[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The fourth installment of Viceland’s Dark Side of the Ring series on “The Last of the Von Erichs” produced another season-high with Wednesday’s episode averaging 234,000 viewers. This week’s episode was up 9% from last week’s episode on Bruiser Brody. Next week’s episode covers the 1986 death of Gino Hernandez and includes interviews with his mother and sister. The season finale is in two weeks on the Fabulous Moolah.

Originally Posted by Observer The Viceland Dark Side of the Ring series will air in Australia on SBS Viceland On Demand starting on 5/8 and will air on TV on SBS Viceland starting on 6/3.

Originally Posted by PWI The announced WWE NXT Takeover for San Jose, CA on 6/8 has been canceled. It has been announced the next Takeover will take instead take place on 6/1. No location has been announced. More details will be made via Triple H's social media this Monday. WWE NXT does has a Live Event in Fort Pierce, FL on that date, but they can easily cancel the date if necessary.

Originally Posted by Observer PWInsider reported that Rich Swann has signed a new two-year deal with Impact.

Originally Posted by PWI n the interview with Sapp, Rush responded to our report that he had heat during the November 2018 European tour for not wanting to handle menial tasks assigned to junior members of the tour, including bringing water to veteran talents at the gorilla position following their matches and carrying coolers into hotels in advance of talents having a common, private area to congregate after shows, stating, "It’s not about race and it has never been, but public perception is important to me and when we have fans that travel all over the globe and watch us get off of buses and into hotels, the LOOK of a black kid carrying waters and bags for other wrestlers is just not a good look, especially when I’m trying to portray myself as a superstar as well," One WWE talent who was on that tour, however, contacted PWInsider.com this morning to point out that while Rush blew off the responsibilities, The Authors of Pain and Drake Maverick, who were also on their first European tours did not. The source questioned why those three talents, especially one already as well established as Maverick was in the industry, had zero issue with paying respect, but Rush did, wondering if it was because Rush had brought his wife with him on the tour. That same source noted that there would be no way a fan would know if Rush brought water backstage to a veteran wrestler and would have been seen carrying coolers alongside other WWE stars who were junior members of the tour ... During the interview with Fightful, Rush also implied that he was not able to make a livable wage working for WWE, which signed him to a developmental deal in 2017, stating, "My issue isn’t with my on-screen role. My issue is the fact that I haven’t been on meet & greets with Bobby, haven’t been getting paid for merchandise for us that has my catchphrases on them. (I) have been sent to live shows and TVs and forced to pay for my own rental for 5 days as well as hotel while not making enough money to do so. Walking around broke in the biggest sports entertainment industry that there is while having two kids and a wife to support." Rush's claims are interesting, especially since WWE sources have claimed today that Rush was offered a new, five-year contract that was said to be in the $300 thousand per year range, but turned it down, instead, according to multiple sources, asking for double that number.

More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/12...-more.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI You wrote about several recent creative hirings, but I was wondering about podcaster and writer Dave Schilling, who announced he was going to work for WWE Creative on Twitter but is back writing about WWE on websites. What happened? We are told Schilling was let go after an extremely short time with the company. One source told me that Schilling publicly announcing he was hired by the company may have put him in a bad light before he started. That's unfortunate, if true. I read somewhere that late comedian Patrice O'Neal worked for WWE? Is this true? Yes, he was on the creative team for a short time. He was let go when he had a stand up gig and chose that over his WWE commitments. He once told the story on Opie & Anthony about Stephanie McMahon firing him over the phone and he shrugged at it, as comedians and writers do when its time to move onto the next gig, leading to Stephanie calling him back and firing him again on the phone, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation, which O'Neil found hilarious. Why is Sam Roberts now on commentary? I was told they really liked the heel reaction he got when he buried Bianca Belair and now they are exploring that when he's used,

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Originally Posted by Fightful Becky 2 Belts is facing a familar foe at Money in the Bank, but current plans don't call for her to run it back yet again at WrestleMania 36. Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer reports that plans for Becky Lynch's WrestleMania 36 opponent have changed. While originally WWE had pegged Lynch to build for a match against Charlotte Flair, Meltzer states that there is a new plan in order for Lynch, but hasn't specified who. However, Lynch figures to be a top booked woman on the event, according to the report. Ronda Rousey is not the planned match either, though Meltzer stated that it isn't out of the question if she chose to return.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The update on Harper is that Vince McMahon, in writing, told him he wouldn’t release him. He was earmarked to work a program with Zayn after Mania, but the decision was made not to do it. One person close to the situation told us that he needs to get out because they made a call that they weren’t going to use him after Vince saw him in his return. Vince said that he didn’t “get him” and complained that he couldn’t even do a Southern accent (that was from them wanting him to do a Southern accent four years ago). He was regularly pitching ideas when he was out with an injury and they turned down every pitch. He wasn’t booked anywhere after being cleared but Fan Axxess, and then Vince McMahon out of the blue wanted to know why he wasn’t in the Battle Royal, so that’s why he was put in at the last minute. Apparently the end was a mess as Strowman forgot his spots, which is one of the reasons Strowman hasn’t done much since winning. He was booked to start the Zayn program the day after Mania, but was then told after Mania he wasn’t needed for TV. So he went home, but then was called to comeback on Tuesday for a match with EC 3. He was basically used as the opponent to test out the EC 3 and Maverick pairing as wrestler/manager. The agents set up a bunch of manager spots in the match. Vince then watched it and said he hated the manager spots. The creative meeting the day of the draft when it was asked about which brand Harper would be on, Vince said how the guy can’t even do a Southern accent, said the match with EC 3 was bad, so they didn’t put him with either brand and that’s when he asked for his release.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter For the first three months of 2019, WWE generated $182,448,000 in revenue, and ended up with $8,396,000 in losses. The same three month period last year generated $187,721,000 in revenue, but posted a $14,835,000 profit. There are a few things notable in these numbers. The first is that taxes make the gap between the two years seem closer than they really are in profit/loss. The company’s net, before taxes, this year was a loss of $11,349,000, but the company received $2,953,000 from the government due to the losses when it came to taxes. And the losses were actually due to $12,828,000 in senior management compensation due to bonuses paid this quarter based on meeting performance levels in 2018. Last year the executive bonuses were $7,073,000. There’s something totally legal but amazingly unsettling when you think about the tax implications in this first quarter, a company that paid nearly $13 million in bonuses and got a $3 million tax break to cover a percentage of losses both in the same quarter. But due to increased spending, even factoring that out, profits were way down.

