[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

There is usually an unwritten rule in WWE about talent criticizing other talent publicly unless it has to do with storylines going on, and even storyline criticism is frowned upon unless it relates to business, such as issues talent like Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and others had with Matt Riddle months back. But with tensions high on 6/1, shortly after President Trump ordered tear gassing of peaceful protesters in Washington, DC, so he could give a speech and pose for photos in front of a church, a tweet by Jaxson Ryker was so poorly timed and got a number of people very upset. Ryker, real name Chad Lail, 37, served in the U.S. Marines as a Gunner–hence his old TNA name–during the Iraqi war, who is part of the Forgotten Sons trio, the one who rarely wrestles. Under his character name, he wrote, “Thankful for the POTUS (Trump) we have ! God bless America. Built of freedom. Forgotten No More. The last line was part of the team’s catch phrase, although both Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler, the other members of the team, responded negatively to the tweet. According to one person high up in the company, the belief is that Lail can’t be fired for expressing freedom of speech, but that the locker room is fuming at him. Another Facebook post Lail made under his own name before this week but on the current situation did not come out to the talent but it won’t make people any happier given Sports Illustrated reported it, which said, “Pretty touchy subject but all this Black Lives Matter garbage baffles me. I challenge anyone of any color or race to go watch 12 years as a slave, the movie, and realize how good you all actually have it. Learn heritage. Christ, Gandhi, Buddha, they all taught love and caring for others. This is getting out of hand. I pray for this nation daily.” Most stayed quiet and ignored it. But the tensions are very high. Kevin Owens wrote, “The freedom you speak of entitles you to speak your mind all you want. I’m not here to argue that. I just really need to tell you that I think you pushing your shitty wrestling catchphrase as all of this is happening is absolutely f***ing pathetic.” Adeel Alam, who wrestles as Mustafa Ali, and is a former Chicago police officer who has stated many times his attempts to portray a positive role model for people of other ethnicities in the U.S. (Alam is part Indian and part Pakistani) and not wanting to play the former evil foreigner role as a wrestler, said, “I’m thankful you posted this because I’m now aware of what you stand for. When black brothers and sisters are crying, you praise someone that refuses to acknowledge their hurt.” Sami Zayn, responded to Ryker’s tweet saying, “Literally built on oppression.” Ricochet wrote, “I get you’re a `bad guy’ on TV. And I’m HOPING that’s all this is. Even then, that ain’t it. But if this is actually your true thoughts–I’ll be really sad.” Cutler (Thomas Maclin, 33), also a former U.S. Marine, wrote, “Regardless of my political views, I am not blind to the injustices that continue in the world. I have chosen to stay silent because I don’t know how to put into words the heartbreak I feel watching what is going on across our country. This is not what I fought for or what I believe America is. What I’ve liked and retweeted depicts otherwise. I wanted to take this time to express my feelings, as silence does not help in this situation. I understand that I will never understand. However, I stand, Black Lives Matter.” “Although I am part of a tag team while I wrestle, I am my own person with my own thoughts and beliefs. It pains me to see what’s going on in the world. I fought for the freedom of our country and ALL of the people who live here. It shouldn’t matter your race or however you identify, we are all human beings and all deserve to be equal. #Justice for George Floyd.” Blake wrote when asked about what Ryker said, “Don’t care about Jaxson’s goofy ass either.” Aside from that, as best we can tell, nobody else publicly acknowledged it, although privately the vast majority were not happy. One person suggested that after what happened this week, the actual gimmick they were portraying even had Ryker not said it, would be tough to continue.

Ryker also had another past insensitive social media posting that came to light recently that added more to the online backlash he received. Link: https://wrestlingnews.co/wwe-news/ja...hoto-from-2017

Raw on 6/1 once again did the second-lowest number in history with 1,728,000 viewers, down slightly from 1,735,000 last week (1.30 viewers per home). The show did a 0.49 (640,000 viewers) in 18-49, down 2.4 percent from last week. The record lows for Raw were set on 5/4 with 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49. Raw overall finished 14th for the night in 18-49, trailing news shows and Below Deck Mediterranean (0.55) on Bravo in the key demo. Raw was 42nd overall in viewers, its lowest ranking I can ever recall, but only two shows, different episodes of 90 Day Fiancé on TLC (1,801,000 and 1,797,000) beat it among non-news shows. The show was down 30.1 percent in total viewers from the same week last year and 36.9 percent from that week in 18-49. The main key was all the news coverage and partially the increase in viewers of Titan Games on NBC, which did 4,152,000 viewers, up 20.8 percent from last week. The first hour did 1,810,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,803,000 viewers. The third hour did 1,571,000. The third hour was the second lowest hour in the modern history of the show, beating only hour three on 5/4 which did 1,546,000 viewers ... The high point of the show was the Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens U.S. title match and ensuing Owens & Crews vs. Andrade & Angel Garza match with 1,911,000 viewers. The low point was the end of Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka and the Drew McIntyre vs. MVP main event at 1,515,000 viewers. The last 15 minutes of the show did a 0.9 overall rating, which I believe is the lowest quarter hour of all-time.

