Wrestling News & Rumors [Archive] - Page 6

Emperor Smeat

02-26-2020, 07:40 PM

The Sheets:

WWE has officially begun teasing an appearance by The Undertaker for tomorrow's Super ShowDown event.

WWE posted a picture of The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia on Twitter today and wrote "What is The #Undertaker doing in Saudi Arabia ahead of #WWESSD?! (cc: @Enjoy_Saudi)." They also posted an article on WWE.com hyping that Undertaker is in the country ...

Dave Meltzer had confirmed earlier this week that The Undertaker had traveled with WWE to Saudi Arabia.

Though the match has yet to be officially announced, The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles is planned for WrestleMania 36.

AEW released this week's roster rankings this morning. Jon Moxley, Kris Statlander, and The Young Bucks top their respective division's rankings ahead of their title matches at Revolution. The PPV is taking place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois this Saturday ...

The full rankings for this week are listed below:

Men's division --

Champion: Chris Jericho (0-0 singles record in 2020, 10-1-1 overall record)

Jon Moxley (6-0 singles record in 2020, 11-1-1 overall record)
Cody Rhodes (3-0 singles record in 2020, 10-3-1 overall record)
PAC (1-1 singles record in 2020, 6-5-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (0-0 singles record in 2020, 15-6 overall record)
MJF (2-0 singles record in 2020, 6-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (3-1 singles record in 2020, 7-4 overall record)

Kris Statlander (2-1 singles record in 2020, 6-3 overall record)
Riho (3-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3 overall record)
Hikaru Shida (2-1 singles record in 2020, 7-4 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-0 singles record in 2020, 1-2 overall record)
Britt Baker (1-2 singles record in 2020, 8-6 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 15-6 overall record for Omega, 11-8 overall record for Page)

The Young Bucks (2-1 tag team record in 2020, 12-8 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-7 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 15-6 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 14-5 overall record for Frankie Kazarian
The Dark Order (3-0 tag team record in 2020, 7-2 overall record for Evil Uno, 7-2 overall record for Stu Grayson)
Santana & Ortiz (0-1 tag team record in 2020, 7-5 overall record for Santana, 7-5 overall record for Ortiz)
Best Friends (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 8-12 overall record for Trent Barreta, 7-9 overall record for Chuck Taylor)

During today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer commented on the Rusev and WWE Super ShowDown situation. According to Meltzer, the story going on within WWE is that Rusev has an “injury.” However, Meltzer claims that Rusev “backed out of the show, essentially.”

As noted below, last night’s Raw still featured a graphic for the match with Rusev in it, despite Rusev already being out of the match and Rey Mysterio now taking his place.

Major League Wrestling execs were at the CBS/Viacom HQ in New York City yesterday for meetings on a potential TV and streaming rights deal, PWInsider.com has confirmed. We don't have any additional information at this time.

FITE.TV issued the following:

FITE to Offer AEW Revolution via live PPV Internationally, Outside the USA, On Saturday, Feb. 29th, 2020

WHAT: FITE will offer the PPV event AEW Revolution live from Chicago for $19.99

FITE offers live HD PPV events online, and to all mobile, OTT and IT-connected devices. FITE has DVR, live chat, reminders, voting, countdown clock and replays!

While WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart were slated to make the trip to Saudi Arabia for the WWE Super Showdown PPV, we have not confirmed they are there with the rest of the crew.

Lana is in Saudi Arabia, so she may be accompanying Bobby Lashley to ringside. Zelina Vega is not there so she would obviously not be with Andrade or Angel Garza.

As we noted last night, The Undertaker has been seen in Saudi Arabia as well.

We are told that WWE used the same charter airline company for travel to Saudi Arabia this week as the last trip.

The temperature in Riyadh is supposed to top out at 79 degrees tomorrow, dropping into the high 60s by the time the show gets underway, so it should not be a factor the way it was for the last show headlined by Undertaker vs. Bill Goldberg.

DDT Pro-Wrestling and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling have cancelled multiple events in the coming days/weeks due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Tokyo Joshi Pro, which is the sister company to DDT will be doing empty arena shows along with DDT that will be streamed.
Depending on how long this outbreak lasts, there has even been recent talks of this year's Olympics in Tokyo being cancelled. IOC recently stated they have around a 3 month window to make an official announcement.

The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) did an interview with Comicbook.com and they talked about Marty Scurll deciding to stay with Ring of Honor instead of joining All Elite Wrestling. Nick Jackson said that he and Matt got the hint a few months prior that Marty was staying with ROH. Regardless, they are happy for him and Ring of Honor.

Nick Jackson: “We were kind of feeling him out for a while now and he always was very vague with us, anytime we would bring up storylines and stuff. So, we pretty much got the hint three months ago or so, and we realized, ‘Okay, he’s staying put.’ Good for him though, and that he knows how we feel, it’s a business. Yeah, it would’ve been great to have him with us because we’re good friends, but he got a great deal out of it and he seems to be very happy. He’s definitely going to try to paint his path on his own and more respect to him for doing that. We’re all cool though.”

Matt Jackson: “I feel the same way. Marty got a great offer and I think he wanted it to be more than just a wrestler and he got an opportunity to do that, and Marty is a clever guy and he’s very talented. I love him and I hope nothing but the best for him, and I hope he can make the place he’s working a better place. I want wrestling everywhere to succeed because as long as the boys are being taken care of and there’s more opportunities for the boys and girls to wrestle and make money, support their families, then great because the wrestling world needs Ring of Honor to do well, and I think Marty, if you can pinpoint any person right now that can help them, it’s him. Good on them, and I’m happy for Marty.”

Bar Wrestling announced that Kris Statlander has come down with the flu and will not be able to compete at their show on February 27th. Statlander is slated to challenge Nyla Rose for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Revolution on the 29th.

On the latest edition of Arn Anderson’s podcast, he and Conrad Thompson reviewed the 2018 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view ...

The main event of Elimination Chamber 2018 was the men’s Chamber match featuring Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, The Miz, Elias and John Cena. Arn discussed Braun Strowman’s ups and downs career-wise and questions why would WWE built him up to be a monster to not have him win the big matches.

“I think Braun Strowman, we all know to be a monster. But you don’t have to have him just do ridiculous things like pull the tron down and flip an 18-wheeler over to show me that the guy’s a monster. That goes beyond being a monster. You pick up the rear-end of a vehicle and tires are sitting there spinning… the question would be: If you push a guy and build a guy that hard, and you go that far with making him supernatural, what opponent is ever gonna get him hurt? And if you can’t hurt him, how can you feel for him? And if you can’t feel for him, how can he ever be your champion? When these things are being done for these guys, you just sit there and look and you go, ‘You’re just gonna do more damage than good here. This is not plausible. For a guy to turn an 18-wheeler over? Come on.’ So, there’s a hodge-podge of things going on. They probably hit Braun with how many finishes before they got him out of there? Ten? Everybody’s, maybe twice? Does that make you feel for the guy in a positive way or do you just go, ‘Aww come on. Enough is enough.’”

During the 2/25/20 edition of WWE Backstage on FS1, The Bella Twins revealed that it was Vince McMahon who called them about their Hall Of Fame induction.

Jon Moxley spoke with Rick Ucchino of ESPN 1530/Sportskeeda and Moxley explained that he feels that winning the AEW World Championship is going to be a greater feeling than winning the WWE Championship.

“Best way I can describe it… it was a giant sense of relief. I had been pushing the boulder up to the top of the hill and had it roll all the way back down so many times and I felt like I disappointed so many fans by failing to win the title so many times. Once I finally was able to check that box and get that thing… the biggest feeling honestly was relief. Chris Jericho is arguably hotter than he’s ever been, and that’s really saying something considering Chris Jericho’s career. I think he’s not just trying to be good every week, he’s trying to be the greatest of all time, and like I said I’ve been running through competition; killing dudes – you’re getting the best version of Chris Jericho and the best version of Jon Moxley at the same time and something’s gotta give, somebody’s gotta go down. This, I feel, will be a far greater feeling. You know this is me, on my own, doing things my way. Totally different situation. Not even a comparable situation – as good as a night as that [WWE Title victory] was.”

According to Showbuzz Daily, WWE Backstage failed to crack the top 150 in ratings from the 18-49 demographic among original cable telecasts for the day. This is the second time this happened for the show this year.

Aleister Black has one of the more unique entrances in WWE as he emerges on a rising platform from beneath the fog.

Black's entrance has become synonymous with his character, and appearing on WWE's The Bump, Black discussed the thought process behind the entrance.

"There's this band called Watain, a black metal band, there's a live performance and I always loved the DVD. The aesthetic of that was mesmerizing," Black explained. "It had a lot of fire and red. When we started putting (my entrance) together, I showed them the DVD and said 'this is the kind of aesthetic I want to go for.' They tried to re-create that in a WWE setting. They created this stage, as soon as the lights go down and the candles come up, the audience knows what time it is. They did such a good job in priming the audience to know what's happening. The landscape changes. The light changes, the candles come up, it's dark, there's fog and the entrance is completely different. I was talking to Triple H about it and he showed me this construction [lifting platform] and he goes, 'It was actually meant for The Undertaker. We don't have any use for it right now, what do you think?' I said, 'I'll take it.'"

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Signs Lance Archer to Multi-Year Deal (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/aew-signs-lance-archer-to-multi-year-deal/)
NJPW Cancels Several Shows Due to Coronavirus Fears (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/njpw-cancels-several-shows-due-to-coronavirus-fears/)
Three Matches Added to WWE Super ShowDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/three-matches-added-to-wwe-super-showdown/)

slik

02-28-2020, 01:02 PM

Some very interesting notes from Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio

* He notes Vince is booking things now in a way Verne Gagne and Eric Bischoff did, where they are more focused on stars of the past staying stars than making new stars.

* Said nothing has been signed as far as an ESPN + or other OTT streaming service and it is making some nervous since Vince wanted this done by Q1, and if it's not, it will make the stock drop since it's a failed promise to investors.

* Most in the upper echelons of WWE Management still don't understand why Michelle Wilson/George Barrios were fired.

* Said for the last six years all Vince has told top brass is how great The Network is because they have access to data regarding what their fans watch and want to see and the varying demographics. The last year Vince did a 180 and has said on data he "doesn't care" and it "doesn't matter".

* Vince only seems focused on making big money deals and booking day to day, all long-term planning from a creative aspect has essentially been eliminated.

* Said some in upper management have been expressing concern about Vince running WWE, which has never happened before, but repeatedly odd decisions have caused much concern.

Evil Vito

02-28-2020, 01:13 PM

Vince is senile. News at 11.

Emperor Smeat

02-28-2020, 01:45 PM

WWE's pretty much has been facing a situation known as Founder's syndrome for a long while.

Not only can it be destructive for WWE in the long run, it also debunked the idea that Vince would be less hands-on or meddling with company plans due to him being busy with the XFL again.

If anything, he might have gotten even more hands on than usual since supposedly he's also been meddling in NXT creative plans.

Mr. Nerfect

02-28-2020, 03:43 PM

Vince has clearly been stepping away. Everything has far more of a long-term vision, not only towards profits but in creative terms as well. You can see this on the television. This is reactionary to Bray Wyatt losing because Bray Wyatt is a gimmick and was never intended to be a star. He got the Universal Title because they fucked up Seth (with Seth’s help) and wanted to switch the belts.

Goldberg defending the Universal Title means more than Bray Wyatt in a Halloween costume doing it, folks. Not everybody can be a star. Taking a guy out of that position doesn’t mean you are completely changing your philosophy. And nothing may be announced on the streaming deal yet, but guess what? Then it will just air on the WWE Network. They’re either going to make hundreds of millions or just get more subscribers.

Emperor Smeat

02-28-2020, 04:16 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

As mentioned last week, here is the reality of the situation. WrestleMania is coming and to the average person, what match means more as the main event, Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal title, or Goldberg vs. Reigns? ...

But the answer to the question, as sad as this sounds, is that Goldberg vs. Reigns garners far more interest, even in 2020. Of course the mentality to go with stars of the past and not make stars of the present is the case history of one of the main things that killed WCW. But that’s for the rest of the year. WrestleMania is where you go with the matches people most want to see. So there it was.

While it was reality, it also meant Vince McMahon had to come to a sad but telling admission. In Wyatt’s Fiend character, he had not, perhaps since the introduction of Kane in 1997, and perhaps even before that, allowed a heel character to look so dominant. Wyatt’s Fiend character was creative and fresh. He had become the top merchandise seller. He got up from everyone’s big moves and destroyed top babyfaces. The Fiend was cool, like the Undertaker, but he was destroying babyfaces ...

Since day one of Smackdown on FOX, the main storyline was The Fiend destroys everyone, no exceptions, and Roman Reigns is kept away from him in a long feud with King Corbin. This would lead to their first meeting at WrestleMania, the monster heel, even if he is cheered, against the badass face. It’s the formula that almost always works.

Except the change in the card shows in Vince McMahon’s eyes, it didn’t. It’s quite an admission, that a WCW creation of 1998, now, 22 years later, can walk off the couch and be a bigger star than the guy who has been pushed as untouchable weekly on television. But that admission is true. For an endless number of reasons, WWE has trouble making stars, even when they have them. Even with the bigger audience and platform, the WWE method of making stars can’t match 22 year old nostalgia. It’s not the first time. WCW couldn’t make stars after 1999 who could get over like Hulk Hogan, Sting, or Ric Flair, who were all past their primes. But yet, those same people who couldn’t be stars, ended up doing well years later. Today, people who weren’t seen as stars in WWE who could carry the brand, Cody, Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, are carrying the rival brand and getting reactions far bigger than anyone in WWE ...

Indeed, the very idea of Goldberg was to be the reincarnation of Sammartino from late 1977 until he retired in late 1980. That’s why him being added to the list of babyfaces destroyed by The Fiend, which was absolutely the plan, seemed foolish.

Goldberg beat The Fiend, breaking the mandible claw twice and pinning him with a jackhammer that really wasn’t one, in 2:57 on a night in Saudi Arabia where the theme seemed to be current guys squashed by part-time legends in seconds, a largely heatless crowd, and lackluster matches.

Undertaker won the Tuwaig Mountain Trophy doing one match where he pinned A.J. Styles with one move in 20 seconds. Hopefully they have a great follow-up idea, because after this encounter, a fan would have less interest in a rematch at WrestleMania than a third Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder fight.

Lesnar retained the WWE title over Ricochet in 1:28 in a match where Ricochet got no offensive move in. Obviously there was no chance for Ricochet to win, but he could have lost and still have the match worked in a way that he could have benefitted from it. This was the opposite. He’s now fully established as a guy not worthy of investing in or paying attention to.

Why you had three matches like that on the same show is an unanswerable question. Undertaker-Styles killed interest in that match. Lesnar-Ricochet didn’t have to be like that. Goldberg-Wyatt shouldn’t have gone last and ended the show the way it did, but going any longer or different was a risk not worth taking ...

And the irony is that McMahon’s M.O. was to give up on people at 40. Now it’s to give up on people at 28 and build back shows around guys in their 40s and 50s. There’s only one way this can end. The lone saving grace is that WWE is financially idiot-proof, which is a luxury Verne Gagne, Eric Bischoff and everyone else who only thought about today with the stars of yesterday and having no vision for tomorrow didn’t have.

John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens once again didn’t go on this trip and Sami Zayn either didn’t go because he wasn’t allowed to in the past, or still wasn’t allowed to. Aleister Black and Zelina Vega also didn’t go, with Black for the same reason, the fear of his tattoos with religious significance offending the hosts. Randy Orton didn’t go either, whether by choice or not booked, but given they are into stars from the past, Orton would seem to be a curious name to not be brought. Rusev was booked in the gauntlet match, but pulled out, claiming a back injury. His wife Lana did go, accompanying storyline husband Bobby Lashley, and just doing an entrance literally covered from head to toe, with even her hair covered and just her face showing. The number of people brought was half or less than half of previous shows.

Both AEW and NXT declined from the prior week on 2/26.

In the case of AEW, that wasn’t a big surprise since the Atlanta show was a bigger show and the Cody-Wardlow cage match had been built up for weeks, while the AEW big match, Kenny Omega vs. Pac, was an Iron Man match which traditionally doesn’t do well in ratings since people know the actual finish isn’t coming for 30 minutes as opposed to not knowing when the finish is coming.

NXT was not only coming off a Takeover show, but had heavily promoted Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair ...

AEW did 865,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49, a drop of 3.6 percent in total viewers and 3.2 percent in 18-49. Last week’s show went against the Democratic debate that did huge numbers, but clearly the interest in both shows were down, even with AEW coming off a string of great shows.

NXT did 717,000 viewers and a 0.23 in 18-49, a drop of 9.7 percent overall and 8.0 percent in 18-49 ...

The key questions for last week are how the quarters did, particularly AEW’s Iron Man match, as well as Q8, with the Chris Jericho-Jon Moxley weigh-in going against Flair vs. Belair. Jericho has not lost a quarter hour since AEW started but WWE was sending one of its most pushed wrestlers in a storyline program in competition. The other key is when AEW ended, did AEW putting on a Countdown show against the last five minutes hurt the usual migration at 10 p.m. of AEW viewers to NXT ...

AEW in particular declined with men from last week. In the 18-49 demo, AEW was down 10.6 percent with men and up 14.8 percent with women. It also was AEW’s lowest numbers ever with teenagers. But for the first time, AEW beat NXT in over 50, because that was the age group that NXT lost this week. So while the audience is pretty stable, it was increasing with women, decreasing in men, and getting older ...

On the flip side, NXT was up with men, but down with women, and the only demo it beat AEW in was teenagers, but both shows did pretty much record lows there.

Some more ratings notes on the 2/19 AEW and NXT shows. The numbers live were 893,000 (1.35 viewers per home) to 794,000, although head-to-head that was 788,000 ...

The third quarter saw AEW continue Shanna vs. Statlander and have a Nyla Rose interview. That lost 69,000 viewers and 48,000 in 18-49. NXT had a Tommaso Ciampa interview plus some stuff with Austin Theory and gained 59,000 viewers and 44,000 in 18-49. This was the only quarter NXT won, winning with total viewers 827,000 to 795,000 and with 18-49, by a 354,000 to 347,000 margin.

The fourth quarter saw things reverse. Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb for AEW gained 177,000 viewers and gained 78,000 in 18-49. NXT had a Finn Balor promo and Zack Gibson & James Drake vs. Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde and lost 55,000 viewers and lost 36,000 in 18-49 ...

The final quarter, the head-to-head main events, was a big win as expected for AEW. Cody vs. Wardlow in a cage gained 132,000 viewers to 947,000, and gained 46,000 in 18-49 to 420,000. So the key is while it did gain in 18-49, the big gains were older and younger, and likely more older. So the cage was a big hit for the over 50 crowd, which is the one demo AEW has been losing and where for the first time they equaled NXT in. NXT, with Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong, pushed in commercial after commercial on Raw, lost 40,000 overall to 744,000, and 6,000 in 18-49 to 310,000 ...

The last five minute overrun saw a huge turnover of 196,000 viewers overall going to NXT and 71,000 of them in 18-49. Given the shift of the previous quarter, what it looks like what happened was that a ton of regular NXT viewers switched over to the cage match.

Whether that’s a good sign for the 3/4 show when NXT does Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox in a cage is interesting. Because the shift to AEW was largely over 50, and the shift back when the show ended, was also over 50, which is the dominant NXT audience.

The good news for the 2/24 Raw is that the first-to-third hour drop, which was near record levels last week, was far lower than usual. The problem was it was more due to how weak the first hour was.

The 2,246,000 viewers in the first hour was the lowest in history for a non-holiday show that didn’t go against major sports competition.

Smackdown on 2/21 did a 1.55 rating and 2,484,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home) and an 0.7 in the 18-49 demo for a show built around Bill Goldberg being there live and the Bella Twins Hall of Fame announcement ...

Last year on the same week on Friday, FOX in those two hours averaged an 0.6 in 18-49 and 3,348,000 in viewers. That was with first-run programming so this was the first time this year that FOX’s first-run of the same week drew a lower 18-49 number than this year.

While nothing has been announced, the belief is that the television deal in India is either finalized or close to. The contract expired at the end of the year and they were hoping to have a new deal last year. WWE had remained on television under the terms of the old deal. They were getting about $34 million from the market, and expectations were they would have a huge increase, with some estimating as much as $125 million per year, making it the No. 2 market behind the U.S. They are the No. 2 market, as the belief is that BT Sports paid less for WWE rights than Sky (which was paying around $35 million per year). However, India is getting an increase, with the belief the number will fall around $60-61 million. It’s a solid increase but probably won’t help the stock since so many expected significantly better

Regarding the WWE Network, they had a new commercial for it in Canada and there was a price raise from $12.99 per month to $14.99. It should be noted that if WWE makes a deal with ESPN+ or Peacock that neither would apply to Canada

There will be a significant debut on Smackdown which was teased on the show this weekend with static and a symbol. The best bet seems to be Killer Kross only because of the word Kross was going to be fast-tracked as compared to most signings and because of the war with AEW, they are not as apt to move key people that have been established on NXT television. The Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch match was planned before NXT got television so that would be the exception

AEW has its fourth PPV in its history on 2/29 in Chicago at the sold out Wintrust Arena.

The PPV number will be interesting because TNT aired a one-hour UFC Countdown style special on 2/26 after Dynamite, focusing on the top matches. That in theory should help U.S. buys, but that will be offset by the loss of television PPV in the U.K. with ITV Box Office closing up shop.

The ITV Box Office had been hovering at around 15,000 per show. It’s probable that some of those people will order streaming through FITE, but not all. So one would think, all things staying equal, this show would be down a little because of that. But it will also be on television PPV for the first time in Germany on Sky Germany. It will also air in some markets through PlayStation.

There is the argument that the company had its best go-home show, and its first hype special, and that should increase U.S. numbers. The PPV has more storyline depth, but the last show featured incredible promos building the Chris Jericho vs. Cody title match, with Cody saying that he would never challenge for the title again if he didn’t win. The problem is that stip probably didn’t help numbers because AEW is drawing from a smarter fan base, and they believe all stips are not going to be adhered to given the last 30 years of U.S. pro wrestling history is you always get lied to on stips. Whether AEW, like ECW attempted to do in the 90s, is able to or wants to adhere to stips, it will probably take years for that to fully resonate, if it ever does.
Meltzer's low end estimate for Revolution is around 80-85k and all depending on how much of a hit the UK market does for the show.

There will be a one-hour pre-show streaming starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, with the current plan being one match, Chuck Taylor & Trent vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky, going into the ring at 7:30 p.m.

The Revolution PPV starts at 8 p.m. and can go until midnight, although it’s not timed out at this point as to exactly when it will end.

The Cubsfan has reported that this year’s TripleMania show will take place on 8/22 in Mexico City. For those keeping score, it means that NXT Takeover Boston, TripleMania and the New Japan Madison Square Garden show will all be taking place at the same time. And there will likely be a UFC show at the same time as well. Luckily if you want to catch up, you can do it the next day if you don’t mind missing a six plus hour SummerSlam show

Chris Jericho spoke to the New York Post about when he believed he was a guy who could carry a promotion. “Could I have done more in WCW in a headlining position? Would I have been good? I didn’t know. In my mind I’d be great. The first time I was put in a headlining position in WWF, I wasn’t ready, and in WCW, it was a couple years earlier. So maybe I wasn’t ready. And as the career goes forward, I can tell you the exact moment when I knew I had become a legit, headlining, main-event guy and the exact moment where I became the top guy, which was in New Japan Jan. 4, 2018 (the Kenny Omega match), which led to being the top guy here in AEW.” As far as what he sees his role as, he said, “When you’re the top guy, you don’t hide and stop others from getting in there because then it just becomes stale and it dies. Your job as the top guy is to help everyone else up on top of the mountain so that there are 15 top guys and everybody is making money and everyone’s having a great time, people are enjoying the show and the product.

Mr. Nerfect

02-28-2020, 04:27 PM

That's a more accurate report on the Bray/Goldberg stuff. Pretty sure Brock Lesnar is a heel character that has been protected more than Bray though, and that's going on right now. Meltzer again reaching back in time way more than he has to in order to make the WWE feel more antiquated.

Bray is not a star. He's a heel, but he's been the center of merchandising appeals because that's where his strength is. He's a gimmick babyface that can sell a few t-shirts and gloves to kids. And that's fine. They gave him 100 days with the belt and saw how it went, and Goldberg brought the interest in far more than he did. Of course they need to go somewhere with that, but let's not pretend that anyone was super-stoked about this "direction" that Meltzer himself was saying he was not sure about at the time of the Rumble.

Did y'all really want to see Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania? Really? And where were the actual indicators that was going to happen? It was made up in the fans' heads. Goldberg has been the special attraction they call when they want someone to come in and boost things up. Meltzer himself called him the "Bruno Sammartino" of this era. They're not bringing him in to lose to the gimmick that isn't drawing despite everything they've thrown onto him.

They could have very easily had Goldberg beat Dolph Ziggler at Super Showdown. They could have very easily had him beat Robert Roode or Bobby Lashley or King Corbin. Making this sound like a senile accident or the only option they have when they use Goldberg is asinine. This is the route they're going because they see value in it, because there is value in it.

Mr. Nerfect

02-28-2020, 04:32 PM

If Roman beat Bray at WrestleMania, then that's 0-4 for Bray at Mania. Don't pretend that fans wouldn't whinge and sook about that. They got mad enough when Bray got beaten by Orton. The fans would start booing Roman. Bray would be exactly where he is now except they wouldn't have Roman where they want him either.

I'm not a fan of depending on the dumb-ass smarks to make your stories. There are ways to play them and bring casual fans along. The whole "Goldberg doesn't deserve it" story, if that's what they do, is bullshit. He beat the champ, he deserves it. Hopefully they make it look like the fans just decide to turn against him because of tall poppy syndrome and make the accent of Roman Reigns seem organic. Organic and the WWE are a tough sell together though.

I'd still rather they have Bray beat Roman and Goldberg beat Cena. Give Goldberg an actual run and then have it come to an end with Roman. You don't need to rush to that. Move away from Goldberg when he stops drawing. But if they do Goldberg vs. Reigns, this is far more productive than Bray/Roman ever would have been. And if fans were honest with themselves for a moment, they'd realize that.

Emperor Smeat

02-28-2020, 07:21 PM

The Sheets (Friday's News Edition):

For those who have asked, WWE's crew had a charter flight out last night at 2 AM local time in Riyadh and everyone has landed in Boston as scheduled for tonight's Smackdown broadcast.

So, if there were any concerns about the crew getting back on time, they can now be laid to rest.

The Tampa Bay Times featured a piece on Wrestlemania 36 coming up locally, including concerns over the coronavirus impacting Wrestlemania 36 weekend.

“The health and safety of not only our fan base, but also our superstars, really does come first,” Stephanie McMahon commented. “We don’t want to put anyone in a bad situation ever, regardless of the circumstance. Those are not risks worth taking.”

“Given the number of live events that (WWE) does, it’s constantly monitoring global events,” said John Saboor, WWE’s executive vice president of special events. “There are active and ongoing discussions at play internally, like there are in any sector of American business, and certainly families as a whole. So I think those will continue.”

Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, noted they are gathering information so they can be prepared as possible with Stephanie noting, "“And if necessary, enact those measures."

The NXT ticket website has a listing for a Tuesday night taping April 7 at Full Sail. Those tickets will go on sale this Monday. Of course, that is two days after WrestleMania.

During today's All Elite Wrestling panel at C2E2 in Chicago the panel was asked about old-school matches they would like to resurrect in the future in AEW.

Interestingly, Cody commented that they would be announcing a old school match concept tomorrow that would "upset some people."

While what the announcement will be is not confirmed, it should be noted that Cody has in the past filed for a trademark on the term "The Match Beyond", a common subtitle used for Wargames in the NWA and World Championship Wrestling, so that may be a clue.

On the ‘No Way Out 2000’ episode of the Grilling JR podcast, he and Conrad Thompson discussed the current version of the XFL. During their conversation, Jim Ross revealed that a few years ago, Kevin Dunn asked him to put him in contact with FOX which Jim Ross did. This would ultimately lead to Friday Night SmackDown being on FOX with the addition of WWE Backstage on FS1.

“Kevin Dunn called me one time and [it] was in the last couple of years and said, ‘You know these guys at FOX, right?’ And I said, ‘Yeah’, and then my buddy at FOX, Jacob Ullman who’s one of my dear friends, still is, senior producer there. He said, ‘Can you introduce me to someone who can get the ball rolling or discussions rolling with WWE?’ And I said, ‘Of course I can.’ He said, ‘Keep it under wraps but I’d like to have a talk but I just don’t know the right people to talk to.’ So I said, ‘I can handle that’ so, I hooked up Jacob Ullman and Kevin Dunn to talk at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles, and I wasn’t in the meeting, I arranged the meeting, got ‘em together, set their own time and place and then the rest is history. Jacob was a big fan, and a great guy, a great friend of Jan and mine. He hurt about as bad as I did when Jan got killed. So we’re that close. So they met and then the layers were added and more people were added and all of sudden, now you got what you got.”

With New Japan Pro-Wrestling cancelling their shows for the first 15 days of the month of March due to the Coronavirus, they will be uploading a plethora of content to NJPW World. Interviews, talk panels and never before seen matches will be added to the service. This project is called the ‘NJPW Together Project’. On March 3rd, Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi will do a sit-down interview together and on the 4th, they’ll host a talk show together. Naito and Takahashi were scheduled to clash at NJPW’s Anniversary show in March.
Link: https://www.njpw1972.com/73071

Variety is reporting that WWE’s Sonya Deville, real name Daria Berenato has signed with Imagine Artist Management for representation. Her signing could open the door for potential television and film roles.

Coming off the helms of the announcement about their induction into the 2020 WWE Hall Of Fame, Nikki and Brie Bella shared their thoughts about their eventful week on the newest edition of The Bellas Podcast. Nikki stated that she and Brie pitched the idea to WWE to have some of their fans induct them into the Hall Of Fame and WWE did not reject the idea but were hesitant.

“Even when Brie and I were talking about inducting — who’s gonna induct us. Our first thought when they asked us, we thought, ‘Oh! Can we do Bella Army members? We’d really just like to make it very heavy about the Bella Army’ and they were like, ‘I don’t know. We’ve never had that before. We’re gonna have to talk.’ But Brie and I, that’s who we immediately thought of and when they play the amazing packages, they interview a lot of WWE superstars. Brie and I were like, ‘Oh! Can you interview Bella Army members? Is it possible to fly them out to the corporate office?’ And they were like, ‘Uh, Bellas, we’re gonna have to get back to you on that’, but our Bella Army is everything to us so, please send ideas.”

Probably a safe bet that their induction segment likely is going to be the most annoying ever or potential all-time worst in WWE Hall of Fame history.

WWE Universal Champion Goldberg referred to Macaulay Culkin as a “dork” on Twitter after Culkin tweeted that he’s cancelling his travel to WrestleMania 36 after Goldberg became Universal Champion.
Link: https://twitter.com/Goldberg/status/1233283499848851456

Kevin Owens is donating all the money he makes from his ‘Just Keep Fighting’ shirt to a mental health organization in Canada and another organization in the U.S.
Link: https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/status/1233131088651968512?s=20

During Brody King’s appearance on ‘The Hard Times’ podcast, he spoke about his decision to sign with Ring of Honor. Brody recalled speaking with William Regal about possibly joining WWE and here’s what Regal told Brody King before he made his final decision:

“I talked to Regal a few times and it was kind of like… his advice was always really awesome. It was like, ‘Go do everything you want to do in wrestling because when you come to the WWE, it all stops.’”

Comicbook.com conducted an interview with Kenny Omega. While speaking about the G1 Climax tournament, Omega shared that there have been internal discussions within AEW about a tournament taking place although the idea has not been finalized.

“Every one of those tournaments, they’re rough on the body and it’s tough to figure out a schedule to do so. Whether it be a round robin tournament, a league style or one night, we are definitely looking into a tournament format because people, as a fan [myself] even, I love tournaments. As a performer they’re tough to do, but I think it really tests the athletes’ mettle and it really separates the men from the boys. Yeah, I would love to do a tournament. I don’t know what we’d call it. Don’t have any ideas for a name, but all of us have been brought on board with [a] tournament. It’s just a matter of figuring out how.”

New York Post published their interview with Dustin Rhodes and Rhodes further spoke about the hate messages that Nyla Rose received upon winning the AEW Women’s World Championship. Dustin says he views Nyla as family and those who criticize her because she’s a transgender woman need to let people live their lives.

“It’s there. It’s not going away and I didn’t understand that for the longest time. Then I got married to my wonderful third wife and my son is trans. So I started to learn a little bit about it and I [started seeing] all the stuff these men and women go through and it’s so ridiculous and stupid. This is 2020, man. Let somebody live their life like they want to. I don’t care what the Bible says. I don’t care what anybody else says. Live your life and be happy. That’s all I care about for my son is to be happy and nobody picks on him because if they do, they got to deal with me, and I see that in Nyla. I treat her like she’s my child. I love Nyla to death and I don’t think of any of that when I’m at work with her and I watch her perform and she’s a great performer. This is not the Olympics, OK. This is pro wrestling, this is entertainment. This is scripted stuff that we do and you’re gonna have Nyla Rose wrestle Riho and everybody get all bent out of shape about it and just really give her hell, I don’t like that at all. I take offense to that and I let them know it because it’s wrong.”

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Friday Night SmackDown and 205 Live Previews: The Return of John Cena (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/wwe-friday-night-smackdown-and-205-live-previews-the-return-of-john-cena/)
Various: ROH Announces War of Worlds 2020, Young Bucks on Marty Scurll Staying in ROH, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/various-roh-announces-war-of-worlds-2020-young-bucks-on-marty-scurll-staying-in-roh-indies/)
Updated Planned and Rumored Card for WrestleMania 36 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/updated-planned-and-rumored-card-for-wrestlemania-36/)
AEW: Countdown to Revolution Ratings, FITE to Air Revolution Outside US, Top Five Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/02/aew-countdown-to-revolution-ratings-fite-to-air-revolution-outside-us-top-five-rankings/)

Emperor Smeat

03-03-2020, 09:13 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night was up two percent from last week with 2.26 million viewers ...

It was the third lowest number of viewers for Raw in the modern era for a non-holiday episode or an episode without opposition from a major sporting event.

The episode was Raw's go-home show for Elimination Chamber and also the first Raw since Super ShowDown.

It was up four percent in 18-49 and was the top show on cable in that demo. It was 11th place on cable overall, trailing news shows.

The show was down 18 percent from the same week's episode last year ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.30 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.12 million viewers

The next member of this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class will be revealed on WWE Backstage tonight. The new Hall of Famer will be appearing on tonight's show.

In AEW’s Road to Denver video promoting tomorrow’s Dynamite, Cody explained why he got his Nightmare Family logo neck tattoo. Cody said he’s wanted to get the logo tattooed on him for more than a year and it isn’t something that he wants to cover up. Cody said if it represents anything, it represents individual identity.

Over the past year, Cody went on a filing spree, applying for trademarks relating to old WCW events ...

Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Cody revealed why he has trademarked so many WCW names.

"It's a legal nightmare. This was AEW's first Bash at the Beach and it also might be AEW's last. WWE is not particularly happy about all the trademarks I acquired. Trademark law is actually basic, everywhere but wrestling. Wrestling, there's this idea that if you buy something but let it lapse, it's still yours. The spoils of war. Wrestling legitimately had a war between WCW and WWE and WWE actually won. The amount of bad fallout that came from that is so much larger than the good stuff. Does WWE do a good job as a custodian of history? Absolutely. The Network is done well and they do some stuff well. But there's been a lot of things that they didn't care for that they let lapse. Anything that was connected to my dad, I wanted to pick up. I don't know what my grand play is here, I just wanted to pick it up to have for my family. I'm not making any money off it. I think my grand scheme was, I was going to get as many things to irritate them as possible so they were just like, 'You can have Starrcade.' Great American Bash and Starrcade are 100% Dusty's. I would rather have those than 100 Slamborees," he said.

WWE currently owns the trademark on "Starrcade," holding a special WWE Network live event under the "Starrcade" name annually. Cody and AEW will be putting another trademark to use in March with "The Match Beyond," which is a term for WarGames. WWE owns the WarGames trademark.

Game Changer Wrestling provided an update on the status of Keiji Muto for Spring Break IV with the Japanese star’s presence in limbo for the event. GCW issued a lengthy statement about the problems they have experienced after working out two separate deals with Muto and promoting him for the April 3rd show in Ybor City and appear on behalf of GCW at WrestleCon.

Since then, Sonny Onoo (the former WCW manager) has got involved telling the promotion he would be handling Muto’s dealings with the company and would seek other work for Muto that weekend in Tampa. Onoo informed GCW he brokered a deal with a vendor to bring Muto to WrestleCon and that would replace his previous agreement in place with GCW. The company was willing to allow this to occur providing this new vendor share in the costs for travel and accommodation, which Onoo was stunned by. According to GCW, they learned that the mystery vendor was Onoo and they surmised he was trying to get in on the WrestleCon booking while GCW ate the cost. Onoo later admitted to the company he was the vendor. They stated Onoo has stopped relaying messages to Muto and that his presence at Spring Break IV is unlikely pending some drastic change in the negotiations.

Among the requests Onoo was asking for of GCW in their talks were four nights at a Disney hotel in Orlando, four 4-day Park Hopper passes to Disney parks, a 12.5% commission to Sonny Onoo, four skybox seats for WrestleMania in Tampa, and transportation to and from Orlando and Tampa.

Following this news, John Thorne of Absolute Intense Wrestling and Kevin Matthews from WrestlePro have each shared stories of their problems dealing with Onoo in the past.

A Kickstarter campaign has been launched for a new wrestling series led by Gail Kim, Christy Hemme, and Amy Dumas.

The series is titled KAYfABE with Kim, Hemme, and Dumas as the public faces behind the campaign. The team also consists of Jimmy Jacobs, former WWE writer Tom Casiello, Chavo Guerrero Jr., David Sahadi, and Alisha Edwards among others.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp conducted an interview with Lita, Gail Kim and Christy Hemme upon the announcement of their KAYfABE wrestling series that they are launching. Christy shared that although the show will be female-centric, males will be included in the program.

“It’s female-centric, it’s female-led, it will be primarily female however, we will definitely have men in there. I always say that everything should be story-driven and called for so if the story is calling for a man which we need — stories need men… and having men in the ring. I don’t see that not being a part of the show.”

During the conversation, Lita talked about her time as a producer/writer in WWE. She explained how she got the opportunity to earn that experience and how she’ll use that knowledge to help grow KAYfABE.

“You mentioned Tough Enough which kind of started my production journey. So I did just sign up to do the show to be a trainer, but we only shot a couple days a week and it was shot in Florida, I was living in San Francisco and so I had an apartment in Florida — didn’t go back and forth every week. That led me to just hanging out in the editing bays, hanging out with the producers, hanging out in the production meetings and just really getting into the nuts and bolts of how you put everything together and take it apart and finding a lot of stimulation in that, and then I got in with the production meetings and really got with Kevin Dunn and he taught me so much which then led me to producing RAW and SmackDown. So, I really was excited to join up with these women to be on the production end and the creative end, because I found so much stimulation, I had so many opportunities in my career in front of the camera. When I got to help people to become their best self in front of the camera, it was really stimulating to me and so that feels [like] a really good spot to be in here.”

Arn Anderson and Conrad Thompson hosted a Q&A session for the latest edition of the ‘ARN’ podcast. Anderson was asked about Bray Wyatt’s run in WWE thus far and the conversation led to Arn talking about the team of Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt and their eventual WWE Title match at WrestleMania 33. Arn stated that Orton and Wyatt were very over with the crowd and there is sort of a on-going thing in WWE where if talents are getting over without any assistance from the office, that project gets shut down.

“They were over and they were getting over strong as a team. I was there for it. It was tremendous. Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt made a great team, and it was gonna be one of those things that we talk about on this show all the time, when something gets hotter than it was expected to get and it starts to boil and percolate but without any help from the office, lot of times it just gets shut down, because it gives those talents too much stroke, too much power and this was one of those situations because I was there and I saw it, and I had a lot of their matches at TV. They should’ve still been partners when that match went down at WrestleMania.”

WWE is already working on their return to Saudi Arabia, PWInsider.com has confirmed. At one point, a date of Thursday 8/20 was pitched (believed to be for an event in Jeddah) but with the close proximity to Summerslam weekend and the likelyhood that temperatures would soar into the 100-120 degree range, that idea was shot down.

Currently, they are looking at a return in late October or early November.

According to PWInsider, WWE held a meeting backstage Monday ahead of WWE Raw in order to go over the latest information on the Coronavirus outbreak. WWE officials provided the roster with updated info on how they can protect themselves while traveling on the road and being exposed to possibly thousands of risks in the form of fans.

Fightful was told that the meeting was pretty run of the mill, but that WWE wanted to take the step and precaution in order to inform their roster to prevent some worst case scenarios.

The Coronavirus has spread to America, even hitting Tampa Bay, which will be the site of next month's WrestleMania event. There are dozens of other wrestling shows running throughout that week as well.

The Miz's new show on the USA Network has been announced.

The WWE star will host a show titled "Cannonball," which is a water-based sports competition show that will air on the network this summer. Miz will host the show alongside Emmy Award-winning television host Rosci Diaz and Simon Gibson.
Link: https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/1234909685704097792 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHtrbTV-v6I

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Looking for Possible Partnership With All Japan Pro Wrestling for NXT Japan (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/ajpws-jun-akiyama-visiting-wwes-performance-center-this-may/)
Dark Side of the Ring: Full Episode List, Premiere Date, Trailer, Jericho as Narrator (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/dark-side-of-the-ring-full-episode-list-premiere-date-trailer-jericho-as-narrator/)
XFL Ratings for Week 4 Games (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/xfl-ratings-for-week-4-games/)
Erick Rowan Reveals What’s In His Cage (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/erick-rowan-reveals-whats-in-his-cage/)

Mr. Nerfect

03-04-2020, 01:35 AM

Wait, so Cody's tattoo is the symbol of for his collective, which he says represents individuality? OK.

Sepholio

03-04-2020, 09:04 AM

I was hoping that tat was fake tbh. It's fucking brutal, doesn't look like it's the most professional job, and it's just so huge and weirdly placed. It's awful all around. One of the worst tats I've ever seen.

Emperor Smeat

03-04-2020, 07:42 PM

The Sheets:

Despite the coronavirus and concerns around it affecting business, sports, and entertainment events around the world, WWE announced Wednesday they are moving ahead with this year's WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, FL.

"The health and safety of our fans, performers and employees are our top priorities and we are monitoring the situation closely with our partners and government officials in Tampa Bay. We remain committed to hosting WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, April 5, and like other entertainment properties in the U.S., there are currently no plans to cancel or postpone our upcoming events."

The cancellation of major spectator events hasn't hit the United States with cancellations or postponements even as new cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continue to pop up daily including several cases in the Tampa Bay area. Major League Baseball said they have no plans to cancel or postpone games while the NBA and NHL have continued their seasons without issue.

The main concern is with travelers coming from around the world to the WWE's biggest annual event plus all of the additional events throughout the week. As of this writing, there have been 80 reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States with nine deaths. 24 of those are travel related. More than 95,000 people worldwide have been affected with 3264 deaths, nearly all in mainland China.
Probably would need to hit an Italy-like epidemic level before major events start getting cancelled assuming the government would even step in like other countries have done.

Basketball Hall of Famer and occasional professional wrestling personality Dennis Rodman will be featured on a new episode of WWE Untold later this month.

The Rodman episode of the documentary-style series will premiere on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday, March 22. It will cover Rodman & Hollywood Hogan's match against Karl Malone & DDP from WCW Bash at the Beach 1998.

AEW has revealed their first set of post-Revolution roster rankings.

After losing the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at Saturday's pay-per-view, Chris Jericho is now ranked as the top contender in the men's division. MJF has moved up to second after his win against Cody.

Kris Statlander has fallen to third in the women's division after unsuccessfully challenging Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Championship at Revolution. Hikaru Shida is currently ranked first.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson), who defeated SCU's Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian on the Revolution pre-show, are the new top contenders in the tag team division. The Young Bucks have fallen to second after losing to champions Kenny Omega & Hangman Page at Revolution.

The full rankings for this week are listed below:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (7-0 singles record in 2020, 12-1-1 overall record)

Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 10-2-1 overall record)
MJF (3-0 singles record in 2020, 7-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (1-0 singles record in 2020, 17-6 overall record)
Cody (3-1 singles record in 2020, 10-4-1 overall record)
PAC (2-2 singles record in 2020, 7-6-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 8-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record in 2020, 8-4 overall record)
Riho (3-1 singles record in 2020, 11-4 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-2 singles record in 2020, 6-4 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-2 singles record in 2020, 10-6 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 17-6 overall record for Omega, 12-8 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-2 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-2 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-8 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 15-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 14-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian
Best Friends (3-2 tag team record in 2020, 9-12 overall record for Trent Barreta, 8-9 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
Private Party (1-0 tag team record in 2020, 7-5 overall record for Marq Quen, 7-5 overall record for Isiah Kassidy)

An NJPW legend is the latest addition to ROH's Pure title tournament.

ROH announced today that former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata will take part in the Pure title tournament. He's the 10th entrant confirmed for it, joining Doug Williams, Jonathan Gresham, Alex Shelley, Rocky Romero, Mark Haskins, Slex, Tracy Williams, Marty Scurll, and Fred Yehi

The IIconics, Billie Kaye and Peyton Royce, are backstage at tonight's WWE NXT taping.

Real Japan Pro-Wrestling chairman Shinma Kotobuki recently announced that Original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama is suffering from a condition he described as “close to Parkinson’s disease” which is making his walking difficult.

Real Pro Wrestling will be holding their “Original Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama Strong Style Wrestling Vol. 5” event in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall on 3/19/20. They hope Sayama is able to make an appearance if he’s feeling well enough.

On the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast, he told the story of the AEW World Championship going missing after winning the belt at All Out. The gist of the story is that Jericho carried the title in a grey sack and nobody knew the title was in the bag before he boarded a private jet. After Jericho and those who were with him got off the flight, they used a limousine service that was based in Tampa but the service could be used in Tallahassee as well. Jericho is of the belief that the driver had something to do with the belt being stolen but he has not been able to confirm that.

“So, as we’re getting ready to leave, I say, ‘We’re really hungry. We wanna go grab a bite. Let’s just go to a steakhouse. Let’s go to Outback’, and so there was an Outback kind of near and the guy says, ‘Let’s just go to Longhorn. It’s closer to where we need to go.’ Now I put it into my GPS and it was a little bit closer but it was pretty much the same thing. ‘Outback, Longhorn? Which one would you guys like to do? Let’s just do Longhorn, whatever.’ So for the people going, ‘Well why did you go to Longhorn?’ That’s the reason why, because the driver said, ‘Let’s go to Longhorn.’ See a pattern here? See a pattern starting to develop? So we go to Longhorn and we have some food, and I notice, probably 15 or 20 minutes into sitting there and it’s not a big restaurant, it’s not super packed and when you walk into the front door, we were sitting at a table that was in eyesight’s view of the front door. So, the guy comes in, the driver, and he goes to the front door and he starts kind of walking around the restaurant, and we see him come in. We’re like, ‘Isn’t that our driver? What’s he doing?’ He’s kind of just wandering around and just kind of hanging out… and he kind of wanders over to our table about five minutes later and says, ‘Hey, just wanted to check your address. Is that a residence or an apartment?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s a residence. What difference does it make? Just put it into your GPS.’ He goes, ‘Ah! Just wanted to make sure. I was just checking,’ and then he walks out. I’m like, ‘That’s peculiar. Like why would he walk in here, wander around for five minutes then come over and ask me a completely irrelevant question to where we’re going and then walk out?’ Huh. Almost like he was, I don’t know, maybe stalling inside the restaurant, right?’

So we’re hanging out and we finish up our dinner and we’re eating and the guy comes in again, about 20 minutes after that, and he comes in and says, ‘Your title belt is missing.’ I said, ‘What!?’ He goes, ‘Your title belt, the championship belt is missing.’ Now first of all I’m thinking, ‘How do you know there’s a title belt in there? It’s in a bag.’ It’s not the job of a driver to go through people’s bags when they’re inside. I go, ‘What do you mean it’s missing!?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, you put it in there. I came out and it was gone’, and I’m like, ‘What the f*ck are you talking about!? What is it — what!? What are you talking about?’ So we go outside, and here’s the thing: it was my wife’s birthday that week so I bought her a big bouquet of flowers and a vase to take home, and when we go out there, the vase that was in the back of the truck is now in the backseat. It’s gone from the trunk area to the backseat, and I’m like, ‘Well how do you know the thing is gone?’ He said, ‘Well I just went to go look in the back’ and it’s obvious when he looked in the back, that the flowers fell out onto the ground. He never mentioned the fact that the flowers fell out onto the ground. He just mentioned the fact that the belt was gone. So I just start flipping out because I’m like, ‘You are a stupid…’”

Joey Janela announced that Lord Adrean and Tahir2x, who are the individuals that have been going viral on social media for their Walmart wrestling, are scheduled to appear at Spring Break 4.

Lita did an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote she, Gail Kim and Christy Hemme’s ‘KAYfABE’ wrestling show that they are planning on launching. Lita was asked does she think this project could damage her relationship with WWE and she stated that she can’t be worried about making anyone upset and is hoping WWE would be proud of them for their venture.

“Our goal is to actually make progress and make this business better. I would like to think they’re business-minded and can see that. This project means so much to me, so whatever it takes, I want to make this project work. I can’t spend time worrying about making someone mad. We’re making decisions for the purity of this project and to make it happen, these are conversations that need to happen in wrestling in order for us to move forward. While they could not like it, I’m hoping they are proud of us as business people.”

Teddy Hart has been arrested for the second time in 2020 on the afternoon of March 4th, in Richmond, Virginia. Further details regarding arrest are currently uncertain.

Hart was previously arrested on February 12th, also in Richmond. Hart was charged with three counts of possession, possession of a Schedule III controlled substance and possession with intent to sell and distribute.

Nick Aldis has hit 500 days as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Aldis, a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, won the title from Cody in a two-out-of-three falls match at NWA 70th Anniversary Show on October 21, 2018. Since his victory on that night, Aldis has gone on to defend the title against the likes of Marty Scurll, Jimmy Havoc, Billy Gunn, James Storm, Ricky Morton and Flip Gordon.

Should Aldis hold the title for another five days, he will surpass Blue Demon Jr for the longest reign of this millennium, and the second-longest reign since the 70s.

TPWW Frontpage:

NJPW Announces Full Schedule for Best of the Super Juniors 2020 Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/njpw-announces-full-schedule-for-best-of-the-super-juniors-2020-tournament/)
Jeff Hardy Says That He’s Cleared to Return, Will Be “Different” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/jeff-hardy-says-that-hes-cleared-to-return-will-be-different/)
The Young Bucks Appear in Latest Matt Hardy Video (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/the-young-bucks-appear-in-latest-matt-hardy-video/)

Emperor Smeat

03-05-2020, 09:02 PM

The Sheets:

Following a well-received pay-per-view on Saturday night, last night's AEW Dynamite averaged 906,000 viewers, up 4.7 percent from last week. Even better, the show was up 16.7 percent in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 0.35 rating and finishing fifth on cable for the night in that category.

Over on the USA Network, NXT ratings were essentially the exact same as last week. The show averaged 718,000 viewers, up 1,000 from last Wednesday. In the 18-49 demo, NXT had a 0.23 rating, identical to last week. NXT finished 20th on cable in that demo.

Dynamite topped NXT in all demos except for tying in people over 50. Both shows had a 0.34 rating in that category.

AEW's strongest demo was men 18-49, where they almost doubled NXT with a 0.49 rating to NXT's 0.26.

Cain Velasquez tweeted a photo of himself with Ronda Rousey today as they were both at Titan Tower in Stamford, CT.

The first photo is from the company cafeteria. The second photo is from a hallway on the executive floor.

Had the pleasure of running into the pioneer that definitely also inspired my interest in the sport. Great to see you @rondarousey. @wwe pic.twitter.com/IipeX4ZK1Y
— Cain Velasquez (@cainmma) March 5, 2020

No word yet what either were doing at WWE HQ, but one would think with Wrestlemania coming, perhaps Rousey was there to discuss what her role could be going forward.
Link: https://twitter.com/cainmma/status/1235655784652058630

Paige’s boyfriend, Ronnie Radke tweeted out that Paige underwent emergency surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. Paige posted the following update:

“Just an update. I’m fine you guys! No more pain and healthy af! Haha just another small speed bump. I’m used to it. Haha so thankful for @RonnieRadke”

Rip Oliver, a Pacific Northwest wrestling legend who held that area's Heavyweight title more times than anyone in history, passed away today at the age of 67.

Born Lawrence Richard Oliver on October 6, 1952, he had entered hospice care due to heart failure more than a week ago and had been in weakened health for some time after multiple heart attacks.

Oliver came from Florida, and worked as a prelim wrestler before arriving in Oregon in August 1980 as Rip "The Crippler" Oliver. He and Buddy Rose were the area's top heels until Rose turned babyface after being turned on by The Clan, which at the time was Oliver, Dynamite Kid, and The Assassin (Dave Sierra) ...

He held the Pacific Northwest singles title a record 12 times, along with 18 reigns as tag team champion during his heyday, which ended when going to the WWF in 1987. He was not pushed and quit the promotion after only a few months, but in being portrayed as a jobber on WWF television, which aired in Oregon and Washington, it made it impossible for him to be pushed as a top guy in the Northwest, with Lynn "The Grappler" Denton taking over as booker and top heel.

During his short WWF run, Oliver, under a mask as Super Black Ninja, lost a quick squash to The Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental title on a Saturday Night's Main Event.

OVW Wrestling, one of the most popular and widely-respected wrestling promotions in the world since its inception in 1993, is thrilled to announce today that they've teamed up with leading broadcast and cable network Youtoo America to air their flagship weekly one hour series to over 32 Million Households across the USA.

OVW Wrestling will premiere on Youtoo America Friday evening, April 3rd with the kickoff to a brand new era in professional wrestling.
OVW used to be WWE's developmental system during the early 2000s before it was replaced with FCW and later NXT.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Matt Hardy was pulled from his signing appearance at ‘The Big Event’ on Saturday in New York. Promoters for that show have been told that if they are booking WWE talent, AEW talent cannot be booked. Hardy was booked for the signing while he was still with WWE. Matt Hardy noted on Twitter that he is still appearing at ‘The Big Event’.

TV Insider chatted with AEW Women’s World Champion Nyla Rose. When Nyla won the AEW Women’s Title from Riho, it was not mentioned that she’s a transgender woman and she’s glad that a big deal was not made of it.

“For me, it has been welcoming that they don’t make it a spectacle. They don’t make it a check mark. It’s one of those things that is there. Everyone knows about it, but nobody talks about it. That’s not a matter of us wanting to be hush-hush or hide this. They’re not making it a thing because it shouldn’t be a thing. You are a person and a performer first. That’s what I love so much and makes me feel so proud to be part of this company because they are helping normalize these ideals. We don’t even have a sense or consensus of how many trans people there are because so many people are afraid to speak out and speak up and live so openly. That’s because there is such a stigma of what being trans is. With representation on weekly television and with AEW being the company that it is on the scale that it is, with TNT and the scale they are on, they see me as a person. They see me as someone going out there and doing their job. The transness being secondary or even third to anything else. That is a beautiful statement. It shouldn’t matter and doesn’t. Hopefully, we can get to the point where people stop making it be the front runner.”

During the pre-WWE Backstage Q&A session, Jeff Hardy learned via a tweet that WWE owns the rights to the “No More Words” theme song and Jeff pleaded with WWE to let him use the theme.

“Yes! Oh my God, yes! That would be the best thing ever and as far as motivating me, it would change my wrestling career. I’ve been dying to get that song back and now that I see this, and if it’s truth to it then WWE — there’s no reason why they shouldn’t do that so please WWE, let me come out to No More Words.”

Josh Barnett announced that the upcoming Bloodsport show in Tampa, Florida will be a tournament-style show titled ‘The Gotch-Robinson Cup’. It’s a one night tournament and those announced for the show will compete in single elimination bouts to determine the tourney winner.

In an update on Teddy Hart provided by PWInsider, Teddy Hart was arrested for violating house arrest and he appeared in court on March 5th at 9 AM.

Following Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ appearance on AEW: Dynamite, Randy Orton tweeted out a GIF of him delivering an RKO to Roberts and Jericho was in the GIF in the background. The former AEW World Champion caught wind of Orton’s tweet and thanked him for watching Dynamite.
Link: https://twitter.com/IAmJericho/status/1235478067356696577?s=20

Matt Hardy is officially a free agent after letting his WWE contract expire at midnight on Mar. 2. In his Thoughts From The Throne video where he made the announcement, Hardy cited being on a different page from WWE in terms of his creative role.

Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Hardy elaborated on the creative differences between him and the company, while also expressing his gratitude towards Vince McMahon.

"I am very grateful, if it wasn't for Vince McMahon giving me this opportunity 20+ years ago, I wouldn't have had this life that I have. I will always be grateful to him for that. Even if there are things later on that we didn't see eye to eye on, that's business. When it comes to Vince and WWE, I've kind of aged out. My brand of entertainment and the way I have to be utilized isn't one of their priorities and that's fine. I understand that and it's no issue. I don't have any resentment towards anyone. I've very happy with the time I've had there and happy I got to come back and leave WWE as an employee waving the flag. That WrestleMania 33 moment was amazing. I'm very happy that I got the opportunity to do a version of Broken Matt Hardy there. It wasn't all that I would have liked it to be. It would have been nice if I had more say in what I was doing, but it is what it is. They treated me great the whole time. I had great conversations with everyone, but creatively, we're just on different pages. Nothing against them, it was just time for me to go somewhere else to maximize and optimize my creativity, especially if I want to be in a prominent role for the last three or four years I have left to do this," he said.

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: WWE Backstage and Miz & Mrs. – Mar. 3-4, 2020 – Update/Correction (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/ratings-wwe-backstage-and-miz-mrs-mar-3-4-2020-all-time-low-for-backstage/)
The nWo Announced for Friday’s SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/the-nwo-announced-for-fridays-smackdown/)
AEW Notes on the Debuts of Lance Archer and Luke Harper (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-notes-on-the-debuts-of-lance-archer-and-luke-harper/)
AEW: Kenny Omega Has a Broken Finger, Nick Jackson & Wife Expecting Child (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-kenny-omega-has-a-broken-finger-nick-jackson-wife-expecting-child/)
Stone Cold Steve Austin Will Be on Raw on 3/16 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/stone-cold-steve-austin-will-be-on-raw-on-3-16/)

slik

03-06-2020, 12:05 AM

Sepholio

03-06-2020, 11:35 AM

Meltzer mentioned today Vince has 'cooled' on Shayna and might be going in a different direction for Becky Lynch at WM now.

I saw some speculation on the observer board this could mean Liv Morgan vs Becky Lynch but Vince has apparently 'cooled' on Liv Morgan as well for not 'grabbing the brass ring' during the Lana feud. Some speculation Nia Jax might be brought back to face Becky at Mania if Vince passes on Shayna now.

Considering that Ronda was just at HQ, maybe she's going to get the match with Becky. If they aren't going with Shayna, then who better than Ronda really? They already have built in backstory too so it's not like they need long to build the feud. Only need to find a way to remove Shayna from the equation that makes sense and not fall back on another triple threat.

Jordan

03-06-2020, 12:12 PM

Considering that Ronda was just at HQ, maybe she's going to get the match with Becky. If they aren't going with Shayna, then who better than Ronda really? They already have built in backstory too so it's not like they need long to build the feud. Only need to find a way to remove Shayna from the equation that makes sense and not fall back on another triple threat.

Damn this is possible for sure. I wonder... tis a shame for Shayna.

Emperor Smeat

03-06-2020, 01:22 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition)

WWE has what on paper looks to be the weakest PPV show they have offered in a long time with the Elimination Chamber show on 3/8 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

The show comes just ten days after Super Showdown, meaning just one Raw and two Smackdowns to set up the show. Plus, I guess to set up WrestleMania’s main event faster, the decision was made to drop the Chamber main event, a six-way men’s match for the Universal title shot, and instead just have Roman Reigns come on Smackdown to challenge Bill Goldberg directly.

Neither Goldberg or Brock Lesnar are defending the titles, and at this point top names like Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton aren’t on the show ...

At press time, the entire lower bowl of the arena is set up along with 52 percent of the upper bowl, which would be for roughly 10,000 seats. Philadelphia is traditionally a very strong big show market. The secondary market get-in price is $53, so there’s not a case of a lot of tickets flooding that market at this point, nor a super high demand either.

Not only is the Smackdown men’s match off, but last week on the show they had Lacey Evans talk about entering the Chamber to get a shot at the women’s title. But this week, not a word was said about it, and Naomi, who was originally booked to face Bayley at WrestleMania, scored a pin on Bayley in a tag match, which would seem to indicate a title match is still coming ...

Other matches are ... a no DQ match with A.J. Styles vs. Aleister Black. The latter is the most intriguing, since beating Black a second time in a week will put him in that category of people fans lose interest in based on seeing that the company has done so. But with Styles facing Undertaker at WrestleMania, he has to be protected. There are ways to do outside interference finishes and the no DQ is obviously there for a reason.

For the 2/26 Wednesday shows, we have additional details ...

The show opened with AEW doing 896,000 viewers and 397,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of the Kenny Omega vs. Pac Iron Man match. NXT did 732,000 viewers and 317,000 in 18-49 for most of the Dominik Dijakovic vs Cameron Grimes match.

In the second quarter, AEW gained 69,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for Omega vs. Pac while NXT lost 24,000 viewers but stayed identical I 18-49 for the ending of Dijakovic vs. Grimes, the post-match and a Finn Balor interview.

In the third quarter, AEW gained 2,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for the last few minutes of regulation and overtime of Omega vs. Pac, and the Pac interview. This was the AEW high point at 967,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 21,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Mia Yim vs. Xia Li and the post-match.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 169,000 viewers and 86,000 in 18-49 with Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. Santana & Ortiz & Sammy Guevara. NXT gained 57,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for the Velveteen Dream promo and Tommaso Ciampa vs. Austin Theory. This was the closest quarter overall with 798,000 to 744,000. So for the second week in a row, Ciampa/Theory segments have been NXT’s high point.

In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 5,000 viewers and lost 4,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends vs. Butcher & Blade and post-match while NXT stayed even but lost 16,000 in 18-49 for the end of Ciampa vs Theory, the post-match attack by Johnny Gargano and an Undisputed Era promo.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 15,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Yuka Sakazaki vs. Shanna vs. Big Swole while NXT lost 51,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for Killian Dain vs. Bronson Reed.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 35,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for the Omega/Page and Young Bucks backstage segment and lots of PPV hype. The reality is that kind of backstage stuff and direct to PPV hype will lose viewers just as McIntyre’s backstage segment did on Raw. But there are times you have to sacrifice viewers to build matches. NXT lost 32,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the Grizzled Young Veterans promo and beginning of their match with the Forgotten Sons.

In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 110,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49 for the Jericho-Moxley weigh-ins. So they ended at 893,000 viewers and 409,000 in 18-49. NXT’s main event of Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair gained 39,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49, ending with 700,000 viewers and 294,000 in 18-49.

However, after AEW ended, even though the AEW Countdown show was on, NXT had one of its biggest gains ever for Flair vs. Belair, gaining 227,000 viewers and 94,000 in 18-49. When the post-match ended, a lot of the viewers switched back to TNT, as they got a big bump at 10:05 p.m. after NXT ended, for the AEW Countdown show.

Coming off the PPV show, AEW did 906,000 viewers and a 0.35 in 18-49, up 4.7 percent in ratings and 16.7 percent in the key demo.

NXT did 718,000 viewers, even with pushing two cage matches, and 0.23 the demo, basically identical to the week before ...

AEW was fifth for the night in 18-49, trailing the late night NBA game, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Hanwood and Sports Center after the NBA. AEW beat the early NBA game which went against most of the show on ESPN, which did 839,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49.

AEW did a 0.16 in 12-17 (up 166.7 percent), 0.24 in 18-49 (up 14.3 percent), 0.46 in 35-49 (up 17.9 percent and 0.34 in 50+ (down 5.6 percent) ...

NXT did a 0.10 in 12-17 (up 42.9 percent), 0.16 in 18-34 (up 23.1 percent), 0.30 in 35-49 (down 9.1 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (identical to last week).

The return of John Cena to Smackdown, plus an advertised appearance of Bill Goldberg, and the PPV bump from a big show coming the day before, led to Smackdown doing a 1.71 rating and 2,687,000 viewers. It was, as expected, the best number of the year, which I attribute more to the multiple weeks of hype to Cena than the other factors, but they all played into it.

What’s notable is Cena drew a greater increase in homes than viewers, so that indicated a new audience in homes than usually don’t watch the show. The rating was up 10.3 percent from last week, which also did well due to Goldberg. The total audience was up 8.2 percent, and the viewers per home was 1.30, which is lower than usual ...

For the second week in a row, and this had not been the case previously, FOX was above what it was for the same week a year ago in 18-49. The programs on the same Friday last week did 3,662,000 viewers on average but an 0.7 in the demo.
Fightful had a recent report mentioning that FOX pumped up the number of ads for last week's show to hopefully use Cena's return to try to turn around SD's sluggish ratings.

Negotiations are taking place between WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling which would be part of Paul Levesque’s plan to start an NXT Japan group. This is a huge story within the Japanese promotions because of the feeling that WWE running the country could greatly change the landscape, even for New Japan. Within New Japan that was always the feeling that they would be dominant promotion in Japan no matter how involved CyberAgent got with DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH, unless WWE came in. There are some in the U.K. scene who directly blame the WWE U.K. for ending what was called a boom period for UK indies. Others say it was going to happen either way and WWE isn’t really to blame ... Right now in Japan there is a lot of concern across the board about WWE entering the marketplace, particularly now when all but the top companies are vulnerable because of being unable to run shows due to the coronavirus. The idea is that if WWE makes the move soon, most companies will be in a weakened state financially and will have more trouble competing and surviving

There are about 3,000 tickets remaining for WrestleMania as far as at the box office with capacity in the 60,000 range so it should end up as a sellout or come very close. There are tons of secondary market tickets available with a $44 get in price. Regarding WrestleMania, there are no changes or new matches we’ve heard for the show. Phoenix did nothing in her appearance to build toward a match with Asuka & Sane for the titles. With the decision made for Orton to give Phoenix an RKO, they may want her to sell it for a few weeks. Regarding whether that women’s tag title match is still on the show after the injury angle was made, I was told that is still to be decided

The WWE made an announcement this week that WrestleMania will go on despite warnings about the Coronavirus. This apparently was in response to an interview Stephanie did in Tampa saying that they would monitor the situation and basically do the responsible thing but people’s health had to come first, and of course that was interpreted as if they were thinking about canceling and some fans panicked. But the announcement came off so bad. I think we’ve already seen with Saudi Arabia that unless they are forced, they are going to do what makes them the most money. If the option is left to them, they will do the show unless the decision is wrong for business because sentiment against the show would be overwhelmingly high. After 9/11, while they did move the show in Houston back, they were one of the first to do a show when nobody else would. In hindsight, they use that as part of their history in showing they were patriotic, but the reality is they had two hours to fill and the real world was not going to stop them. But nobody knows what the future will bring when it comes to the virus. The only thing is, if things get to a point where they have to even think about canceling that week, the situation will be far worse than prioritizing whether there will be a WrestleMania or not, and it’ll take all the major sports and entertainment events canceling to where WWE will basically have to do it if it were to happen. The bad part is that most events draw from the area and WrestleMania draws from all over the world and it will bring 50,000 to 75,000 tourists to Tampa

The coronavirus remains the major story in Japan, and continues to affect the pro wrestling scene.

Dragon Gate was the latest promotion that has canceled shows, running its last show on 3/1 in Osaka . The company is scheduled to return to touring on 3/14 in Kariya ...

New Japan has made no further announcements and at press time will start back touring 3/16 at Takaoka. They have also made no announcements regarding the handling of the New Japan Cup tournament that was scheduled to start on 3/4, nor have they rescheduled the Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi match.

Pro Wrestling NOAH and Stardom, which were scheduled to return on 3/20, have canceled those dates and more dates beyond.

There have been smaller companies that have continued to run shows. DDT ran an empty arena show on 3/1 and Stardom has its major 3/8 show at Korakuen Hall as a live YouTube show for the first time, which, because it’s an 11:30 a.m. show on that day in Japan, will air 9:30 p.m. Eastern time in the U.S. That will also be a show with no spectators ...

But everything is subject to change based on government directives, which is probably New Japan hasn’t made any statements this week.

The reason nothing has been said this week new by companies is that nobody knows anything. They are waiting for the government to say it’s okay to hold public events, because it would come across badly for companies to run when the directive is out ...

The big concern in wrestling is that most of the companies that operate on a small, if any, profit margin, don’t have the money to pay expenses without regular revenue coming in from live show gates and merchandise. Some are at risk of closing down or having to merge.

The [AEW Revolution] show, highlighted by the Omega & Page tag title defense over the Young Bucks, was a major success across the boards. We don’t have cable numbers yet, but for iPPV through B/R Live, it was up more than 10 percent from Full Gear and at the same level as Double or Nothing (in the range of 37,000 which is an excellent number for iPPV buys). FITE number were the highest for any AEW show to date (which would mean among the highest for that platform of any event in history), but they were going to be the highest of the AEW shows. The U.K. market no longer had television PPV so FITE would be the only way to get it legally. The number of U.K. total buyers will be down, but that was unavoidable with the closing of ITV Box Office and being unable to get a new PPV television platform. The indications based on data in is that it would have been second behind DON of the four shows based on B/R and FITE numbers, but the cable numbers aren’t in, Germany TV numbers aren’t big but are new and you lose some in the U.K. so it’s not a lock it’ll be No. 2, but will beat Full Gear.

It was only the second event in AEW history to trend on Google, with 100,000 searches. It was still only half of the 200,000 that Super Showdown did largely due to Undertaker, Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar being on the show. All In and the other PPVs besides Double or Nothing (which did 220,000) never cracked the top 20.

Overall the numbers have to be taken as a positive, but it’s not like they are at WWE or UFC big show levels of general public interest. But they are well ahead of Takeovers, all but the biggest Bellator shows, at the general interest level of some WWE PPVs and most UFC events that aren’t on PPV.

WWE pulled Lio Rush from the 16 Carat Gold tournament that takes place 3/6 to 3/8 in Oberhausen, Germany. They did so less than 72 hours before the tournament started. Because of its business with WWE, the promotion has refused to book any talent associated with AEW and while Jeff Cobb, who they got as a last minute replacement, is not an AEW wrestler he was just on the AEW show. They won’t even mention AEW by name for fear of it causing heat with WWE.

Nothing is new on the Jeff Cobb front. The last word we got is that he hadn’t made up his mind on whether to sign or not. As noted before, his goal for this year when he didn’t sign with ROH was to continue working ROH, but return to the indie scene where he’d be perhaps the biggest star touring since almost everyone else has signed somewhere, with the key being open to anything New Japan wanted since he really liked working for that company and New Japan was planning on doing more U.S. events

The Maryland State Athletic Commission has completed its investigation into the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley lights out match from the Full Gear PPV in Baltimore. The next step is one of two things, a hearing held on the investigation and vote on whether to impose sanctions on the promotion or enter into a negotiated settlement.

Cody talked to TSN in Canada about how he’s studying boxing and MMA on how to build big events rather than wrestling. “I’m a big fan of the big fights. I’ve learned more about wrestling recently from UFC and boxing than I have from wrestling. And I mean no disrespect to an industry I’ve loved my entire life, I just mean the big fights and the presence of somebody like a Conor McGregor, the presence of a Floyd Mayweather and even the other night with what we saw with Deontay [Wilder] and [Tyson] Fury, you don’t get that every week, but you do get some of it. And that some of it is super important. It can’t be throwaway.”

Emperor Smeat

03-06-2020, 07:30 PM

The Sheets (Friday's News Edition):

Radio show host Peter Rosenberg is returning to WWE in a familiar role.

WWE issued a press release today announcing that Rosenberg will return as an analyst for their pay-per-view pre-shows starting with Elimination Chamber this Sunday. Rosenberg "will also serve as a special correspondent for various WWE Network shows and upcoming specials."
Guess WWE was interested in his money again since the rumor was the only reason he was on WWE pre-shows was because he kept paying to be on tv.

The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship will officially be on the line at ROH Supercard of Honor XIV.

ROH confirmed this morning that Nick Aldis will defend his NWA title against PCO at Supercard of Honor. The match was set up at the end of ROH's Free Enterprise show last month.

PCO & Marty Scurll defeated Aldis & Rush in the main event of Free Enterprise. After dissension between Aldis and Rush, PCO pinned Aldis to get the win.

Scurll then cut a promo about his NWA title match against Aldis at the Crockett Cup on Sunday, April 19. Scurll said he would personally write Aldis a check for $500,000 if Aldis beats him. Scurll also said Aldis would face PCO at Supercard of Honor.

That would have set up a match between the ROH and NWA champions, but PCO lost the ROH World Championship to Rush last weekend. That was in a triple threat match that also included Mark Haskins. The finish involved Aldis Interfering and hitting PCO with the NWA title belt.

Former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Su Yung's Impact Wrestling deal has expired and she is now officially a free agent, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Yung, 30, is at tonight's Impact TV taping, but she would be free to negotiate and sign elsewhere.

Former NWA and ECW World Champion Terry Funk sent word that that he will be cancelling his scheduled appearance and signing at tomorrow's Big Event in NYC.

Funk, 75 years old, continues to deal with a number of health issues and will not be able to make the travel from Amarillo, Texas to New York (multiple flights from point A to point B) in order to make the appearance. His forthcoming appearance in Philadelphia should be considered iffy at best as well.

Funk was very upset about not being able to make the trip, feeling he was letting fans down.

King County in Washington State issued the following announcement:

Stadium worker tests positive for COVID-19; Professional sporting events to continue in King County, with patrons urged to follow public health guidelines

March 5, 2020

A part-time employee at CenturyLink Field who worked at the Feb. 22 Seattle Dragons game has tested positive for COVID-19, though risk to fans who attended is low, according to county health officials.

As of now, Seattle’s professional sports organizations – Dragons, First & Goal/Seahawks, Mariners, and Sounders FC – will continue with scheduled events. The teams are in touch with local health officials and their respective leagues on a regular basis, as this public health issue continues to evolve.

Regarding the makeup of the WWE creative staff, we were told by someone with knowledge of the situation that there are seven females on the staff. We were told there are four women on Raw and three on SmackDown, one of whom is a writer’s assistant but can pitch ideas.

Tickets for AEW’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in May are selling very well. A non-AEW affiliated account that monitors ticket sales is listing the May 23rd event at 9,241 tickets sold with a set-up for 11,083 seats. We spoke with an AEW official who told us that the figures were ‘in the right neighborhood’. (NOTE: We originally had listed the ticket sales for the May 27th episode of Dynamite at the MGM Grand but have corrected the item to reflect that the figures are for ‘Double or Nothing’).

Now six days into March of 2020, there is one major story looming over every top professional wrestling promotion currently active, where will Matt Hardy go next? ...

Speaking exclusively with Sports Illustrated, Matt expanded upon his thought process, revealing that he is in talks with all promotions including very recent conversations with Triple H about NXT.

“My goal is to legitimately surprise people and draw emotion from them. I always want to entertain the audience and keep them guessing. I’ll make a decision within the next 30 days, and it could be by next week. It all depends on how everything comes together,” Matt would say. “I am speaking with AEW, and I am very close with the Young Bucks. We’ve been great friends for a long time. They understand this business and know how to break the fourth wall and have fun with all of this. They really are special. I’ve also spoken with IMPACT and I spoke with the NWA. I had great conversations just this week with Triple H about NXT. I’m not sure where I’m going to go. From a character perspective, I want to go to an Arcadia. That’s where I can take the second coming of ‘Broken Matt’ and build upon it. I need a canvas where I can paint and collaborate.”

WWE stock was at $42.70 when the stock market closed today.

Changes have been made to the NXT UK announce team. The new team was revealed during Friday's NXT UK tapings in Coventry ...

The NXT UK announce team now consists of Andy Shepherd and Nigel McGuinness. Shepherd is a new addition to the crew after previously working on NXT UK Kickoff shows and doing ring announcing for NXT UK. McGuinness, who also works as an announcer on NXT, has been in-and-out of the role of NXT UK announcer since the brand started. The most recent NXT UK announce team consistent of Tom Phillips and Aiden English.

Taking Shepherd's role as the ring announcer is Francesca Brown. Brown has been featured in movies such as "Breathe" and "Hunter's Moon,"as well as TV series "Lookalikes" as she has a resemblance to Katy Perry.

The New Day is launching a tournament to crown the greatest TV show of all time and the tournament will start on next week's episode of the "Feel The Power" podcast. You can check out the full tournament at this link.
Link: https://www.wwe.com/shows/the-new-day-feel-the-power/article/the-new-day-feel-the-power-march-madness-tv-bracket

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Confirms Edge’s Return on Raw This Monday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-confirms-edges-return-on-raw-this-monday/)

Emperor Smeat

03-10-2020, 09:20 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night set a couple of new lows, but also had one of the best ratings patterns in a long time.

The basic gist is that the audience was at a low point averaging 2.16 million viewers over the three hours, the lowest for a non-holiday show in modern history that didn't have a major competing sports event. The prior low in that category was 2.17 million viewers on February 3.

The first hour audience of 2.16 million was also a new low for a non-holiday modern show without major sports competition, substantially lower than the previous low mark of 2.25 million on February 24. What makes it worse is that the show came the day after a pay-per-view ...

Raw still took the top three spots in the 18-49 rankings ...

The low first hour is a bad sign because usually after a PPV, the first hour shows a good increase and the overall episode is higher. This indicates there wasn't much interest in the Elimination Chamber follow-up.

The second hour being higher than the first hour happens more frequently during Daylight Savings Time and the low first hour is because people for the next few months are more likely to start the show later ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.16 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.22 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.11 million viewers

On the surface, it’s a letdown given the week-long promotion of Edge’s return to the show for the first time since the injury angle on January 27th with Randy Orton ...

It’s a trend that has been emerging over the past month where the second hour has either grown or dropped slightly with less of a third-hour tune out.

That said, this week’s number had one of the lowest opening hours in the history of the show, far fewer people are tuning in, although those viewers are sticking around at a larger percentage and the show isn’t turning them off.

OTT Wrestling issued a statement noting that their ScrapperMania shows this weekend are currently scheduled to go on as planned. OTT asked fans not to attend if they feel unwell with coronavirus symptoms, if they’ve traveled to Ireland from an area with presumed ongoing community transmission in the last 14 days, or if in the past 14 days they have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with coronavirus.

Adam Brooks won't be making his ROH debut at Friday's 18th Anniversary pay-per-view after all.

ROH has announced that -- due to travel issues -- Brooks will no longer be appearing at their 18th Anniversary PPV. Jeff Cobb is replacing Brooks and will face Slex at the show.

It was confirmed last month that Brooks has signed with ROH. Him facing Slex at the Anniversary PPV was going to be a matchup between Australian wrestling standouts.

The management of wXw consisting of Tassilo Jung, Felix Kohlenberg, and Dennis Birkendahl held a press conference with members of the media this past Saturday during 16 Carat Gold weekend. The full press conference can be watched below courtesy of Headlock. wXw has always had a tremendous relationship with its media with no restrictions on the subject matter and that was clearly seen here with questions asked about David Starr ...

On David Starr’s exit from the company after the Title vs. Career match with Bobby Gunns on Saturday:

"We sat down together with David Starr before the show and pretty much told him after the show say whatever you would like to say. It’s your decision if it’s going to be inside the storyline universe of wXw and this promo would be included in the release or it would be a live promo that is more the person behind David Starr speaking to the people in attendance. The latter was chosen and David said whatever he liked to say, and we appreciate this and we also appreciate the kind words that he posted regarding us on Twitter and said personally to wXw and the people behind wXw and we’re going to miss him a whole lot. We will not comment on the decision itself, but I wanted to make really sure that people know how much we appreciate David Starr as a person and a talent. Obviously, you have seen that this match got set up a couple of months ago, so it was a decision that made a couple of months ago."
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q8gauPowFs

The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is the biggest story in the world and that trickles down to professional wrestling with many questions regarding its impact on upcoming shows and specifically related to WrestleMania Weekend. The industry is in a state of wait-and-see because no one can predict what the days and weeks will entail and measures that may be forced up sports and entertainment events in the United States. We have seen the impact the outbreak has had overseas with many promotions in Japan forced to cancel events or run shows inside of empty buildings.

Beginning today, Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL, and Major League Soccer are restricting media access in the club’s locker rooms as the league’s first major preventable measures. If the outbreak continues and games start being canceled, then that would represent a heightened risk that would have to apply to major promotions in the U.S. like WWE and AEW.

It is hard to single out professional wrestling when it comes to the greater worldly concerns but for any promoters running WrestleMania Weekend to lose out on those shows is devastating. It makes travel arrangements difficult with so much hanging in the balance and everyone must wait to see if things get better or worse.

In a recent SEC filing, WWE has updated Paul Levesque’s title and is now recognized as the company’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development. Prior to this change, he was listed as the EVP of Talent, Live Events & Creative going back to August 2011. Levesque’s 2019 salary was listed at $706,019 in the proxy statement with an additional $502,146 in stock awards, and $2,016,977 in his performance contract that includes royalties for a total of $3,328,092. Vince McMahon’s listed salary is $1,400,000 but goes up to $3,503,703 with stock awards, and other compensations. Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics went through the proxy statement and noted that Shane McMahon made $2,082,011 working as a performer for the company.

The WWE stock closed at $41.19 on Tuesday.

This Sunday night, a new episode of ‘Autopsy’ on Reelz will focus on the final hours of Chris Benoit’s life from June 2007. The network has put out the following description of Sunday’s episode that airs at 8 pm Eastern:

In this investigative medical documentary series we look at the lives and deaths of the biggest names in the entertainment history. Through a combination of interviews with family and friends, archive footage and dramatic reconstructions, we tell these stories and unpick the – sometimes mysterious – circumstances around their deaths. Over a June weekend in 2007 , Canadian wrestler Chris Benoit, killed his wife and his 7-year-old son at his exclusive Georgia home before hanging himself in a horrific double murder-suicide that shocked wrestling world. At the time of his death, Chris Benoit was one of the premier athletes in the whole of World Wrestling Entertainment stable. A former World champion, he was widely regarded as one of the best technical wrestlers of his and any generation and at 40-years-old was still drawing huge audiences. So why would such an elite athlete, who had achieved so much and lived a seemingly glamorous life with his beautiful wife and child choose to kill himself and his family? This drama-documentary explores the medical factors that led to Chris Benoit’s death and investigates the tragic events that led to this tragic murder suicide.

The NWA has announced the first four teams that will take part in the Crockett Cup tournament on pay-per-view next month.

On Tuesday night, the promotion revealed Brody King & Flip Gordon, Flamita & Rey Horus, The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express, and Thomas Latimer & Royce Isaacs as the first four teams to enter.

They will be announcing three additional teams along with a ‘wild card’ team that will be determined in a battle royal that night.

The battle royal is open to singles wrestlers and tag teams and the final two participants in the match will make up the eighth team in the Crockett Cup. On Tuesday, they announced that Tim Storm, Zicky Dice, and Ricky Starks would be part of the battle royal.

Authors of Pain member Rezar suffered an arm injury during the main event of WWE Raw.

Fightful Select reports that Rezar tagged out of the match and informed Seth Rollins of the injury before staying on the sidelines for the majority of the match. Rezar did get involved in the post-match angle. It has not been confirmed the extent of Rezar's injury.

When it comes to Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart did not hold back when asked about his opinion.

During a live Q & A session, Hart was asked about his opinion on The Hulkster and if he likes him. Needless to say, Hart responded by calling Hogan a "piece of sh*t."

"Do I like Hulk Hogan? No, I don't. I think he is a phony piece of sh*t," Hart said
Link: https://twitter.com/FightfulWrestle/status/1237234596443496455

Snickers is again partnering with WWE for this year's WrestleMania.

WWE and Mars, Incorporated have announced "an expansion of their long-standing partnership for 2020 in which Snickers will once again serve as the exclusive presenting partner of WrestleMania." This is the fifth straight year that Snickers has been the presenting sponsor for the event.

The partnership will include WWE wrestlers taking part in Snickers' new "Fix the World" ad campaign. There will be three custom commercials produced. The first will air on the March 23 episode of Raw, the second will air on the March 27 episode of SmackDown, and the third will air during WrestleMania 36.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: SmackDown Women’s Title Match Rumor, Ruthless Aggression, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-smackdown-womens-title-rumor-ruthless-aggression-update-updated-smackdown-ratings/)
WWE Reportedly Blacklists Outspoken Pro-Union Wrestler David Starr (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-reportedly-blacklists-outspoken-wrestler-david-starr/)
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against WWE Over Saudi Arabia Deal Issues (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-wwe-over-saudi-arabia-deal-issues/)
Nia Jax Cleared to Return, May Be at SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/nia-jax-cleared-to-return-may-be-at-smackdown/)
Paige and Jeff Hardy Set to Return on SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/paige-and-jeff-hardy-set-to-return-on-smackdown/)

Emperor Smeat

03-11-2020, 07:43 PM

The Sheets:

Tampa, Florida Mayor Jane Castor was interviewed this afternoon by Drew Garabo on 102.5 The Bone FM in Tampa, Florida about the city's response to the coronavirus and how they would be handling large scale public events in the city, including next month's Wrestlemania 36 week.

Castor was immediately asked about Wrestlemania 36 and whether the events that week will still take place. Castor said they are still assessing the situation. They hoped to still hold it but they are still assessing.

They have a commission working on it and will be having a meeting tomorrow at 12 PM Noon to determine what they will do regarding the status of not just Wrestlemania, but all other large scale events in the city.

Castor said they anticipated they would have coronavirus cases in Tampa. The virus in most cases is like a mild case of the flu. The issue is the ease of the transmission. It's not if, but when it hit their city. They want people to have accurate information and to take steps to protect themselves and they'll be able to prevent the spread of the virus across Tampa and the country ...

On balancing the health and well being vs. the economic windfall of Wrestlemania, Castor said the health and well being is important but she also has to look at the economic impact for those who need the paychecks that come with the economic positives of having a major event. It's a responsibility she takes seriously.

When asked who's final decision it would be, Castor said WWE can 'weigh in' but they locally would have the final call. That's why they are having the meeting tomorrow, so they can make the best informed decision and be on top of the latest information from the CDC and the State of Florida.

We've been asked how WWE is preparing for the coronavirus in terms of their office staffing. We have been told by multiple sources that work for the company that as of this week, WWE started a rotation where certain departments will be working from home/telecommuting so that WWE can plan out logistics if they need to pull the trigger on having the company's employees work outside of their Stamford, CT headquarters. The process will likely continue over at least the next week or so. A number of film studios and major corporations are enacting similar measures.

In regard to a rumor making the round, there is ZERO truth to a story claiming Wrestlemania would be bumped up to Madison Square Garden on 3/22.

Jerry Lawler thinks the show will go on.

Appearing on Cerrito Live, Jerry Lawler was asked about the coronavirus and whether the disease will impact WrestleMania 36.

"I don't think it's going to affect WrestleMania at all. I'm not trying to downplay it but when you listen to what has happened in the past, it's almost like a cycle. These kind of things happen every now and again; there's nothing you can do about it except react to it as best we can. I remember all these kinds of influenza and viruses that we've had. Just the regular flu comes around every year and kills a bunch of people. You can get vaccinated and do you what you can; everyone tries to be as healthy as possible. It's just a fact of life. Remember there was the Bird Flu, the Hong Kong Flu, Swine Flu, SARS. All of these things happen every few years and this is another one of those things that we'll get through. That's the way life is."

He finished by saying, "WrestleMania could go on and it could be a total pay-per-view [empty arena] if worst came to worst."

It's looking more like the coronavirus will end up having a significant impact on WrestleMania 36 Week in Tampa, Florida.

Tampa area reporter Jon Alba noted on Twitter today that there could be an update on the status of WrestleMania 36 within the next 24 hours, which may not be good for WWE.

"I do believe we will hear an update on the status of #WrestleMania within 24 hours or so. And I would suspect things aren't trending in a positive direction. #WWE," Alba tweeted.

Furthermore, @Wrestlevotes also indicated today that things aren't looking good ...

"I asked a few sources about Mania & the Corona situation. Some had no info to relay. One said: 'if it can go on as planned, it will' Safe to say WWE just doesn't know yet. All very fluid. All TBD," they wrote earlier this afternoon.

"Update: It's not looking good now," @Wrestlevotes wrote in a follow-up tweet this evening. They continued, "Guys, I want it to still happen too. Trust me. But it's not looking good at the moment. I would think they look to reschedule rather than cancel but time will tell."

As noted earlier today at this link, the City of Tampa Twitter account and the Visit Tampa Bay Twitter account told fans that WrestleMania 36 is currently scheduled to go on as planned.

The World Health Organization announced today that the coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic.

The 3/10 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1, featuring Mark Henry appearing, brought in 35,000 overnight viewers. If we receive an updated, final number, we will update.

John Cena's next appearance on WWE television is taking place this Friday.

WWE has announced that Cena will appear on SmackDown this Friday night. The show is taking place at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan

Matt Hardy is heading to Northeast Wrestling for his first announced post-WWE match.

Northeast Wrestling announced today that Hardy will be in action at their Wrestlefest XXIV show later this month: "Matt Hardy returns to Northeast Wrestling for his 1st match since becoming the most sought after Free Agent in Wrestling. Northeast Wrestling LIVE! in Waterbury, Connecticut on Friday, March 27th. He will also be a part of the preshow Meet and Greet. Get your tickets now at northeastwrestling.com"

Hardy's opponent for the show has yet to be revealed.

KENTA and Tomohiro Ishii are the first two NJPW wrestlers confirmed for this year's ROH-NJPW War of the Worlds tour.

ROH announced today that KENTA and Ishii are set for all four shows on the War of the Worlds tour. The dates and locations for it are:

Wednesday, May 6: Buffalo RiverWorks, Buffalo, New York
Thursday, May 7: Ted Reeve Arena, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, May 9: Wings Event Center, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Sunday, May 10: The Odeum Expo Center, Villa Park, Illinois

NJPW has revealed when tickets are going on sale for their return to Madison Square Garden.

A ticket pre-sale for NJPW Wrestle Dynasty will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, April 8. Registration is now open for the pre-sale mailing list. NJPW wrote that codes will be emailed near the pre-sale date.

Tickets will then go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday, April 10 ...

Wrestle Dynasty is taking place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, August 22, which is the same night as NXT TakeOver: Boston and the night before this year's SummerSlam.

Ring of Honor issued the following statement:
ROH UPDATE ON COVID-19

Ring of Honor, home of the “Best Wrestling on the Planet,” will be proceeding as planned with all current events and activities.

ROH is mounting its 18th Anniversary (Friday, March 13th) and Past vs Present (Saturday, March 14th) shows this weekend in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town Live Casino.

The safety and health of our fans, talents and staff are always of top priority and we are actively following information regarding COVID-19, known as Coronavirus. We are closely monitoring all information being made known by the government, the CDC and WHO to the public - as the situation continues to develop.

ROH cares by being proactive in taking the utmost safety precautions as recommended for all live events and recommends that all fans take their own personal safety precautions as well. Additionally, fans are urged to contact help@rohwrestling.com if they have any concerns about their health or safety at an upcoming event -- and ROH will work with them to provide solutions.

As the situation continues to be monitored, any necessary changes to the event schedule and/or resolutions will be provided expeditiously.

The Collective and Game Changer Wrestling put out a statement on Twitter which read that all of their scheduled events for WrestleMania weekend will continue on as planned regardless of the decision that is made tomorrow concerning WrestleMania.

WWE’s Angel Garza drew coverage from TMZ after he was kissed by a fan in attendance at Monday Night RAW in Washington DC. After Garza’s segment and match, he responded to a tweet which read that the Coronavirus is everywhere and what he allowed was not safe. Garza responded to the tweet and noted that the Coronavirus does not exist and everything is in people’s minds.

Sports Illustrated chatted with Bret Hart to reflect on the life and career of Owen Hart. The two parties specifically talked about Bret and Owen’s WrestleMania 10 match and Bret feels that-that match set the table for wrestlers like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk who are/were of similar stature to Bret and Owen.

“I think it certainly opened the door for guys, like Punk and Daniel Bryan, that did some great wrestling after my era. For our time, Owen and I was a great match. The hardest thing about the match with Owen that people overlook is that we’d never wrestled each other before. When you’ve never danced with someone before, you don’t know what you’re going to get. For our first match, that was a really good match.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Hart shared that the majority of the finishes to his matches were his idea and the only one he can recall that wasn’t his was the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Bob Backlund at the 1994 Survivor Series.

“All the endings to my matches were mine. The only match I can think of, off the top of my head, that the finish was done the way I was told was probably that Survivor Series where I lost to Backlund. But that whole match was my match. It was a very complicated match. Vince laid the outline, and then was like, ‘Figure it out. This is how it’s going to happen.’ It had the towel and all that. Every single person’s timing was so important to the other wrestlers. There’s Davey Boy, my mom, my dad, Owen, Bob Backlund, myself. A lot of moving pieces. That’s what I love about that match as you watch it back. That was a complicated story to tell but it was smooth as butter, first time we ever did it, last time we ever did, and a great moment.”

WWE's stock finished at $38.72 per share when the stock market closed.
Growing coronavirus worries and uncertainty over the direction of WWE has hammered their stocks big time in recent weeks.

TPWW Frontpage:

Rob Gronkowski Update – Will Be an “Active Wrestler” & Appear at WrestleMania (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/rob-gronkowski-update-will-be-an-active-wrestler-appear-at-wrestlemania/)
XFL Ratings for Week 5 Games (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/xfl-ratings-for-week-5-games/)

Emperor Smeat

03-12-2020, 10:49 PM

The Sheets:

On a night where most of the viewing audience was concerned with a lot other than professional wrestling, both Wednesday night shows took a ratings hit.

AEW Dynamite averaged 766,000 viewers on TNT, down 15 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show was down over 25 percent, averaging just a 0.26 rating. That's AEW's second lowest number ever in that category, nearly matching the 0.25 the show did on December 18.

NXT was down just 2.9 percent, averaging 697,000 viewers. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.21 rating, down 8.7 percent from last week. That's NXT's lowest number in that category since January 15.

Dynamite ranked 25th on cable in 18-49, while NXT was 42nd. Both were well lower than usual and the shows were obviously hit hardest in the 18-49 demo. News shows were way up and Donald Trump's presidential address to the nation aired directly opposite both AEW and NXT.

STARDOM announced today that the 3/29/20 event in Nagoya has been canceled.

As of now, the 3/24/20 show at Korakuen Hall and the 3/28/20 event in Shizuoka will still go but they are not selling additional reservation tickets for those dates. The Korakuen Hall show is the Cinderella Tournament 2020.

It was widely expected that WWE and/or the government in Tampa, FL would make an announcement today regarding whether WrestleMania will take place a little over three weeks from now. There was even a press conference where the subject was broached, and botched. Badly in fact. It was announced by Hillsbough County official, Lesley "Les" Miller, Jr. that WWE had held a press conference earlier in the day concerning their biggest event of the year.

Of course, that was not the case. So, at the end of their press conference, they said there was still time to decide the event’s fate and if no decision has been made by next week, they will address the subject again.

Folks, this is just a different form of stupid. It really is.

No matter how you feel about COVID-19 and its spread in the US, the fact of the matter is there are now so many reasons that WWE should just go ahead and cancel the show. Each day that they don’t, they look more and more out of touch as to what is going on in the world today ...

Well, as much as we know the Vince McMahon mentality of “The Show Must Go On”, which he made crystal clear by continuing the Over The Edge PPV in 1999 when Owen Hart died in front of the crowd and yet he continued the PPV, the answer to the question of “for what” is probably money. Insurance money. It could well be that if WWE cancels, they don’t get paid. If the show is canceled by the city of Tampa, then they do.

If that is the case then make a deal with the city of Tampa to bring the show back in June, or whenever you can do it. Maybe it’s November this year. Whatever, just make the deal. The Governor of Florida is already saying he doesn’t want large gatherings in the state, but it’s out of his control. But this situation will not get better in three weeks. If you look at the arc in the countries that have preceded us with this virus, we probably have at least six weeks until we start going on the downward side of the curve. And that’s if we get lucky ...

But, they could win the war of perception. With all of the sporting events going dark, WWE has a golden opportunity to get eyeballs on their product. Even if they have to relocate their TV to the Performance Center, which may be a very real possibility, they will still be able to provide seven hours of sports-like TV a week for viewers who have very few other choices.

Will those people want to support a company that couldn’t get out of its own way and move WrestleMania, clearly not thinking about the safety of its fans over their own bottom line? Why take the chance? Even if the show does take place, it will now be in front of a far less than full stadium anyway, making your signature event look second rate. Do the right thing and postpone WrestleMania WWE and do it now, while it’s your decision and it’s not forced on you.
PWI's Dave Scherer had a very interesting take when it came to today's lack of a real announcement by the city of Tampa and WWE regarding the status of WrestleMania 36.

WWE’s current situation in regards to WrestleMania’s status is complex and part of the reason for it has to do with insurance.

On a recent episode of Fightful’s “List & Ya Boy” podcast, Fightful owner Jimmy Van spoke on the ramifications WWE could face by canceling WrestleMania. The economic effect of canceling the show would largely depend on the type of insurance WWE has for WrestleMania and whether or not the city of Tampa ordered WWE to cancel it.

If there was a recommendation, and not an order, from the city to postpone or cancel the show and WWE followed through, the company may not be able to recover some of the financial losses that come with such a decision because of the insurance.

“The answer comes down to insurance coverage. In pro sports, most leagues opt to pay for premium coverage called communicable disease-related losses. If a pro league acts on the recommendation to cancel as opposed to the order to cancel, they may not be able to trigger coverage, that they may not be able to recoup losses through insurance. That’s what we first saw in Ohio. They recommended canceling events and the Columbus Blue Jackets came out and said they are going to go on as planned. It was because of insurance. But now, Ohio has come out and said, ‘We’re ordering you to do this,'" Van said.

Although what kind of insurance WWE has is unknown, one can surmise that it is a setup similar to those pro leagues. As far as what he believes will happen, Van thinks WWE will do WrestleMania if the city of Tampa issues a recommendation and not an order to cancel or postpone.

WWE released the trailer for their forthcoming Quibi series "Fight Like A Girl" in advance of that digital platform's launch:

Confidence. Focus. Inner strength.@WWE Superstars show the world what it means to #FightLikeAGirl this April, only on @Quibi. ???? pic.twitter.com/FO4B40VolM
— WWE (@WWE) March 12, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1238102711725436929

WWE bussed in the fans attending last night's WWE NXT at the Performance Center from Full Sail University.

The Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa brawl was shot live as it happened in the Performance Center and was not a pre-taped segment.

For those who have asked, Major League Wrestling's staff and talent are already in Southern California or Tijuana, Mexico for the MLW vs. AAA event tomorrow in Mexico. Talent have been advised that even though they are in Mexico, if they do not feel comfortable performing, they do not have to perform. As of now, that event is still on as there have not been any cancellations in Mexico due to the coronavirus.

MLW's offices in the New Rochelle, NY area are near the current coronavirus containment zone but not within it. MLW advised all office staff to take this past Monday off and not come into the office as the area schools are all closed and MLW wanted staff to remain with their families.

No upcoming MLW events are postponed or canceled, although given the way of the world this week, that could change ...

MLW had planned on announcing autograph signings with talents in Tampa over Wrestlemania week today but those plans are off due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

Several MLW talents who were slated to head to Japan for international dates have had those plans canceled, obviously, due to the coronavirus.

FOX 29 in Philadelphia is reporting the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, which housed last week's Elimination Chamber PPV, is closed to all but essential employees due to the coronavirus outbreak. A country music concert slated for the venue tonight will be postponed.

Booker T took to Twitter and announced that Reality Of Wrestling’s ‘No Limits’ show that was scheduled for March 14th has been postponed due to the Coronavirus. The event is being rescheduled for April 11th and if tickets were purchased for the March 14th show, those tickets can be used to get into the April 11th event. Reality of Wrestling’s ‘Stars Of Tomorrow’ show on March 28th is still scheduled to continue as planned, barring any changes. DEFY Wrestling was also forced to cancel their March 29th show.

Ring of Honor cancelled a meet and greet session today in Las Vegas. Marty Scurll and PCO were scheduled to be the focuses of those meet and greet but with the Coronavirus outbreak, ROH did want to take any risks. ROH also announced that at ‘Pure Excellence’ on April 11th, La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH, Dragon Lee & Kenny King) are taking on ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus.

Wrestlecon is one of the major conventions associated with WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida. As the world continues to monitor the Coronavirus, the status of Wrestlecon has received an update.

The convention, which has events attached to it such as the IMPACT Wrestling’s special TNA revival event, TNA: There’s No Place Like Home, and is set to feature a super show of their own with superstars such as Bandido, Zack Sabre Jr., Low-Ki, and more, has said in an update on Twitter that the status of the event is up in the air and is all dependent on whether or not WrestleMania 36 takes place.

WWE's stock took another massive tumble.

When the stock market closed on the afternoon of March 12, the company's stock price finished at $32.38 per share, down 16.11 percent from when WWE's stock closed at $38.60 per share on March 11. This is the lowest the stock has ever been since January 12, 2018 when it sat at $32.18 per share.

WWE, as well as the world of pro wrestling and sports, has been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak, putting WrestleMania 36 at risk of being canceled or postponed. Although no decision has been made in regards to the show's status, with it still currently taking place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa ...

WWE then released a statement saying that the company's finances could be impacted by the coronavirus and has withdrawn any previously-mentioned projections and guidance for 2020 due to the uncertainty of the coronavirus' long-term effect business-wise.

TPWW Frontpage:

The City of Tampa Is Not Canceling WrestleMania… For Now (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/the-city-of-tampa-is-not-canceling-wrestlemania-for-now/)
WWE Releases Statement on WrestleMania 36 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-releases-statement-on-wrestlemania-36/)
Coronavirus Updates: WWE, AEW, ROH, OTT, GCW, WrestleCon, wXw, Evolve, PWG, CWH (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/coronavirus-updates-wwe-aew-roh-ott-gcw-wrestlecon-wxw-evolve-pwg-cwh/)
The XFL Suspends Its Season (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/xfl-cancels-the-remainder-of-2020-season/)
AEW Officially Announces Next Two Weeks of Dynamite Will Be Relocated (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-officially-announces-next-two-weeks-of-dynamite-will-be-relocated/)
Friday’s SmackDown Officially Moved to the WWE Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/fridays-smackdown-officially-moved-to-the-wwe-performance-center/)
Dr. Luther Signs AEW Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/dr-luther-signs-aew-contract/)

Emperor Smeat

03-13-2020, 03:35 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The spreading of the coronavirus has the entire sports, entertainment, travel and tourism economies in at least short-term jeopardy, along with the far more serious aspects of a rapidly-spreading disease that will seemingly greatly affect all of our lives in some form ...

At press time, no decision has been made regarding WrestleMania and the activities of that week, which affects not only WWE but is a key part of the annual income for companies that piggy-back off WWE’s biggest show, whether it be for live events or fan gatherings.

Tampa, the home of WrestleMania, had as of 3/11, three cases of the virus diagnosed. WrestleMania, like all major events of this type around the country, is clearly in some jeopardy although one WWE official told us that there will be a WrestleMania in some form ...

While companies in almost all industries in some form will feel a major effect from this, in the sports industries, the major leagues that have great television deals and don’t have to rely on the live gate will survive with less pain. In particular, both WWE and UFC, with their large profit margins will be able to ride this out far better than almost anyone else. New Japan, which relies on live gates and merchandise for the majority of its annual income, and has canceled all its events since 2/26, will take a much harder hit. For smaller companies with far less cushion, it could be disastrous, and that is not just entertainment companies but regular businesses as well ...

There are no official returns but New Japan canceled the rest of the New Japan Cup tournament events, through 3/21. The Japanese government had told all major sports and entertainment companies not to run shows with spectators at least through 3/25. With the exception of Big Japan, which ignored the directive, no major company is running spectator events, although Stardom and DDT have run empty arena shows ...

While not talked about, the promotion that may face the most danger from this is CMLL, because a huge percentage of its audience are tourists. If people stop going to Mexico City, that will severely cut back their live business and their business is largely based on big Friday night crowds and Sunday and Tuesday events at Arena Mexico. Its wrestlers, who are mostly still paid on the house, will also be affected greatly if that happens ...

Lots of independent promotions don’t have insurance so this could hurt that business greatly. Plus there will be a huge amount of damage to the insurance business.

For WWE, it looks like he Walter vs. Finn Balor match at the planned NXT Takeover show on 4/4 is off, if the show even happens. One of the travel ramifications is that if a non-U.S. citizen or resident has been to EU’s Schengen area (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) in the past 14 days, they can’t come to the U.S. regardless of the airport they are flying into. So anyone who was in Germany last week, which includes Walter and Alexander Wolfe, wouldn’t be allowed in, unless somehow they find a way around those regulations. Black Taurus and Daniel Makabe, who are still in Europe, could also have issues getting into the U.S. Bandido and Puma King, who I believe are not U.S. citizens, returned from Germany before the travel ban. All fans who attended the 16 Carat Gold tournament this past weekend would not be allowed to attend WrestleMania week if it goes on as scheduled.

Because of this, it is impossible for wXw to get talent into the U.S. right now and its show over WrestleMania week has been canceled.

Due to pressure from WWE, David Starr (Max Barsky, 29), who was in many people’s eyes the most valuable wrestler on the European scene this past year, is now out of both Progress and wXw, companies where he was one of the most pushed stars.

According to those close to the situation, the WWE pressure will not affect his standing with OTT out of Ireland, where he is the current world champion.

Starr had quietly not been booked by Progress since the end of last year, and his name also stopped being mentioned in any commentary of the shows on their streaming service. But the situation became public on 3/7 when Starr lost a match to wXw champion Bobby Gunns in a career in wXw vs. title match that he was assumed to be winning ...

Starr and wXw management made the decision, which from all accounts neither wanted to make, due to pressure from WWE. Neither side wanted to publicly discuss the situation with Starr saying he didn’t want to talk about it because he really loves wXw so much ...

This is the first time we’re aware of that WWE has pressured companies not to use talent that wasn’t with a rival promotion like AEW.

While the reasons were the same, the belief from Progress is that they were not that unhappy regarding the pressure to no longer use him, and with that, he wasn’t that unhappy about no longer working there. But Starr and wXw did not want to stop working together.

The belief is that WWE pressured the companies that they have working agreements with to no longer use Starr was because of his pro-union voice and attempts in the U.K. to get wrestlers to join the Equity union, the trade union for performers, similar to SAG in the U.S.

Thus far, two promotions, Eve and Riot Cabaret, have agreed to adopt the Equity union’s negotiated code of conduct policy ...

He’s been critical of WWE calling its employees independent contractors and of Sinclair Broadcasting politics ...

The belief is that WWE made the calls in December, at which point Progress had him lose to Eddie Dennis and Jimmy Havoc on the way out. This came after Progress had put him over in their Strong Style 16 tournament. The key is that WWE did not pressure Progress to no longer use Havoc, even though he’s an AEW wrestler.

The December date would be before Starr and Gabe Sapolsky went back-and-forth on Twitter, with Starr talking about Evolve using some wrestlers who work for free based on getting exposure or that Evolve doesn’t pay wrestlers well that it has under contract.

Those close to the situation also discount Starr stomping on Walter’s NXT UK championship belt while doing an angle, although the belief is that it added fuel to the fire of WWE encouraging people not to book him and push him any longer. This happened on an OTT show last summer, and OTT had claimed the spot was something Starr did on his own and not something planned.

Clearly WWE and wXw reached an agreement to allow them to write Starr out in a career vs. title program rather than just stop using him.

As far as WrestleMania goes, there have been only two key changes in the past week, both involving women. The women’s tag title match at press time is now a three-way with the Kabuki Warriors defending against both Beth Phoenix & Natalya and Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss.

The Smackdown women’s title match went through different forms and discussions including talk of Bayley vs. Sasha Banks and shooting an angle with them. Eventually that is still the plan, but wasn’t until later in the year. As of two weeks ago it was to be Bayley vs. Naomi, but now it’s a six-way with Bayley, Banks, Naomi, Lacey Evans, Carmella and one more name which wasn’t finalized.

Mandy Rose in some form is supposed to be involved in the Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler match.

Zayn and Strowman are likely to be in the IC title match, although in what form isn’t known. There are also both Raw and Smackdown tag team titles and the U.S. title in play. Most of the top pushed stars are accounted for other than Sheamus, King Corbin and Daniel Bryan. Although they still need some talent for both the men’s and women’s Battle Royal.

WWE Smackdown on 3/6 did 2,456,000 viewers and a 0.7 in 18-49. It was down 8.6 percent in viewers over the high mark the week before from John Cena’s appearance ...

Last year on the same Friday night FOX averaged 3,242,000 viewers and 0.63 in 18-49, so down 24.2 percent in viewers and up 11.1 percent in 18-49.

Due to the news, pro wrestling took a hit on 3/11, although for whatever reason news coverage far more greatly affected AEW than NXT. This probably says something about the divergence in both audiences but I’m not exactly sure what, but it’s very evident ...

AEW did 766,000 viewers and a 0.26 in 18-49, a drop of 15.5 percent in viewers and 25.7 percent in 18-49. NXT did 697,000 viewers and a 0.21 in 18-49, drops of just 2.9 percent in viewers and 8.7 percent in 18-49. At press time no rating for Miz & Mrs. was available because it was not in the top 150 for the night.

AEW was 25th for the night in the demo, trailing nine entertainment shows and the rest either news or basketball (which was huge in the news) related ... NXT was 42nd in the demo for the night.

AEW’s losses were all younger viewers. The show did a 0.11 in 12-17 (down 31.3 percent), 0.18 in 18-34 (down 25.0 percent), 0.34 in 35-49 (down 26.1 percent) and 0.33 in 50+ (down 2.9 percent) ...

NXT wasn’t hurt at all in any age group but 18-34. It did a 0.10 in 12-17 (same as last week), 0.12 in 18-34 (down 25.0 percent), 0.30 in 35-49 (same as last week) and 0.34 in 50+ (same as last week).

Some additional ratings notes regarding the 3/4 television shows ...

The head-to-head numbers, removing the overrun, were 906,000 to 709,000 ...

However, the Roderick Strong vs. Velveteen Dream cage match did grow a record 271,000 new viewers overall and 93,000 in 18-49 as soon as AEW ended.

AEW won all eight quarters and only in the second quarter was the gap less than 100,000 viewers and for the last 30 minutes the gap was more than 300,000.

The show started with AEW with 902,000 viewers and 435,000 in 18-49 for the Jon Moxley/Inner Circle talk. NXT did 782,000 viewers and 321,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of the Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox cage match.

In the second quarter, AEW had Colt Cabana & Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky vs. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno & John Silver & Alex Reynolds and lost 23,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49. NXT had the ending of the cage match, a Finn Balor promo and a feature on Rhea Ripley at Raymond James Stadium, and gained 14,000 viewers and gained 20,000 in 18-49.

In the third quarter, AEW had the end of the eight-man tag, and a piece of the tag title match from Revolution and lost 37,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49. NXT had Shotzi Blackheart vs. Chelsea Green and a Keith Lee-Cameron Grimes promo segment, and lost 40,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49.

In the fourth quarter, AEW had the Cody-Jake Roberts segment which lost 19,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49 ... NXT had Austin Theory vs. Isaiah Scott angle and the beginning of Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, and it lost 99,000 viewers 47,000 in 18-49.

In the fifth quarter, AEW had Pac vs. Chuck Taylor and post-match stuff that included Cody, Matt Jackson, Pentagon, Fenix, Orange Cassidy and Adam Page, and gained 100,000 viewers and 45,000 in 18-49. NXT had the rest of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Lorcan & Burch and the attack by the Grizzled Young Vets on Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne, which gained 47,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49.

In the sixth quarter, AEW had QT Marshall vs. Jake Hager and the post-match angle there and a video package promoting the main event and gained 26,000 viewers and 55,000 in 18-49. NXT with Isaiah Scott vs. Austin Theory lost 4,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49.

In the seventh quarter, AEW had the beginning of Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin and the rest of the Inner Circle beating down Jon Moxley, and lost 13,000 viewers but gained 2,000 in18-49. NXT had the Mauro Ranallo interview with Johnny Gargano and promotion of the second cage match and lost 77,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49.

In the final quarter, AEW with the rest of Jericho & Guevara vs. Allin plus another beatdown of Jon Moxley, they gained 56,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49. NXT with Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong in a cage gained 30,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49. In that quarter, AEW had 992,000 viewers and 524,000 in 18-49, its peak in both categories for th e show. NXT had its second lowest quarter, with 653,000 viewers and 284,000 in 18-49.

WWE is still in talks with people regarding a PPV deal. They’ve announced WrestleMania as being on the network which would indicate the belief they aren’t close enough on the deal to not make that announcement. The only thing we’ve heard is WWE is seeking a very high number for the deal

After Wilson and Barrios were fired, people in the company continually hinted that something almost as big was being kept quiet that happened in December but said it would have to come out when the company made it clear. The company never made it clear, but a recent SEC filing when giving Levesque’s new title essentially opened the door for questions. Levesque was the head of talent relations, his main job, but also oversaw many other departments in his role as EVP of Talent, Live Events and Creative. So he was moved away from being in charge of talent and his main duties are now NXT, selling NXT TV rights overseas and expanding NXT globally. Brad Blum, Vince McMahon’s Chief of Staff, took over Levesque’s other duties as Executive Vice President of Operations, overseeing the divisions Levesque was formerly overseeing. It’s a change. There are those internally and externally who have called it a quiet demotion. The labeling of his new title gives the impression that he’s the guy negotiating with talent, but that is one of the things he was removed from doing. Mark Carrano no longer reports to Levesque and now reports to Blum. Either way, it is curious that this was kept quiet for nearly four months

There was a photo that surfaced this past week of Ronda Rousey and Cain Velasquez which led to rumors Rousey was going to be back for WrestleMania. What we were told is that, simply by coincidence, both were at the office at the same time, saw each other and got a photo together and then Velasquez tweeted it out for the world to see. Both were in Stamford for meetings with WWE on a number of items. Lots of talent is being brought in for meetings with multiple departments as there has been a lot of corporate shifting around and changes made back in December. That said, that photo caused quite the stir in the office as whatever the plan are for Rousey, her being in the office was supposed to be top secret to the point nobody was supposed to know but a few people, and that includes key people in the company as it was supposed to be that hush-hush. It was said by one person that Vince McMahon was freaking out badly over it knowing he couldn’t fire the “leaker” since it was Velasquez who didn’t know any better, but another said that was overblown and people were more laughing about it than freaking out about it

This has quietly gone without much notice, because nobody pays attention to 205 Live. But after all these years, WWE is now taping 205 Live first, before Smackdown, and starting its East Coast shows at 7:15 p.m. They are taping usually two matches, cutting the time back on 205 Live, and then taping Smackdown, and doing one dark match main event after the show. This always should have been the case, because 205 Live has played to dead crowds for the most part for a long time. The problem is now the show has been so devalued that while people no longer leave during the show like in the past, the matches still aren’t getting much heat

Regarding Matt Hardy, the Freeing the Delete video, according to an interview he did with PW Insider, had in his mind three different possible endings. One would have involved Undertaker, one with Bray Wyatt and the third with the Young Bucks. He said that when he started the series he was expecting to end up in WWE. He said they talked but he knows at 45 that his time in the business isn’t long as an active competitor and he also needs a minimal in-ring schedule. Basically he said he left on good terms but they had him slotted at a certain level and it ended the way it did. He noted that WWE had talked with him about doing more episodes of House Hardy for the WWE Network as late as January but the trigger was never pulled because they didn’t want to film a show and not know where his creative was going so that the character he played would be obsolete before it would air. That also may have been the impetus in the sense they wouldn’t do the show without him signing a new deal. He also talked of an idea he must have pitched to Smackdown where he’d head a stable of some of the more underutilized guys there like Gable and Crews. He said that as of the weekend he was still a free agent. But the reality is it would be quite the swerve on the Young Bucks to have them show up in his video and then him go elsewhere. I do know that this past week everyone expected him to end up in AEW, and really has for some time. He said that it was talked to him about taking the Orton thing further and him coming back for revenge, but again, that would have meant him signing a new deal. And both angles on Raw were meant as him being written off and not written for he and Orton to go forward. The first was the farewell but the decision was then made because the first popped a quarter and was well received, that he still had time on his deal and they could do it again. It was absolutely meant as a burial on the way out and quite frankly, couldn’t have been stronger, but the reality is those things don’t work today in burying like in another era because fans see things much differently

Emperor Smeat

03-13-2020, 07:41 PM

The Sheets (Friday News Edition):

The wrestling world continues to react to the coronavirus outbreak and the large gathering bans happening around the United States.

NXT

Friday's show in Venice, Florida, was canceled as Sarasota County canceled all public events. That news was not formally announced by their or WWE's Twitter account as of this writing.
Saturday's show in Daytona, Florida, at the Midtown Cultural & Educational Center was also canceled by the mayor. However, you can still buy tickets on Ticketmaster as of this wriing, nor has WWE or NXT officially announced it.

Other Shows

The Bullet Club Beach Party set for Mania week in Tampa, FL, has been canceled.
The Kevin Owens Inside The Ropes One Night Only event has been rescheduled for June 5th in Glasgow, Scotland.
The EVOLVE March 27-29 Recruitment Camp in Port Richey, FL, is still happening as scheduled.

Full Sail University, the home of WWE NXT's weekly broadcasts, announced today that they are shutting down all classes, labs and "group events" going forward due to the coronavirus outbreak, which was declared a National Emergency today in the United States.

NXT's live Wednesday night tapings at Full Sail Live are also suspended. PWInsider.com has confirmed that going forward, NXT will be broadcasting out of the WWE Performance Center, as it did this past week due to a conflict that prevented them from running Full Sail. While WWE did bring in three bus-loads of fans for this past week's taping, it is not likely they would do that for additional tapings at the PC, instead taping with no fans present and only "essential" personnel in house. The plan is to return to Full Sail when that is feasible.

WWE is proceeding with Friday Night SmackDown at its new location at the WWE Performance Center tonight with no fans in attendance ... It is going to be a very strange show beyond the empty arena, the company must move ahead with the build toward WrestleMania even though that event must be in question.

Given the lengths that many sports leagues have taken, WWE hasn’t come off well with their aversion to acknowledging reality and the potential health risks for its talent. For the performers, the idea of traveling across the country in this climate – even for empty arena shows – must be worrisome on top of their given line of work coming into close contact with others as a requisite job requirement. If it gets to a point where one performer tests positive for the virus, it will virtually shut down the ability to do shows as it would affect the locker room that would need to be tested and quarantined as we have seen in the NBA with two positive cases. We are not talking about an era in the company where you didn’t get paid if you didn’t work and while talent will take a degree of a hit without live events, it isn’t like they won’t be paid and would probably put themselves and their families at ease being home and not traveling the country and potentially bringing a virus back to them.

I don’t envy the decision-makers and some leeway should be provided but there comes a point where you must watch the example set by other competing sports leagues and franchises. It is not to say WWE couldn’t continue to produce programming for the USA Network and Fox during a down period from outside the ring content, a ‘broadcast premiere’ of last year’s WrestleMania, a sit-down interview with Vince McMahon and other key figures addressing the crisis.

A decision regarding WrestleMania should have been made this week as delaying the decision only causes more anxiety for those reliant on the show happening. It appears that neither WWE nor the City of Tampa wants to be the ones to tell fans that Christmas is canceled but Santa can’t make any toys if he’s sick. There are also the financial implications that need to be explored of who is on the hook for what costs if they pull the plug, but one side needs to take the reigns on this.

I truly empathize with the countless independent promoters and wrestlers that have so much riding on this week of shows happening. They are in a painful limbo as they await the dominoes to fall and rides on whether WWE proceeds ahead. Frankly, that decision may be taken away from WWE and a ruling is made that it just cannot happen.
Post Wrestling's John Pollock had an interesting take on WWE's handling of the coronavirus situation in general. In regards to his idea of WWE doing "out of the ring" content for USA Network, TNT did that for their first Inside The NBA show following the NBA season's postponement where it was just interviews and discussion about the virus and its impact on the league.

Major League Wrestling's combined event in partnership with AAA tonight in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, the AAA vs. MLW Super Series at Auditorio Fausto Gutierrez will go on as scheduled, but without a pretty major person. MLW owner Court Bauer will be missing his first ever MLW show as he's been in the middle of negotiating what we are told is "high level TV talks" and has been back and forth between LA and NYC working on a deal. In his absence, Konnan and Mr Saint Laurent (head of MLW Talent Relations) will be running the show with Bauer communicating via Facetime.

We are told MLW has enough content in the can already that after tonight's taping, they expect to be able to continue to deliver new episodes to BeIN Sport weekly without a problem.

Given the way things are going with the coronavirus outbreak, MLW is mapping out numerous contingency plans ranging from the next six weeks to the next six months, attempting to plan ahead.

Roman Reigns liked a tweet from a fan who showed concern for his compromised immune system due to his battle with leukemia and performing at WrestleMania

Dear @WWERomanReigns,
Please take extra precautions and sit out WrestleMania if you have to. As a cancer survivor, you are already likely to have a compromised immune system. ????????
Sincerely,
A concerned fan ????????
— ????J0SE (@JoseCienAlmas) March 12, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/JoseCienAlmas/status/1238213372773945345

WWE Network News is reporting that more 1993 WCW Saturday Night is coming to WWE Network This Monday, March 16 as a part of the March classic content drop

Q - Have you heard anything about the tiered WWE Network finally taken shape and being officially launched?

A - We have been told that there has been no real indication internally as to when they will launch. The original plan was to launch in January but then that was delayed.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

David Bixenspan has a feature on VICE regarding the impact a cancellation of WrestleMania Weekend will have on independent promotions and conventions. The article features comments from Brett Lauderdale of Game Changer Wrestling, wrestler Chris Dickinson, and the most sobering account from Michael Bochicchio of Highspots who stated that a full cancellation would likely result in the promoter having to sell his house.
Link: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkevx7/a-wrestlemania-coronavirus-shutdown-would-be-a-catastrophe-for-indie-wrestling-wwe

Michael Bochiccio at Highspots did a video Q&A on the current situation involving WrestleCon for WrestleMania Weekend amidst the COVID-19 crisis. The promoter of the convention stated they have not canceled the event yet due to the liability he would assume by canceling it on his own. He stated that the hotel fee alone by canceling now would bankrupt WrestleCon and potentially bankrupt Highspots, as well. He added that he has put in close to $200,000 for this convention and assured anyone that has purchased a ticket to the convention they will receive a full refund.

EVOLVE has said they will follow the lead of WrestleMania regarding their shows in Tampa that weekend and are still scheduled to proceed as of this writing.

WrestleTalk announced that it will do a show on March 16 to help support independent wrestlers whose bookings have been impacted by the coronavirus. The show will feature matches from Will Ospreay, Bea Priestley, David Starr, Rampage Brown and more. Full details here.
Link: https://wrestletalk.com/news/wrestletalk-will-ospreay-present-wrestletalk-showcase-no-fans-monday/

Although he plays a malicious character with no remorse when he's inside the squared circle, Sami Callihan is urging the wrestling community to come together like never before during the Coronavirus outbreak and says that he will not be appearing at any wrestling events until the global pandemic is more contained.

Making the statement on his Twitter account, this comes amid uncertainty surrounding wrestling event set to take place during WrestleMania 36 weekend in Tampa, Florida. Sami says that at this time it is not about characters or storylines but about keeping one another safe.
Link: https://twitter.com/TheSamiCallihan/status/1238313618342662145

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Relocates Two More Dynamites From Milwaukee and St. Louis (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-relocates-two-more-dynamites-from-milwaukee-and-st-louis/)
WWE Officially Moves Monday’s Raw to the Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/mondays-raw-reportedly-also-moved-to-the-performance-center/)
The Revival Possibly Done With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/the-revival-possibly-done-with-wwe/)
Hangman Page Says He’ll No Longer Be Able to Accept Beer From Fans (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/hangman-page-says-hell-no-longer-be-able-to-accept-beer-from-fans/)
Production of WWE Backstage Suspended Due to Coronavirus (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/production-of-wwe-backstage-suspended-due-to-coronavirus/)

Emperor Smeat

03-17-2020, 08:43 PM

The Sheets:

At least for this week, whether it was people needing entertainment or a combination of airing the Royal Rumble and having Steve Austin, Undertaker, and Edge on the show, a Raw almost devoid of first-run wrestling did 2.34 million viewers.

It was the best number for the show since February 17, and up eight percent from last week.

Raw still took the top three spots in 18-49 with a 0.76 average, with no cable news show beating 0.55.

Raw continued its daylight savings time pattern of the second hour being the highest rated, perhaps because of the re-airing of this year's men's Royal Rumble match. Austin was saved for last, and there was a very significant second to third hour drop of 15 percent ...

Raw was down 13 percent from the same week last year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.41 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.49 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.11 million viewers

Georgia Smith, the daughter of WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020 member Davey Boy Smith noted on her Twitter account that she had spoken with WWE and that the company is hoping to hold the postponed Hall of Fame ceremony, originally slated for Thursday 4/2 in Tampa over Summerslam weekend this August. Summerslam is slated for 8/23 in Boston, MA at the TDBank Garden Arena.

The Tampa Bay Local Organizing Committee issued the following statement:

"Our community has waited 36 years to host WrestleMania and while we are saddened that this unforeseen situation has led us to today's announcement, this is totally the right call for the security and safety of everyone involved. A huge thank you to all our local leaders and our friends at WWE, as we collectively worked through the unprecedented fluidity of the last few weeks. The Tampa Bay-WWE partnership has never been stronger."

Raymond James Stadium’s Twitter account has information up about ticket refunds for WrestleMania 36. Refunds for WrestleMania week events are available at the point of purchase and those who purchased their tickets through Ticketmaster will be refunded in 30 days.
Link: https://twitter.com/RJStadium/status/1239914442688802825?s=20

As noted, the current State of Emergency the City of New York is under makes it impossible for WWE to run their scheduled event at Madison Square Garden on Sunday 3/22.

We are told that as of two weeks ago, WWE had locked in a Saturday 6/27 return to the Garden, so it may be that date is announced as the replacement with ticketholders being able to use their tickets on that date.

The 6/27 date was put on hold prior to the current coronavirus outbreak.

Given the vortex the world is in right now however, anything is possible and subject to change, as recent days have shown. WWE and MSG have yet to officially announce the 3/22 postponement, but it will 100% not be taking place on that date.

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide announced today that they are postponing all of their events until further notice due to the virus pandemic.

Last night was the first time a Royal Rumble match has aired on the USA Network since the very first Rumble, which aired as a USA Network special in January 1988.

Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet noted on Twitter that in order to enter the WWE Performance Center, WWE talent, crew and those alike have to pass a screening conducted by a team of physicians.

Post Stock News has information up about a lawsuit that WWE is involved in with Tilray, Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and both claimed that WWE has made misleading statements about their respective companies. Inovio is involved because they’re claiming WWE made misleading statements about the company’s development of a vaccine for the coronavirus which led to them losing a number of shareholders.
Link: https://potstocknews.com/class-action-update-for-wwe-tlry-and-ino-levi-korsinsky-llp-reminds-investors-of-class-actions-on-behalf-of-shareholders

With the news making the rounds that WrestleMania is taking place from the Performance Center, former multi-time WWE Champion and WWE Backstage contributor CM Punk tweeted the following about the news:

“Well that’s one way to make sure Roman finally gets not booed and nobody chants for meeeeeeee.”

Per PWInsider, the truck that Becky Lynch drove to the Performance Center on RAW was supposed to be a part of WrestleMania AXXESS and incorporated into her WrestleMania 36 entrance.

To promote their ‘KAYfABE’ wrestling show, Lita and Gail Kim spoke with Cultaholic for an interview. Gail and Lita opened up about their time in WWE, specifically having to do Bra & Panties matches. They were not too fond of the matches and Gail shared that her first house show match in WWE was a Bra & Panties match and she was terrified of what was to come.

Gail Kim: “I was mortified, because I never had to do that on the independents and it was my very first house show match with WWE, and it wasn’t televised, thank goodness. But, it was… I just didn’t even know how to go about it. I had to be told how to do it and it wasn’t my comfort zone. We’ll just say that and so when you’re not comfortable, you’re not gonna perform your best.”

Lita: “I feel like the girls would really bond over that because no one was stoked on it and so when they would go out there, it’s like we would all kind of just run to the back, we’d cover ourselves up and roll our eyes and be like, ‘Moving on!’”

Chavo Guerrero joined The Wrestling INC Daily podcast and he was asked about the Latino representation on Monday Night RAW with Rey Mysterio, Angel Garza, Humberto Carrillo, Zelina Vega and Andrade all being intertwined in a storyline and spotlighted. Chavo thinks highly of all the aforementioned individuals and thinks it’s good that they are able to put money in their pockets as well as bring in money for WWE.

“You know, those guys are all super, uber talented and there’s no hiding that a lot of great talent has come out of Mexico before and not only Eddie, but so many like a Mil Mascaras and all of these people that are box office stars. Not just great wrestlers but drew a lot of money, and that’s kind of what it comes down to really. A lot of people can put on good matches but if no one’s really paying to see it, WWE will not get behind it in a sense because it’s a business. That’s what wrestling is. To see these guys and see Rey [Mysterio] come out and kind of, to me, elevate a lot of these guys and now these guys are just starting to draw money, it’s great to see. It’s great to see that these guys have the opportunity to go out there and not only put on incredible matches, but some money in their pockets and make some money for the organization. I love that. I love to see that. You look at Alberto Del Rio, he was a pretty big draw then. He did alright for himself.”

During his appearance on the show, Chavo also revealed that the filming for Netflix’s GLOW series has been postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

After briefly tumbling to just under $30 per share, WWE stock recovered and closed at $32.75 per share when the market closed.

Fightful has learned that AEW Dynamite will take place at Daily's Place in Jacksonville as originally planned. This past week, the City of Jacksonville twitter indicated that all city-owned venues would be closed, including Daily's Place. However, we've heard from the AEW side that the city's twitter account apparently thought a public event was being referred to.

AEW Dynamite will proceed at Daily's Place as a closed door event with no fans, and the city of Jacksonville has not had an issue with that.

The official WWE twitter account got social media talking on Tuesday afternoon by tweeting an upside-down message that read "The Truth Will Be Heard." The account also changed the Twitter header to a blank white image and the profile picture to a blank black image. The bio was also changed to say "Expose. W a t c h i n g. //"

The tweet was quickly deleted and the profile has returned to normal.

wtf??? pic.twitter.com/PERETZfLTo

— sarah ٭ (@flairsnia) March 17, 2020

This is what happened for those who missed it. @WWE posted this and their bio looked like this & a minute later it was back to normal.

hacked or we're being worked pic.twitter.com/uR1VgFr0NZ

— The BLHW (@StephanieHypes) March 17, 2020

It's unknown if the account was hacked or if WWE is running some sort of angle.

IMPACT Wrestling is currently running a hacker gimmick where Reality Is Lost took over the IMPACT account at the end of last Tuesday's episode. WWE is also doing a hacker gimmick with Malcolm Bivens trying to hack into The Bump every week.
Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/wwe-tweets-and-deletes-truth-will-be-heard

Chris Jericho chatted with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to promote VICE’s Dark Side Of The Ring episode about Chris Benoit that premieres on March 24th. Jericho shared that a great portion of the documentary focuses in on how much Eddie Guerrero’s passing impacted Chris Benoit.

“There was a huge connection between Chris’ life and Eddie Guerrero’s life, and his death, so half the story is the story of Eddie and the other half is of Chris. I think we did the right way of portraying this, reminding everyone there were people behind this, not just sensational murder coverage. There is a story to tell of a friendship and a family, and a guy that was not a monster. This was someone you could trust and that was very respected in the wrestling community amongst his peers.”

Dark Side Of The Ring uploaded a teaser for the Chris Benoit episode of their series that premieres on March 24th.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New trailer for the 2-hour season premiere episode on Chris Benoit. <br><br>Tune-in March 24 at 9PM ET/PT on <a href="https://twitter.com/VICETV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vicetv</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/CraveCanada?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CraveCanada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmJericho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IAmJericho</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/mexwarrior?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mexwarrior</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JRsBBQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JRsBBQ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/VickieGuerrero?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VickieGuerrero</a> <a href="https://t.co/Q1kYiGN5rp">pic.twitter.com/Q1kYiGN5rp</a></p>— Dark Side of the Ring (@DarkSideOfRing) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarkSideOfRing/status/1239963873924354048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

Coronavirus Updates: UFC, USA Wrestling, AEW, GCW, WWN, WrestleCon, NJPW, & More Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/coronavirus-updates-ufc-usa-wrestling-aew-gcw-wwn-wrestlecon-njpw-more-indies/)
Ring of Honor Cancels All Shows Through May 31 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/ring-of-honor-cancels-all-shows-through-may-31/)
NXT to Have “Modified Format” This Week, Next Raw and SD Moved to PC (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/nxt-to-have-modified-format-this-week-next-raw-and-sd-moved-to-pc/)
Impact Cancels TNA Revival Show (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/impact-cancels-tna-revival-show/)
AEW Dynamite Episodes to Take Place on Closed Sets “Until Further Notice” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-dynamite-episodes-to-take-place-on-closed-sets-until-further-notice/)
NWA Cancels Crockett Cup PPV and NWA Powerrr Tapings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/nwa-cancels-crockett-cup-ppv-and-nwa-powerrr-tapings/)
Impact Cancels Two Shows Due to Coronavirus, Still Paying Talent (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/impact-cancels-two-shows-due-to-coronavirus-still-paying-talent/)

Emperor Smeat

03-18-2020, 07:33 PM

The Sheets:

The main event angle on last night's Impact included the announcement that Ken Shamrock is the newest member of the promotion's Hall of Fame.

It was hyped that last night's show would feature a "career announcement" from Shamrock. Josh Mathews revealed that Shamrock will join Impact Wrestling's Hall of Fame at Bound for Glory later this year.

A video package then played, with it including some footage from Shamrock's WWE career. It highlighted Shamrock being a former WWF Intercontinental Champion, Tag Team Champion, and submitting The Rock to win the 1998 King of the Ring. The footage said courtesy of WWE on it, and Impact also thanked WWE for it
Link: https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1240103416505999360

AEW has revealed this week's set of top-five roster rankings:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (7-0 singles record in 2020, 12-2-1 overall record)

Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record)
MJF (3-0 singles record in 2020, 8-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (1-0 singles record in 2020, 17-6 overall record)
Cody (4-1 singles record in 2020, 11-4-1 overall record)
PAC (3-2 singles record in 2020, 9-6-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-5 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-2 singles record in 2020, 6-5 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-2 singles record in 2020, 10-6 overall record)
Riho (3-2 singles record in 2020, 11-5 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 17-6 overall record for Omega, 13-8 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-8 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 15-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian)
Best Friends (3-2 tag team record in 2020, 9-12 overall record for Trent Barreta, 8-10 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
Private Party (2-1 tag team record in 2020, 6-11 overall record for Marq Quen, 6-11 overall record for Isiah Kassidy)

WWE has revealed the hosts for tonight's modified format edition of NXT.

Prior to tonight's NXT, WWE announced that the episode will be hosted by Triple H and Tom Phillips. WWE issued a statement yesterday noting that the show "will air as regularly scheduled in a modified format with elements ranging from in-depth character profiles and story breakdowns as well as never-before-seen interviews and content."

Triple H and Michael Cole did commentary for last Friday's SmackDown, while Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Jerry Lawler called Raw.

It was announced that Brandi Rhodes will be ring announcing as Justin Roberts was unable to make tonight's Dynamite taping in Florida:

If I gotta do it, I’m gonna do it my way. This’ll be fun, watch. ???? #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/aVoUMEc5PS
— The Brandalorian (@TheBrandiRhodes) March 18, 2020

Jim Ross noted on his social media that he's flown to Jacksonville, so that's where AEW will be broadcasting tonight. It will be from what has been termed a "closed set" so there will be no fans in attendance.

Before all the restrictions on public gatherings, there was a plan to charge $10 admission at Daily's Place and donate the entire live gate to charity.

As of yesterday, AEW was not planning to tape additional content beyond AEW Dynamite and AEW Dark as they want to continue to go live weekly.

The WWE 3/22 date at Madison Square Garden is now officially listed as postponed. They have not announced a replacement date but as we noted, there was a scheduled 6/27 date planned before the past few weeks happened.

If you need an idea of how massive the shut downs in New York City will be, the Hilton Hotel that hosted the 2004 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony and the 2019 Wrestlecon is shutting down indefinetly as of 3/20, closing all 1,878 rooms. It is the biggest hotel in all of New York City.

The New Japan Pro Wrestling website has an interview with Kota Ibushi. One of the topics bought up was the illness that forced him off New Japan's U.S. tour earlier this year. Some highlights:

What happened exactly - "I just felt absolutely terrible one day, and threw up two or three times. What can happen is that there’s this thin connective tissue between your stomach and your esophagus, and that can tear and get damaged. That’s Mallory-Weiss. (Syndrome)...Ibushi: Apparently a lot of college students get it. If they’re not used to alcohol and binge drink they throw up, and that sparks this issue. For me, it was probably the ‘flu that sparked the vomiting."

Having Two Illnesses at once: "Oh, it sucked. The flu alone sucked. I had this awful cough, and I felt a bunch of mucus in my throat. I thought I could clear it and couldn’t. Then I coughed really hard, about five or six times and all of a sudden there’s all this clotted blood on my hands....and I had a fever over 40 degrees at the time. I thought, ‘man, that’s it, I’m gonna die…' And my lower back was in so much pain. Enough where I was thinking ‘I don’t care if I die, as long as my back stops hurting’. Bear in mind, this was at 4AM on the day I was set to fly out to America."

Missing the tour: "Even if I’d dragged myself onto that plane, I’d be nothing but a hindrance to everybody. I wouldn’t be able to do anything, and if I felt terrible on the flight, I couldn’t just ask to be dropped off. It took two or three days for the fever to come down, but the symptoms stayed with me for a whole week. To be completely honest, I’m still a little sore in the stomach area, so I haven’t been drinking at all; I’m not a big drinker anyway."

The NWA also announced the following:

We also have opened up a special merchandise offer to help the roster and staff who have been affected by the COVID-19 suspension of events.

All profits from these five items will go directly to those staff and talents. NWA Logo Men’s Tank Top, NWA Powerrr Stack Men Tank Top, NWA Logo Women’s Tank Top, NWA Powerrr Stack Women’s Tank Top? and pre-orders of the new WE ARE NWA POWERRR T-Shirt
Link: https://www.nationalwrestlingalliance.com/shop

After receiving a cease and desist letter from WWE, Freelance Wrestling changed the name of their March 21st event from “In Your Warehouse” to “Warehourse Wars”.

Speaking to Commercial Appeal following Monday Night RAW at the Performance Center, Jerry Lawler stated that he’s not against WWE inserting crowd noises into the WrestleMania 36 matches to make the empty arena bouts more entertaining for those watching from home.

“I’ve been to (football) training camps where the players go through their practice sessions with loud music or crowd noise piped in. I don’t think it would hurt anything at all if they piped in some crowd noise behind the matches, and even explain it to the fans. It’ll make the matches more entertaining and it’ll make it easier for the performers themselves.”

Japan’s government officials are set to have a meeting about the Coronavirus and following that, STARDOM will have information on if fans will be able to attend their Cindarella tournament. The tournament is set for March 24th at Korakuen Hall.

Former WCW and longtime WWE referee Charles Robinson appeared on the Prime Time with Sean Mooney podcast for a two-part interview. In part one, Robinson revealed how his “Little Naitch” nickname and his friendship with Ric Flair kick-started. After Robinson met Flair at a wrestling show, he decided to start up a fan club and went to Flair’s house where he first came into contact with a young Charlotte Flair.

“Well it started out just going to the matches. Finally, the first time I think I met Ric was probably in the late 70s at a ballpark in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. He was having a match against Wahoo McDaniel, and during the intermission, I went down there just to say hi and he goes, ‘Kid, go buy me a Coke’. So he gave me a dollar bill, I went and got his Coke for 50 cents and went back down. That’s the first time I actually met him and got a photo and got the autograph which, unfortunately I don’t have anymore. You lose those things. But, then as time went on, I wanted to start up a Ric Flair fan club. So, I don’t recommend doing this but I found out where he lived and I went to his house, and I remember getting out of the car and Ashley [Charlotte Flair] was gosh, maybe five or six years old, and I come up and she goes, ‘I’m Ashley Fliehr. What are you doing here?’ That’s what I was basically,” Robinson agreed with Mooney jokingly calling him a stalker. “But I really wanted to start up a fan club. I thought it would be something great to do. I didn’t know about all the corporate things going on in WCW and such that you had to… you just can’t do that stuff. They own all the rights to that, but Ric was very, very nice. He did not have me arrested. He actually showed me the gym in his garage which was awesome, but for someone just to show up on your doorstep like that, hell, it was pretty amazing.”

LA Park has a brand new cooking show coming to MLW Fusion. Below is MLW's statement on LA Park:

If you follow LA Park on social media (which is mandatory), you may be familiar with his popular grilling videos.

Often cooking lakeside in Mexico, the legendary luchador is as mean in the ring as he is in the kitchen. That’s why MLW made the obvious move and offered the brawling luchador his own segment on MLW Fusion.

This weekend the chairman of MLW invites you to to join him on his new cooking segment on MLW Fusion tentatively called “¡LA Park en la cocina, pendejos!“

What will Park be cooking? No one dares to ask.

WWE's stock finished at $33.94 per share when the stock market closed.

TPWW Frontpage:

Scott Steiner Appears at Indie Show, Talks About His Health Scare (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/scott-steiner-appears-at-indie-show-talks-about-his-health-scare/)

Emperor Smeat

03-19-2020, 10:16 PM

The Sheets:

On a night where both companies took different approaches to the idea of running a show with no fans, AEW Dynamite scored a big ratings success with their version of an empty arena show.

Dynamite averaged 932,000 viewers on Wednesday night, up 22 percent from last week. With news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic dominating the cable ratings, Dynamite finished 20th in the 18-49 demo. That said, the rating in that category was a 0.35, up 35 percent from last week.

The viewership was the best number for Dynamite since January 15.

NXT, on the other hand, presented a show with no live wrestling action and video packages building up their current feuds. It averaged 542,000 viewers, down 22 percent from last week. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.16 rating, dropping all the way to 81st in that category.

The viewership was the lowest to date on USA Network. The 18-49 demo number was the second lowest, trailing only the January 1 episode, which was a Best Of show that also featured the NXT year-end awards.

Detailed demo ratings for NXT are not available since the show finished outside the top 50. For Dynamite, the strongest demo was men 18-49, where it actually tied for seventh overall on cable with a 0.47 rating.

On this week’s episode of The Bellas Podcast, Daniel Bryan mentioned wanting to reduce his wrestling schedule when his contract comes up: “WWE has been great. They’re gonna give me six weeks paternity leave, which so few places in the United States do that. So I’ll get to be home that first six weeks. But then after that, it’s not long until my contract is up. We’ve been talking about what we do from there. To me, in my mind, it’s almost like, I think I’m just done being a full-time wrestler. I love being a dad. I will always love wrestling, and I always want to do wrestling. But when I say always do wrestling, that means maybe once a month or once every couple months.”

In an update from something I wrote last night, the word internally is that AEW Dynamite will indeed move forward with the Blood and Guts match ASAP. There were rumblings it would be pushed back last night after the taping last night but we are hearing now that it will be happening soon as AEW feels its important to have the match take place as advertised since fans are expecting that storyline to climax.

For those who have asked, we are told everyone who entered AEW's taping last night was examined and checked out by the company's medical staff (headed by Dr. Sampson, the doctor who saved Jerry Lawler's life several years ago) before they were allowed to enter the facility. As noted last night, everyone who appeared did so voluntarily after being told they could skip the taping and still be paid. Those who did not make the taping (or who miss future tapings) will not have it held against them and will be paid as if they appear.

Matt Hardy's music on last night's AEW Dynamite was written and performed by his wife, Rebecca Hardy.

MGM Resorts is stating they will resume live events in mid-May, which would technically mean Double or Nothing 2020 would still be officially on.

Brodie Lee was always planned as the Exalted One once AEW confirmed he would be free and coming to them. AEW leaned into the tease that it would be Matt Hardy to help mask Lee's debut.

Last week I asked numerous WWE sources why they didn’t have some employees or trainees in the seats at the PC to make some noise during the matches. They all said the same thing, they were not allowed. They couldn’t have people in the crowd and they had to perform in front of an empty area. WWE is not under the radar the way that AEW is (or maybe was) so they can’t violate rules. They are also publicly traded while AEW isn’t. As Mike reported on the site last night, it’s clear AEW realizes that what they did last night may be a one time only thing. The city or state or TNT itself may say you can’t do that again. That is why all of the graphics didn’t say “next week” when they talked about upcoming matches.

All of the interviews that were featured on last night's episode of WWE NXT were filmed on Tuesday at the WWE Performance Center.

Triple H and Tom Phillips' wrap-around segments were shot at WWE's TV HQ in Stamford.

Once that material was filmed, WWE's editing team worked with a frenzy to get the episode put together in time for it to air on time on the USA Network. We are told that they were literally down to the wire and got the episode completed 100% not long before they were scheduled to air.

A few readers have asked why NXT didn't mention Wrestlemania has morphed into a two night broadcast. We are told the content that aired last night had already been taped before that decision was made.

The Main Event, the first WWE Studios-Netflix collaboration will be debuting on the streaming service on 4/10.

As PWInsider.com exclusively broke back in February 2019, WWE Studios had been working develop new, original feature films in conjunction with Netflix, with plans to release them via the streaming service. The films will be directed towards family audiences.

The Main Event tells the story of a ten-year old boy who is bullied but dreams of growing up to become a WWE professional wrestler. However, he gets to live his dream earlier when he discovers the secret to having super-strength in his breakfast cereal, becoming "The Spaghetti Kid." The screenplay features small roles for Keith Lee, Sheamus, The Miz and Bray Wyatt, with a number of references to WWE NXT as well.

WrestleCon noted on Twitter that they wanted to book Shingo Takagi vs. Brodie Lee for WrestleMania but Lee’s “new boss” didn’t want him wrestling in Tampa. The tweet has since been deleted. Lee made his All Elite Wrestling debut on the March 18th episode of Dynamite and was revealed as “The Exalted One” of Dark Order.

Alberto El Patron made an appearance on the talk show Nos Cayó La Noche and it was during this appearance that El Patron said he’s been in communication with WWE about a potential return. Fightful Select reached out to WWE about said comments and the sports-entertainment company denied those claims. Another source reiterated to the site that they would not do anything to make Paige uncomfortable which includes having El Patron around.

Former WWE wrestler Zeda Zhang reveals why WWE's expansion into the Chinese market did not do well.

In an interview on the Pro And Bro Wrestling Podcast, Zhang talked about her time in WWE and said she was headed for training at the WWE Performance Center earlier than perhaps expected because they wanted to get a head start on expanding into the Chinese market. However, WWE's attempt to push the Chinese wrestlers it had on its roster stopped when a live event tour in the country did not go over so well.

"Talking to staff there who handled the behind the scenes stuff, they always say that at the end of the day it's a business. If they can't use you for something, the timing, the market stuff, you can't even control. They have to release you. The reason why they pulled me so early, like six months early, was because the Chinese were coming and because I'm Chinese, they wanted to push me. They were trying to get into China and it didn't work so well. The first six months were amazing, we had our own camera crew, they filmed us for promos all the time. We were the only people that had our camera crew filming us for content to push in China. They went on tour over there and it didn't go over so well [and because of that], our camera crew was gone. No one's paying attention to us now," Zhang said.

Zhang then spoke about why she believes WWE's expansion into the Chinese market did not go over as well as the company had hoped. Zhang said WWE tried to mimic the NBA's massive success in China, but that WWE's wrestling didn't quite fit well with the people over there and that they did not have a firm grasp or understanding of Chinese culture to succeed.

"WWE is trying to get into China because they wanted to copy the NBA and their success. But the problem is, they don't know the culture very well and you got to think about Chinese history with their kung fu and they're watching wrestling. The style doesn't fit with what they like. They think that it's too fake and when they had their show out there, I guess since it was TVs, some people might not have tried so hard and some fans were just saying, 'This sh*t is so fake' and it's embarrassing for the Chinese talent that got to go over there. It's that and also China is very prideful of their culture and so they want to show something that has more than just a Chinese face," Zhang said.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Planning to Tape Multiple Shows Over Next Week, May Tape WrestleMania Matches (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-planning-to-tape-multiple-shows-over-next-week-may-tape-wrestlemania-matches/)
There Will Reportedly Be No Battle Royals at WrestleMania This Year (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/there-will-reportedly-be-no-battle-royals-at-wrestlemania-this-year/)
WrestleMania Will Reportedly Take Place in Multiple Locations (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wrestlemania-will-reportedly-take-place-in-multiple-locations/)
Matt Hardy Comments on Joining AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/matt-hardy-comments-on-joining-aew/)

Emperor Smeat

03-20-2020, 02:25 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE is also insistent on running WrestleMania, which will now be spread over two nights, 4/4 and 4/5, from a number of different locations with no fans, including the Performance Center in Orlando.

From what we are told, the primary location both nights will be the Performance Center, but there were to be a few gimmick matches shot on different locations outside those walls as of 3/17, but that was also subject to change by the next day.

To show how late a decision this was, WWE released the two days on 3/18, and the multiple locations a few hours later. On the 3/18 NXT show, which aired after both announcements were made, but clearly the Tom Phillips and HHH wrap-arounds were taped earlier in the day, they were still talking about WrestleMania being one show on 4/5.

The multiple locations is to allow a number of people to be there while not exceeding 50 people in any location ...

There was talk last week of delaying the show until 6/7 and while that may be earlier than everything is contained and there is no guarantee that date would be viable, delaying the show until you can have a large gathering seemed like the obvious solution.

At this point you really have to question Vince McMahon with the idea of giving up revenue of $20 million or more and allowing fans to see the biggest event of the year live. Many have. We’re told that with so much uncertainty, and the fact there would be no for sure timetable, he made the call that he did. It was a shocking call because it removes the fans and the spectacle from the show, which is really what WrestleMania is about.

It also devastated a number of smaller companies piggy-backing off the event. Some may have been, but if we go with the idea of, say an August Mania week, many of these companies also could have re-arranged their schedules. In many cases, with money outlaid for the weekend and no insurance, many are devastated. From an economic standpoint, at least right now, things are terrible for everyone, but it’s the most horrible for those who made their living from the business and are not under contract to one of the major companies. It’s the people who are the backbone of the future of the business.

When it comes to PPV, WWE officials have told us it will be different depending on the system. The idea is that whatever price would have been charged for WrestleMania, probably between $70 and $80, in some systems will be the charge and you get both shows, while other systems will offer the shows individually and collectively, and if you order individually, you would get the one night for half of the two-night price.

The announcement of it being on the network and PPV is also that McMahon hasn’t been able to reach a deal regarding selling the PPVs to a major streaming service. The events of the past week are going to put a halt to most new high dollar commitments by a major company so wherever talks may have been, no deal is likely to be made at this point. There had been no talk of late that such a deal was close, although talks were most definitely going on.

From what we understand, WrestleMania is far from finalized. All the matches announced are done. The belief is the show will change forms in some ways. At first we were told there is a good chance they will do less matches, but also told nothing is definite, and now with two dates and different locations, I’d expect 16 or more matches total.

The changes were all likely to be finalized this week. The lesser and as of yet unannounced Raw and Smackdown matches, including the Smackdown tag titles, the IC title, the U.S. title, Raw tag title and women’s tag titles are not etched in stone. Beth Phoenix & Natalya in the women’s tag title with Asuka & Kairi Sane and Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss is up in the air. They were still building Cross & Bliss for a title shot on Smackdown and Asuka was one of a relatively small number of people still used on Raw.

Edge vs. Randy Orton last man standing and Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens are official additions to Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE title, Bill Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal title, Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler for the Raw women’s title, John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt, Undertaker vs. A.J. Styles, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair for the NXT women’s title, and a six-way with names to be finalized for the Smackdown women’s title held by Bayley (Sasha Banks, Lacey Evans, Carmella and Naomi and one other person was the last word on this match but it’s also not finalized).

There are questions, notably the borders closing to Canada, regarding Lesnar, who lives in Saskatchewan. The belief right now is that Lesnar will be getting in and Raw this week in theory will show that one way or the other since he’s scheduled. For lesser names, like The Singhs, who still live in the Vancouver area, they tweeted that it looks like they won’t be able to work any time soon. People have asked about Owens, but he lives in Florida so there’s no issue ...

Rey Mysterio beating U.S. champion Andrade in a non-title match would seem to set up a title match. We are told that match is possible but not a lock as no matches not announced right now are locks any longer.
Newsletter was written before news popped up of the Battle Royals being tossed out so Mania might end up with 14 matches at most.

The WWE has also shut down the Performance Center as far as the talent training there. There is no training or working there other than it will be open if needed for television shoots ...

Vince McMahon wasn’t at Smackdown but was in communication all day. He and Kevin Dunn were at Raw ...

Raw, Smackdown and AEW all had a limited crew kept to essential personnel. Raw had a few writers, a few producers, McMahon, Dunn, Paul Heyman and a few support people.

Smackdown on 3/13 did a 1.59 rating and 2,470,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home), making it the most-watched sports program of the week. There were still sports that took place earlier in the week.

The number was almost exactly the same as the 2,456,000 viewers the week before under normal circumstances. This was the first empty arena show, and also had John Cena and the return of Jeff Hardy advertised. The show did the usual 0.7 in the 18-49 demo. Shark Tank was first at 0.8 and everything else on ABC and CBS all did 0.7s, but beat NBC. Smackdown had the lowest total viewers of all network shows. Not that it means a lot, but last year in the same time slot FOX averaged 3,253,000 viewers and a 0.6 in 18-49.

So this is the updated situation on The Revival, which was first reported by Fightful.com. As mentioned last week, the two have been taken off all bookings. Because both have already earned more than their contractual downside over the course of the contract, they are no longer being paid, in this case Dawson through early April and Wilder through mid-June. Both have asked for releases multiple times. This does put great economic pressure on them, since they have families, to sign. One would suspect the idea is to go to AEW and feud with the Young Bucks, because they’ve turned down one offer after another over the past year. The timing looked great for them to leave for AEW two weeks ago, but things have obviously changed greatly with AEW economically, as with everyone. Dash Wilder, whose real name is Dan Wheeler, has applied for a trademark of the name Cash Wheeler

AEW talent is scattered all over the country and some are flown in from overseas, which looks to mean they would not be available for some time, such as Pac, Yuka Sakazaki, Cima, T-Hawk, Lindaman, Bea Priestley and others. Riho and Hikaru Shida both now live in the U.S. ...

AEW ran with a light crew. The crew left the building after load-in before the wrestlers were allowed to enter the building. They had strict rules to never have more than 50 people in the large Ampitheater at one time. There were no congregations of people in discussions that numbered more than ten.

At both the WWE Smackdown show at the Performance Center, as well as the CMLL show that same night and the MLW show, there was a doctor who took the temperature of all the wrestlers. I believe that was also the case at the UFC show. It’s a necessary step but far from foolproof.

The virus can sit dormant for a bit so accurate testing on the spot is impossible. You can do coronavirus testing, which neither WWE, CMLL or UFC did, because it takes time to get the results. Having a temperature or other symptoms is a sign but you can still be an carrier who exhibits no symptoms. Court Bauer of MLW, noted that he learned after the Tijuana show that he could have had everyone in the clear based on Center for Disease Control standards but that doesn’t mean people could not pick up the virus from somebody carrying it at an event. He noted that after the show he learned doing the recommended steps were just steps but far from foolproof. He then made the call, which was the only call anyway, of not running events until June.

AEW will be running TV tapings from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville for the time being, with no fans, at least as long as they are able. Originally the plan was limited fans, media, friends and family, but within a day that was changed to no fans and no media. The plan is to do so at least through 4/15, if outside forces don’t scrap it, or if the promotion doesn’t change their mind about it.

At first, the Westshore Marriott would not refund either Highspots or fans who had purchased rooms their money when it was impossible for the event to take place.

Highspots attempted to use the impossibility clause in its contract when signed with The Westshore Marriott in Tampa for the week. Highspots’ expenses just to the hotel for the week, not including talent deposits and flights that may or may not be able to be refunded was about $142,750. Marriott was at first claiming that it is neither illegal nor impossible for Highspots to run the convention that week and only offered to cut back the costs to $114,202, or 80 percent of the original total. Total losses for the week were estimated to be in the range of $200,000. They did vow to run another convention next year in Los Angeles. In addition, fans who had purchased rooms at the hotel have been told by the hotel that they are not refundable. However, after Florida was declared a state of emergency, the Marriott changed its tune and will be refunding all the money to WrestleCon. Both Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens vowed to stop staying at Marriott Hotels when Marriott would not allow the rooms to be canceled without payment.

However, fans who had to put down a certain amount up front as a deposit for their rooms for the week ($227.86 per room was the deposit) were not able to get that back. Marriott claimed that the new Global Cancellation policy that would have refunded people’s deposits does not apply to either special events or peak season bookings.

Viceland’s award-winning Dark Side of the Ring series will have a two-hour season premiere, covering the 2007 story where Benoit murdered his wife Nancy, son Daniel and then killed himself. This debuts on 3/24, kicking off the second season of the show ...

One person who has seen the piece, but not the Reelz piece, said that the Viceland piece was extremely difficult to watch. He said that Jericho and Toffoloni came off very well, very level-headed on a story that both had such close emotional ties to, and did a good job assessing the story with hindsight.

He also said that you come out of it feeling sorry for David Benoit, whose father was his hero. His life was destroyed by this and he was completely innocent, having thus thrust on him at such a young age. You come out of it feeling awful for him.

With most viewers glued to the news, AEW, with its live show, did 932,000 viewers and a 0.35 in 18-49, up 21.7 percent in viewers and 34.6 percent in 18-49.

The growth was a combination of no NBA, perhaps curiosity since they were still doing a live show with the promised debut of The Exalted One, and NXT not having any matches and having a big decline from usual numbers because of it. AEW finished No. 20 in 18-49, trailing 18 news shows and Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo.

NXT, with no matches and just three huge video packages, did 542,000 viewers and a 0.16 in 18-49, a decline of 22.2 percent in viewers and 23.8 percent in 18-49. NXT was No. 81 in 18-49 ...

AEW’s growth was mostly over the age of 35 as compared to last week. The show did a 0.13 in 12-17 (up 18.2 percent from last week), 0.19 in 18-34 (up 5.6 percent), 0.51 in 35-49 (up 50.0 percent) and 0.38 in 50+ (one of the best ever, up 15.2 percent).

NXT not being in the top 50 meant demo breakdowns weren’t available.

A few more notes on the 3/11 ratings.

AEW’s lead-in was 32 percent lower than usual so that hurt the first hour. But both AEW and NXT were down about ten percent in viewers and 20 percent in 18-49 in the first hour. That’s probably attributable to the news viewing. But in the second hour, when Donald Trump gave his speech, the news of Tom Hanks having the coronavirus and the NBA canceling its season all at once, AEW fell 21 percent down from last week and 30 percent down in 18-49. But this didn’t affect NXT, which in the second hour was down five percent in 18-49, but up five percent overall.

While AEW did win in every key demo, and won all eight quarters in both total viewers and 18-49, when it comes to total viewers, from 9 to 9:45 p.m. the two shows were almost identical ...

In segment one, AEW had Cody vs. Ortiz, which did 811,000 viewers and 356,000 in 18-49. NXT had Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes, which did 667,000 viewers and 259,000 in 18-49.

In segment two, AEW had the end of Cody vs. Ortiz, the post-match, The Inner Circle destroying Nick Jackson and the beginning of Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander vs. Nyla Rose & Bea Priestley, and lost 22,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49. NXT had the end of Lee vs. Grimes, the post-match and beginning of Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai, and it gained 10,000 viewers but lost 4,000 in 18-49.

In segment three, AEW had the women’s tag match and lost 13,000 viewers and lost 34,000 in 18-49 . NXT had most of Yim vs. Kai and Tommaso Ciampa arriving and gained 13,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49.

In segment four, AEW had Jurassic Express vs. Butcher & Blade & MJF, and lost 36,000 viewers and gained 26,000 in 18-49. NXT had Kushida vs. Raul Mendoza plus Tyler Breeze & Austin Theory interview, and lost 10,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49.

In segment five, AEW had the end of Jurassic Express vs. Butcher & Blade & MJF and lost 12,000 viewers and lost 4,000 in 18-49. AEW had the Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley angle plus Tegan Nox vs. Deonna Purrazzo and gained 41,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49. This brought AEW’s lead to 728,000 to 711,000 overall and 328,000 to 279,000 in 18-49.

In segment six, AEW had Joey Janela & Private Party vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix & Pac, and lost 11,000 overall and 10,000 in 18-49. NXT had The Undisputed Era angle with Velveteen Dream, and lost 10,000 viewers and lost 1,000 in 18-49.

In segment seven, AEW did promotional business for the next show and had the Jim Ross interview and beginning of the main event and gained 8,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49. NXT had Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly and gained 6,000 viewers and lost 13,000 in 18-49.

In the main event segment, AEW gained 114,000 viewers for Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Adam Page & Dustin Rhodes, and gained 61,000 in 18-49. NXT had the end of the Dunne & Riddle vs. Fish & O’Reilly tag and the beginning of the Gargano-Ciampa brawl and lost 39,000 viewers and only 13,000 in 18-49. Overall in the main event, AEW had an 839,000 to 678,000 lead and a 391,000 to 253,000 edge in 18-49.

The overrun with more of Gargano and Ciampa tearing up the weight room gained 133,000 viewers, likely mostly from AEW, and 49,000 in 18-49. That’s less of a gain than usual.

The Dark Side of the Ring episode on the death of Nancy Argentino, the Jimmy Snuka case, is expected to air in the fourth week. We know that they spoke with Louise and Lorraine, Argentino’s two sisters, as well as Irv Muchnick, who spent more time and effort reporting on the case.

Even though he probably wouldn’t want this out because I know similar things he’s done anonymously, but there were Go Fund Me’s set up for independent wrestlers who have lost bookings and income and significant donations were made by Jon Moxley. There are a number of people who have done things like this over the years with no fanfare and not looking for attention

In Japan, there is more concern about WWE coming in with an NXT outpost than ever before. The feeling is that every company is weakened economically and WWE with its guaranteed TV money isn’t hurt nearly as bad. This was an unforeseen situation but from a timing standpoint, if the move is made later this year, WWE has a better chance at getting a higher level of Japanese talent

Emperor Smeat

03-20-2020, 07:26 PM

The Sheets (Friday News Edition):

WWE has yet to comment on the status of whether WrestleMania is being taped next week, which we have inquired about. However, POST Wrestling learned on Friday that a message has been circulated within the company regarding how to promote WrestleMania on the WWE Network. It is being said to avoid tag lines such as “streaming live” and/or “live on WWE Network” and instead to promote the show as “Too Big for One Night”. This is not confirmation that WrestleMania is being taped but it is notable that they were omitting the term “live”. There is a preview of The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles on the website that has also been changed from “streaming live” to “streaming” when promoting the WrestleMania broadcast.
According to the Observer, only very few within WWE know the actual status for Mania's taping and none include talent.

The reason several Japanese companies are returning to live shows with fans this week is that at yesterday's government meeting with experts on the coronavirus, the doctors reported that the virus spreading has now been limited to three parts of Japan.

In the rest of Japan, each prefectures (states) governors are to use their discretion, but the belief is that isolationism will be ending and that schools will be reopened and sports and entertainment events will be allowed. They still warned against large gatherings in small enclosed areas ...

Stardom, Dragon Gate, and DDT will all be running shows in the next few days. New Japan, which was hoping to resume action on March 31 at Sumo Hall, has not made an announcement.

Fans will be in attendance at Stardom's Cinderella tournament next week.

The one-night tournament is taking place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Tuesday (March 24). "Fans will be allowed entry to the show, but will undergo a physical check, with their temperature taken," Stardom announced. "No entry will be allowed if temp is over 37°C (98.6°F). Masks will be distributed for free" ...

The first round of the tournament will air live on YouTube for free starting at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. The full show will be available later that night on Stardom World ...

Jushin Thunder Liger will be a special guest at the show.

Jeff Hardy mentioned on today's edition of "The Bump" that WWE will be bringing back his old singles "No More Words" by Endeverafter. Hardy mentioned in a social media post after his WWE Backstage appearance that he was working on getting the song back after fan outcry
Link: https://twitter.com/WWETheBump/status/1241018961392787456

In 2011, The Wrestling Revolution project, headed by Hollywood film producer Jeff Katz (who worked for WCW prior to his Hollywood exploits), announced that he had a distribution deal with Image Entertainment, who also distribute the Criterion Collection movie label. The plan was for a planned 13 episode self-contained series to be distributed via DVD and streaming services.

The series was filmed in October 2011 in Los Angeles at Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles, featuring a roster of 22 talents, many of whom portrayed unique characters and personalities that were only utilized for WRP. Among those who worked the tapings were MVP, Luke Gallows, Colt Cabana, Alex Reynolds, The Amazing Red, Dr. Luther, Ken Doann, Sami Callihan, Kenny Omega, Shawn Daivari, Emil Sitoci, Ben Muth, Mike Rollins, Karl Anderson, Joey Ryan, Pat Buck, actress Tricia LaFeche, Timothy Thatcher and Kevin Matthews, among others.

Then, nothing.

Despite using Kickstarter to raise money for the project, Katz never delivered the product.

Until today.

Overnight, Katz posted the following apology and then began making all of the Raw footage from the taping free online, seeking to give fans who are stuck at home due to the coronavirus outbreak something new and unique to watch.

Katz's apology::

We're all in this together. pic.twitter.com/cOB5qUqM9b
— WRP (@TheWRProject) March 20, 2020

Katz has been uploading footage to this YouTube channel and is asking fans to donate $1 to the Red Cross, United Way or Habitat for Humanity if they enjoy the content. He also gave his blessing for others to take the raw footage and re-edit it themselves.
Link: https://twitter.com/TheWRProject/status/1240912716983709697 , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCinSnCQjKp-QBoZqMDDrkFg/playlists

The Alabama Athletic Commission under the leadership of Executive Director Keith Warren has temporarily halted issuance of permits for pro wrestling events in the state of Alabama.

The decision by the AAC was based on the statewide health order issued by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The order prohibits gatherings of 25 people of more in which a six foot distance cannot be consistently maintained and will remain in effect through April 5. The commission interprets the act of having a wrestling match to be in violation of the order.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is urging Georgians to avoid social gatherings but has issued no specific guidelines. As of today, Georgia has 287 positive COVID-19 cases in 35 counties and 10 deaths attributed to the virus.

Fite TV issued a press release noting they are offering more free and low-cost content during this period. They are also applying 50-80% discounts on past pay-per-view events on the streaming service. They will also allow for a free trial of AEW Plus in all available territories to new subscribers. Below is a portion of the release:

Starting today, we are offering a free trial on the AEW Plus subscription package in all available territories to new subscribers, and a free linear combat sports channel called FITE 24/7 across all FITE platforms globally, for all users. In the next few weeks we’ll announce distribution news bringing additional access to FITE programming to more fans, as well as more initiatives to offer free content. Many thanks to all our partners for making this possible.

Matt Hardy is the guest on Talk is Jericho today and spoke about his decision to join AEW. He noted how the plan was for himself and Brodie Lee to debut in Rochester, New York as a double surprise. Jericho added that due to restrictions, they would not have been allowed to fly Vanguard 1 into the arena in Rochester, but they could at the empty Daily’s Place. Hardy reiterated that WWE made him a good offer to stay but felt he would be minimalized and wants to enjoy everything he is doing for the last 3-4 years of his in-ring career.

IMPACT will present a TNA special on Mar. 31 on AXS TV.

The one-hour special will have old-school TNA branding and new matches with past TNA stars. The special was taped at the recent IMPACT tapings in Atlanta, GA.

IMPACT was set to host TNA: There's No Place Like Home during WrestleMania week, but the event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event was scheduled for Friday, Apr. 3. Past TNA stars such as Petey Williams, Shark Boy, Scott Steiner, Amazing Red, Aces & Eights, and Chris Harris were scheduled for the event. An Ultimate X match and King of the Mountain match were scheduled for the event.

WWE stock opened at $36.30 when the stock market opened
Closed at $36.50 for after-hours trading.

Matt Hardy's AEW debut is now already the 10th most watched video on AEW's YouTube channel.

Edge is set for his first WrestleMania match in nine years when he clashes with Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36. Unlike past WrestleMania matches Edge has competed in, this one will be totally different as it will take place with no live audience due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to Metro UK, Edge discussed why WWE continues to run shows and how they create an escape for fans.

"This year more than any year we are all in the midst of something we have never experienced before, the world really needs outlets. Whether that is books, whether that is movies, whatever it is, just to be able to try and forget and laugh and have fun and remember what it is to be human. As long we can try and be as responsible and as safe as we can, why wouldn’t we try and do this for everyone? As a performer, that’s what we want to do. ‘If we can do that and if people watch and can have fun for a few hours then our mission is accomplished. Here’s how I’ve always looked at this job. My responsibility is to make you forget your responsibilities for two or three hours a day, or during that show," he said.

Vice TV has released the first half of Dark Side of the Ring's Chris Benoit documentary online early in advance of the entire episode's debut this Tuesday 3/24. You can view it below
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XkUsAztC4Xc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

The XFL Officially Cancels Its Season (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/the-xfl-officially-cancels-its-season/)
ESPN to Air Old WrestleManias for Next Three Sundays (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/espn-to-air-old-wrestlemanias-for-next-three-sundays/)

Emperor Smeat

03-24-2020, 09:46 PM

The Sheets:

After three straight WWE TV shows did strong ratings after pulling out of tapings with crowds, the string ended last night.

Raw last night averaged 2.01 million viewers, dropping 14 percent from last week, even with airing classic PPV matches of Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins from Royal Rumble 2015 and Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka from WrestleMania 34.

While little stock should be put into these numbers under the circumstances, the third hour doing 1.73 million viewers was the least-watched hour of Raw programming of the modern era with the exception of hour three on the December 23 episode. That includes the late 2018 Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve shows. The overall number beat only those two shows historically, as well as the December 23 Christmas week taped show in 2019.

The first-to-third hour drop of 24.6 percent was the second biggest drop in the history of the show, trailing only the November 11, 2019 episode against the NFL ...

The audience was down 23 percent from the same week last year.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.29 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.00 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.73 million viewers

Rusev posted a tweet today pledging to donate $20,000 to help support those in the extended WWE family who are sitting at home without income: “In Bulgaria we say ‘It's not a lot but it’s from the heart’ I pledge 20,000$ to any of my WWE extended family that are sitting at home without income. WE can’t do it without y’all. Production, security, etc. LOVE YALL.”

Fozzy’s spring tour of the United States has been rescheduled to the summer. It begins in July, ends in September, and still has no dates taking place on Wednesdays or Tuesdays.

Chris Jericho said about the rescheduling: "In light of the pandemic that's gripping the world's attention, it's time to make the right move and postpone the April/May leg of ‘Save the World’ Tour for everyone's safety and well being. However, we promise you, once the World is back on its axis and TRULY saved, Fozzy will be back to hold you in our loving arms and literally ROCK all your troubles away!! See everybody soon and in the meantime and between time, please stay healthy and safe. We will get through this together."

Tommy Dreamer and Chavo Guerrero will be appearing on the Dark Side of the Ring post-show discussion on Vice TV tonight following the Chris Benoit documentary episode airing.

Next week's episode of Dark Side of the Ring will be devoted to former ECW star New Jack.

WWE filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. The purpose was to give WWE more liquidity while their business is subjected to conditions stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak.

This is the important part of the filing:

Item 8.01. Other Events.

On March 24, 2020, Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”), entered into a variable prepaid forward contract with an unaffiliated bank (the “Bank”) covering approximately 3.5 million shares of the Company’s Class B common stock. The variable prepaid forward contract is scheduled to settle on specified dates in March 2024, at which time the actual number of shares of the Company’s Class A common stock to be delivered by Mr. McMahon will be determined based on the price of the Company’s Class A common stock on such dates, with the aggregate number not to exceed approximately 3.5 million shares, which is the number of shares of Class B common stock pledged by Mr. McMahon to secure his obligations under the contract. Subject to certain conditions, Mr. McMahon can also elect to settle the variable prepaid forward contract in cash and thereby retain full ownership of the pledged shares.

Mr. McMahon entered into the variable prepaid forward contract to provide current liquidity while allowing him to maintain voting and ordinary dividend rights in the stock, as well as the ability to participate in future stock price appreciation, during the term of the contract and thereafter if Mr. McMahon settles the variable prepaid forward contract in cash.

The shares covered by the variable prepaid forward contract represent approximately 4.5% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. The variable prepaid forward contract does not apply to the approximately 25,198,344 other shares of Class B common stock beneficially owned by Mr. McMahon. Those shares represent approximately 70.5% of the Company’s total voting power. The variable prepaid forward contract contains a 60-day lock-up restricting Mr. McMahon’s ability to sell or transfer additional shares of the Company’s common stock during such period without the Bank’s prior approval. Mr. McMahon has informed us that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.

After fans in Saudi Arabia noted they were no longer able to access the WWE Network and asked for assistance via social media, WWE responded with the following:

Hi! Thank you for reaching out. Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. WWE Network will not be available in Saudi Arabia until further notice. For more information, you may go to https://t.co/UqSN95m7gL. Thanks! ^NN
— Ask WWE Network (@AskWWENetwork) March 24, 2020

Brian Pillman Jr. appeared on The Wrestling INC Daily Podcast and Pillman Jr. talked about the idea of his father, Brian Pillman Sr. possibly going into the WWE Hall Of Fame as a part of the 2021 class in California. Pillman Jr. said it has been something that his family has communicated with WWE about and it’s all a matter of it coming to fruition.

“Yeah I think that’s a possibility. I wanna say my mom’s talked to them about it in the past, but it’s not something that we talked about with them everyday. It’s something we’d have to revisit, revisit that conversation but yeah, obviously with Davey Boy getting in, then there’s a lot of good press towards that, right? So if they’re gonna let Davey Boy in, he’s in the faction with me. Maybe they save my dad for another year, maybe they bring my dad in-in Los Angeles [WrestleMania 37] in Hollywood so, The Hollywood Blonds and that would be a really cool thematic… maybe The Rock comes in so, I had somebody say that. Like Pillman and The Rock, and if you look, they always try to do — as weird as it sounds, they try to do one dead person a year, to try to keep it balanced.”

Newsweek conducted an interview with Chris Jericho to promote the premiere of Chris Benoit’s ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ full-length episode on March 24th on VICE. Jericho said that if Chavo Guerrero didn’t ask him to be a part of the series, he wouldn’t have participated at all.

“If it was anyone else that wasn’t Chavo Guerrero, I would have said no. But when Chavo said what the plan was, I was all for it because he was just as close to Chris and Eddie as I was, and then I was able to bring Dean Malenko, and David and Sandra were involved. There’s no way I wouldn’t have done it once I found out they were involved. There’s no way I wouldn’t have done it once I found out all these people who were super close were involved in it to tell the story the right way.”

Jericho agreed that Chris Benoit does not deserve to go into the Hall Of Fame but he does feel that Nancy Benoit should be inducted into a Hall Of Fame for her contributions to the business prior to meeting Chris Benoit.

“Will Chris Benoit ever get into the Hall of Fame? Absolutely not, nor should he. There’s too much baggage to discuss. But if you’re looking from a professional and ability standpoint, he’s one of the greatest of all time. Nancy had a great career before she ever met Chris. She was great at what she did and it gets lost in the shuffle because people always focus on her death. But when you focus on her life, she’s the one career that should go into the Hall of Fame because she deserves it. All the baggage will make it hard for her to be in, but I still think the right thing to do is put her in. She deserves that as a person and a professional.”

Per F4WOnline’s Daily Update, talents that are traveling to Japan from the U.S., U.K. or Mexico can travel to the country but have to be quarantined for 14 days when they arrive. Davey Boy Smith Jr., who’ll be in competing in All Japan Pro Wrestling’s ‘Champion Carnival’ tournament was used as an example.

Sporting News pushed out their interview with Chris Jericho. Jericho said while filming Dark Side of the Ring, the story of New Jack was one that completely caught him off guard and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing/reading about New Jack.

“The New Jack story blew my mind because I knew him a little bit from ECW. Just the stuff that he did, you know, attempting to murder guys in the ring, stabbing guys during matches and just literally not giving a s—. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this guy isn’t in jail or didn’t get murdered because of the things that he did.’ So, that was pretty heavy. The one that I really enjoyed though, that I didn’t think I would, was the ‘Brawl for All’ because I remember the ‘Brawl for All’ but I wasn’t in WWE at the time. But just watching the whole storyline behind that and just how it basically ended Bart Gunn’s career in the States, even though he won it, it was just a really interesting kind of time capsule of what wrestling was like only 20 years ago, 23 years ago, and it was really interesting to watch it.”

WWE Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware has been informed he will have to undergo a knee replacement surgery. A GoFund Me Campaign has been launched to help assist him with the financial aspect of the surgery. If you would like to contribute to the campaign, you can click here.
Link for those interested: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-koko-b-ware-with-knee-replacement

NJPW President Harold Meij is watching how AEW grows with some interest.

Speculation about a potential partnership between NJPW and AEW ran rampant in January at Wrestle Kingdom 14 when Chris Jericho faced Hiroshi Tanahashi and if Tanahashi had won, then he would have gotten an AEW World Championship opportunity. Jericho won the match and no such title opportunity was given.

Still, there are some who believe that NJPW and AEW could work with each other down the line and Meij addressed AEW in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Meij credited AEW for what it has been able to accomplish in the short time it has been running and will watch AEW with interest, but did not comment on any potential dealings down the line.

"Throughout our 50-year history we have had numerous relationships with other wrestling promotions. Japanese mentality is one of loyalty. We work under a long-term principle that, ‘Once in, you’re in for a lifetime.’ AEW has made tremendous inroads and is establishing their unique brand of wrestling with their vision of what wrestling should be. We continue to watch with interest how AEW continues to evolve their brand," Meij said.

TPWW Frontpage:

Coronavirus Updates: NJPW Cancels Sakura Genesis, Impact Cancels Several Events, No ROH Events Until June (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/coronavirus-updates-njpw-cancels-sakura-genesis-impact-cancels-several-events-no-roh-events-until-june/)
Trailer Released for Big Show’s Netflix Sitcom (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/trailer-released-for-big-shows-netflix-sitcom/)
Matches Planned for NXT TakeOver Will Air on NXT TV Instead (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/matches-planned-for-nxt-takeover-will-air-on-nxt-tv-instead/)
AEW: Matt Hardy’s Drone, No Lumberjack Match, Cody on Commentary This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-matt-hardys-drone-no-lumberjack-match-cody-on-commentary-this-week/)
Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke in Quarantine as a Precaution (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/rey-mysterio-and-dana-brooke-in-quarantine-as-a-precaution/)
WWE Giving Free Access to WWE Network for a “Limited Time” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/wwe-giving-free-access-to-wwe-network-for-a-limited-time/)

Emperor Smeat

03-25-2020, 07:39 PM

The Sheets:

The main event(s) of WrestleMania were still in the air, or at least that's the impression that was given.

With WWE WrestleMania 36 heavily shifting, this left WWE in a position to pick not just one, but two main events. The show has been moved to two nights, giving the company the first time to advertise two show closers in history. Fightful sources stated that because of the fact that they have multiple options, it's actually created more of a dialogue as to what should close each night.

You can see our Fightful Select report below.

There was plenty of back and forth over the past week over what would main event the two nights of WrestleMania. At one point, Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler was set to main event night one. However, there is word there was a push for Reigns and Goldberg to be in that spot. When Fightful reached out to a WWE source, they indicated that a lot of things are being tossed around because they can make about anything happen with the way they're filming it.

Realistically, WWE could even wait until they see how each match turned out before deciding on what would main event either night.

It should be noted that WrestleVotes tweeted that they'd heard Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns was set to close night one.

Impact Wrestling has announced the lineup for their TNA special that will be airing on AXS TV next week.

The one-hour special is airing at 10 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday (March 31), which is right after next week's regular Impact episode. The special was supposed to come in advance of TNA: There's No Place Like Home taking place in Tampa on Friday, April 3, but that show and all WrestleCon events have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rhino vs. Madman Fulton, Hernandez vs. Chase Stevens, and Kid Kash & Johnny Swinger vs. Suicide & Manik will air on next week's special. Scott Steiner will also appear "with a live microphone in hand, to offer his honest, unfiltered thoughts on the latest in-ring happenings, as the wrestling legend presents a special segment of Scott Steiner Uncensored."

These matches were filmed during Impact's television tapings in Atlanta earlier this month.

AEW has revealed this week's set of top-five roster rankings:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (7-0 singles record in 2020, 12-2-1 overall record)

Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record)
MJF (3-0 singles record in 2020, 8-1 overall record)
Cody (4-1 singles record in 2020, 11-5-1 overall record)
Jake Hager (3-0 singles record in 2020, 4-0 overall record)
Kenny Omega (1-0 singles record in 2020, 17-6 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (5-1 singles record in 2020, 10-5 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-3 singles record in 2020, 6-6 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-2 singles record in 2020, 10-6 overall record)
Riho (3-3 singles record in 2020, 11-6 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 17-6 overall record for Omega, 13-9 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-9 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 16-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian)
The Lucha Bros (1-2 tag team record in 2020, 10-9 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 11-9 overall record for Fenix)
Best Friends (3-3 tag team record in 2020, 9-13 overall record for Trent Barreta, 8-11 overall record for Chuck Taylor)

As of today, Samoa Joe's WWE Wellness Policy suspension has passed and he would once again be available for WWE once he is written back into company storylines.

While not likely, that means it's possible he could appear in some form at Wrestlemania 36 when it is taped this week and broadcast on 4/5 and 4/6.

WWE is facing another class action lawsuit as the law firm Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of WWE investors that WWE and certain officers or directors engaged in securities fraud or unlawful business practices, which led to the company’s drop in stock price and disappointing quarterly financial results ...

Paul Szaniawski and Robbins Geller Rudman filed a class action lawsuits against WWE that alleged that WWE made false and misleading claims when it came to its relationship with the Saudi government. WWE is also facing a lawsuit in regards to patent infringement over WWE Network technology.
Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/wwe-facing-another-class-action-lawsuit-claims-securities-fraud-and-unlawful-business-practices

Prior to part two of Chris Benoit’s Dark Side of the Ring episode airing on VICE, David Benoit joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio. David Benoit stated that he did not want Matthew Randazzo in the documentary. Matthew is the man who wrote the book ‘Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry’.

“They [ran] things by me but that’s one I didn’t expect… it bothered me a lot. I didn’t expect to see those pictures, I guess you could say, and what’s his name? He’s on the show. I didn’t want him on there but you know… I think his name is Matthew [Randazzo]. He wrote a book about my dad [Ring of Hell: The Story of Chris Benoit & The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry].”

David spoke about how he felt after the documentary wrapped up. He said he let 13 years of feelings out during that documentary and felt like a new person after he let everything out.

“I let 13 years of pain go away when I sat there in front of that camera. I let it all out and I felt like a new man. I got to select everyone I wanted so, Dean, Chris [Jericho], Vickie. Those were the main people I picked so…”

During the chat, David opened up about returning to WWE for the first time since the loss of his family. He said he got back into wrestling to support Natalya and Chris Jericho and the likes of Kalisto and Sasha Banks caught his eyes while he was getting back into the sport.

“Yeah, I fell out of wrestling for a couple of years. I went back in 2011, to WWE for the first time and I saw Vince for the first time too, and then I fell — I didn’t really watch it. I watched it for Natalya and Chris [Jericho] and some of the other guys like Kalisto, Sasha Banks, and then I fell in love with AEW when I first went to their show Double Or Nothing in Vegas. I got lost in the moment with all the storytelling and everything was just good. It reminded me of the old days.”

Joel Redman, Lucas Steele and Davey Boy Smith Jr. will not be competing in this year’s All Japan Pro Wrestling ‘Champion Carnival’ tournament due to travel issues relating to Coronavirus.

Per the Fightful Wrestling Weekly, the IMPACT Wrestling roster has not been informed about the rescheduling of their throwback show that was set for WrestleMania weekend. Many within the company are optimistic that it could happen considering the buzz it got. Also, with the cancellation of their Rebellion pay-per-view, a source told the site that they are unsure of the direction the company will be heading in with so much of the remaining episodes of IMPACT TV being focused around the Rebellion pay-per-view.

Although Brie Bella is at home with her daughter, her husband Daniel Bryan is currently wrestling for WWE in Orlando, Florida and she is worried.

On a recent episode of “The Bellas Podcast,” Brie would go on to reveal that Bryan actually has an autoimmune disease and given the coronavirus outbreak that has affected many countries around the world, including the United States, Brie is understandably concerned. WWE has temporarily moved Raw and SmackDown to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

“I have to say, my husband is still working and he’s in Orlando right now and granted, he’s working and he has a job, but it makes me really nervous. My husband has an autoimmune disease. He also fought asthma really bad when he was young. He was always sick when he was a kid. I admit. I lost sleep last night. I’m grateful my husband is still employed but at the same time, I’m really scared that he’s just there all the time. I’m just praying so much that he’s staying healthy and all that. It’s like this weird tug of war right now,” Brie said.

The video above features rare footage from the second Earl Caddock-Joe Stecher match for the professional wrestling world title, held on January, 30th,1920 at the second Madison Square Garden in New York City. Stecher pinned Caddock in 2:05:00 (again, NOT a typo) using a wristlock and his finishing hold, the body scissors, so this is not the complete bout. It is, however, some the oldest professional wrestling match footage that was filmed and still exists today.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/18wMsQsLMGI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Dark Side of the Ring Ratings: All-Time Ratings High for Benoit Episode (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/dark-side-of-the-ring-ratings-all-time-ratings-high-for-benoit-episode/)
Vince McMahon Sells Millions of Shares of WWE Stock, Stock Price Drops Again (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/vince-mcmahon-sells-millions-of-shares-of-wwe-stock-stock-price-drops-again/)

Emperor Smeat

03-26-2020, 09:18 PM

The Sheets:

AEW Dynamite averaged 819,000 viewers last night for their episode that aired from Daily's Place in Jacksonville with only essential personnel on hand.

The show finished 23rd in the 18-49 demo with a 0.34 rating.

The audience total was down 12 percent from last week, but Dynamite was only down three percent in the key demo. Both the viewership and rating number were right in line with the average over the last 10 weeks.

Over on the USA Network, NXT was up 23 percent from last week's series low and averaged 669,000 viewers. In the 18-49 demo, NXT again finished out of the top 50 but climbed to 56th with a 0.20 rating, up 25 percent from last week.

Last week's NXT featured a modified format without any matches. This week's show had matches that were taped at Full Sail Live, also with only essential personnel in attendance.

Detailed demo ratings are not available for NXT since it was outside the top 50, but for Dynamite its strongest category, as usual, was men 18-49, where the show did a 0.45 rating. That was 10th on cable in that demo.

AEW averaged 819,000 viewers with a 0.34 in the 18-49 demo on Wednesday night. They were down from 839,000 viewers last week, although last week only did 0.31 in the key demographic. The big drop for AEW came with adults over 50, which declined 24% from last week.

WWE has added another presentation in what is being called the "WWE Essentials" video series to WWE Network this morning. Today the streaming service added a five and a half hour-plus compilation titled "The 10 Biggest Matches In WrestleMania History" hosted by Matt Camp. As previously reported, over the last few days WWE has uploaded talent-centric compilations featuring signature matches for Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns.

Much in the same vein as the "Roman Reigns Greatest WrestleMania Matches" compilation added yesterday, WWE has added "Becky Lynch's Five Best Raw Women's Title Matches" to WWE Network. The compilation presentation is hosted by WWE digital correspondent and cohost of "The Bump" Matt Camp and clocks in at about two hours runtime. It definitely looks like the company will be releasing more of these in the next few days as they are now being grouped together on the service. It is a smart move. Now that the bulk of the content has gone free for the time being. This gives new viewers a place to really delve into their favorite superstar, much in the same way the old Collections did on the former iteration of WWE Network.

WWE referee Steve Armstrong disclosed that his father, WWE Hall of Famer Bob Armstrong, who was one of the all-time best babyfaces in the Southeast and a major player in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, has been diagnosed with cancer but has chosen not to undergo treatment. Armstrong, always renowned for his strength, remains incredibly strong, as Armstrong showed on social media:

Today my 80yr old Dad, @WWE Hall of Famer Bullet Bob, asked if he could come over to get a workout! He’s got bone cancer in his ribs, shoulder and prostate and chose not to go through any treatment (his choice)! I put 30lbs on there and he said, “Gimme 100lbs!!! #Motivation ???? pic.twitter.com/yhfda0AGqA
— Scott Armstrong (@WWEArmstrong) March 25, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/WWEArmstrong/status/1242892922263134215

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that Japan is placing an entry ban on foreigners from 21 European countries and Iran to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Earlier today, Pro Wrestling Noah announced that their Yokohama show tomorrow will be cancelled. The move came after the Governor of Kanagawa asked for a lockdown to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Soon after, many other promotions in Japan announced cancellations of their shows as well including Dragon Gate and Big Japan Pro Wrestling.

All Japan Pro Wrestling announced yesterday that Joel Redman, Lucas Steele and Davey Boy Smith Jr will not be competing in this year's Champion Carnival due to travel issues relating to COVID-19. This year's Champion Carnival is scheduled for April.

Noah went further in their announcements. They also announced that they will be cancelling all their scheduled their events from the end of March and April to May.

A report from Raj Giri at Wrestling Inc. states that Teddy Hart was arrested again on Thursday in Richmond, Virginia.

Online records list Edward Annis being booked on Thursday at 1:15 pm but no additional details are listed.

Wrestler Ace Montana posted a video accusing Hart of attacking ROH performer Maria Manic, which Hart denied in the video.

Montana wrote the following online:

I literally had to pull my gun on #Teddyhart and throw him out of my friends house. This piece of shit literally choked out and physically assaulted Maria Manic and would not let her get help. she texted me I’m in danger never ever did I think I would meet a piece of shit like this guy who has now been arrested with a felony against him. I don’t think this guy knew how close to death he was. #fuckyouteddyheart This video is me kick him out before the cops came and arrested him.

Mike Johnson reports that Hart is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow at 8:45 am.
Link: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/03/teddy-hart-arrested-again-today-mugshot-photo-668401/

Wednesday night’s edition of Dynamite featured live and taped content throughout the body of the show. They did tape a lot of content and had heard they continued taping after Dynamite went off the air Wednesday night.
Observer's Dave Meltzer also reported that AEW taped a lot of content pre- and post-Dynamite beyond just stuff as insurance for next week. Might have also been taping on Tuesday based on a recent tweet from Cody Rhodes.

On the most recent edition of ‘This Card is Going to Change’, AIW owner and promoter John Thorne discussed the mounting issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s impacting his business. He addressed the status of ‘The Collective’ series of shows, which AIW was a part of for WrestleMania Weekend in Tampa and how WrestleMania opting to move forward instead of postponing the event had hurt them:

Everything right now on ‘The Collective’ front, is we’re in a holding pattern. Obviously, we want to go forward, and we want to do something. We have no idea what to do because this information hit us in a shock because we were all anticipating, like, the MLB season is suspended or postponed, or the NBA season is suspended or postponed. We were all anticipating WrestleMania will also be suspended or postponed and then, once they announce the new date then ‘The Collective’, we had a hold on the building, we could try to move that deposit elsewhere for other dates which would coincide with the new WrestleMania dates. When they said they were going forward with no fans, which nobody in the f***king world would have ever guessed that they would give up that all that money just to go forward, you know, we don’t know what to do at this point. I have no answer on that honestly. There is a plan to do something at someday eventually, but we just don’t know because you can’t make a plan for anything right now. We have a show on April 24th that we don’t even know if it’ll be allowed to go or not. We have a show in May in Akron that we don’t know if it will go or not. You can’t also go book the makeup dates now because who knows? This thing could be over next week, it could be over on Labor Day weekend, we don’t know how long the country is going to be in this sense of disarray with no idea on what’s going to happen.

PW Insider Elite audio noted that the company is sending out surveys to fans who cancel their WWE Network subscriptions. There is a survey attached with some very interesting questions.

The survey asked if participants want more NXT content on the WWE Network. They asked about the possibility of airing NXT live on the WWE Network every Wednesday. They also asked if there is any interest in airing NXT live house shows.

Before Matt Hardy returned to WWE with his brother Jeff at WrestleMania 33, he nearly brought ROH and TNA/IMPACT together.

The night before his WWE return, Matt competed alongside Jeff at ROH Supercard Of Honor XI against The Young Bucks in a ladder match. The match ended up being the culmination of the feud that was supposed to be more spread out than it turned out to be.

"[The Young Bucks and I] have been friends ever since I had my run in TNA. We had worked together to come up with an angle where we were gonna have TNA and Ring of Honor working hand-in-hand. We were going to do this whole angle with the Hardyz and Young Bucks from the Broken Matt stuff. We started that when I showed up at Final Battle. Then, we showed up when our [TNA] contracts ran out and still came to Ring of Honor and beat them for the tag titles. We were going to do a three-four month program that was going to span across ROH and TNA television. The reason it didn't happen was because of Jeff Jarrett. He came in, Anthem had just bought TNA, Jarrett was in a bad place in his life with his issues. And he was the one who caused the issues that shut it down. Then I talked to Triple H when our deal was up and we ended up returning to WWE because we had a good offer," said Matt Hardy on Talk is Jericho with Chris Jericho.

This is a significant date in wrestling history with the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro occurring on March 26, 2001.

Below is the trailer for next week’s Dark Side of the Ring episode covering New Jack, which airs next Tuesday at 10 pm Eastern on Vice TV and streaming on Crave in Canada:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rla6xX-IQU0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

NXT UK TakeOver: Dublin Postponed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/nxt-uk-takeover-dublin-postponed/)
Killer Kross Appears in a Video on NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/killer-kross-appears-in-a-video-on-nxt/)

Emperor Smeat

03-27-2020, 07:30 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

I’m not sure if this is a mistake, well, actually I am sure, but there is advertising in some places listing the price for the 4/4 WrestleMania show on PPV as $9.99 and the 4/5 show as $59.99.

Both WWE and UFC got greater exposure over the weekend with ESPN looking for prime time programming, and had the station’s two most-watched shows of the weekend.

WWE aired WrestleMania 30 from New Orleans, the 2014 show built around Daniel Bryan winning the WWE title and Brock Lesnar ending Undertaker’s streak.

The deal was put together last minute, but doing so does show a relationship between the two sides. It is not a lock that WWE will make a streaming deal with ESPN+, as the sides were said to be apart on money.

WrestleMania 30 aired in prime time from 7-11 p.m. Eastern on 3/22, and WrestleMania 32 from Irving, TX, will air on 3/29. WWE will also air last year’s WrestleMania 35 on 4/5 from 3-7 p.m. as a direct lead-in to the show. On the first show, they did wrap-arounds with Tom Phillips and Corey Graves, and the show was filled with WrestleMania commercials and plugs for this year’s show and for the WWE Network. It actually felt watching it like you were watching a time-buy, because of all the plugs. It probably wasn’t that, since they did the same thing the day before with UFC. But it was clear ESPN was hands off because of the nature of the wrap-arounds being all WWE-speak ...

WWE also reached a deal with Sportsnet in Canada to air past WrestleManias starting on 3/29 with WrestleMania 30.

WWE has announced that for a limited time, the WWE Network is free. This appears to be through WrestleMania. The new free aspect is open to everyone. It will not be for complete access. It will be for only a portion of the VOD library. What will be accessible is every WrestleMania, every Royal Rumble, every SummerSlam and every Survivor Series, every Takeover and UK Takeover, all the WWE 24 documentaries, all the Steve Austin Broken Skull Challenge shows, the WWE Ruthless Aggression documentary, the Monday Night Wars documentary series, the WWE Untold shows, the recent Florida Championship Wrestling documentary and recent episodes of Raw and Smackdown.

This is actually less than what the company does regularly as far as a free first month. It’s also open to everyone who had been a prior subscriber or had gotten a prior free order, where is the free month, at least in theory, was only a one-time thing, although people have learned to negotiate the system. You still have to sign up for it and put a credit card in.

They are pushing that you can get both nights of WrestleMania free. But over the last month before WrestleMania it’s always pushed that you can get WrestleMania free, with the idea that the people who sign up will either like it, or forget to cancel, and thus the amount of paid subscribers increase greatly over the month or so after WrestleMania.

On 3/25, AEW did 819,000 viewers and a 0.34 in 18-49, while NXT, with new matches, did 619,000 viewers and a 0.20 in 18-49 ...

My gut is that NXT was hurt by last week’s show. News shows numbers are through the roof and the constant empty arena shows have started to hurt ratings even with more people home watching television. Smackdown may be the lone beneficiary because unlike weeknights where a lot of people don’t go out, and while TV viewers are up, Friday viewership is way up with people not going out, and the networks and news channels as opposed to secondary channels will benefit more from this.

AEW was down 12.1 percent overall from last week but only down 2.9 percent in 18-49. NXT was up 23.4 percent overall and 25.0 percent in 18-49 over last week’s video package show.

Most of the AEW decline was in viewers over the age of 50.

The show did a 0.11 in 12-17 (down 15.4 percent), 0.18 in 18-34 (down 5.3 percent), 0.50 in 35-49 (down 2.0 percent) and 0.29 in 50+ (down 23.7 percent) ...

Because NXT wasn’t in the top 50 in 18-49 for the day, other details on their numbers won’t be available until next week’s issue.

There isn’t the significance in the 3/18 ratings given world events.

AEW got a good number with an empty arena show. As noted last week, there are a number of variables in play. More people were home, but far more were watching the news. There was no NBA and NXT didn’t run any new matches. AEW also promised the reveal of The Exalted One after a several month build.

NXT didn’t run a live show, so it could be the AEW increase had more to do with NXT not competing, since the total audience watching wrestling was down, but AEW had a higher share of that audience ...

AEW opened with 982,000 viewers and 476,000 in 18-49 with the promo of Cody, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and a later promo of MJF. NXT opened with 637,000 viewers and 281,000 in 18-49 for part one of the Johnny Gargano-Tommaso Ciampa marathon video profile.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 26,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 with Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix vs. Best Friends. NXT lost 98,000 viewers and 65,000 in 18-49 for more of the Ciampa-Gargano video.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 9,000 viewers but gained 3,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida’s four-way win over Riho, Kris Statlander and Penelope Ford, plus the Colt Cabana interview slapping Kip Sabian. NXT lost 49,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for more Gargano-Ciampa.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 73,000 viewers and 52,000 in 18-49 for the Jon Moxley promo and Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus vs. Butcher & Blade. NXT lost 18,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for more Gargano-Ciampa.

In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 18,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for the end of the tag match and the Dark Order reveal. NXT gained 106,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the Gargano-Ciampa video.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 49,000 viewers and 51,000 in 18-49 for the Jake Roberts promo and the Peanut Butter Falcon knockoff Lance Archer video. NXT lost 5,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for the first part of the Finn Balor profile.

In the seventh quarter, AEW stayed even in viewers but lost 16,000 in 18-49 for the first part of the Cody & Matt Jackson & Adam Page vs. Jake Hager & Santana & Ortiz match. NXT lost 35,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for the second part of the Balor profile.

In the final quarter, AEW lost 15,000 viewers but gained 8,000 in 18-49 for the remainder of the six-man tag match. NXT lost 29,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for the Rhea Ripley profile video. The 926,000 to 509,000 viewer gap during this quarter had to be the biggest in months.

There was one thing on 3/18 that was positive for having an empty arena show outdoors is they were able to fly the drone to precede the Matt Hardy introduction. They would not have been able to do so indoors in Rochester so that was never planned. But when things changed someone came up with that idea since there was no audience and they were outdoors

Raw on 3/23 did 2,006,000 viewers, the lowest ever for a live episode of the series ...

The audience started low, but tuned out in new record numbers, as the first-to-third hour drop was 24.6 percent, the second largest in history, trailing the 11/11 show which went against a monster NFL game.

The audience was down 14.1 percent from last week and 22.5 percent from the same week one year ago ...

The first hour did 2,289,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,004,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,726,000 viewers. The third hour was the second lowest-watched hour of a Raw broadcast in modern history, beating only the third hour of the 12/23 taped show. Overall, the only shows that this show beat were December 24, 1998, December 31, 1998 and December 23, 1999.

Smackdown on 3/20 did a 1.54 rating and 2,569,000 viewers (1.38 viewers per home), the second best number so far this year for viewers. The show did an 0.8 in 18-49 ...

The increase is more due to so many more people at home, particularly 18-49, and all the network stations but CBS were up. Smackdown tied for second behind Shark Tank at 1.1 in the 18-49 demo, but in 25-54, which is the other key Friday night demo that a lot of advertisers on that night look for, it beat only a rerun of Blue Bloods on CBS and was behind all the other shows. For total viewers, other than Smackdown, no network show did less than 4,011,000.

Last year at this time FOX did 3,418,000 viewers and a 0.6, but it was a very different time with less people home and NCAA basketball going on.

Regarding The Revival, there were reports that Scott Dawson’s contract has expired because he tweeted “free at last,” but officially it has not. But it’s just a few weeks away from expiring. As noted last week, because The Revival had already surpassed the downside figure on their contracts and are no longer being booked, they haven’t received a paycheck in nearly two months. A lot of the talent would fall into the category as if they were above their downside, they wouldn’t be getting paid right now except for days worked. Some, like Slater, made sure that their $400,000 downside was paid bi-weekly as opposed to agreeing to take the regular payments every other week based on house shows and merch. For the others, and this is the vast majority, if you don’t make your downside you get the lump sum at the end of the year so if there is a long shutdown, most of the talent won’t be paid until later. With Slater, since he’s rarely booked, he probably wouldn’t be having $8,000 weeks based on his spot and the number of shows he works and merch he sells, so it made sense for him to ask for that option. While everything is different now, for The Revival, they went from wanting to give them the comedy gimmick and starting that story, to cool them off, similar to Matt Hardy’s being buried on departure, to just not using them. That put the pressure on them to sign because they weren’t getting paid and even though Dawson’s deal is up in a few weeks, Wilder’s won’t be until mid-June, so that’s the earliest they could sign elsewhere. So they’d have to not make any money until mid-June unless they sign new deals and also ask to be paid ahead if that would even be an option, because even if they signed and were re-booked, there’s no lock there will be shows to be paid off. So this does put great economic pressure on both right now. It actually does on a lot of people if those goes a significant length of time

Arn Anderson, on his podcast, said what everyone pretty much knew anyway from listening, about how at WrestleMania 32, Vince McMahon specifically directed the announcers to bury Sting and WCW in the match with HHH. “All it did was give the announcers, and I know this was fed to them, they just buried Sting. `Minnow in a big pond,’ just total condescending, ‘Guy’s out of his element.’ `This is WrestleMania now.’ `You’re just a small minnow in a huge lake.’” I don’t remember it being that hard, but it was amazing to listen to at the time and quite obvious that Vince was still fighting a war that had ended in 2001

Regarding the ability to tape weekly, it’s noted that Jacksonville’s largest coronavirus testing center will be in the parking lot of HIAA Field, about 100 yards from where they are taping at Daily’s Place. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry also talked about cracking down on businesses and employees taking unnecessary risks. AEW has been working with the city regarding the ability to continue to use Daily’s Place for taping each week. As the show was being taped, the only people around were the wrestlers in the one room for the skits, those in the open-aired building, a few production people outside the building in the truck, and Tony Khan as the only person backstage handling Gorilla and timing the show ...

Khan also noted that last week was by far the toughest week in the history of the company as far as being able to rewrite, gather talent and put together a show, because some talent couldn’t come in, some talent opted not to come in and there were so many restrictions put on how many people could be there. Most likely with more restrictions on travel and pressure regarding social gatherings coming from the outside, that this week would have ended up even tougher.

Last week they brought in a number of independent wrestlers for a combination of what you’d call tryout matches, that were taped for Dark and they did as much as taping as they could. While they don’t have the library that WWE has, where WWE can go forever and put great matches from the past on television and never run out, they would have enough product to fill television easily for three months while doing wrap-arounds from their studio.

In Japan, most of the sports talk revolved around the 2020 Olympics, which on 3/24, were officially postponed until 2021 in a joint statement between Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe ad IOC President Thomas Bach ...

The country took that news hard, because it was a sign to the public that things are not going smoothly and that the current situation is not going to end this week or in a few weeks. After 41 new cases came up in Tokyo on 3/25, up from 16 on 3/23 and 17 on 3/24, Gov. Yuriko Koike of Tokyo asked people to stay in this coming weekend. Generally speaking, the lifestyle in Japan hasn’t changed and restaurants and bars have been full in recent weeks and subways have remained packed. He also asked that all events be closed down until 4/12 ...

Korakuen Hall has now banned spectators at its shows for the time being. That was basically the last vestige of the smaller promotions being able to draw significant revenue ...

However, New Japan announced that based on the recommendations of Kato they are canceling the 3/31 Sakura Genesis show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.

As noted in recent weeks, there was hope that would be the first show back. No card had been announced since the card was based on what was going to happen at the since-canceled New Japan Cup tournament. Regarding the tournament, no decision has been made whether it will be redone later in the year ...

They also announced a 4/11 show in Sagamihara is canceled. At this point they canceled only that show and not the tour. Right now the first show back is listed for 4/12 in Hamamatsu.

The reports are that all upper management of New Japan decided to take what was called a responsible and cautious approach for the weeks ahead. They don’t want any fans or talent to get sick, so decided against any empty arena shows as they felt it was not worth the risk to talent and that they are looking at health as the first priority.

The Best of the Super Junior tournament is scheduled to start on 5/12. Right now, anyone who comes to Japan from a foreign country has to be quarantined for two weeks, so any Americans, Europeans or Mexicans coming for that tournament would have to come two weeks earlier and pretty much stay in a hotel or home, with no going to the gym ...

Brett Lauderdale, Joey Janela and Game Changer Wrestling were able to raise $12,000 for independent wrestlers who performed on their two empty arena shows this past week in a secret location. A lot of clips have gone around of comedic social distancing spots where guys would be six feet apart and one guy would do a move like a huracanrana or choke slam or clothesline and the guy six feet away would take the bump for the move. Obviously some people are going to hate that and some will find it funny. It doesn’t destroy or kill wrestling. The only people who can hurt wrestling are those with the mass exposure to do so, just as they are the only people who can grow the popularity of wrestling. The people on the other levels only role is to provide a product that entertains enough people that it is financially viable for the person putting up the money and hopefully can do continual repeat business. The funny thing is, that was the exact goal of every start-up and established pro wrestling group since the beginning of time

Emperor Smeat

03-31-2020, 09:37 PM

The Sheets:

The go-home show for WrestleMania 36 did the lowest number for a live Raw episode in modern history with 1.92 million viewers on average.

The 1.65 million viewers for hour three was the lowest in the history of the show, even beating the episode on Christmas Eve of 2018.

The reality is that the empty arena format has past its curiosity level and now the viewership is going to drop, and great interviews alone is not going to cause that to change ...

The first-to-third hour decline was 23 percent, the fifth biggest in history.

The decline was 15 percent in women 18-49, 22 percent in men 18-49, teenagers increased, and the core audience for the show, those over 50, dropped 26 percent from the first to third hour.

The hours were:

8 p.m. 2.14 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.99 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.65 million viewers

Sunday night's airing of WrestleMania 32 from 2016 averaged 720,000 viewers on ESPN, down 14 percent from last weekend's WrestleMania 30 replay on the same network.

Like last week, it was the highest viewed program on ESPN for the week with no live sports taking place ...

The WrestleMania 32 replay drew a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demo, finishing 38th on cable TV in that category on Sunday. Not counting news-related programming, the show would've finished 14th.
For some comparisons, last week's Mania 30 replay on ESPN did 839,000 viewers.

Back Body Drop has UK viewership information from the past two weeks for both WWE and AEW.
-The March 16th edition of Raw was watched by 67,800 on BT Sport
-The March 18th edition of AEW Dynamite (which aired on ITV4 two days later and was their first empty arena show) averaged 101,000 viewers with 55,000 watching live and 46,000 time-shifted.
-The March 18th edition of NXT on BT Sport did 40,300, which was the show without any matches
-SmackDown on March 20th did 63,600.
-The March 19th edition of NXT UK that aired the following day on BT Sport averaged 33,600.

WWE has filed to trademark two new phrases pertaining to WrestleMania 36.

First, the company filed to trademark "WWE Dream Match Mania" in reference to a WWE Network special that will air on Thursday where WrestleMania dream matches will be simulated on WWE 2K ...

The company also filed to trademark "I Was Home" in reference to fans not attending WrestleMania due to the coronavirus pandemic

On April 16, 2019, Brodie Lee (formerly Luke Harper) publicly requested his release from WWE. Lee was sidelined for the second half of 2018 after undergoing wrist surgery and though he was cleared in early February 2019, wasn't brought back for a match until March and was never used in a major program for the first quarter of the year.

Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Lee detailed the months leading up to him deciding he was ready to leave the company.

"One of my last, the one that was like 'fuck this place,' I sat outside Vince's office -- I had been off for so long [after the Bludgeon Brothers broke up] -- I sat outside his office for three hours. Everyone leaves and Michael Hayes walks out and is like, 'I'm the last one.' I knock on the door and he goes, 'I don't want to see anybody right now.' I'm like, 'mother....' [He didn't know I was out there]. I'm going to leave, I threw my pitches in the garbage. Shawn Spears goes, 'he's in his other office.' Before I left, I gave him one final pitch, he's eating salad, and he's like 'I'll look at these on the plane.' I knew that was it," he recalled.

Lee figured Vince would never look at his pitches as he said he was going to do, leading to Lee becoming more frustrated. Lee did finally get the eyes of McMahon via text and was used in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35, thinking it was going to lead to something more, but it didn't work out that way.

"Then I remember, somebody gave me his number. What did I have to lose? I texted him, 'Hey man, just wondering what's going on with my career?' This was right before WrestleMania 35. He asked me, 'Why aren't you in the Andre battle royal?' I said, 'Sir, that's a question that you should probably be able to answer.' I have nothing to lose. He goes, 'Well you are now.' That week in the meetings, he had chastised some of the writers like, 'How do we leave this guy off and him not have anything? Let's come up with something for him.' Oh. It worked. We got a sheet and I was one of the last two or three. When we got there, they have kayfabed us on the end of the battle royal and there were like ten other people after me. Demoralized again, but no problem."
More stuff from Lee that led to him leaving WWE: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/brodie-lee-recalls-sitting-outside-vince-mcmahon-s-office-hours-when-he-knew-he-was-leaving-wwe

Before Edge officially returned to the ring at WWE Royal Rumble, he needed to get back into ring shape.

Edge retired following WrestleMania 27 due to a neck injury ...

The first signs that Edge had been feeling better were at SummerSlam 2019 when he delivered a spear to Elias. After visiting with doctors, he was officially cleared by WWE doctor Dr. Joseph Maroon. And that's when the training began.

"I talked to [Triple H, Paul Levesque], and I said, 'I can't go to a ring anywhere because people will start seeing me. I can't go to the PC.' So they sent me a ring. I got a warehouse space, and I set up a ring and basically had my own personal 'Field of Dreams,' and I just got in there and got to work. Thankfully, I'm married to another Hall of Famer who can pick up and body slam me, which you can't say for a lot of wives. The Revival, they both live in Asheville, so they'd come, and they'd get in there with me, and they'd put me through my paces. I was keeping up with them. I wasn't tired, and I wasn't sore, and I thought, 'OK, this is going to happen, and this is going to happen at a level that I wanted.' I didn't want to come back and be anything less than what I was. I'm going to have to work differently. I'm going to have different limitations ... I still want to be able to go in there and be able to go half an hour," he said.

The first half of the bracket is set for AEW's TNT Championship tournament.

On tonight's AEW Dark, it was announced that Cody vs. Shawn Spears and Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara are the matches on the left side of the TNT Championship tournament bracket. The winners of those matches will face each other in the semifinals.

Cody vs. Spears and Allin vs. Guevara are both rematches from AEW pay-per-views. Cody defeated Spears at All Out last August, while Allin defeated Guevara at Revolution this February.

The right side of the bracket will be revealed on tomorrow's episode of Dynamite. It's an eight-man, single-elimination tournament.

The tournament will kick off on the Wednesday, April 8 episode of Dynamite. AEW announced that the inaugural TNT Champion is scheduled to be crowned with the finals taking place at Double or Nothing in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 23.

WWE has announced an extension and expansion of their television deal in India.

WWE and Sony Pictures Network India have announced "a five-year extension with an expanded broadcast agreement that will deliver WWE’s weekly flagship programming and localized content in India and the Indian subcontinent, making SPN the exclusive home to WWE in-ring content across its television and digital platforms."

The deal includes SPN having the rights to air Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and WWE pay-per-views live on its sports and digital platforms in English, Hindi, and regional languages. The extended partnership "also provides SPN the rights to WWE Network which hosts thousands of hours of content to be made available to audiences in India exclusively through SonyLIV, SPN’s OTT platform. In addition and for the first time, SPN will curate content from WWE’s extensive video library which includes live events, iconic matches, interviews with Legends, reality shows, documentaries and more, on its own platforms."

Financial terms weren't disclosed. Dave Meltzer said on last night's Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE got a significant increase but not as big of an increase as some people expected.
WWE stocks probably going to get hammered again depending on how big the gap is between expected amount and actual amount.

Kylie Rae has officially signed an Impact Wrestling contract. We are told the signing took place a few weeks back and it should be announced on Impact Wrestling TV shortly.

Dark Side of the Ring will present their New Jack documentary tonight at 10 PM EST on Vice TV.

The episode will followed by After Dark, a 30 minute discussion of the episode hosted by comedian Chris Gethard.

Last week's season premiere, featuring a two part episode examining the Benoit tragedy, scored the all time best audience ever for Vice as a channel, bringing in 1.2 million viewers over three broadcasts of the episode on 3/24, according to Variety.

On 3/26, All Elite Wrestling applied for two new trademarks:

"All Elite Wrestling AEW Best Summer Ever" ...

"DEATH TRIANGLE"

Due to the current coronavirus outbreak, NJPW has also announced the cancellation of additional events:
April 12-18 events cancelled

In response to the continuing Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the decision to cancel five additional Road to Dontaku events that were scheduled between April 12 and 18. These cancellations join the cancelled Sakura Genesis event on March 31 and the first date on the Road to Dontaku tour on April 11.

We deeply apologise to fans who were looking forward to these events. Ultimately, the health and safety of our fans, wrestlers and staff, as well as society at large is our utmost concern, and we will make announcements about events scheduled after April 18 upon careful monitoring of this developing situation.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal reports that DAZN has informed sports leagues they will withhold rights fees on games that have been suspended or content that has not been delivered during the pandemic. Ourand said that DAZN is believed to be the first media company to take this tact, which has been a major subject given the massive rights deals for sports leagues that are currently suspended. In an e-mail to employees at DAZN, CEO Simon Denyer stated that an unspecified number of employees would be furloughed, where their jobs would be available to them after the crisis. Denyer added that it’s the biggest disaster to hit the sports world in 75 years and the biggest challenge DAZN has ever faced. It is unknown if this would apply to Bellator, who did cancel their last show the day of and have postponed their three shows that were scheduled for May.

While Asuka has been on both Raw and SmackDown in recent weeks, Kairi Sane has been noticeably absent from television.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Sane has been in Japan following her marriage to her partner in February. Meltzer reports that WWE officials understood that Sane would not make it for the television tapings, but she did return in time to film her match for WrestleMania 36.

Steve Austin showed up to the March 16 WWE Raw to celebrate 3:16 Day with the WWE Universe.

Unfortunately, the March 16 WWE Raw was the first Raw, and second show overall, to take place at the WWE Performance Center in front of no live audience. Austin still appeared on the show, doing a bit with Byron Saxton where Saxton would rate Austin's Rules of 3:16 Day. The segment ended with Austin kicking Saxton in the nuts and delivering a Stunner.

Speaking to Peter Rosenberg on ESPN, Austin revealed his original idea for the segment.

"It was strange. I wanted to go out there and do a sit-down interview with Byron Saxton or Jerry Lawler and talk about what 3:16 meant to me because so many years ago, cutting that promo in 96, and all these years later, we didn't have social media. All these years later, WWE making 3:16 Day because of social media, I wanted to talk about the impact and resonation with the fans and give people something to think about and talk about. We did what we did. That was their creative so it was what it was. It was hard (working with no audience)," he said.

Earlier in the interview, Austin was asked about shows continuing at the Performance Center in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Austin replied, "I didn't know what to think. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Tampa working at the Performance Center in the empty building. That's Vince's mentality, 'show must go on.' When Owen fell to his death -- rest his soul -- the show went on. That's his mentality."

TPWW Frontpage:

Fite TV and FOX Sports to Stream WrestleMania 36 (for Way More Money Than WWE Network) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/fite-tv-and-fox-sports-to-stream-wrestlemania-36-for-way-more-money-than-wwe-network/)
AEW Taping at an “Undisclosed Location” This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-taping-at-an-undisclosed-location-this-week/)
Updated WrestleMania 36 Card: One New Match, One Changed Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/updated-wrestlemania-36-card-one-new-match-one-changed-match/)
AEW Announces New “TNT Championship” & Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/aew-announces-new-tnt-championship-tournament/)
Rezar of AOP Undergoes Surgery, Could Be Out for Eight Months (https://www.tpww.net/2020/03/rezar-of-aop-undergoes-surgery-could-be-out-for-eight-months/)

Emperor Smeat

04-01-2020, 07:25 PM

The Sheets:

ROH has announced a big change to their HonorClub streaming service.

Live pay-per-views will now be included with all HonorClub subscriptions. PPVs were only included for VIP subscribers previously, and standard subscribers had received discounts on PPV purchases ...

ROH also made two more announcements as part of their first wave of HonorClub upgrades:

The Archives - HonorClub is beginning to add to its library of historic events. A number of ROH events from 2010 are now available and content will continue to be added over the next couple months after it is finalized for publishing.

Match Menus - Another feature of the new and improved HonorClub is the addition of match menus, which will allow users to skip to their favorite matches from the video player. This currently only works when watching via rohhonorclub.com on your computer or mobile device, BUT there are future plans to provide this experience on the apps, as well as to make the matches searchable across the platform . Match menus are currently available for the 2020 ROH Events and will be available for all shows going back to 2016 in the coming weeks. Check out this new functionality now by opening your favorite 2020 show and finding the menu icon in the video player’s function bar.

AEW has revealed their latest set of top-five roster rankings:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2-1 overall record)

Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record)
Jake Hager (4-0 singles record in 2020, 5-0 overall record)
Cody (5-1 singles record in 2020, 12-5-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (2-0 singles record in 2020, 18-6 overall record)
Darby Allin (4-2 singles record in 2020, 9-8-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (5-1 singles record in 2020, 10-5 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-3 singles record in 2020, 6-6 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-2 singles record in 2020, 10-6 overall record)
Riho (3-3 singles record in 2020, 11-6 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 18-6 overall record for Omega, 13-9 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-9 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 16-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian)
The Lucha Bros (1-2 tag team record in 2020, 10-9 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 11-9 overall record for Fenix)
Best Friends (3-3 tag team record in 2020, 9-13 overall record for Trent Barreta, 8-11 overall record for Chuck Taylor)

Ryback did a great job of explaining how WWE's downside contracts worth in the video below. It's worth watching but the gist of it is this. If you, say, have a 250,000 downside on your deal and you hit that figure by say month 8, Ryback said at that point if you are at odds with the company, they don't have to pay you for the next four months, until your deal expires. The downside, according to him, provides for a minimum weekly amount, but only until the total amount for the year has been reached. It's a good listen.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYzoAn7-tic

Nowadays, social media is so ever-present that a single hashtag can Trend globally and start a movement. However, that wasn't always the case and perhaps no single entertainment entity has had to adapt more to the modern-age than WWE.

On the WrestleMania 11 episode of Bruce Prichard's Something to Wrestle podcast, Prichard explains that the opinion of the “smart fan” was not an overwhelming one back in 1995 and the only times they would use such an opinion would be to get a handle on what that segment of the audience didn't enjoy so they knew what they were doing right. According to Bruce Prichard, if that audience didn't like something, then that means it was extremely successful for what the then-WWF was trying to accomplish.

“Even though it is a minority, the online presence, there wasn't that presence at this point in time,” Bruce began. “There wasn't a loud, boisterous group who would bitch and moan about every single thing that you did. You know, we would use as a barometer a lot of times whether or not that vocal minority in the dirt sheet group-- if they liked something, that usually meant we did something wrong. If they hated it, that usually meant it was extremely successful. So they were hating [Diesel as a babyface with Shawn Michaels as a heel] and we thought, 'Okay, well, this should be pretty good.'"

Sports Illustrated spoke with Seth Rollins to promote WrestleMania 36. While talking about the empty building shows at the Performance Center that WWE has been doing, Rollins was asked is it harder to cut promos without a crowd or wrestle without a crowd and here’s Rollins’ response:

“I would say cut a promo. You don’t have crowd reaction to play off of. A promo, when you’re having a conversation with the crowd, it really feels like you are talking to somebody. It feels as though they are part of the conversation. If you don’t have that, there’s a lot of pressure, and also not having the ability to do multiple takes. Monday Night RAW is live, so that’s a one-take promo. That’s a one-take monologue. I don’t get the opportunity to cut-and-paste that thing together. It’s not like a movie. Wrestling, on the other hand, is fluid. It’s in the ring and it’s moving around. There’s a lot you can do. There are a lot of changes you can make. A promo is nerve-wracking. You can hear everything. There’s no audience to drown anything out. You can hear cameramen shuffling. You hear everybody whispering in the back. It’s really eerie in a way.”

Rollins was also asked for his thoughts about WWE continuing to run shows when there have been multiple leagues and major businesses around the world that have ceased operation for the time being. Rollins stated that he doesn’t know what to think about it but he’s taking the proper precautions to make sure that he stays safe throughout this time.

“I don’t know. I’m not a medical expert. Obviously the airports are still open. Should they close? I don’t know. I wish I had answers. I’m sure a lot of people do. Right now, I’m just trying to stay as hygienic as possible, keep my distance from as many people as I can. As of now, I feel great. Knock on wood, I’ve been able to avoid this thing. I know a lot of families and people who have been affected by it. It’s extremely contagious and it’s very dangerous. I wish I had more answers. I wish I knew what was the right thing to do. After WrestleMania, we’re gonna recollect and see where we’re gonna go from here. Right now, I’m very humble and grateful that I have a job that still needs me. A lot of Americans are not in that boat and their futures are uncertain. So if providing them with some entertainment can help them out, then I feel like, we’re being productive in doing something right.”

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated interviewed IMPACT Wrestling Co-Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore. Scott said that IMPACT has three weeks of new content left to put out on AXS TV which was to build to their Rebellion pay-per-view on April 19th. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, that pay-per-view has been postponed to a later date. Scott said the company is brainstorming ideas of what to do in place of the event that they will not be able to hold another set of television tapings after April 19th.

“We’ve got a hell of a group that is hardworking, love what they do, and will give you everything they’ve got. There are three more weeks of new content, and we’re examining all aspects of possible ways to continue doing what we love to do. We’ll keep monitoring it, and we’ll do what’s best and safest for everyone involved.”

Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald spoke with NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley about her match at WrestleMania 36 against Charlotte Flair. Rhea was asked was her match with Charlotte similar to some of the independent shows she worked in Australia and Rhea said that her match with Charlotte was more like a training match because no fans were in attendance.

“To be honest, it reminds me more of a training match, but, with a lot more on the line, because even in Australia and the indies, there was still at least like a few people in the crowd where here, there’s legitimately zero fans in the crowd. There’s only the essential people there that make sure that it’s filmed and put out but that’s it, that’s all we have so to be able to go out there and not have anyone cheer for me and make any noise, it’s gonna be super weird, but I just gotta remember that there’s people at home that are making noise and making raucous and that’s definitely gonna be going through my mind.”

Per Fightful’s ‘Fightful Wrestling Weekly’, Conrad Thompson helped the producers of Dark Side of the Ring get in touch with several people involved with the show and Jim Cornette had a “meltdown” during the ‘Brawl For All’ episode that will air next week.

The latest edition of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast was a Q&A based show. Austin was asked about a rumor that he turned down a series of matches of with Hulk Hogan in the early 2000s and Austin confirmed that and said it came down to him thinking that a match between himself and Hogan at that time, would not deliver the way most thought/think it would’ve.

“Yeah I believe I did turn ‘em all down that time, because I just never figured it was gonna be that great of a match-up. I thought our styles were so contrasting. I could’ve done it for the money and that would’ve been fine. I could’ve put the money in the bank and paid Uncle Sam his percentage, but my head wasn’t in the space that I thought we could execute what I thought we needed to execute so, I’d rather not do something that I’m not 100% about and I wasn’t 100% about that match-up. No disrespect to Hulk Hogan, one of the greatest superstars that ever got in the squared circle. No ifs, ands, buts about it.”

Robert Karpeles, who is a former WWE creative team writer and the individual behind the ‘WWE Creative Humor’ Twitter account was interviewed by Sports Illustrated. Karpeles spoke about his time in WWE and his experience[s] with Vince McMahon.

“I was on the creative team, and I was also a producer for WWE 24/7, which was the precursor to the WWE Network. Working for WWE, you have ideas and thoughts and opinions about what you see being presented, how characters are being used, how story lines are playing out, how matches are being perceived. Sometimes you can feel voiceless. I was young when I started at WWE, and it can be intimidating to speak up. It’s Vince McMahon’s sandbox. No matter who you are — going all the way up to some of the most creative names in the history of the business, like Paul Heyman, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Cornette, or Bruce Prichard—it’s Vince’s decision and it’s Vince’s show. That even seems to be an undercurrent now with Triple H too.”

He also talked about how his first two Twitter accounts got shut down by WWE and there was a bit of a legal research that Karpeles did to ensure the protection of his new accounts.

“I started this completely anonymously. I didn’t put it out there that it was being done by someone who had worked for WWE, and I didn’t leverage any of my relationships to build a following. When I started, my handle was @WWE_Creative, which I couldn’t believe was available, but WWE didn’t have the full social media presence that it does now. One day, I went to log in but my account had been shut down. My account, along with the ‘Cranky Vince’ account, which was a little more crass, was shut down. WWE said people were mistaking the accounts as a real account. If you read more than two or three of my texts and think this is a WWE account, then something is not processing. It’s a humor account. So I put on my lawyer hat and contacted Twitter. That is why it is now WWECreative_ish on the handle and why it is WWE Creative Humor, which clearly indicates that I am not a group of people sitting in an office in Stamford, Connecticut, taking valuable time away from reformatting the show to make snide comments on Twitter.”

DARK SIDE OF THE RING Season 2, lifts the veil on wrestling’s most controversial stories, and premiered on Tuesday, March 24th with a two-hour special episode on the tragic story of wrestling icon Chris Benoit. The third episode will tackle Brawl For All on April 7 at 10:00pm ET/PT. The series, produced by VICE Studios, will air weekly on Tuesdays at 10:00pm ET/PT.
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TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Backstage Ratings – Mar. 31, 2020 – Charlotte Flair (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-backstage-ratings-mar-31-2020-charlotte-flair/)
Dark Side of the Ring Ratings: New Jack Episode (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/dark-side-of-the-ring-ratings-new-jack-episode/)
Florida Issues 30-Day Statewide Stay-at-Home Order, Affecting WWE and AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/florida-issues-30-day-statewide-stay-at-home-order-affecting-wwe-and-aew/)

Emperor Smeat

04-02-2020, 09:21 PM

The Sheets:

AEW Dynamite averaged 685,000 viewers Wednesday night on TNT, down 16.4 percent from last week: the third-lowest viewership total the show has ever done.

Meanwhile, NXT averaged 590,000 viewers on USA Network, down 11.8 percent. It was the fourth-lowest total for the show since moving to USA Network.

The total combined audience of 1.275 million viewers is the lowest to watch on Wednesday since the Wednesday Night War began. The previous low was 1.339 million when both shows went against game seven of the 2019 World Series on October 30.

Looking at the key 18-49 demo, AEW averaged a 0.25 rating last night, down 26.5 percent. That tied the December 18 episode for the lowest Dynamite has done in that demo. With news programming dominating the ratings, Dynamite ranked 37th on cable in that category Wednesday night.

For the third straight week, NXT failed to crack the top 50 in the 18-49 rankings, finishing at 74th with a 0.15 rating. That's down 25 percent from last week and matched January 1 for the lowest number the show has done in the demo.

Factoring out the news programming, AEW would have finished eighth on the night. That's still lower than Dynamite usually does, but is further proof of how much people were watching the news channels on Wednesday.

Sports Illustrated asked Brent Colborne, ESPN’s Senior Director of Programming, if WrestleMania could potentially air live on ESPN in the future: “It’s a great question. We’re always open to discussing a lot of different ideas with various leagues, but right now the focus for what we’re doing with WWE is on the short-term. We felt like this was a really good content opportunity for us to show these three encores, and a really good promotional opportunity for WWE to help utilize our reach and our brand to create more excitement for WrestleMania this upcoming weekend.”

Kushida will be in action on this week's episode of 205 Live.

WWE has announced that Kushida vs. Danny Burch will air on 205 Live tomorrow night. Jack Gallagher vs. Tyler Breeze is also set for the episode.

Three weeks ago, Kushida was part of the Team NXT vs. 205 Live originals 10-man elimination tag match on 205 Live. He was revealed as the final member of Team NXT on that show, replacing Lio Rush. Team NXT won the match after dissension between Gallagher and his teammates. Kushida and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott were the two members of Team NXT left standing at the end.
KUSHIDA's NXT run has been very disappointing soo far compared to what he was doing in NJPW.

MLW's event that was supposed to take place in Texas this May has been pushed back five months.

It was announced today that MLW's tapings that were scheduled for the NYTEX Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas on Saturday, May 2 have been rescheduled to Saturday, October 3. Tickets that had been purchased for the show will be honored on the new date.

MLW wrote that league officials "are continually monitoring the on-going coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The status to delay additional events will be decided in the weeks ahead.

All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Champion Carnival tournament will not go on as scheduled.

It was announced today that the tournament will not be taking place in April due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was scheduled to start on April 6 at Korakuen Hall, with the finals taking place on May 5 at the same arena.

The president of AJPW, Tsuyoki Fukuda, said in the press conference announcing the cancellation that he will "make every possible effort" to run the tournament this year.

Before the cancellation, a number of changes were already being made due to the fast moving nature of the pandemic. Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lucas Steel, and Joel Redman were all previously announced for the tournament. However, they were pulled following travel restrictions imposed by the Japanese government.

Jim Cornette announced on his most recent podcast that Kevin Sullivan will be joining him on the Friday 4/8 episode of The Jim Cornette Experience.

Sullivan will be sitting down and, for the first time, will be discussing his relationship with the late Nancy Benoit as well as why he declined to take part in Vice TV's Dark Side of the Ring documentary on the Benoit family tragedy.

In the documentary, it was claimed that Sullivan had physically abused his ex-wife, something the documentary noted he completely denied while also declining the chance to be interviewed.

The podcast will drop on all podcast platforms on 4/8.

FS1's broadcast of the 2020 WWE Royal Rumble event on Tuesday 3/28 garnered 421,000 viewers.

As noted a few days ago, that event helped WWE Backstage that night reach 134,000 viewers, one of the best numbers for that series in some time.

Edward "Teddy Hart" Annis' court date on charges of strangulation resulting in wounding/bodily harm in Richmond, Virginia have been pushed back to Wednesday 6/10 at 2:15 PM according to court records.

Hart was arrested on Thursday afternoon 3/26, his third arrest in six weeks in the State of Virginia. The victim in the case was named publicly as Manic, who Hart had been dating off and on for several months. Prior to Hart being arrested yesterday, Virginia-based independent wrestler Ace Montana posted a video on his Facebook page where he exits a house, telling someone (believed to be Manic) to lock the door behind him. After exiting the house, he confronts Hart, warning him that the police have been called and that "she would be pressing charges" while threatening Hart that he needed to leave. In the video, Hart denied ever touching Manic before heeding Montana's orders and leaving the immediate premises ...

Manic has since come out publicly to state that she does not wish to file charges against Hart and that she feels the entire situation has been blown out of proportion.

Under Virginia law, strangulation is considered a class six felony. Should Annis be convicted, he could be looking at 1-5 years imprisonment and a fine of $2,500.

Per ABC 6, Jacob Kasper, two-time All American at Duke has received a tryout from WWE and he plans to pursue it after the Coronavirus pandemic settles down. ESPN ran a story about Jacob in May of 2018. Gerald Brisco scouted and recruited Kasper and dubbed him as possibly the next John Cena.

John Cena, the face of WWE for more than a decade, appeared on the latest episode of Corey Graves' After The Bell podcast where he discussed some of his favorite matches and his opinion on the state of WWE. He said the current era of programming needs one defining figure, but doesn't know if that figure can be produced.

"It needs what I'm not sure it can produce, and that's...just the state of where everything is now, which is weird because it kind of always corrects itself so we're in a day and age where it needs a frontman or woman," Cena said. "It needs one, maybe two, definable characters to absolutely be the reason, and that's what will be able to define what the era is because it takes on those personality traits of its top star. Like I said it before I don't know if, all things considered, the crowd is so mixed, that if the company puts its faith behind an individual, the knee-jerk reaction of the audience, even if they liked the guy last week, is to say 'f--k you, you're not going to tell me who I like.' So the audience is also tipping the scales of this not being able to happen. Universal popularity will never happen because someone will see it and get on to it and be like, 'he seems to be getting popular, let's stop this right now,' or, 'she seems to be getting popular let's change this right now,' and I've seen it happen with guys who are really darlings of that underground crew make it, and as soon as they make it, the rug is pulled out from under them.

"It's difficult because it's like a 'Super Friends', because the audience is so segmented, some people will embrace that underground dude. Some people will embrace the top person. Some people will embrace the midcard. Some people will embrace the cruiserweights, and then there's the split between like, 'I like SmackDown, I like RAW, I like NXT.' It's just really difficult to get one definable figure to stand at the front and be like, 'okay let's go.' I mean, I don't know, so I don't know. That's where the business is, and usually if it pushes too far in one way, the pendulum finds a way to come back, but I really don't know because the program is so socially active, and your social emotions are not what they are in the arena. I know that first hand, dude. When you're at the edge of your seat, and you're lost in a championship fight and something happens and you think maybe a title is going to switch and it doesn't, you stand and you catch yourself going, 'nah,' and you tweet like, 'that was BS,' or whatever. Your keyboard emotions aren't necessarily the same as watching it live."

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW’s “Undisclosed Location” Was a Wrestling School in Georgia (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/aews-undisclosed-location-was-a-wrestling-school-in-georgia/)
AEW World Title Match in Two Weeks + More Matches Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/aew-world-title-match-in-two-weeks-more-matches-announced/)
Full Bracket Revealed for AEW TNT Championship Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/full-bracket-revealed-for-aew-tnt-championship-tournament/)

Emperor Smeat

04-03-2020, 05:56 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The most unique WrestleMania in history airs over two nights in front of no fans at the WWE Performance Center, a show that was actually taped on 3/25 and 3/26.

At press time, which matches are on what show have not been determined and while Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler and Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins have had interviews talking about being on the first night, we’re told after everything was to be edited, all the decisions would be made.

I’m not sure what the purpose of doing the show now is. They are giving up $15 million to $17 million when it comes to ticket sales and merchandise sales. Because of the time frame, the increase in network subscriptions, the biggest value of the show, won’t be there at anywhere near the level of past years. So they are giving up the WrestleMania bump which means year-over-year network numbers will be even worse than projected ...

Unless it’s greed for showing power over outside influences, because greed usually associates with money and obviously from a strict money standpoint, this was the worst decision possible. The theory that with less competition and no sports that more people will watch it is probably not the case, because wrestling viewing has been down, not up, even with more people home. But that idea would only work if it was a free show, and not a paid show.

From a fan enjoyment standpoint it was a bad decision as well. About the only explanation for it was stubbornness and an attempt to prove that they can overcome the real world and tell some stories on future documentaries on how bold they were and how they put smiles on faces when the world needed to be cheered up.

There were a few casualties, including one of the two main events. Roman Reigns pulled out of the show under unique circumstances ...

