[Emperor Smeat]

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SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by Observer Bret Hart is really hoping for The Hart Foundation to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, more for Jim Neidhart because he’s battling significant health issues and if it doesn’t come now, he may not be able to enjoy it and perform on stage and at this stage of his life it would mean a lot to Neidhart

Spoiler tags used since its related to this year's WWE Hall of Fame class.

Originally Posted by Observer The end of football season provided a bigger than expected bounce-back for Raw on Monday night as the show was up 17 percent from the January 8th episode, with 3.22 million viewers ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.57 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.36 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.81 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown averaged 2.602 million viewers on the USA Network, essentially even with last week's 2.603 million ... For the first time in 2018, SmackDown was down year-over-year as the show one year ago this week did 2.652 million viewers ... It's notable that SmackDown ratings had been up since AJ Styles won the WWE Championship and since the main event storylines have revolved around Styles, Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. This week, there was virtually no advancement in that storyline. Owens and Zayn didn't appear and Style only did a brief interview segment. The episode instead revolved around the semifinals and finals of the United States title tournament and featured Jinder Mahal wrestling for almost 40 minutes.

Originally Posted by Observer Before Raw 25 goes on the air, there will be a pre-show on the WWE Network, WWE.com, and some of the company's social media channels. It will start at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will be hosted by Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg, David Otunga, and Sam Roberts, with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler also appearing from the Manhattan Center.

Link: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/article...returns-raw-25

Originally Posted by Observer The AP ran a story on Hulk Hogan not being on Raw Monday. WWE, when asked about the possibility of Hogan returning, said "At this time, WWE remains committed to its decision." Hogan said, "I'm ready to jump on a plane and fly to Japan and get involved with that Bullet Club, man, I'm so excited about those kids."

Originally Posted by Observer On Wednesday, WWE star Roman Reigns released a statement regarding claims earlier this week that he was a customer of an accused steroid dealer. "I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition. I learned from the mistake I made nearly two years ago and paid the penalty for it. Since then, I've passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program." This began when a phone interview with Rodriguez was released on YouTube where he alleged that he dealt steroids to Reigns and actors Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel under assumed names. Rodriguez, owner of a gym in Miami, Florida, is facing charges for conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and money laundering in a $10 million operation that crossed international waters. Wahlberg also has denied the claims. The 'mistake' the 32-year-old Reigns is referring to was his 30-day suspension in June 2016 after failing a wellness test for what Dave Meltzer reported was Adderall.

Originally Posted by Observer The basic gist of the story is this. Based on previous WWE policy, most notably the 2007 Signature Pharmacy raid where 12 WWE wrestlers and one front office member had steroids and/or Growth Hormone distributed to them, if there is a paper trail, even without a positive test, the company will suspend the wrestler involved ... Based on this, if there is an actual paper trail or evidence, past this video, that implicated Anoa’i, he would likely be suspended for 60 days. If there isn’t, it is unlikely any action will be taken.

Turns out WWE has the power to suspend people under the Wellness Policy even if they don't actually fail tests.

Originally Posted by Observer The first episode of Mixed Match Challenge currently has 1.2 million views on Facebook. It peaked at over 100,000 viewers for the live show.

Originally Posted by Observer Kenny Omega has been added to NJPW’s four-show tour of Australia in February. Jay White and Henare have also been announced. Hiroshi Tanahashi is off the New Japan tour of Australia. We don't have details at this point. After some other wrestlers asked fans to keep him in their thoughts, Fred “Tugboat” Ottman said that he’s feeling better but not out of the woods yet. Ottman said he’s dealing with an infection in his left leg. CZW announced that Joey Ryan will be wrestling for them on April 7th during WrestleMania weekend in New Orleans. Daisuke Sekimoto & Munenori Sawa vs. WALTER & Timothy Thatcher is set for EVOLVE’s show in New Orleans on April 5th. AAW on Saturday in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium has Rey Fenix vs. Matt Riddle for the AAW title, Mat Fichett & Davey Vega vs. Shane Strickland & Keith Lee for the AAW tag titles, Sami Callihan & Jake & Dave Crist vs. David Starr & Trevor Lee & Jeff Cobb, MJF vs. Juice Robinson, Jessicka Havok & Kylie Rae vs. Allysin Kay & Scarlett, Eddie Kingston vs. Kevin Lee Davidson, Jake Something & Curt Stallion vs. Zero Gravity plus ACH, Myron Reed, AR Fox, Teddy Hart and Paco. THR 3 Media announced a movie being worked on called “Santo, El Mascarado de Plata,” which would be movie about the life of El Santo. The story said they are starting production on the movie this year. El Hijo del Santo will be heavily involved as he’s said he wants the movie to tell the real story about his father’s life. WWC, one of the oldest promotions in the world, still hasn’t comeback since Hurricane Maria and hasn’t said anything about a return. There are three major promotions on the island with CWA currently being No. 1 and has been running 200-seat buildings even after the hurricane. WWL, which averaged 512 fans per show before the hurricane, has the best talent and the best matches. That’s the group that Savio Vega is a part owner of and that Hector Melendez and Dennis Rivera (Savio’s son) are bookers, and Konnan has worked with. Melendez was on track to get a role with The Crash, but his contact was Konnan so that fell apart. The high interest level of Wrestle Kingdom in Puerto Rico was explained as how the fan base has changed and are less interested in American storylines or the heavy juice style and are more interested in match quality and Japanese strong style and Mike Mendoza has gotten a good fan base by combining freestyle wrestling and Jiu Jitsu with fast pacing and heavy strikes. Jeff Cobb will be working the next season of Lucha Underground as Matanza Cueto. It’s known he’s been looking to get out so he may be on the list of guys who are coming back to be written out. Obviously Cobb is looking at working more regularly with New Japan, and Impact has shown an interest (although his Lucha Underground contract wouldn’t block him from Impact) and we don’t know about ROH but him going to ROH would seem to make sense

