[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

COVID has now spread into a number of promotions this past week with a major outbreak in WWE, some in AEW and four of the biggest stars, if not more, in CMLL. All three promotions had to change aspects of their television shows this week. AEW’s television main event was changed. NXT had changes as well as noted by those in the company but were not specific as to what the changes were past there was a significant outbreak. The outbreak was said to affect plans for the Raw brand for 9/28, but there has been no indication it affects the scheduled matches on the 9/27 Clash of Champions a far as participants in the bouts themselves. However, those who have been training at the Performance Center of late have been taken off Raw or Smackdown tapings until further notice. There is also fear that the large number of Performance Center athletes who were under masks at Retribution may lead to issues due to interacting with the Raw roster on the 9/21 show ... Most of the positives in AEW and NXT were related to talent that is in Orlando (not necessarily all, as there is thought some is also related to independent wrestling as some AEW talent and extras have worked some indie dates of late, Ben Carter being the name that has come out although he is not AEW contracted talent) ... With the Orlando area being a hotbed as far as wrestlers go, talent from WWE and AEW socialize, go to the gym together, and some are even in relationships together, as well as socialize with some of the same fans and insiders. One person very familiar with the testing results and spread said that was the key reason why it happened at the same time with both companies. There is also the issue with independent promotions opening up, some with fans in attendance. While some are testing, not all are doing so. WWE talent never works independent shows but the non-contracted AEW talent work as many indies as they can, and some AEW contracted talent still works indies as well ... AEW has gone a step farther of late in its testing. They are now requiring people to test before coming to Jacksonville and then they get tested a second time on arrival and are not allowed in until the results of the second test come in. With Tony Khan’s NFL connections, he is working with the NFL Covid response team for stricter protocol ... In addition, Chelsea Green, who had not been on television in some time, said that she had COVID-19 but is now clear of it. Green is the girlfriend of AEW’s Matt Cardona ... With WWE, and more specifically NXT, there were a number of stories going around based on people not there that should have been, and with no explanation, notably Bobby Fish (who suffered what we were told was a minor knee injury training kickboxing and BJJ which is why he wasn’t on TV and not COVID), Tyler Breeze as well as announcers Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett. The announcing team was instead Tom Phillips and Beth Phoenix (who does the shows from home in Asheville, NC and has no contact with anyone in Orlando) ... The story going around is that one of the NXT coaches had it without having symptoms. He later tested positive, as did many others and it spread. It was also noted that the usage of masks when they reopened training at the Performance Center a few weeks ago had gotten lax. For the 9/23 show, they darkened outside the ring and while there were some people there, the number of contracted talent acting as fans at Full Sail sounded like a tiny number. The crowd reaction was way down and unlike in the past, the crowd wasn’t shown. So many people who train at the Performance Center were quarantined due to having contact with people who have tested positive that they weren’t able to have many in the crowd. The WWE has not publicly said this, but the word around is that classes at the Performance Center have been canceled. The reason given was they are shutting the gym down for Takeover prep ... This has also ked to a number of changes in the longest-lasting traditional event in pro wrestling, the CMLL Anniversary show, traditionally the company’s biggest show of the year. The 87th anniversary show scheduled for 9/25 at this point has officially lost Bandido, Ultimo Guerrero, Lluvia and Princesa Sugehit, all of which tested positive. There is talk of others, and we do know that Templario, who is currently scheduled to replace Bandido and face Volador Jr. for the NWA welterweight title, was sick midweek but had not tested positive.

For NXT Takeover on 10/4, two title matches were determined on the 9/23 television show. There is also supposed to be a reveal of a former NXT champion returning. Most figure this to be Bo Dallas, since he’s not doing anything and is still under contract. Robert Roode also fits into that category. The others on the roster are Sami Zayn, Andrade, Aleister Black, Seth Rollins, Big E, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura who are less likely.

