TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[Emperor Smeat]

TPWW's boss thought it was "best for TPWW business" for the dirtsheet news to be its own thread from now on instead of being part of the 100k Wrestling mega-thread.

If anyone finds anything interesting whether as being current sheet news, sheet stuff from the past, or even "WWE Did You Know" like facts, feel free to post them in here.

Now that's out of the way ...


Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Becky Lynch gif:
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According to multiple sources close to the situation, Goldberg does not have a WWE deal right now. But everyone notes the history, that when the video game people reached deals with Brock Lesnar, Ultimate Warrior and Sting in recent years, all three ended up with the person in question later making a deal with WWE. The Goldberg deal took several years to put together, with the holdup on Vince McMahon’s side. McMahon and Goldberg did not leave on good terms in 2004 when Goldberg’s one-year contract with the promotion for $1 million and limited dates expired.

Cody Rhodes has announced he will be working with Evolve on their 8/19 iPPV in Joppa, MD. Rhodes' non-compete with WWE ends that day. Interestingly, Evolve has been also working with WWE in recent months in building up competitors for the global cruiserweight classic tournament.
Tweet of Cody's announcement: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/738405745016721408

WWE announced this morning that Andrade Cien Almas (the former La Sombra and Manny Andrade) will face the "Perfect 10" Tye Dillinger at this Wednesday's TakeOver event. After working NXT house shows for months, this likely means Almas will also debut to a national audience at the next television tapings. They are hoping he transitions into becoming a Hispanic star.
Tweet of William Regal's NXT announcement: https://twitter.com/RealKingRegal/status/738407374667587584

The 5/31 edition of Impact was down slightly, doing 346,000 viewers as opposed to last week's 359,000 viewers. It was the second highest initial audience for the series on Pop.

Chris Harrington did some great work in noting the correlation between the wrestlers with the most matches in a given year, and significant injuries the next year. It makes sense because one key WWE guy, a few months back, was saying that they rely so much on Seth Rollins as far as the schedule and ring time is concerned, and he figured that the guy’s body was going to break down. Very shortly after, he suffered the ACL tear.

In 2014, Cesaro worked the most matches and the next year he suffered a torn rotator cuff that needed surgery. In his case, it’s not just that he works hard in the ring, but also lifts very heavy. Rollins was second. Jey Uso was sixth and needed shoulder surgery the next year. Goldust was seventh and also needed shoulder surgery the next year ...

In 2013, the guy who worked the most matches was Daniel Bryan, and he had the neck injury which put him out for much of 2014, before the concussion injury this year. Reigns, who was sixth, had the hernia, as did Ryback, who was seventh.

In 2012, the guy who worked the most matches was Sheamus, who ended up needing surgery for a torn labrum (shoulder) the next year. Kingston was fourth and had a shoulder injury.

These results may be a good indication, similar to the number of pitches that pitchers are throwing (which has changed in modern times), to monitor the amount of matches people work during a year. With Reigns and Ambrose both working so many dates in 2015 because of their value to the company, history would put them in the high-risk category for a major injury sometime this year, and they are two of the most valuable performers on the roster right now.

The most likely reason that the move was made, was because the USA Network was not happy with the ratings of Smackdown. The hope was that Smackdown on USA would do close to the numbers of Raw, particularly when it opened strong at around 2.7 million viewers ... What shocked everyone is that ratings had fallen below what they were a year ago, even with the move to a much stronger station. While ratings weren’t down from last year as much as Raw, the expectation was that a Thursday night prime time show on USA would do better.

Key to this is that, even though WWE will be adding expenses by going live, USA is not paying more for the increase in costs. It’s the first sign, while hidden from the public, that USA is concerned that the approximately $127 million they pay WWE this year for Raw and Smackdown is not delivering at the level they would like ...
Recent sheet reports about USA Network starting to view the current tv contract as a possible bad investment on their end.
A recent rumor floating around the net teases at USA Network considering adding an extra hour to Smackdown at some point during the new Brand Split era.

It was reform school or military school. I went to Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Military school is expensive. My mom was still my guardian and she couldn’t afford it. So my dad was notified and he paid. [Playboy, 2001]

My dad was, in his words, able to “spring” for [Fishburne]. At 14, I had no reputation, so it was a new beginning, a great chance to start over and create a new reputation. [Cigar Aficionado, 1999]

Maybe I didn’t completely reinvent myself. I was the first cadet in the history of the school to be court-martialed. [Headliners & Legends With Matt Lauer, 2001]

I was lucky and a little crafty — I wasn’t caught for some stuff that would have meant immediate dismissal, like stealing the commandant’s car. Colonel Zinneker had an old, green, beat-up Buick, and he always left the keys in it. He also had a dog he was nuts about. I love animals, but one day I couldn’t resist giving that dog a laxative. I put the laxative in some hamburger and the dog did his business all over the commandant’s apartment, which thrilled me greatly.
Random Vince story from back in the day regarding his early life from a variety of sources.

“It does get very frustrating. Communication gets very muddy, and I think a lot of guys feel a little trapped,” he said about working as an on-air talent in WWE. “Almost like they can’t defend themselves within the constructs of the company.

Maddox also indicated that former World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton is known to “threaten” other wrestlers backstage. “Randy would get angry at something in a match,” he explained, “and I remember a few instances when I was a referee, so I was in the Gorilla Position a lot of the time.

“A few times he would say things or threaten other guys, like right there in Gorilla, and I would be standing there with my eyes wide open, not believing that he is saying this in front of all the producers and in the same room with Vince. I was kind of amazed by that.”
From a recent interview Brad Maddox had on the Pancakes and Powerslams show about his time in the WWE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pancakesandpowerslams/2016/06/01/pancakes-and-powerslams-episode-218

According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, John Cena has signed a “multi-million dollar” deal to become the new spokesperson for Hefty. You know, the garbage bag company.

As noted before, there has been movement for an alliance with ROH, New Japan and CMLL. New Japan already has strong relations with CMLL. ROH and CMLL have been talking and while it’s not a done deal, they are working on a major CMLL star of the 7/16 show in Philadelphia. Colt Cabana will also have a rematch with Jay Lethal (or whoever the champion is at that point) on that show.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to a recent MLW podcast episode, Cody Rhodes is currently in talks to wrestle for a Japanese promotion with NJPW rumored as the likely candidate.
According to recent Observer speculation, the WWE might debut the brand new World belt for Smackdown in a similar way it was done for RAW in the sense of just handing it to someone.
Observer's Dave Meltzer revealed WWE's experiment in having Reigns carry house shows while Cena was out injured ended up resulting in around a 10% drop in overall revenues.
A recent graph by Sports Buisness Daily revealed the demographic breakdown between the WWE and other sports which pretty much confirmed the WWE's fanbase being less wealthy and educated compared to UFC and boxing. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/04/22/In-Depth/~/media/BC4362F7D0374A958BB4EFF7C42B14C9.ashx
AJ Lee revealed she recently finished working on her wrestling autobiography and is currently planned to be released by Spring 2017.
According to Taz, the WWE recently tried to negotiate with CBS to have his podcast show be shown on the WWE Network. Talks failed after both CBS and Taz refused to allow the WWE to edit or determine what could be on it. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102413/the-taz-show-on-wwe-network-.html
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, some notable events in wrestling history today includes AJ Styles 39th birthday, 2nd anniversary of the Shield's breakup, and the 18th anniversary of the Junk Yard Dog's passing.
Besides the Vince story above, The Ringer recently had an article compiling a lot of Vince stories and quotes from Vince himself over the years. https://theringer.com/the-story-of-vince-mcmahon-958f3274f5ce#.7lumppf2a
Apparently NJPW IWGP champion Naito's antics of tossing the belt around as part of his heel gimmick managed to actually damage the belt recently. https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/738427622279942144
According to a recent Observer Radio show, this week's episode of RAW had the lowest ever key 18-34 male audience in the history of the show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D23dLgYiqVY&feature=youtu.be&t=15m19s

[Shisen Kopf]

Meltzer sheep,,,,,

[Simple Fan]

Originally Posted by Observer
Cody Rhodes has announced he will be working with Evolve on their 8/19 iPPV in Joppa, MD. Rhodes' non-compete with WWE ends that day. Interestingly, Evolve has been also working with WWE in recent months in building up competitors for the global cruiserweight classic tournament.

Could check off one of those TNA talents considering EVOLVE has been working with them as well. Trevor Lee has worked some EVOLVE shows I'm not sure about Micheal Bennett though.

[Simple Fan]

According to recent Observer speculation, the WWE might debut the brand new World belt for Smackdown in a similar way it was done for RAW in the sense of just handing it to someone.

Would suck for Cena to tie Flair by just being handed a World title.

[Jordan]

Now we'll never get to 100,000

[Blonde Moment]

Now we'll never get to 100,000

Perhaps this one will

[VSG]

I demand a rename of the thread to "Smeat's Sheets"

[Sepholio]

Between Smeat's Sheetz

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma Friday:
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Big Cass has been turning a lot of heads within WWE because of his look and in ring work.

While Enzo Amore was out of action with a concussion last month, many people were looking at Cass as not just a tag team player but a future singles star. Cass has been booked the way he has as a way to protect him in case they want to pull the trigger on a singles run. It will be interesting to see what happens with Enzo and Cass in the WWE Draft.

On a related note, Enzo returned from his concussion a few weeks earlier than some expected.

The 6/2 episode of Smackdown did 2,169,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,112,000 viewers.

New Japan announced earlier Friday that Hiroshi Tanahashi would not be able to return for the Dominion PPV show for his scheduled ladder match with Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega.

The 6/19 match at Osaka Jo Hall -- the first ladder match ever in New Japan and scheduled for the IC title, was the No. 2 match on what is one of the company's three biggest shows of the year. Omega will now defend his title in a ladder match against Michael Elgin, a rematch of Omega's last title defense.

With a severe shoulder injury, Tanahashi is physically in considerably worse condition than they are letting on ... There is no word on when he will return.

The realization that Tanahashi probably couldn't do the show was only known for perhaps the last 48 hours or so.

Scott Garland (Scotty 2 Hotty) was helping train the wrestlers this week at the Performance Center.

Lana and Rusev are set to get married on 9/2. Given her inclusion in the new cast of "Total Divas", don't be surprised to see the wedding filmed for the E! reality series.

The next hearing in the criminal case against Jimmy Snuka has been set for 12/2 at 10:30 AM in Allentown, PA.

At that hearing, Judge Kelly L. Banach will re-visit her determination that the WWE Hall of Famer is not mentally competent to stand trial in the charges brought against him in the 1983 death of his then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino.

After four separate hearings on the matter, Banach ruled that Snuka was not competent to stand trial against charged of involuntary manslaughter and third-degree murder.
According to sources close to the Observer, Snuka basically is faking his dementia since people close to him were saying he was acting normal or showing no signs of the illness until he started to actually go to court.

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, TNA and Bobby Lashley are in the midst of finalizing a new deal.

While an official announcement will likely go out next week, PWInsider.con has confirmed that former WWE World champion Rey Mysterio is going back to High School, main eventing a Viva La Lucha event in San Diego, CA on 8/13 at Montgomery High School, his alma matter, an event that will fundraise for the school.

WWE Hall of Famer Adam "Edge" Copeland has pushed the idea of portraying Cable in "Deadpool 2." He would actually be pretty awesome in that role.

Konnan’s latest charge against AAA on his Spanish language podcast is that referee Copetes Salazar, who also books the AAA talent on independent shows, used his booking power over the women in the promotions. He claimed that Lady Maravilla said that Salazar demanded sex to get her more bookings. The claim is that Maravilla told AAA owner Marisela Pena, who said she would investigate. The claim is that she then asked Salazar, who denied it, and she was satisfied. Konnan claimed there were other circumstances and mentioned names of girlfriends of wrestlers and that Christina Von Eerie left the promotion for that reason. The Mexican wrestling media has been writing about Konnan’s claims although the mainstream media has yet to cover the story. He also claimed that Fabi Apache was rough with the other women, and also claimed the reason Jennifer Blake was in Mexico for so long was because Dorian Roldan liked her. In Mexico, unlike in the U.S., wrestlers still in public almost never admit to wrestling being entertainment and not sport, and he’s been on his shows in Spanish being very open about it.
The Konnan-AAA feud has been on-going for months and been pretty bad for AAA since a lot of wrestlers have sided with Konnan. Even has been affecting Lucha Underground which is partially owned by AAA.

Roderick Strong and Moose’s deals are up in a few weeks but I don’t believe that, officially, they are allowed to negotiate with other companies yet. Of course this is pro wrestling and you know how that goes. WWE had interest in Moose last year and logic would tell you it shouldn’t be different, considering he’s improved a lot, his name is bigger, and WWE needs to be adding talent right now.

On Raw they no longer had the graphic listing that there would be a seventh guy in Money in the Bank. On the as of yet unaired episode of Smackdown, the graphic also only listed six people. We were told that as of right now, it’s a six person match, but that it could change. They didn’t want to say anything one way or the other to lock themselves into a corner.

Regarding the cruiserweight classic, there is a Mexican wrestler whose name we weren’t given, that has been told he’s in, was told to come up with a new name and get new ring gear, as I guess WWE doesn’t want people to know who he was. The only thing we’re told is he’s smaller than most people WWE would use, and that he’s pretty good and speaks very little English, but has been working a lot in the U.S. of late. Both Garza Jr & Ultimo Ninja of the famous Garza wrestling family were given tryouts but neither has heard a thing from WWE since. At first they had slotted for something like five slots of the 32 for Mexicans, but that was months ago and that was just the first idea.

Miami is pushing for WrestleMania in 2018, 2019 or 2020. With WrestleMania in Orlando in 2017, coming back to Florida in 2018 or 2019 sounds early. A negative is that Sun Life Stadium, which would hold the show, is undergoing a renovation project which has cut back 10,000 seats. The 2012 WrestleMania drew 66,400 fans, with 63,000 paid, which was a sellout. It was announced at 78,363, and cutting back to a legit capacity of around 56,000 is small for a Mania show right now, especially after this past year and with all the activities that surround Mania and bring tourists into town. The advantage of Miami is that it’s Johnson’s home city, and if he was going to wrestle one more serious match, or do a retirement from the ring, that would probably be the place he’d choose to do it, so that could get them the date earlier than normal.


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website had a recent interview with Gillberg regarding the forgotten time he wrestled a match dressed as a Ninja Turtle. http://www.wwe.com/article/gillberg-battling-turtles-interview
Mexican promotion AAA's World Cup tournament started today with TNA's Josh Matthews revealed as the broadcaster for the English feed of the show.
Karl Anderson had a recent interview with Armallio Globe News with some topics including his wrestling career and Randy Orton as being a "dream match" opponent for him in the WWE. http://m.amarillo.com/sports/more-sports/2016-06-02/wwe-star-anderson-promises-great-show#gsc.tab=0
Update to WWE interested in signing Rush & Volador Jr. news as it turns out Sombra/Cien ended up being a big reason why since he's been helping out WWE's scouting effort for Mexican wrestlers.
Cody Rhodes revealed on Twitter he will be wrestling Micheal Bennett on August 26 for Northeast Wrestling. https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/738822389585215488
During a recent Talk Is Jericho podcast episode with Seth Rollins as his guest, Rollins revealed the official reason the Curb Stomp was removed was due to Vince being worried about kids imitating the move. Rollins fought to keep the move and later for a different move besides the Pedigree to be his finisher. Also revealed he came up with the idea for the RKO counter spot during his Mania match against Orton. http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=1654477
According to fan reports, Elias Samson is rumored to have been injured during tonight's NXT house show.
Based on a recent interview Dixie Carter had, the next inductee for TNA's Hall of Fame will be revealed during this month and teased to be Jeff Hardy.

[Lock Jaw]

Worried that they will break up Enzo & Cass "too soon"

Edge would be a terrible Cable.

[Simple Fan]

Update to WWE interested in signing Rush & Volador Jr. news as it turns out Sombra/Cien ended up being a big reason why since he's been helping out WWE's scouting effort for Mexican wrestlers.

What's with the Cien in Andrade Almas name. I can only assume he'll beat Dillinger and be 10X better than the Pefect 10.

[Simple Fan]

Cody Rhodes revealed on Twitter he will be wrestling Micheal Bennett on August 26 for Northeast Wrestling.

There is another box checked off his list. Kurt Angle check, The Miracle check.

[Emperor Smeat]

What's with the Cien in Andrade Almas name. I can only assume he'll beat Dillinger and be 10X better than the Pefect 10.

Another cool thing about Andrade Almas? His NXT in-ring name actually means “100 souls” (“Cien” Almas).

La Sombra was cool. Manny Andrade was alright. Andrade "Cien" Almas has…potential. "100 Souls" is pretty freakin' awesome.

— Pierre (@BattleOn1990) May 20, 2016
https://dailyddt.com/2016/05/26/wwe-nxt-who-is-andrade-almas/

[Simple Fan]

Ok, I get it now. Thanks. Never learned what "souls" was in Spanish class but by God I could count.

[erickman]

There is another box checked off his list. Kurt Angle check, The Miracle check.

too bad these matches are not on tv or ppv. the promoter may have to get a bigger hall the way cody did his checklist that is good for northeast wrestling.

[DaveWadding]

Fallen Angel's Jizz in your Dirtsheets thread

[Simple Fan]

too bad these matches are not on tv or ppv. the promoter may have to get a bigger hall the way cody did his checklist that is good for northeast wrestling.

They'll probably pop up on YouTube eventually or be iPPVs.

[erickman]

I say that night it will be on youtube angle and mike bennet the same weekend

[Emperor Smeat]

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Last night's Raw did 3.24 million viewers, up slightly from last week's 3.22 million ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.37 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.49 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.90 million viewers

The 3rd hour ended up being among one of the lowest ever and biggest drops for non-football/holiday shows since RAW moved to 3 hours. In terms of yearly comparisons, same week last year had around 650k more viewers overall.

Triple H said that Nakamura will be a key player in the company. He added that he's excited for the debut of Andrade Almas and that he will be "big player."

Triple H said "The End" title for the event has a lot of meanings, which we'll see tomorrow. He said that you can expect it to be the end of the Finn Balor - Samoe Joe series ...

The Cruiserweight Classic starts up at the end of the month. Triple H thinks it will be the premier cruiserweight tournament, and he thinks it will be an unbelievable ten weeks. He says that it will be something unlike you've seen from WWE or NXT.

He thinks the NXT roster will look a lot different after the brand split, but he doesn't know for sure. He thinks that one of the strengths of NXT is that their talent rises to the occasion whenever talent leaves for the main roster ...

About the brand split, Triple H noted that they've always had two tours and he's not sure how much everything will change ...

On Bobby Roode and Eric Young, Triple H is working on contracts for both men and said to stay tuned. He said they're both talented, and he looks forward to working with both of them ...

When asked for an update on Hideo Itami, Triple H said that he can't go too much into his medical information, but everyone heals differently, and Itami had some issues with mobility and scar tissue, and wants him to take his time and return at 100%. Nothing has changed regarding his thoughts on Hideo as a performer, and he looks forward to him returning.

Triple H was asked about doing a women's tournament, similar to the Cruiserweight Classic. Triple H said he had been throwing out ideas about it, and said that he would like to do it if the timing is right. He said it's on the table, but there are a lot of things on the table. He said that it's just an idea that spread quickly on the internet, and when they know what they'll want to do, they'll put out a statement or contact talents.
Highlights from a recent Q&A session Triple H held today as part of the lead up to tomorrow's event.

As part of the business relationship with UFC and WWE, the WWE is interested in bringing in Paige VanZant to SummerSlam.

PW Insider and Fox Sports have both reported the news.

Mike Roberts, the manager of VanZant, confirmed to Fox Sports earlier today that WWE has reached out to inquire about VanZant to appear "in some capacity" on the 8/21 SummerSlam show. A WWE source confirmed the news to us that the company was looking for a role for her at the show.

Yesterday's rumor that Tommy End was headed to WWE was reported on by multiple outlets, who say - pending physicals - the Dutch star should be in NXT by September.

Ring of Honor (ROH)'s Moose and Roderick Strong are also reportedly on WWE's radar. Both of their ROH contracts are believed up shortly.

Main source on the Tommy End news was from the Observer.

Vince McMahon soured on the Shining Stars gimmick when Epico & Primo's return didn't get much of a reaction and there are currently no plans for the duo.

WWE.com posted an article on former German national soccer team goalkeeper Tim Wiese accepting a deal to start training at the Performance Center ... Wiese, who bulked up big the past few years as he picked up bodybuilding is a charismatic and impressive looking guy at around 6'4" and about 285 lbs. His contract with his former soccer club of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is set to expire on 6/30, even though he was cut from the team long before that, in January of 2014. Wiese had publically talked about getting into wrestling, as the media had made comparisons of his physique to those of wrestlers.
Link to the WWE.com article: http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/article/goalkeeper-tim-wiese-accepts-triple-hs-invitation-train-wwe-performance-center

Bray Wyatt has been medically cleared and is expected to debut imminently, as in as soon as tonight, but if not, very shortly. If he is to debut, he's likely to be slotted into Money in the Bank in some form. Wyatt was a babyface and the Wyatt family were being turned to face the League of Nations when he got hurt. Now there are no more League of Nations and WWE is still at the top, weaker on the heel side.

Just because of all the questions regarding NXT Takeover and UFC 202 going head-to-head, right now the Barclays Center is still listing the Takeover show on 8/20. As noted last week, the WWE web site had removed the show from the schedule but as they told me, it was put back on and listed for a 7:30 p.m. start time. If they start the network show at 8 p.m., the show would end very shortly into the start of the PPV which starts at 10 p.m.

Brandi Runnels (Eden Stiles) at this point is going to be working outside wrestling while Cody will be working indies. The one announced show with Cody vs. Mike Bennett with Brandi Rhodes, as she's being called, is more to do a story of counteracting Maria Kanellis. But it's not going to be a regular thing at this point.

Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Adam Rose will use his party boy gimmick on the Indies using the name Aldo Rose and will be taking indie bookings. Right now he can't appear on TV or iPPV until the late summer. He said, "Ain't no more PG in this party."

TheWrap.com is reporting that WWE star Luke Harper, currently out of action following ACL surgery, has been cast for a role in the horror film "Mohawk", which is currently shooting in Upstate New York.
Article from The Wire: http://www.thewrap.com/wwe-star-luke-harper-cast-in-horror-movie-mohawk/

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley got a heck of a birthday gift as he announced that he's lost 68 lbs. with the help of DDP Yoga. He also noted he is the lightest he has been since 1990, which is around the time of his first run with WCW. Congratulations to Mick, who has always been one of the classiest people around pro wrestling:

HELLO 270! With the help of @DDPYoga I have lost 68 pounds in 6 months - and am at my lightest since 1990. #BANG pic.twitter.com/ChGEaZsK8L
— Mick Foley (@RealMickFoley) June 6, 2016

Luke Gallows is quickly becoming one of the most popular people in the WWE locker room. In an environment where there's often a feeling of walking on eggshells and where everyone is worried about their jobs, Gallows lightens the mood a little bit and brings a levity to the locker room.

It's not that Gallows is goofing off or not taking his job serious, it was described as a situation where his demeanor and the way he speaks lightens the mood and helps to make being backstage a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Will Ospreay surprised no one by winning this year's New Japan Super Juniors tournament ... Ospreay went on to defeat Ryusuke Taguchi in the finals to win the entire tournament.
Spoiler tags used since its related to NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors Tournament for those that haven't seen the finals yet.


Some other sheet news includes:

Apparently an indie wrestling show recently had to be stopped after a woman in the crowd got furious about the antics being done by a heel wrestler to the point she pulled a gun on him. http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/catwalkchatt/news/police_fire/lafayette-woman-pulls-gun-on-pro-wrestler-during-ringgold-show/article_b2456086-2cbc-11e6-ae51-c33364c3ca90.html
Supposedly this week's episode of RAW had around 35+ minutes worth of actual wrestling with promos taking up about half the show assuming a chart recently posted online is correct. Chart itself is missing the Sami-Del Rio match though but might not be enough to drastically change the ratios. http://i.imgur.com/zuAQPrkh.jpg
According to the Observer, if Lesnar gets hurt at UFC 200, it could potentially cause some issues in regards to New York's Athletics Commission since there is no set precedent where a medical suspension in one sport (MMA) auto-carries over to another sport (wrestling).
Dean Ambrose was revealed during last night's RAW show to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
WWE recently released online the tribute video for Muhammed Ali shown during yesterday's RAW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HnVg97_O3M
According to reports, HBO recently hired Jason Hehir to be the director for their Andre the Giant documentary currently in production. http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/rumored-andre-the-giant-documentary-coming-to-hbo-with-jason-hehir-directing.html

[Poit]

Random Vince story from back in the day regarding his early life from a variety of sources.

If you'd like to read the whole article, it's pretty fascinating.

https://theringer.com/the-story-of-vince-mcmahon-958f3274f5ce

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Chris Jericho's greatest invention ... Canada:
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Ring of Honor star Moose has been spotted in the Orlando area and even popped up on social media for WWE star Apollo Crews today, sparking a lot of speculation given that tonight is WWE NXT Takeover. We are told that Moose is still under contract to ROH and is in town visiting friends.

For those curious as to how USADA and UFC will be handling Brock Lesnar and PED testing, we've got a lot more on the story here. Basically, since the USADA drug testing standards were not in place when Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from UFC in 2011, he will not have to fulfill the 4 months of pre fight testing. He is being treated like a newly contracted fighter, who just happens to have a fight in a month. So he has only been eligibile for testing since last Friday. However, since he has been under contract to WWE in the last 5 years, he has theoretically been tested and clean since his 2011 retirement.
Update to Lesnar's UFC-WWE situation in relations to his upcoming MMA fight.

The WWE's July tour of Japan is coming into shape with the cards officially released on their Japan microsite including Nakamura's first official scheduled WWE action.

Nakamura will face both Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens on the tour, while WWE Champion Roman Reigns will be involved in two fatal-four way matches for the title. Also, it looks as if the John Cena/AJ Styles feud will last a few months as they are also scheduled for both nights.
Current cards for the tour in the link: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102558/wwe-japan-tour-updates-rollins-added-flair-still-advertised-nakamura-asuka-opposition-announced-and-more.html?p=1

The 6/7 edition of Impact was down this week, doing 326,000 viewers. That is down from last week's 346,000 viewers.

NWA President Bruce Tharpe was also at the WWE Performance Center yesterday and tweeted out a photo of himself meeting with Triple H. We are told Tharpe was there to try and broker a deal with WWE in respect to the Paul Boesch Houston wrestling library. Tharpe has the rights to the library and utilizes it on the NWA's streaming service.

Mattel announced they were releasing an exclusive Shockmaster action figure at the San Diego Comic Con. The packaging even features Shockmaster having fallen down to play off of his infamous WCW debut going wrong. You can check that out at this link.
Link to the action figure news: unsaved:///news.mattycollector.com/blog/2016/06/07/2016-san-diego-comic-con-reveals-wwe/

NJPW have announced that Jay White will be heading to ROH on excursion after Dominion.

The team attacking America Alpha are known as the Authors of Pain, consisting of Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani (Gzim is pronounced with a silent G).
Some news regarding NXT's new tag team. Prior to getting signed by the WWE, Dhinsa was an Olympic style wrestler while Selmani was a MMA fighter.

Dark match: Ember Moon def. Peyton Royce. Ember Moon (I think that's the name, but it wasn't spelled out to see) is the former Athena/Adrienne Reese. She has new music, but didn't have a tron yet.
Report from tonight's pre-show stuff for NXT Takeover: The End. If past instances are any indication with indy stars getting official WWE names, likely will get her official tv debut by the next NXT special event.

When asked about Hideo Itami, he mentioned Itami's Tweet about returning soon, and said he wants him 100%. He's still excited about him as a performer. His recovery took longer than some others (he called John Cena a "mutant" here) due to scar tissue and some mobilitiy issues, and Haitch is willing to wait until he's ready for action.
Another highlight from yesterday's NXT Q&A session Triple H did.

In his first interview since getting released by WWE on May 23, Adam Rose commented on his departure and the circumstances that surrounded it.

Rose told Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet via email that both parties believed a parting of ways was the best option for a multitude of reasons:

"It was a mutual thing. Honestly, I had just hit too many problems back to back. My mistakes or not, guilty or not? It was starting to look really bad. It was just the best choice for everyone involved and the WWE and I knew that.

Adam Rose never quite took off in the WWE! Is it the company's fault, or my fault? Probably a bit of both. The character Adam Rose that debuted on NXT was not the same character that the WWE Universe got. Honestly, I am happy to leave. It was time. I wanted to be home more. My boys and my wife needed me. My poor wife had been carrying the load the whole time while I was off living my dream. It was not right or fair to her or my boys."

The 36-year-old veteran was later arrested on domestic violence and witness tampering charges in May, which led to an indefinite suspension from WWE before his eventual release ...

"As for my arrest, well that was a complete nightmare! It's all being cleared up now, but the damage to our lives is permanent. My wife was like 'what the hell is going on' when it happened. I don't exactly even know why it happened ... even now. I think law enforcement, who I have the utmost respect for, may have acted too quickly.

They never knew the full story and made some assumptions that will now scar my family's history forever. My wife is my world and my rock. I don't deserve her in anyway. As a man, I am willing to say and admit she is the toughest and strongest person I know. I am proud of her! Proud to be her husband! Proud to have her raise my boys"

Highlights from an interview Adam Rose had with Bleacher Report. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2645115-adam-rose-comments-on-release-from-wwe-domestic-violence-arrest-and-more?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


Some other sheet news includes:

Jerry Lawler recently had an interview with Arkansas Matter news website regarding the impact Muhammed Ali had on his own career. http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/web-extra-legendary-wrestler-talks-alis-impact
The Sporting News recently had an interview with Austin Aires dealing with his time in NXT and why he signed with the WWE. http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/wwe-nxt-takeover-austin-aries-shinsuke-nakamura-takeover-aj-styles-wrestlemania/kbt4n4rih12y1w8v96nhq7w9e
According to reports, WWE recently purchased a new set of production trucks as part of the upcoming Brand Split.
Amazon is currently holding a sale on a variety of WWE related merchandise. https://www.amazon.com/Official-WWEShop-Authentic/b/ref=w_bl_sl_ap_ap_web_12697877011?ie=UTF8&node=12697877011&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=Official+WWEShop+Authentic
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Takeover: The End is the first NXT special since Arrival to not feature Bayley, Charlotte, Sasha, or Becky in a match.
Newest episode of Botchamania was recently released: http://botchamania.com/2016/06/08/botchamania-310/

[Lock Jaw]

According to reports, WWE recently purchased a new set of production trucks as part of the upcoming Brand Split.


Was reading about this earlier: http://www.sportsvideo.org/2016/06/07/wwe-embraces-ip-expands-footprint-with-new-trio-of-nep-trucks/

Article probably not as cool to everyone else as it is to me.

[DaveWadding]

Shit. Smeat just cost me 50 bucks in new shirts. They're on sale for 14 a piece shipped Prime.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the long forgotten Bushwhacker Taker:
https://abload.de/img/taker1iesxn.gif

Even though HHH made a comment as though he thought it would happen, but didn’t know, among those involved with NXT we’re told “NXT is being raided for the draft big time” and that a lot more will be known shortly. It only makes sense given they need to add to the talent depth to have two strong rosters. The company has been aggressively pursuing talent to start in NXT in September. They’ve also been telling people who they’ve signed not to let anyone know. There have been reports regarding Tommy End being one of those people. He’s scheduled to undergo medical testing and will be offered a contract if he passes.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Rich Swann recently suffered a shoulder injury that could keep him out of the Cruiserweight Classic. He hasn’t wrestled at a live event since late March because he wants to let the shoulder heal before the tournament starts. His last match was against Elias Samson on March 19. He was announced for the CWC two weeks later. A source claims that Swann is “determined” to be in the tournament and is trying to make it happen.
Wade Barrett's Papa Shango curse strikes again.

The talk continues involving both Roderick Strong and Moose. Moose wrote, “I will always have a special spot in my heart for ROH,” which read to me like he’s leaving. WWE or TNA would be the obvious choices and all kinds of things that happened at the last minute would indicate WWE as the favorites. In theory, there was interest from both sides in him although even today based on the contract, which is still in existence, any direct negotiations would be considered tampering. As noted, that kind of stuff happens all the time in wrestling no matter the legalese. TNA is offering higher numbers for most at his level, if they want them, than WWE.

WWE is obviously the goal of most wrestlers, and internally in WWE people were talking about him debuting there as part of the September incoming class. Moose himself said that he can’t say anything until his situation is final. Moose was in Orlando for Takeover backstage and tweeted a photo going to the show with Apollo Crews. I do know that even as of last week, ROH thought they had a good chance of keeping him and his winning a multiple person match over the weekend would indicate that even as of the weekend they believed that. He’s still scheduled for the 6/24 PPV even after a Tweet where people look at it and are going to naturally speculate, and it’s not a secret his contract is up in a few weeks.

It appears future WWE pay-per-view events will be going past 11pm and not just WrestleMania. WWE has told Sky Italia to start reserving extra time for pay-per-view events as the duration of those shows will vary.

Ring of Honor announced the following:

You’ve been watching exclusive Women of Honor matches on the ROH YouTube channel, but now you’ll have the chance to see them LIVE! On July 8th, Baltimore hosts a special WOMEN OF HONOR event! All of your favorite Women of Honor will be in action, in addition to special guests and even some debuting athletes ...

This Women of Honor event is FREE ADMISSION with the purchase of a ticket for ROH‘s AFTERSHOCK event..
Link with the list of wrestlers planned to appear at the event and how to get tickets: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102575/roh-announces-first-women-of-honor-event-and-how-you-can-attend-for-free.html?p=1

NXT Takeover Brooklyn tickets for 8/20 at the Barclays Center are available on pre-sale right now using the code WWENXT. The pre-sale ends tomorrow at 10 p.m. and the regular sale goes into effect at Noon on Saturday. The names listed are Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, Bayley, American Alpha and The Revival.
Figured that might be useful for anyone interested in going.

Six-year-old Max has been diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma for the second time. He's a huge WWE fan and his family is not looking for any monetary donations but if anyone has anything related to WWE that thet would like to donate that he can play with while being treated there will be an event on 6/19 in Dublin, Ireland at the Woolshed Pub collecting donations.
Link for those interested in donating: http://www.joe.ie/life-style/video-any-wwe-fans-out-there-who-can-help-little-max-out/548483

A sad part of the Jimmy Snuka story is that the sisters of Nancy Argentino, Louise and Lorraine, were never told about the change in the hearing date (the date was changed more than a week earlier), so they could not be in the court room when Snuka was declared not mentally competent to stand trial. Not that it would have been something they’d have had a good reaction to, if they had seen it live. Essentially the case has been shelved until 12/2 when there will be another hearing to see if Snuka’s mental capacity has improved enough for him to stand trial; it won’t.

In an interesting story, Pro Wrestling Torch reported that the ownership of the name TNA was taken over by Aroluxe Media LLC on 5/3. They registered the ownership of the name TNA from May 3, 2016 to 2021. This company still owns the names TNA Wrestling and TNA Entertainment, LLC., as well as names associated with Impact Wrestling. They’ve been pushing the name Impact Wrestling over TNA to a degree for years.

TNA will be doing an almost live Impact on 6/14 as well as more tapings after that show and 6/15. When the tapings that take place next week run out, there are plans to do another semi-live taping in July and follow with several more weeks after the fact. The dates are not yet announced, but however many weeks are taped this coming week, that would indicate 7/2, 7/9 or 7/16 as the start of the next tapings, with the middle date most likely. At least some talent has been told ahead of time about a live July taping.

Ric Flair and Conrad Thompson will be going back to doing podcasts on right around 6/30 but on a new station, leaving the CBS family.

Orton was in Los Angeles this week taping an episode of the show “Shooters,” on the USA Network. Omar Epps and Ryan Phillippe are the stars and Mark Walhberg is the director. The series debuts on 7/19 at 10 p.m., or right after Smackdown on the USA Network, so it makes sense to have a WWE star on the show in an early episode. The Orton situation will be interesting, because Orton was one of the top faces on the roster, but is better as a heel. Right now, when it comes to the touring guys, the two brand leaders are clearly, at least until things change, Reigns and Cena. It makes no sense if the decision is made to go away from Reigns to have Orton in the spot. One also wonders just how full a schedule Cena is going to do, because of all the outside offers he’s getting and all the injuries. Ambrose has been put in the top position on the other tour with Cena out, but clearly has not been booked strong enough to be a brand leader with his losses to HHH and the ridiculous program in hindsight with Lesnar. You also have Wyatt who can turn in a heartbeat because people want to cheer him. There’s no rush to flip Wyatt but it is fresh, and if he does, then Orton should be on the heel side.
Basically Orton might suffer a bit with the Brand Split since the WWE already has the top stars set for each show while Ambrose has been filling in for Cena as the non-Reigns top face star for house shows not involving Cena himself.


Some other news includes:

Mattel revealed the next series of WWE action figures will be zombie related. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102582/rick-grimes-never-had-to-deal-with-walkers-like-these-first-look-at-the-wwe-zombies-action-figure-line.html?p=1
According to Yahoo, Brock Lesnar will learn next week if he will be allowed to fight at UFC 200 since that is when the results of his pre-fight drug test will be released.
ESPN's Highly Questionable show recently had a segment with Brock Lesnar: https://twitter.com/hqonespn/status/741010801805254657
CBS recently had an article dealing with how pro wrestling helped shaped Muhammed Ali's career and later helped inspire MMA's creation. http://www.cbssports.com/general/news/how-muhammad-alis-fascination-with-pro-wrestling-fueled-his-career-inspired-mma/
Apparently Seth Rollins and Bret Hart have been feuding on social media and started after Bret thought Rollins was a bit unsafe in the ring with others. Rollins got upset and lashed out at Bret while Bret recently responded saying he was only criticizing as a way to help Rollins change part of his wrestling habits. http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/716449-bret-hart-responds-to-seth-rollins-comments-about-his-criticisms-of-him-breaking-john-cenas-nose-more
According to the Observer, WWE is currently on track to not have a sell out crowd for the upcoming MitB ppv. House shows leading up to the event are also having problems with ticket sales.
Also according to the Observer, Nakaumra will not be main eventing either of the two shows for the upcoming Japan tour even though he's been advertised the most and likely the big reason why people are interested. Already confirmed the main event for both shows will be the WWE title match.

[Simple Fan]

Moose and Rodrick Strong coming to NXT would help out if NXT gets raided. I think Roddy could keep his name but I'm pretty sure they'd give Moose a new one.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Supplier of Busted Muscles:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/944f5eb6fd3c4278a475057d6d601e86/tumblr_o8he7fShD71u1ljrzo5_540.gif

Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today in New York court, with bankruptcy preceding a sale to Ziff Davis. Davis, who owns IGN and Ask Men has reportedly bid about $100 million for Gawker. Nick Denton, the owner, who is also expected to file for bankruptcy due to the $140 million award to Hulk Hogan, said, "We have been forced by this litigation to give up our long standing independence, but our writers remain committed to telling the true stories that underpin credibility with our millions of readers. With stronger backing and disentangled from litigation, they can perform their vital work on more platforms and in different forms."
Update to recent Hogan-Gawker lawsuit news.

Maria Kanellis was announced as being pulled from Sunday's Slammiversary show due to a broken hand. She was scheduled against Gail Kim.

The 6/9 episode of Smackdown did 1,996,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,169,000 viewers. It is by far the lowest number that the show has done since moving to The USA Network earlier this year.
Unlike with NFL and NBA playoff games, RAW barely suffers any real ratings effect whenever the NHL playoffs are giving in recent years.

Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan was backstage at the WWE NXT TV last night, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Bryan was visiting with the roster and watched the majority of the show from the gorilla position backstage.

It was the first time Bryan has been in attendance at a WWE event since retiring live on Raw on 2/8 in Seattle.

Bryan had been advertised since then for appearances at several live events that would have featured a "Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night" theme as well as a signing at Wrestlemania AXXESS, but was pulled from those dates at his request just as they were about to begin. At the time, WWE's comment was that Bryan had been given "requested time off."

The Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest this August in Charlotte, NC announced yesterday that WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross would be returning to the gathering to perform his One Man Show and to host a "Roast" of Ole Anderson. The gathering also announced that North Carolina women's promotion Queens of Combat would have a live event over the course of the weekend as part of the convention. Announced as appearing thus far are Tony Schiavone, Magnum TA, Mickie James, Austin Idol, Arn Anderson and more

In regard to the "who are you? chant" during NXT Takeover, we've heard from a few readers in the building that night that it was actually directed at The Authors of Pain, not Paul Ellering.
Probably didn't help Kevin Owens and at least one NXT wrestler on Twitter were fueling online backlash against the crowd when it happened. Also didn't help the camera shot focusing on just Ellering made it seem the chant was just for him.

Luke Gallows was interviewed in advance of Raw returning to New Orleans this Monday at this link. On the name, The Club being used instead of Bullet Club he noted, "We were being edgy in Japan (with the name), and there’s a bit of a language barrier. The WWE is all about family friendly entertainment. My son and I watch the WWE Network at home all the time. Going with The Club was the way we needed to go to come here and be in this environment, where your kids are watching." Obviously, New Japan owning the name had a little bit to do with it too!
Link to the interview: http://www.nola.com/festivals/index.ssf/2016/06/the_club_has_special_plans_for.html

The situation with Matt Hardy, is that they were to talk again at TV this week about signing him to an exclusive contract. As noted before, TNA has been attempting to sign talent to contracts where TNA controlled all their bookings. The key people would be The Hardys, Bobby Lashley and Drew Galloway, none of which have signed yet. It will take sizeable money to get either Hardy to give up booking themselves on indies, and Galloway seems to be doing well, particularly in the U.K. market, in handling his own bookings. But it’s the weirdest thing because of the obvious cost cutting, such as only doing two days of Impact tapings (6/13 will be tapings for Xplosion and one not only) to save money now even though it’ll cost more in the long run for having to schedule another set of tapings in just a few weeks. Plus, they are still making aggressive offers for at least some talent whose contracts are coming due.


Some other sheet news includes:

Next Stone Cold podcast episode for the WWE Network was revealed to be taking place on June 20th with AJ Styles as his guest.
Lucha Underground is currently targeting a late 2016 date for the debut of Season 3 with around 40 episodes planned to be shown and the company itself to start touring this summer. Announcement was made by the show's executive producer during a recent episode of NBC Sports Radio wrestling podcast show. https://audioboom.com/boos/4678142-lucha-underground-eric-van-wagenen
Johnny Gargano recently revealed on Twitter he will be wrestling against Cody Rhodes at EVOLVE on August 19th. https://twitter.com/JohnnyGargano/status/741485125066756096
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, New Day's upcoming MitB tag team title match will end up being their reign's 9th title defense which would put them one ppv behind the Dudleys Boys for 2nd most all-time (10 in a row). New Day currently are at 8 defenses which is tied with the Hardy Boys while the record is 15 in a row done by the New Age Outlaws.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Unfortunately for New Day (but not for fans), their title defense streak will be halted at 9.

[Cool King]

Newest episode of Botchamania was recently released: http://botchamania.com/2016/06/08/botchamania-310/

1. Botchamania is still going?
2. People still watch Botchamania?

[Lock Jaw]

Think I've only ever watched one or two of them....

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, I see Gallows & Anderson leaving Money in the Bank with the titles. I'm not sure what they do with New Day after that. New brand to set up new championships? A feud with The Wyatt Family? Do they split them up?

[Emperor Smeat]

In an interesting story, Pro Wrestling Torch reported that the ownership of the name TNA was taken over by Aroluxe Media LLC on 5/3. They registered the ownership of the name TNA from May 3, 2016 to 2021. This company still owns the names TNA Wrestling and TNA Entertainment, LLC., as well as names associated with Impact Wrestling. They’ve been pushing the name Impact Wrestling over TNA to a degree for years.

Small update to the story involves Dixie Carter staying as majority owner of TNA and the deal itself was only for ownership of the company's name. Besides ownership of the name, Aroluxe also took over all financial responsibilities for TNA going forward.

Of all the possible new investors and/or owners, they were the only one willing to accept TNA's demand of leaving Dixie in charge.

According to PW Torch, Aroluxe Marketing now owns the “TNA” name. They took ownership of the name but not the entire company. Dixie Carter’s company still owns the names of Impact Ventures, TNA Entertainment, and TNA Wrestling. Carter also remains the majority owner of the company, despite the Aroluxe Marketing group’s ownership of the TNA name itself.

Aroluxe Marketing can now do business under the name of TNA, according to PWInsider. They, too, claim that Carter remains the owner of the company itself.

It was reported several times over the last few months that an investor was helping TNA with their television tapings by flying in talent and helping with hotel stay a bit. Apparently, the Harris brothers were behind this. The brothers and especially their employees have been overseeing production for TNA, as well. Aroluxe is also responsible for TNA’s payroll duties and will remain working with TNA on production for the Impact Wrestling tapings.
http://www.inquisitr.com/3193561/tna-news-aroluxe-marketing-now-owns-tna-dixie-carter-stays-on-as-majority-owner-of-company/

[Simple Fan]

That's probably the worst deal they had on the table as well but since Dixie get to keep control they took it. Don't see why you would want the TNA name. This might turn into rebranding the company Impact Wrestling if things fall out with Aroluxe.

[Simple Fan]

Smashing Pumpkins frontman and long-time professional wrestling fan and creative mind Billy Corgan has purchased a minority share of TNA Wrestling, according to a new report from PWInsider.com. Corgan, 49, has been with the company for a little over a year already, working backstage in Creative and Talent Development.

There have been rumors and speculation for months about TNA looking to sell ownership to keep Impact Wrestling afloat in the U.S., however persistence from current company President Dixie Carter on maintaining her majority share in the promotion have ultimately materialized nothing – until now. This deal will obviously see Corgan’s decision-making powers within TNA increase dramatically, while Carter retains majority owner.

[Simple Fan]

Dixie still majority owner so I do look for any thing to get better.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Raw gif:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/9c468b008fa495d99a70df700d79aa28/tumblr_o8qjxxHsew1saykaxo1_400.gif

It finally happened. Thanks, in part, to going head-to-head with Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the June 13th edition of WWE Raw fell below the 3 million viewer mark for the first time outside of football season.

