[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Scott Steiner's Official Stance on Fat Guys:

Originally Posted by PWI With Aleister Black out due to injury, WWE NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa will defend against Johnny Gargano in a Last Man Standing match on 8/18 in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center. The change was announced this evening via a video interview with NXT General Manager William Regal: There was talk of having the match inside a steel cage but the pitch was shot down. The remainder of the Takeover card will feature: *WWE NXT Women's Championship: Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane. *WWE NXT Tag Team Championship: Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain. *WWE NXT North American Championship: Adam Cole vs. Ricochet. *WWE EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream.

Link: https://youtu.be/ntU_o0sjPss

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News is reporting that this week's "Hidden Gem" is a dark match from a WWF Superstars taping in Salisbury, Maryland on November 21, 1995, which saw the final match of then-WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze in the company as she faced Japanese legend Lioness Asuka. Blayze aka Madusa would be released shortly after, setting the stage for her infamous appearance on WCW Monday Nitro, where she dropped the Championship belt into a trash can.

Originally Posted by PWI Sinclair Broadcast Group, the parent company of Ring of Honor, has lost its bid to purchase Tribune Media as Tribune officially announcing this morning that they had terminated the purchase agreement and have filed a lawsuit against Sinclair for breach of contract ... Sinclair currently has over the air stations in 39% of the United States. The purchase would have brought that number up to 42%, but it remains to be seen if some miracle can occur that leads to the purchase being somehow salvaged. Had the deal been completed, the expectations had been that Ring of Honor's footprint as a TV series would have greatly expanded on a national basis and eventually also land on WGN America with either an existing or new ROH TV series on the national cable station. ROH had created a two hour pilot episode earlier this year, using material from the 2017 Final Battle PPV event, to showcase what the series could be to Sinclair officials. There has long been talk of ROH doing a two hour weekly cable broadcast if and when they had the proper forum. WGN America (which broadcast WWE Superstars several years ago) was expected by some to be that platform, although Ring of Honor never officially announced any plans. Today's lawsuit obviously scuttles those plans.

More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...wsuit.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI The Chicago Sun-Times reported this afternoon that Ring of Honor Star Scott "Colt Cabana" Colton filed a lawsuit against former WWE Champion Phil "CM Punk" Brooks in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois on 8/7 over alleged unpaid legal fees and breach of contract, stemming from the lawsuit that WWE physician Doctor Chris Amann filed against the two in regard to Punk's appearance on Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast ... Cabana is alleging that when Dr. Amann's attorneys contacted him with a cease and desist letter related to the podcast in December 2014, Punk told him not to respond. When Amann filed his lawsuit against them, Cabana alleged that Punk told him, via text, that his legal bills would be covered. However, Cabana alleges that he received an April 2016 email from Punk regarding a financial billing Punk had received from his legal representatives, Loeb & Loeb, with Punk writing, "To date I have spent $513,736 dollars on this Amman lawsuit. My outstanding bill is at least 300K. Half of all this is yours. Divide the 513,736 by 2 that is what you owe me and what I expect you to pay me. Starting now, I will no longer be paying your bills. You are on your own. Whatever my bill is currently, will be cut in half and half will be yours. If you choose to make this all ugly, that's fine too. I hope you won't, but I gave up on you doing what is right a long time ago" ... Cabana retained Loeb & Loeb until March 2017, when he claimed that he was forced to hire his own representation. In the lawsuit, Cabana stated he was "informed and believed" that Punk caused Loeb & Loeb to withdraw as Cabana's attorney. After their courtroom victory over Amann's lawsuit, Cabana's attorneys approached Punk, seeking payment of $200,000, the cost of Cabana's legal fees post-Loeb & Loeb. Punk turned that overture down, leading to Cabana's claim of breach of contract. Cabana is also claiming that had he not listened to Punk and just responded to the original cease and desist letter, he would not have dealt with any "costs, expenses or losses" in regard to the Amann case. Cabana is asking for $1 Million in punitive and exemplary damages and $200,000 (aka the cost of his representation during the Amann lawsuit) in general damages. He is seeking a jury trial. Obviously, Punk has not yet responded to the lawsuit..

