[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer After a week with no competition from the NBA or NHL playoffs, both sports were back last night and seemed to affect AEW Dynamite more than WWE NXT. This week's Dynamite averaged 835,000 viewers on TNT, down 5.8 percent from last week. NXT was up one percent from last week, averaging 696,000 viewers on the USA Network. The total combined audience of 1.531 million viewers was only down three percent from last week despite the NBA doing an audience of nearly 4.5 million viewers. News programming was also up from normal levels with Fox News averaging five million viewers in the two hours opposite Dynamite and NXT. Dynamite averaged a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demo, down 5.9 percent from last week. It's the lowest number the show has done since August 27, when Dynamite aired on Thursday. It matched the lowest the show has done on a Wednesday since July 29. Dynamite ranked ninth overall on cable in the demo. NXT finished 38th in the 18-49 demo, averaging the same 0.18 rating it did last week. As usual, AEW won every demo except people over 50, where NXT had an advantage of 0.37 to 0.32.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The major difference this week was the NBA playoffs, which had an off night last week. The game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat topped the cable charts with 4,484,000 viewers and a 1.76 demo figure. The NHL game between Tampa Bay and Dallas was eighth for the night with 1,145,000 with AEW tying them in the demo rating. The NXT audience was largely unaffected by the NBA while AEW was hurt among its young male audience and with its 18-34 audience with declines in those categories. For Dynamite, males 12-34 fell 31 percent this week with adults 18-34 dropped by 17 percent. Interestingly, NXT stayed even in both demos from last week. Both sides were hurt with males 18-49 as AEW was down 13 percent and NXT down 8.5. Female viewership on both sides remained steady as did its older audiences in 25-54 and 50+. Among females 12-34, AEW increased by 7 percent and NXT saw a jump of 33 percent ... If the Denver Nuggets vs. L.A. Laker series goes to a seventh game, it will be played next Wednesday.

Originally Posted by Observer Rumors of a recent COVID-19 outbreak among NXT talents at the WWE Performance Center became real Thursday night as WWE released a statement somewhat acknowledging some positive tests. “As part of ongoing testing protocols, WWE completed its second round of weekly COVID-19 testing on Tuesday. Individuals that tested positive will quarantine for 14 days, receive medical care, and then will only be cleared when they are symptom-free and test negative. Additionally, extensive contact tracing has taken place and other individuals have been placed in 14-day quarantine, and will then only be cleared after they test negative.” As expected, WWE didn't release any information on the amount of talents that tested positive and cannot release names due to HIPAA laws. PW Insider reported that training has been paused at the Performance Center as of Thursday. NXT is covered for tapings until TakeOver on October 4th, giving time for recovery for those infected. It's unknown if this recent outbreak has affected main roster members, or even AEW talents, who might have come into contact with those infected. Both Fightful and Spectrum Sports 360's Jon Alba first reported that during the week of September 9th, several positive tests resulted in some changes to their TV plans and that mask wearing has gotten a bit lax at the PC.

Originally Posted by Observer NXT UK's Heritage Cup tournament is set to begin next week. The Heritage Cup tournament will kick off with a first round match between Alexander Wolfe and Noam Dar airing on next Thursday's episode of NXT UK. Pete Dunne will be the special guest referee for the match. Next week's NXT UK episode will also feature a triple threat match to determine the wildcard entrant for the Heritage Cup tournament. The participants for the triple threat match haven't been revealed. The wildcard entrant will round out the lineup for the eight-man tournament. The drawing for the Heritage Cup took place on this week's NXT UK. The first round matches for the tournament are: Joseph Conners vs. Dave Mastiff Wildcard entrant vs. Trent Seven Flash Morgan Webster vs. A-Kid Alexander Wolfe vs. Noam Dar

Originally Posted by PWI The updated lineup for this Tuesday's edition of United Wrestling Network's Primetime Live PPV episode 3 features: *NWA National Champion Aron Stevens vs. Trevor Murdoch. *Allysin Kay vs. Serena Deeb *CWH Heritage Champion Ray Rosas vs. Papo Esco. *Remy Marcel vs. Papadon. *Ruby Raze vs. Cece Chanel *Chris Dickinson returns.