The show did 2.96 million viewers -- the second lowest for a non-holiday episode of the show since 1997, as there was a show in November that did 2.95 million viewers. The prior seasonal record low was 3.12 million viewers, and while the rating isn't out as of this writing, it should equate to a 2.1 or 2.2 rating ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.04 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.11 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.76 million viewers
For some comparisons, the Cavs-Warriors game had ten times more viewers watching on average.

TNA usually announces the newest member of its Hall of Fame at the Slammiversary show, but there is talk the announcement will be delayed until Tuesday night's Impact and teased tonight.
Rumors were pointing at Jeff Hardy as being the likely choice but ...

The newest member of the TNA Hall of Fame is Gail Kim.

Kim, a multi-time Knockouts champion, helped put the Knockouts promotion on the map for TNA, specifically with her feud against Awesome Kong
Spoiler tag used since its meant to be revealed during this week's Impact show.

A very controversial interview from Rene Dupree and also quotes from the former Rodney Mack regarding Chris Nowinski and his business relationship with WWE which Nowinski has said has no foundation here.
Dupree trashed Nowinski for having close financial ties to the WWE who are similar to the NFL in regards to fighting efforts against concussion-based research. Also for the lack of deceased pro wrestlers brains being among the brains donated for research. http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2016/06/11/cozy-ties-between-concussion-foundation-and-wwe-cause-concerns/QNUhqzfn79EUPcB5GIH7nK/story.html?event=event25

Cody Rhodes and Jushin Liger are scheduled to appear for Northeast Wrestling on 8/28 in Bethany, CT.

Cody Rhodes vs. Tommaso Ciampa is scheduled for 9/18 for XWA in Providence, RI at the John Hope Center.

The Fight Network announced today a deal to get the AXS version of New Japan World Pro Wrestling with Jim Ross and Josh Barnett as announcers. The shows will air on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. starting on 7/7.

While this hasn’t been confirmed yet, numerous websites and personalities have said that the reason the NWA President Bruce Tharpe was at NXT Takeover: The End and meeting with Triple H was over the WWE looking to acquire a new library. And the library is an important one.

Supposedly, the WWE is attempting to acquire the Houston Wrestling library. Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling is one of the biggest and most important libraries the WWE doesn’t already own, and with a little more classic content appearing on the service lately and major shows close to being completed with classic content likely to be focused on even more going forward, it only makes sense that the company would need more content.

Of course, they have a hundred thousand hours and then some of content not yet available, but WWE is preserving history and truly becoming the library for pro wrestling and with this, they take one step closer toward that goal. Beyond that, Mike Johnson of PWInsider had mentioned months ago that the company was looking at international libraries. And finally, Les Thatcher is in talks with WWE as the company is attempting to obtain the Heartland Wrestling Association library from 2000 and 2001 during the period the company acted as a developmental system for WWE.
http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2016/06/14/rumor-wwe-acquiring-a-big-old-school-library/

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, WWE has been reaching out to a number of former talents over the last several days, checking on their interest in coming back to work for the company once the brand split takes place this July. So, as much as there is talk of raiding the NXT brand for new talents, the company is also looking into bringing back tenured veteran talents as well.

The 8/20 WWE NXT Takeover event has been appropriately titled "Back to Brooklyn." The event will air the night before Summerslam live on the WWE Network from The Barclays Center.

WWE star Neville is expected back from his broken ankle within the next month, PWInsider.com has learned. The hope internally is he will return by the end of June, but he is expected back no later than mid-July.

Charges against former WWE star Raymond " Adam Rose" Leppan were dropped by prosecutors in Florida and the case against him is now closed, reported TMZ.com today. The decision was made after Leppan provided proof he was getting assistance for his marital issues.
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102695/all-charges-against-former-wwe-star-raymond-adam-rose-leppan-dropped.html?p=1

While PWInsider.com has not independently confirmed the report, the belief among sources within WWE at the time the planned July split was announced was that the company would add additional Network specials/PPVs to accomodate the split roster.
Update regarding the rumor of WWE expanding the amount of ppvs.


Some other sheet news includes:

Al Snow was a recent guest on Hannibal TV speaking about the infamous Kennel From Hell match he had with Big Bossman. Pretty much blamed Vince Russo for the idea and ignoring the plea for the dogs to be trained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84CQ374LenA&spfreload=5
Website NewsItem.com had a recent interview with Mick Foley in regards to his new show on the WWE Network. http://www.newsitem.com/news/2016-06-12/Sports/Holy_Foley__the_Foley_family_films_reality_show_at.html
WWE announced a new match for the upcoming MitB ppv which will be Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler and will occur on the pre-show. Also announced for the MitB card itself is Sheamus vs Apollo Crews.
Chris Jericho was revealed to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
WWE revealed Sasha Banks, Ultimate Warrior, and John Cena as the first wrestlers for WWE 2k17's roster. https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/742794267634995200
Goldberg was announced to be a guest for next week's episode of the Steve Austin Show podcast.

[Lock Jaw]

WWE announced a new match for the upcoming MitB ppv which will be Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler and will occur on the pre-show.


:lol:

[Triple A]

Jesus

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Association of Wrestlers Against Cheese People:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgNuUxOUEAEdMOh.jpg

Dave says TNA was in an absolute crisis situation. Dean Broadhead, the BUSINESS HEAD of TNA, wrote on facebook this week that on Thursday and Friday he logged over 80 business calls with "attorneys, accountants, vendors, bankers, employees" and said it may be time for him to retire, but not until everything is in the right place. When asked why he had to make all those calls, Dean said he had twelve hours to secure financing for TNA, so that production trucks could come ...

Dave says he thought TNA had money for this TV taping, but apparently they didn't have enough. Dave brings up again that TNA was originally going to tape not just Monday through Wednesday this week, but an extra month of Impact on Thursday and Friday, and canceled plans for those last two days to save money short term ...

Dave says this was where Billy Corgan came in, and while he doesn't know all the details, TNA had some loans to Aroluxe that needed to be paid back, and seeing as how they run production, "they control all the equipment". Dave makes it sound like these tapings wouldn't have happened without Corgan paying off Aroluxe ...

Dave says the big problem for TNA coming up, beyond finding money for the NEXT TV tapings, is that sooner or later they have to go to India to fill their once a year obligation to Sony Six. The problem is that while Sony Six will pay some of the costs, they're not going to pay all of them. Dave says a trip to India is very very expensive for TNA, but at the same time, not doing the shows puts them in danger of losing Sony Six, which is one of their key revenue streams. Dave says not only was last year's India tapings canceled, but this year's have already been delayed once.
From the Observer's forums about TNA's issues during a recent Observer Radio show. If TNA was in a dire situation now, they pretty much are screwed once the India tour happens in terms of finances.

Mattel will be releasing the first ever action figure of the legendary former NWA United States champion Magnum TA as part of it's WWE Elite Legends action figure line.

Also featured in the line will be Kamala, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior and Chris Jericho.

Magnum was slated to be featured in a previous Legends of Wrestling toy line produced by Jakks Pacific several years ago but when the initial releases did not sell well, the line was scrapped.

ROH made a big announcement today, that they will be returning to the famed Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City for their biggest PPV of the year, Final Battle. This will mark the first time ROH has run the building since 2014. The company has declined to use the Hammerstein due to increasing facility rental costs, but recently decided to head back to the building. The Hammerstein Ballroom will now be the site of all of ROH's future NYC shows.

TNA will be rebroadcasting last night's Gold Rush show tonight on Pop TV. Apparently there were some technical difficulties due to weather that prevented the show to be seen in its entirety in certain markets. That show will at 9pm eastern tonight.

The 6/14 edition of Impact, which aired at 10:50 PM was understandly down this week, bringing in 210,000 viewers. They were down from 326,000 viewers last week. The episode will air again tonight at 9 PM as the technical issues were on Pop's end.

As noted several days ago on PWInsider.com, WWE filed a trademark for the name "Legion of Doom", a moniker used by WWE Hall of Fame tag team The Road Warriors during their careers and used as their primary team name during their initial WWE run in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

With the appearance of Paul Ellering as the mouthpiece for NXT team The Authors of Pain, there was speculation the name might be used by WWE for that team. That speculation is now rendered moot as WWE abandoned the trademark application on 6/13.

During his latest episode of the Ross Report podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced he had signed on board to produce a new film, currently titled " 6:05 On The SuperStation! " The film will be produced in conjunction with the team responsible for the "Mid-Atlantic Memories" documentary that debuted last summer. Ross narrated that film.

The "feel-good film" will cover the 20-year period in time -- late 1960s to late 1980s -- "when folks down south were glued to their TV sets at 6:05 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays",

There was a good reason why the TNA Hall of Famer didn't leak in advance: no one knew who it was. TNA didn't tell anyone who the Hall of Famer was beyond a very small group of people. We are told that Gail Kim didn't know she was being announced as the new Hall of Famer until Dixie Carter announced it during last night's taping.

According to pwinsider.com, WWE has applied for a number of trademarks for “Clash of Champions.” One of the trademarks is for a television show. With the news of the brand split, and rumors of more PPVs/WWE Network specials going around, this will likely cause a lot of speculation.

She says she enjoyed her programs with Trish Stratus, Brie Bella, Lita and Jacqueline Moore. Having the privilege to get in the ring without being a wrestler is an honor to her. She says the decision to get back in the ring isn't up to her, it's up to the 'decision maker.' She says that as long as it helps get somebody over, that's the ultimate goal of her character.

Being a heel is her preference over being a babyface. Heels getting their comeuppance is her favorite part, according to her. She cited Sable and Chris Jericho as doing that.
Highlights from a recent Q&A session Stephanie McMahon had on Facebook. www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0615/612693/stephanie-mcmahon-says-the-purpose-of-her-character-is-getting/

The participants in this year’s G-1 Climax tournament will be announced at the 6/27 Korakuen Hall show

Stu Bennett, who was Wade Barrett in WWE, on Twitter when talking about Barrett said “the other guy is dead and buried.” He’s been mostly talking soccer. He has interest in getting a job as a soccer analyst

SummerSlam as a live event at the Barclays Center is listing a 6 p.m. Eastern start time. Usually they would list a 7 p.m. start time for the pre-show, so it looks like they will start the PPV at 7 p.m. and do a four-hour or longer show. As noted last week, WWE has sent notices to PPV carriers that some shows going forward may go past 11 p.m. Eastern

WWE really wanted Will Ospreay for the cruiserweight tournament. He signed a two-year contract with New Japan, so it didn’t happen. There was actually talk in recent weeks of WWE trying to still get him even with knowledge he was under contract, perhaps even trying to work through New Japan


Some other sheet news includes:

Observer's Dave Meltzer daily Q&A session on Twitter focused today on the WWE and ad rates. Apparently the WWE gets around $50 million yearly for the 3rd hour of RAW from USA Network, likely would be posting fiscal report losses if it wasn't for the extra hour, and the Network would need an extra 500k subscribers just to make up the loss if RAW ever went back to 2 hours. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=207134613&postcount=8109
Cena was a recent guest on the Maya & Marty comedy show with a skit involving him playing as Hogan making fun of both Hogan's sex tape and the Gawker trial. http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2016/6/15/11945204/john-cena-as-hulk-hogan-cutting-sex-tape-promo-gawker-video-nbc-maya-marty
Zack Ryder is currently offering free autographs as a gift for those who order his new shirt on WWE's online shop. https://twitter.com/ZackRyder/status/743112119260942336
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 10th anniversary of Cena-RVD WWE title match at ECW One Night Stand 2006 and the "If Cena Wins, We Riot" poster. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4o8l6l/10_years_ago_today_if_cena_wins_wewell_nothing
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin with topics including Vince originally being against Austin doing middle fingers, running a beer company, and the infamous walkout incident in 2002. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/06/13/stone-cold-steve-austin-wwe-ipa-what-chant
Recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast show had Damien Sandow as its guest. Sandow revealed after the Hogan racism backlash, he wanted to tweak his gimmick to be a general parody of the 1980s. http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=1656887
Next NXT special was revealed to be called "NXT Takeover Brooklyn II" and like almost every other Takeover event, tickets sold out very quickly. Logo for the event was also revealed: http://i.imgur.com/nuvo3A9.jpg

[Stocky]

Love what your doing mate.

[Cool King]

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, WWE has been reaching out to a number of former talents over the last several days, checking on their interest in coming back to work for the company once the brand split takes place this July. So, as much as there is talk of raiding the NXT brand for new talents, the company is also looking into bringing back tenured veteran talents as well.

I can't wait.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/f/f6/StevieRichards.png/revision/latest?cb=20131029035213

[Cool King]

We'll probably see Chris Masters come back.

Which is good.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's newest signee Not Sure About Anything Anderson:
http://puu.sh/o3Mpv.gif

TNA star Rockstar Spud had several teeth kicked out by an errant kick during a match at tonight's TNA Impact Wrestling taping.

Spud wrote on Twitter:

Had my teeth kicked in tonight....Great ????
Thanks to the great doctors backstage in Orlando
— Rockstar Spud (@RockstarSpud) June 16, 2016

Evolve has announced an 8/20 show in Brooklyn at Saint Finbar's Roman Catholic Church, which will be hours before the NXT show that night at the Barclays Center.
Some details regarding stuff and storylines going into the event: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102758/details-on-evolves-summerslam-weekend-brooklyn-matinee-talents-finished-up-and-more-evolve-news.html?p=1

The WWE held a press event in Shanghai earlier today with Michelle Wilson, John Cena, Jay Li (Vice President and General Manager of WWE's Shanghai office), Paul Levesque, as well as PPTV's Stephen Zhang and Shanghai Expo's Ding Hao present.

Up to this point, WWE had just a one hour edited version of Raw as its only television available in much of the country. The shows will air in Mandarin, and WWE will also debut a Mandarin language website.

PPTV and PPTV Sports will stream the shows on Smart TVs, set-top boxes, mobile devices, and tablets, as well as their websites. There will also be specialized Chinese programming on those services.

On the in-ring side, Bin Wang is now under a developmental deal, the first wrestler of Chinese ancestry to be with the promotion. Often known as Wang Bin, he has been a regular undercard wrestler for Antonio Inoki's IGF promotion in Japan. The Inoki group first reported on his signing with WWE Wednesday night and wished him well. He starts this weekend with the promotion.

In conjunction with the news, WWE has reached a deal with Expo Group as live promoters, and announced a 9/10 live event at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai.

ROH announced today that ACH would make his debut in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH as part of the promotion's Junior Heavyweight tag team tournament, teaming with Taiji Ishimori. The tournament kicks off on 7/10.

Gilberto Melendez, known to professional wrestling fans under a multitude of names but most notably as Gypsy Joe passed away at the age of 82 years old last night after a storied career that saw him appear everywhere from the WWWF to Ring of Honor to Japan to CZW and beyond.

Joe had one of the longest careers in the business, breaking into wrestling in the early 1950 and wrestling well into the 2000s, only retiring after a portion of his foot was amputated. He last wrestled in 2010, facing Yoshihiro Tajiri in Japan for Tajiri's SMASH promotio

There could be a lot of newsworthy events either on Money in the Bank or in the next few weeks since The Wyatt Family, Neville and Randy Orton are all scheduled to return over the next several weeks. Finn Balor has been talked about as well, but that could also be delayed for the draft, when it’s expected that a lot of the NXT stars will start appearing. The ticket sales have picked up in the last week and they are expecting a sellout with a 13,000-seat configuration at the new T Mobile Arena, the same site as UFC 200 and 202.

Lesnar is one of the company’s two biggest stars and his entire aura is based on being legit. To risk him in an unscripted fight is one thing. No doubt UFC is paying millions for it, and maybe the money UFC is paying WWE is worth the risk. But in doing so, WWE is admitting that they are the secondary company, in the sense they’d allow someone to use their top guy to get their own product over. It’s not Ronda Rousey being linked in an angle with The Rock and being put over strong, which only helped her, as Rousey’s next PPV main did 300,000 more buys. That’s not saying it was because of Mania or The Rock, but it surely helped her with a new fan base. This is Rousey being brought in and UFC agreeing to let her lose to Stephanie McMahon.
From the recent Observer Newsletter about the WWE being potentially the big losers in the upcoming Lesnar-Hunt fight in regards to Lesnar's star power value.

According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Big Damo, Noam Dar, Moose and Tommy End are all expected to be part of the September class at the WWE Performance Center if they pass their medicals. WWE is getting aggressive in looking to sign more talent, due to the upcoming brand split and the feeling that so many of the NXT performers are going to be moved up soon. Right now they want experienced wrestlers who they can use on tours as opposed getting athletes and teach them to be pro wrestlers from scratch.

The Steiner Brothers’ new Shoney’s restaurant in Acworth, GA, opened in April. Scott Steiner did an interview with Franchise Times and said the goal is to open more restaurants including near the new Atlanta stadium

Damien Sandow is going back to his old ring name of Aaron Stevens on the indies. He used the name Aaron Stevens prior to WWE and after WWE, while Sandow is a name that he only used in WWE. He’s also done the stunt double act on the indies

David Otunga, who has been working on the Raw pre-show, will be doing commentary with Tom Phillips on Main Event and Superstars going forward

Cena appeared on the NBC show “Maya and Marty” on 6/14. He’s been getting a lot of bookings on NBC shows as it appears the network is looking at building him as a mainstream personality. He’s done well with frequent guest hosting segments on The Today Show


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent episode of Welcome to CT podcadt had Eric Bischoff as its guest. http://welcomect.com/episode_117_eric_bischoff_buffalo_bill_cody_beer_ken_tuccio.htm
WWE released a new WWE warehouse episode on their Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT6vWriKhew
Bray Wyatt revealed on Facebook he has been using the time off recovering from an injury to also lose a lot of weight. https://www.facebook.com/BrayWyattWWE/photos/a.460724857344329.1073741828.460722134011268/1051362428280566/?type=3&theater
WWE Shop revealed a new special edition Seth Rollins shirt is currently available for purchase: https://twitter.com/WWEShop/status/743503467134713856
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, only 7 wrestlers since 1978 who managed to win the WWE title never had a reign as WWE tag team champs. They are Sheamus, Mr McMachon, Brock Lesnar, Physco Sid, Macho Man, Sgt. Slaughter, and Ultimate Warrior.
Candice LeRae recently teased on Twitter she will be revealing some big news regarding her career soon with rumors teasing she got signed by Lucha Underground recently.
According to the Observer, recent house show tour attendance numbers revealed Dean Ambrose as a headliner managed to generate the same amount of sales as Roman Reigns for shows. Also based on past numbers, Reigns still has yet to reach Cena-like levels as the WWE's top star.
Alex Riley rumored to be signing with TNA soon based on his recent Twitter activity. Started to follow several big TNA executives recently.
According to a report from Japan, NJPW is rumored to be working on a new deal for North American coverage of the company. https://twitter.com/enuhito_eng/status/743341638739623936
According to the Observer, Triple H currently considers "The Perfect 10" Tye Dillinger the most "underrated" guy the WWE has in development. Also apparently the reason La Sombra/Andrade Cien Almas no longer wears a mask is due to the WWE thinking he's too beautiful to wear one.

[Cool King]

Evolve has announced an 8/20 show in Brooklyn at Saint Finbar's Roman Catholic Church, which will be hours before the NXT show that night at the Barclays Center.

Will their next show after that be in a Mosque?

[slik]

Bray has lost a lot of weight!

[slik]

http://i.imgur.com/b6Jyh5S.jpg

[Cool King]

http://imagesmtv-a.akamaihd.net/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:mtv.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/andrethegiant-gif.gif

[Sepholio]

Best shape I've seen Husky Harris in in my entire life.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kevin Nash's Quads Appreciation Friday:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/569c52a069492e9dd52a1387/569c52a0df40f311e71be2df/1453085365454/jackknife.gif

Raw for May averaged a 2.27 rating and 3.26 million viewers. That’s down from a 2.66 rating and 3.69 million viewers last year, or a 10.9 percent ratings decline and an 11.7 percent viewer decline. The 2014 numbers were 2.81 and 3.91 million and 2013 was a 2.89 rating and 4.04 million viewers.
Some yearly ratings comparisons to show how dire things are becoming for the WWE in regards to ratings. The yearly decline amount has been around the same range (250k-500k) since end of the Attitude Era except the "record low ratings" shows have started to occur earlier every year for the past couple of years.

According to WWE.com, the Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin and Sheamus vs. Apollo Crews matches will now be on the main card of Money in the Bank.

Officially added to the WWE Money in the Bank PPV Kickoff Show this Sunday:

*Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. Goldust & R-Truth.

*The Lucha Dragons vs. The Dudley Boyz.

The 6/16 edition of Smackdown did 2,073,000 viewers, up from last week's low of 1,996,000 viewers.
What helped a bit was the Cavs-Warriors NBA Finals game being around 3 million viewers lower than it was last year around the same time.

TNA announced on their twitter that they have re-signed Abyss, Rosemary, Zema Ion and Al Snow.

Proud to announce @TherealAbyss @TNA_Rosemary @ZemaTNA @TheRealAlSnow have Re-Signed with IMPACT pic.twitter.com/w7tW9g0Onp
— TNA WRESTLING (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 17, 2016

The 6/15 replay of TNA Impact Wrestling garnered 117,000 viewers after being added to the cable network as a result of the technical issues the night before.

The 6/14 edition of Impact, which ended up airing at 10:50 PM due to weather issues preventing the "live" episode from being sent out via satellite from Pop's master control in Atlanta GA brought in 210,000 viewers.

So, the total viewership was 327,000 viewers, which added up, means Impact was up a tiny amount from 326,000 viewers the previous week.

For those of you that could not watch this week’s Impact Wrestling because of broadcast issues with Pop TV this past Tuesday and you missed the replay on Wednesday, Pop TV has posted the episode online for a limited time.

FloCombat's Jeremy Botter reported on Twitter that he'd heard that Lesnar would be allowed to use his WWE theme for his UFC walk-out. During his previous UFC run, Lesnar entered to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica.
https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/743815460043423745

Lucha Underground Co-Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph was recently a guest on The Ross Report with Jim Ross. He stated that there has been some talk internally about extending the show from one hour to 90 minutes. "[90 minutes] is like the perfect time to get all the stories you need to in, great matches, give matches some time, and at the same time, not overdo it and keep me interested to come back next week." DeJoseph added, "the 90 minutes would be perfect. Have we talked about it? Sure. It's something that we would love to have. But in a way, I enjoy the one hour because it goes by so fast. The next thing you know, it's like, 'gosh, I have to wait a-whole-nother week for it?' And I think that's a good thing to have happen."

Stephanie McMahon - From growing up a McMahon to ultimately becoming chief brand officer in WWE, Stephanie McMahon's story is one of female empowerment in a predominately male oriented business. Stephanie worked through different departments at WWE including the creative team and became one of the most captivating on-screen characters in WWE history.

Hardy Boyz (Match Compilation) - The Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff, were born to wrestle, starting in their early days jumping on a trampoline to ultimately rising through the ranks of WWE. Matt and Jeff are the perfect combination of high flying and ground attack that dazzled the WWE Universe. Their matches were legendary, now you get a chance to own them.

The Kevin Owens Experience - Now's your chance to follow Kevin Owens around in his daily routine to find out what makes the "Prizefighter" tick. Listen as he recalls honing his craft on the independents before coming to WWE.

Best of 1997: 20th Anniversary - A look back at the year 1997. It was the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, the birth of DX, the summer of the Hart Foundation and the debut of Kane. And who could forget the infamous Montreal Screwjob?

Shane McMahon Biography - Shane McMahon, the fourth generation of the legendary McMahon family, sits down for the first time ever to tell his story.

Roman Reigns - Roman Reigns has burst on the scene to become one of the biggest Superstars to date, but it's no surprise that his historical lineage has set him up for greatness.

Cruiserweight Championship: 20 Years Later - A match compilation looking back at the legacy of the Cruiserweight Championship and its roots in WCW, creating the likes of Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mystery and Dean Malenko.

The Rise of NXT / OVW - In recent years NXT has emerged as an incredible box office draw for WWE with sold out live events and Network specials. Watch WWE's "developmental" system churn out future Hall of Fame Superstars like John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Kevin Owens, Charlotte and more.

Masters of the Mic - Countdown of the top 25 talkers in WWE history – Stone Cold, Dusty Rhodes, Chris Jericho, The Rock, Mick Foley, Paul Heyman – they're all here!

Goldberg - Who's next? "The Man" sit down with WWE to break his silence. A compilation of all-new interviews and career-spanning matches.
Possible DVD/BR sets the WWE is currently considering for next year's lineup based on a recent survey sent.


Some other sheet news includes:

Nikki Bella recently revealed on Twitter besides recovering from her injury, Daniel Bryan is currently helping her work on a new finisher in case she is able to continue her in-ring career within the near future. https://twitter.com/BellaTwins/status/743809157514420224
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Ric Flair has never managed to find out what his real birth name is due to the very shady circumstances regarding his early childhood. Believes his first name is Fred but doesn't know what his real last name is. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4okp2b/til_that_ric_flair_has_no_idea_what_his_birth/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, the man known as Vader, Leon White, wasn't the original choice for the Vader gimmick and instead the man known as Ultimate Warrior, Jim Hellwig, was NJPW's first choice prior to him getting hired by the WWF. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4oj8ac/til_the_ultimate_warrior_was_originally_going_to/

[Simple Fan]

Would totally buy the Rise of NXT DVD. Hope they make that one.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

They already have NXT's greatest matches Vol1

[Simple Fan]

Yeah but a Rise of NXT where they interview different people about the evolution of FCW into NXT and the success that NXT had had would be pretty good. I can use the Network to watch great matches.

[Emperor Smeat]

Paige ended up being involved in an incident yesterday that ended up with police being needed and her being sent to a hospital.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has confirmed that Paige was taken to the hospital last night … and the reason she was in handcuffs was because she was detained by police shortly beforehand.

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department tells us police were outside of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas last night for an unrelated incident when they were flagged down for a female who was seen running into the streets. After authorities caught up with the woman she was quickly detained, and officers determined that she needed to be taken to the hospital for undisclosed reasons.

Sources tell us the woman was Paige, but law enforcement was unable to verify the woman’s name due to HIPAA laws. It’s unclear if she’s still hospitalized but Paige does not appear to be in police custody at this point.
http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/paige-detained-police-taken-hospital-medical-evaluation/

[Volare]

It appears that one reason for WWE taking the title off of Roman Reigns may be due to house show business. WWE live event attendance in May had dropped from 5,600 last year to 3,900 this year, which is a 30% decline. While John Cena had been out of action, the A and B house show tours had been doing close to the same numbers. The B shows are usually the smaller towns and venues, and were headlined by Dean Ambrose. On this morning’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer had the following to say…

“Last month the ‘B’ shows with Dean Ambrose, that were often in smaller markets, were drawing just as well as the ‘A’ shows with Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns is drawing really bad. Before he wasn’t, but now he is, so now it’s an issue. Does that mean that it led to this [title change], or is this just another way to get Roman Reigns more over, because that’s been the goal for the last however long? Time will tell.”


Heh, don't know what to honestly believe on that.

[Cool King]

Out of those DVD choices, I'd like to see the Cruiserweight Championship one.

[Cool King]

Paige ended up being involved in an incident yesterday that ended up with police being needed and her being sent to a hospital.


http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/paige-detained-police-taken-hospital-medical-evaluation/

Just read more into that and apparently she had an argument with Del Rio.

[Savio]

Stephanie says she enjoyed her programs with Trish Stratus, Brie Bella, Lita and Jacqueline Moore. Having the privilege to get in the ring without being a wrestler is an honor to her. She says the decision to get back in the ring isn't up to her, it's up to the 'decision maker.' She says that as long as it helps get somebody over, that's the ultimate goal of her character.Who ever gets over with steph? Someone please remind me.

[Corkscrewed]

HHH.


...in bed.

[Mercenary]

HHH.


...in bed.


heyyyyyyyoooooooooo

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Giving the gift of Becky ... drink it in, everyone:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/2a237e61b18a174d30b45f2f63d03780/tumblr_o91pbuutUt1saykaxo1_400.gif

Backstage reports are claiming because of his position as a top guy in the company, Roman Reigns will be allowed to appear on the next Monday Night Raw and will actually be 'written off' WWE television until the Battleground PPV. Plans are to still continue with the triple threat match.
Update to the Reigns suspension story according to the sheets. WWE had the chance to write him off during tonight's Smackdown instead but decided to send him home till next week's RAW.

The hot Raw show and the match to determine the top contender in the third hour proved that if the show is good and has a strong main event, the audience will largely stick with it.

Raw did its best numbers since April 11, eight days after WrestleMania, doing 3.47 million viewers, up from the seasonal lowest mark since 1997 of 2.96 million the week before, a 17 percent increase over the week.

Among the reasons for the increase was lack of television competition, with no major sports and nothing on network TV that did more than 7.1 million viewers. Raw had been hurt in recent weeks particularly by the NBA playoffs and to a lesser extent the NHL playoffs, and Dancing With the Stars. Raw ended up third for the night on cable behind Rizzoli & Isles and Major Crimes on TNT and second in the 18-49 demo behind Love & Hip Hop Atlanta.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.42 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.56 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.42 million viewer

Besides no real sports competition, the 3rd hour having very little drop off is another big positive for the WWE this week.

Kurt Angle was on Mark Madden's radio show today and said that he has talked with HHH about coming back to WWE. The conversation took place six weeks ago and he said he didn't know when he was coming in. That's an about-face on Angle who the company had no talked with even though he's been a free agent since the end of January and they wouldn't even talk with him the year earlier when he was a free agent. As noted the WWE has been very aggressive of late when it comes to contacting talent, including people that in the past they had shown no interest in. They are looking to make as big a bang as possible over the next month leading to the brand launch. However, a few of the names who have been mentioned as being talked with have told us that their names on the list are incorrect, but they are people under contract to TNA or Lucha Underground. They were looking at introducing people ASAP, including before the draft takes place. The only names we can report that were called are MVP, Carlito and Stevie Richards, but that's the tip of the iceberg.
Highlight from the radio show: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102863/kurt-angle-says-hes-spoken-with-vince-mcmahon-triple-h-about-returning-to-wwe.html?p=1

The RAW replay on SyFy Friday night did 413,000 viewers, on par with what it’s been doing. As usual, it was the highest rated show for the night on that network.

Jerry Lawler appeared on Cerrito live, a sports talk show in Memphis, and said that because of who he was, he was actually never placed in a jail cell. He said he hung around with the jail staff during his mandatory cooling off period. He said he hung around with the police and it felt like he was watching a live 12 hour police movie. He said he considers what happened late Thursday night/Friday morning a private matter but his fiance called 911 and then hung up, so the police came. He said nobody had any physical marks and reiterated that she was trying to leave and he thought she had too much to drunk and shouldn't be driving. She said it was a shouting match and a lot of what was claimed to have been said actually wasn't said such as him telling her to shoot herself. He claimed she said things that were never said to the police.
Besides a restraining order being placed for the two, the judge for the case stated the next hearing will occur on July 1st.

The 32 competitors in the cruiserweight tournament as well as some alternates are in Orlando right now. They are shooting personality profiles and undergoing complete physicals. The first round will be shot on Thursday and air over a number of weeks in July, with it being a weekly one hour show on the WWE Network, airing on Wednesday nights after NXT.

Former WCW & WWE star Marc Mero underwent heart surgery last week in Cleveland to have his aorta replaced and install a heart valve. Best of luck to him in his recovery.

We’ve got new information regarding an incident involving Paige and Las Vegas police last night after WWE’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view. After investigating the situation and receiving a tip from a reader close to the situation, here’s what we know:

This was not a segment for Total Divas and there was no camera crew present. Paige and Alberto Del Rio were arguing outside of Cesar’s Palace hotel & casino. Paige tried to run across the street on Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd. Police were present and Paige was handcuffed ‘for her own safety.’

She was then sent to a local medical facility (either UMC or Sunrise Hospital) for a “mental evaluation” (often referred to as “Legal 2000”), which allows authorities to detain someone who may be a danger to themselves or others. She was not arrested.
Update to yesterday's news regarding a recent incident involving Paige.

Cody Rhodes will get to cross another name off his list as he'll face Jushin Liger for the first time for Northeast Wrestling on 8/28 in Bethany, CT. For ticket information, visit www.NortheastWrestling.com.

WWE Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios gave a presentation on the company earlier today at the Bernstein Global Future of Media & Telecom Summit in Boston, MA. The most newsworthy piece of information passed on was when the company's current major television deals are currently set to expire.

The NBC Universal deal is currently set to expire the third quarter of 2019 while the company's TV deals in Great Britain and India are slated to expire in the fourth quarter of that year.

TNA today announced the signing of Chelsea Green, who was trained by Lance Storm and appeared in the 2015 season of WWE Tough Enough.

As seen at Sunday's WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view, Natalya turned on Becky Lynch after their tag team loss to Dana Brooke and WWE Women's Champion Charlotte.

Original plans had Becky turning heel. No word yet on why plans were changed.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to Dave Meltzer on Twitter, WWE is currently worth between $1.2 to $1.4 billion if they were to be sold right now. The tweets were in response to recent news of UFC getting sold for around $4.2 billion. https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/745057112963768321 https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/745052554271219712
For those wondering why Cesaro wears tape on his shoulder, website Rock Tape had an interview with Ceasro with topics including the reason for the tape. http://www.rocktape.com/meet-a-rocktape-wwe-star-antonio-cesaro/
WWE is currently debunking reports about next year's Royal Rumble occurring in Los Angeles. Rumors started after people alleged the WWE revealed the location during a recent press conference.
Alberto Del Rio ended up suffering a bruised bone during Sunday's MitB ppv with the WWE having precautionary x-rays done to ensure nothing was broken.
WWE is currently teasing Randy Orton will be making his return by late August while Miz is currently teased to be returning from filming this weekend.

[Lock Jaw]

Glad they didn't turn Becky heel.

[DaveWadding]

Heel Becky would make the LunchBunch v sad.

[Cool King]

....The only names we can report that were called are MVP, Carlito and Stevie Richards, but that's the tip of the iceberg.

Yessss!

As we reported in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, WWE has been reaching out to a number of former talents over the last several days, checking on their interest in coming back to work for the company once the brand split takes place this July. So, as much as there is talk of raiding the NXT brand for new talents, the company is also looking into bringing back tenured veteran talents as well.I can't wait.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/prowrestling/images/f/f6/StevieRichards.png/revision/latest?cb=20131029035213

[Mr. Nerfect]

Stevie Richards will turn the WWE around. You'll see.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Becky has got more merchandise to flog. It doesn't make sense to turn her yet. She can be a babyface on the opposite brand to Sasha and Bayley.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma Wednesday:
http://i.imgur.com/DcpZ0J1.gif

WWE has not officially released any information about the Roman Reigns suspension past that there was a violation, the first for Anoa’i, and that he is suspended for a 30 day period from 6/21 to 7/20. The WWE policy is that all violations are made public, but that the substance involved or nature of the violation is kept confidential. Sources with knowledge of the situation noted to us that this was a recent violation. WWE has at times gotten positive test results and waited months at times to announce and suspend the particulars. Sometimes it has to do with investigating and allowing the talent the chance to explain their actions. Sometimes it has to do with certain timing issues. It is not against company policy, and has been done regularly when key talent violates the policy, to tie up storylines before announcing and starting suspensions.
Current speculation is Reigns failed the test somewhere between last Tuesday and last Sunday with the WWE only making a decision on what to do prior to the MitB ppv itself. Also only made the decision to actually suspended him until yesterday.

There was a schedule floating around the Internet that listed dates for the rest of the year. What we do know is that every date and place listed on that schedule is accurate and confirmed aside from three shows. And those shows make sense given the statement Jerry Lawler made about brand exclusive PPV shows except four times a year ...

For the rest of the year, the schedule lists SummerSlam on 8/21 at the Barclays Center; a Smackdown exclusive Network special called Backlash on 9/11 from Richmond, VA which will not air on any regular PPV carriers ... What gives credence to this list is WWE just took out a trademark for Clash of the Champions, the 9/11 date being network exclusive means they couldn’t lock in the date due to timing with U.S. providers because of the late change (PPV providers want all materials to them at least 90 days before the show); plus the dates and sites for 8/21, 9/25, 10/30, 11/20 and 12/18 are all accurate.

Former ROH champion Roderick Strong will be finishing up with ROH this weekend. His final scheduled appearance for the company will be at this Saturday's TV taping in North Carolina. Strong, 32, has held every ROH championship over the course of his run with the company and with the exception of The Briscoes, was the longest tenured talent in the company ... Strong was so loyal to ROH that when he was also working for TNA at the same time and was ordered by TNA to leave a ROH event to avoid a blizzard that was to hit NYC the night before a TNA PPV in Orlando in 2006, Strong still wrestled on the ROH event and arrived late due to the weather - leading to TNA suspending him and eventually playing a role in his departure from the company ...

ROH Tweeted out the following in regard to Strong's departure:

Goodbye for now @roderickstrong makes his final #ROH appearances this weekend in Concord, NC https://t.co/29yYXAINZ3 pic.twitter.com/J8eoQDIePT
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) June 22, 2016

It also appears that Quinn Ojinnaka aka Moose, 32, will be also finishing up this summer. We have heard from multiple sources that Moose has relayed he is finishing up with the company at the end of August. Moose, who was backstage at WWE NXT Takeover, is believed to be on the WWE radar.

Starting Wednesday July 13, the WWE will debut its newest creation, the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. It will be only availalble on the WWE Network and will air every Wednesday at 9 P.M. Eastern. The show will last for 10 weeks, and will basically be a 32 man tournament, culminating on September 15. Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo will be the announcers, so that's already a plus. Add to it some of the world's best high flyers in the business, and it's sure to be excellent.

Also announced was a preview special -- CWC Bracketology -- for Wednesday, July 6th at 9 PM EST where we should get the actual tournament brackets and all 16 first round match matchups.

The 6/21 edition of Impact did 304,000, down from the 327,000 that it did on the two airings last week.

Seth Rollins has a small role in "Sharknado 4", keeping a tradition of using pro wrestlers that has seen Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho appear in previous installments of the film series. The new film will debut on 7/4 on Syfy. Rollins will also be seen in the forthcoming WWE Studios thriller "Temple."
:wtf: There are 4 Sharknado films?

MMA writer Ariel Helwani noted today on his Twitter account that the current plan for the debut UFC fight for former WWE champion CM Punk would be this September at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio. That makes sense to me as it will be a PPV event and it doesn't make much sense to me to debut Punk without trying to use his pro wrestling pedigree to sell PPV buys.

Punk is slated to fight Mickey Gall in his debut.

Helwani wrote the fight is, "Far from a done deal but that's the direction as of this AM. "
Think the original plan was for him to debut by UFC 200 but several injuries and unexpected delays kept pushing the debut back.

TNA has officially announced that Trevor Lee and Rockstar Spud have re-signed with the company.

David Angle, the older brother of former WWE and TNA champion Kurt Angle, plead guilty today to homicide charges in the death of his wife in September 2015. Angle will be sentenced this September, facing up to a decade of imprisonment.
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102892/kurt-angles-brother-pleads-guilty-to-homicide.html?p=1

Lucha Underground on 6/15 did 89,000 viewers for the one-match show, which is well below the season average, although slightly up from the prior week. The replay at 9 p.m., which went head-to-head with the Impact replay, did 39,000 viewers, a number well below usual. The average viewer was 48 years old and the audience was 91 percent male.

Prosecutors in Lehigh County have asked Judge Kelly Banach to force Jimmy Snuka to undergo mental health treatment after Banach ruled that Snuka was incompetent to stand trial in the death of mistress/girlfriend Nancy Argentino in 1983. On 6/1, after the ruling, Chief Deputy District Attorney Charles Gallagher has asked to have Snuka committed to a mental hospital, but Banach denied the request. On 6/20, Gallagher filed a motion asking that Snuka be compelled to be an outpatient and undergo mental health treatment for 60 days and then ascertain whether Snuka could stand trial. The judge will rule shortly on the motion

Ray Leppan, the former Adam Rose, not going by the name Aldo Rose, got some bad pub this past week. He was marketing a T-shirt with his mug shot photo from his recent domestic abuse arrest. People began complaining marketing a mug shot photo from that arrest was bad taste, which it was. He ended up pulling the shirts, but then made another mistake of responding to the people criticizing him, saying it was his wife who came up with the idea

Dave Meltzer is concerned over WWE’s lack of actual drawing power according to the end of his Money in the Bank review. He’s worried that due to WWE’s aggressive need to pull off a large surplus of stars off of the NXT roster to make space for the Raw and Smackdown draft that most of the talent transitioned off NXT “Just aren’t ready for real programming yet”

The two biggest examples of this come in the form of Apollo Crews due to his lack of gimmick and Baron Corbin whom Dave has referred to as “Painfully Medicore” with the only thing going for him is “He’s really tall which is what Vince appreciates in a wrestler chosen to succeed by him”

Another star Dave appears to be the most worried about is Seth Rollins and WWE’s inability to seem to wanna make him a top babyface. This doesn’t appear to be an issue with Roman Reigns anymore as its starting to become more and more apparent that Vince only cares about Roman as his top draw regardless of what the crowd identify him as. He could be a top heel and Vince will push him like a babyface like he would The Rock during The Rock/Austin build to Mania 17

Minor topics also include how stars like Dolph Ziggler work too fast in front of more non-experienced rookies making the matches seem either formulaic or just downright bad.
From a couple of recent F4W-Observer podcast shows.


Some other sheet news includes:

Fox Sports recently had an article about Jake "The Snake" Roberts and his efforts to end his drinking problems. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/jake-the-snake-roberts-finds-serenity-through-sobriety-062216
Mr Kennedy/Anderson was a recent guest on the VOC Nation Radio Network podcast show with some highlights including backstage politics and his past history with the WWE. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/vocnationradio/2016/06/22/jordan-garber-now-mr-anderson-wwes-mr-kennedy
EVOLVE announced Cody Rhodes will be wrestling in his 1st post-WWE match on August 19th as part of their upcoming set of events.
For those interested, Nancy Benoit's sister was revealed to be this week's guest for the Talk Is Jericho podcast show. https://twitter.com/IAmJericho/status/745481741230477312
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are now tied for 3rd all-time in WWE history for most ppv main event match pairings. Only Austin-Taker, Lesnar-Taker, and Orton-HHH have occurred more times as main event matches. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4pc8uj/if_you_define_main_event_as_the_absolute_last/
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Dean Ambrose's cash-in at MitB 2016 was his 6th WWE title match which tied him with Mick Foley for most WWE title matches before winning the belt. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4pd9x4/dean_ambrose_won_the_wwe_title_in_his_6th_wwe_ppv/
According to a recent episode of the MLW Radio podcast show, the incident regarding Paige getting sent to the hospital started after a drunk couple wouldn't stop heckling both her and Del Rio while they were out enjoying a show at Caesar’s Palace.

[Cool King]

Dave Meltzer is concerned over WWE’s lack of actual drawing power according to the end of his Money in the Bank review. He’s worried that due to WWE’s aggressive need to pull off a large surplus of stars off of the NXT roster to make space for the Raw and Smackdown draft that most of the talent transitioned off NXT “Just aren’t ready for real programming yet”

The two biggest examples of this come in the form of Apollo Crews due to his lack of gimmick and Baron Corbin whom Dave has referred to as “Painfully Medicore” with the only thing going for him is “He’s really tall which is what Vince appreciates in a wrestler chosen to succeed by him”

I agree with him on Crews and Corbin.

I'm trying to find Crews interesting but he is currently quite bland, but give the man a gimmick and all will be well. Right now, he just reminds me of a smaller, happier Bobby Lashley.

As for Corbin, I wouldn't say he was painfully mediocre, I'd say he was painfully boring. He could really benefit from either a gimmick change or going back to NXT.

[Sepholio]

Dolph Ziggler making matches look bad by working too fast? Sweet Jesus, I've heard it all now. Let's criticize a guy for being better than his opponents and not stepping down to their level.

[Sepholio]

Here's an idea. Turn Ziggler Heel and put him in programs with people capable of wrestling at his level. I want to see him fight Sami Zayn and AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro. Not Baron Corbin for the 80th time.

[Sepholio]

I know Ziggler has gotten stale but FFS the man is one of the best in-ring talents they have had in the last decade and he has charisma coming out of his whatever.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ziggler is so fucking stale right now. I'd consider sending him away to spread his wings somewhere else for a little while. The dude just gets nothing by winning and gives nothing by losing. The wick on that candle is out.

Maybe a heel turn would help. I was hoping they were going that way with the groin kick to Corbin that week on RAW. Nope. Cena vs. Ziggler could be a great feud. Could be.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Brawl Thursday:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/8d33e6dd911187c22d64bc2d6bbb1485/tumblr_o9291cDFNn1sbzhteo1_400.gif

Interesting to note that we've heard there's been communication over the last few days between WWE and Cody Rhodes, who just departed the company. From what we can ascertain, there's been discussion about the company signing him to some sort of deal similar to their Legends deal, which would allow the company to release merchandise, etc. using his likeness. It may be that they had Stardust, etc. material coming out from a third-party (a Mattel action figure, for example) and offered him a deal so legally, they can move forward with that. There's been no talk of Rhodes returning as a full-time performer as he's seeking to work specific, big matches on the independent level and we've heard he's already being represented in Hollywood for potential acting world.

Amid speculation that many former WWE stars have been approached with returning to the company due to the upcoming brand split, the possibility that free agent Kurt Angle could be one of those talents got some fans excited.

Unfortunately for those fans, that will be an unrealized dream as WWE officials confirmed Thursday that Angle is not returning to the company.

The story started when Angle was on Mark Madden's Pittsburgh radio show on Monday and said that Paul Levesque had called him, but that no deal was in place. Although nobody officially said it, the story grew to a point where people said that a deal was done with a start date even listed.
Being speculated around the net that Vince was very likely the person who ended any chance of the talks going further than just simply Triple H wanting to "open the door" for a future Angle return or a checkup on his well-being.

Styles is the other example. Two years ago, when TNA wanted to cut his salary significantly and he was looking out, WWE made him a joke of an offer and he ended up going to New Japan, which really made his career. He got enough buzz that WWE was willing to bring him back, and let him use his name, in January. But he was not planned whatsoever to be a main eventer. He was booked to be low on cards and perhaps work to middle. But the reaction at the Royal Rumble, and even more so at the house shows where he was getting either the first or second best reaction even with almost no WWE television, changed the perception of him and now he’s considered one of the company’s five top regular stars.