Since people have asked about Brock Lesnar, who has had multiple issues with Diverticulitis, doctors have told us that diverticulitis (which Vince McMahon has also had) in the past would not pose any more significant risk than anything else. McMahon is a risk because of his age.

Reigns came to Orlando for his match with Bill Goldberg for the Universal title. The details are sketchy, but it was told to us that The Miz sowed up sick, and ended up being flagged from performing. The Usos, who were to face him, and Reigns talked about it and whether they talked him into it, or he came to the conclusion on his own, he flagged himself. And the company also let him take the heat for it, rather than taking the responsibility publicly, even if they didn’t actually make the call.

And they continued to advertise him anyway. Both Smackdown and Raw, and the WWE web site, continued to push Goldberg vs. Reigns. This is after Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman was already taped ...

The story broke after the second day of WrestleMania tapings were completed and Reigns confirmed it three days later.

He clearly wasn’t happy, as it wasn’t so much an announcement he had missed the show as much as being upset at the criticism for pulling himself from the show ...

And while taking a temperature and not allowing people in the building who have any signs of a cold or flu is certainly what you have to do and everyone is doing it, there are asymptomatic carriers and the crew was not tested for the virus itself, because those tests aren’t easy to come by and the results don’t come back immediately anyway.

Bryan did do the show. His wife, Brianna, on her podcast, had mixed emotions. As a performer, she knows the significance of WrestleMania. As a wife, she knows her husband’s past history

Nobody in WWE has tested positive for coronavirus.

Andrade suffered what was called a not that serious rib injury, but serious enough that he couldn’t do WrestleMania, while performing in a tag team match on 3/23. He was promoted throughout the show on 3/30 as being in a six-man tag match, and then as the match stared, Zelina Vega said he had a serious rib injury and announced Austin Theory as his replacement. Theory is also his replacement in the tag title match at WrestleMania.

Right now it is unclear whether Theory will remain on the stable. The usual rule is that people on television on NXT can’t be brought up on a whim, but this situation was such that all those rules are thrown out. Theory was picked by Paul Heyman to be the replacement.

WWE has made two surprising deals when it comes to the distribution of WrestleMania, which will air as a PPV for the first time on both FoxSports.com, FOX NOW and Fite.TV ...

In WWE promotion, while they do mention the WWE Network, they no longer mention WrestleMania being free for new subscribers, which had been a key selling point in past years. They also pushed cable and satellite PPV, which they had previously almost mocked viewers for buying, and hadn’t pushed in years ...

The fact that FITE is part of the deal indicates that this is more WWE opening the show up to others as opposed to FOX buying an exclusive, since the show also remains on regular PPV. The other key is how many people would buy the shows from FOX or FITE for streaming at these prices when you can stream from the WWE Network for $9.99 per month and get both shows at the price ...

The number would be weak to begin with, and much weaker this coming week. To me, all this does is tell the people they are trying to sell streaming rights to that the value of those rights is far weaker than they would perceive or have any data on if they just didn’t do it this week.

WrestleMania last year did about 65,000 buys on U.S. PPV through television, which would likely be in places without high-speed Internet, or some people who are well off enough that they’d rather spend more money to watch on television and push a button than learn how to hook the network up to their television ...

This could also be a test market for either data to sell the PPV package to a streaming service, but the low numbers this is sure to get at those prices for streaming isn’t going to help any value arguments. One would think, unless some people are so stupid as to not realize they can get the same thing streaming for less money, that the FOX numbers here will be disappointing, and not help WWE when it comes to negotiations for next year. Even if, by chance, they wouldn’t be as bad as logic would say under normal circumstances, the current economy makes this the worst week to try this out.

But this also could be step one in next year’s Mania being only PPV, both television and streaming, and no longer on the network, and establishing this as the new value price point for the biggest show of the year. This also could be another explanation of the departure of Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, who were big proponents of taking all PPVs out of that marketplace and making them part of the network package. From a business standpoint, that has been effective for the smaller shows, but has greatly hurt the amount of revenue generated each year by WrestleMania.

This also would seem to indicate an ESPN+ deal isn’t close. With the huge money issues ESPN and Disney have suddenly faced, this would appear to be the worst time possible to ink a new big money sports deal. Industry sources have said that Peacock already turned down the deal with the idea they want to go with higher prestige programming as their cornerstone ...

The flooding the market with television programming is part of a new philosophy. Vince is of the opinion that WrestleMania will sell more PPVs this year based on more companies distributing the event.

Earlier this year, FOX itself wanted the WrestleMania kickoff show and McMahon turned it down. Then the world changed, as did his decision making. After the ratings came in for WrestleMania 30 on ESPN, the feeling was that they had reached a new group of eyeballs they had never reached before. The company’s goals for 2020 were to increase its reach among the sports fans. From there, it’s been all about new eyeballs watching the product this week in as many places as possible. The problem is the obvious overexposure issues of providing so much programming. For one week leading to WrestleMania, this is not a bad thing. To continue after WrestleMania will speed the declines of Raw and Smackdown, which are the moneymakers.

The 3/30 Raw go-home show for WrestleMania did 1,924,000 viewers and 757,000 in 18-49, the lowest in modern history for a live show, but that’s just the reality of the situation.

It was the third lowest number in show history, beating only a taped show on 12/23 that did 1,835,000 and a taped show on Christmas Eve of 2018 that did 1,775,000.

The third hour, which did 1,646,000 viewers, was the lowest hour in modern Raw history, breaking the mark set by hour three of the 12/23 show that did 1,686,000 viewers.

The 23.0 percent first-to-third hour drop was the fifth largest in history ...

As compared to the same week last year, the show was down 27.4 percent overall and 37.2 percent in 18-49 ...

The key things is that the current format is running its course when it comes to keeping viewers, but this is just a situation of the times we are in.

The high point of the show was the first segment with the Undertaker interview that did 2,233,000 viewers. The low point was the main event with the Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar interview at 1,574,000 viewers and a 0.9 rating, the lowest quarter rating in history. And considering Heyman & Lesnar are usually the high point of the show, that tells you how unavoidable this is

Ric Flair was interviewed by Mark Henry and talked about an idea of a movie being made on his life, saying he’s talked to Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia of Seven Bucks Entertainment and WWE about it

Brandon Thurston did research on the coronavirus and its affect on WWE. Because WWE is so reliant on fixed revenue from television, his estimates were that in a normal year this year, WWE would have taken in $1.218 billion and had $163 million in operating income. He said that if house shows are canceled for the rest of the year, that he projects company revenue as $927 million and operating income at $121 million. The non-television house shows lose money, so them being canceled doesn’t hurt profitability, but lack of PPV shows does. In addition the reality shows may not be able to go into production for new seasons for a while. It’s also notable that Saudi Arabia is not allowing live events right now and as long as that continues, WWE won’t be running that big money show there either. WWE is under contract for two shows, but I wouldn’t even want to speculate how that works given how late WWE gets paid for shows they’ve already done

New Japan Pro Wrestling canceled five more dates, house shows from 4/12 to 4/18 and at this point the first event back on the schedule is 4/19 at Korakuen Hall.

The fact that no lineups have been announced for any show tells you they aren’t counting on anything happening.

A number of promotions in Japan are still running. Ice Ribbon’s 3/29 show scheduled for Osaka was canceled and they ran an empty arena show at the dojo in Saitama. 2AW ran before less than 100 fans. Stardom’s 3/28 show in Shizuoka ended up being canceled the night before and some of the talent, including Hana Kimura, publicly questioned traveling and doing the show. They’re next show scheduled is 4/11 in Yokohama. Big Japan, Sendai Girls and Basara all ran this weekend.

Korakuen Hall is still open for shows, but just not allowing spectators ...

Pure J, Marvelous and Tokyo Joshi Pro also canceled weekend shows.

There is definite fear in Japan of going into a full lockdown, which would force cancellations of all shows, as while they are only small shows, Japan is the one place left where shows happen almost every day in front of fans.

For foreign talent, the Japanese government announced on 4/2 that any foreigner who leaves Japan starting on 4/3 will not be able to return any time soon ... This would go the same for foreign wrestles who live in Japan, although many of them are not in Japan now since there is no work there.

The hammer hit hard with drops by both AEW and NXT for empty arena shows on 4/1.

AEW, after two strong weeks of numbers, fell to 685,000 viewers and a 0.25 in 18-49. They went from last week being the No. 2 non-news show on cable for the day in 18-49, to No. 8, trailing shows on MTV, Good Network, VH-1, Lifetime, TLC and TBS. The decline was 16.4 percent in ratings an 26.5 percent in 18-49. The decline is likely based on what happened the previous week, whether it’s life circumstances, the atmosphere last week or the silliness of the final segment. Whatever it is, the people arguing the final segment was a positive don’t have a good argument this week.

NXT dropped less, doing a 590,000 viewers and a 0.15 in 18-49, a drop of 4.7 percent overall and 25.0 percent in 18-49.

Next week is a week that NXT should win if ever, with two Takeover matches including Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano in what is billed as the final match of their feud, and the match that was to be the biggest NXT match of the year on its biggest Takeover of the year.

AEW fell to No. 37 in 18-49 and NXT was No. 74.

For 3/25, AEW did 1.42 viewers per home, once again the highest of any pro wrestling show ...

In the quarters, AEW opened with 908,000 viewers and 467,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc. NXT opened with 750,000 viewers and 285,000 in 18-49 for Austin Theory vs. Tyler Breeze.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 46,000 viewers but gained 9,000 in 18-49 for a Jake Roberts promo, a Cody promo, a Darby Allin video and the beginning of Allin vs. Kip Sabian. NXT lost 76,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Breeze vs. Theory and Killian Dain vs. Tehuti Miles.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 61,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for Allin vs. Sabian, a Jake Hager video and Hager vs. Chico Adams. NXT lost 26,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Tony Nese vs. Cameron Grimes.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 12,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for the Moxley/Hager brawl, a Moxley promo, Brodie Lee video and Lee vs. QT Marshall. NXT lost 20,000 viewers but stayed even in 18-49 for Io Shirai vs. Aliyah and the three-way angle with Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic and Damien Priest. It should be noted that the Moxley/Hager brawl itself topped 500,000 in 18-49 and was the high point of the show in the key demo.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 26,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for several packages revolving around The Elite vs. Inner Circle, Nick Jackson being filmed training and Sammy Guevara’s entrance. NXT gained 51,000 viewers and 19,000 in 18-49 for the Adam Cole promo plus Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink. This was the closest quarter on the show, with AEW having a 763,000 to 679,000 edge overall although it was 411,000 to 256,000 in 18-49.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 41,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Kenny Omega vs. Sammy Guevara. NXT lost 19,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for Candice LeRae vs. Kayden Carter.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 19,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Omega vs. Guevara. NXT gained 4,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong.

In the final quarter, which was Chris Jericho & Matt Hardy on AEW and HHH, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano for NXT, it saw AEW gain 51,000 viewers and 50,000 in 18-49, and NXT lost 15,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49. The final quarter saw AEW at 836,000 viewers and 463,000 in 18-49 and NXT with 649,000 viewers and 247,000 in 18-49.

On the television front, and this is weird because of classification and kind of misleading because of Raw, but AEW’s first two shows after the world changed were the two highest rated sports shows of that period in the 18-49 demo. The key to that is that USA lists Raw (which would be first) and NXT (which wouldn’t rate anyway) as entertainment and not sports, which is why it’s never on sports listings. However TNT, ESPN and FOX list their wrestling as sports and not entertainment, but FOX is network and not cable. Smackdown has been the highest rated sports show overall. For the week ending 3/22, AEW was no. 1 on cable overall, beating NASCAR on FS 1 by 932,000 to 903,000 but in 18-49, AEW did 455,000 to 297,000 over NASCAR. WrestleMania 30 did 405,000 in 18-49 for second place for that week. But TNT was thrilled with the first two weeks numbers since 18-49 is the number they focus on and over 400,000 is a home run. There have been network shows including replays of old 30 for 30s on ABC, U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC and replays of old NCAA basketball finals on CBS that have drawn more viewers (but not higher ratings because of the difference in homes available),but AEW has beaten all those shows, even with the huge network advantage in 18-49. So among sports programming overall, Smackdown was No. 1 and AEW was No. 2 in the key demo, and No. 3 for the first week of world changing was the WrestleMania show and then the Figure Skating did 375,000 on NBC, which is in 30 million more homes (giving it a 35 percent advantage) while AEW has done 453,000 and 444,000 over its two weeks. For the week ending 3/29, Smackdown was No. 1 across the board in the sports listings on network. A NASCAR race in Texas on FS 1 was No. 1 overall in sports with 823,000 viewers, but it was 241,000 in 18-49 so AEW nearly doubled it in the key demo, even though at 816,000, it was No. 2 for the week. The 444,000 in 18-49 for AEW beat No. 2 WrestleMania 32 on ESPN at 326,000, which was ESPN’s highest rated event of the week

Tracy Smothers, 57, is finishing up a round of chemotherapy in his battle with Stage III Lymphoma which has also led to his losing 45 percent of his heart functioning. Kassius Ohno, who considers Smothers one of his mentors, set up a Go Fund Me for him

Emperor Smeat

04-07-2020, 09:34 PM

The Sheets:

The Raw after WrestleMania last night did 2.10 million viewers, a number that just has to be accepted for what it is.

The good news is the first-to-third hour drop, which had been near record levels the past two weeks, was 17 percent. That's still significant, but it was greatly alleviated by the Drew McIntyre vs. Big Show match which ended the show with strong gains ...

The viewers were up nine percent from last week's record low, but there should have been a substantial increase coming off WrestleMania. It was down 29 percent from the 2.94 million viewers last year for the Raw after WrestleMania, but a huge drop from last year was a lock as well.

The show was also up 19 percent from last week in the 18-49 demo.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.31 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.06 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.93 million viewers

McIntyre told ESPN that he locked his WWE title belt in a room until his win aired: “Things are not official until they happen. So just like everybody else, I sat on the couch and watched both days of WrestleMania. I enjoyed the show. It took my mind off of things. Watching myself was very crazy, being on the couch -- watching it just like everyone else, wondering what was going to happen. I kind of pushed out of my head what had happened. I was reacting to it like I was in the match. My wife had to move away from me, because I was darting from side to side with every F-5, with every Claymore. Finally, when I had won the title, I saw the emotion and remembered how real it was to me. In that moment, it was real again as I was watching it. I went upstairs, I opened the door and I took the title out, now that it was official. I had another moment with my wife in the house, and with my family on Zoom. I had my whole family on there."

WWE touted that they set a WrestleMania week record with more than 967 million video views across their digital and social platforms (including the WWE Network, WWE.com, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat), That’s an increase of 20 percent from last year. WWE also hyped that 46 million hours of content was consumed during WrestleMania week, which was up 28 percent from 2019.

Becky Lynch has now been Raw Women’s Champion for a full year. WALTER’s NXT United Kingdom Championship reign also reached its 365th day on Sunday.

WWE announced this afternoon that they will report their first quarter earnings for 2020 on 4/23. In a change from their usual handling of the earnings, the regular conference call discussing the report will take place at 5 PM EST that day instead of the usual 11 AM.

More Stardom shows have been canceled.

Stardom announced that all shows through May 6 have have been called off as a result of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. In addition, Pro-Wrestling NOAH and Big Japan have either canceled or rescheduled some of its upcoming shows.

BeIn Sport is now airing what is being advertised as the Best of MLW every night at 10 PM EST.

Basically, the episodes are older episodes of MLW FUSION TV, airing in repeat form to help the network with programming gaps due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

So, if you are looking to revisit old episodes or seeking to catch past MLW content that you may have missed in the past, set for DVRs accordingly.

MLW released the following interview with Court Bauer ...

MLW.com: What’s your strategy for producing programming on the horizon if the pandemic goes on for some time?

Court: ... As for strategy… we have a plan and it ties into something the fans have been demanding since we relaunched in 2017. We have at a minimum 50 episodes being mapped out. We could comfortably go into mid 2021 without promoting a live event ...

We are building business models for a return as early as June, one that anticipates a return in 15 months and a few in-between that range. We need to be ready for several scenarios. There’s no playbook for what we’re going through, so we just have to be nimble, prudent and realistic about this.

MLW did get in one final taping on March 13th for the show in Tijuana, which they have not begun airing yet, so they’ll have weeks of new programming. The company is hopeful of five, if not six episodes out of the Tijuana tapings. There was one match that went long and could end up being a show unto itself.

The forthcoming Undertaker limited series on the WWE Network was filmed from 2017 through 2020, documenting The Undertaker from Wrestlemania 33 weekend in Orlando through current day. It was noted in the preview that aired on the WWE Network that it was the film time Undertaker has allowed his career to be documented. A number of his WrestleMania opponents and Vince McMahon have been interviewed for the series.

Dark Side of the Ring focuses on the Brawl for All tonight at 10 pm Eastern on Vice TV and available on Crave in Canada. The episode that does focus a lot on the feud between Jim Cornette and Vince Russo with Russo positioned as the brainchild of the Brawl for All after hearing John Layfield mouthing off in the locker room and wanting to see him knocked out for real. The piece begs for some reaction from Layfield, who was obviously not part of this nor will anyone with WWE ties going to be on this series this season. Others they spoke with included Jim Ross, who was head of talent relations at the time and had to call these fights, Darren Drozdov, Bart Gunn, The Godfather, and Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch. We will be reviewing this episode later this week on Rewind-A-SmackDown.

The NWA is hosting a watch-along tonight at 6:05 pm Eastern of old Houston Wrestling. Below is the description of the footage they will stream tonight:

This special presentation of Paul Boesch’s Houston Wrestling features legends of the National Wrestling Alliance like Andre The Giant, NWA Worlds Champion Harley Race who is holding the Ten Pounds of Gold, Superstar Billy Graham, Mil Mascaras, Bruiser Brody, Gino Hernandez and so many more. This video also features classic commercials from the era featuring Dusty Rhodes and others. Plus in action – Gino Hernandez & Superstar Billy Graham.
For those interested, link for the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA_n-CpjUek

Rhea Ripley will be off WWE television for the foreseeable future as her work visa has expired and she has returned to Australia.

Mike Johnson at PWInsider reports that Ripley returned to Australia on Monday and must now get her visa renewed. It is unknown when she will be able to return to the United States, especially given how things are in the world with the coronavirus pandemic.

It is unknown if Ripley's expiring visa played a role in her losing the NXT Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36.

Fightful Select reported that WWE is planning on taping mass content this week, beginning on Friday with SmackDown. The company had already taped Monday's episode of WWE Raw and Wednesday's episode of NXT. The tentative plan is for the company to tape three episodes of SmackDown, three episodes of Raw, and multiple episodes of NXT through next week. Ripley will not be part of these tapings and will have to quarantine following international travel.

Ric Flair has made his choice for who he believes is the top guy in WWE right now.

Though his match with Edge at WrestleMania 36 came under criticism, Randy Orton did some of the best work of his career in the build-up to the match with Edge. Orton delivered personal and authentic promos while doing many of the little things that other wrestlers always notice from him. And Orton's former running mate in Evolution took notice of Orton's work.

“Nobody is higher on Randy Orton than I am,” Flair told Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT. “I think, right now, he is doing some of the best work he has ever done and I think Edge is too. Randy has done and accomplished so much and he’s been there a long time – people don’t realise this. But every time he says something, it’s the truth. And his level of ability right now and his health are both great. He’s at the top of his game, which, in my opinion, makes him the number one guy. The thing about Randy is, he’s so good that I think just because he’s been there for so long you think ‘gosh, can he get any better?’ and he just continues [to get better] if given the opportunity to shine. But I hope he retires soon so I can get my third ring [laughs]. But he’s a great talent, really, really good and an important part of WWE’s TV."

If Orton is at the top of Flair's list as far as male performers go, who does he believe the top female performer is? His answer probably doesn't surprise you.

“Well, you know me, people are going to say I’m biased, but she’s the female Orton. Younger, less time in the business, but she’s picked it up. The art of being able to make somebody look good and make the match the priority rather than what you are capable of doing or not doing is what separates the good from the great. She’s been in that conversation as the greatest ever since, I think, Dallas. I think the conversation becomes more solidified as the greatest ever every time she goes out there and you have an opportunity to compare her skills with somebody else. I know she was excited and looked forward to the match with Rhea, she certainly didn’t look at it as a step down. She looked at it as an opportunity to wrestle somebody else with a lot of skills and a great work ethic," said Flair.

Charlotte has nearly caught Orton in terms of WWE Title reigns. Orton is a 13-time WWE/World Heavyweight Champion while Charlotte collected her 12th WWE/NXT Divas/Women's Title at WrestleMania 36 when she defeated Rhea Ripley.

Edge officially returned to the ring at WWE Royal Rumble 2019, marking his first match in nearly nine years after he was forced to retire due to a neck injury ...

Rumblings of Edge potentially being cleared to return began at SummerSlam 2019 when he delivered a Spear to Elias. For the next several months, Edge denied that he had been cleared despite rumors online throughout the fall and winter. After his return, reports came out that AEW had reached out to Edge about signing him. Edge reportedly told WWE that AEW offered him $3 million per year.

On WWE 24, Edge confirmed that he did speak with "another company" before signing on to return in WWE. He didn't mention by AEW by name or go into detail about his discussions with the promotion.

"SummerSlam happened and another company within the industry contacted me and said they were interested and wanted to know if I could wrestle. At this point, I didn't know if I could. Before I did anything, I decided I needed to find out," he said. "Some discussions were had. The one thing I told them through all of this was, 'When you give me your offer, I need to go talk to Vince.' He's done right by me my entire career. He gave me my chance. He trusted me to be able to pull off a lot of things, be a pillar for his shows, be a general. That goes a long way for me. I reached out to Vince and said, 'I need to talk to you this weekend. It needs to be face to face, not through texts or phone calls.' I went, sat down with him, and told him everything. It wasn't trying to get a bidding war going or anything like that. WWE didn't even know if this was possible. I didn't know if this was possible. He said, 'Well, this needs to happen here.'"

Charlie Adorno, who is the fan that has attended every WrestleMania since 1985 spoke with Justin Barrasso at SI.com about the end of his own streak. Adorno told SI that he did speak with people at the company, who wanted him to attend if there was any way they could allow a select number into the WWE PC:

"A couple of people internally wanted me to come. They even said that if some fans were allowed in, I’d be at the top of the list. So, there was definitely talk about the possibility, but with all of the strict guidelines, they were already at capacity for the amount of people they could have in the building. It wasn’t meant to be. If it was possible, I would have been there."

ECW Press announced that the Andre the Giant biography, "The Eighth Wonder of the World," will be released on 4/14. Bertrand Hebert and Pat Laprade wrote this book. I can't recommend this book highly enough because it is by far the most in-depth feature ever done on Andre, far more than any television special and also far more factual, basically it's the best source on what is and isn't real about Andre. It's great as well for fans of 70s and 80s wrestling because it goes heavy into the politics and power players, since Andre worked almost everywhere.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Edge on Last Man Standing Match, Michael Cole Promotion, Jeff Hardy Legal Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-edge-on-last-man-standing-match-michael-cole-promotion-jeff-hardy-legal-update/)
Ratings: WrestleMania 35 on ESPN, WrestleMania Kickoff on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/ratings-wrestlemania-35-on-espn-wrestlemania-kickoff-on-fs1-total-bellas/)
Impact Taping Several Episodes This Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/impact-taping-several-episodes-this-week/)
WWE Planning to Tape Several More Shows Starting Friday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-planning-to-tape-several-more-shows-starting-friday/)
More on WrestleMania 36’s Boneyard Match, Taping Length & Original Plans for Undertaker’s Entrance (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/more-on-wrestlemania-36s-boneyard-match-taping-length-original-plans-for-undertakers-entrance/)
AEW Signs Anna Jay (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/aew-signs-anna-jay/)

Droford

04-07-2020, 09:40 PM

Rheas Visa issue would have been nice to know last week lol

Emperor Smeat

04-08-2020, 07:31 PM

The Sheets:

I'm double checking on this but one person high up just denied that to me. Again, I'm not saying Mike is wrong, in this company the left and right hand rarely know what the other is doing. But the person I checked with would know the creative reason given which was Charlotte to NXT for ratings help.

Another person high up said inaccurate and she's in Orlando right now. Clearly if she isn't (although supposedly that was just checked), people who need to know don't know.
From Dave Meltzer on PWI's report of Rhea Ripley's visa expiring.

Heading into next week's title match, Jake Hager is officially ranked as the top challenger in AEW's men's division.

Hager moved up to first in this week's AEW rankings, overtaking Chris Jericho as the top challenger in the men's division. Hager challenging Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship in a no holds barred match will air on next Wednesday's episode of Dynamite.

Aside from Hager moving up, there were no other changes in this week's AEW rankings:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2-1 overall record)

Jake Hager (4-0 singles record in 2020, 5-0 overall record)
Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record)
Cody (5-1 singles record in 2020, 12-6-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (3-0 singles record in 2020, 19-6 overall record)
Darby Allin (4-2 singles record in 2020, 9-9-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (6-1 singles record in 2020, 11-5 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-3 singles record in 2020, 6-6 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-2 singles record in 2020, 10-6 overall record)
Riho (3-3 singles record in 2020, 11-6 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 19-6 overall record for Omega, 13-9 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-9 overall record for Matt Jackson)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 16-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian)
The Lucha Bros (1-2 tag team record in 2020, 10-9 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 11-9 overall record for Fenix)
Best Friends (3-3 tag team record in 2020, 9-14 overall record for Trent Barreta, 8-11 overall record for Chuck Taylor)

Following the ‘Brawl For All’ episode of Dark Side of the Ring on VICE, former WWE writer John Piermarini praised Jason Eisener and Evan Husney for piecing together the episode. Piermarini also tweeted that Vince McMahon wanted to do another Brawl For All with some of the names in NXT in its original format but had to be talked out of it. Piermarini worked for WWE from 2009-2010. POST Wrestling reached out to Piermarini and he said that it happened so long ago that he can’t recount exactly how it came about and that he didn’t remember that McMahon wanted to do another Brawl For All until he [Piermarini] saw the Dark Side of the Ring episode.

According to a report from Fightful, the tentative plan for WWE’s filming schedule is to film multiple episodes of RAW, SmackDown and NXT starting this Friday and going through the following Thursday ...

To follow up on that, POST Wrestling has learned that NXT is expected to tape a lot of shows this weekend at Full Sail and up to six episodes of NXT TV will be taped over two days this weekend. The SmackDown shows are expected to be taped first, followed by RAW shoots from the Performance Center. Below is a note from the 4/7/20 POST News Update:

“*Fightful Select has reported that WWE is preparing another big set of tapings beginning this Friday to cover several weeks of television for Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. We have been told at POST Wrestling through multiple sources that the tapings begin Friday at the Performance Center. One source added that NXT is expected to be taped at Full Sail University during this stretch of tapings.”

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated interviewed Paul “Triple H” Levesque ahead of the 4/8/20 episode of NXT. Levesque shared his thoughts about AEW besting NXT in the ratings for the past 14 weeks and had the following to say about the topic:

“I’m a believer in the long-term game. You create the right product, and over time, people will find it. I think back to Monday nights years ago, and it looks different now, but there were periods of time when WWE was putting on much better shows and the content was much better, but we were still getting beat. We were not winning ‘the war,’ but we stayed true to who we were. If it’s a flash and it’s exciting at first but you can’t maintain it, then it loses that pizzazz. It’s long-term duration, for me. That’s how you win. I’ve been saying it since the beginning—I’m not concerned about those numbers week-to-week. It’s about trying to put out the best show you can every week.”

AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes appeared on Busted Open Radio and Bully Ray asked Cody about some of the Vince McMahon-like tendencies that the Brodie Lee character has shown on AEW Dynamite. Cody said that isn’t a spoof of McMahon but he can see some of the parallels between Lee and McMahon that can lead to the conclusion that the character is a spoof of Vince.

“So I can never tell you the original plan and I don’t even know if there was an original plan and I will say, very unlikely on AEW, you’ll ever hear the name of Vince McMahon said and if you do hear me say it in interviews and in general, I always speak very highly of Vince, because, well A, he’s Vince McMahon and B, I was a WWE guy to start. I didn’t come from anywhere else. I came through their feeder system and they were the house that built me so, when it comes to some of the parallels, I don’t wanna be vague or coy with your question. When it comes to some of the parallels between Brodie’s style of leadership, there are unique parallels but I don’t think it’s particularly a spoof on Vince McMahon and maybe it’s because we’ll see how it develops in the next few weeks. I think Brodie just has a very power boss, very animal kingdom, kind of social Darwinism-type approach to the Dark Order, and I think that’s all in line with perhaps some of Vince’s quirks but, it’s not an outright spoof on the legendary Mr. McMahon. Not outright.”

Gail Kim, Lita and Christy Hemme’s KAYfABE project did not reach its goal of $400,000. It had over 400 backers and tallied up $62,000.

Mark Henry appeared on the #WORDWITHSCOOP’ Instagram Live via Heavy.com. Henry said that there were conversations about him possibly ending The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania 22.

“It was close, and there was some conversation about me being the one to break the streak, and if they would’ve asked me, I would’ve been like hell no! I don’t want to carry that weight [laughs]…”

DARK SIDE OF THE RING Season 2, lifts the veil on wrestling’s most controversial stories, and premiered on Tuesday, March 24th with a two-hour special episode on the tragic story of wrestling icon Chris Benoit. The fourth episode will tackle Jimmy Snuka and the Death of Nancy Argentino April 14 at 10:00pm ET/PT. The series, produced by VICE Studios, will air weekly on Tuesdays at 10:00pm ET/PT.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g7xehMFZbtM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, WWE Backstage, WWE 24 on FS1 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/ratings-dark-side-of-the-ring-wwe-backstage-wwe-24-on-fs1/)
Tournament to Be Held for NXT Cruiserweight Title, Jordan Devlin Stripped (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/tournament-to-be-held-for-nxt-cruiserweight-title-jordan-devlin-stripped/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-3/)

Mr. Nerfect

04-08-2020, 07:55 PM

Oof. Sucks for Gail, Lita and Christy. You can probably raise that much for a dog's operation.

Jake Hager #1 in AEW? Fucking yikes.

I can absolutely, positively guarantee you that Charlotte Flair winning the NXT Women's Title was not done for ratings. She hasn't affected ratings before, why would she now? When Meltzer says this, he is flat-out making it up because he's buddies with the AEW guys, so he thinks every move they make is about crushing AEW into dust. It can't simply be about giving Charlotte something different to do, to fit schedules, be because of visas, or simply be a long-term booking idea. It's got to be about them ratings. It's an absolute crock. If they wanted ratings for NXT, they'd have had John Cena do something with Tommaso Ciampa for Mania or something. Goldberg would have been dropping the NXT Title to Keith Lee. It wouldn't be Charlotte Flair leading the charge, lol.

Emperor Smeat

04-09-2020, 09:28 PM

The Sheets:

With a show highlighted by the long-promoted final match between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, NXT picked up a slight win in total viewers over AEW Dynamite this week.

NXT averaged 693,000 viewers on the USA Network, up 17 percent over last week and the best number NXT has done since the start of the closed set shows. NXT scored a 0.19 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 27 percent from last week. That rating failed to crack the top 50 for the day on cable, finishing at 51st.

AEW Dynamite on TNT finished just behind with 692,000 viewers, almost even with last week. In 18-49, Dynamite was up one percent to a 0.26 rating and finished 32nd for the night on cable ...

Detailed demos are not available for NXT since it finished outside of the top 50, but AEW was strongest in men 18-49, where it averaged a 0.35 rating, which was 14th on cable in that category.

The MGM Grand Garden Arena that is set to host AEW’s Double Or Nothing pay-per-view on May 23rd has suspended all operations for the time being. The Double Or Nothing event is still listed on their website for May 23rd.

As expected, next month's Money in the Bank pay-per-view won't be taking place at its originally scheduled venue.

The Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland confirmed today that -- due to the coronavirus pandemic -- they won't be hosting Money in the Bank: "The WWE Money in the Bank event originally scheduled for Sunday, May 10 in Baltimore has been cancelled. Refunds are available at all points of purchase."

Earlier this week, WWE.com hyped up Money in the Bank without mentioning the location for the PPV

WWE is adjourning its annual stockholders' meeting due to the coronavirus pandemic: "World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) today announced that it intends to convene and then immediately adjourn, its Annual Meeting of Stockholders due to the rapidly evolving public health concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental actions related thereto, including the State of Connecticut’s Executive Order No. 7H dated March 20, 2020. The Annual Meeting is scheduled to occur at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday April 16, 2020. The Annual Meeting will be convened and then immediately adjourned to a time and place that will be announced at the meeting and by press release. The record date will remain February 20, 2020. Stockholders should comply with applicable restrictions and not attend the Annual Meeting on April 16."
WWE's stocks probably going to take a big hit as a result since the biggest things that were expected to be discussed was the Network's subs number, lack of a PPV deal with a streaming provider after Vince hyped up one being done very soon, and details on the new India TV deal that supposedly is worth less than expected.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect WWE's upcoming schedule as the company locally announced a postponement to its upcoming SmackDown UK tour as well as a set of NXT UK tapings ...

Additionally, they canceled their two-day NXT UK tapings in Bournemouth, England, for May 1st and 2nd with no return date booked. The tapings were the follow-up to the also canceled NXT UK TakeOver Dublin event.

The brand's annual appearance and tapings at the UK Download Festival in mid-June have also been canceled. That would make their next set of tapings on Friday, July 24th and Saturday, July 25th in Glasgow, Scotland.

Their last set of tapings were held on the first weekend of March.

WWE pretty much ran out of new episodes for NXT UK and are just airing "Best Of" episodes till this summer.

WWE has edited out the AC/DC and Metallica songs used from the Wrestlemania 36 VOD on the WWE Network.

On WWE's After the Bell, Edge noted that due to when his match with Randy Orton for Wrestlemania 36 was taped, they ended up throwing out all of their planning and the entire nearly-40 minute match was done completely on the fly.

To answer the many questions we have gotten about who Produced the Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley Wrestlemania 36 match, we are told that former NWA Champion Adam Pearce was the Producer of what was the best in-ring encounter at Wrestlemania, putting it together with Flair and Ripley.

The Big Show-Drew McIntyre confrontation that aired on Raw last night was designed to show how strong McIntyre was, overcoming the monstrous Big Show despite being physically spent from fighting and beating Brock Lesnar just "20 Minutes before" Show maneuvered McIntyre into a match. The idea to show McIntyre beating both Lesnar and Show in succession, taking out two of the biggest beasts in the company in one fell swoop. The segment was indeed taped several minutes after the company finished taping McIntyre vs. Lesnar.

The decision to move Apollo Crews to Raw was made last week. His match with Aleister Black was taped last Friday, separate from the rest of the Raw taping for last night's broadcast.

According to Law 360, Ric Flair’s bid to trademark “The Nature Boy” was rejected. The Trademark Trail and Appeal Board stated that the nickname is too similar to the clothing line “Nature Boys” and both are attempting to sell merchandise using the name.

Paige did a live stream on her Twitch channel with Peyton Royce, Natalya, Renee Young, Nia Jax and Billie Kay. During their chat, Nia Jax talked about coming to the defense of Alexa Bliss when Alexa was working with an opponent that went unnamed and continued to get hurt. Nia said that Alexa did not want to complain to the higher-ups so Nia spoke up on behalf of Alexa to stop her from consistently getting injured.

“I remember back when — I’m not gonna mention any names but, Lexi, other than Lexi’s name,” Nia laughed. “But when Lexi was working an angle and she was continuously getting hurt in a certain angle with somebody, and I remember her not saying anything, specifically because she wanted to be a team player. She was so nervous, she wanted to be a team player. She didn’t wanna be somebody who like, ‘Oh, I can’t do this’ but, me personally, from the outside looking in, I was so angry. I was like, ‘No, she can not do this anymore.’ I personally would not allow her to get back in the ring to get hurt again. I had to go to the higher-ups and I had to put down a stern foot and say, ‘Listen, Lexi is five-foot-nothing, 100 pounds getting thrown around like a little rag doll and injured every night.’ I was like, ‘Put me in. I’m a 6’0, 300 pound b*tch. I can handle it.’ So I understand there’s a certain thing of being quiet and taking it and being like, ‘No, I wanna be a team player’ and then there’s the other side where it’s like, ‘Sh*t dude, I can’t allow to see one of my good friends — not only my good friend but my co-worker who I want to be here in five years so I can continue to work her, like getting hurt.’ Like I need to stand up and be there for her and make sure that her life is gonna be okay when she’s done here.”

Link: https://twitter.com/flairsnia/status/1248059851969789952?s=20

Jake Roberts appeared on a recent edition of The Wrestling INC Daily Podcast and Jake revealed that he is currently in Atlanta quarantining in a Marriott hotel and has been there for quite some time. Roberts was previously living with Diamond Dallas Page and due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Dallas told Jake that if he left the property, he couldn’t come back. Jake ultimately decided to leave the property to go appear for AEW.

“I’m stuck in a hotel. Of all damn places to be stuck, I’m stuck in a damn hotel. I’m on the 16th floor at the Marriott in Atlanta and the restaurant’s shut down so I’m having food brought to me and…

I’m quarantined. I’m quarantined in here. I was living with Dallas [DDP]. Whenever all this started, Dallas was one of the first people to say, ‘Hey man, I’m locking down and if you leave, you can’t come back.’ Well, AEW wanted me to come out so, what’d I do? I went and did [it] but then I couldn’t go back to Dallas’ house because he had a baby in the house and nobody needs to get sick, especially not a baby, and he took the hard line and said, ‘Dude if you leave, you can’t come back.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I gotta do this Dallas. It’s for AEW and I wanna help these guys.’ So, now I’m paying for it brother.”

In regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roberts believes that the pro wrestling industry should go on hold. He commended AEW for taping a bunch of content to fill TV time over the next couple of weeks and/or months but still believes that the business needs to be put on hold until further notice.

“Yes, I think it should happen. I really do man. We gotta buckle down, and if you look on the television and still see live wrestling then that tells me people aren’t buckling down. As much as I hate it, we gotta do what’s smart and I’m not a doctor or anything but that’s all I hear on television. We got to go home. Just go home and stay there until this sh*t’s gone and it sounds to me like AEW is doing that too. The last taping they did, I know they taped a lot of matches so they [did] several weeks of shows and it seems that’s what they were kind of doing too. Trying to get guys to go home and taking care of business, keeping everybody safe.”

Taz was the latest guest to join Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone on the AEW Unrestricted podcast ...

Taz also spoke about his WWE debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble pay-per-view against Kurt Angle. Taz stated that he knew he was doomed in WWE when he heard the reaction from the crowd because from his point of view, WWE was not fond of guys who already made their name outside of the company and by him getting that reaction, it solidified that he made a name outside of WWE.

“When I wrestled Kurt [Angle] at the Garden, when I came out, like when I heard that pop, I knew I was f*cked. I knew I was doomed. I knew it. I knew it because it was massive and again, it was before the big craze of the internet and all that sh*t and people didn’t know I was gonna be there. It was a legit surprise and a legit pop in the world’s most famous arena, and the reason I know I was doomed is because that pop did not come from WWE. I was a made guy before I got to WWE, and WWE at that time — they never would admit it then and they won’t admit it now; they don’t want made guys. They wanna make guys. So that’s what happened. So as I’m walking out with the towel on my head looking bad as a motherf*cker, I’m saying to myself, ‘Oh my God, shut up. Don’t cheer, don’t pop. Just boo me, do something. Don’t do nothing.’ Even though it was an awesome feeling, I knew I was…”

Probably can pinpoint to his ECW champ vs. WWF champ match against Triple H where WWE no longer considered him as a potential big star.

TPWW Frontpage:

Jerry Lawler Says He’s Returning to Raw on Monday (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/jerry-lawler-says-hes-returning-to-raw-on-monday/)
Killer Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux Appear Briefly on NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/killer-kross-and-scarlett-bordeaux-appear-briefly-on-nxt/)
Edge Responds to Criticism Over His Match Against Randy Orton (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/edge-responds-to-criticism-over-his-match-against-randy-orton/)

Emperor Smeat

04-10-2020, 06:32 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

There were an endless number of stories coming out of the first-ever taped two-day WrestleMania presentation on 4/4 and 4/5 at the Performance Center in Orlando.

Perhaps the biggest and most-discussed was whether the show should have taken place at this time. There are two ways of looking at it. The first is the health and risk aspect, and basically the show was no more or less dangerous in theory than the television tapings that WWE and AEW have been doing regularly. The second is business. It looks bad now, but if WWE isn’t able to have shows in arena by around September, then it might as well be done now. If it’s earlier, then they gave up tens of millions of dollars by being stubborn. Unlike with UFC, where the money comes from just doing the show, with WWE, for WrestleMania, the money comes from the live gate, the merchandise, the network subscription increases and to a smaller extent, whatever is left of PPV ...

But the most important number will come in a few weeks when the company either does, or doesn’t announce the network subscriber number on the day after WrestleMania, usually the high point of the year. The paid number the day after last year was 1,767,000 worldwide. Nobody expects the number to be that high this year for all the obvious reasons ...

If the number is significantly lower, it’s was a bad idea because at that point the reason to run didn’t come through and essentially they squandered the biggest thing they have, the name WrestleMania, based on timing. Right now the only people who know are those internally and the fact they have release numbers that are the numbers usually the con businesses use, social media engagement numbers which have no correlation to actual revenue, but not the important number, was notable ...

Another story were the three unique matches. Undertaker vs. A.J. Styles was basically a long outdoor movie fight scene in a graveyard setting. It was tremendous for what it was, although all three of the matches were very polarizing with people loving and hating them. Michael Hayes was the guy in charge of this feature and it was so good people were calling for Undertaker to do these mini-movies every year since he may not be able to deliver great in-ring matches, but this could become the new Undertaker feature at WrestleMania ... However, doing things like this could run its course. Paul Levesque was also said to be very key in this being put together, and one person said he was the key person in that regard and it was largely the NXT crew shooting it, or the technical term, the WWE Performance Center Content Innovation Lab, headed by Jeremy Borash, who was along with Matt Hardy the key to the Final Deletion and similar shows in TNA, James Long, Cornell Gunter, Ryan Katz, Andrew Karr, Mark Donica and others. Many of the same group were in charge of the Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa shoot that was down that same week and aired on 4/8.

Because of the finish where Styles was buried alive, and WWE’s perverse set of rules in that you can be electrocuted to death and be fine the next week, or things like that, but buried alive is actually adhered to, Styles will be out of action. It likely won’t be for long since he’s considered so valuable and they don’t have much depth on the heel side of Raw right now and have a babyface champion.

As far as actual early numbers, as notable, they’re not good. At press time, the WWE Network had more viewers for day one, even though Sunday is the familiar day. The Sunday pregame show, with Liv Morgan vs. Natalya, did the better of the two on the WWE Network and on television.

Even though day one was better overall, it still got a mixed reaction and maybe people having seen a three plus hour show weren’t ready to see one another day.

Google searches were even more pronounced. WrestleMania would be expected to do three to four million Google searches. It should be about that number for each show.

The Saturday show did 1 million, way under expectations. Sunday did 270,000 (including Monday), which is so low as to be beyond shocking, and only 50,000 of that was for WrestleMania, as the breakdown was 100,000 for Flair, 50,000 for McIntyre, Cena and 20,000 for Mandy Rose. It was as if the public saw Saturday as the show, but even 1 million is the level of a B UFC PPV show and WrestleMania is usually better than Jon Jones level and this did half of Jones. Sunday was below the level of a Demetrious Johnson level PPV show.

The preshow on FS 1 for Saturday did a 0.1 rating and 106,000 viewers and 44,000 (0.03 rating; 29,000 men; 15,000 women) in 18-49. The peak was 129,000 in the second quarter, while the only match, Cesaro vs. Drew Gulak, did 125,000 viewers. Excluding news shows, the show was No. 97 on cable during its one hour. FS 1 averages 120,000 in the time slot this year while last year had 824,000 viewers in the time slot since it was UFC prelims.

The Sunday pre-show did a 0.1 rating and 112,000 viewers, with 56,000 (0.04 rating; 43,000 men; 13,000 women) in 18-49. The peak was 132,000 viewers for Liv Morgan vs. Natalya. FS 1 averages 117,000 in the time slot and last year did 250,000. Excluding news shows, the show was No. 92 on cable during its hour.

For a comparison, the preshow last year on USA did a 0.5 rating and 749,000 viewers and an 0.26 rating in 18-49. It was going to do less on FS 1 than USA, and the Sunday show went head-to-head with ESPN airing the Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch match from last year’s Mania, which had already been on Raw six days earlier.

The next story involves the changes in the show. Even though Roman Reigns left for health concerns on 3/26, over the next week he was still advertised for his title shot at Bill Goldberg on the ensuing Smackdown and Raw show. When Levesque was asked about it, he talked about the creative way they were going to tell the story. As it turned out, that never existed. It was the weirdest thing. On the Smackdown show the night before the match, they were running down the card and mentioned Goldberg vs. Strowman in passing. Reigns was never mentioned again on television or either night of the PPV, even if he was all over the video packages and the advertising mainstream for the show ...

The Reigns situation is pretty much unknown. Essentially it is said to be up to Reigns when he returns and that nobody knows. If he was worried about his health, and with three kids, he should be, it’s not as if the situation changes and after WrestleMania the dangers are no longer there. Some have noted it isn’t wise for him, and others who have any immune system issues, to be working until this is over, whatever that means because it’s not a snap your fingers and on this day it’s over.

Reigns appeared to be the only wrestler who pulled himself off the show, although everyone was told they didn’t have to come. The only others who would be noticeable immediately that weren’t there were Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Beth Phoenix, the NXT announcing team. Phoenix may have still been off to sell the Randy Orton injuries. It would have been a fitting finish to have her involved in a small way at the finish, maybe in trying to first talk Edge out of doing the concerto finish and then either he does it, or she changes his mind and he does it. But that’s a small deal. Ranallo and McGuinness have been off NXT since Californians have been urged to stay inside. Ranallo wasn’t in Orlando for the taping of the 4/8 NXT show, but he did solo voiceovers on the show, believed to be from a home studio .

As far the show itself ... there were matches that were stopped and re-shot after moves were missed.

They did want Hogan for this year’s WrestleMania but the two sides couldn’t come to financial terms. This would not be to wrestle, but for an appearance

Regarding the Flair title win, the decision was made so Flair would be a champion on NXT with the idea a main roster star is what NXT needs to close the ratings gap. Flair is scheduled to work both Raw and NXT for now. Given there are no house shows, it’s not like doing so gives her an unbearable schedule. She should help the NXT women’s division.

That said, the result itself, let alone winning clean via submission with the figure eight, makes no sense. Flair really gained nothing for the win. The NXT title doesn’t enhance her. Some would say it’s a step back, but I wouldn’t say that. Beating Flair would have greatly enhanced Ripley, and would have made for a better series of returns in NXT, and made NXT fans happy and having reason to hate Flair, who could be a big heel in NXT, with an obsession of beating Ripley and getting thwarted. Instead, it cut off Ripley’s legs as she was rising, plus, to protect her, nearly any finish other than that was done would have been better. It was that classic somebody gets hot, and they even took advantage of it, and now wanted to make clear she’s really not at the level of the real stars.

By putting what was supposed to be the main event of the biggest NXT Takeover of the year, the Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa final, NXT beat AEW 693,000 to 692,000 in total viewers, but AEW still won 0.26 to 0.19 in the 18-49 demo.

I would have expected a slight NXT win in total viewers, but more than it was, and AEW still winning in the key numbers because the gap to close was too large. Numbers are going to be down at this point so I wouldn’t read much into this. One would expect that with AEW pushing a Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager title match hard for next week, while NXT wasn’t pushing anything, that AEW should probably win handily in total viewers next week, unless something this week was greatly negative for AEW or greatly positive for NXT.

AEW was No. 32 for the night in the demo on a night dominated by news shows. AEW did lose to Black Ink Crew 8B on VH-1, Forged in Fire on the History Channel, Sistas Series on BET, Married at First on Lifetime, My 600 Pound life on TLC and Guys Grocery Games on The Food Network, making it seventh in entertainment. NXT was 11th in entertainment in 18-49 and 51st overall.

The one hour Gargano-Ciampa presentation helped NXT increase 17 percent overall and 22 percent in 18-49 over this past week. Because it didn’t crack the top 50, we don’t have any other details.

AEW was up one percent in viewers and one percent in 18-49.

In the key demos, AEW had the 58,000 to 44,000 edge in Males 18-34, NXT had a 36,000 to 31,000 edge in Women 18-34, AEW had a 166,000 to 114,000 edge in Males 35-49 and AEW had a 76,000 to 48,000 edge in Women 35-49.

The totals in 18-49 were 331,000 for AEW and 242,000 for NXT.

A few notes regarding the 4/1 Wednesday night ratings. While the empty arena format is the main reason both shows were down, the AEW movie lead-in was down 30 percent from the prior week. At the time both prior shows ended, USA had 1,012,000 viewers and TNT had 647,000. As soon as wrestling started, in the first minute, USA lost 215,000 viewers and TNT gained 106,000 viewers. Still, AEW was first for the week with 1.39 viewers per home ...

Overall, even though the viewership difference overall was 685,000 to 590,000 and both did much lower than usual in the most important 18-49, it was 328,000 for AEW and 199,000 for NXT. So compared to every other week to date, wrestling did the worst ever in the key demo, even against Trump speeches and World Series games ...

AEW dominated every quarter in 18-49, however in overall, due to over 50 viewers, NXT won the main event quarter, doing 608,000 viewers for the Keith Lee North American title defense against Dominik Dijakovic and Damien Priest, while AEW did 607,000 for Cody & Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara & Shawn Spears. However, even that quarter was a huge edge in 18-49 with AEW at 308,000 to NXT’s 203,000 ...

AEW’s first quarter drew 703,000 viewers and 341,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega vs. Trent, while NXT drew 668,000 viewers and 244,000 in 18-49 for Velveteen Dream vs. Bobby Fish.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 29,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for the end of Omega vs. Trent and a replay of the Chris Jericho/Matt Hardy angle. NXT lost 68,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for the end of Dream vs. Fish, the post-match and the Dexter Lumis vs. Jake Atlas match.

In the third quarter, AEW gained 25,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Anna Jayy. NXT lost 50,000 viewers and 36,000 in 18-49 for a replay of the Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano brawl and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Deonna Purrazzo.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 26,000 viewers and 19,000 in 18-49 for the video package with Jon Moxley and Jake Hager and Lance Archer vs. Marko Stunt. NXT lost 10,000 viewers and 19,000 in 18-49 for Blackheart vs. Xia Li, Blackheart vs. Aliyah and Blackheart vs Kayden Carter. This may have been the least watched segment in 18-49, with just 166,000 viewers, since NXT has been on the air.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 18,000 viewers but gained 1,000 in 18-49 for the Brodie Lee backstage segment and Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall vs. 8 & 9. NXT gained 52,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49 for Blackheart vs Dakota Kai.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 13,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho/Vanguard 1 segment and Nick & Matt Jackson preparing for a return. NXT lost 39,000 and 15,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Joaquin Wilde.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 22,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for the first part of Cody & Allin vs. Guevara & Spears. NXT gained 57,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for another Ciampa/Gargano package plus the beginning of Lee vs. Dijakovic vs. Priest.

In the eighth quarter, ending both main events, AEW lost 65,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for its main event while NXT lost 2,000 viewers but gained 7,000 in 18-49 for the ending of its main event.

The kidnapping spots on NXT are to lead to the introduction of Jorge Bolly, or whatever name El Hijo del Fantasma will go by. It’s the Simbianese Liberation Army storyline where the captives sympathize with their captors and Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde become his Patty Hearsts

AEW finished a marathon set of tapings on 4/2 in Decatur, GA, at Q.T. Marshall’s school. The tapings were done with a skeleton crew. Unlike WWE and UFC, talent from certain parts of the country were not going to be brought in, most notably California and New York City. In addition, all talent was told that they didn’t have to come and they would be paid in full.

The tapings were for Dynamite and Dark through as long as 5/20. Depending on the situation, it is possible they could do another taping in early or mid-May, but if not, they have enough covered and there won’t be any tapings for several weeks.

AEW used mostly talent that lives in the Southeast and a few from Texas, but will have footage of talent not there for television. Jon Moxley, who is based in Las Vegas, had his 4/15 title match with Jake Hager taped at the prior set of tapings. Jim Ross will be used as the commentator for this specific match, doing voiceovers from home, as it will be from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville while the rest of the show next week will be from Decatur, GA. Aubrey Edwards, who is based in Seattle, stayed in the area since this started as Tony Khan also told talent that they could avoid flying back-and-forth if they wanted to stay in Jacksonville or in the area and the company would pay for their lodging through this set of tapings.

The TNT tournament is taped up until the finals. Tony Schiavone and Chris Jericho will be the announcing team for all the remaining shows from Georgia.

The next major event, the 5/23 Double or Nothing show, remains up in the air. There are three choices, all obvious, based on what will be allowed in Las Vegas. The show is booked for the MGM Grand and was about 1,500 ticket shy of being sold out a month ago, but it’s doubtful many if any tickets have moved in recent weeks ...

The AEW Southern California crew, notably The Young Bucks, SCU, Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler, along with Simon Lotto and Steven Andrews taped matches for Being the Elite this past week. The bouts were basic matches, actually quite good wrestling-wise but toned down in the risk department, Excalibur doing voiceover work completely tongue-in-cheek. The location was a ring set up on a tennis and basketball court that was in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Excalibur called it the AEW Compound and would talk of a capacity crowd with nobody else there ...

Impact is taping this week at Skyway Studios in Nashville even though Nashville is shut down.

It is believed that wrestling is able to tape during shutdowns, and at least in Tennessee this is the case, because the Tennessee shutdown exempts media and the claim is this is a closed studio doing a television media event ...

For Impact, as opposed to the other two companies, there is more of a need because their contract with television in India is based on providing a certain number of shows, which include weekly television and 12 other events. The India deal is believed to be the largest revenue stream the company has.

The attempt is to tape for as long as two months, including the Rebellion show that has been pushed. That show was to take place on 4/19 in New York, which isn’t happening ...

A big problem is that the PPV was to be build around a Tessa Blanchard vs. Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards title match, and the word going around which is confirmed is that Blanchard, the Impact men’s world champion, who is based in California, is not leaving the state at this time ...

The plan a few weeks ago was to tape the shows in Houston at Booker T’s gym, which is notable but because Impact has fallen so far, it is AEW, and not Impact, on the WWE’s enemy list. The plan was also to tape not this week there and it was changed because they felt the need to get it done now due to the risk of not being able to get it done if they waited until the normal timetable.

For Dark Side of the Ring ...

While the first episode on Chris Benoit was very well received, the second on New Jack from those who know the story was not. There were complaints that they glorified him far too much particularly the way he was fawned over on the post-show. They ran with a lot of stories that were fiction, particularly in the post-show. There were a lot of things not discussed, such as the fact Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he got his first break, saw attendance decline significantly during the period he was pushed so the idea of inciting fans racially backfired. That didn’t happen in ECW and he was very popular with that fan base for short spots, where he’d come in, with music playing, do a short brawl and often dive from high places. Vic Grimes claimed at the funeral of Roland Alexander that everything he and New Jack did was them working together and that they were friends, contrary to how New Jack described things.

Konnan said that Rey Horus signing here [ROH] doesn’t affect his status with AAA, but if Horus goes to New Japan through his deal with ROH, at that point he wouldn’t be able to work anymore with AAA, because CMLL would go to New Japan and New Japan would go to ROH and nix it

Due to the virus, the situation in Japan has changed once again. Before, nobody wanted to sell to WWE and now with most companies in tough financial straits, it’s become a buyers market and it is believed companies that otherwise wouldn’t sell would be willing to do so and WWE could have a local infrastructure and start being a force in that market. The general belief is that with MMA no longer a big deal except for a few shows a year, that the only thing that can threaten New Japan, past a current act of God, wouldn’t be another company in the market, but WWE in the market with roots which always could have happened but now the odds are significantly better to make such a deal

Emperor Smeat

04-14-2020, 09:17 PM

The Sheets:

There was both good and bad news for Raw last night when it comes to the ratings.

The bad news is that the 1.91 million viewer average would be the lowest in modern history for a live episode, falling just under the 1.92 million for the Raw go-home show for WrestleMania.

The good news is that the audience largely stayed for all three hours with just an eight percent first-to-third hour drop. This means some combination of two factors, that the show itself and the Drew McIntyre vs. Andrade main event kept those who at least tuned in at first interested, and/or that the low first hour, under two million viewers, is down to the hardcores that will stay no matter what.

It's likely more the former, given many shows have done worse than hour three, but the starting point was so low to make it the least-watched Raw except for Christmas week taped shows in 2018 and 2019.

Raw finished in the No. 3, No. 5 and No. 7 spots in 18-49 ...

For total viewers, the show was down nine percent from last week, but in 18-49, the decline was 20 percent.

It was down 25 percent overall and 38 percent in 18-49 from the same week last year, but that was also a special draft episode, and the circumstances are completely different ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.99 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.91 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.83 million viewers

We have been told by a number of readers that they woke up this morning to find they had received refunds from Ticketmaster.com for Wrestlemania 36.

If you are waiting for a refund, you should you check your credit or debit card accounts

The status of the NXT Tag Team titles will be addressed this week.

WWE announced last night that William Regal is appearing on Wednesday morning's episode of WWE's The Bump and will address the NXT Tag Team title picture: "What news will @RealKingRegal have for us this week? The #WWENXT GM stops by #WWETheBump to address the @WWENXT Tag Team Championship picture, this Wednesday at 10am ET!"

WWE’s Ask WWE Network Twitter account noted that episodes of NXT now aren’t being made available on-demand in the United Kingdom until seven days after they originally air in the country ...

For those who have asked about changes in getting to see NXT on the WWE Network in certain countries, there are cities where the first-run is delayed based on local television contracts that the local station put in to protect their television rights.

Jim Ross is often called the greatest pro wrestling announcer in history, with many not batting an eye before putting him right on to the Mount Rushmore of wrestling announcers. Now, Jim Ross is revealing his own personal Mount Rushmore of wrestling announcers.

Speaking on the Top Rope Nation Podcast, Jim took some time to heap praise on those that paved the way for him and some that he was lucky to work with over the course of a career that spans across multiple decades.

"Gordon Solie, Bob Caudill, Lance Russell, Gorilla Monsoon would be four off the top of my head that I would put on there,” Ross revealed. “If you included color guys, color commentators, that would certainly include Bobby Heenan, who may be the best all-around performer I've ever worked with, as far as being an outstanding wrestler, a great heel, a manager, a host, a color guy. He excelled in everything he did. And nobody in that era was better or that area was better than Bobby, in my view. So Bobby Heenan would be on that list, Paul Heyman would be one, Jerry Lawler would be one. Lawler, Heyman, Cornette (was a) great color guy....When you ask the announcers, I just assumed it was like my role as a play by play guy. So those four I mentioned I think would be there quite easily. There's a very subjective list like everything else, but there's my favorites."

A number of readers sent word that material the WWE Network made free for all to stream (after signing up with an email account) has now returned to being exclusive content for paid Network subscribers.

WWE announced on 3/23 that were making certain content free to stream for a limited period of time due to the coronavirus pandemic, including every WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, NXT TakeOver and NXT UK TakeOver events, WWE 24, Ruthless Aggression and The Monday Night War documentary series and more.

Sports Illustrated has a sobering view of the level of sophistication for major league sports to return to play even in empty arena settings. It’s mind-boggling to read this and the preventive measures necessary while WWE is going to have people traveling weekly to shows. In the feature, epidemiologist Zach Binney predicts there will be sports events involving fans until there is a vaccine that could be 12-18 months away. Regarding empty arena games, SI spoke to numerous experts and before anything could be started, every person involved would need to be isolated for two weeks and be tested multiple times during that period. In WWE’s case, they are no living at the PC in isolation but instead, going home either by car or by plane and expected to do so every seven days. They are also assessing sports that have much less body-to-body contact that professional wrestling necessitates. Below is a portion of the article:

Conversations with experts painted a picture of what exactly it would take to make these sports vacuums a reality. Before any of this can begin, every person who would have access to the facilities will need to be isolated separately for two weeks to ensure that no infection could enter. That’s players and coaches, athletic trainers and interpreters, reporters and broadcasters, plus housekeeping and security personnel. No one can come in or out. Food will have to be delivered. Hotel and stadium employees will have to be paid enough to compensate for their time away from their families. Everyone on site will have to be tested multiple times during this initial period.

All right, so the 14-day period is over and everyone has tested negative at least twice. Now they are allowed to begin spending time around one another—but not too much time. If one person gets it, he or she will begin spreading it immediately, so everyone will have to continue practicing social distancing. That probably means using a new ball for each play. It probably means seating players in stands rather than on benches or in dugouts. It certainly means banning high-fives.

All personnel must continue to be tested daily. We will be unlikely to have enough rapid testing by then, so they will probably have to settle for the tests that take several hours to produce results. That means the testing will probably run a day behind.
Link: https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/04/10/sports-arent-coming-back-soon

Amy Weber, who worked for WWE after participating in the first Diva Search in 2004, posted a video explaining why she left the company. She was complimentary of talents such as Big Show, Eddy Guerrero, and JBL. She said most of the women in the locker room were nice to her, but she didn’t come up in wrestling and said it probably rubbed some people the wrong way.

She left in the company in February 2005 and explained that it occurred after a series of events following an injury while practicing with Joy Giovanni. Weber said she suffered an injury to her tailbone and was instructed by the doctor to get two Ibuprofen pills and ice from the men’s locker room and some ice. Later, while on a flight to Alaska, she was sleeping across three seats and was awoken when Randy Orton charged at the seats knocking her onto the floor. She went back to sleep and awoken a second time when a drink had been poured onto her. She saw Edge with the same colored drink and accused him of pouring it, which he denied to her. Weber landed in Alaska and informed Shane McMahon she was done with the company.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kWUpBZtr4c

NWA will be bringing fans extra content this week in lieu of the previously scheduled 2020 Crockett Cup event.

On Tuesday, April 14, NWA will air the build for the 2019 Crockett Cup, which was headlined by Marty Scurll vs. Nick Aldis. The show will debut in NWA's usual 6:05 p.m. ET spot on YouTube. Then, on Sunday, April 19, at 7 p.m. ET, NWA will re-air the 2019 Crockett Cup. The 2020 Crockett Cup was scheduled to air live on pay-per-view on Sunday, but was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rematch between Scurll and Aldis was the headlining bout for this year's edition of the show.

Furthermore, NWA will air new content on April 21 at 6:05 p.m. ET as a brand new special featuring Kamille will debut. The special will feature Kamilla's wrestling debut.

On Monday night, it was revealed by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings that WWE falls into the category of ‘essential businesses’ within the state of Florida. Orange County has been hit with a lot of criticism and is deflecting by stating this was a decision made by the state and not the county. On their official Twitter feed, Orange County is directing critics of the classification to contact the office of Governor Ron DeSantis ...

I have reached out to several promotions regarding this classification within Florida and if they are considering running in the state and below are the statements we received at POST Wrestling on Tuesday from Ring of Honor and MLW:

Joe Koff of ROH:

"I think it’s great for WWE that they are able to operate how they see fit, or how they may even need to for their business. It doesn’t necessarily change our approach to the pandemic though. The safety of all of our performers, staff, vendors, and fans are the most important thing to us right now and we are continuing to improve our infrastructure and find ways to connect with them during this time. Are we eager to get back? Absolutely. For now, we will be monitoring day by day."

From Court Bauer at MLW:

"No. I will not put my athletes, crew and staff along with their families at risk of contracting the virus."

Donald Trump wants his sports back.

During his press conference on Tuesday, Donald Trump discussed re-opening the economy and putting together a group of advisors, all from the sports world, to help him in doing so. Trump named WWE Chairman "The Great" Vince McMahon and UFC President Dana White as part of the advisory team.

On Monday, WWE was publicly deemed an "essential business" by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The new executive order allows WWE, and any professional sports and media production with a national audience, to hold events as long as the location is closed to the general public.

"Obviously, WWE, there's no crowd so it's a very small number of people," he said. "We look at it on a case-by-case basis. We haven't had a huge amount of requests. A lot of this will be 'what do we look like in May?' rather than doing stuff now. The one thing I do support is, we do need to support content, especially sports and events. We're not going to have crowds there, I get that. If NASCAR does a race and can televise it, I think that's a good thing. I'd like to see [Tiger] Woods and [Phil] Mickelson golf. That's social distance. I think people are starved for content. We haven't had new content since the middle of March. If people are told to say closer to the house, it sure does help to have fresh things to do. People are chomping at the bit. I think people, to be able to have some light at the end of the tunnel and see things get back on a better course, I think from a psychological perspective, it's a good thing."

There may not be a new WWE 2K game this year.

Former WWE SmackDown vs. Raw video game series writer Justin Leeper posted a video on YouTube claiming he's heard from reliable sources that WWE 2K21 has been canceled. Leeper continued, 2K is publishing a different kind of WWE game from a different developer that's not Visual Concepts. Leeper went on to say that WWE 2K22 won't be released on next generation consoles.

Leeper previously reported that the budget for WWE 2K21 would be slashed and developers had quit after the release of WWE 2K20, which underperformed in sales and was heavily criticized by fans due to glitches. Yuke's and 2K split months before the game was set to release, which reportedly contributed to the problems in WWE 2K20.

Fightful reached out to 2K for comment, but were not given a response. Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT reached out to 2K about the report and was given the following response.

“We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”

WrestleVotes reports that the mood at the WWE Performance Center ahead of tonight’s live RAW is that of uncertainty, with some of the talent feeling as if they shouldn’t be there.

“Source states mood at the PC today is that of uncertainty. Many know they shouldn’t be there, but realize this is their job.

And as unfortunate as it may sound, they can all pull out 1 by 1, and the show will still go on. WWE will always have a big enough roster to continue.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Florida Declared WWE an “Essential Business,” Allowing Them to Continue Doing Shows (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/the-governor-of-florida-declared-wwe-an-essential-business-allowing-them-to-continue-doing-shows/)
More on WWE Being Declared an “Essential Service” in Florida (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/more-on-wwe-and-wrestling-declared-as-essential-business-in-florida/)
AEW Double or Nothing Will Still Take Place Next Month, But Not in Las Vegas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/aew-double-or-nothing-will-still-take-place-next-month-but-not-in-las-vegas/)
Impact Rebellion Will Air as a Two Week TV Special (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/impact-rebellion-will-air-as-a-two-week-tv-special/)

DaveWadding

04-15-2020, 01:22 AM

WrestleVotes reports that the mood at the WWE Performance Center ahead of tonight’s live RAW is that of uncertainty, with some of the talent feeling as if they shouldn’t be there.

“Source states mood at the PC today is that of uncertainty. Many know they shouldn’t be there, but realize this is their job.

And as unfortunate as it may sound, they can all pull out 1 by 1, and the show will still go on. WWE will always have a big enough roster to continue.”

THE SHOW MUST GO ON DAMMIT. RAW TONIGHT IS DANNY BURCH WRESTLING HIMSELF FOR 3 HOURS. WHO IS DANNY BURCH, ANYWAYS? YOU WANT A STEAK WRAP, PAL?

Evil Vito

04-15-2020, 12:42 PM

Vince said in a conference call today that there will be substantial talent and staff cuts very soon.

xrodmuc316

04-15-2020, 12:51 PM

Vince said in a conference call today that there will be substantial talent and staff cuts very soon.

I'm ok with furloughs, but if Vince cuts wrestlers then that bullshit about them being a family and being important to provide entertainment to their fans needs to stop. Vince cares about $ and nothing else.

drave

04-15-2020, 01:11 PM

Typically, any work environment that runs that "We're like family" is toxic AF and should be an "interview" red flag.

xrodmuc316

04-15-2020, 01:25 PM

Typically, any work environment that runs that "We're like family" is toxic AF and should be an "interview" red flag.

100% right

Emperor Smeat

04-15-2020, 08:26 PM

The Sheets:

Representatives from seven Japanese promotions joined together today to take part in a government meeting regarding how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the professional wrestling industry in Japan.

The meeting included representatives from NJPW, Stardom, AJPW, DDT, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and World Women’s Wrestling Diana. They met with Hiroshi Hase, the former pro wrestling star who now serves as Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

Here's the list of those who attended the meeting:

Hiroshi Hase (lower house minister, Liberal Democratic Party)
Sports Board, Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry Representative (unnamed)
Takaaki Kidani (Company director, Bushiroad Group)
Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan Pro-Wrestling)
Naoki Sugabayashi (Chairman, New Japan Pro-Wrestling)
Suwama (All Japan Pro-Wrestling)
Takenori Fukuda (Representative Director, All Japan Pro-Wrestling)
HARASHIMA (DDT Pro-Wrestling)
Akira Takahashi (Operating Executive, DDT Pro-Wrestling)
Naomichi Marufuji (Executive Vice President, NOAH Global Entertainment)
Masashi Ishiguro (Head of Public Relations, NOAH Global Entertainment)
Mayu Iwatani (STARDOM)
Katsuhiko Harada (Representative Director, Bushiroad Fight)
Yuka Sakazaki (Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling)
Tetsuya Kouda (Representative, Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling)
Kyoko Inoue (World Women’s Wrestling Diana)
Taishi Fuwa (World Women’s Wrestling Diana)

NJPW wrote that the representatives met with Hase "with the goal of presenting a request for coronavirus testing kits for wrestlers and staff in the industry, as well as support to cover pay for wrestlers as events have canceled under Japan’s current state of emergency in reaction to the virus."

There are a few changes to AEW's roster rankings this week.

Cody has moved ahead of Chris Jericho and is now ranked second in the men's division. In the main event of last Wednesday's Dynamite, Cody defeated Shawn Spears to advance to the semifinals of the TNT Championship tournament.

Britt Baker has fallen one spot in the women's division. She was ranked fourth prior to losing to Hikaru Shida on Dynamite last week.

Best Friends have moved up two spots in the tag team division. They defeated Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa last week.

Here are this week's full rankings:
Men's division --

Champion: Jon Moxley (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2-1 overall record)

Jake Hager (4-0 singles record in 2020, 5-0 overall record)
Cody (6-1 singles record in 2020, 13-6-1 overall record
Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record)
Kenny Omega (3-0 singles record in 2020, 19-7 overall record)
Darby Allin (4-2 singles record in 2020, 9-9-1 overall record)

Women's division --

Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record)

Hikaru Shida (7-1 singles record in 2020, 12-5 overall record)
Kris Statlander (2-3 singles record in 2020, 6-6 overall record)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record)
Riho (3-3 singles record in 2020, 11-6 overall record)
Britt Baker (2-3 singles record in 2020, 10-7 overall record)

Tag team division --

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 19-7 overall record for Omega, 13-9 overall record for Page)

The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson)
The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-9 overall record for Matt Jackson)
Best Friends (4-3 tag team record in 2020, 10-14 overall record for Trent Barreta, 9-11 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 16-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian)
The Lucha Bros (1-2 tag team record in 2020, 10-9 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 11-9 overall record for Fenix)

AAA is starting empty arena shows this Saturday at 8pm with plans of running them for the next four weeks. Will stream on YouTube and Facebook (oddly no Twitch.)

WWE has announced that they have officially postponed their annual meeting of shareholders, which was set to take place tomorrow. Expect other WWE announcements as the day continues.
Originally they announced they would hold a meeting but then immediately adjourn and announce a new date for it due to coronavirus issues.

WWE announced the following:

WWE and Ad Council partner to launch national PSAs to raise awareness during COVID-19 pandemic

As an extension of Ad Council’s ongoing efforts to ensure the American public is receiving critical and vetted information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the national nonprofit has partnered with WWE to launch a new suite of PSAs featuring WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston that stress the importance of practicing good hygiene during these unprecedented times.

Will Ospreay sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview ...

While on the topic of a potential working relationship between AEW and New Japan, Ospreay feels that it won’t happen because of NJPW’s partnership with Ring of Honor and thinks that AEW and New Japan don’t necessarily need each other.

“I don’t know. I think the main reason is we’re kind of in bed with Ring of Honor right now and I think New Japan has a very big loyalty to the guys and once again, people need to remember New Japan at one point we’re going to file for bankruptcy, and they stayed loyal to the guys and they were able to bring it back up and then when Ring of Honor wasn’t doing its best and was on the down, New Japan was one… even there were times where I thought it was questionable maybe. Like I don’t really know, but New Japan have still been like, ‘Oh no. We’ll help out every now and again. We’ll still use some of your guys so like, put them on the show. Hopefully it’ll increase their value a little bit.’ Guys like Jeff Cobb for example. But I don’t know. I just think it’s… the way I always see it is do we really need each other? I think from fans’ perspective, there are a lot of dream matches. We could probably book like a nine-match dream card right now just sitting here, but I think it’s more or less of the — AEW, and I’m saying it like, I love everything [that] AEW’s doing. I think it’s fantastic. It’s fine, it’s doing everything great. New Japan is doing everything great. We don’t really need each other. There’s nothing that can benefit either group. I don’t really know. Maybe we could argue that New Japan on TNT would probably help out a little bit but I just think… there’s something there and for me personally, I want it to happen but I’m not like, ‘Ahh! It must happen.’”

Ospreay and Van Vliet dove into Ospreay’s Twitter back and forth with Seth Rollins from 2019. Ospreay said that according to people that he knows that are close to Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman was the one who told Rollins to apologize for the tweet about making more money than Ospreay.

“I mean, I heard rumors — once again, these are only rumors but I’ve heard rumors that Paul Heyman told him to apologize. Paul Heyman’s a big supporter of mine and once again, Paul Heyman is Paul Heyman. I heard that he told Seth to apologize. I don’t know if that’s true or not but like, there’s kind of rumors going around backstage and I’ve got guys who are friends with Seth Rollins in New Japan who have told me this and I’m like, I don’t know if that’s true but it sounds about right.”

ESPN has a feature story up on their site and Boxing promoter Bob Arum is the focus of the piece. With the recent news that the state of Florida has deemed WWE an “essential business” so they can continue to run live shows, Arum said he’ll be in contact with WWE about potentially running events at the Performance Center and has discussed the idea with Todd Duboef who’s the president of Top Rank.

“It’s very, very interesting, and we’re going to be in touch with them. There’s a possibility to use their facility to maybe do events without a crowd. We’re very close with Vince [McMahon] and the WWE. So let’s see, but we’re still not talking before June.”

According to a report from WrestlingINC, MJF, The Young Bucks, PAC, Big Swole, Fenix, Pentagon Jr., Nyla Rose and “Hangman” Adam Page were not a part of the recent AEW TV tapings, thus will not be appearing on Dynamite over the next several weeks.

The 2010 TNA Lockdown pay-per-view was covered by Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson on the latest 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff shared his thoughts about the six-sided ring and what he thought of it when he first came into the company. Bischoff stated that the idea behind keeping the ring at the time was to attract viewers who were surfing through channels, hoping that the six-sided ring caught their eye.

“Because it was f*cking stupid… it was stupid. Here was the logic that I heard and I’m not gonna name names, alright? But here’s the logic that I heard: ‘Yeah! But when people are flipping through the channels, they’re gonna see that six-sided ring and stop and go, ‘Hey, what’s that? Maybe we should watch it.’ That was the entire psychology and strategy behind the six-sided ring. You’re hoping to build an audience because people are clicking — first of all, people don’t click through channels anymore. You punch in your number, you scroll up and down. I mean, even in 2010, it was an absurd rationale and psychology if you will, or strategy to come up with a six-sided ring for no other reason than to capture an audience that may be surfing channels or as it was put, clicking through channels and stop because they were going to see something that looked odd to them. Think about that. That’s pretty f*cking stupid, right?”

Christian joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore on the Hall Of Fame podcast and during the Q&A portion of the show, Christian was asked if Edge’s WWE 24 documentary made him consider a return to the ring. Christian was clear about his concussion issues in the past and added that he’s medically disqualified and doesn’t know how he’d even go about getting cleared.

“I mean, it’s one of those things, right? It’s a completely different injury. You know, I’m pretty content with all that I’ve accomplished in WWE. I pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to do except main event WrestleMania and let’s be honest, how many people actually get a chance to do that? I’m 46 years old, and I had some concussion issues. It’s just a matter of… I don’t see it happening. I’m medically disqualified. I’m just not sure how I would ever get cleared.”

WrestleMania 37 could be in trouble.

According to the Los Angeles Times, an internal Los Angeles Fire Department email went around that discussed placing restrictions on large gatherings in the state for up to a year.
Kurt Angle Released By WWE
Related Article Kurt Angle Released By WWE

Mayor Eric Garcetti indicated in a conference call that “large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city for at least 1 year" according to the email.

Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar confirmed the mayor’s comments to the Times, saying, “The mayor was generally referencing studies of current and historical data and best practices for safely reopening our economy."

There is no timeline for Los Angeles to resume hosting large scale events. WrestleMania 37 is scheduled to take place on March 28, 2021 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Construction has continued on SoFi Stadium, though work has been altered due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It is unknown at this time if WrestleMania 37 will be affected.

Before going on a hiatus for the foreseeable future, AEW taped months of content in Florida and Georgia. The tapings took place on a closed set at Daily's Place (Florida) and the Nightmare Factory (Georgia) before AEW suspended live operations.

"When we first started, Brandi was adamant that we have a medical team. I rarely swing by the trainer's room but we also have a physio team. All the perks of a high-end wrestling company. She picked out Doc Sampson, who is famous for saving Jerry Lawler's life after his heart attack. He does not take shit from anybody. He set in a really rigorous amount of guidelines and everyone was able to follow them. You're quarantined in a hotel so we can keep the numbers under ten at the actual arena and then you're sanitizing a car steering wheel, the ropes are being sanitized, you're getting your temperature checked, you're getting quarantine questions a page long. You had to limit the people who are older individuals or people with immune illnesses of some kind, they can't be present because we don't want to put them in any risk, so we're doing interviews remotely. It's been an extreme challenge, but I wanted to be able to answer all challenges. Certain people really stepped up. Tony Khan, more than anybody," he said.

Next week’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring on VICE will focus in on the assassination of Dino Bravo and below is the trailer for the forthcoming episode:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7XrdYDyTOpo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Florida Governor Discusses WWE Being an “Essential Service,” Responds to Criticism (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/florida-governor-issues-statement-on-wwe-being-labeled-essential-business/)
Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, WWE Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/ratings-dark-side-of-the-ring-wwe-backstage-wwe-on-fs1-total-bellas/)
WWE Releases Rusev, Angle, Rowan, Lio Rush, EC3, Anderson, Gallows, Maverick, Slater, Kanellis, More (Live Updates) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-releases-lio-rush-ec3-karl-anderson-luke-gallows-drake-maverick-curt-hawkins/)
WWE Furloughs Nine Producers, Including Lance Storm, Shane Helms, Finlay, More (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-releases-nine-producers-including-lance-storm-shane-helms-dave-finlay/)
WWE Announces Upcoming Talent Cuts and Employee Furloughs (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-announces-upcoming-talent-cuts-and-employee-furloughs/)
Donald Trump Names Vince McMahon to a Council to Advise on Re-Opening the Economy (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/donald-trump-names-vince-mcmahon-to-a-council-to-advise-on-re-opening-the-economy/)

Emperor Smeat

04-16-2020, 08:55 PM

The Sheets:

For the second straight week, NXT beat out AEW Dynamite in terms of total viewers but lost in the 18-49 demo.

NXT averaged 692,000 viewers on the USA Network on Wednesday night, which was down 1,000 viewers from last week. The show fell to 58th in the 18-49 demo on cable with a 0.17 rating, down 10.5 percent. It's the fourth straight week the show has missed the top 50 in the 18-49 rankings for the night.

Over on TNT, Dynamite averaged 683,000 viewers, down one percent from the previous week. Dynamite also fell in 18-49 to a 0.25 rating, which was down three percent from last week. The show finished 29th overall on cable in that demo.

Factoring out the news programming that dominated the rankings, AEW would've finished 10th in the 18-49 demo and NXT would have finished 17th.

The total Wednesday audience of 1.375 million viewers was down one percent from last week and was the second lowest overall total since both shows started airing in October.

This week’s viewership ties Dynamite’s second-lowest since their launch with the lowest being 663,000 from Thanksgiving Eve last November ...

AEW did a 0.25 in the 18-49 compared to NXT’s 0.17. AEW was down slightly in the demo from last week. There were moderate fluctuations for AEW among the key demos with females 18-49 down 11% while adults 18-34 increased 15% and men 12-34 were up 21%.

Because NXT did not finish among the top fifty cable programs, we do not have a breakdown of their main demographics.

WWE announced the adjournment of their annual stockholders meeting and below is the official press release concerning the news:

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE today announced the adjournment of its annual meeting until May 14, 2020. Such date was chosen in order to conform with the Delaware General Corporation law relating to adjournments, however, as that date remains within the effective period of Governor Lamont’s stay at home/stay safe executive order for the State of Connecticut, it is extremely likely that the May meeting will again be adjourned to a later date. The Company will keep its stockholders apprised of all updates relating to the annual meeting as they become available.

WWE also declared their quarterly dividend.

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WWE (NYSE: WWE) announced that its Board of Directors today declared the Company’s regular quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share for all Class A and B shares of common stock. The record date for the dividend will be June 15, 2020 and the payment date will be June 25, 2020.

Vince McMahon tweeted:

Saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and WWE’s first employee, WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel. The grandest moments in sports-entertainment history were made all the grander thanks to Howard’s iconic voice. pic.twitter.com/aAMY2XaHsm
— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 16, 2020

Shane “Hurricane” Helms joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio just one day after he was furloughed from WWE. Helms did clarify that the company told him there may be an opportunity to return once the pandemic slows down but he’s waiting until it actually happens. Helms also revealed that he was the one who pitched the idea of the ‘Winner Take All’ stipulation for the main event of WrestleMania 35 between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey.

“I believe there is and they told me there was [a possibility] so, we’ll just have to see until it actually happens. That’s my hope and I did some good things with them while I was there. The whole ‘Winner Take All’ at WrestleMania when the women main-evented, that was my idea. So I had some good stuff that I was doing there, but we’ll see. I’m personally concerned that this whole thing lasts a lot longer than what we’re being led to believe, as far as the whole ticket-paying audience being allowed back in buildings, stuff like that.”

Another producer that was furloughed from the company was Billy Kidman. Helms revealed what exactly Kidman’s role was in the company and how important Billy was to the smoothness of the WWE product for their live TV shows.

“So we got a guy that times the shows. Now basically, segments are given a certain amount of times. Like segment one is gonna open the show. It’s gonna have a certain amount of time. You got a crossover segment which is gonna happen at the end of the first hour going into the second hour. So anyway, say you and I have a match. Me against Bubba Ray. It’s gonna be segment four or five. Maybe segment four is gonna be five minutes and segment five is gonna be seven minutes, and that’s what we know we’re gonna have to do. Billy Kidman is kinda one of the ones who helps assign those minutes along with creative. He has to factor in commercial breaks, but then what happens is, sometimes segment one goes long. We had that recently. I believe it was the Randy Orton and Edge segment when Edge first came back. Went super heavy, really good, so if you go heavy as long as it’s good, nobody really goes crazy. But now, what Billy Kidman would have to do is he would have to make up that time elsewhere. Another segment that went heavy recently — I can’t remember what it was but it went eight minutes in, and so now he’s got to find time to make up for that eight minute slot in the show so he’s constantly sitting there calculating what he can do. ‘This match in seg 12 might be seven minutes. Well now it’s gonna have six. We gotta make up some time.’ Stuff like that. He’s constantly over there figuring it out, and it’s a pressure cooker and Billy was fantastic at it. Brisco did it for years, Gerald Brisco and now the guy that Kidman was training, Jason Ayers, he’s really good at it too. But that’s one of the most difficult jobs there so I was super surprised that Kidman was on the list.”

Muscle and Fitness released their sit-down interview with Roman Reigns that was conducted prior to WrestleMania 36. Reigns would reveal that he and his wife are going to be welcoming two new children into the world soon.

“Three kids with two in the oven. So I’m looking to be a papa bear of five. Breaking news. We haven’t really shared that.”

That rules out Reigns returning any time soon and probably not until maybe by next year's Mania at the earliest going by current info regarding the coronavirus and potential vaccine.

Following the news of the many names within WWE that were released from the company or furloughed, Seth Rollins gave his thoughts on the situation on Instagram Live and his response was not well received on social media when he shared his displeasure about the comments that were directed to WWE about their handling of yesterday’s events.

“It’s just a difficult day for all of us. My heart is broken for the guys and girls who I’m really close with that had it the worst today, and that goes for talent that you guys love on-screen but also everyone off-screen who may not get the social media fanfare that some of the talent is getting. But one thing I am seeing that is a little upsetting to me is all the negativity and hostility towards WWE. This is a difficult day for everyone, for all of us and I think if ever there was a moment for us to unify, for us to kind of band together and try to do the best we can to keep this business alive the best we know how, this is that moment, and I think pointing fingers or saying, ‘You should’ve done this, you should’ve done that’ is… I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like the time or the place for it. I think this is a day for compassion and for empathy and for understanding and to try to support each other. You know, to pick each other up and that’s for everybody. That’s not just for the guys and girls that [were] let go but, for all of us who are fortunate enough at this moment to still be able to have a position where we can collect a paycheck and we can support those who love us and those around us. I think that we have to take it upon ourselves to work harder to make sure that there’s a place for all those who again, had it the worst today, to come back to. I think as a planet, we can rally around the idea that this is only temporary, and that those who have lost their positions and who are struggling to figure out what to do next.”

Guess Rollins didn't want Strowman taking the crown this year for most tone deaf comments by a WWE wrestler.

AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes wrote a detailed message about Zack Ryder on Instagram and shared how proud he is of Zack and that he believes in him.

“I’d like to take a moment to say how proud I am to be a friend of @zryder85 – In a world of weekend warriors and “play wrestlers”, this dude exudes passion and drive for pro-wrestling like no other. Through 14 years to see him CONSISTENTLY try to better himself (whether that be his in-ring work, or watching him physically mold himself and his body into such a specimen DRUG FREE with hard work and will). I have a little rule, and that’s that if you’ve ever “gotten over” in wrestling…you can always do so again. That rule being fully applicable to Matt now. At 34 years young, his best wrestling days are ahead of him. Cheers to a great start and 14 years of unrelenting blood, sweat, and tears. Future endeavors are limitless when you actually endeavor. I chose this picture because it was one of my last days at WWE, watching 80,000+ people applaud as Matt won gold was an eruption not only live in the arena but in the locker room as well. Hearing Dolph coordinate for his father to come over the rails(meanwhile I was ass deep into a broken ladder and stuck but had the best seat in the house) and seeing father/son embrace, I thought I’d be jealous or bitter, but I was truly happy and proud for one of my peers. Congratulations my friend, and good luck!”

Dolph Ziggler purchased over $200 in merchandise to support independent wrestler Christian Kobain.
Link: https://twitter.com/RealKobain/status/1250604534940028933?s=20

Former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide welcomed Lio Rush onto his ‘Say Less With Kaz’ podcast prior to the announcement of Rush’s release from WWE. During their conversation, Lio recalled one of his strangest interactions with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and it occurred when Bobby Lashley was starting to do the butt pose on WWE TV.

“Aw man, I think this was one of the first times where I had an actual long conversation with Vince, and it was by far the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had my life, and he described all of the poses, he described everything that he wanted from the biceps, to the chest curls, to just everything that I had no idea about. Me and Bobby [Lashley] had no idea what these poses were and then he said, ‘At the end of Bobby doing the side chest, the lat spread, I want him to bend over, face the crowd and you comment on his gluteus maximus,’ and I’m like, ‘Wha…’ My mind was gonna explode. I was like, ‘What is happening right now?’ And you hear about these stories about Vince on these podcasts, about these meetings and Vince reenacting what exactly he wants done. I will never forget me and Bobby just looking at each other being so confused and like, ‘What do you mean you want him to comment?’ And I’ll never forget — Vince stood up, got from behind his desk, stood in front of me and Bobby, bent over and tapped his ass and said, ‘That’s what I want you to do.’”

Matt Cardona, the former Zack Ryder currently has the top selling shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees.
Link: https://twitter.com/TheMattCardona/status/1250842547112546308?s=20

Karl Anderson tweeted out a teaser about him possibly returning to Japan and he also changed his Twitter handle to @MachineGunKA.
Link: https://twitter.com/MachineGunKA/status/1250868669044973573?s=20

Today was a rough day for WWE staff for a number of reasons. One, obviously was the passing of Howard Finkel, but there was also the fallout of yesterday's cutbacks as staff came over the shock of the day. Today, they were acclimating themselves to the new normal of so much of the company being on furlough or let go. One person felt at least 40% of the company was gone today vs. yesterday and I've had four different people mention having some form of "survivor's guilt" over friends and co-workers being gone while they remained. It was a rough day, especially since those remaining have far more on their plate than usual going forward and now have less manpower to get the work done. Cuts were across the board in every division. We are told that the live events division was especially hit hard since there aren't any events currently and the digital area of the company also suffered deep cuts as well. Those who were furloughed were told the company hoped to have them back by July and that the company would cover their benefits during this time. There are, obviously, a lot of people wondering if and when they will return to WWE.

The released WWE main roster talents would have the traditional 90-day no compete, which would make them available for other promotions around 7/15.

WWE employees who were furloughed this week could be coming back in a few months.

According to a report from Wrestling Inc., employees who were furloughed did get an information packet that explained why they were furloughed in the first place. The packet reportedly said those people were furloughed due to the "current level of work available as a result of COVID-19." The pandemic was referred to "an unforeseen circumstance, akin to a natural disaster."

Although people were furloughed on April 15, they will remain on WWE's payroll until April 18 when the furlough officially begins. According to the report, the current end date is July 1, but that date is subject to be changed "given the current situation and ongoing uncertainties." The packet does not have a definitive end date but noted that the furlough period is expected to last less than six months.

WWE added that it plans to keep all the employees that were going affected by this decision. Despite this, layoffs could still happen. In addition, WWE will also be covering health insurance contributions during the furlough period for employees enrolled in the WWE health plan and those employees will still retain their seniority within the company. Wrestling Inc. also reported that WWE said furloughed employees will not be receiving a paycheck, however they may be eligible for unemployment benefits as well as the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Kyle O'Reilly's absence from NXT explained.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Kyle O'Reilly missed Wednesday's NXT as he's diabetic and is a higher risk for the coronavirus ...

O'Reilly hasn't wrestled since the March 11 episode NXT, which was the last episode of WWE television with a live audience. It is unknown if he will appear live at the Performance Center during the pandemic.

TPWW Frontpage:

A New Trademark From The Revival May Reveal Their New Team Name (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/a-new-trademark-from-the-revival-may-reveal-their-new-team-name/)
WWE Release Updates: Updated List, More NXT Releases Expected, WWE PC Coaches Released (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-release-updates-updated-list-more-nxt-releases-expected-wwe-pc-coaches-released/)
Killer Kross’s Name Apparently Changed to “Karrion Kross” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/killer-krosss-name-apparently-changed-to-karrion-kross/)
Legendary WWE Ring Announcer Howard Finkel Passes Away at Age 69 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/legendary-wwe-ring-announcer-howard-finkel-passes-away-at-age-69/)

Emperor Smeat

04-17-2020, 06:36 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

An absolutely crazy week saw Vince McMahon fold the XFL, have the Governor of Florida overrule local officials to be able to run multiple shows a week in the state, get, along with Dana White, to be mentioned by President Trump as one of the people he’d talk with about reopening the economy, and then made massive talent and office cuts with the expectation of a long economic downturn.

With its $500 million of reserve cash available, broken down as $90.45 million in straight cash on hand, $160.03 million in short term investments that can be used, and another $250 million available instantly in debt capacity, McMahon was the first promoter in combat sports to make cuts, while other companies have avoided doing so even though all others are losing money, although UFC will be back to making money as soon as they start running shows again.

On 4/9, Linda McMahon announced that her Super PAC looking to re-elect Donald Trump would spend $11 million in Orlando, and $7.5 million in Tampa.

Later that day Gov, DeSantis issued an order that gave not just WWE, but any sport that was going to be broadcast on national television, freedom to run in Florida as an essential business, as long as there were no spectators in attendance. This came just days after the Association of Ringside Professionals had said that no shows should take place due to a number of risks. When asked how WWE possibly fit into the description of an essential service, DeSantis said that such events were crucial to the Florida economy.

Of course that makes no sense at all. Empty arena sports have virtually no economic impact on the economy. Aside from rent money for the venue, which is not that significant, the usual economic impact, taxes on ticket money and souvenirs, and impact on restaurants in the area or hotels for travelers that you do get from major sports events are no longer applicable for shows with no fans in attendance. Florida does get tax money from tickets to boxing and MMA events, but they don’t even get that from pro wrestling, and there is no ticket money to tax for anyone right now ...

The order didn’t include even any compliances to social distancing as the mental health care workers had, or limit the size of gatherings. Basically they are free to as they please so long as the event is broadcast on national television.

DeSantis became a media laughing stock when this came out, largely due to categorizing WWE events as essential services, and then it became more ugly when reporters tied the Linda McMahon money spent coming the day of the order. Of course, DeSantis denied one had nothing to do with the other.

It is certainly expected that Tampa will get WrestleMania in 2022, and they also wanted to make sure the state was okay for major league baseball in the event the league goes through with the proposal to do months if not the entire season in Florida and Arizona.

Sean Sapp got ahold of a memo to talent from last week from Paul Levesque, which stated, “We have just been notified that (name not reported but talent was told the name) was diagnosed with COVID-19 . WWE doctors spoke with (the infected individual) this morning and reported last had contact with anyone at WWE on March 26 at the Performance Center. As you know (he infected individual) is not an in-ring performer and we believe this matter is low-risk to you per the following chronology" ...

The memo continued that “Those of you who were potentially exposed would be cleared for travel by the evening of Thursday, April 9 at the latest, since the last possible exposure to any WWE talent personnel should have been at least 14 days prior.”

The WWE then released a statement which had a notable contradiction. The Levesque memo lists that people who could have been exposed if they had showed no symptoms should be fine to travel to television. The person infected was a member of the broadcast team and was at times in close quarters with several people on the roster during the filming of WrestleMania ...

While not stated, the person in question has not returned to on-air work at press time ...

At first the belief was that if somebody did test positive in WWE, that everyone in wrestling in the U.S. would shut down because of the reaction to continuing. If it was in AEW, the belief is they would shut down but WWE would continue. As it turned out, it was in WWE, nobody batted an eye, and WWE is now taping three days per week.

WWE made massive cuts across every division, not just limited to on-air performers. In particular, the live event division was gutted since there will likely be no live events for some time to come. But writers and office workers were cutback heavily, and in many cases age was a factor, notably the surprise cutting of referee Mike Chioda, who had been in that role for 31 years, the longest lasting referee in the company since its national expansion, who is 53 in a company that wants younger faces on the screen ...

For NXT, all the released names aren’t known. And unlike the main roster, the belief is that there are more to come. We’re told everyone who isn’t featured heavily on NXT television is sweating on this. The NXT talent cut will only be on 30 day non-competes.

The only confirmed names at press time are Deonna Purrazzo, Aleksander Jaksic, M.J. Jenkins, Dan Matha, ring announcer Jon Loquasto and interviewer Kat Marino aka Alyssa Marino.

WWE is expected to take him about $73 million per month if they take in $0 in house show tickets (which will be the case), merchandise (which will generate some money), licensing (which will generate some money), digital (which will generate some money), advertising, and any other stream besides television revenue and network subscriptions. Even if every category brings in no money for the remainder of 2020, WWE will gross about $900 million, the largest number in company history.

We heard from two people with ownership interest in major sports this past week. One noted that their franchise, which would have been profitable, isn’t going to be, who could sympathize with McMahon as a publicly traded company. But he noted the timing of doing the cuts looks the worst. It was noted that as an owner of a non-public company, even though it is not profitable, he can make calls and at this point has no let anyone go. That isn’t to say he won’t, because the nature of a sports franchise is there will be talent turnover. It was noted that before New Japan and AEW became actual threats, WWE would make cuts, not this severe, but cuts, every year or two. It was also noted that the salary cuts of the talent and producer, which looks to be about $8.4 million per year, will not hurt the company from a product standpoint as most were not even used much aside from Gallows & Anderson, and to a degree Rusev, none were key players at any time recently ...

Essentially the choice was short-term stock price and an attempt to have record-breaking profits over workers. And the reality is, under normal circumstances, that’s just business. And for some companies, it still is ...

The cuts were made in all facets of business in an attempt to save $4 million per month. Between the wrestlers cuts and the agents, the monthly savings look to be north of $700,000. But there were cuts in all departments, and the executives and board members all took salary cuts as well. Lots of expenses were cut and expenses to build a new company headquarters in Stamford were delayed for at least six months. Part of the reason to build a new headquarters was to house more employees as the company was planning to expand with all the new revenue coming in. Due to the economic changes, nobody is expanding and thus they don’t need the new building and it probably won’t be the time to make those expansions and new additions for some time.

The new headquarters was to house an increasing number of people, but with the job head count down, they don’t need a larger headquarters.

At press time, the cuts led to a stock rise to $39.67 per share, giving the company a $3.067 billion market value. After the cuts were made, it was the first time in several weeks the value of the company has broken the $3 billion threshold.

The company has its quarterly conference call on 4/23. The belief by many is the cuts were made this week to guard against a drop in some form based on information that won’t be taken positive when the financials come out.

AEW officially announced that its next show, Double or Nothing, will take place as a PPV on 5/23 at 8 p.m. Eastern, but would not take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

This was expected since Nevada had shut down entertainment events through the end of May. That also includes the scheduled 5/27 TV show in the same arena.

No new location was announced, but given Florida being opened up, they can now go pretty much anywhere in the state and run. They would also be doing another set of television tapings if not going back to weekly depending on the state of things at the time.

Tony Khan said that he wasn’t sure the return would be in Florida, as he said by that time there will be few options and said that with television taken care of until the PPV, they don’t have to figure things out immediately.

We don’t know how the situation will be in mid-May regarding travel and disease control, and whether they would be able to bring in a full crew or use a more limited crew like they did the last set of television tapings. They had only used 29 percent of their roster for the last set of tapings, concentrating on the guys from Florida and Georgia, a few from Texas and others who stayed down. For a PPV show, I’d think they would try and bring all the top guys in. Whether that would include people like Jim Ross or some of the older talent is likely a decision that won’t be made until closer to the date.

Running a PPV off television with a limited crew and doing an empty arena show at a PPV price point is tough. The one positive is that they can shoot angles as far as interviews and vignettes with the talent not on television. There is a contract with the PPV providers for quarterly shows, and they do want the tradition of Memorial Day Saturday (but that tradition was to include being in Las Vegas). But it still feels that it’s going to be a tough sell and hard to put on a PPV caliber show with no fans with PPV pricing ...

The question is if it would be better to move off this date and maybe do August, September and November, or even September, October and November, as perhaps by then there would be shows with crowds. But the problem is the uncertainty aspect. But I wouldn’t want to lock a date today and would rather wait until there’s a better sign of the future.

The 4/8 AEW vs. NXT battle, which ended up with the shows 400 people apart in NXT’s favor in total viewers, although AEW still won 18-49 solidly, did teach us a few lessons regarding overdoing gimmicks and long empty arena matches ...

The 4/8 difference was so small that it was due to NXT’s better lead-in as NCIS before NXT is doing around 1 million viewers ...

If you’re looking for the overall Gargano vs. Ciampa performance, it opened with solid growth with the audience going from 636,000 to 696,000. Without a doubt the match itself was the reason NXT was up overall 19.5 percent from the week before for the show at a time when generally everything is in a decline.

However the match itself taught us another lesson.

It declined in every quarter and only won one of the four quarters, which would be from about the 10-25 minute mark, and also came with AEW doing hype for Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager, a Matt Hardy interview and a Brodie Lee quick squash.

It lost 56,000 viewers from the first to the fourth quarter, but only 4,000 in 18-34 and 5,000 in 35-49. So while not showing growth, as it should have, at best it was a slight negative in 18-49 but obviously it must have been a bigger negative older and younger, likely older since half the NXT audience is usually over the age of 53.

The issue here is again, going so long. It was also the second straight week that the AEW main event lost viewers at the end because of being a 20 minute plus match, which was not a regular thing previously, and it was with Cody, who aside from Chris Jericho, has been the company’s biggest ratings mover.

Even a women’s ladder match with title implications on NXT lost viewers. Ladder matches due to their uniqueness usually do well on television, but another aspect of both the ladder match and the Gargano-Ciampa is that NXT is a hardcore show and the oldest skewing show. So it’s an older audience, but probably an audience that did watch WrestleMania. They had just seen a never-ending street fight and had just seen a ladder match a few days earlier ...

In particular, at 9:29 (the peak, so people were into the match for more than 20 minutes) there was a big NXT drop, and a second one at 9:51. They never came close again to the 9:29 level so about 20 minutes was the sweet spot for that match.

The other question which was how people would take the Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa vs. Best Friends DDT style match, since that match went over two quarters we can see that it was a growth match and in fact, the ending nearly hit the high point of the show for AEW ...

As far as a peaks, the only time AEW broke 800,000 was late in the Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa vs. Best Friends, which was also the match that got the most criticism. The main event peaked at nearly 800,000 a few minutes into the Cody vs. Shawn Spears match. But that match lost a lot of steam during the commercial breaks and never fully got it back. Gargano-Ciampa, on the other station, nearly hit 800,000 at 9:29, but fell hard and was below 700,000 the entire last quarter.

In the first quarter, AEW had 741,000 viewers, 100,000 in 18-34 and 253,000 in 35-49 with a Jake Roberts interview, a Lance Archer squash and the beginning of Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker. NXT had 842,000 viewers, 99,000 in 18-34 and 182,000 in 35-49 with the women’s ladder match with Chelsea Green, Io Shirai, Dakota Kai, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Mia Yim ...

In the second quarter, AEW lost 40,000 viewers overall, 14,000 in 18-34 and 18,000 in 35-49 with Baker vs. Shida and a backstage skit with Kenny Omega, Michael Nakazawa, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. NXT lost 100,000 viewers, 18,000 in 18-34 but stayed even in 35-49 with the ending of the ladder match.

In the third quarter, AEW went ahead 665,000 to 664,000, so really a dead heat. AEW lost 36,000 viewers, but gained 13,000 in 18-34 and lost 1,000 in 35-49 with the top five rankings and promotional work for the Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager match next week. NXT lost 78,000 viewers, including 6,000 in 18-34 and 18,000 in 35-49 with Finn Balor vs. Alexander Wolfe and a Balor promo.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 36,000 viewers, but lost 3,000 in 18-49 and gained 5,000 in 35-49. That had a package for the Cody vs. Shawn Spears match and the beginning of Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa vs. Trent & Chuck Taylor. NXT lost 28,000 viewers, including 14,000 in 18-34 and 5,000 in 35-49 with Rinku & Saurav vs. Matt Martel & Chase Parker.

In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 37,000 viewers including 6,000 in 18-34 and 25,000 in 35-49 with Omega & Nakazawa vs. Best Friends. NXT gained 60,000 viewers including 25,000 in 18-34 and lost 7,000 in 35-49 for Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley promos and the beginning of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano.

In the sixth quarter AEW lost 74,000 viewers including 20,000 in 18-34 and 18,000 in 35-49 with more build for Moxley vs. Hager, a Matt Hardy interview and a Brodie Lee squash. NXT lost 22,000 viewers including 7,000 in 18-34 but gained 6,000 in 35-49 for more of Gargano vs Ciampa.

In the seventh quarter, AEW gained 16,000 viewers but lost 8,000 n 18-34 and 9,000 in 35-49 for the first half of Cody vs. Spears. NXT continued with Gargano vs. Ciampa and lost 25,000 viewers, including losing 4,000 in 18-34 and losing 3,000 in 35-49.

The final quarter saw AEW lost 30,000 viewers, 4,000 in 18-34 and 5,000 in 35-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Spears NXT lost 9,000 viewers but gained 7,000 in 18-34 and lost 8,000 in 35-49 for the ending of Gargano vs. Ciampa.

AEW won five of eight quarters in total viewers and all eight in the key demo. In 18-34, the last 30 minutes saw NXT win in 18-34 but lost in 35-49.

Actual final quarter numbers were 650,000 for AEW with 70,000 in 18-34 and 232,000 in 35-49. NXT had 640,000 viewers with 82,000 in 18-34 and 147,000 in 35-49

NXT beat AEW in total viewers by a 692,000 to 683,000 margin on 4/15, while in 18-49, NXT was No. 27 at 0.25 and NXT was No. 58 at 0.17.

As compared to last week, NXT was down 0.1 percent in viewers and 10.5 percent in 18-49. AEW was down 1.3 percent in viewers and 3.8 percent in 18-49.

Unlike last week where that should have been expected, AEW had built up the Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager title match for a few weeks so both NXT’s staying the same with less of note built up while AEW’s lack of gain were both surprises.

Next week, since NXT promoted more for next week, plus their lead-in edge, probably favors them for total viewers but the difference in 18-49 is still pretty substantial.

AEW is hurt more because part of its edge was the rabid live arena fans and that isn’t going to be the case. In addition, NXT has its full roster available and AEW won’t for a while. NXT is live and AEW isn’t, but I don’t think that’s as much of a factor since AEW spoilers haven’t gotten out anywhere since, like WWE, both were taped on a closed set.

Yet another company having problems right now is Ticketmaster, as well as Stubhub, regarding refunds for tickets purchase. Ticketmaster has changed its policy from customers being able to get refunds if an event is postponed, rescheduled or canceled, now it only lists canceled, although it is more following the policy of the promoter. If WWE or AEW agrees to refund, Ticketmaster will do so, but you will likely lose the service charge. But it will not do so if the promoter of an event reschedules and doesn’t offer refunds. People have noted to us that most of the smaller promotions, including WrestleCon which took a huge financial hit, have refunded money for WrestleMania weekend. Evolve hadn’t fully done so as of last word, but they also told customers of that issue. and promised to do so. Many had complained WrestleMania tickets themselves haven’t been refunded yet while every other promotion but Evolve had done so, but they were starting to be refunded on 4/14. Stubhub said that due to the large number of canceled events, that handling all the refunds at this point it isn’t yet manageable. More than 20,000 live entertainment events have been canceled

Kerry Morton, 19, the son of Ricky Morton, is getting into pro wrestling. He was an actor in local musical theaters but also won the Tennessee state high school championship at 138 pounds and trained under his father, Tom Prichard, Robert Gibson, Chase Owens (who was also a state champion high school wrestler) and Bobby Eaton. He was ready to put himself on the map when independent wrestling got shut down. He said he’s also trying to learn to be a producer in wrestling

Besides the contracted talent, ROH has been paying non-contracted talent, whether it be wrestlers booked on a per show basis, ring crew, camera men, referees, etc. that were originally booked for the shows canceled thus far and through May what they would have been paid had those shows taken place.

Mike Jackson, the famed Georgia Championship Wrestling enhancement guy from the 70s and 80s, appeared on the 4/14 television show losing to Johnny Swinger. The story was that Swinger was going to face a Young Buck named M. Jackson, and kept talking like nobody believed he could pull that off. He cut his promo about the Young Bucks, but then the screen read Mike Jackson. This was taped in Atlanta, where he was a regular on TV, best known for being the small guy who made the then-green Road Warriors look both gigantic and impressive in 1983 when they were breaking in, but that was so long ago it’s doubtful many in the crowd would have known ... Once the people saw him do some athletic things, of course they got behind him He did the Undertaker rope walk around most of the ring, got up and down great, hit a tope. Really he was amazing for his age before Swinger pinned him using the ropes. I believe it was his first time on national television since 1991.

DVR viewership of Raw has been declining of late. The last regular show with a crowd did 425,000. The first two empty arena shows did 353,000 (on a show that would be expected to do significantly more) and 319,000

Coming off the rumors of Peacock not being interested in purchasing rights to the WWE PPV shows, NBC Universal had a deck of slides to promote Peacock talking about the rich history of the various NBC U channels and the huge libraries of content they have. The USA Network was well represented throughout and there was early plans talked of to build off the USA Network’s original IP. There was not a single mention of WWE, which those who saw it told us came across as a staggering omission

Samoa Joe is still not cleared from his latest concussion

A lot of NXT guys have been losing on Raw but there are still rules in place. Theory was moved from NXT to Raw because somebody was needed in the spot and he did well enough that he’s now there as a regular. Belair was a long-term plan to come up after Mania. Guys like Tehuti Miles or Cal Bloom on Smackdown are not on NXT television so it’s okay to use them as enhancement. Guys like Tozawa or Lorcan are considered 205 Live guys who also appear on NXT, so they are okay as well. The basic theory as espoused is that NXT is considered the front line of defense against AEW. They can work out a plan for talent needed on the main roster but NXT has to be positioned as something other than developmental or a Raw/Smackdown feeder system right now

Smeat note:

Taking a break next week from doing sheets reports lasting until Friday since that is when the next Newsletter gets released.

Emperor Smeat

04-24-2020, 04:00 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition)

Just one week after WWE announced going live at the Performance Center every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Vince McMahon changed his mind again ...

The continuing of tapings became an issue on 4/21 at the Orange County, FL (where both the Performance Center and Full Sail University are located in) when an employee of the company made a public comment on the subject and asked for the tapings to be shut down.

“My employer, World Wrestling Entertainment, AKA WWE, is forcing me to work the TV tapings for its weekly shows despite stay at home orders. I am unable to speak out as I need this job, and I know I will be fired if I approach my higher-ups. Despite sanitary precautions, we cannot maintain social distancing and I have to touch other people. I request the government to shut down these tapings and enforce the stay at home order so my colleagues and I may follow the social distancing rules without fear of repercussion of losing our jobs."

It should be noted that, like with AEW, people have been told they don’t have to work these tapings if they are uncomfortable. That said, the massive cuts also send a message. It is also notable that 29 percent of the talent on the AEW roster worked the most recent set of tapings. In WWE, other than Reigns, Kyle O’Reilly and the NXT announcing team, there is no word of anyone not working ...

It also doesn’t help the perception from the talent when Lio Rush publicly stated that he was not going to work while the pandemic was going on and then just a short time later, he was fired. He was likely to be on the list anyway, since he was one of the talents who had publicly complained about money and those who had any point made comments perceived as negative were on the list of those let go. However, it does look bad from the outside.

Jon Alba, a reporter for Sports 360 in the Tampa/Orlando area noted that “While there isn’t really a way to verify if the comment above was 100 percent a WWE employee given the nature of the complaint, it should be noted that there have been several within the company who have expressed concern, many privately, over the tapings continuing.”

I can verify there were talents in the company who expressed concern, and others who recognize the risks and are concerned, but have said from a WWE standpoint they don’t think there is any kind of a solution that is good, including shutting down because of so many issues with that decision economically. But across the board, nobody can come up with any kind of a logical reason to be using Jerry Lawler at this time, given his age, previous heart attack, family history of heart problems and not adhering to any social distancing with him. At one point, when Lawler, the Street Profits, Byron Saxton and Tom Phillips were all together at the announce set, it was clear the social distancing precautions were not going to change how they did that aspect of the television show. There have also been Instagram posts from backstage showing social distancing was not being adhered to ...

There is a belief that the state allowing WWE to continue running, as an essential business, also had to do with getting the 2022 WrestleMania in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, as was originally planned for this year.

There were a number of new WWE cuts this past week, with perhaps the biggest name being Kassius Ohno (Chris Spradlin).

Perhaps the most surprising name of those cut was Kerwin Silfies, who had been the lead Director of WWE television programming dating back to around 1984.

Silfies wasn’t with the WWE the entire period. Conrad Thompson mentioned Silfies name as being put on furlough as one of the surprising departures while on his podcast with Jim Ross. Silfies had left the company at one point and was brought back. Marty Miller has been the company’s main television director but Silfies still did shows ...

Two other significant releases were Sabatino Piscitelli, better known as Tino Sabbatelli, and Taynara Conti ...

In the decision on cuts, it was clear that those who had fought management on contract issues were cut, notably her, Mike Bennett and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (who were never unprofessional but turned down a number of big money offers until the money got so big they couldn’t turn it town). No doubt, even though the company agreed to the deal for five years (as they did with Bennett, who had made noises of wanting to leave) the size of their salary likely worked against them.

Among other releases this past week included Josiah Williams, an on-air digital host who appeared a few times on NXT television ... Most of those cut were stars being trained and groomed to be local stars for NXT outposts in foreign markets. Expanding into new regions is no longer high on the current goals. But it is notable with all the emphasis on making Middle Eastern stars due to the Saudi Arabia deal that they cut three Middle Eastern wrestlers, which seems to tell a story about priorities changing ...

Also cut was Andrea Listenberger, a member of the creative team whose main role the past few months was developing the Mandy Rose/Otis storyline, which was probably the best long-term storyline the company had.

Regarding the WWE Network, it’s too early to tell about the pandemic but the build to this year’s WrestleMania, with all the complaints, was about the same as last year, stronger early but weaker in the final week before Mania ...

Regarding the hoped for deal, which could have been to sell the network itself to a larger streaming provider or just sell the PPVs, as noted, no deal was reached in time for WrestleMania, which was the goal ...

The changes in tiers in the WWE Network and a free tier, originally to start already this year, is now targeted for the fourth quarter. My gut says there were no plans to rush the changes because it makes no sense to start something and then sell the content to another distributor, so the different tiers, the usage of the various independent libraries they’ve been teasing for years and such probably won’t happen until either late this year or after if they can sell streaming content to a higher paying provider.

They noted when things get back to normal, or as close to normal as it gets, perhaps the situation will change. But the indication was that all talks right now are dead, since major media partners right now aren’t looking at adding a new major expense on a deal that at best won’t pay off financially for a long time.

Numbers are down from last year due to a steady decline over the past two years, but first quarter growth was up very slightly.

From December 31, 2019 to March 31, 2020, the WWE Network went from 996,000 U.S. subscribers to 1,082,500, and from 393,000 foreign subscribers to 412,100, meaning overall 1,389,000 to 1,494,600.

The growth of 87,000 in the U.S. and 19,000 outside the U.S. compares with growth of 56,000 in the U.S. during the same months last year and 13,000 outside the U.S., or 106,000 to 69,000.

Still, because they started from a lower point, subscribers on March 31, 2019 were down 7.6 percent from the same day last year in the U.S., and 3.1 percent outside the U.S. In addition, there were a lot more free subscribers, with 149,000 on 3/31 this year and only 46,000 last year ...

However, from March 31 until the day after WrestleMania, that changed again. The WWE Network added 170,000 paid subscribers, but also had 187,000 new subscribers ordering for free during those days.

This year, those numbers were 127,000 new subscribers paid, and 327,000 free ...

On the day after WrestleMania, and usual high point of the year, there was an increase of 239,000 new paid subscribers from New Year’s Eve to the day after WrestleMania. This year that number ended up being 233,000, almost identical but a very slight overall decline.

On the day after WrestleMania, there were 1,622,000 paid subscribers and 476,000 free subscribers for 2,098,000.

That number last year was 1,767,000 paid and 233,000 free for 2,000,000. In 2018, it was 1,808,000 paid and 316,000 free for 2,124,000.

Overall network revenue alone was down 7.8 percent in the first quarter of this year as compared to last year, while in the U.S the drop was 9.0 percent.

Regarding Saudi Arabia, McMahon noted there is an uncertainly regarding a second show this year.

“They want to run another huge event,” he said. “We usually have two. They have the same constraints. We are not too sure we’ll get the okay to perform in November or December. They want us to. “

McMahon noted that if there is only one show this year, that both sides have agreed that it will tack on another event at the end of the current contract so while revenue will be down this year, it’ll be made up for in the future so the company won’t be out any money on the deal.

He said they were still working on Middle East TV rights, which were the last major rights negotiations not completed.

A few more notes on Howard Finkel, who passed away on 4/16 at the age of 69.

Tommy Dreamer, who visited Finkel in his assisted living center where he had been, said the Jerry Lawler report that Finkel suffered a stroke a few years ago at the time when nobody, even friends of his, could get any information on him, was inaccurate.

In an interview on the Busted Open radio show, he said, “A lot of people said Howard had a stroke. Howard did not have a stroke. Howard had a rare genetic brain disease. His brain was shrinking and I hate that because the whole `Out Think the Fink’ and he was slowly losing his mind. He had stroke-like systems but he kept falling because of his brain. I didn't post pictures of us on social media. I took them all the time I would visit him, but Howard had such pride. He didn't want the people to know that he was sick. He didn't want people to feel sorry for him. He was literally just sitting there watching the Mets game until it was time to watch wrestling."

Smackdown on 4/17 did a 1.39 rating and 2,187,000 (1.30 viewer per home) viewers and a 0.6 in the 18-49 demo. The demo number was down 6.9 percent from last week, the rating was down 0.7 percent from last week and the total audience was down 5.6 percent.

The 18-49 rating, which staying the same at 0.6, was an actual viewer drop from 823,000 last week to 766,000 this week.

It was the lowest rating, demo rating and total audience for Smackdown on FOX, but no surprise since last week’s show had the benefit the first show after WrestleMania and wrestling numbers for the most part are down ...

Last year on the same week, FOX averaged 3,043,000 viewers and a 0.6 in the demo, so they are even in the demo and down 28.1 percent in viewers.

So there was a weird situation on 4/20. Logan, who was cut a few days earlier, was booked in a few segments on Raw. The plan wasn’t to keep her employed, but the idea was that since they are still paying her for 90 more days, if there was a reason to use her, they would. Since the idea was that she was going to be back for a short while, her name was scripted into a few promos. And then the decision was made not to use her on the show, but they didn’t change the promos. I’ve got no idea if what was planned, which I believe was a segment where she’d be linked up with the Viking Raiders, has been dropped or may take place in the future. But even if she is on Raw next week, that doesn’t mean her firing was rescinded

They are also doing an angle working the Drake Maverick firing into a storyline. Maverick cut a nearly tearful promo about losing his job and the idea is that he needed to prove to himself and WWE that he was good enough and the cruiserweight tournament was his last chance. Then he lost to Jake Atlas in the first tournament match. Since it’s round-robin, the keys are if he wins his next two he can advance, but he has to win his next match to do so. No matter what the storyline, he did need to lose the first match. It’s almost impossible to believe if they are doing a storyline where he has to win to save his job, that in the end, he doesn’t save his job. During this period that would be cruel. It’s also weird to shoot an angle that calls attention to the fact they fired a bunch of guys weeks into a pandemic. And the kicker to all this is that as of Wednesday, Maverick was still listed as being gone when the 90 days are up. Like with all the talent, they may use them because they are paying them for the next 90 days if they haven’t already made their downside money

Right now the Charlotte Flair vs. Io Shirai NXT women’s title match is not scheduled for Money in the Bank

For 4/22, AEW was No. 24 in 18-49, doing 731,000 viewers and an 0.25 in the key demo. NXT was No. 50 in 18-49, doing 665,000 viewers and a 0.18 in the demo.

AEW’s total audience was up 7.0 percent from the prior week, but in the key demo, it was only up from 323,000 to 325,000, or basically identical.

NXT was down 3.9 percent overall but in 18-49, they were up from 224,000 last week to 234,000 this week.

Breaking 18-49 down, AEW had a 49,000 to 27,000 lead in Males 18-34, while NXT lead a 41,000 to 40,000 lead in Women 18-34. What is notable and unusual is that with 18-34, only 39.7 percent of the NXT viewers were men while for AEW, the number was 55.1 percent. Both are much lower than usual indicating 18-34 males watching other programming ...

AEW did a 0.12 in 12-17 (up 9.1 percent from last week), 0.13 in 18-34 (down 13.3 percent), 0.37 in 35-49 (up 5.7 percent) and 0.30 in 50+ (up 7.1 percent). The audience was 60.9 percent male in 18-49 and 51.2 percent male in 12-17, so guys were down but women were much higher than usual by percentage.

Because NXT was out of the top 50, we don’t have comparisons from last week, but the show did a 0.07 in 12-17, 0.10 in 18-34, 0.26 in 35-49 and 0.34 in 50+. The show did 59.4 percent male in 18-49 and 30.7 males in 12-17, so there has a reason that with women 12-34 the4 show was up and men 12-34 the NXT show was a disaster based on usual patterns.

Here are some more details on the 4/15 shows.

NXT peaked in the first quarter coming off NCIS with 730,000 viewers for Finn Balor vs. Fabian Aichner. AEW peaked in the sixth quarter with 729,000 viewers for Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager.

Moxley vs. Hager start-to-finish lost 47,000 viewers, but gained early overall, peaked in 18-49 from 9:30 to 9:45 and overall gained 23,000 in 18-49, however it dropped in the final quarter so it clearly went too long, while the tag title match in NXT gained in the final quarter, as it hadn’t gone nearly as long.

AEW had a 323,000 to 224,000 edge in the 18-49 demo. AEW averaged 1.32 viewers per home, down from usual.

NXT won five of eight quarters overall, the first four, partially from their edge in the lead-in, but their greatest lead was quarter two when AEW dropped badly. Most quarters were close and NXT also won the main event quarter overall ...

* AEW opened with 703,000 viewers and 315,000 in 18-49 for a Jake Roberts promo and Lance Archer vs. Colt Cabana. NXT had 730,000 viewers and 253,000 in 18-49 for Balor vs. Aichner.

In quarter two, AEW lost 65,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for the end of Archer vs. Cabana, a Britt Baker vignette, hype videos for Moxley vs. Hager and Baker vs. Cassandra Golden. NXT lost 30,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for the end of Balor vs. Aichner, a Velveteen Dream promo and an interview and video package with Charlotte Flair.

In quarter three, AEW gained 23,000 viewers but lost 15,000 in 18-49 for the Inner Circle vignette and Sammy Guevara vs. Suge D. NXT lost 22,000 viewers and 13,000 in 18-49 for Aliyah vs. Xia Li and the beginning of Akira Tozawa vs. Isaiah Scott. While not a match and not an in-ring, this would be the first quarter since the start of AEW where Jericho has been featured and AEW lost the quarter in total viewers 678,000 to 661,000.

In quarter four, AEW lost 8,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 with the end of Guevara vs. Suge D, a Guevara promo and beginning of Kip Sabian vs. Chuck Taylor. NXT lost 22,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the end of Tozawa vs. Scott, A Tozawa interview and another Dream interview.

In quarter five, AEW gained 54,000 viewers and 41,000 in 18-49 for the res of Sabian vs. Taylor. NXT gained 23,000 viewers but lost 35,000 in 18-49 for Tegan Nox vs. Raquel Gonzalez and a Keith Lee vignette.

In quarter six, AEW gained 22,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for Shawn Spears vs. Justin Law and mostly Moxley vs. Hager. NXT gained 24,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for Dexter Lumis vs. Tehuti Miles, an Adam Cole promo and the Dream/Balor angle.

In quarter seven, AEW lost 19,000 viewers but gained 9,000 in 18-49 (peak of 18-49) for the second quarter of Moxley vs. Hager. NXT lost 29,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for he beginning of Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher vs. Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish for the tag titles.

In quarter eight, there was a big turnaround as AEW lost 50,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for the end of Moxley vs. Hager. NXT gained 41,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for the end of Riddle & Thatcher vs. Strong & Fish.

Konnan did an interview this past week and listed Primo, Epico and Lio Rush as wrestlers he would be interested in bringing to AAA from the recent list of WWE cuts

If you see the name Zach Sammartino of Dartmouth in the NFL draft this week, he is related to Bruno Sammartino. The 6-foot-4 315 pound offensive lineman was first team Ivy League and comes from Pittsburgh. Bruno Sammartino was his great uncle

Emperor Smeat

04-28-2020, 09:48 PM

The Sheets:

Not unexpectedly, since it's been the pattern, Raw once again set its all-time non-holiday low last night doing 1.82 million viewers, down from 1.84 million last week.

The all-time record low was 1.78 million set on Christmas Eve of 2018.

The bad news is the big third hour drop returned, as the contract signing with Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins and a long United States title match with Andrade vs. Apollo Crews did 1.62 million viewers in hour three, the lowest number for an hour in 25 years.

Also bad news is that the 18-49 number dropped from 0.56 last week to 0.51. Raw was down 16 percent from the same show last year, but that show did at the time record-low level numbers going against the NBA playoffs. Even so, the 18-49 drop from last year was 29 percent ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.95 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.89 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.62 million viewers

As of 4/23, in what may be the first of many such filings, WWE officially made their first move to oppose Cody Runnel's registration of trademarks for "Slamboree" and "The Match Beyond." trademarks.

WWE requested an extension to answer and were granted that through 7/22 to file an official opposition or to request another extension for those trademarks.

Slamboree was a PPV created by Dusty Rhodes while working for World Championship Wrestling. The Match Beyond was a term created for the Wargrames match when it debuted in July 1987 for Jim Crockett Promotions. Rhodes was in charge of creative for JCP at the time. Turner Broadcasting purchased JCP, creating WCW. They sold WCW to the WWF (now WWE) in March 2001 with WWE acquiring their intellctual property.

Cody has noted he filed trademarks on some of his father's creations that were sitting there, unused with The Match Beyond and Slamboree among them.

Cody filed a trademark on his former WWE ring name "Cody Rhodes" last week, just 24 hours after WWE's trademark on the name expired.

Vice TV's Dark Side of the Ring will begin airing "extended" episodes of the series' current season this week ...

The 5/5 Herb Abrams episode has been titled "Cocaine & Cowboy Boots - The Abrams Story" and features the following official synopsis - "One man's fanatical attempt to build a wrestling empire to rival Vince McMahon's goes tragically haywire as his ego and cocaine addiction kills his dream -- and him along with it."

The Road Warriors episode has been officially titled "The Last Ride of the Road Warriors" and notes it will tell "The inside story of how wrestling's ultimate tag-team partnership is undone when one half of the powerhouse duo slides into alcohol and substance abuse."

The Owen Hart episode that is slated to close the series' second season has been titled "The Final Days of Owen Hart." The official synopsis notes that his widow, Martha Hart will appear notin, "In 1999, Owen Hart fell 80 feet to his death in a stunt that went tragically wrong. Bravely reliving his final day, his widow Martha reveals the mistakes that took his life."

Luke Gallows, via his Wrestlemerica promotion, filed for the trademark on 'Sex Ferguson' on April 22. Gallows used the Sex Ferguson gimmick on Colt Cabana's Wrestling Road Diaries and did a PG version of the character in Southpaw Regional Wrestling as Tex Ferguson.

Stephanie McMahon is among the new additions to Ad Council’s board of directors. She tweeted about the news: “Honored to be joining the @AdCouncil Board of Directors and serve alongside an incredible group of business leaders who endeavor to serve the American public with meaningful campaigns around important social causes.”

While speaking with NJPW’s website, IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito discussed only wanting to defend one title at a time: “If every defence I have is going to be for both titles, then what’s the point of having two titles? Why not unify them at that point? Maybe that’s a conversation that we have, but for the time being there are two titles, so why not use them both? I think it should be fine to defend one title belt at a time.”

Sports Illustrated interviewed Bronson Rechsteiner, the son of Rick Steiner, and asked if he would ever consider a career in pro wrestling: “I’m open to it. But I know wrestling will always be there for me. It’s always been my dream to carry the family’s legacy in professional sports, and I’m staying focused on taking football as far as I can.” Rechsteiner recently signed with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent.

WWE's 6/27 return date at Madison Square Garden in New York City has been postponed. There is, as of yet, no new, rescheduled date.

Saturday 6/27 was initially announced as a replacement date for ticketholders of the originally postponed 3/22 MSG event as it had already been planned as WWE's return date to the World's Most Famous Arena.

The legendary NYC venue was shuttered on 3/12 as part of New York State and New York City each declaring a state of emergency to help combat the coronavirus, banning gatherings and events of 500 or more attendees.

A statement released by MSG at the time noted, “We support Governor Cuomo’s decision and starting tomorrow night, our New York venues will only host events that adhere to the Governor’s very clear parameters. This is a fluid situation and we will be back with further details when available."

Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance, class-action lawsuits have be filed against WWE by way of shareholders and below is a recap of the lawsuit:

According to the filed complaint, during the class period, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: Defendants perpetrated a fraudulent scheme which: (i) deceived the investing public regarding WWE’s business and prospects; (ii) artificially inflated the price of WWE Class A common stock; (iii) permitted certain senior executives of WWE to sell more than $282 million worth of their personally held shares at fraud inflated prices; and (iv) caused the public to purchase WWE Class A common stock at artificially inflated prices ...

According to the filed complaint, (1) there was an oversupply in the hydraulic fracturing services market; (2) the Company’s pricing power was weak; (3) Liberty’s services were not increasing and its competition was not decreasing; and (4) as a result, Defendants’ statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/class-action-wwe-lbrt-levi-155000817.html

On the first episode of Ring of Honor’s ‘ROHStrong’ podcast, co-booker Marty Scurll joined the show. Marty was candid about many topics concerning Ring of Honor including the possibility of them working with All Elite Wrestling.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. It would have to be a matter of timing and a matter of, I spoke about [it] previously, just where it would benefit both companies but like I said, I have an amazing relationship with The Bucks especially. I still talk to them on a regular basis. I have a pretty good relationship with Tony Khan and I think both parties are definitely willing to work with each other. It’s just a matter of timing I guess. Like when it would be suitable to do so. So it’s definitely something I wouldn’t rule out for sure. I’m not saying anything will happen. I’m just saying I wouldn’t rule it out. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t. The timing needs to be correct. It needs to be a fitting situation for us to work together. I’d personally like to see it happen at some point.”

On the latest edition of New Day’s ‘Feel The Power’ podcast, Tyler Breeze joined the show and Breeze talked about the match that he and Fandango had against The Usos at the 2017 Backlash pay-per-view. In that match, Breeze changed characters and went from a janitor to an elderly woman. Initially, it was supposed to be a serious match for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles and Breeze told the story of how the match was converted into a comedic match.

“So we start putting together this normal match, then all of sudden they’re like, ‘Hey, you’re getting called into the office.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So we go in and all of a sudden, I’m told, ‘You dress up like other things right?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sometimes,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, but like a girl, lady and whatever…’ I said, ‘Yeah, I could dress up like whatever,’ and he goes, ‘Do that tonight,’ and I was like, ‘Well how am I supposed to dress up like a couple things while I’m wrestling?’ And he’s like, ‘Well, figure it out’ and I went, ‘Okay’ and so Usos — everybody’s got this bewildered look on their face. We got like 15 minutes for this match on a pay-per-view, tag titles, so like what’s happening here? I don’t know how to make this work. So, Usos always laugh because they used to love working with us because they used to know I just come in and be like, ‘Hey guys. This, this, this, this, this’ and they just call me agent Breeze because I put the match together and they were like, ‘Cool, works for us’ and I’d go, ‘Awesome.’ So, they start laughing as we walk back to the locker room and I’m just sitting on the floor, and I have nothing in my head, and they’re just laughing at me and I go, ‘What’s so funny?’ And they said, ‘We just never seen you like this. Like you have no ideas,’ and I said, ‘How am I supposed to get changed in the middle of a ring? How am I supposed to change from outfit to outfit?’ So then, somebody said something about — I was like, ‘Okay, we gotta figure out what to do here.’ So I was like, ‘Well, I think I could do the janitor like an old lady. I think that should be enough.’ So I’m like, ‘Well, if I dress up like an old lady underneath, then I could roll under the ring and get the janitor stuff off and then be the old lady coming out.’ I said, ‘That’s really the only way I can do this.’”

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley's recent appearance on WWE Backstage may have caused some problems for his wife Renee Young.

Young, who is a host on the show, which airs on FS1, was surprised when Moxley made a very brief and unexpected cameo on the show in late March. During an interview with PWInsider's Mike Johnson, Moxley was asked about his cameo and if Young got heat for it. Moxley simply answered yes and wouldn't go into any further detail on the record.

"Short answer is yes," Moxley said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wild card rules during the quarantine.<br><br>Moxley cameo on Backstage. <a href="https://t.co/TybLOKp1vQ">pic.twitter.com/TybLOKp1vQ</a></p>— I'm Chris Kazama, ESPN. (@TheChrisKazama) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheChrisKazama/status/1243369152410275841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

Apollo Crews Pulled From Money in the Bank Ladder Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/apollo-crews-pulled-from-money-in-the-bank-ladder-match/)
Cain Velasquez Released by WWE, Gerald Brisco Furloughed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/cain-velasquez-released-by-wwe-gerald-brisco-furloughed/)
WWE: Heath Slater on Issues with His WWE Career, Kalisto Update, Australia Tour Postponed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-heath-slater-on-issues-with-his-wwe-career-kalisto-update-australia-tour-update/)
Jesse Ventura Considering a Run for President (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/jesse-ventura-considering-a-run-for-president/)

Emperor Smeat

04-29-2020, 07:39 PM

The Sheets:

WWE is set to air its first-ever virtual roundtable on YouTube tomorrow morning.

It was announced today that WWE's virtual roundtable series will kick off with an episode featuring the company's Scottish champions. It will premiere on YouTube at 10 a.m. Eastern time this Thursday (April 30).

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, Women's Tag Team Champion Nikki Cross, NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray, and NXT UK Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) are taking part in the roundtable. They will "discuss what it means to represent Scotland in both WWE and NXT UK, their personal and often entwined journeys to championship glory and what their concurrent reigns could mean for the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole."

The virtual roundtable will be hosted by NXT UK's Andy Shepherd.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWEUK/status/1255497014009384965

This weekend's season premiere of Showtime's "Billions" will include an appearance by the Raw Women's Champion.

During this morning's edition of WWE's The Bump, it was confirmed that Lynch will have a role in the drama series' season five premiere. The episode will air on Showtime at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday (May 3).

Major League Wrestling ("MLW") today announced a new distribution partnership with iNDEMAND to distribute a slate of special events starting this May on pay-per-view via iNDEMAND.

"iNDEMAND is a giant in the sports programming space and the perfect partner as the league continues to build its audience and distribution," said MLW CEO Court Bauer.

Major League Wrestling will present three marquee events in the month of May, including:

May 7th: MLW Battle Riot II. More info
May 14th: MLW Saturday Night Super Fight. More info
May 21st: MLW Opera Cup 2019. More info

All events have a start time of 8:00 pm ET. Additional replays will be available all month.

Television viewership has invariably taken its toll on both WWE and AEW over the past seven weeks of empty arena shows. Raw is hovering at historic lows with this past Monday’s show featuring a third hour that was the least-watched hour in Raw’s modern history.

In studying the live viewership data available for Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and AEW Dynamite, it’s been SmackDown that has held up best until the past two weeks. Over the past seven episodes of SmackDown, the show is only down 5.4% but that has been amplified over the last two weeks where SmackDown has hit its two lowest viewership figures since launching on Fox. If this trend continues, the show will catch up to the loss shown with the other programs.

Over the seven weeks before the empty arena shows, Raw averaged 2,281,000 viewers (2,262,000 if you factor out the night after Royal Rumble) from January 29th until March 9th (which was the final episode in front of fans).

Since the empty arena Raws began on March 16th, they have averaged 1,991,000 viewers, a decline of 13%. The first week inside an empty arena had the novelty factor and was strengthened by the re-airing of the men’s Royal Rumble match and averaged 2.335 million viewers. The decline began the week after and has hovered at the two million viewers, although Raw has fallen under that number the past two episodes.

For SmackDown, they averaged 2,462,000 viewers on Fox from January 31st through March 6th in front of an audience. Over seven empty arena shows, the average is 2,330,000 and falling 5.4%. The past two weeks have shown a great fall with 2.187 and 2.005 million viewers respectively. If they stay at this level of viewership, their percentage drop will fall in line with Raw.

NXT and AEW had the unique circumstance of holding live shows right as the NBA season was being shut down on Wednesday, March 11th along with the news of Rudy Gobert testing positive and U.S. President Donald Trump holding a speech regarding travel restrictions. That night, AEW was hit harder while NXT stayed relatively normal to its typical audience average.

I threw out the March 11th figures for the comparison of both shows.

NXT averaged 745,000 viewers from January 29th until March 4th over six episodes (if you include the March 11th episode their average would only be down by 3,000 viewers). In the six episodes since, they have averaged 642,000 viewers and declined 14%.

AEW averaged 873,000 viewers over their six episodes from January 29th until March 4th. From March 18th until April 22nd, the show has fallen 13% with 758,000 viewers per episode. For the first two empty arena shows, AEW was not hurt at all with its first show doing 932,000 on March 18th and 819,000 on March 25th. The larger drop occurred the next week where it was down to 685,000 viewers.

From this data, it would indicate that wrestling fans have tuned out at a rate of approximately 13%. SmackDown has held up better, but the last two weeks would suggest they will be at the same level of decline as the other shows providing that the 2 million viewership mark is their new normal.

It was reported in the recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that DVR viewership is down across the board, as well. Dave Meltzer notes that Raw and SmackDown’s audience typically grew 20% with DVR viewership and has fallen to 16% over the first four weeks since the shutdown. NXT has fallen from 31% to 26% and AEW has dropped from 38% to 32%.
John Pollock had a very interesting article on the impact empty arena shows have had on wrestling tv ratings.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, WWE has been working with a limited roster over the last month and a half. Pete Dunne, one-half of the NXT Tag Team Champions with Matt Riddle, has been noticeably absent from NXT television as he's remained in the UK.

While times are tough and not being able to wrestle isn't easy, Dunne has found a positive to the current situation.

“I think it’s a much-needed break in a way,” Dunne told Alex McCarthy of TalkSPORT. “I think for years and years we talked about maybe, is there a way that wrestling could have a kind-of off-season. I think this is a good trial for that for some of us. To be able to be back in England with my family and being able to train a bit differently to how I would if I was on the road and wrestling all the time. I’m just trying to put a positive spin on something that’s hugely negative [coronavirus/lockdown]. But if I was going to [have an off-season], then spending time with the family, training hard, recouping and then coming back better.”

With Dunne being absent from television, Timothy Thatcher stepped up as Riddle's tag team partner last Wednesday on NXT, helping Riddle defeated The Undisputed Era.

Ricochet & Cedric Alexander may have only been teaming up on Raw for just a few weeks, but it appears that they already have a name.

Throughout this week, both wrestlers started tagging themselves on Twitter as #2FlyCrew, seemingly indicating that will be their team name, at least for now.
Link: https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1255485738428358656 , https://twitter.com/CedricAlexander/status/1254969350483738624

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, WWE Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/ratings-dark-side-of-the-ring-wwe-backstage-wwe-on-fs1-total-bellas-3/)
Gauntlet Match on Raw Will Determine Apollo Crews’ Money in the Bank Replacement (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/gauntlet-match-on-raw-will-determine-apollo-crews-money-in-the-bank-replacement/)
Impact Rebellion Results Part 2 – Apr. 28, 2020 – TNA World Championship on the Line? (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/impact-rebellion-results-part-2-apr-28-2020-tna-world-championship-on-the-line/)

Emperor Smeat

04-30-2020, 10:00 PM

The Sheets:

Wednesday night ratings are in and AEW Dynamite averaged 693,000 viewers for last night's show on TNT, down 5.2 percent from last week.

The good news is that the show averaged a 0.27 rating in the 18-49 demo, which was up eight percent from last week. It's the show's best number in that category since March 25. Dynamite finished 16th for the night on cable in the demo, its best showing since the move to closed set shows.

The numbers weren't so good for NXT, which fell out of the top 50 for the fifth time in the last six weeks, averaging a 0.16 rating in 18-49, down 11 percent from last week.

In total viewers, NXT averaged 637,000 viewers on USA Network, down 4.2 percent. That was the lowest number for NXT since April 1.

Total viewership for both Wednesday night shows combined was 1.33 million, the second lowest total since their cable TV debuts in October. In fact, AEW's premiere episode on TNT did more viewers than that on its own, an indication of how far things have fallen with the closed set shows.

The history of MLW will be spotlighted in an anthology series set to debut in May.

It was announced today that MLW Anthology will premiere on beIN Sports in conjunction with MLW Fusion on Saturday, May 16. The series will "spotlight the biggest rivalries, iconic athletes and championship classics spanning the history of MLW dating back to 2002."

“This is a project we had planned for further down the road but we wanted to surprise fans with some fun and joy during this challenging period,” MLW's Court Bauer said in a press release.

MLW announced last week that they had started the process of digitizing their MLW Underground TV series from 2003-2004. After its initial run from 2002-2004, MLW was revived as a promotion in 2017.

WWE is filing to oppose some of the trademarks registered by The Revolt's Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood, formerly known as Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson of The Revival.

The Revolt filed to trademark "No Flips, Just Fists" back on Tuesday, February 18 of this year, for merchandise and general pro wrestling/entertainment use. WWE filed to oppose the trademarks earlier today, just two days after the name was eligible for opposition.

WWE previously filed to trademark "No Flips Just Fists" on Monday, February 24. That is the same as The Revolt's term filed for on February 18, just without the comma.

WWE was granted the standard 90-day extension to prepare their opposition. They now have until Wednesday, August 26 to file that opposition.

WWE filed to be the opposer for another name that The Revolt filed to trademark back on Tuesday, January 7 - "#FTRKO" for merchandise use. WWE filed to oppose that trademark today, just two days after it was published for opposition. They were granted the 90-day extension, and have until August 26 to file that opposition to "#FTRKO" as well.

Finally, WWE filed to oppose the trademark for "Say Yeah" today. The Revolt filed to trademark that name back on Tuesday, February 18, for merchandise and general wrestling/entertainment use. WWE filed to oppose that name today, also just two days after it was filed for opposition. Like the other two trademark filings, they were granted the standard 90-day extension to file that opposition, and have until August 26.

This Tuesday, 5/5, WWE's will feature the following specials on FS1:

7 PM - Ric Flair's Best WWE Matches - including the 1992 Royal Rumble and Evolution vs. The Rock N' Sock Connection.

8 PM - Edge's Best Wrestlemania Matches - Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show, Edge vs. Undertaker

9 PM - Brock Lesnar's Most Dominant Matches.

10 PM - Roman Reigns' Best Wrestlemania Matches - Reigns vs. Undertaker, Reigns vs. Triple H.

11 PM - WWE Backstage

On a recent edition of Busted Open Radio, Heath Slater chatted with Bully Ray and David LaGreca. Slater was asked about The Nexus group and how they seemingly fell apart after losing to Team Cena at the 2010 SummerSlam pay-per-view. Slater believes that the group should’ve won at that event and knew at the beginning of the night, they were supposed to win and within a matter of hours, they found out they were losing.

“And then, going through Nexus, my goodness I wish we just could’ve had our hands and a grip on it a little more because it died way too soon and we all know this. Everyone knows it. SummerSlam, we should’ve took over, period. We should’ve won. I mean, me, [Justin] Gabriel and Wade [Barrett] were the last three and then pretty much Daniel [Bryan] and Cena took us all out, and it was just one of those things where as soon as that happened, I mean we shifted from fourth to second gear in a matter of one night, and then it was like, ‘Damn. We worked all this way and this hard for us and the company for this to happen? We couldn’t wait a few more months until Mania so you could have a mega-group and surely just destroy us or whatever?’ But yeah, it surely should not have ended at SummerSlam.

I mean, I knew we were going over and next thing I knew [we] weren’t. So it’s one of those things I’m sure people walked in and out of there, changed Vince’s mind and all that fun stuff. No man, I didn’t [try to change Vince’s mind]. None of us knew. We were winning, and then a matter of, sh*t, a couple matches before, we were not. We were going over… and I still don’t know the whole story, and you’re never gonna know the whole story because they always tell you, ‘Oh I don’t know. Oh that’s what he came up with.’ You can never get the right answer. You can only get the ‘around the bush’ answers so… I don’t know man.”

Jericho and Edge mentioned in the past that Cena was the person responsible for the abrupt changes made to the match's original plans and the finish that was done instead.

Per SEC filings made on April 29th, WWE Executive Producer Kevin Dunn sold 33,000 shares of his WWE stock which accumulates to almost $1,532,850 worth of Class A stock. WWE Executive Vice President Bradley Blum sold 16,358 shares at $45.32 per share which is almost $741,835 worth of stock.

As announced by Pro Wrestling NOAH, the current GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki underwent surgery for acute appendicitis. Shiozaki was discharged from the hospital following the surgery but to decrease the risk of him getting sick due to the current state of his immune system post-surgery, he’ll miss his TV matches on May 3rd, May 9th and May 10th.

Aubrey Edwards was the focus of the latest AEW Unrestricted podcast with Tony Schiavone. Aubrey revealed that she is working on an AEW rule book and that rule book will be published on the company’s official website. Also, Aubrey voiced her thoughts about the criticism she receives on social media about “taking away from the wrestlers” during matches.

“There’s always going to be people who vocalize what they don’t like. There’s always that really vocal minority. The ones that are behind the keyboards that are like, ‘Oh, I don’t like this.’ It’s fine. You’re allowed to like or not like certain things. Everyone’s different. There’s enough wrestling out there for you, whatever. But the thing that’s really interesting is just how many — it’s a very common occurrence where people just say I take too much attention away from the wrestlers, I’m too distracting. My favorite comment online once was that someone couldn’t watch the match because my lipstick was too distracting. Yeah, I’m like, ‘You’re not paying attention to wrestling. Like what the hell are you doing buddy?’ I think the social media team gets at least one email a week about me and how I’m a distraction and people can’t watch All Elite Wrestling because I’m on the TV.”

AEW Co-Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes joined the Dan Le Betard Show to promote AEW Dynamite. While on the topic of his father Dusty Rhodes, Cody said that WWE has been trying for quite some time to obtain some of the memorabilia that the Runnels family has by way of Dusty.

“We have everything. WWE has been trying to break into our little vault for years, trying to get some of the good stuff. We have a lot of really great stuff from Championship Wrestling from Florida, a lot of Gordon Solie, personal items and really good stuff from dad’s hay day.”

Cody also spoke about the Stardust gimmick and how in the early stages, he pieced the character together with Dusty Rhodes. Cody said he initially wanted a hairless cat to go along with the gimmick.

“When I was doing the Stardust character, I really wanted to have a hairless cat, so my poor dad, he’s trying to produce this promo and I’ve got this hairless cat in there and the makeup and the glitter and he’s watching his son. Just absurd pieces of business.”

IMPACT World Tag Team Champion Josh Alexander revealed that he played the role of “Droz” in the cinematic scenes of Dark Side of Ring.

During the Firefly Fun House match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36, Mr. McBossman (a puppet with Vince McMahon's likeness) said the line, "This is such good shit."

That quote became famous in the wrestling world after an interview with Jon Moxley where he recalled Vince McMahon saying certain ideas were "good shit, pal" during Moxley's run as Dean Ambrose in WWE. The line put a smile on many faces during WrestleMania 36, including Jon Moxley's.

"I kind of popped for it, honestly," Moxley told the New York Post. "I thought it was pretty funny. But it’s like, I think I might have popularized that or made it into a pop culture thing, but everybody knows that’s what he says. He’s been saying that for decades. People who were probably doing Vince McMahon impressions have been saying ‘that’s good s–t’ before I even got into wrestling."

The mystery of Vince McMahon's illegitimate son was solved with a whimper as many were left disappointed when the big reveal turned out to be Hornswoggle. Of course, nothing was at it seemed as Fit Finlay ended up being the father of the little lad.

On the February 18, 2008 edition of WWE Raw, McMahon faced Hornswoggle in a cage match and caught up on disciplinary action he had missed all those years. McMahon and JBL brutally beat Hornswoggle, leading to storyline internal injuries, including bleeding of the brain and spinal trauma.

But it could have been worse.

Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz was rummaging through his closet when he stumbled upon a pitch by another unnamed writer who thought McMahon could have killed Hornswoggle if things got bad enough.

“Hornswoggle Dilemma: Have Vince say to HS that we’re going for a ride as Vince stuffs HS into a pillow case. Have a camera standing on a bridge and the audience sees Vince throw HS out the window of his limousine and over the bridge railing. HS plummets to his death. I know it’s morbidly and highly unlikely ever to be used, but I think it’s something that a fed up Mr. McMahon could resort to after trying for so long to get rid of him.”

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Enacts New Stricter Rules for Their Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/wwe-enacts-new-stricter-rules-for-their-performance-center/)
Florida Governor Says That We Could See Some Fans Back at Wrestling Shows by June or July (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/florida-governor-says-that-we-could-see-some-fans-back-at-wrestling-shows-by-june-or-july/)
Curtis Axel Released by WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/04/curtis-axel-released-by-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

05-01-2020, 05:29 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The word out of Oklahoma is that Gov. Kevin Stitt is trying to bring in pro wrestling, MMA and boxing as well as a way to generate revenue. The only way to generate revenue from those events is with live attendance and people traveling to shows. The idea seems to be from a political perspective is that there will be far less scrutiny bringing sports that the media won’t care about, and moreso, that have no unions so there won’t be the same level of pressure from the outside on safety standards. The idea is that the states that ope up arenas to fans first will be able to get everyone running to run shows there before the rest of the country opens up. Of course there is a flip side to this as well, because the earlier things are opened up, he riskier they are. And the rush to avoid listening to what doctors and scientists are saying is quest of short-term revenue and dice rolling on the health of not just those involved, but those they would later come in contact with is something to watch from afar.

Smackdown on 4/24 did its lowest numbers on FOX to date in almost every key category with a 1.24 rating and 2,005,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home, which was normal levels), a drop of 10.8 percent in homes watching, an 8.3 percent drop in viewers and a 13.7 percent drop in 18-49.

The 18-49 number was an 0.5 rating and 661,000 total viewers.

What makes that number more concerning than the typical weekly ratings drops is that this show had been promoted for a few weeks around the HHH 25th anniversary special, and that the second hour, with the celebration, which included Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, was the first time Smackdown on FOX ever fell below 2 million viewers.

Smackdown went from finishing first most weeks in 18-49 this season to finishing in last place in the key demo. The only show it beat in Males 18-49, the demo it previously owned, was Dateline. It was also last, as it usually is, in women 18-49 and 50+ ...

Still, last year, on the same Friday, with rerun programming FOX did 2,103,000 viewers and 0.4 in the demo, so they are still okay in that comparison, but then again, it’s with programming that costs very little.

Just to explain how WWE talent gets paid. When you sign a deal, it is for a guaranteed money figure. Let’s just use Braun Strowman as an example. His guarantee per year is believed to be $1.2 million. But talent is also paid based on percentages from house shows, PPVs, bonuses for the big shows on the network (mostly to the headliners of PPVs, big network shows aren’t bonused for NXT talent) and a percentage of merchandise sales. Generally speaking, for top talent, the latter figure will be higher than the guarantee. For talent not being used, or talent that may have signed over the last year plus when they started increasing guarantees to keep people from leaving to AEW, the guarantee number could be higher. Talent is paid every two weeks. The talent has the choice to get paid based on downside guarantee, meaning, if you’re Strowman, you can get $46,000 every paycheck. If your other figure ends up more, so let’s just say by regular standards he’d have made $1.8 million instead of $1.2 million, at the end of the contract year he would get $600,000. Or you can get paid based on what you would normally make on the old deal. So in his case, the check would vary based on the size of the markets and the merchandise sales. If, for some reason, his total would be less than $1.2 million, at the end of the year, he would get a check for what was due. When talent chooses which one they take, it’s not set for life in the sense they are allowed to change their minds. For people who opted for getting the check based on gate and merchandise every week, this hurt them because there are no live gates, although I’m sure there are per appearance numbers for the tapings. In the sense guys do get paid for the tapings even though the live gate is $0. Keep in mind this is somewhat archaic because this system was created when live gates, PPV revenue and merchandise were the primary revenue streams. Today, the main revenue stream is television money and the talent isn’t getting paid a percentage of that. The second major stream is WWE Network money and no residuals from being on those shows other than those on the PPV are paid on that either. Main roster talent is bonused based when appearing on PPV shows in a manner consistent with what those shows did in the pre-network era. However, guarantees are much higher across the board due to the TV revenue, although they have not increased anywhere close to the percentage TV revenue has increased. Right now it makes no sense to get anything but being paid on your base so one would think everyone would be switching to this. Where The Revival story comes from is those guys were being paid based on the gates and merchandise and because their downside wasn’t that high, had exceeded it when they were taken off the road. Since they had exceeded it, that meant no money at all until the contracts expired. Others in that same boat would be getting something, since they’d be paid if they were used at the TVs and based on merchandise sales each paycheck, but that would be way down now. Aside from the biggest merchandise sellers, and keep in mind merch numbers are going to be cut way way down with no house shows, or if lower guaranteed guys get good spots on PPV shows, we are moving to where most guys are going to be getting exactly their contract amounts. The negative is if somebody does get hot, unless they can get a contract restructured because they are a bigger star (and that is not unheard of, but you’d be surprised at how low guarantees of some super hot talent was when they skyrocketed have been in the past), they are going to be paid based on that contract instead of how in the past they’d be way above based on headlining house shows, PPV shows and increasing merch numbers. And if you look at total merchandise sales between arenas and web site, the drop is $11.4 million to $9.2 million in the first quarter. But with no house shows, that second quarter drop will be from $13.7 million to maybe $6 million, or more than in half

The reason Zayn wasn’t on Smackdown this past week with Nakamura & Cesaro is that he made the choice not to come which everyone was told they had that option to do. He was originally part of the show

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network this week are: 1. 25 Years of HHH: The Game Changing Matches; 2. Ride Along with Mandy Rose, Otis, and Street Profits; 3. Stone Cold’s Hell Raising Moments;’ 4. Rey Mysterio’s Best 619s; 5. WrestleMania Day Two; 6. A conversation with HHH and Lemmy; 7. WrestleMania Day One. It’s notable that NXT is no longer even on the list, let alone NXT U.K. and 205 Live

Florida has become the new haven for the risk takers in sports who are considered essential services in that state ...

For AEW, the 5/6 show will go live. The show that will air on 5/13 will be taped the next day most likely, but it’ll be taped either on 5/6 or 5/7 either way. They will return on 5/20 and then the crew will stay in Jacksonville from 5/20 to 5/27, doing the 5/20 Dynamite, the 5/23 PPV show and the 5/27 Dynamite show. After that, we’ll see what happens. The people who live in Tampa, Orlando and Atlanta, which is a decent amount of people, will likely go home between tapings but the fly-ins are expected to stay from 5/20 to 5/27 in Jacksonville.

For the last tapings, anyone who didn’t want to be there had that option, plus people in hard-hit places were not brought in, as well as older people. For 5/6, they asked people in hard-hit places like New York and the state of Washington in particular to quarantine for two weeks, which most started doing last week. A much larger talent pool will be used going forward to build the PPV show. Those who don’t want to be there don’t have to be, and the talent based outside the U.S. won’t be able to be on these shows, most notably most of the Japanese women (Hikaru Shida and I believe Riho live in Florida) and other international stars like Bea Priestley, Jamie Hayter, Pac and Pentagon Jr.

Jim Ross will be returning for the 5/6 show. This one is risky for sure, similar to Jerry Lawler on Raw as both are about the same age (Ross is two years younger) and both have had histories of significant health problems. I think it’s early for this but Ross is essentially going to relocate to Jacksonville at least through 5/27 rather than travel back-and-forth. I just don’t see it as worth the risk. Actually the commentary with Tony Schiavone and Chris Jericho has been hilarious, particularly this week’s show that had all kinds of subtle comedy. Jericho probably won’t be on commentary next week since he’s wrestling and shouldn’t be on the PPV since he should have a match there even though aside from Cody vs. Lance Archer, nothing has really been strongly teased for the PPV

For 5/6, it’s Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy vs. Jericho & Sammy Guevara in a street fight, Jon Moxley vs. Frankie Kazarian in a non-title match and Cody vs. Joey Janela. MJF returns next week. The Young Bucks will be involved by remote but are not at this point scheduled to go to Jacksonville

Even though Penelope Ford was wearing a different outfit in the Orange Cassidy vs. Jimmy Havoc match and the Dustin Rhodes vs. Kip Sabian match on last week’s show, they were actually taped the same day. What happened is that originally the matches were laid out top where they were considered to be airing on two different shows, and she knew that, so that’s probably why she changed between matches. Tony Khan moved different matches to different shows from the original format. The idea was taping for eight shows if worst came to worst and they weren’t allowed to tape again, and it was laid out as four shows minimum because of the tournament. When she was wearing a different outfit on the same show after all, nobody stressed over it as Tony Khan felt it’s not implausible she would change between matches since there was enough time in between that she was not on camera. The same thing happened ths week as Brandi Rhodes in the Cody vs. Darby Allin match was wearing one outfit, got speared, and came back later in the match selling the injury. Then she was wearing a different outfit during Lance Archer vs. Dustin Rhodes and not selling. What essentially happened at the last taping they taped with the idea of doing a minimum four weeks, a maximum eight weeks, and ended up doing five weeks. The two matches even though she had different outfits on were taped on the same day as well

Notes from the 4/29 TV show. Cody beat Darby Allin in 20:11 in a semifinal in the TNT tournament. Very good match. Jericho mentioned how Cody beat Austin Watson when both were amateur wrestlers. Austin Watson is Xavier Woods, who was a very good high school wrestler at the same time as Cody. Cody went to Lassiter High and Wood went to Sprayberry High (same school as Buff Bagwell) which are both located in Marietta, GA.

For 4/29, AEW did 693,000 viewers and a 0.27 in 18-49 while NXT did 637,000 viewers and a 0.16 in 18-49.

AEW was down 5.2 percent into total viewers, but up 7.7 percent in 18-49 viewers with 350,000.

NXT was down 4.2 percent in total viewers, and down 12.0 percent in 18-49 viewers with 206,000.

There isn’t much else to pull from these numbers. In the key demos, AEW dominated, with Male 18-34 having a 56,000 to 32,000 edge; Women 18-34 having a 50,000 to 19,000 edge; Males 35-49 having a 155,000 to 96,000 edge and Women 35-49 having a 89,000 to 59,000 edge.

AEW was 16th in 18-49. During its time period, it trailed shows on MTV, Bravo, VH1, Fox News, The Food Network, The History Channel and Home & Garden TV. NXT was 51st in the demo.

Because NXT wasn’t top 50 we don’t have demo comparisons.

For the 4/22 Wednesday night shows, AEW won handily in 18-49 every quarter but NXT did win the first quarter in total viewers coming off their higher lead-in, but lost every other quarter in both ...

AEW opened with 720,000 viewers and 325,000 in 18-49 with a Cody interview plus the beginning of Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin. NXT opened with 728,000 viewers and 253,000 in 18-49 with the Velveteen Dream angle where the Undisputed Era attacked and Keith Lee made the save, plus Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 3,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for Guevara vs. Allin and a Matt Hardy interview. NXT lost 54,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for the Drake Maverick promo and Maverick vs. Jake Atlas.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 15,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega vs. Alan Angels. NXT lost 7,000 viewers and gained 7,000 in 18-49 for a Keith Lee vs. Damien Priest package and the beginning of Kushida vs. Tony Nese.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 50,000 viewers and 13,000 in 18-49 the Scorpio Sky video package, a Cody promo and the beginning of Orange Cassidy vs. Jimmy Havoc. NXT gained 18,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 with Kushida vs Tony Nese and a Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher interview.

In the fifth quarter AEW gained 26,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Cassidy vs. Havoc, an MJF promo and Wardlow vs. Lee Johnson. It was AEW’s best segment of the show and the peak was the Cassidy match. NXT gained 8,000 viewers but lost 1,000 in 18-49 for The Gargano family dinner and Mia Yim vs. Jessi Kamea.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 43,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for the Brodie Lee recruiting Preston Vance and for Lee vs. Justin Law. NXT gained 14,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for the Charlotte Flair/Yim confrontation, Chelsea Green bikini photo shoot, a Jack Gallagher package and the beginning of Gallagher vs. El Hijo del Fantasma.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 32,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for The Bubbly Bunch video and the build to Dustin Rhodes vs. Kip Sabian. NXT lost 8,000 viewers and lost 8,000 in 18-49 for Fantasma vs. Gallagher and the kidnapping attempt during the Fantasma interview.

In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 36,000 viewers and 7,000 in 81-49 for Goldust vs. Gallagher with Goldust’s career at stake, ending at 739,000 viewers and 335,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 2,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for Dream & Keith Lee (replaced by Dexter Lumis) vs. Roderick Strong & Adam Cole, ending at 653,000 viewers and 228,000 in 18-49.

Due to the Corona Virus, the Santino Brothers wrestling school in Bell Gardens, CA has closed due to having to pay rent monthly for a school where there is no way for them to make any income. Among the recent students of the school were Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke, Jake Atlas, Brody King, Douglas James, Heather Monroe (Big Swole in AEW), Eli Everfly and it was also the school Brian Kendrick trained classes at.

Some YouTube numbers for different streaming shows have shown AAA’s Lucha Capital in the lead of non-WWE shows, with 258,000 and 264,000 views for the first two shows. The 200th episode of BTE was 243,000. Dark has been 217,000 and 232,000 the last two shows. NWA did 85,000 for Kamille’s first match and 61,000 for the prior week’s Crockett Cup 2019 replay. The Seth Rollins-Drew McIntyre contract signing did 1.1 million views

Emperor Smeat

05-05-2020, 09:54 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw set an all-time record low for viewers with an average of 1.68 million, down seven percent from the prior week's record non-holiday low and showing the effects of the empty arena shows is siphoning away viewers at a larger rate each week rather than stabilizing, similar to that of SmackDown on Friday.

This broke the all-time low of 1.78 million set on Christmas Eve of 2018, as well as the non-holiday record of 1.82 million set last week ...

The first hour was the second lowest first hour in history, while hours two and three were the lowest hours two and three. The third hour was the least-watched hour in Raw history ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.55 million viewers

In the 18-49 demographic, it was down 10% from last week generating a 0.46. To put that in perspective, prior to the empty arena shows, their previous low in the demo for 2020 occurred on January 13th where they did a 0.61 against the LSU vs. Clemson college championship game.

Non-medical WWE-themed face masks are now available for pre-order, with 100 percent of the net proceeds being donated to charity.

The face masks were put on sale by WWE Shop today. WWE Shop wrote that the face masks are "comfortable, breathable, and compatible with the CDC's guidance for non-medical face coverings."

Through October 31, all of the net proceeds for the face mask sales will be donated to Americares. The non-profit organization is delivering needed medical supplies to health care workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Link: https://shop.wwe.com/face-masks-and-neck-gaiters/

As noted, AEW Dynamite topped WWE NXT in viewership once again this past week. Dynamite averaged 693,000 viewers on TNT, topping the 637,000 viewers garnered by NXT on the USA Network by 9%. AEW ranked #16 in the Cable Top 150, while NXT ranked #51 ...

The NXT main event between Damian Priest and NXT North American Champion Keith Lee actually topped the AEW main event between Lance Archer and Dustin Rhodes, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. These were the only two quarters of the show that NXT won, and they were the final two quarters of the show ...

NXT was beaten badly in every quarter-hour segment for the 18-49 key demographic. There was a bigger gap than usual this week as NXT lost a lot of the overall quarter-hour segments, and every one of the quarters in the 18-49 demo.

AEW's quarter-hour segment featuring the Bubbly Bunch segment and the No DQ match with The Best Friends vs. Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc was the strongest quarter in the key 18-49 demographic. The end of the match lost viewers but gained in the 18-49 demographic, which is key.

AEW has dominated the so-called Wednesday Night War and has a streak of quarter-hour wins. There are some people in AEW who believe Orange Cassidy is drawing fans and helping the show out as he appeals to casual viewers who find him funny. There has been a lot of skepticism surrounding Cassidy among fans online, but he's usually over with casual fans and live crowds. It might be early to declare Cassidy a ratings draw, but week after week he's featured in strong quarter-hour segments. Cassidy's match with Havoc on the April 22 edition of Dynamite was the highest-rated segment on the whole show.

NXT had a big gain for the segment between #1 contender Io Shirai and NXT Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, which also featured Dexter Lumis vs. Shane Thorne. While the brief Flair and Shirai segment did good, the non-title match between Flair and Mia Yim did not. Flair vs. Yim was the low-point of the show with just 170,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic, which was described as dreadful. This quarter-hour segment averaged a total of 589,000 viewers for the low-point in the 18-49 demo, and the second-lowest point of the show overall.

It was noted that one of the main reasons WWE put the NXT Women's Title on Flair was so she could help boost the ratings, and there are people within WWE who are waiting to see if Flair is going to help like they wanted her to. It was noted that last week's title match with Shirai may perform, but the Flair experiment did not work with Yim last week.

WWE seems to be going to great lengths to keep from mentioning Roman Reigns on television.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer previously reported that WWE announcers were told to not mention Reigns after it was announced that Reigns had pulled out of his WrestleMania 36 match against Goldberg. Any mention of Reigns by announcers has been limited at best, but WWE went to a different level on Raw when they scrubbed Reigns from the replay of the top Money in the Bank moments.

Seth Rollins' cash-in at WrestleMania 31 was listed as the top moment and the replay showed Rollins hitting The Stomp on Brock Lesnar, a blank screen, and then Rollins celebrating with the title. Rollins pinned Reigns in the match, though fans wouldn't know it based on the clip.

It's also been noted that Reigns has been edited out of recent Make-A-Wish video packages.

It is unclear why WWE has attempted to keep Reigns and any mention of him quiet following his WrestleMania 36 decision.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Tama Tonga spoke about the differences between how NJPW and WWE and AEW have approached the pandemic: “There is a different sense of unity in Japan. Here in America, the show must go on. Money needs to come in, so the wrestlers are still wrestling. New Japan stopped holding shows. That’s not just for the safety of the fans, but it’s also for the health of the wrestlers. It’s a different culture in Japan, a lot different from ‘the show must go on’ mindset. The majority of our income comes from live shows, which has been cut out, but the company has held onto the staff and reassured us that no one will be let go. The company is more of a family in Japan.”

ACH appeared on the latest episode of Submission Squad Presents: Dollar Menu Midcarders. He discussed his departure from WWE: "I was having the time of my life there. I really was. I enjoyed my time there. I really did. But then when they released that shirt, is when I got angry. I made a lot of comments that I’m not gonna take back, because that’s just how I feel. Now, could I have said them a lot better? Absolutely. I said a lot of things out of anger. If I would’ve said those things a little bit more intelligently, and calmly, and came from a real place and not an angry place … I think it would’ve been ok.”

ACH also said: "It wasn't even a wrestling matter. 'ACH is upset because he wasn't booked right.' This was some serious sh*t. I honestly wish I did things differently. I had people trying to tell me to use 'mental issues,' not as an excuse, but say it was the thing. 'You're depressed right, that's why you're out lashing out.' I was angry. I'm not gonna be like, 'Sorry, mental illness.' That's a serious issue. I'm not gonna say things like that to smooth things over. I had a meltdown in front of the entire world. I broke down in front of the entire world. I said so much stuff and if I was to go back and take it all back...it really sticks to me. I went from working my dream job, providing for myself. I was finally at a space in my life that I worked for to where I was starting to feel comfortable. I've sacrificed a lot of pro wrestling, and I don't expect anything back, but I made a lot of sacrifices. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm embarrassed. This is something that I'll never be able to shake. I know I embarrassed a lot of people. Most importantly, I embarrassed myself. I'm just not used to this type of negativity and attention. Waking up angry for no reason, mad at the world. Truth be told, it's all my fault. I'll take the blame for this. I could have put the phone down and deleted my Twitter app."

MLW announced that they’ve agreed to a deal with DirectTV for three past events to air on pay-per-view this month. Saturday Night SuperFight will air on May 7, Battle Riot II will air on May 14, and Opera Cup 2019 will air on May 21. It was also announced last week that those shows would be airing as PPVs on those dates through Indemand.

Yesterday, findings were released from an audit into the Mississippi Department of Human Services after arrests were made this past February in one of the largest embezzlement scandals ever in the history of that office, a scandal that saw direct connections the DiBiase wrestling family. Former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase was among those indicted several months ago as part of the scandal, which saw the former director of the state welfare agency and five others charged in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals in the history of the office.

As PWInsider.com reported at the time, it was alleged that Brett DiBiase was given funds to go to a drug treatment facility in Malibu that was earmarked for Mississippi's welfare programs. According to documents, DiBiase was allegedly given the money as payment for classes that he didn't teach for drug abuse.

The Associated Press later ran a follow-up story on the DiBiase family connection based on a revelation that WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase's non-profit religious organization Heart of David Ministries had reportedly received more than $2.1 million in welfare from the state of Mississippi after his son Brett began working for the State. The organization had received just $5,000 in grants in 2013, but pulled in $271,000 in welfare money, the same year Brett was hired as a senior official at the Mississippi Department of Human Services. DiBiase’s group received as much as $900,000 one year.

Heart of David Ministries spent all $2,126,739 it received from May 2017 through earlier this budget year. DiBiase Sr. was paid $84,517 as president of the organization. Heart of David MInistrires pledged in a 2018 contract to “establish a network of partnerships, services and resources throughout Mississippi communities for faith-based and self activities" but there is no word on how the money was actually used. At the same time it was receiving money from the State of Mississippi, 98% of welfare requests were being turned down by the State. The Ministry is no longer receiving any aid from the State, according to the AP.

The AP article revealed that the Mississippi Community Education Center also paid Brett DiBiase’s brother, former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr., to provide training to human services employees in late 2018 and early 2019. According to the AP article, a woman who answered the door at the home of Ted DiBiase Sr. in Clinton, MS called the Clarion Ledger (the newspaper which initially broke the news) past reporting “fictitious.” but declined to comment.

Yesterday's findings from the investigation reads as follows ...

The audit’s formal finding is that over $94 million of that grant money has been “questioned,” meaning auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent. Examples of questioned spending included:

• MCEC and FRC used TANF money to hire lobbyists with TANF money, which is unallowable, often with no paperwork describing the work the lobbyists were hired to do.

• MCEC awarded contracts to and hired former DHS Director John Davis’s family members, sometimes paying them up front in lump sums.

• MCEC and FRC paid large sums to wrestlers Ted Dibiase, Ted Dibiase, Jr., and Brett Dibiase for work that was not performed, for unreasonable travel costs, or with little proof the programs helped the needy.

• MCEC and FRC used TANF money to fund religious concerts with no proof they benefitted the needy.

• MCEC made multiple donations with TANF money—like donations to the American Heart Association, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, booster clubs, pageants, universities—and provided no proof the donations were used to help the needy. FRC also made unallowable donations.

Among the grantees, MCEC was particularly dependent on TANF funding and engaged in extensive misspending. From 2016 to 2019, MCEC was given over $60 million in grants from DHS, while raising just under $1.6 million from other sources. Examples of questioned spending at MCEC included:

• MCEC paid Victory Sports Foundation TANF money for fitness programs for Mississippi legislators and other elected officials/staffers at no charge.

• MCEC purchased three vehicles with grant funds, each for over $50,000, for Nancy New (Director of MCEC), Zach New, and Jess New. MCEC also paid salaries, cell phone bills, and other costs for a variety of members of the New family.

• MCEC made many unallowable sports-related expenditures—like sponsoring a college baseball tournament—for services that could not be proven to benefit the needy. Some sports-related spending was for services that were not actually performed.

• MCEC transferred over $6 million to a private school and organization owned by Nancy New and also purchased curricula and supplies with TANF funds for the school.

• MCEC paid a speeding ticket for Nancy New with TANF funds.

• MCEC issued a $3,000 check to the bookkeeper of MCEC with a handwritten note saying the payment was actually for John Davis.

• MCEC paid a variety of consultants, including Jess New, for no clear deliverables or where there was no proof the spending met TANF requirements.

• Zach New took a loan out against his MCEC retirement plan and repaid the loan with TANF money.

• MCEC paid for extensive unallowable advertising, like using TANF money to advertise at the NCAA basketball tournament and a college football bowl game. TANF money was also used to purchase tickets to a college football game.

• MCEC paid excessive rent well above market value to a holding company owned by Zach and Nancy New. Sometimes the rent paid for spaces that were not used for TANF-related purposes.

The season premiere of Showtime's Billions, which featured Becky Lynch, brought in 610,000 overnight viewers on Sunday 5/3.

‘Metro’ chatted with Drew McIntyre for an exclusive interview. McIntyre told the publication that he has been giving Heath Slater advice on his next steps following his release from WWE.

“Heath’s already got a game plan he’s forming. I’m giving him advice on what to do. He’s gonna really get to show the world what he’s capable of. There’s no reason why he’s not gonna take over the world, be brought back to WWE and get that opportunity.”

All Elite Wrestling ring announcer Dasha Kuret, formerly Dasha Fuentes will be a part of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s ‘Titan Games’ series on NBC.

Otis explains the origin of the Caterpillar move that he's using in WWE.

During an interview with Digital Spy, Otis revealed that he first used the Caterpillar, which is essentially the worm dance move, when he was a child at a dance party. Otis said no girl wanted to dance with him and he made the move in an effort to draw attention towards him.

"It was at a dance party at Elementary School. No girls would dance with me so I had to get the crowd over with my moves. I started shaking my hips and getting going and I waited till everybody was watching – you know, it was a big circle dance, everybody's looking in there and checking you out. And that's when I dropped. Bam! It's a little bit stiffer on the floor than in the ring. And I got love from doing that move, so I just kept doing it. So now every wedding I get sore ribs the day after," Otis said.

Otis also spoke about the time he spoke with Scotty 2 Hotty, who used the worm when he was in WWE, about using the Caterpillar.

"I told (Scotty) this move means a lot to me and I know you're the king of The Worm but I want to continue this and we'll call it The Caterpillar," Otis said.

TPWW Frontpage:

The Revival’s WWE Departure & Trademarks Update + The Revival on Talk Is Jericho (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/the-revivals-wwe-departure-trademarks-update/)
WWE: FOX to Air Greatest Ladder Matches Special, Undertaker Series Update, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-fox-to-air-greatest-ladder-matches-special-undertaker-series-update-updated-sd-ratings/)
Lio Rush Says He May Not Wrestle Again (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/lio-rush-says-he-may-not-wrestle-again/)
Updated WWE Money in the Bank Card + Preview of WWE Headquarters (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/updated-wwe-money-in-the-bank-card-preview-of-wwe-headquarters/)
Matt Riddle Talks About His “Backstage Heat” & Meeting With Vince McMahon (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/matt-riddle-talks-about-his-backstage-heat-meeting-with-vince-mcmahon/)

Emperor Smeat

05-06-2020, 07:16 PM

The Sheets:

While down slightly from last week, Dark Side of the Ring's Herb Abrams episode still drew the third-highest viewership in series history.

The Abrams documentary averaged 246,000 viewers on Vice TV last night, down from the 255,000 that last week's David Schultz episode drew. This season's two-hour premiere on Chris Benoit is the only Dark Side of the Ring documentary that has done better viewership than those two episodes.

Next week's episode of WWE Backstage will feature CM Punk's sixth appearance as an analyst.

It was announced on last night's Backstage that Punk will be part of the panel for next Tuesday's episode of the show. It will be Punk's second appearance since the show switched to being done remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Punk's most recent appearance on Backstage was on the April 14 edition of the show.

Cash Wheeler and Dax Hardwood, formerly Dash and Dawson of The Revival, spoke about their departure from the WWE in the latest episode of Talk is Jericho.

They went into detail about their release, with Cash saying they had asked around January of 2019. He said they asked for their release following a match with the Lucha House Party, saying that they were unhappy with the direction tag team wrestling was going with the company. He mentioned specifically the time where Braun Strowman “steamrolled the entire tag team division” and also the time when Strowman won the Raw Tag Team titles with a ten-year old.

Dax felt that those in the company thought they were bluffing when they asked for their release. Jericho asked if WWE promising a more focused tag team division was just a way to keep them on board. Dax agreed with that, saying that he felt deep down they would never focus on teams, pointing out that two singles wrestlers put together as a team had a better chance of getting a push than a consistent team.

The topic then shifted to the final meeting between them and Vince McMahon. Cash said it was difficult to meet with Vince due to the transition to FOX, but one day they were working on putting together a match in the ring when they were called to Vince’s office for a meeting. Cash said that the designs that ended up being leaked were “100% real” and were presented by Vince McMahon himself. Dax noted that most of the time, “the boys” are kayfabed about everything, and was sure whoever had leaked the pictures were part of the creative team.

Cash said he laughed out loud upon seeing the designs in front of everyone at the meeting, which included Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard. It was explained to them that this would be a way to showcase a different side to the team, showcasing their charisma. Cash said that he told them that these “were not good” but would do the characters until their contract expired. Cash noted that this was on a Friday, and by the following Wednesday they were told they were being taken off the road. He also said that the money they were being offered was higher than the $750,000 that was being reported.

Dax Hardwood reveals that he received a text from Bret Hart on the day of their release: “The day we were granted our release, that day I got a text message from Bret Hart, and he told me how proud he was. He asked me to send it to Daniel [Cash Wheeler] which I did. He told me how proud he was of us and how proud he was we stood up for ourselves and stood up for what we believed in because it would’ve been so easy to just sit back and collect the money, and when he sent me that text, I knew beyond any shadow of any kind of doubt that we had done the right thing because the guy who is the king of standing up for himself, I mean he punched Vince in the face. The guy who is the epitome of standing up for what he believes in took five minutes out of his day to text me and tell me how proud he was of us for doing that and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh hell yeah, we’re on the right path now.’”

This year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament is the latest professional wrestling event to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

NJPW announced tonight that all 19 shows that were scheduled for this year's Best of the Super Juniors tour have been canceled. NJPW wrote that the decision was made in response to the pandemic and in light of the extension of state of emergency measures in Japan.

The Best of the Super Junior tour was set to kick off at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on May 12 and conclude at Tokyo's Ota City General Gymnasium on June 6. Refund information for the canceled shows will be announced soon.

In their statement about the cancellation of the tour, NJPW noted that they will make announcements regarding events that are scheduled for after June 6 upon careful monitoring of the developing situation with the pandemic. NJPW also wrote that they're "continuing to explore the possibility of presenting matches without fans in attendance if staff and wrestler health and safety can be protected to the highest possible standard."

PWInsider.com has confirmed the following viewership for WWE's Best of Wrestlemania specials this week last night on FS1:

7 PM - Ric Flair's Best WWE Matches - 157,000 overnight viewers.

8 PM - Edge's Best Wrestlemania Matches - 213,000 overnight viewers.

9 PM - Brock Lesnar's Most Dominant Matches - 255,000 overnight viewers.

10 PM - Roman Reigns' Best Wrestlemania Matches - 198,000 overnight viewers.

WWE Backstage was not listed among the top 150 cable programs on Tuesday night.

Q - Regarding the recent WWE releases, why were most of the releases were male Superstars? Is it because of the Women's Evolution?

A - From what I heard, the main factors for the releases were what the talents cost and did the company think that they could get that value out of the contract. I think it means that the women they have on the roster they see value in, at least at this time.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Tony Khan was on Wednesday’s AEW Unrestricted podcast and discussed the process of running their empty arena shows beginning March 18th, one week after the shutdown period began in the U.S.:

-His favorite empty arena shows have been the first one on March 18th and last week’s episode with the TNT semi-finals

-A friend of is a writer for Jimmy Fallon and saw how they incorporated the writing staff and crew to serve as audience members to react to Fallon and utilized that for the AEW shows with wrestlers in the crowd compared to other wrestling shows that are “cold”

-They had just over ¼ of the roster to tape ahead in Georgia and wanted to tape ahead to be safe

-Khan positioned the TNT Championship as a title on par with the AEW title and was an idea he had and has worked on for a while with Cody for a second title

-The only agents they had were involved in their own matches, so they were limited in that aspect of match layouts ...

-An interesting line was Khan stating they have not let anyone go during this time period and “it’s not the right time for re-organizing or re-structuring for us”

-Aubrey Edwards was the referee for 20 matches within a period of 24 hours and spent 19 days in Jacksonville and Georgia at a hotel

-Chris Jericho offered to do commentary the night before after Khan went over all the ideas he had for the episodes, they didn’t have someone in place to do commentary and it was going to be split between Colt Cabana and Shawn Spears, who would also be wrestling matches

-They continued taping matches after the April 1st show ended and the following day, some matches have not seen the light of day ...

-Khan estimated they would drop 10% in viewership with the empty arena shows, he did not want to rely on airing past pay-per-views ...

-Television is their revenue stream right now and had sold 12,000 tickets for the show in Newark at the Prudential Center, they have lost “millions and millions of dollars in live events”

-He said there will come a day when they do have to let people go “but now is not the time” and said in the big picture they are in good shape and characterized themselves as the second healthiest company in the industry

-They are going to keep people isolated and practice social distancing for these upcoming shows, they will be testing people (he didn’t elaborate on the type of testing)

Fans haven't been allowed in the arena for wrestling since March 11 when AEW and NXT ran their last live shows with an audience. Beginning with the March 13 episode of WWE SmackDown, both AEW and WWE have held shows inside an empty arena ...

Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, AEW President Tony Khan looked back on the sudden change following Dynamite in Salt Lake City ...

AEW ran live shows during the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic as states remained open, but Florida and Georgia issued stay-at-home orders in April that didn't allow for any gatherings related to sporting events.

"I first had an inkling that things were going to be shutdown going into the third show, which is when we taped all these shows. States were starting to shut down and I never considered us or tried to force us to be 'an essential business.' I never tried to stay open against restrictions. When we heard Florida and Georgia were going to shut down, we would shut down too and we needed to tape as much content as we could before the shutdown," said Khan.

On April 9, Florida deemed WWE "essential business" under the guise "employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience -- including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production -- only if the location is closed to the general public."

Technically, AEW could have resumed live shows as well following the order, but the company had already taped weeks of television in Georgia and decided not to take advantage of the memo in Florida.

Khan said things changed rapidly in Georgia as they thought they would have a couple of days to tape everything, but the stay-at-home order came down just before the April 1 show, forcing the company to tape as much content as possible before the order went into effect at midnight on April 3.

Brian Hughes, who is the chief administrative officer in the city of Jacksonville was on The Luke Thomas Show on Wednesday. Hughes stated that all events running in the city, including pro wrestling, will need to have testing for COVID-19. Hughes added that the city has a surplus of testing with ample hospital space and resources. This would affect UFC & AEW, which are both testing for COVID-19 but would not extend to WWE, which is not running in Jacksonville.

MLW has announced a distribution deal with Fight Globe, who will be dealing with the distribution of MLW’s content in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Mexico.

Vice TV has released the trailer for next week’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring ‘The Last Ride of the Road Warriors’
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D3coG60Z1Zg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-4/)
Impact: #1 Contender Tournament, More TNA Content Coming, Kimber Lee Joins Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/impact-1-contender-tournament-more-tna-content-coming-kimber-lee-joins-impact/)

Emperor Smeat

05-07-2020, 10:14 PM

The Sheets:

At a time when most other pro wrestling shows are down in the ratings, AEW Dynamite and NXT both saw increases last night.

Last night's live episode of Dynamite from Daily's Place in Jacksonville averaged 732,000 viewers on TNT, up 5.6 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show finished 12th for the night in the cable TV rankings and drew a 0.28 rating, Dynamite's biggest number in that category since March 25. That was up 3.7 percent from last week.

On USA Network, NXT was also up for a loaded up show featuring two title matches and the NXT in-ring debut of Karrion Kross. The episode averaged 663,000 viewers, up 4.1 percent from last week. In 18-49, NXT climbed back into the top 50, finishing 33rd with a 0.18 rating, up 12.5 percent from last Wednesday ...

There have been eight closed set broadcasts for both shows so far, so it's a good time to look at the trends as compared to before the coronavirus pandemic forced the promotions to not allow fans at events.

The eight Dynamite episodes prior to March 18 averaged 859,250 viewers. Since that date, the subsequent eight shows have averaged 745,875 viewers, a drop of 13.2 percent

For NXT, the same eight weeks of shows pre-pandemic averaged 741,750 viewers. Since then, they've averaged 643,875 viewers. The drop was the exact same 13.2 percent.

Looking at the other wrestling shows over that time frame, since there have also been eight weeks of Raw and SmackDown:

Raw averaged 2.290 million viewers for the eight weeks prior to closed set episodes and 1.948 million viewers since then, a drop of 14.9 percent.

SmackDown averaged 2.511 million viewers pre-pandemic and 2.249 million since then, a drop of 10.5 percent. It should be noted that SmackDown had the advantage of having appearances by John Cena and Goldberg before WrestleMania 36, which likely boosted those numbers and fell in the time frame of after the pandemic started.

A&E and WWE Studios are partnering together for a new series focused on WWE memorabilia.

It was announced today that A&E Network has greenlit a series with the working title "The Quest for Lost WWE Treasures." It will be hosted by Stephanie McMahon and Paul "Triple H" Levesque and will take viewers "on the ultimate hunt to find some of WWE’s most iconic, lost memorabilia."

The series will feature 10 one-hour episodes ...

WWE Studios' Susan Levison and Ben Zierten and A&Es Elaine Frontain Bryant, Dolores Gavin, and Jonathan Partridge are serving as executive producers for "The Quest for Lost WWE Treasures."

It was noted that the new series joins the previously announced greenlight of five "Biography" documentaries that A&E and WWE are partnering together for. Those were announced last year and will be focused on Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Booker T, Steve Austin, and Shawn Michaels.

WWE will broadcast content related to March 1987's Wrestlemania III Recall this Tuesday 5/12 at 8 PM EST on FS1.

7 PM - Wrestlemania Rewind on Wrestlemania IIII. This is the WWE Network episode from 2014.

8 PM - Three hour Wrestlemania 3 Recall. The March 1987 event featured:
*WWE Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant.
*WWE Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat.
*Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis - Hair vs. Hair Piper Retirement Match.
*The Hart Foundation & Danny Davis vs, The British Bulldogs & Tito Santana.
*Butch Reed vs,. Koko B. Ware.
*Harley Race vs. The Junktyard Dog.
*The Dream Team vs. The Rougeaus.
*The Can-Am Connection vs. Don Muraco & Bob Orton.
*Jake Roberts vs. The Honkytonk Man.
*The Killer Bees vs. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff.
*King Kong Bundy & Little Tokyo & Lord Little Brook vs. Hillbilly Jim & Little Beaver & The Haiti Kid.

11 PM EST - WWE Backstage.

As we reported earlier this week in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, the WWE Money in the Bank Ladder matches are pre-taped but the remainder of this Sunday's MITB PPV will be live from the WWE Performance Center. At one point, the plan was to go back and forth from the taped material to the live content over the course of the show to give the impression of the MITB match competitors "battling" through WWE HQ over the course of the night.

The Rush’ also has an article up about WWE’s filming of Money In The Bank at their corporate headquarters. WWE was allowed to film the event because media companies provide “essential” services that are exempt from the stay-at-home order that was put in place on March 23rd by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

Combat Zone Wrestling announced they are postponing the 2020 Tournament of Death, originally slated for 6/20, for a date TBD:

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, CZW has no choice but to officially postpone Tournament of Death to a later date when it'll be safer for everyone involved.

Tickets will be refunded. pic.twitter.com/PR5DaKNezh
— CZW Combat Zone Wrestling (@combatzone) May 7, 2020

Former two-time WWE Champion AJ Styles competed in the main event of night one of WrestleMania 36 in a Boneyard match with The Undertaker. Styles was “buried alive” in the bout and had not been on WWE programming since the match. This past Monday on RAW, AJ made his return in a gauntlet match to determine the final participant in this year’s men’s Money In The Bank match.

Styles recently spoke about his return during his MIXER stream. He agreed with his chatroom that more could’ve been done with his return. He added that maybe more star power was needed in the match or had the COVID-19 pandemic not been going on and pro wrestling was in the state it was in prior to the pandemic, maybe WWE could’ve held off on bringing him back and switched up his character a bit.

“The return… could’ve been more, okay. I’ve heard people talk about, ‘Well I mean… kinda just wasted it. AJ Styles was buried alive, could’ve came back as a different character in a different mood and a different look, something different about AJ Styles and he came back and he was exactly the same before he got buried.’ I’m with you. Now, I think the circumstances had a lot to do with AJ Styles coming back when he did… but, the circumstances, the match… maybe we needed some more star power in the match. Maybe that’s what that was. I don’t know, I’m not tooting my own horn here, but, I wish we could’ve waited and had times been different, that could’ve been something that we would’ve went [with].”

AJ also talked about several other topics during the stream. He recalled when he was first negotiating with WWE about joining the company. There was a possibility that he wasn’t going to be able to don the name “AJ Styles” and AJ told Paul “Triple H” Levesque that he had no issue with changing his name.

“When I signed, or was looking to sign with WWE, Triple H was like, ‘Hey man, [you] may not be able to keep ‘AJ Styles.’ We may have to give you another name.’ I said, ‘No problem with that. It’s just I have this huge tattoo on my side that says ‘AJ’. But I’m totally cool with whatever you guys wanna do. I don’t care, not a big deal to me.’”

Per Law 360, six firms are vying for lead counsel in the two WWE stockholder lawsuits, in-which the investors claimed that they lost money while WWE hid their “souring relations” with Saudi Arabia in the middle of hosting shows there. The six firms filed a motion in a New York federal court and want to consolidate two class actions that were submitted in March.

On the premiere episode of Tama Tonga’s ‘Tama’s Island’ podcast, Karl Anderson joined the show and while conversing about Bullet Club, Anderson said that the group were almost named “The Real” before Finn Balor stepped in and declared “Bullet Club” as the group name.

“You know, Gedo actually wanted to call us ‘The Real’, because we used to always [say] in our promos, ‘We’re real shooters’ but making fun of [Tiger] Hattori. I guess we almost became The Real but then Prince Fergie [Finn Balor] ended up saying The Bullet Club and that actually stuck.”

Digital Spy released another portion of their interview with Otis. In this portion of the interview, Otis told the story of when he was tackled by security at a WWE house show when he was in fifth grade for trying to reach over the guardrail and slap hands with Trish Stratus.

“It hurt, every bit of it hurt. I was a 200-pound fifth grader – I looked like a man almost. So yeah I made a sacrifice, got speared, but after that spear from the guard we got first row tickets. So it all happened for a reason. I’ve never told Trish that story in person. It’s hard for me to talk to her as a lady I’ve watched for years in the sports-entertainment world.”

The UFC returns to action this coming weekend with UFC 249, which is headlined by Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje battling for the vacant UFC Interim Lightweight Title.

This is the first of three straight events for the promotion in a one week span, with UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Teixeira taking place on May 13 and UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris happening on May 16.

All three cards are taking place from the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida and all three events will see fighters, cornermen and other personnel get tested for the coronavirus.

A report from the Sports Business Journal states that according to UFC COO Lawrence Epstein, a total of 1,200 coronavirus testing kits are available for usage during the week.

“In the early days of this epidemic, the testing capacity had to be focused exclusively on first responders,” Epstein said. “Now with testing capacity expanding, many of these tests that organizations like ours are getting access to don’t impact that testing.”
AEW probably has a similar large stockpile assuming these tests are from the surplus the city of Jacksonville has and not just UFC hoarding tests from everywhere they can find.

WWE is doing a special collaboration with the The King Of Fighters video game series.

Netmarble, the developers of The King Of Fighters All-Star mobile game, announced that it is doing a special event. Graphics on the upcoming collaboration features past and present wrestling stars such as The Rock, The Undertaker, John Cena, Seth Rollins, SmackDown Tag Team Champion Kofi Kingston and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch.

The event is set to go live on May 14. The game can be downloaded on Apple iOS and Android devices.
Link: https://twitter.com/HDKirin/status/1258380893137203200

TPWW Frontpage

WWE Planning Push for Brendan Vink on RAW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-planning-push-for-brendan-vink-on-raw/)
Updated AEW Double or Nothing Card – Four Matches Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/updated-aew-double-or-nothing-card-four-matches-announced/)
Several Matches Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite and NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/several-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-aew-dynamite-and-nxt-3/)

Emperor Smeat

05-08-2020, 03:55 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE’s second PPV show during the pandemic, Money in the Bank, takes place as both a live and taped show that will be released on 5/10.

The show is built around another cinematic production, with the idea of two Money in the Bank matches that start at the same time ...

The Money in the Bank match was actually taped the week of 4/13. Apollo Crews’ storyline was always planned for him to qualify but not compete in the match and with Styles returning ...

Crews was giving off heel tendencies on last week’s Raw and it’s been speculated he will be part of a stable headed by MVP that would also include Brendan Vink & Shane Thorne. We’ve been given the impression that is one of several options considered for Crews but it is not necessarily the end direction ...

The build up has been weak at a time when interest in the WWE product is at an all-time low due to the pandemic.

At press time, only four other matches have been announced for the show and many of the feuds being pushed the hardest on television, such as Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville, are being designed for television rather than PPV matches ...

Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are both not booked for the show, even though Flair appeared heavily in the advertising ... IC champion Sami Zayn had not agreed to return to work at last word. The Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders for the Raw tag titles were not listed at press time and were probably being saved for television, although they almost have to add a few matches. Similarly, Andrade, the U.S. champion is not listed. Smackdown could add a Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus match at the last minute but that was not etched in stone.

They are advertising that Lynch will confront the briefcase winner on Raw on 5/11. That would seem to tease a win from the Raw side, and with Asuka already having had a program with Lynch, would seem to make Baszler and Jax as the favorites.

A few quick notes regarding the weekly rating declines over the past two months.

The last week before COVID-19 and the news took over from entertainment would have been the week of 2/28 to 3/4, but because Smackdown had an inflated number that week due to it being a heavily publicized return of John Cena, and AEW had an inflated number coming off the PPV show, we’ll use 2/21 to 2/26 as our last comparison week. We are comparing the declines to this past week, which would be shows 4/29 to 5/4.

Using that model here are the declines:
* Raw dropped 25.1 percent in viewers and 35.2 percent in 18-49
* Dynamite dropped 19.9 percent in viewers and 10.0 percent in 18-49
* NXT dropped 11.2 percent in viewers and 30.4 percent in 18-49
* Smackdown dropped 24.1 percent in viewers and 28.6 percent in 18-49

Now you can make things worse because if you go with the next week, which is the last actual week before news changed everything, this is the declines:
* Raw dropped 25.4 percent in viewers and 37.8 percent in 18-49
* Dynamite dropped 23.5 percent in viewers and 22.9 percent in 18-49
* NXT dropped 11.3 percent in viewers and 30.4 percent in 18-49
* Smackdown dropped 29.8 percent in viewers and 37.5 percent in 18-49

As far as what conclusions one wants to draw from this ...

NXT’s 18-49 drop was huge but overall was not, because the most loyal audience to all shows has been 50 plus, people who are set in their ways and even though that demo watches the news more, it appears that demo is the most loyal to wrestling. NXT, with the oldest overall audience (55), had big losses in the key demo but overall with its oldest audience, in total numbers felt less of a sting than any other show.

AEW, the youngest skewing (42) has held up better in 18-49. That’s probably due in part to being the only show of the promotion for the week, and also due to it being easily the strongest from a creative standpoint. Plus, with wrestlers in the crowd, they do have the better atmosphere than WWE.

Raw and Smackdown (50) are both down substantially by percentage. They also draw the most mainstream fans meaning their audience may not be as loyal overall. Ironically as the two oldest shows, their audience should be the most loyal, particularly Raw which has been on the same night now for more than 27 years.

Even with the big drops, both key shows are still far head of AEW in total viewers and 18-49. Even now, the 18-49 numbers for Raw and Smackdown are still both nearly double that of AEW.

Raw on 5/4 followed Smackdown with scary numbers, averaging 1,682,000 viewers, the lowest number in the history of the show, breaking the mark of 1,775,000 set on the Christmas Eve 2018 show ...

The scariest stat is that if you go back exactly one year this week, you have a 39.5 percent drop in teenager viewing, 58.0 percent drop in 18-34 24.5 percent in 35-49 and 12.5 percent in 50 plus. Granted, that isn’t fair, but in these times, they are maintaining the 50 plus creatures of habit not too badly given all the issues with the dead shows.

Raw did 1,807,000 viewers in the first hour, 1,691,000 viewers in the second hour and 1,546,000 viewers in the third hour. The first hour was the second lowest first hour in history behind the Christmas Eve 2018 show. The second and third hours were the lowest for their respective hours in history with the third hour breaking the all-time hourly low of 1,619,000 set the prior week

The 5/1 Smackdown show drew numbers that have to now be considered scary, with a 1.24 rating and 1,885,000 viewers (a very low 1.26 viewers per home), not just the lowest figure for the show since going to FOX, but 6.0 percent down from last week’s record low.

Smackdown, even with the benefit of being on a network station, for its two hours is now for the first time did less viewers on FOX than the first two hours of Raw did on USA the previous Monday (but not the following Monday), which is available in about 25 million fewer homes ...

FOX last year on the same night did 2,638,000 viewers and 0.5 in 18-49, so 18-49 was identical but viewers were down 28.5 percent.

For AEW vs. NXT on 4/29, AEW dominated every quarter in 18-49, while for overall, AEW won the first six quarters but the last two with Keith Lee vs. Damien Priest for the North American title vs. Dustin Rhodes vs. Lance Archer went close for NXT due to the huge advantage in over 50 viewers ...

In the first quarter, AEW opened with 797,000 viewers, the high point for either company, and 354,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Darby Allin. NXT opened with 757,000 viewers but only 219,000 in 18-49 for Isaiah Scott vs. El Hijo del Fantasma.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 67,000 viewers but stayed even in 18-49 with Cody vs. Allin’s finish. NXT lost 116,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for an Isaiah Scott interview, Dominik Dijakovic interview, the attempted kidnapping and Candice LeRae vs. Kacy Catanzaro.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 62,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 with the Scorpio Sky vignette, MJF interview and Wardlow squash win. NXT lost 36,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for a Damien Priest interview and The Newly Bro game with Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel attacking Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 68,000 viewers and 33,000 in 18-49 for the Bubbly Bunch vignette and Best Friends vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc. NXT lost 16,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for an Adam Cole interview and Charlotte Flair vs. Mia Yim. This was the low point in 18-49 for NXT and just under the high point for AEW.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 45,000 viewers but gained 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Best Friends vs. Havoc & Sabian, the Britt Baker vignette and a Shawn Spears squash. This was AEW’s high point of the night in 18-49. But while they peaked the 18-49, the segment that included Orange Cassidy (in limited amounts) and Penelope Ford lost viewers on the back end. NXT gained 48,000 viewers and 41,000 in 18-49 for the Charlotte Flair/Io Shirai confrontation and Dexter Lumis vs. Shane Thorne.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 27,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for a Marko Stunt promo and Brodie Lee vs. Stunt, as well as the Jon Moxley promo. NXT lost 54,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Tony Nese vs. Drake Maverick, the Maverick interview and a Lee promo. This segment was the low point for viewers for NXT with 583,000.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 58,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Dustin Rhodes vs. Lance Archer. NXT gained 47,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the for the end of Lee vs. Maverick and the beginning of Lee vs. Priest. NXT won the quarter 630,000 to 606,000, but lost 327,000 to 214,000 in 18-49.

In the main event quarter, AEW gained 42,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for Rhodes vs. Archer. This ended with AEW with 648,000 viewers and 343,000 in 18-49. NXT gained 22,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49 for Lee vs. Priest, which saw their final quarter at 652,000 viewers and 226,000 in 18-49.

For 5/6, AEW did 732,000 viewers and a 0.28 in 18-49 while NXT did 663,000 viewers with a 0.18 in 18-49.

If there was a major take, it’s that AEW, with head-to-head opposition by NXT and on an unfamiliar night, actually had more 18-34 male viewers than unopposed Raw on a familiar night did two nights earlier by a small margin, with an 83,000 to 82,000 edge ...

The final quarter, with Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Omega & Hardy going against Cole vs. Dream, AEW has an 837,000 to 572,000 edge in viewers, and was more than double in 18-49 with a 399,000 to 188,000 edge.

NXT’s viewer peak was the first quarter off the lead-in but its’ peak in 18-49 was Xia Li vs. Chelsea Green, the second straight time Green has pulled good numbers in that demo. NXT’s low point was the main event, which coincided with AEW’s high point being the main event across the board. AEW’s low point across the board was quarter three with all interviews ...

AEW won seven of eight quarters, only losing the first because NXT had the big lead-in, but dominated in 18-49.

AEW opened with 714,000 viewers and 389,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Joey Janela. NXT opened with 732,000 viewers and 239,000 in 18-49 for Johnny Gargano vs. Dominik Dijakovic.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 7,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Janela, a women’s video, a Nyla Rosa interview and Rose vs. McKenzie Paige. NXT lost 45,000 viewers and gained 24,000 in 18-49 for the end of Dijakovic vs. Gargano, an Imperium interview and Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 56,000 viewers and 41,000 in 18-49 with promos, and MJF taped promo, a Shawn Spears taped promo and MJF & Spears together on a promo. NXT gained 43,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 for a Tozawa interview, Chelsea Green vs. Xia Li and a Velveteen Dream interview.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 89,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49 for Jon Moxley vs. Frankie Kazarian. NXT lost 84,000 viewers and 52,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross vs. Leon Ruff, a package on Charlotte Flair vs. Io Shirai and a Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher interview.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 3,000 viewers and gained 4,000 in 18-49 for the end of Moxley vs. Kazarian, the post-match beatdown of Moxley and a Brandi Rhodes promo. NXT gained 39,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for Flair vs. Shirai and the post-match.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 36,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for Lance Archer vs. QT Marshall and the angle where Jake Roberts put the snake on Brandi Rhodes. NXT lost 37,000 viewers but only 2,000 in 18-49 for Shirai and Rhea Ripley post-match arguing and Kushida vs. Jake Atlas.

In the seventh quarter, AEW gained 66,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for Taz with Darby Allin and the beginning of Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Hardy & Kenny Omega. NXT lost 42,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for a Finn Balor interview, Cameron Grimes vs. Denzel Dejournette and a Balor interview.

In the final quarter, AEW gained 70,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49 for the rest of Jericho & Guevara vs. Hardy & Omega. NXT lost 34,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream.

Another Reigns story got a lot of talk this week. On Raw on 5/4, they were airing Money in the Bank highlights, both wins and cash-ins and one of the ones listed was the WrestleMania in 2015 in Santa Clara where Rollins cashed in during the Reigns vs. Lesnar match. Well, it was edited to where Reigns never existed in the match. What is weirder is that Reigns was the one who was pinned and they showed the shot of Rollins using the curb stomp and went black and then showed him with the belt, giving the idea he pinned Lesnar. There isn’t a rule on erasing Reigns, only that commentators aren’t to mention his name. On 5/5, FS 1 did a one hour special on Reigns and on Smackdown a few weeks ago when they were showing the embarrassing HHH clips, they did show Reigns beating him at WrestleMania. We’re told the reaction by Vince McMahon regarding Reigns and how to handle the situation “changes daily based on which way the wind is blowing,” which is why one day they show him beating HHH on Smackdown, then they edited him off Raw, then they do a Make-a-Wish thing and have no clips of him, then they do an investment conference and Vince McMahon never says his name, and then they have a one hour special on him on FS 1.

Owens has been out of action since suffering an ankle injury during the match with Rollins at Mania. As of the weekend he didn’t know if it was a break or a bad sprain but the belief was that it’s not too serious and he would be back in action in a few weeks. That’s the main reason he hasn’t been around but also noted he was given the option not to do the tapings and right now wanted to spend time with his family. He doesn’t know the spot that he got hurt on. From what we’re told nothing hurt at WrestleMania but the day after his ankle was really swollen

Regarding the Otis/Rose storyline, and Andrea Listenberger, the writer who was released a few weeks ago and credited with it. A lot, perhaps most of the Otis stuff is from Vince McMahon who likes the character. Others have said that Listenberger’s role was in writing the promos, but was not the driving force in the storyline, but she was said to be a good writer. Others have said that there were people on the Smackdown creative team that could have gone to bat for her when the cuts came. Rose has said that she pitched the general idea of the storyline to Vince McMahon

New Japan Pro Wrestling, which has been of the mindset of not doing empty arena shows, is softening that stance and exploring the possibility.

New Japan announced that in a release where they announced being shut down through at least early June, meaning no Best of the Super Juniors tournament, at least as originally scheduled ...

The New Japan web site also no longer lists Dominion, which had been the company’s second biggest show of the year. It was originally scheduled for 6/14 at the Osaka Jo Hall.

There was no word at press time as to the chances, if any, that the Super Junior tournament could take place later in the year. There was no decision made on the subject but the problems regarding doing so would be getting appropriate venues and issues with quarantining foreign stars and how long those restrictions would be in place.

The idea of live pro wrestling with fans in Chicago or the state of Illinois looks to be dead for a while. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced this week that large events or conventions in the state won’t be allowed until there is a vaccine or a highly effective treatment is readily available, or new cases are eliminated for a significant period of time. That looks to mean that All Out, which they wanted to make a Labor Day tradition for the Sears Center, may be out this year

At the [AEW] tapings this week, they were doing both swab tests upon arrival in Jacksonville and then isolating everyone until the show was to start. They also ordered everyone in the building unless they were on camera to be masked. All of the tests taken as of 5/5 came out negative. AEW was the first company doing actual COVID tests as WWE was only taking the temperature of everyone involved at its tapings last week. That said, the usage of Jim Ross was higher on the risk side as well as Jake Roberts, and there just felt like way too many people backstage during the street fight that weren’t necessary to be there and in that instance they were in close quarters. The stuff with more people in the stands themselves wasn’t that bad when you consider it’s 5,000 seat outdoor building and people were kept a lot more than six feet apart. That was a lot safer than shopping at a grocery store except for those at ringside, and you’re not testing people going into the grocery store. There were wrestlers and staff in the front row at ringside that could have been farther apart

Emperor Smeat

05-12-2020, 08:56 PM

The Sheets:

Ratings for the post-Money in the Bank episode of Raw were up 13.7 percent from last week's record low, averaging 1.919 million viewers last night.

It was the highest viewership for the show since April 6, which was the Raw after WrestleMania 36.

Starting late yesterday afternoon, the episode was heavily promoted around a major announcement from Becky Lynch. That turned out to be her announcing that she's pregnant and that women's Money in the Bank winner Asuka is now Raw Women's Champion.

Raw opened with a relatively strong 1.993 million viewers in hour one. It held up pretty well throughout the show, averaging 1.961 million for the second hour and dropping to 1.802 million for the final hour. The first-to-third hour drop of 10 percent is slightly better than the usual audience retention.

Raw averaged a 0.57 in the 18-49 demo, topping all of cable TV. In total viewers, the show finished 18th on cable but was second in non-news programming, behind Celebrity IOU on HGTV.

Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins will welcome their first child this December, according to a People Magazine interview with Lynch. If we do that math, that would mean Lynch likely worked Wrestlemania 36 while pregnant as that was taped in late March, which would be nine months before December. Lynch noted she learned she was pregnant in April, so she wasn't aware yet. Obviously, that's why she hadn't been traveling to WWE TV in Orlando ...

Lynch's farewell promo was taped yesterday at the WWE Performance Center. We are told that Asuka didn't know when she taped Money in the Bank (4/15) that she was actually winning the Raw Women's title as WWE kept all discussion private. There were a number of people who were there at the taping yesterday who legitimately had no idea Lynch was pregnant until the segment was taped.

For those of you who have asked whether Asuka knew Becky was going to make the announcement, we have no confirmation on that either way.

We are told there is absolutely no timetable for Lynch's potential return, at all. Motherhood is the priority right now, as it certainly should be.

People spoke to Becky Lynch about her pregnancy. Lynch said she won’t be making a decision about returning to the ring any time soon: “It's just such a joyous time and then such a sad time too. I loved this and I've given my life to this. I've achieved everything that I want to achieve in this business. I don't know what the next chapter is because I only know what it's like to think for myself when I'm by myself. So I don't know what it'll look like and how my priorities shift and what I'm going to want in the future. So, everything's open."

The Money in the Bank Ladder Match was filmed at WWE HQ (aka Titan Tower) on Wednesday 4/15 over the course of a long day and evening in Stamford, CT ...

AJ Styles was always slated for the match, so the theory he was a last minute addition is not correct, since the match was produced before his "surprise" return in the Gauntlet to replace the "injured" Apollo Crews.

They did not actually shoot the MITB match in order and did not actually "fight their way up" the building. There was material shot in the lobby, first floor (Gym), the third floor, the second floor, the fourth floor (Vince McMahon's office), back to another part of the second floor, then another part of the fourth floor before climaxing on the roof of the building.

Rey Mysterio and Aleister Black, despite the impression they had been tossed off the roof of the building, were actually tossed into an area that wasn't lit that had a crash pad set up on top of rows of cardboard boxes, so they didn't have to bump onto the roof of the building.

Since we received quite a few emails asking about this one, yes, The Money in the Bank Conference Room is legitimately a real room in the building. That is the official name of the room and yes, the briefcase with the money that Dana Brooke took down legitimately hangs from the ceiling. It was not a prop set up just for the match.

The scene with AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan putting their chairs back in Vince McMahon's office, we are told, was 100% a reference to the fact that it's well known within the company that if you have a meeting with McMahon, you had better return your chair to where it was before you sat down.

The T-Rex skull in Vince McMahon's office was actually a gift from Triple H from several years ago. Yes, that is always in McMahon's office and at one point, was put on display at Wrestlemania AXXESS.

Kane Prichard, the son of Bruce Prichard, portrayed the janitor in the scene with Asuka.

The room with the wrestling ropes is actually part of the theming outside the elevator doors on the third floor. Each of the floors have a different, unique theme. The first floor has different screens to play off the company's tech department. The second floor has several WWE pinball machines in front of theming designed to look as if you are on a WWE stage looking towards a ring. The fourth floor with where executive offices are situated. There is no real discernable theme outside of the elevator doors on that floor.

Former WWE star Zack Ryder has released an episode of "Z True Life Story" that had been rejected by WWE:

The public has never seen this. One of the lost Z! True Long Island Story episodes......(Twitters cuts off the last 40 seconds but you get the idea) Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/SDrWf1HiDv
— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) May 10, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/TheMattCardona/status/1259588782988431360

Several weeks ago, Major League Wrestling teased the idea of Mike Tyson appearing in a MLW ring.

While it would appear at a first glance that this was just MLW attempting to grab some attention for themselves, we are told that there have actually been at least one conversation with Tyson's team about potentially doing something down the line. It should be noted that ICM Partners represent both Tyson and MLW, so that is likely the bridge between the two signs.

Rob Gronkowski is back in the NFL, and carrying his WWE 24/7 Title all over the place, and Vince McMahon may be even more responsible for that than you realize.

"I think Vince would do pretty well on this show, the eccentric character that he is. You look at [Axe], and he's unassuming," Becky Lynch told Scott Fishman of TV Insider when asked about how Vince would do on the show "Billions." "Vince is such a larger-than-life character. At the same time, I watched him the other day demonstrate falling off a tower at 74-years-old without a bother, brushing his shoulders off and standing up again."

This led to Fightful Select poking around about what happened during this spot. We're told it was actually at the WrestleMania 36 rehearsals. A nervous Rob Gronkowski was preparing for his 24/7 Title spot, just a couple of weeks before he'd announce a return to the NFL. In order to show him that the spot was safe, Vince McMahon actually did the dive himself. The story was verified by a half dozen people within WWE, as well as some that have since left.

One person in the building said those there caught it and had a reaction of "did that just happen?," and that Vince McMahon said something to the nature of "not so bad, is it?" You may remember that Vince McMahon also did Shawn Michaels' zipline entrance at the WrestleMania 12 rehearsals....though that was way back 24 years ago.

After our original story ran, a WWE name contacted us and said that Gronk was "terrified" of the dive, and that he had the benefit of a dozen of the biggest NXT guys catching him. Even after Vince McMahon did the spot, it took a significant amount of time to convince Gronkowski. The low angle you saw on TV was because production had to make it look better as Gronk bent his knees and practically fell off the platform "like a toddler jumping into the pool for the first time."

The NWA announced that they’re launching a new show called Carnyland on their YouTube channel at 6:05 p.m. Eastern time next Tuesday. Billy Corgan said it was an idea they had at the very beginning of acquiring the NWA, but further details about it weren’t revealed.

Karl Anderson, who has been trying to trademark his name since January 2019, was initially blocked since WWE already were trying to trademark his name and once they completed their registration in August 2019, was given an initial rejection for likelihood of confusion. In response, Anderson noted the following to the USPTO:

"With respect to the cited registration, applicant notes that contractually the WWE has acknowledged that applicant is the owner of the mark but that WWE would file and register the mark in its own name. That is to say, applicant is the legal owner of both the cited registration and the instant application. A heavily-redacted copy of the agreement between the registrant and applicant can be provided, if helpful and requested by the Examining Attorney."

Anderson also tweeted the following update to the "major announcement" he had been teasing on his social media over the last week:

Listen, we had a decision to make in September of 2019..
We clearly made the wrong one.
In 68 days, at midnight @The_BigLG n I will talk about it.
All of it. @TalknShop @azucarRoc #TalkNShopAMania
— Karl Anderson (@MachineGunKA) May 11, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/MachineGunKA/status/1259932440044371969

There are discussions underway for additional Ring of Honor TV content to be featured across the Sinclair Broadcast Group and their affiliates. Joe Koff told PWInsider.com last week that an announcement is forthcomong.

Yahoo! Japan posted their chat with Masahiro Chono and Chono stated that because of the Coronavirus, Japanese pro wrestling has been hit harder than its ever been since the birth of the sport in Japan. Chono feels that it is too late for a union to be formed, referring to multiple companies in Japan coming together to address the state of the business during a government meeting. Chono feels that the wrestling business may collapse and may never recover and at the end of it all, the only person that may be left is Kazuchika Okada.

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp conducted an interview with AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. Moxley told the site about his frustration about his cancelled bout against Josh Barnett that was set for Bloodsport during WrestleMania weekend.

“That’s just one of many matches and many events like [AEW] Blood & Guts, 14,000 tickets in Newark down the drain; Philly, Boston, all down the drain. All these promotions, all these [independents]—it especially sucks for the independent guys [that] just aren’t working right now. That sucks. I mean, WrestleMania had to take place in front of nobody and that’s not ideal for all those guys and girls who wanted to have their big WrestleMania moment, they had to do it in front of nobody. So, everybody got affected by this. Pro wrestling is such a small part of the world even though it dominates my life, there’s much more important things. People are suffering through way worse financial times and stuff. It sucks for everybody.”

With all the time at home, Moxley had the opportunity to watch WrestleMania 36, which also took place in front of no crowd. Don't expect sour grapes about his old place of employment, as he said that he liked the presentation.

"I watched the whole thing," Moxley said. "Both nights. I enjoyed it. I thought it flowed nicely and a lot of people really worked their ass off and put on great performances. I enjoyed the Boneyard Match, I thought that was cool. I thought that was really cool, too, because the Undertaker is a really beloved character. He’s like a comic book character. He’s a beloved character from our childhood. Same as John Wayne or John McClane or any action movie star you can think of, so it was really cool. I think everybody really enjoyed that."
From the same interview Moxley had with Fightful's Sapp.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Backlash Announced for June, Undertaker on Career Future, Updated SD & Greatest Ladder Matches Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-backlash-announced-for-june-undertaker-on-career-future-updated-sd-greatest-ladder-matches-ratings/)
Sting Is No Longer Under WWE Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/sting-is-no-longer-under-wwe-contract/)
Impact Signs Crazzy Steve (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/impact-signs-crazzy-steve/)
Orange Cassidy Added to AEW’s Casino Ladder Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/orange-cassidy-added-to-aews-casino-ladder-match/)

Emperor Smeat

05-13-2020, 07:16 PM

The Sheets:

WWE has revealed that the major announcement on tonight's NXT will be made by Triple H and Shawn Michaels.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1260648555670192128?s=20

Impact Wrestling has unveiled the newest member of its Knockouts division.

It was announced this morning that Tasha Steelz has signed with Impact Wrestling. After appearing for Impact in a battle royal last year, Steelz had her second match for the promotion on last night's Impact. She lost to Kylie Rae.

NJPW released a video this morning with President & CEO Harold Meij providing a roadmap that will eventually lead to the resumption of shows. You can watch it below:

Meij first detailed why they have not conducted empty arena matches, as other promotions have since the spread of COVID-19. He listed three reasons they have yet to do this: to protect the health and safety of wrestlers and staff, venues being unavailable to use for NJPW events and NJPW’s own corporate social responsibility.

He went on to say that the first step towards resuming shows will be to hold empty arena events. However, Meij said that this will not happen until the following: when Japan lifts its country-wide state of emergency, the number of new infections decline, and when matches can take place in disinfected and safe settings. When events do resume, they will take place both in Japan and in the NJPW Los Angeles dojo.

The next step would be to welcome back fans with added measures. These steps will include extensive health checks on wrestlers and staff, thermographic temperature upon entry, and masks will be compulsory. Venues will be thoroughly disinfected and ventilated, and proper social distancing spacing will be implemented.

Meij ended the message by promising that NJPW won’t be beaten by the disease and urged every pro wrestling fan to come together and overcome this challenge.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgheBtvAwGU

Details emerged Wednesday on why XFL commissioner Oliver Luck was fired by WWE chairman and league founder Vince McMahon four days before it shut down operations, courtesy of the Sports Business Journal.

McMahon fired Luck for "gross neglect" and Luck filed a lawsuit soon thereafter to reclaim some of money lost by his surprise dismissal. Luck's contract called for a $5 million annual salary and a $2 million bonus.

In pre-trial filings, McMahon's legal team listed "gross neglect of his job during the COVID-19 pandemic", "personal use of a league-assisted cellphone", and the signing of a former NFL receiver with previous legal issues despite McMahon's previous orders to avoid doing so.

Also in the filings, McMahon claimed that Luck left the XFL's Connecticut headquarters for his home in Indiana and "disengaged" from the league's operations.

The suit read, “Put simply, at the very moment when his leadership as CEO was needed most, Luck did not devote substantially all of his business time to the XFL, as required by his contract."

Despite the XFL filing for bankruptcy, McMahon personally guaranteed Luck's contract through his Alpha Entertainment parent LLC, ensuring Luck could sue McMahon rather than go through U.S. bankruptcy court as a creditor.

The former Erick Rowan opened a Pro Wrestling Tees store under the name Erick Redbeard, so that may be the name he will be using post-WWE. He also changed his twitter handle to that name.

In-ring action will return to 205 Live this Friday as the company taped two weeks worth of episodes this week. The show will remain 30 minutes in length.
Bet WWE still won't put any Interim Cruiser tournament matches on 205 Live.

In regard to the buzz about Sting potentially coming to All Elite Wrestling, PWInsider.com has been told by several sources close to Sting that he will not be the person who presents the TNT Championship to the winner of Cody vs. Lance Archer at the AEW Double or Nothing PPV, which is something we have been asked a lot about in the last 24 hours. As I noted a few days ago, Mattel has pulled Sting from future WWE action figure line releases as he is no longer available to them, likely due to the end of his contractual agreements with WWE. WWE did not respond to a request regarding his relationship with the company. Sting has been tweeting of late about AEW, which Cody has responded to. It appears to be Cody smartly trying to get some buzz for the company right now, but that doesn't mean something can't happen later.

In response to WWE announcing he has been stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, Sami Zayn tweeted:

I disagree with this decision and no matter what anyone says, I am still undefeated and therefore still the Intercontinental Champion. -SZ https://t.co/SUFsBFeRDB
— Sami Zayn (@SamiZayn) May 13, 2020

NBA star Enes Kanter today stated that he has a standing offer for a WWE contract and intends to take the company up on it once his NBA career concludes:

Celtics center @EnesKanter told our NBA Insider @ShamsCharania he has been offered WWE deal and plans to accept after career.

Kanter also discussed his public approach with his native Turkey, Russell Westbrook's policy for opponents and more. pic.twitter.com/gOvZhfYGae
— Stadium (@Stadium) May 13, 2020

PROGRESS Wrestling in the UK issued a statement this morning, announcing they were cancelling all of their summer plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic

In an interesting note, last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite had 356,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo and 732,000 viewers overall. While they had fewer viewers than the Ladder Match special on Fox, they did top WWE in the demo.

For all the shows tonight, there will be big competition with the finale of ‘Survivor: Winners at War’ airing on CBS at 8 pm Eastern.
That show and UFC's Fight Night show on ESPN's streaming service probably going to do some serious damage to NXT and AEW's numbers tonight.

Much like his enemy Brock Lesnar, Matt Riddle doesn't want the product.

On Monday's WWE Raw, Drew McIntyre announced a "brand-to-brand invitation" that would allow superstars to appear on separate brands. Charlotte Flair will be on Friday's SmackDown while King Corbin will face McIntyre on Monday's Raw.

Speaking to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Matt Riddle was asked if he would like to take advantage of the invitation and appear on Raw or SmackDown.

"Yeah, I would. You know what, I should have been watching the product last night. I had no idea. Yeah, that’s a great idea. I hope I get a call soon and they let me wrestle up there a little bit. That would be fantastic."

When asked about throwing out a challenge of his own, Riddle said, "Definitely. Even in NXT, there’s so many matches I haven’t gotten yet. Same thing on the main roster. There’s so many match-ups with people, so many talented individuals. For me, I feel like the possibilities are endless. I just want an opportunity. I think I’m going to get it. Who knows?! I didn’t even know about this [Brand to Brand Invitational]! That’s a great idea."

Riddle wasn't exactly sure how the brand-to-brand invitation works. WWE hasn't made any kind of official announcement on the rule outside of McIntyre's promo on WWE Raw.

Tessa Blanchard has blurred the lines in wrestling becoming the IMPACT World Champion and proving that women can compete with men. But in AEW and WWE, intergender wrestling is a bit more taboo. WWE has rarely had men and women interact in the ring over the past decade while AEW has done one intergender match (Kenny Omega & Riho vs. Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford), which aired on AEW Dark.

Appearing on Busted Open Radio, AEW Women's Champion Nyla Rose weighed in intergender wrestling in AEW.

"I don't look at it so much as 'the confines.' I think there's power in that. There's power in having a 'women's division.' Representation, showing we can break down barriers and carry a show. There's absolute power in that. I don't see anything wrong in having the separation. [Intergender matches] are something that have always happened, I would love to see more of that on the bigger stage, but that's not my call. Hopefully, down the line, we will see a tide shift," she said.

There has been little to no mention of intergender wrestling on AEW since the Dark match on the Chris Jericho Cruise. When AEW first started, Brandi Rhodes said intergender wouldn't be something fans would see out of the gate, but that AEW would be open-minded to the idea.

TPWW Frontpage:

Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ratings-dark-side-of-the-ring-backstage-wwe-on-fs1-total-bellas/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-5/)
WWE Promising a “Major Announcement” Tonight on NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-promising-a-major-announcement-tonight-on-nxt/)
AEW: Dynamite Live Next Week, Fenix Added to Ladder Match, Another Double Dark Episode (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-dynamite-live-next-week-fenix-added-to-ladder-match-another-double-dark-episode/)
WWE Intercontinental Title Vacated, Tournament to Begin This Friday on SmackDown (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-intercontinental-title-vacated-tournament-to-begin-this-friday-on-smackdown/)

Emperor Smeat

05-14-2020, 09:48 PM

The Sheets:

Going up against a live UFC card that aired on ESPN+, AEW and NXT ratings both took a hit last night.

This week's AEW Dynamite on TNT had its lowest viewership ever and the lowest rating its done in the key 18-49 demo. The show averaged 654,000 viewers, down 10.7 percent from last week. Dynamite finished 15th in the 18-49 demo with a .23 rating, down 17.9 percent from last week.

NXT on the USA Network averaged 604,000 viewers, down 8.9 percent from last week. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.15 rating, down 16.7 percent from the previous week and matching NXT's series low. The show finished 46th in the cable TV rankings in that demo last night.

AEW won every demo except people over 50, where NXT had an advantage of 0.32 to 0.26. The strongest demo for AEW was men 18-49, where the show averaged a 0.28 rating to NXT's 0.18.

In addition to the UFC running a Fight Night card on ESPN+, the networks had significant programming competition. On CBS, the finale of ‘Survivor’ attracted 7.9 million viewers and The Masked Singer did 7.2 million with both shows airing at 8 pm Eastern. Viewership for the UFC card is unknown as it aired exclusively on the streaming platform in the U.S.

Scorpio Sky is the fifth confirmed entrant for the Casino Ladder Match at Double or Nothing.

Sky was announced for the ladder match today, joining Darby Allin, Colt Cabana, Orange Cassidy, and Fenix as the wrestlers who have been confirmed for it thus far. The winner will receive a future shot at the AEW World Championship.

AEW revealed the rules for the Casino Ladder Match on last night's episode of Dynamite. Two wrestlers will begin the match, then a new entrant will enter every 90 seconds until all nine possible participants have entered. A chip will be hanging above the ring and can be grabbed at any time, so it's an advantage to enter the match early.

The current NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis is in the midst of his second reign with the title. He first lost the belt in September of 2018 at The Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes’ ALL IN show. A few months after that event, Nick Aldis won back the NWA Worlds Title by defeating Cody Rhodes at the NWA 70th Anniversary show ...

With the atmosphere and the crowd reaction from those inside the Sears Centre on the night of ALL IN, Nick Aldis feels that it is the biggest moment of his 16-year career in pro wrestling. He took pride in saying that the NWA Worlds Title, which is one of the more historic titles in pro wrestling was able to be a focal point on a stacked card ...

Seven months after ALL IN and at the time, what was several months after the announcement of All Elite Wrestling and The Elite (Cody, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega & Hangman Page’s) departure from Ring of Honor, ROH teamed up with New Japan Pro-Wrestling to present G1 Supercard from Madison Square Garden ...

The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title was supposed to be defended on that show by Nick Aldis. Aldis said that-that moment could’ve been huge for the NWA but believes that because of what happened at ALL IN and the possibility of the NWA Title match outshining other bouts on the card, it was pulled. Aldis said it didn’t matter where he was placed on the card, he just wanted that moment for the organization he represents. He said that the aforementioned sequence of events was the beginning of the end for the initial partnership between ROH and the NWA.

“There was a Ring of Honor Title match at ALL IN and it wasn’t… not particularly memorable, right? Well I’d been told that I would defend the NWA Title at the Madison Square Garden show which would’ve been a huge feather in my cap and then it didn’t happen, and who’s to say why, but to me I always felt like there was this concern that once again, it would eclipse and outshine… and that’s sad because ultimately, it’s their show. They’re still gonna get the credit. Again, if you think about building the business around moments rather than sort of brands and bragging rights and things like that, in the grand scheme of things, it still would’ve been a huge thing for them but…

They could’ve put me on first. I wouldn’t have cared. For us, which would’ve been a huge thing for us to say for the first time since Harley Race, the Ten Pounds Of Gold is gonna be defended at Madison Square Garden, and again because look, before that show, if you didn’t wrestle for WWE, Madison Square Garden was out of the question so it was like, I wrestled at Wembley Arena which is in a lot of ways is like Madison Square Garden to us in Britain, but it’s the Garden, right? And it would’ve been a huge moment and I was disappointed and honestly, there was a part of me at that point when I said, ‘You know, I don’t feel like this relationship — they’re getting a lot from us and we’re not getting a lot from them now,’ and that’s when we kind of decided, ‘Okay, maybe it’s time for us to just go ahead and prove who we are’ and that’s when Powerrr came to be. We gotta make our own thing here.”

From a recent interview Aldis had with Post Wrestling. Felt that tidbit about last year's G1 Supercard event was interesting since he really over estimates NWA's value to ROH and the idea his match at MSG being pulled was due to ROH being petty since it would have outshined the other high profile matches on the card.

WrestleTalk did an interview with Sugar Dunkerton recently. Dunkerton is also known as “Pineapple Pete” as described by Chris Jericho on AEW Dynamite ...

Dunkerton also spoke about his interactions with Chris Jericho. Dunkerton was surprised at how laid back and down to earth Jericho is for someone that has seemingly done it all in wrestling.

“Dude he spoke to me when he saw me which tripped me out because I was like, ‘What is happening right now?’ Like he rolls up and it’s hilarious because Jericho to me is kind of a hilarious kind of guy because this is a guy it’s like — I’ve learned a lot from those two tapings because you got guys on the indies who are barely at that point where they’re really doing anything with their career yet. They’ve done some stuff but they’re not there yet, and they act like, ‘Yo, bow down. Kiss my boots.’ This and that and everything. ‘I’m not doing that,’ this and that, but then you’ve got a guy who’s literally done everything, literally been to every big show that you could do, main-evented and all of that and he’s super down to earth, he’s super funny. It’s no weird stuff when you talk to him so…”

Brodie Lee is challenging Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Double Or Nothing on May 23rd. To promote the bout, Lee appeared on Busted Open Radio with Mark Henry and David LaGreca. Lee talked about the comparisons between his on-screen character and Vince McMahon and explained that he’s just a fan of mafia movies. Brodie said he has no reason to hate the WWE or Vince McMahon.

“I mean you take it however you want. I happen to be a fan of Mafia movies, so that’s the way the character is portrayed for me. Like I said, I believe that the leadership style, the results speak for themselves. So, you people can take it any way you want, and trust me, I hear ya. I hear everybody, so… but, nothing was intentional. I have no reason to hate WWE, no reason to hate Vince McMahon, nothing like that. You take it how you want.”

Chris Van Vliet spoke with Shane “Hurricane” Helms for a one-hour chat. Helms shared that throughout his career as The Hurricane, he always had a difficult time seeing out of his signature mask.

“I couldn’t see for sh*t out of that mask. If you were this close to me trying to shake my hand, I wouldn’t be able to see now. It blocks so much of my downward vision and that’s part of the reason I kind of developed that bent over Hurricane walk, because I couldn’t see for sh*t in that mask. It’s one of the reasons I took out springboards. Like I would do them sometimes on the live events but I was like, ‘I can’t see that rope.’ I can feel it and I hope it’s there but when you do a springboard, you’re not necessarily looking at the rope but through your peripherals, you can kinda see the pads and you know where it’s at. My vision was so obscured, I had to kind of tone down a lot of my stuff.”

Jim Cornette and Joey Janela got into another Twitter back and forth after Cornette was informed that Janela said he and Cornette sat down in Chilli’s, had a good time and hashed out their issues. Cornette denied that-that happened but the official Chilli’s Twitter account chimed in and added that it did happen.
Link: https://twitter.com/Chilis/status/1260940470374608897?s=20

Inside The Ropes pushed out their interview with Lio Rush. Lio spoke about the “backstage heat” that he was said to have in WWE. Lio said that there was a rift financially between himself and WWE because while he was on RAW, he was still making the same money that he was making in NXT.

“It was super exaggerated. I don’t understand where or how the whole backstage heat thing started. It might have happened because I was pretty vocal about a situation that happened overseas with carrying the waters and stuff like that. There were some other stories out there that were completely untrue and didn’t happen. But that’s the one story that I’ve been pretty open about. So yeah I don’t really know where the backstage heat thing ever came from. People were always cordial to me and would come up to me. Nobody ever came and said anything bad or disrespectful and vice versa. As far as the split with me and Bobby, there was some miscommunication and frustration with me and the powers that be financially. That was my biggest thing at the time. I was still making the money I’d been making in NXT at the time and merchandise was getting put out and I felt I’d contributed so much to that as far as the sayings, the mottos, the catchphrases and I just wasn’t getting compensated for that. I wasn’t on the meet and greets with Bobby, which didn’t make sense to me. But everywhere Bobby would go, I had to go because I was his manager. But Bobby was so busy, he was the Intercontinental Champion, he was on every show, every live event, traveling, had to get hotels. Yeah, all of that is great to be used but I’m not making enough money to cover these expenses. I have to do everything that Bobby’s doing but the difference is Bobby’s making this much (points high up) and I’m making this much (points down low). If I’m gonna do this, I basically need more money to survive. You know its not just me out here, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got two kids, so I have other responsibilities I have to take care of. I guess they didn’t like that a 25 year old or whatever age I was at the time, they didn’t like me being so outspoken so they just cut it.”

Vice TV released the following trailer for their season finale of Dark Side of the Ring, which will look at Owen Hart ...

10 PM - SEASON FINALE - "The Final Days of Owen Hart." The official synopsis notes that his widow, Martha Hart will appear notin, "In 1999, Owen Hart fell 80 feet to his death in a stunt that went tragically wrong. Bravely reliving his final day, his widow Martha reveals the mistakes that took his life."
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ITFhMga6_Cc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE SummerSlam 2020 Status Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-summerslam-2020-status-update/)
Rachael Ellering Released By WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/rachael-ellering-released-by-wwe/)
Four New Matches, New Stipulations Announced for AEW Double or Nothing – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/four-new-matches-new-stipulations-announced-for-aew-double-or-nothing-updated-card/)
NXT TakeOver: In Your House to Take Place on June 7 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/nxt-takeover-in-your-house-to-take-place-on-june-7/)

Emperor Smeat

05-15-2020, 04:44 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Rebecca Quin aka Becky Lynch, the biggest genuine women’s pro wrestling star in the U.S. of the modern era, shocked the wrestling world on 5/11 by announcing she was pregnant.

The announcement was made in the opening segment of Raw that night. It had already gotten out that she would make a major announcement about her future and rumors spread of her being pregnant, and that she would vacate the title to Asuka, who had captured the Money in the Bank briefcase the night before ...

Quin is expecting in December, which would indicate probably February or early March for when she first got pregnant. She said she found out about it in April ...

For the Raw after WrestleMania, which was actually taped before WrestleMania, meaning before she knew she was pregnant, Lynch did an interview that appeared to focus on a return match with Shayna Baszler, who she beat on the show with the idea it was a fluke pin out of nowhere, designed to keep the program alive.

Nia Jax returned and was pushed as a monster at about the same time. Both Jax and Baszler were focused on a match with Lynch on that show.

But on the first Raw new tapings done after WrestleMania, Baszler and Jax instead qualified for the Money in the Bank match and Lynch was not at the taping, which would indicate it being the early part of April when she told the company, and they kept it under wraps for about a month. Money in the Bank was taped on 4/15 so it’s very clear they knew before then. It had seemed weird with Money in the Bank so lacking in star power that Lynch wouldn’t be wrestling on the show.

The actual original booking plan was for Lynch to wrestle Jax in a singles match at the MITB PPV, and to retain the title. Baszler was originally booked to win MITB and be Lynch’s main rival for the title.

As far as the women’s division goes, Asuka, the best worker of the women on the brand, as champion will likely feud with both Baszler and Jax ...

This was the first time in American pro wrestling when a major league promotion world champion vacated her title due to pregnancy.

WWE returned to PPV with a show built around a taped mini-movie Money in the Bank match on 5/10.

The Money in the Bank match was a taping done on 4/15 at the WWE headquarters in Stamford, CT, where supposedly the six men and six women would start on the bottom floor and go from floor-to-floor until ending on the roof of the building where there was a ring with a briefcase held up and ladders all around ... it was okay since the 27:10 match still led to a main show that only went two hours and 24 minutes, which was a positive.

There is no internal doctrine right now to keep shows to a shorter length, just a decisio made for this specific show. But since most took it as a positive, that could become the general rule until fans are back ...

The show did 200,000 Google searches which indicates a normal amount of interest for a non-major PPV show. With the record low ratings leading into the show, there was thought that the interest level would be way down. But it was above the weaker shows or the Saudi shows.

Smackdown on 5/8 did a 1.33 rating and 2,025,000 viewers (a very low 1.26 viewers per home). But the rating was up 7.3 percent from last week and the total viewers were up 7.4 percent for the go-home show for Money in the Bank.

It’s, by today’s normal, a good sign because the show had hit record lows for FOX last week and this was not only a solid increase, but the first time Smackdown had increased from the prior week in five weeks and stopped a significant weekly erosion which may indicate last week was a bottoming out as opposed to a continuation of big weekly drops ...

FOX on the same week last year did 2,872,000 viewers and a 0.6 in 18-49, so it’s drop of 29.5 percent in viewers and 16.7 percent in the key demo.

A few more notes from the 5/6 television shows. AEW’s 1.38 viewers per home was the highest of any pro wrestling show of the past week, meaning more people on average watch the show together.

For AEW, in males 18-34, the high point was Cody vs. Joey Janela and low point was the Jon Moxley beatdown by the Dark Order.

For women 18-34, the high point was Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy. The low point was Cody vs. Janela.

For men 35-49, the high point was Cody vs. Janela. The low point was the promos with MJF, Shawn Spears, etc.

For women 35-49, the high point was Jericho & Guevara vs. Omega & Hardy and the low point was also that MJF, Spears, etc. quarter that was almost all interviews.

For NXT, in males 18-34, the high point was Johnny Gargano vs. Dominik Dijakovic and Akira Tozawa vs. Jack Gallagher. The low point was the Finn Balor stuff as Cameron Grimes vs. Denzel Dejournette.

For NXT, in women 18-34, the high point was Gargano vs. Dijakovic and Tozawa vs. Gallagher. The low point was the Balor stuff and Grimes vs. Dejournette.

For men 35-49, the high point was Chelsea Green vs. Xia Li and low point was Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream.

For women 35-49 the high point was Gargano vs. Dijakovic and Green vs. Li tied, and the low point was Cole vs. Dream.

Both NXT and AEW suffered declines on 5/13, both to near all-time low marks.

The reasons are a few. The obvious is the empty arena format erodes numbers under the best of circumstances, although that’s no different from last week ... UFC also appears to have hurt both shows and really all of cable given AEW was down 17.4 percent in the key demo and was still in the No. 15 spot on cable for the night.