Omega: https://www.facebook.com/78452524168...type=3&theater , Tugboat: https://www.facebook.com/fred.ottman...user_video_tab , CZW: https://twitter.com/combatzone/statu...35483253637121 , EVOLVE: https://twitter.com/WWNEVOLVE/status/953073163214172160 , MLW: https://twitter.com/MLW/status/953775499930755072

Originally Posted by PWI At the Impact Wrestling TV taping on Monday night, there were reference made to the 4/22 Redemption PPV taking place in Toronto, but earlier today John Pollock of PostWrestling.com reported there was no deal in place for the show to currently take place in that city. In asking around, we are told that is correct and should Impact not run Toronto, the back up plan is to attempt to return to Universal Studios and hold the PPV in Orlando, Florida.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross disclosed this afternoon that the charges brought against the driver who struck his late wife Jan have been dismissed. On Twitter, Ross wrote: This morning norman judge Steven Stice felt compelled to dismiss vehicular homicide charge against the 17 year old in my wife Jan’s death. The state objected to no avail. The driver never even lost his drivers license. Sad world in which we live, folks. pic.twitter.com/97GqJMHzab — Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) January 18, 2018

Originally Posted by WrestleInc PWInsider reported that the word at the tapings was that Lashley won't be able to sign with any other company until February 1st, while EC3 is free to sign with any company now, which means he could appear at The Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 28th. EC3 was originally booked for a Renegade Wrestling Revolution independent wrestling event in Houston on the day of th Rumble, however EC3 backed out of the show last week. The promotion commented on EC3 pulling out of the event, writing on Facebook: "BREAKING NEWS!!!!!! Do to reasons out of RWR control EC3 will not be able to attend RWR "OVER THE TOP". EC3 has said he will be back to RWR in the near future. We here at RWR wish EC3 the best and will see him soon. But the show must go on so straight from the office of RWR a new main event has been set Champion Ayden Cristiano will now have defend his title verus not 1, not 2, but 3 of the regions top Heavywieghts. So on January 28th at RWR "OVER THE TOP" you will see Ayden Cristiano vs Able Andrew Jackson vs Big Daddy Yum Yum vs Ryan Davidson. Plus so much more. Check out our new flyer to get all the information" For what it's worth, when asked this week why he pulled out of the show, the promotion replied, "Unfortunately it is a private family matter. He is ok just has to be with family. But don't be discouraged there isn't shortage of talent on this card"

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE Network officials were planning to add Coliseum Home Videos to the vault soon but it appears WCW Thunder may be the next big classic uploads to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show next month, according to PWInsider. Thunder was to be added a few months back but the uploads were delayed due to the lawsuit filed by former WCW stars Raven and Buff Bagwell, which has ended. WWE Network workers are also preparing old WWWF TV episodes to be added to the Network later this year.

Some other sheet news includes:

• The Mirror held a recent interview with HBK talking about RAW's 25th anniversary and wrestling on the 1st ever RAW episode. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other...ls-id-11869216
• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had Kevin Owens and his best friend Sami Zayn as the guests. https://omny.fm/shows/talk-is-jerich...together-again
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Mark Henry talking about his current wrestling status, why he's been inactive from the WWE in recent months, and his first appearance with the Nation of Domination. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...e-not-retired/
• According to the Observer, Samoa Joe is currently expected to be out till at least mid-March as the best case scenario.
• Also according to the Observer, Bobby Lashley can be a surprise entrant in this year's Rumble even though WWE can't officially sign him to a deal till February 1st. It involves getting Impact's permission to use Lashley while his non-compete clause is in effect.
• WWE's website had a recent interview with The Undisputed Era talking about their success on the indies, their chemistry as a group, and them wanting to "conquer" NXT. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...ering-wwe-nxt/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Nash and Foley Won’t Be at Raw 25, Jeff Hardy and Mark Henry Will Be
• Ethan Carter III Spotted at WWE Performance Center
• Jim Johnston Gives First Interview Since Being Let Go By WWE
• NJPW Has Had Preliminary Talks With Goldberg
• Impact’s Sienna Hospitalized With Blood Clots in Lungs