[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The second Raw in the ThunderDome, going against strong sports competition, averaged 1.90 million viewers and a 0.58 rating in 18-49. Those numbers were down seven percent in viewers and 13 percent in 18-49 from last week's strong Raw debut in the new arena and day after SummerSlam episode. But the numbers were still far above what the show did during most of the pandemic. They are still well below pre-pandemic numbers as the last full month average before the pandemic was 2.29 million viewers, 0.74 in 18-49, and 0.53 in 18-34 ... Raw was 23rd overall last night, and fifth if you factor out news coverage. In 18-49, Raw was fifth behind the two NBA games, 90 Day Fiance, and Below Deck Mediterranean ... The big story was a 19 percent first-to-third hour drop. It seems to indicate more interest than usual coming off Payback, but more audience loss than has been the case in recent weeks. That indicates people were not as interested in the three-way to determine the title contender at Clash of Champions as compared to other recent main events ... Raw was down 24 percent in viewers, 30 percent in 18-49, and 40 percent in 18-34 as compared to the same week last year. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.10 million viewers 9 p.m. 1.88 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.70 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI Variety is reporting more members of the voice cast for Paramount Animation and WWE Studios "Rumble" will include basketball legend Charles Barkley, comedienne Bridgette Everett , former boxing champion Chris Eubank. They join Will Arnett, Terry Crews, Michael Buffer, Stephen A. Smith, Ben Schwartz, Tony Danza, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and others in the animated movie about a monster wrestling universe. The film has a current release date of January 29, 2021.

Originally Posted by PWI For those who asked about whether WWE is adding other additional PPVs after Payback returned, here is how their calendar currently shapes up: There is no main roster PPV scheduled for October currently. There will be a NXT Takeover on 10/4. WWE Hell in A Cell is set for 11/1 with Survivor Series slated for 11/22 WWE TLC is set for 12/20. So, while Payback was an additionally added PPV, there are currently no plans to add others to the 2020 PPV calendar.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Nikkan Sports conducted an interview with RAW Women’s Champion Asuka. Asuka talked about some of her goals that she set for herself upon arriving in WWE and one of her main goals was to strengthen the company’s women’s division. “When I came in, the word ‘Diva’ wasn’t used anymore, and female athletes were also known as ‘superstars.’ I’m going to strengthen the women’s division from now on. I thought this was my mission. When I was just coming to WWE, I played the main role at the NXT competition several times. It was rarely said that it’s really amazing! ‘Congratulations to the main!’ It was rare for a female player to appear in the main at WWE, but now I am left to the main of PPV and TV broadcasting. Isn’t it one of the first motivations to start closing the gender gap in WWE?” Asuka also compared wrestling in America to wrestling in Japan. She stated that while in Japan, there were not many women that came to see her wrestle so that was a positive change for her to see when she arrived in NXT. “Well, I think it’s unique. When I was in Japan, there weren’t many women coming to see me, so it was really nice to be a fan. At that time, I was conscious of trying to increase the number of fans who are watching male professional wrestling. The world of female professional wrestling is like a small village. I was thinking of getting the fans to be fans, and I thought that if they didn’t become happy players, they wouldn’t reach the level that would be accepted in the world.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Ringsiders Wrestling chatted with Aaron Solow recently. During their conversation, Aaron revealed that he and Ricky Starks were a part of Rusev’s WrestleMania 31 entrance as they played the role of the soldiers holding the Russian flag. “Ricky and I were actually in Rusev’s entrance for Mania 31. You can never tell. Unless there’s some technology that can really zoom in, you’ll never be able to tell. But we’re the soldiers for Rusev when he comes out and we’re holding the Russian flag.” Prior to going out in front the crowd, the extras were met with handshakes from Linda McMahon who thought that they were actual soldiers. “And then another funny story about that is because we were dressed in the soldier uniforms the whole time and we’re kind of just all in line waiting. Ricky, myself, the other extras and I think it was Linda McMahon. Linda McMahon comes walking up to us and she starts shaking all of our hands and I’m wondering why is she doing this and then by the time she gets to me and Ricky she’s like, ‘Thank you for your service.’ I don’t know what’s going on. I just nodded my head and when she walked off I was like, ‘Oh God, she thinks we’re real soldiers.’”

Originally Posted by Fightful Triple H has given the WWE Universe a look into what to expect when NXT UK re-launches. On Twitter, Triple H showed a video of the set for the NXT UK re-launch, taking place at the BT Sport Studios in London. During NXT TakeOver XXX, it was announced that NXT UK will return later this month. NXT UK has not run new episodes in months and has instead been airing best-of compilations and matches that were never before seen featuring names such as Adam Cole, Matt Riddle, and others. BT Sport has also lent its studio to British boxing promotional company Queensberry Promotions, with a number of shows featuring British stars Carl Frampton, Daniel Dubois and Michael Conlan airing on ESPN+ in the United States. The BT Sport Studio will also be the site of a world championship fight between unified junior welterweight titlist Josh Taylor and Apinun Khongsong on September 26.