Smackdown on 5/29 did a 1.32 rating and 2,054,000 viewers (1.30 viewers per home), as well as an 0.5 in 18-49 (681,000 viewers, which was 396,000 men and 285,000 women, so Smackdown is faring much worse than Raw among men and much better among women, with an 18-49 male skew being 58.1 percent, and drawing the most women of any wrestling show). This was an update from the original listed numbers of 2,170,000 viewers and 0.6, as those numbers included certain markets like Atlanta and Minneapolis which actually aired news coverage on FOX during that time slot ... Last year in the same time slot, with rerun programming, FOX averaged 1,515,000 viewers and a 0.5 in 18-49, so this year was up 35.6 percent in viewers (a rare time this year beat last year but that will get more frequent when compared to reruns) but the 18-49 number was identical to last week, but actual 18-49 viewers were up 16.2 percent.

For 6/3, cable news dominated the night, and historically big news days are going to, likely because they increase the 18-49 viewership away from entertainment, hurt AEW more than NXT. AEW did 730,000 viewers and an 0.29 (374,000 viewers) in 18-49, down to No. 27 in the 18-49 standings due to the big numbers of all the news shows. NXT did 715,000 viewers and an 0.20 (257,000 viewers) in 18-49, for the No. 45 spot ... A lot of the AEW decline was over 50, although they were also down in 35-49. They were actually up in 18-34 and did their best numbers in that demo since 3/18. NXT was up across the board, also more in 18-34, but held steady post-35 which AEW did not ... AEW won four of eight quarters, NXT won the first, due to the lead-in, and the two, due to the main event, and tied in one. AEW won all eight quarters in 18-49, with none that close although the final quarter was the closest ... AEW won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW had 75,000 viewers (identical to last week) and NXT had 45,000 (up 25.0 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 51,000 viewers (up 10.9 percent) and NXT had 30,000 (up 57.9 percent after the terrible showing in women under 35 last week). In men 35-49, AEW had 163,000 viewers (down 10.4 percent from last week) and NXT had 119,000 (up 4.4 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 85,000 viewers (down 22.7 percent) and NXT had 63,000 (down 3.1 percent). In the first quarter, AEW with Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc did 740,000 viewers and 387,000 in 18-49. The were hurt by a weak lead-in while NXT usually benefits from a very strong one. NXT did 790,000 viewers and 259,000 in18-49 for Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae, the post match brawl, and Yim & Keith Lee vs. LeRae & Johnny Gargano. It was NXT’s high point for overall viewers. In the second quarter, AEW gained 24,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for the second half of the Omega & Page vs Sabian & Havoc match, a Shawn Spears & Tully Blanchard vignette and Brian Cage vs. Shawn Dean. NXT lost 69,000 viewers but only 1,000 in 18-49 for the end of Lee & Yim vs. Gargano & LeRae, a Maverick vignette and a build for Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream piece. In the third quarter, AEW gained 10,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Taz & Jon Moxley promos, a Lance Archer/Jake Roberts vignette and Matt Hardy meets Private Party. At 774,000 viewers and 428,000 in 18-49, this was the peak number of the night for AEW. NXT lose 13,000 viewers but gained 1,000 in18-49 for Tony Nese vs. Isaiah Scott. In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 62,000 viewers and 61,000 in 18-49 for a Jericho/Tyson vignette and the beginning of Jericho vs. Colt Cabana. NXT lost 66,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for the Tyler Breeze & Fandango vs. Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch No. 1 contenders to the tag title match. In the fifth quarter AEW gained 60,000 viewers and 26,000 in 18-49 for the end of Jericho vs. Cabana, a Jericho promo, and the Britt Baker training video. NXT gained 67,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for the end of the tag title match, the confrontation after with Breeze & Fandango, Imperium and Saurav & Rinku, and Santana Garrett vs. Aliyah. It tied with the final quarter for NXT’s 18-49 high with 267,000. In the sixth quarter, AEW gained lost 66,000 viewers and 61,000 in 18-49 for Nyla Rose vs. Big Swole, the post-match with Swole & Baker and a Darby Allin interview. NXT lost 3,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for te video package with Charlotte Flair, Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley. Both groups did identical 706,000 viewers. It was the low point for AEW in 18-49 with 332,000. In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 37,000 viewers and gained 1,000 in 18-49 for the FTR interview and post interview, build for next week and a Cabana interview. NXT went ahead by gaining 16,000 viewers but losing 7,000 in18-49 for Cameron Grimes vs. Bronson Reed and the beginning of Fantasma vs. Maverick. In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 31,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Jungle Boy. NXT lost 1,000 viewers but gained 18,000 in 18-49 for Fantasma vs. Maverick.

