[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer 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.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling 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.

Originally Posted by Observer 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

Originally Posted by PWI 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/

Originally Posted by PWI 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.

Originally Posted by PWI 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."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling 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.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling 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.’”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling 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.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling 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.”

Originally Posted by PWI 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

pic.twitter.com/hn7cZe8o8t

— JTG (@Jtg1284) May 21, 2020

TPWW Frontpage:

• Ric Flair Signs New WWE Contract
• AEW Injury Updates: Britt Baker, Rey Fenix, Matt Jackson
• Jim Cornette Criticizes Becky Lynch for Being Pregnant, Seth Rollins Responds
• Updated AEW Double or Nothing Card – New Match Added