TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[drave]

It'll never happen since they want her to be a "role model" for younger girls.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They should stay away from this at all costs.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or have it be Batista. But not kissing. Bayley walks out of a room and Batista then sticks his head out and gives her the thumbs down -- which he moves into a thumbs up.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Hug gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Despite agreeing to part ways with the company not too long ago, Mauro Ranallo is staying with WWE -- and he'll have a role on the NXT broadcast team going forward. “WWE and I mutually agreed to end my responsibilities on SmackDown having nothing to do with rumors about disputes,” Ranallo wrote on his Instagram account. “As I remained under contract with WWE, we discussed a variety of options. Despite originally agreeing to part ways, there was always a desire to continue working together. We have come to terms on a new agreement that benefits both WWE and me, and I am thrilled to announce I will now be part of the NXT broadcasting team.” Ranallo will be appearing at NXT's television tapings at Full Sail University tomorrow night. He tweeted that he will be the play-by-play voice of NXT.

Originally Posted by Observer On the Mauro Ranallo story, the talks between WWE and Ranallo returning date back to April and the deal was all but finalized a few weeks ago. The original announcement was expected to be yesterday. Ranallo signed a new multi-year contract, so he is not returning on his old contract that expires in August. The contract is to work all NXT television tapings and TakeOver specials, so it's a lot more limited deal than his prior deal which was for 52 Tuesdays, a dozen or so Sundays which also meant being on the road on Mondays the week of Sunday shows, so a minimum of about 76 dates. He'll remain with Showtime and Bellator. But any talk of him doing New Japan is pretty much dead.

Some details regarding the Mauro story above.

Originally Posted by Observer Vince Russo filed for an order of protection on 6/16 in Posey County Superior Court in Indiana claiming that Cornette has been stalking him since 1999. That's based on a promo Cornette cut on him on his 6/15 podcast. Cornette was served last night at his home in Louisville and ordered to stay away from Russo, Ann Russo, the home of Vince Russo and Russo's place of employment.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE announced today a new weekly Hindi language television show called WWE Sunday Dhamaal, which airs from 6-8 p.m. every Sunday starting this weekend on Sony MAX. It will be a combination of matches taped from WWE tapings with features done in the language with the talent. The show will also air in English on TEN 1 and Ten 1 HD on Sundays from 10 a.m. to Noon.

Originally Posted by Observer On last night's show we were asked if there were any women on the WWE writing team. The answer is there are no women on the traveling team, but the "home team" has at least one woman writer.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has confirmed five more wrestlers who will be participating in this summer's Mae Young Classic. In an announcement that was made by ESPN, it was noted that Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, and Jazzy Gabert would be taking part in the women's tournament. They join Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, and Sarah Logan as names already confirmed for the 32-competitor field. Blanchard is the daughter of Tully Blanchard and the stepdaughter of "Magnum T.A." Terry Allen. She is only 21 years old but has been wrestling since 2014. She debuted for Stardom last year and has continued to appear for the promotion ... With her getting a new in-ring name yesterday, Laith seemed like a lock for the Mae Young Classic. She wrestled as Kimber Lee and was a standout on the indies before being signed by WWE. She had been using her real name (Kimberly Frankele) in NXT before the name change. Conti is also a fairly recent WWE signing who has been given a new name. The Brazilian (named Taynara Melo) debuted in a battle royal at an NXT house show earlier this year. She has a background in judo and jiu-jitsu. Devi is from India and attended WWE's tryouts in Dubai this past April. She has trained with The Great Khali and has participated in weightlifting. Her being in the tournament was first revealed by the Times of India this morning. Rounding out the list, Gabert (also known as Alpha Female) is a veteran pro wrestler from Germany. She has wrestled for wXw, Stardom, and has done a few matches for TNA. She has also competed in MMA.

Originally Posted by pwi New Japan star Katsuyori Shibata took to the internet and his "Real Talk" blog to update his health status. He stated that even before this latest injury, he has been seeing double since the beginning of his career. He stated that he's had surgery on his eyes on three separate occasion over the years. In regards to his current situation, he stated that the treatments are a "heavy burden to his body" because it involves sending currents (presumably electrical) to the injured parts of his body (which is his skull/brain). He stated "there is no precedent" for his current treatment and that there are only a few machines that do this treatment in the country. He said he gets desperate when he thinks about his condition and that his best hope at this point is to be able to have clearer vision than he does now.

Link with a summary of the announcement: https://twitter.com/STRIGGA/status/877949879116472320

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Impact Wrestling has been locked in a legal battle with Matt and Jeff Hardy for the majority of this year over the rights to the Broken Matt and Brother Nero gimmicks ... What complicates matters even more is Jeff Jarrett's personal friendship with Jeff Hardy. Jarrett recently spoke to Wrestle:List about the ongoing legal battle, where he gave his thoughts on the squabble. "I always take the high road because there is legal squabbles or potential legal squabbles but I have said this to a couple of outlets, and I say this with very broad strokes – I am from Nashville so I am around music which is intellectual property and I have been in the business 30 years," Jarrett told Wrestle:List. "Intellectual property laws are very simple, there are two sides to it; there are publishers and the writers, then there are the performers as well." "Jeff Hardy has been one of my best friends for 20 years, you can look on my social media and their social media, and we take family vacations together but business is business," Jarrett continued. "So when it relates to IP it's real simple, there is a publisher who owns the property, there is a writer who gets credit and can monetize it, then there is the performers. There is no question that Broken Matt and Brother Nero's performances were off the charts good. But when it comes to ownership to me it's almost a silly squabble, it's never been in question. Impact are the owners."

Link to the interview: http://www.wrestlelist.com/jeff-jarr...slammiversary/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Today, a fan sent Reby an interview that Jeff Jarrett did recently, where he said he's taken "the high road" in legal issues with The Hardys and that there was no doubt that Impact Wrestling owned the "Broken" gimmick. Reby sent out multiple tweets about Jeff Jarrett and Impact and mentioned a DUI charge that hadn't been public: Stop doing stupid interviews before I release your drunk texts & the DUI records that somehow haven't gotten out WAIT OOPS @RealJeffJarrett https://t.co/zmw14Y2QPF — Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) June 22, 2017 Don't say you wanna be done with drama in a quiet manner & then have company stooges like Jeff & Dutch give interviews spewing BS. — Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) June 22, 2017 If the issue was as simple & cut/dry as these morons are trying to make it seem, I wouldn't have been out here fighting for my family. — Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) June 22, 2017 Truth is TNA can't afford to go to court over this, so they're going to downplay it to anyone who will listen & lie to look powerful — Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) June 22, 2017 Money is power. Never forget that. @RealJeffJarrett — Reby Hardy (@RebyHardy) June 22, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc It's not known if the "free agent" storyline is being done to allow Cena to appear at RAW events when needed, however Cena is not currently scheduled for any WWE Monday Night RAW tapings through SummerSlam, including the post-SummerSlam episode of RAW. We have learned that Cena is scheduled for every Monday SmackDown house show that he is available through SummerSlam, including the post-SummerSlam SmackDown live event in Albany, NY, so he would not be able to work RAW on those Mondays unless it was close by. Cena is also not currently scheduled for any other RAW live events through SummerSlam other than the two we mentioned, and is scheduled to work all the SmackDown live events that he is available during that period. Cena is also scheduled for every SmackDown Live TV taping through September with the exception of the August 8th episode. Cena will also be appearing at the next SmackDown pay-per-view, WWE Battleground, on Sunday, July 23rd, which is the final SmackDown pay-per-view before SummerSlam. He will not be appearing at the last RAW pay-per-view before SummerSlam, Great Balls of Fire. While WWE is running with the storyline that Cena is a free agent, he is unlikely to appear on Monday Night RAW anytime soon.

