[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

WWE started using NXT wrestlers as fans on the 5/25 tapings. It made for a far improved atmosphere at the shows. The delay in doing so after AEW’s atmosphere had been noted universally as being superior likely came because the company didn’t want to come across as copying AEW. This is the same reason why it took them weeks to move the position of the hard camera to facing the entrance ramp instead of to the side facing empty stands. They had to stand up and cheer for just under seven hours of television, a Raw and a Smackdown, as well as Main Event and 205 Live. We were told the actual process of all the taping lasted for about 12 hours on 5/25 and a similar length on 5/26. A number of talents noted losing their voices on the first day from making so much noise for so long, not to mention the obvious exhaustion from such a process. Talent was allowed to sit down between matches and it kind of makes no sense why chairs weren’t provided given how much time was being spent taping. At ringside they had plexiglass walls which may become the new norm going forward with the idea of keeping fans from touching wrestlers ... Although it was hinted on the air that they were testing all talent for COVID-19, there was no testing done at all again at the tapings this past week past temperature readings and asking people if they didn’t feel well. I know of people in the company who were shocked given UFC finding multiple people who passed the temperature checks but later tested positive and that AEW had already done multiple tapings where everyone was tested.

Most of the key details had already emerged regarding the backstory of the death of Owen Hart, between Dr. Martha Hart’s 2002 Book “Broken Hearts” and her recent media appearances including Dark Side of the Ring and a 90 minute interview with me on our web site. But David Bixenspan and Fanbyte.com went through a number of new details and also emphasized what had already been reported when going through a detailed Kansas City Police Department investigation report on Hart’s death. The gist of the report from the death scene itself was as follows: Upon arrival (police) contact was made with Jim Vinzant, who is a "Rigger" with Local #31 of the Teamsters, who stated he is responsible for the "rigging" of the cables for shows at Kansas City, Missouri, owned facilities ... He stated that Bobby Talbert (spelled Tolbert in the report) and the victim were also present when the rigging was assembled. He stated that he and James Williams assembled the "span sets and bridals" in the ceiling, however had no affiliation with the actual harness that the victim was wearing. He stated that the harness was a product of the World Wrestling Federation ... Jim Vinzant stated that he did not think that the victim seemed very experienced with the stunt and that he (Jim Vinzant) would not have had the victim perform the stunt with the harness system that was used because it had minimal safety. He stated that he left the Arena at 1500 hours, and returned at 1700 hours ... Joe Branam was the rigger for the first stunt. He was contacted for the job a second time but WWF turned him down because he had asked for more money. The WWF then contacted Bobby Talbert. Branam then had his wife contact WWF to say he would agree to do it for whatever they wanted to pay him. WWF did not get back to him. Branam had turned down doing stunts previously WWF wanted him to rig because he felt they were dangerous. The key is the quick release Snap Shackle made by Lewmar had no back up if it failed, and that the snap shackle only needed six pounds of pressure to open. Interviews with other stuntmen talked about how in situations like this you would have a secondary line. What was noted was the vest Hart was wearing was inappropriately restrictive of breathing. Talbert said he was referred to WWF by Barry Brazell, who was the main rigger for Sting’s repelling from the ceiling. Steve Taylor of WWF, at the time the Vice President of Event Operations, had called Brazell ... Taylor said that the company has had other people do things like this in the past but WWF felt they were executed too slow for television. Talbert told Taylor he had performed the same stunts with Sting in WCW. But the deposition of Ellis Edwards, who handled stunts for WCW, sad that Talbert assisted Brazell three times only and was not Sting’s rigger or WCW’s rigger. Taylor called Talbert the week of the show in Kansas City with the idea of what they wanted. The original idea was that Owen Hart and Max Mini (a tiny mini wrestler who was working for WWF at the time) would come down together. The belief was that Max Mini (also known as Mascarita Sagrada Jr., Tzuki and Mini Rey Misterio) refused to do it. Mini was let go by WWF in mid-July, less than two months after turning down the stunt. He did return to the company for three matches in 2006 ... The key is that over 20 years, even though much of the basic information was known, there was this belief that the same crew who did Sting’s stunt did the Owen Hart stunt and it was the same stunt. While it was a tragic accident, people were able in some cases to go with the idea it was a safe stunt given how many times Sting did it, that unfortunately went wrong. The reality is there was no back-up wire that Sting had, and it was done differently because Vince McMahon felt it was too slow for television because of those split seconds on WCW television where Sting would unhook himself while all the heels just had to stand there and wait. So, even after being told multiple times that there was a reason for that and otherwise it wouldn’t be safe, WWF kept looking for someone who would do it in a different manner. While Talbert, who still works in the stunt industry, had worked on Sting a few times, he was not the main person and it was a different crew. The week after the incident WWF hinted that perhaps it was Hart’s fault in some way, that he panicked and did something wrong, when that was not the case

