[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Mattel's newest series of WWE action figures:

Originally Posted by Observer The final Raw before WrestleMania did 3.77 million viewers, an 11 percent increase from near historical lows for non-football season posted for the show on 3/21 from Philadelphia. A show that advertised every major character from WrestleMania appearing, including Vince McMahon, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Shane McMahon, from the Barclays Center, was down 10 percent from the WrestleMania go-home show last year which did a 3.03 rating and 4.19 million viewers. The 2014 go-home show did a 3.18 rating and 4.38 million viewers ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.82 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.85 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.64 million viewers Next week's show is likely to be the highest rated Raw of the year, as that is the usual pattern for the day after WrestleMania. It is usually about two weeks after WrestleMania where the ratings settle into what ends up being the usual spring levels.

RAW ended up being better than last week although continues the trend of being lower than the same week last year. Baring a massive disappointment, next week should be the highest of the year although current trends also has it lower than last year's Post-Mania show.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE's final two honorees for the Hall of Fame ceremony will be Snoop Dogg and Joan Lunden. Snoop Dogg, who is related to Sasha Banks and has been on WWE television a few times over the years, will be the celebrity inductee. It had been rumored within wrestling for weeks and reported in past Wrestling Observer Newsletters that they were talking, and in wrestling circles, the belief was that it was a done deal. Also reported at the time was Lunden, who will receive the Warrior award. While the Snoop Dogg announcement was made via email, John Cena made the announcement on Lunden Monday morning on The Today Show. Lunden will be presented with the award on Saturday night by Dana, the widow of the Ultimate Warrior. Lunden, best known for her hosting Good Morning America was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and very publicly battled through chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE announced that Slick (Ken Johnson) will be inducting Big Bossman into the Hall of Fame.

Originally Posted by Observer Progress Wrestling will be hosting two qualifying matches for WWE's new Global Cruiserweight promotion. April 24th will be the date of the tapings. These matches will begin the qualifying matches for the Global Cruiserweight tournament, designed to showcase lighter weight wrestlers and high flyers that are not necessarily already under contract to WWE. No names were announced for the matches, but names like Zack Sabre Jr., Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll immediately come to mind. Many former WWE performers that meet the cruiserweight limit (205 lbs) have also been contacted.

Update to the Cruiserweight tournament news mostly in regards to the part of former WWE wrestlers getting contacted for it. UK's Rev Pro Wrestling is also hosting qualifiers as well.

Originally Posted by Observer Ethan Carter III (Michael Hutter) gave an explanation today on this Facebook page that the cancelation of his appearance at the Southside Wrestling and Preston City Wrestling shows in England was his choice, and not TNA's. He did not state specifically what the conflict was, but wrote, "Unfortunately, due to a previously unforeseen opportunity to continue building a rapport between TNA Wrestling and one our of television network partners, I was forced to cancel my appearances with both Southside and Preston City Wrestling April 2-3. Canceling is not something I take lightly." EC3 promised to make it up to the fans and the promotions. Perhaps, he would start by selling his foam fingers that he had specifically made for this trip at a discounted rate, but that's purely speculation.

Originally Posted by Observer Karl Anderson was at the Performance Center in Orlando earlier today[Monday]. As noted, his arrival on television in WWE, along with that of Doc Gallows, is imminent.

Originally Posted by Observer Fenix suffered a badly broken nose Saturday night at the Lucha Underground tapings.

Originally Posted by TNA Fight Network, the world’s premier 24/7 multi-platform channel dedicated to complete coverage of combat sports, and TNA Entertainment announced today they have entered into a comprehensive content partnership to seize a global digital audience for fight-based content. Fight Network’s over-the-top (OTT) app available on digital platforms will become the global home for TNA Wrestling content starting in the second quarter of this year. Fight Network and TNA Wrestling will collaborate to produce digital content and will also partner on cross-promotion and joint sales efforts in global markets, as well as in the U.S. and Canada. Fight Network’s OTT app is available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Verizon Go90, Layer 3 and KlowdTV. Fight Network is currently the home of TNA Wrestling programming in Canada, including its two hour flagship weekly program IMPACT WRESTLING, TNA Wrestling’s Greatest Matches and TNA Xplosion. Fight Network will now also air select TNA Wrestling archive programming on its linear channels in select U.S. markets and in over 30 countries across Europe, Africa and the Middle East where Fight Network currently broadcasts.

