[Emperor Smeat]

Today's Dirty Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer WWE took in $188.4 million in revenue in quarter three and ended with a $33.6 million profit. For a comparison, the first two quarters profit was a combined $21.8 million. Last year's third quarter had $186.4 million in revenue and $21.8 million in profits. However, there were negative signs, in that the profit increase was due to a $15.6 million benefit provision from income taxes, so if you take that out, operating income fell from $31.1 million last year to $18.0 million this year ... The major difference was an increase in spending which was not offset by the much smaller increase in revenue. In addition, while TV rights fees continue to increase, live events and consumer products were significantly down, to the point where the live events are barely breaking even, with just $120,000 in live event profits for the combined months of July through September. Vince McMahon said that he has always considered live event attendance as the barometer of how well they are doing, that he knows what is wrong and said they are antiquated, that he knows how to fix it and that they will turn around. They also said the long-term goal is to have Performance Centers all over the world in every major market and that they are working on major changes for the business. During the call, the company said that the show in Saudi Arabia was a sensitive subject and they would say nothing more than their statement earlier today. The WWE Network had 1,615 subscribers on September 30, broken down as 1,186,000 in the U.S. and 429,000 outside the U.S. At this time last year, the numbers were 1,507,000 subscribers broken down as 1,106,000 in the U.S. and 401,000 outside the U.S. However, that is misleading due to discount subscribers, as while during the quarter, the average for the quarter was nine percent more subscribers than last year (at the end that dropped to seven percent due to weaker performance at the very end of the three months and stronger performance in the earlier portion), the revenues were only up two percent, meaning far more people were paying lower rates ... Arena attendance, averaging 4,500 fans in quarter three in the North American market, was the lowest in many years. Even with the declines in key indicators of overall popularity, the television rights fees will keep the company at record profit levels going forward.

Some notes from today's fiscal report and investor's meeting by the WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Kevin Kay, a huge figure in MMA history and to an extent pro wrestling, is out after more than 20 years with Viacom. Kay was running the Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT. Kent Alterman will take over Paramount, TV Land, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and will also be the man in charge of Bellator. Key helped create the environment where Raw could command real money in TV rights in a 2000 deal with WWE, and also green lit UFC on television in 2005, TNA on television in 2005, and purchased Bellator. He literally saved TNA which was on the verge of shutting down, may have saved UFC and basically gave it life, and made Bellator stable. He was a big combat sports fan and his being out could lead to major changes in the future with a new person in charge of Bellator.

Originally Posted by Observer Cody on Twitter kind of outright said he wouldn't be working the ROH/NJPW Madison Square Garden show in April. He wrote, "I am not on that show." It's notable also because the group of Cody, Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Kenny Omega have talked of sticking together.

Originally Posted by PWI The scheduled WWE talent appearance on today's Megyn Kelly Show on NBC has been scrapped as Kelly is in the middle of a controversy after she defended the idea of using Blackface for Halloween costumes, which as you might imagine, received an extremely negative response. Kelly was taken to task by her fellow NBC broadcast journalists and has apologized. NBC has distanced themselves from Kelly (who is now rumored to be leaving the Today Show) and will air a rerun instead of a new, live episode.

For some comparison on how messed up WWE has become, WWE feels being associated with someone making blackface comments is worse than being associated with someone making racist comments on tape (Hogan). Both are bad but potentially being an actual racist is less bad in WWE's eyes.

Originally Posted by Observer Indies Roundup: Rey Mysterio Jr will be on the Jericho Cruise on 10/27 and 10/28. Tom Lawlor vs. Sami Callihan in a street fight has been added to MLW's tapings in Cicero, IL on 11/8. The Women of Wrestling promotion that debuts on AXS in 2019 will be both performing and participating in a panel at the L.A. Comic Con on 10/26 to 10/28 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. There will be matches on Saturday at 4 p.m. and a panel discussion on Sunday at 2:30 pm., and more matches after that. ROH is putting tickets on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m. local time for shows on 12/15 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena, 1/24 in Dallas at Gilley's Dallas, 1/25 in Houston at the NRG Arena, and 1/26 in Austin, TX at the Austin Highway Event Center. Big League Wrestling announced today that Neville (who is again going by the name PAC since departing WWE) will be making his United Kingdom in-ring return at their show at the Westlands Entertainment Venue in Yeovil, England on Sunday, November 18. He'll be facing Dean Allmark and Jake McCluskey in a three-way match. Ireland's OTT Wrestling also announced that Neville is coming to their promotion soon. A date for when Neville will debut for them wasn't announced, but OTT noted that it wouldn't be in November. The Young Bucks vs. KUSHIDA & Chris Sabin has been added to the card for ROH’s Global Wars show in Toronto on November 11. The Briscoes vs. Beretta & Chuckie T vs. Cody Rhodes & Hangman Page is set for Global Wars in Buffalo, New York on November 9. Jeff Cobb vs. Christopher Daniels and Jay Briscoe vs. Scorpio Sky have been announced for Lowell, Massachusetts on November 8.

