TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[Mr. Nerfect]

I imagine that's not the Kevin Sullivan that was the Taskmaster.

[Big Vic]

It is HIGHLY racist that Lock Jaw doesn't know who they are.


Are You Afraid Of The Dark S05 07 The Tale Of... by drive0000000072

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Rasslin Mash-up gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network was up to 2.792 million viewers, the show's third-best showing since last July's brand split.

Around 166k more viewers than last week and 2nd highest viewed show this year for the brand.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE is booking Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Joseph Conners, T-Bone, Mark Andrews, James Drake, Dan Moloney Sean Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, Tucker and Jordan Devlin on its May tour of the U.K.

Originally Posted by PWI Defendants in the lawsuit filed by UFC fighter Mark Hunt against UFC, Brock Lesnar and UFC President Dana White have to respond to the lawsuit by 2/28 after being given a requested extension of time to respond to the suit, which was filed last month. Court records indicate that UFC was served officially with the suit, but does not note whether Lesnar was personally served. As PWInsider.com reported last month, Hunt's lawsuit in the United States District Court of Nevada alleges that, "Without Mark Hunt's knowledge or consent, the UFC conspired and caused Brock Lesnar, a doping fighter, to fight Hunt, a clean fighter, despite the fact that Lesnar used substances banned by the UFC, USADA and WADA. The substances, Clomiphene and 4-Hydroxyclomiphene, are known “Post Cycle Therapy” (“PCT”) substances believed to be used after a period of strength training with anabolic steroids or similar prohibited substances."

Other claims in the lawsuit includes damaged reputation because Hunt lost the fight and compensation in terms of money a fairer share of the fight purse due to Lesnar cheating.

Originally Posted by PWI TNA production company (and at least at one point, minority owner) Aroluxe LLC and Ronald Dean Harris (aka Ron Harris of the Bruise Brothers) were dismissed as defendants in the ongoing lawsuit former TNA production company, Audience of One Productions, LLC filed against [Elite subscribers, click here] TNA parent company Impact Ventures LLC and TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia on 2/6. The dismissal came at the request of Audience of One following a hearing on 2/3 that saw Aroluxe's Jason Brown and Harris each speak regarding why they should not be defendants in the case ... While Harris and Aroluxe had requested the lawsuit be dismissed, that request was dropped once Audience of One requested they be dropped as defendants. The court officially removed them without prejudice (which means that legal action could be opened against them again down the line, if Audience of One finds something over the course of the case that leads to them wishing to file new claims against them) and that each party would be responsible for their own legal costs. With the dismissals, Impact Ventures and Broadhead remain the only defendants. Audience of One's lawsuit alleges that TNA's Dean Broadhead and Impact Ventures worked to get them on board under the false pretense of using them full-time as TNA's production company, only to then fail to pay them in a timely fashion for work done, requiring the set up of an agreed upon payment plan. According to the lawsuit, TNA then allegedly stopped paying after the first initial payment installment was made. Audience of One is seeking $223,000 plus interest and post-judgment costs for breach of contract and for the defendants violating Virginia code. A Settlement Conference has been set for the morning of 4/5 in an attempt to settle the matter before going to trial.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE announced they would return to Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 6/30 and 7/1. Additional details will be announced in March.

Originally Posted by PWI The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured a piece on Bruno Sammartino reflecting on the passings of George Steele and Ivan Koloff at this link. Sammartino noted that he helped to discover each and that with all of the surgeries he's racked up over the years, he's often wondered when his own number would be up, but he's "functioning fairly well" despite the toll pro wrestling has taken on his body.

Link to the interview: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/r...s/201702220084

Originally Posted by PWI Attorneys representing dozens of former WWF/WWE contracted performers (as well as talents who worked for the company in the past on a per match basis) filed a motion with the United States District Court of Connecticut yesterday regarding the class action lawsuit regarding WWE's alleged handling of concussions and the classification of WWE performers as independent contractors instead of professional wrestlers, arguing that the court should not stop discovery when it comes to the case (as WWE recently requested) invoking a number of recent deaths, including Jimmy Snuka, Ivan Koloff and George Steele, as a primary reason to push forward. WWE attorneys have been attempting to stop discovery in case since the new class action suit was added to the existing lawsuits that were already ongoing, most recently filing a motion with their arguments to the court on 2/1. The plaintiffs' attorneys have been arguing that the plaintiffs (who filed their lawsuit in July 2016) were not yet suing WWE when discovery was halted on the existing, related cases, therefore the new plaintiffs could not have had time for the court to properly hear their charges.

More details about recent updates from the on-going concussion lawsuit: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/107...march.html?p=1

Billie Kay may have suffered an injury at tonight's WWE NXT TV tapings from the University of Central Florida. After losing a quick match to Ember Moon via the Eclipse, trainers ran out to check on Billie. She ended up leaving on her own but was holding her neck and crying. It appeared she was injured by Ember's finisher. That match should air on March 8th but it wasn't clear. Below are photos from the end of the match: Trainers out to help Kay pic.twitter.com/K9Y23aO7tK — JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) February 23, 2017 Billie is up. Being helped to the back. pic.twitter.com/FMF3iOyRiu — JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) February 23, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer WWN, which is the Evolve family of promotions, is going to crown a champion that will be recognized throughout all of its promotions on the 4/1 show in Orlando. The idea is that every WWN promotion will send a representative into a multi-person elimination match to crown the first champion, who will defend the title in all of the groups

Originally Posted by Observer Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm met with ITV in the U.K. on 2/16 in Leicester, UK. We’re told the meeting went well. ITV is looking at launching World of Sport as a regular weekly television show, but they want to work with wrestling people to monetize the brand and get global distribution of the show. Anthem could put the show on The Fight Network and has connections for distribution, such as places that have deals with TNA as well. I don’t know how all the meetings worked out but ITV was looking at Anthem to put some money in, get some responsibilities, in exchange for owning a percentage of the promotion

Originally Posted by Observer The reason ref was Marty Elias was digitized in the Hardys match with Super Crazy & Psicosis from Tijuana on Impact was because Lucha Underground threatened them with legal action because the ref had appeared on their show. The funny part of the legal threat is that AAA was at about the same time trying to cut a deal with TNA to keep them from working with The Crash, even though AAA works with Lucha Underground, and the key guy in charge of both is Dorian Roldan. Dorian Roldan had contacted Jeff Jarrett about working together, since the word had gotten out that Jarrett was working a date for Konnan later this month. Then, after their talk, TNA got a legal letter from Lucha Underground threatening a lawsuit because Marty Rubalcaba (Elias) who they have under contract and they consider their intellectual property was to appear on the TNA television show. The funny part of this is that TNA wouldn’t have really been that concerned because as one person noted, they get lawsuit threats all the time, but Lucha Underground also sent the letter to The Crash Promotion, Konnan, and Pop TV, and because it went to Pop TV, it became an issue with TNA. So for the first time I can ever recall, the referee had to be digitized out on a pro wrestling show. Needless to say that TNA wasn’t happy about how one day the company wants to work together and the next they threaten a lawsuit over a referee. Technically, Lucha Underground would be in the right.

Originally Posted by Observer In something of a surprise, since Galloway’s contract is done this month, before the next tapings, but TNA hasn’t talked with him regarding a new deal as of yet. Nick Aldis (Magnus) was offered a contract to return. He hasn’t signed the deal. The Hardys are very much up in the air. They are committed to dates through April. They have told indie promoters when it comes to dates starting in May that they can’t commit until they figure out their next step. Their contracts either have just expired or will be expiring within the next week. WWE has made it clear they want them while avoiding any direct negotiations with contracted talent

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding the WWE Network and deals with U.K. promotions, they are still on the table. Vince McMahon changed his mind so many times that the delay in announcing anything could have meant he did so again. But we’re told the delay is that WWE told ICW to get their house in order as it regarded trademarks and music and perhaps that WWE first wants to make its announcement about its own weekly television series in the U.K. An example of this is that Drew Galloway’s entrance music will be specific to ICW and the WWE Network when the deal goes through, and he’s had Psycho Dalek finishing a new custom entrance track that he debuted last week on the What Culture iPPV show

Originally Posted by Observer Evidently on the 2/14 Smackdown show in the Wyatt vs. Cena vs. Styles main event, the booked finish was Styles losing the fall. Cena pushed that he should lose the fall. Given the Styles lost at the end in the Chamber match and Cena is far more bullet proof, another clean loss would have hurt Styles far more than another clean loss would have hurt Cena, plus Styles is staying and Cena is leaving in less than two months so it makes sense. All the McMahons were gone that day. It works both ways. Years ago, when the Nexus angle was strong, a number of people blame Cena for not listening when several of the guys insisted that Nexus had to go over in that first match, and they didn’t

Some other sheet news includes:

• During a recent set of NXT tapings, Finn Balor revealed he will be making his in-ring return within the next 2 weeks.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Glacier's debut in WCW. Website Vocativ had an article about the circumstances leading to WCW dropping the character a year later. http://www.vocativ.com/falsestart/40...ood-runs-cold/
• ROH is currently holding a 35% off sale on DVDs as part of their 15th Anniversary celebrations. www.ROHWrestling.com.
• During a recent interview in Japan, Kota Ibushi revealed some tweaks to his Tiger W mask will likely be made so its easier for him to wrestler in it. Also hyped up his upcoming match against Okada. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/834866572078374912
• Based on past incidents, WWE might end up dropping future mentions of "The List of Jericho" for PR reasons after a recent school incident and Jericho being named as the inspiration for it. A middle school student created a "Kill list" in the vein of Jericho's list and outed Jericho as the inspiration for his version of it. http://www.mynews13.com/content/news...poinciana.html
• According to the Observer, Naomi suffered a similar knee injury as Seth Rollins and a same recovery time needed for it.

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Based on past incidents, WWE might end up dropping future mentions of "The List of Jericho" for PR reasons after a recent school incident and Jericho being named as the inspiration for it. A middle school student created a "Kill list" in the vein of Jericho's list and outed Jericho as the inspiration for his version of it.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

give me a fucking break lol

[Sepholio]

lmao fucking pussies

[Jordan]

It's really disappointing if they buckle to that. I do except them to buckle however.

[Big Vic]

I think the list of Jericho is over anyway guys. No way he comes back goofy after taking that beating.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

yeah I was half thinking that.

His run is almost over anyways, he'll come back firey babyface styles, do the JOB to Owens in a fun storyline driven match and then go back to Fozzy in April MAYBE after another JOB to Owens at the next ppv.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Outta Nowhere Inc:

Originally Posted by Observer It feels like WWE may not be so sure about the Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal match at WrestleMania from this interview with Show on the web site which says: WWE.COM: Last question: You’ve been very vocal about wanting a match with Shaq at WrestleMania, and you just called him out on Twitter over karaoke and doughnuts. BIG SHOW: I mean, here’s the thing. We shot this off at the ESPY Awards, Shaq said he’s in, I thought this would be a good match for fans to see two giants go at it. And I see Shaq riding around, singing karaoke and stopping in at Krispy Kreme. I’m like, “Hey! If you’re not gonna take it serious, find something else to do!” I’ve given 22 years of my blood, sweat and tears to this business and I’m doing this favor to Shaq. This could be my last WrestleMania. He needs to step up. I’m not trying to be mean, but my time’s valuable. I get it. I don’t have foot powder commercials, car commercials, insurance commercials. I get it. He’s a busy man. But if he’s gonna step in the ring, in my business, at our biggest event of the year? Show me you’re serious. If anything, talk a little trash. Let me know you’re motivated. Because right now? I just get the feeling he’s terrified. He shot his mouth off, he’s in over his head and he’s trying to back out. So just let me know what’s going on, brother.

Seems like Shaq might be too busy and Big Show thinking this might be his final Mania and wanted to go out with something more meaningful instead.

As seen below, former WWE Divas Champion Kelly Kelly recently appeared on Maria Menounos’ podcast. Kelly confirms she will be at WrestleMania 33 but doesn’t believe she will be wrestling. They tease that Kelly may be helping with a WWE Hall of Fame induction. Maria says she’s been helping the mystery inductee with their style for the night. Kelly also talks about being backstage at the recent RAW in Las Vegas. She reveals that WWE’s Mark Carrano asked her if she’d come back. As she said in the recent RAW Fallout video, Kelly says she is interested in one more run.

Link to the podcast episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3JVUbn5TzM

Originally Posted by Observer Don Callis won't be announcing the New Japan shows this week. Kevin Kelly will be working with Rocky Romero.

Originally Posted by Observer The wedding on TNA last night with Laurel Van Ness and Braxton Sutter was great television, one of the best skits of the type on wrestling television in a long time. The live crowd was so great as was Maria Kanellis in her role as the evil heel, and really everyone involved. Aron Rex was tremendous in his character, Sutter was great doing the giant eyes seeing Allie in the Cinderella roll. TNA uploaded the entire segment on YouTube. It didn't move ratings as they only did 275,000 viewers.

In terms of viewers, down by around 50k compared to last week. Link to the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGsXMNTo9Mc

Originally Posted by Observer There is a petition to get Dick "Destroyer" Beyer in the WWE Hall of Fame. It's the only Hall of Fame that he's not already in. The petition is here.

