[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets sponsored by Keith Lee ragdolling Tomohiro Ishii:

Originally Posted by Fightfyl The latest chapter in the rivalry between Adam Cole and Pat McAfee will play out tonight on NXT. WWE announced that McAfee will appear on NXT to address the situation between the two and hopes to clear the air with the former NXT Champion. Back in late July, Cole was a guest on "The Pat McAfee Show" and things got heated between the two men. Cole and McAfee took verbal jabs at each other, trying to discredit the respective career of the other man. Cole finally snapped when called short, getting out of his chair to confront McAfee, drop a couple of F-bombs, and shove McAfee's co-host. Cole has since then apologized for his actions ... Previously announced for NXT is a triple threat match between Oney Lorcan, Ridge Holland and Damian Priest where the winner advances to the NXT North American Title Ladder Match at TakeOver XXX. In addition, NXT announced Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes and Bronson Reed vs. Shane Thorne as well as Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) vs. Undisputed ERA (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) for the NXT Tag Team titles and Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai where the winner becomes the No. 1 contender to the NXT Women's title.

Originally Posted by Observer Eric Young has officially signed an exclusive contract with Impact Wrestling. In an interview with Sportskeeda, Young confirmed the news. "Yeah, I am on an exclusive contract with IMPACT,” he was quoted as saying. “ I'm very excited about that!" "I do have a lot of gas left in the tank,” he added. “ It's just a question of how much longer I want to do it." Young was released by WWE in April as part of wide-ranging cuts due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He made his return to Impact at Slammiversary, taking part in a five way match for the Impact World title ... Young was previously part of Impact Wrestling from 2004 to 2016 before signing with the WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer AEW officially announced 'Heels' on Wednesday, a paid online subscription service geared toward female wrestling fans. For $49/year, members "receive access to a variety of features including virtual meet-and-greets, video conference discussions with industry experts, exclusive AEW talent Q&A sessions, customized merchandise, special promotions, themed parties and more. The secure space enables AEW Heels members to connect, learn and thrive together through shared passions for women’s wrestling." Originally scheduled to launch on May 22nd, the service did a soft launch earlier this year with two video conferences designed for women. In the press release, they announced an event this Friday which will include a Q&A with referee, podcaster and front office worker Aubrey Edwards, a social media strategy session with Brandi Rhodes, and a session on respect and empowerment in the workplace with Keisha-Ann Gray, partner at the Proskauer law firm. Rhodes, AEW's chief branding officer, is heading up the initiative.

Originally Posted by Observer In a move that is surprising some in the sports media industry, Nick Khan has been hired as WWE's new president and chief revenue officer, announced by the company Wednesday morning. The 45-year-old Khan was the co-head of the TV division of CAA (Creative Artists Agency) and was the driving force behind negotiating WWE's new TV deals in 2018. He reportedly is leaving the company on good terms. While at CAA, Khan also negotiated deals for a slew of big name sports broadcasters and talking heads in addition to organizations like Top Rank Boxing and college sports' Southeastern Conference (SEC). Khan will report directly to Vince McMahon and is taking over the roles Michelle Wilson and George Barrios held before they parted ways with WWE earlier this year.

WWE stocks rose to $45.26 by the end of Wednesday's regular trading hours but fell to $44.69 during after hours trading.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The hiring of Nick Khan is a huge story for WWE and sends a strong message by getting Khan from CAA as its news president and chief revenue officer. The greatest concern for a WWE shareholder is the fear of the television rights bubble bursting and therefore, the added concern over viewership declining even though the company less than one year into their five-year pacts with NBC Universal and Fox. To offset that, they have hired a major power broker when it comes to negotiating sports rights and will be in-house for the next set. On the surface, it would represent massive savings for WWE to cut out CAA and send Khan out as the chief negotiator on its behalf (assuming WWE negotiates on their own without CAA for the next round). I would suspect this can quell concerns of shareholders of falling numbers knowing Khan is a huge hire for this specific task, but nothing is a guarantee when we are looking down the road at the landscape of 2023-24. The news of Khan’s hiring was met with a 2% increase in the WWE stock price that closed at $45.26 on Wednesday. In terms of long-term stability and possibilities, this is one of the most important hires for WWE and was a massive story within the television industry on Wednesday.

Originally Posted by Observer After making a television appearance with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19, Hiroshi Tanahashi has undergone testing and been cleared to resume wrestling. NJPW wrote that Tanahashi made the TV appearance on August 1 but adequate countermeasures were put in place and Tanahashi wasn't in close contact with the person who tested positive. NJPW's full statement is available below: " On August 1, Hiroshi Tanahashi made a television appearance with another cast member who has since tested positive for COVID-19. Adequate countermeasures were put in place during production of the program, and Tanahashi did not come into close contact with the infected party. As a precaution, Tanahashi has since undertaken antigen, antibody and PCR testing, with all tests returning negative. Tanahashi is in good health and will be able to compete on this week’s Summer Struggle events in Korakuen Hall." Tanahashi is teaming with Kota Ibushi & Master Wato in NJPW's tournament for the vacant NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles. They're facing Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a first round match at Friday's Summer Struggle event.

