[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Coming off the well-received and apparently commercially successful Double or Nothing pay-per-view, last night's AEW Dynamite on TNT averaged 827,000 viewers, up 18 percent from last week. That's the highest viewership total for the show since March 18, which was the first week of closed set episodes. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite finished fourth on cable with a 0.32 rating, up 23.1 percent from last week. That was AEW's best number in that category since March 25, and the fourth place finish was the highest for AEW since before the coronavirus pandemic began, with news shows now starting to get back to normal viewership after a couple months of dominating the ratings. On the USA Network, NXT was also up significantly. Last night's NXT averaged 731,000 viewers, up 23.5 percent from last week. That's the biggest audience for the show in over three months. In 18-49, NXT was up 46.2 percent, averaging a 0.19 rating, tying the show's highest mark in the demo since March 25. NXT finished 24th on cable in that category after being outside the top 50 in most recent weeks. The combined audience of 1.558 million viewers for Dynamite and NXT was the highest since March 4, two weeks before the start of closed set shows. The postponement of the NASCAR event that was scheduled to air opposite both shows on FOX likely contributed to the rise in viewership, along with decreased viewing of the news networks as things slowly start to get back to normal.

Originally Posted by Observer The annual Champion Carnival tournament may still happen this year. All Japan Pro Wrestling announced in a press conference this morning that they plan on running their annual Champion Carnival tournament in September. The tournament, which was originally supposed to run on April 6 through May 5, was canceled just days before the start of the tour. AJPW President Takeki Fukada hoped in a press conference announcing the cancelation that he hoped to run the tournament later this year ... The news comes as Japan has lifted its state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, most notably in Tokyo. Most promotions will be able to hold events with no fans in attendance starting on June 19.

Originally Posted by Observer With the season now over, Vice TV is touting the ratings success of Dark Side of the Ring season two. Dark Side of the Ring is the highest rated series in Vice TV history, and last week's season two finale on Owen Hart is also the highest rated show in the history of the station. Variety wrote today that season two averaged 485,000 total viewers and 288,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo through May 19 in Nielsen live-plus-three data, which includes the same-day ratings and three days of DVR and on-demand viewing. That total viewers number is up 52 percent from season one, while the 18-49 number is up 73 percent from the first season. In the live-plus-three data, the Owen Hart documentary drew 626,000 viewers and did 390,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo. “We are absolutely ecstatic with the success of Dark Side of the Ring,” Vice TV executive vice president and general manager Morgan Hertzan said. "Audiences respond to our courageous compelling storytelling, and this series has proven to be heavyweight in the television landscape. I am very proud to partner with the incredible creatives at Vice Studios, and tag team executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener who have so skillfully crafted this show. It is in every way the no holds barred type of programming that you can expect to see on Vice TV. Looking forward to the next KO!”

Originally Posted by PWI Bray Wyatt tweeted the following: Hyrie Von Rotunda pic.twitter.com/1pzQ2j4P1o — Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) May 28, 2020 Hyrie is the second child for Bray and WWE ring announcer Jojo Offerman. The family had chosen to keep the pregnancy private, but for those who had asked, this is why Offerman had not returned to her on-air duties for WWE.

Link: https://twitter.com/WWEBrayWyatt/sta...44794855825410

Originally Posted by PWI Playing off of the hype for Edge and Randy Orton at Backlash being the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever", WWE Shop has a new line of "Greatest Match" graphic tees showcasing legendary matchups throughout history.

