5th. They didn't reveal Omega's match then, but it was confirmed today that Omega & Kota Ibushi would be teaming against Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) at the show.

Link: https://twitter.com/HighspotsWN/status/963820485812334592

Last night’s Mixed Match Challenge currently has 1.5 million views on Facebook, which is in line with what the show has been doing.

Big E tweeted about the significance of The New Day wearing kente cloth this month: “Yes, we’re wearing kente because it’s Black Panther season & Black History Month. No, you should not come for us because you think we’re being divisive & schismatic. Yes, we’re going to take some time to acknowledge our dreads, our Afro puffs, and our chocolatey skin.”

In court documents filed in Ford’s lawsuit against John Cena, Cena claimed that there was nothing in the contract he signed that prevented him from selling a rare Ford GT he bought within 24 months after the sale. Ford alleges that Cena profited off of the car and wasn’t allowed to sell it within two years after being selected in the application process.

Titus O’Neil tweeted that he’s in the process of writing a book.
Big E: https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/963810934367113216 , Cena: http://www.tmz.com/2018/02/13/john-cena-ford-gt-supercar-lawsuit/ , Titus: https://twitter.com/TitusONeilWWE/status/963597427965071361

PWG announced that Matt Sydal is off their Neon Knights show on Friday due to injury. Brody King will make his PWG debut and sub in for Sydal against Adam Brooks.

ROH uploaded Tenille Dashwood’s in-ring debut for the promotion on YouTube. Dashwood teamed with Mandy Leon against Stacy Shadows & Kelly Klein.

Jeff Cobb posted a picture on Instagram teasing that he was backstage at SmackDown last night.

In his autobiography, Gedo wrote about meeting Jericho and how hard Jericho has worked throughout his career.

Jonah Rock is set to make his PROGRESS Wrestling debut against Zack Sabre Jr. in London on February 25th.
PWG: https://twitter.com/OfficialPWG/status/963611755187290112 , ROH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-jABzaKrik , Cobb: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfL2rPGle6C/ , Gedo: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/963533598761484289 , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/963850594728505344

Announced for tomorrow's edition of Impact Wrestling is Sami Callihan vs. Bobby Lashley. Lashley, who has departed the company, is now contractually free to appear anywhere he chooses.

There's been talk of late that former ECW live events booker Greg Bagarozy could be coming in to help book venues for Impact. We are told that Impact Wrestling Director Michael Vedder has suggested Bagarozy for the role. A lot of people have been praising Vedder's work since he came back in to the company.

We have gotten a few questions on how the NWA is able to use TNA/Impact footage on their videos. There is some sort of working relationships between the two sides stemming out of Anthem's settlement with Billy Corgan last year. The two sides have mad multiple meetings about how Anthem and the NWA can work together, but Corgan has had those discussions with lots of other companies as well.

The questions about Corgan sparked this, however. It felll through the cracks at the time, but PWInsider.com has confirmed that the lawsuit brought against Impact Wrestling last year by Fraley International, LLC ended in September 2017 with a ruling brought against Impact. Fraley had sued TNA Entertainment, LLC so it does not appear that current owner Anthem Sports and Entertainment was on hook for the judgment. Fraley International, which handles importation of merchandise from overseas, had sued over money owed from shipments of TNA merchandise being brought to the United States after they were produced in the Far East. In Aprill 2017, attorneys representing Impact in the case withdrew as their representation and after receiving permission from the Chancery Court in Nashville to allow them to do so, citing lack of payment. From that point on, Impact never responded or appeared in court during the proceedings, making the case pretty easy for Fraley to win. There's no word what Fraley won or whether they ever actually collected the judgment.

A pre-trial conference in the lawsuit Flosports filed against WWNLive last year is set for 2/27 before Judge Lee Yeakel in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

What is interesting about that conference is that on 12/28, Judge Yeakel signed an order referring the WWNLive motion claiming that the lawsuit against them should not be heard in Texas for lack of jurisdiction to another Judge, Andrew W. Austin. Judge Austin has not, to the best of PWInsider.com's knowledge, issued a ruling on that matter.

Flosports filed a motion on 12/22/17 seeking to have WWNLive's previous request for the lawsuit the streaming provider brought against them shut down. Flosports' lawsuit, seeking $1 million in damages, revolves around allegations that WWN, run by Sal Hamaoui and Gabe Sapolsky, had "robbed Flosports" by provided false information that led to the streaming provider paying inflated prices for WWN content.
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115522/update-on-flosports-vs-wwnlive-lawsuit.html?p=1

Above is a sneak peek at February's WWE Network Collection. This month includes: Alexa Bliss - Five Feet Tall, Goldberg - Who's Next?, and the WWE Hall of Fame 2018 Class.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3VpCk_BxvU

Hulk Hogan was apparently considered to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom last month as an honorary member of the Bullet Club, according to a new report from Sports Illustrated. New Japan approached Hogan about appearing at the show, however talks fell apart when Hogan demanded $750,000 for the appearance.
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/02/14/wwe-news-ronda-rousey-wrestlemania-plans-dolph-ziggler-salary

Sports Illustrated reports that Ziggler has just signed a new contract with WWE. The new deal is reportedly for two years at $1.5 million per year. It was noted that Ziggler had always planned on re-signing with the company.
Same link as the Hogan story above.

We've noted before how the future of WWE Blu-rays have been up in the air after several titles were pulled due to bad sales, costs associated with production and weak support from retailers. WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reports that WWE Home Video distributor Warner Bros. may have taken most, if not all, of the WWE Blu-ray titles out of print. This could mean that there will be no new WWE Blu-ray copies produced. It has not been confirmed that they have ceased production on future WWE Blu-rays as the WDN report appears to only affect the back catalog of titles. WDN notes that there should be confirmation on the status of the WrestleMania 34 Blu-ray soon. WWE has releases a WrestleMania Blu-ray every year since WrestleMania 24.

Some other sheet news includes:

Rumor going around the net teases at WWE planning a potential Daniel Bryan match to happen at this year's SummerSlam event. If true, would confirm previous rumors about WWE wanting to medically clear Bryan before his contract expires to entice him to sign a new deal.
Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show podcast had Edge & Christian as the guests. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Edge--Christian
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had Will Ospreay as the guest. https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jericho/will-ospreay-bea-priestley
According to PWI, Nigel McGuinness is currently dealing with an illness as the official reason for his lack of appearances recently on NXT.
As part of the lawsuit by Ford against Cena in regards to selling a sponsorship car without permission, Cena admitted he has been running out of money and needed to sell the car to pay some bills.
Fightful wrote a recent article in regards to the current mess caused by the Elgin situation at Powerbomb TV. https://twitter.com/FightfulOnline/status/963622617000243201

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Celeb Crushes, Dark Matches, Murphy on 205 Live, Mike Kanellis (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-celeb-crushes-dark-matches-murphy-on-205-live-mike-kanellis/)
Big Cass Injury Update (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/big-cass-injury-update/)
WWE 205 Live Results – Feb. 13, 2018 – Andrews vs. Tozawa, Gulak vs. Nese (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-205-live-results-feb-13-2018-andrews-vs-tozawa-gulak-vs-nese/)

Mr. Nerfect

02-14-2018, 10:55 PM

It's really quite sad that Cena is running out of money.

Simple Fan

02-14-2018, 10:59 PM

Quite bellaivable though.

Simple Fan

02-14-2018, 11:05 PM

Hogan wanting $750,000 for Wrestle Kingdom is crazy but also believable

Mr. Nerfect

02-14-2018, 11:28 PM

Ol Dirty Dastard

02-15-2018, 12:53 PM

I dunno, Karl Anderson apparently used to get $750,000 a year. If you had a choice between Karl Anderson for a year and Hulk Hogan for a night, it's arguable that Hogan for a night would be more valuable to a company trying to get some attention in the US.

Probably not Hulk Hogan now. Too old, and too much of a has been. He's still a legend and can perform in his own way, but Karl Anderson can fulfill dates and be a workhorse... he may not be a draw but you need that consistency. He can shine your big stars night in and night out because he's pretty good.

Hogan's reach is no longer enough where he can show up for a night and garner that much attention. Most people think he's a joke at this point.

Now if you could get Hogan to play ball and utilize him properly on a consistent, then he'd probably be infinitely more valuable than a "mechanic" like Anderson.

Emperor Smeat

02-15-2018, 04:50 PM

I dunno, Karl Anderson apparently used to get $750,000 a year. If you had a choice between Karl Anderson for a year and Hulk Hogan for a night, it's arguable that Hogan for a night would be more valuable to a company trying to get some attention in the US.

Its just too expensive for a one time appearance considering how small their yearly profits are. Last year they made around $34 million in revenues but net profit was only a few million.

Also if Hogan's time in TNA/Impact is any indication, he likely won't promote the company after his appearance and/or try to get all his buddies deals as well. Think when Hogan was in TNA, he ended up talking more about WWE than TNA in official interviews.

Emperor Smeat

02-15-2018, 09:18 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Villain's Disapproval of the length of tonight's sheet news:
https://i.imgur.com/zfFMGvV.gif

Rumor goign around the net involves WWE currently considering two options for Kurt Angle at Mania. One involves him & Ronda vs Triple H & Steph while the other option is Angle vs Rollins. In regards to the mixed tag match, Strowman is currently considered as the backup option if Rock is unable to be at Mania and WWE still wants the match done.

In regards to post-Mania plans, Observer reported WWE is seriously considering the idea of pairing Paul Heyman with Reigns. The idea would be for Heyman to cover for Reigns; lack of promo skills as a top star and as a backup in case Lesnar really does leave for MMA again.

Another post-Mania rumor involves Heyman being paired with Ronda Rousey to help with her promos and as a backup plan for Lesnar

There have been reports going around about Jeff Jarrett being offered a spot in this year’s WWE Hall of Fame. While not confirmed, there was a list of names a few weeks ago under consideration and he was on the list.
Spoiler tag used since its related to potential Mania plans & Rumors regarding a potential member of this year's Hall of Fame.

After Kazuchika Okada made the challenge and Will Ospreay accepted last weekend, the main event for New Japan Pro Wrestling's 46th anniversary show is now official.

It will be Okada (the IWGP Heavyweight Champion) vs. Ospreay (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion) in a non-title match. Okada mentioned there being a history of the Heavyweight Champion facing the Junior Heavyweight Champion when he made the challenge for the anniversary show.
More details and card for the event: https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/okada-vs-ospreay-headlines-njpw-anniversary-show-lineup-251776

Impact announced that its 4/22 Redemption PPV will be in Orlando at the Impact Zone. The original plan was Toronto but they couldn't find a venue that made it work. Impact will also be airing their 4/7 show in New Orleans at the Sugar Mill live on Twitch.

Aaron Frobel (Michael Elgin) filed a suit against "Moses Malone" (a pseudonym) in Circuit Court in Warren County, Missouri, claiming she wrongly associated his name with men who sexually assault women.

Pro Wrestling Revolver announced a 4/7 Pancakes and Piledrivers show at WrestleCon with Jessicka Havok vs. Meiko Satomura, Penta 0M & Rey Fenix vs. Teddy Hart & Jack Evans and Colt Cabana & Marty DaRosa vs. Joey Ryan & Session Moth Martina.

Xavier Woods noted that his car was broken into last night. He said he doesn't keep anything valuable in there so he wasn't that upset, but that the people who broke in left it a mess, smoked cigarettes in the car and spilled Polynesian sauce.
Link: https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/964142430839812099

Rich Swann has already been added to the 3/10 Big Event in Queens, NY and will be signing and taking photos at the convention.

This afternoon, it was officially announced that the original lineup of The Smashing Pumpkins will be reuniting and touring. Obviously, NWA owner Billy Corgan is the centerpiece of that legendary musical act so the financial riches that will come with that reunion will certainly be a positive for the National Wrestling Alliance at some point.

Meanwhile, the NWA officially released James Ellsworth's challenge of NWA champion Nick Aldis, which was filmed on Sunday at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood:
Seems Corgan is running out of money again which is why the Smashing Pumpkins reunion is happening according to the band's original bassist. Link to the NWA title match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ2qW4tMGQs

As of this morning, the WWE roster has not been informed of any plans to go forward with dual-branding of PPV events.

Although I have not yet confirmed his role, WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page is slated to be at this Monday's Raw in Phoenix, Arizona.

Will Ospreay, while on Chris Jericho's podcast this week, noted that he's been approached by WWE about signing but turned down the idea immediately, wanting to stay with New Japan, citing the insanity of the WWE schedule for talents.

WWE Network has been adding new episodes of World Class Championship Wrestling in an effort to fill gaps that exist in the current run of episodes. WWE has at times sought out private collectors to track down content that was missing from the actual library they acquired.

For the year, WWE grossed $800,959,000, by far its record year, up 9.6 percent from last year. Profits were $32,116,000. In 2016, the company grossed $729,216,000 and the profits were $33,725,000. However, the decline of profits is misleading as there was an $11,284,000 charge, a one-time payment arising from the enactment of the new tax law, of which $10,878,000 was a charge due to the re-measurement of deferred tax assets and $406,000 associated with reparation of foreign earnings. So normalized, the profit margin would have been $43.4 million, the best since 2010, about the time WWE started spending money to start the network. It has come slower than expected, and the growth in profits wasn’t because of the network, as predicted eight years ago. The original predictions of $150 million to $250 million in profits and three to four million subscribers by this point aren’t close to happening and the latter won’t happen for decades, if ever.

For the year, profits on the WWE Network rose from $36.9 million to $57.3 million. The company profits about $3.12 per month per paid subscriber, up from $2.17 in 2016. The increase has been cutting back when it comes to some programming as well as cutting back on the number of PPV shows. Those numbers are actually not completely accurate, because the network division includes actual PPV revenue. In 2017, the company took in $14.2 million from traditional PPV on 16 shows (about 950,000 buys for the year), up from $12.6 million the prior year on 15 shows (about 850,000 buys for the year).

While WWE has not officially stated the end of brand-specific PPV shows, the belief internally is that is the case. WWE officials told us that an announcement regarding this would be made shortly, which would also indicate the end of them ...

While again not official, within WWE the belief was that, because of having to fit the top stars of both brands, that the former B shows will be increased an hour with two match pre-shows and four hour PPV shows. They will have both shows specifically pushing the same PPV every month and all the top stars would be on it. The negative is a lot of the middle and lower card acts won’t be on PPV as much, if at all. And if they’re not on the PPV, they’ll be focused on less on television ...

It also makes having separate champions in each brand feeling even sillier since the key title bouts will be on shows with the other brand’s title also defended. You’ll have two women’s title matches and two tag title matches on most shows, along with two world title and two secondary singles titles and a cruiserweight title (which is likely to almost never be on the main PPV shows). There will be title matches relegated to the pre-show, hurting their significance. There will be less place for non-championship matches, and to get the top stars on the show, likely more multiple-person matches. Also, there will likely be more matches on the shows meaning less time or more rushed matches. So there’s good with the bad. The biggest complaint on WWE PPV shows has been the length of the big shows, and now every show will be five hours long.

Supposedly WWE is considering those multi-man matches to be mainly for their big stars not in title matches. Would be another big hit for the undercard.

During 2017, there were 1,803,700 new subscribers and 1,735,300 canceled subscriptions. It would be logical to say that many of those are the same people.

That's actually really terrible for the net gain and a lock WWE is likely never hitting their lofty target goals they were expecting to have hit by now for subscribers.

Alberto El Patron said he was very close to returning to AAA, and hinted it would be for TripleMania in August. He said he and Dorian Roldan talked things out and reached a verbal agreement but wants it all put on paper

NJPW officially announced that their Los Angeles dojo would be opening in March. The prior Los Angeles dojo was the home of people like Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura and Lyoto Machida among others

Michael Elgin signed a two-year NJPW contract through the end of January of 2020

Miz, Rawley and Ziggler have all signed new contracts. They vary from two to four years but not sure which are which other than Miz was four years. So that should end any rumors of Ziggler going anywhere. There was never anything to that to begin with
In regards to Ziggy, his is rumored to be 2 years at $1.5 million per year. For some comparisons, he supposedly made $900k last year.

With the OIBDA for the year breaking $100 million, stock bonuses were given to many of the key executives. Among them, Stephanie Levesque (as she’s corporately listed even though she uses McMahon in public) received 46,963 shares worth $1,659,569 on 2/12, leaving her with 166,484 shares worth $5,886,874. Michelle Wilson got 42,770 shares ($1,512,347) and has 482,460 shares worth $17,059,785. Paul Levesque got 43,145 worth $1,525,607 and now has 164,455 shares worth $5,815,129. George Barrios received 42,349 shares worth $1,497,461 and now has 434,997 shares worth $15,381,493. Kevin Dunn got 52,062 shares worth $1,840,912 and now has 737,658 shares worth $26,083,586
Going to be really expensive to buy out Dunn from the company assuming Triple H & Steph get rid of him in the future.

Inside educated speculation is that Mysterio will sign some kind of a deal, maybe in 2019 if not this year, but it would be part-time. It’s possible he’d go to a term deal like Jericho where he’s with the company for a portion of time, and then has time off for his own projects or to work elsewhere. The thing with Jericho was that when he wasn’t wrestling, he’d be doing music or television but nobody thought he’d be doing pro wrestling since he’d made it clear he would never wrestle anywhere but WWE. Obviously that ended up changing because he saw the opportunity for the Omega match, but he had never wrestled anywhere but WWE and presumably was not going to do so, except there were flirtations with TNA many years ago according to those in TNA, but that’s the period he was gone for a long time and not the current period.

Vice did an article on Riddle where it brought up his issues with marijuana and it keeping him from WWE or New Japan. He said that if the money was right with WWE and they told him to quit smoking, he’d quit smoking. He said he would never bring weed to Japan. “I’m not an idiot,” he said. He said he knows there’s a lot of drinking in Japan so he’d go there and enjoy himself. With New Japan, he had a deal for last year’s tag team tournament, teaming with Jeff Cobb. But Bushiroad, the parent company, found out about his marijuana past, failing tests in UFC and being such an advocate for the drug, that, because marijuana is viewed very differently in Japan, they told New Japan not to bring him in. Riddle himself said that he’s having fun doing what he’s doing. “Honestly, right now I make six figures. I make my own merch. I’m the main or co-main event of every show I’m on. I get to be me and I get to wrestle like I want to. Can they promise me that? If not, why would I go to WWE to probably make less money and be gone more? By the time they do pick me up, if they decide to, I’ll be worth so much more.

Some other sheet news includes:

FDA recently announced they have approved a new blood test meant to help diagnose concussions and their effects. More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115541/fda-approves-new-way-to-diagnose-concussions.html
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 14th anniversary of Eddie Guerrero's first and only WWE Championship victory. Guerrero defeated then champion Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004 for the title.
Recent episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast show had Sean Waltman talk about Lucha Underground contacting him, memories of Curt Hennig, and being upset at past negative comments he made towards Ivory. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0215/637023/sean-waltman-talks-past-comments-ripping-ivory/
Recent WWE media call with Rusev as a host included Rusev talking about the popularity of Rusev Day, showing personality on Total Divas and on TV, and Aiden English. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0215/637017/rusev-on-original-idea-behind-aiden-english-pairing/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Rich Swann No Longer With WWE (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/rich-swann-no-longer-with-wwe/)
WWE NXT Results – Feb. 14, 2018 – Moon vs. Baszler (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-nxt-results-feb-14-2018-moon-vs-baszler/)
WWE Signs Former Impact Wrestler Mahabali Shera (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-signs-former-impact-wrestler-mahabali-shera/)

thecc

02-15-2018, 10:29 PM

Fuck Mike Elgin. Also fuck Ian Rotten.

KIRA

02-15-2018, 11:48 PM

Originally Posted by WrestleInc
Sports Illustrated reports that Ziggler has just signed a new contract with WWE. The new deal is reportedly for two years at $1.5 million per year. It was noted that Ziggler had always planned on re-signing with the company.

At first I was like what are you doing bro then I saw that they were payinghim 1.5 million to be a glorified jobber and was like ok

Emperor Smeat

02-16-2018, 09:56 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by King Bookaaahhhhhhh:
https://media1.tenor.com/images/44b76843c2868038465a65d54e6b0259/tenor.gif

We've noted how WWE plans to debut Ronda Rousey in the ring at WrestleMania 34 in a tag team match with a mystery partner vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

There are 4 male Superstars still being considered for Rousey's partner, according to Sports Illustrated. Those 4 are, in order of WWE's preference, The Rock, RAW General Manager Kurt Angle, SmackDown General Manager Shane McMahon and Seth Rollins. It's very possible that top WWE officials have already decided on Rousey's partner and these 4 names should be taken as a rumor for now.