Originally Posted by PWI Q - We see Scott Steiner pop up from time to time here and there. But, What is Rick Steiner up to these days? A - He is selling Real Estate in the Atlanta, GA area. You can check out his website by clicking here.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. Link for those interested: https://ricksteiner.atlcommunities.com/

Originally Posted by PWI Jerry Lawler will be celebrating his 50th wrestling anniversary next month. Official Announcement : Jerry “The King” Lawler’s 50th Anniversary Wrestling show has been set for Saturday September 26th at The Ball Park of Jackson in Jackson, Tn. 7:00 pm bell time. We have been cleared for 25% capacity with an additional 200 on field seats at home plate . pic.twitter.com/2pb6jDctLX — Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 3, 2020 Jerry’s opponent will be named later this month. Special guest will be WWE Hall of Famer , the legendary KANE ! Already set to appear are The Rock n Roll Express, “Wildfire” Tommy Rich, Dr. Tom Prichard, “Superstar” Bill Dundee , Downtown Bruno and Jerry Calhoun. And MORE — Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 3, 2020 Also just added to the @JerryLawler 50th anniversary show none other than @LexLuger yall September 26 is shaping up to be a big one!!! — Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020 Sergeant Slaughter says he is on his way to Jackson, Tn on Sept. 26th to help the King celebrate !!!! This is turning into the Who’s Who of Wrestling epic event. And the King deserves an incredible night. Come see Sarge live at the Stadium. I'm telling yall we aren't slowin down pic.twitter.com/GFygJ8j7XF — Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020 USA Wrestling is proud to announce that LEX LUGER will be appearing at the LAWLER 50th Anniversary Show in Jackson, Tenn. on Sept. 26th at the Jackson Baseball Stadium. Better get your tickets now!!! pic.twitter.com/79AQE4vCxe — Chris Styles (@TheFutureChris) August 4, 2020

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling One of the bright spots of Disney’s earnings report from Tuesday was the health of its streaming platforms. During the quarter, ESPN+ increased by 7.9 million subscribers to 8.5 million. You would have to attribute a lot of that growth to the UFC being one of the few sports properties running over the past few months, which included the huge UFC 249 event from May with Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson and last month’s UFC 251 card with Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal and two other title fights. Disney’s other streaming services also saw increases led by Disney+ that added 24 million subscribers this past quarter with 50 million subscribers total. Hulu added 3.4 million subscribers leading to a total of 101.5 million between the three services.

Felt that was an interesting article especially when comparing it to WWE and their struggles to grow their WWE Network sub base to levels they still haven't hit all these years later.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE ended up taping only one episode of SmackDown on Tuesday at the Performance Center after the original plans called for two episodes to be taped. The call was made Monday to scrap the taping of the second episode, which would be the show airing on August 14th. I was told they are still finalizing the schedule for when they will be taping their next shows.

Originally Posted by Fightful Scott Steiner's restaurant recently announced that it is being closed, but Steiner wrote on social media that he is looking to open a sports bar.

Originally Posted by Fightful Booker T was not a fan of TNA moving away from the six-sided ring. Longtime TNA/IMPACT fans certainly remember the company having a six-sided ring when TNA Impact premiered in June 2004. It was done to give the promotion a unique presentation compared to what most wrestling fans were used to, and while there were flaws with it, it certainly stood out. The six-sided ring was done away with in January 2010 upon the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T recalled the change and why it was such a mistake. "I had left the week before Hogan came in. Honestly, what I thought, when they changed to the four-sided ring and I heard it was being debated, I didn't agree with it. I believed in the identity that TNA had built that was different, different than any other wrestling company ever produced. Having the six-sided ring was different. Did I like the six-sided ring? Not really. It wasn't my cup of tea. (It was) hard and a lot of guys used it better to do their tricks off of. I knew I wasn't going to be taking many bumps and I knew I wasn't going to be jumping off the top rope. I was good with the situation. I'm thinking about the future, not the past, and the identity this company had built and when they went away from the six-sided ring because of Hogan coming in, me personally, Hogan should've been thinking about the same thing. [He's] not going to take any bumps or do anything off the top rope, so it shouldn't matter if these young kids want to go around and do all this stuff. We need them to do that. Moving away from the six-sided ring was the bullet in the head that put TNA out of the question as being something different and new," he said. The six-sided ring returned in June 2014, but was gone again in January 2018. TNA/IMPACT still uses the traditional four-sided ring.

Originally Posted by Fightful When the AEW rankings came out earlier this morning, it officially had AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida at 20 career AEW wins. This makes Shida the first woman ever to get 20 wins in an AEW ring, joining Trent, Scorpio Sky, Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, Frankie Kazarian, Cody and Hangman Page to also win 20 AEW matches. The two women closest to the 20-win mark are Nyla Rose at 14 wins and Britt Baker at 13 wins.

Originally Posted by Fightful Finn Balor's alternate persona "The Demon" hasn't been seen since Super ShowDown 2019 and Finn doesn't want to talk about it, until he had to talk about it. During the SummerSlam 1992 watch party on Fox Sports 1, Balor joked that he didn't want to talk about paint during the Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior match, which of course led to Balor and Renee Young talking about paint. During the discussion, Balor recalled the original idea for wanting to paint his body and how it grew from there. "The paint was was a weird idea, it was supposed to be a once-off. I had been working babyface for like six and a half years in Japan and they asked me if I wanted to turn heel. I thought, 'Okay, I'll take everything away that they recognize from me as a babyface. [Jushin Thunder] Liger had already worn the bodysuit and I didn't want to change my body too much so I thought, 'Why not cover my body in black paint?' The idea was that the babyface would be wrestling against this shadow in the ring. That was where the concept came from. The more I played with it, I found a really good painter in Tokyo and we came up with my first Demon character. It was supposed to be a once-off and I'll never forget, I told Karl Anderson a month before it happened, 'I'm going to cover myself in paint for Tokyo Dome' and he said, 'You're gonna look stupid. Everyone is gonna laugh at you. The paint is gonna go everywhere and you'll look like an idiot.' I always remember that one," he said. Balor has brought out 'The Demon' multiple times in WWE, but it's been over a year since his last appearance.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Marty Jannetty Apparently Claims That He Murdered Someone in 1973
• AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings