[Emperor Smeat]

Today's Dirty Sheets:

SPOILER: show

Recent survey sent by the WWE asked for fan feedback in regards to three potential match for this year's Survivor Series.

* Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman for Universal Championship
* Rey Mysterio vs Shinsuke Nakamura for U.S. Championship
* Charlotte vs Asuka for Smackdown Women's Championship

Spoiler tags used since its related to rumored plans for Survivor Series matches and potential Evolution match spoilers.

Originally Posted by Observer Kevin Owens will spend the next few months out of action following double knee surgery. On this morning's Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer gave an update on Owens’ injury status. While neither surgery was major, Meltzer mentioned that Owens’ left knee had more damage to it than previously thought. Meltzer also wrote in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the tentative time for Owens' return "looks to be perhaps late February, more likely early March, maybe April at the worst." Owens had the surgery on his knees on 10/17. He posted a picture of his wrapped up knees on Twitter following the surgery, writing “They had a 2 for 1 sale going at the surgery store!”

Originally Posted by Observer/PWI Indies Roundup: Two more wrestlers from NJPW have been confirmed for November's ROH Global Wars tour. ROH announced today that KUSHIDA will be wrestling at the four Global Wars shows in November. BUSHI has also been added to the tour, with him joining fellow Los Ingobernables de Japon members Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, and SANADA. MLW and Bein Sports at 8 p.m. on 10/26 has MLW Fright Night as a special show with Jimmy Havoc vs. Sami Callihan in a spin the wheel, make the deal match plus PCO vs. L.A. Park. MLW announced PCO vs. Brody King in a no DQ match for the 11/8 show in Chicago at Cicero Stadium. The NWA show on Sunday in Nashville has announced an appearance of Magnum T.A. who will present the new NWA National title belt to the winner of the tournament. AAW announced Scarlett Bordeaux & Kimber Lee vs. Kylie Rae & Marti Belle for its 10/26 show in Marionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street. Also on the show is Sammy Guevara vs. Rey Fenix, MVP vs. L.A. Park, Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett vs. Bandido & Flamita. One person noted to us that The Crash attendance being down also has to do with those living in the U.S. being less likely to cross the border for shows. It was noted it’s a combination of violence in the city being at a high point and it affecting tourism, and that the type of wrestlers people would cross the border to see, like the big name American stars like Rey Mysterio, Young Bucks or Hardys no longer being there has hurt. The biggest name to the American fans is Penta 0M, but he’s losing some of his luster to Americans from his peak due to the lessening interest in Lucha Underground. Major League Wrestling has signed PCO aka former WWE star Pierre Carl Oulette, who now does a Frankenstein’s Monster style unstoppable beast gimmick, to a deal, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

ROH: https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ku...obal-wars-tour , NWA: https://www.tennessean.com/story/mon...ow/1668264002/

Originally Posted by PWI A number of personalities within the pro wrestling world, including our own Les Thatcher, have sent word that former Dick Slater, who had a long run working for Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, the WWF and WCW, has passed away. At this time, we do not have additional details regarding his passing. Sad to hear that Dick Slater passed away this morning at age 67. One hell of a worker, and promo man. Go with God my friend.???? — Les Thatcher (@LesThatcher) October 18, 2018 Our deepest condolences to Slater's family, friends and fans.

According to the Observer, Slater died from heart complications yesterday. Link: https://twitter.com/LesThatcher/stat...92030123302913

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network will be adding the 10/23/83 Georgia Championship Wrestling "The Last Battle of Atlanta" event from the Omni in Atlanta, GA to the Hidden Gems section for VOD viewing later today, making it the first time since that event took place live that it will be able to seen by an audience. The news was first reported by WWENetworkNews.com.

