[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 2018:

Originally Posted by Observer WWE better pray for a Houston Rockets win tomorrow night, because if there's a seventh game between the Golden State Warriors and Rockets, it will take a bite out of hours two and three of Raw. Like a big bite. If the Rockets win tomorrow, there is no game seven, and Raw will rebound to pre-NBA playoff numbers.

Originally Posted by Observer A four-way with A.J. Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe will headline a 7/1 show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.

Originally Posted by Observer/PWI/Post Wrestling Indies Roundup: Mark Dallas announced today that ICW and Firecracker Films are creating a new reality show for the BBC, somewhat similar to Tough Enough. They are looking for wrestlers to train for the show. WWN announced that Josh Briggs, James Drake and Anthony Henry have signed contracts. They are expected to make more signing announcements. The key to signing talent would be to keep them away from ROH or MLW among others. OTT have released the incredible Matt Riddle vs Will Ospreay match from Scrappermania for free. The full show, which took place at The National Stadium in Dublin is available at OTTonDemand.com. Pro Wrestling NOAH and Simon Inoki’s Toho Eiyuden are entering a working agreement to expand into China. According to Puroresu Spirit, Inoki split from his father-in-law Antonio’s IGF outfit to form Tho Eiyuden, which also goes by Oriental Heroes and runs out of Shanghai, China. NOAH helping to train performers for Inoki’s outfit and they will exchange talent. Toho Eiyuden performers are expected to perform on next week’s Korakuen Hall event and NOAH talent will be sent to China for shows in August. New Japan performer Ren Narita recently suffered a concussion and has been taken off the shows through June 2nd. At that time, they will re-evaluate Narita and determine if he can be cleared to return.

OTT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB-1AcF60mM

Originally Posted by Observer AXS TV is expected to announce imminently that they will be airing the July 7th New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Special show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco live. It was expected this would be the case when the show was announced with a 5 p.m. local start time, meaning it was designed for primetime viewing on the East Coast. The name of the show will be "G1 Special in San Francisco," and the official headliners on the show will be New Japan's big four, Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito. The Young Bucks are also officially booked for the show. Jim Ross and Josh Barnett will return as announcers. "As New Japan Pro Wrestling continues their U.S. expansion, we are proud to provide a platform for NJPW and TV-Asahi to bring their electrifying events to as many fans as possible through our live primetime broadcasts," said AXS TV Fights CEO Andrew Simon. "The Cow Palace has a rich history of major pro wrestling events and we are exited to continue that tradition with our presentation of the G1 Special in San Francisco."

Originally Posted by Observer Adding to the lineup for next month's events at Royal Albert Hall, WWE has announced that Shawn Michaels will be making an appearance on night one. What Michaels' role will be hasn't been revealed, aside from that he'll be appearing "alongside Triple H" and obviously won't be wrestling. Michaels currently works as a coach at WWE's Performance Center. The two nights at Royal Albert Hall will be taking place on June 18th and 19th. A tournament to determine the challenger for Pete Dunne's WWE United Kingdom Championship on the 19th is also set for the opening night, along with Dunne teaming with Tyler Bate & Trent Seven against The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly & Roderick Strong). The second night will have Dunne defending against the tournament winner, Aleister Black & Ricochet vs. EC3 & Velveteen Dream, and NXT North American, Women's, and Tag Team title defenses.

Link: https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-united...al-albert-hall

Originally Posted by PWI The 5/17 edition of Impact did 236,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 325,000 overnight viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI Jury selection in the civil lawsuit brought by WWE Doctor Chris Amann against former WWE Champion CM Punk and Colt Cabana began yesterday in Cook County Court in Illinois yesterday, PWInsider.com has learned. The trial process was originally scheduled to begin this past Tuesday morning but was pushed back several days due to a new judge taking on the case as well as some last minute filings by Amann's side.

More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...pdate.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI WWE began contacting talents for the second annual Mae Young Classic tournament, which will, be taped starting this August at Full Sail Live in Florida over the past two weeks. WWE is reaching out to a number of talents, some of whom worked last year's tournament and some whom have gotten tryouts with the company in the past.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling There is a discussion that the WWE could have another card to play regarding their distribution rights. BTIG analyst Brandon Ross recently wrote that he believes the company might be able to split their rights and strike a separate deal for the streaming rights to Raw and SmackDown. This follows the reports that NBC Universal is expected to renew Raw with a significant upgrade in price with The Hollywood Reporter citing up to three times the current value. In addition, Fox has agreed to spend $205 million per year for the rights to SmackDown when the NBC Universal agreement expires at the end of September 2019. In the current deal with NBC Universal, the streaming rights for Raw and SmackDown went to Hulu, which NBC Universal has a stake in and after 30-days the shows are added to the WWE Network ... The BTIG report estimates that Raw itself could fetch $25 million per year in streaming rights and bring the WWE’s overall domestic rights total to $500 million per year. To put that figure into perspective, the entire WWE generated $800 million in revenue in 2017.

Link: https://www.fiercecable.com/video/ww...n-analyst-says

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The Best of the Super Juniors tournament continues Saturday in Aichi. The tournament matches are being uploaded later in the day to New Japan World and there won’t be another live show on New Japan World until the A and B Block finals on Sunday, June 3rd followed by the finals on Monday, June 4th. Below are Saturday’s A Block tournament matches and the point totals: *Flip Gordon (4) vs. Tiger Mask (6) *YOH (2) vs. ACH (2) *Taiji Ishimori (4) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2) *Will Ospreay (4) vs. Bushi (0)

Originally Posted by Fightful.com Hennigan is looking to continue to add to his resume' according to Dave Meltzer in his latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer is reporting that there is interest on Hennigan's behalf to compete for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Over the past few years the popularity of NJPW has increased greatly with a number of big-name talents competing for the company. The report notes that Hennigan's relationship with AAA may be what will prevent him from making the jump to NJPW. New Japan normally does not use talent from AAA seeing as how they have a working relationship with CMLL.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc On the recent episode of The Jim Ross Report, J.R. discussed who he feels which WWE Raw star will have a run as Universal Champion due to his stock rising. Ross commented on Braun Strowman, and reiterated on how he will be the top star of WWE. However, he feels that WWE should not book him to be the top name this year, but should wait until 2019. On a previous episode, Ross stated that he will be very happy to see a Roman Reigns (heel champion) vs. Braun Strowman (babyface challenger) main event match at WrestleMania 35. While he mentioned Strowman, J.R. highlighted a particular name who he feels will become Universal Champion down the road. "[Drew McIntyre] looks great, he sounds great, he's in great condition, he's just getting better and better," said Ross. "He's a big time player. I could see, very easily, Drew McIntyre being a Universal or WWE Champion down the road. Without a doubt. It's a lay-up; trust me on this one."

Some other sheet news:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 24th anniversary of Jeff Hardy's debut in the WWE. Hardy wrestled and lost to the 1-2-3 Kid during a set tapings for WWE RAW in Erie, Pennsylvania.
• During a recent interview with Telemundo Las Vegas, Rey Mysterio reveals if given the chance, he would like to return to the WWE to help the company's Latino wrestlers. He also teased at the idea of wanting to lead a stable of them for a potential return run. https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/r...nt-missing-him
• Musical website Rock Sins had a recent interview with Aleister Black talking about WWE's recent European tour, crowd reception for him during the tour, being the NXT champion, the creation of his entrance theme, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...ce-of-wwe-nxt/
• The Mirror had a recent interview with Trent Seven talking about his goal to become NXT Tag Team champions, thoughts on WWE's UK expansion plans, and Toni Storm. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...and-in-the-uk/