[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The first Paul Heyman Raw saw an immediate 9.7 percent increase in ratings from last week and a turnaround from the usual ratings pattern. The key is that the first hour was up only three percent, which would probably be a combination of curiosity over the Heyman news and the big explosions and Bobby Lashley/Braun Strowman angle to start the show off strong. But this week, instead of declining, the second hour jumped big, and was 16 percent ahead of last week ... The third hour, built around Styles vs. Ricochet, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, the 24/7 title, and Maria Kanellis lambasting Mike Kanellis after their mixed tag, was up 10 percent from last week, but it was still a 12.4 percent drop from hour two. But comparing hour one to three, the five percent drop would be the lowest in a long time ... The first-to-second hour growth was strong across the board. The added viewers in hour two, usually a decline, were 10 percent in women 18-49, seven percent in men 18-49, 13 percent in teenage girls, and 15 percent in teenage boys. So this style was strongest with teenagers, the age group WWE television has had huge losses with over the past year. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.47 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.68 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.35 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI Here are some notes from Eric Bischoff's latest 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff said he was overwhelmed by the positive response he’s received since the announcement, calling it the biggest opportunity he’s ever had in the wrestling industry. He’ll be heading to Connecticut full-time the week after the 4th of July holiday, calling the job a “deep dive” and a “23/7 job.” The podcast, 83 Weeks, will continue (with Conrad acknowledging that a week off here and there might be necessary), but the live shows will end at this juncture. 83 Weeks will continue to be based on nostalgia, and they’ll never talk about the current product. Eric also thanked Conrad for the podcast, claiming it gave him a new perspective and renewed energy about wrestling.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The opening of tonight's WWE RAW saw Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley work a Falls Count Anywhere match until Strowman put Lashley through part of the Titantron. This led to a big explosion backstage as WWE had pyro go off several times to add to the chaos. The announcers played up the seriousness of the situation as Strowman and Lashley were loaded up on stretchers by paramedics, then driven away in ambulances after the commercial. As seen in the photos and videos below, WWE really tried to make the angle feel real and dramatic. It looks like WWE may have done the stage explosion angle to make way for a new stage and set. @Wrestlevotes reported on Twitter that the company has been working on having a new stage designed and built. It was speculated that this angle may have been done to speed up the arrival of the new set.

Link: https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/sta...49777223077894

Originally Posted by Observer A-Kid is the first participant announced for this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles event. The announcement was made tonight on PWG's Twitter account. The Spanish-born wrestler has been wrestling since 2012, primarily wrestling for the WhiteWolf Wrestling promotion in Spain. In the years since his debut, he’s been making waves across Europe, wrestling for a number of top promotions including Defiant and RevoPro.

Originally Posted by Fightful At today's EVE Wrestle Queendom 2UK event, Independent star Charlie Morgan announced her retirement due to injuries. Morgan is just 27 years old and is a former EVE Champion. She has wrestled for various Independent promotions including SHIMMER, RISE, and PROGRESS. She also appeared on the Mar. 6 episode of NXT UK, losing to Nina Samuels.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated has released a snippet from his upcoming interview with Roman Reigns, and The Big Dog commented on Jon Moxley leaving WWE for AEW. Reigns said he will always have love for the former Dean Ambrose. "I don't think our working relationship is going to be what it used to be, but I'll always love that guy, he'll always be my close friend, and I wish the best for him," Reigns said. Reigns continued and said their love for each other will continue past the wrestling world. "We have a brotherhood, so I'm always cheering for him," Reigns said. "I've shared so many great moments with Ambrose, or Mox. We have love for each other well beyond the wrestling, and it will always be that way."

Originally Posted by Observer Today is Bret Hart’s 62nd birthday

Originally Posted by Observer On the post-Fyter Fest episode of Being the Elite, The Young Bucks offered Private Party full-time contracts with AEW after their match against Best Friends and SoCal Uncensored. Matt Jackson tweeted about the decision: “Literally right when Private Party stepped back through the curtain after their match at #FyterFest, Nick & I offered them full time contracts. Star making performances like that deserve to be rewarded.”

Originally Posted by Observer With AAA revealing the card for Triplemania XXVII at a press conference today, we now know who former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will be facing in his professional wrestling debut. Psycho Clown, Cody Rhodes & Velasquez will take on El Texano Jr., Taurus and a mystery partner. Velasquez appeared at a press conference for AAA in March, with it being announced that he would be making his debut at Triplemania. It appears that Texano & Taurus' mystery partner may be Killer Kross. Triplemania will also feature a rematch from AEW's Fyter Fest event. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) will again team with Laredo Kid against The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega. Triplemania will be headlined by Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. hair match. The show is taking place at Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City on Saturday, August 3 and will air live on Twitch.