“There are guys inside of WWE that have come to me and said that they have heard Jeff Jarrett is being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. While I have no idea that this is the case or not but there certainly seems to be some smoke floating around. Whether there is fire to that smoke, I don’t know.”
Collaborates Observer's recent report about Jarrett being on the list of choices for this year's class.

Spoiler tag used since its related to potential Mania plans and this year's Hall of Fame class.

Tetsuya Naito is in the U.S. this weekend for three shows. He's working tonight for Wrestling Revolver in Dayton, OH against Michael Elgin. He's working tomorrow in Chicago, IL at the Logan Square Auditorium for AAW against Sami Callihan. And he's working Sunday in Edwardsville, IL for Glory Pro Wrestling against AR Fox. The Dayton show also has Brian Cage vs. Clayton Saenz, AR Fox vs. Jason Cade, Jessicka Havok vs. Shotzi Blackheart, Dave & Jake Crist & Sami Callihan in a tornado match against MJF & Ace Romero & Moose Shane Strickland vs. Trevor Lee and more. The Chicago show has no other matches announced but ACH, Zema Ion, David Starr, Jeff Cobb and Trevor Lee are appearing.

Ultimo Guerrero, Volador Jr. and Soberano Jr. were all announced for the 3/3 ROH show in New York at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela in a fans bring the weapons match has been added to the MLW Spring Break show on 3/8 in Orlando at Gilt Nightclub.

Beyond Wrestling announced for its 4/5 show in New OrleansToni Storm vs. Timothy Thatcher, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Matt Riddle and Joey Janela & Penelope Ford vs. Darby Allin & Priscilla Kelly.

The SummerSlam ticket itself has a number of wrestlers on it including Ronda Rousey.

Within the company, the talk is that it is inevitable that Paul Levesque takes over and he’s assembling his team in NXT to be ready when that time comes. In recent weeks, Levesque has taken over the 205 Live television show to go along with the NXT show. It was also Levesque and Stephanie McMahon, and not Vince McMahon, who were doing the negotiations to bring Ronda Rousey to WWE. It was Vince McMahon who cut the deal for Brock Lesnar. It will be interesting who becomes the point person for Lesnar’s talks this time out since it would be Levesque’s department but it’s Vince’s company.

The 2/15 edition of Impact did 300,000 overnight viewers, up from last week’s 294,000 overnight viewers.

With Eli Drake's contract with Impact ending soon, has there been any interest from WWE in bringing him in?

I haven't heard of any interest in him, but given that he was under a WWE developmental deal in the past, I am sure that if he does become free, WWE would at least take a look at him.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about potential Eli Drake goes to the WWE in the near future. Drake mentioned in a past interview the terrible experience he had training under Bill Demott was a big reason for why his previous attempt at a WWE career failed.

A charity show for Yoshihiro Takayama has been announced that will take place on August 31st at The Korakuen Hall. More details will be made over the coming months.

Takayama, 50 years old, has been paralyzed from the neck down after suffering an injury in May 2017 while wrestling in Osaka, Japan for DDT. A foundation had been previously set up to assist him and his family with medical care.
More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115561/takayama-benefit-show-set-for-this-summer.html?p=1

A mystery promotion is holding free television tapings from 3/27 through 3/29 in Nashville, TN, offering tickets via NashvilleAudience.com. The website notes that everyone attending will be required to sign a non disclosure form agreeing that they will not reveal the results or details of the taping publicly.

Among those listed as performing for the company are James Storm, Jeff Cobb, Joey Janela, Brian Pillman II, Shane Strickland, Corey Hollis, Aaron Solow and more.

To apply to attend the taping, http://nashvilleaudience.com.

NXT star Donovan Dijak has launched a GoFundMe to assist victims in yesterday's school shooting in Florida:

Please RT

Devastated about the shooting in Parkland, a community that is part of the @WWE & @WWENXT family as we run shows at #NXTCoralSprings.

If you have any money to spare, I will make sure it gets to the victims/families. Please donate, thank you.https://t.co/jh9VI1Ljmg pic.twitter.com/EGwV2TDx2B
— Donovan Dijak (@DonovanDijak) February 15, 2018
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/DonovanDijak/status/963981385819217922

Wrestling INC President Raj Giri spoke with Konnan during today's Impact media call and asked about Mysterio's future, how he's doing and where Konnan thinks Rey will end up. Konnan confirmed the talks with Impact and the fact that Rey will not return to WWE on a full-time schedule.

"I don't know, he's had an incredible year. It was very important for him to leave WWE and do things on his own terms, and he has. I know that Impact has reached out to him and obviously WWE did, and that's obviously a decision that he's going to be making pretty soon," Konnan said. "I hope to have him over here obviously because we have a great history together, and Alberto El Patron is here with the whole Latino movement. At the end of the day, it's who's going to make the best offer for him because one thing I know 100% for sure is that he will never go back on a full-time schedule."
Link: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0215/637030/konnan-on-rey-mysterio-future/

A new thirty-minute episode of WWE Photo Shoot will premiere on the WWE Network after Monday's RAW goes off the air. The episode will feature RAW General Manager Kurt Angle. Below is the synopsis:

"WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle gives the inside story behind some of the unpredictable ups and downs throughout his illustrious career."

Rich Swann has been announced for the House of Hardcore shows on March 23rd in St. James, NY, March 24th in Philadelphia and April 7th in New Orleans during WrestleMania 34 Week. As noted, Swann and WWE mutually agreed to part ways earlier this week. Swann was cleared of all domestic charges back in January but WWE never brought him back from the suspension that was handed down following his arrest in December.

Swann has not commented on his departure as of this writing but he did re-tweet this post from HOH's Tommy Dreamer:
Link: https://twitter.com/THETOMMYDREAMER/status/964342781803225089

WWE has a new poll asking fans what they're most looking forward to seeing at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. As of this writing, 51% voted for the men's Chamber match with Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. John Cena vs. Braun Strowman vs. Elias vs. Finn Balor vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz and 29% voted for the first-ever women's Chamber match with Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Mickie James vs. Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose vs. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, 15% voted for Ronda Rousey's RAW contract signing and 6% voted for Asuka vs. Nia Jax.

Sean Waltman noted on Twitter that one of the victims of Wednesday's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida was the 14 year old daughter of his mother's niece. You can see Waltman's tweet and the original tweet from Vice News on Gina Montalto below:

Rest in peace, Gina Montalto pic.twitter.com/3DUEl6g0op
— VICE News (@vicenews) February 16, 2018

She was the daughter of my mother's niece. She was only 14 years old. ???? https://t.co/iWMmreaVyF
— Sean Waltman (@TheRealXPac) February 16, 2018

Veteran independent wrestler LuFisto has been diagnosed with cervical cancer.

The French Canadian wrestler revealed the diagnosis on Thursday, which is her 38th birthday, in a post on her official website.

From https://t.co/KrUUxWTXEP... I don't know what else to say. Everything is in there. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/S5NoHRnW29
— LuFisto (@LuFisto) February 16, 2018

WWE's latest poll asked fans: "Which current NXT Superstar is most likely to win a WWE Championship or Universal Championship first?" As of this writing, the top five picks are: Aleister Black (24 percent), Drew McIntyre (23 percent), Adam Cole (18 percent), Andrade "Cien" Almas (8 percent), and Johnny Gargano (8 percent).

Some other sheet news includes:

Update to Ziggy's new deal being for $1.5 million per year news as another rumor going around the net claims it is only for $600k per year. Assuming its true and the rumor of him making $900k last year, he got a big pay cut for this new deal.
Recent rumors regarding the Iconic Duo getting boob jobs as the reason for their sudden disappearance from NXT appear to have been true. Basis for it being true are new WWE photos of Billie Kay and Triple H stating they needed some final "reps" done to finish their time in NXT. https://twitter.com/ifyouseekcasey/status/964573526165544966
Deadspin had a recent article discussing Bill Watts firing from WCW and how Watts racist views played a big role. It involved Watts booking Hank Aaron as a special guest to a live WCW event with Aaron unaware of Watts' racist views. Aaron found out later and contacted others in TBS management to see if they were aware. Supposedly TBS was not and Watts was fired within days of the event to prevent a big racism scandal hitting the company.https://deadspin.com/hank-aaron-sparked-pro-wrestlings-first-major-racism-st-1823080138
While arguing with a fan on Instagram over an earlier post he made stating prayers and bringing God back into public schools would prevent more school shootings, Orton claimed schools also needs to hire former special forces members as guards to kill anyone causing a dangerous situation.
98 Rock Baltimore's Justin, Scott and Spiegel radio show had Ric Flair as the guest talking about who he would pick for a Modern Four Horsemen stable and Randy Orton. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0216/637045
/ric-flair-reveals-who-the-modern-day-four-horsemen-would-be-from/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Impact Results – Feb. 15, 2018 – Austin Aries vs. Eli Drake (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/impact-results-feb-15-2018-austin-aries-vs-eli-drake/)
Various: Three Wrestlers Re-Sign With WWE, Ellsworth NWA Video, More (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/various-three-wrestlers-re-sign-with-wwe-ellsworth-nwa-video-more/)

Shadrick

02-18-2018, 11:32 AM

While arguing with a fan on Instagram over an earlier post he made stating prayers and bringing God back into public schools would prevent more school shootings, Orton claimed schools also needs to hire former special forces members as guards to kill anyone causing a dangerous situation.

School budgets are shit and were purposely defunded even more over the last year. The teachers have to buy their own school supplies in most cases, yet, there's going to be legislation somehow passed to grant funding to hire "special forces members as armed guards?" I get where Randy is trying to go because he's a proud gun owner and doesn't want THAT legislation to be altered, but the logistics of his alternative suggestion don't make any sense, and I'm not even talking about the "prayer and God" part.

Ruien

02-18-2018, 11:58 AM

There isn't 1 thing that will end shootings in schools. Ban gun? Sure that may help but it won't end everything. Hiring old fools to patrol schools? It may deter some people or force more planning but it won't solve the issue.

The problem is everyone just wants to change 1 thing and that won't fix the issue entirely.

02-18-2018, 12:47 PM

You shouldn’t need an armed guard in a school.

Simple Fan

02-18-2018, 12:55 PM

I don't know about special forces but maybe the National Guard haveing a post in schools. Might help with recruiting as well. Agree not 1 thing will stop it either but I think the media needs to reassess how they cover these shootings and giving these kids the attention they seek.

#1-norm-fan

02-18-2018, 01:47 PM

You shouldn’t need an armed guard in a school.

Especially if you have enough prayer and God.

:shifty:

02-18-2018, 02:07 PM

And vitamins?

