[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Rusev Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw last night did the all-time record modern low audience with 2.46 million viewers ... The least-watched modern era episode was on September 26, 2016, which also did 2.46 million viewers against both the first Trump-Clinton Presidential debate and the NFL. Last year on the same week Raw did 3.01 million viewers, so this is an 18 percent annual drop. The show started out weak and fell throughout, meaning whatever they were hyping did not keep the audience ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.58 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.51 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.32 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer The Sports Business Journal's John Ourand provided inside details on the recently completed WWE and UFC TV deals that saw the companies lock in more than $4 billion in rights fees over the next five years. Here's some of the key details from the article (subscription needed): - Due to what they believed could be a $400 million/year investment, Fox executives had resigned themselves to three options with the UFC: $200 million for less content, a split package with another network, or a complete exit. - The reason Ari Emanuel of Endeavor was removed from the WWE TV rights negotations, despite being asked by Vince McMahon to head them up, was due to Fox Sports' Eric Shanks telling McMahon it was a conflict of interest to have Emanuel negotiate both deals. CAA, a rival firm, was hired instead, which irked Emanuel. - WWE leadership met with ESPN four times from December 2017 through the spring of 2018, but giving 52 weeks to a product wasn't viable, nor was putting WWE content on ESPN+ due to the WWE Network. - CAA presented NBCUniversal with a $265 million/year offer for Raw and $200 million/year for SmackDown. After the exclusive negotiation window passed and NBCU chose to retain Raw but let SmackDown go, Fox and WWE had essentially negotiated the SmackDown deal the next day. - Turner Sports showed interest in both WWE and UFC, but due to their ongoing litigation with the Department of Justice over their prospective $84 billion merger with AT&T, they weren't a real player in either.

The irony of WWE going on a Turner channel would have been something special had the deal been made. Link with more details: https://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/d...ogether-261306

Originally Posted by Observer As noted from the story earlier today, the Jim Ross/Josh Barnett stuff with Jay White and Juice Robinson was not a work. Ross suffered a rib injury. Barnett just reacted to what was happening. Ross was upset, besides being injured, because the night before he had spoken to officials about fighting outside the ring and near the announcers desk.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc We previously reported Jim Ross was suffering from a possible broken rib after taking an unplanned bump at NJPW's G1 Special In San Francisco. Jay White heaved Juice Robinson through the guardrail outside the ring during their IWGP United States Championship match. The barricade was not properly latched together causing a chain reaction and Ross ended up being knocked from his chair. F4WOnline reports Ross has been diagnosed with issues involving his ribs and lungs after the unscheduled spot. Ross must now cancel three commitments this week due to this injury. The WWE Hall Of Famer is not happy about this spot and he assured fans this is not a work of any kind. Due to problems with his ribs and lungs, JR has also been advised by his doctors to be cautious of contracting phenomena. Ross reportedly spoke to NJPW officials before the show to make sure nobody did any spots around the announce table because he knew how much action could take place outside the ring.

Originally Posted by Observer Ronda Rousey on Instagram said she cried happy tears like a baby at the end of the show in her debut in Madison Square Garden: "There are no words.... thank you New York and MSG for a night I’ll never forget. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry like a baby at the end of last night... happy tears, but what a whirlwind past few days have been.... I’m humbled, grateful, and far from finished"

Originally Posted by Observer Indies Roundup: Cody & Brandi Rhodes were announced for the World Series Wrestling Elite tour of Australia in November. ROH will be returning to the UMBC Center in Baltimore for a show on 10/13. That was the site of last week's PPV show, which did one of the largest crowds in company history. Defy Wrestling on Friday night at Washington Hall in Seattle has John Morrison vs. Randy Myers, Shane Strickland & Artemis Spencer & Billy Suede vs. MJF & The Amerikan Gunz, plus Colt Cabana vs. Carl Randers, Taya Valkyrie vs. Nicole Matthews and the debut of Ricky Starks and Luchasaurus. You must be 21 or older to attend. Progress announced Jimmy Havoc vs. TK Cooper for 8/12 in Livonia, MI. The ITV World of Sport wresting show will debut on 7/28 at 5 p.m., or one week later than had it originally been talked about. Viper (Piper Niven in WWE’s first Mae Young Classic) will make her Women of Honor debut at ROH’s Honor Re-United show in Edinburgh on August 16. She’ll be wrestling in her home country of Scotland. NJPW’s G1 Special at the Cow Palace, a bit of fallout from the show, and Chris Jericho putting Marty Scurll on his List are featured on this week’s episode of Being the Elite.