Originally Posted by PWI All Japan has also announced it will hold a memorial ceremony for Road Warrior Animal at its Korakuen Hall show on October 5.

Originally Posted by PWI One of the reasons WWE issued an edict for talents to end their third-party relationships with platforms like Cameo may have been revealed as the company announced their own virtual meet and greets. The official announcement reads: WWE Virtual Meet & Greets are your chance to chat one-on-one with your favorite WWE Superstars! This brand-new fan event gives you the opportunity to have an experience with a WWE Superstar like never before from the comfort of your own home. All Virtual Meet & Greets are recorded so you will be able to keep the memory forever! The next round of WWE Virtual Meet & Greets will take place this Friday, Sept. 25-Monday, Sept. 28. Tickets will be available tomorrow at 12 p.m. ET here! Ticket includes: 2-minute private one-on-one video with selected WWE Superstar Downloadable video of your meet & greets available within 48 hours of the event Purchase exclusive personalized autographed items Schedule Friday, Sept. 25 Alexa Bliss: 1 p.m. ET Finn Balor: 5 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 27 Big E: 10 a.m. ET Bray Wyatt: 1 p.m. ET Monday, Sept. 28 Asuka: 12 p.m. ET Aleister Black: 2:30 p.m. ET

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE Hall Of Famer Edge underwent surgery for torn triceps following his match against Randy Orton at Backlash. It has been three months since the surgery and during Edge’s appearance on the ‘Squared Circle Pit’ podcast, he provided an update on how he’s doing. “Recuperation is going good… today is two months and the first two months, there’s not a lot to do. You really just have to let it heal and let the surgery take and I think from this point going forward now, I’m gonna get the clearance to start going after it and pushing it and that’s what I do best honestly, in terms of injuries. That’s always what I’ve kinda done best and for whatever reasons, my mindset, I don’t get depressed. I just look at it as a challenge and when you look at it as a challenge, it’s just one more thing to try and conquer and come back from and that to me is really strangely exciting. To go, ‘Ok, this is another one, I got it. No problem.’ Once I can really put the nose to the grindstone, go after this thing, in a weird way it’s almost fun.” Edge talked about wanting to help improve the overall WWE product with his input. As far as him directly being a part of that creative process, he stated that-that is not exactly the case but he just floated it out there that if a talent needs help, they can get in contact with him at any time. “No, I’m watching basically to see who I could possibly help, whether that’s in terms of promos, whether that’s in terms of fleshing out character and I do see a lot of guys and girls that, ‘Oh okay, there’s something here. I don’t know if they’ve just fully figured out what it is yet’ and maybe I could help them figure that out. Maybe I could help them with their promos and help them figure out exactly what they’re trying to bring to the table in terms of their character and that to me is where I feel like I can help the most, while I’m out and having had 20 years of experience in this thing that is wrestling, right? So, I floated that out there as, ‘If anybody wants to take me up on this, I’m here to try and help do that’ and that to me is really exciting because I didn’t just come back to collect a paycheck. I really do wanna come back and try and help further the product and help talent that I feel, whether it’s underutilized or whether it’s just on the cusp of something but trying to figure it out and I might see something go, ‘Ooo, ok, right. That right there. If we can take that, magnify that, focus on that’ and that’s where I feel I can be really helpful.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former NWA World Tag Team Champion Royce Isaacs confirmed that he has been granted his release from the National Wrestling Alliance. He wrote the following on Twitter: “Now that its public; After a little over a year with the NWA I asked for and was granted my release. I’m excited for my next adventure and what the future holds, but I’m leaving with a lot of memories and friends and I will miss the awesome fans at GPB Studios. Stay tuned.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Alex Zayne shared on Twitter that he’s had to cancel the next two weeks of his bookings to self-quarantine because he was exposed to someone who has COVID-19. Zayne had dates lined up with Warrior Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Violence x Suffering.

