[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Just as TNT will be airing a preview show of AEW before its 10/2 debut, FOX will be airing a one hour special called Smackdown's Greatest Hits on 9/27 at 8 p.m. the Friday night before the debut.

Originally Posted by PWI In responding to a PWInsider.com inquiry about the future of New Japan and WOW on AXS TV, Ed Nordholm sent the following statement: “Anthem has been public that it has not made any decisions regarding current programming. We have been long-time broadcast partners with TV Asahi for NJPW at Fight Network and hope to build on that relationship. We are in the middle of a season with WOW and about to tape another series of episodes next week, so no reason to make any decisions there in the short term. We’re looking forward to getting to know them better.”

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The deal actually first started with an attempt by Anthem to get Impact on AXS when they got word in the latter stages of 2018 that they weren’t going to be renewed by Pop TV. AXS turned down the initial deal, since Impact did not have a good reputation in the wrestling world at the time and AXS had its own wrestling franchise with New Japan. We first heard in December that talks were serious about Anthem buying AXS. Those in the industry have noted to us that with cord cutting and the emergence of alternative viewing options, there are more sellers than buyers when it comes to cable TV channels these days. While negotiations went slower than hoped for, they were completed with the idea Mark Cuban saw it as a good time to exit the genre, although he does retain an ownership percentage.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter AXS had slightly more than 100 employees before the cuts and the number of those employees left is expected, depending on different info, range between 20 and 60. Most were let go immediately upon the word of Cuban selling with no options for people trying to negotiate deals to stay. The Wrap reported that the cuts were heaviest among those working on the fight shows, MMA and pro wrestling, as well as virtually the entire Dallas office, most of the Denver office and many in the Los Angeles office. New Japan was produced weekly out of the Los Angeles office or the Denver office. Although Swift was in the bloodletting, Bob Gold, a spokesperson for Anthem, told The Warp that almost all the senior executives will be kept, although a lot of hints have been going that may not be the case.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter With Anthem owning the station, it could lead to pressure for New Japan regarding relations with ROH, the company they are currently working with, or Impact, which has been wanting to work with New Japan for some time. New Japan has had no interest in working with Impact, even though Don Callis, the head of creative of Impact, has worked as an announcer for New Japan. New Japan and Impact have had problems stemming from the treatment of Kazuchika Okada when he was sent to Impact prior to his ascending to stardom in 2012. The early word from Japan is that this change will have no effect on their business relationships with other promotions, but this happened very suddenly from their standpoint. A few months ago, when it appeared this deal was close, those at TNA were talking like they expected when this deal went through that it would lead to New Japan working with them. Really, because it just happened, and nobody knows the future of New Japan on the station, everything is likely going to have to be sorted out. In that seven year period, Impact management has completely changed. Nobody from that era is even around today. New Japan’s management has changed as well, although not nearly as drastically. The problems in the past are such that New Japan has told its talent not to work for Impact. Davey Boy Smith Jr., was known and one would believe Michael Elgin also fit into the category of those who were told not to work for Impact. Both have since quit New Japan, although Smith never made a deal with Impact, instead signing with MLW.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The update on the [AAA] 9/15 show is that nothing from Impact has been announced and that Impact did, in fact, keep Killer Kross off the show. Hugo Savinovich and Matt Striker will be announcing the show. It will also air on iPPV through FITE TV, but not in Mexico, where it’s not airing live because it’ll be on TV Azteca shortly. There are some Impact wrestlers who will be added to the show since Impact is helping promote it, but maybe only a few names besides Blanchard, Taya and Cage.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There was some complaining regarding the taping the Brian Cage wedding angle. It was an early morning shoot. Nobody had breakfast and they taped more than three hours with no water, coffee or food. People were more joking than complaining as it went on, about not having food and water. Ethan Page said something about how it would be nice to have something to drink, and Jimmy Jacobs, who is a producer, snapped in front of everyone and cut a promo about guys complaining and that if they didn’t like it they didn’t need to be there, but then stopped himself and realized he wasn’t coming off well and tried to walk it back

According to Fightful, the reason for lack of catering was due to Impact forgetting to put it in the budget for the tapings and didn't have the money on hand to pay for it.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter As far as business goes, the PPV, updated, is going to fall a little under what Double or Nothing did. What’s notable is the U.S. was down overall and somewhat significantly, while the U.K. was up, and outside the U.S./U.K. was down. Internally because the decline wasn’t big, they are blaming it on losing the Omega vs. Moxley match which was considered going in as the money match on the show ... I think college football opening weekend hurt a little as well, but that will be the case every year since the plan is Labor Day Saturday from the Sears Center as tradition. Things changed since last week. U.S. cable & satellite was down, as of those reported by 9/9, it was at about 28,700 ... B/R Live looks to end up even with DON, not up as early numbers looked, so that’s around 37,000. FITE, which handled the streaming internationally, ended up being up due to the U.K. Outside the U.K. it was down, but we’re told the final number is looking less than 20,000. ITV Box Office, which is U.K. television, was also up, so that’s over 15,000. We were told it was a lot easier to purchase this show through ITV Box Office, as it was push a button as opposed to going through steps. So we’re looking at in the range of 101,000, although I’ve been given indications the total number may end up shy of that. Double or Nothing was around 109,000 to 111,000. If you compare it to All In, and throw out the ITV number since that’s not a fair comparison with those added in for this show, it’s up 40 percent year-to-year and most companies use year-to-year comparisons for shows. As for why it would be up in the U.K. and down the rest of the world, it’s been theorized that Double of Nothing may have been hurt by being on a holiday weekend or that the increase may be because of Pac being in a prominent position on the show, whereas DON had nobody prominent from the U.K. on it. I don’t sense Pac being strong enough, but in Japan, they’ve credited the strong performance the last few months of NJPW World in the U.K. to Will Ospreay. It may also be the U.S. was only down due to first week of college football, but the drop in cable/sat was far more than one would think. It’s probably that there was more must-see for the first show of the new promotion, and the DON numbers were so much higher than expected, and like everything, now things are coming back to reality levels. The long run, there is still the question of if the WWE Network and its pricing putting the $9.99 value on WrestleMania and Rumble will make it hard to get people to spend $50 on quarterly PPV shows