Smackdown on 5/22 held steady with the previous week doing a 1.31 rating and 2,044,000 viewers (a lower than usual 1.29 viewers per home) and an 0.5 in 18-49 (707,000 viewers). The 5/15 show did a 1.30 rating 2,042,000 viewers and an 0.5 in 18-49 (695,000 viewers). So 18-49 was up 1.7 percent and everything else was almost identical. However, this would be a more disappointing showing because ABC, CBS and NBC all ran rerun programming and first-run Smackdown still finished last with total viewers. It did win in 18-49 because in a weird coincidence, every other rerun show on the other three networks did 0.4. Smackdown was expected to dominate the summer months in 18-49, rather than squeak by. Last year over the same week, FOX ran rerun shows that did 1,708,000 viewers but the same 0.5 in 18-49, so live Smackdown in the key demo did the same as reruns last year that essentially cost them nothing new to produce.

For 5/20, as far as the different demos were concerned, in Males 18-34, the high point for AEW was the beginning of Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara. The low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt. For NXT in Males 18-34, the high point was Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley and low point was Kushida vs. Drake Maverick. For Women 18-34, for AEW the high point was the Jake Roberts and Arn Anderson face-off and the low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt. Quarter hours always teach you something. For example here, you’d think it would be one of the young guys that would be most appealing to women and here it is Jake Roberts and Arn Anderson, two older overweight guys in their 60s who happen to be great on the mic. I remember in the WCW Nitro days where Dusty Rhodes (in his rare appearances) and Ric Flair, who were older guys, would just kill it with teenage girls while Buff Bagwell, who you would think would, made no difference. For NXT in Women 18-34, the high point was El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Akira Tozawa. The low point was Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Ever Rise. For AEW in Males 18-49, the high point was Hardy vs. Guevara and low point was MJF vs. Marko Stunt. For NXT in Males 18-49, the high point was Fantasma vs. Tozawa and love point was Kushida vs. Maverick. For Women 18-49, for AEW the high point was the Roberts/Anderson quarter and low point was MJF vs. Stunt. For NXT in Women 18-49, the high point was Karrion Kross vs. Liam Gray (which has more to do with the lead-in show than what was on the show) and low point was Shirai vs. Ripley.

Both AEW and NXT had major viewership increases on 5/27. The AEW increase was expected, as they got the usual post-PPV boost, plus had advertised Mike Tyson for the show, even though the show had no marquee matches. The NXT increase was a surprise, as it appeared aside from Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle in a unique cage match with Kurt Angle as referee, it didn’t appear going in to be much different from previous weeks shows. AEW did 827,000 viewers and a 0.32 (413,000 viewers) in 18-49, and was fourth in the demo, partially because younger viewers have stopped watching the news in the kind of numbers they were doing until recently. Plus, AEW had no competition from NASCAR or a Michael Jordan Game Sis movie on ESPN that hurt last week ... Similarly, NXT which was No. 53 in the demo last week with a record low of 0.13, increased to 731,000 viewers and 0.19 (251,000 viewers) in 18-49. It was in the No. 24 spot in the key demo, and 15th with males 18-49 ... AEW won seven of eight quarters, with one close. AEW opened at 863,000 viewers dn 398,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & Matt Hardy vs. Private Party & Joey Janela. NXT opened at 771,000 viewers and 252,000 in 18-49 for Drake Maverick vs. Kushida vs. Jake Atlas. In the second quarter, AEW lost 26,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the end of the six-man tag, The former Revival debut and Brian Cage vs. Lee Johnson with Jon Moxley and Taz doing interviews. NXT gained 13,000 viewers and 18,000 in 18-49 for Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae doing a promo, Gargano vs. Adrian Alanis and the Keith Lee and Mia Yim promo with Gargano & LeRae out. In the third quarter, AEW lost 60,000 viewers but only 2,000 in 18-49 for promos by Britt Baker and Chris Jericho. NXT lost 44,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Shotzi Blackheart vs. Reina Gonzalez. The AEW margin was 777,000 to 740,000 during this quarter. In the fourth quarter, AEW gained 67,000 viewers and 54,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Christi Jaynes and the beginning of a Cody interview. NXT gained 5,000 viewers but lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Blackheart vs. Gonzalez a Finn Balor promo and the introductions for the women’s tag match. The fifth quarter saw NXT take the quarter. AEW lost 55,000 viewers and 24,000 in 18-49 for the end of the Cody promo and mostly Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky. NXT gained 68,000 viewers and 14,000 in 18-49 for Charlotte Flair & Chelsea Green vs. Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley. NXT had 813,000 viewers and 272,000 in 18-49 compared with AEW’s 789,000 viewers and 411,000 in 18-49. In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 27,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the Sabian & Havoc vs. Kazarian & Sky match, the MJF promo, Battle Royal intros and the beginning of the Battle Royal. NXT lost 141,000 viewers and 41,000 in 18-49 the Adam Cole/William Regal vignette and an Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vignette. Vignettes are always going to lose but often they are necessary for building characters. In the seventh quarter, AEW gained 53,000 viewers and 25,000 in18-49 for the Battle Royal and highlights of Stadium Stampede. This was the peak part of the show in both total viewers with 869,000 and 18-49 with 442,000. NXT lost 28,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for Tommaso Ciampa vs. Leon Ruff, promos from Ciampa and Karrion Kross and the beginning of Riddle vs. Thatcher. In the eighth quarter, AEW lost 47,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for the Inner Circle celebration and Mike Tyson angle. I’m amazed the Tyson angle lost viewers from the Battle Royal and Stadium Stampede highlights. NXT gained 34,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for the Riddle vs. Thatcher match.

