[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Evil Emma feeding a bear:

On the subject of The Corporate Ministry, Prichard said that rumors claiming that 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts were originally meant to be The Higher Power are false. Rather, Christopher Daniels was Vince Russo's pick to be The Higher Power; however, McMahon nixed those plans because he thought Daniels was too small for the role. "The original idea was 'The Fallen Angel' Christopher Daniels. And then Vince saw him and said, 'absolutely not'. [McMahon did not like Daniels'] size. [He] just didn't see it." Prichard continued, "Chris was working out in California and Chris was working indies and different things an I was a big fan of Chris Daniels too at the time. I liked the 'Fallen Angel' gimmick and I want to say we had Chris under a developmental deal for a little while. [He] just didn't see it. He just looked at him and he didn't see it. He was dead from the get-go." Prichard suggested that Daniels' height was the primary problem, as being "juiced to the gills" as podcast co-host Conrad Thompson put it, would not have changed McMahon's opinion. "Height, height, height, and again, first impressions of Vince looking at him. And I don't know where Vince saw him or what the presentation was at all, but all of a sudden, it was, 'nope, not him - don't have anything for him.'"

From the recent episode of Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard podcast show. More highlights from the episode: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...power-and-why/

Originally Posted by Observer Nothing new on Kenny Omega past that he isn't on the February New Japan tour.

Omega made several vague tweets implying he was considering leaving NJPW but turns out he just wanted to take a small break to rest. Also being reported his current contract ends later this month although no status on talks regarding a new deal.

Originally Posted by Observer After adding Mark Andrews to the field yesterday, WWE followed up by revealing the full list of competitors for the upcoming United Kingdom Championship tournament. Another addition was made when WWE released the participants, with Martin Stone joining the 16-person field. Stone was formerly in WWE developmental earlier this decade and is returning after gaining more notoriety on the independent scene. He'll go by his old in-ring name with WWE listing him as Danny Burch. Missing from those who originally appeared to be possible participants are Tiger Ali, Chris Tyler, Ringo Ryan, and Jack Starz. They are presumably alternates for the tournament. The two shows will take place on January 14th and 15th at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool with the first UK Champion being crowned at their conclusion. Nigel McGuinness and Michael Cole will call the action live on the WWE Network. The full list of competitors for the tournament is: Trent Seven Danny Burch H.C. Dyer Pete Dunne Wolfgang Jordan Devlin Sam Gradwell Tyler Bate James Drake Tucker Tyson T-Bone Joseph Conners Dan Moloney Roy Johnson Mark Andrews Saxon Huxley

Originally Posted by PWI A fan on Twitter today asked former WWE Tough Enough competitor Gabi Castrovinci aka TNA Knockout Raquel if she was still TNA and she replied that she was done with the company: No ???? https://t.co/fOULQ7AJJg — Gabi Castrovinci (@RaquelTNA) January 7, 2017 Raquel had been managing Robbie E and Jesse Godderz.

Originally Posted by PWI The 1/5 edition of Impact, which was the first under the ownership of Anthem, did 290,000 viewers, up from last week's "Hardy New Year" edition. which did 224,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI The Hamilton Spectator reported that musician B.A. Johnston is launching a petition to erect a statue in honor of late WWF performer "Iron" Mike Sharpe in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. "I almost saw him as a symbol of the city itself — kind of like an avatar, or a walking Hamilton," Johnston told The Spectator. "It symbolized the dirty grittiness. His obliviousness to the fact that he was going to get pummeled was kind of Hamilton." For more information and to sign the petition, click here.

Link to the petition: https://www.change.org/p/hamilton-ci...-sharpe-statue

Originally Posted by PWI With Chris Hero returning to WWE, his final independent appearances will be for EVOLVE over Royal Rumble weekend in San Antonio on 1/27 where Hero will pick his own opponent and 1/28, where he faces Zack Sabre Jr. For those who have asked why Zack Sabre Jr. isn't in the WWE UK championship or the Cruiserweight division, it comes down to this - Sabre turned down WWE when they offered him a deal back during the CWC tournament

Originally Posted by PWI Here are some updates on Ring of Honor's contracts that expired as 2016 ended and 2017 began: Christopher Daniels - Signed to new, longterm deal. Bobby Fish - The two sides have signed an extension of Fish's previous contract and are currently working on a new longer form deal. Frankie Kazarian - Was already locked into deal before end of 2016. Jay Lethal - As previously noted, Lethal has been locked into a new, long term deal. Kyle O'Reilly - His ROH deal expired on 12/31. O'Reilly is said to be reviewing his options (translation: WWE and potentially, a deal that could see him sign with Flosports and then be fielded out to wrestling companies on their streaming platform). His future is undetermined at this time. The two sides will continue to work on a per date agreement going forward until O'Reilly makes a decision. Adam Page - A new deal is being finalized but has not yet been signed. Obviously already working for New Japan as well. War Machine - We are told that a new deal is being finalized but has not yet been signed. There is also interest from New Japan in using them more in 2017. BJ Whitmer - Signed to new deal before end of 2016; no definitive word on length. One source believed the contact to be one year in length.