SlickyTrickyDamon

02-18-2018, 03:04 PM

Of course Mr. Cruise.

Ruien

02-18-2018, 08:30 PM

You shouldn’t need an armed guard in a school.

There shouldn't be a need for nuclear weapons also.

Emperor Smeat

02-20-2018, 10:12 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Art of Taking a DDT:
http://i.imgur.com/OfViCvq.gif

Seth Rollins tweeted about wrestling in last night’s gauntlet match: “It’s nights like these when I remember why I fell in love with professional wrestling. Thank you to the men I shared the ring with this evening. It was truly special. I’ve drawn a line in the sand... #MONDAYNIGHTROLLINS #WrestleMania.” Rollins was in the match for an hour and five minutes and pinned Roman Reigns and John Cena back to back, and the entire thing lasted for nearly two hours if you consider it one match.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWERollins/status/965852357492858880

PWInsider reported that DDP was brought to Raw last night to film material for the upcoming Randy Savage unreleased matches DVD and other projects. Bayley tweeted a picture of her, DDP, Corey Graves, and Sean Mooney filming for the Savage DVD.
Link: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115621/why-wwe-hall-of-famer-is-at-raw-spoiler.html?p=1 , Bayley tweet: https://twitter.com/itsBayleyWWE/status/966049347094814720

Luke Gallows told Sky Sports that he hopes The Young Bucks come to WWE one day and that he thinks they owe it to themselves to: “This is the pinnacle. It doesn't get bigger than this. There's no bigger worldwide stage than WWE. So I think The Young Bucks owe it to themselves to come out here and thrive. Japan is a great place to wrestle but WWE is a worldwide platform and you can't beat that. Their reach is all across the world."
Link: http://www.skysports.com/wwe/news/14203/11258254/luke-gallows-young-bucks-owe-it-to-themselves-to-join-wwe

After these matches were set up at their most recent round of television tapings, ROH confirmed that Dalton Castle will defend his World Championship against Jay Lethal in the main event of their 16th Anniversary PPV in Las Vegas on March 9th and The Briscoes will challenge for Motor City Machine Guns’ Tag Team titles.

PWG’s next event will be called “Time is a Flat Circle” and will take place on March 23rd. NJPW’s show in Long Beach takes place two days later on the 25th.

Pro Wrestling Elite noted that Wolfgang is off their March 17th show due to his commitments with WWE.

Matt Riddle will challenge for Zack Sabre Jr.’s EVOLVE Championship in New Orleans on April 5th.

Revolution Pro Wrestling also announced that ZSJ will defend his Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii at their WrestleMania week event on April 6th.

In an announcement video that was really well done, WALTER vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet was revealed for Joey Janela’s Spring Break II on April 6th.

James Ellsworth is creating an Intergender Championship title belt.

ROH announced Cody Rhodes vs. Flip Gordon for Manhattan Mayhem on March 3rd. Fan will vote on the stipulation, with the three options being lumberjack match, two-out-of-three falls, and Gordon gets booked on Cody and The Young Bucks’ “All In” show if he wins.
PWG: https://twitter.com/OfficialPWG/status/965750748146315264 , PWE: https://twitter.com/ProWrestleElite/status/965668500986564608 , EVOLVE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IU6xT0bjvQ , Rev Pro: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/965279236922757120 , Janela: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/965756179338137601 , Ellsworth: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfZbInohmV1/?taken-by=jamesellsworthwrestling

EVIL is off New Japan's anniversary show next month due to injury.

New Japan announced this evening that EVIL is out of action due to a left broken orbital bone, which likely happened during the New Japan tour that took place in Australia. As a result, he will miss the upcoming anniversary show on March 6th.

Originally scheduled to be IWGP Tag Team Champions EVIL & SANADA vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI in a non-title match, SANADA will instead take on YOSHI-HASHI in a singles bout. Hirooki Goto has been moved down the card, now teaming with fellow CHAOS members Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano to take on Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Toa Henare in a six-man tag team match.
Link: http://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/965801153828077568

Impact Wrestling announced today that the 3/4 Twitch taping being produced in conjunction with Destiny Wrestling has been titled "Last Chancery" and will be headlined by Impact champion Austin Aries vs. Kongo Kong vs. Matt Sydal. Also scheduled for that show is Alberto el Patron vs. Moose, Trevor Lee vs. Josh Alexander and KC Spinelli vs. Allie. The show will debut on Twitch on 3/9.

The next Twitch special will then be the live event from Wrestlecon in New Orleans on 4/6.

The official autobiography of former ECW champion and 1990s trendsetting star Sabu will be released later this year.

The book will be co-authored by Kenny Casanova, who did an amazing job on the Kamala autobiography that was released several years ago as well as the Brutus Beefcake book that was just released. Casanova has also worked on books for Vader and Dangerous Danny Davis that are also slated to be released in 2018.

Xavier Woods puts over Jeff Jarrett giving him his first television exposure as Consequences Creed in TNA with this tweet:

Real talk @realjeffjarrett gave me my first gig wrestling on TV which led to @WWE giving me a shot years later. Cool to see him going in the HOF. Congrats man https://t.co/mNpNd4mXMp
— ????Austin Creed???? (@XavierWoodsPhD) February 19, 2018
Link: https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/965697358066417664

John Cena's pinfall loss to Seth Rollins in the Gauntlet Match on last night's RAW was just the 15th time that Cena has lost a WWE TV match clean. This was also the first time that Cena has lost clean on RAW since his loss to Triple H on October 10th, 2009.

As noted, Richard Rodriguez, former owner of the Iron Addicts Gym in Miami, was interviewed by Jon Bravo and revealed that Roman Reigns was one of his clients in a steroid distribution ring. His gym was raided in February of 2017, and Rodriguez is now serving time in prison. Rodriguez agreed to inform Bravo of these inner-workings to clear his name and inform others of who else was involved in the distribution. Reigns was also one of three people named in order for Rodriguez to get a better plea deal ...

In a following video, Rodriguez said that he will provide snippets of proof via text messages, tracking numbers and addresses where products were shipped that will be tied to each of the accused culprits. Rodriguez added, "That information with us communicating with Roman via text messages will be provided to the appropriate party, which will then be disclosed prior to our documentary that's going to be filmed soon."

Some other sheet news includes:

RAW's viewership and ratings numbers are delayed due to Monday being President Day holiday.
Indie promotion AAW is currently dealing with online backlash regarding booking Micheal Elgin to a show and refusing to tell anyone about it beforehand. Previously the company stated Elgin was blacklisted due to his legal issues, then claimed they had to book Elgin because he brought Naito for last weekend's show, and then the owner claim after the show it was all a lie and Naito's situation played no role in it. After getting called out on the mess, AAW promised again they will no longer book Elgin for future shows.
For those interested, the entire content listing for the upcoming Hardy Boyz DVD set was revealed recently. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115610/full-details-on-wwes-best-of-the-hardy-boyz-dvd.html
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Seth Rollins set a new record last night for longest time in a wrestling match in RAW history at 1 hour and 5 minutes.
The Phoenix New Times had a recent interview with Becky Lynch talking about WWE's Women's division, thoughts on Ronda Rousey, if she wants to face Ronda in a match, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0220/637159/becky-lynch-on-wwe-signing-ronda-rousey/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Main Event Results, Rich Swann Update, Zayn Honored (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/various-main-event-results-rich-swann-update-zayn-honored/)
Apollo Crews Will Now Apparently Just Be Called “Apollo” (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/apollo-crews-will-now-apparently-just-be-called-apollo/)
ROH Launches HonorClub Streaming Service + New Website (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/roh-launches-honorclub-streaming-service-new-website/)
Jeff Jarrett to Be Inducted into WWE Hall of Fame (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/jeff-jarrett-to-be-inducted-into-wwe-hall-of-fame/)

Emperor Smeat

02-21-2018, 10:07 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Superkick Appreciation Day:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/a279f862514b24d5b5446596510c7c36/tumblr_p4iet1OW7O1u1ljrzo1_500.gif

The 107 minute gauntlet match proved to be a major ratings success on Monday night with 3.27 million viewers going against the Olympics ...

It was a huge victory for proponents of long matches on television and also likely shocked a lot of people.

The show fell hard, losing 20 percent of the audience after the second hour, which is one of the largest second-to-third hour drops on record. But that was to be expected ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.52 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.51 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.82 million viewers

In terms of comparisons, higher by around 177K from last week and 67k from same week last year. 3rd hour still contining the streak of being under 3 million for a Road to Mania though.

Aiden English wrote a tribute to Eddie Guerrero after visiting a street mural of Guerrero in El Paso, Texas. English is married to Guerrero’s daughter Shaul.

Rusev tweeted about he and Lana not being on SmackDown for two straight weeks: “In case you missed us the past 2 weeks on #SmackDownLIVE here we are. Your chants are ‘DULY’ noted”

The Usos and The Young Bucks would both like to face each other at some point in their careers.

Fast Company named WWE as its third most innovative company in Hollywood, coming in behind Marvel Studios and Netflix.
Aiden: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfZW6RIBlXx/?taken-by=dramakingwwe , Rusev: https://twitter.com/RusevBUL/status/966148040674263041 , Usos-Bucks: https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/966083188027146240 , Fast Company: https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2018/sectors/hollywood

As of this morning, ROH had sold 4,621 tickets for Supercard of Honor XII in New Orleans.

Tetsuya Naito did an in-character interview with Tokyo Sports where he complained about being booked against Taichi at NJPW’s 46th Anniversary event: “I actually rate Taichi, a bit. But I won MVP two years in a row, right? And I just beat him (at Takataichimania) anyway? Why not have YOSHI-HASHI face Taichi, and then the winner faces me? Just chucking people at me for no reason, expectations get raised, and then they lose, obviously. It’s bad for them, if anything. They need to stop throwing matches together at random.”

When asked if All In would be televised in any form, Cody Rhodes noted that it depends on initial ticket sales.

Also on the All In front, CM Punk trolled his Twitter followers last night by posting that a lot of people have been asking him if he’s “in” and following up with a tweet that said “You know I'm in. #EverbodyIn #cubs @cubs,” referencing the Chicago Cubs’ “Everybody In” slogan for this baseball season.

Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins will defend their PROGRESS Wrestling Tag Team titles against Zack Gibson & James Drake in London on Sunday.