Mustafa Ali is replacing Zumbi in the tournament WWE tournament. So the 32 competitors are Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr., Gran Metalik (Mascara Dorada), Brian Kendrick, Drew Gulak, Tyson Dux, Tajiri, Noam Dar, Da Mack, Clement Petiot, Fabian Aichner, Harv Sirha, Gurv Sihra, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali, Akira Tozawa, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Jack Gallagher, Tony Nese, TJ Perkins, Ho Ho Lun, Anthony Bennett, Lince Dorado, Sean Maluta, Raul Mendoza, Kenneth Johnson, Alejandro Aaez, Damien Salter, Jason Lee and Arya Daiavari.

Dwayne Johnson was on the UFC Unfiltered podcast and said that in 2004, he was considering going to UFC as a fighter. "There was a time there where I thought, I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in WWE, my movie career is floundering a little bit, what should I do? I was still relatively young, I think I was 34. I thought, oh well, maybe UFC. Maybe I should do something like that." He said he thought it would take two years to be ready, and he wasn't sure how to approach it so the idea fizzled out. He also said he thinks MMA is the toughest sport in the world. Just for the math, Johnson was 31 and turned 32 in 2004.

Candice LaRae will make her ROH debut at the 7/8 Women of Honor taping in Baltimore, which will be free for anyone who has a ticket to that evening's ROH TV taping.
LaRae previously teased on Twitter about a really important announcement regarding her career was going to be revealed soon.

It was announced today, obviously timed for the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, that WWE has signed a deal with Lootcrate that will see the company create a bi-monthly subscription mystery box service. Loot Crate were the originators in the concept, which sees those enrolled receive a themed mystery box of items that range from exclusive shirts and action figures to smaller paraphanelia, such as pins and patches.
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102914/wwe-signs-deal-with-lootcrate-for-subscription-mystery-box.html?p=1

The NWA announced the following:

NWAOnDemand.com Releases More Historical Footage!

Quickly becoming the source for vintage historic matches, NWAOnDemand.com has done it again releasing footage of what is believed to be the only DUSTY RHODES - BRUISER BRODY singles match in existence!

The footage from Houston consists of 17-plus minutes of amazing action from August 11, 1978. This is what the independent wrestling experts had to say:

" This is . . . the only singles match between these 2 ever to make tape. 1978 Dusty is loaded with charisma and is in pretty good shape. He even throws an awesome drop kick in this. I enjoyed early in the match Brody's stooging. Dusty's charisma carried this. Their were moments where Brody would turn it on and came across as a force of nature . . . this is a true treasure and a piece of history."

Former WWE champion CM Punk announced on the UFC Unfiltered Podcast that he would be finally making his UFC debut on 9/10 in Cleveland, Ohio at the UFC 203 PPV:

BREAKING: @CMPunk announces on #UFCUnfiltered he'll debut vs @MickeyGall at #UFC203!!!! ?? https://t.co/kQZBxHzDcK pic.twitter.com/3jDGUruLVO
— UFC (@ufc) June 23, 2016

In an interesting twist of fate, Punk will be fighting at the Quicken Loans Arena, literally the same Arena he famously told Vince McMahon and Triple H he was leaving WWE, walking out of a Raw taping in January 2014.

The announcement of the G-1 participants, blocks and matches will be 6/27, at the Korakuen Hall show which airs live on New Japan World. This will be key, because it’ll show who they are looking at putting in the major arena main events, who the newcomers will be, and also the status of Tanahashi, who is not on the next group of shows through 7/3.

The original plan for this year’s Money in the Bank match was for Kalisto to be the seventh person when they were going to do seven. Kalisto ended up legit injured so he was pulled from the match and it was made six. He ended up recovering in time that he actually was back in time to have been promoted to be on the show, and ended up in the pre-show match. But the decision was made by that point they’d already focused everything around the six and decided not to put him in. Plus, the feeling was that he’d cooled off quite a bit of late
Some details on why the WWE pulled back plans for 7 guys to be in the MitB and why they didn't care about putting back the 7th person when given the chance.

Recently on Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, actor and former WWE writer, Freddie Prinze, Jr. discussed his stint with professional wrestling's biggest promotion. Prinze talked about picking the brain of 'Double A' Arn Anderson, convincing Vince McMahon to drop his promo class for WWE talents in favor of Prinze's acting workshop, and John Cena disrupting his classes ...

Apparently, Cena could not see the benefit of Prinze's acting class and he would intentionally disrupt it. Prinze admitted that Cena was tough on him and he does not know whether he ever truly gained Cena's respect.

"I would be running an acting workshop and he would just come in and interrupt it and sort of take over the room. And I'm like, 'hold up, man.' I said, 'let's go talk outside'. So he came outside and he gave me this speech, and I respect his view. He goes, 'look, I may be a neanderthal' and he said, 'but you either got it or you don't'. And I said, 'look, I agree, philosophically, to a certain point.' I said, 'but you can get better or worse at something depending on how hard you work at it.' I said, 'you don't need my help. I'm not writing for you. But they do, so let me do my job. I'll let you do your job and that'll be that.' And it wasn't."
According to Prince, Vince's idea of teaching promo skills was to just let wrestlers do improv but not bothering to teach them the skills needed to make it actually work. Prince wanted to ease them into that style by getting them used to an acting style at first. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0622/612911/freddie-prinze/

Trevor Mann (Ricochet/Prince Puma) still hasn’t signed the new multiyear deal offered by Lucha Underground. I guess he pretty much has a deadline this weekend to make a decision since Johnny Mundo vs. Prince Puma is the title match at Ultimate Lucha Tres which will be taped on 6/26, with the stips that Puma has to retire if he doesn’t win the title. So they’ve booked themselves into a corner in the sense either Puma wins while not under contract for next season, which makes no sense, or he loses. And while they can certainly violate the stip since guys here come back from the dead, given what they are offering him, it’s probably not a match that it would make sense for him to lose. He’s got a significant money offer, believed to be for another four or five seasons, which would still allow him to work New Japan and indies. According to those close to the situation, with the guaranteed money here and what he could make with New Japan and indies, he’d be one of the highest paid non WWE talents in the business, behind only people like Mysterio, the Hardys and Tanahashi. WWE is said to want him bad, although those close to the situation believe they wouldn’t guarantee him anywhere close to what it’s a lock he’d be making on this deal, and he can work limited dates on his own schedule as opposed to fulltime
Spoiler tags used since its related to upcoming Lucha Underground results.


Some other sheet news includes:

Orlando Sentinel recently had an interview with Sasha Banks: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/os-wwe-sasha-banks-20160622-story.html
The Daily World recently had an interview with Daniel Bryan about the lead up to his retirement and post-wrestling stuff. http://m.thedailyworld.com/news/local/five-months-after-retiring-wrestling-bryan-danielson-doing-fine
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Stone Cold Steve Austin's famous "Austin 3:16" promo.
Ring of Honor recently had an interview with Roderick Strong about his career in the company and the decision to leave now. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102906/roderick-strong-comments-on-his-departure-from-roh.html?p=1
As part of its annual Summer Sale, Steam currently has both WWE 2k16 and all of its DLC on sale for $15 at the moment. http://store.steampowered.com/app/385730/
According to a recent Observer Newsletter, concussion research might be shifting more towards wrestlers within the near future due to more wrestlers signing away their brains for research once they pass away. Also the lead doctor who discovered the impact of CTE said it was an area of the study that needed a lot more research done.
Baring anything sudden happening, Observer recently debunked rumors of Natayla leaving the WWE and/or retiring from wrestling soon to help take care of Tyson Kidd. Apparently her contract with the company is not even close to expiring any time soon.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It might actually be better for Ricochet to stay on the independent scene. Between Lucha Underground and New Japan he can continue to have his stock raise. I'd try and talk Lucha Underground into season-by-season deals though.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Becky channeling her inner Sting:
http://i.imgur.com/58TfcXB.gif

With the WWE brand split imminent, there has been talk of doing individual Raw and Smackdown Pay Per Views/WWE Network Special Events similar to what they did during the last time they split brands. Until now, that was purely speculation. The PPV schedule that has been going around is legit. So there are apparently nine more PPV/WWE Network Special Events remaining in 2016. Battleground, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series will remain dual branded.
WWE ended up confirming the leaked list as being true on their website in regards to the rumor of Clash of Champions replacing Night of Champions.

Raw is Monday night in Tampa and is the only show of the week with John Cena scheduled.

Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday night in Tampa, with a skeleton crew because a number of wrestlers are laving after Raw for Honolulu.

There will be a tour of Japan and Hawaii that starts Wednesday night in Honolulu (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Usos, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, A.J. Styles, Chris Jericho).

Shinsuke Nakamura & Finn Balor team up against Samoa Joe & Austin Aries on Sunday's WWE house show in Orlando. This will be Nakamura, Joe & Aries' main roster debuts. Balor has done main roster shows in the past. Nakamura will also be working main roster shows in Honolulu and Tokyo this next week. Asuka's main roster debut will be on Wednesday night in Honolulu.

WWE is taping NXT tonight at Full Sail University which includes Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Finn Balor. Lots of last minute changes based on who is and isn't getting called up. If key people lose unexpectedly, that may be a hint.

During an appearance with Hannah Storm on ESPN SportsCenter Thursday, UFC strawweight and Dancing With The Stars runner-up Paige VanZant alluded to the fact she's not going to be appearing at WWE SummerSlam this year.

She said that she loves WWE and would love to work with them, but that she's focused on her training for a fight that she announced during the interview. The 22-year-old also said that she declined to be in the Kickboxer reboot because filming would have got in the way of training.
In terms of scheduling, Summerslam is on August 21st while her next MMA fight is on August 27th.

The 6/23 edition of Smackdown did 2,145,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,073,000 viewers.

The Fight Network in Canada announced another new wrestling show, WrestleCentre, which will air at 2 a.m. on Wednesdays after the Tuesday night block of Impact, TNA’s Greatest Matches, and ROH. There will be a special 90 minute debut show on 7/14 before the 7/19/20 weekly show debut. WrestleCentre is based in Halifax.

In response to some of your questions today regarding the WWE, and all of the media fanfare about it the last few days, I want to, once again, say that our confidential conversation never discussed the brand split. A few wrestling sites seem to have put a spin on this by twisting some words around to fit their agenda, something that I have no control over. What I CAN control is my own life, and my life isn't only wrestling. I do not expect to be in wrestling much longer. I AM excited about my future. Thank you.

As noted, this week on UFC Unfiltered hosts Matt Serra and Jim Norton welcomed WWE Superstar turned UFC Fighter, CM Punk, to the show. Among other things, Punk discussed the differences between WWE and UFC and he talked about how the best talkers in WWE history improvise their promos ...

Moreover, Punk admitted that he would work lighter on talents he did not like because he wanted to avoid being accused of purposely hitting people harder than necessary.

"The people you actually wind up beating the s--t out of, those are your friends. If I was wrestling a guy I didn't like, I would make sure to go out of my way to not f--king stiff the guy because then there's a problem because he's like, 'oh, you did that on purpose'. If I f--king clock my friend in the face or kick him in the nuts or step on his hand or something like that, it's just funny. You can laugh about it afterwards." ...

In Punk's view, the best professional wrestling promos are improvised. While some performers need to be scripted, others should be given the freedom to be themselves.

"I think the good ones, the interviews and the promos people remember, those are improv. Now, [professional] wrestling's just overscripted to death. It's almost like they have a chokehold on it. Some guys need to operate that way and I feel like some people need to let loose and be themselves. You've got a whole room of guys writing for you. They don't know you. They don't know where you're coming from. They don't know your perspective or your character and stuff like that. And if you're out there being disingenuous and saying words that three other people wrote, I always felt that the crowd could tell and then they're going to pay attention to their phones or s--t on whatever segment you're in. So yeah, I was always a fan of just kind of doing my own thing."
So all those nut shots Taker gave to Lesnar was just his way of being friendly :shifty: . Link with more highlights and the podcast itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0624/612989/cm-punk-talks-wwe-being-too-scripted/

Bret “The Hitman” Hart spoke about Roman Reigns‘ WWE suspension today in the latest episode of The Sharpshooter Podcast on Bret Hart Radio ...

On whether or not he was surprised by the news of Roman Reigns’ WWE suspension:

BH: I am surprised. I was kind of hoping he could somehow make a good run at being champion. I think in a lot of ways he never got the fair shake that he deserved. Failing the wellness policy could be a number of things. If it was for steroids or something like that… muscle enhancement, or whatever you want to call it. If it was that category or not. I don’t think he needed it, for one. It is what it is as a policy. I’m all behind the policy. There doesn’t need to be any of that in wrestling. I don’t know if there is a double standard where some guys are allowed to take certain things and some guys aren’t. There’s sort of a thin line between being found guilty and being found innocent. I have no idea. As far as I know the drug policy in WWE is pretty legit. As far as I know, unless someone tells me otherwise, everybody is tested. You have to know you’re going to get tested so what are you ever going to get dirty for? It turns out you get tested and it’s steroids or let’s say it’s something as minuscule as having a toke on a joint at a birthday party. It could be something really small or insignificant. The fact that they sacked him over it is kind of a shock to me. The rules are what they are. In the 90s when I was champion and they started a very serious drug policy. Everybody had to comply. Including Lex Luger and the bodybuilders. They had to comply to it. It was the same thing. You just can’t take any chances. Where it is today and how intense it is. I know that drug test is pretty intense. They test you for everything from pills to… just about everything.
Link to the podcast episode and more highlights from the show: http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/721155-bret-hart-comments-on-roman-reigns-wwe-suspension-talks-about-wwes-drug-policy-in-the-90s-more


Some other sheet news includes:

Former wrestler Kelly Kelly had a recent interview with The Tomorrow Show. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102935/kelly-kelly-talks-about-vince-mcmahon-teaching-her-to-dance-finding-out-about-tests-death-whether-she-will-wrestle-again-and-more.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, while the powerbomb can be traced back to the 1950s and Lou Thesz, Thesz himself might not have been its actual creator due to lack of concrete evidence. Every variation of the move though has an established inventor though.
According to reports, WWE has some early problems with attendance for yesterday's Cruiserweight Classic tapings due to a car accident that occured on one of the main routes to the arena.
Recent episode of Court Bauer's podcast revealed former ROH star Roderick Strong has recently signed a deal with the WWE. http://fightnetwork.com/news/6562128:june-24-edition-of-bauer-pollock-2/
WWE revealed the cover star for WWE 2k17 will be revealed during next week's RAW: https://twitter.com/wwegames/status/746480967238488064
For those interested, the Talk Is Jericho podcast show with Nancy Benoit's sister as its guest was released today: http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=1658885
Ricochet/Prince Puma is currently denying rumors of Lucha Underground offering him a big contract in order to stay.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dean Ambrose should be on the cover of 2k17, with Brock Lesnar looming in the background.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Brain Buster Tuesday:
https://abload.de/img/brainbustaldu95.gif

After last week's current day strong RAW number following the surprising Dean Ambrose WWE title win, ratings came down for the Monday, June 27th edition of the show on a night without strong television competition.

Raw did 3.09 million viewers, the lowest number on a night without major team sports competition since 1997 . That's the second lowest numbers outside of football season or major holidays, beating only the 2.96 million viewers drawn two weeks ago against game five of the NBA playoffs ...

Viewership dropped 11 percent from last week, showing the big gain caused by the post-Money in the Bank buzz didn't sustain ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.10 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.17 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.01 million viewers

The good news being the hourly drops being very small while the bad news being very weak starting numbers and down by around 374k viewers compared to last week. In terms of historical stuff, same week last year had between 300k to 500k more viewers for hours. Observer's been teasing for a while about next week likely going to break the record for lowest ever RAW show due it being on July 4th.

As noted before, on Smackdown, they continued to promote the three-way with Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for Battleground on 7/24, with no mention being made of Reigns not being on the show or not being around. Shaun Smith noted that on the WWE page on the Sky Sports website where they always report on WWE news, whether it be storyline or real, such as the Adam Rose suspension being reported, there is not a mention at all of the Roman Reigns suspension, and the main news item talks about the three-way match.
Pretty much confirms suspicions around the net the WWE is doing everything to ensure Reigns suspension gets forgotten as soon as possible and him getting the Orton treatment when it comes to how this might not affect his career as badly as it did for others.

Shinsuke Nakamura will now face Chris Jericho on Friday’s WWE house show at Sumo Hall in Japan after Bray Wyatt was removed from the tour. Ironically enough, the Japanese commercial for the tour features all sorts of WWE stars except Nakamura or Asuka. Both are on the tour in their home country.

ESPN has a story from the Associated Press plugging Brock Lesnar being on the cover of the WWE 2K17 video game. The article also mentions his upcoming UFC fight but notes, “Win or lose inside the octagon, Lesnar will still appear for WWE in August at SummerSlam.”
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/16556803/brock-lesnar-headlines-wwe-2k17-cover

The names announced for the two jobbers on Raw last night that lost to Enzo and Big Cass were apparently a reference to baseball players that are prospects for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The RAW replay on Friday did 473,000 viewers, up slightly from previous weeks.

Though it had been known for some time, Pro Wrestling Guerilla officially announced Cody Rhodes as the first entrant in their annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament. He is joined by NJPW’s Kamaitachi, Jeff Cobb (Lucha Underground’s Matanza Cueto) and rising European star Mark Haskins as the first announced participants. The tournament will take place on September 2-4.

Stephanie McMahon says Brock Lesnar is in one of the most unique positions of any WWE star. In an interview with Business Insider conducted last week at the Cannes Lions festival in France, Stephanie talked about Lesnar returning to the UFC octagon while still under contract with WWE.

Stephanie says the UFC and WWE are not competitors because one is competitive sport and one is entertainment. Stephanie says WWE is more like a Hollywood production than a sport, and WWE has an advantage as far as television goes because they can script their protagonists and antagonists.

“UFC, they can make a big star but the second that person loses, they lose credibility, and how do you continue to make that star rise?” Stephanie said. “So I think [WWE has] the best of both worlds and the opportunity to tell the stories in the way we want to tell them.”

To facilitate that, WWE held a conference call with Heyman recently. He was asked about a wide range of topics, but as it is with most WWE chatter these days, the brand split was front and center.

Given his history as a writer and authority figure on the SmackDown, he was asked about assuming the General Manager role or even rejoining the Creative team.

Doesn’t sound like he’s interested in either role, to say the least:

Oh I certainly hope not. General Manager is a role I had a blast with, but I would prefer to stay in the role that I have had for the past four years, which is to serve as the advocate for Brock Lesnar.

I don't think I'm in the consideration to be even close to the writing staff in today's WWE corporate environment. Nor have I requested to be on the writing staff in today's WWE environment. I have a primo gig: I serve as the advocate for Brock Lesnar and I happen to be able to do that on television as well, and I think WWE is best served with me in that role. The job of a writer in WWE is a very demanding job, I don't think it's for a father of two children who are just getting into their teenage years. It is a young man's job: 24/7, 365 commitment for as long as you can continue to match the work ethic of the chairman and that's a daunting task to begin with.

The return of an ace and the debut of several key talents were the most notable takeaways from Monday morning’s announcement of the participants in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s 26th annual G1 Climax tournament, made during the promotion's Kizuna Road show ...

Kenny Omega headlines the six participants making their first G1 appearance in this year’s tournament. He is joined by Tama Tonga, Yoshi-Hashi, Seiya Sanada, Evil, and Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima and NOAH stalwart Naomichi Marufuji are the only outsiders among the field.

- A Block: Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Seiya Sanada, Naomichi Marufuji, Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi

- B Block: Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma, Michael Elgin, Toru Yano, Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Katsuhiko Nakajima
Lineup for this year's G1 Tournament. Match dates and other details in the link: http://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-2016-g1-climax-tournament-blocks-key-matches-tanahashis-return-215351

The reason Zumbi wasn't in the WWE cruiserweight tournament and instead did the Elite tournament is that WWE didn't get his visa issues done in time. Paul Levesque talked that they would like to give him another shot, and also talked of the cruiserweight classic as being an idea they can repeat.

A match that seemed improbable a month ago was announced Sunday morning as Revolution Pro Wrestling has booked Vader vs. Will Ospreay for their Friday, Aug. 12 show at York Hall in London, England.

The match became increasingly inevitable as the two built interest for it with a social media feud, based on one of the most famous matches of 2016: Ospreay vs. Ricochet from New Japan Pro Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors show on May 27th.

WWE star Ryback, who's deal is slated to expire in a few weeks, noted on Twitter he was undergoing surgery yesterday:

Ear, nose and throat surgery today. I have put off some serious stuff the last 11 years and it will be nice hearing and breathing normal.
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) June 27, 2016

WWE sources indicate there has been no communication between WWE and Ryback since the former WWE Intercontinental champion and the company hit a snag in their contract negotiations. It would appear that Ryback will be hitting the independents soon and we have also heard he is working on a supplements line.

There have been some rumors over the last week about Hulk Hogan’s status with WWE and we can confirm that he now considered to be back on good terms with the company.

Vince McMahon and other top WWE officials are open to bringing Hogan back in again.

No word yet on how he may return but one source expected him to be eased back in. It was also noted that Hogan still equals money and some officials have been waiting for the right time to bring Hogan back into the spotlight.
Source itself is pretty low in the dirtsheets hierarchy when it comes to reliability so take it with a grain of salt. http://wrestlechat.net/report-vince-mcmahon-and-other-top-wwe-officials-are-open-to-bringing-hulk-hogan-back/


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e3sV6ghxUY4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

Hideo Itami recently teased on Twitter his in-ring debut is imminent and could occur as early as later this week.
Jim Ross was recently a guest on Submission Report podcast with topics involving Brock Lesnar and if a loss in UFC would affect his WWE star power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_v3c9DZ35Q
According to the results from a recent set of Lucha Underground tapings for Season 3, Ricochet/Prince Puma is currently expected to leave the company soon due to him losing the title vs career match against Johnny Mundo.
WWE recently signed Carly Arnolt as backstage interviewer for the company. Prior to the WWE, she was a sports reporter for Fox59 Indianapolis.
According to reports, Simon Gotch recently got hurt during one of WWE's house shows over the weekend. Anthony Bennett also got hurt during his Cruiserweight Tournament match last week.
E! announced the Total Bellas, spin-off of Total Divas, will premiere on October 5th.
Paul Heyman was this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment. Mostly talked about UFC and the Brand Split. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102994/paul-heyman-talks-brock-in-ufc-whether-he-will-be-cageside-the-brand-split-romans-suspension-and-more.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 18th anniversary of the infamous Taker-Foley Hell in the Cell match.
According to reports, WWE is planning on selling wrestler themed flags seen in Battlegrounds ppv commercials by mid-July. https://twitter.com/WShopUpdates/status/747819827469893632

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The BOSS:
http://dailywrestlingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Sasha-Banks-NXT-Indie-gifs-001_001.gif

PWTorch is reporting that Vince Mcmahon wants to tell a redemption story with Reigns coming back better than ever after being suspended due to violating the wellness policy.

McMahon believes if he creates the story the way he wants to tell it the fans will finally buy into the character, universally. As opposed to the mixed reaction the former champion is receiving now.
While the story was debunked by those with paid PWTorch subs, Observer did tease at Vince and the WWE are currently considering ways to spin the bad news into something positive for Reigns in the future.
Source of the fake news: http://www.wrestlingnewssource.com/news/42841/Details-on-the-Direction-of-Roman-Reigns-Character-Post-Suspension/


His return wasn't good from the very beginning. They wanted him to come back as a babyface where he wanted to return as a heel.

He argued with Vince and creative everyday he was there.

He felt super unsatisfied with his return. Says it broke his heart because he had been thinking about his return for years. When he left, he wanted to come back and do SummerSlam, around the time Guardians was coming out. He talked to Steph and Hunter about doing SummerSlam because Guardians would be the #1 film at the box office. They kinda had a snickered and went "Yea, we don't even know if the movie is gonna be any good."

He says they told Daniel Bryan not to sell all of his injuries at Mania and kinda buried the shit out of them. Pissed him off and hated that Shield split up literally the night after making them look like a million dollars. Says that they should've had Shield continue their run with The Wyatts until everyone was sick of seeing them.

He says he struggled early in his career so hard with promos because people wrote stuff for him instead of bullet points. He was always a shy person and public speaking was terrifying to him. He would go up to Vince or Hayes and asked what point they wanted to get across and then winged it and thats when he got good.

He noticed that when WWE films started, John Cena was receiving movie roles and not him. He asked if there was any opportunity for him to act in WWE films and they showed no interest. He then decided to go outside the company and audition and the answer was "You are our property. Get dressed and get to work." He just felt it was unfair to him career-wise and financially and he wasn't content with that and gave them a year's notice.

On his last day with WWE, when he left the first time, it put everything in perceptive. Few people said goodbye and thank you to him. Then security escorted him out of the door. No keep in touch or see you later. He left there with a broken back on his last match with Cena.

Some highlights from a recent interview Batista had with MLW Radio: https://mlwradio.libsyn.com/writers-room-dave-bautista-part-1

Recently on The Steve Austin Show with guest Vince Russo, the self-professed global icon and national treasure, Steve Austin, discussed the current state of WWE ...

According to 'The Bionic Redneck', WWE lacks long range booking plans as well as continuity in storylines.

"There [are] just no interwoven storylines, which carries through the course of a Monday Night RAW where something, a seed is planted at the beginning of a Monday Night RAW and threaded through the entire show. It's just match after match, segment, or in-ring segment, skit, whatever you want to call it, backstage promo."

Austin professed that times have changed since The Attitude Era, where there was a two or three person writing team and agents or producers were not getting involved in putting matches together as much. A lack of trust on the part of Vince McMahon may be the reason for the current setup.

"I remember in the match where I wrestled Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 in Chicago [Illinois], I was going to pass out in the Sharpshooter in a pool of blood and we go into the finish room and that's all we get. 'Hey Steve, you're going to do the honors today and you're going to pass out in the Sharpshooter.' Didn't say anything about blood. That was to come later. So, we listen to the orders from our leader and I said, 'okay' and of course Bret was over. And Bret was a great business man and a guy I have a lot of respect for. So we walked out of the room. And so, my point is, me and Bret were going to discuss different parts of the match and a little bit of color. And I would cycle back into Vince's room and say, 'hey Vince, are you sure about this finish?' He goes, 'God dang, Steve. I'm telling you it'll work.' I said, 'okay. Good enough.'

"And so, my point is, he gave us a directive, he gave us the finish, and he trusted us to go out there and execute everything. No agent, nobody helped Bret and I with that match. We went out there, we had a little conversation. There was a fishbone of events and the rest was called on the fly and we executed with extreme precision, probably the only real double turn done in the history of WWE that I know of at that high of a level. And there was work on the backend for both of us, but it was trust" ...

Similarly, Austin stated that the so-called 'Reality Era' lacks realism.

"They call it the reality era, but it's anything but reality. And on the other note, going into unknown territory or uncharted waters, back in the day, man, whether you're a fan or not of some of the storylines or angles we were shooting, they were edgy as hell and we weren't afraid to push into those uncharted waters or territories. And if you're afraid to do that, if you're afraid to try to grow, if you're afraid to take a chance as a company, whether you're publicly traded or not, then you're failing to live up to your potential as a company! I mean, because that's what the entertainment business is. If wrestling falls under the entertainment umbrella, people need to push the envelope!"
Link has more highlights and link to the podcast episode itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0629/613135/steve-austin-says-current-wwe-product-lacks-realism/

During WWE’s recent promotional trip to China, John Cena spoke to Inquirer.net about the company’s bright future and which Superstar he wants to work with in this next phase of his career.

Cena has been the face of WWE for well over a decade, which means he’s seen a lot of talent come and go. Cena feels that WWE’s current roster is stacked with more talent than ever and sees a few performers in particular who have what it takes to make an impact with the audience.

“I look at Enzo Amore and Big Cass only because they are so immediately identifiable as characters,” Cena said. “It kind of reminds me when I was doing hip-hop piece of my persona. I like that because Enzo is not necessarily a typical mold of, ‘Hey, this is going to be awesome.’ But even back in his early days in NXT, he caught my attention.”

... As for which WWE Superstars he wants to work with, Cena named his heir apparent, Roman Reigns.

“I know that I always kind of test myself, whether it’s new superstars or established superstars, and I know Roman Reigns has carved up quite a niche for himself and he has all the attributes to be a successful WWE superstar for some time to come,” he said. “I’ve heard he’s good. I’d like to find out how good he is.”
Link to the interview: http://sports.inquirer.net/215193/john-cena-says-influx-of-talents-shows-bright-future-for-wwe

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla announced Dalton Castle, Pete Dunne, Sami Callihan, Tommy End, Trevor Lee, Adam Cole, John Hennigan (Lucha Underground’s Johnny Mundo and the former John Morrison) and Jack Gallagher as the next entrants in their 2016 Battle of Los Angeles tournament.

Evolve will hold WWE Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight Matches at their events this summer. Announced matches are: Johnny Gargano vs. Cedric Alexander and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TJ Perkins at Evolve 64 on July 16th in Queens, NY. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander at Evolve 65 on July 17th in Melrose, MA. Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese and TJ Perkins vs. Cedric Alexander at Evolve 66 on August 19th in Joppa, MD. And Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Cedric Alexander at Evolve 67 on August 20th in Brooklyn, NY.

The third and potentially final collection is titled “The Cruiserweight Anthology”. The Cruiserweight Anthology will obviously cover great Cruiserweight matches from the past. This is perfect timing with the Cruiserweight Classic airing a special on July 6th before airing the weekly show starting on July 13th.

In an update on WWE calling Dean Ambrose the WWE Champion on this week’s RAW, the name change has now been updated on the WWE website as well. The title is now referred to as the WWE Championship instead of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The 6/28 edition of Impact did 322,000 viewers, up from last week's 304,000.

Brock Lesnar's UFC competition at UFC 200, Mark Hunt, was interviewed by the UFC website about their fight. On being booked against Brock, he commented, "I was trying to get to a title shot, I’m trying to get a top five guy now and make my run for this title. I’m only doing what I’m told, the boss is saying you’ve gotta fight Lesnar I said, “Okay cool, that’s fine.’ It’s not my call then. It’s a fight and his comeback so I’ll send him back to pro wrestling.” He noted one of his nephews is split over who he wants to win because he's a fan of Brock in WWE, to which Hunt told him that it he wants to go to Disneyland, he had better hope Hunt wins.
Link to the interview: http://www.ufc.com/news/mark-hunt-ready-to-send-brock-lesnar-back-to-pro-wrestling

The New York Daily News picked up a story on Jimmy Snuka being booked to sign at Wrestlecon next year over Wrestlemania 33 weekend in Orlando, Florida. Snuka is now staying in Florida, so if that remains the case by then, the show is local to him. I believe he is being brought in by a vendor, not the event itself.

Randy Savage will become the first person inducted into the Ilio DiPaolo Legends of the Aud Hall of Fame in Buffalo, NY on 7/23 with his brother, Lanny Poffo on hand to accept the honor. The induction will be part of a 20th anniversary show celebrating the original "Wrestling Legends of the Aud" in 1996, which featured a ton of WCW names of the era and wrestling legends, helping to raise over $100,000 for Children's Hospital and the DiPaolo Scholarship Fund as well as pay tribute to the late Ilio Dipalo.

Jeff Jarrett was in Los Angeles earlier this week for TV meetings regarding Global Force Wrestling.

The WWE Network has removed the Tribute To the Troops section. Certain Tribute to the Troops episodes have been added to the Raw and Smackdown replay sections with the recent years of the holiday special are nowhere to be found.


Some other sheet news includes:

Drew Galloway was a guest for a recent episode of Ring Rust Radio show: https://youtu.be/27IXRBmMTyA
According to a recent YouShoot interview trailer with Hornswoggle, when The Rock made his return to the WWE in 2011, Rock thought Hornswoggle was a "Make A Wish" kid waiting to meet him backstage and not an actual wrestler hired by the WWE.
Chris Jericho announced he is currently working with PodcastOne on a new podcast network called The Jericho Network. Konnan was revealed to be the first podcaster for this network when it debuts in the near future. https://www.instagram.com/p/BHQSgr2jeeT/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Seth Rollin's 2nd WWE title reign is currently considered the shortest ever in WWE history according to the WWE's official record books. Bryan's WWE reign that lead to Orton's cash-in was the previous record at 4 minutes.
The director for the upcoming "30 For 30" documentary on Ric Flair revealed the film is currently in the editing phase and should be done soon. https://twitter.com/rorykarpf/status/748137127217594368

[Cool King]

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Seth Rollin's 2nd WWE title reign is currently considered the shortest ever in WWE history according to the WWE's official record books. Bryan's WWE reign that lead to Orton's cash-in was the previous record at 4 minutes.

That's all wrong, according to this anyway.

http://www.wwe.com/article/shortest-wwe-world-heavyweight-title-reigns?sf29694552=1-title

I thought Andre The Giant's reign was the shortest so I checked it out and it turns out that it is considered the shortest, with Rollins' second reign now being second shortest after taking that spot from Yokozuna's first reign by six seconds.

So with that, I also don't know where they're getting Bryan's reign being the "previous record" from too. According to WWE.com, his reign is nowhere near the shortest reign. :-\

[Emperor Smeat]

That's all wrong, according to this anyway.

http://www.wwe.com/article/shortest-wwe-world-heavyweight-title-reigns?sf29694552=1-title

I thought Andre The Giant's reign was the shortest so I checked it out and it turns out that it is considered the shortest, with Rollins' second reign now being second shortest after taking that spot from Yokozuna's first reign by six seconds.

So with that, I also don't know where they're getting Bryan's reign being the "previous record" from too. According to WWE.com, his reign is nowhere near the shortest reign. :-\

This was the link I was going by when reading about the possible "WWE Did You Know" type fact: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4qgs6c/according_to_wwes_list_of_champion_reigns_seth/

The link the person from SquaredCircle used as the basis for their claim: http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwe-championship

Either the WWE hasn't updated one of their sites or another case of the WWE forgetting their own narrative for a story assuming the idea is Rollins being the new record holder.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kane's Approval:
http://i.makeagif.com/media/6-06-2015/WKC-wf.gif

WWE is aggressively scouting indies right now. The key thing they are looking for is people who they consider coachable. That’s the current key phrase. I guess that means athletic people who are good listeners. They are also going to be very strict when it comes to background checks. Prospective WWE talent should sure to clean out social media accounts of anything that could be embarrassing

They are also specifically targeting talent from Lucha Underground that can contractually leave.

The Balor Club idea seems to have been dropped with Balor’s impending move to the main roster. WWE had applied for a Balor Club trademark, which would be a group with Balor, Anderson and Gallows, playing off Bullet Club. Instead, it looks like they are just going to be The Club. The WWE dropped an attempt to register Balor Club for marketing purposes on 6/22. Evidently Baylor University had opposed the name. As noted before, they had also attempted to register Legion of Doom to be the name for an NXT group with Paul Ellering, Gzim Selmani and Sunny Dhinsa. They also dropped that and are staying with Authors of Pain

The update on Orton is that he’s about a month or so away from training for a return. The original time line was that he was going to be in Orlando in mid-June, train a few weeks and be ready right about now. His shoulder is still not 100% although it is improving. This was the third operation on the same shoulder and they did an extensive surgery with the hope it will fix the problem so it wasn’t as simple a recovery as in previous operations. There is still a neck issue but the doctors told him a few months ago he doesn’t need the neck surgery right now

UFC had a conference call today for UFC 200. Even though both Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier were there, Brock Lesnar was the guy who got asked the most questions. When asked about Stephanie McMahon's comments on WWE not supporting his fight necessarily, he said, "I don't care what she says." When he was asked what affect it would have on his drawing power if he lost, he said, "I really don't give a shit."

"This isn't about my fans. This is about me living my life, being the person I want to be. Granted, without the fans and everything, none of us would be able to do this. I get that. But I don't sit up at night wondering, `Is my drawing power gonna be hurt' or 'Are my WWE fans gonna tune in and watch me do this.' I don't give two shits about that. This is about me. I want to get in there and be an athlete again. That's what this is about."

Bret “The Hitman” Hart spoke about Curtis Axel’s current role and push in WWE yesterday on the latest episode of The Sharpshooter Podcast on Bret Hart Radio.

On what Bret thinks of the current push of Curtis Axel in WWE:

BH: I wish they would do so much more with Axel. Curt’s kid. It’s just such a shame.

On why he thinks WWE doesn’t play off of Curtis’ legacy as Mr. Perfect’s son more:

BH: I’ve never understood it from the beginning. Even the name McGillicutty or whatever that gimmick was. I just seems almost like impossible odds to turn that in to any kind of successful storyline. What do you do with that? It never made a lot of sense to me. I think that he’s really a wasted talent. I think he’s a real talent. He’s every bit the athlete and the performer that his Dad was. I just always thought that he was a little bit like Cody Rhodes where it’s like they never quite gave him the right things to book him to be the star that he was.
Link to the podcast episode and more highlights: http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/723887-bret-hart-on-curtis-axel-hes-every-bit-the-athlete-and-the-performer-that-his-dad-was-talks-wishing-wwe-would-do-more-with-him-more

New names announced for Battle of Los Angeles are Ricochet, Matt Riddle, Chris Hero and Mark Andrews.

Chris Jericho talks about the Jericho Network, which debuts on 7/7 on PodcastOne. Konnan will have a regular show and the plans are 10-12 shows per month. His goal is to have six strong shows and six shows that will be given a chance to make it. He said it won't affect his show and he's not going to be a guest on the other shows. Konnan will be a regular as noted yesterday.
Recent update to Jericho's new podcast network plans.

Jim Cornette went absolutely off on Vince Russo revealing that he contacted Pop TV President Brad Schwartz offering his services as a consultant to explain why TNA isn't getting the ratings that Schwartz had been "sold on" as well as having previously contacting Destination America with a similar offer. Cornette's rant closes out his "Jim Cornette Experience" podcast episode at www.MLW.com and is 40 minutes of never-ending bile and venom the likes of which has rarely been seen on Planet Earth, closing with Cornette announcing he has pulled out of a Wrestlecade appearance this November in North Carolina because Russo is also booked on the event, warning Russo that he did so because he never wants to be in the same place as Russo ever again and next time, Russo had better be the one to pull off an event because if not, well, you can imagine what might happen (and if you can't, well, Cornette explicitly lays it out).

Ring of Honor announced that CMLL star Struka Jr., who has also worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling in the past, will debut at their 7/16 event at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, facing Kaimatachi. They've wrestled in Mexico in the past. ROH has been working to build a relationship with CMLL similar to the one they currently have with NJPW and this is the first step in that direction.

There had also been discussions of bringing in Dragon Lee for the Philadelphia card, but injuries will prevent that.

WWE Network News has revealed three collections that will be added to the WWE Network on Friday . One will be The Classic Content Collection for the month which will feature all the recent Nitro episodes. Another is a collection of the "Colorful Characters" in professional wrestling. And there will be a collection "The Cruiserweight Anthology" surrounding The Cruiserweight division.

Jimmy Snuka was booked for the WrestleCon convention in conjunction with WrestleMania in Orlando. Don’t know if words have been invented to properly categorize that. What are they thinking booking a guy who has been indicted on a murder charge and isn’t standing trial only because of the belief he is not mentally capable? The Lehigh Valley Prosecution office is looking into this.

Jim Myers, 79, better known as George “The Animal” Steele, is scheduled for major kidney surgery on 6/29. He has started this surgery twice and they stopped. On 12/15, he was scheduled for the surgery to clean out his kidneys, but he flatlined while in surgery, so they dropped the operation and were able to bring him back. On 5/26, essentially the same thing happened. He didn’t flatline, but while doing surgery, it became clear if they continued he wouldn’t survive so they stopped and closed him up. He was essentially told if the same thing happened a third time, it would not be good

He then says that a writer who was there at the time told him that they were in a writers meeting with Vince McMahon when the Mexicools gimmick was created. A writer suggested the name, stating that they should be cool Mexicans and Vince thought that since his landscapers were Mexican, that they should come out on ride-on lawnmowers.
Wacky Vince story from back in the day regarding the origins of the Mexicools name according to Konnan.


Some other sheet news includes:

For those interested in this year's NJPW G1 Tournament, the dates and matches set for each day were recently revealed. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103058/complete-details-on-njpw-g1-climax.html?p=1
ProWrestlingTees.com is currenly holding a big July 4th sale with discounts being 20% off. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103056/full-details-on-prowrestlingteescoms-4th-of-july-sale.html?p=1
Bobby Heenan recently revealed he now uses Twitter with his account name as @RealBobbyHeenan and confirmed by others to be him tweeting and not PR people.
According to the Observer, ROH's Moose went from a likely lock to being signed by the WWE to now likely getting signed by someone else. Main issue appears to be money with TNA offering the most and WWE no longer feeling the need to rush to grab him due to some possible PR issues. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmKr18rWIAEQ_3h.jpg
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, the origin for Goldberg's "Who's Next" catchphrase came from a meal Goldberg and others with him were having at a restaurant. They were trying to come up with a catchphrase for his character before a waitress interrupted their conversation by asking "who's next?"
Montreal Comic Con announced Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff will be having panel at the event and the topic being the downfall of WCW. http://www.montrealcomiccon.com/en/news/120-exclusive-special-event-face-off-bischoff-vs-flair-and-the-fall-of-wcw/

[Cool King]

This was the link I was going by when reading about the possible "WWE Did You Know" type fact: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4qgs6c/according_to_wwes_list_of_champion_reigns_seth/

The link the person from SquaredCircle used as the basis for their claim: http://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwe-championship

Either the WWE hasn't updated one of their sites or another case of the WWE forgetting their own narrative for a story assuming the idea is Rollins being the new record holder.

Knowing the WWE, it's probably the latter.

[Cool King]

Bret “The Hitman” Hart spoke about Curtis Axel’s current role and push in WWE yesterday on the latest episode of The Sharpshooter Podcast on Bret Hart Radio.

On what Bret thinks of the current push of Curtis Axel in WWE:

BH: I wish they would do so much more with Axel. Curt’s kid. It’s just such a shame.

On why he thinks WWE doesn’t play off of Curtis’ legacy as Mr. Perfect’s son more:

BH: I’ve never understood it from the beginning. Even the name McGillicutty or whatever that gimmick was. I just seems almost like impossible odds to turn that in to any kind of successful storyline. What do you do with that? It never made a lot of sense to me. I think that he’s really a wasted talent. I think he’s a real talent. He’s every bit the athlete and the performer that his Dad was. I just always thought that he was a little bit like Cody Rhodes where it’s like they never quite gave him the right things to book him to be the star that he was.

http://i.imgur.com/HsE0zeg.gif

He then says that a writer who was there at the time told him that they were in a writers meeting with Vince McMahon when the Mexicools gimmick was created. A writer suggested the name, stating that they should be cool Mexicans and Vince thought that since his landscapers were Mexican, that they should come out on ride-on lawnmowers.

http://oi67.tinypic.com/20jl6b5.jpg

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by H-Cutter OUTTA NOWHERE:
http://i.imgur.com/F6KnsiD.gif

Earlier today a report from The Wrestling Observer claimed WWE ordered Roman Reigns to apologize to the WWE locker room following news of his 30 day suspension for violating the company Wellness Policy.

According to two sources within WWE, one of them being a talent on the roster, the apology never took place, and the timeframe for when the apology could have happened doesn’t quite compute.

Both sources noted the WWE locker room was informed of Roman Reigns’ suspension on Tuesday, June 21st, when talents arrived for the Smackdown tapings, and no one was aware of it during or after Raw the previous night. Sources added Reigns simply packed his bags and left following the June 20th Raw taping, and if some type of speech or apology took place, it was not in front of the WWE locker room.

Next week’s Raw, on 7/4 from Columbus, OH, due to the holiday, is expected to be the lowest rated Raw in the history of the show. The record low is a 1.8 rating. Shane McMahon is expected to be back and they are locally advertising Cena & Ambrose vs. Rollins & Styles as the main event. Rusev vs. O’Neil in a U.S. title match is scheduled. The last two times July 4th came on a Monday were in 2005 and 2011. In 2005, Raw fell from a 4.4 rating on 6/27 to a 2.6, a 41 percent drop. In 2011, Raw fell from a 3.1 rating to a 2.4, a 23 percent drop. So we’re starting at a 2.21. Given that we’re down to a far more hardcore audience, the drop may be only 20 percent which would be a record low 1.77 rating. But it easily could be the first episode in history to hit a 1.7. A 23 percent drop would be 1.70, so unless today’s audience is die-hards that don’t leave the house on July 4th, that’s the probable range because there are no Cena returns like on Memorial Day to pull out. No matter what the number is, it’s not all that significant in the sense you’d worry about it. Really this week’s number was more significant more because it’s at this level without sports competition so where will it fall to against the NFL
Possible historical significance for next week's RAW.

Nothing was said to talent in specific about dates, but there was talk among the crew that Lucha Underground will start taping season four in January and wrestlers were given the impression there would be tapings in the winter. That gives them six months to sign needed deals and procure money to film another season. The show’s ratings in season two increased greatly from season one, but started falling off after the Aztec Warfare match. Still, the show makes no economic sense, often drawing less than 100,000 viewers and spending in excess of $400,000 per episode on production. The idea is to build up characters with the idea of making them big enough stars to do a movie and also merchandise it as a franchise, but they will never be strong enough to do that off El Rey. Overall viewership was way down in season two with the loss of UniMas, and they didn’t even have a Spanish language broadcast. The deals that were considered the key, a Spanish language deal with Univision in the U.S. and Televisa in Mexico both never happened.

Obvious” that his WWE release is a worked “soft release.” Initially told it’s an under-the-table deal orchestrated with Paul Levesque. Cody gets to leave for awhile, work with trendy indy stars, wash away the Stardust stink, and return with a workrate reputation from hardcore underground fans. Cody is apparently being paid by WWE instead of WWN Live to work Evolve! He’s also being paid by WWE during the rest of the “interim period.” Notice that Cody’s first indy date booked was with WWE-affiliated Evolve. Lanza has been “flat out told that Cody Rhodes has every intention of returning to WWE in the fall and doesn’t have any [indy] bookings beyond October [2016] right now.”