Link to the petition: https://www.change.org/p/enshrine-th...e-hall-of-fame

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE is promoting a George Steele collection on the network. With the exception of a 1973 title match with Pedro Morales from Madison Square Garden, and a 1977 match with Bruno Sammartino, it's all 1983 or later. But the collection does have matches with Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Nothing from Ivan Koloff, but that's not a surprise.

Originally Posted by PWI It was previously reported here on the site that Lucha Underground's first two season would be coming to the Netflix streaming service this year. CNET is reporting that Lucha Underground seasons 1 and 2 are coming to Netflix March 15.

Originally Posted by PWI Chris Jericho announced on his instagram that Raven has been added to his "Jericho Network" podcast group. 'The Raven Effect' will debut this coming Monday.

Originally Posted by PWI Dutch Mantel announced that he had officially signed to return to Impact Wrestling in a creative and advisory position. As I reported a few weeks back in the Elite section, the creative team going forward will be Jeff Jarrett overseeing a booking committee of Dutch Mantel and Scott D'Amore with Abyss, Jeremy Borash and Rockstar Spud assisting. There has been different stories floating about as to whether long-time creative team member Matt Conway is gone from TNA. There has been talk of hiring a writer who would be responsible for formatting the shows and turning them into scripts for production as well. The belief is that any parity booking will be done with and a lot more old school elements will come into play. More than one person has pointed out the idea to me that now we will be able to see what TNA "could be like without Dixie Carter"

Originally Posted by PWI With John Gaburick out of creative, his push to bring in Alberto el Patron is done. Alberto was scheduled to appear at the last set of tapings but the decision was made to hold him off for March. Last we have heard, that wasn't going to happen. There had been on and off talks with Alberto dating back to the fall of 2016. Gaburick is now working on the production end.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News has revealed the following content featuring DDP will added to the Hall of Fame 2017 Collection today : Nitro 01/13/1997 – A Diamond in the Rough After taking on Mark Starr, Diamond Dallas Page shows his true colors when the nWo tries to recruit DDP to their ranks. Spring Stampede 1998 – DDP Plays by Raven’s Rules Diamond Dallas Page tries to play by Raven’s Rules when DDP goes one-on-one with the leader of The Flock. Bash at the Beach 1998 – An All-Star Confrontation Worlds collide when Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone take on the nWo’s Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman. Spring Stampede 1999 – Diamonds and Gold Diamond Dallas Page looks to cement his legacy by taking on Sting, Hollywood Hogan, and Ric Flair for the WCW Title.

Originally Posted by PWI Naomi will be replaced by Asuka when WWE returns to Madison Square Garden on March 12th. It will be her debut in the venue.

Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet has reported that Lucha Libre FMV, which is a company that has been set up to run both AAA and Lucha Underground, sent a legal notice to the PCW group out of California to attempt and block the company from using Pentagon Jr. and Ray Fenix. In the documents obtained by Pro Wrestling Sheet, PCW responded to the notice and are arguing that Ray Fenix was using that name prior to the formation of Lucha Libre FMV. Regarding Pentagon Jr., he has recently filed to obtain the rights to the name “Penta 0M” and Lucha Libre FMV is trying to trying to land the trademark on that name as well, but PCW is confident he will obtain the rights to the new name and don’t plan to market him under the moniker “Pentagon Jr.”.

Link to the article: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/aaa.../#.WLBZY_krLs0

Apparently, McMahon does not eat with his bare hands, except for sandwiches. Even pizza, McMahon will not eat the parts he touches. "'I don't [eat ribs or fried chicken]. How dare you insist I'm normal. God! Meat on a bone? Argh,'" Prichard scoffed imitating McMahon. "Yeah, I asked him one time the same thing about eating with his hands, 'well, what about a sandwich?' 'That doesn't count.' I said, 'okay, how about pizza?' 'I fold it over and I don't eat the part I touch.' What the f--k?"

Wacky Vince story from pretty much all the time according to Bruce Prichard. Came from a recent Ross Report podcast show.


Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 3rd anniversary of the WWE Network and the 39th anniversary of Bob Backlund's 1st WWWF title win.
• Tom Phillips currently rumored to be in hot water with the WWE in regards to likely violating their Social Media policy. Got busted sexting another women even though he's engaged and supposedly might have included dick pics being sent. The woman involved found out recently she was getting deceived and leaked what was going on between the two. https://twitter.com/TRKG12/status/835255996620673025

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Dana Does Something gif:

Originally Posted by Observer The Raw go-home show for Fastlane dropped four percent last night from the week before, averaging 3.08 million viewers. The number would be the second lowest for a non-holiday episode of the show that didn't go against major sports competition dating back to 1997, barely beating the record of 3.07 million set two weeks earlier ... The third hour was built around the Braun Strowman-Roman Reigns contract signing as the main pushed item and lost ten percent of viewership from hour two, including a drop of 11 percent in the 18-49 demo. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.13 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.23 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.92 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI Similar to Drew Galloway's situation, we are told that the Hardys did not physically receive new contracts until just a few weeks before their current deals were set to expire. One TNA source acknowledged that the contracts were late in arriving, explaining that they were behind due to the changeover involved in shifting TNA from its former parent company to the new infrastructure under Anthem Media. We are told that the Hardys were not happy with the last minute rushed nature of having to sign and some of the language in the contract, leaving all sides at an impasse ... Another factor we have heard that Matt Hardy had extreme creative control over his character and the "Broken Universe" and under the new regime, that likely would not have continued. So, signing would have meant not just signing a new deal, but signing off on how much he could control his direction and characters. The irony there is that at one point last year, there had been talk about Matt Hardy coming on board creative himself, with the idea of putting his wrestling mindset towards helping other storylines and talents in the company while continuing to develop and perform the Broken Hardys act. Instead, Anthem brought back Jeff Jarrett as the new Chief Creative Officer and Jarrett began installing his own booking team, including Dutch Mantel and Scott D'Amore. We are also told that new contracts being offered by TNA management include a clause that would require talents to have their outside appearances approved by the company and would require the talent to pay TNA 10% of those earnings. Multiple TNA sources declined to comment on whether new contracts indeed featured that clause. So, from the perspective of the Hardys, they were looking at signing deals that would curtail their creative control (and leave them open to being broken up as an act, as Jeff Jarrett has been said to be keen on pushing Jeff Hardy as a top singles talent) and require the Hardys to pay a percentage of outside earnings to TNA after not receiving their deals until pretty much the last minute ... The TNA management side appears to be that the company is looking at rebuilding the entire company and from their perspective, no one is irreplaceable if they don't want to be on board with the regime. The mindset appears to be that since the company viewership has been so low in comparison to the Spike days, that they are left in a rebuilding phase and that rebuild will not be changed if any of the current talents exit. One TNA source stated the company made what was described to PWInsider as a "big money offer" that would have seen the Hardys be one of the top paid, if not the top paid act, in the company, and if the Hardys didn't want to come to terms, then it was time to move on. If the Hardys indeed depart, we are told it will free up a lot of money for other potential signings under a regime that is very much about the bottom line financially, as opposed to spending money frivolously.

Some reasons for why the Hardys ended up leaving TNA.

Originally Posted by Observer Reby Hardy spoke to SiriusXM's Busted Open radio show about The Hardys' situation with TNA. She confirmed that they're leaving the company and said that Matt Hardy won't be giving up his Broken character any time soon. Jeff Jarrett posted on Twitter about The Hardys and Drew Galloway leaving TNA (formatting has been added for readability): "For the record, it's @IMPACTWRESTLING 's corporate policy not to make any comments on talent contractual matters. I personally wish nothing but continued success for @JEFFHARDYBRAND @MATTHARDYBRAND @GallowaySpeaks. All three of them are fantastic talent and wherever they land they will obviously do very well. Wrestling business can be tough at times, but one thing is for sure the business is ALWAYS changing! Ready for @UniversalORL and can't wait for Thursday! #MIGA" Matt Hardy tweeted about departing TNA: "My stint with @IMPACTWRESTLING was DELIGHTFUL. EXCEPTIONAL talent & locker room. A great, respectful team that worked hard in tough times. I wish @IMPACTWRESTLING all the best going forward, especially the INDUSTRIOUS talent. I hope they're all treated with respect & fairness."

If Broken Matt wants to continue using that name after leaving Impact Wrestling, he may have a fight on his hands — because right now there’s confusion over who owns the gimmick. Sources close to Matt tell us his current deal gives Impact the ability to profit off of anything already filmed having to do with ANY gimmick he used throughout the course of his contract … but, once that’s over, he retains ownership of his name and characters. However, our Impact Wrestling sources tell us that’s not the case at all. They claim the current deal specifically states that their company owns all IP creations. As we previously reported, Matt and Jeff do not plan to re-sign with the company because they felt dissed during contract negotiations. As for a possible non-compete clause, we’re told The Hardy Boyz don’t have one. Which means they could potentially show up in another company as soon as next week.

Originally Posted by Observer The prolonged contract situation with three of TNA's biggest names is coming to a head this week. Drew Galloway announced on Twitter Sunday that he was not signing a new contract and was done with the promotion. TNA had only contacted him about a new deal in the last week or so, and he said that while TNA did try hard to make a deal in the last week and make things right, he had already made up his mind not to sign. They did go back-and-forth with talks until yesterday. Galloway is expected to continue working with groups like WhatCulture, ICW, and EVOLVE, as well as other promotions in the U.K and around the world. He noted he made up his mind about not staying when it came close to his deal expiring and he hadn't been contacted, and thus had made decisions about his future that didn't include TNA.

Originally Posted by PWI Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis-Bennett have departed TNA, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources. Their respective contracts expired in late 2016 and they had been working on per appearance deals over the last set of TNA TV tapings. TNA management had attempted to sign the pair to new contracts and according to one source, had agreed to terms with the company only to later inform TNA they would not be signing. So, the pair are already done and will not be working this week's TV tapings. The pair just appeared in the extremely entertaining Allie-Braxton Sutter wedding segment.

Originally Posted by Observer One of WrestleMania 33's planned matches seems to be in serious doubt. While responding to rumors surrounding his scheduled WrestleMania match against Big Show, Shaquille O'Neal said on his podcast this week that the bout "probably" won't be happening. "It's not going to happen?" Shaq asked. "That's probably right. It's not my fault, that's all you need to know. It ain't my fault. Oh, it ain't my fault." Shaq went on to say that the plans likely falling through have nothing to do with him or his management. He said that it isn't definitive that the match is off yet, though things aren't looking good. He claimed that he's still training like it's going to take place and challenged Big Show to meet him wherever he wants to meet, leaving the door open for this to be part of a storyline if the match does occur.

Originally Posted by Observer New Japan Pro Wrestling revealed the brackets for the promotion's upcoming New Japan Cup tournament on Monday night. The tournament will take place later this March. The opening rounds are scheduled for March 11th and 12th and will air live on New Japan World. The first round matchups are as follows: The left side of the bracket (March 11th) -- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL Tomoaki Honma vs. Tanga Roa Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga The right side of the bracket (March 12th) -- Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega YOSHI-HASHI vs. SANADA The winners of these matches will advance to quarterfinal bouts, which will be held on March 13th-17th. Semifinal matches will be held on March 19th, with the final match taking place on the 20th. The last two dates will air live on NJPW World.

Originally Posted by Observer As WWE gets closer to WrestleMania with each passing week, the company revealed another member of this year's Hall of Fame class on Monday afternoon. USA Today was chosen to break the news that Beth Phoenix will be inducted into the 2017 Hall of Fame class. She joins Kurt Angle, The Rock 'n' Roll Express, Teddy Long, and Diamond Dallas Page as the already announced members of the lineup. “To hear they find my career was worthy enough and that I did well enough in the ring to be honored among the greatest of all time was incredible and the biggest compliment I could ever ask for,” Phoenix told USA Today. “It’s still sinking in and is very surreal.” With Phoenix's husband Adam "Edge" Copeland having previously been inducted in 2012, the couple are now the only spouses currently in the Hall of Fame.

Originally Posted by Observer Casey Michael of Squared Circle Sirens reported that Canadian weightlifter Isabel Lahela has signed with WWE and will be starting at the Performance Center in April.

Originally Posted by Observer Goldberg tweeted a congratulations to Asuka on having 149 wins in a row.

Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/Goldberg/status/835535722593452032

Originally Posted by PWI There is also a LOT of talk that the company has a strategy to discontinue the TNA name officially. A few readers have asked if there's a possibility that the GFW name will replace the TNA initials. I haven't heard that officially, but it certainly would make a lot of sense.

Also making a big push towards signing younger stars and potential stars as a way to rebuild the brand.

There are expected to changes to talent contracts as the company goes further. Previously, talents were paid by the episode they appeared in on TV, so if, for example, Robbie E. worked four different episodes in the span of one taping day, he was paid per episode appearance. We are hearing that the company is shifting to a pay scale that would be per date, so if E now worked those four different episodes, it would count as one payday because he worked the one date. In some cases, talent will only be able to work approved independent dates and will be required to pay the company 10% of their wrestling earnings outside of TNA. There's been a lot of talk among talents we've heard from about royalty payments changing as well. TNA sources we reached out to declined to comment on contractual changes.