Bar Wrestling announced Tenille Dashwood vs. Taya Valkyrie and Joey Ryan vs. James Ellsworth for their event in Baldwin Park, California tomorrow night.
ROH: https://twitter.com/IanRiccaboni/status/966319725662887938 , Naito: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/966221402045952000 , Cody: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/966205071053737984 , CM Punk: https://twitter.com/CMPunk/status/966127325652967425 , PROGRESS: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/status/966387285653643264 , Bar Wrestling: https://twitter.com/BarWrestling/status/966363990086397952

A "Smackdown Live special attraction" match between Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn is being advertised for the WWE show in MSG on 3/16. This will be the second time that Nakamura, Styles and Owens have been added as Smackdown talent to a RAW-branded MSG show. It will be Zayn's first appearance at MSG as a main roster talent. He appeared in 2014 while being NXT champion wrestling against Adrian Neville.

Dalton Castle and Volador Jr. vs. Jay Lethal and Ultimo Guerrero has been added to ROH's Manhattan Mayhem on 3/3.
Link: https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/dalton-castle-teams-volador-jr-take-jay-lethal-and-ultimo-guerrero

Samir Singh posted this video of him walking on his injured knee. He is making progress from his ACL tear.

4 weeks post op and my leg is alive... #KeepMovingForward pic.twitter.com/UQi3ffLQ0g
— Singh Brothers (@SinghBrosWWE) February 21, 2018
Link: https://twitter.com/SinghBrosWWE/status/966133392684257281

Officially announced for the Ring of Honor Anniversary PPV in Las Vegas are:
*ROH champion Dalton Castle vs. Jay Lethal.
*ROH Tag Team champions The Motor City Machineguns vs. The Briscoes.
*Marty Scurll vs. Punishment Martinez.

The show will air through all traditional PPV outlets as well as part of a VIP membership to ROH's new streaming service #Honorclub, which you can subscribe to at www.ROHWrestling.com.

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show podcast had Ivory as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Ivory-Lisa-Moretti-Pt1
Website SPORTbible held a recent interview with Wade Barrett talking about Neville being a favorite opponent in his career and thoughts on WWE misusing their stars. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0221/637209/wade-barrett-on-wwe-misusing-superstars/
Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso once again is reporting Ziggy's new contract is for $1.5 million per year. https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/02/21/wwe-news-cesaro-dolph-ziggler-joey-ryan
WWE once again dealing with very poor attendance for Smackdown shows based on photos from last night's event. https://twitter.com/thewrestledaily/status/966319821343395842
Recent episode of The Jim Cornette Experience podcast show had Cornette talking about NXT losing money, OVW being better than NXT when it came to making money, and thinks WWE is spending too much money on NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0221/637203/jim-cornette-on-how-much-money-wwe-loses-with-nxt/
Sports Illustrated held a recent interview with Cesaro talking about his goal to become a WWE or Universal champion, working with Sheamus, and his picks for Top 3 wrestlers in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0221/637201/cesaro-on-his-top-3-wrestlers/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, since being called up in 2016, Alexa Bliss has been involved in every Women's championship match possible for her on PPV. Only times a RAW or Smackdown's Women's title match occurred on PPV without her being involved was when she wasn't a member of a particular brand.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Bracket Revealed (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-cruiserweight-championship-tournament-brackets-revealed/)
WWE 205 Live Results – Feb. 20, 2018 – Ali vs. Gallagher, Daivari vs. Murphy (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-mixed-match-challenge-feb-20-2018-roode-flair-vs-apollo-jax/)
Kenny Omega Added to Chris Jericho’s Wrestling Cruise (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/kenny-omega-added-to-chris-jerichos-wrestling-cruise/)

Corkscrewed

02-21-2018, 10:36 PM

"third most innovative company in Hollywood"
I'm sorry... what?!

Mr. Nerfect

02-22-2018, 05:03 AM

NXT losing money is really interesting to me. It hasn't really produced a bunch of from-scratch stars. It seems to me quite ineffective. Also interesting is the apparent re-focusing on Seth Rollins. I don't expect them to deviate from the plan, because wins and losses mean nothing to them, but the idea of Seth Rollins winning the Elimination Chamber and being re-focused on as a top babyface star is somewhat refreshing. Roman Reigns can be the guy that teams with Ronda Rousey, considering that match will probably get the most media attention. Brock seems to have no problem working with Rollins and the two could have a tremendous match. Fans also have less problem cheering Rollins, and it seems like he sells a ton of merch and could very easily be presented as that top babyface figure for a while.

Emperor Smeat

02-22-2018, 09:57 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Gable Candidacy's to become the new mayor of Suplex City:
http://78.media.tumblr.com/fddd952d32a429a84a42a27c50a8eae2/tumblr_p4ifc14Dsz1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Of the names on the early Hall of Fame lists, only Bam Bam Bigelow and Kid Rock have yet to be announced.
Spoiler tag used since its related to the rumored remaining members of this year's WWE Hall of Fame class.

After six straight weeks of declining viewership, SmackDown rebounded on Tuesday night with a seven percent increase from the previous week and had its biggest audience since the January 2nd episode. The show averaged 2.613 million viewers ...

It wasn't all good news, though, as SmackDown was down year-over-year for the fourth straight week. Conversely, Raw has been up from the previous year the last two Mondays and three of the last five weeks.

The first major program built out of Being the Elite, with Cody vs. Kenny Omega, has its first meeting late tonight (early tomorrow) at Korakuen Hall with a six-man tag main event of Cody & Marty Scurll & Hangman Page vs. Omega & Kota Ibushi & Chase Owens. There is also a Cody & Scurll vs. Omega & Ibushi tag team match on the second show of the tour which takes place on Saturday in Japan.

Lou Thesz, Pedro Morales, Bearcat Wright, announcer Dick Lane, Chavo & Mando & Hector Guerrero and The Assassins (Jody Hamilton & Tom Renesto) were elected to the Los Angeles Wrestling Hall of Fame.

River City Wrestling on 3/2 in Kirby, TX at Turner Club features Abyss vs. Michael Faith, plus Jeff Jarrett will appear as a referee.

WrestleCircus announced for 3/24 in Austin, TX will have Tessa Blanchard vs. Chelsea Green for the women's title plus Teddy Hart, Andrew Everett, Zachary Wentz, Shane Strickland, Myron Reed, Dezmond Xavier, Leva Bates, JT Dunn and more.

Pro Wrestling Eclipse announced its 3/10 show in Oshawa is off since WWE is running the same night in the city. They will be running 3/18 with Teddy Hart.

ROH has announced that Cody will take on Matt Taven on the 16th Anniversary pay-per-view on March 9 in Las Vegas.

Previously announced:

Jay Lethal versus Dalton Castle for the ROH World Title.

The Briscoes versus The Motor City Machine Guns for the ROH Tag Team Titles

I was watching an old WCW PPV and I was curious, as dumb as this is, how the hell did WCW get the rights to OZ for a character played by Kevin Nash?

At the time, WCW was owned by Turner Broadcasting, which had the rights to The Wizard of Oz. There was a decision made to try and use the rights within the promotion, hence that short-lived gimmick.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about the origins of the Oz character in WCW.

It was announced yesterday that Ronda Rousey, who will "officially sign" her WWE deal at the Elimination Chamber PPV this Sunday, will be going into the International Sports Hall Of Fame March 3rd.

Seth Rollins actual wrestling time over his three matches was 62:16, which is likely the longest actual in-ring time on a show for any wrestler in company history since the legit 65:05 time of the September 30, 1972, match with Morales defending against Sammartino in what was called “The Match of the Century.” It was four seconds longer than Rey Mysterio Jr.’s 62:12 in winning the 2006 Royal Rumble. The Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels Iron Man match at the WrestleMania on March 31, 1996, in Anaheim, went 61:52.

Cena vs. Rollins, which went 34:22, was the fourth longest match in the 25-year history of Raw if you take them as separate matches, and really you should. There was a 60:00 Iron Man match on July 24, 2004 with HHH vs. Chris Benoit, and a 55:49 length match on April 23, 2007, with Cena against Shawn Michaels from London. There was also an elimination mach on June 14, 2004, with Benoit & Chris Jericho & Edge vs. Randy Orton & HHH & Batista that went 34:33.

From a money standpoint, for the top talent, the difference in cutting PPVs probably won’t be significant. It could be down, since in the network era, the pay is determined based on what the shows each month did in the pre-network era, and then allocated in a secret and non-existent formula among the talent on the shows. If there is more talent on the shows in the main event position, then the money in theory would decrease. It wouldn’t decrease from the top guys, as the company traditionally always takes care of its top talent. For non-top guys, if there are more people on the show, it would cut down on their money. For mid-level guys who would have been on PPVs eight to ten times a year, and now may not be on PPV at all, or if they are, on fewer shows, the difference will be more significant.

John Pollock reported that based on the regulations of the Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission, that blood and piledrivers are both prohibited on all wrestling shows in the state. The commission will be having a meeting on 3/7 to determine whether the Canadian Destroyer fits into the category of a piledriver. At press time there was no answer regarding a tombstone piledriver although it would be hard pressed to say that wasn’t a piledriver.

The ban of the move is because there was a legitimate significant injury from the move in a match that took place under their auspices, and they banned the move.

While wrestlers were last told that ITV’s World of Sports would be starting in the spring, we’re getting close to spring with no word at all, so that’s not a good sign. Really, most expected when they canceled the tapings last year and there was no rescheduling that the project wasn’t going to come to fruition

The fourth season of Lucha Underground will begin taping with six shows taped at the new location on 2/23, 2/24 and 2/25. Because of the way they’ve set up the building, the capacity will be about the same (300ish) as in the old building. There are no places to jump off and the freezers, since its an cold storage building, will be utilized. They are now planning on taping over the next four weekends and Christopher DeJoseph on The Wrestling Guy’s Store said there would be five wrestlers debuting this week.

The reason Io Shirai isn’t in the Women of Honor tournament is because her eventual goal is to get cleared and go to WWE and she’s afraid working for ROH could hurt her chances
Speculation is whatever caused her heart problems is very treatable with medicine and similar to MVP's heart issues when he wrestled in the WWE.

You can make of this what you will, but WWE company policy when it comes to drug test failures and suspensions are that all main roster failures and suspensions are released publicly, but failures in NXT and of other developmental talent are not
This could tie into the rumor of Velveteen Dream's sudden removal from NXT for over a month was due to him getting busted by the Wellness Policy for cocaine.