Link: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1300894888058384384

Originally Posted by Fightful Jim Cornette has lost a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against G-Raver. Cornette filed a lawsuit in December 2019 over a t-shirt with his likeness being stabbed that said "Fuck Jim Cornette." G-Raver's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was denied. In the preliminary injunction (via Alexandra J. Roberts), the court ruled t-shirts sold by G-Raver aren't commerce but speech, "G-Raver sold the shirts...to critique Cornette’s views on deathmatch wrestling through parody; 1a protects this expression...because parodies are a valuable means of expression to weaken the ideas the celebrity espouses. On top of that, the shirts don't create a likelihood of confusion and Cornette's name may possess the distinctiveness that would make it a trademark. It's certainly not a famous one capable of dilution. Even if it were a mark, defendants' uses aren't similar." Cornette's right of publicity claim also failed with the ruling saying, "even when the use is facially for a commercial or advertising purpose; the relevant exception here is...the shirts are expressive works & the use is through a communications medium." The court holds the shirts to be works "invented by G-Raver's imagination" and thus they are transformative.

Originally Posted by Fightful Know your role and shut your mouth, jabroni. Now, when you use the term 'jabroni,' no one can tell you that you're using a slang term as the word has officially been added to the dictionary. The official definition reads: Slang. a stupid, foolish, or contemptible person; loser: She always has a comeback to own the trolls and jabronis on Twitter. Shut your mouth, you dumb jabroni! Also called en·hance·ment tal·ent [en-hans-muhnt tal-uhnt], job·ber [job-er] .Professional Wrestling. a wrestler whose purpose is to lose matches against headlining wrestlers in order to build up the status and fame of the headliners: The man is a legend in the ring—he eats jabronis for breakfast. The Rock made the term famous during the late 90s, calling his opponents 'jabronis' during his electric promos. The term has stuck around for wrestling fans and is still used to this day.

Originally Posted by Fightful The group known as Retribution will only be causing chaos on Monday nights. According to John Pollock of POST Wrestling, Retribution will be exclusive to WWE Raw moving forward. Fans may have noticed that Retribution didn't cause any chaos on the most recent episode of SmackDown and were absent from SummerSlam and Payback as well. The announcers continued to focus on the group, even airing video packages highlighting their antics, but the masked men and women were absent from those shows.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc There is expected to be major ratings in TV ratings moving forward, especially involving sports, as Nielsen begins counting out-of-home viewership. Viewers will now be counted from places such as bars, restaurants, and airports. Viewers will also be counted if they take their mobile devices from the home and use those to watch. This latest Nielsen tool is supposed to make a huge change in sports ratings moving forward, particularly major sporting events, and generally for the NFL, according to F4Wonline.com. WWE and AEW will also be affected, but likely on a much smaller scale. OutKick's Ryan Glasspiegel noted that Nielsen counting out-of-home viewership is a game-changer, and a huge deal that can't be overstated. OutKick reports that the out-of-home viewership will be incorporated into the numbers that Nielsen currently releases the day after events. While household rating numbers will remain constant, viewership is going to be an inexact comparison to previous year's numbers. Nielsen will reportedly measure out-of-home viewership via a beeper-like device carried by people who are in Nielsen's measurement sample. The device will capture and recognize the audio of what people are watching away from their homes. OutKick noted that this will go for everywhere from a friend's home, to a hotel, bar, gym, restaurant, and so on - hundreds of places. It was noted that an interesting aspect will be if people remember to carry the device, when they're already leaving the house with things like wallets, keys, and phones. Nielsen household samples have to opt in to the company's in-home measurement tools, but this new way of counting views involves an extra step in carrying the device with you. It was noted that there will also be interesting scenarios at bars and restaurants that air sports programming, but also play music during commercial breaks. One Nielsen source speculated to OutKick that in this scenario, if there's a 200-minute game and the sound of the game is on for 160 minutes, then the viewer would be counted for 160 minutes in the average minute audience, but not the other 40 minutes. It was also said that any time a viewer watches something with headphones while out of the house, such as the gym, the data won't be counted as streaming numbers are measured separately from TV viewership ... It was also noted by F4Wonline.com that the sports world has been waiting for a change like this as ratings decline each year, and now there's an idea that they will have a comeback year, or at least a year where the declines are not as bad. Previous tests have found that this method increases the number of younger viewers, which means the key younger demographics that have been hurt in recent years may see a comeback. Previous tests also found that this method skews more heavily towards female viewers. There's an idea, based on previous experiments, that out-of-home viewing will skew closer to a 50/50 split on male and female viewers.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc As noted on Monday, it was reported, via Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, that WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon told Randy Orton to make Keith Lee a star in their match at WWE Payback on Sunday, which Lee won clean in under 7 minutes. You can click here for that report, which noted that McMahon wants to push Lee "to the moon" on the RAW brand. In an update, it was noted by Gary Cassidy of Sportskeeda that Lee is said to be "very well-liked" backstage, by WWE higher-ups and other Superstars. Regarding Lee's planned push, word is that he is in line for a "big, but steady push" to the top of the red brand. WWE recently changed Lee's theme song and look, after negative feedback to what he came to the main roster with after SummerSlam, and word now is that his appearance may be "tweaked" more as they move forward.