More details and link to the report: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...dated.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI/Post Wrestling/Observer Indies Roundup: Former ECW World Champion Mikey Whipwreck, who has trained a number of names, including Curt Hawkins, Tony Nese, The Amazing Red, Jay Lethal, and Zack Ryder, among many other names, is opening The Underdogs Pro Wrestling School in Hazleton, PA. The School, located at 601 South Poplar Street, will officially open on 8/20 and will be associated with Premier Pro Wrestling, also operating out of Hazleton. Chris Charlton has been added to Friday’s G1 broadcast at Budokan Hall, they were very happy with his performance on Wednesday with Kevin Kelly & Rocky Romero. NJPW are looking at touring Australia again at the end of this year. The actual announcement and schedule is expected to be made after the G-1 tournament is over The Arkansas State Athletic Commission has voted to change Act 860, which deregulated pro wrestling events if they were held in conjunction with a charitable organization. The new regulations are that shows in conjunction with charity still need for the promoters to be licensed, all the wrestlers on the show will need to be licensed, have a physical and have blood work done. The question becomes how the athletic commission can change a law that was passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor Mysterio Jr., was going to start with MLW to work a tag program against Pentagon Jr. & Fenix starting next month before his WWE talks got serious. MLW has signed Brian Pillman II to a multi-year deal and they are looking to give a big push to Tom Lawlor. There was an idea to go a match in an MMA gym with Lawlor vs. Jake Hager in an MMA cage, but Hager opted not to do it, thinking Bellator wouldn’t like him to do so. PCW Ultra has announced Rich Swann and Sami Callihan are off their 9/7 shows due to contract obligations, which means Impact, probably for the show in Manchester, England that weekend. Announced for the show is Daga vs. ACH, Shane Strickland vs. Rey Hours, Penta 0M vs. Hammerstone and Brody King vs. Eddie Kingston. BCW on 8/30 in Melbourne, Australia has Tajiri vs. Nick Bury. 9/1 in Adelaide, Australia has Rob Van Dam vs. Jonah Rock vs. Syd Parker.

Originally Posted by PWI The ROH/NJPW show on 4/6 in Madison Square Garden had sold 12,000 tickets at last word, which was a few hours ago. They did a password sale today. Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow. It is not a lock that it will be sold out by the end of the day tomorrow, but it is certainly possible. It is a lock that the show will be sold out by the time the show takes place.

Originally Posted by Observer The eight first-round matches for the CHIKARA King of Trios tournament that takes place Labor Day weekend in Easton, PA at the Palmer Center: Mighty Molly & Solo Darling & Aja Perera vs. Kikutaro & Los Ice Creams Justin Gabriel & Michael Tarver & Darren Young vs. Juan Francisco de Coronado & Sloan Caprice & Rick Roland Jean Pierre Lafitte (PCO) & Rey Bucanero & Katie Lea (Katarina) vs. Merlok & Hermit Crab & Cajun Crawdad Madison Eagles & Jessica Troy & Shazza McKenzie vs. Shoko Nakajima & Yuka Sakazaki & Miyu Yamashita Rezerhawk & Nytehawk & Dangerhawk vs. Adam Hoffman & Mick Moretti & Jack bonza Volgar & Callux & Frantik vs. Fire Ant & Green Ant & Thief Ant Chris Dickinson & Cameron Zagami & Brian Milonas vs. Dasher Hatfield & Mr. Touchdown & Boomer Hatfield Air Wolf & ThunderFrog & Wildkat vs. Icarus & Tony Deppen & Travis Huckabee

Originally Posted by Observer President Harold Meij, in an attempt to help in marketing the product overseas, has banned English language swearing and middle finger usage from the product. In trying to garner more sponsors, things like the swearing in the Juice Robinson promos and heavy swearing in-ring were going to have to go. Those who have been swearing in English in their promos were privately spoken to and asked as best they can to clean up their promos. All the wrestlers were told this week to not swear or try not to offend people on social media. There are ideas for expansion of sponsorships in new markets that require a product suitable for all ages. The reality is the product’s popularity has nothing to do with any swearing and eliminating that won’t have any effect, so if it’s not necessary and impedes expansion, why allow it

Originally Posted by Observer There are other negotiations All In going on including the possibility of a regular television replay airing after the exclusive PPV window ends. The idea is to more get as many people watching as possible, so in a sense they are undercutting their own PPV by allowing it on Honor Club, with the idea of using the show to build up Honor Club subs ... It will be treated similar to a PPV by Honor Club, meaning Honor Club VIP’s will get the show for free while regular Honor Club subscribers can get the iPPV version for half price. The regular television PPV will run at $39.99 and $49.99, which was actually an insistence from their side at running it lower as the PPV companies wanted it at closer to WWE prices. Fite TV, which should be the key for outside the U.S., will be at $39.99. WGN America wanted to do the entire show live, but Cody and the Young Bucks had an idea for what they wanted from the show and live television of the big matches wasn’t going to work.