Updates to the recent Cena "Free Agent" news.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE sent out a survey to fans who attended WrestleMania this year in Orlando asking their preference when it comes to traveling to a WrestleMania in London, Toronto or New York

Originally Posted by Observer In Memphis for years there has been a movement to save the Mid South Coliseum, which was the hope for wrestling from 1971 until well into the late 90s and they even ran successful nostalgia shows long after that. With new arenas opening, the Coliseum doesn’t have much use past its nostalgia value. Jerry Lawler noted that the city was willing to sell him the building for $1. The catch is that the building’s upkeep cost is $63,000 per month

Originally Posted by Observer So a funny spot on the 6/13 Smackdown show is that JBL twice used the word “belt” as Lana laid out Naomi, saying the belt, which is blue, matches the dress noting fashion coordination. At that point somebody said something and JBL had his mic off but in the corner of the shot you could see him in a discussion

Originally Posted by Observer The mentions of Conor McGregor on Raw this week were not coincidental, and things like that never are. Paul Levesque was on Sky Sports News HQ in the U.K. and outright said that they’d love to get McGregor and Floyd Mayweather on Raw to help them promote their fight. I’m sure the idea of the deal proposed is they’d have a worldwide platform with millions of fans to sell their fight and in return WWE would get the publicity and whatever ratings boost it can from promoting both being on the show. Plus, WWE has worked with Mayweather in the past to the point HHH himself has walked Mayweather to the ring, and they negotiated for McGregor for WrestleMania and having a relationship with them and McGregor makes sense on both sides

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, NJPW star Tetsuya Naito celebrated his 35th birthday today. https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/877720056897060864
• For those interested, the PC version of WWE 2k17 is currently $15 at Steam as part of Valve's current Summer Sale. Discount is 70% off and sale itself lasts till July 5th.
• Channel Guide Magazine had a recent interview with Cody Rhodes talking about Bullet Club, HBK advice, and not having plans to return to the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...hawn-michaels/
• According to the Observer, Daniel Bryan still wants to wrestle and has no plans of signing a new deal with the WWE once it expires late next year. Only thing that will likely persuade him to not wrestle is if medical tests reveal his health is at serious risk. Also more likely to work for CMLL than NJPW as his first post-WWE job. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...let_him_brian/
• WWE's upcoming book about Ric Flair and Charlotte called "Second Nature" got delayed from its July release to now a September 19th release date.
• Observer stated Kairi Hojo arrived in Orlando this week for the WWE while a recent press conference from Stardom stated Io Shirai will be taking some time off for rest and to heal nagging neck problems.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I always marked out for the idea of Daniel Bryan asking for a new WWE contract to head up the SmackDown creative team, so he can craft out his own little niche for wrestling over there. But I'm not sure how realistic that is.

If Bryan is healthy enough, I say go for it. I'm happy for him to stay retired, but I'm not sure how legitimate the WWE's concussion testing is.

[Simple Fan]

I dont want to see Bryan wrestle again but thats just because I'm not a fan of the guy. Once his WWE contract runs out I'm sure he will field offers from other companies. Now I know the guy is a huge star and fans love him but I feel like WWE knows that and are trying to cool him off before he leaves. Yes chants have already gotten smaller and once and if he does leave I dont think it will be that big of an effect.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't think it will be a mainstream ripple, but it will draw eyeballs to whatever it was he was doing. Whatever Matt Hardy did in TNA many times over. On a New Japan show, it could be a good way to launch traditional PPV in the United States -- especially if it's accompanied by a 6.35 star classic, of course.

Last time I watched a SmackDown (and it was ages ago), Bryan sounded like one of the most genuinely over people on the show. He obviously doesn't feel white-hot anymore, but he seems more beloved than just about anybody else on the show. I don't think the WWE have cooled him as much as they are more comfortable using him as the sideshow attraction now that they won't let him wrestle.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Wacky Waving Not-Inflatable Arm Flailing Maria Gif:

Originally Posted by Observer One-half of reDRagon has seemingly arrived in NXT. Bobby Fish made his first WWE appearance at tonight's NXT television tapings at Full Sail University. His first match was against Aleister Black. The match came after reports that Fish had been spotted at the building earlier in the day, along with Pro Wrestling Sheet noting that he'd be making his debut. An NXT debut that was already known about happened at the tapings as well, with Mauro Ranallo joining the broadcast booth for the first time since announcing that he'll be staying with WWE. Triple H introduced him to the crowd at the start of the show. Fish had previously reached a new short-term agreement with Ring of Honor when his contract came up at the end of last year. When that expired in March, he continued working for ROH on a per-date basis and started taking other bookings. There has also been a situation with claims related to tampering from ROH that have at least temporarily blocked some people (including Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) who were formerly with them from signing with WWE.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Mauro Ranallo revealed on Twitter that the new WWE NXT announce team will be him, Percy Watson and Nigel McGuinness. Mauro will be replacing Tom Phillips. He tweeted the following: Minutes away from my first @WWENXT taping with @McGuinnessNigel & @WWEPercyWatson at @FullSail MAMMA MIA! ???? — Mauro Ranallo (@mauroranallo) June 23, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI The trademark issues that had been preventing Billy Corgan from purchasing the National Wrestling Alliance appear to have been resolved, paving the way for the former TNA Wrestling President to purchase the NWA brand. All interest of the trademarks related to the National Wrestling Alliance (three in the United States, one in Japan) were assigned by Bruce Tharpe's International Wrestling Corp. over to Lightning One, Inc as of 5/25. Lightning One, Inc. is a production company that lists Billy Corgan as the Director. As of 6/21, the United States Patent and Trademark Organization now lists Lightning One as the owners for all NWA trademarks.

Originally Posted by PWI At tonight's WWE NXT taping, WWE held a Mae Young Classic qualification matches: *WWE NXT talent Bianca Belair (formerly Bianca Blair) defeated Aliyah to earn a spot in the tournament. *Vanessa Borne (current NXT talent Danielle Kamela) defeated Jayme Hachey (independent talent Jayme Jameson) to qualify.

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network will be releasing a Collection next month featuring Roddy Piper's infamous Piper's Pit segments.

Originally Posted by PWI The 6/22 edition of Impact on Pop from India, week three, did 342,000 overnight viewers, up from last week's 327,000 viewers

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network has uploaded two more Madison Square Garden shows to the "Old School" category of the Vault section. They have added the November 23, 1981 and December 28, 1982 shows at the World's Most Famous Arena.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Impact Wrestling celebrated their 15th anniversary this past Monday and former President Dixie Carter tweeted the following on the milestone: So proud of this company and all the men and women who helped build it. @IMPACTWRESTLING #Here'sTo15More ?? https://t.co/z6WlH13QCr — Dixie Carter (@TNADixie) June 19, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc ESPN posted on Twitter where Asuka's current NXT Championship reign stacks up among the longest women's championship runs ever. Today, she tied Trish Stratus' 2005-2006 run of 448 days. Only Rockin' Robin (502 days) and Fabulous Moolah (10,170 days) are longer: .@WWEAsuka ties @trishstratuscom today for the 3rd-longest women's title reign in @WWE/@WWENXT history. pic.twitter.com/1j75rmvviC — WWE on ESPN (@WWEonESPN) June 23, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As seen on RAW this past Monday night, Roman Reigns challenged the winner of the Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar WWE Universal Championship bout to a title match at SummerSlam. We've mentioned that the plan for the main event for SummerSlam was for Lesnar to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest issue of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Strowman vs. Lesnar for the title was still the plan as late as two weeks ago. Meltzer noted that if the plans changed, it could be because of the recent low ratings, with the idea being that Lesnar's limited schedule while holding the title could be hurting them. The original plan was for Lesnar to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, with Lesnar defending the title against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor before then.

Some details regarding rumors of Lesnar-Reigns getting nixed for Mania 34 in favor of SummerSlam instead.


Some other sheet news includes:

• A documentary on the Gawker-Hulk Hogan legal saga called Nobody Speak was recently released on Netflix.
• Impact Wrestling is currently interested in inviting Donald Trump to be in Bobby Lashley's corner for the Impact Championship match at next month's Slammiversary PPV. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/110...rsary.html?p=1
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 21st anniversary of Steve Austin's famous "Austin 3:16" promo.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, only 2 winners in G1 Climax history have never won the IWGP Heavyweight title since the belt's debut in 1987. Those two are Kenny Omega (2016 winner) and Hirooki Goto (2008 winner). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...e_the_only_g1/
• The Associated Press had a recent interview with Mauro Ranallo talking about leaving Smackdown and his current success as a broadcaster. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...rrent-success/

[ClockShot]

Bobby Fish is a nice pick up.