NEW JAPAN: The Super J Cast has reported that the October/November tour will be a combination of both the World Tag League tournament (usually November and December) and Best of Super Juniors tournament (usually May and June)

AEW: The current schedule is that the 9/30 show is being taped on 9/25. Normally it would be taped 9/24, but the Jacksonville Jaguars were facing the Miami Dolphins at the stadium and that would require Tony Khan to be in two places at the same time, plus I don’t think it would be easy to run an event at Daily’s Place when there is a football game at the adjacent stadium. The 10/7 show, which will be the 30th anniversary of Chris Jericho’s debut special. Jericho’s first match was with Lance Storm on October 2, 1990 in Ponoka, Alberta. The anniversary show would be expected to be taped on 10/8 and air on 10/14 At the 9/24 Jaguars vs. Dolphins game, the fans at the game for the halftime entertainment had the Stadium Stampede match airing. It was edited down since halftime isn’t long enough to air the entire match. There were about 17,000 fans as they were playing to 25 percent capacity. At the end of halftime, the Jaguars mascot pushed Sammy Guevara into the pool A ton of AEW talent were at the game together since they were in Jacksonville for the tapings.

In the outright silly department, Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss were planning on announcing that their new tag team name was The New New Midnight Express. Jim Cornette, Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton tried to trademark that name back in August. Cornette’s lawyer, Steven P. New, who advertises on his podcasts, sent a cease and desist to Megha Pareekh, the head of legal for AEW, to stop the team from using that name. Janela has since claimed it was all a rib to get Cornette mad. Cornette and Janela have real issues with each other

Shanna (Alexandra Barrulas) said that she would be coming to the U.S from Europe. She said she first has to go and spend14 days in a neutral country that isn’t banned from travel to the U.S. as a quarantine and then can come in and is doing so. No word on if or when Pac, Cima, T-Hawk, Riho, Emi Sakura, Shoko Nakajima and others can return but basically the inability to travel back-and-forth is why they aren’t being used. In a lot of cases, such as the Japanese, the problem is foreigners can’t get back to Japan without a 14-day quarantine. Pac is a similar situation in that he could theoretically get in since they’ve made exceptions for athletes from other countries so baseball and NBA players could play, but he’d have to quarantine for 14 days returning home so it doesn’t work out. Bea Priestley is another. She’s no longer under contract but they’ve talked about being interested in using her again when she’s able to come to the U.S. Priestley lives in Japan now after getting out of the U.K. a few weeks ago and is starting back with Stardom

For those who think the WWE will take a hit in its next television deal due to declining ratings, and there are so many variables about what the world, media and WWE ratings will be like in 2023 when the real negotiations will take place (current deals end at the end of September 2024), Turner Broadcasting has just given baseball a 65 percent increase to $535 million (Turner is just one of many baseball television partners) per year, up from $325 million, for a deal that would start with the 2022 season and end with the 2028 season. This is for a sport that skews older and also has declining ratings. Now, baseball provides tons of programming and no matter what, NFL, NBA and MLB are always going to be considered high priority top three sports in the U.S. so even with declining ratings they have a measure of prestige that wrestling doesn’t have. But still, the latest deal showed a big increase. Turner will get a lot more games and the Sunday afternoon game will be moved to prime time Tuesday nights. . An even bigger story as it relates to WWE is that NBCUniversal is said to be overhauling its entertainment division and putting less emphasis on cable and more on streaming. The Wall Street Journal noted that NBCU Chief Executive Jeff Shell is rethinking the inner workings of the company. It was noted the recent pushing out of Chris McCumber, who headed USA and Syfy, with no replacement is part of that. McCumber was a supporter and proponent of Raw. The article said that Syfy, E! (which airs Total Bellas) and Oxygen don’t have a long-term future. Still, cable generated $11.5 billion for NBCU last year out of $34 billion in company revenue