Viper/Pipen: https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/vi...ited-edinburgh , Elite: https://youtu.be/TZ2bxuTtkHw

Originally Posted by Observer The storyline of Flip Gordon trying to get booked for All In will continue at Ring of Honor's show in Nashville, Tennessee later this month. At the end of a video that was uploaded by the NWA today, it was revealed that NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis' next title defense will be against Gordon at "Honor for All" on July 20. The show is taking place at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville and will air live on HonorClub. The storyline is that Cody Rhodes won't book Gordon for All In, and Gordon has fallen short in every opportunity he's been given to be added to the show. But whoever is NWA Champion on September 1 will defend the title against Cody at All in.

Link: https://youtu.be/0KrfgsCBP_M

Originally Posted by Observer While not confirming the exact injury that he suffered, New Japan Pro Wrestling provided a few additional details on Hiromu Takahashi's condition in an update overnight. NJPW officially announced that Takahashi has been hospitalized after suffering a neck injury during his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense against Dragon Lee at the Cow Palace on Saturday night. They noted that Takahashi is currently undergoing a thorough evaluation but is conscious and is able to sit and talk. Dave Meltzer reported yesterday that the original belief was that Takahashi had broken his neck on the Phoenix Plex spot that went wrong when he landed on his head/neck after being given the move by Lee. The match continued for a couple of minutes after that, with Takahashi retaining with the Time Bomb.

Link: https://www.njpw1972.com/31162

Originally Posted by Observer Fans were heckling Taelor Hendrix on her Friday night booking in San Antonio chanting "Jay Lethal," "ROH" and things a lot worse at her. She lashed back at them. Hendrix claimed she stopped being booked on ROH TV in 2017 when she refused to sleep with Jay Lethal. ROH, as noted yesterday, said it was Hendrix who quit the promotion and was still being booked when she quit. Lethal also responded saying there was nothing to the story and then asked not to use his words to attack himself or his accuser. "There is already too much hate going around in this world, so let's not add to it." He said he was confident the accusations will be proven to be completely unfounded and noted ROH is doing an investigation. Here's the deal, whatever you want to believe, please don't heckle either person involved regarding this situation. It's just hurts it for the fans who want to be entertained.

Originally Posted by Observer Tessa Blanchard has officially signed with Impact Wrestling. Impact announced the news via Twitter this afternoon: "BREAKING: @Tess_Blanchard will continue to prove she's undeniable in the Knockouts Division as she has signed a long-term contract with IMPACT Wrestling." Aside from it being a "long-term" deal, the exact length of the contract wasn't disclosed. Blanchard debuted for Impact at their Redemption pay-per-view this past April and has been feuding with Madison Rayne since. On the most recent episode of Impact, she tried to interfere during Rayne & Allie vs. Knockouts Champion Su Yung & Yung's Undead Maid of Honor but was fought off by Allie.

Link: https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/...43868044279809

Originally Posted by PWI WWE filed a copyright on the term "Top Rope" for goods and services, specifically "Clothing, namely, tops, shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, hoodies; outerwear, namely, coats; bottoms, pants, shorts, underwear, dresses, pajamas, lingerie, clothing ties, scarves, gloves, swimwear; Halloween and masquerade costumes; footwear, namely, shoes, sneakers, slippers, flip flops, boots; headwear, namely, hats, caps; wrist bands; bandanas."

