[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets sponsored by Nia Jax's brain fart moment on RAW last night:

Originally Posted by Observer Final numbers are in for Friday night's Thanksgiving weekend edition of SmackDown -- and the show averaged 2.141 million viewers on Fox. That's down eight percent from the previous week's final number. Overnight numbers for the Thanksgiving weekend show had SmackDown below two million viewers for the first time in a couple of months, but -- as has been the case for a while now -- the final number ended up about 10 percent higher. SmackDown was the least viewed show on the major networks on Friday, although it was just below a CBS News program that did 2.2 million viewers. In the 18-49 demo, SmackDown averaged a 0.6 rating, down 14.3 percent from last week. That beat everything on the networks except a couple of holiday cartoons on NBC. The 18-34 rating for SmackDown was a 0.3, down 25 percent from last week. That finished in the middle of the pack in that category with the two cartoons as well as ABC's Shark Tank all beating that number. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 7.9 percent in viewership from the Thanksgiving weekend episode in 2019. In 18-49, SmackDown was down 14.3 percent from the same week last year.

Originally Posted by Observer Ratings for last Wednesday's wrestling shows, which had been delayed due to the Thanksgiving holiday, saw WWE NXT top AEW Dynamite in total viewers. NXT averaged 712,000 viewers to Dynamite's 710,000. Despite TV viewership in general being down on Thanksgiving Eve, NXT was up 11.6 percent in overall viewership from the previous week. Dynamite was down 16.5 percent. Overall Wednesday night viewership was 1.422 million viewers, down 4.4 percent from the previous week. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.26 rating, down 29.7 percent from the November 18 show. Dynamite finished seventh on the cable charts in that category and was third among non-news programming. NXT averaged a 0.20 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 42.9 percent from the previous week. NXT was 25th on the cable charts, which is much higher than it had finished in recent weeks. It was 12th among non-news shows. In the individual demos, Dynamite doubled NXT in people 18-34 and nearly tripled NXT in men 18-34. NXT had a huge advantage in people over 50, averaging a 0.38 rating to Dynamite's 0.29. That propelled NXT to the overall viewership win. As compared to Thanksgiving week last year, Dynamite was actually up 7.1 percent in overall viewers and had the exact same 18-49 demo rating. NXT was down 12.1 percent in viewers from last year and 16.7 percent in the demo. Overall Wednesday viewership was down 3.5 percent.

Originally Posted by Observer The first match has been announced for next month’s ROH Final Battle. Jay Briscoe will face EC3 in a singles match, ROH confirmed today. EC3 made his debut for the company during their latest tapings, first appearing in a match against Briscoe two weeks ago. EC3 repeatedly refused to look Briscoe in the eye and extended his hand to adhere to the Code of Honor. This caused Briscoe to get upset, and was eventually disqualified after refusing to take his foot off of EC3’s throat. EC3 said after the match that he has come to ROH to find out “if honor is real”, and said that Briscoe attacking him after extending his hand proved that it isn’t. The feud has become heated enough that Mark Briscoe is looking for another tag team partner, as Jay has become too obsessed with EC3. Final Battle is scheduled to take place on December 18. It will be held without an audience.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has revealed the lineup of new content coming to the WWE Network this month. On this month's episode of Broken Skull Sessions, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre will be Steve Austin's guest. WWE hasn't confirmed the premiere date for the episode, but it's listed before TLC on the list of new programming. McIntyre is defending his WWE Championship against AJ Styles at TLC on Sunday, December 20. Styles defeated Riddle and Keith Lee in a triple threat match on Raw last night to become the number one contender to McIntyre's title. The most recent edition of Broken Skull Sessions premiered after Survivor Series and featured an interview with The Undertaker . It was the second time Undertaker has appeared on the show. Though further details haven't been revealed, the 2020 Slammy Awards are listed among the new content premiering on the WWE Network this month. This will be the first time WWE has given out Slammy Awards since 2015. A "WWE Superstar Gaming Series" is also listed as coming to the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Observer On a small session press conference this afternoon, AEW president and booker Tony Khan pushed tomorrow night's Dynamite show as the biggest in the show's history and hopefully one of the best wrestling shows ever on TNT, As reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he confirmed that AEW World Champion and New Japan U.S. Champion Jon Moxley would not be wrestling at the Wrestle Kingdom shows on January 4th and 5th. Somehow, people had tied the idea of Moxley losing Wednesday so he could quarantine and to go to Japan. Whether he wins or loses was always immaterial to whether he would do the Tokyo Dome show as he is not on the schedule for that show. Here's some additional notes: He is seriously thinking of implementing trios championships, given all the talent in the company. It is under consideration for 2021. He pushed that his previous statement about "the balance of power changing" on the show where PAC returned would play out more tomorrow and in the weeks to come. He said that for a pure startup company to do as well in both the wrestling and television business was a great accomplishment. He intimated the idea that tomorrow would be the start of a number of big things. He said that with television as their biggest revenue stream and that while you have to give people special stuff for four $50 PPV shows per year, the plan is to put many of the company's biggest matches on television. He positioned Moxley vs. Kenny Omega as the company's biggest match of 2020 and they would have 60 minutes if needed. It will go on last but be given a lot of time, if not the full 60 minutes. He hinted at an overrun if needed. He intimated that "Winter is Coming" would be a regularly themed annual television event and is looking for more ideas like that, noting he has major shows planned around Christmas, New Year's and Beach Break in January. He noted that WarnerMedia owns the rights to the name (Game of Thrones) and while he doesn't watch the show, he was aware of it because his mother loves the show. He explained that the benefit of WarnerMedia being their broadcast partner is he could ask for the ability to use the IP for his show and they gave him permission. He said there will be a real crowd of more than 1000 fans tomorrow night, the same as for Full Gear, and brought up ECW One Night Stand being a great PPV with a similar number of fans in the audience. He said the show would have more wrestling than a usual Dynamite and will be constructed closer to a two-hour PPV show than a usual episode of Dynamite. When asked about Miro, he said that are developing his character and hopes he can become a crossover star in both the wrestling and gaming industry next year. He said the idea is to start him working with Best Friends, who he called some of their best guys, and to build his record to where next year he can be a title contender or main event player. He said this while noting he did give Brian Cage a title shot right away from winning a battle royale with a title shot going to the winner and that Eddie Kingston got an title match quickly because Moxley offered it to him after he had beaten all the top contenders. He said they were the exceptions and the rule is that guys work their way up from consistent winning of matches to get world title shots. The only talk of last week's rating was that he was happy with it and that AEW was the No. 1 show on cable in males 18-49. He also said that when you add so much new talent under contract, normal business practices are that you would get rid of people. But, we're in a pandemic and it's difficult to get new work in wrestling and did not want to let people go at this point in time. He conceded doing that in all sports sucks and at some point, you have to, but he felt this isn't the right time.