We have not heard anything regarding Angle and a new deal. It was noted to us that Angle is still being paid through mid-July like the rest of the people on main roster contracts that were released. The company will use that talent if they have a idea for them, such as Maverick in the tournament (and it would make no sense to let him go after his recent push) and had planned to use Sarah Logan at one point

Originally Posted by Observer A rare case of something at a taped show getting out took place due to an injury to Sane at the 5/27 tapings for the 6/1 Raw show. There was yet another Jax vs. Sane match for Sane to put over Jax like a monster as the set-up woman for the Asuka match. During the match, Jax whipped Sane into the ring steps. She went to take the steps with her side but she clipped the steps with the top of her head and was busted open and was out and they had to stop the match. Not sure if this will be edited on television or not. It turned into an outcry on social media against Jax, and in fairness, Jax has hurt several people in the past with her sloppiness, plus many fans are protective of Sane who has been injured a few times of late including a concussion in a match that continued while it was clear she was hurt. But in this case it appears to be, since I haven’t seen it, an unfair rush to judgment. I’ve heard from a number of people, including one person who is very much not a fan of Jax as a worker. All know the track record, and not one blamed her in this instance. It was described to me as Sane being in control of her bump but she may have slipped and clipped her head according to one person or tried to make it look so good that in doing so clipped her head. We do know there was no internal blaming of Jax for this one. Sane was cleaned up and said to be okay, although being out is never a good thing with her history