AEW did 654,000 viewers and a 0.23 (294,000 viewers) in 18-49. The show was down 10.7 percent in viewers and 17.4 percent in 18-49. NXT was No. 46 in 18-49, with 604,000 viewers and 0.15 (189,000 viewers) in 18-49. It was down 8.9 percent in viewers and down 20.6 percent in 18-49.

AEW figured to be affected more by UFC competition because it skews younger, like UFC. NXT, which had been doing a 56 year old median viewer age in recent weeks, was going to have less UFC crossover, but it took an even bigger hit in 18-49 than AEW did, which also indicates in the key UFC demo both companies got killed.

It was the lowest number for AEW to date, and third lowest for a regular NXT show to date ...

One key is that NXT pushed hard all day a major announcement by William Regal. The same strategy pushed all day by Raw two days earlier led to a very strong opening quarter, but for Raw it was an announcement by Becky Lynch which led to all kinds of speculation, including what was true. Trying to do the same promotional gimmick two days later will invariably not work, with this being the example. In this case, it was simply the announcement of the next Takeover show.

Another key the decline was UFC related is that the declines for AEW were almost all 18-49 males, as the teenage audience was the same and over 50 had only a small decline. NXT suffered the same major hit in 18-49 males but not in teenage boys at all ...

AEW was No. 8 not including news shows in 18-49 and fifth in its time slot trailing only MTV, Bravo, Home & Garden and The Food Network shows. NXT was No. 13 in its time slot. AEW was second on cable among entertainment shows in Males 18-49 and second in Males 12-34. NXT was fifth among entertainment shows in Males 18-49 and sixth in Males 12-34. So UFC hurt every show in that demo because of how well the wrestling shows even with the record lows did in placing ...

AEW won all eight quarters, and in 18-49 won every quarter by a big margin.

The first quarter with NXT getting the benefit of the bigger lead-in was close. AEW opened with the Cody brawl with Lance Archer and the beginning of Jurassic Express vs. Best Friends, doing 691,000 viewers to start and 284,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner for the tag titles, doing 687,000 total viewers and 208,000 in 18-49.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 38,000 viewers and 5,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends vs. Jurassic Express. NXT lost 51,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the Riddle and Thatcher backstage brawl and Tegan Nox vs. Indi Hartwell.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 7,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Penelope Ford and the Pineapple Pete interview. NXT lost 31,000 viewers and 13,000 in 18-49 for Tony Nese vs. Jake Atlas and the Undisputed Era video conference.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 27,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy vs. Ortiz & Santana. NXT lost 38,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for the Karrion Kross & Scarlett video, a Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vignette, an Isaiah Scott promo and the special announcement by HHH, Shawn Michaels and Road Dogg.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 24,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for the end of the Omega & Hardy vs. Santana & Ortiz match, Taz with Darby Allin, the Nyla Rose/Shida angle and MJF vs. Lee Johnson. NXT gained 53,000 viewers and 45,000 in 18-49 for Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes and the post-match with Damien Priest.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 11,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for the MJF promo, Chris Jericho vs. Pineapple Pete and the Inner Circle promo destroying Vanguard One. NXT lost 49,000 viewers and 51,000 in 18-49 for Isaiah Scott vs. Jack Gallagher.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 1,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for hyping next week and Double or Nothing and the main event ring intros. NXT gained 4,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for Kayden Carter vs. Aliyah and the Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae vignette.

In the final quarter, AEW gained 7,000 viewers and 13,000 in 18-49 for Brodie Lee vs. Christopher Daniels and the post-match brawl involving the Dark Order and Jon Moxley. NXT lost 5,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for Riddle vs. Thatcher.

SummerSlam and all the usual things that go with it look very unlikely for Boston in late August. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said that they don’t envision a point this summer where it makes sense to have large crowds gathered in the city. He said that all parades and festivals in the city would not take place until 9/7 at the earliest ...

Regarding rumors of SummerSlam being moved to September, Vince McMahon is determined to have a live crowd for this year’s SummerSlam. Right now it is scheduled for August but if waiting until September is the only way to have the show in front of a live crowd, the thought is he would make that move but it is not a move decided on and he hasn’t outright committed to it. Vince is the person who will make the call and he changes his mind constantly, sometimes brilliant and often in almost complete denial of what is going on in the world and right now he sees the pandemic as something inconvenient because it gets in the way of his vision of what the product is supposed to be and his plans

They officially announced as IC title tournament on Smackdown. Even though nobody can say it publicly for obvious reasons, there is a lot of unhappiness that Zayn exercised the option that they gave everyone regarding not wrestling if you don’t want to right now. I mean, the IC title doesn’t mean much and we’re long past the period of taking titles too seriously and they can do whatever they want. The tournament will start on the 5/15 Smackdown show

It should be noted that I know of several people in the company who are not comfortable at all about working right now but were not about to take WWE up on the offer for job security reasons, and this was before all the firings. There are still people not working who live in the U.S. but they are very few. It’s also notable with AEW that Tony Khan said roughly the same thing, and evidently his employees believed him at the time. The promise that you can take the time off and it won’t hurt you or your position is hard to take seriously. The only person who publicly said he wouldn’t wrestle in a pandemic was Lio Rush as he was then fired. Now, granted, my belief is he was fired because he complained about pay and went into a depression about money and how he was being used months earlier. And those guys were the first guys let go.

This is the situation with Mysterio. They shot an angle on Raw this week where Rollins took out his eye. Mysterio’s contract is coming due and at least as of a week ago he had not signed a new deal. I don’t expect him to leave but it’s not a lock that he won’t. One of the key things to him is the future of his son. There is the idea not to do anything to upset WWE because it could negatively affect his son’s career. He also has a very high contract with WWE because they very badly didn’t want him working for New Japan, which he had just started doing. He signed before there was an AEW, but after the new TV deals were made so they knew they had all the money they’d ever need to sign people they wanted and Mysterio got a great deal, and was able to negotiate an 18 month out which the feeling was would make it perfect timing to be a free agent. But it’s not perfect timing now. The word is that WWE is not giving any raises right now, so the guys who signed in the last year or so, after AEW started, and got the big offers based on them wanting to own everyone marketable looks to be a lot more limited. One would have to think there is interest in Mysterio in AEW, especially since they booked him in the main event of All In (which WWE badly wanted him off of but he refused at the time to pull out of that commitment) ... So the Rollins thing when Rollins took out his eye is either to give him an angle with Rollins if he stays, or it’s following the Matt Hardy playbook if he leaves

Rachael Ellering, 27, who wrestled as Rachael Evers (after Lance Storm’s real last name since Storm was her trainer) is now a free agent. I believe her release was around the same time as the other releases but the name never got out but her 30-day non-compete should be over or just about over and she put up a video that seemed to tease being a free agent. It’s been confirmed she’s no longer with the company. A few months ago she spoke to the company about having issues with the medical team and medical procedures. She was rehabbing after reconstructive knee surgery. Her complaints were not received well and a few weeks ago she was given two options, both of which essentially were that she was getting released. She chose one of them and was then released. There was a time when she was interested in leaving but this was a company decision

The situation with Sting is this. He was originally set for being a character in Mattel’s Legend Series 7 line and then removed. When this came out on The Major Wrestling Figure podcast, Mattel wrote in response, “Due to circumstances out of our control Sting needed to be removed from Legends Series 7. We’ll look to include this figure in a future wave if he becomes available to us again.” The reason for this is that Sting no longer has a merchandising contract with WWE. This has coupled with Sting starting to tweet AEW things. That also would indicate no longer being under contract with WWE. Cody tweeted something like he heard something. As far as AEW goes, this is what I can say. I’ve asked and gotten no response to the question and if there was nothing going on the odds are I’d be told there was nothing going on

President Harold Meij of New Japan Pro Wrestling gave a YouTube update in English on the company’s current and future plans, and said that at some point they would be doing empty arena matches.

He said that due to the success of the two-day WrestleKingdom events on 1/4 and 1/5 at the Tokyo Dome, that the company has been financially okay so far, even though saying that they have incurred significant financial losses from the decisions they’ve made to not run any events.

Meij thanked the New Japan fan base for their continued support during these challenging times, noting in particular that New Japan Word numbers have not fallen significantly in the two plus months where the company hasn’t presented any new live shows, and that online merchandise sales have been extremely successful.

He said that there was no sensible option but to not run shows at this time, but that these decisions were not taken lightly, and recognize they have disappointed fans, wrestlers and staff, and noted how painful these decisions have been ...

He also noted that the company has come up with a lot of new merchandise and their new global web site has allowed them to ship their merchandise to 33 countries worldwide.

AEW’s Double or Nothing key matches for 5/23 in Jacksonville have been announced, with the biggest news being the involvement of Mike Tyson, who will present the TNT championship belt to the winner of the Cody vs. Lance Archer tournament final ...

Tyson is interesting because obviously it’s mainstream publicity play. Tyson attended last year’s Double or Nothing show. He was backstage and didn’t stay for the entire show. He was also a guest in September at a Jaguars game. Reports were that they got him for a good deal, but under any circumstances, Tyson doesn’t come cheap. The idea is getting mainstream publicity for the title, the winner and the company.

Tyson, when he was in his mainstream culture prime in 1998, was a key factor in turning the tables in a wrestling war that WCW was dominating. Doing an angle with Steve Austin propelled Austin to going from being a major wrestling star to someone known outside of the wrestling world. He refereed the Austin WWF title win over Shawn Michaels. He pulled in $3.5 million from that appearance which is still believed to be the biggest one-night payday anyone in pro wrestling history has ever received ...

But still, Tyson remains big in the culture, remembered as a better boxer than he really was, and he was the biggest drawing card in sports during his heyday. He also had a controversial past, growing up a hoodlum and serving time for a rape conviction. But his modern image has been remade as this fun-loving cool guy who was the baddest man and hardest hitter on the planet. A recent video of him throwing punches, still bringing the heat, went viral in recent days and has led to recent talk of him perhaps boxing once again at 53.

There is the question of adding a high cost for Tyson on a show with no live gate and a question regarding how the PPV will do ...

AEW did break even in April, actually making a very small profit. With television not being taped every week, it has reduced costs, although the reduction of costs is not enough to offset the loss of the live gates from what would have been five Wednesday night shows, but the reduction does partially offset that. The company turned a very small profit between the money from TNT for television, online merchandise money and costs being down by doing all the taping over two days in Decatur, GA. This was done with paying everyone on staff and the talent, and the production crew was paid the same as they would have for weekly shows even though the shows were done in two days rather than five days. And there were cost savings by doing two shows where everyone was flown in and out once, as opposed to paying for everyone for five trips to various locations. But they would have likely had a very big month. They were expecting good houses in Milwaukee, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia and Houston, particularly since St. Louis and Houston are strong traditional wrestling markets and this would have been AEW’s first time in both cities. That, along with Rochester and Newark, which were figured to be two high grossing events, Newark perhaps setting the company’s all-time record, and this period was hoped to be where they start making back the losses of the first year, but with a pandemic, that period is going to have to wait.

The show will be at Daily’s Place except for the Stadium Stampede match, which will air live from TIAA Field, with the match taking place all over the empty football stadium. The idea is similar to a famous Minoru Suzuki match at the empty Tokyo Dome a few years ago. The football field is adjacent to Daily’s Place as in the street fight with Matt Hardy & Omega vs. Jericho & Guevara on 5/13, they went backstage and you could see the football field, done on purpose because of what it was to build ...

The entire show is expected to be nine matches. From television this past week, the most notable tease was Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus, and they are clearly building something in that direction at some point, whether now or later.

At last week’s Lucha Fighter press conference, announcer Jesus Zuniga said that the AAA ownership would be deciding on the big show plan on 5/30. He said that TripleMania could take place with no fans. The problem is the main revenue stream for TripleMania is the live gate. In addition, like last year, AAA was hoping to get the top AEW stars to attend and Kenny Omega is their world champion. That would seem very unlikely at this point

The planned [UFC] show on 5/23 has been canceled. After the 5/16 show, the plan for the next show is 5/30. They are hopeful of 5/30 being in Las Vegas but that depends on if the commission approves it. If not it’ll be somewhere else. AEW tries to avoid Saturday’s with UFC shows for its PPVs but the way things have been, that is going to be more difficult since UFC shows aren’t planned out months in advance during this period. But it looked like they were head-to-head and now AEW has the night unopposed

Emperor Smeat

05-19-2020, 09:31 PM

The Sheets:

Raw dropped from last week's number boosted by the Becky Lynch pregnancy announcement, falling eight percent from last week and averaging 1.76 million viewers.

It was the second lowest viewer number in the modern history of the show, trailing only the episode two weeks ago that did 1.68 million viewers ...

The show was down 30 percent from the same week last year, and last year had competition from the NBA playoffs. It was down 42 percent from last year in the 18-49 demo ...

The third hour was the second least watched hour in the history of Raw television, beating only the 1.62 million mark of hour three two weeks ago.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.82 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.64 million viewers

With the debut of the Owen Hart episode of Dark Side of The Ring series hours away and discussion about his controversial and tragic death expected to be revived on social media afterward, his widow, Martha, has been doing interviews of late to tell her side of the story and to bring attention to the episode.

While her stance on what happened and her opinion of the company hasn't changed throughout the years, Jerry McDevitt, outside legal council of WWE, wanted to have their side represented, and did just that with statements given to CBS Sports following the release of a Hart interview they did Monday.

McDevitt, who led the WWE legal team in the case, said that how Hart talks about the lawsuit is inaccurate and that her lawyer was trying to go about things the wrong way:

"What she did whenever this happened is, she hired a lawyer in Kansas City who we caught essentially trying to fix the judicial selection process to get a judge that was more to their liking. We caught them and went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Missouri Supreme Court said, 'No, no, no. We're not going to let that happen.' They essentially appointed an independent judge to come in from outside of Kansas City to oversee the proceedings. We were basically trying to find out what happened that night. Martha was not even remotely interested in finding out what happened that night; she just wanted to used it as a vehicle to beat up a business that she didn't like that her husband was in, the wrestling business."

In her book "Broken Harts", Hart didn't speak favorably of McDevitt and said that WWE's lawyers were claiming Kansas City police weren't being impartial in an effort to get the case heard before a different judge.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated has an interview with Martha Hart. In this interview, Martha spoke about WWE’s negligence when it came to the harness they used on the night of Owen’s death. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt responded to the article:

“The manufacturer of the quick release device, if there is anybody directly responsible for Owen’s death, it would have been the manufacturer for that device.”

The Undertaker responded to a tweet about the right wing T-shirts he’s worn on his Last Ride documentary: “Everyone knows WWE is A political !! It’s all about the flag!”
Link: https://twitter.com/undertaker/status/1262579401880932357?s=20

CZW issued a statement about sexist PPV names like “Hair Pulling Catfights,” “Top Heavy & Tough,” “Hot & Sweaty,” and “All Assets Revealed” being used for specials of past content featuring women’s wrestlers: “Two years ago, CZW entered into a licensing agreement with a national media distributor to license CZW and WSU footage. That company has the right to utilize the footage without limitation. They have repackaged and renamed shows as it is their right to do so. Our athletes, regardless of gender, are just that, athletes, whom we are proud of and appreciate. We stand behind the ring action in all our footage.”

Jordynne Grace then responded to CZW’s statement: “Just so everyone is aware, there are many women already speaking to lawyers about this, as releases were not signed to authorize licensing footage for profit and distribution.”

Kimber Lee also responded to CZW: “And I’m certain I NEVER signed an agreement giving you the right to sell my intellectual property.... nor did ANY of the women you’re blatantly disrespecting. Or how you told us all you wouldn’t book us if you wouldn’t f**k us. It’s about time the harassment gets exposed.”

Tony Khan clarified how the TNT Championship will be worked into AEW’s weekly top-five roster rankings: “Good question. It’ll be a similar format, but going forward we’ll have the 2 male singles champions ranked at the top above the Top 5.”

On Busted Open Radio yesterday, Ricky Starks said his contract with the NWA has expired and he’s no longer with the promotion.

Nikki and Brie Bella were guests on the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast. While speaking to Nikki, she shared that WWE and John Cena had editorial rights to alter anything in her book and Nikki said that there were a few stories that WWE removed from the book.

“I mean, of course. Definitely writing it, did that stuff cross my mind? It did and there was never anything bad I wanted to say about John. John and I had a beautiful relationship. Did we have troubles? Yes. Will anyone ever know about them? No, and this is something at least my therapist and I know about and I get through and I have gotten through, but overall, we did have such a beautiful relationship. I mean WWE also had editing rights and took out a few stories as well, and I respect that. I understand I’m not a private person and some people like to be private, but even with the stuff that was edited with John, there was nothing crazy bad. I just wish I was able to talk more about why I ended up where I ended up. I still feel like people will always wonder that, and I think it’s because we put our relationship out there on reality TV for five to six years and so, I wanted to tell that story.”

Will Cooling has an article on the Torch site looking at the finances of Progress Wrestling that are open to the public through the Companies House governmental agency in the UK. In Cooling’s research, it shows that under Progress’ real name (JJG Partners), the company paid out a dividend of £273,000 to owners Jon Briley, Glen Joseph, and Jim Smallman (the latter ended his role as a director in July 2019 and had his shares bought out. Smallman ended his role with the company by the end of the year to work exclusively with NXT UK). Cooling adds that the dividend payout was £155,000 in 2017/18. During the pandemic, the group has been running fundraisers and launched a Twitch channel to raise funds for workers.
Link: https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/05/17/cooling-progresss-finances-raise-many-questions-as-they-ask-for-support-during-coronavirus-live-events-pause/

Although the NXT UK brand hasn't been putting on new shows in recent weeks, the wrestlers aren't staying put and sitting at home doing nothing.

According to Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, the wrestlers from the UK brand have been working with WWE doing some online seminars. The seminars, which have been called "Skull Sessions," saw NXT UK superstars doing online calls with the likes of William Regal and Robby Brookside and doing match analysis sessions.

As far as when NXT UK shows return, there's no set date yet, but Cassidy reports that there is a plan for programming to resume as soon as it is deemed safe to do so. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, wrestling companies across the world have postponed or canceled shows.

When Goldust first debuted in 1995, the word often used to describe him was "bizarre." Well, this is bizarre.

While discussing the 1995 Survivor Series, Jim Ross imparted some wisdom concerning the early days of the Goldust character and an envelope-pushing element that was left on the cutting room floor of WWE creative.

Marlena would make her debut at the 1996 Royal Rumble alongside her husband at the time, Goldust. Goldust for the groundbreaking for the mid-90s as he portrayed a very androgynous character. According to Jim Ross, an element of this androgyny, specifically pitched by Vince McMahon was to be a prosthetic penis worn by the Marlena character to throw the audience off even more.

“Goldust was created to be polarizing. You know, it was very polarizing and when we put and is even going to be more so, Vince was all in this, the Attitude Era coming along with the sexual characters, this androgynous guy,” Jim began. “Was he really androgynous? Was he gay? Was he straight? Was he bisexual? We had no idea. But it was a very unique presentation to the point, and I told this to Terri Runnels one time and she was appalled, probably appalled at me. I'm not sure. But Vince had an idea to have to give her a prosthetic penis to wear under her attire. Something that was never [to be] talked about. Nobody said anything. It was never focused on. It was just there. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and that never made air and it never even happened. She wasn't aware of it. There was a thought at one time about really going... 'Well we're going to go all the way, let's go all the way.' No, let's don't If we go all the way, we're gonna step off of a cliff here. I don't want to fall off a cliff. We don't need to be falling off cliffs here. Let's get close to the edge, but not quite step over it.”

While they never went in this direction with the character, only 2 years later Goldust was walked out on a leash on TV by Luna Vachon with a ball gag in his mouth, during the thick of WWE’s Attitude Era.

Taynara Conti was waiting for an opportunity that never came in WWE.

Conti was signed by WWE in October 2016 and competed in both Mae Young Classics before making various appearances on NXT television. However, Conti never made the impact she was hoping to have, leading to her reportedly walking out on NXT in February 2020 over a disagreement. She returned shortly after, but was part of the April 15 cuts.

"I need to get better and think about my future and feel that I'm useful," Conti told Ring The Belle. "In the last couple of months, I was not feeling that anymore. I was trying to have conversations, asking for opportunities. I never asked for something big. I never asked for a TakeOver match or title shot. I was in the same spot for a long time, doing 3-4 minute matches to put someone else over and I was not able to show what I was able to do. Give me a 10 minute, 50/50 match, and I can show more about my character and what I do in the ring. A two-minute match, I can't do much. If the match is for someone else, I need to make them look good. At first, okay, that was my time to put people over. It's okay, I don't mind. But at some point, I was like, 'I have been doing the same thing for a long time. It's time to get better and show them more about me.' I would never do a promo and that was frustrating for me. 'You guys keep saying I'm good and will be a star.' All the feedback was amazing. I pitched like 100 different gimmicks. And they were like, 'No, keep doing what you're doing.' I tried to change my hair, my gimmick, and they were like, 'No, don't change, the opportunity is coming.' The opportunity never came. So, I was not happy."

She continued, "I asked them, 'What about me?' 'Well, there's people coming with more experience.' In my mind, I was like, 'If you keep signing people with more experience and you don't use me, why sign people that don't come from pro wrestling? Am I wasting my time here?' That was my feeling. I was like, 'What if I go wrestle outside and come back and have experience.' It just wasn't working. It was comfortable to have money every week, but I'm 24, I'm not scared of work. I wasn't happy anymore."

Both AEW and NXT will be going opposite NASCAR races on Wednesday, as well as on 5/27 and 6/10. The first NASCAR race back over the weekend had 6.3 million viewers, so this could be major competition even though the NASCAR audience is traditionally older than the wrestling audience, unlike UFC which skews younger than wrestling. The race Wednesday is from Darlington at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Following the success of ‘The Last Dance’, ESPN will be airing a never-before-seen cinematic presentation of Game 6 between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz from the 1998 finals this Wednesday night at 9 pm Eastern that will go against AEW Dynamite and NXT. When the game aired in 1998 on NBC, it did almost 36 million viewers.

PWInsider.com has been told that Bret Hart was not interviewed specifically for the Owen Hart episode. He was interviewed for season one of the series and it is certainly possible material from that interview could be featured in the Owen episode.

Pro Wrestling Tees, Martha Hart, and Dark Side of the Ring have partnered together to release the first official Owen Hart T-shirts in over 20 years.

Two Owen Hart T-shirts were released on Pro Wrestling Tees tonight. The shirts are sold by Owen's wife Martha, with all profits going to the Owen Hart Foundation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Excited to announce that we signed a deal w/ both Martha Hart & <a href="https://twitter.com/VICE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VICE</a> to bring you BRAND NEW Owen Hart shirts along with the first <a href="https://twitter.com/DarkSideOfRing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DarkSideOfRing</a> shirts. All profits from Owen's tees will be donated to the Owen Hart Foundation <a href="https://twitter.com/owen_foundation?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@owen_foundation</a>. Visit <a href="https://t.co/O6bpncMD8f">https://t.co/O6bpncMD8f</a>! 🙏🏽 <a href="https://t.co/khyJjfGvD4">pic.twitter.com/khyJjfGvD4</a></p>— Ryan Barkan (@OneHourTees) <a href="https://twitter.com/OneHourTees/status/1262528357176168448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Martha Hart on Owen & WWE Hall of Fame, AEW Countdown Special, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/various-martha-hart-on-owen-wwe-hall-of-fame-aew-countdown-special-indies/)
WWE: Roman Reigns Update, Top WWE Official Leaves Company, Trademarks, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/wwe-roman-reigns-update-top-wwe-official-leaves-company-trademarks-updated-sd-ratings/)
Coast Guard Suspends Search for Shad Gaspard, LAPD Still Searching, Family Issues Statement (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/coast-guard-suspends-search-for-shad-gaspard-lapd-still-searching-family-issues-statement/)
Luchasaurus & Mystery Wrestler Announced for Casino Ladder Match (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/luchasaurus-mystery-wrestler-announced-for-casino-ladder-match/)

Emperor Smeat

05-20-2020, 07:42 PM

The Sheets:

On today's edition of WWE's The Bump, it was announced that there will be a special NXT Takeover: In Your House episode of the show on Sunday June 7th.

They also announced that the Ric Flair "WWE 24" subtitled "The Final Farewell" will air June 7th on demand and premiering officially on the live stream after Takeover: In Your House.

Q - Facebook has a lot of postings about Vince selling WWE to Fox sports. Is this just a wild rumor? If he did, would he be able to start another wrestling company down the road?

A - We were not able to confirm the rumor, which also mentioned ESPN sports as a co-owner (which I don’t ever see happening, it would be one or the other). But if Vince sells, I don’t see any corporation not requiring him to sign a do not compete clause. In fact, I would think they would want him to stay on, much like Dana White did with the UFC.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Ring of Honor announced the following:

Ring of Honor continues to present new, fun and entertaining content to fans, with the debut of “First Match in ROH.” The debut episode features Matt Taven from 2010 in a tag match vs. The All Night Express.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_HBLLbqeNk

The WWE Network has added carosuels celebrating Shad Gaspard's career with the company.

They also have sections for The IIconics, Randy Savage (as today is the ninth anniversary of his passing) and In Your House as well.

On 5/15, WWE applied for several trademarks for "DEF REBEL".
Based on the filing, seems to be something musical related.

David Bixenspan spoke with Martha Hart for the Daily Beast prior to the airing of Tuesday’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring. Bixenspan has done thorough reporting on this story including obtaining a copy of the police report from the Kansas City Police Department. In speaking with Hart, she responded to Jerry McDevitt’s comments earlier this week specifically stating that Martha “not even remotely interested in finding out what happened that night; she just wanted to use it as a vehicle to beat up a business that she didn’t like that her husband was in, the wrestling business.” Hart’s response to the Daily Beast was:

In response to Jerry McDevitt’s recent comments I want to make it very clear, if there was one person on this planet who wanted to get to the bottom of what happened to my husband Owen it was me!,” she wrote. “The defense on the other hand was doing everything in their power to muddy the waters (as they try to continue to do) in an effort to detract from the case because they didn’t have one. I read every single affidavit taken, sat through endless face-to-face depositions, and spent over a year of my life dissecting every solitary fact of this case. To insinuate for one second that I of all people did not care about the truth behind Owen’s death, but instead was more interested in a ridiculous vendetta against the wrestling business, is beyond the pale.

Jerry McDevitt’s comments are absolutely absurd, reckless, and pathetic. I am not surprised that the WWE would trot out Mr. McDevitt to do damage control. After all, the events surrounding Owen’s death and the aftermath that followed are extremely disturbing and do not reflect well on their company.

In several interviews including the one with Bixenspan, Martha mentions Bret’s support when she filed the wrongful death lawsuit but added he was hoping to secure the rights to his WWF footage and wanted that included in the settlement agreement, which did not occur. Bret issued a brief statement to Tony Maglio of The Wrap indicating there was more to it than seeking footage but did not wish to engage in a public war of words:

While I am not interested in engaging in any more media mudslinging between Martha and myself especially in light of a global pandemic, I will say that our fallout is multifaceted. To say that it only involved being able to access and use my WWE footage and photos for future projects would merely be an oversimplification and inaccurate. I will not comment any further on the matter.

The Undertaker (Mark Calaway) spent two hours speaking with Bill Simmons for his podcast on The Ringer promoting the documentary. During the discussion, the Survivor Series 1997 came up with his take on the entire issue between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and how he could have been used as the go-between the avoid the screw job:

I was pissed. I was pissed about the whole thing because I was like, I could have possibly been used to get what we needed. Take Shawn out of this, let me do it and then I’ll do business on the other side and I think Bret probably would have went for that. I mean there was such disdain at that time between the two of them and Bret was leaving but I was just like, if you had come to me with this too, and it’s his company and he did what he thought what was best, but I was like ‘I think I could’ve helped this whole thing out’. I’m going to do business, but it happened, and I was really pissed. The next day, we were supposed to show up by Noon for a TV day and I think I rolled it around 5 the next day because I didn’t know because I was so pissed about the whole thing and the way it went down. I had to really gather myself because I was, my intentions when I got there was like ‘I’m going off on somebody about this’.

Calaway spoke about his numerous surgeries including the need to address an issue with the right knee currently. On his hip surgeries, he said the reason his career continued was because of something called the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System, which he had in 2011 for the left hip and 2017 on the right hip. If he had the traditional hip replacement surgery where they cut out the femur off and insert a metal prosthesis and that would have ended his career. He noted that after facing the prospect of the regular hip replacement in 2011, he concluded his career was over and cut off his hair before learning of the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing option that extended his career and returned at WrestleMania 28 in April 2012 for the Hell in a Cell match with Triple H.

Stardom announced Wednesday that Arisa Hoshiki is retiring due to head and neck issues. Hoshiki, 24, was the promotion’s Wonder of Stardom champion, which they stated was vacated as a result of this news. Hoshiki was part of Stardom’s original roster when it launched in 2011. She took a hiatus before in 2012 and competed in Shoot Boxing with two fights in 2014 against Maki Goto and Akari Nakamura. In 2018, she returned to Stardom as part of the STARS group. In April 2019, she won the annual Cinderella tournament defeating Saki Kashima, Natsuko Tora, and Konami in the open-night tournament. This led to her winning the Wonder of Stardom title on May 16, 2019, from Momo Watanabe.

Randy Savage (Randy Poffo) passed away on this date in 2011 at the age of 58. Savage was driving with his wife and suffered a heart attack while behind the wheel in Seminole, Florida. It was a major mainstream story when he died due to his cultural connection from the exposure with the WWF throughout the ’80s on NBC and being one of the industry’s most recognizable characters during a major popular peak.

In Canada, Crave is currently offering a free 30-day free trial that includes all the episodes from both seasons of Dark Side of the Ring.

Tuesday's season finale of Dark Side of the Ring focused on the final days of Owen Hart and brought to light some added information.

In the documentary, Martha Hart showed viewers the clip that was supposed to hold Owen for the stunt, revealing that it took just six pounds of pressure for the clip to release before giving an example of how easy it was to release the clip ...

David Bixenspan acquired an investigative file from the Kansas City Police Department, which features a 1999 interview with rigger Bobby Talbert, who was hired by WWE to set-up the stunt. In the interview, Talbert reveals that Max Mini was supposed to be attached to Owen, but they later decided against performing that stunt. Talbert stated he had done a similar stunt for WCW where two people were attached together and lowered from the rafters and to the ring.

According to Martha in her book, Talbert claimed the stunt they asked Owen to perform was similar to Sting's stunt. But Ellis Edwards, who was the stunt coordinator for WCW, disputed that claim.

The Undertaker's storied WrestleMania career peaked at WrestleMania 25 against Shawn Michaels when the two men had arguably the greatest WrestleMania match of all-time.

Both The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels have had classic matches throughout their WWE tenure, but WrestleMania 25 is at the top of the top for most fans. Including The Undertaker.

"In-ring, probably the four matches -- the two I had with Shawn and the two I had with Triple H. What we do more than anything else is tell stories. Wrestling is about telling stories. It's a violent, physical way of doing it, but that's the essence of what we do, done right. I'll put the first WrestleMania match with Shawn up against any and say 'show me something that's better than that as far as storytelling and execution.' Follow that up with Shawn's last match. That's some pressure. That's somebody that I feel, personally, and I think most people do, as one of the greatest in-ring, out-of-ring performers ever," Undertaker told Ariel Helwani on Helwani's MMA Show when asked about his favorite WWE matches.
Link: https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/1263157748893650944

It's unlike that Owen Hart will ever go into the WWE Hall of Fame as long as his wife Martha Hart is alive. Martha has been adamant about not wanting WWE to honor Owen as she holds them responsible for his death in 1999.

In interviews leading up to the season finale of Dark Side of the Ring, which focused on the life and death of Owen Hart, Martha called the WWE Hall of Fame, "a fake entity" and "an event they hold to make money."

On Dark Side of the Ring, Owen's 28-year-old son Oje stood by his mom's side when it comes to his dad going into the WWE Hall of Fame.

"I would never let WWE put his name on a piece of silver and say that 'they got that,"' said Oje. "We have built a foundation that helps put people in homes, that helps single moms like my mom was, that lets kids go to school. This was all done in his namesake. This has all got Owen Hart written all over it. This is how communities, people, society remembers him. That's how we want it to be done. Yeah, he was a wrestler, but he was bigger than that. That was just part of who he was."

Oje is referring to the Owen Hart Foundation, which was set up in Owen's name to assist communities.

Oje has not spoken much, if it all, over the years about his father's passing or given his stance on Owen's legacy in WWE. During his 2018 Hall of Fame speech, Mark Henry referenced Oje in a plea to Martha to let Owen into the WWE Hall of Fame.

“Martha. This is not from the company. This is not from other wrestlers. This is from his other brother. He needs to be here. I’d love to be able to look down one day and see Oje able to be among us. It’s his birthright," said Henry in his speech.

It doesn't sound like Oje wants the privilege of standing next to Mark Henry in a Hall of Fame that doesn't physically exist.

TPWW Frontpage:

Shad Gaspard Found Dead on Beach (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/shad-gaspard-found-dead-on-beach/)
Ember Moon Says She “May Have a Career-Ending Injury” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ember-moon-says-she-may-have-a-career-ending-injury/)
New Weekly Impact Wrestling Highlight Show Coming to AXS TV (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/new-weekly-impact-wrestling-highlight-show-coming-to-axs-tv/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-6/)
Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ratings-dark-side-of-the-ring-backstage-wwe-on-fs1-total-bellas-2/)
Martha Hart on Owen Hart’s Death & WWE’s Reaction, WWE’s Response & Martha’s Counter-Response (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/martha-hart-on-owen-harts-death-wwes-reaction-wwes-response-marthas-counter-response/)

Emperor Smeat

05-21-2020, 09:43 PM

The Sheets:

Going against live sports competition on cable TV for the first time since the start of closed set shows didn't hurt the ratings for AEW Dynamite on TNT last night.

Last night's Double or Nothing go-home episode of Dynamite averaged 701,000 viewers, up seven percent from last week. That's despite NASCAR on FS1 averaging 2.087 million viewers airing directly opposite Dynamite.

The news wasn't as good for NXT on the USA Network. Last night's NXT was down two percent from last week, averaging 592,000 viewers. The combined viewership of 1.293 million viewers for Dynamite and NXT was the third lowest since the start of the Wednesday Night Wars.

In the 18-49 demo, AEW finished the highest they have on the cable TV rankings since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Dynamite drew a 0.26 rating in the demo, up 13 percent from last week. The show finished seventh on cable TV in that demo.

NXT fell out of the top 50 rankings in the demo with a 0.13 rating, down 13 percent. This was the lowest number NXT has done in that demo since debuting on the USA Network, although the overall viewership was only the fifth lowest. Last night's NXT finished 53rd in the cable rankings for that category.

NXT fell 2% with 592,000 viewers on the USA Network and outside of the top fifty cable programs, which means we don’t have a breakdown of all the key demos. The show did a 0.13 in the 18-49 demo, which was below this week’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring covering Owen Hart on Vice TV.

AEW VP and challenger for the inaugural TNT Championship Cody Rhodes spoke to the media for 45 minutes Thursday afternoon, talking up Saturday's Double or Nothing show and other questions about the company.

You can listen to the free audio by clicking below.

Of note, Rhodes wasn't asked about any of the injuries suffered on last night's Dynamite. However, he did discuss a few items of note over the 45-minute stretch:

He said 90% of what fans will see at Double or Nothing is what was creatively planned prior to the pandemic.
Per Tony Khan, Cody said the TNT champion won't be in top 5 rankings for the World title. They don't know how the new title is going to work, so they aren't committing to it being a midcard title or anything like that. He claimed to have not even seen the belt yet.
He said their plan is to stay in Jacksonville, FL, for the time being as traveling to different locations right now can add to the risk. He is very excited to work again in front of fans, however.
Their COVID-19 testing is done away from Daily's Place and wrestlers and staff are tested in separate areas. Even with a positive test, that wouldn't shut down production.
He said they met Mike Tyson last year in Las Vegas and having someone with an element of prestige to present the belt was the final touch for Saturday's show.
He said over the next two weeks, he expects some reschedule dates announcements for previously postponed shows. He's remaining optimistic despite what some experts think about arena shows.

The stuff about their mindset for positive coronavirus test results is a bit worrying especially considering some of the people that were brought in for the newest tapings. Audio link: https://media001.f4wonline.com/free/cody52120.mp3

Siliana Gaspard, Shad Gaspard's wife, issued the following statement via her social media:

Aryeh, myself and the Gaspard and Chittick families would like to take this time to thank everyone for their prayers and support, as we mourn the terrible loss of our beloved Shad.

Shad was our whole world and we were his. There are not enough words to describe what he means to all of us. He was our heart, our soul, our protector, our warrior. He was a bright force of nature, who brught joy to many through his joyous and gracious nature. .

The outpouring of love from Shad’s friends, colleagues and fans has meant more to us than you can even imagine. .

We’d like to once again thank the lifeguards, coast guard, divers, fire and police departments for their efforts.

Shad was and will always be our real life super hero.

I love you more, my love ??

-Proudly,

Siliana Gaspard
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAdFYTgDv6a/

5/21 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: SINCLAIR BROADCAST GROUP PURCHASES RING OF HONOR ...

2011 - Sinclair Broadcasting announced that they had purchased Ring of Honor from Cary Silkin during a meeting with the ROH locker room prior to ROH's Supercard of Honor in Chicago, IL.

Today, on Maria Menounos' daytime show Better Together w/ Maria Menounos Brie and Nikki Bella, former WWE superstars and co-leads of TOTAL BELLS on E!, opened up John Cena's editorial hand in their new memoir, the real reason Nikki left him, and why Brie is still healing from her turbulent upbringing.

NIKKI REVEALS WHAT JOHN CENA CUT FROM THE MEMOIR!

"With John though, there wasn't even anything bad written...It was more beautiful things that were taken out.

LATER, she continued: "There was one sex story that I understood. It was great for him! I was kinda like, don't you want high fives on that!?...We were wild, and he was strong...so it was a great story" ...

NIKKI LEFT JOHN CENA SO HE WOULDN'T REGRET HAVING KIDS WITH HER IN THE FUTURE

"Overall, we did have such an incredible relationship, it was just two people that wanted two different lives. We were trying so hard to make it one. And, it was like, even in the end when he was willing to give me kids, I could just tell, it's not what we wanted. And that's really, like, you know, what pushed me in the end, was like, if I'm going to force someone to be a father...what if he looks at you down the road and just regrets everything, and then you have this child and you've built this life. Is that what you want? And I remember thinking: it's not what I want. And, it was like, even in the end when he was willing to give me kids, I could just tell, it's not what we wanted. And that's really, like, you know, what pushed me in the end, was like, if I'm going to force someone to be a father...what if he looks at you down the road and just regrets everything, and then you have this child and you've built this life. Is that what you want? And I remember thinking: it's not what I want."

Rhea Ripley guest appeared on Flash Morgan Webster’s ‘Wrestling Friends’ podcast. During their conversation, Rhea revealed that she was never supposed to win the NXT Women’s Championship from Shayna Baszler and plans changed when she made her initial appearance on NXT TV to kick off the program with Shayna. Once the powers that be backstage heard the reaction that Rhea got, they decided to do a DQ finish in their first match so the program could continue.

“So Shayna had pretty much gone through everyone in NXT, so I pretty much finished with NXT UK, handed it off to Piper [Niven] and I was coming into NXT to do that promo. So we were supposed to do a match later because everything was pre-recorded at that time, so we were supposed to do a match later on that night [for] a couple weeks after and I was supposed to tap out. That’s what was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be a one-off thing, I tap out, that’s it. So I went out, and as soon as my music hit, the whole Full Sail just erupted so loud. Like it was extremely loud. It was extremely loud! It doesn’t even sound that loud when you watch it back, but if you were there in person, it was insane and then I went into the ring, cut my promo the best that I have, and people popped so loud for that. Shayna left, I left, I came back and everyone backstage was just like, ‘Oh my God, that was really good.’ So anyways, Shayna and I, we go to get changed into our gear. Sara [Amato] comes running into the room, and Sara’s just like, ‘Guys, change of plans. Rhea got too much of a pop, we need to change the ending,’ and I was like, ‘Well, okay… like what are we gonna do?’ Shayna’s like, ‘We’ve been trying to tell you this for weeks. Every time we’re on a road loop, Rhea gets the biggest pop out of anyone’ and Sara’s like, ‘Yep! We believe you now. We need to change the ending.’

Legit, I was like, ‘Oh my God, so what’s happening?’ And they’re like, ‘So we’re gonna need to do a DQ so we can continue this some other time.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. That’s cool with me, whatever.’” Rhea laughed. “So that’s why I hit her with the chair so we could continue it.”

Britt Baker was the latest AEW talent to appear on the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards. Britt spoke about Tony Khan allowing her to attend NXT shows to support Adam Cole but how that wasn’t reciprocated on the other side. Britt shared that WWE cleared Adam Cole to attend AEW’s New Year’s show in Jacksonville and Cole was present at the show.

“As we all know, I was in the crowd at TakeOver when he won the title for the first time, which, he’s — this is also annoying but he originally was told he can’t come to our shows. For ALL IN actually, he had a plane ticket booked, and then they told him, ‘You can’t go.’ So he still came to be supportful. He just watched it on his phone in the hotel and went to the after party afterwards but he wasn’t allowed to go, and then recently they’ve changed their tune and he was able to come to our New Year’s show and it’s great for him too because this is his family. The Young Bucks and Adam Cole go way back. They have been together long before Adam Cole and Britt Baker were together." ...

Earlier in the podcast, Baker expressed her feelings about her profession becoming a running joke amongst wrestling fans. She said that she is hurt by it because it’s something she worked hard to achieve, only for it to be turned into a meme of sorts.

“And it was kind of heartbreaking to me that the fans kind of turned on, ‘Oh, she’s a dentist?’ And it became a joke and it was like a mockery, and that is crushing when you literally spent blood, sweat and tears and worked your ass off to become a dentist and a professional wrestler and it’s just a meme or something to joke about, that really sucked and that’s something I was beating myself up over so much because I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, now what!?’ That’s my thing. That’s what I worked so hard to do. That’s why I announce myself as Doctor Britt Baker, D.M.D. which by the way is redundant. You don’t need the ‘doctor’ and the ‘D.M.D.’ but I was like, ‘It’s professional wrestling. We have to do it big.’ So that was really hard for me at first. The joking, ‘Oh she’s a dentist, she’s a dentist’ and because for me, it’s not a joke. Those were the hardest years of my life. That’s the biggest accomplishment I will ever have and then it was actually Kenny [Omega] who, we were just training in the ring one day and he said, ‘How do you feel about becoming a heel?’ And I’m, ‘Sure, I’m up for anything. With that being said, I have zero experience at being a heel.’”

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with Brodie Lee. Lee feels that for a great portion of his run in WWE, self-doubt hindered him a lot because of the lack of opportunities although his co-workers would tell him how good he is.

“Self-doubt played a huge role in my life for a long time in WWE. It makes you doubt who you are and what you are. I knew that I was a great professional wrestler and I knew I was one of the better ones in the locker room, and I had co-workers telling me that. But that wasn’t the decision that was made. I knew I was better than that, and that’s why I needed to get out of that environment.”

While speaking with Wrestling Inc., Matt Hardy said that during he and Jeff Hardy’s time in TNA Wrestling, there was an inter-promotional match being planned with The Young Bucks who were in Ring of Honor at the time. Hardy says the match was going to happen but Jeff Jarrett prevented it from happening.

“I stayed in contact with The Bucks the whole time since Ring of Honor. We actually had something set up in TNA/IMPACT with them where we were gonna do an inter-promotional angle. We were gonna go to the Hardy Compound and do The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks. We had a whole angle planned out but the thing that brought that crashing down was Jeff Jarrett. He was coming back into power under Anthem and Jeff was in a bad place in his life at the time. Fortunately, he’s turned things around and is doing great but then he was in a bad place and things fell apart.”

JTG, Shad Gaspard's partner in Cryme Tyme, posted the following tribute to Gaspard, showcasing the memorial for Gaspard in California:

pic.twitter.com/hn7cZe8o8t
— JTG (@Jtg1284) May 21, 2020
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/hn7cZe8o8t">pic.twitter.com/hn7cZe8o8t</a></p>— JTG (@Jtg1284) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jtg1284/status/1263316180057481216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

Ric Flair Signs New WWE Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ric-flair-signs-new-wwe-contract/)
AEW Injury Updates: Britt Baker, Rey Fenix, Matt Jackson (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-injury-updates-britt-baker-rey-fenix-matt-jackson/)
Jim Cornette Criticizes Becky Lynch for Being Pregnant, Seth Rollins Responds (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/jim-cornette-criticizes-becky-lynch-for-being-pregnant-seth-rollins-responds/)
Updated AEW Double or Nothing Card – New Match Added (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/updated-aew-double-or-nothing-card-new-match-added/)

Emperor Smeat

05-22-2020, 05:25 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Dr. Martha Hart, in promoting the Vice special with an interview with CBS Sports, brought up the question of Owen Hart in the WWE Hall of Fame, a position she’s held from the start and doesn’t look to change her mind on.

She had steadfast been of the belief that she would stand in the way of any attempt to WWE to profit off the death of her husband ...

I’ve brought up some hypothetical situations that will never happen, to her, extreme scenarios and she made it clear that she will never make a business deal with WWE under any circumstances. And as the Vice show made clear, her son is as resolute as she is on this subject ...

Jerry McDevitt, who was the WWF and McMahon’s attorney in the case, contacted CBS Sports after the interview and said Dr. Hart’s version was not accurate ...

“She talked about how $18 million settlement, she didn't really want to do that, she wanted justice. Again, that's just not true. There was court-ordered mediation. We went to the mediation, and her lawyers were demanding $35 million and some admission of punitive damages. Vince told her right there, 'Look, Martha, I feel so bad for what happened. I feel responsible because this happened on my watch. I want to take care of you and your family, I loved Owen.' He was almost crying. We offered $17 million to take care of her. How many times does a CEO walk in a room and say he feels responsible? 'I'm not going to argue, I just feel responsible for what happened.' They turned it down; they wanted to go to court for their $35 million. Fine, we'll go and litigate. The next day, I get a call from her Canadian lawyer, saying they didn't want to do it because they knew what they were facing with the other things I talked about. They said, 'If you could put a little more money in. If you can go to $18 million we'll settle right now.' That's how the settlement went down." ...

While there is a common belief that the case cost WWF $18 million, in reality, the only costs to WWF directly when all was said and done were the legal bills. Much of the negotiated settlement was covered by company insurance as opposed to the company. The remainder the WWF was able to get when it sued Lewmar, Ltd., the company that manufactured the snap shackle.

Lewmar Ltd. settled out of court with WWE for $9 million after WWE went to the Missouri Supreme Court to argue that Martha Hart should have never allowed Lewmar out of the lawsuit without pursuing a settlement from their insurance company. Hart said that she did not find them at fault because the snap shackle was made for sailboat’s, not people ...

The $18 million settlement was compromised of $10 million to Martha Hart, which she used to form the Owen Hart Foundation, which helped get lower income families into homes in the Calgary area and was also used to help people in the city who did not have the financial means to do so to attend college. Oje and Athena received $3 million each and Stu and Helen Hart received $1 million each.

For the 5/13 show, for AEW, the show averaged 1.32 viewers per home, a lower number than usual.

The high quarter among Men both 18-34 and 35-49 was the Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy vs. Ortiz & Santana. For Women both 18-34 and 35-49, the high quarter was the Cody-Lance Archer brawl and the beginning of Best Friends vs. Jurassic Express.

For NXT, in Males 18-34 and 35-49, the high point was Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes and in Women 18-34 it was Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher vs. Imperium. In Women 35-49, it was Balor vs. Grimes.

The 5/20 head-to-head battle saw AEW do 701,000 viewers and a 0.26 in 18-49 (337,000 viewers) while NXT did 592,000 viewers and 0.13 (172,000 viewers) in 18-49.

For AEW, it was No. 7 for the night in 18-49. It was up 7.8 percent overall and 14.6 percent in 18-49, which seems to confirm what was suspected that last week’s decline was due to going head-to-head with UFC.

Still, some expected it to worsen or do the same since NASCAR from Darlington head-to-head did 2,087,000 viewers and 0.34 in 18-49. But all indications are even with those numbers, there is more AEW/UFC crossover than AEW/NASCAR crossover.

NXT actually dropped 2.0 percent overall and 9.0 percent in 18-49, which may indicate the opposite in the sense maybe NASCAR hurt more than UFC. It was the lowest 18-49 number in the history of a regular NXT show, and second lowest overall number (the record low is 590,000 for a regular show) ...

Besides NASCAR, both shows also went against Game 6: The Movie, built around the finals of the 1998 NBA championships and Michael Jordan. That show did 608,000 viewers on ESPN and a 0.29 in 18-49 ...

So the key is both companies were way down in males 18-34 even though it went head-to-head with UFC last week. But AEW had huge gains in both male and female 35-49. Other notable points is that in 18-34, NXT had more males than females only by a 23,000 to 22,000 range, while AEW had 38,000 men and 48,000 women in that age group, a women’s edge completely unheard of for the promotion. AEW doubled NXT in women 18-34and women 35-49 ...

In the quarters, AEW won every quarter, and huge in the key demo. The only thing close was the first quarter, where NXT has the benefit of the much-stronger lead-in.

AEW opened with 706,000 viewers and 331,000 in 18-49 for a Brodie Lee promo and Jon Moxley vs. 10. NXT had 701,000 viewers and 198,000 in 18-49 for the Karrion Kross & Scarlett ring entrance and Kross vs. Liam Gray.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 31,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for MJF vs. Marko Stunt. NXT lost 82,000 viewers but only 10,000 in 18-49 and El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Akira Tozawa.

In the third quarrier, AEW gained 41,000 viewers and 37,000 in 18-49 for the Jake Roberts/Arn Anderson interview. This was also the second highest 18-49 number of the night with 348,000 viewers. NXT lost 9,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 the a Shotzi Blackheart vignette, Mia Yim vs. Santana Garrett post-match with Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae and Keith Lee and a Cameron Grimes promo.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 37,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for a Darby Allin vignette, a Pac vignette and the start of Orange Cassidy vs. Rey Fenix. NXT lot 32,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for Roderick Strong vs Dexter Lumis.

In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 13,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for the ending and post-match of Fenix vs. Cassidy and beginning of Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker & Nyla Rose. NXT gained 0 viewer and lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending and post-match of Strong vs. Lumis, and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Ever Rise. This was the first quarter of the show where AEW doubled NXT in 18-49.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 47,000 viewers but lost 1,000 in 18-49 for most of the Statlander & Shida vs. Baker & Rose match and a Moxley interview. NXT lost 55,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Drake Maverick. This was the highest total viewer number of the show, with 739,000, for AEW. It was the lowest, at 527,000, for NXT. AEW also won the demo battle 338,000 to 150,000.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 57,000 viewers but only 4,000 in 18-49 for a Shawn Spears vignette, promoting next week’s show and the PPV and the beginning of Hardy vs. Guevara. NXT gained 34,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Kushida vs. Maverick and a Damien Priest promo. AEW had another quarter more than doubling NXT in 18-49.

In the final quarter, AEW gained 40,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for Hardy vs. Guevara and the post-match with the Inner Circle vs. Elite & Hardy. It also was the high point of the night for either group in 18-49. NT gained 15,000 overall but lost 10,000 in 18-49 for Shirai vs. Ripley and the post-match with Charlotte Flair.

The final episode of the second season of Dark Side of the Ring, on the death of Owen Hart, as was expected, did the all-time biggest audience in the history of the station with 349,000 viewers, breaking the record of 320,000 for the episode on Chris Benoit that started the season.

It was the first show in the history of Vice to crack the top 50 for the day in 18-49, finishing No. 31 for the day and No. 9 in the time slot with a 0.18 rating in the demo. It beat NXT by a significant margin in 18-49. The audience was up 32.2 percent from last week’s show on the Road Warriors, and the demo number was up 50.0 percent.

The show did its strongest numbers in 35-49 with it doing a 0.31 with males in that demo.

Smackdown on 5/15 did a 1.30 rating and 2,042,000 viewers (1.30 viewers per home), up 0.8 percent from the prior week, with the same 0.5 in the 18-49 demo the show has been doing the past several weeks, but 695,000 in that demo was up 2.2 percent from last week.

The key to the difference seems to be the lack of competition, as CBS ran special shows on the Coronavirus that didn’t do well. FOX tied NBC for second in the demo with ABC first. Overall, Smackdown was the least-watched prime time show although one of the Coronavirus specials on CBS did only 2,369,000 viewers. FOX did win in 18-34, tied CBS for third among the four networks in Women 18-49 and tied ABC for first in Men 18-49 while finishing last in over 50.

Last year at this time, FOX had rerun programming which averaged 1,460,000 viewers and 0.4 in the 18-49 demo, so the network was up 39.9 percent in viewers, one of the few times it beat the year before in that regard, and up 25.0 percent in 18-49.

The situation with SummerSlam in Boston continues to not look promising. As noted, Vince wants SummerSlam with fans this year, and there will likely be states that will open up for at least limited seating. Marty Walsh, the Mayor of Boston this past week said, “There will be no fans in Fenway Park in July; there will be no fans in Fenway Park in August–we won’t even be near a situation where there’s herd immunity and there certainly won’t be a vaccine” (by then). If they aren’t going to allow fans at outdoor events, they aren’t going to let large numbers at indoor events either

Michael Mansury, the Vice President of Global Television Production, who was believed to be the heir apparent of Kevin Dunn, has left the company. This happened back in April. Mansury directed a number of episodes of Raw and Smackdown if Dunn didn’t attend the show. One person close to the situation compared his plight with David Sahadi, who works for Impact now. Everyone that is seen as a potential successor to Dunn has their life made difficult and they get constantly criticized to Vince McMahon, who would then hear people talk negatively about the person in the spot. Mansury had also reportedly gotten impatient regarding upward mobility. Mansury had been in the company for 11 years and one person told us they were shocked because they thought he was a lifer. He got his current title four years ago and directed a ton of television shows and some PPV shows

Certain strategies have led to speculation that Vince McMahon will attempt to buy the intellectual property of the XFL in bankruptcy court and then resurrect the league.

Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic first wrote the story on 5/19, based on the fact those involved with the bankruptcy are attempting to refund the $3.5 million in money owed fans for tickets for the remainder of this season and season tickets that were sold for next season ...

Other creditors who are owed money want the $3.5 million as part of the debt with whatever money could be left by selling assets going to the creditors. Another aspect of the story is that McMahon himself is also listed as a creditor because he loaned the XFL money for the last few payrolls and is still paying XFL President Jeffrey Pollack and some office workers basically to facilitate the closing of the league.

The idea being floated is that McMahon would purchase the assets of the league, the key being intellectual property and some contracts he would want to keep, at a fire sale price, while allowing him to get out of paying up to $50 million in bills still owed from the launch of the league.

Axios had reported that the XFL itself was launching a Hail Mary to find a new financial backer after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing with Houlihan Lokey managing the process and letters of intent being due on 6/12 and formal bidding among those interested for the assets taking place on 7/6.

The league was owned 80 percent by McMahon and 20 percent by WWE, which came out at bankruptcy and also called into question many statements, including at conference calls, where McMahon claimed the WWE would not be involved with the XFL and it was his solo venture. The WWE was actually given the ownership rights and did not put money into the league, in a deal that McMahon essentially made with himself so he would own the league name and other intellectual property rights that WWE owned from the first version of the league.

Unsecured debtors expressed concern in recent court filings that moves they had learned make them believe the bankruptcy could have been a “cutthroat finance ploy by McMahon to ride out the pandemic and resultant economic turmoil without paying the costs of operating the league...(and then acquiring the rights to the league again) at a fire-sale price.”

The story noted that Pollack has contacted the stadiums in both Seattle and St. Louis, two cities where they drew well, about reinstating the league’s lease agreements. The XFL owed money all over both of those markets and one of the biggest debts listed in the bankruptcy was to the stadium in St. Louis.

While some look at this like it was a plan, it was a bad plan because McMahon, while perhaps saving some money, pretty much ruined his name in football when stiffing Oliver Luck, and many of the coaches who were well respected in that world. There perhaps could have been the idea to get out of the huge salary he paid Luck and some of the higher-priced coaches on multi-year contracts and start up with a lower budget. The original marketing idea was to build teams around well-know coaches, who got big contracts, and star quarterbacks.

Perhaps it was also a way to get out of his television deals which paid no money, with the idea that with the ratings the league did at first, there was value in those shows. But that’s tough right now because with the state of the television economy, nobody is looking at adding new costs and XFL ratings were declining significantly by the week ...

The feeling is that getting players, even after so many were also stiffed, won’t be a problem because there are tons of players coming out of college every year who still want to play football and won’t make NFL teams. In addition, the Canadian Football League is also facing great economic hardships right now related to the pandemic and the economy.

But getting quality people working in administrations, promotions, coaching and other facets of running a league will become far more difficult. Host cities and stadiums will almost surely want money up front or be ambivalent about working with the league. The league will be seen, rightly so, as something with no stability and being headed by someone who can’t be trusted given the stiffing of the coaches and the publicity around the Luck firing.

AEW’s first PPV show since the Pandemic, the 5/23 Double or Nothing II show that was originally scheduled for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will take place with no fans at Dailey’s Place in Jacksonville.

Currently it is listed as a nine-match show, although at press time one would think the Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander match is in question ...

On television they were strongly pushing the idea that Tyson was going to deck somebody. Roberts cut a promo on it. This actually reminded me of something nearly 35 years ago when Mid South Wrestling brought Muhammad Ali to the Superdome as a manager for The Snowman (Eddie Lee Crawford) and the booked post-match included Ali decking Roberts. Ali threw the punch and Roberts didn’t go down with Roberts (who was someone who never got along well with owner Bill Watts and if anyone knows both of them it would be obvious why) complaining that he had to stay and work there while Ali wasn’t coming back.

The U.S. and Canadian borders will be closed for at least one more month for non-essential travel, so all wrestlers living in Canada who work for an American company will not be allowed to perform in this country for that period. I can’t answer why, but that rule does not seem to apply to Brock Lesnar, who performed for WWE on a few shows while the borders were shut

Court Bauer on Twitter said that, “The deal I’ve been hinting at is done! Cannot wait to share this one with our fans, locker room and crew. It fortifies our future.” The deal should be announced at any time and is believed to be a streaming deal with a major carrier

In what would be considered bad news, the AEW audience aged in the second quarter of 2020 (since 4/1). This is only for live and same day (until midnight on Wednesday) via DVR viewing. AEW is still the youngest audience watching wrestling but not by nearly as much, with it averaging 48 years old as the median viewer, with 69 percent male. Raw is the second youngest, averaging 51 with 64 percent male. Smackdown averages 54 with 60 percent male, while NXT averages 56 with 64 percent male. AEW averages more viewers watching together live than any of the other wrestling shows. We didn’t know if that was friends watching together or family, but when the pandemic started and people started isolating more aside from their families, the numbers for most shows didn’t change much (Smackdown on Friday did drop noticeably some weeks during the pandemic) so it’s mostly families watching together. The key to all these numbers is the pandemic was already in play, so all of these shows dropped their 20 percent or more but the younger audience, even though home more, dropped more, probably because they were watching more cable news when home. Raw is the one that kept its audience at a similar level as it was 49-50 last year, while Smackdown has aged from 50 to 54, NXT is slightly older and AEW aged the most as it was starting out at 39 and then stabilized at around 42 before the pandemic changed everything with shows in empty arenas

Regarding DVR viewership, since the pandemic, it’s gone down significantly. The 5/6 AEW show, the last we have a listing for, did 204,000 additional viewers via DVR while NXT did 140,000. Both figures are way below pre-pandemic numbers

The travel ban leaving Mexico has been extended to 6/18. The people that affects is anyone from AAA, although AEW hasn’t brought in any AAA talent in a long time, as well as their own two guys living in Mexico, Pentagon Jr. and Jack Evans

UFC: There is no show this week but they will return on 5/30 and evidently there is the belief the show will be okay to take place. Dana White texted the Las Vegas Review Journal just after midnight on 5/19 to say the show is on at the Apex Arena, on the UFC’s headquarters in Las Vegas. The Nevada State Athletic Commission will meet on 5/27 regarding allowing live events with no fans in the state. If approved, that looks to be the home for U.S. shows at least until they can open up shows with fans in attendance. White had said that if they couldn’t run in Las Vegas they would base in Arizona, which had given them the word that they were open for business and was encouraging all professional sports ...

There was a fourth COVID-19 positive over the last week in Jacksonville. Calvin Kattar in an interview with MMA Fighting said, “My coach, Carlos Neto, he actually tested positive for the antibody in the beginning. We didn’t know until weigh-in day that he was actually going to be able to corner with us. So that was a quick scare. We were nervous. And especially, if the fight was going to happen. The last time we got the plug pulled by ESPN. You never know when they’re going to pull the plug, and when you see one (positive test result), you don’t want it to multiply.” What we were told is that Neto tested positive in the antibodies test but negative in two swab tests and since the swab tests are considered more accurate, UFC didn’t send him home and he was able to work the corner. Kattar defeated Jeremy Stephens on the 5/9 show

Emperor Smeat

05-26-2020, 09:31 PM

The Sheets:

Last night Dwayne Johnson's "Titan Games"two hour second season premiere received 0. 7 in the 18 to 49 demographic with 3.42 million viewers, which was a little down from the first season premiere.

Triple H responded to a question from TMZ about whether or not we’re going to see Ronda Rousey back in WWE: “I think Ronda's in a place in her personal life where she's figuring some things out. But, the thing with Ronda is you never know what she is saying. Is she attacking the business really or is she attacking the business because she knows that's what will light up the fans that love the business?" Triple H called Rousey one of the greatest performers ever for WWE and said they still have a great relationship with her and would love to have her back when she’s ready.

Apollo Crews tweeted about his United States title win on last night’s Raw: “The grind never stops!!! And it won’t stop now!! Here’s where the hard work really begins! Thanks to anyone who has supported me since day 1! Let’s make this the first of many!! #AndNew #unitedstateschampion #WWERaw @usa_network @WWE”

STARDOM founder Rossy Ogawa chatted with Sanspo.com about Hana Kimura’s death and talked about how the ‘Terrace House’ series brought a great deal of negative attention to the 22-year old. Rossy said that with the blessing of Hana’s family, STARDOM as a whole are considering taking legal action against cyberbullying.

“I discussed this matter of slander with Chigusa Nagayo (of Marvelous Women Pro Wrestling). We can’t judge it on our own, but in consultation with her bereaved family, STARDOM is considering taking legal action against malicious cyber-bullying.”

Lilian Garcia welcomed JTG onto her Chasing Glory podcast to discuss the passing of JTG’s longtime friend, Shad Gaspard. To open the discussion, JTG recalled how he received the news of Shad’s disappearance and after searching for hours on end, JTG began to accept what happened but he still held out hope.

“Siliana [Gaspard] called me Sunday night. I was getting ready to go to bed and she called me from Shad’s phone. When Shad calls me, I pick up on the first, second ring. We speak to each other every day. We text and we spoke to each other every day. But [his number] called me that evening and it was his wife and his wife told me that Shad was missing… the first thing I thought it was a prank because we always prank each other. That’s Shad and I’s relationship. We roasted each other, we pulled pranks on each other and that’s the first thing that came to mind but for some reason the tone in her voice, I’m like, ‘Either this is real or she’s a good actress.’ But I said I’m gonna go along with it. Jumped in the shower, brushed my teeth and I rushed over there and then we were on the beach with flashlights looking for Shad. I was there a little past midnight, and that day I think I accepted it. I had to accept it. I was waiting for a big bear hug from behind like, ‘Ah! Got cha,’ but a part of me is still waiting for that big bear hug from behind.”

JTG further expressed his feelings about Shad’s passing and said he has never dealt with losing somebody that he was that close with.

“I’ve been on this planet for 35 years. I’ve never lost somebody this close to me where you engage with them every day, where you share the most intimate stories with them and I’ve lost family, I’ve lost distant uncles and grandparents. But you know they’re older and it’s like, I don’t want them to be here and suffer, so when they transition you’re like, ‘Okay, they’re at peace.’ I’ve lost co-workers. We’ve lost a lot of co-workers but it never really hit home like this.”

Two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair joined The Wrestling Inc. Daily Podcast. Last week, Flair shared a photo of the new WWE contract he signed and he spoke about re-signing during the interview. Flair said he wasn’t going to go anywhere else but did recall a conversation he had with AEW President Tony Khan in-which Khan said that he would never bring Flair into AEW out of respect for Flair’s relationship with WWE.

“Well it’s not for life, no, but I hope they keep renewing me. You know, I’m obviously never gonna go anywhere else, so if they didn’t renew me, I gotta be honest with you and I thought about this answer so I’ll answer before you ask it, but Tony Khan was at my — when Hunter immortalized me with the statue. Tony was there and Tony had told me when I’ve seen him that he wouldn’t even ask me to come to work there, because he knows how tight I am with them.

Our friendship is one thing, but he respects my loyalty to the company. It’s like when we make a joke about it when we did — he said, ‘I won’t even ask you.’ That’s how much respect he has for me and my relationship with the company which speaks volumes to what kind of guy Tony is.”

Flair also probably signed the new deal since he didn't want to cause any issues for Charlotte considering the level of pettiness WWE can be at times.

Former WWE talent Rusev hosted a Twitch stream recently and he shared his thoughts about AEW’s Double Or Nothing event and stated that he enjoyed the show.

“But speaking of wrestling though, last night was fun. I work out every now and again, and I set my phone or whatever and I watched a little of AEW. I don’t know if it’s legal to say. Is it legal to say? I’m looking at my lawyer. Is it legal to say? ‘Yeah, yeah. You can talk about it. Don’t worry about it,’” Rusev said sarcastically as he played the role of his ‘lawyer’. “Okay, so I guess I can talk about it. It was fun man. It was fun watching, especially that main event.”

Lewis Nicholls has an extensive interview with former two-time WWE Tag Team Champion Rico Constantino. Towards the end of the interview, names were pitched to Rico and he would go on to share his thoughts about those names. Booker T was brought up and here’s what Rico had to say about Booker T:

“Booker T, I’m really mixed with that. When I had my full face paint instead of the lines, it was told to me that Booker T was complaining because the sparkles were coming off my face and then getting in his hair and his girlfriend at the time… was saying he was going to strip joints. Accusing him of going to strip joints after he wrestled me. So they asked me to tone down the makeup so it went from the full face to the lines to just the stuff over the eyes. So I had to tone down. That’s my memory of Booker T" ...

Rico also reflected on the ‘ceremony’ segment with Billy, Chuck and Eric Bischoff from 2002. Rico said that the entire day, Vince McMahon was catering to the “minister” who Bischoff was dressed as and the ‘minister’ was introducing himself to everybody. Rico said that there were very few people who were clued in but the majority of those backstage thought the minister was who he appeared to be.

“Me personally, I feel like if that was on live or on RAW, that would have been the best kayfabe event in the history of wrestling, even better than the double Hebners with the Hulk Hogan thing. The reason why I say that is only a handful of people actually knew that the minister was Eric Bischoff and that was the people in the inner circle. Vince came to the arena in his limousine as he usually does, but he brought the minister, and he took him out of the limousine. He was already in makeup and everything, shaking and Vince catered to him the whole day. Now on a TV taping day, TV starts about 6:30, 7 o’clock, where whatever brand you tape Heat and go into RAW or tape Velocity, go right into SmackDown. So we’re there, at noon and everybody sees this old minister. Vince caters to him in the catering room, goes and gets him a plate of food and is walking him around introducing him to everybody, puts him in the green room and everybody thinks this is the actual minister for the ‘commitment ceremony’ of Billy and Chuck. So the only people that know about it is me, Billy, Chuck, Stephanie, Rosey, Jamal [Umaga], Eric, Vince, the agent for the show which Stephanie was basically the agent for everything. That’s all that knew.”

WWE officials are reportedly working on plans to resume regular live event touring.

It remains to be seen when WWE will be allowed to move forward with regular touring, but @Wrestlevotes reports that internally the company is slowly rebuilding their live event schedule.

It was noted that still nothing is expected to happen with fans attending events before July at least, but things are apparently happening behind-the-scenes so that the company will be ready when they are given permission to resume touring amid the coronavirus pandemic. There have been discussions about ticket sales for arena events moving forward, with social distancing guidelines remaining in place.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has lifted the state of emergency in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama. In a statement, Abe said that hospitalizations have fallen to approximately 2,000 from the coronavirus compared to over 10,000 during the peak. It comes the same day that Japanese baseball has stated it will open its season on June 19th while excluding fans from attending games. The teams will be able to practice beginning next Tuesday on June 2nd. The Super J Cast crew posted a photo indicating the dates that pro sports can move forward with empty arena shows able to begin June 19th, 50% capacity with a limit of 5,000 fans is being targeted for July 10th, and 50% of the maximum capacity of a venue on August 1st.

The promotion [MLW] began work on a new TV pilot over the weekend. There has been talk of a talk show featuring personalities from the company as well as a project centered around Alicia Atout in recent weeks.

On day two of the WWE tapings, Fightful Select learned that an injury went down about an hour into the Raw portion of the tapings. In a match with Nia Jax and Kairi Sane, Kairi sustained a cut to her head outside of the ring.

The spot occurred outside near the stairs when Kairi was thrown and her head hit the corner of the stairs, opening her up. The match was paused and medical came out to take care of Kairi Sane, sealing the wound and bandaging her up. We were told that Kairi indicated that she was fine, and insisted on finishing up the match.

WWE would resume the match, which will have to be edited. Pretty quickly, Nia and Kairi Sane went to the finish.

The lawsuit between Jeff Jarrett/GFW and IMPACT/Anthem could finally be coming to an end.

Mike Johnson at PWInsider reports that Jarrett and Anthem are set to go to trial on June 30. The trial will begin at 9 a.m. local time. The trial is expected to last up to a week with the court noting the "trial date is realistic notwithstanding COVID-19, and the parties shall anticipate going forward on that date."

The lawsuit between Jarrett and Anthem revolves around the usage, and deleted, of the GFW Amped tapes. Jarrett and GWE hit IMPACT and Anthem with a lawsuit in August 2018, suing over copyright infringement pertaining to their use of Jarrett's name and likeness along with their use of GFW Amped content.

There reportedly was an attempt to resolve the lawsuit with the two parties entering mediation last month. Jarrett attended the mediation in person while Anthem Wrestling President Ed Nordholm appeared via teleconference as he is in Canada and unable to enter the United States. However, discussions to reach a settlement failed, leading to the upcoming trial.

TPWW Frontpage:

Hana Kimura’s Cause of Death Revealed, New Cyberbullying Law in Talks, Terrance House Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/hana-kimuras-cause-of-death-revealed-new-cyber-bullying-law-in-talks-terrance-house-update/)
Vince McMahon Says That He Isn’t Going to Buy Back the XFL (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/vince-mcmahon-says-that-he-isnt-going-to-buy-back-the-xfl/)
Notes on Last Night’s WWE Tapings & Crowd (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/notes-on-last-nights-wwe-tapings-crowd/)
Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest Added to NXT TakeOver – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/finn-balor-vs-damian-priest-added-to-nxt-takeover-updated-card/)
Matt Riddle Reportedly Scheduled to Debut on SmackDown Very Soon (Update) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/matt-riddle-reportedly-scheduled-to-debut-on-the-main-roster-very-soon/)
Drew Gulak Has Re-Signed With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/drew-gulak-may-have-re-signed-with-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

05-27-2020, 07:16 PM

The Sheets:

Raw on Monday, the first show with a semblance of a crowd in more than two months, still did the second lowest number in modern show history averaging 1.74 million viewers over the three hours, down one percent from the previous second lowest mark set last week.

The first-to-third hour drop was seven percent, which is lower than usual. It's a combination of a better show to keep the existing viewers and the fact that the Memorial Day Raw often starts out lower and a lot of people tune in later due to the holiday ...

The audience was down 21 percent from the same show last year overall and 29 percent down in 18-49 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.73 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.67 million viewers

Fightful Select reported that NXT will have a live crowd on Wednesday with Performance Center talent being scattered as the audience.

MLW National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone's MLW re-signing announcement led to the promotion's website breaking its record for visits in a one day period ...

The promotion is working on several new signings.

Coming out this past weekend’s tragedy involving Hana Kimura, the ‘Terrace House’ reality series she was a part of has said it will not air any new episodes of the current season. Production has already been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic but on Wednesday they stated that the current season is canceled. It has not been made official that the series is completely done:

Regarding “TERRACE HOUSE TOKYO 2019-2020”, we have decided to cancel the production. We take this issue very seriously and would like to continue to earnestly respond to it.

A Twitter account that follows the series is reporting that the series has not been canceled outright and thus far, it is the current season that has been canceled:

Terrace House Tokyo 2019 – 2020 has been cancelled. No new episodes will be released or produced. There’s speculation that this means Terrace House in general has been cancelled, but at this time, it’s only been announced that it’s the current season which has cancelled and won’t be continuing.

WarnerMedia launched its HBO Max streaming platform on Wednesday with several ads running of AEW talent promoting the service. The platform is available for $14.99 per month in the U.S. with over 10,000 hours of content at launch. The idea is that HBO Max will replace HBO Now, which is an existing service with 8 million subscribers that features only HBO content – HBO Max includes content from all WarnerMedia properties including HBO. The price point of HBO Max has been debated as they have priced themselves above the industry leaders in Netflix and Disney+.

Deonna Purrazzo appeared in a vignette during Tuesday’s edition of Impact Wrestling on AXS televison.

According to Fightful Select (subscription required), Purrazzo has not signed a deal with Impact Wrestling, and is working on a per-show basis at the moment.

She is scheduled to work at the up-coming television tapings in Nashville to see how things work out.

Purrazzo was among the recent WWE releases, and was on a non-compete clause until May 22 according to the report.

It was initially thought she was free to work elsewhere on May 15, but WWE decided to extend that date "be be safe."

WWE will be using a new name for for digital music releases as soon as next week.

As first revealed by Arenataping, WWE will use the name ‘Def Rebel’ for synchronization of music production made by DJDTP.

DJDTP was hired by WWE last year, and has produced over 40 entrance themes for the company.

When looking at WWE’s upload of Seth Rollins latest theme on Youtube, the name ‘Def Rebel’ is shown as the artist.

The group is also responsible for Karrion Kross’ theme, titled ‘Dead Silent’
For some reference, this group also did Io Shiari's heel NXT theme that hasn't been officially released yet due to some behind-the-scenes legal issues.

WWE made a change to its production on Monday's Raw when they had NXT superstars as part of the live audience for the show. The superstars were behind plexiglass and helped create a more natural environment than the empty arena shows WWE had been producing over the last two months.

Tommaso Ciampa wasn't part of the empty arena crowd on Monday, but he weighed in on the change in an interview with Chuck Carroll of CBS New York.

"I was visiting my brother in North Carolina and driving home, so I didn’t see it. The plexiglass sounds a lot like NHL to me. I don’t know. I just feel like there’s no rights and wrongs. It doesn’t feel like there’s any right or wrong to anything. Everybody’s just trying. We’re just trying to give the best product we can give while abiding by guidelines, and keeping people safe and healthy, and giving people the next thing in entertainment. So I don’t know what’s right or wrong."

He continued, "You know, cinematic sounds really cool. Too much cinematic seems bad. It’s crazy to me. It’s just like, they don’t have really long matches. It’s just, there’s so many directions, and there’s just, at the end of the day, it’s exactly what wrestling is. It’s flavors and ice cream and opinions. And I think some people are going to be like, ‘oh yeah, this is great.’ And other people that are going to be like, ‘oh no, I don’t like this because I saw Shotzi [Blackheart], and she shouldn’t be there.’"

AEW first had wrestlers as members of the crowd to help differentiate themselves from WWE. The idea, which Tony Khan admitted he took from Jimmy Fallon, worked. Ciampa believes it can work in WWE, but there needs to be a change as far as who is actually part of the crowd.

"Having people who are on NXT, if I’m being completely honest with you, I don’t think that sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t expect to see people from Raw or SmackDown in the NXT crowd come Wednesday night. And I don’t think you should see any NXT talent in the crowd come Monday night or Friday night. It doesn’t seem right. [Performance Center] guys, people who are students trying to figure this out? Sure. That makes perfect sense to me. You want to put them through the COVID test and all that, and give them that experience? That’s great. But people who we’re trying to build as Superstars, maybe we just keep them in front of the camera," he said.

During an interview with Steve Austin in 2014, Vince McMahon implored WWE superstars to "grab the brass ring" and go for the top spot. McMahon's comments were sparked by what he believed to be a lack of ambition in WWE.

In 2011, Zack Ryder tried grabbing the brass ring by creating his own YouTube show as a way to get himself over. The show worked as crowds began rallying behind Ryder despite him not being featured much on television. But Ryder's push quickly faded and so did the notion that the "brass ring" was attainable.

"Every year, as long as I was in WWE, the Raw after Mania we had this BS company....everyone there at TV meeting where they say, 'The brass ring is there, it's yours, it's a fresh year. Who is gonna get it?' Ever since Long Island Iced Z, they don't even bother with that meeting anymore because they know it's not true. Even if you grab the brass ring, you're gonna get your hand smacked. If they don't want you to have it, you're not going to have it," said Curt Hawkins on Talk Is Jericho.

Chris Jericho weighed in on WWE not wanting Ryder to get over by saying, "There is a strange resentment where, if Vince doesn't think of it, it's not valid or real. The same thing happened with Daniel Bryan when he first came in. He got over because he knows how to get over, but they resisted it for so long until they didn't have a choice. I feel the same thing happened with Zack Ryder."

Ryder seemed to be in line for a big push as he was working with John Cena and Kane. But his push ended in a wheelchair, off the stage, on WWE Raw.

Since the Wednesday Night Wars have started between NXT and AEW, NXT has seen an increase in main roster talent joining the brand including big names like Finn Balor and Charlotte Flair, who is currently the NXT Women's Champion.

During The Arn Show, Arn Anderson discussed why NXT feels to some that it has lost its coolness and swag with the debut of AEW. Anderson credits the returning stars from the main roster as the reason NXT feels different.

"Well do you think that some of the guys from the main roster that were bumped back down so that you have more star power on that show," Anderson said. "This is in the front offices mind, 'Okay, we'll take some of these proven talents and bump them back down to make that a more competitive brand with those people', but when they come back down they bring their Raw or Smackdown style with them. So it's not NXT or NXT style matches.

"Now it's guys from Raw or Smackdown that are bringing their style of work back down with them so that show dynamic changes. [The fans] are seeing a lot of stuff they see on Monday or Friday and now it's on NXT so it's not a pure NXT show."

Anderson also talked about his first thoughts about NXT when it originally started up and became a developmental brand. He noted what he enjoyed so much about it as a platform to teach talent the fundamentals of wrestling.

Five years after their classic in Brooklyn, Bayley and Sasha Banks were reportedly set to meet in Boston.

According to Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk, Sasha Banks vs. Bayley was originally planned for SummerSlam 2020. However, WWE now wants to extend the feud as they reportedly see more potential in drawing it out rather than rushing it.

The report goes on to say that part of the decision to delay the match has to do with the venue. SummerSlam was originally slated to take place in Boston, where Banks is billed from, but those plans are now up in the air due to the coronavirus pandemic.

WrestleTalk ends the report by noting that Banks vs. Bayley at SummerSlam isn't off the table, but WWE is "considering other options" at the moment.

The Bump featured a tremendous tribute for the late Shad Gaspard on today’s episode. It featured comments and memories from MVP, New Day, Tyson Kidd, Natalya, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, referee John Cone, and John Morrison.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ynTyA012hwQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:
The Chris Jericho Cruise Is Returning Next Year (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/the-chris-jericho-cruise-is-returning-next-year/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-7/)
Deonna Purrazzo Joins Impact Wrestling (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/deonna-purrazzo-joins-impact-wrestling/)
Ratings: The Rock’s Titan Games Premiere, AEW Countdown Special (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ratings-the-rocks-titan-games-premiere-aew-countdown-special/)

Emperor Smeat

05-28-2020, 10:31 PM

The Sheets:

Coming off the well-received and apparently commercially successful Double or Nothing pay-per-view, last night's AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 827,000 viewers, up 18 percent from last week. That's the highest viewership total for the show since March 18, which was the first week of closed set episodes.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite finished fourth on cable with a 0.32 rating, up 23.1 percent from last week. That was AEW's best number in that category since March 25, and the fourth place finish was the highest for AEW since before the coronavirus pandemic began, with news shows now starting to get back to normal viewership after a couple months of dominating the ratings.

On the USA Network, NXT was also up significantly. Last night's NXT averaged 731,000 viewers, up 23.5 percent from last week. That's the biggest audience for the show in over three months. In 18-49, NXT was up 46.2 percent, averaging a 0.19 rating, tying the show's highest mark in the demo since March 25. NXT finished 24th on cable in that category after being outside the top 50 in most recent weeks.

The combined audience of 1.558 million viewers for Dynamite and NXT was the highest since March 4, two weeks before the start of closed set shows.

The postponement of the NASCAR event that was scheduled to air opposite both shows on FOX likely contributed to the rise in viewership, along with decreased viewing of the news networks as things slowly start to get back to normal.

The annual Champion Carnival tournament may still happen this year.

All Japan Pro Wrestling announced in a press conference this morning that they plan on running their annual Champion Carnival tournament in September. The tournament, which was originally supposed to run on April 6 through May 5, was canceled just days before the start of the tour. AJPW President Takeki Fukada hoped in a press conference announcing the cancelation that he hoped to run the tournament later this year ...

The news comes as Japan has lifted its state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, most notably in Tokyo. Most promotions will be able to hold events with no fans in attendance starting on June 19.

With the season now over, Vice TV is touting the ratings success of Dark Side of the Ring season two.

Dark Side of the Ring is the highest rated series in Vice TV history, and last week's season two finale on Owen Hart is also the highest rated show in the history of the station. Variety wrote today that season two averaged 485,000 total viewers and 288,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo through May 19 in Nielsen live-plus-three data, which includes the same-day ratings and three days of DVR and on-demand viewing.

That total viewers number is up 52 percent from season one, while the 18-49 number is up 73 percent from the first season.

In the live-plus-three data, the Owen Hart documentary drew 626,000 viewers and did 390,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo.

“We are absolutely ecstatic with the success of Dark Side of the Ring,” Vice TV executive vice president and general manager Morgan Hertzan said. "Audiences respond to our courageous compelling storytelling, and this series has proven to be heavyweight in the television landscape. I am very proud to partner with the incredible creatives at Vice Studios, and tag team executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener who have so skillfully crafted this show. It is in every way the no holds barred type of programming that you can expect to see on Vice TV. Looking forward to the next KO!”

Bray Wyatt tweeted the following:

Hyrie Von Rotunda pic.twitter.com/1pzQ2j4P1o
— Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) May 28, 2020

Hyrie is the second child for Bray and WWE ring announcer Jojo Offerman. The family had chosen to keep the pregnancy private, but for those who had asked, this is why Offerman had not returned to her on-air duties for WWE.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWEBrayWyatt/status/1266144794855825410

Playing off of the hype for Edge and Randy Orton at Backlash being the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever", WWE Shop has a new line of "Greatest Match" graphic tees showcasing legendary matchups throughout history.
Link: https://shop.wwe.com/great-matches-t-shirts/ Out of all the shirts available, only one I'd disagree with is last year's Mania Women's Triple Threat match since it wasn't that good although not entirely the wrestlers fault.

Former ROH World Champion PCO joined the Ringsiders Wrestling podcast and revealed that Ring of Honor was planning on running the Montreal Bell Centre in Quebec which holds 20,000 people.

“Yeah, it’s funny that you mentioned that because the plan — the first match where I was supposed to go against Nick Aldis for the NWA World Title in Montreal, in Canada. But, something happened — Ring of Honor didn’t want it to happen — kinda didn’t want it to happen or it didn’t happen or I don’t know. We lost our relationship at one point with NWA, and when Marty [Scurll] signed and then Marty’s a good friend of Nick…

That would be awesome to get a title match with Nick. Also, when I was the champ, I had done so many talk shows back home where Ring of Honor was not known that much, and we were about to sell out like 20,000 tickets. For me, it was gonna be the next ALL IN. It was gonna be title [defenses], Montreal Bell Centre in a sold-out arena and anyways, stars weren’t aligned like that but maybe it could happen with the NWA Title. Maybe it’s gonna happen — it might happen in Atlanta first, Georgia. It might happen. I don’t know.”

Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis did an Instagram Live interview with Chris Jericho and Jericho revealed that the Stadium Stampede match at AEW’s Double Or Nothing pay-per-view took 12 hours to film.

Two weeks ago, Jim Cornette took to his podcast and made negative comments about Becky Lynch announcing that she and Seth Rollins are expecting a child and she’ll be taking time away from wrestling to be a mother. Cornette expressed that he felt it was the wrong time because of where Becky Lynch is career-wise. Seth Rollins would react to Cornette’s comments on WWE’s After The Bell podcast and said that he was hurt by Cornette’s words and felt disrespected that Cornette would speak of his fiancée like that. On a recent edition of Jim Cornette’s podcast, he spoke about Seth Rollins’ appearance on After The Bell and here’s what Cornette had to say:

“Honestly, I feel bad that I hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings. I seriously, legitimately — this is not part of a bit. I feel bad that I hurt his feelings. I wouldn’t have felt bad if I would’ve made him mad, because people in the wrestling business get mad all the time, right? And I figured he might get mad because when I was criticizing the timing of the incident, he had a hand in the timing so I thought he might be a little mad about that, and you know, people get mad all the time. Blah, blah, blah. But when he said I actually hurt his feelings, that made me feel bad because I did not believe that I said anything that should’ve hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings, and the bone of contention where I hurt his feelings was that I said bad things about his wife and obviously that would tend to hurt one’s feelings but, and I want you to help me here Mr. Don’t Agree With Me Either [Brian Last], let’s go back and did I say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a talent or as a person? I said she was the biggest female wrestling star in the world and maybe the biggest in the world because there ain’t a lot of big male stars these days. That’s not bad. I said she was a female Stone Cold that put her f*cking — she was a huge box office draw and the most important member of the women’s division. I never said anything about her looks. I think she’s a very attractive young lady. I did paint a less than rosy picture about the physical effects of pregnancy but I have heard these things and never having been pregnant myself, from all the pregnant women I’ve ever heard talk about being pregnant have said these things happen. Did I quote any side effects of pregnancy that do not exist? I do not believe I did. But I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a person. I put her over as a talent and I was talking about the astonishing timing of the situation, and I don’t know whether that Seth had heard the actual show or whether he just read the text of it that everybody was clipping and putting on their little play websites where they play wrestling reporter, which was a little harsher than the overall tone of the piece.

But I didn’t say that and I’ve actually in the past said Seth Rollins is an amazing worker and one of the best in-ring talents and looks like a superstar and I’ve taken issue with how they present him. They’ve managed to make him boring with his Monday Night Messiah thing. But the overall bigger picture was, I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch besides the fact that she had gone and got pregnant at a time when she has attained a spot that few have ever attained and that all aspire to in the business and is making a sh*t ton of money. So that’s the worst thing I said about Becky Lynch. Did I miss anything Brian?”

Enes Kanter appeared on The No-Sports Report Podcast with Jensen Karp and during their conversation, Kanter revealed that he was told not to watch All Elite Wrestling if he wanted to get into WWE.

“I watched a little of AEW, but like they said, ‘Hey, if you ever want to get on WWE, do not mess with it.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, sure. I’m not! (laughs)”
WWE threatening to pull a contract offer simply over someone's wrestling viewing habits is like next level pettiness by WWE. Also fear of AEW that WWE never really had with TNA/Impact outside of the brief Monday Night Wars Part Deux.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated chatted with former 8-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. When Tanahashi was asked about wrestling continuing on during the COVID-19 pandemic, he stated that it is a “black eye” on the business that might remain even after the pandemic is over.

“There isn’t a governing body for Japanese pro wrestling. As such, we can’t necessarily enforce cancellations. That’s been the responsibility of each company. But to run events in the middle of a pandemic presents the wrong image of professional wrestling to society and would deal a black eye to the industry that might still remain even after the pandemic ends.

I thought it was important for us to come together, understand exactly what’s happening and do what’s right, even if that means returning to action after other pro sports.”

BallerStatus.com spoke with R-Truth about Truth’s career in music and pro wrestling. Truth shared that Roman Reigns has been an Executive Producer of his music and has been helping him with funding.

“Actually man, me and Roman, we were riding together a lot. He would dictate and critique all my music and he was actually one of my Executive Producers helping me fund a lot of stuff so it’s like, he has his hands in with my music.”

On May 25, ROH announced the re-signing of Flip Gordon.

Gordon has become one of the top names in ROH over the past couple of years, aligning himself alongside Marty Scurll, Brody King, and PCO in Villain Enterprises. Gordon is the current number one contender to the ROH World Title and was scheduled to receive his title shot at Supercard of Honor as part of WrestleMania week.

Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Gordon discussed his decision to remain with ROH.

"There was interest from AEW and WWE, a few others as well, but Ring of Honor offered me the best deal. I also believed that's where I wanted to be because I still have a lot of time to grow. I've only been doing this for five years and I have a lot of goals in Ring of Honor, so why would I want to leave?"

Gordon went on to call the deal "life-changing" and note that he is looking forward to getting back in the ring whenever ROH runs shows again. He said his ultimate goal is the ROH World Title.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic affecting the wrestling world, AEW had planned to run live events.

In an interview on Wrestling Observer Live, Jim Ross was asked about whether or not AEW needs live events to help develop some of the younger talent on AEW's roster. Ross agrees that touring would help some of the wrestlers improve as he doesn't think working one night of the week on Dynamite is enough to get better.

“Absolutely and I think that’s the plan. There were some live events penciled into the schedule until the virus. You can’t get better working one night of the week. It doesn’t matter who you are. There are some minor exceptions. Chris Jericho doesn’t need to work three or four days of the week to be grateful. He can be great working on Wednesday nights. But a lot of guys need to continue to work under the supervision of the coaches in AEW to continue to learn the fundamentals, primarily slowing down, using psychology and selling. [Just] because you’ve been in the business for 10 years doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a 10-year veteran. It could mean you’ve had the same experience 10 times. Getting house shows is important for development talent and for revenue going forward, but who the hell knows when is that going to be? It won’t be any time soon apparently,” Ross said.

TPWW Frontpage:

Chris Jericho Teases a Wrestling Match With Mike Tyson (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/chris-jericho-teases-a-wrestling-match-with-mike-tyson/)
Cole vs. Dream, Lee vs. Gargano Added to NXT TakeOver – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/adam-cole-vs-velveteen-dream-added-to-nxt-takeover-updated-card/)
Ratings: WWE Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/ratings-wwe-backstage-wwe-on-fs1-total-bellas/)
AEW: Britt Baker Gives an Injury Update & Return Date, Marq Quen Not Injured (https://www.tpww.net/2020/05/aew-britt-baker-gives-an-injury-update-return-date-marq-quen-not-injured/)

05-29-2020, 10:02 AM

Bray popping those kids out in quick order. Also, surprised Cornette has never been pregnant, he’s certainly looked like he was at points.

Emperor Smeat

05-29-2020, 05:43 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE started using NXT wrestlers as fans on the 5/25 tapings.

It made for a far improved atmosphere at the shows. The delay in doing so after AEW’s atmosphere had been noted universally as being superior likely came because the company didn’t want to come across as copying AEW. This is the same reason why it took them weeks to move the position of the hard camera to facing the entrance ramp instead of to the side facing empty stands.

They had to stand up and cheer for just under seven hours of television, a Raw and a Smackdown, as well as Main Event and 205 Live. We were told the actual process of all the taping lasted for about 12 hours on 5/25 and a similar length on 5/26. A number of talents noted losing their voices on the first day from making so much noise for so long, not to mention the obvious exhaustion from such a process. Talent was allowed to sit down between matches and it kind of makes no sense why chairs weren’t provided given how much time was being spent taping.

At ringside they had plexiglass walls which may become the new norm going forward with the idea of keeping fans from touching wrestlers ...

Although it was hinted on the air that they were testing all talent for COVID-19, there was no testing done at all again at the tapings this past week past temperature readings and asking people if they didn’t feel well.

I know of people in the company who were shocked given UFC finding multiple people who passed the temperature checks but later tested positive and that AEW had already done multiple tapings where everyone was tested.

Most of the key details had already emerged regarding the backstory of the death of Owen Hart, between Dr. Martha Hart’s 2002 Book “Broken Hearts” and her recent media appearances including Dark Side of the Ring and a 90 minute interview with me on our web site.

But David Bixenspan and Fanbyte.com went through a number of new details and also emphasized what had already been reported when going through a detailed Kansas City Police Department investigation report on Hart’s death.

The gist of the report from the death scene itself was as follows:

Upon arrival (police) contact was made with Jim Vinzant, who is a "Rigger" with Local #31 of the Teamsters, who stated he is responsible for the "rigging" of the cables for shows at Kansas City, Missouri, owned facilities ...

He stated that Bobby Talbert (spelled Tolbert in the report) and the victim were also present when the rigging was assembled. He stated that he and James Williams assembled the "span sets and bridals" in the ceiling, however had no affiliation with the actual harness that the victim was wearing. He stated that the harness was a product of the World Wrestling Federation ...

Jim Vinzant stated that he did not think that the victim seemed very experienced with the stunt and that he (Jim Vinzant) would not have had the victim perform the stunt with the harness system that was used because it had minimal safety. He stated that he left the Arena at 1500 hours, and returned at 1700 hours ...

Joe Branam was the rigger for the first stunt. He was contacted for the job a second time but WWF turned him down because he had asked for more money.

The WWF then contacted Bobby Talbert. Branam then had his wife contact WWF to say he would agree to do it for whatever they wanted to pay him. WWF did not get back to him. Branam had turned down doing stunts previously WWF wanted him to rig because he felt they were dangerous.

The key is the quick release Snap Shackle made by Lewmar had no back up if it failed, and that the snap shackle only needed six pounds of pressure to open.

Interviews with other stuntmen talked about how in situations like this you would have a secondary line. What was noted was the vest Hart was wearing was inappropriately restrictive of breathing.

Talbert said he was referred to WWF by Barry Brazell, who was the main rigger for Sting’s repelling from the ceiling. Steve Taylor of WWF, at the time the Vice President of Event Operations, had called Brazell ...

Taylor said that the company has had other people do things like this in the past but WWF felt they were executed too slow for television. Talbert told Taylor he had performed the same stunts with Sting in WCW. But the deposition of Ellis Edwards, who handled stunts for WCW, sad that Talbert assisted Brazell three times only and was not Sting’s rigger or WCW’s rigger.

Taylor called Talbert the week of the show in Kansas City with the idea of what they wanted. The original idea was that Owen Hart and Max Mini (a tiny mini wrestler who was working for WWF at the time) would come down together. The belief was that Max Mini (also known as Mascarita Sagrada Jr., Tzuki and Mini Rey Misterio) refused to do it. Mini was let go by WWF in mid-July, less than two months after turning down the stunt. He did return to the company for three matches in 2006 ...

The key is that over 20 years, even though much of the basic information was known, there was this belief that the same crew who did Sting’s stunt did the Owen Hart stunt and it was the same stunt. While it was a tragic accident, people were able in some cases to go with the idea it was a safe stunt given how many times Sting did it, that unfortunately went wrong.

The reality is there was no back-up wire that Sting had, and it was done differently because Vince McMahon felt it was too slow for television because of those split seconds on WCW television where Sting would unhook himself while all the heels just had to stand there and wait. So, even after being told multiple times that there was a reason for that and otherwise it wouldn’t be safe, WWF kept looking for someone who would do it in a different manner. While Talbert, who still works in the stunt industry, had worked on Sting a few times, he was not the main person and it was a different crew. The week after the incident WWF hinted that perhaps it was Hart’s fault in some way, that he panicked and did something wrong, when that was not the case

Smackdown on 5/22 held steady with the previous week doing a 1.31 rating and 2,044,000 viewers (a lower than usual 1.29 viewers per home) and an 0.5 in 18-49 (707,000 viewers). The 5/15 show did a 1.30 rating 2,042,000 viewers and an 0.5 in 18-49 (695,000 viewers).

So 18-49 was up 1.7 percent and everything else was almost identical.

However, this would be a more disappointing showing because ABC, CBS and NBC all ran rerun programming and first-run Smackdown still finished last with total viewers. It did win in 18-49 because in a weird coincidence, every other rerun show on the other three networks did 0.4. Smackdown was expected to dominate the summer months in 18-49, rather than squeak by.

Last year over the same week, FOX ran rerun shows that did 1,708,000 viewers but the same 0.5 in 18-49, so live Smackdown in the key demo did the same as reruns last year that essentially cost them nothing new to produce.

For 5/20, as far as the different demos were concerned, in Males 18-34, the high point for AEW was the beginning of Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara. The low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt.

For NXT in Males 18-34, the high point was Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley and low point was Kushida vs. Drake Maverick.

For Women 18-34, for AEW the high point was the Jake Roberts and Arn Anderson face-off and the low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt. Quarter hours always teach you something. For example here, you’d think it would be one of the young guys that would be most appealing to women and here it is Jake Roberts and Arn Anderson, two older overweight guys in their 60s who happen to be great on the mic. I remember in the WCW Nitro days where Dusty Rhodes (in his rare appearances) and Ric Flair, who were older guys, would just kill it with teenage girls while Buff Bagwell, who you would think would, made no difference.

For NXT in Women 18-34, the high point was El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Akira Tozawa. The low point was Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Ever Rise.

For AEW in Males 18-49, the high point was Hardy vs. Guevara and low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt.

For NXT in Males 18-49, the high point was Fantasma vs. Tozawa and love point was Kushida vs. Maverick.

For Women 18-49, for AEW the high point was the Roberts/Anderson quarter and low point was MJF vs. Stunt.

For NXT in Women 18-49, the high point was Karrion Kross vs. Liam Gray (which has more to do with the lead-in show than what was on the show) and low point was Shirai vs. Ripley.

Both AEW and NXT had major viewership increases on 5/27. The AEW increase was expected, as they got the usual post-PPV boost, plus had advertised Mike Tyson for the show, even though the show had no marquee matches. The NXT increase was a surprise, as it appeared aside from Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle in a unique cage match with Kurt Angle as referee, it didn’t appear going in to be much different from previous weeks shows.

AEW did 827,000 viewers and a 0.32 (413,000 viewers) in 18-49, and was fourth in the demo, partially because younger viewers have stopped watching the news in the kind of numbers they were doing until recently. Plus, AEW had no competition from NASCAR or a Michael Jordan Game Sis movie on ESPN that hurt last week ...

Similarly, NXT which was No. 53 in the demo last week with a record low of 0.13, increased to 731,000 viewers and 0.19 (251,000 viewers) in 18-49. It was in the No. 24 spot in the key demo, and 15th with males 18-49 ...

AEW won seven of eight quarters, with one close. AEW opened at 863,000 viewers dn 398,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & Matt Hardy vs. Private Party & Joey Janela. NXT opened at 771,000 viewers and 252,000 in 18-49 for Drake Maverick vs. Kushida vs. Jake Atlas.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 26,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the end of the six-man tag, The former Revival debut and Brian Cage vs. Lee Johnson with Jon Moxley and Taz doing interviews. NXT gained 13,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae doing a promo, Gargano vs. Adrian Alanis and the Keith Lee and Mia Yim promo with Gargano & LeRae out.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 60,000 viewers but only 2,000 in 18-49 for promos by Britt Baker and Chris Jericho. NXT lost 44,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Shotzi Blackheart vs. Reina Gonzalez. The AEW margin was 777,000 to 740,000 during this quarter.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 67,000 viewers and 54,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Christi Jaynes and the beginning of a Cody interview. NXT gained 5,000 viewers but lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Blackheart vs. Gonzalez a Finn Balor promo and the introductions for the women’s tag match.

The fifth quarter saw NXT take the quarter. AEW lost 55,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for the end of the Cody promo and mostly Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky. NXT gained 68,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for Charlotte Flair & Chelsea Green vs. Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley. NXT had 813,000 viewers and 272,000 in 18-49 compared with AEW’s 789,000 viewers and 411,000 in 18-49.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 27,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the Sabian & Havoc vs. Kazarian & Sky match, the MJF promo, Battle Royal intros and the beginning of the Battle Royal. NXT lost 141,000 viewers and 41,000 in 18-49 the Adam Cole/William Regal vignette and an Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vignette. Vignettes are always going to lose but often they are necessary for building characters.

In the seventh quarter, AEW gained 53,000 viewers and 25,000 in18-49 for the Battle Royal and highlights of Stadium Stampede. This was the peak part of the show in both total viewers with 869,000 and 18-49 with 442,000. NXT lost 28,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for Tommaso Ciampa vs. Leon Ruff, promos from Ciampa and Karrion Kross and the beginning of Riddle vs. Thatcher.

In the eighth quarter, AEW lost 47,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for the Inner Circle celebration and Mike Tyson angle. I’m amazed the Tyson angle lost viewers from the Battle Royal and Stadium Stampede highlights. NXT gained 34,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for the Riddle vs. Thatcher match.

We have not heard anything regarding Angle and a new deal. It was noted to us that Angle is still being paid through mid-July like the rest of the people on main roster contracts that were released. The company will use that talent if they have a idea for them, such as Maverick in the tournament (and it would make no sense to let him go after his recent push) and had planned to use Sarah Logan at one point

A rare case of something at a taped show getting out took place due to an injury to Sane at the 5/27 tapings for the 6/1 Raw show. There was yet another Jax vs. Sane match for Sane to put over Jax like a monster as the set-up woman for the Asuka match. During the match, Jax whipped Sane into the ring steps. She went to take the steps with her side but she clipped the steps with the top of her head and was busted open and was out and they had to stop the match. Not sure if this will be edited on television or not. It turned into an outcry on social media against Jax, and in fairness, Jax has hurt several people in the past with her sloppiness, plus many fans are protective of Sane who has been injured a few times of late including a concussion in a match that continued while it was clear she was hurt. But in this case it appears to be, since I haven’t seen it, an unfair rush to judgment. I’ve heard from a number of people, including one person who is very much not a fan of Jax as a worker. All know the track record, and not one blamed her in this instance. It was described to me as Sane being in control of her bump but she may have slipped and clipped her head according to one person or tried to make it look so good that in doing so clipped her head. We do know there was no internal blaming of Jax for this one. Sane was cleaned up and said to be okay, although being out is never a good thing with her history

The death of Hana Kimura this past week is a complicated story about reality shows, the worst aspects of social media and cyber bullying, and likely with the unique aspects of the time we are living in.

The end result was the suicide death of a 22-year-old woman who had high-level stage presence and a unique look, and was likely to explode in 2020 had this been a normal year, as the most marketable and biggest star in Japanese women’s wrestling.

The story has far wider implications in so many different ways than most pro wrestling stories. Its repercussions, besides her own death, include the possibility of the end of a popular worldwide television show, and even more, talk in Japan about enacting new legislation that would make cyber bullying a more serious crime. While obviously a huge news story in Japan, it garnered a lot of mainstream attention in the U.S. due to the popularity of the television reality show “Terrace House" ...

On 5/22, the day of her death, Terrace House and Hana Kimura was the most searched topic in the U.S. on the Internet, with more than 500,000 searches, just ahead of Joe Biden

Kimura was suffering from bad depression for some time even as her wrestling career was on its ascent. She had mutilated her arms and cut her wrists in the past.

The turning point was an incident on the reality show where people wanting to be celebrities are put together with both scripted and unscripted scenarios to attempt to create relationships and relationship dramas ...

It should be noted that Kimura went through a lot of bullying when she was growing up. Her mother, Kyoko Kimura, was a woman pro wrestler who competed a lot in death match style. Hana Kimura was of mixed ethnicity. Her father, who split from her mother and her when she was one, was Indonesian, so she was half-Japanese and half-Indonesian. This gave her unique features, but while growing up in school she was taunted over being different ...

“Obviously Hana is very beautiful,” said one person close to her to us regarding the show. “But on the show, she is like twice the size of the other girls. And on the show, and in real life, she is very self-conscious because she has huge muscular shoulders compared to the other girls. And Terrace House fans also bullied her about that kind of stuff. It seems silly, because she is a very pretty girl, but it just goes to show that anyone can have self-confidence issues. You’d think from the looks of it, this girl would have it all. Very obviously she’s the one being pushed to lead her company" ...

But the actual storyline came later, in a show taped during the week of 1/19 to 1/25, and aired on 3/31.

Kimura had put her wrestling costume that she had been using of late in the washing machine. Kai put his own clothes in the washing machine. He then came back and threw his clothes and her wrestling costume in the dryer, which shrank it and ruined it.

When she found out, she started yelling at him, saying this was the ring costume she wore on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome on the biggest match of her life and the costume had so many memories for hear and it was like her life. She yelled at Kai and basically slapped his hat off his head because at first he wasn’t apologetic ...

She was bombarded with hate over social media. Whether no more filming of episodes (the show had continue on Fuji television with the final episode on 5/19 before this week’s episode and the rest of the season was canceled but new footage had not been shot in a few months), plus her regular routine of wrestling was shut down and taken away. It may have taken away a means to cope with the depression, and things got much worse.

It should be noted that all the negative messages, including her getting messages daily saying she should die, came from Terrace House viewers and not from the wrestling fan side. But a tiny but hurtful percentage of wrestling fans are no different which why this touched such a nerve in wrestling, particularly among women performers. She was constantly being told if her costume meant so much to her, why did she leave it in the washing machine ...

Others were negative to her about leaving her gear in the washer and that she shouldn’t have been so rude. It got to the point where Kimura disabled all comments on her Instagram because she was getting so much hate. In a later episode, Kai left the house and tried to make up with her by paying her the costs of making a new outfit. When he left the house, everyone gave him a goodbye hug except her, which also villainized her since to a lot of the women viewers, he was a popular character ...

It was told to us from someone close to her that they knew the negative social media response was bothering Kimura and that in recent weeks it had gotten worse.

However, nobody had any sign her depression reached the level it did ...

It seemed to be a cocktail of many things. The bullying from childhood leading to insecurity. Her wanting to become a mainstream star to make women’s wrestling popular again like it was more than 25 years earlier. A television show that emphasized her weaknesses on screen. Perhaps the pressures of knowing that she was chosen to be the person whose would the focal point of a company aggressively trying to bring back to glory days of the past under new ownership, and trying to live up to that status while perceiving she wasn’t coming across well on the television show.

Late at night on the morning of 5/23 in Japan (5/22 in the U.S.), Kimura posted images of her arm that she had self-mutilated, which was covered by her ring costume when she had wrestled. She was there with her pet kitten, and basically did a farewell note on both Twitter and Instagram ...

This drew a ton of immediate attention throughout the U.S. pro wrestling community with people obviously panicking and questioning what was going on. In Japan, where everyone was asleep, people in that community were not at first aware of it.

Kaori Housako (Kairi Sane) had either seen the posts herself or been alerted immediately. She called up Stardom founder and CEO Rossy Ogawa, and I believe Jungle Kyona. It was Kyona who rushed to the apartment that Kimura lived alone in, but it was too late.

Sponichi News in Japan reported that at around 4 a.m., which would be 3 p.m. on 5/22 Eastern time, some fire engines and an ambulance rushed into her apartment. Her death was believed to be a suicide due to the ingestion of hydrogen sulfide. The Koto Police Department’s Metropolitan department acknowledged a hydrogen sulfide fatality at 4 a.m., but further details were not released at the request of the family.

According to police sources in the Japanese media, Kimura was found on her bed with a plastic bag covering her head. A container of what was believed to have been hydrogen sulfide was found nearby. Several different suicide notes were found in the room.

There was a piece of paper attached to the door that read, “Toxic gas being generated,” according to Kyodo News ...

The kitten, named Karage, which means fried chicken ball, because Kimura thought he looked like a fried chicken ball, was being taken care of in the Stardom wrestlers dormitory ...

In addition, “Terrace House,” canceled the remainder of this season and there is some question whether the show will ever return ...

After Kimura’s death, numerous people who had harassed her on social media began deleting their accounts, while media reports

With the 5/23 AEW Double or Nothing shows, we’ve learned that the current conditions may be negative for television ratings, but in no way are they negative for PPVs.

Two weeks after UFC did a shockingly high number for UFC 249, AEW followed suit with what, at least at this point, looks to be the most-purchased PPV show in company history.

Streaming numbers from B/R Live in the U.S. and FITE for international markets both ended up more than 10 percent up from the 2/29 Revolution show and may end up closer to 15 percent up, which was tracking to be the second highest number in company history, behind only the first Double or Nothing show, at about 100,000 to 110,000 buys. The cable buys for Revolution are still only estimated until final numbers are to come in at some point in the next few week ...

If cable holds up similarly, that would indicate 115,000 to 120,000 buys, which would equal to or slightly beat the final numbers of the first Double or Nothing ... There’s also the aspect that streaming buys as a general rule over the past year are increasing at a higher level than cable buys, which are decreasing. So streaming buys both in the U.S. and overseas being the biggest in company history does not necessarily mean cable numbers will follow suit ...

There was the argument, which proved to be false, that with so many ordering WrestleMania for free and disposable income being down for so many who have lost their jobs, that people couldn’t justify a $50 purchase for a show.

Historically, every time this argument goes into play, it always ends up being wrong. There is a price point that becomes a negative, but $50 for AEW and $65 for UFC are clearly below that threshold at this point with the current economy and the current marketplace. There are always arguments that differ from this point, but the consumer behavior always seems to trump those arguments. The reality is that if you have a show with a low price but people aren’t interested, they aren’t buying. If you have a show people want to see, they will find a way to see it. There is a price point too high, but that depends more on the value of the product than the price point. People have proven in gigantic numbers a willingness to pay $100 for a singular event if the names involved are big enough. UFC has constantly increased the price of its shows and that has never had a bearing on the number of buyers.

The numbers are how many people really want to see it either themselves or as part of a social gathering. And with social gatherings likely down, that probably, surprisingly to most, is likely the biggest difference maker of all ...

Replay buys were said to be slightly ahead of the pace of the last show. Replay buys are often based on word of mouth, but word of mouth has been strong after almost every AEW PPV show ...

From a general interest standpoint, the show did 100,000 Google searches, which were half of what WWE did with Money in the Bank. It was in the No. 10 spot for the day, and was the same as what the Revolution show did. AEW, with a stronger harder core fan base, seems to convert its audience to PPV and live event buyers at a much stronger rate than WWE

Contrary to the speculation of those who had unsecured debts in the XFL bankruptcy case, Vince McMahon said that he is not going to restart the XFL.

McMahon is looking for a buyer to take over the league in bankruptcy court.

Speculation from debtors last week had seen the actions McMahon took and felt it was a way for him to get away from the money losses suffered thus far and then restart next year with a clean slate. Others felt that McMahon did so much damage do his reputation within the football world that, other than players, who it was conceded he would be able to get, that anyone of any value in coaching or management would steer clear of the league because of how many high profile people and buildings were stiffed on money.

McMahon did admit in the filing that he was considering putting in a bid to buy it back, but had changed his mind.

This appears to be strategic in the sense of wanting it out there that they were looking for someone to buy it and if Vince was interested, others would. But the strategy changed with the idea that people were scared away by the idea Vince might do it. Or they could simply have been scared away with the idea of the amount of money it would take at a time when the economy is questionable ...

McMahon’s filing claimed that he put up at least $200 million for the league. But that doesn’t add up with the prior filings that listed the amount of money the company lost being declaring bankruptcy at less than $50 million.

McMahon believed the stories this past week chased away people interested.

There have been 20 potential purchasers that have signed non-disclosure agreements to gain access to confidential filings regarding the economics of the business. Another six have at least inquired about interest and getting that information.

On 5/27, due to the losses from the Pandemic, Bushiroad announced that the directors of Bushiroad and their group companies would have pay cut from 15 percent to 95 percent, depending on the person, for the five month period covering May through September, and then would return to the regular compensation. Every company in the group will have to cut expenses notably in advertising, promotion and through all facets. Employee salaries and bonuses will also be cut. New Japan Pro Wrestling will start running live events as soon as they are able to allow fans to attend shows, if not do empty arena shows first. You can see the difference in mentalities in that the people at the top took cuts, and some large cuts, but on the flip side, nobody in Bushiroad companies lost their jobs

Cage was signed in January but couldn’t debut for months due to his torn biceps and when they figured out the timing the goal was for him to be a mystery debut in Las Vegas. The plan was to always put him with Taz but they had to delay Taz’s start as a manager until now. This would seem to build a Cage vs. Darby Allin program since the idea is Taz’s first recruit was going to be Allin until Allin blew him off although there’s been no follow up on that yet

* Smeat's note: Taking next week off as a break except for Friday and might do the same for the week after. Just been too busy with other stuff and getting a bit burned out again with doing sheet reports.

Emperor Smeat

06-05-2020, 04:45 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

There is usually an unwritten rule in WWE about talent criticizing other talent publicly unless it has to do with storylines going on, and even storyline criticism is frowned upon unless it relates to business, such as issues talent like Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and others had with Matt Riddle months back.

But with tensions high on 6/1, shortly after President Trump ordered tear gassing of peaceful protesters in Washington, DC, so he could give a speech and pose for photos in front of a church, a tweet by Jaxson Ryker was so poorly timed and got a number of people very upset. Ryker, real name Chad Lail, 37, served in the U.S. Marines as a Gunner–hence his old TNA name–during the Iraqi war, who is part of the Forgotten Sons trio, the one who rarely wrestles.

Under his character name, he wrote, “Thankful for the POTUS (Trump) we have ! God bless America. Built of freedom. Forgotten No More.

The last line was part of the team’s catch phrase, although both Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler, the other members of the team, responded negatively to the tweet.

According to one person high up in the company, the belief is that Lail can’t be fired for expressing freedom of speech, but that the locker room is fuming at him.

Another Facebook post Lail made under his own name before this week but on the current situation did not come out to the talent but it won’t make people any happier given Sports Illustrated reported it, which said, “Pretty touchy subject but all this Black Lives Matter garbage baffles me. I challenge anyone of any color or race to go watch 12 years as a slave, the movie, and realize how good you all actually have it. Learn heritage. Christ, Gandhi, Buddha, they all taught love and caring for others. This is getting out of hand. I pray for this nation daily.”

Most stayed quiet and ignored it.

But the tensions are very high.

Kevin Owens wrote, “The freedom you speak of entitles you to speak your mind all you want. I’m not here to argue that. I just really need to tell you that I think you pushing your shitty wrestling catchphrase as all of this is happening is absolutely f***ing pathetic.”

Adeel Alam, who wrestles as Mustafa Ali, and is a former Chicago police officer who has stated many times his attempts to portray a positive role model for people of other ethnicities in the U.S. (Alam is part Indian and part Pakistani) and not wanting to play the former evil foreigner role as a wrestler, said, “I’m thankful you posted this because I’m now aware of what you stand for. When black brothers and sisters are crying, you praise someone that refuses to acknowledge their hurt.”

Sami Zayn, responded to Ryker’s tweet saying, “Literally built on oppression.”

Ricochet wrote, “I get you’re a `bad guy’ on TV. And I’m HOPING that’s all this is. Even then, that ain’t it. But if this is actually your true thoughts–I’ll be really sad.”

Cutler (Thomas Maclin, 33), also a former U.S. Marine, wrote, “Regardless of my political views, I am not blind to the injustices that continue in the world. I have chosen to stay silent because I don’t know how to put into words the heartbreak I feel watching what is going on across our country. This is not what I fought for or what I believe America is. What I’ve liked and retweeted depicts otherwise. I wanted to take this time to express my feelings, as silence does not help in this situation. I understand that I will never understand. However, I stand, Black Lives Matter.”

“Although I am part of a tag team while I wrestle, I am my own person with my own thoughts and beliefs. It pains me to see what’s going on in the world. I fought for the freedom of our country and ALL of the people who live here. It shouldn’t matter your race or however you identify, we are all human beings and all deserve to be equal. #Justice for George Floyd.”

Blake wrote when asked about what Ryker said, “Don’t care about Jaxson’s goofy ass either.”

Aside from that, as best we can tell, nobody else publicly acknowledged it, although privately the vast majority were not happy.

One person suggested that after what happened this week, the actual gimmick they were portraying even had Ryker not said it, would be tough to continue.
Ryker also had another past insensitive social media posting that came to light recently that added more to the online backlash he received. Link: https://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/jaxson-ryker-goes-private-on-social-media-after-fans-discover-soul-man-photo-from-2017

Raw on 6/1 once again did the second-lowest number in history with 1,728,000 viewers, down slightly from 1,735,000 last week (1.30 viewers per home).

The show did a 0.49 (640,000 viewers) in 18-49, down 2.4 percent from last week.

The record lows for Raw were set on 5/4 with 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49.

Raw overall finished 14th for the night in 18-49, trailing news shows and Below Deck Mediterranean (0.55) on Bravo in the key demo. Raw was 42nd overall in viewers, its lowest ranking I can ever recall, but only two shows, different episodes of 90 Day Fiancé on TLC (1,801,000 and 1,797,000) beat it among non-news shows.

The show was down 30.1 percent in total viewers from the same week last year and 36.9 percent from that week in 18-49.

The main key was all the news coverage and partially the increase in viewers of Titan Games on NBC, which did 4,152,000 viewers, up 20.8 percent from last week.

The first hour did 1,810,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,803,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,571,000.

The third hour was the second lowest hour in the modern history of the show, beating only hour three on 5/4 which did 1,546,000 viewers ...

The high point of the show was the Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens U.S. title match and ensuing Owens & Crews vs. Andrade & Angel Garza match with 1,911,000 viewers. The low point was the end of Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka and the Drew McIntyre vs. MVP main event at 1,515,000 viewers. The last 15 minutes of the show did a 0.9 overall rating, which I believe is the lowest quarter hour of all-time.

Smackdown on 5/29 did a 1.32 rating and 2,054,000 viewers (1.30 viewers per home), as well as an 0.5 in 18-49 (681,000 viewers, which was 396,000 men and 285,000 women, so Smackdown is faring much worse than Raw among men and much better among women, with an 18-49 male skew being 58.1 percent, and drawing the most women of any wrestling show).

This was an update from the original listed numbers of 2,170,000 viewers and 0.6, as those numbers included certain markets like Atlanta and Minneapolis which actually aired news coverage on FOX during that time slot ...

Last year in the same time slot, with rerun programming, FOX averaged 1,515,000 viewers and a 0.5 in 18-49, so this year was up 35.6 percent in viewers (a rare time this year beat last year but that will get more frequent when compared to reruns) but the 18-49 number was identical to last week, but actual 18-49 viewers were up 16.2 percent.

For 6/3, cable news dominated the night, and historically big news days are going to, likely because they increase the 18-49 viewership away from entertainment, hurt AEW more than NXT.

AEW did 730,000 viewers and an 0.29 (374,000 viewers) in 18-49, down to No. 27 in the 18-49 standings due to the big numbers of all the news shows.

NXT did 715,000 viewers and an 0.20 (257,000 viewers) in 18-49, for the No. 45 spot ...

A lot of the AEW decline was over 50, although they were also down in 35-49. They were actually up in 18-34 and did their best numbers in that demo since 3/18. NXT was up across the board, also more in 18-34, but held steady post-35 which AEW did not ...

AEW won four of eight quarters, NXT won the first, due to the lead-in, and the two, due to the main event, and tied in one. AEW won all eight quarters in 18-49, with none that close although the final quarter was the closest ...

AEW won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW had 75,000 viewers (identical to last week) and NXT had 45,000 (up 25.0 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 51,000 viewers (up 10.9 percent) and NXT had 30,000 (up 57.9 percent after the terrible showing in women under 35 last week). In men 35-49, AEW had 163,000 viewers (down 10.4 percent from last week) and NXT had 119,000 (up 4.4 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 85,000 viewers (down 22.7 percent) and NXT had 63,000 (down 3.1 percent).

In the first quarter, AEW with Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc did 740,000 viewers and 387,000 in 18-49. The were hurt by a weak lead-in while NXT usually benefits from a very strong one. NXT did 790,000 viewers and 259,000 in18-49 for Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae, the post match brawl, and Yim & Keith Lee vs. LeRae & Johnny Gargano. It was NXT’s high point for overall viewers.

In the second quarter, AEW gained 24,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for the second half of the Omega & Page vs Sabian & Havoc match, a Shawn Spears & Tully Blanchard vignette and Brian Cage vs. Shawn Dean. NXT lost 69,000 viewers but only 1,000 in 18-49 for the end of Lee & Yim vs. Gargano & LeRae, a Maverick vignette and a build for Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream piece.

In the third quarter, AEW gained 10,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Taz & Jon Moxley promos, a Lance Archer/Jake Roberts vignette and Matt Hardy meets Private Party. At 774,000 viewers and 428,000 in 18-49, this was the peak number of the night for AEW. NXT lose 13,000 viewers but gained 1,000 in18-49 for Tony Nese vs. Isaiah Scott.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 62,000 viewers and 61,000 in 18-49 for a Jericho/Tyson vignette and the beginning of Jericho vs. Colt Cabana. NXT lost 66,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for the Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch No. 1 contenders to the tag title match.

In the fifth quarter AEW gained 60,000 viewers and 26,000 in 18-49 for the end of Jericho vs. Cabana, a Jericho promo, and the Britt Baker training video. NXT gained 67,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for the end of the tag title match, the confrontation after with Breeze & Fandango, Imperium and Saurav & Rinku, and Santana Garrett vs. Aliyah. It tied with the final quarter for NXT’s 18-49 high with 267,000.

In the sixth quarter, AEW gained lost 66,000 viewers and 61,000 in 18-49 for Nyla Rose vs. Big Swole, the post-match with Swole & Baker and a Darby Allin interview. NXT lost 3,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for te video package with Charlotte Flair, Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley. Both groups did identical 706,000 viewers. It was the low point for AEW in 18-49 with 332,000.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 37,000 viewers and gained 1,000 in 18-49 for the FTR interview and post interview, build for next week and a Cabana interview. NXT went ahead by gaining 16,000 viewers but losing 7,000 in18-49 for Cameron Grimes vs. Bronson Reed and the beginning of Fantasma vs. Maverick.

In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 31,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Jungle Boy. NXT lost 1,000 viewers but gained 18,000 in 18-49 for Fantasma vs. Maverick.

Vince McMahon sent out a company wide e-mail saying that 24/7 mental health care counseling is available to anyone in the company who needs assistance. He also gave out an e-mail address for anyone to contact if they have any diversity concerns and to bring them to the attention of the company. The e-mail was short, basically giving a phone number and instructions on mental health issues and an e-mail regarding diversity issues, which, in theory, should have been under Human Resources previously. The e-mail also had a Martin Luther King Jr. quote (“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and the statement WWE released to all media platforms

Christopher DeJoseph who was just given a promotion to sort of lead writer (Ed Koskey is actually the lead writer but both had the same job title with DeJoseph’s promotion) on Smackdown, was then fired on 5/29. Details are not available as to why past that it was disciplinary in nature and didn’t involve the layoff process like virtually all the people let go in the last few months. The decision was made by Vince McMahon and seems to have involved something McMahon either heard him say or was told he said. WWE has put up a notice that they are looking for a new lead writer

The Jax-Sane injury aired on the 6/1 Raw show. To me, it looked a lot more like Jax’s fault than the view of those in the company. Jax whipped Sane into the steps and her head hit the steps and split it open. They did some cuts to the audience and basically hid all the blood, edited out her being worked on and her having to recover, and when she was cleaned up, she was in the ring and Jax immediately leg dropped her for the pin. The problem is that Jax threw her hard but was far too close to the steps when she threw her so it looked like Sane wasn’t in control of her bump like would be normal when you whip someone into the steps from a farther distance. One veteran wrestler who watched it after the fact on television said, “She didn’t whip her, she grabbed her by the head and threw/shoved her. It was 100% Nia’s fault. She never let Kairi find her balance after pulling her out of the ring, she then pushed her head down so Kairi would be unable to see and then threw her forward hard head first off balance towards the steps. Kairi has zero chance.” Another person noted to us that while the word within the company backstage was that it was not Jax’s fault, after watching it on television, it did look to be 100 percent her fault There is no word on the severity of the injury past Sane was said to be okay later that night

Drake Maverick is obviously staying. The cruiserweight tournament ended with Maverick losing to El Hijo del Fantasma. It is no longer called the interim cruiserweight title that Fantasma holds, but just the cruiserweight title. However, Jordan Devlin is also the cruiserweight champion, so there are two of them and they will meet as soon as it’s feasible. There’s really no answer as far as when the Maverick firing became a storyline. It is possible it was a carefully kept secret from the start since if you go back to the start it feels like storyline from the moment of the firing. Top people in the company were told that several people would still be used for the next 90 days and he was booked in the tournament at the same time the decision was made on the firings as one hand didn’t know what the other hand was doing. Still, once he won his first match in the tournament, if not earlier, it was clear it was an angle and he was staying. Really once they started pushing the storyline on television, he had to be staying because you can’t do that storyline and then have him get all that sympathy, and firing him will get fans mad at the company and he could walk into AEW the next week
Maverick's firing being legit or not is something not even PWI and Post Wrestling have been able to find out.

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network: 1. Sting the Lost Tape; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 3; 3. Rock’s Most Electrifying Matches; 4. 10 Biggest Matches in WWE History; 5. WrestleMania 35; 6. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 2; 7. Raw Talk; 8. Raw on 4/27; 9. Greatest Backlash Moments; 10. Smackdown on 5/1. NXT was only No. 13, meaning that viewership on the network has declined to a point where one month old Raw and Smackdown episodes are beating it. And NXT U.K. and 205 Live don’t even crack the top 15 anymore

[MLW] It is believed a new [tv] deal is in place but the decision from both sides was that this wasn’t the week to make that announcement

The plan for the [MLW] 2020 Opera Cup is November, but there is no clear date when they are starting back because Court Bauer has seen too many COVID-19 issues firsthand and isn’t going to be the one who rushes back.

[ROH] Mark Haskins was fined $4,000 by the Maryland State Athletic Commission regarding usage of blood in a Bully Ray vs. Mark Haskins match on 12/13 at the UMBC Events Center in Baltimore. The commission ruling was that Mr. LaMonaco (Bully Ray) brought into action a board with barbed wire and that Haskins allowed himself to be lifted and thrown into the table with the barbed wire board and Haskins suffered lacerations in several areas. This violated the banning of blood in matches. This punishment was different from the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley match where both men bled and AEW, the promotion, was fined $25,000. The commission order, which dated back to 2/29, was that Haskins had to pay $2,000 by the end of March and another $2,000 by the end of February 2021
ROH and/or Haskins probably not too happy at Christopher Cruise since antics against AEW ended up causing the Maryland Commission to actually start paying more attention to wrestling.

Fyter Fest 2 will be the 7/1 and 7/8 episodes of Dynamite. All the TV’s leading up to the show and the show itself have already been written. The idea is that it’s going to be the equivalent of a PPV show but split over two dates. All titles will be at stake with Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage and Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends as the main bouts. It appeared like Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose would be on the show as well from TV. They said both shows would be live but actually 7/1 will be live and the 7/8 show will be taped on 7/2

The rest of the upcoming schedule will be a live show on 6/10, a taping on 6/11, and a live show on 6/24

There was a controversy regarding a match on Dark on 5/19 and a wrestler named Clutch Adams, who debuted and lost to Shawn Spears. Adams, who is 27, at the age of 19 on Twitter wrote a bunch of gay slurs when tweeting about Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys when watching a football game. A fan, who evidently was one of those guys who constantly trolls AEW incessantly, found the post because people like that will go back more than seven years on the timeline of a debuting enhancement guy to play gotcha and was looking to embarrass the company. He tagged Kenny Omega, Cody and Khan, and when they saw the posts, they removed his already taped match off the show that aired this week. Adams deleted his account and immediately wrote a lengthy apology over it. Obviously there is no defense for using any slurs in public or private for that matter. Other independent groups that he was working for also cut ties with him over it. This is something that everyone who wants to be a wrestler or in wrestling should learn from. First, obviously, don’t in any form say anything racial or involving current slurs in public, and really in private. It’s never justified, even if you’re blowing off steam about an opposing quarterback to one of your friends. Second, given everyone is young and dumb at one point in their lives, if you ever did something stupid on social media, get rid of it now and don’t think for a second that if you were a teenager or just mad ten years ago that nobody will find it. It’s one thing if somebody said it last year, but there will be people who will search if you are in WWE or AEW and people who will uncover it to try and ruin your life just because that’s the world we live in. In this case, it wasn’t at all about the person, and it rarely is. It’s about trying to publicly embarrass the company, which in this case AEW ended the outrage quickly by pulling the match, except for people wanting to blame AEW (and this could be New Japan, WWE or ROH or anyone else) and somehow think when they hire someone as an extra they should be aware of everything they wrote in social media when they were a teenager. This is hardly Dave Hollenbeck aka Havoc, a 20-plus year veteran of Pacific Northwest indies who did a job as last summer on 205 Live for Humberto Carrillo using the name Rob Rollenbeck, who this past weekend did a tasteless mocking of George Floyd and claimed the media was race baiting and he was doing it for “are (sic) police officers.” Don’t be that guy either if you want to have a future in wrestling right now

The Athletic had an updated story on the XFL bankruptcy and why creditors are very unhappy. The league shut down on 4/10, when President Jeffrey Pollock said it was closing due to COVID-19. On the last day of operations, the league paid out $2.1 million that it owed people, none going to the vast majority of creditors. The last payment included $602,707.75 to the WWE for office work and marketing. In the final 90 days before filing bankruptcy, the XFL made nine payments to WWE totaling $2.3 million. Bankruptcy papers show the XFL still owing WWE $203,424.65. All players, coaches and staff were paid through 4/12, two days after the league shut down. The last game was played on 3/13. There will be an auction for XFL assets on 8/3 in Delaware. If somebody does buy the XFL, the first $9 million of that price goes to Vince McMahon, because rather than continue to use his money to fund the league, in late March, for the last few weeks, McMahon instead loaned the league $9 million to stay alive and made himself the first secured creditor. The league still has $8.1 million in cash, $9 million in office furniture, equipment and collectibles and $3 million in property to sell in bankruptcy court

Sting Fan

06-05-2020, 09:11 PM

I dont get the forgotten sons thing. Mainly the company heat on him aspect, isnt Mc Mahon a big Trump backer? Donates to his Super PAC, Linda works in govt in some way, Vince works in sports re opening taskforces.

Some of thats just business but its hard to say hes not a Trump supporter. Why would the company have heat on him?

Talent I get, company not so much.

Emperor Smeat

06-05-2020, 09:26 PM

Seems its less so about the tweet itself but just how poorly timed it was, other past stuff from Ryker being unearthed, and him losing support of not only his teammates but the locker room as well.

The whole portion of the newsletter about Ryker was a lot longer and went into more details on WWE's association with Trump and why they were not going to be publicly outspoken on Ryker nor the on-going protests itself beyond the simple statement released.

Emperor Smeat

06-12-2020, 04:32 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to action on 6/15 and will have five other empty arena events this month before the first shows with fans on 7/11 and 7/12 at Osaka Jo Hall.

The Osaka shows will be set up for around 4,000 fans, or 33 percent capacity. The first show will be the finals of the New Japan Cup, which starts on 6/16, a 32-man single elimination tournament. The 7/12 show will be Dominion, which has traditionally been the company’s second biggest show of the year, but with little in the way of foreign talent, that’s unlikely to be the case this year. Tetsuya Naito will defend the IWGP and IC titles against the winner of the New Japan Cup, meaning the full show line-up won’t be announced until just before show time.

All 11 shows announced so far will air live on New Japan World, with the June shows along with the first four shows in July being built around the New Japan Cup tournament, that was originally scheduled for March.

Nothing was said regarding announcing but there is no date scheduled for English language announcers to be in the country, or any of the foreign talent that isn’t living there. It is possible they could hook something up for Kevin Kelly to use a home studio and call the matches but not actually be there similar to what WWE does with Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix, but right now nobody knows how the English broadcasting will be handled.

The tournament is bracketed exactly like was planned for March, except that there are 15 new wrestlers of the 32 planned, with only two foreigners, Gabriel Kidd and Zack Sabre Jr.

The belief is that it will be several months before they will be able to bring in foreigners. The target date we were told this week was October. Perhaps it could be sooner. Right now for a foreigner to get into the country it requires two weeks of quarantine when they arrive before they can work. The feeling is that the guys who do have places in Japan like Will Ospreay and Juice Robinson may be back sooner but they couldn’t bring people like that in because of the time constraints because once the decision was made, it was too late to bring them in for the tournament ...

While Ospreay and Robinson live in Japan, both went home to their respective countries at the start of the pandemic and have not been able to return. The decision was made so late in the game of doing the tournament that they weren’t alerted with enough time to do the two weeks of quarantine necessary when traveling into Japan.

Because of 15 replacements being needed, they went heavily to junior heavyweights to fill out the field, something that had never been done to this level in the past.

The 6/7 Takeover In Your House show was a mostly good easy watch. The show went two hours 17 minutes, and in this day and age without fans, shorter is almost always going to better. Four of the six matches were good, and one of the two that was nothing special was by design and accomplished its key goal. The main event delivered. There was some nice lighthearted entertainment from the nostalgia of the In Your House name ...

This show was built around the women’s three way match where Io Shirai took the title by winning a three-way over Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley. The match delivered and was the best women’s match on an NXT show in a long time. The show ended with Shirai as the star, with the in-ring confetti celebration of the title change, just as it was designed to do. Shirai was supposed to stand out and did, while Flair was the workhorse and played her role as well. The finish is a new WWE trope that actually makes no sense, as Ripley was in Flair’s figure eight submission while Shirai came off the top rope with a moonsault. The moonsault actually mostly missed, although Shirai did graze Ripley’s face and pinned her. The problem is for decades pins off figure fours have been part of wrestling. So if Ripley’s shoulders were down, fact is, the initial move was the figure eight, not the moonsault. At worst, it would be judged a tie and otherwise with Flair having the move on first, she should have won. But this isn’t the first time WWE has done this finish and it won’t be the last. The idea was to take the title off Flair while still keeping her perceived as superior, since on the main roster, with Becky Lynch gone, Flair is pushed as the top female performer in the company.

At the same time, her role should have been to put Ripley over, and instead, Ripley has been cooled off badly. Plus, it’s always cheap when you have a champion who actually doesn’t lose in the title change. It cheapens the title and cheapens the new champion. Granted, today, a lot of people who produce wrestling see belts as just props and nothing more. In NXT, that isn’t the attitude as you can tell by the booking with less fluke title wins. But in NXT, titles often feel like it’s somebody’s turn as opposed to it being emblematic of being the best person in the company at that period of time ...

Paul Levesque after said that people will complain about Flair not losing the match herself but said in the long run it will all play out. There are scenarios where it could, such as Shirai vs. Flair where Shirai goes over clean, or Ripley over Shirai leading to Ripley beating Flair. But all scenarios for it to make sense end with Flair putting over someone on the brand in a high profile title match, and someone who stays on the brand, not then moves to Raw off the win. But that’s tricky because with Lynch gone, Flair’s role has greatly changed ...

The weakest part of the show was the one that should have been the strongest. There is a huge advantage in taping matches ahead of time, such as the ability to do multiple takes and edit the bad things out.

But the flip side of these cinematic matches is the standard has gotten so high after the graveyard match and Stadium Stampede. At this stage, if you’re going to do such a match, you need to be overflowing with ideas for the concept. And this match didn’t have that. There were far too few ideas and most of them were predictable. Adam Cole beat Velveteen Dream to retain the NXT title in a back lot match that was generally considered the weakest thing on the show. I thought it was average at best, bordering on bad. The stipulations were that Dream was to not be able to get an NXT title shot again as long as Cole is champion. That doesn’t mean never again. Some thought this would lead to Dream being called up, but he absolutely should not until we’re back with real spectators. Dream is a well below average empty arena wrestler. He is a very charismatic live show performer and unfortunately for him, the timing doesn’t work right now to introduce him. We’re told there are no plans for Dream on the main roster right now.

Raw on 6/8 did 1,737,000 viewers and a 0.53 (684,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The audience was slightly up from the 1,728,000 from last week, even though the interest in news was down week-to-week, but 18-49 was up 6.9 percent so that would be considered good ...

It was the fourth lowest number in the history of the show, with all four of these numbers coming since 5/4 ...

The first hour did 1,827,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,790,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,595,000 viewers.

The audience was down 18.5 percent from last year. The 18-49 audience was down 20.6 percent from last year.

But it should be noted that the same week last year went against an NBA playoff game (Warriors vs. Raptors) that did 18,217,000 viewers, and because of that, was the lowest non-holiday number in Raw history. And granted the pandemic has continued to hurt all numbers, but that’s a big drop from what was a record low at the time.

The opening segment did 1,761,000 viewers for talking with Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Asuka and the Iiconics. The Iiconics vs. Flair & Asuka vs. Bayley & Banks match grew 124,000 viewers to a show high point of 1,885,000. Interviews with Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio lost 66,000 viewers. Austin Theory & Murphy vs. Aleister Black & Humberto Carrillo gained 22,000 viewers. The Peep Show segment with Edge, Christian and Randy Orton gained 30,000 viewers. The Street Profits/Viking Raiders decathlon and Kevin Owens attack of Andrade and Angel Garza lost 77,000 viewers. Owens vs Andrade vs. Garza lost 17,000 viewers. Interviews with Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre & Viking Raiders and the VIP Lounge with McIntyre and then Lashley, Vikings and Street Profits coming out lost 58,000 viewers. Viking Raiders vs. Lashley & MVP lost 84,000 viewers. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka ended up down 60,000 viewers. The good thing is that it picked up interest late as the first half was down 131,000 viewers to a show low 1,503,000 viewers but the last 15 minutes picked up 71,000 viewers to 1,574,000 viewers.

Smackdown on 6/5 did a 1.27 rating and 1,984,000 viewers (1.30 viewers per home. It did another 0.5 in the 18-49 demo (656,000 viewers).

Those numbers were down 3.8 percent in ratings, 3.4 percent in viewers and 3.7 percent in 18-49 against almost all rerun programming (aside from a new episode of 20/20 on ABC) on the networks and lesser news interest than last week but still that was significant.

FOX finished second in 18-49 behind ABC at 0.6. Smackdown’s 0.3 in 18-34 won the night. Smackdown was last in total viewers but a rerun of The Wall on NBC did 2,085,000 so it almost beat one show. It won with males 18-49 and tied for last with women 18-49 and finished last in over 50.

It did significantly beat rerun programming on FOX the same weekend last year which averaged 1,337,000 viewers and an 0.3 in 18-49, so up 48.4 percent in viewers and 66.7 percent in 18-49.

The 6/10 battle saw disappointing numbers from both AEW and NXT, seemingly hurt by NASCAR and news coverage.

NXT in particular should have gotten a bump coming off the Takeover show, but there was less interest in this past Takeover than most ...

AEW did 677,000 viewers, its second lowest in history (it did 663,000 on the night before Thanksgiving but that week also did huge DVR numbers) and 0.23 (296,000 viewers) in 18-49, also a low level number. NXT did 673,000 viewers and 0.16 in 18-49 (213,000), the latter being among its lowest 18-49 numbers.

AEW was down 7.3 percent in viewers and 20.9 percent in 18-49, a bad drop in the key demo. NXT was down 5.9 percent in viewers and 17.1 percent in 18-49, which was less than AEW, but really significantly worse because it was coming off a Takeover ...

The NASCAR race from Martinsville, VA, which featured A.J. Styles and Daniel Bryan all over promoting Smackdown and as starters did 1,711,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49.

Worse, the AEW audience was older than usual, with over 50 up but every other demo down, and real bad drops under 35. NXT did terribly in 18-34 in particular.

In the demos, AEW won in all the key categories. In males 18-34, AEW did 51,000 viewers (down 32.0 percent) and NXT had 31,000 (down 31.1 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 22,000 (down 56.9 percent) and NXT had 20,000 (down 33.3 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 147,000 (down 9.8 percent) and NXT had 106,000 (down 10.9 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 76,000 (down 10.6 percent) and NXT had 56,000 (down 11.1 percent).

The basic breakdown is that AEW won the first hour in viewers and NXT won the second hour, AEW taking the first four quarters and NXT taking the next four. So NXT got stronger. AEW won in 18-49, but the gap closed greatly as AEW won the first quarter by 107,000 viewers and the final quarter by 68,000.

In the main event battle, Cody vs. Marq Quen for AEW did 632,000 viewer and 288,000 in 18-49. Adam Cole vs. Dexter Lumis for NXT did 653,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49.

AEW opened with 760,000 viewers and 322,000 in 18-49 with FTR vs. Butcher & Blade. It was also the high point of the show. NXT opened with 758,000 viewers and 215,000 in 18-49 for an Undisputed Era in-ring and an Undisputed Era backstage with Keith Lee & Mia Yim.

In quarter two, AEW lost 30,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for the ending of FTR vs. Butcher & Blade, the in-ring with Butcher & Blade and Young Bucks and ensuing multiple team brawl and backstage interview with Dustin Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes, Q.T. Marshall and The Bunny. NXT lost 74,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 for Lee & Yim vs. Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae and a Damien Priest interview.

In quarter three, AEW lost 26,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49 for Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford & Nyla Rose, plus Darby Allin & Tony Hawk and a Britt Baker workout comedy bit. NXT lost 68,000 viewers but gained 4,000 in18-49 a Cameron Grimes/Damien Priest spot, an Io Shirai segment, and a Saurav & Gurjar squash.

In quarter four, AEW lost 52,000 viewers and 5,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends & Orange Cassidy vs. Santana & Ortiz & Jake Hager. NXT gained 35,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 a Cameron Grimes skit with girls and Drake Wuertz and William Regal, a Fandango & Tyler Breeze profile segment, a Tommaso Ciampa non-interview and Rhea Ripley & Robert Stone. AEW had 652,000 viewers this quarter to 651,000 for NXT.

In quarter five, AEW gained 19,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Best Friends & Cassidy vs. Santana & Ortiz & Hager and the post-match with Chris Jericho and the oranges, MJF and Billy Gunn and the beginning of Sammy Guevara vs. Colt Cabana. NXT gained 37,000 viewers and 19,000 in 18-49 for Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes. The NXT lad in viewers of 688,000 to 671,000 would be only the second time since October that NXT beat a segment with Jericho, even though Jericho was only in for a few minutes in the quarter.

In quarter six, AEW lost 17,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Guevara vs. Cabana, the Dark Order coming out, Guevara in-ring with Matt Hardy, a Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss vignette and Cabana going into Brodie Lee’s dressing room. NXT lost 27,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs. Kacy Catanzaro and a Timothy Thatcher skit.

In quarter seven, AEW lost 42,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for a look at next week’s show, Jon Moxley, Taz and Brian Cage in a parking lot brawl and the beginning of Cody vs. Quen. NXT gained 15,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for the Drake Maverick/Fantasma segment and another Undisputed Era segment.

And in quarter eight, AEW gained 20,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for the remainder of Cody vs. Quen and the post-match. NXT lost 26,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49 for Cole vs. Lumis and the post-match.

TNT aired an AEW repeat with no promotion at all at 12:45 a.m. on 6/6 and it still placed No. 40 in 18-49 for the night at 0.13 with 319,000 viewers of which 171,000 were in 18-49. Also notable is that it did 1.39 viewers per home and for a show in a post-midnight time slot to do that is shocking. If you take out news shows, it was No. 3 for the entire night in the Male 12-34 demo trailing only UFC and the Sports Center show and No. 6 in Women 12-34. In males 18-49 it was No. 5 and overall 18-49 was No. 9 all day and was first in its time slot in overall viewers and in almost every demo.

Will Ospreay, who has been concentrating on eating and heavy lifting with no wrestling happening, is up to 227 pounds and ripped. That’s about 25 pounds up from nine months ago. He’s probably going to have to adjust his in-ring style to compensate for the added weight. Whether it’s a good or bad thing is to be determined. We’ve seen it work both ways where guys who aren’t going to be mass monsters add weight and it works against what they can do. Japan, like the U.S., has still favored thickness in its top guys and obviously Ospreay is looking to be on top in the heavyweight division. Often also when guys add weight it ups their injury rate because larger muscles tear more often and more weight can be detrimental to knees and back

MLW and DAZN have reached a deal and MLW programming started airing on the station on 6/9. MLW programming is expected to appear on DAZN worldwide, both on Demand and as part of the regular programming schedule. Right now episodes of MLW Fusion as well as the Opera Cup are appearing now. The key to the deal will be monthly live arena shows once MLW starts running again. The main MLW Fusion show will for now remain on Bein Sports and YouTube. There’s still hope to move the show to another platform as there’s very little money in YouTube

MLW is still in talks regarding another U.S. cable deal

ROH are in the stage of planning for a return and doing shows for television without fans. Right now they have been doing weekly one hour profiles using their library for the television show but the feeling is they have to start planning weekly content. Whether this be Florida or its home base of Maryland (which, due to its athletic commission would probably have stricter protocols regarding how shows are handled, even with no fans) or somewhere else is probably not yet determined and there is no start date past the point they recognize how to do it and are working on protocol for how to handle policy and testing for a return

Regarding the stuff from last week involving the names teased for the 7/18 Slammiversary PPV, obviously no Drake Maverick. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson are looking for what was described as two deals, one of which would be New Japan, which would be the main deal, and the other would be a U.S. deal, and Impact is in play for being the second deal. They can’t actually do anything until mid-July because they are still under a WWE deal, but they legally could appear on Slammiversary if they make a deal here a few days beforehand. .. Taylor Wilde (Shantelle Malawski, 34) has been teasing on Twitter a return to the company.

Chris Jericho had the Inner Circle on Talk is Jericho this week to talk about the formation of the group. Jericho asked Sammy Guevara to join the group over Labor Day weekend last year. When WWE & AEW & Impact were all recruiting Santana & Ortiz since it was known their contracts were up, AEW won the bidding by telling them their idea was to put them in a group with Jericho so they knew they’d be used well. Jericho said that Pentagon Jr. & Fenix were originally suggested to him to be his team since they had been the Young Bucks top rivals previously, but Jericho thought they were too gimmicky for what he wanted. Jericho was pitched on Anthony Agogo, a former pro boxer who won a bronze medal in boxing in the 2012 Olympics, who AEW signed to a developmental deal, as his tough guy. Jericho wanted Jake Hager, who is much bigger, had lots of pro wrestling experience and they knew each other and trained at the same MMA gym

Jericho also gave some background on the Mike Tyson angle. Hager said he wrestled Rashad Evans in college which would not be correct since Evans wrestled at 174 at Michigan and Hager at heavyweight for Oklahoma. They were contemporaries. Evans was a senior in 2003 and competed at the 2002 and 2003 NCAA tournament. Hager was a senior in 2006 and competed at the 2005 and 2006 NCAA tournament. The original plan was for Tyson to knock out Sammy Guevara in the brawl, but that changed. The actual plan was for only Evans, Vitor Belfort, Tyson and Henry Cejudo to come out and not any of the other guys. But Tyson was doing what he wanted and he brought other guys out. Jericho was pissed about actor Mickey Gooch Jr., coming out. If you watch the replay of it, you can see Jericho going after Gooch and trying to throw him out of there. Jericho also mentioned the Hager, Adam Page and Kenny Omega bar fight was done in one take. They put baby oil all over the bar so Page would slide on it when Hager threw him but it didn’t work as well as hoped for. He also said by the time they did the Omega-Guevara finish it was raining badly. He also said the fire marshal was there and not happy about all the explosives and pyro being used

Cena made a $1 million donation to the Black Life Matter Foundation. Some people talk the talk or say what is convenient without walking the walk. Cena goes much farther than just walking the walk. Some people will say he’s rich and all, and he is well off obviously, but even for him, that is a very significant amount of money

Mahal underwent knee surgery this past week in Birmingham. Originally it was scheduled to be minor surgery but the damage ended up being more significant than expected. There was a report regarding a McIntyre vs. Mahal program that had to be scrapped. There was talk due to the dearth of top heels of doing one match since they have the storyline of being former partners (although bringing that period up kind of reminds people of just how low on the totem pole both were for years) but not a long-term program

There are a lot of different versions of what happened that led to the firing of Christopher DeJoseph. The consistent stories is that he was on a Zoom conference call with Stan Stansky, the Senior Vice President of Creative Services, and Kevin Moore, the Senior Vice President of E-Commerce and Venue Merchandise. Essentially he said things that he shouldn’t have and according to some versions came off to them in a bad way, and Vince McMahon found out and that was it

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. NXT Takeover In Your House; 2. Ric Flair: The Final Farewell; 3. Best of The Nexus; 4. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode three; 5. NXT Takeover pre-game show; 6. Masked Impostors; 7. Money in the Bank 2020; 8. Raw Talk for 6/8; 9. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode two; 10. WrestleMania 35. The regular NXT show from 6/3 did not crack the top 15

Damian Rey 2.0

06-12-2020, 07:30 PM

https://i.redd.it/th9n2xeo5mr41.jpg

Even if he has to cut back a bit on the high risk/acrobatic moveset, I think this might workwell for him. He looks like a million bucks at this size.

Mr. Nerfect

06-13-2020, 05:20 PM

Come on, MLW.

Emperor Smeat

06-16-2020, 09:50 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw, with a post-Backlash bump and a show-long tease of the return to the ring of Christian, plus Ric Flair and Big Show returning and a more loaded third hour, averaged 1.94 million viewers, the best number since the day after WrestleMania, even beating the night Becky Lynch announced her pregnancy.

The 0.53 rating in 18-49 was identical to last week even though it was a strong 12 percent increase in viewers overall. The real gains from last week were with teenagers and those over the age of 50.

While the open was strong, the show kept its viewers through tons of talking and angles better than any Raw episode in a long time, with the second hour beating the first and the third hour only being down seven percent from the first.

The show was down 13 percent from the same week last year and 25 percent in 18-49, both numbers better than the show had been doing ...

The three hours were:
8 p.m. 1.98 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.00 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.84 million viewers

NJPW has announced four additional events that will be part of their July schedule.

The promotion will return to Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for a New Japan Road event on Monday, July 20. Sengoku Lord will then take place at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya on Saturday, July 25. NJPW will be back at Korakuen Hall on Monday, July 27 and Friday, July 31 for Summer Struggle 2020 shows ...

Fans will be allowed to attend the four shows, but the venues will be at a reduced capacity. "All events will take place with strict measures to counteract the spread of COVID-19. Thoroughly check our event policy," NJPW wrote.

NJPW noted that further events will be announced upon careful monitoring of the developing global situation with the coronavirus pandemic.

WWE is dismissing allegations stemming from recent claims made by an ex-WWE star regarding last year’s Crown Jewel event.

Jerry McDevitt on behalf of WWE issued the following statement to Forbes:

After the Court appointed a third law firm to be lead counsel, WWE provided all three law firms with specific detailed facts from the persons with actual knowledge of the situation, including the phony allegation about the plane. The first two law firms then dropped their lawsuits to avoid sanction motions, but the third firm chose to ignore the specific facts they had been provided, and instead cited an unnamed disgruntled former wrestler with no knowledge of the facts. WWE is preparing its response to the lawsuit and will be moving to have it dismissed.

The claims were made in one of several recent lawsuits by WWE shareholders, who argue that WWE has made misleading statements regarding their business dealings with Saudi Arabia.

In one of these lawsuits, a former employee identified as CW-2, who performed for WWE from 2012 to April 2020, was initally told that the flight had been delayed. When he spoke to a stewardess, they were quoted as saying that “it seems someone doesn’t want us to leave the country.”

CW-2 also recalled seeing guards wearing “black militia attire” staring at the wrestlers on board.

He was also told by the Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Vince McMahon had gotten into an argument over payments regarding the last event held in Saudi Arabia, Super Showdown. As a result, McMahaon cut the live feed for the Crown Jewel event, which had made the Crown Prince upset.

Bloomberg.com is reporting that the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island will be shuttered indefinitely ...

WWE has been run the venue for decades, dating back to the early 1970s when the Coliseum opened. The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event was taped in the venue and the second Wrestlemania had it's New York portion featuring Mr. T boxing Roddy Piper hosted there. The venue also hosted a number of PPVs over the years, including Summerslam 2002 which saw Shawn Michaels return to the ring against HHH, Brock Lesnar win his first WWE championship and was one of the best top to bottom WWE shows ever. The Coliseum also hosted Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987 and 1988 including JCP's first-ever PPV, the Bunkhouse Stampede in January 1987. JCP last ran the venue in April 1988.

The Coliseum was shut down in 2015 with WWE running a farewell Raw taping that saw Vince McMahon pay tribute to the venue. It was remodeled and reopened in 2017 with WWE returning for TV tapings and live events. They last ran the venue in July 2019

With today's TV taping canceled, WWE is testing everyone for COVID-19 today. They are rotating everyone. We are told that this was a legitimate COVID-19 test via the nose ...

Yesterday's taping at the PC covered yesterday's Raw, this Friday's Smackdown and this weekend's edition of Main Event. There were invited fans at the taping yesterday, which has to be worst timing ever.

If/when they resume tapings, WWE would tape next week's episodes of Raw, Smackdown, Main Event and two weeks of 205 Live. The hope is to resume tomorrow but that would be pending an all clear from today's COVID-19 testing. Since all signs are this is the first time the majority of those being tested have actually taken a COVID-19 test, there's no telling what the results will be.
That last line is the scary part since WWE wasn't doing any real testing for the virus until today, even after they had the first confirmed positive test during Mania tapings and started doing crowds for their shows. Temperature checks are the least effective test for actually discovering who has and doesn't have the virus.

ESPN has an extensive article up about the closing of Vince McMahon’s rebooted XFL football league. The league ceased operations on April 10th and the majority of the league’s staff had been laid off. The ESPN article takes a look at how the COVID-19 pandemic may or may not have been the reason for the collapse of the league, how the WWE factored into the situation and several interviews were conducted with former XFL employees to get their thoughts about how everything unfolded.

Vince McMahon and Oliver declined to do an interview for the piece but it’s noted in the article that prior to WrestleMania 36, Vince McMahon began making plans for the mass layoffs/furloughs that WWE made on April 15th.

“The XFL’s shared services agreement with the WWE also had raised eyebrows within the XFL offices, which were regularly interacting with WWE counterparts. In December 2019, the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System filed a shareholders lawsuit seeking information about the exact nature of the relationship between WWE and the XFL, and whether McMahon or other senior officers might have diminished the WWE by diverting some of its resources to the XFL. The suit was dropped this spring.

The WWE managed to resume content production amid the pandemic, airing a fanless but well-received WrestleMania 36 on April 4-5. McMahon was already working on plans for a series of WWE layoffs, furloughs and other cost-cutting moves designed to stabilize the company for an extended period of lower revenues. They were announced April 15. And according to Forbes magazine, McMahon’s net worth has dropped by $1 billion, from $2.9 billion to $1.9 billion, in the past year.”

Randy Mueller, who was the Director of Player Personnel for the Houston Roughnecks spoke to ESPN and stated that everyone knew the failed AAF football league was “smoke and mirrors” but with Vince McMahon, everyone involved in the new venture was aware that McMahon has money and didn’t think he would step away from the $200 million that was already put into the league ...

For the many XFL staff members that were cut, they were offered COBRA insurance benefits, but their dental and vision plans were cut this month. Those individuals, along with many creditors are in bankruptcy court to attempt to recover what was left on their contracts on April 10th.

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated following his successful title defense on the 6/15 edition of RAW. Before Paul Levesque called McIntyre about returning to the WWE in 2017, McIntyre planned on going to New Japan Pro-Wrestling to mix it up with the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay.

“Before Hunter called me to come back to WWE, the place I was going next was Japan. My style would be perfect there and I could learn so much. The two opponents on the top of my list were Tanahashi and Okada. Ospreay would be great, as well. I wrestled him outside of WWE in a couple of my favorite matches. But still, I have to go with Tanahashi and Okada.”

FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Hardwood) did an interview with Bleacher Report Live to discuss their arrival in All Elite Wrestling and some of the memorable moments from their runs in WWE. Cash Wheeler reflected on one of those moments and the trio of Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods was a part of said moment[s]. Wheeler recalled that whenever he and Dax Harwood wrestled New Day, the two teams always tried to get one another to break character.

“I don’t know. I mean, there’s a lot so it’s hard to pinpoint any of them. I’m never gonna be able to pinpoint one but I know some of the most fun we had on the main roster amongst ourselves and with other guys would be like when we worked with The New Day and we’d have some really, really fun and good matches on live events with these guys but, there’s also like this underlying contest to see who could make the others break the most. So like, I would be looking at Big E from across the ring just trying to give him the widest eyes that I could, just hoping he would catch it and every time he would finally see it, it would just break him but, those guys are so fun and so good and just getting them to break a little bit or — they get me to break all the time. Dax? Not so much. He can keep a pretty straight face but I break so easy.”

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted a number of wrestling promotions across the globe and one of those promotions is EVOLVE. The last time that EVOLVE hosted a show was on March 1st which was EVOLVE 146 that was headlined by an AR Fox versus Josh Briggs match. Per a report from PWTorch, the promotion has no plans to run events going forward as they are going on hiatus.

PWTorch obtained a private Facebook message board post from EVOLVE VP of talent relations, creative and marketing, Gabe Sapolsky. Sapolsky sent the message out to members of the EVOLVE roster. Sapolsky reportedly told the roster that he is going to delete the private Facebook board because there are no plans to run EVOLVE events going forward. PWTorch confirmed that the screenshot is legit, by way of WWN management and members of the EVOLVE roster.

WWN will continue to operate, but EVOLVE is going on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the aforementioned Facebook message, Sapolsky told the roster that this is just a “fork in the road” and encouraged talent to stay in touch with him.
Think David Bixenspan was the first to debunk rumors of WWN was filing for bankruptcy and selling off EVOLVE to WWE. Latest scoop from him is WWN is currently in the process of splitting into several different companies.

On June 3rd, Bushiroad made the announcement that both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Wonder Ring STARDOM were in the process of starting shows back up. New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s events are already under way and they are in the beginning stages of the New Japan Cup tournament and will have their first show with fans in attendance on July 11th. As for STARDOM, it was announced today via the promotion’s social media platforms that they will be back in action on June 21st.

Vince McMahon reportedly looks at Angel Garza and sees a young version of a WWE Hall of Famer.

Angel Garza quickly moved from being the NXT Cruiserweight Champion to being a part of the Monday Night Raw brand. While that all happened because of happenstance and Andrade getting suspended for 30 days, Angel Garza is now being viewed as a potential future key player in WWE.

According to a report by Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Vince McMahon sees a younger version of Eddie Guerrero in Angel Garza. On the surface, there are some basic similarities. both have a strong knack for in-ring ability, exude comfort on the microphone, and both are of Mexican descent.

Prior to his tragic death in 2005, Eddie Guerrero became the first Mexican WWE Champion in history and Vince McMahon was one of the very first people to congratulate Guerrero on his victory in February of 2004.

Angel Garza was called up to the brand by former WWE Raw Executive Director, Paul Heyman and Fightful Select exclusively reported that prior to being moved up to Raw, the only thing Vince McMahon knew about Angel Garza was that he was the cousin of Humberto Carrillo.
I'd believe it when I see it considering the long line of Eddie and Rey successors over the years that WWE viewed favorable at first only to get bored or lose all interest afterwards.

On Monday's Raw, WWE allowed some extra personnel into the building. Along with the usual Performance Center recruits, WWE had non-employees in the crowd as well.

The non-PC recruits were friends of the roster.

According to Louis Dangoor of WrestleTalk, WWE talent didn't know that non-roster members would be allowed inside the Performance Center for the show.

Rusev talked about Impact's showing a Bulgarian flag in its Slammiversary commercial as a tease he's coming, not confirming or denying anything, saying: “As I said, any Bulgarian can go and debut. They may have another kid from Bulgaria. I keep saying that. Could be anybody. Look, I don't know why you think it's me. I understand why you think it's me, but I can't confirm or deny. Or I don't wanna confirm or deny. Maybe they wanna pay me a million dollars for one match. Who knows? Maybe I'll come in.” You can watch the clip here.

One question we continue to receive quite a bit at PWInsider.com is whether Drake Maverick's WWE release had always been a work.

The quick is answer is no. PWInsider.com is told that Maverick was not aware he was going to be offered a new deal until the day his Cruiserweight Championship tournament was filmed at the WWE Performance Center.

While there will always be some who assume the release was a work, it's important to point out that on 5/27, Maverick had filed trademark applications for "Rockstar Spud" and "Spud", the ring names he utilized in Impact Wrestling and internationally before he signed with WWE. So, as late as the end of May, Maverick was preparing for a future after a WWE exit.

Maverick is instead now part of the NXT brand with the trademarks for Spud now officially in his pocket if he needs it down the line.

The finish to Nia Jax vs. RAW Women's Champion Asuka at Sunday's WWE Backlash pay-per-view was reportedly changed the day of the show, according to Wrestling Observer Radio.

It's believed that original plans had Asuka pinning Jax to retain, but they ended up with a double count out finish after brawling on the outside of the ring. There's no word yet on why the finish was changed.
The Observer provided an update afterwards saying it was due to WWE officials wanting to keep Nia looking strong due to the lack of big name female stars and heels on the RAW brand.

TPWW Frontpage:

Class-Action Lawsuit Against WWE Over WWE Stocks and Saudi Deal Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/class-action-lawsuit-against-wwe-over-wwe-stocks-and-saudi-deal-update/)
NJPW: New Japan Cup 2020 Night 1 Results, Secret Tapings Held in the U.S., Kazuchika Okada (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/njpw-new-japan-cup-2020-night-1-results-secret-tapings-held-in-the-u-s-kazuchika-okada/)
WWE Reportedly Prevented People in the Crowd From Wearing Face Masks (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-reportedly-prevented-people-in-the-crowd-from-wearing-masks/)
Some Real Fans Were in Attendance at Tonight’s Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/some-real-fans-were-in-attendance-at-tonights-raw/)
WWE Developmental Wrestler Tests Positive for COVID-19, Tuesday’s Tapings Canceled (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-developmental-wrestler-tests-positive-for-covid-19-tuesdays-tapings-canceled/)
WWE Working on Plans to Hold Shows in Other Venues With Fans By Late Summer (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-working-on-plans-to-hold-shows-in-other-venues-with-fans-by-late-summer/)

* Smeat's note: Not doing any sheet reports for at least the next two Wednesdays. Rather use the extra time to relax and get other stuff done than having to cram watching NJPW shows in the afternoon, the usual stuff for the frontpage, my usual daily web surfing and stuff, and getting a sheets report done all before AEW's show starts. Even worse if I oversleep like usual which means less time to do everything.

Emperor Smeat

06-18-2020, 09:34 PM

The Sheets:

In the wake of indie wrestler David Starr being accused of sexual assault, several independent wrestling companies have stripped him of their titles or announced intentions to not work with him again.

On Thursday, Ireland's OTT tweeted that their championship is now vacant, RevPro tweeted their Southside title is now vacant, and TNT Extreme Wrestling tweeted they have also stripped Starr (real name Max Barsky) of their title.

A Twitter user named Tori shared her story earlier this week, saying the 29-year-old sexually assaulted and abused her, prompting another woman to share her experience.

Since the accusation, Starr tweeted several times that he is not a sexual predator, but that he was "an emotionally immature d*ckhead", denying doing what Tori claims and that he was "an awful partner." He said if this means the end of wrestling for him, he's fine with that, but he isn't going on the offensive. "No matter what I say, I'm the bad guy. No pity party. It is what it is," he tweeted.

World Wrestling Entertainment has re-hired Producer Pat Buck, who was back working on both Raw and Smackdown this week in Orlando.

Buck had been among those let go by the company during their cost-cutting back in April. There had been discussions within at least one company about bringing Buck in as a Producer, but with WWE bringing him back into the fold, that talk has obviously ceased.

Buck was originally hired in August 2019 and has been running Wrestle Pro promotion and the Create-A-Pro wrestling school with Curt Hawkins for several years.

There is no confirmed word yet whether any of the other WWE Producers released have also returned to the company.

Paul Heyman's ousting one week ago was a hot topic among wrestlers across all WWE brands.

Fightful spoke to a dozen wrestlers about Paul Heyman's replacement in his spot on WWE Raw as it was revealed Bruce Prichard would be heading up that branch, too. We've heard from a variety of performers both in and out of WWE, with responses landing all over the map. General disappointment and surprise from some, to others indicating they could see the writing on the wall of late. It should be noted that nobody we've talked to said that they knew of the change before WWE announced it on Twitter.

We were told numerous stars that Paul Heyman was instrumental in promoting along the way during his Executive Director role. Drew McIntyre was the primary name, who was said to have been groomed long before his Rumble win and protected for his main roster push ...

Heyman was said to have specifically wanted to build the Raw brand around future stars. There was a lighthearted joke backstage that Raw was built around the "catering crew" instead of the "Smackdown Six" this time, because AOP, Zelina, Andrade, Humberto Carrillo, Aleister Black, Andrade and Buddy Murphy were all relegated to Smackdown catering areas the year before and were hardly used on WWE TV. Specifically, we're told Heyman pushed to get Buddy Murphy on Raw, and was willing to pass on star power to get him. Apollo Crews was later added to that list.

On the other hand, Ricochet and Cedric Alexander were talents that Heyman wanted to continue trying with, but Vince McMahon had pulled the plug on their pushes. Street Profits and Liv Morgan were also people that he fought for.

Younger wrestlers we've spoken to were particularly disappointed, as Heyman was well known for wanting new blood on his shows.

In a follow up, none of the wrestlers or staff we've spoken to has heard blatantly why the replacement was made, but have heard that it was Vince McMahon's decision ...

The talent reactions to Paul Heyman and WWE kept rolling in after that. One said that he was open to hearing ideas and pitches, and talking storylines, even during the wee hours of the night, and said that if that's how he was with everyone else, there's a good chance he was overwhelmed ...

You may have heard Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Radio say on his show recently that Paul Heyman and AJ Styles had creative differences that led to Styles being "traded" to the Smackdown side. Dave Meltzer noted that it was due to issues with Paul Heyman, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and their fates.

When asking around about what those differences could have been, at least two on the Raw side of things believe that it stemmed from Heyman not seeing the value in Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows that Styles saw, which could have led to Anderson and Gallows being on the chopping block and released. AJ was said to have been very upset by their firings, which isn't much of a surprise, but particularly considering his somber reaction when speaking about it a few weeks later. The word "furious" was used by multiple wrestlers. Styles only worked one Raw match after their firing.

Gabe Sapolsky has given an update on those awaiting refunds for WWNLive events that were put on hold or canceled.

On Twitter, Sapolsky said some refunds have been issued for those who previously bought tickets to events that never took place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In addition, the rest of the refunds are going to be made within the next two weeks.

"We just got an update from Etix. They’ve made some refunds. The rest will be made in the next week or two. They are working on them and everyone will be refunded. My deepest apologies it is taking this long. I’m not going to make any excuses, but I assure you this has been the foremost thing on our minds and we are doing everything we can to get this done as quickly as possible. I understand if you are angry and upset. You will be made whole if you are owed a refund. Be safe & well," Sapolsky wrote on Twitter.

Some of the events that were canceled, included events taking place during WrestleMania 36 week, but all wrestling events that were scheduled to be a part of the week were called off. WrestleMania 36 was planned to take place at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, but was then moved to the WWE Performance Center as a two-day show.

There's no word on when WWNLive events will resume.

Four years after their first interview, Flash Morgan Webster welcomed Tegan Nox onto his ‘Wrestling Friends’ podcast. Tegan and Flash discussed Tegan’s knee injury that she suffered during the 2018 Mae Young Classic that kept her out of action until June of 2019. It has been reported that Nox was scheduled to go to the finals of the 2018 Mae Young Classic but she confirmed it during the interview. The finals of the tourney took place at Evolution where Toni Storm defeated Io Shirai.

“Yeah. That’s what made everything that much more heartbreaking for me. I don’t know how much I can say but, definitely going to the finals, and I think knowing that the finals would be at Evolution and I think the most heartbreaking thing was knowing that Molly Holly was gonna be there. I’d get to wrestle in front of Molly Holly and have her watch my match. I think that’s what was such a heartbreaking — thinking I was gonna go wrestle Toni [Storm] who [when] the last time we had wrestled in front of maybe 15, 20 people? And that’s a push to wrestling at the first-ever women’s Evolution in front of thousands and also in front of a ton of legends. It was heartbreaking. I think that’s more so than the injury was not getting that opportunity.”

Referee Aubrey Edwards joined Chris Jericho on the ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast. Aubrey revealed that she is working on the AEW video game with Kenny Omega and while the game is in its infancy, she and Omega have been discussing what they want out of the game.

“I’m working on the AEW video game. I can’t actually talk too much about it. I don’t know what I can say. I mean, we’re very, very early on, there’s a lot of things that we’re talking about. I talk to Kenny a lot about what he wants out of it, but it’s definitely a ways out. I’m not gonna put a number on it because I don’t want the internet to get mad at me but…”

Aubrey spoke about Michael Nakazawa’s contributions to AEW. With multiple women in AEW’s women’s division having Japanese as their first language and in the process of learning English, Aubrey said that Nakazawa has been a massive help in regard to being that bridge of communication backstage.

“Its been interesting because a lot of the match planning involves Kenny and Nakazawa translating. So, it’s a little bit more heavy just because there’s that extra layer to it. But, I don’t know if people know but that’s a big reason Nakazawa is here. He does translating while match planning and it’s hugely helpful. I don’t know how we would do what we do without him.”

Ahead of the next chapter of The Undertaker’s ‘Last Ride’ docu-series, he chatted with Corey Graves on the After The Bell podcast. Undertaker and Corey discussed Randy Orton and Edge’s match from Backlash that was promoted as the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever”. Undertaker said the match brought a tear to his eye because it reminded him of what wrestling used to be and spoke about how wrestling has changed over the years from his perspective.

“Prime example, last night, Backlash, Edge and Randy, honestly, it almost brought a tear to my eye because I haven’t seen that kind of wrestling match in so long and I understand time parameters and everything else so they had a lot of time but my gosh, what a story they told. An unbelievable story and I sent Edge a text today, ‘Like the next time I go to the P.C. and work with guys, I’m gonna pull that tape up and show these guys and dissect it.’ Not that it’ll be dissected 100 times by then, but just the little nuances of the things those two guys did last night, it was phenomenal and it restored so much faith in where I think the business should be and could be. But that tape right there, that needs to be studied by our main roster guys. That’s what professional wrestling is, or is supposed to be is what they did last night, in my opinion and it’s great to be able to be as athletic as all these guys are, but really at the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything because when you rely on all that athleticism and you rely solely on your athleticism, you continuously push the envelope to our audience, because they’re gonna get desensitized to the double back flip off the top onto to somebody onto the floor. They’re gonna see it a couple of times and then they’re gonna go, ‘Okay, I’ve seen that. Now what do you got for me?’ So what happens is, you have to continually push the envelope athletically which puts you at a higher risk for injury.”

All Elite Wrestling’s Q.T. Marshall joined The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Q.T. currently runs the Nightmare Factory wrestling school and he used to be a part of Danny Cage’s Monster Factory school. One of the trainees that came through the Monster Factory is Matt Riddle and Q.T. spoke about what he saw in Riddle early on in Riddle’s career.

“He was like a prodigy, right? Because he was a giant fan of pro wrestling so that helps, and he wasn’t really getting smashed in the face like he was in UFC so, he was really easy to coach, he was a little knucklehead-ish with some of the stuff that he did back then but, he’s a good kid and I remember meeting him at a Ring of Honor camp and kinda pulling him aside because Danny [Cage] had kinda given me the heads up that he came by the Monster Factory first. I said, ‘Hey, if you really wanna learn, come to the Monster Factory. We’ll teach you the right way and then you’d find your own spin’ and he ended up working with EVOLVE but, 2015, I think he was about four months into training. I had like an 18-minute match on the fly, didn’t call anything and he was a natural, so he was gonna make it no matter what. It was just a matter of him finding the right connection and all that other stuff so…”

Deonna Purrazzo was a guest on Busted Open Radio with David LaGreca and Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer asked Deonna to describe the difference between the feel and aura of the NXT locker room versus the IMPACT Wrestling locker room. Here was Deonna’s response:

“Everyone at IMPACT is people that I’ve known from before I went to NXT. Kind of people that I got to know as I was coming up and has kinda seen me in every stage of my life and they’ve just been so welcoming and everyone was so happy, whether they’re actually happy or not but seem to be happy that I was in the locker room and just wanted me to feel apart and feel comfortable and not be on eggshells and I think I never got to that point in NXT. I never got to the point of, ‘I’m comfortable in my position here and I know that others want me to succeed.’ So just that environment of feeling welcomed and feeling like everyone wants me to do well and everyone understands who I am and understands what I’m about and kind of how I see wrestling and how I see myself fitting into the picture here, was like the most liberating and freeing and the best feeling that I wanted when I came back and went somewhere.”
In like 2 weeks, Impact managed to make Deonna feel more special and a big deal star than NXT ever did during her whole time there.

AXS TV and Women of Wrestling have parted ways.

Shannon Walsh of Pro Sports Extra first reported that AXS TV has canceled WOW Superheroes as the television company wants to focus on its relationship with IMPACT Wrestling. Walsh reports that WOW plans on taping again in Los Angeles in the fall -- though the coronavirus pandemic could change plans -- and will announce a new distribution deal at that time.

Anthem, the parent company for IMPACT Wrestling, bought AXS TV in September 2019, which helped provide IMPACT with a new television home. AXS TV previously aired WOW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Anthem CCO Ed Nordholm said at the time that programming would not change, but AXS and NJPW parted ways in December 2019 and AXS also canceled Legacy Fighting Alliance shortly after the deal between Anthem and AXS was made.

The final episode of WOW Superheroes aired on November 23, 2019. The show ran for two seasons on AXS TV. The show featured IMPACT stars such as Kiera Hogan, Tessa Blanchard, Havok and Nevaeh.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings will sign an executive order requiring all residents to wear a face mask in public. The order will go into effect on Saturday and last for an indefinite amount of time. Employees of businesses must wear a face covering at all times.

Orange County reported 212 coronavirus cases Thursday, setting a daily record for new cases.

The WWE Performance Center is located in Orange County and has come under scrutiny regarding face masks. WWE has allowed PC recruits to act as the audience during its weekly shows and this past week, friends and family of roster members were allowed inside the Performance Center as well. Those in the audience do not wear face masks on television.

WWE put out a statement saying, "Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required."

It remains to be seen if WWE performers will begin wearing face masks on television.

WWE’s Music-based YouTube channel uploaded audio of Io Shirai’s theme song
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tbTwzMZ3u1k" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Signs Ricky Starks and Abadon (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/aew-signs-ricky-starks-and-abadon/)
Impact Teases Return of EC3 and “At Least One Former World Champion” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/impact-teases-return-of-ec3-and-at-least-one-former-world-champion/)
Mustafa Ali Reportedly Moved to Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/mustafa-ali-reportedly-moved-to-raw/)
WWE: When Mass Releases Were Planned, More on Fans Allowed at Tapings, Backstage Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-when-mass-releases-were-planned-more-on-fans-allowed-at-tapings-backstage-ratings/)
New Shows Coming: R-Truth Game Show, Miz Game Show, “Young Rock” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/new-shows-coming-r-truth-game-show-miz-game-show-young-rock/)
Kevin Owens Opts Out of Raw Taping Due to COVID-19 Concerns (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/kevin-owens-opts-out-of-raw-taping-due-to-covid-19-concerns/)

drave

06-19-2020, 09:22 AM

That entrance theme is pretty damn good.

Emperor Smeat

06-19-2020, 05:22 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

A positive COVID-19 test of a WWE wrestler led to issues with television tapings this week and the company for the first time testing all its talent and key staff that works the tapings on 6/16 ...

The performer who tested positive was a female wrestler in NXT who has not been used on television. She has been one of the fans in the crowd, and was last used in that role on 6/9.

No positive test results have been reported so hopefully nobody else was infected by her.

WWE had only been taking the temperature of people coming in, as well as asking them if they had any COVID symptoms. Of all the sports running, WWE was believed to be the only one not testing. They were able to get by with it due to a number of factors, including lack of unionization of talent, lack of regulation of pro wrestling in Florida, and mainstream sports media and general media lack of interest or care about wrestlers because they are not considered sports or athletes.

On 6/16, WWE tested many in the morning, and many others later. They tested wrestlers, staff, some people listed as family and friends such as a number of fans who were well known as Full Sail NXT regulars that were being allowed to attend the shows going forward.

The 6/15 Raw and Smackdown tapings were the first where fans, basically family and friends, were allowed to attend. There was concern of talent because instead of those under contract, there would be people that were not working for the company allowed into the small building as part of the group gathering.

In addition, for fans who wanted to come, many contacted us and other media members saying they were told that wearing masks during the taping of the show would not be allowed. This was as the COVID case numbers in Florida were rising.

Some had said they were told the WWE did not want anyone wearing masks on television. Another person said that they were told that they would prefer fans not to wear masks and if people were uncomfortable being in a group without masks they shouldn’t come.

John Alba, a Florida reporter who covers WWE, said that fans at the event denied this to them. However, there was nobody with a mask on at the tapings.

The company released a statement after news broke that many fans believed that masks would not be allowed, and the fact was, nobody was in the building on camera in a mask except for Catalina Garcia from Chile, whose gimmick is that she’s a masked woman wrestler.

“Fans have not been in attendance at WWE events since March 13. Yesterday, a select number of friends and family were permitted to attend WWE’s TV production. These individuals were required to participate in medical screenings prior to entering the closed set at our training facility, and were kept apart from in-ring performers and production personnel. Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required.”

The company did get criticized for this statement, particularly when the news media ran photos of The Street Profits dancing with fans in close proximity, and from watching, while fans, who were all standing rather than in chairs, while not on top of each other, like with AEW, they weren’t six feet apart at all times either ...

Paul Levesque had defended the lack of testing by saying that the tests aren’t accurate enough and that at the time he made the statement a few weeks ago, what they had been doing was working since aside from the case in March, nobody else affiliated with taping of WWE television had tested positive.

But as soon as somebody tested positive, WWE pretty much had to have everyone tested. They were all tested using the nasal swab method, which is considered superior to the antibodies test, but is said to be less reliable than the throat swab tests that UFC uses, although some have believed that the nasal test when done by someone who is skilled at administering the test or more reliable than the throat swab. UFC switched from nasal to throat based on the idea the throat swab is the more accurate of the two.

What will be notable is that Orange County, in Florida, where WWE tapes, due to increases in cases, is now requiring masks.

On 6/18 Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said every person in the county must wear a mask, an effort to try to stem a resurgence of the coronavirus ...

The order goes into effect on 6/20, meaning it will be in place for the 6/26 tapings.

People are allowed to take their masks off to eat and drink, but must wear them as they enter restaurants or clubs. All employees working at businesses must wear them at all times. The only exemption would be people outdoors who are exercising ...

In Orange County, they set a record with 212 new cases on 6/18, with the median age of the cases being 29.

There is no answer at this point regarding WWE televison tapings will be getting an exemption from this ordinance ...

It is not known when the wrestler found out and told WWE officials they had tested positive. Unlike the first positive test, which was by a non-wrestling performer who appeared on the WrestleMania tapings, and then took several weeks off, the talent was told immediately in a company memo. Talent was aware of the name of the person who did not ask to be kept confidential. It was nearly a week before that story broke when reporter Sean Sapp got a copy of the memo, and asked WWE, and WWE released a statement to all reporters at the time.

In this case, WWE released the statement and the talent found out about this on social media. The name was not released to talent although many believed they knew the name since the name was bandied about.

Only one performer that we are aware of, Kevin Owens, did not come back for the 6/17 tapings. Owens’ wife’s grandfather passed away about three weeks ago fo COVID-19, so it was a major issue in his family. There are some others who haven’t been around, some NXT talent that went home, as well as Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns and Riddick Moss. They were all told it was their choice and wouldn’t be held against them.

Owens was told the same thing and it was expected he would be returning for the 6/29 tapings, because at that point it would be 20 days since the person who tested positive was in the building. Obviously everything is up in the air in the event new positives are discovered ...

A lot of WWE talent was concerned because on 6/17 the story broke that 132 employees that worked at the Orlando Airport, which the non-Florida talent flies in and out of, had tested positive for COVID-19. This is not a recent number but a total number since March.

A week after the departure of Paul Heyman from WWE creative, it appears that it wasn’t so much, as in the past, any kind of a blow-up, but simply a philosophical change that led to it.

Heyman had been going with the idea of rebuilding Raw around creating his own group of stars. When the new rosters were being put together before Smackdown went to FOX, and when Eric Bischoff was still in charge, there was a legitimate draft or trade or negotiations between the two regarding talent. In that, Heyman allowed Bischoff to take two of the biggest stars of the Raw brand, Bray Wyatt, who had been pushed the hardest and was Universal champion, and Braun Strowman, but in exchange wanted people like Aleister Black, wife Zelina Vega, Andrade, Charlotte Flair and Buddy Murphy in particular.

Vince McMahon had sold the Raw ratings decline to stockholders as the same thing, a rebuilding phase. Heyman when he started told people it would be 18 to 24 months before the new roster mix would start to show consistent results. But two things happened. The pandemic basically slowed down that timeline of getting people over, because nobody new was organically going to get over in the sterile environment with no fans ...

One thing notable is that even though ratings were at consistent all-time lows, the USA Network was behind the changes as they were convinced the rebuilding had to take place with a largely aging roster on top. Evidently those at the network did not find out much ahead of the rest of the world of the change, and were not happy with the news ...

Make no mistake about it, both Raw and Smackdown are, and have always been, Vince McMahon’s shows. That won’t change now. If you follow the booking, Bruce Prichard presents shows and ideas knowing what McMahon likes. Heyman was attempting to build his own new crew, that would be loyal to him, and trying to keep the casualty count low when McMahon would routinely lose interest in the newer wrestlers. The most obvious casualty counts were Ricochet, Shayna Baszler, Cedric Alexander and Humberto Carrillo, who McMahon pretty much took off Raw of late. Heyman was able to protect Black better than most, and Apollo Crews, who was in catering for the most part on Smackdown did an injury angle which bided him some time. Austin Theory and Murphy were aligned with Seth Rollins, which gave them protection ...

Most people we heard from in the company felt like Heyman’s days were numbered dating back a few weeks. It wasn’t any specific thing, past not seeing what Heyman saw in some characters and the ratings and ratings patterns weren’t good.

As far as the talent went, it was a mixed bag. For those Heyman was pushing, they were pretty much all nervous, because, aside from the obvious people whose futures seemed guaranteed strong, Randy Orton, Charlotte Flair, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, most owed their pushes to him. Others, who were not getting television time and in that group, were not as happy with him.

It had been pretty clear that Orton and A.J. Styles, and to a lesser extent Rollins, were there to give rubs and feud with younger talent. But circumstances led to the planned programs falling apart due to WrestleMania and the big picture. The crew Heyman wanted to push as the young stars, Carrillo, Alexander, Black and Ricochet were unable to get planned wins and in some cases the U.S. title because once the direction of WrestleMania came, particularly with Styles working with Undertaker and Orton with Edge, beating either of them went out the window. And given the big picture, it had to until after Mania.

Styles was then moved to Smackdown. There were issues with Styles and Heyman and different people will tell different stories. It had to do with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows being fired. Styles was extremely upset about it. It was a McMahon decision, and this turned into the classic post-demotion or being let go wrestler interview of “Vince always liked me but that (Jim Ross, J.J. Dillon, John Laurinaitis, pick your name) hated me and screwed me over.” After three decades you’d think the pattern would be obvious. Perhaps Heyman could have argued with McMahon over it, but in the end, even if he had, the end result would have been the same ...

Not only did Raw have a new look this week, but so did NXT, which was patterned with similar changes to Raw, which may mean Vince McMahon has a belief that this is what is needed across the board.

NXT felt like this week’s Raw or Smackdown, with the vomiting angle, shorter matches, and vandalizing babyfaces cars. It’s either the people in NXT copying main roster thinking that’s the change needed, or more likely, the overseer believing these changes are necessary to bring up numbers and beat AEW. For a while it felt like NXT was on its own path and not really being reactive to AEW except on rare times. Since Mania it was built on Charlotte Flair from the main roster and NXT’s overall numbers declined less than the other shows, but that wasn’t the case in18-49 which dropped badly, so the gains were over 50. So now it looks like a change in the pacing and nature of the show. They are doing a quick build to a NXT vs. North American title winner take all match on 7/8 to go against the main event of Fyter Fest, which was very clearly totally reactive ...

As far as the future of Heyman within the company, he is still under a talent contract. Before being promoted to head Raw, he was at every Raw show producing certain talent and pitching Vince McMahon on the key storylines involving pushing of certain characters, most notably Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey. Exactly how that fits in with the future won’t be known until Lesnar returns. But Lesnar, in the end, will always have a great amount of control of everything he does ... Lesnar has always heavily relied on Heyman when it comes to both business and in-ring stories of his matches.

A key when looking at the ratings is not just the numbers themselves and the pattern, but the audience itself. If the rating decline in 18-49 is greater than that overall, which goes for every show in some form except AEW since the pandemic, it indicates a major above previous level aging of the audience. For NXT in particular, but across all brands, what appears to be a lesser decline is more when the older audience stays steady but the younger audience is down a lot. From November to the present, NXT actually fares the worst with the younger audience and of the WWE shows, Raw fares better than the other two, but quickly, that’s also comparing football season with non-football season. For a fairer comparison, using February to now, NXT fares the best among the WWE shows at maintaining audience and Smackdown fares the worst with 18-49s, but for Smackdown that’s also more notable because 18-49s are going out less on Friday and thus, realistically, it should fare the best of the three.

As far as long-term goes, the pattern of November until now, AEW is down 12.0 percent overall and 22.2 percent in 18-49. NXT is down 17.3 percent overall and 37.0 percent in 18-49. Raw is down 17.4 percent overall and 29.2 percent in 18-49. Smackdown is down 17.5 percent overall and 35.9 percent in 18-49. So while nobody was doing well, and AEW is clearly holding its audience better than WWE, Raw was in the younger demo, the one WWE is losing, clearly doing better than either NXT or Smackdown, while all three were roughly the same 17.3 to 17.5 percent drop overall.

The numbers are a little different when you use the pre-pandemic February as the data point to judge by.

AEW averaged 834,000 viewers in November and 0.36. AEW averaged 876,000 viewers in February and 0.32, so up in viewers and down in the key demo and aging up. The last four weeks they averaged 734,000 viewers and 0.28, so the drop is 16.2 percent in viewers and 12.5 percent in 18-49.

NXT averaged 820,000 viewers in November and 0.27. In February that was 760,000 viewers and 0.24. The last four weeks have been 678,000 viewers and 0.17, so the pandemic drop is 7.3 percent in viewers and 29.2 percent in 18-49. Essentially the show has held up better in viewers but has aged greatly.

Raw averaged in November 2,106,000 viewers and 0.72, and keep in mind Raw is hurt a lot by football. In February, bouncing back from football, it averaged 2,334,000 viewers and 0.74, so good increases although still aging. The last four weeks dropped greatly, to 1,739,000 viewers and 0.51, so the pandemic led to a 26.6 percent viewership drop and 31.1 percent in the key demo.

Smackdown averaged 2,462,000 and 0.78 in November. In February, Smackdown averaged 2,543,000 viewers and 0.75, so viewers were up but the viewership was also aging. The last four weeks have averaged 2,031,000 and 0.50. So the pandemic drop has been 20.1 percent in viewers and 33.3 percent drop in the key demo.

Since the key number right now has to be 18-49 or younger, Raw was faring very slightly better than Smackdown in that demo, skewing older, even with the advantage Smackdown had of being on FOX and with the advantage of far more people at home Friday over the past month as compared with February.

There were two major notes reported by Wrestlenomics regarding the multitude of lawsuits filed against WWE regarding the Middle East situation and misleading stockholders and two confidential witnesses that have come out that are part of changes in the complaint ...

The second is a statement from a former WWE active wrestler who is listed as Confidential Witness No. 2, or CW-2, listing him as working for the company starting in 2012 and working there through April.

The confidential witness was one of the wrestlers who performed on the October 31, 2019, show which was the subject of much controversy regarding the wrestlers being stranded in Saudi Arabia ...

WWE would likely know the identity of the two witnesses since one was the point person for MBC that they were in talks with ...

The wrestler in question, besides the 2012 start date, was one of about a dozen wrestlers on the charter flight to Buffalo that didn’t get there on time for the show. The wrestler also told management he would never go to Saudi Arabia again. He claimed that he heard while on his plane that military police were holding the other wrestlers. He said WWE made comments regarding the story that it was a mechanical failure issue and that WWE denounced the stories that came out as laughable and conspiracies. He said he and another worker at the time went to management and said they wouldn’t go back. We also had heard there was talk about some talent trying to get people to sign a papers saying they wouldn’t go back. It was believed nothing significant transpired from that and as far as the key stars went, on the next show, the same main people, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens were the only major names who didn’t go. Sami Zayn and Aleister Black didn’t go, Zayn due to Saudi Arabia not wanting him there because he was Syrian and Black because somebody, and we don’t know if it was on the WWE side of the Saudi side, felt his tattoos would be seen negatively in Saudi Arabia due to the religious beliefs in the country. The wrestler in question said that other talent also wanted to not go back and claimed WWE threatened the future trajectory of their careers if they refused to go ...

Obviously when it comes to the arguments in the lawsuit, it is the television negotiations that were the key. If there was trouble after the October show, it’s been quelled since WWE has gone back and has been paid for shows they’ve done since. The lawsuit surrounds the idea that WWE misled shareholders and inflated the stock price based on statements without informing stockholders and the market that there were problems in the Middle East. While the situation from the October show was a news story at the time, the fact the deal is still ongoing means that it led to know long-term economic harm or changes in the lucrative deal.

For the second time in its history, the WWE declared a match the greatest of all-time before it took place.

The 6/14 Backlash show from the Performance Center in Orlando was built around Edge vs. Randy Orton, billed ahead of time as the greatest match of all-time ...

While most have long forgotten this, in September 1972, prior to the Pedro Morales vs. Bruno Sammartino WWWF title match at Shea Stadium, Vince McMahon, as an announcer pushed the bout in the weeks leading up to it, not only in the New York market but in other markets that they never advertised Madison Square Garden shows in, telling fans they would see “the greatest wrestling match in our lifetime.” The match was a 65 minute (billed as 75 minute) draw, ending with the 11 p.m. New York State Athletic Commission curfew. As the only time the two met, it was historical, and because of the nature of a face vs. face match, completely different from any match either of them ever had in New York, or really, anywhere. The match got mixed reviews, as those who expected the typical Morales or Sammartino match didn’t get it. Some felt two faces exchanging holds for that long was boring. Others felt it was refreshing. Generally it was viewed as good, but not great. Sammartino also talked of this match as a career highlight only because he was forced to do a totally different style match as usual for a long period of time and felt he pulled it off.

Raw on 6/15 averaged 1,939,000 viewers, the best number for the show since 4/6, the Raw after WrestleMania, which did 2,100,000 viewers. It even beat the 5/11 show’s 1,919,000 viewers which was the show where Becky Lynch announced her pregnancy.

The keys appear to be the PPV bump in the first hour, but also retention through three hours with more angles and talking, less wrestling, and the show-long tease of Christian’s first match in years, Ric Flair appearing live and Big Show returning.

The audience was up 11.6 percent from last week, but in 18-49, the number was identical. The key to the growth was a huge increase in teenage girls and a huge increase in those over 50, plus retaining the over 50 viewers over the three hours far better than usual, which likely ties in with the focus on older performers and Flair, who is a historically big draw to that group, plus Show and Christian who haven’t been around. I don’t believe Christian himself is going to be a ratings changer since Edge hasn’t been, but the show was built around Christian wrestling, whereas Edge never teased an actual television match.

Raw was 12th overall for the night, with the news audience being way down from the past three months. It was fourth among non-news shows. In 18-49, Raw was fifth overall, and beat every news show.

The first-to-third hour overall drop was 7.3 percent, much lower than usual, largely due to a much lower than usual drop of over 50 aged viewers. It also fared better than it has in a long time when compared with last year at the same time, with a 13.2 percent decline in viewers and 25.4 percent drop in 18-49, which in both cases is far better than the show has done in recent months in comparisons ...

The overall first-to-third hour declines were 14.0 percent in women 18-49, 11.6 percent in men 18-49, 12.6 percent in girls 12-17, 27.2 percent with teenage boys and 5.2 percent over 50. The latter is a great improvement over usual while the teenage boys tuning out was far greater than usual.

The first hour did 1,982,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,996,000, the first time since 3/9, the last show in an arena, where the second hour gained viewers, which historically happens most of the time during a normal summer. The third hour did 1,838,000 viewers.

The show did a 0.31 in 12-17 (up 19.2 percent from last week), 0.29 in 18-34 (down 9.4 percent from last week), 0.77 in 35-49 (up 4.1 percent from last week) and 0.95 in 50+ (up 15.9 percent from last week).

Smackdown on 6/11 did a 1.35 rating and 2,065,000 viewers (a low 1.27 viewers per home), the best numbers for ratings and viewers since 4/17. Most likely the increase had to do with the long build for the A.J. Styles vs. Daniel Bryan IC title match as well as lack of competition since every other network show was a rerun.

The keys are that far more homes watched, but they were single viewer homes, and older viewers than usual.

Smackdown won in 18-49 at 0.5 (655,000 viewers, basically the same as the 656,000 the prior week with the lower overall audience). It’s the same number it’s been locked at for weeks. It also won in 18-34 at 0.3 and tied with a 20/20 rerun for first in 25-54 at 0.7 as well as won in all male demos ...

Last year in the same time slot, FOX had U.S. Open golf coverage which did 2,601,000 viewers and an 0.5 in 18-49, so 20.6 percent overall and the same in the demo.

Both AEW & NXT were up on 6/17, which probably speaks to the NASCAR race as the key reason the numbers were down last week. In addition, all the increases on both sides were under 50, since over 50 numbers were identical to last week.

AEW did 772,000 viewers and a 0.28 in 18-49 (364,000 viewers), putting it No. 8 for the night in 18-49, and No. 3 among entertainment shows. NXT did 746,000 viewers and 0.20 in 18-49 (262,000 viewers), putting it at No. 25 in 18-49, and No. 9 among entertainment shows for the night ...

Both sides had major gains among teenage girls, with AEW up 87.5 percent and NXT up 221.4 percent from last week when both did poorly. Among teenage girls. AEW still held a 45.3 percent lead over NXT.

AEW won every key demo. In Men 18-34, AEW had 60,000 viewers (up 17.6 percent from last week) and NXT had 31,000 (identical to last week). In Women 18-34, AEW had 34,000 (up 54.5 percent from last week) and NXT had 25,000 (up 25.0 percent). In Men 18-49, AEW had 171,000 (up 16.3 percent) and NXT had 124,000 (up 17.0 percent). In Women 35-49, NXT had 99,000 (up 30.3 percent) and NXT had 85,000 (up 51.8 percent).

It was competitive much of the way with AEW winning five of eight quarters but losing the main event, even though Chris Jericho was in it. AEW won every quarter in 18-49, but the second quarter was as close as its been ...

In the main event segment, NXT with Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart and Io Shirai cleaning house won overall with 757,000 viewers to 705,000 for Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Best Friends with the Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy angle, but in the key demo, AEW maintained a strong 367,000 to 264,000 lead, so the difference was those over 50.

NXT also won the first and second quarters. NXT did have the edge with the better lead-in, and that may give them the first quarter, but that usually runs out after ten minutes, and they still had more viewers in quarter two.

In quarter one, AEW opened with 782,000 viewers and 379,000 in18-49 for Kenny Omega & Adam Page defending the tag titles against Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall. This was AEW’s peak in 18-49. NXT had 793,000 viewers and 264,000 in 18-49 for Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango for the tag titles. This was NXT’s peak in overall viewers.

In quarter two, AEW lost 41,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49 for the Anna Jay video package and interview, Jay vs. Abadon and the Dark Order coming out. Given they were introducing a new character that’s to be expected. NXT lost 6,000 viewers and gained 33,000 in 18-49 for the end of the tag title mach, a Velveteen Dream interview and Damien Priest vs. Killian Dain. In 18-49, AEW’s edge was 332,000 to 297,000, the closest quarter hour in a long time. This was NXT’s peak in 18-49.

In quarter three, AEW gained 59,000 viewers and 39,000 in 18-49 for MJF vs. Billy and the post-match brawl. NXT lost 13,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Priest vs. Dain and Xia Li vs. Aliyah with the Robert Stone throw-up spot.

In quarter four, AEW lost 3,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for Cody and Ricky Starks promos and the beginning of their match. NXT lost 62,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for the Timothy Thatcher vignette and the Undisputed Era skit where they took Roderick Strong to see the psychiatrist.

In quarter five, AEW lost 2,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Starks and the beginning of Young Bucks vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc. NXT gained 33,000 viewers but lost 7,000 in 18-49 for the in-ring with Adam Cole, Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor.

In quarter six, AEW gained 29,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks vs. Sabian & Havoc and the Taz & Brian Cage promo. With 824,000 viewers, this was AEW’s overall peak. NXT lost 71,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs. Kayden Carter, Bronson Reed vs. Leon Ruff and the Reed promo. It was the low point of the show for NXT.

In quarter seven, AEW lost 90,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo, Britt Baker & Rebel in the garbage dump and the intros and beginning of Jericho & Guevara vs. Best Friends. NXT gained 53,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for the angle with Santos Escobar and his group with Drake Maverick, and the beginning of Bayley & Banks vs. Nox & Blackheart for the women’s tag titles.

In quarter eight, AEW lost 29,000 viewers and gained 8,000 in 18-49 for Jericho & Guevara vs. Best Friends and the Jericho/Cassidy post-match. NXT gained 30,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Bayley & Banks vs. Blackheart & Nox.

The ten most-watched shows of the past week on WWE Network were: 1. Backlash; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride Episode 4; 3. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 1; 4. Backlash kickoff show; 5. Dream Match Mania: Backlash edition; 6. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 3; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 2; 8. Last Ride Post Mortem; 9. Backlash 2018; 10. Raw Talk for 6/15. Neither NXT nor 205 Live cracked the top 15

The career of David Starr (Max Barsky, 29) appears in jeopardy after a sexual assault charge and public exchange between Starr and an ex-girlfriend named Victoria took place on social media this past week.

This has led to a groundswell of charges on social media, largely involving U.K. wrestlers, but also a number of well known names on the U.S. scene ...

Before the end of the day, accusations were being thrown around that included a ton of name wrestlers and former wrestling performers, including one Hall of Famer. There are at least six performers for the WWE U.K. brand charged in different social media posts, as well as one AEW wrestler by name and second one implied, a top ROH star, an NWA exec and a well known Impact name. Undoubtedly this is the tip of the iceberg and all of these stories and more are likely to unfold over the next week ...

There are different aspects of this, ranging from aggressive hitting on women, using power for sex, sex with underage girls which in a different era was considered one of the fringe benefits during the heyday of territorial wrestling. There was even a phrase that was used when wrestlers weren’t paid well but how the benefits of being a star on television gave access to women that working at a regular job wouldn’t give you. Some promoters hated this because they felt it gave wrestling a bad name and looked the other way, and some outright told talent to lay off because it could hurt the business. Others used it as a lure to get and keep wrestles working for them while not paying them well ...

It’s also known that a woman doing so in pro wrestling throughout most of its history would get extreme backlash and this opened the floodgates to something that is exponentially larger historically than anyone could imagine. This would also be the case in almost every sports or entertainment field. Many of the other cases involve guys coming on to women who didn’t want it but would be inappropriate behavior, and in some cases such as trainer/student or veteran/rookie, in some cases power issues involved, or inappropriate messages sent through texting or social media. In some cases, particularly involving people with power over careers and young women getting started, like in most any form of entertainment, this is going to exist but it shouldn’t exist. In some higher profile industries it has come out and huge names in major entertainment industries have been forced out of the business by stories.

After what happened with Hana Kimura, there was concern over a tweet by recently retired Stardom wrestler Arisa Hoshiki. “The human waste is still alive. I’m sorry, sorry for not contributing anything. I’m worthless because I’m a person who makes you notice things I can’t do, but I have a respiratory system so I’m sorry for breathing. Ah, I wasn’t recognized as a person. I’m sorry to call myself a human.” Hoshiki, 24, announced her retirement in May due to head and neck injuries and has been focusing on her music. She has been a victim of cyberbullying, like Kimura, particularly over the past year, and it got so bad she had gone to the police about it

There have been a crazy amount of deaths in the Mexican wrestling scene in recent weeks, a lot of which have been COVID-19 related

Regarding starting up, Joe Koff said, “Nothing has been confirmed yet, but we are trying to develop what we believe would be safe production in July. Obviously, anything that does get finalized would come with an asterisk as we monitor the daily progressions of the pandemic.

There are multiple reports that ROH is offering no new deals at this time due to not running shows. There are some deals that have expired over the past few months and no new offers have been made. ROH did tape one match with Brody King vs. Tyler Bateman at the New Japan show over the weekend. There was talk of empty arena tapings to cover two months of television as soon as possible in July

Due to the situation in Mexico, the Mexicans on the roster, Rush, Dragon Lee, Bandido, Flamita and Rey Horus, would be the ones in question.

While the XFL losses for season one in the bankruptcy filings were said to be less than $50 million, it has been noted that with all of the costs involved in starting up, Vince McMahon had gone through $200 million of what those in the company believed was $500 million that had been committed for three seasons. The XFL is up for bankruptcy bidding so it’s possible it will be restarted, just not under McMahon, who was considering trying to buy it back in bankruptcy court to get out of the money owed people and starting up fresh, but after so much negative reaction from other creditors about the process, he stated he would not be doing so

Details are still not known, but Evolve/WWN is said to be finished and it is believed its library and other assets were sold to WWE, but neither side has confirmed or denied the transaction. However, Gabe Sapolsky did send out a message to the Evolve core roster telling them that there are no more plans to run shows and that the core roster secret social page is shutting down. He said that for those in the group he feels you have a good future in the business, it’s not the end of the road, just taking a different path from a fork in the road. Evolve/WWN had not sent out refunds until recently for the canceled WrestleMania week shows due to the company’s financial issues. In April they had stated that they would refund all money but said that it would take some time, so they’ve acknowledged the issues. On 6/18, Sapolsky wrote, “We just got an update from Etix. They’ve made some refunds. The rest will be made in the next week or two. They are working on them and everyone will be refunded. My deepest apologies it is taking this long. I’m not going to make any excuses, but I assure you this has been the foremost thing on our minds and we are doing everything we can to get this done as quickly as possible. I understand if you are angry and upset. You will be made whole if you are owed a refund. Be safe & well.”

Emperor Smeat

06-23-2020, 09:19 PM

The Sheets:

For the second consecutive week, WWE Raw was able to top 1.9 million viewers for a show advertised as “Championship Monday” along with the return of Rey Mysterio, and an update from Edge.

Monday’s three-hour show averaged 1,922,000 viewers, which is on par with last week’s average of 1,939,000. Both weeks finished with 0.53 in the key 18-49 demographic. The three hours of Raw this week finished fourth, sixth, and seventh among cable programming for the evening.

Raw opened with 2,035,000 viewers in the first hour, which is the first time Raw has cracked two million viewers for any hour of the program since the night after WrestleMania on April 6th.

In the second hour, it fell 4% to 1,950,000 viewers and declined another 8.5% in the third hour with an average of 1,782,000 viewers. The show built to the closing angle involving Rey Mysterio’s return alongside son Dominick and a brawl involving Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo against Seth Rollins, Murphy, and Austin Theory.

The consecutive weeks of audience improvement coincide with the recent creative shake-up where the company announced Bruce Prichard would be overseeing both Raw and SmackDown, while Paul Heyman was being removed from his position on Raw and would retain his on-air role. While the shows are always going to be Vince McMahon produced shows, a change in Raw’s presentation has been evident in the past two episodes.

The key demographics were interesting when it came to the 12-34 audience. The show was a hit with males as they were up 30% from last week, although it declined 11% by the third hour. With females in the same age group, they were down 32% from last week, although that audience stayed consistent for all three hours with no decline in the third hour, which is a rarity for any demographic on Raw.

Every other demo fell in the third hour compared to hour one with the biggest drop among males 18-49 declining by 17% in the last hour.

One of the patterns we are seeing since the [WWE] creative shake-up is more championship matches on television with three on last week’s Raw and another three this week. The show had a strong audience by current standards last week and assisted by a show-long tease of Christian’s first match since 2014.
Assuming it continues, similar mentality as NXT since it moved to USA Network with the constant tossing of title matches on tv compared to how it was handled before.

SunSport pushed out their interview with Sonya Deville. Deville was asked for her Mount Rushmore of women’s wrestling and her list included Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair and Deville also mentioned Nikki and Brie Bella.

“Yeah, I think (Charlotte would) be on there for sure. I think she’s incredible. I think Asuka’s incredible. Bayley and Sasha, are incredible. Becky, for sure. There’s a lot of women that have paved the way before me, everyone has added something different to women’s wrestling. The Bellas I think are incredibly smart, business savvy women that knew how to build a brand and are incredible in the ring too. I think we’ve all contributed to the success of women’s wrestling and we’re just going to keep going up from here because the talents [have] never been more competitive.”

Terri Runnels was a guest on the ‘Kee On Sports’ podcast and Terri recalled being harassed by Brock Lesnar backstage at a WWE event. She said that while she was walking down the hall, Lesnar called her name and opened the towel that was around his waist. At that point in time, Runnels was aware that Lesnar was making his way up in WWE and that the company was going to put the world title on him so he knew that he had pull.

“I don’t have a lot of respect for Brock. I don’t think Brock respects wrestling fans. Brock did something that was, in today’s day in time… I mean he showed his penis to me, and called my name as I was walking past where he was in the dressing room and opened his towel so I could see his manly bits, and I’ve often said when I actually tell that story, I’ve often said — and of course this is me being absolutely [a] smart ass when I say it because I would’ve much rather him not been so disrespectful of a female that’s been in the business as long as I had been and at that point, he was a greenhorn. He knew he was gonna have a lot of power, that they were gonna give him the strap but at that point, I’d been in this business for a long time, I have respect and what he did was very, very wrong from a respect standpoint, from a sexual harassment standpoint. Whatever you wanna look at it [as], it was wrong. But my joke to kind of bring levity to it so I don’t get so darn upset about it is that I’m like, ‘If you’re gonna show me your junk, at least let it be impressive,’ and so like, I don’t know if you know what a pink feeder mouse is that they sell in animal shops to feed snakes. They’re like the mice before they get their little hair on them. Well, that’s basically what that vision was akin to. A pink feeder mouse, and so I’m thinking like, ‘Wow, why did…’ not that it would’ve been any less disrespectful or less sexual harassing had he been hung like a horse, but I mean come on, so, yeah. I mean that’s my only levity as that’s concerned.”

Terri Runnels was a part of a miscarriage storyline on WWE programming with Val Venis. Runnels said that she fought against Vince Russo to put an end to the storyline before it got started. To this day, that storyline still upsets her.

“Oh my God. So that to this day is one of the storylines that I fought and fought Vince Russo over and I lost. Obviously I lost because it happened, right? It was so tone deaf to women and for me personally, even though I told you Dakota [Terri’s daughter] gets the difference between gimmick and real life storylines and stuff like that, I’m like, that’s just one of those things that if her — she’s in school now and if one of her little friends says, ‘Oh my gosh, your mommy’s pregnant. Oh my gosh, your mommy lost her baby’ and like, that’s not a conversation I wanna sit down and try to explain what was even part of what I did with the character. That pissed me off, it upset me and yeah, I fought it and I lost obviously.”

It was first reported by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio that Charlotte Flair is set to undergo surgery and it’s not known if she will be back for SummerSlam or not. Prior to the 6/22 episode of RAW on-which Charlotte Flair was written off TV by way of an attack from Nia Jax, Ric Flair appeared on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast and he mentioned that Charlotte would be taking time off and “finishing her commitments up until SummerSlam”.

“I’m hoping that when she finishes her commitments up until SummerSlam or whatever it is — I mean I don’t know. I have no idea. I know she has a TV series looking at her. She’s got fitness people wanting to do work with her. I hope that she takes as long as she wants off so that all these people that can fill her shoes and do that every night have the opportunity. Good luck and God bless that thought.”

Seems Charlotte originally was planning on taking her break after SummerSlam but changed her mind recently.

Ring of Honor’s Marty Scurll was accused of sexual assault on June 22nd by Twitter user @mystickttn, who worked for the promotion IPW:UK at the time of the alleged assault. She was 16-years old at the time and ran into Marty Scurll at a post-show party. Per the story, she was drunk and Marty asked her to go back to the hotel and when they got there, he pulled out his penis and asked her to perform oral sex which she did. Before the situation escalated further, a friend of hers showed up and told Marty to leave.

Scurll has released a statement on Twitter addressing the allegations and made mention that he believes the encounter was consensual and legal since the age of 16 is considered of age in the United Kingdom.

“I am aware that a young woman has bravely come forward with her account of sexual abuse by some members of the wrestling community in the UK 5 years ago, a community I was a part of.

Although I truly believe that our encounter that evening was consensual, and the fact that the encounter was legal; is almost not the point. I understand that she now views our encounter as part of a bigger problem within the wrestling community.

What concerns me at this moment is that from what I have been reading, she is a fan of wrestling and was made to feel unsafe within that community. This is not acceptable. I also understand that people have been attacking her on social media, and I implore you to please stop. She has a right to her voice and it is our responsibility to listen.”

After many women in wrestling shared their stories of harassment and assault by way of Joey Ryan, Ryan’s former tag team partner Candice LeRae took to Twitter to show support for the women that have had these experiences with Ryan over the years.

“I am mortified. I absolutely DO NOT and never have condoned such horrible actions. I have zero tolerance for it. To the women he did this to- my heart breaks for you. I trusted this person. Reading the stories and learning how he acted sickens me. Especially because you all trusted him too. I can’t imagine how YOU felt. For every woman and man who has been brave enough to speak out, I have nothing but love and respect for you.”

On Monday, it was reported that WWE Backstage would not continue in its current weekly format ...

On his Hall of Fame podcast, Backstage co-host Booker T commented on the news.

"We got the news that we're not going to be shooting a weekly series, not right now anyway. I want to think everybody on the Fox family crew and making it work for eight months. Hopefully, the project will be a little different and going to something digital, we don't know just yet. A show like that is something needed to be able to deliver that side of insight. The show last week that I did with Bret Hart really touched me. I never knew that if Bret Hart had a chance to do it all over again, he would have said, 'I'm staying in WWE.' Stories like that for people to hear, it brought something different to the table. Hopefully, we'll be back on track soon and doing it again," he said.

Booker was the co-host of the show alongside Renee Young. The panel of guest hosts included Christian, Mark Henry, Paige, and more. CM Punk also served as a monthly special analyst.

When asked if he would have done anything different with the show, Booker replied, "I wish we could have done things differently at certain times, but some things I wouldn't change at all, like all those suckas I ripped in promo school. I always thought about The View and that format and how they talked about a little bit of everything. To be able to talk about Independent wrestling groups, for instance, NWA, EVOLVE, to talk about how those groups might be no more, that's news. These are stories that are prevalent in professional wrestling and stories that need to be captured."

WWE Backstage largely focused on the week that was on WWE television and had interviews with various superstars.

PROGRESS Wrestling made structural changes on Monday morning, and on Monday evening they are taking even more action.

PROGRESS announced that the company will shut down until they are happy with the changes they have made, saying they will pioneer the change that the industry needs.

After being forced to cancel the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WrestleCon is ready for another ride in 2021 in Los Angeles.

The convention has announced WrestleCon will be held at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles from March 25 - 28.

Ring of Honor is dedicating an episode of its weekly television to Hana Kimura.

The company recently announced that an episode of "Ring of Honor Wrestling" taking place in July will do a tribute episode to Kimura, who tragically died in May. Below is what ROH said about the future episode.

"As first announced on “ROH Week By Week,” ROH is dedicating an entire episode of “Ring of Honor Wrestling” to the late Hana Kimura next month. The tribute show will celebrate Hana’s life and feature some of her outstanding matches."

Kimura wrestled for a number of promotions throughout her career, most notably with Stardom, which did a ten-count in tribute to Kimura on a recent show. Kimura has wrestled for Ring of Honor a handful of times, competing in the tournament to crown an inaugural Women Of Honor champion, losing to eventual tournament winner Sumie Sakai in the first round.

Kimura also wrestled at Madison Square Garden at the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard in 2019 and also in a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14, teaming with Giulia to face Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki in a tag team match.

Being The Elite posts statement regarding past episodes featuring Joey Ryan.

Ryan has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and abuse, leading to him leaving social media and closing down Bar Wrestling. Ryan gained in popularity thanks to Being The Elite, the online show put together by The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Brandon Cutler, and more.

On Tuesday's episode of BTE, the crew posted the following statement:

Hi guys and girls. We hope this video provides an escape, or even maybe makes you laugh during these tough times. We love you all.

Out of respect to the victims, we have began the process of taking down BTE videos which featured an accused serial sexual abuser. Our biggest regret is providing a platform unknowingly to such a despicable person. Our hearts go out to the victims and anyone else affected.

- From the BTE Team

Being the Elite #109, which features the Joey Ryan memorial has already been removed along with episodes #82 and #83.

Sarah Logan will be stepping away from the wrestling business.

The former WWE star announced on Instagram that she won't be in the wrestling business "for the foreseeable future." Logan wrestled for WWE in recent years, but was part of the talent releases that were announced back in April.

TPWW Frontpage:

Charlotte Flair Injury and WWE Return Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/charlotte-flair-injury-and-wwe-return-update/)
Former NWA VP David Lagana Denies Allegations Against Him (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/former-nwa-vp-david-lagana-denies-allegations-against-him/)
Impact Releases Joey Ryan and Dave Crist, Suspends Michael Elgin (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/impact-releases-joey-ryan-and-dave-crist-suspends-michael-elgin/)
WWE Backstage Reportedly Canceled as a Weekly Show (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-backstage-reportedly-canceled-as-a-weekly-show/)
Various: NJPW Announces New Weekly Series, New Owen Hart Documentary, #SpeakingOut Allegations Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/various-njpw-announces-new-weekly-series-new-owen-hart-documentary-speakingout-allegations-update/)
The Undertaker Indicates That He’s Done Wrestling (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/the-undertaker-unofficially-retires-from-wrestling/)

Emperor Smeat

06-25-2020, 09:54 PM

The Sheets:

Heading into big summer specials for both Wednesday night shows over the next two weeks, NXT had its biggest ratings success in over four months with last night's show on the USA Network averaging 786,000 viewers ...

In the 18-49 demo, NXT averaged a 0.19 rating, which was actually down five percent from last Wednesday. The show finished 26th on cable TV in that demo.

Dynamite averaged 633,000 viewers, down 18 percent and the lowest number the show has ever done. Dynamite also had a series low with a 0.22 rating in 18-49, down 21.4 percent from last week and 17th for the night on cable. The .03 difference between the two shows in 18-49 is the closest they've been since December 18, the first and only time NXT ever beat Dynamite in 18-49.

The 153,000 difference in total viewers is the biggest win NXT has had to date.

The individual demos were much more competitive this week as AEW usually beats NXT in every category except persons over 50. NXT had a huge advantage in that category again with a 0.42 rating to AEW's 0.26. NXT also won in females 12-34 and the shows tied in females 18-49.

Dynamite won every other demo, but they were much closer. AEW's best category was men 18-49, where they had a 0.29 rating to NXT's 0.23.

The combined audience of 1.419 million was down seven percent from last week but still above the 10-week average.

The story of the night was AEW falling 18% in viewership and 21% in the key demo and was a show that its audience was not compelled to see but it’s hard to pinpoint the specific reason. The show was presented as a set-up for the upcoming Fyter Fest shows but on paper, had a deeper line up advertised than NXT, which was promoted around the North American title match.

It was AEW’s lowest viewership and 18-49 demo rating in the show’s history since premiering last October on TNT.

NXT improved 5% in viewership while falling 5% in the key demo. It was NXT’s highest viewership since February 19th, so the largest of the empty arena shows, although the key demo rating was down from last week.

Among the key demos, AEW won four, NXT won three, and they were even among females 18-49.

NXT had big increases with females 12-34 up 43% this week, adults 18-34 growing 25%, and adults over 50 improved by 17% and was the widest gap with NXT at 0.42 to AEW’s 0.26 with the over fifty demographic. It was NXT’s largest head-to-head rating in the 50+ demo with AEW, equaling the 0.42 they posted during an unopposed week over the Christmas holidays and highest since September 25th.

AEW was hurt among females 18-49 dropping 28.5%, females 12-34 down 20%, and males 18-49 down 19% in addition to big loss among the main demo. Every category was down for AEW with the smallest loss seen with adults 18-34 that fell by 8%.

On June 8th, WWE Raw averaged 1,737,000 viewers over the three hours. Programming Insider reports that with the Live+3 numbers, the average would be 2,000,000. The audience increased 15% (263,000 viewers) and the 18-49 demographic increased by 16.5% with the Live+3 numbers.

For the June 10th episode of AEW Dynamite that did 677,000 viewers, the Live+3 numbers bring the average up to 837,000. In the 18-49 demo, Live+ brings the rating up from 0.23 to 0.30. For that week, viewership increased 23.6% in viewers and 32.8% in the main demo. On the same night, NXT did 673,000 viewers and Live+3 increased it by 18.3% to 796,000 viewers and up 34.4% in the 18-49 demo from 0.16 to 0.22.
Link: https://programminginsider.com/live3-weekly-ratings-90-day-fiance-the-other-way-tops-the-weeks-season-premiere-telecasts-in-raw-lifts-among-adults-18-49/

WWE brought all talents and staff scheduled for this weekend's TV tapings to Orlando yesterday in order to go through a round of drive-through testing for COVID-19 this morning.

Those brought in would be wrestlers and staff who were not sent emails on Monday and Tuesday advising them to get themselves tested due to a newly discovered COVID-19 positive test result. PWInsider.com is also told that anyone who tested negative for COVID-19 earlier this this week will also get tested again today at the PC. If they are not tested again today, they will not cleared to work the TV tapings. Once WWE gets the test results, they will adjust their taping plans according.

WWE is scheduled to tape TV on Friday and Saturday.

After disclosing that she had contracted COVID-19 for the second time, WWE's Kayla Braxton deleted her Twitter account, citing that she was going to take of her health.

Yesterday, The Governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced they will be requiring all travelers coming from the State of Florida via flights to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in those States.

With WWE and AEW each taping in Orlando and Jacksonville, respectively, this could put talents and staff from the Northeast, especially with WWE headquartered in Stamford, CT, at risk of having to quarantine.

In AEW alone, MJF, Private Party, Santana and Ortiz are from the New York City area and would likely fall under the quarantine requirement if they flew out of Florida.

Technically, Vince McMahon would be required to quarantine if he flew into New York (where the WWE's private jet is usually parked) from Florida.

Other States falling under this edict currently are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Texas.

Whether this leads to WWE and AEW talents and staff having to fly in and out of a neighboring State, such as Pennsylvania, remains to be seen.

WWE has revealed the tagline for July's Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

The PPV is now referred to as "WWE Extreme Rules: The Horror Show" on WWE.com. The event is taking place on Sunday, July 19.

Two matches have been confirmed for Extreme Rules thus far. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre will defend his title against Dolph Ziggler, while Sasha Banks will challenge Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship.
WWE picked a pretty bad time to reveal that tag line for Extreme Rules considering the recent circumstances or just them being tone deaf as usual.

PWInsider is reporting that CHIKARA is shutting down in the wake of a number of allegations against Mike Quackenbush. CHIKARA talent including Jakob Hammermeier, Hallowicked, Kimber Lee, and Frightmare have resigned from the promotion. Allegations have specifically come out against Quackenbush and Icarus over inappropriate behavior.

ECCW released a statement saying they have removed people from their promotion following “allegations involving certain members of our promotion”. John Pollock later reported one of these members being Jeff Duncan, the co-owner and booker of the promotion. Duncan gave Pollock the following statement: "I am no longer involved with ECCW. While I deny the allegations, I understand this course of action is best for the company".

MLW has announced the signing of Calvin Tankman

On Tuesday, David Lagana issued a statement refuting the claim by wrestler Liz Savage that he sexually assaulted her in 2010. After his statement ran on several sites, Savage responded by stating:

"Yes he absolutely did touch me. I put my trust into him as a friend and he violated me."

Previous allegations against Lagana from Matthew Randazzo’s 2008 book Ring of Hell have come up during his time working at WWE from 2002 to 2008. In the book, multiple sources spoke to Randazzo including former WWE writers Dominick Pagliaro and Dan Madigan on the record. Pagliaro alleged that Lagana leveraged his power for sexual favors from both male and female talent. Madigan stated that he believed that WWE’s human resources were compiling a case involving complaints against Lagana prior to his 2008 departure. Madigan believed the company was aware but looked the other way and claimed that a male wrestler was propositioned and led to a veteran wrestler going to Talent Relations over it.

POST Wrestling has reached out to both Lagana and WWE for statements regarding these past allegations and the nature of his departure from the company. When reached by this outlet, Dan Madigan stands by the statements he made in the book.

I wanted to direct people to a great discussion that Wade Keller and Rich Fann had on the PW Torch site regarding all these issues. I thought the discussion covered a lot of ground, many questions that fans are left to face, the obligation of both management and performers amidst these allegations that are wide-spread, systemic changes necessary, and how the business changes after these scandals. I highly recommend this episode for those seeking analysis on issues broad and specific on these complex stories.
Link: https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2020/06/23/free-podcast-6-23-wkpwp-mailbag-w-fann-speaking-out-special-sammy-guevaras-suspension-promoter-response-fan-disenchantment-shameful-past-hopeful-future-for-industry-89-min/

MLW CEO Court Bauer spoke with the New York Post about their new distribution deal with DAZN. It was noted that episodes of Fusion will continue to run on beIN Sports with older episodes and the Opera Cup event currently available on DAZN. Bauer also noted an eventual split from YouTube citing how YouTube underpays unless you have a strategic partnership, which they attempted. He also noted they are under no pressure to return and won’t until there is “some sort of therapy, treatment, and or a vaccine”.

Ring of Honor has put plans to produce an empty arena TV taping in the Baltimore area next month on pause due to the spiking of COVID-19 cases around the country. There is a chance they may attempt to tape in August but nothing is anywhere close to confirmed at this moment.

ROH has an empty arena bout featuring Bateman vs. Brody King that was filmed several weeks back in California for use on a future episode of ROH TV.

Next week's AEW Fyterfest Night One is slated to broadcast live on TNT. Night two will be taped on 7/2.

As a precautionary measure, anyone who had been in contact with QT Marshall or at his gym in Georgia was kept away from last night's taping.

Former WWE NXT talent Cesar Bononi was among those in the crowd at last night's Dynamite episode.

AEW is taping Tuesday's episode of Dark later today ...

John Skyler is slated to undergo surgery tomorrow to repair his ACL, PCL and MCL ...

The references to Liz Hunter and Matt Brock last night during the press conference for Jake Hager vs. Cody were two fictional reporters from Pro Wrestling Illustrated back in the day.

As noted earlier this week, Impact Wrestling worked feverishly to get a new, reassembled episode of Impact on AXS on the air this week after the termination of Joey Ryan. We are told that it was down to the wire and that they just made it in time to deliver the episode to AXS TV. It was described to PWInsider as "another 30 minutes and we wouldn't have been on the air, at all", according to one source. The same source noted that Impact cannibalized material originally set to air in the weeks to come and the company will have to devise what their plans are for future episodes, but felt that making sure Impact did everything they could to deliver a new episode under any circumstances was the most important goal this week.

Charlotte Flair appeared on the ‘Sport Hiatus’ show and addressed her status in WWE, amid the report that she’ll be stepping away from WWE programming to have surgery. Charlotte stated that she’ll only be absent from TV for a few weeks./QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Fightful]Chris Jericho will return to the commentary table next Wednesday for AEW Fyter Fest.

Tony Khan confirmed the news on AEW Unrestricted when discussing Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, which is scheduled for night one of the event. Khan said, "Chris Jericho is going to be on commentary for this show and Matt Hardy is going to be at ringside. So you have two teams advised by all-time legends."

WWE wants to put smiles on faces.

While other sports have shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE has continued to run. They've moved events to the Performance Center in Florida and have taken certain precautions to protect performers.

Speaking on Sports Hiatus conference call discussing Syncing Sponsorship Value with the Return of Live Action, WWE EVP of Global Head of Sales and Partnerships John Brody commented on WWE's decision to keep running live events during the pandemic.

"The health and safety of our superstars is first and foremost paramount. It comes down to leadership in many ways. Our leader [Vince McMahon] believes we have a social responsibility to put fans first and to help them get a break from what was coming and what we're in the midst of. We have a responsibility to take them away for a few hours and give them a smile and a chance to feel something other than what they're watching, which is also important, on the news. We leaned in to say 'we're going to put fans first' and do everything we can, working with state, local, and federal officials to make sure it's safe for our most important resource, the WWE superstars, and we're going to do whatever we can to deliver content for our partners and our fans," he said.

Brody went on to say that WWE ran from a closed set with essential personnel.

He continued, "We understand the decision other sports made, we wouldn't have made the decision we made if we didn't think we could do it safely for our internal (staff) and for all those affected, but we felt America needed it and needed the 'pick me up.'"

He called pulling off WrestleMania was "superhuman" and that WWE communicated with broadcast partners and sponsors, who were all happy they were able to deliver content.

On Wednesday, it was reported multiple WWE staff and talent had tested positive for COVID-19. The exact number is known, but three people have already stepped forward.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Kevin Owens on Absence from RAW, Alexa Bliss Podcast, Edge on Filming of His Match vs. Orton (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/wwe-kevin-owens-on-absence-from-raw-alexa-bliss-podcast-show-edge-on-filming-of-his-match-vs-orton/)
ROH Says It’s Investigating Claims Against Its Wrestlers, Scurll Responds to Allegations (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/roh-says-its-investigating-claims-against-its-wrestlers-scurll-responds-to-allegations/)
Kayla Braxton and WWE Producer Adam Pearce Say They Have COVID-19 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/kayla-braxton-and-wwe-producer-adam-pearce-say-they-have-covid-19/)
Renee Young Says She Has COVID-19 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/renee-young-says-she-has-covid-19/)

Emperor Smeat

06-26-2020, 11:27 PM

Observer Newsletter ended up getting delayed by a day because of all the recent craziness that has happened in WWE and elsewhere in wrestling.

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The Pro Wrestling industry in Europe and North America, an industry that has had a male-dominated culture since its inception, was rocked to the core by women this past week with story after story of abuse with names from every significant promotion.

The U.K. scene was hit the hardest, but there were allegations against significant names in every promotion.

When the week was over, Joey Ryan was accused by so many women of inappropriate sexual actions that people lost count (there were at least 16 stories that had come out), and was not only fired by Impact, closed down his Southern California promotion, Bar Wrestling, and it’s hard to believe that his career in pro wrestling isn’t over. His closest friends were shocked, saying they had no idea and many people who knew him as these revelations came out went into some deep depression and soul-searching trying to process the information. One person close to everyone on the Southern California scene said that Ryan’s entire life was wrestling and that nobody had any contact with him since 6/21, and also noted that probably very few tried to get in contact with him either ...

The Bootleg Theater, the home of Ryan’s Bar Wrestling promotion that he founded in 2017, was reported by SoCal Uncensored to have ended their relationship with him and Bar Wrestling events were pulled from the Highspots Network video library. The promotion, which helped springboard Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Jake Atlas to getting major contracts, is now shut down.

A number of close friends of Ryan, both performers and several who are not working in the wrestling industry but were close to him, were shocked. Still, there were women in wrestling who were not. One promoter noted to us in detail what a model employee Ryan was, and said he had never heard rumors. Another major independent promoter told us that he believes more people knew and said he had heard and that was the specific reason he never booked Ryan. Another person said that people on the inside on the East Coast have heard rumors for yeas and can’t believe others hadn’t heard.

“To say this was shocking was an understatement,” said someone who would have been considered one of his closest friends who is not directly in the wrestling industry. “I've known him 20 years and have never seen this side. It feels like when the news interviews a murderer's family and they say they had no idea.”

WWE has fired Jack Gallagher, Travis Banks and El Ligero. Banks, Ligero, David Starr and referee Mark Parry were earlier let go by Progress Wrestling, which has strong ties to WWE.

Jordan Devlin & Scotty Davis, the Progress tag team champions, were both suspended indefinitely by that promotion. Devlin is also WWE co-cruiserweight champion. At press time, WWE has taken no public action against Devlin.

Another WWE NXT U.K. performer, Joe Coffey was claimed to have sent unsolicited inappropriate photos.

Wolfgang’s former fiancé, Laura Ryan, claimed emotional torture and mental illness from the relationship.

Gallagher was accused of, at a New Year’s Eve party in 2014, that he kept pouring her drinks and tried to accost her in the bathroom. She said as she tried to get away, her skirt was ripped and she left the party. There were also screenshots of Gallagher trying to contact the host of the party saying he had no idea of these accusations until they were made public, had no memory of the situation, and wanted to reach out and apologize to her.

Aside from Gallagher, WWE has not taken any public action on anyone. In addition, this past week, another allegation claim was made against Patrick Clark (Velveteen Dream), who had been pushed as one of the top characters in NXT and was in a program with the Undisputed Era. Dream was not on the 6/24 show nor was his name mentioned. AEW suspended Jimmy Havoc, who was sent to rehab with his future in question. They suspended Sammy Guevara without pay and his salary will be donated to a women’s charity.

Violet O’Hara claimed Ligero had indecently assaulted her after she allowed him to lay in her bad when he was in a hotel room she was sharing with others. Ligero denied that, but did apologize to two specific women he trained ...

But he did corroborate other women regarding his role as their trainer ...

Hannah Francesca posted photos of her body bruised up and attributed that to Devlin ...

Matt Riddle has an accusation of a sexual assault against him by female wrestler Candy Cartwright from May 2018 several years back in Evolve in a van that a group traveled together in where other people were there but the claim is they were asleep when this happened. The accusation surfaced publicly on 6/19, the day the A.J. Styles vs. Riddle match was to air. WWE aired the match with Riddle winning a non-title match in his Smackdown debut. We’ve been told WWE has been aware of the claim by Cartwright for more than a year and investigated it.

WWE had made no public comment on the subject ...

But it’s the major UK groups that have key figures like David Starr, Devlin and Banks, among those carrying the scene, likely out of commission. CHIKARA has folded. The NWA, with the resignation of David Lagana, is temporarily shut down since he was behind the producing of all content.

Alex Shane, a key figure in the U.K. scene and the person largely behind the failed World of Sport series, resigned from his position. ROH head of creative Marty Scurll’s future is in question as ROH announced an investigation over allegations, and Scurll himself admitted to a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old. Jim Cornette and Will Ospreay’s names were brought in, although with Cornette, the allegations really center around his wife Stacey and former OVW wrestler Josh Ashcraft ...

Essentially it started with accusations by a woman named Tori claiming that David Starr, her ex-boyfriend, sexually assaulted her, and his response ...

After the Starr allegation last week, the floodgates opened. It’s been an open secret that there is a problem in British wrestling, with the boys will be boys mentality. It was noted that in the industry, everyone heard stories but nobody really knew the extent of them or the veracity of them. And even now, it’s impossible to separate the fact from fiction and the shades of grey in between. It was noted that there was nothing truly substantial with evidence.

Sierra Loxton, a former woman wrestler, was among the first to speak out, which led to others following suit. A Twitter account called Expose Wrestling retweeted every allegation and gained 10,000 followers in 48 hours. Very quickly it went from current allegations to rumors about things decades ago, and a GOTCHA mentality. It was exposed for getting things wrong and posting every accusation, which threatened the credibility of the very real ones that had actual evidence. The account closed, said to be due to threats of legal action from some claiming they were unfairly accused.

There were anonymous claims and fake accounts created. An incredible list of names, even many with no stories involved, were listed.

In the U.K. there are believed to have been several true or widely believed to be true cases passed onto the authorities to deal with and people have been advised not to talk about them any longer until the investigations are completed or it could undermine them.

In the U.K. the general feeling among many in and around the industry is shock and disgust, and within the U.S., it’s the same but with less fear regarding the future of the business itself. In the U.K. we’re told there is a realization that this has gone on too long, and while hidden in some ways, it’s been in plain sight all along. But the belief is few if anyone, while every knew something existed and maybe even suspected it being very bad, realized the problem was as big as it was ...

There is great concern about the U.K. scene. The popularity of wrestling peaked during the period when the independent scene was also strong in the U.S., with lots of marketable talent all around at the same time. Then WWE started stockpiling talent, first to keep them from ROH and New Japan which were gaining popularity, and then from World of Sport, and even more in the past year, from AEW. AEW itself put together a major roster, and ROH, MLW and Impact started signing up more people to try and fill their rosters and be competitive. Suddenly, the independent scene guys dried up in the U.K. and WWE also had a major decrease in popularity and drawing on recent tours.

Several promotions that relied on so many of the names mentioned, like Progress, OTT and RevPro, are hurt badly. The belief is some companies may not have come back from COVID even if this didn’t happen. The fear is the scene will revert back to the levels of 20 years ago and have to be rebuilt. But to rebuild needs a structure where young people can learn by working a ton of shows, which the top guys were able to do in the past.

Impact did not announce Michael Elgin was fired or released directly, but did say that he would no longer appear on Impact television. Elgin was named for sending unsolicited dick picture to a woman. He also got into a backstage fight with Sami Callihan arguing about how a three-way match with the two of them and Ken Shamrock would be laid out. Scott D’Amore was said to have broken up the fight. We were told it was shoving with no punches thrown.

Elgin made a statement but didn’t acknowledge anything, just saying, “I appreciate the time and opportunities given to me with Impact. That locker room, the film crew and all the company officials were a pleasure to be associated with. I hope that in time things get sorted. For now I have to look at the bright side, I have more time to spend with my son and reclaim time that has been missed.”

CHIKARA Pro Wrestling is being shut down after allegations against owner Mike Spillane (Mike Quackenbush) as well as the wrestler Icarus. In addition, Spillane is expected to be leaving as head trainer of the Wrestle Factory school in Philadelphia.

CHIKARA is an 18-year-old company based in Pennsylvania that has run shows all over the world, and has at times for big shows brought in some of the biggest legends in pro wrestling internationally.

Among the charges making the rounds were someone stating a CHIKARA wrestler bragged about photos of a bruised up woman who was underage who he claimed “liked it rough.”

There were a number of tweets from regulars with the group regarding quitting.

Vicky Haskins, who has worked for ROH alongside her husband Mark Haskins this year, claimed Brian Dixon, the U.K. promoter instructed a photographer to take upskirt photos of her for his private collection when claiming they were for a program. She said she and her husband confronted the photographer, and then Dixon, who profusely apologized and begged them not to tell his family.

Alex Shane, a longtime promoter, wrestler, announcer, trainer and reporter, was accused by a woman of repeatedly getting her then 15-year-old sister drunk and having sex with her, and taking photos of the encounters and doing so and calling it “The Wall of Shane.” The girl committed suicide and the sister said it was not exclusively due to Shane but she thinks it was part of the reason.

Shane denied it but resigned from his job at WrestleTalk ...

She said she sent out feelers on 6/19 looking for responses to the issues.

She said nine people called her, four women and five men. One of the women told her that her trainer had taken out his dick and tried to get her to have sex with him in the shower. One of the guys told her he had touch his coach's penis when he was still underage and had to drink urine.

Gabert indicated she suffered sexual abuse after she started her career in 2001, implying it happened very early on. She says she has since forgiven the people involved and spoke to current trainees who insist things are different today.

She claims a ref in England touched her breasts and that her time in WWE was a nightmare. She had feared for her safety but doesn't want to say more than that because she fears retaliation.

She said when she came to the U.K., she was part of systematic problems.

She also talked about how women in Europe knew that if you complain, you don’t get booked.

During a week of ugliness, a second terrible story broke out with a COVID outbreak within WWE that also impacted AEW.

Details are sketchy because WWE literally has said nothing, not to talent, not to anyone. What we do know is that they were scheduled to tape two weeks of Smackdown and Raw on 6/26 and 6/27,and all shows have had to be rewritten multiple times because of talent that won’t be available.

Renee Young, Kayla Braxton, Jamie Noble and Adam Pearce are the only official names because they, for their own reasons, decided to go public with positive tests ...

We do know that Young did it on her own and the company did not know she was going to do it. I can’t imagine Noble or Pearce doing it without getting a go-ahead, but none of the actual in-ring talent has done. While there are names bandied about of people who have failed, none are confirmed.

One of the NXT talents in the audience had gotten sick and on her own, was tested. WWE alerted the media and talent of this on 6/15, and canceled tapings on 6/16 for a test for all performers, production people and staff who worked the tapings, as well as for friends and families of talent that were allowed in as fans starting on 6/15 ...