Originally Posted by PWI The opening segment of Raw featuring Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss was 100% Vince McMahon's vision. We are told that several argued against the segment, feeling it was a weak opening segment and needed to overhauled, but you can't overrule City Hall. The current creative for WWE right now falls directly in the hands of Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard. In fact, there are some who have described Prichard to PWInsider.com as the most powerful person in WWE right now other than a McMahon family member. Creatively, everything flows through Prichard at the moment and his word has been described as "very much the Gospel" for Vince McMahon, which as you might imagine, being in that position translates into a lot of frustration and heat towards Prichard among talents privately. Triple H was at last night's Raw while Prichard was not, which was described to us by several as breath of fresh air. One edict that has been strictly enforced of late is the time cues for the broadcasts. There were actually a number of talents who were reprimanded for going over time in recent weeks at the Survivor Series PPV and subsequent TV shows. There is also heat falling on some producers if their segments end up going over. The new Drew McIntyre entrance with the sword was something Vince McMahon was completely on-hands with recently, spending what was described to PWInsider as "a lot of time" blocking out exactly how he wanted McIntyre to handle the sword and use it to set up his pyro ... Shane Helms was back producing last night. Sonjay Dutt is now working full-time on the WWE NXT brand.

Originally Posted by PWI Major League Wrestling today announced CONTRA Unit's unknown masked mercenary will step into an MLW ring for the first time tomorrow night, Wednesday December 2 at 7pm ET on MLW's flagship weekly series, FUSION, available on YouTube, Fubo Sports, Pluto TV ... After the shocking ending to the restart edition of FUSION (watch for FREE), CONTRA revealed a masked soldier never before seen in Major League Wrestling as the international cabal unleashed their latest attack. While details about this massive masked man remain unknown, it is certain CONTRA’s tarted attack on Hammerstone is likely due to the #1 ranked wrestler’s pursuit of a title versus title showdown with CONTRA kingpin Jacob Fatu. Who is this massive masked mercenary? Tune in Wednesday night at 7pm ET to find out!

Originally Posted by PWI Kevin Quinn, former Sr. Editor, Director of Editing, Technical Director, Director and VP of TV Technology for WWE was recently let go from the company. He hosted an A.M.A. on Reddit and one of the questions asked of him was what was the craziest thing he’s had to edit from a show and here was his response: "Jerry Lawler was accused of statutory rape and we had already shot 3 hours of program. We had to remove him from every show already shot. It took 2 over-nights" ... When asked who was one of the more polite wrestlers, Quinn named Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Rock got a plaque made for the production crew to thank them for advancing his career. The Rock made a plaque that still hangs this day in the TV Production facility thanking all of the people behind the scenes that helped make him what he is.

Originally Posted by Fightful RevPro Wrestling announced that it will be revealing the status of the RevPro British Tag Team titles soon after Great-O-Khan went to NJPW as part of Will Ospreay's The Empire stable and Rampage Brown went to NXT UK.

