[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer After three straight WWE TV shows did strong ratings after pulling out of tapings with crowds, the string ended last night. Raw last night averaged 2.01 million viewers, dropping 14 percent from last week, even with airing classic PPV matches of Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins from Royal Rumble 2015 and Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka from WrestleMania 34. While little stock should be put into these numbers under the circumstances, the third hour doing 1.73 million viewers was the least-watched hour of Raw programming of the modern era with the exception of hour three on the December 23 episode. That includes the late 2018 Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve shows. The overall number beat only those two shows historically, as well as the December 23 Christmas week taped show in 2019. The first-to-third hour drop of 24.6 percent was the second biggest drop in the history of the show, trailing only the November 11, 2019 episode against the NFL ... The audience was down 23 percent from the same week last year. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.29 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.00 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.73 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Rusev posted a tweet today pledging to donate $20,000 to help support those in the extended WWE family who are sitting at home without income: “In Bulgaria we say ‘It's not a lot but it’s from the heart’ I pledge 20,000$ to any of my WWE extended family that are sitting at home without income. WE can’t do it without y’all. Production, security, etc. LOVE YALL.”

Originally Posted by Observer Fozzy’s spring tour of the United States has been rescheduled to the summer. It begins in July, ends in September, and still has no dates taking place on Wednesdays or Tuesdays. Chris Jericho said about the rescheduling: "In light of the pandemic that's gripping the world's attention, it's time to make the right move and postpone the April/May leg of ‘Save the World’ Tour for everyone's safety and well being. However, we promise you, once the World is back on its axis and TRULY saved, Fozzy will be back to hold you in our loving arms and literally ROCK all your troubles away!! See everybody soon and in the meantime and between time, please stay healthy and safe. We will get through this together."

Originally Posted by PWI Tommy Dreamer and Chavo Guerrero will be appearing on the Dark Side of the Ring post-show discussion on Vice TV tonight following the Chris Benoit documentary episode airing. Next week's episode of Dark Side of the Ring will be devoted to former ECW star New Jack.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. The purpose was to give WWE more liquidity while their business is subjected to conditions stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. This is the important part of the filing: Item 8.01. Other Events. On March 24, 2020, Vincent K. McMahon (“Mr. McMahon”), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”), entered into a variable prepaid forward contract with an unaffiliated bank (the “Bank”) covering approximately 3.5 million shares of the Company’s Class B common stock. The variable prepaid forward contract is scheduled to settle on specified dates in March 2024, at which time the actual number of shares of the Company’s Class A common stock to be delivered by Mr. McMahon will be determined based on the price of the Company’s Class A common stock on such dates, with the aggregate number not to exceed approximately 3.5 million shares, which is the number of shares of Class B common stock pledged by Mr. McMahon to secure his obligations under the contract. Subject to certain conditions, Mr. McMahon can also elect to settle the variable prepaid forward contract in cash and thereby retain full ownership of the pledged shares. Mr. McMahon entered into the variable prepaid forward contract to provide current liquidity while allowing him to maintain voting and ordinary dividend rights in the stock, as well as the ability to participate in future stock price appreciation, during the term of the contract and thereafter if Mr. McMahon settles the variable prepaid forward contract in cash. The shares covered by the variable prepaid forward contract represent approximately 4.5% of the Company’s total outstanding shares of Class A and Class B common stock. The variable prepaid forward contract does not apply to the approximately 25,198,344 other shares of Class B common stock beneficially owned by Mr. McMahon. Those shares represent approximately 70.5% of the Company’s total voting power. The variable prepaid forward contract contains a 60-day lock-up restricting Mr. McMahon’s ability to sell or transfer additional shares of the Company’s common stock during such period without the Bank’s prior approval. Mr. McMahon has informed us that he intends to continue in his capacity as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the foreseeable future.

Originally Posted by PWI After fans in Saudi Arabia noted they were no longer able to access the WWE Network and asked for assistance via social media, WWE responded with the following: Hi! Thank you for reaching out. Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. WWE Network will not be available in Saudi Arabia until further notice. For more information, you may go to https://t.co/UqSN95m7gL. Thanks! ^NN — Ask WWE Network (@AskWWENetwork) March 24, 2020