[Evil Vito]

Supposedly Slater/Rhyno and the Hype Bros are the next teams in line to be broken up.

Slater's being advertised solo for upcoming Raw house shows (although given Rhyno's age maybe he just never works a full schedule). This one is whatever to me. They were a fun team when they started but they barely are featured on Raw. Slater is amazing so if splitting the team up is the only way to get him on screen, I say do it. Suppose there's a decent chance of him joining Miz's posse although he's such a wonderful goofy face he could work in either role.

The Hype Bros supposedly got put back together just to so they could be broken up and feud. Gotta assume they'll lose their #1 contenders match then and then one of them would turn. I'm torn on this one only because I actually think both men would be more interesting as heels. Just let them be arrogant dicks and be the Fashion Police's next feud while the New Day finish up their business with The Usos.

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by #BrotherVito DELETED Supposedly Slater/Rhyno and the Hype Bros are the next teams in line to be broken up. Slater's being advertised solo for upcoming Raw house shows (although given Rhyno's age maybe he just never works a full schedule). This one is whatever to me. They were a fun team when they started but they barely are featured on Raw. Slater is amazing so if splitting the team up is the only way to get him on screen, I say do it. Suppose there's a decent chance of him joining Miz's posse although he's such a wonderful goofy face he could work in either role. The Hype Bros supposedly got put back together just to so they could be broken up and feud. Gotta assume they'll lose their #1 contenders match then and then one of them would turn. I'm torn on this one only because I actually think both men would be more interesting as heels. Just let them be arrogant dicks and be the Fashion Police's next feud while the New Day finish up their business with The Usos.

I see Ryder being the one who turns.

When I saw Ryder return backstage and surprise Mojo, I had a feeling that he would be the one turning heel.

I think if Ryder turns heel then it would benefit both guys but if Mojo turns heel, it would only benefit him and not Ryder.

Ryder would just return to being a massive jobber after his feud with Mojo.

[XL]

Seems a bit too soon to be doing more Tag Team splits after Golden Truth and Enzo & Cass.

[drave]

The main roster:

Where tag teams go to die.

[Ruien]

Mojo is the perfect face. He's feds off his lukewarm reactions like no ones business.

[KIRA]

Originally Posted by Ruien Mojo is the perfect face.

Words fail me.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Want to see 3MB reform, babaaaaaay!

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The KinSasha:

Raw fell four percent from last week's 3.10 million viewers to 2.98 million ... The third hour, built around a long women's gauntlet match, held up better than usual, with hour three staying even in the 18-34 demo, although it did fall with viewers over the age of 35 and particularly with women. SmackDown, with a women's Money in the Bank match and a full card advertised, should do a strong number tonight, at least in theory. If it drops from last week, it would be a sign that the Raw rating has a great effect on how SmackDown the next night does. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.89 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.09 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.95 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer The segment with LaVar Ball and the Ball family that nearly went off the rails wound up with LaMelo Ball, with a live mic, at one point saying, "Beat that," and followed with the N word, while his father was running around going crazy teasing that he wanted to fight The Miz. LaMelo is the youngest of the three Ball sons, and is a high school basketball star at Chino Hills High School in Southern California. He's committed to UCLA as part of the program's 2019 basketball recruiting class. As you can imagine, backstage was chaos. WWE immediately responded to the Los Angeles Times saying, "The inappropriate language used by a guest during the Miz TV segment was not scripted, nor reflects WWE's values." According to one person backstage, the key people, notably Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon, were very unhappy backstage when the word was audible to the crowd.

WWE ended up putting an edited version of the segment on their official Youtube channel after having no replays of it during last night's show.

Originally Posted by Observer Torrie Wilson, Sharmell, Christy Hemme, and Candice Michelle were backstage at Raw in Los Angeles last night.

Link to the instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BV1Deb6B...iewilson&hl=en

Originally Posted by Observer While appearing on Hot 104.1 in St. Louis recently, Randy Orton explained the comments that he made criticizing dives. He clarified that he doesn't have a problem with dives if they mean something, but said there's no longevity in throwing yourself to the floor without any purpose

Link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL7bUOG9B38

Originally Posted by Observer Impact Wrestling announced during a YouTube special hyping Slammiversary that MMA fighter "King Mo" Muhammed Lawal will be in Bobby Lashley's corner for his main event against Alberto El Patron on Sunday. El Patron's father (and pro wrestling legend) Dos Caras will be in his corner. Both Lashley and Lawal are fighters with Bellator, but Lashley hasn't fought since last October. Lawal is a big pro wrestling fan and has been involved with Impact in the past. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the company, the city of Orlando has declared July 5th as "Impact Wrestling day in Orlando." Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer will present a proclamation before the July 5th Impact tapings and will serve as a special guest ring announcer for two matches.

Originally Posted by Observer The company sent out another fan survey today to former WWE network subscribers. They are looking for info on their fan base on how loyal a fan they are, how familiar they are with current storylines, how much you like storylines, asking fans if they know who the current WWE champion is, the name of he next PPV, who are the members of New Day, if you watch Raw or SmackDown on Hulu, television, on-line, Facebook or YouTube, visit web sites to get info and ask why they aren't signed up at this point and why you signed up in the first place, if you'd sign up with a longer free trial period and many other things.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has revealed some more details about this summer's Mae Young Classic. In an article that was posted on WWE.com today, it was officially confirmed that Jim Ross and Lita would be calling the tournament. Dave Meltzer reported last month that they were rumored to be the commentary team after Ross announced his involvement. The first four episodes of the Mae Young Classic will be made available on the WWE Network on August 28th. The next four episodes will be released on September 4th. Those shows will be made available on demand as WWE hopes that viewers will binge watch them. A bracketology special previewing the Mae Young Classic and profiling its participants will air on the Network after SummerSlam on August 20th. The winner of the tournament will be crowned at a live special on September 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada. That will air at 10 p.m. ET after SmackDown, which is also scheduled to take place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas that night. The Mae Young Classic tapings will begin on July 13th and 14th at Full Sail University.

Originally Posted by Observer In an interesting political move, Impact Wrestling will have members of warring Mexican promotions in the same tag team title match. The company today announced for Sunday's Slammiversary pay-per-view from Orlando, that LAX would defend the Impact tag titles in a four-way match. One team announced today is Drago & El Hijo del Fantasma, who both work for AAA, the very heated rival promotion of The Crash, which Konnan, who heads the LAX group, is the booker of. Drago's name had been bandied about since Konnan brought it up on his podcast. At first, when Impact opened up a working relationship with AAA after already doing so with The Crash, a very unique political situation, the idea was that the talent from the two companies would never interact, but obviously that has changed. In Mexico, neither promotion allows its talent to appear on a show with anyone from the other promotion. In the U.K., there was a situation where AAA pulled a power play to force Pentagon Jr. off a show because that show was using rival talent. Another note is that Drago and Fantasma (who is King Cuerno in LU) are both under contract to Lucha Underground exclusively for U.S. television, meaning Lucha Underground for the first time is allowing its talent to appear for another wrestling promotion on television.

Originally Posted by Observer Two more Madison Square Garden shows have been added to the WWE Network: November 23, 1981: Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine cage match for WWF title, Pedro Morales vs. Don Muraco for IC title, Dusty Rhodes vs. Angelo Mosca, Mil Mascaras vs. The Executioner December 28, 1982: Bob Backlund vs. Superstar Billy Graham lumberjack match, Pedro Morales vs. Don Muraco for IC title, Jimmy Snuka vs. Ray Stevens, Buddy Rose vs. Ivan Putski

Originally Posted by Observer For the second time since the title was created, WWE's United Kingdom Championship is set to be defended outside of the company. Insane Championship Wrestling announced today that Pete Dunne would defend his title on July 29th at the first night of their "Shug's Hoose Party 4" weekend of shows. Dunne's challenger will be decided at an ICW show prior to that, with WWE UK's Wolfgang facing the winner of a four-way (which includes Davey Blaze, Kenny Williams, BT Gunn, and Gabriel Kidd) in a number one contender's match. Dunne's match won't be the only WWE representation on the July 29th show, with it having been previously revealed that Noam Dar would return to ICW to team with Sha Samuels against Grado & Joe Coffey.