Until Cody works for NJPW, ROH, or TNA, Lanza doesn’t buy that he truly left WWE. Cody was supposedly told he can’t work for NJPW or ROH; TNA wasn’t mentioned on the no-no list but no way Cody goes there if’s still under WWE contract. Lanza believes the WWE legends contract story reported by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson was planted and is part of the work. Johnson is a co-opted member of the WWE media team who leaked the false story that Evolve would become a pure WWE farm system and that would thus force Chris Hero out. It is obvious that Paul Levesque leaks this to Johnson; listen to NXT’s conference calls to connect the dots. Also, it isn’t WWE’s MO to offer a Legends contract to a non-retired wrestler in his athletic prime. Cody’s anger over this is obviously false.
From a recent episode of Voices of Wrestling podcast show. Some of the claims might be stretching a bit to support their theory but would explain some stuff about Cody taking indie dates while under a non-compete clause and his first match being at WWE-affiliated EVOLVE. Cody himself was also recently upset at the Legends deal being made public (story below).

Mark Carrano called Cody Runnels for a legends deal. At this point no agreement has been reached but Runnels wasn’t happy because the conversation was supposed to be confidential, and the next thing you know, there were reports Rhodes had called WWE trying to return

Starting on Wednesday, July 6th, wrestling icon Ric Flair will be returning to podcasting as part of the MLW Radio family.

His team reached a deal with the Court Bauer-run MLWRadio.com to launch "The Ric Flair Show", released every Wednesday on their website, iTunes, and Stitcher. In a sense, Flair will replace Konnan on MLW Radio as he had left for a slot on Podcast One's new Chris Jericho programmed 'network'.

Flair's previous show ("WOOOOOO! Nation" on CBS Radio's PlayIt) with host Conrad Thompson went on hiatus after Flair's contract expired and his side decided not to renew.

Jerry Lawler's holiday weekend got off to a good start Friday as domestic assault charges against he and his fiancee were dismissed in a Memphis, TN, courtroom. Later on in the day, his suspension from WWE was lifted, effective immediately according to Pro Wrestling Sheet.
According to police reports, they were unable to determine who was the main instigator of the incident which played a big role in all charges getting dropped for both people involved.

Luke Fordward, the CMLL wrestler known as Thunder, passed away today.

Daniel Lopez, (Hall of Famer El Satanico), his trainer and the father of Fordward's girlfriend, had reported a few days ago that he was gravely ill and needed a miracle. It is believed that he passed away due to lung cancer.
Supposedly was one of the top stars for CMLL before having to take a break for illness reasons.

At a court hearing earlier this week, it was ruled that Armando Montalvo was competent to stand trial. Montalvo was the man shot in front of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando who had been harassing people at times and was all messed up in love with Lita at the time. His family stated he suffered from bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. A pretrial hearing is set for 8/31.

Adam Rose talks what went wrong with is character on the main roster on the Pancakes and Powerslam Radio show:

"I did a commercial, and once I did the commercial, I realized that we were going down the wrong path," said Rose. "I think on the main stage, it needed to be introduced as a heel, because it was so quirky and so different. I think if it was introduced as a heel, then people wouldn't have felt forced to love it, and then I felt that they would have naturally fell in love with certain parts of the quirkiness, and it would have naturally evolved to something or someone who people liked. I think that was a big mistake." Rose adds, "I think one of the hardest things to do in this industry is to get over as a babyface. Some people have a natural connection with the audience. [Someone] like Sami Zayn has a natural connection with the audience. I don't think Adam Rose had any with the audience because he was completely quirky and over-the-top and ridiculous. And I think that's why it would have been better introduced as a heel because your automatic reaction to seeing someone like that is not to like it."

At the conclusion of Adam Rose's WWE career, he was placed in a misfit group named the Social Outcasts, along with Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, and Heath Slater. Rose admits that he had no idea about the group until he was given the idea only a few hours before the show started.

"We had no idea," said Rose. "I think we were told about 5 o'clock on a Monday night that we were now going to be a group. I think we were four guys who the company saw had something, but we were doing nothing. So I think the idea was like, okay, let's put them together collectively in a group, and these are guys who don't know each other really well. I think the awkwardness of it was actually one of the reasons [why it worked]. You get all these well-polished teams, and the idea was for the faction to not be well-polished, and the idea was for us not to get along, to almost be bumping heads and trying to one-up each other the whole time. I think the Social Outcasts has talented individuals in it. I don't think the Social Outcasts is going to be a deal loss; I think it is going to be, given the right structure, could take off. But, it's all a matter of where you put it.

Roderick Strong is finishing up with PWG shortly as well as having left ROH, so that’s a WWE future. If he was with TNA, he’s still be working PWG. Plus, the whole Austin Aries story about how he’s changed minds about who can get over in WWE was related to Roderick Strong who people were closed-minded about for years in WWE the same way they had been regarding Aries
Also rumored to be among those likely getting a WWE deal are Mascara Dorada (CMLL already considers him gone once the deal ends), and Ricochet/Prince Puma (if WWE and LU can work out an early buyout deal since he's currently locked till 2018).

There is a lot of unhappiness surrounding the 8/11 to 8/14 tapings date that is on the schedule although not announced. Abyss, Jade, Andrew Everett and Drew Galloway were all booked on a tour on the U.K. during that period. I think there may have been another person as well because five TNA talents were pulled from a series of events where they would have earned considerably more than at the tapings. But they all have deals where TNA tapings come first. The promoters were hoping something could be worked out but it didn’t happen

Not every contract signed of late has TNA in control of the talent’s bookings. The attempt has been made with the top guys that have been mentioned for that, but some talents have been given different deals. But that is the stip for the Hardys, Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III, who have been offered new deals and at this point have not signed them


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, WWE is starting to pipe in crowd reactions for NXT shows and stars with the crowd signing Nakamura's theme song as a recent example. Also being reported the WWE did the same during today's house show in Japan.
PWI had a somewhat lengthy report regarding details about the on-going concussion lawsuits against the WWE and at the moment WWE appearing to be winning them all. The strongest case against the WWE, the Big Vito lawsuit, currently is getting torn apart by the judge handling the case. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103068/latest-on-wwe-concussion-lawsuit.html?p=1
ROH's Silas Young revealed on Twitter he is currently a free agent although ROH is also in talks to get a new deal done as soon as possible.
Bobby Heenan recently revealed on Twitter his current favorite wrestler in the WWE is Kevin Owens. https://twitter.com/RealBobbyHeenan/status/748906590745468929
According to reports from Japan, Jushin Thunder Liger revealed this year's Best of the Super Jrs Cup will be his last. Feels its the right time to step aside and let the younger stars take over his spot. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/749018296226189317

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Cena:
http://i.imgur.com/xZrCteQ.gif

The Raw rating will be in later than normal due to the holiday weekend, but given the poor reception to the food fight and the lackluster booking, it is expected that it will be the lowest rated Raw program of all time.
Next week is also expected to be lower than usual due to MLB's Home Run derby taking place at the same time.

According to PWTorch, Vince McMahon is planning a “redemption story” for Roman Reigns upon his return to the WWE. They want to tell the story of how the failed drug test put Reigns down. He would then have to find a way to work his way back to what he was before and be even better than he was. Vince feels if he creates a story in the way he would want it told, he may finally get fans to buy into Roman Reigns and cheer for him.
WWE already has a Network special set to air about his "Road to Redemption" after RAW on July 25th. https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/13606881_1753208778292901_2964128125816423008_n.jpg?oh=06728e2906288b651bfa05abd26cca11&oe=57F16E14

Randy Orton is slated to go to the WWE Performance Center next week to work out in anticipation of being medically cleared for his return to the ring later this summer, PWInsider.com has learned.

Orton has been out of action since following a shoulder surgery in December 2015. He has been advertised for some WWE events in Texas this August.

There is a belief among some we've spoken to that Orton could be facing Brock Lesnar at Summerslam, but PWInsider.com has not confirmed that to be 100%.
Spoiler tag used since its related to potential Summerslam plans.

Cody Rhodes will now face Zack Sabre Jr. in his first match since leaving the WWE on August 19th at Evolve 66 in Joppa, MD after Johnny Gargano was removed from the show because of another commitment. Also announced was Rhodes vs. Chris Hero at Evolve 67 in Brooklyn, NY the next night.

Cody Rhodes will be the first guest on Ric Flair’s new podcast this Wednesday. The show will be available on http://www.MLWRadio.com, iTunes, Stitcher and at RicFlairShow.com.

New Japan announced that Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Page & Yujiro Takahashi for the IWGP tag title will be on the 8/14 Tokyo Sumo Hall show which is the same night as the G-1 finals. Jay Lethal will also be appearing at the end of the current tour. It's also official that Hiroyoshi Tenzan is replacing Satoshi Kojima in the G-1.

*WWE World Heavyweight champion Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins.

*John Cena & Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs. AJ Styles & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson.

*Natalya vs. Becky Lynch.
Current card for WWE Battleground ppv.

WWE have applied to trademark "WWE Story Time" as a television series title.


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


Some other sheet news includes:

According to a financial article from WrestleInc, WWE won't be affected by the recent UK referendum on leaving the European Union. Main reason is due to the tv contracts being written in terms of dollars and not British pounds which lost value recently. WWE did state they will go into more details about the implications during their next conference call. http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0705/613285/implications-of-brexit-on-wwe/
WWE's newest DVD set about Scott Hall titled as "Living on a Razor's Edge" was released today.
Forbes had a recent interview with Bret Hart with topics including the upcoming new Brand Split, problems with current WWE, and the company's future once Vince is gone. http://www.forbes.com/sites/housemoneystudios/2016/06/30/exclusive-bret-harts-must-see-comments-on-stephanie-mcmahon-triple-h-wwe-brand-split-and-more/#19d4f24d5f28%C2%A0
The Wyatt Family was this week's guests for ESPN wrestling segment.
According to F4W, WWE likely got the idea for yesterday's Wyatt promo video after seeing videos hyping up TNA's "Final Deletion." Also believes some people in the WWE were among the group given advance screenings of TNA's hype videos so that TNA could release their "reaction" set of videos. https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/750258023755608064
Rumor going around the net involves Curtis Axel getting frustrated over the direction of his career in the WWE. Basis for the rumor came from a recent Instagram post implying he's venting out at WWE Creative. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4rd1rh/curtis_axel_just_posted_this_on_his_instagram/
Recent episode of The Steve Austin Show had Ricochet/Prince Puma as its guest. http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=542&pid=1660700

[Simple Fan]

Axle should be frustrated. Really needs a soft release like Cody. He'll I wouldn't mind if they released him out right and him signing with TNA, ROH, or NJPW.

[Simple Fan]

Thought that Wyatt promo had a Broken Mart Hardy vibe to it.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Deletion of Brother Nero:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/9b7574aeffa5a845ea30afcb2256d05b/tumblr_o9vg2aGghW1u1ljrzo2_500.gif

While WWE set an all-time record low for Raw on Monday, the rating can't be viewed negatively given the number and the night.

The show averaged 2.66 million viewers, down only 14 percent from the near record low from the prior week. The past two times Raw has aired on July 4th (2011 and 2005), the ratings fell 23 percent and 41 percent respectively from the prior week ...

From the hourly breakdown, it appeared to be the most loyal/hardcore audience since there were no upswings or downswings from start-to-finish:

8 p.m. 2.66 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.67 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.64 million viewers

In terms of historical stuff, lowest rated episode since 1996. Next week is also expected to be down since MLB Home Run Derby takes place during the same time.

Due to Nielsen being behind due to the Independence Day holiday, the cable ratings for Tuesday evening will not be released until Thursday morning, so we'll have to wait one more day to find out how the overnights were for The Final Deletion.
Probably TNA's best chance in years at getting something close to their first live Monday episode.

It appears that Moose (real name Quinn Ojinnaka) may be on his way to a new home, but not the one many originally thought.

Major League Wrestling reported on their Twitter account Wednesday morning that the free agent had signed a multi-year agreement with TNA Wrestling -- a report Ojinnaka refuted, telling them he has an offer from the company but hasn't signed as of now ...

At one time it appeared that Ojinnaka was headed to the WWE and would start at the Performance Center in September, but Dave Meltzer reported in last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE backed off of signing the former football journeyman because of a 2009 domestic violence allegation that led to him being suspended from the NFL for one game ...

MLW also tweeted that Lucha Underground/AAA have not made an offer to Moose, but that TNA and ROH are still in play for his services.

Boom! Studios will be releasing a WWE comic book and WWE graphic novels. So, if you can't get enough WWE with all of the new content the impending brand split is giving us, you can collect the comic books too.
http://comicsalliance.com/boom-studios-wwe-wrestling-comics/

NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata will make his much-anticipated Ring of Honor debut at the promotion’s August 19th Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view. Also announced for the show were Los Ingobernable de Japon members Tetsuya Naito and Evil, and Bullet Club Members Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Yujiro Takahashi.

Mark Henry is NOT planning to leave WWE by the end of next month … Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned his upcoming indie appearance is a company-approved signing.

Henry is set to appear at Harley Race‘s WLW event titled “Night of Champions 2” and since the advertisement didn’t specify what he’d be doing, people were wondering if he’s on the way out.

A rep for WLW tells us “many people are getting the wrong idea” and he won’t be participating in any sort of wrestling capacity — it’s just a meet and greet/signing.

We’re also told WWE approved the appearance, which our sources within the company have verified.
Henry had teased leading into Mania 32 that this year was likely his last in the WWE.

WWE have applied for two trademarks for "Intercontinental Champion", one for clothing and merchandise and another for toys and action figures.

WWE's newest hire, Charly Arnolt, will be called Charly Caruso in NXT. WWE.com posted a video of her getting ready for her first NXT Live Event.
http://www.wwe.com/videos/charly-caruso-co-hosts-her-first-nxt-live-event

Fun facts about Final Deletion from Borash's appearance on Wrestling Observer Live:


Borash is a huge drone nerd and even rigged one of his up with fishing line and a bobber and caught a sunfish
The whole setup was improvised out of shit they found on Matt's property, including the dilapidated boat
The birthday party setup was really Maxel's since his birthday was the next day and it was done by Reby Sky
Jeff has sculptures just sitting around everywhere that he built, including a 12-foot-tall alien
THE GIANT HARDY SYMBOL WAS JUST SITTING ON MATT'S GODDAMN LAWN WHEN HE SHOWED UP
Matt came up with the persona on the spot when filming the first Broken Matt Hardy vignette and they've just gone with it ever since
Matt is 100% committed to this character. "It's not performance art, it's creepy!"
Borash wants to go back and film at the Hardy estate again because there's no limits to what they can do


https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4rkktm/jeremy_borash_on_wol_fun_facts_about/


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheFinalDeletion?src=hash">#TheFinalDeletion</a> <a href="https://t.co/krpXw01lFv">https://t.co/krpXw01lFv</a></p>&mdash; #BrotherNero DELETED (@JEFFHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/JEFFHARDYBRAND/status/750733469408382976">July 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Tyson Kidd recently revealed on Twitter he will be taking next season off from Total Divas due to health reasons.
During yesterday's ESPN segment, Bray Wyatt teased at a possible future feud involving the Rock by saying they have some "unfinished business" to take care of. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=16810612
The executive producer of Lucha Underground recently apologized on Twitter for publicly trashing TNA during yesterday's Final Deletion show. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4rkq5t/lucha_underground_executive_producer_issues/

[Simple Fan]

Matt came up with the persona on the spot when filming the first Broken Matt Hardy vignette and they've just gone with it ever since

I believe that, first couple of appearances were pretty bad but once he started owning it instead of acting its been pretty good.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the 20th Anniversary of the nWo's debut:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/522a2049e4b0a0ce717e990c/t/542730ace4b00a24df3926e8/1411854523560/?format=300w

Impact Wrestling is again changing nights.

TNA president Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account Thursday afternoon that the company’s flagship television show will move to Thursday nights on Pop TV starting on July 21st. Impact is also moving timeslots and will now air at 8 PM eastern ...

The move comes at a bad time for TNA after this Tuesday's episode, anchored by the spectactle that was the Final Deletion, led to Impact's highest rating in over a year.

The move was obviously predicated on WWE and the USA Network moving Smackdown to Tuesdays live starting on Tuesday 7/19, a decision which would have put Impact Wrestling in the direct line of fire. When TNA attempted to place Impact against Raw on Mondays several years ago while on SpikeTV, the results were brutal for the TNA side.

The move is going to be marketed as Impact "returning home" since the series, for most of it's prime-time run, aired on Thursdays during it's SpikeTV era. The series moved to Wednesdays late in that run and was moved to Tuesdays on Pop with that strategy being employed partially so that TNA could benefit from the overall interest in pro wrestling early in the week with Sunday PPVs and WWE Raw on Mondays.
Some more details about Impact's new date and why it was likely done.

The absurdity of "The Final Deletion" ultimately proved to be a success for TNA Wrestling.

According to ShowBuzzDaily, this week’s edition of Impact did 410,000 viewers on television, up from 322,000 viewers the previous week. It was the highest rated episode of Impact on Pop TV and the highest rated episode since May 2015.

While the Smackdown show airing tonight in Canada made no mention of Brock Lesnar at all (after Raw had advertised Lesnar's opponent being announced on the show) Randy Orton was finally announced as Lesnar's SummerSlam opponent during the Aftermath show that airs on Canada's Sportsnet channel.

It is not clear if WWE failed to put the Lesnar announcement on the Canadian version of Smackdown show in fear it would break before airing in the U.S., or there was a change in plans.

Nick Nemeth, better known as Dolph Ziggler, will be inducted into the Kent State University Varsity K Hall of Fame on 9/17 at 10 a.m. Nemeth was a three-time Mid-American conference champion in wrestling in 2001, 2002 and 2003 at 165 pounds.

ROH has announced a return to England with shows on 11/18, 11/19 and 11/20. No other details have been announced.
Tour is currently called "Reach for the Sky Tour" based on recent promo images. http://www.rohwrestling.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news_featured_photo_full_news_node/uk-tourteaser1.jpg

WWE.com announced their plans for the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, which takes place later this month.

On Thursday 7/21 at 1 PM, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Corey Graves with The New Day, AJ Styles and Becky Lynch joining Mattel execs in revealing new action figures and answering questions. The panel will be live streamed.

Mattel will be releasing an exclusive Dean Ambrose Mighty Minis action figure as well as an exclusive Elite Flashback Series action figure of The Shockmaster at the Mattel booth (#3029).

WWE released the bracketing for the WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament during their "Bracketology" special on the WWE Network. For those of you curious how the tournament brackets play out, here they are:

BRACKET ONE:

Kenneth Johnson vs. Akira Tozawa.
Jack Gallagher vs. Fabian Aichner.
Tajiri vs. Damian Slater.
Gran Metallik vs. Alejandro Saez.
Drew Gulak vs. Harv Sihra.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tyson Dux.
Noam Dar vs. Girv Sihra.
Hoho Lun vs. Ariya Daivari.


BRACKET TWO:

Brian Kendrick vs. Raul Mendoza.
Tony Nese vs. Anthony Bennett.
Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta.
Cedric Alexander vs. Clement Patiot
TJ Perkins vs. Da Mack
Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Mustafa Ali vs. Lince Dorado
Jason Lee vs. Rich Swann



Cody Rhodes was the guest on the debut edition of "The Ric Flair Show" on MLW Radio for the first part of a two-part interview.

During the interview, Cody stated that the reported "merchandising deal" between himself and WWE was related to a biography of his father, Rhodes. Cody stated that he was working on rights to be able to still write the book memorializing his father. Rhodes has been working on the project since his father's passing last summer.

Brock Lesnar vs. Mark Hunt will now be headlining UFC 200 after UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones was been notified by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that he has potentially failed a pre-fight drug test and therefore has been pulled from UFC 200.

Lesnar is returning to the UFC Octagon with the blessing of WWE, but now finds himself in the position of being a main event player for UFC in his first fight in years.

Well, the good news is there is still a lot more from Chris Jericho in WWE, as he revealed in a recent interview with International Business that he has no plans with full-time band Fozzy for the rest of the year. Paving the way for an extended WWE run in 2016 for the self-proclaimed best in the world at what he does.

“Fozzy, we made a concerted idea to not do anything in 2016. We’re gonna do a new record, it’ll be released early 2017, then it’s full-time back in Fozzy. Until then, I’m having so much fun in the WWE. I plan to continue for the next who knows how long it is. I’d never say, but suffice it to say it’s going to be for a little while longer for sure.”

Owner Takaaki Kidani said in Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine that he’s happy with the alliance with ROH but they’d like to do a pure New Japan show in the U.S. in a 3,000 to 4,000 seat arena. They are very serious about this and there are specific plans as well as continuing to work with ROH.

Nike has filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) for the use of “Just Bring It” phrase made famous by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Nike believes the mark is too similar to its "Just Do It" slogan.

According to Forbes, WWE used the mark as a subtitle for a “SmackDown” video game fifteen years ago, but the lawsuit stems from WWE’s filing for federal trademark protection in October 2014. WWE is seeking to use the phrase on a variety of clothing, including shirts, jackets, pants, underwear and pajamas. In December 2015, WWE’s application was published for opposition and Nike filed a claim.
http://www.sportsonesource.com/news/fbu/fbu_article.asp?section=8&Prod=5&id=61758

Roderick Strong comes in, it’s expected to be along the lines of Austin Aries or Johnny Gargano (he won’t have to train daily at the Performance Center kind of a deal). A funny story about the difference between guys like Aries, Gargano or Tommaso Ciampa is that at least until they officially signed, Gargano & Ciampa were on per-show deals and not contracts (that has changed) but they got to wrestle the way they wanted so did really well at the house shows. The guys who trained in Orlando were mad, not at them, but at the idea they are taught to wrestle a style that doesn’t get over as much as the style they were wrestling, but they are allowed to wrestle a style the Orlando guys are taught is wrong and then it gets over


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'm gonna soak up some rays, take a dip in the pool, take a ride on the dolphin, and then.......<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeatUpJohnCena?src=hash">#BeatUpJohnCena</a> <a href="https://t.co/DuXEaxGNLD">pic.twitter.com/DuXEaxGNLD</a></p>&mdash; AJStyles.Org (@AJStylesOrg) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJStylesOrg/status/751123679539523585">July 7, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Besides the WWE, Lucha Underground also announced they will be sending wrestlers for free signings at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con event. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103201/lucha-underground-stars-to-sign-for-free-at-san-diego-comiccon.html?p=1
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Hulk Hogan's WCW heel turn and formation of the nWo.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, the inspiration for Bob Backland's heel character was due to him one day randomly listening to a Rush Limbaugh show while driving. Limbaugh yelling at a caller because she had some life issues ended up being the basis for the Mr Backland character. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4rog9v/reading_about_creating_the_mr_backlund_character/
Aparently The Rock and Taz had a small Twitter feud occur recently over an announcement by The Rock regarding a new Youtube show he was working on. The show will be called "Rock The Promo" which people send in wrestling-style promos to be judged. Taz got upset when he found out since its very similar to a show he does. Feud itself was settled in a few tweets with most of the online backlash coming from Taz's podcast listeners. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103183/the-rock-hacks-taz.html?p=1

[drave]

Just Bring It vs Just Do it - TWO DIFFERENT FUCKING THINGS NIKE!


Hope Newport sues Nike for inverting their symbol and it shuts them the fuck up.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the country of Jerichostan:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/a44b5af716eb54f7b77fb7600fc790b8/tumblr_o9wnchfm1l1tcg45yo9_500.jpg

Wednesday is crazy television with a live UFC show, Ultima Lucha Dos, Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura on NXT and the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament.
Lot of quality stuff on tv next week.

WWE promoted that you can watch Brock Lesnar weigh-in for his fight against Mark Hunt on their website. As was noted in yesterday’s update, they have done some promotion for the fight online but are still avoiding talking about it on television.

The 7/7 edition of Smackdown did 2,241,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,080,000 viewers.

Cody Rhodes is going to write a book about his father. He said WWE has given him permission to do so. I’m really confused in the sense that why would you need to ask anyone for permission to write a book about your father. The only thing I can think of would be if when they released him from his contract, they banned him from doing certain things for the length of the contract and writing a book would be on that list

Moose was removed from a NOVA Pro Wrestling show on August 12th due to a “contract obligation.”
Reason was implied because of TNA having a show on the same night which could confirm rumors of him signing a deal with them.

The slander lawsuit filed by Dr. Christopher Amann against Phil Brooks (C.M. Punk) and Scott Goldman (Colt Cabana) has been given a trial date of May 21, 2018, if the parties can’t reach a settlement beforehand

How’s this for a sad story. Joey Ryan noted that three years ago this week, TNA released him. Over July 4th weekend, Ryan outsold the entire TNA company combined when it comes to merchandise through Pro Wrestling Tees.

Some names WWE has shown interest in bringing in are Curt Hawkins, James Yun, Volador Jr., and Rush. Rush attended a tryout last year and at the time the WWE picked Sombra. Yun, who was Jimmy Wang Yang, was backstage at Raw and posted a photo of himself there saying he was waiting for his meeting. An idea going around was to bring back older guys who can still go to put over the younger guys after the brand split when they need more bodies for television. He would fit the criteria. Even though he dates back to the glory era of the business, he started young and he’s only 35 now. He was a very good worker but got out of wrestling to start a new business, “Jimmy’s Pest Control,” in Cincinnati

This week's first airing of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network, featuring the first part of Ultima Lucha Dos, drew 104,000 viewers. This is down 10% from last week's 116,000 viewers.

The replay drew 39,000 viewers, bringing the total number of viewers for this week's show to 143,000. This was down a whopping 35% from last week's show, which totaled 219,000 viewers. Last week's replay drew 103,000 viewers.

The show once again did not rank on the Cable Top 150 in the 18-49 demo for the sixth week in a row.
Last week's replay ended up having the highest numbers in the show's history.

It also appears TNA squandered about 500,000 video views by not posting video of the Final Deletion online immediately after it aired on Pop. As of this morning there are still three videos of the match on YouTube from accounts other than TNA's own official account. These have a total of 486,208 views and counting. The most viewed clip of the match on Dailymotion has about 15,400 views. These videos were all posted Tuesday night or Wednesday. TNA's official account only uploaded the video Thursday.

Based on a formula used to estimate YouTube ad revenue, 500,000 views could be worth between $500 and $1000, which may not be huge money, but a company in financial distress like TNA needs all the revenue it can get.

Ludxor posted a scathing message on AAA and Dorian Roldan on Facebook on 7/2. He destroyed his ankle on a dive in April and said he was encouraged to keep working on it. He injured it again on 5/27 and then went to Nuevo Laredo for a match. But by that point he couldn’t walk and needed immediately surgery. The company told him they’d pay for the surgery and rehab. He said they never sent him a dime and abandoned him for a month in Nuevo Laredo and nobody from the office called him, nor did anyone return any of his messages. He said he was broke and his friends in the area took him in and helped him as he recovered from the ankle surgery. He said that after more than a month stuck in Nuevo Laredo he was finally able to get enough money to pay to return home. He talked about how happy he was in 2013 when he started working in AAA, but claimed he would have to travel in sub-human conditions, wouldn’t be given any food for days when he’d be traveling and many times wouldn’t be paid anything after because he was a low card guy. AAA has said nothing in response

1. Shinsuke Nakamura v Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover Dallas
2. AJ Styles v John Cena - Money In The Bank
3. The Miz v Cesaro v Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn - Extreme Rules
4. Roman Reigns v AJ Styles - Extreme Rules
5. Charlotte v Becky Lynch v Sasha Banks - WrestleMania 32
6. The Revival v American Alpha - NXT Takeover The End...
7. Triple H v Dean Ambrose - Roadblock
8. Dean Ambrose v Alberto Del Rio v Cesaro v Chris Jericho v Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn - Money In The Bank
9. The New Day v AJ Styles/Chris Jericho - RAW 3/7
10. Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn - Payback
WWE's website on what they feel are the Top 10 WWE matches of 2016 so far. www.wwe.com/article/10-best-matches-2016-so-far

WWE released a survey via their mailing list to certain fans today seeking feedback on new potential WWE series for the WWE Network. While this is not confirmation that ANY of this will go into production, it gives you some insight into WWE's potential plans for the WWE Network's original programming in the near future.

Listed in the mailing were the following potential projects

*Ask Me Anything Live - Live, interactive Q&A with WWE talents.

*Everyone Has A Price - Reality series scouring the country for the most memorable WWE memorabilia, the origin of the items and determining their price.

*Extreme Eats - Tommy Dreamer and Bubba Ray Dudley tour the United States to show off their favorite food locations, sample odd and strange food combinations and take part in eating challenges.

*50 States, 50 Dates - a "WWE bachelor" goes on 50 dates to find romance. This would be a reality show about finding true love while also living your life on the road as a WWE talent.

*Goldberg's Garage - Reality show about Goldberg, his wife and their mechanics restoring American muscle cars at their North Carolina garage.

*History of WWE - 10 Part documentary series taking fans from the beginning of WWE through the launch of the Network.

*Legends House: Attitude - A sequel to the initial WWE Network series, placing 1990s legends together under one roof.

*Miz & Mrs. - A reality series following Miz and Maryse.

*Talking Summerslam - A Post-PPV Talk Show (think "Talking Dead")

*Tapout Fitness - WWE stars share their training tips.

*The Third Wheel - Two WWE Fans go on a blind date without knowing they are going to be joined by a WWE star.

*Totally NXT - A reality/competition series as six women try to make their way through the developmental system for a chance at a main roster slot and a Total Divas cast membership.

*The Wives of Flair - Documentary series on the love life of Ric Flair and his four ex-wives.

*WWE All Access - Reality series following main eventers as they prepare for Wrestlemania/Summerslam level major matches.

*WWE Game Night - WWE stars face celebrities in games outside the ring (listed were dodge ball, obstacle courses, Pictionary)

*WWE Investigates - Each segment would be a 3-5 episode mini-series going deep into a real subject in the history of pro wrestling. The life & legacy of Eddie Guerrero was suggested as a sample mini-series.

*WWE Goes Viral - Best WWE viral videos including ones submitted by fans.

*WWE Kids! - Kids interview WWE stars, compete against them in games and call the action for in-ring action.

*WWE Promo Battle - WWE Talents go head to head in "improv wars" in a tournament style setting where the audience and social media as well as a panel of judges determine who moves forward until they crown a promo battle champion.

*WWE Roast- John Cena would be roasted in a no holds barred tribute.

*WWE Superstars Search- Hosted by Lita & Trish Stratus, a competition reality series with 10 women competing for a WWE contract.


Some other sheet news includes:

Fox Sports had a recent article on what they feel could be the top 10 feuds beneficial to the WWE for the new Brand Split era. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/ten-feuds-that-would-benefit-the-wwe-after-the-brand-extension-070816%C2%A0
WWE announced Vince McMahon will be returning to RAW next week with a special announcement regarding the upcoming new Brand Split. http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2016-07-11
The Ringer had a recent article involving how Brock Lesnar managed to be the top star for both UFC and WWE at the same time. https://theringer.com/how-brock-lesnar-became-the-biggest-star-in-ufc-and-wwe-477e647c51e2#.vlaav41oa
Apparently either POP TV messed up again or someone at the network really thinks next week's TNA Destination X show is actually called "Division X." http://poptv.com/post/147054115498/impact-wrestling-tuesday-preview-title-vs-title
Chris Jericho teased during an interview with International Business Times he will be leaving the WWE and possibly wrestling next year to go back as a full time singer for Fozzy.

[James Steele]

I love all those show ideas.

[Simple Fan]

Cody Rhodes and Stephen Amell will join forces once again during Season 5 of Arrow, thanks to Rhodes being cast in a mystery role on the superhero show.

http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Rhodes-600x800.jpg

[Droford]

Dawned on me WWE should be making biopics about wrestlers. A movie about Ric Flair seems to write itself.

[Lock Jaw]

Who would you cast as Ric Flair?

[Droford]

No idea

[Fignuts]

Bradley Cooper

[Stocky]

lil naitch

[Droford]

Probably would be a good thread idea..Who would play wrestlers in bio pics

[Frank Drebin]

Miz

[Big Vic]

Someone said raw did a point .8 last Monday, no way that's correct right? 1.8 maybe?

[Emperor Smeat]

Yeah it was a 1.8 which ended up being higher than the predictions and what the WWE was expecting.

Think it was the Observer who teased it could have gone as low as 1.5 if the usual holiday decrease happened.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Rollins Report:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/a0bacf62b09673ab1c1045c6b14589b3/tumblr_inline_oa6gs844fe1s4kk59_540.jpg

The return of Vince McMahon was something of a mixed bag when it came to ratings.

Last night's show did 3.17 million viewers on average, even with the advertising of Vince's return and the expectation he would announce who would be running both shows. Vince himself was a draw, because the third hour, which usually drops, was just slightly below the second hour.

It was the first hour that was down the most. With the exception of the July 4th show, which really shouldn't count, it was the lowest first hour for a non-holiday show of the modern era. That even includes going against the NBA playoffs. Overall, the three hour show it was the fifth lowest mark of 2016 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.04 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.24 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.23 million viewers
For some reference, two weeks ago was around 3.09 million as the average so slightly up overall. Biggest surprise was the 1st hour being close to sub-3 million.

Apparently, Vince McMahon was souring on Roman Reigns even before his Wellness violation. With that, there are others backstage lobbying his push should go to someone else - and Vince is listening.

One possible recipient could be AJ Styles, who a source says Vince has been telling people he wishes he’d signed ten years ago. AJ and Seth Rollins are viewed as frontrunners to headline each brand after the draft.
Part of a batch of rumors Cagesideseats has as part of their weekly rumors article. http://www.cagesideseats.com/2016/7/12/12148404/rumor-roundup-july-12-2016-vince-souring-on-reigns-pushing-aj-selling-wwe

In a surprise angle at the Paul Heyman "Inside the Ropes" talk show in London at York Hall, Heyman offered an Evolve contract to Will Ospreay.

Ospreay, who regularly works at the venue for Revolution Pro Wrestling, including on Sunday, and is their cruiserweight champion, had been announced as a special guest at the show. Heyman said he was offering the deal on behalf of Gabe Sapolsky.

It was also made clear this deal wouldn't affect Ospreay's current contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Link with video of Heyman's apperance: http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/paul-heyman-offers-will-ospreay-evolve-contract-216296

For at least the moment, the WWE roster is closer to getting back at full strength.

Neville made his return to action on Tuesday in a dark match against Bo Dallas at the SmackDown tapings in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

While Brock Lesnar was the big winner, so was Vince McMahon. It was a risk, and a substantial one, to put one of his two biggest stars in that situation ... The win opened the door to bigger fights. The problem is the UFC heavyweight division is thin ...

Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem takes place on 9/10 for the championship. It becomes a question would they go with Lesnar for a title shot ahead of Cain Velasquez, who looked more impressive than Lesnar last night but wouldn't draw as much in the same position. UFC does book for business and Lesnar challenging would mean more money, but to give him a title match he and Vince McMahon would have to agree on several more matches.

Lesnar winning the UFC title would be remarkable. Lesnar himself said that he's got a lot he needs to work on but felt he did well on what he said was six weeks worth of training. Dana White told The Fight Network that the deal to get Lesnar was put together by meetings with both Lesnar's team as well as Vince McMahon and HHH. "Vince and I have had our ups and downs and Vince is a tough character to deal with. He's an animal. It's one of the things that I respect about him. I think he's loosened up a bit on the UFC."

Brock Lesnar's performance at UFC was a big topic of conversation yesterday at Raw among the wrestlers. So was his UFC salary, which is said to be in the millions.
Supposedly got paid $2.5 million for the fight against Hunt but could earn between $8-$16 million with all the bonuses and stips attached to his deal.

Nikki Bella on Twitter wrote that her final CAT scan on her neck is in a few weeks. She's been teasing and hoping for a return.

TNA will do doing an eight-man Bound for Glory playoff starting with the first Thursday show on 7/21. It'll be a tournament for the Bound for Glory title shot at the champion. Drew Galloway, Matt Hardy and Ethan Carter III will be in the tournament. That show is billed as a "supersize extended episode" meaning there will be an overrun.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne for their August 12th show at York Hall in London. That means Ricochet will also be in the building the night that Will Ospreay faces Vader.

WWE Tag Team champions The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family in a six man tag has been officially added to the 7/24 WWE Battleground PPV.

WWE United States champion Rusev vs. Zack Ryder has been officially added to the 7/24 Battleground PPV.

WWE have applied to trademark "Solid Gold" for use as a new character name.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that as part of their defense against the lawsuit brought against them by Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton, WWE has filed for a subpeona on the research Dr. Bennet Omalu has on professional wrestlers when it comes to the diagnosis of CTE via post-mortem examination of their brains. The Globe article notes that WWE is specifically interested in the research that led to the announcement that Chris Benoit was suffering from CTE before he took the lives of his wife, son and himself over the course of a weekend in June 2007.
PWI goes into more details on why the WWE wants the doctor discredited before he finishes work on a new batch of wrestler brains. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103293/wwes-latest-move-in-the-concussion-lawsuit.html?p=1


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I see that the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GreatWar?src=hash">#GreatWar</a> has become inter-promotional..<br><br>I now have a myriad of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrotherNeros?src=hash">#BrotherNeros</a> to DELETE!<a href="https://t.co/GUZPazDywX">https://t.co/GUZPazDywX</a></p>&mdash; #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/752688231032954881">July 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thankyou for thinking of Señor Bejamin. But Wyatt brothers cannot afford Señor Benjamin. Buena suerte en your massacre.</p>&mdash; Señor Benjamin (@BenjaminSenor) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenjaminSenor/status/752587625203130368">July 11, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE App accidentally leaked who the GM of Smackdown will be as part of its early hype for next week's live Smackdown show. http://www.idigitaltimes.com/wwe-spoilers-draft-results-smackdown-gm-leaks-545023
Recent indie wrestling match had a wrestler use a little dog as a weapon. Ref ended up ejecting the dog for interfering in the match. http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/wrestler-uses-dog-weapon-video/
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with "The Cleaner" Kenny Omega. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/07/12/kenny-omega-new-japan-wwe-new-day-elite-young-bucks
PWI debunking rumors TNA no longer has any money left to do tv tapings. They also debunked rumors of TNA being sold recently to new owners. Only thing confirmed was TNA is still in talks to get new investors for the company.

[Cool King]

Some names WWE has shown interest in bringing in are Curt Hawkins, James Yun, Volador Jr., and Rush. Rush attended a tryout last year and at the time the WWE picked Sombra. Yun, who was Jimmy Wang Yang, was backstage at Raw and posted a photo of himself there saying he was waiting for his meeting. An idea going around was to bring back older guys who can still go to put over the younger guys after the brand split when they need more bodies for television. He would fit the criteria. Even though he dates back to the glory era of the business, he started young and he’s only 35 now. He was a very good worker but got out of wrestling to start a new business, “Jimmy’s Pest Control,” in Cincinnati

I've always liked Curt Hawkins.

Ryder winning the US Championship at Battleground would be a perfect reason for Hawkins to return.

After the brand split, a heel Hawkins returning and attacking Ryder, starting a feud over the US Championship would be interesting.

Or even Hawkins being in the crowd at Battleground and celebrating Ryder's victory with him, only for Hawkins to turn on Ryder would be good, but Battleground is too near for that to happen. I think all the returns will take place a good while after the brand split, not five days.

[Cool King]

WWE have applied to trademark "Solid Gold" for use as a new character name.

Goldust with an erection.

[Big Vic]

@AJ Styles news.

AJ Styles is performing on the mic better than I have ever seen him perform.

[Dark One]

@AJ Styles news.

AJ Styles is performing on the mic better than I have ever seen him perform.

I think some of it is the New Day philosophy: he's hanging out with his buddies and just doing whatever's fun.

[Simple Fan]

he's hanging out with his buddies and just doing whatever's fun.

Like beating up John Cena. Really hope they crash the Espys tonight, that would be fun.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Greatest Gift to Wrestling and MMA, the Mayor of Suplex City, Lord of Punching People in the Face, and Undisputed #1 Paul Heyman Guy .... BRRRRRROCK LESNAR:
http://i.imgur.com/fDSa7m4.png

One of professional wrestling’s biggest international stars made his Full Sail University debut at Wednesday night’s NXT television tapings.

Kota Ibushi, former IWGP junior heavyweight champion and current Cruiserweight Classic participant, faced Buddy Murphy on the taping. He won with a sit-out powerbomb.

During tonight’s NXT TV taping at Full Sail University in winter Park, NXT General Manager William Regal made the announcement that Nakamura will challenge Samoa Joe for the title at NXT Takeover: Back To Brooklyn on August 20th. Nakamura faced Wesley Blake at tonight’s taping, then Regal came out and make the announcement.
1st set of news are from tonight's NXT tapings so spoiler tags used.

One person close to the situation noted to us that some major names may have been juggled in recent weeks, without saying why, but for different reasons, questions about both Cena as the lead guy for Smackdown and Reigns as the lead guy for Raw, as originally planned, do come into play. A lot of reports are out regarding Vince McMahon’s feelings and such which may not be completely accurate, but he was very upset at Reigns about failing the drug test and it will probably play into the roster split decision making. Reigns will still be pushed as one of the top guys going forward, but whether he’ll be pushed as the top guy, particularly with the fans rejecting it so harshly, is something only he knows. And he is likely to change his mind many times.

The original SummerSlam top SummerSlam matches were to be Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for one world title which is most likely the WWE title, Cena vs. Styles for the other (perhaps called the world title since the word world was moved from the other title), Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton (not official until last week but was talked about some time back) and Charlotte vs. Banks for the women’s title. But much has happened since those plans were made. So Battleground is likely to have finishes designed to go directly into SummerSlam.

After months of discussion about his impending free agency, Moose debuted on TNA television at last night’s Destination X edition of Impact.
Ended up signing a 2 year deal with TNA.

Though they were able to retain some of the audience boost provided by last week's Final Deletion-focused episode, TNA's rating for the Tuesday edition of Impact Wrestling fell on their first episode since earning their highest PopTV rating to date.

The promotion drew 358k viewers for the 7/12 Destination X-themed show, according to ShowBuzzDaily. That number is down from the 410k who watched the previous week’s Final Deletion, but it was up from the 322k who watched Impact the week prior to the Hardy vs. Hardy spectacle.

In total, Tuesday’s episode of Impact was the third highest-rated episode since they debuted on PopTV earlier this year.
Kept around 36k viewers from last week's 88k bump for this week's show.

WWE announced on Wednesday morning that in addition to the July 19th WWE draft episode, there will be pre- and post-shows for the event.

There will also be a companion show on WWE Network called WWE Draft Center Live during the airing of SmackDown to supplement the event. It will likely be a studio show breaking down that night’s draft picks. It is not known if any picks will be made on the Network.

The pre-show will air live at 7 PM EST leading up to SmackDown kicking off an hour later. That show will air for free on WWE's digital platforms in addition to the Network. After SmackDown concludes, WWE Network will also air a post-show looking at that night's draft.

Amongst the highlights of Heyman's anecdotes/responses to fans questions were:

- Paul revealed that he had an opportunity to go to WWF in early 1992 when his WCW contract was expiring.

The offer pitched to him by WWF was to come in as Bobby Heenan's protege, billed as 'Executive Vice President of the Heenan Family'. After a run with Heenan, the idea pitched was Heyman would steal the 'Heenan Family' from him, turning it into the 'Heyman Family', turning Bobby Heenan babyface with Heenan retiring from managing to become an announcer. I'm not sure about these timelines as Heenan had already retired as a manager in summer 1991 to focus on announcing, but this is what Heyman said.

Heyman was planning on taking up the WWF offer when then-WCW boss Kip Allen Frey asked Heyman what it would take to get him to stay. Heyman replied, "Give me Turner Broadcasting employee status" and to Heyman's surprise, Frey obliged, resulting in Heyman staying in WCW.

- Paul mentioned how the 1992 War Games match in WCW (Sting's Squadron vs Dangerous Alliance) was his favourite match in his WCW career.

He told a very funny story about Madusa climbing the cage during the match and Rick Rude looking upwards at her. During the match, Paul asked Rude what he was doing, and Rude replied that he was trying to see if Madusa was wearing any panties.

- On Cesaro:

In response to a fan's question regarding which star today deserves a much bigger spot, without hesitation, Paul replied Cesaro and put him over huge. He said Cesaro connects with everyone expect the people in the WWE front office and he cannot understand why.

Other questions:

- He talked booking philosophies, specifically the 'Smackdown Six' in 2002/2003, and described in fascinating fashion how he sought to elevate wrestlers, then using the newly elevated main eventers to make other wrestlers. It was simple booking stuff that's bafflingly not done very often anymore. He also mentioned how 'shoot promos' should have a storyline connection, otherwise they become 'Russo territory' and are worthless.

- Interestingly, Paul said he and Lesnar approached Vince just before the Lesnar vs Punk match at Summerslam in August 2013 and suggested stretching out the Lesnar/Punk feud until Wrestlemania 30. Vince told them that wasn't what he had in mind, telling them that Undertaker would face Lesnar at the following years Wrestlemania 30 instead.
Link has a few more highlights from Heyman's Q&A session. :lol: at Rick Rude being a pervert during War Games 1992. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/paul-heyman-never-was-1992-heenan-family-angle-initial-punk-vs-lesnar-plan-216411

April Mendez Brooks, better known as A.J. Lee, will have an autobiography called “Crazy is My Superpower: How I Triumphed Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts and Breaking the Rules,” released on 4/4. The book will be independent of WWE, but the timing, in conjunction with WrestleMania season, is hardly coincidental

John Cena signed a development deal to produce projects with Leftfield Entertainment. Leftfield currently produces some of reality television’s most popular shows.

WWE posted a video from the ESPYs teasing Big Show challenging Shaquille O'Neill to a match at WrestleMania.

BREAKING: Did @WWETheBigShow just challenge @NBA Legend @Shaq to a MATCH at @WWE @WrestleMania? #ESPYshttps://t.co/5hB3nadNJs
— WWE (@WWE) July 13, 2016

WWE teased the confrontation between the two last year during Wrestlemania 32's Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal with Shaq appearing as an unadvertised surprise. There was talk of doing the bout when Wrestlemania was held in Miami several years ago with Shaq even saying that it was going to happen publicly, until WWE responded with a statement that the match wasn't planned for Wrestlemania that year.