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

Originally Posted by Observer With the apparent link to the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey while at the Saudi Arabian consulate, the WWE has become under fire for doing the 11/2 Crown Jewel show in Riyadh. While there was talk about backup plans and monitoring the situation, at press time the show is a go, and tickets were to be put on sale on 10/19 for the show at King Saud University Stadium. The move from King Fahd International Stadium to the smaller King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh for the Crown Jewel show had nothing to do with popularity or ticket sales (which hadn’t even started) but because the larger stadium was up for renovation. It appears that WWE is taking the approach that they have a deal worth $450 million or so, over ten years, that they would breach by not doing the show, and that, as is almost always the case with Vince McMahon, what is going on in the real world doesn’t matter since McMahon only knows one world, which is the one he usually almost fully controls. Those in the company said that the show will happen as planned unless either President Donald or the state department orders them to do it, and that is not going to happen ... Within WWE, the reaction has been notable in a few ways ... WWE during the broadcast, mentioned Crown Jewel, but during the three hour show, Saudi Arabia and Riyadh, and the stadium were never mentioned. On the web site, mentions of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the site for the show weren’t there either, although that has since changed at press time as they are promoting the 10/19 on-sale date locally for the show ... We were told by people in the company that almost all the production people and most of the talent think doing the show at this time is a bad idea. Many weren’t happy about the first show and what it turned into, but only one person, Corey Graves, even hinted that in public. Management, on the other hand, was strongly in support of doing the show. The original emotional reaction that they are going to do a big show without women wrestlers, which was the least important part of the story, was the one they thought they had handled by doing the WWE’s first all-women’s PPV four five days earlier. There was the issue of being paid millions not to just come in and do a show, but for clear propaganda purposes and being able to slide under the radar doing it where the NFL, NBA or any other major league entertainment would be excoriated for doing so. The treatment of women within that culture making the company’s own women’s empowerment promotion being made into a farce was also somewhat explained by the idea that things were changing and they’d be part of the change. There is some change, but it’s slow, but the idea that WWE coming or not coming has even the slightest part in that is comedic at best and pathetic at worst. But it changed to a point nobody can address, which is the dismemberment of someone whose main crime was being critical of the prince, the very person who earmarked the money to WWE, and more so , there is mounting evidence from U.S. intelligence officials who believe that same prince who struck the deal with WWE is culpable in the murder. If the company was financially struggling, perhaps it would change the equation in the “greater good” argument, in the sense that if the company went under, that affects thousands of people and millions of fans. But that’s not the case. The company is doing ridiculously well and can walk away from the deal, like many other businesses are. The attitude, which is likely to be the case, and probably something other businesses in the same position are doing, is to be hopeful the story runs its course and they can go back to business as usual. As far as strict business is concerned, the amount is significant, but not nearly as significant as the $450 million over ten year price tag would indicate. Eric Handler of MKM Partners told Deadline that if the show was canceled, it would cost the company between $2 million and $3 million in operating income in quarter four, which for a company the size of WWE is significant, but not game changing. He estimated that if the deal was canceled it would cost WWE between $12 million and $16 million in operating income in 2019. While a number of business publications covered the story, it’s been a wait-and-see for investors. The stock on 10/17 closed at $83.98 per share giving the company a $6.549 billion market value, lower than it had over the past few weeks, but up from the lower level after the market plunge last week. It doesn’t appear the controversy has hurt the stock price. It will be interesting if the subject is brought up on the company’s investment conference call on 10/25.

Normally tend to post an abbreviated version of longer news fro Meltzer in a Newsletter but made an exception this time because of how in depth he goes on the Saudi topic.

Originally Posted by Observer After Johnny Impact pinned Austin Aries to win the Impact title, Aries got right up, walked out and flipped off people on the way out. He then missed the next two nights of television. The entire Aries-Impact situation has been an attempt to do a worked shoot vibe, and while other sources are reporting that what happened at the end wasn’t planned and that everything at TV was rearranged, the key people involved when directly asked would not answer, giving me the impression that the worked shoot environment leading up to the match is continuing ... While clearly meant to build the match, the environment, similar to the Sami Callihan heel push coming off the Eddie Edwards incident, you see a company looking to take reality, or take modern topics, and weave them into storylines for mainstream attention. It’s understandable, the promotion has been frustrated with the comments that the product has improved and the wrestling is the strongest its been in a while, at the same time ratings are falling and demos are aging, basically the same as for everyone except New Japan in the U.S. right now. But for Impact, largely a TV product owned by a TV company, it’s become an issue of trying to do anything to garner talk.

Originally Posted by Observer As noted last week, Callis was never called to appear at King of Pro Wrestling. He had to cancel the last three days of G-1 due to his Impact schedule, and New Japan started making plans for a replacement which included the talks of Lanny Poffo. Callis has still not been called and is open to at least do big shows Poffo, 63, addressed last week’s issue and said at he met Craven at the All In show in Chicago and Craven asked him if he would be interested in doing the color commentary on the show (this would be New Japan World in the spot Don Callis had, not AXS). Poffo said he would, that he loved New Japan and had ever been to Japan. He said he’s flying to Japan for an audition and would be doing English language commentary for shows from 10/23 to 11/4, which would include Power Struggle. Poffo said his return to wrestling all came by fate. He said he was on an airplane to New Orleans for WrestleCon over Mania weekend and sat next to Mark Brown, a producer for the ROH television show. Brown told him to contact Hunter Johnston, the ROH booker, and Johnston booked him on the 4/28 show in Lakeland. The Young Bucks, at the show, asked him to do a skit for Being the Elite and he said that turned his career around.