Talent was brought in a few days early for testing scheduled for everyone involved, including the fans, from 6/23 to 6/25. It was the tests on the first day that had multiple positives, and there were evidently more as the week went on. Literally nobody knows anything about how deep the problems are except for perhaps the few top people in charge.

The first person to publicly come forward, Young, had not been tested this week but she felt sick early in the week with symptoms similar to COVID, and because she was aware of having worked the taping that one of the NXT women tested positive after, she was home and she and Jon Moxley both were tested on their own on 6/22 ...

Rumors on Young started that day (6/24) because AEW reported that Jon Moxley, her husband, QT Marshall and all of Marshall’s students wouldn’t be at the live television tapings for reasons related to COVID ...

In the case of Marshall, it was someone not related to the wrestling business. But because he did, the decision was made not to risk having he or his students, who were exposed to him, including television performers Anna Jay, Alan Angels (one of the masked men in the Dark Order) and Lee Johnson, brought in.

With Moxley being pulled at the same time stories came out about a WWE outbreak, it was clear people would make assumptions and start speculating. Young came right out and said what the situation was, which did not go over well in WWE as her telling the public. WWE still at this point has yet to acknowledge the cases or inform the performers and their families of the extent of the outbreak ...

It’s also notable that neither Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Paul Levesque or Mark Carrano contacted her as of 6/25 to ask how she was doing, although a lot of talent did. For the record, she had improved from the worst, At last word on 6/25 she was tired and her chest felt heavy, which were the main issues, and her cough had gotten better. The belief was that she had already been through the worst.

Moxley was told by AEW’s doctor to isolate himself and if he doesn’t test positive or show symptoms he should be okay for 7/2, when he has his scheduled Fyter Fest title match with Brian Cage. But it’s not that simple. He made the call not to leave and go to a hotel, both for not wanting to leave his wife alone in case she gets worse, and also the fear of if he has it, infecting people at a hotel. They are isolating themselves in different parts of the house and he will be taking multiple tests this week and everything else will play itself out. As far as a worst case scenario, if he ends up testing positive, obviously his match would have to be delayed until a full recovery. If not, while 7/2 is the taping date, they could potentially do an empty arena match as late as 7/8 and it would be on the show scheduled.

With Pearce, there was a lot of concern since he worked so closely with both Bruce Prichard, who is 57, and very heavy, and Vince McMahon, who is 74. In addition, Ric Flair, who is 71, and has had numerous major health issues in recent years, was one of the performers who appeared on both days of tapings last week when the breakout took place. As of last word, Flair was not experiencing any health issues ...

While it can’t be pointed out with surety, the belief is the person responsible for this latest outbreak was a female NXT performer in the stands.

Producer T.J. Wilson (who wrestled as Tyson Kidd), came to testing on 6/25 with a fever. Both he and wife Nattie Neidhart tested negative for COVID in I believe two different tests, but as a precautionary measure, the company asked both to sit out this weekend even though she was fine

Regarding the mandating of masks in Orange County, FL, where WWE starts taping again on 6/26, it will not apply to the WWE television shoot. Those in WWE have said the mandate is for all public places and the Performance Center is not under that category.

Yet another issue related to this and theoretically a major one is that Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York, Phil Murphy of New Jersey and Ned Lamont of Connecticut together issued an order that everyone who leaves the state for a number of different states where the outbreaks are high right now, in particular Florida, must quarantine for two weeks before they can return to society.

With both WWE and AEW taping in Florida, this affects some AEW talent, notably MJF, who lives in Long Island, Brodie Lee in Rochester, NY, and maybe others, as well as the entire executive branch of WWE.

Those at AEW were hopeful that the fact everyone was being tested while in Florida would allow their talent to return home without quarantine. Where it becomes an issue is that even if you do it once, with AEW taping every other week, it almost makes it silly to even go back home. But there are also people with families. At this point it is unknown how this will affect next week’s tapings.

WWE did not respond to any questions on this, nor much of anything on the subject at all past that they now are scheduled to test weekly.

We do know that the plan going forward to subvert the quarantine, including this week, was for the people in those states to instead fly out of Philadelphia to Orlando, and back to Philadelphia, and drive from there back to Connecticut or New York for those who live there. Even though that is very much a violation of what the governors want and can be punishable by a $1,000 fine (in New York the potential fines are $2,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for subsequent offenses), the reality is they are not blockading the border of New Jersey driving in so there is a large Philadelphia loophole. It does go against the very thing the Governors are trying to avoid, but it’s an exceedingly low-risk of getting punished. WWE had also thwarted similar regulations months ago, when New York was in such bad shape and Florida had regulations not allowing people to fly into their state, and WWE moved all flights at that time to Philadelphia to get around the statute

WWE had planned to start taping with crowds in Florida. They have contacted a company for local people for a Friday and a Monday in late July (7/24 and 7/27 were the dates being bandied about) for live televison shoots at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, FL, an 8,000 seat arena. The plans was to allow fans but to have social distancing, so limiting crowds to a percentage of capacity. Last word is that may be pushed to August, but the July dates were originally set to be announced this coming week because Vince McMahon was determined to be the first person to run a live indoor sports event with a crowd.

FOX made a decision on 6/22 to cut back on WWE, boxing and MMA shoulder programming on FS 1.

Both the WWE Backstage show and a similar weekly boxing and soccer show were canceled immediately. FS 1 aired a repeat of a previous episode of WWE Backstage in the time slot on 6/23.

The changes were not due to COVID but due to the feeling FS 1 was spending too much on the shows considering the ratings the shows were drawing ...

According to WWE officials, the Tuesday FS 1 taped prime time programming such as old PPVs or WWE Network documentary shows will be continuing.

There will be no change to Smackdown programming on Fridays ...

FOX said that Backstage was done as a weekly show but occasional episodes would be done building up a few major shows per year, but with the production and on-air staff of the three talk shows let go, it would probably be scaled down if it even does return, and internally some are saying the show will not be returning.

The 6/24 Wednesday Night War had a stunning result, as NXT had its second biggest audience of the year while AEW had the lowest audience in its history.

NXT did have the stronger main event by far on paper with the Keith Lee vs. Finn Balor vs. Johnny Gargano North American title match leading to the title vs. title match on 7/8 with Adam Cole. But much of NXT was video packages and short matches, none of which looked like ratings movers ...

AEW was coming off good shows, and this show, live (not that it matters) was entertaining most of the way even without any ratings matches. Chris Jericho did a show-ending angle with Orange Cassidy while Cody was involved in a press conference.

NXT did 786,000 viewers, second best of the year behind only the pre-pandemic 2/19 show that did 794,000, but only 0.19 in 18-49, as the gains were almost all over the age of 50.

But AEW did 633,000 viewers, it’s all-time worst, and a 0.22 in 18-49, also its all-time worst. AEW was down heavily everywhere and NXT was up significantly in 18-34 and 50+, while 35-49 was down heavily for both groups.

As far as the margin for viewers, it was the largest win for NXT in history, and not on a night where that was expected based on he respective shows. There is a theory that the news in wrestling of the week left a bad taste more with AEW fans, because they are more inside wrestling social media based, but NXT’s numbers of older fans went so far up while AEW’s declined greatly, so most of the difference was over 50 fans switching to NXT, as well as teenagers.

AEW was No. 17 for the night in 18-49 and No. 8 among non-news shows ...

NXT was No. 26, overall and No. 12 among non-news shows ...

NXT was up 5.6 percent in viewers and down 5.0 percent in 18-49. AEW was down 18.0 percent in viewers with no real explanation, and 21.4 percent in 18-49, with big losses in every age group except 18-34. NXT was No. 16 in Males 18-49 and No.7 among non-news shows.

AEW did a 0.08 in 12-17 (down 38.5 percent), 0.12 in 18-34 (down 7.7 percent), 0.32 in 35-49 (down 25.6 percent) and 0.26 in 50+ (down 16.1 percent) ... So basically record lows with teens and 35-49s.

NXT did 0.13 in 12-17 (up 8.3 percent), 0.10 in 18-34 (up 25.0 percent), 0.28 in 35-49 (down 12.5 percent) and 0.42 in 50+ (up 16.7 percent) ...

Due to a Nielsen glitch and other work in getting the show done, further information on the Wednesday shows won’t be available until next week’s issue, although AEW only won one quarter, the second, overall and won six of eight in 18-49, but the final 30 minutes saw NXT ahead of AEW in 18-49. The main event segment from a viewership standpoint was an 852,000 to 552,000 margin for NXT, even more notable since AEW had Matt Hardy, Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy featured in those last 30 minutes.

Raw on 6/22, billed as Championship Monday, with four title matches plus Edge and Ric Flair prominently advertised, did 1,922,000 viewers and 0.53 in 18-49.

The viewership number was the second best for the show since the Raw after WrestleMania, just trailing the 1,939,000 for last week’s show ...

The 0.53 is what the last Paul Heyman show did and in the range of what his shows were doing, so the gains are mostly with viewers over the age of 50, which makes sense due to using more established stars from the past and limiting screen time for newcomers. There is also a concentration on lots of talking and less wrestling.

Raw was 14th on cable and fourth among non-news shows. In 18-49, it was No. 5 for the night, behind three episodes of 90 Day Fiancé and Below Deck Mediterranean.

As compared to last year, the show was down 15.6 percent overall and 27.4 percent in 18-49, both better than it had been doing.

The first hour did 2,035,000 viewers, making it the first hour to hit two million since 4/6. The second hour did 1,950,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,782,000 viewers ...

Really, as far as changes from last week, most demos were even but teenage boys were way up and teenage girls were way down.

Smackdown on 6/19 did a 1.34 rating and 2,072,000 viewers (a very low 1.28 viewers per home) and 0.5 in 18-49 (664,000 viewers) , up 7,000 in total viewers from the week before and making it the best number the show has done since 4/17.

The numbers are higher likely because less network competition, as with the exception of a Juneteenth special on ABC, everything else during those two hours on the networks were reruns.

The rating was down 0.7 percent from last week, viewers were up 0.3 percent and 18-49 was up 1.4 percent, so essentially it’s the exact same thing.

The show has been doing a consistent 0.5 in 18-49 since the drop from the pandemic ...

Last year this week FOX has rerun programming that averaged 1,462,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49, so was up 41.7 percent from what FOX had in the time slot last season, and up 25.0 percent in 18-49.

Regarding DVR viewership, Raw on 6/8 gained 263,000, AEW on 6/10 gained 160,000 and NXT on 6/10 gained 123,000 over the next three days via DVR. The UFC show on 6/8 only gained 61,000 so UFC is largely not DVR’d. The final episode of Total Bellas gained 453,000 over the next three days, a gain of 65.3 percent from the original airing. This was the episode where Nikki Bella revealed the sex of her baby that did tremendous numbers live as well

Bushiroad released its February to April business report. New Japan isn’t broken down specifically, but they do have a category of sports business, which is mostly New Japan revenue although does include Knock Out, the kickboxing promotion Bushiroad recently sold, and Stardom in these numbers ...

The other key note is that even after three-and-a-half months between shows, the New Japan World subscription numbers stayed steady, although no actual number was given, but the usual range is 100,000 to 125,000 depending on the time of the year, higher during G-1 and early January

The company has announced a new U.S. based weekly show on New Japan World called Lion’s Break Collision. It will air every Friday night at 10 p.m. Eastern, no doubt timed to start when Smackdown ends. The first show will be 7/3 with Clark Connors vs. Alex Coughlin and Jeff Cobb & Rocky Romero vs. TJP & Karl Fredericks. Actually it sounds like a New Japan version of the old 205 Live, where you had great matches and little crowd reaction because for now it’s empty arena shows. Besides guys that have worked for New Japan and live in the U.S., other names as part of the first taping last week were Danny Limelight, The DKC, Tom Lawlor and Rust Taylor. MLW positioned it as Lawlor representing MLW in interpromotional matches on the New Japan show which is notable because New Japan had worked exclusively with ROH and still maintains that relationship.

El Fantasma, who is the father of the WWE NXT cruiserweight champion and head of the Mexico City Box y Lucha commission, said that they are aware of at least 30 different deaths of wrestlers since 5/1, both active and retired. He said that his impression is that 90 percent of them were COVID related. This was the second straight week of ridiculous numbers of deaths of Mexican pro wrestlers.

The WWE Network programming is essentially all Undertaker as far as viewing goes. The top ten shows for the past week were: 1. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode four; 3. Adam Cole’s Undisputed Best; 4. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode one; 5. Backlash 2020; 6. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode three; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode two; 8. Raw Talk (which is in the post-Raw time slot where it should be No. 1 most weeks); 9. Best of Undertaker; 10. Last Ride post-mortem with A.J. Styles

Emperor Smeat

06-30-2020, 09:14 PM

The Sheets:

Going to the past when it comes to wrestling usually works the first time, but the shelf life of doing so is limited.

And thus after a few weeks of doing that, Raw fell last night to 1.74 million viewers, tying its third worst mark in the modern history of the show. The show did a 0.49 rating in 18-49, which tied for the second lowest in history, behind only the May 4 episode.

The audience was down 10 percent from last week and 18-49 was down eight percent from last week. The audience was down 24 percent from the same week last year.

Raw finished 25th overall in viewers and tied for fourth in 18-49. Raw was first in males 18-49 and first in males 12-34 and fifth in 18-34 ...

Raw had seen ratings rise in recent weeks by relying on older wrestlers like Ric Flair, Big Show, Edge, and Christian to success, and going to less wrestling and more talking. But this week that same format saw the show revert back to the level that the show had been doing focusing on the newer talent.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.86 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.59 million viewers

Baron Corbin feels like you should have to earn your shot at the King.

Matt Riddle is the latest Superstar to join the SmackDown brand. Upon his arrival, he defeated Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match. When it comes to his first rivalry, it looks like the “Bro” may be setting his sights on royalty.

According to a report from Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda, Baron Corbin is not happy about being positioned as the first rivalry for Riddle on the main roster. Reportedly, Corbin feels that Riddle should have to defeat five enhancement talents before facing him. However, this has been the plan for Riddle for quite some time as illustrated by the fact that Baron Corbin eliminated Matt Riddle from both Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.

Riddle vs. Corbin has been the plan internally for months but Baron Corbin only found out about the plans within the past week.

Roman Reigns (Joe Anoa’i) spoke with The Hindu Times and discussed his decision to remove himself from WWE’s tapings back in March ahead of WrestleMania. Reigns said it was due to his wife and him having twins and not wanting to expose them to the virus. Reigns did do one empty arena episode of SmackDown with a contract signing with Bill Goldberg prior to Reigns removing himself from WrestleMania.

"The decision was taken mainly because each performer travels so much, and we are all such a diverse group and from all over the place. I’m not convinced, and I can’t trust the fact that everybody is taking it as seriously and locking themselves down at home like I am. I trust my life with my co-workers every time I step foot in the ring, but I just can’t put the same trust when it has my children, my wife and my family involved.

But I don’t want it to come off as I am taking a stand against the company at all, because I love the WWE. I’ve been a part of this company just since I was a little boy. That’s why I always take it so personally when I represent them."

WWE is promoting that this Wednesday's episode of NXT will feature limited commercials.

That was announced during an advertisement that aired on tonight's Raw. This week's NXT is the first night of the Great American Bash.

The Great American Bash is taking place over the next two weeks of NXT and is going up against both nights of AEW's Fyter Fest.

NXT had limited commercial interruption for its October 2, 2019 episode, which was the show that went up against Dynamite's debut and was the first time NXT aired on the USA Network for its full two hours. The Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor NXT Championship match on the December 18 episode of NXT was also presented commercial-free.

Ricochet will be the subject of the next episode of WWE 365.

"An incredible year for @KingRicochet takes center stage THIS SUNDAY on an all-new #WWE365," WWE announced today. The episode will premiere on demand on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday (July 5) and will also air on the WWE Network live stream at 8 p.m. Eastern time that night.

WWE 365 is a documentary-style series that focuses on one wrestler over the course of a year.

Tessa Blanchard was fired by IMPACT Wrestling on June 25, days before her contract with the company was set to expire. Blanchard was the reigning IMPACT World Champion when the decision was made to terminate her contract.

Fightful Select reported Blanchard's contract was expired on June 30 and there is no non-compete clause attached, meaning she is free to sign with any promotion.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, WWE has sent out feelers towards Blanchard. Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT adds that a source close to Blanchard told talkSPORT that WWE is the "likely landing spot" for Blanchard.

The source also noted to McCarthy that they didn't believe Tony Khan and AEW were interested. Tessa's father Tully currently works for AEW.

On Google search charts for the past week, Dustin Poirier was the No. 5 most searched term in the U.S. yesterday with more than 100,000. Mike Perry was no. 10 with 100,000. On Friday, Dave Bautista was No. 16 with 50,000 for the Love Walk in Tampa that he and Titus O'Neil spearheaded. The Rock was No. 20 on Thursday with 50,000 because he's The Rock. And the dubious distinction of the most searched for name over the past week in pro wrestling, boxing or MMA is Sammy Guevara with 200,000 on Monday. Guevara is the only name from any Speaking Out stories that got any traction at all mainstream, and the WWE's COVID breakout also got nothing.

While appearing on Busted Open Radio, Cody discussed NXT’s Great American Bash: “So there are two events. People, I think sometimes mistakenly think Dusty just named Starrcade and Great American Bash, and it’s well beyond naming them. It’s a matter of booking them, of marketing them, of the creation of what the event stands for, especially at the advents of pay-per-views. My dad always told me that Starrcade was for my sister and that Great American Bash was for me and obviously at the time he came up with these events, I’m not sure if that was actually the case but that’s what he told me and that’s why it’s very special, both events to me and my sister. I’m not going to get angry, because it still brings up his name in a positive way. The marketing of the event reminds me a lot of what Disney currently does. If you go to Disney World, they still sell Haunted Mansion shirts and they are all done retro-style. That’s something that’s been marketed really well. They market nostalgia. If you run a sizzle with Sting and Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan, none of those guys are gonna be there. So it’s a unique marketing thing. I’m not really upset about it. I know my sister was kind of -- really thought it was so strange it was announced willy nilly, last minute. In the strangest of ways, I would hope that they do something special with it. I think our show is better. I think it will be better in execution but I hope they do something special with it because I hated what Michael Hayes did with Starrcade. He took a creation of my dad’s and he made it a live event because they weren’t selling any tickets in North Carolina and he wanted to save his job, and that was disappointing to me in terms of that was the premier event in World Championship Wrestling and the NWA and you did what you did with it and the same I hope is not what happens with Great American Bash. I’m not upset at anything that brings my dad’s name in a positive light. Is it a weird feeling? For sure, but I’ve also been in a tag match with my brother competing ratings-wise against the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. One guy who I’ll never mind competing with is my own dad. I’ll never mind that and The Great American Bash… it is what it is and I hope that they do something positive with it. That’s really the only outlet I have on it unless I had like three or four Bourbons and then I would have an absolutely different outlook on it. But I like that they bring his name up in a charming and loving way. I just hope it’s not another Starrcade situation.”

Cody also shared high praise for Ricky Starks who received his AEW contract after facing Cody for the TNT Title at the Dynamite tapings. Cody thinks Starks has a certain presence that was missing from AEW and is proud that Ricky earned his spot in the company.

“I’ve loved every match I had [as TNT Champion]. Ricky Starks is such a unique example too. The open challenge was not intended on, ‘Let’s give people a job.’ That’s not what it was intended on and if you win the title, of course you’re gonna become an AEW — a member of our roster but in the case of Ricky Starks, as soon as I got in the ring, I looked at him and thought, ‘Man he’s got a swag. He’s got a presence that we’re missing in some areas here’ and Tony Khan thought the exact same thing. As soon as he walked back through the curtain, that was a done deal and it was something that I had not planned for so I was really proud of Ricky Starks and proud of the open challenge for being able to do that.”

Karl Fredericks has graduated from the NJPW LA Dojo and is no longer a Young Lion. His matches at NJPW Lion’s Break Collision will be his first since graduation. Fredericks was originally supposed to face KENTA in the New Japan Cup prior to that tournament being affected by the coronavirus pandemic

A number of NXT UK talents have taken to social media over the last few hours, noting their excitement about soon being back in the ring.

We are told that while there was a lot of speculation about a conference call held today with members of the talent roster, the call was more or less a chance for WWE officials to touch base with the NXT UK roster, telling them to be ready to get back to work when the time was right. Tahere's been talk of taping material for NXT UK soon but nothing is concrete in terms of when that will be. WWE obviously has a plan as last week's TV episode saw talents beginning to cut promos and teasing rivalries again, as opposed to just overviews of older content.

Talents were also made clear that any future allegations against talent will be taken seriously by the company and that WWE would be taking an extremely hard-line stance against them. That falls in line with what PWInsider.com has heard over the last week, which is that the company won't tolerate any future issues and will be very quick to release and suspend talents and even revoke potential new deals from talents should anything come up.

It was reported this morning that WarnerMedia, the company that now oversees the former Time-Warner, will be selling off CNN Center in Atlanta, GA.

CNN Center has been the centerpiece of what used to be Ted Turner's empire for decades and for most of its existence, was the headquarters of World Championship Wrestling when that promotion was owned by Turner Broadcasting from late 1988 through 2000. The building is the world headquarters of the CNN cable news network, having broadcast there since 1987.

WCW was even featured in the official CNN Center tour at one point, with the old NWA United States Tag Team Championship belts being displayed among the Turner assets at the onset of the tour and clips of WCW shown in video packages featuring during the tour. For a time, there was also a dedicated area for WCW on the ground floor of CNN Center, which allowed those passing by to watch WCW content being edited on scene through windows.

Pro Wrestling ZERO1 is hosting an emergency press conference on July 11th, which is the 15th anniversary of Shinya Hashimoto’s passing, who is the founder of the promotion.
Recent news and rumors from Japan about the promotion's future are not good. Currently dealing with a very dire financial situation caused by the coronavris pandemic.

Comicbook.com has an interview with The Undertaker that they ran last week and during that interview, Undertaker talked about his biker persona and feeling that more could’ve been done with that version of his character.

“I think we cut that off. We cut that off kind of early when we did the American Badass the first time. I think we could have got a little more mileage out of it, but, it was a different variation. It was an older iteration of it. The American Badass has got a few more years on him. He’s a little more grizzled even. And there were still so many I think, aspects of The Undertaker you could see in there, so I think it was just like I’ve wrapped everything all together. And I think those people were really excited.”

Per the official Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse website, WWE has scheduled a RAW TV event at the arena for September 28th. The Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is in Cleveland, Ohio and it’s noted on the website that the Cleveland show was scheduled for April 17th but has been postponed to September 28th. All tickets purchased for the April show will be honored in September. Ticket information can be found at this link.

The last time that WWE ran a show in an arena was on March 9th in Washington D.C. which was an episode of RAW. The COVID-19 outbreak forced the sports-entertainment company to relocate their product to their Performance Center in Orlando and they’ve utilized Full Sail University for NXT. The Performance Center is where WWE’s last four pay-per-view events have taken place and the forthcoming Extreme Rules: Horror Show pay-per-view will emanate from the P.C. as well.
According to Fightful, WWE is currently looking at a potential July 31st date for a return to running events outside of the Performance Center based on their current events schedule.

TPWW Frontpage:

NXT UK Update: Two Referees Released & Joe Coffey Suspended (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/nxt-uk-update-two-referees-released-joe-coffey-suspended/)
Anderson & Gallows Have Reportedly Agreed to Join Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/anderson-gallows-have-reportedly-agreed-to-join-impact/)
Cody Rhodes Says That Sammy Guevara Will Be Back (https://www.tpww.net/2020/06/cody-rhodes-says-that-sammy-guevara-will-be-back/)

drave

07-01-2020, 08:27 AM

Reportedly, Corbin feels that Riddle should have to defeat five enhancement talents before facing him.

Corbin IS enhancement talent. What an ego for a dude who has done fuckall except shave his balding head and put on a shirt. Still boring as fuck.

Ol Dirty Dastard

07-01-2020, 08:56 AM

Corbin IS enhancement talent. What an ego for a dude who has done fuckall except shave his balding head and put on a shirt. Still boring as fuck.

My guess is that this was a worked-shoot kind of interview, and he was just in character.

drave

07-01-2020, 10:59 AM

He's horrible, none the less. He has "go away" heat because he's bland as fuck.

Someone had it right when they said he just looks like an angry bartender. Then he added a crown and some faux fur.

drave

07-01-2020, 11:00 AM

Best thing about Corbin

<iframe width="910" height="512" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yVu1FCGbHko" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ol Dirty Dastard

07-01-2020, 11:08 AM

i fucking can't stand corbin. He is a reason not to watch.

drave

07-01-2020, 11:18 AM

I still get e-mails from the "WWE Fan Council" where they survey you on previous events as well as stuff they plan for the future.

Each time Corbin came up, I always answered "get him off the TV, he is horrible.

Damian Rey 2.0

07-01-2020, 11:28 AM

He was good for about 5 minutes when he was just destroying guys in record time. Once that gimmick ran its course it was obvious how meh he was. And yet, here we are, years later, with him getting prominent tv time.

Evil Vito

07-01-2020, 11:34 AM

I didn’t mind Corbin in 2016 when they brought back the roster split. But at the same time they didn’t overuse him like they do now.

Cannot possibly imagine what they see in him to make him such an omnipresent part of programming.

drave

07-01-2020, 12:51 PM

A lack of heels.

Lock Jaw

07-01-2020, 01:08 PM

When Drew McIntyre/Baron Corbin/Bobby Lashley were the top heels of RAW I felt like we were in the bleakest of times

drave

07-01-2020, 01:11 PM

hellish, one might say.

Doubtful I was watching, but glad I wasn't from the sound of it.

Lock Jaw

07-01-2020, 01:14 PM

Just endless months of Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. some combination of those three

Jordan

07-01-2020, 02:11 PM

I am a Corbin fan. He eats great cuts of beef and drinks good liquor, a true king!

Evil Vito

07-01-2020, 03:45 PM

Just endless months of Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. some combination of those three

And it was only like a year and a half ago. I checked out around that time and just shook my head reading the results.

Emperor Smeat

07-01-2020, 07:07 PM

The Sheets:

On 6/26, WWE applied to trademark "Wrestle War" for G & S: Entertainment services, namely, a show about professional wrestling; entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing wrestling news and information through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information.

Of course, Wrestlewar was the title of WCW PPVs held from 1989 through 1992, including the final chapter of the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat trilogy.

WWE also applied to trademark "Bella Army" for G & S: Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment

On today's edition of "The Bump", Alexa Bliss discussed her upcoming WWE branded podcast, "Uncool with Alexa Bliss."

Bliss said the concept of the show would be her interviewing celebrities and WWE personalities, discussing their life before they attained a level of fame.

Bliss said that she has already interviewed her childhood idols on the show and that the podcast would be coming later this summer.

Batista tweeted the following, revealing his involvement with The Princess Bride remake on Quibi:

I'm honored to work with @JasonReitman supporting Chef José Andrés' @wckitchen with @DavidSpade @RainnWilson @JasonSegel! Thanks to a $1 million donation from @Quibi, 100,000 meals were funded! Check out our homemade fan film the Princess Bride! https://t.co/HR27NkWesx pic.twitter.com/JqWksCt9B2
— Super Duper Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) June 30, 2020

From the preview, Bautista will be playing the role of Fezzik.
Link: https://twitter.com/DaveBautista/status/1277987284105691139

Becky Lynch was a guest on The Bellas Podcast to discuss her news of learning she was pregnant earlier this year, and some scenarios laid out to drop the Raw women’s title she held ...

Lynch said that she pitched the idea of dropping the Raw women’s title to Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania 36, which was taped near the end of the March. Lynch’s pitch wasn’t taken as she defeated Baszler at the show. Lynch would reveal she was pregnant during the May 11th episode of Raw where the title was presented to Asuka following her win in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match ...

Becky Lynch says she pitched to lose the RAW Women’s Title at WrestleMania 36/being pregnant while holding the title:

"So, I don’t know about you guys but you know, you have your goals and you’re working towards everything but in the back of your mind, I always wanted to be a mother, I always wanted to have a family, and I knew that… just because — so I started wrestling when I was 15, and just everything, bodybuilding… is that a word? I do bodybuilding competitions, all kinds of stuff. So I just felt like I had probably damaged my body a lot. So, I knew, okay, I wanna try and have a baby before 35, and then I met Colby [Seth Rollins] and I was like, ‘Well, perfect. This is my person,’ and so this was always the plan because originally I was like, ‘Well, okay, I’ll wait until I’m done wrestling then I’ll have a family.’ Then I started thinking, ‘Wait. But wait, why do I have to do that? Guys don’t have to do that. Hell, I’ll just do it whenever the time feels right.’ So we started trying and I just thought it would take a long time, and it didn’t. We were super lucky. It happened before I would’ve expected and I was still the champ at the time which I actually thought I was going to lose the title at WrestleMania, which I also pitched but that’s neither here or there. But plans change. So yeah, when we came back from filming WrestleMania, I was feeling sick already and so this was even too early to take a test and so then I got the early response ones which are the ones with the lines and so, I took one of them and Colby didn’t even know that I took it and just one line popped up real quick but I didn’t even read the instructions so I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the negative line’ and I was like, ‘I am so not pregnant’ and I threw it into the bin and then we came back from the gym that night and I took it out and I was like, ‘Oh wait, hang on. There’s a second line here’ and so then I went to him and I was like, ‘Is that a second line?’ And then we Googled it and then it said it was like an evaporation line if you wait too long and so I was like, ‘Okay, that’s probably it.’"

Ideas Becky pitched to creatively relinquish the RAW Women’s Title/wanted to do a tournament:

"So then, it was like, ‘Is there a way that she [Shayna Baszler] can just beat me real quick?’ Colby’s like, ‘No! No! You’re not — no!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re right.’

Then we talked a lot and then decided, ‘Well okay, what if there’s a tournament for the #1 contendership?’ So the people, they don’t know that they’re actually gonna be competing for the title and then right as they go to have that last match, whoever gets there at the end then I tell them, ‘This is for the title.’ But, Money In The Bank was happening at the same time so it was too confusing to merge the two so they just decided that they would do the Money In The Bank Ladder match and have that as the title match essentially but without them knowing."

Becky not being a fan of WWE marketing her as “The Mom”:

"Actually, but I really didn’t want to be marketed as ‘The Mom’. I told Colby, I was like, ‘Man, they’re gonna make me The Mom, I know it. I know it’ and he’s like, ‘No, they’re not.’ Soon as I said it, freaking t-shirt came out."

Tonight, AEW and NXT kick off their two-weeks specials of Fyter Fest and the Great American Bash with both sides loading up their events that have added intrigue following last week’s performance from NXT. Fyter Fest has been promoted for the last month with the significance of a pay-per-view but presented on free television. NXT revealed they would hold a double title match on July 8th going against the second week of Fyter Fest prior to branding both July 1st and July 8th as the Great American Bash, a name coined by Dusty Rhodes when booking for Jim Crockett Promotions ...

For tonight, AEW has matches involving Cody, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and MJF as its biggest stars on the show. The promotional pieces for Cody and Jake Hager show a simple but effective build and are the best candidate to headline the show. I can see them opening the show with the AEW tag title match as both shows need to start big to grab viewers and hopefully, hold onto them. NXT will also have limited commercial breaks that will invariably frontload the show. NXT has the added task of building up to next week’s episode that has the double title match while AEW has their card set for July 8th. The outstanding question regards Jon Moxley and whether he will be available or not for the match with Brian Cage, which would be taping on Thursday.

NXT has picked up steam over the past week off the fumes of last week’s number and a strong list of matches they have revealed. When announced over the weekend, Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks gained a lot of attention as a first-time match and could be a difference-maker viewership-wise.

Creatively, I’ve found NXT to be in a rut where it’s broken away from its initial calling card of being a strong wrestling show with minimal outside elements. There is nothing wrong with episodes heavy on promos, skits, and content outside of Full Sail, but it hasn’t been riveting quality. The Undisputed Era’s feuds with Velveteen Dream and Dexter Lumis have felt like a drain on its audience, Roderick Strong is playing a paranoid character out of a different era and is the style of presentation NXT broke away from during the brand’s initial rise six years ago, and Rhea Ripley has fallen in the wake of the Charlotte Flair feud and almost feels like a call-up would be necessary to hit the “reset” button on her.

It’s been offset by a strong introduction of Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux as a tremendous main event act and it was a major feather in the caps of Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor to perform so well in last week’s numbers with a quality match to boot.
John Pollock's thoughts on NXT's creative changes in recent times is pretty much similar to what I have had for a while now. In the past, whenever NXT booking felt like WWE, they had the workrate and pool of quality talent to minimize those issues. Now that they are leaning harder into WWE style booking mentality, that workrate isn't covering it up as much as before. Doesn't help that Road Dogg, Triple H, and HBK have been having a lot more involvement with the booking process than in the past.

Former Impact Wrestling referee Kris Levin spoke to Nick Hausman of Wrestling INC regarding a 2019 investigation by the promotion regarding allegations of sexual harassment by an official. This was confirmed by Impact’s parent company Anthem Sports and Entertainment with a statement acknowledging the investigation and that an “external human resources consultant” conducted an investigation with the allegations “proven to be completely without merit” and no disciplinary action taken ...

Levin spoke to Hausman about his interview with the third-party investigator:

"I was called by a woman who said she was a neutral third-party investigator, hired by Anthem, in order to look into allegations of sexual harassment and putting employees in unsafe working conditions, messing with people’s contracts and things like that. I told her what I knew, under the guarantee that I would be doing so anonymously and off the record. She just said, ‘I need to build my case and need to know the context of this.’ I said if they find out, they’ll retaliate. She said, ‘No one will know.’ So, I told her everything.

I testified in a way that paints the executives in a negative light. I had finally had enough and decided that I could bet on myself and didn’t need to be at a place that treated me so disrespectfully. So, in late December I messaged a handful of people from the office who I considered friends who I hadn’t involved in this just because it was outside of their purview. I gave a very ambiguous message saying I’m thankful for the time I had here and appreciate the friendship and all the opportunities but I’m parting ways."

Levin stated that 20 minutes after sending this message, he received a call and was told they were going in a new direction and would not require Levin. This occurred at the end of 2019.

It was later reported by David Bixenspan that the third-party investigator had a history of working for Anthem CEO Leonard Asper. Through e-mails he obtained, Bixenspan determined this was Michelle Hall, who listed working at Canwest (the company founded by the Asper family) from 2004-2010 as its Senior Vice President of People on her LinkedIn account. On the same account, there is no mention of work with Anthem.

After the interview with Levin, Wrestling INC reached out to Impact Wrestling to respond to Levin’s comments and received a response that they don’t discuss or comment on internal matters and deny the allegations he had made. After that, Wrestling INC added that they received a follow-up, which may have included them on the e-mail by mistake and included Michelle Hall, who had an Anthem e-mail address

FS1 will be airing the 2018 Royal Rumble next Tuesday night in its WWE pay-per-view timeslot. This was the first year they held a women’s Royal Rumble and featured the debut of Ronda Rousey.

Tessa Blanchard got let go by IMPACT, but it was a formality.

On Fightful Select over the past week, and this morning in the Fightful Wrestling Weekly, it was reported that Tessa Blanchard's deal and departure from IMPACT had a lot more than met the eye. Even last month on various Fightful Podcasts, it was noted that many didn't not expect her at the Slammiversary show.

In addition to this, Select reported that Blanchard has a non-disparagement clause tied to her contract, which has become standard for many promotions.

The League of Nations came together in 2015 with Sheamus, Rusev, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio uniting to....do something.

The group formed around Sheamus, who was fresh off his WWE Title cash-in victory over Roman Reigns at Survivor Series. What could have been a dominant faction in WWE was nothing more than a vehicle to help top babyface acts.

"I just beat Roman for the World Title at Survivor Series, I didn't know I was cashing in until that night. The next day at Raw, they tell us 'we're putting League of Nations together.' This whole idea came from Jamie Noble. There was no idea or plan behind it. They just put the four of us together," recalled Sheamus in an appearance on Rusev's Twitch channel.

Rusev noted, "The idea was four foreigners. That was the exact plan. 'Hey, we have four foreigners, lets put them together.' Great idea."

The two continued, discussing the initial hopes for the group and how quickly they realized what was going to happen.

"The four of us individually were doing good and were successful. You had four strong heels put together to make a weak faction. People talk about The Shield being dominant. We could have been a successful and dominant group. In our first match together on SmackDown, we basically lost a four-on-one match against Roman," said Sheamus.

"When they pitched this idea, we legitimately thought, 'We have a shot. Look at us, we can dominate.' We have a four vs. one match and Roman beat us by countout. That's when we knew. It took us two days to find out 'Wow, we're not going to do good with this,'" Rusev said followed by a laugh.

Kairi Sane's status with WWE was pretty complicated as of last month.

Sane hasn't been on WWE TV since sustaining a cut to the head during a match with Nia Jax at the end of May, but there were already other plans for her at that time.

Many have been asking about Sane's contract status. That, we haven't heard, but as of May, there were plans for her to return to Japan and serve as an ambassador for WWE in Japan. We have been provided no details as to how that would have affected her in-ring career with the company.

We did ask if this role was to involve the long-rumored expansion into Japan for WWE and NXT, and were just told that there is no expansion at this moment due to the COVID-19 situation. We were not informed as to whether or not the original plans for Sane even got far enough to discuss that.

In the weeks that followed, many have gone radio silent about Sane's status with the company. Many want her to continue wrestling, and all of those we've spoken had positive things to say about her. To be clear, we are unsure of how this situation has developed over the past month.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE’s Live Events During COVID-19 Plans Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwes-live-events-during-covid-19-plans-update/)
Renee Young Announces That She’s Writing a Cookbook (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/renee-young-announces-that-shes-writing-a-cookbook/)
AEW Fyter Fest & NXT Great American Bash Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-fyter-fest-nxt-great-american-bash-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings/)

Emperor Smeat

07-02-2020, 09:33 PM

The Sheets:

Night one of AEW's Fyter Fest on TNT saw the show's ratings rebound from a series low last week.

AEW averaged 748,000 viewers last night, up 18.2 percent from last Wednesday. In the 18-49 demo, the show was up 31.8 percent, averaging a 0.29 rating and matching its best number in that category since May 27. Dynamite finished sixth for the night on cable in the demo.

Night one of NXT's Great American Bash was much higher than usual in the 18-49 rankings, finishing 13th on cable with a 0.22 rating. That was up 15.8 percent from last week and was the best number for the show since March 4. In terms of total viewers, NXT was up 0.8 percent to an average of 792,000, its highest number since February 19 and its second best of 2020.

It's the first time since late November -- during the build to Survivor Series which featured wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown on the show -- that NXT has beaten Dynamite in total viewers on consecutive weeks. The total combined viewership of 1.54 million was up nine percent from last week and the highest number since May 27.

It was back to usual in the individual demo categories with AEW beating NXT in every one except people over 50, where NXT had a big advantage with a 0.40 rating to Dynamite's 0.29. The best category for AEW was men 18-49, where they held a 0.37 rating to NXT's 0.29.

The viewership total would be AEW’s third-highest since April 1st trailing episodes of Dynamite on May 27th (following Double or Nothing), and June 17th.

NXT’s Great American Bash special that promoted limited commercial interruptions (saved for the second hour of the show) averaged 792,000 viewers and 0.22 in the 18-49 demo. They were up 0.8% in viewers from last week and would be NXT’s second-highest viewership average in 2020 ...

AEW saw big increases across the board in the demographics as a rebound from last week’s figures. Females 12-34 led the way with a 37.5% increase, females 18-49 improved by 33%, and the main 18-49 demo was up 32%.

It was back to the usual pattern where AEW won all the key demos except for adults over 50, where NXT owned that category with a 0.40 to AEW’s 0.29.

NXT had a big increase among males 18-49 with a 26% increase, and adults 25-54 were up 18% this week. The big loss was among females 12-34 which dropped by 20%, which was a demo they beat AEW last week.

In a move that was inevitable given the current state of the pandemic in the United States, AEW announced on Thursday that their Boston, MA, and Philadelphia, PA, Dynamite events will take place in 2021 instead.

The rescheduled show set for Philadelphia's Liacouras Center on July 29th (originally set for April 22nd) will now take place on Wednesday, April 7th while the Boston show at Agganis Arena on August 5th (originally set for April 15th) will now happen on Wednesday, April 21st.

In both cases, ticket buyers can hold their tickets for the respective shows or get refunds at their point of purchase. This will be the second time AEW has run both cities.

At this point, AEW still has six live dates scheduled for the duration of 2020: St. Louis, MO, (October 7th); Milwaukee, WI (October 28th); Houston, TX (November 4); Rochester, NY (November 11th); New Orleans, LA (December 2nd): and Albuquerque, NM (December 30th).

All Elite Wrestling announced the following storyline suspension for Jake Hager:

AEW has suspended @RealJakeHager for 10 days and fined him an undisclosed amount for striking an official following his TNT Championship match with @CodyRhodes at Fyter Fest on #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/ITF7JJDIAM
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) July 2, 2020
May or may not have written him off due to the allegations against him despite not being actually named from the recent wave of allegations that hit the wrestling industry.

WWE's application of 'The Man' was abandoned by the USPTO because it was initially refused back in December while still under ownership by Ric Flair, and the 6-month window to respond just passed.

The trial regarding the lawsuit brought against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling by Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment (parent company of GFW) is still ongoing in Nashville, TN.

Thus far, the only confirmed note coming out of the proceedings is that GFW and Jarrett have dropped their claims of Federal Trademark Infringement and Counterfeiting of the GFW brand as well as the allegation that Anthem created Unfair Competition under Tennessee common law by their usage of the GFW brand.

Both Faye Jackson and Brian Pillman Jr. were present backstage and at ringside for Fyter Fest. Pillman Jr. is a former MLW World Tag Team Champion and his last match with the promotion was in March for their joint-show with AAA.

Former Impact star Diamante was sitting in the crowd at last night's Dynamite.

Weekly Bunshun wrote an article detailing Hana Kimura’s experiences working on Terrance House prior to her death. It features quotes from Kyoko Kimura, Hana’s mother. Kyoko said that Hana told her she was being forced by Terrace House to behave more obnoxiously on camera and the staff were the ones that instigated the ring outfit incident that led to the cyberbullying.

The Knox County Board of Health in Tennessee took a vote on Wednesday to mandate a mask ordinance for anyone inside certain buildings.

The board voted 7-1 in favor of the mandate.

The lone vote to not wear a mask?

It had to be Kane.

Kane (Glenn Jacobs) is the Mayor of Knox County and, as you can see by the picture above, hasn't been a fan of the face mask during the coronavirus pandemic. Kane wore a full mask in WWE for years before he started wearing a half mask that didn't cover his mouth or nose. He was eventually unmasked in 2003. When he would wear the mask again, it was the half mask, which would also be useless during the pandemic.

Kane's stance on gloves is unclear.

A new report has details on the car accident that resulted in Velveteen Dream needing to visit the hospital. As reported on Friday, Dream was released from the hospital after his involvement in a car accident, and Wrestling Inc has some details on what went down.

According to the site, the accident took place at about 4 PM local time when Dream allegedly failed to stop at a red light. That resulted in him hitting another car. The driver of the other car sustained injuries, but it isn’t known how bad they were.

Dream was given a citation over the incident but will not appear in court.

John Brody, WWE’s Executive Vice President, global head of sales and partnerships was the most recent guest on the SportsPro podcast. Brody discussed some of WWE’s plans to further expand their brand into Latin America and said there are some exciting things in the works that had to be delayed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“So, I’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico over the last few years. Also, throughout Latin, been to South America and spent a good deal of time in Brazil. There’s a tremendous culture of fandom for wrestling, for WWE throughout Latin America. Its been an area where we see opportunity and growth. It’s an area where we’d love to be able to create a televised live event. Some sort of special live event in the short-to-medium term. Our fans have passion there. We deliver tons of content through YouTube and all of our other channels and we just watch the numbers continue to go up so, anywhere we have a particular fan-base that needs to be served, we want to try to super serve them and I think there are a lot of exciting plans that we’ll be unveiling for Latin America in the months ahead. Obviously, COVID makes you have to rejigger some calendars and we’re truly a global property so when you’re a global property, you actually have to be a global property. You need to have events all around the world. You need to create compelling storylines. You need to also make sure that when you’re doing something in Latin America that you do it in language. So we’re continuing to find ways to do that whether it’s through our network, through our live events, through our digital and social to make sure we feed this insatiable thirst for WWE.”

Edge joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore for a 30-minute chat on the ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast. Edge is currently recovering from tearing his tricep during his match against Randy Orton at Backlash. Edge detailed when he knew he was injured and talked about some of the conversations he had with doctors in the P.C. after the match and his surgeon.

“So we’re going through the match and contrary to reports, we did it once, straight through. Like 48 minutes or whatever it was, and in coming back, I kinda wanted to re-calibrate my style a little bit and really make it a Bret Hart-kind of feel to my matches. Lot less high spots, more grappling, more wrestling, more fighting for things, selling. The little things like we talked about, right? So, we were doing this match and we’re having a blast and we got a queue at one point. I think it was like 35 minutes and I was like, ‘Woah! Alright. Man, I’m feeling great. This is awesome.’ I did a springboard into the second RKO and I went, ‘Ohh… okay, I got the cold sweats and I feel like I’m gonna throw up.’ That’s usually a sign. Now, and that’s where it popped and I thought, ‘Okay well, you know, I think I got a little bit more in the tank to finish this out’ and then we got it finished. We tried to do a couple pickup shots to see how those would feel. Maybe try and [add] a different element to the match and I didn’t like them, but we were just trying something different. Got to the back, I was like, ‘I think something happened to my tricep. I don’t think it’s complete, but it feels like something,’ and they felt around, they said, ‘We think it might be a complete [tear].’ Now, by the time I got the surgery, surgeon said, ‘You know, you probably went in with it partially torn, because the tissue was already very diseased, and my elbow had been bugging me for probably about a month but it had only bugged me when I did chest or triceps so I just thought…”

Royal Albert Hall is going to go broke by March of 2021 if it doesn’t receive financial support according to the building’s Chief Executive Officer. Per News UK, the building has lost £12m ($14 million USD) due to being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Executive Craig Hassall said that hundreds of staff members may have to be laid off.

“The Government support has been very oblique and vague. We have lobbied hard and consistently across the sector. But [Culture Secretary] Oliver Dowden’s roadmap for recovery has no dates and nothing firm.

There is no guidance from Government on when we can open or how we can open. Without that it’s impossible for us to trade – and that means the whole sector.”

Royal Albert Hall has played host to many pro wrestling events over the years. Most recently, WWE held the 2018 United Kingdom Championship tournament in that building and that tournament was won by NXT U.K.’s Zack Gibson.
Besides those events, the venue is also the main location for NXT UK tapings.

Bleacher Report Live posted their interview with AEW’s Wardlow. Wardlow revealed how his AEW signing came about and he credited Britt Baker for playing a role in him joining AEW. He also talked about working a quick match with Q.T. Marshall in front of Cody for only a few minutes before Cody decided to sign him.

“I was in between training sessions and I had a voicemail and I checked it and it was really just everything coming together. Cody had heard my name from a couple different people all in the same week. One of those people being Britt Baker who came up together with myself in IWC in Pittsburgh. We kind of started at the same time and grew up together in the company. So she had mentioned my name, a couple of other people. So Q.T. Marshall gave me a phone call and told me they were gonna fly me down to Atlanta to take a look at me. I go to Atlanta, work with Q.T. for maybe five minutes in front of Cody before he offered me contract.”

Per Pro Wrestling Sheet, the people invited to Fyter Fest that were seated in the hard cam’s direction were Daily’s Place or Jaguars sponsors. Those individuals also brought family and friends. The people seated in the upper bowl of the building were likely not tested for COVID-19 because they could not possibly come into contact with anyone in the backstage or ringside areas. Anyone who was in those respective areas were tested for COVID.

WWE underwent more testing early in the week ahead of Great American Bash, with some wrestlers coming in very early for testing.

WWE has indicated that social distancing, masks, and other measures will be mandatory moving forward, saying " “As a reminder, wearing masks, sanitizing and social distancing will be required at the Performance Center this week and going forward. You'll be required to wear a mask upon entering and we ask that you adhere to these requirements in order to minimize risks.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: MLW Owner on Live Events Status, New Trademarks, New Japan Cup 2020 Night 7 Results (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/various-mlw-owner-on-live-events-status-new-trademarks-new-japan-cup-2020-night-7-results/)
SPOILER: Winner of Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee Possibly Accidentally Revealed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/spoiler-winner-of-adam-cole-vs-keith-lee-possibly-accidentally-revealed/)
More on Jon Moxley’s Fyter Fest Match Being Delayed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/more-on-jon-moxleys-fyter-fest-match-being-delayed/)
Ember Moon Says She May Need Another Achilles Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/ember-moon-says-she-may-need-another-achilles-surgery/)

Emperor Smeat

07-03-2020, 02:44 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

After a COVID-19 outbreak that has greatly affected the promotion, WWE has made a number of changes ...

The outbreak caused a change in the tapings schedule and more taping this week. NXT was to tape its shows for 7/1 and 7/8 on 7/1, which it did. It was supposed to tape 7/15 and 7/22 on 7/2, which has been moved to an upcoming set of tapings. Smackdown and 205 Live for 7/3 and 7/10 was taped on 7/2, while Raw and Main Event for 7/6 and 7/13 was to be taped on 7/3. It was noted that it was a lot safer keeping the Raw brand tapings on one night and Smackdown on the other, because taping both the same night and doing different weeks on different days led to an outbreak that hit both brands hard. Keeping the brands on separate days means, in theory, if there is another outbreak, it would only affect one brand.

The WWE outbreak affected AEW, as Jon Moxley, on his own, decided it wasn’t prudent to come for the taping on 7/2 for the second night of Fyter Fest, where he was to face Brian Cage for the AEW title. Moxley took a second COVID test on 6/26 in Las Vegas. He got the test result on 6/30 or 7/1 and it was negative. Moxley is expected to return on the 7/15 live show, called Fight for the Fallen, provided he tests negative on a third test that will be taken in a few days.

Even with the two negative tests, Moxley noted he was around someone who tested positive for several straight days and after talking to doctors felt there was still a risk he could have it in its early stages where it would not come up in a test but could be contagious. He didn’t want to risk the safety of the AEW locker room or be responsible for a new outbreak.

Renee Young, his wife, has been doing much better. As of midweek, she still felt funny and her chest felt heavy but overall felt a lot better.

The only names public from WWE who tested positive were Renee Young, who went public without telling WWE, and Kayla Braxton, Jamie Noble and Adam Pearce. It’s pretty much impossible to believe Noble or Pearce would have gone public on their own so it appears WWE wanted a few names out of people that the fans wouldn’t care about since they aren’t active wrestles. Due to HIPPA laws, WWE could not release the names of anyone who tested positive without their permission. Braxton did give them her permission in March to release her name but they did not.

One anonymous WWE name told Wrestlinginc.com that the company has forbid any talent who contracted it to go public. It is known that they were not happy at all that Young posted what she did. It was said that the company would take care of all medical treatment and that the public relations department would handle all information to the public.

Talent that had been appearing on television regularly of late that were not on the tapings included The Street Profits, A.J. Styles, Austin Theory, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Randy Orton, Natalya, Nia Jax, Otis, Tucker, Mojo Rawley, Shorty G, Raquel Gonzalez, Rey Mysterio, Dominick, Sheamus, Shorty G and Sonya Deville.

What is known is that some of those names tested positive, at least one was held off for precautionary reasons, some asked for time off so as not to risk their families due to the outbreak, and some were not originally booked this week. There were no answers as to who fit into the latter two scenarios. The Mysterios were definitely booked to appear live and instead did a taped segment from home.

One would think, but given WWE nothing is for sure, that with the number of positive tests being 6/23 to 6/25, that anyone who tested positive would be home until 7/8 at the earliest.

What we do know is that Styles vs. Drew Gulak, advertised for 6/26, and neither Styles nor Bryan was at the show, and both were in the ring with Young being interviewed the week before, didn’t happen. Gulak was the only one of the four there. However, Styles vs,. Gulak was taped on 7/2. Sheamus’ segment with Jeff Hardy was pulled from 6/26 but also advertised on 7/2, so if that’s the case, Sheamus in theory would be off the list, as would be, at least in theory, who was on the list who appears on the 7/3 Smackdown or 7/6 Raw show.

Regarding The Street Profits, if something happened to one, it would make sense for neither to appear. Theory was not even mentioned on Raw when Seth Rollins and Murphy were on screen ... It’s also known that Natalya did not test positive but was taken off the show because her husband, producer T.J. Wilson, was sick on the day of testing and even though he also didn’t test positive, when he was sick they took her off the show.

Morgan, Rose, Deville and Lana were all on a boat trip together days before the testing. Lana was the only one on television.

Some have noted that a major issue to some talent is how other talent is not taking it seriously enough. One person noted to us that they basically go to work, and to the store, and that’s it, while others are out at bars hanging out with no masks in close quarters, or boats, or hot tubs, crowded beaches, or gyms, with the risk they can get it, and bring it in the room ...

Rawley and Shorty G had their match the week before agented by Noble. The Pearce name was also notable because of how closely he worked the week before with the major power players at the tapings.

After two weeks of increases with a show built around Christian wrestling and Championship Monday, Raw, even with Ric Flair and Big Show pushed, fell to 1,735,000 viewers, which tied for the third lowest number in modern wrestling history. The 0.49 in 18-49 tied the 6/1 show for the second lowest number in the key demo in the history of the show.

The record lows remain 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49, set on 5/4.

Raw was 25th overall, fourth among non-news shows and tied for fourth for the night in 18-49. It was first in Males 18-49 and Males 12-34.

Raw was down 9.7 percent in viewers and 7.5 percent in 18-49 from last week’s show. As compared to the same week one year ago, Raw was down 23.8 percent in viewers and 32.9 percent in 18-49 ...

If this becomes the normal pattern, the key is now that instead of record low numbers while attempting to rebuild and create new stars, the show will be doing record lows while at the same time going to the past trying to use stars from the past to stabilize while not pushing younger talent. There is no guarantee the first method will pay off. There is a guarantee the second method won’t, and it was basically the mindset that killed WCW until it was too late, although WWE still has far less out of touch with the audience creative. This creative is just not making new stars.

Smackdown on 6/26, a show changed at the last minute due to COVID test positives, to be a tribute to The Undertaker, was up to a 1.37 rating and 2,174,000 viewers (1.32 viewers per home) and did the same 0.5 (685,000 viewers) in 18-49 the show has been doing weekly.

The rating was up 2.2 percent. Viewers were up 4.9 percent. 18-49 was up 3.2 percent.

The other three networks all ran rerun programming. Smackdown tied a repeat of Shark Tank and 20/20 on ABC for first place at 0.5. It was first in 18-34 and first in men 18-49, while tied for fourth in women 18-49 and tied for last in 50+ ...

The increase over last week was for The Undertaker special as the first hour did 2,271,000 viewers which was Undertaker clips and the Undertaker vs. A.J. Styles Boneyard match from WrestleMania. The second hour did 2,076,000 viewers.

Last year FOX with rerun programming did 1,318,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49, an increase of 64.9 percent overall and 25.0 percent in 18-49.
The summer period is pretty much where Smackdown is almost guaranteed to do better than what FOX had last year since its usually the weakest period of the year for FOX in terms of ratings.

For 6/27, in the key demos, AEW still won everywhere except Women 18-34. In total, AEW had 285,000 viewers to NXT’s 242,000, which is the closest of the year ...

The show actually started at normal levels, so in 18-49, NXT grew and AEW fell tremendously as the show went on. NXT still had a major edge because its lead-in did 993,000 viewers while AEW’s lead-in did 342,000 viewers.

The main event segment, where NXT had the Keith Lee win over Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano in a North American title match, and AEW had the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy angle, saw the huge win over NXT, by 852,000 to 557,000, as well as a win in 18-49 by 277,000 to 238,000. The two quarters of the main event were the first two quarters NXT has won in 18-49 this year. It was also the highest rated main event NXT had done head-to-head. The lowest quarter AEW had ever done prior to last week was 606,000 for the seventh quarter on 4/29, a figure they died on 6/27 in quarter four and full underneath in quarters seven and eight.

The first quarter, with AEW having Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus in a lumberjack match, did 744,000 viewers and 379,000 in 18-49, which ended up as the high point of the show in both numbers. NXT had Cameron Grimes vs. Damien Priest plus Timothy Thatcher, which did 794,000 viewers but only 207,000 in 18-49.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 62,000 viewers and 74,000 in 18-49 with Hikaru Shida vs. Red Velvet, the Shida-Penelope Ford brawl and the Cody and Jake Hager press conference. Even though they lost big, it was the only quarter AEW won in total viewers because NXT fell harder. NXT lost 118,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for Santos Escobar vs. Jake Atlas and the Undisputed Era psychiatrist segment.

In the third quarter, AEW lost 35,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 with the Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss vignette and Janela & Kiss vs. Brodie Lee & Colt Cabana. NXT gained 66,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 with Malcolm Bivens with Rinku & Saurav and a video package promoting the three-way main event. That’s the difference with AEW and NXT, is that AEW’s video packages to promote the future are necessarily evils but don’t do well in keeping viewers while NXT gained viewers doing its package.

In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 41,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for FTR vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. NXT gained 53,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter.

In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 24,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for the ending of FTR vs. Daniels & Kazarian, the post-match brawl with the Young Bucks and Butcher & Blade, as well as a promotional package for Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends. NXT gained 19,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross vs. Bronson Red, an Adam Cole interview and Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 12,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo and Brian Cage vs. Joe Cruz. NXT lost 2,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis and a vignette with Robert Stone, Aliyah, William Regal and Rhea Ripley.

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 40,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for Matt Hardy vs. Santana. NXT lost 11,000 viewers but gained 15,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor.

In the final quarter, AEW lost 31,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy angle. NXT gained 51,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Lee vs. Balor vs. Gargano.
That lead-in number from TNT might have been the lowest ever since AEW's debut. Also been a key reason why NXT has been able to win the first 1-2 segments in recent weeks because of their much stronger lead-in.

The biggest Wednesday night competition of the year took place as part of the two-week Fyter Fest vs. Great American Bash promotion.

Both sides can claim victory in week one, with NXT having more viewers due to its huge edge over 50, but AEW winning solidly in the key 18-49 demo ...

NXT did 792,000 viewers for a show built around Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks, which figured to be the strongest drawing match on either show and did a 0.22 in 18-49 (284,000 viewers). It was its second best overall number of the year and sixth best in 18-49.

AEW did 748,000 viewers and did a 0.29 (372,000 viewers) in 18-49, good numbers but in a sense disappointing given the weeks of hype for Fyter Fest.

AEW was No. 6 for the night in 18-49 ...

NXT was No. 13, its best position in recent memory in the 18-49 listings ...

NXT and USA in competition announced limited commercial interruptions on the show, and going with no commercials for the main event. That would have contributed somewhat to an increase in the show’s numbers but the minute-by-minute data isn’t available at press time to fully examine how much difference it made. Based on the usual loss of viewers during commercials, it would have made a minor difference in the overall ratings, not enough to change NXT winning in total viewers, but the gap would be a little closer ...

NXT won the first two quarters in total viewers based somewhat on having a bigger lead-in. AEW won quarters three through five, and then as the build came for the NXT main event, it took back over. Still, even with a giant difference in viewers, with the Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks doing 900,000 viewers to the Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends match doing 645,000, AEW still had the edge in 18-49 by a 316,000 to 309,000 range. But AEW lost a huge amount of viewership in the last 45 minutes while NXT stayed pretty steady until a huge increase in the final quarter, with the no commercials playing a part in this ...

AEW had the deeper show and better match quality, but NXT having a unique never-seen-before main event made a difference.

NXT for that reason, should also win next week with total viewers, and has a good shot to come close in 18-49, with the Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee double title match on 7/8 likely going against Omega & Page vs. Private Party. AEW again has the deeper show but no match that can come close to Cole vs. Lee with the winner-take-all stipulations, in what is easily the biggest NXT match so far this year ...

Still, AEW without weeks of hype did 770,000 viewers two weeks ago for a show headlined by Best Friends vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara, which also went against Bayley and Banks on NXT. The 0.29 was less than the 5/27 show. NXT’s 0.22 was its best 18-49 mark since 3/6, which was a lifetime ago.

The combined 18-49 viewers of 656,000 beat Monday solidly, and fell just shy of the 685,000 for Friday, which has the huge network advantage ...

The show opened with AEW having Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy vs. Wardlow & MJF, doing 799,000 viewers and 425,000 in 18-49. The 425,000 was the high point of the show for either group in 18-49. NXT had Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae vs. Mia Yim which did 839,000 viewers and 287,000 in 18-49.

Quarter two saw AEW lost 72,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49 for a Lance Archer/Joey Janela quick brawl, a promo package and the beginning of Penelope Ford vs. Hikaru Shida. NXT lost 51,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for the end of the women’s four-way match and a Damien Priest interview.

Quarter three saw AEW gain 60,000 viewers but actually lose 1,000 in 18-49 for Shida vs. Ford. NXT lost 86,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan, so this was where AEW took the viewership lead 787,000 to 702,000.

Quarter four saw AEW lose 4,000 viewers but gain 7,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Cody vs. Jake Hager. NXT gained 62,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for Rhea Ripley vs. Robert Stone & Aliyah.

Quarter five saw AEW gain 31,000 viewers and 19,000 in18-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Hager, a Darby Allin video and the beginning of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz. This was AEW’s peak overall number with 814,000. NXT gained 12,000 viewers but lost 8,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis in a strap match.

Quarter six saw AEW lost 90,000 viewers and 45,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz and the Jericho-Cassidy pull-apart brawl. NXT gained 8,000 viewers and lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Strong vs. Lumis and the Adam Cole/Keith Lee video package.

Quarter seven saw AEW lost 15,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for plugging next week and the beginning of Omega & Page vs. Best Friends. NXT lost 2,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Shirai vs. Banks.

Quarter eight, and this is where the no commercials made a difference, AEW lost 64,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for Omega & Page vs. Best Friends while NXT gained 118,000 viewers and 40,000 in 18-49 for Shirai vs. Banks ...

Cody, in promoting Fyter Fest on Busted Open radio, commented on the uniqueness of WWE using the name of one of his father’s creations, the Great American Bash, at the last minute to combat their two shows.

It’s noted that his sister Teil, was very upset about it and said WWE should pay her mother royalties.

NEW JAPAN: The current backstage rules in place related to talent and staff for the live events right now are that talent undergoes temperature checks twice daily and has to keep a log of every person they’ve been in contact with between tests. They are tested constantly. Locker rooms are zoned and have staggered entry. All conversations are supposed to be limited. The previous buffet-style catering has been done away with. Instead, the promotion brings containers of food and beverages with the names of the individual on them. The ring and ringside area are disinfected between matches

Malaysia Pro Wrestling is going to offer a new form of pro wrestling. Malaysia Pro is being recognized by the government of the country as a legitimate sport as opposed to entertainment, by tweaking things to make it similar to a judging sport like figure skating or gymnastics. They are looking at doing a competitive sports show next year where the matches will be graded by judges and it will be competition. I’ve never heard of this idea being used, but in the past, both Nick Bockwinkel and Eric Bischoff have come up with similar ideas but were never able to get them off the ground. Both had approached me with those ideas at different times and Bockwinkel had asked me about being one of the judges

The NWA has released Zicky Dice. Dice had considerable locker room heat for not selling for people and when he was told he needed to improve his work and his attitude he asked for his release. William Corgan granted him that because the idea is they only want team players. The NWA, with David Lagana gone, is restructuring the company on both the business and wrestling sides, with veteran wrestlers taking on advisory positions and more collaboration between the office the wrestlers

Bully Ray’s contract expired and he wasn’t given an offer for a new deal because ROH isn’t offering people new deals right now. The company likes him but aside from Danhausen, because they build a storyline around it, nobody whose deals are up are getting new offers right now. There are expectations that once they start running things may change, including having interest in Alex Zayne, who had just started when the pandemic hit, and Tony Deppen

As part of the 7/15 Fight for the Fallen show, AEW and the Khan family are donating $1 million for COVID relief

The WWE purchase of the Evolve intellectual property and tape library is believed to have been finalized. It was more a question of when since we reported it those close said it was basically done at the time. WWE had already had a clause, similar to Progress and the other U.K. groups that it worked with, that WWE could buy the promotion for a set price whenever it wanted. PW Insider reported that somebody was interested in buying Evolve but that clause made it so they couldn’t sell without WWE’s agreeing to it because of the clause. But WWE at that point would have had to buy it themselves and agreed to do so. Sal Hamaoui, who ran Evolve with Gabe Sapolsky since its inception, will continue to promote shows under the WWN banner with his FIP, Shine and ACW brands. Gabe Sapolsky will not be involved any longer as he is expected to be working full-time for WWE as part of NXT creative. Some of the better Evolve talent may also get developmental deals. Basically, it appears they needed the money from the sale to pay back the money owed to fans and others for the costs of having to cancel all the WrestleMania week shows. So while this was probably inevitable at some point, it happened at this specific point because of COVID likely speeding up the process since over Mania week is when they would have gotten a large percentage of their annual income. The tape library sold includes that of the old Dragon Gate USA promotion. The promotion had been hanging by a thread ever since the Flo Sports deal fell apart in 2016 and was kept alive by its relationship with WWE, even though its fan base hated that it had become an NXT farm club. Lenny Leonard, who has announced for these groups for years, said that between the sale and the pandemic, there is a chance that he has called his last pro wrestling match

Sane, 31, is returning to Japan to be with her husband. This has been in the works for a while and the company has known about it since May if not earlier. Sane was injured by Jax legit by being thrown into the ring steps hard when she was too close to the steps to control her bump on a Raw match taped on 5/26, which had to be stopped and was edited before it aired on television on 6/1. That’s why she hasn’t been around since, although she is cleared and is scheduled to appear on Raw soon as she is listed for the 7/3 tapings which would be for 7/6 and/or 7/13. But the decision at the time was to not harp on the injury on television nor talk about it at all publicly which is why they never played it up and her name hasn’t been talked about. The idea in play before the Sane-Jax legit injury was to do a career-ending injury angle with her later when it was time for her to leave, which was to set up Asuka against that person at SummerSlam for the title. This is also likely changed since Heyman left, and the person who would have most likely (not confirmed) been put in that spot would be either Flair, who may or may not be back by then, or Baszler, who Vince removed from television. The only thing we know is the person who ended her career was not scheduled to be Jax. While there’s been no talk about it of late, there had been talk that once her contract with WWE was up that she would wrestle one more year in Japan and then retire

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Mark Henry; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five; 3. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode four; 4. Backlash PPV; 5. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode one; 6. Best Raw matches of the decade; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode three; 8. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode two; 9. Best of Undertaker; 10. WWE top ten savage kendo stick attacks. NXT from 6/24 was No 11 and Raw Talk was No. 13

Fignuts

07-04-2020, 01:45 AM

What the fuck kind of name is Zicky Dice?

erickman

07-04-2020, 05:04 AM

wonder if bully ray is going to impact, he would be the aces and 8s dude

Emperor Smeat

07-07-2020, 09:34 PM

The Sheets:

Raw ratings are delayed due to this past weekend’s Fourth of July holiday.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Triple H was asked about counter-programming and if NXT would still be putting on the Great American Bash if it wasn’t for AEW’s Fyter Fest: “It absolutely is part of healthy of competition. Anyone that thinks it isn’t, to a degree, is being naive to the situation. You saw that back in the day when Clash of Champions was counter-programming [to WWE’s WrestleMania IV in 1988]. At the same point, it can’t drive your booking decisions. Obviously there are counter-programming decisions, but I can tell you exactly how this came about. Almost all of these storylines were headed where they are now. There was a gap, timing wise, between In Your House and what will become the SummerSlam TakeOver, and you need a halfway point and a build. This is that halfway point. So it doesn’t change our decision-making process. I don’t counter-book, I book what’s right for NXT.
Basically almost a 180 on his earlier claims and stance about NXT not counter-programming AEW.

A major announcement by Taz has been announced for tomorrow’s Fyter Fest event.

Tony Khan tweeted the following this afternoon: “Also tomorrow night at Night 2 of the Fyter Fest on #AEWDynamite on TNT, @OfficialTAZ & Brian Cage @MrGMSI_BCage will be interviewed by @tonyschiavone24, and Taz will make an announcement that I guarantee will send shockwaves through the world of professional wrestling!”

Cage was originally set to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World title on the second night of Fyter Fest. However, Moxley has been at home following his wife Renee Young’s positive COVID-19 test. The match has been rescheduled for Fight for the Fallen, which will take place on the July 15th edition of Dynamite.

There are now four matches confirmed for night two of NXT's Great American Bash.

WWE announced today that Johnny Gargano vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott will air on night two of the Great American Bash this Wednesday. The match was set up by a backstage segment on night one of the event.

Gargano and Scott argued on last week's show after Scott tried to break up a backstage brawl between Candice LeRae and Mia Yim.

LeRae vs. Yim in a street fight is also set for Great American Bash night two.

The ongoing trial brought against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling LLC by Jeff Jarrett and his company, Global Force Entertainment has been put on pause and delayed until the morning of 7/21, Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. informed all parties.

The belief among sources we have spoken to is that a concern about rising COVID-19 cases locally led to the court pushing back the trial several weeks.

The two sides will have a telephone conference on 7/10 discussing the case as well.

Multi-time NWA World Tag Team Champions and WWE Hall of Famers Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson jointly filed a trademark on their team name "Rock 'n' Roll Express" on 6/30.

After TSN2’s airing of AEW Dynamite this Wednesday night in Canada, they will air four episodes of Dark Side of the Ring beginning at 10 pm Eastern. They will air the episodes covering the Montreal Screwjob, The Match Made in Heaven (Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth), The Killing of Bruiser Brody, and The Last of the Von Erichs. I would highly recommend the latter two, which were the strongest episodes of the first season

Jay Lethal comments on allegations against him.

In 2018, Taeler Hendrix came forward and alleged she was taken off ROH television for not sleeping with Lethal, who she managed during her time in the company.
Triple H On Counter-Programming AEW: I Don't Counter-Book, I Book What's Right For NXT
Related Article Triple H On Counter-Programming AEW: I Don't Counter-Book, I Book What's Right For NXT

Lethal denied the allegations and ROH announced that they had launched an investigation into the matter, which nothing came of.

On July 6, former Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein alleged Jay Lethal would sexually harass women in ROH and that ROH covered it up. Klein did not specifically reference the 2018 allegations by Hendrix, but said multiple women came forward regarding Lethal.

Klein wrote on social media, "When [J-Rocc] harassed a female member of [ROH] locker room, he was told to leave and was not welcome back. ---- MULTIPLE women brought complaints & evidence of sexual misconduct/harassment by Jay Lethal. ROH ignored/covered it up. They only take action when convenient. They are hoping to use another “investigation” to wait everyone out until we 'forget.' Thank you, ROH for all of the truly wonderful things you do and have done. Now please address the bad behavior. Do better. Right now you continue to CHOOSE not to. It’s hard when your faves get called out. Imagine what it’s like to be targeted/harassed by that person & not protected because he/she is a 'favorite.' People can be talented, friend to many, good for community, & also take advantage of & abuse others. Not mutually exclusive. In fact, qualities that make it hard to accept that a “favorite” could do something horrible are the things they use to gain access to victims & escape accountability. They don’t usually wear a sign or broadcast their bad intentions."

With allegations being brought up again, Lethal put out the following statement on Monday night:

"It has always been my choice to use silence to keep my dignity, refrain from publicly attacking people I'm not fond of, and relying on who I have been as a person to speak for itself. I've also never wanted to sue MY platform to boost or give attention to any negativity. I do however know and realize that some people will sadly take my silence to mean something else.

The #speakingout movement has given me hope that the industry that I've chosen to give my life to will become a better place. I've wanted to stand in support of all those brave enough to share their painful stories. Unfortunately I was afraid to due to the lies that are being said about me.

I have never and would never sexually harass, sexually assault, rape or force myself on anyone. I would never use my status to deny anyone opportunities. Even now, it pain me to know that defending myself might somehow tarnish an important movement and cast doubt on real, troubling experiences."

ROH has not commented on the matter.

WWE announced Tuesday that Kristina Salen is their new Chief Financial Officer, effective August 3rd and reporting directly to Vince McMahon.

Salen replaces interim CFO Frank Riddick who stepped in when co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson were fired in late-January. The company has yet to replace their Chief Revenue Officer position.

Salen comes with an impressive resume as the first CFO of Etsy from January 2013 through March 2017, helping grow the business from $895 million to $3 billion in gross sales over four years and executing their move to go public, according to the WWE release.

Following that, she was in similar roles for UnitedMasters and Moda Operandi, both New York-based companies. She was the first woman named to the board of Endeavor (the former WME-IMG) in 2019, and also sits on the boards of SiriusXM and Cornerstone OnDemand ...

As of this writing, WWE's stock price was down nearly 2% for the day to $45.48.

The forthcoming A&E documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin officially commenced production today.

The plan is to broadcast the documentary this December.

The Austin doc is one of several announced earlier this year, alongside docs on the lives and careers of Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels and Booker T.

Scout Comics announced that they have published 1,000 variant tribute versions of Assassin and Son, the comic book written by former WWE stars Shad Gaspard and Marc Copani (aka Mohammad Hussan) available at this link with money raised being donated to Gaspard's family.
Link: https://www.scoutcomics.com/collections/assassin-and-son-1

The likes of Jordan Devlin, former OTT World Champion David Starr and Scotty Davis had allegations placed against them by way of the #SpeakingOut movement. Multiple promotions have cut ties with the aforementioned performers and the Over The Top Wrestling promotion based in Ireland issued a statement today regarding changes within the organization.

They announced that Anne O’Brien is joining their team. Anne is going to lead the talent relations department and will be the designated contact for any issues that talents are dealing with. Anne is also going to work with the OTT Wrestling schools in Dublin and Belfast respectively. OTT management, staff and the performers will undergo Garda vetting, which is a background check conducted by the National Vetting Bureau.

Joe Cabray is continuing on as the promoter of OTT. Roster members LJ Cleary and Kaydee McKeon Joyce are going to be working with Fight Factory Pro Wrestling in Ireland. Karen Glennon, who’s known as Session Moth Martina has also been appointed as a coach for OTT’s ‘School Of Wrestling NI’, formerly the ‘Wrespect Wrestling’ school. OTT acquired the school recently.

The promotion is drafting a code of conduct for fans who attend shows. The full press release can be read on OTT’s official website.

On Monday’s edition of Raw, two new matches were added to the Extreme Rules event taking place on Sunday, July 19th.

The event is now being branded as “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” with varying degrees of success for the performers getting that mouthful across in their promos on Monday’s episode.

MLW’s Jared St. Laurent issued a statement on Brian Pillman Jr.’s contract status: “Brian is not released and is fully aware of our schedule, which includes events October 3rd and December 5th pending the state of the pandemic. We put the health of our talent/staff and their family and our fans before bookings, which is why we are not running at the moment. We’ve been in contact with Brian to relay this. If he elects to perform elsewhere under the terms of his deal, he certainly has our full blessing to do so.”

Brandon Thurston is conducting a Pro Wrestling Favorability Survey. The goal of the survey is to understand "fan demographics, favorability of major brands, and possible economic effects on the wrestling business of COVID-19 and the #SpeakingOut movement,” and the results of it are intended to be used in future published work.
Link: https://forms.gle/wLC7QbDX6boLHMZB9

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Kairi Sane Contract Update, Shayna Baszler Status Update, Nikki Cross on Facing Bayley (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-kairi-sane-contract-update-shayna-baszler-status-update-nikki-cross-on-facing-bayley/)
More on WWE’s New Face Mask Policy for Shows at the Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/more-on-wwes-new-face-mask-policy-for-shows-at-the-performance-center/)
WWE Says Winner of “Eye for an Eye Match” Must “Extract Their Opponent’s Eye” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-says-winner-of-eye-for-an-eye-match-must-extract-their-opponents-eye/)
Rey Mysterio Reportedly Working in WWE Without a Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/rey-mysterio-reportedly-working-in-wwe-without-a-contract/)
SummerSlam Will Take Place at the WWE Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/summerslam-will-take-place-at-the-wwe-performance-center/)

Emperor Smeat

07-08-2020, 07:18 PM

The Sheets:

Raw on Monday did the second lowest audience number in modern history as well as tied for the second lowest in the main demo.

The show did 1.69 million viewers, beating only the May 4 episode that did 1.68 million viewers. The 0.49 rating in 18-49 tied episodes on June 9 and June 30 for second place behind the May 4 Raw that did a 0.46.

The total audience dropped three percent from last week, but stayed even in 18-49. The good news is that the first-to-third hour drop was 5.0 percent, much lower than usual, but that wasn't the key. That was due to a strong hour two. The first hour was the lowest hour one in modern history. The second hour increased greatly and hour three dropped ...

The real story is that people tuned into the show late. This pattern used to be fairly regular in the summer months but has rarely happened this year. It could be holiday related ...

Raw was 21st overall on cable, but fourth among non-news shows. In 18-49, Raw was fourth overall. Raw was first on cable in men 18-49 and teenage boys. In hour three, Raw dropped across the board.

In looking at the key first-to-second hour increase, because it was hour two that saved the show from all-time record lows, there was a 10 percent increase in women 18-49, a three percent increase in men 18-49, a 19 percent drop in teenage girls, a five percent drop in teenage boys, and one percent increase in over 50, so it was women 18-49 who really saved the show from record lows.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.70 million
9 p.m. 1.75 million
10 p.m. 1.61 million

For a comparison, the May 4 record low pattern was:

8 p.m. 1.81 million
9 p.m. 1.69 million
10 p.m. 1.55 million

Over the last few weeks, PWInsider.com has received questions asking about whether there's been any follow-up to former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio's May arrest in San Antonio, Texas for sexual assault, a second degree felony.

PWInsider.com has learned there has not been additional movement in the case as of this writing, as the charges have not yet been brought before a grand jury. Once that happens, if the Grand Jury rules there should be an official indictment, prosecution would commence and move towards a criminal trial. Del Rio remains free on $50,000 bond and we are told that he has hired several defense attorneys to represent him.

Del Rio, real name Jose Alberto Rodriguez Chucuan, 43, was arrested on 5/4 after the victim went to local authorities, stating that on Sunday 5/3 at 10 PM Chucuan allegedly became angry with her and physically assaulted her after accusing her of infidelity. When the victim would not admit to the infidelity, Chucuan allegedly slapped her "across the head" several times. The victim also alleged that Chucuan "forced her to wear a dress and dance for him" and that when she refused and he told her not to start crying because if she did, "he would take her son and drop him in the middle of the road somewhere."

The arrest affidavit stated that the woman alleged Chucuan had sexually assaulted her and that she had her injuries documented via photographs.

At the time, The FOX affiliate in San Antonio reported, "Police said Rodriguez Chucuan then tied the woman's hands with boxing straps, put a sock in her mouth and sexually assaulted her for several hours, using various objects. According to investigators, he also punched her in the back during the assault, causing visible injuries. The victim told detectives she does not remember much after he placed his hand around her throat."

TMZ later reported additional details that brought the accusations into a much more disturbing light, stating that the victim reported the attack started at around 10 PM on 5/3 and that it lasted over 16 hours, ending on 5/4 on 2:30 PM. The victim went to the police the same day with TMZ's report noting that the responding officer saw bruises on her face, arms, legs and neck. The victim alleged that Chucuan attempted to burn her passport and smashed her laptop computer and cell phone. TMZ reported that the victim, "..also claims Del Rio attacked her, causing multiple injuries and left her, 'feeling woozy and dizzy from the hits to her head.' " The victim told police she was afraid and intended to leave San Antonio as soon as possible.

If Chucuan is found guilty, the minimum prison sentence for sexual assault under Texas law would be 2 years with a maximum of up to 20 years. As a second degree felony under Texas law, sexual assault can also lead to a fine of up to $10,000, in addition to incarceration.

Farrah Akase, who has been translating the stories covering Hana Kimura’s suicide and the role that Fuji TV and Terrace House played has reported on the following from the second part of an article that includes comments from Hana’s mother, Kyoko Kimura:
*Hana had been a fan of Terrace House since she was in her teen years
*Cast members on the show were paid 100,000 yen per month, equivalent to $1,000 (U.S.) when they filmed outings with their friends they paid out of pocket
*Their contracts were strict limiting their ability to leave the house until the producers allowed them, violation of the contracts came with heavy fines ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 (U.S.)
*There was a scandal in 2014 where cast members went public with allegations of sexual harassment and staged scenes & relationships leading to Fuji TV canceling the series
*They later began working with Netflix and the same director was used for both iterations of the series
*The director was interviewed for the article and when asked about staging scenes, directed their questions to Fuji TV
*Those working on the article spoke with Fuji TV president Ryunosuke Endo, who denied the allegations and wanted to know who provided the testimonies
*Endo said they were still investigating the claims and cast members were asked for their full consent ahead of time
*Cast member Kai Kobayashi spoke on the record for the article stating he called to apologize to Hana on May 15th (days before she died), he knew from the start the scene was staged and they were going to meet up when the coronavirus subsided

The Unseen Japan Twitter account translated comments made by Kai Kobayashi to the Bunshun outlet regarding instructions he was given by an assistant director for Terrace House. Kobayashi says when he was filming a scene with Hana for their first date, they were jumping on a trampoline and the AD told him that it wasn’t interesting and told him “What if you feel her up or something?” with Kobayashi adding that such requests were “typical” on the show. The article added that Fuji TV is denying that staff instructed Hana to escalate tension during the costuming scene to help ratings, although those around Hana dispute Fuji TV’s assertion.

Many, including Stu Bennett, have plenty of opinions on NXT UK's impact in the UK wrestling scene.

Bennett, who wrestled in WWE as Wade Barrett, is one of many that did not think highly of the additional NXT brand in the United Kingdom. In an interview with 411 Mania, Bennett said NXT UK has not helped the wrestling scene in the region, saying that certain wrestlers benefited from it, but several promotions did not.

"I wouldn’t say it's helped the UK scene. I would say it’s helped the wrestlers who have been signed, but outside of that, I don’t think it’s been beneficial. You’d have to look at the affect it’s had on some of the companies or some of the independents, the independent companies, who were thriving prior that versus now. So, I don’t think it’s been beneficial to the scene at all. I understand why WWE have done it. They want to have a stake hold there. It was not coincidental that NXT UK was brought out at the same time that WOS [World of Sport], which at the same time, was seen as a threat to WWE over in the UK. It wasn’t coincidental, however, it’s been portrayed by them, and I think we all know the truth behind that. Again, that’s business. I understand why they did it. I’m not casting them for doing that, but to portray it as beneficial to the UK as something benevolent is ludicrous. And as good as the product might, it’s certainly not something that’s helped the UK independent scene," Bennett said.

Randy Orton appears headed towards a feud with the current WWE Champion.

A prior report stated how Orton wanted to work with NXT stars but a new report from WrestleTalk's Louis Dangoor notes that Orton is likely feuding with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre for SummerSlam.

Previously, Orton has reportedly thrown out the idea of working with NXT roster members including Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole. However, the new report states that although Orton doing an angle with either Ciampa or Cole is not in the cards for SummerSlam, it doesn't mean that WWE isn't open to the idea of exploring that in the future.

More details on the new United States Championship belt design have been unveiled.

Twitter user @BeltFanDan, who first reported that the new design that was created last December, would go on Twitter to talk more about the new design. Something that was noteworthy about the new design was that it was 3d laser metal powder printed ...

In other WWE-belt design news, there have been new designs for the SmackDown Tag Team titles since WrestleMania 36, but they have yet to be officially unveiled and there's no word on if they will ever be unveiled. In addition, the NXT titles have new belts that are simply a larger version of the existing ones.

Nintendo of America announced that Super Nintendo game Natsume Championship Wrestling will be added to their Switch Online game library on 7/15.

Natsume Championship Wrestling was released in 1994 and is an American conversion of Zen Nippon Puroresu Sekai Saiky? Taggu Dasshu which used the All Japan Wrestling license.

1986 Nintendo Entertainment System classic Pro Wrestling is already available on the service.

The cover for the WWE 2K Battlegrounds video game, which is being released this fall, has been unveiled:

Presenting the OFFICIAL cover of WWE 2K Battlegrounds! Are. You. READY?! #WWE2KBattlegrounds pic.twitter.com/iY7MTrbUCy
— WWE 2K Battlegrounds (@2KBattlegrounds) July 8, 2020

Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Yokozuna, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Steve Austin and Asuka join the previously revealed Andre the Giant, John Cena, the Rock, The Undertaker, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Big Show in the game.

WWE Battlegrounds will be released on 9/18 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and more. The new official trailer can be seen below
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Presenting the OFFICIAL cover of WWE 2K Battlegrounds! Are. You. READY?! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE2KBattlegrounds?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WWE2KBattlegrounds</a> <a href="https://t.co/iY7MTrbUCy">pic.twitter.com/iY7MTrbUCy</a></p>— WWE 2K Battlegrounds (@2KBattlegrounds) <a href="https://twitter.com/2KBattlegrounds/status/1280830252520857601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z0D42rHYGDM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Matt Riddle Posts Video Response Denying Allegations Against Him (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/matt-riddle-posts-video-response-denying-allegations-against-him/)
AEW Fyter Fest & NXT Great American Bash Cards for Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-fyter-fest-nxt-great-american-bash-cards-for-tonight/)
Brian Pillman Jr. Comments on AEW Appearance & MLW Status (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/brian-pillman-jr-comments-on-aew-appearance-mlws-statement-on-pillman-jr-contract/)

drave

07-09-2020, 11:54 AM

Looks kinda fun tbh.

Lock Jaw

07-09-2020, 07:00 PM

At the very least you can throw someone into an alligator. That has to be worth something.

fundiddle

07-09-2020, 07:31 PM

is this finally the wwe game with a proportionate yokozuna? hard to tell since he's in the background in the promo shot and nowhere in the trailer

whoops, i forgot wrestlemania: the arcade game
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F66.media.tumblr.com%2F53a248a5fc9bd7e0f4fa20179d3779f0%2Ftumblr_omsaio0wu71r7sijxo1 _500.gifv&f=1&nofb=1

Emperor Smeat

07-09-2020, 09:50 PM

The Sheets:

In terms of total viewers, NXT won the latest installment of the Wednesday Night War, averaging 759,000 viewers to AEW Dynamite's 715,000.

NXT on the USA Network was down 4.2 percent in total viewers from last week's night one of the Great American Bash. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged a 0.20 rating, down 9.1 percent. NXT finished 24th on cable in that demo.

AEW Dynamite on TNT was down from the 748,000 viewers that the previous week's opening night of Fyter Fest averaged. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.28 rating, topping NXT again but down 3.4 percent from last Wednesday. The number was good for seventh place overall on cable in the demo ...

As it does almost every week, AEW won in every demo category except for people over 50, where NXT had a huge advantage of 0.39 to Dynamite's 0.27. AEW had a similar advantage in men 18-49 with a 0.39 rating to NXT's 0.26. The other demos were all relatively close.

While AEW’s overall viewership was down, they saw a big increase with adults 18-34 growing by 27% and males 12-34 improving by 23.5% this week. Its largest loss was among women 18-49 which fell by 15%. The show also had a one-minute overrun on TNT.

NXT experienced a 15% loss with males 25-54, females 12-34 dropped by 12.5%, and males 18-49 declined by 10%. They did see an increase in the 18-34 demo, which was up 10%, so both shows saw gains in that category.

A big factor over the past three weeks for NXT has been its 50+ audience. One month ago, they were averaging 0.35-0.36 in that demo, and are coming off weeks of 0.42 on June 24th (their highest head-to-head rating int that demo), 0.40 on July 1st, and 0.39 this week.

Q - Since the last few weeks of the AEW vs. NXT battle, I've seen fans on Twitter pointing out that NXT has won the last few weeks but others are saying AEW is winning because they win the demos. What's more important?

A - From a network perspective, I can tell you that the demographics are more important. Everyone wants to win when they are in competition, but for a network, the demographics are far more important as that is the data that they deliver and promise to advertisers, who want to know that their products are seen by the highly desired younger audience. AEW on Wednesday night was #7 for the evening in the 18-34 demo - and was the tops in LOTS of other demos this week)- and I can tell you that from speaking to a lot of sources at Warner Media, they absolutely love AEW's performance and do so much that there's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about developing other ways to link AEW with additional corners of Warner properties.

Anyone who dismisses the demo numbers is either uneducated to their importance or they are looking for an incorrect way to prove themselves right. If WWE Smackdown is last in the viewership in their timeslot but they win the demo, it's not like FOX is going to look at the series as failing that week - and it's not like WWE would then bemoan that Smackdown was in last place vs. NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. The argument that AEW is "doing bad" in, in any way, is just plain silly and not rooted in reality.

As far as the overnight audience, it is important for bragging rights but it's also an outdated way of looking at things. For fans indoctrinated in the way we all used to track Raw vs. Nitro, it's silly to act like it's 1995. The overnight numbers are different now. Unless there is access to the +3 and +7 numbers via DVR viewing (which we don't have access to) and streaming #s, we don't know the final audience levels for the shows. So, the overnight numbers don't tell the story on viewership the way they did decades ago.

Lastly, it's Twitter. Not exactly the place to go for nuanced, detailed breakdown or discussions!
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the topic of viewership vs. demos debate between AEW and NXT in recent weeks.

The WWE Network's R-Truth game show, simply titled "R-Truth's Game Show" will debut this Tuesday, July 14th.

WWE previews for the show features WWE stars answering questions and completing tasks over videoconferencing with the eclectic R-Truth as the master of ceremonies.

WWE filmed a pilot for the series back in May 2017 but it never went to series. WWE has now resurrected the concept.

Ring of Honor announced that next week's edition of ROH TV will pay tribute to STARDOM star Hana, who took her own life in May:

Next week on ROH TV is a very special tribute episode celebrating the career of Hana Kimura

We look back at Hana’s ROH matches, Her G1 Supercard match at Madison Square Garden, The stars of ROH share their favorite memories of Hana & more!

TV Listings: https://t.co/7wgWAA43tX pic.twitter.com/SWFPYd2QG0
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) July 8, 2020

Last night, Taz resurrected his old FTW World Championship belt on AEW Fyterfest and bequeathed the Championship to Brian Cage, who going forward will be billed as the FTW Champion.

Since that time, PWInsider.com has received numerous questions about the title and how it can be used in AEW. While I covered this somewhat in my Q&A this morning, here is the deal.

The FTW belt was never owned by ECW, therefore it did not transfer over to WWE's ownership. In actuality, The belt was designed, created and owned by Taz, who came up with the original 1998 ECW storyline where he declared himself champion as a result of Shane Douglas refusing to defend the ECW World title against Taz. While Paul Heyman obviously gave Taz a platform and the push at the time, it was not something ECW devised for him nor was the belt something ECW commissioned.

Taz actually holds the copyright on the actual design of the belt, which allows him to do whatever he wishes with the design and the FTW intellectual property within professional wrestling. If he ever wanted to merchandise the belt, such a replicas, t-shirts, etc. Taz would be well within his rights to do so.

The belt that Brian Cage now holds is indeed the actual original FTW Championship belt. After FTW the belt was retired following the 1999 ECW Living Dangerously PPV, Taz retained ownership of the championship belt, which has been in his possession for the last 20-plus years.

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Monday’s installment of Busted Open Radio. Harwood revealed that he and Cash’s appearance on Jim Cornette’s podcast was not well received by those within AEW and said that they were “the biggest heels in the locker room” once that podcast hit people’s feeds.

“Just really quick off that, we did Cornette’s podcast not too long ago and we talked to Tony Khan and asked him if it would be okay if we did that, but no one else knew about that, and man when we got to TV, the next day after that podcast aired, we were the biggest heels in the locker room. Everyone, even our buddy MJF, everyone was so pissed off with us because they thought we went rogue and went on Cornette’s podcast to bury The Young Bucks and AEW. We were not a very well-liked pair in the locker room that day" ...

Also during the podcast, Wheeler and Harwood spoke about their new finisher, “The Goodnight Express”. Harwood stated that they did not have to change the “Shatter Machine” name but they wanted to anyway and also, they’ve been using the spike piledriver on AEW programming and they did pitch to use that move in WWE, says Harwood.

“So, the Shatter Machine and now we have to call it the Goodnight — we don’t have to but we enjoy calling it the Goodnight Express. It’s a move that obviously we took from parts of another great tag team. You may have heard of ‘em and we just incorporated [it] and put our own little spin on it. But, going to AEW with a spike piledriver, that’s something we always wanted to use in WWE. We even talked to Hunter about it. He said no. We had asked other people. Like we had asked Vince [McMahon] about it. He obviously didn’t want to use the piledriver at all and so we came to AEW and we started incorporating the spike piledriver just almost as a restart for us, and it’s something we want to incorporate into our matches. But for the Shatter Machine, no one has ever, ever, ever, ever kicked out of it. We learned that from listening to another great tag team that had the same kind of finisher with the same kind of premise. No one’s ever kicked out of it and we just want to take the spike piledriver and utilize it to its fullest extent and if no one can kick out of it, no one can kick out of that one as well. Just another move to the repertoire…”

Corey Graves welcomed Booker T onto the After The Bell podcast. Booker was open about the low ratings for WWE Backstage on FS1 and felt like the minimum number the show should’ve done was 500,000. Booker added that it may have helped if they covered independent wrestling on the program.

“And my thing was, I was always weary weekly, just because the ratings wasn’t what I wanted. I said with my star power and all the rest of the guys on the panel, our star power together man, we shouldn’t have no less than 500,000 per week. That should’ve been the low number for us. For me, I don’t think it was enough thought going into something like that. Everybody was just f*cking loving it. I’m like, ‘Man we gotta get these numbers up,’ and I thought stuff like that [talking independent wrestling] would intrigue not just the casual WWE viewer, but people that’s really thinking about, ‘Man, what is this business really, really truly all about?’”
Expanding the show to cover other wrestling promotions would have been an interesting idea but probably would have meant just promotions WWE is affiliated with. Plus WWE probably wouldn't be happy after a while if they started talking about their competitors in a positive light.

A month after it was announced that he signed a multi-year deal with MLW, Saieve Al Sabah asked and was given his release from the company.

Earlier today, Sabah announced on Twitter that he is no longer with the company after asking for his release. Al Sabah was the newest member of Injustice, joining Myron Reed and Jordan Oliver on the June 4 episode of MLW Pulp Fusion.

According to Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling, Al Sabah has been voicing his displeasure with MLW Chief Operating Officer Jared St. Laurent and his connection to Chasyn Rance, who has been registered as a sex offender since 2014. Al Sabah believes that St. Laurent may be tied into or may know more information about the disappearance of Samantha Fiddler who was last seen at the Team Vision Dojo, where St. Laurent used to be a trainer for and Rance currently runs, in 2016.

Thompson then reached out to St. Laurent, who said he hasn't been affiliated with either Rance or Team Vision Dojo in years. St. Laurent added that Al Sabah about a royalty check from a t-shirt sale that was only $5, but noted that he wasn't the one who gave Al Sabah that money and that he didn't know Al Sabah had a shirt due to his contract with MLW still not running.

St. Laurent added that all of his 2020 dealings with Al Sabah were pleasant and that Al Sabah appeared to have been apologetic after negotiations between him and MLW fell through in 2018. St. Laurent added that Al Sabah was telling people that he was going to get him fired.

Going back to the connection with Rance and Team Vision Dojo St. Laurent claimed he cut business ties with Rance and the school a decade ago Rance's legal issues were public, but would check in with the students at the school throughout the years to see how they were doing.

In an update to this story, Chasyn Rance sent an email to Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling, noting that St. Laurent was booking at Team Vision’s ‘I BELIEVE’ promotion until May 2018

“The last show MSL booked for BELIEVE was May 4, 2018. He started being too busy with MLW and distancing himself from I Believe Court’s request. I did for years try to distance my name and stop wrestling for a bit but that only made the internet calm down but made business slow down. When I wrestle on shows, business has gone up. It’s been an issue for the past 10 years. MSL did not book the June 1, 2018 card. I gave him my thoughts and he said good. He did not come to book anymore shows which was fine. I had a nice handle on things. He had quit previously at one point after my issues but came back when I brought business up and he didn’t have much going on. That was the NJPW/CEO deal 2 years ago. Last year with AEW/CEO, MSL was not booking. I didn’t quite get things pulled from me. I finally got an answer that it was best to lay low. I was in the area promoting and getting my 20 tickets to my students and assistants for that event,” said Rance's email.

Alex Pourteau, the founder of the Pro Wrestling 2.0. Academy, reached out to Andrew to say that Samantha Fiddler, the missing person who was in a relationship with Teddy Hart at the time of her disappearance in November 2016, only trained at the school through the summer of 2016.

Recently, NXT has played host to a lot of former superstars who cut their teeth on the black and gold brand and have now come back as part of the main roster to help elevate the brand.

Triple H recently spoke with Yahoo! about how often he gets requests from alumni to come back to NXT and how he makes it work with the WWE schedule.

"One of the things that I love about NXT is that there’s a bond and a family feel about it," Hunter began. "It’s something special when people are a part of it. It always reminds me of the pride people have in their college. When you graduate from college you have spent four years of your life there, that’s always your school, you’re proud of it, you wear the sweatshirts, you support the teams, still go to games. I think NXT is like that for a lot of talent. Sasha and Bayley call all of the time asking if they can come down [to Florida] and work. They’re on different brands, so I have to work within the creative components of what they already have, but I see it all the time."

He continued, "When all of this went down, a lot of the stuff that was happening was Charlotte’s idea, her being a part of the brand, being there on a regular basis. Kevin Owens competing for NXT last year in WarGames was something he had been on me about forever, about wanting to come down and do something. Almost everyone who comes through the door and then leaves is asking if they can come back and be a part of it again. You can see it and feel it in the afternoon when they walk in. It’s like going back in time for them, the excitement level is high even though at its best it’s a smaller building and crowd then they are used to. It’s really cool to see."
Main roster Creative and Vince doing a terrible job handling NXT call-ups probably helps a lot on that view former NXT talent have. Already have some like Ciampa being vocal about not wanting to ever leave NXT since he saw what WWE did with his group of call-ups and got lucky he didn't suffer a similar fate due to injury.

WWE released an excellent video on Keith Lee dedicating his WWE NXT Championship win (which aired last night) to his trainer, the late Killer Tim Brooks. The video notes Lee flew back to Texas to see Brooks one last time five days before his passing.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h-9Guk6yyGw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

TPWW Frontpage:

Lana Says Both of Her Parents Have COVID-19 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/lana-says-both-of-her-parents-have-covid-19/)
Taz Brings Back the FTW Championship, Crowns Brian Cage as Champ (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/taz-brings-back-the-ftw-championship-crowns-brian-cage-as-champ/)
Four Matches Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/four-matches-announced-for-aew-fight-for-the-fallen-next-week/)
Two Matches Announced for Next Week’s NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/two-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-nxt-3/)

Emperor Smeat

07-10-2020, 04:01 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter):

COVID-19 and its effect on UFC and pro wrestling continued to dominate the news this past week.

WWE is recovering from an outbreak that caused changes to the taping schedule, a number of rewrites to television and numerous big names taken off this past two weeks of television ...

WWE has not said anything, either in memos to talent, or the media, about its outbreak. Based on different reports, anywhere from 30 or more individuals with the company have tested positive, although the only names released officially are Young, who did so on her own, Kayla Braxton, and producers James Gibson (Jamie Noble) and Adam Pearce.

The list of talent that hasn’t been at the Performance Center since the outbreak includes Dana Brooke, Carmella, Naomi, The Street Profits, Velveteen Dream, Austin Theory, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Natalya, Nia Jax, Otis, Tucker, Mojo Rawley, Shorty G, Raquel Gonzalez, Sheamus and Sonya Deville.

Of those, Bryan and Sheamus both appeared on Zoom on Smackdown from home so it was clear they were scripted originally for the show and didn’t come. That could be by choice, given Bryan’s wife is pregnant and he’s had issues with his immune system, or other reasons. Dream and Theory were both named in recent allegations. WWE officially has said there is no change in Dream’s status, and he was in an auto accident but had been not been on the show while he was in the middle of a program with the Undisputed Era, and his name was never mentioned in commentary during a Dexter Lumis match where he was part of the storyline. WWE hasn’t responded to any questions on Theory, whose name has also not been mentioned on commentary or his absence when Seth Rollins and Murphy been on TV been acknowledged. Natalya is known to have not tested positive but was pulled for precautionary reasons. Brooke, Carmella and Naomi hadn’t been booked on television prior, so they all just simply may not have been used. Jax also doesn’t appear to have a program going right now, although was the one to “injure” Charlotte Flair so disappearing from television right after wouldn’t seem to make sense either ...

As of early in the week, Renee Young was fully recovered and “felt great,” so she should be returning to work fairly soon. She and Jon Moxley were both going to be tested once more this week and if the test is negative for both, he would be returning on AEW’s 7/15 show against Brian Cage.

After a period when masks were strongly discouraged if not outright banned, WWE has gone full circle and instituted a new mask policy for its NXT wrestlers in the stands on television.

On 7/3, which would have been after the Smackdown tapings that aired on 7/3 but before the Raw show that aired on 7/6, that was being taped that night, all talent working as extras in the stands were told that masks were mandatory and a fine system would be put in place.

On the Smackdown show that aired on 7/3, most of the talent were wearing masks it appeared and they did far less crowd shots. But there were crowd shots. Early in the show, you could see two performers with no masks right in front of the hard cam. They were quickly removed from their position. Everyone else was wearing a mask although one person did not have his mask covering his nose.

The new policy that went into effect the next day was a $500 fine for not wearing a mask the first time and a $1,000 fine a second violation. However, even though WWE confirmed that officially, NXT talent used as extras claimed to be unaware of a fine system for not wearing masks.

There were several people on camera during the 7/8 NXT show not with masks, but that show was taped on 7/1, before the policy went into effect.

Raw on 7/6 did the second lowest number in modern history overall and tied for second lowest in the 18-49 demo, making it two bad numbers in a row after the heavy talk and angles and little wrestling format started with the departure of Paul Heyman and ascension of Bruce Prichard.

The show averaged 1,686,000 viewers and an 0.49 in 18-49 (637,000 viewers). The viewer number beat only the 5/4 show at 1,682,000 viewers. The 0.49 beat the 5/4 show’s record low of 0.46, and tied shows on 6/1 and 6/29 at 0.49 ...

The story of the number was both good and bad. The first hour was, by far, the lowest first hour in history. However, there was a huge increase in hour two. The second hour beating the first was commonplace most summers, but this year it has only happened a few times. What it appears is with the holiday, some people tuned in late, and there was a normal 8.0 percent drop from the second-to-third hour. The key things in hour two that led to increases were Rey Mysterio & Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy and Ricochet & Cedric Alexander vs. Bobby Lashley & MVP. There was a significant drop in hour three, headlined by Bayley vs. Asuka, which would have been the fourth lowest hour three in history.

The first-to-second hour gains were not among teenagers at all and very minimal with men 18-49 (three percent) and over 50 (one percent), but most heavily in women 18-49, which gained 10 percent. In hour three, women 18-49 dropped a little six percent, male 18-49 dropped nine percent, teenage girls dropped 14 percent and teenage boys dropped 25 percent and over 50 dropped seven percent ...

As compared to the same week last year, which had head-to-head competition from Home Run Derby, Raw was down 28.3 percent in viewers and 31.8 percent in 18-49 viewers.

The show did 160,000 in men 18-34, the best number in that demo since 3/25. It did 58,000 in women 18-34, 273,000 in men 35-49 and 146,000 in women 35-49.

Smackdown on 7/3 did its record low on FOX with a 1.14 rating and 1,777,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home) and an 0.4 (516,000 viewers) in 18-49, and 0.2 in 18-34.

I think you can almost throw this out based on the date, but we’ll know next week whether it’s back to normal or not.

The median viewer on Smackdown was 56.7 years old, the oldest skewing episode I’m aware of, and viewers per home were also down from usual.

The show did 83,000 in men 18-34, 40,000 in women 18-34, 235,000 in men 35-49 and 136,000 in women 35-49.

It’s only a one week pattern thus far so until next week, I wouldn’t put much stock in the number, as the show had been above recent lows for several weeks going into this. The holiday weekend likely hurt and President Trump made a speech that night which led to huge increases in news channels. For right now you have to look at the numbers, given only two other shows did 0.4s on network TV (granted all three networks ran nothing but rerun programming), it looks like the date and not as bad as it sounds. The 0.2 tied four other network reruns. The bad news is that on a night with nothing but reruns, Smackdown was the least-watched show on major network TV for the night.

It still beat what FOX did on the same holiday weekend last year, which was 1.38 million viewers and 0.3 in 18-49, so up 22.3 percent overall and 33.3 percent in 18-49 ...

We don’t have quarter hours for the show, but the Matt Riddle promo and Riddle vs. John Morrison match did 1.83 million viewers. A.J. Styles vs. Drew Gulak did 1.77 million viewers. Bayley & Sasha Banks promo, Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss and a Bray Wyatt-Braun Strowman hype segment did 1.83 million viewers. And Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kofi Kingston and the Jeff Hardy-Sheamus segment did 1.69 million viewers.

Week two of the Great American Bash vs. Fyter Fest battle heated up after the business results of 7/1 came out.

WWE and USA had even fewer commercials and more picture-in-picture during the commercials, because minute-by-minute stats show viewers from each show migrating to the other at a fairly substantial rate when either show is in a commercial break. AEW and TNT also did more picture-in-picture than they’ve done previously for a taped show, but didn’t cut back on actual commercial time ...

When it came to numbers, both shows declined overall and in 18-49 when there were reasons both should have increased. NXT had, in theory, its biggest television match of the year, Adam Cole with a 403-day title reign in a double belt match against Keith Lee, the hottest wrestler on the brand. That match was a big success drawing the best quarter for NXT all year and best 18-49 number as well, and spelled the difference completely in the overall number.

Even though the main event always means more than depth on the show, there was a decline for the overall show from the prior two weeks, although perhaps that’s because of a boost from Bayley & Sasha Banks in multiple segments that wasn’t there this week.

AEW had pushed Jericho vs. Cassidy hard for weeks, with strong angles. The reality is the angles didn’t do well. Cassidy is hurt greatly from lack of live crowds. Cassidy had done well in quarters, but it was also midway or once even somewhat late in the show. He hasn’t done well when booked as a main eventer, and there are merch movers and people who get pops and there are main eventers. They are all different animals. And Jericho vs. Cassidy did do well based on usual quarter eights for AEW in 18-49, and had the highest numbers in 35-49 of any segment on either show.

His closest comparison historically is mid-80s heyday JCP Jimmy Valiant, who always got huge crowd reactions for his matches, but the promotion knew enough to keep him in the middle with mid-level heels, and always winning as opposed to headlining him against the top tier guys and losing. And it wasn’t even clear that was the main event ahead of time, as AEW had depth, but no match with any real stakes. Of course that was because the scheduled Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage main event had to be pushed back a week.

NXT won overall viewers 759,000 to 715,000, but even with Lee vs. Cole, the important number saw them fall in comparison slightly, as AEW did 0.28 in 18-49 (364,000 viewers) to NXT’s 0.20 (262,000 viewers) ...

AEW once again won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW did 89,000 viewers (up 39.1 percent from last week) to NXT’s 47,000 (up 9.3 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 42,000 (down 4.5 percent) to 33,000 for NXT (down 19.5 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 162,000 (down 7.4 percent) and NXT had 118,000 (down 16.3 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 71,000 (down 20.2 percent) and NXT had 64,000 (down 9.9 percent) ...

Perhaps the biggest surprise after the record low Raw is that Wednesday, with two major shows, did not beat Monday in 18-49, although it was close. Monday had 637,000 in 18-49, which was 433,000 men and 204,000 women. Wednesday had 626,000, which was 416,000 men and 210,000 women.

In the main event segment, Cole vs. Lee did 922,000 viewers and 355,000 in 18-49, both above last week’s Io Shirai vs. Banks match. It was the highest overall viewer number for both shows, and the highest 18-34 and 35-49 number for NXT of the night. It still lost in the demo to Jericho vs. Cassidy, which did 675,000 viewers, and 362,000 in 18-49, which in the demo is a strong quarter eight for both shows.

In overall viewers, AEW won all four quarters in the first hour. NXT won all four in the second hour. In 18-49, AEW won all eight quarters. In 35-49, AEW won all eight quarters. In 18-34, AEW doubled or more than doubled NXT in all of the first four quarters, won seven quarters, but lost 117,000 to 114,000 for the main event. Cole vs. Lee greatly boosted every age group and key demo as well as overall.

The show opened with AEW overcoming the strong lead-in advantage, doing 785,000 viewers and 391,000 in 18-49 for the Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Private Party match. Both numbers were AEW’s high point of the show, and the overall highest point of the night for both shows in18-49 and 18-34. NXT had 775,000 viewers and 235,000 in 18-49 for Candice LeRae vs. Mia Yim in a street fight.

In quarter two, AEW lost 90,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for Joey Janela vs. Lance Archer. NXT lost 94,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for the ending and post-match of LeRae vs. Yim.

In quarter three, AEW gained 41,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Archer vs. Janela, a Darby Allin video and the Taz & Brian Cage interview with the FTW title. NXT gained 15,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for Bronson Reed vs. Tony Nese, the Robert Stone brand angle and the beginning of Isaiah Scott vs. Johnny Gargano.

In quarter four, AEW lost 1,000 viewers and gained 6,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & FTR vs. Butcher & Blade & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix. It’s notable one of the best TV matches of the year really didn’t move ratings much. NXT lost 15,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for Scott vs. Gargano.

In quarter five, AEW lost 30,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Big Swole being turned away, a Nyla Rose squash and a Rose promo. NXT gained 76,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 for Santos Escobar & Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza vs. Drake Maverick & Tyler Breeze & Fandango.

In quarter six, AEW lost 13,000 viewers and stayed even in 18-49 for SCU vs. Brodie Lee & Stu Grayson & Colt Cabana. NXT lost 16,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for Mercedes Martinez vs. Santana Garrett.

In quarter seven, AEW gained 3,000 viewers and lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the SCU vs. Dark Order, next week’s card, Britt Baker/Swole angle and the beginning of Jericho vs. Cassidy. NXT gained 75,000 viewers and 55,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Lee vs. Cole.

In quarter eight, AEW lost 20,000 viewers but gained 12,000 in 18-49 for Cassidy vs. Jericho. NXT gained 106,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49 for Lee vs. Cole, but the long commercial free period helped here ...

With the accidental leak of a photo of Lee holding two belts and confetti all around him that came out, there were people trying to push the idea that maybe they taped two endings or you never know. They did not tape two endings. Had they wanted to, they could have taped a different ending the next day to “prove” the news wasn’t real, but that would have been short-sighted, and blown up their long-term plans to build the 8/22 Takeover show, presumably around Lee vs. Karrion Kross for the title.

AEW announced Fight for the Fallen which will be live on 7/15 and feature Moxley vs. Cage, FTR vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix (which should be great), Kenny Omega & Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express and Cody vs. Sonny Kiss for the TNT title. NXT has countered with Io Shirai vs. Tegan Nox for the women’s title and Damien Priest vs. Cameron Grimes. Based on this, unless something big is added, this should favor AEW. But the flip side is they have both NASCAR and UFC to contend with, which will hurt both shows significantly.

Post Wrestling listed the WWE’s taping schedule through SummerSlam, which is now scheduled for 8/23 at the Performance Center.

Vince McMahon had hoped to have SummerSlam as the first major arena show, and was willing to move it to September if necessary. As we’ve seen just in the last few weeks, schedule changes are plentiful for a number of reasons, whether pandemic changes and other things that may or may not end up happening. Clearly the decision at this point is that live events with crowds in September aren’t that likely so these are the current plans:
7/15 - NXT for 7/15 and 7/22
7/17 - Smackdown live or live-to-tape
7/19 - Extreme Rules mostly live
7/20 - Raw for 7/20 and 7/27
7/21 - Smackdown for 7/24 and 7/31
7/29 - NXT for 7/29 and 8/5
8/3 - Raw for 8/3 and 8/10
8/4 - Smackdown for 8/7 and 8/14
8/12 - NXT for 8/12 and 8/19
8/17 - Raw for 8/17 and Smackdown for 8/21
8/22 - NXT Takeover
8/23 - SummerSlam

A few notes on how they are doing the schedule. They are not doing any tapings out of order. For example, they could save time and do tapings for Raw and Smackdown after SummerSlam before, but don’t want to risk it. In the old days, WWE routinely would tape television that would air after PPV shows before, but that was also when things were planned on long in advance. With the nature of closed sets, the spoilers aspect isn’t even an issue but the reality is they can’t trust themselves for carry out plans without the ability to change their minds prior to a PPV show.

The other is, with the exception of 8/17, that the Raw, Smackdown and NXT crew will be kept separate. This comes from the recent outbreak where the brands were all affected in some way. There is still an issue with the same fans being used at all shows. Even though they will all be tested prior to every taping, there is still a large element of risk ...

Hopefully the stricter standards by WWE now will mean that a second outbreak isn’t happening. But all groups, whether it’s Marc Ratner at UFC (granted, kept far away from everyone at the events and always masked), Ric Flair, Jim Ross, Jake Roberts and others are older than 65. With the exception of Ratner, all of whom have had health issues and were still regularly appearing.

There will be at least two taped cinematic matches at the newly named “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” PPV produced by WWE on 7/19 from the Performance Center.

Besides the Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman non-title match billed as a fight at the swamp, the plan right now is also to tape the Eye For An Eye match with Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins.

The match has gotten a lot of attention in recent days, largely because the stipulation is stupid. They are billing the match as one that can only end when one person pulls the others’ eye out.

The idea is to do a taped match and use some form of CGI effects to simulate an eye being pulled out as the finish.

A key aspect of this match is that Mysterio, 45, has been appearing with WWE for the past few months without a contract. It’s notable because in this type of an environment, with competition, from a legal standpoint, Mysterio could show up on the 7/15 Dynamite show or 7/18 Impact PPV show and not on this show. Now, that isn’t going to happen and it shows the trust Vince McMahon has in Mysterio to book a guy in a key PPV angle who could legally walk out in mid-angle or no-show the PPV card. Mysterio has been working on the terms of his original 18 month contract.

There have been negotiations. Essentially where things stand is that Mysterio had asked for a raise and been told that no raises were being offered, and that they had just let a number of wrestlers go. But given the company is expected by everyone who follows the business end to set a profit record this year due to the size of the television deals, he didn’t initially accept that reasoning ...

The suspicion is that if he does sign a new deal, he shouldn’t lose this match, but that would require Rollins to take time off and wear an eyepatch until some sort of magical fixture storyline comes into play. If he doesn’t sign, it would make sense for this to be his blow-off as it has been months ...

If it was just Mysterio, at this point he would just probably go to who paid him the best, which would probably coome down to either WWE, AEW or a Moxley/Jericho like deal of AEW and New Japan which he is a big enough star to get if that’s what he wanted ...

But his son Dominick is a key to this. Dominick was forgotten about for months, but after Rey’s contract was up, knowing that Rey is going to probably care more about pushing Dominick and Dominick getting a break than perhaps anything right now, he was brought back for the current angle. While he hasn’t done a match yet, from a physical standpoint in the few instances he’s had to perform, from a timing standpoint, he’s looked great.

And that may still be the factor as to why WWE is probably going to be the frontrunner to keep him ...

There is also AAA, although he went there previously on a strong deal but I don’t think AAA has the money to be competitive for what he wants, even though one of his closest friends is the booker. AEW and AAA haven’t worked much together of late but a relationship is there and Kenny Omega is still AAA’s world champion.

Anthony Crupi on the sports business site Sportico when talking about FOX dropping golf, the reason behind it is that FOX has a buyout clause and in this case even with dropping the rest of the years of their U.S. Open coverage, they have pay a buyout clause of an estimated $51 million per year for the length of the contract plus NBC is paying go the PGA isn’t losing money even though NBC is paying significantly less. The idea is they are saving $42 million per year in rights plus production costs and they are trying to cut to pay for the higher NFL prices. Crupi said that cutting Smackdown before the end of its contract isn’t likely. Even though Smackdown is doing far less than expectations, FOX is up five percent in 18-49 this season and the median viewer age this season of 52.4. Smackdown has aged more than four years of late, making it the second oldest skewing wrestling show behind only NXT. It’s still slightly younger than the programming they had last year. They also noted that Smackdown costs $205 million per year while if they put two dramas in that time slot it would probably cost $220 million but they’d only get 22 new episodes and the reruns would draw poorly or they’d have to pay more for other programming. Plus FOX likes the fall synergy of NFL Thursday, wrestling Friday, college football Saturday and NFL Sunday. This past week may be a fluke, but there’s no way they made this deal thinking they’d possibly be looking at 0.4s. I don’t think pandemic numbers are a reflection of the show because it’s not the atmosphere the show is supposed to have, so decisions made on these numbers really would be foolish right now. The negative that we don’t know if the audience will bounce back when this is over, given this period is going to be lasting a long time

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for this past week were: 1. The Very Best of WCW Nitro; 2. WWE 365: Ricochet; 3. Raw Talk for 7/6; 4. NXT Great American Bash from 7/1; 5. Best of WWE: Ricochet; 6. Best U.S. championship matches; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five; 8. Every Undertaker vs. Kane match; 9. Backlash 2020; 10. Great America Bash 2007
First time in a long while NXT managed to be back in the Top 10 and also hold a high spot for the week even though it was for last week's episode. Before that it got so bad at certain times that Meltzer started tracking the Top 15 and even then there were occasions where NXT still didn't track.

New Japan Pro Wrestling, barring an emergency, will become the first major promotion in four months to run with a decent-sized crowd with shows on 7/11 and 7/12 at Osaka Jo Hall.

Both shows are to be set up for 30 percent capacity which would be about 3,600 fans and will be a test if they can have that many people at a show and follow their strict protocols to make it safe. Both shows are said to be close to sold out ...

The shows will air live with Japanese commentary at 4 a.m. Eastern early Saturday morning (1 a.m. late Friday on the East Coast) for the first show and at 2 a.m. Eastern time and 11 p.m. Pacific time late Saturday night for the second show, or about one hour after the UFC ends ...

For the two shows in Osaka, all seats are priced at 10,500 yen (about $98 U.S.) so both events, if sold out, will gross about $350,000 apiece. The crowd response may not be at normal levels because unlike in the U.S., where this would never happen, management has asked fans not to yell and scream at the shows because that could spread the virus. All fans at the show have to go through a temperature check and masks covering mouth and nose are mandatory ...

The semifinals of the New Japan Cup, with Okada beating Hiromu Takahashi and Evil over Sanada, took place on 7/3 at an empty Korakuen Hall. They did a four match show with the second hour airing live on BS Asahi at 8 p.m., billed as the first time in 34 years that New Japan returned to a live show in the company traditional (well from 1972 to 1984) time slot when the company had its most mainstream appeal.

We don’t have any numbers for the show although we’re told the viewership number was considered a huge success. However, the show itself had its issues ...

The Okada vs. Hiromu Takahashi match clearly had a purpose. They went 27:00, with the idea of getting Takahashi as much offense and as big a rub of hanging with Okada and having a classic match with him ...

The idea was to go about 17:00 and then the show would go off the air and they would promote people to watch the remainder of the match on New Japan World, which was putting the show up live for free. So the idea was to use the first live show in recent memory to get people used to New Japan World.

But that had its issues as well. With so many people signing into New Japan World, all at the same time, there was a crash in some places in Japan. We don’t know how widespread, but some were able to get on about five minutes later and saw the main event finish. Others couldn’t get on until after the match was over, leading to disappointment.

For those who follow ratings, a major story when it comes to sports in particular is that Nielsen had been planning on introducing new ratings in September that would combine home ratings with out of home viewing.

The new ratings system that would measure places like restaurants, airports, gyms, bars and hotels has been delayed until January due to COVID-19 slowing up the process. Some prelim data with minor sports has shown six to seven percent increases and the belief the NFL games this fall would have shown 10 to 15 percent increases, perhaps more for prime time games and playoffs.

Networks are furious because they just found out and were expecting major ratings increases for the fall season, most notably for the NFL.

The problem is obvious. You can measure restaurants that have a football game on, but how do you measure viewership? Or a bar, or the airport? Do people who walk by count? Does everyone sitting there near the screen, even if paying no attention at all to the screen count? In some places like sports bars, everyone is watching the game so it should count. In other places, it’s on and few are paying attention. These ratings mean millions and even billions of dollars. For wrestling, the continuing decline was thought to be masked for one year with the change in systems, and now that delay won’t be until January.

CMLL: Julio Cesar Rivera on Informa, the CMLL weekly streaming update, said that the company was waiting to get approval from the government and the commission to start running again. He said until both groups sign off there will be no shows. He did say they plan on empty arena shows first with all the talent COVID tested. Arena Mexico has been open to tourists with temperature checks and health questionnaires. Fantasma, the head of the commission said that he did get date requests from Salvador Lutteroth, who is currently running the promotion (this is Chavo Lutteroth, obviously a request from the original Salvador Lutteroth would be a far bigger story) and he went to doctors. There’s really no answers yet.

AAA: There are still no answers as to when they will start running again. AAA has an edge over CMLL in that CMLL’s big shows are at Arena Mexico, so they have to wait until Mexico City’s government and commission okay events. AAA is a touring promotion and can go to lower risk parts of the country first. But at this point there’s not even a hint of when this will be

Regarding Brian Pillman Jr., who debuted on Dark against Shawn Spears, he is under contract to MLW but there would be no issue from the MLW side if AEW wants to use him. His contract allows for that anyway whereas the newer MLW contracts are more restrictive. That said, Pillman Jr. has asked to get out of his MLW contract and was denied. MLW tentatively has dates scheduled for 10/3 and 12/5, but anything that far in advance is subject to change, and Pillman, if he doesn’t get a release, would in theory be expected to work those dates. MLW and AEW have worked out deals in the past such as with MJF, where he had signed with MLW, AEW used him since his contract allowed for it and he signed with them as well and worked MLW until the end of his agreement. Since MLW usually tapes Friday or Saturday, and AEW on Wednesday, there isn’t likely to be a date conflict.

As best we can tell, the only major wrestling company that requested a government PPP loan was Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC. On 4/5 they filed a request for a loan between $150,000 and $350,000 to retain 106 jobs

On the Tessa Blanchard situation, her [Impact Wrestling] contract expired around 6/30 (that isn’t for sure but that was the date we were told but it has expired) so she’s now a free agent. She had said that she wasn’t willing to travel and work during the pandemic. They wanted her to at least come in and drop the title on the 7/18 show. We were told that she offered a one-date price and whatever the number was, they turned it down, and then announced she was fired just days before her contract expired. Her boyfriend, Daga’s situation is unclear past he is still under contract and they don’t think her situation impacts his situation. He wants to work. The story we were told is that he was willing to work the last taping and was willing to try to get out of Mexico but he wasn’t booked and as best we can still, he’s not booked for the PPV and he’s not part of any of the current storylines

Emperor Smeat

07-14-2020, 09:52 PM

The Sheets:

There were slices of good news, but it was mostly very bad news when it came to Raw's ratings last night.

Raw averaged 1.56 million viewers over the three hours, the lowest in modern history. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.48, which would be the second lowest in the entire history of the show.

The previous record audience low was May 4 which did 1.68 million viewers and a 0.46 rating in the 18-49 demo.

The positives are the audience skewed younger, as the demo number was only down two percent from last week while viewers overall were down seven percent from last week's show which was the second lowest audience and demo of all-time.

The other positive and negative relates to audience drop. Like last week, the second hour beat the first hour, and the first hour-to-third hour audience drop was only five percent, one of the lowest figures of the last year. The problem was that the audience at the start was the lowest ever, and that all three hours set record lows for those hours. The 1.50 million viewers for hour three broke the all-time low hour mark of 1.55 million for the third hour on May 4.

Raw was fourth overall in 18-49 behind 90 Day Fiance, Below Deck Mediterranean and 90 Day Other Way. It was first in males 18-49 and males 12-17.

Overall, Raw was 28th overall for the night, and fifth among non-news shows. It was down 36 percent from the same week last year in total viewers and 40 percent down in 18-49.

Virtually all the second-to-third hour drop was over 50, hence the demo not declining as much as the overall.

The three-hours were:

8 p.m. 1.58 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.50 million viewers

https://i.imgur.com/X0m4BBi.gif

The latest service preparing to enter the streaming wars Wednesday will feature WWE programming.

In a Tuesday story on Variety, NBCUniversal's Peacock service announced a total of 20,000 hours for premium subscribers with 100 of those hours being WWE content available in August. While they didn't list everything that will make up that 100 hours, series like WWE Untold, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, and compilations like John Cena's Best WrestleMania Matches were given as examples. Recent editions of WWE Raw will not be part of the premium service ...

Similar to the WWE Network, Peacock will also have a free tier, but there was no WWE programming listed. The service will be available everywhere consumers get their traditional streaming services with the exception of Roku or Amazon Fire TV.

Tony Khan spoke to the New York Post about Jimmy Havoc and Sammy Guevara’s suspensions: “I suspended them both. Very different situations. I just needed to address both. We are addressing both. I think Jimmy really needed the counseling. If and when he were to wrestle again, the most important thing for himself and everybody here is that he sought treatment and counseling. When he asked for that help, we’re gonna help him. With Sammy, I think the right thing to do was to suspend him. The comments he made were horrible. I can’t defend them. I can’t even comment on them because they’re unspeakably bad. He has also done a different kind of counseling and he’s in a different kind of counseling and it’s a different kind of coaching. Everybody here, male and female pretty much up and down the roster we talked to felt like Sammy had no history of this kind of behavior. Really people were shocked Sammy had said that. Certainly, it’s an old clip. I think the video was four years old. I had never seen that video and it’s something I would have addressed with him before Sammy started here. I never had an opportunity to address it because I didn’t know it existed and neither did anybody else or if they did nobody told us. For both of them, we really needed to address the situation before talking about what to do in the future afterward. I didn’t want to rush into making a decision on either person, so it felt like until I had all the facts suspending was the right thing to do. Then I could make whatever the right decision is. I knew the right decision wasn’t for those guys to just come to TV and not address this stuff.”

Khan also discussed PAC’s status: “I really miss PAC a lot. Right now the border is not a great situation. As I understand it, if he were to go back to England, if he were to come here and he was able to get in, do a quarantine after travel then he would also, when he tried to go home, he’d be in a two-week quarantine before he could do anything. So it just doesn’t seem like a sustainable situation right now because PAC lives in England, so until travel is sustainable and he could do what he used to do, which is come here and stay and do a few shows and then go back to England and really commute across the Atlantic, it’s very challenging right now. Until it becomes safe to travel back and forth for PAC to make those trips internationally, until the border is really ready, I don’t think we can rush him back even though we’d love to have him.”

While speaking with TalkSport, Cody addressed a report that said CM Punk asked for an “astronomical amount” of money when he negotiated with AEW: “As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us.’ Yeah, of course there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money. But you also have to -- and this isn’t speaking to Punk specifically, this is speaking to recruitment and what we’ve learned in wrestling in general -- a lot of people think ‘these wrestlers are running this wrestling company.’ These wrestlers are doing everything they can to run the creative, the brand and the marketing and things, but there are some very smart and fiscally conservative people who surround us and flank us because this isn’t my money. At all. And I don’t want a situation that happened with WCW or Jim Crockett Promotions where we think we’re flying so high that we can do anything. No -- this is a business. And we have to turn a profit. The fact we were able to turn a profit as a company within only two years of being alive, very few other companies within wrestling -- it’s real limited, you can count on one hand who’s been able to do that versus who has bled money -- but in that situation the negotiations, I don’t think they ever got too serious. Doesn’t mean they won’t one day, but they never got entirely too serious. I think there is a good relationship there. I think I have a good relationship with Phil, I believe Tony does too and I’m not sure really when it comes to him, it’s not so much about the money. It’s about are you interested in doing this? Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”

Tetsuya Naito is releasing an autobiography on August 19th, 2020. In the book, Naito covers the start of Los Ingobernables de Japon, the New Japan Cup, becoming the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion and the ambition he had to become double champion.

The 2010 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view was the focus of the latest ARN podcast. Conrad brought up how during this time period, Vince McMahon didn’t want his talents using chops because it would cause the crowd to “woo”, which is a signature of Ric Flair who was with TNA Wrestling at the time.

“Well, to this day, people are woo’ing, and they’re woo’ing on TV shows that doesn’t even warrant a woo or have anything to do with wrestling, you know? It’s just one of those things that stuck. Chops have always been part of the business and just to suddenly, when so many guys use them — okay, it’s a tribute to Flair, okay. But if it’s part of a guy’s offense, I mean how do you take that away from him because they pop for a guy that works for a different company or may not work for any company? It’s just real discombobulated to me,” Arn Anderson said.

Conrad Thompson got Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan together for an hour-plus conversation that’s up on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel. Bischoff shared that while he was in WWE, he and fellow members of the writing team would watch AEW and NXT side-by-side.

“One of the things that I think has distinguished your show from anybody else’s, even when I was in WWE last year when you guys debuted, I sat and watched both shows side-by-side. NXT and AEW and clearly I was working in WWE at the time and I was actually watching it in a writer’s conference room with a bunch of other writers and one of the first things I noticed was that you’re handling your production so much better. When I watch your show, even under COVID — that was pre-COVID obviously but even under COVID, the way you’re shooting your show, it’s tighter, your shots tend to be tighter, you embrace your venue as opposed to trying to camouflage it quite as much. It feels — and I said this like the next day. Somebody, somebody! If you can imagine, said, ‘What did you think?’ I told him what I thought. Your show feels more like live TV to me because it has that grit — don’t take this the wrong way, please. I mean this is as a compliment, but your show feels gritty enough to convince me it’s live, and you don’t strive to be so perfect that you lose that sense of live energy.”

Following that conversation while discussing TV deals, Tony Khan revealed that initially, TNT executives were interested in WWE’s TV rights in 2018.

Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven was a guest on The Lewis Nicholls Show. Back in February, Raven appeared on an episode of AEW Dynamite in Atlanta. During the interview, Raven explained his cameo appearance on the show and stated that he would’ve liked to work with AEW in a larger role.

“I live in Atlanta. That’s where the show was and I came by to say hi to a bunch of people and so they asked me if I would be a red herring for a cameo, you know? Sure. A, I don’t mind but B, what am I gonna say no? That’s just disrespectful. Plus, if it helped them out, it was fine. But I would’ve liked to work with them some more but, they… they basically have what they need as far as where my skills are utilized best, you know? Like in creative, they have their creative. They have a system and it works for them so, that’s great.”

According to Fightful, Matt Riddle botched his debut on SmackDown.

The 19 June episode was set-up to coronate AJ Styles as new Intercontinental Champion before the incoming Riddle interrupted him. During the pre-taped segment, WWE wanted to make sure that certain things happened.

After Styles was "very funny" and bantered with Daniel Bryan about strapping the IC belt around his waist for him, John Laurinaitis crashed the scene via the Performance Center's PA system and repositioned everybody in-ring for Riddle's entrance.

Apparently, it was vitally important that the ex-NXT man could be seen clearly by the hard cam. WWE wanted to make sure that everyone at home could see "he wasn't wearing shoes".

Fightful also reported that AJ, Riddle and host Renee Young had lines written down in front of them on the table. At one stage, Riddle accidentally read one of the lines meant for Styles, recognised his mistake and stopped the filming with a quick, "My bad, bro".

That cracked everyone up, with the possible exception of Laurinaitis.

The WWE trainees in the "live crowd" all laughed because they're said to know Riddle's personality better than some on the main roster.

WWE Network News reports that next Sunday, July 19 there will be content added to the "Undertaker: The Last Ride" section entitled "Tales from the Deadman." Not much is known about the special as of now, but one can assume that it will feature outtakes and bonus content from the critically acclaimed documentary series.

UFC has from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Wednesday night on ESPN and ESPN+. The prelims go head-to-head with AEW and NXT. Dan Ige vs. Calvin Kattar is the main event and the full show is covered in the current issue. Tim Elliott vs. Ryan Benoit and Jimmie Rivera vs. Cody Stamann, Molly McCann vs. Talita Santos, Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mournir Lazzez and John Phillips vs. Khamzat Chimaev are the top bouts. The main card starts at 10 p.m. Eastern. It being on ESPN means it will hurt the wrestling shows even more, because last time they ran on a Wednesday it made a big difference, particularly to AEW. But since it's only the prelims, it could be worse. Last time it went had-to-head it was an ESPN+ show only, which means really the hardcore UFC fans saw it but the casual fans didn't. There's also a big NASCAR race on FS1.

In Canada this Wednesday, AEW will air on TSN2 at 8 pm Eastern while TSN5 will carry the UFC card beginning at 8 pm followed by a post-show at 12:30 am.

PWInsider reported Tammy Sytch was arrested again at 4:42 p.m. for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, eluding a police officer, and violation/contempt of a domestic violence restraining. She is being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Sytch was let out on parole in Carbon County, PA for DUI related arrests earlier this year and had been reportedly doing well with a high priced photo subscription service.

TPWW Frontpage:

DDP Says That He and QT Marshall Have COVID-19 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/ddp-says-that-he-and-qt-marshall-have-covid-19/)
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Emperor Smeat

07-15-2020, 07:30 PM

The Sheets:

On today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that Bianca Belair returned on RAW last night and teamed with Ruby Riott to beat The IIconics because Liv Morgan is currently away. The match was originally set to be Morgan & Riott vs. The IIconics.

It’s still unknown why Morgan has been away from RAW since the end of June.

Ring of Honor released the following first look at this weekend's episode of ROH TV, which will pay tribute to STARDOM star Hana, who took her own life in May
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoPp6nW_mXM

The State of Pennsylvania filed a motion yesterday in Carbon County Court to revoke the February 2020 parole of WWE Hall of Famer Tammy "Sunny" Sytch, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

The motion was filed in the wake of Sytch's arrest in New Jersey on the morning of 7/13 in Middletown, NJ. Sytch remains incarcerated at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, charged with with the following:

*Operating a Motor Vehicle during a second license suspension.

*Eluding a Police Officer.

*Contempt/Violation of a Domestic Violence Restraining Order.

Obviously, the State of PA sees Sytch's arrest as a violation of her existing parole. Court records indicate that until her 7/13 arrest, Sytch had been adhering to her parole requirements, including monthly payments of restitiution. A hearing has not yet been scheduled but if the court sides with the State, they may rule that Sytch be returned to Carbon County Correctional Facility to serve her full original sentence.

In regard to rumors we've been asked about regarding a Charlotte Flair TV series making the rounds, there is some truth to the story about her involvement in a television project, but no deal has been completed as of this writing.

AEW presents “Fight for the Fallen” tonight from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, and will have a charitable component. This year, they are encouraging fans to donate to Florida’s First Coast Relief Fund and the Feeding Northeast Florida group ...

While the competition from NXT is not as heavy this week, the larger question is the impact the NASCAR All-Star race is going to have, and the UFC prelims airing on ESPN. While the UFC main card doesn’t begin until 10 pm Eastern, UFC has been killing it on free television with their last Fight Night card on June 27th finishing #1 and #2 on cable that night with the main card and prelims. There are no stars on the prelims, but I don’t look at that as significant a factor as the UFC brand has drawn well on ESPN during the pandemic. NASCAR could take out a chunk of both AEW & NXT tonight, so those factors are ones to watch. It’s a precursor of what’s to come with so many sports leagues gearing up for their returns and seeing what effect the added sports competition has on all pro wrestling products and if UFC sees a dip from this phenomenal run of business on pay-per-view and cable.
Link for those interested in donating: https://www.betterunite.com/JaguarsFoundation-aewcovid-19relief

Monday’s viewership for Raw ranks as the lowest in the history of the show (where data is available) falling beneath 1.6 million viewers. However, the 18-49 demo only fell by 2%. Because they have fallen to a baseline of dedicated viewers, there was less tune-out throughout the show with the larger loss in the third hour among males 12-34 which dropped 12%. So, even though fewer people are tuning in at the start of the show (indicating a lack of interest overall rather than the content turning them off), those that tune in are more likely to watch the entire show.

It’s hard to make sweeping statements about the Raw viewership as their demo rating continues to be among the top shows on cable but you’d be foolish to ignore the major loss of audience during this period. If the USA Network chalks it up to the pandemic, you can make a reasonable case that it’s the largest factor but hardly a guarantee that whenever WWE can run major arenas with fans, that the lost audience returns overnight.

Going a step further, if you’re going to throw your arms in the air and accept that the pandemic was going to negatively affect viewership, then this period may be viewed differently a year from now as a lost opportunity. Going with the notion that viewership will be down regardless, this was the time to double-down on new performers and getting the necessary experience to hopefully, have some fresh acts and more seasoned talent when fans return. This was the playbook that appeared in place for Raw over the past year since Paul Heyman’s appointment. It doesn’t mean a similar philosophy can’t be carried out by Bruce Prichard, but it comes down to Vince McMahon’s interpretation of why viewership is down and what vision he wants the show to reflect – are they just trying to stop the loss of viewers, or not concerned with numbers and building for the future? If it’s the former, then you’re likely to rely on established stars, save big matches for television, and book for that week’s audience rather than invest now with the hopes of it bearing fruit down the road ...

It’s also a deeper question about how to create those new fans and what strategies are left? If there was a mandate to get Raw back over two million viewers, what is your plan? You could hot-shot for one major show and achieve that number but what about averaging two million viewers for a month? How long would it take to get to that status when Raw hasn’t hit that figure since the night after WrestleMania?

We have gone through brand splits, trades, talent popping up on the other show, legends coming back, short matches on TV with more promo time, long matches on TV, show-long builds to a peak in the third hour, peaking for the second hour with less focus on the third hour, etc. The answer is that there isn’t a simple answer to get to the point where you find that breakout star that will lift business when they catch fire.

The ability to take a talent with potential and properly build them into a draw has been an awfully difficult task for the company. Some times, you have to spot the potential and just go with it. Every talent will have his or her detractors, will have their weaknesses (not the “right look”, can’t work “main event style”, weak on promos, doesn’t have the “it” factor) and those are all ambiguous statements that often curtail risks being taken and shaking things up. Typically, fans respond to “new” and things feeling fresh where someone bursts onto the scene and catches fire quickly. Often, that flame gets extinguished or dies down because they aren’t all in, even though the crowd was ready.

Long-term, Braun Strowman is not the guy to build SmackDown around. He was a band-aid solution to get the title off Bill Goldberg when the original challenger Roman Reigns was unavailable. If they were bound and determined to strap the rocket on someone – where an Adam Cole (or pick your star with main event potential) shows up on SmackDown and out of nowhere, challenges and beats Strowman, it would create that shock factor where lapsed fans would want to see what happened. At that point, you have people’s attention, so follow-up is key to retain those lost eyeballs.

That is only one example and it’s not like there is a deep playbook of strategies but playing the long game with patience appears more logical than booking week-to-week and running in the same spot. It also comes with the risk of heavy investment on a vision with no guarantee it will bear fruit in six to nine months.

If you want your viewership to average two million viewers per week, it will probably take months to create new habits for fans not watching Raw weekly and that comes down to an enticing program with characters they are behind and not having such a hard-and-fast rule on who gets over at the top. A lot of characters lose their edge on the main roster through poor attempts at comedy, limitations that handcuff them in match scenarios, and feeling like they are part of the WWE machine rather than individual stars that stand out on their own as a way to enhance the product instead of blend into it.
John Pollock had a very interesting take on WWE squandering a golden chance handed to them to fix their serious issues by not going all in on building for the future and instead still being stuck in their current mentality and band-aid approach to their declining ratings and star power woes.

Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics has an extensive study on television ratings and assessing the value of total viewers and the 18-49 demographic, which has become this hot-button issue largely spurred on by Tony Khan and Chris Jericho pointing out the reliance on the demo over overall viewers after Fyter Fest last week.
Link for those interested: https://wrestlenomics.com/2020/07/14/key-demo-and-total-audience-what-are-they-and-how-much-do-they-matter/

On that subject, AEW president Tony Khan gave the following answer to Justin Barrasso at SI.com regarding the television numbers and what is most important to them:

"The key for us is TV rights. That is our primary revenue stream. Without a live gate, that revenue stream has become the lifeblood of our company. It’s very important for me to keep producing new shows and have those shows keep performing the way the way they want us to perform, which is performing well in the 18–49-year-old demographic. So far, we’ve been doing those things, and they’re very happy with us. Overall viewership is a nice, round number, and if you want to make the number sound as big as possible, you say the overall viewers. But the network looks at the numbers in the 18–49 demographic, that is what keeps us going.

Over the past two weeks, Fyter Fest was a huge success. We look at that chart every week of where we rank in the 18–49-year-old demographic, and to be in the top seven two weeks in a row is a really good performance for us. It’s important to understand what the network actually looks at, so people will understand what we consider success. The key for us is to keep the demo number high."

For Fyter Fest last Wednesday, the show did 0.44 with 715,000 average viewers and 407,000 in the 18-49 demographic. For SmackDown, the show did 1.25 with 1,892,000 average viewers overall with 607,000 in the main demo. Saturday’s UFC 251 prelims did 397,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo and 809,000 overall.

Jake Roberts posted that he underwent an operation this past Monday but didn’t specify what he was being treated for. On Twitter, he added that he still planned to be in Jacksonville for AEW this week.

FITE (@FiteTV) announced they will be streaming Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling on July 22 and DDT Summer Vacation 2020 on July 23 in both English and Japanese.

English commentators are Sonny Onoo (both shows), Dan Madigan (TJPW) & Rob Hochman (DDT).

With talks about a second Evolution pay-per-view happening, Tegan Nox already has an opponent or two in mind if that show were to become a reality.

Right before she faces NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai on NXT, Nox spoke with Comic Book to talk about the growth of women's wrestling in WWE within the past decade. Speaking on a potential Evolution 2, Nox said she would love to wrestle in it and says if she had to pick an opponent, it would be Ruby Riott and Molly Holly if she had to pick a legend.

"It's got to be Ruby Riott," Nox said. "She's right at the top for me, but if it's a legends dream match, obviously it's Molly Holly, but Ruby Riott is my next pick. I mean, she's incredible. She's such a good friend, and an incredible athlete and an incredible wrestler. She's my main pick that I want to wrestle, so Ruby Riott at Evolution 2."
Current rumor is Evolution 2 is happening shortly after SummerSlam.

According to Fightful Select, rising star Ricky Starks, who has since signed with AEW, was offered $1000 a month by the NWA to remain with the promotion but passed. He was featured regularly on Powerrr and was a former NWA Television champion.

The man he lost the belt to, Zicky Dice, has also left the NWA. Reports are that Dice was only being offered $250 a month, an amount he wouldn’t take either. Dice did eventually re-sign to the NWA for the remainder of 2020, but was recently granted his release.

As for the women’s division…Fightful states that current champion Thunder Rosa is still under contract with the NWA. Whether she plans on re-negotiating has yet to be determined. Former women’s champion Allysin Kay is expected to remain in NWA, and still plans on working with them much further into the future.

On the second night of Fyter Fest on July 8, instead of facing Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Brian Cage was awarded the FTW title by Taz. Although Cage will face Moxley at Fight For The Fallen on July 15, Cage will also defend the FTW title against Brian Pillman Jr. on the July 14 edition of AEW Dark.

Speaking to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, AEW President Tony Khan spoke on where the idea to bring back the FTW belt came from. Khan said it was something in the works for weeks and noted that he personally thought it was great that Taz was the one who presented it to Cage and that it was not the first thing the duo did since joining forces in May.

"Well, it was a few weeks ago. Taz told me he had it. And immediately, that's when the idea struck me to do this. Then I asked him to bring it down and get it down here and Taz's son, Tyler, who is a great kid, traveled down with it and came down and got tested, and joined us in the bubble. Tyler brought it and then we had it. Taz presenting it to Brian was a really important part of the presentation. I think Taz and Brian, it was good that it wasn't the first thing they did together, because they really had become associated. Brian was always supposed to debut in that casino ladder match, as soon as we got his diagnosis that he was going to be out until May," Khan said.

"This thing had been planned for a long time for Brian to make the big intro, and make the big splash, and challenge Moxley. Brian and Taz, they've established a rapport on television. When Taz told me he still had the belt, it was a perfect thing to add to the story I thought. And so, a couple weeks ago, when it came up, I really jumped on it. Once I found out he had it, and we were able to use it, I wanted to make it a part of the story. I wouldn't have done it without his blessing. I mean, he's the one who told me he had it. So once he said he still had possession of it, and I checked, and we're cleared to use it, then, at that point, I was like, 'This is, to me, almost like a no brainer. It adds so much to the story, to the presentation of Brian. It's so much credibility, the FTW title.' I grew up watching ECW, as you know, and that belt meant a lot. Even though it's not a recognized championship, when it was defended, or when you saw it, it felt like it was part of the presentation of Taz as one of the top wrestlers in the sport and I think it can be the same thing for Brian Cage. So I was really excited about it, as soon as Taz told me he still had that belt, and then when I realized that we could use it. It was a few weeks ago," Khan said.

Bret Hart's autobiography "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" is regarded as one of the best and most detailed wrestling autobiographies ever written. Though fans saw Bret's career play out in the wrestling ring, and behind the scenes in documentaries, it could have played out in a different television format.

Appearing on New Day: Feel The Power, former WWE writer Michael Notarile discussed his meeting with Bret Hart and how he wanted to develop Bret's book into a television show.

"When I met Bret, I met him before WWE and I wanted to develop his book into a TV show. Long story short, he had my email from a letter I wrote him when I was a kid. Somehow, my email got into his address book, he sent me an email about something, I think by mistake, and I wrote back and was like, 'I want to develop your book into a TV show.' This is before I worked at WWE," he said.

Notarile began working with WWE in 2013.

He continued the story, saying he met with Bret at a hotel in California after the two exchanged emails.

"At this point, I thought it was a prank. I put my wrestling figure in my bag and was like, 'If he could sign the figure, how awesome would that be?' I'm at the hotel, looking around like, 'I'm definitely on a prank show.' Bret Hart walks in. It's real. We sit down, talking about the book and the whole time, in the back of my head, I'm like, 'I've got to get him to sign this wrestling figure.' How do I do it? I go, 'My mom was like, you should bring your wrestling figure and get Bret to sign it.' I go, 'Mom, I'm going to be professional, it's a meeting.' Bret's like, 'Oh, I would have signed the figure for you.' 'Great, I brought it, it's right here,' and he signed it."

The Bret Hart TV show never came to fruition, but Notarile did get to work with Bret in WWE, helping him with a promo in Montreal in 2014. Notarile called working with Bret his third favorite moment during his WWE tenure behind New Day winning their first tag team titles and Xavier Woods' initial New Day promo where he recruited Kofi Kingston and Big E.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Fight for the Fallen & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-fight-for-the-fallen-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings/)
WWE: Edge on AEW Competing with WWE, Kevin Owens on NXT Return Interest, Undertaker Series (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-edge-on-aew-competing-with-wwe-kevin-owens-on-nxt-return-interest-new-episode-of-undertaker-series/)

* Smeat's note: There might mot be a sheets report tomorrow due to I'm going to be very busy with more important stuff during the usual time I read the day's sheet news and put together a report from various places.

Emperor Smeat

07-16-2020, 10:08 PM

The Sheets:

Despite competition from both NASCAR on FS1 and UFC on ESPN, AEW Dynamite had its highest viewership since May and scored a big win over NXT on USA Network last night.

Last night's Fight for the Fallen edition of Dynamite, which was headlined by Jon Moxley retaining his AEW World Championship against Brian Cage, averaged 788,000 viewers as compared to NXT's 631,000. It's the first time Dynamite has won the viewership battle in four weeks. The viewership for Dynamite was up 10.2 percent over last week's Fyter Fest night two show.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.29 rating, up 3.6 percent from last week. That was also the best number for the show since May and it ranked fifth for the night on cable.

NXT's viewership total was down 16.9 percent from last week. The last time NASCAR ran on a Wednesday night, it also affected NXT more than Dynamite.

Dynamite and NXT both likely affected the UFC number as the main card had the lowest viewership total to date on ESPN with just 536,000 viewers. The UFC prelims averaged 434,000 viewers. The prelims aired opposite wrestling on the East Coast, with the main card going against it on the West Coast. The NASCAR All-Star race averaged 2.036 million viewers and finished third in the 18-49 demo with a 0.35 rating.

NXT fell to 49th on cable in the 18-49 demo rankings with a 0.14, down 30 percent from last week. It's the second lowest number in that demo the show has done on the USA Network since debuting last October.

AEW won every demo but people over 50, which is usually the case, but it was much closer this week with NXT averaging a 0.36 rating in that category to AEW's 0.30. AEW's biggest category was men 18-49, where they nearly tripled NXT with a 0.40 rating as opposed to 0.14.
https://i.imgur.com/Tl3Qfrz.gif

Though the series finale aired last month, more "Undertaker: The Last Ride" content is coming to the WWE Network this weekend.

WWE has announced that a bonus episode titled "Undertaker: The Last Ride: Tales from the Deadman" will premiere on the WWE Network on Sunday:

You thought you’d seen the last Last Ride? Think again.

The critically-acclaimed WWE Network series returns this Sunday as Undertaker shares even more stories from his legendary career on Undertaker: The Last Ride: Tales from the Deadman, narrated by Emmy-nominated actor and producer Timothy Olyphant.

Get ready for some incredible behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the man himself, as Undertaker recalls stories about the origins of his character, his experience on an infamous plane ride, and even that time he fought The Godfather over a hat, all accompanied by never-before-seen animation.

Don’t miss the return of Undertaker: The Last Ride, as 'Tales from The Deadman' premieres this Sunday, streaming immediately following The Horror Show at WWE Extreme Rules, only on WWE Network.

In addition to airing on the live stream after Extreme Rules, "Tales from the Deadman" will be made available on demand on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday.

NWA President Billy Corgan posted the following on his Instagram account, shooting down rumors of the demise of the National Wrestling Alliance:

"A quick note about the National Wrestling Alliance, which I fought for, and won ownership of a few years back. We are NOT shutting down. So please disregard any and all rumor to effect. The @NWA is not and will not be for sale, and those talent who are under contract remain under contract for a reason: which is that we at the NWA are trying to figure out a way to provide our great fans with wrestling content in a very, very tough environment. And, most importantly, keep our talent safe and the standard of production you’ve come to expect from us at a high level. Anything less, in my opinion, is unacceptable. So yes, appreciate the interest, appreciate the chatter, but don’t appreciate the unsourced rumors and speculation"

The promotion shut down production in the wake of the resignation of Vice President Dave Lagana several weeks ago.
The rumor originated from some comments Raven made in a recent interview with Hannibal TV.

WWE star Jeff Hardy's scheduled court appearance in Moore County Court in North Carolina today regarding his October 2019 arrest for Driving While Impaired has been pushed back to Monday 9/28 as all court cases have been pushed back due to court closures stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Hardy was arrested the evening of Thursday 10/3/19 in Moore County, North Carolina. The police report for the arrest notes that authorities received a tip about a careless driver around 8:40 PM that evening. Authorities located Hardy's car in front of a liquor store and he emerged carrying a case of beer. Authorities followed the car and pulled him over after they "observed him weaving badly in his lane."

Hardy had "what seemed to be dried blood on his nose", according to the police report and told officers that he and his wife "got into a fight." The police report stated that Hardy admitted to having two shots of vodka and admitted to being impaired. Hardy failed a field sobriety test and according to the report, he was "was uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer or blood sample." A judge signed off on a search warrant, allowing officers to extract a blood sample from Hardy.

Hardy's driver's license has been revoked pending the resolution of the case..

Former TMZ reporter Adam Glyn caught up with former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion Henry Cejudo. Cejudo was asked about the possibility of him appearing on All Elite Wrestling programming again, following his appearance at Double Or Nothing in May and Cejudo said there have been more conversations held between his team and AEW.

“Probably the wrestling, probably the Boxing. But I meant it when I said I’m retired. There’s a boatload of money that could bring me back, but I think more importantly than money for me is legacy.

Yeah we’ve been in contact with AEW. There’s a potential big pay-per-view event that they may want to hold but, there’s a lot. Even amateur wrestling man. I mean there’s so many options that I don’t really know which one to pick because they all seem a little appetizing to me, you know?”

Josh Matthews joined Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net on the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast. Matthews talked about the changes that have had to be made to IMPACT’s weekly programming on the lead-up to Slammiversary after the exits of Tessa Blanchard, Michael Elgin and Joey Ryan from IMPACT Wrestling.

“Yeah, I would say everybody. Everybody involved. The guys in Nashville had to do more work. We had to do more V.O.’s, graphics had to be changed. All the little things that we try to do. The go-home week for a pay-per-view to me has always been a very easy week. It’s interviews like this for me. Everything’s done and that really wasn’t the case with this particular show. There was a lot of last minute scrambling and changing of things but it was one of those — we want to put the best product that we can out there publicly and we want to make sure that everyone’s happy with the faces that they’re seeing. So while the work needed to be done, it was done with a smile on our faces because we knew that we were doing everything that we could to give the best content that we possibly could provide.”

Bleacher Report Live conducted an interview with Tony Khan to promote Fight For The Fallen. Khan spoke about the six-man tag team match between Jurassic Express (Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy) and The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks). Khan stated that with all the trios in AEW, there may be a trios tournament in the company some day.

“These are two of the top trios units in our company [The Elite & Jurassic Express]. Six-man tags have been a huge part of AEW. Since the beginning, we featured S.C.U. against Strong Hearts at Double Or Nothing and we’ve done so many six-man tags. The aforementioned Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends, the Jurassic Express obviously and The Elite are two of the top units and we’ve got a bunch of dream units and I think we could some day have a great trios tournament of some kind. I also think that this could be one of the biggest matches in that tournament and we’re seeing it right now. If it were to happen, I think The Elite and the Jurassic Express could be the odds on favorites and they’re two of the most popular teams in AEW so I think it’s gonna be a really fun match and I’m really excited about it.”

Charlotte Flair was a guest on Nikki and Brie Bella’s podcast ...

During Charlotte’s segment of the podcast, she said that she hoped that while she was in NXT, a storyline involving herself, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Stephanie McMahon came about.

“Because I spent some time in NXT recently, I was really hoping that I could get into that with Triple H, being like the brat and then him being like, ‘I made you’ because of the whole NXT, but, maybe later down the road.”

Newsweek chatted with Tegan Nox ahead of her NXT Women’s Title match on 7/15. Tegan was asked to speak about coming out as a lesbian. Nox said the reception was mostly positive and she received many messages from colleagues and friends of hers.

“My life has always been a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation, but I felt like it was the right time, especially when you’ve found the right one you’re in love with. It was the right time to do that.

The reaction has been great. There are a few people who obviously don’t agree with that, but 99 percent of the reactions have been positive. I’ve got texts coming through from so many colleagues and friends. It was nice. It’s great to see that there are so many nice people in the world.”

One individual who Tegan Nox spoke with was Sonya Deville. Tegan shared that she spoke with Sonya before the picture went up and added that Deville has been a massive help.

“I actually talked to Sonya before I even did this. She was a big, big help. She gave me her phone number and told me to text her if I needed anything. So we keep in contact quite a lot about it. She’s a massive help with the fans, because my family knew but my fans didn’t. So she helped me bring it out to the public.”

WrestleZone spoke with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR. While speaking about if heels and babyfaces still exist in pro wrestling, Harwood shared his thoughts about how to get people emotionally invested in pro wrestling and he doesn’t think “great matches every week” is the key to drawing money in the sport.

“I don’t know if I believe in ‘babyfaces and heels’. I don’t know. Before anybody is a babyface and before anybody is a heel—at least for myself and Cash—we’re men. We’re men and you’re either going to like us or you’re not going to like us and I think that attributes to your personality and your traits. You’ve got to build on those character traits. Ultimately I think getting emotionally invested is the way you make the most money, the way you draw the most fans, the most viewers. To have someone, one set of guys or one individual fighting another set of guys or an individual, and there’s a conflict of interest and the fans choose what side they believe in, what side they want to be on, I think that’s where we’re at in the world right now. I don’t think ‘great matches’ every week are the answer to pro wrestling and how to make money. There’s a conflict of interest and the fans are going to decide in their mind who is the good guy and who is the ‘bad guy.’”

Shane “Hurricane” Helms joined Chris Featherstone for a Facebook Live Q&A and the full video is up on the Sportskeeda YouTube channel. Helms was asked why he believes WWE’s television ratings have continued to drop for RAW and SmackDown and Helms accredited it to the lack of star power and fans.

“Why are they falling? Because less people are watching. I just think, without an audience, you’re losing a big part of the magic of pro wrestling.

I mean it’s hard to watch for me and I love it as much as anybody has ever loved pro wrestling in the history of the world, and it’s hard for me to watch, and they lost a lot of star power. It’s really an odd time. Not like I have my finger on the pulse by saying it’s an odd time. Obviously, everybody knows that but, it’s an odd time.”

AEW Fight For The Fallen started off this week by announcing that Tony Schiavone wouldn’t be on the show. It was stated that his COVID-19 test didn’t come back in time so he was replaced by Taz. This was apparently a bigger issue than just one individual case.

AEW has conducted blood tests to check for COVID-19. This is different from the swab tests in many ways. This week it caused an issue for the company.

During Wrestling Observer Radio (transcription by Ringside News), Dave Meltzer revealed that Tony Schiavone wasn’t the only person who had issues with their COVID-19 test. He stated that some people had to take their test “multiple times.” Schiavone didn’t receive his test back in time so he couldn’t work the show.

“There’s something that happened that I was told that people were tested multiple times. I don’t know the whole story, but Tony’s test didn’t come back so he was off the show. There were a couple other people who were missing. I don’t know the reasons why, but they were missing.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Several Matches Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite and NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/several-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-aew-dynamite-and-nxt-8/)
WWE Planning Mid-December Deadline for WrestleMania 37’s Status in California (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-planning-mid-december-deadline-for-wrestlemania-37s-status-in-california/)
Various: Tony Khan on Idea to Revive FTW Title in AEW, Details on Several NWA Contracts, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/various-tony-khan-on-idea-to-revive-ftw-title-in-aew-details-on-several-nwa-contracts-indies/)

Emperor Smeat

07-17-2020, 02:04 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

New Japan Pro Wrestling was the first major company to shut down, the one that took their financial lumps as much as any other major company for doing so, and this past weekend became the first major to open up with live crowds with shows on 7/11 and 7/12 in Osaka Jo Hall.

In the most unique year in pro wrestling, and life, the first two shows had a few themes. The biggest is the hope that putting nearly 4,000 fans in the building on two nights will end up being safe and they can continue to run shows before crowds. The second was the unique crowd reactions. New Japan asked the fans not to cheer or boo or make noise with their mouths, and only clap. And while there were exceptions, and some booing of Evil, the star of the weekend as far as booking, for the most part, the crowd was silent except for the constant clapping up and down the shows.

From a storyline standpoint, it was the “Weekend of Evil.” Takaaki Watanabe, 33, known as Evil, defeated Kazuchika Okada in the finals of the New Japan Cup, turned on LIJ to become the top star of the Bullet Club, and then, with the help of the debuting Dick Togo, defeated Tetsuya Naito to win both the IWGP title and the IC title belts ...

Besides Evil, also put over strong was the tag team of Dangerous Tekkers, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi, who defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi to win the IWGP tag team titles. There was no obvious challenger team coming off the title change.

Another big move was that the next major show, Sengoku Lord, on 7/25 at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, will feature Evil’s first title defense, against Hiromu Takahashi. This is only the second time in company history that a junior heavyweight champion will challenge for the heavyweight title, with the first being Prince Devitt in 2013 against Okada. But they were in the process of moving Devitt out of the junior heavyweight category at the time. Hopefully they don’t do that with Takahashi, because the division should be his showcase for years to come since he’s the best New Japan has had for that role since the heyday of Jushin Liger ...

Some thought Evil winning the Cup and the title was just Gedo replacing Jay White, who hasn’t been brought back due to travel restrictions, with Evil. But we were told months ago that this was scheduled to be a major year for Evil, so it’s probably the existing plan. Togo, who is now 50, started his career with Gedo & Jado in the old Universal promotion in 1991, at the time known as Sato. With much of the Bullet Club overseas, Gedo gave the gimmick a renewed push, adding Evil and Togo, and giving Yujiro Takahashi a big push for a program with Okada ...

Another notable thing watching the shows. Because people were spread out basically in every third seat, but all over the arena, the place actually looked full on television. The usual idea is to pack a part of the building which leaves a part empty so even a 70 percent full show people knock for not being sold out, even if the crowd is healthy. The 7/11 show drew 3,318 paid fans and $325,000, and the 7/12 show did 3,898 paid and $382,000.

Minoru Suzuki was pulled from both shows this weekend due to running a fever.

From a business standpoint, while not yet announced by anyone, the return to action of Bellator on 7/24 indicates a story that has been talked about heavily behind the scenes.

Bellator is not advertising the show for DAZN and those in the promotion noted that the show is not scheduled at the time for DAZN.

The belief within the industry has been that DAZN, with its heavy money problems, will be dropping Bellator when it is contractually able. This would make the first of these pie-in-the-sky deals with combat sports streaming to fall through, although the feeling is DAZN may also have to cut back on money earmarked for boxing. DAZN has added MLW, but that’s at a far lower price point. Some of this would be related to losses and also to issues with the pandemic ending live sports for the last several months, which DAZN’s subscription model is based on.
Between the stuff with DAZN and FOX recently dropped a lot of sports-related programming and PGA deal, could be seeing the start of serious cracks in the sports tv bubble. That could become a very worrying thing for WWE and AEW in a few years if things continue. A few years ago ESPN started cutting back on their own mega sports tv deals but that was more of Disney demanding ESPN to haul in their reckless spending and less due to ratings or ad money issues.

The fine system implemented by WWE for not wearing masks came from a conversation Kevin Owens had with Vince McMahon on 7/3 where he told McMahon he wasn’t comfortable returning under what were the current conditions.

As has been noted, Owens’ wife’s grandfather passed away several weeks ago due to COVID-19 and his wife wasn’t comfortable with him returning after the recent outbreak which resulted in between 30 and 40 COVID positives and affected both the roster talent, the extra as fans, and backstage personnel.

Patric Laprade, the author of the recently released Andre the Giant biography, who does French play-by-play for Raw, noted during his Les anti-pods de la Lutte podcast that the fine system in place came from Owens returning to work, noting to McMahon that he wasn’t comfortable with the extras serving as fans and a number of people backstage not wearing masks and of people being too close to each other. He was indicating he would leave but McMahon and him spoke on the subject.

McMahon asked Owens what he thought he should do about it. This was after WWE had reversed its position of masks in the crowd, and it was made clear they expected talent to be masked but a few, the vast minority, probably about ten percent or so, ignored the doctrine. Owens told McMahon that he was the only person the talent in the crowd would listen to, not an agent, not doctors. McMahon brought up the idea of fining people if they didn’t wear masks but told Owens that he didn’t think it would serve as a deterrent. Owens said he thought it would. He noted that he was once fined for swearing on Smackdown, and after being fined, never did it again, noting when you are fined you remember not to do it again. McMahon also asked how much should be the fines and Owens said it should be enough that they get the message, but not so much that they can’t afford it.

Raw on 7/13 opened up with scary low numbers, and each hour followed with the record low numbers, but the good news is the 18-49 number didn’t drop nearly as badly.

The show did 1,561,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49. The previous record lows, set of 5/4, were 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49, so the 18-49 number was the second lowest in history, and this was for the go-home show for the Horror Show at Extreme Rules PPV.

Raw was 28th overall on cable for the night, and fourth in 18-49. It was fifth in total viewers among non-news shows. It was the highest ranked show on cable in Males 12-17, 18-34 and 18-49.

The show was down 7.4 percent in total viewers from last week, which was previously the second lowest viewer number in modern history. The demo was down 2.0 percent from last week, which was the second lowest demo number also behind 5/4. The drops from last week causing the record low were under 18 and above 50 for the most part.

The good news is that there was very little audience drop. The bad news is that there was little interest going into the show even with the tag of it being “The Night of Grudge Matches” and pushing a Bayley & Sasha Banks tag title defense against Asuka & Kairi Sane all week ...

As compared to the same week last year, Raw was down 36.4 percent in viewers and 40.0 percent in 18-49. n me w

The first hour did 1,580,000 viewers. The second hour grew to 1,599,000 viewers and the third hour did 1,504,000 viewers. The previous least-watched hour in Raw history was 1,546,000 for hour three on 5/4.

As far as first-to-third hour drops, they were barely there which is very different from usual. Basically this indicated that they were down to the hardcores that will watch most of the show, and with a lot tuning in late, they stayed for the finish, aside from teenagers. In women 18-49, it actually drew 6.3 percent. Men 18-49 dropped 6.1 percent. Teenage girls dropped 11.3 percent. Teenage boys dropped 16.8 percent. Over 50 dropped 4.1 percent from the first to third hour, a figure almost unheard of low for that demo.

The show did a 0.22 in 12-17 (down 18.5 percent), 0.29 in 18-34 (down 6.5 percent), 0.67 in 35-49 (same as last week) and 0.74 in 50+ (down 10.8 percent).

It should be noted that in 18-34, Raw was down 52.5 percent from last year, where it did a 0.61.

Smackdown on 7/10 did a 1.25 rating, 1,892,0000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home, which may be an all-time record low for the show) and an 0.5 (607,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The key is it grew 9.6 percent in ratings, 6.5 percent in viewers and17.6 percent in 18-49 from the record lows set the prior week. It shows two things. As expected, last week’s number was a fluke because of it being a holiday weekend. But it also shows that the regular number for the show is still low, and this show had advertised a television airing of a former PPV Universal title match with Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt. Granted, it was a nothing match, but it was still a PPV major title match that builds a main event on the upcoming show.

Smackdown finished first in 18-49, but it was also the only first-run show on network television. . ABC and NBC reruns all did 0.4s. In 18-34, it did a 0.2, the same as every rerun show on ABC and NBC and in theory, based on history, Smackdown should dominate in that age group even against first run programming, let alone against reruns. In 25-54, it was second to a Dateline repeat. As far as total viewers, it was the least watched, losing to all reruns, the worst of which did 2,524,000 viewers.

The median viewer age of the show was 56.1, which basically means of the viewers, 50 percent were above that age and 50 percent were below that age.

Last year’s FOX’s reruns on the same Friday averaged 1,457,000 viewers and an 0.3 in 18-49, so it was up 30.4 percent in viewers and 66.7 percent in 18-49.

The Miz TV segment with Miz, John Morrison and Jeff Hardy, -plus Miz vs. Hardy, did 2.00 million viewers. Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss did 1.86 million viewers. The Strowman vs. Wyatt PPV match and the karaoke deal did 1.95 million. The Naomi vs. Lacey Evans match and New Day vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro match did 1.81 million.

The most competitive Wednesday night of the year, with AEW and NXT both having competition from UFC and NASCAR, took place on 7/15.

As expected, NASCAR won handily. The expectation is that AEW would be hurt worse than NXT by the competition, since the AEW audience skews younger, but that wasn’t the case.

It also should be noted that starting in two weeks, with the NBA on Wednesdays, the competition will be tougher. ESPN will be airing Wednesday night doubleheaders games starting on 8/5 to where both the end of the first game and beginning of the second game will go head-to-head with wrestling. ESPN will also have Monday night games going against Raw and TNT will have Friday night games going against Smackdown. There will be some Major League Baseball competition as well, which varies by the week.

AEW did 788,000 viewers and a 0.29 (380,000 viewers) in 18-49, for Fight for the Fallen. It was the company’s best number since 5/27.

NXT did 631,000 viewers and 0.14 (186,000 viewers) in 18-49, the company’s worst numbers since 5/20 and the second lowest 18-49 number in the history of the show, doing just under half of what AEW did, largely because of terrible numbers with males under the age of 35.

The NASCAR All-Star Race at 8:30 p.m. did 2,076,000 viewers and 0.35 in 18-49. The NASCAR All-Star Open at 7 p.m. did 1,516,000 viewers and 0.26 in 18-49.

The UFC main show headlined by Calvin Kattar’s win over Dan Ige at 10 p.m., or after AEW and NXT ended, did 536,000 viewers and 0.22 in 18-49, which are the lowest numbers ever on ESPN for a prime time main card show, and probably ever. Running 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on a Wednesday was not going to do well. The UFC prelims, airing from 7-10 p.m., head-to-head with AEW and NXT, did 434,000 viewers and 0.17 in 18-49, by far UFC’s lowest numbers ever in prime time. With a huge show the prior Saturday and another show the next Saturday, and almost every Saturday, a large percentage of the UFC fan base decided to skip this show.

In the 18-49 rankings, the NASCAR race was No. 3, AEW was No. 5, UFC main card was No. 16, UFC prelims were No. 37 and NXT was No. 49 ...

AEW was up 10.2 percent in total viewers and 4.4 percent in 18-49 from last week. NXT was down 16.9 percent in total viewers and down 29.0 percent in 18-49.

The key to the numbers was AEW doing strongly in males 35-49, and NXT doing disastrous in Men 18-34. AEW won every key demo but women 35-49 was surprisingly close considering the overall disparity in the other three key demos.

AEW did 70,000 in men 18-34 (down 21.3 percent from last week). NXT did 6,000 in men 18-34, which is not a misprint (down 87.2 percent from last week). NASCAR and UFC were both strong in those demos. AEW did 52,000 in women 18-34 (up 23.8 percent) while NXT did 29,000 (down 12.1 percent). AEW did 191,000 in males 35-49 (up 17.9 percent) while NXT did 86,000 (down 27.1 percent). Those were also strong for NASCAR and UFC. AEW did 67,000 in women 35-49 (down 5.6 percent) and NXT did 65,000 (up 1.6 percent).

In the main event segment, AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage for the AEW title drew the largest numbers of the night for either show, with 844,000 viewers and 407,000 in 18-49. NXT, with Io Shirai vs. Tegan Nox for the women’s title, did 652,000 viewers and 186,000 in 18-49, so AEW more than doubled NXT in the main demo in the final segment.

The show opened with AEW has 826,000 viewers and 374,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Sonny Kiss. NXT had 693,000 viewers and 208,000 in 18-49 for a Keith Lee promo with Dominik Dijakovic to set up their title match, which was the highest viewership and 18-49 numbers for NXT of the night.

Quarter two saw AEW lost 38,000 viewers and gain 6,000 in 18-49 for Pentagon Jr. & Fenix vs. FTR. AEW lost 73,000 viewers and 33,000 in 18-49 for Cameron Grimes vs. Damien Priest.

Quarter three saw AEW lost 22,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Pentagon Jr.& Fenix vs. FTR and the post-match stuff with the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega and Butcher & Blade involved. NXT gained 5,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for a Timothy Thatcher vignette and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Indi Hartwell.

Quarter four saw AEW lost 1,000 viewers but gain 4,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho interview with the Inner Circle and Orange Cassidy angle. NXT lost 23,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for a Tegan Nox interview and the beginning of Lee vs. Dijakovic for both titles.

Quarter five saw AEW gained 26,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Jurassic Express. NXT gained 6,000 viewers and lost 13,000 in 18-49 for Lee vs. Dijakovic. The totals for this battle were 791,000 for AEW overall and 378,000 in 18-49 and 608,000 viewers and 179,000 in 18-49 for NXT.

Quarter six saw AEW lost 48,000 viewers but only 5,000 in 18-49 for a Hikaru Shida interview, a Jon Moxley interview and Allie & Brandi Rhodes vs. MJ Jenkins & Kenzie Paige. NXT gained 33,000 viewers but stayed even in 18-49 for a Dijakovic angle with Karrion Kross and Thatcher vs. Denzel Dejournette.

Quarter seven saw AEW gain 37,000 viewers and 7,000 in18-49 for the Nyla Rose interview introducing Vickie Guerrero and the beginning of Moxley vs. Brian Cage. NXT lot 31,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for a Robert Stone brand vignette with Killian Dain and the first part of Shirai vs. Nox.

Quarter eight saw AEW gained 64,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Moxley vs. Cage. NXT gained 42,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Shirai vs. Nox.

The massive advantage NXT had with lead-in programming pretty much has evaporated these past couple weeks since they are no longer are starting with huge leads and also are losing those lead-in viewers a lot quicker. Also the first time in weeks that AEW beat out NXT for the main event which took away another of NXT's big advantages.

As expected, the first week of Fyter Fest vs. Great American Bash with DVR numbers saw AEW surpass NXT by day three in total viewers, up 925,000 to 911,000, and since the DVR numbers are fairly predictable, the gap almost certainly widened after day three. It’s a virtual lock the same will be the case for the second week. AEW virtually always has a 100,000 edge in DVR numbers, sometimes more by day seven. People will point to WWE Network but U.S. viewership for NXT is never at that level, plus USA never advertises NXT on WWE Network while the TNT App, a free service in multiple times more homes, airs AEW earlier than WWE Network airs NXT. TNT also advertises AEW on the TNT Drama app constantly. There have been two weeks since the start, 6/24 and 12/18, where including DVR viewership that NXT has had more viewers. There has been one week, 12/18, with DVR viewership, that NXT has won in 18-49. In 18-49, we do have the +7 numbers for the first week of Fyter Fest vs. Bash. In that demo, AEW was up 35.7 percent, normal levels for the show during the pandemic (372,000 to 505,000) while NXT was up 34.5 percent, way up from usual (284,000 to 372,000)

This is a two PPV weekend, with WWE’s Extreme Rules, now known as The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on 7/19, preceded the night before by Impact’s Slammiversary.

At press time there are seven matches listed for Extreme Rules, three of which appear like they will be taped in advance. The theme matches are Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt in a Swamp match, to be done on location, Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio in an eye-for-an-eye match and Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus in a bar fight.

AAA: While none of this means much of anything today, the hope is to have a major TripleMania show in October outdoors in Monterrey, at the baseball stadium, the place where they held TripleMania Regia on 12/1. But it’s unknown when they’d be able to get Kenny Omega back in to defend his AAA world title

Will Ospreay revealed that a few weeks ago he battled suicidal thoughts. Ospreay has been very open in recent years about his battles with depression and when he did a show in San Francisco last year talked about it in front of the fans in a post-match interview. “Few weeks ago, I came very close to something I know I’d regret. I’m still dragging my feet but I’m getting better. I’m still smiling, barely but a smile nonetheless. Suicide isn’t an option even when you feel like you’ve dropped the world, learning and pushing forward to be better is an option. Thank you to the people that have ever made me smile or laugh and been there to pick me up. Because of you my heart still beats. I love you all.

Kyoko Kimura filed a complaint with the Broadcast Ethics & Program Improvement Organization on 7/15 regarding the death of her daughter. It also came out that a third anonymous member of the staff of Terrace House said that Hana Kimura once had to shoot a scene for the show while in a state of shock and hyperventilating. Kimura submitted documents saying the reality show was edited to show her daughter being a violent woman. She also claimed them having her shoot the scene while hyperventilating violated her daughter’s personal and human rights. She also claimed that her daughter followed instructions from the staff on how to act on camera led by vicious cyberbullying. Kai Kobayashi, her short-term love interest on the show who she knocked the hat off his head, said he was mad at the show because one of the staff members told him to grab her boobs while on a date because the date wasn’t interesting enough

Vickie Guerrero is now managing Nyla Rose. The most noteworthy thing is WWE didn’t trademark her “Excuse Me” phrase and she can use it. So here’s the deal. Guerrero was great in WWE as an annoying heel. People know her and now that she’s older she’s got the Georgia Hase (legendary Roller Games heel) vibe going or her. So she’ll probably be real good, but obviously it has to play out. WWE hates managers for the most part which is a negative attitude. But they are going so manager crazy here, especially since they are all names from the past and I still think it’s best to be different from WWE and not use too many ex-WWE talents because you don’t want the idea that so many companies have tried and failed with of loading up on ex-WWE people with the idea they’re the ones who have had TV time and are known, because that has never worked. A few is fine, but it should only be a few rather than be a company that people look at as some of my old favorites that WWE has no use for anymore

Lesnar is not scheduled for this year’s SummerSlam show. One of the reasons he put over McIntyre so strongly was because he was not coming back any time soon. Heyman has not been brought to television since he was let go as head of Raw creative. Most signs point to McIntyre vs. Orton as the SummerSlam main event

The one thing is that a lot of people say and do a lot of things and people forget in time. This being the one year anniversary of Fight for the Fallen, if you recall, WWE Network put on an Evolve show head-to-head. Granted, WWE had talked for years about putting indie shows on the network and has the rights to a number of libraries that it has done nothing with. There were the complaints of WWE counter booking, which is fine, although it also was a charity show. But WWE portrayed the timing as a coincidence, but any study of WWE history would tell you it wasn’t, since in the 80s they did the same thing and also claimed these arenas and dates were booked a year plus ahead and it was a coincidence. But the Evolve show got almost all positive responses, and did well in viewership, and here we are a year later, and WWE never did another show like it again.
Just like with their other partners or affiliates, WWE pretty much never really cared about EVOLVE but had zero shame in using them as a weapon against AEW and letting them take some of the heat for WWE's decision to counter a charity show.

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week: 1. The Best of Women’s Evolution; 2. WWE Chronicle: Jeff Hardy; 3. NXT from 7/8; 4. Backlash 2020; 5. Every Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match; 6. Raw Talk; 7. Royal Rumble 2020
2nd week in a row where NXT ranked very well in the Top 10 after having a long stretch of them struggling to rank well.

Emperor Smeat

07-21-2020, 09:42 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night did the second lowest audience in the modern history of the show and tied the May 4 episode for the lowest ever in 18-49.

Overall, this could be considered the most sobering number in show history.

The show averaged 1.63 million viewers and a 0.46 rating in 18-49. Total viewers were up four percent from last week's record low viewer number, and 18-49 was down four percent. Really it was a far worse number given it came a day after a pay-per-view that was designed for curiosity and to build Raw more than usual. It was also heavily built around the Randy Orton vs. Big Show unsanctioned match that had been promoted for weeks. The third hour, with Orton vs. Big Show, did a 0.42 in 18-49, the lowest rated hour in 18-49 in the show's history.

In theory, next week's show with two title matches should do better, but that's a hot shot and even if it helps slightly, the pattern long-term is not good ...

Still, television is changing. Raw was in 21st place overall, fourth among non-news shows. The only shows that beat Raw besides news shows in overall viewers were three episodes of 90 Day Fiance on TLC. The only shows that beat Raw in 18-49 were two of those episodes and Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo, while the third 90 Day Fiance tied Raw for fourth place in the key demo.

Raw had a stronger first hour audience based on PPV curiosity, likely related to the interest level in the Rey Mysterio match. Once that was covered, the audience first-to-third hour decline was 12 percent, a normal level figure, but higher than in recent weeks ...

A comparison with last year this week is misleading. Last year's Raw this week was the Raw Reunion show with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels advertised as all appearing. Raw was down 47 percent in viewers, 60 percent in 18-49 and 76 percent in 18-34 from that show.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.74 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.61 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.54 million viewers

There were three demographics that took a major hit this week. Adults 18-34 fell by 31% followed by females 12-34 dropping by 30%, and males 12-34 down by 25%. The rest of the demos lost between 3-7%, except adults over 50 that improved by 8% this week.

There were enormous losses in the third hour despite the heavy promotion of both Orton vs. Show, and the Bayley vs Kairi Sane matches. In the third hour, adults 18-34 fell by 31% compared to the first hour, females 12-34 dropped by 28%, and males 12-34 were down by 27.5% in the closing hour.

The audience that stuck around for the whole show were adults over 50, which only dropped by 2.5% in the third hour. Every other group had double-digit declines in the closing hour.

Thus far, the strategy of putting big matches on television with a week of promotion has not produced results. This past Friday, SmackDown did 1,912,000 viewers for a show featuring AJ Styles vs. Matt Riddle for the Intercontinental title. It was up 12,000 viewers from the previous week but still ranks as the fourth-lowest episode of the series on Fox.

During yesterday's Ring of Honor Week to Week, Brody King cut a promo that made it clear he had broken off from Villain Enterprises without mentioning the name or even Marty Scurrl, so that's his direction going forward.

Recently on social media, a great deal of wrestling fans showed support for former two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi by creating the hashtag #NaomiDeservesBetter. This hashtag drew responses from the likes of Keke Palmer and celebrities alike who were made aware of Naomi and her work in WWE. During the Extreme Rules post-show episode of Booker T’s ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, he spoke about the recent support on social media for Naomi and explained why he is not a fan of the hashtag that was created in support of her.

“That Naomi deserves a chance… they can go to hell with all these hashtags as far as I’m concerned, but I’m tired of hearing about ‘em. Don’t nobody deserve a chance, alright? First and foremost, you gotta earn your chance, your spot on the roster. This is not some kind of movement just to pull somebody up just because and I hate to sit here and say this, to even talk this way because I like Naomi. But, as far as the business goes, you get it on your merit alone. That’s it. It’s no buddy systems and I know somebody’s gonna hear me and go, ‘Well such and such got a buddy and that’s why they’re doing it.’ Yeah that may be true, but life is not fair. Sometimes, you gotta make your own breaks. Sometimes you gotta go out there and rise to the occasion when no one else thought you could and the thing is, it may not happen overnight. It’s a consistency thing that goes with that. No one expected me, including myself, to become a six-time world champion, but my persistence as far as going out to the middle of that ring and performing better than all those suckers in the locker room and the suckers in the locker room, they knew it, and the fans, they saw something different and the signs were there for Booker T on a nightly basis. That’s why I say the hashtag Naomi Deserves A Chance, whatever deserves better, I just don’t think that will serve her any purpose. People advocating for her in that way. The way that needs to be put out there from a advocating perspective is her advocating for herself when she goes out to the ring and performs on a high level and the world sees it and that right there, when you do that Naomi, you can not be denied. No one will ever say someone gave you anything and if it happened right now, tomorrow, someone blessed Naomi with the world championship, trust me, it would not feel like she did it on her own. It would have to be a movement for something like that to happen. I would’ve never wanted the world title if it was given to me that way. Me personally I wouldn’t have and Naomi, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times. Naomi is perhaps more athletic than every female in that locker room and perhaps 99 percent of females in this business. But psychology and working is two different things, and I just hope and wish that I had my hands on her for one month. Naomi would look at this business a totally different way, and that’s just my thoughts on that.”

Conrad Thompson and Eric Bischoff broke down Bischoff’s return to WWE in 2019 on the latest installment of 83 Weeks. Towards the end of their three-hour discussion, Bischoff was asked if he thinks WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is “out of touch” and Bischoff says it’s easy to say McMahon has lost touch if one does not understand the complexity of his job title.

“They’ve spent 20 years developing the product and the platform they have that appeals to advertisers. It’s taken them 20 years to get there, or more, and now that they have it, they have to treat it with respect and they have to treat it very carefully and there are things I’m sure the WWE would love to do creatively that they just can’t because they know the blow back they’ll get from advertisers. It’s a little bit like producing an action movie for Disney. You gotta be really careful how you do that. That’s probably the best analogy I can give, and does that mean that he’s out of touch or does that mean he’s catering his business to his customer? The real customer, being the advertiser, because without the advertiser, there are no viewers folks. I know the viewers like to think they’re the most important thing in the world and in some respects they are, because it’s a direct connection to the advertising opportunity, but if the advertising community says, ‘Aht, Aht. I know there’s a lot of people watching your show, but we just can’t have our product associated with it,’ you’re dead. You’re done, and guess what? All those viewers who were so important, aren’t gonna be watching the product because they can’t live without advertising. So it’s easy to say so and so is out of touch, if you don’t understand the complexity of the business as a whole and just how significant those broadcast rights are and those broadcast rights will not exist without a really, really solid relationship and a confidence level amongst advertisers.”

IMPACT Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio. Purrazzo discussed her transition from NXT to IMPACT Wrestling and why she feels that the current version of her on-screen persona was never spotlighted in NXT.

“I think the Deonna that you saw and the world saw at Ring of Honor and NXT [Deonna meant IMPACT] is truly who I am…

The person that I’ve been able to put on-screen is the person I believe in, is the truest form of me, elevated, and at NXT, it was very much a runaround of like, ‘You need a character.’ ‘Okay, well that’s too much character. You have to be the real you, but the real you isn’t believable’ and I had just gotten to a point of there’s nothing I can do right and now I feel defeated in me, and coming here and just being like, ‘Screw what everyone else has said. Screw the connotations that came with me, screw the opinions and screw the negativity that I’ve been through. I’m going to bring out the person that loved professional wrestling, that wanted to be a professional wrestler since I was nine-years old and I’m gonna make that girl proud.’ I don’t care that WWE fired me or didn’t want me or didn’t think I was good enough. I think I’m good enough, and if IMPACT believes I’m good enough, if Ring of Honor believes I’m good enough, if Japan thought I was good enough, I’m good enough, and I just needed to get back to believing in me and believing in the little girl that’s wanted to be a champion her entire life.”

All Elite Wrestling ring announcer/backstage interviewer Dasha Kuret qualified for the regional finals of NBC’s ‘The Titan Games’

FOX Sports 1 will continue to air WWE content on their Tuesday night block, as noted in a statement that was issued to POST Wrestling. Tonight, FS1 is airing the 2016 SummerSlam pay-per-view and it was noted in the statement that it will not be their final airing of WWE content in the Tuesday night time slot. They’ll continue to have WWE content in that same slot through at least August 11th.

“Tonight’s airing of SummerSlam will not be FS1’s final airing of a WWE in the Tuesday night timeslot, we will continue to have WWE content on FS1’s Tuesday nights through at least Tuesday, August 11”.

Prior to WWE Backstage being cancelled, retro pay-per-view events would be the lead-in or the follow-up to the weekly one-hour show.

Major League Baseball is returning to FS1 for the start of their 2020 season but their Tuesday slate of games do not kick in until July 28th, with the first game starting at 6:05 PM EST between the Yankees and the Phillies.
PWI initially reported that this week would be the final week for WWE programming on FS1 due to the return of MLB games.

Stu Bennett doesn’t foresee the NWA coming back anytime soon.

Bennett, the former Wade Barrett, recently has been working as a broadcaster for the NWA, but the promotion is currently not running shows due to the ongoing pandemic. In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Bennett spoke on the future of the NWA and said he believes there won’t be any shows for the remainder of the year, saying it’s not the smartest idea to run events while there are spikes in positive COVID-19 cases and states still not opening up.

“I think we were slowly getting closer to it. I was hearing rumors of kind of looking at October for something if things continue doing well and then suddenly the U.S. had this giant spike. I will be amazed, and this is not coming from someone in management, I would be amazed if NWA puts on a show at any point for the rest of the year just based on how all this stuff is spiking. I don’t think it’s going to be safe for anyone to put on a show and have a crowd out there. Don’t take my word for it. It’s Billy Corgan’s decision, but I would be surprised if something came out in 2020. Of course, I’m hearing rumors that a vaccine is getting closer and fingers crossed that we can get vaccines and things get back to normal as soon as possible. Until that happens, let’s face it, this thing isn’t going to get resolved. This virus is just going to continue spiking,” Bennett said.

The NWA has also been subject to rumors of it either closing down or being on sale. Corgan, the current NWA President, recently shot down those rumors.

The company cut ties with Vice President David Lagana after he was accused of sexual assault and reportedly offered releases to anyone who wanted one. The promotion had gone silent on digital platforms, not tweeting since June 24 and uploading nothing to its YouTube channel since June 18.

As PWInsider.com reported last night in our Elite section, Vince McMahon was very hands-on with the production of last night's Eye for An Eye match at Extreme Rules featuring Rey Mysterio against Seth Rollins, which Rollins won.

The bout was taped yesterday afternoon at the WWE Performance Center in order for all elements that were needed to be produced properly but one aspect that was taped did not make the final edit, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Using prosthetic makeup, WWE shot an entire sequence that would have seen Mysterio's eye pop out, which as scripted was the moment that would have "led" to Seth Rollins vomiting on-screen originally. PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that Vince McMahon hated the look of the effect and the sequence, so it was removed and edited out of the final broadcast of the Rollins vs. Mysterio bout.

There was a lot of discussion yesterday over whether Extreme Rules would close with the WWE Championship match or the Swamp Fight but in the end, the final decision was made to go with the Swamp Fight. The Swamp Fight was filmed Thursday night in Florida.

The Eye for an Eye match was the only bout from the Performance Center that was not live on last night's Extreme Rules PPV. The match was taped earlier Sunday afternoon with Vince McMahon personally overseeing the proceedings, including picking out the specific weapons that were used in the match. McMahon was very involved with laying out the story of the match itself. Perhaps Vince's involvement explains the vomit as he's certainly not adverse to toilet humor ...

The Raw Women's Championship finish was done specifically to try and drive viewership to tonight's Raw. The finish was changed over the course of the day and at one point, Asuka was scheduled to win via the Asuka Lock.

The early indications are that Slammiversary was the strongest Impact PPV in terms of online buys in a long time

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: EC3 on Wanting WWE Release Prior to Pandemic, NJPW New Japan Road Results, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/various-ec3-on-wanting-wwe-release-prior-to-pandemic-njpw-new-japan-road-results-indies/)
WWE: Mustafa Ali on WWE Return, Network Special Planned for August, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-mustafa-ali-on-wwe-return-network-special-planned-for-august-updated-sd-ratings/)
Impact: TNA Series? Another IPWF Throwback, Rusev, Aces & Eights, RVD, More (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/impact-tna-series-another-ipwf-throwback-rusev-aces-eights-rvd-more/)
Ric Flair’s Wife Has COVID-19, Flair Denies Having Disease Himself (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/ric-flairs-wife-has-covid-19-flair-denies-having-disease-himself/)
Rey Mysterio Hasn’t Re-Signed With WWE Yet (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/rey-mysterio-hasnt-re-signed-with-wwe-yet/)

Emperor Smeat

07-22-2020, 07:21 PM

The Sheets:

William Regal tweeted the following:

Serving as the General Manager or #WWENXT has been an incredible honor. To see the men and women of this brand over the last couple of months has been inspiring and invigorating.

Tonight’s major announcement will be yet another step forward for @WWENXT.
— William Regal (@RealKingRegal) July 22, 2020
This is either the announcement of the next Takeover for SummerSlam weekend, the rumored all-women Evolution 2 event, or him stepping down as GM based on how the wording of his tweet feels.

We are told Cody's Open Challenge will open tonight's AEW Dynamite broadcast. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager vs. Jurrasic Express will main event.

Over the weekend on his Saturday Night Special broadcast, Chris Jericho noted the original idea for the "juicing" of the Inner Circle was for Orange Cassidy to drive an Orange Juice truck in and hose them down but Daily's Place wouldn't lend itself to that happening.

AEW action figures are already popping up on shelves ar Wal-Mart ahead of their 8/3 release. You can order them at www.RingsideCollectibles.com as well.

FS1 has rescheduled their airing of SummerSlam 1992 from next week until Tuesday, August 4th at 7:00pm

Bobby Fulton's son posted the following on Fulton's Facebook page at his request. Fulton, who is currently hospitalized after having surgery to repair a bleeding artery, was misinformed that he had a recurrence of his throat cancer due to the wording that was used in the Emergency Room. He is, thankfully, still cancer-free.

Fulton wrote:

"Two powerful words IS and WAS.

On Sunday morning I woke up and was spitting a large amount of blood out of my mouth. It really scared me, I called Ed Wilson and Josh Hines and they took me to the James Emergency Room. Upon getting back to the room, they gave me a CT Scan, when we got back to the emergency room, I was laying in the bed, and 5-6 people were surrounding me and they said we found the problem. There is an artery in your throat near your nose that the radiation that kind of messed up, and it is finally blown and that’s what’s bleeding, it IS right by where your tumor IS. I asked one of the people standing there does that mean I have cancer, one shook their head up and down yes. They said the artery IS where the tumor IS. They began discussing a plan to take care of this artery, they were going to destroy it and close it down. So I go, and as we’re going the artery IS where the tumor IS. So finally I asked, do I have cancer to another person, and they said we didn’t see any evidence of it (PRAISE GOD!). So I said to another person that they’ve been telling me the artery was near where the tumor IS. That person told me they should have used the word WAS and not IS. And I said, yes it makes a big difference. I’m thankful that at this time, I can say I’m cancer free. I’m thankful for all the prayers and all the love you all continue to show me. That’s why it is always important to choose your words wisely. There’s a big difference between IS and WAS."

Stephanie McMahon-Levesque spoke with Jeanine Poggi of AdAge on a series of subjects related to WWE’s handling of their business during the pandemic and adjustments they have made since March including testing procedures. She also went into details regarding social changes that the company is addressing internally, below are some notes from the discussion:

-They considered it a responsibility to continue with their programming and brought up their job as “putting smiles on faces”
-Adjustments during the pandemic have included how to shoot from different camera angles and also encouraging their announcers to fill more with their words rather than layout for an audience to react
-They have placed a virtual ceiling into their programming as an example of augmented reality noting that the ceiling fan in the WWE PC doesn’t look the best and enhanced the audio with crowd sweetening and have taken feedback when they’ve overdone it with the canned audio
-She said something very interesting about learning during this period that people want to connect with the individual and see them “less polished”, which has often been a criticism of WWE
-McMahon repeated that the shows are voluntary noting that some wrestlers and crew did opt-out and they support that. They are doing more advanced testing rather than the rapid testing along with pandemic-level cleaning every night as well as mentioning the spray they are using that Paul Levesque brought up recently during a conference call
-After people pass their test, they still have to go through temperature checks and fill out a form before they enter
-She said that 21% of their audience is African-American and mentioned different initiatives that have been launched by talent including New Day wearing armbands, Montez Ford & Bianca Belair launching their site, and other examples adding that representation is important and said 40% of their current champions are African-American across their brands
-They have had examples of African-American talent telling them something didn’t feel comfortable to them and they are willing to have those conversations and take that feedback
-They don’t provide medical insurance for their independent contractors but cover all injuries and take care of those with alcohol and substance abuse issues
-They have experimented with “cinematic matches” and noted that the usage of Metallica for the Boneyard Match was because the band’s music was going to be part of The Undertaker’s entrance at WrestleMania in its original planning
-WWE Network consumption is up 67% during this period and an increase of their YouTube consumption by 70%
-Joked that Vince McMahon was the only one that was still going to the office when discussing employees working remotely
-They delayed the move to their new headquarters and are re-evaluating what they need as a company in this new reality
The stuff about them piping in crowd noise since the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" confirms the suspension I had about WWE's shows since then since they've done a pretty poor job with it for matches. Feels even more fake or blatant than when they used to do it for taped Smackdown shows.

ESPN has a feature on Orange Cassidy and his unique connection along with winning over skeptics since joining AEW. The article features comments from Cassidy, as well as Tony Khan, Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Jim Ross. Khan admitted he wasn’t too familiar with Cassidy and didn’t have big plans for him when AEW until he started spending time with Cassidy after his appearance in the Casino Battle Royal at Double or Nothing in May 2019. Khan added that’s he has become a big merchandise mover and that TNT is big fans of the character. Khan wanted to prolong Cassidy having his first “real” match when he faced PAC at the Revolution event this past February. The piece also discusses how it’s been more difficult for a character like Cassidy without a live audience during the pandemic.
Link: https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/29511370/orange-cassidy-unlikely-breakout-star-2020-barely-even-trying

On Tuesday’s episode of AEW Dark, Darby Allin defeated Robert Anthony and was attacked by Brian Cage after the match. Following Cage’s attack, Ricky Starks came out and attacked Allin. Cage and Starks bumped fists after their attack with Taz noting on commentary that it was “business” and he would explain on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.

Sky Sport in Italy has announced that All Elite Wrestling is coming to the network.

This Friday’s edition of Lion’s Break Collision will feature the following four matches at 10 pm Eastern on New Japan World:
*Jeff Cobb vs. Karl Fredericks
*Rocky Romero & Rust Taylor vs. TJP & Clark Connors
*Misterioso vs. Danny Limelight
*Tom Lawlor vs. Alex Coughlin

Major League Baseball begins its shortened season on Thursday as several leagues get ready to launch or resume their season.

The NHL is set for a series of exhibition games and then begin its 24-team playoff format on Saturday, August 1st, and immediately go into the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Stanley Cup Finals are set to begin on September 22nd and end no later than October 4th.

The NBA resumes its season on Friday, July 30th with 22 teams returning to play with the NBA Finals going no later than October 13th. The first round of the playoffs begins August 17th, the conference semi-finals start August 31st, the conference finals will begin September 15th, and the NBA Finals start September 30th.

To get a sense of the response from advertisers, Fox Sports executive Seth Winter tells SBJ that 90% of its regular-season MLB package is sold. In the piece, Winter noted that they moved a lot of the advertisers who had paid for spots in the spring into the shortened season at the same rate. Among new advertisers, Fox is seeing a 5-10% increase with lots of spending from political parties ahead of the U.S. election, financial services, soft drinks, the retail & tech sectors have also been strong while areas like airlines, casual dining, automotive service, hotel, and travel have been softer.
WWE's (and AEW and Impact to a degree) inability to grow and gain a strong viewership foothold during the coronavirus pandemic is about to come back to bite them very hard.

On this date in 2001, the WWF presented its most successful non-WrestleMania pay-per-views ever with the Invasion card from the former Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. While the storyline was a disaster both in hindsight and at the time, the novelty of a pay-per-view built around inter-promotional matches was gigantic for the fanbase.

After initially targeting a WWF vs. WCW dream scenario following the former’s purchase of the company in March 2001, it was quickly extinguished with a horrendous main event between Booker T. and Buff Bagwell in Tacoma, Washington on the July 2, 2001 episode of Raw. There was such negativity to the segment that Vince McMahon second-guessed everything to the extent of giving up on WCW as a standalone entity that they had booked tour dates for.

The following week, they rescued the angle by injecting ECW into the invasion with Paul Heyman revealed as the mastermind working alongside Shane & Stephanie McMahon. They blew through months of ideas in one memorable episode of Raw ending with the formation of “The Alliance” as ECW’s intellectual property was not controlled by the WWF this early.

A forgotten aspect to the hype surrounding the pay-per-view was the go-home episode of Raw that built to the climax of Steve Austin coming to the aid of Team WWF and signaling a return to his babyface character after months of forcing his heel persona on television that negatively impacted business without a strong babyface foil. The pop for Austin’s run-in during the final segment of Raw was monstrous and I’ve always credited a portion of the success of that pay-per-view to that closing angle with Austin. Six days later, they turned Austin back as a heel joining The Alliance and the invasion fizzled throughout the summer and fall before finally yanking the plug at that year’s Survivor Series.

The following year, the company tried its own spin of the promotional war by splitting Raw and SmackDown for the inaugural brand split. This concept received more time and patience than the invasion but still showed the weakness in the company’s ability to execute a true split and create their own competition. However, all the key components that would have enhanced the invasion angle slowly made their way to the WWF afterward. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, and Bill Goldberg would arrive over the next 18 months after ending the invasion. It was part of the problem that WWF didn’t see any big stars on the WCW roster they had at the start with The Alliance propped up by established WWF talent.

The Invasion card featured a five-man Alliance team of Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T., Rhino & The Dudley Boyz vs. Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho & Kane. The card drew a reported 760,000 buys and displayed a massive demand from the audience for the concept of WWF vs. WCW, even with a watered-down version of who fans saw as WCW’s franchise stars. The conclusion to the dream scenario of WWF vs. WCW at the Survivor Series in 2001 was 450,000 buys and an Alliance teams consisting of Austin, Angle, Booker T., Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon that says everything right there.
Found this article interesting considering the repercussions of WWE's botched handling of the Invasion storyline not only costed them a huge chunk of WCW fans who had crossed over after WCW shut down but also a huge chunk of their own viewership. Think around a third of their overall viewership left for good shortly after the Invasion storyline ended.

According to multiple SEC filings, Vince and Stephanie McMahon along with Triple H have sold portions of their WWE stock.

The filing notes that Vince, the Chief Executive Officer of WWE, has sold 12,762 shares of class A common stock at $46.26, which is roughly $590,370.

Executive Vice President Triple H sold 10,628 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $491,651 while his wife, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, sold 11,167 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $516,585.

Executive Producer Kevin Dunn also sold a portion of his class A common stock, disposing of 21,809 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $1,008,884.

EVP Bradley Bradley Blum (6,735 shares), SVP Brian Nurse (146 shares), and SVP Mark Kowal (2,613 shares) also disposed of portions of their stock, all at $46.26 a share.

Kairi Sane is looking to wrap up her time in WWE, but Monday wasn't the last time that we've seen her. Fightful has been told that Kairi is set for next Monday's Raw as well, but weren't told in what capacity. Both episodes have since been filmed. WWE has made a big effort to retain Kairi, and pitched several ideas to keep her on the payroll, and more specifically, away from other companies. Many of these ideas included her returning to Japan to work in a variety of capacities from an ambassador to a trainer.

Adam Pearce appears to have recovered from COVID-19.

Posting on social media, Pearce tweeted a picture of him holding the NWA title with a drawing that is supposed to reference COVID-19 and had the caption #AndStill. This comes after Pearce announced on June 25 that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Pearce is the latest to have recovered from COVID-19 as Kayla Braxton has also returned to WWE television recently after testing positive for COVID-19 a second time.

Pearce works as a producer for WWE. He was the second person to disclose a positive COVID-19 test since it was reported in late June that multiple people in the company tested positive for the virus. Renee Young disclosed on Wednesday night that she tested positive for the virus. It is unknown the exact number of people who have tested positive in WWE. WWE talent are not required to disclose positive COVID-19 tests.
Link: https://twitter.com/ScrapDaddyAP/status/1285650492341866497

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">And the TNA belt Moose is using is a eBay counterfeit made in Pakistan.</p>— Dan Beltzer (@BeltFanDan) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeltFanDan/status/1285313747326771200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight/)
Chris Jericho’s Wrestling Cruise Postponed Until October 2021 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/chris-jerichos-wrestling-cruise-postponed-until-october-2021/)
WWE Reportedly Planned to Relaunch the Nation of Domination (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-reportedly-planned-to-relaunch-the-nation-of-domination/)
Curt Hawkins Appears on Impact (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/curt-hawkins-appears-on-impact/)

Emperor Smeat

07-23-2020, 09:13 PM

The Sheets:

AEW Dynamite averaged 845,000 viewers for last night's show on TNT, topping the 615,000 viewers that NXT averaged on the USA Network. The gap of 230,000 viewers was the highest since March 18, which was the first closed set broadcast of the pandemic era for either show.

Dynamite was up 7.2 percent in total viewers from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show ranked fifth on cable with a 0.32 rating, up 10.3 percent from last Wednesday and matching Dynamite's best number since March. The 845,000 total viewers was the best for the show since the March 18 episode, which featured the long-promoted reveal of the Exalted One of The Dark Order and the debut of Matt Hardy.

NXT was down 2.5 percent in total viewers from last Wednesday and had its lowest audience total since May 20. The show was actually up 21.4 percent in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 0.17 rating to finish 35th in the cable rankings for that category.

The combined audience of 1.46 million viewers was up three percent from last week.

AEW dominated the individual demo categories except for people over 50, where NXT had a slim advantage of 0.33 to 0.31.

AEW doubled, and in some cases tripled, NXT in most of the other categories. Dynamite's strongest category was men 18-34, where they had an advantage of 0.44 to 0.23. In the men 12-34 category where NXT cratered last week, NXT was up slightly to a 0.04 rating as compared to AEW's 0.14.
https://i.imgur.com/Y0YSiOQ.gif

AEW increased in all but one of the key demographics led by a 40% jump among females 12-34 and adults 18-34 improving by 12.5%. The lone loss was with males 12-34 that fell by 5%.

NXT was all over the place with their audiences dropping last week, so they experienced several rebounds. The largest was with males 12-34 which hit 0.02 last week and were up to a 0.08 rating this week that translates to a 300% improvement. Males 18-49 were up 64% and adults 18-34 were up by 60%. The big losses were seen with females 12-34 that fell by 55.5% and females 18-49 decreasing by 28.5%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, next month's SummerSlam pay-per-view officially won't be taking place at its originally scheduled location.

WWE posted a statement today confirming that this year's SummerSlam will no longer be taking place in Boston, Massachusetts. It was noted that SummerSlam will still stream live on the WWE Network on Sunday, August 23 and that "information regarding a new location for the event is forthcoming" ...

NXT's next TakeOver special was supposed to take place in Boston on the night before SummerSlam. It will remain on Saturday, August 22 but is no longer being held in Boston. The event is now titled NXT TakeOver XXX.

PWInsider.com reported several weeks ago that the Performance Center will host Summerslam. However, we were told this morning that the company is "considering" other potential options, including at least one potential outdoor location, so stay tuned.

Despite not having any shows planned for the foreseeable future, Major League Wrestling is still getting things in shape for the future as Jacob Fatu has signed a four-year contract extension.

Fatu had signed a one-year extension in November 2019, but ESPN's Marc Raimondi first had the news that the current MLW World Champion had inked a new extension that will keep him under Court Bauer's employ through late-2025 ...

Fatu has been a pro since 2012 and won the MLW title in early-2019. His father is Sam Fatu, the former Tonga Kid in WWE. He was trained by his uncle Rikishi and his cousins are WWE tag team standouts The Usos.

MLW's next live date is planned for October 3rd in Dallas, Texas, with a December date in Philadelphia two months afterward.

MLW Champion Jacob Fatu's new deal with Major League Wrestling gives the promotion exclusivity on Fatu through 2025 and would specifically prohibit him from performing for WWE and AEW. The original MLW deals talents signed only prevented talents from working for WWE but with the emergence of AEW last year, all exclusive MLW deals have been re-worked to become more exclusive in nature.

Fatu is among a number of MLW talents who have signed new or re-worked contracts with the company, following MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone, Richard Holliday, MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed and Salina de la Renta.

In an interview released Thursday, AEW president and creative lead Tony Khan talked with Sports Illustrated about his decision to bring Sammy Guevera back on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, ending his 30-day suspension.

Khan confirmed that the suspension was unpaid with his salary being donated to the Women’s Center of Jacksonville. Khan said Guevara had to "earn" his reinstatement by taking sensitivity training.

“I meant what I said about re-evaluating his status with the company based on his conduct. Sammy needed to make a lot of strides to keep his job and make amends for stuff he shouldn’t have said. None of us knew he said those things, and it’s stuff that was years old, but that doesn’t make it right," he said.

The 26-year-old was suspended indefinitely on June 22nd after an inappropriate comment he made on a 2016 podcast regarding Sasha Banks was revived on social media during the #SpeakingOut movement.

Khan said Guevara completed four weeks of "extensive sensitivity training" where he delved into "matters of tolerance, gender, race relations, and why people’s words matter. During his suspension, he was very contrite. I asked him to use that time to try and become a better person, and I think he did."

Guevara returned to TV Wednesday as a surprise to close the show, rejoining his Inner Circle teammates in a beatdown of Jurassic Express. Khan said it was the right time to bring him back "because he’s shown that he’s very sorry and that he can change. He’s spent every day over the past month trying to prove that. I think Sammy was very happy to have an opportunity to apologize, publicly and privately, and do something to turn a terrible comment he made into something positive.”

It appears the expected AEW in-ring debut of Mike Tyson won't be happening prior to Labor Day as as the boxing great and mainstream sports star will instead be returning to the ring against another former great.

Yahoo's Kevin Iole reported Thursday that the 54-year-old will return to action after retiring in 2005 against multi-division champion Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition match set for September 12th at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

The TV distribution platform is unknown at this time, but is likely set for pay-per-view given the names involved. ...

Rumors of a Tyson return started earlier this year when clips of an in-shape Tyson training surfaced on social media. In doing media for an event earlier this year, UFC president Dana White said he heard Tyson was definitely coming back against a big name even though he wished he would stay retired ...

Tyson had appeared at AEW Double or Nothing this May, presenting the first-ever TNT title to Cody Rhodes. The Wednesday afterward on Dynamite, he and an entourage got in a pull apart brawl with Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle which was expected to lead to a singles match at some point.

Eric Young made his first podcast appearance post-WWE on Busted Open Radio. Young acknowledged creative problems within the company, saying “It’s hard to get a word in. Even when you’re doing nothing, it feels like you’re just trying to fix people’s mistakes all day, there is no creativity. They want everyone to do things the same, be the same and bump the same and sell the same. And there’s millions of rules, which I’m sure you guys have all heard and talked about on the show at length, and people talk about on the internet and the secret rules. Those change daily and it’s just really hard to understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. The system is flawed.”

Doc Gallows was a recent guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Doc revealed that during the Boneyard match taping between Undertaker and AJ Styles, Undertaker suffered a serious injury in-which he lost a lot of blood and a tendon of his was wounded as well. Undertaker did wear a bandage around his wrist during the airing of the match.

“Man I don’t know. After seeing him there and seeing how tough and how hard he is, he definitely has one more in him. Early on in the shoot, he goes to throw that back-fist and his arm goes through the freaking window. It’s a laceration, there’s tendon, there’s blood and I mean a lot of blood and a lot of swelling, and if it were somebody else, they might’ve stopped that. There might have been serious medical attention but there wasn’t. He wrapped it with a towel, he took a ten second break and he’s back out there fighting and rolling around in the dirt. That’s a bad ass dude. That’s legit. I watched it with my own two eyes so, as far as that goes, in the right setting, I think yeah and I think it was great for those two to do it in that setting because you can’t have WrestleMania with AJ Styles and The Undertaker in a empty Performance Center. That’s a match that deserves — it deserves the crowd reaction that it would get. I said that at Slammiversary too. As much fun as Slammiversary was and as great as it was and as cool as it was and how I really think it was a big shot in the arm, the only thing missing were — when that Motor City Machine Guns graphic showed up at the beginning of that pay-per-view, that would’ve been a hell of a pop and it’s a shame. I told those guys, ‘It’s a shame you didn’t get to get that pop’ so it’ll be fun when the world opens up again to feel those reactions and stuff.”

Gallows was asked about the tag team division in WWE, specifically the Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik). Gallows believes that the higher-ups in WWE don’t believe that tag team wrestling can draw money and he added that later down the line, he hopes to have a match against War Machine, not The Viking Raiders.

“It used to [bother me seeing tag teams being misused in WWE] but I understand it. I mean, they [Viking Raiders] were a hell of a team. They’re a great team. We’ve had great matches with those guys. But, they’re War Machine-lite. We were Gallows and Anderson-lite. It’s the PG version, it’s the character version. Sometimes, in that company I feel like the people that are making the final decisions don’t have as much as modern touch, especially when tag teams are never a focus there because I don’t think that they actually believe tag team wrestling can draw money which I think has been proven all around the world not to be the case. But, it just is what it is. Those guys are characters. I hope they can make some good money for their families and pay off their houses and do all that stuff that you like to do as a wrestler so you can secure a good future for yourself but, at the end of those deals, there will be a place for War Machine to come and I’d like to stand across the ring from them again. The real War Machine. Maybe not the Vikings, you know?”

IMPACT Wrestling’s Acey Romero guest appeared on the ‘Living The Gimmick’ podcast. Romero detailed IMPACT’s COVID-19 precautions and said that he’s felt safe at their tapings.

“IMPACT’s been taking extreme measures. For starters, they recommend us two weeks before tapings to self-quarantine and then for tapings itself, we have our own hotel rooms now. Usually, we double up but we’ve been having our own hotel rooms which has been great, and then we get our temperature taken and we get our blood-oxygen levels taken. A bunch of more science-y stuff that I don’t even know about. But they take the measures. Gloves, the anti-bacterial stuff, all that stuff. E.M.T.’s. They take all the measures and they make sure after tapings that they’re checking on people to see how we’re all doing. So I always feel safe. I never felt worried about coming to work and getting… being at risk.”

Romero admitted that IMPACT has not been doing COVID testing but reiterated that they are taking temperatures, establishing social distancing and keeping a limited number of people in the studio where matches are being taped.

“Not full-blown COVID testing, as some would say. But like I said, they are doing their best. There’s only a certain amount of people that can be in the studio at a time while taping. Social distancing has definitely been put in play, and like I said, they’re checking on us as much as they can to make sure we’re doing well and are taking their precautions.”

As first reported by Fightful Select, former IMPACT World Champion Tessa Blanchard is sending back the IMPACT World Title belt. IMPACT and Blanchard cut ties in June. The following note comes by way of Fightful:

“Tessa Blanchard and IMPACT Wrestling are on the outs, and reports have emerged suggesting that she demanded a large sum of money to return the title. Her side of things has disputed that, and mentioned that not only did Tessa not try to hold up IMPACT, but that the company only provided an address to send the belt this week. They claim the title is planned for a safe return.”

AJ Styles went live on his Twitch channel on Wednesday night and shared his thoughts in-depth about Paul Heyman and why exactly he [Styles] wanted to get away from the RAW brand. Styles added that he’s heard from multiple people that they disliked Heyman and that Heyman was the one who threw Gallows and Anderson’s names to the wolves because he had nothing for them creatively.

“So, it was said that I was so angry with RAW that Gallows and Anderson were released. I was so angry, that I said, ‘I don’t wanna be on RAW anymore.’ That’s not the way it went down, at all. It was the person who was in charge of RAW who lied to me to my face. Just the most believable lie I’d ever seen, directly to my face.

I’m talking about Paul Heyman. Basically said to me — and here’s the kicker to this whole Paul Heyman thing; having put other guys over and Gallows and Anderson were getting beat by one guy and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, I need ya. Gotta trust me. We gotta get this guy over’ and of course that’s what you do. You help guys get over and be bigger [a] star of course but also, like hey, you can’t just bury us completely. I don’t mind losing. That’s not even a part of it as long as there’s a good story that comes behind it. But, he would be like, ‘Listen, you guys trust me. Trust me, trust me, trust me, and if you guys — everything I’ve done you wrong, you get on social media and you bury me. You bury me to every social media you can possibly think of.’ He said this to us, so it came down to Money In The Bank, I found out that my guys were getting released. I was upset and I wanted to go talk to Vince [McMahon] and [Vince was like], ‘It’s already in motion. It has already been done,’ and then Paul Heyman pulls me into his office and tells me he had nothing to with it. He knew nothing about it. Had he knew that Gallows and Anderson were gonna get released, he would’ve fought for him and that’s why they didn’t even tell him [they were] getting released. ‘I appreciate that. I understand. That makes a lot of sense. Well, I mean, listen, we understand what’s going on.’ The COVID, you should’ve seen headquarters. It was sad. It’s a huge building and there was hardly anyone there. So it sucks for everybody, I understand. Even Gallows and Anderson understand to a certain extent. I mean you’re talking about two guys who got released when they were in the main event of WrestleMania. At least one of them. Had one of the bigger matches for sure, but, it was later that I told a friend what was said and he told me what he knew was the truth which was basically, Gallows and Anderson weren’t even on the list, but Paul Heyman just spoke out abundantly like, ‘Hey, we gotta get these guys out of here. We don’t need ‘em, they’re getting paid too much,’ all these things, and the one thing Paul Heyman is good at is talking. He’s very convincing, very, and one thing led to another, Paul advocated for Gallows and Anderson to get released. It’s that simple. Their names wasn’t even on the list until Paul brought it up and I think that the reason why he did what he did — well there’s a couple reasons. He’s a liar. That’s what they do, but it was because he knew he had nothing he wanted to do with them, that he didn’t wanna do anything for them, he didn’t wanna help them become bigger stars. He didn’t wanna do any of that. So the best way to do that after everything he said to ‘em was boom, get ‘em out of there. That’s the real story, and the reason I went to SmackDown is because I couldn’t stand looking at him. I just can’t stand a liar. I’m a grown man, you’re a grown man. Why lie? You don’t even have to say anything. So, I just couldn’t stand to look at him and I was just like, ‘You know, if and when the opportunity if SmackDown’s available, I can’t be around Paul Heyman. I just can’t stand him. But if there’s ever an opportunity, I don’t mind coming over. That’d be great. I don’t wanna do anything now because if my son plays football on Friday nights, I wanna be there.’”

Before Sonny Kiss became a star in AEW, he was known as XO Lishus in Lucha Underground. Kiss was apart of season four of Lucha Underground and one of the highlights of the season.

Lucha Underground went through major issues following season four with season five never happening but talent still being under contract. Lawsuits ended up being filed and settled, which allowed the talent to finally get out of contracts and sign elsewhere. Though Kiss was not part of the lawsuit, he did have to deal with his Lucha Underground contract when talking with AEW.

"Brandi slid into my DMs [Laughs]," said Kiss on Talk Is Jericho when asked about signing with AEW. "She messaged me and goes, 'Are you signed anywhere? We'd like you to come to our first show.' I was like, 'Yes, but I can still do other bookings.' [I was signed] to Lucha Underground. Thankfully, we were allowed to do everything but the other company [WWE] so I was able to still do it, but I didn't get my official contract [with AEW] until way after. That contract issue [with Lucha Underground] it was a nightmare. We were maybe making four grand a year. We couldn't sign anywhere else at all. There were times when I couldn't pay my cell phone bill, anything. [Fenix and Pentagon] were one of the first to get out and I was happy for them. I was one of the last. Cody was like, 'Don't worry, we'll still book you and make sure you're still here.' I didn't get my [AEW] contract until TV happened."

Sonny went on to say that he thought Brandi's offer was for All In 2 and didn't realize it would be for an entirely new promotion.

Fortunately, Sonny did get out of his contract and has become a featured star on AEW television.

TPWW Frontpage:

Interview: Cody on TNT Championship, Sonny Kiss Match, AEW Culture, Rhodes Legacy, & More (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/interview-cody-on-tnt-championship-sonny-kiss-match-aew-culture-rhodes-family-legacy-more/)
Darby Allin Reportedly Suffered a Concussion on Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/darby-allin-reportedly-suffered-a-concussion-on-dynamite/)
AEW: Sammy Guevara Returns, Eddie Kingston Debuts (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-sammy-guevara-returns-eddie-kingston-debuts/)
AEW Announces Women’s Tag Team Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-announces-womens-tag-team-tournament/)
Five Matches, Including Two Title Matches, Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/five-matches-including-two-title-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-aew-dynamite/)
Keith Lee Relinquishes NXT North American Title, Ladder Title Match Announced for TakeOver (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/keith-lee-relinquishes-nxt-north-american-title-ladder-title-match-announced-for-takeover/)

Emperor Smeat

07-24-2020, 01:55 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Mysterio has still not signed a new WWE contract. At last word, as of a few weeks ago, he was asking for a raise and Vince McMahon was not offering one. That may have changed since the last word is that the sides are not far from a deal and McMahon and Mysterio would be meeting once again soon to try and finalize things.

A scheduled U.S. title match with Apollo Crews defending against MVP didn’t happen. They announced that Crews didn’t get cleared due to a bulging disc. In reality, he tested positive for COVID but they must have hoped he’d be okay for the show.

With their 90-day non-compete over and no longer under WWE contract, Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra, 40) and Luke Gallows (Andrew Hankinson, 36), the Good Brothers tag team, did a two-hour video interview with New Japan’s Rocky Romero and Ryan Satin that was released on 7/18. The interview focused mainly on their time in WWE and the decision to sign, as well as their firing in April and their future, signing with Impact Wrestling and their expected return to New Japan Pro Wrestling ...

They also talked about being fired by WWE, and how this led directly to A.J. Styles demanding to be moved from Raw to Smackdown saying that he wouldn’t work anymore with Paul Heyman, who Vince McMahon personally told Styles was the person who made the decision to fire Gallows & Anderson. While obviously preposterous, since all cuts were made by McMahon, and reasons for the cuts fit into the categories of the people being cut for McMahon’s perception of not being difficult negotiations that ended up costing the company more than they originally wanted to pay them at a time when the rule was don’t let anyone leave for AEW, and it was those guys as well as the guys McMahon had decided he wasn’t going to use anymore who were cut..

This was the classic story we’ve heard for more than 30 years, when Vince would want someone gone. He’d use his head of talent relations as his buffer, whether it be J.J. Dillon, Jim Ross, John Laurinaitis or others in that role. The idea was that the talent believed Vince loved their work, and liked them personally, but the other person, fill in the blank, didn’t like them and were responsible for them being gone.

After some time, Ross would tell talent that it wasn’t Vince, even though it was, but learned to use the term that creative couldn’t come up with anything for them, thus Ross avoided the heat on Vince or him, and used the nebulous writing crew as the scapegoat. Later he had Laurinaitis make calls, so talent thought it wasn’t a decision from Vince or Ross, but Laurinaitis or creative were the people they had issues with. But in any key decision in the company, it’s always Vince ...

A lot of the reaction to the interview centered on the idea of how could they be so naive to think it was Heyman and not Vince, the reality is Anderson did say he knew it was still Vince’s call. Even Styles, while ripping Heyman publicly, also admitted he knew it was Vince’s call.

Internally both stories have gone around, one that it was Vince’s call but Heyman didn’t fight to keep them, another that Vince had a list of people to cut and they were not on the list, bu after a discussion with Heyman about what he was doing for the future, decided to put them on the list. Some said it was not exactly Ross/Dillon having to play bad cop for Vince’s decision but in the end, everyone said it was Vince’s decision ...

Gallows said when they got the word there would be layoffs, he told his wife he was highly confident they weren’t going to be cut. He said they realized McIntyre beat both of them at the same time in quick fashion on television, but Heyman assured both that doing so wouldn’t hurt them in the long run.

He said as soon as they were fired, Brodie Lee texted them, “They f***ed you guys.”

Anderson said when he got fired, he remembered HHH saying to them when trying to get them to sign,“I look at you and I see your kids. What if AEW doesn’t last? You know WWE will always be here.”

“We had f***ed our friends and we knew that.”

They also noted that some of the guys who were fired have been called about coming back but for much lower money and then turned it down.

Essentially them promising to sign with AEW, and signing with WWE one day before a meeting scheduled with Tony Khan left bad feelings with the company. Another key is that with FTR being let go just before their contracts were to end, and AEW loaded with good tag teams, bringing FTR and Gallows & Anderson in at the same time, was not a move I’d have made even if what happened last summer hadn’t happened.

Impact made them the same strong offer that they made them last summer, and agreed to allow them to work around their New Japan schedule when they made their deal with New Japan, which was pretty much imminent from the day they were let go. The situation isn’t perfect as the pandemic changed their lives.

Without the pandemic, they would almost surely still be in WWE, but even if not, they’d be in New Japan on big shows starting this week. New Japan is expected to bring them back, but they first have to be able to get them into the country without two weeks of quarantine and also get back on their own feet as a company financially, which requires drawing the kind of houses they expected to be doing when they made their budgets. New Japan had a hiring freeze, since those in the administration took sizable pay cuts and the doctrine from the top was that nobody with the company will lose their job during the pandemic unless it’s the last resort ...

Anderson said that in 2016, he didn’t think Levesque really wanted them as much as they wanted Styles. Actually the key is they wanted to stop New Japan from breaking into the U.S. and felt Styles was their key star, a move that kind of backfired since Omega, who ended up being a far bigger star in the spot than Styles ever was, was put in the Styles spot in New Japan and the company grew a lot bigger and more popular. The Young Bucks were very close to coming with them to WWE, but ROH made the Young Bucks the biggest money deal in the history of their company.

Anderson said that he didn’t think Levesque even knew what they had accomplished in Japan, their tag title runs, tournament wins or that he had gone to the finals of the 2012 G-1 Climax tournament. Anderson said at first he didn’t understand WWE style. He also said that a lot of people told him and Gallows that they would get lost in the shuffle in WWE, but they were very confident they’d do well because of the level they had reached in Japan. He joked he would tell people who said they wouldn’t make it to the top in WWE, “Wanna bet?” and then noted they quickly realized they would have lost those bets ...

Anderson noted that AEW had made them a very good offer in 2019, and that Impact also made them a great offer, a lot more than either of them thought they ‘d be able to make. He said the Impact offer for both of them was more than a lot of their friends make in WWE now.

There are a few key notes on the ratings from the past week. WWE did three weak numbers overall. Raw and Smackdown were up from the prior weeks with total audience but given the PPV, coming off the PPV, Randy Orton vs. Big Show, it was the most disappointing number really in the show’s history.

AEW had its best numbers in four months, since the debut of Matt Hardy and before the pandemic did a number of viewership.

But what was noteworthy is that Wednesday night was the biggest night for 18-49 viewers, which has happened before but should never happen since Friday has all the advantages of being available in so many more homes and on a broadcast network channel.

It’s more a shift of younger viewers. Also, for the first time in history, AEW was No. 1 for the week in a demo, and it’s one that one wouldn’t guess. AEW, with competition, had 58,000 women 18-34 this past week, ahead of 55,000 for Raw and 43,000 for Smackdown.

In overall 18-34 viewers, AEW had 129,000, slightly below the 143,000 for Raw and 144,000 for Smackdown. But AEW also had head-to-head competition and without it, would have passed up both WWE main shows in the 18-34 demo already.

Including NXT, Wednesday had 183,000 viewers 18-34 and 445,000 35-49. Monday had 143,000 in 18-34 and 455,000 in 35-49. Friday had 144,000 in 18-34 and 457,000 in 35-49.

To me, the 7/20 Raw ratings were the scariest in recent history. While overall numbers were up 4.3 percent, ths week’s show should have had a major increase because they had spent weeks building the Randy Orton vs. Big Show unsanctioned match like a major PPV match, and it came the day after a PPV where they pulled out Rey Mysterio’s eye and did a disputed women’s title match finish designed for next-day curiosity.

The results were 1,627,000 viewers, the second lowest in the modern history of the show, above only last week’s 1,561,000 viewers, the record low. It did an 0.46 in18-49 (598,000 viewers), barely ahead of the all-time low (594,000) set on 5/4. The latter number was down 4.2 percent from last week.

The third hour of Raw, featuring Bayley vs. Kairi Sane and Orton vs. Show, did the second lowest total audience for an hour in Raw history, behind only hour three of last week. At 0.42 in 18-49 (542,000 viewers), it did the lowest rating in that demo for any hour in the history of the show ...

The show did 1,740,000 viewers in the first hour, which isn’t good but was well up from last week, probably due to curiosity coming off the PPV on Mysterio, since that angle did tremendous in casual interest by modern pro wrestling standards. But curiosity and controversy if the angle sucks often doesn’t mean much when it comes to ratings themselves. The second hour fell to 1,609,000 viewers and third hour to 1,535,000 viewers.

Orton vs. Show itself did 1,580,000 viewers, just over the average for hour three.

In the key demos, the show did 88,000 in males 18-34, 55,000 in women 18-34, 298,000 in males 35-49 and 157,000 in women 35-49.

The 11.8 percent first-to-third hour drop was normal, but that’s misleading as most of the audience, 50 and up, didn’t drop. It was the younger audience that left during the show. Women 18-49 fell 23.7 percent from hour one to three. Men 18-49 fell 14.1 percent. Teenage girls fell 32.9 percent. Teenage boys fell 41.1 percent. But over 50 only dropped 2.5 percent as the show went on.

Smackdown on 7/17 did a 1.24 rating and 1,912,000 viewers (1.28 viewers per home) and an 0.5 in 18-49 (601,000 viewers) for a show built around A.J. Styles vs. Matt Riddle for the IC title.

It was basically the same as the week before with the rating down 0.8 percent), total viewers up 1.1 percent and 18-49 down 1.0 percent.

Smackdown was first in 18-49 for the night, but aside from an episode of 20/20, which did an 0.4 in 18-49, everything else was in reruns. 20/20 did 2,416,000 viewers. Ironically the two first-run shows, which did the best in 18-49, also did worse than all the reruns but one. Smackdown was last among viewers and 20/20 was third to last.

The show did 101,000 viewers in males 18-34, 43,000 in women 18-34, 261,000 in males 35-49 and 196,000 in women 35-49 ...

By segment, the open, plus New Day vs. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura and the beginning of the Alexa Bliss interview segment did 1.95 million viewers. The majority of the Bliss interview segment, plus Asuka & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks and a Bray Wyatt interview did 1.88 million viewers. Braun Strowman vs. John Morrison and Naomi vs. Lacey Evans and a Sheamus-Jeff Hardy interview angle did 1.92 million viewers. Styles vs. Riddle for the title did 1.81 million viewers.

The median audience age was 55.4 years old, slightly younger than the past two weeks.

Last year on this weekend the FOX network did 1,310,000 viewers and 0.25 in 18-49 with rerun programming so viewers were up 46.0 percent and 18-49 was up 100.0 percent.

On 7/22, AEW did its best numbers since 3/18, finishing in the No. 5 spot in 18-49 and doing 845,000 viewers and a 0.32 (409,000) in 18-49. NXT was No. 35 with 615,000 viewers (lowest since 5/20) and 0.17 (219,000) in 18-49.

AEW was up 7.2 percent in viewers and 7.6 percent in 18-49. NXT was down 2.5 percent in viewers but up 17.7 percent in 18-49.

AEW was third on cable among non-news shows in 18-49 and first with males 18-49. It was third in males 12-34 but won its time slot, as the two shows beating it were a Premier League soccer game at 3:10 p.m. from the U.K. on NBC Sports Network and 12 Oz Mouse on Adult Swim at midnight.

NXT was No. 15 among non-news shows in 18-49, and No. 17 overall in male 18-49.

Last week was hurt by NASCAR and UFC head-to-head which this week didn’t have. In two weeks, with NBA, NHL and baseball, it will be the real test of how it holds up against major sports. Next week has baseball and soccer.

AEW once again won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW had 71,000 viewers (up 1.4 percent from last week) and NXT had 37,000 (up 516.7 percent from the ridiculously low 6,000 of last week). In women 18-34, AEW had 58,000 viewers (up 11.5 percent from last week) and NXT had 17,000 (down 41.4 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 210,000 (up 9.9 percent) and NXT had 114,000 (up 32.6 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 70,000 (up 4.5 percent) and NXT had 51,000 (down 21.5 percent).

AEW did a 0.15 in 12-17 (up 7.1 percent from last week), 0.18 in 18-34 (up 5.7 percent), 0.46 in 35-49 (up 8.5 percent) and 0.31 in 50+ (up 3.2 percent) ...

NXT did a 0.04 in 12-17 (down 33.3 percent), 0.08 in 18-34 (up 54.3 percent), 0.26 in 35-49 (up 9.3 percent) and 0.33 in 50+ (down 8.3 percent).

AAA: Dorian Roldan held a press conference on 7/20 to say that the planned TripleMania date of 8/22 wasn’t happening. We pretty much reported that last week. He said he hoped they could do the show before the end of the year, but there is no new date and there’s no way he could know anything. He didn’t say anything about Monterrey but they are hoping to do a big show at the baseball stadium there on 10/10, which may be called TripleMania, or TripleMania Regia, as the big Monterrey show last year was called

Roldan did announce an idea called Auto Luchas, a drive-in wrestling concept at Six Flags in Mexico. The idea is to have people come to shows and park in assigned places and watch from their cars, like drive-in churches and movies. The ring will be put higher than usual and big screens will be put up as well. Tickets will only be able to be purchased on-line, fans would be required to wear masks and stay in their cars. Merchandise will be sold including face masks. Cars will be limited to four people for a regular car and seven for an SUV. They will also broadcast commentary you can pick up via your car radio. They will take place on weekends with multiple shows per day, like a theme park stage show as opposed to a live arena pro wrestling event. There will be mostly singles matches, and some tags, rather than trios, to limit the number of people in the ring at one time. Only wrestlers from Mexico will be used due to travel restrictions. Roldan talked about streaming or airing the shows on television and said talks are positive about doing so but no deal is in place.

The Women of Wrestling group that was thought to be dead when AXS canceled the show, considers itself still alive. They are planning fall tapings for a television network and would announce the network at the tapings. Rumor has it as a station that was looking to get into pro wrestling in 2019 but missed out on making the deal

[AEW] They announced an eight-team women’s tag team tournament that will take place on Dynamite during the summer called The Deadly Draw. This is not to create women’s tag team champions, although I think women’s tag champions and trios titles make sense, particularly when the second show starts airing. The idea is to do an annual summer women’s tag team tournament, but the first year will be the test marketing and if it goes well, it will be, but if it doesn’t, it will be chalked up to a learning experience

Based on YouTube, the biggest [AEW] star is Jon Moxley. Moxley vs. Brian Cage topped 1 million views, which is what a top Raw segment usually does. His biggest segment, when they did the angle where he got his eye taken out, did 6.7 million views. His biggest match on YouTube was the Jeff Cobb match at 1.3 million views
Makes sense since Moxley and other ex-WWE guys have a big advantage of being more recognizable to general wrestling fans than some of AEW's newer stars that simply need time to build up their own name recognition to similar levels.

Right now, and this can change 100 times (it seemed television this week along changed that many times), the plan is for Edge vs. Orton in an I Quit match as one of the key matches for next WrestleMania. It was already scheduled for SummerSlam before the Backlash “Best in the World” match took place, but Edge’s injury made that impossible. Edge on Raw and Daniel Bryan on Smackdown both have significant creative influence. The term I was given is they were part of the writing teams of the respective shows right now. McIntyre vs. Orton was as of this past week the new scheduled SummerSlam main event. There have been rumors floating that Orton goes over and leads to a match with Edge, but that seems so counterproductive to take the title off McIntyre for Orton. The audience needs to see new people getting superstar pushes just to have the idea that things can change, because the idea that everything is always the same has been detrimental

What is notable is that Vince McMahon actually has said that since Mania is over and with a lot of guys missing due to COVID and other reasons, that this is the time where they have to make new stars, which seems to contradict most of what the actual creative is doing
Probably shouldn't have fired the one guy who was trying to put the pieces in place for the gradual build up of star power for potential new big stars.

The night before and all day on 7/20 they were rewriting Raw. The rewriting was such that the show started being taped three to four hours after it was scheduled, although they taped early enough that there were no issues getting it on the air on time. But it was a long day because they were taping seven plus hours, three more hours of Raw for 7/20, three more hours for 7/27, and Main Event shows for both weeks ...

There was an idea for the show to reform the Nation of Domination. Both Ron Simmons (who did appear on the show in a quick cameo for no reason) and Mark Henry (who was not on the show) were brought in to kickoff that angle. We don’t know if they are going to do that or if it was dropped. We do know people who thought from a real life timing situation that redoing the Nation right now would be incredibly tone deaf, so a lot did want it nixedl

For what it’s worth, Wall Street estimates for the 7/30 quarterly call for WWE right now look to be $229 million in revenue and $12 million in profits. Keep in mind that all the cuts, because of the talent still being paid for 90 days, doesn’t have any effect and they still are expected to be well up in profits even with no arena events, from the same quarter last year

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Extreme Rules; 2. Undertaker: Tales from the Dead Man; 3. Extreme Rules pre-show; 4. Best of Extreme Rules; 5. WWE Top 10 scariest matches; 6. WWE Now: Extreme Rules post-show; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five
Not a good sign for NXT to drop out that quickly from the Top 10 after stringing together a few weeks where they were ranking very well. Also mirrors their recent tv issues of not being able to capitalize on the momentum gained from the Great American Bash.

07-25-2020, 03:44 PM

Don’t know about anybody else but I could do without half of the news/rumours being more ratings talk.

mike adamle

07-25-2020, 03:51 PM

Yeah I always skip over that ratings garbage

Emperor Smeat

07-25-2020, 04:16 PM

Don’t know about anybody else but I could do without half of the news/rumours being more ratings talk.

Between MMA/Boxing, notable deaths, and ratings stuff, that's pretty much been a huge chunk of Meltzer's weekly Observer Newsletters for almost a year now.

The tidbit involving Gallows and Anderson was the only real meaty section in this week's Newsletter for non-MMA, deaths, and ratings.

If more people are not interested in it being included, I have no issue with not including it for Friday's sheet reports. Saves me a bunch of time from copying and editing the stuff twice, one for the Frontpage's hidden sheets newsletter and one for the forum's weekly post.

mike adamle

07-25-2020, 09:50 PM

I mean there's already a ratings thread shouldn't it go there instead of clogging up the interesting news on this page.

Mr. Nerfect

07-25-2020, 10:00 PM

Meltzer takes the ratings way too literally, and I wonder if he does this because he can't help himself (an obsessive/autistic thing -- not making fun), or because it's deliberate misrepresentation so that he can create tension so he's always got something to write about.

Emperor Smeat

07-25-2020, 10:16 PM

I mean there's already a ratings thread shouldn't it go there instead of clogging up the interesting news on this page.

Usually kept it separate since its mostly just detailed data on stuff already talked about earlier in the week and quicker/easier to just stick everything in one post than dealing with multiple threads.

Only reason RAW and SD stuff gets included is due to both hitting historic low territory and SD still having some weeks left where it can be compared to whatever FOX had on prior to SD.

07-26-2020, 11:36 AM

I mean this in the most polite way possible Smeat, but do you get paid for posting the sheet news?

Emperor Smeat

07-26-2020, 03:38 PM

Yes for anything that goes up on the Frontpage.

If I remember, Triple A needed some help with the Frontpage after Ryan Clark left over some personal issues and asked a couple of people if they were willing to help out in return for some money. I was one of the people picked because of all the sheets stuff I already was doing for the forums at the time.

Emperor Smeat

07-28-2020, 09:23 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw number, even though there were some bright spots as far as the first two hours not doing too badly, ended up as the second least-watched episode of the show in its history and third lowest ever in 18-49.