BLW: https://twitter.com/GoBigLeague/stat...85557000507392 , OTT: https://twitter.com/OTT_wrestling/st...41570391040000

Originally Posted by Observer Will Ospreay is off Power Struggle after suffering an injury earlier this month. New Japan’s English website made the announcement tonight that Ospreay will not make his scheduled match against Taichi for the NEVER Openweight championship at next weekend’s event, saying that he needs more time to recover from the injury. There will not be a replacement match and instead the bout will be cancelled. Ospreay suffered an injury to his ribs back on October 14 in a match against Chris Ridgeway on a RevPro/New Japan Global Wars UK event in Brixton, England. He landed wrong after a kick and was taken to a hospital for evaluation after the match. A few days later, New Japan announced that Ospreay would be taken off the Road to Power Struggle tour and instead would focus entirely on the NEVER title match at Power Struggle. Obviously, things have changed.

Link: https://www.njpw1972.com/37866

Originally Posted by PWI The National Wrestling Alliance announced today that a new version of their NWA 70 event from this past weekend has been uploaded to FITE.tv, correcting the audio issues from the live broadcast: We thank everyone who ordered #NWA70 on @FiteTV! We can confirm that an updated version of the show is now available with the audio issues fixed including the 2 backstage interviews. If you bought original event, you now have this version!#NWA70 - https://t.co/2XNYx8pJwX pic.twitter.com/psC526g5Sd — NWA (@nwa) October 25, 2018

Link: https://twitter.com/nwa/status/1055479905234825217

Originally Posted by PWI Nikki also did an interview with the New York Post, where she admitted she wasn't happy about the Ronda Rousey line a few weeks ago on Raw regarding Bella's relationship with John Cena. “I’ve grown thick-skinned to it,” Bella said “I just can’t wait for the day it can stop and not every promo towards me brings up my ex and I think it will [stop]. I think there will come a day for that, but maybe there won’t, but I do hope so.”

Wow so the rumor was actually true after all. Literally have thin skin when it comes to not being able to handle worked shoot or "pipe bomb" promos. Probably why they let her try one on Ronda about her mother as a makeup to keep her happy. Link for those interested: https://nypost.com/2018/10/24/nikki-...ys-cena-taunt/