Pretty much is going to lead to even more wrestlers leaving once their contracts are up.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet The Wyatt Family has been splintered on the road to WrestleMania 33 … and now, to add further intrigue, Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Erick Rowan‘s been cleared to return. As we previously reported, Rowan went under the knife to repair a torn rotator cuff back in October and it was expected that he’d be out of action until March. Looks like that timeline was right on target, because we’re told he’s been given the green light. Erick’s medical news couldn’t come at a better time. Bray Wyatt just recently won the WWE Championship and is currently feuding with Rowan’s former tag partner Luke Harper. The wrestler tweeted this creepy video today as well. pic.twitter.com/lkioNiFVuF — Erick Rowan (@ERICKROWAN) February 28, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Cena and a big highlight involving Cena stating his biggest regret in wrestling was trashing Rock's Hollywood career now that he realized why Rock did it and how it can expand his own image outside of wrestling. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017...-rock-nintendo
• According to the Observer, Finn Balor recently got medically cleared to return to the ring and expected to be back for RAW any day now. https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/s...96507092893696
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday was Ric Flair's 68th birthday.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Goldberg has the chance to break a WWE record if he wins the Universal title this Sunday. Would break Kane's record of longest time in between main championship reigns. Also has the chance of becoming the 2nd oldest World/WWE/Universal champ in WWE history (Vince is #1). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...d_this_sunday/
• Asuka was revealed to be joining the Smackdown brand at least for upcoming house show events although won't be getting called up any time soon.
• Besides several wrestlers leaving TNA, management also had a big shake up recently with several TNA Creative members also departing as part of on-going changes by TNA's new owners.

[Emperor Smeat]

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Rumor going around the net for post-Mania stuff involves Lesnar winning the Universal title at Mania against Goldberg and then feuding with Strowman.

Spoiler tags used since its related to potential Mania and post-Mania plans.

Originally Posted by Observer Jack Swagger has requested his release from WWE. In an appearance on "Beyond the Fight" with Chael Sonnen on Wednesday, Swagger announced the news and said that his decision to leave the company was made because of a lack of opportunities in WWE and the sides being so far apart in contract negotiations. "As of yesterday, Chael, I asked for my release from WWE," Swagger said. "It's still kind of an ongoing process right now. Basically, it came down to contract negotiations and we were way off. They didn't value me at what I thought I was valued at. So, you can be angry about it because wrestling is something that you get so passionate about, but this was a business decision. They weren't giving me the opportunity to make the full amount of income I could for my family, so when you put it like that it's time to go." Swagger said that the start-and-stop nature of his booking was frustrating, but noted that it's something that happens all of the time and that there are two people in a room in WWE who determine who the best wrestlers are even though the crowd may like others more. When asked what his plans are going forward, Swagger noted that he's young and is leaving because he wasn't getting opportunities. He said that he intends to keep wrestling and wants to go to Mexico, the UK, and Japan, but it would be hard to turn down a good offer to try out mixed martial arts.

Originally Posted by Observer The Tuesday, February 28th editon of WWE SmackDown averaged 2.566 million viewers, down 8% from last week's impressive number. The second hour of the show went up against U.S. President Donald Trump's address to Congress which had 43 million viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer Owens also appeared on today's episode of the Steve Austin Show, which was taped backstage at the February 20th Raw in Los Angeles.

Link to the podcast episode: http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/pro...42&pid=1714905

Originally Posted by Observer After the angle where Randy Orton turned his back on Bray Wyatt last night, there was a segment on Talking Smack that furthered tensions between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon with Styles still demanding to challenge for Wyatt's WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer In an interview with the Sporting News, Big Show was asked about Shaquille O'Neal claiming that their WrestleMania match "probably" won't happen and said that he still doesn't know whether the match is off yet.

Link to the interview: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news...01dueqg3l41b0s

Originally Posted by Observer Netflix's GLOW series, which was inspired by the pro wrestling promotion of the same name, will premiere on June 23rd.

Originally Posted by Observer Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Marty Scurll vs. Ricochet for their show in Orlando on March 31st. RevPro also tweeted a thank you to Ring of Honor for allowing Scurll and Will Ospreay to work the show.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced on his podcast today that highlights from his three "Ringside with Jim Ross" shows from last year's WrestleMania weekend in Dallas, Texas will be edited into one three hour show that will debut on the Fite App for VOD viewing starting 3/8 at 5 PM.

Originally Posted by PWI Former TNA champion Drew Galloway was interviewed by The Scottish Sun today to discuss his decision to not sign a new TNA contract and instead, depart the company. Galloway confirmed the story reported by PWInsider.com several days ago, that the company tried to lock him in too close to the previous contract ending. He told the newspaper, ""They came to me last week with an offer and it was very very good one, one of the best in the company and a position as top guy but the reality is that because they waited until the last second I had to turn it down. Everything was so last minute. I had to to think about back-up plans and family because it went to the wire. I was surprised I got no heads-up beforehand and when they got in touch last week they wouldn’t accept no for an answer and the financial offer was great so it was a very hard decision to make. If all of this was said three weeks ago I would have signed."' Galloway said that the company wanted him to be positioned as the top talent in Europe, the UK and the United States, but they reached out to him too late for him to want to stay.

Both ITV and WWE are rumored to be interested in signing him. Link to the interview: https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/spo...-tna-contract/

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats PWInsider brought news this morning of yet another high-profile talent who won’t be re-signing with Anthem-owned Impact, former Knockouts champion Jade (aka Mia Yim). She follows Drew Galloway, Matt & Jeff Hardy and Michael Bennett & Maria Kanellis out the door. There’s no word on if she’ll appear at the taping to write her character off, but Insider reports the company plans to only use talent they have locked up on the Mar. 2 - 4 shows in Orlando, so... don’t count on it.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Bruce Prichard will be making his return to Impact Wrestling this week … and not just in a backstage role, he’ll also be on camera. Sources with direct knowledge tell us Prichard will be be flying to Orlando for the upcoming taping to appear in an on-air role, as well as work in an advisory position behind the scenes. As we previously reported … this week saw the Impact Wrestling departures of Broken Matt, Jeff Hardy, Drew Galloway, Mike Bennett, Maria and Jade. Unclear what Bruce’s on-air role will be at this point, but we’re told the huge numbers his podcast has been receiving were partly the reason for bringing him back.

Last night I asked for my release from Impact Wrestling. This morning they informed me I was never employed.

— Chuck Taylor (@SexyChuckieT) March 1, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• For those who get AXS TV channel, they are going to be holding Omega themed NJPW episodes this month as part of a "Rise of Kenny Omega" series.
• Jeff Jarrett is currently rumored to be the person pushing for TNA talent to not be allowed to work for other indie companies and likely the one who came up with the 10% fee if they do. Main reason is he wants a locked down roster for touring reasons and for long term rebuilding.
• WWE announced they are releasing a Kevin Owens set called "Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story" this July.

[DaveWadding]

KO Blu-Ray

[Emperor Smeat]

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Originally Posted by PWI Former WWE Champion Alberto El Patron just defeated Bobby Lashley to win the TNA championship in his official TNA in-ring debut. As we noted earlier on the site, he is in full-time and was coming in with a big push. When John Gaburick was running TNA creative, he intended to bring in Alberto and have him win the title on his first night but they never came to terms. Under the new regime Alberto came to terms, and still ended up with the title on the first night.

Originally Posted by Observer At the tapings for next Thursday's show, they show an angle with Borash confronting Josh Mathews, basically saying that everyone hates Mathews, that he disrespects fans, legends, and the new management wants a change. As noted, the new storyline is that the people who were running TNA the last few years were idiots and Borash said that Mike Tenay had been training him to be the new lead announcer, but then the stupid former owners of the company jumped on a guy who was just fired by WWE and he was put in the spot. The belief is that the stupid former owners will be a theme of the shows as they start the new regime. Mathews then claimed that he was taught by Jim Ross and he has announced at WrestleMania. The transition will not happen overnight as the two are set to feud first.

Spoiler tags used since its related to recent TNA tv tapings and storylines.

Originally Posted by Observer The new regime of Impact Wrestling debuts at tonight's tapings with a ton of new faces expected as well as old faces being gone. Besides the names already written about, Alberto El Patron, Garza Jr., Rachael Ellering, Kongo Kong, and Laredo Kid are coming in along with the likes of Konnan, Matt Morgan, Bruce Prichard, and perhaps Karen Jarrett. Brooke Adams will not be appearing for any of the tapings. Cody appears only tonight. It also appears Jeremy Borash will be the new lead announcer for TNA.

Originally Posted by PWI For the many of you who have asked, yes, Paige is indeed backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling taping tonight in Orlando, Florida.

Originally Posted by Observer Impact Wrestling announced a new television deal in the United Kingdom today with Spike U.K., a two-year-old station in the market that also airs Bellator. Spike U.K. airs a lot of Spike TV programming as well as some shows from parent Ch. 5 in the U.K. The station broadcasts in the U.K. and Ireland. Only a handful of shows in the history of the station have done 200,000 viewers. The deal goes into effect in the spring, and will air Impact every week, as well as monthly live and taped PPVs. TNA Xplosion will air on the smaller My5. Impact will air on Friday nights, the night after the show debuts in the U.S. and Canada. Impact had been out of the U.K. since being canceled by Challenge TV. Its ratings had declined greatly on the station prior to being dropped. Impact had often had more viewers than Raw or SmackDown in the U.K. in the past, but that's misleading since Challenge was available in far more homes than Sky.

Hot on the heels of their UK TV announcement, TNA will hold its first round of TV tapings tonight at Soundstage 21 at Universal Orlando in Florida. It's the first under Dutch Mantel as head of creative and Jeff Jarrett's new role as Chief Creative Officer and with the churn of talent, is going to be very interesting to see who is used, how they are used, what old faces return and what new faces debut. It's a new slate starting with these tapings. The episodes begin to air next week. In their announcement for the UK TV deal (which starts on 4/21), the company also unveiled a new, sleeker logo: Conspiracy theorists, it is interesting to note the shade of green in the logo matches the shade used by Global Force Wrestling in their own logo. TNA also announced today that when Moose goes to work for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan, he'll be in the ring with The Great Muta.

Originally Posted by PWI Boy, if this happens and Jim Ross comes back to the announce booth for Impact, it would be a huge get. Good luck to all my friends working in #Orlando for @IMPACTWRESTLING. Expecting many changes including perhaps a different soundtrack. ????? — Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) March 2, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer AAA is getting an even worse rep with some indie promotions that had worked with them, as they’ve sent cease and desist letters to promoters who are booking Pentagon and Fenix. It’s not just trying to stop them from using their old names, which they’ve stopped using, and registering their new names to keep them from using them, but now are trying to get indie groups to stop booking them by threatening legal action. Based on this, one wonders if Lucha Underground will use them for the next season

Originally Posted by Observer While it’s too early to know if this will have any effect on the promotion, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Inc., the parent company of ROH, has approached Tribune Media Company to talk about a merger according to a report by Reuters on 3/1. The deal would hinge on current regulations being changed. A deal would combine two of the largest owners of television stations in the U.S. Tribune owns WGN America and 42 stations while Sinclair owns or operates 173 stations in 81 markets. The article indicated it was more Sinclair looking to buy Tribune, or parts of Tribune. Right now there is an FCC regulation that no owner of broadcast television stations can reach more than 39 percent of the country’s homes, but the feeling is President Donaldwould relax those types of rules. Since from the story, it would appear the Sinclair side would remain in charge, that would likely not mean anything regarding this promotion, but when big changes are made, you never know what it means for smaller cogs in the wheel and company’s priorities can change

Originally Posted by Observer The situation with ITV is that ITV is very much looking at doing a wrestling show, but after doing the pilot, realized that producing weekly episodic shows with storylines and such is something they don’t have the capacity to do, as well as run a touring house show promotion. Unlike with Lucha Underground, where it was with this television mindset and losing tens of millions in the process, they realize they need to get a wrestling promotion built from the television show and have talked with Jarrett about that. Exactly what this would entail, or if they even reach a deal, is up in the air

Some potential bad news regarding ITV and plans for their weekly tv wrestling show.

Originally Posted by PWI The 2017 TNA Slammiversary PPV will be Sunday 7/2 in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios.

Originally Posted by Observer The WAW UK promotion announced U.K. shows with Jack Swagger (his first non-WWE appearance), Jazz, Bushwhacker Luke Williams and Scott Hall for 3/10 and 3/11.

Handsome Rusev’s recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho revealed a lot — his first job in the United States was as a house painter and eventually he worked at a Wendy’s — but the best moment is the mention that the NXT version of the Bulgarian Brute was almost a pro wrestling genie. The quote, courtesy of Dusty Rhodes’ wonderful, Glacier-creating imagination: “He has given me so many good and bad ideas that you have no idea! He tried to make me a genie. ‘Baby, I see you with that new gear. You look like a genie! I want you to work with that Russian chick, Anya, and she’s going to, baby, rub the lamp and you’re going to, pop, appear! … He made me do genie promos for the next three weeks. Well, he had the lamp and this kickboxing chick we had back in FCW, she rubbed the lamp and I appeared.”