Originally Posted by Observer The company [NJPW] wanted the Omega vs. Kota Ibushi singles match to headline King of Pro Wrestling, but Omega and Ibushi have turned down requests to do the match in the past a few times because they didn’t want to do it unless it was special. Budokan Hall made sense, in the sense it was where their previous singles match took place and it would determine the G-1 finals. But they wanted the rematch to be in a bigger building, obviously the idea being the 2020 Tokyo Dome show or MSG (and likely not with a one week build), so Cody was added to basically do Omega and Ibushi but not it being the big title singles match

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Wednesday's episode of WWE's Total Divas drew 340,000 viewers on the E! network. This is down 10.5% from last week's episode, which drew 380,000 viewers, and a new historic low for the show since it began airing back in 2013.

Originally Posted by Observer With the big drop in ratings this season for Total Divas, in as obvious an idea as possible, those in WWE are talking about approaching Rousey to become a regular cast member. The last word we’ve heard is she hasn’t been approached, but that word was several days ago and things could have changed by the time this comes out. It’s a smart move in that it ups the profile of the show, but they’d probably also have to change aspects of the show. Some of the aspects like the scripted issues could say, but a lot of the show is still about setting up gratuitous bikini shots to promote the next episode during the regular shows, and while Rousey has done her swimsuit modeling in Sports Illustrated, that feels like the wrong fit with the character she portrays on the other shows. Then again, they had Lana as Russian on the regular shows and not Russian on Total Divas so in a sense they are seen as separate worlds

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding FOX, because wrestling is being positioned as part of the sports block, a Thursday through Sunday thing FOX is looking at starting in 2019, especially during football season, FOX wants the Smackdown show to be less comedy and more in a sports direction. Vince is more into the comedy presentation with wrestling but they are looking at having their sports people on the different shows heavily promote it and they want to give them something athletically-oriented to promote

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Three WWE NXT Superstars have been quietly released from their developmental deals - Tian Bing, Jason Cheng and Gabriel Ealy. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter adds that Gabriel's twin brother Uriel Ealy was released back in June.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc New Japan Pro Wrestling reportedly has interest in bringing back three talents that are currently signed to WWE, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. NJPW officials are said to be interested in signing Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura. It's believed they all signed three-year contracts with WWE in early 2016 and there has been no news on renewals coming up. It's expected that Gallows, Anderson and Nakamura will stay with WWE. Nakamura moved to the United States back when he signed with WWE and he's settled here. Meltzer noted that there's talk of Gallows possibly looking to return but that was not confirmed. Anderson will likely stay here in the States as he has a family to take care of.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Eric Bischoff was a recent guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show and took part of a Q&A session. Bischoff answered a number of questions, while also affirming that he will not be at Crown Jewel ... Bischoff then revealed who he feels is the Mount Rushmore of pro wrestling. "I think it would have to be Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, Ric Flair, and probably Stone Cold [Steve Austin]," said Bischoff.

More highlights: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/20...sional-646867/


Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 8th anniversary of WWE launching the "Stand Up for WWE" website as part of Linda McMahon's failed Senatorial campaign.
• According to the Observer, Impact Wrestling sold around 900 tickets for last week's Bound for Gory 2018 event.
• Also according to the Observer, WWE currently has plans for the next NXT branch to be based in Germany and be called NXT Germany.
• Seems rumors of WWE debuting new Women Tag belts at Evolution were finally squashed due to the Observer reporting all unannounced main roster women for the event will be in the Battle Royale instead.
• Based on recent ticket tracking, WWE's upcoming all-women Evolution event is close to reaching sell out status and likely will hit it by the day of the event itself. Observer reported Ronda vs Nikki announcement managed to cause a surge in sales.
• Based on recent court documents, Charlotte could be facing her own Hogan-like situation in regards to making racist comments and having them recorded. In her case it was via police reports and dash-cam footage. https://www.scribd.com/document/3911...an-Shields-WWE

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Why Mauro Missed NXT Taping, NXT Match at MSG Show, Mandy Rose’s Parents
• Shane McMahon Will Reportedly Be Back on TV Regularly Now
• Former WWF Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze Scheduled for Evolution PPV
• WWE Announces Seven New Signees, Including Chelsea Green and Punishment Martinez