Originally Posted by Observer Vince McMahon was not at television, which explains his not being in the video footage the company shot of Reigns backstage after his interview hugging everyone and leaving. That was also a surprise since the show was in Providence, which is in the Northeast, closer to Stamford than most shows. But he was in constant contact. Reigns was kept on a bus all day before the show, at his own request. Vince made moves during the day to prepare people who had to know, without going into detail ... It is believed Reigns found out about the diagnosis on or just before 10/18, because it was that night that Vince McMahon first found out. It wasn’t until the next morning when the key people knew who had to start making plans for what to do, at least temporarily, without him and how to fill the hole of his not being around ... About an hour before the show, a few people, including both Rollins and Ambrose, were told that Reigns would be opening up the show and giving up the title, but were also given the same word we were, basically that it would all be explained when he did his promo. Reigns had told Ambrose and Rollins before the show to be ready to come out and meet him when his promo was done, but neither were told what it was about. Michael Cole also knew that the show would open with Reigns relinquishing the title, but it is believed he also didn’t know why ... Leukemia is no joke, and getting it a second time at the age of 33 is worrisome. It would seem to indicate that even if and when he beats this again, he’s at a high risk for it to come back later. Because we don’t know what form of leukemia this is, this percentage may not be accurate, but for leukemia in general, about 57 percent of the people who get it will live for more than five years. It also should be noted that most who get it are much older than Reigns, and not nearly as strong and fit. At the same time, strength and fitness, and even age to a degree, is not a safeguard against the disease because cancer isn’t fair ... If he has Chronic myelogenous leukemia, which he may have based on saying he’s had it in him for 11 years, then he would be lucky to the degree leukemia is lucky, which is more the best of the worst luck. Chronic myelogenous leukemia is treatable with the drug Gleevec or similar drugs and 90 percent of the people who get it will live five or more years. Hairy cell leukemia, a disease that almost exclusively hits adult males, is both incurable, but easily treatable. About 96 percent or more of people diagnosed with it will live at least ten more years. But both of those forms, while he is likely to survive for a number of years, are also high risk of giving him problems many more times throughout his life. If it is another form, the odds greatly differ. The other reality is that if he’s got the version of leukemia we hope he has, while nothing is a sure thing, he’s probably beating it and coming back. If he can beat this and come back with most of his athletic ability, he may become the most popular wrestler in the business based on real-life beating of the disease, and coming off the expected highly visible work he’ll do in raising attention and funding for treatment and a cure. In his long-term life story, that will end up being far bigger than main eventing WrestleMania or a delayed coronation or number of times holding championship titles. Since 2012, Reigns was the guy in the on deck circle, the handpicked replacement for Cena. He was supposed to take the spot in 2015. While it was delayed, with Cena pretty much gone as far as full-time wrestling goes, he’s had the spot since beating Cena in a program and nobody else was considered. The feeling was that it was a spot they probably didn’t have to worry about for five or more years, giving them ample time to find somebody new. The one decision they figured they wouldn’t have to worry about for years is now one they have to make.

Meltzer pretty much went down the list of stars in the main roster and NXT and pretty much came with the conclusion that WWE doesn't have anyone who could fill in Reigns' spot beyond being a temporary or transitional top star. Pretty much just Drew McIntyre and even he's not at the level yet to be an established top star. If Vince gets rid of his size and muscular fetish, the pool for a real potential successor improves by a good amount.

More details have come out on the lawsuit filed by Riki Paul Johnson, the first husband of Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte Flair), against Ashley, father Richard Fliehr, author Brian Shields and the WWE ... The Charlotte Observer had printed excerpts regarding a 2008 fight with Johnson and Ric Flair before the book came out. The incident in question took place on September 5, 2008, long before Ashley, 22 at the time, became a pro wrestler and before Ashley and Johnson were married in 2010. The two divorced in 2011. At the time Chapel Hill police said that neighbors called for help when they heard a commotion in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Officers found Rick, Ashley and Johnson in a room and that there was a fight that had left Ric bloodied and bruised. Richard Fliehr at the time declined to press charges against Johnson. Then Ashley allegedly kicked an officer and police used a taser gun on her. She was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. The issue was quickly resolved as a family matter. She pleased guilty to a lesser charge, was sentenced to a 45 day suspended sentence, put on probation and fined $200. Ric’s version of the story in the book, saying that his daughter and Johnson were having a fight and he tried to step in. “Your daughter,” Ric claimed Johnson said was all he heard before it turned into an altercation. “My daughter did everything for this guy. He could barely hold a job. I got up and said, `Do you think you’re a man behaving this way? You’re not a man.’ Ashley’s boyfriend exploded in a fury and started throwing punches at me. I just stood there. Police arrived, and all hell broke loose. When one of the police officers entered her space and asked her to put her hands behind her back, I heard her say, `Don’t touch me. I said don’t touch me.’ The next thing I knew, the officer used a taser to subdue her. She was brought to the floor and taken into police custody in handcuffs. Her boyfriend assaulted me. I had bruises on my face, and somehow my daughter, who tried to be the peacekeeper, was arrested.” Ashley noted that she gave up her scholarship at Appalachian State University as a Division I volleyball player after her sophomore year to move in with Johnson, who was attending the University of North Carolina. She claimed in the book there were multiple instances in which arguments led to him become physically violent toward her and also claimed that he used to do drugs with her younger brother, Reid, when Reid lived with them. The lawsuit claimed in that incident that she was the one who went into a tirade directed at the police officers and in doing so said disparaging remarks and racist comments about the African-American community in Chapel Hill, NC.