Raw averaged 1.62 million viewers, down one percent from last week's second worst number ever. But this show was loaded between the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks Raw Women's Championship match and the Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler match which was pushed on television as for the WWE Championship before it was quietly changed to non-title over the weekend ...

In addition, Raw set all-time record lows for the third hour, built around those two matches, which did 1.46 million viewers (breaking the single hour record low of 1.50 set by last week's hour three with Randy Orton vs. Big Show) and 0.41 in 18-49, breaking the all-time Raw lowest hour of 0.42 set last week.

The show averaged a 0.48 in 18-49, the third lowest ever, because the first and second hours were up from last week in the key demo, an overall four percent increase from last week.

Raw finished 19th overall and third in 18-49 ...

Raw is down 30 percent from the same week last year overall, 35 percent in 18-49, and down 52 percent from last year in 18-34.

The bad sign was the 14 percent first-to-third hour drop is more than the show has been doing in recent weeks. The drops were 28 percent in women 18-49, 16 percent in males 18-49, 88 percent in teenage girls (unheard of), and 52 percent in teenage boys (also unheard of) while only seven percent in over 50. There was something in hour two that was as big a turnoff to teenagers as anything in recent memory.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.70 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.46 million viewers

Kris Statlander is recovering following surgery to repair a torn ACL.

She posted a picture on her Twitter account this afternoon following her surgery. She had tweeted the day before that she was undergoing surgery today.

Statlander tore her ACL in a match on AEW Dynamite that aired on June 10. The injury happened as she was going for a dive on Kip Sabian to the outside, injuring her knee on impact. It took place during a tag team match where Statlander teamed with Hikaru Shida to take on Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford.

WWE issued a new storyline update on Rey Mysterio’s status following his Eye for an Eye match against Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules: “WWE Digital has learned that Rey Mysterio’s vision is improving slowly each day, and that his optic nerve is intact, completely secured and back in its socket. A timeline for Mysterio’s return to the ring is unknown at this time.”

Cody tweeted that the TNT title belt design will be finalized on August 12.
Link: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1288220884155670530?s=20

After being pulled from Sengoku Lord this past weekend as a precautionary measure, Tomoaki Honma and Yota Tsuji have been cleared to return by NJPW.

NJPW announced on Saturday that Honma and Tsuji would both miss Sengoku Lord due to taping a television show with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. NJPW wrote that Honma and Tsuji were both in good health and weren't in close contact with the person who tested positive.

Today, NJPW announced that Honma and Tsuji have both tested negative for COVID-19 and will be returning at Wednesday's non-televised Summer Struggle tour show

The top two matches for Summer Struggle in Jingu have been announced.

In a press conference held this morning, it was confirmed that IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion EVIL will defend both titles against Tetsuya Naito ...

Naito confronted EVIL at the end of Sengoku Lord last weekend, setting up the title match for next month.

Hiromu Takahashi will also defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori on this card. It was Ishimori who attacked Hiromu after losing his double title match to EVIL at Sengoku Lord. Naito eventually ran in for the save ...

Additionally, a new championhip, the KOPW 2020 title, will be determined in a fatal four-way match. Four matches will take place on August 26, with the winners advancing into this match. Competitiors fighting for the championship will name their stipulations and will allow fans to vote on the matches they would want to see.

Summer Struggle in Jingu will take place on August 29 at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo.

Betty Gilpin, who plays Liberty Bell on Netflix's GLOW was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series the 2020 Emmy Awards. This is the second year in a row that Gilpin has received that nomination.

GLOW also received nominations in two additional categories:

*Outstanding Production design for a narrative program (half-hour) for the episode "Up, Up, Up"

*Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama (Half-Hour) for the episode "The Libertines."

These nominations would be for GLOW's third season ...

Overall, the series has won 3 Emmys and has scored 18 nominations total.
Meanwhile WWE has been trying for years to get officially nominated and win an Emmy and has been empty handed for both.

When ROH begins taping empty arena content for their TV show, it will be in the Maryland area.

vladTV released his full interview with New Jack. Towards the end of the interview, New Jack was asked if he believes WWE is a racist company, judging by the way they portray black wrestlers. Here was his response:

“Yeah, because they always got the black guy doing stupid sh*t. They come out dancing and tap dancing and wearing dresses and eating cereal and all that silly ass sh*t…”

The Miz was a guest on the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast and stated that he and John Morrison are working a new song.

The WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and new RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks, have made history and joined an exclusive list of Hall of Famers and Superstars in the WWE history books.

With Banks' title win over Asuka on last night's RAW, Banks and Bayley became the first female Superstar duo, and the 5th pair overall, to join the list of teams who have held singles titles while also holding tag team titles together.

Bayley and Banks are the only female team on the list. The other four teams on the list are Triple H and Steve Austin, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man.

Bruce Prichard made headlines on his show Something To Wrestle when he said Nick Aldis lacked the "it factor" during his time in TNA. Prichard, who worked as head writer before taking on executive positions, worked with Aldis (Magnus in TNA) during his time in TNA from 2010 to 2013 and again in 2017.

Aldis didn't take kindly to Bruce's comments and addressed Prichard on Busted Open Radio.

"Bruce and I spoke on the phone and Bruce claimed 'I was talking about the Magnus character, I wasn't talking about Nick Aldis.' Well, his team uploaded a video and had a picture of me with the NWA Title and they used my name. So, he's full of shit," stated Aldis. "What he did was expose the fact that he hasn't been paying attention to anything going on. Anyone who has seen any of my shit over the last three years, everyone says 'you present yourself like a real pro wrestler.' For Bruce to say that, it just shows he hasn't been paying attention. Kinda like how when he was running TNA, he wasn't paying attention. He was asleep. He took a shot, gave a half-baked reason as to why he said it, didn't address it, and now he's getting an invoice. He likes to float things out as subjective and present them as facts. He lives in a past mentality where he thinks because he's in WWE, he can say whatever about someone and that's the only thing anyone will hear and that will be the opinion everyone shares. It doesn't work like that anymore."

Aldis continued, pointing to Bruce's ratings failure in TNA and WWE.

"By the time Bruce was relieved of his duties in TNA in 2013, he had viewership down to one million people. By the time I had the World Title at the start of 2014, we had the viewership figures back up to 1.3 million and peaked at 1.55 million, which is just shy of 1.56 million, which is the lowest Raw rating in history, which is the rating that came out the same week he decided to trash me on his podcast. Maybe that extra bit of rating that Raw got, that's the extra 'it factor' that I don't have. It can't be that his entire roster doesn't have the 'it factor,' if only I had the 'it factor' that those guys had, I could have got that extra half a fucking rating," said an agitated sounding Aldis.

We have a story on the site about Monday’s announcement that DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH will be merging under a new banner called CyberFight and appears to be a direct response to the effects of the pandemic. The merger takes effect on September 1st with Sanshiro Takagi installed as its president. They explained that they would be separate divisions of the company with the in-ring style not changing and made it appear this was a way to fortify its business structure and make it more efficient rather than sweeping changes to the on-screen content. Takagi added that desire to run a proper Tokyo Dome card and hopes of overtaking New Japan, which are nice goals to have even though both would be characterized as very ambitious.

Earlier this month, WWE held a virtual shareholders meeting involving its executive staff for a company update. Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics has a great review of the call and below are some of the highlights:

*Those on the call included Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque, Interim CFO Frank Riddick III, incoming CFO Kristina Salen, as well as executives John Brody, Jayar Donlan, Brian Flinn, Jim Johnstone, James Rosenstock, Brian Stedman, Michael Weitz, and other directors with the company
*They noted advertising partnerships with Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Microsoft, and KFC.
*Their response to COVID-19 has included shifting its corporate staff to working from home, a reduction in management compensation, lowering its headcount of employees through furloughs, a delay in its new headquarters, temporarily suspending its stock repurchase program, and drawing $200 million from a credit facility
*They have approximately $500 million in liquidity to deal with the challenges
*During the Q&A, Riddick stated the free version of the WWE Network has had “early positive results, but nothing definitive” – last week, Stephanie McMahon had noted network engagement was up 67% and you would have to attribute a sizable portion of that to the opening of the free tier and the promotion they did when the pandemic began where lots of content was made free
*In a major shift from the George Barrios & Michelle Wilson era, Riddick said that they don’t believe a premium tiered system is an optimum approach to maximize the subscription value. Instead, they are going with the free model to bring in new subscribers with the hope of converting them while also developing “local currency pricing in select international markets”
*The WWE UK Performance Center has been inactive since March when the pandemic hit and are seeking out solutions to create new in-ring content from the NXT UK brand
*They are hopeful of running another event in Saudi Arabia before the end of 2020 but cannot guarantee that
*They have a back-up plan in case they were not allowed to run shows in Florida
*The cost-cutting measures in April had nothing to do with the XFL

During the shareholders Q&A ...

From Paul Levesque on the role of NXT as either a feeder system or a third brand for the company, as well as its television numbers:

"So I think if you were to look at the NXT brand, it would be both. While it is, as Frank mentioned earlier, a third global brand, along with Raw and Smackdown, and our partners at USA, it is also the place where we make new stars and increase our talent and stars for the future, of both Raw and Smackdown. So that is the pipeline, and that is the — if you wanted to say, ‘the feeder system’, it is that, but it also has become its own third brand.

As far as the ratings go, I’m very happy with them, especially in the current circumstances. Everything is going well. We look at the long-term of that, not the short-term of that. And the long term is very exciting. We have a lot of stars. There are a lot of hungry young athletes, and the pipeline to bring in more as they continue to train and get better is very exciting. The future is very bright in that regard."

Charlotte Flair was the Queen of WWE television in the months following WrestleMania 36, appearing weekly on Raw and NXT while being sprinkled into SmackDown as well.

Charlotte had already proven to be one of the greatest female wrestlers of all-time when she won the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36 and she hopes the women in NXT took notice of what you can achieve through hard work and consistency.

"I don't want to say that I've added more to NXT, I just hope the talent in that locker room at NXT go, 'this woman is NXT homegrown and look at what she's done in her career.' That's what I strive for. I don't say, 'do I added to the show, the locker room, am I getting girls over?' There's no right answer for that. My answer is, I hope the women in the locker room look at me and go, 'Damn, she's done it all and I want to do it too. What has it taken her to do that?' For me, the answer is consistency. Whether the storyline is for you or not for you, whether you're apart of it, you shine no matter what. It's not about how many moves, it's the story you portray and how you hold yourself. If you learn anything in a ring with me and we're trying to tell a story; remember the story and who you are as a character because that's what the audience connects with," Charlotte told Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

Charlotte lost the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. She is currently off television due to complications with plastic surgery.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Vince McMahon on WWE’s Declining TV Viewership, Top Matches of 2020, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/wwe-vince-mcmahon-on-wwes-declining-tv-viewership-top-matches-of-2020-updated-sd-ratings/)
NJPW Announces Tournament and Details for New KOPW Championship (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/njpw-announces-tournament-and-details-for-new-kopw-championship/)
Two Title Matches Announced for SummerSlam (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/two-title-matches-announced-for-summerslam/)
Kairi Sane Says Goodbye to WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/kairi-sane-says-goodbye-to-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

07-29-2020, 07:15 PM

The Sheets:

Hiromu Takahashi is off upcoming NJPW events due to a shoulder injury.

NJPW posted on their website tonight that their medical staff has determined that Takahashi has suffered an injury to his left shoulder. As a result, Takahashi is off tomorrow morning’s card in Shizuoka and the July 31 card at Korakuen Hall.

Despite the injury, NJPW wrote in their statement that they are still expecting Takahashi to return for his scheduled IWGP Jr. title match against Taiji Ishimori. That match is scheduled to take place at Summer Struggle in Jingu on August 29.

Variety has a piece today blaming Vince McMahon for WWE's audience erosion for Raw and Smackdown, and backing up their case with data. It covers many of the points that we have covered here on the site. You can read it by clicking here.
Link: https://variety.com/vip/amidst-wwe-ratings-tumble-mcmahon-must-stop-blaming-storylines-1234712446/

Lightshed Partners, a top technology, media and telecommunications research firm based in New York City, released a deep analysis on the WWE stock yesterday, citing their belief that unless WWE turns their television ratings around, the company will not be able to maintain the level of rights fees they currently receive from NBC Universal and FOX.

Noting that WWE has “dealt well with the pandemic, managing costs down while fulfilling contractual content obligations,” Lightshed noted that they believed the Raw and Smackdown ratings in June might have been a “ratings bottom" but it has gotten worse since then. A big piece of blame was pointed at WWE Creative and Lightshed’s analysis specifically pointed to the “ousting of Paul Heyman” from his position of Executive Director of Raw as an issue. The analysis points out that WWE’s ratings have declined despite the money being brought in by their current deals and with that pressure, the “margin of error” for the company is smaller than ever. It noted that COVID-19 has impacted ratings for professional wrestling, but both WWE NXT and All Elite Wrestling’s numbers have been up while Raw (10%) and Smackdown (8%) are down from last month and down 15% from April 2020 with Raw hitting all time low ratings multiple times this summer.

On where the blame falls, the analysis notes, “COVID or no COVID, creative appears to be at the center of the issues. Vince McMahon has acknowledged things need to change multiple times. However, while there have been short lived experiments, the content appears to continuously return to a similar formula under his absolute control. McMahon went so far as to hire creative heads for Raw and SmackDown a year ago, with Paul Heyman heading Raw and Eric Bischoff heading SmackDown. Neither are in their roles a year later. Bischoff was fired after four months on the job and Heyman was relieved last month. The role is now consolidated under Bruce Prichard.”

They also stated that one of WWE’s “largest problems” is an “inability to create new Superstars”, noting that WWE has always been defined by its top stars but recent years have not had that star power, noting Roman Reigns has been closest but hasn’t hit on the same level as talents from eras before.

Lightshed noted, “More broadly, there really has been very little younger talent that have broken through at all on their way to replenishing even the middle level of stars in the men’s division. This has made the company more susceptible to injuries / absentees of major stars. Much of the talent with drawing power is aging. And, the big draws for major events have been in bringing back even older wrestlers such as Goldberg and The Undertaker. That is a band-aid, not a long-term strategy" ...

Lightshed pointed out that WWE has a few years before TV rights have to be negotiated again, so WWE has a chance to “fix” the roster and suggested that Paul Levesque could be the one to help right the ship. They suggest the company might need, “A longer-term approach, even if ratings return more slowly, is probably the right prescription" ...

The analysis noted that Lightshed is “torn on the right future for the [WWE] Network. We still believe those companies that can have [Direct to Consumer] relationships are far more better off in the current media ecosystem. Admittedly, though, we have grown more skeptical of the Network with time. It might just be that WWE doesn’t have the DNA to be great at DTC / grow it far beyond what it is today" ...

The analysis went on to state that they cannot recommend WWE’s stock right now because there are “still simply too many critical questions surrounding the company” at the moment, specifically the company’s creative direction ...

Lightshed pointed out that WWE’s main success are their television rights fees and that the stock “crumbled” earlier this year when international rights did not match what WWE garnered from the USA Network and FOX. Lightshed also expressed their doubts that FOX and NBC Universal will want to spend more money on WWE rights when the deals come due given the current environment and how WWE has performed. Pointing out how FOX has dropped sports properties and cut back on WWE programming and how NBC is “backing away” from pay-tv with an eye on streaming success with Peacock, their worry is that the landscape may not be there for WWE to repeat or enhance the success of their most recent deals.

Lightshed Partners, which is a technology, media, and telecommunications research firm, has put out a piece arguing that WWE’s media rights will decline if viewership continues to drop. It’s impossible to predict what the media landscape will be like come 2024 when the rights are set to expire with NBC Universal and Fox.

While viewership erosion is always a concern, it will come down to how valuable WWE is viewed by the players at that time, which may as well be multiple lifetimes from now and again, impossible to predict. If the USA Network falls at the same level and Raw is propping up its prime-time viewership average, then Raw will be considered as valuable as it was in 2018 when they received the enormous contract. Conversely, SmackDown is still #1 most Friday nights in the key demo for a show that runs year-round and at a cheaper cost than a drama or comedy with fewer episodes per year.
As long as USA Network (and FOX) keep failing to find a big hit program(s) that can do better than what WWE generates weekly and consistently for numbers, the amount of pressure on WWE to put in any real lasting effort to improve the quality of their shows will remain low.

With COVID-19 preventing a stockholders meeting in person, World Wrestling Entertainment held a virtual meeting on 7/16. The video of the meeting was uploaded to WWE’s Corporate site several days ago. This morning, I sat down to listen to the call. Below is my coverage ...

They were asked about AEW taking their market share in ratings. Paul Levesque said there is a moment in time when something launches and it’s exciting and there’s some interest in that. He said it’s a big world and WWE continues to be focused on their product and stars. They have a very long track record of doing this successfully for many years and they will continue to do so.
Almost the same excuse and comments he gave months ago when he downplayed AEW's early success and them being any real threat to both NXT and WWE in general.

Cody was interviewed by ESPN’s Marc Raimondi to promote tonight’s match and discuss numerous topics associated with AEW. He said that he’d have a better answer in 4-6 weeks on the rumored third hour or second show for AEW to add and that it could feature talent both on and off the roster but designed to showcase people that always featured on Dynamite. Regarding Mike Tyson, he said there is a relationship with Tyson and AEW but only said that something would likely happen “if not now, then in the future”. Cody said they were at the finish line to sign Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows last year but the two made a business decision and denied there was any heat with them over what they did. He seemed high on the idea of pushing for AEW to sign Matt Cardona and Rusev noting the two have drawn money and have TV experience but did note the limitations of a two-hour show with so much talent already on the roster. He gave the following cryptic answer regarding the prospect of attempting to sign Rey Mysterio:

"To me, the greatest luchador ever, of all time — hands down — is Rey Mysterio Jr. And he’s got friends here. Jericho and him are friends. Mysterio is not afraid to travel out there, either. He’s not a one-company individual. And I think Rey still has a lot left to give in terms of wrestling. That might be something that someone else is currently discussing with him at this point. You never know."

Rusev is seemingly done wrestling.

Since being released by WWE on April 15, Rusev has started streaming games online through Twitch. He's grown support with the Handsome Chatters and has become a Twitch partner. Now, it looks like this is his full-time profession.

During a Q&A on his Twitch stream, Rusev was asked if he was done wrestling or if he would go back to WWE. He replied, "I'm done. I'm done, man. I'm just enjoying my Twitch. I'm a professional Twitcher, YouTuber, content creator." Later, when someone said Rusev was his favorite wrestler, he said, "I'm not a wrestler anymore. Can I be your favorite streamer?"

Rusev's non-compete clause expired on July 18 and while many who were released in April have appeared on other programs or have hinted at continuing on with wrestling, Rusev has seemed rather content doing Twitch streams regularly.

Johnny Gargano spoke with Justin Barrasso at SI.com about tonight’s match with Roderick Strong and the competition with AEW for eyeballs on Wednesday nights:

"I am very much a wrestling fan and very much of the belief that competition makes everyone better. I think both shows are great in their own ways, and I’m super happy that there is so much great content out there. As a wrestling fan, it’s a cool thing to be part of.

I know a lot of people are very excited to see me and Roddy one-on-one. We are two guys that have been scratching and clawing for a very long time, and competition is going to bring out the best in us. We’re not tone-deaf, we know the stakes. We want to put out the best product possible, I want to put out the best product possible, and we’re going to go out there and put on a match you want to see."

Stephanie McMahon was a guest on the Fluid Fan podcast with host Angela Ruggiero discussing her role as Chief Brand Officer and how WWE has responded during the pandemic. This wasn’t as in-depth or newsworthy as McMahon’s interview with AdAge last week. McMahon spoke of her performance background on television as a key to understand what the fanbase wants and made the point repeatedly about listening to its audience through their platforms. McMahon described their “ecosystem” of traditional terrestrial television that builds to their pay-per-view events that are anchored by “the big four” tentpole shows of the year with the ultimate one being WrestleMania. She added that due to the success of “The Last Ride” on the WWE Network, they are exploring opportunities to find a second window for the series, which I’m still surprised an outside network didn’t come and make a deal for that series given the subject matter and the need for fresh content during the pandemic. McMahon said today’s performers don’t always need to stay in-character and fans want to know the people behind the characters and they help the performers grow their brands. She said at the end that they tabled the idea of having their fans appear virtually on the WrestleMania broadcast but the feedback they got was people didn’t want that and shelved the idea and have also taken constructive criticism regarding the crowd sweetening on matches being inauthentic when they have gone overboard with it.

Game Changer Wrestling returns with another card at the Celebration Plaza Amphitheatre this Sunday at 5 pm Eastern airing on Fite TV. The card will be headlined by Joey Janela vs. ACH along with Nick Gage vs. Cole Radrick, AJ Gray vs. Chris Dickinson, Nate Webb vs. Mance Warner, KTB vs. Calvin Tankman, and Tre Lamar vs. Blake Christian. They have also announced that Ace Austin and Kylie Rae will make their GCW debuts on the show.

WWE’s The Bump held its first-ever “Bumpy Awards” on Wednesday’s show with a long list of awards handed out but they included the following at the midway point of 2020:

*Tag Team of the Half-Year: Bayley and Sasha Banks
*Best Rivalry: The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
*Best In-Ring Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton at WWE Backlash (the nominees included Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens at WrestleMania, Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles on SmackDown in June, and the men’s Royal Rumble match)
*Best Cinematic Match: The Boneyard Match (The Viking Profits vs. The Ninjas was actually nominated)
*Superstar of the Half-Year: Drew McIntyre

Doc Gallows is hopeful that IMPACT could one day work with NJPW.

During an interview with "This is Wrestling" on TSN 1200, Gallows spoke on signing with IMPACT and was asked whether or not this new contract that he signed with the company will be his last one, Gallows said it is not.

"I’m in my prime. I’m not slowing down. I just want to grow this IMPACT brand as big as we possibly can and keep it pushing forward. Yeah, this ain’t my last wrestling contract. Oh hell no! I’m not going to stop," Gallows said.

Now that Gallows, as well as Karl Anderson, have signed with IMPACT, Gallows is hoping that the company could enter a working partnership with NJPW. Both Gallows and Anderson wrestled for NJPW prior to coming to WWE years ago and they even held the IWGP Tag Team titles multiple times during their time wrestling in Japan.

“I think it’s all about keeping momentum. I think there is more tag team championships in the future for us as a team. I think we’ll always be together but we can support each other through a singles run. One for him, one for me. That’s some stuff we’ve been talking a lot about. What we want to do is continue to grow IMPACT. I want IMPACT to continue to grow and get bigger and better so that when our friends are calling us and they got contracts up in other places we can go “hey we can do this for you over here. What do you think? Come jump on board, come have some fun, and come party with us?” I think it would be great. I would love to see New Japan and IMPACT form a working relationship at some point. I think it would be beneficial for both sides and I would really love to see that. Hopefully, (I) can be a part in making that come together," Gallows said.
Considering Impact's parent company kicked NJPW off of US television because of issues with Impact, Gallows probably has better luck hitting the Powerball jackpot than seeing a partnership between those two companies forming any time soon.

The WWE 2K series will undergo a change this year as the realistic WWE 2K21 game won't be released due to the poor performance of WWE 2K20. Instead, WWE and 2K will release WWE 2K Battlegrounds, an arcade-style wrestling game with over the top action.

Speaking to Sarah O'Connell, 2K Battlegrounds Executive Producer Sean O'Connor provided further details on the game.

When asked about the development of the game, O'Connor said, "It's been in development for just under two years. We originally wanted to make a wrestling game that is accessible and easy to pick-up and play. Less serious, kind of over the top."

He went on to note that there are over 70 WWE superstars, past and present, in the game. Each wrestler will have a different "class/style" that comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Each wrestler will also have at least one alternate attire.

There will be multiple environments in the game and location-based environments such as New York, Scotland, and the Everglades will have interactive elements.

Jerry Lawler and Mauro Ranallo provided commentary for the game.

There is a "story mode" in the game where the user takes a group of seven superstars led by Paul Heyman and builds them as the next legends. It's not a gauntlet-styles story and does include an overall narrative. Both Create A Wrestle and Create An Arena are present in the game.

Although the NWA has yet to have a new show in months, one of its champions will be defending her title very soon.

Mission Pro Wrestling announced that Thunder Rosa will defend her NWA Women's Title against Lindsay Snow at "Hell Hath No Fury" taking place on September 18 in Texas. Face masks are required and social distancing protocols will be in effect.

Ember Moon wasn't a fan of the finish to the Raw Women's Title match on Monday.

Sasha Banks became the new Raw Women's Champion on Raw, defeating Asuka when Asuka was counted out as she went to save Kairi Sane from being attacked by Bayley in the backstage area. As a result of Sasha's victory, she and Bayley now hold the Women's Tag Team Titles, SmackDown Women's Title, and Raw Women's Title.

Taking to Twitch, Ember recapped Raw for her viewers and gave her thoughts on the outcome.

"Why do we need two double champions? Is SummerSlam going to be like low-key Evolution with Sasha and Bayley wrestling for their singles titles and also for the tag titles? Is that a thing? Are we just reliving Triple H [& Steve Austin, Two Man Power Trip] from 2001? Sasha & Bayley have done a great job with a limited roster, but there are too many people sitting at home to tie up all the titles with two people. I was kinda upset -- the match was superb -- I don't like the fact that knowing, it was Kairi's last [appearance], I don't know if that's the way you go. I feel you make it more of a threat than just Kairi getting beat up backstage. I think you have Bayley beat-up Kairi and then have her with a forklift about to drop some cinder blocks. [Asuka] had [Sasha] in the Asuka Lock, all she had to do was sit back. It makes more sense if Kairi is in more of a life or death situation versus her getting thrown into stuff and stomped. I get we're supposed to be angry, and kudos to them for making us angry. No one wanted Asuka to lose, everyone wanted NXT Asuka back and having an undefeated streak. That's what WWE does. I fell for the ploy of 'I'm angry because I saw my friend Asuka lose the title in a crappy way.' Are we gonna have Sasha just lose the title to Lacey Evans or transfer Naomi over? They're building to SummerSlam, right? As a fan, I feel like I got ripped because once again, I don't get Bayley vs. Sasha."

She continued, "I feel like I lost the match I wanted to see two SummerSlams in a row. Maybe they're waiting for a bigger live audience. Maybe it's because Charlotte is gone and Becky [Lynch] is on maternity leave. They're killing me because I really want to see that match. Not only that, but you're sacrificing all of your other superstars for two people. That's what it feels like to me. Maybe I misjudge what's happening. I like to be angry about wrestling. I'm just trying to figure out the next step. Apart of me is like, 'I don't know what's going to happen, 'which is great, but apart of me is like, 'I don't know if that was the right call.' For me to be so upset that I had to turn off Raw because back-to-back-to-back...that first hour and a half to me was infuriating from a professional and fan standpoint."

Ember did clarify that she believes WWE is doing what they can with the circumstances and that she isn't present at the Performance Center, so she isn't privy to the conversations happening inside the PC and behind closed doors.

She does feel that WWE could use this opportunity to have someone like Bianca Belair, Naomi, or a new tag team step up to Banks and Bayley to potentially take one of their titles.

THE NWO ATTACKS NITRO & TURNS REY MYSTERIO INTO A LAWN DART, FLAIR WINS FIRST U.S. TITLE, SLAUGHTER MAKES WWF DEBUT, HEENAN ANNOUNCES THE 'REAL WORLD CHAMPION' IS COMING TO WWF & MORE: 7/29 THIS DAY IN HISTORY ...

1996 - WCW broadcast Monday Nitro from Disney's MGM Studios in Orlando, FL featuring the following result ...

Sting, Randy Savage, & WCW TV Champion Lex Luger fought WCW US Champion Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, & Steve McMichael (w/ Elizabeth, Woman, & Debra McMichael) to a double count-out at 13:23 when all the participants went backstage after Jimmy Hart came ringside and said Scott Hall & Kevin Nash were backstage ... late in the match, a cameraman showed Hall & Nash, holding a baseball bat, standing over Arn Anderson and Marcus Alexander Bagwell; moments later, Scotty Riggs came out of a trailer and was laid out as well; WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. then leapt from the trailer onto Nash but Nash caught him in mid-air and threw him head-first into the trailer; moments later, Savage jumped on the Outsiders' limo as they drove off; after the commercial break, ambulances arrived as Sting, Luger, Alex Wright, the Horsemen, Hart, and Eddie Guerrero tended to the injured; during the segment, Mysterio said that there were four attackers; Mysterio was unmasked after he was placed on the stretcher but covered his face with his hands; Wright left with Mysterio, telling Guerrero to stay for his match
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TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Doc Gallows on Differences Between WWE and Impact, NJPW News & Notes, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/230348/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-10/)

Emperor Smeat

07-30-2020, 09:13 PM

The Sheets:

Despite the return of live sports in the form of Major League Baseball as competition, the total Wednesday night wrestling audience was up to 1.48 million viewers last night, 1.5 percent higher than the previous week. AEW Dynamite had the higher viewership this week with 773,000 viewers as opposed to 707,000 for NXT ...

Dynamite's audience on TNT was down 8.5 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged a 0.30 rating, down 6.3 percent from last week. Dynamite ranked sixth on cable in that category.

NXT on the USA Network was up 15 percent from last week in total viewers. In 18-49, NXT was up 5.9 percent, averaging a 0.18 rating and finishing 28th on cable in that important demo.

The total audience of 1.480 million viewers was higher than the third hour of Raw this week and the combined 18-49 rating of 0.48 beat out the three-hour average of Raw, which was 0.47. Those numbers would've been unthinkable just a few months ago.

The key to the NXT resurgence was in people over 50. After narrowing the gap to 0.02 last week, AEW dropped to a 0.27 in that demo, while NXT drew a 0.37. So the same number of people in that category (0.64 combined) watched both weeks, but almost 18 percent of them switched from AEW to NXT for whatever reason.

AEW won every other category and the gaps were similar to what they've been in previous weeks. One notable category was females 12-34, where AEW averaged a 0.15 rating. Raw this week, in the same category, averaged a 0.14. So even with competition, AEW beat them
https://i.imgur.com/tljwvKN.gif

*** Full disclosure, for the past several months, whenever Bryan Alvarez would post a quick tweet about AEW & NXT's numbers, people would post gifs mocking the loser show or company. Wanted to start including them sooner since I found them pretty funny and creative but when NXT was on top for a few weeks, WWE/NXT fanatics and Anti-AEW trolls didn't supply any notable ones and were mostly boring and plain with their trash talk so I just waited instead. Plus been getting a bit bored with doing sheet reports and wanted to spice things up a bit.

AEW Dynamite fell 8.5% in viewership with 773,000 viewers tuning and posting a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was down 6.25% this week. Despite the drop, it was Dynamite’s third-highest viewership since May 27th and was higher than both Fyter Fest episodes. It was also the third-highest 18-49 rating for the show since April 1st.

NXT saw increases in both categories with total viewers improving by 15% with 707,000 and a 0.18 rating in the demo that was up 6%. This was the first week that NXT has topped 700,000 viewers since the Great American Bash episodes earlier this month ...

AEW was hit among males 12-34 which dropped 16% this week followed by the over 50 demo decreasing by 13% and males 18-49 dropping by 11%. On the other side, females 18-49 rose by 10% and females 12-34 improved by 7%.

Among the key demos, NXT was up in every category except males 18-49. The biggest jump was seen among females 12-34 that increased by 100% to 0.08, so that category has stabilized after falling badly to a 0.04 last week. Females 18-49 were up by 40% and males 12-34 improved by 25%.

Next week, both episodes will have competition with the NBA resuming play this week.

Coming out of the 7/29 edition of AEW Dynamite, a number of segments and matches were set up for the next several weeks of AEW programming ...

Excalibur was not on commentary tonight and Taz filled in for him. Several videos of Excalibur saying the n-word surfaced and received a great deal of traction on social media.

Prior to their investors call Thursday afternoon, WWE released their 2020 Q2 numbers which showed a year-over-year decrease but a record year-to-date revenue record, buyoed by theiir TV contracts and some big savings with not running live shows.

This was the first full quarter WWE hasn't been able to run live shows since the pandemic began.

The company saw a year-over-year operating income increase to $55.7 million for the quarter, up from $17.1 million from 2019, thanks to running shows at the Performance Center and as the release said, "to a lesser extent...a decrease in accrued management incentive compensation."

Additionally, net income, adjusted OBIDA, and cash flows were all up.

Revenues for Q2 decreased to $223.4 million, down from 2019's $268.9 million with the company pointing to "unfavorable timing" for their February show in Saudi Arabia. Conversely, yearly revenue hit a company record $514.4 million, up 14% from the prior year.

With both digital views and hours consumed increasing, WWE Network paid subscriber numbers ended the quarter up 6% to 1.69 million while the average for the quarter decreased to 1.66 million. WWE added their long-discussed new free tier over the past quarter.

Another positive: while consumer products were down by roughly $1 million, ecommerce revenue doubled to $12.6 million. They cited new belt sales and video game revenue as helping in that area ...

Other notes from the release and presentation:

The lack of live events resulted in a $48 million drop year over year. WWE had to cancel 53 domestic shows and 23 international events in the quarter.
The increase in subscribers marks the first time they've seen that since the fourth quarter of 2018.
They achieved WrestleMania Week viewership records of just under 1 billion video views across digital and social platforms, up 20% from last year.
Core content fees made up $132.9 million of the $200.1 million in media revenue for the quarter, up from $69 million from the previous year's quarter.
Raw viewership was down 24% year over year, following USA Network's 26% year over year decrease while SmackDown was up slightly by 4% year over year while Fox's numbers were down 4% year over year.

Notes from the Q&A portion (Vince McMahon, interim CFO Frank Riddick, Michael Weitz)

VKM was asked about the "softness" of the ratings. He essentially blamed it on a lack of audience interaction, but said they can have better storylines, more compelling characters and more content that isn't in the ring that is interesting to viewers.
VKM asked why NXT and AEW have bounced back from the COVID-19 downtick while Raw/SmackDown hasn't. He said because "they're new" and that it's up to WWE to make Raw/SmackDown more youthful.
VKM asked about Heyman's firing from creative, he didn't really give much of an answer. He did say Paul Levesque helps on Raw and SmackDown when asked if he should help more given his success on NXT.
They were asked about the EVOLVE wrestling purchase which was said to be a "content purchase deal" in very small size with no merger & acquistion elements attached to it.
Asked if there are any options at looking at live shows outside the PC with fans, VKM curtly said they are looking at all opportunities currently.

While it appears plans for a multi-tiered WWE Network have been paused, perhaps forever, after WWE was initially slated to launch that project several months ago, PWInsider.com can confirm that independent wrestling content is still scheduled to be utilized on the company's streaming network.

Several sources have stated that content involving several promotions is being planned for rollout on the Network. WWE has the rights to Great Britain's PROGRESS and ICW and recently purchased the EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA libraries from World Wrestling Network. The company also has a strong working relationship with Germany's Westside Xtreme Wrestling, so one would think those libraries are the most likely to be involved.

There is no timetable for when the content will be released, but we can confirm there was work being done in recent weeks to prepare for its incorporation onto the Network, unless of course, there is another change in plans.

United States District Court of The Middle District of Tennessee Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. officially declared a mistrial earlier today in the Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment vs. Anthem Wrestling (parent company of Impact Wrestling) lawsuit, PWInsider can exclusively confirm.

As reported earlier today, Anthem filed for a mistrial after the verdict came in from the jury, claiming that Jarrett's attorney had prejudiced the jury by noting that Anthem's Ed Nordholm was not present on 7/20 for court proceedings and by bringing up numbers during the liabilities portion of the closing arguments when it had been stressed by the court that those were to be left for discussion when it was time to cover potential damages and punitive damages.

Chief Judge Waverly set a 9/11 status conference to begin the process of setting up a new trial. He also ordered that the GFW Amped! tapes be preserved.

Q - Whatever happened to Austin Theory?

A - He's still with WWE but has been pulled from TV. No one will confirm why, but his disappearance came after an allegation was made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement online.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. The other rumor regarding his absence involved him testing positive for the coronavirus but if that was the case, probably would have been back on tv by now or at least should be very soon.

For those who asked about Leon Ruff after WWE's Performance Center released a video on him yesterday, he has been signed to a NXT deal, the first of several EVOLVE talents who were signed after WWE acquired that company. WWNLive removed all Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE content from their website on 7/28. WWE is now in possession of those video libraries.

Ring of Honor’s Kenny King was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. King was candid and explained in detail about the portrayal of black characters in pro wrestling. King mentioned how black wrestlers are often times stereotyped and pigeon-holed while there are white wrestlers who are allowed to have fully fleshed out, three dimensional characters.

“Well, I think — and it’s part of the roundtable and I said this during the roundtable and I’ll say it again. This is a conversation I had with Vince Russo about black talent and he asked me, ‘Why do you feel there’s been a lack of top tier black talent?’ And I said, ‘The finger goes directly at you Vince. It’s people like yourself who write the shows and you only write black talent from your perspective which is either gangsters or hustlers or pimps or these caricatures,’ right? When you look at Triple H, you look at Randy Orton, these are three dimensional fully fleshed out characters. Triple H can be the Cerebral Assassin, he can be The Game. He can be all these different things which allows you to say, ‘Damn, Triple H can be this main event talent because look how many layers he has.’ When you look at R-Truth who raps and… and if you know Ron Killings like I know Ron Killings, Ron Killings has multiple layers. There’s multiple more interesting things to Ron Killings than R-Truth, the rapper, dapper, dapper guy but we don’t never get to see that, we don’t get to connect with Ron on that level that we need to connect with him on that level that we need to [with] a world champion. You have to connect emotionally. I have to wanna care for your well being if I wanna see you as world champion or vice versa, depending on how it fits. But, if you’re not fully fleshed out, if my character — if I haven’t been allowed to show you all the things about myself that you need to care about or hate me, then that’s why these things fall flat so, where pro wrestling can continue the bridge in the conversation is in that case, right? And they’ve done it in certain cases but you know, why is Titus O’Neil’s — he’s a wonderful father and he’s this wonderful family man but that’s just his off-camera persona, and all these other things. Let’s start giving more detail and depth I think… and this is not just black people. Hispanics are stereotyped as Ese’s and Asians are always Ku Fung masters and all this same nonsense that happens over and over and over so, if we can just give these people characters. ‘This is Ron, and he raps but he also does this and he’s also this other stuff.’ Then I think, wrestling kinda mimics society so if we stop seeing black people as gangsters and thugs in wrestling culture, maybe we’ll stop seeing them as gangsters and thugs in regular culture. All of this kinda subliminal messaging, it all just kinda bounces off one another.”

Davey Boy Smith Jr. spoke to Wrestling Inc. and told the publication that his contract with Major League Wrestling expires this December. He was hopeful that MLW could run shows with no fans and make talents take COVID tests but the organization is not running. Smith added that he’s unsure if MLW will be able to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic ...

Smith Jr.’s father, The British Bulldog was set to be a part of the 2020 WWE Hall Of Fame class. The last that Smith Jr. heard was that the ceremony was going to take place SummerSlam weekend but the ceremony has been pushed back yet again.

“With my dad going into the WWE Hall of Fame, we don’t know when that is going to happen. The last thing was they were pushing for SummerSlam,” he said of the Hall of Fame ceremony planning. “Now they are pushing that back. Things keep getting pushed back. That’s why I’m hoping MLW is able to survive this. I have my doubts for a lot of companies. It’s going to be a long time. We’re in a marathon, not a race here.”

Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall’s ‘Nightmare Factory’ wrestling school will host development camps for those looking to become pro wrestlers starting on September 21st.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated chatted with Johnny Gargano ahead of the 7/29/20 edition of WWE NXT. Gargano shared that he and Tommaso Ciampa have tried several times to set themselves up to wrestle Shawn Michaels and Paul “Triple H” Levesque in a tag team match.

“If we can still make that happen, I’ll still do it. That would be so great. Me and Tommaso have pushed in the past to wrestle Shawn and Hunter, and that is something that could potentially happen, or maybe something we’re just dreaming. But me and Tommaso against Shawn and Bret would be amazing. That would have been a really fun dynamic.”

Ricky Starks was a guest on The Distraction podcast with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert. Ricky was asked if the reactions from wrestlers in the crowd during AEW shows are organic and Ricky stated that they are not told how to act or react to anything and it’s all a natural flow.

“No, we just go out and we have a natural reaction to what we’re watching and that’s it. I would hate to be told what to say or what to do when I’m out there because I’m trying to watch what’s in the ring. Not really put something in motion.”
Would explain why they've felt or come across different than WWE's shows. Also doesn't help that Fightful and others revealed WWE's been using the PC's PA system to instruct talent for crowd reactions during shows. Based on production miscues, AEW seemly only tells their crowd when they go in and out of commercial breaks.

WWE has reportedly added a new pay-per-view to the 2020 schedule.

While no announcement has been made, it was reported today by @Wrestlevotes that WWE has added the Payback pay-per-view to their schedule for this year.

It's interesting to note that Payback 2020 is scheduled for August 30, which is just one week after the SummerSlam pay-per-view.

It's also interesting that WWE has a Payback pay-per-view planned for August 30 as this is the date that the rumored Evolution 2 show may have taken place on. It was reported earlier this month that WWE was considering a second night of SummerSlam or an Evolution 2 special for August 30, the week after SummerSlam.

WWE is reportedly delaying an announcement on the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

It was reported today by @Wrestlevotes that WWE planned on announcing the 2021 Rumble date and location in early August. However, word now is that the announcement is on hold as details on the event are likely changing.

There's no word yet on if COVID-19 is the reason for the Royal Rumble changes, but it seems likely. WWE has dealt with numerous schedule changes since the outbreak hit in March. There has been hope that WWE will be able to resume normal live events with at least some fans this fall, but that has not been confirmed.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Announces Women’s Tournament Rules, Cameron Returns (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/aew-announces-womens-tournament-rules-cameron-returns/)
Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) Appears on AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/zack-ryder-matt-cardona-appears-on-aew/)
Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s Dynamite, MJF Challenges Moxley at All Out (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/three-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-dynamite-mjf-challenges-moxley-at-all-out/)
Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/07/three-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-nxt-2/)

Mr. Nerfect

07-30-2020, 10:39 PM

The Sheets:

https://i.imgur.com/tljwvKN.gif

*** Full disclosure, for the past several months, whenever Bryan Alvarez would post a quick tweet about AEW & NXT's numbers, people would post gifs mocking the loser show or company. Wanted to start including them sooner since I found them pretty funny and creative but when NXT was on top for a few weeks, WWE/NXT fanatics and Anti-AEW trolls didn't supply any notable ones and were mostly boring and plain with their trash talk so I just waited instead. Plus been getting a bit bored with doing sheet reports and wanted to spice things up a bit.

HAHAHAHA! They put AEW and NXT over the people because AEW won by a few thousand people! Hahaha! How funny and creative!

:roll:

Yeah, they're the fanatics.

Mr. Nerfect

07-30-2020, 10:40 PM

Seriously, this bullshit circle jerk mentality is making me actively root against wrestling. I hope it goes even further into the ground so that the people standing around cheering subpar content are left with each other's flaccid dicks in their hands.

Mr. Nerfect

07-30-2020, 10:43 PM

But even then you'll probably have sycophants like Smeat posting articles going "Well actually...AEW only went out of business because Vince McMahon poisoned the town's water supply and scared people off wrestling forever. It is technically impossible for anyone to be successful and AEW came as close as could possibly be."

Emperor Smeat

07-31-2020, 02:33 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

For a number of reasons, as it turns out, the pandemic was the greatest thing for WWE’s business as they posted the most profitable quarter in their history.

It’s not that they overcome the pain of the pandemic. They outright benefitted from it, with more consumer product sales, higher network numbers and the real difference maker, far lower costs to produce television.

Profits quadrupled in the quarter, blowing away all estimates, due to saving $51.6 million in media costs. The vast majority of those savings was the lower cost of producing television the way they do it now in the Performance Center, no longer running live, and taping multiple shows on successive days as opposed to live Monday, Wednesday and Friday in different parts of the country with far more wrestlers, production people and costs.

For one, taping two weeks had a time for each show, and taping shows on successive days, saved travel costs greatly. Producing a show in a small building greatly cut down on the production budget, not to mention the fewer production people and costs that were already lower were cut almost in half from there by generally taping two shows at a time. Plus there was savings on uplinks by no longer doing any shows actually live, as even when taped the same day, they never actually went live.

The second positive was a huge increase in subscribers to the WWE Network. The number was 195,000 above what would have been normally expected as of 6/30.

There are a number of factors involved here. One is that WrestleMania had so many people subscribing for free as compared to the past few years, that many of them didn’t cancel and stayed on as paying subscribers. Another reason, arguably the most important because ESPN’s PPV numbers for UFC were so much higher than previously, and AEW also set records in PPV, is that with sports bars are closed, and people are no longer getting together in large numbers for PPV parties ...

But it does have to be noted when interest appears at a low point since at least 1996, that network subscriber numbers have increased so strongly over the last three months, and manly the month of June when the free month was dropped and the free tier was launched ...

Another aspect is that streaming has gotten more popular across the board during the pandemic with more people home. Then again, more people are home to watch television, and there is less sports competition, and WWE had struggled badly there.

What’s notable is that the record profits came during a quarter where revenues were not only much lower than last year even with the new television deals, but were slightly down from analysts expectations.

The general expectation was $231 million in revenues and $11.5 million to $12 million in profits. The actual numbers were $223.4 million in revenue and $43.8 million in after-tax profit, basically quadrupling expectations. Last year’s numbers which included both all the live events associated with WrestleMania and the Mania show itself, a full house show schedule, and payment for a Saudi Arabia show, none of which happened this quarter. Last year’s second quarter grossed $268.9 million in revenue and ended with a $10.4 million after-tax profit ...

It also should be noted that it was not the cost-cutting of talent salaries that led to the record profits. All main roster talent, and a number of the furloughed and fired employees, were being paid their regular salaries through 7/17. So the $4 million per month savings in that category will likely lead to $12 million more in added profits next quarter.

The WWE Network on 6/30 had 1,690,000 subscribers, broken down as 1,229,000 in the U.S. and 461,000 outside the U.S. Three months earlier, just days before WrestleMania, the numbers were 1,083,000 in the U.S. and 412,000 outside the U.S., so the gains were 13.5 percent domestically and 11.9 percent outside the U.S. The strongest growth outside the U.S. was in India.

For comparison, during the same three month period in 2019 there was a 0.4 percent decrease in the U.S. and 1.2 percent increase overseas. In 2018, it was a 6.9 percent increase in the U.S. and 8.3 percent increase outside the U.S. in quarter two ...

Based on the current profit margins, the stock price is very low. The only red light regarding a strong increase to the past $60 to $80 per share range is the uncertainty that the huge rights fees, which are totally carrying the company at this point, may not be maintained in the next contract that would start in late 2024. There is a big feeling FOX way overpaid, and USA was forced to overpay because FOX really wanted Raw. WWE has already had to renew a number of international deals, including the previous No. 2 deals in the U.K., at substantially less money.

In addition, the company has noted that profits will be down once they start touring and going back to live weekly television, particularly early on if they have to run arenas with limited capacity.

Unlike in the past, where investors were more bullish on the prospects of 3 million to 4 million network subscribers, and growing from there, which never materialized, there is a realization that only numbers that really matter are rights fees. They’re dropping overseas, and the next round are likely to be determined by ratings in the 18-49 demo primarily, which have dropped badly in recent months. Analysts listened to Vince McMahon’s excuses, such as injuries, or needing to be patient because they have to build new stars, and now the excuse is the pandemic, but many are growing weary of excuses ...

There was also a blame on the declining international rights on countries being affected by COVID, but that’s ridiculous. The U.K. deal was based on declining ratings in recent years and how WWE treated Sky by giving them more of a PPV cut and then not telling them about the network killing PPV until after the deal was signed. Plus, WWE ratings plummeted in the market. Italy was similar. It was not related at all to COVID, but to high costs with low ratings returns and the station willing to give it up.

Riddick said the smaller international deals are because they are challenged by COVID. He also noted that there are no major renewals coming up, which also indicates they aren’t close to a new Middle East deal.

When asked about the purchase of Evolve and, out of left field, the company getting into MMA, Riddick said, “Evolve was a content purchase deal and very straightforward and every small in size in terms of investment. Right now, we are not looking at any MMA opportunities. Hopefully, they will come along. We are actively, we do have investments in certain new technologies in new areas and we are looking for opportunities, but there’s nothing imminent there.”

They also noted that a return to arenas will likely hurt profits because they will likely not be able to sell the same amount of tickets with social distancing.

Virtually all revenue this quarter came from television rights, network subs and PPV, which combined brought in $200.1 million of the $223.4 million in revenues, with the rest coming from consumer products. Last year in the quarter the number was $197.0 million, but that included $50 million in a payment from Saudi Arabia.

Regarding whether the originally scheduled November date in Saudi Arabia will take place, it has not been canceled and nothing is certain, but they are not expecting it ...

Expenses when it came to television, network and PPV were $118.5 million, down from $170.1 million for the same period last year, or a savings in the quarter alone of $51.6 million. That right there is the profit margin and then some. Everything else is almost immaterial.

As far as total revenue, Network plus PPV numbers declined from $51.8 million to $49.4 million. That’s due to a decline in PPV and a slight decline in average subs during the quarter. But the end of the quarter was up from last year so that should be ahead of last year in the next quarter report.

The new deals led to television rights increasing from $69.0 million last year in quarter two to $132.9 million this year. Television advertising and sponsorships fell from $18.9 million to $13.3 million ...

Last year, in a quarter that included WrestleMania, and all the Mania activities, the live event profits were $12.4 million. This year running no shows, due to various deals and money and advertising costs of shows that didn’t happen, the live events division lost $4.5 million.

Profits from consumer products increased from $5.2 million in last year’s second quarter to $7.6 million.

Licensed products, like video games, console games and mobile games saw revenue increase in the quarter from $9.4 million last year to $9.7 million, an increase seemingly having to do with people home more and playing more games. The industry as a whole has grown during the pandemic ...

Merchandise sold through the web site increased from $6.6 million to $12.6 million, both increases being examples of the pandemic helping WWE business.

Plans for a multi-tiered WWE Network, which had been talked about for years, and which would have included usage of the tape libraries of a number of independent promotions, including wXw, Evolve, ICW and Progress, that has been on-and-off for years, is back off.

Regarding whether that content would be used on the paid tier, those decisions have gone back-and-forth for years and every time the decision has been made to do so, Vince McMahon in the end has changed his mind on it.

At the 7/16 WWE shareholders meeting, when discussing the network, the company announced the free tier, which has the goal of trying to use that tier to convert viewers to becoming paid subscribers, has replaced multi-tiers and higher priced tiers giving more content and benefits in the WWE’s network strategy ...

An obvious question is the return of live events, or even the question of WrestleMania 2021 in Inglewood, CA, and like everything, including a potential closing in Orlando, there are no answers. The reality is things aren’t going back to normal any time soon. A closing in Orlando is very unlikely to happen for the political reasons it opened up in the first place and the government turned a blind eye to all those tapings with no testing for months. WrestleMania is far enough in the future that perhaps there may be a vaccine, but from a timing standpoint, that’s a longshot. Many have speculated on the idea that Florida, even though it’s in bad shape, would welcome a WrestleMania more than California would, and Tampa in a sense is owed one. And ultimately, these decisions do have to be made in the next few months because if they are going to do a stadium event, they need to be able to start promoting it by the end of this year ...

Regarding the 2021 WrestleMania and the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Vince McMahon said, “Again, we, it wouldn’t be fair to mention that now because we’re following the COVID-19 aspect. So many cities are obviously interested in Wrestlemania and many have bid for it, and what have you. This somewhat changes from time to time, again, depending upon the severity of COVID, but we haven’t announced anything yet.”

Regarding a potential shutdown in Orlando, Vince McMahon said, “Let me just say there’s always a `B-plan.’ I don’t want to say right now exactly what that would be, but yes there is a `B-Plan.’”

There are several backup plans in place. The belief is that WWE can’t be shut down in Florida due to Linda McMahon’s Super Pac agreeing to spend $18.5 million for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in Florida, and Gov. Ron DeSantis being loyal to Trump. That could mean going down with the ship because Trump’s popularity numbers are so bad, but DeSantis won’t be making that decision in August.

But according to one person who knows the situation, McMahon has DeSantis “by the balls.” If for some reason it gets so bad in Florida that there is a complete lockdown, McMahon had a study prepared and now has several different locations as backup. Among them is the television studio at their corporate offices in Stamford, CT, which was the ring they shot the John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt WrestleMania match in. It’s said they can make that setting look similar to the Performance Center, although they wouldn’t have as easy access to contracted wrestlers to be fans if they run outside Florida.

Shooting outdoors on the beach for SummerSlam is another possibility, just for the visual differences, as noted first in PW Insider.

As for a second Saudi Arabia show this year, the situation is the same, it’s completely out of the company’s control. McMahon has said in the past that if the show can’t happen this year, it would be tacked onto the end of the ten year deal. One of the issues with such a show are all the quarantine measures that UFC had to put in place. For UFC, they did it, but also ran four shows there over two weeks and had all kinds of infrastructure in Abu Dhabi put together including a bubble environment. Saudi Arabia may not be able to provide that, and while TV can be taped well ahead of time when a $50 million type of payment for an event is in the equation, it’s far more difficult ...
Vince McMahon was also asked about a physical Hall of Fame.

“Bricks and mortar is something that, generally speaking, we, other than office buildings and office space of course, that we’re not necessarily fond of, but nonetheless, again the interest in that continues to build and it’s still a possibility somewhere down the line.”

Antonio Inoki, who one can argue that along with Hulk Hogan, would be the biggest pro wrestling star of the last half-century, revealed on 7/26 that he was suffering from a rare incurable heart ailment.

Inoki, 77, was interviewed in Weekly Sincho, talking about his battle with cardiac amyloidosis. Because Inoki was such a cultural icon, as the second biggest pro wrestling star in the history of the country behind Rikidozan, and considered one of the country’s ten biggest sports stars of the 20th century, this has become one of the most talked about topics in Japanese culture since he went public. From a cultural standpoint, Inoki in Japan would be much bigger than any pro wrestler has ever been in the U.S., perhaps LeBron James would be a comparison as he’d not be Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan, but would probably be bigger than just about anyone else. As far as a wrestler being a cultural icon, probably only Rikidozan and El Santo would be at his level.

The rare disease, that affects between 700 and 750 people in the entire country of Japan, has to do with an abnormal protein buildup on internal organs that interferes with their normal functions and causes heart issues. There are different types of cardiac amyloidosis, but Inoki’s type is believed to be hereditary ...

Inoki said that this past fall he went a little deaf and was hospitalized, and after tests, was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis. He described it as the heart having a bad membrane called amyloid. Due to that, the function of the heart deteriorates, making it difficult to send enough blood for the body to fully function. He said that at times he felt like he was suffocating, but thought it was just the effects of aging.

He said that he was taking ridiculously expensive medicine called Vindaquel to combat the problem. The medicine is not a cure, as there is no cure. But it does slow down the effects of the disease.

On the 7/25 New Japan Sengoku Lord show, a surprise announcement was made regarding the first pro wrestling show at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, the site of the famous battle of world champions with UWFI world champion Nobuhiko Takada and WCW world champion Vader on December 5, 1993.

The show was announced for 8/29, just five weeks later ...

There are a number of reasons, all related to the pandemic. The first is that doing 30 percent capacity limits paid attendance and live gates greatly, and New Japan’s revenue base is largely ticket sales to live shows and merchandise sold at those shows. Between shutting down for months and now generally drawing about one-third of projections and running fewer shows, the company has taken a huge economic hit this year. In addition, the budget included a huge August event in Madison Square Garden, Wrestle Dynasty, with the idea of running the building once a year, and that show was moved to 2021. There is no word on capacity, but the stadium holds 37,933 for baseball, so capacity depends on staging and seats on the field and being outdoors if they can do more than the 30 percent that they do indoors.

Only three matches have been announced thus far, Evil defending both the IWGP and IC titles against Tetsuya Naito; Hiromu Takahashi defending the IWGP jr. title against Taiji Ishimori and a four-way match to crown the first King of Pro Wrestling champion ...

New Japan already has too many titles to keep up with, although less are in play now. The IWGP and IC titles have merged. The U.S. champion (Jon Moxley) and British champion (Will Ospreay) are out of action. In the case of Moxley, due to the 14 days quarantine going into Japan and AEW commitments, he’s likely not going to be available for a long time. There is no set date for Ospreay’s return but the hope is October for the G-1 Climax tournament. The Never trios titles are around, but not taken seriously. The IWGP jr. tag titles are also not in play, as Yoh, who holds the title with Sho, underwent surgery for a torn ACL and will be out for six months or more. While this can change, as of right now the plans are not to strip them of the titles. So it’s just the main singles title, the junior title, one secondary singles title (Shingo Takagi as Never champion) and the main tag titles.

The KOPW title is an idea of Kazuchika Okada, legitimately. It’s very Americanized, to the point the first champion will be crowned in a four-way match. Historically, the very few times the IWGP title was put up in three-way matches, fans were not particularly positive with the idea.

AAA: Konnan on his podcast talked about the idea of the drive-in shows. He said that they would be doing stand-alone matches rather than storylines at these shows. He said it would be a way to present unique matches and pairings that you wouldn’t expect to see, similar to Lucha Fighter. He also said that there would be a roof over the ring to protect the ring in case of rain.

Fantasma, in his role as head of the Box y Lucha commission in Mexico City, held a press conference on 7/22 announcing a distribution of pantry items to wrestlers who are currently out of work, which is basically all of them. He also distributed medicine to those in need. At the press conference, he was asked about AAA and CMLL starting back. He showed a letter from CMLL asking that same subject. CMLL would like to open at 50 percent capacity, which would be about 8,000 seats, which would be more than anyone has opened up in front of and Mexico is in worse shape than the U.S., even if you don’t hear that on the news. Fantasma said AAA presented him an idea three weeks ago, which would be the drive-in show idea. The reality is that in Mexico City, the government looks to be a long way of allowing events like this. Fantasma encouraged wrestlers to see if they could get other jobs until the pandemic ends

Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling prevailed to at least a degree in its lawsuit against Anthem Entertainment regarding the usage of the GFW name and the television shows taped in Las Vegas years ago that Impact used as part of its PPV shows. PW Insider reported the jury ruled for Jarrett that Anthem used the term Global Force Wrestling and its logo, and used content owned by GFW without the license to do so, and that Anthem was negligent for deleting the original master tapes. But they also ruled Anthem’s actions were caused by Jarrett breaching his fiduciary duty as owner of GFW and he’s liable to Anthem for certain damages. The amount of damages due both sides was not declared yet by the jury. According to PW Insider, Anthem on 7/29 filed a new motion in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee requesting that the rulings be nullified and that a mistrial be declared. They asked for a mistrial based on Jarrett’s attorney, Samuel Miller, making a statement in court that Ed Nordholm wasn’t there in court even though Anthem’s attorneys had specifically requested that not be brought up. Nordholm and Scott D’Amore weren’t there because Anthem was taping Impact on 7/21, the day in question and the court had been told neither man could attend the trial on that day. Miller tried to portray Nordholm as the villain and him not being there for part of the trial was brought up with the idea he didn’t care. Jarrett’s side is fighting the attempt to get a mistrial declared. Impact had claimed all the revenue they derived between PPV and DVD sales of the GFW tapes was only $10,000

AEW: Excalibur was off the 7/29 show with no explanation given. The company hasn’t said anything publicly, or privately about the matter. There was talk but not confirmed that he asked to be off the show because there had been a Twitter furor over him using the “N” word in a PWG angle 17 years ago. This incident was known about. It totally sucked, like bad, at the time, and everyone realized it and regretted it and pretty much apologized for it shortly after the time. I saw it resurface a few weeks ago but didn’t get any traction. Evidently on 7/28 people made enough of a case about it that it became an issue. The story, again, not confirmed, was that he didn’t want to be on the show thinking it would be the focus of the show. As it turns out, it became a much bigger issue because he wasn’t on the show. There is no word if he’ll be back next week. The 8/5 show was being taped on 7/30. He had flown to Florida for this set of tapings but he’d have flown in before the stuff got hot again. According to one person close to the situation, there was a promo involving Human Tornado, who is black and was at the time the top babyface, and heels Excalibur (when he was a wrestler), Disco Machine and Kevin Steen. One person was there and said that Human Tornado had often asked for heels to do racial stuff on him as a babyface and had asked people to use the N word on him. Steen argued against it but Tornado was persistent and talked him into it. We don’t know if Machine or Excalibur argued the point or just agreed to do it. I saw the video of it, and it sucked. There’s an issue because Tony Khan had said that Hulk Hogan, and Linda were not welcome as part of his group for racial remarks in the past. Hulk’s remark was not in an angle and part of a storyline. The fact is WWE didn’t sit Steen out because of this and they were aware of this and it was taken care of long ago. Everyone pretty much apologized after and acknowledged that it was a bad idea. Excalibur has brought it up and said he regretted it multiple times and Steen has publicly at least once in an interview. It was an angle that wasn’t a secret, that everyone knew and figured was taken care of, but the nature of Twitter is such that it became an issue this past week.

The women’s eight-team tournament will be a blind draw in the sense partners are drawn at random in storyline, like a WCW Battle Bowl type thing. The tournament won’t be on Dynamite, or at least most of it won’t, and will be a YouTube series that will be released every Monday at 7 p.m. starting on 8/3. The teams will be announced on that show. So AEW will now have a Monday and a Tuesday YouTube show, a Monday BTE show and Wednesday’s Dynamite

As of early in the week, Rey Mysterio and Vince McMahon were still in negotiations for terms of a prospective new deal

Regarding office people furloughed, the idea many were told that they would be brought back next month but now most have been extended until 8/28. A number are looking to find new jobs at this point, although this is probably the worst time in our lifetimes to be on the job market. The added time to the furloughs in the cases when you look at the profits for the quarter tells quite the story

Even though he wasn’t on the last two shows, Owens was at the Raw tapings on 7/20. He had been written into the original shows but with all the changes made, they decided not to use him. I think the key was that since they wanted to do injury angles with Black on both shows, the feeling was that Owens would theoretically have to do run-ins to attempt to break those up and they didn’t feel the need to sacrifice him in angles like that

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Daniel Bryan’s best matches; 2. Raw Talk for 7/27; 3. 1997: Dawn of the Attitude; 4. The Horror Show at Extreme Rules; 5. Undertaker’s Last Ride: Tales from the Deadman; 6. WWE Break it Down: Mick Foley; 7. R-Truth Game Show

RAW, SmackDown, & AEW vs. NXT Ratings stuff:

Raw on 7/27 was another disappointing showing, as the third hour, which contained most of the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks match, and all of the Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler match, ended up as the least-watched hour and lowest rated in the key demo in the history of the show.

Overall, on a week where the number should have shown a noticeable increase, it ended up as the second lowest overall number, with 1,616,000 viewers, and tied for the third worst demo number at .48 (618,000 viewers).

The third hour, featuring the two matches advertised a week ahead of time, both advertised ahead of time as title matches, set record lows with 1,463,000 viewers and 0.41 in 18-49. McIntyre vs. Ziggler ended up changed to a non-title match after being pushed for most of the week as a title match. Both numbers broke last week’s record for the lowest hour in show history with hour three, headlined by Randy Orton vs. Big Show, doing 1,504,000 viewers and a 0.42 in 18-49.

The third hour decline, a record level among teenagers and really all but the over-50 audience, was almost surely based on the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks title change finish. Even though most of the audience of the show was over 50, and that audience for the most part stayed until the finish, about 15 percent of the total audience tuned out after the finish of that match.

The look at that breakdown is likely along the lines of the first-to-third hour declines. Those saw were women 18-49 dropping 27.8 percent, men 18-49 dropping 16.2 percent, teenage girls dropping 88.0 percent (this sounds completely ridiculous and there’s never been anything like this level of viewers tuning out of any demo like that on the same show), teenage boys dropping 52.6 percent while over 50's steady the ship by only dropping 7.2 percent.

Raw has now done the three lowest numbers in its history and three of the four lowest 18-49s in its history over the past three weeks.

Even with that, Raw was No. 1 on cable for the night in Males 18-49 and Males 18-34.

It was 19th place overall and No. 4 in 18-49, behind two episodes of 90 Day Fiancé on TLC and one of Below Deck Mediterranean. It was No. 5 in total viewers among non-news programming.

The scary stuff remains the comparisons with last year. For the same week last year, Raw was down 30.3 percent in total viewers, 35.1 percent in 18-49 and 51.9 percent in 18-34.

The first hour did 1,699,000 viewers. The second hour held steady with 1,688,000 viewers before hour three’s 1,463,000.

In the key demos, Raw did 118,000 in males 18-34 (up 34.1 percent from last week), 61,000 in women 18-34 (up 10.9 percent), 291,000 in men 35-49 down 2.3 percent) and 148,000 in women 35-49 (down 5.7 percent).

Smackdown on 7/24 did a 1.22 rating with 1,924,000 viewers (1.31 viewers per home) and 0.48 (618,000 viewers) in the 18-49 demo.

The slight increase in audience is a good sign because it aired out of prime time in Detroit due to Tigers baseball. In theory an increase over recent weeks would figure to be attributable to the Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus bar fight, but that was not the high point of the show, and it opened stronger than usual.

Overall the rating was down 1.6 percent but that was offset by a solid increase in viewers per home, with total viewers up 0.6 percent and 18-49 up 2.8 percent ...

Smackdown was one of only two first-run shows on network television, with CBS having a one-hour show at 8 p.m. that did 3,488,000 viewers and 0.4 in the demo. Greatest At Home on CBS tied Smackdown in 18-34 at 0.3, and beat it in 25-54 by a 0.7 to 0.6. Smackdown also beat everything on cable in 18-49 and was first in males 18-49, but last in over 50, and had the fewest actual viewers of any network show event though they were almost all reruns.

Last year in the same time slot airing two reruns, FOX averaged 1,358,000 viewers and 0.3 in 18-49.

In the segments, the Bayley & Sasha Banks stuff with Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss and the Cross vs. Bliss match for the title chance did 2.02 million viewers. The Firefly Fun House, Matt Riddle vs. Tony Nese and Miz & Morrison’s Miz TV with Naomi did 1.85 million viewers. The ending of Miz TV with Lacey Evans, plus Shorty G vs. Lince Dorado vs. Gran Metalik vs. Drew Gulak for an IC title match did 1.97 million viewers. And Hardy vs. Sheamus in the bar fight did 1.86 million viewers.

There was a lot of news regarding the 7/22 ratings that wasn’t noted last week ...

The biggest thing is that the last five minutes of the Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade falls count anywhere match did 1,018,000 viewers and 502,000 in 18-49. This was the best figure in 18-49 on Wednesday and the highest peak as well. The match itself averaged 912,000 viewers and 459,000 in 18-49. The last quarter of Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole was 922,000 viewers and 355,000 in 18-49, but the overall match from start-to-finish was 887,000 viewers and 339,000 in 18-49.

AEW was near one million viewers briefly during the Darby Allin run-in and again prior to the commercial break in Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade, the last five minutes of the match, at 950,000 for the post-match involving The Dark Order, Adam Page, FTR and Kenny Omega and the Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy match started at 650,000 due to a huge turnout during a commercial break, was at about 800,000 most of the match and hit 900,000 right as Sammy Guevara was revealed in the post match.

NXT’s first minute, coming off the strong lead-in, was at about 1 million viewers but the Dexter Lumis vs. Killian Dain match had it down to 600,000 by five minutes in. The show was a little under or over 600,000 most of the way, hitting 700,000 during a few AEW commercial breaks and a high point of 750,000 during Oney Lorcan vs. Timothy Thatcher at the time AEW was in the commercial break before the Jericho match.

The main event final quarter battle saw Jericho & Hager vs. Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy do 799,000 viewers and 393,000 in 18-49 to NXT’s 602,000 viewers and 232,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross vs. Dominik Dijakovic ...

AEW opened with 905,000 viewers and 391,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Eddie Kingston. The number was almost a straight line steady from Cody coming out first until the end of the match. NXT opened with 633,000 viewers and 199,000 in 18-49 for William Regal and Keith Lee’s interview and Lumis vs. Dain, but it was a huge first few minutes from the lead-in and a collapse.

In the second quarter, AEW lost 94,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo and MJF vs. Griff Garrison. NXT lost 31,000 viewers but gained 22,000 in 18-49 for an interview with Strong, Reed and Gargano, a Dakota Kai feature and Breezango vs. Matt Martel & Chase Parker.

In the third quarter, AEW gained 81,000 viewers and 68,000 in 18-49 for the Taz & Cage promo with Darby Allin, Ricky Starks and Moxley running in and a Jericho & Inner Circle promo and the start of Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade. NXT gained 30,000 viewers and 12,000 in 18-49 for Aliyah vs. Blackheart.

In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 20,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the rest of Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade. NXT lost 14,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for an Isaiah Scott package and the beginning of Gargano vs. Reed vs. Strong.

In the fifth quarter, AEW lost 25,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 for Diamante vs. Ivelisse. NXT gained 33,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for the rest of Reed vs. Gargano vs. Strong.

In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 81,000 viewers and 33,000 in 18-49 for Adam Page vs. Alan Angels and the post-match, with the post-match growing well. NXT lost 63,000 viewers and 31,000 in 18-49 for Thatcher vs. Lorcan .

In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 57,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49 for the rundown of next week and beginning of Jericho & Hager vs. Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy. NXT gained 11,000 viewers and 19,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Lorcan vs. Thatcher and the backstage segment with Robert Stone, Aliyah and Mercedes Martinez.

In the final quarter, AEW with Jericho & Hager vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus gained 50,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49. NXT with Kross vs. Dijakovic gained 3,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49.

A few notes on the 7/29 ratings.

The wrestling audience on Friday, Monday and Wednesday, all of which had baseball competition, all did similar numbers in 18-49. Friday was 618,000. Monday was also 618,000. Wednesday was 625,000 ...

In 18-34, Wednesday did a combined 196,000, while Monday did 179,000 and Friday did 175,000. But AEW, which had been only slightly behind Raw and Smackdown the past few weeks in 18-34, did 133,000 so it fell well behind both.

AEW did beat hour three of Raw in overall 18-34. In women 18-34, AEW beat Raw this week by 65,000 to 61,000, even with competition, as it also did last week. But Smackdown won the night with 80,000 ...

The 7/29 numbers saw AEW do 773,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49 (394,000 viewers), putting it in sixth place for the night. NXT did 707,000 viewers and a 0.18 (231,000 viewers), finishing in the No. 28 spot, essentially meaning it had a very old audience ...

AEW was down 8.5 percent in viewers and 3.7 percent in 18-49. AEW’s lead-in, Talladega Nights, was down 28 percent in 18-49 per usual and really that’s probably the complete difference in the 18-49 drop and maybe the overall drop.

It took AEW until quarter three to beat NXT in total viewers due to the huge lead-in difference ...

AEW’s decline was strongly in men over 35, which could mean baseball. Women were way up from last week, particularly teenage girls. Baseball beat AEW handily in males under 35, but AEW beat baseball in women under 35.

AEW beat NXT in every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW did 68,000 viewers (down 4.2 percent) to 39,000 for NXT (up 5.4 percent). In women 18-34, AEW did 65,000 (up 12.1 percent) and NXT did 24,000 (up 41.2 percent). In men 35-49, AEW did 182,000 (down 13.3 percent) and NXT did 103,000 (down 9.6 percent). Those may be baseball drops. In women 35-49, AEW did 79,000 (up 12.9 percent) and NXT did 65,000 (up 27.5 percent).

AEW won every quarter big in 18-49 with the biggest gap in quarter five (Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Dark Order on one side, and Keith Lee, Cameron Grimes, Scarlett, Karrion Kross, a main event package and Imperium vs. Ever Rise on the other side) where it more than doubled NXT. In total viewers, because of the lead-in, NXT had a huge first quarter lead and a significant second quarter lead, before AEW turned it around in quarter three during the Cody vs. Warhorse match ...

However, NXT had strong growth for the Finn Balor vs. Dexter Lumis vs. Timothy Thatcher main event, which did 671,000 viewers and 230,000 in 18-49. AEW’s main event of Jon Moxley & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks did 721,000 viewers and 360,000 in 18-49.

The show opened with AEW at 718,000 viewers and 367,000 in 18-49 for The Inner Circle vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus & Best Friends & Orange Cassidy match. NXT with the big lead-in did 853,000 and 247,000 in 18-49 with Io Shirai & Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai & Candice LeRae. This was NXT’s high point for viewers and 18-49, but most of that would have to do with the huge lead-in advantage and not having Dexter Lumis in the match.

In the second quarter, AEW gained 3,000 viewers and lost 9,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the Inner Circle ten man tag and post-match, Jon Moxley interview and beginning of Cody vs. Warhorse. NXT lost 75,000 viewers and gained 1,000 in 18-49 for the Adam Cole/Pat McAfee angel and beginning of Roderick Strong vs. Johnny Gargano.

Quarter three saw AEW gain 84,000 viewers and 48,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Warhorse, post-match with the debut of Matt Cardona and an Inner Circle interview. NXT lost 71,000 viewers and 5,000 in 18-49 for Gargano vs,. Strong and the Dakota Kai/Rhea Ripley promo.

Quarter four saw AEW gain 27,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for the FTR contract signing with Arn Anderson and Adam Page and beginning of Omega & Page vs. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno. NXT lost 3,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for an Undisputed Era backstage piece, and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Mercedes Martinez.

Quarter five saw AEW gain 46,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for Omega & Page vs. Dark Order, and the post-match angle with The Young Bucks, FTR, Brodie Lee and others. This was the high point of the night for either side with total viewers and 18-49.

Quarter six saw AEW lost 88,000 viewers and 43,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Diamante and the Nyla Rose/Vickie Guerrero interview. NXT lost 36,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for the Imperium/Undisputed Era angle, a Bronson Reed feature, more interviews and the beginning of Isaiah Scott vs. Jake Atlas.

Quarter seven saw AEW lose 70,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for the MJF interview. NXT lost 51,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 for Scott vs. Atlas and ring intros for the main event.

Quarter eight saw AEW gain 1,000 viewers and but lose 20,000 in 18-49 for Moxley & Allin vs. Cage & Starks. NXT gained 60,000 viewers and 36,000 in 18-49 for Lumis vs. Balor vs. Thatcher.

Spoiler tags used for those who don't want to read ratings related news from the Observer newsletter while those who don't mind or are interested can just click on the tab.

Fignuts

07-31-2020, 05:19 PM

Oh wow. you mean the Owens/Excalibur incident actually had context to what happened and why?

Who ever would have guessed?

Mr. Nerfect

07-31-2020, 05:50 PM

Oh wow. you mean the Owens/Excalibur incident actually had context to what happened and why?

Who ever would have guessed?

This is a very weird point to make.

Fignuts

07-31-2020, 05:58 PM

Mr. Nerfect

07-31-2020, 06:33 PM

The point I'm making is that people get nailed to the cross without any research or investegation. None of the news sites that initially reported about this incident bothered to do the research on what actually happened despite the fact that it's their job to do so.

I'm not saying that what they did was right, but the knowledge that a black talent pestered them into doing it, and that they immediately knew it was a mistake and apologized is a very important detail to omit, especially in today's enviornment and the way people are judged.

The feeling of righteousness has become an addiction for a large portion of society, and it's a fucking cancer on critical thinking.

Well, sure, in many cases I'd agree with you. But in this case, it's pretty cut and dry. We have video of them using the word for an angle in PWG. That's really the full context there. I mean, was anyone out there really suggesting that Human Tornado was not expecting to get the word thrown at him? Or that it makes a difference?

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I always assumed it was a co-operative angle that was just tasteless. No excuse for it other than "We were fucking idiots." And they've all said that, so good. But I'm just not getting where this idea of a wider context comes from. Maybe I'm just lost in the semantics.

Not saying this about you, but the righteousness extends both ways. There are plenty of people willing to be like "Ahhhh, seeeeeeee" which is just as annoying.

Owens and Excalibur shouldn't have done that shit. They did. They've said sorry and now realize why it is wrong. They don't need people calling for their heads or defenders.

Droford

07-31-2020, 10:13 PM

Emperor Smeat

08-04-2020, 09:34 PM

The Sheets sponsored by WCW Hardcore Division Appreciation Night:
https://i.imgur.com/S6n8lvP.gif

The return of Shane McMahon on Monday's WWE Raw led to a stronger second hour than usual and brought viewership up six percent from last week's second lowest number of all time with the show averaging 1.71 million viewers and 0.51 in the 18-49 demo.

The first hour was slightly ahead of last week (1.71 million to 1.70 million last week), likely due to the last day hype of the McMahon addition and the promised debut of a new stable. The key was that the second hour not only didn't decline, but it grew greatly to 1.82 million viewers before the show experienced a third hour drop to 1.61 million ...

Raw was No. 4 in 18-49, trailing 90 Day Fiance, NBA on ESPN, and Below Deck: Mediterranean. The show was No. 22 for the night overall and No. 4 among non-news shows ...

Raw was down 31% from the same week last year overall, 37% in 18-49 and 51% in 18-34.

The three-hour show averaged 1,715,000 viewers on the USA Network and a 0.51 in the 18-49 demographic. Viewership increased by 6% and the demo rating improved by 6.25% and were their best figures in those categories since June.

The show started with 1,710,000 viewers and increased by 6.6% in the second hour to 1,824,000 viewers, which is the highest hour of Raw since the opening hour of the June 29th show. In the third hour, viewership dropped by 11.7% but that was heavily skewed by the over 50 audience turning off the show.

In the key demos, the largest increase this week was among females 12-34 that were up by 60% from last week followed by males 12-34 improving by 26% and females 18-49 increasing by 25%. The only demo that fell was a minor drop with males 18-49 falling 3% this week.

WWE Network News is reporting that the new show "WWE Timeline" debuting this Sunday on WWE Network will focus on the rivalry between The Miz and Daniel Bryan. It will be available on both the free and paid versions of the streaming service.

Ariane Andrew and Matt Dillon welcomed Naomi onto their ‘Sippin The Tea’ show on YouTube. To kick off the conversation, Ariane Andrew spoke about her stint with All Elite Wrestling and competing in their Women’s Tag Team Cup. Ariane clarified that she is not with AEW and is still a free agent.

“So since we are spilling tea, I’m gonna keep it 1,000 percent so everyone can hear it right here, right now. I am not with AEW. That was just a little something, something. A little something, something.

I’m a free agent. As excited a people were, people were like, ‘So what does that mean? There’s no Funkadactyl reunion?’ And the thing is, I can’t say anything — not that I can’t say anything but it’s like I don’t wanna spill the tea but I’m spilling the tea right here, right now that it’s not official so there’s still a door. Hello Vince, are you listening? Funkadactyl reunion.”

ESPN has a feature story up about the recent purchase of the XFL by Dany Garcia, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and their backer, RedBird Capital Partners. Garcia spoke to ESPN for the article and recalled reaching out to Johnson when the news of the XFL going out of business became public.

“I told DJ, ‘We have something really important to do. We want to do this.’ It was so natural. There was a moment in Dwayne’s life when football was going to be his [career]. I’m a professional athlete myself. We do sports. We do entertainment. If you look at our résumés, everything points to this moment and opportunity for us, to work with these athletes and to build this brand.”

It’s noted in the article that Oliver Luck, who’s currently suing former XFL owner Vince McMahon for wrongful termination, will not be a part of the forthcoming version of the league.

Regarding a 2021 season, the XFL built a bubble plan for their eight teams to either be used during the COVID-19 pandemic or as a cost-cutting measure and that bubble plan is a part of the intellectual property that’ll transition over to Garcia, Johnson and the group that now owns the XFL.

Dany Garcia was also heavily involved in Dwayne Johnson’s contract negotiations while he was with the WWE full-time and she knew Vince and Linda McMahon “very well”. The unsecured creditors filed an objection to the sale of the XFL because of the feeling that the sale might not have maximized the value of the league. The committee also expressed concerns about the relationship between Johnson, Garcia and McMahon.

Lance Storm was a guest on the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast and Storm told the story of when he was informed that WCW talents were supposed to get involved in the match between Vince and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 17. According to what Storm was told, they were scheduled to do more than just appear on camera from the press box but due to Shawn Stasiak doing a radio interview and tipping off that WCW talents were being brought to Mania, their initial plans were scrapped and Vince McMahon was not pleased that their appearances had been leaked.

“That first WrestleMania, the Mania 17 where we all sat in the luxury box or whatever and we’re there to support Shane O’Mac. From what I was told, again, it was second-hand but I was told we were originally going to be involved in the match but Shawn Stasiak stooged off that we were gonna be there in a internet interview that he did on the Friday, because we all got called less than a week before. ‘Hey, we’re gonna bring you into WrestleMania.’ We’re like, ‘Mhm, cool!’ And it was Johnny Ace that called me. He was always the liaison guy and he didn’t specifically say, ‘Hey don’t tell anybody, kayfabe this.’ But it’s not my first rodeo. Unless they tell you to promote it, you shut your damn mouth so I’m like, ‘Cool’ and kept it quiet. Well, Shawn Stasiak did an internet radio interview and said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re all being brought into WrestleMania. We’re gonna be at Mania 17’ and I was told Vince [McMahon] lost his sh*t and wanted to just cancel us all and not bring any of us there but tickets were booked, planes were booked, all that stuff and apparently, someone managed to calm him down and still bring us in but we were just sitting in the box, they’re having nothing to do with this and were sort of shunned and I think that was step one of, ‘Man, we’re in trouble.’”

When asked about the whereabouts of Austin Theory, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline noted that Theory’s situation is a “unannounced suspension of sorts”.

Extreme Rules didn't happen the way Kevin Dunn wanted.

The WWE executive was particularly unhappy with a couple of spots in the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks Raw Women's Championship match, according to backstage sources within WWE. As reported on Fightful Select recently, we detailed what upset Dunn:

Extreme Rules was high quality for WWE, but not everything went so smoothly, we're told. During the Sasha Banks and Asuka match, there were some production snafus that set Kevin Dunn off. We weren't told of specific instances, but Dunn was upset that cameras were catching Bayley in spots where they weren't supposed to. When asking around, we were told it wasn't significant, but enough to get Dunn to shout at people over it for not protecting talent.

Stock had a big drop from the $48 range to $44.17 Monday. The drop was based on uncertainty with the ratings which has never been an issue before, but now is a big issue because analysts have brought it up.
As of Tuesday's after hours trading, WWE Stocks were at $44.31

You may have noticed that before his Great American Bash double title victory, a of Keith Lee celebrating with both titles emerged. It was posted Instagram by Indus Sher's Saurav Gurjar. This past week, Fightful Select learned more about how the situation was handled.

Fightful has learned that at the last set of WWE NXT tapings, a backstage meeting was held and Indus Sher's Saurav Gurjar apologized for spoiling the results of the title-for-title match before it happened. Gurjar posted a picture of Keith Lee celebrating in the ring with both title belts with confetti falling a week before the title switch aired. We're told there's no significant heat on him, and there's no punishment expected to be handed down, though he and his partner have not been mentioned on TV since. Indus Sher is a personal favorite of Matt Bloom, who has been a big proponent for them in the past.

There was disbelief in Gurjar among those in the company that we spoke to, with most of it being a "why did he think it would be okay to post anything from the tapings, much less that?" type of reaction. He was said to have apologized to Lee directly for spoiling a huge moment for the star.

It was announced over the weekend that the Shoney's restaurant in Acworth, Georgia owned by former WCW World Champion Scott Steiner has closed. It opened in 2016 and shut down due to COVID-19 and will not be re-opening. The restaurant featured a display case featuring items from Steiner's career, including his Michigan University jacket, action figures, PPV posters and photos.

While Major League Wrestling has been militant about not running show due to COVID-19 (MLW HQ is located in New Rochelle, the same city where COVID-19 first hit New York, so a lot of staff dealt with the issues firsthand), we are told they are reconsidering the stance after watching UFC, The NBA and boxing on DAZN have handled the situation. If those entities don't have massive flareups (see Major League Baseball and WWE), the more likely MLW will return to live events. Currently, nothing is on the books until December at the 2300 Arena, but the company has been willing to wait as long as 18 months before running. It's a situation that could change by the moment, just like the rest of this horrible ongoing pandemic ...

Speaking of BeIN, John Duff, who was head of acquisitions and perhaps MLW's biggest advocate at BeIN, left in March to head up programming at MAVTV. We are told by MLW sources the departure will not have any bearing on their relationship with the Network. Duff and Dan Teitscheid, the President of MAVTV, went to UCLA together and previously worked together at Viacom.

MLW had been scheduled to film content with the Von Erichs in Hawaii this past week but had to delay due to concern about Hurricane Douglas hitting the Island. Of course, MLW HQ is scheduled to be hit with a Tropical Storm tomorrow thanks to Isaias as well ...

There's been talk of bringing in Canadian talent Michael Richard Blais, who won the first-ever Reid Flair Memorial Scholarship at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Legends Fanfest in North Carolina. Blais was originally trained by TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) and has popped up on Raw and 205 Live in the past.

We are told July was the third strongest MLW merchandise sales month in the company's history. The number one selling piece of merchandise was the LA Park Face Mask. MLW has seen an increase in online merch sales across the board since COVID-19.

As reported last week by PWInsider.com, the trial in the lawsuit brought by Jeff Jarrett and Global Force Entertainment lawsuit against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling was ruled a mistrial on 7/30.

PWInsider.com has acquired a copy of the official order of the mistrial signed by United States District Court of The Middle District of Tennessee Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr.

ORDER In a July 30, 2020 ruling from the bench, the Court declared a mistrial in this case and a new trial was ordered in accordance with Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because cumulative errors by both the Court and counsel resulted in neither party receiving a fair trial.

This included, but was not limited to:

(1) the Court’s failure to instruct on comparative negligence;

(2) the identity of the wrong entity in the verdict form on the counterfeiting claim;

(3) improper comments by Defendant’s counsel in opening statements; and

(4) improper statements by Plaintiffs’ counsel in closing arguments, all of which were discussed in detail in the Court’s oral ruling.

Accordingly, the jury is hereby DISCHARGED, and the Clerk shall note on the docket that a MISTRIAL has been declared.

A status conference will be held on September 11, 2020 at 9:00 a.m to set a new trial date.

TNT has announced that three episodes of AEW Dynamite will be affected by the network’s NBA coverage. The Wednesday, August 19th edition of Dynamite will now air on Saturday, August 22nd at 6 pm Eastern, which is the same night as NXT TakeOver on the WWE Network. The following week’s episode will air on Thursday, August 27th at 8 pm Eastern and the September 16th edition of Dynamite airs on Thursday, September 17th at 8 pm. TSN in Canada has not confirmed how this will impact their airings of the show but we should know later this week.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter adds that the August 26th episode of AEW Dynamite will air later that night on TNT and then be replayed in prime time the following night.

TPWW Frontpage:

The Masked Stable on Raw Will Be Called “RETRIBUTION” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/the-masked-stable-on-raw-will-be-called-retribution/)
WWE: Developmental Talent Makes RAW Debut, New Trademarks, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/raw-developmental-talent-makes-raw-debut-rumored-trademark-for-new-faction-updated-sd-ratings/)
Impact: “Emergence” Special, Kimber Lee Signs Long-Term Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/impact-emergence-special-kimber-lee-signs-long-term-contract/)
AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament Night 1 Results – Aug. 3, 2020 – Round 1 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/aew-womens-tag-team-cup-tournament-night-1-results-aug-4-2020-round-1/)
SummerSlam May Take Place in Atlantic City (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/summerslam-may-take-place-in-atlantic-city/)

Mr. Nerfect

08-04-2020, 10:54 PM

AEW is probably going to get fucked hard by that rescheduling. Awful timing for them heading into All Out and coming out of it. WWE with an unopposed NXT should see about a 300k increase. This would be a good time to use a star and implement a hot angle.

Emperor Smeat

08-05-2020, 07:10 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Keith Lee ragdolling Tomohiro Ishii:
https://i.imgur.com/TFG8Vg1.gif

The latest chapter in the rivalry between Adam Cole and Pat McAfee will play out tonight on NXT.

WWE announced that McAfee will appear on NXT to address the situation between the two and hopes to clear the air with the former NXT Champion.

Back in late July, Cole was a guest on "The Pat McAfee Show" and things got heated between the two men. Cole and McAfee took verbal jabs at each other, trying to discredit the respective career of the other man. Cole finally snapped when called short, getting out of his chair to confront McAfee, drop a couple of F-bombs, and shove McAfee's co-host. Cole has since then apologized for his actions ...

Previously announced for NXT is a triple threat match between Oney Lorcan, Ridge Holland and Damian Priest where the winner advances to the NXT North American Title Ladder Match at TakeOver XXX. In addition, NXT announced Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes and Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne as well as Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) vs. Undisputed ERA (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) for the NXT Tag Team titles and Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai where the winner becomes the No. 1 contender to the NXT Women's title.

Eric Young has officially signed an exclusive contract with Impact Wrestling.

In an interview with Sportskeeda, Young confirmed the news.

"Yeah, I am on an exclusive contract with IMPACT,” he was quoted as saying. “ I'm very excited about that!"

"I do have a lot of gas left in the tank,” he added. “ It's just a question of how much longer I want to do it."

Young was released by WWE in April as part of wide-ranging cuts due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He made his return to Impact at Slammiversary, taking part in a five way match for the Impact World title ...

Young was previously part of Impact Wrestling from 2004 to 2016 before signing with the WWE.

AEW officially announced 'Heels' on Wednesday, a paid online subscription service geared toward female wrestling fans.

For $49/year, members "receive access to a variety of features including virtual meet-and-greets, video conference discussions with industry experts, exclusive AEW talent Q&A sessions, customized merchandise, special promotions, themed parties and more. The secure space enables AEW Heels members to connect, learn and thrive together through shared passions for women’s wrestling."

Originally scheduled to launch on May 22nd, the service did a soft launch earlier this year with two video conferences designed for women.

In the press release, they announced an event this Friday which will include a Q&A with referee, podcaster and front office worker Aubrey Edwards, a social media strategy session with Brandi Rhodes, and a session on respect and empowerment in the workplace with Keisha-Ann Gray, partner at the Proskauer law firm.

Rhodes, AEW's chief branding officer, is heading up the initiative.

In a move that is surprising some in the sports media industry, Nick Khan has been hired as WWE's new president and chief revenue officer, announced by the company Wednesday morning.

The 45-year-old Khan was the co-head of the TV division of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and was the driving force behind negotiating WWE's new TV deals in 2018. He reportedly is leaving the company on good terms.

While at CAA, Khan also negotiated deals for a slew of big name sports broadcasters and talking heads in addition to organizations like Top Rank Boxing and college sports' Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Khan will report directly to Vince McMahon and is taking over the roles Michelle Wilson and George Barrios held before they parted ways with WWE earlier this year.
WWE stocks rose to $45.26 by the end of Wednesday's regular trading hours but fell to $44.69 during after hours trading.

The hiring of Nick Khan is a huge story for WWE and sends a strong message by getting Khan from CAA as its news president and chief revenue officer. The greatest concern for a WWE shareholder is the fear of the television rights bubble bursting and therefore, the added concern over viewership declining even though the company less than one year into their five-year pacts with NBC Universal and Fox. To offset that, they have hired a major power broker when it comes to negotiating sports rights and will be in-house for the next set. On the surface, it would represent massive savings for WWE to cut out CAA and send Khan out as the chief negotiator on its behalf (assuming WWE negotiates on their own without CAA for the next round). I would suspect this can quell concerns of shareholders of falling numbers knowing Khan is a huge hire for this specific task, but nothing is a guarantee when we are looking down the road at the landscape of 2023-24. The news of Khan’s hiring was met with a 2% increase in the WWE stock price that closed at $45.26 on Wednesday. In terms of long-term stability and possibilities, this is one of the most important hires for WWE and was a massive story within the television industry on Wednesday.

After making a television appearance with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19, Hiroshi Tanahashi has undergone testing and been cleared to resume wrestling.

NJPW wrote that Tanahashi made the TV appearance on August 1 but adequate countermeasures were put in place and Tanahashi wasn't in close contact with the person who tested positive. NJPW's full statement is available below:

" On August 1, Hiroshi Tanahashi made a television appearance with another cast member who has since tested positive for COVID-19.

Adequate countermeasures were put in place during production of the program, and Tanahashi did not come into close contact with the infected party.

As a precaution, Tanahashi has since undertaken antigen, antibody and PCR testing, with all tests returning negative.

Tanahashi is in good health and will be able to compete on this week’s Summer Struggle events in Korakuen Hall."

Tanahashi is teaming with Kota Ibushi & Master Wato in NJPW's tournament for the vacant NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles. They're facing Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a first round match at Friday's Summer Struggle event.

Q - We see Scott Steiner pop up from time to time here and there. But, What is Rick Steiner up to these days?

A - He is selling Real Estate in the Atlanta, GA area. You can check out his website by clicking here.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. Link for those interested: https://ricksteiner.atlcommunities.com/

Jerry Lawler will be celebrating his 50th wrestling anniversary next month.

Official Announcement : Jerry “The King” Lawler’s 50th Anniversary Wrestling show has been set for Saturday September 26th at The Ball Park of Jackson in Jackson, Tn. 7:00 pm bell time. We have been cleared for 25% capacity with an additional 200 on field seats at home plate . pic.twitter.com/2pb6jDctLX
— Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 3, 2020

Jerry’s opponent will be named later this month. Special guest will be WWE Hall of Famer , the legendary KANE ! Already set to appear are The Rock n Roll Express, “Wildfire” Tommy Rich, Dr. Tom Prichard, “Superstar” Bill Dundee , Downtown Bruno and Jerry Calhoun. And MORE
— Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 3, 2020

Also just added to the @JerryLawler 50th anniversary show none other than @LexLuger yall September 26 is shaping up to be a big one!!!
— Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020

Sergeant Slaughter says he is on his way to Jackson, Tn on Sept. 26th to help the King celebrate !!!! This is turning into the Who’s Who of Wrestling epic event. And the King deserves an incredible night. Come see Sarge live at the Stadium. I'm telling yall we aren't slowin down pic.twitter.com/GFygJ8j7XF
— Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020

USA Wrestling is proud to announce that LEX LUGER will be appearing at the LAWLER 50th Anniversary Show in Jackson, Tenn. on Sept. 26th at the Jackson Baseball Stadium. Better get your tickets now!!! pic.twitter.com/79AQE4vCxe
— Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020

One of the bright spots of Disney’s earnings report from Tuesday was the health of its streaming platforms. During the quarter, ESPN+ increased by 7.9 million subscribers to 8.5 million. You would have to attribute a lot of that growth to the UFC being one of the few sports properties running over the past few months, which included the huge UFC 249 event from May with Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson and last month’s UFC 251 card with Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal and two other title fights. Disney’s other streaming services also saw increases led by Disney+ that added 24 million subscribers this past quarter with 50 million subscribers total. Hulu added 3.4 million subscribers leading to a total of 101.5 million between the three services.
Felt that was an interesting article especially when comparing it to WWE and their struggles to grow their WWE Network sub base to levels they still haven't hit all these years later.

WWE ended up taping only one episode of SmackDown on Tuesday at the Performance Center after the original plans called for two episodes to be taped. The call was made Monday to scrap the taping of the second episode, which would be the show airing on August 14th. I was told they are still finalizing the schedule for when they will be taping their next shows.

Scott Steiner's restaurant recently announced that it is being closed, but Steiner wrote on social media that he is looking to open a sports bar.

Booker T was not a fan of TNA moving away from the six-sided ring.

Longtime TNA/IMPACT fans certainly remember the company having a six-sided ring when TNA Impact premiered in June 2004. It was done to give the promotion a unique presentation compared to what most wrestling fans were used to, and while there were flaws with it, it certainly stood out.

The six-sided ring was done away with in January 2010 upon the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.

Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T recalled the change and why it was such a mistake.

"I had left the week before Hogan came in. Honestly, what I thought, when they changed to the four-sided ring and I heard it was being debated, I didn't agree with it. I believed in the identity that TNA had built that was different, different than any other wrestling company ever produced. Having the six-sided ring was different. Did I like the six-sided ring? Not really. It wasn't my cup of tea. (It was) hard and a lot of guys used it better to do their tricks off of. I knew I wasn't going to be taking many bumps and I knew I wasn't going to be jumping off the top rope. I was good with the situation. I'm thinking about the future, not the past, and the identity this company had built and when they went away from the six-sided ring because of Hogan coming in, me personally, Hogan should've been thinking about the same thing. [He's] not going to take any bumps or do anything off the top rope, so it shouldn't matter if these young kids want to go around and do all this stuff. We need them to do that. Moving away from the six-sided ring was the bullet in the head that put TNA out of the question as being something different and new," he said.

The six-sided ring returned in June 2014, but was gone again in January 2018. TNA/IMPACT still uses the traditional four-sided ring.

When the AEW rankings came out earlier this morning, it officially had AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida at 20 career AEW wins. This makes Shida the first woman ever to get 20 wins in an AEW ring, joining Trent, Scorpio Sky, Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, Frankie Kazarian, Cody and Hangman Page to also win 20 AEW matches. The two women closest to the 20-win mark are Nyla Rose at 14 wins and Britt Baker at 13 wins.

Finn Balor's alternate persona "The Demon" hasn't been seen since Super ShowDown 2019 and Finn doesn't want to talk about it, until he had to talk about it.

During the SummerSlam 1992 watch party on Fox Sports 1, Balor joked that he didn't want to talk about paint during the Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior match, which of course led to Balor and Renee Young talking about paint.

During the discussion, Balor recalled the original idea for wanting to paint his body and how it grew from there.

"The paint was was a weird idea, it was supposed to be a once-off. I had been working babyface for like six and a half years in Japan and they asked me if I wanted to turn heel. I thought, 'Okay, I'll take everything away that they recognize from me as a babyface. [Jushin Thunder] Liger had already worn the bodysuit and I didn't want to change my body too much so I thought, 'Why not cover my body in black paint?' The idea was that the babyface would be wrestling against this shadow in the ring. That was where the concept came from. The more I played with it, I found a really good painter in Tokyo and we came up with my first Demon character. It was supposed to be a once-off and I'll never forget, I told Karl Anderson a month before it happened, 'I'm going to cover myself in paint for Tokyo Dome' and he said, 'You're gonna look stupid. Everyone is gonna laugh at you. The paint is gonna go everywhere and you'll look like an idiot.' I always remember that one," he said.

Balor has brought out 'The Demon' multiple times in WWE, but it's been over a year since his last appearance.

TPWW Frontpage:

Marty Jannetty Apparently Claims That He Murdered Someone in 1973 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/marty-jannetty-apparently-claims-that-he-murdered-someone-in-1973/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-11/)

Emperor Smeat

08-06-2020, 09:17 PM

The Sheets sponsored by the Wednesday Night Rasslin War:
https://i.imgur.com/UUV9PvN.gif

Coming on a night where they faced competition in the form of three of the four major sports, AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT ratings were both up from last week.

Last night's Dynamite was up 16.6 percent in total viewers, averaging 901,000 viewers. NXT was also up 6.5 percent, averaging 753,000 viewers ...

In the 18-49 demo, AEW averaged a 0.36 rating, up 20 percent from last week. Dynamite finished fifth overall on cable behind two NBA games, Tucker Carlson Tonight, and Real Housewives ...

NXT saw an 11.1% increase in the 18-49 demo from last week, averaging a 0.20 rating. NXT finished 27th overall on cable for the night.

The combined 18-49 number of 0.56 beat all three hours of Raw on Monday.

The story in the other demo categories was similar to most weeks in that NXT won the 50+ category with a 0.39 to 0.33 advantage, the exact same numbers as last week. AEW won every other demo and doubled or nearly doubled NXT in almost every category, particularly in the younger demos.

AEW's strongest category was men 18-49, where Dynamite averaged a 0.45 rating, tied for third on cable for the night. It's notable that AEW averaged a 0.29 rating in people 18-34. That beat Raw this week by itself, which averaged a 0.28 in that category.

AEW’s viewership average was its highest since March 18th, which was the first empty arena show after the shutdown and their sixth-highest number of the year. In the 18-49 demo, it was their best performance since February 5th, which did the same rating. This week’s demo number is tied for AEW’s second-best performance of the year with the episodes airing on January 1st, January 8th, and Feb. 5th ...

For NXT, they did see increases in all their demos as well as overall viewership, which averaged 753,000 and was up 6.5% this week. It was their best numbers in those categories since the second Great American Bash show on July 8th that was headlined by the Double Tite Match between Adam Cole and Keith Lee ...

It was a rare week where no key demo decreased on either program.

Adam Cole vs. Pat McAfee is now official for NXT TakeOver XXX after McAfee posted a video accepting the challenge that was issued to him. The show is taking place on Saturday, August 22.
The fact this actually got made as an official Takeover match is crazy. Feud itself has been somewhat dumb but to actually waste a spot on a TakeOver card is another thing. Road Dogg really wasn't joking when he mentioned a while ago that NXT was going to start leaning a lot more into WWE booking mentality for the brand and storylines.

Triple H announced that Metallica’s “Moth Into Flame” is an official theme song of NXT TakeOver XXX: “#NXTTakeOver: XXX will be our biggest event yet…so we had to make it as LOUD as possible. A special thank you to @Metallica for this #NXTLoud theme. ‘Moth Into Flame’ gets even LOUDER on S&M2, out August 28th. #WeAreNXT”
Link: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1291090843995123713

Eric Bischoff is not officially All Elite.

Bischoff made a surprise appearance on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite as the moderator for the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. It was his first appearance on TNT wrestling since 2000 when he was a regular on WCW Nitro.

Mike Johnson at PWInsider reported Bischoff's appearance was a one-off. Bill Pritchard of WrestleZone talked to Bischoff and asked if any future plans with AEW were discussed. Bischoff said, “No. It was a cameo and it made sense in that particular scene between Orange Cassidy and Chris Jericho."

Q - Could the hooded new group in WWE be formerly released wrestlers?

A - That would actually be a hell of a story, but I haven't heard that to be the case. They could easily just have everyone under hoodies until the reveal so it would be very easy to have others in their place before the reveal.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about who might be members of WWE's new mysterious faction.

Xavier Woods guest appeared on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Woods spoke about his gaming feud with Kenny Omega and stated that he still wants to do an inter-promotional wrestling match with Omega.

“Kenny Omega has been on my YouTube show before and so have the Young Bucks. We have been able to do a Street Fighter Tournament together with a wrestling spin on it of course with the contract signing and cutting promos on each other beforehand. Using video games as a conduit we have been able to do something no one else has been able to do. That rivalry is still going strong today and I’m pretty sure it will never end. I would love to do some sort of inter-promotional match with him one day. The goal is to destroy boundaries. Do things that we aren’t supposed to be doing because people would really enjoy it. Given the right circumstances, I do think it could happen, but we’ll see.”

Xavier Woods recounted some of his experiences with Vince McMahon and mentioned how McMahon was laughing uncontrollably backstage when he first saw Woods with the trombone. Once New Day got to the backstage area, McMahon told Woods to always carry the trombone with him.

“I decided why don’t I bring out the trombone to the ring with me. I may never get another chance to bring it out onto TV with me. Kofi and Big E are having a match and I’m on the floor, as per usual (laughs). So I have the trombone and I’m thinking to myself what would make the guys laugh. I just started randomly playing the trombone during the match and during the commercial break the cameraman walked up to me. He said Vince is dying laughing in the back, he loves the trombone, keep playing it. Vince had tears in his eyes and he was screaming laughing, he loved it that much. When we got to the back he said, ‘Forever, forever, you will always be bringing out the trombone to the ring with you.'”

D-Von Dudley welcomed Kofi Kingston onto the Table Talk podcast. Kofi was asked about the public viewing him as the first African-American WWE Champion and not Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Kofi feels that it’s “silly” that people don’t associate that accolade with Johnson because he’s half-Samoan.

“And I agree with you too man. I think it’s sometimes kinda silly that people try to not count The Rock in that category because regardless of what you look like, you are what you are, you know what I’m saying? He’s black, whether he’s half-black or full black, he’s black so, but I definitely take a lot of pride in that sentiment like you said. I think for a long time, people of color, especially African Americans have been waiting for someone who looks exactly like them to hold that championship title and I mention it all the time but on Twitter and social media, the moment that happened, I got so many different messages and people in tears. There’s a video of actually Shad [Gaspard] and MVP crying.”

Anyone who has seen The Rock's animated hit "Moana" knows just how catchy those songs are. "You're Welcome" was listed in the Top 5 of Spotify's most listened to Disney songs in the car.

And Daniel Bryan, like most parents out there who have had to endure the song endlessly after one viewing of "Moana," is TIRED OF HEARING IT!

Taking to social media, Bryan gave his reason as to why he wants a match with The Rock. Not because it would do big business at the box office or elevate Bryan's career to new heights. Nope, it's all because he's sick of that friggin' song.

Always one to put talent over, The Rock is ready to do the job for Bryan.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/1291376874136903681 , https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1291444518215192577

Vickie Guerrero is officially All Elite.

Speaking with Simon Hannig of Daily DDT, Vickie confirmed that she officially signed her AEW contract this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Vickie made cameo appearances in Inner Circle segments during 2020 but took on a more prominent on-screen role at AEW Fight for the Fallen when she was announced as the manager for Nyla Rosa.

When asked about joining AEW instead of going back to WWE, Vickie said, "No hesitation, put it that way. I retired from WWE in 2014. My focus was not to return to them. We just had a lot of just difference of opinions and things going on. If it wasn’t going to be for AEW, I don’t think I would be anywhere else, but when AEW presented that there was some opportunity, I gave 100%, just my whole being. I said, 'I’m here for you and I can’t wait to be a team player with the company.'"

Kazuchika Okada has an idea of what his first stipulation for the KOPW Title tournament will be.

During today's NJPW Summer Struggle show, Okada revealed that he is in the tournament as well as Yujiro Takahashi. Okada cut a quick promo on Takahashi and made his first proposal for their first round match which is Okada facing Takahashi in a 3 vs. 1 handicap match, except it is Okada who would be at a disadvantage.
Link: https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1291328412095660032

On Monday, AEW began its Women's Tag Team Tournament: The Deadly Draw. The concept behind the tournament is similar to WCW's Lethal Lottery where teams are randomly drawn for the tournament.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Brandi Rhodes, discussed the tournament and how it will help spotlight the women in the division.

“I see people saying they want more for the women in AEW, and that’s where my idea for the Tag Team Cup Tournament came from,” said Rhodes. “I don’t book the women’s division, but I help out wherever I can, and I’m really excited for this tournament. I hope people take their cues from the women involved, because we’re really excited about this. This exists on its own, with no restraints. I think people are going to be charmed by it, both by the production and the talent. Very quickly, it’s become a labor of love, with graphics, travel, filming pre-tapes, every detail. People are working really hard to create new content. It’s not tacked onto Dark or Dynamite, this is the start of something great for the women’s division.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Matt Hardy Needed Stitches, Posts Photos of His Head After Being Busted Open (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/matt-hardy-needed-stitches-posts-photos-of-his-head-after-being-busted-open/)
NXT: Three Matches Announced for Next Week, New TakeOver Match, Dexter Lumis Pulled From TakeOver (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/nxt-three-matches-announced-for-next-week-new-takeover-match-dexter-lumis-pulled-from-takeover/)
Four Matches Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/four-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-aew-dynamite-3/)

Emperor Smeat

08-07-2020, 01:29 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE announced on 8/5 that Nick Khan, the man who negotiated the company’s current television deals with FOX and NBC Universal for Raw, Smackdown and NXT, has been named new company President and Chief Revenue Officer.

Essentially he takes the position formerly held by George Barrios, and is basically the replacement for both Barrios and Michelle Wilson, who were fired in January, leading to a huge drop in the WWE stock price due to investor uncertainty. Khan signed a lucrative five-year deal which is valued at approximately $35.5 million if profits each year reach their target amount and he remains with the company for that duration. He also receives a full benefits package. Khan’s deal includes relocating to Stamford by the end of this month and working in the company offices, reporting directly, and only, to Vince McMahon.

Khan was the Co-Head of Television at the Creative Arts Agency (CAA), which took over WWE’s television negotiations for its Raw and Smackdown deals after the split between WWE and Endeavor over the conflict of interest of the same group at the same time negotiating both UFC and WWE deals with the feeling they were in competition ...

Khan was also involved in a later deal to get NXT onto the USA Network, which was key, because the show without the big lead-in provided would have done far worse on FS 1 as was originally talked with. Even though WWE drew far more eyeballs, historically pro wrestling eyeballs were not considered valuable for television with the belief it draws from lower-income audiences. But CAA and WWE leveraged a bidding war between NBC Universal and Fox, first for Raw, and then for Smackdown, which led to the company increasing its rights fees by 260 percent for its two major franchise shows ...

It would make sense that one of Khan’s early moves would be to attempt to sell network property, whether it be the PPVs, or that and more content, to a larger streaming company and get similar level guaranteed money. Vince McMahon had attempted to do that earlier in the year and predicted a deal before WrestleMania, but talks fell apart due to money tightening from the big players due to the pandemic. With his experience, he would no doubt become the key person in the company involved in negotiations in around 2022, for the Raw & Smackdown deals that expire in October 2024, as well as the NXT deal, which is believed to expire in October 2021 ...

There are a number of other key aspects of this deal, but with his contacts with not only the major players in cable and streaming, as well as the sports business media, Khan is a key hire for the next round of contract negotiations as far as being within the company as opposed to outside the company, which can make them and in other ways save them significant amounts of money ...

Khan was a huge part of the FOX deal, which is the key deal because USA is not going to give up on WWE even though they were on board with a short-term decline as an 18-month rebuilding phase which was then dropped last month, and instead the declines continued at a stronger rate. He also has a good relationship with USA Network, which was strong on Paul Heyman ...

The company made a second hire this past week, as James Kimball, who had been the operations head of the UFC Performance Institute, overseeing both the Shanghai, China and Las Vegas training facilities, is moving to Stamford, CT to take a senior business operations role in WWE according to Marc Raimondi of ESPN. Dr. Duncan French, who had been the performance head of the Performance Institutes, will take over as the operational head.

WWE is just over two weeks away from its weekend of SummerSlam and Takeover and three weeks from Backlash. AEW is also four weeks away from its second All Out show.

SummerSlam, the traditional No. 3 show of the year in the U.S., currently has no announced location even though it is three weeks away. Originally set for Boston, and then Orlando, the latest word is that it will be in Atlantic City. Vince McMahon had wanted it outside of Orlando to have a different look. He strongly wanted it before fans but it’s not clear whether that will be the case. If there are no fans, there is no imminent need to announce a location.

The other three shows at this point are from Florida ...

NXT Takeover the night before, which usually is built up with more straight-forward angles, will be headlined by Keith Lee vs. Karrion Kross for the NXT title and Io Shirai vs. Dakota Kai for the women’s title ...

Pat McAfee vs. Adam Cole is happening in some form as an attempt to get mainstream sports attention. McAfee was a former All-Pro punter with the Indianapolis Colts but he’s been a WWE Network pregame show character for quite a while, along with being a streaming talk show host. Depending on how it’s done, this will be a real test for Cole having to carry a guy in his first match. But the guy is a legit athlete and he’s 33 years old, so even though he had his football injuries, he’s by no means old. This is all about getting the brand publicity outside of pro wrestling circles and it’ll be a challenge to see just how good Cole really is.

Regarding the note from last week about furloughed employees being told they were not being brought back in August, this has led to a lot of significant unhappiness. They furloughed about 240 full-time non-wrestlers in mid-April, so while the wrestlers were not figured into the large profits for the quarter because they were still being paid through mid-July, there was the savings of some money in quarter two of employee cuts in that $51.6 million in savings. The producers and others in live events pretty much knew they were done until those shows returned. Most of the others expected to be back at the start of July. A few of those people were brought back, but it’s a small number. The basic argument is that the furloughs made sense in April due to the unforeseen prospects of the future, because if they missed providing new television for weeks, which was possible had it not been for Gov. DeSantis in Florida, the contracts that carry the company could have been in jeopardy. Plus, Vince at first was terribly fearful if they didn’t air shows live they could cancel the deals. But by July, that fear was gone. FOX & NBC Universal weren’t opting out, nor demanding the shows be live, and WWE has a place to tape with no fear of being booted out, or limited fear because nobody can 100 percent see a future that nobody really knows. The argument is that by July, they knew they were setting profit records and then to extend the furloughs twice since then is the thing employees were really upset about. Right now the date is 8/28 so they’d come back in September, but nobody knows how many will be back or if it’ll be extended another month. And of course, it’s the worst time ever for the job market. And there may be the feeling that they just set record profits with lower costs and that maybe they don’t need all those people after all. But the unhappiness is that management already knew the quarter two records and seven days before the investment call they extended the furloughs another month
For some perspective, WWE employees around 1000 people although not entirely sure if that actually includes wrestlers or not. Either way, a huge chunk of the company got impacted by those furloughs and releases.

I can’t confirm pen to paper, but Rey Mysterio is staying, as was always the betting line outcome of this, but it’s as close to official without confirmation of it being official, and obviously Dominik is a big part of that deal. AEW made an offer that equaled the WWE’s per-match offer, but the WWE offer was higher because it was for more dates. We don’t have a time frame past this new deal would be considerably longer than the previous (18 months) deal but not the five-years or longer deals that WWE has tried to get everyone on

There were all kinds of issues on 8/3 and 8/4 with the tapings for the 8/3 and 8/10 Raw shows and 8/7 Smackdown show. It’s always chaotic day of the show, but this was said to be an overly chaotic week due to the 7/27 show doing so poorly in the ratings even with a hotshot show and Vince being grilled by investors about ratings as well as negative articles on the ratings not in the wrestling world but outside the world where that has been largely, particularly the financial and entertainment world. Vince McMahon during the week came up with Shane’s return and what that would entail and an angle with Orton and Ric Flair and he wouldn’t commit to any other outside ideas. As of the morning of the show, that was all he had approved of and a show was written but not with him approving of any other elements. There was a meeting during the day before the investment call on 7/30 described as brutal as Vince approved nothing. They had another meeting on 7/31 which lasted four hours. He did talk forever about how much he loves Bayley and her new persona and that he sees Peyton Royce and Bianca Belair as singles stars. After Raw on 8/4, with Smackdown the next day in chaos due to Vince blowing up the scripted show and the loss of some people at the last minute expected to appear on the show, the decision was made to only tape one week of Smackdown on 8/4, instead of two. The original plan was to tape NXT on 8/12 for both 8/12 and 8/19, and that is still on. Since key people in production will be there, the 8/14 Smackdown show will be taped on 8/13, the next day. The 8/17 Raw show, scheduled to be taped a few hours earlier that day along with the 8/21 Smackdown show, was moved to being taped on 8/13 with the Smackdown show to save on costs. However that still leaves the 8/21 Smackdown show, and officially no decision was made about that show at press time. Right now, aside from Takeover on 8/22 and the upcoming PPV dates, there is nothing scheduled and everything is to be determined. The logic would be the 8/21 show to be taped on its own the day before, since the production team is already working the next day in Florida and it makes no sense to bring them in twice. But those in the company, talent, producers, production people, writers and others have not been told of any television taping dates after 8/13

So this is the situation with the draft, which at last word is expected for October with two dates (a Smackdown and a Raw date) being talked about. It was scheduled for October, but then talked about for August because they know they need to make changes. Then it was brought up that doing it in early August would mess up the angles for SummerSlam. So then it was September. Last week the idea was late August, but then with the second PPV show on 8/30, they figured to wait until after that. So then it was moved to October which is where it is this week, but can easily change, like everything does

Regarding the story about NXT adding new writers , there have been three people who were on the regular writing team who were moved to writing NXT when it moved to television in September. They’ve added two others, one who had been a former writer brought back to the company and the other someone on the writing team who was working for the company moved to NXT. Although nobody will say it, there is a lot of unhappiness about losing in the ratings every week. The unhappiness shouldn’t be losing as much as the complete inability to draw those under 50. NXT has always had writers but they were people who were on the main roster writing team who would also help write NXT. Since going on television, NXT was given three exclusive writers and now that number has been upped to five

NEW JAPAN: For the 8/29 Jingu Stadium show, it looks like they are going with 30 percent capacity, which would be around 10,000 tickets with about 2,000 priced at $188 and the other 8,000 at $103.50 so in theory they can do the million dollar gate that they were hoping for out of Madison Square Garden. What we were told is that the number of tickets being sold is not public but it would be about the same as the Yakult Swallows games are being set up for. That could end up being 50 percent capacity or 18,000, but I don’t know that they have the card that would draw that many people and at this point still only have two matches announced and we’re a few weeks away. They do have the deal where most fans haven’t been able to get into shows, since the Tokyo shows have been held at 482 paid at Korakuen Hall, so most fans aren’t being able to get tickets, and this show would be the first most would be able to attend in Tokyo in months, so that could help attendance

Harold Meij did an interview with Weekly Toyo Kazai. The subject was talking about the pandemic and how it affected the business. He noted that 50 percent of New Japan revenue is live ticket sales and that merchandise at the events is a large percentage as well ...

Regarding New Japan World numbers, he said they did drop to 90,000 during the months of not running shows, which did hold up better than you’d think with months of no new events. They are now back around 100,000, broken down as about 60,000 in Japan (few subscription streaming services do big business in Japan as compared to other countries) and 40,000 outside Japan. They’ve peaked at 120,000 to 125,000 during Wrestle Kingdom or G-1 season, as well as during last year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament ...

He noted that only 20 percent of New Japan’s revenue comes from a combination of New Japan World and TV rights fees. Right now WWE’s revenue is 90 percent those two categories so they could continue with minimal economic damage, and actually ended up being far more profitable during the pandemic. Meij noted that 60 percent or more of revenue coming from television rights fees is the norm in the international sports world.

Regarding Excalibur, he will be back. Nobody has officially said anything but we were told he was flying to Jacksonville for next week’s television and unless things change would be back on the first show taped that airs on 8/12. His name hasn’t been mentioned on either Dynamite or Dark and Taz was in his spot on both shows

While not getting a lot of pub, they [AEW] have cut back on extras that were being brought in weekly. Pineapple Pete was the biggest name not brought back

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week were: 1. Greatest Stars of the 90s; 2. Day of Extreme Rules with Bayley and Banks; 3. Extreme Rules; 4. Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event; 5. Raw Talk for 8/3; 6. Double Champions of the last decade; 7. Raw from 6/29. It’s a bad thing when a month old Raw show is beating NXT, 205 Live and NXT U.K
To be fair to NXT UK, WWE's been mostly running "Best Of" episodes for the brand ever since they stopped tapings.

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings, Impact Ratings, & Coronavirus Impact on Ratings stuff:

Raw on 8/3 was in a sense a ratings bright spot but also a question mark regarding where it was yet another hotshot that will result in more damage down the line.

Even going against the NBA, Raw increased 6.1 percent overall and 6.8 percent in 18-49 from last week’s low marks and averaged 1,715,000 viewers and 0.51 (660,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The number was still the sixth lowest of all-time, but was also the best the show has done overall in five weeks.

The increase was a combination of last-day hype of the return of Shane McMahon and the debut of a new group, and during the show, of the anticipation of both and hype of Raw Underground, a Fight Club like presentation.

The second hour did strongly. It was the most-watched hour of the show in five weeks, with major growth over hour one ...

The first hour did 1,710,000 viewers. The second hour increased to 1,824,000 viewers while hour three declined to 1,610,000 viewers.

But each demo told a different story. Women 18-49 grew 22.2 percent in our two before falling 9.1 percent in hour three. Men 18-49 grew 10.2 percent in hour two and then fell 4.6 percent in hour three. Teenage girls grew 17.8 percent in hour two and then grew another 21.6 percent in hour three. Teenage boys grew 17.4 percent in hour two and another 22.8 percent in hour three. Over 50 stayed the same in hour two but fell 15.3 percent in hour three.

For a comparison, last week’s show fell 88.0 percent after hour two with teenage girls, 52.6 percent after hour two with teenage boys and 7.2 percent after hour two with those over 50

Smackdown on 7/31 did a 1.18 rating, 1,894,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home) and a 0.50 (644,000 viewers) 18-49 rating.

Viewers were down 1.6 percent going against NBA action, the rating was down 3.3 percent but 18-49 was up 4.2 percent, so it’s an overall plus. It was the third lowest number of viewers since Smackdown went on FOX, barely ahead of 5/1 and well ahead of 7/3, which was the record low due to the holiday weekend. But the 18-49 number was well up from the last several weeks. With the lower viewing number but higher 18-49 number, the median viewer age dropped to 55.3 years old.

Smackdown was last place in viewers among network programming which was almost all reruns, but it was the only show to hit 0.5 in 18-49 among networks shows with a number of 0.4s. However it was third for the night, as even with the advantage of being in 34 percent more homes, both NBA games beat Smackdown in 18-49 ...

The segments were 1.90 million for A.J. Styles vs. Gran Metalik, 1.84 million for clips of Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus, Hardy and King Corbin interviews, Corbin vs. Drew Gulak and the Matt Riddle-Chad Gable angle. It was 1.95 million for Big E vs. Miz and Naomi vs. Lacey Evans as the high point of the show. And it did 1.87 million for the Mandy Rose-Sonya Deville angle and Bayley vs. Nikki Cross ...

FOX on the same week last year with rerun programming did 1,514,000 viewers and 0.3 in 18-49.

There was a major turning point this past week, as for the first time, even with head-to-head competition from both NXT and an NBA game with LeBron James, AEW won the week in both the overall 18-34 demo for the first time and in 18-34 women for the second time ...

AEW had 201,000 18-34 viewers as compared to 200,000 for Raw and 183,000 for Smackdown. Smackdown has the huge advantage of being on FOX and should blow away the field, but doesn’t.

It was close with men, but both WWE shows were still ahead, with Smackdown at 118,000, Raw had 110,000 and AEW at 108,000. With women, AEW had the edge with 83,000 to 80,000 for Raw and 61,000 for Smackdown ...

For 8/5, AEW did its beat overall number since 3/18 and best 18-49 number since 2/5, for a loaded up show where every key star had a segment. But NXT did well with, even with stronger competition with the NBA, it did its best numbers four weeks.

AEW did 901,000 viewers and a 0.36 in 18-49 (461,000 viewers), good for fifth place in the key demo on the night, trailing two NBA games, Tucker Carlson and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ...

NXT did 753,000 viewers and 0.20 in 18-49 (255,000 viewers). It was 27th for the night in 18-49 ...

The NBA actually skews younger than AEW. Right now of major sports, AEW has the third youngest age skew behind soccer and the NBA ...

AEW won every key demo, and huge with the young ones. In Males 18-34, AEW nearly tripled NXT. AEW had 108,000 viewers (up 58.8 percent form last week) while NXT had 39,000 (identical to last week). In women 18-34, AEW had 83,000 viewers (up 27.7 percent from last week) and NXT had 36,000 (up 50.0 percent from last week), so AEW doubled there a well. In men 35-49 AEW had 183,000 viewers (up 0.5 percent from last week) and NXT had 121,000 (up 17.5 percent from last week0. In women 35-49, AEW had 87,000 (up 10.1 percent from last week) and NXT had 59,000 (down 9.2 percent from last week).

In the main event battle, AEW did 863,000 viewers and 450,000 in 18-49 for the Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin title match. NXT had 713,000 viewers and 249,000 in 18-49 for Imperium vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, which was really a segment built around the Adam Cole-Pat McAfee angle.

The night featured the most successful segments since the early weeks of the pandemic, with the Young Bucks & FTR & Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Dark Order match averaging 943,000 viewers, besting the Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade that did 912,000. Six of the eight quarters on the show beat the 887,000 mark for the Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole double title match that had been the pandemic high point until recent weeks.

In 18-49, the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy debate did 487,000 as the peak, and there were five of eight AEW quarters that beat the 459,000 18-49 number of Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade from two weeks earlier that was the previous top Wednesday mark since April.

The first quarter saw AEW do 943,000 viewers and 460,000 in 18-49 for the 12 man tag match. NXT, with its big lead-in edge, did 820,000 viewers and 232,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs. Rhea Ripley. This was both group’s total audience peak.

The second quarter saw AEW do 943,000 viewers and 479,000 in18-49 for the ending of the 12 man, a Moxley interview and the beginning of Ortiz & Santana vs. Best Friends. NXT did 777,000 viewers and 252,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Kai vs. Ripley and post-match, and Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne.

The third quarter saw AEW do 885,000 viewers and 451,000 in 18-49 for most of Best Friends vs. Ortiz & Santana. NXT did 771,000 viewers and 263,000 in 18-49 for the kidnapping of Fandango, a Robert Stone interview and the beginning of Damien Priest vs. Oney Lorcan vs. Ridge Holland.

The fourth quarter saw AEW do 919,000 viewers and 460,000 in 18-49 for the MJF interview, Matt Hardy interview and angle with Sammy Guevara and Ortiz & Santana messing up Sue’s minivan. NXT did 756,000 viewers and 285,000 in 18-49 for the bulk of the Priest vs. Lorcan vs. Holland three-way which was the 18-49 peak of the night for NXT.

The fifth quarter saw AEW do 915,000 viewers and 471,000 in 18-49 for Cody & Matt Cardona vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds. NXT did 759,000 viewers and 263,000 in 18-49 for Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes.

The sixth quarter saw AEW do 918,000 viewers and 487,000 in 18-49 for the Jericho/Cassidy debate with Eric Bischoff. NXT did 700,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49 for the Lee/Karrion Kross confrontation and the Santos Escobar guys beating up Tyler Breeze & Fandango.

The seventh quarter saw AEW do 825,000 viewers and 427,000 in 18-49 for the post-debate, Britt Baker’s interview and Reba vs. Big Swole. NXT did 730,000 viewers and 255,000 in18-49for the Pat McAfee stuff and Indi Hartwell vs. Tegan Nox.

IMPACT: We have monthly average television ratings for the Thursday night prime time show for this year. January averaged 169,000 viewers and 49,000 in 18-49 (0.04 in the demo). February averaged 181,000 viewers and 54,000 in 18-49 (0.04). March averaged 161,000 viewers and 36,000 in 18-49 (0.03). April averaged 144,000 and 27,000 in 18-49 (0.02). May averaged 153,000 and 34,000 in 18-49 (0.03). June averaged 141,000 and 32,000 in 18-49 (0.02). July averaged 153,000 and 44,000 in 18-49 (0.03). The key takes is that Impact draws a much older audience than any other wrestling show. Impact is also the most-watched show on the station. We don’t have the median but you can get a glimpse of the age by looking at the percentage of viewers of a show that are 18-49. Impact was 28.8 percent in July. For the week of 7/27 to 8/2, Raw was 38.2 percent, AEW was 51.0 percent, NXT was 32.7 percent and Smackdown was 34.0 percent. So Impact is skewing far older than even NXT and Smackdown, and those shows are in the 55-57 range as the age of the median viewer

There are a few things to look at regarding how television viewing has changed during the pandemic, looking at WWE, NXT, AEW and Impact.

What we are doing here is comparing July, which means that the stronger numbers that both Raw and AEW did as compared to July are not factored in. But the overall 12-17 and 18-34 trend, huge drops for Raw and Smackdown, and staying even and lesser drops respectively for AEW, had been building all month to where the lines would intersect.

Right now, AEW, with competition, is very close and sometimes even ahead of both Raw and Smackdown, without competition, under the age of 35 ...

Raw for July was down 36.2 percent from the prior year, by far the largest year-to-year drop in the history of the show. Now, some, if not much of this is the pandemic, and we’ve never had a year where Raw had no crowd. The previous record drop was between April 2018 to April 2019, which was down 25 percent. The April drop was 21 percent from the prior year. The May drop was 23 percent. And the June drop was 24 percent. Paul Heyman’s removal came in early June, and then they had the two good weeks when they brought back Ric Flair, Big Show and Christian before that gimmick ran its course and things fell harder than ever.

Even scarier is that in the history of Raw, there was never a 30 percent drop year-to-year for any show in history over the same week the prior year that can’t be explained by either a holiday or a special episode.

But over the past six weeks, the drop from the year before has exceeded 30 percent in five of those weeks. So we can say that even though WWE has added an audience making the atmosphere better, the audience has declined from the complete empty arena shows, and that goes for Smackdown as well ...

First, we looked at the month of February, which was when things were going usual even though there were certainly hints of problems. Really, nobody was taking it seriously until early March and then, in a hurry, the world changed. Everything stopped production except WWE, AEW and Impact Wrestling ...

We’ll start with Raw. Raw averaged 2,288,000 viewers in February and 1,623,000 in July, a decline of 29.1 percent. In 18-49, the average went from 0.74 to 0.48, a decline of 35.1 percent ...

As expected, the largest audience, over 50, remained the most loyal, but that is still a scary drop over a five-month period ...

We don’t have the same level of details for Smackdown as far as different groups, but we do have the key numbers.

Smackdown in February averaged 2,542,000 viewers and 0.75 in 18-49. In July it averaged 1,878,000 viewers and a 0.46 in 18-49. So the total viewers during the period were down 26.1 percent and 18-49 dropped 38.7 percent, so while the audience decline was slightly less than Raw, in the key demo the drop was worse, which also speaks to the audience of Smackdown aging more over the period.

NXT in February averaged 760,000 viewers in February and 701,000 in July, a drop of 7.8 percent, which on the surface sounds good and it is far less than any other show dropped. In 18-49, the drop was from 0.24 to 0.18, or 25.0 percent, which is still less then Raw or Smackdown but when there is a big difference between the total audience drop and the 18-49 drop, it tells you that the audience has aged significantly during the period.

Breaking it down more, in 12-17 the drop was from 0.11 to 0.08, or 27.3 percent. In 18-34, the drop was from 0.15 to 0.09, or 40.0 percent. In 35-49, the drop was 0.32 to 0.28, or 12.5 percent. And in 50+, the audience was 0.37 both before and after the pandemic. So this didn’t hurt NXT with its older audience at all, but it dropped strongly under 35 ...

AEW in February averaged 876,000 viewers and 774,000 in July, a drop of 11.6 percent, which is more of a drop than NXT. But AEW held up with younger viewers better, falling from a 0.30 in 18-49 to 0.28, a drop of 6.7 percent. When the demo drop is less than overall, that means the audience is getting younger.

Among 12-17, AEW actually increased from 0.12 in February to 0.14 in July, an increase of 16.7 percent. In 18-34, the drop was from 0.20 in February to 0.17 in July, or 15.0 percent. In 35-49, the drop was 0.44 in February to 0.42 in July, or a 4.5 percent drop. In 50+, the drop was big, from 0.36 to 0.29, or 19.4 percent ...

Impact went from 181,000 viewers in February to 153,000, a 15.5 percent drop. The 18-49 number went from 54,000 to 44,000, a drop of 18.5 percent, meaning the show is slightly aging. The 18-34 decline was only 5.9 percent but the 35-49 decline was 24.3 percent ...

The average total audience drop, and remember that this is heavily skewed toward those over 50 since with the exception of AEW, every show’s mean is over 50 and Impact is over 60 and NXT is creeping up to it, would be 18.0 percent. Based on that, NXT and AEW have done the best, Impact is under the average and Raw & Smackdown have declined by far the worst ...

In 18-49, the average drop was 24.9 percent. That’s really quite bad for such a short period of time, even with the circumstances. Raw and Smackdown have done poorly. NXT is at the average. AEW has done the best and Impact has kept its audience the second best. Even though all companies declined, a drop of only 6.7 percent under the circumstances does indicate that to 18-49s, AEW is doing a great job of appealing to that audience under bad circumstances ...

In 18-34, which is probably the most important audience when it comes to looking at the future because they are adults, but still not as much set in their ways, meaning open to newer products and not avoiding change, the average decline is 23.2 percent. NXT is under the average, while AEW and Impact have performed spectacularly with only minor declines. Raw in particular has gotten destroyed. A key also is this is the audience most likely to attend live shows and buy merchandise. It’s also the date crowd. It’s the audience that makes the new trends and that live arena business covets.

In 35-49, an older audience more set in their ways, likely more skewed to what they’ve watched for a long time and with greater brand affiliation, already established their favorite sports team, harder to sway, the decline is 17.5 percent not including Smackdown. Raw and Smackdown should by all rights fare the best here and Raw fares the worst. NXT has declined less than average and AEW has only declined 4.5 percent. Impact has fallen more than average.

In 50+, we only have Raw, NXT and AEW to look at and the average decline is 12.7 percent. In this case, an age group that Raw and Smackdown should fare the best in, Raw is still well above average in its decline. But AEW fared the worst. This demo is most important because it is going to sway the overall number the most, since by far the most wrestling fans watching television are over 50. But as far as future growth, it’s the least important, and not important to advertisers or the television stations.

The key to all this, and what we do have complete information on, is that the pandemic is likely the cause of 18 percent audience loss overall and 25 percent in 18-49. Those are very significant drops so any dismissal of the pandemic as a key reason for declines is ignoring the elephant in the room.

Still, it’s not the disaster it could be. The key is that both overall, and more in 18-49, Raw and Smackdown are getting killed as far beyond pandemic levels. Anything above those average numbers is on the product losing appeal, and with Raw and Smackdown, that is very significant.

NXT has done great with the over 50 audience in keeping it. The show has done well with over 35 and not well at all with under 35. And keep in mind that the start point, in February, the show wasn’t doing well under 35 and now has gotten significantly worse. NXT is holding its younger female audience much better than its male audience. Really, all shows are, but Raw’s declines in women 12-49 are still in the 34.7 to 37.3 percent range while NXT is 18.0 and 3.8.

AEW has done great as far as maintaining under 50. In every demo it greatly beats the other shows other than Impact actually has held up the best in 18-34. But the real feather in its cap is women 12-49, where it has maintained and even grown while the other products have declined. While still not at the level of Raw and Smackdown, they have gained significantly among teens and if this trend continues, will be the top show among teens at some point. A 54.2 percent increase in teenage girls watching during this pandemic speaks volumes.

Mr. Nerfect

08-08-2020, 03:30 PM

Most of the under 50 crowd would watch NXT on the Network or on delay. How is that so hard for people to understand? Well, Meltzer probably understands it, but it doesn't make a good story. Also, lol @ "nobody will say it." So it's just made up. Cool. :y:

xrodmuc316

08-08-2020, 04:01 PM

Meltzer is such a turd.

"While I can't name names since it was off the record, I can confirm WWE doesn't like it when AEW beats NXT in the ratings."

1. He has no sources, nobody in WWE talks to him.
2. No shit Dave, no shit.

Mr. Nerfect

08-08-2020, 04:26 PM

Well, no shit, but it also completely ignores that NXT has succeeded in its mission to cap AEW and split that hardcore audience. NXT are also still fighting AEW with one hand tied behind their back using nothing but limited resources found largely on site and they're obviously being patient and still putting their content up on the WWE Network the next day.

It was obvious AEW was going to beat NXT out the gate. That's why NXT debuted earlier. Is it annoying that the new car smell on AEW is lasting this long? Sure. And it's probably frustrating that when NXT does turn the tides, the hardcore fans snap back to give AEW another edge. But they're very obviously being patient with that. It just isn't cool to say and you get called a WWE cocksucker for pointing out the obvious long-term strategy of waiting them out.

Mr. Nerfect

08-08-2020, 04:30 PM

Sometimes people confuse Meltzer's opinions as him stating facts -- but remember when he said that Vince McMahon was definitely getting involved in NXT. That was obviously bullshit (history has born that out), but it was also unreasonable (I'm sure Vince's Wednesdays were already busy). It would have also been counterproductive. It also missed the point of what NXT is supposed to be (monetized developmental, boutique product, audition for Triple H). It was also either a straight-up lie or something he heard from AEW that he reported as fact because it helps the narrative.

You cannot trust Meltzer on the AEW/NXT "war." I don't believe he's on the take, but his reporting on it is just not balanced.

Fignuts

08-08-2020, 08:00 PM

Vince’s involvement could of just been sending the main roster writers over to NXT. That’s something that would definitely be Vince’s call. Also explains the sterile, formulaic feeling of NXT since the TV deal.

I could see some people in NXT being frustrated about the ratings, because if NXT talent didn’t have its hands tied with all these main roster hack writers, and functioned more like the pre TV deal NXT, they’d have a lot more wins.

Fignuts

08-08-2020, 08:05 PM

I shouldn’t be mean to the writers. I forget who said it, but apparently the writers have lots of great ideas, but most of it gets shot down by Vince for the crap we end up with.

Emperor Smeat

08-08-2020, 08:09 PM

Vince’s involvement could of just been sending the main roster writers over to NXT. That’s something that would definitely be Vince’s call. Also explains the sterile, formulaic feeling of NXT since the TV deal.

Road Dogg mentioned in an interview a while back about NXT putting a lot more focus towards character/gimmick building and sports entertainment style and less on what NXT was doing pre-USA Network.

Speaking with Corey Graves on WWE’s After The Bell podcast, Road Dogg opened up about how the black and gold brand is making a conscious effort to develop more characters as the in-ring action is at an all-time peak in WWE

“Working on the entrances, working on the TV spots, and cool camera angles and I mean, we take a lot of time in that stuff and I don't know what people think about that, but man the television aspect of what we do is second to none,” said the former multi-time WWE Tag Team Champion. “I'd put [NXT] up against any, even in the other [WWE] brands, but any television show”

He continued, “Sometimes we get the criticism like, 'Oh it's too clean. It's too perfect.' Well, okay. That's what we're doing. That's what we're trying to do. We don't want it to be Channel 5 studio wrestling. We want it to be a cool television show that just happens to be hip tosses and arm drags in between commercials, you know? Now like we talked about, it's time to [say] okay, we got this live TV thing down. We got this wrestling thing down. Let's dive deeper into the characters and that's where we're going and we're going to try to bring a little more entertainment back into the show. NXT's been heavily wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. We want to bring-- and we started that with Riddle and Pete Dunne-- we're making a conscious effort to get a little more entertainment and dive deeper into character. So, the future is bright, man and I'm loving what I'm doing.”
https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/road-dogg-says-nxt-making-conscious-effort-focus-more-character-development

Him and HBK having a heavier hand in NXT Creative has been having more of a negative effect on the show.

When Dusty was in charge, he was a lot more hands-off when it came to creative stuff and let the sole lead writer handle creative with some input from NXT agents. Same for Triple H back then but he's been getting more hands-on ever since Dusty's death and even more so since the switch to USA Network.

Mr. Nerfect

08-08-2020, 08:42 PM

Vince’s involvement could of just been sending the main roster writers over to NXT. That’s something that would definitely be Vince’s call. Also explains the sterile, formulaic feeling of NXT since the TV deal.

I could see some people in NXT being frustrated about the ratings, because if NXT talent didn’t have its hands tied with all these main roster hack writers, and functioned more like the pre TV deal NXT, they’d have a lot more wins.

There are 600k people who are going to choose AEW regardless. I really don't think the show has changed that much. Seems like regular NXT to me, but maybe I just don't pay enough attention? They could really use some personalities down there. A hot angle and some programs people care about wouldn't hurt.

For the hardcore internet crowd, letting Gabe Sapolsky play matchmaker probably isn't the worst idea. He knows how to put together the matches that those people want to see. Maybe give him his choose of a few main roster guys and go from there?

xrodmuc316

08-08-2020, 09:22 PM

There are 600k people who are going to choose AEW regardless. I really don't think the show has changed that much. Seems like regular NXT to me, but maybe I just don't pay enough attention? They could really use some personalities down there. A hot angle and some programs people care about wouldn't hurt.

For the hardcore internet crowd, letting Gabe Sapolsky play matchmaker probably isn't the worst idea. He knows how to put together the matches that those people want to see. Maybe give him his choose of a few main roster guys and go from there?

My only problem with NXT is that being 2 hours means non NXT stuff gets shoved in. I've said it here before, but if I wanted to watch 205 Live or NXT UK, I would just watch 205 Live and NXT UK.

I don't generally care about that content, and it's when I switch over to see what AEW has going on.

xrodmuc316

08-10-2020, 02:21 AM

"The people in the mask aren't necessarily the same people who will actually be in the new retribution group." ~ Dave Meltzer

Basically, Dave doesn't know who is under the mask, so we won't know who they are until they actually unmask, and we won't know for sure if they were the masked ones the whole time or just this time.

Meltzer for the win. That will be $11.99

Mr. Nerfect

08-10-2020, 03:06 AM

I feel sorry for Meltzer. Imagine if this was your job and you had to try and make an interesting newsletter each week and fewer and fewer WWE talents were talking to you.

Ol Dirty Dastard

08-10-2020, 10:27 AM

A couple of Bruce Prichards in here.

Evil Vito

08-10-2020, 11:22 AM

I like how AEW has caused Noid to gradually turn on Meltzer over the past year after always defending the guy previously.

Mr. Nerfect

08-11-2020, 07:29 AM

I like how AEW has caused Noid to gradually turn on Meltzer over the past year after always defending the guy previously.

He’s reported some grade-A bullshit around the subject. He’s got either a real blindspot or he’s desperate for AEW to succeed since their owner has an Observer University Education.

Emperor Smeat

08-11-2020, 09:09 PM

The Sheets sponsored by "The Human Pinata" Dominik:
https://i.imgur.com/zMIBKW8.gif

Raw had split messages this week as viewers increased 7,000 from last week to 1.72 million, but 18-49 was down eight percent to 0.47, the latter being the third lowest number in the history of the show.

Raw finished fifth for the night in 18-49 and was 24th overal ... The NBA game head-to-head did a 0.67 in 18-49 and 1.53 million viewers.

As compared to the same week last year, Raw was down 37 percent in viewers, 49 percent in 18-49 and 67 percent in 18-34.

Raw started well above last week and the second hour didn't drop much, but hour three had the big drop with a normal 12 percent first-to-third hour drop. So the Raw Underground curiosity didn't hold the audience this week, but they did start out with more interest in hour one than they had in a long time.

As far as first-to-third hour drops, it was 18 percent in women 18-49, two percent in men 18-49 (so held up better than usual there), two percent in teenage girls (so not the increase of last week, but still held up better than usual), and teenage boys were up eight percent, again better than usual ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.60 million viewers

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic halted events, Ring of Honor is returning to producing new television episodes.

ROH announced today that they're returning to producing episodes of their Ring of Honor Wrestling TV show in the company's home state of Maryland this month. There will be no fans in attendance at the tapings ...

ROH wrote that the new tapings will "pick up right where ROH left off with a focus on the ROH Pure Title Tournament, which had been originally scheduled for April."

Matt Sydal revealed on the latest episode of the ROHStrong podcast that he'll be taking part in the Pure title tournament.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ROH hasn't run an event since February. The promotion's 18th Anniversary pay-per-view and Past vs. Present show that were scheduled to take place in Las Vegas in March were the first events affected by ROH's cancellations.

Ring of Honor announced today they will return to PPV on Friday 9/25 with The Best of Death Before Dishonor 2020:

Interesting to note that show is listed as "live" on PPV.

The documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette will be released on 8/21 via drive-in theaters and on 8/28 for digital streaming and On Demand via PPV outlets

Directed by David Darg and Price James, the plot of the documentary is that Arquette has returned to pro wrestling to clear his name after being hated and blamed by wrestling fans for his short run in WCW. The documentary features interviews with those closest to Arquette, including Courteney Cox, sisters Patricia and Rosanna Arquette, Richmond Arquette and Ric Flair, among others.

Promotional material for the film expounds on the plot, noting "Branded as the most hated man in wrestling after winning a highly controversial WCW World Heavyweight Championship in 2000, actor David Arquette attempts a rocky return to the sport that stalled his promising Hollywood career. Dangerously determined to redeem his reputation and reclaim his self-respect, Arquette will stop at nothing to earn his place in professional wrestling."

The film was slated to debut earlier this year but was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic

The next planned WWE NXT Takeover event after Summerslam weekend is slated to be Sunday 10/4, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

NXT UK was scheduled to have a Takeover in Dublin, Ireland on 10/25 but given the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, that is looking less and less likely to take place as originally envisioned.

In an article on MLW's website, Major League Wrestling head Court Bauer commented on the promotion moving closer to resuming an in-ring product, something the company stopped at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been very encouraged by how the UFC, NBA, the NHL, Top Rank Boxing and DAZN Match Room boxing have managed operations as they restart,” said Bauer. “We’re also seeing TV and film start back up in certain regions in a cautious manner and that’s the mindset you need to operate with during this moment in time: caution.”

“We are speaking with some of the sharpest minds at Johns Hopkins University & Medicine on a restart and talked with New Japan’s people on how they’ve approached it – and they’ve done an incredible job… we also engaged some of our athletes who have competed outside of MLW during the pandemic to see what worked, what didn’t and what could be improved upon. It’s very important to gather as much information, advice and medical analysis as possible and that’s what we’ve been doing. That analysis gives you the best ability to do your job and navigate the next steps in examining a restart.”

Eric Bischoff recently appeared on AEW Dynamite to moderate the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. Bischoff took to his 83 Weeks podcast and reflected on his experience backstage at Dynamite and what he picked up from his time there.

“When I went backstage at AEW two weeks ago, the first thing I noticed was, ‘Wow, these guys are actually having fun laying their sh*t out. These guys are actually having fun trying to figure out how to lay a match out in a way that not only entertains the audience obviously, but advances their story’ and you could tell. I could hear some of the conversations. Not that I was eavesdropping but sometimes you can’t help it. I was walking by and it’s like, ‘These guys are working hard to get each other over. They’re not just working hard to get themselves over’ which you have to do. But when you get to that point and you’re coming at it with a frame of mind that, ‘Okay, how can I make my opponent look better than me’ and your opponent is looking to do the same thing, that’s when the magic happens, and the freedom to do it so, can’t say enough good things about the talent, the energy backstage, the hospitality, the professionalism. It was really a great experience for me. If I never step in front of a camera again, if I never go backstage again anywhere, even to say hi to anybody, it’ll be okay for me. Sure I’d look forward to doing it and all that. I’m not saying I’d never want to do it again but if it were to happen, I’m glad that my last experience kind of in a backstage environment, watching a bunch of young talent, fresh talent, hungry talent that believe they can make a difference, that energy is something that I walked away with and if that’s the last experience I have, it will be a great one.”

Eric Bischoff also spoke highly of AEW President Tony Khan. Bischoff stated that on top of Khan being a great businessman, he’s also a good producer. Bischoff mentioned that-that’s a department he went the wrong direction in as far as his tenure with WCW and that was putting people in positions that are for him and expecting them to work the way he would’ve.

“That was really interesting. Now I got to meet Tony, because of you [Conrad Thompson]. You put us together to do a thing on Patreon and I enjoyed talking to him, talking to him then, but when I was backstage, it was most noticeable for me and I hope Tony doesn’t mind me saying this — I doubt that he would but, in case you do Tony, I apologize. Okay, I’m just gonna use my best judgement here. But while I was getting ready to go out — we’ll call it a Gorilla Position but, when I was standing backstage ready to be introduced for the segment, I was within an earshot of Tony when he was at the Gorilla Position on monitors and couldn’t help but overhear Tony talking to probably Keith Mitchell in the truck, somebody in the truck. I’m assuming it was Keith. Tony’s into this. Tony’s not just the guy with the checkbook. Tony’s not just the guy with the checkbook that’s also a big fan. Tony’s the guy with the checkbook who’s a big fan, who’s also a good producer, and more importantly, loves producing. Therein lies the magic. His passion in the product, he’s obviously a very intelligent and experienced businessman. Check those boxes but when you have passion and you like producing and you’re willing to grab it by the balls as opposed to putting someone else in that position and hoping that they’re going to do the work that you want them to do, and by the way, that’s what I did to a large degree. That’s a mistake that I made to a large degree as I put other people in positions that I probably should’ve had a much larger control of myself so that’s why I’m pointing this out. Tony is grabbing this thing by the balls. What he lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in passion, intelligence and enjoyment of what he’s doing and taking control over it. He has a lot more control over what’s going on than I assumed. Not knowing him, just assumed that he did so that was a fun thing to watch.”

New Japan Pro-Wrestling released a schedule for the participants who’ll be in the 2020 G1 Climax tournament that kicks off next month. Due to Coronavirus concerns, the number of wrestlers at the G1 events will be limited. B block tournament entrants will not compete on A block nights and vice versa throughout the tour.
Link: https://www.njpw1972.com/78801

Son of Rick Steiner, Bronson Rechsteiner has been waived by the Baltimore Ravens according to ESPN’s Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley.

A New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) star has revealed that WWE made contact with him over a potential contract during his period of free agency.

Jeff Cobb spoke with Fightful, which on Fightful Select (subscription required and recommended) gave a sneak preview writing that Cobb spoke about his contract negotiations with various companies.

Cobb said that WWE made contact with him while he wasn’t signed anywhere, but also said that IMPACT Wrestling didn’t.

It had also previously been reported that AEW had made him contract offers after he made a couple of appearances for the promotion as Chris Jericho’s hired hitman during his program with Jon Moxley.

According to a report by Fightful Select, some new details about trainees and developmental talent being able to resume their training again are available. As previously reported, WWE’s developmental talents have not been able to train since the start of the pandemic. Also, the Observer Newsletter reported regular classes are rumored to be resuming on August 10 at a new facility, which is expected to be a warehouse located close to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Based on Fightful’s latest report, starting on July 31, wrestlers were being informed by coaches about the new warehouse facility to conduct their training. The report states that coaches were frustrated that the trainees were still being paid in full when they weren’t training, along with some of the students opting out of the audience tapings.

Also, WWE has already apparently resumed tape studies and Skull Sessions. Skull Sessions are when wrestlers watch someone’s most current matches, and everyone provides their feedback. Additionally, Ryan Katz is said to have overseen a “Promolympics,” where the talents submit their own promos and pitches.

While fan engagement is important in 2020, sometimes it can go overboard turn into toxicity.

Earlier last week, Brandi Rhodes deactivated her Twitter account after receiving negative criticism over the membership fee for AEW Heels as well as complaints about the recent direction of AEW’s women's division.

Back in December, Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks also made the decision to leave Twitter following negative criticism that stemmed from the direction of the AEW Dynamite television show.

In the wake of Brandi leaving Twitter, Matt Jackson took to his Instagram story to further explain why he supports anybody making the decision to leave social media and more surrounding why he and Nick felt the need to get off of Twitter for their own mental health and family well-being.

"I applaud anyone who decides to take a break from social media. Especially the toxic world of Twitter specifically. We logged off when threatening messages were sent to us regularly and finally the last straw came when google map images of our homes were being tweeted to us. It's been a nice break for our mental health. If someone decides to sign off, good for them."

FOX will be airing a two-hour special to promote WWE's 2020 Summerslam PPV on Saturday 8/22, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

WWE Summerslam's Hottest Moments will air in the New York City market from 4-6 PM. The special may air in other timeslots depending on the market.

The special will feature highlights from the history of WWE's annual August PPV, which debuted in 1988.

Seth Rollins was a guest on The Gorilla Position podcast to discuss the Monday Night Messiah character and the ongoing feud with Rey Mysterio. The subject of long-term storytelling was brought up and Rollins’ belief that the fanbase does not have the patience for long-term storytelling:

"Well, man, I think its kind of a lost art across the board in entertainment. And not that it’s a lost art, just the audience, as we get into this age of instant gratification, they don’t have the patience for long-term storytelling. When you can binge-watch your favorite series in two days as opposed to two months, it creates a different precedent for how we intake our entertainment. It’s the difference between watching a full match and just seeing the GIFs of it or the highlights of it. So, I just think people are intaking their entertainment on a different level. It’s the difference between artists releasing singles as opposed to full-length albums because of the way the consumers are taking in their entertainment, so that shift, wrestling is not immune to that shift and so we have to do that as well to keep up with our audience. But I do think, I’m not a twenty-something, I’m a thirty-four-year-old guy, so the storytelling I grew up on had a longer form and that’s what I enjoy, so I think if our younger audience could learn to appreciate it might be something they’re into. But it also might not be how their brains are wired or how we’ve rewired people’s brains to think. It’s a very interesting time in entertainment, in television, and music and movies altogether really, and that shift of how things are going."

Of course, he is also working for someone who has shown zero capacity to stick with something long-term with one of the frequent complaints is Vince McMahon’s inability to stick with a plan long enough and often, blow up plans without notice. It’s a cop-out to blame the fanbase that has barely been given an opportunity to respond to a truly long-term and laid out storyline that goes beyond a pay-per-view cycle. There are countless examples from other promotions that have built their stories for months and sometimes years for the finale that audiences have been captivated by. In WWE, there are too many examples of stories that begin and have no payoff or ending with Rollins even noting in the interview that his character and stories are a week-to-week process rather than a carefully laid out plan of where his character will be six months from now.

Rollins also shared his satisfaction with the recent Eye-for-an-Eye match at Extreme Rules and who they were trying to appeal to:

"If this stipulation had happened in 1999 in the middle of the Attitude Era, I don’t think anyone would have scoffed at it. I think it would have just been a crazy moment of wild stuff happening in WWE and obviously, we are twenty years later and things are different in the way we watch things and the audience sees wrestling differently At the end of the day, it is what it is, that’s what the moment was meant to do was to create interest in the casual viewer. I think the moment you said ‘Eye-for-an-Eye Match’, the hardcore wrestling fan, and if I was a nineteen-year-old kid would probably say the same thing, would be like ‘Oh please, why can’t they just let these two wrestle?’ you know? But, at the end of the day, the wrestling spoke for itself and the end moment ended up on TMZ, so we’re doing a service to both of our audiences. We gave them a great wrestling match on the front end and gave the casual viewer to say, ‘What the hell are they doing over there?’. I loved it, I thought it was great, I was really happy with. I loved sharing the ring with Rey Mysterio and I was pretty overwhelmingly happy with the final product, particularly considering we sort did that last scene with limited time and in one take. So, I was overwhelmingly pleased with the finished product."

A GoFundMe Campaign has been launched to assist the family of James "Kamala" Harris, who passed away yesterday due to cardiac arrest brought by COVID-19, with funeral expenses. The family had been hit hard financially in recent years due to Harris' medical expenses.
Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kamala-funeral-expenses-general-help-for-family?rcid=r01-159707432503-55dbd2972ad947f2

TPWW Frontpage:

NJPW: Full Card for Summer Struggle in Jingu, KOPW Tournament Matches, NJPW Strong, Togi Makabe (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/njpw-full-card-for-summer-struggle-in-jingu-kopw-tournament-matches-njpw-strong-togi-makabe/)
WWE: MVP on RAW Underground, PC Sets New SmackDown Record, Trademarks, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-mvp-on-raw-underground-pc-sets-new-smackdown-record-trademarks-updated-sd-ratings/)
Two Title Matches Announced for SummerSlam – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/two-title-matches-announced-for-summerslam-updated-card/)
Finished TNT Championship to Be Revealed Tomorrow on Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/finished-tnt-championship-to-be-revealed-tomorrow-on-dynamite/)

Emperor Smeat

08-12-2020, 07:07 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Lucha Underground Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/T5iLGHk.gif

PWInsider.com has confirmed that any WWE plans to tape content for Summerslam in Atlantic City have been dropped. We are told that the show will be held in Florida.

WWE is slated to tape this Friday's Smackdown and this Monday's Raw tomorrow at the WWE Performance Center.

For those who have asked, tonight's AEW Dynamite is a live broadcast.

WWE filed for the following trademarks on 8/7:

-Pretty Deadly.

-The Hunt.

-Zack Gibson.

-Rinku.

-Saurav.

Dwayne Johnson once again topped Forbes annual highest-paid actors list coming in at over $87.5 million between June 2019 and June 2020, thanks to the Netflix production deal for action spy thriller "Red Notice" bringing in $23.5 million alone. Not to mention, his Under Armor. "Project Rock" partnership, television projects, etc. Coming in a number two with $71.5 million is "Red Notice" costar Ryan Reynolds, who himself signed exclusive agreements with Netflix to produce projects. Many on this list including Mark Wahlberg, Will Smith, Adam Sandler, Vin Diesel, Lin Manuel Miranda and Ben Affleck have exclusive licensing deals or content deals with different streaming services or online platforms. A sign of the times.

The full card for next week’s Impact Emergence card has been revealed, while a stipulation has been set for night two.

Taya Valkyrie will face Kylie Rae in what will be a Wrestle House match. The two have been stuck in the reality show house for the last few weeks, with Rae calling out Valkyrie on tonight’s show.

The Good Brothers will face Ace Austin and Madman Fulton in a tag team match. Austin and Fulton have been a thorn on Anderson and Gallows’ sides since their debut at Slammiversary.

The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) will defend their new Impact Tag Team titles against former champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page). They made their return to Impact at Slammiversary, defeating The North for the titles.

Edde Edwards, successfully defending the Impact World title against Brian Myers on tonight’s show, will defend the Impact World title next week as well. Edwards has instituted an open challenge policy for the title since winning it.

Here is the full card for the first night of Emergence, which takes place next week:

Eddie Edwards will defend the Impact title
Kylie Rae vs. Taya Valkyrie in a Wrestle House match
Moose vs. Trey Miguel for the TNA World title
Chris Bey vs. TJP vs. Rohit Raju for the X Division title
Good Brothers vs. Ace Austin and Madman Fulton
Motor City Machine Guns vs. The North for the Impact Tag Team titles

Confirmed for the second night of Emergence is a 30 minute Iron Man match for the Impact Knockouts title, with champion Deonna Purazzo facing former champion Jordynne Grace. The second night will take place on August 25.

AEW Dynamite has a loaded show tonight billed as “Tag Team Appreciation Night” with several tag matches and appearances. In addition, the big rematch between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy takes place, and a TNT title match between Cody and Scorpio Sky.

It is always hard to predict numbers ahead of time but AEW has been on a roll and coming off one of their best weeks of the year. Last week’s episode of Dynamite topped this week’s Raw in the 18-34 demo. It’s become clear that the race isn’t between AEW and NXT any longer, it’s a fight for the younger audience between AEW and Raw. While WWE will have a stranglehold on the older audiences and still have a comfortable distance in the 18-49 demo (Raw did a 0.47 this week and AEW did a 0.36 last week), the gap among teenagers and young adults is closing. Last week, had the added competition from the NBA and it didn’t bear any impact on AEW or NXT, who were also up.

Obviously, one of the concerns going into these AEW tapings was the risk presented by Chris Jericho and Fozzy performing several shows over the past week. This included a show in South Dakota in conjunction with the Sturgis Rally. Yes, Jericho will be tested but it doesn’t eliminate all risk even with a negative test result. It would have made sense that if Jericho was adamant about performing the shows that the rematch with Cassidy should have been taped two weeks ago or delayed two weeks so that Jericho could miss this cycle of tapings. If it was so important for the match to occur this week given the proximity to the pay-per-view, then a line needed to be drawn in the sand forcing Jericho to choose one or the other. This option, while it may turn into nothing, seems like one that presents too much potential for problems and sends a mixed message about being cautious when home between tapings.

Brandi Rhodes spoke with Scott Fishman at TV Insider on the launch of the AEW Women’s Cup tournament and the allotment of television time for the women’s division. On the decision to launch the tournament as a property for YouTube:

"With YouTube, it’s its own show. That means we are trusted enough to carry our own show and don’t have to be compared to men. We were also not restricted on time. So it’s really the dream scenario. Better than finding out when we are live and something went long, you may only have four minutes to put it out there. That’s really hard, especially when you are trying to introduce new women and put that kind of pressure on them. Being it’s our own show without the restraints and to be able to tell these stories how we want to is a really great situation."

Rhodes gave the following answer regarding the time the women receive on AEW Dynamite and stating that those decisions don’t come down to her:

"It’s an interesting question because I don’t feel it really applies to me considering it’s not something week-to-week I discuss or plan. I took this tournament on as a side project. Of course, in doing the tournament I know what the criticisms have been. I know what they are and thought this would be really great for that, especially those who are die-hard women’s wrestling fans. As far as the week-to-week goes, unfortunately that’s a burden that lies elsewhere. Thankfully, it’s not one I have to navigate so frequently."

Finally, she spoke about the launch of AEW Heels and the subscription fee attached to it, which did garner complaints over the last week:

"Another thing for people to know out of the gate is that “Heels” is not ever going to be something I look to as a super profitable thing. It’s not intended to be. It’s intended to be something they can count on and grow with and learn with and get something out of. In order to run a multi-faceted platform like that, it costs money. It’s not cheap by any means. This is not going to be a huge cash grab for AEW. But it’s something fans will love and appreciate, so it’s worth all the work and effort. Not everything is about a dollar. Some things are about what’s right."

On Monday, the NWA announced its partnership with Thunder Studios and the United Wrestling Network (which encompasses Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and Championship Wrestling from Arizona) to launch a weekly pay-per-view series beginning Tuesday, September 15th at 9 pm Eastern. The shows will be billed as “United Wrestling Network’s Primetime LIVE” and stream on Fite TV, along with traditional pay-per-view and satellite TV ...

In the press release, Executive Producer David Marquez said there will be possibilities to have talent from other promotions appear and specifically identified New Japan’s L.A. Dojo, Freelance Wrestling, and West Coast Pro Wrestling.

Independent wrestler Ariel Dominguez played the security guard confronting Retribution on Raw this past Monday prior to the cinder block being thrown through the window.

2K officially announced the following:

BRAWL YOUR OWN WAY - WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS GAME MODES ...

Wage war in a wide variety of your favorite match types with fun, new twists, including:

CAMPAIGN MODE
Throw down in this single-player story mode told through a comic art style as you add to your stable of Superstars to overcome the next challenge. Team up with Paul Heyman and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin as you travel the globe in search of new Superstars for an all-new WWE brand. Play as one of the 7 newly created Superstars like Bolo Reynolds and Jessica Johnson as you travel across several regions battling WWE Superstars as you achieve campaign goals and unlock various Superstars, power-ups, and items!

EXHIBITION MODE
Brawl with your friends or family with up to 4-player action online or on the couch in your favorite match types including:

One-on-One
Tag Team
Triple Threat
Fatal Four Way
Steel Cage Match
Royal Rumble
KING OF THE BATTLEGROUND MODE
Brawl to become the Last Man (or Woman) Standing as you and up to seven other online players burn it down and try to fling one-another out of the arena! The longer you stay in the arena, the higher your score climbs. The second you send someone flying, another player waiting outside the ring enters the fray!

ONLINE TOURNAMENT MODE
Brawl online for rewards in a variety of time-limited tournaments featuring a wide range of win conditions! Keep an eye out… you never know when a new Battlegrounds tournament might be kicking off!

BATTLEGROUND CHALLENGE MODE
Brawl from the bottom all the way to the top! Create your own WWE Superstar and overcome all the odds stacked against you.

Liv Morgan believes the dancers of Raw Underground aren't taking the women's evolution a step back.

Morgan was one who actually wanted to see the dancers return this week when they ultimately did not, even going to Twitter to ask for the dancers back next week. Afterwards, someone commented to Morgan that they felt the dancers were a step backwards in WWE's women's evolution. Morgan argues that it doesn't, writing on Twitter that having women proudly dancing doesn't change anything and wants all women to feel empowered.
Link: https://twitter.com/YaOnlyLivvOnce/status/1293332566188032000

Pineapple Pete has seemingly finished with AEW following Tuesday's Dark
Link: https://twitter.com/SugarDunkerton/status/1293343964318380032

The Stadium Stampede at AEW Double or Nothing had a little bit of everything as the Inner Circle and The Elite battled in TIAA Bank Stadium.

The two groups pulled out plenty of football spots including a challenge flag, excessive celebration, and a 100-yard score. The Jacksonville Jaguars mascot even got involved, although the NFL almost said otherwise.

"That was one of the best things I've ever done in 30 years in the business. That was just 10 guys with different ideas, banging it out, not having to worry about so and so approved this. The only thing I had to get approved was knocking out the Jacksonville Jaguars mascot. The only reason I had to get it approved was the NFL didn’t want us to do it, but Tony Khan said do it anyway...everything was kinda free form. It’s just how creative do you want to be and how successful do you want to make the segment you’re in," said Chris Jericho in an interview with The SDR Show.

The KOPW title that NJPW introduced not long ago has certainly been a polarizing decision with its unique set of rules.

The title, which is not an actual championship, will see wrestlers introduce stipulations only for fans to vote on them ... NJPW star Rocky Romero recently sat down with me and we discussed the KOPW title and how he believes it is the right time to introduce it.

With the current pandemic limiting the current NJPW roster and the world going through an uncertain time, Romero thinks it's great to have something out of the ordinary be introduced to New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Romero says it's also good in the sense that it doesn't completely disrupt what NJPW is traditionally known for and it's something that can even level the playing field when it comes to the different roster and weight classes in NJPW.

"I think if it's ever going to happen, now would be the time. Having a limited roster is a good time to introduce something that is super crazy on paper, but we really won't know until we see it. The thing about it is, in the end, New Japan will be the traditional New Japan. It's not going to change and even having one element to break up just how traditional it is, it could work, maybe it won't work and it will go away, but I think it's an interesting and good time to go and try things like this. You may not get the opportunity like this to try different things. I think it's cool, interesting. It's one way that kind of evens the playing field between juniors and heavys. I mean, having a stipulation could be a benefit. Like, if I'm wrestling Okada, maybe I can come up with a stipulation in my favor that maybe levels the playing field. I wouldn't be able to beat Okada in a regular 1 vs. 1 match, but maybe if I introduce something that is different and unique, that puts me in favor. It could make things interesting. Maybe let's check it out and see how it unfolds and see the conclusions. Hey, it could work out, it could completely flop, but I think it's worth the try and swinging the bat," Romero said.

Although it will be quite some time before Romero can go back to Japan and wrestle there, he does have an idea of what he would propose for a KOPW match stipulation. Instead of a cage match, a weapons match or a submissions match, Romero wants barbed wires and explosions in his match and he would love to have it with current IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley.

"It definitely wouldn't be Boneryard Match (laughs). I want to do some exploding barbed wire matches, just something that's totally not me. If I'm going to do something, it's going to be something super out there, like you wouldn't expect me to. I think something like that would be crazy, once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Give me Moxley in an exploding barbed wire match," Romero said.

During a photo shoot Wednesday, Cody Rhodes was surprised when he was presented with the new version of the AEW TNT Championship belt.

Featuring plenty of gold, red, and the same design of plates as the original, this version was originally slated to be done by May's Double or Nothing but was delayed due to COVID-19. Rhodes pinned Lance Archer in the finals of a tournament to win the inaugural title, presented that night by Mike Tyson.

Rhodes is set to defend the title against Scorpio Sky on Wednesday's Dynamite, the first time the belt will be seen on national TV.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TNTChamp?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TNTChamp</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CodyRhodes</a> just a few hours away from his title defense against <a href="https://twitter.com/ScorpioSky?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScorpioSky</a>, and he gets a surprise from <a href="https://twitter.com/RefTurnerAEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RefTurnerAEW</a> <br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> TONIGHT at 8/7c on <a href="https://twitter.com/tntdrama?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tntdrama</a> <a href="https://t.co/yW6WTSddQo">pic.twitter.com/yW6WTSddQo</a></p>— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1293664808957435904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

ROH Will Return to Taping New TV Shows This Month (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/roh-will-return-to-taping-new-tv-shows-this-month/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-12/)
Shotzi Blackheart’s Ring Gear Stolen (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/shotzi-blackhearts-ring-gear-stolen/)

Emperor Smeat

08-13-2020, 09:18 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Clothesline/Lariat Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/4TjKoGb.gif

AEW Dynamite averaged 792,000 viewers last night on TNT, down 12.1 percent from last week. NXT on the USA Network was also down, averaging 619,000 viewers. That was a drop of 17.8 percent from last Wednesday.

There was more competition than usual with the annual Shark Week on the Discovery Network and cable news coverage of Presidential candidate Joe Biden choosing Kamala Harris as his running mate dominating the cable TV ratings on the night. That's in addition to NBA and MLB games, along with the NHL starting the opening round of their playoffs this week.

Dynamite averaged a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demo, down 11.1 percent from last week. The show finished ninth overall on cable in that demo. It did tie for the second best number Dynamite has done in that ratings category since March.

NXT did not fare as well. It averaged just a 0.16 rating in 18-49 and failed to chart in the top 50, finishing in 65th place in the demo. That's down 20 percent from last week and is the second lowest number NXT has done in that category since May.

The combined audience of 1.411 million viewers was down 14 percent from last week and is the lowest number since June 10.

Detailed demo numbers, aside from 18-49, are not available for NXT since it was out of the top 50. AEW did best in men 18-49 with a 0.38 rating. In people 18-34, where AEW beat Raw last week, Dynamite was down to a 0.18 rating. That's 18 percent lower than Raw did this week in that category.

As Dave Scherer wrote in the ratings recap: For those wondering, after Chris Jericho mentioned last week's AEW beating this week's Raw in the 18 to 34 demographic, AEW dropped to a 0.18 (from last week's 0.29). Raw this week did a 0.22 (down from a 0.28) in the demo so AEW beat Raw by 0.01 last week and actually lost this week to Raw by 0.04

Next week is a big test for AEW with Dynamite airing on Saturday night instead of Wednesday. On one hand, it’s a different night of the week and Saturday is tougher than Wednesday, but the silver lining is that Dynamite will have the NBA as a lead-in and that’s as strong as it gets on TNT.

NXT will go unopposed on television next Wednesday with its go-home show for TakeOver: XXX.

Those watching AEW Dynamite Wednesday likely noticed the presence of more fans in the stands than in the past few months as the company nearly doubled the amount of people they allowed in, albeit with added COVID-19 protocols.

According to a report from Pro Wrestling Sheet that was also verified by our Dave Meltzer, nearly 150 "invited spectators" were allowed into Daily's Place in Jacksonville, FL, but were seated a good distance away from the AEW wrestlers who are at ringside, Spaced apart unless they were with a pre-determined group, the spectators were subject to temperature checks and had to wear a mask throughout the event with security doing constant checks to ensure that was happening.

Noted wrestling fan Jessi Davin was one of the people in attendance, along with her husband. She gave some of the details of the night on Twitter, saying seating was planned out in advance and that they both felt very safe with how things were handled. She also shared video of the aforementioned security checking on masks and suggesting adjustments for proper use.

It's unclear as to the process in which the spectators were chosen, but Devlin said she got in thanks to a "non-wrestling related connection." A Reddit user that claims to work at Daily's Place said people were able to get tickets if you worked for the venue's sponsors and that capacity was limited to around 100 people.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced their Summer Struggle event scheduled for Thursday in Uwajima has been canceled as one of the wrestlers slated to appear developed a fever.

From the statement: "Unfortunately, one of the wrestlers scheduled to appear had developed a fever. The wrestler immediately undertook additional COVID-19 testing, but New Japan Pro-Wrestling is still awaiting results. Under NJPW’s Coronavirus guidelines, and acting in the best interests of health and safety for other wrestlers and fans in attendance, the decision was made to cancel tonight’s event" ...

As of now, New Japan is scheduled to run this Sunday in Shizuoka with another non-televised show. They aren't set to return to air until August 26th's kickoff to the King of Pro Wrestling tournament.

United States District Court of The Middle District of Tennessee Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. ordered that Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment sit down with Anthem Wrestling (the parent company of Impact Wrestling) for a settlement conference next month instead of the originally scheduled hearing to set a new trial date in the lawsuit Jarrett brought forth against Impact.

As PWInsider.com reported in the Elite section earlier this week, Jarrett's side requested a settlement conference for the two sides to come to the table and attempt to work out a deal to end the legal wranglings between the two sides, offering to be available anytime between 9/1-9/10. Anthem responded that Ed Nordholm was not available on those dates but that they would be amenable to having a settlement conference after the scheduled hearing on 9/11 in Nashville to set a new trial date.

Instead, yesterday, Judge Waverly canceled the hearing and instructed the two sides to attempt to settle the matter. The two sides have attempted to settle their issues previously but were unable to do so, leading to the original trial that ended up in a mistrial after a mixed verdict. In a ruling issued by Waverly on 7/30, the mistrial was declared due to, "...the Court’s failure to instruct on comparative negligence; the identity of the wrong entity in the verdict form on the counterfeiting claim; improper comments by Defendant’s counsel in opening statements; and improper statements by Plaintiffs’ counsel in closing arguments, all of which were discussed in detail in the Court’s oral ruling."

Expected to be added to Summerslam's lineup is Jeff Hardy challenging WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles. That was the direction planned for the Smackdown episode that was slated to be taped last week but was canceled. That episode is being taped today at the WWE Performance Center.

Deadline.com reported this evening that Major League Wrestling signed a deal with Fubo for MLW Fusion to be carried weekly on Thursdays at 10 PM EST with a replay of the previous week's episode preceding it at 9 PM EST. This is the latest deal the promotion has signed in recent weeks, placing MLW on the streaming service, which has picked up major steam in recent months, including deals with Disney/ESPN and more. Fubo was praised by Forbes last year, which predicted the platform would be a billion dollar property. It's had quite a few investors behind it, including Univision and AMC, having raised $200 million in funding.

PWInisider.com is told this deal would not be a replacement for BeIN Sport but is one of several recently made, including MLW's deal with DAZN, designed to place the promotion on platforms that appeal to younger fans as they are more likely to be on platforms that stream content as opposed to traditional linear TV outlets.

Brian Myers was the most recent guest on the ‘Sitting Ringside with David Penzer’ podcast. Myers was asked about the amount of money that WWE offered to talents when AEW was finding their footing in the pro wrestling business. Myers stated that it was a running joke in the WWE locker room as talents referred to the new WWE contracts as, ‘Please don’t go to AEW’ contracts.’

“Yeah, absolutely and think it was astronomical and once someone said no, then it went up for everybody and that just kept happening. It wound up being what it was, too good to be true to be honest with you. But yeah, more money than I ever imagined making in this business that I signed for, and like I said, I’d already been a producer. I was kind of like — the big thing for them was the years. Everybody’s contract was five years. That was their big thing, and the boys were all calling them the, ‘Please don’t go to AEW’ contracts but that’s fine because I was like, ‘Okay, I’m very comfortable here, I enjoy it and I’m set up for post in-ring stuff’ so I was like, ‘I’m more than fine signing this.’ At the time it was like, ‘Okay, sure.’”

While reflecting on his time in WWE developmental, Brian Myers feels that if enough talents were gathered and were willing to speak, a Dark Side of the Ring episode could be done on Deep South Wrestling.

“I say this when people ask me about Deep South; I’m eagerly anticipating Dark Side of the Ring: Deep South Wrestling because if they get enough of the boys to open up and talk about it, they’ll have one of their more interesting episodes and for sure, their funniest episode of all-time if they get the good stuff.”

David Finlay was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Finlay recounted when WWE did the storyline of Hornswoggle being revealed as the son of Fit Finlay. David shared that his mother informed him that when he went to school the next day, he had to say ‘yes’ to all who asked if Hornswoggle is legitimately his brother to protect the storyline.

“So funny story about this; I think they announced or revealed that Hornswoggle’s my father’s son on RAW, and that night, before RAW came on TV, or when I got home from school that day, my mom — my mom’s never been in the wrestling business… she’s been around like that. They’ve been married for — I don’t know. They’ve been together for a very long time. So she sat me down and she was like — this was after — I was in middle school too. This was like 8th grade. She sat me down, she was like, ‘David, this is what we’re gonna do on TV tonight, which means tomorrow when you go to school, all your friends are gonna be asking if this is your brother. You have to tell them yes.’ I’m like, ‘What!?’ She said, ‘You have to tell them yes.’ Alright, so I go to school, sure enough, ‘Is that your real brother? Is that your brother? Is that your brother?’ And I have to go, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ but then of course, that’s not good enough to my friends, so they’re asking all these follow-up questions like, ‘Well how come he doesn’t live with you?’ So I’m having to like B.S. all my friends on the spot just because my mom told me that I have to tell them that’s my brother.”

WrestleZone has an interview with Ariane Andrew. She shared that it was Brandi Rhodes who reached out to her about participating in the Women’s Tag Team Cup tournament. Ariane added that she did reach out to Brandi in the Summer of 2019 about possibly working with AEW.

“Brandi [Rhodes] reached out to me, because I would say probably back [in] August, I had reached out to her and she’s like, ‘You know what? I’ll keep you in mind’ and she’s like, ‘Well remember I said I’ll keep you in mind?’ And it happened so quickly, less than a week to get it together. So, I had no gear, I hadn’t been in the ring so it was like, woo, it was a lot but, I did it so I mean… it was one of those type of things. It’s not maybe necessarily how I wanted to come back, but I felt like AEW is such a great opportunity and me and Brandi go back and I love what they’re doing with the product so, it was just like, ‘Even if this happens to be my last match, I think it’ll be fun’….. Which is not gonna be [my last match] though,” Ariane smirked.

Erick Rowan did an interview over Instagram Live with Sportskeeda. Rowan stated that the original plans for his ‘cage’ gimmick was to have a rodent or a rat on the inside of it that would eventually be killed by the babyface champion.

“No no. Originally it was pitched that it would be a rodent or a rat and it was going to be killed by the babyface Champion to show that I had cared about something and that babyface turned heel, so that didn’t work. Well ok, then I asked them what is it now, then they just kept extending it, extending it and extending it.”

Rowan stated that he wanted to have a slightly larger cage and place a little woman in the cage to be revealed. He got the idea from the ‘Freak Show’ season of American Horror Story.

“I had over the top ideas about it. One was this actress in American Horror Story, the smallest woman of all time. She was in American Horror Story Freak Show. One idea was to build a slightly larger cage and when unveiled, it would be this slightly smaller woman. Me and her would be friends and I would be protecting her from the atrocities of the outside world by locking her in the cage.”

In 2019, it was confirmed that Sadie Gibbs signed with All Elite Wrestling and just one year after her signing, she is no longer with the company. Gibbs took to her Twitter page and confirmed the news that she is no longer with AEW after her profile, along with the profiles of Jimmy Havoc and Bea Priestley were removed from the AEW roster page.

Sadie has continued to respond to a number of comments on social media from those are wishing her well in the next steps of her career. Sadie debuted for AEW at All Out in the Casino Battle Royale. Her next two in-ring appearances for AEW occurred in October on the AEW Dark program on YouTube.
Link: https://twitter.com/TheSadiegibbs/status/1294052056517545985

Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus teamed up on last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite in a loss to AEW tag team champions Kenny Omega & Hangman Page. This comes after his last title shot, against Cody for the TNT belt, was also a loss. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW still has plans to give Jungle Boy a major win, but they are holding off. It’s believed that the company wants to wait to give him his first big win when they are able to have fans at live events again.

A new update has been provided regarding the situation of contracts for WWE talent that has been called up from NXT recently.

As per Fightful Select (subscription required and recommended), several of the recent call-ups haven’t received new contracts as they usually would have.

It was noted that this is something that the company will likely think about doing when things get back to normal i.e. when the pandemic has passed over, but who knows how long that’s gonna be at this point.

Worth mentioning too is it was pointed out in the report that some of the talent is actually working a lighter schedule on the main roster than they were in NXT anyway.

WWE still has “no idea” on the situation with its live events schedule, or whether there are even going to be shows at all besides TV.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: EVOLVE & Others Arriving on WWE Network, New Game Modes for WWE Battlegrounds, Trademarks (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-evolve-others-arriving-on-wwe-network-new-game-modes-for-wwe-battlegrounds-trademarks/)
Johnny Gargano Involved in Injury Scare Incident at NXT Tapings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/johnny-gargano-involved-in-injury-scare-incident-at-nxt-tapings/)
WWE Considering Adding Virtual Fans to Their Shows (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-considering-adding-virtual-fans-to-their-shows/)
SummerSlam Reportedly Taking Place at Amway Center in Orlando, TV Tapings May Also Move There (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/summerslam-reportedly-taking-place-at-amway-center-in-orlando-tv-tapings-may-also-move-there/)

Emperor Smeat

08-14-2020, 03:26 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

After five months down, Ring of Honor will be returning to action with television tapings, believed to be from Baltimore, later this month.

ROH sent out a release noting they would be producing new wrestling shows in August from Maryland, working with the Maryland State Athletic Commission ...

No date has been publicly announced but talent has been told to do a 14-day quarantine before the date and that may mean several people being pulled from independent dates that they were booked on.

ROH got a lot of praise within pro wrestling for how it has handled the crisis regarding talent. All talent under contract was paid in full even with no shows, which essentially they had to do or breach the contract. But they also paid non-contracted talent for any dates that were booked that didn’t happen, as well as all officials and extras that were originally booked for canceled shows in full. We were told that there is a new concept for television described as unlike anything currently done in pro wrestling, described as not cinematic, not goofy, nothing whatsoever done out of the range of reality but also keeping kayfabe. The goal is for the new ROH to try and fill a void that hardcore fans have asked for.

The tapings will be a tournament concept, with eight shows being taped at the tapings this month. The new shows will start airing in September. With no fans in attendance, the results of the shows would be kept confidential until they air on television and streaming platforms.

The protocol running the shows has been said to be very strict as well, including consulting with people involved in setting up some of the Nevada procedures for the return of MMA in that state.

Hunter Johnston (Delirious) is back as the head of creative. Marty Scurll, who had been head booker, is technically on hiatus with no ROH responsibilities pending a human resources investigation of the claims made against him. Johnston has been the sole creative force as far as formatting, producing and organizing television since the investigation started.

In news that doesn’t directly relate to New Japan just yet, but has to be considered scary, the Tokyo Dome canceled its annual multi-date event, Furusato Matsuri, which takes place in January, due to COVID-19 concerns ...

Pro wrestling has started having COVID issues, not close to the U.S., but the 8/13 New Japan show in Uwajima and a number of women’s wrestling shows from different companies were canceled this week.

The New Japan crew was in Uwajima for a sold out house show (30 percent capacity usage). A lot of fans were already in the building when one of the wrestlers felt ill backstage and had a fever. Because of the risk involved regarding spreading to both the other wrestlers and perhaps the audience, the decision, based on the company’s guidelines, was to cancel the show and send everyone home with refunds.

The wrestler was removed from the arena and two staff members drove him home to Tokyo with them putting up a plastic sheet in the car where he was to be taken to a COVID testing facility for a series of tests ...

New Japan released a statement regarding the cancellation stating, “Unfortunately, one of the wrestlers scheduled to appear had developed a fever. The wrestler immediately undertook additional COVID-19 testing, but New Japan Pro-Wrestling is still awaiting results. Under NJPW’s Coronavirus guidelines, and acting in the best interests of health and safety for other wrestlers and fans in attendance, the decision was made to cancel tonight’s event.”

The women’s shows were canceled due to Yuki Miyazaki, a woman wrestling with Pro Wrestling Wave, testing positive and she had appeared on a show this past weekend.

Wave then postponed all of its upcoming shows including the 8/16 card at Korakuen Hall. The 8/9 Oz Academy show was canceled because Hiroyo Matsumoto, Yumi Ohka and Hiro’e, all scheduled, were on the Wave show. Hiro’e has appeared for a few groups in recent weeks but her retirement show was one of the cards Wave was running that has been canceled. Other promotions that had booked wrestlers who appeared on the Wave show that Miyazaki appeared on before she tested positive have also canceled dates.

It should be noted how well, in comparison, Japanese groups including New Japan have been when it comes to transparency. When talent was even on a television show where somebody tested positive, they were held off even with no symptoms and the public was told immediately, and also informed the public of their testing process and that nobody would be allowed to perform until passing three different tests. On the women’s side, multiple shows this week were canceled because of talent appearing on a show where somebody tested positive, even if nobody on the shows themselves tested positive. Contrast that to the U.S. where you have far less transparency, and certainly no shows canceled based on the fact people were in contact with people who tested positive.

After a number of starts and stops that date back many years since the deals to purchase the tape libraries from companies like Evolve, ICW, Progress and wXw were done, content from those companies will start appearing on the WWE Network.

Aside from a one-time live Evolve show in July 2019, “coincidentally” head-to-head with a live AEW show on B/R Live, WWE has not aired full shows based on the various tape libraries they had purchased. The original idea was to use the tape library and future shows from the promotions on a more expensive network premium tier that would be priced at $14.95. WWE had talked for years about it being imminent, but the decision was finally made this year to drop the idea, and instead launch a free tier, designed to get people to buy the regular $9.99 tier. Thus far, the marketing has proven to be a big success with paid subscribers up as much as 195,000 from the level they likely would have had if the free tier not been launched, hitting 1,690,000 on 6/30 ...

CHIKARA was somewhat close to a deal to sell its library to the WWE but the talks ended in recent months.

The expectation was that New Japan would bring back its foreign stars for G-1, and that was the plan at one point. Right now plans are up in the air due to concern that the situation in the U.S. is worse than New Japan had expected, and with cases also rising in Japan, the question is how would the country take bringing Americans in. If Americans, or Will Ospreay, coming from the U.K., are in the tournament, they would have to arrive by 9/5 and do two weeks of quarantine. That also means they would have to be paid for six weeks rather than four weeks at a time when revenue will be cut back because it’s doubtful they’ll be allowed to run buildings at full capacity, and even if they can, the health restrictions for doing so will cost money.

CMLL announced on 8/12 that they were back to running shows starting on 9/4.

The plan is to do weekly Friday night shows from Arena Mexico, that would stream as iPPVs on the Ticketmaster Live service, which is a new business Ticketmaster is getting into since it’s regular business is shut down with so few events.

No price has been announced, but The Cubs Fan has reported other iPPVs on that site are ranging from 150 pesos ($6.75) to 400 pesos ($18.05). At this point, fans will not be allowed at the shows, but they are hoping for eventually being open at 30 percent capacity, which would be about 5,300 seats. But Mexico City has opened up movie theaters at 30 percent.

The fourth show, on 9/25, will be the annual anniversary show. There will be no hair or mask matches on the show, because the income from the live gate will be small or non-existent, meaning it makes no sense for a big payoff to the loser of the hair or mask match.

Instead the anniversary show is being built around all championship matches, with champions announced ahead of time as defending the titles, and then fans voting for who they want as challengers. They will be running more one fall singles matches, to go with tag team and trios matches.

Stardom founder and Executive Producer Hiroshi “Rossy” Ogawa, 63, was hospitalized this past week. It was said that he had a medical procedure which was said to be scheduled well in advance

Jimmy Havoc, Bea Priestley and Sadie Gibbs were all released on 8/13. AEW hasn’t been able to bring talent in from the U.K. due to quarantine and they’ve added a lot of new talent of late. Tony Khan said a few months ago that he didn’t want to release anyone during the pandemic but there would come a time that if people couldn’t get into the U.S., they would have to, plus at some point when you keep adding there would have to be cuts. Havoc was likely not being brought back for allegation reasons as he had been suspended. The other two were largely due to their inability to get into the country with nothing looking like that will change any time soon. Gibbs was brought in as a project, in the sense she wasn’t ready but she was a great athlete with a good look, and had only worked three matches for the company, none since October

Evil Uno will be doing two events this week to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society. Since the death of Phrank Morin, Capital City Championship Combat of Ottawa has done fund-raisers that have raised $270,000 for the Canadian Cancer society. This year they can’t run a benefit show, so Evil Uno, New Legacy Int. and IWTV Live will be doing an event on 8/15 with as live stream and Uno and some of his friends raising money. On 8/29 IWTV will be doing an all-day Fighting Back Marathon running shows from previous years and encouraging donations with 100 percent of all donations going to the Canadian Cancer Society

Fozzy will be doing a U.S. tour from 10/3 to 11/22. Right now the tour dates have no shows any Tuesday or Wednesday so it would fit around the Dynamite schedule. But there may need to be changes since when the original dates were put together, he’d fly into whatever city on Tuesday, do TV Wednesday, and fly back out Thursday. But now, tapings are Wednesday and Thursday every other week. After doing shows in Sturgis, SD and Minot, ND this past week, the Sturgis shows being scary because the Sturgis rally was thought to be a major risk of being the epicenter of COVID-19 spread. You had 250,000 people coming from all over the world, but mostly the U.S., the vast majority with the non-mask mentality and social distancing not existing, with the mess this country is in, it’s just not worth the risk, and then doing AEW days later. Jericho did isolation himself aside from performing and had to pass a COVID test (or tests) to just get into Daily’s Place to perform, but testing isn’t 100 percent accurate and really all talent in every promotion, for the sake of all other talent, because of the nature of the spread of the disease, should be as careful as possible because just flying in and being part of shows themselves has a risk factor, as is being shown constantly. Touring in October and November has its risks as well, as does everything, but Sturgis his past weekend looked to be a risk of a different level

Velveteen Dream returned on the 8/12 NXT show as the mystery man in the three-way. He had been off TV since more allegations were claimed about him regarding inappropriate behavior. WWE had kept him on television after the first set of allegations, which had what appeared to be audio proof of his voice, but those who made the allegations then disappeared from public view and it was thought to be a dead issue. Then a few weeks later, another person came out. WWE said nothing and Dream, in the middle of a main event program with Dexter Lumis against the Undisputed Era, disappeared and his name was never said again. He returned in a three-way match with Kushida and Cameron Grimes, where he neither won, nor got pinned, which leads him to a singles match with Finn Balor for next week. Dream after the match did a heel turn attacking Kushida after he had lost. Josh Fuller, who was the latter claim, said that he was disappointed when he saw Dream back on the show, and said that he came forward with his name and if there was a WWE investigation, he was never contacted

An interesting note from Brandon Thurston regarding the ten most searched WWE stars of 2020 on Google. This tells you all you need to know about Raw & Smackdown creating stars when the top ten, in order, are Cena, Undertaker, Reigns (off TV since March), Lesnar (off TV since WrestleMania), Big Show (likely more due to Netflix than WWE), Becky Lynch (off TV since April), Goldberg (off TV since April), Orton, Mysterio and Bliss

The key creative forces for 205 Live are said to be Adam Pearce and Dewey Foley, who is Mick’s son

WWE filed to trademark several names in recent weeks like Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Jordan Devlin, Dexter Lumis, Pete Dunne, Mustache Mountain, James Drake, Zack Gibson, Indi Hartwell, Jake Atlas, Kacy Catanzaro, Karrion Kross, Pretty Deadly, The Hunt, Indus Sher, Rinku, Saurav, Grizzled Young Veterans, Imperium, Gallus and Legado del Fantasma. The Devlin name is notable because he was dropped by U.K. groups as part of the Speaking Out movement, and WWE dropped most of the same guys, but did not say anything about Devlin. This pretty much tells you they aren’t planning on dropping him. Devlin is still listed as co-cruiserweight champion even though his name hasn’t been mentioned on television in a long time and Santos Escobar has been referred to as champion with no mention of a co-champion

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for this past week were: 1. WWE Timeline Daniel Bryan vs. Miz feud; 2. Rise and Fall of WCW; 3. SummerSlam 2019; 4. NXT for 8/5; 5. Best of Jeff Hardy; 6. The Horror Show at Extreme Rules 2020; 7. Raw Talk 8/10

WWE Ratings & AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

The 8/10 Raw was a mixed bag, as the viewer number stayed at the same range as last week and up from July, but in 18-49, the show did the third lowest number in its history.

The show averaged 1,722,000 viewers and 0.47 in 18-49. Two episodes of Raw this year hit 0.46, which is the all-time record low. The total viewers were up 7,000 (0.4 percent) from last week, while 18-49 was down 7.8 percent.

The basic story is told by the hours. The first hour did 1,811,000 viewers, the best first hour since 6/29. The second hour did 1,754,000 viewers, a nice hold, while hour three did 1,601,000 viewers. Hours two and three were both the third best since the start of July.

The third hour dropped overall even with Bayley vs. Asuka, Raw Underground, Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens and the Ric Flair/Orton angle.

But men 12-49 and teenage women held well for all three hours. It’s better than usual. It was better than two weeks ago, when teenagers collapsed in hour three after the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks match, but not like last week when the Raw Underground boosted teenage interest in hour three by a huge amount. The drops from the first-to-third hours were 18.2 percent in women 18-49, 1.5 percent in men 18-49, 4.1 percent in teenage girls, there was an 8.0 percent gain in teenage boys and 12.4 percent over 50.

The comparisons to last year look bad, but last year SummerSlam was two weeks earlier so this was the post-Summer Slam show we are comparing this with. The drop from last year same week was 36.9 percent overall, 48.9 percent in 18-49 and 66.7 percent in 18-34.

Raw was fifth in 18-49

Smackdown on 8/7 did a 1.20 rating and 1,962,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per home, a better than usual number) and 0.49 in 18-49 (637,000 viewers) , up 3.6 percent in viewers, 1.7 percent in households and was down 1.1 percent in 18-49, as well as declined from 0.3 to 0.2 in 18-34.

Smackdown was last in viewers, even though all the other networks had reruns, but first in 18-49 and tied for first in 18-34 ...

On the network scoreboard, they were second in women 18-49, first in men 18-49 and last in 50+. The median viewer age was 54.5 years old.

FOX as a network averaged 1,953,000 viewers and 0.5 in 18-49 in the same time slot last year, but that’s unique. They aired rerun programming, including an episode of BH90210 that had aired just a few days earlier. But the regular FOX programming did 1,181,000 viewers in the markets it aired and the other 772,000 viewers were from other sports events that played in selected local markets.

In the half hours, the Firefly Fun house and Sheamus vs. Matt Riddle opened at 1.97 million viewers. The Dirt Sheet with Miz, John Morrison and Sonya Deville plus Cesaro vs. Lince Dorado did 1.87 million viewers. The Bray Wyatt, Alexa Bliss, Braun Strowman segment, Jeff Hardy vs King Corbin and Corbin vs. Sheamus did 2.00 million viewers. Stephanie McMahon with Bayley and Sasha Banks, Heavy Machinery vs. Miz & Morrison and the Retribution deal did 1.97 million viewers. That actually held up in the fourth half hour better than the show usually does.

The 8/12 numbers, across the board, had huge declines from last week’s high points. Every show was down with younger viewers, whether they be news or sports, and both wrestling shows took a hit.

AEW did 792,000 viewers and an 0.32 in 18-49 (417,000 viewers), numbers that would be considered very good until last week’s huge numbers, but there were thoughts with the lineup and the Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy match that there would be another increase. In particular, the 18-34 demo, which AEW won last week, dropped 37.8 percent, and fell below Raw, which it had beaten the week before and was favored to beat again with the strong lineup and Raw’s low number, with most of the drop being male, which points to going head-to-head with the NBA and NHL.

AEW fell from No. 5 for the night in 18-49 ...

This week it was No. 9, actually beating one NBA game and all four NHL playoff games, but losing to Real Housewives, the late NBA game, three news shows and two Discovery Network specials. Until the 9:19 p.m. second game start time, AEW beat both the early NBA game and NHL playoffs head-to-head in both overall viewers and 18-49. However, it was likely that level of competition played a factor in a comparison from last week.

Overall AEW was down 12.1 percent in viewers and 9.5 percent in 18-49, but the big drop was in its best demo, 18-34.

The news was worse for NXT, which dropped to No. 65 on the charts, doing 619,000 viewers and a 0.16 in 18-49 (206,000 viewers). That was a drop of 17.8 percent in viewers and 19.2 percent in 18-49. It was the fifth lowest viewer number of the year and tied for fifth lowest in 18-49.

Because it finished out of the top 50, we don’t have the usual details in the breakdowns.

In 18-49, AEW more than doubled NXT, doing almost triple in women 18-34 and also more than double in women 35-49.

AEW did 65,000 viewers in Men 18-34 (down 39.8 percent from last week) to 39,000 for NXT (same as last week). In Women 18-34, AEW did 60,000 viewers (down 27.7 percent from last week) and NXT did 21,000 viewers (down 41.7 percent from last week). In Men 35-49, AEW did 182,000 viewers (down 0.5 percent from last week) and NXT did 98,000 viewers (down 19.0 percent from last week). In Women 35-49, AEW did 110,000 viewers (up 26.4 percent from last week) and NXT did 48,000 (down 18.6 percent) ...

AEW did a 0.14 in 12-17 (down 30.0 percent), 0.18 in 18-34 (down 34.6 percent), 0.46 in 35-49 (up 8.1 percent) and 0.26 in 50+ (down 21.2 percent). The audience was 59.2 percent male in 18-49 and 54.2 percent male in 12-17, so the drops were more heavily male, pointing again to competing ports as the likely key culprit.

Compared to the other sports on television, AEW was No. 2 in 18-49. The late night ESPN NBA game did 1,240,000 viewers and 0.48. The prime time NHL game on NBC Sports Network did 764,000 viewers and 0.31. The early NBA game, which went against the first 79 minutes of AEW, did 674,000 viewers and 0.26, so they beat the NBA in hour one. An earlier NHL game on NBC Sports Network did 626,000 viewers and 0.26. The late-night NHL game did 464,000 viewers and 0.20 on NBC Sports Network. An afternoon NHL game did 459,000 viewers and 0.18 in 18-49.

Regarding the 8/5 show, there were five minutes total of the 12-man tag that topped 1 million viewers, peaking at 1,050,000. From 8:09 to 8:19 p.m. during that match they were above 500,000 in 18-49, peaking at 554,000. The Jon Moxley interview did 1,012,000 viewers. The first minute of the Matt Cardona & Cody ring entrance did 1,024,000. Four minutes of Jericho-Orange Cassidy topped 500,000 in 18-49 and two minutes topped one million. The high point of the show, which was the attack on Cassidy, did 1,054,000

Mr. Nerfect

08-14-2020, 04:36 PM

Why would anyone think that Jericho vs. OC would lead to an increase in ratings?

Emperor Smeat

08-18-2020, 09:28 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Sonya Deville Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/VwqAMui.gif

Partially, if largely due to going head-to-head with the Democratic National Convention, Raw had its fourth lowest ever overall average viewing audience last night and tied for its fourth lowest number in 18-49.

Raw averaged 1.64 million viewers and an 0.48 in 18-49. The audience was down five percent from last week, but the key demos saw 18-49 up two percent and 18-34 up 27 percent.

The first two hours did decently well by the standards of the last month, but there was a big third hour drop going against convention coverage that had nearly 14 million viewers between the various stations. The 13 percent first-to-third hour drop was a little larger than usual. The third hour was the second least watched hour of Raw on a Monday night in history, beating only the third hour of the July 27 show.

As compared with the same week last year, Raw was down 35 percent in viewers, 41 percent in 18-49, and 51 percent in 18-34 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.73 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.70 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.50 million viewers

Every key demo fell in the third hour by double digits led by females 12-34 (36 percent), adults 18-34 (27 percent), and adults 18-49 (15 percent). Adults over 50 had the smallest drop by 12 percent but it was the continual pattern since Raw Underground began as adults over 50 watched the first two hours and tuned out in the third.

The 12-34 audience losses are notable because that is the audience that Raw Underground did best with during Week 1 on August 3rd. Those audiences grew by 18 percent with men and 12.5 percent with women on August 3rd and fell by 16 percent and 36 percent respectively this week, and that cannot be attributed entirely to the competition.

New details have emerged in the attempted kidnapping of WWE wrestler Sonya Deville, real name Daria Berenato.

Deville filed and was granted a petition for a temporary injunction against stalking violence on Monday, further detailing her incident with alleged stalker and would-be kidnapper Phillip Arnold Thomas II early Sunday morning at her Lutz, Florida, home ...

A hearing will be held on August 27th to discuss putting a more permanent injunction into place.

In the petition, Deville said that after she went to bed, she was awakened by a security alarm and alerted that a sliding door that led to her lanai was open. She then awakened her house guest, Amanda Saccomanno, better known as Mandy Rose.

Deville went to check on the sliding door and said that as she was ensuring the door was locked, she looked up and saw Thomas. Deville said that she asked him, “What are you doing, what do you want?” at which point he began walking toward her.

“That is when I realized this person was not here to rob me, he was there to hurt me,” Deville's petition said. According to a Tampa Bay Times report, Thomas was armed with a knife and pepper spray when he approached Deville.

Deville then told Rose, “There’s a man in the house, we have to go,” before they fled the home and called 911. Deville said she later saw on home security footage that Thomas had followed her into the house, "but he thought I ran up the stairs, leaving me and my friend just enough time to escape.”

Sheriff's deputies gave Thomas's name to Deville, who then searched her social media accounts for messages from him of which she found hundreds.

“The nature of the messages from this account were obsessive, suicidal, idolizing, saying, ‘You are the only person I will ever love,’ " according to Deville's petition.

She also described a second account that also appeared to belong to him which sent similar messages. One such message read, "I found your home address.” She said she received a message from the second account Sunday at 12:16 a.m., just hours before the incident at her home. Deville says that the last message read, “Look outside, baby, by your pool. I’m here. I’m gonna kill that little b---- you have inside with you.”

Deville also described receiving messages from the second account that included threats of decapitating her friends and family, describing individuals by name. Deville wrote that she received explicit messages and one graphic sexual photo from the account.

Live English commentary is returning for NJPW's next major show.

For the first time since the promotion resumed events, there will be live English commentary for Summer Struggle in Jingu on Saturday, August 29. NJPW announced that Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton will be on commentary for the show

The Associated Press reported today that the United States Federal Government is seeking to seize the $1.5 million Madison, MS home of former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr., the son of WWE Hall of Famer The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.

This stems from an audit into the Mississippi Department of Human Services after arrests were made in February 2020 in one of the largest embezzlement scandals ever in the history of that office, a scandal that saw direct connections the DiBiase wrestling family. Former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase (DiBiase Sr.'s son, DiBiase Jr.'s brother) was among those indicted several months ago as part of the scandal, which saw the former director of Mississippi's state welfare agency and five others charged in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals in the history of the office.

While DiBiase Jr. is not accused of a crime, federal agents stepped in to prevent him from selling his home with today's AP article stating that sale was a week away from being completed.

As PWInsider.com reported at the time, it was alleged that Brett DiBiase was given funds to go to a drug treatment facility in Malibu that was earmarked for Mississippi's welfare programs. According to documents, DiBiase was allegedly given the money as payment for classes that he didn't teach for drug abuse.

The Associated Press later ran a follow-up story on the DiBiase family connection based on a revelation that WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase's non-profit religious organization, Heart of David Ministries had reportedly received more than $2.1 million in welfare from the state of Mississippi after his son Brett began working for the State. The organization had received just $5,000 in grants in 2013, but pulled in $271,000 in welfare money, the same year Brett was hired as a senior official at the Mississippi Department of Human Services. DiBiase’s group received as much as $900,000 one year ...

Where DiBiasel Jr.'s home may play into this is that the AP reported that the Mississippi Community Education Center also paid Brett DiBiase’s brother, former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr., to provide training to human services employees in late 2018 and early 2019.
Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/feds-attempting-to-seize-home-of-former-pro-wrestler/ar-BB1874wH?li=BBnbcA1

El Phantasmo joined Tama Tonga on his ‘Tama’s Island’ podcast ...

In the early portions of the interview, El Phantasmo talked about his career in editing and being well-versed in various types of software. He worked for EA Sports and edited cartoons that were going up on the Netflix service. Phantasmo stated that he was making more money than some of the talents in NXT.

“So I was so excited to do that, to go do Ring of Honor dark shows with them [Established Canadian wrestlers] and stuff while they were all killing it. So I gotta pretty bummed out when I couldn’t get across the border. It was like a gray area where it was like I wasn’t doing anything illegal but I couldn’t prove to them that I was coming back to Canada. So that kinda bummed me out with wrestling and then I ended up getting a job editing cartoons, and I did that for like seven years. Like making cartoons for Netflix and we worked on a couple Emmy-award winning shows which was cool, and my whole big thing was I was making more money than guys in NXT or anything like that. So it was really hard at that point to leave that to go literally live on someone’s couch in St. Louis or something, or however you wanna make it.”

The following note is from Fightful’s ‘Fightful Wrestling Weekly’ column concerning Matt Hardy’s reaction to Sammy Guevara after Guevara threw a chair at his head which opened a wound on Hardy’s forehead:

“We’re told the scene was ‘chaotic’ two weeks ago following the errant chair throw from Sammy Guevara. Nobody in AEW that we spoke to thought that the spot was intentional, but many thought that it was reckless. We heard that a usually mild-tempered Matt Hardy was heated after the incident and felt lucky that it wasn’t worse than it ended up being. There was heat on Guevara afterwards, even though he apologized, as the show was taped and the spot could have been done a number of different ways.”

Both Colby Corino and Brandi Lauren were featured on Monday Night RAW on 8/17 as a part of RAW Underground.

Tony Schiavone has given the details regarding his AEW contract.

Schiavone signed a multi-year deal with AEW in August, though terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Speaking to Ron Funches on Gettin' Better, Schiavone revealed the terms of the contract.

"Right now, my life is great. I can't imagine, had I not signed with AEW, what my life would be like right now because I wouldn't have baseball, I would have to wait until football started to get some sort of revenue stream. It's saved me on a financial level, but also rekindled my love of professional wrestling that I never thought I would get back again, but it has. I started with them in September of 2019, I signed a three-year deal, which can go up to five years, with two more years added on to that. We signed an extension with WarnerMedia, and we're gonna be on another four years," he said.

Cody revealed on Twitter recently that Madusa will be presenting AEW Women's Tag Team Tournament trophy. The finals will take place on the August 22 episode of Dynamite.

Chris Jericho says Bray Wyatt understands the secret to longevity in show business.

Chris Jericho is somebody who has survived 30 years in wrestling because of his ability to adapt and evolve his character along the way. From Lionheart, to Y2J, to Le Champion, Chris Jericho has continued to change with the times and he says that is how you survive in wrestling.

On his way to Saturday Night Special Q&A session, Chris Jericho was asked about how he feels about “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. Chris Jericho would say that he really enjoys seeing the character change and called Windham Rotunda, the man behind the character, a very smart man.

“I love 'The Fiend.' I love Windham Rotunda, it's kind of a mouthful of a name. He’s such a great guy and super smart, creative. I think that is why he reminds me a little bit of me, he'll never be the same guy twice because that's the true secret of having longevity in show business. You can't be the same guy. Look at David Bowie or any great actor.”

There's been a lot of talk about the status of Ethan Page over the last few days after he tweeted out he was preparing to "print money" in January 2021. In asking around, we are told that his current deal expires towards the end of 2020, so he would be free come January. Obviously, like any other wrestler, he's going to see what he could command on the open market, but this doesn't necessarily mean he's exiting Impact as there's lot of time to come to a new deal. The belief is that Josh Alexander's current deal runs well into 2021, so if Page does exit, it would mean the end of The North, who have been one hell of a team.

The word is the Good Brothers' Talkin' Shop A Mania PPV did really well on FITE, so don't be surprised for a second one.

Since it's inception, AEW has shown that former WWE stars of varying levels of success are welcome in the company. This includes their current World Champion Jon Moxley, their current TNT Champion Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho, FTR, and numerous others.

Interest in AEW from current WWE stars may be more common than fans previously thought. It's being reported that "virtually everybody" on the WWE roster has reached out to AEW in some fashion to discuss a potential future with the company, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio. He notes that this includes whether or not the company has interest in the particular WWE superstar and, if so, how much money that person could make signing with AEW.

Of all the top WWE superstars on the roster, it was noted that Roman Reigns is the sole person that has never inquired about AEW's interest.
Makes sense a bunch of WWE talent would reach out to AEW especially in regards to money since that would help explain some of the deals WWE has been offering to certain talents solely to keep them in the company like your Riddick Moss and at the time, Anderson & Gallows team. Orton's teases of possibly joining AEW helped land him a very favorable and rich new deal with WWE.

WWE Raw Underground has been a major talking point of the last couple weeks as WWE tries to change the complexion of its longest-running weekly episodic television series. Fightful has learned new information regarding the first round of tapings for the new concept.

As of 1 AM EST during the first Raw tapings to feature the gimmick, WWE was still filming content for WWE Raw Underground. We're told that there were other hosts besides Shane McMahon suggested, and the "Underground" name had been thrown around for other projects in the past years. Much of the main roster had no idea what was even being filmed the day of.

Justin Kendall has a story on the recent sale of the rare Greg Valentine Rhythm ‘n’ Blues figures designed by Hasbro. A collector from Wales named Marc Reynolds recently purchased one of the three known figures of Valentine from Mark Bushey. Reynolds didn’t reveal the purchase price for the figure but noted that it topped his previous high mark of $13,000 for a figure while falling under the eBay price listing of $30,000 for the Valentine figure. Of the three known figures of Valentine, Matt Cardona owns one of them and detailed the history of this rare figure on The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast.
Link: https://wrestlingfigurenews.com/2020/08/16/rare-rhythm-blues-greg-the-hammer-valentine-wwf-hasbro-prototype-sold-to-wales-based-collector/ , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7hL_hMQ31U

TPWW Frontpage:

ROH Announces Several Competitors and Rules for Pure Title Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/roh-announces-several-competitors-and-rules-for-pure-title-tournament/)
WWE: Sonya Deville Stalker Update, Trademarks, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-thunderdome-update-sonya-deville-stalker-update-trademarks-updated-sd-ratings/)
AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament Semifinal Results – Aug. 17, 2020 – Final Match Set (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/aew-womens-tag-team-cup-tournament-semifinal-results-aug-17-2020-final-match-set/)
WWE May Bring Back Talking Smack (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-may-bring-back-talking-smack/)
WWE Will Pay $450,000 for Two Month Stay at the Amway Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-will-pay-450000-for-two-month-stay-at-the-amway-center/)
Goldberg Under WWE Contract for Two Matches Per Year for the Next Couple of Years (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/goldberg-under-wwe-contract-for-two-matches-per-year-for-the-next-couple-of-years/)

Emperor Smeat

08-19-2020, 07:11 PM

The Sheets sponsored by The Invisible Man:
https://i.imgur.com/BpE06tJ.gif

Ring of Honor's return to television production will include the debut of a wrestler who was part of April's WWE releases.

PWInsider reported today that former TNA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 is in Baltimore and will make his ROH debut at this week's TV tapings. Their report has been confirmed by our Dave Meltzer.

Paul Levesque met with reporters in a conference call this morning in advance of Saturday’s Takeover XXX super show on the WWE Network ...

The first caller was Brian Fritz. He asked something I wanted to know, why is NXT not going to be in Thunderdome. HHH said with moving Smackdown, Raw and SummerSlam to Amway, he said as awesome as the Dome will be, it’s important for him to stay at Full Sail due to their great relationship. Never say never, but he’s happy right now. He said Friday will be debut Thunderdome and he misses the fans, they are the secret sauce. He can’t wait to get them back. They are everything to WWE. He said for the immediate future they are at Full Sail and they are still figuring everything out.

Jason Powell asked about Velveteen Dream’s investigation, which I was also curious about. He said there is an online accuser who has not been contacted by WWE. He mentioned Nia Jax not being happy with how this has gone. HHH said they take it seriously, have looked into it and found nothing there. He said that they will always listen when new evidence is brought up but he already talked about it and he wanted to move on to other topics ...

Comicbook.com asked about Renee Young and what she has meant to NXT and the company for 8 years. He said he won’t comment on her status but having her in WWE has been awesome. She has been a large part of what they do and he has loved working with her.

The Wrap asked if running SummerSlam on a boat was an option. H said every option was looked into. He said most options didn’t have much of a chance. It’s all about doing it safely and things on a boat aren’t easy. He said when you see Thunderdome, you will get why they went that way.

Nick Houseman asked about Lars Sullivan’s status. He said he didn’t even know that Lars was putting workout videos online. He said he has no update on Lars ...

Dave Meltzer asked what the biggest lesson they have learned about producing shows in the pandemic and will there be a new head writer for NXT. He said they shift things around writing the show. He said it’s a group that include Shawn Michaels, Brian James and himself. He said everything goes through them. He said that there are lessons to be learned everywhere. He said that the biggest difficulty has been in the shifting of everything. COVID has made it all exponentially harder. He said you could have great stuff written and then you wait to see if it can be used ...

Shawn Sap asked about haven’t talent being poached now that they have a USA slot too. He said that due to USA, they have made changes to the process of the talent being poached and you will see that in the draft when it returns later this year. He added that people can go brand to brand now and try different things. He said when he came into WWE and he would talk to Taker about people being in the company for 5 or 6 years, it was unreal to him that they could stay in one place that long. Now you have people in the company 10 years or more. He said with that, people now can go to other places in the company and change things up. All brands need to be supported now.

Jim Varsallone asked what Karrion Kross brings to the table ... H said he has had his eye on Kross for a long time and he could see serious talent there. He could sense the X Factor in him, and that is king for any talent. He said that the learning curve is steep when one comes to the company, including the TV aspect. He said Kross is a sponge for the business. He is always learning. His improvement and growth rate has been huge since walking through the door, just like Keith Lee ...

Justin Labar asked about the ratings for the Wednesday shows. What is important, demos, viewers, etc. What does he focus on? He said he’s focused on NXT. He said thank God people care about that stuff to the degree they do. At the end of the day it’s about his product and his fans. You put out the best product you can, hope fans want to watch and that’s it. He looks at numbers but not the way people do online. He said people can argue all they want, he doesn’t worry about that. He worries about NXT. He said he can’t wait for the fans to come back because they are the true barometer of what the fans love. The digital stuff has a lot of factors and negativity, so he likes the true reactions in the arenas. He can’t wait to get fans back to tell them what they want ...

A British caller asked if this match could lead to more matches for Pat McAfee. He said we will see. He said Pat is an amazing athlete. He said he was an all around athlete but could monetize being a kicker so he did. He said Pat was always a WWE fan and HHH didn’t realize that when he first met him. He gets it now. He said Pat was not looking for a niche role, he wants to be a wrestler. H said he has watched Pat train and he is a natural and very gifted. H said that the reason that he is putting him in an NXT match, where it will be scrutinized, is that he has the ability to do it. He is also working with one of the most gifted guys on their roster in Adam Cole. He thinks it will be spectacular on both of their ends. Where that goes, it depends on Pat because he has a lot of irons in the fire.

He was asked about a new head writer on NXT and wouldn’t address any specific people but noted it is “business as usual” and would appear to confirm that head writer Joe Belcastro is moving on, which had been out there and we had heard about. It is not known if Belcastro has already left or is leaving soon. Ringside News had reported on the story on Wednesday.

Paul Levesque was a guest on the Bill Simmons Podcast to discuss WWE navigating through the pandemic and promoting the launch of their shows at the Amway Center this Friday.

*He said the internet makes their jobs more difficult and it’s all opinions that are out there, it’s a subjective business and talent can selectively find an opinion that benefits them ...

*He said the most important thing is having a wealth of talent coming into the company and are as much a content company as they are a wrestling one

*On AEW, he said the strength of WWE is their ability to pivot and Vince McMahon will put the right people around him. He didn’t directly speak about AEW and more so used the question to discuss Vince McMahon’s history and ability to adapt

*Levesque noted when it comes to new stars it helps when the old one leaves citing Hulk Hogan leaving the company in 1993 – this is a point we have discussed where talent gets on top and can be there for years without other options. It was helpful for Hogan that Bruno Sammartino was largely retired by his run, that Hogan left for Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, and then they left to usher in Steve Austin’s ascent with The Rock.

*He completed agreed with Simmons that Raw should be two hours and that it’s obvious adding it is so hard to write that third hour of Raw

*Regarding their on-screen product reflecting the world and its problems, he said if you go too far today you alienate people and can’t push the boundaries as they once did and cited films from ten years ago you couldn’t make and jokes that wouldn’t fly today

*They had a discussion about the dynamic of working for Vince McMahon while he’s also family and a grandfather to his children. He said if there was ever an issue so significant and he had to choose, he would walk away from working with McMahon if it would affect the family dynamic ...

*He will see if the right scenario presents itself but didn’t completely close the door on wrestling again but prefers helping the younger talent than doing it himself, he said he will be fine if he doesn’t wrestle again

After unsuccessfully challenging for Kenny Omega & Hangman Page's Tag Team titles on Dynamite last week, Jurassic Express have fallen out of the top five in AEW's tag team rankings ...

The Young Bucks moved up to third after defeating The Dark Order last week, while Evil Uno & Stu Grayson have fallen to fifth after that loss. Rhodes & Marshall are back into the rankings at fourth. They defeated Jack Evans & Angelico on AEW Dark last week.

The men's and women's singles division rankings are unchanged from last week ...

This week's full rankings are listed below:

Men's division --
Champions: AEW World Champion Jon Moxley (15-0 singles record in 2020, 21-2-1 overall record), TNT Champion Cody (18-1 singles record in 2020, 26-6-1 overall record)

MJF (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2 overall record)
Lance Archer (11-1 singles record in 2020, 11-1 overall record)
Brian Cage (6-1 singles record in 2020, 6-2 overall record)
Brodie Lee (5-1 singles record in 2020, 8-1 overall record)
Scorpio Sky (7-2 singles record in 2020, 24-11 overall record)

Women's division --
Champion: Hikaru Shida (16-1 singles record in 2020, 21-7 overall record)

Nyla Rose (7-2 singles record in 2020, 14-6 overall record)
Big Swole (6-3 singles record in 2020, 8-8 overall record)
Penelope Ford (6-4 singles record in 2020, 8-7 overall record)
Abadon (4-1 singles record in 2020, 4-1 overall record)
Britt Baker (4-4 singles record in 2020, 13-8 overall record)

Tag team division --
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (12-0 tag team record in 2020, 29-9 overall record for Omega, 21-10 overall record for Page)

FTR (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 5-2 overall record for Dax Harwood, 5-2 overall record for Cash Wheeler)
Best Friends (13-4 tag team record in 2020, 21-15 overall record for Trent Barreta, 20-13 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
The Young Bucks (6-2 tag team record in 2020, 19-11 overall record for Nick Jackson, 19-11 overall record for Matt Jackson)
The Natural Nightmares (6-1 tag team record in 2020, 14-8 overall record for Dustin Rhodes, 9-11 overall record for QT Marshall)
The Dark Order (8-2 tag team record in 2020, 13-5 overall record for Evil Uno, 14-6 overall record for Stu Grayson)

The WWE Network has quietly removed a number of older WWE documentaries from the streaming service, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The titles that have been removed are:

2005's Bret Hart - The Best There Is, the Best There Was, the Best There Ever Will Be
2010's Hart and Soul: Hart Family Anthology.
2010's WWE Top 50 Superstars.
2011's Greatest Rivalries: Bret vs. Shawn.
2013's Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection.
2019's The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling.

The documentaries that have been pulled all seem to have one common, obvious factor - WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart.

As previously reported on PWInsider.com, while WWE has ownership of the Stampede Wrestling library, Bret Hart owns the rights to his matches from that same library, which he purchased from his parents before their passing. This issue has led to the WWE Network pulling complete episodes of Stampede Wrestling TV in 2015 shortly after they were uploaded to the WWE Network. Since that time, WWE has only utilized matches from Stampede that do not feature Bret Hart appearing and the two sides have never come to an agreement on the usage of Hart's matches from that time period.

There is no word what led to the documentaries pulled, but if those documentaries featured Bret Hart content from Stampede (which in the case of some of them, was certainly the case), they may have been yanked from WWE's streaming service for that reason. If those titles return with some slight re-editing, that would certainly prove the Stampede footage theory.

WWE sent out invitations to members of their mailing list, offering them a chance to take part in a live WWE Thunderdome test tomorrow.

For fans who have signed up for the invite, WWE will present a match for them to test the Thunderdome experience, promising they will be the first to take part.

It does not appear the match will be broadcast live and it will just be an in-house test for the company. The test is scheduled for 5:15 PM EST.

As noted last night, WWE made the first Virtual Fan opportunities available for this week's Friday Night Smackdown broadcast last night via WWEThunderDome.com. We are told by sources that they hit capacity within minutes.

The virtual fan slots for Sunday's Summerslam PPV will be made available later this week, followed by Monday's Raw slots, and so on.

For those in Canada, AEW Dynamite will now be available at 6 pm Eastern this Saturday on TSN.ca and on the TSN app. It will also air on TSN2 at 10 pm Eastern that night.

NJPW Strong will now be available on Fite TV each Friday night at 10 pm Eastern in addition to airing on New Japan World. The Fite TV version is available for $5.99 U.S.
For the type of shows NJPW Strong and the Lion's Break Collision series have been so far, $6 per episode seems a bit high especially since that would be $24 for a typical month's worth of shows.

Buff Bagwell, real name Marcus Bagwell, has been involved in an accident that resulted in serious injuries.

The Cobb County Police Department Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) Unit is currently investigating a traffic collision that took place on the afternoon of August 16 in Georgia. According to the report from the STEP Unit, the 50-year-old Bagwell lost control of his Chevrolet Tahoe going through a curve.

Bagwell then collided into a free-standing bathroom at the Cobb County Transit (CCT) bus station. He was transported to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with serious injuries.

Fightful Select reports that Riddick Moss was on the verge of getting a big push in the WWE prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As noted, he took a break from WWE TV due to the pandemic. The reason for that was due to him caring or a family member that is a higher risk for the virus due to cystic fibrosis.

Former RAW executive director Paul Heyman made the decision to bench Moss, to avoid any possible heat of Moss making the decision himself. It was added that Heyman was very high on Moss at the time.

TPWW Frontpage:

Video of the WWE ThunderDome Set Being Built (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/footage-of-the-wwe-thunderdome-set-being-built/)
Renee Young Leaving WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/renee-young-leaving-wwe/)
Registration for ThunderDome on SmackDown Reaches Capacity + Info on Fan Guidelines (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/registration-for-thunderdome-on-smackdown-reaches-capacity-info-on-fan-guidelines/)

Emperor Smeat

08-20-2020, 09:02 PM

The Sheets sponsored by WWE Don't Try This At Home:
https://i.imgur.com/DZheNBe.gif

Running unopposed with AEW Dynamite preempted due to the NBA playoffs, WWE NXT posted its strongest viewership since November on Wednesday night.

Last night's NXT, which was the go-home show for TakeOver XXX, averaged 853,000 viewers. That's up from the 619,000 the show drew last week. The rating in the 18-49 demo was a 0.24, up from last Wednesday's 0.16.

While Dynamite didn't air last night, NXT did face competition from the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and news coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

This was NXT's best viewership number since the November 20 edition of the show averaged 916,000 viewers. After ranking 65th in all cable programs in the 18-49 demo last Wednesday, NXT rose to 23rd in that metric last night.

The rating in the 18-34 demo was a 0.09, down from the 0.11 that NXT drew two weeks ago. That would seemingly indicate that much of AEW's younger audience migrated to news or sports coverage rather than head over to USA Network to check out the other Wednesday wrestling show.

This week's Dynamite will air on Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern time or immediately following the NBA playoffs. The TakeOver XXX pre-show is starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, with the main card then beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Since NXT finished out of the top fifty cable programs last week, we cannot compare all the key demos. However, looking at the ratings from the August 5th episode of NXT, the lack of AEW competition didn’t translate to increases among each group. The largest loss was with women 12-34 which were down 44 percent from two weeks ago registering a 0.05 this week. The other big loss was with adults 18-34 that was down 27 percent from two weeks ago.

The largest gain compared to August 5th was with men 18-49 that grew by 28 percent followed by adults 25-54 increasing by 25 percent. In the 18-49 demographic NXT was up 20 percent compared to two weeks ago.

WWE star Sonya Deville testified this afternoon in Tampa, Florida at a pre-trial hearing for Phillip Arnold Thomas II, who was arrested in Sonya Deville's Florida home early Sunday morning. Thomas has been charged with Aggravated Stalking, Armed Burglary of a Dwelling, Attempted Armed Kidnapping, and Criminal Mischief. He has been assigned a public defender and invoked his fifth amendment right to remain silent.

Thomas was not present in the court room but was seen via video monitor from another room, where he was handcuffed and alone. This hearing was to determine whether Thomas would be held without bail prior to his trial.

Deville recounted that the evening Thomas invaded her home, she was sleeping in her master bedroom when her alarm went off. Mandy Rose was sleeping in the guest bedroom and Deville woke her up to tell her the alarm went off, then turned off the alarm and entered her kitchen, turning on the lights. She looked outside a sliding door that she usually used to enter the house and saw a man dressed in black wearing a mask outside. She asked him, "What the f*** are you doing?" but he just looked at her, with a deadpan expression on his face, and approached.

At that point, Deville knew he wasn't trying to rob or burglarize the home, but instead was there for her. She ran out of the kitchen to the guest room, grabbed Rose and they ran to the garage with Rose's cell phone and car keys. The garage was down the hallway from the guest bedroom, so if they went the other way, they'd have run back towards the intruder. Deville jumped in Rose's car to drive but couldn't get it to to start because she was so freaked that her foot was on the ignition, not the brake. Rose was able to press the manual start button so the engine revved and they pulled out and drove through the neighborhood as Rose called 911.

They returned to the house after they were advised a deputy had arrived. The deputy asked them to wait and when backup arrived, the authorities entered the home through the garage and returned several minutes later with the suspect, who Deville identified as the same man she saw and the same man who was seen on the video monitor.

Deville testified that the man had never had permission to enter her home and that she had no communication with him before the night he invaded her home.

They showed video footage of the incident, which saw Deville looking through her doors and then running out of the kitchen. A man dressed in black entered the house and followed the same path, exiting out the same kitchen door Deville fled through.

During her appearance, Deville was presented with photos of items that were not in her home until Thomas broke in.

Deville was then asked about checking her Instagram messages after authorities gave her Thomas' name. In searching his name, she testified that she found hundreds of messages from him threatening her life, the life of her baby niece and threatened to decapitate her ex-girlfriend. She testified that he also threatened to sexually assault her and that the messages were sent over a period of many, many months. He sent messages under his first name using his own face as a picture, a second account using the name "Phil" with no photo and a third account using another name.

Deville stated that the last message she received came shortly before he invaded her home and stated that she should look outside because he was at her pool and he was going to "kill that b**ch" who was with her. Deville was then presented with copies of the messages, which she said she recognized. Thomas' attorney tried to object that the messages could not connect the defendant but the State argued that the last message placed Thomas at the scene of the crime and that further testimony from a detective could link those together. One of the messages specifically noted Deville's home address, which also strengthened the State's claim ...

Deville testified that one of the messages featured a threat that demanded she needed to have sex with the defendant or he would release her address to the world. He also threatened the lives of every living relative in her family, including her mother, her sister and her nieces as well as Deville's ex-girlfriend. His messages claimed that he could walk next door to her house, that he could kill people to show her he was serious and sent her messages stating "Tick Tock when will the fun begin?"

She testified that he threatened to come find her at a WWE event and it wouldn't matter if she was backstage, that he would get to her baby niece and that he would force her to perform sex acts on him and would force her to do so in the WWE Performance Center. She testified that her ex-girlfriend was so frightened by messages she received, she deactivated her own Instagram. She testified that she received a message that the only way to save her family from hard was to have sexual relations with him - and that he was coming to see her in person, wearing a mask. She testified that he sent a message saying that since she was ignoring him, he was coming to see her to talk to her in person, warning her that he was going to "get what I want" and would make her regret the fact that he was being ignored by her.

He also sent her a message stating that he would be attending Summerslam with her as her boyfriend. Deville had to explain what Summerslam was and that it was the second biggest event of the year for the company and that she and Mandy Rose were slated to wrestle against each other on the show. At this point, the livestream covering Deville's testimony ended.

FITE issed the following:

FITE Announces the Appointment of Nick Aldis as Special Correspondent for the Global Digital Brand

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2020----- FITE, the premier global digital platform for sports and entertainment, announced today that Nick Aldis, businessman and Pro Wrestling superstar, would add an additional title to his resume, serving in the role as a Special Correspondent for the company. Aldis has a deep background in media duties which have served him well both in his professional life as well as in the wrestling arena.

Nick Aldis is a Pro Wrestler, Broadcaster and Author. In his 15-year career he has performed all over the world and held multiple championships including the prestigious NWA World's Heavyweight Championship, which he currently holds. Outside of wrestling he has appeared on stage and television as both an actor and broadcaster. As a writer he was the longest running columnist for Fighting Spirit Magazine (2008-2018) and his first book, The Superstar Body, was published in 2015 ...

Mr. Aldis’ initial efforts will include the creation of exclusive content for FITE involving video conversations with key sports stars. Stay tuned - If it Happens, it’s on FITE!

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the following:

Gabriel Kidd suffers neck injury; to miss Korakuen events

Gabriel Kidd has suffered a neck injury and will not be able to compete on Korakuen Hall cards on August 26 and 27. Changes have been made to both cards accordingly.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed USA Network preempting the September 2nd edition of WWE NXT for NHL Playoff Hockey ...

The timing would seemingly benefit AEW, as their first opportunity to host Dynamite unopposed on a Wednesday will also be their “go-home” show ahead of All Out on September 5th.

Meltzer also stated that this episode was originally to be followed by a one-hour countdown special, however it appears that special will now be condensed to 30min and will air prior to The Buy-In on Saturday, September 5th and 5:30pm ET.

Deadspin’s Julie DiCaro has published an article compiling the various public accusations made against Patrick Clark (a.k.a. Velveteen Dream), along with public responses from Clark and Paul Levesque over recent weeks.

The hashtag #FireVelveteenDream was trending during the airing of last night’s WWE NXT, which featured Velveteen Dream vs. Finn Balor in the main event.
Link: https://deadspin.com/wwe-allows-alleged-child-sex-predator-to-waltz-back-int-1844787991/

A new company has joined the fray.

LIDET Entertainment, former owner of Pro-Wrestling NOAH, has announced the formation of a new promotion called GLEAT.

According to the promotion, GLEAT is a coined word in which GREAT is combined with L, the acronym for LIDET ENTERTAINMENT.

Former wrestler and MMA fighter Kiyoshi Tamura will be the Executive Director of the promotion. Tamura competed in UWF, UWFi, RINGS and PrideFC. Tamura said about his vision for the promotion, "My ideal is this. Martial arts pro wrestling, The UWF. That’s what I want to make. I want to leave UWF for future generations. I want to keep it as history."

NOSAWA Rongai joins the as Chief Strategy Officer, Kaz Hayashi joins as Chief Technical Officer and Riki Choshu will be "an observer."

At SummerSlam 2019, Finn Balor was "murder" by the debuting 'Fiend' Bray Wyatt, disappearing off WWE television in the process.

Joining Dan Matha on Spark in the Dark, Balor explained why he needed that time away last summer and into the fall.

"I had been working from 2000 until last August, which is 19 years without taking a break unless it was an injury. Even with the shoulder injury, I worked harder when I was out than when I was fit because I was doing rehab three times a day to get back and get going. The stress of the injury and the pressure to come back, that felt harder than when you're actually working. When you're working, you're in the zone and going and going. I had been going for 19 years straight and I came to a point where I needed a break, not just physically, it was more mentally to be by myself and be away from the boys. I love the boys, but it gets to a point where it's just too intense. When you're around them all the time, you just need some space. I needed space from everything; the business, bookers, writers, schedules, everything. It had become too intense. I was turning into a different person that I didn't like. I was snapping at people, I wasn't giving people time in conversations. I was turning into a bitter dick and I could feel it building and building. Thankfully, the company gave me some time to get my head straight and get better. When I came back, the idea was pitched around to go to NXT," he said.

Balor returned to television on October 2, 2019, returning to NXT to confront Adam Cole. Balor said moving back to NXT has been great for him as he was working 172 matches a year and traveling, but in NXT he does only 50 matches a year and doesn't have to travel as much.

Daniel Cormier walked away from MMA following his loss to Stipe Miocic at UFC 252 on Saturday. Cormier's next move is unknown, but there has long been talk of him joining WWE in some capacity, even when he was an active fighter.

Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Cormier once again floated the possibility of stepping inside the squared circle.

“That’s not my retirement,” said Cormier. “That would be a vacation. I’d love a Royal Rumble moment where I throw a dude into the ropes and I clothesline his ass over the top, or I dropkick somebody over the top rope, and I’ll take my bump and get thrown out. Let me chase somebody down, clothesline him with a Bradshaw-Layfield clothesline from hell and eliminate somebody from the Royal Rumble, then throw me over the top. Pro wrestling? I’m all in.”

Cormier has had offers to do work with WWE, but not in an in-ring capacity. He revealed in December that he had one offer to work on WWE Backstage and another offer to be part of the press conference between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez leading up to Crown Jewel 2019.

Sammy Guevara returned to AEW Dynamite on July 22 after serving a suspension for inappropriate comments made towards Sasha Banks in 2016.

During his suspension, Guevara underwent sensitivity training, which he completed prior to his return.

Appearing on AEW Unrestricted, Guevara discussed his return to the company.

"The first day back, I didn't know how people were going to be with me and everybody was very positive and nice to me. I appreciate you guys because you welcomed me back," he said to hosts Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards.

Guevara was dressed as Serpentico for his return, helping the Inner Circle pick up a victory in multi-man tag team action.

"[Chris] Jericho told me he had an idea for me coming back, I didn't ask too many questions, I was just like, 'Okay, cool.' I was more working on doing the training. When I finished it, they were like, 'Cool, we'll send you the flight.' I didn't know what I was doing until probably an hour or two before the show started. Someone was like, 'you're going to be Serpentico.' 'What?' That was my own fault for not asking questions, but I also trust Jericho, the genius that he is, whatever it's going to be, it's going to be great. I think it went pretty well," he said.

TPWW Frontpage:

September 2 NXT Episode to Air on Another Night Because of the NHL (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/september-2-nxt-episode-to-air-on-another-night-because-of-the-nhl/)
AEW Will Allow Limited Fans at Future Shows Starting Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/aew-will-allow-limited-fans-at-future-shows-starting-next-week/)
Updated NXT TakeOver: XXX Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/updated-nxt-takeover-xxx-card/)

Emperor Smeat

08-21-2020, 04:27 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE moves into a new location for television on 8/21, with the new schedule going live every Monday and Friday night from the Amway Center in Orlando, which will be renamed the Thunderdome, after the Mad Max movie and not the laughing stock of a WCW television show two decades back.

WWE will basically be the building’s only client through 10/30, doing shows with no fans, but following the NBA technology in using simulated fans to enhance the presentation.

This will be key because WWE externally has largely blamed its ratings declines, largely under the age of 50 and extensively under 35, on the setting. And no doubt some of that is true, but the declines of Raw and Smackdown, by percentage, are greater than those of NXT, in a similar setting, and far greater than AEW ...

One person with the company familiar with the situation said that from the moment they started doing shows from the Performance Center, the feeling was that they had to get out of the Performance Center, and this was before ratings took a hit which did lag a few weeks ...

“The NBA has shown the way,” said one person on the inside. “The moment the NBA pulled the Disney deal, and then the moment they went on TV with the concept, I’m sure Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn said, `that’s the answer" ...

The company is billing this as that all the television shows with the new screens that will show fans in the stands reacting and the special effects in the arena will make all the television shows have a WrestleMania feel.

There are those who have said the belief is that the ratings will readjust to February levels within a month, although Raw is generally hit hard by the NFL. Smackdown actually should increase in theory during football season because FOX will promote the shows on its highest rated programming period of the year. But it’s all theoretical because without getting new characters over and better storylines, the gains will be short-lived. WWE did tremendous promotion for its move to HD as a game changer, yet that ended up with virtually no ratings increase at the time.

But with the ability to do better entrances with more special effects, the wrestlers they choose to be top guys will be enhanced and look more like top guys. Having fans on screens and real crowd noise should also be beneficial in getting talent over. It’s not perfect, but nothing will be and, at worst, this will be a significant improvement in atmosphere and hopefully at least stymie the ratings decline if not lead to a reverse.

Fans will be shown , but the nature of this will be people there more to get attention on themselves than truly reacting. By doing so, they will be attempting to do what they perceive the company wants as a way to get more screen time. The positive from WWE is they will react, and they’ll likely react the way the company wants as opposed to the mob mentality which takes the show where they want to take it, and is dead during matches they don’t care about ...

While WWE has had endless excuses in the last few years for declining numbers, it has really not become a major issue outside the TV partners until recent weeks when it was clear stock analysts were telling the company that they need action, and pointed to AEW & NXT’s performances during the pandemic with the belief it can’t be all blamed on that. So they are under the gun for movement in a positive direction ...

WWE is paying the Amway Center approximately $450,000 to use the building for more than two months for 23 televised shows. That’s a great deal for WWE, even though it’s obviously going to be a far more expensive production per show both between all the changes and also being live every Monday and Friday. The building would be unused because the NBA is playing in a bubble and no other arena sports leagues and concerts are running buildings that large right now.

WWE will likely do three PPV shows from the location, with confirmed dates of SummerSlam on 8/23, Backlash on 8/30, and a 9/27 Clash of Champions PPV show. The rest of the PPV schedule comes after the end of the Amway contract on 10/30. The contract can also be renewed based on the state or the world and the ability of touring acts and sports teams to run arena events with fans.

SummerSlam at press time is listed as an eight-match show. There will likely be matches added in the final few days, perhaps off the go-home Smackdown show as well as added pre-show bouts. The show is scheduled to start with the pre-show at 5 p.m. Eastern, so we’re talking five to six hours most likely.

The line-up has Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title in a significantly huge match as far as the future direction goes. Orton winning, leading to a title defense against Edge at WrestleMania was an idea on the board. But others have been behind McIntyre with the idea the company needs a different star rather than someone who has been around a long time in the top spot, and McIntyre has been protected strongly. But this is one result that will tell a lot about the currently planned future direction. Orton vs. Edge could easily take place without the title at stake, and there is a draft coming that will shake up potential challengers since McIntyre has run through most of the Raw heels aside from Orton, although the company has been very careful to protect both Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley in booking.

