[Emperor Smeat]

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Originally Posted by Observer Despite heavily advertising a much-anticipated Samoa Joe vs. Daniel Bryan match all week (which was changed during the show), SmackDown averaged 2.195 million viewers on Tuesday night, the exact same total as last week. This was despite no major sports competition and with the networks airing reruns for the most part, which lends credence to the thought that the number one factor affecting SmackDown ratings is the Raw audience from the night before. Monday's Raw had the second lowest audience of the modern era, and while the retention rate was slightly higher than normal, SmackDown's ratings are still tied in with Raw. The show finished seventh for the night on cable in terms of total viewers but finished at the top of the 18-49 demo with a 0.66 rating. SmackDown was down year-over-year in the ratings by almost seven percent, which was a bigger decline than Raw had the night before.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE's working relationship with PROGRESS Wrestling will continue with an NXT wrestler challenging for the PROGRESS Women's Championship next month. PROGRESS announced today that Jinny will be defending her Women's title against Steffanie Newell (formerly known as Nixon Newell) on June 10th at the O2 Academy in Sheffield, England. Before Newell joined WWE, Jinny was also the opponent in her last match for PROGRESS. Newell, who is from Wales, made her NXT in-ring debut at a house show this April after recovering from a torn ACL. She was supposed to be part of the Mae Young Classic in 2017, but the injury kept her from wrestling in the tournament. She has yet to debut on NXT television. Jinny won the championship from Toni Storm earlier this month and will be making her first title defense against Newell. Though this has yet to be officially announced, Storm vs. Jinny vs. Isla Dawn vs. Killer Kelly is being advertised for WWE's United Kingdom-brand show at Royal Albert Hall on June 18th. The winner will challenge for the NXT Women's Championship at the venue the next night.

Links: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/...79835782275072 , https://www.livenation.co.uk/show/11.../2018-06-18/en

Originally Posted by Observer A number of stars, as well as a match have been announced for ROH’s upcoming Best in the World tour. Stardom’s Kagetsu and Hazuki were announced for the show on Ring of Honor’s Twitter account today. KUSHIDA has also been signed to compete. In addition to the talent announcements, ROH also announced a tag team championship match with champions The Briscoes defending the titles against The Young Bucks ... A triple threat match for the Ring of Honor title was previously announced back at the last set of television tapings. Dalton Castle will defend the title against Marty Scurll and Cody in a three way bout. Nick Aldis, who is currently the NWA champion, has said that he will only defend the NWA title if Cody not only wins the ROH title, but puts it on the line at All In. Best in the World will take place on June 29 at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, Maryland. There will be a TV taping the following day in Fairfax, Virigina.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has confirmed the dates of the Mae Young Classic to be 8/8 and 8/9 at Full Sail University in Orlando.

Originally Posted by Observer In the time slot that Smackdown will be in, FOX debuts a reality show called Phenoms and it was a ratings disaster, doing 662,000 viewers.

For some reference, this new show is either replacing or covering for the off-season of the children's cooking contest show which did around 3+ million for its average.

Originally Posted by Observer Indies Roundup: Heroes of Lucha Libre on 6/2 at the Galen Center on the campus of USC in Los Angeles has Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Trumposo (Aaron Aguilera) as the main event and El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. L.A. Park & El Hijo de L.A. Park. The promoters were expecting a huge crowd at the USC campus. We shall see. Cody and Nick Aldis are focused on in the NWA's latest Ten Pounds of Gold video. MLW is pushing the Tom Lawlor vs. Jake Hager (Jack Swagger) match on its 6/7 show in Orlando as a UFC vs. Bellator match. They also pushed a 40 wrestler Battle Riot match for 7/19 in Queens, NY at the Melrose Ballroom. It'll be Rumble style with eliminations by pin, submission or to rope elimination. The winner gets a title shot whenever they want. Tessa Blanchard vs. Madison Eagles has been announced for the 7/8 Rise TV tapings in Naperville, IL. Nick Bury vs. Tajiri takes place for BCW in Melbourne, Australia on 8/31. Evolve on 6/23 in Queens NY at La Boom has Matt Riddle vs.; Shane Strickland in a no rope break match for the Evolve title, Austin Theory vs. DJZ in an anything goes match for the FIP title, Walter vs. Darby Allin, Chris Dickinson & Jaka & Dom Garrini vs. Tracy Williams & Timothy Thatcher & Anthony Henry and John Klinger and AR Fox appear.

