[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Ric Flair Appreciation Week:

Originally Posted by Observer After dipping to one of its lowest levels since moving to a live format for last Tuesday's episode that went against the World Series and Halloween, SmackDown was up 23 percent this week and averaged 2.603 million viewers. That number is near the viewership the show reached two weeks ago for the fallout of the SmackDown invasion of Raw. SmackDown finished eighth for the night in total viewers on cable and was third in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating. The show trailed American Horror Story in that demo, as it usually does, but also the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the life of Ric Flair, which did a 0.91 rating and 1.831 million viewers. That the show was taped did not hurt the SmackDown rating at all, and it may have even helped as WWE itself and several other websites had posted news about a title change before the show aired. AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win the WWE Championship in last night's main event.

Originally Posted by Observer Though details are sparse at this point, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been removed from WWE's European tour. Our Dave Meltzer reports that Owens and Zayn aren't at SmackDown's house show in Leeds, England today and won't be appearing on the rest of the tour. Both were on television last night, where they interrupted Shane McMahon and The New Day in SmackDown's opening segment and traded words with them in a promo.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn went against a creative directive given to them before SmackDown last night and we’re told it contributed to them being sent home. Multiple sources tell us Sami and Kevin were supposed to “feed” for New Day following Zayn vs. Kofi Kingston yesterday, but for some reason they didn’t follow directions and left the ring. The PWTorch glossary of insider wrestling terms defines “feeding” as: “The heel’s role during a babyface comeback where he runs at the babyface only to be repeatedly fended off, with the hope that the series of bumps by the heel will generate positive fan heat for the babyface.” Owens hit the ring as soon as the match ended and attacked Kofi as planned. However, he and Sami quickly bailed from the ring. New Day then stood waiting, same for the sound crew who didn’t play anyone’s music, and the segment ended awkwardly when the two wrestlers seemingly went off script by not taking their planned beating afterward. Since publishing the story on Owens/Zayn being sent home, multiple sources reached out saying the duo have been slightly difficult to work with lately and seem unhappy backstage. It’s worth noting that they were both close with recently fired writer Jimmy Jacobs and Neville (who hasn’t been heard from since walking out).

Link with the video from last night's Smackdown: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/det...ens-sent-home/

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

Originally Posted by Observer Though he was originally scheduled to referee a match at the show, John Cena will instead be wrestling at Survivor Series. It was announced today that Cena had been added as the final member of SmackDown's men's division team for their elimination tag match against Raw. Cena will team with Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura. Shane made the announcement about Cena joining the team on Twitter: "Further proving #SDLive is the superior brand, I'm happy to announce @JohnCena will be the 5th member of Team Smackdown at #SurvivorSeries." Raw's team for the match is currently scheduled to be Kurt Angle, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, and Jason Jordan. Cena hasn't appeared on WWE television since losing to Roman Reigns at Raw's No Mercy pay-per-view in September. Reigns will return on next week's episode of Raw, possibly setting up his direction for Survivor Series. In storyline, Cena is currently a "free agent" and can wrestle for both Raw and SmackDown. He was at one point planned to be the special guest referee for the Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal non-title champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series until plans were changed and it was decided that AJ Styles would win the WWE Championship from Mahal before the PPV.

Originally Posted by Observer John Cena tweeted a message about being added to SmackDown’s Survivor Series team: “I am ready to answer the call where ever and whenever I’m needed. Where? #SDLive When? #SurvivorSeries” Rusev also posted an in-character tweet about Cena being added to the team: “Congrats to my friend John Cena who qualified for the survivor series fair and square...... go get them TIGER”

Cena tweet: https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/928329232807317509 , Rusev tweet: https://twitter.com/RusevBUL/status/928279470175375362

Originally Posted by Observer ESPN has full video of their Ric Flair 30 for 30 available to watch online for those with cable subscriptions. Rory Karpf, the director of the documentary, wrote that The Undertaker brewed coffee and had snacks for their crew and was one of the nicest people he’s ever interviewed. ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast series has an episode about the Flair documentary that includes an additional conversation with Flair and Karpf.