"How about fan fiction? Young: You know what I saw the other day—it must’ve been on my Instagram or on Twitter or something, but somebody tagged me in it—it was a shirt that was a picture, obviously a fan-drawn cartoon thing of just you and Roman [Reigns, a fellow WWE Superstar] in … a deep embrace. I wanted to buy it. [Laughs] It was a thing on Etsy, a real thing that I could’ve bought. It was hysterical. Ambrose: There are psychotic fans. Young: Insane. Ambrose: Especially, like, I think I draw a certain … I think a lot of my particular … Young: Fan base? Ambrose: I have a particular demographic. I think I appeal to a lot of people who might have problems of their own [and] they relate to me. It’s cool when you can help and inspire people and stuff, but sometimes people just attach to you for strange reasons, [and] their behavior is not the best. Like what? Ambrose: I’ve been stalked, I’ve been— Young: I get many a death threat. Death threats? Young: Well, I mean, there’s a lot of anti–Renee Young pages out there. Ambrose: It’s actually good to make this point. But without going into too much detail, I’ve been stalked on the phone and my home and hotels, to the point where it’s a little Single White Female scary, though I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna get beaten up and kidnapped by a 15-year-old girl. Young: I don’t know … there are a lot of steroids in foods now. Ambrose: I’ve been stalked fairly regularly for the last two years. I have to go to great lengths to keep that shit at bay."

From a recent interview Dean Ambrose and Renee Young had with website Vegas Seven: http://vegasseven.com/2017/03/02/wwe...-power-couple/

Originally Posted by Observer There are discussions of [Pete]Dunne working either on Raw or Smackdown on the post-Mania shows in Orlando. All the U.K. talent contracted talent is coming in, with some likely performing at Axxess

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center recently learned a thing or two from The Book of Truth … because The Sheet has learned ex-ROH manager Truth Martini coached them for a week. Multiple sources tell us Martini’s stint was a few weeks ago, but it somehow slipped under the radar. Recent guest coaches include Scotty 2 Hotty and Steve Corino … who were both eventually hired by WWE to work with talent at the Performance Center. The company also hired Nigel McGuiness, who had been working for Ring of Honor — where Truth Martini called home for six years. No word on whether this will lead to any further relationship between the two sides.

Originally Posted by Fightful.com On his weekly podcast (link is external) with Fightful Wrestling, Riddle said the [TNA]company has attempted to get ahold of him. "They haven't been contacting me direct, because they don't have my contact information. But, they've contacted people to get a hold of me, I've been so busy though I haven't got back to that yet. But I don't want to mention names of said contacts but one of my former coaches and ECW alumni at the Monster Factory told me somebody wanted my information," said Riddle. Currently Riddle is signed to a contract with Evolve, but has liberties to wrestle for other independent promotions and to look for bigger opportunities. Fightful Wrestling's podcast host Sean Ross Sapp asked him what he would be allowed to do regarding Impact Wrestling and Riddle said he was unsure.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Brooke Adams is currently rumored to be joining the batch of recent departures from TNA. Wasn't used in the current set of tv tapings and her contract ends very soon.
• TNA announced during tonight's set of tv tapings they have have officially dropped the TNA name in favor of being called just Impact Wrestling going forward.
• Mauro recently thanked fans on his Instagram page for voting him as the winner of the Observer's "Best Television Announcer" award. Ended up beating Corey Graves for the award by 289 votes. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRItX-7AOoT/
• According to PWI, Jack Swagger is technically still with the WWE at least for the short time being.
• ESPN had a recent interview with Kurt Angle mainly about his upcoming Hall of Fame induction. http://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/18804834

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Originally Posted by PWI For the many of you who have asked, yes, Paige is indeed backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling taping tonight in Orlando, Florida.

Wow, she's like a lost puppy. It seems like she follows Del Rio everywhere.

I wonder if Del Rio were to die, would Paige jump into the coffin with him?

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Hot on the heels of their UK TV announcement, TNA will hold its first round of TV tapings tonight at Soundstage 21 at Universal Orlando in Florida. It's the first under Dutch Mantel as head of creative and Jeff Jarrett's new role as Chief Creative Officer and with the churn of talent, is going to be very interesting to see who is used, how they are used, what old faces return and what new faces debut. It's a new slate starting with these tapings. The episodes begin to air next week. In their announcement for the UK TV deal (which starts on 4/21), the company also unveiled a new, sleeker logo: Conspiracy theorists, it is interesting to note the shade of green in the logo matches the shade used by Global Force Wrestling in their own logo. TNA also announced today that when Moose goes to work for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan, he'll be in the ring with The Great Muta.

That logo is so much better.

What possessed them to even consider the previous abortion and then think "Yeah that's good, let's go with that" will forever baffle me.

[Cool King]

The word "Wrestling" could have been in orange but yeah, green is good too.

[Lock Jaw]

Mauro is far behind Corey Graves.........

[Emperor Smeat]

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Originally Posted by PWI Impact Wrestling tapings are scheduled to begin soon, but it was announced to the crowd that Alberto El Patron didn't want to win the title that way and the belt is officially vacant. So, Alberto won the belt yesterday and the championship was vacated today. 8:35 PM Update: Later on, Despite Jeremy Borash telling the crowd earlier that the Impact World Championship was vacant, Bobby Lashley came out with the belt and was being referred to as champion. This whole thing has been so weird.

Spoiler tags used since its related to today's Impact tv tapings.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Broken Matt and Jeff Hardy have begun preliminary talks with WWE about a return to the company … this according to multiple sources. Sources with direct knowledge tell us talks started this week after the brothers’ Impact Wrestling contracts expired, and right now things are looking good. No deal has been offered quite yet, and something could always change — but as of right now it looks as though they’re heading towards Matt and Jeff returning home to WWE. As we previously reported, Broken Matt and Jeff felt dissed during contract negotiations with Impact and their lawyer was told to call WWE if they didn’t like the offer being given. It’s unclear what creative plans for the brothers are if they get signed.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE officially announced today that Jacob Hager, aka Jack Swagger, has not been released, even though he said that he was leaving the company on Wednesday. Where this gets interesting is that Swagger has been announced for several shows next weekend in the U.K., the first being a singles match on March 10th against Alberto El Patron in Norwich, England for the WAW promotion. WWE claims he can not do that match, noting that when he is officially released, at that point he would have a 90-day non-compete period where WWE will pay him based on his downside guarantee, but during that period he can't wrestle anywhere else, whether that be promotions they consider rivals, television promotions, or anywhere else. "He's currently under contract to WWE," said a WWE company source. "When he is released, he would have a 90 day non-compete." Swagger appeared on Chael Sonnen's "Beyond the Fight" podcast earlier this week to announce that he had requested his release from WWE and to explain why he made the decision.

Originally Posted by PWI The 3/2 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 293,000 viewers, up from last week's 275,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI Homicide is backstage at the TNA Impact Wrestling taping. Also backstage are the TNA Tag Team championship belts, which I am assuming Vanguard-1 carried from Cameron, NC to return to TNA management.

Originally Posted by Observer The storyline of WWE trying to figure out who will challenge for Bray Wyatt's championship at WrestleMania may be coming to an end on Tuesday. It was announced on Friday morning that Randy Orton would face AJ Styles on next week's SmackDown to determine a number one contender for the WWE Championship. It will be a first-ever match between the two.

Originally Posted by Observer Tomoaki Honma was injured earlier today in a match in Okinawa and carried out of the ring, seemingly immobile after taking a DDT off the middle rope from Jado. About 9:00 into the match at the Okinawa Prefectural Budokan Gymnasium, with Honma, Togi Makabe & Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Jado, Jado delivered the move. Honma couldn't get up and the match was immediately stopped. Evidently in coming off the ropes, Honma's foot got caught on the ropes, changing the trajectory of his landing. The match was immediately stopped and medical personnel came into the ring. They removed the top rope and carried him out of the ring on a stretcher. He was able to talk to doctors but did not appear able to move.

Originally Posted by Observer We haven't heard anything new since this morning regarding Tomoaki Honma, who was rushed to the hospital after landing badly on a DDT off the middle rope from Jado during a match today in Okinawa. We've been in contact with people from New Japan and as of last word, they still don't know anything new.

According to recent reports from Japan, Honma suffered paralysis from the neck down. Image of the severity of the accident and pretty much a miracle he's even alive: http://imgur.com/6NegyOx

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE officially announced today that Jacob Hager, aka Jack Swagger, has not been released, even though he said that he was leaving the company on Wednesday. Where this gets interesting is that Swagger has been announced for several shows next weekend in the U.K., the first being a singles match on March 10th against Alberto El Patron in Norwich, England for the WAW promotion. WWE claims he can not do that match, noting that when he is officially released, at that point he would have a 90-day non-compete period where WWE will pay him based on his downside guarantee, but during that period he can't wrestle anywhere else, whether that be promotions they consider rivals, television promotions, or anywhere else. "He's currently under contract to WWE," said a WWE company source. "When he is released, he would have a 90 day non-compete." Swagger appeared on Chael Sonnen's "Beyond the Fight" podcast earlier this week to announce that he had requested his release from WWE and to explain why he made the decision.

Originally Posted by Observer Jerry Lawler will be in Milwaukee to do the post-fight show after Fast Lane on the WWE Network.

Originally Posted by Observer The Evolve show on 3/30 at 8 p.m. in Orlando, the Thursday before WrestleMania, has a strong lineup with Zack Sabre Jr. vs. ACH for the Evolve title, Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi vs. Michael Elgin & Donovan Dijak for the tag titles, Matt Riddle vs. Drew Galloway, Ricochet vs. Keith Lee plus Ethan Page, Timothy Thatcher and more. They also run 3/31 at 4 P.M. with Sabre Jr. vs. Elgin for the Evolve title, Yehi vs. Riddle, Lee vs. Dijak, and ACH vs. Galloway.

Originally Posted by Observer The deal for Impact Wrestling to bring in Alberto El Patron wasn't finalized until Wednesday. Reno Scum's match was taped for next week's Impact and they were wearing the GFW tag team titles belts, so GFW and those belts will be acknowledged on television. Add Tanea Brooks (Rebel) to the list of those expected back in Impact this week.

There was some speculation online Del Rio didn't sign a deal yet and Impact were just assuming he'd return the next night of tapings as a gesture of good will and make things official.

Leon White (Vader) on his health issues from the Two Man Power Trip: The cryptic tweets regarding his health: “I really kind of regret tweeting it out. In other words when I got diagnosed and was told, 'Leon, you have a bad heart and you have congestive heart failure and we feel your time is limited and you have maybe a couple of years left...two years or less to live.' I remember getting very angry and said this has got to be bullshit because I don't feel bad and I remember getting extremely angry. Since that time and when I got the news I left the hospital and went right to the gym and rode the bike for a half hour. Hard. As hard as I could and when I got off the bike and got on the treadmill and walked for another 15 minutes pretty hard and I was exhausted but my heart felt fine so how can I do that if my heart is going to give out? The doctor in some of the ongoing appointments that I had with him explained to me that when you are tipping the scales at 400 and 420-25 pounds that a man that size and that heavy isn't supposed to be able to push himself in a cardiovascular endeavor no matter what it is much past 2 or 3 minutes.” Accepting his fate and still taking bookings to wrestle: “I kind of wish I hadn’t brought it up, and I am continuing to wrestle. Someone said, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Why would you get a booking (to wrestle) at this point when you’ve had this type of diagnosis?’ I said, ‘Brother, where would you rather die in a bed at home, or in the hospital, or would you rather die in front of 10,000 people having fun in the ring?” “So, if it’s true, if this doctor isn’t just totally full of sh*t which, that’s what I’m betting on, and I should say ‘these doctors’ at this point you know, that’s my choice, and that’s the way I decide to go out. If this thing’s gonna happen, I’d rather be in a ring, anywhere, compared to sitting in a hospital room in a hospital bed, sitting there like some sheep getting ready to be slaughtered. It’s not who I am, and it’s not the way it’s gonna happen with me.”

Link to the podcast episode: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/t...21_00_00-08_00

Originally Posted by ESPN "It's on Shaq," the Big Show, whose real name is Paul Wight, told ESPN.com in a recent interview. "He has to figure things out in his own camp. Maybe he is just too scared to show up because he's too busy riding around singing karaoke with John Cena and going to Krispy Kreme and getting fatter every week." "Maybe he doesn't want to put on spandex and show the entire world that Shaquille O'Neal, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, looks like Jabba the Hutt," Big Show said. "It's on him. He has to weigh these consequences in his own mind. Does he want the world to know how fat and out of shape he is or does he want to sit back and talk s--- into a podcast."

From a recent interview ESPN had with Big Show about Shaq being the reason why their Mania match might not happen (assuming he's not pulling a worked promo on the whole situation).