Originally Posted by PWI As we reported exclusively in the PWInsider Elite section last week, WWE is preparing to add a ton of World Class Championship Wrestling episodes to the VOD section of the WWE Network later this summer.

Originally Posted by PWI Eva Marie did an interview with Too Fab discussing The Rock's influence and advice on her movie career. She also discusses her role in the upcoming Nick Cage movie, "Inconceivable" opening this Friday in theaters, dying her hair and more. On whether she would ever be willing to return for a WWE event: "Oh, my goodness, for sure. WWE, for me, is where it all started. You never know, I could show up on a Monday Night Raw, I could come down to Smackdown Live and snatch that title real quick. Never leave me out, you never know what's creeping around the corner, if you know what I mean." On a possible return to "Total Divas": "You never know. It's definitely a possibility. I love that show and I think everybody needs a little bit of Natalie Eva Marie in their life, so why not spread it everywhere."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc .@NiaJaxWWE isn"t like most girls... WHY? Because she"s BIONIC! #WWERideAlong @WWEGraves @TomPhillipsWWE @WWENetwork pic.twitter.com/R7225BxeTB — WWE (@WWE) June 27, 2017 - Above is video from last night's WWE Ride Along with Nia Jax, Corey Graves and Tom Phillips. Nia talks about how she was a plus-size model before signing with WWE and how her cousin The Rock suggested she work a tryout at the WWE Performance Center. Nia was in a car accident before the tryouts after she and her aunt were hit head-on by a drunk driver. She now has a metal plate in her clavicle due to the wreck.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Tyson Kidd, aka TJ Wilson, is making his return to wrestling … however, it won’t be in the ring — he’ll be working in a non-wrestling capacity. According to sources, Kidd is currently being transitioned into a non-wrestling role. Since it’s still fresh, one source says it’s too early to define whether it’ll be behind the scenes — like a producer/agent — or if he’ll be used in some sort of on-air role that doesn’t require wrestling.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Recent episode of the Steve Austin Show had Bayley as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Bayley
• Deadspin had a recent article about the lessons the WWE failed to learn since the decade of Benoit's murder-suicide tragedy. http://deadspin.com/10-years-after-t...ing-1794183640
• As part of the celebrations for the new GLOW tv series, website Jezebel had an article about women's wrestling prior to the original GLOW promotion. http://pictorial.jezebel.com/the-wom...-wr-1796452470
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, last Sunday was the 17th anniversary of Kurt Angle's victory at the finals of King of the Ring 2000 ppv. Defeated Rikishi in the finals to become the new King of the WWE at the time.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 15th anniversary of John Cena's debut in the WWE. WWE celebrated the occasion on Twitter earlier today. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/879701191621357568
• The Sun had a recent interview with Seth Rollins talking about a possible Shield reunion in the future and the idea of a Shield vs Bullet Club feud. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...hield-reunion/

[BigCrippyZ]

The segment with LaVar Ball and the Ball family that nearly went off the rails wound up with LaMelo Ball, with a live mic, at one point saying, "Beat that," and followed with the N word, while his father was running around going crazy teasing that he wanted to fight The Miz. LaMelo is the youngest of the three Ball sons, and is a high school basketball star at Chino Hills High School in Southern California. He's committed to UCLA as part of the program's 2019 basketball recruiting class. As you can imagine, backstage was chaos. WWE immediately responded to the Los Angeles Times saying, "The inappropriate language used by a guest during the Miz TV segment was not scripted, nor reflects WWE's values." According to one person backstage, the key people, notably Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon, were very unhappy backstage when the word was audible to the crowd.

So the only thing remotely interesting that happened on Raw was an unscripted segment. Imagine that.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Dean Ambrose's reaction to RAW's Miz TV segment:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown rating was virtually identical to the previous week's, coming in at 2.603 million viewers. That number is up 6,000 viewers from last week. The show was loaded by typical TV standards, with the women's Money in the Bank rematch headlining the episode. Naomi vs. Lana for the SmackDown Women's Championship, Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn, and The Usos vs. The Hype Bros were also advertised in advance. SmackDown was third on cable in total viewers for the night and once again was first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.83 rating. This week last year, SmackDown did 2.08 million viewers with a 0.63 rating in the 18-49 demo, so those numbers are up 25 percent and 32 percent respectively. Of course, the show was taped and aired on Thursday nights last year.

Originally Posted by Observer With Asuka vs. Nikki Cross in a last woman standing match for the NXT Women's Championship airing tonight, Raw, SmackDown, and NXT will all have had women's main events this week. That's the first time that has ever happened.

Originally Posted by Observer NXT's Mary Kate (who was wrestling under that name since being signed by WWE and was formerly Andrea on the indies) has been given a new in-ring name. She will now be called Sage Miller.

Originally Posted by Observer Raymond Rougeau and Jean Brassard will start as the French PPV commentary team at Great Balls of Fire.

Originally Posted by Observer Former Tough Enough winner Matt Cappotelli announced that the brain tumor he had removed 10 years ago has come back much more aggressively and that a portion of it is inoperable. Cappotelli wrote that he's undergoing surgery to remove a part of the tumor and that further treatment plans will be decided after doctors determine what they're dealing with.

Link to the announcement: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

Originally Posted by Observer PWG has continued to reveal entrants for this year's Battle of Los Angeles. Rey Fenix, Dezmond Xavier, and Donovan Dijak were announced for the tournament today. They join Flamita, Keith Lee, WALTER, and Travis Banks as the already announced participants.

Originally Posted by Observer Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions (the parent company of Impact Wrestling) officially revealed today that they've entered into an agreement to acquire Global Force Wrestling. Jeff Jarrett's official title is that he's Impact's Chief Creative Officer.

Originally Posted by PWI On the latest ‘Dinner With The King’, co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore talk about The King’s feud with The Miz in 2010-11 for the WWE Championship. They also discuss possible returns to the ring for Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan and those two, including King, being on the WWE ‘no-touch’ list. When it comes to predicting which would be the first to get back in a WWE ring, Lawler says Angle would win that race. But The King goes on to explain what Angle and Bryan might be feeling with their current roles in WWE. "I can relate to both of these guy’s situation. I promise you neither Kurt Angle or Daniel Bryan go into this business and worked their way to the WWE to be general managers on Raw and Smackdown. I can assure they are doing it, but without a doubt, they are doing it because that the WWE wants them to do right now. Because they feel like their wrestling would be a liability in the ring right now. I know that they would both rather be out there performing in front of all the fans in the ring. And it’s gotta be eating them both up inside that the WWE thinks they are not capable of doing that anymore.” When talking about his feud with The Miz, which led to a WrestleMania 27 match against Michael Cole, Lawler reveals his WrestleMania match payday: "My lone WrestleMania match led to my biggest payday ever in the wrestling business. Here’s me, an announcer, having a WrestleMania match with another announcer. In a matter of a few minutes [I was out there], I got paid $130,000 for that match.”

