[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The difference of live or taped in pro wrestling continues to be somewhat overblown, since last night's Raw show did 2.35 million viewers, the best in three weeks and up five percent from last week. It wasn't that the show was better, or even a sign WWE is making a comeback. The increase is more indicative of not having the NBA playoffs against them, like the past two weeks ... The only sports competition was the San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues NHL playoff game on NBC Sports Network that did 1.39 million viewers ... This show in particular cratered with women. In the first-to-third hour drop, women 18-49 were down 32 percent, men 18-49 were down 17 percent, teenage girls dropped 33 percent, and teenage boys dropped 21 percent. The reason the overall drop wasn't worse was because of the over 50 audience, the majority of the viewers, sticking with the show at a higher rate. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.58 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.39 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.08 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Vince McMahon, along with other key WWE executives, talked to Variety for a cover story about WWE’s move to FOX this fall, the Last Week Tonight segment on WWE, and their momentum. McMahon said wrestlers can get time off without repercussions: “Anybody who wants time off can get time off. That’s easy. In addition to that, it’s easy to weave a talent in and out of a storyline. If they get injured, you’re not expecting that. Or if they have a family matter. Our characters are real people with real problems. It’s a revolving situation where this talent will work these dates, that talent will work those dates.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Nothing about that subject is “easy”. Talent is rarely going to push for time off given the natural concern of losing their spot. While an extreme example, CM Punk outlined the pressure after having surgery to come back so soon and do a TLC match on television in January 2013. We have also seen examples of talent having their contracts frozen and time tacked onto the deals, which brings up the question of whether a talent taking two months off would be expected to make up for that time at the expiration of their deal. With the emergence of AEW and other viable options outside WWE, talent seems more willing to rock the boat in public and voice their unhappiness or make public their intentions to leave. However, the pushback is someone like Luke Harper, who appears to have had his requests rebuffed and is in professional purgatory.

In regards to Vince's comments about it being "easy" for talent to request time off and not suffer any repercussions to their status or pushes.

Originally Posted by Observer The WrestleMania main event between Ronda Rousey, Charlotte and Becky Lynch has been nominated for a MTV Movie/TV award for Best Fight. Roman Reigns is nominated for Best Real-Life Hero.

Originally Posted by Observer NJPW will hold a ten bell ceremony on May 22 in remembrance of Silver King, who wrestled there as Black Tiger III.

Originally Posted by Observer DJZ is officially the latest wrestler to join the WWE Performance Center. WWE.com confirmed today that DJZ (real name Michael Paris) has signed with the company, noting that he reported to the Performance Center this week. In March, it was reported by PWInsider and confirmed by Dave Meltzer that DJZ signed with WWE and was headed to NXT.

Originally Posted by PWI The lawsuit brought by cameraman Donald Anderson against World Wrestling Entertainment and WWE performer Thaddeus "Titus O'Neil" Bullard in the United States District Court, Middle Division, of Florida was officially dismissed yesterday after Anderson informed the court that all sides had come to a legal settlement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. As PWInsider.com has previously covered, Anderson’s lawsuit against WWE and Bullard alleged Battery, Assault, Willful Misconduct, Negligence, Gross Negligence, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress. Anderson has alleged that WWE placed him in an unsafe working environment and that they had a duty to protect him from being placed in such a situation. Anderson had alleged that he was injured by Bullard after the WWE star became upset while being filmed for a segment on WWE Network prank series Swerved. Anderson (who had been hired through a third party, Uranus Productions/Gorilla Flicks) was backstage at a WWE TV taping filming a segment where Bullard was shocked by WWE performer Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis). Bullard became, according to Anderson's lawsuit, "enraged", alleging charging and kicking the camera out of Anderson's hand, injuring him. Bullard has denied those allegations in his response to Anderson's lawsuit. Paige was not a party in the lawsuit.

More details regarding the lawsuit itself: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/12...ement.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI TheWrap has an article talking with the head of programming for ESPN, Burke Magnus, about why they passed on acquiring Smackdown. "We did talk to WWE during their process some months ago. Took a hard look at it, we’re obviously big fans of them. We just went into business with them on the XFL indirectly,” Magnus, executive vice president of ESPN’s programming and scheduling department said, “But we couldn’t find a fit for it, primarily based on schedule. As you know, those properties are 52 weeks a year live,” he continued. “And I’m proud to say we have a pretty good problem, which is that we can’t clear anything 52 weeks a year live. We have a pretty full portfolio of content as it is" ... According to the interview, ESPN's deal with UFC had no impact on the negotiations. When asked about AEW coming to the table, it was made clear that the company did not come to ESPN at all.