Originally Posted by Observer Most of the U.K. contracted wrestlers are being booked on the upcoming post-Mania tour in May. Listed as appearing on the shows are Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Mark Andrews, Wolfgang, Trent Seven, Joseph Conners, Tyson T-Bone, James Drake, Dan Moloney, San Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, Tucker and Jordan Devlin. They will be working six-man tags with six guys on the Raw tour and six on the Smackdown tour. The matches vary but Seven, Bate, Wolfgang, Gradwell and Huxley are working as faces and Dunne, Conners, T-Bone and Drake are working as heels

Originally Posted by Observer Dick Beyer, The Destroyer, now 86, is looking to get into the WWE Hall of Fame. He did work with WWE a few years ago when they inducted Gorgeous George because George’s last major program before he died was doing two hair vs. mask matches with Destroyer in Southern California. But the combination of being before 1984 and not owning a tape collection makes this not someone they’d usually put in. Jim Ross and Gerald Brisco couldn’t even get Danny Hodge in, and Pat Patterson was able to get Mad Dog Vachon in, but not Ray Stevens even when WrestleMania was in Northern California

Originally Posted by Observer It appears the ice cream plans for New Day that they are pushing will be frozen pops. Merchandise regarding that was already on sale at the Raw show in Green Bay

Originally Posted by Observer Notes from the 2/28 Smackdown tapings in St. Paul. Smackdown is more and more outdrawing Raw, as they had 10,000 fans here, way more than Smackdown usually does in a market that size. They’ve also been beating Raw domestically all year at the house shows.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Jim Ross recently debunked rumors of him signing a deal with Impact nor being at the recent set of tv tapings for the company. https://twitter.com/JRsBBQ/status/837780725625683968
• Kurt Angle's final indie booking took place tonight with a cage match against Cody Rhodes for Northeast Wrestling.
• According to F4W/Observer, Joe vs Cena was the Mania match they teased about not wanting to leak due to fears of Vince scrapping it. Joe was meant to be on the Smackdown brand before recent stuff caused a change in those plans. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...couple_months/
• Corey Graves revealed he will be interviewing Kurt Angle for the next episode of WWE Network's Bring It To The Table show on March 13th. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRL6wlSD4Sh/
• According to the Observer, WWE has recently been scouting Asia for new talent and likely for the rumored Asian tournament expected to happen within the near future.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Architect making the right choice as a kid:

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Originally Posted by Observer The angle that would appear to end Josh Mathews as Impact announcer was shot yesterday with Team JB beating Team Josh in an eight-man tag team match that will air in early April. Chris Masters as Chris Adonis and Matt Morgan were both involved in that match as babyfaces on Team JB with Morgan winning it for the team.

Spoiler tag used since its related to the results for Impact's announcer storyline.

Originally Posted by Observer Coming the day after Fastlane, Raw was up four percent from last week, averaging 3.20 million viewers, with a particularly strong second hour but a major drop in the third hour. The number was virtually identical to that of two weeks earlier and based on normal patterns of gaining about 10 percent after football season ends, Raw should be doing 3.2 million viewers weekly right now ... There was an across the board third hour drop, of 13 percent, far larger than usual, even in the male demos which usually hold steady in that hour. The third hour was built around a confrontation with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman that never happened, and Undertaker was never advertised to appear, and both Lesnar and Goldberg had already appeared by that time. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.32 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.38 million viewers 10 p.m 2.95 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer The 2017 WWE Hall of Fame class is up to seven official members. In an announcement made by Bleacher Report on Monday afternoon, WWE revealed that Rick Rude would be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. He joins Kurt Angle, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson of the Rock 'n' Roll Express, Teddy Long, Diamond Dallas Page, and Beth Phoenix as those set to be honored on March 31st over WrestleMania weekend in Orlando, Florida. Rude is the first posthumous member of the 2017 class and will be inducted by Ricky Steamboat. Bleacher Report spoke to Steamboat about Rude's career.

Originally Posted by Observer Tomoaki Honma has started to get some movement back after a scary injury that took place on Friday. Honma took a draping DDT from Jado in a six-man tag team match held in Okinawa. Most likely the finish of the match would have involved his side winning, but after taking the move, he laid prone on the mat and couldn't move. Jado pinned him and medical assistance was provided and he was carried out, almost motionless, on a stretcher. He was fully conscious and talking at the time. Honma, according to sources at New Japan, has regained movement in his arms and legs but is still very weak. He is as of yet unable to sit up. Japanese media reports state that the injury was to the C-3 and C-4 vertebrae in his neck and that he's been moved out of the emergency room. He has said that he is getting better and vowed that some day he will return to the ring.

Originally Posted by Observer NJPW announced that Yuji Nagata will be Tomoaki Honma's replacement in the New Japan Cup. Nagata will face Tanga Loa in the first round.

Originally Posted by Observer The wrestling world was just filled with interesting news at last night's ROH tapings with the Hardys saying they've signed an ROH deal and Bully Ray saying the same.

Supposedly Impact tried to sign Bully Ray to a deal but he rejected because of how low the offer was.

Originally Posted by Observer Charlotte Flair appeared at Saturday's Milwaukee Bucks game and interrupted the mascot race with a steel chair. The Bucks play at the Bradley Center, which is where Fastlane will take place on Sunday, and Charlotte was also interviewed before the game.

Originally Posted by Observer For the first time since becoming Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, The Hardys will defend their titles at Friday's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view. They'll face The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice in a triple threat Vegas street fight. Bully Ray will also make his ROH in-ring debut in a six-man tag team match as he teams up with The Briscoes to take on War Machine & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Originally Posted by Observer Shaquille O'Neal on his podcast has claimed that he's back in talks with WWE officials about the WrestleMania match with Big Show.

Originally Posted by Observer Zack Sabre Jr. joined Suzuki-gun at today's New Japan anniversary show.

Originally Posted by Observer Last night's show was the rare show where the smart money didn't come in late at all, and major underdogs won matches including Sasha Banks and Roman Reigns. I mentioned by the betting patterns that it never appeared this was a smart money show.

Some details regarding betting and Fastlane ppv.

Originally Posted by Observer Chris Jericho has a fundraising campaign for Type 1 diabetes research and is selling Stupid Idiot T-shirts for the next two weeks to raise money. For more info and ordering you can go here.

Originally Posted by Observer Bully Ray, who is scheduled to work regularly for ROH going forward, will be co-hosting the SiriusXM wrestling show Busted Open with Dave LaGreca, debuting today and tomorrow and starting next week, will be a regular every Thursday and Friday on the show.

Originally Posted by PWI Ring of Honor has come to terms with Kevin Kelly to work their PPV this Friday (as well as the TV taping the next night.) Kelly and Ian Riccaboni will be handling the announcing of the 15th Anniversary PPV from Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by PWI The future of the legendary Mid-South Coliseum, home of classic professional wrestling for decades under Jarrett Promotions, may finally be determined by the end of the month. The Memphis Commercial-Appeal reported today that Wiseacre Brewing will decide by the end of the month whether it wishes to move forward with a $12 million renovation and lease of the former entertainment venue, which was shut down in 2006 due to the costs needed to renovate the venue in order to bring it into modern standards. An attempt by Jerry Lawler to run the venue one last time, featuring a proposed match between himself and Hulk Hogan was denied by the city. If Wisacre moves forward with their plans, they would take over the the first floor of the Coliseum and rent the remaining space to a mix of businesses that according to the Commercial Appeal, "might include restaurants, a bowling alley, climbing walls, a wrestling museum and a Civil Rights homage." Developer Brian Saulsberry had pushed to restore the venue as a concert and entertainment hub, but his bis was denied due to doubts he would be able to raise the necessary funding. There has been a huge push from Memphis residents to save the facility, as opposed to paying to have it destroyed. Memphis wrestling historian and author Mark James has been very involved in the campaign.

Originally Posted by PWI On 3/1, Matt Hardy applied to trademark "Broken Matt Hardy", officially laying claim to ownership of the character. The trademark is listed as goods & services, described as, " Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer." Hardy's claim states that the character was first used on April 20th, 2016 and first used in commerce on Mat 20th, 2016.

Originally Posted by WWE What's the difference between the Kassius Ohno from three years ago to the Kassius Ohno of today? OHNO: Aside from about 50 pounds? [Laughs] I'm smarter. I've matured and I don't have a chip on my shoulder. I'm more comfortable and I know my worth. What drove that need to come back to NXT? OHNO: I've worked hard not to let my previous tenure define my career. I knew I didn't have to come back to prove myself to anyone. What I need [to do] is to come back and accomplish all the things I failed to accomplish my first time here. I also need to reach those goals for anyone who has ever believed in and supported me. Now that you're back, it seems that your objective is clear. OHNO: My focus is zeroed in on the NXT Championship. I have accomplished everything I've ever wanted, everywhere I've ever been. Championships, tournaments, you name it. The NXT Championship is something that I don't just want, it's what I need. I plan to become the face and ambassador of NXT. I want to bring the absolute best in-ring action all over the world.

From a recent interview Ohno had with WWE's website: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/arti...t?sf60487349=1

Coming soon... #RAW @EmmaWWE pic.twitter.com/ILoS3Ck9En

— WWE (@WWE) March 7, 2017

Over/under on her debut taking the same amount of weeks as Emmalina did?


Some other sheet news includes:

• Natalya recently revealed she will be writing weekly articles for the Calgary Sun similar to her uncle Bret Hart who did the same for years. Link to her first article: http://m.calgarysun.com/2017/03/02/n...ges-and-thrive
• According to reports, Dana Brooke managed to reach 5th place for the Arnold Classic held over the weekend.
• WWE announced this year's Extreme Rules ppv with be a RAW exclusive event.
• WWE teasing Finn Balor could be making his return to RAW as early as next week. Got cleared to return to house shows starting this weekend.

[Black Widow]

Bet Shaq gasses out even more than Goldberg.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Smackdown gif:

Originally Posted by Observer SmackDown averaged 2.738 million viewers on Tuesday night. That number is up from the 2.566 million the show did last week, which was against President Donald Trump's address to Congress, and closer to the strong number that SmackDown did two weeks ago when it averaged 2.792 million viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer Daniel Bryan and The Miz continued to blur the line between storyline and reality on Talking Smack last night. After Bryan said that he didn't want to be an actor like Miz claimed to be, Miz replied that Bryan wants to wrestle but can't because of his history of head injuries. Bryan then asked if it was because he couldn't wrestle or if WWE wouldn't let him, and said that we'll see in a year and a half.

Originally Posted by Observer There was also a continuation of the storyline between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon, with Styles confronting Shane after SmackDown went off the air.

Link to the video and Micheal Hayes pulling a Foley for wacky wardrobe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O8qM47GNJY

Originally Posted by Observer A 12-foot-tall version of the WWE Championship was unveiled on the shore of Lake Eola in Orlando today in advance of WrestleMania 33 taking place in the city next month.

Link to the image of the giant WWE belt: http://i.imgur.com/yiXDTVC.jpg

Originally Posted by Observer Edge celebrated International Women's Day with a post on his Facebook account about his wife Beth Phoenix and her induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Link to the posting: https://www.facebook.com/EdgeWWE/pos...54582874015186

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats Miz’s promo material from the March 7 SmackDown about John Cena & Nikki Bella’s relationship being “for the cameras” and designed to make them more marketable is based on real backstage WWE gossip. When Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin gets added to the WrestleMania card, expect it to be some sort of gimmick match. The line-up for SmackDown’s Women’s title match at Mania is left open in hopes Naomi can be cleared and Eva Marie’s schedule is open. Continued mixed signals on The Hardys future, as they were reportedly spotted in Pittsburgh last week, leading to speculation they were there to take their WWE physicals. While at the same time, Matt filed for a trademark on the “Broken” character, which would likely mean if they came to WWE, it would be with their old or a different gimmick.

Some recent news and rumors from Cagesideseats about Mania and the Hardys-WWE situation.

Originally Posted by Observer The Hardys will face The Briscoes at ROH's TV tapings in Las Vegas on Saturday after the promotion's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view the night before.

Originally Posted by PWI Glenn Moore sent this item. I am the co-host of Jerry “The King” Lawler’s new podcast called ‘Dinner With The King’. We launched today with the first episode and will be releasing a new episode every Wednesday. You can find more information and links here: www.podavenue.com/king During today’s first episode, Jerry reveals he will be doing commentary during one WrestleMania match and appearing on the pre-show. He also goes over his new contract with WWE, including when and where he got the phone call from WWE on status back in December. It was later followed up by a phone call from Vince McMahon.

Originally Posted by PWI The updated lineup for Wrestlemania 33 on 4/2 Orlando, Florida: *WWE Universal champion Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar. *WWE champion Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton. *The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns. *WWE United States champion Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens. *WWE Raw Women's champion Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte. *WWE Raw Tag Team champions Gallows & Anderson vs. Cesaro & Sheamus/Enzo & Cass 3/12 Raw winner. *WWE Smackdown Women's champion Alexa Bliss defending her championship against the Smackdown women's roster. *The fourth annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley. *POSSIBLY: Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal.