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Some other sheet news includes:

Tommaso Ciampa revealed his match against Sabre Jr at Progress on August 25th will be his retirement match for the indies. https://twitter.com/ProjectCiampa/status/753347638288867328
George "The Animal" Steele revealed he was recently discharged from hospital after dealing with a serious illness for the past few months. https://twitter.com/georgesteele/status/753311771151175680?s=09
NXT's Bayley and Peyton Royce recently had an impromptu rap battle. https://www.facebook.com/WWENXT/videos/1048683555181208/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Stone Cold Steve Austin was considered as a possible choice for the main villain of the Deadpool film based on concept art. http://comicbook.com/2016/07/12/exclusive-pitch-art-from-an-unmade-deadpool-movie
WWE's website had a recent article about Pokemon GO. www.wwe.com/article/pokemon-gym-wwe-headquarters?sf30731773=1
According to the Observer, ROH is currently in talks to sign Cody Rhodes to a long term deal.

[Emperor Smeat]

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With the WWE draft on the horizon, one of the still unresolved questions has been what the upcoming brand extension would mean for NXT.

But in an interview that appeared on ESPN.com on Thursday, WWE Chief Operating Officer Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) downplayed the effect that losing some of its top talent could have on the developmental territory-turned brand.

“It's funny that when people talk about it to me, some will say, 'Well, isn't that the downfall of NXT because when a superstar becomes big enough that he's immediately going to be taken away from you?' I feel that's the strength of the brand."

He further elaborated and said that NXT provides an opportunity for talent to showcase themselves to a segment of the audience before debuting on the main roster.

“Then, if you're following NXT, you're ahead of the curve when they come to Raw and SmackDown. You know everything about them and their backstories. It's like being a fan of the band before they hit it big.”

Levesque, described in the interview as the father of NXT, also raved about the unique talent that is Shinsuke Nakamura.

“Shinsuke brings something to the table that I haven't seen for a long time. He brings a level of charisma, a level of showmanship, that you don't see a lot of times with guys that have an aggressive style, with the striking and skill set, that he does.”

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/17076126/wwe-triple-h-nxt-ufc-200-brock-lesnar

Among those at the ESPY awards included Ric Flair (shown on camera during the monologue), Charlotte, The Miz, Maryse, Mark Henry, New Day, Nikki Bella, Stephanie McMahon, Rey Mysterio (in his mask) and Cryme Tyme. Cathy Kelly was brought to Los Angeles to film interviews. They did an angle where Big Show and Shaquille O'Neil teased a WrestleMania challenge. If they are ever going to do that match, and it's been teased for years, next year is the time with the show in Orlando. Miz and Maryse were walking around with their belts per order of management, but New Day didn't have to do so. Flair is friends with Cena and Charlotte went because Ric did. Big E often trains with Cena so they got the New Day in. Henry is close with Cena. Show was sent for the angle with Shaq, while Miz and Maryse live in Los Angeles.

Lost in the shuffle of all the news yesterday is how well John Cena did as the host of the ESPY awards. It was pretty clear watching it, with all the WWE references in the monologue, that this was an attempt to try and make pro wrestling acceptable to sports fans by joking about its lack of reality and its characters like Vince McMahon.

TNA announced a deal on China's Youku platform to run Impact every Wednesday at 8 p.m..

In keeping with their relationship with WWE and this Wednesday's Cruiserweight Classic debut on the WWE Network, EVOLVE will hold a number of Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight matches at their upcoming events, beginning with this Saturday in Queens featuring Zack Sabre Jr. vs. TJ Perkins and Johnny Gargano vs. Cedric Alexander.

As PWInsider.com first reported last week, Randy Orton is at the WWE Performance Center this week getting back into ring shape and being medically cleared to return to the ring. Orton posted the following photo on Twitter showing the after-effects of his first day back inside the ring:

First day of getting back into 'ring shape'. #roperunningdrills pic.twitter.com/UBUC88TZJH
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) July 14, 2016

It looks like USADA isn’t done with Brock Lesnar just quite yet.

MMAFighting.com is reporting that because Lesnar is still technically a member of the active UFC roster, he will continue to be drug-tested by USADA.

Apparently Lesnar must formally inform USADA that he is once again officially retired from UFC competition to get the drug tests to stop.

“To my knowledge, Brock Lesnar has not notified USADA of his retirement from the UFC,” Madden said to Marc Ramondi of MMA Fighting. “Therefore, he remains subject to USADA testing and the UFC anti-doping policy.”

Brock Lesnar made his Octagon return at the historic UFC 200 event this past weekend, defeating top-ten ranked heavyweight contender Mark Hunt via unanimous decision in the co-main event of the evening.
Could affect future plans the WWE has with Lesnar until he retires again since USADA would take priority for drug testing regardless what the Wellness Policy allows. Also might make it harder for Lesnar to unretire later on since he might lose the testing exemptions he got for the Hunt fight.

The opening night of the G-1 Climax tournament on 7/18 in Sapporo will be at 2 a.m. Eastern early Sunday morning or 11 p.m. Pacific time with both English and Japanese commentary on New Japan World. Besides all the undercard tag matches, there will be five A block matches, Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto vs Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Seiya Sanada and Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji. That’s the only G-1 show of the next week as they have three days off and return for shows on 7/22 and 7/23 in Tokyo. All shows are live on New Japan World, although after the first day, none will be in English until the final three days

Moose signed a two-year deal and debuted on the 7/12 TV show. It had been almost a sure thing this would happen ever since WWE backed off on signing him. TNA’s offer was above that of WWE or ROH. The final numbers we heard were $80,000 first year; $96,000 second year from one source involved with his talks and attempting to get him from anther promotion. TNA sources claim $75,000 and it’s a similar deal to the one the company has attempted but not yet signed with the Hardys, Ethan Carter III and Drew Galloway but does have with Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Lashley and some others where TNA will try to recoup the money by having the rights to book him on a maximum 110 total dates per year with the remainder being indie dates. He retained his rights to book himself out of the contract with certain indie groups but TNA has the rights to book him with all others.
Some details regarding the deal Moose signed with TNA.

Regarding the Final Deletion production, it was mostly masterminded by Matt Hardy with Jeremy Borash and Billy Corgan having some input and Jeff Hardy coming up with a few ideas as well. Borash handled the production, editing and the direction of the segments. The rest of creative and Dixie Carter didn’t even know what they were doing but at least gave them the okay to do it. This was not meant as a blow-off but as a start of something new. Hopefully it doesn’t end up like the Angle/Samoa Joe shoot direction that got over so well, did a record buy rate for the company, and was then dropped cold and turned back into a normal pro wrestling program. Senor Benjamin isn’t actually Matt’s gardener, but he’s his father-in-law who they are now going to try and market. Everyone in wrestling ended up talking about it and it’s the first time TNA has had this kind of a buzz in a long time. The entire WWE creative team watched it together which led to the copy. It will also be replayed in longer form on the first Thursday night show and they will be doing an overrun that night


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE recently signed a deal with card manufacturer Topps for a new series of WWE digital trading cards. http://www.topps.com/topps-apps/To
Dolph Ziggler recently had an interview with Fox News and the topic involving how the 2016 Presidential Election race is comparable to wrestling. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/07/14/kennedy-2016-race-is-one-giant-pro-wrestling-match-america.html
According to a recent Observer Radio show, John Cena is likely following an Orton route in regards to working fewer house shows. Currently only has 6 house shows booked from now till November.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Charlotte currently has the most ppvs wins out of everyone in the current Women's division and 4th most wins all-time. Charlotte has 12 wins and needs 2 more wins to tie Mickie James for 3rd and 12 more wins to tie Trish Stratus for 1st. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4svcid/charlotte_now_has_more_ppv_wins_than_any_current/

[Emperor Smeat]

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The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Brock Lesnar of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test administered June 28.

Lesnar, 39, returned to the Octagon for the first time since December 2011 to defeat Mark Hunt via decision. The pro wrestling star remains under contract with WWE and declined to say whether he would fight in a UFC match again.

The UFC announced Lesnar's potential violation on Friday. In a statement, the UFC said it was not informed of the potential violation until Thursday which explains why Lesnar was able to compete at UFC 200 on July 9 in Las Vegas.

Former WWE star Cody Rhodes posted the following on Twitter, seemingly in response to some sort of letter he's received (obviously from WWE) about his usage of his ring name:

I own Rhodes

He was with me for my first breath and I was with him for his last

There's no piece of paper on Earth that takes my name away
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) July 15, 2016
Might just be an accidental oversight based on the next sheet story but if not, would debunk the recent rumor about Cody's release being a "work" by the WWE to wash away the Stardust stink from his career.

A number of independent wrestling promoters and wrestling convention promoters woke up to the sound of WWE's legal team this morning as we have heard of a number of promoters receiving cease and desist letters from WWE today.

WWE's letter informed the different promoters that they were utilizing WWE-owned photographs on advertising material on posters and/or online media to promote former WWE-contracted talents that are scheduled for upcoming independent dates.

Given how many promoters received cease and desists on the same day, it was obviously a strategy by WWE to hit everyone at once...and WWE is legally within their rights to do so as they would own any professional shots taken by their photographers.

For Smackdown on Tuesday, the idea for the second screen experience is to get talent reactions and do interviews. Right now Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are not scheduled for Tuesday's show. Originally Lesnar was announced and advertised. He has been pulled from all advertising. They will be doing a ton of shooting all day for a potential WWE network backstage documentary.

There is talk of bringing back more enhancement matches on television and using locals, both men and women in WWE. Not sure if it's for B show or A shows or how often, but the key is to have some experience and look in shape.

Randy Orton said on Booker T's podcast this past week that he's expecting to be working with A.J. Styles after SummerSlam. There are cities this is being advertised in already. WWE is also planning on releasing an Orton DVD in November.

Giving his blessing to The Club to use the "too sweet" gesture:

"If you're over enough to use that and the people don't sh-- on you, you're over. I don't mind it at all. I just didn't like them bringing in Doc and Anderson, then having that six-man elimination match [against Roman Reigns and The Uso's]. There is no reason to beat those two guys coming in the door. You're missing heel talent and you're going to beat these two guys? But they corrected it. It's almost like, 'No one can get over you except us,' even though you were over someplace else. They make the reference to AJ like he was a Japan guy–he was a TNA guy. He was in Japan for like a year. And the thing is, he's tearing the TV up."
Prior to Nash, Scott Hall gave his blessing for the Bullet Club to use the gesture since he also didn't care if others wanted to use it to help get over. Part of a recent interview Kevin Nash had with Sports Illustrated. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/07/13/kevin-nash-wwe-brand-draft-brock-lesnar

Dark match: TM61 beat Mustafa Ali & Sean Maluta with a double team elevated spinebuster finish on Maluta.

- Gran Metalik beat Tajiri

- Kota Ibushi beat Cedric Alexander

Incredible match, a MOTY level performance by both men. Crowd was fired up and got hotter as it went. Amazing near falls and counters. Ibushi won with his powerbomb. Fans chanted for the WWE to sign them both after the match.

Alexander even had a curtain call and quick appearance by Triple H to put his arm on Alexander before taking him away. Loud reaction. Unbelievable match and star making performance.

- Akira Tozawa beat Jack Gallagher

- Noam Dar beat HoHo Lun

- The Brian Kendrick beat Tony Nese

- Rich Swann beat Lince Dorado

- Zack Sabre Jr. beat Drew Gulak

- TJ Perkins beat Johnny Gargano
Spoiler tag used since its related to last night's tapings for the 2nd Round of WWE's Cruiserweight tournament.

The 7/14 edition of Smackdown, the last taped Thursday night show, 2,068,000 viewers, down from last week's 2,241,000 viewers.

Scotty 2 Hotty is on the road with WWE NXT this weekend for their house shows. He was used as a guest Coach recently at the WWE Performance Center.

Stevie Richards is slated to be at the Performance Center next week, working as a Guest Coach.

www.WWEDVDNews.com is reporting that a new Randy Orton DVD release will repace the planned OMG: ECW DVD that was slated to be released this November. I'm guessing the ECW DVD will instead be released in 2017.

WWE sent out a new fan survey today, asking for feedback on possible benefits that could be added to WWE Network subscriptions. Here is what was in the email, courtesy of Pwinsider.com…

Downloads for offline viewing on mobile devices

Providing the ability to buy merchandise such as video games and WWE apparel before they are available to the public, travel package discounts.

The ability to vote for WWE Hall of Fame inductees.

Offering discounted subscription bundles. Examples given were one year for $99.99 or 6 Months for $49.99.

Offering a discount for Hulu Plus and/or a combined WWE Network/Hulu Plus plan, in order to allow fans to have access to Raw and Smackdown via Hulu Plus.

Providing one free month of the WWE Network after every 12 consecutive months of being a paid Network subscriber.

An ad free WWE.com.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">AJ Styles' Ric Flair impression on <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkIsJericho">@TalkIsJericho</a> is everything we could ever want <a href="https://t.co/kIk5yCTbaa">pic.twitter.com/kIk5yCTbaa</a></p>&mdash; The Tag Rope (@tagropemag) <a href="https://twitter.com/tagropemag/status/753962886771380224">July 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent ESPN Radio show hosted by Bill Barnwell had the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer as his guest. http://c.espnradio.com/audio/2866661/barnwell_2016-07-14-181901.mp3
Trailer for a new film called Kickboxer: Vengeance with Batista as one of the lead actors was recently released. https://www.yahoo.com/movies/kickboxer-vengeance-trailer-jean-claude-1472651703607350.html
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Providence RI has hosted the most King of the Ring tournaments in WWE history at 5 events hosted. Next closest city is at 2 events hosted. The city is also famous for being the location of Undertaker's 1st ever Casket Match loss. http://wpri.com/2016/07/15/a-one-stop-guide-to-wwes-fascinating-history-in-providence/

[DaveWadding]

WWE sent out a new fan survey today, asking for feedback on possible benefits that could be added to WWE Network subscriptions. Here is what was in the email, courtesy of Pwinsider.com…

Downloads for offline viewing on mobile devices

Providing the ability to buy merchandise such as video games and WWE apparel before they are available to the public, travel package discounts.

The ability to vote for WWE Hall of Fame inductees.

Offering discounted subscription bundles. Examples given were one year for $99.99 or 6 Months for $49.99.

Offering a discount for Hulu Plus and/or a combined WWE Network/Hulu Plus plan, in order to allow fans to have access to Raw and Smackdown via Hulu Plus.

Providing one free month of the WWE Network after every 12 consecutive months of being a paid Network subscriber.

An ad free WWE.com.

I'm down for any/all of that esp. the Hulu combo thing

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm kind of cool with AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton. I imagine Styles will chastise Orton for losing to Brock at SummerSlam.

[Impact!]

and you just know they want Orton to counter the Phenominal F(ph)orearm into an RKO

[Sepholio]

and you just know they want Orton to counter the Phenominal F(ph)orearm into an RKO

Which AJ reverses into a calf crusher.

[Emperor Smeat]

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Even with the advertising of the announcement of both brands General Managers and a Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins title match, Raw last night did 3.13 million viewers, down a bit from the 3.17 million from last week.

The show was probably hurt by the Republican National Convention, as Fox News coverage pushed Raw down to ninth place on cable for the night when it's usually been third in recent weeks.

The third hour, with the Ambrose vs. Rollins match, dropped in virtually every demo and the hour fell under 3 million viewers. Since WWE title matches on Raw are rare, this was the clearest sign perhaps ever of the lack of value to the viewing audience of the WWE title ...

The three hours of Raw were:

8 p.m. 3.20 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.24 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.96 million viewers


Multiple sources have confirmed that earlier today, there was a fight between Sin Cara and Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains backstage at Smackdown in Worcester, MA at catering. While PWInsider.com has not yet learned what sparked the altercation, we have confirmed that it did indeed take place.

In similar UFC drug test news, Brandon Howard got a statement from the New York State Athletic Commission that said that because the state doesn't license wrestlers individually, that even if Brock Lesnar was suspended in Nevada, which would be a suspension adhered to by all commissions that license participants in pro wrestling, he would not be suspended from pro wrestling in New York. They stated Lesnar is not a licensee, and only the promoter, the WWE, had a license. So Lesnar could only be stopped from wrestling based on the professional medical judgment of the examining physician, a decision of the WWE or if Lesnar himself decides not to participate. So his SummerSlam appearance is not in jeopardy with a Nevada suspension unless WWE makes that decision, and right now they haven't made that decision.
In recent testing news, Lesnar ended up failing two drug tests from the USADA.

2K announced a Collector's Edition of WWE 2K 17, which will be limited to 50,000 copies worldwide, an NXT game. WWE 2K17 NXT Edition will be available exclusively for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for a suggested retail price of $99.99. The package will include the regular WWE 2K17 game, NXT enhancement pack with Shinsuke Nakamura, Nia Jax and Apollo Crews, lithographs designed by Rob Shamberger and autographed by Nakamura, a Demon Finn Balor collectible figure, Topps NXT TakeOver London Mat Relics cards and a Goldberg pack.

Regarding the story about WWE signing Kota Ibushi, multiple sources have stated that but WWE hasn't confirmed it. Mascara Dorada apparently signed on Thursday.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Ric Flair got engaged to longtime girlfriend Wendy Barlow (who was Fifi the Maid in WCW in the 90s). Flair bought her an engagement ring this past week.

Heath Slater was busted open near the right eye at last night's house show in Bangor, ME. I believe that he bonked heads with Titus O'Neil in their singles match. Slater was bleeding so badly that the doctor stopped the match, which is very rare. Slater wasn't happy at all. He cut was so deep you could see the bone and needed 18 sutures to close it.

There is a lot of talk about the Rush vs. L.A. Park match from Thursday night because they went into business for themselves at the end.
Supposedly beer bottles got involved with LA Park nailing Rush with a case of them once it turned into a brawl.

PWG made several match announcements for their Battle of Los Angeles shows. Will Ospreay vs. Fenix, Matthew Riddle vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Dalton Castle vs. Jack Gallagher, and Chris Hero vs. Jushin Liger have been announced as tournament matches. And night two of the tournament will feature two big tag matches with Ospreay, Ricochet, & Matt Sydal vs. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks and Fenix & Pentagon Jr. vs. Chris Hero & Tommy End.

WWE’s seemingly never-ending battle with former performers over whether the company is culpable for concussions and other head injuries suffered by wrestlers working in their ring took a significant step forward on Monday.

Bloomberg first reported that a lawsuit was brought against WWE by dozens of wrestlers who used to work for the company, alleging that the organization did not "in any medically competent or meaningful manner" care for head injuries suffered by their performers.

WWE issued a statement about the allegations:

"This is another ridiculous attempt by the same attorney who has previously filed class action lawsuits against WWE, both of which have been dismissed. A federal judge has already found that this lawyer made patently false allegations about WWE, and this is more of the same. We’re confident this lawsuit will suffer the same fate as his prior attempts and be dismissed."

The attorney that they're referring to is Konstantine Kyros, who has led the legal charge against WWE over the matter.

Bloomberg lists Jimmy Snuka, Road Warrior Animal, and King Kong Bundy among those involved in the lawsuit. Just last month, Snuka was declared not mentally competent enough to stand trial in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino.

Similar to the landmark lawsuit that was brought against the NFL, this suit also claims that WWE knowingly misled performers about the dangers of concussions and other head injuries.

It also goes beyond head injuries and questions the legality of WWE's system of using talent as independent contractors instead of employees.

This is not the first time WWE has been sued over similar matters, and as has been extensively covered in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, other lawsuits have not been particularly effective.

Earlier this year, WWE lawyers were successful in getting most complaints brought by Billy Jack Haynes, Vito LoGrosso, and others dismissed.

One of many reasons previous lawsuits were unsuccessful is, though wrestling may be inherently dangerous, they have failed to prove actual concrete and specific wrongdoing by WWE.
The part about them challenging the "independent contractors" system might be the biggest thing about the lawsuit. Huge ramifications if it actually happens since the WWE gets very weary whenever someone tries to legally challenge it like Del Rio before.

The most recent lawsuit filed against WWE regarding concussions and this time, laying out allegations that by classifying wrestlers as independent contractors, the company prevented the talents from receiving proper medical and other protections, has gotten a ton of mainstream attention.

TNA announced the following Bound for Glory Playoff matches for Thursday's Impact:

*EC3 vs. Eli Drake

*Bram vs. Drew Galloway.

In speaking to a WWE source after Raw, we are told that WWE has not yet signed any new talents officially for the division but you can expect to hear that talents currently working the CWC will be offered full-time deals of some sort, given they can pass the WWE medical testing prior to signing. WWE has a number of the CWC talents in mind for those slots.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meekmahan..<br><br>I'll sell you <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrotherNero?src=hash">#BrotherNero</a> &amp; his intellectual property, in time for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEDraft?src=hash">#WWEDraft</a>, for 30,040,396.74 Turkish Liras.<br><br>Cash only.</p>&mdash; #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) <a href="https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/755522377849733120">July 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Fandango had a recent interview with The Press Herald. http://www.pressherald.com/2016/07/17/wwe-brings-maine-native-back-to-his-old-stomping-ground/
F4W had a recent interview with Katie Lea Burchill/Winter with some highlights including the brother/sister Burchill angle she had in the WWE and her current acting career. http://www.f4wonline.com/other-wrestling/catching-katie-lea-burchillwinter-216611
Website Seeking Alpha had an article focusing on declining house show revenues for the WWE and how it might get worse now that Cena is on a reduced schedule. http://seekingalpha.com/article/3989218-john-cenas-absence-wwes-house-shows-significantly-hurt-revenue
WWE announced the updated Network subscriber numbers will be revealed during their upcoming investors meeting on July 28th.
John Cena was revealed to be this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
According to F4W, WWE only finalized the rosters for the upcoming Brand Split around 8 minutes before the start of tonight's pre-Draft Smackdown show. https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/755535964169056256
Also according to F4W, the picks from NXT were still undecided until a couple of hours ago https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/755509409606873088
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, last time the WWE title had a new champion on Smackdown was in 2003 when Lesnar beat Kurt Angle in an Iron Man match. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4tmuay/the_last_wwe_championship_match_on_smackdown_was/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Damn. Sin Cara and Simon Gotch aren't exactly in the position where they should be making trouble. Sin Cara beat up Sheamus once didn't he? I wonder who got the better of the other in their scuffle?

[Mr. Nerfect]

It was probably over who appreciates Becky Lynch more.

[Ultra Mantis]

Damn. Sin Cara and Simon Gotch aren't exactly in the position where they should be making trouble. Sin Cara beat up Sheamus once didn't he? I wonder who got the better of the other in their scuffle?

Wasn't that Yoshi Tatsu who beat the shit out of Sheamus for not washing the dishes or something?

[Cool King]

Yeah, apparently when they were all roommates in Tampa, Ted Dibiase and Tatsu confronted Sheamus about his unwashed protein shakers.

Sheamus was apparently being a dick about the whole thing and he then threw a protein shaker at Tatsu and goaded him to do something about it.

The story then goes that Tatsu kicked Sheamus' ass and left him crying and/or running for cover.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Yeah, that happened too, but I'm sure I remember something about Sin Cara beating up Sheamus too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm reading up on it now and apparently Hunico got upset at Drew McIntyre for shaking hands with the top guys and not the shit-kickers, and Sheamus took exception to Sin Cara taking exception. Sheamus told Sin Cara/Hunico to move from a place he was stretching because Sheamus is more important than him, threw a punch at Sin Cara/Hunico, and got his leg swept and started getting punched by Sin Cara/Hunico and then tried to play it off like he was just joking with the guy.

Apparently the Sheamus/Yoshi Tatsu story, which I also heard was about an unwashed protein shake bottle or something, was actually about money. Sheamus owed Tatsu and didn't pay him back, so Tatsu slapped the shit out of Sheamus and made him cry and then got his money back. Apparently Tatsu felt bad about embarrassing Sheamus like that, but felt it was a measure he needed to go to at the time.

[Cool King]

Just searched for that myself and was about to post it.

Overall, the image I'm getting of Sheamus from these stories is that he can be massive dick at times and act like some kind of tough guy, but it's all show as he can't seem to fight to save himself and always gets his ass handed to him.

Usually from guys way smaller than him.

[James Steele]

Nothing tops Joey Styles kicking JBL's ass.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by last night's WWE Draft:
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FortunateTastyBaleenwhale-size_restricted.gif

The SmackDown draft show, the first of the now-weekly Tuesday live shows, did 3.17 million viewers, which would be the best SmackDown rating since it moved to the USA Network.

The rating was up from the 2.0 to 2.3 million that the show was doing on Tuesdays, but that was expected. The number was very slightly ahead of the 3.13 million viewers Raw did the night prior, but it figured to be since the show had been hyped for weeks and was considered the most important television show in months.
First time since 2003 Smackdown managed to beat RAW in ratings for a week.

Lesnar was originally slated to be the first pick. It’s not certain that was always the plan, but it was the plan last week, stemming from his win over Mark Hunt and the publicity it garnered. To get over the value of the title, Ambrose was scheduled as the second pick for Smackdown, followed by Rollins for Raw and then Cena for Smackdown.

UPDATE: In addition to the commentary booth updates on Raw, SmackDown Live and more, WWE Hall of Famers Booker T and Jerry “The King” Lawler will bring their decades of experience in sports-entertainment to recurring Pre-Shows and Kickoffs as key analysts, among other names still to be announced. Stay with WWE.com for additional updates.
Update in regards to the new commentary teams for RAW and Smackdown.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Daniel Bryan agreed to return to WWE back in May … and the initial pitch called for SmackDown Live‘s new General Manager to come back much sooner.

Sources tell us the original suggested timeline called for Vince McMahon to announce the brand split and WWE Draft the night after Money in the Bank, as well as the return of Daniel Bryan.

We’re told he would have also announced that Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon would continue running the flagship show and Bryan would’ve butt heads with them leading to the draft.

No word on why the storyline was altered — or when Mick Foley was brought into the picture — but as usual, plans can change at the drop of a dime in WWE.

It’s official. Cody Rhodes has signed to compete at ROH’s Final Battle PPV, Friday December 2. ROH Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness confirmed the signing of Rhodes for what promises to be the biggest event of 2016 in Ring of Honor.

TNA announced that Matt Hardy vs. James Storm's Bound For Glory playoff match will air this Thursday on Impact.

Bound For Glory playoff matches already announced for Thursday:

EC3 vs. Eli Drake

Bram vs. Drew Galloway

WWE NXT referee Shawn Bennett announced the following on Twitter:

So as of last night, my 3+ years w/ @WWENXT comes to a close. Extremely proud & humbled to join the #RAW brand of WWE in the coming weeks.
— Shawn Bennett (@BennettWWE) July 20, 2016

Any news on Global Force Wrestling? Does it still exist? Seems like it had big hype then burned out.

They are still around but given their business model, they aren’t going make a mark on the landscape as they are presently constructed. In order to really make their mark, they need a good television deal and the money it brings in. Without that, it will be hard for them to be any more than what they are now.
From a recent weekly Q&A session PWI had involving a variety of topics.

John Cena was the guest on Jonathan Coachman's weekly ESPN segment last night. When asked about Brock Lesnar's drug suspension, Cena said:

“Well, there was certainly a lot of hype. I was actually on SportsCenter hyping that fight myself. My thoughts were in Brock Lesnar’s corner, as he was put as the underdog in that fight, and he ended up doing well. Anytime something like that comes out, it certainly affects your perception of the event. There’s no way that people aren’t going to perceive Brock Lesnar differently, and when something like this happens, you set yourself a long, hard road ahead of you, and Brock’s got a long, hard road ahead of him.”

Nikki Bella is slated to undergo an MRI this week to determine whether she will be cleared to return to the ring following neck surgery.

Ryback took to Twitter yesterday, updating fans on when his WWE deal expires and when he will be returning to the ring:

Update for the good ones. One month left for nose before I resume wrestling/jiu jitsu/boxing regimen for return. Ear get cleared in 6 days
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 19, 2016

For weights. Contract up August 8th or Oct 17th depending on certain circumstances. The future is going to be great! #FeedMeMore
— The Big Guy (@Ryback22) July 19, 2016

There was a minor surprise in Mojo Rawley being called up. There were some in NXT earlier today that expected No Way Jose to get that slot instead. This puts Rawley and his Hype Bros partner Zack Ryder on the same brand.

Last week in the U.K., Paul Heyman brought Will Ospreay on-stage during Heyman’s one-man show for a sales pitch to join WWNLive.

It turns out Ospreay has signed an exclusive U.S. deal with WWNLive to be part of the EVOLVE roster, PWTorch has learned. WWNLive is paying for the U.S. work visa for Ospreay, as well as international star Zack Sabre, Jr., making their deals exclusive to EVOLVE ...

Ospreay is expected to join the EVOLVE roster for sporadic dates when he is available with a busy international schedule. Ospreay will still be able to work U.S. indies, like PWG, per WWNLive’s booking arrangement.

Ospreay already has an exclusive international deal with New Japan, who are currently working with Ring of Honor. But, ROH is unable to use Ospreay as part of the ROH-NJPW relationship because of Ospreay’s deal with WWNLive.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">................. <a href="https://t.co/WL7GHdN0HC">pic.twitter.com/WL7GHdN0HC</a></p>&mdash; Erick Rowan (@ERICKROWAN) <a href="https://twitter.com/ERICKROWAN/status/755598558691229696">July 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

For those that missed the Draft show and/or the supplemental draft show, the Observer has a list of all the wrestlers picked along with the new commentary teams. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/wwe-raw-and-smackdown-rosters-set-new-commentary-teams-named-216866
WWE is currently teasing undrafted star Heath Slater might be heading to EVOLVE as an option. https://www.wwe.com/article/after-not-being-drafted-whats-next-for-heath-slater
According to the Observer, Cesaro's promo last night during the supplemental draft show was a "shoot" in regards to him being upset with his status in the company. https://mobile.twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/755818081742495744
PWI and the Observer are currently debunking rumors of Luke Harper retiring or leaving the WWE soon due to his injury. Basis for the rumor involves a recent tweet Harper sent after not being drafted that implied he was leaving.
Lucha Underground's Dario Cueto recently had a "Ask Me Anything" session on r/SquaredCircle with a variety of questions asked. The most important being Jiggypuff revealed as his favorite Pokemon. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4ttvyu/im_el_jefe_dario_cueto_ama/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, New Day is around 150 days away from breaking the all-time record for longest ever tag team championship reign in WWE history. They recently broke the modern record earlier in the week which was previously held by London & Kendrick.
For those interested, Matt Hardy will be tomorrow's guest for the Sam Roberts wrestling podcast show.
According to the Observer, WWE is currently deciding between this Sunday and possibly September for Bayley's callup to the main rosters. Either she gets picked as Sasha's mystery partner or has to wait till the next wave of callups occur.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Breezango gif:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/06e91c5375059c9fb27c981a8b07e039/tumblr_o9tu8y67Up1vomgndo1_540.gif

The word going around the locker room from multiple sources is that Reigns tested positive for Adderall, which is used to treat ADHD, but can also be used as a mile performance enhancer (and cognitive enhancer in other professions) as well as a party drug. This isn’t official given that WWE doesn’t release what a performer fails for, and the performers themselves are strongly encouraged not to publicly talk about it and just take their punishment. At this stage of the game, they really should reveal what the positive tests are for just to avoid the rampant speculation that comes out given the nature of coverage

It was notable that unlike other wrestler/manager combinations, Lesnar was not listed with Paul Heyman. Heyman’s contract with WWE has expired and at this point the sides haven’t come to an agreement for a renewal, so he was never mentioned as coming to Raw with Lesnar.
Heyman not wanting to be among the Creative staff for the new Brand Split era may or may not have played a role in no new deal being done.

Jonathan Coachman on ESPN spoke in defense of WWE concerning the lawsuit filed by 53 former wrestlers, being very upset about it. In being upset, he claimed that he suffered 10 to 20 concussions between 2003 and 2008 while with WWE, including one on the first day of his training. He praised Vince McMahon and claimed, among other things, that Vince takes care of guys and pays them enough to live long after they are retired and all he asks is they come to WrestleMania and sign autographs once a year. He was furious at the suit, but inadvertently, by saying he had so many concussions that he never had evaluated, he probably did more harm than good. Plus, his claiming that Vince takes care of all the ex-wrestlers out of the goodness of his heart is ridiculous. Guys get royalties for merchandise sold or being in DVDs, and the amount varies greatly, but the idea he pays everyone's bills for a year and all they have to do is come to Mania once a year, and now they are suing him is such malarkey and that he said it on ESPN is really speaking without thinking.

Nikki Bella tweeted on Thursday morning that she received good news from her latest visit to the doctor, indicating that she has possibly been cleared to return to competition. She also teased that her next stop was the WWE Performance Center, with a picture of its rings included in the tweet.

Bella has been out of action since late 2015 with a significant neck injury, and there were concerns that it could possibly be career-threatening ...

With the recent brand-extension, it’s still not entirely clear what will determine which roster Bella gets added to upon her return or if an additional title will eventually be added to the division.

It was announced during the WWE panel at the San Diego Comic Con that there will soon be a real Booty-Os cereal that fans will be able to order to have for breakfast.
Retailer Fye already has the cereal available for pre-orders: http://www.fye.com/s/product/4632640/

The first names confirmed by PWInsider.com as returning to the WWE main roster post-Draft are former ECW and NWA champion Rhyno and Brian "Curt Hawkins" Myers.

The tentative plan is for the pair to be on the Smackdown brand, although until they debut on TV, that could always change.

Former DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate champion Johnny Gargano is signing a full-time WWE NXT deal.

Regarding NXT, there will be another round of call-ups in the fall. As far as Bayley goes, there is a possibility she will be the mystery partner of Sasha Banks in the tag team match against Charlotte & Dana Brooke, even though Banks specifically said that it wouldn’t be her. If not, she is expected in around September.

Cedric Alexander (Cederick Johnson), 26, Kota Ibushi, 34, Mascara Dorada, 27, and Akira Tozawa, 30, from the cruiserweight classic group are believed to have been offered contracts and are headed in. Yoshihiro Tajiri, 45, is also under consideration. Sources in Mexico confirm Dorada agreed to a deal on 7/15 although it is not confirmed when any of them will report. None of these names have signed contracts yet because there is all the background work and medicals that still need to be done, but all are in that process. What will be tough for Dorada is that he’s coming in speaking almost no English but he’s the kind of a guy who can get over pretty well on the NXT tour, as could Alexander since he comes in with ROH credibility.

The original plans were for the G1 opening night to be broadcast in English, but it ended up being impossible for announcers Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino to get from Philadelphia to Sapporo after ROH’s tapings on 7/16 and arriving in time to do the show. They are scheduled back from 8/12 to 8/14 for the final three nights of the tour.

Mini Drago announced he was quitting AAA citing not being happy with the way they were doing business, the same issues that Ludxor talked about and bad working conditions. He also said that unless you are part of the right cliques that there isn’t much for you. His brother, Mini Charly Manson, had quit in March. A lot of the undercard talent is looking at leaving and AAA is starting to use talent that will pretty much work almost free like Dave the Clown.
Besides talent, some people in management are also expected to be leaving due to money issues. AAA was expecting Lucha Underground to be making money by now and since it hasn't, its been affecting their own finances negatively.

Kurt Angle is not taking any new wrestling bookings this year, although is doing appearances. He’s also not taking anything right now in 2017, at this point because his management believes they are still expecting something to happen with WWE

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Jinder Mahal is being considered by WWE for a possible return.

According to multiple sources … Jinder has been talking with the company about coming back to help fill one of the new rosters, although it’s been a few weeks since the two sides last spoke.


Some other sheet news includes:

PWI thinks the reason the WWE drafted both Cena and Orton to the same show was them wanting the younger audience to start watching Smackdown more than RAW since RAW traditionally favors the older audience due to the late airing times.
Roman Reigns Wellness suspension officially ended today.
According to a recent episode of the Gerweck Report podcast, Shelton Benjamin and MVP are expected to be signing WWE deals soon for the new Brand Split era.
Kofi Kingston revealed on Twitter New Day will be getting Funko figurines as merchandise later this year and exclusive to Toys'R'Us. https://twitter.com/TrueKofi/status/756233339846156288
Paige and Del Rio are currently rumored to be breaking up as a couple likely due to the WWE Draft after Paige recently purged all photos of Del Rio from her Instagram account.
According to the Observer, Sin Cara and Simon Gotch's backstage fight ended up occurring at catering and was pretty much a one-sided fight in favor of Sin Cara. Also according to F4W, Sin Cara is now 4-0 in fights involving WWE wrestlers.
Jeff Hardy is currently teasing he'd like to return to the WWE once his TNA contract expires early next year.
Samoa Joe is currently rumored to have suffered an elbow injury recently.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Hunico is 4-0 or Sin Cara?

[Mercenary]

Kofi Kingston revealed on Twitter New Day will be getting Funko figurines as merchandise later this year and exclusive to Toys'R'Us. https://twitter.com/TrueKofi/status/756233339846156288


NEW DAY POPS!!!!!!

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[Droford]

I'm thinking about taking a Face Hugger Section sign to Battleground. Then I realized I'm on the club level...
I doubt shed going to debut Sunday though..
*wants face hugger section sign to be a thing*

[XL]

Jinder Mahal. Really?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Doesn't surprise me. They probably want Indian talent. I'd wait until Drew McIntyre is free to reform 3MB though.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd rather see Kalisto on RAW and Sin Cara on SmackDown. I also want Sami Zayn on SmackDown, but I have a feeling that might happen after losing a Loser Leaves RAW match with Owens at SummerSlam.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The WWE should sign Charlie Haas to team with Shelton Benjamin against American Alpha on SmackDown. MVP can be the mouthpiece for Jack Swagger & Mark Henry and be an occasional singles guy.

[James Steele]

I thought Haas retired awhile back.

[James Steele]

Holy shit, Charlie Haas is 44.

[Black Widow]

Pffft, ADHD

Anoa'i Don't Have Dat

[Mr. Nerfect]

I thought Haas retired awhile back.

Not completely. He still does the occasional indy. He just left ROH because they were being turds. Becky Lynch was also retired at one point.

[Mr. Nerfect]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Quien nunca ha logrado nada, siempre critica el exito de los demas. <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@wwe</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SinCara?src=hash">#SinCara</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/wwe_mex">@wwe_mex</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Theluchers">@Theluchers</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse">@WWEUniverse</a> <a href="https://t.co/XJ8xQmqnyZ">pic.twitter.com/XJ8xQmqnyZ</a></p>&mdash; Sin Cara (@SinCaraWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/SinCaraWWE/status/756388595473195008">July 22, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Cool King]

Cool video.

Cool message too.

[Cool King]

I do like Sin Cara.

Sure, I'd prefer to see Hunico, but I won't complain.

The guy has a job and I can see him wrestle, albeit somewhat rarely.

Everyone's a winner is some way or another.

[Mr. Nerfect]

https://bm23sportsreviews.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/w32-sin-cara.gif?w=840

[Mr. Nerfect]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jDLaQPZLUH8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I would have loved to have seen Bryan draft Sin Cara, talking about how he knows there's a fantastic professional wrestler underneath that mask.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by 2016 G1 Tournament:
http://i.imgur.com/jwg6ePH.gif

Following last Tuesday’s WWE Draft, the brand-extension promises to bring new beginnings for many in WWE.

And it will be a new beginning cosmetically too as new logos were revealed for both Raw and the newly revamped SmackDown Live on Friday afternoon.

The logos were unveiled by the general managers of each brand with Mick Foley tweeting the Raw logo and Daniel Bryan doing the same for SmackDown ...

The new logo for Raw:
http://i.imgur.com/XOSsDMy.jpg

And the new logo for SmackDown:
http://i.imgur.com/gKXGq8w.jpg

In response to yesterday’s daily update, Jonathan Coachman tweeted, “for those who want to criticize I can't hear it over my 18 yrs of experience and friendship in and around the biz.”

This tweet came in response to yesterday's daily update lead story, written by Dave Meltzer, that criticized Coachmen for "speaking without thinking" about the realities of the compensation given to ex-wrestlers from Vince McMahon and WWE after they retire from the ring. Currently WWE is being sued by 53 former performers for compensation due to injuries suffered while working for WWE. Coachmen was speaking on ESPN in defense of WWE.

With SummerSlam just 30 days away, it appears that WWE will NOT suspend Brock Lesnar for failing two USADA drug tests in conjunction with his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in time for Lesnar to return and work at the show. All week the word we were getting was that WWE would take no action against Lesnar, which I think is the wrong choice to make. I have said all along that I felt the best course of action was to suspend Brock right away so that he would be available to wrestle at SummerSlam against Randy Orton and if it later came out that the test was a false positive or if Brock failed for something that WWE didn’t test for, they could retract the suspension. Instead, by taking no action they open themselves up to a lot of uneasy questions and with the Investor Conference Call next Thursday and the build for SummerSlam meaning more media coverage of WWE, I would expect that they will be asked. I just hope WWE’s answer is not that Brock is not under the standard talent contract and thus is not subject to testing. I don’t think that answer will go over well if they choose to go in that direction and it would certainly then beg the follow up, “Who else in the company is not subject to testing?” If it comes out that he failed for clomiphene, as has been reported elsewhere, WWE could always suspend him then, but he would miss the show. Clomiphene is on the WWE Wellness list of banned substances.

Following his backstage fight with Sin Cara this past Tuesday at the Smackdown taping in Worcester, MA, WWE star Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillians is not on the road as initially scheduled for this weekend's WWE live events. Gotch's partner Aiden English appeared on tonight's live event in Newark, NJ, losing to Apollo Crews in a singles bout, unaccompanied by Gotch.
At the moment, Sin Cara hasn't been punsihed for his part of the fight nor does it seem like he will.

Rumors have arisen that WWE superstars Paige & Alberto Del Rio may no longer be dating ...

According to Daily Wrestling News, Paige and Del Rio were reportedly upset about the result of the draft, which many took to be a sign that they are angry at Vince McMahon for splitting them apart.

Adding fuel to the fire, on Thursday morning, a user observed that Paige had deleted all photos of Alberto Del Rio from her Instagram page. Others noted that Paige has in the past deleted Instagram photos following a breakup, as when she and guitar player Kevin Skaff split last year.

Given the conflicting schedules of Raw and SmackDown, it would make a lot of sense for Paige and Del Rio to break up, realizing that a relationship will be difficult to maintain given their hectic schedules and minimal days off. Some, however, have speculated that Del Rio could be traded to Raw or Paige could be traded to SmackDown; as noted by WrestleZone, Booker T implied on the SmackDown pre-show on Tuesday that performers could be traded between the shows.

William Regal tweeted a story about Cruiserweight Classic competitor Kenneth Johnson overcoming a speech impediment to become a capable promo.
Link to the tweet: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/nmm8j5

Johnny Gargano will work his final show for EVOLVE on September 11th in Queens, NY. And his final independent match before becoming a full member of the NXT roster will be on September 23rd for hometown promotion AIW in Cleveland, OH. EVOLVE released a mini-doc about Gargano’s farewell yesterday.

New Japan Pro Wrestling will run joint shows with Revolution Pro Wrestling in the United Kingdom on November 10th at York Hall in London and on November 11th at Walthamstow Assembly Hall in London.

Variety reported that Dwayne Johnson's production company Seven Bucks Productions will be developing a TV series titled 'Muscle Beach' for the USA Network. The series will be set in a bodybuilding gym in Venice Beach during the 80's. Johnson will be Executive Producing. Brian Gewirtz will be a producer.

Hideo Itami’s arm that he had the shoulder surgery on is a lot smaller than the other arm, which means he’s not fully recovered. He’s also not the same performer at this point, and is also down ten to 15 pounds

WWE announced that The Usos vs. Breezango will be the kickoff match for Sunday's Battleground PPV.

Former WWE World Champion Kevin Nash recently appeared on Vince Russo's podcast on Podcast One. During the interview, he discussed a potential WWE return.

"People always say would you ever come back to wrestling and I say to myself I'd come back and be [Dolph] Ziggler's Diesel because that's all he needs," Nash said. "Number one, he's not a face. Ziggler is a heel and I wouldn't have to say a word because he can talk. I've already had mine. But for the bigger guys, he needs somebody to stomp them. He does the same thing Shawn [Michaels] did. He takes every bump in the world. He takes every beating from the guys and then usually they beat him. But to me, his in ring performance is as good as anybody's in the business right now. He works so hard.

"I'd like to teach him the little things that Shawn learned. Yeah, he can fly back on every bump but every third one is kind of nice to take a punch and bounce off the ropes. I mean, the ropes are there for a reason."

He later said that the only two things on earth that he would return to wrestling are for the opportunity to manage Ziggler or to form a new NWO stable.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider is reporting that WWE is moving Lita out as producer/agent and moving her full time to a pre- & post-show panelist talent.

Lita has been an agent and creative writer for the WWE women’s division since 2015.

She has been apart of the pre-show panel for pay per views and NXT Takeover’s since finishing up filming Tough Enough in October 2015.

The return of Impact to Thursday evening was well received as the 7/21 edition of Impact did 362,000 viewers in it's new timeslot of 8 - 10 PM. The episode featured a replay at 1 AM Eastern, bringing in an additional 48,000 viewers. That means the episode had 410,000 viewers total, equal to the well received Final Deletion episode.

That was up from from the "Destination X" branded edition of Impact, which brought in 358,000 viewers for the final Tuesday show.


Some other sheet news includes:

According to reports, Lince Dorado from the Cruiserweight Classic tournament has recently signed a deal with the WWE.
Cody Rhodes revealed on Twitter he will be wrestling at WCPW on October 6th. https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/756520027721981952
According to PWI, WWE is letting certain wrestlers drafted to one brand appear on other brand shows at least for the very near future. Next week is planned for it to happen while its possible it could last till Summerslam since it is a joint brand ppv.
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had Bayley as the guest. http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=1664576

[Simple Fan]

I'd be ok with Nash returning and managing a new NWO. Could hold off until Cody Hall comes in to WWE though. Ziggler, Styles, Owens, Xavier Woods, and Big Cass could all be potential candidates.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Not a good position for Simon Gotch to be in. For someone to actually be punished for a backstage fight, Gotch must have been a right dick.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I expect Jack Gallagher to be quietly slipped into the role of being Aiden English's new partner very soon.

[Mr. Nerfect]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iyd5gEj3fY8/maxresdefault.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/657502537805885440/3xZGmLlT.jpg

[Black Widow]

Meanwhile, Kalisto battled English.

Not Aiden. Just English.