Stephanie Levesque, which is the name she uses in these matters, sold 57,573 shares of WWE stock on 9/21 at $39.18 per share. This is a very interesting divestiture. She sold 43 percent of her Class A stock at a time when the price was at its lowest. She still remains with a large number (1,977,382 shares worth $78,274,587 based on that days’ price) of Class B stock that only is owned by members of the McMahon family (Vince, Linda and her, Shane had sold all of his WWE stock some time back, Linda still has some, Vince has a ton although he’s also sold a ton in recent years including $300 million worth for the XFL). Unless they are needing cash to build something or invest elsewhere, that’s a lot of stock to sell, and it’s not the selling itself, but the selling at such a low price that is notable. It’s at the lowest price the stock has been in a long time, and in theory way lower than it should be from the outside because for market value this should be much higher priced based on profit margins expected for the future. The hiring of Nick Khan was supposed to be a positive step for the stock because the market wanted a hire to replace Michelle Wilson and George Barrios, whose firings with no explanation really was what led to the stock’s big decline. But now there is concern about the negotiations for TV that ends in late 2024, and nobody really knows what the state of cable television and streaming is, as well as a ton of other factors. One would think people on the inside would want to acquire now if they are confident about the future and the price being lower than it’s value, so that’s really the question. Before when she sold tons of her stock it was to buy an expensive home and their sales in recent years had been at high prices. This sale got her $2,255,710. She has 76,324 remaining Class A shares worth $2,990,374.

At a zoom meeting on 9/24, the talent was told Glen Joseph, the former co-owner of Progress and head writer of NXT U.K., has left the promotion due to personal reasons and that Jim Smallman, another former co-owner of Progress is now head writer for the brand. Joseph was with Progress through June, when he left his post over allegations by women against him. Smallman left Progress at the end of this past year to work full-time for WWE. NXT U.K., headed by Paul Levesque, is actually run by Shawn Michaels and Matt Bloom, but Smallman will be head writer and in charge of tapings since Levesque, Bloom and Michaels can’t travel to the U.K. and back right now ... It’s also reported that WWE has made signed more European talent which will start debuting on upcoming tapings. U.K. talent was also told that they could no longer sell their merchandise, which had been allowed as a way to make money since the U.K. contracts are for a low amount. They also have to follow the WWE main roster restrictions of not working with any third party companies, which were also previously allowed. People aren’t happy because most U.K. contracts range from $24,000 to $36,000 per year, although the top guy (Walter and maybe a couple of others) are believed to be well over triple the higher end because they had to make him an offer of real money to get him. Walter was in the range of most of the high-end NXT guys in the U.S. besides somebody like Balor who gets main roster money but was moved to NXT for the ratings war. Originally this was presented as that the talent would make most of their old money plus they’d get their WWE money and most were barely scraping by on wrestling just working indies, so even that $20,000 boost (which was what the original contracts were for) made a big difference for most

Mike Johnson reported that Melina Perez, 41, would be returning. People in the company who should know did not know this, but since Johnson reported it the odds are that it’s true and do know of people who don’t know it but figured it was true. Perez denied it, but her denial seemed to indicate something was up, as she was mad at why someone would spoil a secret. She said she was not signed but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. She basically said that if she does sign that the story was still a lie and that she doesn’t know what her future is but then wrote “going back home to the WWE would feel like everything I’ve gone through was for this very moment, but we don’t know what’s going to happen.” It could also mean an idea was pitched for her but the deal isn’t made. And unfortunately, in far too many cases in recent years, talent has outright lied when reports of them returning comes out, only to claim later that they did because they didn’t want people to know.