Originally Posted by PWI In regard to the Killer Kross situation, numerous sources within Impact Wrestling made it clear that Kross would not be getting a release from his current contract. The company stance is that they attempted to restructure the deal in good faith and that since Kross locked himself into a deal, they expect him to adhere to that contract. The feeling is that the company signed him during a time period where he didn't have any interest from WWE and now that he's used their platform to raise his profile, if there's interest from WWE or elsewhere, that doesn't mean Kross can just walk away from his existing deal. From a legal standpoint, they would be in the right, although it has to be completely frustrating for Kross to see the potential of what he could make elsewhere and not be able to capitalize on that, while making far, far less working for Impact.

Originally Posted by PWI WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reported that a collection featuring unreleased matches of WWE Hall of Famer "Rowdy" Roddy Piper entitled "Getting Rowdy: the Unreleased Matches of Roddy Piper" will be released August 27 in the US and September 2 in the UK. The 2 disc set will feature an interview with Ronda Rousey discussing her interactions with the legend.

Link: http://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/s...-update/168432

Originally Posted by Fightful YUKE's, which has been behind the creation of many of WWE's video games throughout the years are planning on developing a new wrestling game I.P. to prevent stagnation and according to 'Video Game Chronicle', that begins with YUKE's development team creating a new I.P. that can compete with their current wrestling series being WWE 2K.

Originally Posted by Fightful Luke Harper is caught in WWE purgatory, and has been for quite some time. Several WWE sources spoke to Fightful recently, and confirmed several reports from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and gained some new information along the way. We were told the match itself was a disaster to put together and execute, and that Luke Harper wasn't happy that Braun Strowman both forgot his spot and that Ali ended up hurt in the match. In addition to that, Braun hit Harper with a stiff kick just ahead of that. Harper, in an effort to protect Ali during his elimination, hurt his back and/or shoulder trying to keep him from flying out of control. Afterwards, we're told that Strowman didn't think he had done anything wrong, which caused a little more frustration. A source close to the situation spoke of the Harper vs. EC3 match and said that Vince McMahon himself seemed to have a long-term issue with Luke Harper and that whatever happened wouldn't have mattered anyway, going as far as to say that McMahon "decided to hate anything he was involved in long ago."

Originally Posted by Fightful Details regarding the creation of Bray Wyatt's new mask. Last night on "Firefly Fun House," things took a dark turn as Bray Wyatt debuted a new mask as a way to reboot his character. Earlier today, Kyle A. Scarborough, a tattoo artist in Washington, MO, took to Facebook to share the origin story behind the design of the mask. As mentioned, the actual mask was put together by Tom Savini's FX studio. Savini's team has been behind a lot of what you see on "Firefly Fun House," directing the episodes and designing the characters.

Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/d...efly-fun-house

Originally Posted by Fightful Over the weekend, luchador Silver King tragically passed away after collapsing in the ring during a Lucha Libre World show in London, England. Silver King was best known by American fans for his four-year run in World Championship Wrestling where he helped bring the Lucha Libre style to a larger audience in the United States. Speaking to TMZ, former WCW President Eric Bischoff discussed Silver King's influence on WCW. "From my perspective, the luchadors were such a vital part of WCW Nitro and they never really got the credit. Fans should know that Silver King and a lot of luchadors were way more responsible for the success of Nitro, and the ability to out-perform WWE, than they were given credit for, including by me," said Bischoff. "What I hope is that Silver King and other luchadors are recognized for breaking through and being the catalyst for a pop culture kind of phenomenon in the United States that everybody is familiar with. 25 years ago, outside of California, nobody knew what lucha libre was. I'd like Silver King to be recognized for that. He was one of those people that, when you saw him backstage, he always had a smile on his face. He was always happy being right where he was, around his peers and in wrestling."

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE SmackDown Listed as 2-Hour Show on FOX
• WWE Fines Lars Sullivan $100,000 for His Past Comments
• Updated Double or Nothing Card: Two New Matches, Bringing Total to 10