Basically WWE's losses were due to upper management treating themselves to a nice pay bonus that somehow managed to tank profits for the quarter. On top of that, managed to get $3 million back as a tax break from the government because of loopholes in US tax laws.

Originally Posted by Fightful Brock Lesnar went to WWE because UFC wouldn't pay him nothing. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Brock Lesnar decided to retire from MMA because Dana White and the UFC did not meet his price point for a fight with Daniel Cormier. With UFC signing a deal with ESPN, their pay-per-view money is now guaranteed, meaning they are less reliant on buyrates and top stars selling more pay-per-views in order to boost revenue. Exclusive: RVD Says Money Was The Motivating Factor For Impact Return Related Article Exclusive: RVD Says Money Was The Motivating Factor For Impact Return Lesnar, being a top draw every time he steps into the Octagon, wanted a higher flat fee to make up for potentially losing out on pay-per-view buys. White did not reach Lesnar's price, leading to the fight with Cormier falling through and White saying Lesnar has retired.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter WWE officially announced its third show in Saudi Arabia on 6/7 in Jeddah, the same city the second show was held at. The show, the company’s biggest of the year as far as dollar value goes, will feature the highest paid talent, in this case returns of Bill Goldberg, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar ... Those in WWE say the company approached Goldberg, figuring he was the one guy left who could go to AEW and perhaps bring back lapsed fans, similar to how Vince McMahon, without the benefit of hindsight, left the door open to WCW for Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage in the 90s.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The big news was that Brian Cage won the championship but also suffered a serious back injury. Michael Elgin showed up after the championship match to lay out Cage. Elgin also won a top contenders match the next day at television so it looks to be Cage vs. Elgin as the title direction. Elgin, who looked in tremendous cosmetic shape, quit New Japan recently after just being a guy on the card in recent months. Elgin was never even used by New Japan in the U.S., likely because at an AAW show the crowd reacted terribly bad for him in the wake of a story that claimed he somehow covered up a sexual assault, even though he clearly encouraged the alleged victim to go to the police, and it led to him suing the accuser. It’s been long enough that, at least in the building in Toronto, there was no backlash. Impact had wanted to use Elgin probably since Don Callis started in a power position, since he knew him from New Japan, but also knew at the time it was a risk of a social media backlash if they were to use him. Later, Callis did want to use Elgin, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and perhaps others from New Japan, but New Japan told its contracted talent that they didn’t want them working for anyone that they saw as competition to ROH. Since Elgin was going to be brought in for a top spot, he decided to leave New Japan. New Japan has said that if things don’t work out, that Elgin can return.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The announcement regarding PPV, streaming, or both of Double or Nothing will be announced soon, likely the next week or two. Since they are going through with the Tuesday Night Dynamite trademark. As of a month or two ago, the idea of a Tuesday night show was dead based on the stations being talked with having other programming, but it is back alive now.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Regarding the 2021 WrestleMania, this is the update. Los Angeles is the likely destination. The city has put in a bid for it for the new Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park. The stadium will be the new home for the Rams and the Chargers, and will have a capacity of 80,240, but will be expanded to 100,000 for the 2022 Super Bowl, World Cup games, Olympic events and other major events. WWE wanted to go in 2022, after the Super Bowl, with the idea they would announce a number bigger than whatever the Super Bowl does and probably also announce a new attendance record for the company. But the city put in a bid for 2021, wanting to use WrestleMania, with so many out-of-town tourists, to kind of test everything out and remove the kinks before the Super Bowl comes the next February.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There was a poster going around which listed an NXT Money in the Bank match for the PPV. According to those in the know, not only is the poster a fake, but such a match has never been discussed.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter For those keeping score, FOX on 4/26 averaged 2,103,000 viewers in prime time. That sounds bad, but that’s also with rerun programming. In fact their first hour with reruns beat what Smackdown did live on a Tuesday.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Daniel Bryan Cleared to Return to the Ring
• The Viking Raiders Resolve NXT Tag Team Title Situation at NXT Tapings (Spoilers)