Vince McMahon sent out a company wide e-mail saying that 24/7 mental health care counseling is available to anyone in the company who needs assistance. He also gave out an e-mail address for anyone to contact if they have any diversity concerns and to bring them to the attention of the company. The e-mail was short, basically giving a phone number and instructions on mental health issues and an e-mail regarding diversity issues, which, in theory, should have been under Human Resources previously. The e-mail also had a Martin Luther King Jr. quote (“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and the statement WWE released to all media platforms

Christopher DeJoseph who was just given a promotion to sort of lead writer (Ed Koskey is actually the lead writer but both had the same job title with DeJoseph’s promotion) on Smackdown, was then fired on 5/29. Details are not available as to why past that it was disciplinary in nature and didn’t involve the layoff process like virtually all the people let go in the last few months. The decision was made by Vince McMahon and seems to have involved something McMahon either heard him say or was told he said. WWE has put up a notice that they are looking for a new lead writer

The Jax-Sane injury aired on the 6/1 Raw show. To me, it looked a lot more like Jax’s fault than the view of those in the company. Jax whipped Sane into the steps and her head hit the steps and split it open. They did some cuts to the audience and basically hid all the blood, edited out her being worked on and her having to recover, and when she was cleaned up, she was in the ring and Jax immediately leg dropped her for the pin. The problem is that Jax threw her hard but was far too close to the steps when she threw her so it looked like Sane wasn’t in control of her bump like would be normal when you whip someone into the steps from a farther distance. One veteran wrestler who watched it after the fact on television said, “She didn’t whip her, she grabbed her by the head and threw/shoved her. It was 100% Nia’s fault. She never let Kairi find her balance after pulling her out of the ring, she then pushed her head down so Kairi would be unable to see and then threw her forward hard head first off balance towards the steps. Kairi has zero chance.” Another person noted to us that while the word within the company backstage was that it was not Jax’s fault, after watching it on television, it did look to be 100 percent her fault There is no word on the severity of the injury past Sane was said to be okay later that night

Drake Maverick is obviously staying. The cruiserweight tournament ended with Maverick losing to El Hijo del Fantasma. It is no longer called the interim cruiserweight title that Fantasma holds, but just the cruiserweight title. However, Jordan Devlin is also the cruiserweight champion, so there are two of them and they will meet as soon as it’s feasible. There’s really no answer as far as when the Maverick firing became a storyline. It is possible it was a carefully kept secret from the start since if you go back to the start it feels like storyline from the moment of the firing. Top people in the company were told that several people would still be used for the next 90 days and he was booked in the tournament at the same time the decision was made on the firings as one hand didn’t know what the other hand was doing. Still, once he won his first match in the tournament, if not earlier, it was clear it was an angle and he was staying. Really once they started pushing the storyline on television, he had to be staying because you can’t do that storyline and then have him get all that sympathy, and firing him will get fans mad at the company and he could walk into AEW the next week

Maverick's firing being legit or not is something not even PWI and Post Wrestling have been able to find out.

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network: 1. Sting the Lost Tape; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 3; 3. Rock’s Most Electrifying Matches; 4. 10 Biggest Matches in WWE History; 5. WrestleMania 35; 6. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode 2; 7. Raw Talk; 8. Raw on 4/27; 9. Greatest Backlash Moments; 10. Smackdown on 5/1. NXT was only No. 13, meaning that viewership on the network has declined to a point where one month old Raw and Smackdown episodes are beating it. And NXT U.K. and 205 Live don’t even crack the top 15 anymore

[MLW] It is believed a new [tv] deal is in place but the decision from both sides was that this wasn’t the week to make that announcement The plan for the [MLW] 2020 Opera Cup is November, but there is no clear date when they are starting back because Court Bauer has seen too many COVID-19 issues firsthand and isn’t going to be the one who rushes back.