Mark Henry was interviewed by TMZ and said that in his mind, for Hogan to return he should apologize to all the existing black talent currently in the organization. They questioned if Hogan would do so. I don’t question it for a second. Hogan would apologize to everyone individually to get himself back in. The issue is the role he would play is one in P.R., and it’s not good if somebody is out doing P.R. for a company and it leads to media stories that bring up sex tapes and racial things, and also, if any sponsors will question it or look the other way. If they are assured by people that is no longer an issue, there is no reason they wouldn’t bring him back. If there is any risk of either of those things, as a company, it’s best they don’t

WWE shocked the wrestling world earlier this month when they confirmed TNA co-founder Jeff Jarrett for the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame class. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that Triple H is the man who made the induction possible.

It was noted that Jarrett does have some supporters in WWE. The obvious allies would be WWE Champion AJ Styles and WWE United States Champion Bobby Roode but Jarrett is also close with WWE Hall of Famers Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who are close to Triple H.

Barrasso also pointed to another possible twist in the Jarrett story - his future with WWE. There's no word yet on if Triple H will try to bring Jarrett on to work with the WWE NXT brand, as he has done with Jeremy Borash, another longtime TNA employee.
Link: https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/02/21/wwe-news-cesaro-dolph-ziggler-joey-ryan

Last September, Bray Wyatt, 30, and his estranged wife Samantha, 31, split after Samatha allegedly learned that he was cheating on her with WWE ring announcer Jojo Offerman, 23. Prior to the split, the two had been married for five years after meeting in college. The couple also share two children together, aged six and four. Per a court judgment, Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) was ordered to pay Samantha $14,735 per month in spousal support, with an upfront payment of $50,000 to cover legal expenses. However, Wyatt has only been paying his wife $6,000, nearly two-and-a-half times less than the court-ordered amount.

According to a report from Daily Mail, Wyatt has allegedly been using this money on luxurious expenses instead of spousal support. Samantha claims that Wyatt has been using thousands of dollars to shower his girlfriend, Jojo, with gifts. The report noted that Wyatt "spends much of his time" at JoJo's apartment near Miami.
More details: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0222/637235/bray-wyatt-reportedly-spending-some-of-his-required-child/

Some other sheet news includes:

Besides Roman Reigns, the alleged steroid dealer from Florida also recently claimed he will reveal very soon 15 others in the WWE who have purchased roids from his now defunct company. These are supposedly a mix of former and current wrestlers in the WWE. Already speculated Brock Lesnar is one of them based on a tag made on a recent Instagram post. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0222/637238/filmmaker-claims-roman-reigns-2016-wwe-suspension-was-over/
WWE's official website had a recent interview with Mark Henry talking about WWE's old developmental system, Braun Strowman, Bianca Belair, Baron Corbin, and helping the WWE recruit new stars. http://www.wwe.com/article/mark-henry-braun-strowman-baron-corbin-wwe-scout-mentor
According to the Observer, NJPW's tour of Australia is currently estimated to have done better than NXT's tour of the country in 2016. NXT had higher crowd numbers but in terms of gate revenue and merch sales, NJPW did better. NJPW also flat out beat NXT in regards to ticket sales for one of the cities.
Also according to the Observer, NJPW is currently planning on holding another tour of Australia later this year. Looking at either November or December as the likely target and more cities included for shows.
New York Post had a recent interview with Elias talking about who he wants to face at Mania, Braun Strowman playing a bass, and wanting to do a concert with The Rock. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0222/637239/elias-on-braun-strowman-playing-a-bass-on-wwe-raw/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Heyman/TMZ, Gauntlet Match, Velveteen Dream “Shoots,” Ellsworth (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/various-heyman-on-tmz-gauntlet-match-velveteen-dream-shoots-ellsworth-virgil/)
Dusty Rhodes Classic Winners to Get Tag Team Title Shot at TakeOver (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/dusty-rhodes-classic-winners-to-get-tag-team-title-shot-at-takeover/)
WWE NXT Results – Feb. 21, 2018 – Almas vs. Gargano (Title vs. Career) (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-nxt-results-feb-21-2018-almas-vs-gargano-title-vs-career/)

Mr. Nerfect

02-23-2018, 03:27 AM

For her own benefit, I hope Io Shirai does get cleared for the WWE, but I do worry that she's going to be "just another girl."

Emperor Smeat

02-23-2018, 09:10 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ciampa Waving to the TPWW Universe:
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Richardson ruled on Thursday that he was issuing sanctions on attorney Konstantine Kyros, who is representing wrestlers in concussion lawsuits against WWE. He issued a decision that Kyros would have to pay attorney costs of WWE and to inform his clients that the court had found him to have violated protocol. WWE is still attempting to get the cases filed by Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton thrown out, and a decision on that should come before the end of March. Kyros had been admonished for the lawsuit filed on at least one prior occasion.
Assuming the lawsuit gets tossed out, that opens up the possibility of Bryan being cleared by the WWE considering the real reason they were worried would be gone.

Bianca Belair was injured last night taking the eclipse from Ember Moon in Mississauga, ONT. We're not sure how severe or if she'll be working tonight in St. Catharines.

The Melbourne Herald-Sun said WWE was looking to run the MCG, a giant stadium, in the first week of October. They said that Victoria officials met with WWE last week to put the show together. The story pushed Ronda Rousey, who drew 56,000 plus when she fought Holly Holm in Melbourne in 2015.

It was noted that at yesterday's NXT show in St. Petersburg that there were fans chanting "Happy Ending" and "Pearl Harbor" at Kairi Sane. It was not many and others shouted them down, but people were not happy about it.

Trent Baretta apparently suffered a torn triceps. The injury took place last week at the PWG show, but he did wrestle earlier today in Tokyo anyway and is wrestling tomorrow as well.

MLW announced The Dirty Blondes, managed by Col. Rob Parker (Robert Fuller) vs. Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta has been added to its 3/8 show in Orlando at Gilt Nightclub.

MVP has pulled out of a 4/13 Defy Wrestling show in Seattle at Washington Hall. Tommy Dreamer will be the replacement. Also on that show will be Shane Strickland vs. Austin Aries, plus Matt Cross, Tom Lawlor and Body King.

WWE has confirmed the Raw Tag Team Championship match and announced the pre-show bout for Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

As expected, Cesaro & Sheamus will defend their titles against Titus O'Neil & Apollo. The Titus Worldwide team defeated the champions in a non-title match on Raw this past Monday and then challenged them in a post-show video, but WWE didn't officially announce the match until today ...

The pre-show will also feature Raw's tag team division, with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson set to face Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas. Gallows & Anderson had been feuding with The Revival in recent weeks.

The 2/22 edition of Impact did 262,000 overnight viewers, down from last week’s 300,000 overnight viewers.

Former WWE champion Jeff Hardy was in Birmingham, Alabama this past Tuesday to evaluate how his surgically repaired torn Labrum and torn rotator cuff are healing as he prepares for an in-ring return this Spring.

Hardy suffered a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum while headlining Raw as part of a Six-Pack match in October 2017, admitting at the time that the timing of the injury was "depressing." With the exception of a cameo during the Raw 25 broadcast in January, Hardy has been completely off TV since that time.

Recovery from rotator cuff surgery is usually 4-6 months, so he would right now be in the early range of a potential return. Obviously, Hardy's goal would be to return to WWE storylines in time for Wrestlemania 34 this April in New Orleans, but it remains to be seen if that can happen.

Metro Sport caught up with Impact President Ed Nordholm, plus Vice Presidents Don Callis and Scott D’Amore to establish whether Impact are still in the fight to succeed, or if they’re in a permanent lockdown.

During the interview, Scott D'Amore addressed the early departures of some talents, the idea that Impact isn't signing talents anymore and the importance of the company in terms of grooming talents as stars, commenting, "It’s a false narrative that we don’t have talent under contract. The vast majority of our talents are under long-term contracts. Take a look at the departure of Bobby Lashley. He was under contract to us until almost Summertime this year. When he had other opportunities, we made a decision as a group that we were okay facilitating his release earlier than anticipated. Contracts are going to come up and will need to be renegotiated on an ongoing basis, but there’s only a small number of talent that are going to have deals coming up in the next six months. The talent we’ve been bringing in have been signing one or two year deals. People are always scared of change. EC3 was a great talent, but people are talking as if he’s irreplaceable. What was he before he came to Impact Wrestling? He was a guy who had been in developmental and never really panned out. You look historically at this company and the people who have come here and built a reputation, and when they leave, people think they’re irreplaceable. Well, what was Bobby Roode before he came here? Or Eric Young, or AJ Styles?"
Link: http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/23/bound-meet-three-men-trying-save-impact-wrestling-7336185/

Ed, the news that you won’t be keeping the trademarks and characters of your talent is a potential gamechanger. How hard was that to implement?

Ed Nordholm: Not that hard. I came in, I’m new to the business, trying to understand the roster and what we do, how we market them and how they work. I start seeing Rosemary, a wonderful talent, wonderful gimmick, great gal, and I find out that she doesn’t market herself as Rosemary when she’s not doing IMPACT.

So, how does that work? We’ve got our talent, who don’t have enough confidence in their characters that they feel like they should be developing a safety net. They’re developing the safety net because they don’t want to be starting all over again creating a new identity. It was a pretty tough process of getting guys to buy into the idea, that you know, this is kind of silly to be trying to control people in this way. The fact the Hardy thing was going on in the meantime was sort of creating a whole dynamic within which I was sort of trying to evaluate this.
From the same interview above.

Wrestling Inc. asked Bravo why Reigns was the only WWE name mentioned, and if it was because there is not enough evidence for the other names.