Current Mania card at the moment. Probably between 3-5 more matches remaining before the final card gets revealed.

Originally Posted by PWI After all, as you mentioned many casual fans come back once a year to watch the big show (and some may even come back to watch The Big Show). In most businesses, the company would use that uptick in customers to expose those fans to the great things that they have to offer. In WWE’s case however, they put older, part time talent in prime positions and do it at the expense of the guys that did all of the heavy lifting all year long. It makes no sense at all to me to with people tuning in once a year you give them a 50 year old who has still not worked more than a few minutes defending the WWE Title against a part time guy who has decimated the entire roster, except for the 50 year old guy. Why would they do it? Well in the old days the explanation always given was, “We charge a lot of money for this PPV, we have to put names on it that the casual fans know in the top matches" ... With the advent of the WWE Network, they don’t need to chase the PPV beast anymore. People can either get a free month of the WWE Network or just pay $9.99 for it and get the biggest show of the year. They are not chasing buys any more. I get that they want to have a big name match with Lesnar vs. Goldberg and I am fine with that. That match is a draw all by itself. It doesn’t need the Title attached to it. But it has one and Kevin Owens is now relegated to a grudge match with Chris Jericho. To me, it would have made much, much more sense to have the casual fan tune in and see, “Hey, this Kevin Owens guy is really good and he just beat Chris Jericho, who is a huge star!” In the case of Smackdown, it looks like it will be Randy Orton taking on Bray Wyatt so they at least could have Orton lose and elevate Wyatt, but that does nothing for AJ Styles, who was the MVP of the brand all year and maybe of the entire company over the period. So to recap, no I can’t come up with any good reason to sacrifice the hard work that Styles and Owens put in all year. I think Vince McMahon made a really bad decision in both of their cases. Maybe they will both have amazing matches and it will make the casual fan stay on to watch them but there would have been a much better chance of that happening if those fans tuned in and saw those two as long running champions. Instead, they will tune in and see that nothing much has changed since last year and I predict a significant percentage of them will do what they do every other year: Take the rest of the year off from WWE until next year’s WrestleMania.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about people being upset at part-timers hogging too much of the spotlight at Mania and why WWE can't rely on the casual Mania crowd to boost RAW/Smackdown for the rest of the year. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/108...mania.html?p=1


Some other sheet news includes:

• WWE is currently selling a new Kurt Angle shirt designed by artist Rob Schamberger at their online shop. http://shop.wwe.com/kurt-angle-rob-s...irt/59051.html
• Recent episode of the Observer Radio podcast show had Christopher Daniels as the guest to hype ROH's upcoming 15th Anniversary ppv. http://www.f4wonline.com/wrestling-o...nd-more-231426
• For those that missed Talking Smack last night, the Miz-Bryan segment from the show is available here: https://streamable.com/8e4tg
• Edge teasing an announcement regarding the next season of The Edge & Christian Show will be occurring very soon. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/statu...92690203389965

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by "Why 10 is Perfect" by Tye Dillinger now available at the TPWW Store for $10:

SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats As of now, there are still no plans for a proper Roman Reigns heel turn, even with the Undertaker match at WrestleMania. WrestleMania is expected to be a 7 hour show this year. The SmackDown tag team titles may not be defended at WrestleMania 33, and it could be the impetus for a post-event storyline for American Alpha/the entirety of the blue brands tag division. Apparently Jerry Lawler will be doing commentary for at least one match at WrestleMania 33.

Spoiler tags used since its related to rumored Mania plans and news.

Originally Posted by Observer It will likely be announced shortly that Anthem Entertainment and ITV have reached a deal. This was the deal Jeff Jarrett was working on as ITV wants a wrestling show for the U.K. but doesn't want to run a wrestling promotion. So the two companies will be partnering in some form on a promotion.

Originally Posted by Observer ROH's 5/12 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York will be a PPV featuring a lot of New Japan talent.

Originally Posted by Observer Bully Ray said that his ROH contract was for one year or longer.

Originally Posted by PWI E! Online has an article on Brie Bella gracing the cover of "Pregnancy and Baby " Magazine and that her daughter's name will be Birdy Joe Danielson. She mentioned that her and husband Daniel Bryan wanted their children to have names that begin with Bs.

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network has added a collection devoted to Shawn Michaels' Wrestlemania matches. Titled "Mr. Wrestlemania", the collection features the following: WrestleMania V – Rocking The Twin Towers Shawn Michaels makes his WrestleMania debut when The Rockers take to the ring to battle The Twin Towers. WrestleMania VI – A Ride on The Orient Express The Rockers journey across the border to Canada for a memorable battle against The Orient Express. WrestleMania VII – The Rockers Get Barbaric Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty continue to light up the WWE Universe, as The Rockers take on The Barbarian and Haku. WrestleMania VIII – Heartbreak for El Matador Shawn Michaels goes solo on The Grandest Stage of Them All in a match against ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana. WrestleMania IX – Going Native Shawn Michaels puts the Intercontinental Championship on the line in a match with Tatanka. WrestleMania X – On a Razor’s Edge Shawn Michaels climbs to new heights with Razor Ramon in a Ladder Match to determine the real Intercontinental Champion. WrestleMania XI – No Friends in Matters of Gold Shawn Michaels’ quest for gold and glory leads him to a shot at the WWE Championship against his former ally, Diesel. WrestleMania XII – The Boyhood Dream Shawn Michaels goes the distance by challenging Bret Hart for the WWE Championship in the first ever Iron Man Match. WrestleMania XIV – A Degenerate’s Fall With Mike Tyson in his corner, Shawn Michaels puts the WWE Championship on the line against Stone Cold Steve Austin. WrestleMania XIX – An Icon Returns to WrestleMania Five years after his last match on The Grandest Stage of Them All, Shawn Michaels returns to battle Chris Jericho. WrestleMania 21 – The Olympian’s Pride The heated rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle comes to a head at The Showcase of the Immortals. WrestleMania 22 – Disciplinary Action The tumultuous relationship between Mr. McMahon and Shawn Michaels explodes in a No Holds Barred Match. WrestleMania 23 – You Can’t See The Showstopper Shawn Michaels looks to prove why he is The Showstopper by challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship. WrestleMania 24 – Farewell to a Legend With Ric Flair’s career on the line, Shawn Michaels battles The Nature Boy in an emotional confrontation. WrestleMania 25 – Challenging The Streak While promising to bring darkness to light, Shawn Michaels challenges The Undertaker’s Streak at The Show of Shows. WrestleMania 26 – Mr. WrestleMania’s Final Curtain Shawn Michaels puts his career on the line in a final effort to lay The Undertaker’s Streak to rest.

Originally Posted by PWI The Fite App has announced that WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross will be chatting with fans on their platform during the entire Ring of Honor Anniversary tomorrow evening from 9 PM Eastern on, discussing the show and interacting with fans as they watch the ROH PPV. You can download the Fite App for free for your cell phone or mobile device, for free by clicking here. The App can be streamed from your phone to Samsung smart TVs as well as Roku devices, as long as the items are on the same wifi network. To order the show directly on the Fite.TV website, click here.

Originally Posted by PWI Gail Kim, who was backstage for at least one of the Impact Wrestling tapings last week, as scheduled to wrestle for Absolute Intense Wrestling this weekend. It was announced that she is not cleared to wrestle and Rebel from Impact will be taking her place. Kim will still appear at the event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Originally Posted by PWI With Jeff Jarrett in charge of Impact what's the status of his promotion Global Wrestling Federation? I don't know about the GWF. You'd have to ask Joe Pedicino! However, Global Force Wrestling still technically exists. Their belts and talents will be appearing on Impact programming. Jarrett also has a standing production deal and has been in discussions for a potential TV deal through that relationship. My guess is that it will fade into Impact and will have those elements featured on the former TNA instead. It may be that they do something independent with it, but my guess is that's more of a longshot now.

From a weekly Q&A article by PWI about the potential future of GFW now that Jarrett is more occupied with Impact stuff.

Originally Posted by PWI Just a quick note to ask everyone to keep Dennis Stamp, who worked several territories and actually wrestled Bret Hart in Hart's first ever match and was immortalized with the words "I'm not booked" in the Barry Blaustein documentary Beyond the Mat in 1999, and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Stamp has been battling cancer again since it re-emerged in September 2016. Things have taken a turn of the worse in recent weeks as it has now spread to his bone marrow.

Originally Posted by Observer At press time, there were only about 250 tickets left for WrestleMania on the primary market before it would be an actual sellout, so it’s a lock to be sold out, probably within a week. That would be 55,000 people with the current set up. There are ways to get it up to 60,000 if they want to add seats and start selling new seats. Hall of Fame tickets sold out this past week. As far as secondary market demand, the price of entry for WrestleMania is $120 (which indicates a softer than expected secondary market since face value on the cheapest tickets is $160), Raw is $101, NXT is $75, Hall of Fame is $31 and Smackdown is $18.

Originally Posted by Observer Kairi Hojo of Stardom has agreed to a three-year contract with WWE. She’s a great wrestler who was one of the women on the Lucha Underground show against Pentagon Dark earlier this season. Nakamura has been pushing for her to come to NXT for several months, since before we originally reported her getting an offer. She had told Stardom officials that she had turned down the offer and was staying with them. She just told the promotion now that she was leaving and wanted to leave in April. She’s got two titles and Stardom wants to her drop the titles before she leaves. The company felt they were misled by Hojo through all this. Io Shirai, the company’s top star, was more up front about her situation. She’s also reconsidered coming and said that she will be going to Orlando later this month but would not be working any shows over Mania weekend. This would replenish NXT’s women’s division that has really been just Asuka, to a degree Ember Moon, and a bunch of women who aren’t anywhere near that level

Stardom is pretty much screwed if Shirai also leaves since within a few months they'd be losing 3 of their top stars with a fourth big star also rumored to be leaving. One is already guaranteed to leave due to retirement soon.

Now that you are in the best shape of your life, how much longer do you see yourself wrestling? Big Show: I know I’m done February 2018. That’s when my contract ends as a full-time, live event guy. We’ll see what happens after that, whether I roll into an ambassador role or what WWE has for me. I know I’ve been with them for a long time and I have a great relationship with them. I also understand there’s a time for me to step aside and for other guys to step up. We got a lot of great new athletic talent that will probably be coming up at WrestleMania to be introduced. I don’t have any regrets or any shoulda, coulda, wouldas in my career. I’ve had a very blessed career with the greatest superstars this business has ever seen. And for me, it’s about giving that space up to those guys that are there to do it and me finding new challenges to help inspire and motivate me. That’s what I’ll be doing. Anything to keep from having to get a real job.

From a recent interview Big Show had with Yahoo Sports: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/big-sho...033642190.html

Originally Posted by Observer WWE makes it clear they want talent not to say the Hardys may be coming. Similarly, we were told Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis Bennett, who also left TNA after their contracts expired, have a destination but wanted to keep their destination quiet. Given the limited options, the destination would either be ROH/New Japan or both, which is what they did before TNA, or WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Lucha Underground has signed a deal to air in Germany on Tele 5. Tele 5 had been airing Raw but opted out due to the price tag. The station’s contract to air Raw ends at the end of this month.

Originally Posted by Observer The alliance with Konnan and Crash has some political implications because if Lucha Underground goes down, or if they make the call not to use Pentagon, Fenix, Brian Cage and others who have left AAA for Crash, Impact will have a direct line to all of its key talent. Now, WWE will also be interested since they are looking at opening up a Mexico branch. Rey Mysterio’s contract is up with Lucha Underground shortly after this season completes airing in the fall so he would be available as well unless Lucha Underground continues and he gets signed to a new deal. But once again, unless Impact finds a very to get new revenue sources, they will have a limited talent budget

Originally Posted by Observer Ricky Morton wanted Jim Cornette to induct the Rock & Roll Express to the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. He hasn’t said anything publicly about it and hasn’t confirmed it

Some other sheet news includes:

• Orlando Sentinel had a recent interview with Shinsuke Nakamura about his time in NXT and future plans in the WWE. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...story,amp.html
• According to the Observer, Daniel Bryan is considering a run in CMLL and NJPW once his current WWE contract ends late 2018.
• Also according to the Observer, WWE is rumored to be making an official announcement regarding a women's tournament after the next Takeover special.
• Recent episode of the Observer Radio show revealed Lesnar was the main reason why the potential Lesnar-Shane Mania match got dropped. Lesnar hated the idea and the storyline so he pushed for it to get dropped in favor of getting Goldberg instead. Shane was allowed to pick his new Mania opponent which became Styles and the reason why the Shane-Ambrose storyline got abruptly dropped.
• Konnor revealed on his Instagram page that he recently found out he will become a father by this September. https://www.instagram.com/p/BRbocOSllmf/

[#1-norm-fan]

Really hope Jim Cornette actually inducts the Rock & Roll Express into the HoF. Also hope he gives a great induction speech and then ends it with "Thank you, fuck you, bye".