Originally Posted by PWI Angelina Love, who recently gave birth to her son, announced on Twitter that she is gone from TNA and will be taking bookings in June. She noted that her contract with TNA expired while she was out pregnant. Her husband, Davey Richards, is still with TNA and rehabbing a torn ACL in his left knee.

It's like, you can never predict the audience, no matter how smart you are. And WWE.. you know, sometimes they can and sometimes they can't, especially now. But this one? This one was a no-brainer. And the idea that they didn't figure it out.. This was one where I was really surprised how they didn't figure this out. This was an easy one. It is the typical WWE, they're trying to go right, but they can't help themselves from going left. They think that she (Eva) is so hot that everyone is going to like her. It didn't work in NXT and it obviously didn't work tonight. People have so much access to photos of hot women, that being a hot woman who can't wrestle it doesn't mean shit anymore. There was a time when it did with Tammy Sytch and Sable. But times change. If Braun Strowman showed up in the Hogan era, they could have done Wrestlemania with him and match would have sucked, but they would have drawn big money.

Observer on the WWE literally believing Eva Marie was going to be cheered for her surprise appearance last night on RAW. Also for putting her on the face team for the Divas tag team match at Mania.

Recently on WOOOOO! Nation, two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair talked extensively about his WrestleMania 18 match with The Undertaker. When Flair returned to WWE in the fall of 2001, he was not going to be used as an in-ring performer. A couple of months later, Flair would find himself in a street fight with Vince McMahon at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. According to Flair, The Undertaker asked to work with him at WrestleMania a few weeks later and Triple H broke the news to him shortly thereafter. "Hunter walks out to me at [WWE Monday Night] RAW about a month [after WWE Royal Rumble] and says, 'Taker wants to work with you at 'Mania.' I said, 'what?' I mean, I was in shock, right, that he would [want to]. He said, 'yeah, well, Taker wants to work with you at WrestleMania.' And I said, 'my God, I'm overwhelmed. That's great.'" Flair continued, "I was just thrilled. I never dreamed that I would even be in that spot again because when I told him I'd come back [to WWE], I thought I was never going to wrestle. It ended up, obviously, being part of my legacy, wrestling all those matches ... Unlike Flair's WrestleMania 8 contest with 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, which took days to orchestrate, Flair said that he and The Undertaker, along with Michael Hayes and Arn Anderson, worked out the match the day of WrestleMania and most of it was called in the ring ... According to Flair, he was paid in Canadian dollars for WrestleMania 18, which was broadcast live from Toronto, Canada. "Well, the difference is, remember, this is in Canada. And so, at that time, we got paid in Canadian dollars. I actually made more money wrestling Randy [Savage at WrestleMania 8 in Indianapolis, Indiana] than I did wrestling this match."

Some other sheet news includes:

• Sports Illustrated recently had an article dealing with why ESPN tends to be very active with wrestling coverage during Mania week. http://www.si.com/more-sports/2016/0...tling-coverage
• ESPN had a recent article dealing with WWE's injury crisis and its role hurting the Road to Mania this year. http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/1...restlemania-32
• Taz announced Jim Ross and Todd Grisham will be his guests for Sunday's podcast episode after Mania ends.
• Mauro Ranallo announced on Twitter he will be calling the action during Mania's pre-show matches. Will also be on the panel for NXT Takeover's pre-show. https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/sta...71149788684288
• According to the Observer, Taker-Shane is currently set as the main event match for Mania 32.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 18th anniversary of Stone Cold Steve Austin defeating HBK to win the WWF title at Mania XIV.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, The Usos have been involved in 4 Manias so far in their career and all those matches have been on the pre-show. In terms of the main roster, 2nd longest tenured wrestler/team to never have a match on the actual ppv. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...th_wm_preshow/
• Lucha Underground's Ivelise revealed on her Instagram page she is currently dealing with a foot injury. https://www.instagram.com/p/BDi198hgMei/
• According to several sheet sources, Daniel Bryan is currently pushing for the WWE to release him from contract with the promise to not wrestle anywhere else. NJPW is rumored to be interested in signing him if he can get out of the contract. WWE also doesn't believe in his promise nor wants him to show up at other promotions. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc..._daniel_bryan/