NWA: https://youtu.be/VfNhMTMS7Cg

Originally Posted by PWI WWE just announced that Seth Rollins will defend the Intercontinental Title against Elias at the Money In The Bank PPV.

Us Weeky tweeted the following. They are back together. Wow, I am shocked. Tune in soon to see it all unfold on Total Bellas. You know the cameras had to be there! Exclusive: Nikki Bella and John Cena are back together, a month and a half after their split https://t.co/ajRC6fVfin — Us Weekly (@usweekly) May 31, 2018

Originally Posted by PWI MLW announced the following: FIRST-EVER BATTLE RIOT TO MAIN EVENT MLW’S JULY 19TH NYC TV TAPING NEW YORK – MLW’s July 19th card will literally be the biggest Major League Wrestling show ever. MLW today announced that it will present the first-ever Battle Riot® featuring 40 participants as the main event of its July 19th card and FUSION TV taping in New York City at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, NY. A mash-up of a battle royal, royal rumble and anything goes street fight, this super-sized main event will feature 40 wrestlers with new participants entering the ring every 60 seconds ... What does the winner Get? The winner gets a World Heavyweight Title Shot anywhere, anytime! It could be that night; it could be in 6 months. The challenger has the key to unlock an instant title shot against whoever the champion is! Participants will be announced starting next week.

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network added the following "Hidden Gem" to their VOD section today, featuring the first-ever Georgia Championship Wrestling footage on the Network: BRISCO'S LAST GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY APRIL 07, 1984 In what would be his last attempt at glory, Jack Brisco takes to the ring to challenge Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Originally Posted by PWI Based on statements that he has made in interviews earlier this year, Eli Drake's Impact Wrestling contract is slated to expire this weekend. In checking with sources, we are told that the two sides have been discussing a new deal and that an offer is on the table for Drake. We have not confirmed that he has agreed to terms. Drake, 35, first broke into the business on the West Coast independent scene. After appearing in Dwayne Johnson's TNT reality series Hero, he was signed to a WWE developmental deal. After being released, he came to Impact in 2015.

Originally Posted by PWI Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that Deonna Purrazzo has signed with WWE for the NXT brand. PWInsider.com has independently confirmed that signing is taking place. We are told that she was signed to a deal to Ring of Honor, but the deal allowed Purrazzo to opt out after six months. She decided to take that option in order to sign with WWE and will be starting there this summer. Purrazzo, 23, has worked in Japan for STARDOM as well as making appearances in the past for WWE and Impact Wrestling, among other companies. She's long been on the WWE radar and really, it was just a matter of time before she landed there.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling At first, they focused on the Royal Rumble match from January 26th in Phoenix, where Punk worked over 49 minutes of the match after entering the match first. During the match, Punk took a hard clothesline from Kofi Kingston, which he described on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast in 2014, which led to the suit being filed. Dr. Amann consulted with Punk after learning he had been rocked and claimed to have instructed Punk to eliminate himself from the match, which Punk refused. Amann added that producer Michael Hayes later instructed Punk to eliminate himself before Kane was sent out to eliminate him. Punk was said to be agitated towards Amann backstage after the match .. They described an elbow injury from Dec. 2013, and a shoulder injury in Jan. 2014. Amann acknowledged prescribing antibiotics, including Z Paks to performers, including Punk, which he later said was for sinusitis. In the afternoon portion, Amann was asked about the emotional damage the podcast caused him, stating that there have been negative tweets directed at him and derogatory chants aimed at him. Amann stated that he hasn’t suffered any damages from the WWE over the interview and that the opinion of the wrestlers has not been altered. When Amann stated he couldn’t denounce the claims Punk made was due to HIPAA, the defense cited a text message exchange between Amann and Chris Jericho where Amann stated that Punk’s health was nothing like had described in the interview.

Some details from Day 3 of CM Punk's libel lawsuit. Other highlights during the trial included WWE's doctor claiming he never gave Punk Z-Packs and later admitting he doesn't write down all his presciptions he hands out, instances of him acting unprofessionally towards others who seeked his medical help or advice, and some disrecenies regarding the size of the cyst Punk claimed he had. http://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone...-morning-notes , https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/0...amation-trial/