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Right now the plan is for the next television show on TNT to be a preview show for the Washington, DC opener, which would air on 10/1. That hasn’t been announced but has been scheduled for some time, with the idea of running at 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday that Smackdown isn’t on. Tuesday Night Dynamite, which AEW trademarked, was obviously based on the idea of starting in the current Smackdown time slot the first week the show moves to Friday, but that didn’t work for TNT due to NBA commitments

Originally Posted by Observer Newletter Cody came under fire from Outsports regarding the “puto” chant he was involved with at TripleMania. It wouldn’t have been an issue most likely except AEW put it on this past week’s Road To show. Puto is a derogatory chant that has been part of Mexican and Mexican American sports forever. That doesn’t make it right. Technically it means male prostitute, but at times it has been used as a gay slur. After their TripleMania match, Psycho Clown led the crown in chanting that at their opponents, as he does all the time. It’s considered part of AAA. That’s not a defense of it now because it used to be common at sports events like soccer in Mexico and I’ve heard that chant for decades in the U.S. at Mexican sports. But it’s a different time. Soccer has cracked down heavily on it so it is changing in that culture. In Mexico, there has been no heat on AAA and it being chanted at wrestling is not an issue, and Psycho is probably the most popular of the current generation wrestlers in Mexico. After Psycho did it, Cain Velasquez joined in, as did Cody. It’s highly unlikely Cody even realized what it was he was doing. Velasquez would have known, being Hispanic and I’d say just living in San Jose you would know, but it’s also part of Mexican wrestling. AEW responded to the article saying, “Cody joined his teammates at AAA TripleMania for what he understood to be their post-match tradition in Mexico and was unaware of any negative connotations. Certainly the last thing Cody would want to do is hurt of offend anyone, anywhere.” At All Out, and this was prior to this being a controversy, Pentagon Jr. said the word during the ladder match. I’d be pretty much certain AEW from this point would ban that word and that the wrestlers won’t join in fans chants when they perform in AA

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Both WWE and AEW, and perhaps even MMA groups may have to reclassify their performers when they come to California in legislation that, if it passes there, may lead to other states following suit. Assembly Bill 5 was passed on 9/10 in the California State Senate, that is expected to pass through the State Assembly, and Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign it and put it into law on 1/1, redefining the employee vs. independent contractor law. The bill states that workers must be designated as employees, as opposed to independent contractors, if the company they work for exerts control over how they perform their tasks or if their work is part of the company’s regular daily business. Pro wrestling likely fits into the former, but there is no arguing it fits into the latter, which would make wrestlers employees if they perform in California. Labor Groups are pushing for similar legislation in New York, and other states would be expected to follow. Because live touring is less important, it is not inconceivable that WWE and/or AEW would simply avoid running in California to avoid the law, but if New York and other states follow suit, that becomes far more difficult

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Even though there is a dispute given Ric Flair filed a trademark on “The Man,” since WWE has used the phrase for Lynch, Flair is still booked for the 10/4 first FOX show in Los Angeles. Flair’s contention is that he trademarked “To Be the Man,” so feels that’s part of it. WWE contends differently. In a funny story, Undertaker was on ESPN, and whether he knows about this or not, when on, talked about how Ric Flair is “The man.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The Jericho belt story brings up similar stolen belt stories with Bruno Sammartino (WWWF) and Verne Gagne (AWA). Sammartino’s WWWF title belt was stolen after the September 27, 1965, match with Tarzan Tyler at Madison Square Garden. He had put the belt in a locked car as he, Arnold Skaaland and a few others went out for dinner after the show. The car was broken into. It got local TV coverage the next morning and local newspaper coverage. They brought it up on television and Sammartino was given a new belt. I don’t completely recall the Gagne story, but my best memory was that it was stolen at the arena in Decatur, IL, around 1976

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter This past week was the ROH Global Wars tour, using CMLL talent instead of New Japan, and it’s quite clear the interest in CMLL doesn’t touch that of New Japan. The 9/6 show in Dearborn, MI, drew 600, while 9/7 in Villa Park, IL (Chicago area) and 9/8 in Milwaukee both drew 500 fans.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: Joey Ryan Possibly Signed With Impact, NJPW/AXS TV Expiration Date Update
• Various: Jim Cornette Doing Commentary for NWA Shows, PCO’s ROH Contract Expiring Soon
• Drew McIntyre Underwent Surgery After Feeling Sick for Weeks