Coming back seven days later with Backlash is only the second time in company history they’ve done two PPV shows with such a rapid turnaround. This was tried in 1991 as an experiment and the experiment at the time was deemed unsuccessful and never done again. The atmosphere today as far as streaming vs. individually purchased PPV makes it completely different.

One would think, as they did in 1991, there will be major controversy surrounding the finish of one of the main events and thus it will be brought back right away. The only thing announced thus far is Bayley & Banks defending the women’s tag titles. Asuka & Shayna Baszler beat Bayley & Banks in a non-title match on the 8/17 Raw show, which would seem to make them the favorites for that spot, especially if it’s a main event level match as other challenging teams would be lower on the card. They are also doing an angle where Baszler wants Asuka to beat Banks and then she challenges Asuka. Baszler vs. Asuka was a direction headed for title matches when Becky Lynch left due to pregnancy, but things changed in creative.

WWE on-air personality Renee Young (Renee Paquette Good, 34), gave notice last week that she was leaving the company.

Good had two deals, an employee deal with WWE that allowed her to give notice when she wanted, and a second contract with FOX for WWE Backstage, which was canceled when the show was canceled. With the latter contract being canceled she was able to leave without any obligations. She will be finishing up with the company this coming week as she agreed to work through SummerSlam weekend.

There aren’t a lot of details but Good did contract COVID-19 during the recent WWE outbreak. It was known at the time that she went public with it without the company’s knowledge. It was also noted to us that none of the company’s top officials talked to her after they had knowledge she had it until several days had passed. Another WWE source noted that others who got it at the same time had similar stories, but Good was the only one who went public without the company’s knowledge.

Exactly what she does next is anyone’s guess. We had known years ago that ESPN had interest in her, and some in WWE had thought at the time she might leave the company for ESPN, but that didn’t happen. FOX is also high on her, and she may do some things for them here and there. From an AEW standpoint, even though Jonathan Good (Jon Moxley), her husband, is AEW champion, we were told AEW was unaware she was leaving WWE until after the news broke. This is not to say that is or isn’t an option and what her legal limitations and time frames would be.

Of late she’s been working on a cookbook.

One person close to the situation said it’s inevitable she hosts something or does something for AEW but there is not deal at the present time for anything. Everyone in the company knows her. But it probably won’t be soon since her WWE announcing deal does have a serious non compete clause.

Outside of wrestling she already has some cool stuff that has been presented to her. Her interest would include anything sports, talk shows, comedy shows or podcast shows among likely other things. Before she got into broadcasting she had moved to California from Toronto for acting so that is part of her background that isn’t as well publicized, and did some minor acting roles.

On the new Rey Mysterio deal, it is believed to be for three years

Regarding the current creative situation, Bruce Prichard’s role isn’t really driving creative. Ed Koskey drives creative. Prichard oversees the team, implements and executes Vince McMahon’s orders and makes sure other departments are notified about plans so merchandising and network partners and promotional people are in the loop. Such as ideas like this is the date a guy is returning and we need new merchandise for him ready. He also deals with USA and FOX, although Kevin Dunn has stepped in a lot on that and Nick Khan may end up doing that as well

Joe Belcastro, who had been the head writer of NXT and considered by some the No. 2 guy in creative behind Paul Levesque, has left the company. Only a few people knew about but for Levesque it didn’t come out of nowhere and he wasn’t caught off guard. Johnny Russo and Gabe Sapolsky are believed to have more influence now. Levesque on the conference call this week said that he, Brian James and Shawn Michaels were the key guys when it came to NXT creative decisions and didn’t address anything about a new head writer. Another person noted to us that Belcastro was talented, but that this isn’t a world changer and things are pretty much the same with Russo picking up match of the slack

The 150 fans allowed in at the 8/12 AEW tapings at Daily’s Place was part of a long-term project to ease into having fans.

They are now upping crowds to 500, with the goal of if that goes well, upping them later to 750, and for the first time since the pandemic, one of the major U.S. promotions is selling tickets for a show.

The idea is to keep the fans a deck away from the talent that is stationed at ringside and they will be kept in groups with friends and family that are socially distant from each other. Basically, there will be the wrestlers on the floor, the 100 section of the stadium will be left empty and fans will be allowed in the 200 section and above.

They announced the 8/27 tapings, which will be the Thursday live show, the company’s next event, that they would be selling 500 tickets. Tickets will be put on sale on 8/21. This would be the first time the company has put tickets on sale for a show to the public since early March.

If all goes well, the idea would be to up that to 750 tickets but right now the idea isn’t to top 750 any time soon although there are NFL teams looking at 15,000 to 25,000 when the season starts in a few weeks. And if 750 goes safely than they may increase down the line. Even with 1,500, or just under 30 percent capacity, it would become difficult to keep groups far apart from each other ...

At this stage, there is always risk involved, but being outdoors with social distancing and if the mask wearing is enforced (from reports from those at the last tapings it was), and with the low capacity you are mitigating risks to a degree, but it’s not a no-risk situation . If it was indoors, you couldn’t pull it off as safely, nor could you do so if you were doing a 25 percent capacity.

At some point there are going to be decisions made regarding the nature of touring. The one thing that has helped the bottom line a lot is doing two weeks at a time as opposed to live weekly. Of course, with that many paying fans, the nature of the results getting out for the taped shows is inevitable, and probably immediate.

The plan right now is to continue taping two weeks at a time most of the time, limiting production costs as well as travel and its risks since a large percentage of the roster is on the West Coast. It’s the decision right now that makes the most economic sense ...

Tony Khan had studied the Warrior Wrestling and Game Changer shows with fans in recent weeks. Warrior Wrestling put more than 500 people in a high school football stadium that was significantly smaller than Daily’s Place. He felt in a 5,500-seat building they had the space to do it safely and in particular really liked what he saw of how Warrior Wrestling handled things at their show in Chicago

New Japan announced that the Jingu Stadium show on 8/29 would have live English language commentary with Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton. This will be unique because Charlton will be there, but Kelly will be broadcasting from the U.S. WWE has been doing something similar with NXT since the start of the pandemic with Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix each calling the matches from home with a third person live in the building, formerly Tom Phillips and now Vic Joseph. Most of those shows have been taped and not live which gives some leeway, but they have done live Takeover shows, and will once again this coming week.

John Bedoya, who was the second Ring of Honor champion under the name “Xavier, The All-around best,” passed away on 8/16 at the age of 42.

Details of his death remain a mystery, past he had been in contact with family members the night before and that this came out of nowhere.

Bedoya, who had wrestled very little since 2011, was looking at coming back this year with ROH. He had been booked on a then vs. now show in March in Las Vegas that was canceled due to the pandemic. While not announced, plans were for him to wrestle some with ROH going forward.

NEW JAPAN: We’ve heard nothing new in some time regarding U.S. television. One person outside of New Japan but with knowledge of the current landscape of broadcasting and streaming and interest in pro wrestling said that linear TV networks right now are freaking out due to declining ad dollars, plus cable and the dish carriers are trying to lower the carriage fees on channels that specialize in sports since they are so high and so much of sports going forward is so iffy, and it was noted almost all programming and development executives are scared to lose their jobs over a failure and are less apt not to take risks than any time, and a product unproven on U.S. television would be considered a big risk, especially when the declines of WWE are so well known and people don’t see this as people wanting a different form of pro wrestling, they see it as wrestling, whether AEW has had success or not, is a declining television product

The state of Mexico, which surrounds the Distrito Federal (Mexico City itself is part of the Distrito Federal) is allowing a number of places, listed as gyms, auditoriums and places where sports of cultural activity are practiced, to open at 30 percent capacity. Everyone is going with the idea that auditoriums means Lucha Libre events, although the commission has not made a statement on this.

Regarding Jericho and the Sturgis concert, there were a few measures put in place in that Jericho took four different COVID tests in the days leading up to the show. It wasn’t optimum playing several shows, especially since Minot, ND, when it was booked, looked like the safest place in the U.S., but by the time the show came, it was no longer the case. And Sturgis could have been scary and we still don’t know the ramifications of the bike rally and won’t for a few more weeks, but just having the rally with so many people at this point seemed like a terrible idea. The residents of the city made it clear they didn’t want the rally held, the city council felt people were coming either way and they had no choice but to accept the reality and prepare for it. About 462,000 vehicles came to Sturgis that weekend. At this point there is only one confirmed case coming from a bar many frequented at the Sturgis rally and the city claims less than 25 new cases came from the biker rally, but it’s also very early in the game to know the real repercussions and most of the people at the rally weren’t from Sturgis so those are far from any kind of real figures on spread

Tony Khan made a few points about his philosophy regarding tings he didn’t like, which are disqualifications and false advertising. He wanted people who view AEW to believe they were going to get real finishes, even if there will be outside interference aspects, but winners and losers (occasional draws). He said they may at some point do a DQ but that it would be extremely rare. Regarding false advertising, he said that when Jon Moxley missed the TV’s over staying home with his wife and also his own fear of possibly being infected, there were people who suggested Khan not saying anything, because that’s how many wrestling companies would have handled it, perhaps most until the modern era as the St. Louis and Houston’s were very much the exception, not the rule. In hindsight, it probably did hurt ratings slightly for two shows but he’s wanting to play fair with his audience with the hope that plays out better for the company in the long game. This likely comes from his own experience as a fan of multiple promotions, seeing companies that rarely if ever do DQs (ECW, All Japan, New Japan and many other Japanese groups) and also play fair with their audience regarding no-shows (tons of companies fit into that category, probably most nowadays but in the older days, and today in WWE, that wouldn’t be the case)

In a YouTube live stream the company [AEW] asked people for names of five women you want to see added and the responses were Diamante, Ivelisse, Conti, Chelsea Green, Tessa Blanchard and Jordynne Grace. The response was they are in talks with two of them. Since Green is in WWE and Grace in Impact, that would seem to cut the list down to Diamante, Ivelisse, Conti and Blanchard.

The most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. WWE Timeline: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart; 2. SummerSlam 2019; 3. Best of Drew McIntyre in Evolve; 4. ICW Shug’s House Party 5 Dave 2; 5. The Horror Show at Extreme Rules; 6. Raw Talk for 8/17; 7. NXT from 8/12; 8. SummerSlam 1988; 9. SummerSlam 2018; 10. Smackdown from 7/17; 11. Top Ten Most Humiliating Taunts; 12. Royal Rumble 2020; 13. Raw 7/13; 14. Progress Chapter 92; 15. SummerSlam 2016. Notable no 205 Live or NXT U.K. even cracked the top 25. Best of Keith Lee in Evolve was No. 16. Some wXw stuff made the top 25

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings, NXT Ratings:

Raw on 8/17 averaged 1,643,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49, which sounds bad, but given the competition from both the NBA playoffs and the Democratic convention, it wasn’t that bad.

It was the fourth lowest overall number in the history of the show, and tied for the fourth lowest in 18-49. The third hour drop, against the Michelle Obama speech that did monster numbers, to 1,502,000 viewers was the second lowest hour in the history of the show, beating only hour three from 7/27.

Raw was down 4.6 percent in viewers and up 2.1 percent in 18-49 ...

The first hour did 1,730,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,697,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,502,000 viewers.

The biggest take was that among teenagers, which grew greatly two weeks ago for the first week of Raw Underground, the third hour drops were scary bad. The drop also included a segment built around Shawn Michaels confronting Randy Orton.

The first to third hour drops were 17.1 percent with women 18-49, 13.2 percent with men 18-49, 55.5 percent with girls 12-17 and 19.2 percent with boys 12-17 and 11.9 percent with those over 50.

As compared with the same week last year, the show was down 35.2 percent overall, 40.7 percent in 18-49 and 50.9 percent in 18-34.

Smackdown on 8/14 did a 1.21 rating and 1,940,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home) and 0.53 (687,000 viewers) in 18-49.

It’s a little misleading for direct comparisons since there were markets were FOX aired sports and FOX did 2,002,000 viewers and 713,000 (0.55) in 18-49 in total, the best numbers for the network since June for the show and 18-49 even with the one market that carried sports was well up from the past month plus. But even with market preemptions, the rating was up 0.8 percent, viewers were down 1.1 percent and 18-49 was up 8.0 percent which is the key number. It would appear the difference is the Bray Wyatt/Alexa Bliss storyline and the Retribution storyline, as the show the prior week was awful and did nothing to build this ...

The 0.55 (the network rating for FOX) in 18-49 and 0.3 in 18-34 both won the night among network telecasts and were both up from 0.49 and 0.2 the prior week. Smackdown and one show in CBS were the only shows not in reruns. Still, Smackdown did finish last in actual viewers, but it was close as a rerun of The Wall did 2,174,000 viewers ...

The show did 1.89 million viewers in the first half hour with the Retribution attack on Big E vs. John Morrison, Bayley & Sasha Banks promo and the beginning of the Battle Royal.

The second half hour also did 1.89 million viewers with the rest of the Battle Royal and Sheamus vs. Shorty G.

The third half hour was the high point at 2.03 million viewers which was all the A.J. Styles, Jeff Hardy stuff with Joseph Park, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Gran Metalik, Mandy Rose interview, the Matt Riddle/King Corbin angle and the Alexa Bliss interview.

The final half hour fell to 1.94 million viewers for E vs. Morrison, another Retribution angle, and the Strowman/Wyatt/Bliss final segment.
* Last year on the same Friday, FOX aired rerun programming that averaged 866,000 viewers in part of the country and local sports that did 499,000 viewers. So the total was 1,361,000 viewers and an 0.4 in 18-49, so it was up 47.1 percent in viewers and 37.1 percent in 18-49.

For 8/12 in the AEW vs. NXT comparisons, AEW won all eight quarters overall and easily won every quarter in 18-49, doubling NXT in three of eight quarters and overall.

In the main event battle, AEW with Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy did 783,000 viewers and 398,000 in 18-49, while NXT with Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Velveteen Dream did 621,000 viewers and 205,000 in 18-49. While the main event numbers for Jericho vs. Cassidy don’t look all that high when compared with the rest of the show, the actual minute-by-minute numbers showed that the Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe match did not do well, and the audience plummeted during a commercial right before the match. The match gained, then lost during a commercial break, but actually skyrocketed after that break and ended up at right around 1 million viewers and 500,000 in 18-49 which is the level only AEW’s biggest matches with its top guys hit.

The show opened with AEW having 775,000 viewers and 403,000 in 18-49 with Young Bucks vs. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno. NXT had 720,000 viewers and 230,000 in 18-49 with Karrion Kross vs Danny Burch plus the angle where Keith Lee and Kross signed their contracts and Lee got the fireball in the face. NXT’s high number has a lot to do with the big lead-in. It was also the NXT high point in both viewers and demo.

The second quarter saw AEW stay at the same level with 776,000 viewers and 409,000 in 18-49 for Omega & Page talking about the Young Bucks, and the MJF promo/campaign speech and Jon Moxley attack and promo. NXT fell to 607,000 viewers and 213,000 in 18-49 for Drake Maverick vs. Killian Dain and the Undisputed Era out and Adam Cole interview.

The third quarter saw AEW at 779,000 viewers and 408,000 in 18-49 for a Matt Hardy interview and Cody vs. Scorpio Sky for the TNT title. NXT had 604,000 viewers and 217,000 in 18-49 for Tyler Breeze vs. Santos Escobar and a Dakota Kai feature.

The gap got big in quarter four. AEW had 809,000 viewers and 440,000 in 18-49 with Cody vs. Sky and the post-match with Brodie Lee challenging. NXT fell to 564,000 viewers and 174,000 in 18-49, both low points of the show, for Mia Yim vs. Indi Hartwell.

In quarter five, AEW had Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus and did 817,000 viewers and 437,000 in 18-49. NXT did 591,000 and 195,000 in 18-49 for Damien Priest vs. Bronson Reed.

In quarter six, AEW had its high points of the show with 862,000 viewers and 461,000 in 18-49 for the segment with the Young Bucks, FTR, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson and Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson. NXT did 609,000 viewers and 191,000 in 18-49 for Mercedes Martinez & Aliyah vs. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter.

In quarter seven, AEW fell to 739,000 overall and 384,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe, Shida promo, Jake Roberts & Lance Archer segment and plugging next week. NXT did 637,000 viewers and grew to 220,000 in 18-49 for main event intros.

For the main event segment, AEW gained 44,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 16,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49.

With no AEW on 8/19, NXT’s numbers increased greatly even against competition from the Democratic Convention, NBA and NHL playoffs.

The real key to the number was to see just how NXT would do if it was not in a Wednesday night war. While there were likely AEW fans who were looking to watch wrestling and may not follow NXT if it was on another night, NXT also would have easier competition most of the time.

The show did 853,000 viewers and 0.24 in 18-49, good for the No 23 spot for the night. Considering last week, with tough competition, but not this tough, did 619,000, you are talking 234,000 viewers on a tough night up and maybe close to 300,000 on a normal night. NXT on its own is likely doing about 900,000 viewers and in the 0.26 range in 18-49, so that tells you what WWE, and USA, are costing themselves being in this Wednesday night war. With that knowledge, if they don’t move, it does explain the actual goal, which everyone has known from the start.

Even with the tough competition, it shows AEW is NXT’s biggest competition, since this was the best NXT audience since November 20 and best in 18-49 since February 19. It was the best overall number of the year and second best in 18-49, but without AEW, it should have been ...

NXT was up 37.8 percent overall and 50.0 percent in 18-49. Still, it also showed that of the 623,000 in 18-49 watching the two shows last week, only half watched television wrestling this week. And of the 1,411,000 total viewers, 60.5 percent watched this week. It showed that the older viewers of AEW were far more apt to watch NXT than those in the key demo. While this isn’t perfect because of the competition changing this night hard, roughly 102,000 of the 417,000 AEW 18-49 fans or 24.4 percent, watched NXT for two hours this week. When it comes to those over 50 and under 17, it would be 132,000 of 375,000, or 35.2 percent ...

We don’t have demo comparisons from last week as far as age groups go, because NXT wasn’t in the top 50 last week. But we do have figures for a comparison from two weeks ago, but those are numbers against far easier competition.

The key comparison is that the new viewers were heavily male, so the women viewers of AEW did not watch NXT hardly at all, noting the 0.05 in the Female 12-34 demo and 0.16 in 18-49.

As compared to two weeks ago, even without AEW, NXT did a 0.10 in 12-17 (down 16.7 percent), 0.09 in 18-34 (down 18.2 percent), 0.39 in 35-49 (up 2.6 percent) and 0.42 in 50+ (up 7.7 percent).

The audience was 66.7 percent male in 18-49 and 80.7 percent male in 12-17.

With the male skew so much higher than usual, what it says is that the gains are mostly AEW male fans, but that the AEW female fan base did not watch NXT this week. And the AEW fan base under 35 didn’t so much either, but gains were made over 35. Basically it says the AEW 35+ fan base is interested in NXT to a decent degree, but the under 35 and women fan bases are not interested in even sampling it.

The competition was very tough with CNN doing 4,880,000; MSNBC doing 6,187,000 and FOX News doing 3,794,000 viewers head-to-head. The NBA game against the first 75 minutes of the show did 1,705,000 viewers and 0.68, and against the last 45 minutes did 2,283,000 and 0.98. The NHL game on NBC Sports network did 748,000 and 0.27.

Emperor Smeat

08-25-2020, 09:21 PM

The Sheets sponsored by newest member of the Badass Submission Machine club, Anna Jay:
https://i.imgur.com/kvIKnsv.gif

The combination of the show's ThunderDome debut and being the day after SummerSlam led Raw to its best numbers in more than four months, averaging 2.03 million viewers and a 0.67 rating in 18-49.

The numbers were up 23 percent in viewers but more importantly 40 percent in 18-49, so they did have a younger audience checking them out and about 250,000 in the 18-49 demo that haven't been watching Raw in the past several months. It was mostly 35-49 gains since the 18-34 increase was 18 percent.

The first to third hour drop of 11 percent is slightly better than most weeks, but in the normal level, so it wasn't people checking out new technology and then leaving. It was a lot of new curious viewers who mostly stayed, which is a good sign.

The key to this isn't that the numbers for the day after SummerSlam were good, but they went against heavy competition with the Republican National Convention which averaged 6.54 million viewers on FOX News alone, as well as big numbers on other cable stations. Plus there was NBA playoffs on TNT (2.97 million viewers and 1.34 in 18-49 for the late game; 2.05 million and 0.66 for the early game).

It was Raw's best numbers since the day after WrestleMania did 2.10 million viewers.

Raw was sixth in 18-49 for the night and 20th overall.

As compared with last year, the show was down 20 percent overall, 16 percent in 18-49, and 39 percent in 18-34 ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.14 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.05 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.90 million viewers

Despite airing outside of its normal day due to the NBA playoffs, ratings for AEW Dynamite held up well on Saturday night.

Saturday's Dynamite averaged 755,000 viewers on TNT, down 4.7 percent from the previous week in the regular Wednesday night time slot. It was the lowest rating for the show since July 8, which was night two of Fyter Fest and aired opposite the Keith Lee vs Adam Cole winner-take-all title vs. title match on NXT.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite finished fifth on cable with a 0.31 rating, down 3.1 percent from the previous week. It trailed three NBA playoff games and the UFC main card on ESPN in that demo.

Dynamite's lead-in was an NBA game that averaged 1.607 million viewers on TNT, but it should be noted that a subsequent game on ESPN aired against most of Dynamite and averaged 1.757 million viewers. It's reasonable to assume most basketball fans would've switched over to ESPN rather than stay on TNT for Dynamite.

It's not really fair to compare the show with NXT this week since they ran on different nights and NXT had no wrestling competition while Dynamite aired opposite NXT TakeOver XXX, but the individual demo ratings were very similar to what they usually are when both shows air on Wednesday.

AEW won every demo except people over 50, where NXT had a huge advantage of 0.42 to Dynamite's 0.25. AEW's strongest demo was men 18-49, where the show did a 0.44 rating to NXT's 0.32

The first time AEW ran on a Saturday proved to be effective with young males with the 18-49 audience increasing 16 percent from the Wednesday, August 12th episode. The largest increase was among males 12-34 which were up by 47 percent.

They did drop among young females from last Wednesday with the 18-49 audience down 27 percent and 12-34 down 13 percent.

Interesting, adults over 50 were basically the same with a 4 percent drop. So, that audience found the show on Saturday and while they never beat NXT in that demo, it shows that the ones that do watch are going to find the show regardless.

WarnerMedia execs had to the extremely happy with AEW's ratings over the weekend and all signs are that is the case, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Dynamite allowed them to have three of the top five rated broadcasts in the 18-34 demo on cable Saturday night - NBA coverage were the top two broadcasts that night, AEW ranked fifth - and also showed that the audience followed AEW from its usual home on Wednesday to Saturday, even with WWE Takeover taking place at the same time. WarnerMedia ended up with four of the top ten shows that night.

While appearing on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Paul Ellering said there were plans for him to return as AOP’s manager prior to the COVID-19 pandemic: “Well, the idea was to bring me back in to manage them full time on Raw and go on the road with the Authors of Pain, but the pandemic happened. So with Covid going on, I’m not sure what happens next.” AOP’s Rezar is out of action now with a torn biceps.

Dakota Kai’s gear at NXT TakeOver XXX was a tribute to Hana Kimura.
Link: https://twitter.com/DakotaKai_WWE/status/1297601460977500161?s=20

Chris Jericho will be part of the commentary team for this week’s episode of Dynamite. Due to the NBA playoffs, the show is airing on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

A former WWE wrestler is returning as part of the commentary team for this week's NXT tapings.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reported today that Stu Bennett (formerly known as Wade Barrett in WWE) will be doing commentary for NXT this week. Bennett departed WWE in 2016.

"Sources tell us this is just a one-shot deal for now and that the former leader of Nexus – who won the first original season of NXT – has not signed a full-time deal to re-join the company," Pro Wrestling Sheet wrote.

Bennett joined the NWA's commentary team in December 2019.

Vic Joseph, Beth Phoenix, and special guest Corey Graves were the commentators for NXT TakeOver XXX this past weekend. Mauro Ranallo didn't call the event due to being back home with family in Canada.

Former WWE broadcast personality Renee Young will be appearing on tomorrow's edition of the Bump to discuss her WWE run. JBL and Mandy Rose are also scheduled to appear on the WWE Network broadcast.

The expectation is that Cody will be off TV for an extended period to sell the beating he took at the hands of Brodie Lee. The timing may have something to do with STARZ Heels series going into production in Georgia as Stephen Amell specifically asked Cody to take part in the series when Amell's casting was announced last year. The timing certainly matches up. AEW has promised an update on Cody this Thursday.

Dave Marquez announced that Chris Dickinson, who has competed for EVOLVE, AAA and Beyond Wrestling, is the first officially announced competitor for the United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live PPV series, which will deubut on FITE.TV and all PPV and satelllite PPV providers on Tuesday 9/15: ...

PWInsider.com is told that the primary booking team for the endeavor will be NWA Champion Nick Aldis, Marquez and Aron Stevens (aka the former Damian Sandow in WWE) and will effectively bring back fresh NWA content after the promotion paused production on NWA Powerrr. Obviously, NWA President Billy Corgan will have a say in the NWA-centric content and matches. One would think NWA Championship matches will be a major part of the presentation for the PPV series.

One of the individuals who cyberbullied Hana Kimura confessed to her actions while speaking with ‘The Mainichi’. The woman who resides in Eastern Japan said that she created a social media account and partook in the online abuse that led to Kimura taking her own life. She told The Mainichi that she has done a very terrible thing and expressed regret for her role in what happened. She first became aware of Hana Kimura through the show ‘Terrace House’ and initially viewed Hana as “a very nice kid who can cook and greet others properly.”

The incident that changed her thoughts about Kimura was when there was an altercation between Kimura and a male housemate who washed Kimura’s ring gear in a washing machine. The gear had a special meaning to Kimura. Kimura reacted by knocking said individual’s hat off of his head which drew a great deal of negativity towards her on social media.

The individual who partook in the cyberbullying said her feelings of “disgust” towards Kimura began to grow following the incident. She questioned why Hana had an attitude and saw a handful of other posts directed at Hana Kimura in similar vein and figured that she should send messages to Kimura as well. She never used social media prior to that but created an account just to send negative messages to Hana Kimura and admitted that she felt happy when she received “likes” from other people who agreed with her comments towards Kimura.

More details have emerged regarding Phillip Thomas breaking into the home of WWE’s Sonya Deville, real name Daria Berenato. Tampa’s FOX affiliate noted in an article that Ariana Johnson, ex of Daria Berenato testified in court and shared that Thomas had been threatening her as well dating back to May of 2019. This led to her deleting her Instagram account. Prosecutors believe Thomas wanted to “get rid of competition” so he could solely pursue the attention of Berenato.

Samoa Joe is the voice behind ‘King Shark’ in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Link: https://twitter.com/SamoaJoe/status/1297331998004932608?s=20

All Elite Wrestling conducted a set of TV tapings a couple of weeks ago, and with fans in attendance, Fightful was able to gain some notes.

- There were a number of fans who were invited to the show, and it was not available for ticket purchase.

- Tony Khan came out to encourage the crowd the be loud and rowdy -- without profanity. #FTF

- Masks were being strictly enforced, with people patrolling the crowd to make sure masks were up when people weren't eating or drinking.

- Though television production made it look like fans were grouped together, that was done by design as an illusion of sorts, and the fans were spaced out several rows apart from other groups.

- A thermal temperature scanner was done before entering the venue one at a time, and a waiver was signed to ensure that nobody that entered had been sick.

- There were other, prohibited areas taped off to make sure people didn't get into rows they weren't supposed to.

- The Britt Baker, Reba, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford segment originally was filmed in the ring. We're told that AEW ended up re-shooting it due to time constraints.

- A back elbow spot in the Dark Order match had to be re-filmed because one of the wrestlers got caught up in the ropes.

- Ivelisse & Diamante had to re-shoot their entrance for the match, supposedly because cameras were out of place during it.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, KENTA discussed his time in WWE and what his current inspiration in wrestling is: “I’ve felt in my heart that the five years I spent in WWE were the most frustrating days of my life. I’ve talked about this, but I’ll always remember the humiliation in America. Being here reminds me of that regret. And when you’re not good, you tell yourself that. That is what inspires me.”

The deal with Thunder Rosa, the NWA women's champion, challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW title on the 9/5 PPV was a deal that Tony Khan worked out with Billy Corgan, so it's not an indication of anything more and the NWA is still targeting a weekly iPPV schedule with FITE TV.

Despite a well received in-ring debut Saturday at NXT TakeOver XXX against Adam Cole, Pat McAfee has no plans to return to the ring...for now.

On his own show and in an interview with ESPN Monday, McAfee said that he doesn't have any additional contract or commitments to NXT but didn't close the door on a return.

There were several taped Raw Underground segments that got scrapped for Monday’s show, according to a new report. Per Fightful Select, WWE tossed three segments for the show, though no reason is known regarding why.

The site notes that the following segments were done and then scrappred:

Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir both won matches against enhancement wrestlers, with Duke’s running about a minute. Duke reportedly got high praise for her striking in the segment.

Titus O’Neil got a spotlight that turned into a fight with Riddick Moss.

Finally, Ivar faced Dolph Ziggler, which saw Angel Garza get involved and a ton of “huge bumps.”

WWE did have some Raw Underground segments that did air, including Bobby Lashley vs. Ziggler and Lashley vs. Cedric Alexander.

While Shaquille O'Neal's re-signing with WarnerMedia normally wouldn't make headlines in the pro wrestling world, a sentence in the release caught people's attention Monday.

The popular former basketball star will add to his duties with Turner Sports with possibility of AEW being one of those duties: "Could Shaq return to the ring, making a cameo at a future All Elite Wrestling (AEW) event on TNT? We shall see...."

The Athletic's Richard Deitsch noted in his story about the new contract said the possibility is "in the embryonic stage at best" but that O'Neal had a message for Cody Rhodes: "I’d love to fight Cody. Write it. Print it. Text it to him. Call AEW up and tell them.”

The 48-year-old wrestling fan has made appearances in various top promotions through the years, first in WCW at 1994's Bash at the Beach as he presented the World title to the winner of Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair; a guest host for a 2009 episode of WWE Raw; and backstage with Hogan on a 2012 episode of Impact Wrestling.

He appeared as a surprise participant in the 2016 Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32 and the plan was to work toward a singles match with Big Show at WrestleMania 33 but it never materialized due to O'Neal's schedule.

Inside the Ropes is launching a magazine in September with a big roster of writers including Kenny McIntosh, Bill Apter, Keith Elliot Greenberg, Brian Elliott, Findlay Martin, and Dan Richardson. The first issue will be released next month and there is also an option for an annual subscription on their website.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: Backstage Chaos Prior to RAW, ThunderDome Deal Update, New Content for WWE Network (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-backstage-chaos-prior-to-raw-thunderdome-deal-update-new-content-for-wwe-network/)
More on Keith Lee’s RAW Debut, WWE’s Plans & Reason for Theme Change (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/more-on-keith-lees-raw-debut-wwes-plans-reason-for-theme-change/)
WWE Releases Statement on People Trolling the ThunderDome (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wwe-releases-statement-on-people-trolling-the-thunderdome/)
Four Matches Announced for WWE Payback (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/four-matches-announced-for-wwe-payback/)
Sonya Deville Says “Goodbye” + Why the Hair vs. Hair Match Was Changed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/sonya-deville-says-goodbye-why-the-hair-vs-hair-match-was-changed/)

Emperor Smeat

08-26-2020, 07:11 PM

The Sheets sponsored by 3MB Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/wrdkrgA.gif

The Hilsborough County Court has denied a motion from the local Florida media requesting that the evidence in the Sonya Deville stalking case be released to the public. The evidence is listed as video footage from that night, messages sent to Deville via Instagram, photos taken outside and inside her home as well as other online communication. The court ruled on 8/24 that they would not release any evidence before a hearing.

A motion was also filed requesting confidentiality for the victims and their personal information, including Deville. In that motion, it was revealed that Deville has received additional threatening online communications "from persons unknown" since her alleged stalker Phillip A. Thomas was arrested on 8/16 inside Deville's home. It was noted in thar motion that Thomas was denied bail out of concern for Deville's safety as well as the safety of other members of her family.

As previously reported, both AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT scored strong ratings. AEW aired in an unfamiliar timeslot on Saturday night against NXT Takeover on the WWE Network, while NXT aired in its usual spot unopposed.

AEW Dynamite drew an average of 755,000 viewers, down 4.7% from the previous week's 792,000 viewers in its normal timeslot. NXT averaged 853,000 viewers on the USA Network without competition from AEW, which was the best audience for the show this year ...

Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics released the quarter hour ratings for both shows. Thurston noted that while AEW didn't have specific viewership expectations for Saturday's airing, he was told before the numbers came out that they'd be very happy with an audience over 700,000.

Dynamite benefited with the NBA playoff game lead-in, which averaged 1,601,000 and a 0.62 rating in the 18-49 demo. With the strong lead-in, Dynamite averaged 1.002 million viewers in the first quarter and 575,000 viewers in 18-49. The audience dropped 43% in the second quarter, while the 18-49 audience fell 28%. Without the first quarter, Dynamite averaged 720,000 viewers for the remaining seven ...

NXT had a strong open with 921,000 viewers for the Johnny Gargano vs. Ridge Holland match, which was the high for the show in total viewers. In the 18-49 demo, the fourth quarter garnered the best audience with the finish of the Legado del Fantasma vs. Breezango & Isaiah "Swerve" Scott match as well as the start of the Pat McAfee - Undisputed Era segment.

Chris Harrington of AEW noted that Dynamite began with 1.4 million viewers following the NBA game and had over one million viewers for the first five minutes of the show.

Following his TNT title loss, Cody has a new spot in AEW's roster rankings.

Cody is ranked third in the men's singles division this week. He lost the TNT Championship to Brodie Lee in the main event of Dynamite last week. On Dynamite this Thursday, AEW will give an update on Cody's condition after the show-closing angle from last week where he was taken out on a stretcher and Lee and The Dark Order attacked Cody and The Nightmare Family.

MJF, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, and Scorpio Sky make up the rest of the top five for this week. All four of those wrestlers were ranked last week as well.

The women's and tag team division rankings are unchanged from last week. The top four ranked teams in the tag team division will face off in a gauntlet match on Thursday's Dynamite. The winning team will challenge Kenny Omega & Hangman Page for the AEW Tag Team titles at All Out on Saturday, September 5.

This week's full rankings are listed below:
Men's division --
Champions: AEW World Champion Jon Moxley (15-0 singles record in 2020, 21-2-1 overall record), TNT Champion Brodie Lee (6-1 singles record in 2020, 9-1 overall record)

MJF (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2 overall record)
Lance Archer (12-1 singles record in 2020, 12-1 overall record)
Cody (18-2 singles record in 2020, 26-7-1 overall record)
Brian Cage (6-1 singles record in 2020, 6-2 overall record)
Scorpio Sky (7-2 singles record in 2020, 24-11 overall record)

Women's division --
Champion: Hikaru Shida (16-1 singles record in 2020, 21-7 overall record)

Nyla Rose (8-2 singles record in 2020, 15-6 overall record)
Big Swole (6-3 singles record in 2020, 8-8 overall record)
Penelope Ford (7-4 singles record in 2020, 9-7 overall record)
Abadon (4-1 singles record in 2020, 4-1 overall record)
Britt Baker (4-4 singles record in 2020, 13-8 overall record)

Tag team division --
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (12-0 tag team record in 2020, 30-9 overall record for Omega, 21-10 overall record for Page)

FTR (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 6-2 overall record for Dax Harwood, 6-2 overall record for Cash Wheeler)
Best Friends (14-4 tag team record in 2020, 22-15 overall record for Trent Barreta, 21-13 overall record for Chuck Taylor)
The Young Bucks (6-2 tag team record in 2020, 20-11 overall record for Nick Jackson, 20-11 overall record for Matt Jackson)
The Natural Nightmares (6-1 tag team record in 2020, 15-8 overall record for Dustin Rhodes, 10-11 overall record for QT Marshall)
The Dark Order (8-2 tag team record in 2020, 13-5 overall record for Evil Uno, 14-6 overall record for Stu Grayson)

It was announced on today's edition of The Bump that Renée Young's cookbook, which is currently in the final editing stage, will have the title "Mentally In the Kitchen: Eating Deliciously, Hosting Fabulously and Drinking Copiously". Renée stated the book will not likely be out until the spring ...

Kofi Kingston and Cesaro have been announced as the guests for this Sunday's Payback preview episode of The Bump.

The 2020 WWE Clash of Champions PPV, originally slated for Sunday 9/20 has been pushed back a week to 9/27, PWInsider has confirned.

Q - Why does WWE always screw up everyone who comes up from NXT? Baszler was a badass who was champ for 13 months and now she’s a nobody on the roster. Now they debut Keith Lee who was NXT big star and have him interrupt Orton the wrestle him in a 4 min match where McIntyre interferes and Lee leaves so now he’s just another person instead of being a star. Matt Riddle debuted lost to Styles now he’s a nobody on SmackDown.

A - They do that because once those stars leave NXT, they go from being what HHH sees to what Vince McMahon sees. Like you, I like what HHH sees better. I don’t think Lee is done yet, since he was doing really well with Randy Orton before Drew came out (which made sense in the storyline). Baszler saying she would team with Nia if it meant Nia would leave her alone? Yeah, that would never happen in NXT (and shouldn’t happen in WWE).
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. Besides issues with Vince, WWE's other biggest problem they still haven't established a reliable call-up bridge between NXT and main roster for the past 8 years. That's why a lot of disconnect ends up happening between main roster Creative and NXT Creative when it comes to the transition phase.

8/26 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: SAVAGE AND ELIZABETH WED AT SUMMERSLAM, BLACKJACKS WIN THE WWWF TAG STRAPS AND MORE ...

1991 - WWE holds their Summerslam Pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Billed as "The Match Made In Heaven/The Match Made In Hell" the show actually ended with the "wedding" of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. The wedding went off without incident, and WWF gave their viewers a "happy ending" to the show, instead choosing to do an angle with Jake Roberts and Savage at the "wedding reception" which would air on television the following weekend.

The four-way match at Summer Struggle this Saturday for the KOPW title will feature Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA vs. Toru Yano vs. El Desperado after Wednesday’s card at Korakuen Hall in front of 626 fans
Spoiler tags used since its related to today's NJPW Summer Struggle show that had the 1st round of the KOPW tournament for those who haven't watched the show yet.

Last week, Randy Orton revealed during a media call to promote SummerSlam, that Ric Flair’s promo prior to being punted was adlibbed and Flair wasn’t scripted to speak. This week, Flair spoke to Nick Hausman at Wrestling INC and explained his intent:

"I just did my own thing. At the end of the day, I think they trust me enough. Now that I’m supposedly more mature, I’m going to deliver something heartfelt… and I didn’t tell him what to say. I said this is designed to get this whole [thing] over, what we’re doing here Randy. It’s designed to enhance what you’re doing right now in the business, and I’ve known him so long.

[Orton’s] in the groove. It’s a groove that very few people ever get in. You could be great for a long time, and then you take that step where you’re not just great, you’re whatever the next level is because he’s always been good. He’s at a level that very few people get to, ever."

Here is a report from listener Jeremy Samples, who was part of the virtual audience on Raw this past week including notes of what they were told and talent addressing the audience during commercial breaks:

I participated in my first WWE Thunderdome experience tonight. Some things that happened on it:

At the beginning, the crowd producer mentioned that if you were a Nielsen family household doing the Thunderdome to still have your TV turned on with the sound down and your people meter on to count in ratings.

They also had Superstars talk to those in the Thunderdome throughout the night. It was weird that they could see everyone’s cameras, but the Superstar wasn’t visible. Some conversations:

Drew McIntyre said that he thought the Thunderdome was awesome and that he wanted to do something in the first segment of Raw to interact and include everyone. He said he didn’t know what it would be yet, but to be waiting for it. (Was the thumbs up.)

Kevin Owens said Hello. I waved on the camera, and Kevin said he was glad one person waved at him. And, then said, “Yeah, you in the glasses. Nice shirt.” I assume he waa talking to me, which felt really cool to have direct interaction. Kevin Owens then asked everyone to yell really loudly into their Mic. He said that he tried it last night at Summerslam and He heard that 7 people got evicted from their apartments and that he hoped to make it an even 10 after tonight. He then told the audience that he hoped they enjoyed the KO show tonight.

Mark Henry said that he thought the Thunderdome idea was cool. That he was glad the WWE Universe could be part of the show again, and that he wanted to give them a segment in the arm wrestling challenge to be excited about, because “That’s What I Do”.

Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott came on and Liv asked if those in the Thunderdome who saw her new shirt last week to raise their hands. Then, she asked for those who bought it to raise their hands. Liv said “I’m glad, at least, one of you did.” Ruby said that if anyone felt like it they could buy her shirt also.

Apollo Crews came on and said he hoped everyone enjoyed him beating MVP last night at Summerslam. He said that he was excited to be going against Bobby Lashley tonight in the arm wrestling challenge, and that he would appreciate everyones support.

Dolph Ziggler came on and asked what was up. He said that it was cool to see so many people in the Thunderdome, especially because it proved that everyone and their small picture were so much more insignificant than him. He said “I see the one guy booing me. I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Raw Underground isn’t the only land I run. You never know when I might be coming after you, so lock your doors and keep watch outside your windows.” He said it as a joke, but it kinda felt weird after the Sonya Deville situation.

Lana and Natalya said that they would be on Raw in a few minutes. They said that they had cute outfits to show everyone and that they appreciated everyone’s love and support. To please follow them on their social media, and cheer for them out on the ring. (Which was contradicted by the producer telling the Thunderdome crowd to boo, when they were out in the ring.)

They also showed the action that happened in the ring during the commercial breaks of the last two matches.

During the women’s lumberjack break, all the lumberjacks started brawling for no reason on the outside while Banks and Ashla traded pinfalls inside the ring.

During the main event, Rey and Dom tagged in and out several times while working over Murphy. They hit a pretty cool double team maneuver where Dom springboarded and came off of Rey into Murphy.

The newest edition of WWE Timeline, which focused on the rivalry between Randy Orton and Christian, has been posted to the WWE Network earlier today and you can check out a sneak peek of it in the video below.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWq8c5e3Cw4

Nick Aldis and Bruce Prichard engaged in a war of words in July after Prichard said Aldis lacked the 'it factor.' Aldis responded by saying Bruce hasn't been paying attention to what he's done since his time in TNA and questioned Bruce's booking ability by pointing out the declining ratings.

On August 10, Aldis' wife Mickie James returned to WWE Raw and fans were less than thrilled with her presentation. In her first match back on August 17, she lost by count out to Natalya and said after she was disappointed by how her return went.

Appearing on the Battleground podcast, Aldis was asked if Prichard, who serves as the executive director of Raw, purposely botched the booking of James due to the feud between the two.

"You're not suggesting that the executive director of a publicly-traded company, with stockholders and huge television rights fees to maintain, would be as petty as to devalue one of his own assets just to get revenge over a feud that he himself started, are you? You can't honestly suggest that would be a real thing. It has to be a coincidence," Aldis said sarcastically. "These silly, petty tactics, fans see through it. I don't think anybody saw that and thought, 'Mickie James is a jabronie.' Everyone saw it for what it was. She's an all-time great and doesn't need me to fight her battles. She knows her worth and will make it work, but everyone could smell that stench. It was just sad."

James is currently feuding with Lana and Natalya on WWE Raw.

Bray Wyatt has used the empty arena to his advantage, creating two separate cinematic matches with a similar theme, but different settings.

At WrestleMania, Wyatt battled John Cena in the Firefly Fun House, which was more of a career retrospective than a wrestling match.

Speaking to ESPN Africa, Wyatt discussed what it was like working with Cena.

"John's such a sweet guy, isn't he? What a sweet guy that John Cena is. What a sweet, sweet guy. I've been through so much with John Cena, you know, it's amazing to me to see him, you know, from the star he always was turned into this gigantic movie star. And John is very much the type of person you have to earn his respect. Because he doesn't just give it, he's very forward that way. So hearing that phrase, for me and Seth [Rollins], it's a big deal because, like I said, John is this huge star. That's a milestone, for me and my legacy, I think it's pretty neat," said Wyatt. "It's pretty wild, really. When I came into the arena, it was like I stepped through a door and then I'm not kidding -- 48 hours, [it] just erased my mind. It was like I was teleported to another place in time. It was pretty wild dude, from what I remember it was, it was pretty wild."

Along with the Firefly Fun House, Wyatt also competed in and helped put together the Swamp Fight against Braun Strowman at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.

WWE has leaned on cinematic matches during the empty arena era and though Wyatt enjoys them, he doesn't want them to be overdone.

"I think they're fun and all, but like I said, I like being around the people more. And those [matches], they should be select. There should be a few here and there. That's what keeps them special. Especially after the humdinger that Undertaker and AJ Styles put together, because that thing's close to undefeatable. But you know it's something that you get to approach differently, so it's wonderful for your creativity. But they should be finite," he said.

Eddie Kingston now has some direction in All Elite Wrestling, and cut a fiery promo to kick it off. However, it wasn't as originally presented.

Kingston approached the Lucha Bros. duo of Rey Fenix and Pentagon, as well as Butcher & Blade on the August 22 episode of AEW Dynamite. Taped on August 13, the promo saw some editing, as originally reported by Fightful Select:

Fightful has learned that a mention of wrestling legend and current WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio was edited off the taped August 22 edition of AEW Dynamite. Eddie Kingston mentioned Mysterio during his promo with Fenix, Pentagon, Butcher & Blade, but it was removed from the show. We weren't given a reason why. Mysterio has been working in WWE without a contract of late.

TPWW Frontpage:

Wade Barrett Will Reportedly Be on NXT Commentary Tonight (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wade-barrett-will-reportedly-be-on-nxt-commentary-tonight/)
Impact Emergence Night 2 Results – Aug. 25, 2020 – Purrazzo vs. Grace, Edwards vs. RVD (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/impact-emergence-night-2-results-aug-25-2020-purrazzo-vs-grace-edwards-vs-rvd/)
NJPW: Summer Struggle Night 12 Results, Full Card for NJPW Strong, More NJPW News & Notes (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/njpw-summer-struggle-night-12-results-full-card-for-njpw-strong-more-njpw-news-notes/)

Emperor Smeat

08-27-2020, 07:25 PM

The Sheets:

With no NBA playoffs last night due to the player boycott following the shooting of Jacob Blake, but coverage of Hurricane Laura and the Republican National Convention dominating the cable news ratings, NXT averaged 824,000 viewers on Wednesday night, down 3.4 percent from the previous week.

In the 18-49 demo, the show finished 24th on cable with a 0.24 rating, identical to last week.

It's the second straight week that NXT has had no head-to-head competition from AEW Dynamite and is the first time all year that the show averaged over 800,000 viewers in consecutive weeks. The 0.24 rating back-to-back is the first time since February that NXT has hit that mark on consecutive shows.

In the other categories, NXT did a 0.17 rating in women 18-49 (up 6.3 percent), 0.30 in men 18-49 (down 6.3 percent), 0.12 in people 18-34 (up 33.3 percent), 0.05 in females 12-34 (identical), 0.20 in males 12-34 (up 42.9 percent), 0.28 in people 25-54 (down 6.7 percent), and a 0.41 in people over 50 (down 2.4 percent).

Due to the NHL playoffs, next week's NXT will air on Tuesday, September 1 ... AEW Dynamite will be unopposed next Wednesday for its All Out go-home show.

NXT also went head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins game that did 982,000 viewers on the NBC Sports Network.

The third night of the Republican Convention averaged 15.6 million viewers across all networks, although this didn’t impact NXT as the convention itself didn’t start until 10 pm Eastern but the preceding news coverage would have.

2K today released a new trailer for WWE® 2K Battlegrounds, the arcade-style WWE brawler currently scheduled for release on September 18 and available now for pre-order in both digital formats and at participating retailers.

In “Clash of the Eras,” WWE Hall of Fame commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler cheers on the WWE 2K Battlegrounds roster of WWE Legends – such as Undertaker, Mankind, Beth Phoenix and the Bella Twins – as they compete in fantasy matches against several of today’s most popular WWE Superstars, including Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Finn Bálor and more. While Lawler shows his allegiance, he is joined in the trailer by renowned sports broadcaster and WWE NXT’s Mauro Ranallo, who will make his WWE 2K in-game debut as a member of the WWE 2K Battlegrounds commentary team.

WWE is looking for a new lead writer for Smackdown ...

They are also looking for a Writer's Assistant.

On 8/26, WWE filed their opposition to Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood trademarking the following:

No Flips, Just Fists.

Say Yeah

Top Guys

#FTRKO

Shatter Machine.

The opposition noted:

"Applicants (Wheeler and Harwood) entered into contracts with Opposer (WWE) effective as of April 10, 2017 to exclusively perform professional wrestling services for Opposer in connection with WWE live and televised professional wrestling exhibitions (the “Booking Agreements”). Pursuant to Section 3 of the Booking Agreements entitled “Intellectual Property, Applicants expressly agreed that Opposer owned, in perpetuity, any and all trademarks, service marks, and/or distinctive and identifying indicia, including among other things, ring name,nickname, likeness, personality, characters, gestures, routines, themes and any other items of tangible or intangible intellectual property written, composed, submitted, added, improvised, created, used by or associated with Applicants’ performance during the term of the Booking Agreements. The sole exception to the intellectual property rights owned by WWE under the Booking Agreements is any intellectual property specifically identified in Exhibit A to the Booking Agreements, defined in the Booking Agreements as "WRESTLER Intellectual Property"."

They noted each of the above five are not identified as "Wrestler Intellectual Property" and were created by WWE.

Q - I saw your audio about Shane Douglas tossing the NWA title today and obviously that was a surprise, but did anyone know he was winning the tournament? Looking at the lineup, you'd think Chris Benoit would have been the guy. Just made me wonder.

A - I remember hearing at the ECW Arena event a month before that Shane was winning the tournament, but obviously plans could have changed at any point. I know Dennis Corraluzzo did push for Benoit to win, but the decision was made to go with Douglas, something the NWA obviously wouldn't have agreed to if they knew what was going to happen next.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

On the latest installment of The Bellas Podcast, Nikki and Brie Bella dove into their time with WWE ...

When it comes to how WWE handled the Divas era, Nikki Bella feels that there were multiple missed opportunities for WWE to capitalize off the women’s division. Nikki feels that had they done so, to this day they still could have a good portion of that fan base that were interested in the Divas division.

“And I think too why a lot of us didn’t speak up was we were lucky enough where the numbers weren’t a huge difference, because there were some of the top guys that were making a lot and I even understood that. I’m like, ‘Okay, they are the headliners’ and in our industry, they were still bringing in more people than us. It was more the mid-card guys, but I guess it wasn’t such a big difference. I felt like the one thing they lacked especially when we were [in] our prime with Divas, they didn’t capitalize on the women. They were so focused on the men that they lost a whole audience that they could still have today because they just didn’t believe in our mission or what we were doing or the changes we were making. I think we could’ve made an even bigger title wave, if the company was behind us even more. They were behind us but they could’ve capitalized in so many different ways and I think politics always come into play. I think in every industry, you have your favorites, you have who they wanna push, who they don’t but at times I’m like, ‘What they really could’ve done with this big group of women would’ve been so amazing worldwide.’ We did a lot but oh my gosh, we would always talk about that. I’m like, ‘They could’ve capitalized and used us even more,’ and they didn’t. They missed out a lot.”

The Bella Twins also commented on the backlash they received following the announcement of their Hall Of Fame induction. Both Nikki and Brie were amused by most of the comments they received but didn’t understand why they were getting so much hate from mainly male wrestling fans.

Nikki: “And it’s like the online ones and that’s why I’d always tell her [Brie], that’s like ten percent of the fan base. We call them smart marks in our industry and because of everything we would start to build and then also we were the mean girls. That was our characters so we were the bad, like legit heels, bad girls and they would believe everything that was being said in promos and don’t get me wrong, some of the girls that would get on the mic because of how they were with Brie and I, they would say stuff like — they’d just attack us in ways and fans would believe it and it’s crazy still to this day the hate we will get from…

Brie: “We got inducted into the Hall Of Fame this year for WWE. To have Vince McMahon call you and give you all these reasons why he wants to induct you, surreal. But we were trending two days straight because fans were disgusted.”

Jeff Hardy spoke with Daily Star about WWE incorporating his past addiction issues into his storyline with Sheamus. Hardy did not have an issue with it and doesn’t pay attention to any of the comments from those who felt like WWE was mistreating him.

“The stuff with Sheamus that’s happened most recently, I knew there was a great outcome in it. I knew that bar fight was going to be cinematic and good. All the stuff building up to that match, I just knew the outcome was going to be fantastic. And it’s good to face challenges like that because there’s so much negativity in the world. I’m not a social media guy at all, I don’t read comments or the negativity of people who thought it was wrong or that [WWE] were treating me [badly], I don’t read any of that. I’m just confident in myself to get through it, and when I get a feeling that something’s going to be good, I just run with it.

I’m always interested as everybody is different in so far as how the viewer feels watching at home, especially hardcore fans of mine. Even thinking back to the stuff with CM Punk when I was failing drugs tests, they turned it into a storyline and that’s what I mean when I talk about roller-coasters of good and bad. Throughout all of that, so long as I can continue to do good, especially with this, my last chance to get it right, it is going to inspire people around the world that I’ll never meet, that need to stay sober to survive. Hopefully I’m doing that through the television screen and helping people I’ll never know.”

Xavier Woods joined D-Von Dudley’s ‘Table Talk’ podcast and it was mentioned how Woods was absent for the return of ‘Talking Smack’ on the WWE Network. Woods was scheduled to host the show with Kayla Braxton but he stated he wasn’t made aware until the post went up on social media.

“I was at home. I found out when y’all found out. So, it’s been adjusted so I’ll be there soon.

Things happen sometimes. It’s a very large company and you’ll find in any large company sometimes things get lost through the cracks. Things someone thinks they told somebody else but they actually didn’t get a chance to but that person thought that someone else told them so it’s a regular thing with a company that’s as large, that’s as successful as this so it’s not like a bad thing by any means. It’s just like a little, ‘Oops, okay cool.’ Now we’re on the train tracks again, let’s get it moving.”

Chris Van Vliet spoke with Erick Rowan for an exclusive interview and Rowan recalled being unsure if he and Brodie Lee were getting called up from NXT to the main roster along with Bray Wyatt. Rowan said that Wyatt alerted them that they were coming to the main roster but Bill DeMott was not in line with those plans.

“Fast forward to when we get called up onto the roster, hence we always knew Bray [Wyatt] was getting called up to the roster. We didn’t know we were. We were told by Bill DeMott, me and Brodie [Lee] were told we weren’t getting called up. So, then they’re filming these vignettes and then were like, ‘Oh, well they’re gonna need you for the vignettes.’ But, are we getting called up? And then Bray’s like, ‘Yeah, you guys are getting called up’ and then Bill’s like, ‘No, you guys aren’t getting called up.’ It’s like what the hell?”

WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo conducted an interview with Scorpio Sky. Sky spoke about his stretch of matches on AEW Dark and expressed that he feels Lee Johnson is the future of All Elite Wrestling.

“But I also did get to wrestle young guys like Lee Johnson and I think Lee Johnson is the future of AEW. He’s young, he’s probably only about 22-years old, he’s got a good look, he’s got a good body, he’s athletic, he gets it, he listens and he’s gonna be a guy five, ten years from now, he’s going to be a big time player in this company.”

Matt Hardy chatted with TV Insider ahead of the 8/27 edition of AEW Dynamite. Hardy was asked about the possibility of Jeff Hardy coming to AEW and reuniting The Hardy Boyz in the tag team division and here’s what Matt had to say in response to that:

“With the incredible deep division there is in AEW, I’d love to have my brother there to wrestle against the Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Kenny Omega, Private Party, FTR. There is such a deep roster. I’d love to do that one day if it was a possibility.”

Regarding Hardy’s arrival in AEW, he shared that one of the original plans was for him to do a cinematic match with Sammy Guevara but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on the back burner.

“In all actuality, when we first started doing all that, the original plan, I think, was to have the cinematic match with Sammy. I challenged Jericho, but the idea was for it to get pushed off to Sammy. Things went differently when North Carolina and other states went into lockdown. There was this six-week period where AEW literally survived on a day or two of shooting footage, which was pretty amazing. They did an incredible job. Kudos to the crew. We had to change course in many ways. From the very beginning, I was going to end up having a feud with Sammy, and Jericho was my bridge to get to that. As far as the Hardy Compound fight with Sammy, that may happen one day. We’ll see.”

Chris Featherstone of Sportskeeda hosted a Q&A session on Facebook with Eric Bischoff. One of the questions asked of Bischoff had to do with WWE’s storytelling and Bischoff explained why he feels that WWE is constantly hit or miss with their storylines.

“I knew WWE was gonna knock the ThunderDome concept out of the park. Better than everybody including the NBA. I knew they would, because they’re so good at that. What they’re not good at is basic, fundamental storytelling. They’re just not. I love them, I have many friends there, I have some friends there who I consider my closest friends in the world and who I love dearly. It doesn’t change that the storyline, the architecture, their approach to stories, their discipline with stories suck, and until somebody comes along and takes an honest look at storytelling and the structure of storytelling and the formulas that are used, it’s gonna be hit or miss forever. You’re gonna throw ten stories up against the wall and maybe one of them will hit, because there’s no rhyme or reason to it. There’s no methodology to it, there’s no model for it, no formula for it. It’s just simply throwing sh*t against the wall and hoping it sticks.”

Although Alex Shelley is currently working for IMPACT and is one-half of the IMPACT World Tag Team Champions, he is not under contract.

After Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) defeated Imperium to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, Shelley took to Twitter and asked his old pal Kushida if he would be up for another reunion and challenge for the NXT titles. It was in that same tweet, as well as another tweet, in which revealed that he is currently a free agent.
KUSHIDA's time in NXT has been such a huge waste considering all the great stuff he was doing in NJPW prior. Him leaving over creative and direction issues in NJPW made sense but he's pretty much gone backwards in the ladder and career direction during his stay in NXT.

Haku is one of the most feared and respected men in the history of pro wrestling, and of course in his own house.

With three sons in the pro wrestling business, it's clear the eventual Meng has a strong influence on all of them. As it turns out, he wasn't completely forthcoming with Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Hikuleo about how exactly his day job went down ...

Beyond that, Loa's brother Tama Tonga said that Haku went above and beyond to keep them as detached from the realities of professional wrestling as he possibly could. This stretched to the point of him not letting them know about some of the wild road stories you hear about Haku today.

"Alright, be honest with you, I’ve said this to a lot of people—my pop, he kayfabed us," Tama Tonga told Fightful. "I didn’t know shit until I started wrestling at 27. Then, that’s when I filled in with everything. Then once I started traveling the world, everybody had stories and that’s how I got to know my pop beside the family man that I knew at home as a father. I got to know him as a wrestler and I was like, “Holy shit.” So, those are a lot of new things that were brought to my attention once I started wrestling.

Tama got a late start in pro wrestling, but both he and Tanga grew up in an internet age. With Haku/Meng being an internet pheneomenon with lore of his ass kicking stories, those somehow all escaped the two brothers.

"When we were kids, back then we didn’t have social media," Loa said. "So anything that ever happened, only the wrestlers knew. The company knew. Nothing ever got outside of that unless you were there in that city or that particular [hotel] and the cops that showed up. They knew the story. If anyone had a [phone] back, yeah, maybe kids would have found out and then they would have asked about that. But, we’re all good about hush-hush about the business and thought for a long time our dad was a truck driver. To everybody else that’s how we explained his job. ‘Cause our parents were real keen about making sure we had friends because they wanted to be our friends. They didn’t want have our dad’s job play an influence on whether or not we would be liked."

The induction ceremony for the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame class had to be postponed, but WWE did have plans to make it happen this year.

According to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, WWE planned to "piecemeal" the inductions by holding them at various times throughout the year. Inductions were planned to take place during SmackDown or Raw and not in conjunction with any pay-per-view. Unfortunately, COVID-19 and "other factors" made inductions impossible.

The Hall of Fame ceremony was originally scheduled for WrestleMania weekend but was canceled due to COVID-19.

Davey Boy Smith's Daughter Georgia said in March that WWE was hoping to hold the Hall of Fame induction ceremony during SummerSlam weekend, but that did not happen.

WrestleVotes noted that the new plan is to induct the class of 2020 during WrestleMania 37 weekend.

TPWW Frontpage:

Updated Card for Tonight’s AEW Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/updated-card-for-tonights-aew-dynamite/)
NXT: Austin Theory Returns, Barrett Returning Next Week, New Tag Champs (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/nxt-austin-theory-returns-barrett-returning-next-week-new-tag-champs/)

Fignuts

08-27-2020, 07:33 PM

The bellas thinking the Backlash for their HoF induction was because they're such good heels is hilarious.

Emperor Smeat

08-28-2020, 03:55 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Bob Armstrong, one of the biggest stars in the history of pro wrestling throughout Georgia, Alabama, the Florida Gulf Coast and Tennessee, passed away on 8/27 at the age of 80 ...

As far as a national angle goes, he would probably be best known for one of the great television feuds of the early 80s with Roddy Piper in Georgia.

Piper started as a television announcer with Gordon Solie in mid-1981, using his gift of gab, and became the architect of the heel color commentator role. He started out as an analyst, but was polite, well dressed, funny and was always deferential to Solie. But he would say things at certain times designed to rub the people the wrong way. He wasn't a heel per se, but people were supposed to think he was a little arrogant, and not like him, but at the same time respect his analysis of the matches.

In November, Bob returned from Southeastern Championship Wrestling with some fanfare. For the first time, he was teaming with 21-year-old son Brad. The two had held the Southeastern tag team championships.

The two immediately won the November 26, 1981, Thanksgiving night tag team tournament at the Omni in Atlanta, on the company's biggest show of the year. They beat The Sheepherders (Luke Williams & Jonathan Boyd), Kevin Sullivan & Wayne Ferris (Honky Tonk Man) and beating Masa Saito & Mr. Fuji in the finals, to become the new National tag team champions.

Piper would routinely criticize the team, with the idea that Bob was too concerned about his son and thus wasn't a good tag team partner for him. He would say that the correct role is to sacrifice your partner to tire out the opposition and then hot tag in, but that Bob wouldn't let Brad get beaten on for long enough to tire out the opponents. Bob would tell him to mind his own business.

It started small, but every week, one of the highlights was the interplay on interviews between Piper and Armstrong.

Piper would interview him and criticize him, and Armstrong was the perfect foil, older, and with his character, Piper would come across as someone who showed no respect for a babyface that fans genuinely liked. For months the interview segment with Piper and Bob was among the highlight, and often the most talked about part of the weekly television show. Keep in mind that at this point in time, Georgia Championship Wrestling was the most popular show on cable television, with the two-hour Saturday how averaging a 6.4 national rating and the one hour Best of show on Sunday averaging a 6.6, and Piper was a key part of it.

Every week it was a Piper making fun of Armstrong's skinny legs, and Armstrong asking if he's ever seen a racehorse. Piper always got the last word in on every subject, but with Armstrong, the key was that the babyface, Armstrong, always got the last dig in. Once, Armstrong cut a promo about whoever his opponent was that week at the Omni, and made a dig that when he's done, he's coming after Piper next.

Piper did a promo about how Bob says he wants to fight him, but first he has to take out the garbage, first he has to go to the store and buy groceries, and basically make fun of him being every family father.

"It's like mind over matter," Bob would say when Piper would run him down,, "I don't mind and you don't matter," and then Bob would walk off and leave Piper hanging.

Dusty Rhodes would also at times get the last word in, but with Armstrong, it was more personal.

After months of this, one day in the TBS Studios, it finally happened. Armstrong and Piper got into it, doing an uncontrollable brawl all over the studio. Those type of brawls happened almost every week, but this was at a different level. For one, it had been built up for months, and second, both guys knew the brawl had to be next level to live up to the expectations from all those months. Also, because of how long it had been built up, the fans were screaming, and all over the country, wrestling fans were talking about what they knew was going to happen at some point for months, and finally it did.

At the time, even though ratings were incredible--only 15 million homes in the U.S. had cable in 1981, and 1 million homes watched the Saturday and Sunday shows, which averaged 2.2 viewers per home, or 2,200,000 viewers weekly. Today, with cable in six times as many homes, and network in seven times as many homes, wrestling rarely hits that number.

It was the first cable show in history that hit 1 million homes, and really, it was the success of that show that spawned cable television as we know it. At the time, the belief is that nobody outside of Atlanta would watch a local Atlanta television station, but Ted Turner thought different, figuring sports were underserved, and airing the Braves, the Hawks, local soccer and wrestling, he figured there would be national interest. But nobody thought it was local wrestling that would be the star program on the station.

But there was no money in getting big ratings on television. The promotion was not lighting the world on fire at the time when it came to selling tickets, even with using the biggest names from around the country.

Jim Barnett was still running Georgia Championship Wrestling, coming back in 1974 after leaving Australia, and winning the war for the NWA against Ann Gunkel's All South Wrestling.

Ole Anderson was the booker.

At the time Piper only worked as a television announcer in Georgia on Saturday mornings, as his main job was as a top heel for Jim Crockett Promotions.

Wrestling at the Omni was doing about 5,000 fans and $25,000 most weeks, which was running at a slight loss.

Everyone watching wrestling, and certainly Barnett, saw dollar signs in Piper. Armstrong was really supposed to be the first guy to get Piper over, and set him up for the bigger babyfaces, like Rhodes and Tommy Rich.

Barnett rarely gave Anderson input into booking. He would bring in guys and tell Anderson who he thought could get over, and ask Anderson to protect them. Sometimes Anderson would and sometimes he wouldn't.

In theory, since it was Piper's first match, and also because the program was so hot that they should in theory get a series of matches, a Piper win by cheating seemed logical.

Barnett had a social engagement, but knew by the advance that this would be a big night. Even though the listed main event was Race defending the NWA title against Rich, Barnett and everyone who watched television knew the real main event was Piper's first match at the Omni. Barnett, who had been appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 to the national theater and arts board, had another engagement that night.

Barnett told Anderson about the first Armstrong vs. Piper match, "Whatever you do, Piper has to get his hand raised."

They drew nearly 13,000 fans and more than $60,000, not quite a sellout, but the largest crowd since a boom period had ended some time back. Anderson booked a double count out. Barnett was furious. Anderson told him that Armstrong was full-time and Piper was Crockett's guy and wasn't working the territory and he didn't want to have an outside guy beat his own guy..

"Piper never drew big in Atlanta again," Barnett lamented to me about the feud, noting that Bob was mid-level babyface whose role was to be the guy with credibility that Piper would beat before getting to guys like Rhodes, Mr. Wrestling II and Rich. Barnett said the timing was everything, and Anderson not giving Piper wins at that time ruined his specialness.

Whether it was the finish, or it was just people wanting to see their local guy kick Piper's ass after all those months of talking once and had a magic that wasn't going to be recaptured even if Piper had won, who is to say.

The rematches didn't draw anything special, but Piper did help Georgia Wrestling a lot in Michigan and Ohio where they were touring, where he often wrestled Armstrong. They did some matches in other territories as well.

It was a huge week for WWE, with the debuting of the Thunderdome concept that led to a major ratings increase, the return of Roman Reigns, SummerSlam, the third biggest show of the year, and NXT Takeover.

The Thunderdome concept, ever evolving, has the Amway Center set up with virtual fans in front of the hard camera and a lot of special effects. The key to this is if ratings hold up after the big increases this past week.

Raw was up 23.4 percent in viewers; 39.6 percent in 18-49–although some of that increase was based on coming the day after SummerSlam but it was also against heavy competition; Smackdown was up 13.3 percent in viewers; 9.6 percent in 18-49.

If it does, it says the majority of the pandemic drops were due to the venue and not the creative, although it is a combination of both that was the culprit. If the novelty wears off and things go back to the level of the prior week, that would be a major blow.

For Smackdown, the opening visual was strong. The laser light show and brightness of the building was a strong start. The problem was the audio. The fans that were shown really weren’t making any noise. They piped in fake sound, which is good for the bad matches, but bad for the good matches. Because it was just fake sound, the noise and ups and downs had no relation to the match. In particular, when Jeff Hardy won the IC title from A.J. Styles, there was no real pop, nor was there pops for his lines in his post-match interview ...

It was a learning experience. The second show two nights later, SummerSlam, on 8/23, saw them use a coordinator who would direct the fans to react. When Randy Orton came out, fans were told to boo. These were contrived reactions, even worse than the wrestlers as fans, because it was mostly the piped in noise that didn’t relate to matches, with some coordinated cheers and boos and chants that were loud, but clearly not organic. Plus, they limited it, so really it was mostly done in the matches they wanted to enhance. When a heel would come out, the coordinator would tell everyone to do a thumbs down, so you’d see everyone in unison doing something that you would never actually see for a real life crowd ...

On the positive side, the look and production of the show does make a difference and by a month from now we’ll be able to figure out how much. The other positive is whether the matches themselves get over, the performers look far more like stars being in a better setting and being able to do stronger entrances. The old scenario was nearly impossible to make new stars, which was key because WWE badly needed them. Now, they look more like stars, but it’s still a situation where there are no organic stars being made by the fans, not that WWE listened to the audience that much to begin with ...

The positive is WWE was in complete control of its crowd, something it hasn’t had for more than 15 years. Usually when somebody does a heel turn, the crowd cheers them wildly because they are there for “moments” and “events.” But on Raw, when Aleister Black turned heel on Kevin Owens, nobody cheered. The one thing WWE did get in the pandemic was control of the crowd reactions ...

Still, it was a huge improvement over the Performance Center as the ratings showed. The reality is not just show content, but even when it came to the look and production of the show, AEW was ahead of WWE the past few months and it showed in the difference in gains and steadiness of numbers. Now WWE is ahead of AEW at least when it comes to look and production and looks like the more major league, which is really the key advantage it had left. It also makes it curious as to why, since WWE has the ability to do it with very minimal cost as the full-time tenant through the end of October, that they are still doing NXT with the low-rent look at Full Sail University.

Reigns returned at the end of SummerSlam, attacking and laying out both former Universal champion Braun Strowman, as well as new champion The Fiend Bray Wyatt, with spears. Reigns appeared to have some face work done (enough so that Randy Orton on Twitter actually made a joke about his teeth) and changed up his physique, looking both slimmer and more muscular. While rumors about his return were around the last two days, this was kept as a secret from the writers and just about everyone until around the last few days.

Reigns’ return should help Smackdown for a week or two in ratings and less after that, but he’ll be the star of the brand once again. In a sense it’s a positive in hindsight he wasn’t around, throwing out the health issue. Granted, missing Mania wasn’t a good thing from a company standpoint and Smackdown was hurt without him, but he wasn’t tainted being part of the low-rent looking shows and now he’s fresh. The health issue is still there. And with UFC with all its testing and having issues with COVID every week, and they take far more precautions, this isn’t without risk. The larger arena allows for more distancing and the actual testing greatly lowers the risk.

The interest level in the [SummerSlam] show was way down as compared to the shows in the past. The searches for the show were at first listed as 200,000, but an updated top search list on Sunday doesn't have WWE or SummerSlam listed. And the No. 20 for the day was 100,000. Even at 200,000, it would be less than one-tenth the interest level of the 8/15 UFC show headlined by Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic. 200,000 is a usual B WWE PPV show level and SummerSlam traditionally would be between 500,000 and 1 million.

Karrion Kross (Kevin Kesar, 35) captured the NXT championship and then had to vacate it due to suffering a separated shoulder in the opening minutes of his win over Keith Lee on 8/22 at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.

The technical injury was a separated acromioclavicular joint in his right shoulder. The injury came early in the match after an exchange of strikes and Lee came off the ropes with a shoulderblock and Kross took the bump on his right shoulder, and immediately grabbed it. Just judging from his strikes prior to the injury there may have been a pre-existing minor injury because there were differences in how he threw right handed strikes from the start of the match.

The company had been grooming Kross to build NXT around as champion since his arrival. Kross had said he expected to be out of action a minimal amount of time after the injury, but before he got his MRI.

Nobody has officially said anything regarding what the MRI showed, past the 8/26 show opened with Kross vacating the title and vowing to be back, not giving a timetable. William Regal in a later promo said that Kross would be out of action for a long period of time. The indication was surgery but nobody has specifically said that. If Kross was not to need surgery and be out a month or two, they could work around it.

As New Japan Pro Wrestling gets ready to run its first major outdoor stadium show in 21 years, they have experimented with their own form of new technology.

Starting with the 8/26 show at Korakuen Hall, the company adopted Yama's Remote Cheerer Powered by Sound JD. The technology was already being used in Japan for baseball and soccer. Unlike in the U.S., in Japan the culture is such that all fans at live events wear masks, but also are asked, and listen, to not cheer, boo or do chants. So at the shows, there have been a lot of clapping, but it's very different from the atmosphere of the past.

Those in the arenas were given access to devices and if they push certain buttons, the device will cheer or boo. Even though it's very different, the atmosphere is somewhat similar to the fake crowd noise pumped in at U.S. sports events and on the recent WWE broadcasts, the background noise that has virtually no connection to the match or promo itself.

With New Japan, because the fans are in control of sounds, and because there are fans in the building, there is a correlation between what goes on in the ring or the promo and the sounds. But it's still far from optimum.

NEW JAPAN: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that they would allow foreigners who have residency in Japan to return next month, which would open the doors for people like Will Ospreay, Juice Robinson and Bea Priestley

Moxley was on Wrestling Observer Radio and told a funny story about the Death Rider gimmick. Moxley debuted in videos in New Japan for a first big match with Juice Robinson, where he won the U.S. title. He had a contract through WrestleKingdom with the original idea being he wins the U.S. title, then would do an angle when Karl Anderson would attack him out of nowhere at the October Sumo Hall show and that would lead to the Tokyo Dome. In theory, Anderson was winning the title. So that’s another reason Anderson has been so adamant that he made a big mistake signing the new deal. The guy in the jacket with the Death Rider jacket wasn’t Moxley but a guy basically there to be a body double. They wanted a jacket that would fit the character and the body double guy went to a Goodwill store to get a jacket which had “Death Rider” on the back. That’s actually where the name came from, just happened to be on the jacket and New Japan decided it would then be his nickname and the name of his finisher, because WWE owned the dirty deeds name.

Jericho explained where the Mimosa Mayhem idea came from, since it was his concept. "I got the idea, kind of, coming from one of those of old Atsushi Onita exploding barbed-wire death match sort of things (Jericho worked for FMW early in his career and was on big stadium shows during Onita's heyday) and, you know, a lot of suspense, kind of like a battle royale, getting thrown out, holding onto the ropes, that sort of a thing. Of course, if someone is able to throw the other, into the pit, the vat, the container of mimosa, then they're the winner. So of course, it makes perfect sense for the storyline of this feud with Orange Cassidy. Of course, he's orange juice and I'm a little bit of the bubbly... the champagne. We're just trying to think of some cool ideas and that just popped into my head and I thought it would be a kind of fun match that can have a lot of twists and turns and false finishes and that sort of thing to it.

Tickets for the 8/27 show, about 500 of them, sold out in four minutes. That really isn’t much of a surprise with so few tickets available. Even though the plan is to tape every other week, what they are doing next week is keeping everyone in Jacksonville from 9/2 to 9/9 with TV live on 9/2 and 9/9 and the PPV on 9/5. The feeling is if they have everyone in town already they can keep them for the week and for obvious reasons they didn’t want to tape 9/9 prior to 9/5. The 9/9 taping will be for shows on 9/9, 9/16 and 9/17 plus Dark for those days as well

We got a copy of the letter sent to all fans who attended the 8/27 tapings. The basic rules are masks required at all times except when eating and drinking. Guests can only eat or drink while sitting in their assigned seat or a seating area. Masks must completely cover the mouth and nose. Guests who fail to comply are subject to ejection. Cars can only be parked in every other parking lot spot. Masks are recommended in the parking lot and tailgating is prohibited. No liquids or beverage are allowed inside but food is permitted provided it is unwrapped and inside a one gallon clear plastic bag. Everyone has to have their own mobile ticket. Concessions are cashless. Smoking is prohibited

From those who attended live, they said everyone was masked, the crowd was loud given the small numbers in a big outdoor building, and it was a super well behaved crowd, lots of PWG regulars from the Southeast who were just happy to see a major live show

Brandon Thurston, who was the closest of any analyst when it came to WWE’s profitability and revenue in the last quarter, almost perfectly on target while almost everyone was high on revenue but low on profit margin, had readjusted his 2020 projections to a year-end $100 million in profits, almost identical to last year. The company was running well ahead of that pace, but his belief is the costs of going live every week and of the Thunderdome set up will lead to profits of $13.05 million in quarter three and $17.4 million in quarter four. This model is based on no revenue from live events, no merchandise from live events and no second Saudi Arabia show for the remainder of this year. Given AEW, NFL and NASCAR will be having paid attendance now and shortly, I suspect WWE will try and do at least some live events going forward. Whether they can do them with, say 30 percent capacity, and make them profitable is a big question, but arenas are going to cut deals wanting shows back. Right now the leading analysts are predicting WWE profits for the year being $115 million to $140 million, which would break last year’s record of $99.6 million. But none have revised with the greater expenses of running every show live rather than taping in clusters and doing multiple shows at a time, and the added production expense of the new format

WWE posted for job applicants on Linked In looking for a new head writer for Smackdown. Wasn’t it NXT that just lost its head writer? Lead writer doesn’t mean as much today as it used to. A lot of different people are called lead writer even though Ed Koskey is the lead writer on Smackdown and he’s not leaving as far as anyone knows. But other like Ryan Callahan and Ryan Ward have been called lead writers so it’s not a singular person, but just wanting to add a new higher level writer

After getting the big push on the first week of Raw Underground, Babatunde has disappeared, which is quite the feat when you're a legit 6-foot-9 and 360 pounds

For the 8/24 Raw, Vince was on the phone all day with the writers. That morning, the changes started. He made multiple changes via phone and then got to the building at 7 p.m. and wanted to review the show and started making more changes. The third hour of the show wasn’t finalized until after 9 p.m., while the show was in progress. The Raw Underground stuff was actually taped well before they went on the air. The only actual match promoted all week long, until the day of the show, was Ivar vs. Ziggler for Raw Underground. That never happened, was never discussed on the air, nor was there any explanation regarding it not happening even though both were there

Paul Ellering claimed that he was going to come in full-time as the manager of AOP right before the pandemic, and has no idea if it’s still in the cards as he hasn’t heard from anyone. That would have been under Paul Heyman who was going to give AOP a big push as his top heel tag team, but that makes little sense since they were to be Seth Rollins’ muscle at the time. It fell apart when Rezar suffered a torn biceps and the decision was made to take Akam off television until he could return. One person on the inside said that Ellering's name was never brought up for the return of AOP before the pandemic or since because Vince didn't like him, which is why he had AOP turn on him their first night on the main roster. The plan right now is when they return to not put them back with Rollins, but that could always change tomorrow. The return is expected sometime between late September and the end of the year. Not sure what will be done with them as Heyman was going to give them a huge push but before Heyman had some power, they weren't even being used

The top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. SummerSlam; 2. NXT Takeover; 3. WWE 24: WrestleMania 2020 The Show Must Go On; 4. R-Truth Game Show; 5. SummerSlam pregame show; 6. WWE Untold: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks from Brooklyn; 7. Raw Talk on 8/24; 8. WrestleMania 20 day two; 9. 2020 Royal Rumble; 10. The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The first episode of Talking Smack was only No. 21. Neither 205 Live nor this week’s NXT show cracked the top 25. The NXT shows the week of Takeovers never seem to chart well because people watch Takeovers. The NXT preshow on Saturday also didn’t chart which kind of tells you for NXT its best to not label something as a preshow and just add that match to the main show

WWE Ratings, NXT Ratings, AEW Ratings:

Raw, with a combination of the Raw debut of Thunderdome and being the day after SummerSlam, pulled its best numbers since the day after WrestleMania, with an average of 2,028,000 viewers and 0.67 in 18-49.

The show the day after WrestleMania did 2,100,000 viewers. The number was even more impressive because the 18-49 number was up 39.6 percent from the show the week before which did the fourth lowest number in that demo in history, with the strongest gains in 35-49 at 48.5 percent.

Overall the show's total audience was up 23.4 percent. Next week will probably give a better idea of the difference the Thunderdome concept will make longer-term because there will be a first week novelty and coming off SummerSlam helped as well, and even Roman Reigns curiosity, although that should help the 8/28 Smackdown show the most.

The show went against tough competition with two NBA playoff games on TNT, the game against the first 74 minutes doing 2,140,000 viewers and 0.72 in 18-49; and the game against the last 106 minutes doing 2,979,000 viewers and 1.34 in 18-49. The major competition was the Republican National Convention which averaged 6,544,000 viewers on FOX News in hour three. However the crossover wasn’t that strong because the third hour drop was actually less than usual. There were also NHL playoff games which did 837,000 and 0.26 for the early game and 692,000 and 0.25 for the late game on NBC Sports Network.

The good news was that the audience held up well, especially in hour three against the highly rated Republican convention. The first hour did 2,140,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,045,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,900,000 viewers.

Overall, Raw was 20th for the night and sixth in 18-49, behind two NBA games, two FOX news shows covering the convention and 90 Day Fiancé ...

As compared to the same week last year, Raw was down 19.7 percent in viewers, 16.3 percent in 18-49 and 38.9 percent in 18-34.

First-to-third hour drops were 12.2 percent for women 18-49, 13.7 percent for men 18-49, 27.8 percent for teenage girls, 19.9 percent for teenage boys and 11.5 percent in over 50.

Smackdown on 8/21 did its best numbers of the pandemic era, based on the hype for the debut of Thunderdome, doing a 1.38 rating and 2,198,000 viewers and 0.58 (753,000 viewers) in 18-49 (1.32 viewers per home).

It was up 14.0 percent in household ratings, 13.3 percent in viewers and 9.6 percent in 18-49 from the prior week. The show before the pandemic was generally doing about 0.75 in 18-49 so they were not back to usual levels.

Smackdown was the only non-rerun on network television and easily won the demo as a number of shows did 0.4. Smackdown’s 0.4 in 18-34 was way up from usual, with nothing else on network above 0.2. Smackdown usually does 0.3 and has done several 0.2s in the last two months. In total viewers, Smackdown finished next to last as a Dateline Classics rerun did 2,175,000 viewers.

In the half hours, the first half hour did 2.24 million viewers for Vince McMahon, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt and Retribution in the first segment and Sheamus vs. Big E. The second half hour did 2.14 million viewers with Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik and promos with Mandy Rose and then Bayley & Sasha Banks. The third half hour did 2.19 million viewers with Bayley vs. Naomi, Banks vs. Naomi, interviews with Sonya Deville and Nikki Cross and the start of A.J. Styles vs. Jeff Hardy. The final half hour did 2.10 million viewers for Styles vs. Hardy, The Firefly Fun House and the ending segment with Strowman destroying Wyatt and The Fiend coming out of the ambulance.

Last year over the same weekend with reruns, FOX avenged 1,038,000 viewers and 0.3, so they more than doubled last year.

Some more notes on NXT on 8/19, and going unopposed. As noted last week, but this spells it out even more, the AEW under 35 audience did not watch NXT while the 35 and older audience did.

NXT did 310,000 viewers in 18-49, up 50.5 percent with no AEW competition. 38,000 in men 18-34 (down 2.6 percent from the opposed prior week), 22,000 in women 18-34 (up 4.8 percent), 168,000 in men 35-49 (up 71.4 percent) and 82,000 in women 35-49 (up 70.8 percent).

If we look at what AEW did on 8/12, basically on a percentage basis, you can’t even basically trace the AEW 18-34 movement to NXT (basically 0 out of 105,000 viewers). In males 35-49, one would estimate 38.5 percent of the AEW audience watched NXT. In women 35-49, one would estimate 30.9 percent of the AEW audience watched NXT.

As far as individual groups went, in Males 18-49, the high point of the show was Adam Cole & Pat McAfee. In Women 18-49, it was Dakota Kai vs. Jessi Kamea and Legado del Fantasma vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Swerve Scott. In men overall 2+ it was the Cole/McAfee segment. In women overall it was Johnny Gargano vs. Ridge Holland, which also had the mot total viewers of any segment, which is because it was on first and had the big lead-in.

In the segment-by-segment, NXT opened with 921,000 viewers and 306,000 in 18-49 for Johnny Gargano vs. Ridge Holland. The second quarter was 871,000 viewers and 318,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai vs Jessi Kamea. The third quarter was 848,000 viewers and 325,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Santos Escobar & Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Isaiah Scott. The fourth quarter was 873,000 viewers and 340,000 in 18-49 for the end of that six-man tag match. It was also the high point of the night for 18-49s. The fifth quarter with the Adam Cole-Pat McAfee angle and the beginning of Aliyah & Mercedes Martinez vs. Rhea Ripley & Shotzi Blackheart did 847,000 viewers and 324,000 in 18-49. So the Cole-McAfee segment, put in the best time slot usually (Q5 for the show), lost 26,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49. The sixth quarter with the continuation of the women’s tag match drew 779,000 viewers and 279,000 in 18-49, so that was a huge drop. The beginning of Finn Balor vs. Velveteen Dream rebounded to 842,000 viewers and 289,000 in 18-49, and the bulk of the match in the final quarter did 863,000 viewers and 309,000 in 18-49.

Because of no AEW and NXT gaining so many 35-49 new viewers, NXT skewed slightly younger than Smackdown this week, with Smackdown the oldest skewing show, followed by NXT, Raw, UFC and AEW as the youngest. For the week AEW skewed younger than every sports show of the week on television except the NBA, and it skewed younger than about half the NBA games during the week.

Even though the NXT show on 8/26 was the first show after Takeover and had no AEW competition, nor NBA competition, the overall audience declined with 824,000 viewers and 0.24 in 18-49, good for 24th place on the night.

The audience was down 3.4 percent from the unopposed show the prior week, while 18-49 was identical. There were slight gains in women 35-49 from last week but women under 35 were almost nonexistent, so once again they picked up none of that AEW fan base.

They did go against the Republican convention and Fox News in the head-to-head hours did 5,850,000 and 7,088,000 viewers which is about double usual. The Weather Channel due to hurricane threats did far better than usual. The NHL game on NBC Sports Network did 982,000 viewers and 0.29 in 18-34. It still indicated that in a normal week if they ran unopposed they could do about 900,000 viewers or more ...

The show did a 0.13 in 12-17 (up 30.0 percent from last week), 0.12 in 18-34 (up 33.3 percent), 0.36 in 35-49 (down 7.7 percent) and 0.41 in 50+ (down 2.4 percent). The audience was 63.8 percent male in 18-49 and 82.4 percent male in 12-17.

AEW on 8/22 did 755,000 viewers and 0.31 (407,000 viewers) in 18-49. While the numbers were similar to the prior show on 8/12 which did 792,000 viewers and 0.32 (417,000), given being out of prime time and a different night, it’s completely different circumstances.

AEW benefitted by having a far stronger lead-in than usual with the NBA playoff game lead-in doing 1,607,000 viewers and 0.62 in 18-49, but was hurt by starting 34 minutes later than advertised due to the game going long. It was and also hurt on the DVR front because the last 34 minutes were off the DVR for people who only recorded the show itself as per normal. AEW did go head-to-head with NXT Takeover, so it still had pro wrestling competition in the time slot. But with Takeover available in so few homes it was a factor, but a very minor factor as compared to a television show which would draw a far higher audience.

AEW was No. 5 on cable for the night, behind three NBA games and barely behind UFC. UFC had a number of advantages over AEW, between being in prime time, having a slightly stronger lead-in, being on its regular night and being on a stronger station ...

The other thing to look at is audience demo changes even though the final audience and 18-49 numbers were similar, so you could say that almost all the AEW fans came over.

But here’s the difference as compared with 8/12. For this show they did 0.17 in 12-17 (up 21.4 percent, likely due to the NBA ,lead-in because this is a bad time slot for teen viewers, especially on the West Coast), 0.21 in 18-34 (up 20.8 percent, again strong NBA demo), 0.41 in 35-49 (down 12.3 percent) and 0.25 in 50+ (down 3.8 percent).

In 18-49, the audience was 72.7 percent male as opposed to 59.2 percent for the last Wednesday show. The NBA game lead-in was 73.4 percent male, so their make up was closer to NBA than AEW. Essentially they picked up some NBA fans but some of their regular women’s audience missed it due to unfamiliar time slot or being Saturday. In teenagers, they were 64.7 percent male as opposed to 54.2 percent male the last Wednesday show, so the same thing applies. The NBA was 75.0 percent male in 12-17 so in this case it was a mix of what they usually get and the heavier male skew of an NBA game.

More notes as far as each demo went, men 18-34 did 96,000 viewers (up 47.7 percent from the previous show), women 18-34 did 55,000 viewers (down 8.3 percent), men 35-49 did 186,000 viewers (up 2.2 percent) and women 18-34 did 70,000 viewers (down 36.4 percent)...

The key to note in the quarter hours is because people’s watching via DVR wouldn’t have gotten the last two quarters, those numbers are artificially low by a small amount. So the decline for the Darby Allin vs. Will Hobbs match is significant, but the decline for the women’s tag match is to a degree, but some of the 361,000 to 288,000 18-49 drop is due to extenuating circumstances. The Cody vs. Lee segment had to rebuild and did, gaining 98,000 viewers and 68,000 in 18-49, but that number would have lost out in homes that watched same night via DVR.

The quarter hours are notable because the first quarter at 6:34 to 6:49 with FTR vs. Private Party and Jon Moxley interview did 1,002,000 viewers and 575,000 in 18-49. Because of the NBA lead-in, that would be the biggest quarter of the show in more than six months. But it went back to normal in quarter two with 724,000 viewers and 416,000 in 18-49 with an MJF promo and the beginning of Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall & Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy vs. Butcher & Blade & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix. Quarter three did 791,000 viewers and 444,000 in 18-49 for the rest of the eight-man tag, the post match with Eddie Kingston’s promo, the Britt Baker, Reba, Penelope Ford and Kip Sabian vignette and the beginning of the Inner Circle/Best Friends & Orange Cassidy angle. Quarter four did 767,000 viewers and 423,000 in 18-49 for the rest of the Inner Circle/Best Friends & Cassidy angle and Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds & Alan Angels match. It fell to 712,000 viewers and 386,000 in 18-49 for the rest o the six-man tag and a promo with Tully Blanchard, FTR and Adam Page. The sixth quarter fell to 666,000 and 361,000 in 18-49 for Darby Allin vs. Will Hobbs and the post-match with Allin, Taz, Ricky Starks and Brian Cage. The seventh quarter did 640,000 viewers and 288,000 in 18-49 with Allie & Brandi Rhodes vs. Ivelisse & Diamante. And the final quarter did 738,000 viewers and 356,000 in 18-49 for the Brodie Lee TNT title win over Cody and post-match destruction.

ClockShot

08-28-2020, 04:06 PM

That's huge if Japan is gonna let the international crowd back in who got a place there.

Beef up the roster and shuffle things up a bit for NJPW.

Emperor Smeat

09-01-2020, 07:20 PM

The Sheets:

The second Raw in the ThunderDome, going against strong sports competition, averaged 1.90 million viewers and a 0.58 rating in 18-49.

Those numbers were down seven percent in viewers and 13 percent in 18-49 from last week's strong Raw debut in the new arena and day after SummerSlam episode. But the numbers were still far above what the show did during most of the pandemic. They are still well below pre-pandemic numbers as the last full month average before the pandemic was 2.29 million viewers, 0.74 in 18-49, and 0.53 in 18-34 ...

Raw was 23rd overall last night, and fifth if you factor out news coverage. In 18-49, Raw was fifth behind the two NBA games, 90 Day Fiance, and Below Deck Mediterranean ...

The big story was a 19 percent first-to-third hour drop. It seems to indicate more interest than usual coming off Payback, but more audience loss than has been the case in recent weeks. That indicates people were not as interested in the three-way to determine the title contender at Clash of Champions as compared to other recent main events ...

Raw was down 24 percent in viewers, 30 percent in 18-49, and 40 percent in 18-34 as compared to the same week last year.

The three hours were:
8 p.m. 2.10 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.88 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.70 million viewers

Variety is reporting more members of the voice cast for Paramount Animation and WWE Studios "Rumble" will include basketball legend Charles Barkley, comedienne Bridgette Everett , former boxing champion Chris Eubank. They join Will Arnett, Terry Crews, Michael Buffer, Stephen A. Smith, Ben Schwartz, Tony Danza, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and others in the animated movie about a monster wrestling universe. The film has a current release date of January 29, 2021.

For those who asked about whether WWE is adding other additional PPVs after Payback returned, here is how their calendar currently shapes up:

There is no main roster PPV scheduled for October currently. There will be a NXT Takeover on 10/4.

WWE Hell in A Cell is set for 11/1 with Survivor Series slated for 11/22

WWE TLC is set for 12/20.

So, while Payback was an additionally added PPV, there are currently no plans to add others to the 2020 PPV calendar.

Nikkan Sports conducted an interview with RAW Women’s Champion Asuka. Asuka talked about some of her goals that she set for herself upon arriving in WWE and one of her main goals was to strengthen the company’s women’s division.

“When I came in, the word ‘Diva’ wasn’t used anymore, and female athletes were also known as ‘superstars.’ I’m going to strengthen the women’s division from now on. I thought this was my mission. When I was just coming to WWE, I played the main role at the NXT competition several times. It was rarely said that it’s really amazing! ‘Congratulations to the main!’ It was rare for a female player to appear in the main at WWE, but now I am left to the main of PPV and TV broadcasting. Isn’t it one of the first motivations to start closing the gender gap in WWE?”

Asuka also compared wrestling in America to wrestling in Japan. She stated that while in Japan, there were not many women that came to see her wrestle so that was a positive change for her to see when she arrived in NXT.

“Well, I think it’s unique. When I was in Japan, there weren’t many women coming to see me, so it was really nice to be a fan. At that time, I was conscious of trying to increase the number of fans who are watching male professional wrestling. The world of female professional wrestling is like a small village. I was thinking of getting the fans to be fans, and I thought that if they didn’t become happy players, they wouldn’t reach the level that would be accepted in the world.”

Ringsiders Wrestling chatted with Aaron Solow recently. During their conversation, Aaron revealed that he and Ricky Starks were a part of Rusev’s WrestleMania 31 entrance as they played the role of the soldiers holding the Russian flag.

“Ricky and I were actually in Rusev’s entrance for Mania 31. You can never tell. Unless there’s some technology that can really zoom in, you’ll never be able to tell. But we’re the soldiers for Rusev when he comes out and we’re holding the Russian flag.”

Prior to going out in front the crowd, the extras were met with handshakes from Linda McMahon who thought that they were actual soldiers.

“And then another funny story about that is because we were dressed in the soldier uniforms the whole time and we’re kind of just all in line waiting. Ricky, myself, the other extras and I think it was Linda McMahon. Linda McMahon comes walking up to us and she starts shaking all of our hands and I’m wondering why is she doing this and then by the time she gets to me and Ricky she’s like, ‘Thank you for your service.’ I don’t know what’s going on. I just nodded my head and when she walked off I was like, ‘Oh God, she thinks we’re real soldiers.’”

Triple H has given the WWE Universe a look into what to expect when NXT UK re-launches.

On Twitter, Triple H showed a video of the set for the NXT UK re-launch, taking place at the BT Sport Studios in London. During NXT TakeOver XXX, it was announced that NXT UK will return later this month.

NXT UK has not run new episodes in months and has instead been airing best-of compilations and matches that were never before seen featuring names such as Adam Cole, Matt Riddle, and others.

BT Sport has also lent its studio to British boxing promotional company Queensberry Promotions, with a number of shows featuring British stars Carl Frampton, Daniel Dubois and Michael Conlan airing on ESPN+ in the United States. The BT Sport Studio will also be the site of a world championship fight between unified junior welterweight titlist Josh Taylor and Apinun Khongsong on September 26.
Link: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1300894888058384384

Jim Cornette has lost a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against G-Raver.

Cornette filed a lawsuit in December 2019 over a t-shirt with his likeness being stabbed that said "Fuck Jim Cornette." G-Raver's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was denied.

In the preliminary injunction (via Alexandra J. Roberts), the court ruled t-shirts sold by G-Raver aren't commerce but speech, "G-Raver sold the shirts...to critique Cornette’s views on deathmatch wrestling through parody; 1a protects this expression...because parodies are a valuable means of expression to weaken the ideas the celebrity espouses. On top of that, the shirts don't create a likelihood of confusion and Cornette's name may possess the distinctiveness that would make it a trademark. It's certainly not a famous one capable of dilution. Even if it were a mark, defendants' uses aren't similar."

Cornette's right of publicity claim also failed with the ruling saying, "even when the use is facially for a commercial or advertising purpose; the relevant exception here is...the shirts are expressive works & the use is through a communications medium."

The court holds the shirts to be works "invented by G-Raver's imagination" and thus they are transformative.

Know your role and shut your mouth, jabroni.

Now, when you use the term 'jabroni,' no one can tell you that you're using a slang term as the word has officially been added to the dictionary.

The official definition reads:

Slang. a stupid, foolish, or contemptible person; loser:

She always has a comeback to own the trolls and jabronis on Twitter.
Shut your mouth, you dumb jabroni!

Also called en·hance·ment tal·ent [en-hans-muhnt tal-uhnt], job·ber [job-er] .Professional Wrestling. a wrestler whose purpose is to lose matches against headlining wrestlers in order to build up the status and fame of the headliners: The man is a legend in the ring—he eats jabronis for breakfast.

The Rock made the term famous during the late 90s, calling his opponents 'jabronis' during his electric promos. The term has stuck around for wrestling fans and is still used to this day.

The group known as Retribution will only be causing chaos on Monday nights.

According to John Pollock of POST Wrestling, Retribution will be exclusive to WWE Raw moving forward.

Fans may have noticed that Retribution didn't cause any chaos on the most recent episode of SmackDown and were absent from SummerSlam and Payback as well. The announcers continued to focus on the group, even airing video packages highlighting their antics, but the masked men and women were absent from those shows.

There is expected to be major ratings in TV ratings moving forward, especially involving sports, as Nielsen begins counting out-of-home viewership. Viewers will now be counted from places such as bars, restaurants, and airports. Viewers will also be counted if they take their mobile devices from the home and use those to watch.

This latest Nielsen tool is supposed to make a huge change in sports ratings moving forward, particularly major sporting events, and generally for the NFL, according to F4Wonline.com. WWE and AEW will also be affected, but likely on a much smaller scale.

OutKick's Ryan Glasspiegel noted that Nielsen counting out-of-home viewership is a game-changer, and a huge deal that can't be overstated. OutKick reports that the out-of-home viewership will be incorporated into the numbers that Nielsen currently releases the day after events. While household rating numbers will remain constant, viewership is going to be an inexact comparison to previous year's numbers.

Nielsen will reportedly measure out-of-home viewership via a beeper-like device carried by people who are in Nielsen's measurement sample. The device will capture and recognize the audio of what people are watching away from their homes. OutKick noted that this will go for everywhere from a friend's home, to a hotel, bar, gym, restaurant, and so on - hundreds of places. It was noted that an interesting aspect will be if people remember to carry the device, when they're already leaving the house with things like wallets, keys, and phones. Nielsen household samples have to opt in to the company's in-home measurement tools, but this new way of counting views involves an extra step in carrying the device with you.

It was noted that there will also be interesting scenarios at bars and restaurants that air sports programming, but also play music during commercial breaks. One Nielsen source speculated to OutKick that in this scenario, if there's a 200-minute game and the sound of the game is on for 160 minutes, then the viewer would be counted for 160 minutes in the average minute audience, but not the other 40 minutes. It was also said that any time a viewer watches something with headphones while out of the house, such as the gym, the data won't be counted as streaming numbers are measured separately from TV viewership ...

It was also noted by F4Wonline.com that the sports world has been waiting for a change like this as ratings decline each year, and now there's an idea that they will have a comeback year, or at least a year where the declines are not as bad. Previous tests have found that this method increases the number of younger viewers, which means the key younger demographics that have been hurt in recent years may see a comeback. Previous tests also found that this method skews more heavily towards female viewers. There's an idea, based on previous experiments, that out-of-home viewing will skew closer to a 50/50 split on male and female viewers.

As noted on Monday, it was reported, via Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, that WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon told Randy Orton to make Keith Lee a star in their match at WWE Payback on Sunday, which Lee won clean in under 7 minutes. You can click here for that report, which noted that McMahon wants to push Lee "to the moon" on the RAW brand.

In an update, it was noted by Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda that Lee is said to be "very well-liked" backstage, by WWE higher-ups and other Superstars.

Regarding Lee's planned push, word is that he is in line for a "big, but steady push" to the top of the red brand.

WWE recently changed Lee's theme song and look, after negative feedback to what he came to the main roster with after SummerSlam, and word now is that his appearance may be "tweaked" more as they move forward.

TV Guide in their new listings has AEW Dynamite No. 57 in a list of the 100 best television shows in the U.S. I can't recall a pro wrestling show ever making the list other than GLOW. No. 1 was Better Call Saul.

MJF"s lawyer, who faces Jon Moxley on Wednesday's show, Smart Mark Sterling, is an independent wrestler as well as the producer and co-host of Matt Cardona & Brian Myers' podcast. He trained with MJF at Myers' school in New York, which is also where Kris Statlander was trained.

Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling, which is run by former WWF and WCW star Paul Roma and longtime WWF enhancement talent Mario Mancini, received a cease and desist letter, dated 8/28, ordering them to shut down as their wrestling school as been deemed as being in violation with a local zoning law that lists "wrestling studios" under adult entertainment aka pornography.

The letter states the town was made aware that wrestling events were being held in the space on 8/27 and such events violate the city's rules on "adult oriented businesses and entertainment establishments." The school has been ordered to halt all wrestling activity immediately under threat of fines and potential criminal charges if they resume training or presenting events. The school has 30 days to appeal the decision and if they choose not to do so, that will be considered an admission that they are liable for violating the zoning law and could be subject to "an assessment or judgment" by East Haven. The letter does not state who brought the complaint against PAPW.

The irony here is that Parade Alley Pro Wrestling, as a promotion, bills itself as family friendly and has promoted a number of events over the last five years in the Nutmeg State to raise money for different charities.

Heel by Nature reports that WWE is having some trouble trademarking EVOLVE after buying the company earlier this summer on July 2.

The trademark was filed by former owner Salem Hamaoui back in November, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office initially refused the application due to an issue with the documentation.

The USPTO said at the time: “Registration is refused because the specimen does not show the applied-for mark in use in commerce in connection with any of the goods and/or services specified in the application.”

Hamaoui never responded so the trademark was subject to being abandoned. On August 4, WWE lawyer Lauren A. Dienes-Middlen filed a notice to revive the application and change ownership to WWE. The USPTO stated on August 25 that the application can’t move forward because of confusion with a trademark for “EF EVOLVED FIGHTS MIXED WRESTLING”.

WWE has six months to respond.

As previously reported, WWE confirmed a mutual parting of ways with NXT announcer Mauro Ranallo yesterday (Aug. 31) ... Dave Meltzer offered more commentary on Ranallo’s exit on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

As noted in yesterday’s report, Ranallo had recently missed some NXT shows because he’s in British Columbia, where his mother is currently hospitalized. According to Meltzer, while in British Columbia, Mauro Ranallo came to the realization that he would not be returning to WWE. Currently, Ranallo plans to continue doing his broadcast work with Bellator MMA and Showtime Boxing.

Meltzer added, “It was told me to me that he’s 50 years old, and it kind of brought into perspective that he’s here to be a mental health advocate, and doing wrestling every single week under that pressure is not what he’s here for.”

Meltzer continued that while Ranallo’s WWE exit “wasn’t a big blowup,” Ranallo felt that it was time to go while his mother is currently hospitalized.

Add former CZW Champion Joe Gacy to the list of former EVOLVE stars who have signed a NXT/developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. Gacy, 33, was a member of The Unwanted in EVOLVE, holding the EVOLVE Tag Team Championship.

Gacy debuted in 2006 and has worked all over the Northeastern independent scene as well as Germany's WXW promotion.

PWInsider.com is told Gacy is the final talent from EVOLVE expected to be signed at this time, following Josh Briggs, Anthony Greene, Brandi Lauren, Leon Ruff, Curt Stallion and referee Jake Clemons.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: New TV Series to Debut Late 2020, All Out Preview Show, Excalibur Update, Thunder Rosa (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-new-tv-series-to-debut-late-2020-all-out-preview-show-excalibur-update-thunder-rosa/)
Various: MLW Resuming TV Tapings This Fall, ROH Pure Title Tournament, NJPW Jr. Tag Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/various-mlw-resuming-tv-tapings-this-fall-roh-pure-title-tournament-njpw-jr-tag-tournament/)
Rey Mysterio Suffers Torn Triceps (Updated) (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/rey-mysterio-suffers-torn-triceps/)
Mauro Ranallo Leaving WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/mauro-ranallo-leaving-wwe/)
Wade Barrett Negotiating New Full-Time WWE Announcer Contract (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/wade-barrett-negotiating-new-full-time-wwe-announcer-contract/)
Brock Lesnar’s WWE Contract Expires, Currently a Free Agent (https://www.tpww.net/2020/08/brock-lesnars-wwe-contract-expires-currently-a-free-agent/)

screech

09-02-2020, 12:10 PM

That's interesting re: the wrestling school being shut down for being "adult entertainment."

I wonder if other states/counties/whatever have similar ordinances in place.

Emperor Smeat

09-02-2020, 07:02 PM

The Sheets:

Airing to an unfamiliar night -- but unopposed by AEW Dynamite for the third straight week -- NXT on USA Network was up three percent in overall viewership from last Wednesday's show, averaging 849,000 viewers.

It was the second highest audience for NXT this year, just trailing the episode two weeks ago that averaged 853,000 viewers ...

Perhaps more importantly, NXT did a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 demo and finished 10th overall on cable in that category, the highest the show has finished since the first couple of weeks on USA. That rating was up 8.3 percent from last week and is the highest for NXT since December 18 of last year.

In the individual demo categories, the ratings -- as compared to last week,were: women 18-49 -- 0.19 (up 11.8 percent), men 18-49 -- 0.33 (up 10 percent), people 18-34 -- 0.14 (even); females 12-34 -- 0.11 (up 120 percent); males 12-34 -- 0.18 (down 10 percent); people 25-54 -- 0.30 (up 7.1 percent), and people over 50 -- 0.40 (down 2.4 percent) ...

AEW Dynamite will air in its regular time slot tonight with NXT airing a repeat broadcast of last night's show on SyFy.

NXT will again air on Tuesday next week due to the NHL playoffs.

The experiment of placing NXT on a Tuesday night provided the show with its second-best viewership figure of 2020 and the highest rating in the 18-40 demographic since December ...

It’s NXT second-highest figure thus year trailing the August 19th show, which ran unopposed in its normal Wednesday night timeslot on the USA Network. This would be NXT’s fourth-highest viewership average since October 2nd, 2019.

After three weeks of running without AEW competition, NXT has averaged 842,000 viewers and a 0.25 demo rating. That compares to 696,000 viewers and a 0.18 rating for the three previous episodes that went head-to-head with AEW, so they have experienced a 21 percent increase in viewership and 38.8 percent jump in the demo rating.

The results would give one enough evidence to argue strongly that NXT is best served to air on a different night if the intention is to grow this product and put the show in the best position possible when their contract with the USA Network comes due. In that sense, this week’s number could be looked back on as a pivotal one if that decision is made.

Ring of Honor announced Wednesday they have launched a 24/7 digital linear network called ROH Best On The Planet.

The service is currently available on STIRR's channel 357, a free live streaming service owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group who also owns ROH. In the press release, ROH noted that additional distribution partners will be announced and are working with sports network Stadium to help make that happen.

The channel features non-stop ROH action including new and past episodes of ROH TV, archived pay-per-views and On Tour shows. STIRR is available on Roku TV, Fire TV, Apple TV and both iOS and Android devices.

After WWE purchased the company he co-founded, longtime wrestling promoter and booker Gabe Sapolsky released a statement Wednesday where he said he is retired from promoting and booking indie wrestling.

In July, Sapolsky and co-founder Sal Hamaoui sold the rights to EVOLVE and the content library for both that company, Full Impact Pro and Dragon Gate USA to WWE for an undisclosed sum after several months of discussions. Hamaoui is continuing with streaming service WWN which was not part of the deal.

Sapolsky has been a consultant for NXT since 2018 and is expected to remain in that position.

In her first appearance since her departure from WWE, the former Renee Young discussed her first week out of the company, her experience having COVID-19 this summer, and how the company's reaction to her announcing the news didn't go over well internally or with her personally.

Now going by Renee Paquette, she was a guest on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast and was asked by host Jimmy Traina about the rumors WWE weren't happy with her decision to go public. She said she likes to be transparent about things and there's no shame in having the virus, but wanted to be responsible and ensure those who were around here were aware.

"But yeah, it was not well received," she said.

She said that after her tweet announcing the news at night, she awoke the next day to several texts:

"They weren't even even like 'You shouldn't have posted it.' But it was like, 'We really wish you gave us a heads up that you were going to post it.' It was bad for PR and whatnot. But again, I wouldn't have even thought to be like, "Hey guys, I'm gonna tweet that I have COVID, ha, ha. Like, that was just not what I was thinking about when I posted about it."

Asked if WWE should have shut down early on in the pandemic, Paquette said she felt less concerned at SummerSlam given the testing they are doing now and that proper testing and protocols should have been implemented from the beginning. She also admitted she felt "a little slighted" as she "didn't really feel like anyone was all that concerned that I got sick. That bothered me for sure."

Paquette said she knew fairly quickly that she had the virus despite an initial negative test, feeling a gradual increase in symptoms and that her husband (Jon Moxley) didn't think she had it. To this day, she still feels some aftereffects from time to time despite being COVID free.

She said there wasn't a definitive moment when she decided to leave WWE but that when Backstage got canceled and she got her virus diagnosis on the same day, it forced her to take stock of her career and that she realized there wasn't a lot for her to do in WWE that represented career progress. She added she will still be working for Fox in relation to WWE but that they are currently trying to figure that situation out.

When it was time to announce her decision, she talked to Michael Cole as both her boss and friend. No one tried to talk her out of her decision once they knew her mind was made up and that doing a show like Talking Smack again or random backstage interviews felt like taking steps back at this point in her career.

She said she has not spoken to AEW about working there since leaving and joked about the assumption that everyone that leaves WWE is going there. Her goal is to be "Lady Rogan" and be in more control of her content. She said she has a non-compete for "quite a while" and intimated it's much longer than 90 days. She said she would open to talking and that it was tough in having to pretend that Moxley didn't exist as she wasn't allowed to tweet about him.

Colt Cabana is reviving his Art of Wrestling podcast.

The Rock responded to Jabroni being added as a word to Dictionary.com:

Wow - very cool!
Honored have a word actually make the dictionary.
Making my all my teachers very proud ????????
For the record, I may have made the word “Jabroni” (a noun, btw;) famous and part of ???? culture, BUT the Iron Sheik made it famous in our wild wrestling locker rooms!???? https://t.co/ivsCkeVMJA
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 1, 2020

WWE Network announced the following list of content coming to the streaming service this month:

Coming this month to WWE Network... ???? ?? pic.twitter.com/hKIpCg8psw
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) September 1, 2020

They also reveal that September will see a new addition never before added to the classic content library in Velocity, which ran from 2002 to 2004 featuring Smackdown talents before migrating with Raw's secondary show at the time, Heat over to WWE's website as a webcast before being retired in 2006.
Link: https://twitter.com/WWENetwork/status/1300795859244920832

Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics looked at data over the past five years regarding the viewership bump Raw would receive following a pay-per-view. His research shows that over that period it’s the episodes of Raw following WrestleMania (+16 percent), Royal Rumble (+12 percent), Money in the Bank (+10 percent), and SummerSlam (+9 percent) that saw the largest increases from the prior four episodes. In 2020, the overall pay-per-view bump on Raw has been 4 percent but when factoring out the four big shows listed above, it’s only an increase of 0.3 percent.
Link: https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1301174895129235457/photo/1

ICW No Holds Barred announced that Joe Gacy's last match before heading to WWE will be against Tony Deppen at No Holds Barred Vol. 6 on September 11. Gacy is one of several wrestlers reportedly signed by WWE recently.

Eric Young is atop the IMPACT Wrestling mountain yet again, after four years away from the World Title.

"I’m doing well. What’s the old saying? 'It’s good to be king,'" Young told Fightful in an exclusive interview just after winning the championship.
Wrestling Television Viewership Numbers: WWE Raw, SmackDown, NXT, AEW
Related Article Wrestling Television Viewership Numbers: WWE Raw, SmackDown, NXT, AEW

Eric Young went from not being used on WWE TV, to being released, to being a free agent during a pandemic, to returning to the IMPACT brand in one of the hottest stories the company has seen in recent years. That's not lost on him ...

We've heard of new champions, namely Deonna Purrazzo, who not only don't have contracts, but haven't had full-time offers. That isn't the case for Young. He's with IMPACT, and doing some side gigs as well.

"Yeah, I’m committed there. I signed a two year exclusive deal. So, exclusively wrestling with them. It will be all IMPACT! all the time for me. I mean, I have tons of other interests like TV, outside of that I’m crazy into fantasy sports. Just actually this morning signed a deal with SportsGrid, I’ll be doing a Sunday morning fantasy prep show for them that airs digitally online and all over the world. Like I said, I’m a very experiential person. I want to do everything. I’m running out of time in the day. One guy can only do so much. For me, IMPACT! is my home. It was my home away from home when I was gone. Now, I’m back. It’s just a very cool place to work, a very cool place to be involved. I said, for me, I just wanted to be involved. I just wanted to be doing something. The fact that I’m the World Champion, I’m the flag bearer, I’m the flagship of the show, it is a huge honor for me. Something I feel that I’ve earned and I deserve, but I will not rest on it, you know what I mean? I’ve never been a person that’s rested on it. I want to improve myself. I want to improve IMPACT! and in turn improving my life. Everything is circular that way. The task at hand is huge. We’ve got a long ways to go, but the opportunity is there. It’s limitless potential in this locker room and I can’t wait to get going and do some other amazing things."

All Elite Wrestling an the NWA will be holding a big interpromotional match at All Out this Saturday. NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa will be challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship. It is not every day that promotions work together like this and now we have more details about how the relationship came to be.

Fightful Select (subscription required) is reporting that the entire deal to bring Thunder Rosa in was constructed between Billy Corgan and AEW. Rosa was said to have wanted to be respectful towards NWA but doesn’t think anything is surprising in how the deal was made.

Rosa first appeared on the August 22 episode of Dynamite, challenging Shida for her title. Their match was quickly signed for All Out for September 5. Rosa will be making her in-ring debut tonight on AEW Dynamite.

Tenille Dashwood has made her return to the IMPACT Zone.

Dashwood crashed Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo’s Black Tie Event on IMPACT, making her first appearance for the company in nearly six months. Her last appearance was on the April 14 episode of IMPACT, which was taped in March, when she defeated Taya Valkyrie.

MJF's personality isn't for everyone and he's pissed off his fair share of fans throughout the years.

It's better to piss off fans than be pissed on by fans.

Speaking to the New York Post, the number one contender for AEW World Title, recalled a couple of fan horror stories he's experienced during his time in wrestling.

“At AEW, a fan tried to dress up I believe like a pilot and was trying to convince our security that they were supposed to fly me out on a private jet after the show,” MJF said. “I can assure you that that guy was most certainly not my pilot, so there was once a fan who literally tried to kidnap me. I’ve seen it all. When I was in Mexico, people threw a car battery at me and urine at me. That’s because I don’t tiptoe around. I don’t hide how I feel.”

MJF isn't afraid to insult anyone and everyone

Arn Anderson, who has been around wrestling for nearly four decades, has seen it all and has his own fan horror stories. Even he is surprised fans don't kill MJF on the spot.

“I just happened to be walking by a monitor when he started [a stage show at a Starrcast fanfest] and my God, I couldn’t believe the kid was getting away with the stuff that he was saying, that a herd of people didn’t bum rush the podium and cuff him and take him to jail,” Anderson said. “It was unbelievable how he was toeing the line.”

Taz went on to call MJF "a pain in the ass, but [AEW's] pain in the ass."

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Considering Idea of Moving NXT to a Different Weekly Night (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-considering-idea-of-moving-nxt-to-a-different-weekly-night/)
WWE: Renee Young on Her Departure, More on NXT Title Iron Man Match, EVOLVE Trademark Issues (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-renee-young-on-her-departure-more-on-nxt-title-iron-man-match-evolve-trademark-issues/)
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite Card + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/tonights-aew-dynamite-card-aew-rankings/)
Eric Young Wins Impact World Championship (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/eric-young-wins-impact-world-championship/)

Volare

09-02-2020, 11:54 PM

MJF = $$$$$

fundiddle

09-03-2020, 08:17 AM

That's interesting re: the wrestling school being shut down for being "adult entertainment."

I wonder if other states/counties/whatever have similar ordinances in place.
if anyone ever caught wind of them filming those creepy fetish videos like what tyler black/seth rollins was in, i would

Emperor Smeat

09-03-2020, 09:02 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Swaggie Time, now in Orange flavor:
https://i.imgur.com/f3J15WF.gif

With Wednesday all to itself in terms of live wrestling, last night's All Out go-home episode of AEW Dynamite averaged 928,000 viewers on TNT, matching February 5 for the show's fourth highest total of 2020.

That was up 14.1 percent from last week when the show aired on Thursday night.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.36 rating, up 24.1 percent from last week and matching the highest number in that category since January 15. The show was eighth for the night on cable in the demo ...

A replay of Tuesday's NXT aired on SyFy and finished 125th in the 18-49 demo with a 0.04 rating. It averaged 183,000 total viewers, so it likely had little impact on the AEW number.

The total combined audience for NXT and AEW this week was 1.777 million viewers. That's the highest since November of last year and the third highest ever, but it's also with the show airing on two separate nights as compared to head-to-head like they usually do.

In the individual demos, as compared to last Thursday, Dynamite did: women 18-49 -- 0.21 (up 10.5 percent), men 18-49 -- 0.51 (up 30.8 percent and fourth overall on cable), people 18-34 -- 0.23 (up 21.1 percent), females 12-34 -- 0.10 (down 28.6 percent), males 12-34 -- 0.28 (up 12 percent), people 25-54 -- 0.43 (up 30.3 percent), and people over 50 -- 0.35 (up 16.7 percent).

Next Wednesday, AEW gets the night to itself again for the post-All Out edition of Dynamite. NXT will air on Tuesday again next week due to the NHL playoffs.

During a stream on his Twitch channel Wednesday night, AJ Styles revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this year.

“I also tested positive a couple of weeks ago, probably almost a month. I think, ago," Styles said when asked about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson announcing that he and his family battled COVID-19. "I feel for people who have to deal with this, but I gotta say, I didn’t have many problems with it. So, hopefully The Rock and his family, hopefully everybody is safe and everybody is taken care of and nobody has too bad of symptoms and stuff like that. It sucks, it’s not good for anybody.”

Styles said he was one of the lucky ones and didn't have severe symptoms. He had a headache and "maybe a couple boogers" but never had a fever.

AEW president and booker Tony Khan did a one-hour long media call Thursday afternoon, hitting on a variety of topics from this Saturday's All Out to Brock Lesnar to booking philosophies and more.

Here's some of the highlights:

He was asked about free agent Brock Lesnar and said he couldn't comment while putting over how he's a great fighter and wrestler and that he doesn't get enough credit ...
He said the FTW Title will be defended and that he's working on a "pilot" on how to make it different than the World or TNT titles.
He said the reason Big Swole vs. Britt Baker is on the Buy In pre-show is that his philosophy is to put big names and stars in front of more viewers to help drive PPV buys. He confirmed the match will be cinematic in nature due to Baker still recovering from her injuries.
He talked about his relationship with NWA president Billy Corgan and how the connection between the two was initially helped by Chris Nowinski. At this point, no other NWA talents are scheduled to be part of AEW, but he thought having Thunder Rosa involved made sense for both sides. He said the Rosa-Serena Deeb match from Wednesday was a home run and talked about Deeb came into the picture.
He discussed how they keep surprises just that, saying a very small circle helps control things getting out there, adding "There's a lot more surprises ahead for you in the upcoming weeks."
Khan said he held back on the go-home show, focusing on more wrestling in the first half and more storyline in the second half ...
He said the Dynamite after All Out is going to be "really, really good" with some surprises.
Saturday's Matt Hardy-Sammy Guevara Broken Rules match is a last man standing-style affair with a loser leaves town stipulation for Hardy.

The cease and desist order filed against Paul Roma and Mario Manicini's Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling school in East Haven, CT on 8/28 has been officially rescinded with the school being given permission to resume training and events, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

PWInsider.com is told that Joseph Maturo Jr., the Mayor of East Haven stepped in upon learning of the situation and helped settle the issue.

The belief is that the original cease and desist may have come from, believe it or not, someone miunderstanding what professional wrestling was and we are told that the ordinance used to back the cease and desist will be adjusted so such a thing could not happen in the future.

The school had been informed that they were in violation with a local zoning law that lists "wrestling studios" under adult entertainment aka pornography. The verbiage of the local zoning law was designed to prohibit massage parlors that could double as places of prostitution or "studios" that could potentially house the filming of pornography in some form, which again, would not be what professional wrestling is, but the terminology "wrestling studios" was utilized in the ordinance as it was written and used to enact the cease and desist, despite PAPW having operated out of the same facility for years.
:lol: at the whole issue revolving around someone thinking wrestling was some sort of porn instead.

As PWInsider.com has previously reported, the next WWE NXT Takeover will be on Sunday 10/4.

Currently, there is no planned Takeover for the night before Survivor Series in November.

However, WWE has added another Takeover on Sunday 12/6.

The United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live PPV series, the first undertaking for a weekly pro wrestling series on PPV since the early days of NWA: TNA, debuts 9/15 on In Demand and FITE.TV. The series will be available for $7.00 per episode or a bundle of $23.99 for the month on FITE. The series will be priced $11.99 weekly on InDemand.

An NXT show at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia that was originally set for April has been moved to Thursday, December 17th. Tickets for the event at Center Stage are currently on-sale. POST Wrestling reached out to Center Stage for a comment about tickets being on-sale for the show.

Richard Deitsch welcomed Renee Paquette, also known as Renee Young onto his Sports Media podcast. Renee talked about contemplating leaving WWE several years before her recent departure and how the company would not grant her release because she was under a talent contract.

“When I had actually thought about leaving WWE several years ago and I was not granted my release at the time because I was under a talent contract but they wouldn’t let me out of that contract, and it turned out to be a good thing. I got to do a ton of stuff beyond that-that I wouldn’t have the career that I have today had I not been there for the past three years. But as I sort of accepted that I’m like, ‘Okay, I am gonna be here for longer. What are these other opportunities and these other things that I’m gonna get to do here?’ I’ve also accumulated this knowledge of wrestling that I’m not gonna be able to use anywhere else so, to just throw that away seems like a waste of the past almost decade, you know?”

There is a hearing scheduled on 11/12 in The Hilsborough County Court in Tampa, Florida in the case of Phillip A. Thomas, the man arrested inside WWE star Sonya Deville's home last month. The hearing is related to the temporary injunction filed against Thomas in order to prevent him from approaching or contacting Deville or her family.

Thomas remains incarcerated without bail in Tampa as Judge Catherine Caitlin ruled on 8/20 that he was a threat to the safety of the community after Deville testified about Thomas invading her home and the hundreds of threatening messages she discovered sent to her social media accounts after authorities provided her with Thomas' name post-arrest.

As previously reported, Thomas has been charged with Aggravated Stalking, Armed Burglary of a Dwelling, Attempted Armed Kidnapping, and Criminal Mischief. Thomas is being represented by a public defender and has involved his fifth amendment right to remain silent. The Tampa Bay Tribune is reporting that Thomas' attorney argued that bail should be set at $2 million and that he could be electronically monitored but the court shot that down given the nature of the situation.

9/3 would’ve been the 23rd birthday of Hana Kimura.

MJF chatted with Inside The Ropes to promote his AEW World Title match at All Out. MJF discussed some of the comparisons that he’s been a part of throughout his career and how the goal post is constantly moved for him regarding those comparisons.

“You know, it’s funny the comparisons were changing every week. When I first debuted, the comparisons were, ‘He’s another EC3’ and then I surpassed those comparisons so they kept moving the goal post. ‘Oh he’s just another Miz,’ they moved the goal post. ‘Ah, he’s great but he’s no Randy Orton.’ Uh, screw me man. That’s somebody I grew up watching and idolizing. ‘He’s great but he’s no Chris Jericho’ then I got in the ring with Chris Jericho and people went, ‘Oh man, oh snap. He’s not just holding his own here, he’s kinda taking the ball, running and scoring a touchdown’ and that’s what I love about pro wrestling is the fans constantly feel the need that they need to be satiated and they need to be proven right, but no one’s been proven right about me yet. The dialogue about me when I first came in was I was a guy that was just good at promos. Then, I got to have the Jungle Boy match and I got to kind of shove it down everybody’s throat that not only am I good at wrestling, I’m great at wrestling, but I’m a special attraction. I’m not gonna come on Dynamite and wrestle every single week. That’s not my job. Roddy Piper didn’t wrestle every single week. Roddy Piper, he grabbed you by the balls and when it was time for him to wrestle, it was either a pay-per-view or it was a big money match on TV. That’s what MJF is all about. So for me, that was one of the rare instances I got to go out there and show the world how great I am as a pro wrestler. So, the comparisons to Chris Jericho, do I like them? Yeah, I love every comparison I get because they’re comparing me to great talents, but I do find it interesting that the goal post keeps getting moved more and more. I won’t be shocked by the time it goes, ‘MJF is great but he’s not as good as God’ and when that happens, we’ll have jumped the shark and we’re getting pretty close to those comparisons.”

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated spoke with NWA World Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa. During their conversation, Rosa said she has seen the criticisms of AEW’s women’s division and in her match against Hikaru Shida at All Out, both of them are going to show what a championship match looks like.

“I’m the NWA women’s champion, and I get to walk into an AEW pay-per-view for a match against Hikaru Shida—to me, that is an honor. I know people have been very hesitant about what they’ve seen in the last couple of weeks in the AEW women’s division. I’ve read the criticism, but we are going to show what a championship match should look like. I’ve been visualizing my entrance, my moves, my MMA technique, and I wish I was getting in the ring with her right now.”

AJ Styles can be a professional next to Paul Heyman.

It's no secret that there is some bad blood between Styles and Heyman following Heyman being accused of lying by Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson. According to the OC members, Heyman was the one who planted the idea in Vince McMahon's head to fire Gallows and Anderson in April after previously telling them they were safe.

Styles admitted he wanted to be off Raw and away from Heyman following the incident.

Styles got his wish as he was moved to SmackDown, but Heyman now joins him on the blue brand as the advocate for Roman Reigns.

"It is what it is," said Styles on his Twitch stream when asked about Heyman coming to SmackDown. "I could care less. It's water under the bridge. Not saying that I have forgotten what he's done, but I'm not gonna be that guy who holds a grudge, I'm not like that. Okay dude, you know you pissed me off, you know how I feel, I may not ever trust you again, can I get along with him professionally? Absolutely. Doesn't mean I'm gonna be mean to him or say anything, it's over. My buddies are doing fine."

Heyman was fired from his position as executive director of Raw shortly after Styles was moved to SmackDown. Both men are now on SmackDown, but Styles appears willing to work in a professional manner.

Kevin Nash is another wrestler who tested positive for COVID.

Following The Rock announcing he and his family tested positive for COVID, Nash took to social media to welcome Rock to the team, revealing he and his family had also tested positive for the virus. It is unknown exactly when Nash got the virus. Nash said he was tired due to the virus while his wife still hasn't regained her smell or taste. His son was asymptomatic.

Wade Barrett is officially set for his third straight week of NXT commentary.

On Twitter today, Barrett confirmed that he'll again be part of the commentary team for next Tuesday's episode of NXT: "There’s no way I’m missing this one. This is fast becoming a habit.. see you next week for another #NXTSuperTuesday! #WWENXT"

PWInsider reported earlier this week that Barrett was in negotiations with WWE to return to the promotion full-time as a commentator. He's called the past two NXT episodes with Vic Joseph and Beth Phoenix.

TPWW Frontpage:

NXT UK Taping New Episodes Today, Nigel McGuinness Returning on Commentary (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/nxt-uk-taping-new-episodes-today-nigel-mcguinness-returning-on-commentary/)
The Rock Says He and His Family Had COVID-19 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/the-rock-says-he-and-his-family-had-covid-19/)
MLW’s Resumption of Tapings & Events Update (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/mlws-resumption-of-tapings-events-update/)

Emperor Smeat

09-04-2020, 05:32 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter edition)

The WWE's ability to license and merchandise Brock Lesnar ended this past week, which comes months after the end of the actual contract.

Lesnar had been a free agent since WrestleMania but that news never broke and at the time considered largely a formality given it made no sense for WWE to use him during the pandemic and the belief was that he was out of everyone else's price range. The belief was that, at 43, he was not going to do UFC once he pulled himself again out of the USADA testing pool and that AEW would not be able to afford to make a comparable offer to what WWE could in his case, and he's purely a money guy ...

For AEW it would be a statement move, but ultimately in this environment such a move, given the price tag we are talking about and the schedule he's looking at doing, it wouldn't appear to make any economic sense. Plus a key part of his WWE act, Paul Heyman, is still under contract to WWE ...

The contract gives the WWE rights to continue to sell merchandise for a length of time, in this case around five months, after the deal expires. That period is what just expired this past week.

One person in the company noted that it makes no sense to sign Lesnar to a new deal at the moment, as it would only be to keep him from AEW. The belief is Lesnar could, and probably would try to use AEW as leverage, but that at the end of the day, the belief is Lesnar's value to AEW would be nowhere near his price tag and a deal with Lesnar makes no sense for a company basically trying to just break even during the pandemic. It was said that for Lesnar, like for Tyson Fury (who issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre this past week for a match), that it's at this point Saudi Arabia and WrestleMania as the only shows that make sense right now and the belief right now is Saudi Arabia won't happen this year. Lesnar’s name had been talked about in WWE in reference to a Drew McIntyre rematch for this coming WrestleMania, but that was if McIntyre was to retain the title, which has also been considered to go to Randy Orton, who in theory would be earmarked for Edge and not Lesnar. But nothing in that direction is close to being decided.

Lesnar and WWE was described as the exact same thing that UFC is doing with Conor McGregor, in the sense that his pay is so high for a show that it doesn't make sense to use him until you have a big money event.

His contract expiring isn't a new thing but in the past he's always signed a new deal before the time frame where the WWE's ability to merchandise him ends. When that time frame ended, they had to remove all merchandise from the web site.

Mike Johnson at PW Insider reported that there were talks for a new deal, which would have allowed them to continue selling his merchandise, that had an impasse.

Lesnar usually has his deal expire by design, and teases going to UFC, which would give him a big offer. It is believed Lesnar received $8 million for his UFC 200 fight with Mark Hunt and would have been able to get a similar if not larger deal for a fight with Daniel Cormier, which he shot an angle for before UFC had the deal in place. This gave him a ton of leverage in his last set of negotiations. Lesnar also always tries to sign short-term contracts, which has worked in his favor, but would work against him if Vince McMahon decides they’ve gotten what they need out of him, such as the quick loss to McIntyre to try and establish a new top guy, and that his huge paycheck and working few dates no longer made sense.

It is always possible AEW could make him an offer, which no doubt would be what he would be counting on.

Lesnar now is actually more valuable to one party than for anyone else, including WWE, which is ESPN ...

The reality is that if Lesnar had any interest in UFC, and he knows he can make more money for one fight there than he can earn in a year or perhaps multiple years in WWE, and at his age, the idea that he’s never even talked to White, if true because White is often not honest, would seem to indicate zero interest in fighting.

Another key is that Lesnar is not a big spender and doesn’t need money. He likely has enough to not just live the rest of his life, but also to insure a great life for his children after he’s gone.

Roman Reigns turned heel and joined up with Paul Heyman, and then won the Universal title in the main event of the 8/30 Payback PPV ...

It’s not known whether it was Reigns or McMahon who made the call to put Heyman with Reigns, but Reigns did ask to be turned heel on his return after being out of action since March due to concerns over COVID-19.

Reigns probably should have been turned years ago but the company was adamant that he was the only person who could follow John Cena as the top full-time face of the company. The feeling is that you need a guy who has great looks, a muscular body, be at least 6-feet tall, preferably an inch or two taller, and has charisma. A lot of WWE fans rejected that, and really, as shown with New Japan and Tetsuya Naito, had they turned him heel, the fans on their own would have eventually turned him babyface, and he’d be stronger because of that and no longer face the adversarial relationship since the fans believed they had chosen him as opposed to him being forced on them. Essentially this is the same thing, only years later, and Reigns is now 35 instead of 30.

As far as Heyman, he has a top tier contract and without Brock Lesnar, they could either pay him a high figure to be a booking consultant after removing him from the guy working under Vince McMahon in charge of Raw, or try and make use of him as talent, so it fell together ...

Reigns will next defend the title likely on the 9/27 Clash of the Champions show against the winner of a four-way on the 9/4 Smackdown show with Big E, Matt Riddle, Sheamus and King Corbin. The idea seems to be to save Fiend, his WrestleMania opponent in the original planning that Vince changed, to a later PPV. Sheamus being in is kind of weird since he’s lost to Big E and Jeff Hardy, who isn’t in, but in WWE the secondary title holders almost never challenge for the main title, which really makes no sense. Corbin also lost on the PPV.

The PPV main event looks to be Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title. Orton also lost on this show to Keith Lee, clean, fast and deceive, to a spirit bomb. Orton had been talked about to face Edge at WrestleMania for the title, so if Orton wins, Lee is set up perfectly as a challenger, although Lee taking the RKO in the three-way where Orton beat Lee and Seth Rollins to get the shot should have never happened if the plan is for a big Orton vs. Lee program.

The Cartoon Network Latin America announced an animated cartoon series called Rey Mysterio. The character of Mysterio will be in a cartoon where a fan of Mysterio has found out secret information where the forces of evil are threatening the world, he calls on Mysterio and the two of them work together to save the world. The release never mentions WWE so this may be an outside project that he was able to work on his own. We’ll have more details on this next week

Levesque talked about the relaunch of NXT U.K., which starts back 9/17 with new shows on the WWE Network. They taped last week at the BT Studios and Levesque said that would be the permanent site. I guess the decision is that taping at arenas with larger crowds isn't cost-effective. "That is the intent and the hope. BT has been, I can't say it enough, an amazing partner," Levesque said in an interview with Metro U.K. "When you look at that studio, it's perfect for what we do, but they are perfect for what we do. They have been a leader in changing the game in sport across all of Europe and, really, globally. They have once of the most technologically advanced studios in the world. It's an amazing facility. The intent is for us to be able to in there long term to be able to create this content, and I think if later down the line, we get to a place where fans can come in, obviously we'd be thrilled and excited." Levesque was also asked out the allegations of sexual misconduct in U.K. pro wrestling. "Part of this is why we started (the company) in the first place, to professionalize and put that system into place where everyone can feel safe and protected, and have a working environment that is inclusive of everyone and the opportunity to do what we do. We take every allegation very seriously, and you can refer back to our policy. It's zero tolerance for things of this manner. We look into everything. We look into it, we go from there to see what is legitimate, what is not, what is real, what isn't, and deal with it accordingly. While a lot of these things happened years ago, we take them very seriously. We also have an open policy with everybody. No one should ever feel like, `I didn't wanna say anything.' That's the exact opposite of what we want. We're trying to make this the safe, inclusive environment for everybody that it should be." A real question coming out of this regards talent that several of the major local promotions have stopped using based on allegations that WWE still has under contract, Jordan Devlin being the biggest name that comes to mind. If the allegations are true and serious, than he should be gone, but if WWE has truly investigated and found the claims to not be valid, then shouldn't the other companies use him? I don't know the answer of what is and isn't true in his case, just that he was working for companies as a top guy what are affiliated with WWE and this is a major contradiction. If nothing else, WWE should share what they've investigated if they have, and the other companies should share with WWE why they won't use him. There are two basic issues here. Either there is something to why other companies dropped using him but WWE feels they are untouchable and he's a good worker and all that, or he was unfairly accused and the other companies are afraid to use someone not guilty for fear of a public backlash. There's in the middle as well but if WWE investigated in situations like this the public and certainly other companies they work with have the right to know. Some people won't believe anything WWE says but that doesn't mean they shouldn't say it. And if what WWE says doesn't actually hold up, and that happens as well, WWE should want to know that if they really do care about the various situations. It's a really ugly, sometimes confusing and often contradictory situation

Ric Flair on WrestlingInc.com said that his daughter may be out of action for a year. She had issues with her implants and needed to get them taken care of. She had worse issues a few years back, and got it taken care of to a degree but with a procedure that allowed her to return relatively quickly.

When Tetsuya Naito was growing up, his favorite baseball team was the Yakult Swallows, and during the season he would go to about one home game a week at their home Meiji Jingu Stadium.

When he was 17, he was sitting in the left field bleachers when New Japan booked a show at the stadium headlined by the Great Muta vs. the Great Nita (Atsushi Onita).

21 years later he was on the field as the main star of the show as he became the 11th person to win the IWGP championship at least three times with a win over Evil in the main event of Summer Struggle in Jingu Stadium on 8/29.

Naito joins Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Keiji Muto, Shinya Hashimoto, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kensuke Sasaki, Kazuyuki Fujita, Shinsuke Nakamura, Riki Choshu and Hiroyoshi Tenzan ...

Naito also regained the IC title, his record setting sixth reign (he and Nakamura previously were tied with five) of a belt that dates back to 2011 and that he first won on September 25, 2016, in Kobe, from Michael Elgin.

G-1 kicks off on 9/19 and they have not announced participants at this point. For foreigners to be able to be brought in, they'd have to arrive by 9/5 and quarantine in a hotel room for two weeks.

With the exception of the 9/3 show in Saitama and 9/8 in Mito, all the rest of the shows will air live on New Japan World. The jr. tag title tour will have only Japanese commentary live. It's not clear what will be done regarding English commentary for G-1, but the belief is that the bigger shows will have live English commentary like the stadium show did.

Tony Khan said that while he and Billy Corgan negotiated the deal and he approved it, the idea of bringing in Thunder Rosa to face Hikaru Shida came from Kenny Omega

He also said that the second AEW show on TNT would debut over the next year. It was delayed by COVID. We had heard as of a few weeks ago that while there was no date, it was targeted for before the end of 2020 but in TV things can change ...

He also noted in regard to this past week’s show that his philosophy on PPV go-home shows is different from a regular show, and laid it out with the idea of good matches early and lots of promos late, which is not the usual way he puts shows together

Tony Khan invited a number of guests to attend the 9/2 tapings who were fans who had been laid off in the Orlando/DeLand area as well as those who had been affected by the recent tornado. When he found out about a group of Orlando area NXT fans helping the clean up efforts from the tornado and a family that were fans who had been affected by the tornado, he invited them all to come to the show this week

Regarding Matt & Jeff Hardy and them splitting up, they likely would have stayed together in the same company, or at least there was a good chance of it, but the contract situation played a part. Both signed on the same day, but Jeff had shoulder and knee surgery and other issues and WWE decreed that he owed them 20 more months and tacked that on. So he couldn't leave. If Matt didn't leave when he did, he likely would have been asked to sign for five years and while he did entertain the thought of staying, he opted for more creative control. Matt did an interview with Chris Van Vliet where he felt the Broken character would have gotten over better with live crowds. I believe that's the case as well, because fans would have done the big chants and stuff for him and that would make it appear to be a hot character, and with no fans, you are missing that. He sensed that and toned that down, but gave the impression when fans are back that he'd give the broken character another strong shot. The fact he's doing a broken match on the PPV and doing multiple characters on TV makes it clear the character isn't being dropped

Pentagon Jr. is now Penta Cero M. That's the name he owns merchandising rights to. AEW was allowed to call him Pentagon Jr. because they work with AAA, which owns the Pentagon Jr. name. It was AEW that pushed for it because for a variety of potential projects AEW wanted to push them with a name they could market them as, and Rey Fenix owns that name but not just Fenix, which AAA owns, but he's been Rey Fenix in AEW from the start. Basically once they started merchandising them they didn't want to use an AAA-owned name and at some point they were going to switch it to a name he owns and it was just a question of when. It also coincides with the Masked Republic deal getting Penta Cero Miedo merchandise into Hot Topic

Melissa Cervantes (Thunder Rosa) noted that she was invited to a WWE tryout last September, but she was training for her Combate Americas MMA debut and passed on it. The key is that they were not interested in her as a wrestler, but told her they were interested in her as a referee

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week were: 1. Payback; 2. Day of SummerSlam 2015; 3. Payback kickoff show; 4. SummerSlam; 5. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions: Undertaker; 6. WWE Timeline: Rock & Nation of Domination; 7. WWE Chronicle: Braun Strowman; 8. Raw Talk for 8/31; 9. Broken Skull Sessions with Goldberg; 10. The Bump for 8/30. NXT was 18th for the week. Of all the indie stuff that was introduced last week, only an ICW show at No. 23 remained in the top 25
The indies stuff charting poorly is a bit surprising considering that originally was meant to be the basis for a new expensive Network sub tier. WWE probably would be looking at some abysmal new sub numbers for that new tier had they gone through with their plans.

WWE, NXT, & AEW ratings:

Raw on 9/1, for the second Thunderdome show, averaged 1,896,000 viewers and 0.58 in 18-49, on a night with very serious sports competition.

It did come the day after the Payback show and had an usually strong first hour, but faded with a 19.1 percent first-to-third hour drop, which is among the larger numbers of all-time.

It’s not exactly fair to judge the ratings drop yet if the key was the Performance Center location or the booking, although it obviously is a combination of both. The question is how much. If we go with the pre-pandemic average and the last show before moving into Thunderdome, it looks like of the 28 percent drop in viewers, about 17 percent is related to the product itself and 11 percent to the location. But that’s just based on second week numbers that are both hurt by strong competition and helped by the PPV the night before. Next week would be a much better gauge. Similarly, the 18-49 drop of 35.1 percent during the pandemic looks to be in that age group, 22 percent product and 13 percent location.

As compared to week one in Thunderdome, which was also the day after SummerSlam, the show was down 6.5 percent in viewers, 13.4 percent in 18-49 but in good news, it stayed even in 18-34, so the drops were largely in the 35-49 age group, the same age group that was up huge last week ...

As compared to the same week last year, the show was down 24.4 percent in viewers, 30.1 percent in 18-49 and 40.0 percent in 18-34.

The big third hour drop says that whatever it was in hour three being pushed the hardest, whether it was the three-way match after already seeing all three wrestling earlier, or the Raw Underground, it didn’t resonate at usual levels. The drops were 17.8 percent with women 18-49, 14.6 percent with men 18-49, a 21.8 percent increase with teenage girls and a 27.2 percent decrease with teenage boys and a 20.2 percent drop over 50.

The first hour did 2,104,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,882,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,703,000 viewers.

Smackdown on 8/28 did a 1.34 rating, 2,144,000 viewers and 0.57 (738,000 viewers) in 18-49, not only winning the night in the key demo but actually beating three other shows overall instead of what has been its usual last place among big four network shows ...

The number was expected to be good largely as the return of Roman Reigns with a show long angle before you saw him. It was down 2.9 percent in households, 2.5 percent in viewers and 2.0 percent in 18-49 from last week. But last week was the first Thunderdome show and far higher than the show has done in months, so staying even is a good sign.

Smackdown was down 25.0 percent in 18-34 but still beat everything on television in that demo, 18-34, 25-54, tied with many shows for first in women 18-49 and won male 18-49 by a significant margin.

In the segments, the first half hour did 2.24 million viewers with Vince McMahon & Adam Pearce, Jeff Hardy & A.J. Styles and Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IC title. The second half hour did 2.09 million viewers for The Firefly Fun House, Matt Riddle vs. Shorty G and more stuff with King Corbin. The third half hour did 2.16 million viewers with Bayley & Sasha Banks, Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler, Braun Strowman vs. Drew Gulak and Kalisto vs. Cesaro. The final quarter did 2.06 million viewers for Big E & Heavy Machinery vs. Miz & Morrison & Sheamus, all the promo around it, and the attempting to sign Roman Reigns segments.

FOX last year on the same Friday only did half of the audience with rerun programming, doing 1,043,000 viewers and 0.3 in 18-49, up 105.6 percent in viewers and 100.0 percent in 18-49.

NXT on 8/26 unopposed did 305,000 viewers in 18-49, down 1.6 percent from the prior week. It broke down as 63,000 in men 18-34 (up 67.8 percent from the prior week), 22,000 in women 18-34 (same as the prior week), 130,000 in men 35-49 (down 22.6 percent) and 90,000 in women 35-49 (up 9.8 percent).

So that week, unlike the first week, with no NBA competition, the male 18-34 audience of NBA and AEW did watch NXT in larger numbers, unlike the prior week with no AEW but NBA ...

For NXT on 8/26, in 18-49, the high point was the William Regal interview and beginning of Santos Escobar vs. Isaiah Scott. The low point was the second half of Breezango vs. Imperium. In 18-34, the high point was Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jake Atlas and low point was Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai.

It opened at 866,000 viewers and 311,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross' speech vacating the title and the beginning of Breezango vs. Imperium. The rest of the tag title match fell to 779,000 viewers and 287,000 in 18-49. Ciampa vs. Atlas grew to 819,000 viewers and 299,000 in 18-49, which also included the post-match and a Candice LeRae interview. The fourth quarter with Bronson Reed and Austin Theory, plus Mia Yim vs. Shotzi Blackheart did 820,000 viewers and 302,000 in 18-49 The fifth quarter, with the Regal interview and the beginning of Escobar vs. Scott grew to 853,000 viewers and 323,000 in 18-49. The rest of Escobar vs Scott and a Johnny Gargano interview fell to 804,000 viewers and 301,000 in 18-49. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Drake Maverick and a post-match plus interviews with Rhea Ripley and Adam Cole did 823,000 viewers and 308,000 in 18-49. And the Shirai & Ripley vs. Gonzalez & Kai main event did 832,000 viewers and 311,000 in 18-49.

NXT on 9/2, featuring the four-way Iron Man match with Finn Balor vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Adam Cole, did 849,000 viewers and 0.26 in 18-49 (336,000 viewers). It was the second highest viewership of the year (the highest numbers, shockingly, have all come in unopposed weeks) and the highest 18-49 number of the year.

Because of the number, it has led to a lot of talk about NXT perhaps going unopposed by moving from Wednesday to either Tuesday or Thursday, more likely the former. There was an internal discussion a few months ago weighing the pros and cons of asking USA to move. WWE at the time realized the NXT audience would be larger and there wouldn’t be the perception that they were losing to AEW if they weren’t head-to-head. Vince McMahon decided against it at the time because he didn’t want to give the impressions that they had backed down in the fight publicly, and privately, there was the issue of whether AEW going unopposed would do numbers in certain younger demos that would come close to Raw & Smackdown. The discussion was before the period AEW started winning a few weeks in women 18-34 and the week AEW won 18-34 overall even with opposition.

The numbers were in line with what the show did unopposed the past two Wednesdays, but the 18-49 number was higher. The key is the main event, as the show was the biggest the brand had since the Cole vs. Keith Lee show, but unlike that show, this was unopposed.

In the different demos, it did 48,000 in males 18-34 (down 23.8 percent from last week), 48,000 in women 18-34 (up 118.2 percent from last week), 166,000 in males 35-49 (up 27.7 percent) and 74,000 in women 35-49 (down 17.8 percent).

In the quarters, NXT opened at 831,000 viewers and 334,000 in 18-49 for the Legado del Fantasma vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Isaiah Scott street fight. The second quarter did 836,000 viewers and 331,000 in 18-49 for the end of the street fight and Candice LeRae vs. Kacy Catanzaro. The third quarter did 855,000 viewers and 343,000 in 18-49 for Bronson Reed vs. Timothy Thatcher. The fourth quarter was the ring intros for Finn Balor, Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, which did 804,000 viewers and 313,000 in 18-49. The first 15:00 of the Iron Man match did 869,000 viewers and 344,000 in 18-49. The next 15:00 did 864,000 and 347,000 in 18-49. The 30-45 minute mark did 839,000 and 332,000 in 18-49. And the final 15 minutes did 895,000 and 349,000 in 18-49.

Interestingly in 35-49, the show peaked with 251,000 viewers for the final 15 minutes of the Iron man and 98,000 in 18-34. The 18-34 peak of 103,000 was minutes 30-45.

NXT was No. 10 for the night in 18-49 on cable, trailing only an NBA playoff game, two NHL playoff games, five news shows and Teen Mom II on MTV.

The show was No. 7 in Males 18-49, behind only the NHL, NBA and three news shows on Fox News, No. 11 in 18-34 (a demo the show usually doesn’t do well in so that’s the main event) and No. 7 in Males 12-34, again a demo the show usually doesn’t place highly with ...

It was up 3.0 percent overall and 8.3 percent in 18-49, and would have been even higher if it was unopposed on the normal day.

AEW on 8/27 airing on Thursday unopposed but going against the Republican convention that did its biggest numbers of the week, did 813,000 viewers and a 0.29 (376,000 viewers) in 18-49 ...

As compared to Saturday, where the show was out of prime time, not against the convention, but against the NBA but also had the benefit of a stronger than usual lead-in, it was up 7.7 percent in viewers and down 7.6 percent in 18-49 ...

Really because of the variables, the comparisons don't mean a lot. However, the show did 77,000 in male 18-34 (down 19.8 percent which is the lack of NBA lead-in), 58,000 in women 18-34 (up 5.5 percent), 172,000 in male 35-49 (down 7.5 percent, probably due to lack of NBA lead-in) and 69,000 in women 35-49 (down 1.4 percent).

While they were on different days, NXT did beat AEW in women 35-49 by 90,000 to 69,000 but Wednesday is the familiar day. AEW greatly more than doubled even on an off night in both men and women 18-34 and outdid NXT 172,000 to 130,000 in men 35-49.

It opened at 759,000 viewers and 332,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks vs. Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall and the beginning of Young Bucks vs. Best Friends. It grew huge, to 853,000 viewers and 373,000 in 18-49 for the bulk of Young Bucks vs. Best Friends and Best Friends vs. FTR. Viewers fell to 806,000 and 18-49 grew to 385,000 for a Darby Allin skit, Lance Archer vs. Sean Maluta and the beginning of an Archer & Jake Roberts promo. Next was big growth to 869,000 viewers and 410,000 in 18-49, both show peaks for the Archer, Roberts, Taz, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks confrontation and most of the MJF/Jon Moxley contract signing. The end of the Moxley/MJF contract signing, a Santana & Ortiz interview and beginning of Pentagon & Rey Fenix & Butcher & Blade vs. Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr. & Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss match did 841,000 viewers and 404,000 in 18-49. Most of the eight-man tag and beginning of the Dark Order segment fell to 781,000 viewers and 375,000 in 18-49. The end of the Dark Order segment plus Big Swole vs. Rebel & Penelope Ford did 796,000 viewers and 370,000 in 18-49. Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara in a tables match did 796,000 viewers and 361,000 in 18-49.

In 18-34, the peak was the Moxley/MJF contract signing and the low point was Hardy vs. Guevara.

AEW did a 0.20 in 12-17 (up 17.6 percent and its best mark in months), 0.19 in 18-34 (down 10.6 percent), 0.39 in 35-49 (down 5.9 percent) and 0.30 in 50+ (up 20.0 percent). The audience was 67.2 percent male in 18-49 and 61.0 percent male in 12-17.

While the number itself, by going largely unopposed, doesn’t really say a lot due to a number of variables, there are different things to learn from the AEW show on 9/3, which did 928,000 viewers and 0.36 in 18-49 (469,000 viewers).

On the surface, the number would indicate an unopposed show doing 1 million or more viewers a week and probably in the 0.4 range in 18-49. This week’s show was coming back to the time slot after two weeks off, and while men did well, women, which had been AEW’s most impressive audience before being bounced around, did not. That audience also didn’t move with AEW as much to the new nights.

The show did have NXT competition, although minimal, as the replay of the show the night before did 183,000 viewers and 0.04 in 18-49. But the key factors which likely kept it well under 1 million and 0.4 were a less than marquee show with no big matches announced and really one of the weaker shows of the year, bigger NBA ratings than have gone against wrestling so far, and the two weeks off hurting the women’s audience ...

Based on everything, on a non-NBA night for a regular marquee show IF women come back and if the show is regularly in its time slot as opposed to being bounced around, AEW looks to be able to do a steady 0.41 in 18-49 if we go with the idea it would do an 0.30 regularly with competition (a little lower than it’s been averaging on Wednesday in recent weeks) and if we go with a normal 750,000 on a Wednesday opposed, and women come back at their 8/12 levels, we’re looking at a 1,095,000 range in total viewers most weeks and 1,214,000 and 0.48 for a blow away night (a show that would have done 900,000 and 0.36 under the current competitive umbrella).

So regarding a decision by USA/WWE to move NXT, those are the key numbers on the other side to consider. In 18-49, which is the only figure that really matters, AEW unopposed will not beat Raw or Smackdown right now ...

As far a the future goes, that’s the key. That’s harder to predict. WWE has a multi-hear history of major declines in the key demo. If we say Raw and Smackdown are at 0.55 right now (Raw did 0.58, Smackdown did 0.57 this past week but it’s still early in the Thunderdome phase) and WWE declines over the course of the next year by 25.5 percent and AEW stays steady, they would be in a flat-footed tie with Raw and Smackdown next year at this time. That doesn’t mean WWE can’t reverse the trend, as they can. That doesn’t mean AEW can stay even, since TV in general is falling. WWE’s y-o-y decline in 18-49 has been closer to 40 percent most weeks of late, this past week was a good week and was still at 30 percent. Some (but the minority, not the majority) is the pandemic and running the PC as we’ve seen. If NXT stays in that spot, WWE has to decline about 43.6 percent y-o-y and AEW stays even to catch up, and that is very unlikely to happen in one year. So that’s the key factor here.

Overall, AEW was No.8 for the night in 18-49, trailing three NBA related telecasts on ESPN, three FOX News shows and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It tied AEW’s best 18-49 number of 2020 ...

In the different demos, AEW did 122,000 in males 18-34 (up 58.4 percent from last week), 41,000 in women 18-34 (down 29.3 percent), 208,000 in males 35-49 (up 15.1 percent) and 98,000 in women 35-49 (up 42.0 percent).

The show opened with 883,000 viewers and 445,000 in 18-49 for Santana & Ortiz vs. Best Friends. The second quarter did 832,000 viewers and 430,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Young Bucks & Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy vs. Private Party & Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. The third quarter, with the finish of that match and Kenny Omega interview did 860,000 viewers and 434,000 in 18-49. The fourth quarter, with the Omega interview plus FTR, Tully Blanchard and Adam Page, Chris Jericho interview and Jericho vs. Joey Janela did 899,000 viewers and 445,000 in 18-49. The Jericho-Janela post-match angle with Jake Hager and Orange Cassidy and Sonny Kiss, a video piece of Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara and the verbal stuff with Taz, Jake Roberts and Eddie Kingston did 1,008,000 viewers and 508,000 in 18-49. The brawl with half the world in the ring, Brodie Lee and Dustin Rhodes interview and most of Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa did 972,000 viewers and 482,000 in 18-49. The ending of Deeb vs. Rosa Jon Moxley promo and the Big Swole, Reba and Britt Baker angle did 974,000 viewers and 501,000 in 18-49. And Jon Moxley vs. Mark Sterling and the post-match with MJF and Wardlow did 999,000 viewers and 505,000 in 18-49.

In 18-34, the peak was the Deeb vs. Rosa, Moxley promo and Baker angle at 190,000 viewers. In 35-49, the peak was the Jericho-Cassidy angle, Hardy & Guevara video and Taz & Jake & Kingston promo at 343,000.

As compared to last week when it was unopposed by another wrestling show completely but on a Thursday and with a better show and lower rated sports competition, AEW did a 0.15 in 12-17 (down 25.0 percent due to the female drop), 0.23 in 18-34 (up 20.7 percent), 0.49 in 35-49 (up 27.0 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (up 16.7 percent).

Emperor Smeat

09-08-2020, 06:57 PM

The Sheets sponsored by that one time in wrestling history when a ladder won a championship belt:
https://i.imgur.com/XUtqZVp.gif

Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole to crown a new WWE NXT Champion will kick off tonight's edition of WWE NXT on the USA Network. WWE taped tonight's NXT earlier today and is also taping next week's episode today as well. NXT returns to its regular Wednesday night timeslot next week.

As it turns out, based on schedule changes, there is no NHL game on USA this Wednesday. Like last week, NXT will still be airing on Tuesday and there will be a replay on Wednesday. Right now the replay is scheduled by SYFY and not USA.

Former WWF Intercontinental Champion Marty Jannetty is now claiming that his confession a few weeks back that he allegedly murdered someone when he was 13 years old, hitting them with a brick as they attempted to sexually assault him, was part of a "wrestling storyline", according to TMZ.com.

Jannetty claimed that the plan was to build to a match with a "former corrections officer" with the idea that should Jannetty lose, he would be arrested. Jannetty, 60, has not wrestled since 2018. He did not name who the "officer" would be or what promotion this had been allegedly planned for.

Back in August, Jannetty appeared on Boston Wrestling's YouTube channel to discuss his apparent murder confession. You can find the complete show at this link. During that 20 minute discussion, Jannetty stated that when he was 13, a front desk clerk at Victory Lanes, a bowling alley in Columbus, Georgia attempted to rape him. Jannetty, who was working at the bowling alley at the time, stated that he knew the person was known for selling weed (which is why Jannetty went to see him) but didn't know the same person "lured" children ...

If Jannett's claim of the incident happening when he was 13 was indeed true, the alleged murder would have taken place in 1973. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations' website does not currently list any unsolved murders prior to 1980.

Jannety claimed that once he was red-flagged getting on a flight and the police got involved, investigating, he knew he had to drop the storyline. The Columbus Police Department are still investigating Jannetty's claims.

Tessa Blanchard will make her first appearance in the independent scene since being released by Impact Wrestling.

She will headline the first Warrior Wrestling Stadium Series event on September 12. She will defend the Warrior Wrestling Women’s championship against current Impact star Kylie Rae.

Undertaker - The Last Ride will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on 12/15. The 2020 Survivor Series will be released on DVD on 12/29.

Yen Press issued the following:

Yen Press Acquires the Manga New Japan Academy for Digital Release

NEW YORK, NY (9/8/20) – Yen Press, LLC announced the acquisition of the manga series New Japan Academy, an action-packed and comedic manga series featuring stars from New Japan Pro-Wrestling by artist HIROKU. and consultation by New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

It’s the stars of New Japan Pro-Wrestling as you’ve never seen them before! Teenager Tetsuya Naito is aiming for the top of New Japan Academy, but in order to be the champion, he’ll have to face formidable students like “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada and the “Once-in-a-Century Talent” Hiroshi Tanahashi. Luckily for Naito, he has his boys in Los Ingobernables de Japon on his side! No matter the odds, Naito’s motto remains the same: tranquilo.

With the rise in worldwide popularity of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the manga New Japan Academy is a highly-anticipated release by the many passionate fans of the pro-wrestling promotion and the stars within it. A story told from the point of view of Tetsuya Naito, one of the most popular pro-wrestlers in the world due to his tenure at both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), New Japan Academy shows fan-favorite wrestlers like they’ve never been seen before!

New Japan Academy, Vol. 1 is scheduled for an October 2020 release exclusively on digital platforms.

Big Japan Wrestling, seeking to garner more of an audience beyond Japan, has officially launched an English language Twitter account.
Link: https://twitter.com/BjwEnglish/status/1302912276584824832

Fightful has learned some of the current planned lineup for IMPACT Wrestling's biggest show of 2020.

Every year since 2005, IMPACT Wrestling has spent the entire year building towards the Bound for Glory event in October. Over the years, the event has been headlined by such names as Kurt Angle, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Drew McIntyre.

As first revealed on Fightful Select, the current plans for the 2020 event are already being worked out

Fightful has learned several of the plans ahead of IMPACT Bound For Glory this October.

As of now, Ken Shamrock is pegged for a high level match with Eddie Edwards. Shamrock has been feuding and teaming with Sami Callihan in recent months.

After returning at Slammiversary, Rich Swann and IMPACT World Champion Eric Young's heated feud is expected to continue at IMPACT Bound For Glory.

There is a four-way IMPACT Tag Team Championship match in the cards with Motorcity Machine Guns, The North, The Good Brothers and Ace Austin & Madman Fulton.

An IMPACT Knockouts Championship match between Deonna Purrazzo and Kylie Rae is also tentatively scheduled for the show.

In addition to these matches, we're told a 6-way IMPACT X Division Title match, as well as a Call Your Shot Rumble are planned.

WWE has made a couple of edits to a wXW show that has been released on the WWE Network that look to be due to allegations made during the #SpeakingOut movement. The WON reports that wXw’s 2019 Toronto show, which was added to the Network in its independents section, does not have a Julian Pace vs. Daniel Makabe vs. Cima vs. Brent Banks match as well as an angle between David Starr and WALTER.

Allegations against Starr were the catalyst for the #SpeakingOut movement, when he was accused of sexual abuse and rape. Pace and Jay Skillet were released by wXw after the company investigated claims against the two made by students from the wXw Academy against him.

You might have seen Thunder Rosa in WWE if they had their way, but not as a wrestler.

The ambitious Rosa has appeared on American television for five different companies, basically everyone but IMPACT and WWE. In 2019, Rosa actually had a tryout scheduled with WWE, but didn't end up going.

"I was supposed to go, last September, for a referee try out," Rosa told Fightful. "That was like a week before I signed my contract for MMA. That was in WWE. Dorian, the hurricane, happened and my things kept getting canceled, getting canceled and then I was getting too close for me to sign my contract for my fight and I was already training. I had like three months training. I was like, “I can’t wait.” One week’s too long for me not to train. I just sent them an e-mail saying, “Thanks for the opportunity, hopefully we can work something out in the future,” and I left it as that. That happened my career skyrocketed ‘cause we made it happen. But, yeah, man. It’s insane. But, other than that, I never got any e-mails or interest or nothing," Rosa stated.

NWA World Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa joined the ‘This Is The NWA Podcast’ one day after her AEW Women’s World Title match against Hikaru Shida at All Out. Thunder Rosa was defeated by Shida in the match but feels that she gained more than she lost. Rosa feels that from the moment she showed up in AEW to promote the match with Shida, she showed that AEW does not have a woman like her on their roster.

“It’s been a team effort and I just came there and just represented and yesterday [All Out] was really good because [Hikaru] Shida was — she was willing to do something different. She’s worked with us, I mean of course the people that she works with in AEW, but I don’t think they have a woman like me on the roster and I showed it from the moment I showed up there. That first week, I went there and I went to training and I showed the girls how you should look when you train, and how you should look when you get in the ring. You should be the same way and you should train as hard because it’s national TV and it’s prime time, you know?”

Rosa said the powers that be were pleased with the match. She shared the advice that Kenny Omega gave to her and Shida before their match and that was to show everyone what a “real women’s wrestling match should look like.”

“The thing is the pressure was [a lot]. Everybody was like, ‘You guys have to knock it out of the park,’ Wednesday too and… another thing, they gave us time which they never do on Dynamite, ever, on women’s wrestling and then I come and I’m the NWA Champion who’s not even signed and it’s just like… we’re in the back, there was supposed to be some stuff and then [Kenny] Omega came then he looked at us and said, ‘Show them what a real women’s wrestling match should look like.’”

Championship Wrestling from Hollywood returned to TV with new, original in-ring content this past weekend, airing nationally on YouToo America (YTA) as well as the Z Channel and other markets via local syndication.

The episodes were taped in an empty arena format and were the first episodes under new booker Aron Stevens aka the former Damian Sandow in WWE.

The episode was more of a traditional, episodic style format with storyline vignettes and outside of the ring interviews conducted by Jon Roberts helping to move storylines forward. Previously, CWH had been a series of bouts and some interviews leading to those matches but episodically, there wasn't as much of a strong narrative from week to week and this reboot of sorts appeared to change that old formula up somewhat

TV Insider chatted with IMPACT Wrestling talent Heath Slater. Heath shared that there are a few talents in WWE who he has been in contact with that have expressed that they would like to experience what’s transpiring in wrestling outside of WWE but they have a significant amount of time left on their respective contracts.

“They know when they are locked down under contract, they can’t get out. That’s the bottom line. You may have well signed yourself up for the military. But guys that did get released and guys from other companies have been texting and calling and asking about Impact. The WWE crew, some of them have been like, ‘Man, that would be awesome to do this, But I still got a year-and-a-half or another year.’ I’m like, ‘Remember what you’re saying because years go by pretty fast. So if you really want to, I might know a guy.’ The interest is there for sure" ...

After being released, Heath made an appearance on RAW and had a promo segment and a quick match with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Initially, Heath turned it down but stated that McIntyre pleaded with him to do the segment as it got approved.

“That’s exactly what that was. McIntyre called me a month or so in advance. I told him I wasn’t going back, and I didn’t want it. Then literally two weeks before Slammiversary he pleaded with me to let him pitch working together. He was sure they would go for it. Then when he called me back and said they went for it I was like, what?! It was one of those things where Drew is one of my best friends inside and outside the ring.

We just clicked 12 years ago when we met. I’m in the ring with him and Dolph [Ziggler], who is a friend too. I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to hit a home run and speak from the heart and let you know how I feel.’ Thankfully, it was one take and came off great. I wanted to prove to them that I could have been doing this the whole damn time if you gave me the opportunity. Now you give me the opportunity to come back one day to show what I can do, I’m going to spread my wings and fly to other companies and give them my talent.”

WhatCulture spoke with IMPACT World Tag Team Champion Chris Sabin ...

When it comes to how Sabin has seen tag team wrestling change over the past decade, he feels that a good portion of that credit should go to Matt and Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks. Sabin feels that a handful of tag teams have patterned their style after The Bucks.

“Honestly, I think as far as tag team wrestling goes, The Young Bucks had a huge influence on today’s tag team style of wrestling. Not everyone does it of course, but a lot of teams on independent shows try to replicate The Young Bucks’ style of matches. I think that’s the biggest difference I see from back then is the difference those guys have had on tag team wrestling. They really changed the business, that’s for sure.”

Nick Aldis revealed that the National Wrestling Alliance had plans in place to tour the U.K. before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comicbook.com spoke with Adam Cole. Cole responded to the mixed reactions that spawned from the finish of the NXT Championship Fatal 4-Way Iron Man match from last week. Cole admitted that he’s one who views things in a positive light and saw the finish as a cliffhanger. He also understands why some viewers were not happy with the result.

“However, I do understand that some people were upset. I understand that some people want to see a definitive end to a match like that, and it makes total sense. But that’s actually kind of, as weird as it sounds, that’s what I love so much about pro wrestling, is you’ll have one match that will happen with a certain result, and like you said, half the people will go, ‘That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. They couldn’t have ended that any better. This was perfect’, and then you’ve got another group of people who were so upset and so angry, and think it’s the dumbest thing in the world. The beautiful thing is that both people aren’t wrong, and both people are right, and you can think whatever you want to think.”

Stardom's canceled shows from August have now been rescheduled.

The Japanese promotion announced that the canceled August 22 and 23 shows, which were called off due to precautions stemming from positive COVID-19 tests. The two shows will now be combined into one event on October 3 at Yokohama Budokan.

Former WWE Divas Champion Eve Torres reveals her own family's battle with COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has owned the majority of 2020 regardless of your walk of life. Recently, WWE legends such as The Rock and Kevin Nash have revealed their own stories battling COVID-19 and even current WWE Superstar AJ Styles admitted to testing positive recently.

Eve Torres revealed in an Instagram post that she and her husband, Rener Gracie, have tested positive for the virus, and even her young child, Renson, has a fever and is assumed to be positive.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE2u7n-MCGb/

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: Matt Hardy Injury Update, Full Bracket Revealed for ROH Pure Title Tournament, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/various-matt-hardy-injury-update-full-bracket-revealed-for-roh-pure-title-tournament-indies/)
WWE: Paul Heyman Involved in Reigns’ Booking, AOP Release Update, Big E on Singles Run (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-paul-heyman-involved-in-reigns-booking-aop-release-update-big-e-on-singles-run/)
Dominik Dijakovic, Mojo Rawley and Mia Yim Were Part of RETRIBUTION on Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/dominik-dijakovic-mojo-rawley-and-mia-yim-were-part-of-retribution-on-raw/)
WWE Announces “Uncool with Alexa Bliss” Podcast (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-announces-uncool-with-alexa-bliss-podcast/)
Ivar Suffers “Cervical Injury” on Raw, Expected to Be OK (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/ivar-suffers-cervical-injury-on-raw-expected-to-be-ok/)
Ralphus Died Last Year, Chris Jericho Says (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/ralphus-died-last-year-chris-jericho-says/)

Bad News Gertner

09-08-2020, 07:00 PM

Slater seems like the kind of guy the WWE would bring back as a trainer down the line once things somewhat return to normal.

ClockShot

09-08-2020, 07:12 PM

A NJPW anime would be cool as hell. But hey, they got the ball rolling with a manga.

#1-norm-fan

09-08-2020, 08:58 PM

Welp. Marty Jannetty is a better booker than anyone working in wrestling today. This is where we’ve come.

Emperor Smeat

09-09-2020, 07:25 PM

The Sheets:

Raw on Labor Day did 1.73 million viewers and a 0.48 rating in 18-49, by far the lowest for a show since the beginning of the ThunderDome.

Raw was hurt by sports competition with the NBA playoff game going against the first 72 minutes doing 2.71 million viewers and a 1.06 rating in 18-49, and the game against the last 108 minutes doing 3.45 million viewers and a 1.21 rating in 18-49. College football on ESPN did 1.15 million viewers and 0.35 and the NHL playoffs on NBC Sports did 958,000 viewers and 0.28.

As compared to last week, Raw was down nine percent overall, 17 percent in 18-49, and 30 percent in 18-34 ...

In 18-49, Raw was fifth behind two NBA playoff games, Inside the NBA, and Below Deck Mediterranean.

The first-to-third hour drop was eight percent, actually low, but that was because the first hour started low due to Labor Day. Labor Day traditionally has people starting the show later than usual, peaking in hour two, and then falling. Usually the third hour drop isn't as bad because so many tuned in after 9 p.m. as compared to a usual week.

In women 18-49, Raw was 12 percent higher in hour three than hour one due to tuning in late, although males 18-49 were 14 percent down, teenage girls were 12 percent down, teenage boys were 10 percent down, and over 50 was eight percent down.

As compared to the same week last year, it should be noted that this week last year was the season debut of Monday Night Football which did 13.04 million viewers against Raw and led to a huge decline from what Raw had been doing. But even though this was not against the NFL, the show was down 19 percent overall, 30 percent in 18-49, and 52 percent in 18-34.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.76 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.80 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.61 million viewers

For the first time in the “Thunderdome Era” of Raw, none of the hours topped two million viewers. The first hour averaged 1,762,000 viewers compared to the last two weeks that saw 2.1 million viewers open the show ...

It was Raw’s lowest-performing show since the August 17th go-home episode for SummerSlam, which was the last Raw to take place at the WWE Performance Center.

The final four episodes of Raw at the Performance Center averaged 1,674,000 and a 0.485 demo rating. So, this week’s number is still ahead of the viewers and right at the same demo rating ...

This week’s show didn’t advertise anything in advance until the day of the show when they revealed three matches late in the afternoon with Dominik Mysterio vs. Murphy (that was announced as a Street Fight during Raw), Randy Orton vs. Keith Lee, and a Raw Underground fight between Aleister Black and Kevin Owens.
WWE's inability to announce near full cards well before the day of the show has been hurting them for a long in terms of show interest. Its also been a reason for NXT's struggles against AEW since AEW does a much better job advertising their next week's show by giving a near full card way earlier than WWE and NXT do.

AEW's Countdown to All Out special averaged 357,000 viewers on TNT on Saturday afternoon.

The viewership number is up 3.8 percent from the Countdown special that aired prior to this May's Double or Nothing pay-per-view. That Countdown show aired at 10 p.m. Eastern time on the night before the PPV. Countdown to All Out aired at 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday leading into the event.

In the important 18-49 demo, the improvement was more significant. Countdown to Double or Nothing averaged a 0.10 rating and finished 51st for the night n the cable ratings. Saturday's All Out preview special was up 40 percent in the demo, averaging a 0.14 rating and finishing 23rd on cable in that category.

There was competition in the form of the opening day of college football as well as coverage of the Kentucky Derby, which aired directly opposite the Countdown show and averaged nearly 5.5 million viewers on NBC.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed an appeal by former wrestlers suing WWE for claiming the company didn't protect them from repeated head injuries and concussions that could have resulted in CTE and other physical and mental health ailments.

In doing so, they affirmed the ruling by a Connecticut district court two years ago that the claims were either frivolous or filed after the statute of limitations expired and that WWE couldn't have known concussions or head injuries caused CTE.

Several cases that began popping up in 2014 and 2015 around the country were eventually consolidated in Connecticut and involved well-known wrestlers both dead and alive including Billy Jack Haynes, Jimmy Snuka, Paul Orndorff, King Kong Bundy, Mr. Fuji, Viscera, and more. An issue raised is that the wrestlers in question worked around the world for different organizations and not just WWE so identifying what organization brain injuries might have occurred in would prove difficult.

The Second Circuit also dismissed additional related lawsuits against WWE because they were filed too late as well as dismissed lawyer Konstantine Kyros' appeal of sanctions imposed by U.S. District judge Vanessa Bryant. In 2018, she ruled Kyros must pay WWE's legal fees for the case and said he repeatedly failed to comply with court rules and orders.

The United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live PPV series, the first undertaking for a weekly pro wrestling series on PPV since the early days of NWA: TNA, debuts Tuesday 9/15 on In Demand and FITE.TV. The series will be available for $7.00 per episode or a bundle of $23.99 for the month on FITE. The series will be priced $11.99 weekly on InDemand.

The broadcast team for the Primetime Live series will feature long-time UWN commentator and former Impact Wrestling commentator Todd Keneley handling the play by play for the series. He'll be joined by recent NXT on-air talent Alyssa Marino, who makes her return to the United Wrestling Network, where she had appeared prior to her WWE tenure. The NWA's lead announcer Joe Galli will be on the broadcasts as well from his home in San Antonio and will be appearing to deliver breaking news, interviews and special reports. UWN President Dave Marquez and Mayra Dias Gomes will handle interviews. UWN and NJPW Ring Announcer Adnan Kureishy will be appearing in that role as well.

The Wrap is reporting that longtime WWE-NBCUniversal ally Bonnie Hammer has been moved to NBCUniversal Vice-Chair, a corporate advisor to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. Bonnie Hammer is moving away from the chair of NBCUniversal Content Studios, having been in the NBCU corporate hierarchy since 1989

AJ Styles spoke on his Twitch stream regarding the recent restrictions WWE has outlined for some third party outlets. Styles confirmed that Twitch and YouTube don’t appear to be affected and said the company wants its talent to stream and interact with its audience:

Let’s talk about the stream. Is it going to continue? And from the contacts that I’ve had, the information I got is WWE does want us to interact with our fans, and that means streaming. They want this to happen, they want you to have a YouTube channel, there are things they want you to do and be able to do and what we knew was a little vague at first.

We did different things and it was borderline whether we knew we could do it or not and so, those will be answered but streaming I don’t think will be one of those that are taken away, um, YouTube is not one of those that will be taken away. There will be changes in other areas I’m sure of it and I don’t know exactly where that is. But let me say this again, they, the WWE want us to be able to stream and interact with our fans and that’s exactly what we’re doing, that’s exactly what I’m doing. From Adam Cole to Breeze and Xavier Woods, Baron Corbin it’s what we do, it’s fun.

Styles also clarified several things about his news last week that he had previously had COVID-19 and how he quarantined for ten days:

Another thing I need to clarify is with the COVID. I had that like a month-and-a-half ago, whenever it was to the point where the CDC says you have to be quarantined for ten days. I got tested, I went home for ten days, stayed in the basement, was able to go to work because of the scheduling when they had it (TV tapings) next, it was ten days I was able to go back to work. The reason I let you guys know is that I wanted to let you guys know that for some of us it’s not that bad, for some of them it is. I just wanted you guys to know that I had it and that I’m okay – and had I not been tested I never would have never known I had it and I could have spread it, I guess. So, that’s good on WWE’s part for testing everyone, that’s a good thing.

Vince McMahon was one of 25 billionaires mentioned in a Forbes articles listing all the billionaires that dropped off this years Forbes 400 list from last year. His net worth of $1.8b (as of July 24 2020) fell short of the $2.1b required to make the list. The COVID-19 pandemic was blamed for him being cut this year.

Meanwhile, Shahid Khan, father of AEW's Tony Khan, with a net worth of $7.8b was #66 on the list.

UpUpDownDown announced they have been nominated for an ESports Awards:

Support @XavierWoodsPhD by voting for him in the link below!https://t.co/fEISrahYfh#esportsawards pic.twitter.com/ugUY1LGZB6
— UpUpDownDown (@UpUpDwnDwn) September 9, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/UpUpDwnDwn/status/1303694652973907969

According to WWE Network News, the following independent shows will be added to WWE Network this weekend:

ICW Fight Club 95.
EVOLVE 126.
wXw Shortcut To The Top 2020.
PROGRESS Chapter 94.

Gary Cassidy at Sportskeeda reports that WWE’s European tour that was initially postponed from this past spring to the fall has now been moved to the spring of 2021. The new tour lists six shows beginning April 28th in Cardiff at the Motorpoint Arena, April 29th in Sheffield, April 30th in Newcastle, May 1st in Glasgow at the SSE Hyrdo, May 2nd in Birmingham, and ending with an episode of Raw on Monday, May 3rd in London at the O2 Arena.

After NXT, they shot an angle where Robert Stone announced that Mercedes Martinez is out of the Robert Stone Brand. They filed a restraining order against Martinez.
Rumor going around is that Martinez is one of the official members of Retribution which would explain why NXT randomly abrupted Ripley's feud with Dakota and Rachel since they needed Ripley's feud with Martinez to be finished quickly. Also would explain the rushed cage match announcement despite their feud not being worth that feud ending stip yet.

Matt Cardona wrestled his first match outside of the WWE umbrella in 14 years, and he said doing it in All Elite Wrestling was an easy decision.

After Cody implied that All Elite Wrestling wouldn't be bringing in his friend Cardona, the opposite happened. Cardona opened up to Fightful how and why all of that went down, even after an EVP indicated it wouldn't.

"I mean, it was one of those things that Cody is one of my good friends, if not one of my best friends, so it was kind of a no-brainer. On our podcast, our producer would always joke, “AEW confirmed” in that nerdy internet troll voice. I was like, “Listen, nothing is confirmed yet, we’re talking.” Of course, I wanted to be and still want to be in AEW because it’s the best. For how many years did we hear, “The next fed’s comin’. The next league’s comin’,” and it never did, right? AEW it comes, it arrives and it exceeds all expectations in my opinion. They’re mainstream, pay-per-views, live on TNT, action figures. This is the real deal. So, who wouldn’t want to be involved in this?," Cardona said.

It was quickly reported that Cardona's deal with All Elite Wrestling was a short term one, but it became clear that Cardona wanted to be with the company on a more permanent basis. The former Zack Ryder tells us some more broad plans and goals for his tenure.

"Listen, I didn’t come to AEW to just get a t-shirt on AEWShop.com. It’s a very nice shirt, but that’s not why I came to AEW. I came to AEW to win Championships, to have great matches, to have fun, right? So, I would love to wrestle Cody for that TNT title or go for the AEW title. Maybe team with Cody for the Tag Team titles. But, just being in the ring for the first time in five months on Dynamite, it was just so much fun. I was very nervous before. I watched it once, I’ll never watch it again. That’s it. But, I loved it. I loved the whole experience. That’s what wrestling should be, I think. I can’t wait to do it again," said Cardona.

Even if All Elite Wrestling doesn't end up happening full time for Cardona, there's plenty of other places he could land. Right now, options are limited, but he's looking forward to navigating uncharted waters, as he has many times before.

"I love to the hustle. Whether it would be on that old YouTube show or the Major Wrestling Figure podcast, I love being creative and hustling and seeing the results to my hard work and now, being free, there’s nobody that’s going to stop me. If I fail I fail. But, I want to at least try. That’s why I was so excited being free. It’s weird right now, there are no independents. There’s a couple going on here and there. But, I want to wait until everything’s safe. I don’t want to take any independent bookings and then have to cancel them. So, that is a weird predicament, not being able to wrestle on these independents. But, hopefully soon we’ll be able to," Cardona said.

On Monday's WWE Raw, Ivar of the Viking Raiders suffered an injury performing a suicide dive to the outside. Ivar immediately knew something was wrong, throwing up the "X" sign for himself as the camera cut away. An audible was called for the finish and the camera did show medical staff attending to Ivar after the eight-man tag.

Following Raw, WWE informed fans Ivar was transported to the hospital and suffered a cervical injury, noting that he is expected to make a full recovery.

On Tuesday, Ivar posted the following update on his condition:

It is unknown how long Ivar will be out of action for.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to every single friend, family and fan who has reached out to me. My heart is truly touched from all the love and support. Still figuring it all out but I am working hard to recover and be better than ever! Love you all 💕🤘🍗 <a href="https://t.co/pAgw1eqjRm">pic.twitter.com/pAgw1eqjRm</a></p>— Ivar (@Ivar_WWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ivar_WWE/status/1303457224388497409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Signs Tay Conti (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-signs-tay-conti/)
NJPW Announces Participants for G1 Climax 2020 Tournament (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/njpw-announces-participants-for-g1-climax-2020-tournament/)
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite Card (Updated) + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/tonights-aew-dynamite-card-2/)

Emperor Smeat

09-10-2020, 09:36 PM

The Sheets sponsored by AEW's return to the Million <s> Dollar Man</s> Viewers Club:
https://i.imgur.com/i0GXdfc.gif

Coming off the heels of Saturday's All Out pay-per-view, AEW Dynamite last night averaged 1.016 million viewers on TNT, up 9.5 percent from last week. It was the highest viewership for Dynamite since the show's second-ever episode.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite finished seventh on cable with a 0.37 rating, up 2.8 percent in that category. It was the highest 18-49 number for the show since January 15.

Comparing the individual demo ratings to last week, when the show charted at eighth in the 18-49 rankings with a 0.36, the numbers were as follows: women 18-49 -- 0.24 (up 14.3 percent). men 18-49 -- 0.51 (even), people 18-34 -- 0.22 (down 4.3 percent), females 12-34 -- 0.15 (up 50 percent), males 12-34 -- 0.24 (down 14.3 percent), people 25-54 -- 0.43 (even), and people over 50 -- 0.40 (up 14.3 percent)

The 18-49 number with men is particularly impressive as it was fourth overall on cable behind two NBA games and the SportsCenter broadcast that immediately followed one of those games. In the people 12-34 category, AEW finished just shy of Raw this week, which did a 0.23 rating.

With NXT airing on Tuesday this week, Dynamite was again unopposed by wrestling competition. The overall combined viewership for AEW and NXT was 1.854 million viewers, up 4.3 percent from last week. It was the highest combined total since October 2, which was the night of Dynamite's premiere episode.

This week's Super Tuesday II edition of NXT, which featured Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole for the vacant NXT Championship and a steel cage main event between Rhea Ripley and Mercedes Martinez, averaged 838,000 viewers, down 1.3 percent from last week.

The show ranked 15th on cable in the 18-49 demo with a 0.22 rating, down 15.4 percent from last Tuesday. Despite no AEW competition, there were NBA playoff games on TNT. The late game went against the second half of NXT and averaged 4.65 million viewers.

Though it was down from last week, the viewership was NXT's third highest of 2020.

Here's a look at the other demo categories and how they compared to last week's NXT, which also aired on Tuesday: Women 18-49 -- 0.15 (down 21.1 percent), men 18-49 -- 0.29 (down 12.1 percent), people 18-34 -- 0.09 (down 35.7 percent), females 12-34 -- 0.06 (down 45.5 percent), males 12-34 -- 0.14 (down 22.2 percent), people 25-54 -- 0.28 (down 6.7 percent), and people over 50 -- 0.43 (up 7.5 percent).

Ratings for the cable news channels, which do really well in NXT's strongest demo, were way down this Tuesday. That explains the viewership for the show remaining steady despite ratings dropping in every demo except people over 50.

NXT returns to Wednesday night next week.

Update --

WWE has announced that "following the tournament, the NXT UK Heritage Cup will be defended as a championship under the same rules."

**********

An eight-man tournament with British Rounds rules will soon kick off on NXT UK.

WWE announced today that the Heritage Cup tournament is coming to NXT UK. Seven of the eight participants for the tournament have been revealed. They are: Flash Morgan Webster, Noam Dar, Alexander Wolfe, A-Kid, Dave Mastiff, Joseph Conners, and Trent Seven.

Here are the rules for Heritage Cup matches:

There will be six rounds for tournament matches. Each round will be three minutes.
There will be 20-second breaks between each round.
All matches are two-out-of-three falls.
Falls can be won by pinfall, submission, or countout.
Once a fall occurs, the round ends.
Once someone has won two falls, they are declared the winner and they advance in the tournament.
If there's a disqualification or knockout, the match ends.
If a match goes the full six rounds, whoever is ahead on falls wins.

More details for the tournament will be announced on NXT UK next Thursday (September 17). The episode will feature NXT UK's return to new in-ring action for the first time since events were paused in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tapings for NXT UK's return are being done at BT Sport studios in London, England with no fans in attendance.

NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray is set to make her first title defense since January.

KLR will defend her NXT UK Women's Championship against Piper Niven on the Thursday, September 24 episode of NXT UK. The announcement of the match was made on today's NXT UK episode that previewed the brand's return to in-ring action.

On the Wednesday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer clarified the status of AEW Dynamite for next week and specifically the one-hour show that is scheduled to air after the NBA playoffs Wednesday night.

As announced by AEW on Dynamite, if the Los Angeles Lakers/Houston Rockets NBA playoff series ends in six games, Dynamite will air on Wednesday in its usual time slot. However, if the series goes to seven games, Dynamite will air at 8 PM Eastern on Thursday. Game six is scheduled for Monday night.

However, AEW had planned to air a one hour Dynamite following the playoff game and the post show that Meltzer said is scheduled to be taped today. If Dynamite can air on Wednesday as planned, that one hour show would air on Tuesday, September 22nd instead. The time slot wasn't given, but Meltzer said that none of the announced matches would be on that one hour show.

Other notes:

Bryan Alvarez said Thunder Rosa has a per-date deal with AEW and next week's Dynamite match with Ivelisse will be for her NWA Women's World title.
Promos and appearances by AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Lance Archer and Jake Roberts will be part of next week's two-hour Dynamite.

John Cena will be one of the hosts of a revival of the obstacle course competition series Wipeout on TBS.

It was announced today that Cena and Nicole Byer will host TBS' revival of Wipeout. Camille Kostek will be the host in the field for the series and will cover the contestants’ progress throughout each round ...

Cena will also be an executive producer for the series ...

Wipeout originally debuted on ABC in 2008 and aired until 2014. When TBS' revival of the show will be premiering hasn't been revealed.

WWE Producer Sarah Stock was officially released today as part of the WWE cutbacks, PWInsider.com has confirmed. She had initially been placed on furlough back in April.

Stock, 41, had been working as a producer on the main roster. She initially signed to become a WWE Performance Center Guest Coach in 2015, occasionally making cameos on NXT broadcasts as well, before being shifted to a main roster Producer role.

Prior to her time in WWE, Stock had a tremendous international in-ring career, performing as Dark Angel in CMLL and AAA. In the United States, she is best known for her time as Sarita for Impact Wrestling, where she teamed with current WWE star Zelina Vega, then known as Rosita.

WWE Producer Mike Rotunda, 62, was among those who were officially released by WWE as part of today's cutbacks, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Rotunda, the father of WWE stars Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas, had been with WWE in a Producer/Agent role since 2006.

Rotunda retired from in-ring performances in 2004. He is perhaps best known as former WWF Tag Team Champion Irwin R. Shyster (IRS) and had a long career in the WWF, WCW, Jim Crockett Promotions, the AWA and Championship Wrestling from Florida ...

PWInsider.com is told that Rotunda had been furloughed back in April. At that time, he opened an official Pro Wrestling Tees store.

Impact Wrestling announced that Barry Scott, the voiceover artist who added a great dimension to TNA and Impact video packages:

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Barry Scott. For years Barry was the iconic voice of TNA Wrestling, lending us gravitas and credibility. He will be dearly missed. pic.twitter.com/rPxGsK8gqk
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) September 10, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1304156050518609926

Q - What happens when AEW goes to Picture in Picture outside of the United States?

A - I am told the announcers keep calling the action.
Except for Canada which I think doesn't do split screen for commercial breaks on TSN.

Several days ago, former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang took to social media and shared his thoughts about the new edict that’s being established in WWE, which was first reported by Wrestling Inc. that talent will have to stop using third parties (Twitch, Cameo etc.) within 30 days or face the potential of fines, suspensions or even termination.

Yang sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview to further discuss the topic at hand. Yang feels that it’s shameful and plain greedy that the WWE is worth billions of dollars and mistreats workers. He added that the affordability argument does not apply to the sports-entertainment company because of their investment and recent losses by way of the XFL.

“Well this story is dead real and I will say though that there are a lot of effective storylines that kind of melded reality with fiction, so to the extent that this ends up being part of a narrative, I’d be open to it because I think the fans know. The fans are smart. The fans understand what’s going on. It’s one reason why a lot of people support AEW is that they get this negative vibe from the WWE about the way the talent’s being treated and you can tell that… you can tell that has nothing to do with the bottom line anymore because the McMahons have made so much money. They have enough money where they’re investing in these football leagues and whatnot and then the XFL failed again. If you’re a wrestler, breaking your back and then the WWE is like, ‘Oh we can’t afford you, you’re fired.’ It’s like, ‘Well, you probably could have afforded me if you could afford to lose tens of millions on that debacle,’ and so the affordability argument does not apply to WWE in a way that it applies to every other firm. If you look at AEW, I have a feeling their economics are real. But the WWE does not have those constraints anymore because it’s a public company, the McMahons are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, they spend it on all sorts of stuff.

And the company worth’s 3.3 billion and so if your company’s worth 3.3 billion and you’re mistreating workers, I mean that’s just shameful. Really it’s shameful. There was a point in the distant past where you could’ve made a legitimate argument based upon cost but now you can’t. Now it’s just plain f*cking greed… so we can all see it, fans know. So it’s one reason why a lot of people want there to be fair treatment of wrestlers and genuine competition in the market.”

Yang touched on WWE talents being classified as “independent contractors”. He rebutted against the argument that talents are the ones who signed the contract so they should be aware of what they signed off on. Yang feels that-that’s a reason why so many back All Elite Wrestling is so that they can create a competitive market so wrestlers don’t get exploited.

“Well one, I heard from a former who’s not happy about this particular clarification or this particular rule but the truth of it is that there’s a vastly uneven bargaining table at work where if you’re a performer and WWE says, ‘Hey, here’s this contract and we’re going to stick a bunch of things in it that you think are unfair, ridiculous and exploitative,’ at the end of the day you feel like you have no choice but to sign that deal because WWE holds the keys to the kingdom. They are the largest company, they’re the surest means to elevate your career and there hasn’t been a genuinely competitive market for years. It’s one reason why I, like many other fans naturally root for AEW to succeed and create a genuine competitive market so that wrestlers don’t get exploited. But the reality is that WWE is a quasi-monopoly and imagining that, ‘These wrestlers, oh, they know what they got into,’ it’s like, well, they really didn’t have a genuine chance to negotiate a bargain.”

At the beginning of the interview, Andrew Yang shared how he was first informed of WWE’s new edict. Yang mentioned that he has been on the side of MMA fighters who are involved in similar situations with Dana White and UFC. Yang reiterated that if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected to office this year, then he could be in position to change how WWE goes about treating their wrestlers in a contractual sense.

“I actually got a message from someone who’s a part of WWE, pointing out the story to me about how WWE was saying, ‘Hey, don’t go on Cameo or Twitch’ and it infuriated me because I know that the WWE has been trying to play it both ways for years where they’re saying, ‘Can’t do anything without our say-so. We own you, but you’re an independent contractor and we have nothing to do with your health, retirement, any of the benefits you get that would accrue to an employee.’ So to me, you have to make a choice at some point. If you’re gonna control all the aspects of a wrestler, performers waking life then you should take some responsibility too for that person. A bigger picture, maybe they have a kid, maybe they get maternity, paternity leave, maybe they get an off-season, maybe they get recovery time and I say this as someone who’s been a long time fan of the sport. I know you [Chris Van Vliet] know a lot of the performers well yourself. They’re putting their life on the line, their health on the line, their family life on the line all the time. They made Vince a billionaire and then the fact that he’s still being so heavy-handed about their ability to make a simple buck on Cameo just struck me as so absurd and ridiculous and wrong and I’ve been on the side of MMA fighters who are in this similar boat frankly, with UFC and Dana White and because I got this note from this performer I said, you know it’s past time someone calls Vince out for this. Particularly if Joe [Biden] and Kamala [Harris] win, I may be in position to do something about it.”

Aleister Black’s eye was driven into the steel steps on the 7/27 edition of Monday Night RAW by Murphy. Black was off TV for several weeks and returned just a few weeks after the segment and is now involved in a feud with Kevin Owens. After RAW went off the air on 9/7, Aleister Black and Zelina Vega went live on their Twitch channel.

Aleister visibly has a black rim around the iris of his eye and he spoke about that during the stream. While he did not want to get too much into how that coloration formed around his eye, he said it obviously was related to the steel steps spot but there were issues coming out of that and more to it than what people know.

“Yeah, it’s been a sh*t day guys. But I’m not gonna bore you with that… Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room, this thing [his eye]. It was a lot more that happened to the eye than a lot of people know, that’s why I was wearing the glasses. Half of it was obviously what happened but it was a little bit of an issue here and there. That’s all I’m gonna say about it. That’s why it looks like that. That’s it. I don’t wanna talk about it, I don’t wanna get into it. You’re gonna have to deal with me for a while, if it clears up with this nice little rim in my iris so…”

A user in the chat mentioned how they did not see the black rim around Aleister’s eye while he was on RAW Underground. Aleister said it was there, but the camera did not zoom in on him when he took his bandage off.

“Oh it was there, it was there. They didn’t zoom in on me. You could see it really small at one point in the beginning when I took my bandana off.”

Gail Kim joined Lisa Marie Varon, Mickie James and SoCal Val on GAW TV. Gail revealed that both she and Robert Irvine tested positive for COVID-19 but they are both feeling better now.

“A lot of people don’t know this but I’m gonna say it out loud. We got COVID, so we did get COVID. Yeah, actually I’m glad we got through it quickly. Two weeks for both [of] us and [we] feel like we have antibodies which is great but of course still being careful. But it was more annoying than anything so, I’m just thankful we didn’t go through — I hear horror stories of people [and] what they’ve experienced.

So yeah, I feel like he [Robert Irvine] got it and then I caught it from him.”

On the topic of IMPACT Wrestling, while Gail is still agenting matches, she has been promoted to a member of the Talent Relations team with D’Lo Brown. Gail praised D’Lo for helping her adjust to the position.

“So now, it’s kind of changed a little bit. I still agent some of the girls’ matches but now Madison [Rayne] has started agenting a little bit. They’re trying to get her in there doing a little bit more and they bumped me up. I’m now co-Talent Relations with D’Lo [Brown]. I love D’Lo.

When I got promoted last month, I got a couple people just joking around saying, ‘Congratulations… I think’ because Talent Relations was always seen as that asshole position I guess. But you gotta remember, there’s never been a woman in that position and I think women handle things a little bit differently. Like we can be a little bit more empathetic at times I think and so far I’ve had such great feedback and I think as a woman, being in this position, I think it’s a positive that people feel… they feel like I’m more approachable to talk to maybe. I’m not sure. I’m only a month in but everything’s been going really great and D’Lo, I couldn’t have asked for anyone better. From day one, he’s like, ‘I want everyone to see you as my equal’ because he’s the Head of Talent Relations and we just take turns with everything, everything’s very 50/50. He’s just an amazing guy.”

AEW’s Jack Evans noted on Twitter that he’s currently out of action with a hairline fracture in his cheekbone. Jack appeared on the 9/9 Dynamite to back Angelico in his match against Orange Cassidy.

NXT announcer Vic Joseph was the latest guest on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. Joseph told the story of a car accident he was involved in where the result of it was the first responders putting a white sheet over him because they did not think he was alive.

“I got into a car accident, which I never talked about this publicly either, and I went from the backseat through the front seat and had to go to speech therapy, relearn how to talk. There’s a scar on my face that no one ever sees. I don’t know if they can zoom in right now, if you [Corey Graves] ever noticed it. My knee from top to bottom, my knee was completely out. I was on the side of the road, white sheet over me. That’s how bad it was. I’m not joking either, I’m being dead serious and I moved and I remember them screaming, ‘Oh, he’s alive’ and they ran and got me, put me on the gurney, cut my shirt off and I made a joke. Like an off-handed Ohio State/Michigan joke because they were wearing a Michigan shirt… I woke up, neck brace on, they’re pulling glass. There’s a scar on my face. There’s still a piece of glass in there. So anyways, I had to go to speech therapy to relearn how to talk.”

Ring of Honor C.O.O. Joe Koff joined the Outside Interference podcast with Kenny Herzog that’s on the MLW Radio Network. Koff shared his thoughts about Ring of Honor’s resumption of television tapings and how they could’ve ran in the state of Florida but mentioned that there appears to be “no rules” when it comes to wrestling during the pandemic in that state.

“I think this whole COVID pandemic is really about controlling what you can control. And there were so many different ways we could have wrestled. We could have wrestled in Florida where the other two major promotions wrestle, where there seems to be no real rules. The governor says, you know, just be careful.”

Ring of Honor’s Flip Gordon has voiced his opinion about the Coronavirus pandemic and how he’s skeptical about it. Koff said that regardless of what Flip says on Twitter, Flip knows what he had to do to be able to wrestle at the ROH tapings.

“That’s one person tweeting whatever he’s tweeting. Flip understood what he needed to do to be part of the taping or not to be part of the taping, and that will continue. I’m not going to be influenced by the Twitter world or what people say or don’t say. We’ll do the right thing based on [proper protocols and governance and common sense.]”

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported today that Miro is signed with AEW as talks have been ongoing for quite a while. Per the report, the deal was “long term pending an option on the deal.”

The deal will allow him to work for NJPW in addition to some dates on the independent wrestling scene. It should be noted that while he can work for NJPW, he can only do so in Japan. Thus, when the COVID-19 pandemic slows down and NJPW starts to run shows again in the United States, he can’t work events in America.

Nia Jax isn't too happy with WWE using a picture of her after being Facetuned.

Jax took part in a photo shoot holding the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and a photo that was put up by WWE was modified. In an Instagram post that can be seen below, Jax voiced her displeasure over her picture being Facetuned. Jax has stated that she asked WWE to replace the modified picture with the untouched one.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE4MEVshWdl

Forbes chatted with Heath Slater. When asked would he have considered running for President of the United States with his current campaign gimmick that he’s been doing on IMPACT, Heath said that he’d 100 percent attempt to run for office.

Fightful is sad to report that Stevie Lee, who performed in TNA as Puppet 'The Psycho Dwarf' has passed away.

He also performed on “Half Pint Brawlers," which was a short-lived reality show on Spike TV.

Lee was most famous for pulling a gun on Jeff Jarrett and masturbating in a trash can on television. A GoFundMe has been set up in his honor.

TPWW Frontpage:

Ivar Injury Update: Could Need Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/ivar-injury-update-could-need-surgery/)
Gerald Brisco Cut by Vince McMahon, More Office Cuts by WWE Today (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/gerald-brisco-cut-by-vince-mcmahon-more-office-cuts-by-wwe-today/)
MLW Moving to Wednesday Nights (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/mlw-moving-to-wednesday-nights/)

Emperor Smeat

09-11-2020, 02:19 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter edition):

The WWE sent out a vague letter to talent on 9/3 regarding third party bookings that led to a ton of questions among wrestlers, some complaints, and even drew a strong reaction from a former candidate for President in 2020.

A week later, it is somewhat more clear what this means. Exactly what it was supposed to mean, or if it changed due to the reaction and tweets by Andrew Yang, is uncertain.

Talent who got details at the 9/7 Raw in a little more detail thought the policy had been eased up on, but still weren’t sure of everything.

By the next day, the explanation of the policy was that the communication to talent was not about issuing new rules, but simply a reminder of contractual agreements. The company told talent that they were encouraged to be active across all social media platforms. But that talent it not allowed to independently monetize WWE-owned or controlled intellectual property.

Basically, talent was not allowed to use their WWE characters in social media to make money without WWE being involved in the deal.

At first the belief was that talent would not be allowed to be involved with Cameo or Twitch. There was concern about YouTube as well, although the belief is that the company wanted talent on YouTube and Twitter promoting the company and themselves.

One talent said that at the 9/7 Raw they were told that they would have to switch to using their real names as opposed to their WWE names for YouTube and Twitch, but would have to let the company know.

A few days earlier, talent had been told by Mark Carrano that WWE owns the real names and that you couldn’t get around the policy by using your real name.

Regarding if talent was to get an endorsement deal or have a way to earn money on platforms like Cameo or Only Fans, are they allowed to do it using their real name, the reaction was that there are a variety of factors in play including agreements in place and how activations are branded and/or promoted on multiple platforms. The matter will be determined through the specifics and communication. In other words, it seems like things are on a case-by-case basis.

Another person noted that the vagueness was due to the fact that nothing is etched in stone and it constantly changes. It was said that Vince McMahon had talked about this as a problem dating back months. At first he wanted to put a stop to everything, but before doing so, COVID hit. He had talked a few times about it and never pulled the trigger.

A key is that there were talents that were using their WWE names in sponsorship deals which the company wasn’t happy with ...

Some believed this was in specific related to Cameo, with the idea WWE wanted either a corporate relationship with that company, work with another similar company or start something similar, and thus didn’t want its own talent making individual deals that would hurt the company’s overall bargaining power ...

Some, if not most talent, were privately upset, noting that with the pandemic, those without large guarantees and on prior lower guaranteed deals are earning a lot less due to no house show pay and lower merchandise pay. Now the company, while still claiming talent as independent contractors, is taking away an outside way to make income that does not affect their WWE performances or work with other promoters. The independent contractor classification has been weird because WWE controls all bookings, interviews, when people work, their work schedule and even how they work and what they say.

The argument was that because they now have far more time off with the cutback in arena events and travel, that they can use that time to both make money and also market themselves in other platforms as stars which also helps the company with stars being seen in different platforms.

Another person noted that Nick Khan, the new company President, made a killing in Hollywood by procuring third party deals for his clients, but now has to take Vince McMahon’s side on a policy that wouldn’t allow that. Another argument is that Bruce Prichard is an executive and also allowed to make money doing a podcast, but also backed up McMahon’s decision.

The different concussion related lawsuits backed by attorney Konstantine Kyros against Vince McMahon and the WWE, that were thrown out in 2018 by Connecticut Circuit Court Judge Vanessa Bryant saw her decision upheld on 9/9 in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

The various suits claimed that McMahon and the WWE knew of the dangers of head injuries and never warned the wrestlers. Bryant threw the case out citing both the statute of limitations having expired in most of the cases and also no evidence presented that showed WWE knew that concussions or head trauma caused CTE, as most of the cases in question were prior to 2008, when the term CTE first broke into the sports world ...

In the case of about 50 wrestlers headed by former Road Warrior Animal Joe Laurinaitis, ironically the older brother of longtime WWE executive John Laurinaitis, there was an attempt to not only overturn the decision throwing out the concussion case but also get a ruling that WWE had misclassified its wrestlers as independent contractors and not employees, as well as claims that the talent deserved to be paid royalties for when they appeared on the WWE Network. In addition, Kyros was attempting to get sanctions against him levied by Bryant overturned. The appeals court refused to rule on the sanctions. Kyros will be able to appeal the sanctions until after the trial court sets the amount he would have to pay to WWE ...

There were a number of arguments that made this case a tough one. For one, simply put, the original lawsuit had far too many flaws and in certain cases was full of shit, including trying to argue that Frazier’s heart attack death was somehow caused by CTE, of which he was never documented as having since his brain was never examined. The lawsuit in the case of many of the wrestlers would list every date the lawyers could find of matches that they worked and claimed brain damage in each match. There were also issues where almost all the defendants had worked all over the country for different promoters, and only a small percentage of their careers were even spent in WWE in many cases. Angelo Mosca, who most definitely suffers from severe memory issues, as an example, played college football, then many years of Canadian football, as well as wrestled all over the world in a career that went from 1960 to 1986, and full-time from 1969 on. During that period, the only time working for the McMahon family was for most of 1981 with a main event heel run working with the likes of Bob Backlund and Pat Patterson, and a three-month run in late 1984.

So while it is very possible his WWF stint had a percentage to do with his current situation, it is likely only a small percentage. In addition, Connecticut law only provides a three year window to file a claim based on an injury from the time of the injury, and not the time the person discovers the injury. It was noted in the appeal that even if WWE concealed the risk that blows to the head could cause permanent degenerative neurological damage (keep in mind there was no evidence WWE did so) that it was time barred because none of these cases were filed within three years of the original injury.

In this case, that law is badly flawed because concussion issues that lead to dementia or Alzheimer’s are usually not going to show up in athletes of this type until decades after they retire. So the morality of the situations in the case of a modern wrestler who may have spent the bulk of their career in WWF/E and decades later had problems with memory and other issues from head trauma would be very different from the legal definition.

Gerald Brisco received a phone call from Vince McMahon on 9/9 letting him know that he would not be brought back to the company after a storied 36 years.

Brisco, who turns 74 on 9/19, had been furloughed in April and was one of as many as 70 people let go this past week in decisions made largely regarding not bringing back those furloughed at the time. Categories hit the hardest were live event producers, production managers, and those who worked in other aspects of live events, merchandise and travel.

A number of producers were furloughed and then let go. Lance Storm had already been officially let go after being furloughed due to issues in being able to get into the U.S. and back regularly. Mike Rotunda and Sarah Stock were also let go. I would that others furloughed were also let go but none were official. As a general rule, the company seems to have kept the younger producers and let the older ones go ...

There was a lot of bitterness from those feeling strung along. It was noted to us that people were told they would be brought back, but then the date of being brought back kept moving another month. In time the recognition with the record profits in quarter two, and the big contract hire of new President Nick Khan, led to bitterness because they were told the furloughs were the last thing the company wanted and were forced out of economic necessity. With the continued delays, many had started looking elsewhere, no longer being convinced they were being brought back, but it’s a tough economic market right now. Some of those let go have been brought back in recent weeks. Others were told this past week they officially were not being brought back.

WWE officials said that there would be no new talent releases at this time ...

Brisco privately felt that he knew the day was coming over the past few years given his age. But from the outside, his name was perhaps the most shocking of those furloughed.

The Hell in a Cell PPV that was scheduled for 11/11 has been moved up a week to 10/25, meaning the day after both Impact Bound for Glory and Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje in UFC. This may be because their deal with the Amway Arena ends on 10/30 and it would be much simpler to do it with the current set up than to set up and go somewhere else a week later

The 9/7 Raw saw nothing advertised until about 90 minutes before the show. The reason is that Vince didn’t sign off on everything until late in the day. From what we were told and this was also the word going around backstage, Vince didn’t get the show and read it until late, when he got on the jet to Orlando. It was a risk regarding putting Dominik Mysterio vs. Murphy as the main event regarding keeping viewers for hour three. The one thing is with Labor Day, it’s often a late arriving audience and because of that, usually from an historical basis holds the hour three rating better than usual. But it’s still a risk since the prior week the third hour drop was substantial

Lawler, in an interview with Austin on the WWE Network, brought up the change in how the company uses their announcers. He said that the company felt that he and Jim Ross were becoming too big of stars and were outshining the talent. That’s why they changed their approach with announcers. Lawler said in his mind if people think the announcers are stars, then they have the ability to help get talent over as stars. He also mentioned that he was taking over the narration of WWE Story Time from Gene Okerlund and actually plugged his 9/26 50th anniversary show in Jackson, TN, which is unusual for a WWE show to plug an independent show.

AEW’s All Out show on 9/5 at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, was a show that ended up with a lot of attention, which largely overshadowed the quality of the matches.

While the response was more positive than negative, it was still by far the most negatively received major AEW show to date, even with the key matches all delivering at a good-to-great standard.

The biggest item concerned Matt Hardy, a few weeks shy of 46 and with wear and tear of about three decades inside a pro wrestling ring. Hardy was having a Broken match with Sammy Guevara, basically a Last Man Standing match, with his career on the line if he lost ...

After a spot where Hardy gave Guevara a DDT on the top of his head on one of the picnic tables in the area that connects the stadium and Daily’s Place, they both brawled on a scissors lift.

They were about seven feet above the ground and fighting back and forth for a few seconds. Guevara was to tackle Hardy and both would fly off the platform and go through two tables set up on the floor. It wasn’t even the climax of the match, but simply the first of probably a few big spots they were planning as they were only 1:44 into the match when it happened. Guevara tackled Hardy and when they came flying off, it looked bad because Hardy was flying too far. It was a split second, both men’s bodies crashed through the table the farthest from the platform, missing the closest table for the most part. The table did somewhat break the fall but the shoulders and back of Hardy’s head hit the concrete hard. He was clearly rocked badly, and couldn’t get up for 44 seconds.

Guevara stalled ref Aubrey Edwards for a few seconds and then she slowly administered a ten count which would end the match, with the risk that at that point if Hardy couldn’t get up, in theory he would have to retire. While they would have worked a storyline around it, AEW very clearly doesn’t want to be the wrestling company who does stipulations and then ignores them, as noted by Cody still claiming he will never challenge for the AEW title in a stipulation that everyone figured would be forgotten about.

Hardy did get up before the ten count, but fell back down. Guevara tried to work with him but he was clearly out of it and unsteady. He got up and threw some punches but stumbled and fell again, and Edwards signaled for an “X” signifying there was a real injury. Dr. Michael Sampson came out and a few seconds later the bell was called for, by owner Tony Khan.

What happened next was the controversy. Hardy was up and walking with Sampson after it was called off. The two were talking. Hardy, talking in his broken character was screaming for Sammy and he was talking. He wasn’t stumbling around or anything at this point. Then they cut to the announcers who explained why the match had to be stopped. The time the announcers were talking and they showed the announcers and a crowd shot was 64 seconds.

At that point they showed Matt walking and he was walking fine. The bell rang and they restarted the match. They did a little bit of brawling but went right to the planned finish. They climbed the lighting grid. Matt seemed unsteady climbing. At one point Guevara seemed to grab him to steady him. But Matt climbed and knocked Guevara off the grid into a crash pad. Guevara sold it like his left shoulder was separated or dislocated and he didn’t get up at the ten count to end the match as planned ...

That overshadowed other issues, and was probably a major part of the reason this show got mixed reviews. Hopefully, just because of fan reaction from an entertainment standpoint and this being so publicized, it will lead to the ability for companies to mentally accept just stopping matches if there is a significant fear of a concussion. Hopefully it also leads to a lessening of stunt bumps. Wrestling is dangerous enough as it is ...

There are positives and negatives of Daily’s Place. One of the negatives is with so few people in a large outdoor place, sound doesn’t travel well, and so much of wrestling is based on sound. This show is the perfect example. The key matches on this show, as far as wrestling went, were great–in particular FTR vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page. With a live crowd, given the creativity, execution and storytelling, this could have been a classic and it did get the most votes for best match on a show where that was a very competitive category. But it was a mixed bag. Some didn’t like it because it didn’t have the great crowd reactions, which had to do with bad micing, and inherent issues of a long show in brutal heat with fans all wearing masks zapping the crowd’s energy. Plus, the crowd was so far away that only the loudest chants really came across, and the crowd at the ring, the wrestlers, were either not as loud as the WWE talent was (let alone the fake noise piped in at WWE shows now) or the outdoor nature made that appear to be the case.

The show was almost five hours from the start to the finish. That’s been the length of most AEW PPV shows, even the Double or Nothing PPV during the pandemic was close to four-and-a-half hours. For those live it was too long because of the heat and humidity. That, combined with what those in the stands said was bad micing, it made the show seem like it wasn’t over with the live crowd. These matches in an indoor setting, and possibly on a cooler night outdoors, the length may not have been bad. But when the crowd is quiet, as has been the case in the COVID era, shorter shows seem to be the best ...

The heat and humidity also leads to worse footing on the ropes, most notable for the debut of Matt Sydal. Sydal was the surprise last entrant in the Casino Battle Royale and the first thing he was going to do was a shooting star press. He went up to the top for a move he’s done perfectly forever, slipped, and actually looked like he hurt himself but he ended up fine and didn’t have any troubles for the rest of the match. Wiping down the ropes between matches would help on a night that hot, not to say that would alleviate it in long matches ...

Jim Ross was also under controversy, to the point that both The New York Daily News and The Sun (U.K.) covered it. When Anna Jay was out during the eight-man tag with Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall & Scorpio Sky & Matt Cardona vs. Brodie Lee & Colt Cabana & Stu Grayson & Evil Uno, Ross said, “Did Anna Jay have a wardrobe malfunction, or is that wishful thinking in my book?” Ross did apologize after, writing, “Didn’t mean to offend anyone on the wardrobe malfunction line. Weak attempt at humor. Sorry. Now lighten up.”

He later deleted the tweet ...

The comment shouldn’t have been made. It is a product of changing times given that 20 years ago the same comment would have been viewed by that wrestling audience very differently. Jerry Lawler is remembered by some more for his ogling comments at the women on Raw in that generation than for his wrestling. But times have changed. People are also looking to blow things up and that makes things worse if you are in AEW or WWE, or are someone with enemies. At the same time, the apology should have been enough as opposed to making it worse, and I guess that’s why it was deleted.

The early estimates for the show based on streaming orders through B/R Live and FITE TV, which the company gets right away, look like the show will do numbers at the level of the February 29, 2020 Revolution, or 100,000 to 110,000 buys. So it looks to be the third or fourth largest of the company’s six PPV shows to date.

It’s down probably 10 to 15 percent from the 2020 Double or Nothing company record (the largest for a non-WWE pro wrestling PPV show in 21 years), so it was back at normal levels for an AEW show. But one would think the number of people getting together to watch together is down as compared to prior shows, so that’s a negative, but on the flip side, I think most expected a number a little under average based on the lineup and the build.

New Japan officially announced what looks to be on paper one of the more loaded G-1 Climax lineups in history during the 9/9 show at the Sun Plaza Hall in Sendai.

The key is that foreigners Will Ospreay, Jay White, Jeff Cobb, KENTA and Juice Robinson were announced for the tournament. This means all arrived in Japan by 9/5 to do two weeks of quarantine. Jon Moxley, who was one of the top stars in the tournament, wouldn’t be available this year under any circumstances because it would be four weeks away from AEW even under non-COVID circumstances. Until quarantine restrictions are over, requiring foreigners to be in the country for two weeks before they can leave quarantine after arrival, it’s pretty much impossible for Moxley or anyone under AEW contract to work in Japan for any promotion, as Kenny Omega was scheduled to work a number of big shows with DDT this year ...

For safety during COVID times, the two blocks will be kept separate in the sense that the wrestlers in the tournament will only do their singles matches on their block night. They will have the night off during the other blocks’ show rather than work tag team matches that would build up their next singles match.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH: There is at least talk of a Nick Aldis vs. Great Muta NWA title match that would air in some form in the U.S. that would take place on 10/6. This could and at this point there are serious talks of this airing on regular television with Rob Hochman and Sonny Onoo as the announcers.

One Florida fan who attends both NXT & AEW noted that the reason NXT was able to sell out 400 seats every other week was because tickets were $10 to $20 while the AEW tapings in Jacksonville are $40 to $60 and the last two tapings on 9/2 and 9/9 didn’t sell out even with 500-750 tickets being put on sale. The latter would be normal price range for shows and really cheaper than road shows for either group, but the difference is AEW ran three times (and the PPV was priced even higher) over an eight day period at those prices in the same building. We’re also told that as far as the live crowd for the first AEW TV taping and the PPV, a high percentage were NXT regulars

The top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network for this past week were: 1. Broken Skull Sessions with Jerry Lawler; 2. Payback; 3. Raw Talk for 9/7; 4. R-Truth Game Show; 5. WWE Timeline: Flair vs. Savage WWE feud; 6. Talking Smack on 9/5; 7. Smackdown from 8/7; 8. Survivor Series; 9. WWE Break it Down: Sasha Banks; 10. NXT from 9/1 which was higher than usual with the four-way Iron man title match. Three independent shows cracked the top 25, while 205 Live and the U.K. show both didn’t. No. 16 was the March 16, 2019 Evolve show. No. 19 was the December 3, 2018 ICW show. No. 22 was a We Love Wrestling feature from wXw

WWE, NXT, & AEW Ratings:

The Labor Day Raw on 9/7 was not a good sign at all leading to football season.

The show averaged 1,725,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49, making it the seventh least watched Raw in history and tied for the fourth lowest in 18-49.

As far as the Labor Day holiday excuse, goes, last year’s Labor Day show did 2,507,000 viewers, the 2018 show did 2,897,000 and the 2017 show did 3,069,000.

It’s a bad sign since ratings had been way up since going into Thunderdome and Raw next week goes against the start of the NFL season, which historically means a sizable drop, plus a possible game six between the Lakers and Rockets in the NBA playoffs ...

Raw was 17th overall, which is actually better than usual, due to much lower ratings for news shows on Labor Day as compared to a usual Monday, and fifth in 18-49 ...

It was down 9.0 percent overall and 17.2 percent in 18-49.

It had the Labor Day pattern where people arrived late, so the second hour was the highest rated. Usually that leads to less of a third hour drop ...

The first hour did 1,782,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,800,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,613,000 viewers.

As compared to the same week last year, we really need to look at two. Labor Day week was earlier last year so the real Labor Day vs. Labor Day comparisons are a drop of 31.2 percent in total audience, 42.2 percent in 18-49 and 58.2 percent in 18-34. As compared with the second September of last year, which is misleading because this would go against the first week of Monday night football, the declines are 19.0 percent in viewers, 30.4 percent in 18-49 and 52.1 percent in 18-34.

With viewers coming in later due to Labor Day, they don’t get tired as quickly so the third hour drop wouldn’t be as bad. In first-to-third hour drops, women 18-49 were up 12.1 percent in hour three. Men 18-49 were down 14.3 percent, teenage girls were down 12.0 percent, teenage boys were down 10.2 percent and over 50 declined 8.1 percent.
* The show did a 0.27 in 12-17 (same as last week), 0.23 in 18-34 (down 30.3 percent), 0.73 in 35-49 (down 12.0 percent) and 0.84 in 50+ (down 4.5 percent).

Smackdown on 9/4 did a 1.27 rating, 2,129,000 viewers, an 0.61 in 18-49 (793,000 viewers) and a strong 0.4 in 18-34. It did its best viewers per home number in a long time at 1.39.

This was the show where Roman Reigns gave his explanation for the heel turn and had a big spike for the Bayley/Sasha Banks tag title match and post-match angle, and overall did a good number. We’re also far enough to where this is probably a little above what will be the norm for the Thunderdome shows meaning it is making a substantial difference.

Smackdown was first among the networks in 18-34 and 18-49 among network programming, still pretty much all reruns, by a large margin, as no other shows beat 0.4 and 0.2 respectively ...

The rating was down 5.2 percent from last week, the audience was down 0.7 percent from last week, while 18-49 was up 7.5 percent and 18-34 jumped from 0.3 to 0.4.

In the segments, the first half hour did 2.02 million viewers for the Roman Reigns & Paul Heyman interview and Heavy Machinery vs. John Morrison & The Miz. The second quarter jumped to 2.14 million and that quarter usually declines, built around the Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler title defense with Sasha Banks & Bayley. It jumped to 2.32 million, which is huge for the show, for the end of the tag title match and the breakup angle with Banks & Bayley, plus the segment with Jeff Hardy, A.J. Styles and Sami Zayn. The final quarter did 2.04 million with the Jey Uso win over Matt Riddle, King Corbin and Sheamus. While that was a huge drop for the main event, it’s still ahead of what the final 30 has been doing.

It’s way up from what FOX had last year, averaging on the same Friday for rerun programming 961,000 viewers, 0.3 in 18-49 and 0.2 in 18-34.

NXT on 9/8, built around the Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor match for the vacant title and Mercedes Martinez vs. Rhea Ripley in a cage match, fell slightly, as expected with the tougher competition and less unique main event.

The unopposed show did 838,000 viewers and 0.22 in 18-49 (286,000 viewers), down 1.3 percent in viewers. It was also down 14.9 percent in 18-49, and finishing No. 15 for the night ...

It was sixth in its time slot on cable ...

Younger viewers were down which coincides with two NBA games instead of one, and both games being deeper into the playoffs and more attractive than the single game last week. Plus last week almost the entire show was the title match, and this week was the rematch, and it wasn’t going to do quite as well coming one week later.

The show did 39,000 in men 18-34 (down 18.8 percent from last week), 27,000 in women 18-34 (down 43.8 percent), 146,000 in men 35-49 (down 12.0 percent) and 74,000 in women 35-49 (same as last week).

The high point of the show for overall viewers was the Ripley vs. Martinez cage match. The high point for 18-49 was the second half of Cole vs. Balor. The high point of 18-34 was Cole vs. Balor. The high point of 35-49 was Ripley vs. Martinez.

The show opened at 812,000 viewers and 292,000 in 18-49 with the first half of Cole vs. Balor. The second quarter did 869,000 viewers and 310,000in 18-49 for the second half of Cole vs. Balor. The third quarter was 807,000 viewers and 284,000 in 18-49 for Cole and Balor backstage, and the Robert Stone, Shotzi Blackheart, Aliyah and Io Shirai segment. The fourth quarter did 804,000 viewers and 279,000 in 18-49 for a Timothy Thatcher interview, Velveteen Dream vs. Ashante Adonis and some Tyler Breeze & Fandango and Imperium promotion for next week.

The fifth quarter did 844,000 viewers and 279,000 in18-49 for Bronson Reed vs. Austin Theory. The sixth quarter did 830,000 viewers and 272,000 in18-49 Roderick Strong vs. Killian Dain. The seventh quarter did 820,000 viewers and 262,000 in 18-49 for the post-match angle with Dain & Drake Maverick vs. Strong & Bobby Fish and the climax of the Candice LeRae and Tegan Nox angle. The eighth quarter was 918,000 viewers and 307,000 in 18-49 for Ripley vs. Martinez in a cage.

The show did a 0.11 in 12-17 (down 26.7 percent), 0.09 in 18-34 (down 31.3 percent), 0.35 in 35-49 (down 8.0 percent) and 0.43 in 50+ (up 7.0 percent). The audience was 64.7 percent male in 18-49 and 75.3 percent male in 12-17, so in particular there was a big drop with teenage girls from last week of 51.9 percent.

The AEW show on 9/9 did 1,016,000 viewers and an 0.37 (481,000 viewers) in 18-49.

Although there is some psychological success in topping 1 million viewers, and the show went against NBA & NHL playoffs, being unopposed by NXT, that is about what should have been expected. It was the most viewers the show has done since the second episode of the show on 10/9 and in 18-34, it was the highest since 1/15. It was helped by coming off the PPV show, but didn’t have anything marquee advertised with Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes as the headliner. Of the company’s biggest stars (Chris Jericho, Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, Adam Page,. Orange Cassidy and MJF), Jericho and Cassidy were the only one who wrestled on the show and both were in non-marquee matches.

AEW nearly beat Raw in 18-34, with having 164,000 viewers to AEW’s 155,000. AEW won, barely in women 18-34, by a 64,000 to 63,000 mark, so they did start getting the women’s audience back. Still, both were hurt significantly in that demo by both the NBA and NHL ...

AEW was No 7 in 18-49 ...

The show did 91,000 in male 18-34 (down 25.4 percent from last week), 64,000 in women 18-34 (up 56.1 percent), 236,000 in males 35-49 (up 13.5 percent) and 90,000 in women 35-49 (down 8.2 percent).

They also had a huge pickup in teenage girls, increasing 121.7 percent from last week.

AEW’s viewer high point was Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes.

The high point in 18-34 (173,000) was the Adam Page interview and Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss. The high point in 35-49 (358,000) and 18-49 was the ending of Jericho & Hager vs. Janela & Kiss, the Jericho interview, the MJF/Wardlow segment and Jon Moxley interview.

The show opened with 989,000 viewers and 498,000 in 18-49 for Penta & Fenix vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus and Eddie Kingston post-match. The second segment did 1,004,000 viewers and 496,000 in 18-49 for a Lance Archer & Jake Roberts promo, Matt Hardy interview and the beginning of Cassidy vs. Angelico. The third segment did 1,026,000 viewers and 487,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Cassidy vs. Angelico, the post-match with Best Friends and Santana & Ortiz brawling, and Sabian & Miro segment. The fourth segment did 1,017,000 viewers and 486,000 in 18-49 for the Page interview and most of Jericho & Hager vs. Janela & Kiss.

The fifth segment did 1,026,000 viewers and 523,000 in 18-49 for te ending of Jericho & Hager vs. Janela & Kiss, Jericho’s interview, MJF & Wardlow and Moxley’s interview. The sixth segment did 989,000 and 469,000 in 18-49 for the FTR tag team celebration, Ricky Starks interview and the beginning of Nyla Rose vs. Tay Conti. The seventh segment did 973,000 viewers and 427,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Rose vs. Conti, the post-match with Hikaru Shida and Rose, and Kenny Omega interview. The final segment did 1,066,000 viewers and 458,000 in 18-49 for Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes and the post-match.

The show did a 0.17 in 12-17 (up 13.3 percent), 0.22 in 18-34 (down 4.9 percent), 0.52 in 35-49 (up 6.5 percent) and 0.43in 50+ (up 18.6 percent). AEW tied NXT in 50+, which is rare, but AEW was on its traditional day, but NXT was actually unopposed while AEW did have competition from the NXT replay.

Emperor Smeat

09-15-2020, 09:40 PM

The Sheets sponsored by long lost IIconics member Jinder Mahal:
https://i.imgur.com/LsWqIMD.gif

Loading up Raw and giving it the In Your Face theme worked for at least the first two hours as while the total audience for last night's show was down, the key demos were up against the NFL, which was way down in its opening Monday night.

Raw averaged 1.69 million viewers and 0.50 in 18-49, down two percent from last week in viewers and up four percent in 18-49. With anything less that a strong lineup with a Women's title bout, a champions vs. champions match, a cage match, and a Drew McIntyre vs. Keith Lee match, the show would have been expected to do near record lows.

There was a 16 percent first-to-third hour drop, a larger drop than has been usual ...

Conversely, Raw was down 26 percent in viewers, 31 percent in 18-49, and 34 percent in 18-34 from the same week last year.

Raw was fourth in 18-49 behind both NFL games and the SportsCenter show that aired at 1:31 a.m. after the second game ...

As far as the audience leaving from hour one to hour three, the drop was nine percent with women 18-49, 16 percent with men 18-49, a four percent increase in teenage girls, 14 percent decrease in teenage boys, and a 16 percent decrease in people over 50.

The three hours were:
8 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.73 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.53 million viewers

The trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian dropped today and featured a familiar face to wrestling fans: Sasha Banks.

Banks (Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado) will play an unspecified part, but there is speculation that her character will be a Jedi. A Disney Plus property, The Mandalorian is set in the Star Wars universe. Banks tweeted the trailer today, confirming her role.

The Mat Men podcast first reported Banks's involvement in the series back in February.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_oqFtOULjs

On his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of June but just got his results back: “About an hour ago from the CDC, and the CDC told me that, yes, I have tested positive for the coronavirus -- back at the end of June... I never got my result back, but they called me, rest assured, today to tell me that back at the end of June when I got tested, I tested positive. And I’ve had three tests since then, and they all came back negative. But it just goes to show how backed up we really are with this system that we’re working with as far as people finding out if they got this, or if they don’t got -- I’m living proof. I’m living proof. Thank God I’m still here, and I got a healthy immune system. And God spared me on this one, but I could have been one of the nearly 200,000 that didn’t know I had this and I was gone on my way to the next life. But man, it’s bigger than that. I know what I went through for, you know, it wasn’t a long time - a couple of weeks that I went through it. I had the headaches, I had the night sweats, I lost my taste and smell for two weeks. And I thank God I was smart enough to quarantine from the family. I stayed away from everyone. I put myself off in the west wing [laughs], you know what I’m saying? And I stayed there for a couple of weeks until I started feeling better, until everything started subsiding, even my taste, I waited until that started to come back a little bit before I started meeting up with the family and what not. Thank God I did, because I could be like The Rock as far as the whole family coming down with this. Like I said, I got my mother-in-law here with us. It’s something that’s so serious. I just want y’all to be so careful with this.”

In an interview with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, Mike Rotunda discussed his release from WWE: “Well, I got furloughed in the middle of April along with a number of other people so, it’s been quite some time and didn’t look like it was gonna open back up. I kind of prepared myself for it, but I wasn’t exactly sure what was gonna happen, which I’m fine with it. Like you said, I had a long run there, I’m 62-years old and to be honest with you, it was harder and harder to do all the traveling and keep that pace. It definitely helps being a little younger when you’re trying to keep the pace that you’d have to working for WWE. Especially, my whole time there, we did live shows. Like depending on which show you were on, we did both television shows and I did a ton of live events which were like Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then TVs were Monday, Tuesday until they switched to the Friday Night SmackDown. So I definitely put a lot of time in on the road and it’s kinda nice being home. My wife and I have been married, it’ll be 36 years in October and all but three years of that, I’ve been on the road so I mean, that’s a long time and I’m actually enjoying to be home more and be around my wife and see my grandkids some more and get a chance to go fishing more so, which I like to do living here in Florida. That’s my go-to, my relaxation so it’s given me an opportunity to do more, to me something that’s important to do and it’s fun for me.”

Chris Dickinson and Calvin Tankman have been added to Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport, joining Deonna Purrazzo, Homicide, and Josh Alexander as wrestlers announced for the show. It’s taking place on October 11 as part of Game Changer Wrestling’s The Collective.

Edward “Teddy Hart” Annis, 40, was sentenced to ten days’ imprisonment in Richmond County Jail on 9/10 following a court hearing before the Richmond City Circuit Court, Criminal Division in Virgnia, but was arrested again after being incarcerated.

As PWInsider.com has covered, Annis was arrested after being pulled over by authorities in Richmond on 2/12. Annis had been charged with possession of a schedule III narcotic and possession with intent to sell or distribute. During the court hearing on 9/10, it was ruled that there was probable cause in regard to the charges of possession of a schedule III narcotic and possession with intent to sell or distribute. Those charges will move on to a grand jury and should they decide to bring official charges against Annis after evaluating the evidence against him, Hart would stand trial for those charges ...

During the 9/10 hearing, Annis was found guilty of being in possession of a schedule III narcotic. He was also fined $21 in fines and court costs for not carrying or exhibiting his driver’s license or registration. He was also fined $61 for failure to use lights with wipers. Charges of being in possession of marijuana and for improperly mounted license plates were dropped as it was determined there was not sufficient evidence to pursue those charges.

However, court records indicate that Annis’ ten day jail sentence stemmed from a March 4th arrest, where he was taken into custody for violating his house arrest in Virginia. Annis had been staying at an apartment with Virginia-area wrestler Pork Chop Johnson. Johnson stated on social media that he removed Hart for his behavior in the apartment. Hart was also fined $232 in relation to that charge.

Court records also indicate that Hart had been declared a fugitive from justice on 5/4. Record list him as arrested on that charge on 9/11, one day after he had been processed into Richmond City Jail. Hart is scheduled for another hearing on 10/13, facing charges of a felony arrest without a warrant.

The WWE concussion lawsuit court case was officially closed today by the Appeals Court in New York. The only remaining aspect of the case, which would fall under Connecticut Court, is the sanctions against the attorneys who represented the former WWF/WWE talents and how much the financial damages will be.

As viewers of Monday Night Raw may have easily realized, the finish of Mickie James vs. Asuka did not go as planned last night.

The planned finish was for James to tap out to the Asuka Lock but the bell was rung prematurely while James and Asuka were grappling with James selling Asuka trying to lock her in a submission hold.

PWInsider.com has been told by numerous sources that the decision was made to ring the bell out of concern that James might actually have been out on her feet due to the way she was selling the move.

We are told James was actually fine and just did such an excellent job of selling that she was out of it that she fooled those overseeing the match, including the referee. We have heard different versions of who called for the finish, but the decison was made that the match be stopped out of concern for James, who was actually fine.

Mickie James chatted with Comicbook.com ahead of the 9/14 episode of RAW. Mickie stated that she would like to see a women’s only show be added to the WWE Network. Mickie explained that the fan base is there for it and it could be something similar to a one-hour format like 205 Live.

“I feel that’s a very, it’s a big dream. It’s a big reach because it’s so much that’s involved when you’re creating something like that. I feel like where we are now, we have so much. First, we have the Network, which has so many outlets and so much stuff that we can do and different types of products that we can put out there.

We have the largest female roster that we’ve ever had combined between RAW, SmackDown, NXT and NXT UK, and there’s a vast amount of female talent, more female talent than there’s ever been. It could be an opportunity within our shows. Sometimes there’s really only time for a female championship match or whatever. A whole show, even if it was just an hour, like a 205 Live or something like that, that is cultivated just for the women, is something I think would satisfy a market that really just loves women’s wrestling. It’s a chance for a lot of females that perhaps don’t get a chance to shine as much on TV to shine there, and then Evolution could be our big pay-per-view of the year.”
Considering WWE has over 40 women wrestlers just on RAW, SD, and NXT, a weekly 1 hour women's only brand could work out very well. 205 Live's biggest problems were Vince/WWE's historically poor handling of Cruiser/Lucha style wrestling and the roster kept shrinking due to the Draft and Shakeups and wasn't being replenished until way too late.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated interviewed IMPACT Wrestling’s Acey Romero about his journey to get healthier and drop down to the 200 pound range. While discussing his goals, Acey shared that he has two years left on his IMPACT contract.

“I was pleasantly surprised with my results, but there is still a long way to go. Wrestling is a big part of it, but this goes much deeper than wrestling. Success doesn’t mean anything if I don’t have my health.

I know people won’t believe what I want to do, but they won’t be able to believe the way I look, either. I have two more years on my contract, and my goal is to be Impact world champion. That’s my goal before the end of my contract. I’ll have to work my ass off to get there, but I wouldn’t want to do it any other way.”

Romero opened up about how some in the wrestling business were not supportive of his weight loss venture. He said that some told him he was “killing his gimmick” and while he somewhat agreed, he said he was also killing his health.

“A lot of people reached out and said I’m killing my gimmick, that I should stay big. Maybe they’re right, maybe I am killing my gimmick, but I was also in the process of killing myself. I understand that now, so I’m doing this for me. If I kept going the way I was going, I don’t know if I’d make it to 40. I don’t want to be that guy.”
Whoever gave him that shit advice about him "killing his gimmick" due to him wanting to be healthy can go eff themselves and good for him on not listening to those dumbasses.

Dave Marquez joined the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to promote the Prime Time Live PPV special on 9/15. Marquez revealed that he had a health scare at an NWA Powerrr taping and had to go to the backstage area to be checked on by the doctor in attendance. He said that could’ve been a reason why Sean Mooney was brought onto the program ...

COVID precautions are in place for the Prime Time Live special. Marquez said that one of their announcers tested positive and he was around said individual so he went to get tested and had a series of tests set up in the days leading up to the 15th. Temperatures are being checked and if the staff does not trust the situation, a physician will be on-hand to conduct the COVID-19 test.

“You can’t necessarily trust the public getting tested and yeah, you could take their temperature and all that kind of stuff… we’re taking it pretty serious in our operation. I know that there’s others that don’t take it serious. Like today, I found out one of our announcers tested positive and I was with them four days ago so I went and got a test this morning. I’ll have another test next week and I’ll have another test on the 14th before the 15th to make sure everything is cool, and people are flying from across the country into this and so I have to take their word for it that they’re negative. Hopefully they have proof that they’re negative. We’ll take their temperatures and there is a COVID procedure at the stage if we really question it. There’s a physician or two to administer a test if we need it done. But, for the most part, we’re gonna be very cautious.”

Sugar Dunkteron, formerly known as “Pineapple Pete” was a part of the RAW Underground crowd on 9/15.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling revealed the bracket for the Lion’s Break Crown tournament. Logal Riegel is taking on The DKC. Clark Connors is facing off against Jordan Clearwater. Danny Limelight vs. Barrett Brown is set for the tournament as is Adrian Quest vs. Blake Christian.

Q - I know I don't pay attention to RAW and SmackDown 100% of the time like I used to but wasn't Nia Jax suspended indefinitely. Did they ever mention how she returned and won the Women's tag titles?