Originally Posted by Observer Sources with full knowledge of the negotiations confirmed the expected, that Smackdown will be live, airing from 8-10 p.m. on Friday nights, meaning a likely change of that crew’s road schedule. It rarely figured into things, but in the past there have been those who had teenage sons who played high school football who had asked to be on the Smackdown crew because they didn’t work on Friday nights. Another aspect of the first night of the tour, rather than the last, being a TV taping with an early on-call time, it means that most Smackdown talent would have to use Thursday as a travel day to make sure to get to the building by early Friday, as opposed to Friday night if it was a house show. So that would mean a schedule of leaving Thursday and getting home on Tuesday. It would be more convenient to do a Thursday through Sunday schedule because talent wouldn’t have to be there until Thursday night, and they’d already be on the road for early Friday, and then could fly home Monday. It would also avoid the Smackdown Monday night house show that is hard to draw since it goes against Raw. These type of decisions don’t have to be made for a long time. NBC Universal was stunned at losing Smackdown, never believing the bidding for the “B” show would reach $200 million, a level the show got because of the multiple suitors. As noted last week, because of their own ratings situation, USA simply could not afford to lose Raw and used their contractual right to match any existing offer to keep the show, which FOX had hoped to put on its main network on Monday nights. They declined to do the same for Smackdown when the bidding came into the $200 million range.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE stock closed at press time at $58.96 per share giving the company a $4.549 billion market value. The latest increase was fueled by an analysis from Brandon Ross where he targeted the value of the stock’s future at $75 per share based on the new NBC Universal and FOX deals. That $75 per share figure would be 13.5 times what he believes EBITDA for the company will be in 2020. He feels other analysts aren’t seeing that the new television contract in India (the current deal expires at the end of 2019) will also have a huge increase. He noted that the value for content in India has skyrocketed since the last contract WWE signed. He also believes WWE can sell a digital rights package for $25 million by that time. With those numbers he expects revenue to increase by $283 million in 2020 over current levels, which would be in the $1.1 billion per year range. Most of that new $283 million would be profit, since they are already spending the money to tape those shows.

Originally Posted by Observer As of right now, the plan for Lesnar’s next Universal title match is SummerSlam, on 8/19 in Brooklyn. We’re told that Lesnar is tentatively headlining that show but that is not locked in stone. For Lesnar-watch, the key is whether he applies to be put back in the USADA testing pool for UFC by 6/30. If he does not, then he’s staying with WWE. If he does, there is a better chance he would be leaving and starting back in UFC on the New Year’s weekend show. Of course, with both companies cash rich, his timing of being about to be a free agent once again, while still holding the title, and the ability to play one side off the other is the best it has ever been.

Originally Posted by Observer President Masayuki Uchida said he would be forming a business alliance with Simon Inoki, who is now running the Toho Eiyuden promotion, also known as the Oriental Heroes promotion, based out of Shanghai. The aim is for both promotions to help develop pro wrestling in China, including finding and training new talent. The Chinese talent would be brought to train with NOAH talent and the two promotions would work together on several shows this year. The first joint show will be 6/26 at Korakuen Hall, and the NOAH wrestlers will be working 8/8 and 8/9 in Shanghai. Everyone is trying to be the first to crack the Chinese market, but at the end of the day, it’ll be WWE, just like in MMA, in the long run, it’ll be UFC

Originally Posted by Oserver The top ten most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. NXT on 5/23; 2. Table for 3 with Edge, Christian and the Hardys; 3. This Week in WWE (which usually doesn’t make the top 15); 4. Something Else to Wrestle With; 5. Backlash; 6. 205 Live from 5/22; 7. Greatest Royal Rumble; 8. Camp WWE Episode 3; 9. WrestleMania 2018; 10. NXT on 5/16

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to a report from 411Mania, Enzo recently publicly thanked his fans who have been "stalking" his alleged accuser. https://411mania.com/wrestling/enzo-...lking-accuser/
• Enzo is also rumored to be considering filing a lawsuit against TMZ and his alleged accuser with TMZ as a target due to him likely feeling they were the cause for his firing from the WWE.
• Apparently one of the key WWE executives who helped put together WWE's deal with the Saudi government has a wife who is a noted online bigot according to a recent report from the Huffington Post. Making things interested is WWE supposedly was fully aware of this executive's wife's online past and did not want any of it becoming public during their talks with the Saudi government. WWE has been denying claims of them being aware but did admit this executive no longer works for the company. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...02d69cf0264?7z
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 3rd anniversary of WWE Elimination Chamber 2015 PPV which is notable for being the 1st PPV aired live exclusively on the WWE Network.
• According to The Hollywood Reporter via Post Wrestling, a major reason why FOX went after WWE instead of keeping UFC was due to their feeling of WWE being easier to market due to its PG-friendly nature and UFC being too expensive to retain and market in a new deal.