So anyway, here is the explanation of the finish of the Lashley & Alexander & Benjamin vs. T-Bar & Mace & Slapjack match. Lashley had the full nelson on Slapjack and T-Bar hit Lashley to break it up and they called for a DQ. It’s bad enough that we had just had two outside interference DQs already on the show. But there is a secret rule and it was explained to us by someone who worked within the secret rules department. Vince when laying out matches is very adamant that in a tag team match, the illegal man can’t hit a legal man or it is an automatic DQ unless it is done behind the referees back. There can be double-teams off tags for five seconds because that’s an old rule. You are also allowed to make saves, so that is not a DQ. Which is where it gets funny. Producers and wrestlers have to be very careful with brawling dives and four-ways in tag matches because an illegal man is never allowed to touch a legal man or the referees, who are told to call it as shoot, are supposed to do a DQ. And the poor referees, because if it’s a nothing match, sure you can call it as a shoot, but what if it’s an important match such as determining title contenders and they screw up. So the point is, the wrestlers and producers have to be ridiculously careful on this. It’s at the point that an illegal guy is not even allowed to dive on a pile unless he lands on another illegal guy. If it’s a legal guy, it’s a DQ. Of course if you’ve been paying attention at this point, you realize that in fact T-Bar hit Slapjack and was making a save when Lashley had him in his finisher and by the rules, this is actually not a DQ. But it happened anyway because it slipped through the cracks because everyone in thinking save thinks near fall break-up, which is okay, but thinks hitting the legal guy isn’t so it was a way out. So even under the dumb secret rule, they violated their own rule because they didn’t think Lashley’s finish at that moment was a finish, it was just a full nelson and not a pin. Another person explained that referees are told that any eye pokes or low blows are supposed to be called as DQ’s which is why they always do the distraction for them. Apparently the finish was supposed to have been an eye poke and not a save, so that’s the reason for the DQ

There is apparently a reason Reigns dropped weight before his return. He did an interview where he said that he would be getting new ring attire where you would see his upper body and also that he will be getting new music to coincide with his more strongly evolving into his new character. During a meet and greet with the Mania Club, he said, “The gear, let me address that; get over it. I'm not going to run out there in trunks. I've been wearing a SWAT outfit my entire career, so I'm going to stick with those pants. If you watch on Sunday, you'll probably see me with my shirt off. That will be the change. That's going to be the only difference. I never wanted the outfit to be the costume for me. I don't want my outfit to be the superstar." He also talked dropping The Shield music. “The music, that's a little more than me creating my own music. We have to go through the channels with that one. It's not like I came out and am an ultra bad guy. You've seen it in little steps and little layers. I want all the nuances to add up. Because I am a full-time performer, you have to keep things fresh, so I decided to save the new music. Hopefully, down the line, once more drastic things happen and the story unfolds.

Glenn Jacobs (Kane) is under fire for a video he released which showed the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and said “Today his foundation is under attack. Not from some enemy abroad, but from sinister forces within.” It then showed the faces of the Knox County Board of Health who have tried to institute a mask policy in the country, which Jacobs has been fighting county doctors on. The video goes on to say, “Unelected bureaucrats who cast down edicts which carry the force of law with no accountability and no recourse.” Dr. Maria Hunt of the County Board called out Jacobs for posting such a video. Jacobs took down the video and said he was sorry board members were threatened and claimed the video was not meant to be public. How do you spend time to produce a video that is so clearly trying to incite the residents to be mad at the Board of Health and then claim it was not meant to be public? Dr. Martha Buchanan said public health officials trying to contain COVID have seen an increase in social media threats since the video was posted. Dr. Patrick O’Brien said, “This division has got to stop. We’re in this together. Well do what we can based on science...if others want to g some other way or want to do it shooting from the hip, so be it.. You will reap what you sow.

The Matt Riddle lawsuit against Samantha Tavel talked about last week was not filed this week, although it is said to be in the process of being filed. The incident that was first reported on December 19, 2019, at Full Sail where there was an alleged disturbance is now said to have been on October 2, 2019, said to be the day of the Riddle vs. Adam Cole NXT title match on the first live show on USA

The top ten most-watched shows on the WWE Network over the past week: 1. WWE Untold: John Cena vs. Edge feud; 2. Velocity September 25, 2002; 3. Clash of Champions 2019; 4. Talking Smack; 5. Uncool (new Alexa Bliss podcast) with The Miz; 6. Smackdown from 8/21; 7. Superstars’ First World title win; 8. Best of Clash of Champions; 9. Payback 2020; 10. Velocity May 1, 2004. The new Velocity shows were just uploaded this week, but when a C show from another era is beating modern first-run shows, you have to ask yourself a lot of questions. NXT was 11th this week and granted, it’s on TV in the U.S., and U.K. (And edited to an hour in Canada but airs ont he network first); but you still have the rest of the world. Raw Talk was only 12th. The first new U.K. show in months was only 14th. 205 Live didn’t make the top 25. That show is just dead and I don’t even know why they bother. They really should just be producing a 10-11 p.m. show for FS 1. The only indie show in the top 25 was Shotgun from wXw at No. 25. And even that beat 205 Live