A - The Smackdown hacker brought her back. Seriously, WWE is really good at not following up or explaining storylines
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on WWE's way too often inability to follow through with their storylines.

The AEW one hour show that was originally set for Wednesday night will now air on both TNT and TSN on 9/22 after NBA coverage.

Hulu has purchased 100 hours of Vice TV programming including every episode of Dark Side of the Ring.

While Major League Wrestling has announced deals with Fubo TV and DAZN, we are told that the promotion is not done seeking out new potential TV or streaming deals. The promotion is currently being represented by their agency, ICM Partners, for additional media deas, for multiple series ideas beyond MLW Fusion. The promotion will still be seen on BeIN Sport on Saturdays.

TPWW Frontpage:

More Gameplay Details and DLC Plans for WWE 2K Battlegrounds (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/more-gameplay-details-and-dlc-plans-for-wwe-2k-battlegrounds/)
WWE: Bobby Lashley on Hurt Business, Mickie James on Career Goal, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-bobby-lashley-on-hurt-business-mickie-james-on-career-goal-updated-sd-ratings/)
The Identities of RETRIBUTION on Tonight’s Raw (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/the-identities-of-retribution-on-tonights-raw/)
Jeff Hardy Signs New Contract With WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/jeff-hardy-signs-new-contract-with-wwe/)
Ivar Undergoing Surgery for Neck Injury (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/ivar-undergoing-surgery-for-neck-injury/)
The Mystery Woman on SmackDown Is Probably Carmella (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/the-mystery-woman-on-smackdown-is-probably-carmella/)
AEW Selling Season Pass Tickets for Dynamite (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-selling-season-passes-for-dynamite/)

Emperor Smeat

09-16-2020, 07:08 PM

The Sheets:

WWE is hyping that a pair of "major announcements" will be made on tonight's episode of NXT.

In a tweet this afternoon, WWE revealed that NXT general manager William Regal will appear on tonight's show to make the announcements: "BREAKING NEWS: @RealKingRegal will have two MAJOR announcements tonight on #WWENXT"

Regal also tweeted: "A new episode, a new champion, and an upcoming #NXTTakeOver. I cannot overstate how grateful I am to work alongside the men and women of #WWENXT and tonight is about new opportunities."

While the buys for the first Talk'N ShopAMania pay-per-view aren't public, it apparently did well enough that Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Rocky Romero are going to run it back this fall.

On the 700th edition of Chris Jericho's podcast Thursday, the trio announced that the sequel will air on Friday, November 13th, and will feature a "Ball for a Ball" match between Chad 2 Badd (Anderson) and Sex Ferguson (Gallows) as the main event.

Their initial attempt at a comedic wrestling show debuted on Saturday, August 1st and featured a main event of Badd vs. Ferguson in a Boneryard match. The show was filled with gimmick matches and cameos from Enzo, the Young Bucks, Heath Miller, Rocky Romero, Chavo Guerrero, Mike and Maria Bennett, D-Lo Brown, the Rock'n'Roll Express, Swoggle, Teddy Long, The Flock, and others.

In a past interview with WrestleZone, Gallows said they intentionally left several people off the first ShopAMania in case they did a sequel. The first one was filmed in Gallows' backyard over several long filming days in early-July and it's assumed the sequel will also be pre-taped.

As had been expected, Wade Barrett has officially signed with WWE and will be a full-time part of the NXT announcing team going forward.

Barrett announced the signing this afternoon during an interview with Justin Barrasso from Sports Illustrated.

Barrett stated that he signed a one-year deal with the company with the option there to extend going forward.

All Elite Wrestling filed a trademark on 9/10 for "All Elite Wrestling - Elite General Manager." The trademark filing is for good and services, "Downloadable game software; Downloadable computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones; Downloadable electronic game software for use on handheld computers and mobile gaming devices; Downloadable video game programs; Recorded video game software."

Last night's United Wrestling Network PPV debut was marred by streaming issues for the FITE version, which seemed to get better as the show went on. We are told by readers who ordered the show on InDemand and other PPV providers that the PPV version did not have similar issues. UWN President Dave Marquez addressed the issued on Twitter:

Thanks to everyone who joined us tonight for #PrimeTimeLive! I do apologize for the technical issues on @FiteTV, those happened on their end. We’ll be replacing the show with a master file. See ya next week! pic.twitter.com/07IaoCSytm
— David Marquez (@CWFHMarquez) September 16, 2020

The show also ran into timing issues as several of the earlier matches ran long, leading to the Tribe vs. Wolf Zaddies and the UWN TV title bout between Dan Joseph and Levi Shapiro being extremely cut down. It seemed the tag match competitors had zero idea they were going to a time limit draw when the bell rang. The NWA Championship match between Nick Aldis and challenger Mike Bennett was obviously on hyperspeed as well as they rushed to make sure they could get through what was planned in the 8-9 minutes they had. Aldis' main events usually go in the 20-25 minute range, so they were working around what time they were left with ...

Dave Marquez directed the PPV.

Although he was mentioned on the air, NWA President Billy Corgan was not at the PPV.

Joe Galli, Todd Kenley and Alyssa Marino were absolutely excellent on commentary last night.

There were zero injuries coming out of the show.

The backstage interviews were all pre-tapes from earlier in the afternoon.

Several hours before the PPV, there was a power outage in Long Beach, CA, where Thunder Studios is located, which obviously would have been a disaster had that happened when the show was on the air, but thankfully that didn't happen.

Chris McCumber, who served as the President of the USA Network and Syfy will be leaving NBCUniversal after 19 years. McCumber was considered the point person in the relationship between the network and WWE.

McCumber had been with the USA Network since 2001 and was named its president in 2011. Deadline noted in its story that he spearheaded the negotiations with WWE with their latest deal for Raw believed to be worth $265 million annually for the five-year pact that went into effect last October.

Daniel Cormier spoke with Justin Barrasso of SI.com regarding a potential future with WWE and gave the indication the two sides are talking and threw out his own ideas:

"We’ve been talking. We’ve spoken to some of the people over there in very, very early conversations. WWE is a company I’ve watched and loved my entire life. Put me at the commentary table. Let me call the matches for six months and tell you how great these wrestlers are in the ring. I would love that, and I wouldn’t be faking it. WWE is something I’ve loved my entire life.

Then, after those six months, what if I’m sitting next to Michael Cole, and Roman comes over and smacks the microphone out of my hand? But I’m an announcer. Will I hit him back? Then you’re asking if this will happen or not. That’s what I want, that slow build, the type of story you want to see, and your heart feels like it’s going to explode while you’re waiting for it. Give me the slow build, let it simmer."

David Bixenspan has an extensive rundown of the latest involving the case between Matt Riddle and Candy Cartwright (real name Samantha Tavel). Bixenspan has obtained documents that outline Riddle and his lawyer Daniel J. Rose had filed a complaint against Tavel making numerous claims including committed stalking, threatening Riddle and his family, and destroying personal property. Last week, just three days before a hearing was scheduled, Riddle and his lawyer filed a notice for a voluntary dismissal to close the case.

Bixenspan analyzed the allegations in the complaint and whether they hold up based on the public evidence that is out there. One allegation was that Tavel posted Lisa Riddle’s (Matt’s wife) phone number and their home address, which public tweets show had the phone number covered in a screenshot post with no evidence that Tavel herself posted the Riddle’s home address.

In the documents, it states the affair began between Riddle and Tavel in November 2017 and didn’t end until July 2019. There was a claim by Riddle that Tavel showed up at Full Sail University this past February and was escorted out, although Full Sail University has not issued a response regarding the incident when asked by Bixenspan.
Link: https://babyfacevheel.substack.com/p/matt-riddle-cancelled-restraining

ESPN spoke with Chad Johnson, who is the SVP of sales and development for the Jacksonville Jaguars about TIAA Bank Field being open to 25 percent capacity this past weekend for their opener. In researching a safe protocol, Johnson said they leaned on AEW’s presentation of shows next door at Daily’s Place to observe how fans acted and responded to the measures. Johnson said:

"We’ll have at least 10 dry runs of watching fan behavior, compliance, how they congregate, how they move. AEW, I sat there and filmed and watched how everybody moved. How long they took from the time they entered to the time they got to their seat. Where did they go? Where did they not go? We were studying that all along so we could adapt to their behavior.

When they were lining up and queueing, even when they were past where we had signage, people were following the 6-foot rule. It was perfect. They were so respectful of the process. I was really pleased. I was really pleased with how they kept their masks on. I was really pleased that they spent most of their time in their seats. They didn’t just go get a beer and hang out in open spaces. They really were respectful."

[GCW Joey Janela's]Spring Break 4 has released four-match announcements for the card on Saturday, October 10th:
*Matt Tremont vs. Alex Colon – billed as Tremont’s final GCW match
*Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty
*Alex Shelley vs. Tony Deppen
*Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. Ironbeast

WreslteTalk’s Louis Dangoor can exclusively reveal after speaking with WWE sources and Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that the backstage atmosphere at Raw and SmackDown shows has been much better over the last month or so.

Sources within the company have attributed the more positive atmosphere to the move to the Amway Center, with many feeling a lot happier and more positive following the move out of the Performance Center, which was to be expected.

The move to the Amway Center, which took place last month, is said to have given people backstage a lot more space backstage compared to the Performance Center, and that is said to have helped morale considerably.

Some members of the SmackDown roster have also attributed the positive atmosphere to the return of Roman Reigns, with the Universal Champion being seen as a clear lockerroom leader amongst his peers and higher-ups.

The shorter taping days will also have helped with the moral. WWE has gone from taping two weeks of SmackDown in one day to running weekly live shows.

Sonya Deville's stalker Phillip Thomas II has pled not guilty to all charges. Thomas II was charged with aggravated stalking, armed burglary of a dwelling, attempted armed kidnapping, and criminal mischief.

Armed burglary of a dwelling is a felony punishable by life in prison. The other counts, attempted armed kidnapping and aggravated stalking with a weapon, are second-degree felonies with a maximum of 15 years each. Criminal mischief is a second-degree misdemeanor with a fine of $200 or less.

Thomas remains incarcerated as his bail of $2 million was denied after the judge deemed him a threat to the community.

The Hillsborough County Court ruled on August 24 they would not release any evidence to the public before the hearing in regards to Sonya Deville's case against her stalker Phillip Thomas.

A hearing is scheduled for November 12 relating to the temporary injunction filed against Thomas in order to prevent him from approaching or contacting Deville or her family.

It was reported recently that NXT call-ups had not been given new contracts. Such had usually been the case when stars debuted on the main roster, but perhaps due to the pandemic and additional cost-cutting measures, new contracts were not given. Now, we have an update.

Fightful Select is currently reported that new deals have still not been offered. Additionally, the report states that WWE’s reasoning behind this has been that the talent’s travel and schedule have been reduced already so a new deal is not necessary.

The report also says the money associated with these contracts is significantly below what talent were being offered last year.

Among the most recent NXT call ups have been Keith Lee and the members of Retribution. While not officially called up, the group is reportedly made up of Dominik Dijakovic, Mia Yim, Mercedes Martinez, Shane Thorne, and Dio Maddin.

It remains to be seen when WWE will consider offering new contracts to the recent call-ups. If they are waiting for touring to begin again, it may be quite a while as this pandemic has no end in sight.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Signs Will Hobbs (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-signs-will-hobbs/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-13/)
NXT Announces Next TakeOver in October (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/nxt-announces-next-takeover-in-october/)

Emperor Smeat

09-17-2020, 09:56 PM

The Sheets sponsored by the Return of the Wednesday Night War:
https://i.imgur.com/bJUbrWE.gif

Last night's AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 886,000 viewers, down 12.8 percent from last week but up almost 10 percent from the last time the show aired head-to-head with NXT.

NXT was also up from the previous head-to-head battle, averaging 689,000 viewers. That's down 17.8 percent from running unopposed last Tuesday night but up 11 percent from the last head-to-head week on August 12.

With no NBA or NHL competition and news shows with a normal level of audience, Dynamite finished third on cable in the 18-49 demo on the night with a 0.34 rating. That's down 8.1 percent from last week but up six percent from August 12.

NXT managed a 0.18 rating in the demo, finishing 31st on cable. It was down 15 percent from last week but up 12.5 percent from August 12

In the other demo categories, it was the usual with AEW winning everything except people over 50, where NXT had a 0.36 to 0.32 advantage.

in women 18-49, AEW had a 0.23 rating to NXT's 0.13. In men 18-49, AEW doubled NXT with a 0.46 rating to NXT's 0.23. AEW was number one on cable in that demo.

In people 18-34, AEW had a huge advantage with a 0.24 rating to NXT's 0.10. AEW topped all of cable in that demo as well. In females 12-34, AEW had an advantage of 0.15 to 0.06. In males of the same age group, AEW drew a 0.26 rating and NXT drew a 0.14. AEW also topped cable in that category.

In people 25-54, AEW had a 0.38 rating to NXT's 0.22.

The combined audience of 1.575 million viewers was down 15.2 percent from last week when both shows aired on different nights but up 11.6 percent from the last time both aired on Wednesday.

While AEW Dynamite and NXT on USA go head-to-head again this week, last week was the fourth week in a row the shows didn’t battle head-to-head with their first-run programs.

Last week NXT was moved to Tuesday night for the second straight week, bumped from the usual timeslot due to NHL playoffs on USA Network. It drew 838,000 live and same-night-delayed viewers last week (9/8), down from the prior week’s (9/1) viewership of 849,000. The following are the viewership numbers for NXT the last four weeks without Dynamite as competition.

9/8: 838,000
9/1 849,000
8/26: 824,000
8/19: 853,000
AVERAGE: 841,000

The prior four weeks averaged 684,000 viewers. So NXT, without AEW as competition, despite airing on a different night the last two weeks, gained 157,000 viewers on average each week.

Meanwhile, AEW was unopposed in its usual Wednesday night timeslot the last two weeks, drawing 1,016,000 live and same-night-delayed viewers last week (9/9), an improvement on the 928,000 the prior wee (9/2). The preview two weeks NXT aired on Thursday and Saturday instead, bumped from its usual Wednesday night timeslot due to scheduled NBA playoff games.

The last two weeks averaged 972,000 viewers. The prior two weeks moved from its usual timeslot but airing unopposed averaged 784,000. The previous four weeks averaged 831,000. So the last two Wednesdays, unopposed by NXT, AEW drew on average 161,000 more viewers than it averaged during the prior four week “normal” period when up against NXT.

So bottom line, it appears that each show gained right around 160,000 viewers who typically would have watched the other show instead live or on a same-night-delay. This week, the shows get back to normal and it’s possible that one of the shows will end up retaining some new viewers if some of those 160,000 who sampled the other show end up sticking with that show instead.

On the latest edition of Wrestling with History on VOC Nation, Ken Resnick talked about the period in 1983 prior to the WWF recruiting Hulk Hogan and going national. Resnick discussed business mistakes made by Verne Gagne, Hogan giving Gagne an opportunity to match the WWF’s offer, the territory system, and much more. Here are some highlights:

On Verne Gagne’s reaction to McMahon’s push to go national: “I remember being in some of the discussions where Vince was kind of going through the country like a blitzkrieg…if you’re facing in business what was essentially a hostile takeover attempt by Vince McMahon or the WWF, the first thing you are taught in any business school is you circle your wagons (and) protect your own business. Being old school and so angered by what Vince was beginning to successfully do, Vern focused in trying to get into Vince’s backyard and let markets like Chicago and Milwaukee be basically second in thought and ripe for takeover.”

On business mistakes Gagne made that ultimately killed the promotion: “Vern sold the Winnipeg market and Winnipeg television to Wally Karbo, Jack Lanza, and Nick Bockwinkel. For a number of reasons, they ended up taking that television and giving that market to Vince. The late Dennis Hilgart, the promoter in Milwaukee, again a lot of it was financial, but he left Vern and he had the contacts and the agreements in Milwaukee and he went with Vince. It was a lot because Vern didn’t quite understand the corporate premise when you’re facing a hostile takeover that you circle the wagons. Vern left a lot of flanks exposed.”

On whether Hulk Hogan considered staying with the AWA: “Hulk did give Vern an opportunity. He was thinking about staying. One of the big things that Vince was able to offer was a high percentage of the secondary marketing – the tee shirts and hats and everything else – and Vern didn’t want to do that. He said ‘without me, you wouldn’t be able to sell anything; I’m not giving you that.’ I remember talking with Hulk and finally I said what’s stopping you? You’ve got 2 choices: You’ve got A, or you’ve got B which is 25x what A is.”

Daniel Rose, the attorney for WWE Smackdown star Matt Riddle announced today that Riddle has filed a civil lawsuit against independent wrestler Samantha "Candy Cartwright" Tavel. PWInsider.com has not yet been able to acquire the lawsuit.

As previously reported, Tavel alleges that in May 2018 when both were working for EVOLVE, Riddle allegedly attempted to force her to sleep with him, leading to her performing oral sex instead out of fear after he allegedly grabbed her by the throat. She alleges this took place in a van with several others sleeping in the van at the time ...

In court documents for the now-dropped restraining order (also filed in July), Riddle stated he was in a relationship with Tavel outside of his marriage and that after he broke it off, Tavel has since targeted and harrased him. He also alleged she timed her accusations for the date of his "WWE" debut (on Smackdown) and alleged that Tavel was removed from a WWE taping at Full Sail University. Tavel denied the removal in the court documents, stating that she was not at the venue on the night in question.

Tavel continued to post proof of her relationship with Riddle on her social media since her initial allegation.

Major League Wrestling ("MLW") today welcomed its newest member to the roster with LA Park Jr. officially joining the league.

The youngest son of the legendary LA Park, LA Park Jr. is the latest of several roster acquisitions that will be revealed in conjunction with MLW's highly anticipated restart this fall.

PWInsider.com has confirmed Ivar of the Viking Raiders underwent neck surgery earlier this week in Birmingham, Alabama. We are told there is currently no timetable for his return but it is not expected to be a short recovery.

WWE NXT developmental talent Simone Johnson had knee surgery at the start of the week in Birmingham as well.

For those of you who ordered the FITE.TV version of the United Wrestling Network Primetime Live PPV series, the replay version features a corrected broadcast. We are told that FITE was able to isolate what the issue was with the stream on Tuesday night and believes the issues have been resolved.

As we reported, several hours before the premiere, there was a power outage in Long Beach, CA that wiped out all the power at Thunder Studios. As they were going on the air live, UWN learned that the power outage completely wiped out all of their presets for graphics, lighting and audio, so just as viewers were watching for the first time, the production truck was feverishly trying to get everything that had worked for two days to have prepared back up and running.

Rocky Romero and several other New Japan Pro Wrestling reps were at the taping Tuesday.

Q - Is it true Robert Englund was supposed to host Raw at some point?

A - Yes, Englund, immortalized by his turn as Freddy Krueger in The A Nightmare on Elm Street film series, was scheduled to guest host to promote his autobiography "Hollywood Monster" in 2013 but scheduling conflicts caused him to pull out. He was never officially announced by WWE.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Rob Van Dam did an interview with WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard. When asked about his contract status with IMPACT Wrestling, RVD said that he’s on a per-taping agreement with the company and elaborated on why he has chosen to not let his emotions get wrapped up in pro wrestling.

“We kind of are like by a handful of shows, you know? So Scott [D’Amore] said, ‘Hey…’ I gotta figure what month it is but, ‘Hey, we got these tapings coming up in August, can you make it? What about these dates?’ So it’s still like that so we [do it], might be two shows ahead and then at the end you might say, ‘Hey, what about the next ones?’ So right now I’m sort of taking it one step at a time and even though I’m having fun and stuff, I would never allow myself to invest feelings into it to a point where I could hurt emotionally or mentally. You really got to learn to not give a — can I swear on here? You have to learn what to give a f*ck about in life. In this business, there’s plenty of heartbreaks, there’s plenty of promises that are made that are gonna not come through and that’s just part of it. How you adjust to that depends on who you are, what your values are and those are all factors on where you get. For me, I’ve always been up front and saying I adjusted by not giving a f*ck after a while. So when someone says something’s gonna happen, I believe it when it does happen and so, I’m stoked that IMPACT thinks that I’m a worthy investment. Some people ask, ‘Dude you’re not even on the opening of the show. How could they have the biggest star there and not even have you –’ I don’t know but you know what? I don’t give a f*ck, they’re paying me, so I’m doing my part and I hope to see them go and I know they are gonna go places but how they do it, regardless of [if] it’s different than how I would do it or not, that’s part of my adjustment to make it work.”

Doc Gallows, Rocky Romero and Karl Anderson joined Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast. Gallows revealed that while he was under contract to WWE, he was running independent shows based out of Georgia and when WWE found out about it, they wanted him to stop but Gallows quietly continued running shows.

Karl Anderson: “He was running shows about halfway through this little four year run in the fed and well, they shut him down halfway through because he wasn’t allowed to anymore.”

Doc Gallows: “So like any good brother would do, I just sold the promotion and then changed the name and just started silently running more.”

John Morrison sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview. Morrison talked about his return to WWE and choosing them over All Elite Wrestling:

“So when season four of Lucha [Underground] ended, they have some stuff on their contracts where there’s a tail and the tail doesn’t stop until the episodes stop airing, and so I had signed with IMPACT and when everything was free and clear, I decided — I’m a free agent again, completely free, no ties anywhere. I’m going to figure out where I want to go. So I talked to WWE and I talked to AEW and I had a really good conversation with Vince [McMahon], and they made me a really nice offer and I ended up taking it.”
If the choice was about money, then he made a great decision being in WWE but if the choice was about anything else, then he made a bad decision since his current run has been a big waste compared to what he was doing on the indies.

Shane McMahon joined Corey Graves on WWE’s After The Bell podcast ...

On the topic of RAW Underground, Shane McMahon talked about the inspiration behind the project and how some of his life experiences and interests led to the formation of RAW Underground.

“Quite a bit, quite a bit. I mean this goes way back. This is an original concept. This is more even going back to roman gladiator times when they used to have short matches to determine who was gonna be [the successor]. So the iterations, there’s been lots of stuff or similar things I should say — got ‘em in Japan for quite some time and I’ve been traveling to Japan since the late 80s, so when I was a teenager and I saw some of this so, it always resonated with me and again, you mentioned MMA and a lot of my friends do that sport. I also practice multiple forms of it and I really enjoy it so, if you can blend that with WWE entertainment and what we can compact together and again, it’s a work in progress. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”

WWE 2K Battlegrounds is set to release on Friday, September 18, but reviewers were able to get an early copy of the game.

Twitch streamers newLEGACYinc played a handful of games this week and discovered an image that has a striking resemblance to former IMPACT Champion Tessa Blanchard.

Blanchard is currently a free agent after she departed from IMPACT Wrestling in June. It is unknown where she will end up next or if she has an offer from any company. She has remained at home during the pandemic era, choosing not to wrestling for IMPACT as they held empty arena shows heading into Slammiversary.
Link: https://twitter.com/TigerDriver9X/status/1306736974896812032

Trent's Mom Sue is a jack of all trades.

We previously learned that Sue brought the crew at AEW Dynamite a batch of homemade cookies. MJF called the cookies "meh" while Eddie Kingston cut a promo on one cookie before burying it in his mouth.

Now, thanks to Bryce Remsburg, we also know that Sue brought brownies to AEW as well and even gave out some parenting advice.

Sue made another appearance on Wednesday's Dynamite, picking up her son Trent and his best friends Chuckie T and Orange Cassidy from their parking lot brawl against Proud-N-Powerful (Santana & Ortiz). Sue even let them in her vehicle even though they were a bloody mess.

She also left Santana & Ortiz with a parting gift.
Link to the gift: https://twitter.com/tde_gif/status/1306413109859491846

During this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, a match between NWA Women’s Champion and Ivelisse broke down, with real life strikes exchanged between both competitors.

According to Fightful Select (subscription required), Thunder Rosa took exception to Ivelisse no-selling, which caused both wrestlers to go at each other physically.

Following the match, other wrestlers in AEW stated “they didn’t seem to be getting along prior.” Those in attendance believed the match would have to be edited, but it’s unknown if certain spots were removed from the broadcast. While many felt uncomfortable during the match, there has been support for Thunder Rosa backstage in the locker room.

TPWW Frontpage:

More on Parking Lot Fight Match at This Week’s AEW Dynamite Show (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/more-on-parking-lot-fight-match-at-this-weeks-aew-dynamite-show/)
Two Episodes of Dynamite Next Week, Six Matches Announced (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/two-episodes-of-dynamite-next-week-six-matches-announced/)
Battle Royal, Gauntlet Match & More Announced for Future NXT Episodes (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/battle-royal-gauntlet-match-more-announced-for-future-nxt-episodes/)

slik

09-18-2020, 01:40 PM

PWInsider reporting that Melina has signed a contract to return to WWE.

drave

09-18-2020, 02:10 PM

Her splits are not PG

slik

09-18-2020, 02:11 PM

maybe she is the leader of RETRIBUTION

drave

09-18-2020, 02:16 PM

That'd be a fucking let down, moreso than the group already is.

Emperor Smeat

09-18-2020, 03:14 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

New Japan officially announced its G-1 lineups which will likely contain many if not most of the best matches of 2020.

What’s notable is that every show, except for the finals, will consist of six singles matches, which would be five tournament matches from one of th two blocks, and a singles opener involving a match up with Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji and Gabriel Kidd.

There will be no tag matches to build up the next card. The key is the shows will be shorter, but with the idea of not cutting back on match time in the tournament. All arenas will be sold to half capacity, so it is almost a lock that every show will sell out ...

All shows will air live in Japanese on New Japan World. The belief is that at least some of the shows will also air live in English. Right now it is not clear what shows with air live in English past the final three shows likely will .

In the B block anyone who beats Naito is likely to get an IWGP or IC title match in the fall. In the A block, people beating Takagi will likely be the ones challenging for the Never title between now and the end of the year. Those who beat Ospreay may challenge for the British title but that’s up in the air because of travel ...

Another note is that this will be a different Ospreay than before as he’s gained 15 pounds during the pandemic. By only wrestling twice five months, when he wasn’t battling depression issues he was on a bodybuilding regime and now has one of the best physiques in the company if not the business. With guys known for flying, like Rey Mysterio, gaining a lot of weight, even when it’s muscle, does affect the flying. I’ve only seen one match of this with the new weight and it was a tag match and he was working a different style with less acrobatics and more wrestling. And that may end up a positive because he’s not a heavyweight rather than a junior heavyweight and the added weight can strengthen weak spots as far as bumping, but can also put more stress on knees and back. If you look back historically at people like Davey Boy Smith, Mysterio, Dynamite Kid and others, they did have their best matches when they were lighter. But with others, like Kenny Omega, they had better matches bigger so each case is different, but stylistically it’ll likely be a different Ospreay.

While the lack of cheering crowds will hurt, from a health standpoint, the more days off and no tag matches between singles matches looks to be a positive as far as match quality and injury recuperation goes.

Matt Riddle dropped a petition on 9/7 in Orange County to get a restraining order against Samantha Tavel (Candy Cartwright), who had accused him of sexual assault on Twitter and in an article in Newsweek, and is now expected to file a slander/libel lawsuit against Tavel on 9/22 for alleging he sexually assaulted her.

The first filing was simply to get a restraining order to keep her from the Performance Center, where she allegedly came and caused a scene on December 19, 2019.

Tavel and her lawyers were given five-day notice of plans to file a suit by Riddle against her in Marion Country in Florida on or after 9/22 based on giving five day notice based on comments that came out after the petition was dropped, claiming Tavel made up the claim and was attempting to ruin his career after he broke up with her.

Riddle and Tavel had a relationship for several years on-and-off and after it was broken off by Riddle a second time, Tavel accused Riddle of sexual assault from a few years earlier, said to be in a van that the two along with others from Evolve were traveling together to shows in. Her claim is that nobody else in the van was aware of it because they were sleeping.

WWE was aware of the issues between the two for more than one year and had looked into the case at the time and it had not affected Riddle’s standing with the company. Riddle had contemplated filing for a restraining order against her last year but it was said that he decided against doing so after he talked with WWE about the situation.

The two had a relationship at the time of the alleged sexual assault and continued the relationship after that time period.

According to an article by David Bixenspan on the Babyface vs. Heel web site, Riddle alleged by checking a category when filing for the original restraining order that Tavel had committed stalking, previously threatened, harassed, stalked, cyberstalked or physically abused Riddle, threatened to harm Riddle or family member or individuals close to him, used or threatened to use weapons against him such as guns of knives, destroyed personal property, including but not limited to telephones and other communication equipment, clothing or other items belonging to Riddle ...

Daniel Rose, the attorney for Riddle, alleged that there had been no public statements by Tavel in several months and they believed there would not be when they pulled the attempt to get the order three days prior. The article indicated they pulled it based on a filing from Tavel’s attorney trying to deny the order and to get it thrown out to where Riddle’s side would have to pay Tavel’s court costs.

In Riddle’s original petition he was attempting to keep Tavel from coming to the Performance Center. Riddle’s statement was that he met Tavel in 2016, and they started having an affair on November 6, 2017. He said he tried to break up with her in June 2018, but they ended up still seeing each other under he broke up with her again in July 2019.

He said Tavel systematically stalked, cyberstalked and harassed himself and hi wife since July 9, 2019. He said he blocked her on social media and changed his phone number, only for her to text him from a burner phone saying that if he didn’t leave his wife for her that he would be sorry and she would ruin his career.

Days later he and attorney Daniel J. Rose talked about filing a restraining order, but didn’t do it, but did contact WWE about the situation. The petition also lists that this past February (it was actually believed to be December 19, 2019) that Tavel came from New York to Full Sail University where he was working and she created a scene and had to be escorted out of the building.

On 6/19, Tavel accused Riddle of sexual assault during the Speaking Out movement back when both were working for Evolve. She said this took place in May 2018, alleging he forced her to perform oral sex on him out of fear when he grabbed her by the throat in a van when the two and three others were traveling together to shows. The reason she said there were no witnesses to this because everyone else in the van was sleeping. Riddle denied the charge and then filed for the restraining order this past July after she first made the claim. He admitted the two had a relationship and that after he broke it up she began harassing him. Riddle said these claims caused himself and his family “substantial emotional distress.”

Rose claimed Tavel posted Riddle’s home address and wife’s number on Twitter causing her to receive numerous crank calls and death threats which he said were recorded and could be brought to trial. It should be noted that there was a Tweet that showed a people finder web site but it was not from Tavel but from a fan who was part of the conversation, listing Riddle’s last two addresses from a people finder web site.

In a text Tavel released, Lisa Riddle’s phone number was blocked. Tavel’s attorney, Allison Lovelady, pointed to that and noted Tavel never released either their address nor Lisa Riddle’s phone number. However, there are people who have found evidence of people talking about Tavel’s texts that did have the phone number and noted it being deleted with a later text that hid the phone number. Riddle’s attorney claimed Tavel posted Lisa Riddle’s phone number on Twitter from a burner phone and then hours later deleted it and reposted it with the phone number covered up.

The claim was this phone number, later deleted, still resulted in Lisa Riddle’s wife getting death threats and hate messages. There were also claims that Tavel left phone messages to Lisa Riddle during this period threatening her ...

A release claiming victory after Rose and Riddle withdrew the injunction was sent out. The release claimed a false allegation that Tavel traveled to Orlando and caused a scene in February, which was listed in the petition, when she claimed she was never in Florida in February. The claim is that is now that the scene did happen in front of people on December 19, 2019 at Full Sail University.

The release tweeted by Tavel claimed that after Rose sent out a release over the summer first saying that they were going to attempt to get an injunction that Tavel suffered online harassment and retaliation against her, as well as cost her an opportunity to work with WWE and made it difficult for her to find work. Rose claimed that the WWE has made clear they were never interested in Tavel and this did not cost her a job with the company ...

Technically the claims were not dismissed, but withdrawn, and if anything the situation got more heated after the release with the claim by Rose that they were filing suit against her this coming week.

Still, WWE teasing this as part of a storyline on Smackdown last week is mystifying at best, insane at worst given the touchy nature of the subject.

Lovelady attempted to get the injunction dismissed saying there was no support for any claims of threats, destruction of property and/or use of weapons and text messages Riddle supplied showed no evidence of threats to ruin his career if he didn’t leave his wife.

She claimed the petition should be dismissed with Riddle having to pay Tavel’s legal fees and claimed Riddle’s attempt to keep her from attending events at the Performance Center but not from his home or any other location says this is an attempt to harm, harass and silence her and not to protect him.

AAA: Konnan, on his podcast, said that they were hoping to be back running shows in October. He said it was not official and if there is an increase in the COVID-19 cases in Mexico it would be delayed

NEW JAPAN: While it’s not announced that Jeff Cobb has signed here, it’s pretty much a sure thing. Cobb has said that he’s signed with a promotion but would wait for them to announce it. It’s known that he turned down AEW and ROH. This is the only place he’s been working since the pandemic started and pretty much everyone New Japan ism using right now is under contract because there are limited spots with running shorter shows with fewer matches

Regarding Mexicans who can work in the U.S, besides Penta and Fenix, would be Laredo Kid, Black Taurus and Psycho Clown who all have visas. El Hijo del Vikingo doesn’t have a visa

AEW: The ending of the Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela match on the 9/9 show did more than 580,000 18-49 viewers and almost 1.2 million total viewers

The plan is to stay at Daily’s Place at least through November (and likely longer) and they’ve offered a plan for $175 for tickets for the next seven tapings which works out to $25 per show. As noted last week, they were going to have a lot of trouble running so frequently in the same location. WWE couldn’t even make this work in a population as large as New York and they only made it work in Orlando by having 400 seats and keeping ticket price low

The one hour show that was originally going to air on 9/16 before it turned out there was no NBA game that night, will air after the NBA on 9/22 on both TNT and TSN in Canada. The show has Matt Sydal vs. Shawn Spears, Anna Jay vs. Brandi Rhodes and Scorpio Sky vs. Benjamin Carter. The latter match, if it’s given time, should be tremendous. Still, it feels like this is a throw away show because it’s on late at night and none of the major stars are on it. I’d like this, coming right after NBA coverage, to be a chance to make new stars for the product and have a more marquee show, although Sky vs. Carter could wow people but there’s still no established major star power past Chris Jericho announcing

Jericho on his Saturday night YouTube show said that he was the one who came up with Miro’s line that was anti-WWE. He told Miro the line and Miro couldn’t believe he’d be allowed to say that on television and Jericho told him here you can say what you want. "I've always been a fan of his. He's another guy, who, for whatever reason, fell through the cracks there and they are going to regret letting him go.” Jericho’s line was about “10 years under the same house, under the same glass ceiling" and chasing an imaginary brass ring. Well, you can take that brass ring and shove it up your ass," "I'm glad Miro came in and gave his mission statement," Jericho stated. "That said, we'll just leave it there now. This is not a place that wants to constantly bash another place. Obviously, when you come from another company, you have to acknowledge the fact that you came from there, because there's a history. But then you move on." Miro said he will not be talking about WWE going forward, although apparently he was not happy at all with Lana’s portrayal on the 9/14 Raw show since a lot of people were asking questions right after that angle aired whether that was done as a reprisal to his AEW interview

Jericho also said that him debuting as Sabian’s best man is actually part of a long thought out storyline in the sense Miro will be “The Best Man” as his nickname, as a takeoff on Curt Hennig as Mr. Perfect. "The Best Man thing is not a one-time deal," Jericho said. “It is going to be his new gimmick. He's the Best Man at everything, similar to Mr. Perfect. You know, Miro has always been a great guy, very funny guy, which a lot of people don't know. It's very cool to have him with us.

I had figured the reason the [AEW] one year TNT anniversary show was 10/14 headlined by the Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer title match, and not 10/7 (the actual first show aired October 2, 2019) was because the Vice Presidential debate is scheduled for 10/7. But actually the reason is they’ve got other ideas for 10/7 which will have a different theme

The signing of Will Hobbs and subsequent push starting with the Casino Battle Royale was because Khan was impressed with him when he saw him when he was brought in to job on Dark. He booked him on Dynamite against Darby Allin and was hands on in helping put together that match with the idea to show that Allin could beat a physically impressive guy and thought Hobbs performed great in the role

Chris McCumber, who was the President of NBCU’s entertainment cable networks, USA and SYFY, has left the company after 19 years. This comes after Mark Lazarus, Chairman of NBCU television and streaming changed priorities and put Lifestyle Networks president Frances Berwick in charge of the new Entertainment and Business television division. NBCU reportedly did try to find a new role for McCumber, but he felt it was time to leave. It’s about prioritizing streaming and also cutting back on scripted programming on USA and SYFY and the idea of relying more on reality shows and live sports. McCumber has headed USA since 2011 and headed USA and SYFY since 2016. He was the point person in USA’s relationship with WWE. What this means is too early to know. McCumber was known to be a Paul Heyman supporter and wasn’t happy when he was taken off his role with Raw. He had been sold on the idea of a time frame of declining ratings in order to rebuild and create a generation of new stars, and was less happy when the emphasis was put on older stars. Whether he still felt that way a ratings somewhat stabilized is unclear

The plans are to make the Reigns/Heyman dynamic as different as possible from Lesnar/Heyman. The idea is that everyone knew that while Lesnar was a mercenary, he was also friends with Heyman. He smiled at his promos, laughed at his jokes, and long-time fans knew the relationship dated back to Lesnar’s start on the main roster in 2002. With Reigns it is the opposite. There is no friendship. The idea is that with Reigns, he is completely in charge oft he relationship and that, at least in idea, Heyman was done in wrestling with Lesnar gone and had nothing left. Reigns made the call to bring him back so he’s indebted to Reigns for saving his career. There will be catch phrases such as “Reignsing, defending, undisputed champion” and there will be a designation of him as the Special Counsel and Reigns will be the Tribal Chief, as a takeoff on Peter Maivia’s role in Samoan culture in the 70s

There has been talk on both sides of the aisle in the Florida legislature to introduce a bill that stems from the Daria Berenato/Sonya Deville case. It hasn’t been worded that I know of, but the idea of the bill would be to allow celebrities who have purchased homes confidentiality to where, for their own protection from crazed stalkers, it would be more difficult to get their home addresses. It’s been conceded that with Berenato, the guy was so intent that the guy may have been able to get it anyway but the case showed it was far too easy. The idea is that major sport pro athletes, wrestlers who appear on television and actors and actresses from SAG cards would be able to get their home addresses made confidential within the state

Right now they are looking for ideas for television after the contract in Orlando expires at the end of October. They don’t want to go back to the Performance Center and they do want to do shows with paying crowds. The idea is to try and run outdoors where it is safer and continue to run live

Right now the plan for Retribution, is that the main five characters will be Dominik Dijakovic, Shane Thorne, former Raw announcer Dio Maddin, Mercedes Martinez and Mia Yim. On Raw they cut a promo where they made it clear they were disgruntled talent who had been at the Performance Center who felt they hadn’t been given a fair chance. As noted last week, the decision has been made to only do this angle on Raw

Jaxson Ryker, who not only disappeared from TV, but ended up taking his partners Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler down the tubes with him when the team was set to do a program with The New Day by his pro-Trump tweets in early June which went over great in the dressing room (including both partners publicly trying to separate themselves from him to no avail) was back on 9/15 with a Tweet saying, “Lay down your freedom brother. Raise those masks that do not (sic) good.” In fairness, even if he didn’t make those tweets, there were those in the company who felt The Forgotten Sons gimmick was probably not the right thing to put on television at the time. And yes, we do know that people were furious at Ryker while having to keep their mouths shut about Linda McMahon heading a Super Pac for Trump’s re-election fund raising

The current market value of the company is $3.836 billion. Loop Capital, which had recommended selling until the stock hit $38 per share, is now listing as a hold and a $42 per share number saying that the decline in recent months now has the company about where it should be as far as value. In the projections of Alan Gould, he expects numbers to be lower than projections for the remainder of this year but increases in 2021 and 2022. Basically WWE hoped to get a boost from laying off 60 to 70 employees last week but that didn’t happen. But with the layoffs and cost cutting, the feeling is next year when things get back to normal with live events, plus cutting out a lot of the events that were money losers with a cutting back of shows, then profits will be higher than originally anticipated. Gould also felt a strong positive with the addition of Nick Khan. WWE really right now is a domestic and somewhat international based television rights fees business predominately, as is AEW. The feeling is Khan gives them a great person to handle negotiations. The decline in ratings is concerning but Gould believes right now that the next negotiations will lead to an increase in domestic rights from the current $470 million per year to about $658 million starting in October 2024

Regarding the most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week: 1. WWE Day of SummerSlam 2020; 2. Clash of Champions 2019; 3. Talking Smack; 4. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Jerry Lawler; 5. Raw Talk; 6. Payback 2020; 7. Smackdown form 8/7; 8. Clash of champions 2018; 9. NXT from 9/8 (Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor show) 10. SummerSlam 2020. The only independent show in the top 25 was the wXw Shotgun to the Top show at No. 19

WWE Ratings, AEW vs NXT Ratings:

All things considered, the 9/14 Raw number has to be looked at as if it could have been worse. The show averaged 1,689,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49 against the season opening Monday Night Football doubleheader.

While it was the sixth lowest audience in the history of the show, given the competition, had the lineup not been strong it could have easily been a lot lower. It was down only 2.1 percent in viewers, when it often can drop 10 percent or more, and was actually up with younger viewers, 4.2 percent in 18-49 and 26.1 percent in 18-34 from the prior week. It was the first time since 2012 that Raw went up in 18-49 the first week of the NFL season, but they did really load up the show ...

For a comparison Raw was down 25.7 percent in total viewers from the same week last year, 30.6 percent in 18-49 and 34.1 percent in 18-34.

Raw was fourth for the night in 18-49, trailing only the two NFL games and the SportsCenter show at 1:31 a.m. after the second game ...

The first hour did 1,812,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,734,000 viewers. The third hour fell to 1,521,000 viewers.

Hour three was the fourth lowest hour in the history of the show, which featured the ending and post-match of Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins in a cage, Raw Underground, Kevin Owens vs. Aleister Black, Lana & Natalya vs. The Riott Squad and Drew McIntyre vs. Keith Lee ...

Regarding the first-to-third hour drop of 16.1 percent, above the recent norm, the drop was 8.8 percent with women 18-49, 15.7 percent with men 18-49, 3.8 percent with teenage girls, 13.7 percent with teenage boys and 15.7 percent over 50.

The show did an 0.25 in 12-17 (down 7.4 percent from last week), 0.29 in 18-34 (up 26.1 percent), 0.71 in 35-49 (down 2.7 percent) and 0.82 in 40+ (down 2.4 percent)

Even with strong sports competition, Smackdown on 9/11 did a huge increase of 9.4 percent in viewers for its best numbers since the week after WrestleMania with a 1.43 rating, 2,329,000 viewers and 0.6 (824,000 viewers) in 18-49. The show had 1.35 viewers per home.

The rating was up 12.6 percent from last week while 18-49 numbers were up 3.9 percent.

The rating continues to be fueled by the return of Roman Reigns as a heel and the Bayley turn on Sasha Banks.

The show also remained even with an 0.4 in 18-34.

Smackdown tied with a first-run episode of 20/20 for first in 18-49 and won among network programming in 18-34 and men 18-49. Each network had first run programming and reruns combined. Smackdown beat two first run shows, Love Island on CBS (1,805,000 viewers) and Dateline on NBC (2,180,000) in total viewers and beat an America’s Got Talent rerun, placing in total viewers out of eight shows when it usually finishes last, although a number of cable shows like the NBA and Fox News also beat them. The early NBA game head-to-head on TNT did 2,563,000 and 0.95 in 18-49 and the late game did 4,691,000 and 1.87 in 18-49. The NHL on USA did 986,000 and 0.29.

Last year on the same week FOX had rerun shows in the time slot and averaged 934,000 viewers and 0.3 in the demo, so they were up 149.4 percent in viewers and 100 percent in 18-49.

In the segments, the first half four with the Roman Reigns & Paul Heyman interview and most of the Jeff Hardy vs. A.J. Styles IC title match did 2.35 million viewers. The second half hour with the end of Hardy vs. Styles and the Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro vs. Lucha House Party and interplay with the Street Profits fell to 2.26 million viewers. The big segment once again was the Bayley promo and footage of her turning on Sasha Banks, and the Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Cross match for the title shot at 2.39 million viewers. The Otis vs. John Morrison, Firefly Fun House and Reigns & Jey Uso vs. King Corbin & Sheamus match did 2.32 million viewers.

AEW had a strong showing on 9/16 considering it wasn’t really a marquee show on paper, even if the end result was one of the best two hours shows the company has put on.

The key is that AEW showed where they are on a night without major sports competition, since neither the NBA nor NHL had games, but they were head-to-head with NXT.

AEW did 886,000 viewers and 0.34 (445,000 viewers) in 18-49, placing third on the night in the key demo in the first head-to-head battle with NXT since 8/12 ...

NXT did 689,000 viewers and 0.18, (229,000 viewers, or barely half), good for the No. 31 spot of the night ...

The last time the two shows went head to head, AEW did 792,000 viewers and 417,000 in 18-49, while NXT did 619,000 viewers and 206,000 in 18-49, but that was also against NBA and NHL competition ...

We don’t have breakdowns for Raw and Smackdown, but in 18-34, AEW did fewer viewers than both and we don’t have the women 18-34 numbers broken down at press time for the other two shows.

AEW doubled NXT in both men and women 18-34 and handily won in both groups 35-49. AEW won every demo by a sizeable margin except 50+ won 0.36 to 0.32.

AEW did 107,000 viewers in male 18-34, up 17.6 percent from last week’s unopposed show and up 64.6 percent from the last time they went head-to-head. AEW did 62,000 in women 18-34, down 3.1 percent from last week, but up 3.3 percent from the last head-to-head night. AEW did 186,000 in males 35-49, down 21.2 percent from last week but up 2.2 percent from the last head-to-head night. And AEW did 90,000 women 18-49, the same number as last week but down 18.2 percent from the last head-to-head night.

NXT did 41,000 viewers in male 18-34, up 5.1 percent from last week and 5.1 percent from the last head-to-head night. NXT did 26,000 in women 18-34, down 3.7 percent from last week but up 23.8 percent from the last head-to-head night. NXT did 106,000 in men 35-49, down 27.4 percent from last week but up 8.2 percent from the last head-to-head night. NXT did 56,000 in women 35-49, down 24.3 percent from last week but up 16.7 percent from the last head-to-head week.

AEW won every quarter and of course 18-49 big. The only quarter AEW didn’t win 18-49 by at least 200,000 viewers was quarter No. 7. AEW doubled NXT in quarters No. 4 and No. 8 and nearly in No. 1.

In the main event battle, AEW with the Best Friends vs. Santana & Ortiz street fight, an incredible visual, did 871,000 viewers and 420,000 in 18-49 while NXT with Damien Priest vs. Timothy Thatcher for the North American title did 599,000 viewers and 186,000 in 18-49.

AEW opened with 960,000 viewers and 504,000 in 18-49 for the Young Bucks angle and FTR vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus. This was one of the best opposed quarters for AEW all year and was its high point with both men and women 18-49. NXT opened with 803,000 viewers and 253,000 in 18-49 for Io Shirai vs. Shotzi Blackheart.

In quarter two, AEW had 857,000 viewers and 451,000 in 18-49 for The attack on Matt Hardy and beginning of Frankie Kazarian vs. Adam Page, which was a loss of 103,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49. NXT did 801,000 viewers and 267,000 in 18-49 for the finish of Shirai vs. Blackheart, Tommaso Ciampa vs. Desmond Troy and a Jake Atlas interview. This was also NXT’s high point in both male and female 18-49.

In the third quarter, AEW had 935,000 viewers and 477,000 in18-49 for the end of Page vs. Kazarian and MJF vs. Shawn Dean. NXT did 747,000 viewers and 248,000 in 18-49 for Austin Theory vs. Kushida.

In the fourth quarter, AEW had 891,000 viewers and 438,000 in18-49 for an MJF promo, Taz technique, Eddie Kingston with Penta El Cero M, Rey Fenix, Butcher & Blade, and the beginning of Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Private Party. NXT did 613,000 viewers and 202,000 in 18-49 for a Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae interview and most of the Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel tag match, which lost 134,000 viewers and 46,000 in the key demo.

In the fifth quarter, AEW had 904,000 viewers and 451,000 in 18-49 for most of Jericho & Hager vs. Private Party. NXT did 679,000 viewers and 232,000 in 18-49 for the end of the tag title match Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter vs. Xia Li & Jessi Kamea.

In the sixth quarter, AEW had 869,000 viewers and 425,000 in 18-49 for Thunder Rosa vs. Ivelisse for the NWA title and Jake Roberts & Lance Archer & Taz in the ring for a promo. NXT did 631,000 viewers and 230,000 in 18-49 for a Tegan Nox promo and the beginning of Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong vs. Drake Maverick.

In the seventh quarter, AEW had 796,000 viewers and 390,000 in 18-49 for the Jon Moxley attack by Brian Cage & Ricky Starks and Will Hobbs save. NXT did 638,000 viewers and 211,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Fish & Strong vs. Maverick with Killian Dain coming out, Maverick & Dain and a William Regal announcement.

Best Friends vs. Ortiz & Santana gained 75,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49. The Priest vs. Thatcher main event lost 39,000 viewers and 25,000 in18-49.

Emperor Smeat

09-22-2020, 07:24 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw, even with a poor show, held pretty much steady from last week, doing 1.67 million viewers on average for the three hours and 0.50 in 18-49.

The total audience was down one percent and 18-49 stayed even, as did 18-34.

Raw was fifth on the cable charts in 18-49, behind Monday Night Football, the Monday Night Football kickoff show, and SportsCenter after the game, as well as Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo ...

Last night's NFL game with the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Raiders aired live on both ABC and ESPN, giving it the weird combination of being the most watched and strongest demo television show on both network and cable at the same time. Between the two venues the game did 15.44 million viewers and a 4.7 in 18-49, beating Raw by more than 9-to-1 in both total viewers and the key demo, which is likely something that has never come even close to happening at that level in history.

As far as first-to-third hour drops, women 18-49 dropped 12 percent, men 18-49 dropped three percent which is much lower than usual, teenage girls dropped 19 percent, teenage boys increased six percent, and over 50 dropped 13 percent.

Raw was down 25 percent in viewers, 30 percent in 18-49, and 41 percent in 18-34 as compared to the same week last year ...

The three hours of Raw were:

8 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.57 million viewers

The NFL stat over RAW is an eye opener and RAW likely will suffer even more next since they would be going against a very mouth watering Chiefs vs. Ravens game.

Joey Janela will face off with one half of The Rock 'n' Roll Express at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4.

Janela released a video on Monday night announcing that Janela vs. Ricky Morton will take place at Spring Break 4. The show is being held at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, October 10. It will be available to watch live via Fite TV.

Morton made his Spring Break debut when The Rock 'n' Roll Express lost to Santana & Ortiz at Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, part 2 in April 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/status/1308238560244502528

The latest iteration of the "Best Of WWE" video series is now on the WWE Network. The Best of Clash of Champions is narrated by Matt Camp and runs over four hours, featuring the following:

-Ric Flair versus Ricky Steamboat for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (Two out of Three Falls), Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin Cajun

-Cactus Jack versus Ron Simmons for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Clash of the Champions XX: 20th Anniversary

-Ric Flair versus Sting (Unification of the WCW World and International Heavyweight Championships), Clash of the Champions XXVI

-Ricky Steamboat versus "Stunning" Steve Austin for the WCW United States Championship, Clash of the Champions XXVIII

-Bull Nakano versus Madusa, Clash of the Champions XXXIII

-"Diamond" Dallas Page and Lex Luger versus Scott Hall and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Clash of the Champions XXXV

-Sheamus versus Cesaro (Match Seven In Best-Of-Seven), Clash of Champions 2016

-Natalya versus Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship (Lumberjack Match), Clash of Champions 2017

-Randy Orton versus Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship, Clash of Champions 2019

-Sasha Banks versus Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship, Clash of Champions 2019

WWE issued the following:

New WWE® Collection of Wines Set to Launch

New York, NY – September 22, 2020 - Wines That Rock, the entertainment and lifestyle wine company, today announced the first two releases in its new WWE Wines collection featuring WWE Legend The Undertaker® and WWE Hall of Famer The Ultimate Warrior®. They will be available for pre-sale beginning today via wwewines.com with a shipping date of Thursday, October 22 in time for the holiday season.

Both unique offerings make up a collection of individually numbered, special vintages of limited-edition wines developed in collaboration with WWE. The wines were specifically chosen to represent each Superstar’s unique personality and will feature individually numbered labels, unique glass, dynamic artwork, and the winemaking talents of 2020 Wine Enthusiast’s ‘40 Under 40 Tastemaker’ Andrew Nelson.
The on-going AEW vs. WWE feud somehow managed to spill over into the wine industry now.

Gerald Brisco tweeted the following, teasing that he may be AEW bound:

Oh gosh! We had some technical difficulties! I truly Khan't wait to tell you my big news! Stay tuned WEDNESDAY NIGHT for my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! What do you think it's gonna be? ????????█??#BriscosBigAnnouncement https://t.co/UZcmJeG5Wu
— Gerald BRISCO ????█?? (@Fgbrisco) September 22, 2020

Dark Order member Evil Uno chatted with David Penzer on his ‘Sitting Ringside’ podcast to discuss the formation of Dark Order, joining All Elite Wrestling and his journey to AEW. Towards the end of the conversation, Uno expressed his desire to re-sign with AEW and how he would like to coach and/or have an office job there as well ...

Back in March, after months of hype surrounding the reveal of The Exalted One, said character was revealed to be the now-TNT Champion Brodie Lee. There was not a concrete plan regarding who was going to be The Exalted One until a month before the reveal but Evil Uno shared that Matt Hardy and Luther were both considered.

"We initially never knew who The Exalted One was gonna be. There was some talks of who potentially could be The Exalted One, but there was nothing on paper. All we knew was that we were gonna drag this out until we had an eventual reveal. Before the reveal, I think it was a month beforehand, if not a little earlier, we had inklings it was gonna be Brodie Lee and honestly we were very happy about it because I’ve known Brodie for over 15 years now. We’ve been good friends and I knew if he came in, he would take care of us and it would work because he’s a man of enormous stature, he’s a man that’s heavily respected and never really got his moments to shine, you know? And so I thought that was really good, but there definitely was some other names that were thrown in the hat as potential ones. I think most of them have kind of come out online but, Matt Hardy was an implied one that at one point was a maybe for about two days and then we decided it wasn’t but we kind of used the mystery and the fact that his contract was expiring and trying to — I was trying to entice people to think that it was him because he seemed like the most obvious subject and so, there was that. I heard Marty Scurll was also a potential but no one had ever discussed it with us. Dr. Luther I know did some interviews and some promos as a potential leader as well when it was just in the infancy and that moved on to be someone else but Brodie Lee was pretty much a concrete choice for the last month before the reveal happened in March."

The Dark Order debuted at Double Or Nothing in 2019 to a flat reaction from fans in attendance. Uno addressed that during the podcast and stated that it had to do with him and Stu Grayson not wrestling consistently in North America for close to six years, but the plan for the group was always to be a cult-like group with a build to their being a higher power revealed.

"When I had signed with AEW, we told them about this idea and the idea was that I would essentially have a ton of minions and we would recruit people to join in and they would essentially view me as a higher person so they would elevate us, and so when we started, The Young Bucks are very familiar with our work and they were very excited for us so they gave us a big reveal but we also knew that at the time, we hadn’t been in America in five years. We had changed our characters. It was kinda gonna come out to a whimper, but we were gonna slowly build it up and that’s what happened. When we were shown off in May of 2019 at Double Or Nothing, people weren’t very excited. People just didn’t know who we were because we hadn’t been wrestling in America in over six, seven years at the time, and so, that kind of grew with some discussions with them and we started turning it more into a cult. Trying to explain where do these minions come from, how do these people join our group, why do they join the group and so, it morphed over time and with TV, when you have TV every week, you have so much more opportunities to tell people who your characters are and so over the weeks it became clear that this was a scientology-like cult and eventually, the higher figure was not me. It was someone even above me and we were all doing his bidding and that’s kinda what has led to what we are today."

TV Insider conducted an interview with Zelina Vega and one of the questions asked of Vega had to do with her thoughts on WWE’s shifted views on third-party outlets such as Twitch and Cameo. Here’s what Zelina had to say:

"WWE has always been respectful and encouraging with stuff like that for me. I remember even when I did my cosplay for the Royal Rumble. They thought it was really cool and different. Then Street Fighter tweeted about it. We love working on things like that. We have UpUpDownDown, doing things with Mortal Kombat. They have always been very supportive in that way. I love that I get a chance to do what I do and live my dream, but also I get to live out other dreams like working with Tekken and stuff like that. Never did I think playing Mortal Kombat as a kid that I would be at the Mortal Kombat reveal. It’s definitely a blessing. As much as I’m a fan of them, they’re fans of wrestling and mine. It’s mind-blowing."

Following up on that, Vega was asked how does she stay ring-ready when she has been a manager for the greater portion of her WWE run. Vega says she always tries to stay ready by training at the Performance Center or working with colleagues and while giving that answer, revealed that Amazing Red is her cousin.

"To switch my mindset, I knew eventually [wrestling more] was going to come. I always try to stay ready. Whether it was training at the Performance Center or training with co-workers behind the scenes if there is a ring. It’s fine-tuning what I knew already. Amazing Red is my cousin, so he kind of started this whole thing with me back when I was 18 years old. Working with that and what I learned from Andrade and now learning from Aleister, it’s a cool combination of all those things. It’s something I think the universe is ready for. Seeing a whole different side of me."

WARHORSE joined Scrump and Dave Stenken on the PWTCast. The IWTV Champion reflected on his TNT Title match against Cody on AEW Dynamite and discussed some of the criticisms of the match that according to him, did not become too much until Jim Cornette and listeners of Cornette chimed in.

"Because they [the fans] would’ve been like, ‘Who the hell is this?’ It’s like, how do you have a debut match on TV at all if that’s the case, if no matter what, the question is who the hell is this? And I didn’t wanna go have a crazy, crazy match with Cody because what if I do f*ck up? And like either f*ck myself up, f*ck him up or just something looks dumb. Maybe I played it too safe or something? I don’t know. I had a lot of ideas and he had ideas too and we melded together and I thought we had a great match. But, as far as what other people saw, there was a lot of people that really liked it and there was some that didn’t but not as many people said they didn’t like it until the match happened Wednesday, Thursday was fine. Friday around mid-afternoon whenever [Jim] Cornette’s podcast came out and I don’t even have a problem with his podcast. Whatever, he can do whatever he wants. It’s his fans that didn’t have an opinion until he said he said his opinion and then all of a sudden they had an issue with the match that I had and they had been silent the entire time and then like, he didn’t say anything that I didn’t know he was gonna say. I know I’m not that tall, I know that people on f*cking Twitter have no idea what the deal is, why am I on TV, you know what I mean? I know that and he called me Whorehouse in the thing and I’ve been called that before. It’s not even creative. The best thing I took away from that is he liked my elbow drop. But, other than all that sh*t, it’s just weird how nobody was opinionated on it until he gave his opinion on it and then everybody was opinionated."

The developments in the Retribution storyline from last night's WWE RAW are receiving a lot of mixed feedback on social media, and now word is that the presentation of the group was a hot topic of discussion backstage at the Amway Center last night.

It was reported today by @Wrestlevotes that the presentation of Retribution was a major topic of discussion last night, and was met with laughter at times backstage.

"The masks & names are already making the road for these guys impossible to climb," noted the source.

The word making the rounds over the weekend was that Retribution vs. a WWE team was being targeted as the main event of Survivor Series.
Can probably scratch those plans off based on last night's episode of RAW and the negative reception Retribution has been getting.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson shares his thoughts on a potential WrestleMania match against Roman Reigns.

In a video that was posted on The Rock's channel, the former WWE Champion spoke on who would be his WrestleMania opponent if he were to return to the company. Rock simply stated that it would make sense if it were up against Reigns given their family history and the potentially huge box office draw that match would produce.

"You know, you and I have talked about this and it's so funny how a lot of people always say, 'Well if you were to go back to WrestleMania, who would be the opponent that you would face?' It feels like the one that would make sense, right, would be Roman. In terms of box office draw [it would be huge]," Rock said.

This would be Rock's first match since WrestleMania 32 when he quickly defeated Erick Rowan in a matter of seconds. When it came to who would win that match, Rock didn't exactly give out an answer, but talked about how the booking meeting would go.

The Rock joked that WWE would tell him that Reigns would beat Rock and then Rock gets his win back at another WrestleMania, which is what happened when Rock and John Cena did for WrestleMania 28 and 29. In that series, Rock won the match at WrestleMania 28 and Cena won the rematch the following year.

"Well, I tell you this right now. I know how that works. I'm not going down that road because I know how that conversation goes. 'Listen, here's what we're thinking. Roman beats you now at this WrestleMania, but listen. Before you guys say anything, then on the next one, that's when...' But you what, I would be honored to not only share the ring with Roman and to go back to the WWE, but of course I would be honored to have him raise his hand on that one," Rock said.

As noted last week on PWInsider.com, WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy acknowledged that he signed a new contract with WWE during an interview with BT Sports in Europe.

PWInsider.com is told that while there have been rumblings that Hardy signed a five year deal making the rounds, that is actually incorrect. We have been told by multiple sources that the new contract, including that was added to Hardy's previous contract due to injury-related inactivity, is closer to 2-3 years total in length.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE Suffered Another COVID-19 Outbreak at Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/wwe-suffered-another-covid-19-outbreak-at-performance-center/)
Various: Cody’s “American Dream” Trademark Update, Miro on UpUpDownDown Status, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/various-codys-american-dream-trademark-update-miro-on-upupdowndown-status-indies/)
Three Title Matches Added to WWE Clash of Champions (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/three-title-matches-added-to-wwe-clash-of-champions/)
RETRIBUTION Members Unmask & Get New Names (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/retribution-members-unmask-get-new-names/)
AEW Signs Serena Deeb (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-signs-serena-deeb/)

rez

09-22-2020, 09:24 PM

So Steph sold off almost 50% of her WWE stock. eek....

rez

09-22-2020, 09:25 PM

and the stock is low...haven't read any of Smeat's posts above this.. crazy

xrodmuc316

09-22-2020, 11:22 PM

So Steph sold off almost 50% of her WWE stock. eek....

That doesn't mean a whole lot. Board members exercise options all the time.

It is also important to note she only sold Class A stock. Class B stock is the WWE's class that has all the voting power.

I almost wonder if they have to sell the stock off at certain points, because otherwise you would have to think they would wait until the stock is higher.

Emperor Smeat

09-23-2020, 07:10 PM

The Sheets:

AEW's one-hour Late Night Dynamite special, which aired on TNT following game three of the NBA Western Conference Finals last night, averaged 585,000 viewers.

The special began at 12:38 a.m. on the East Coast. It finished ninth overall in the 18-49 demo with a 0.26 rating. That matches the rating NXT did on Sept 1 when it aired unopposed on a Tuesday night in prime time and beat the 0.22 rating that NXT did the following Tuesday, but those NXT shows obviously didn't have the benefit of an NBA lead-in.

Last night's Los Angeles Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets NBA playoff game averaged 4.828 million viewers, topping all of cable and finishing third overall on television for the night. The post-game show that immediately followed the game averaged 1.743 million viewers on TNT, with Dynamite starting about 55 minutes after the game ended.

The strongest demo for AEW was men 18-49, where Late Night Dynamite did a 0.35 rating and was tied for seventh overall on cable.

The no. 1 contender to the AEW World Title will be off TV for two weeks due to a self-admitted positive COVID-19 test.

On Wednesday, Lance Archer took to Twitter to reveal his positive diagnosis and how it came to be:

"When I returned from our last show, a family member was ill when I got home. I found out later a friend who had taken my family member to the Vet for our Dachshund was COVID positive. While at home, now I’ve also gotten sick tested positive. I feel ok, expect to see me in 2 wk"

Archer was scheduled to be in a six-man tag on tonight's AEW Dynamite, teaming with Ricky Starks and Brian Cage against AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Will Hobbs, and Darby Allin. Moxley tweeted that he will now defend the title on Dynamite instead but didn't reveal the opponent.

For now, Archer is scheduled to face Moxley for the title at the company's anniversary edition of Dynamite on Wednesday, October 14th.

On 9/21, WWE filed their opposition to Cody attempting to trademark 'Slamboree' and 'Match Beyond'.

WWE stated that they purchased the rights to those concepts when they acquired World Chamionship Wrestling in March 2001 and are utilizing them on the WWE Network and the WWE website.

WWE added because of the long standing use of the terms by WCW and WWE, they have become "indelibly linked" in the public's mind to be exclusively associated with WWE.

They also alleged that Cody filed for those trademarks in an "attempt to unfairly trade on the long-standing use and recognition" of their use with WWE.
:lol: at WWE claiming a "long standing use" of those trademarks. Same company that didn't give a crap about WarGames until a few years ago and had to pay off MLW to get the trademark for it back because they let it and almost every other WCW trademark lapse bsck in the day.

CMLL’s 87th Anniversary Show is taking place on September 25th in Mexico City, Mexico and the company made the announcement that the World Trios Championship match will no longer take place on the show as Ultimo Guerrero has tested positive for COVID-19.

Guerrero, along with Euforia and Gran Guerrero were going to be defending the titles against Hechicero, El Terrible and Templario in a six-man two-out-of-three falls match. In place of that the bout, Titan is going to be defending the CMLL World Welterweight Championship against Soberano Jr.

The company revealed that Bandido has also tested positive for COVID-19 and will be off the 87th Anniversary Show.

Last week, CMLL revealed that Princess Sugehit tested positive for COVID-19. As of this writing, Ultimo Guerrero is the third wrestler in CMLL to test positive in the span of eight days.

Roman Reigns was a guest on The Bloodline with LLS podcast to discuss his Leukemia diagnosis. Roman discussed what he felt like leading up to discovering that his cancer was in remission and being grateful that the talents he worked with took care of him before he was able to find out about the remission.

“But my spleen had enlarged and I think that was something that kind of [is] one of the more short-term serious side effects that I had to deal with, just involving the physicality of being in the ring and God, I’m so lucky that fortunately nothing happened. Thank God that I worked with some really, really talented performers and some great professionals and guys who [are] as violent and as physical as our job can be, they’re very good at what they do and then no one hit me in the wrong place and caused a rupture or anything like that because as I’m sure you know, being out of town, in an arena, on the road away from your family, something like that happens and you get rushed to the emergency room, go into surgery, it just can, along with how serious it is it can just cause an emotional rollercoaster for everybody so, that was something that we really had to take into account and get me out of the ring and that’s why it all just started to happen so abruptly. But I think the main thing I was feeling was the fatigue. Always feeling tired. Not quite sure why, even if I were able to get good nights of rest. Even had a couple of days of recovery being off the road, it just never felt like it got off of me. It was just that monkey on my back at all times but along with that, I always thought it was that when you’re working hard and chasing your dreams and you’re busting your tail every single week trying to get the job done, especially when you’re performing at an elite level, at the very top of the biggest company in the world, as far as sports-entertainment, these are just the riggers that come with the schedule of the lifestyle so, I tried to as we say in the wrestling business, I tried not to sell it but thank God we’re taken care of, between the company and my doctors, my Oncologist doing our blood tests and our CVCs and keeping track of that stuff. I was able to see my white blood cells getting out of whack again.”

The ‘Sports Guys Talking Wrestling’ podcast welcomed Jay Lethal onto the show to chat about the ROH Pure Title tournament. Lethal detailed some of the COVID precautions that were in place as ROH filmed the Pure Title tournament.

“I’ll tell you this too, there were a lot of hoops to jump through with the commission. You gotta have your mask on right after you come back from the locker room so you’re tired but you still gotta put your mask on. There’s a room just for you and your opponent and then when you leave there, that room has to be cleaned and my match had to be at eight in the morning and then once your match is done, they have to clean the arena, clean the ring, change the canvas. It was a nightmare for the crew I’m sure. They were there from like 7 AM to like 11 PM and they get 20, 25 minutes after each match to disinfect everything. We had so many canvases because they changed them after everything but it was such a long day but everyone did it with a smile on their face because we were all just so happy to be back at work.”

Sports Illustrated caught up with Miro (Rusev) for their ‘This Week in Wrestling’ column. Miro feels that he’s the best “all-around player” in professional wrestling and hinted that he’s going to top his WrestleMania 31 entrance while in AEW.

“It’s not a gimmick. I am the best. I am the best all-around player in professional wrestling. And people remember WrestleMania 31, the greatest entrance of any entrance, until you see how I top that in AEW.”

TSN has a lengthy feature up about AEW broadcast team member Tony Schiavone which includes quotes from Schiavone. The longtime announcer discussed some of the talents on the AEW roster and who he’s been impressed with. Schiavone talked about MJF and the current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley who Schiavone feels is AEW’s Stone Cold Steve Austin.

“Obviously, MJF has because he is a throwback to the old heels. Jon Moxley – I didn’t see much of [his WWE character] Dean Ambrose, but only the Dean Ambrose from 2017 forward. I immediately said, ‘Man, Jon Moxley is kind of like our ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.’ And I like Jon Moxley better than Dean Ambrose. Again, I didn’t see the Dean Ambrose before 2017 and I heard that he was pretty rough and rugged, but I just love what Moxley does. I love the Young Bucks and not only because I respect them for being on the independents and the money they made and the following they got, but also just because they’re cool guys. They’re great guys to work with.”

Schiavone shared some of his thoughts from when he first found out he was going to be calling the action of AEW alongside Excalibur and Jim Ross. Schiavone was curious about what Excalibur had to offer based on his background.

“I like to think – well, I know I am – I’m easy to work with. I didn’t know Excalibur at all, and when I was told that you’re going to be working with a masked guy who used to run a promotion and used to be a wrestler, I’m thinking ‘Oh, boy. What do we got here?’ But he’s a very intelligent guy and he knows his stuff and he’s a good kid. He’s hardworking and he and I have struck it off. JR and I have known each other for ages, so I think one of the things that makes our chemistry good – if you, in fact, think it is that way and people think it is that way– is that I do know my role and I don’t try to force the issue.”

In terms of how he likes to call a show, Schiavone stated that he cannot watch the competition. He feels that if that becomes a habit, he may pick up certain things or incorporate a style into his announcing and wants to avoid that potentially happening.

“It’s hard for me to sit here and compare what we do to what the WWE does because here’s what I do – the exact same thing that I did when I did Nitro back in the day – I do not watch the competitor. If something is going on with the competitor, I’ll read about it or I’ll hear about it from somebody backstage, but I don’t watch it. The reason I don’t is an old thing Vin Scully used to say and, of course, I was a big baseball guy. Vin Scully said years ago that he never listens to any other announcer because he doesn’t want to get caught in the trap of trying to imitate what they say or how they call a game. And I don’t want to do that. I guess I can watch it with the sound down, but I can find out the information another way.

So I can’t sit here and say, ‘Hey, watch AEW because we are X-different than WWE’ because I don’t know what they’re doing. I just know that we have exciting wrestling, we have great storylines and I think it may be, from what I understand, a little bit more of what the fans really want in a wrestling program than what the WWE is providing.”

Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp has an extensive interview with Matt Rehwoldt, the former Aiden English. One of the topics covered during the interview had to do getting access to Vince McMahon and Rehwoldt admitted that trying harder to reach Vince is something he could’ve done better ...

On the topic of television ratings, Rehwoldt feels that the era of ratings will be done away with over the next decade and he thinks advertising and all things related will be dumped into trending hashtags and SEO-related content.

“My thing is I’m pretty convinced and this is kind of a dive off but, I’ve always been convinced — if it doesn’t happen in the next ten years, I will be shocked. But I think television ratings are gonna go away. I think Nielsen is maybe gonna be around or something. I think advertising dollars are gonna be spent on trending hashtags and things like SEO and stuff like that. TV ratings I think are gonna get less and less important, so everyone talking about, ‘Oh, RAW’s lowest numbers ever.’ It’s like, yeah, maybe, but it’s like eight billion things to watch right now so, but people are still talking about X, Y, Z a ton on the internet and eyeballs are there. So that’s [where] I think advertising and media is going.”

Pro Wrestling Sheet conducted an interview with Shotzi Blackheart ahead of NXT. Blackheart was asked if she thought that her being in the crowd at the Performance Center diminished her character a bit and she is not of that mindset in the slightest.

“It makes such a difference having us there. So I was really hyped for it. I don’t know if you’ve seen the dancing GIFs that come up for me doing audience work, but I loved it. I loved supporting my coworkers, so I was all for it and I took advantage of it. And I had a good time during everyone’s entrances. Some people kind of view it as we’re looked at as fans and not wrestlers when we do this, but I’m like, ‘Uh uh. I’m having the time of my life.’ And I’m supporting my coworkers. I know how I feel at NXT TV when I see the people that I train with out in the crowd giving me that energy. It just helps so much. So I can’t complain. They do it for me. I don’t mind giving back.”
Completely different stance than Tommasso Ciampa in a different interview who was against the idea of having regular NXT stars in the crowd since it was beneath their star status.

IMPACT Wrestling is finally trying to lock down their Knockout's Champion.

Still technically a free agent, Fightful learned that recently IMPACT Wrestling made a long-term contract offer to Deonna Purrazzo.

The following was reported on Fightful Select:

After months of no contract offer, Fightful can confirm that IMPACT Wrestling has offered their Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo a full-time contract with the company. There's no word on whether or not pen has been put to paper, but we're told it's at minimum a two-year deal with financial increases as the contract goes on. There were rumors backstage that Purrazzo was going to leave the company in October, which led to an offer finally being made. Alex Shelley is also working without a contract as tag team champion, and EC3 says he does not have a contract at this time.

Purrazzo has already competed in several high profile match, including a show-stealing title win on Slammiversary, and a main event Iron Man Knockouts Title match on IMPACT. She sits at 5-0 in singles action on IMPACT programming since her return.

For years fans believed The Undertaker would enter the arena on his motorcycle once again. The American Badass Undertaker was buried in 2003, bringing back the Deadman in 2004. It wasn't until WrestleMania 36 that The Undertaker returned on his motorcycle.

According to Undertaker, there were never plans for the American Badass to return after he was buried in 2003.

"Once I left American Badass, everyone was content with the hybrid version of the Undertaker. My style had changed. I kept a lot of elements of my in-ring work, geared towards the American Badass character. It didn't come up until this year. It dawned on me with the type of promos AJ was cutting, there was really no way I could bring the original Undertaker to (the match). It had become too personal and crossed too many lines. You're gonna have to get American Badass all grown up and he still has that evil side to him but a much more person approach. That's how we ended up with American Badass 2.0. Regardless of what I do on camera moving forward, that's the persona (I'll use)," said Undertaker on My Mom's Basement podcast.

Last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite featured a parking lot brawl between Best Friends and Santana & Ortiz that got a lot of praise from wrestling personalities and fans. According to Fightful, the wrestlers backstage in AEW also were big fans of it.

Several wrestlers reportedly went out of their way to see the match in person, even though they weren’t on camera. Certain wrestlers and personalities appeared as the audience for the match, but others came out to watch from a distance even though they weren’t asked to be there.

During today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed the current status of NXT Superstar Chelsea Green and if she will be making it to the main WWE roster. According to Meltzer, Green is not part of the current Retribution stable on Raw, which has seen NXT Superstars Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez join the group.

Meltzer added that Green was taken off of NXT TV right when it appeared she was about to get a push after she broke away from manager Robert Stone. When the angle was done, it was executed with the intent of brining Chelsea Green to the main WWE roster. Meltzer stated, “At the time, the idea was to bring her to the main roster, but they’ve made changes since then. So, who the hell knows what’s going on?”

Green is currently still listed as part of the NXT roster for WWE.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-14/)
John Cena to Star in Upcoming HBO Max Series, Peacemaker (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/john-cena-to-star-in-upcoming-hbo-max-series-peacemaker/)
Road Warrior Animal Passes Away at Age 60 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/road-warrior-animal-passes-away-at-age-60/)

xrodmuc316

09-23-2020, 08:30 PM

Chelsea Green was going to debut on Smackdown, and they would call her Chelsea whatever color she was wearing that night, so it would change weekly.

After a few weeks she was going to win the Smackdown Women's Championship under the name Chelsea Tyedye, although plans changed.

That will be $11.99

Emperor Smeat

09-24-2020, 09:51 PM

The Sheets:

After a week with no competition from the NBA or NHL playoffs, both sports were back last night and seemed to affect AEW Dynamite more than WWE NXT.

This week's Dynamite averaged 835,000 viewers on TNT, down 5.8 percent from last week. NXT was up one percent from last week, averaging 696,000 viewers on the USA Network.

The total combined audience of 1.531 million viewers was only down three percent from last week despite the NBA doing an audience of nearly 4.5 million viewers. News programming was also up from normal levels with Fox News averaging five million viewers in the two hours opposite Dynamite and NXT.

Dynamite averaged a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demo, down 5.9 percent from last week. It's the lowest number the show has done since August 27, when Dynamite aired on Thursday. It matched the lowest the show has done on a Wednesday since July 29. Dynamite ranked ninth overall on cable in the demo.

NXT finished 38th in the 18-49 demo, averaging the same 0.18 rating it did last week.

As usual, AEW won every demo except people over 50, where NXT had an advantage of 0.37 to 0.32.

The major difference this week was the NBA playoffs, which had an off night last week. The game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat topped the cable charts with 4,484,000 viewers and a 1.76 demo figure. The NHL game between Tampa Bay and Dallas was eighth for the night with 1,145,000 with AEW tying them in the demo rating.

The NXT audience was largely unaffected by the NBA while AEW was hurt among its young male audience and with its 18-34 audience with declines in those categories.

For Dynamite, males 12-34 fell 31 percent this week with adults 18-34 dropped by 17 percent. Interestingly, NXT stayed even in both demos from last week. Both sides were hurt with males 18-49 as AEW was down 13 percent and NXT down 8.5.

Female viewership on both sides remained steady as did its older audiences in 25-54 and 50+. Among females 12-34, AEW increased by 7 percent and NXT saw a jump of 33 percent ...

If the Denver Nuggets vs. L.A. Laker series goes to a seventh game, it will be played next Wednesday.

Rumors of a recent COVID-19 outbreak among NXT talents at the WWE Performance Center became real Thursday night as WWE released a statement somewhat acknowledging some positive tests.

“As part of ongoing testing protocols, WWE completed its second round of weekly COVID-19 testing on Tuesday. Individuals that tested positive will quarantine for 14 days, receive medical care, and then will only be cleared when they are symptom-free and test negative. Additionally, extensive contact tracing has taken place and other individuals have been placed in 14-day quarantine, and will then only be cleared after they test negative.”

As expected, WWE didn't release any information on the amount of talents that tested positive and cannot release names due to HIPAA laws.

PW Insider reported that training has been paused at the Performance Center as of Thursday.

NXT is covered for tapings until TakeOver on October 4th, giving time for recovery for those infected. It's unknown if this recent outbreak has affected main roster members, or even AEW talents, who might have come into contact with those infected.

Both Fightful and Spectrum Sports 360's Jon Alba first reported that during the week of September 9th, several positive tests resulted in some changes to their TV plans and that mask wearing has gotten a bit lax at the PC.

NXT UK's Heritage Cup tournament is set to begin next week.

The Heritage Cup tournament will kick off with a first round match between Alexander Wolfe and Noam Dar airing on next Thursday's episode of NXT UK. Pete Dunne will be the special guest referee for the match.

Next week's NXT UK episode will also feature a triple threat match to determine the wildcard entrant for the Heritage Cup tournament. The participants for the triple threat match haven't been revealed. The wildcard entrant will round out the lineup for the eight-man tournament.

The drawing for the Heritage Cup took place on this week's NXT UK. The first round matches for the tournament are:

Joseph Conners vs. Dave Mastiff
Wildcard entrant vs. Trent Seven
Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid
Alexander Wolfe vs. Noam Dar

The updated lineup for this Tuesday's edition of United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live PPV episode 3 features:

*NWA National Champion Aron Stevens vs. Trevor Murdoch.

*Allysin Kay vs. Serena Deeb

*CWH Heritage Champion Ray Rosas vs. Papo Esco.

*Remy Marcel vs. Papadon.

*Ruby Raze vs. Cece Chanel

*Chris Dickinson returns.

All Japan has also announced it will hold a memorial ceremony for Road Warrior Animal at its Korakuen Hall show on October 5.

One of the reasons WWE issued an edict for talents to end their third-party relationships with platforms like Cameo may have been revealed as the company announced their own virtual meet and greets. The official announcement reads:

WWE Virtual Meet & Greets are your chance to chat one-on-one with your favorite WWE Superstars! This brand-new fan event gives you the opportunity to have an experience with a WWE Superstar like never before from the comfort of your own home.

All Virtual Meet & Greets are recorded so you will be able to keep the memory forever!

The next round of WWE Virtual Meet & Greets will take place this Friday, Sept. 25-Monday, Sept. 28. Tickets will be available tomorrow at 12 p.m. ET here!

Ticket includes:

2-minute private one-on-one video with selected WWE Superstar
Downloadable video of your meet & greets available within 48 hours of the event
Purchase exclusive personalized autographed items

Schedule

Friday, Sept. 25
Alexa Bliss: 1 p.m. ET
Finn Balor: 5 p.m. ET
Sunday, Sept. 27
Big E: 10 a.m. ET
Bray Wyatt: 1 p.m. ET
Monday, Sept. 28
Asuka: 12 p.m. ET
Aleister Black: 2:30 p.m. ET

WWE Hall Of Famer Edge underwent surgery for torn triceps following his match against Randy Orton at Backlash. It has been three months since the surgery and during Edge’s appearance on the ‘Squared Circle Pit’ podcast, he provided an update on how he’s doing.

“Recuperation is going good… today is two months and the first two months, there’s not a lot to do. You really just have to let it heal and let the surgery take and I think from this point going forward now, I’m gonna get the clearance to start going after it and pushing it and that’s what I do best honestly, in terms of injuries. That’s always what I’ve kinda done best and for whatever reasons, my mindset, I don’t get depressed. I just look at it as a challenge and when you look at it as a challenge, it’s just one more thing to try and conquer and come back from and that to me is really strangely exciting. To go, ‘Ok, this is another one, I got it. No problem.’ Once I can really put the nose to the grindstone, go after this thing, in a weird way it’s almost fun.”

Edge talked about wanting to help improve the overall WWE product with his input. As far as him directly being a part of that creative process, he stated that-that is not exactly the case but he just floated it out there that if a talent needs help, they can get in contact with him at any time.

“No, I’m watching basically to see who I could possibly help, whether that’s in terms of promos, whether that’s in terms of fleshing out character and I do see a lot of guys and girls that, ‘Oh okay, there’s something here. I don’t know if they’ve just fully figured out what it is yet’ and maybe I could help them figure that out. Maybe I could help them with their promos and help them figure out exactly what they’re trying to bring to the table in terms of their character and that to me is where I feel like I can help the most, while I’m out and having had 20 years of experience in this thing that is wrestling, right? So, I floated that out there as, ‘If anybody wants to take me up on this, I’m here to try and help do that’ and that to me is really exciting because I didn’t just come back to collect a paycheck. I really do wanna come back and try and help further the product and help talent that I feel, whether it’s underutilized or whether it’s just on the cusp of something but trying to figure it out and I might see something go, ‘Ooo, ok, right. That right there. If we can take that, magnify that, focus on that’ and that’s where I feel I can be really helpful.”

Former NWA World Tag Team Champion Royce Isaacs confirmed that he has been granted his release from the National Wrestling Alliance. He wrote the following on Twitter:

“Now that its public; After a little over a year with the NWA I asked for and was granted my release. I’m excited for my next adventure and what the future holds, but I’m leaving with a lot of memories and friends and I will miss the awesome fans at GPB Studios. Stay tuned.”

Alex Zayne shared on Twitter that he’s had to cancel the next two weeks of his bookings to self-quarantine because he was exposed to someone who has COVID-19. Zayne had dates lined up with Warrior Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Violence x Suffering.
Zayne also works for GCW and NJPW's weekly US show although in NJPW's case, they shouldn't be affected since they taped their current batch of episodes earlier in the month.

Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture chatted with The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson). Gallows and Anderson revealed that they’ll have their own special on AXS TV in the future.

Doc Gallows: “I am letting the cat out of the bag right here right now, I can’t say anything about titles or anything like that, but you’re gonna see us with our own special on AXS TV, that’s putting credit/belief into a ‘tag team’ or brand to come together, two guys that can entertain inside the ring and outside the ring. And I think that’s a big hats off to IMPACT Wrestling for realizing that yes, the single stars historically have been a draw in a New York state of fashion but that’s not always the case in modern day wrestling… {in regards to the series on AXS} I would say, think drunken late night talk show sprinkled in with IMPACT Wrestling stars of our choice and a little Talk ‘N Shop A Mania running wild brother…”

Karl Anderson: “A Good Brother Variety Show, that’s the way to put it. Everything that you could expect from us to just be stupid and fun and sitting down and drinking and talking. {laughs}”

Serena Deeb is now under self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Deeb announced that she will be in quarantine for 10 days as a precaution, but did not say whether or not she tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, Deeb will not wrestle on the September 29 United Wrestling Network Primetime Live show. In its place, Allysin Kay will face Nicole Savoy on September 29.

Potentially bad news for Tegan Nox.

According to the latest NXT injury report, Nox is scheduled to undergo an MRI to assess the damage to her injured knee. Nox was seen laid out backstage by Candice LeRae prior to the number one contender battle royal for the NXT Women's Championship. LeRae took out Nox with a pipe and an equipment crate.

The report speculates that Nox suffered a torn ACL.
Current rumor going around the net is that Tegan Nox's injury is legit and not some WWE made up injury that gets changed later because WWE goofed up by making it too severe to bring someone back quickly.

A shake-up behind the scenes in NXT UK.

According to Inside The Ropes Wrestling, Glen Joseph (the former co-owner of PROGRESS) has left his role as one of the show’s producers due to “personal reasons." Jim Smallman (another PROGRESS founder) has been promoted to the brand’s head writer.

NXT UK talent was told of this news during a Zoom call on Thursday.

Joseph previously stepped down from his role in PROGRESS over allegations during the Speaking Out movement. Despite being the head writer, Smallman still answers to Matt Bloom and Shawn Michaels, who are running the show remotely from the United States.

NXT UK held an extra-long training session at the UK Performance Center to knock off the rust for the next set of television tapings. According to the report, a number of matches required a re-shoot during the first set of tapings.

The report also states that more talent are set to debut in NXT UK shortly and talent was told to cease selling their own merchandise or using their names on third-party platforms, a similar edict WWE superstars have to follow.

AEW changed their COVID testing protocols at Wednesday's tapings, Wrestling Inc. can exclusively report.

Wrestling Inc. has learned that AEW had talents get tested from their home in addition to getting test on-site at Wednesday's taping. Lance Archer apparently tested positive during that second round of testing. Also, the AEW medical staff consulted with the NFL COVID response team to come up with updates to their COVID testing process.

This apparently comes after several positive COVID-19 tests in the company. Jon Alba and Fightful.com reported that multiple AEW wrestlers who were at the September 9th tapings tested positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks since. The report noted that some of the talent that had tested positive had been brought in for the last set of AEW Dark tapings and are not under contract ...

We exclusively reported earlier this month about the COVID testing procedures implemented by WWE and AEW. AEW talent go to an off-site facility the morning of tapings to have a blood prick test taken. The test allows a talent to know within ten minutes whether they are positive or not. If the talent passes the test, they are given a wrist band and taken to Daily's Place. Talent cannot enter Daily's Place without the wrist band.

TPWW Frontpage:

More on WWE’s Latest COVID-19 Outbreak at Performance Center (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/more-on-wwes-latest-covid-19-outbreak-at-performance-center/)
Various: More on AEW Parking Lot Match, New Trademark, Cody Trademarks Update, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/various-more-on-aew-parking-lot-match-new-trademark-cody-trademarks-update-indies/)
Naomi Undergoes Surgery (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/naomi-undergoes-surgery/)
Multiple AEW Wrestlers Reportedly Test Positive for COVID-19, Ben Carter Reveals Positive Test (https://www.tpww.net/2020/09/multiple-aew-wrestlers-reportedly-test-positive-for-covid-19-ben-carter-reveals-positive-test/)

Fignuts

09-25-2020, 04:35 AM

That's the third time for Tegan Nox. She might be done.

Emperor Smeat

09-25-2020, 05:22 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

COVID has now spread into a number of promotions this past week with a major outbreak in WWE, some in AEW and four of the biggest stars, if not more, in CMLL.

All three promotions had to change aspects of their television shows this week. AEW’s television main event was changed. NXT had changes as well as noted by those in the company but were not specific as to what the changes were past there was a significant outbreak. The outbreak was said to affect plans for the Raw brand for 9/28, but there has been no indication it affects the scheduled matches on the 9/27 Clash of Champions a far as participants in the bouts themselves.

However, those who have been training at the Performance Center of late have been taken off Raw or Smackdown tapings until further notice. There is also fear that the large number of Performance Center athletes who were under masks at Retribution may lead to issues due to interacting with the Raw roster on the 9/21 show ...

Most of the positives in AEW and NXT were related to talent that is in Orlando (not necessarily all, as there is thought some is also related to independent wrestling as some AEW talent and extras have worked some indie dates of late, Ben Carter being the name that has come out although he is not AEW contracted talent) ...

With the Orlando area being a hotbed as far as wrestlers go, talent from WWE and AEW socialize, go to the gym together, and some are even in relationships together, as well as socialize with some of the same fans and insiders. One person very familiar with the testing results and spread said that was the key reason why it happened at the same time with both companies. There is also the issue with independent promotions opening up, some with fans in attendance. While some are testing, not all are doing so. WWE talent never works independent shows but the non-contracted AEW talent work as many indies as they can, and some AEW contracted talent still works indies as well ...

AEW has gone a step farther of late in its testing. They are now requiring people to test before coming to Jacksonville and then they get tested a second time on arrival and are not allowed in until the results of the second test come in. With Tony Khan’s NFL connections, he is working with the NFL Covid response team for stricter protocol ...

In addition, Chelsea Green, who had not been on television in some time, said that she had COVID-19 but is now clear of it. Green is the girlfriend of AEW’s Matt Cardona ...

With WWE, and more specifically NXT, there were a number of stories going around based on people not there that should have been, and with no explanation, notably Bobby Fish (who suffered what we were told was a minor knee injury training kickboxing and BJJ which is why he wasn’t on TV and not COVID), Tyler Breeze as well as announcers Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett. The announcing team was instead Tom Phillips and Beth Phoenix (who does the shows from home in Asheville, NC and has no contact with anyone in Orlando) ...

The story going around is that one of the NXT coaches had it without having symptoms. He later tested positive, as did many others and it spread. It was also noted that the usage of masks when they reopened training at the Performance Center a few weeks ago had gotten lax.

For the 9/23 show, they darkened outside the ring and while there were some people there, the number of contracted talent acting as fans at Full Sail sounded like a tiny number. The crowd reaction was way down and unlike in the past, the crowd wasn’t shown. So many people who train at the Performance Center were quarantined due to having contact with people who have tested positive that they weren’t able to have many in the crowd.

The WWE has not publicly said this, but the word around is that classes at the Performance Center have been canceled. The reason given was they are shutting the gym down for Takeover prep ...

This has also ked to a number of changes in the longest-lasting traditional event in pro wrestling, the CMLL Anniversary show, traditionally the company’s biggest show of the year.

The 87th anniversary show scheduled for 9/25 at this point has officially lost Bandido, Ultimo Guerrero, Lluvia and Princesa Sugehit, all of which tested positive. There is talk of others, and we do know that Templario, who is currently scheduled to replace Bandido and face Volador Jr. for the NWA welterweight title, was sick midweek but had not tested positive.

For NXT Takeover on 10/4, two title matches were determined on the 9/23 television show.

There is also supposed to be a reveal of a former NXT champion returning. Most figure this to be Bo Dallas, since he’s not doing anything and is still under contract. Robert Roode also fits into that category. The others on the roster are Sami Zayn, Andrade, Aleister Black, Seth Rollins, Big E, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura who are less likely.

NEW JAPAN: The Super J Cast has reported that the October/November tour will be a combination of both the World Tag League tournament (usually November and December) and Best of Super Juniors tournament (usually May and June)

AEW: The current schedule is that the 9/30 show is being taped on 9/25. Normally it would be taped 9/24, but the Jacksonville Jaguars were facing the Miami Dolphins at the stadium and that would require Tony Khan to be in two places at the same time, plus I don’t think it would be easy to run an event at Daily’s Place when there is a football game at the adjacent stadium. The 10/7 show, which will be the 30th anniversary of Chris Jericho’s debut special. Jericho’s first match was with Lance Storm on October 2, 1990 in Ponoka, Alberta. The anniversary show would be expected to be taped on 10/8 and air on 10/14

At the 9/24 Jaguars vs. Dolphins game, the fans at the game for the halftime entertainment had the Stadium Stampede match airing. It was edited down since halftime isn’t long enough to air the entire match. There were about 17,000 fans as they were playing to 25 percent capacity. At the end of halftime, the Jaguars mascot pushed Sammy Guevara into the pool

A ton of AEW talent were at the game together since they were in Jacksonville for the tapings.

In the outright silly department, Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss were planning on announcing that their new tag team name was The New New Midnight Express. Jim Cornette, Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton tried to trademark that name back in August. Cornette’s lawyer, Steven P. New, who advertises on his podcasts, sent a cease and desist to Megha Pareekh, the head of legal for AEW, to stop the team from using that name. Janela has since claimed it was all a rib to get Cornette mad. Cornette and Janela have real issues with each other

Shanna (Alexandra Barrulas) said that she would be coming to the U.S from Europe. She said she first has to go and spend14 days in a neutral country that isn’t banned from travel to the U.S. as a quarantine and then can come in and is doing so. No word on if or when Pac, Cima, T-Hawk, Riho, Emi Sakura, Shoko Nakajima and others can return but basically the inability to travel back-and-forth is why they aren’t being used. In a lot of cases, such as the Japanese, the problem is foreigners can’t get back to Japan without a 14-day quarantine. Pac is a similar situation in that he could theoretically get in since they’ve made exceptions for athletes from other countries so baseball and NBA players could play, but he’d have to quarantine for 14 days returning home so it doesn’t work out. Bea Priestley is another. She’s no longer under contract but they’ve talked about being interested in using her again when she’s able to come to the U.S. Priestley lives in Japan now after getting out of the U.K. a few weeks ago and is starting back with Stardom

For those who think the WWE will take a hit in its next television deal due to declining ratings, and there are so many variables about what the world, media and WWE ratings will be like in 2023 when the real negotiations will take place (current deals end at the end of September 2024), Turner Broadcasting has just given baseball a 65 percent increase to $535 million (Turner is just one of many baseball television partners) per year, up from $325 million, for a deal that would start with the 2022 season and end with the 2028 season. This is for a sport that skews older and also has declining ratings. Now, baseball provides tons of programming and no matter what, NFL, NBA and MLB are always going to be considered high priority top three sports in the U.S. so even with declining ratings they have a measure of prestige that wrestling doesn’t have. But still, the latest deal showed a big increase. Turner will get a lot more games and the Sunday afternoon game will be moved to prime time Tuesday nights. . An even bigger story as it relates to WWE is that NBCUniversal is said to be overhauling its entertainment division and putting less emphasis on cable and more on streaming. The Wall Street Journal noted that NBCU Chief Executive Jeff Shell is rethinking the inner workings of the company. It was noted the recent pushing out of Chris McCumber, who headed USA and Syfy, with no replacement is part of that. McCumber was a supporter and proponent of Raw. The article said that Syfy, E! (which airs Total Bellas) and Oxygen don’t have a long-term future. Still, cable generated $11.5 billion for NBCU last year out of $34 billion in company revenue

Stephanie Levesque, which is the name she uses in these matters, sold 57,573 shares of WWE stock on 9/21 at $39.18 per share. This is a very interesting divestiture. She sold 43 percent of her Class A stock at a time when the price was at its lowest. She still remains with a large number (1,977,382 shares worth $78,274,587 based on that days’ price) of Class B stock that only is owned by members of the McMahon family (Vince, Linda and her, Shane had sold all of his WWE stock some time back, Linda still has some, Vince has a ton although he’s also sold a ton in recent years including $300 million worth for the XFL). Unless they are needing cash to build something or invest elsewhere, that’s a lot of stock to sell, and it’s not the selling itself, but the selling at such a low price that is notable. It’s at the lowest price the stock has been in a long time, and in theory way lower than it should be from the outside because for market value this should be much higher priced based on profit margins expected for the future. The hiring of Nick Khan was supposed to be a positive step for the stock because the market wanted a hire to replace Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, whose firings with no explanation really was what led to the stock’s big decline. But now there is concern about the negotiations for TV that ends in late 2024, and nobody really knows what the state of cable television and streaming is, as well as a ton of other factors. One would think people on the inside would want to acquire now if they are confident about the future and the price being lower than it’s value, so that’s really the question. Before when she sold tons of her stock it was to buy an expensive home and their sales in recent years had been at high prices. This sale got her $2,255,710. She has 76,324 remaining Class A shares worth $2,990,374.

At a zoom meeting on 9/24, the talent was told Glen Joseph, the former co-owner of Progress and head writer of NXT U.K., has left the promotion due to personal reasons and that Jim Smallman, another former co-owner of Progress is now head writer for the brand. Joseph was with Progress through June, when he left his post over allegations by women against him. Smallman left Progress at the end of this past year to work full-time for WWE. NXT U.K., headed by Paul Levesque, is actually run by Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom, but Smallman will be head writer and in charge of tapings since Levesque, Bloom and Michaels can’t travel to the U.K. and back right now ... It’s also reported that WWE has made signed more European talent which will start debuting on upcoming tapings. U.K. talent was also told that they could no longer sell their merchandise, which had been allowed as a way to make money since the U.K. contracts are for a low amount. They also have to follow the WWE main roster restrictions of not working with any third party companies, which were also previously allowed. People aren’t happy because most U.K. contracts range from $24,000 to $36,000 per year, although the top guy (Walter and maybe a couple of others) are believed to be well over triple the higher end because they had to make him an offer of real money to get him. Walter was in the range of most of the high-end NXT guys in the U.S. besides somebody like Balor who gets main roster money but was moved to NXT for the ratings war. Originally this was presented as that the talent would make most of their old money plus they’d get their WWE money and most were barely scraping by on wrestling just working indies, so even that $20,000 boost (which was what the original contracts were for) made a big difference for most

Mike Johnson reported that Melina Perez, 41, would be returning. People in the company who should know did not know this, but since Johnson reported it the odds are that it’s true and do know of people who don’t know it but figured it was true. Perez denied it, but her denial seemed to indicate something was up, as she was mad at why someone would spoil a secret. She said she was not signed but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. She basically said that if she does sign that the story was still a lie and that she doesn’t know what her future is but then wrote “going back home to the WWE would feel like everything I’ve gone through was for this very moment, but we don’t know what’s going to happen.” It could also mean an idea was pitched for her but the deal isn’t made. And unfortunately, in far too many cases in recent years, talent has outright lied when reports of them returning comes out, only to claim later that they did because they didn’t want people to know.

So anyway, here is the explanation of the finish of the Lashley & Alexander & Benjamin vs. T-Bar & Mace & Slapjack match. Lashley had the full nelson on Slapjack and T-Bar hit Lashley to break it up and they called for a DQ. It’s bad enough that we had just had two outside interference DQs already on the show. But there is a secret rule and it was explained to us by someone who worked within the secret rules department. Vince when laying out matches is very adamant that in a tag team match, the illegal man can’t hit a legal man or it is an automatic DQ unless it is done behind the referees back. There can be double-teams off tags for five seconds because that’s an old rule. You are also allowed to make saves, so that is not a DQ. Which is where it gets funny. Producers and wrestlers have to be very careful with brawling dives and four-ways in tag matches because an illegal man is never allowed to touch a legal man or the referees, who are told to call it as shoot, are supposed to do a DQ. And the poor referees, because if it’s a nothing match, sure you can call it as a shoot, but what if it’s an important match such as determining title contenders and they screw up. So the point is, the wrestlers and producers have to be ridiculously careful on this. It’s at the point that an illegal guy is not even allowed to dive on a pile unless he lands on another illegal guy. If it’s a legal guy, it’s a DQ. Of course if you’ve been paying attention at this point, you realize that in fact T-Bar hit Slapjack and was making a save when Lashley had him in his finisher and by the rules, this is actually not a DQ. But it happened anyway because it slipped through the cracks because everyone in thinking save thinks near fall break-up, which is okay, but thinks hitting the legal guy isn’t so it was a way out. So even under the dumb secret rule, they violated their own rule because they didn’t think Lashley’s finish at that moment was a finish, it was just a full nelson and not a pin. Another person explained that referees are told that any eye pokes or low blows are supposed to be called as DQ’s which is why they always do the distraction for them. Apparently the finish was supposed to have been an eye poke and not a save, so that’s the reason for the DQ

There is apparently a reason Reigns dropped weight before his return. He did an interview where he said that he would be getting new ring attire where you would see his upper body and also that he will be getting new music to coincide with his more strongly evolving into his new character. During a meet and greet with the Mania Club, he said, “The gear, let me address that; get over it. I'm not going to run out there in trunks. I've been wearing a SWAT outfit my entire career, so I'm going to stick with those pants. If you watch on Sunday, you'll probably see me with my shirt off. That will be the change. That's going to be the only difference. I never wanted the outfit to be the costume for me. I don't want my outfit to be the superstar." He also talked dropping The Shield music. “The music, that's a little more than me creating my own music. We have to go through the channels with that one. It's not like I came out and am an ultra bad guy. You've seen it in little steps and little layers. I want all the nuances to add up. Because I am a full-time performer, you have to keep things fresh, so I decided to save the new music. Hopefully, down the line, once more drastic things happen and the story unfolds.

Glenn Jacobs (Kane) is under fire for a video he released which showed the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and said “Today his foundation is under attack. Not from some enemy abroad, but from sinister forces within.” It then showed the faces of the Knox County Board of Health who have tried to institute a mask policy in the country, which Jacobs has been fighting county doctors on. The video goes on to say, “Unelected bureaucrats who cast down edicts which carry the force of law with no accountability and no recourse.” Dr. Maria Hunt of the County Board called out Jacobs for posting such a video. Jacobs took down the video and said he was sorry board members were threatened and claimed the video was not meant to be public. How do you spend time to produce a video that is so clearly trying to incite the residents to be mad at the Board of Health and then claim it was not meant to be public? Dr. Martha Buchanan said public health officials trying to contain COVID have seen an increase in social media threats since the video was posted. Dr. Patrick O’Brien said, “This division has got to stop. We’re in this together. Well do what we can based on science...if others want to g some other way or want to do it shooting from the hip, so be it.. You will reap what you sow.

The Matt Riddle lawsuit against Samantha Tavel talked about last week was not filed this week, although it is said to be in the process of being filed. The incident that was first reported on December 19, 2019, at Full Sail where there was an alleged disturbance is now said to have been on October 2, 2019, said to be the day of the Riddle vs. Adam Cole NXT title match on the first live show on USA

The top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network over the past week: 1. WWE Untold: John Cena vs. Edge feud; 2. Velocity September 25, 2002; 3. Clash of Champions 2019; 4. Talking Smack; 5. Uncool (new Alexa Bliss podcast) with The Miz; 6. Smackdown from 8/21; 7. Superstars’ First World title win; 8. Best of Clash of Champions; 9. Payback 2020; 10. Velocity May 1, 2004. The new Velocity shows were just uploaded this week, but when a C show from another era is beating modern first-run shows, you have to ask yourself a lot of questions. NXT was 11th this week and granted, it’s on TV in the U.S., and U.K. (And edited to an hour in Canada but airs ont he network first); but you still have the rest of the world. Raw Talk was only 12th. The first new U.K. show in months was only 14th. 205 Live didn’t make the top 25. That show is just dead and I don’t even know why they bother. They really should just be producing a 10-11 p.m. show for FS 1. The only indie show in the top 25 was Shotgun from wXw at No. 25. And even that beat 205 Live

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings, AEW Dynamite Special Ratings:

Raw on 9/21 essentially stayed flat with last week, averaging 1,668,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49 (643,000).

It was the sixth lowest number of viewers in the history of the show, but it was only down 1.2 percent in viewers and did the same number as last week in both 18-49 and 18-34 (0.29).

The show went against the Las Vegas Raiders vs. New Orleans Saints which simulcast on both ABC and ESPN. It did 7,984,000 viewers on ABC and 7,451,000 viewers on ESPN. Between the two networks it did 15,435,000 viewers and a 4.70 in 18-49. It was the extremely rare situation where the same show was No. 1 in viewers and in 18-49 on both network and cable at the same time. It also should be noted that football beat Raw by more than a 9-to-1 margin, a number that is unprecedented historically.

Raw was No. 5 in 18-49 on cable behind the NFL game, the kickoff show before the game, the SportsCenter after the game and Below Deck Mediterranean ...

Raw did 112,000 viewers in males 18-34 (down 10 percent from last week), 103,000 in women 18-34 (up 10 percent), 276,000 in men 35-49 (down eight percent) and 152,000 (up 16.9 percent).

It also went against an NHL playoff game that did 1,137,000 viewers and 0.33 in 18-49.

The show was largely built around Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre, with stipulations that changed multiple times, and the first meeting of Dabba-Kato vs. Braun Strowman, pushed harder than any prior Raw Underground match. The latter was pushed for the week. On TV, they also pushed Retribution’s first match against The Hurt Business as the main event. Given the Retribution push, their first match should have held the audience better although the drop in hour three was less than last week.

The first hour did 1,746,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,692,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,565,000 viewers. The third hour was up from last week but still among the least watched hours of WWE programming in history.

As compared to the same Monday last year, the show was down 24.5 percent in total viewers, 29.6 percent in 18-49 and 40.8 percent in 18-34 ...

The first-to-third hour drop was 10.4 percent, which is normal levels. As far as the drops during the show, women 18-49 dropped 11.9 percent, men 18-49 dropped 3.3 percent, teenage girls dropped 20.8 percent, teenage boys increased 6.7 percent and over 50 dropped 12.6 percent.

Smackdown on 9/18 did a 1.27 rating and 2,037,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home).

The show did a 0.54 (704,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.3 in 18-34.

It was down 11.2 percent in ratings, 12.5 percent in viewers, 14.6 percent in 18-49 and 25.0 percent in 18-34 from the unusually high number of the previous week. The 18-49 number was still better than the show did during almost all of the pandemic.

It was a drop from the last several weeks and it’s because the audience was lower than usual at the start. The culprit looks to be the NBA playoffs which did 4,921,000 viewers and a 1.98 in 18-49, about four times what Smackdown did in the key demo.

Smackdown tied for first among network shows in 18-49 with two shows on ABC ...

The big drop wasn’t a good sign, but I’d wait a week before worrying about it since the show has done well most weeks of late and this could just be a fluke. It started out lower than usual and grew throughout hour one, but fell slightly at the end.

The show did 111,000 viewers in Males 18-34 (down 36 percent), 104,000 in Women 18-34 (up 1.0 percent), 311,000 viewers in Males 35-49 (down 9.9 percent) and 178,000 in Women 35-49 (down 20.0 percent) ...

The first half hour drew 1.96 million viewers with The Dirt Sheet with Miz & Morrison, Otis running in and Cesaro vs. Gran Metalik.

The second half hour did 2.01 million viewers with A Moment of Bliss with Nikki Cross, Cross vs. Lacey Evans and a Roman Reigns video.

The third half hour did 2.07 million viewers with the Sasha Banks interview and Bayley attack plus A.J. Styles vs. Sami Zayn.

The final half hour did 2.07 million viewers for Big E’s attack on Sheamus and Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Sheamus & King Corbin.

Last year on the same weekend FOX programmed reruns that did 1,505,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49, so it was up 35.3 percent in viewers and 25.0 percent in 18-49.

The 9/23 AEW vs. NXT head-to-head was largely the same as the week before. The only difference is AEW was hurt in Males under 35 by the NBA playoffs. The game was huge with men in those same groups, and also went against the game three of the final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning ...

One would think AEW was helped by a rare TV AEW title match with Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston or may have gone lower, as well as the debut of Miro. The return of Cody wasn’t advertised so that wouldn’t have helped.

NXT had two matches, a Battle Royal and Gauntlet eliminator, to set up title contenders in the top two matches at Takeover. NXT was essentially the same as last week in almost every demo so the NBA didn’t hurt them as much. But they were back for a second straight week in their regular slot.

AEW did 835,000 viewers and 0.32 in 18-49, good for ninth place on the chart. NXT did 696,000 viewers and 0.18 in 18-49, for No. 38 on the chart. The NBA finals on ESPN did 4,484,000 viewers and 1.76 in 18-49, while the NHL game on NBC Sports Network did 1,145,000 viewers and 0.32

AEW finished behind four NBA related shows all night on ESPN, the Stanley Cup game and Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson on FOX News. The news numbers were also way up from a usual Wednesday due to the Breonna Taylor non-indictments of two of the three officers story ...

Across the board, AEW & NXT were up with women this week and down with men, and the NBA did 72.5 percent male viewers in 18-49 and the NHL did 73.7 percent male viewers in 18-49, so that explains it.

AEW was down 5.8 percent in viewers and 5.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to last week with no NBA. NXT was up 1.0 percent in viewers and stayed even in 18-49.

Raw & Smackdown this week beat AEW in every demo including Women 18-34, where AEW had been winning.

AEW won handily in every key demo, doubling in Women 18-34 and nearly doubling in Men 18-34.

AEW did 76,000 viewers in Males 18-34 (down 29.0 percent from last week) to 39,000 for NXT (down 4.9 percent). AEW did 64,000 viewers in Women 18-34 (up 3.2 percent) and NXT did 30,000 (up 15.4 percent). AEW did 184,000 viewers in Male 35-49 (down 1.1 percent) and NXT did 98,000 (down 7.5 percent). AEW did 86,000 viewers in women 35-49 (down 4.4 percent) and NXT did 63,000 (up 12.5 percent).

AEW Dynamite’s one hour special on 9/22 did 585,000 viewers and did a 0.26 in 18-49. The show aired from 12:38 a.m. to 1:37 a.m. It was easily No. 1 in its time slot and only one of three shows in that time slot to crack the top 150 for the night. It was No. 9 for the night, which sounds great for a show that late, but it had the benefit of a great lead-in. Because of the lead-in, it was going to be No. 1 in its time slot in 18-49.

Inside the NBA that did 1,743,000 viewers and 0.79 in 18-49. The audience was likely AEW hardcores and some NBA fans seeing the product for the first time. They put on a great wrestling show as far as match quality, but not using any major stars.

The show was No. 7 in 18-49 behind three NBA related telecasts and three Fox News shows in prime time. It was No. 8 in 18-34 and No. 6 in Males 12-34.

The show did a 0.12 in 12-17, 0.19 in 18-34, 0.33 in 35-49 and 0.20 in 50+. The audience was 67.3 percent male in 18-49 and 61.7 percent male in 12-17.

Smeat's note - Taking a break next week from doing sheet reports except for Friday. To be honest, the break might last at least a month with just posting sheet reports on Fridays. After what happened personally earlier this week (check the 100k thread in Casual for more details), just been struggling to be motivated to do sheets reports or anything in general. If anyone else wants to take over doing sheets reports, be my guest.

Emperor Smeat

10-02-2020, 12:47 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter):

According to an article in Wrestling Inc. and since confirmed from others in the company, Vince McMahon sent an e-mail to talent that WWE would be taking control of all Twitch and Cameo accounts in four weeks.

Talent was told that all accounts in those genres would be owned by the company but talent would earn a percentage of revenue from their accounts. What got people upset is that the revenue would count against their downside guarantees. With no house shows, essentially the old bookkeeping method of what talent that are under contract now earn in almost all cases except giant merchandise draws, would be less than the downside taking away the house show and such a large percentage of merchandise sales.

Talent contacted at deadline has ranged from those saying they were aware of it and it is true, and others saying they received an e-mail regarding terminating all third party business relationships (which talent was warned to do several weeks ago) and being told this week that the hard deadline for this is 10/2. But some were not aware of any distinct change in the Twitch and Cameo policies, others have said they have heard it from other talent but did not hear it themselves and others have said they are aware of the one e-mail and not the other. At press time WWE had not clarified its position.

As noted when the controversy started several weeks ago when WWE first banned talent from doing third-party deals with their WWE-owned names, the feeling was that talent under old contracts that weren’t with high downsides were taking a hit without house shows and lower merchandise numbers. But they have far more time off, so the Cameo accounts, Twitch accounts and other things of this nature would allow them to make money, and in the case in particular of some of the women, very significant money. But if that was to count against downsides, the fear is that in most cases, the percentage and the way the contract revenue is calculated is that talent is going to end up just getting their downside numbers ...

The letter regarding Twitch and Cameo came as a surprise. WWE told us in the case of Twitch and YouTube, that talent was encouraged to use them, but that they could not make money off their WWE names through them since WWE owns those names.

But talent thought what WWE had backed off a little after a number of Tweets by Andrew Yang. Yang noted that he has friends who are talent in WWE who were unhappy over the last turn of events several weeks ago. He said if the Democrats win the election, and he’s not Secretary of Labor, he will personally know the person who is and will call them about WWE talent being unfairly labeled independent contractors, with this being a key thing.

A lot of talent believed that the company did not want to get into a battle of talent not being employees when they clearly are, and having the government look into it as possibly mislabeling it and penalties that could go with it. But the e-mail sent this week indicates another change ...

One talent said, “This is amazing because it’s really going to open up the independent contractor issue. All these smart attorneys surrounding Vince and this is the battle he wants?”

They also noted a lot of talent is livid, but as is usually the case in these situations, nobody would speak up about it.

The 9/27 Clash of Champions PPV was built around three matches, which all delivered at a high level ...

But the show, and pro wrestling, were a backdrop to the bigger COVID story. Two scheduled matches were changed due to Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax and Nikki Cross being pulled from the show.

In the case of Baszler and Jax, neither tested positive for COVID, but were in contact with somebody who had. With Cross, it has not been made clear which category she falls into ...

The basic feeling at this point is that one of the coaches at the Performance Center had it unknowingly, and that’s what started it. It spread to more people at a party in the Orlando area that was attended by a number of people from both companies. There may have also been other spread, as there was at least one AEW person who got it who was definitely not at that party nor did they socialize with any of the WWE talent ...

While no timetable is perfect, as a general rule these COVID related departures usually last two weeks, more if the case gets bad. So based on that, the NXT talent and announcers have a good shot at being back for the next nearly live show on 10/7, and most AEW talent should return for next week’s live show, while the Raw talent is likely for 10/12, but those are only estimates as nobody would have the actual answers.

The one negative, and it’s a big one, is that WWE did know about the talent that wouldn’t be on Clash by at the latest, two days earlier. Cross not being on the show was being talked about in wrestling by 9/28, but WWE still advertised her match, even when she was pulled off Smackdown. Bayley even did a promo on 9/29 building up the match that everyone knew wasn’t taking place. Even CMLL, which hasn’t done a good job with this, has at least told people ahead of time when people were pulled from the show. WWE remains the only company to continue to advertise matches they know they aren’t going to have, and it’s been a policy dating back decades. I’ve had discussions over it and the excuses are preposterous, largely that “why should we be punished when we didn’t make the mistakes” and “we have them under contract so why can’t we advertise them.” With Jax and Baszler, there were people who knew a few days earlier but it didn’t get out to most until the day of the show. With the advent of social media, even some of the sleaziest companies have adopted the idea of telling people as soon as possible when something changes. Some companies may hold back for a day or two, or time their announcements for strategic reasons, but WWE is the only one that will continue to promote something they know isn’t happening.

The plan right now is to move NXT from Full Sail University to the Performance Center starting imminently, with Sunday’s Takeover. There had also been talk all week of moving Takeover to the Thunderdome but Wednesday came and went with no announcement and WWE at press time hadn’t answered any questions regarding the location of the Takeover show ... An interesting note is that 205 Live and NXT are going to be taped together as opposed to doing 205 Live on Friday’s each week live after Smackdown. We were told this was a precautionary measure related to COVID. The idea of taping Raw separate from Smackdown and separate from NXT was that if there was a COVID problem, it wouldn’t spread to different brands because they were kept apart. There was belief that some main roster spread came from the NXT talent that worked 205 Live, or at least the potential was there for such that needed to be shut down. Of course, what happened this past week with it spreading throughout WWE and AEW through socializing with so many people having friends in each company and a number of cross-company relationships that stuff can happen. But since main roster Smackdown talent no longer ever appear on 205 Live, but do appear on NXT, it was felt that it’s safer for all concerned doing it this way. There has also been talk of going back to live weekly shows from the Performance Center as opposed to Full Sail, every Wednesday as opposed to every other week. At press time there was discussion of that, but we were told it was not yet a done deal

Tegan Nox (Steffanie Newell, 25), underwent another knee operation this past week for a torn ACL. Generally you’re talking about around eight months or so out, give or take a couple of months in either direction. That’s why they did the angle on last week’s NXT show where Candice LeRae took out her knee. The injury in this case didn’t come from a match or even from training in the ring itself, and does have to do with prior knee problems. This would be her third ACL tear, two in one knee and one in the other
I'd be surprised if her in-ring career lasts that much longer in WWE. Supposedly Triple H has been wanting to make her the top women's star for his NXT brand ever since the last Mae Young Classic tournament but those plans kept getting derailed due to her knee issues.

Harold George Meij, the unlikely President and CEO of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who had gotten rave reports for his handling of the COVID-19 situation and headed a period of record revenues and profits, was replaced suddenly during the G-1 Climax tournament after a meeting on 9/29 by the Bushiroad Board of Directors.

Technically, Meij will remain in his position until 10/23, when Takami Ohbari, who was the CEO of the New Japan of America division will take over the position ...

There are a lot of people who have a lot of different things to say about Meij. His track record as far as the bottom line was very strong. His breaking with tradition and running two days at the Tokyo Dome this year generated so much revenue that New Japan was able to survive the pandemic far better than it could have otherwise. Unlike America companies who make their money from television, New Japan’s business was based on live ticket sales, huge merchandise business and its streaming service, which had great limitations as compared to U.S. services since Japanese don’t subscribe to streaming services in anywhere close to the level that Americans and Canadians do.

But under him, international popularity had exploded, largely stemming from the Omega vs. Chris Jericho match on January 4, 2018, to where there were 8,000 tickets sold for both nights at the Tokyo Dome to non-Japanese nationals, with Australia and the U.K. being the strongest markets as well as the U.S. But it was also under his watch that they lost Omega, and he had made the call that due to Jericho’s high salary, which was worth it to the company and then some at first, that he wasn’t interested in using him after the January 5, 2019 show.

In addition, he marketed very strongly to the women fan base. New Japan had been strong with women long before Meij came into power, with top stars like Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Omega, Kota Ibushi and others. It was under his watch Ibushi signed a long-term deal and didn’t go to AEW. But he pushed the large percentage of women in their 20s who attended matches as a calling card, and even created women’s only sections at shows so women could feel comfortable going to shows if they weren’t interested in dealing with or being hit on by male fans.

But he was very divisive. There was the feeling he didn’t know or fully understand pro wrestling ...

Some wrestlers felt that he didn’t see wrestlers as individual talents even though he was a wrestling fan. But there were also economic issues. Without the big television money, even though wrestlers rave about aspects of Japanese wrestling and many love Japan, they could make more money in the U.S. market, particularly once AEW elevated the pay structure ...

Still, his departure was not a surprise. It happening this week was a surprise, but insiders had expected it for some time, particularly when Ohbari and not Meij nor his assistant, Canadian native Michael Craven, were put in charge of the most important aspect of company growth, the North American expansion.

When Meij came aboard, he promised that within three years he would get annual revenue to $100 million. That would not have been possible without strong overseas television deals, in particular in the U.S., as well as India (where New Japan does have a deal) and the U.K. (where it doesn’t). Even before the pandemic hit, that didn’t look promising, and the odds were greatly against it ...

And Meij had a business mind regarding profit and losses, and many complained about New Japan being cheap, whether it be the nature of flights or other things.

Meij himself also had a very high salary, earning more than everyone in the company with the possible exception of Okada. While in the U.S., the CEO’s may earn more than the star employees, and in WWE the Executive Vice Presidents with their stock options are as wealthy or wealthier than the top talent, in Japan it is not that way at all, and in wrestling the people who run the business end never made what the star wrestlers made. The timing could be that with the company not generating revenue anywhere near expectations, and with no certainty that they will get to the level they were any time soon, and office workers already taking major cuts, that Meij’s salary would be a big one to get off the books ...

One person in the company noted this had been in the works for a while, that Meij was divisive and had a huge ego, and that almost everyone is glad he was gone. The claim was that Bushiroad owner Takaaki Kidani knew a year ago he had to make the change and likely held off until now to both save face and then didn’t want to make the change while the worst of the pandemic in Japan was going on.

Meij was able to get New Japan great publicity on mainstream shows that portrayed the company very positively. But he was still the focal point and not the talent on many of those specials. That was very unusual for Japanese wrestling officials who are mostly anonymous figures who wouldn’t even be recognized in public by anyone but the most ardent of fan ...

Because of his meeting with so many fans, a large number of the Japanese fan base was quite vocal about the decision and disappointed. The office itself was more mixed.

He was also credited for both signing talent to longer-term contracts as opposed to the one-year deals that company was famous for, which allowed the top stars to be raided by American groups. Some talent who was never under contract were able to get longer-term deals and given stability.

Meij also had his own fan club. And at live events, Meij would often be there as fans entered the building, shaking hands, saying hello, and even handing out items as people came through the door. This was completely different from past CEO’s of New Japan and all but a few executives at his level in pro wrestling history ...

Yet another insider felt that while Meij was not liked by many Americans, and noted that he had made the call not to use Jericho going forward because of his high salary, that others may not hold the line when it comes to higher priced talent. One person said it is great because they believe Jericho and others will eventually be brought back when the world gets normal, but the bad is the company may overspend on foreign talent. It was noted Meij was big on not cutting anyone during the pandemic either on the roster or working in the office, although there were many who took pay cuts in the office.

From the AEW side, for those who have wanted the business relationship, the feeling is that it’s good news, but they don’t know much about Ohbari.

“No idea (regarding opening up the business relationship with Meij out),” said one of AEW’s top names. “We want to. But he (Meij) was an idiot when it came to understanding the business. Hopefully things will change now.”

The largest pro wrestling crowd in North America since the pandemic, roughly 1,500 fans, showed up for the 50th anniversary of Jerry Lawler’s Memphis wrestling debut show.

The show took place outdoors at The Ballpark in Jackson, the home of the Jackson Generals minor league baseball team, in the city that was a regular stop for Nick Gulas & Roy Welch, and later Jarrett Promotions ...

WWE had a crew shooting the show for an upcoming Lawler piece.

AAA: AAA made the official announcement of its Auto Lucha shows, which are drive-in wrestling shows. They take place at the Hermanos Rodriguez auto racing track in Mexico City. They’ve so far announced three shows a day on 10/3, 10/4, 10/10 and 10/11 ... All the shows will be taped. The 10/3 8 p.m. show will air live on AAA’s social media and the rest will be taped for the company’s various television stations. The lineups won’t be announced ahead of time most likely and the idea is just to present good entertaining matches without a lot of storylines. They may open up drive-in shows in other cities, like Monterrey, if this proves to be successful. Everyone involved with the show, from the producers to the 75 wrestlers on the current roster was to start COVID testing this week. ...

El Hijo del Vikingo, who is perhaps the company’s best young wrestler and one of the best flyers in the world, will not be on the return shows or anything going forward. Those close to him have said he’s gone incommuicado. Those in AAA are saying that he is taking a year off wrestling because his wife asked him to be home with her and his new child. AAA noted that they are wishing him well and he is under contract through 2023.

Leland Race, who wrestled as the son of Harley Race, real name Homer Jones and wrestled for years on indies as Jason Jones before working with Race as his son in Race’s World League Wrestling group in 2013) attempted to get a street in Troy, MO named Harley Race Lane on 9/21. It would be the street where Race’s gym has been located for years. While speaking to the Board of Alderman in Troy, he talked like Race was his father, and a local newspaper story listed him as the son of Harley Race. The proposal looks like it won’t happen since three local business owners were vehemently opposed tot the change and Jones said that he would drop his request.

AEW: They are taping live on 10/7, 10/14 and 10/21 instead of every other week. 10/7 is supposed to be a big show with the Jericho 30th anniversary and 10/14 is the Anniversary show with Moxley vs. Lance Archer for the AEW title. 10/7 goes against the Vice Presidential debate, so that may be tough, as will 10/21 for sure and maybe 10/28 with the World Series, and the night before Thanksgiving as AEW did one of its worst numbers that night because of the age group it draws from, since the week before and after did well and the DVR numbers after that week for that show were huge. The basic story is Tony Khan wanted the Jericho and Anniversary show live, and with the PPV on 11/7, he was bringing all talent in for the nine days from 11/4 to 11/12 where they would do a live show, Dark, PPV, live show and Dark. The only taped shows until December will be 10/28 and 11/18

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Clash of the Champions; 2. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Kurt Angle; 3. Raw Talk on 9/28; 4. WWE Chronicle: Jey Uso; 5. Uncool with Alexa Bliss; 6.Clash of the Champions kickoff show; 7. Best of The Miz & John Morrison; 8. WWE Payback; 9. The Bump for 9/27; 10. Smackdown on 8/26. NXT was 13th. NXT U.K. was 20th. The only independent show in the top 25 was a May 11, 2009, Evolve show at No. 24. 205 Live didn’t crack the top 25

WWE Ratings, AEW vs NXT Ratings:

Raw on 9/28 was expected by many going in to do its all-time record low, and instead, it was the opposite. Raw went against the biggest NFL game so far this season, game six of the NHL playoffs (which ended up being the decider), and a night where news coverage was well above average, to the point Raw only finished No. 28 overall on cable.

However, the combination of the day-after-PPV bump and bringing back Ric Flair (who when used sparingly seems to always bring up ratings), Shawn Michaels, Christian and Big Show did 1,828,000 viewers and 0.55 in 18-49 (707,000 viewers).

The increases from the prior week were 9.6 percent for overall viewers, 10.0 percent in 18-49 and 9.3 percent in 18-34 ...

The main competition was the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens game which had 14,019,000 viewers, likely to be the biggest ESPN number of the season, as well as a 4.60 in 18-49 and 3.66 in 18-34. What turned out to be the deciding game of the Stanley Cup playoffs on NBC did 2,877,000 viewers and an 0.8 in 18-49 and 0.6 in 18-34.

Raw was fourth overall in 18-49 on cable, and fifth in males 18-49 and males 12-34, trailing only ESPN-related football coverage.

As compared to last year for the same week, viewers were down 29.1 percent, 18-49 was down 38.2 percent and 18-34 was down 44.3 percent ...

As far as who kept interest through all three hours, women 18-49 dropped 14.9 percent, males 18-49 dropped 7.2 percent, teenage girls dropped 26.5 percent, and teenage boys gained 7.2 percent and over 50 lost 14.7 percent.

Smackdown on 9/25 did bounce back from the lower number the week before doing a 1.30 rating and 2,110,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) and 0.59 in 18-49 (766,000 viewers).

It was up 2.4 percent in ratings, 3.6 percent in viewers and 8.8 percent in 18-49 from what was considered a low number the prior week. The key to the growth was women 18-49, which was up 19.5 percent from the prior week.

Smackdown was second to the Tampa Bay-Dallas Stanley Cup playoff finals in 18-49 on network TV, but it was a close second at 789,000 to 766,000, or 0.61 to 0.59. ESPN beat all the networks with the NBA in 18-49 (2,233,000 in 18-49 head-to-head and that’s being in far less homes, and still nearly tripling it) and beat Smackdown 5-to-1 in 18-34 (1.50 to 0.30).

Among network shows, Smackdown tied for second behind the NHL playoffs in 18-34, tied for first in 18-49 and were second to the NHL in men 18-49 and tied for third with women 18-49 of the four network shows ...

The first half hour averaged 2.18 million viewers with the promo with A.J. Styles, Jeff Hardy and Sami Zayn and subsequent three-way match. The second half hour did 2.08 million viewers with the Otis & Tucker & Miz & John Morrison segment, Bayley interview, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Gran Metalik and Jey Uso/Roman Reigns video. The third half hour did 2.12 million viewers with the Jey Uso promo, Paul Heyman interview and Matt Riddle vs. King Corbin. The final half hour did 2.03 million viewers with Lacey Evans vs. Alexa Bliss and the Reigns/Uso promo and angle.

A few interesting notes regarding the 9/23 NXT vs. AEW battle. NXT had a great lead-in, as the show opened with 1,205,000 viewers, although by four minutes in it was down to 896,000, but still the first quarter with the women’s Battle Royal averaged 913,000 and even came somewhat close to AEW in 18-49s. But it wasn’t the Battle Royal, since the conclusion was at 754,000 for the quarter. AEW opened at 791,000.

NXT won the first quarter and was within shooting distance over the next two quarters. But the race turned around in quarter four when Brodie Lee vs. Orange Cassidy gained 106,000 viewers and Roderick Strong & Danny Burch vs. Fabian Aichner & Raul Mendoza lost 103,000 viewers, and in that quarter AEW nearly doubled NXT in 18-49. AEW doubled NXT in 18-49 in every subsequent quarter.

The final quarter battle saw AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston do 873,000 viewers and 465,000 in 18-49, the latter being the peak number for the night, while NXT did 652,000 viewers and 204,000 in 18-49 for the five-way gauntlet eliminator with Kyle O’Reilly, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Timothy Thatcher and Kushida ...

In the first quarter, AEW did 762,000 viewers and 342,000 in 18-49 for Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss. NXT did 913,000 viewers and 294,000 in 18-49 for the women’s Battle Royal.

In the second quarter, AEW did 789,000 viewers and 367,000 in 18-49 for a Kingston promo with Moxley coming out, plus the beginning of Adam Page vs. Evil Uno. NXT did 754,000 and 245,000 in 18-49 for the last few minutes of the Battle Royal, a Damien Priest promo and Fandango acting like Sherlock Holmes plus the beginning of Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jake Atlas.

Quarter three saw AEW at 762,000 viewers and 361,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Page vs. Uno and the angle with Matt Jackson and Tony Schiavone. NXT did 711,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Ciampa vs. Atlas, a Ridge Holland video, a video for the main event and the beginning of Strong & Burch vs. Mendoza & Aichner.

Quarter four saw AEW do 868,000 viewers and 403,000 in 18-49 with Lee vs. Cassidy. NXT did 608,000 viewers and 202,000 in 18-49 for Strong & Burch vs. Mendoza & Aichner.

Quarter five saw AEW do 893,000 viewers (its peak) and 445,000 in 18-49 for the Cody run-in on the Dark Order, Brodie Lee promo and the Matt Hardy & Private Party along with Jericho promo. NXT did 646,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49 for Damien Priest vs. Austin Theory.

Quarter six saw AEW do 877,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49 for the Tully Blanchard & FTR promo with Best Friends coming out and the beginning of Hikaru Shida & Thunder Rosa vs. Diamante & Ivelisse. NXT did 616,000 viewers and 210,000 in 18-49 for an Isaiah Scott interview, the Ridge Holland squash and the Io Shirai, Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano and Priest segment.

Quarter seven saw AEW do 859,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49 with Shida & Rosa vs. Diamante & Ivelisse and the Chris Jericho promo with MJF. NXT did 663,000 viewers and 220,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of the Gauntlet eliminator match.

In quarter eight’s Battle of main events, AEW gained 14,000 total viewers and 16,000 in 18-45, while NXT lost 11,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49.

Both AEW and NXT saw increases on 9/30, even with the NBA playoff finals, Major League baseball playoffs and a South Park spoof of COVID-19 that was expected to be, and was, a monster in the key demo.

AEW did 866,000 viewers and an 0.33 in 18-49 (428,000 viewers), good for the 11th spot of the night on cable, behind five baseball related shows, South Park and four news shows ...

AEW Dynamite was up 3.7 percent overall, 4.4 percent in 18-49 and down 0.7 percent in 18-34 ...

NXT did 732,000 viewers and 0.19 (247,000 viewers) in 18-49, good for the No. 50 spot on cable.

It was up 5.2 percent in viewers, 9.3 percent in 18-49 and 11.6 percent in 18-34.

While on the surface you look at this and say the NBA game didn’t hurt at all, actually that wasn’t the case. AEW before the game started averaged 918,000 viewers an 457,000 in 18-49, even against baseball playoffs. But against the NBA, it fell to 811,000 and 401,000. NXT did 796,000 viewers and 254,000 in 18-49 against baseball but not basketball, while fell to 669,000 and 240,000 respectively against basketball.

The Ricky Starks vs. Darby Allin match averaged 1,026,000 viewers, and that’s with no lead-in. The Cody/Brodie Lee brawl averaged 503,000 in 18-49.

In the main event battle, AEW with Jon Moxley vs. The Butcher for the AEW title did 815,000 viewers and 390,000 in 18-49, actually the lowest in 18-49 of the show which was due to the NBA. NXT with Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae vs. Damien Priest & Io Shirai did 635,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49.

The NBA finals game one did 7,410,000 viewers and 2.6 in 18-49, the lowest in at least 26 years. The drop was a giant sports story, as the first game in 2017 did 18.70 million viewers, 2018 did 17.35 million and 2019 did 13.51 million. It may be the wrong time of the year, or it could be the political divisiveness and a segment of the public being negative toward the players due to the climate we live in. This is more of a drop than even WWE has done over the same time period. The baseball game head-to-head with both shows did 2,535,000 viewers and 0.68 in 18-49 and 0.50 in 18-34. The South Park special did 2,272,000 viewers, 1.16 in 18-49 and 1.14 in 18-34, and 1.14 with teenage boys. These three shows just destroyed AEW’s teenage boy viewership. Teenage girls, however, were up 18.7 percent and as a total, girls were 87.4 percent higher than boys for AEW among teenagers which is unheard of.

AEW won every key demo. AEW did 74,000 in male18-34 (down 2.6 percent from last week) to 42,000 for NXT (up 7.7 percent). AEW did 65,000 in women 18-34 (up 1.6 percent) to 35,000 for NXT (up 16.7 percent). AEW did 206,000 in men 35-49 (up 12.0 percent) to 102,000 for NXT (up 4.1 percent). AEW did 83,000 in women 35-49 (down 3.5 percent) to 68,000 for NXT (up 7.9 percent).

AEW was hit really hard with teenage boys, which likely has to do with the NBA and baseball, with a 43.6 percent week-to-week drop. The male drop was so much that NXT beat AEW with teenagers which rarely happens and hasn’t in a long time. NXT won with over 50s by 0.37 to 0.34 ...

AEW more than doubled NXT in the first 30 minutes in 18-49. However, in quarter three NXT, won in total viewers 835,000 to 824,000. There was a huge shift with AEW losing 162,000 viewers and 79,000 in 18-49, and at the same time NXT gained 78,000 viewers and 44,000 in 18-49. The NBA pregame show also started at the same time, so that indicates the AEW fan base is far more into the NBA than the NXT fan base, as while both were hurt by the game itself, AEW averaged 1,006,000 viewers before the pre game show started, 830,000 against the pregame show and 811,000 against the game. For NXT, those figures were 803,000 unopposed, 789,000 against the pregame show and 669,000 against the game.

In the first quarter, AEW did 1,026,000 viewers and 469,000 in 18-49 for Starks vs. Allin. NXT did 848,000 viewers and 231,000 in 18-49 for Shotzi Blackheart vs. Dakota Kai.

In the second quarter, AEW did 986,000 viewers and 503,000 in 18-49 for the Cody and Brodie Lee brawl with Brandi and Anna Jay and all the other characters plus the FTR & Tully Blanchard promo. NXT did 757,000 viewers and 241,000 in 18-49 for the end of Blackheart vs. Kai, the Isaiah Scott/Santos Escobar promo segment and a Kyle O’Reilly video package.

In quarter three, AEW fell badly with 824,000 viewers and 424,000 in 18-49 for the first part of FTR vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky for the tag titles. NXT did 835,000 viewers and 285,000 in 18-49 for a Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae promo, Cameron Grimes’ two matches including Ridge Holland and a Kushida video package.

In quarter four, AEW did 836,000 viewers and 431,000 in 18-49 for the second half of FTR vs. Kazarian & Sky. NXT did 742,000 viewers and 257,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Tony nese.

In quarter five, AEW did 844,000 viewers and 417,000 in 18-49 for Chris Jericho vs. Isaiah Kassidy and the Miro & Kip Sabian segment. NXT did 741,000 viewers and 251,000 in 18-49 for Adam Cole vs. Austin Theory.

In quarter six, AEW did 785,000 viewers and 396,000 in 18-49 for Orange Cassidy vs. 10 and MJF & Wardlow backstage with The Inner Circle. NXT did 687,000 viewers and 234,000 in 18-49 for Kayden Carter vs. Xia Li.

In quarter seven, AEW did 806,000 viewers and 399,000 in 18-49 for Britt Baker vs. Red Velvet and an Eddie Kingston interview. NXT did 611,000 viewers and 231,000 in 18-49 for the Shawn Michaels, Finn Balor and Kyle O’Reilly segment.

In quarter eight, AEW did 815,000 viewers and 390,000 in 18-49, so up 9,000 in viewers and down 9,000 in 18-49, for Moxley vs. Butcher. NXT did 635,000 viewers and 242,000 in 18-49, or up 24,000 in viewers and up 11,000 in 18-49, for Gargano & LeRae vs. Priest & Shirai.

Smeat's note: Baring any sudden changes, just going to take next week off as well except for Friday instead of the whole month as I had been seriously thinking of doing. Been recently feeling better mentally after last month's terrible ordeal of the passing of a family dog.

Emperor Smeat

10-09-2020, 01:59 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

A reopening of Florida by Gov. Ron DeSantis will allow all sports to run events without governmental regulation, which was noted in the local news would mean full stadiums for NFL games ...

While not announced officially, the plan is for WrestleMania to be on March 28, 2021 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and then go to Los Angeles in 2022.

WWE always wanted 2022 in Los Angeles but the city wanted 2021. Given that California is going to be more cautious about events like this than Florida (a drunk driver racing at Daytona is probably more cautious than the Governor of Florida in reality), it really all makes sense.

Plus Tampa does deserve it based on the work put in to house it last year.

While the Miami Dolphins won’t be doing that due to the NFL’s restrictions at 25 percent max, such a ruling means WWE would be able to do whatever it wanted as far as capacity goes, as would AEW, anywhere within the state. This is likely to mean the return of arena tapings with crowds for WWE in November, when its lease with the Amway Center in Orlando expires. AEW at this point has been policing itself on capacity at Daily’s Place at 600 to 750 and any increase from that would be up to the company ...

WWE has brought back fans for the 10/4 Takeover and 10/7 NXT tapings at the Performance Center, limited to about 100 people, with all fans tested for COVID the day before, but kept very close together in a small indoor facility. At this point, other companies such as ROH, Impact, New Japan and others have yet to announce anything regarding bringing back fans. There are independent shows outside Florida, most notably Warrior Wrestling and Game Changer Wrestling, that have had fans, but have run outdoors and kept the fans socially distant.

Right now, AEW has no plans at this time to run anywhere but Daily’s Place, because of the nature of the venue allowing fans to be kept apart from each other and far apart from the ring and wrestling crew with the large empty section separating them ...

Really the only thing that could hold back continuing to allow arenas and stadiums at full capacity would be an increase in cases in Florida, and it would have to be substantial because as we’ve seen, Governors who rush to open aren’t usually willing to make changes when cases increase after doing so.

You’ll have little in the way of foreign travel due to the restrictions and having to quarantine for two weeks going back to many countries. Technically people in Florida are supposed to quarantine for two weeks when coming to the Northeast but we’ve seen that’s strictly something politicians say to get brownie points with constituents and nothing enforced in reality. They’ll certainly be able to get tens of thousands of fans. Sturgis told us that common sense doesn’t play a part in many people’s decision making when it comes to events.

We are likely to now start a race to reopen arenas, and live crowds for pro wrestling and MMA indoor arena events in the U.S.

MMA Junkie reported on 10/6 that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations is allowing promoters to hold events within the state at 50 percent capacity in arenas, with one promotion asking for and receiving a date for Halloween night in San Antonio.

Once one state opens up, many others will follow, although some states will also be cautious ...

There are eight events tentatively on the schedule in the state between now and the end of the year.

Samantha Tavel, who wrestles under the name Candy Cartwright, filed a more than $40 million lawsuit against Matt Riddle, World Wrestling Entertainment, Evolve Wrestling and Gabe Sapolsky on 10/8 in U.S. Circuit Court in Cook County, IL.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions that have gone back-and-forth between the two over allegations that Riddle sexually assaulted Tavel during an affair the two had which she claimed was during a time frame between 2017 and 2020.

The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million each from Riddle, WWE, Evolve Wrestling (which has been sold to WWE) and Sapolsky, who was the booker and co-promoter for Evolve and now works for WWE as an NXT producer. The money figure claims to be based on actual damages, damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs.

The suit, filed by John W. Chwarzynski Jr., of the Chicago law firm of Hale & Monico, claims Riddle first sexually assaulted Tavel in April 2017 after a wrestling show in Brooklyn promoted by Evolve. The suit claimed that Riddle bragged about raping Tavel to Sapolsky and other employees of Evolve ...

The WWE tie-in with the suit is that in May 2018, it was claimed that after a show in Summit, IL, outside Chicago, that Evolve was an agent promotion of WWE, and that Riddle forced Tavel to perform oral sex on him in the same van with several others in the van while leaving the event and claimed he choked her until she consented.

The story, which Riddle denied, is that there are no witnesses because the three others in the van were all asleep when this allegedly took place.

WWE was also tied into the suit with claims that Travel had bookings with WWE and Evolve, but on January 31, 2020, when she refused to continue to perform sexual acts on Riddle, the suit claims, she had her bookings with both promotions terminated.

However that is provably false as Tavel still worked for Evolve as late as March 1, 2020, or at least on that date posted footage from Evolve 146 with her working the company’s final event, held in Melrose, MA. That was Evolve’s last show before the pandemic hit which led to the promotion closing and selling its assets to WWE.

A major key to the credibility of the suit would be if she had any WWE bookings after January 31, 2020, which were then canceled ...

WWE and Riddle were not aware of the lawsuit until a few hours before a press conference was held in Chicago. The WWE claimed on 10/8 that they had not yet been served with the suit ...

Riddle was scheduled for the 10/9 draft episode of Smackdown. If he remains on the show, it would indicate WWE standing behind him. If he is not on the show, it would indicate a late change in plans.

From a strategic standpoint, the attempt to tie in WWE is because they have the deepest pockets. But others observing the case believe it may backfire because WWE, being defendants in the suit, are on the same side as Riddle as opposed to be onlookers.

Riddle’s statement in his most recent petition was that he met Tavel in 2016, and they started having an affair on November 6, 2017. He said he tried to break up with her in June 2018, but they ended up still seeing each other under he broke up with her again in July 2019.

Tavel gives different dates, claiming a start in April 2017 and a finish on January 31, 2020, and now claims continued sexual assaults on both those dates as well as in between. But that would indicate getting back together after he had first looked into filing for a protective order against her and after making WWE aware of the problem.

The January 31, 2020, date is key to the suit, particularly with WWE. It would seem strange that Tavel would have had bookings with WWE that many months after they were aware of the issues with Riddle and Tavel. But Evolve had continued to use Tavel and was aware of the issues, but by that time Riddle was no longer working for Evolve.

In fact, the credibility of both sides really comes down heavily on this claim. If she had bookings that were pulled that late, it would tie WWE in. If there is no proof of bookings after that time that were pulled, then her story falls apart as it pertains to WWE, and it would be a major credibility issue in what comes down to a he-said she-said.

The lawsuit claims sexual assaults took place between 2017 and 2020, multiple times, as opposed to the one time in the van that was originally claimed, although the lawsuit does focus on a May 19, 2018, date. It tried to tie in WWE by saying they were actively involved in the conduct and business of Evolve at that point. Riddle signed with WWE about two months after this date ...

The suit claimed WWE had control of the Evolve events and provided rules from the direction of WWE and Vince McMahon.

The lawsuit claimed WWE had condoned sexual assault in the workplace for more than 30 years.

She claimed she was told on January 31, 2020, that her future bookings with WWE and Evolve were terminated due to “issues with the talent” and claimed Riddle informed WWE and Evolve that he didn’t want her working with WWE due to Tavel no longer performing forced sexual acts on him ...

The lawsuit listed an April 2017 date as the first sexual assault while in a vehicle in a parking lot after an Evolve show. It claimed he bragged about it to Sapolsky and other employees of Evolve that he did this without her consent, and was never disciplined over it by Evolve or WWE. Of course WWE wasn’t even in the picture at this point.

The WWE will be doing its draft on the 10/9 Smackdown show and the 10/12 Raw show. Generally speaking, the draft shows boost ratings significantly, although the gain has lessened in recent years ...

The picks are usually kept a secret from everyone. Only the biggest stars in general get tipped off ahead of time, so talent is just like fans when it comes to draft days. Because Styles was mad about missing his son’s high school football games, which are mostly played on Friday, he could go to Raw. The fact he did a clean job for Jey Uso on Smackdown was another indication, but nothing is ever a sure thing ...

Since WWE booking often operates like the old territorial system, with the idea of jobbing on your way out, the prime candidates for switching would be those who lost on television this week.

On Smackdown, that would include Styles, quick squash losers like John Morrison and Shorty G, as well as Jeff Hardy, who lost to Sami Zayn cleaner than expected in a match that would have figured to have either a DQ finish or a less clean one.

Those who fit into the category on Raw would be Lana, Humberto Carrillo and Apollo Crews. But Lana just started her pairing with Natalya, although unlike other tag teams, they are listed separately.

A series of things that have taken place over the past two weeks, from Harold Meij being out as the President and CEO of New Japan Pro Wrestling, to a number of mentions of New Japan personnel on the 10/7 Dynamite show, have led to a lot more speculation of what this all means.

The relationship, or more accurately, lack of relationship between AEW and New Japan, the second and third largest pro wrestling companies it he world, has always been a subject of speculation ...

At this point, the situation explained last week, that from an AEW side, Meij not being there is probably a positive for the potential of a deal, is still the situation. There are still people on both sides wanting a deal. And there are obviously reasons that get in the way of it. And with the pandemic, meaning it being difficult to impossible to have foreign talent come in (AEW has been unable to use its own contracted Japanese based talent like Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, Shoko Nakajima, Cima, T-Hawk and Lindaman), it’s not something that would need to be rushed through with any kind of a time element.

Meij is still running New Japan for the next few weeks, largely involved with the COVID issue as well as plans for the hoped for Tokyo Dome show on 1/4. In a normal year, that show would be most important because it would spur on more of a rush when it comes to a deal as New Japan would be interested in AEW stars to make a Dome show more special. But the difficulty of bringing foreigners in at this point may make that a moot point this year.

Speculation came from the 30th anniversary of Jericho Dynamite show where Tanahashi, with a New Japan Pro Wrestling logo in the background, appeared on the show and his name was referenced twice on commentary. In addition, in the promotion of the Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer AEW title match on 10/14, both men in their promos referenced their Texas death match on January 4, 2020 at the Tokyo Dome. There was also a mention of Gedo, in noting the last previous time Jericho had faced Dr. Luther, in a tag match where Gedo was Jericho’s partner, in 1996 in the FMW promotion. On the Fite TV version, there was also a mention of Antonio Inoki, but that is meaningless since Inoki is not with New Japan and largely a persona non grata in the company except he can’t be completely ignored because it would be ignoring company history to do so.

Jericho had little in the way of limitations of who he could get on the show, although obviously WWE would never allow its talent on. It’s been noted in many places that wrestlers from all over the world congratulated Jericho on his 30 year anniversary this past week, but nobody from WWE as far as we can tell with the exception of A.J. Styles on his Twitch channel has said anything publicly, which tells you, no matter what is said publicly, how heated the rivalry between those sides still is, or is at least perceived to be by WWE talent regarding WWE management’s reaction. Particularly since the largest portion of Jericho’s career was in WWE ...

The Tanahashi video had nothing to do with either AEW or New Japan past that neither side didn’t strike down the idea. The reality is that Tanahashi and Jericho have great respect for each other as pro wrestlers and similar philosophies to the business ... New Japan officials said that they have great respect for Jericho and would have never had an issue with anyone wanting to be part of the show. In fact, of all the people Jericho contacted, Tanahashi was the first one to do the video, just two hours after he was asked ...

If there is a likely first sign of a relationship, it would be Moxley defending his New Japan U.S. title any time soon. New Japan even had KENTA cut a promo on Moxley, and his briefcase that he won to get a shot at the title was used as a prop during G-1, with the teases of Juice Robinson and Tanahashi (who beat KENTA in G-1) challenging for the briefcase and a shot at Moxley. Moxley is allowed to work New Japan on his own, but until the 14-day quarantine is lifted, he can’t feasibly go to Japan because of his AEW commitments. If a relationship is made, where Moxley fits in is he would be doing a title defense, likely with KENTA, at the New Japan Strong tapings in Port Hueneme, CA. But politically, Moxley is not going to be able to lose that title, unless they do a DQ finish (New Japan titles change hands via DQ) as long as he’s AEW champion.

The one negative in the way is that New Japan does want to expand to the U.S., and that would put them in a sense in competition with AEW. Without that, it would be easier. Alliances between promotions have worked out favorably for both sides as far as helping produce bigger events historically, including the 90s New Japan/WCW relationship and New Japan/ROH and to a lesser degree the New Japan/TNA relationship, but in all cases, where it be two U.S. offices working together, aside from New Japan/ROH, it has been when neither was running live events in the same markets as the other.

NXT had another strong Takeover show on 10/4, as the first show since the brand has moved from Full Sail University to the Performance Center, renamed the Capitol Wrestling Center.

The new setup includes a wall for virtual fans, a setup for 100 fans and a barricade that had both a metal fence over the regular barricade and the plexiglass. Fans were required to wear masks, although early on some of them started taking them off but seemed to be ordered to put them back on. All fans were tested for COVID a day ahead of time, which is better than temperature checks. But they were also clearly on top of each other in a small indoor building. The timing of doing this right after a breakout seems strange as one would think you’d want fewer people in the building and only those necessary. As people involved have brought up, people can get tested and then go out to bars that night since in Florida, everything is open.

Capitol is an ode to Capitol Sports, which was the parent name of Vincent James McMahon’s WWWF promotion. On the NXT TV show they even showed clips of Buddy Rogers, Vincent James McMahon, Bruno Sammartino and showed old clips of announcer Ray Morgan at the start of the show.

This came just weeks after WWE was talking about how important it was to get TV out of the PC because it was needed for training. Now they’ve changed it to bring in fans, friends and family, plus using virtual fans and piping in fake sound which ranges from enhancing some matches to being out of sync (it was much better for the NXT TV show than for Takeover). The move has to do with COVID and Full Sail.

NXT will now be taped every Wednesday at the CWC with two hours of NXT and 45 minutes to an hour of 205 Live ...

The returning champion ended up being Ember Moon. In a strange deal, just before Moon came back, to challenge Io Shirai after she had retained her title over Candice LeRae, they had played a video of Toni Storm, who is also returning to challenge for that title.

From the time Bushiroad purchased Stardom in late 2019, the company has been planning a major show. But COVID made these shows impossible until a show on 10/3, “Yokohama Cinderella,” which aired as a live television PPV show from the Yokohama Budokan (formerly the Bunka Gym which has been the city’s regular 4,500-seat arena for wrestling dating back decades).

With social distancing, the show sold out but they only allowed 1,007 fans and featured five title matches and a losing group must disband match with Oedo Tai vs. The Tokyo Cyber Squad.

Fans were really upset fearing that Tokyo Cyber Squad, which was the group Hana Kimura was the top star in, might disband. And that was the booking idea, and is what happened.

The reality was the women in the group wanted out. They didn’t want the pressure of being in Kimura’s group, especially because after her death, Kimura has become this mythical figure to Japanese fans of women’s wrestling.

Stardom also debuted two new wrestlers and a third is coming. Natsumi Maki and Mina Shirakawa debuted on the show from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Maki is now using the name Natsupoi. Both women’s contract expired at the end of September. A third woman will be debuting shortly after her contract expires. In these cases, none were raids by Stardom as much as the women letting their contracts expire to start with Stardom.

Stardom’s Jungle Kyona will be undergoing surgery on her left knee and her right shoulder and will be out for a long time. Her injury list includes a torn left ACL, a torn right LCL and a dislocated right shoulder

One New Japan insider noted to us that while Takami Ohbari was being groomed to be the next person in charge after Harold Meij leaves in a few weeks, inside the company they don’t know if that will really be the case past public positioning. While many in the company were happy Meij was leaving (we were told that fans generally weren’t happy because Meij was very good with the New Japan fans, the wrestlers were generally happy and the office was mixed but more on the happy side from those who were there pre-Meij), Ohbari is not welcomed as a new leader privately by many. Of late, New Japan Presidents and CEO’s have been newcomers to the wrestling business chosen by Bushiroad and almost always have a hard time getting trust and respect from the employees and the wrestlers. The wrestling people don’t want to be told what to do and what not to do by what they consider as “amateurs” when it comes to the wrestling industry. This has hurt morale to some extent since 2018

The foreign talent, Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, Gabriel Kidd, Zack Sabre Jr., Juice Robinson, KENTA (who lives in Florida) and Jay White are in most cases staying until the Tokyo Dome show. Some will go home in December for a short period after Budokan, and then come back just before Christmas to quarantine if they are on the Dome show.

Kurt Angle did a podcast with PW Insider and said he had a tumor in his neck that he needed to get removed

Tracy Smothers, 58, who was one of the most underrated wrestlers of the mid-90s when he was top babyface in SMW and also a regular in Japan, before later going to WWF as Freddy Joe Floyd from Oklahoma (the name was a rib because Jack Brisco’s real name was Fred Joseph Brisco and Gerald Brisco’s real name is Floyd Gerald Brisco) and then to ECW as part of the Full Blooded Italians. Smothers, who has been battling cancer plus dealing with having two dozen concussions in his career for years, now has added heart problems to his issues

Mexican wrestler Tormento was diagnosed with COVID-19. It’s notable because he thought all the talk of the disease was exaggerated, and he did his doctor did as well. So his doctor thought he just had a cold when he came in coughing. A few days later, he lost his sense of taste and smell, got tested and tested positive. He said he’s also having occasional headaches

It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on AEW, but due to the pandemic, WarnerMedia is looking at cutting up to 20 percent of its costs. Time Warner was hit hard due to its movie businesses being hit hard including theaters they own being shut down, cable subscriptions down and a major decline in television advertising. Based on commercials throughout baseball this past week, it appears AEW is still in good standing. Their ratings held up far better than expected, and better than any wrestling show during the pandemic. But they are looking to do a complete business overhaul which would include TBS, TNT, HBO with thousands of layoffs expected coming on the heels of 500 layoffs in August. For TBS and TNT, the issue is that going forward, the costs of the NBA and MLB will go up, and if ads and viewership declines, the secondary programming would take a hit. AEW is very reliable right now but it will never be the priority over the NBA and MLB

The situation with WWE taking over Twitch accounts from talent and paying them a percentage, that is counted against their downside guarantee has led to several unhappy campers. One talent noted to us that everyone is mad, but time after time they get mad and they never stand up. In this situation, the women are losing out the most since a lot of them have been able to make a good deal of money from their fan bases through twitch and cameo. Paige actually tweeted, “Learned a lot about unions today,” which led to Zelina Vega writing “hmm.” It’s known that a few of the talents talk with Andrew Yang, and depending on how a lot of things play out, the Yang/WWE story in 2021 could prove to be very interesting

WWE was apparently looking at doing a U.K. PPV which would have been headlined by McIntyre vs. Tyson Fury, but they aren’t able to do it at this time. Both WWE and AEW were in a race for the first U.K. PPV in years as AEW had planned for something big this year as well. The idea of the match isn’t dead but they have to work based on Fury’s schedule

A&E is working with WWE for three television specials in 2021, one on Randy Savage, one on Roddy Piper and another regarding Paul Levesque & Stephanie McMahon

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on WWE Network was: 1. NXT Takeover; 2. WWE 24: Drew McIntyre; 3. Clash of Champions 2020; 4. Steve Austin’s Stone Cold Sessions with Kurt Angle; 5. WWE Top 10: Slapping Family Members; 6. Takeover pre-show; 7. Raw Talk on 10/5; 8. Talking Smack on 10/3; 9. Smackdown on 9/4; 10. No Way Out 2004. NXT finished 13th for the week. No. 17 was the only independent show, a Best of NXT wrestlers from the Progress tape library. NXT U.K. was 19th. 205 Live did not crack the top 25

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings, Wrestling vs. NBA Finals Ratings, Impact Ratings:

Raw on 10/5 did its seventh lowest overall numbers in history, but to me, that’s a win considering the competition.

Raw did 1,686,000 viewers and 0.52 in 18-49, with competition from the Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots game on CBS (14,602,000 viewers, 4.0 in 18-49), the Atlanta Falcons vs. Green Bay Packers on ESPN (8,652,000 viewers, 2.92 in 18-49) and a major league baseball playoff game with the New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2,330,000 viewers, 0.60 in 18-49).

The show was down 7.8 percent in viewers from last week, which was the combination of the post-PPV bump and the appearances of Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Christian and Big Show; down 5.5 percent in 18-49 and down 8.8 percent in 18-34 ...

Raw was No. 6 in 18-49, No. 5 in males 18-49, No. 7 in women 18-49, No. 6 in 18-34 and No. 5 in males 12-34.

As compared to the same period last year, Raw was down 27.8 percent in viewers, 30.7 percent in 18-49 and 42.6 percent in 18-34 ...

The first hour did 1,791,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,666,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,601,000 viewers. The first-to-third hour drop of 10.6 percent is normal levels.

By demo, women 18-49 were down 13.0 percent first-to-third hour, men 18-49 were down11.9 percent, teenage girls were down 25.4 percent, teenage boys were up 1.9 percent and over 50 was down 8.6 percent.

Smackdown on 10/2, even with competition from the NBA playoff finals and baseball playoffs, did very well, doing a 1.40 rating and 2,155,000 viewers (an unusually low 1.27 viewers per home) and another 0.59 in 18-49 (773,000 viewers).

The rating was up 7.7 percent, viewers were up 2.1 percent and 18-49 was up 0.9 percent ...

Smackdown tied with the NBA pre-game show was second behind the NBA on ABC for the top spot in 18-49 on cable, with the game doing 6,609,000 viewers and 2.41 in 18-49 (3,131,000 viewers) and 2.0 in 18-34 ...

This is the first week-to-week comparison of Smackdown on FOX, but it’s totally misleading because you are comparing it to a show with all the hype advertising literally every star they could find (many of whom weren’t even on the show) and was built around Dwayne Johnson. Starting next week the comparisons will be more relevant. But it was down 39.7 percent in ratings, 44.6 percent in viewers and 56.7 percent in 18-49.

The show opened huge with 2.32 million viewers for the Roman Reigns/Jey Uso/Paul Heyman segment and Uso vs. A.J. Styles. It fell to 2.12 million for the Sami Zayn interview, Otis vs. John Morrison and Sheamus vs. Shorty G. Usually the top of the hour gains, but it fell slightly to 2.09 million Kevin Owens with Alexa Bliss, and the Matt Riddle & Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado match against Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro & King Corbin. The final half hour with the Sasha Banks return interview and Zayn vs. Jeff Hardy for the IC title also did 2.09 million viewers.

Going against the Vice Presidential debate, which drew 52,636,000 viewers and a 10.8 in 18-49, you can almost throw out comparison relevancy for AEW and NXT on 10/7.

AEW did 753,000 viewers and a 0.31 in 18-49 (401,000 viewers), good for No. 19 for the night behind 15 news shows and three major league baseball playoff games. NXT did 639,000 viewers and 0.16 in 18-49 (212,000 viewers), good for the No. 56 spot for the day. No entertainment show on television aside from AEW in prime time other than The Masked Singer on FOX beat an 0.24 in 18-49.

The two baseball games head-to-head saw the TBS game do 2,391,000 viewers and 0.65, and the FS 1 game did 1,635,000 viewers and 0.55.

Really, the debate could have hurt AEW a lot worse if it didn’t have the publicity of the Chris Jericho 30th anniversary show. The show was down 13.0 percent in total viewers and 6.3 percent in 18-49 with the debate and playoff games on TBS and FS 1 head-to-head. With the same competition, NXT was down 12.7 percent in viewers and 14.2 percent in 18-49, so the competition looks to have hit both groups hard, but hit NXT, surprisingly, harder with the key demo, but most likely if it had not been a Jericho special show that TBS and TNT pushed hard during its baseball broadcasts, the damage would have been significantly greater.

AEW more than doubled NXT in three of the four key demos. However in the fourth, women 35-49, AEW was barely ahead.

Overall, the first and seventh quarter were close. In 18-49, AEW doubled NXT in the fifth and eighth quarter. Both shows took a hit late due to the debate, although AEW’s strong fifth quarter with the dog collar match staved off the decline that came after the match.

The most notable thing is that in 18-34, AEW had more women viewers than men, which would be a first. It also had more girls than boys 12-17, which was also the case the prior week, but that was likely due to the big NBA numbers with teenage boys.

In the main event battle, AEW did 696,000 viewers and 399,000 in 18-49 for Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Luther & Serpentico. NXT did 613,000 viewers and 179,000 in 18-49 for Ember Moon & Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.

AEW did 61,000 viewers in men 18-34 (down 17.6 percent from last week) to 29,000 for NXT (down 31.0 percent from last week). AEW did 68,000 viewers in women 18-34 (up 4.6 percent) to 27,000 for NXT (down 22.9 percent). AEW did 204,000 viewers in males 35-49 (down 1.0 percent) to 92,000 for NXT (down 9.8 percent). AEW did 68,000 viewers in women 35-49 (down 18.1 percent) to 64,000 for NXT (down 5.9 percent).

This is the first week one can make year-by-year comparisons, but between AEW’s huge debut number and the debate, like the Smackdown comparisons, it’s misleading. Really any valid comparisons would start in November.

However, AEW was down 46.6 percent in viewers, 54.4 percent in 18-49 and NXT (which had its big debut two weeks earlier and had a more normalized number by this point) was down 28.8 percent in viewers and 50.0 percent in 18-49.

For AEW, the peak in every key demo except Men 35-49 was the Cody vs. Brodie Lee chain match. In Men 35-49, it was the Brian Cage vs. Will Hobbs match. For NXT, the peak for men 18-34 and women 18-34 was the Ridge Holland vs Danny Burch/injury and Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae vignette,. The men and women 35-49, the peak was the end of Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa, the post-match and the Moon interview.

The show opened with AEW doing 767,000 viewers and 414,000 in 18-49 for Cage vs. Hobbs. NXT with its big lead-in did 718,000 viewers and 216,000 in 18-49 for most of Kushida vs. Ciampa.

In the second quarter, AEW did 760,000 viewers and 399,000 in 18-49 for the post-match of Cage vs. Hobbs with Taz, Ricky Starks and Darby Allin, a Lance Archer promo and the beginning of FTR vs. Jack Evans & Angelico. NXT did 687,000 viewers and 251,000 in 18-49 for the end of Kushida vs. Ciampa, the most-match, and Moon interview. It was the 18-49 peak for NXT.

In the third quarter, AEW did 814,000 viewers and 396,000 in 18-49 for most of FTR vs. Evans & Angelico, Best Friends out and MJF promo. NXT did 654,000 viewers and 232,000 in 18-49 for an Io Shirai interview, Undisputed Era promo, Drake Maverick & Killian Dain vs. Chase Parker & Matt Martel and a Toni Storm video.

In the fourth quarter, AEW did 777,000 viewers and 409,000 in 18-49 for the build up and ring intros of Lee vs. Cody. NXT did 663,000 viewers and 238,000 in 18-49 for a Gargano & LeRae vignette, Austin Theory vs. Leon Ruff and the beginning of Theory vs. Dexter Lumis.

In the fifth quarter, AEW did 849,000 viewers and 436,000 in 18-49, both the peaks, for most of Lee vs. Cody. NXT fell to 573,000 viewers and 200,000 in 18-49 for most of Theory vs. Lumis, a Cameron Grimes and a Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly video package.

In the sixth quarter, AEW did 723,000 viewers and 389,000 in 18-49 for the end of Cody vs. Lee, the post-match promo with Orange Cassidy, a Kenny Omega promo and the beginning of Big Swole vs. Serena Deeb. NXT did 612,000 viewers and 202,000 in 18-49 for Ridge Holland vs. Danny Burch and another Gargano & LeRae vignette.

In the seventh quarter, AEW did 637,000 viewers and 364,000 in 18-49 for Swole vs. Deeb and a Jon Moxley promo. NXT did 590,000 viewers and 178,000 in 18-49 for a Timothy Thatcher video, Holland going out on a stretcher and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Xia Li.

In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 59,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for Jericho & Hager vs. Serpentico & Luther. NXT gained 23,000 viewers and 1,000 in 18-49 for Ripley & Moon vs. Kai & Gonzalez.

AEW did a 0.13 in 12-17 (up 8.3 percent from last week), 0.18 in 18-34 (down 7.2 percent), 0.44 in 35-49 (down 5.9 percent) and 0.26 in 50+ (down 23.5 percent). The show did 66.1 percent males in 18-49 and 49.5 percent males in 12-17. It shows that 12-34 males who watch AEW regularly were very likely to have watched either the debate or baseball; while teenage girls were not. Actually teenage girls were above usual levels.

Because NXT didn’t crack the top 50, we don’t have full details on its numbers, other than it was down 27.3 percent in 18-34 and down 8.2 percent in 35-49. In 18-49, it was 57.1 percent males.

In the viewers per home stats for the week of 9/28 to 10/4, the 9/30 AEW show, going against the NBA finals and baseball playoffs, set its all-time record at 1.67, and also topped the sports category.

This would be the first time a pro wrestling show has done peak attitude era (1.7) numbers. The situation with AEW is that in homes that are aware of the product, people watch together, and that is growing. But the recognition of the brand is still way down. NXT was actually viewed in more total homes but did 1.32 viewers per home, also well above its usual levels. Smackdown did 1.27 against NBA and baseball playoffs, it’s lowest in recent memory, but it had a big increase in total homes watching.

On 9/28 against AEW & NXT, the NBA first game of the finals (the finals are so far down from last year that it’s become a giant sports story) did 1.51 while baseball had 1.38. The Friday night playoff game did 1.53 and the Sunday NBA playoff game did 1.56, the latter tying for second behind AEW for the week in sports. The baseball playoff game against Smackdown did 1.43. Fox’s Sunday football early afternoon games did 1.54. The CBS late afternoon games did 1.55 for third. The NBC Sunday prime time game did 1.49 and Monday night football did 1.42. Of the major college football games, the highest was 1.56 for the Auburn vs. Georgia game on ESPN on Saturday night, while the most-watched game, Texas A&M vs. Alabama, did 1.43. The last game of the Stanley Cup against Raw did 1.43 while the top NASCAR race of the weekend did 1.33. The Holly Holm vs. Irene Aldana UFC Fight Night did 1.35.

IMPACT: We have an update on television ratings for the month of September from Wrestlenomics.com. The 9/1 show did 102,000 viewers and 31,000 (0.02) in 18-49. The 9/8 show did 78,000 viewers and 22,000 (0.02) in 18-49. The 9/15 show did 170,000 viewers and 43,000 (0.03) in 18-49. The 9/22 show did 200,000 viewers and 51,000 (0.04) in 18-49. The 9/29 show did 168,000 viewers and 52,000 (0.04) in 18-49. There are a few notes to these numbers. The first is that 9/1 and 9/8 went head-to-head with NXT on USA. So with head-to-head competition, they averaged 90,000 viewers and 26,500 in 18-4, and 29.4 percent of the viewers in the key demo. Without head-to-head competition they averaged 179,000 viewers and 48,700 in the key demo (27.7 percent). Keep in mind that you could have watched NXT and then watched Impact via DVR before midnight that night and counted. What it tells you is that of the regular Impact audience, half of the total viewers and 45.6 percent would skip AEW if NXT was on at the same time, so essentially they are more wrestling fans than Impact fans. You’ll notice that with AEW if we compare 9/9 (no NXT) with 9/16 (with NXT) they only dropped 12.8 percent in viewers and 7.5 percent in 18-49 which tells you that a large percentage of Impact viewers would choose to watch NXT on an unfamiliar night, whereas that is not the case with AEW viewers. The fans Impact gets back with no NXT skew older. For AEW, the percentage of viewers 18-49 with no NXT was 47.3 percent, and the next week with NXT was 50.2 percent, so similarly with no NXT, Impact gets new viewers, but those new viewers skew older. So in both cases, you take NXT away, and both shows get more viewers by percentage over the age of 50. Using last week’s numbers. Also, Impact is the oldest skewing pro wrestling TV show of those with significant national viewers, with a normalized 27.7 percent in the key demo as compared to 33.7 percent for NXT, 36.3 percent for Smackdown, 38.7 percent for Raw and 49.4 percent for AEW. Keep in mind with the competing sports, notably the NBA which is so strong with 12-34 males, that if these shows go against the NBA, and all but Raw did, they will skew older than usual

Emperor Smeat

10-13-2020, 09:12 PM

The Sheets:

The draft edition of RAW saw the show experience an increase in its viewership hitting its highest mark since August 31st while finishing fourth among cable programming.

The show averaged 1,855,000 viewers on the USA Network and a 0.57 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Both numbers were the show’s best since the August 31st episode that followed the WWE Payback event and represented a weekly increase of 12 percent in viewership and 9.5 in the demo rating.

RAW began with 2,006,000 viewers and a 0.60 demo figure, it dropped to 1,884,000 viewers (0.59) in the second hour and the third hour saw a larger drop with 1,676,000 viewers and a 0.52 demo number. The show fell 16.5 percent from the first to the third hour.

RAW went against the Monday Night Football game between the Chargers and Saints that did 10,694,000 viewers while FOX aired the NLCS game between the Braves and Dodgers that did 3,207,000 on the overnight figures with the final number out on Wednesday.

Across RAW’s key demographics, the only audience that was down this week was males 12-34 by 5 percent. The increase was led by adults over 50 that were up by 10 percent, while adults 18-49 and females 18-49 were each up by 9.5 percent.

The 2019 edition of the draft on RAW averaged 2,279,000 and a 0.74 rating in the 18-49 demo. That show also faced a bigger NFL game that topped 13.3 million viewers and went against the Major League Baseball game. From last year, they fell 18.5 percent in viewers and 23 percent in the demo.

The first to third-hour drop was most significant with women 12-34 which dropped 17 percent despite staying even overall from the prior week. Adults over 50 and women 18-49 dropped 16 percent in the third hour and adults 25-54 declined 15 percent in the third hour.

Joey Ryan's run of recent lawsuits has continued.

PWInsider first reported Tuesday that Ryan (Joe Meehan) filed a $10 million lawsuit against Impact Wrestling's parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment in mid-September, alleging breach of contract for firing him due to allegations of both sexual abuse and assault.

Anthem has until Saturday, October 24th to respond to the suit that was filed in Nashville, TN. We have reached out for comment to both Impact and Anthem but haven't not received a response.

Ryan's contract ran through August 2021 and Impact released him on June 22nd. Based on language in the contract regarding warning and reprimands, he claims they needed to inform of him of any issue in writing along with a "5 day cure period" as it states in the contract.

According to the contract language, if nothing could be worked out by the wrestler in five days, he and Impact would then have 30 days to resolve any issues. At that point, Impact could have terminated the deal another 30 days after that if there was still unresolvable issues.

The $10 million sought is in addition to legal fees and other "relief" that a court may find in his favor.

This comes after Ryan filed multi-million lawsuits against several accusers that emerged during the #SpeakingOut movement earlier this year. PWInsider noted he has filed six lawsuits.

While not officially announced by the company as of now, Ivelisse said during an interview Monday night that she has signed with AEW.

She didn't give any details, but said she was overwhelmed to get the offer in the same week when she lost her home in a fire. She had tweeted about the fire in mid-September so if the timeline is accurate, she's been under contract for a month.

Ivelisse made her AEW debut in mid-July in a loss to Diamante and then teamed with her in the first Women's Tag Team Cup. The duo won the tourney with a finals victory over Brandi Rhodes and Allie.

Since then, she defeated KiLynn King and lost to NWA Women's Champion Thunder Rosa in a much-discussed match. She also teamed with Diamante twice, defeating Rache Chanel and Skyler Moore and losing to Rosa and AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida at the September 23rd Dynamite -- the last time she has been on AEW TV.

A trial date of Monday 1/25/21 has been set for the criminal trial for former WWE and Impact Wrestling Champion Jose Albero Rodriguez Chucuan aka Alberto Del Rio and Alberto el Patron following his indictment last week, Chucuan is facing one count of aggravated kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault and could be facing as much as life in prison.

Chucuan, 43, was arrested on 5/9 after a victim went to San Antonio, Texas authorities, stating that on Sunday 5/3 at 10 PM, Chucuan allegedly became angry with her and physically assaulted her after accusing her of infidelity. When the victim would not admit to the infidelity, Chucuan allegedly slapped her "across the head" several times. The victim also alleged that Chucuan "forced her to wear a dress and dance for him" and that when she refused and he told her not to start crying because if she did, "he would take her son and drop him in the middle of the road somewhere."

The arrest affidavit stated that the woman alleged Chucuan had sexually assaulted her and that she had her injuries documented via photographs.

As of last night, the plan is for the Andrade and Mickie James, the two talents left "Undrafted" following the 2020 Draft to land on the Monday Night Raw roster.

Obviously, until it's officially announced, that's subject to change, but it was the plan as of yesterday.

WWE filed a number of new trademark applications on 10/8, including WWE Livewire, a series that existed in the late 1990s. This may be in advance of the company adding it to the WWE Network.

AdFreeShows.com, the subscription-based service behind Conrad Thompson's suite of podcasts, announced Monday that WWE Hall of Famer, Gerald Brisco, will be added to the lineup for a brand new series called "Monday Mailbag with Gerald Brisco." AdFreeShows.com members will have the opportunity to ask questions and delve into the mind of Brisco's, who has spent over 50 years in the wrestling business.

MLW is preparing for their restart. The organization’s CEO Court Bauer tweeted out that a select number of fans will have the opportunity to attend the restart and more information on that is coming soon.
That leaves just ROH as the only notable US promotin running shows without fans around. Not counting NWA since they are running shows under the UWN banner and not on their own.

Asbury Park Press has a feature story up about All Elite Wrestling which includes a profile on Cody Rhodes ...

While speaking about the first year of All Elite Wrestling, Cody feels that he “talked too much” in the sense that he strapped a label or confined the AEW product to something as it was still growing.

“I wanted to really promote the brand, I wanted to pound the pavement, but in speaking I kind of confined our product, I tried to give an identity to a product (when the) identity is evolving, its identity is growing. AEW is going to have a different identity in year one than it has in year two, and we want that identity and that flavor profile to improve. But to say it’s one thing would be incorrect because wrestling is something that there’s no one specific way to do it right. There’s many different ways to do it right. So I spoke too much as an executive in my efforts to promote the brand and a lot of this kind of click-bait journalism (followed) in areas where what I said was taken out of context and might have rubbed people the wrong way or might have created more tension between an NXT fan and an AEW fan. A little less talk from me, a little more action, is one of my goals (going forward).”

UPROXX conducted an extensive interview with AEW’s Britt Baker. Britt was asked about the criticisms of AEW’s women’s division along with the growth of the division. She feels that it’s something the company is working on and said she knows there are plans to grow the division.

“Yeah, I definitely think it’s something the company is working on. You know, and we got hit hard—our women’s division, because of the COVID outbreak. Half our roster is international talent, so we immediately didn’t have access to any of those women. Then Kris Statlander got hurt, and I got hurt. And there’s only so much time on AEW Dynamite to start with.

And I know there are plans to grow the women’s division, but at the same time we need help from the fans at home too! We can’t have the women’s segments being the lowest rated or the lowest views each week. Because at the end of the day it’s a business, and AEW needs ratings.

It’s no secret we’re in a war every Wednesday night with NXT, so we need the ratings up. So for the fans that are so encouraging and saying, ‘We want more women, we want more women!’ That’s great, but please don’t turn the channel when the women are on TV then! We want everybody to be watching the segments and cheering us on from home.”

Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson covered the 2005 WWE No Mercy pay-per-view for the latest installment of Something to Wrestle. During the Q&A portion of the show, Prichard stated that there were ideas tossed around about Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero possibly wrestling one another at WrestleMania 22 in 2006.

“It was kicked around as a possibility because they never worked together and that was, at least in my head, a dream match. That was one of those that I definitely would’ve loved to see.”

Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson covered The Miz’s career in WWE for the latest installment of the Grilling JR podcast ...

Jim Ross spoke highly of the late Matt Cappotelli as well. Ross said that Cappotelli reminded him of a young Brian Pillman and praised the former Tough Enough winner for his passion for wrestling.

“Yeah, we thought Matt had great potential. What a sweetheart of a kid. Loved, loved, loved wrestling. Living his dream. God bless him, and he reminded me at times a little bit of a young Brian Pillman. Frame, pace, good looking kid and you couldn’t ask for a better person, teammate to be on your roster. Just a great kid, very athletic. He was never gonna be the biggest dog in the fight but he had that Ricky Morton ability, not that he was Ricky Morton, but he had that Ricky Morton ability and tendencies to sell, and smaller guys like that have to be baby faces especially, have to master the art of selling and all the different levels of selling. Selling is just not one word and it’s all the same. It’s a progression, registering, big sell, soft sell, whatever. But Matt was a good kid. We thought he had got past the hump. He was working in a gym I think in Louisville, but it was heartbreaking Conrad [Thompson]. If you knew this kid, you would love this kid and we all did.”

Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics has an article attempting to get a better sense of the television rights fees that NXT is earning from the USA Network looking at a variety of sources and what has been reported. The NXT rights are reportedly up for renewal next year, which adds to the discussion of the strategy behind the show coming off the Tuesday experiment and the data we have to see what increase NXT could enjoy by moving off Wednesdays.
Link: https://wrestlenomics.com/2020/10/09/the-mystery-of-wwe-nxts-rights-fees-on-usa-network/

The 2300 Arena has seen a lot of violence, blood and guts over the last several decades, but the one thing the South Philadelphia pro wrestling staple couldn't take was a rally event for WWE Hall of Famer and United States President Donald Trump.

The Arena was slated to host an "Italians for Trump" rally hosted by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani today, but the Arena's owners canceled the event upon learning the event was to support President Trump. The legendary pro wrestling venue had been originally told they were being booked for a rally for a "local politician", according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“There’s just a whole lot of things that come with a Trump rally,” Arena co-owner Christy Bottie said. “There’s no way we were going to take any risks on any level for a Trump rally.”

Bottie was specifically concerned, according to the article about the venue not being able to handle the COVID-19 health concerns involving present with a larger gathering, although they had been told those attending would be wearing masks. There was also concern about the potential size of the gathering and protestors also coming to the building.

The rally was moved to another location in Northeast Philadelphia, where Giulani blamed the change on the Mayor of Philadelphia contacting the venue, something Bottie denied happened. The Arena held a Republican National Committee event in 2016.

The Arena itself has been shut down since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and is waiting for the chance to return to booking live events, including professional wrestling, MMA, concerts and boxing.

IMPACT Plus was upgrading its platform and, in the process, deleted several subscriptions from the streaming service. Impact Wrestling has stated it will be reaching out to those that lost their accounts.

AEW could be looking to add another name to its roster.

According to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net, AEW has an interest in signing MLW star Mance Warner. A source told Haynes, "AEW 100% has interest."

Warner was backstage at AEW Revolution in Chicago in February and also backstage at an episode of Dynamite held in Ohio back in January. Warner is currently under contract with Major League Wrestling, though details of his contract are currently unknown.

He is able to work Independent events and had a presence at GCW The Collective over the weekend, including an appearance in the Clusterfuck Battle Royal at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4.

TPWW Frontpage:

Lars Sullivan Reportedly Lost More Support in WWE Following New Controversy (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/lars-sullivan-reportedly-lost-more-support-in-wwe-following-new-controversy/)
WWE Announces More Draft Picks, Only Two Wrestlers Remain Unpicked (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-announces-more-draft-picks-only-two-wrestlers-remain-unpicked/)
Some Topics for Dark Side of the Ring Season 3 Revealed (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/some-topics-for-dark-side-of-the-ring-season-3-revealed/)
WWE Reportedly Extends ThunderDome Stay for at Least Another Month (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-reportedly-extends-thunderdome-stay-for-at-least-another-month/)
Eva Marie Reportedly Returning to WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/eva-marie-reportedly-returning-to-wwe/)

Emperor Smeat

10-14-2020, 06:58 PM

The Sheets:

Eight wrestlers remain mathematically alive as NJPW's G1 Climax 30 enters its final stretch.

Four competitors still have a shot in each block with one A Block show and one B Block show remaining before Sunday's final. In A Block, Jay White controls his own destiny. In B Block, it's EVIL who controls his own fate.

After that, things get more cloudy.

White, Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, and Will Ospreay still have a chance to win A Block ...

In B Block, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and Zack Sabre Jr. are still in the running ...

Here are the updated standings and scenarios:
G1 Climax 30 standings --

A Block

Jay White -- 12 points (6-2) *wins the block with a win over Ishii*
Kota Ibushi -- 12 points (6-2) *wins the block with a win over Taichi and a White loss/draw/no contest*
Kazuchika Okada -- 12 points (6-2) *wins the block with a win over Ospreay, White and Ibushi losses/draws/no contests or a draw with Ospreay and Ibushi/White losses/no contests*
Will Ospreay -- 10 points (5-3) *wins the block with a win over Okada, White and Ibushi losses/no contests*
Taichi -- 8 points (4-4) *eliminated*
Jeff Cobb -- 8 points (4-4) *eliminated*
Tomohiro Ishii -- 6 points (3-4) *eliminated*
Shingo Takagi -- 6 points (3-5) *eliminated*
Minoru Suzuki -- 6 points (3-5) *eliminated*
Yujiro Takahashi -- 0 points (0-8) *eliminated*

B Block

EVIL -- 12 points (6-2) *wins the block with a win over SANADA or a draw/no contest with SANADA, Naito loss and Sabre loss/draw*
Tetsuya Naito -- 12 points (6-2) *wins the block with a win/draw over KENTA and an EVIL loss/no contest*
SANADA -- 10 points (5-3) *wins the block with a win over EVIL and a Naito loss/no contest*
Zack Sabre Jr. -- 10 points (5-3) *ties with Naito & EVIL for block win with a win over Tanahashi, a Naito loss, and a SANADA/EVIL no contest*
Hirooki Goto -- 8 points (4-4) *eliminated*
KENTA -- 8 points (4-4) *eliminated*
Toru Yano -- 6 points (3-5) *eliminated*
Hiroshi Tanahashi -- 6 points (3-5) *eliminated*
Juice Robinson -- 6 points (3-5) *eliminated*
YOSHI-HASHI -- 2 points (1-7) *eliminated*

Independent wrestler Dan the Dad, who competed over the weekend as part of The Collective weekend in Indianapolis, announced this afternoon that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and is advising others who were in attendance to make sure they get tested themselves:

Dan the Dad's announcement via Twitter reads as follows:

Please read. Please get tested whether you experience symptoms or not. Thank you pic.twitter.com/tL65MvDAy2
— Dan the Dad (@ThanksDanTheDad) October 14, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/ThanksDanTheDad/status/1316482499409784833

Anthem Sports & Entertainment, Inc., a globally integrated multi-platform media company, announced today a partnership between the Company’s popular sports network Game+ and the groundbreaking OVW Wrestling promotion—bringing two of its hour-long wrestling series, OVW Overdrive and OVW TV, to Game+’s Sunday lineup beginning October 18 at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT. Game+ is the exclusive national cable broadcaster of OVW TV, with new episodes airing every Sunday following their initial premieres on the OVW streaming platform and affiliated partners ...

Game+’s newly acquired OVW content debuts this Sunday at 9 a.m. ET with OVW Overdrive, as hosts Bryan Kennison and Steven Johnson provide expert analysis and in-depth commentary. The one-of-a-kind series features unique matches and interviews with OVW’s brightest stars, as well as recaps of the week’s biggest stories and sketches that put the duo in a variety of entertaining situations.

Then, stay tuned at 10 a.m. ET for the weekly wrestling program OVW TV, putting the spotlight on a roster of hungry young talent fighting to prove themselves in adrenaline-fueled pro wrestling action.

The Associated Press spoke with Cody about the one year anniversary of the debut of AEW Dynamite at this link. On the ratings and the WWE NXT competition, Cody commented, "When you hit that million mark, and even on the nights where the average might be in the eights or nines, there are segments that go over a million and it certainly begets the question: What would this be like unopposed?” Rhodes said. “But opposed, it’s doing just so damn fine. I think we have a good indicator. We’ve seen what it looks like. But competition is not something we’re shying away from by any means. Wednesday night is our home"

FOX News featured a piece on Jungle Boy and how his father, late actor Luke Perry pushed him to pursue his pro wrestling career at this link. “For me, that was cool to have someone to talk about it,” he explained. “In a lot of ways, I think acting and wrestling are different, but they’re similar at the same time. But I think they’re things that a lot of people theoretically want to do when they’re younger and then give up on it along the way. So it was cool to have someone to talk to who had followed through with their childhood dream [of being an actor] and made it happen. There were so many things [we shared] along the way, but it was cool to be able to talk to someone and bounce ideas off of someone who had taken their dream all the way and fulfilled it.”

Aleister Black was interviewed by Sports Illustrated prior to Monday's Raw talking about opportunity, why he hasn't translated well on the main roster, and more.

On why he believes he hasn't clicked yet on the main roster (something that might change with his movement to Smackdown as part of the WWE Draft), Black said:

"I think the reason for that is we moved so far away from what Aleister Black was in NXT that people started getting confused about what exactly Aleister Black was supposed to be. After a few conversations, I said, ‘I need a different direction.’ That led to the creation of this new Aleister Black, where he is a little more human and people can latch on to him quicker. Being human doesn’t mean you necessarily have to be a good guy. It also can mean that it is a villain, and you can better understand the motives of where the character comes from. You don’t have to agree with the motives to understand them, but the motive had got lost for Aleister Black on the main roster.

The opportunities presented on Raw and SmackDown are this great chessboard. Aleister Black, he feels that he has never had the opportunity to do what he needs to do. If he doesn’t get those opportunities, he’s going to burn the whole chessboard. If that means he’s sent to purgatory, that’s fine, because he’s been in purgatory. If you want to take it one step further and send him to hell, that’s fine, too. He’s accustomed to hell, his whole childhood was spent there.

If Aleister Black doesn’t get his opportunity, then no one does. That is a much more relatable antagonistic way of looking at things. Before, that motive wasn’t as clear. A few months ago, what did he stand for? He was fighting for himself, then he got entangled with Rey Mysterio, and that left himself open to vicious beatings each week. It seemed like he never learned from his mistakes, which is strange for Aleister, because he seems so calculated. That got shuffled away a little bit"

Sonya Deville posted for the first time publicly on her Instagram in some time, reuniting with Mandy Rose.

"Nothin can stop us, we all the way up. And Mandy apologized so we good"

There is a hearing in Deville's stalker case this week with another court date set for December.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTPY_RHtWQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

PWTorch received an email of an RSVP invitation that was sent to NXTTicket customers following TakeOver 31. The last time this mailing list was used was in April to alert ticket holders of the cancellation of NXT Live at Full Sail on the 15th of that month. Here’s the email:

Good Evening!

Thank you for being a passionate member of the NXT Universe! We hope you enjoyed TakeOver 31! We have a special opportunity for you to be a part of this week’s NXT Broadcast on Wednesday October 7! This is an opportunity for a limited number of the NXT Universe to be LIVE & IN PERSON at the Capitol Wrestling Center as part the Live Event Audience. This invitation is good for a maximum of 6 people.

Please reply to this email to confirm that you are able to attend NXT this Wednesday October 7 at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the campus of the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL.

If you are selected, you will receive further correspondence with instructions on how to attend, COVID-19 testing procedures and on-site screening procedures.

Please note that you must be over the age of 16 unless accompanied by a guardian and must provide photo ID upon check in at the Capitol Wrestling Center.

The event will be held at limited capacity with social distancing measures in place. Face coverings will be mandatory throughout the course of the event.

If you are interested in attending please reply with the following information:

Total number of tickets requested (maximum of 6)

Name of each attendee:

Email address for each attendee:

Mobile phone number for each attendee:

Thank you for your consideration and supporting NXT! We look forward to seeing you weekly!

PWTorch got in contact with fans who were in attendance for NXT on October 7th. Said fans chose to remain anonymous but they shared that WWE’s COVID-19 testing procedures include nasal swab tests to the RSVPs accepted for pre-approval and the fans are responsible for their off-site testing appointment on the same day of the show to accommodate others in attendance. WWE then sends a final email either accepting or denying based on the results that they get.

Forbes has an extensive feature up about All Elite Wrestling that includes interviews with Tony Khan, Chris Jericho, Brandi Rhodes and Jungle Boy. Tony Khan spoke about the success of AEW and the growth of their business. He added that AEW is going to have different types of video games for different platforms as well.

“From a merchandising standpoint, everybody joked that we were a t-shirt company when we first started. But now we’ve got a very successful TV show and we’ve done a lot of successful pay-per-views. We’ve launched our action figures. We’re going to have different types of video games for different platforms and different experiences. So there’s all kinds of new lines of business coming up for us. Sports entertainment, in a lot of ways, is a very applicable term. But I don’t like it being used as a substitute for wrestling. It is a form of sports entertainment, what we do. But I also think that there’s no substitute for the word wrestling. I think it’s a great word. It makes me feel great when I say it. It brings a smile to my face. I love wrestling. I always have.”

Patches Chance of Daily DDT caught up with Eddie Kingston. Prior to signing with All Elite Wrestling, Eddie was planning to retire from the business ...

Eddie further spoke about what it meant to him to receive an AEW contract. He shared that he shed a few tears while on vacation with his significant other because it hit him that so many people pushed for him to get signed.

“That was very humbling and surprising. I didn’t think that many fans cared, to be honest. It blew me away. I said this in other interviews too. I’m getting hit up and they’re telling me, ‘Oh, you’re trending,’ and they think this is a joke, but I really didn’t know. I go, ‘Oh, so I’m trending, does that mean I get extra money? Do they send me a check? Does Twitter send me a check for trending?’ I don’t know. I don’t get that kind of stuff. You could call me a boomer, I guess. I don’t know even what that is, but to me I didn’t know.”

God, was it humbling. To the point where, I think it was two weeks after everything and I finally officially signed, I was in Montana with my girlfriend taking a vacation and I just broke down crying. She was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m fine, it just kinda hit me now that, okay, people do care, and now I have a contract.’ It just hit me that I’m on national television and I finally have a contract with a big company, and I just remember wiping the tears away and looking at her and just going, ‘I love you, but now the real work begins.’ And she’s a BJJ black belt, so she was just like, ‘Yep, let’s get to work.’ And I was just like, ‘Oh, I guess I do have to get to work.’ So that was it.”

Ariane Andrew and Matt Dillon welcomed Natalya onto their ‘Sippin The Tea’ show on YouTube. Natalya expressed her desire to piece together a documentary about her father Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart’s life. Natalya said she has been approached about something along those lines as well.

“And then also, something that I really wanna do is — and I’ve been approached about doing it. I wanna do a documentary on my dad and on my dad’s life, and because my dad wasn’t just a WWE superstar. My dad was in the NFL, he played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders. He was a world class Shot putter. When my dad was 18 years old, he was the second best Shot putter in the United States and he had a full scholarship to UCLA and then ended up, after his football career was over, he ended up coming to train with my grandfather and then he ended up getting hired by WWE and becoming a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion so he has this really cool life and towards the end of his life, my dad got Alzheimer’s and so I think, I really, really am excited about putting a documentary together about my dad and when I watched the Andre The Giant documentary on — I believe it was HBO. Either HBO or SHOWTIME, I can’t remember…. When I watched the Andre The Giant documentary on HBO, it was one of the best documentaries I’d ever seen and it just gave me such insight into Andre The Giant’s life and I said to my mom and sisters like, ‘I would love to be an executive producer on a documentary on my dad and telling his story and really touch on so many different things that we don’t always touch base on.’ When we’re telling stories about athletes, we don’t always talk about mental health, we don’t always talk about a darker side and things that people go through when their career as an athlete is over and how they transition and different things like that so, that is something I really want to do and I think it’d be such a great way to honor my dad but to also do something different.”

The first episode of SmackDown on FOX from 2019 was the focus of the latest 83 Weeks podcast. Eric Bischoff recalled being backstage for the show and said that from his viewpoint, it did not seem like Vince McMahon was too keen on appearing in front of the crowd to open the show but it appeared that Stephanie McMahon wanted him to join her.

“I’ll be honest with everyone here, I actually got tears in my eyes when I saw Vince and Stephanie go out. I was standing in the Gorilla and, I was under — I’m gonna be careful how I say these things so I can talk about this without getting into trouble, as best I can. It was my impression, it was my impression that Vince didn’t really wanna do it, and I can understand it. You know, there comes a point as you’re getting older and Vince is ten years older than me, that you realize, the strength, the credibility that you bring to television isn’t what it used to be. It is what it is. We all get older, and when you’ve spent your life on television, you’re kind of aware of how you look and how you can present yourself and all that and it was my impression that Vince didn’t really wanna do it. It was also my impression that Stephanie really did want him to do it. Guess who won? Yeah, and I saw it go down. I wasn’t standing within inches of them but I was a couple feet away and I saw the hesitation by Vince and I saw the pressure put on by Stephanie. First of all, it just made my heart full seeing that father-daughter relationship in that exchange and it was really important to Stephanie, and when they went out and did it, it was exciting as hell, it was the right thing to do and it did, it brought tears to my eyes.”

Reported reason why Andrade was not drafted or signed on Monday.

According to Raj Giri of Wrestling INC, Andrade is undergoing a minor elective procedure and is expected to be out of action for a month.

Andrade and Mickie James were the only two names from the Friday and Monday draft pools who were not drafted by a brand following the conclusion of night two of the WWE Draft. Neither were signed to a brand via free agency either.

James recently revealed that she is out of action with a broken nose and will not be wrestling for a couple of weeks.

Andrade did appear on Monday's Raw, losing to Angel Garza in singles competition. Following the bout, he and Zelina Vega were attacked by 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss.

On social media, Andrade caused a stir when he tweeted and deleted "thank you," with many speculating that he was leaving WWE. His girlfriend Charlotte Flair calmed the rumors by saying he was simply wishing Vega well as they go their respective ways. Andrade also posted a photo of him as NXT champion, leading some to believe he will return to NXT.

As of now, WWE has not commented on Andrade's status and he remains without a brand.

Victory Championship Wrestling will be leaving its hometown of Munford, Alabama.

The new town council in Munford claims that they can charge new tenants a higher rent, which is why VCW is being forced out of their building.

VCW has made much stronger claims, accusing the town of being racist and transphobic.

VCW General Manager Johnny Slaughter gave the following statement to Chris Deez of Bodyslam.net:

“Yeah it is kind of a disgraceful situation with the Town of Munford. We have been there for years, and even made thousands of dollars of repairs to one of the town owned buildings, so that we could use it for our academy. Well now they have a new town council and realized they can charge someone else more than we are paying now that the building is useable.

One of the Town council members has been heard by both one of my talents and someone the council member works with stating that he was not too happy about us having a African American Heavyweight Champion or a transgender member on our team. The town swears they know nothing about the council members comments and just want out of the lease because they want out of it.”

“We are currently in negotiations with the town’s lawyer about settling what they owe us, and when it is done we will out the council member to the media (all sources). The town once told me they did not want to be known for Professional wrestling, so instead they can be known for bigotry and racism.”

Wrestler LaDarrius Young backed up that claim by saying, “So here is some back story. We are getting kicked out of Munford, AL and the 17th is our last show there. The reason why we are getting kicked out is the mayor of Munfodd, AL is racist and said he does not like the fact our Victory Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion is black and we have a transgender person working in the womens division”

Munford has yet to issue a comment regarding these claims. Fightful will update this story if a statement is given by the town.

VCW will hold its last show in Munford on October 17.

The biggest news coming out of last week’s NXT were very negative. Finn Balor confirmed his injury as a broken jaw which required surgery. Then, Ridge Holland suffered a horrifying injury as his legs gave out when he attempted to catch Oney Lorcan on a dive.

While these were the biggest news stories, there were some positive moments as well. Fightful Select (subscription required) is currently reporting that a number of segments from last week’s show were heavily praised backstage.

The report says the segments involving Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and Indi Hartwell in particular received praise. Additionally, the report states that they were told by one person that NXT made Hartwell on the show without having her name on screen.

The NXT women’s division continues to get more and more stacked as of late. The returns of Ember Moon and Toni Storm have added them into the mix, elevating the division as a whole in the process. If Hartwell is able to capitalize on this praise, she could easily work her way into the mix of the top stars in the division.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-17/)

Emperor Smeat

10-15-2020, 09:19 PM

The Sheets:

On the first Wednesday night in some time without NBA competition, AEW Dynamite was up 9.7 percent in total viewers, averaging 826,000 viewers on TNT for its anniversary show featuring all titles being defended. NXT was also up, by 1.9% from last week, averaging 651,000 viewers on the USA Network.

The cable news programming on the night was up from usual levels due to coverage of the Supreme Court nominee hearings, which dominated the charts.

As a result, Dynamite and NXT were down in the 18-49 rankings from usual -- but their actual numbers were close to normal levels. Dynamite charted at 15th on cable for the night with a 0.30 rating, down 3.2 percent from last week. NXT was up 6.3 percent, averaging a 0.17 rating, but only finished at 51st in the cable charts for that category.

The total viewership of 1.477 million viewers was up 6.1 percent from last week, but it's still one of the lower numbers in the last few months.

Detailed demo ratings for both shows are not available due to NXT finishing outside the top 50. AEW's strongest category was men 18-49, where Dynamite averaged a 0.41 rating, placing it in eighth place on cable and first among the non-news and non-sports programming.

ROH officials made a decision today that a number of talents brought in for the television tapings this week would not be used due to being in contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19 at The Collective series of wrestling events over the weekend in Indianapolis.

Three wrestlers have publicly come forward from that weekend, AC Mack, Dan the Dad, and Cabana Man Dan, stating that they had tested positive from the series of events that included a lot of top non-WWE talent that included stars from AEW, ROH, and Impact Wrestling. We are told that the ROH tapings had to be rewritten due to a number of people being sent home after the company learned yesterday they were exposed to people who had tested positive due to the company's internal protocol being used in conjunction with working with the Maryland State Athletic Commission ...

This was confirmed with multiple sources although officially Joe Koff would not comment on the specific matter.

Wouldn't be surprised if AEW, Impact, and ROH (and MLW once they resume) start putting their foot down on talent taking outside indie bookings since that's twice in recent weeks an outbreak has happened directly or indirectly with big indie shows.

After the news of a positive COVID-19 test result from Dan the Dad following last weekend’s events at The Collective, many performers are getting tested. Effy has announced he tested negative but as a precaution is removing himself from a booking tonight in San Antonio, Texas. If there is a small silver lining, it’s that Dan the Dad only worked the Glory Pro show on Saturday, unlike others that worked multiple events. However, it’s unknown how many people he came in contact with between the performers and fans stationed at the Marion County Fairgrounds throughout the weekend in Indianapolis. Others that have reported they have tested negative are Lee Moriarty, Elayna Black, and AJ Gray.

For the first time since an allegation was made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement this June, Jordan Devlin returned to WWE television on NXT UK this week.

Devlin appeared in a video that aired on Thursday's episode of NXT UK. Devlin called his NXT Cruiserweight Championship the one real version of the title and said Santos Escobar's NXT Cruiserweight Championship is just a replica that doesn't mean a thing ...

Following the allegation that was made against Devlin during the #SpeakingOut movement, WWE issued a statement saying that they take any allegation of this nature very seriously and were looking into the matter. The allegation was made by a woman named Hannah who claimed that Devlin had physically abused her. She tweeted photos of bruises on her lower body and wrote: "This is scary. I'm really scared. Jordan Devlin did this to me. And this is just the physical damage. Not including my arse and back bruises....because I don't fancy posting that online."

Devlin posted a statement on Twitter denying the allegation: "I didn't even want to address the hurtful allegation made against me, but for the sake of my followers and friends on this platform that may for whatever reason be unsure, I'm going to address this once. The recent allegation made against me is completely and utterly false and I deny it entirely. This is a case of a malicious personal agenda being executed against me on the back of a very brave telling of true experiences by other women. I completely denounce it. This is all I will say on the matter, and I am now working with a legal team to help decide how to proceed from here."

Jack Gallagher, Travis Banks, Ligero, and referees Joel Allen and Chris Roberts were released by WWE following #SpeakingOut allegations that were made against them. Joe Coffey was also suspended by WWE.

After being on hiatus since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NXT UK returned to airing new episodes last month.

A documentary on the intertwined career of the Undertaker and Kane will debut at the Austin (TX) Film Festival & Conference in October before debuting on WWE Network the following month.

"Brothers of Destruction" will close out the week-long conference on the night of Thursday, October 29th while the Network debut is set for Sunday, November 15th, part of a month-long celebration of Undertaker's 30 years in pro wrestling ("30 Days of the Deadman").

The documentary description from WWE: "The film breaks new ground as cameras capture a candid discussion between The Undertaker and Kane about their storied careers for the first time. Intertwined since Kane was introduced as The Undertaker’s long-lost brother in 1997, The Big Red Machine and The Deadman have been both bitter enemies and fierce allies, but their relationship never failed to captivate the WWE Universe, resulting in one of sports-entertainment’s most incredible legacies."

Sam Roberts is getting his own weekly series on the WWE Network.

Roberts announced today that "Notsam Wrestling" will premiere on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time next Thursday (October 22). The show will air weekly on Thursdays and will be available on both the paid and free versions of the WWE Network. Roberts said he'll be producing and creating the series himself from his studio.

Roberts said Notsam Wrestling on the WWE Network won't just be a video version of his wrestling podcast or any other content that's previously been available. He said it's a brand new show and his podcast and Patreon will remain the same ...

Roberts, who co-hosts the Jim Norton & Sam Roberts Show on SiriusXM, made his debut as a panelist on WWE's pre-show in 2016. Roberts has hosted his wrestling podcast since 2014.

Tetsuya Naito has teased he will select a challenger from outside of New Japan Pro Wrestling for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship if he wins the G1 Climax in an interview with Tokyo Sports.

Naito pointed out Keiji Mutoh won the G1 Climax in 1995 while holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and faced Nobuhiro Takeda – from UWF International – on January 4, 1996.

The same situation occurred when Kensuke Sasaki won the G1 Climax in 2000 with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and faced Toshiaki Kawada – from All Japan Pro Wrestling – on January 4, 2001.

Naito also mentioned Hiromu Takahashi as a possible challenger.

As reported earlier, the WWE NXT Halloween Havoc broadcast on 10/28 will see the return of former WCW Havoc PPV concept Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal. On the video screen behind Shotzi Blackheart when she announced the concept would be returning on tonight's episode of NXT were the following match stipulations:

-Biker's Chain Match
-Blindfold Match
-Boiler Room Brawl
-Buried Alive Match
-Casket Match
-Chamber of Horrors Match
-Coal Miner's Glove on a Pole Match.
-Devil's Playground Match
-Shotzi's Choice Match
-TLS
-Trick or Streetfight
-Weapons Wild Match

Ireland's Over the Top Wrestling announced the passing of Ryan Smile:

Our team is devastated to learn of the loss of Ryan Smile. His talent and contribution set the standard for what British/Irish wrestling was to become.
A tragic loss
RIP pic.twitter.com/QWrcmHEv1c
— OTT WRESTLING (@OTT_wrestling) October 14, 2020

Smile, who has retired officially in 2018, had wrestled for 11-12 years in different corners of the European wrestling scene. He had held the OOT and the Revolution Pro Championships.

Former wXw champion Karsten Beck (Karsten Pitann) passed away on Thursday morning following a battle with brain cancer.

"Karsten Pitann aka Karsten Beck has passed away this morning after battling brain cancer for years," wXw announced. "We say farewell to a Hall of Famer wrestler, a Unified World Wrestling champion, a World Triangle League winner, our director of sports, our colleague, our companion, our friend. We wish Karsten's family and Ruth, those who have walked along Karsten until the very end, all the strength in the world. We miss you, Karsten."

Beck was 33 years old.

Beck's in-ring career began in 2006 and he last wrestled prior to being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016. Beck became an on-screen authority figure as wXw's director of sports after his diagnosis. In 2017, Beck announced that his plans to return to the ring had to be halted due to doctors finding during a routine checkup that his tumor was growing again.

ESPN’s Ariel Helwani spoke with Paul Heyman on Wednesday to promote the season premiere of SmackDown and covered several subjects, among them:

Heyman was asked about no longer serving as the Executive Director of RAW and said he was fine with the decision by Vince McMahon. He said he told McMahon when he took the job that he only wanted it for as long as McMahon woke up happy and excited that Heyman was running RAW, once that feeling eroded he didn’t want to be in a position where McMahon wasn’t happy with Heyman in the spot because he had been there in years past.

Due to the platform he was on and Helwani co-hosting a show with the man, Heyman heavily pushed a potential match down the road with Daniel Cormier with either Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar.

Heyman stated Lesnar wasn’t under contract to WWE and he’ll come back if he sees a challenge for himself and is incentivized to do so. He added that Lesnar is happy being a father and a farmer now.

He doesn’t think Lesnar will do MMA again and thinks he scratched that itch at UFC 200 when he fought Mark Hunt. Although, UFC definitely thought they had a chance of putting the fight together between Cormier and Lesnar and allowed Lesnar to enter the Octagon after Cormier beat Stipe Miocic in July 2018.

Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer site got a further breakdown of the ratings from Friday Night SmackDown featuring the draft last week. While the overall viewership was only up slightly with 2,178,000 viewers, the 18-49 rating was a 0.65 that equals approximately 839,000 viewers and is a strong figure for SmackDown. It indicates that while the draft didn’t impact its entire audience, the demographic most valued did receive an increase due to it.

IWTV has launched a very cool concept with The Masked Wrestler that premiered on Wednesday night. The eight-person tournament will take place over several weeks with all the participants competing under masks with their identities hidden. Once a person is eliminated, they will reveal themselves to the audience. The first episode is available for free
Link for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtZW07QyPto

Since NXT TakeOver: 31, the black and gold brand has broadcast all programming from the Capitol Wrestling Center. Similar to the Amway Center, which hosts Raw and SmackDown, the ring is surrounded by LED screens filled with virtual fans.

All the fans on the video wall during the broadcast seemingly aren't live, though. Wrestling fan Jessi Davin could be seen on the LED screens behind Fandango and Tyler Breeze on last night's NXT but she tweeted a video saying she was actually watching AEW: Dynamite.

She wrote: "Why is WWE using stock footage of old Thunderdome participants in the Capitol Wrestling Center lololol I am NOT THERE I am watching #AEWDynamite.

"Y'all I have zero problem with it. I'm actually flattered they thought my footage was good enough to use twice. I'm not outraged, either. When you agree to enter the Thunderdome you agree to the terms and conditions. I'm sure this was in there in the famed wall of text."

Fightful Select later reported multiple readers have told them their image has appeared inside the Capitol Wrestling Center despite them not live streaming at the time.

NJPW also announced that there will be live English commentary for the October 16, 17 and 18 shows which are the G1 Climax A Block Finals, B Block Finals and G1 Finals, respectively.

During the summer, All Elite Wrestling dealt with a number of spoilers from taped shows leaking on Reddit. One of the major spoilers was Eric Bischoff working with the company, hosting a debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy during AEW Dynamite.

Chris Jericho spoke on the situation during his Saturday Night Special live stream, claiming a ‘NXT reject’ was the person behind the leaks, but did not mention any names ...

Following the leak of Eric Bischoff’s appearance, the Reddit user continued to post spoilers, up until 8/29, when AEW Dark taping results were leaked. These spoilers were revealed a week after Jericho called the leaker an “NXT reject”.

Fightful Select (subscription required) has gained some insight on the situation, revealing former WWE NXT wrestler Tino Sabbatelli was blamed for leaking AEW spoilers. It’s not known if he was actually leaking information, but people backstage at AEW believe he is culprit.

Sabbatelli was released from WWE as part of company wide cuts this past April, but has since returned. The report indicates he was listed internally as being part of the talent scheduled to be at the WWE Performance Center. It’s unknown if WWE has signed him to a new deal.

Fightful was informed last week that Sabbattelli was listed internally as being scheduled to be at the venue, but that the sheet often has errors. However, Sabbatelli did end up showing up there.

Sabbatelli worked one match for All Elite Wrestling in July under the name ‘Sabby’, teaming with Brady Pierce against Best Friends. It’s unknown how many tapings he present at.
Would explain why he only worked on one show despite AEW usually giving new people a few matches to help keep things fresh with their jobber pool and as tryout material.

According to a report by Fightful Select, sources within Ring of Honor (ROH) have stated that the company is planning a program revamp. This includes company officials informing new talent that the plan is to rejuvenate the brand and overhaul it “from top to bottom.”

Per the report, ROH’s plan includes revamping the women’s division, which Jonathan Gresham previously took over at the start fo the year. Some of these plans were said to be in motion before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As a result, they won’t start to take affect until closer to the end of 2020.

Additionally, Delirious has reportedly been reaching out to wrestlers to speak with them about working in ROH. Also, company officials have taken heavy feedback from wrestlers over the course of the last year in order to implement upcoming changes to the show’s overall presentation and production. Some of those recommendations from wrestlers have already been implemented for the weekly ROH TV show for the Pure Championship Tournament.

Phillip Thomas, the man charged with stalking Sonya Deville, had a virtual court hearing on Monday with new information coming to light.

Raj Giri of Wrestling INC reports Thomas' mail has been going to Deville's home as that was the address he gave when he was booked. Hillsborough County Jail has corrected the information, but the courts have not.

Thomas was arrested on August 17 after breaking into Deville's home and charged with aggravated stalking, armed burglary of a dwelling, attempted armed kidnapping, and criminal mischief. He pled not guilty to all charges.

Thomas remains incarcerated as his bail of $2 million was denied after the judge deemed him a threat to the community.

The Hillsborough County Court ruled on August 24 they would not release any evidence to the public before the hearing in regards to the case.

He has a court appearance on November 12 for the continuation of Deville's temporary protection injunction. After that, he is scheduled to return to court on December 15.

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: PWI’s 2020 Women’s 100 List, Big Pushes Planned for Big E & Lars Sullivan (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-pwis-2020-womens-100-list-big-pushes-planned-for-big-e-lars-sullivan/)
John Cena Gets Married (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/john-cena-gets-married/)

Emperor Smeat

10-16-2020, 01:57 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

The WWE draft, held on the 10/9 Smackdown and 10/12 Raw shows, with a few lower picks at other times, saw most of the talent stay with their brand, with a few switches ...

Perhaps the most talked about aspect was the split up of The New Day, with Kingston & Woods moving to Raw as tag team champions and Big E staying a single. The idea is to get Big E away from the act and make him more serious for a singles push. Historically, WWE has broken up tag team acts in the draft before and while there are exceptions, most of the time they find out the combination of parts was more effective than the parts individually.

One would suspect E getting a major singles push, which was talked about weeks ago and somewhat started. The idea is to get him out of the comedic mode. There is a logic to it even though, because the New Day has been established together for so many years and have been popular, there was going to be a negative reaction breaking them up without a storyline leading to it.

Trying to use logic to explain the draft is a waste of time. Such as, if acts can be drafted together, why did Raw pick Woods & Kingston and not Big E when it was specifically stated acts will be drafted together and in the WWE’s own listings of who can be picked, The New Day was listed as all three together. But that wasn’t the only act broken up. Lucha House Party was a similar situation, with Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik moved to Raw while Kalisto stayed on Smackdown. So in this case, they had spent weeks building up the split and feud with Dorado and Kalisto with Metalik in the middle, and dropped it cold without so much as one match. Heavy Machinery was also broken up even though they were supposed to be grouped together. Tucker is a very good athlete and talented, but he’s going to have a very difficult time as a single. Plus, with his size, it looks silly to put him in a jobber role because he’ll make the heels look small. There was no reason to break them up, also because even if the idea is of Otis as a single, they actually had good believability as best friends, and Otis is far better playing off Tucker as the straight guy than on his own ...

Of the switches, the biggest names were A.J. Styles, Braun Strowman, Wyatt & Bliss, Riddle and Hardy to Raw, and Rollins, Rey & Dominik Mysterio and Kevin Owens to Smackdown.

Styles in particular was expected since he publicly complained about missing his son’s high school football games on Friday nights, just months after complaining about wanting to get off Raw because he blamed Heyman, who was in charge at the time, for Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows being fired. Rollins was his replacement and to keep his angle going, that meant the Mysterio family and Murphy had to go to Smackdown with him.

It was noted to us by one key person in WWE that having the three big angles all on Smackdown was on purpose because Raw is a lock on USA no matter what because they need the show or USA Network collapses in the ratings. FOX doesn’t need Smackdown. FOX is heavily into sports and sports rights are escalating and the feeling is niche sports, and Smackdown on FOX could qualify as that, would be in trouble as far as being able to land a good deal. Smackdown will be fine with current numbers in two years, but if they drop 25 percent each year, that wouldn’t be good ...

Andrade not being picked spoke volumes about where he stands after doing a quick job to Angel Garza after spending months breaking up the team, with the idea it was a blow-off to get out of it. His fiancé, Charlotte Flair, was a high pick for Raw even though she may not be back for a while. All indications are he stays on Raw. But we were told when Paul Heyman was replaced that the guys who would be hurt the most were Andrade and Aleister Black ...

Retribution was kept as a group on Raw. For now they’ll likely face The Hurt Business since each side has four male members. For this week, Retribution is Mustafa Ali as the leader, T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic), Mace (Dio Maddin) and Slapjack (Shane Thorne). Mia Yim as Reckoning is still part of the group based on the graphics. Mercedes Martinez was pulled from the group and will be put back in NXT. Then again, there was a graphic WWE had on 10/13 that still had Martinez but didn’t have T-Bar, so this situation is fluid past Ali as the leader.

CMLL: All four wrestlers who were pulled from the Anniversary show for testing positive for COVID, Bandido, Princesa Sugehit and the couple of Ultimo Guerrero and Lluvia, were back in action after having tested negative. All but Guerrero wrestled on the 10/9 Arena Mexico show. Bandido returning set the stage for a Volador Jr. vs. Bandido NWA welterweight title that was scheduled for the anniversary show. They announced the match for the 10/16 show but Bandido on 10/13 told CMLL officials that he was having trouble breathing in his 10/9 match and asked for more time to get back into top shape ... The hope now is for the match to take place on 11/6 if/when Bandido makes a full recovery by that time. It was noted that even though CMLL knew about this on 10/13, and announced it on 10/15, that on 10/14 they were still pushing the match for Friday. It’s not as bad as some companies in a sense since they aren’t selling tickets and iPPV orders usually all come the last day, but that’s splitting hairs because knowingly promoting a main event you know isn’t happening is false advertising even if some companies believe they are above it and because the biggest company does it routinely to the degree that the fan base who doesn’t care about matches or personas anymore, it’s all about the brand, doesn’t really care about it. The belief is that if Volador vs. Bandido doesn’t happen on 11/6, it would have to be moved until December because of talk of doing the Universal title tournament (the annual Champion of Champions tournament) from 11/13 to 11/27

Konnan did an interview talking extensively about Lucha Underground on The Masks, Mats and Mayhem show. He noted that he originally believed he would be the head writer for the promotion since he was head booker for AAA and it was supposed to be in conjunction with AAA, he was told in a meeting that they were going with Chris DeJoseph since he had WWE writing experience. He was told he would be an agent. He did suggest ideas but ended up on the wrong side politically. Chavo Guerrero Jr., and Vampiro, the other agents, felt that they needed to be like WWE to appeal to the U.S. audience. Konnan wanted it to be like authentic Lucha Libre. He said his breaking point was when they did a Sexy Star vs. Super Fly man vs. woman mask vs. mask match with no build up. He felt it was disrespectful to do a mask match out of the blue with no angle and wasteful to waste a stipulation that usually draws money with no economic value since it wasn’t advertised in advance. He noted that DeJoseph was disappointed in the match because he thought Sexy Star was a great worker, which is funny because everyone who followed Lucha Libre at the time knew that wasn’t the case. Konnan complained to the owners. That ended up leading to him being killed off as a character, as in they killed him and then stopped using him. He said he was also frustrated it was treated as some form of an art project and not a wrestling promotion. He wanted to run house shows, do merchandise. He also said that AEW has talked about using Taurus (Cody loves Taurus), El Hijo del Vikingo (who others see as a star), and Laredo Kid. That’s true but unless things have changed, AEW hasn’t really been into bringing anyone new in from Mexico of late

He felt Laredo Kid hurt himself by doing the reality show. He also said that Kenny Omega vs. Laredo Kid is the plan for the next AAA heavyweight title match. He also said AAA would be fine if Omega defends the title in AEW

Vice is working on a third season of Dark Side of the Ring after the second season set record viewership numbers for the station. Vice is also coming off this commissioning a first season of Dark Side of Football. The idea the station has is Dark Side of Wrestling worked because it was a deep dive on nostalgic subjects as opposed to the idea wrestling in the past wasn’t well covered mainstream so most viewers knew next to nothing behind-the-scenes on these subjects. But it was notable that those at Vice were not interested in a pro wrestling television series based on the ratings of Dark Side and instead chalk this up to interest in as many different Dark Side subjects as they can. We know they are working on shows on Brian Pillman (I’d say the key people to get would be Kim Wood, Mark Madden, Brian Jr., Melanie Pillman, Liam O’Rourke and myself but obviously I’m not going to be asked but without Wood or O’Rourke it’ll be filled with flaws because O’Rourke is the student of Pillman and Wood worked with him on all his ideas), Dynamite Kid (Bret Hart hasn’t been interested in their shows in the past because of how Montreal was covered and he would be by far the best person to talk with, with Ross Hart second so hopefully they’ll at least get Ross), Grizzly Smith (getting family members which will be one dark story) and going back to WCW talking about the two shows in North Korea in 1995, which really is a fascinating story. I don’t think they can get Ric Flair, who would be tremendous, because WWE doesn’t allow its talent to participate in that series, but Scott Norton is somebody they need to talk with on that one, as well as Eric Bischoff and some of the other guys like Too Cold Scorpio who were on the trip or Antonio Inoki, which at this stage would be very difficult

The cast of GLOW is trying to push for a movie as a way to give closure to the series which had a scripted ending for the season that was just canceled. They are trying to build up social media support. The fact the show was canceled by Netflix, one of the services that most saw as benefitting from the current pandemic situation, and one that was considered among the best television series’ around, shows just how bad the economy looks right now for scripted television shows even on streaming carriers. They key is not just that it was canceled but with the general acclaim the show got, that nobody else picked it up

All the talent was brought to Baltimore early in the week to quarantine for the second set of tapings that take place over the weekend

ROH made a decision that a number of talents brought in for the television tapings this week would not be used due to being in contact with people who tested positive for COVID-19 at The Collective series of wrestling events over the weekend in Indianapolis. A number of wrestlers were sent home to quarantine and the TV tapings had to be rewritten due to those missing who were expected to perform. Danhausen at press time was the only person to publicly state he was being sent home for precautionary reasons. It should be noted that ROH was paying all the talent that was booked and sent home. ROH has had some of the strictest COVID protocols of any wrestling company in the world since the outbreak in March, including a long period of not running any events nor taping new television shows ...

ROH has also not brought in any wrestlers from foreign countries, which includes Rush, who holds their heavyweight title and Dragon Lee, who holds the TV title. Lee’s contract apparently expires on 12/1

This may be a second season spoiler. When asked about year two of AEW in screencrush.com, Matt Jackson said, “I think year two is going to be all about Kenny Omega. He’s been very, what’s the word I’m looking for, I guess unselfish and he’s ready to explode. So I would keep my eye on him. Another one off the top of my head would be Darby Allin. He’s got so much potential to be such a massive star for AEW that we have to use him in the right way, and he’s definitely going to be a top player.” Nick brought up that Adam Page will be a future world champion, although everyone pretty much knows that’s a long-term plan. They also talked about the idea of a tag team match as the main event on a PPV. He said they proved for years pre-AEW that they could draw all over the world with tag team matches as the main event

The company did a ton of media this week regarding the anniversary show. Tony Khan to Bleacher Report talked about bringing in and pushing different new talent, notably Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, MJF, Britt Baker and John Silver. “I can talk all day about Orange Cassidy. There was stuff about his independent act that I hated and would never do on our show. Matt [Jackson] said this guy's really got something and he suggested putting him with Best Friends. I went to a PWG show and really got to know him and learn what makes him tick. I had no idea that Orange Cassidy was Fire Ant (for Chikara) until he told me that night and I was like, 'Oh my god, you're a great wrestler.' So I said what if we hold it all back and build it up little by little to make people want to see him wrestle. After seeing his work, Jericho wanted to work with him. Chris and I put together a lot of ideas, but Chris was so generous and did so much for him because he believes in him." “I can't name a person I have less in common with than Darby Allin, but I talk to him every single day, and he's a genius. He is a genius storyteller and a great filmmaker. Cody brought him to my attention, and now I work with him as closely as I work with anybody." “I was watching Being The Elite, and I went to John Silver and was ribbing him. He is one of the only people I rib. I called him into my office and said, 'I'm really upset with you. You've got this great personality and apparently, you choose to only show it in BTE. I want you to do that stuff on Dynamite.' So he is doing more stuff and developing his own personality, which is great. Another person who I am so proud of for the way they developed their character is Britt Baker. Her run as a heel has been outstanding, and she has gotten so much better as the year has gone on." “We bring in new people every month. We bring in people from the independent scene and a lot of times you will see those people on AEW Dark, too. Sometimes these are one-off things, but if somebody impresses us, we'll bring them back. Will Hobbs is a good example of somebody that I really took a liking to and is doing a really great job for us. We're always looking for different partnerships. We've had the AAA tag titles on the show. Kenny Omega is the AAA champion, and he's defended the title on Dynamite and Dark. Thunder Rosa defended the NWA women's title. We're always looking for ways to work with people, but I am also keeping my eye on the independent scene.

Since the start of 1999 and through the end of September, Linda McMahon has contributed $4,544,560 to Donald Trump’s campaign and at least another $1.5 million to other Republican candidates. America First Action, a SuperPac that McMahon is the chair of, has raised $82 million for the election campaign as of 8/31

Total Bellas will return on 11/12 in the Thursday at 9 p.m. time slot on E! So the idea is Total Bellas on E! and then Miz & Mrs. On USA right after with the idea that WWE fans, mostly younger women, of the reality show genre will spend Thursday switching channels. The last season, built around Nikki & Brie being pregnant at the same time was a big success, up from previous years at a time everything has been declining. The show also does great numbers via DVR, far more than any traditional pro wrestling show. If you include DVR viewers, the season finale did 1.3 million viewers and 764,000 in 18-49, which beats a lot of Raws & Smackdowns even throwing in DVR numbers, and kills every wrestling show with Woman 18-49 at 489,000 including DVR viewers. In live viewers, it would be behind all the shows except Miz & Mrs. and NXT

Raw Underground for right now is considered done. At first it was dropped because of the COVID breakout and fear the extras who are in the crowd may have been exposed so it was shut down for a few weeks. But almost everyone who was part of that breakup is now back. Then again most were back either this week or last and this week with the draft it wouldn’t have fit as easily. There was fear that bringing all those people, both the wrestlers and the people they used as the audience, to Raw tapings could start a spread to the Raw roster and the idea is to keep NXT talent away from Raw and Smackdown talent as much as possible

During Bloodsport, a WWE rep was filming the Davey Boy Smith Jr., match for a documentary that is being done on Davey Boy Smith, who they will be inducting into the Hall of Fame whenever they can do that ceremony, likely at this coming year’s WrestleMania. The WWE Network is also working on a story about Davey By Smith for next year. WWE was filming Smith Jr. all weekend from training at the gym to the show

The most-watched shows of the past week on WWE Network: 1. WWE Day of 2016 Draft; 2. Hell in a Cell 2019; 3. Talking Smack; 4. Raw Talk; 5. Uncool with Alexa Bliss with Bella Twins; 6. WWE Storytime season four episode one; 7. Best of Yokozuna; 8. Clash of Champions 2020; 9. Takeover 31; 10. Smackdown from 9/11. NXT was 13th. NXT U.K., 205 Live and none of the independent content cracked the top 25 this week

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

Raw on 10/12 averaged 1,854,000 viewers, so the draft clearly helped the show by about ten percent, and also did 0.57 in 18-49.

It was the best numbers the show has done since 8/31, or since the beginning of football season. The big gains from last week were with the 35-49 age group, and far more with women than men, as the men’s gain was 3.8 percent but the women’s gain was 41.3 percent. Under 35 the numbers were pretty much the same as the prior week.

The chief competition was the usual NFL game on ESPN with the Los Angeles Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints that did 10,694,000 viewers and 3.35 in 18-49 and the National League championship series game with the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves that did 4,202,000 viewers and 1.2 in 18-49 on NBC.

Raw’s first hour topped two million viewers, but it’s 16.5 percent first-to-third hour drop was larger than it has been of late. It’s pretty clear people were interested in the top stars in the draft, and they went early. After that interest declined with the women’s Battle Royal as the main thing advertised besides the draft for hour three.

Raw was 32nd on cable overall, trailing only NFL related programming and news programming. It was No. 5 in 18-49 on cable behind three NFL-related shows on ESPN and Home Deck Mediterranean (0.59). It was fourth in Males 18-49, seventh in 18-34 and fifth in Males 12-34.

As compared to the draft show last year, the decline was the lowest for Raw year-to-year for a long time, with an 18.6 percent decline overall, 23.0 percent in 18-49 and 39.6 percent in 18-34.

The first hour did 2,006,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,884,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,676,000 viewers.

The first-to-third hour declines were 16.3 percent in women 18-49, 11.3 percent in men 18-49, 17.1 percent in teenage girls, 7.5 percent in teenage boy and 16.3 percent in over 50.

Smackdown on 10/9 did a 1.40 with 2,178,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home) viewers and an 0.65 in 18-49 (839,000 viewers) and 0.4 in 18-34 for the draft show that also featured the first Bayley vs. Sasha Banks title match since their split.

The show had real competition with both the final game of the NBA playoffs and a huge baseball game with the New York Yankees being ousted from the playoffs, but the draft still should have done considerably better on a show that also included Bayley vs. Banks. There was growth over last week but it was far less than should have been expected for such a show.

The rating was equal to last week. Due to the increase in viewers per home, the audience was up 1.1 percent and the 18-49 audience was up 8.5 percent, which is a solid increase, and 18-34 was up 25.0 percent so the younger audience was still interested.

As compared to the draft show last year, it was down 22.7 percent in households, down 24.3 percent in viewers and down and down 32.2 percent in 18-49 and down 42.9 percent in 18-34.

The Lakers-Heat game on 10/2 on ABC did 6,609,000 viewers, 2.41 in 18-49 and 2.0 in 18-34 and baseball did 2,599,000 viewers with 0.59 in 18-49 and 0.50 in 18-34.

This week the NBA finals did 8,890,000 viewers with a 3.20 in 18-49 and 2.7 in 18-34. The Yankees game did 3,723,000 viewers with a 0.89 in 18-49 and 0.70 in 18-34.

As far as network programming went, Smackdown was tied for third in 18-49 behind the NBA pre-show and NBA game. I was also tied for third in 18-34. In total viewers, it was next to last place among network shows beating only a rerun of American Ninja Warrior.

The first half hour had 2.29 million viewers for Big E vs. Sheamus falls count anywhere. The second half hour had 2.22 million viewers for the Roman Reigns/Jey Uso/Paul Heyman interview segment and Matt Riddle & Jeff Hardy vs. Miz & John Morrison. The third half hour did 2.19 million viewers for Bayley vs. Sasha Banks for the women’s title, Kevin Owens show with Alexa Bliss and Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro losing the tag title to Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods. The final half hour did 2.02 million viewers for Kevin Owens vs. The Fiend.

AEW’s anniversary show with four title matches and a PPV lineup on 10/14 did 826,000 viewers and 0.30 (383,000 viewers) in 18-49 while NXT did 651,000 viewers and 0.17 (225,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The AEW number has to be considered a big disappointment, particularly in 18-49. It had competition from both baseball championship series games which overlapped during the show, and the news channels did monster numbers.

AEW was No. 15 in 18-49, behind the two games, 10 news shows all on FOX News and Real Housewives of Orange County (1,051,000 viewers and 0.34) and a Lifetime movie (1,191,000 viewers and 0.33), both shows heavily geared for women ...

AEW took a big hit with women, being down 41 percent over the usual number in women 18-34, which had been a strong demo, and down 11 percent in women 35-49 over the usual level ...

It’s interesting to look at the same chart last year. The competition is far stronger this year, in particular news channels. Head-to-head with AEW, Tucker Carlson was up 43.9 percent and Hannity was up 48.6 percent for the Supreme Court seat hearings. Last year AEW only lost to the NBA and three entertainment shows. This year they lost to two entertainment shows, baseball (there was none head-to-head last year) and the news shows (which they beat in 18-49 a year ago).

As far as year-to-year drops, AEW was down 18.5 percent in viewers, 31.8 percent in 18-49 and 37.9 percent in 18-34. That’s overall less than WWE shows have been doing most weeks, but not appreciably less. NXT was down only 8.6 percent in viewers and 15.0 percent in 18-49.

Compared to last week, when both shows were against the Vice Presidential debate and that was going to hurt a lot and this week was going to be up somewhat, AEW was up 9.7 percent overall but down 4.5 percent in 18-49. But most of the gains were over 50. NXT was up 1.9 percent from last week in viewers and up 6.1 percent in 18-49.

AEW doubled NXT in men 18-34 and almost doubled in men 35-49.

In the key demos, AEW did 80,000 men 18-34 (up 31.1 percent from last week) to 32,000 for NXT (up 10.3 percent). AEW did 46,000 in women 18-34 (down 32.4 percent from last week) to 35,000 for NXT (up 29.6 percent). AEW did 183,000 in men 35-49 (down 10.3 percent) to 94,000 for NXT (up 2.2 percent). AEW did 74,000 in women 35-49 (up 8.8 percent) to 64,000 for NXT (same as last week). Another key figure is that teenage girls for AEW dropped 47.0 percent from last week while teenage boys were up 1.3 percent from last week.

In the main event battle, AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer for the AEW title did 825,000 viewers and 378,000 in 18-49 while NXT with Damien Priest vs. Dexter Lumis did 569,000 viewers and 187,000 in 18-49.

AEW doubled NXT in two quarters in 18-49, the main event and also when AEW had Cody vs. Orange Cassidy, which was by far the biggest thing on either show, going against Candice LeRae vs. Shotzi Blackheart.

In the first quarter, AEW did 880,000 viewers and 378,000 in 18-49 for FTR vs. Best Friends. NXT did 781,000 viewers and 239,000 in 18-49 for Undisputed Era out plus Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. As usual, NXT did well at first based on its huge lead-in.

In the second quarter, AEW did 804,000 viewer and 367,000 in 18-49 for the end of FTR vs. Best Friends, the post-match angle with Miro & Kip Sabian, Miro & Sabian vs. Sean Maluta & Lee Johnson and a Moxley attack by Archer. NXT did 685,000 viewers and 225,000 in 18-49 for the end of Strong & Fish vs. Lorcan & Burch, an Ember Moon promo and Jake Atlas vs. Ashante Adonis.

In the third quarter, AEW did 876,000 viewers and 400,000 in 18-49 for the MJF/Chris Jericho segment plus Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker at the spa. NXT did 669,000 viewers and 230,000 in 18-49 the Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae interview and Gargano vs. Austin Theory.

In the fourth quarter, AEW did 765,000 viewers and 377,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Cody vs. Orange Cassidy. NXT did 644,000 viewers and 229,000 in 18-49 for the end of Gargano vs. Theory and a Raquel Gonzalez/Rhea Ripley backstage brawl.

In the fifth quarter, AEW did 920,000 viewers and 453,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Cassidy and the Matt Hardy interview. This was the high point of the night in just about every category. NXT did 658,000 viewers and 218,000 in 18-49 for LeRae vs. Blackheart for a title shot.

In the sixth quarter, AEW did 761,000 viewers and 369,000 in 18-49 for the angle with all the tag teams setting up next week’s four-team match and the beginning of Hikaru Shida vs. Big Swole. NXT did 654,000 viewers and 216,000 in 18-49 for a vignette with Killian Dain & Drake Maverick, Toni Storm vs. Aliyah and William Regal with Xia Lee and Boa.

In the seventh quarter, AEW did 781,000 viewers and 340,000 in 18-49 for the end of Shida vs. Swole. NXT did 560,00 viewers and 184,000 in 18-49 for Imperium vs. Maverick & Dain and the post-match attack by Ever Rise.

In the main event quarter, Moxley vs. Archer gained 44,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49. Priest vs. Lumis gained 9,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49.

NXT went back to an overrun but it only did 625,000 viewers and 200,000 in 18-49. My gut is that if AEW fans were aware of it, it would have picked up a lot, but since nobody knew going in, the growth was minimal.

Because NXT didn’t crack the top 50, we don’t have complete charts.

AEW did a 0.10 in 12-17 (down 23.1 percent), 0.18 in 18-34 (down 2.3 percent), 0.42 in 35-49 (down 5.5 percent) and 0.35 in 50+ (up 34.6 percent). The audience was 68.7 percent male in 18-49 and 65.2 percent male in 12-17, much higher male skews than usual by a wide margin in both categories.

Emperor Smeat

10-20-2020, 09:11 PM

The Sheets:

With opposition from a strong NFL number, Raw's season premiere did 1.78 million viewers and a 0.52 in 18-49, down four percent in viewers and nine percent in 18-49 from last week's draft show.

The decline is probably less than would be expected, particularly since the Dallas Cowboys vs. Arizona Cardinals NFL game did 11.32 million viewers and 3.57 in 18-49 ...

It was fourth in 18-49, beating everything but NFL related programming on cable.

The first-to-third hour drop of six percent was much lower than usual, so the audience that tuned in stayed longer than usual,which is a good sign for how the audience saw the quality of the show. Another factor is that the second hour beat the first hour, meaning a lot of people tuned in late, perhaps due to the early football game on FOX that did 12.16 million viewers and a 3.5 in 18-49. That meant the length wouldn't affect them as much in hour three.

As compared to the same week last year, the show was down 24 percent in viewers, 31 percent in 18-49, and 42 percent in 18-34.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.81 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.84 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.69 million viewers

The Orange County Department of Health is investigating buildings WWE is running shows in as part of a wider investigation into COVID-19 hotspots in the county.

WFTV9 is reporting that The Orange County Department of Health is asking their COVID-19 strike team to investigate 17 businesses where COVID-19 may be spreading. The WWE Performance Center, Full Sail University, and the Amway Arena, all places WWE are currently holding events, are on the list.

WWE issued the following statement in response:

WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of on-going weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%. Additionally, extensive contact tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative.

There reportedly has been at least two COVID-19 outbreaks in WWE since moving all of their tapings to Florida, one in June and another in September.

With SmackDown airing on FS1 this week, WWE Backstage is returning for a special edition of the show.

A one-hour episode of WWE Backstage will air on FS1 from the WWE ThunderDome after SmackDown this Friday night. A replay of this week's SmackDown will then air on FS1 after Backstage at 11 p.m. Eastern time.

SmackDown is making a one-week-only move to FS1 this Friday due to game three of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers being on Fox.

FS1 suspended weekly production of WWE Backstage this June, though it was noted that the show could return with occasional episodes surrounding major events. WWE Backstage launched in November 2019 and was hosted by Renee Young and Booker T. It also featured a panel of contributors that included CM Punk making select appearances.

The hosts/panel for this Friday's episode of Backstage haven't been announced.

As PWInsider.com covered earlier today, FS1 is resurrecting WWE Backstage this Friday after it airs Friday Night Smackdown. The decision to bring back WWE Backstage was a late decision as initially, the plan was to air a one-hour episode of "Talking Smack", which normally airs on Saturday morning on the WWE Network.

The closing of last night's Monday Night Raw, with Drew McIntyre closing the door on the Hell In A Cell went off the air as it was envisioned. We've had a few readers ask if perhaps the company was running late with the segment and ran out of time, but we have been told by multiple sources that the ending we saw was the ending Vince McMahon approved.

Konnan guest appeared on the ‘Masks, Mats and Mayhem’ show. Konnan dove into his time in Lucha Underground and recalled when the organization offered The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) $250 a piece to sign.