The death of Hana Kimura this past week is a complicated story about reality shows, the worst aspects of social media and cyber bullying, and likely with the unique aspects of the time we are living in. The end result was the suicide death of a 22-year-old woman who had high-level stage presence and a unique look, and was likely to explode in 2020 had this been a normal year, as the most marketable and biggest star in Japanese women’s wrestling. The story has far wider implications in so many different ways than most pro wrestling stories. Its repercussions, besides her own death, include the possibility of the end of a popular worldwide television show, and even more, talk in Japan about enacting new legislation that would make cyber bullying a more serious crime. While obviously a huge news story in Japan, it garnered a lot of mainstream attention in the U.S. due to the popularity of the television reality show “Terrace House" ... On 5/22, the day of her death, Terrace House and Hana Kimura was the most searched topic in the U.S. on the Internet, with more than 500,000 searches, just ahead of Joe Biden Kimura was suffering from bad depression for some time even as her wrestling career was on its ascent. She had mutilated her arms and cut her wrists in the past. The turning point was an incident on the reality show where people wanting to be celebrities are put together with both scripted and unscripted scenarios to attempt to create relationships and relationship dramas ... It should be noted that Kimura went through a lot of bullying when she was growing up. Her mother, Kyoko Kimura, was a woman pro wrestler who competed a lot in death match style. Hana Kimura was of mixed ethnicity. Her father, who split from her mother and her when she was one, was Indonesian, so she was half-Japanese and half-Indonesian. This gave her unique features, but while growing up in school she was taunted over being different ... “Obviously Hana is very beautiful,” said one person close to her to us regarding the show. “But on the show, she is like twice the size of the other girls. And on the show, and in real life, she is very self-conscious because she has huge muscular shoulders compared to the other girls. And Terrace House fans also bullied her about that kind of stuff. It seems silly, because she is a very pretty girl, but it just goes to show that anyone can have self-confidence issues. You’d think from the looks of it, this girl would have it all. Very obviously she’s the one being pushed to lead her company" ... But the actual storyline came later, in a show taped during the week of 1/19 to 1/25, and aired on 3/31. Kimura had put her wrestling costume that she had been using of late in the washing machine. Kai put his own clothes in the washing machine. He then came back and threw his clothes and her wrestling costume in the dryer, which shrank it and ruined it. When she found out, she started yelling at him, saying this was the ring costume she wore on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome on the biggest match of her life and the costume had so many memories for hear and it was like her life. She yelled at Kai and basically slapped his hat off his head because at first he wasn’t apologetic ... She was bombarded with hate over social media. Whether no more filming of episodes (the show had continue on Fuji television with the final episode on 5/19 before this week’s episode and the rest of the season was canceled but new footage had not been shot in a few months), plus her regular routine of wrestling was shut down and taken away. It may have taken away a means to cope with the depression, and things got much worse. It should be noted that all the negative messages, including her getting messages daily saying she should die, came from Terrace House viewers and not from the wrestling fan side. But a tiny but hurtful percentage of wrestling fans are no different which why this touched such a nerve in wrestling, particularly among women performers. She was constantly being told if her costume meant so much to her, why did she leave it in the washing machine ... Others were negative to her about leaving her gear in the washer and that she shouldn’t have been so rude. It got to the point where Kimura disabled all comments on her Instagram because she was getting so much hate. In a later episode, Kai left the house and tried to make up with her by paying her the costs of making a new outfit. When he left the house, everyone gave him a goodbye hug except her, which also villainized her since to a lot of the women viewers, he was a popular character ... It was told to us from someone close to her that they knew the negative social media response was bothering Kimura and that in recent weeks it had gotten worse. However, nobody had any sign her depression reached the level it did ... It seemed to be a cocktail of many things. The bullying from childhood leading to insecurity. Her wanting to become a mainstream star to make women’s wrestling popular again like it was more than 25 years earlier. A television show that emphasized her weaknesses on screen. Perhaps the pressures of knowing that she was chosen to be the person whose would the focal point of a company aggressively trying to bring back to glory days of the past under new ownership, and trying to live up to that status while perceiving she wasn’t coming across well on the television show. Late at night on the morning of 5/23 in Japan (5/22 in the U.S.), Kimura posted images of her arm that she had self-mutilated, which was covered by her ring costume when she had wrestled. She was there with her pet kitten, and basically did a farewell note on both Twitter and Instagram ... This drew a ton of immediate attention throughout the U.S. pro wrestling community with people obviously panicking and questioning what was going on. In Japan, where everyone was asleep, people in that community were not at first aware of it. Kaori Housako (Kairi Sane) had either seen the posts herself or been alerted immediately. She called up Stardom founder and CEO Rossy Ogawa, and I believe Jungle Kyona. It was Kyona who rushed to the apartment that Kimura lived alone in, but it was too late. Sponichi News in Japan reported that at around 4 a.m., which would be 3 p.m. on 5/22 Eastern time, some fire engines and an ambulance rushed into her apartment. Her death was believed to be a suicide due to the ingestion of hydrogen sulfide. The Koto Police Department’s Metropolitan department acknowledged a hydrogen sulfide fatality at 4 a.m., but further details were not released at the request of the family. According to police sources in the Japanese media, Kimura was found on her bed with a plastic bag covering her head. A container of what was believed to have been hydrogen sulfide was found nearby. Several different suicide notes were found in the room. There was a piece of paper attached to the door that read, “Toxic gas being generated,” according to Kyodo News ... The kitten, named Karage, which means fried chicken ball, because Kimura thought he looked like a fried chicken ball, was being taken care of in the Stardom wrestlers dormitory ... In addition, “Terrace House,” canceled the remainder of this season and there is some question whether the show will ever return ... After Kimura’s death, numerous people who had harassed her on social media began deleting their accounts, while media reports