Originally Posted by Observer Ahead of the show airing on the WWE Network later this month, the card has been revealed for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration ... The full lineup for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration is listed below: NXT Champion Adam Cole defending against Akira Tozawa EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. WWN Champion JD Drake in a winner-take-all match EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy defending against AR Fox & Leon Ruff (w/ Ayla Fox and The Skulk) Matt Riddle vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak in a non-title match Anthony Henry vs. Arturo Ruas Babatunde vs. Colby Corino Curt Stallion vs. Sean Maluta vs. Stephen Wolf vs. Harlem Bravado in a fatal four-way match Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene (w/ Brandi Lauren)

Originally Posted by PWI Impact Wrestling signed D'Lo Brown to a full-time, multi-year deal as a Producer over the last day. Brown had been getting excellent reviews for his work in recent months and has already built a reputation for being someone who collaborated with talents as opposed to trying to push what worked for him as a worker onto their matches. A number of talents in recent weeks had pushed for Brown to be brought on. We are told the company is in the process of signing another Producer as well.

Originally Posted by PWI Riho had her farewell event in Japan today as she's coming to AEW full-time. At today's Gatoh Move event, Emi Sakura pinned Riho with a La Magistral Cradle. There was a cool moment after as the entire roster came to the ring and gave Riho a send off by picking her up and tossing her really high into the air.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Jacques Rougeau Sr. passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89. Johnny was the father of Jacques Jr., Raymond, and Armand and the brother of legendary fixture Johnny Rougeau. Jacques stepped away from wrestling while his brother was able to run the territory after Eddie Quinn left Montreal. Johnny would help usher in a boom period for the province of Quebec and led to Jacques Sr. returning. Jacques Sr. won the IWA International heavyweight title five times in Montreal and tag titles once with partner Gino Brito. He also wrestled for Pedro Martinez’s NWF promotion in New York and became their heavyweight champion in January 1973 when he defeated Waldo Von Erich in a tournament final after Johnny Valentine vacated the championship.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Diamond Dallas Page posted a note that his former sidekick Max Muscle (John Czawlytko) passed away last Thursday at the age of 56. He was a bodybuilder that got into wrestling in 1992 and signed with WCW the following year. He wrestled as ‘Big Bad John’ and later was given the ‘Max Muscle’ moniker. He was paired with Page as his bodyguard and is the role he is most remembered for. He worked for the company until 1997 and would wrestle sporadically after leaving. He made a return in October 2009 and wrestled twice for the Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence promotion in Fort Worth, Texas.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE fans in Glasgow, Scotland who had purchased tickets to a live edition of Raw this November at the SSE Hydro have been informed the event is being changed to a house show. An email alert went out Tuesday announcing that the show will no longer be televised but the lineup of talent from Raw will stay intact. There was no reason given for the change and refunds are available until July 28th. The show is set to take place Monday, November 11th during the promotion’s European tour. This follows several dates on the tour being canceled recently. It has been speculated on that this could be a conflict with the next show in Saudi Arabia. The events have been taking place on Friday afternoon since the deal began last year but the problem with November is that SmackDown will be airing live on Fox the same day.

Originally Posted by Fightful Dark Side Of The Ring producer Evan Husney and director Jason Eisener are awaiting clearance for a second season of the series and one of the stories that Husney feels could be reexamined is the story of Chris Benoit and the details surrounding the death of he and his family. Husney stated that if an episode about Benoit were to be made, they would need to speak with the right people and get those who were truly affected the most by the incident to recount what they believe occurred during the month of June in 2007 with the Benoit family. “I think that the Chris Benoit story is obviously a very dark story." Husney told Express Sport. “I think that it is a tragedy that is worth re-examining because there is a lot to be found out about the story since it happened. I think that if it were to be done then we would really need to have the right people to talk about it and we need the people that this incident really affected the most in order to tell it kind of appropriately. Because I think that story could have easily been told in an exploitative sort of way and so I think you just need to have the appropriate voices to be heard for that story in order to tell it properly. But I do think it is a story that is something that if done right is definitely necessary.”

TPWW Frontpage:

• Anderson & Gallows Reportedly Close to Re-Signing With WWE
• Maria Kanellis Is Legitimately Pregnant, Reportedly Told WWE After Signing New Contracts
• Raw: Paul Heyman’s Influence on Last Night’s Show, Corey Graves Saying “Holy Sh*t”
• Seth Rollins Apologizes to Will Ospreay for “Garbage Tweets”
• Impact Reportedly in Talks With AXS TV