Link to the podcast episode: http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed...-color/2179bd/

Originally Posted by PWI Tyson Kidd was backstage at last night’s WWE Smackdown taping in San Diego, the first time Kidd has been at a WWE event since suffering his neck injury in June 2015 during a dark match. Since the injury, Kidd was quietly removed from the Total Divas reality series (even though his wife Natalya, as well as other members of her family, continued to be featured) and had not been at any official WWE events, although he had been under contract. On Twitter, Kidd noted that he would be returning to Total Divas, which is a sign that he and WWE have moved towards working together again. Lisa Marie Varon, the former Victoria, was also at the taping last night. She noted on social media that she wanted to go backstage after the MITB match to congratulate the competitors but "the office said I couldn't go backstage." Rusev was backstage but not used last night.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had Baron Corbin as the guest. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/BaronCorbin
• Charlotte was announced to be this week's guest for Edge & Christian's podcast show. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/statu...77441745022976
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday was the six year anniversary of CM Punk's famous pipe bomb promo. Punk celebrated the occasion on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BV3k56iA...aken-by=cmpunk
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 19th anniversary of Mankind-Taker Hell in a Cell match involving the iconic moment of Mankind being tossed from the top of the cell. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...nic_wwe_match/
• NJPW announced the full schedule for this year's G1 tournament with arguably the biggest match of the block stage occurring on August 12th between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada. http://www.f4wonline.com/japan/njpw-...chedule-238196
• WWE announced a new show called NXT Insider will be debuting on their official Youtube channel tonight. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/880094259256320000
• In a possible LOLTNA type moment, Impact Wrestling had Scott Steiner handle one of their media calls today to help promote Slammiversary. The event quickly spiraled out of control once it got to questions involving the WWE and Triple H with Steiner going as far as ranting against Steph and her rumored incident with Macho Man being true. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...hanie-mcmahon/
• NJPW recently had Kenny Omega host a media call as part of the hype for this weekend's G1 Special in the US. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...urn-to-the-us/

[Sepholio]

LOL Steiner is the MAN

[DaveWadding]

If Fenix is announced already for BOLA, you know that Penta isn't all that far behind.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Steiner stuff gets even better since during the same media call, he claimed to be better than Wilt Chamberlain when it came to sleeping with women.

Wilt Chamberlain famously claimed to have slept with 20,000 women throughout his life … but that ain’t nothing to Scott Steiner, because Big Poppa Pump claims to have slept with 15K in one year. Steiner took part in a media conference call on Wednesday to promote Impact Wrestling‘s upcoming Slammiversary PPV and the 54-year-old covered a whole host of topics. Editor-in-Chief Ryan Satin was on the call and chose to speak with Scott about one of the approved topics, “Freaks Around the World” — asking how many Steiner possesses. That’s when the wrestler made a bold claim. “Back in 1998-1999, I broke Wilt Chamberlain’s record with 15,000 women.” Adding, “I always thought that even though it’s not listed in the Book of World Records, I was a fan of Wilt Chamberlain and that was one world record I tried to break. In 1999, I broke it.” For those doing the math, that would mean Steiner slept with about 41 women a day.

[RP]

41 cum shots a day? No wonder his chest is caved in. He had to dig deep for those loads.

[JimmyMess]

Originally Posted by RP 41 cum shots a day? No wonder his chest is caved in. He had to dig deep for those loads.

lol doesn't he mean like by 98 or 99 he broke it? not like in 1999 alone he did it?

[Lock Jaw]

Originally Posted by RP 41 cum shots a day? No wonder his chest is caved in. He had to dig deep for those loads.

Maybe he banged them 10 and one quarter women at a time and only "came" 4 times a day.

[drave]

Originally Posted by Lock Jaw Maybe he banged them 10 and one quarter women at a time and only "came" 4 times a day.

Which then maths out to 8.74 women per day.

[Droford]

Kayfabe News predicts 2017 in 2012

[Sepholio]

Time for my evening gangbang.

[Emperor Smeat]

Wonder if Impact Wrestling regretted letting Steiner host a media call for the company. Same call that had him bragging about being better than Wilt Chamberlain in bed, trashing WWE and Triple H, and joke about the Macho Man rumors with Steph, also had him trash Hogan in general.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc During the call, he was asked about being banned from the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony due to an "ugly incident" in an airport with Hulk Hogan's wife Jennifer. Asked if anything ever came of it, other than him being denied entry into the event, Steiner commented: "Well I had to get a, you know, I had my lawyer call the police department because he tried to get me arrested for assault," said Steiner. "You know, threatened his life, I mean, you know that's a serious, that carries 15-20 years." "And of course WWE takes the word of a racist. You know and puts my picture all over the entrances like I'm going to go there. You know, so, no, nothing ever came of it," said Steiner (photo here). "Other than the fact that, you know, Hogan shows what a coward he really is. Lucky it happened at an airport where it had all the cameras so, you know, it was easy to prove my innocence." Later in the call, Steiner was asked if he saw anyway that Hogan can redeem himself after his latest controversies. "I don't know man, the guy, you have the tapes, he's racist," Steiner remarked. "You know what you've got to go watch is, go Google it, is when he was on the stand with a stupid a-- bandanna. What kangaroo court allowed a guy to testify with a bandanna on but then he talks about the size of his p---s. It's hilarious. I mean, I don't have to say it, he humiliated himself. I don't care anything about Hulk Hogan, he's a piece of garbage."

[Sepholio]

Steiner for WWE HoF

[Lock Jaw]

You know

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by NXT's 1st Ever Got Your Nose Match:

SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, an Independence Day Battle Royal will take place on Tuesday's SmackDown from Phoenix with the winner going on to face WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens at the July 23rd WWE Battleground pay-per-view. The only participant confirmed as of this writing is AJ Styles. It looks like Styles will be winning the battle royal as he is currently scheduled to face Owens for the title at Battleground, according to PWInsider. This will be Styles' second title shot from Owens after the two faced off at the WWE Backlash pay-per-view in May.

Spoiler tags used since its related to the results of next week's Independence Day Battle Royale for Smackdown.

Originally Posted by Observer The Miz was asked a question about the LaVar Ball segment from Raw by the Hard Hidz podcast while doing press in Singapore. He said that sometimes the guests don't totally follow scripts, but it's something that people are talking about. He said that he feels like WWE either chooses him or Chris Jericho to help guide segments with outside celebrities.

Link to the podcast: https://www.facebook.com/hardhidz/vi...7998034619090/

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE Network has added two more classic MSG shows. The events are from April 14th, 1975 and March 20th, 1983. A first look at the upcoming Kevin Owens DVD was also added.

Originally Posted by Observer The announcement came before even 2K Sports expected it, but Kurt Angle is the official pre-order bonus character for the WWE 2K18 video game. Angle himself announced the news on Twitter earlier this afternoon. He had posted the information early, originally using artwork ripped from speculative YouTube videos. He then confirmed the information a few hours later, using official artwork from 2K. The WWEGames Twitter account responded by writing, "We now know what it feels like to be hit with an Angle Slam. But it's true! @RealKurtAngle is the #WWE2K18 pre-order Superstar!" The trailer introducing Angle as the pre-order playable bonus character will air on the July 10th episode of Raw. The game will be released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles on October 17th ... Angle was this year's pick even before his return, but unlike with past options, this wasn't a case where 2K first made a deal with Angle and that led to him coming back to WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer An armed robbery in Mexico has led to a unique matchup tonight in Tacoma. Penta 0M, who was scheduled to face Cody Rhodes in Tacoma, Washington for Defy Wrestling, was robbed this morning at gunpoint. In a story first written by Pro Wrestling Sheet, three men on motorcycles pulled up to him and pulled out guns while he was in Mexico headed to the airport in an Uber to fly into Seattle. The three men pulled out guns and forced him to give up his wallet, keys, cell phone, and backpack. The backpack contained things he was taking with him to the show including his mask and his ring gear, as well as his passport and paperwork. Reportedly he asked the gunmen if he could at least keep his backpack, but they refused. He was not injured, and after the robbery, attempted to board the flight but because he didn't have his passport, he wasn't allowed on it It's not clear when he'll be able to travel to the United States, but it is expected shortly. Defy announced that both Penta and Rey Fenix are off of tonight's show due to missing their flight.

Originally Posted by Observer Pro Wrestling NOAH will be represented at Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary pay-per-view on Sunday night. Impact announced today that NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori will be involved in the four-way match for the Impact/GFW Tag Team Championship at Slammiversary. That match features champions LAX (Ortiz & Santana) defending against Marufuji & Ishimori, AAA's Drago & El Hijo del Fantasma, and Laredo Kid & Garza Jr. Along with AAA and The Crash, NOAH is one of the international promotions that Impact has a working relationship with. The story is that it is a four-way match with teams from four different companies, to emphasize Impact's various business partnerships around the world. Laredo Kid & Garza Jr. are Impact regulars from The Crash.