Originally Posted by Observer TV Guide in their new listings has AEW Dynamite No. 57 in a list of the 100 best television shows in the U.S. I can't recall a pro wrestling show ever making the list other than GLOW. No. 1 was Better Call Saul.

Originally Posted by Observer MJF"s lawyer, who faces Jon Moxley on Wednesday's show, Smart Mark Sterling, is an independent wrestler as well as the producer and co-host of Matt Cardona & Brian Myers' podcast. He trained with MJF at Myers' school in New York, which is also where Kris Statlander was trained.

Originally Posted by PWI Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling, which is run by former WWF and WCW star Paul Roma and longtime WWF enhancement talent Mario Mancini, received a cease and desist letter, dated 8/28, ordering them to shut down as their wrestling school as been deemed as being in violation with a local zoning law that lists "wrestling studios" under adult entertainment aka pornography. The letter states the town was made aware that wrestling events were being held in the space on 8/27 and such events violate the city's rules on "adult oriented businesses and entertainment establishments." The school has been ordered to halt all wrestling activity immediately under threat of fines and potential criminal charges if they resume training or presenting events. The school has 30 days to appeal the decision and if they choose not to do so, that will be considered an admission that they are liable for violating the zoning law and could be subject to "an assessment or judgment" by East Haven. The letter does not state who brought the complaint against PAPW. The irony here is that Parade Alley Pro Wrestling, as a promotion, bills itself as family friendly and has promoted a number of events over the last five years in the Nutmeg State to raise money for different charities.

Originally Posted by 411Mania Heel by Nature reports that WWE is having some trouble trademarking EVOLVE after buying the company earlier this summer on July 2. The trademark was filed by former owner Salem Hamaoui back in November, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office initially refused the application due to an issue with the documentation. The USPTO said at the time: “Registration is refused because the specimen does not show the applied-for mark in use in commerce in connection with any of the goods and/or services specified in the application.” Hamaoui never responded so the trademark was subject to being abandoned. On August 4, WWE lawyer Lauren A. Dienes-Middlen filed a notice to revive the application and change ownership to WWE. The USPTO stated on August 25 that the application can’t move forward because of confusion with a trademark for “EF EVOLVED FIGHTS MIXED WRESTLING”. WWE has six months to respond.

Originally Posted by 411Mania As previously reported, WWE confirmed a mutual parting of ways with NXT announcer Mauro Ranallo yesterday (Aug. 31) ... Dave Meltzer offered more commentary on Ranallo’s exit on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. As noted in yesterday’s report, Ranallo had recently missed some NXT shows because he’s in British Columbia, where his mother is currently hospitalized. According to Meltzer, while in British Columbia, Mauro Ranallo came to the realization that he would not be returning to WWE. Currently, Ranallo plans to continue doing his broadcast work with Bellator MMA and Showtime Boxing. Meltzer added, “It was told me to me that he’s 50 years old, and it kind of brought into perspective that he’s here to be a mental health advocate, and doing wrestling every single week under that pressure is not what he’s here for.” Meltzer continued that while Ranallo’s WWE exit “wasn’t a big blowup,” Ranallo felt that it was time to go while his mother is currently hospitalized.

Originally Posted by PWI Add former CZW Champion Joe Gacy to the list of former EVOLVE stars who have signed a NXT/developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment. Gacy, 33, was a member of The Unwanted in EVOLVE, holding the EVOLVE Tag Team Championship. Gacy debuted in 2006 and has worked all over the Northeastern independent scene as well as Germany's WXW promotion. PWInsider.com is told Gacy is the final talent from EVOLVE expected to be signed at this time, following Josh Briggs, Anthony Greene, Brandi Lauren, Leon Ruff, Curt Stallion and referee Jake Clemons.

TPWW Frontpage:

• AEW: New TV Series to Debut Late 2020, All Out Preview Show, Excalibur Update, Thunder Rosa
• Various: MLW Resuming TV Tapings This Fall, ROH Pure Title Tournament, NJPW Jr. Tag Tournament
• Rey Mysterio Suffers Torn Triceps (Updated)
• Mauro Ranallo Leaving WWE
• Wade Barrett Negotiating New Full-Time WWE Announcer Contract
• Brock Lesnar’s WWE Contract Expires, Currently a Free Agent