[Mr. Nerfect]

And Black Widow wins. :y:

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Hug It Out Tuesdays:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/93b50a26061f63314458c4f7cdc589b6/tumblr_oauhfdGvfO1saykaxo3_400.gif

The latest "New Era" beginning and very strong Raw show saw the audience increase to 3.33 million viewers, up seven percent from last week ...

The ratings usually increase the day after a PPV show and this would be in the usual range. The number was down from the 3.47 million viewers the day after Money in the Bank, the most recent PPV show, so the number in and of itself is not usually large for a day after PPV show ...

They are pushing a Raw vs. SmackDown ratings theme and it would be a huge surprise if the SmackDown rating this week came close to Raw number. If it does, that would indicate stronger curiosity toward the brand split. Any number stronger than 2.7 million tonight should be considered a success.

The three hours from last night were:

8 p.m. 3.41 million
9 p.m. 3.35 million
10 p.m. 3.25 million


In a bonus match, Dean Ambrose and John Cena beat Seth Rollins and A.J. Styles to send the crowd home happy.
Turns out Cena and Styles were only advertised for the post-match show.

After debuting at Battleground last night, WWE.com did an interview with Bayley where she said that the appearance was a one time thing and that she is still focused on regaining the NXT women’s championship. Bayley superfan Izzy’s live reaction to the debut was captured by her parents.
Probably going to be in the next set of callups around September.

Though the future of Brock Lesnar’s mixed martial arts career remains in doubt, he will officially not be facing any disciplinary action in professional wrestling.

In fact, Lesnar isn’t subject to WWE’s wellness policy. A WWE spokesperson confirmed to TMZ Sports that Lesnar’s part-time status means that he isn’t tested under the policy.

The WWE wellness policy requires that all talent “under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer” undergo testing, but it doesn’t specify what constitutes regular performance.

As was mentioned on Raw last night, WWE champion Dean Ambrose will be the next guest on the WWE Network’s Stone Cold Podcast with Steve Austin, airing immediately after the August 8th episode of Raw.

Vince, Stephanie, and Shane McMahon have been confirmed as playable characters in the upcoming WWE 2K17 video game.

Ring of Honor announced a star-studded main event for their August 27th Field of Honor show at MCU Park in Brooklyn with ROH champion Jay Lethal, Adam Cole, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito going at it for the ROH title. As was noted yesterday, Lethal will defend his title against Cole on August 19th at Death Before Dishonor XIV to determine who will be champion heading into the Field of Honor match.

Broken Matt Hardy may also soon be making an appearance on Jericho’s podcast after posting a picture with Jericho on Twitter today.

There’s a video on youtube called “Paul Heyman Pops a Midget.” It’s video where Heyman was doing a QnA and a midget asks him a question about Doink and Dink. As the title implies, Heyman’s response earned a pop from the person.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9CCv1i4rOE

WWE announced the following for the Raw and Smackdown preshows:

Can't get enough Raw and SmackDown Live in your life? Well, starting this Monday and Tuesday, both Raw and SmackDown Live will each have a brand-exclusive Pre-Show available on all digital platforms!

Led by WWE Hall of Famers Jerry "The King" Lawler, Booker T and Lita, the Raw and SmackDown Live Pre-Shows will provide expert analysis and highlight the main points of both brands every week at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Join in on the conversation and excitement as the Raw and SmackDown Live Pre-Shows get rolling every Monday and Tuesday!

As Lucha Underground has ended it's second season on The El Rey Network, we've received emails asking about the future of the series.

It should be noted that an entire third season has already been filmed and completed, which brings the series up to 100 episodes. That's an important number as traditionally, that's the amount of episodes that syndicators look for when trying to license series internationally into different markets, because you are guaranteed a huge run of episodes. The third season will debut later this year on The El Rey Network.

As far as a fourth season, we are told there are plans to do one and the hope is to film sometime late Fall/early winter as long as logistics are worked out. One person told me they believed the series might begin filming again in November, but nothing is 100% confirmed in that regard.
Season 3 is currently rumored to be starting around September 10.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that many of the wrestlers competing in the Cruiserweight Classic have been offered WWE contracts … but one big name couldn’t accept the deal quite yet.

Multiple sources tell us Zack Sabre Jr. was recently offered a contract. However, the young wrestler couldn’t sign it at this point in time due to a personal matter.

Good news though, we’ve learned he’s expected to take them up on the offer sometime next year.

Additionally, one well-placed source says contract offers have also been extended to TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar and Akira Tozawa. If all goes to plan, they’ll report for duty in September-October.

According to PWTorch, Kota Ibushi and Gran Metallik have inked deals as well. Ibushi has since done an interview though saying he hasn’t signed on the dotted line yet.

And lastly, tweets from Johnny Gargano and Tommasso Ciampa seem to suggest that both will soon be exclusive to WWE after finishing up their final indie appearances this summer.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Come slither my way if you wanna dance <a href="https://twitter.com/RandyOrton">@RandyOrton</a>... <a href="https://t.co/6AvLCq3lAI">pic.twitter.com/6AvLCq3lAI</a></p>&mdash; Fandango (@WWEFandango) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEFandango/status/758078758083493888">July 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Nakamura was revealed to be this Friday's guest for the Talk Is Jericho podcast show.
Fox Sports recently had an article about Bayley. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/story/wwe-bayley-debut-video-whats-next-summerslam-nxt-asuka-072516
Accordito PWI, Dudley Boys have agreed on a new deal with the WWE. Their previous contract was just for 1 year which would have expired next month.
According to the Observer, Paul Heyman current demands for a new contract includes a lot less dates. Probably due to other projects he has going on outside of the WWE at the moment.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Would love to see Randy Orton vs. Fandango, not going to lie.

[Cool King]

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that many of the wrestlers competing in the Cruiserweight Classic have been offered WWE contracts … but one big name couldn’t accept the deal quite yet.

Multiple sources tell us Zack Sabre Jr. was recently offered a contract. However, the young wrestler couldn’t sign it at this point in time due to a personal matter.

Good news though, we’ve learned he’s expected to take them up on the offer sometime next year.

Additionally, one well-placed source says contract offers have also been extended to TJ Perkins, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar and Akira Tozawa. If all goes to plan, they’ll report for duty in September-October.

According to PWTorch, Kota Ibushi and Gran Metallik have inked deals as well. Ibushi has since done an interview though saying he hasn’t signed on the dotted line yet.

And lastly, tweets from Johnny Gargano and Tommasso Ciampa seem to suggest that both will soon be exclusive to WWE after finishing up their final indie appearances this summer.

I don't watch the Cruiserweight Classic, so can someone please tell me what the whole point of it is?

Is it a tournament where the winner wins something? Something like a WWE contract or the returning Cruiserweight Championship?

If it is for a contract, then what is the whole point of actually staging the tournament if nine of the entrants are going to be offered contracts anyway?

[Emperor Smeat]

Triple H and/or WWE felt like having a random tournament with the idea now to help out the new Brand Split era. Only real downside is the two stars the WWE wanted to keep the most likely won't be signing deals after its done.

Also some new stuff for the Network to have to help sway people to subscribe to it.

[Simple Fan]

Pretty sure the winner receives this trophy.
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-vk3k-cqh-VZk961YK8NNSMV77aLoM13L2RkKLOxlJ_pTxI4r

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Would love to see Randy Orton vs. Fandango, not going to lie.

Jericho needs to cause him the loss.

[Fignuts]

I don't watch the Cruiserweight Classic, so can someone please tell me what the whole point of it is?

Is it a tournament where the winner wins something? Something like a WWE contract or the returning Cruiserweight Championship?

If it is for a contract, then what is the whole point of actually staging the tournament if nine of the entrants are going to be offered contracts anyway?

Same as any other tournament in japan or the indies. To showcase great wrestling. The winner will also get quite a rub from it and inevitably be signed.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Demon of RAW, Finn Balor:
http://i.imgur.com/7PncTpD.png

The first episode of SmackDown in the post-draft era failed to reach the viewership heights of last week’s draft edition, but was still well ahead of what the taped show had been doing on Thursdays.

The launch of the Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan led new era of SmackDown was watched by 2.73 million people on Tuesday night. That is down from the 3.17 million that watched last week's draft, but ahead of the 2.06 million who watched the last taped edition of the show.
Even though it lost a chunk of viewers, still seen as a postivie considering its higher than what the usual Smackdown average was during the taped era on the USA Network. For some reference, Smackdown was averaging between 2.2 to 2.4 million since moving to the USA Network.

The three main events for the 8/21 WWE Summerslam PPV at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY are:

*WWE World champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler.

*Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton.

*Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins to crown the first WWE Universal champion.

It would appear John Cena vs. AJ Styles in some form will take place as well.

Also returning to the WWE on the Smackdown brand is former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion Shelton Benjamin. Since his release in 2010, Benjamin has worked for ROH and New Japan along with various other promotions. No word on whether Shelton's momma has also been signed.

As mentioned yesterday, the Hype Bros tag team of Zach Ryder and Mojo Rawley are back together again, and in their first match back defeated the Vaudvillains. The match will air on Main Event.

Ring of Honor announced a huge tag team title match for their August 19th Death Before Dishonor XIV pay-per-view with champions The Addiction defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin as well as the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of Tetsuya Naito & Evil in a triple threat tag match.

Cody Rhodes teased that we may be seeing him in New Japan Pro Wrestling soon.
Link to the tease announcement: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/758273993514164224

Ricochet will be making his return for EVOLVE on September 11th in Queens, NY.
While he can work for WWE's affiliated promotion and other indie promotions, he's still rumored to be locked to a Lucha Underground contract till at least 2018 in regards to promotions with national tv deals.

PWInsider.com can confirm that Jinder Mahal, last seen as part of 3MB several years ago, has signed a deal to return and will be featured on the Raw brand. We broke on 7/17 in the Elite section that Mahal was expected to return. We can also confirm that the former (and possibly future) Curt Hawkins, Brian Myers, will be returning to the Smackdown brand shortly.

There have been a number of other former talents who have been talked about internally and/or contacted about returning, including Melina, MVP, Carlito and Tommy Dreamer, although whether they will be returning remains to be seen. Another name that has been brought up has been Stevie Richards, who recently finished a stint as a Guest Coach at the WWE Performance Center.


In the new lawsuit, Jimmy Snuka is claiming that his current diminished mental state is due largely to his time in WWE. From what I understand, his mental state is the reason why he cannot be tried for his murder charge. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, and common sense seems to dictate it will be, doesn't that contradict Snuka's whole dementia defense in his murder case? What are the potential ramifications of this?

None. His mental status was determined in a Pennsylvania court room and is not subject to the civil lawsuit. They are entirely separate things.
From PWI's weekly Q&A sessions on how Snuka getting involved in the concussion lawsuit could affect his own murder trial status.

Dorada was interviewed on CMLL’s Facebook, where WWE came up but not the contract. The Dorada/WWE situation came up on Super Libre, where they said Dorada had not signed but would be there are rumors he’d be back in WWE in August. Those aren’t really rumors, he’s going to be on the August 26th CWC taping (tournament match or not.) No one is allowed to publicly admit or acknowledge they’ve been signed by WWE until WWE announces it – that’s why the show I went to Saturday had wrestlers talking about it being their last match there but not mentioning WWE at all.
Would explain the contradictory reports going around regarding the CWC wrestlers signing deals or not.


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent rumor going around the net involves one of the Usos being in trouble with management after being caught sniffing Becky Lynch's hair during this week's RAW. Supposedly Lynch uses an orange scent for her hair which might explain why it happened.
During a recent interview with the Calgary Eyeopener, Lance Storm trashed everyone involved suing the WWE in the recent concussion lawsuit. He implied its the wrestlers fault they got hurt since wrestling is meant to be a performance art than a sport. However he did reveal he has been involved with CTE studies and already has his brain signed away for more research when he passes away. http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/calgary/lance-storm-concussion-study-1.3695654
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is Triple H's 47th birthday.
During a recent weekly Q&A session, PWI thinks everyone listed in the current concussion lawsuit against the WWE will end up getting blacklist by the company and possible future Hall of Fame considerations.
For those interested, the guy who Braun Strowman squashed during this week's RAW episode had an interview with website Today's Powerbomb on how its like to be a local jobber in the WWE. http://www.todayspowerbomb.com/wwe/powerbomb-qa-like-local-jobber-wwe/
Wrestling Observer debunking rumors that Triple H played a big role in the changes to RAW this week by saying Vince still has full control over the booking and direction for the brand. https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/758341624761978880
Website Deadspin recently had an article debating on why the Stone Cold Stunner is the most important wrestling move ever in history. http://deadspin.com/the-stone-cold-stunner-is-the-most-important-wrestling-1566797510

[Black Widow]

His mother is returning too, but she's coming to Raw

[Mr. Nerfect]

Good. No one should touch Becky. Ever.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards...what will they really bring? I mean, good for them earning paychecks again -- I'm especially high on Richards -- but is anyone really going to feel their watching validated by the return of a guy who couldn't win matches in 1999?

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Knee that Beat NXT:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/b73ab7bb55a312621ff6db271044d607/tumblr_ob043kacqj1vtad0lo4_400.gif

The key takeaways from the WWE financials are that the company took in $199 million in revenue for the WrestleMania quarter, an all time record. Profits for the quarter were only $800,000, but they had projected only breaking even so that wasn't a surprise. For the Mania quarter, they actually lost money in the network division (network, PPV) due to the costs of programming and WrestleMania costs. They spent $21.5 million on WrestleMania in total.

WWE also generated $21.5 million in revenue on WrestleMania. On 6/30, they had 1,511,000 network subscribers broken down as 1,130,000 in North America and 381,000 outside North America. They plan on adding more than 300 hours to the network between now and the end of the year. We'll have a lot more on WWE financials in the next issue.
Lost around 300k from Mania although overall still up by around 25% compared to same fiscal quarter last year. In terms of profits, down by almost $4 million compared to last year's quarter.

In the new Observer, in the article about Brock Lesnar, there was something we missed regarding the Wellness policy on the corporate web site which reads: "This policy, as it may be amended from time to time, is applicable to and binding upon all WWE Talent under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer." It is not applicable to Lesnar because they classify that he doesn't regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer.
Besides not getting suspended for failing tests, WWE actually doesn't have any power to suspend him regardless of the situation due to how his contract was written. Only option they have for punishing Lesnar due to roids, PR issues, or legal issues is to fire him.

Based on what we were told, the Sin Cara-Gotch story was that Sin Cara flipped out and threw an unopened soda at Gotch's face and Gotch went down hard. Another report said it was a punch, but Gotch had a black eye when he was shown in background shots at the PPV, and was off the weekend house shows. No disciplinary action was announced. Sin Cara worked over the weekend. Three different performers and employees told us this week that Gotch has heat with some wrestlers (a few saying a lot of heat). Allegedly Gotch and Sin Cara had some issues in the past. We didn't get anyone to elaborate past that Gotch's mouth sometimes gets people mad at him.

Regarding the loss of the title on Monday night by Charlotte, it was a booking decision made to try to make the first new era Raw show big. The title change had been booked to take place at SummerSlam all along. Now a rematch is scheduled for SummerSlam. Last night on the show it was brought up that there was a story going around that it was because Charlotte was taking time off, but that isn't the case. In fact, her schedule over the next six weeks is pretty brutal.

We are also told that the decision to switch the belt came from two distinct reasons. One, the creative team wanted to open the first Raw of the "New Era" with a big surprise by having Sasha Banks "accomplish her dream."

Second, we are also told that Vince McMahon felt that Charlotte's run as champion helped to establish the championship as legitimate. Now that there was a foundation for the Women's championship, the company is more open to switching the belt and using it to help fuel Raw storylines. McMahon is a huge fan of Charlotte's work and has been since he saw her wrestle Sasha Banks at the WWE NXT event several years ago in San Jose, CA, issuing an edict after her bout that night that she was to be featured more in WWE's Tapout promotional campaign.

We are told the decision was made to go with Banks because Triple H is a huge proponent of her work and since the two were already planned to face off at Summerslam, the title switch would add another dimension to their PPV bout.
Some details regarding the Women's title change on RAW.

ZZ Loupe, Josh Woods and Tom Kingdon were released today from WWE developmental. Loupe was from the Tough Enough show. He had charisma, but didn't progress to their satisfaction. Woods was an MMA fighter and former college wrestling champion from University of Central Florida (the same college Tom Lawlor went to) and Kingdon was a tall bodybuilding champion who was signed about a year ago

The El Rey Network announced the following:

El REY NETWORK’S ORIGINAL WRESTLING SERIES ‘LUCHA UNDERGROUND’ RETURNS FOR SEASON 3

ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 AT 8PM ET

Austin, TX – July 28, 2016 – “Lucha Underground,” El Rey Network’s exhilarating, lucha libre wrestling series from Emmy Award®-winning producer Mark Burnett, MGM, Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures will return for an all-new 40 episode, third season on Wednesday, September 7 at 8PM ET, it was announced today.

Cody Rhodes tweeted that he will be wrestling against Colt Cabana for Heavy on Wrestling on 9/1.

In a twitter Q & A, he was asked if he will be making any additional appearances for ROH besides Final Battle: "It's probably not a one time thing. . . Bay bay"

As for any additional EVOLVE appearances beyond next month, Rhodes said, "I hope. They were the first organization to seek me out. That's special to me."

On last night's WWE NXT, it was officially announced that Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura will headline the 8/20 Takeover event. WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Bayley is also set for that show,

Speaking of Summerslam, if you missed it, the show will start at 7 PM and be a four hour broadcast. Ticketmaster lists the show starting at 6 PM and advised ticketholders of an earlier start time, likely so fans are entering and seated in time for the beginning of the broadcast.

The company now has a rule that they will not sign anyone under the age of 21. In the past, they've signed people younger than that. The story came out in Australia as Demi Bennett, 19, of Adelaide was contacted 18 months ago for the upcoming tryout camp in a few weeks in Melbourne. When she filled out a questionnaire, which naturally included her date of birth, officials pulled her from the camp and told her that they were not allowing anyone under 21 to try out, but told her once she turned 21 she will be given a tryout.
Prior to the new rule, the WWE had a soft rule of no wrestler under 20-21 would be allowed to debut on regular tv with Paige being the recent example.

Bound for Glory was moved from 9/11 to 10/2, and will be held at Universal in Orlando, as opposed to an arena. As noted, the date was moved when WWE decided to add PPVs and picked 9/11 as the date. Because of that, to save money and get all the tapings done before Bound for Glory, the August set of tapings has been extended. They will be taping from 8/11 to 8/17, which will be Impact, One Night Only and assorted other stuff. They'll tape on six of those seven days and have one day off the way things are scheduled now. They'll probably tape again starting around 10/3 with everyone in for Bound for Glory, and won't have to tape in September, as the original idea was to start taping on 9/11.

Regarding Del Rio, there has been talk from a few weeks back that he's got an out clause from his deal in September. TNA has had a lot of interest in him. He's making big money but they aren't doing anything with him and he can make big money working Mexico and Lucha Underground or Mexico and/or TNA and have a lesser schedule. He wouldn't be able to make the same money and when he was in India doing P.R. work for WWE he kind of put down TNA.


Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, debates about wrestling isbeing fake or real actually stretches back to the mid-1800s with news articles written about matches, shows, and incidents involving wrestlers. http://wrestlingperspective.com/working.html
Recent rumor online involves Bret Hart currently dealing with some health issues related to post-concussion syndrome.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If Del Rio leaves the WWE, ROH should try their best to snatch him up. He seems like he'd be a good fit there along with Cody Rhodes. They should also try their little hearts out to get Kurt Angle and ANYONE else that can get more eyeballs on their product. Damien Sandow was recently quite over and people still have good vibes about Wade Barrett -- both of them having true heavyweight potential.

It's time for ROH to get serious, put some money down and increase that traffic.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The hottest free agent in wrestling today ... Heath Slater:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/db92bc853a0ed8fa06dbd90d2e3c9d8d/tumblr_oay9p509oN1u1ljrzo1_540.gif

Despite Finn Bálor making his main roster on Monday, he appears to be working the NXT house show loop this weekend in Texas. He was advertised for the shows long before he ever joined the Raw roster. Bálor worked the NXT show in San Antonio on Thursday night. On his official Twitter account, Bálor tweeted earlier in the week, “As for now, back to work! #NXTSanAntonio #NXTCorpusChristi #NXTHouston #BalorClub Is Here”.

Other NXT social media outlets had the message: “Finn Bálor may have been drafted to WWE Raw... but you can still see him LIVE with WWE NXT THIS FRIDAY, 7/29, in Corpus Christi!”

In a big surprise, the TV show "American Grit" with John Cena will be returning for a second season. Cena, who returns as Executive Producer, will be out of action for several months filming the show. The show did bad ratings, usually the lowest rated network show on Thursdays and often doing only half of its lead-in, and sometimes falling under 2 million viewers which is terrible for a major network first run show in prime time. However, Cena got high marks on the show and right now people want to attach themselves to him as a star because of the feeling in Hollywood he's the guy following in the success of Dwayne Johnson.

The 7/28 edition of Impact Wrestling garnered 350,000 viewers last night. That was down slightly from what the 7/21 edition of Impact did for the first episode on their new day and timeslot with Pop - 362,000 viewers.

However, it should be noted that last week's episode featured a replay at 1 AM Eastern, bringing in an additional 48,000 viewers. In total, last week had 410,000 viewers total. So, if you factor in the replay, it's a drop of 60,000 viewers.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that WWE has licensed a new Limp Bizkit song but didn't specify exactly what the song was or what it would be used for.

After originally being scheduled for Newcastle-based NORTH Wrestling's July 30th show, Will Ospreay will miss the date because of a possible shoulder injury.

The 23-year-old British highflyer has quickly become one of the most highly regarded talents in the wrestling industry, but a demanding schedule and wrestling style has led to some health issues in the past.

Dave Meltzer chronicled Ospreay's injury history in the June 27th edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. In just his brief career, Ospreay has suffered "two slipped discs, seven concussions, a dodgy shoulder that is prone to separation, two fractured heels, and sciatica which leads to numbness in his foot."

WWE Hall of Famer and the First Ever Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson joined the “Multi-Time Award Winning” The Rack to discuss a wide range of topics ...

What he was trying to get across when writing the book:
“In the book I was trying to get across not so much the wrestling, it was about being gay and coming out and having such a hard time all of these years trying to hide, it is not fair. Over the years word got out obviously, but I wanted to come out. I wanted to say it.”

Creating the Royal Rumble:
“When I came up with the Royal Rumble, Vince (McMahon) thought it was a stupid idea. I said it's not, it's going to work, oh my god give me a break, he didn't want to do it. It is now one of our the best pay per views we have every year. It is fun and the talent likes it.”

On fighting to bring talents back to WWE:
“Vince and I would work very hard at getting talent back. Some of these guys would get fired over the years. They were talented, but they would do stupid things. One of them was Shawn Michaels and Vince (McMahon) didn't want to hear nothing about him, in fact he is dead, Shawn Michaels is not coming back. Once in a while I would bring up his name. Shawn Michaels never called saying Pat could you get me in, he never called, I just wanted to convince Vince and then Shawn Michaels back. Another one was Bret Hart and another was Daniel Bryan. I fought for them. I didn't tell them I did that for you, they found out on their own. I was fighting for these guys, everyone makes mistakes at one time or another, especially if you are talented. So most of these guys need advice, sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other and some of them get it.”

His thoughts on the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels Iron Man Match:
“The Iron Man match was a No-No. Vince (McMahon) didn't want to do that at all. Forget it, two little guys for one hour, forget it, on a pay per view. I really convinced him. It took me a while but they did it. My god, it was so good. I was sitting in the audience, I wanted to feel the moment. I was actually crying because of how much I enjoyed that match. You don't think those two kids were happy after, oh my god, it is something I will never forget.”

On who he sees with the biggest potential on the WWE Roster:
“Dolph Ziggler. Without a doubt. I see it big time. He has come a long way this kid. My point of view is if you got guys like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and all of these characters that are bigger than life, but those little guys, people love them. They are talented. That what makes feel that these can do nice things too.”
Some highlights from a recent interview Patterson had: http://wildtalkradio.com/rocknsock/therack/therack071416.mp3

WWE has purchased a stake in Flo Sports, which is the web site we wrote about several weeks ago that does live streaming of all the major events in sports like track, gymnastics, amateur wrestling, as well as doing MMA and they're pushed grappling shows as well as a monthly subscription service.

Jinder Mahal is expected on Raw and Brian Myers (or Curt Hawkins as he'll probably go by) on Smackdown. MVP has been contacted but no word if he's signed. Teddy Long on a podcast said MVP and Benjamin were coming in, but MVP then contacted him and denied it. The thing is, while that may be the case, you are supposed to deny it until the company announces it. Stevie Richards is also expected back, but that isn't confirmed. The new deals are not for big money and are likely using experienced guys for names to put over the newer talent. One of the reasons several of the people contacted haven't signed is because of the money offer.

More names offered contracts for the cruiserweight division, as expected, were Zack Sabre Jr., Noam Dar and T.J Perkins. That doesn't mean all are signed, only that the offers are out. The ones who sign will likely debut on Raw after the Cruiserweight tournament ends on television. I could see the 9/14 live tournament final being to create the cruiserweight title and that shortly and then they'd start them on Raw.


Some other sheet news includes:

During a recent interview with website Rare.us, Kane revealed he wants to enter politics after he retires from wrestling within the near future. http://rare.us/story/it-sure-as-hell-seems-like-wwes-glenn-kane-jacobs-is-going-to-run-for-office/
A recent legal update regarding the Hogan-Gawker lawsuit involved a judge being furious at Gawker's founder lying about the company's value and Hogan being allowed to start claiming his settlement money now as punishment. Gawker had been trying to prevent or delay Hogan's side from collecting money with their latest attempt backfiring badly for them. http://nypost.com/2016/07/29/judge-blasts-nick-denton-for-lying-about-gawker-stock-value/
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of the time Kevin Nash decided to play human darts with Rey Mysterio in WCW. http://i.imgur.com/3bnRImQ.gif
For those interested, Shinsuke Nakamura was today's guest for the Talk Is Jericho podcast show: http://www.podcastone.com/Talk-Is-Jericho

[Black Widow]

They don't need to bring back useless fucks!

[Savio]

don't hinder Jinder

[drave]

don't maul mahal.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jinder Mahal should only return with Drew McIntyre and if they have plans to reform 3MB.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm now on board with Stevie Richards coming in. I want him as a tag partner to Curtis Axel. Richards knows what it is like to be irrelevant, but he's here to turn that around with one last shot in the big leagues with a partner he believes in.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, and Richards & Axel MUST win the Tag Titles at least once. And they must guest star on Ballers.

[Cool King]

I'm all for that.

[Sepholio]

Bo Dallas should join the hype bros

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Neutralizer OUTTA NOWHERE:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/e1a69c4b241e9136611213f8da392486/tumblr_ob9g4uMkEf1saykaxo1_400.gif

For the second week of the brand extension period, Raw held up well last night, doing 3.30 million viewers, down from 3.33 million the week before ...

The pattern was different from usual, in that the first hour was the strongest instead of the second hour. There was the third hour fade. It wasn't as bad as in some weeks, but it was still 9 percent drop, with the final hour built around the return of Brock Lesnar ...

For the three hours, the numbers were:

8 p.m. 3.46 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.40 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.08 million viewers
For some reference, same show last year had 3.7 million as the average

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that SmackDown will be adding its own women’s and tag team titles. Daniel Bryan did an interview with the Bear Hug it Out podcast, and confirmed Meltzer’s report that a women’s title will eventually be added to SmackDown.
Link to the Bryan interview: http://bearhugitout.podbean.com/e/episode-42-the-daniel-bryan-interview/

The judge in the Jimmy Snuka case has denied the District Attorney’s request to drop the charges, stemming from the 1983 death of Snuka’s girlfriend at the time. That means that Jimmy Snuka, at this point, is likely to stand trial for murder shortly.

Though the newly revamped SmackDown Live may still only be two hours long, it will be receiving an extra hour of analysis on WWE Network.

WWE announced on Tuesday that WWE Talking Smack, a weekly SmackDown wrap-up show featuring analysis and interviews will be debuting on WWE Network tonight. That is in addition to the half hour pre-show that already airs on WWE Network before both Raw and SmackDown.

Talking Smack will air immediately following SmackDown at 10 p.m. EST.

The Huffington Post has an article on TNA Knockout Jade, focusing on her overcoming domestic abuse. As a former victim of domestic violence, Jade is now an advocate of women’s rights championing the cause to end domestic battery. “We choose to get in the ring. We’re trained to keep ourselves and our opponents safe. But when someone brings it back home, that’s not wrestling anymore. That is not entertainment. That is just straight abuse.” Pass this article along if you know of anyone in a dangerous situation, female or male, child or adult. Violence in the home is not ok in any form.
Link to the article from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-pacheco/this-popular-female-wrest_b_11269074.html

As expected, Gawker founder and partial owner Nick Denton has declared bankruptcy stemming from judge Pamela Campbell's ruling that he needed to start paying Hulk Hogan his share of the big verdict. Denton is in a legal vise as he may not be able to raise the $50 million to appeal the original verdict.

After an absence earlier this year caused speculation about her employment with the company, Lilian Garcia will officially be leaving WWE to help take care of her ailing father ...

Garcia has been sporadically absent from shows this year to care for her father who is fighting two different types of cancer, and is now leaving her role in WWE so she can stay closer to home and have time to spend with him.

Ring of Honor announced IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle in a non-title for Death Before Dishonor XIV on pay-per-view August 19th.

WWE applied to trademark "King of The Ring" as an event name on 7/28, so it could be returning again.

Tony Nese, who made his WWE debut last week in an excellent showing on the Cruiserweight Classic, has signed a new deal with WWNLive.com, the parent company of EVOLVE, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

A round of roster reveals have been made for WWE 2K17 with Aiden English & Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains, Booker T, Brian Pillman, Brie & Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho, Diego & Fernando of Los Matadores, Erick Rowan, Heath Slater, Jey & Jimmy Uso, Jim Neidhart, Konnor & Viktor of the Ascension, Larry Zbyszko, R-Truth, and The Ultimate Warrior all being announced for the game.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-cards="hidden" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We officially <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SignHeathSlater?src=hash">#SignHeathSlater</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE2K17?src=hash">#WWE2K17</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/HeathSlaterOMRB">@HeathSlaterOMRB</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IGN">@IGN</a> <a href="https://t.co/Uw9gL5PIoL">https://t.co/Uw9gL5PIoL</a> <a href="https://t.co/TLk7VYhIK8">pic.twitter.com/TLk7VYhIK8</a></p>&mdash; WWE 2K17 (@WWEgames) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/760528660390555648">August 2, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Some other sheet news includes:

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Jinder Mahal's win over Heath Slater last night was his first ever singles win on RAW in the WWE. His only other wins on RAW were as part of 3MB while he had a few singles wins previously on Smackdown shows.
E! announced the debut of Total Bellas will occur on October 5th.
For those with Verizon Fios, El Rey channel was recently added to their lineup making Lucha Underground available to watch now.
ESN announced their weekly wrestling segment is being moved to Wednesday starting this week.
Rhyno will find out later tonight if he managed to win the Republican primary for one of Michigan state house seats up for grabs later this year.

[Ruien]

I turned off the tv on Brock. I don't care about his match. There is no real story there. It's just 2 superstars going at it. Feels meh.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Gift of Jericho:
https://67.media.tumblr.com/4f982730e408ac3d2ede9557a5983f47/tumblr_ob9gitI7tR1saykaxo1_400.gif

According to his wife Valerie, former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer "Superstar” Billy Graham has been admitted to the Mayo Clinic due to some serious medical symptoms. Graham will undergo a procedure Wednesday morning to identify the cause of his medical issues.

The ratings for the second week of SmackDown’s new era were mostly unchanged from last week’s first post-draft episode.

Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown was watched by 2.68 million people, which is slightly down from the 2.73 million who had watched last week.
Still higher than what it was previously averaging on the USA Network although lost around 500k viewers since the Draft episode.

They say politics can be a rough sport. If that's the case, the winner of Tuesday's Republican Primary in the 15th District State House race may be uniquely qualified for the battle he'll have in November. Terrance "Rhyno" Gerin is a WWE wrestler.

The WWE Superstar took down two Republican opponents in the primary, winning by only 54 votes as of 11:30 p.m. Though he had the highest vote total, he had yet to be officially named the Republican Primary winner.

As the winner of the Republican Primary, he would now face Abdullah Hammoud, the winner of the 15th District Democratic Primary, in November's General Election.

Rhyno, as he's known to wrestling fans, is running to represent part of Dearborn in the Michigan State House. He chose to run for office under his real name, Terrance Guido Gerin.

In attempt to clear up rumors about why her daughter has been missing from WWE events, Saraya Knight tweeted that Paige is dealing with an injury.

In today’s WWN alerts, it was reported that Heath Slater’s storyline negotiations with EVOLVE are at an impasse with Slater facing Rhyno in an attempt to earn a spot on the SmackDown roster next week.

For those who asked, Eva Marie's injury last night was indeed a storyline deal.

We noted last night that Paige was pulled from next week's WWE tour of Australia and New Zealand. We are told she is dealing with an injury.

Jimmy Uso is also out with an injury of some sort, hence Jey teaming with Zack Ryder last weekend.
Curse of Papa Shango strikes again. Bray also got hurt last night but seems to be a small tweak and nothing serious due to the lack of reports.

WWE released the following ad for the Backlash PPV on September 11th.

#SDLive will have its FIRST exclusive PPV event on Sunday, September 11 with #WWEBacklash at 8e/5p on @WWENetwork! https://t.co/v8qITaECFR
— WWE (@WWE) August 3, 2016


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/SashaBanksWWE">@SashaBanksWWE</a>'s side plates! They look so awesome!! 🙌 <a href="https://t.co/O8AMFgVcvx">pic.twitter.com/O8AMFgVcvx</a></p>&mdash; Autumn (@xWWEForever) <a href="https://twitter.com/xWWEForever/status/760892277975687173">August 3, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website had a recent interview with American Alphas after their debut match on Smackdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szs2uImJJYs
Eric Bishoff had a recent interview with Sports Illustrated on the topic of WWE's Cruiserweight classic tournament: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/08/03/al-snow-eric-bischoff-wwe-cruiserweight-classic
Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast had Broken Matt Hardy as its guest: http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=1666536
Lucha Underground currently rumored to be making an announcement within the next 3 weeks based on a teaser tweet from LU announcer Vampiro. Rumored to be LU and Netflix agreeing on a deal allowing the show to be carried on the service. https://twitter.com/vampiro_vampiro/status/760922323566419969

[Lock Jaw]

I like how that news says "He chose to run for office under his real name, Terrance Guido Gerin" as if it were really an option for him to chose to run under the name "Rhyno"......

[Corkscrewed]

If elected, he will GORE!!! taxes and wasteful spending.

[Frank Drebin]

Seeing Rhyno in a suit with his hair pulled back not soaking wet in an honest attempt to look professional would be weird af

[Lock Jaw]

Imagining him behind podium in Rhyno singlet, soaking wet, and threatening to GORE his opposition......

[Cool King]

Seeing Rhyno in a suit with his hair pulled back not soaking wet in an honest attempt to look professional would be weird af

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ccp6nmHWoAAzRYj.jpg:large

[Cool King]

He wore that suit when he went to find out if he was on the ballot for State Representative back in March.

[Frank Drebin]

Pee-Wee Herman ' s neglected used car salesman of a brother.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Dropkick Appreciation Thursday:
http://66.media.tumblr.com/464a2be26e4186bef2d0cc90f0904c51/tumblr_obeov05idU1vtad0lo9_r1_400.gif

In WWE injury news, Dave Meltzer confirmed on wrestling Observer Radio that Bray Wyatt did indeed sustain a sprained ankle on WWE Smackdown Live this week. Wyatt was still planning on working weekend WWE live events as of Wednesday morning, but if he misses the events that could be an indication that the injury is a bit more serious. As noted, Wyatt refused to have the match stopped on Tuesday night, and also refused to be checked on by trainers.

Former WWE writer Kevin Eck has an interesting column talking about being in meetings where it was clear Vince McMahon did not see stardom in C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan, and also noting that if it was up to him, he'd build the company around Kevin Owens.
Link to the article: https://www.pressboxonline.com/2016/08/03/kevin-owens-should-be-the-face-of-wwes-new-era

The 9/26 Raw show in Cincinnati is advertising Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins as the main event.
Possible spoilers for the Universal title match at SummerSlam and Reigns-Rusev feud.

Ring of Honor will be seeing another international star make an appearance on their roster, as Dragon Lee will make his debut for the company later this year.

Lee will compete for ROH at their September 30th All Star Extravaganza VIII pay-per-view in Lowell, MA. He will also compete on ROH's TV tapings the next night.

Bret Hart talks Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins:

"If you watch wrestling, like I do. If you watch for the wrestling. There's so much talking. There's some twit back there with a pencil behind his ear writing down all these things for wrestlers to say. It all starts to sound the same," said Hart.

"There was a difference back in my time, where we all had to make up our own verbiage. So when you watch those interviews, a certain part of you comes out and that's what makes those characters so great.

"I've seen today, even in my own case for the bits and pieces I've done in wrestling, where they give you five pages of script to go out and interrupt somebody and say this or that, it might even be really small and pretty limited sort of dialogue but it's hard to do. Especially when they give it to you at 3:00 and then you start to memorize it, and you have it sort of memorized at 5:00 and they come up to you at 6:00 and it's all changed."

"I think that Cody Rhodes, if you watch wrestling like I do as a wrestling fan, he's to me one of those wrestlers that I would put in the category of 'Excellence of Execution'. Every move he does is safe and perfectly executed. There's a lot of wrestlers today a) their execution is lousy and they're not safe. You watch Seth Rollins who they've pushed as this huge mega, mega push. I watched him a few months ago, and you can watch it back on YouTube but he knees John Cena in the face. Just knees him in the face so hard, so recklessly, so dangerously, you can easily kill somebody with a knee like that in the face," said Hart.

"It's a testimony to John Cena that a) he finished the match and b) that he didn't get a shotgun and shoot Seth Rollins when he came through the curtain."
Link to the article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/housemoneystudios/2016/08/04/exclusive-bret-hart-lets-loose-on-seth-rollins-goldberg-wwe-creative-cody-rhodes-and-more/#5c3b617529f8%C2%A0

WWE.com is running a poll for SummerSlam's 'Most Heated Rivalries'. The winning match will be the centerpiece for a new WWE Network collection debuting on August 15th. You can vote by clicking http://www.wwe.com/polls/summerslam-most-heated-rivalry.

John Cena, AJ Styles, Erick Rowan, The Usos and Apollo Crews will miss next Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live due to the tour of New Zealand and Australia that starts next Wednesday. Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt is being advertised for the dark match for Tuesday’s SmackDown Live.

While being interviewed by Bailey and Southside earlier this week, Seth Rollins was asked about the famous “Wrestler’s Court” and Roman Reigns’ apology to the locker room for his Wellness Policy violation. In the interview, which you can see below, Rollins said he’d never been to Wrestler’s Court and that the system is no longer around. Rollins said that the system, in which talent who were perceived to have done something wrong would go up against a “jury” of peers, was typically over trivial things such as someone taking someone else’s seat in catering. He noted that the penalties “could be a little harsh” before the company went public and social media became prominent.

He was asked if he was there for Roman Reigns’ apology to the locker room, which was framed as a Wrestler’s Court situation, and said, “No, that’s misunderstood.” Rollins said that Reigns actually addressed the locker room because he is viewed as a locker room leader and wanted to address the incident. He said that Wrestler’s Court was more of a light-hearted thing and that Reigns’ actions were more of a professional thing between himself and WWE.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK47bNLDwas

Regarding last week's lead story, one correction is that in the Wellness policy on the corporate web site there is a sentence that can be construed as to cover why Lesnar wasn't being tested: "This policy, as it may be amended from time to time, is applicable and binding upon all WWE talent under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer." The in-ring services is the loophole used for Vince and Stephanie McMahon, or even Paul Levesque when they were regulars but were not regularly doing matches in the ring. Regularly is the one for Undertaker, Rock or Lesnar, who don't work for the company regularly.

Heyman reached a new deal with WWE this past week. The deal was always expected to be made, but WWE didn't do any mentions or advertise Heyman when he wasn't under contract. His deal expired shortly after WrestleMania and he'd been working on his own projects such as the speaking tour in England.

The impression we have is MVP will not be coming in, although one person close to the situation said it's not a dead issue. He's also insisting he's not and pushing that he's still taking indie bookings. The word around wrestling is the offers have been low and a lot of the name stars contacted have felt they were too low to sign. We don't know if that's the case in this specific instance, only with others in the same boat. MVP was at the NXT show on 7/30 in Houston, and said he was there visiting friends.

It's also mentioned that they may use him from time to time even if he isn't signed but "there was definitely talk among some in WWE that they didn't like how Sabre's style made things look "easy" and not combative."
Observer on some possible backstage heat Zack Sabre Jr has with WWE management at the moment.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UDhnyVDw9ls" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

WWE's website recently explained the long standing tradition wrestlers have when it comes to wiping their feet before entering the ring. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/761305743500808192
According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, Rhyno is currently a heavy underdog for his election race due to his district being very pro-Democrat for voting and him running as a Republican.
During a recent episode of the Main Event Radio show, Eric Bischoff revealed he is currently suing TNA although didn't disclose why due to legal reasons. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/103824/eric-bischoff-suing-tna-wrestling.html?p=1

[slik]

I feel like Bret is likely wrong about Seth or countless others would have been injured outside of Cena and Sting.

Donut like to hear that Bray is injury prone - but if he is going to replace Taker as WWE's defacto Supernatural guy then I suppose that fits.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Rhyno should be in sick suits every week.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by CWC Appreciation Friday:
http://i.imgur.com/2FJQTpP.gif

As every knows right now, Dolph Ziggler was awarded a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Title against Dean Ambrose at the WWE SummerSlam event. For those who are expecting Ziggler to walk away with the Championship won’t be pleased to know that Ziggler is only a transitional opponent for Ambrose, and won’t be winning the Title.

Originally WWE had plans for AJ Styles to be feuding with Ambrose, but the company felt that Styles had unfinished business with John Cena so they decide to go with a blow-off match between the two at SummerSlam before Cena leaves to start filming for American Grit.

It’s expected that after the SummerSlam event, WWE will go back on their original plans and have Ambrose feud with Styles for the WWE Championship
Spoiler tags used since it deals with possible current plans and rumors for a couple of matches at Summerslam.

Vince McMahon has been very happy with Randy Orton since his return. He feels he’s been focused and motivated, which has not always been the case in the past. During his time away from the ring, Orton voluntarily spent time in a drug rehab center, which under the Wellness Policy actually removes one of the strikes from his record. Orton’s last suspension was in May 2012 and was officially counted as his second violation. That was in addition to rehabilitating a shoulder injury and getting married. He and his wife also announced they are expecting a child. Vince couldn’t be happier with Randy’s attitude and performance so far on this stint as he heads into SummerSlam to face Brock Lesnar.

As seen on Tuesday’s SmackDown Live episode, Eva Marie’s match against Becky Lynch never got started as she appeared to have suffered some sort of injury in her leg after stepping off the ropes. This injury angle was merely just storyline and she isn’t hurt.

Regarding Eva’s status with the company, we were told that the company is still pushing for her to be one of the top female Superstars of the promotion. They believe Eva has the look of what a female Superstar should look like. So, expect her to eventually be the face of the females on the SmackDown brand and be involved in the major storylines.

Ryan Reeves' (Ryback) contract with WWE expires on Monday and he wished them well on their future endeavors. Months ago, Reeves and Vince McMahon in negotiations it was made clear for a number of reasons that they weren't going to be able to come to terms, so McMahon decided to no longer use him and allow his contract to expire. Reeves is looking for bookings at bookthebigguy@yahoo.com. He's also going to do a nutritional supplement line and a motivational book among other projects. He's going to be publicly starting on everything this week.

Tommy Dreamer confirmed he was offered a WWE contract and was at one point scheduled to be involved as a secret person drafted, but said he's got commitments to his own company (they didn't want him continuing the promotion) so couldn't sign the deal. He did say he was open to do dates with the company, but not sign a regular deal. He was on the Busted Open show this week and said he's not sure if it's the right decision, but he doesn't want to give up on his dream to run a company.

Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned WWE doctors still haven’t officially cleared Nikki Bella to return … but her recent training sessions are a major step in the right direction.

Sources tell us all sides are being as careful as possible due to the severity of the injury Nikki is recovering from — and right now, doctors are monitoring how her neck reacts during training ...

We’re told the only thing Nikki can do at the moment is continue training at the Performance Center and hope the bone in her neck has fused properly so doctors can give her the green light.

Regarding the Banks title win over Charlotte, as noted, it was scheduled to happen at SummerSlam and that had been the plan for months. Actually the original plan was WrestleMania, but the feeling was that Lynch was getting over so well that she was added to the Mania match and the title change was moved to SummerSlam. The decision was made late to instead change it to Raw with the idea that they felt it was more important to make the first split-branded Raw a hot show. Almost none of the wrestlers knew until the match ended and the talent didn't know until very late in the game.
More details regarding the reaction from the locker room when they found out from this week's Observer Newsletter: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpBoFUdW8AA4LJf.jpg

After the Boston Globe articles accusing Chris Nowinski and his Concussion Legacy Foundation being soft on WWE after WWE became its major funding contributor, the timing probably wasn't the best of the Foundation pushing a raffle to win a trip to New York for SummerSlam weekend with two tickets for every event, plus meeting HHH and attending an exclusive breakfast session and VIP reception with the wrestlers. It's a fund raiser for the Foundation and they and WWE are partners.

All time great Beautiful Bobby Eaton is missing. Eaton appeared yesterday at the Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, NC but has not made it back home.

Eaton was last seen early this AM at the Atlanta airport. The belief is that Eaton, scheduled to fly home last night, missed his connecting flight and was at the airport this AM.

Attempts by his friends and family this AM to contact Eaton have, as of this writing, been unsuccessful.
Supposedly was discovered hours ago eating at a random diner but nobody knows where he went afterwards.

The 8/4 edition of Impact Wrestling garnered 317,000 viewers. That was down slightly from what the 7/28 edition of Impact, which brought in 350,000.

Big Show confirmed a match with Shaquille O'Neal at WrestleMania in Orlando today when doing a promotional tour for the company in Shanghai, China, promoting the 9/10 house show.