“Here’s why Lucha Underground was — this is the type of sh*t that only Lucha Underground would do. They had some jackoff, yes you are a jackoff, called Tony Jensen. He was the lawyer of the f*cking company. So they had this guy who doesn’t know sh*t about wrestling, doesn’t know how to talk to wrestlers, you know? You gotta be able to talk their language, alright and he calls The Young Bucks and he offers them $250 each. So they basically told me to go f*ck myself and that yeah, they’d sign if they got $2,500 each, and I was like, ‘Bro, Dorian [Roldan], why don’t you let me talk to the wrestlers? I already have a connection, a relationship with a lot of them and I know how to back and forth’ but no, they kept him there.”
Young Bucks mentioned in past interviews that the pay rates for Lucha Underground were very low plus LU wanted ownership of their rights for several years and have top priority for bookings. Think it was something like around $400 for a full set of tapings instead of being paid per show.

EC3 was the most recent guest on the ROHStrong podcast. Following his release from WWE in April, EC3 put out a shoot-fight-style video that was of similar likeness to what would eventually become RAW Underground. EC3 shared that he sent that same video to WWE not too long before his release from the company. He said he was expecting WWE to convert his idea into their own but not to the lengths that he feels they did.

“I knew it was going to be stolen, so I was prepared for it. I didn’t know it’d go to that length, and I know mine played to a minor bubble of the professional wrestling audience while majority of it saw whatever the hell they put out there. The way I look at it is kind of like I was Wayne’s World. I was producing this show in Aurora, my basement with my buddy Garth. We’ll call him J.C. in this instance, and then Rob Lowe came in, bought us and when I saw Shane McMahon in the ring, not in a real underground, mine was a real underground. [This] manufactured, heartless, desolate studio, I’m looking at Shane and it felt like when Noah was rapping on Wayne’s World after they bought him out. It was just inauthentic and like I said, it had no heart. So I knew something would’ve been taken from it. I didn’t expect the whole aesthetic, and while it upset my friend, J.C. who I worked very hard on with it, at the same time, it’s just a challenge to do something different, better next time which I definitely plan on doing because again, control your narrative, again, Ring of Honor provides freedom. I’m not tied to doing just that. There’s things I want to do in the future and continue that narrative as sort of supplemental content to whatever other places I’m doing things in and I have bold, ambitious views for it. We’ll see if it works out, I think it will.”

In June of 2020, Kris Statlander suffered a torn ACL while attempting a suicide dive on AEW Dynamite. Statlander had surgery shortly thereafter and she recently spoke with Wrestling Inc. and provided an update on how her recovery is coming along.

“I’m doing pretty good. I think from what I’ve heard overall is that I might be a little bit ahead of others where I’m at right now, but I still have a real long way to go before I can re-debut basically and get back in the ring before I’m debuting again obviously, and I’m going to want to be training a little bit before. So I’ll be able to get in the ring before you’ll see me back on TV. It could be another eight months or so.”

As far as the injury itself, Statlander is still puzzled on how it happened via a suicide dive to the outside. She said the recovery process has been more mentally exhausting than physically.

“It’s been more mentally challenging than physically challenging at times because physically, I have the ability to keep pushing myself and to just keep doing everything I need to, and I’ll go harder than I probably should be to try and do my rehab and stuff like that, but mentally, you’re sitting at home all day and you’re alone all day because you can’t go out and go do anything. You can only work out for so long in a day when you’re injured and you just see all your friends, and everyone doing awesomely on TV and you’re just like, ‘Man, I just want to be a part of that so bad, and I just feel like I’m useless to this division.’ So there was a good two-three straight months where I cried every single night because I felt like I had just been failing everybody, and I don’t even know what happened when I got injured.

I just did a suicide dive, and the way I landed, I guess, was not perfectly right. You can actually see the dive on TV when I heard it, but all you see is me quickly grab my leg when I go down, and then the camera’s off of me. But it doesn’t even look like I did anything super insane, or it doesn’t look very noticeable. ‘Oh, she messed up her leg there.’ You cannot tell at all. So I had no idea what happened. I just kind of felt a little ‘pfft’ in my leg. It didn’t even hurt that bad either. I was just like, ‘Oh boy.'”

The Preston City Wrestling promotion based in England made the announcement via their official Facebook page that they are ceasing operations again. They had to cancel their October 24th event and it appeared that their October 23rd event was going to take place as scheduled until the city of Preston went into tier 3 lockdown because of COVID-19.
Likely going to see the same happen again with wrestling in the US soon due to the resurgence of the coronavirus and winter months being prime for its spread. US-based wrestling got very lucky the first time around since the pandemic's arrival and stranglehold happened much later in the past winter season.

VaynerSports, which is owned by Gary Vaynerchuk and run by co-CEOs AJ Vaynerchuk and Greg Genske, has added its first WWE client to its roster. On Monday, it was announced that Charlotte Flair (Ashley Fliehr) had signed with the agency and joins a slew of MMA fighters, which is a space the agency has aggressively gone after. Over the summer, VaynerSports added a combat and action sports division with numerous MMA fighters coming on board including Stipe Miocic, Chris Weidman, Eddie Alvarez, Curtis Blaydes, Vitor Belfort, Anthony Smith, and Aljamain Sterling.

Saraya Bevis aka Paige announced today that today marks two years of sobriety. Great for her.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGiLmbXnMK4

NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani has 2 goals for the 50th anniversary in 2022: Continue running the Toyko Dome 2 days in a row and return to terrestrial prime-time broadcasting. Kidani's idea: "We'll run shows on the 4th & 5th and start (airing) at 8:00 on the 7th (Friday)."
Link: https://twitter.com/EasternLariat/status/1318071736240377859

The Mas Lucha outlet reports that the official medical report states that wrestler Principe Aereo (Luis Ángel Salazar) died from a ruptured middle cerebral artery. Salazar was competing on a MexaWrestling show in Mexico City on Saturday when he collapsed, and the match was stopped. Later, he was pronounced dead at the age of 23.

Thirteen years after taking part in a betting scandal, disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is set to make his professional wrestling refereeing debut.

It was announced via Sports Illustrated today that Donaghy has agreed to appear as a referee for MLW. Sports Illustrated wrote that Donaghy appearing for the promotion was the idea of MLW COO Jared St. Laurent and the plan is for Donaghy to be introduced "in a storyline that sees him serve as the personal referee for Richard Holliday’s upcoming slate of matches" ...

Sports Illustrated noted that Donaghy's MLW appearance comes with the potential for more depending on the response ...

In 2008, Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the NBA betting scandal.

MLW has been on hiatus from live events since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter last week that the promotion was doing a secret empty arena taping in Central Florida from October 18 to October 20.

A letter signed by multiple women from the cast of GLOW has been published citing concerns and problems with the show’s handling of roles and positions for people of color.

The letter was posted to Instagram by Kia Stevens, who played the role of “Tamme”, who signed the letter along with Britney Young (“Carmen”), Sydelle Noel (“Cherry Bang”), Ellen Wong (“Jenny”), Sunita Mani (“Arthie”), and Shakira Barrera (“Yolanda”).

In the letter, it refers to the hope for revisions in “the upcoming season”, indicating this was sent prior to the news that Netflix would not be bringing the series back for its fourth and final season due to the impact of the pandemic on their production, which halted filming earlier this year.

A portion of the letter reads:

We are writing to you today to share some feelings that have been suppressed in all of us for a long time. As the principal women of color on a show tackling racist and offensive stereotypes, we have felt disempowered throughout our time on GLOW.

We’ve individually come to you to express our concerns over the course of 3 season – whether it be in our character meetings or during specific conflicts within our storyline – and our characters continually remain less fleshed out and less dimensional. It has been problematic to use our faces, oftentimes solely in the context of a racist storyline, and to be brief with our story development to serve the in-depth white storylines.

GLOW has been marketed as a diverse ensemble, but for all of us diverse cast members, it has never lived up to those ideas. Since season 1, the show has planted racial stereotyping into our character’s existence, yet our storylines are relegated to the sidelines in dealing with this conflict or have left us feeling like checked-boxes on a list. Unfortunately, we feel that the promise of this show has not been fulfilled. There is incredible support, love and camaraderie amidst the GLOW cast, and it should go without saying that we are not here to take down our white castmates or our show, but to elevate us all in a deeper, more significant way.

With zero persons of color in the writer’s room this season, it is a huge oversight to be writing our narratives without anyone else to represent us besides ourselves. There has been an emotional toll on us to take care of an enact our characters. The meta narrative of our show – actors dealing with the conflict of perpetuating stereotypes in order to have opportunity – is exactly what is happening in our real life. We feel both devalued in our skillset and only valued for the diversity that we bring. It is a cyclical, psychological pain to deal with one’s currency as an actor and a person of color based on a system that values whiteness. Even when our show seeks to comment on this standard, it perpetuates it. We can no longer be quiet about the pain this has caused us and the harm it has done in perpetuating the representation of people of color as sidekicks to elevate white leads.

The letter (which can be read in full below) goes on to recommend that the series hire an Executive Producer or Consulting Producer of color, fully address how portraying stereotypical and racially offensive wrestling personas has impacted our character’s professional live and personal dignity, and “amplify our voices and our importance within the season narrative”.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGiD0sipqUy/

Daga and IMPACT Wrestling have parted ways.

According to Nick Hausman of Wrestling Inc, IMPACT has granted the release request of Daga.

Daga reportedly requested his release some time ago, but IMPACT did not grant the release at the time and attempted to get him to re-sign.

Daga made his IMPACT debut in February 2019, teaming with LAX (Santana & Ortiz) against The Lucha Bros (Fenix & Pentagon Jr) and Rey Horus. His last match in IMPACT took place in April when he faced Chris Bey on television.

He is the current husband to Tessa Blanchard, who was released from IMPACT in June. Neither Blanchard nor Daga competed for IMPACT during the pandemic as they were both in Mexico for a period during the pandemic. The two married over the summer.

Daga has wrestled a couple of times during the pandemic, including at the Warrior Wrestling Stadium Series event in September.

Major League Wrestling is back to doing TV tapings for its return, with the company officially set to air new programming starting in November. And to this point, it seems MLW is handling its COVID-19 protocols in a proper manner.

Fightful Select reports that feedback from wrestlers within the company has been positive when it comes to MLW taking the necessary protocols to ensure their safety, which included talents taking part in their matches or segments and then returning to their hotels.

Fightful also notes that MLW brought in a CDC official to oversee the testing process for its talent.

To add to that, the site reports that there were “surprising, bigger names” involved in the MLW tapings that fans wouldn’t expect, although they didn’t name who those stars were.

TPWW Frontpage:

Backstage Reactions to Potential NJPW & AEW Partnership (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/backstage-reactions-to-potential-njpw-aew-partnership/)
WWE: RAW Debuts New Theme Song, WWE Denied Several Trademarks, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-raw-debuts-new-theme-song-wwe-denied-several-trademarks-updated-sd-ratings/)
Jake Hager Booked for MMA Fight Later This Month (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/jake-hager-booked-for-mma-fight-later-this-month/)
Hardy vs. Elias Added to Hell in a Cell – Updated Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/hardy-vs-elias-added-to-hell-in-a-cell-updated-card/)
Dark Side of the Ring Officially Renewed for 14 Episode Third Season (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/dark-side-of-the-ring-officially-renewed-for-14-episode-third-season/)

Emperor Smeat

10-21-2020, 06:56 PM

The Sheets sponsored by Ricky Starks Appreciation Day:
https://i.imgur.com/KDep3zu.gif

Impact Wrestling has revealed when Ken Shamrock's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be taking place.

It was announced today that Shamrock will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame on Countdown to Glory this Saturday. Countdown to Glory is the pre-show for Impact's Bound for Glory pay-per-view. The pre-show will air live on AXS TV and Impact's digital channels at 7 p.m. Eastern time, with Bound for Glory then beginning on PPV at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Shamrock being inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame over Bound for Glory weekend was first announced this March. Last month, Shamrock reached out to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Twitter and asked him to film an introduction greeting for Shamrock's Hall of Fame ceremony. Johnson responded by congratulating Shamrock and agreeing to film the video.

Shamrock won the NWA World Championship on the first-ever TNA show in 2002. He returned to Impact last year and will be facing Eddie Edwards at Bound for Glory this Saturday.

The United Wrestling Network has revealed the bracket for their tournament to crown a UWN World Champion.

The openweight, multi-week tournament features eight participants. Here are the first round matches:
Left side of the bracket --

Erick Redbeard (formerly known as Erick Rowan in WWE) vs. Watts
Chris Dickinson vs. Peter Avalon

Right side of the bracket --

Karl Fredericks vs. Fred Rosser (formerly known as Darren Young in WWE)
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Mike Bennett

The tournament will kick off with Dickinson vs. Avalon taking place on next Tuesday's edition of UWN Primetime Live. The Primetime Live weekly pay-per-view series launched last month and is a partnership between the UWN, the NWA, and Thunder Studios.

The UWN's David Marquez tweeted about the World title tournament: "#Primetimelive is truly the epicenter of pro wrestling. My thx to NWA AEW NJPW MLW for their cooperation! Join us next week for The Librarian Peter Avalon Vs @DirtyDickinson! BE THERE!"

Impact Wrestling has signed Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo to an official contract, it was announced today during a media event held this afternoon.

PWInsider.com is sad to pass on the news that Johnnny Meadows, who wrestled for WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling in enhancement talent roles as well as lots of different Southern independent wrestling promotions over the years, passed away earlier yesterdat after battling COVID-19 for the last two months. He was only 59 years old.

A Tennessee native, Meadows, real name Johnny Condrone, broke into the business in Southeastern Championship Wrestling in the early 1970s after training with Rick Conners and had a journeyman's career, working undercard and enhancement matches for just about every promotion you could think of, including Mid-Atlantic, the WWF, Continental Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling, sometimes as Johnny Meadows and other times under an assortment of ring names or masked personas. He last wrestled in the mid-1990s.

The Baltimore Sun has a story on Ring of Honor’s most recent set of television tapings with a look at how extensive their protocols are. ROH has been at the forefront of promotions that have gone to great lengths during the pandemic regarding talent safety while also paying their performers during this entire year. In the article it noted:

* One performer was sent home after testing positive for COVID-19, three others were sent home after working on events where someone tested positive (Danhausen revealed he was one of them last week after being on The Collective the previous weekend where several wrestlers announced positive tests after being part of the weekend’s events)

* Joe Koff said that “it took months” to set up protocols with the Maryland State Athletic Commission

* Those participating at the television tapings needed to take a COVID-19 test 14 before they went to Baltimore, took another test after they checked into the hotel and were isolated in their rooms until the results came in and could still only leave their rooms for a jog or short workout in a social-distanced gym

* At the tapings, the ring mats were cleaned after each match and masks would only be removed for their matches

* A final COVID-19 test was taken after the tapings for contact tracing purposes

* There are tentative plans for another taping in December with Koff noting they are considering going to other states

Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was on Talk is Jericho to Wednesday to share his thoughts on the process of running a campaign, the issues of automation jobs that are replacing ones, and his specific interest in professional wrestling and some of the changes he wants to see for the talent.

"If we win, I’m going to be in a position where I can call up the Secretary of Labor or in this case, it’s the National Labor Relations Board and then, bring suit against WWE and say, “Hey, I think you’re misclassifying your employees here” (laughs) and the damages would be really significant. So, that is more or less the plan. We may need to have some brave performer or ex-performer come forward and say “Look, here are the practices”, and I have been contacted by folks who are like “Look, I believe in this and I’m at a point in my career where they can’t really do anything to me anyway, so let’s have at this” because customarily for a National Labor Relations Board action it typically has to be an employee that initiates, so that is one of the trickier elements of this, Chris. But I’m very confident we can get there because there are a lot of people that recognize this is wrong and it’s been going on for far too long."

Chris Jericho brought up one major difference in AEW is that the talent doesn’t have to pay for their expenses on the road such as rental cars and hotels, which is not the case in WWE.

Chris Jericho isn't seeing any money from the WWE Network.

On the latest episode of his Talk Is Jericho podcast, Jericho was joined by former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang to discuss Yang's ongoing battle against WWE and how they treat talent. During the conversation, Yang once again brought up the Screen Actors Guild and how actors and actresses are treated as part of the group.

This led to Jericho wondering why he's not seeing any money from WWE Network airing his old matches.

"This has to change and it's no ill will towards WWE. The fact that they can show all of my matches on their Network that people pay for and I don't get a dime of royalty, it makes no sense. That's not how normal business, normal entertainment, and the normal world works," said Jericho. "I did 'MacGruber' ten years ago and was in it for two minutes. I still get residual checks. It's not a lot, $20, $15, $50, but I'm still getting residuals from being on that movie. Here I am with probably 100 matches on the Network and getting nothing. I don't see the fairness in that."

Jericho said he and Yang would have to talk off-air about correcting something like that.
This was actually something CM Punk had a big issue with prior and after the launch of the WWE Network since WWE was being very stubborn and secretive on informing talent how it would affect their royalties checks. Helped play a role in his eventual departure from the company.

Scott Fishman at TV Insider wrote a piece on his experience attending last week’s AEW Dynamite taping at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Fishman arrived at the arena minutes before the show went on the air and went through two temperature checks and answered a digital questionnaire before going to his pod where he sat with his group. Fishman noted that the exit process could be handled better with a staggered exit rather than everyone leaving the arena at once. He also added the mask enforcement was very strong.

A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched for Tracy Smothers, who was diagnosed with Stage III Lymphoma last year and was recently hospitalized due to the growth of a tumor on the left side of his stomach that has spread into his lungs. They are seeking $5,000 for medical assistance and will also be running two benefit shows for Smothers on Sunday, November 15th in Jeffersonville, Tennessee with all proceeds going to Smothers.
Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tracy-smothers-cancer-benefit-round-2

Today marks the 48th anniversary of All Japan Pro Wrestling’s debut show on October 21, 1972, after Giant Baba left the JWA and launched the company months after Antonio Inoki started New Japan Pro Wrestling and would become the dominant two promotions in the country. The two sides worked together for one show in 1979 where the two leaders teamed together for a show that was hosted by Tokyo Sports. Aside from that show, they didn’t work together again until 1990 when New Japan was in a bind booking the Tokyo Dome and relations with WCW broke down and led to several inter-promotional matches between the two. Baba ran All Japan until his death in January 1999 at the age of 61.

In the main event of the 10/20 episode of United Wrestling Network’s ‘Prime Time Live’, Da Pope defeated Zicky Dice to become the new NWA World Television Champion. Zicky Dice had been reigning as Television Champion since January when he won the title on the NWA Powerrr series.

In regards to NWA Powerrr, NWA owner Billy Corgan and the organization’s world champion Nick Aldis have both clarified that the show is not done and they’re in discussions about bringing the show back.

Independent wrestler AJ Gray has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 after several negative tests following The Collective shows.

Gray added that following The Collective, he tested negative three times but the most recent test came back positive. Gray said he doesn’t believe he contracted the virus at The Collective, where he wrestled seven matches and said he can “pinpoint the exact person who passed it to me.” He also said he is not experiencing any symptoms.

Gray also wrestled this past Saturday at GCW’s The Last Resort show in Silverado, California against Joey Janela.
Considering the outbreak from their recent Collective shows, GCW really shouldn't have held another event this soon regardless if it was far away or involving different groups of talent since they still opened themselves to more risk with the coronavirus.

All is well in Eddie Kingston's family.

Weeks after Kingston told The Blade to get his house in order, alluding to his real-life wife Allie (formerly The Bunny) joining up with QT Marshall and the Nightmare Family, The Bunny has come home.

On AEW Dark, The Bunny joined Kingston, The Butcher & The Blade, and The Lucha Bros for a family reunion.

No other explanation was given for Allie transforming back into The Bunny and re-joining The Blade.
Link: https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1318717615091650561

Mance Warner is looking to get out of his MLW contract.

Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net reports that Mance Warner asked for his release from MLW, but MLW denied his request. According to Haynes, Warner is still trying to get out of his MLW deal and lawyers are now involved.

When asked by Haynes for a comment on the situation, MLW told him, "all we’re saying is he [Mance Warner] remains under a deal.”

It is unknown when Warner's deal with MLW expires and the company did not comment when asked. MLW is preparing for its restart as they return to running events, though an official date for the restart has not been announced. It is unknown if Warner will be part of the tapings.

It was previously reported that AEW had interest in Warner. Warner recently filed for trademarks on his in-ring name and 'Southern Stomper.'

On the July 12, 2010 episode of WWE Raw, Randy Orton pulled off arguably his most RKO ever.

Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne in WWE) went to the top rope, looking for his trademark shooting star press. Coming down from the move, Orton was able to catch Sydal in mid-air to deliver the RKO. Fans can watch the spot in the video above.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Sydal detailed how the move came about.

"The first time I saw it get nailed was [Matt Cross], him and B-Boy did it on an IWA Mid-South show I was on. I was talking to him about it and I told him, 'If I ever have a feud with Randy Orton, I want to do the shooting star into the cutter.' The next day, turns out me and Randy have a segment. I said, 'Anybody want to do the shooting star RKO?' There were some doubts from management that it was humanly possible, but it was this perfect merging of two guys' finishers. It's something we can do confidently. I jump, and there's no control, so I'm jumping and thinking that if he's there, I'm going to land on him. If he jumps up to give me the cutter, I'm taking it. I basically do the same leap and when I'm able to see the ground, it's just getting caught."

When discussing how to and for the move, Sydal said the toughest landings are one he basically belly flops onto the ring, which is what he ended up doing on the RKO.

"This one was the highest level of pain degree because I have the extra downward gravity of it. I landed the best way to land, which is just belly out and eating it. I basically just laid there after. Sometimes I have energy and I'm selling, on that one, I just ate it and there was no wind left in me," he said.

Sydal praised Orton for his timing and athleticism on the move, noting that they didn't practice it beforehand. He also praised the camera work for zooming in on him on the top rope and not tipping the counter until it was happening.

On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez read the statement that was sent out by WWE in response to a report about local officials looking to investigate venues in the Orlando area that could be COVID-19 hotspots. The WWE Performance Center and the Amway Center (WWE ThunderDome) were among the places listed as potential hotspots.

WWE’s statement: “WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of on-going weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%. Additionally, extensive contact tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative.”

Alvarez said the following after reading WWE’s statement: “There are no official numbers because WWE never released official numbers but we’d heard around 38 for the big [outbreak] and then there was another [outbreak] and we didn’t hear any numbers for the other one but I heard double digits for that one and granted it was low double digits but that was the number that I heard. Then a lot of people disappeared and to be fair, some of the people that disappeared that was contract tracing disappearances. They actually didn’t have it but they had been around people who did have it. But the fact of the matter is WWE in their own statement is essentially saying 150 positive tests. That is insane and by the way, I know for sure that there have been individuals that tested positive and people that they lived with or their families, they ended up getting coronavirus and that would not even be counted in WWE’s testing. That is a crazy number of people that have contracted coronavirus directly as a result from WWE.”

While some people in the company have gotten the message, the fact is that there are still people in WWE who are COVID deniers and are not treating the virus as seriously as others.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-18/)
Impact Bound for Glory PPV Card (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/impact-bound-for-glory-ppv-card/)

Emperor Smeat

10-22-2020, 09:19 PM

The Sheets:

Going against stronger than usual competition from the cable news channels as well as game two of the World Series, AEW Dynamite averaged 753,000 viewers last night on TNT. That's down 8.9 percent from last week and is identical to the number Dynamite did two weeks ago.

NXT on the USA Network was down 1.1 percent in overall viewers. NXT averaged 644,000 viewers last night, almost the exact same number as each of the last two weeks.

The MLB World Series game averaged 8.9 million viewers on Fox with the first two hours going directly against both Dynamite and NXT.

In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.30 rating. That's identical to last week and was 13th overall on cable in that category last night. NXT failed to make the top 50 chart in the demo for the third straight week, averaging a 0.16 rating. That's down 5.9 percent from last week. It was 56th overall on cable after finishing 51st the last two weeks.

The combined viewership of 1.397 million viewers was down 5.4 percent from last week and almost the same as the 1.392 million the shows did two weeks ago.

The strongest demo category for AEW was men 18-49, where Dynamite did a 0.39 rating. That was fourth overall on cable and the highest rating for any non-news programming.

Year-over-year, Dynamite was down 33.3 percent in the 18-49 demo and 21.8 percent in overall viewers. NXT was down 23.8 percent in 18-49 and 7.7 percent overall.

AEW’s drop in cable rankings was entirely based on the cable news programs that represent 11 of the 12 programs that topped AEW except for The Real Housewives of Orange County.

The 0.30 demo rating for AEW on back-to-back weeks in its lowest in the category since July.

NXT finished #56 for the evening with a 0.16 in the demo and 644,000 viewers on the USA Network. NXT fell 6 percent in the demo rating and dropped 1 percent from last week’s viewership ...

One would reasonably expect that cable news viewership will dominate the ratings over the next several weeks through the U.S. election and the fallout.

Matt Hardy released the following promo about his AEW Full Gear PPV bout against Sammy Guevara, noting that their Elite Deletion match will take place at the Hardy Compound, which pretty much means a return to the Broken Matt Hardy cinematic style presentation
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKMa5xqkENc

The hope is that Jimmy Uso will be cleared to return to the ring for January.

Charly Caruso was asked why her storyline with Angel Garza ended:

It also randomly stopped. https://t.co/ibcDmtTzJJ
— Charly Arnolt (@CharlyOnTV) October 21, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/CharlyOnTV/status/1319027653941276673

Pat MaCafee tweeted out the following video, knocking online fans after his return to NXT TV last night:

Good morning beautiful people..last night I rattled the wrestling community quite a bit.

I’ve always said that I understand that there are people who hate me, the good news is..I hate them too

This message is strictly for the Internet Wrestling Communitypic.twitter.com/Gwhrzzibq4
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 22, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1319266906961072140

For those who asked about the MJF and Chris Jericho musical number, it was a version of Me and My Shadow by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. AEW went out and secured a license to use the song, but as it turned out, there was instrumental version out there that was suitable for what AEW used. AEW's music guru Mike Rukus, set out to rerecord the music himself, playing all the instruments by ear and then received approval from both the original publisher of the song and the Frank Sinatra Estate. The actual shoot for the segment was shot over a few hours with a few versions shot, completed at 2 AM on Wednesday AM. One source believed the post-production editing and mixing ran about ten hours total and the final edited version was completed less than an hour before it actually aired ...

While everyone knows Jericho's musical background, MJF was heavily involved in musical theater and even had an accapella group in High School.

Alex Boniello, who won a Tony Award for producing the amazing Hadestown, went on Twitter to say he'd gladly hand his Tony over to Jericho and MJF:

This is good.

I hereby relinquish my Tony Award to @IAmJericho and @The_MJF. https://t.co/8dQWtsxVsf pic.twitter.com/bSDpuf3JaM
— Alex Boniello (@AlexBoniello) October 22, 2020
Link: https://twitter.com/AlexBoniello/status/1319110399975882753

MLW taped their Restart over the weekend in Orlando, Florida and there is content being taped today and tomorrow in New Rochelle, NY being overseen by Court Bauer. We are told morale was high at the tapings with Jacob Fatu, Alexander Hammerstone and Low Ki all standing out as locker room leaders over the course of the tapings. The Restart material will begin to role out in November.

The promotion has been following up with talents to make sure everyone is healthy in order to insure proper contact tracing is done if necessary.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. and MLW, who had been at odds, are said to have made amends.

There will be some version of a Trios/Six Man Tag Team title being introduced as part of the promotion's restart ...

As previously noted, the Opera Cup will be part of the promotion's Restart ...

The promotion has a date this December at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, but obviously, given the state of the world, all live dates are tenuous at best.

Three former WWE stars were present at the recent MLW TV tapings.

According to Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc, Lio Rush, ACH, and Shawn Daivari worked the MLW TV tapings this past week. The promotion reportedly taped 16 episodes from Sunday through Tuesday at GILT Nightclub in Orlando, FL.

ACH previously wrestled in the MLW Opera Cup last year, but then stated he was quitting pro wrestling, which led to him and MLW parting ways. ACH has been active this year, wrestling for various Independent promotions including GCW.

Lio Rush has worked a handful of Independent dates following his WWE release in April, including a bout against ACH at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4.

Daivari worked as a producer for the MLW tapings, which is the same role he occupied in WWE prior to his furlough in April and eventual release.

Fightful Select posted an update on the MLW tapings on October 20, saying there was lot of positive feedback from wrestlers about the COVID protocols in place. Many wrestled their matches and went back to the hotels. MLW also had a CDC official present in order to help oversee that things went well.

MLW has not announced an official return date for its restart.

Dark Side of the Ring executive producer Evan Husney appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss the forthcoming season of the VICE series. Husney confirmed that one of the episodes will be about the 1995 WCW Collision in Korea show.

“It was the one episode we always wanted to do and it was one we looked at for last season. We are gonna be doing the story of the WCW event in North Korea, that was in 1995. Kinda one of the wilder wrestling shows that’s ever been put on, because it’s actually the largest attended wrestling event ever, in the world was in North Korea so we’re kinda telling that whole story of how that event came to be, how there was a lot of close calls with the guys over there who were pretty much in over their heads, not knowing that they’re in a dictatorship, but it’s gonna be a pretty interesting episode for sure.”
Should be interested to see if they got Scott Norton for the WCW Collision episode considering the ill will he has towards the show's producers over how the Road Warriors episode turned out and his involvement with it.

Otis, Tucker and Mandy Rose all guest appeared on D-Von Dudley’s Table Talk podcast. Otis and Tucker shared that their split via the WWE Draft was something they found out about last minute. Tucker added that he was not made aware of the split until it happened on ‘Talking Smack’ on the WWE Network.

Otis: “Terrible, just terrible.”

Tucker: “Yeah, I mean, we found out at the last minute like most things happen here, you know? And that’s just part of being a WWE superstar and I actually found out live on Talking Smack, that I was gonna be moved to RAW so, yeah. It is what it is. Kind of good and bad, whatever but mostly disappointing because Heavy Machinery still feels that they have some things to achieve. We haven’t won the tag team championships together and we feel like we still have more to do as a team but, not everything is up to us and so, we’ll deal with what we gotta deal with.”

According to Law360, a WWE investor filed a lawsuit on 10/21 in a Delaware Chancery Court and is seeking company records to examine potential wrongdoings by WWE officials.

According to Spectrum Sports 360 reporter Jon Alba, NXT is covering the cost of COVID tests for those attending their events at the Capitol Wrestling Center. WWE designates a testing spot for the attendee to take the test and the tests happen the day before NXT at the CWC.

Per PWInsider, Keith Lee is in New York City recording vocals for his new theme song.

Big E was the latest guest to join Corey Graves on After The Bell. Big E reflected on the history of The New Day and recalled that initially, they wanted to be a group that recruited other people and two names who they considered for the group were Alicia Fox and Aron Stevens, formerly known as “Damien Sandow”.

“Thinking back to 2014, we always thought we would be a group that was always trying to add more members. It’s funny looking back but I remember thinking, ‘Oh, Alicia Fox was someone we wanted to add’ because at the time, she was doing the stuff with the tantrums. We had this idea of — this is when we were the more militant New Day, that idea was very quickly taken off TV. Just, ‘Nah, nah, nah! Let me get that off my TV screen and y’all sit in the back while we cook up something more,’ I guess family friendly. But that was kind of the idea. I remember — we never talked to them about it either but we thought her and [Damien] Sandow we thought would be a great addition. That was kind of the idea. A group that would recruit and I think that would’ve been a lot of fun. I wish we got that incarnation of The New Day. As grateful as I am that it went the way it did, I’m also kind of intrigued to see what it would’ve been like for us to have gone that militant route, to see what we could’ve done, because we shot so much stuff in pre-tapes, all the ideas that we put together. I thought we had something really special and I was excited about that. Obviously I think it worked out the best doing it the way we did, because I don’t think we would’ve been able to stay together for six years as this militant group. But those are just things where I think back and I know we had the ability to pull it off, where I think that would’ve been fun. We could’ve done something unique there too.”

Big E talked about his signature apron spear and revealed that it was Fit Finlay who came up with the idea for it.

“And even man, I’m just now remembering, Fit Finlay was the one who was like, ‘Hey, you do that running shoulder in the corner? Why don’t you try it with a guy on the apron to the floor?’ So Fit Finlay was the one who came up with the idea for the apron spear.”

On the 10/29 episode of NXT UK, Ilja Dragunov is challenging WALTER for the NXT UK Championship. The Heritage Cup will continue with the remaining matchups being Noam Dar versus A-Kid and Dave Mastiff vs. Trent Seven. A segment was announced for next week where Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews will confront Eddie Dennis. Joe Coffey is returning as well. Coffey was named in the #SpeakingOut movement and was suspended by WWE. Jordan Devlin who was also named in the #SpeakingOut movement is returning next week.

Joey Ryan Files Seventh Lawsuit, Seeking Millions In Damages

Joseph Meehan, better known in wrestling circles as Joey Ryan, has filed another defamation lawsuit, seeking upwards of $15 Million.

On 10/20, Meehan filed a lawsuit at the California Central District Court against a man in Pennsylvania, citing several claims, including emotional distress, libel, false light, and intentional interference with prospective economic advance.

HeelByNature.com has obtained a copy of the complaint, which includes over two dozen statements made by the defendant against Meehan.

The 63-page lawsuit, which is similar to others he recently filed, outlines a number of statements this person made against Meehan on social media ...

The filing includes a total of 26 statements made by the Pennsylvania man. Meehan states this has caused him to be shamed, ridiculed, and hated. He also says the statements discouraged others from associating with him ...

In total, Meehan is seeking $200,000 in economic damages, $5,000,000 in non-economic damages, and $10,000,000 in punitive and exemplary damages.
Related: Report: WWE RAW Underground 'For Right Now Is Considered Done'

He is ordering the defendant cease publishing defamatory statements, retract any defamatory statements made int he past, as well as direct any websites to delete defamatory statements ...

In total, Meehan has filed seven lawsuits, including one against IMPACT Wrestling for breach of contract.

Like other lawsuits Meehan filed, he is demanding a jury trial.

According to Fightful Select, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor’s working relationship is still somewhat existent following the departure of former NJPW President Harold Meij. The report notes that the two promotion’s have an open dialogue, and are “tentatively” planning to release some content together in the future.

This news comes after it appeared that NJPW and ROH’s alliance had ended, as the number of crossover events and star appearances had gone down. There are those on the ROH side who believe that NJPW will add to their relationship when available.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Rey Fenix and Alex Reynolds Injuries, Joey Janela (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/aew-rey-fenix-and-alex-reynolds-injuries-joey-janela/)

Emperor Smeat

10-23-2020, 03:33 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Kota Ibushi pinned Sanada in the longest match in G-1 Climax history to win the most unique version of the tournament there will probably ever be ...

The paid attendance of 2,928 on 10/18 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, capped off at 30 percent, was the lowest in the history by a wide margin, but that couldn’t be helped.

The total attendance from the 19 shows was 34,082 fans paid, down 64.9 percent from last year's record of 97,215. Most, but not all of the shows were sold out. The number is slightly below what was the best that was possible in buildings that were mostly set up for 30 to 40 percent of capacity ...

In theory, this sets up Tetsuya Naito vs. Ibushi as the Tokyo Dome main event. New Japan announced two Dome shows, on 1/4 and 1/5, like last year. Of course this year will be different. The seating capacity is unknown, but when New Japan ran Jingu Stadium, they would only allow 5,000 in an outdoor stadium and the Tokyo Dome is indoors. Running two days is because there are probably too many matches planned for a one-day show, particularly since New Japan has tried to keep all of its shows under three hours since the pandemic started. How many people are allowed in the Tokyo Dome will likely be determined by the conditions of COVID in January, and impossible to even fathom a guess today.

The indication we are given is that there are various sets of plans for the Dome shows. Attendance is something that will likely be determined by the government and the Tokyo Dome, along with New Japan, based on conditions. No doubt Gedo has the top stuff already booked, but when it comes to outsiders and regular foreigners, there is much left to be determined as opposed to Gedo having the show in his head at this point. There are different plans depending on who can or can't appear. As of right now, the talent that is staying in the country through the tag tourney finals, some will go home and then return on 12/20 to quarantine prior to the Dome show, which means they'll have to spend both Christmas and New Year's isolated. As of right now, announcer Kevin Kelly will be attending live and unless things change, he fits into that category.

The booking of the tournament over the last three days had its twists and turns. In the A block finals, still alive were Ospreay, Okada, Ibushi and White. White had the advantage in that if he beat Ishii on the last day, he was in the finals ...

So Takahashi beat Cobb, meaning both Okada and Ospreay were alive in their singles match. In the biggest angle of the weekend, Ospreay turned on Okada and formed a new heel group with Bea Priestley, his girlfriend and the SWA champion with Stardom, and O’Khan, the former amateur wrestler Tomoyuki Oka, doing his Mongolian gimmick from the U.K. as a takeoff on Killer Khan.

The match saw Priestley come out to support Ospreay. When Okada got Ospreay in the money clip, she distracted the ref and O’Khan claw slammed Okada. Ospreay used the storm breaker and got the pin.

At first, Ospreay pretended to not know what had happened, and then smiled. Priestly told him to go back and give Okada the hidden blade, which he did. He then said F*** you and went on about how Okada held him back and that this was a long time coming.

We had been told ahead of time that Ospreay, Cobb and Priestley would be forming a heel stable. O’Khan is either in the Cobb role, which is a big mistake, but they did have to do something with the guy, or Cobb will be added later. I think the angle would have been better with Cobb, particularly since Cobb grew so much during the tournament and then Cobb’s loss to Takahashi would make more sense.

[AAA] A big surprise is that Psycho Clown has basically revealed his identity, which was considered forbidden for a main event masked man. On social media he is using the name Psycho Clown Mario Alvarado, and on Facebook just Mario Alvarado

Luis Angel Sanchez, 23, who wrestled as Principe Aereo, passed away from a brain aneurysm, a ruptured middle cerebral artery suffered on 10/17 in a match for the MexaWrestling promotion at Arena San Juan Pantitlan in Nezahauolcoyotl. Aereo was in a tag team match and took two chops to the chest and a heel kick from Redimido. The chop wasn’t hard at all and the heel kick actually never touched him. There were no reports of any kind of a head blow during the match. He did a dive earlier but his head never touched anything. Redimido than went to bounce off the ropes and Aereo collapsed. The referee and Redimido immediately realized something bad had happened and the referee stopped the match. A stretcher took Sanchez to the back after about 20 seconds and he was rushed to Torre Medica Santa Anita, which is a hospital across the street from the arena. He died on the way to the hospital and they couldn’t revive him. A brain aneurysm of the type he had can be congenital, in the sense it was something he was born predisposed to and was going to happen and that was just the moment it happened. They are some underlying conditions that increase the risks, so they could also be in play. There are brain aneurysms resulting from brain trauma, but they are not common. The promotion, knowing about the death, continued the show, which is something that came across unbelievably bad, at the Owen Hart continuing the show level. This was covered in mainstream news in Mexico.

Tony Deppen noted that he tested positive for COVID, coming off The Collective shows the weekend of 10/9 to 10/11 in Indianapolis. Deppen noted that everyone he was around including people in a nine-hour car ride with tested negative. He noted it caused he and his wife to have to cancel their baby shower. The promoters of the show have urged everyone who attended to get tested. Dan the Dad noted that he was now negative and didn’t suffer any symptoms. One person who we know noted to us he was very close to a fan who tested positive and had lunch with Dan the Dad, but tested negative. He noted most fans he knew were not getting tested. At the matches everyone was wearing masks and the staff was looking after that. But after Bloodsport, with the drinks flowing, a lot of people were making bad decisions regarding mask wearing in public and social distancing. Game Changer draws mostly the same fans wherever they go. It’s a small traveling contingent, somewhat like PWG but a completely different type of fan. We were told that the depression caused by the lengthy lockdown has done a number on a lot of those people.

Markus Mack, who promotes All Pro Wrestling in California, was so mad about The Collective events because people feared COVID spreading and then it happened, that he ended up being kicked off Facebook for 24 hours for his reaction to some the things done in the event, containing swear words. In particular he was furious about doing a 53 person Battle Royal under the circumstances, calling it one of the most reckless stunts in the history of the game

Gable Steveson of Minnesota is ranked as the No. 1 heavyweight in the country going into the start of the 2020-2021 wrestling season. Steveson was the favorite or at least co-favorite to win the NCAA title last year but the tournament was canceled. He's listed as a junior but there is talk of allowing college athletes in spring and summer sports another year of eligibility. He was 15-0 last year and ranked first in the nation. As noted multiple times, he's noted that after graduation he wants to be managed by Paul Heyman, and Heyman knows him and his family (his older brother, also a college wrestler at Minnesota, also wants to go to WWE after graduation) and he's trained with Brock Lesnar

The BBC ran another article on women in wrestling being sexually harassed. It was about a wrestler who used the name Nadia Sapphire who claimed that when she turned 16, all of the wrestlers pulled things out of a hat to see who would get to sleep with her first. 16 is the legal age of consent in the U.K. She said she started training at 14 in Wales and had a relationship early on with an older wrestler. It was noted that Pontygruidd MP Alex Davies-Jones has started a parliamentary inquiry to investigate the lack of regulations over the U.K. pro wrestling industry. She said she felt she was harassed and groomed when so many guys started hitting on her when she got into wrestling, saying some were teenagers but many ten to 15 years older than she was. She said she had low self-esteem so she loved the attention, but after a relationship with someone in his 20s she became labeled as a ring rat and her reputation was ruined. Davies-Jones said, "It's truly shocking, some of the stores we've heard are from women as young as 13, 14 who were threatened with rape and sexual violence if they wanted to wrestle. We've heard stories of male wrestlers competing to see who would be the first to take a female wrestler's virginity for example, truly harrowing tales." She also said that governmental regulation of pro wrestling is needed. "I think the problem we've got with wrestling is that it falls into that grey area, it's not classified as a sport, it's not really classified as a performance, and it's been left to run itself." Andy Quildan, the promoter of Revolution Pro Wrestling said that they want an independent body to oversee wrestling and to hold them accountable.

Kurt Angle put up a photo of himself with the TNA title which people are taking as a tease he may be coming here. He had been cut by WWE but had in the past said he wasn't going to sign with anyone else because he was looking to work on outside business interests

Heath Miller (Slater) spoke to WrestlingNews.co about the difference between working here and WWE. "It's just one of those things in that spot over there. You get these roles you gotta play and then you play them very well even if you don't want to play them. Trust me I did a lot of them. It was one of those things to where like you play and you play them well and you give your ideas to make it better. Vince sometimes will do it and when they'll do it and when it gets over and it's not their idea then they put you on ice. I don't know how many times in my career to where I'll get something that's horrible and no one wants to do but I'll stretch it for a mile. John Cena would tell me that all the time. He's like `man you did some of the worst things but you stretch it so far to where people will remember it.' Like 3MB, we have a redneck an Indian and a Scotsman walking in a bar, like a joke. But we went 2 years with it so it's like one of things and people honestly still remember it because we're entertaining and we have fun trying to do it because we all were buddies. Even other gimmicks and stuff that I did, it's just one of those things where you can try and try and try and try but if they don't want you to keep going, it's gonna stop. It doesn't matter how good it is or how good you are or what it is. If they don't want it to keep going then it's to the next one. Impact, what I love is my ass gets to be myself. I get to go out there to do the things I would like to do. Yes, there's agents and you give your ideas but the agents are cool as hell

It's just one of those things that honestly, Impact is a breath of fresh air. Don't be surprised if you see more surprises because there might be some more people heading on over." "I can honestly say the communication there is amazing. Other places you would have to send an email and never hear back and if you go talk, you never get an answer. At Impact, it's like one of those places where you can go right up to the Bossman and say, `Hey, this is what I think, this is what I think we should do,' and then he'll throw something and then you'll throw something and then next you thing you know, you come to a 50/50 solution here to where it works for both teams. The good thing about the locker room is that everyone tries to help one another. It's legit, like a fraternity, it's a team. They try to help, they don't try to one up. It's about the match, not about yourself. I've always been like that in wrestling. It's not about me, it's about the match, what are we trying to tell, what are we trying to get over. That's what it's always been about for me, tell a good story and we both will win. It's one of those things at Impact you can honestly see that the guys are all wanting to win and that's where I think Impact is going to strive more than some of these other places. All I hear is Impact stories are good, the wrestling is good, it's all good."

While WarnerMedia was down $960 million in revenue from the same quarter last year, with declines in many business like movies since the theater business is dead, The Turner end, which would be TBS, TNT, was up 5.6 percent in revenue for the quarter and is very profitable. The revenue is because of a number of things, but expenses are also down because of less production of new shows, but NBA costs that normally aren’t around this time of year are up, but revenues from airing NBA games also usually aren’t in this quarter. In all, despite all of the pandemic related obstacles which did drop profitability a considerable amount, the profit margin this past quarter for WarnerMedia was still $1.93 billion

Brock Lesnar has been added to the new EA Sports UFC 4 video game, so that means he must have made a deal with UFC or EA for the game

The Orange County Department of Health is asking the Strike Team to look into 17 businesses locations in town where they believe COVID-19 might be spreading. Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said that a lot of spread has come from people in their late teens and early 20s gathering together to watch football, listing eight area bars including Gilt Nightclub, where MLW just taped this past week, some gyms, a church, as well as WWE events at Full Sail University, WWE events at the Amway Arena and WWE events at the WWE Performance Center. WWE released a statement to WFTV news in Orlando that read, "WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of ongoing weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than five percent. Additionally, extensive contract tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in a 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative." There are a few notes to that statement. WWE does not sell tickets or have fans like AEW, but does have fans in the sense that about 100 or more Full Sail regular fans that they know and can contact easily are allowed to test on Tuesdays and then come to the shows on Wednesdays if they test clear. That is not essential personnel and before that other wrestlers, also not essential, were used as fans at those shows. You would also have a lower than the national average test positive rate because every person attending, and all talent and everyone working the shows will be tested. In real life, as a general rule, most people don't get tested unless they are afraid based on symptoms or there is a reason they have to be tested. But that would also be 150 positive tests since they started doing actual testing. Some people may have tested positive multiple times. Some are likely fans, so exactly how many positive individual tests that have been among everyone tested is far higher than 1.5 percent, but WWE has not released the number of individuals whether they be wrestlers, agents, or others working in production of the show. WWE does follow contact tracing and in recent weeks put a number of talents in quarantine because they were in contact with people who had tested positive. The question of allowing fans indoors in the Performance Center has been a question, particularly when one brought up to me how some get tested in the afternoon and then go to bars after the test, but hopefully that's a tiny number or not at all. WWE has not allowed any fans at the Amway Center, although another part of that building is being used for voting. This is one of those things where they will look into it but nothing of substance will end up happening

Coming off the Speaking Out movement, and the belief by many the charges against various talents including the Samantha Tavel lawsuit and an attempt to change the longstanding company and industry culture from the prior generation, all WWE talent on 10/28 have a mandatory counseling session to attend via streaming on keeping healthy relationships. Total Life Counseling will present a mandatory session for all talent on that subject. The first conference will be the main presentation to all talent and the second zoom link will be for later individual breakout sessions. The second smaller group session is being done to give talent the opportunity to participate and ask questions in a small group

Ben Carter, who looked great in AEW matches with Scorpio Sky and Lee Johnson, signed here [WWE]. The guy is a real talent who deserved to be signed. It would have been better if he would have gotten a year working the indies first to get matches with a wider variety of people, but that isn’t possible now. AEW is tough because they already have too many guys for the amount of TV time they have. But WWE is even worse as they have guys even more talent stockpiled. Carter had also just appeared on Impact tapings and did an Xplosion match with Chris Sabin that people were raving about

Strowman was one of 2,000 plus people who attended a bike rally in Daytona Beach over the weekend. This reminded me of recently when Paul Levesque was asked about the latest outbreak and said that some of the talent thinks this thing is over and it’s not over

The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Day of Clash of Champions 2020; 2. First Look: 30 Days of the the Deadman; 3. Talking Smack on 10/17; 4. Best of Aleister Black in Progress Wrestling; 5. Best of Hell in a Cell; 6. Clash of Champions 2020; 7. Hell in a Cell 2019 8. Uncool with Alexa Bliss with Ryan Cabrera; 9. Raw Talk on 10/19; 10. NXT from 10/14. NXT U.K. was No. 11

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

Raw on 10/19 did 1,777,000 viewers and a 0.52 in 18-49, a reasonably good performance on a night with two NFL games, although the first one ended just as Raw was starting.

They key note is that the second hour actually had more viewers than the first hour, and the 6.3 percent first-to-third hour decline was much lower than usual. Some of that was because a lot of viewers tuned in late and when you tune in late, you are likely to stay. But unlike most weeks, there was not a major tuning out point in the show.

Raw was down 4.2 percent in viewers from last week’s draft show, as well as down 8.8 percent in 18-49. However it was up 3.4 percent in 18-34.

The show was fourth on cable in 18-49, trailing only NFL-related programming ...

As compared to last year, the show was down 24.1 percent in viewers, 30.7 percent in 18-49 and 42.3 percent in 18-34.

The first hour did 1,806,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,835,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,689,000 viewers ...

The first-to-third hour drop or gain was 7.1 percent down in women 18-49, 1.7 percent up in men 18-49, 10.3 percent down in girls 12-17, 15.6 percent up in teenage boys and 6.7 percent down in over 50. The increase in hour three does show that hour three did keep the interest better than usual with men 12-49.

Smackdown on 10/16 did a 1.30 rating, 2,123,000 viewers (1.35 viewers per home) and an 0.56 (723,000 viewers) in 18-49.

With extra promotion for the season premiere and loading up with Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman for the Universal title, the return of Daniel Bryan and the last appearance together of the New Day, they dropped 7.1 percent in households, 2.5 percent in viewers, 13.8 percent in 18-49 and 25.0 percent in 18-34. But those were drops from a draft episode that should have done well over the usual numbers, and it was against major sports competition.

They went against two baseball championship games. The Houston Astros vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays American League championship game did 3,468,000 viewers and 0.84 in 18-49 on TBS against the first 76 minutes of the show. The Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves game on FS 1 did 3,605,000 viewers and 1.05 in 18-49.

Smackdown tied with Shark Tank on ABC in both 18-49 and 18-34 (0.3) for first among networks shows. On television overall, they were also behind the two baseball games. In total viewers Smackdown was behind everything on network television on Friday except an American Ninja Warrior repeat.

Smackdown was only down 12.2 percent from the same show last year, which is much better than most WWE shows these days do. It was down 20.0 percent in 18-49 and 40.0 percent in 18-34.

Going against the World Series, both NXT and AEW stayed pretty steady in the key demo, but AEW lost heavily with males 12-34 and older viewers.

AEW did 753,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49 (389,000 viewers), ranking 13th for the night, but placed second among non-news programming. NXT did 651,000 viewers and 0.16 (205,000 viewers) in 18-49, putting it in 56th place for the night and 19th place among non-news programming.

AEW was down 8.8 percent overall but was up 1.6 percent in 18-49. The decline was mostly over 50, as the women 18-49 gained enough that the decline in men 18-34 didn’t hurt the final demo number.

NXT was down 1.1 percent in viewers and 8.9 percent in 18-49.

The World Series and the news channels are the main reason NXT was out of the top 50 and that AEW numbers were at the level they were.

Game two of the World Series did 66% male in 18-49, doing a 2.3 in 18-49 and 1.7 in 18-34. While both sides held up with in the key demo, AEW’s 0.11 in males 12-34 was down 38.9 percent from last week, while the usually low women 12-34 number from last week was up 40.0 percent from last week ...

An interesting note is that both AEW and NXT took a huge hit with males 18-34, so it was consistent across wrestling and not exclusive to either show. Both shows had more women 18-34 than men. AEW also had far more women teenagers than men. NXT teenage figures are not available to compare.,

Even with its huge drop in younger men, with NXT’s drop, AEW doubled NXT in men 18-34, almost doubled in women 18-34, more than doubled in men 35-49 and almost doubled in women 35-49.

AEW did 48,000 viewers in males 18-34 (down 40.0 percent from last week) to 24,000 for NXT (down 25.0 percent from last week). AEW did 57,000 in women 18-34 (up 23.9 percent) to 30,000 for NXT (down 14.3 percent). AEW did 203,000 in males 35-49 (up 10.9 percent) to 98,000 for NXT (up 4.3 percent). AEW did 81,000 in women 35-49 (up 9.5 percent) to 43,000 for NXT (down 32.8 percent).

NXT had more viewers in the first quarter due to the lead-in, but AEW still had a 108,000 lead in 18-49 in quarter one. AEW doubled NXT in three of the eight quarters and nearly doubled them in a fourth one.

In the main event battle, AEW did 762,000 viewers and 417,000 in 18-49 for The Young Bucks vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Private Party vs Butcher & Blade main event and post-match angle with FTR and Tully Blanchard. NXT did 555,000 viewers and 176,000 in 18-49 for Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Butch for the tag team titles and the reveal of Pat McAfee as the mystery partner.

The ratings stars and demo gods were Penta vs. Fenix, who also had the arguably best match on either show. For what it’s worth, the consensus two best matches were the two bouts that gained the most, both with men and women. Penta vs. Fenix were the high point of the night in overall, 18-49, 35-49, 18-49 men and 18-49 women.

The gains in the match were 7 percent in males 18-49, 30 percent in females 18-49 and 21 percent in overall 35-49. They didn’t gain in males 18-34.

The Young Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Private Party started lower, but gained 28 percent with women 18-49, 19 percent with men 18-49, 20 percent with 18-34 and 24 percent with 35-49.

The first quarter saw AEW do 737,000 viewers and 346,000 in 18-49 for Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy. NXT had 765,000 viewers and 238,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream.

In the second quarter, AEW did 761,000 viewers and 391,000 in 18-49 for Jon Moxley promo, Kenny Omega vs. Sonny Kiss, and promos by Orange Cassidy and Cody. NXT did 739,000 viewers and 254,000 in18-49 for the last few minutes of Kushida vs. Ciampa vs. Dream, an Undisputed Era promo a Rhea Ripley video and Ember Moon vs. Jessi Kamea.

The third quarter saw AEW do 832,000 viewers and 448,000 in 18-49 for an Eddie Kingston interview and mostly Penta vs. Rey Fenix. This was the high point of everything except males 18-34. NXT did 714,000 viewers and 236,000 in 18-49 for both Bronson Reed vs Austin Theory matches

In the fourth quarter, AEW did 822,000 viewers and 426,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Peta vs. Fenix, a Miro & Sabian promo and a Silver, Reynolds and Colt Cabana promo. NXT did 617,000 viewers and 186,000 in 18-49, huge drops, for Santos Escobar & Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde vs. Jake Atlas & Isaiah Scott & Ashante Adonis.

In the fifth quarter, AEW did 749,000 viewers and 391,000 in 18-49 for Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana. NXT did 619,000 viewers and 203,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the six-man tag, Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae sin the wheel and Drake Maverick & Killian Dain vs. Ever Rise.

In the sixth quarter, AEW did 676,000 viewers and 352,000 in 18-49 for a Taz interview with Brian Cage and Ricky Starks and the Chris Jericho/MJF dinner and musical comedy routine. While it did almost double NXT, it was still the low point of the show for AEW in total viewers. NXT did 607,000 viewers and 178,000 in 18-49 for the segment with William Regal announcing the new main event, Xia Li vs. Kacy Catanzaro, the Raquel Gonzalez post-match destruction and Cameron Grimes promo.

In the seventh quarter, AEW did 686,000 viewers and 341,00 in 18-49 for Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King. It was the low point for AEW in all key demos except 18-34. NXT did 538,000 viewers and 165,000 in 18-49 for Thatch-as-Thatch-Can and the Damien Priest interview.

The main event segment four team match gained 76,000 viewers (11%) and 66,000 in 18-49 (19.4 percent) for AEW. NXT gained 17,000 viewers for its tag title match (3.2 percent) and 11,000 in 18-49 (6.7 percent) ...

As compared to the same week last year against the World Series, AEW is down 22.3 percent in viewers, 33.3 percent in 18-49 and 61.5 percent in 18-34. From last year against the World Series, AEW is actually up in over 50 viewers from a year ago, but way down under 35, particularly among men. For a comparison, FOX News was up 68 percent in the first hour (Tucker Carlson) and 56 percent in the second hour (Hannity), so that is the big difference.

NXT numbers in finishing out of the top 50 are not available in usual detail. As compared to last year, they are down 7.5 percent in viewers and 23.8 percent in 18-49.

The Cody vs. Orange Cassidy match last week peaked at more than 1 million viewers live

Emperor Smeat

10-27-2020, 08:58 PM

The Sheets:

After getting a lift from the WWE Draft and its fallout over the past two weeks, Raw last night dropped slightly in the ratings, even with coming the day after Hell in a Cell.

Last night's Raw did 1.73 million viewers and 0.51 in 18-49, numbers down three percent and two percent respectively from last week.

The real difference was the return of the third hour drop, with a 15 percent drop from the first hour. That isn't surprising since the main event segment was not a match, but a Moment of Bliss segment with Randy Orton. But the show did push the idea that Drew McIntyre and The Fiend were likely to show up ...

Even with the drop, in 18-49, the third hour of Raw beat everything on television except the NFL and Weakest Link on NBC. If you factor out the difference in homes, the Raw number was far more impressive than the NBC number.

The Fox News shows did monster numbers which probably explains some of the decline from last week ...

In 18-49, Raw was sixth behind ESPN football related coverage, Hannity (7,304,000 viewers; 0.72 in 18-49), and Tucker Carlson (6,765,000 viewers, 0.67 in 18-49).

As compared to last year, viewers were down 20 percent, 18-49 was down 29 percent, and 18-34 was down 52 percent. With the exception of 18-34, those declines were less than Raw has been doing.

The declines from hour one to three were 15 percent in women 18-49, 12 percent in men 18-49, nine percent with teenage girls, there was a four percent increase in teenage boys, and a 14 percent decline over 50.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.86 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.59 million viewers

Tucker is now listed as part of the Raw roster on WWE.com. He was drafted to Raw in the WWE Draft earlier this month, but his brand was never changed on WWE's website. It had been noticed yesterday that he was listed on the SmackDown roster on WWE.com, leading to incorrect speculation that his brand had been changed. Tucker turned against Otis at Hell in a Cell and caused Otis to lose the Money in the Bank briefcase to The Miz. Otis is a member of the SmackDown roster. Tucker tweeted after not appearing on Raw last night: “On my time. #RAW”

Beyond Wrestling announced that they’ve canceled their Tournament for Tomorrow event that was scheduled to take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 8 and won’t be scheduling any more shows for the remainder of 2020: “After much deliberation I've decided to cancel our upcoming #TFT2020 event originally scheduled for Sunday, 11/8 in Atlantic City. Refunds will be handled automatically within the next few days. We will not be scheduling any more live events for the rest of 2020. Stay safe.”

Beyond Wrestling explained their decision in an additional tweet: “I’ve had a number of lineup changes and refund requests due to COVID concerns. The closer we get to the finish line, the tougher it becomes to find a suitable substitution when we want everyone to test negative before the event.”

The capacity for both nights of Wrestle Kingdom 15 will be capped at 20,000 people.

In an interview with Tokyo Sports, new NJPW President Takami Obari said that a limit of 20,000 people would be set for both nights. This is due to COVID-19 concerns. The Tokyo Dome ususally carries a capactiy of 50,000.

The company announced last week that they would once again run Wrestle Kingdom on two nights: on their usual January 4 date as well as the following day on January 5. Last year’s shows drew 40,008 and 30,063 respectively.

Meiko Satomura is joining WWE’s NXT UK brand in a player coach role according to a bombshell article from Tokyo Sports.

Satomura announced today she will start limiting her appearances in Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling going forward and will miss the company’s upcoming shows in Sendai PIT on November 22 and Korakuen Hall on November 29 ...

According to the article, Satomura will travel to England in November. This would suggest WWE is planning to hold another set of tapings, presumably at the BT Sport Studios in London.

Satomura participated in the second Mae Young Classic in 2018. She defeated Killer Kelly, Mercedes Martinez and Lacey Lane before losing the eventual tournament winner Toni Storm in the semifinal.

Satomura has also competed for companies such as PROGRESS Wrestling, Pro-Wrestling: EVE and Fight Club: PRO in England.

Mark Henry chatted with Brandon Robinson of Heavy.com about WWE, the NFL and the NBA. Mark was asked if he could go back and redo a match from his career, which matches would he choose and one of the matches he selected his WWE Championship match against John Cena in 2013 that was led into by Henry’s fake retirement speech. Henry feels that he should have won that match but at the time, he informed WWE that he was done with the in-ring portion of his career.

“The other one is after my retirement speech and I turned on John Cena which is one of the more historical wrestling moments in history. I was so beat up that I wanted to go home, that I didn’t really wanna wrestle no more. Like I was in so much pain, because like I said, it was real to me and I told people, ‘Lay it in, because I’m gonna hit you’ and I want you saying, ‘I beat you up and took advantage of you.’ Like I’m giving my body to you, let’s go, and the match I had was in Philadelphia [Money In The Bank 2013] with John Cena and I lost that match when I should’ve won that match. I should have told them, ‘Nah, I’m not gonna go home.’ Like, let’s run a six-month program and we could’ve had many matches, but you know, I was ready to go.”

Lilian Garcia spoke to Braun Strowman for a new installment of her ‘Chasing Glory’ podcast. Strowman was candid during his ‘WWE Chronicle’ special on the WWE Network about mental health. Strowman further spoke about the mental breakdowns he had and almost being driven to the point of taking his own life.

“You know, it was just a culmination of things going on in my life. The worst about it was like, literally at the beginning of last year, I went through a really bad breakup and just wasn’t — my personal life was a mess. I mean, with being a WWE superstar, it’s really hard to balance the road life and your personal life and that’s part of the reason why the relationship I think didn’t work out and stuff like that, and then I got to a point to where, I felt like I wasn’t important at work so I had no escape. My mind and everything was just all over the place and I was by myself, I just moved into this house. I bought the house of my dreams, I bought this beautiful house on the lake and I’d been in there like six or seven months at this point and the only thing I had was a mattress on the floor and one in the room and a ringside chair sitting in the living room and I would get home from the road and something that was just weird, and I would sit there and sit in that chair in an empty living room in a empty house and sit there for like seven hours at a time and just sit there. Just because I couldn’t kick out of this funk that I was in and I’m dead honest — when I went to Vince [McMahon] to talk about some stuff that I was having problems with and it really pissed me off that the dirt sheets and these guys that like clickbait stuff tried to spin this whole thing and when I talked about this in the documentary that I wanted to commit suicide because I was mad with how I was being booked in WWE and that’s just complete, total opposite end of it. WWE was my only thing positive that I had at that point and I was so mentally hard on myself with what was going on in my personal life that I started letting it affect my business life. When in the grand scheme of things, I have the most amazing job on earth but I got to a point where I felt like a number in a system and I was like, ‘I need to address this.’”

Former WWE talent Mark Jindrak joined David Penzer’s ‘Sitting Ringside’ podcast to discuss his career in wrestling. Jindrak recounted being swapped out of Evolution (Triple H, Ric Flair, Dave Bautista & Randy Orton) for Batista. Jindrak stated that if anyone should’ve been kicked out of the group, it should have been Triple H and Jindrak also detailed his friendship with Randy Orton.

“Basically, when I went over to OVW, I made a friendship with Randy Orton and we hung out all the time and eventually, when they moved me up to the big show, when I was traveling on the crew with WWE, we traveled together, me and Orton so we became almost like the Natural Born Thrillers I think. They see this Orton, who obviously they have huge, super huge plans for in some way, shape or form so they kind of had him in the group and then Batista was kind of supposed to be in it but he kept getting injured, so it was my spot and then, basically what happened was just that. It was just like, I was immature, Orton was immature. We both were immature. We had a lot of fun on the road. It was just — and a lot of people thought it was humorous. They loved our act. We’d come to TV and just show off and goof off and stuff and people loved it. It went from Kane to a lot of top guys but the one person that hated it, hated it, hated it was Triple H, and it was just completely — if you could be a fly on the wall for some of those car rides. Like when they basically made the group and we knew the group was gonna be Triple H, Ric Flair, myself and Orton, Triple H kinda wanted to have us driving together the whole loop, you know what I’m saying? House show, house show, house show, TV. Get talking wrestling, forming as a group and stuff, and that’s where you kind of get the chemistry in a group is hanging out, talking and stuff and to my knowledge, I thought we were. Orton and I were having fun, Ric Flair was a ton of fun. I thought the person that should’ve been kicked out of the group was Triple H, because he was the bore. He was boring as sh*t man, he was boring as sh*t.”

Evolution was profiled on the WWE Network via the Ruthless Aggression series. Jindrak’s issue with the documentary was that Triple H said he and Ric didn’t think Jindrak fit well with the group, but Jindrak stated that Flair was always fond of he and Orton and sort of lived vicariously through them.

“And that’s the problem I had with that little documentary, the Ruthless Aggression piece they did on Evolution is when Triple H said, ‘Oh, I told Vince he’s not good for the group. Vince said, Yeah he is and I said no he’s not, me and Ric.’ Triple H kept saying, ‘Me and Ric thought he wasn’t good for the group.’ It wasn’t Ric, it was [not] Ric in any way, shape or form. It was all Triple H and that’s the whole thing. These car rides, I thought these car rides were exposing Triple H for being a bore and non-charismatic, you know what I’m saying? That’s what I felt.”
Without Triple H, Evolution would have been missing the key present big star link between past and future stars but then again, a Triple H-less Evolution probably would have spared early Brand Split era RAW from dealing with the terrible Reign of Terror by Triple H.

Forbes ran their interview with Ohio Valley Wrestling owner Al Snow. Al was asked about the idea of OVW possibly becoming a developmental promotion for various major wrestling companies and he said it’s a possibility.

“I think eventually, yes [we could be a developmental territory for WWE], and not just with WWE but with AEW and other national organizations, I think we could provide a value.

If you think of the amount of investment that WWE has to make into a talent that they bring into NXT to develop them, it’s immense. But if they were to bring talent from OVW to NXT, it would accelerate the developmental for them from NXT on up exponentially. We’re not going to just teach a performer how to wrestle, or how to perform in front of an audience. We’re going to teach them how to operate a camera, how to set the lights, how to run the audio, how to produce, how to direct.”

It was announced last week that AEW star and former WWE world champion Jake Hager will be competing at Thursday’s Bellator 250 event, his fourth professional MMA fight since turning pro in the sport.

According to Fightful Select, Hager knew about the fight for over a month and immediately alerted AEW so they could take care of any potential storylines and get him off television for the appropriate amount of time. He is currently undefeated with a record of 2-0, the same record as his upcoming opponent Brandon Calton.

The report also notes that AEW is totally fine with Hager taking these fights, with Hager joking to the publication that as “long as he keeps winning” it won’t be a problem.

What was originally promised to be a steak dinner between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Chris Jericho turned into a full song and dance routine to the soundtrack of a parody of the old Rat Pack song, “My Shadow And Me.” The segment, which Chris Jericho called “the greatest moment in the history of wrestling,” was certainly polarizing but garnered a massive reaction on social media.

On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that the original idea for the musical number came from MJF after he watched the film “Rocketman,” which is an autobiographical film about Elton John. Meltzer says that Maxwell initially wanted to sing an Elton John song with Jericho but Jericho had the idea for this Rat Pack classic instead.

Meltzer also notes that the segment was put together with a one-day rehearsal and a 7-hour shoot that kept all parties up until two in the morning.

NXT's Brendan Vink now has a new in-ring name.

Vink announced on Sunday night that his name in WWE is now Tony Modra. Modra was among the names that WWE filed trademarks for last week.

Tony Modra is also the name of a former Australian rules football player. Vink is from Adelaide, Australia.

Vink made several appearances on Raw this March and April, teaming with Shane Thorne in the weeks after WWE television first moved to the Performance Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were aligned with MVP and got one win against Ricochet & Cedric Alexander. Vink & Thorne also teamed together in a loss to Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch on NXT TV this March.

The WWE Championship change at last night’s Hell in a Cell reportedly caught some talent backstage off guard. As noted last night, Randy Orton beat Drew McIntyre to capture his 10th WWE Championship and 14th world title reign overall.

According to Fightful Select, there was a lot of confusion backstage regarding the timing of the title switch. While Orton is well-liked backstage and is known for helping out younger talent over the last year, wrestlers who spoke with the outlet said that the timing was odd considering how Orton was well-protected from WrestleMania to SummerSlam, but then lost to McIntyre and others several times after that.

Lucha Libre AAA World Wide held a virtual press conference today to announce Kenny Omega will defend the AAA Mega Championship against Laredo Kid at TripleMania 28.

The match was originally scheduled to take place at Rey de Reyes on March 21. However, the event was cancelled.

AAA hopes to hold TripleMania in December, pending the current COVID-19 health situation. No date was given during’s today’s press conference.

The event will still take place in Arena Ciudad de México as previously scheduled on August 22 ...

Two further matches have been announced for TripleMania 28. Chessman will face Pagano in a Hair vs. Hair match and there will be a tag team match debuting AAA’s new Marvel-themed wrestlers.

Aracno (Spider-Man) and Leyenda Americana (Captain America) will face Terror Púrpura (Thanos) and Venenoide (Venom).

The Back Body Drop outlet has some updated UK viewership totals from the past month:
* RAW on October 12th – 63,200 on BT Sport
* SmackDown on October 16th – 26,500 on BT Sport
* IMPACT on October 14th – 9,400 on Freesport
* A replay of NXT UK on October 17th – 26,500 on BT Sport
* AEW Dynamite on October 16th – 118,000 on ITV4 (it aired at 11:50 pm that night instead of its usual slot of 10 pm)

AEW fans in the United Kingdom will get to watch Dynamite this week a little earlier than usual.

The promotion announced on Twitter that this week's Dynamite will air in the United Kingdom at midnight local time on October 28. Viewers in the United States will still watch the episode on its usual 8 p.m ET time slot on October 28 on TNT.

NJPW announced that there will be live English commentary for the Power Struggle show taking place on November 7

TPWW Frontpage:

WWE: More on Hell in a Cell, Survivor Series to Celebrate Undertaker’s Debut, Trademark Dispute (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-more-on-hell-in-a-cell-survivor-series-to-celebrate-undertakers-debut-trademark-dispute/)
Six Matches Announced for Survivor Series (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/six-matches-announced-for-survivor-series/)
Marty Scurll Removed from ROH’s Roster Page (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/marty-scurll-removed-from-rohs-roster-page/)
WWE Reportedly Moving the ThunderDome to Another Arena in December (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/wwe-reportedly-moving-the-thunderdome-to-another-arena-in-december/)

Droford

10-28-2020, 07:16 AM

How did Vince not get the Marvel deal for wrestlers on Smackdown?

Emperor Smeat

10-28-2020, 07:16 PM

The Sheets:

As we reported yesterday, the WWE has been hit with another outbreak of COVID-19 at the Performance Center, to the point that tonight’s NXT Halloween Havoc could be affected. According to new details from Fightful Select, the outbreak possibly happened at a training event this past Friday.

NXT regularly holds in-house live events to track how far along the NXT talent are. That kind of event was held on Friday and many of those in attendance were the ones asked to quarantine. Those who did not attend were “in the dark” about rumors of an outbreak and many were asked to come in to make noise for Halloween Havoc. It was noted that several training sessions have also been cancelled.

WWE does not test their talent daily but it is at least twice a week.

After news of positive COVID-19 tests at the WWE Performance Center on Friday came to light Tuesday night, there were questions as to whether fans who were scheduled to attend Wednesday's NXT taping would still be allowed to do so.

Dave Meltzer is reporting that WWE has confirmed with those fans that they can attend as previously planned if they passed their required COVID-19 test. It's unknown how many fans passed their tests, but there were initially scheduled to be 100 in attendance tonight. Fans were tested in Winter Park, Florida, Tuesday, part of the regular weekly procedure to attend.

There is still no additional news on the extent of the positive tests and how they will affect tonight's Halloween Havoc show. Performance Center attendees on Friday were asked to quarantine for two weeks due to contact tracing, regardless whether they tested positive or negative,

This marks the second straight month there haS been COVID-19 issues at the Performance Center.

Impact Wrestling has revealed a couple of additional details regarding their revival of the Knockouts Tag Team titles.

It was revealed last night that the tournament to crown new Knockouts Tag Team Champions will kick off on Impact in three weeks (Tuesday, November 17). It will be an eight-team tournament, though the teams for it have yet to be revealed ...

The announcement that the Knockouts Tag Team titles are returning was made at Bound for Glory this past Saturday. The tournament will play out on Impact, with the finals then being held at January's Hard to Kill pay-per-view. Hard to Kill is taking place on Saturday, January 16.

The Knockouts Tag Team titles were first introduced in 2009 before being deactivated in 2013.

Major League Wrestling's Court Bauer announced to Forbes that the promotion has inked a new deal with its existing cable broadcast outlet BeIN Sport

"We are excited to continue to be a cornerstone of beIN Sports’ portfolio of world-class sports content. beIN’s dual language reach will help further entrench MLW as a thriving sports league," Bauer told Forbes.

Bauer stated additional announcements are coming. MLW Fusion will continue to air on Saturday evenings. The promotions reboot after pausing production due to the COVID-19 pandemic will begin airing next month.

All Elite Wrestling applied to trademark 'AEW Games' for

-G & S: Video game discs; Downloadable game software; Downloadable video game programs; Downloadable computer game software; Downloadable electronic game software; Downloadable interactive game software; Downloadable video game software; Recorded video game programs; Recorded video game software

-G & S: Providing a website featuring entertainment information in the field(s) of gaming and wrestling; Entertainment services, namely, providing online video -games; Entertainment services, namely, providing temporary use of non-downloadable video games; Production of video and computer game software; Providing a website featuring non-downloadable game software; Providing online non-downloadable game software; Provision of information relating to electronic computer games provided via the Internet

All Elite Wrestling today announced the release of their PPV events on DVD for the first time:

Now available AEW PPV on DVD! Buy 3 get an automatic 10% off! Get yours today! pic.twitter.com/gzHjvvUfaS
— ShopAEW.com (@ShopAEW) October 28, 2020

Available are:

-AEW Double or Nothing 2019

-AEW All Out 2019

-AEW Full Gear 2019

-AEW Revolution 2020

-AEW Double or Nothing 2020

All of the DVDs can be purchased at www.ShopAEW.com.
Link: https://twitter.com/ShopAEW/status/1321499304901681153

Shotzi Blackheart stated on today's episode of "The Bump" that she will be having four costume changes and some new adornments for her tank for tonight's NXT Halloween Havoc. Blackheart stated some of her outfits are inspired by Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The NXT superstar said that being a horror host has always been a dream. It was also announced that Elias and former Tough Enough winner Maven will be on next Wednesday's episode.

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated caught up with Shotzi Blackheart for his ‘This Week in Wrestling’ column. Shotzi detailed what she wants people to think when they see she is announced for a match:

“That’s exactly how I want people watching at home to feel. I want them asking, ‘Is Shotzi Blackheart going to die tonight?’”

WWE.com is now listing Tucker as a RAW Superstar. But, they are still listing Mustafa Ali as a Smackdown Superstar Also, they have Mickie James in the Smackdown Superstar section, but her profile has the RAW logo.

World Wrestling Entertainment will report their third quarter earnings for 2020 tomorrow, Thursday 10/29.

The company will hold a conference call with Vince McMahon and WWE's Chief Financial Officer, Kristina Salen tomorrow at 5 PM EST to discuss the quarter and take questions.

Pro Wrestling Junkies hosted a virtual meet-and-greet with Alex Reynolds. Last week, Reynolds provided an update on how he was doing after he was knocked unconscious on AEW Dynamite in a four-way tag match. During the virtual meet-and-greet, Reynolds was asked if the fans’ safety concerns about AEW’s protocols are valid and here’s what he had to say:

“No, I think our team does a fantastic job. I think they took care of me, right away when we all realized I was hurt. They got me out of there nice and safe, so it’s a contact sport, you know? Injuries are gonna happen and I think they’ve shown that they can handle those situations so yeah, I don’t think those safety concerns are validated, as somebody who’s kinda just lived through it. I’ve put my trust fully in our staff.”

Reynolds later added that when he heads back to Jacksonville for another Dynamite taping, he’ll meet with their doctor and the doctor does believe Reynolds will be cleared to return.

“Yeah, so we have this week off so I’m just kind of resting up and then [when] we go back down, I have to go talk with [the] doctor and see, but he thinks I should be good to go. Yeah, it was definitely a scary moment but I feel pretty good and looking forward to being back in action.”

Ariane Andrew and Matt Dillion welcomed AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes onto their ‘Sippin The Tea TV’ show. Brandi was asked about the idea of Women’s Tag Team Titles in AEW following the ‘Deadly Draw’ tournament several months ago and here’s what she had to say about the idea:

“Well, that’s quite a question so, I think the tournament was a step in the right direction, because across the board, there was this, I guess, thought that we didn’t have enough women to do tag team wrestling in AEW and a lot people got really down-hearted when we had some injuries and things like that, so I think that this just showed everyone that we have the women available, we’ve got great women, great characters, great in-ring competitors and we can hold people’s attention and put something really good together. So, my hope is that we continue to grow and go in that direction, but can’t promise anything, because you know, it’s week-to-week these days.”
AEW needs to seriously rehaul their booking mentality with their Women's division and title first before entertaining any idea of adding more belts for that division.

Hollywood Life has an extensive feature published on their site about All Elite Wrestling and it includes an interview with Matt and Nick Jackson. Nick reflected on what the ‘Blood & Guts’ match could have done for AEW programming and viewership-wise. He added that they’re saving that match for fans and have the structure ready to go when it’s time.

“Man, it is tough to say because a lot of that we have planned for the future is what we are currently doing,” says Nick. “Somethings did change. Obviously, the Blood And Guts steel cage match never happened. And we spent a lot of money building that structure. [laughs] But the good thing about it is that at least we now have it. So, we can pull the trigger on that at any time. I feel like we are saving that for fans. I think that is the biggest reason we haven’t done it. That is the biggest thing that changed, not having that match. Because if you look at it, the buildup to it was so strong, our ratings were going up, and it was looking we were going to [have] above a million [viewers] for that show. We probably would have, but we can’t control what is going on around the world. I think that was probably the biggest change, not doing that cage match" ...

On the merchandise front, Matt Jackson shared that he has spoken to Dana Massie, his wife, about the idea of AEW ice bream bars.

“I told her that I would love to have some type of AEW ice cream bar. I remember fondly in the summer when the ice cream man would come, and I would get the Good Humor Hulk Hogan ice cream bar. I don’t know how much of a possibility it would be, but I put the idea out there, at least.”
If AEW ice cream bars becomes a reality, it better be like those old WWF ones and not the current cookie style ones from WWE that are lame.

The Paramount Animations and WWE Studios film ‘Rumble’ has been pushed back to May 14, 2021 for its release date, per Deadline. The film was previously scheduled for a January 2021 release. The likes of Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns and Stephen A. Smith did voiceover work for the film.

Fans of 'Macho Man' Randy Savage can add to their collection with the new limited edition collector's boxes.
Wrestling World Reacts To Tracy Smothers' Death
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WWE is selling the collector's box, which includes a t-shirt, vinyl figure, replica crown, and more at WWE Shop for $49.99. The boxes are limited to 750.

Get ready to experience your cup of coffee in the big time with the Limited Edition Macho Man Randy Savage Collector’s Box. Exclusively available at WWELegendsShop.com, this box has been specially designed to celebrate the legacy of this incomparable Legend and make you say “Oooh yeah!” It is filled to the brim with Macho Man gear that you can’t find anywhere else. Dig it!

Each box contains:

* Macho Man T-Shirt - The most Savage tee ever.
* 11x14 Art Print Poster - An illustration by noted artist Doug Hills captures the pageantry that was every Macho Man entrance
* Vinyl Figure - The cream of the crop rises to the top with this mini figure
* Macho Man Face Mask - Say “Oooh yeah!” wherever you go
* Macho Man Legacy Title Center Plate - Scale reproduction of the center plate from the all-new Limited Edition Macho Man Legacy Title that can be displayed on your desk or bookshelf
* Enamel Pin - Exclusive collector’s pin only available in this box
* Replica Crown - Your coronation as Macho King awaits

Fans who wanted Big E to finally get the big singles push can partially thank Daniel Bryan.

With Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods sidelined earlier this year, Big E ventured on his own on SmackDown. The singles run led to a feud with Sheamus that culminated in a well-received Falls Count Anywhere match. New Day was split in the 2020 WWE Draft with Kingston and Woods going to Raw while Big E remained on SmackDown.

Speaking to The Gorilla Position, Big E discussed the creative process on SmackDown and how Daniel Bryan went to bat for him.

"With the Sheamus program, we talked about ideas like new music and new presentation for me and we talked about 'when is the right time to play it?' and we never got around to it because I hadn't been in the arena for a few months because a lot of our stuff happened backstage until we had the match. With SmackDown, we don't have as many segments to fill. We're afforded the luxury of being able to do a little more creative stuff. I'm not entirely sure the differences between the Raw and SmackDown creative team, but the nice part is I feel like I have a voice with the SmackDown creative team. We're able to go back and forth with ideas and they're actually listening. Also, I have to give credit to Daniel Bryan. The idea for the solo run was from him. He's the reason. Not just, 'Hey, Big E...' he's actually part of the process and he's the one who said, 'This is what we should do with Big E.' It feels like an environment where I do have a voice and I get to do what I want by any means," he said.

It was reported by the Wrestling Observer earlier this year that Bryan and Edge had significant creative influence and were part of the writing teams for their respective brands.

Lio Rush is coming to UWN Primetime Live.

The promotion announced that Lio will be making his debut for the company on the November 3 episode of Primetime Live. No opponent was given.

Kylie Rae’s missing out on Bound For Glory was a big headline over this past weekend, and a new report on her status in the company is online. As as has been reported, Rae did not appear at the Bound For Glory taping and Impact promoted her right up until the match, when Su Yung took her place and beat Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts Championship.

According to the latest from Fightful Select, there’s no negative on Rae from Impact’s side and the promotion hopes she can return in the future. They kept a lot of storyline open-ended in the tapings that took place this week in case she can make the November 17th through the 20th tapings, but are not pressuring her to do so. As of Tuesday morning, none of the roster that had spoken with Fightful had heard from her.

Rae reportedly did not give an explanation for her absence and just “disappeared.” When contacted after the show, she was said to be “physically fine.”

TPWW Frontpage:

Another COVID-19 Outbreak at WWE’s Performance Center, NXT & Fans Status (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/another-covid-19-outbreak-at-wwes-performance-center-nxt-fans-status/)
Tracy Smothers Dies at Age 58 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/tracy-smothers-dies-at-age-58/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-19/)
AEW Wrestler Serena Deeb Wins NWA Women’s Championship From Thunder Rosa (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/aew-wrestler-serena-deeb-wins-nwa-womens-championship-from-thunder-rosa/)

Emperor Smeat

10-29-2020, 09:39 PM

The Sheets:

The return of Halloween Havoc saw NXT top AEW Dynamite in overall viewers for the first time since July.

Last night's Halloween Havoc episode of NXT averaged 876,000 viewers on the USA Network, up 18.6 percent from last week. Dynamite averaged 781,000 viewers on TNT. That's up 3.7 percent from last week.

Dynamite still won the night in the 18-49 demo with a 0.32 rating, up 6.7 percent from last week. The show finished 12th on cable for the night with no major sports competition, though cable news ratings were way up.

NXT finished in the cable top 50 in the 18-49 demo for the first time in a month. The show averaged a 0.25 rating, up 36 percent from last week and good for 21st on the night. It's one of the best showings NXT has ever had on a head-to-head night against Dynamite.

The combined audience of 1.657 million viewers was the highest on a week where Dynamite and NXT both aired on Wednesday night since February 5. The NXT audience was its highest since November 20 of last year -- and that's with or without head-to-head competition.

The 95,000 viewer advantage for NXT was the show's biggest gap over Dynamite since June 24. It's also the closest NXT has come in 18-49 since that date. NXT's 0.25 rating in 18-49 is the best that it's done on a head-to-head night since December 18 of last year.

Dynamite, as usual, won most of the individual demos, though they were much closer than normal. NXT won people over 50 in a big way with a 0.43 rating to Dynamite's 0.29. NXT also won in males 12-34 with a 0.2 rating as opposed to Dynamite's 0.14.

Dynamite's best category was people 25-54. where it drew a 0.40 rating to NXT's 0.29. Another strong category for Dynamite was men 18-49. It did a 0.38 rating in that category and was the top non-news program on cable.

Compared to the same week last year, Dynamite was up 2.9 percent in overall viewers but down three percent in 18-49. NXT was up 51 percent in overall viewers and up 38.9 percent in 18-49.

NXT also had an eight-minute overrun with the Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae main event, which likely helped the overall number ...

In Canada, with all the playoffs over with, AEW was the #1 sports program in the country with 103,500 viewers and 68,200 in the 25-54 demographic on TSN2. They also topped the Toronto FC soccer game, which aired on the other four TSN channels and was more widely available.

Driven by their TV contracts, WWE's 2020 third quarter revenue finished at $221.6 million, up 19% from 2019's third quarter -- part of an optimistic call and overall upward trend in numbers.

The company noted the increase was offset by the loss of both ticket and live merchandise sales due to the pandemic. On a similar vein, their ecommerce numbers grew to $9.1 million year-over-year, impressive considering they had 74 live events in the third quarter of 2019 in addition to online in which to sell merchandise.

Operating income was up to $63.4 million, an increase of 9x year-over-year, thanks to the content rights fees increase and a decrease in event-related production expenses. WWE noted they paid out $5.5 million in severance pay due to pandemic related layoffs.

On another positive note, average paid WWE Network subscriptions were up 6% year-over-year to 1.6 million.

The third quarter saw the creation of the ThunderDome structure, which will add "an incremental $22 - $27 million investment" which includes "increased personnel expenses as employees return from furlough" in the fourth quarter ...

Call Notes (audio below):

WWE president Nick Khan announced a multi-part Vince McMahon documentary has been sold to Netflix with WWE and Bill Simmons (The Ringer, Andre doc) as executive producers. Khan noted the financial investment will make the series one of Netflix's most expensive on the documentary side. No release date was noted.
Khan said they are still exploring options for WWE Network to reach a wider audience, a callback to when McMahon said earlier this year they were exploring options and partners for the Network that were put on hold due to the pandemic. There is interest and they are talking to partners, both domestic and global, on a regular basis about licensing.
McMahon answered a question about ratings, saying they aren't the only thing they look at. He said they have far more fans than they have ever had. "WWE ratings are what they are, but you just can't hang a hat on ratings being down," he said. He said that while their TV programming is a mothership, they are being seen on other platforms all the time. He said they are doing everything they can and that viewers have been coming back, pointing to the ThunderDome, better writing, and better execution ...
They are still negotiating the long-discussed Middle East TV deal with no timeline for completion. McMahon said it will get done ...
On where ThunderDome could be moving to, CFO Kristina Salen said their assumption is they will be in "some kind of center for foreseeable future" into '21 with "lots of places for them to go." She didn't confirm when the Amway deal is up or when they would be leaving.
Asked about NXT, Khan put over their ratings from Wednesday and didn't comment on length of the USA deal but that Network subs have held without NXT there.

The most laughable part of the Q&A session was Vince using Youtube to deflect their sagging tv ratings issues. Based on the way Youtube tracks views, its something like 6-8 Youtube views is the equivalent of a single tv viewer in the US but WWE's views for their videos are inflated a lot by certain international markets like India. Its why they make pennies on the dollar with their Youtube content compared to their tv deals.

During today's WWE Earnings Call, it was noted by Vince McMahon that Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon now has "increased responsibilities" within the company.

In asking around, we are told that the company's Global Sales and Partnerships now fall under Stephanie's purview, which would include sponsorships and other relationships. John Brody, who was heading that area, is still with the company in the same role, but now reports to McMahon.

McMahon took over these responsibilities in August but her involvement was not publicly announced until today's call.

Tickets to this year's AEW Full Gear pay-per-view are set to go on sale this week.

AEW has announced that Full Gear tickets will go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern time this Friday (October 30). A pre-sale for AEW season ticket holders began today.

Full Gear is being held at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday, November 7 with a limited audience capacity and socially distanced seating chart. This will be the third straight AEW PPV that's been held at Daily's Place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AEW began selling limited tickets to live Dynamite episodes at Daily's Place this August. There was also a limited crowd for September's All Out PPV.

Renee Paquette, formerly known as WWE's Renee Young, announced a release date for her forthcoming cookbook today.

"Messy In The Kitchen: My Guide to Eating Deliciously, Hosting Fabulously, and Drinking Copiously" will be available on May 18, 2021. It was made available for pre-order today on Amazon.
Link for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Kitchen-Deliciously-Fabulously-Copiously/dp/1682619389

TNT will air a special, Road to Full Gear on Friday 11/6 at 11 PM EST.

On today’s episode of NXT UK on the WWE Network that was headlined by WALTER versus Ilja Dragunov for the NXT UK Championship, it was promoted during the show that 22-year veteran Rampage Brown is joining the WWE and will be a part of the NXT UK brand.

Brown, real name Oliver Biney has been a fixture on the UK wrestling scene. He has held gold in Insane Championship Wrestling, PCW UK, PROGRESS, RevPro, World of Sport, Southside Wrestling and more promotions across Europe.

Per Cagematch.net, Brown last wrestled prior to the Coronavirus pandemic for the ‘British Wrestling Revolution’ promotion. Rampage worked with WWE in 2011 and appeared on their ECW brand. He was also a part of Florida Championship Wrestling.

While in WWE, Brown was known as “Monty Lynch” and worked with the likes of Thomas Latimer, Titus O’Neil and Aron Stevens. Rampage was released from WWE in the Summer of 2011.

This past Tuesday on United Wrestling Network’s Prime Time Live show, Thunder Rosa was defeated by Serena Deeb for the NWA World Women’s Championship. Thunder Rosa reigned as NWA Women’s Champion dating back to January and after dropping the title, there were questions surrounding her status with the National Wrestling Alliance.

NWA owner Billy Corgan responded to a question about Thunder Rosa’s status on his Instagram story and noted that she’s under contract to the organization until 2021. Rosa is preparing for her next MMA bout and while appearing on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast to promote her title defense against Serena, she stated that she may be taking time off from wrestling to focus on her fight camp.

Yes, yes, absolutely. I talked to Combate [Americas] and we’re seeing either before they start or when they start, I wanted have one more fight… so I can get my feet wet again, and so I’m more ready for the bigger stage. I probably will have a local fight, by February. That’s what we’re looking at.

Yeah, so that means I might be taking a little bit of time from professional wrestling so I can focus on my fight camp.

Thunder Rosa added to the conversations about herself on social media when posting a video at a gym with “AEW? WWE? NWA?” written on her body.

wXw in Germany did a thread on social media about their forthcoming events and what’s to come in the future in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. All events up until February 28th have been postponed. Their Catch Grand Prix tournament will continue as it was taped in September. As far as their signature 16 Carat Gold tournament, one of their solutions is to postpone the tournament for six months to a year, change dates and venues or reduce audience numbers. They’ll reevaluate in January. Contact sports in Germany are banned until November, therefore the wXw Academy is closed until late November.

Chris Van Vliet caught up with Chavo Guerrero for an exclusive interview. Chavo told the story of how the “Kerwin White” character came to life and the lengths he was willing to go with the character. Chavo stated that the basis of the character was to be a man of color who wanted to be white but is also mimicking white people. Chavo added that he pitched to come out in a KKK sheet as well.

“There was no conversation. I got off the plane in Japan and it was — I came to RAW, Vince McMahon looks at me and he goes, ‘Well hello Kerwin,’ and I’m like okay, so what’s going on? ‘Well today you’re going to denounce your Hispanic heritage and you’re going to become a white guy, [Vince laugh]’ and I was like alright. I had two options. You either say no and possibly go back on the back burner for a while, or get fired or you say, ‘Alright, let’s do it’ and at the time, the political climate was different and I literally told Vince, I go, I had a meeting with him. I said, ‘If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.’ I’m supposed to be a brown guy playing a white guy, saying, ‘This is how you white guys are’ and they’re saying no, so the Hispanics hated me because I was denouncing my Mexican heritage. I had the whites because I was kind of making fun of them and they’re like, ‘That’s not how we dress.’ I’m like, ‘Oh yes you do’ and then — I would say, ‘If it’s not white, it’s not right’ and I had Caucasians going, ‘That’s not the way we are.’ I said, ‘That’s exactly how you are’ so, I had everybody hate me and a true heel wants everybody to hate them, and then I told Vince, I go, ‘Look, at the end of the day, I wanna come out in a white sheet’ and he was like, ‘Oh! Oh! Yes. I love it.’ Now of course, we never ended up doing it. It got too risque, a little too racist for a network.

I wanted to [come out in a KKK sheet], absolutely. I wanted to come out — I grew up in the time of wrestling that the more heat, the better. I wanted to fight my way back to the dressing room every night. I wanted to have to sneak out the back window, I wanted to be in the streets and people yell, ‘We hate you’ because that’s heat, that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want them going, ‘Hey, it’s Chavo. Hey, what’s up?’ I want them to look at me and go, ‘God, we hate you’ and still to this day, and I was a heel. That’s what you have to do as a heel.”

Scorpio Sky was the most recent guest on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast. Sky recalled doing extra work in WWE along with The Young Bucks and when John Bradshaw Layfield saw them in the locker room, he shook his head and yelled “TNA” because of their respective sizes.

“I remember sitting in a dressing room one time and it was me and The Young Bucks and one other guy, and obviously we’re four smaller guys and JBL walks past the dressing room, he looks in, he shakes his head and he keeps walking and you hear him go, ‘TNA! TNA! TNA!’ Because obviously we’re small guys so, it’s like TNA and so…”

Multiple WWE superstars are suspending their Twitch streams for the time being.

AJ Styles took to his Discord server and posted that he will be suspending his Twitch channel as WWE is making changes regarding streaming. He said that they will "see what the future holds" but that it isn't goodbye. He reiterated that it isn't the end of the stream, just a pause.

Mia Yim took to her social media and announced she is also suspending her Twitch stream for the time being.

During his livestream on Thursday, Cesaro signed off by saying that he doesn't know when he'll stream again and he'll likely find out more news when the rest of us do.

This week’s RAW show saw The Hurt Business defeat RETRIBUTION in an eight-man Elimination Match. One odd moment came during the match when Reckoning (Mia Yim) provided a distraction by dropping down and causing a scene, which looked like some sort of seizure.

In an update, Fightful Select reports that Vince McMahon initially wanted Reckoning to mimic a seizure during the spot, but she, and others, spoke up and said the method originally pitched was not in good taste. Vince reportedly liked the spot as it played out, as more of a “possession,” outside of Reckoning being referred to on commentary by her real name.
As someone who has suffered from multiple seizures in the past, Vince can go fuck himself with that shit idea he had. Even the changed idea was still very stupid to begin with since it didn't even lead to any real benefit for Retribution since they quickly lost the man advantage and match itself afterwards.

The MLW Restart is upon us.

Major League Wrestling announced that the restart will get underway on Wednesday, November 18. MLW has taken back control from CONTRA and set to begin running events again. MLW taped multiple episodes of television earlier this month from GILT Nightclub in Orlando, FL.

MLW previously aired events Saturday on beIN Sports, but moved to Wednesday nights when they moved to the fubo Sports Network. New episodes will air at 7 p.m. ET with a replay airing at 10 p.m. ET.

Xia Li had an amateur kickboxing fight, and she didn’t tell WWE about it. They had to read about it online.

According to Fightful Select, WWE didn’t learn about Xia Li’s fight until everyone else. It came out during an interview with the event’s promoter.

WWE pulled her from an event, and that upset her. Everyone understood why WWE pulled her from the show, but she didn’t understand. She thought that “WWE wasn’t giving her respect.”

Several people also said that Xia Li has “grown frustrated from not being used much on NXT TV after years with the company.” She went right to Triple H to let him know what was wrong.

She expressed her feelings to Triple H, and it’s uncertain how the conversation went, but Triple H “appreciated the initiative.” Xia Li was also “adamant” she could “hold her own” if given an opportunity in NXT.

TPWW Frontpage:

Matt Riddle Now Just Going By “Riddle” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/matt-riddle-now-just-going-by-riddle/)
Thunder Rosa Still Under Contract With NWA, But Has Interest From WWE & AEW (https://www.tpww.net/2020/10/thunder-rosa-still-under-contract-with-nwa-but-has-interest-from-wwe-aew/)

Emperor Smeat

10-30-2020, 03:03 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Vince McMahon expressed a sense of optimism with his two most recent hires, President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan and Chief Financial Officer Kristina Salen, when opening an earnings call on 10/29 talking about the most complex time in the company’s history.

The entire media landscape is filled with uncertainty. The biggest challenge is the changing role of television and the move to streaming content. While McMahon pushed the idea that more people than ever before are watching WWE, actual product popularity is still based on getting people interested in the product, whether that be from a big show perspective or regular viewing perspective.

Television ratings are down. In a sense, they are down less than many sports that returned to play of late, and more than others. They are down more than television in general. There are more ways to watch the content than ever before, but WWE’s revenue is more based on television, in decline both in priorities to the large conglomerates and in viewing.

At the same time, new streaming services are opening up. WWE can manipulate numbers, as all companies do, using essentially worthless stats that have proven over the years to not make a difference in popularity. Social media numbers always increase, but when it’s not related to an increase in consumer spending, it’s pretty much proven the value is limited.

WWE has had bright spots in a COVID world. Merchandise spending is roughly the same as before, even with no live events. Licensing is up, such as gaming. The Thunderdome has led to a six percent gain from where Raw bottomed out at and a 12 percent gain from where Smackdown bottomed out at, even with much tougher competition ...

In particular, Khan noted that talks are back on to sell network content to streaming providers, similar to what UFC did with ESPN+ ... Khan said that everything on the network is for sale, aside from the network itself. He said both domestic and worldwide streaming services are looking for new subscribers and he said that they have content than can do it ...

For the third quarter of 2020, the company had $221,595,000 in revenue and $48,485,000 in profits. Last year’s third quarter, prior to the new domestic television deals going into place, had $186,383,000 in revenue and $5,862,000 in profits. Virtually all due to television, revenues were up 18.9 percent and profits were up 727.1 percent.

The new TV deals pretty much saved the company from what would have otherwise been a disastrous financial period due to COVID, that has been the case for every sports and entertainment property that isn’t carried by television rights ...

They also said that almost all the employees furloughed, which were about 25 percent of the company’s head count, will be brought back by the end of the year ...

Revenues, which are not hard to figure due to most being fixed costs from television rights, and network numbers that only have a slight variation, were almost identical to expectations. But analysts were predicting profits generally from $30.7 million to $34.9 million for the quarter.

Total expenses for the quarter went from $179.9 million last year to $158.2 million this year. Much of the decline would have been not doing house shows and from the furloughs and talent cuts.

Salen did note that the fourth quarter would not look as good, because television production expenses will be up $22 million to $27 million which is partially from the move to the Thunderdome technology and people returning to work. She said quarter four would be less profitable than quarter four last year due to no second Saudi Arabian show this year ...

When analyst Curry Baker asked about the ratings still being well below last year and what that means for the next negotiations, Vince McMahon and Khan pushed that the total audience that watches WWE is larger than ever before. There are ways to manipulate numbers with all the YouTube views and say that, but the fan base that cares simply isn’t close to as large. Anyone who lives in the real world can tell you that just from friends, kids, or whatever. Pro wrestling has its fan base, but it is not mainstream not in the social conscience. It’s huge with its fans but in the real world, it is not even close to water cooler talk. That said, in a fragmented TV and streaming world, it is a very valuable property that has a consistent fan base.

The reality is that with a free tier, only 2.4 million people in the world logged into the WWE network over the three months of July, August and September, two-thirds or more pay for the service, that tells you it has its fans but few casual fans who care enough to check out anything for free on a product heavily advertised on television.

Vince said that they were doing everything they can to bring back television viewers, noting the Thunderdome has brought back fans, and the key is better writing, better execution and more talent that registers with the fans ...

Regarding moving out of the Amway Center, Khan said they expect usage of the Thunderdome well into 2021, but said there are many arenas that they can move into when they have to move out of Orlando which looks to be sometime in December.

When asked about the value of NXT on television and how it has affected the network, Khan noted that network subscribers are up from the same period last year when NXT was a network exclusive. So more people than ever are watching due to television and it hasn’t seemed to hurt subscriber numbers at all.

Regarding the WWE Network, Khan noted 2.4 million viewers in total for the quarter. That number would include the free tier. It’s had to ascertain how many people actually watch the free tier. There were 1,690,000 worldwide subscribers on 6/30 and 1,549,000 on 9/30. But there are people who signed up and far more than 141,000 who canceled during the quarter. If we take a rough guess that 1.85 million different people subscribed, that would indicate about 550,000 non-subscribers use the free tier.

The addition of the free tier in quarter two led to a huge increase in subscribers. That number is still up over last year because of the big second quarter increase, when it had been declining before adding the free tier and with them allowing people the free month. But that gain was less and the declines were slightly higher than expected, with the 141,000 decline during the quarter slightly ahead of 131,000 for the same period last year ...

During quarter four the prior two years, the subscriber numbers dropped 87,000 in 2018 and 77,000 in 2019, so that would indicate about 1,462,000 to 1,472,000 at the end of this year, when it should start the ascent for the Royal Rumble through WrestleMania.

In quarter three, and this was mostly pre-Thunderdome, Raw declined from an average of 2,489,000 viewers per show to 1,766,000, a drop of 29.0 percent. WWE listed a decline of 32 percent during that period of the USA Network, from 1,069,000 in prime time to 725,000. But that needs to be clarified because that includes the loss of Smackdown. If you factor out both Raw and Smackdown last year, the non-wrestling USA Network averaged 678,000 viewers in prime time last year in quarter three. This year that dropped to 552,000, although if you take out NXT you are down to 543,000, so the non-wrestling drop at USA was 19.9 percent, or less than Raw. But this shows just how much USA is reliant on Raw to be anything but an also-ran station when for years they were No. 1 and would have stayed No. 1 even if they had lost Raw.

Overall cable viewership was up four percent during the year, even with sports gone, because of the huge growth in news channels.

Smackdown last year averaged 2,069,000 viewers on USA and this year averaged 2,022,000 on FOX during the third quarter. That’s a disaster since most programming comes close to doubling in moving from cable to network. FOX was down 33 percent and the networks in general were down 24 percent, but that’s a combination of no sports and very little in the way of first run shows due to lack of filming during the pandemic ...

The combined WWE Network and traditional PPV revenue increased from $44,199,000 to $47,767,000, or an 8.1 percent increase. Actual subscribers were up from 1,511,000 to 1,604,000 for an average day during the month, but with price changes in different places the 6.2 percent increase led to an eight percent revenue increase.

Last year on 9/30, the WWE Network had 1,062,100 U.S. subscribers and 403,300 outside the U.S. On 6/30, the numbers were 1,229,000 in the U.S. and 461,000 outside the U.S. This year on 9/30 the number was 1,136,400 in the U.S. and 412,200 outside the U.S. Last year’s third quarter decline was 105,000 in the U.S. and 26,000 outside the U.S. This year’s decline was 92,600 in the U.S. and 48,800 outside the U.S. so the number of cancellations being up was from outside the U.S. and in the U.S. it was actually less ...

The remarkable stat is that last year in the quarter, the company sold $5,624,000 in merchandise on-line and $3,487,000 at arenas for $9,111,000. This year they sold no merchandise at arenas but $9,114,000 on-line, so essentially we’ve learned that people who want to buy merchandise at arenas instead simply bought on-line as the numbers were identical. So the argument for doing house shows to sell merchandise is, almost astonishingly, it really leads to little increase and you save costs of transportation, because the fan base that was buying at arenas spent the money online rather than didn’t spend.

A major part of this year’s merchandise numbers were the release of expensive replica title belts. Last year in the quarter the company averaged 1,269 orders per day at a $46.09 average price per sale. This year it was 1,684 orders per sale at a $59.10 average price per sale

The one major issue right now with Smackdown is the lack of top babyfaces to challenge Roman Reigns. They were fortunate that even though Jey Uso had never been pushed as a top face, the family storyline with Roman Reigns was a unique story and they were able to get two PPV shows out of it.

But from there, where do they go? It’s early for Big E.

We’re told there are no immediate plans a hotshot John Cena or Bill Goldberg match right now, which can always be used as a Reigns opponent. With Goldberg, there is even a storyline since it was to be at WrestleMania before Reigns went home, and was to be a major win in Reigns’ career that hasn’t happened yet. But aside from that, Bryan is the best bit in the sense he’s someone Reigns can have a great match with, has the star tenure and can cut the promos to tell a story to build it. But with such a nothing return, Bryan was brought back seemingly as a midcard face in the crowd on the No. 2 babyface tag team on the brand.

Who else does Reigns have? Owens can work and talk and there’s Rey Mysterio, but Bryan if he was correctly pushed right now should be more effective as a title challenger than they are. Lars Sullivan is getting the monster push and you can do a heel vs. heel program at some point, but that shouldn’t be for months. The point being is they need to create two or three key babyfaces that are groomed for Reigns, and Bryan is the strongest potentially of all of them for right now, and his return was handled in a way to make him come across the least special.
This was in regards to the section about Daniel Bryan's return and him talking after SD about his current run being his last as an active wrestler.

The 10/25 Hell in a Cell show was built around three Cell matches with two title changes, as Randy Orton beat Drew McIntyre to win the WWE title and Sasha Banks beat Bayley to win the Smackdown women’s title ...

Roman Reigns’ Universal title win over Jey Uso was a very slow paced storytelling I Quit match with lots of talking. The nature of the storyline meant there wouldn’t be a clean finish, so they did a deal where Jimmy Uso was in the cage and Reigns put him in a guillotine and was going to choke him out, so Jey said “I Quit” to save him.

After the match ended, Afa & Sika came out and declared Reigns the tribal chief. Reigns pushing himself as the head of the family and the guy who takes care of the family leads to a natural storyline with Dwayne Johnson. There is no word that is official but it would make sense if the cards fell into place, regarding Johnson’s schedule, fans being back at shows and Johnson wanting a memorable true final match.

It [Hell in a Cell] is the next to last PPV from this run at the Amway Center in Orlando. The final show, at least as of right now, is Survivor Series on 11/22. It is billed as the only night of the year when wrestlers from Raw and Smackdown face off against each other. Well, except they’ve done that on most of the television shows in recent weeks.

If there is significant news, it is that there will be no NXT involvement in the show, with NXT instead building to a 12/6 Takeover show. Given that the NXT involvement both made the show last year, and also led to increased ratings on all three shows in November with the buildup, the decision on paper looks hard to understand.

There are really only two explanations. One is Vince McMahon’s wanting to keep the brands separate as much as possible to prevent the potential of COVID spreading. That is the reason they stopped taping 205 Live on Friday night’s, to keep NXT talent away from the Smackdown talent and risk a two brand infection. WWE PPV shows can always risk that, but every WWE breakout to date has started at the Performance Center.

The other is simply a mentality to not portray NXT as a major brand on the level of Raw and Smackdown. That coincides with no NXT talent involved in the recent draft. It’s one thing if a minor WWE product loses weekly to a competitor, and a very different story if a major WWE brand does.

Survivor Series will be built around non-title matches featuring the respective champions against each other and brand vs. brand traditional Survivor Series matches, one with men and the other with women.

Orton’s title win, clean with an RKO, was really the big story of the show. It’s been known for some time that the WrestleMania plan is Orton vs. Edge, originally an I Quit match although with an I Quit match on this show, perhaps the stipulation will change. Having it be for the title was always discussed and at one point was the plan. But others felt McIntyre should be campion and an Orton-Edge match doesn’t need the title. McIntyre has also been discussed for a major match with boxing world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, which both have pushed in social media. We were told this week that Fury has not committed to a date for that. With Saudi Arabia not announced for later this year yet, due to COVID, that would have been the most likely place for such a bout.

AAA held a press conference on 10/26 to announce TripleMania. They announced the top matches but didn’t announce when.

They said they would like to do a show in December at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City. AAA has also said that with the way it’s business is structured, it makes no economic sense to do TripleMania without a live gate. You can never predict the future, but with the current numbers, fans are not allowed at pro wrestling shows in Mexico City. While not announced, the hoped for date talent has been told is 12/5, but the show won’t happen until fans are cleared to attend. To have the show make sense, the feeling is they need to be able to run with at least 6,500 fans.

Kenny Omega vs. Laredo Kid for the Mega heavyweight championship was announced. Also announced was Pagano vs. Chessman in a hair vs. hair match, and with a cross-promotion with Marvel, they are going to introduce young high flyers and put them under masks as Aracno (Spider-man) & Leyenda Americana (Captain America) vs. Terror Purpuro (Thanos) & Venemoide (Venum) ...

The four Marvel characters as well as two others is part of a deal with AAA and the Latin American branch of Marvel. It is the first of what, if all goes well, will be a larger group of new masked wrestlers playing Marvel characters. This deal has been close to happening for months and the idea was to debut them this past summer, but the pandemic delayed everything.

Marvel reps will be at the show. While the identity of the wrestlers playing the Marvel characters is being kept secret, they are all well-known talent. There will be AAA stars getting new names, and several others will be American stars, including four who either are of have recently been under contract to U.S. promotions.

Marvel is even considering if this works at doing a Marvel Wrestling League.

Also announced is La Parka going into the AAA Hall of Fame.

New Japan ended up profitable for the 2019-2010 fiscal year that ends on 7/31, with roughly $2 million in profits. The company was on verge of setting its record in January after the two successful Tokyo Dome shows. The company operated in the red from when it shut down events in February and likely still is given the huge declines in live attendance by playing at 30 to 40 percent capacity

Takami Ohbari took over this week as President of New Japan. He did media and some say he made a misstep because he was critical of Harold Meij, who certainly had his detractors within wrestling and the office but was popular with the New Japan fan base. In an interview with Tokyo Sports, Ohbari said that Meij was very skilled in fan services (dealing with fans) and described himself as like a setter in volleyball (Ohbari when he was younger was a high-level volleyball player) said the job of the setter is to make the rest of the team look good. He said that he wanted to be seen like a stagehand, a guy that public doesn’t know about or talk about and that the spotlight should be on the in-ring talent

The participants in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament will be announced on 11/2, some 13 days before the tournament starts. The tag league and Super Juniors tour from 11/15 to 12/11 will have every show airing live on New Japan World. The shows will air in Japanese live. Power Struggle will air live from Osaka in English as well. Most likely the 12/11 tag tourney and super juniors finals will also air live in English but that’s not 100 percent

Dynamite will be live every week in November except 11/18, which will be taped on 11/12. All talent will be brought into Jacksonville from 11/4 to 11/12 to do two live Dynamites, one taped Dynamite and the PPV show

Serena Deeb’s win of the NWA women’s title from Thunder Rosa on the 10/27 UWN PPV show was notable for a number of reasons. People were raving about the match saying it was a **** bout. There is interest in both WWE and AEW in her, but she has a significant period of time left on her NWA deal. William Corgan said “into 2021" when commenting. With Deeb, who is under an AEW contract, the title will get national exposure on AEW television. Right now Rosa is still expected to work future AEW dates being booked through Corgan and the NWA. She wouldn’t have to lose the title to work for AEW due to the Corgan/Khan relationship and it’s notable Corgan would put the title on someone under contract to a different company. And he would not have to take it off Rosa, who had gotten over on AEW shows, and was pushed as one of his signature stars, for Rosa to work for AEW. There was also talk that she dropped the title because she is going into training for another fight with Combate Americas and that MMA would be her focus until her contract expires, even doing a couple of fights this next year, which is why the decision was made a ways back for her to drop the title

There was talk over the weekend of moving out of Orlando in December. The contract with the arena right now ends on 11/24, which would be the day after the Raw after Survivor Series. According to WWE officials, that date is fluid and it could be extended and there is no hard out date at the moment. The key issue is if the NBA starts running in home arenas they won’t be able to base there, or at any NBA arena. They are looking right now to have a base arena as opposed to touring as in the past. I think performing in front of live fans would be a priority but I can’t imagine it would be a good idea to do anything but a limited capacity show until there is a vaccine. WrestleVotes noted that WWE was looking at arenas in Illinois, North Carolina and Texas. Another source said they didn’t know anything more definitive than Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn are looking at different plans. Really this is an issue with so many moving parts, but also decisions that have to be prioritized. They can always go to the Performance Center for a week or two if things don’t work out, but there are major arenas who don’t have teams who, like Amway, would probably offer WWE a sweetheart deal to have them as a full-time tenant. The key would be a major arena that can house all the equipment, but also can’t be an arena that has an NBA or NHL franchise unless the next season for both sports will not be playing in home arenas. WWE officials have said they are currently exploring their options when they leave the Amway Center. Right now the NBA is looking at a 12/22 start and that teams would play in their home arenas and no longer do the bubble, although maybe with no fans. If that’s the case than WWE would have to be out of the Amway Center before that date. The NHL is looking at a 1/1 start. But nothing in the world is certain

There was another COVID outbreak at the Performance Center this past week. The story appears to be that one of the coaches tested positive who was coaching on 10/23, and that everyone who was being coached and around him was told to quarantine for two weeks. There were apparently other positives but they were mostly people new to the system that were around him and nobody that appeared on NXT television. We were told the show was being rewritten but when watching the Halloween Havoc show, all matches went on as scheduled and the only change we know of was that Indi Hartwell was supposed to interfere in the Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae match. Instead they had someone run in wearing a grim reaper/Scream mask and who never unmasked, who presumably will later be revealed as Hartwell but wasn’t her
Assuming the coach was the actual main source of the outbreak, that would be the second time in a row that has happened at the Performance Center since the last outbreak happened by a coach who was infected but told nobody and then it spread to AEW via a joint party held with NXT talent.

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. Hell in a Cell; 2. WWE Untold: The Phenom and the Legend Killer (Undertaker vs. Orton); 3. Uncool with Alexa Bliss interviews Drake Maverick; 4. WWE Chronicle: Bayley; 5. Best of Halloween Havoc; 6. Hell in a Cell kickoff show; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode one; 8. Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory with Strowman; 9. Undertaker’s Last Ride Final Tales; 10. Clash of Champions. Raw Talk was No. 13. Talking Smack was on TV so didn’t chart. NXT from 10/21 was only No. 24 while NXT U.K. and 205 Live didn’t crack the top 25. No independent stuff made the top 25 either. There is a real shift in viewing to nostalgia and podcasts and away from current wrestling aside from the PPV shows being the biggest draw and driver

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

Raw on 10/26 did 1,732,000 viewers and 0.51 (657,000 viewers) in 18-49, numbers down 2.5 percent and 1.9 percent from last week.

The last two weeks were up because of the draft and the first week after the draft. This show was helped coming a day after a Hell in a Cell show where they switched the WWE title. It had a good first hour, but it had a big third hour decline due to not having a main event.

The main event segment being pushed was A Touch of Bliss with Randy Orton as the guest, but they did tease the whole show that both Drew McIntyre and The Fiend would be coming out. The other items pushed saved for hour three were the announcement of the Raw women’s team at Survivor Series and Sheamus vs. Matt Riddle.

The drops were mostly 50+ and 18-34, but the bright spot was teenage girls which were up 66 percent from last week, but that coincided with a 35 percent drop in teenage boys.

Raw did 85,000 in men 18-34 (down 32.0 percent from last week), 81,000 in women 18-34 (down 8.0 percent), 329,000 in men 35-49 (up 20.1 percent) and 162,000 in women 35-49 (down 11.5 percent).

Raw beat everything on cable except news shows and NFL-related programming in viewers and most key demos. In 18-49, hour three of Raw beat everything on television except the NFL game on ESPN and The Weakest Link on NBC (and would have beaten that in a fair comparison).

The first hour did 1,859,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,752,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,585,000 viewers.

The one Smackdown a year against the World Series and airing on FS 1 on 10/23 did 881,000 viewers (1.37 viewers per home) and did a 0.25 (322,000 viewers) in 18-49.

In a sense the numbers are good if you compare them for last year against the World Series, which did 888,000 viewers and a 0.27, because the weekly Smackdown show on FOX was down 12.2 percent in viewers and 20.0 percent in 18-49 as compared to a year ago, which was unusually low, while the week before was a more normal 24.3 percent overall and 32.2 percent in 18-49 drop. So you would figure a much larger drop as compared to one year ago, particularly with the higher political numbers.

For a comparison, the World Series game last year on the same Friday did 12,220,000 viewers and a 2.8 in 18-49, while this year dropped to 8,156,000 viewers and 2.0 in 18-49. The World Series was down 33.3 percent in viewers, 28.6 percent in 18-49 and 21.1 percent in 18-34.

Smackdown from a year ago was down 0.8 percent in viewers, 7.4 percent in 18-49 and 7.1 percent in 18-34. So the year-to-year-decline was far less than any Raw or Smackdown episode probably of the entire year.

The viewers basically holding steady was because of a substantial year-to-year increase in over 50 viewing. Perhaps it’s because the World Series didn’t hurt as much, but the news channels are way up from a year ago ...

In looking at the demos as compared to one year ago, the show did a .10 in 12-17 (down 20.0 percent), 0.13 in 18-34 (down 7.1 percent), 0.37 in 35-49 (down 7.5 percent) and 0.44 in 50+ (up 12.8 percent).

Talking Smack, which aired for the first time on FS 1 immediately following the show, did 343,000 viewers and a 0.10 in 18-49, which is likely far better than anything else would have done following Smackdown in that time slot.

NXT’s Halloween Havoc theme was a huge success, including being the most-watched non-news show on cable in Males 12-34. It beat AEW in total viewers and beat Smackdown in the 18-49 demo and nearly beat Smackdown overall, and Smackdown had no wrestling competition.

AEW’s show ... did 781,000 viewers and a 0.32 (411,000) in 18-49. It was No. 12 overall for the night in 18-49 ...

AEW did beat NXT in males 18-34, but NXT had a huge edge with male teenagers.

Halloween Havoc did 876,000 viewers and a 0.25 (326,000 viewers) in 18-49 and No 21 on the charts. Without the overrun it would have been 870,000 and 324,000. It had huge increases across the board from normal NXT programming ...

AEW was up 3.7 percent from last week, but this week wasn’t against major sports competition, but much tougher wrestling competition. In 18-49 it was up 5.7 percent from last week.

NXT was up 34.6 percent from last week for the Halloween Havoc show ... It was up 53.2 percent in 18-49.

A key is that in 18-49, both AEW and NXT with competition, beat Smackdown with no wrestling competition, although Smackdown did go against the World Series and was on an unfamiliar station. But it was also a cable-to-cable comparison. Raw clearly was the No. 1 show of the week, but Wednesday was wrestling night this week, with 128,000 in men 18-34 to 85,000 on Monday, 111,000 women 18-49 compared to 81,000 on Monday, 326,000 men 35-49 to 329,000 for Monday, and 192,000 women 35-49 to 162,000 on Monday.

Aside from Raw, AEW was tops for the week in all four key demos. In men 18-34, AEW had 66,000 (up 37.5 percent from last week), NXT had 62,000 (up 158.3 percent from last week) and Smackdown had 55,000. In women 18-34, AEW had 71,000 (up 24.6 percent from last week), NXT had 40,000 (up 33.3 pecent) and Smackdown had 36,000. In men 35-49, AEW had 178,000 (down 12.3 percent), NXT had 148,000 (up 51.0 percent) and Smackdown had 174,000. In women 35-49, AEW had 116,000 (up 43.2 percent), NXT had 76,000 (up 43.4 percent) and Smackdown had 57,000.

As compared to the same week last year, and keep in mind last year went against the World Series, AEW was up 2.9 percent in viewers, down 3.0 percent in 18-49 and up 5.3 percent in 18-34.

NXT on the other hand was up 51.0 percent in viewers from last year, 38.9 percent in 18-49 and but was exactly the same in 18-34. So NXT’s big increase over last year was older viewers although also strong in 35-49.

In the head-to-head main event, Io Shirai vs. Candice LeRae TLC match for the women’s title did 844,000 viewers and 321,000 in 18-49 to Kenny Omega vs. Penta’s 748,000 viewers and 411,000 in 18-49. When AEW went off the air USA Network for the last eight minutes grew to 967,000 viewers and 349,000 in 18-49.

In all, AEW won all eight quarters in 18-49, with the second quarter close, and in fact, won every quarter in both 18-34 and 35-49. NXT won seven of the eight quarters with total viewers, losing only the fourth quarter.

In the first quarter, AEW with Page vs. Wardlow did 818,000 viewers and 413,000 in 18-49. NXT with Johnny Gargano vs. Damien Priest for the North American title falls count anywhere did 922,000 viewers and 337,000 in 18-49.

In the second quarter, AEW with a Jon Moxley interview, an Eddie Kingston interview and Kingston vs. Matt Sydal did 726,000 viewers and 374,000 in 18-49. NXT with the second half of Gargano vs. Priest did 957,000 viewers and 340,000 in 18-49. This was NXT’s 18-49 peak.

In the third quarter, AEW with the Young Bucks/FTR segment and the beginning of the MJF/Inner Circle Town Hall did 753,000 viewers and 420,000 in 18-49. NXT had William Regal with Cameron Grimes, the Pat McAfee, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, Kyle O’Reilly and Pete Dunne segment and Grimes meeting Michael Hayes and did 892,000 viewers and 334,000 in 18-49. This was NXT’s 35-49 peak.

In the fourth quarter, AEW had the bulk of the MJF/Inner Chicle segment that did 867,000 viewers and 466,000, with was the high point in every key demo. NXT had Santos Escobar vs. Jake Atlas for the cruiserweight title and did 780,000 viewers and 290,000 in 18-49.

In the fifth quarter, AEW had Cody vs. Orange Cassidy in a lumberjack match for the TNT title and did 830,000 viewers and 437,000 in 18-49. This tied the Town Hall meeting for the peak in 18-34 of the night. NXT had the haunted house version of Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes and the beginning of Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez and did 850,000 viewers and 324,000 in 18-49.

In the sixth quarter, AEW had the Best Friends angle with Miro & Kip Sabian along with Serena Deeb vs. Leyla Hirsch for the NWA women’s title and did 744,000 viewers and 378,000 in 18-49. NXT had the bulk of the Ripley vs. Gonzalez match which did 901,000 viewers and 337,000 in 18-49. This was NXT’s 18-34 peak.

In the seventh quarter, AEW had Shawn Spears vs. VSK and the beginning of Omega vs. Penta and did 766,000 viewers and 393,000 in 18-49. NXT had the remainder of the Grimes-Lumis and a Tommaso Ciampa promo and did 812,000 viewers and 310,000 in 18-49.

In the eighth quarter, Omega vs Penta lost 18,000 viewers and gained 18,000 in 18-49. Shirai vs. LeRae gained 32,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49.

AEW did a 0.10 in 12-17 (same as last week), 0.20 in 18-34 (up 30.5 percent), 0.44 in 35-49 (up 3.5 percent) and 0.29 in 50+ (up 3.6 percent) ...

NXT did a 0.16 in 12-17 (way ahead of AEW and Smackdown), 0.15 in 18-34 (up 88.9 percent), 0.35 in 35-49 (up 48.3 percent) and 0.43 in 50+ (last weeks’ number was not available.

Emperor Smeat

11-03-2020, 09:29 PM

The Sheets:

Raw last night, going against a strong NFL number and with no notable thing that would increase the ratings, did its worst number of the ThunderDome era last night with 1.66 million viewers and an 0.48 in 18-49.

Both would rank among the lowest numbers in show history ...

Last night's Raw tied the fourth lowest 18-49 number in show history.

The decrease came days after SmackDown had its best numbers in 18-49 since March. The key was hour three, which was down 18 percent from the first hour, the biggest drop in a long time and led to the third hour being the least-watched hour in the history of the show.

The show was down four percent in viewers and six percent in 18-49 from last week. It ranked ninth for the night in 18-49 and 39th overall. However, Raw remained the number one entertainment show on cable television last night both overall and in 18-49. It was behind three-NFL related shows and six news shows in 18-49. Of the top 40 shows in 18-49, aside from ESPN, there was only Raw, Below Deck on Bravo, The Holiday Baking Championship on The Food Network, and two shows on TLC. ...

Another aspect of the drop was the Tampa Bay Bucs being a marquee team as their game with the New York Giants did 11.70 million viewers.

As far as the first-to-third hour drops, women 18-49 fell nine percent, men 18-49 fell 17 percent, teenage girls fell 29 percent, teenage boys fell one percent, and over 50 fell 19 percent.

As compared to last year, when the same week's Raw did what was at the time the fourth lowest watched non-holiday episode in history, this year was down 22 percent in viewers, 37 percent in 18-49, and 44 percent in 18-34.

The three hours were

8 p.m. 1.77 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.75 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.46 million viewers

Of the modern era data available, the previous record low viewership for an hour of RAW was 1,463,000 viewers in hour three of the July 27th episode this past summer, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Anthony Bowens and Max Caster have signed with AEW.

AEW President Tony Khan confirmed today via an interview with PWInsider that Bowens and Caster have signed, and will be going forward as a team under the name The Acclaimed.

PWInsider also reported that Bowens had WWE interest prior to signing with AEW.

Bowens and Caster have appeared on AEW Dark in recent months, with Bowens previously teaming with Lee Moriarity and Caster losing to Shawn Spears in a singles back back in June. The two teamed together on the October 27 edition of AEW Dark, losing to Best Friends.

Some more news has come to light regarding new AEW signing Anthony Bowens who has signed with the promotion along with Max Caster.

Fightful Select reports that there was interest from WWE in signing Bowens before spring 2019 but the company just hadn’t gotten back to him about it.

It was noted that coaches and staff in WWE were “puzzled” and said that he should have been signed by the company.

The new contract with AEW was said to have been signed before the start of this month. WWE has been reaching out to a number of talents that have wrestled on AEW Dark, and has signed Ben Carter for NXT UK.

A new stipulation has been added to the Zack Sabre Jr./Toru Yano match at King of Pro Wrestling.

Yano and Sabre will battle in a No Corner Pad match. Yano frequently uses the turnbuckles to his advantage during his matches, undoing them to expose the metal within the corners. This will be for the provisional King of Pro Wrestling title, a championship that is decided via stipulation matches.

An angle ran on the Road to Power Struggle event that aired on November 2. Yano, who was on commentary for the IWGP Tag Team title match that took place, entered the ring after Sabre and Taichi successfully defended the titles against YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto. Yano removed all of the turnbuckles and cut a promo saying that Sabre pisses him off because he always puts the turnbuckles back on after he takes them off. He then announced the stipulation for the match.

The show ended with Sabre sending Yano into an exposed turnbuckle, causing Yano to go backstage and complain loudly.

The provisional KOPW title match will open Power Struggle, which takes place on November 7.

ACH is the latest name announced for the MLW "Restart."

From the tone of the Tuesday announcement, he will be part of the Opera Cup tournament which MLW announced will be happening this year. He joins Davey Boy Smith Jr., Laredo Kid, Lio Rush, and Shawn Daivari as those either announced or known to be part of their late-October set of tapings in Orlando, Florida.

After his very public issues with WWE that resulted in his release, ACH worked a December 2019 tag team match for MLW, teaming with King Mo against Jordan Oliver and Kotto Brazil. He also worked frequently for MLW in 2018 after their relaunch.

He has kept a busy schedule since July, working around the country and making appearances for GCW, NJPW Strong, and other indies.

New episodes of MLW Fusion debut on Wednesday, November 18th, their first fresh content since a March set of tapings in Mexico.

Former NWA Women's Champion Allysin Kay is now a free agent.

Kay announced overnight that she's now a free agent and available for indie bookings and appearances. Kay thanked the NWA for the opportunities she was given.

"As of today, I am officially a free agent," Kay wrote. "Thank you to the NWA for the opportunities, which included one of my favorite matches of my career. I am open for indy bookings & appearances. Let’s get weird. AK"

Since we have received a few emails about this following last night's Raw, Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss are both officially babyfaces on the Raw roster.

Wyatt had considered been a babyface on the Smackdown roster but given the nature of The Fiend character, obviously he's not a babyface in the traditional sense.

With the addition of Bliss at Wyatt's side, playing roles similar to DC Comics' The Joker and Harley Quinn, the question as to where they stand came up again overnight. Internally, they are considered babyfaces by the company.

WWE filed for a trademark on the term "Chigona Bomb" on 10/29.

There is no clarity for how the term would be used by WWE at this point.

The trademark filing is for goods and services, noting, "Wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports via an online community portal."

Last week, NWA President Billy Corgan clarified that former NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa is under contract through 2021. While appearing on Busted Open Radio, Rosa weighed her options and stated that she’d like to be in a company where she can continue her outside projects such as Mission Pro Wrestling ...

Rosa also spoke about the dynamic between herself and Ivelisse. Rosa first clarified that there is no issue with Ivelisse from her side and says she’ll always handle her in-ring work with professionalism.

“Well you know, I never had any issues with her [Ivelisse]. I’m just gonna put it out there, never had any issues with her. I worked with her in Lucha Underground, I worked with her in other promotions and I mean, I thought the match was going well and then you guys saw what you saw. We made it work, we finished, nobody got hurt and that to me, that’s the most important part. I am not gonna — like you said, you gotta make it work and that’s what I attempted to do and even to the finish, I made sure my opponent was safe at all times, no matter what happened in-between. So, like I said, like I told you earlier, my promise with anybody that I step in the ring [with], regardless of our relationship inside or outside is to keep my opponent safe. I’m not trying to kill you. It’s not MMA. They’re not paying me a bunch of money to try to kill you. This is a dance and I try to have the best dances possible, so, that’s what happened.”

During his ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, Booker T dove into the announcement of Kylie Rae’s retirement from pro wrestling. Rae worked for Booker T under the Reality Of Wrestling banner and she was also trained by Booker T as well.

“Man, it’s sad, it really is. Kylie, when she first came to Reality Of Wrestling, she trained for, you know, [it] seemed like a minute and she won the Diamonds Championship her first night she got in the ring, first match, and she was so special as far as being able to make fans feel a certain way and she had the Pikachu character-like and she always smiled and I tell you, I didn’t really gravitate to the gimmick or anything like that, myself personally, as far as the Pikachu thing but she obviously knew what she was doing, because fans picked her out and they loved her more than they loved all the other girls and I was like, ‘Don’t say nothing. If it’s working, let it ride. If it [isn’t] broke, don’t fix it, don’t say nothing.’ That’s the type of guy I am. So, I saw her growing, growing, growing to the point where she got a shot in AEW immediately. She was on the poster in Vegas. Yes, she was on the poster and I was like wow, and then she no-showed the show. She didn’t show up and then everything started kinda going crazy a little bit after that. She went away. I actually called her, I actually talked to her, and after I talked to her, it seemed like she got back on track, she got back in the ring and started doing indies and then boom, she got the IMPACT deal and I was like, ‘Wow, okay boom, she’s back on track’ because you know, everybody goes through something. It ain’t a day that we all [don’t] go through something. That’s just life.

So I thought it was just one of those deals and then now, to no-show another pay-per-view with another company and then this [comes out], it tells me, man, she’s in a place to where maybe the last place she needs to be is around a wrestling ring, around a bunch of wrestlers. It could be something that’s maybe not helpful to her right now. But, I do think she should probably concentrate on that more than her wrestling, than anything, just because her health and her well-being is more important than anything else, and obviously she’s dealing with something and I thought about calling her and saying something but, sometimes you just need to take a minute and try to regroup and find yourself. I’m sure I’ll find myself picking the phone up and making a phone call, but it’s sad to see her in this position that she’s in because there again, she is so talented but it’s like that a lot of times too. The most talented ones, sometimes, it might be something. It might be loose wire or something here or there. You never know what it is, or it could be something stemming from their past that you never really [know]. It could be any little thing that triggers so you know, I just want to see her safe, unharmed and happy, whether that be inside of the ring or out of the ring, it really doesn’t matter. I just want to see her well-being taken care of more than anything.”

Chris Van Vliet sat down with Lilian Garcia for an interview and Lilian shared that Jake Rogal, producer of ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ docu-series reached out to her to be a part of a documentary that he’s co-creating about Stone Cold Steve Austin. Lilian has already filmed for the documentary.

“Well, the producer from The Last Dance called me and he was like, ‘Hey, hey Lil –’ actually WWE reached out to me first. They were like, ‘The producer from The Last Dance is gonna reach out to you. They want you involved in a documentary,’ and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ So I end up getting reached out by them and it was funny because my husband and I were currently watching that documentary as this message was happening so when Jake [Rogal] reached out to me, I was just like, ‘Jake, I’m literally watching your documentary right now. Like this is amazing.’ Come to find out, they wanna do a documentary for Stone Cold Steve Austin and it’s coming out next year, and [he] gave me the biggest compliment. He said, ‘Your interview with Steve that you did on Chasing Glory was what made us realize that we wanted to do a different documentary’ because he’s had a few already but he said, ‘We’ve never heard the story of him being so shy as a kid that he couldn’t even order from the dairy queen, that his sister had to order that’ and to see what he’s become was so inspiring and I was like, ‘Holy cow, that’s amazing.’ So then they said, ‘You had such dealings and you seem to have such a friendship with him, we want you in the documentary’ and I’m like, ‘That’s amazing, totally.’ So immediately I reached out to Steve. He knew they were going to reach out to me and I was like, ‘Dude, this is so special’ and he’s like, ‘Would you really be in it?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? Of course I’ll be in it.’”

It's been almost 20 months since we've seen Ronda Rousey in a wrestling ring for WWE, but she's been in one a couple times lately for other reasons.

Rousey and husband Travis Browne have been spending some time in the ring, with the latter getting some work in ahead of what would be his pro wrestling debut if he so chose. Fightful Select recently broke some news in relation to the details of the training sessions.

We've heard Ronda Rousey tell Natalya that she hopes they meet in the ring again one day, but Rousey has been training of late as well. She's not alone. Travis Browne has also been getting pro wrestling training in, and actually did some with James Storm as the latter showed off on social media. We've specifically heard that Browne has been working on his timing and selling of late and has impressed people with agility for his size. As of this year, Browne was still in the USADA drug testing pool required for UFC fighters, though he hasn't fought since July 2017. Dana White stated he thought Browne should retire, but he's not officially been released as of yet.

Rousey herself has trained at least several times that we know of in California over the past several weeks.

Since WWE moved from the Performance Center to the ThunderDome at the end of August, fans have been treated to an over the top television experience.

The ThunderDome helps recreate the live event experience with virtual fans, pyro, lasers, drones, and the large scale production WWE has become known for. One complaint regarding the ThunderDome has been the crowd noise, which is a mix of real audio and piped in chants. Some fans have found the audio distracting during segments.

Speaking on Token CEO, Stephanie McMahon revealed WWE didn't initially want to use the fake crowd noise in the ThunderDome.

"The audio made such a difference. At first, we did not want to pipe in any audio because we thought it would come off as phony and it wouldn't feel real. We didn't like that. When we started experimenting with the mix of real audio with the amplified audio, it made such a difference as a viewer," she said.

Stephanie went on to say that now is the time for brands to experiment and that consumers want to become attached to brands that experiment. She also said brands can't be afraid to fail during this times.
They should have canned the idea since their handling of fake crowd audio for the ThunderDome shows has been horrendous at times and seems to be getting worse almost every week. Pretty much took all the wrong lessons from the Orton vs. Edge "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" and amplified it to the nth degree.

The company has launched an AEW Games Twitter account and has announced a major announcement on 11/10 at 6 p.m. Eastern time. This is likely the first video game announcement.

According to Stephanie McMahon, the upcoming Netflix docuseries on Vince McMahon will be four episodes.

Talking to Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini on her podcast that dropped Monday, the WWE's Chief Brand Officer revealed the news. No release date or relevant information was given. McMahon said she was excited about the project, but a little nervous because it's still her father.

WWE President Nick Khan gave the news during last Thursday's quarterly financial call, claiming it's one of the most expensive docuseries the streaming giant has ever done. Bill Simmons (Spotify and HBO) will be an executive producer along with Chris Smith and WWE Studios. Smith will also direct the series with Netflix's Fyre Festival documentary and The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann on his resume.

The docuseries won't be the only look at the iconic WWE Chairman's life as a biography by Abraham Riesman via Simon & Schuster imprint Atria is set to come out in 2022.

TPWW Frontpage:

Various: FTR on Young Bucks Build Issues, Thunder Rosa on Terms for Signing Future Deal, Indies (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/various-ftr-on-young-bucks-build-issues-thunder-rosa-on-terms-for-signing-future-deal-indies/)
NJPW Announces Participants for Best of the Super Jrs & Super J-Cup 2020 Tournaments (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/njpw-announces-participants-for-best-of-the-super-jrs-super-j-cup-2020-tournaments/)
Kylie Rae Says She’s “No Longer a Professional Wrestler” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/kylie-rae-says-shes-no-longer-a-professional-wrestler/)

Emperor Smeat

11-04-2020, 07:18 PM

The Sheets:

Tonight’s wrestling programs are expected to be hit by the enormous news coverage coming out of Tuesday’s U.S. Election. For NXT, they are coming off one of their best weeks of the year with Halloween Havoc and has often been less affected by outside events. Here is the current line-up advertised for tonight’s show at 8 pm Eastern on the USA Network:
*Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream
*Dakota Kai vs. Ember Moon
*Toni Storm vs. Shotzi Blackheart
*KUSHIDA vs. Cameron Grimes

AEW presents its go-home episode for Full Gear this Saturday. Prior to All Out in September, Tony Khan stated that four times per year Dynamite is centered around building the pay-per-view and the other 48 weeks of the year are about solid in-ring action, although he left it open about playing with that philosophy. It’s not to say you can’t deliver a great in-ring show and promote the pay-per-view, but tonight’s show should lean on promos and driving home the key programs.

The feud that has been scrutinized most is the FTR and Young Bucks match, which also had the largest expectations. In hindsight, the heavy push of The Bucks going heel, even with their internal justification, didn’t resonate and it’s turned the focus away from a program that was ready-made for its audience to embrace. The best option for this match is to forget all the heel attacks by The Young Bucks and just push this as the match that has been “years in the making” and settling which team is the best. You had that dynamic on day one when FTR showed up at Daily’s Place and delaying the match so long took it off course where the match felt stronger in June than it does in November.

Below is the card for tonight’s episode of Dynamite at 8 pm Eastern on TNT and TSN 2 in Canada:
*MJF & Wardlow vs. Ortiz & Sammy Guevara
*The Young Bucks vs. Private Party
*Nyla Rose vs. Red Velvet
*Miro vs. Trent
*Cody & The Gunn Club vs. Colt Cabana, John Silver & Ten
*Face-to-face segment with Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston
*Chris Jericho on commentary

On paper, it’s one of the weaker line-ups Dynamite has advertised, but again, tonight is about pushing the pay-per-view first and foremost. The face-to-face segment between Moxley and Kingston should be a strong segment with two of the best speakers in the industry and a feud that has peaked well for Saturday. Of the key matches at Full Gear, I feel Hangman Page and Kenny Omega could benefit from a sit-down interview with Jim Ross or something akin to that presentation to drive home the battle of the former champions and friends.

During an appearance on Busted Open Radio Wednesday, AEW president/booker Tony Khan said Orange Cassidy vs. John "4" Silver is being moved up to the Full Gear pay-per-view main card.

No reason was given, but Khan said a new match for Saturday's The Buy In pre-show will be announced at some point on Wednesday.

Cassidy vs. Silver was added last Wednesday after Silver helped cost Cassidy a win over TNT Champion Cody.

The current main card for Saturday's PPV as of now:

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston in an I Quit match
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. The Young Bucks (If the Bucks lose, they won't challenge for the tag titles again.)
AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose
TNT Champion Cody vs. Darby Allin
World title eliminator tournament finals: Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page
Chris Jericho vs. MJF (If MJF wins, he joins the Inner Circle.)
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara in an Elite Deletion match
Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver

Full Gear will air live from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.

Both on Tuesday's edition of Impact Wrestling and on Twitter afterward, nearly the full card for Turning Point was announced.

In the main event, World Champion Rich Swann will defend his title against former champion Sami Callihan. The two were on opposite teams in the main event of Tuesday's show and had a run-in on the previous week's show as well.

In another rematch, Knockouts Champion Su Yung will defend against Deonna Purrazzo in an anything goes match. Their rematch on Tuesday's show ended in a disqualification after Yung hit Purrazzo in the stomach with a chair, helping set up the stipulation.

In a Tag Team Title match, champions The North will defend against the Good Brothers. The two teams have been feuding for weeks with Gallows picking up a singles win over Ethan Page on Tuesday's show. The teams went to a no contest on the Bound For Glory go-home edition of Impact.

Two other matches announced: Moose vs. Willie Mack and Brian Myers vs. Swoggle.

Turning Point will air on Saturday, November 14th on the Impact+ streaming service.

On 10/30, Cody Runnels expressly abandoned the trademark applications for 'Slamboree' and 'The Match Beyond' with prejudice and WWE have accepted and dropped their opposition for both trademarks.

On November 2, WWE filed to cancel its trademark on "Cody Rhodes."

Heel By Nature reports that the cancelation was finalized on Wednesday morning.

Cody filed to trademark the name on April 13, the day WWE's trademark lapsed, but WWE filed a late renewal, claiming that their filing and payment was delayed due to COVID-19. The late renewal was filed on May 15.

In July, Cody's trademark was refused due to WWE's filing. At the time, he said he has no grudge over WWE filing for a late renewal ...

In October 2019, Cody said WWE wasn't holding the name hostage and that he could use the Rhodes name without an issue, but he wouldn't.

Cody has until January 2021 to file an update on his case.

All Japan Pro Wrestling star Zeus has tested positive for COVID-19, the company announced today.

Zeus will remain isolated in a hotel in Osaka until November 11.

He is scheduled to team with Shigehiro Irie in the upcoming Real World Tag League, starting on November 18.

AEW president Tony Khan spoke with Mike Johnson at PWinsider.com to promote this Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view and spoke on several subjects ...

On Le Dinner Debonair:

"I expected it to be a very polarizing segment and it was very polarizing and I expected it would create a lot of conversation and then the next week, those guys would pull a big number and that’s what happened. I think it worked out well to do the Town Hall segment coming off it because the Town Hall segment was probably more in the context of what people have come to expect from Max and Chris. so I thought the Town Hall was more conventional and probably that’s why I thought it was, you know…obviously it did a really strong number but also made more sense to go closer to the pay per view for the next show."

Khan also spoke about the increasing length of AEW Dark and the potential of splitting it into two programs, which was a suggestion proposed by Johnson. Khan said if that were to happen, it would be as a streaming option and would have nothing to do with the added hour they are expected to launch on linear television with WarnerMedia.
Seeing as AEW Dark has been growing in length in recent weeks, wouldn't be surprised if they are testing out the waters to see how feasible it is on their end to run an extra hour or two of programming each week. Right now, I'd put it as a mixed bag because the AEW Dark format doesn't really lend itself well to lengthy shows.

Sean Ross Sapp at Fightful reported today that only WWE main roster talent has had to stop streaming on Twitch with NXT talent is exempt for now, which explains why Adam Cole, Jessamyn Duke, and others can continue. Several main roster performers announced last week that they were suspending their Twitch streams or left it up in the air when they would return including AJ Styles, Cesaro, Aleister Black & Zelina Vega. This comes after the edict handed down by WWE in September that talent would have to stop participating with third-party outlets including Twitch, where talent can supplement income. The performer most closely tied to this story is Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis), who was very emotional discussing the decision she has been tasked with making and unlike the others, her in-ring days with WWE are over because of her neck problems.

Miro was a guest on Talk is Jericho Wednesday discussing his time in WWE, moving to AEW, and the contrast of the two companies. Some of the highlights included:
*Noting that people were concerned to be going to work in WWE at the start of the pandemic
*He was pitched on the storyline involving Lana and Bobby Lashley by Paul Heyman and told it would be “one of the main events at WrestleMania”, which you can’t fault Miro for not being an eternal optimist
*It is difficult with Lana being in a different company because they are used to being together all the time
*Jericho noted that when the WWE cuts occurred in April, he asked Tony Khan his thoughts on any of the available talents with Miro/Rusev being the one he named
*He confirmed that WWE was furious when photos leaked in 2014 that he and Lana were engaged at the same time they were doing the storyline where Lana was with Dolph Ziggler and Rusev was with Summer Rae. Miro claimed Lana shared the photos with some friends and the photos were leaked and he had been scheduled to win the Intercontinental title and they dropped the storyline.
*Miro said he had offers to go elsewhere after WWE, he had no concerns when he got the news he was being cut but said he did get a lot off his chest when he was called and told the news by a WWE official

James Romero has a new book coming out on November 29th covering Dwayne Johnson. The book is called Dwayne “The Rock” Johns: The People’s Champion – From WWE to Hollywood and covers his wrestling career and transition to films.
Link for those interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MB5ZV7D

Vince McMahon was ready to donate a hospital wing after a pitched storyline that never ended up happening.

Former WWE writer Jon Rineman took part in a Reddit AMA on Tuesday and was asked for any crazy Vince stories from his time in the company.

Rineman gave the following answer:

As far as a crazy Vince story: we had an idea where someone was going to attack somebody in a hospital. And then I had an idea for it that Vince liked, then Heyman had a bunch of ideas Vince liked. So, Vince thinks about it and says: “We’re really gonna fuck up this hospital. How much would it cost to rebuild?” He stops, thinks a second, then says, matter-of-factly, “Hmm. I might have to donate a wing to a hospital. How much does that cost?” So, our writer’s assistant started looking up how much it cost to donate a wing to a hospital.

Then later in the meeting, another idea came up that nixed the hospital idea, and Vince said, “Which one is the one without buying the hospital wing? Do that one.” Then he stopped and said, “I should donate a wing somewhere though…” and it got quiet while he thought. Then he took out his pencil and I saw him write “Hospital.”

It is unknown if Vince did end up donating a hospital wing or what the original storyline entailed.

When asked the best joke he's ever written, Rineman said it came from his time in WWE:

“There’s always room for one more…” - Bray Wyatt, Firefly Funhouse. There is no feeling in the world as a WWF fan of the 90s than Vince going, “MMMMMM - that’s some good shit!” and winking at you.

The line came from Wyatt's promo against Hulk Hogan back in February.

The first round is over and the semi-final matches are set in the UWN World Title Tournament.

Last Tuesday, Chris Dickinson advanced to the semi-finals with a victory over Peter Avalon. On the most recent episode of UWN Primetime Live, Fred Rosser, Shawn Daivari, and Mike Bennett all advanced to the semi-finals.

Rosser was victorious over Erick Redbeard (formerly Erick Rowan in WWE) via disqualification, Daivari picked up a victory over Rocky Romero, and Bennett defeated Kevin Martinson.

The semi-final matchups will see Rosser take on Dickinson while Bennett battles Daivari.

United Wrestling Network has announced the lineup for its November 10 event.

The night will be headlined by James Storm & Eli Drake defending the NWA Tag Team Titles against Aron Stevens & The Question Mark. This will mark the first title defense for Storm & Drake since March when they faced The Bounces on an episode of NWA Power.

Storm & Drake won the titles in January at NWA Hard Times.

Also announced for next Tuesday's episode of UWN Primetime Live is Lacey Ryan vs. Vipress, 4 Minutes of Heat vs. Real Money Brothers, and the semi-finals of the UWN World Title tournament. Fred Rosser will face Chris Dickinson on one side of the bracket while Shawn Daivari battles Mike Bennett on the other side of the bracket.

In the build-up to their AEW Full Gear match, Eddie Kingston has railed against Jon Moxley for selling out and leaving the Independents behind.

Kingston believes that when Moxley left the Independent scene to sign with WWE, he didn't stick to his guns and didn't do enough to boost the Independent scene during that time.

Speaking to TSN, Kingston elaborated on his beef with Moxley.

"I’m not going to forget where I came from,” Kingston said. “When I go on Twitter and see a guy from the independents doing something different and cool, I’m going to tell people about it. One of my main problems with Mox is that he didn’t use his popularity or social media with all of his followers and everything to put over places that he used to be at or people he used to run with. So I still have that outlaw, independent mindset. To me, that’s what AEW was built on. That’s why I think I would be the perfect champion for them because I have the outlaw spirit, just like [AEW executive vice presidents] the Bucks, Kenny [Omega] and Cody do. They did things their way and now look where they’re at.”

Would Eddie have "sold out" the same way Moxley did if he had signed with WWE a decade ago?

"No, because knowing me, I would have gotten fired three minutes in if I went when Mox went,” Kingston said. “Again, this is why I have a little bit of beef with Mox, because he started playing the game. I probably would have, at that point in time and especially at that age and what was going on in my life, gotten fired three minutes in because I wouldn’t bend. I wouldn’t have bent like he did.”

Kingston had an offer from WWE following his appearance on AEW Dynamite when he answered Cody's open challenge, but took AEW's offer instead.

Maven’s memorable Royal Rumble in 2002 was a roller coaster even before the match had begun.

Speaking on The Bump, Maven spoke about how he was approached about going to Atlanta, where the pay-per-view was taking place. Maven figured he would be in the Royal Rumble match but didn’t know he would be eliminating Undertaker.

At first, Maven thought it was a rib on him when Shane McMahon told him about the spot.

“I got the call literally the day before. The day before, they called and said, ‘You’re going to Atlanta.’ That’s where the Rumble was. I flew out the next day, no clue what was going to happen. At that point, I’m not an idiot, I knew I was probably in the Rumble, but I knew I would probably come out, get a quick pop Tough Enough was going to get and then I would be thrown out and got rid of as soon as possible. When I got there and they called me to the ring, there was Shane and ‘Taker. They called me to the ring and at the time, I’m terrified. I’m the rookie, young, in my 20s and here I was with Shane McMahon and with Undertaker, scared to death. Then he tells me, ‘Maven, you’re going to go out there and eliminate [Undertaker].’ I thought he was completely joking. I thought it was the rib of the century. Well then, ‘Taker turns, looks at me and says, ‘Are you effing kidding me?’ At that point, I wanted to run. I just wanted to leave. ‘Taker had his hands with what was going on that day. He helped my career more than anyone on that single day,” Maven said.

In regards to the aftermath, Maven said he and Undertaker had somewhat of a bond where Undertaker would acknowledge and respect Maven from that point forward.

“He was happy. From that day on, me and him kind of had a bond. He always gave me a smile, that little, ‘Hey kid’’ look and let me know what I did, he was satisfied,” Maven said.

It looks like one of the released talents who jumped to Impact Wrestling from WWE is already leaving Impact. His future remains unclear ...

EC3 didn't stick around with Impact Wrestling for very long. According to reports on Wednesday, the creative but somewhat controversial performer is already leaving Impact Wrestling after just a short period of time with the promotion.

Fightful Select reported today that EC3 has finished up his limited run with Impact Wrestling for the time being. He joined the promotion after the numerous talent releases from WWE and it was with great anticipation that fans were wondering what he might do next. It appears he'll be sticking with ROH for the rest of the year, but beyond that, who knows?

The creative former WWE star is consistently posting videos suggesting people create their own narrative and it looks like he's taking his own advice to heart. He's not gone to AEW like many might have expected he would, and he's not sticking with Impact despite a number of former WWE stars finding a good fit there. He's certainly not returning to WWE. He's marching to the beat of his own drum.

There’s no word yet on if he's got a plan to jump to AEW or if he's had contact with Impact about returning at some point down the line, but it sounds like the door is open. Fightful did say that there is buzz he might create a new project separate from any major wrestling promotion.

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW: Anthony Bowens & Max Caster Signings, Changes Made to Medical Team, AEW Games (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/aew-anthony-bowens-max-caster-signings-changes-made-to-medical-team-aew-games/)
Scorpio Sky Pulled From Dynamite Due to COVID Precaution, New Match Added (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/scorpio-sky-pulled-from-dynamite-due-to-covid-precaution-new-match-added/)
WWE: Netflix’s Vince Series Update, More NXT COVID-19 Concerns, Trademark, Updated SD Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/wwe-netflixs-vince-series-update-more-nxt-covid-19-concerns-trademark-updated-sd-ratings/)

Emperor Smeat

11-05-2020, 10:16 PM

The Sheets:

With coverage of the 2020 election dominating the cable TV charts, AEW Dynamite finished outside the top 50 in the 18-49 demo for the first time ever last night.

Last night's Dynamite averaged 717,000 viewers on TNT, topping the 610,000 viewers that NXT averaged on the USA Network. Dynamite was the go-home show for Saturday's Full Gear pay-per-view.

Dynamite was down 8.2 percent in overall viewers from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show finished 56th on cable with a 0.30 rating, down 6.3 percent from last Wednesday.

NXT was down significantly from last week's Halloween Havoc episode. Last night's NXT was down 30.4 percent in total viewers from last week and finished 68th in the cable charts with a 0.14 rating in 18-49, down 44 percent from last Wednesday. In both viewership and the 18-49 demo, these were the lowest numbers for NXT since May.

The combined Wednesday night viewership of 1.327 million was down 19.9 percent from last week. It's the lowest combined audience since May 20.

Detailed demo numbers are not available at this time with both shows failing to chart in the top 50.

Year-over-year, Dynamite was down 12.8 percent in total viewers and 14.3 percent in 18-49. NXT was down 25 percent in total viewers and 53.3 percent in 18-49. It's clear that, for whatever reason, the election coverage affected NXT more than Dynamite even though the opposite is usually the case.

Taking out the cable news channels, Dynamite was second for the night in 18-49 while NXT finished 13th, which is close to normal levels for both shows. The entire top 50 last night were news shows.
For some reference, Smackdown lost around 275k viewers for its November 8, 2016 episode that went directly against the 2016 Presidential Election news coverage compared to the previous week.

AEW TNT Champion Cody spent nearly an hour with the media Thursday, answering questions about whether a trilogy match with Nick Aldis will ever happen, why he will stick to the stipulation of never challenging for the AEW World title, Dark, and why the TNT title means so much to him ...

Here are some highlights:

While he is happy to get the Rhodes last name back, he won't use it in the wrestling space. His real goal was to use it for third party ventures (ex. Go Big Show, acting gigs). He didn't provide any details on the negotiations but said it was a "no hard feelings" type arrangement.
He reiterated that he will never challenge for the AEW World title because stipulations matter. He later put over how much the TNT title meant to him, how it's the "ace" title, and that maybe someday, Jon Moxley could challenge him for it.
He said that Tony Khan reached out to Billy Corgan about making the Serena Deeb-Allysin Kay NWA women's title match and that the "bridges are down" when it comes to bringing in new talent.
He talked about his early comments regarding AEW being more "sports-centric" and that he was referring to his own work.
He put over the company's medical and concussion protocols and said the roster was having a meeting with Chris Nowinski today. He added that wrestling is violent and he thinks some fans have forgot that. However, while it's violent, he said it can't be so much that talent is injured. "We do ourselves no favors by running a sloppy shop."
He said the credit for the current format of AEW Dark goes to Khan with indie talents in competitive matches. The name came from the Universal Dark Universe monster movies.
He said he was "genuinely pissed" about not being no. 1 in the PWI 500 and said if wrestlers tell you they don't care about it, they aren't successful. He had a whole idea that was ruined because he didn't get the honor.
He said he and Khan are on the same page with treating legends as luminaries as he didn't like how Dusty Rhodes was treated toward the end of his career.
He was asked about whether he and Nick Aldis will face each other a third time and he was very doubtful that it would as he's happy about how the second match turned out.

Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks has a partially torn MCL and thinning of the ACL, considered a slight tear.

Bryan Alvarez reported the injuries on Wednesday's Wrestling Observer Radio, explaining that is why Jackson has been selling an injury caused by FTR Pillmanizing his ankle on a recent Dynamite.

Alvarez said Jackson suffered the injury in a July falls count anywhere match he and Nick Jackson had with The Butcher & The Blade. On the match-ending flying elbow spot off the set onto the stage (pictured above), the table leg jammed up his knee. He has been rehabbing it ever since, apparently avoiding surgery. The team has worked in eight matches since the injury.

Dave Meltzer noted this isn't the first time Jackson has taken a real life injury and turned it into a storyline, referencing a back injury he had while still with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Despite the injury, Matt Jackson stated on Twitter that he's been medically cleared for AW Tag title match at Full Gear this Saturday.

In a post-Dynamite video released on AEW's Twitter account, Tully Blanchard said he is banned from ringside for FTR's Tag Team title defense against the Young Bucks at Saturday's Full Gear.

The reason given was that because of Blanchard's repeated interference in past matches and involvement in FTR's attacks on the Bucks, AEW management made the call to bar him from ringside.

Blanchard said he is planning a lawsuit if the situation doesn't get fixed, citing that other managers haven't been treated like this. FTR said it was favoritism but that they would win anyway.

If the Bucks don't win the titles Saturday, they will never challenge for them again.

All Elite Wrestling announced they will air a special episode of AEW Dark tomorrow ahead of Full Gear, featuring:

*Christopher Daniels vs. Matt Sydal.
*Brandon Cutler vs. Michael Nakazawa.
*Sean Maluta & Ryzin vs. The Dark Order.
*Ricky Starks vs. Trevor Read.
*Chuck Taylor vs. Lee Johnson.
*Big Swole vs. Tesha Price.
*Griff Garrison vs. Ariel Dominguez.
Out of that card, Daniels vs. Sydal and Taylor vs. Johnson have potential of being very good and something I'd recommend if your interested in watching. Also a 7-match card with some potential Full Gear promotion stuff probably means its going to be somewhere in the hour to 90 minutes range for length.

WWE held a virtual all hands on deck "Town Hall" style meeting for employees this morning with Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan, Sarah Cummins (Senior Vice President, Consumer Products) and new CFO Kristina Salen, among others, taking part.

The major news was that the company is instituting a flexible work policy going forward. Depending on their role for the company, going forward, employees can choose to work from the office or home and will not be required to return full-time to the office.

WWE is still moving forward with their new HQ in Stamford, but has obviously delayed that process. They are still going to move the company to the new, much larger HQ, however.

Salen specifically stated that going forward, she will be doing presentations on the company's quarterly earnings for employees so she and the company can directly communicate with the employees. The presentations would happen after the company's earnings calls.

During a Q&A portion of the town hall, live events were brought up and the company stated that they don't know for sure when they can resume them given the current COVID-19 environment. There were also a lot of questions asking Khan and Salen about what brought them to the company.

We are told it was a mostly positive meeting with the company thanking everyone for their hard work and stressing they want to increase communication so that everyone has greater awareness of how WWE is doing.

Historian Tim Hornbaker is currently working on a biography of former WWWF Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. The book, which will be published by Crowbar Press, has been titled Master of the Ring.

Jaxson Ryker has deleted his Twitter account. He and The Forgotten Sons have not been seen on WWE programming for some time.

Internally, Ring of Honor believes ROH Champion Rush and ROH TV Champion Dragon Lee will return at next month's TV tapings.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts joined the ‘Nothing Beats Experience’ show on the ‘Premier Live TV’ YouTube channel. Jake was candid about his recent health issues that resulted in him needing a nasal cannula for the interview. Jake mentioned that his health issues arose shortly after Lance Archer contracted Coronavirus which was in late September. Roberts added that he’s battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which he’s been open about in the past. Both Archer and Roberts were featured on this week’s AEW Dark.

“I’m just gonna hit on it fairly briefly because we’re still struggling with it. About a week ago man, I just couldn’t quit coughing, and couldn’t breath. That’s not good, you know? And wound up having to get to the hospital and stay for a few days and I wish I could say this was COVID, but it’s not. It’s not. What I’ve got is worse than COVID. It’s something that was passed down to me through the bloodlines, hereditary and all that stuff and it’s not your happy camper stuff man. It’s issues with C.O.P.D. (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Of course, me being an ignorant son of b*tch, I smoke cigarettes, you dumb f*ck. Guys, if you don’t ever do anything in life, just don’t smoke and you’ll live much happier. I promise you that, really. I mean it’s the bastard companies that hook us all and get us all into that. Such bullsh*t but… it’s serious, for me. I don’t get the right amount of oxygen into my blood and that’s not good and I don’t know how much it’s going to limit me in my future. We’re testing it today for the first time to try and go do something. I know that without the oxygen, if I talk for about 20 seconds, I’m done. I can’t go anymore. It’s not there. So this is gonna be something I’m going to have to work with and the thing that I’m happy or happiest about is that I’m in AEW and they actually give a damn. It’s really wild. They actually care about the athletes, they actually get us the help that we need, they actually set up protocol so us dumb ass wrestlers don’t say, ‘Hey, I’m okay. I can get in there. I got one arm missing, you know? It’s okay.’ Wrestlers just don’t quit, we don’t quit, we don’t quit. ‘Man I can’t,’ you know? That’s what losers do. But, these guys are smart enough to protect us from ourselves and I am so over the top happy with them. The care that they’ve given Lance [Archer] because he does have the COVID and… it’s so weird man how that all happened. It’s like he went down with the COVID and then I went down the next night with this, and it’s like what? But, that’s just the way it turned out and again, I just, all I want to do is get out there and just do what I do man. That’s all I want.”

Jake talked about working on the writing team with Vince McMahon in WWF. He recalled seeing the star potential in Stone Cold Steve Austin early in Steve’s career, even when Vince didn’t think Steve could become a main-event talent.

“But, when Steve Austin came to WWF, I was helping write television, and I watched him, and I said, ‘This motherf*cker got it man. He’s got that ‘it’ factor and he don’t even know he’s got it.’ He didn’t. String ass blonde hair, get rid of that sh*t. He ain’t got none left anyway. I know how that feels but anyway, he started talking to me and I started talking to him, he wanted to get better and he was listening. Every night he was on the road, he would call me and tell me what happened in his match and how he dealt with it and how he brought it to the end, and what result it had. Did it make him bigger, smaller, what? So I worked with him. Well at the same time I’m helping write television, I’m starting to scoot him into places. Sort of as an afterthought so nobody was watching. Well then one day I told Vince [McMahon], I said, ‘That guy right there is gonna be your next super, superstar.’ ‘You kidding me Jake?’ He said, ‘That guy, he’ll never make it past fifth, sixth match. He’s not a main-eventer.’ I said, ‘The f*ck he ain’t.’ He said, ‘Do you think so?’ I said, ‘Yeah I think so,’ and we tried the thing and I guess it might’ve worked huh?”

Miro guest appeared on Chris Jericho’s ‘Talk Is Jericho’ podcast to discuss his career in WWE and his aspirations in AEW. Miro reflected on the storyline involving himself, Lana, Liv Morgan and Bobby Lashley. Miro stated that when initially informed about the storyline, Paul Heyman told him that the payoff could be a main event spot at WrestleMania.

“And I left and I stayed home for three or four months and I think Paul Heyman called us with that story, and I was like, ‘Where is it leading?’ Of course because this is my first question. Cool, it’s not my favorite story but where is it leading? ‘Main event of WrestleMania. One of the main events of WrestleMania.’ When you hear that, what are you gonna say? There’s plans and this is September, October, whatever it was so it’s a few months planned and it’s very realistic. Cool, I jumped on board and I knew it was a red flag since the beginning.

But we still — we did turn it around. I think because the story was good, it was very controversial, but it didn’t turn around once again until I started having fun. I started playing the crazy guy because Paul Heyman was telling me, ‘You don’t care about her, you’re so over it. You just wanna have fun. You’re fine to be away,’ and we got there eventually but the other side, the other camp, Vince is thinking the complete opposite of, ‘Why are you smiling? Why are you [like] this? You’re heartbroken.’ Now, they can’t get it together between each other and I’m stuck in the middle, and at the end of the day, when everything was said and done, they went all for me but during the period, I guess Vince loved Bobby [Lashley] and his heat and decided [for] him to beat me every night or whatnot" ...

Further commenting on he and Lana’s real-life marriage being brought into WWE storylines, Miro reiterated that the higher-ups in WWE were not too happy about that. He was supposed to win the Intercontinental Title prior to the news of he and Lana’s marriage becoming public but those plans were scrapped.

“I never had heat with anybody. I remember the one time I had heat was about the wedding, but that was not our fault either. When me and CJ [Lana] got engaged, they said that we leaked the pictures which is not true at all, in real life. So we were in an angle. Me and Summer [Rae] against Lana and Dolph [Ziggler], and we did get engaged but she sent that picture to the office and to some of the girls. It’s the happiest day of her life, she’s getting engaged. Somebody leaks that and they blame her, they blame me, I do jobs for six months. Our story gets cancelled that night, that night! We [were] in Chicago, I remember it because I was supposed to win the I.C. Title. We were supposed to get married with Summer. They nixed it that night and when I talked to Vince, he was like, ‘Well TMZ, it’s like CNN, it’s like world news. Everybody knows it’s true.’ I’m like, ‘What?’”

To promote AEW Full Gear, Tony Khan chatted with Bleacher Report Live to discuss the match card. While speaking about Hikaru Shida and Nyla Rose’s AEW Women’s World Title match, Khan explained Vickie Guerrero and Nyla Rose’s absence from TV and shared that Vickie was unavailable due to personal reasons.

“I would have liked — Vickie Guerrero was unavailable. Not because of illness. It was not anything like that, but Vicky had been unavailable to us for personal reasons between her and us, these last couple weeks and I would’ve liked to have seen a little bit more of Vickie and Nyla in the build and that’s because Vickie had said, ‘Nyla’s not gonna be around, not gonna do anything until she gets a chance to challenge for the title.’”

Per ‘TheCubsFan’, CMLL announced that they will not be doing live shows over the next several weeks. Play-by-play commentator/executive Julio Cesar Rivera stated that CMLL had a deal with TicketMaster for September and October shows but not beyond that. They will return to Friday nights on November 27th. CMLL’s TV shows will feature new content.

On the latest AEW Unrestricted podcast, Tony Khan joined the show to discuss all things Full Gear. During the podcast, Khan revealed that he originally wanted to use David Arquette in the MJF/Inner Circle Town Hall meeting segment on Dynamite.

“I also had an idea. I wanted to use David Arquette. I thought he would’ve been good too and David Arquette actually was the original person I wanted to use in Peter Avalon’s spot of the, ‘Can I join The Inner Circle?’ But it would’ve been a very different reaction. It would’ve been a very different reaction. They would’ve considered it maybe a little more with David Arquette as opposed to Peter Avalon.”

MJF and Chris Jericho’s Le Dinner Debonair segment aired the week prior to the Town Hall segment. Khan shared that when Jericho pitched the idea to him, he wanted it to be a dream sequence, as in when Jericho came to, he realized that he and MJF’s entire musical number was a daydream he had while at dinner.

“This was something where Chris came in and he pitched — the one thing on this little grid of stuff that I really took exception to was he pitched a dream sequence. That it would be a dream sequence where they would start singing and it would be like his dream and I was like, ‘No, we’re not gonna do that.’ We can’t do that and I can’t cannibalize the show like that but I do love the idea of Chris and Max singing.

If I could do something again in hindsight and we all agreed on this and I brought this up and everyone thought it was a good point I think. I would’ve done it in the ring. I would’ve rather done it in the ring and I think, it would’ve been challenging to do it live but we could have even taped it in the ring and I think it could have come off great but I think having it between the ropes and in the squared circle would’ve been the way to go. But, hindsight’s 20/20 but I think the idea of it was great. Now I was not gonna do it as the dream sequence but I thought that was — the idea of Chris and Max singing really appealed to me and it still does, and I think there’s a lot to it and so it definitely created conversation around this match.”

The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast welcomed Arn Anderson onto the show. Arn is in the process of trademarking the ‘Four Horseman’ name for pro wrestling purposes and he talked about what led to that decision and the process of trademarking it.

“I came up with it. I came up with the name, and it was on a promo and it just happened generically. It just kind of happened, and it came from the Bible verse and all that stuff. I’ve never trademarked it, I never owned it but I have since, since I’ve been the one constant as far as Horsemen go throughout the years, I thought, ‘Well, I will check into this’ and had a lawyer check into this, trademark lawyer and it hasn’t been trademarked. So, we’re right now in the middle of attempting to trademark that and it’s — I don’t think you can use it just for anything but — and I know you can’t but Notre Dame had some issues with it, obviously. Comes from the Bible, you can’t really fight the Bible nor do I want to. But for wrestling purposes, for appearances or the name of a group or something like that, that’s solely what I’m trying to do. Whatever we do, if anything, the name going forward, I just wanted to make sure it was protected, it’s special. Somewhere down the road, somebody might wanna break it out and use it again, who knows?”

WWE reportedly had interest in signing another indie star who will be finishing up on the indies soon, indicating he’s signed a contract.

Fightful Select reports that WWE did have interest in Alex Zayne, although doesn’t confirm whether he’s signed or not.

WWE has expressed interest in a number of indie wrestlers who have been showcased on the likes of AEW Dark and NJPW Strong recently.

Game Changer Wrestling made the announcement today that Zayne’s final indie match would be this Sunday at the promotion’s So Much Fun show.

It was reported earlier this year that the NWA reneged on releasing Zicky Dice from his contract, after it was previously claimed that he was a free agent. Fightful Select reports that his deal with the company expires at the end of the year.

Since he was the TV champion, NWA rolled over his deal on September 1 to go until the end of 2020. He then dropped the belt to Da Pope at a UWN Primetime Live show. That reportedly took place “without incident.”

According to the report, Dice has also had some heat with Nick Aldis, as well as disagreements that were “well known” in the NWA locker room.

If Dice leaves, then he will join James Storm, Ricky Starks and Royce Isaacs as wrestlers whose contracts have expired this year.

TPWW Frontpage:

Four Matches Announced for Next Week’s Dynamite and NXT (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/four-matches-announced-for-next-weeks-dynamite-and-nxt/)

Emperor Smeat

11-06-2020, 04:15 PM

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE also has the 34th incarnation of Survivor Series, the second oldest annual big event on the calendar, taking place 11/22 at the Amway Center in Orlando. The build for this year’s Survivor Series has been unique in the sense the matches are pushed on television, but the two television shows are largely in their own alternate universe with the key stars involved in programs having nothing to do with the matches.

There are still two weeks of Raw and three weeks of Smackdown left, but Raw is building some stuff when it comes to tension among the Raw men’s and women’s teams, but not building any angles yet with the Smackdown team. In the “money” spots, Roman Reigns right now has no program. His television time has been around getting Jey Uso to side with him and start a heel faction. He’s scheduled to work with Daniel Bryan, out of necessity it seems, because Bryan wasn’t positioned like a main event title contender at all when he returned.

Raw is all about a three-way program with Randy Orton as champion with Drew McIntyre and The Fiend, and an offshoot of Miz in the shadows with the Money in the Bank briefcase. None of the televised feuds except for the internal turmoil on the men’s and women’s teams relate at all to Survivor Series.

The decision was made to do a formula show, a men’s and women’s Survivor Series match and battles of the champions on each brand against each other in non-title matches. The winners and losers barely matter and in all cases won’t lead to any rematches. They’ve created a formula and decided to stick with it.

They are also advertising that all of these matches could change, which would seem to indicate title matches on television for many of the titles beforehand ...

The show also has elimination matches that in both cases should be long, as they should be five to nine falls.

There does feel like far less interest without NXT involvement. COVID is a very serious issue, but it was NXT that was the lifeblood of last year’s event and it helped elevate Rhea Ripley and Keith Lee and the overall NXT brand. Granted, it’s tough right now, as while Io Shirai and Team NXT’s could create interest in three matches, the booking of Johnny Gargano in the ring with Bobby Lashley won’t do anyone any favors even if Gargano can wrestling-wise pull it off, and with the injury to Finn Balor, there is no NXT champion in play. Plus the tag champs of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch would only serve to allow a clean finish in that match without the Street Profits or New Day beating each other.

Regarding the Twitch situation, there are some wrestlers who have been talking to Andrew Yang and a lot more just grumbling about it. As far as people thinking this could be a unification issue where they will try and stand up together or unionize, I don’t sense this or anything will do that. As far as what happens next in the political world, they do have an ally who is a fan and will push for them, but there are still a lot of things that will shake out as to whether or not anything more comes of this. If Trump wins, anything the slightest bit negative to Vince McMahon or Dana White looks to be totally off the table. If Biden wins, there is still the issue of spending time for such a relatively few people, and really, WWE talent, while they should be paid much more based on revenue generated, once you get to the main roster, the pay is very good to excellent. And just because there is existing legislation (The Ali act) for boxing that can be expanded to MMA, and that MMA fighters being real athletes resonates more with public perception, Yang would probably have more luck on that project. In the end it’s very clear WWE made the move because they want to either start something on their own or more likely make a group deal with Twitch or a similar platform and to do that can’t have people having individual deals. They also want to crack down on people using their wrestling names that WWE owns to make outside money. Many have brought up Bruce Prichard, who is an employee, is being able to continue his podcast while talent, not employees, are being stopped from making money on social media and in the case of some women, they can use their fame to make considerable money. It will be notable if they allow any future people who were indie stars like they did Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Riddle, Walter, Keith Lee, Ricochet and others coming in to use established names that WWE wouldn’t fully own. There had been talk of a meeting taking place on 10/30, but there was no meeting. Talent was made aware of no more Twitch channels and that marketing yourself on YouTube is okay

A photo was released of the people who are there to monitor the fans on Thunderdome with instructions of what exactly are immediate bans and getting the person off the air. The Heel by Nature web site was able to decipher as of this past week what WWE specifically bans: AEW, Impact, New Japan Pro Wrestling (mentions and logos) and names Enzo Amore, Tony Khan, Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes, Marty Scurll, Young Bucks, Chris Benoit, C.M. Punk, Jim Cornette, Alberto El Patron, Ryback, Ashley Massaro, Superstar Billy Graham, Vickie Guerrero and flags of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet. I’m guessing the last three are about offending their partners in China. I mean, Vickie Guerrero is a minor character on Impact but I have no idea what she did that puts her on the list, whereas Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley are not on the list. Maybe they aren’t because they were told earlier since we know of issues with people who had worn Dean Ambrose shirts being pulled ad Jericho would probably be the first guy you’d think would be on the list. Really, I can get most of the names for different reasons, Massaro on the Google issue because of the claims she made, but it does really show being spooked by Punk, Cornette, Ryback, Graham and Guerrero at a level they really shouldn’t be concerned about, although Punk was the go-to-protest chant by fans before the pandemic

The original plan for Reigns vs. Uso was just one meeting as the original Hell in a Cell booking was going to be a four-way with Reigns, Fiend, Strowman and a fourth person, which explains the Reigns-Fiend tease that was never followed up on at that time

Kylie Rae (Brianna Sparrey, 28), announced that she was no longer a pro wrestler after disappearing without calling Impact officials prior to the 10/24 Bound for Glory show.

This was the second time Sparrey had missed a high–profile show in what were apparently terrible mental health issues. Sparrey would have likely been the top women’s star in AEW. She had a unique likability factor and was a great athlete who took to pro wrestling quickly. When she started breaking through on the Chicago independent scene, we were told that she had the “it” factor that would make her a major star.

Struggles like this can be crippling in some cases. These are issues that far more people face than most realize, but obviously in her case it was at the extreme level ...

Kylie Rae, as Smilin Kylie Rae, was introduced by AEW at its press conference in Las Vegas in early 2019. At the time, she and Britt Baker were being positioned as the top babyfaces in the promotion. Baker was a good female face of the company for media purposes due to being well spoken and the uniqueness of being a practicing dentist. Rae was the better wrestler of the two and had a unique connection that would have worked big with the nature of the AEW audience. The belief is she could have connected at the Bayley/NXT level, with Cody even getting heat for once making the comparison between the two and saying Rae was the real one of the two. It’s even possible inadvertently that this turned out to be the beginning of problems, as both Cody and Rae got a tremendous amount of horrible tweets from tribal type fans, and while Cody may be able to handle that it went with the territory, not everyone is like that.

But it didn’t happen. She missed Fyter Fest with circumstances that were never explained.

When we look back, it appeared certain insecurities she had were also what made her likeable and come across as real and authentic in an often-contrived world. At the Las Vegas press conference, she was backstage pretty much sitting by herself and smiling at people. She was clearly nervous when she went in front of the fans, which she pulled off in an endearing way. She got some whistles from the guys in the audience which made her happy. She noted she had just bought a new dress and was concerned how she looked in it and how that reaction gave her confidence.

When she got a big reaction before Double or Nothing at the weigh-in event, she was moved to tears. She had uncertainty written all over her face.

When she missed Fyter Fest, where she was scheduled for a win over Leva Bates, with no explanation, and nobody was talking about it, it led to the idea of a cover-up, and in hindsight it was an attempt to keep quiet the issues that were plaguing her. In September, after she had not made any public appearances for nearly two months, Tony Khan just said that she had asked for her release, it was given, and the split up was very amicable.

Just two weeks later, she was back on the independent scene. She worked a date in Chicago as a surprise appearance and the crowd went crazy and she came across extremely grateful. A month after that, on October 20, 2019, she made a surprise appearance at the Impact Bound for Glory show in an intergender gauntlet match. She continued to work independent dates but didn’t return to Impact until March, just prior to the pandemic, when she signed a deal with the company.

She had been a regular on television ever since, and won another gauntlet match at Slammiversary on 7/18 to become the top contender for the women’s title. She was scheduled to face Deonna Purrazzo for the title on Bound for Glory.

She was in Nashville the night of the show. She never came to the PPV the next day. Obviously the company, after she didn’t arrive, tried to contact her and those who knew her in the company tried as well with no luck. The company eventually got so concerned they tried to get the hotel to conduct a wellness check. They opened up her hotel room and she was gone without a trace.

They called numerous people including her fiancé, independent wrestler Isaias Velasquez. As the show went on, the company clearly did not know how to handle a tough situation. During the show nothing was ever said about her. Before her match was to start, announcer Josh Matthews talked about Purrazzo and Kylie Rae about to start, and they played the video package produced for the match. I’m not sure why they did any of this at that point ...

Impact issued a gag order to everyone and none of the company officials, nor any wrestlers, have commented on what happened. All they knew, and this was after the show and the next day, is that she was unharmed and not injured (although she was injured in a match two weeks earlier, but she was said to be fine physically when she came to Nashville for the show). As best we can tell, everyone was sympathetic because of the belief it was a mental health issue that kicked in.

Even to this point Impact did not address the situation publicly. Whatever her issues are must be serious, because at least for now, she seemed to make it clear she is not only no longer doing pro wrestling, but is dropping adding anything new to patreon content and removing herself from social media.

Social media if a celebrity allows it to be, can be crippling from a mental standpoint due to the trolls. Every celebrity on social media has to deal with it in one form or another. With a woman celebrity, who is judged so much on their looks, it can be really cruel. Once she was upset because she had lost a good deal of weight in the past year, not that she was ever what one would call out of shape, but she got in great shape. Evidently she took criticism from people because of the idea she had dropped weight, almost the exact opposite reaction than you’d expect from male fans, but there will always be trolls. She said she was happier and felt better at her lighter weight and you could tell it was a subject that bothered her, in the sense she had trained and dieted to get in great shape and no matter what, there will always be many people who will harp on women over their looks.

AEW’s Full Gear PPV is 11/7 from Jacksonville, a show that on paper looks to be the strongest lineup in the history of the company.

Because AEW’s weakest PPV show in its history from a business standpoint (around 85,000 buys) was last year’s Full Gear, the company is going in with lesser expectations than for its other shows this year.

Instead of putting on a lesser show, they’re putting on two matches that have been teased for a long time. Adam Page vs. Kenny Omega was teased from the end of last year and throughout their tag team run, only at that point it appeared Page would be the heel and now Omega is. Young Bucks vs. FTR is an insider rivalry that dates back four years.

Whether it was two months since the last show, or competition from college football, or simply less interest in last year’s show even though it was the first one promoted by weekly television are all things this year will help us learn. Last year Tony Khan picked a date with no UFC, but ended up with stiffer competition from the younger audience with a Logan Paul fight. This year there is a UFC, but it’s a weak ESPN 2 show, but has the usual Saturday night college football to contend with.

Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston for the AEW title headlines, a match that five months ago would have been looked at as little more than a TV squash match. But the mic work by both has been strong, and the face-to-face on the go-home show was at all-time classic level. As great as Kingston has been, from television, it feels like a Moxley vs. Omega direction right now. Tony Khan confirmed them going on last, which given how strong the undercard is likely to be, is quite the challenge.

FTR vs. Young Bucks for the tag titles has two key stipulations. The first is that if the Young Bucks lose, they can never challenge for the titles again. The second is that Tully Blanchard is banned from ringside. The angle where they Pillmanized the ankle of Matt Jackson was the cover because Matt actually has a partially torn MCL and a thinning ACL. He’s doing rehab rather than surgery at this point. So this will be more of a storytelling match, although it no doubt would have been either way. The injury does affect things, but these are two of the best tag teams of the last decade working together for the first time ...

Everyone figured Full Gear tickets would sell out instantly when they were put on sale, like All Out did. But with 925 tickets put on sale on 10/30, by the next evening they had sold 841 and at press time there were 45 tickets left, all but six priced at $130 or more. With business partners tickets, they will put slightly more than 1,000 fans in the building which would be the second largest U.S. crowd for wrestling since the pandemic. But this is a great lineup and forget about the local market, it tells you people are not willing to travel in great numbers right now for an AEW show.

I don’t think this is a fair sign of anything past the difficulties in selling tickets to a major live wrestling event right now. I don’t take this so much as a representation of the drawing ability of the product but simply just how few people are willing to travel in at this time, and the oversaturation with running live almost every Wednesday night in Jacksonville.

My suspicion is when WWE moves out of Orlando if they go to a place and sell tickets, they’ll probably sell out instantly the first week with huge demand and then really struggle by a few weeks as well. If WWE tries to sell even a small amount of tickets in a new market, it’ll be every Monday and Friday, and one Sunday per month, all in the same building. So they may end up with the same issues, which also won’t be indicative of the true market strength of the product as much as the circumstances.

While New Japan gets a lot of credit for the Shibata crew, nobody has the level of young talent that Dragon Gate has right now, with Ishida, Skywalker, Dia Inferno, Kota Minoura, Dragon Dia, Strong Machine J, Kobune, Taketo Kamei and Madoka Kikuta. All are 26 or under and most are 20 to 22. Kobune, Kamei and Kikuta are all legitimate rookies and Kobune is this year’s rookie of the year standout. Dragon Gate also has another ten wrestlers waiting to debut.

AAA: Konnan was on his podcast talking about the Marvel deal. He said the original plan was a stadium show in Monterrey after the very successful TripleMania Regia show where they would debut the new characters. Konnan specifically said Terror Purpura, who will be the Thanos character, will be the dominant character. Everything about the Thanos character I’ve heard indicates to me that if he hadn’t signed with WWE, that Killer Kross would have had a good shot at the role. Plus, Konnan was always singing his praises about being a superstar.. He said Marvel is very detail oriented on this project right down to how the characters walk to the ring. Marvel, AAA and fashion designer Vero Solis will be putting together a Marvel superhero themed clothing line as well

[AAA] They did the drive-in shows at the Hermano Rodriguez race track in Mexico City this weekend. The biggest show on 11/1 aired live on Facebook and got great reviews ... This was the last of the drive-in shows so at this point nothing is on the schedule except TripleMania, and that doesn’t have an official date. This was the last show for the promotion for at least a few weeks

During the show Hugo Savinovich talked about the Colon family of Carlito, Orlando “Epico” and Eddie “Primo” were coming to AAA as would be Lio Rush. Konnan has a long friendship with the Colons and he’s a big fan of Lio Rush’s work

Even though he’s not even wrestling on this tour, Jeff Cobb is still in Japan and staying through New Year’s Dash. He’s basically living at the dojo and training. Cobb has no real role unless he ends up in The Empire group which was talked about but the spot went to Great O’Khan. He’s their own trainee and it’s time for him to get a push so he does. It’s just how it works there even though Cobb would have worked out so much better in the spot. But he still could be an addition. He was to be in the tag team tournament but his planned partner (Mikey Nicholls) couldn’t get to Japan

The death of Sean Connery, the original James Bond, at 90 on 10/31, leads to a few notes on Bond/wrestling crossovers. Connery was first discovered after placing third in the 1953 Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest. He had two notable villain opponents in movies who were famous pro wrestlers. In the 1964 movie “Goldfinger,” former Olympic silver medalist in weightlifting, Harold Sakata, who became pro wrestler Tosh Togo, was cast as his villain rival Oddjob, with a magic hat. That role ended up being considered one of the all-time classic villain roles in action movies. After the movie came out, he changed his wrestling name to “Oddjob Tosh Togo” for the rest of his career and was billed as a movie star. In the 1967 movie, “You Only Live Twice,” he had a fight scene with Peter Anderson, who as Peter Maivia, the grandfather of Dwayne Johnson, who went on to become one of pro wrestling’s biggest superstars of the late 60s and 70s. Actually the scene of Maivia, who was known in wrestling as a famed streetfighter, throwing Connery threw a window was reminiscent of the famous 1969 brawl he had with Billy Robinson. Later in his Bond career, British heavyweight star and former bodybuilder Wayne Bridges was used as Connery’s body double at times

Laredo Kid from AAA, ACH, Lio Rush and Davey Boy Smith Jr. were at the last set of [MLW] tapings. They were taping multiple shows daily with no audience and it was said to be a very hard

Relations between Court Bauer and Smith are said to be fine. Smith said he’s known Bauer since 2004 when he was a teenager and he’s always liked him. He’s under contract through 12/18. He was going to start as a regular with All Japan at the Champion Carnival tournament and then the pandemic hit. He was at Chris Jericho’s Halloween party this past week and spoke to Tony Khan but they aren’t talking any business until after his MLW deal is up. He’s had interest from WWE, Khan expressed interest, and there is interest from All Japan, Impact and MLW and has no favorite or leaning past saying this decision will be made based on offer and whatever makes the most sense business-wise.

The reason there was no Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Best Friends match on the [AEW Full Gear 2020] PPV is the decision was made to keep that as a long-term Dynamite program, similar to Best Friends vs. Santana & Ortiz and Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks

Regarding Pac, the issue isn’t as much getting him into the U.S. as getting him back. Every time he goes back he would have to go through two weeks of quarantine. But they do have something in place for him to return

The WWE Network is promoting November around Undertaker so the live feed is featuring tons of Undertaker compilations and documentaries and because of that, it dominates the rankings. Much of the rankings are based on what shows air in the right time slots on the regular streaming feed as opposed to VOD. This week there was also a huge increase for NXT because of the Havoc show and NXT U.K. because of the word of mouth of the Walter vs. Ilja Dragunov match. Viewership numbers for all but the live specials aren’t that large so word-of-mouth can greatly affect the ranking. The top ten this week was: 1. Meeting The Undertaker; 2. Hell in a Cell; 3. Undertaker’s Most Bone Chilling matches; 4. NXT from 10/28; 5. Uncool with Alexa Bliss with Tyler Breeze; 6. NXT U.K. from 10/29; 7. WrestleMania 30; 8. Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory with Zelina Vega; 9. Talking Smack on 10/31; 10. Best of WCW Halloween Havoc. 205 Live wasn’t top 25 and there were no other secondary shows in the top 25 nor any independent shows or compilations

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings:

Raw on 11/2 did 1,656,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49, making it the fifth lowest total viewers in history and tied for fourth lowest in 18-49, and hour three was the least watched hour in the history of the show.

The number was a combination of factors to where you can throw a lot of this out. The show has done notably better since moving to the Thunderdome, but this was the day before the election and that was going to hurt somewhat.

In addition, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New York Giants football game on ESPN did 11,703,000 viewers, 3.54 in 18-49 and 2.46 in 18-34. It was also a game where the outcome was in the balance in the third hour, an hour wrestling numbers plummeted.

Hour three had 1,455,000 viewers, breaking the all-time record low of 1,463,000 set by hour three on 7/27, during the dead Performance Center period when the TV was setting record lows.

The second-to-third hour drop of 16.7 percent was the third largest second-to-third hour drop in history, trailing only shows this year on 2/17 and 3/30. The hour was built around New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander in a non-title match, Ricochet vs. Tucker and Drew McIntyre in a handicap match against The Miz & John Morrison. The bottom line is that what they were teasing, a Randy Orton comeback on McIntyre and the handicap match, wasn’t something that got people to stay, but the competition was definitely a factor in that.

The show did 1,767,000 viewers in the first hour. The second hour did 1,747,000 viewers.

Hour three also was the lowest watched ever for 25-54, 50+ and second lowest (behind 9/7) for men 18-49 in the history of the show.

Raw was No. 39 overall and No. 9 in 18-49 ...

It was down 4.4 percent in viewers from last week and 5.9 percent in 18-49. It was the least-watched Raw show since 8/17, which was when it bottomed out before the comeback in the Thunderdome.

As compared to last year, on a show that also did poorly (at the time the fourth lowest non-holiday show in history), it was down 22.4 percent in viewers, 36.8 percent in 18-49 and 43.8 percent in 18-34.

Smackdown on 10/30 did strong numbers with a 1.36 rating and 2,286,000 viewers (1.39 viewers per home, well above normal) and an 0.65 (849,000 viewers) in 18-49.

It was the best 18-49 number since 3/27 and viewers were the highest overall number since 9/11, a show which drew big over the novelty of the Thunderdome. It actually beat the draft show in both numbers, although a major key was lack of sports competition as compared to the past two months, not that quality and interest in storylines aren’t the biggest reason.

It was up 4.4 percent in households from two weeks ago, 17.7 percent in viewers, 17.4 percent in 18-49 and 25.0 percent in 18-34. The biggest take is they kept the audience throughout the show as this was the first episode of Raw or Smackdown in recent memory where the last segment actually was the highest rated, which tells you that the Roman Reigns/Jey Uso situation resonated in a way that changed usual viewer habits.

They’ve been battling constant competition at the level of an NBA or MLB playoff game. The other thing is that on a network station, a large percentage of the homes with network access doesn’t have cable access. Network competition is way down due to the absence of new scripted prime time shows. Aside from Shark Tank on ABC, everything else on network TV were reruns and news.

Smackdown tied Shark Tank for first place on television in 18-49 but Smackdown was far ahead with males 18-49 ...

Smackdown still had the fewest viewers of any network show except a rerun of America Ninja Warrior that did 1,945,000 viewers, but only 0.3 in 18-49. Smackdown’s total viewer number was so much lower than all the other network shows because it was last by a pretty big margin in 50+.

Because Smackdown was on FS 1 last week, any comparisons only show how much different airing on cable and network is, given it rose from 881,000 viewers and 0.25 in 18-49. The same thing happened, actually worse, last year. The combination of no World Series and cable vs. network was worth 2.6 times the number of total viewers and 2.6 times the number of 18-49 viewers.

As compared to the same week last year, although last year was against strong network competition, it was down only 9.6 percent in viewers, a far lesser drop than Smackdown or Raw have done as compared to last year in a long time, down 20.0 percent in 18-49 and 33.3 percent in 18-34. Basically that shows even on a very good week the show has “aged up” notably as compared to the same period last year.

In the segments, the big news was the final segment with the Sasha Banks/Bayley and Roman Reigns/Jey Uso plus Uso vs. Daniel Bryan match which did 2.34 million viewers. It was the highest segment in recent memory and the first time the last half hour was the highest rated on the show also in recent memory. The first half our with Reigns & Uso plus Kevin Owens vs Dolph Ziggler did 2.32 million viewers The second half hour with Lars Sullivan, Aalyah and Murphy and Bianca Belair vs. Natalya vs. Billie Kay did 2.22 million viewers. The Murphy, Aalyah, Seth Rollins, Rey & Dominik Mysterio segment plus Street Profits vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro did 2.27 million viewers.

Due to election coverage leading to the top 54 shows on cable being all news shows on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, the wrestling shows took a hit.

Because of both AEW and NXT being out of the top 50, we don’t have the usual ratings details.

AEW was No. 56 doing 717,000 viewers and 0.30 (383,000 viewers) in 18-49. NXT was No. 68, doing 610,000 viewers and 0.14 (181,000 viewers) in 18-49.

There are only a few basic takes. As far as the numbers, they are probably indicative of about as low numbers as either show could get based on competition, because they will likely never face another night quite like this, or at least not for four years. But they do show that the AEW audience has changed greatly over the past year. Last year, AEW would be hit hard by sports and big news events, while this year it holds up much better. It was only down 8.2 percent in viewers and 6.8 percent in 18-49 from last week. In particular, the 18-49 number was stunning that it was that high.

The other thing of note is that NXT doing the big number for Halloween Havoc, did not maintain any momentum off it. In particular, they had 28,000 viewers 18-34 as compared with 102,000 the week before. The numbers are about what would have been expected against this level of news, maybe older viewers doing a little better, but at 18-49, that would be the worse than expected. They did less than half of AEW in every key demo but women 35-49. But the issue is that the hope was last week with the matches and key angles was good enough to keep at least some of the new audience away from AEW and that didn’t happen.

NXT was down 30.4 percent from last week in viewers and 44.5 percent in 18-49, so they did the worst at keeping the fans who checked out last week’s show than the rest of their new viewers ...

By demo, in male 18-34, AEW had 56,000 viewers (down 15.2 percent from last week) and NXT had 13,000 (down 79.0 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 64,000 viewers (down 15.8 percent) and NXT had 15,000 (down 62.5 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 184,000 viewers (up 3.4 percent) and NXT had 92,000 viewers (down 37.8 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 79,000 viewers (down 23.3 percent) and NXT had 61,000(down 19.7 percent).

In the main event segment, AEW nearly tripled NXT in the key demo. AEW with Cody & Billy & Austin Gunn vs. Colt Cabana & Preston Vance & John Silver did 700,000 viewers and 392,000 in 18-49. NXT with Velveteen Dream vs. Tommaso Ciampa did 551,000 viewers and 149,000 in 18-49.

NXT, with its stronger lead-in, actually won the first two quarters but declined throughout the show, losing 34 percent of its 18-49 audience and 23.8 percent overall from start-to-finish, which was worse than a bad Raw does. AEW finished 17.0 percent up from where it started in 18-49, although in total viewers it was down 1.0 percent. The peak of the show across the board was The Young Bucks vs. Private Party match, which also skewed the youngest. AEW skewed slightly younger than usual overall while NXT skewed its oldest to date, with a median viewer nearing 60.

In the first quarter, AEW did 707,000 viewers and 335,000 in 18-49 for MJF & Wardlow vs. Sammy Guevara & Ortiz. NXT did 723,000 viewers and 226,000 in 18-49 for Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai.

In the second quarter, AEW did 656,000 viewers and 321,000 in 18-49 for a Tony Schiavone interview with Kenny Omega and the first part of Trent vs. Miro. NXT did 672,000 viewers and 199,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Moon vs. Kai, some promos and the beginning of Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes.

In the third quarter, AEW did 707,000 viewers and 366,000 in 18-49 for the end of Trent vs. Miro and the post-match. NXT did 600,000 viewers and 182,000 in 18-49 for Kushida vs. Grimes.

In the fourth quarter, AEW did 739,000 viewers and 424,000 in18-49 for an FTR/Young Bucks video package, a Taz & Brian Cage & Ricky Starks promo and the beginning of Young Bucks vs. Private Party. NXT did 632,000 viewers and 180,000 in 18-49 for Killian Dain & Drake Maverick vs. Ever Rise, the Pat McAfee crew beatdown and McAfee promo.

In the fifth quarter, AEW did 762,000 viewers and 428,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks vs. Private Party and the post-match beatdown with FTR, Adam Page and Kenny Omega. NXT did 610,000 viewers and 187,000 in 18-49 for the end of the McAfee crew promo and burning the Undisputed Era banner, beating up Dain in the parking lot, a Johnny Gargano video and the beginning of Shotzi Blackheart vs. Toni Storm.

In the sixth quarter, AEW did 711,000 viewers and 399,000 in 18-49 for the Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley in-ring and Pac video from Japan. NXT did 570,000 and 173,000 in 18-49 for Storm vs. Blackheart and the tank angle with Candice LeRae.

In the seventh quarter, AEW did 752,000 viewers and 401,000 in 18-49 for Nyla Rose vs. Red Velvet, the Vickie Guerrero promo and the Omega & Page video. NXT did 522,000 viewers and what may be a record low 140,000 in 18-49 for Thatch-as-Thatch-can with Akeem, and promos by Xia Li and Rhea Ripley.

In the final quarter, AEW’s main event lost 52,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 while NXT gained 29,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49.

xrodmuc316

11-06-2020, 05:32 PM

"Raw on 11/2 did 1,656,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49, making it the fifth lowest total viewers in history and tied for fourth lowest in 18-49, and hour three was the least watched hour in the history of the show."

Still more than Dynamite in demos and total viewers
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

https://i.imgflip.com/4kc7uk.jpg

xrodmuc316

11-06-2020, 05:49 PM

https://i.imgflip.com/4ldjzj.jpg

erickman

11-07-2020, 06:53 AM

so with the look like biden win, will yang get to go after vince and the wwe

Emperor Smeat

11-10-2020, 09:28 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's Raw opened somewhat strong, and had a big drop throughout the show, but the key demo numbers were overall well up from last week as the episode averaged 1.69 million viewers and a 0.53 in 18-49.

The show placed fourth in 18-49, trailing only three NFL related shows on ESPN. The New York Jets-New England Patriots game head-to-head did 9.83 million viewers and a 2.79 in 18-49 and 2.06 in 18-34, which is lower than games in most weeks.

The other notable thing was a 17 percent first-to-third hour drop which left WWE with one of the lowest hour threes on record.

Last year on this same weekend, Raw set its all-time record low numbers.

Last night's Raw was 40th overall, but first among entertainment shows overall and in every key demo except with women, finishing in the fourth spot behind the three ESPN football related shows in 18-49, men 18-49, 18-34, and males 12-34.

The show was up two percent in viewers, but up 10 percent in 18-49 as compared to last week. As compared to what was the record low show one year ago this week, Raw was down 18 percent in viewers, 17 percent in 18-49, and 30 percent in 18-34. The drops were much less than the drops have been since March.

As far as the viewers leaving last night, it was far more men than women. First-to-third hour drops were five percent in women 18-49, far lower than usual, and 23 percent in men 18-49, much higher than usual. Teenage girls actually gained 13 percent during the show, a demo that rarely fares that well. Teenage boys were down 29 percent, far worse than usual, while over 50 dropped 16 percent.

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 1.85 million viewers
9 p.m. 1.69 million viewers
10 p.m. 1.53 million viewers

A second title match is set for the return of MLW Fusion.

MLW has announced that Middleweight Champion Myron Reed will defend his title against Brian Pillman Jr. on the Wednesday, November 18 episode of MLW Fusion. An MLW World Heavyweight Championship match with Jacob Fatu defending against Davey Boy Smith Jr. is also airing on the episode.

Fusion will premiere on the fubo Sports Network and YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesdays. The show will also air on beIN Sports at 10 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays and will be available on demand via DAZN.

For the first time since going on hiatus from holding events in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MLW held a set of closed set television tapings in Florida last month.

Prior to the announcement of Reed vs. Pillman Jr., MLW's Court Bauer had said in an interview with DAZN that MLW would be adding another title match or two to the card for the November 18 Fusion episode

Deadline.com reported this evening that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will be producing a reboot of the film character that launched him in Hollywood, The Scorpion King, but likely won't play the character. Johnson and his partner Dani Garcia will produce along with Seven Bucks Productions’ Hiram Garcia.

The Rock first played the character in 2001's The Mummy Returns, a sequel to the Universal film starring Brendan Frasier. A spin-off movie dove into the background of the Scorpion King, starring Johnson in 2002, leading to a series of direct to video sequels that Johnson was not involved in.

Braun Strowman is once again a babyface, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Although Strowman was flipped to the heel side on Smackdown after being pulled into a swamp by Bray Wyatt and just a few weeks ago, purposely nailed Keith Lee in the nether regions on the 10/20 edition of Monday Night Raw, Strowman is internally considered a babyface for the Raw brand.

Strowman will represent Raw during Survivor Series, teaming with Lee, AJ Styles, Sheamus and Riddle.

There has been a lot of talk internally over the last week that the company will be reviving Tribute to the Troops next month. With the exception of 2019, Tribute has been broadcast since December 2003, the Tribute to the Troops event first began as a USO tour put together by WWE where they would bring a live event over to American troops stationed in the Middle East and tour different bases meeting with servicemen and women. Over the years, Tribute events have been held in Iraq and Afghanistan before moving to domestic locations starting with 2010. Since 2010, the show has evolved into a patriotic event designed to celebrate those who have entered into military service for the United States. The Tribute events have led to WWE being honored by the USO, The Army and Air Force Exchange Program and the G.I. Combat Film Festival and other accolades. Last year's event was not televised but took place in Jacksonville, North Carolina at Marine Corps Air Station New River.

Vince McMahon was not in attendance at this past Friday's Smackdown taping, the first taping he has missed since the Thunderdome concept was executed. Bruce Prichard oversaw the taping. McMahon was in attendance and running last night's Raw taping.

WWE filed a trademark for the term "The Way" on 11/5. Could it be someone is a fan of The Mandalorian?
Supposedly this might be for the return of No Way Jose based on a recent report from Fightful.

Pro Wrestling Junkies hosted a virtual meet-and-greet session with AEW’s Miro. Miro praised the young talent that AEW has on hand and mentioned a “young team/two twins from Minnesota” who compete in AEW which would be Air Wolf (Darius Martin) and Angel Dorado (Daunte Martin). Miro stated that the duo is signed. This has not been confirmed by AEW.

“We have such outstanding, young talent and I’m talking about the future of this business. I’m talking about these kids. I saw these kids and they’re signed so, these two twins that I saw, they’re from Minnesota I think. I think they’re from Minnesota. One of these kids had like an 80-inch vertical and they’re like 19-years old and they’re moving fluidly and once they find each other, they’re gonna be the future of the tag team division and those are just two guys and we have probably another 15 ready to go.”

Alison Rosen welcomed Alexa Bliss onto her ‘Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend’ podcast. During the Q&A portion of their chat, Bliss was asked about WWE labeling their talents as independent contractors and if she feels safe working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“WWE takes care of us 100 percent. You know, we all are in a contract and anything that happens inside the ring, WWE takes care of. Our health is 100 percent priority. Our health and safety is 100 percent priority in the company and you know, unfortunately we’re living in the middle of a cancel culture where people try to start rumors and make their assumption of things and there’s never been a time where I’ve ever felt uncomfortable about being in the ring or have ever felt forced [to be] in the ring. Even when I was injured, I had concussions and Vince [McMahon] said, ‘Alright, we’re gonna send you to the best specialists there are’ and he did and I saw a concussion specialist and they went above and beyond to take care of me and I know everyone feels that way.”

Dominik and Rey Mysterio sat down with Lilian Garcia to record a new episode of ‘Chasing Glory’. Rey stated that initially, Dominik wasn’t supposed to make his in-ring debut until 2021 but the opportunity with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam came about organically.

“We weren’t expecting this opportunity so quickly. We were still giving it about another year of training. We started to negotiate with WWE to potentially sign [a] developmental deal, and we said, ‘Okay, he’ll sign. Go train at the Performance Center, get ready and be ready by 2021, mid [2021].’ This opportunity presented itself. I said, ‘I can’t say yes or no. It’s up to you, however you feel.’”

Dave Marquez was interviewed by Wrestling Inc. Dave reflected on his time as Vice President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and recalled the company wanting to refer to Finn Balor as “King Devitt: King of the Leprechauns”.

“I really like it [NJPW and UWN collaborating]. It gives a lot more opportunity to people that you probably would never see in Tokyo, especially during my time there. I had a hell of a time getting people booked in New Japan and from the dojo. Even Samoa Joe back in the day, they didn’t want him. There’s many others. The whole Fergal Devitt piece, and they wanted to call him ‘King Devitt: King of the Leprechauns’ back then. And I was like, ‘No, no, no, don’t do that. Please don’t do that.’ I pitched the ‘Prince’ name, and luckily, they went with him. I was like, ‘He’s young. He’s exotic-looking, and he’s a very handsome man. He looks like an underwear model. He’s a prince. He’s royal.’”

Lance Archer explains several aspects of his character.

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Archer touched on the "Everybody Dies" catchphrase that he keeps saying on AEW programming. Archer said the phrase is the idea of take advantage of the opportunities presented to you right now and not let it pass by.

"There's kind of that underlying meaning to the phrase 'Everybody Dies' that's like everybody's career ends at some point. I've been lucky and blessed over 20 years now and still going strong and at a top level with a top company in the business of professional wrestling but at some point, it will come to an end. I don't know when and I don't plan on it being any time soon, but this has been my biggest and best opportunity and the waves that AEW is making in the whole world of professional wrestling from the very first All In event, I was very supportive of that, simply for the fact that I knew what it could do to change the business of professional wrestling... going back to the mantra of 'Everybody Dies', it's like take your chances now. Don't let anything pass you by. Kick ass now and apologize later if you have to," Archer said.

As far as his "Murderhawk Monster" nickname, Archer said it came from his desire to re-define himself as he was getting ready to compete in the 2019 G1 Climax. It included a change in hair and when he described the mohawk he had as a "Murderhawk," the name stuck with him and added the monster at the end.

"So last year when the G1 happened it was one of those situations where I took it upon myself, I was like 'This is a big opportunity'. Initially I wasn't even in the G1 for that year, they were starting in Dallas, I was going to be on that show and then I was included into the G1. I had been part of a great tag team, KES, Killer Elite Squad for many years and this was my first real coming out part as a singles wrestler in New Japan since before Davey Boy Smith Jr. had joined New Japan back in 2012 and KES had just gotten started. I just did everything I could to change every part of me that was known to the wrestling world and the G1 was such a huge platform. We were going to be live on AXS TV in the United States of America so it was just one of those situations where I was like I am going to change everything. The initial hair was not the braid, it was more of a crazy poofed up Mohawk thing and we started calling it this crazy Mohawk and this and that and I was like, 'It's not a Mohawk, it's a Murderhawk' and then it morphed into the Murderhawk Monster. Everybody's had their 'monster' monikers in professional wrestling world throughout history but I just thought it was fun to say; Murderhawk Monster," Archer said.

Ryu Lee was in Japan, but left in the middle of quarantine.

According to Joe Lanza and Rich Kraetsch of Voices of Wrestling, Ryu Lee was reportedly sent home from Japan while in the middle of his quarantine. It is unknown why he left and abandoned his quarantine.

Lee was in Japan prior to New Japan Pro-Wrestling releasing its list of participants for Best of Super Juniors 27. Lee was not one of the participants in the tournament. He has competed in the last three Best of Super Juniors tournaments and posted the following tweet on October 8.

The Best of Super Juniors lineup was announced on November 2.

Lee has not wrestled during the pandemic. His last bout was in February at ROH Gateway To Honor 2020 when he defended the ROH Television Championship against Dak Draper.

Lee's contract with ROH expires in December. ROH is back on television, but Lee has not been part of the tapings.
Might be related to recent rumors of him having scheduling issues with his current commitments to ROH and ROH wanting him for their next set of tapings next month. Wouldn't be able to follow through with those ROH commitments if he had been involved with NJPW's upcoming Best of the Super Jrs tournament.

There have been additional staff let go from World Wrestling Entertainment on Friday, PWInsider.com has confirmed, mostly logistical and behind the scenes staff working out of Stamford, CT. One source believed it was 10-15 staffers in total.

The most well known name who has been let go is former ring announcer Tony Chimel, who has been with the company officially since 1991 and was the first announcer for the Smackdown brand. A friend of Gino "Gorilla Monsoon" Marella's family, Chimel got his first break announcing local WWF events in the Northeast and helping at events dating back to 1983.

SuperLuchas.com is reporting that WWE Spanish language announcer Jerry Soto, 39, was let go from World Wrestling Entertainment on Friday 11/6 as part of the depatures PWInsider.com reported earlier today.

Soto was signed by with WWE in October, 2011, after Hugo Savinovich was fired by the company.

Univision has divested itself of The El Rey Network, it was announced over the weekend, leaving as an investor in the cable entity, which broadcast four seasons of Lucha Underground and currently airs Vampiro Unleashed, a talk show hosted by the lucha legend. This means network founder and film director Robert Rodriguez will continue on, operating the network independently. What this means for the network's current and future distribution remains to be seen.

Although she has announced she has retired as a professional wrestler, Kylie Rae remains under contract to Impact Wrestling, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Last night’s WWE RAW featured a line on commentary where Byron Saxton mentioned WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Nia Jax vs. RAW Women’s Champion Asuka being “WrestleMania main event worthy.”

That line was included in the commentary on purpose, according to Fightful Select.

It was noted that the line was scripted and completely instructed to Saxton. There was no ad-libbing on Saxton’s part for that line as it was a total directive from WWE officials.

There’s no word yet on if this means they are planning Jax vs. Asuka as one of the WrestleMania 37 matches. We’re still several months away from the big event and plans can obviously change, especially for the women’s division.

WWE is set to exit Orlando’s Amway Center, moving production of its ThunderDome to a new venue in December.

While no official announcement on a new location has been announced, WWE has been in discussions with various venues to host its interactive fan experience.

In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned discussions WWE had on moving the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg, FL.

“Believe it or not, Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg has been talked about, which is a baseball stadium,” Meltzer stated. I mean it’s good that you’re in central Florida. I think everybody wants to run Florida, because so many of the guys live there, it’s cheaper, you’re not going to get shutdown, they they start shutting things down all over the country, you’re pretty confident Florida, because the governor isn’t going to shut anything down, but that’s a big empty building. I know there’s all kinds of other indoor buildings they’ve talked to as well”

TPWW Frontpage:

AEW Announces Three New Video Games with One from Yukes & WWF No Mercy Director (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/aew-announces-three-new-video-games-with-one-from-yukes-wwf-no-mercy-director/)
AEW: More on Elite Deletion Match, Anthony Bowens Signing Update, Countdown to Full Gear Ratings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/aew-more-on-elite-deletion-match-anthony-bowens-signing-update-countdown-to-full-gear-ratings/)
NJPW Announces Full List of Teams & Match Schedule for World Tag League 2020 (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/njpw-announces-full-list-of-teams-match-schedule-for-world-tag-league-2020/)

Emperor Smeat

11-11-2020, 06:53 PM

The Sheets:

The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel) are headed to WWE, Wrestling Inc. has learned.

As previously reported, the trio are currently free agents. During a segment on last night's episode of Impact Wrestling, it was revealed that the group were being evicted from The Treehouse because they haven't paid rent in two years.

Wrestling Inc. has learned learned that the group has a standing offer from WWE. While they have not yet officially signed the deal, it is just considered a formality and they are expected to join the company.

In their final match with Impact, Miguel will team with Rich Swann to face Xavier and Wentz on next week's episode of Impact Wrestling.

Impact Wrestling continues to add more matches to Saturday's Turning Point event on their Impact Plus streaming service, announcing two more bouts on social media Wednesday.

After his successful defense of the title Tuesday in a win over TJP, X Division Champion Rohit Raju is reopening his "Defeat Raju Challenge", opening it up to anyone on the roster to challenge for the belt.

The other new match will feature Chris Sabin and newfound partner James Storm against XXXL (Acey Romery and Larry D). Sabin found himself partnerless due to Alex Shelley's recent neck injury, but after defeating Romero Tuesday, XXXL beat him up and left him laying. He asked Storm backstage if he would help back him up against his enemies and the "Cowboy" accepted.

The matches round out an already deep card for Saturday:

World Champion Rich Swann vs. Sami Callihan
Knockouts Champion Su Yung vs. Deonna Purrazzo
Tag Team Champions The North vs. Good Brothers
Jordynne Grace/Tenille Dashwood vs. Rosemary/Taya Valkyrie
Brian Myers vs. Swoggle
Moose vs. Willie Mack
Eddie Edwards vs. Daivari
X Division Champion Rohi Raju open challenge
Chris Sabin and James Storm vs. XXXL

New NWA Tag Team Champions were crowned on this week's edition of UWN Primetime Live.

Aron Stevens & JR Kratos defeated James Storm & Eli Drake on Primetime Live last night to win the NWA Tag Team titles. The match was originally announced as Storm & Drake vs. Stevens & The Question Mark, but Stevens came out for the match alone. Kratos attacked Storm & Drake, then Stevens said no one could prove Kratos isn't The Question Mark.

Stevens & Kratos got the win after Kratos low blowed Storm.

The finals are set in the UWN World Title tournament.

Mike Bennett will meet Chris Dickinson in the finals to crown a UWN World Champion. The bout will take place on the November 24 episode of UWN Primetime Live.

Dickinson advanced to the finals by defeating Fred Rosser in the semi-finals on Tuesday. Dickinson defeated Peter Avalon in the first round of the tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Bennett defeated Shawn Daivari in the semi-finals on Tuesday after previously defeating Kevin Martinson in the first round

With MLW Fusion returning next week, this week's episode of MLW Underground will be the last retro episode to air for at least a few weeks as the promotion focuses on its Restart with the 11/19 episode, which will be headlined by MLW Champion Jacob Fatu vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed vs. Brian Pillman Jr.

This won't be the last of Underground as there are plans for it to continue, in some fashion, on BeIN Sport.

There are plans to feature Kevin Von Erich in a larger role on MLW programming as part of the Restart. The idea is to feature him as sort of a wise old sage style mentor to the younger talents. Think Luke Skywalker from the most recent Star Wars trilogy.

IWA Puerto Rico is working with MLW on Richard Holliday defending the Caribbean title in Puerto Rico, something that has been teased for some time as part of his storyline with Savio Vega.

There is interest in Chris and Patrick Voros, who are an identical twin tag team out of Canada. There's also been talk of 27 year old Jon'tae Kieth, who works independents in the Mid-West and Sefa Fatu, the youngest son of WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, coming in as well.

More cast members have been announced for the upcoming John Cena "Peacemaker" HBO Max spinoff series. Robert Patrick will play Auggie Smith. Chris Conrad will take the role of The Vigilante/Adrian Chase. Danielle Brooks will play Leota Adebayo. And Jennifer Holland will reprise her role from the James Gunn feature "Suicide Squad" film as NSA agent Emma Harcourt, who works with A. R. G. U. S. to monitor the activities of the Suicide Squad.

In September, HBO Max ordered an eight-episode first season for the character starring Cena with James Gunn, the writer and director of Squad and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy returning to write and direct the series. The series will explore Peacemaker's background before the Suicide Squad film. In promotional material for the film, Cena has described this take on Peacemaker as a "douchey Captain America." Gunn is writing all eight episodes of "Peacemaker" and will be directing many of the episodes as well.

Cena's portrayal of Peacemaker is the first ever live action incarnation of the character, a soldier and super-hero who loves peace so much he is willing to kill for it. The character was originally created by Charlton Comics but acquired by DC in the mid-80s.

WWE announced they are seeking a Talent Brand Manager for the company in what appears to be the first step in the company operating as their own agency and management firm for their talents for outside projects, sponsorships, etc.

The listing notes

WWE Talent Management Group will deliver best-in-class 360-degree support of Talent across all internal lines of business and key external partners, amplifying Talent brand value and maximizing monetization opportunities for Talent and WWE.

AEW president Tony Khan recently spoke with TSN.ca on the state of the company throughout the pandemic and looking ahead to 2021. About a possible relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Khan noted he wanted to see NJPW reciprocate after several of his performers have gone over for shows since AEW launched. Khan added that with the removal of Harold Meij, he feels it might be easier:

"With New Japan, it’s been a little more one-sided where we’ve sent people there and I haven’t really had people from New Japan show up on my TV [programming] yet. I’d like to see more of a two-sided relationship there because I’m honestly one of the easiest people to work with in wrestling. We’ve worked with NWA, we’ve worked with AAA and we’ve sent people to New Japan. I think with Harold [Meij] being gone, I don’t know if it’s going to be easier, but I have a feeling it might be."

Khan added the following regarding the third hour of programming that he says is confirmed for 2021, although the date is not official:

"We’ve worked it out with TNT. It’s 100 percent going to launch in 2021. I don’t have the exact date yet, but I would look out for it soon and it’s right around the corner."

AEW champion Jon Moxley spoke with Fight Game Media confirming the company adjusted plans for Full Gear after the first match between Moxley and Eddie Kingston on the anniversary episode in October. Moxley stated they had plans involving him and Lance Archer but after the match with Kingston he saw the obvious direction coming out of it:

"I had a whole other set of plans for everything I was going to do with Lance (Archer), I had a whole different thing. I won’t reveal it in case I go back to it and do something similar.

The thing with Eddie (Kingston), it was just a bridge for the night, like we have this big advertised main event but it’s 2020 and like, as we all know and the fans are sympathetic to – we show up on the day, someone could have been in contact with somebody and now it’s all f—ing scrapped, so you just have to be able to pivot and do something else. I was just focused on that night with Eddie but literally as soon as the match was over, I choked him out, he’s like ‘I didn’t tap, this is bulls—” and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s so obvious, he didn’t tap’ because he got choked out, so then, I Quit Match – four weeks of promos, easy money.

I haven’t handpicked any opponent – whatever they’ve put in front of me for this whole title reign, whatever opponent, whatever style I just try to take on that new challenge every single time but this one I kind of gave a nod, it just makes all the sense in the world because we hadn’t finalized the plans yet for the pay-per-view but I was like ‘he didn’t tap, he didn’t, he was unconscious, that’s why he didn’t tap’. And I instantly saw the whole story in my head, and I knew he did too and Tony (Khan) gave us the confidence ‘Okay, do it’."

MLW’s Court Bauer spoke to The Lapsed Fan podcast regarding the intellectual property surrounding War Games, which MLW was able to claim after using the concept during the promotion’s first iteration in 2003. Bauer explained the IP of War Games was not trademarked by WCW and therefore, didn’t transfer to WWE when the company was sold in 2001. MLW used War Games in 2003 and they trademarked the concept, which lasted until WWE and MLW worked out an arrangement following NXT’s adoption of the concept in 2017:

"A great assumption is to assume that Turner Broadcasting knew what the f— they were doing.

So, when Vince acquired the assets of WCW, what those assets were just were dependent on what they had coming in. So, if they had never filed for trademarks, and had done nothing on that paperwork, well then, they never had them. They had abandoned a lot of trademarks, they had kind of never managed their IP and it was kind of a snapshot of how they ran the operation. They’ve had these incredible IPs; did they ever tend to it? No. That’s the difference between WWE and a lot of its competitors is they go the extra step, they are ruthlessly efficient, they make sure they have a lot of their IPs in place. I mean they kind of go overboard with some of the IPs they make sure they have but I think that’s what makes them different than WCW – they didn’t do that.

So, WWE never had ownership of the intellectual property that was War Games – the actual name and rights to do it. We did a War Games in 2003 and filed for the trademark and no one had done it up to this point, we were using the War Games and pursued it and successfully got it in the U.S Trademark and Patent Offices and we established use of it and for years thereafter had marketed DVDs and things, then brought it back in 2018 and right around then, conveniently timing-wise, NXT said ‘we’re going to do War Games’ and I said, ‘uh, guys, we need to have a conversation’ and we did.

We had announced ours and then they (NXT) did theirs (in November 2017) right after. So, you know, We had a business arrangement, we re-vamped the concept and brought in back in 2019 and introduced War Chamber in Dallas, same concept and added barbed-wire wrapped around the top of the cage but, I can’t go into many of the details, but it’s good to do your paperwork, that’s the biggest takeaway guys. It’s good to do your paperwork, due diligence and making sure you do your paperwork and it all turned out fine."
The fact War Games was never trademarked by WCW back in the day nor WWE never bothered to get the trademark when they bought WCW was very interesting. Originally thought the War Games trademark was just like almost every other WCW and ECW trademark that WWE owned where they purposely let it become abandoned due to neglect and Vince's lingering hatred over WCW.

Game Changer Wrestling has added Blake Christian, Jordan Oliver, Jacob Fatu, Rich Swann, Chris Dickinson, Chris Bey, Kikutaro, and Rickey Shane Page to the list of talent advertised for “Slime Season” on Saturday, December 5th at Meet Las Vegas (233 South 4th Street) in Las Vegas. Responding to criticism for running these shows, GCW owner Brett Lauderdale has posted a message stating any talent uncomfortable or having seconds thoughts should not feel pressured to the work the show and it won’t affect their standing with the group.

The Young Bucks climbed to the top of the tag team mountain at AEW Full Gear when they defeated FTR to win the AEW Tag Team Titles.

Many didn't think it would take Matt & Nick Jackson a year to win the AEW Tag Team Titles given their standing in the company both behind the scenes and in terms of popularity, and according to them, they wanted to hold off even longer.
Tony Khan Feels Forming Relationship With NJPW Might Be Easier With Harold Meij Gone
Related Article Tony Khan Feels Forming Relationship With NJPW Might Be Easier With Harold Meij Gone

“If we’d won them right away, there wouldn’t have been a struggle for our characters,” Nick told Sports Illustrated. “We actually wanted to hold back for another year, so winning now was a Tony [Khan] call, but I’m glad it happened at the pay-per-view. It felt special, and winning it from FTR in this rivalry, in a match we never thought would happen, took it over the top."

Matt added, "We wanted our story to be painful. So we kept losing, and when you finally thought we’d start winning, we’d lose more. Being fans, we know the feeling of when that pain turns to celebration, and this was the right time for us. We competed in arguably the biggest tag-team match of the last five years and finally won the tag titles in the company we helped start. Does it get any bigger than that?”

It's no secret Jim Herd clashed Ric Flair during Herd's time as the Executive Vice President of WCW.

Herd famously wanted Flair to cut his hair and become a Roman gladiator named Spartacus, believing WCW needed to create new stars. Obviously, this didn't go over well with Flair and didn't end up happening.

Sitting down with Conrad Thompson on AdFreeShows, Herd was asked about Ricky Steamboat beating Flair in February 1989 and whether the company had become too reliant on Flair after Flair supposedly tested negatively with fans

"There was a lot of controversy with Ric, he.....I just saw Ric a month ago on some show, what's the guy's name, the bald headed guy [Steve Austin] who has a show on now, he interviewed Ric. I looked at Ric's forehead and I said, 'They must've taken part of his ass and put it on his forehead because all those cuts are gone,' which is great. Ric was a guy that you couldn't control out in public and he did a lot of different things that we didn't agree with, Turner didn't agree with. Believe me, during all this time, if you didn't get a pass from Turner, you got no pass at all because he controlled everything through me. I took the lumps when they came and as long as I maintained his dynamic, which was making it rain dollars, he didn't interfere," said Herd.

Flair would regain the NWA World Heavyweight Title in May 1989 and hold it until July 1990, when he lost the belt to Sting. The feud between Herd and Flair peaked when Flair was fired amid contract negotiations with Herd, allowing him to jump to the WWF and take the WCW World Title with him.

BT Sport has dedicated next week to The Undertaker, airing various programming on their network to celebrate his career. To hype the upcoming week-long celebration, BT Sport shared a clip of Sami Zayn describing the first time he met Undertaker.

"The first memory that I have of really interacting with him was at NXT. It was a television taping, late 2014, right before I'm about to wrestle Neville. That story had a good build-up going into that match. It was maybe the last episode of TV before the match. I cut this really impassioned promo, which I think is one of my better promos as a good guy because the storyline was that we were friends, but he was the champion because he was willing to get his hands dirty and I was too adherent to my morality and that's why I would never succeed like him. We had this heated talking segment where I slap him in the face. When I got back there, Undertaker was fired up. He was like, 'THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT! THAT'S HOW YOU SELL TICKETS! THAT WAS A MONEY PROMO!' That night, I think we did a match for the championship where [Neville] won and R Evolution was the rematch. He also complimented that match. He was like, 'I thought you were just going to go out there and do a bunch of spots, but you guys told a story. That is how you do it!' Undertaker is Undertaker and the fact that he was at NXT was 'Undertaker is here.' For him to be waiting for us backstage as soon as we got through the curtain, and fired up about how good our work was, that was amazing," recalled Zayn.

Zayn would win the NXT Championship from Neville (now Pac in AEW), at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in a Title vs. Career bout.

Another name has been added to the list of NXT talents who have been called up to the WWE main roster even though we haven’t actually seen them show up yet.

Fightful Select reports that Santana Garrett was called up to the main roster this past summer.

Garrett only wrestled on NXT TV a small handful of times, and did have some outings on Raw and Main Event earlier this year before the summer but hasn’t been used since then.

The report notes that there were a number of pitches for Garrett including for her to be part of a tag team, but none of them have come to fruition.

Garrett joins the likes of Chelsea Green and Vanessa Borne as names from NXT who were called up to the main roster earlier in the year but still haven’t appeared.
WWE's continued botching of NXT call-ups has been way too comical these days. Why bother calling up people if you have nothing planned for them on the main roster.

TPWW Frontpage:

The Bella Twins Tease “One More Run” in WWE (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/the-bella-twins-tease-one-more-run-in-wwe/)
AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/aew-dynamite-nxt-cards-for-tonight-aew-rankings-20/)
Karrion Kross Says He Could Be Back in NXT “Any Second” (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/karrion-kross-says-he-could-be-back-in-nxt-any-second/)
The Rascalz Leaving Impact Wrestling Next Week (https://www.tpww.net/2020/11/the-rascalz-leaving-impact-wrestling-next-week/)

Emperor Smeat

11-12-2020, 09:47 PM

The Sheets:

Last night's post-Full Gear episode of AEW Dynamite averaged 764,000 viewers on TNT, up 6.6 percent from last week. On the USA Network, NXT was up 3.6 percent in overall viewership, averaging 632,000 viewers.

The total Wednesday night viewership was 1.396 million, almost identical to three weeks ago and one of the lowest numbers of the last several months. That's still up 5.2 percent from last Wednesday, where Dynamite and NXT both went against election coverage on the day after last week's presidential election.

After failing to chart in the top 50 last week with cable news dominating the ratings, Dynamite was up to 17th on the cable charts in the 18-49 demo while averaging the same 0.30 rating as the show did last week.

NXT was up 14.3 percent in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 0.16 rating but failing to make the top 50. NXT finished in 56th place on cable. That's a little higher than last Wednesday, but there still does not seem to have been any audience retention from the strong rating of Halloween Havoc two weeks ago.

Year-over-year, Dynamite was down 20.2 percent in overall viewership and 30.2 percent in the 18-49 demo. NXT was down 15.7 percent in viewership and 36 percent in the demo.

Detailed demo ratings for NXT aren't available due to it falling outside the top 50. AEW's strongest demo category was men 18-49, where the show averaged a 0.38 rating. That tied for eighth overall on cable in the demo and was first among non-news programming.

A day after her debut on Dynamite, AEW announced that Jade Cargill is now under a multi-year contract.

Cargill, who played basketball at Jacksonville State University, debuted Wednesday to confront Cody Rhodes as an apparent representative of Shaquille O'Neal. Brandi Rhodes then showed up to address Cargill, teasing a mixed tag with O'Neal and Cargill against Cody and Brandi ...

Cargill, 28, is a fitness model who offers diet and exercise subscription plans on her website in addition to having a master's degree in child psychology.

Cargill was part of a tryout camp at the WWE Performance Center in April 2019, according to WWE.com.

Lana will be the subject of the next episode of WWE Chronicle.

WWE has announced that a Chronicle episode on Lana will premiere on the WWE Network on Saturday, November 21. That's the day before this year's Survivor Series pay-per-view ...

On WWE television, Lana has been put through a table by Nia Jax eight times over the last several weeks. Lana, Jax, Shayna Baszler, Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke will be on Team Raw for this year's Raw vs. SmackDown Survivor Series women's elimination match. Bianca Belair and Ruby Riott have qualified for Team SmackDown thus far.

WWE.com wrote about the Lana episode of Chronicle: "WWE Chronicle: Lana will take you behind the scenes of the vivacious Superstar’s life away from the ring, including as she spends time with her family. Expect to see a side of Lana that you’ve never seen before when the next episode of WWE Chronicle drops Saturday, Nov. 21, only on the award-winning WWE Network."

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is out of this year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

NJPW announced tonight that Kanemaru will be out of action with a knee injury, and thus will miss the tour. As a result, young lion Yuya Uemura will compete in Kanemaru’s place.

The Undertaker did an interview with The New York Post, discussing his final farewell at this year's Survivor Series, whether he will return for future matches, initial thoughts on his 1990 WWE Survivor Series debut and more.

He noted that he knew he was done as a performer when filming his Boneyard match against AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 36, noting, "I realized I have taken every physical gift, tool that I have and have used it up. There’s no water left in the sponge, if I can use that analogy. I’ve rung everything I could get out of that sponge.”

Undertaker was also adamant that he wouldn't be using additional cinematic-style bouts to extend his WWE run, stating, "It really doesn't appeal to me because basically what it is, is working around my limitations. It's capitalizing on some of my ability and some of my creative ability to tell a story but basically it's trying to mask some of the lack of my physical abilities at this point" ...

On his returns over the years, Undertaker commented, “If Vince feels like there’s still something there, I have a place on the roster, then I had no problem doing it,” he said. “That’s where the internet and all that stuff kind of show up, ‘Just let him retire, just let him do this, let him do that.’ I’m a grown man. I can walk away anytime I want.”

Undertaker also noted that he wishes he had a chance to work with the current version of Bray Wyatt, saying their bout at Wrestlemania 31 could have been used as a catalyst for where The Fiend is now.

AEW began teasing a storyline for Cody Rhodes and NBA legend Shaq tonight, something that Shaq has teased since signing a new deal with Turner Sports. Shaq was at Full Gear over the weekend.

If you've ever wondered how AEW contracts work in terms of talent paid to appear on Dark or extras, Cody Rhodes offered some insight.

Appearing on AEW Unrestricted, Cody was discussing some year two talent who he expects big things from and listed wrestlers like Ricky Starks, Sammy Guevara, Anna Jay, and Red Velvet.

He was slightly confused as to Red Velvet's contract status, which led to the following exchange between Cody and co-host Aubrey Edwards.

Cody - I don't even know if Red Velvet works here, yet.

Aubrey - She does. That might be breaking news.

Cody - She's on an 'agreed to appear,' right?

Aubrey - I don't know what tier she's on. She ain't All Elite. She's not getting a graphic.

Cody - Jeff is very particular about who gets a graphic.

When asked by Tony Schiavone to clarify the contract tiers, Cody offered the following details, "'Agreed to appear' is tier zero, meaning you will get a bonus, and Tony is super generous. If you ask some of these extras what they're making down there...my dad would've lost it. It's the COVID era, they have no other work because there are no Indies. Tier zero is a signing bonus and exclusivity to us in terms of, we get a first option on you and we guarantee you X amount of dates. The exclusivity is case by case. The goal is, you don't want to pay someone who has agreed to appear and keep giving them their weekly versus tier one, which is our base contract agreement. We have tier one, two, three, four, and tier Jericho. Everyone is given a choice of things that are important to them, different pieces of the pie."

Ryback welcomed David Benoit onto his YouTube show to discuss David’s aspirations in pro wrestling and what he’s enjoying about the current product. David stated that he does not want to go to WWE and would rather compete in other companies/promotions to gain experience.

“I don’t wanna go there [WWE]. I’d rather go to New Japan, AEW, IMPACT, AAA, NWA. Get some experience underneath my belt.”
That is the best choice for him since WWE's developmental system under Triple H hasn't had a good track record these past few years when it comes to developing raw talent or those with very limited experience in the indies beforehand. Even William Regal sent his own son to NJPW's LA Dojo to get proper wrestling training instead of at WWE's PC.

Taylor Wilde welcomed Killer Kelly onto her ‘Wilde On’ podcast. Killer Kelly looked back at her time in NXT UK and how she was used on the brand. She feels that she was not used very well although she enjoyed her time in WWE overall.

“I’m very grateful for the time I spent in WWE. Like very grateful. I trained with William Regal. Like that’s a dream. I was very, very happy there working with them and training and having promo class with Shawn Michaels. Like what the hell? And I had a lot of good friends there and everything but I wasn’t used very well. I didn’t get to showcase myself like I did on the indies. I was still working wXw and people would see what I would bring to the table and they’re like, ‘Why isn’t Kelly doing that? Why is Kelly just the person who puts over other talent?’ Which, by me, I’m totally fine. I’m totally fine. That means that the company trusts you to put over other people and they trust you to do that. But, at the same time I was like, ‘Okay, I need something more and now is the time to do it.’”

To promote the next season of Miz & Mrs. on the USA Network, The Miz and Maryse were interviewed by TV Insider. Miz stated that his father George Mizanin owns a food truck called ‘Miz Steaks & Wieners’ and sells ‘Mike’s Little Wieners’.

“You’ll see this on the show, but my dad is retired now. He comes in and says, ‘I retired.’ We’re like, ‘Does that mean you’re going to be here more?’ He is like, ‘Yep.’ So we try to find my dad a hobby. His idea of a hobby was buying a food truck. Buying a food truck is not a hobby—it’s a job. What does he call it? He calls it Miz Steaks and Wieners. His hot item that he sells is Mike’s Little Wieners. Yes, he utilizes my name, my brand to exploit me and make fun of me all in the same aspect. That’s what I’m dealing with.”

The latest guest on ‘Talk Is Jericho’ was Jake Hager. Towards the end of their conversation, Hager speculated on the idea of where WWE came up with the name “Swagger” for his in-ring last name. He recalled a time where Vince McMahon stated that he hated his [Jake’s] smile and said fans would hate it too. That somehow led to the name “Jack Swagger”.

“It was just from WWE creative. It came after I had a meeting with Vince [McMahon], and I was smiling too much I guess. He was like, ‘See that smile, f*cking pisses me off,’ and so I wipe it off immediately being a rookie and he’s like, ‘No, no, it’s great. It’s gonna piss them off too.’ So I think something from that smile… Swagger came out.”

NJPW hosted a fan Q&A with YOSHI-HASHI and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion stated that the red stripes on his gear are a tribute to Shinsuke Nakamura.

Jim Herd has cleared up one of the biggest rumors in WCW history.

Herd and Ric Flair famously clashed during Herd's time as Executive Vice President of WCW in the late 80s and early 90s, leading to Flair leaving WCW for the WWF. According to Flair, Herd wanted to change his entire persona, turning him into a Roman gladiator and renaming him Spartacus.

Speaking to Conrad Thompson on AdFreeShows, Herd said they pitched a bunch of different gimmicks and characters during meetings, but turning Flair into Spartacus was never under consideration.

"When you're brainstorming those things, you get all kinds of feedback from those guys. That's where the lie that I wanted to change Ric Flair's name came from. That came from one of the meetings, but it was never considered. One of the things that was considered, and he didn't like it so it became -- there was a wrestler were going to call The Zodiac Man. Every match, at the end of the match, you could go out the door and they would throw these discs that were redeemable at fast food places. They would catch them and if you could prove you were a Leo after the match, you'd get another disc. It got so complicated, but his name was going to change every month with a different promotion. I think Ric heard we wanted him to be the Zodiac Man. It was just another lie that came out of those meetings. A lot of it was tongue in cheek in those meetings," said Herd.

Flair would leave WCW in 1991, taking Big Gold with him to WWF.

Fightful Select has a report with details on the new WWE contracts that were signed by several wrestlers from EVOLVE. The initial “short-term” contracts they were signed to are reportedly worth $60,000 in their downside guarantees. The talents can receive added bonuses in the amount of $500 per each episode of WWE TV they appear on.

These contracts are being described as “short-term agreements” that could increase to as high as $80,000 in January 2021. At that time, it’s said that the talents’ bonuses will have significant increases, and they could potentially triple in size for future TV appearances.

Additionally, the report notes that several sources within WWE were happy that the company has opted for these type of “shorter-term agreements.” As a result, the shorter-term contracts would serve in helping WWE to avoid the “stockpiling and hoarding” of wrestlers who end up not being used on TV.

WWE reportedly signed a number of former EVOLVE wrestlers earlier this year. Some of the signees included Leon Ruff, Anthony Greene, Josh Briggs, Brandi Lauren and Curt Stallion.

As we reported last month, VICE TV officially announced a third season of Dark Side of the Ring, which will premiere next year with fourteen episodes.

In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that he was interviewed for several episodes and said that the producers have only finalized content for eight of them so far. He noted that there are six episodes left that have yet to be decided. He added that they are tossing around ideas but a lot of them “aren’t viable.’ He noted some were ‘cool stories’ but wouldn’t be ‘marketable in the United States.’

So far the only episodes confirmed by those who were interviewed include Brian Pillman, the 1995 WCW/NJPW Collision in Korea supershow and Grizzly Smith’s family: Jake Roberts, Rockin’ Robin and Sam Houston.

As we reported last night, Leon Ruff won the NXT North American title by defeating Johnny Gargano, who tried to defend the belt for the first time. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, it was noted that the angle, as it was presented on NXT, was not done in a way to make Leon Ruff a star.

Meltzer said that it was done as a joke, complete with the belt falling off of Ruff because he was too skinny and him tripping over it on his way out. It was only set as a shocking moment. It was said that WWE had the idea that while it was meant to be a comedy angle with Gargano, but only saw it as a comedy angle and had no intention to make a star.

As we discussed on yesterday's edition of The We Don't Need No Stinkin' Name Show, Savio Vega won't be alone in attending the 11/22 Survivor Series in honor of The Undertaker's Final Farewell.

WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather is also slated to be in attendance at the event.

The plan is for Kane, Undertaker's storyline brother and longtime partner/oppponent, will also be at Survivor Series, PWInsider.com has also confirmed.
Spoiler tags used since its related to WWE's plans for Taker at Survivor Series later this month.

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