Originally Posted by Observer "If WWE wants him, they will get him unless he doesn't want to work the schedule. Ibushi didn't want to work the schedule. Sabre wasn't exactly given a monster money offer. His value has never been higher. The only reason they don't get certain guys is the mentality that we're WWE and people will work twice as many dates for the same or less money because we're WWE, or they are guys really not making big money on the indies. If they put $750,000 down per year on a three-year deal, I don't see them turning it down, and they could easily afford that nor would it be overpaying to do so. but for most guys, they can get them for a lot less. I don't know Kenny but I do know WWE doesn't like anyone getting a buzz with another company." In response to "Do you know what Omega's current contract status is?" he replied on Twitter "Not sure. His old deal expires January 31st."

From a recent Observer Radio show in regards to the potential WWE goes after Kenny Omega once his deal ends after this month.

Originally Posted by Observer Some key changes have been made to what was the WrestleMania show, although what those changes are isn’t confirmed. Three of the key bouts remain Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg, Seth Rollins vs. HHH and Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal. Aside from a Raw women’s title match, of which there are at least two different possibilities, everything else is up for grabs. The only other non-regular confirmed as wrestling on the show is Undertaker. We’re told the Mania card should be finalized internally in about two weeks, as the booking of that show will determine the booking and direction of the Royal Rumble, which takes place on 1/29 in San Antonio at the Alamodome.

Originally Posted by Observer At press time, John Gaburick still maintained his position as head of creative. We’re told Carter no longer has any decision making power with the company after Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of The Fight Network, officially announced the purchase of TNA Wrestling on 1/4, a deal that actually went down in October when Anthem saved the company from likely extinction by funding Bound for Glory and its final sets of television tapings. We’re told Carter no longer has any decision making power with the company.

Gaburick was the one who supposedly sabotaged Corgan's attempt to buy TNA and also responsible for starting talks with the WWE about a potential sale.

Originally Posted by Observer Lucha Underground is going on hiatus after the 1/11 episode. This is to stretch things out because of how long it will be before the next season is filmed (fall 2017). The ides is that next week’s show will be the mid-season finale with some of a big angle or cliffhanger. The rest of season three that was taped would start at some point but nobody has said exactly when.

Originally Posted by Observer Rossy Ogawa, who runs the Stardom women’s group in Japan, which is the top women’s company in that country, said that they are working on business dealings with ROH. ROH booker Hunter Johnston was at the Stardom show in Tokyo on 1/3. Stardom is the company with Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani, Kairi Hojo and Yoko Bito. Shirai and Hojo are probably two of the three best women wrestlers in the world right now.

Originally Posted by Observer Verizon Fios will be dropping Pop TV as of 1/15, which takes TNA out of a lot of homes. However, Pop TV has made a deal where it will be live streamed as part of Hulu’s new live streaming TV service. Hulu announced that the CBS Network, as well as CBS Sports Network and Pop will all be part of the new service Hulu is looking at launching later this year.

Originally Posted by Observer Goldberg signed a three-PPV deal on his new contract, which will be Royal Rumble, Fast Lane (3/5 in Milwaukee) and WrestleMania. He will also be doing TV fairly often through Mania to promote all three of those shows.

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding the women’s tournament that at first was scheduled to start in January, because of the decision to do the U.K. thing coming up so quickly (even though the claim it was in the planning stages for a year, yet nobody heard anything until recent weeks while the women had been told months back about their tournament), the women’s tournament series network special is tentatively earmarked for a May start.

The Rock "Its not real! That shit is fake!" pic.twitter.com/uFAgkrYrvP

— Wrestling LAD (@WrestlingLAD) January 6, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Chris Jericho has the potential this year to break the all-time WWE Rumble record for most combined time spent in the ring. Triple H currently holds the record with 3:59:37 while Jericho is second at 3:55:59.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, WWE recently added a champions gallery for RAW's Women's championship and its exactly as you'd think it would be. http://www.wwe.com/gallery/raw-women...s#fid-40076927
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Roman Reigns has wrestled 18 matches since the start of the brand split and only 4 matches didn't involve Kevin Owens and Jericho.
• Based on recent rumors and reports, the current WWE Hall of Fame class so far is expected to be:
  SPOILER: show

  DDP and “Ravishing” Rick Rude
• According to F4W, WWE is rumored to have changed plans regarding the main event for Mania after people in Creative watched Wrestle Kingdom 11 and want to have a main event equal or better than Omega-Okada now. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...e_members_saw/
• Shelton Benjamin recently tweeted he is still months away from recovering from his current injury and debunked all rumors hinting he's returning at the Rumble. https://twitter.com/Sheltyb803/statu...78652370673668