Link: https://shop.wwe.com/great-matches-t-shirts/ Out of all the shirts available, only one I'd disagree with is last year's Mania Women's Triple Threat match since it wasn't that good although not entirely the wrestlers fault.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former ROH World Champion PCO joined the Ringsiders Wrestling podcast and revealed that Ring of Honor was planning on running the Montreal Bell Centre in Quebec which holds 20,000 people. “Yeah, it’s funny that you mentioned that because the plan — the first match where I was supposed to go against Nick Aldis for the NWA World Title in Montreal, in Canada. But, something happened — Ring of Honor didn’t want it to happen — kinda didn’t want it to happen or it didn’t happen or I don’t know. We lost our relationship at one point with NWA, and when Marty [Scurll] signed and then Marty’s a good friend of Nick… That would be awesome to get a title match with Nick. Also, when I was the champ, I had done so many talk shows back home where Ring of Honor was not known that much, and we were about to sell out like 20,000 tickets. For me, it was gonna be the next ALL IN. It was gonna be title [defenses], Montreal Bell Centre in a sold-out arena and anyways, stars weren’t aligned like that but maybe it could happen with the NWA Title. Maybe it’s gonna happen — it might happen in Atlanta first, Georgia. It might happen. I don’t know.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis did an Instagram Live interview with Chris Jericho and Jericho revealed that the Stadium Stampede match at AEW’s Double Or Nothing pay-per-view took 12 hours to film.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Two weeks ago, Jim Cornette took to his podcast and made negative comments about Becky Lynch announcing that she and Seth Rollins are expecting a child and she’ll be taking time away from wrestling to be a mother. Cornette expressed that he felt it was the wrong time because of where Becky Lynch is career-wise. Seth Rollins would react to Cornette’s comments on WWE’s After The Bell podcast and said that he was hurt by Cornette’s words and felt disrespected that Cornette would speak of his fiancée like that. On a recent edition of Jim Cornette’s podcast, he spoke about Seth Rollins’ appearance on After The Bell and here’s what Cornette had to say: “Honestly, I feel bad that I hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings. I seriously, legitimately — this is not part of a bit. I feel bad that I hurt his feelings. I wouldn’t have felt bad if I would’ve made him mad, because people in the wrestling business get mad all the time, right? And I figured he might get mad because when I was criticizing the timing of the incident, he had a hand in the timing so I thought he might be a little mad about that, and you know, people get mad all the time. Blah, blah, blah. But when he said I actually hurt his feelings, that made me feel bad because I did not believe that I said anything that should’ve hurt Seth Rollins’ feelings, and the bone of contention where I hurt his feelings was that I said bad things about his wife and obviously that would tend to hurt one’s feelings but, and I want you to help me here Mr. Don’t Agree With Me Either [Brian Last], let’s go back and did I say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a talent or as a person? I said she was the biggest female wrestling star in the world and maybe the biggest in the world because there ain’t a lot of big male stars these days. That’s not bad. I said she was a female Stone Cold that put her f*cking — she was a huge box office draw and the most important member of the women’s division. I never said anything about her looks. I think she’s a very attractive young lady. I did paint a less than rosy picture about the physical effects of pregnancy but I have heard these things and never having been pregnant myself, from all the pregnant women I’ve ever heard talk about being pregnant have said these things happen. Did I quote any side effects of pregnancy that do not exist? I do not believe I did. But I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch as a person. I put her over as a talent and I was talking about the astonishing timing of the situation, and I don’t know whether that Seth had heard the actual show or whether he just read the text of it that everybody was clipping and putting on their little play websites where they play wrestling reporter, which was a little harsher than the overall tone of the piece. But I didn’t say that and I’ve actually in the past said Seth Rollins is an amazing worker and one of the best in-ring talents and looks like a superstar and I’ve taken issue with how they present him. They’ve managed to make him boring with his Monday Night Messiah thing. But the overall bigger picture was, I didn’t say anything bad about Becky Lynch besides the fact that she had gone and got pregnant at a time when she has attained a spot that few have ever attained and that all aspire to in the business and is making a sh*t ton of money. So that’s the worst thing I said about Becky Lynch. Did I miss anything Brian?”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Enes Kanter appeared on The No-Sports Report Podcast with Jensen Karp and during their conversation, Kanter revealed that he was told not to watch All Elite Wrestling if he wanted to get into WWE. “I watched a little of AEW, but like they said, ‘Hey, if you ever want to get on WWE, do not mess with it.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, sure. I’m not! (laughs)”

WWE threatening to pull a contract offer simply over someone's wrestling viewing habits is like next level pettiness by WWE. Also fear of AEW that WWE never really had with TNA/Impact outside of the brief Monday Night Wars Part Deux.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated chatted with former 8-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. When Tanahashi was asked about wrestling continuing on during the COVID-19 pandemic, he stated that it is a “black eye” on the business that might remain even after the pandemic is over. “There isn’t a governing body for Japanese pro wrestling. As such, we can’t necessarily enforce cancellations. That’s been the responsibility of each company. But to run events in the middle of a pandemic presents the wrong image of professional wrestling to society and would deal a black eye to the industry that might still remain even after the pandemic ends. I thought it was important for us to come together, understand exactly what’s happening and do what’s right, even if that means returning to action after other pro sports.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling BallerStatus.com spoke with R-Truth about Truth’s career in music and pro wrestling. Truth shared that Roman Reigns has been an Executive Producer of his music and has been helping him with funding. “Actually man, me and Roman, we were riding together a lot. He would dictate and critique all my music and he was actually one of my Executive Producers helping me fund a lot of stuff so it’s like, he has his hands in with my music.”

Originally Posted by Fightful On May 25, ROH announced the re-signing of Flip Gordon. Gordon has become one of the top names in ROH over the past couple of years, aligning himself alongside Marty Scurll, Brody King, and PCO in Villain Enterprises. Gordon is the current number one contender to the ROH World Title and was scheduled to receive his title shot at Supercard of Honor as part of WrestleMania week. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Gordon discussed his decision to remain with ROH. "There was interest from AEW and WWE, a few others as well, but Ring of Honor offered me the best deal. I also believed that's where I wanted to be because I still have a lot of time to grow. I've only been doing this for five years and I have a lot of goals in Ring of Honor, so why would I want to leave?" Gordon went on to call the deal "life-changing" and note that he is looking forward to getting back in the ring whenever ROH runs shows again. He said his ultimate goal is the ROH World Title.

Originally Posted by Fightful Prior to the coronavirus pandemic affecting the wrestling world, AEW had planned to run live events. In an interview on Wrestling Observer Live, Jim Ross was asked about whether or not AEW needs live events to help develop some of the younger talent on AEW's roster. Ross agrees that touring would help some of the wrestlers improve as he doesn't think working one night of the week on Dynamite is enough to get better. “Absolutely and I think that’s the plan. There were some live events penciled into the schedule until the virus. You can’t get better working one night of the week. It doesn’t matter who you are. There are some minor exceptions. Chris Jericho doesn’t need to work three or four days of the week to be grateful. He can be great working on Wednesday nights. But a lot of guys need to continue to work under the supervision of the coaches in AEW to continue to learn the fundamentals, primarily slowing down, using psychology and selling. [Just] because you’ve been in the business for 10 years doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a 10-year veteran. It could mean you’ve had the same experience 10 times. Getting house shows is important for development talent and for revenue going forward, but who the hell knows when is that going to be? It won’t be any time soon apparently,” Ross said.

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