Originally Posted by PWI WWE and 2K each filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit brought against them by tattoo artist Catherine Alexander in the United States District Court of Southern District of Illinois yesterday. Anderson sued each party back in April, alleging that they are infringing on her copyright for tattoo designs that she has imprinted on Randy Orton, having been his tattoo artist since 2003. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., 2K Games, Inc., 2K Sports, Inc., Visual Concepts Entertainment, Yuke’s Co., Ltd. and Yuke’s LA Inc. have also been named defendants in Alexander's lawsuit ... In the response filed on 7/9, they 2K argued the lawsuit should be dismissed for several reasons, including that Alexander has not obtained copyright registrations on any of the designs that she has claimed to own. 2K noted that "Statutory damages and attorney’s fees are only available where the works were registered before the infringement occurred or within three months of their publication. Accordingly, statutory damages and attorney’s fees are unavailable to Plaintiff as a matter of law," basically stating that since Alexander had not filed copyrights on the designs within the allowed timeframe, she cannot retroactively claim damages. Since Alexander states in her lawsuit that she does not own those copyrights, the lawsuit must be dismissed for not meeting the standard of the law ... Meanwhile, WWE's filing yesterday claimed that the lawsuit against them should be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, providing a 22-page memorandum to the court that claimed Alexander has failed to prove that the court in Illinois has any jurisdiction over WWE, given they are incorporated in Delaware and are headquartered in Connecticut. WWE also argued that Alexander would have to demonstrate "specific activities that WWE has supposedly undertaken in Illinois with respect to the claims at issue" to the court in order for WWE to fall under Illinois jurisdiction and has not done that. WWE stated while they have purchased "limited quantities" of the WWE 2K videogames to sell on their website, that "cannot establish specific jurisdiction over WWE."

Link with more details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...issed.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI Vernice Gabriel, a female star in the Phillipines, has been booked for the Mae Young Classic, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The second annual women's tournament will be taped on 8/9 and 8/10 at Full Sail University in Florida.

Originally Posted by PWI Major League Wrestling's Court Bauer announced that Major League Wrestling will bring Wargames, the two ring steel cage match, to their 9/6 return to Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Changed my mind. Fury Road isn’t coming to Fort Lauderdale September 6th. Instead, @MLW will be doing #WARGAMES. Tickets on sale July 23rd 10am at https://t.co/Keo5it98oQ & https://t.co/AFJrIR1xX0 See you in September… — Court Bauer (@courtbauer) July 10, 2018 The show will presumably take place at the War Memorial Auditorium. MLW had an excellent event featuring a Wargames match there back in September 2003 in Fort Lauderdale, featuring The Funkin' Army (Terry Funk, Sabu, Steve Williams, Terry Funk, The Sandman & Bill Alfonso) defeating The Extreme Horsemen (Steve Corino, Barry Windham, CW Anderson, Justin Credible & Simon Diamond.)

Link: https://twitter.com/courtbauer/statu...96414120177664

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura returned to the ring on Monday’s house show in Augusta, Maine following the dog bite he sustained last month. Nakamura worked against AJ Styles in the main event of the show with Styles retaining the WWE title. Nikki Cross also worked the house show Monday as she teamed with Becky Lynch and defeated Billie Kay and Peyton Royce.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc AJ Styles spent a majority of his career traveling the world and raising the value of his name before coming to WWE. His surprise appearance in the 2016 Royal Rumble as the #3 entry was met with plenty of fan excitement. Styles picked up the WWE United States Title twice since his debut and held the WWE Championship on two occasions which he still has to this day. Styles is currently sitting at 385 combined days as WWE Champion. Shawn Michaels held the title for 396 days. Therefore, if Styles can defeat Rusev at Extreme Rules, he will soon pass HBK's position of 13th longest-combined reign as WWE Champion. If AJ Styles is able to top HBK's record of combined reigns, his next target would be CM Punk who is in the #12 entry with 463 days. Styles still has a long way to go before he is close to touching Bruno Sammartino's top record of 4,040 days though with Hulk Hogan coming in second with 2,185.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Impact Wrestling's partnership with RISE Wrestling seems to be taking a hiatus soon due to RISE dealing with serious money issues at the moment. Current plans are for RISE to resume running events this October.
• According to reports, Goldust recently underwent knee surgery to fix some lingering pain and injuries he has been dealing with for a while.
• Recent episode of WWE Network's Table For 3 series featured Trish Stratus, Lita, and Alexa Bliss as the guests.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kevin Nash celebrated his 59th birthday yesterday.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Brock Lesnar Re-Enters USADA Testing Pool, Eligible to Fight in January
• Ronda Rousey Will Be a Pre-Order Bonus Wrestler in WWE 2K19
• WWE: Alicia Fox Returns, No WWE2K on Nintendo, Kurt Angle Documentary
• Lesnar Challenges Cormier at UFC 226 (Video) + When They May Fight