[ROH] Mark Haskins was fined $4,000 by the Maryland State Athletic Commission regarding usage of blood in a Bully Ray vs. Mark Haskins match on 12/13 at the UMBC Events Center in Baltimore. The commission ruling was that Mr. LaMonaco (Bully Ray) brought into action a board with barbed wire and that Haskins allowed himself to be lifted and thrown into the table with the barbed wire board and Haskins suffered lacerations in several areas. This violated the banning of blood in matches. This punishment was different from the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley match where both men bled and AEW, the promotion, was fined $25,000. The commission order, which dated back to 2/29, was that Haskins had to pay $2,000 by the end of March and another $2,000 by the end of February 2021

ROH and/or Haskins probably not too happy at Christopher Cruise since antics against AEW ended up causing the Maryland Commission to actually start paying more attention to wrestling.

Fyter Fest 2 will be the 7/1 and 7/8 episodes of Dynamite. All the TV’s leading up to the show and the show itself have already been written. The idea is that it’s going to be the equivalent of a PPV show but split over two dates. All titles will be at stake with Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage and Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends as the main bouts. It appeared like Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose would be on the show as well from TV. They said both shows would be live but actually 7/1 will be live and the 7/8 show will be taped on 7/2 The rest of the upcoming schedule will be a live show on 6/10, a taping on 6/11, and a live show on 6/24

There was a controversy regarding a match on Dark on 5/19 and a wrestler named Clutch Adams, who debuted and lost to Shawn Spears. Adams, who is 27, at the age of 19 on Twitter wrote a bunch of gay slurs when tweeting about Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys when watching a football game. A fan, who evidently was one of those guys who constantly trolls AEW incessantly, found the post because people like that will go back more than seven years on the timeline of a debuting enhancement guy to play gotcha and was looking to embarrass the company. He tagged Kenny Omega, Cody and Khan, and when they saw the posts, they removed his already taped match off the show that aired this week. Adams deleted his account and immediately wrote a lengthy apology over it. Obviously there is no defense for using any slurs in public or private for that matter. Other independent groups that he was working for also cut ties with him over it. This is something that everyone who wants to be a wrestler or in wrestling should learn from. First, obviously, don’t in any form say anything racial or involving current slurs in public, and really in private. It’s never justified, even if you’re blowing off steam about an opposing quarterback to one of your friends. Second, given everyone is young and dumb at one point in their lives, if you ever did something stupid on social media, get rid of it now and don’t think for a second that if you were a teenager or just mad ten years ago that nobody will find it. It’s one thing if somebody said it last year, but there will be people who will search if you are in WWE or AEW and people who will uncover it to try and ruin your life just because that’s the world we live in. In this case, it wasn’t at all about the person, and it rarely is. It’s about trying to publicly embarrass the company, which in this case AEW ended the outrage quickly by pulling the match, except for people wanting to blame AEW (and this could be New Japan, WWE or ROH or anyone else) and somehow think when they hire someone as an extra they should be aware of everything they wrote in social media when they were a teenager. This is hardly Dave Hollenbeck aka Havoc, a 20-plus year veteran of Pacific Northwest indies who did a job as last summer on 205 Live for Humberto Carrillo using the name Rob Rollenbeck, who this past weekend did a tasteless mocking of George Floyd and claimed the media was race baiting and he was doing it for “are (sic) police officers.” Don’t be that guy either if you want to have a future in wrestling right now

The Athletic had an updated story on the XFL bankruptcy and why creditors are very unhappy. The league shut down on 4/10, when President Jeffrey Pollock said it was closing due to COVID-19. On the last day of operations, the league paid out $2.1 million that it owed people, none going to the vast majority of creditors. The last payment included $602,707.75 to the WWE for office work and marketing. In the final 90 days before filing bankruptcy, the XFL made nine payments to WWE totaling $2.3 million. Bankruptcy papers show the XFL still owing WWE $203,424.65. All players, coaches and staff were paid through 4/12, two days after the league shut down. The last game was played on 3/13. There will be an auction for XFL assets on 8/3 in Delaware. If somebody does buy the XFL, the first $9 million of that price goes to Vince McMahon, because rather than continue to use his money to fund the league, in late March, for the last few weeks, McMahon instead loaned the league $9 million to stay alive and made himself the first secured creditor. The league still has $8.1 million in cash, $9 million in office furniture, equipment and collectibles and $3 million in property to sell in bankruptcy court