Originally Posted by Observer For what it’s worth, at the present time, the planned fall Raw live event main events are Reigns vs. Strowman. They could go face vs. face, but that indicates at least the possibility of one of the two turning

Originally Posted by Observer The reason Jessamyn Duke didn’t debut yet is because she was a little hurt although she did recently do a practice match at the Performance Center, did good things, but like anyone, just needs more ring time in actual match situations. We’re told that the feeling on her, at least by some, is that she’s a prodigy at this. With Ronda Rousey, everything has been so completely produced to such a degree that it’s really not fair to compare her progress but still, Rousey’s got something quickly that few have. But her match with Bliss is expected to be scripted move-for-move at the Performance Center. More and more people are really open to the idea that MMA is a great place to recruit new women because of how quickly people like Duke, Marina Shafir, Shayna Baszler, Ronda Rousey and Sonya Deville were able to adapt.

Originally Posted by Observer The photos on social media of Frank Shamrock and Shawn Michaels together were from the Performance Center this past week. Shamrock is the agent for Mauro Ranallo and they’re in negotiations. There is talk of springboarding the Showtime documentary on Ranallo into a major college speaking tour on mental health

Originally Posted by Observer Still no hints of a Cena return, past him being booked on the 9/1 show in Shanghai, where he has vowed to debut a new finishing move. Cena has dropped from 254 to 236 pounds and is ripped. At his age, it’s better for his joints and injuries to be lighter, plus it’ll allow him to be less typecast in Hollywood being less bulky. Then again Dwayne Johnson went in the other direction, from 220 (when the idea was to expand his acting range and get parts that didn’t rely on an overpowering physique) 260 to do the intimidating action hero roles

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Keith Lee took to Twitter today and wrote the following after making his WWE NXT TV debut with a win over Marcel Barthel last night: Humble gratitude for all the positive feedback on the debut last night. Let us see what kind of ride we can create. Only time will tell...#BaskInMyGlory for #iAmLimitless pic.twitter.com/Tl1uZbslpr — Keith Lee (@RealKeithLee) August 9, 2018

Link: https://twitter.com/RealKeithLee/sta...74436801773576

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc In recognition of the worldwide growth and increased popularity of women's wrestling, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has announced that it will expand its annual PWI Female 50 issue to the Women's 100, effective this year. Like the annual PWI 500, the Women's 100 will include worldwide talent, including women from Mexico, Japan, Europe, and around the globe. In previous years, the Female 50 was exclusive to women competing in the U.S. and Canada. "With the rise of women's wrestling in WWE, as well as the growth of promotions like STARDOM, Pro Wrestling EVE, and on the independents, there is an incredible amount of female talent out there today. It definitely seems like the right time to expand our ranking from 50 spots to 100," said PWI Senior Writer Dan Murphy, who also co-wrote the book Sisterhood of the Squared Circle: The History and Rise of Women's Wrestling (with Pat Laprade). "I think this will be one of the most ambitious and timely projects PWI has undertaken and I'm very excited to be coordinating it," Murphy said. The Women's 100 will be released this fall.

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to the Observer, both Pentagon Jr and Rey Fenix have recently told promoters their status for 2019 indies dates are now currently in doubt due to WWE's recent interest for both of them.
• DDP recently rebranded his DDP Yoga service to now be called DDPY going forward. https://www.instagram.com/p/BmQrhmCA...ource=ig_embed

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: No Current Plans for NXT on FOX, Bobby Fish Return Update
• WWE Interested in Top Indie Star Shane Strickland
• Jason Jordan’s Neck Injury Reportedly Worse Than Expected
• Could Chris Jericho Eventually Wrestle for Impact?
• Renee Young Will Be on the Raw Commentary Team This Monday