"Yes, on every individual that Richard has named I do my due diligence to carefully go thru every piece of evidence as well as verify contact information etc.," Bravo replied (sic). "The Reigns case is unique because of the way orders were placed and delivered. The reason why I have done each client individually was because all 3 have came out and said they did not know of WFN nor Richard Rodriguez. I am giving detailed information for each person to show that the evidence I have is legitimate and they did indeed place orders with WFN. Once this evidence is shown I will not have to show this level of evidence on each individual. Besides WWE and former WWF stars there are UFC, NBA and NFL players as well. It's a really big case and I am coming up with a plan besides the film to provide that information for everyone. The film itself is not a film meant to expose people but portray a message and the big names help deliver that message to the public. Hope that helps. Thanks!"
More details: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0223/637258/filmmaker-on-why-roman-reigns-is-named-in-steroid-ring-over/

Some other sheet news includes:

Greg Valentine is currently reported to be dealing with a serious illness at the moment according to his wife. Already had to be pulled from an indie appearance due to his illness.
Recent episode of the Edge & Christian podcast show had Hacksaw Jim Duggan as the guest. https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness/episodes/d56b4f6d-ff8d-4f6b-b231-1b5e706baa54
ABC 15 in Phoenix had a recent interview with Mojo Rawley talking about becoming a pro wrestling, being inspired by the Ultimate Warrior, and his football career, and more. https://www.abc15.com/sports/sports-blogs-local/hyped-former-cardinals-lineman-dean-muhtadi-aka-mojo-rawley-living-his-dream-in-wwe
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 16th anniversary of ROH's debut. Their first ever show was held at the Murphy Rec Center in Philly with the main event being a Three Way Dance between Low Ki, Christopher Daniels, and American Dragon.
The Mirror held a recent interview with Jimmy Uso talking about the Usos reinventing their characters and their feud with the New Day. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0223/637272/jimmy-uso-on-the-reinvention-of-the-usos/
Based on current predictions, WWE's new tv deal is expected to be around 1.7 times higher than their current deal and very likely are staying on USA Network. Ronda isn't expected to make the overall amount jump higher but her real value is in the amount of new sponsors she can bring to the WWE. Same for her not having a major long term impact for their India market or WWE Network. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0223/637262/ronda-rousey-potential-effect-on-wwe-business/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Impact Wrestlers Complain About Pay Issues, Ed Nordholm Responds (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/impact-wrestlers-complain-about-pay-issues-ed-nordholm-responds/)
Ronda Rousey Finishes Movie, Returns to WWE Performance Center (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/ronda-rousey-finishes-movie-returns-to-wwe-performance-center/)
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament Brackets Revealed (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/dusty-rhodes-tag-team-classic-tournament-brackets-revealed/)

slik

02-24-2018, 02:08 PM

Billi Bhatti of the dirty sheets is reporting the following for WM was decided Friday at the creative meeting for EC:

* Roman vs. Brock - but it won't be treated as the main-event, especially if the steroid scandal breaks. If that happens, Roman won't win and Brock will drop the title Monday on RAW after WM

* Cena vs Taker

* AJ vs Naka

* Sasha vs Bayley - Triple H is pushing for this to be for the RAW Women's Title

* Asuka vs Charlotte - SD women's title

* Nia vs Alexa - Nia is one of Vince's pet projects

* Rusev winning the Andre Battle Royal, as he's projected to be a top-five selller going into WM weekend with fans in attendance.

* Ronda/____ vs. Steph/HHH

* They are still deciding what they want to do with Rollins, Braun, Balor and Miz on the RAW side.

* Lashley has signed but his WWE deal will allow him to still fight in Bellator as well periodically

* Vince does not expect Brock Lesnar to re-sign

* The Undertaker changed his diet post hip-surgery and has begun doing Yoga. He's said to feel the best he has in years and he might wrestle for another 2-3 WM's before retiring.

Mr. Nerfect

02-25-2018, 07:45 PM

Wouldn't the WWE already know whether or not there is anything to this steroid story?

Emperor Smeat

02-25-2018, 09:17 PM

Probably can only assume things since I doubt they got access to the evidence due to them not being involved in the trial nor has this stuff been made public yet.

slik

02-26-2018, 01:25 AM

Braun being made to look so strong and destroying Roman post-match could be a reason to add him to the main-event -- in that case if Roman is in trouble for anything, they are still covered.

slik

02-26-2018, 01:30 AM

Bill Bhatti of dirtysheets reporting on patreon that

* Paige's new 'Eat Shit Get Bit' tats made Vince very unhappy via being very non-tv pg. Mark Carano scolded Paige backstage and said she was being 'moronic'.

* Vince was livid with Bray Wyatt tonight at Elimination Chamber. Vince felt Bray looked out of shape, "like shit" and wasn't in character during the match.

Emperor Smeat

02-27-2018, 10:17 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kurt Angle channeling his inner Homer Simpson:
https://i.imgur.com/XqY6Z8O.png

Even with the debut of Ronda Rousey and coming a day after a pay-per-view, Raw was down three percent last night to 3.16 million viewers ...

Rousey, whose segment (which included Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Kurt Angle) was saved for last, didn't change the usual pattern of a big third hour drop. The third hour drop was biggest in males 18-49 and those over 50. The latter is the usual pattern but the former is unusual and most weeks the third hour drop is female skewed. Male teens also dropped in the third hour, and they usually stay with the show until its completion better than any other demo ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.41 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.25 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
Found it interesting both Ronda's first RAW appearance and being a post-PPV show resulted in a lower number for this week.

The company announced via the New Orleans Times-Picayune this morning that Jarrius "JJ" Robertson will be the 2018 Warrior Award recipient. Robertson is a 15-year-old fan who has battled biliary atresia, a rare liver disease, for his entire life and has undergone 36 surgeries, including two liver transplants.

Robertson underwent his first transplant when he was a year old and had the second transplant last year. He's also the face of "It Takes Lives to Save Lives," which is a charity that promotes organ donation.

“I can’t believe I have been chosen to be the 2018 Warrior Award recipient,” Robertson said. “Being honored by WWE means the world to me. I feel very blessed.”
Link: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-announces-years-warrior-award-recipient-252426

NJPW has announced the lineup for the 2018 New Japan Cup tournament, which will set up a title match for Sakura Genesis in April.

The left side of the bracket has Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi, and Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer. The tour will be the first time Tanahashi has wrestled since January after being written out for a bit when he lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Minoru Suzuki.

On the right side of the bracket, YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Chuck Taylor vs. SANADA are set. Taylor tweeted that he's a replacement for Trent Barreta, who was injured in a match with Taylor for PWG on February 16th.

The winner of the New Japan Cup will challenge for either the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. IWGP Intercontinental Championship, or NEVER Openweight title at Sakura Genesis on April 1st, with the storyline being that they get to choose which belt to go after.
Link with show dates: https://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-reveals-bracket-2018-new-japan-cup-252421

A match between Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi and The Young Bucks appeared to be inevitable coming out of the NJPW/ROH Honor Rising tour, and now a date and location for it has been set.

Omega & Ibushi will face Matt & Nick Jackson at NJPW's Strong Style Evolved show at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on March 25th. The announcement comes after The Young Bucks confronted Omega & Ibushi at Honor Rising night two, with the Bucks taking exception to Omega calling himself and Ibushi the best tag team in the world.

While confronting them, The Young Bucks also announced their move up to NJPW's heavyweight tag team division ...

Jay White defending his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Hangman Page has also been confirmed for Strong Style Evolved. That match became apparent at Honor Rising night two as well, with Page pinning White in a six-man tag.

With the two additions to the card, there are now three matches official for Strong Style Evolved. Rey Mysterio vs. Jushin Thunder Liger was confirmed earlier this month when Mysterio appeared in a video at the New Beginning in Osaka and challenged Liger. The show will air live on AXS TV.

The WWE Network will be uploading episodes of All-Star Wrestling, which was the WWWF’s television show in the 1970s and early 1980s, on March 5th. The shows are expected to be from 1976-1979, though WWE Network News notes that they’ll likely be scattered episodes and not the complete years.

Charlotte Flair wrote a tribute to Reid Flair yesterday on what would have been his 30th birthday.

Before the angle where she refused to accept Sasha Banks’ tag on Raw, Bayley spoke to The Mirror about her in-ring rivalry with Banks: “I really do think that we have such a great chemistry and it's just a natural bond, that it doesn't matter when it happens, we can pick it up anywhere. Not to sound cocky or anything, but I just think we have a really good connection. Whenever we have the time to tell that story, we would be able to. And last night after what she did, I think now is a good time! So I would love to start that up and get some payback.”
Network: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2018/02/27/exclusive-march-wwe-network-classic-content-revealed-release-date-included/ , Charlotte: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfrGaP0FuAN/?taken-by=charlottewwe , Bayley:https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/wrestling/wwes-bayley-reflects-elimination-chamber-12094015

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, the WWE Network's Vault section will be adding WWWF All-Star Wrestling next month, the first time that weekly series has been seen in decades. We are told 92 episodes total are planned to be uploaded the first week of March.

Collections for March are planned to be based around Chris Jericho and Becky Lynch.

PWInsider.com has also confirmed that the Network's current plan for additional vintage material is to add WCW Saturday Night episodes in April and in May, to upload all remaining episodes of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling TV.

Current plans for April Collections call for for them to be built around Ted DiBiase Sr. and Finn Balor.

TV Asahi announced that New Japan World subscribers were up 40 percent ahead of the Tokyo Dome show in January, with the service up 80 percent internationally and 60 percent in the United States.

Flip Gordon teased that he’ll be in this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

EVOLVE announced the full card for EVOLVE 103, which will take place in New Orleans on April 6th:
* Matt Riddle vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
* Chris Dickinson vs. Travis Banks
* Jaka vs. Munenori Sawa
* Darby Allin vs. WALTER
* Keith Lee vs. Austin Theory
* AR Fox vs. DJZ vs. Jason Kincaid vs. Tracy Williams
* Timothy Thatcher vs. Dominic Garrini

There will be a “clusterf*ck match” at Joey Janela’s Spring Break for the second straight year. Session Moth Martina is the first announced participant.

Impact announced a partnership with the women’s promotion Rise Wrestling.

James Ellsworth is set to face Gillberg for IWC Pro Wrestling on March 17th in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania.
New Japan World: https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/968374901282344961 , Gordon: https://twitter.com/TheFlipGordon/status/968576786459217921 , Janela: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/968340335331106816 , Impact: https://twitter.com/RISEdtwa/status/968307463748571136 , Ellsworth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bx8xo-SFpU

WWE Network continues to fill in the gap with World-Class Championship Wrestling episodes in the library. They've also added more videos to the WWE Shorts Collection including the old WWF "Slam Jam" music video from 1993.

Twola Heads Entertainment, a company based in Southern California that has run several events, applied to trademark "Heroes of Lucha Libre" on 2/21. They claim they began using the name in October 2017. They applied to trademark the name for wrestling, movie and television purposes.

They also applied to trademark Mistico, Dragon Lee and Ocelot, which is extremely interesting given that those talents work internationally and are from CMLL in Mexico.

GCW is proud to host THE GREAT SASUKE at WRESTLECON!

Take advantage of this rare opportunity to meet the legend in person! Sasuke will be available for autos & photo-ops. Exact times TBA.

Can't make it to NOLA? Mail Order is available. Email us now to make arrangements. pic.twitter.com/iyW67qaYTz
— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) February 22, 2018

Japanese legend The Great Sasuke will be appearing at Wrestlecon over the course of Wrestlemania weekend in New Orleans, being brought in by Gamechanger Wrestling.