[DaveWadding]

Hojo and Shirai are great gets for NXT. Now all they need to do is to get Mayu Iwatani to sign.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Suplex Appreciation Day:

SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by Observer In the last few weeks, there have been only minor changes to the original plans for WrestleMania. It is now, officially: Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal title. Whether this is positioned last or not, this was told to us from the start as the main event on the show. Unless plans change, Lesnar will win the title. Goldberg’s contract expires with this show but they can always sign a new deal. But the reason Lesnar put Goldberg over so quickly at Survivor Series and the Rumble is that this would be the end result. Goldberg having two quick matches would indicate this also won’t be a long match ... Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns. No matter what the long-term plan is as far as Reigns and a heel turn, he will be the biggest heel on the show. The finish here is very interesting. People will passionately hate the idea of Reigns winning, but if the idea is to go to Reigns as the guy to beat Lesnar (which was the plan at WrestleMania two years ago but they held back based on crowd reaction, which has only gotten worse since then), then Reigns shouldn’t lose to Undertaker at this stage of the game. Originally Undertaker was to wrestle John Cena, but Vince McMahon changed it and he has always wanted an Undertaker vs. Reigns match, for whatever reason, at a WrestleMania before Undertaker retires ... Bayley vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks for the women’s title on Raw. Originally Nia Jax was in this match, and clearly with Jax having beaten Bayley and Banks in recent weeks, if she was pulled, it was a late change. They still could add her. But if she was pulled, then Banks beating her at Fast Lane at least makes sense. This is essentially the same match, except Bayley in the spot Becky Lynch had, of the three-way match that most thought to be the best match last year. Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Carmella vs. ? for the Smackdown women’s title. It was announced on Smackdown that Bliss will defend against every available woman. Natalya, Lynch and James were made clear. Naomi’s name has been mentioned in recent promos but that would depend upon her being ready by Mania, which isn’t clear. Carmella would fit the list. There could be other names as well, including Tamina, who has been working Smackdown house shows but hasn’t been put on TV, and Eva Marie, who is on the roster, but hasn’t been on television in months ... Andre the Giant Battle Royal. One figures this as a showcase for Braun Strowman, with all the people on the Raw and Smackdown roster that don’t already have matches, a list that is very long. Mojo Rawley and Dolph Ziggler appear to be on it. There are 13 matches right here, and with other entertainment, multiple New Day segments, and your various surprises whether that be Hulk Hogan or Dwayne Johnson or Shawn Michaels, that is plenty for a show scheduled to start at 5 p.m. local time and end after 11 p.m The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal match is officially off according to an interview with Show with ESPN. O’Neal, on his podcast, claimed different, saying he was back in discussions for doing the match. “I’ve talked to somebody high up in the organization and they, we’re back talking again. I just want the people to know it had nothing to do with me, despite what you hear.” If that bout is on, that would make it 14 or 15 matches, which would feel like too many.

Spoiler tags used since its related to current Mania plans and possible results.

Originally Posted by Observer The reason for John Cena's post WrestleMania departure from WWE is because he will be in a starring role in the movie, Daddy's Home 2. In the original, Cena had a cameo in the final minute playing the ex-husband of the wife of the character played by Mark Wahlberg. Deadline reported this morning that the movie will start filming in Boston with Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, John Lithgow, and Linda Cardellini starring along with Cena. The movie is more about how the characters played by Ferrell and Wahlberg, who were at odds in the first movie, are now best friends working together to raise Walhberg's daughter while Ferrell is married to Wahlberg's ex-wife. The other daughter that Wahlberg is raising, his own stepdaughter, is Cena's. Cena is scheduled to work through WrestleMania and then has extended time off.

Originally Posted by Observer Add Chris Jericho to the list of those who will be departing WWE temporarily soon. Jericho's recent stay in the company was scheduled originally to end last fall, but due to how much fun he was having with his role with Kevin Owens, he delayed it and kept the program going, saving the first match for WrestleMania. It appears Jericho will remain with the company for a few weeks after WrestleMania, but will be touring with his band Fozzy from 5/5 to 5/27. It appears this will be a short-term departure as Jericho has been pulled from all May shows, but is being advertised for shows in June.

Originally Posted by Observer Some more on the WWE taping television on 5/6 and 5/7 in Norwich, England at Epic Studios. This will be a taping for the WWE's new U.K. television show. It's not clear if this will air on the network or on Sky, or somewhere else, but the idea was not for it to be a network show originally as it's meant to get the jump on ITV running its weekly show, which is not official, but probable. It is the same studio that the WAW promotion in the U.K. tapes out of, which is Paige's family. However, they are furious for WWE going there feeling it's their taping studio. It will be set up for 900 seats both days. This is obviously a late thing because the U.K. talent had been booked on WWE house shows those days and now they've been pulled. This will be a combination of the wrestlers under contract in the U.K. and several of the WWE cruiserweights who would be booked on 5/8 and 5/9 for Raw and Smackdown but weren't booked on the house shows in the U.K., so they were already coming, but headed in two days earlier. Taping that week makes sense, the production crew comes in without a separate trip, announcers already in, and non U.K. based talent was already coming in.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE is clearly working with Progress because fans of Progress Wrestling and on their mailing list were told they had a four-hour window to buy tickets today before they went on sale to the public. Ricky Knight, Paige's father, claimed it was a conspiracy that WWE announced this toady as it was the day before the biggest weekend in WAW history and he said would hurt their ticket sales in the local market, and also noted that 5/6 and 5/7 were a week before they had booked the same building. Zak said they had an idea why WWE was doing this, but didn't want to say it publicly. The show does go head-up with a Revolution Pro show on 5/7 in London, so any guys under WWE contract booked for that show are going to be pulled.

More details regarding the upcoming UK tapings by the WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has been contacting women talent for dates in mid-May for a taping for the beginning of a women's tournament on the WWE Network similar to the cruiserweight tournament.

Originally Posted by PWI Impact Wrestling sent Matt and Jeff Hardy (and perhaps others) a 3* page cease and desist letter today, demanding they immediately stop all utilization of the "Broken" characters, PWInsider.com has confimed. We are told that Impact is claiming that that intellectual property of the characters and anything related to them would fall under the ownership of the company, not Matt and Jeff Hardy, and that as of today, the Hardys are not to use anything related to the "Broken" universe going forward.

Originally Posted by PWI Multiple sources are indicating that all of the PPV distributors carrying tonight's Ring of Honor PPV as well as Ring of Honor itself also received legal notices regarding the "Broken Hardys" intellectual property. For those who have asked, we are told this a decision made by Anthem Media management, not something that Jeff Jarrett (who is now in charge of creative direction) is directly responsible for. It is said to be a case of the corporate owners protecting what they feel is their IP.

Originally Posted by Observer Reby Hardy is going nuts on Twitter today on Impact. So the back story to all this is Impact is claiming the entire Broken Hardys angle as its intellectual property and have threatened to sue Matt Hardy if they continue to use it outside of the company. Of course that's before tonight's ROH PPV. At the same time, since ROH & Impact are both on Fight Network, and Anthem owns Fight Network and Impact, they want to work cohesively with ROH, although there are other things going on there which may change that game as well. If they haven't already, Impact and Anthem are attempting to get an injunction against further use of the character and in particular the use of Senor Benjamin, claiming that name and character was Impact IP. She also claims that Matt had his contract breached due to numerous issues on the TNA side. She also noted that Ed Nordholm sent them a wishing you well tweet hours before then threatening to sue them. She also accused Jeff Jarrett of "nonsensical drunk texts." "Everything these boys have done for the company and you want to try and f*** us for the sake of it. Literally no other reason except you mad." She also noted Matt left to do television for TNA one day after his son was born and that the highest rated episodes of the show were financed by Matt & Jeff. She also noted Impact waited until the last minute to even offer the Hardys their new deals. You can go to Reby Hardy's Twitter to get the latest.

Hasney's post from the Hardys Leaving TNA thread had details of what Reby said: http://www.tpwwforums.com/showpost.p...&postcount=100

Originally Posted by Observer Just one day after all the surprise cuts at The Fight Network, WWE cut people from its social media department yesterday. They are merging social media with digital into one department.

Originally Posted by Observer So the reason for the Billie Kay worked injury on NXT from Wednesday night is a storyline where Billie Kay & Peyton Royce are demanding that the Eclipse be banned.

Originally Posted by Observer The Hardys match from CWF Mid Atlantic that was originally supposed to air on Impact last night was aired by Matt Hardy on his Facebook page. ROH COO Joe Koff in an interview basically said the Hardys are only in for a short period of time ("they are with us for the immediate future") in an interview on local CBS radio. He noted Bully Ray is in longer.

Originally Posted by PWI The 3/9 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 292,000 viewers, down slightly from last week's 293,000 viewers.

"They’ve really hurt his character in the last year. They’ve really watered it down. It’s great that Bray is champion, but my worry is that they’re pulling him away from his character. The people were chanting, “You deserve it!” to him on Smackdown after he won the title. Is that a chant for a heel? Hell no, but that’s just the nature of the business these days. Bray needs to do something really nasty, and now is the time. He needs to be the one to do something crude and wrong. Hopefully they’ll let him keep his character and hold onto the belt for a while. If this is just WWE quickly using Bray to change the guard, then it’s a waste of time."

From a recent interview Jake Roberts had with Sports Illustrated regarding WWE's handling of Bray Wyatt over his career. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017...njpw-g1-climax

"I didn't think he was going to do it! You know, I remember meeting with Vince McMahon and Hogan came into the room. Vince had us together and we were staring each other in the eyes - it was a pretty intense meeting. Hogan and I were sitting where our knees were touching. Vince was just off to the side. He basically just said, we were looking at each other and I hear Vince say, 'Alright Terry, you're going to tap out to Kurt tonight.' "Terry paused for about five seconds and he looked me in the eyes and he said, 'Okay. Let's do this.' "I was shocked! You know, you hear some rumors about Hulk Hogan, that he has difficulty putting guys over. But he didn't do that. So the whole rumors were thrown out the window for me. And whether they are true or not, I don't believe them. "I think Hogan has always been about the business, but also, Hogan is and was the business. So, I think, looking out for the business, he had to go over 98% of the time because it was always good for the business. I don't think Terry ever had a thing about what was best for business. I just think he always did the right thing, it was just for almost all his matches, the best thing was for Hulk Hogan to win. So, I've never had any hard feelings about Hulk Hogan. I think that if anything, I respected him more that night for tapping out to me."

From a recent AMA session Kurt Angle had at Reddit: http://wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2017...n-in-11-years/

Originally Posted by Observer Jerry Lawler had talk shows scheduled for 3/15 in Birmingham, UK, 3/16 in London and 3/17 in Manchester that were canceled on 3/8. He had made the deal for the shows when he was dropped from his contract and given a legends deal which is something like $10,000 per year to stay affiliated. When the decision was made to bring him back and offer him a new contract, I guess the pressure came from the company to pull him from the dates. He’s mainly worked PPV shows and those dates don’t coincide with PPV shows. The statement made said that “Due to circumstances beyond both Eros Comedy & Jerry Lawler’s control, we’ve been left with no alternative except to postpone his tour currently scheduled for next week.” The promotion said they would try and reschedule for late fall or early winter and all ticket money will be returned. Lawler has been promised he will get to announce one match at Mania this year and will also be part of the expert panel before and after the show

Originally Posted by PWI As we discussed yesterday during the NXT & Beyond audio show in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, there will be some segments on tonight's Impact that knocks the previous regime. While there were a number of wrestlers backstage who felt it was a shot at the roster as much as previous members of management, Eli Drake became upset and confronted Jeff Jarrett about it and the two had a discussion. It was never described to me as getting ugly but Drake voiced some frustrations the existing roster was having with the changeover last week. There were talents who felt the shots at the previous regime were unfair because they didn't see them as a shot at management, but as everyone who had been working there. Since they had been perservering long before Anthem purchased the company, despite not knowing if and when it would fall apart and whether they would get the money they were owed - therefore there was nothing wrong with the talent. Since the segments ruffled some feathers, Drake went right to Jarrett and voiced that. The shots (which will be seen in at least two segments tonight) were meant to be specifically aimed at former members of management (read: Dixie Carter) with the idea of distancing the company going forward without an official reboot. More than one person described it as "awkward" since John Gaburick was heavily involved in creative and now he was backstage working the tapings as that era was being kicked in the face verbally and there was some sympathy for him, even among talents who would usually dismiss him privately to me. With Jeff Jarrett laying out that it as his way (taking on an old school promoter approach) when it came to the new vision of the company, it was a culture shock to some of the talents that had been there under Gaburick as he was open enough, when laying out directives, to take feedback and let talents try to tweak it a little. I do believe there was a disconnect between the Impact roster and the new GFW talents coming in (and that was felt backstage) at first but over the course of the tapings, there were talents who opened up the eyes of the new management as to what their potential was. It's a weird situation in that a lot of talents that already had track records there were pretty much having to prove themselves again for the new bosses, even if that wasn't stated as such openly. But all that is part of the change that has happened, like a sports team having to impress the new coach.