Originally Posted by PWI Since Hijo Del Fantasma (aka King Cuerno) and Drago have been announced as appearing on the Impact Slammiversary XV PPV, there's been a lot of speculation that Impact has come to a working agreement with Lucha Underground. In checking with Lucha Underground sources, we are told that is not correct. Lucha Underground has no involvement in the appearances, which was a deal set up by AAA's Dorian Rodan as AAA has the rights to Fantasma and Drago's characters and has an official working relationship with Impact. So, if you were wondering if the appearances meant there could be additional LU personalites popping up on Impact television, that is not the case, unless AAA also owns their rights. Lucha Underground owns King Cuerno, so Fantasma could not appear under that name.

Originally Posted by PWI The folks over at www.WrestlingDVDNetwork.com are reporting the following content is set for the forthcoming WWE DVD set Dawn of Attitude, which will look at the importance of the year 1997 in WWE's evolutin into the Attitude Era.

Link to the entire contents: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-1997-dawn-of/

Originally Posted by PWI On the latest edition of his podcast at www.MLWRadio.com, Jim Cornette announced that he will be selling autographed copies of the restraining order Vince Russo took out against him at www.JimCornette.com, with half the proceeds being donated to the WHAS Crusade for Children, which benefits a number of children's charities in the States of Indiana and Kentucky.

Originally Posted by PWI Tyson Kidd has been officially hired by WWE as a full-time employee and will be working as a Producer. Kidd was not just at Smackdown this past week, but Raw as well. Kidd was not the official producer for any matches this past week, but was observing and watching the process to begin to familiarize himself with the job and responsibilities, PWInsider.com was told. It was his first official week on the job. Kidd also noted on Twitter that he would be on the next season of Total Divas.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The main event for SummerSlam has been changed, according to a report from Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. As seen on RAW last week, Roman Reigns challenged the winner of the Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar WWE Universal Championship bout to a title match at SummerSlam. Meltzer confirmed that the main event of SummerSlam was changed a few weeks ago to Reigns vs. Lesnar. The original plan was for the SummerSlam main event was for Lesnar to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman. Lesnar was then slated to lose the WWE Universal Championship to Reigns at WrestleMania next year. With Reigns vs. Lesnar taking place at SummerSlam, it would appear that the WrestleMania main event has been changed as well, although WWE could do a third Reigns vs. Lesnar match at the show. Meltzer speculated that given John Cena declaring himself a "free agent," WWE could go with Reigns vs. Cena as the main event of WrestleMania.

Meltzer also hinted Lesnar-Joe II is also being considered as a possible option for the Universal title match at SumemrSlam and Lesnar-Strowman might still happen at a later date although as a non-title or regular match.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE officials have been planning a movie project on WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young, which is one of the reasons they are branding her so heavily as the pioneer of women in wrestling with the upcoming Mae Young Classic tournament. The movie would then establish Mae as the Babe Ruth of women's wrestling.

Originally Posted by 411Mania According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the War Machine tag team (Hanson and Ray Rowe) are currently free agents. They lost the tag title match at the Best in the World PPV, but didn’t take the fall. They did lose in their only match the ROH TV Tapings that followed. They are still working with New Japan, and the are considered to be “in the driver’s seat” in terms of negotiating their future.

Originally Posted by Observer Lucha Underground Talent are really concerned regarding the future. Nobody has heard anything at all about future dates (some have asked me and I don’t know anything either) and it’s been a full year since they taped now. It’s all about whether the owners want to put up the money to tape another season. The TV mentality is different from the sports mentality in the sense sports are geared to last forever but TV shows only do a few seasons and 100 episodes, which have been taped, is like a magic number. El Rey will never cancel the show but El Rey doesn’t spend enough for the show to come close to covering costs. After the first season, the owners, after some time of it being up in the air, agreed to put up money for the next two seasons and the currently airing season would be it, unless they agree to fund a fourth season. We’d heard dates like November and January originally for season four filming so nobody knowing dates isn’t necessarily a bad sign since that is still far off, but a lot of the talent has been unhappy about not getting questions answered and wanting to be able to negotiate to go other places

Originally Posted by Observer The original test run of T-shirts for the Bullet Club and its members at Hot Topic, which were at selected stores over the past few weeks was a big enough success that every Hot Topic store has ordered a full line of Bullet Club, Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and Marty Scurll T-shirts. They started showing up in about 15 percent of the Hot Topic stores in the U.S. last week. The original deal was to eventually market Bullet Club shirts nationwide, but the individual shirts were test marketed, with the Young Bucks in about 143 of the 800 to 900 stores and Omega & Rhodes in a slightly lower number and Scurll not in many at all. But all the shirts greatly over performed and they will all now be in all stores starting roughly 7/17. The story behind this is execs from Hot Topic were in Orlando for WrestleMania and saw Bullet Club and Elite and Young Bucks stuff all over the place, and asked WWE why those popular shirts aren’t part of their deal. By calling, they found out they weren’t WWE shirts so made the deals themselves with the individuals

Quick idea on Omega's and Young Buck's merch generating power in the indies and why they don't have any real financial incentive to sign with the WWE.


Some other sheet news includes:

• Amarillo Globe-News had a recent interview with Becky Lynch talking about WWE's women's divisions, upcoming 1 year anniversary of New Brand Split Era, and a potential women's only Rumble match in the future. http://amarillo.com/pro-sports/sport...own-live-event
• Recent episode of the Jim Cornette Experience had the Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about modern wrestling and PWG. http://www.mlwradio.com/download-the...xperience.html
• While answering a question from a fan on Twitter, Triple H hinted at Asuka's main roster call-up likely occuring by SummerSlam.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sasha Banks is currently tied for 3rd place all-time in WWE history for most ppv title match losses in a row at 6. If she loses at Great Balls of Fire, she will tie Naomi for 2nd place all-time with 7 losses in a row. Lita currently owns the record at 9 title match ppv losses in a row. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...nks_the_worst/
• According to the Observer, the new deal Mauro Ranallo signed with the WWE contained terms similar to a restraining order against JBL and others who caused Mauro problems on Smackdown. Was also revealed both Micheal Cole and Triple H played a big role in getting him to stay in the WWE.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tyson Kidd as a producer is a good call. Shame his career was ended. I started to really dig Kidd post finding a personality in NXT.

[DaveWadding]

The story behind this is execs from Hot Topic were in Orlando for WrestleMania and saw Bullet Club and Elite and Young Bucks stuff all over the place, and asked WWE why those popular shirts aren’t part of their deal. By calling, they found out they weren’t WWE shirts so made the deals themselves with the individuals

LOLLLLLLL

Hot Topic: "Why don't we have rights to these shirts in our agreement? It looks like they're really popular!"

WWE Rep: "erm, yeah.....because they don't work here."

[BigCrippyZ]

Originally Posted by DaveWadding LOLLLLLLL Hot Topic: "Why don't we have rights to these shirts in our agreement? It looks like they're really popular!" WWE Rep: "erm, yeah.....because they don't work here."

Holy shit that's bad.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the original mayors of Suplex City:

Originally Posted by Observer When it was announced earlier this week that Impact Wrestling's parent company had officially acquired Global Force Wrestling, it wasn't entirely clear if that would result in any noticeable change in operations. Now, it appears that Impact Wrestling is rebranding as Global Force Wrestling. A report from The Tennessean noted that today, with it saying that the move is to distance the company from the financial trouble and legal drama that had surrounded it under previous ownership. The report said that the company's weekly TV show will still be called Impact and their offices will remain in Nashville.

Originally Posted by Observer The list of names confirmed for this summer's Mae Young Classic continues to grow. WWE's New Zealand Twitter account announced today that Evie (who is from New Zealand) would be taking part in the tournament. She has also been given a new in-ring name, with her now being known as Dakota Kai in WWE. She changed her name to that on Twitter after the announcement.

Originally Posted by Observer The Mae Young Classic has added its most noteworthy name yet. Kairi Hojo, who is one of the best women's wrestlers in the world and one of the best pro wrestlers in general, was announced for the tournament this morning. The announcement was made during a video at WWE's house show at Sumo Hall in Japan. She will be using the name Kairi Sane in WWE.