Originally Posted by Observer Evolution is at about 300 tickets shy of capacity, which would be about 10,900 tickets. Some of that is because scalpers went in heavy early and they are dying now with lots of tickets out at around $9 or $10, the lowest big show price for entry in years, with about 1,650 tickets left on the market with a few days left. The show was dying until the Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella angle, but even the late sales were something of an illusion as noted by the secondary market pricing. There are a lot of interesting questions, notably how the Nassau Coliseum crowd, one of the two arenas (Pittsburgh's PPG Center being the other) that have the reputation as the hardest crowds in North America, will react. Rousey gets the biggest reactions and she and Nikki Bella are considered the company's two biggest mainstream stars. Rousey has come through in the clutch and the promo buildup for this has revitalized the show. Lynch and Flair have gotten strong reviews for their house show work and also have a heated storyline. Lynch is the hottest she's ever been, even if it's as a babyface even though each weekly they try and turn her heel. All of the NXT women that are on television were at one point slated to appear on the show in some form. They were still listed as being there but nothing has been announced for any of them except Baszler, Sane and Shirai.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc While this week's editions of RAW and SmackDown Live did very little to promote the pay-per-view, Dave Meltzer on the most recent Wrestling Observer Radio noted that the internal reaction to WWE Evolution was that nobody in the company saw it as a big show. Meltzer further noted that the event was announced for Stephanie McMahon to brag about the show, and also as a way to take heat off for the women not traveling to Saudi Arabia for WWE Crown Jewel.

Originally Posted by Observer Nick Aldis regained the NWA heavyweight title from Cody at the NWA's 70th anniversary show on 10/21 at the Fairgrounds in Nashville. The deal was always that Cody would take the title at All In, and then drop it back at the NWA's show. Cody is still under an exclusive ROH contract, but ROH allowed him to wrestle on this show as part of a deal that included Aldis doing some ROH shows and Cody getting the championship. The change had nothing to do with whatever may or may not be the future of Cody, The Young Bucks and others at the start of 2019. Under the circumstances, with an inability to guarantee that he would be available after the first of the year, it did make sense to move the title back to Aldis, who, along with David Lagana, are really the only people working full-time for Billy Corgan's version of the promotion ... Corgan has a name and business connections, but hasn't been able to get a TV deal unless there is something unannounced on the horizon. It's known that he pitched the idea to TBS, and some would find something historically significant about the NWA on TBS, since a very different NWA did control the station for most of the period from 1972 to when the initials were dropped in favor of WCW around 1990. But nothing seems to have transpired from it. Most of the top talent these days is under contract to WWE, New Japan or ROH, with a few with Lucha Underground and Impact. Corgan is likely shut out of that talent, as well as CMLL, because they work with ROH, unless it's a unique deal like Cody, who was a key reason the show did as well as it did.

Apparently this show drew the largest crowd ever for a wrestling event at the venue. Crowd size was roughly around 1400.

Originally Posted by Observer NJPW had cracked down on usage of both GIF's of their product and on people who have produced their own videos. The argument against the move is that this only increases awareness for New Japan. The thing is, a company does have the right to control its content and they do charge for usage of their footage, as does WWE, and NJPW charges a ton to outside parties, which is why you don't see people using a lot of NJPW footage in documentaries. On the flip side, cracking down on the Showbuckle videos that explain the storylines and such of New Japan is so unbelievably counterproductive

Supposedly they are considering easing some of the restrictions but not sure if it was done yet.

Originally Posted by Observer Cody’s ROH contract actually ends at the end of this month, so his last contracted dates are the Jericho Cruise. However, he is expecting to continue through January but he hasn’t signed a new deal and I wouldn’t expect he would right now as he and The Young Bucks and Hangman Page really are trying to stick together and see what the open market has. Once January comes, for obvious reasons, nobody knows right now what is next. As for Cody and New Japan, nothing is concrete but he’d like to continue to work for New Japan for the rest of his career if that is possible as he loves working there. He doesn’t have a New Japan contract at this point

Originally Posted by Observer The only thing we were told about the Austin Aries situation is that Aries has a minor concussion and is physically beaten down that there are a lot of layers to the story and what has gone down. The company did not confirm or wasn’t aware of a concussion and that those who talked with him after the match saw no signs of one, but that he and Johnny Impact were stiffing each other with a lot of shots during the match because the early part was trying to work it as a shoot (which is very different and more tiring) and later they tried to do some hard hitting New Japan style hitting and from that style of a match something like that is possible. It is also confirmed that Aries’ contract has expired and no new deal has been signed. He was there on 10/8 in the morning on the first day of television and then was sent home. The television was rewritten to take the stuff involving him out before he was sent home. There is also a lot of Pillmanesque stuff going on with him, as we’ve seen from the entire Johnny Impact angle

