[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer This week's SmackDown did the show's fourth-lowest ratings since moving to Tuesday night, coming in at 1.853 million viewers. Going up against the MLB All-Star Game on Fox, the episode was down two percent from last week and retained just 79 percent of the Monday Night Raw audience, which aired opposite the Home Run Derby. The All-Star Game did 8.14 million viewers. SmackDown also aired against NBC's America's Got Talent, which averaged over 9.8 million. It was a weak night in terms of cable TV viewership as, despite the near record low, SmackDown still finished seventh in overall viewership. It did fall to second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.53 rating, trailing Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 15 percent, one of the larger drops in recent weeks.

Originally Posted by Observer The field for this year's Battle of Los Angeles is now up to eight announced entrants. On Wednesday, PWG announced Caveman Ugg as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's from Sydney, Australia and is the second Australian wrestler announced for BOLA thus far, joining Mick Moretti. Ugg is the Pro Wrestling Australia Heavyweight Champion. He appeared stateside during WrestleMania weekend this year, taking part in the "Clusterf*ck" match at Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, part two.

Also recently announced for the field was Jake Atlas.

Originally Posted by PWI The original idea was Roman Reigns' opponent on Raw was to have an extra portray the role but over the course of the day, there was a pitch for Cedric Alexander to do the spots instead. We are told there will be a follow-up to Alexander's involvement on Raw Monday. While many of the backstage segments on Raw are pre-taped, all of the Street Profit segments were live as they aired this past Monday in order to keep their energy as vibrant as possible.

Originally Posted by PWI The latest book from Mid-Atlantic Wrestling historian Dick Bourne was officially released this week. The Mid-Atlantic Championship traces the history of the Mid-Atlantic Championship that was of the utmost importance to Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas. Promotional material for the book notes, "In 1970, Jim Crockett Promotions introduced the Eastern Heavyweight title to their fans. Four years later they changed the name of the title to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. Within these pages you will find a complete history of that title, including a detailed account of every title change from the establishment of the title until it was retired at the end of 1986. Plus great photos of the legendary champions.Featured also is a breakdown of all four championship belts that represented the title, broken down into the five distinct periods the belts were worn. Featuring Danny Miller, Jerry Brisco, Rip Hawk, Ole Anderson, Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ken Patera, Tony Atlas, Jim Brunzell, Ray Stevens, Ricky Steamboat, Ivan Koloff, The Iron Sheik, Roddy Piper, Jack Brisco, Paul Jones, Dory Funk, Jr., Dick Slater, Ron Bass, Sam Houston, Ronnie Garvin, and many others!"

Originally Posted by PWI WWE issued the following: WWE® To Report Second Quarter 2019 Results 07/11/2019 STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WWE (NYSE:WWE) announced that it will report its second quarter 2019 results on Thursday, July 25, 2019, before the opening of the market. The Company’s Chairman & CEO, Vincent K. McMahon, and Co-Presidents, George A. Barrios and Michelle D. Wilson, will host a conference call beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results.

Originally Posted by Observer The return of Reigns after battling leukemia was voted Best WWE moment of the year at the ESPYs. It was pretty clear that would be the winner. The fact there is such an award is a real feather in the cap of WWE, because it’s best WWE moment and not best pro wrestling moment. For MMA, it’s not Best UFC fighter, it’s best MMA fighter

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The WWE web site did some stuff building up Undertaker vs. Sting which set all kinds of rumors going. From those on the inside, the belief is that the company would never risk Sting taking a bump given he never had surgery on his neck. He’s a 60 year old man with spinal stenosis and the idea of him wrestling is not even broached. It’s purely a web site project as it is not a promotion for the upcoming videogame either

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter WWE is advertising Undertaker vs. McIntyre for SummerSlam on 8/11 in the Toronto market. We’re told that is typical local market advertising and that is not the actual plan right now for the show. But in pushing Undertaker so hard, that would seem to indicate he’ll be featured on the show, which makes sense. If Undertaker was only working one summer event, it would be SummerSlam, so him coming back for Extreme Rules only made sense to set the table for a big SummerSlam match. The problem is that given the Extreme Rules match, the big match being built would seem to be against either McIntyre or Shane, unless somebody new (Wyatt?) gets involved in the Extreme Rules match