Originally Posted by WWE.com Hailing from Ayrshire, Scotland, Piper Niven is an experienced powerhouse who has competed across numerous promotions, including Shine, SHIMMER and Glasgow-based Insane Championship Wrestling. Drawn to sports-entertainment at an early age thanks to the likes of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Chyna, Niven played contact sports in her youth, setting the foundation for her eventual in-ring debut in 2008. She is revered for her high-impact offense, which includes senton splashes, powerslams and a signature Michinoku Driver. Bianca Belair, of Knoxville, Tenn., qualified for the Mae Young Classic with a recent victory over NXT Superstar Aliyah. Calling herself the “EST of NXT,” Belair claims to be the strongest, fastest and toughest woman on the Performance Center roster. Before joining WWE in 2016, she competed in track and field at University of South Carolina, Texas A&M and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and she is a regional CrossFit competitor who has been featured in RX Magazine. Prior to making her NXT debut, she shined in last year’s inaugural Performance Center Combine, putting up amazing numbers such as a 400-pound trap-bar deadlift and a 2.07-second 10-yard sprint.

Two more names and bios officially confirmed for the Mae Young Classic Tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer The list of official entrants for the 32-competitor tournament is now up to 14 names. Those are: Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, Sarah Logan, Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Jazzy Gabert, Bianca BelAir, Vanessa Borne, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, and Piper Niven.

Originally Posted by Observer Before the live show in Long Beach, AXS TV is doing a New Japan marathon tomorrow starting at 8 a.m. Eastern and 5 a.m. Pacific to showcase many of the best matches of the year so far. If your cable company doesn't have AXS, Sling TV is doing a free week. For the top matches, all times Eastern: Omega vs. Okada from the Tokyo Dome will air at 8 p.m. Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki will air at 10 a.m. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee will air at 11 a.m. Tetsuya Naito vs. Michael Elgin will air at Noon Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata will air at 3 p.m. Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii will air at 5 p.m. Omega vs. Okada II will air at about 6:40 p.m.

Originally Posted by Observer Tomorrow night's Long Beach show will be blocked on New Japan World live, and only air on AXS in the U.S. It will air on The Fight Network in Canada, which also has a free week this week, and will also be replaying the show multiple times during the week. The show will air later on New Japan World. In the U.K., you can watch it on New Japan World. The Sunday show will air live on New Japan World and air on television first next Friday with a four-hour window from 8 p.m. to midnight. The live show is slotted tomorrow night from 8 p.m. to midnight, but it can go until as late as 1 a.m. if needed.

Originally Posted by PWI Impact/GFW/whatever the official name is at this moment announced this afternoon that NASCAR personalities Hermie Sadler and Austin Dillon will be appearing at Sunday's Slammiversary PPV. Sadler has a long running relationship with Jeff Jarrett and at one point, he had a segment titled "Hermie's Hotseat" on Impact TV and he and his brother Elliot Sadler co-promoted live events with TNA under the UWF banner.

Originally Posted by PWI The 6/29 edition of Impact on Pop from India, week four, did 268,000 overnight viewers, a big drop from last week's 342,000 overnight viewers. That is their lowest number in almost two months and not great momentum heading into Slammiversary.

Originally Posted by PWI In regard to rumors Epico and Primo Colon are looking to leave WWE, PWInsider.com has confirmed they are booked for this weekend's live events on the Smackdown brand and are still, as of this moment, listed on the planned lineups for those shows. In searching around, PWInsider.com has found no evidence that there is any truth to the departure rumor at this time.

Rumor started after people noticed Epico recently opened a merch shop at ProWrestlingTees which is usually something that never happens to those under WWE contracts.


Some other sheet news includes:

• Eric Young revealed his mother recently passed away from cancer. Also in somber wrestling news, the Observer's Dave Meltzer revealed his father recently entered hospice due to suffering from cancer and rapid kidney failure.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Terry Funk (73) , Scot Dawson (33), Alicia Fox (31), and Cody Rhodes (32) all celebrated their birthdays today.
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Jeff Jarrett talking about recent changes to Impact's roster, legal issues with the Hardys, and the 5 year plan he has for Impact/GFW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...th-the-hardys/
• The Young Bucks recently sent out an invitation to CM Punk for a possible appearance and/or membership in the Bullet Club in the future. https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/st...86275879845889
• WrestleInc had a recent interview with Tony Schiavone talking about his favorite announcing partner, brief WWE career, and regretting leaving WWE for WCW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...e-of-his-life/
• Recent episode of WrestleInc's podcast show had Shawn Daivari talking about the origins of the Punjabi Prison match and how Pat Paterson played a big role in its creation. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...t-wwe-punjabi/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random G1 Special gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Matt Hardy indicated on Twitter that The Hardys' legal battle with Anthem over the ownership of the "Broken Hardys" characters could be reaching a positive resolution soon: "A MASSIVE 'Thanks' to all the Wrestling Fans that backed #HouseHardy in the latest #GreatWar.. We are days away from winning. KEEP FIGHTING!"

Originally Posted by Observer Ratings for both Raw and SmackDown this week will be delayed until Thursday due to the Independence Day holiday.

Originally Posted by Observer With NJPW having been in the United States over the weekend, Kazuchika Okada was backstage at Raw in Phoenix, Arizona last night. He's been at WWE events to visit friends while over in the US for shows with ROH before as well. Okada posted a picture with Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Balor tweeted a picture of Okada wearing his Balor Club jacket.

Link to the Okada tweet: https://twitter.com/rainmakerXokada/...61244744032257 , Link to Balor tweet: https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/882346938481463296

Originally Posted by Observer NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani said in an interview with Tokyo Sports that the G1 Specials in Long Beach were a "huge success" and they'd like to try a touring style in the US no later than March or April next year. Kidani also noted that they want to open an LA office this year and an LA dojo at the beginning of 2018. (thanks to Strigga for the translation)

Originally Posted by Observer Paige was apparently sitting ringside in a Dos Caras mask during Alberto El Patron's main event match at Slammiversary last night. Someone on Twitter posted a photo with her allegedly holding a visitor's pass that identified her by her real name.

Originally Posted by Bleacher Report Johnny Gargano may not be able to get revenge against his former tag team partner anytime soon. Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin reported Monday that Tommaso Ciampa may be out of action until March of 2018.

Originally Posted by Observer Kurt Angle told Esquire Middle East that he hasn't had a physical yet and doesn't expect to have one until WWE has plans for him to get into the ring, but he called an in-ring return in the company "more than likely."

Link to the interview: http://www.esquireme.com/content/214...back-in-action

Originally Posted by Observer While no other details about it were revealed, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced during Sunday's G1 Special that NJPW will be returning to the United States in 2018.

Originally Posted by Observer Ricochet made an appearance on the second night of the G1 Special in Long Beach, saying that he would've been there sooner if "a certain Underground fighting company weren't being pricks right now." He challenged The Young Bucks to defender their IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag titles against him and Ryusuke Taguchi at the G1 finals in August.

Originally Posted by Observer GFW/Impact revealed that the TV tapings that GFW did in 2015 will finally be seeing the light of day as a four-part series for their "One Night Only" pay-per-views. GFW/Impact will be unveiling new title belts on the August 17th episode of Impact.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc For those who missed it, next week's RAW will feature the premiere of the official WWE 2K18 pre-order bonus trailer with the RAW General Manager featured.

Originally Posted by PWI On June 26th, Roddy Piper's widow Kitty Toombs under 'The Kitty J. Toombs Trust' applied to register three trademarks - Roddy Piper, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Piper - for wrestling, merchandise and action figure purposes. On June 28th, WWE applied to trademark XFL for entertainment use but for a series on wrestling, as opposed to football. The company had previously applied to register XFL also for wrestling purposes on September 4, 2012. That application is still active, with WWE requesting an extension of time to file a 'Statement of Use', also on June 28th. The National Football League tried to oppose that application in 2014, but records do not indicate that they followed through.