Originally Posted by Observer In a further attempt to make the 12/26 MSG show special and get a rare sellout, they have added a ten-man NXT tag match with Tommaso Ciampa & Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish vs. Pete Dunne & Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream & Johnny Gargano & Ricochet. The whole deal among other things is with the NJPW/ROH sellout in April, the last thing WWE wants is the story to be that WWE hasn’t been able to sell out MSG in years, especially when they couldn’t last time out with both the return of the Undertaker after eight years to MSG and the debut of Rousey.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE sent Dana Warrior to Spirit Day to support LGBTQ youth. This is really a weird one since Ultimate Warrior was as publicly anti-gay as almost anyone ever, to the point he lost college speaking engagements and caused a stir because of just how homophobic he was. Now, just because her husband said those things doesn’t mean she believes them. However, it went one step farther as she wore Ultimate Warrior face-paint while doing so

Originally Posted by Observer Garza Jr., was interviewed in Mexico and talked about his WWE situation. As we reported, Garza was to be signed but because his shoulder was so messed up, after his examination, WWE passed on signing him. Garza said he will have a another shot at a contract early next year and is hoping his shoulder heals enough that he gets clearance this time, noting that he was nixed by the doctors and not by WWE. Garza is barely wrestling these days, hopeful that speeds up the healing process

Originally Posted by Observer Hogan in an Orlando Sentinel article when asked about holding down younger talent while on top admitted that was the case. “Once I got in the spot, to keep the spot, that’s where the politics came in. Everybody goes, `Well, Hulk Hogan was a politician.’ Well, thank God I was. That’s why I made more money than anybody, that’s why I kept the belt longer, that’s why instead of a five or six or ten year run like The Rock or Stone Cold or different wrestlers, I had a 35 year run on top.

Pretty much a noted piece of shit in wrestling basically being proud at being a big piece of shit during his career.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc There was recently a pitch made to reunite Bray Wyatt and Harper on WWE TV, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There's no word yet on if The Wyatt Family reunion is actually being considered but Wyatt and Harper have both been without programs since their partners went out of action with injuries. Wyatt had been teaming with Matt Hardy and the two had a run as RAW Tag Team Champions. Harper and Rowan had a run with the SmackDown Tag Team Titles as The Bludgeon Brothers.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc We noted earlier this week how Bobby Lashley has reportedly been working through an injury. Lashley has been working with a separated shoulder, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The injury has been causing Lashley a lot of pain but he continues to work through it. There's no word yet on if Lashley will miss any ring time because of the injury but it was believed that he would keep working as long as he could. It could be a situation where he takes time off down the road to heal.

Vince McMahon asked about Saudi Arabia decision by Brandon Ross BTIG:
"We're not going to talk a lot about that it's a very sensitive subject. I think our statement says all we're going to say about that today." #wweq3 #crownjewel

— Chris Harrington (@mookieghana) October 25, 2018

Some other sheet news:

• WWE continues to get bad press due to their unwillingness to cancel their upcoming Saudi show. The latest being an article from the Associated Press exposing the contradictions of WWE running shows in Saudi Arabia while proclaiming to be a positive force for women's wrestling evolution. https://apnews.com/d7b11ede0d1c48e28b7320d82852894a
• Texas based Children's Health clinic recently offered their words of support to Roman Reigns on behalf of his kid fans fighting their own battles with illness at their clinics. https://twitter.com/ChildrensTheOne/...21301944745986
• For those interested, Post Wrestling will be holding a charity drive on November 2nd for their Crown Jewel post-show with them personally donating $5 for every minute discussed about the show. The charity is called Committee to Protect Journalist.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Ciampa Statement on Gargano’s Heel Turn, Carmella’s Parents, EVOLVE/NXT Update
• Matt Hardy Says He’ll Move Away From Woken Persona if He Returns to WWE TV
• Update on John Cena and Daniel Bryan Not Wrestling in Saudi Arabia
• Sasha Banks Reveals Why She Was Out of Action for Over a Month
• WWE Confirms That Crown Jewel Will Take Place in Saudi Arabia