Loot Crate, a fan-based commerce and community platform and WWE announced WWE Slam Crate, a bimonthly mystery subscription to deliver products. Each crate will contain WWE apparel and other WWE collectibles that can't be found anywhere else. The first month's theme will be "The First" to celebrate various firsts in WWE history.

Jake Roberts appeared on the Fox 5 news in Las Vegas, NV this morning. He was in studio promoting Super Toy Con which is at The Orleans this weekend. Jake said he actually hates snakes. He said he smoked pot one night and that gave him the idea to be Jake The Snake. He said he was listening to Monday Night Football and they mentioned Kenny The Snake Stabler, and that is where he got the idea for the gimmick. He didn’t take into account that he hated snakes. He was asked about wrestling Andre The Giant. He said he really didn’t fight him, he was just in the ring with him. He talked about how Andre would pull his hair and farted on him in matches


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, Lucha Underground is currently leaning towards taping Season 4 during this Fall instead of early 2017 as initially planned. Also current plans for Season 3 have the finale occurring around June 2017 and Ultimate Lucha once again to be split over a series of weeks.
Observer's Dave Meltzer recently confirmed rumors and reports of Summerslam being over 4 hours this year. https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/status/761602559886843905
Cody Rhodes revealed on Twitter he will be wrestling against Kurt Angle at the October 8th show for British indie promotion WCPW. https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/761610761005363200
During a recent interview with Main Event Radio show, EC3 revealed his current TNA contract expires on January 2017.
WWE revealed Danial Bryan will be on next week's episode of RAW as part of the on-going Lesnar-Orton feud.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It sounds like Bobby Eaton just wanted to get some fucking food. I hope the dude is okay though.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I imagine that when he loses the WWE World Title match, Ziggler turns nasty. My guess is that we get Orton vs. Styles and Ambrose vs. Ziggler in a continued feud, despite the rumors that Ambrose and Styles will work together.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ambrose beats Ziggler at SummerSlam, Ziggler turns heel on SmackDown Live. Ambrose vs. Ziggler headlines Backlash -- possibly in a Title vs. Hair Match.

[Black Widow]

Oh no, whatever shall i do now?

*goes and gets a Pizza and listen to Guns n Roses*

Ryback sucks!

[Lock Jaw]

Ryack Rules

Sorry to see him go like this. Especially with this brand split, could have finally given him the opportunity to make it big.

Glad for that news clarifying that Eva Marie's injury wasn't legit. Would not have been able to tell otherwise, her acting is that good.

[drave]

Ziggler NEEDS to go heal and just start kicking ass. Pulling heel tactics to win with dirty pins, the return of FOREIGN OBJECTS IN THE TIGHTS, etc.

He can pull it off.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ziggler should steal the belt at SummerSlam and make-out with Renee afterwards.

[Mr. USA #1]

Gonna miss THE RYBACK. Also, Bobby was just Eaton out. RIP.

[Maluco]

Ziggler NEEDS to go heal and just start kicking ass. Pulling heel tactics to win with dirty pins, the return of FOREIGN OBJECTS IN THE TIGHTS, etc.

He can pull it off.

This would be great. He has the talent and can sell for the bigger faces and get them over. He needs to be a cocky heel. It would be great if they stuck a big bodyguard type with him too that he can hide behind.

Too similar to HBK? Yeah, but that was a generation ago now and most things are recycled nowadays. The key to Smackdown thriving with a smaller roster is reviving guys like Ziggler and making them big players again.

Big moves need to be made for that to happen though, because the likes of him and Del Rio are so stale right now.

[Sepholio]

ZIGGLER WITH THE KNUCKS!

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Had a dream that Nash and HBK were interrupted by Ziggler, and Nash turned on HBK to side with Ziggler as his bodyguard. Hall came in for the and ate a powerbomb. Twas a glorious dream.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Vince's reaction to the sheets:
http://i.imgur.com/NZYX6Er.gif

As it turned out, Raw got killed last night by the Olympics.

The show did 2.90 million viewers, which, with the exception of holiday shows, broke the 19-year record low of 2.95 million viewers set on November 23, 2015 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.95 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.97 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.81 million viewers

1st Hour ended up being a big cause for the overall drop since it was around 500k less than last week. Olympics ate away some of the viewers but at a less chunk than the Olympics did against RAW in 2012. For some historical perspective, RAW had around 4.5 million viewers for its 1st week against the Olympics in 2012.

The second round of roster announcements were revealed for WWE 2K17 today, with The Rock, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Triple H, and others joining the roster.
Link to the updated rosters for 2k17: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/02/suplex-city-census-the-weekly-wwe-2k17-roster-reveal

One of professional wrestling's fastest rising stars will soon be making his debut for Ring of Honor.

At the end of a video update hosted by Kevin Kelly, it was revealed that Will Ospreay will debut for ROH on their tour of the United Kingdom later this year.

There was speculation that Ospreay would be exclusive to EVOLVE in the United States after Paul Heyman presented Ospreay with an EVOLVE contract on behalf of Gabe Sapolsky during Heyman's speaking series in the U.K. last month, but Dave Meltzer reported that nothing had been officially signed.

Ospreay is under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and their relationship with ROH would seem to make them a natural fit for his U.S. home, but whether Ospreay will compete stateside for ROH remains to be seen.
Link to the video announcement: http://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/will-ospreay-make-ring-honor-debut-218291

WWE Champion Dean Ambrose appeared on the Stone Cold Podcast with Steve Austin last night on the WWE Network after Raw went off the air and had interesting comments about his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32 earlier this year.

Lesnar defeated Ambrose in convincing fashion at WWE's biggest event of the year, and Ambrose provided a glimpse into how the match was put together.

“It was pretty cool, you know? I went to the ring that night pretty pissed off, and then, as I walked to the ring, I had no idea what was gonna happen." Ambrose said. "Went out there with not much of a plan so to speak. I felt like I was pulling teeth to turn that match into something epic.”

After further prodding from Austin, Ambrose said, “Artistically, Brock didn’t want to do anything if you want me to be perfectly honest. Because you know, Brock’s gonna Brock. He’s all about Brock."

"I had a vision for that match to be the craziest thing imaginable, you know what I mean? And I was trying to pitch everything to everybody and had every idea. I put so much effort in and so much work in, and other people did too, and I was met with laziness.”
Being speculated Lesnar didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize his chance at a future UFC fight since he had been in talks for one as part of his contract extension.

Now that he is officially no longer under contract with WWE, Ryback's first wrestling dates outside of a WWE ring have been booked.

The Big Guy will compete for the New York area-based Wrestlepro promotion on October 14th in Cresskill, NJ and on October 15th in Brooklyn, NY ...

He will also appear at WrestleCade in Winston-Salem, NC in November, and was billed as "The Big Guy" for the appearance.
Biggest thing about the announcement revealed the WWE's attempt at getting Ryback's "The Big Guy" trademark removed ended in failure for them.

SummerSlam will take place on August 21st at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The updated card is:

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship
WWE Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler in a championship match
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte in a championship match
United States Champion Rusev vs. Roman Reigns in a championship match
Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Apollo Crews in a championship match
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) in a championship match
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens



In advance of his scheduled UFC debut in September, FOX Sports will air a series documenting CM Punk’s transition from the squared circle to the Octagon starting next Monday.

The four-part series titled "Evolution of Punk" will conclude on September 10th. Director Rory Karpf, who has worked on several sports documentaries including editions of the ESPN 30 for 30 series, announced the premiere date via his Twitter account on Monday.


Some other sheet news includes:

Newsweek had a recent article about Pat Patterson's career and his new book: http://www.newsweek.com/pat-patterson-being-wwes-first-gay-wrestler-vince-mcmahon-retiring-and-487721
Recent rumor around the net teased the backlash from Conor McGregor's recent rants against the WWE might have put future deals and agreements between the WWE and UFC at jeopardy. Pretty much everyone in the WWE except the McMahon family and Triple H were trashed by McGregor.
Observer had an article dealing with recent updates tothe Gawker-Hogan trial with one of the biggest being Gawker trying to clean up their image to attract a potential new buyer. http://www.f4wonline.com/news/hulk-hogan-peter-thiel-legal-mega-powers-218106
According to PWI, WWE is planning on introducing another new belt for either Smackdown or RAW as part of current plans for Smackdown to get their own set of tag and women's belts. Article itself was locked behind a paywall so not sure if its related to a recent poll by the WWE or the teasing of the cruiserweight division getting its own belt.
Also according to PWI, another RAW this week had Smackdown wrestlers involved for the post-show match. This time being Bray Wyatt against Randy Orton in a quick match.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 17th anniversary of Chris Jericho's debut in the WWE.
According to a recent episode of the Observer Radio show, WWE is currently planning on rushing Reigns right back into the WWE title scene if his feud against Rusev ends up being very successful for him in terms of crowds. Also teased WWE doesn't consider Balor as a possible top star for the RAW brand.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev's newest book "The Art of taking a Spear":
https://67.media.tumblr.com/21f89887ad20d2360c10f00e5f194359/tumblr_obncwpupfF1sbzhteo1_500.gif

SmackDown viewership on Tuesday night was down 8% from last week against strong competition from NBC's coverage of the Olympics. The drop wasn't as severe as it was for Monday Night Raw the previous night, despite 33 million people tuning in to coverage of the games.

SmackDown did 2,455,000 viewers for the two hour broadcast on USA Network. That's down from the 2,681,000 the previous week.

TNA is teasing that they will unveil a major addition to their roster tomorrow, and all signs point to it being the former Damien Sandow.

A video that TNA debuted exclusively on RollingStone.com advertises tomorrow’s episode of Impact and concludes with Sandow’s WWE theme. The article accompanying the video claims that the company has signed one of wrestling’s biggest free agents.

Both Sandow (real name Aaron Haddad) and TNA's official Twitter accounts tweeted links to the article.
Spoiler tags used since it relates to a surprise for tomorrow's TNA Impact show.

CMLL in Mexico announced today that they have entered into an official working relationship with Ring of Honor. The promotion already worked with New Japan, as does ROH. Matt Taven was announced as heading to CMLL in the future.

At today’s WWE live event in Auckland, NZ it was announced that NXT will soon hold shows in New Zealand and Australia with dates to be announced.

In case you have missed it or if you don't have the time to sit through the whole podcast, there you go:

He eats at the restaurant Chipotle a lot, he might go there up to 5 times a week. Braun said he would get fat if he eats garbage, he loads up on protein bars. He eats about 5000-7000 calories a day.
Mark Henry helped Braun get into WWE. He signed with them in May, 2013. He went into company very confident, because he felt like he had a lot to offer. He does have an amateur wrestling background from High School. After the first week of practice he was terrible sore, he said he felt like a 90 year old man
Coming out on stage is a special feeling for him and he was happy that he got to wear a mask in the beginning, because he was marking out like 6 years old kid. He was so nervous when he first debuted and feels like he still has a lot to learn. Braun thinks he's been lucky to work with Kane and Big Show on live events.
Him and Bray had a special connection ever since they met. Bray wanted Braun to be a part of the family long before he was put into the family. He feels like he couldn't have been in a better spot - it helped him a lot to have the opportunity to hone his craft while hiding some of his weaknesses. He looks as Bray as a big inspiration, they did everything together.
He likes to watch Bruiser Brody's matches as references. He prefers being a heel because it allows him to be someone's he's not - he looks at it as more of a challenge.
Braun feels like this is what he was born to do and he can't picture himself doing anything else now. He doesn't want to be a big lumbering giant and he wants to eventually be a heavyweight champion. He doesn't feel ready for that right now though.

Highlights from a recent Steve Austin podcast show with Braun Strowman as his guest courtsey of r/SquaredCircle. More highlights: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4x0ssv/the_steve_austin_show_with_braun_strowman/

The WWE Universal Title won't be the only new championship coming to the RAW brand over the next few months as a new WWE Cruiserweight Title has also been confirmed. No word yet on when the title will debut but PWInsider reports that it has been commissioned and confirmed by multiple sources. As we've noted, the cruiserweight division will be exclusive to the red brand. This has not been confirmed but it's possible we will see the new Cruiserweight Title debut at the live finale of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic on September 14th from Full Sail University.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that McGregor’s comments were not a work, and were not part of some elaborate story line being setup by WWE and UFC. Meltzer added people in WWE were told not to respond to McGregor’s remarks, and those superstars who did, including Sasha Banks, Roman Reigns, Ric Flair, Sheamus and more, did so on their own accord.

Meltzer noted “there is no angle for sure” right now, but said that of course could change in the future. Meltzer also alluded to McGregor’s rant possibly screwing up “a big business deal” between UFC and WWE, and that “the deal” is falling apart. Meltzer did not add any further details on what the potential deal between the two companies might include.
Some updates to the backlash regarding McGregor's wrestling rant and debunking rumors of the whole thing being a gag by everyone involved.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="nl" dir="ltr">Omg!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/FinnBalor">@FinnBalor</a> hahahahaha <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEAuckland?src=hash">#WWEAuckland</a> <a href="https://t.co/YTPQ8hsTHe">pic.twitter.com/YTPQ8hsTHe</a></p>&mdash; binkzillah (@binkzillah) <a href="https://twitter.com/binkzillah/status/763308346011025411">August 10, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

AV Club had a recent article about the initial weeks of the new Brand Split era and WWE needing to be cautious to prevent similar problems that happened with last Brand Split era. Biggest is to not fall back to old ways or get lazy after a few weeks or post-Summerslam. http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/nothing-good-can-last-monday-night-raw-240804
Lucha Underground recently released a teaser trailer for Season 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0tO2aIkKjo
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kofi Kingston has spent around 40% of his WWE career in the last 5 years as a tag team champion. He's had 4 separate tag reigns during that time period. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4x3xhh/if_you_turn_on_wwe_programming_to_any_random_day/

[Black Widow]

https://whatistheexcel.com/wooobooru/_images/eca4b996581bcb821a5ebf20d89b8696/17360%20-%20custom_kornheiser%20damien_sandow.png

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bliss Appreciation Thursday:
http://i.imgur.com/n37jHcd.png

ESPN officially launched a WWE section on their website -- a major happening for the Worldwide Leader In Sports.

The section will include news, results, profiles, championship lineages, and rankings with the Cheap Heat podcast as one of their flagship pieces of content. They have launched Twitter and Facebook accounts as well ...

What is going to be interesting to see play out is how ESPN covers WWE. Will they take an approach of kayfabe and analysis? Play it straight? If a major injury happens, could that get in the pole position on ESPN’s home page? If so, imagine the reaction from traditional sports fans and media critics alike.

But in a March media column penned by SI’s Richard Deitsch, the media critic (and wrestling fan) pointed out why ESPN was so interested in providing WWE coverage: the numbers ...

They found that ESPN viewers are very interested in WWE content. For example: Last Monday’s WWE Raw, which airs on USA Network, was the most-talked about topic among SportsCenter’s nearly 26 million Twitter followers (The ESPN researchers look at hashtags and keywords). WWE content, in fact, drew three times as many as mentions as the second-most talked about topic that night​: LeBron James.

Jacobs said WWE Raw has been a top five talked-about topic over the last five weeks among SportsCenter followers on Twitter and a top 10 topic for 15 straight weeks
Coachman's gamble months ago to get more WWE/wrestling coverage on ESPN started to pay off now.

As part of launch day content for ESPN.com's newly-created WWE dedicated section, Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) was interviewed by ESPN's KC Joyner about booking and wrestling psychology.

In the interview, WWE's Chief Operating Officer offered a results-oriented defense of WWE's booking and was critical of those who use the term 50/50 booking.

"When somebody goes, 'Well, you just can't get people over with 50/50 booking,' [I'll always say] 'Oh, I'm sorry, how's your territory coming? Because this one seems to be doing pretty good over here.' We just had the largest WrestleMania in history." Triple H said. "People talk a lot of smack about ratings and things, but they don't understand all of the dynamics of everything we do. They don't. They sit on the internet and they read one thing and they give their point of view."

On the topic of wins and losses, Triple H said that he doesn't keep track of them and those decisions are more of a feel thing.

"Sometimes you're beating a talent because you want to beat them and that's the sympathetic reaction you're trying to elicit. There are some talents that, when you beat them, they get more popular, but as soon as they start on a winning path, their popularity begins to wane... People want that underdog to strive to succeed and then get a little bit of success and then get knocked back off that perch and be the underdog again."

After TNA teased that he had signed with the company yesterday, Damien Sandow (real name Aaron Haddad) made it official on Thursday in an interview with RollingStone.com.

"TNA just seemed like the perfect spot for me," Sandow said. "They are a growing company with a proven track record. I really believe that they have their finger on the pulse of what the audience wants, and they will gear their product towards that."

Sandow went on to say that he hadn't planned on signing with a company so soon, but he was impressed by his discussions with TNA management.

WWE Plans to 'Integrate LGBT Characters' Into Programming

Through its partnership with GLAAD, an LGBT media advocacy organization, WWE is also prioritizing sensitivity in their writers' room.

"We've had GLAAD come in and speak to our entire writing team and give a whole tutorial on sensitivities, the right words, the wrong word [and] why those words matters," she explained. "I think that with their guidance and support, we will be able to portray that [LGBT storyline] appropriately."

Link to the article from NBC: http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/wwe-plans-integrate-lgbt-characters-programming-n627411?cid=sm_tw

Regarding Paige, there may be some nerve damage regarding her back and shoulder issues. I was told her neck issue is similar to what a lot of the guys have had that had serious problems where the problem has led to weakness in the right arm which was the first stage for some major issues with a lot of the guys.

The updated lineup for the 8/20 WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event at the Barclays Center features:

*WWE NXT champion Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.

*WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Bayley.

*WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa.

*No Way Jose vs. Austin Aries.

*Bobby Roode vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas.

*The debut of Ember Moon.

Former WCW star Marcus "Buff" Bagwell filed a lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment in the United States District Court of Connecticut on 8/9, suing over what he claims is owed royalties from usage of material featuring his matches on the WWE Network.

Bagwell is alleging that he was under contract to WWE* from 1991 to 2001 by virtue of his contracts with World Championship Wrestling and WWE purchasing WCW in March of 2001. In the lawsuit, Bagwell notes that his WCW** deal expired four days after the then-WWF purchased the company. When he was signed by WWE to a new deal in June 2001, Bagwell was signed under the WCW brand*** and name for his new contract, which was executed by WWE's Ed Kaufman ...

Bagwell's lawsuit claims that the WWE deal "merged" with aspects of his former WCW contractual terms, specifically the 1998 WCW deal that expired in March 2001 ...

Therefore, Bagwell is arguing that WWF are bound by his June 2001 WWE contract in regard to payment of royalties for PPV events and home video material. The lawsuit noted the following language from the contract that WWE has allegedly ignored ...

The lawsuit claims that when WWE released Bagwell in August 2001, language from that agreement noted that WWE was buying out all of their obligations from the contract, with the exception of royalties that Bagwell would be owed going forward as determined by his contract.

The language in the release also noted that Bagwell could not bring legal action against WWE as long as they maintained the terms of his Release agreement. Bagwell is now suing because he alleges WWE has now allegedly breached the agreement by not paying him royalties. Bagwell submitted a first quarter 2016 Royalty Statement sent to him by WWE showing that he was owed no royalties despite the WCW material being featured in the WWE Network's VOD section.
Link goes into way more details about the lawsuit: http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/547166/buff-bagwell-sues-over-network


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lKag5yVQrJY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Some other sheet news includes:

WCPW announced Jim Ross will be a commentator for their upcoming Refuse to Lose ppv show on October 6th.
ICW announced Ricochet will be wrestling at their upcoming Fear & Loathing ppv on November 20. https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/763794626159443968
Cody Rhodes revealed his entrance theme for the indies will be "Kingdom" by Downstait. https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/763782433623814144
According to the Observer, ROH recently offered a full-time deal to Will OSpreay which takes effect next year. Will still wrestle at NJPW but the new deal covers all dates he has off.
Also according to the Observer, NJPW is currently in talks with Ryback for a possible deal with the company.
Observer is reporting the WWE is trying to get a deal with Sony Six for the India market at the cost of TNA's presence in the country. Could end up being the final nail in TNA's coffin if they lose both Sony's money and the Indian tv market.

[Simple Fan]

Ryback in NJPW is best for his career I believe but I wouldn't be opposed to a TNA run.

I bet Darren Young eventually falls for Bob Backlund and that's the first gay storyline .

NXT Brooklyn card is stacked, should be a stellar show.

Aron Rex had a interesting debut on Impact, I'm curious to see where it goes.

[Simple Fan]

I've been kind of suspicious of Cody Rhodes joining Matt Taven in ROH in a new Kingdom stable and that news only adds to the suspicion.

[Black Widow]

The "you're not in the business so you can't comment" thing wrestlers always spew out is hilarious. It's like saying you're not allowed to dislike a movie because you're not a director, or you're not allowed to dislike a band because you're not a guitar player.

[Maluco]

The "you're not in the business so you can't comment" thing wrestlers always spew out is hilarious. It's like saying you're not allowed to dislike a movie because you're not a director, or you're not allowed to dislike a band because you're not a guitar player.

This, the "they know better" defence is tired and arrogant. Such an arrogant and disappointing response from him. For me, it just shows how much they value fan opinion. They are people to be manipulated, not listened to.

I couldn't care less what he says about 50/50 booking, it is boring to watch and doesn't create any stars. He should be "feeling" that, even if he doesn't count wins and losses.

Noone is saying guys can't lose, but there should be a certain hierarchy on both brands.

One example I would give is ironically involving HHH himself. If I watched Smackdown and the WWE Champion, Dean Ambrose, got pinned by anyone on that roster, I wouldn't even flinch.

Take, however, when HHH lost to Shelton Benjamin, or when The Rock lost to The Hurricane. Those were massive memorable moments. Big stars, who hardly ever lost on TV, losing in big upsets. Those moments live on in my memory because they were so shocking and exciting.

There are no big stars nowadays, everyone loses on TV all the time, and while The Game would surely argue that the talent needs to "step up", many are just as talented performers as he was, but they have no direction and have certainly not been gifted the momentum that he was.

I wasn't even going to comment, but just couldn't resist after "how's your territory doing?", when the position he is in was gifted to him and it's quite obvious that Wrestlemania and the WWE as a whole thrives off its legacy and tradition, rather than the stars, or lack thereof, that they have now.

I don't usually get annoyed about things like that, or leave myself open to the usual "you don't know better than Vince!!1!!" response, but actually felt anger reading that from him.

I certainly don't know better, but that doesn't mean that he knows what he is doing either, despite being the performer he was.

[Cool King]

I bet Darren Young eventually falls for Bob Backlund and that's the first gay storyline.

I had a dream where the first LGBT storyline involved Nia Jax being transgender.

Though, that's probably because I read the news about LGBT storyline and then listened to Nia's theme before going to bed and my brain just put them together and made it into a dream.

Also, a few days ago I saw her T-Shirt for men on WWEShop.com, so that could have possibly contributed to the dream.

http://shop.wwe.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-main/default/dw5bfee99c/images/large/W12076.jpg

But that's not really the sensitive approach the LGBT community would like, so I really doubt that would happen.

[Lock Jaw]

And I'm sure that whatever WWE does do, it will no doubt be the sensitive approach.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I kind of feel like Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa should lose and end up on the SmackDown roster before long. They would be great working with American Alpha. I know that it might be seem more intuitive to put them on RAW with the cruiserweights, but there's already a stacked scene there and I imagine that there will be a few new faces over there to job to the Red Arrow.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I totally see them bringing back Mickie James to lesbian-stalk Becky Lynch.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Wrestling gif:
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FondInsecureKarakul-size_restricted.gif

Big Show spoke with 790 The Ticket in Miami and doubled down on comments that he’s winding up his career soon. Show said that this year will be his last with WWE.

The WWE star noted that he feels better now at forty-four than he did at thirty-four and wants to be in the best shape he can for his match with Shaquille O’Neal at WrestleMania 33.

An interesting business note regarding WWE and ESPN is that ESPN just purchased 33 percent of BAMTech for $1 billion. BAMTech is MLBAM, the group that streams the WWE network.

WWE alum Stu “Wade Barrett” Bennett spoke with WrestleZone Daily for a new interview.

On if King of the Ring still has a place in the current company:

“The title of King of the Ring can be prestigious but if it’s followed up by non-existent writing then it’s pointless. Which I think was the issue in regards to me. The tournament itself is fine, there were some good matches and we got a bit of hype behind it and then it was followed up with three months of two grown men fighting over a toilet plunger. Which, you know, you follow something up with writing like that and it’s not going to lead to anything good. The title of King of the Ring is fine on it’s own but you have to follow it up with good writing.”

On his own King of the Ring win:

“It was thrown together very last minute. I think we did the quarter finals the week before and then we came back the next week and did the actual semi-finals and the finals on a one hour special on the WWE Network. Probably about forty minutes before the show went live we didn’t even know who was winning the tournament. We knew that it was going to be me and Neville in the finals. It all honesty, a complete lack of thought had gone into it. I was given Booker T’s old outfit from ten years earlier. Obviously it didn’t look great. There was no follow up to it with a storyline or anything like that. If it was meant as an attempt to push me or get me over I think there really wasn’t any effort put in from the word, ‘Go.'”

One person with WWE noted to us to please tell independent talent to either stay off social media or watch what they post. It was noted WWE is very actively scouting indies right now and looking for people who are good but not with the WWE look as the mentality is completely different from two years ago about what type of people they are interested in. It was noted that there have been people recently were shot down based on content of recent tweets.

The 8/11 edition of Impact Wrestling garnered 315,000 viewers. That was down slightly from last week's 317,000 viewers.

We have heard that WWE started making contract offers to a few Cruiserweight Classic talents two weeks ago. Some talents will be offered full-fledged deals while others will be offered NXT/developmental type deals. Others may be brought in a per-date basis as the company. The most notable name on a per-date basis thus far appears to be Kota Ibushi, who we have heard will be in for Summerslam weekend. One would assume that means he is working the NXT Takeover show, although that has yet to be announced.

PWInsider.com is reporting that the WWE SummerSlam Concert that was due to be held next Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York has officially been canceled.

According to the website, an email was sent out to those who purchased tickets for the concert, which was to be headlined by Flo Rida, announcing that the show had been canceled. The event is also listed as being canceled on the official Ticketmaster website.

As of the initial reports, the exact reason for the cancellation remains unclear; however, there is word from multiple sources that ticket sales were not going as well as expected. Besides Flo Rida, there were also due to be performances from other acts including Daya, Jordan Hollywood, and Jason Derulo.

The concert was organized to be a fundraiser for WWE's "Connor's Cure" charity, and WWE had been partnering with local radio station Z100 for the event.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet has been announced for the 9/10 EVOLVE return to Queens, NY at La Boom.

“Now fans can get an inside look at the impact these and the other ladies making an impact in WWE 24: Women’s Revolution, airing immediately follow Talking Smack Tuesday, Aug. 16, at 10:30ET on WWE Network. From female talent of the past to NXT and beyond, the episode of this documentary-style series will be a celebration of how far women’s wrestling has come.“

Dean Ambrose is actually by a minor number slightly bigger house show draw than Roman Reigns. It's like for all the complaints about John Cena getting booed, he always did sell more tickets than anybody else and he always did move move merchandise than anybody else. So you can ignore the boos and all that. With Reigns he doesn't sell more merch than anybody else especially on the level of his push he doesn't sell more tickets than anybody else, especially on the level of his push ...

It’s apparent from this study that Reigns has not caught on as intended. The company invested a great of TV time trying to establish him as a new top babyface over the last two years, and has gotten little return on that investment. While Cena was booed somewhat as well during his rise to stardom, this is different. Whatever reaction Cena got on any given night, he made a positive difference to business, as evidenced in this article. You might argue Reigns is a face to some fans and a great heel to those fans who boo him, but he’s not drawing any better than Ambrose, who is a guy who often couldn’t muster wins on pay-per-views since the Shield was disbanded, while Reigns was frequently in the title picture at the same time.
Link with more details that was referenced from the recent Observer Radio show: http://fightful.com/exclusive-analysis-roman-reigns-vs-dean-ambrose-wwe-house-show-attendance-comparison

There is a situation to watch currently in India. TNA’s biggest international deals are Sony Six in India and Challenge in the U.K., and they are both considered the keys to survival. The Sony Six new deal requires a tour once a year and after last year’s tour was canceled at the agreement of both sides, there has been nothing said about one this year. In India, there is a situation where Sony Six would take over the Ten Network in India in a $500 million deal. Talks have reached advanced stages. TNA is on Sony Six and WWE is on Ten. The key to the deal is certain Ten contracts would move to Sony Six, including the UEFA Champions League, international cricket and the WWE. What we’re told is that if the deal goes through, there will be a call taken on how things will be done. It is possible, even though local media stories indicate it differently, that Sony Six and Ten will remain separate channels, in which case it wouldn’t affect wrestling on TV there. But if they merge into one channel, and it already being reported that WWE would move to Sony Six, it is believed only one wrestling company will remain on television in India, although none of those decisions have been made
Some more details regarding WWE trying to push TNA out of the India market and the ramifications for TNA if it happens.

This week’s social media backlash is from fans in Anaheim because Big E and Balor were both advertised and never appeared before the audience. Fans accepted the Big E thing figuring he was off selling the injury and Balor wasn’t there. But then both posted photos of themselves on social media taking photos backstage at the show with Sean Combs

So here is the G-1 update. Hirooki Goto is in the finals due to his beating Naomichi Marufuji and finishing with a 6-3 record. Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi had a 30:00 draw in the main event, leaving both tied for second place with 5-3-1 records. Bad Luck Fale had been eliminated losing to Tama Tonga.

So here is how things look for tomorrow's show:

*If Tetsuya Naito either wins or goes to a 30:00 draw with Kenny Omega, he faces Goto in the finals.

*If Michael Elgin and Kenny Omega both win, Elgin faces Goto in the finals. Doubt that's happening.

*If Katsuyori Shibata and Kenny Omega both win, Shibata goes to the finals against high school best friend Goto

*If Elgin, Shibata and Omega all win, then Elgin goes to the finals.

*The winner of Sunday's match will be in position to challenge for the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4.



Some other sheet news includes:

According to the NBA schedule released for next season, WWE RAW will be competing against NBA games on Mondays starting this January.
According to the Observer, Del Rio's future in the WWE will be decided next month since that is when his opt out clause can be used for his current contract.
According to PWI, WWE is currently trying to get the huge class-action lawsuit against them by 50 wrestlers to be moved to a more pro-WWE court location.

[Mr. Nerfect]

So we're looking at Goto vs. Elgin, Naito or Shibata. I can see Shibata winning his first match so that the idea of Goto/Shibata is teased, but then either Naito or Elgin takes it away from him. I can imagine Shibata winning with Naito taking it away from him and going on to face Goto.

[Blitz]

Alright I gotta go to bed. Plz bring this thread to at least 2 pages by morning so it looks like something's happening in it cheers xx

[Fignuts]

So we're looking at Goto vs. Elgin, Naito or Shibata. I can see Shibata winning his first match so that the idea of Goto/Shibata is teased, but then either Naito or Elgin takes it away from him. I can imagine Shibata winning with Naito taking it away from him and going on to face Goto.

Yeah I definitely see Naito taking it.

Surprised Goto id even in the finals.

[XL]

I kind of feel like Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa should lose and end up on the SmackDown roster before long. They would be great working with American Alpha. I know that it might be seem more intuitive to put them on RAW with the cruiserweights, but there's already a stacked scene there and I imagine that there will be a few new faces over there to job to the Red Arrow.

Seeing SD's tag division in all its glory on this weeks episode, this would make sense.

[Simple Fan]

Hell I'd trade the whole Smackdown tag division for NXTs.

Vaudevillians for The Revival

Ascension for Authors of Pain

Hype Bros for Ciampa and Gargano

Would keep Breezeango, American Alpha, and The Usos.

Really never watched NXT Tag Team wrestling but since they have moved all the dumb teams up to the main roster the NXT Tag division is looking pretty good.

[Simple Fan]

Vaudevillians and Ascension are NXT gimmicks that never got expanded on once they got called up. They didn't tweak it enough or add anything to it that would make them stand out to a larger audience. Some gimmicks can transfer with out any tweaks but those two aren't that type of gimmick.

[Emperor Smeat]

Hell I'd trade the whole Smackdown tag division for NXTs.

Vaudevillians for The Revival

Ascension for Authors of Pain

Hype Bros for Ciampa and Gargano

Would keep Breezeango, American Alpha, and The Usos.

Really never watched NXT Tag Team wrestling but since they have moved all the dumb teams up to the main roster the NXT Tag division is looking pretty good.

Ever since the Ascension left, NXT has done a really good job at building the tag division.

Not really the Ascension's fault though since the bulk of their time there was just random squash matches or feuds that went no where.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hell I'd trade the whole Smackdown tag division for NXTs.

Vaudevillians for The Revival

Ascension for Authors of Pain

Hype Bros for Ciampa and Gargano

Would keep Breezeango, American Alpha, and The Usos.

Really never watched NXT Tag Team wrestling but since they have moved all the dumb teams up to the main roster the NXT Tag division is looking pretty good.

I'm not against this at all. The Revival attacking American Alpha after they are presented with the new Tag Team Championship they earn by beating The Usos would be sweeeet.

I'm fine with The Authors of Pain staying down in NXT for a while. Truth be told, moving the belts onto Gargano & Ciampa and then having The Revival crash SmackDown would make total sense. Gargano & Ciampa can then drop the belts to The Authors who eventually drop them to TM61. Or they beat TM61 and become the new Ascension in NXT while TM61 jump to the main roster -- maybe RAW -- and beat the piss out of Enzo & Cass.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Love Breezango, but I hate their name and entrance. They need to strike that right note of "proper tag team" and they could be very valuable additions. They need to look at John Morrison & The Miz as inspiration. Let them achieve more.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I actually see Samoa Joe, Bayley and The Revival all helping to make SmackDown pretty sweet over the next few months.

[Mr. Nerfect]

G1 Spoiler:

Well, it looks like Omega or Goto will be taking the Climax. Whoops.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The BOSS:
https://media.giphy.com/media/7X4RUWPrGbUTC/giphy.gif

WWE should be very happy the Olympics are ending this week.

Raw was up very slightly, from 2.90 million viewers last week to 2.91 million viewers this week going against the Olympics. They would be the two lowest non-holiday numbers since 1997 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.88 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.08 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.78 million viewers


As was announced on Raw last night, Jon Stewart will make his second consecutive appearance at SummerSlam as an invited guest of Mick Foley this year. The former Daily Show host played a significant role in last year’s show when he interfered in the Seth Rollins vs. John Cena title for title match. Stewart helped Rollins win, with the storyline reason being that he wanted to stop Cena from breaking Ric Flair’s World Championship record.

The death of professional wrestler Jon Rechner, popularly known by his ring name Balls Mahoney, has been ruled natural, Monmouth County law enforcement officials said.

Rechner, a native of the borough, suffered a sudden death on April 12 at his 601 Central Ave. home due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, said Charles Webster, spokesperson for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

"In other words, he had a heart attack," Webster said.

Global Force Wrestling will partner with Franklin American Mortgage to help sponsor the Music City Bowl. GFW is the first wrestling promotion to partner with a bowl game. There will be a private event for players and coaches to meet the Jarrett’s, Scott Hall and more.

Conor McGregor was on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani ...

Regarding WWE stars, McGregor said they're an emotional bunch of guys who are scared of a real man. He felt like he spoke the truth, they're all dweebs, there are a few OGs there, but the majority are dweebs, and said you know the WWE wrestlers are all tuning in Saturday and he's giggling his way to the bank. Actually a lot of WWE people may be watching something else on Saturday night.

Since this has been kind of overplayed in the rumor mill department, Bill Goldberg was always expected to be at the 2K Sports media party on Friday night in New York once the deal was made for him to be a key figure in marketing the video game. He's not coming to New York for WWE, but for 2K. Now, given WWE's affiliation with the media party, it is very possible there could be some talk with people in WWE, but his coming isn't anything more than one of a number of media appearances agreed to in his video game deal.

Dave Meltzer has confirmed that Shawn Michaels recently began teaching a class at the Performance Center, taking over for Terry Taylor who is out after having neck surgery. The length of Michaels’ stay hasn’t been confirmed, but he moved his family from Texas to Florida for the role within the company.

Michaels has previously been involved in training wrestlers, operating the Shawn Michaels Wrestling Academy that notably produced Daniel Bryan and Brian Kendrick.

Following CMLL announcing last week that they had entered into an official working relationship and talent exchange with Ring of Honor, their American partner confirmed the news on Monday afternoon.

ROH's announcement touted the relationship with CMLL as a global effort in collaboration with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The promotions had been natural partners due to their strong ties with NJPW but hadn't been officially aligned until recently.

The crossover between the promotions began last month when CMLL's Stuka Jr. appeared at ROH's TV tapings in Philadelphia. CMLL's Dragon Lee will also make his ROH debut at the promotion's All Star Extravaganza VIII pay-per-view later this year, and ROH's Matt Taven will make his way to Mexico for CMLL on September 9th.

TNA is introducing a new belt, called the Grand Championship, with essentially MMA rules, with rounds, a point system and judges. So they are doing both the Matt Hardy angle and MMA scoring on the same television show.

There was a disaster of a Fan Fest in Dudley, GA. The sheriff told talent that a warrant for promoter Greg Greene's arrest would be made if any of his checks bounced. Reportedly Nikita Koloff and Ted DiBiase then left. Del Wilkes was paid in cash. Ricky Steamboat reported was called by Tully Blanchard ahead of time. The wrestling show itself drew 130 fans. Ben Masters, who has been around wrestling for more than 30 years posted that guys weren't getting paid as the money guy said there was no money after he had told people he had a $10,000 advance. He noted none of the fault was the wrestlers nor fans. He said almost nobody was paid and the money from the house show was split with the guys who worked the show.

WWE have registered two trademark applications (performance and clothing) for Gran Metalik, who is currently competing in the WWE Cruiserweigh Classic.

TMZ.com is reporting that 23 year old Edward Ferrero, the fan who jumped in the ring during the Seth Rollins promo during Raw last night, was arrested for assault and criminal trespass.

When Ferrero made contact with security, he bit one of the guards on their forearm but thankfully, the guard did not need medical attention.
Had he waited a moment later, would have been able to attack Rollins during Balor's entrance since the lights were off.

PWInsider Elite has an update with some more details on Kota Ibushi and his status with WWE. According to the report, Ibushi is not signing with with the WWE at the moment. However, officials reportedly still want to keep him around in nXT.

As previously reported, Ibushi is expected to work Summerslam weekend. This means he will likely make an appearance at NXT TakeOver: Back to Brooklyn. The report adds that Ibushi could be brought in periodically to be spotlighted as a way for WWE to display that they want to showcase and sign Ibushi to NXT.

It’s been reported that WWE originally had plans to include the Muppets in this weekend’s Summerslam event LIVE on the WWE Network, however those plans have since been cancelled.

Having a mental breakdown when forced to retire:
"I had to go out to Florida (to shoot Total Divas) and we're in John Cena's house for four weeks or whatever and there's cameras just on you all the time. I just had this horrible mental breakdown."

Retreating to nature to help cope with his extreme sadness:

"That's what I needed. I needed to get away from all of that and just get out to be by some trees. It's hard for me. I don't do really well in cities, which is crazy given that we're flying in and out of these major cities every week. Brie (Bella, his wife) describes it as anxiety. And she would be accurate. I get this anxiety in cities and places like that. When you grow up in kind of a small town and when you grow up around a lot of green and trees and nature and that sort of thing, sometimes I think it's a little mentally disconcerting to be around this concrete."
Part of a longer interview Bryan had with The Recorder about his post-wrestling career struggles: http://www.recorder.ca/2016/08/15/bryans-love-for-wrestling-runs-deep


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sucks to be U. Daniel and I are working on some designs for the <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE">@WWE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UniversalChampionship?src=hash">#UniversalChampionship</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SDLive?src=hash">#SDLive</a> <a href="https://t.co/Fm7sQ1qKqn">pic.twitter.com/Fm7sQ1qKqn</a></p>&mdash; Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/shanemcmahon/status/765720877304602624">August 17, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

According to the Observer, WWE is still continuing doing cross-brand stuff for post-RAW and Smackdown shows. This week's Smackdown has Reigns vs Rollins teased as the possible dark match.
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Becky Lynch: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/08/16/wwe-becky-lynch-smackdown-charlotte-womens-revolution
WWE recently added more seats for NXT's upcoming house show in Toronto due to huge demand. https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/765569808662396928
Website The Whig had a recent interview with Sasha Banks: http://www.thewhig.com/2016/08/13/wwe-banks-on-sasha-womens-movement
Recent updates to the Gawker-Hogan lawsuit includes Gawker Media being sold to Univision for around $135 million.

[Simple Fan]

Actually went the the Music City Bowl last year when Louisville played and beat Texas A&M. Expect them to be better this year so I don't think I'll be going back.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Perfect 10:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uBPxlEJkNcw/VmCZNBbmmqI/AAAAAAAAp7Y/N1fhQRQWrWs/s1600/Entrance%2B4.gif

Last night's SmackDown Live on the USA Network did 2,471,000 viewers for the two hour broadcast, virtually identical to last week's 2,455,000.
Still hovering around 300k more than it was doing in taped era for USA Network.

Triple H confirmed that Shawn Michaels has recently been present at the WWE Performance Center, on this afternoon’s conference call with the professional wrestling media, but nothing has been decided about his long term future there.

WWE announced Wednesday that Alberto Del Rio has been suspended for 30 days due to a wellness policy violation, effective Thursday ...

The suspension is standard for a first-time violation, but what caused the violation it is not currently known. It is also not known when WWE was informed of the failure, but Del Rio worked on SmackDown last night in a losing effort against John Cena in the show's main event.

Del Rio returned to the company in 2015 after spending a year outside of the promotion. He was released in 2014 for "unprofessional conduct" after getting into a backstage altercation with a company employee who allegedly made a racist joke.

Del Rio was drafted to Smackdown during the WWE Draft. At this time, it isn't clear if the violation will have any affect on his immediate future.

Could lead to him triggering his opt out clause depending on what happens within the next 30 days. Paige being suspended on the same day also coincided with it being her birthday.

Matches advertised locally for a WWE house show in Springfield, Missouri on September 17 include Dean Ambrose, advertised as WWE Champion, defending against AJ Styles. Other match advertised is Randy Orton against Bray Wyatt.
Spoiler tag used since its teasing important post-Summerslam feuds for Smackdown.

Here is an interview with Will Ospreay. He covers the Match with Vader (he’s not happy at all ), his plans to rest next year by only doing 6-man tag bookings in the UK and creating his own Trios Belt. Plus he explains his “no” to the EVOLVE contract Paul Heyman offered.
Haven't listened to it yet but the rumor going around the net involves Vader being a hassle to work with and refusing to agree to several plans the promotion considered for the match. Link to the interview: https://www.spreaker.com/user/mysteryisland/will-ospreay-q-and-a

On Wednesday afternoon’s media conference call ahead of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, Triple H further explained last week’s comments defending WWE’s booking.

Triple H was asked in that interview about 50/50 booking, but used WWE's success as a defense of their booking philosophies.

Much of what Triple H said then seemed to contradict the way he books NXT, but on Wednesday's conference call he noted the differences in booking NXT and main roster television given the different length of the shows.

“When you compare a one-hour show to a three-hour show from a writing and a booking standpoint it’s not even in the same stratosphere. It’s a totally different animal. “ Triple H said.

He reiterated that booking is a feel, and said he listens to both what the audience wants and what he wants to see as a fan when booking NXT.

“None of it is right and wrong, it’s chocolate, it’s vanilla, it’s all these different things that they’re different flavors, and at the end of the day the long-term success of your business and your company, and you can say what you want about it, but there’s a pretty good track record for a lot of it.” Triple H said.

Triple H said he books NXT the way he wants to book it, while the main roster programming is sometimes done differently and other times it isn't.


As has become custom before every NXT TakeOver special, Triple H talked to the professional wrestling media on a conference call on Wednesday afternoon ...

Triple H was more than happy to talk about the Cruiserweight Classic and Raw's upcoming cruiserweight division.

Triple H said the project is something that he’s wanted to do for years ...

The first question of the call asked Triple H about the process of creating Raw's cruiserweight division ...

“We’re signing a lot of cruiserweights right now and I’m, you know, basically I’m creating a division. So, I’m going around and signing guys and I’m also keeping an eye towards the future as well, I don’t need to have every single cruiserweight right now, I just need to have a decent amount. And they will be working NXT, they will be working NXT live events, and they’ll also be working Raw as cruiserweights. The opportunity is there to do both.” Triple H said.

Kota Ibushi has been one of the cruiserweights that has earned significant praise in the CWC, and our Dave Meltzer asked about his contract status on the call.

Ibushi had insisted that he was interested in working for the WWE while continuing his work elsewhere as a freelancer, but while saying they're open to different things, Triple H seemed to reject that idea ...

Later in the call, Triple H was asked whether we would see a cruiserweight champion crowned on the CWC final but said we’d have to wait and see. He concluded the call by praising many of the competitors in the tournament, noting that they’ve created something special. He said that they’re still deciding what the next opportunity is.

Link from the Observer with more highlights and downloadable file from the call: http://www.f4wonline.com/figure-four-daily/nxt-takeover-conference-call-hhh-5050-booking-cwc-more-218841

The updated lineup for the WWE NXT: Takeover Brooklyn II event this Saturday will feature:

*WWE NXT champion Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.

*WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Bayley.

*WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa.

*No Way Jose vs. Austin Aries.

*Bobby Roode vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas.

*The debut of Ember Moon vs. Billie Kaye.

NXT will be taping matches for their 8/24 episode as well before the Takeover broadcast,

F4WOnline‘s Dave Meltzer spoke about why certain wrestlers didn’t return to WWE in the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, as well as the Newsletter. WWE contacted several former names but only Jinder Mahal, Rhyno and Curt Hawkins came back. Shelton Benjamin was set to return as well, but he was forced to have surgery on a torn rotator cuff.

Meltzer said that talks with MVP are “now dead” and he didn’t think WWE really wanted MVP back that badly.

He mentioned that a lot of the talent contacted are not returning because they’re doing better in the independent scene. He brought up Ryback charging $4,500 for appearances as an example. He said he found out what a “pretty significantly pushed person” was making in WWE at the moment and said there are wrestlers in TNA (who are getting their money, he noted), making more than that person while working fewer dates.