Some other sheet news includes:

Besides Lesnar, Kane was also reported to have been originally planned to appear during last night's RAW according to PWI. Instead those plans were changed and he just visited people backstage during the show.
Recent episode the Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia podcast show had Stephanie McMahon as the guest talking about Ronda Rousey's signing and past issues of bullying in her life. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115760/stephanie-mcmahon-talks-being-bullied-for-being-vinces-daughter-ronda-rousey-more.html
According to PWI, WWE is still uncommitted to which title Asuka will go after for Mania even though they currently leaning towards Asuka-Bliss. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/115753/asuka-update.html
Recent episode of Inside the Ropes podcast show had Rey Mysterio as the guest talking about his wrestling status, participating in this year's Rumble, and things he would have changed for his 2014 Rumble appearance. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0227/637402/rey-mysterio-on-what-he-would-changed-at-the-2014-wwe-royal/
Observer recently speculated Braun Strowman's lack of a path for Mania might be due to WWE wanting him as an emergency plan in case Lesnar-Reigns can't happen at Mania for various reasons. Strowman replaces Lesnar if his issues with the WWE deepen to the point it affects Mania and replaces Reigns if the roids situation becomes a bad PR issue for the company.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Main Event, Sheamus’s Chest, CM Punk & Barrett Host Netflix Show (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/various-main-event-results-sheamuss-chest-cm-punk-barrett-host-netflix-show/)
Brock Lesnar’s Raw “No-Show” Still Unclear + Original Raw Plan (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/brock-lesnars-raw-no-show-still-unclear-original-raw-plan/)
WWE Raw Results – Feb. 26, 2018 – Strowman vs. Elias (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-raw-results-feb-26-2018-strowman-vs-elias/)
WWE: Warrior Award Recipient, Miraculous Superstar Landings (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/wwe-warrior-award-recipient-miraculous-superstar-landings/)

Bad News Gertner

02-28-2018, 08:36 AM

I've been waiting for the Network to add old All Star Wrestling Episodes for years. I may not leave my house for 5 days.

BigCrippyZ

02-28-2018, 01:54 PM

I wonder if Vince is going to actually realize that Rousey is certainly not the draw or the star that she was 2.5-3 years ago and that WWE is (once again) behind the curve and late to the game.

slik

02-28-2018, 02:14 PM

Just you wait until Vince hears about the 3D craze in a few more years

"EVERY SHOW ON THE NETWORK IN 3D"

slik

02-28-2018, 09:46 PM

Former headwriter says Kevin Dunn sucks:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/810nu7/former_wwe_head_writer_says_kevin_dunn_is_a/

Emperor Smeat

02-28-2018, 09:55 PM

Dirtsheets sponsored by Asuka's Approval:
https://i.imgur.com/6QL8nSf.gif

Hiromu Takahashi is coming to Las Vegas for Ring of Honor's 16th Anniversary pay-per-view.

After Dave Meltzer reported earlier this month that Flip Gordon would be facing a wrestler from New Japan Pro Wrestling at the PPV, ROH confirmed today that it will be Gordon vs. Takahashi. Gordon faced Takahashi and KUSHIDA in a triple threat match on the first night of the Honor Rising tour in Tokyo last weekend and got the pin on his Anniversary show opponent. On the second night, Gordon teamed with Ryusuke Taguchi against Takahashi & BUSHI and took the fall.
Link to the announcement and more details for the show: https://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/flip-gordon-vs-hiromu-takahashi-set-roh-anniversary-ppv-252596

With John Cena returning to the brand after a six-month absence, SmackDown saw a ratings increase for the second straight week.

Last night's episode averaged 2.692 million viewers, which was up from 2.613 million the previous week ...

It was also the second straight week that SmackDown was up year-over-year. The last episode of February in 2017 did 2.566 million viewers.

Sports Illustrated writer Richard Deitsch reported today that a number of FOX Sports executives, including FOX Sports President Eric Shanks, FOX Sports Producer Jacob Ullman and even broadcast personality Colin Cowherd, who has always knocked professional wrestling fans (but also admits he grew up watching Don Owens' Pacific Northwest promotion) were all at last night's Smackdown Live taping at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Obviously, as WWE continues to map out future plans and work on securing its next major partnership with a broadcaster, FOX has been speculated as one of those in the race for WWE's rights.

FOX is still attempting to negotiate a new deal with UFC, but should the MMA company move on, FOX will be in a position to need a replacement franchise, as UFC makes up a good portion of its programming on FOX Sports 1. Obviously, WWE would certainly fill the loss of the MMA flagship if it comes to that.

It should also be noted that UFC owner IMG-WME also represents WWE, so it's not out of the question that they could offer a package deal for both entities to FOX or another broadcaster. There is a great history of the two genres pairing up well from their time on SpikeTV.
SI Link: https://twitter.com/richarddeitsch/status/968864415281025026

Billy Corgan's Lightning One, Inc. company, which is the production company attached to the National Wrestling Alliance, applied to trademark 'The Dumont Network' for wrestling purposes.

The Dumont Network was the name of the first television network that broadcast professional wrestling, operating from 1946 through 1956, a rival at the time to CBS and ABC.

Last month, they had applied to trademark 'The Dupont Network," which appears to have been an error.

The WWE Network has added a new Collection, "The NXT Takeover Collection" featuring all 19 Takeover specials to date

WWE is planning on doing at least one more match between Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy soon and the speculation is that they may do a Wyatt vs. Hardy match from Hardy’s compound in North Carolina, similar to what TNA did with Total Nonstop Deletion and The Final Deletion. Matt has also been teasing it on Twitter
Link: https://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-news-wwe-may-considering-great-war-hardy-wyatt-smackdown-social-media-score-new-upupdowndown/

Matt Hardy is promising the Ultimate Deletion is coming, perhaps teasing something being filmed at the Hardy Compound as part of his feud with Bray Wyatt:

By ABSORBING part of Bray Wyatt's ESSENCE, it has allowed my #BROKENBrilliance PASSAGE into both the LIGHT and the DARK..

It shall be needed to obtain VICTORY in #TheGreatWar.

THE ULTIMATE DELETION is coming. pic.twitter.com/2QkFc7Vspy
— #WOKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) February 28, 2018
Link: https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/968824006047555586

Wrestlecon announced this afternoon that WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin will be signing for the first time ever at their Wrestlemania weekend gathering. Austin will be appearing on Wrestlemania Sunday 4/8.

He's been at the very top of our most wanted list since we started @wrestlecon and today we announce that @steveaustinBSR will be doing an appearance on Sunday April 8th, just hours prior to WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/uE0b5ZzCsY
— WrestleCon (@wrestlecon) February 28, 2018

Austin will be signing and taking photos with fans.
Link: https://twitter.com/wrestlecon/status/968942969981194240

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who the WWE has been interested in, is expected to return to the NFL next season and leave his pursuit of acting/pro wrestling until after his football career. After that news was reported, Gronkowski wrote “#clueless” with the shrugging emoji on Twitter. Gronkowski's website ran an article earlier this week about his friendship with Mojo Rawley and Gronkowski's father helping Rawley get into wrestling.

Bayley visited Big Time Wrestling, where she got her start in pro wrestling, to film material for an “upcoming WWE documentary.”
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfumlGajpEi/?hl=en&taken-by=bigtimewrestling

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb is set for the WrestleCon SuperShow on April 5th.

Tenille Dashwood will appear at ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem on March 3rd and team with Deonna Purrazzo against Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose.

ACH is replacing Tom Lawlor in MLW’s World Heavyweight title tournament and will face Matt Riddle in a semifinal match on April 8th.

CZW announced Juice Robinson vs. David Starr for their show in New Orleans on April 7th. Rich Swann will also face Joe Gacy for CZW in Voorhees, New Jersey on March 10th and wrestle at the WrestleMania weekend show.
WrestleCon: https://twitter.com/wrestlecon/status/968634940303855616 , ROH: https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/women-honor-tag-match-signed-manhattan-mayhem , MLW: https://mlw.com/2018/02/28/ach-vs-matt-riddle-set-for-world-title-semi-finals-on-march-8/ , CZW: https://twitter.com/combatzone/status/968655774540017664

TV By The Numbers has an article on how NBCUniversal will be cutting back on the number of commercials that viewers see in primetime in 2018-2019. The change is scheduled to begin in the fall of this year. Shows across NBCU's various channels, including the USA Network, will feature around 20% fewer ads along with a 10% reduction in commercial time. It was noted that viewers might see 2 or 3 longer commercials instead of 5 thirty second ads during a break. NBCU is also promoting a "Prime Pod" for advertisers - a 60 second ad break in the first or last commercial of a show, which will be sold to one or two advertisers. It was also noted that a 10% reduction in commercial time could mean an increase of 2-4 minutes in episode length.
Link: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/more-tv-news/coming-to-nbc-in-fall-2018-fewer-commercials/

WWE has a new poll asking fans who is the favorite heading into the Six-Pack Challenge at WWE Fastlane. As of this writing, 55% voted for WWE Champion AJ Styles while 34% voted for John Cena, 7% for Dolph Ziggler, 2% for Baron Corbin, 1% for Kevin Owens and 1% for Sami Zayn.

Some other sheet news includes:

Sportskeeda had a recent interview with Rosemary talking about Impact's recent change in management, Laurel Van Ness' departure, and having creative freedom for her character. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0228/637460/rosemary-on-scripting-her-own-promos/
X-Pac revealed he was at backstage during last night's Smackdown and took several photos with WWE talent and others. https://www.instagram.com/p/BfwaEXNnBb-/
Suppossedly WWE management got pissed at Lana again in regards to recent tweets she made. The tweets made it seem like she was upset at Rusev's lack of tv time in recent weeks but turned out it was just Rusev playing a practical joke. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0228/637454/lana-and-rusev-make-interesting-comments-on-top-wwe-stars/
According to Sports Illustrated, the IC match at Mania is currently rumored to be a Fatal 5 Way match. https://www.si.com/wrestling/2018/02/28/wrestling-news-roman-reigns-brock-lesnar

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

FloSports and WWN Resolve Dispute, Lawsuit Dismissed (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/flosports-and-wwn-resolve-dispute-lawsuit-dismissed/)
Rey Mysterio WWE Update + WrestleMania Rumors (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/rey-mysterio-wwe-update-wrestlemania-rumors/)
Dana White Says Chances “Very Good” That Brock Lesnar Returns to UFC (http://www.tpww.net/2018/02/dana-white-says-chances-are-very-good-that-brock-lesnar-returns-to-ufc/)