Zayne also works for GCW and NJPW's weekly US show although in NJPW's case, they shouldn't be affected since they taped their current batch of episodes earlier in the month.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture chatted with The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson). Gallows and Anderson revealed that they’ll have their own special on AXS TV in the future. Doc Gallows: “I am letting the cat out of the bag right here right now, I can’t say anything about titles or anything like that, but you’re gonna see us with our own special on AXS TV, that’s putting credit/belief into a ‘tag team’ or brand to come together, two guys that can entertain inside the ring and outside the ring. And I think that’s a big hats off to IMPACT Wrestling for realizing that yes, the single stars historically have been a draw in a New York state of fashion but that’s not always the case in modern day wrestling… {in regards to the series on AXS} I would say, think drunken late night talk show sprinkled in with IMPACT Wrestling stars of our choice and a little Talk ‘N Shop A Mania running wild brother…” Karl Anderson: “A Good Brother Variety Show, that’s the way to put it. Everything that you could expect from us to just be stupid and fun and sitting down and drinking and talking. {laughs}”

Originally Posted by Fightful Serena Deeb is now under self-quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Deeb announced that she will be in quarantine for 10 days as a precaution, but did not say whether or not she tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, Deeb will not wrestle on the September 29 United Wrestling Network Primetime Live show. In its place, Allysin Kay will face Nicole Savoy on September 29.

Originally Posted by Fightful Potentially bad news for Tegan Nox. According to the latest NXT injury report, Nox is scheduled to undergo an MRI to assess the damage to her injured knee. Nox was seen laid out backstage by Candice LeRae prior to the number one contender battle royal for the NXT Women's Championship. LeRae took out Nox with a pipe and an equipment crate. The report speculates that Nox suffered a torn ACL.

Current rumor going around the net is that Tegan Nox's injury is legit and not some WWE made up injury that gets changed later because WWE goofed up by making it too severe to bring someone back quickly.

Originally Posted by Fightful A shake-up behind the scenes in NXT UK. According to Inside The Ropes Wrestling, Glen Joseph (the former co-owner of PROGRESS) has left his role as one of the show’s producers due to “personal reasons." Jim Smallman (another PROGRESS founder) has been promoted to the brand’s head writer. NXT UK talent was told of this news during a Zoom call on Thursday. Joseph previously stepped down from his role in PROGRESS over allegations during the Speaking Out movement. Despite being the head writer, Smallman still answers to Matt Bloom and Shawn Michaels, who are running the show remotely from the United States. NXT UK held an extra-long training session at the UK Performance Center to knock off the rust for the next set of television tapings. According to the report, a number of matches required a re-shoot during the first set of tapings. The report also states that more talent are set to debut in NXT UK shortly and talent was told to cease selling their own merchandise or using their names on third-party platforms, a similar edict WWE superstars have to follow.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc AEW changed their COVID testing protocols at Wednesday's tapings, Wrestling Inc. can exclusively report. Wrestling Inc. has learned that AEW had talents get tested from their home in addition to getting test on-site at Wednesday's taping. Lance Archer apparently tested positive during that second round of testing. Also, the AEW medical staff consulted with the NFL COVID response team to come up with updates to their COVID testing process. This apparently comes after several positive COVID-19 tests in the company. Jon Alba and Fightful.com reported that multiple AEW wrestlers who were at the September 9th tapings tested positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks since. The report noted that some of the talent that had tested positive had been brought in for the last set of AEW Dark tapings and are not under contract ... We exclusively reported earlier this month about the COVID testing procedures implemented by WWE and AEW. AEW talent go to an off-site facility the morning of tapings to have a blood prick test taken. The test allows a talent to know within ten minutes whether they are positive or not. If the talent passes the test, they are given a wrist band and taken to Daily's Place. Talent cannot enter Daily's Place without the wrist band.

TPWW Frontpage:

• More on WWE’s Latest COVID-19 Outbreak at Performance Center
• Various: More on AEW Parking Lot Match, New Trademark, Cody Trademarks Update, Indies
• Naomi Undergoes Surgery
• Multiple AEW Wrestlers Reportedly Test Positive for COVID-19, Ben Carter Reveals Positive Test