WWE Ratings, AEW vs. NXT Ratings, AEW Dynamite Special Ratings:

SPOILER: show

Raw on 9/21 essentially stayed flat with last week, averaging 1,668,000 viewers and 0.50 in 18-49 (643,000). It was the sixth lowest number of viewers in the history of the show, but it was only down 1.2 percent in viewers and did the same number as last week in both 18-49 and 18-34 (0.29). The show went against the Las Vegas Raiders vs. New Orleans Saints which simulcast on both ABC and ESPN. It did 7,984,000 viewers on ABC and 7,451,000 viewers on ESPN. Between the two networks it did 15,435,000 viewers and a 4.70 in 18-49. It was the extremely rare situation where the same show was No. 1 in viewers and in 18-49 on both network and cable at the same time. It also should be noted that football beat Raw by more than a 9-to-1 margin, a number that is unprecedented historically. Raw was No. 5 in 18-49 on cable behind the NFL game, the kickoff show before the game, the SportsCenter after the game and Below Deck Mediterranean ... Raw did 112,000 viewers in males 18-34 (down 10 percent from last week), 103,000 in women 18-34 (up 10 percent), 276,000 in men 35-49 (down eight percent) and 152,000 (up 16.9 percent). It also went against an NHL playoff game that did 1,137,000 viewers and 0.33 in 18-49. The show was largely built around Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre, with stipulations that changed multiple times, and the first meeting of Dabba-Kato vs. Braun Strowman, pushed harder than any prior Raw Underground match. The latter was pushed for the week. On TV, they also pushed Retribution’s first match against The Hurt Business as the main event. Given the Retribution push, their first match should have held the audience better although the drop in hour three was less than last week. The first hour did 1,746,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,692,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,565,000 viewers. The third hour was up from last week but still among the least watched hours of WWE programming in history. As compared to the same Monday last year, the show was down 24.5 percent in total viewers, 29.6 percent in 18-49 and 40.8 percent in 18-34 ... The first-to-third hour drop was 10.4 percent, which is normal levels. As far as the drops during the show, women 18-49 dropped 11.9 percent, men 18-49 dropped 3.3 percent, teenage girls dropped 20.8 percent, teenage boys increased 6.7 percent and over 50 dropped 12.6 percent.

Smackdown on 9/18 did a 1.27 rating and 2,037,000 viewers (1.33 viewers per home). The show did a 0.54 (704,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.3 in 18-34. It was down 11.2 percent in ratings, 12.5 percent in viewers, 14.6 percent in 18-49 and 25.0 percent in 18-34 from the unusually high number of the previous week. The 18-49 number was still better than the show did during almost all of the pandemic. It was a drop from the last several weeks and it’s because the audience was lower than usual at the start. The culprit looks to be the NBA playoffs which did 4,921,000 viewers and a 1.98 in 18-49, about four times what Smackdown did in the key demo. Smackdown tied for first among network shows in 18-49 with two shows on ABC ... The big drop wasn’t a good sign, but I’d wait a week before worrying about it since the show has done well most weeks of late and this could just be a fluke. It started out lower than usual and grew throughout hour one, but fell slightly at the end. The show did 111,000 viewers in Males 18-34 (down 36 percent), 104,000 in Women 18-34 (up 1.0 percent), 311,000 viewers in Males 35-49 (down 9.9 percent) and 178,000 in Women 35-49 (down 20.0 percent) ... The first half hour drew 1.96 million viewers with The Dirt Sheet with Miz & Morrison, Otis running in and Cesaro vs. Gran Metalik. The second half hour did 2.01 million viewers with A Moment of Bliss with Nikki Cross, Cross vs. Lacey Evans and a Roman Reigns video. The third half hour did 2.07 million viewers with the Sasha Banks interview and Bayley attack plus A.J. Styles vs. Sami Zayn. The final half hour did 2.07 million viewers for Big E’s attack on Sheamus and Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Sheamus & King Corbin. Last year on the same weekend FOX programmed reruns that did 1,505,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49, so it was up 35.3 percent in viewers and 25.0 percent in 18-49.

