[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Even Steve Austin couldn't save Raw from Monday Night Football last night. Raw averaged 2.13 million viewers, its second lowest modern era mark in history for a non-holiday show. The 15.4 percent drop from last week was much larger than usual for the first show against football. The number speaks to the audience watching Raw being less loyal as compared to other years when football started. The only episodes of Raw in modern history that did worse was a June 10 show against the NBA finals, and this past Christmas and New Year's Eve shows, which really shouldn't even count in comparison. The most notable thing is that the Austin segment should have been held for later in the episode, as Raw opened well in the first quarter, fell once Austin left, and continued to decline the rest of the show, with the main event being one of the lowest rated matches in Raw history. None of the stats are good. The third hour was the lowest third hour except for Christmas and New Year's. The first-to-third hour drop, largely due to Austin, was the sixth worst in history at 21.9 percent. The audience was down 22.3 percent from last year's first show against Monday Night Football ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.36 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.18 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.85 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Becky Lynch told ESPN’s Marc Raimondi about Ric Flair trying to trademark “The Man”: “All I can say about Ric is, I like Ric. He's been a good friend to me over the years. We'll see what happens with that."

Originally Posted by Observer Triple H spoke to Yahoo Sports about AEW going against NXT and being an alternative to WWE: “If you talk about the upstart, what they’re going out and saying is that they’re an alternative. We were that alternative five years ago. We opened the door for being an alternative, we opened the door to show people that it can be done on a bigger level and on a different basis. As far as being the alternative, great, go put on the best show you can put out, and we’ll put out the best one we can put out.”

Originally Posted by Observer WWE and 2K announced today that for every retweet of this Twitter post, WWE 2K will donate $2 (up to $500,000) to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Link for those interested: https://twitter.com/WWEgames/status/1171392901919567873

Originally Posted by Observer Anthem Sports & Entertainment has already made moves in the last 24 hours regarding AXS. PWInsider reported this afternoon that AXS’ Dallas office has been shut down. Adam Swift, who was behind getting wrestling on the network dating back to the ROH on HDNet days, has been let go as well as Cindy Ronzoni, who handled PR.

The Dallas office had been in charge of handling AXS' NJPW stuff. Fightful reported that AXS is looking at around 40% of their staff getting laid off as the fallout from Anthem's purchase.

Originally Posted by PWI The Shane McMahon vs. Chad Gable match was a Vince McMahon call, PWInsider.com has been told. As we noted earlier, there was a pitch for a battle royal but it was shot down.

Originally Posted by PWI A number of talents who are now contracted full-time to AEW will be closing their independent commitments up in the next few weeks. So, if you see talents working indies past the start of October, that's a pretty good sign they have not signed exclusives with the company. Game Changer Wrestling will hold a "Curtain Call" event for Joey Janela on 9/30 with the show streaming live on FITE.TV At the weekly AEW TV tapings, there will be additional content taped for future usage, potentially for Bleacher Report Live.

Originally Posted by Fightful According to a tweet from Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens, Kylie Rae & & Kris Statlander did some of the mo-capping for the upcoming WWE 2K20 video game.

Originally Posted by Observer Another New Japan Showdown event is set for California this November. NJPW has announced that New Japan Showdown in Los Angeles will take place at the Globe Theatre on Monday, November 11. New Japan Showdown in San Jose is also being held at the San Jose Civic on Saturday, November 9.

Originally Posted by Fightful Controversy in Revolution Pro Wrestling. At RevPro Summer Sizzler on Aug. 30, Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels in tag team action to earn a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Titles. But perhaps the bigger story coming out of the match was the post-match attack on referee Aaren Wilde. Wilde was attacked by Bodom & Samuels, who were allegedly upset over Wilde counting the pinfall earlier than planned. According to Wilde, he suffered shoulder and neck injuries, which have forced him to retire ... Bodom has deleted his Twitter account. He wrote after the match, "Yo @RevProUK, plz get some qualified refs that aren’t shit. Also the York Hall fans are incurable, depressed slop jalops. Congrats to @DUNKZILLADavis & @kylefletcherpro on getting a free pass to Royal Quest tho. xoxox"

More details: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/r...t-match-attack

Originally Posted by Fightful NJPW announced this evening that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, will be part of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour later this month. A short video was released with Ricky and Robert talking about the upcoming tour.

Originally Posted by Fightful Just one week after getting back to averaging a million viewers, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's show got its lowest viewership since it premiered. According to Showbuzz Daily, "Straight Up Steve Austin" averaged 841,000 viewers and a 0.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down from the 1,097,000 viewers and 0.44 rating the September 2 episode drew.

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Two NXT Stars Rumored to be Making MSG Debut, New NXT UK Belt Rumor, Trademarks
• WWE: Bray Wyatt/Undertaker Tease, MSG Almost Sold Out, Lawler’s 2012 Heart Attack
• Impact: New Logos Coming, Ken Shamrock Booked for More Tapings, AXS TV
• Drew McIntyre Not at Raw, Underwent Minor Surgery