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Brian Pillman Jr. appeared on The Wrestling INC Daily Podcast and Pillman Jr. talked about the idea of his father, Brian Pillman Sr. possibly going into the WWE Hall Of Fame as a part of the 2021 class in California. Pillman Jr. said it has been something that his family has communicated with WWE about and it’s all a matter of it coming to fruition. “Yeah I think that’s a possibility. I wanna say my mom’s talked to them about it in the past, but it’s not something that we talked about with them everyday. It’s something we’d have to revisit, revisit that conversation but yeah, obviously with Davey Boy getting in, then there’s a lot of good press towards that, right? So if they’re gonna let Davey Boy in, he’s in the faction with me. Maybe they save my dad for another year, maybe they bring my dad in-in Los Angeles [WrestleMania 37] in Hollywood so, The Hollywood Blonds and that would be a really cool thematic… maybe The Rock comes in so, I had somebody say that. Like Pillman and The Rock, and if you look, they always try to do — as weird as it sounds, they try to do one dead person a year, to try to keep it balanced.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Newsweek conducted an interview with Chris Jericho to promote the premiere of Chris Benoit’s ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ full-length episode on March 24th on VICE. Jericho said that if Chavo Guerrero didn’t ask him to be a part of the series, he wouldn’t have participated at all. “If it was anyone else that wasn’t Chavo Guerrero, I would have said no. But when Chavo said what the plan was, I was all for it because he was just as close to Chris and Eddie as I was, and then I was able to bring Dean Malenko, and David and Sandra were involved. There’s no way I wouldn’t have done it once I found out they were involved. There’s no way I wouldn’t have done it once I found out all these people who were super close were involved in it to tell the story the right way.” Jericho agreed that Chris Benoit does not deserve to go into the Hall Of Fame but he does feel that Nancy Benoit should be inducted into a Hall Of Fame for her contributions to the business prior to meeting Chris Benoit. “Will Chris Benoit ever get into the Hall of Fame? Absolutely not, nor should he. There’s too much baggage to discuss. But if you’re looking from a professional and ability standpoint, he’s one of the greatest of all time. Nancy had a great career before she ever met Chris. She was great at what she did and it gets lost in the shuffle because people always focus on her death. But when you focus on her life, she’s the one career that should go into the Hall of Fame because she deserves it. All the baggage will make it hard for her to be in, but I still think the right thing to do is put her in. She deserves that as a person and a professional.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Per F4WOnline’s Daily Update, talents that are traveling to Japan from the U.S., U.K. or Mexico can travel to the country but have to be quarantined for 14 days when they arrive. Davey Boy Smith Jr., who’ll be in competing in All Japan Pro Wrestling’s ‘Champion Carnival’ tournament was used as an example.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Sporting News pushed out their interview with Chris Jericho. Jericho said while filming Dark Side of the Ring, the story of New Jack was one that completely caught him off guard and he couldn’t believe what he was hearing/reading about New Jack. “The New Jack story blew my mind because I knew him a little bit from ECW. Just the stuff that he did, you know, attempting to murder guys in the ring, stabbing guys during matches and just literally not giving a s—. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this guy isn’t in jail or didn’t get murdered because of the things that he did.’ So, that was pretty heavy. The one that I really enjoyed though, that I didn’t think I would, was the ‘Brawl for All’ because I remember the ‘Brawl for All’ but I wasn’t in WWE at the time. But just watching the whole storyline behind that and just how it basically ended Bart Gunn’s career in the States, even though he won it, it was just a really interesting kind of time capsule of what wrestling was like only 20 years ago, 23 years ago, and it was really interesting to watch it.”

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware has been informed he will have to undergo a knee replacement surgery. A GoFund Me Campaign has been launched to help assist him with the financial aspect of the surgery. If you would like to contribute to the campaign, you can click here.

Link for those interested: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-koko...ee-replacement

Originally Posted by Fightful NJPW President Harold Meij is watching how AEW grows with some interest. Speculation about a potential partnership between NJPW and AEW ran rampant in January at Wrestle Kingdom 14 when Chris Jericho faced Hiroshi Tanahashi and if Tanahashi had won, then he would have gotten an AEW World Championship opportunity. Jericho won the match and no such title opportunity was given. Still, there are some who believe that NJPW and AEW could work with each other down the line and Meij addressed AEW in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Meij credited AEW for what it has been able to accomplish in the short time it has been running and will watch AEW with interest, but did not comment on any potential dealings down the line. "Throughout our 50-year history we have had numerous relationships with other wrestling promotions. Japanese mentality is one of loyalty. We work under a long-term principle that, ‘Once in, you’re in for a lifetime.’ AEW has made tremendous inroads and is establishing their unique brand of wrestling with their vision of what wrestling should be. We continue to watch with interest how AEW continues to evolve their brand," Meij said.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Coronavirus Updates: NJPW Cancels Sakura Genesis, Impact Cancels Several Events, No ROH Events Until June
• Trailer Released for Big Show’s Netflix Sitcom
• Matches Planned for NXT TakeOver Will Air on NXT TV Instead
• AEW: Matt Hardy’s Drone, No Lumberjack Match, Cody on Commentary This Week
• Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke in Quarantine as a Precaution
• WWE Giving Free Access to WWE Network for a “Limited Time”