The 9/23 AEW vs. NXT head-to-head was largely the same as the week before. The only difference is AEW was hurt in Males under 35 by the NBA playoffs. The game was huge with men in those same groups, and also went against the game three of the final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning ... One would think AEW was helped by a rare TV AEW title match with Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston or may have gone lower, as well as the debut of Miro. The return of Cody wasn’t advertised so that wouldn’t have helped. NXT had two matches, a Battle Royal and Gauntlet eliminator, to set up title contenders in the top two matches at Takeover. NXT was essentially the same as last week in almost every demo so the NBA didn’t hurt them as much. But they were back for a second straight week in their regular slot. AEW did 835,000 viewers and 0.32 in 18-49, good for ninth place on the chart. NXT did 696,000 viewers and 0.18 in 18-49, for No. 38 on the chart. The NBA finals on ESPN did 4,484,000 viewers and 1.76 in 18-49, while the NHL game on NBC Sports Network did 1,145,000 viewers and 0.32 AEW finished behind four NBA related shows all night on ESPN, the Stanley Cup game and Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson on FOX News. The news numbers were also way up from a usual Wednesday due to the Breonna Taylor non-indictments of two of the three officers story ... Across the board, AEW & NXT were up with women this week and down with men, and the NBA did 72.5 percent male viewers in 18-49 and the NHL did 73.7 percent male viewers in 18-49, so that explains it. AEW was down 5.8 percent in viewers and 5.9 percent in 18-49 as compared to last week with no NBA. NXT was up 1.0 percent in viewers and stayed even in 18-49. Raw & Smackdown this week beat AEW in every demo including Women 18-34, where AEW had been winning. AEW won handily in every key demo, doubling in Women 18-34 and nearly doubling in Men 18-34. AEW did 76,000 viewers in Males 18-34 (down 29.0 percent from last week) to 39,000 for NXT (down 4.9 percent). AEW did 64,000 viewers in Women 18-34 (up 3.2 percent) and NXT did 30,000 (up 15.4 percent). AEW did 184,000 viewers in Male 35-49 (down 1.1 percent) and NXT did 98,000 (down 7.5 percent). AEW did 86,000 viewers in women 35-49 (down 4.4 percent) and NXT did 63,000 (up 12.5 percent).

AEW Dynamite’s one hour special on 9/22 did 585,000 viewers and did a 0.26 in 18-49. The show aired from 12:38 a.m. to 1:37 a.m. It was easily No. 1 in its time slot and only one of three shows in that time slot to crack the top 150 for the night. It was No. 9 for the night, which sounds great for a show that late, but it had the benefit of a great lead-in. Because of the lead-in, it was going to be No. 1 in its time slot in 18-49. Inside the NBA that did 1,743,000 viewers and 0.79 in 18-49. The audience was likely AEW hardcores and some NBA fans seeing the product for the first time. They put on a great wrestling show as far as match quality, but not using any major stars. The show was No. 7 in 18-49 behind three NBA related telecasts and three Fox News shows in prime time. It was No. 8 in 18-34 and No. 6 in Males 12-34. The show did a 0.12 in 12-17, 0.19 in 18-34, 0.33 in 35-49 and 0.20 in 50+. The audience was 67.3 percent male in 18-49 and 61.7 percent male in 12-17.

Smeat's note - Taking a break next week from doing sheet reports except for Friday. To be honest, the break might last at least a month with just posting sheet reports on Fridays. After what happened personally earlier this week (check the 100k thread in Casual for more details), just been struggling to be motivated to do sheets reports or anything in general. If anyone else wants to take over doing sheets reports, be my guest.