[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The soon to be former Evil Emma whenever WWE actually gets around to debuting Emmalina ... probably in 2018 or so with the way things are going:

Originally Posted by Observer The loaded up Raw go-home show last night with the easiest competition since August did 3.29 million viewers, up slightly from the 3.26 million last week going against a marquee NBA game. While next week's show should be way up, probably doing one of the best numbers of 2017 for the day after the Rumble, this does look to be the level, or perhaps a little above the level, the show will be doing the next few months ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.31 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.46 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.11 million viewers

Observer thinks this is likely the max range for RAW for this year's Road to Mania since the go-home and post-Rumble RAWs are usually the highest for the season till Mania's go-home show.

Originally Posted by Observer Linda McMahon had her confirmation hearing today in Washington D.C. with members of the Senate's Small Business Committee as part of her ongoing process to become the head of Donald Trump's Small Business Administration. For those wanting McMahon to be questioned about WWE's business practices, that didn't happen. The entire hearing was cordial with most of the questions focusing on how McMahon would work with them in her role. Recently elected Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois was the only one to bring up how WWE classifies its employees, noting that she talked about the issue with Linda previously. Duckworth didn't pose any questions on the subject during the hearing, but posted on her Facebook account that she has concerns about WWE's labor practices under Linda that she hopes will be addressed as the confirmation process goes forward. Duckworth also wrote that she encourages McMahon to take a different approach at the SBA. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were there to support Linda at the hearing. Both were mentioned multiple times, including in awkward comments by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

Originally Posted by Observer Kurt Angle told TMZ that he won't be in the Royal Rumble, saying that he hasn't talked to WWE about anything other than the Hall of Fame.

Link to the video: http://www.tmz.com/2017/01/24/kurt-a...l-rumble-2017/

Originally Posted by Observer Jim Ross posted an apology to anyone who was affected by his remarks about how WWE handled the death of Jimmy Snuka. Ross had said that he had no issues with WWE's tribute to Snuka and called trying to posthumously prove Snuka's potential involvement in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino an "Oliver Stone quest." His remarks were covered in Sunday's edition of the Daily Update.

Link to the blog post: http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/51041

Originally Posted by Observer Netflix has acquired the rights to "Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press." The documentary looks at the implication of Hogan's legal battle with Gawker.

Link to an article about it: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...y-speak-967731

Originally Posted by Observer Will Ospreay will face the former Pentagon Jr. for XWAUK on March 12th in London.

Originally Posted by Observer After the addition of Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson to the Royal Rumble kickoff show was announced earlier in the night, another match was added to Sunday's pre-show on tonight's episode of Raw. Sasha Banks will face Nia Jax on the show as the Raw women's division gets another match at the Alamodome.

For those that missed the announcement or are unaware, the pre-show this year for the Rumble is going to be 2 hours long.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE did allow Trent Seven and Pete Dunne's matches from Saturday's Revolution Pro show to appear on the RevPro streaming service. So even though it is unlikely RevPro will be on the WWE Network, at this point they appear to be on good terms with WWE. Regarding the talk on the show last night, two interesting notes. It was Trent Seven, not Tyler Bate who was pulled from the next Saturday podcast taped in London along with Dunne and Seven. But Dunne being in San Antonio for the Rumble would be in question since he was advertised for the main event against Jimmy Havoc for Progress Wrestling in London for a sold out show at the Electric Ballroom.

Originally Posted by Observer More WWE contracted wrestlers in the UK have had a change in their schedules, with German promotion wXw the most recent to be affected by talent being pulled from appearances. wXw announced in a press release on Monday that Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, and Trent Seven are off of their show in London on January 28th. That's the same day that Dunne, Seven, and Mark Andrews were scheduled to appear on a live episode of the "Working a Resthold" podcast before WWE contractual obligations left them unable to participate.

PROGRESS is likely next to announce wrestlers getting pulled from their next card due to WWE's deal with British talent.

Originally Posted by Observer While everyone was focused on the happenings in the U.K. in recent weeks, some equally major moves were taking place in Mexico as Pentagon Jr., Daga and Garza Jr. all showed up at The Crash promotion show in Tijuana, a Konnan-booked company which indicated them leaving AAA. Pentagon Jr. posted about leaving AAA on Facebook. This comes just days before AAA was scheduled for a major press conference, believed to be announcing this year's TripleMania event. All three showed up wearing Perros de Mal gear, and while that is AAA's most popular stable, AAA, which has gone on a trademark spree of late, can't trademark that term which was started by the late Perro Aguayo Jr., along with Damian and Halloween years ago, long before Konnan recruited the group into AAA. Right now the status of Perros Del Mal, a valuable merchandise name, is uncertain. Pentagon Jr. will no longer be allowed to use that name, but will instead be called Penta El Cero Miedo. AAA owns the name Pentagon Jr. Lucha Underground owns the name Pentagon Dark.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE issued a press release today announcing they would report their fourth quarter earnings and complete earnings for 2016 on 2/9.

Originally Posted by PWI Bill Goldberg responded to busting himself open on Raw last night, writing the following on Instagram: Going out a limb .... but I'm putting the pre match headbutt on the shelf for now... kinda made me a bit loopy out there. #learnfromurmistakes #whosnext #every1isnext #royalrumble @wwe

Pretty much implies rumors of him having a small concussion were true.

Originally Posted by PWI It appears WWE's plans to unveil the latest WWE Hall of Fame statue over Wrestlemania week this April at AXXESS has been revealed. Model Sean Perry posted on his Facebook page that he posed as the body model for a Flair statue that will showcase Flair in the prime of his career. The studio Perry is referring to is ATTA Inc., studios in NYC, which has been involved in the design and construction of the statues over the last several years. Flair signed a new full-time deal with WWE late last year but has only been used sparingly since coming to terms. He is the only two-time WWE Hall of Famer as he was inducted in 2008 alone and then again in 2012 s a member of the Four Horsemen. WWE has unveiled statues of Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes and The Ultimate Warrior in recent years. In 2015, plans for a Hulk Hogan statue (and a DVD release that was to be built around the reveal of the statue at Wrestlemania 31 weekend) were canceled when he was let go from the company.

Link to the Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/sean.perry....54540411417730


Some other sheet news includes:

• John Cena revealed he will be this year's host for Nickleodeon's Kids Choice Awards show.
• Roman Reigns was this week's guest for ESPN's weekly wrestling segment. http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18544117
• Japanese wrestling promotion DDT recently joined the wrestling network market with their network to be called DDT Universe, launched last Sunday, and the first month free for new members. http://www.f4wonline.com/japan/ddt-u...service-228871
• During a recent interview with Sky Sports, Bray Wyatt revealed his dream opponent for a Mania match would be Daniel Bryan out of anyone past or present from the WWE. http://www.skysports.com/wwe/news/14...tlemania-match
• Last year's animated film "Mona" with The Rock as one of its voice actors was revealed to have been nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Animated Film & Best Song).