Tommy Dreamer turned down an offer because the WWE deal was not better than what he was already making. He would have been making less per date and spending more time and money on the road.

Goldust announced that he and his daughter Dakota will be launching a Youtube series soon:

When tweeting @DakotaRunnels22 and I about our Dak And Dust @YouTube show, please use #DakAndDust !!! Subscribe https://t.co/L2MLo01CK5 ty.
— Dustin Rhodes (@Goldust) August 17, 2016


Some other sheet news includes:

Rolling Stones had a recent interview with Chad Gable about his past Olympic career and current wrestling career. http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/chad-gable-olympian-to-wwe-main-roster-with-american-alpha-w434700
Sasha Banks was this week's guest for ESPN's wrestling segment.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Cena is 1-7 in his last 7 SummerSlam matches with the only win being the Team WWE vs Team Nexus match in 2010. Last time he won a single match was in 2007 against Orton for the WWE title.
In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, this year's US title match at Summerslam will be the first ppv title match not involving the WWE belt for Reigns since the start of his singles run. Also the first ppv since October 2015 Reigns was not the headliner nor involved in the main event.
Pro Wrestling Sheet is speculating the WWE is starting to purposely hold back announcing Wellness Policy suspensions until it fits into their schedule. The recent suspensions of Del Rio, Paige, and Reigns being cases where none required the WWE to rework plans. https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/766039774444392449
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Kenny Omega about his G1 tournament victory: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/08/17/ufc-wwe-conor-mcgregor-kenny-omega-g1-climax-interview

[Simple Fan]

Let's hope the Cena trend at Summerslam continues.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Paige's vacation to her empire of houses:
http://i.imgur.com/TITLHf1.gif

WWE Champion Dean Ambrose picked up some backstage heat from his recent "Stone Cold Podcast" with Steve Austin on the WWE Network, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The heat didn't come from any of Ambrose's answers, avoiding questions or for any of the awkward moments during the interview, but because he was being negative on creative and being negative on creative means being negative on Triple H and Vince McMahon.

Officials also were not happy about Ambrose publicly talking about how Brock Lesnar didn't want to do anything for their match at WrestleMania 32.

Eva Marie was suspended by WWE for violating the company’s Wellness Policy. WWE has confirmed the story but did not release the specifics of the violation. No word on which woman will replace her in the 6 woman tag team match.

Nikki Bella was cleared today to return to the ring, although not in a full-time capacity, after her neck surgery, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet.

Ad Age did a story on SummerSlam sponsorships which include Cricket Wireless, KFC, Jolly Rancher, DiGiiorno and Mountain Dew. The story claimed a lot of stats, one of which was that WWE broadcasts to nearly 13 million U.S. wrestling fans a week. I don't know where 2.9 (Raw viewership) + 2.5 (Smackdown viewership) and perhaps another 1.1 (Network subscribers), most of who are the same, ads up to 13.
Link to the story: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-wwe-summerslam-became-brand-bonanza-173024

PWInsider.com has confirmed with several sources that WWE released Radomir Petkovic, 29, who performed in NXT as King Konstantine, today. He had been signed since April 2015 and was a former amateur wrestler from Serbia who had won a number of medals in The European championship and The Mediterranean Games.

Renee Young noted on social media she's getting her ankle evaluated as she may have sprained or broken it.

And regarding the double standard, Lesnar’s line on the 8/15 Raw when confronting Slater and saying, “I don’t give a shit about your kids,” which was bleeped out wasn’t scripted. If it was Joey Styles who said it, or anyone underneath (Brad Maddox was fired for less for using the word prick in a dark match), they’d be gone yesterday.

As of press time, Lesnar appeared to be in no trouble nor has anything been said about it. Lesnar’s contract is unique as there are provisions regarding what he can and can’t be disciplined for, plus there is always the double standard for what a Cena or a Lesnar can get away with compared to everyone else

Even Orton got away with going off script from his interview on the last RAW. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4yctbb/meltzer_orton_was_edited_in_that_interview/

There is talk of doing a WWE Network Takeover special when they tour Australia/New Zealand in 2017

What’s notable is that on this NXT show, there is not one wrestler on the show who actually got their start in NXT. A few, Scott Dawson, Dash Wilder and No Way Jose, were all Carolinas independent guys for several years who came into NXT with no national name, and the same goes for Bayley, who started on California indies years before coming to NXT, but came in without a name. Ember Moon didn’t have a huge name on the indie scene but also had years of experience and was well known by woman wrestling fans before she ever signed. The rest of the wrestlers were genuine stars on the indie scene, the international scene or with major promotions. Next year, when WWE tells investors how NXT turned out eight new wrestlers, or whatever the number will be, and it’s due to NXT, when those people are Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode or Shinsuke Nakamura, it’s kind of a funny thing

Bill Goldberg appeared at Gamescom 2016 in Cologne, Germany and had some interesting things to say about a possible WWE return and Brock Lesnar. Here are a couple of highlights:

Goldberg said that he should be on the cover because he “killed the guy (Brock Lesnar) that’s on the cover.”

When fans started changing, “please come back,” Goldberg said that he’ll see what he can do.

Goldberg mentioned that he’s headed to New York City, and that’s all he can say about that. He said that you can never say never, and even at his age he has no issue putting his gear on and “ripping people’s faces off again.”

Goldberg was asked point blank when he’ll be back in WWE. Goldberg said that he honestly has no idea and doesn’t know if it will ever happen.

When asked about Brock Lesnar, Goldberg said that Brock knows how he feels about him. He said that they’ve been in the ring and while they didn’t have the best match, Brock knows his power. He said that’s what is missing is someone giving Brock the fight like he gives to everyone else. Goldberg says that Brock knows what would happen, he knows where he lives, and the same thing will happen to Brock that happened at WrestleMania XX.
Link to the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc6EIcrKBoU

During a Matt Hardy in character interview on Chris Jericho’s podcast, he said he got a lot of his ideas from “Game of Thrones,” saying Jeff Hardy being called an “Obsolete Mule” is based on Theon, who was renamed “Reek” upon becoming a tortured slave and his talking about the “7 Golds” is also from that show

Right now there is a good chance, but not a definite, that Alberto Del Rio will be leaving when he’s legally able. He is believed to have significant offers from Combate Americas and from TNA on the table, but there’s no word on anything from Lucha Underground (and he wouldn’t be able to do TNA and Lucha Underground as far as television goes) or AAA (which he could do with TNA, or at least could have before). He could make good money and have more control of his schedule, and would be pushed as a main guy outside of WWE, but he’s not going to be able to make anywhere close to what his current WWE deal was on the outside.
Update to recent Del Rio status news.

Regarding Joey Styles, it absolutely was his interview that got him fired. The reaction was that he made it clear he didn’t care what the higher ups thought, and that’s not exactly encouraged there. There was an implied message sent to everyone by the move about what not to say in a public forum, that he “flaunted” using terms that aren’t supposed to be used, that he had talked about it being nonsense that certain wrestlers don’t get pushed because of their size, that he knocked talent for doing too many dives (the office probably wouldn’t care but WWE wrestlers don’t like to be told that from non-wrestlers), has said the web staff is underappreciated by management, knocked the name of the Universal title as well as the Reigns comments (which to me were very political and nice about everything) but just giving credence to the idea the Reigns push is a discussion subject I guess isn’t viewed well.
Update to recent Joey Styles firing news.

WWE has attempted to trademark various terms this past week, one of which was Colin Cassady, which is a surprise since they never call Big Cass by that name anymore. WWE also attempted to trademark “Lady Balls,” which is the idea of building a merchandise brand around Stephanie McMahon, but they were turned down with the idea that you simply can’t trademark “Lady.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: Vince McMahon's Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame beats Joey Ryan to win <a href="https://twitter.com/ddtpro">@ddtpro</a> Ironman 24/7 Title. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ddtpro?src=hash">#ddtpro</a> <a href="https://t.co/QA42rEIPfX">pic.twitter.com/QA42rEIPfX</a></p>&mdash; Joey Ryan (@JoeyRyanOnline) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeyRyanOnline/status/766380069547749376">August 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Some other sheet news includes:

Recent updates to the Hogan-Gawker lawsuit includes Gawker being sold to Univision and Gawker itself shutting down while the rest of its associated sites will remain online.
CBS Sports had a recent interview with Enzo and Big Cass: http://www.cbssports.com/general/news/enzo-big-cass-share-their-smack-talk-fueled-journey-to-being-wwes-hottest-tag-team/
James Storm recently teased he's coming back to NXT after his current TNA contract expired and not wanting to extend it due to backstage issues there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I imagine we'll see a Bobby Roode vs. James Storm feud before long.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I could see ADR working for ROH/CMLL/New Japan in a sort of rotation thing.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Art of British butt kicking :
http://i.imgur.com/Y4m8YSX.gif

As of this afternoon, Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton is set to go on last at SummerSlam. That could change, but it's not expected to change.

After Sami Zayn and Neville vs. The Dudley Boyz was added to the SummerSlam kickoff show on Friday afternoon, another match was later set featuring SmackDown’s tag division.

American Alpha, The Hype Bros, and The Usos will team to take on Breezango, The Ascension, and The Vaudevillains ...

The updated card for SummerSlam is:

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship
WWE Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler in a championship match
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte in a championship match
United States Champion Rusev vs. Roman Reigns in a championship match
Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Apollo Crews in a championship match
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) in a championship match
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens
Cesaro vs. Sheamus in the first match of a best-of-seven series
Becky Lynch, Naomi, & Carmella vs. Natalya & Alexa Bliss
Sami Zayn & Neville vs. The Dudley Boyz on the SummerSlam kickoff show
American Alpha, The Hype Bros, & The Usos vs. Breezango, The Ascension, & The Vaudevillains



TMZ is reporting that the reason that Eva Marie was suspended for a failed WWE Wellness Test was due to the drug Adderall.

Eva stated that she has a perscription for the drug but didn't get the proper paperwork to WWE, leading to her suspension.

New Japan World is airing both tonight's CMLL show and tonight's ROH show live, but only if you are listed as subscribing from Japan. It's blocked in the rest of the world. It's good because the CMLL talent always works harder knowing the bigwigs in Japan and Japanese fans are watching.

Both UFC and WWE should be in the hunt for Helen Maroulis. This is only one in history first time American woman gold medalist in the sport, and she's got the right size and look for either professions and is clearly a superior athlete. The women's strawweight division in UFC does not have a ton of depth, although the top two are very good fighters. She'd be a publicity gold mine for WWE.

The 8/18 edition of Impact Wrestling did 355,000 viewers, up from last week's 315,000 viewers.

During a recent interview with SoleCollector.com, Enzo explained why he doesn’t wear wrestling boots.

It’s actually a funny story. I used to wear wrestling boots when I first got signed to the WWE. It was mandatory that each and every single superstar under contract buy and wear boots, or wear amateur wrestling shoes, which are thin cut. It wasn’t a stipulation in our contract or anything, but when you showed up to wrestling school, the head coach would say “Hey do you got your wrestling boots?” So I had to go out and buy wrestling boots, which I had never worn before in my life. I did not feel comfortable in them.

What ended up happening was I had a freak incident where I broke my leg in training in the performance center while wearing wrestling boots. It wasn’t so much “Oh, he was wearing wrestling boots,” but in my mind I was like “It’s the wrestling boot.”

If you ever looked at the spectrum of people in the company wearing sneakers for a long period of time, it’s only John Cena. When I broke my leg I came to our head coach with a doctor’s note that said “Enzo needs to be wearing sneakers when he wrestles because he broke his leg and that’s what he feels comfortable in.” Breaking my leg was the be-all, end-all of wrestling boots [for me], and I turned it into an opportunity to capitalize on a market that I am infatuated with. When I came back, the first pair of shoes I wore when I got in the ring was the Ferrari 14 Jordans.

Lucha Undeground put a ton of its matches from this past season on YouTube. The most watched, by far, with 706,000 viewers as of the weekend was the Mil Muertes vs. Ivelisse match. However, no other intergender match or straight women’s match did anything special at all. The Aztec Warfare match only did 41,000 and Gift of the Gods seven way did 60,000. The Rey Mysterio Jr. & Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Johnny Mundo & Jack Evans & PJ Jack match did 33,000 viewers. The matches that topped 100,000 viewers were Puma & Pentagon Jr. vs. Disciples of Death (215,000), Puma vs. Pentagon Jr. (195,000), Fenix vs. King Cuerno ladder match (143,000), Matanza Cueto vs. Mil Muertes battle of monsters (137,000) and Puma vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. (137,000).

Lilian Garcia did an interview on the Tomorrow show with Kevin Undergaro and said that her father feels super guilty about her leaving WWE. She said she wants to enjoy every second she has left with him and doesn’t want to be on the road. She said she misses not being there and wished she could have had a chance to say goodbye but things were happening quick. She said she was told the door is always open. She said if they were to call her to come back and do something special she would do it

There will be a live action commercial debuting during SummerSlam for KFC, featuring Miz and Ziggler as well as their new Col. Sanders character. The commercial was taped on 8/16 in Austin, TX at the night of the Smackdown tapings where Ziggler was dressed up as Col. Sanders and they did a match with Miz dressed up as a chicken. KFC will also use it outside of wrestling. The commercial, which debuts on the PPV is a joint project of Yum Brands and WWE. It will also run on WWE Network broadcasts going forward. Also at SummerSlam, Cricket a co-sponsor of the show along with Yum Brands, will have inside and outside arena signage and a Snapchat filter. There will also be Tapout ads during the broadcast as well as Mountain Dew and video game ads at times during the six plus hour live show


Some other sheet news includes:

Triple H announced on Twitter he will be holding a live Q&A session on his official Facebook page after the end of Takeover: Brooklyn II.
According to PWTorch, more wrestlers are rumored to have recently failed WWE's Wellness Policy testing. Rumor around the net is around 10 as the number counting Eva, Del Rio, and Paige. https://twitter.com/jctorch/status/766687162439864320
Also being speculated Eva Marie was the one who supplied the tainted supplements to others backstage and her husband being the source of it. Links to the supplement Eva was supposedly busted for: https://twitter.com/SeanRadican/status/766708410272325633 , https://twitter.com/SeanRadican/status/766706561335062528
GQ had a recent article about the impact of the Four Horsewomen in the WWE: http://www.gq.com/story/four-horsewomen-wwe

[Cool King]

Both UFC and WWE should be in the hunt for Helen Maroulis. This is only one in history first time American woman gold medalist in the sport, and she's got the right size and look for either professions and is clearly a superior athlete. The women's strawweight division in UFC does not have a ton of depth, although the top two are very good fighters. She'd be a publicity gold mine for WWE.

Just before her gold medal match, I had a feeling that if she won, that talk about her and the WWE would begin to appear on the internet.

[Mr. Nerfect]

She's a good looking girl too. I'd be going after her if I were the WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Disappearance of the 1st Universal Champion:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/668e10479e61c60c490b1356615623d1/tumblr_occ5r9BCD81u1ljrzo1_500.gif

Raw had its expected big increase coming the day after SummerSlam and with no major sports competition.

Still, the number can't be celebrated too much, as the 3.30 million viewers was lower than the 3.33 million viewers the day after Battleground and 3.47 million viewers the day after Money in the Bank ...

The previous two Raws, going against the Olympics, did 2.90 and 2.91 million viewers, the two lowest for non-holiday shows in the last 19 years ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 3.46 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.37 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.11 million viewers


WWE received better news on the injury status of Sasha Banks.

According to Dave Meltzer, Banks is not expected to be out of action very long despite having a back injury. The injury won’t require surgery so she could be back sooner than previously feared.

Meltzer noted in Monday’s daily update that the decision to have Banks lose the WWE Women’s Championship at SummerSlam was made because of the injury to her back.

The impression we have is that Samoa Joe was not injured last night and it was just storyline.

Finn Balor is already in Birmingham, Alabama in preparation for the pending surgery to repair his torn labrum.

As noted, he is expected out of action for 4-6 months after surgery.

Then on Tuesday morning, Lesnar got word that he's been issued a temporary suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission as a result of his multiple drug failures following UFC 200. It's the first step in a process that will eventually lead to a formal hearing where Lesnar could face a two-year suspension under USADA guidelines.

MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti first reported the news.

The 39-year-old tested positive for hydroxy clomiphene in two separate tests, one on June 28th prior to UFC 200 and then during an in-competition test at the show.

Stephanie McMahon promised that there would be repercussions for Brock Lesnar after he bloodied Randy Orton and laid out Shane McMahon at the end of SummerSlam, but Lesnar’s on-screen punishment won’t be too severe.

It was announced on Tuesday night’s SmackDown pre-show that Stephanie had fined Lesnar $500 for his actions at SummerSlam.

The relatively insignificant storyline punishment seems like it’s intended to further the tensions between the Raw and SmackDown brands, as well as increase conflict between the McMahon siblings.

More additions to the WWE 2K17 roster were revealed on Tuesday, with Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, American Alpha, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Ric Flair, Razor Ramon, The Revival and others officially announced for for the game.

Chinese signee Bin Wang will make his WWE debut on the promotion’s tour of China when he faces Bo Dallas in Shanghai on September 10th. Triple H announced Wang’s debut in a video.

Last night's Raw was the final appearance of Bubba (Mark LoMonaco) & D-Von (Devon Hughes) Dudley with WWE.

The team had signed a one-year contract, but had verbally agreed to a new contract several weeks ago. They had been working on an angle to split the two up for weeks on television but decisions were changed and the decision was made to not renew the contract and to drop the angle.

So instead they were given a farewell last night in Brooklyn where they got to turn babyface, set up signature spots with the Shining Stars, and then be used to get heel heat for Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, the Raw brand's top heel tag team.

The WWE was very gracious with them on television on the way out, with the announcers pushing that they may have been the greatest tag team in pro wrestling history.

Kazuchika Okada was backstage at SummerSlam last night. He's in New York for the week since he's working the ROH show on Saturday night in Brooklyn.
2nd year in a row he was backstage for a NXT or WWE event during SummerSlam weekend.

The ending of the Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar SummerSlam match, which went pretty much as planned, led to a verbal and somewhat physical confrontation between Lesnar and Chris Jericho last night.

According to multiple sources, Jericho came to the gorilla position just as the match ended, apparently to see if Orton was okay and to find out what exactly happened. He asked Michael Hayes what the finish was or if that was the finish. Hayes wouldn't answer him at which point Jericho said, "That's bullsh*t."

Jericho said that just as Lesnar came back from the ring. Lesnar thought he was talking about his match, and called Jericho a pussy according to one version, or "shut up" according to another, and to mind his own business. The two got face-to-face and started exchanging words, with one version saying they were shouting at each other the whole time.

Lesnar pushed Jericho with his fingers, and Jericho did what was described as the "Rousey-Tate" foreheed press. One version also had Jericho shoving Lesnar to the wall at one point.

They got tangled up against the wall and Lesnar told Jericho to punch him or kiss him. Paul "HHH" Levesque jumped in quickly and broke it up. It was heated enough that they went back at it at which time Vince McMahon broke it up. Jericho started yelling about Lesnar and McMahon told Jericho that it was all a work and to be professional.

Levesque reportedly told McMahon that Lesnar started it, and Jericho was just standing up for himself but there were more words exchanged.

Jericho saw Orton and got mad, which everyone noted was because he was concerned with Orton's health and safety. Orton reportedly assured him that he knew the way everything was coming.


After Raw went off the air in Brooklyn, NY, John Cena and WWE World champion Dean Ambrose teamed to defeat the team of Seth Rollins and AJ Styles after Ambrose pinned Rollins with Dirty Deeds. The crowd, not realizing the Smackdown talents would be there, chanted "This is awesome" before the bell had even rung. It will be the last Raw taping featuring Smackdown talents in the dark match to close out the show as Smackdown will begin running Monday evening house shows next week.

WWE released a video clip of Sting’s new sit-down interview with JBL premiering Friday night on WWE Network.

The clip includes Sting acknowledging a rumor that he was penciled in to face Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 18 in 2002 – a year after WWE bought out WCW and Sting’s personal contract was set to expire.

Sting said he did have talks with Vince McMahon, but when attorneys got involved, things did not work out. So, Sting stayed away from WWE for 12 years until joining the company in 2014 ...

Sting also talked about not trusting WWE and McMahon at the time, believing that Vince “wanted me more to undermine WCW than he did as a talent.”
Link with the video of the interview: http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/08/19/wwe-video-sting-vs-kurt-angle-wrestlemania-match-not-happen/

WWE announced Monday during Raw that the Cruiserweight division will officially debut on Raw on September 19.

This is the first Monday after the inaugural Cruiserweight tournament concludes on September 14.

The first four CW wrestlers highlighted in a video package were Rich Swann, Brian Kendrick, Noam Dar, and T.J. Perkins.

As we reported in July, Zack Sabre, Jr. was on WWE’s radar to be signed from the Cruiserweight tournament. However, the two sides have not agreed to a deal after some negotiations.

One roadblock for Sabre is that some WWE agents are not high on Sabre’s in-ring style. Fit Finlay has publicly said that he is not a fan of Sabre and William Regal also shares some of that sentiment.


Some other sheet news includes:

MSN had a recent article dealing with Brock Lesnar and his aura of making people believe wrestling isn't fake. http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/news/brock-lesnar-just-made-people-believe-wwe-was-real/ar-BBvVdk6?ocid=ob-fb-enus-74%20%20%20Brock%20Lesnar%20just%20made%20people%20believe%20WWE%20was%20real
Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Shinsuke Nakamura: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/08/23/nxt-wwe-shinsuke-nakamura-interview-samoa-joe-kenny-omega
According to reports, WWE went on a Twitter rampage going after accounts posting gifs of SummerSlam as the event happened. At least two major accounts got shut down as a result. http://backbodydrop.com/blog/commentaries/twitter-gifs-low-hanging-fruit-piracy/%C2%A0%C2%A0
ROH announced they recently signed British indie wrestler Marty Scurll to a deal.
According to the WWE, Randy Orton required 10 staples to close the gash on his head after his match against Lesnar.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 17th anniversary of Triple H's first WWE title reign. Defeated Mick Foley on RAW a day after Foley won the title from Stone Cold at Summerslam 99'.

[slik]

damn @ Zach Sabre news

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Gift of Vince ... Drink it in man:
http://i.imgur.com/yVFTBrM.gif

Today is Vince McMahon’s 71st birthday.

Tuesday night's edition of Talking Smack may have been more noteworthy than SmackDown itself.

Daniel Bryan and The Miz got into a heated exchange after Bryan said he didn't like the way Miz wrestles. Miz responded by saying he beat Apollo Crews at SummerSlam, but Bryan said that Miz wrestles like a coward inside of the ring, and claimed that Miz represents what he used to think of as soft WWE style wrestling.

Miz offered an impassioned defense of his work, saying that he has never been injured in his career. He said Bryan is the real coward for promising his fans that he would come back and failing to do so.

Responding to The Miz, Bryan noted that he would come back if the WWE would let him. Miz said Bryan claims to love wrestling and should quit and go wrestle in bingo halls again. Bryan walked off of the set as the show went off the air.
Really worth the watch for those who haven't seen it yet. TPWW thread with the video: http://www.tpwwforums.com/showthread.php?t=132096

Maura Ranallo tweeted that the new sets featured on this week’s Raw and SmackDown are permanent.

SmackDown scored its second biggest TV audience since the live draft special, garnering 2.714 million viewers on USA Tuesday night.

The number was up 10% from last week and was the highest number the show has done since July 25th.

USADA announced Wednesday that Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar could be facing a maximum suspension of just one year for their recent drug test failures, and not the traditional two-year ban.

In the fourth installment of WWE 2K17’s Suplex City Census, 29 WWE Superstar residents of the Business District – the fourth of five neighborhoods in Suplex City – have been announced for inclusion in the forthcoming franchise’s worldwide release on October 11, 2016. The installment brings the following Superstars to WWE 2K17’s extensive roster: Alberto Del Rio, Big Show, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Carmella, Chad Gable, Big Cass, Darren Young, Dash Wilder, Diamond Dallas Page, Earthquake, Enzo Amore, Goldberg, Jason Jordan, JBL, Mark Henry, Paige, Razor Ramon, Ric Flair, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Sasha Banks, Scott Dawson, Sheamus, The Miz, Titus O’Neil, Typhoon and Zack Ryder.

WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has been critical of Seth Rollins in the past, calling Rollins unprofessional and reckless after John Cena and Sting were injured in matches with him.

And Hart doubled down on those criticisms after Finn Balor was injured after taking a powerbomb into the barricade against Rollins at SummerSlam.

Hart released a statement (with paragraph breaks added) to Nick Hausman of Wrestlezone: "I take no great pleasure in saying 'I told you so,' but if you’re a professional wrestler and you keep hurting opponents and or yourself, clearly you’re doing it wrong. I wrestled a very realistic and physical style and not once in 23 yrs did I ever hurt one opponent ever.

Seth Rollins needs to improve his technique and become the safest wrestler in the business. I have great respect for Seth. I believe he’ll improve and hopefully stop hurting the talent before someone gets killed. Wrestlers have to trust one another. If a wrestler holds the life of another wrestler in his hands for the sake of his family, wife or children you plain and simply cannot drop it!

I saw this coming, if anything WWE producers are negligent for not speaking up about it to him already, instead they’re probably gushing with joy, slapping him on the back telling him 'great job!' Bill Goldberg was similar. When I think of Samoa Joe nearly killing Tyson Kidd, then see him continuing to use that deadly finish of his, I just shake my head. It’s not real, it’s only supposed to look real, wrestlers are not crash test dummies!"
Lance Storm also bashed Rollins to a lesser degree for being a bit wreckless with his moves during a guest appearance on a recent Observer Radio show. Basically said Rollins needs to be more aware his powerbomb moves are all on him to ensure others are safe taking them.

Update: Aug.23 at 10 p.m by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas
“Finn’s injury was pretty severe, more severe than normal. A really high energy injury, it did more damage than a standard shoulder dislocation where you simply tear the labrum. The prognosis is excellent, however. We were able to fix it all and put it back where it came from. I’m anticipating him getting back at full speed.”
Recent update regarding Finn's injury and recover.

WWE NXT will tape their next set of TV episodes tomorrow, Thursday 8/25 at Full Sail Live. The next WWE Cruiserweight Classic taping will be Friday 8/26 at Full Sail Live as well ...

Jerry Lawler was spotted in Orlando, Florida today, so he may be at the tapings this week.

El Rey Network announced a collaborative deal with Rey Mysterio to be involved in more projects beyond Lucha Underground.

El Rey and Mysterio agreed to a “one-year first look deal” that will see Mysterio “develop, produce. and consult on creative projects and series, both scripted and unscripted,” reports Deadline.com.

Mysterio will also be featured in Season 3 of Lucha Underground, which premiers September 7.

“I know he would have supported it because he told me to ask for my release after WrestleMania 28… I waited until WrestleMania 32 to take his advice. At 28, I recalled particularly, he was unhappy with the direction things were going with me and Big Show, and he just thought that I was so close to the keys to the kingdom, and they were slipping away, that maybe leaving would wake them to the idea that this is somebody who wanted to captain your ship and the way you guys are treating him has pushed him out. But it seemed at the time like kind of a leopard’s play, so it just didn’t interest me. I wanted to stick it out, and I always tried to not take Pop’s advice, because he’s my dad, so the advice always came from that part of his heart, not the businessman part of his mind, but his heart, and actually at the end of my WWE career, he was right that I should have made that decision maybe a little sooner.”
Part of a longer interview Cody Rhodes had with Wrestledelphia Radio about Dusty telling him to leave the WWE years ago since he was unhappy and needed a new direction for his career.


Some other sheet news includes:

Bayley recently posted a farewell letter to NXT on her Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/BJgJDYQge9e/
CM Punk's on-going lawsuit against WWE's head doctor Dr. Chris Amann is current set to have another hearing on November 15th based on recent court records. Punk is currently suing Amann over issues regarding medical neglect while Amann is counter-suing Punk over the allegations. http://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/08/24/dr-amann-vs-c-m-punk-colt-cabana-lawsuit-update-weeks-court-hearing/
Undertaker's wife and former WWE Women's wrestler Michelle McCool recently revealed she's currently dealing with skin cancer. https://www.instagram.com/p/BJgSKQshO3P/
Apparently a recent AMA session on r/SquaredCircle with Bull Dempsey/Bull James ended up being a big disaster to the point the thread got deleted very quickly. Main issues were Dempsey didn't prepare or handle himself well for the AMA and trolls causing a lot of issues. https://twitter.com/RealBullJames/status/768590380363292673
According to Johnny Gargano, the origin of the #GloriousBomb was people in NXT thinking the song was going to be used for the CWC tournament and being a bit upset it was for Roode instead. Him and Ciampa then decided to use it as part of a running gag with Roode involved and even managed to get Triple H to be a big fan of it. http://www.cagesideseats.com/2016/8/24/12633762/johnny-gargano-reveals-origin-gloriousbomb-tommaso-ciampa-bobby-roode-wwe-nxt-triple-h

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I was thinking the same thing about Rollins. Honestly, the first 2 times I guess you can say unlucky, but this is the third time. I know it may kill everyone to admit, but Bret Hart is right and WAS right the whole fucking time.

Bret's hyperbole about how "he never hurt anyone" is a crock of shit, but certainly never to the degree of Rollins.

[Fignuts]

I think the move itself is more unsafe than rollins. Too many variables on how a person can land, and it can be difficult to brace yourself for it.

I ghink if rollins retires the move, then it's problem solved, because outside of that cena thing with the knee, he's never hurt anyone before, in wwe or the indies.

[Tom Guycott]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Disappearance of the 1st Universal Champion:
http://67.media.tumblr.com/668e10479e61c60c490b1356615623d1/tumblr_occ5r9BCD81u1ljrzo1_500.gif

For some reason, head canon has the theme to Unsolved Mysteries playing in the background, and a Robert Stack voiceover

"If you know the whereabouts of Finn Balor, call this number..."

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I think the move itself is more unsafe than rollins. Too many variables on how a person can land, and it can be difficult to brace yourself for it.

I ghink if rollins retires the move, then it's problem solved, because outside of that cena thing with the knee, he's never hurt anyone before, in wwe or the indies.

He's the one doing the move though and it is wildly unsafe. Like someone said, he needs to respect the recklessness of his powerbomb and not be so willy nilly with it. I think what he did to Sting is WAY worse but this still doesn't look good.

I think he's a good dude, and a great worker and praise after praise after praise, but come on, this is 3 guys he's hurt, 2 on the same move. You can only keep having so many accidents before it seems like you aren't taking responsibility for the guys inside the ring with you as much as you should be.

Then again, I'm not a worker, so maybe I'm completely wrong, and where you're going with it is completely right, Figgy. Your point has a definite validity to it, I just think in this case, where there's smoke there is fire.

[Tom Guycott]

I think the move itself is more unsafe than rollins. Too many variables on how a person can land, and it can be difficult to brace yourself for it.

I ghink if rollins retires the move, then it's problem solved, because outside of that cena thing with the knee, he's never hurt anyone before, in wwe or the indies.

1) Think you rode past Sting, there.

2) I hate to say it, because I'm a fan, but if it were a lot of the names on the undercard that had the same track record, we would be most likely reading about releases or at least a dropped push about now. Especially if he had hurt Randy Orton (Ken Kennedy, anyone? Kofi Kingston?)

[Sepholio]

4 people Rollins has hurt. He broke Lesnars ribs at Mania last year as well did he not?

[Mr. Nerfect]

The buckle bomb could probably go, but I think a lot of the injuries around Seth comes down to him feeling the need to prove himself. He's a lankier guy, so he wants to show he can toss guys around and look "legit" in there. That's only speculation, of course, but I can only imagine the pressure Seth Rollins has felt as a guy trying to embed himself in the main event with the terrible booking in WWE.

He can probably take a massive chill pill right now though, because it's obvious he's a guy in the WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Becky's reaction to the sheets:
http://i.imgur.com/IZOa2Fh.gif

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Before going down with the shoulder injury, Finn Balor was scheduled to defend the WWE Universal Title against Kevin Owens at the September 25th RAW brand Clash of Champions pay-per-view from Indianapolis.

The Balor vs. Owens match would have ended in a way that set up Balor vs. Owens vs. Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat for the October 30th Hell In a Cell pay-per-view from Boston. As noted, Balor's original WWE SummerSlam opponent was Jericho.

According to squaredcirclesirens.com, WWE officials were not pleased with Charlotte following her match with Sasha Banks at Summerslam. Banks went into the match injured, and after the match officials yelled at Charlotte for being careless during the match.

The story behind Lesnar vs. Orton was to create a scenario where nobody knew where reality ended, and preferably where people thought Lesnar was breaking the code or script.

Orton wasn’t told until he got to the arena, as he was planning for a usual main event. He was told when he got there that he was not going to have a normal match, and that the match wasn’t about going back-and-forth and keeping both men strong, but about making Lesnar stronger. The original idea was to be a total destruction for Lesnar, where Orton would be on the ground bleeding. It was supposed to look like Lesnar “went against the script” on him and hurt him. There would be confusion and the match would end, with Orton seemingly concussed and the referee stopping the match....

There will be people denying this most likely, because they have to, but Orton was told that Lesnar knew how to graze him with his elbow to open up a cut without hurting him and was told that was what would happen in the match. As it turned out, Lesnar elbowed the hell out of him, and threw some stiff punches, and Orton was bleeding like crazy from a cut that needed ten staples to close. Orton stayed down and was acting like he was knocked out, as he was supposed to. Medical personnel and the referee acted confused, because they were. I don’t know this as a fact, but I believe the referee knew going in that Lesnar was winning, but if he did, was given a different finish, because the fact Lesnar was going over was not kept secret...

One person noted that Orton was told to do it, but wasn’t expecting it to be the way it was. He wasn’t going to complain publicly about it but also was never going to do that kind of a favor again and wasn’t particularly thrilled

Regarding Daniel Bryan wrestling, while I don’t know this factually, one would presume that because he’s General Manager and working regularly again, the time is ticking on his contract, which means that at some point he would be able to leave the company and work elsewhere. Whether it is healthy or prudent for him to return as a wrestler on a full-time or part-time basis is still a question that he has to come up with an answer for, as different doctors have given him different opinions. Whether he would want to give up the financial security (which seems to mean less to him than for most, as he’s seemingly happier being an artist on his own terms than being rich) of a guaranteed WWE deal is something else, although he could make huge money away from WWE. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could make more away from WWE as a wrestler than his downside in WWE without the money you make when you wrestle as the main event level, plus he’d make all his merch money outside as opposed to just a small percentage of it.
Probably depends if the WWE still sees his contract as another Rey Mysterio type where its frozen unless he hits very strict requirements. If that is the case, WWE could technically add as much time as they wanted till they no longer see a need for him or his potential drawing power for other companies is no longer seen as a threat.

Forbes.com listed Dwayne Johnson as the highest paid actor in the world, saying between his cut of Fast & Furious 7 and San Andreas, he earned $64.5 million between June 2015 and June 2016.
For some comparisons, Rock was around $3-$4 million higher than Jackie Chan who was #2 and almost $20 million more than the highest paid female actress.

The WWE got a number of Twitter accounts suspended for posting SummerSlam gifs, including that of Senor Lariato, who would post highlights in gif form for wrestling all over the world. Lariato in particular was considered one of the key people in making New Japan Pro Wrestling popular to a number of American fans ...

In the new Observer, in the note on the taking down of gifs from SummerSlam by WWE, this is technically how it was explained to me. WWE hired a third party vendor, SMTS, to remove any streaming video from the show and SMTS was able to match any WWE copyrighted content that was on Twitter and the accounts were suspended.

Vince McMahon turned 71 years old yesterday. In a "there's truth in humor" moment, he wrote the following on Twitter:

Thank you for all the well wishes on my 71st birthday. #LuckiestManInTheWorld #JustReachedPuberty
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) August 25, 2016

Brian Fritz did a piece for Sporting News talking with Bill Goldberg about the new WWE 2K17 game and a possible WWE return which he says is "not in my court".
Link to the interview: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news/bill-goldberg-wcw-wwe-return-2k17-video-game-brock-lesnar-wrestlemania/10ck2zp3xegsn1eeqest5da9wp

Northeast Wrestling is ending the summer in style with five shows this weekend.

Former WWE star Cody Rhodes is scheduled to wrestle on four of the shows, including a much-anticipated match against Kurt Angle on Saturday night, August 27 at “Wrestling Under the Stars.”

Also on the tour is recent WWE star Ryback (n/k/a as The Big Guy), plus Jushin Liger, the Hardys, Jerry Lawler, WWE Raw GM Mick Foley, Booker T, Mike Bennett, Velvet Sky, Mandy Leon, and more stars.

Initially signing with WWE after departing TNA and making the reverse jump:
"I didn't really know what to expect. Granted it was a time where you kind of had to test the waters and what was worse than that was the people that had made the jump never fared to well. It was a risky thing to do because I didn't know what to expect and the guys that had been there didn't fare well and that was not by any fault of their own it was just the way it worked out."

First impressions of WWE:

"They made a big deal about it when I first came in and now to know that it was all crap. I remember talking to Hunter and I talked to Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker and it seemed like my early days there, it felt like it was going to go somewhere."

The portrayal of Braden Walker by the company:

"When they debuted me, nobody knew who Braden Walker was and I think some people would know who I was or with a name change, I could deal with that. I knew that there was a good chance that they weren't going to use "Wildcat" but the way they presented me was like a bag of crap. There was nothing for the people to care. Some of these bad one liners they were giving me and vignettes were ridiculous, it was just a bad combination. It is hard to find the words. What I saw there, I wasn't impressed. It was a billion dollar company and they didn't know what the hell they were doing from one minute to the next."
Link to the interview: http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0823/616875/chris-harris-opens-up-about-the-failure-of-braden-walker/


Some other sheet news includes:

According to a recent episode of the Observer Radio show, wrestlers do not get any royalties from their entrance songs bought on online stores and instead their cut goes to the writer of the song.
Also according to the Observer, WWE recently dropped plans on making Becky the top Women's star on Smackdown in favor of Nikki Bella. Also revealed Nikki is following Cena's route of becoming a part timer in regards to working a lot less house shows from now on.
EVOLVE announced they have recently hired Joey Styles to a deal.
For those interested, WWE has started to sell the American Alphas "Ready, Willing, Gable" hand towels for $5 each. http://shop.wwe.com/american-alpha-ready-willing-and-gable-rally-towel/W12117.html
Gaming website Giantbomb recently had interviews with several wrestlers from Summerslam weekend: http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/dan-talks-to-wrestlers-at-summerslam-2016/2300-11518/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Making Nikki Bella top priority is a mistake. But try it and see what happens.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Glorious One:
http://i.imgur.com/AjZZQzh.gif

The original plans for SummerSlam included a Corbin vs. Kalisto match but because of new match additions and 13 matches scheduled they ended up being the odd men out. Balor was always scheduled to make his PPV debut on the show but originally it was to be against Jericho since Reigns vs. Rollins was the scheduled title match main event. Originally Raw was to get the real title and Smackdown would get the made up title (which Styles was to have won). The Reigns drug test failure changed all the plans and the decision was to have another babyface put in the top position on Raw and Reigns be moved down as punishment. The Raw face side was very weak as with the exception of part-timers Lesnar and Show, the top faces were Cesaro and Zayn. Rather than go with them, since Cesaro has been typecast at a certain level and even though Zayn did beat Owens, clearly the decision was made not to go with him, they decided to instantly make Balor the top guy, at least until they go back to Reigns. Of course now everything is up in the air

Making a brief appearance as one of the guests on this week’s Ric Flair Show, UFC president Dana White commented on his relationship with Vince McMahon.

“I’ve been working, or trying to work, with Vince for years.” White said. “It was obviously very difficult… Vince is a maniac, he’s a f*cking competitor, man. That’s what he is. If you look at what Vince McMahon has accomplished in all of his years, and to still be on top, still doing it, the guy’s got enough money, he’s in it 'cause he loves it, he’s in it 'cause he’s passionate about it.”

White was asked what it has been like to negotiate with WWE, "I would say that this last Brock deal, and when Ronda went over and did the WWE WrestleMania, I’d say those were the two, out of all the years of dealing with Vince and everybody, those were probably the two best experiences. I think that Vince, and definitely Stephanie and Triple H, Stephanie and Triple H are always great, always great, always cool to work with, Vince has been very difficult in the past, but in the last several years he’s been much better.”

But White made sure to note that he respects McMahon, “He’s a f*cking maniac, he’s an animal, he’s a competitor, he wants to win, and you know, that’s his nature, and I respect it.”

In a quasi-kayfabe discussion with Michael Cole as part of WWE.com's weekly interview series, Daniel Bryan talked about his time as general manager of SmackDown, doing commentary for the Cruiserweight Classic, and why Brock Lesnar was his dream opponent.

But most notably, Bryan had interesting comments when asked about Finn Balor’s recent shoulder injury. Bryan thought that Balor should've been on the WWE main roster long before he was called up, and thinks the same for Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Bryan said: "The most tragic part, that kind of stuff happens... the most tragic part to me is it happens as soon as he gets up here. And I think one of the things that really upsets me about the whole situation is that Finn Balor should’ve been up here a year and a half ago ...

So, he’s in the prime of his career right now, like he just turned 35 the day he debuted on Raw. Right? Like, he should’ve been here a year and a half ago. Samoa Joe should already be here. Shinsuke Nakamura should already be here. Those are guys in their primes and they’re down on NXT right now, and they should be here... either on SmackDown Live or on Raw.

And the longer we wait, the more bumps they take, the more bruises they get, and the more susceptible they are to injury. Everybody knows there’s a finite number of hits you can take in your career, you don’t know what number that is. And the more times you take those hits down on NXT, the less hits you’re going to be able to take when you’re here.”
Link to the Weekly Cole interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz5aspCfA_Y

TNA champion Bobby Lashley will be fighting on the 10/21 Bellator card. No opponent has been announced yet.

PWInsider.com can confirm that TNA recently filmed a large amount of material on Matt Hardy's compound in Cameron, North Carolina over the last several days. The material will be featured in upcoming episodes of Impact Wrestling, all building to what has been described as me as Final Deletion II, featuring the Broken Hardys facing Decay, Abyss and Crazzy Steve. The match itself will be titled "Delete or Decay."

I was told that there was some insane material filmed and that TNA bumped up the budget from the last Final Deletion match, which featured Matt Hardy "deleting" Jeff Hardy on an episode of Impact Wrestling that received positive reviews for it's unique presentation and tongue-in-cheek campiness. The episode garnered 410,000 viewers, the highest audience for an initial broadcast of Impact Wrestling since the series debuted on Pop TV earlier this year.

The 8/25 edition of Impact Wrestling did 373,000 viewers, up from last week's 355,000 viewers.

As of right now, while there have been various hints and rumors, talent has not been told of a schedule for taping of season four of Lucha Underground.

Since there are a lot of questions regarding Paige’s contract status with Del Rio having the option to leave next month, from what we understand, Paige’s deal expires in April 2019. While nothing is certain, the betting line is that Del Rio won’t be back. As far as Paige goes, she wouldn’t be able to wrestle anywhere else unless WWE fired her

In response to questions about this subject, we’re under the impression Eric Young agreed to terms with WWE some time back and they’re just waiting to debut him

Because WWE was unable to get a trademark on the term “Lady Balls,” the Stephanie McMahon autobiography was given a name change to “unREAL!” It comes out next month

Bo Dallas may be in some hot water.

Late Shift host Steven Bell posted on Twitter that former NXT Champion Bo Dallas was booted from WWE's flight from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to Mexico for being intoxicated. Bell said that he heard Dallas "very loudly singing the Lion King song" in the background while he spoke to his wife, in a situation you really can't make up.

When the pilot approached Bo Dallas, the WWE superstar reportedly told the him to "fuck himself," before echoing his sentiments to everyone else. The boarding staff would later confirm that Dallas was tossed for being intoxicated.

Police would later arrive at the terminal. There's no word on if Dallas was arrested or not, but the officers went on a search for the 26-year old talent. He was later found and escorted from the terminal. He also has wandered away from the area while the airport staff tried to book a later flight for him.

Dallas was seen before the incident drinking with one of the Usos and Charlotte in the airport bar, as they were heading for Mexico, where WWE is touring
Link to the article: www.fightful.com/report-bo-dallas-kept-plane-being-drunk


Some other sheet news includes:

Next set of Cruiserweight Classic tournament tapings is occurring tonight with the Final Four to be revealed in the end.
The Headbangers recently teased on Facebook they are returning to the WWE soon for Smackdown's Tag Team championship tournament.
For those interested, WWE is currently selling a Mystery Box for $25 that contains five randomly picked t-shirts. http://shop.wwe.com/wwe-mystery-mens-t-shirt-package-%231/W12132.html?dwvar_W12132_color=...#start=27
Supposedly the rumor involving several more WWE wrestlers getting suspended for failing the Wellness tests is leaning towards being fake although could still happen after this weekend's set of shows. Also possible the WWE might stagger the suspensions so they don't lose everyone at once assuming its true. Recent track record for the source of the rumors isn't good though when it comes to breaking huge news.
In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 17th anniversary of Smackdown's debut.
In a bit of somber news, the mother of child cancer patient Elijah/Drax Shadow revealed her son likely won't live past this year. Last year the WWE gave him an honorary WWE contract and his own wrestling name as part of a Make A Wish request. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4zredt/drax_shadowelijah_update_from_his_mother_says_he/

[slik]

I BOlieve that story

[Simple Fan]

Pilot does need to go fuck himself if you can't sing the Lion King song on the plane.

[Black Widow]

I know we're all just gonna throw jokes around. But maybe we should have some Simbathy.

[Big Vic]

Co-worker got mad at me for playing "Be prepared" in my headphones on repeat. I feel Bo's pain.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I listen to the Hans Zimmer side of the score every now and again. Shit is great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It's time for some Bo Dallas vignettes where he is seen sitting in a old saloon, filmed in close-up, having a conversation with someone off-screen.
"Things haven't exactly worked out the way I had planned."
"Are you going to tell them your last name isn't Dallas?" asks the grizzled voice.

[Impact!]

"It's YOOOOUUUURRRR FIIIIIIIIIRRRREEEDDD!" the camera cuts to Mr. McMahon tearing his contract in half.