Originally Posted by Fightful Keith Lee made history at NXT Great American Bash when he defeated Adam Cole to become NXT North American and NXT Champion. Two weeks later, Lee relinquished the NXT North American Championship. At NXT TakeOver XXX, one month after giving up the NXT North American Championship, he lost the NXT Championship to Karrion Kross. Lee was then called up to Raw two nights later. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Lee discussed dropping two NXT titles and being called up just over a month after Great American Bash. "Most definitely," Lee said when asked if he preferred a longer reign. "As monumental as it’s been to go to the main roster, I’m not sure it was so important to end that [NXT championship reign] as abruptly as it happened. I watch NXT, and obviously I have some friends there, and one that I’m fairly close to is Mr. Damian Priest, and I watch often to see how he’s doing. Kross went down in our match, then to have Finn [Bálor] as the new champion and he hurts his jaw, it’s hard. I like those guys, and I feel like I abandoned them. It’s difficult to think about. I’m proud of everything I’ve done, and I’ve hung with the top guys from Raw and some of them from SmackDown, but it’s been difficult to see the injuries." He continued, "I don’t know what would have happened if I had stayed a little bit longer. At the end of the day, we’re not always in control of our journey, and that’s just how it goes. The main roster wanted me, and that’s where I ended up. All I can do right now is root those guys on and be there for them in whatever capacity I can be, while still focusing on what I’m doing."

Didn't help that NXT basically did the title change just to try and spike their ratings for a week with no thought put into any actual long term plans for his reign. Shame since him and NXT's Women's division were the biggest benefactors of NXT getting an extra hour of tv time each week. Prior to NXT's getting that extra hour, Lee was pretty much just floundering on the brand compared to the huge hype he had coming in from the indies.

Originally Posted by Fightful New York Daily News reports Ronnie Massaro, the brother of Ashley Massaro, was stabbed to death in Midtown in a random knife attack.

Originally Posted by Fightful NWA Director of Operations Maureen Tracy announced on Twitter that December 1 is her last day with the company.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE’s 2005 Survivor Series pay-per-view was the focus of the latest Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard podcast. The current WWE Executive Director commented on the segment during which Vince McMahon referred to John Cena as his n-word. Prichard was also asked if Booker T and Sharmell Huffman’s thoughts about the segment were factored in as they were a part of it ... Elsewhere during the podcast, Prichard discussed WWE attempting to put a restraining order on Brock Lesnar’s future matches in 2005 when he went to go work for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. As WWE and Lesnar were putting together the documents for his release from the company, it was noted that Lesnar could pursue a career in the NFL but could not compete for another pro wrestling promotion/company until 20 months after his WWE departure. "Yeah, because again, we made the investment in training him initially and getting him to the popularity that he was at. Brock was unhappy, wanted to do other things. That’s fine, you can try other things. However, we had made the investment in him in the sports-entertainment category and wanted to protect that so, just strictly business.”

Think in recent years, only Alberto Del Rio had a longer non-compete clause by WWE that was later dropped because Del Rio threatened to sue due to its ridiculous length.

Originally Posted by Fightful Kimberly Benson(Piper Niven) along with Lee Greig (Jack Jester, who is not with WWE) have joined together to start a charity group called WrestleKind, to help disadvantaged and vulnerable groups through wrestling, starting with a winter fundraiser. They are looking to raise money to purchase socks, underwear, toiletries, jackets and waterproof backpacks for the homeless.

Link for those interested in donating: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wrestlekind

Originally Posted by Observer The Pittsburgh Steelers vs Baltimore Ravens game originally set for Thanksgiving,and expected to be tomorrow, will be delayed until Wednesday due to COVID spread. However it will not go against AEW and NXT since NBC insisted on a 3:40 p.m. start time and will be airing the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony in prime time. AEW has its biggest match in Dynamite history, Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW title, scheduled as Wednesday's main event. NXT has announced Shotzi Blackheart vs. Raquel Gonzalez for the man advantage for Sunday's War Games match.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling A GoFundMe has been set up for Duane “Gillberg” Gill who suffered a heart attack recently. James Ellsworth shared a photo on social media of him visiting Gill who is now out of the hospital.

Link of the photo: https://twitter.com/realellsworth/st...720668680?s=20 , Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/27isxyrtc0

Originally Posted by Fightful Chyna made history multiple times in WWE as the first-ever female entrant into the Royal Rumble and Intercontinental Champion. She was set to make even more history according to her former manager Anthony Anzaldo, who claims the company wanted to put the WWE Championship on her at one point, but Playboy got in the way. “They offered her the WWE Championship belt, but Vince said, ‘But you can’t do Playboy’ because she got offered to do Playboy. She chose Playboy over the belt. She went and got her boobs done one week and didn’t tell Vince, and when she came back, he was f***ing pissed," Anzaldo told Wrestling Inc. "Vince says, 'If you do Playboy, you don't get the belt.' She said f--k the belt. I'm doing Playboy. Highest selling out of the box Playboy, first week Playboy, in the history of Playboy, more than Kim Kardashian. It's top three of all time behind Kardashian and Marilyn Monroe. So she does Playboy." In a 2015 interview with Bell 2 Bell, Chyna gave a similar story, saying she was told by Vince that if she ever did Playboy, she couldn't be WWE Champion.

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