Link to documentary: http://www.espn.com/watch/collection...-30-nature-boy , Karpf: https://twitter.com/RoryKarpf/status/928102253399076864 , and podcast: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=21333568

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

Link to podcast episode: https://www.podcastone.com/episode/AustinAries

Today is IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada’s 30th birthday. Matt Riddle will face WALTER at EVOLVE 97 in Melrose, Massachusetts on December 10th. That show will also have Zack Sabre Jr. defending his EVOLVE Championship against Jaka. Lian O’Rourke has a book on the life of Brian Pillman.

Book link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1976541247...n+pillman+book

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

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Edge was interviewed to promote the first-ever WWE Night at the New Jersey Devils tomorrow in Newark, NJ, announcing that Daniel Bryan would be there, among other WWE stars: Diehard #NJDevils fan and @WWE legend @EdgeRatedR details why #WWE Night at The Rock will be the Game of Awesomeness. Be there: https://t.co/MPRql1Ladu pic.twitter.com/O7wYo8bLJF — New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 8, 2017 WWE Night takes place tomorrow at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ when the Devils play the Edmonton Oilers. Promotional material for the evening notes, "World Wrestling Entertainment will take over The Rock with an immersive wresting experience for fans all night, including special appearances by WWE personalities on the concourse, a one-of-a-kind opening video moment, musical tributes and in-game features highlighting past and current WWE Superstars. Special ticket packages will be made available and include a unique WWE-Devils t-shirt."

Originally Posted by PWI The Impact Wrestling veteran and ex-husband to WWE’s Charlotte has revealed that he will be asking for his release from the company following a frustrating year with the promotion. During an interview with Morgan Richards from Radio Cardiff at one of Insane Championship Wrestling's online tapings in Cardiff, UK on Monday, Bram commented on his situation with the company before receiving the release, commenting: “Well Bound for Glory is today, I don’t know when this goes out but here’s a secret. I’m actually going to ask for my release after today. So Monday morning, the sixth (November) that’s when I’m going to ask for my release. As much as I love that company and ever since I’ve been there I’ve wanted to be there for as long as I can. It’s not the same place that I entered three years ago and I feel slightly stifled and let down by the place. So I’m very excited to be free, be a free agent and see what other avenues and options are out there for me because the last year I feel I’ve been miss used, mismanaged and it’s sort of a waste of a year really when it comes to my career besides doing what I do away from there”.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan is now official for WWE NXT "Takeover: WarGames" during WWE Survivor Series weekend. Below is the updated card for Takeover, which takes place on Saturday, November 18th from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas: WarGames The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish) vs. The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) & Roderick Strong vs. NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain) NXT Title Match Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Drew McIntyre Fatal 4 Way for the Vacant NXT Women's Title Kairi Sane vs. Ember Moon vs. Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross Ab Contest Shawn Michaels vs. Johnny Gargano The Velveteen Dream vs. Aleister Black Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan Pre-Show Dark Match for the WWE UK Title Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne

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

Some other sheet news includes:

• Impact Wrestling announced the host of Main Event Radio will be making a special guest appearance during tonight's TV tapings in Ottawa. Other local special guests were also announced to be appearing at the tapings. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...ttawa.html?p=1
• ESPN's current schedule for the replays of the 30 For 30 Ric Flair documentary are November 9th at 8:30PM EST on ESPN 2 and November 19th at 10PM EST on ESPN.
• According to PWI, Vince McMahon was the reason why changes were made for the WWE championship and Cena's inclusion for Survivor Series. Both were made last week and at the moment, no reason was given for Jinder's removal from the PPV nor the plans for him at it. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...anned.html?p=1
• Recent blog by Jim Ross had Ross talk about Bound For Glory's booking, Gail Kim's retirement, and Jericho challenging Kenny Omega. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...g-kenny-omega/
• Edge revealed this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show will be Micheal Elgin. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/statu...68744899973125

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore Debuts on Twitch Tonight
• The New Day vs. The Shield Likely for Survivor Series
• Jinder Mahal Responds to the “Haters”