With the 5/23 AEW Double or Nothing shows, we’ve learned that the current conditions may be negative for television ratings, but in no way are they negative for PPVs. Two weeks after UFC did a shockingly high number for UFC 249, AEW followed suit with what, at least at this point, looks to be the most-purchased PPV show in company history. Streaming numbers from B/R Live in the U.S. and FITE for international markets both ended up more than 10 percent up from the 2/29 Revolution show and may end up closer to 15 percent up, which was tracking to be the second highest number in company history, behind only the first Double or Nothing show, at about 100,000 to 110,000 buys. The cable buys for Revolution are still only estimated until final numbers are to come in at some point in the next few week ... If cable holds up similarly, that would indicate 115,000 to 120,000 buys, which would equal to or slightly beat the final numbers of the first Double or Nothing ... There’s also the aspect that streaming buys as a general rule over the past year are increasing at a higher level than cable buys, which are decreasing. So streaming buys both in the U.S. and overseas being the biggest in company history does not necessarily mean cable numbers will follow suit ... There was the argument, which proved to be false, that with so many ordering WrestleMania for free and disposable income being down for so many who have lost their jobs, that people couldn’t justify a $50 purchase for a show. Historically, every time this argument goes into play, it always ends up being wrong. There is a price point that becomes a negative, but $50 for AEW and $65 for UFC are clearly below that threshold at this point with the current economy and the current marketplace. There are always arguments that differ from this point, but the consumer behavior always seems to trump those arguments. The reality is that if you have a show with a low price but people aren’t interested, they aren’t buying. If you have a show people want to see, they will find a way to see it. There is a price point too high, but that depends more on the value of the product than the price point. People have proven in gigantic numbers a willingness to pay $100 for a singular event if the names involved are big enough. UFC has constantly increased the price of its shows and that has never had a bearing on the number of buyers. The numbers are how many people really want to see it either themselves or as part of a social gathering. And with social gatherings likely down, that probably, surprisingly to most, is likely the biggest difference maker of all ... Replay buys were said to be slightly ahead of the pace of the last show. Replay buys are often based on word of mouth, but word of mouth has been strong after almost every AEW PPV show ... From a general interest standpoint, the show did 100,000 Google searches, which were half of what WWE did with Money in the Bank. It was in the No. 10 spot for the day, and was the same as what the Revolution show did. AEW, with a stronger harder core fan base, seems to convert its audience to PPV and live event buyers at a much stronger rate than WWE

Contrary to the speculation of those who had unsecured debts in the XFL bankruptcy case, Vince McMahon said that he is not going to restart the XFL. McMahon is looking for a buyer to take over the league in bankruptcy court. Speculation from debtors last week had seen the actions McMahon took and felt it was a way for him to get away from the money losses suffered thus far and then restart next year with a clean slate. Others felt that McMahon did so much damage do his reputation within the football world that, other than players, who it was conceded he would be able to get, that anyone of any value in coaching or management would steer clear of the league because of how many high profile people and buildings were stiffed on money. McMahon did admit in the filing that he was considering putting in a bid to buy it back, but had changed his mind. This appears to be strategic in the sense of wanting it out there that they were looking for someone to buy it and if Vince was interested, others would. But the strategy changed with the idea that people were scared away by the idea Vince might do it. Or they could simply have been scared away with the idea of the amount of money it would take at a time when the economy is questionable ... McMahon’s filing claimed that he put up at least $200 million for the league. But that doesn’t add up with the prior filings that listed the amount of money the company lost being declaring bankruptcy at less than $50 million. McMahon believed the stories this past week chased away people interested. There have been 20 potential purchasers that have signed non-disclosure agreements to gain access to confidential filings regarding the economics of the business. Another six have at least inquired about interest and getting that information.

On 5/27, due to the losses from the Pandemic, Bushiroad announced that the directors of Bushiroad and their group companies would have pay cut from 15 percent to 95 percent, depending on the person, for the five month period covering May through September, and then would return to the regular compensation. Every company in the group will have to cut expenses notably in advertising, promotion and through all facets. Employee salaries and bonuses will also be cut. New Japan Pro Wrestling will start running live events as soon as they are able to allow fans to attend shows, if not do empty arena shows first. You can see the difference in mentalities in that the people at the top took cuts, and some large cuts, but on the flip side, nobody in Bushiroad companies lost their jobs

Cage was signed in January but couldn’t debut for months due to his torn biceps and when they figured out the timing the goal was for him to be a mystery debut in Las Vegas. The plan was to always put him with Taz but they had to delay Taz’s start as a manager until now. This would seem to build a Cage vs. Darby Allin program since the idea is Taz’s first recruit was going to be Allin until Allin blew him off although there’s been no follow up on that yet

* Smeat's note: Taking next week off as a break except for Friday and might do the same for the week after. Just been too busy with other stuff and getting a bit burned out again with doing sheet reports.