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter R-Truth said that it was pitched for him to show up at Maverick’s wedding where he won the title back wearing a wedding dress but Vince nixed the idea because he thought it would come across as trying too hard to be funny

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There are reports that Banks has been announced locally for a 7/22 house show in Tampa. When we asked about Banks returning soon, we were told it is “to be determined.” Banks and Vince talked a few months ago and the feeling was she’d be back by the end of the summer, but it was nothing official or is there an exact start date back at this moment. Banks was in Japan this past week training with the Sendai Girls promotion She did this on her own. Some speculate this is to get back into ring shape for her return. For contract reasons, if she’s going to wrestle, it has to be here, and they can freeze that deal forever, so the odds are strong she’s coming back unless she wants to retire. Her going to Japan to train indicates not looking at retirement

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The first Smackdown show with Bischoff influence is expected to be the 7/16 in Worcester, MA. Bischoff and his family were moving this week to Stamford. The funny thing is that within the company and the creative team, they’ve been told nothing. Bischoff’s name has almost never come up and nobody from the outside has brought the name up and they know no more than what they’ve read

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Vince McMahon was not at Smackdown in Manchester, NH, on Tuesday but he was on the phone constantly and he reviewed the show on the phone with people one hour before it started. Paul Levesque worked the Gorilla position. Bruce Prichard presented the show to the other producers. He started out with a rah rah speech which we were told came across very transparent. Ryan Ward is still the lead writer of Smackdown and will remain the lead writer unless Eric Bischoff tries to make a change, and most likely that will depend on whether Vince would allow it even if he wanted to. Prichard will be the one who acclimates Bischoff and is believed to be the person who pushed hardest for Bischoff. There was talk of people asking why Bischoff wasn’t at least at the show to watch how things are done before he starts full-time, and the same was said last week. His deal was to move in this week and start with the 7/16 show. It’s been noted to us that every week he’s not there puts him another week behind and the battles necessary to be the catalyst of change and improvement are going to take a long time

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Essentially what happened is that well before the announcement of AEW, NJPW was told by The Young Bucks and others, what the plans were and that they wanted to work together. New Japan’s response was to pull all the Americans that they thought were going to AEW off New Year’s Dash and beat everyone at the Tokyo Dome. Still, a meeting was scheduled after the Tokyo Dome. New Japan’s reaction was they were working with ROH, and they had to given the agreed upon Madison Square Garden show. But from that point it was cold. Even though Kenny Omega contractually can work for New Japan, New Japan has not attempted to book him and it’s to the point that the subjects of AEW and Omega are not allowed to be acknowledged by anyone in New Japan. While things can always change, really with just one phone call, the idea that people think an Omega vs. Kota Ibushi match will be at one of the Tokyo Domes in January is simply not the case.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter LAX is under contract for about a month. They’ve gotten significant offers from both WWE and AEW. No decision has been made. There are those in WWE who believe they will be starting in September there, but most close to the situation expect the decision will be AEW.

Originally Posted by Fightful It was officially announced to the world on July 7th that CMLL owner Paco Alonso passed away. Many were affected by the news as those who Paco provided opportunity and positions in CMLL to, took to social media to reflect on the life of Paco and their time working with him. With Paco Alonso's passing, his daughter Sofia Alonso is now assuming the role as President of CMLL.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE officials may be changing some of the top SummerSlam plans due to the hiring of new RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman and SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff. It was noted by @Wrestlevotes that anything WWE had planned in advance for SummerSlam was all subject to change once Bischoff and Heyman fully start their roles next week after Extreme Rules. This would allow Bischoff and Heyman to come in with a clean slate going into one of the biggest shows of the year. There's no word yet on what WWE has had planned for SummerSlam but one rumored match was The Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre.

TPWW Frontpage:

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