Originally Posted by PWI Some July highlights announced on the preview: -As reported by Mike Johnson here on PWInsider a few weeks ago, "WWE 24: Kurt Angle" will air next Monday, July 10 following Raw. They have a nice extended preview of that documentary. -They have a clip of tonight's "WWE Ride Along" following Raw with Kurt Angle, Big Show, Sheamus and Cesaro. -They show a clip from the upcoming "Table for 3" episode with The Godfather, Ron Simmons and Mark Henry that will air July 24th following Raw. -They also show a clip of an announcers-themed "Table for Three" with Lita, Corey Graves and Renée Young set to air July 31st following Raw -A new "Bring It To The Table" will debut July 17th following Raw.

Details on upcoming new content for the WWE Network this month.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc A fan wrote to Matt Jackson about wanting to see them face The Revival at some point. Despite The Young Bucks current "F--- the Revival" motto - in regards to who is the top tag team in the world - Matt would love to go against The Top Guys. I love giving those guys a hard time but would love to wrestle them. #FTR https://t.co/dDBQGzSdBP — The Young Bucks (@MattJackson13) July 3, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI WWE's ""Fight Owens Fight" DVD set was officially released today and is apparently, already a massive hit. In a situation I don't recall happening since the 2004 release of the "Rise and Fall of ECW" DVD, the Owens set has sold so well, it is sold out even on Amazon for fans who ordered in advance. Our old pal Sideshow Shan sent the following,...The Kevin Owens DVD was released today and it's completely sold out on Amazon. I preordered it a few days ago, but still ordered in advance and I just received an email that I won't get mine for more than 2 weeks, despite Amazon's promise that a pre-ordered item would arrive on the release date. I just called three random Best Buys in NYC and all of them told me the set was sold out as well and they just opened an hour ago.

Some other sheet news includes:

• During Impact/GFW's recent set of tv tapings, Gail Kim announced she will be retiring from wrestling after this year. Same tapings also had the announcement of the return of the Super X Cup after a 12 year absence. http://www.f4wonline.com/tna-news/im...r-x-cup-238556
• Kevin Owens recently congratulated Kenny Omega on his IWGP United States Championship victory. https://twitter.com/FightOwensFight/...09839249100801
• Steve Austin announced Marty Scurll will be a guest on one of this week's episodes of the Steve Austin Show. https://twitter.com/steveaustinBSR/s...98836486488065
• According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, one plan Creative had for Summer Rae's return from injury involved her being in RAW's authority but plans got shelved because they didn't like her being taller than Angle and most wrestlers. https://twitter.com/ryansatin/status/882276649303121920
• Recent episode of Wrestling Inc Podcast show had Shawn Daivari as the guest talking about 205 Live struggles and wrestling advice he has given his younger brother Ariya Daivari. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-wwe-205-live/
• Planeta Wrestling had a recent interview with Kurt Angle talking about WWE 2k18, WWE now compared to when he used to wrestle for the company, and NXT star he wants the most for RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-wants-on-raw/

[Lock Jaw]

It's a legit question from a non-wrestling company. Like if you knew absolutely nothing about comic books and were like "Hey, is Spiderman going to be in the Justice League?"

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by #AJStylesWeinerChallenge:

Originally Posted by Observer Tonight's episode of NXT is the 400th edition of the show. It will have Bobby Roode vs. Roderick Strong for the NXT Championship and Hideo Itami & Kassius Ohno vs. Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe. Our JJ Williams called Roode vs. Strong "worthy of a TakeOver main event" in his report from the tapings.

Originally Posted by Observer Kazuchika Okada was again backstage at a WWE show for last night's episode of SmackDown. Rapper Mega Ran wrote that Okada was at gorilla position all show and talked to people before and after their matches. Okada has been to WWE shows to visit friends in the past and he was relatively close to the shows in Phoenix, Arizona with NJPW having been in Long Beach over the weekend.

Link to the Instagram posting: https://www.instagram.com/p/BWK-3khDTq6/?hl=en

Originally Posted by Observer WWE unveiled a new logo for the upcoming Mae Young Classic.

Link to the new logo: http://www.wwe.com/shows/maeyoungclassic

Originally Posted by Observer Kurt Angle tweeted that the fireworks that The Hardys got for their WrestleMania return were originally intended for when he was introduced as a member of the Hall of Fame class at the show.

Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/realkurtangle/st...67641389850625

Originally Posted by Observer Bret Hart thanked everyone for the messages they've sent about the passing of Smith Hart. Bret also reflected on Smith's life and his passing.

Link to the Facebook posting: https://www.facebook.com/hitmanbreth...552438604443:0

Originally Posted by Observer As they've done before to promote the service, the first night of the G1 Climax will air for free on New Japan World on July 17th. That show will be headlined by Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. Starting at 4:20 p.m. ET on Friday, AXS TV will be replaying the first night of NJPW's G1 Special in Long Beach. That will be the lead-in to them showing the second night for the first time. AXS TV Fights CEO Andrew Simon called the events a "huge success across the board." Katsuyori Shibata wrote that he may be able to make a positive announcement on his blog next week. He's been posting updates about his health on the blog since his injury at Sakura Genesis.

Link to Shibata's statement: https://twitter.com/STRIGGA/status/882650671484370944

Originally Posted by Observer DeAngelo Williams told ESPN's Adam Schefter that his match at Slammiversary was a one-time deal and said that he definitely wants to continue playing in the NFL.

Originally Posted by Observer PROGRESS Wrestling confirmed that the main event of their big show at Alexandra Palace on September 10th will be Pete Dunne defending his PROGRESS Championship against Travis Banks.

Originally Posted by PWI As previously reported on PWInsider.com, a Piper's Pit Collection will be added to the WWE Network this Monday 7/10. WWE Network News is reporting a Razor Ramon Collection will be added Monday as well. The WWE Network has added 10/24/77 Madison Square Garden "Old School" event. The event features: *Larry Zbyzsko vs. Johnny Rodz. *Tony Garea vs. Baron Mikel Scicluna. *Larry Sharpe vs. Johnny Rivera. *Butcher Vachon vs. Lenny Hurst. *Kitty Adams & Leilani Kai vs. Wenona Little Heart & Vivian St. John in Leilani Kai's MSG match. *WWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes in a Texas Death Match. *Mil Mascaras vs. Jack Evans. *WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji (with Freddie Blassie) vs. Peter Maivia & Chief Jay Strongbow in a Best of Three Falls match. *Ivan Putski vs. Stan Stasiak.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos referenced the recent private Paige video that was leaked during the Rap Battle with The New Day on this week's SmackDown. They said the following line: "Let's just keep it PG, you know what's good... don't get all Rated R like ya boy Xavier Woods." It appears the jab was not approved ahead of time as it has been edited from the YouTube video of the segment.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Regarding the status of American Alpha, Gable says they thrive on competition and they want competition. He says they had their run with the titles, other tag teams are in the hunt for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles right now and they were kind of pushed to the back of the line but that's fine because all they want is competition in the meantime. Gable says Jordan supports his singles outings 100% and when Jordan gets his chance, he will show what Gable did - that they can hang with any single guy on the roster, not just the tag teams.

Came from last night's Smackdown Fallout video with Chad Gable and seems American Alphas are done as a team at least for the near future. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...youtube-video/


Some other sheet news includes:

• Gamespot had a recent article about new features and stuff for WWE 2k18. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ww.../1100-6451358/
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Adam Cole celebrated his 28th birthday today.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has currently wrestled the most matches in the WWE so far this year at 83 matches while Tony Nese somehow is #1 for most TV matches this year. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...th_wl_records/
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Kevin Thorn talking about the origins of the Mordecai gimmick and why it was shelved quickly. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...mmick-and-why/
• Website Cult of Whatever had a recent interview with Justin Roberts talking about working for Vince McMahon, toughest part about being a ring announcer, and the infamous Bryan tie chocking incident. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-tie-incident/
• Recent episode of the Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard podcast show had Prichard talking about Triple H's early WWE career, Russo persuading Vince to see Triple H as a big star, and the MSG Curtain Call Incident. Claimed if Vince had listened to Jim Cornette, Triple H likely never becomes more than a mid-carder in the WWE. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...e-h-was-a-mid/

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Sami Zayn has currently wrestled the most matches in the WWE so far this year at 83 matches...

And 80 of them were against Kevin Owens.