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to Wrestling DVD Network, WWE will be releasing a Finn Balor DVD called "Finn Balor: Iconic Matches" this April although at the moment is UK exclusive.
• Gail Kim recently revealed on Twitter her contract with Impact recently expired but is hopeful at a new deal being signed soon. https://twitter.com/gailkimITSME/sta...30030810759168
• Edge revealed the hyped big announcement teased was him and Christian starting a new podcast show and not being Season 2 of the Edge & Christian Show. https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/statu...45314929995776
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Braun Strowman wrestled just 7 matches in his entire career before his debut on WWE's main shows. http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers/...tarts-with-a-b

[#1-norm-fan]

lol They're releasing a Finn Balor DVD already? What?

[Black Widow]

Can't wait for them to name their boy's Branch and Peacock.

[Jordan]

E&C podcast should be great

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braaaaaaaaauuuuun OUUTA NOWHERE:

Originally Posted by Observer There are now nine matches set for WrestleMania 33. The updated card for the show, which will take place on April 2nd in Orlando, Florida, is: Universal Champion Goldberg defending against Brock Lesnar WWE Champion Bray Wyatt defending against Randy Orton The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse Raw Women's Champion Bayley defending against Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match SmackDown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss defending against every available woman on the SmackDown roster United States Champion Chris Jericho defending against Kevin Owens Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending against Enzo Amore & Big Cass and Cesaro & Sheamus in a triple threat match The 2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Originally Posted by Observer Big Show was confirmed as an entrant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which would likely mean that his match against Shaquille O'Neal is now definitely off.

Originally Posted by Observer Former Rutgers University defensive tackle Eric LeGrand will be honored by WWE at this year's Hall of Fame ceremony. It was announced on Monday that LeGrand would be the recipient of the 2017 Warrior Award. LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down while making a tackle on a kickoff return during a football game in 2010. He has since served as a motivational speaker and started Team LeGrand of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to help those living with spinal cord injuries. In an interview with ESPN, LeGrand said that it was Paul "Triple H" Levesque who told him that he would be receiving the award.

Originally Posted by PWI With WWE announcing the "Warrior Award" winner yesterday, I asked around within WWE about the expected induction of William Regal (which we reported several weeks ago and mentioned again yesterday on PWInsider.com) not being announced instead as the last several years, the Warrior Award has been the last announcement. Two different sources within the company told me this afternoon told me that they did not believe Regal was still planned to be inducted this year. No word on a Celebrity inductee yet. One would think it would have been Shaquille O'Neal this year, but that's obviously not happening. The one who is most blatantly missing from the Hall is Cyndi Lauper but she is on tour in Australia Wrestlemania weekend, so that would eliminate her. Maybe they will finally get around to honoring Regis Philbin? We are told there have been plans for another round of "Legacy" inductees, but no word yet what names could be included.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE will air a one hour edited version of the Hall of Fame show at 11:05 p.m. on the Monday after WrestleMania, which should do great ratings since the Raw that night is likely to be the most-watched Raw of the year.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE have applied to trademark "Bella Style" and "Bella Glam" which are associated with the Bella Twins Youtube channel. They also took out a number of trademarks for "Be Like No One", what looks to be a name for a new show.

Originally Posted by PWI Bray Wyatt got a bit of a plug on ESPN. They have a ticker going through all the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament teams with some interesting stats, including one notable alumnus for each school. Bray Wyatt was named as the notable alumnus for Troy University.

Originally Posted by Observer Dennis Stamp, best known to modern fans for his role in the movie "Beyond the Mat," passed away Monday at the age of 68. Stamp had been suffering from cancer ... In the movie "Beyond the Mat," Stamp was shown talking with Terry Funk, hoping to be booked on the show with Funk's so-called 1997 retirement match in Amarillo against Bret Hart, who was then the WWF champion. He was mad about not being booked, even though he hadn't wrestled in years. Eventually he was booked as the referee of the match. He gained some cult popularity from that movie with the phrase "I'm not booked" and the shots of him training in case he gets called for a match, even though he hadn't wrestled in years.

Originally Posted by Observer Jack Swagger is officially done with WWE. After a couple of weeks where his status was up in the air, WWE announced on Monday afternoon that Swagger had been released by the company. Their statement: "WWE has come to terms on the release of Jack Swagger as of today, March 13, 2017. WWE wishes Swagger the best in all his future endeavors" Swagger initially appeared on the "Beyond the Fight" podcast with Chael Sonnen at the beginning of this month to reveal that he had requested to leave WWE. But the company clarified that Swagger had not yet been released when he started to take outside bookings, including a match against Alberto Del Rio for WAW in the United Kingdom. When noting that Swagger hadn't yet been granted his release then, WWE said that Swagger would have a 90-day non-compete clause once he officially left the company where he would get his downside guarantee and wouldn't be able to wrestle for other promotions during that period.

Originally Posted by Observer It is confirmed that Rusev had shoulder surgery last week. There were rumors going around and we were only told he'd be out of action for a while, but WWE officials confirmed it was shoulder surgery. Cedric Alexander is also out of action with a right knee injury. Pro Wrestling Sheet first reported the Alexander news.

Originally Posted by Observer Impact announced that even though TV ratings weren't up, that YouTube views were up to 2.4 million and up 275% percent from the prior week. They also announced they would be taping television on 5/30 and 5/31 in Mumbai, India. They will tape two hours of the show both nights, meaning that in June, there will be four shows from India. They also announced they were looking at doing their own satellite promotion in India for local television in quarter four of this year, using a lot of local talent and flying in Impact talent for tapings.

Originally Posted by Observer Saraya Knight, Paige's mother, announced that the Bellatrix promotion would be holding a women's tournament on 5/12 and she's looking for women from all over the world to attend.

Rumored to be happening as part of the Paige Family's payback for the recent antics by the WWE. Being rumored the date for this tournament is when the WWE was planning on holding their own and targeting some of the same women wrestlers the WWE wants for their own tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso, Bully Ray claimed that his Bully Ray character was previously set to debut in WWE when he was with the company but the idea was nixed at the last minute. “We came one day away in August from debuting Bully Ray in WWE,” Bully Ray said. “At the last second, the decision was made to not go forward with it. Bully Ray was ready to go, but that’s all I can tell you. We were one day away, and they had to pull the plug on it.”

Link to the interview: http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017...-roh-interview

Originally Posted by Observer Reby Hardy continued to go off on Impact Wrestling on Twitter today. She tweeted: "UPDATE: TNA sending 'spooky' letters to cable providers threatening to sue if they air Hardys. Trying to screw ROH & ruin wrestling for fans," and told Dish Network to do better by fans after they didn't carry last night's ROH pay-per-view because of legal threats. She also claimed that Matt Hardy's contract with TNA didn't have any exclusivity and he could have appeared on any other televised wrestling program while under contract with them, and questioned who would work with Impact now.

Originally Posted by Observer Pete Dunne and Mark Haskins will be wrestling at WWN's WrestleMania weekend EVOLVE vs. PROGRESS Supershow. PROGRESS announced Haskins, Sami Callihan, Toni Storm, and the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black) for their show in Orlando.

Originally Posted by PWI There is promotional material circulating from the Snickers brand regarding an interview opportunity with Enzo and Cass promoting their very own SAWFT bars as a part of Snickers' Hunger bars campaign for Wrestlemania 33

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to reports, Kane is done with the WWE at least for the time being. Currently preoccupied with running his insurance business and plans to run for mayor for Knox County, Tennessee.
• RAW's ratings and numbers got delayed till a TBA date this week due to Nielsen's data center in Florida suffering from power outages recently.
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with HBK involving Mania 33, the Kliq, and Kurt Angle's return to the WWE. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017...s-wrestlemania
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Bray vs Orton for the WWE title at Mania 33 will be the first time in Mania's history a main event tier match had all participants be sons of former Mania wrestlers. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...mania_will_be/

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Originally Posted by Observer Saraya Knight, Paige's mother, announced that the Bellatrix promotion would be holding a women's tournament on 5/12 and she's looking for women from all over the world to attend. Rumored to be happening as part of the Paige Family's payback for the recent antics by the WWE. Being rumored the date for this tournament is when the WWE was planning on holding their own and targeting some of the same women wrestlers the WWE wants for their own tournament.

So, these women have the choice of signing with the WWE and wrestling all over the world or signing with a family of chavs and wrestling in Norwich and the rest of the East Anglia area.

What a tough choice that is.

[Volare]

It is kind of like fighting a losing battle...

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Mania 33's newest tag line:

Originally Posted by Observer Io Shirai, the current World of Stardom Champion, is the top name at this week’s WWE tryouts at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. WWE.com posted an article about Shirai trying out that has since been taken down. It has been known for a while that Shirai, one of the top wrestlers in the Stardom promotion in Japan, was on WWE’s radar. Dave Meltzer reported in the October 31st, 2016 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that both she and fellow Stardom star Kairi Hojo had been offered deals to start with WWE in 2017. It was later reported that both had decided to stay. However, in last week’s Observer, Meltzer wrote that Hojo had signed a three-year contract with WWE, telling Stardom she was leaving in April. He also noted that Shirai was reconsidering coming in as well. Other names at this week’s tryouts are: Ingrid “Kira” Hogtun and Kamilla “Natasja” Tjöstland (independent wrestlers from Norway) Delilah Doom (Texas-based independent wrestler) Chik Tormenta (independent wrestler from Mexico) Katsiaryna Kavaleva (championship kickboxer/MMA fighter from Belarus) Jaime Espinal (Dominican-born Olympic freestyle wrestler that represented Puerto Rico in 2012) Wes Brisco (former FCW developmental talent, son of Gerald Brisco and nephew of Jack Brisco)

Originally Posted by Observer WWE posted an interesting teaser for "Southpaw Regional Wrestling," which appears to be a parody show based on territorial wrestling.

Link to the teaser: https://twitter.com/WWE/status/842074228312559616

Originally Posted by Observer NXT will be touring the UK from June 5-11. The last three dates of the tour will again be part of the Download Festival at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT on Friday. The schedule for the other shows is: June 5th -- GE Oil & Gas Arena in Aberdeen, Scotland June 6th -- Manchester Arena in Manchester, England June 7th -- First Direct Arena in Leeds, England June 8th -- Brighton Centre in Brighton, England

Originally Posted by Observer The first two seasons of Lucha Underground have officially made their way to Netflix and are available for streaming in North America.

Originally Posted by Observer Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa will be appearing at MLW Radio's WaleMania III event in Orlando on March 30th and will be part of a live podcast. Our Dave Meltzer is also scheduled for the show.

Originally Posted by PWI Earlier this evening, Bobby Fish announced that as of 3/27, he was accepting independent bookings. Fish's long-term Ring of Honor deal expired towards the end of 2016, but he had been working exclusively with the company via a series of short-term 30 day extensions under his previous terms. While he may continue working with the company, it will no longer be under an exclusive deal, which leaves the door open for him to explore outside options. Fish's announcement on Twitter reads: Beginning March 27, 2017... I am once again accepting independent professional wrestling bookings...Please DM me here... Thank you. pic.twitter.com/XGylHHtMmc — Bobby Fish (@theBobbyFish) March 15, 2017 Fish's ReDragon partner Kyle O'Reilly left ROH in January.

Originally Posted by PWI Mauro Ranallo missed Smackdown last night due to being stranded due to the weather conditions in the Northeast. Erick Rowan was backstage at Smackdown last night and is cleared to return. David Otunga had been scheduled to miss the taping due to a film role. Otunga has been booking a number of acting roles of late, including an upcoming Adam Sandler Netflix comedy "Sandy Wexler" that will be released on 4/14. series follows a group of friends go through the trials and tribulations of life during college.

Some recent Smackdown related news from PWI.

Originally Posted by PWI On "Talking Smack" LAST NIGHT, Daniel Bryan and Renée Young revealed that earlier in the day WWE filmed a 360° VR interview with Daniel Bryan and Kurt Angle in which they discuss a fantasy showdowns between the two. Young said the interview will be coming to WWE social platforms (most likely YouTube) soon.

Originally Posted by PWI On the second episode of Dinner With The King, hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore, The King states he feels WWE will never clear him to wrestle again. This even after the fact he’s been wrestling on the independent scene for the past few years. He also states WWE doctors have never done an in-depth exam to clear him. He goes on to talk about having a final WrestleMania match and stating his ideal opponent would be Dolph Ziggler. Of course, this all ties in the heart attack and recent interaction between the two on Smackdown Live. The King also talks about working his lone WrestleMania match with Michael Cole, including chipping Cole’s teeth showing him a dropkick while preparing for the match. For more information about the show, go to www.podavenue.com/king.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Rumor going around the net is Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly potential WWE debuts have been delayed due to legal issues between ROH and WWE. Supposedly ROH hit the WWE with legal threats due to possible claims of WWE contacting the wrestlers prior to their contracts being up.
• According to PWI, Canadian indie promotion Border City Wrestling recently signed a working agreement with Japanese promotion NOAH with Impact Wrestling and GFW helping to get the deal done. NOAH will be sending a wrestler in the near future to work in BCW as the first talent exchange between companies.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Kevin Owens has been a champion for around 56% of his entire WWE career so far when including NXT. In terms of reigns, his recent Universal reign was the longest at 188 days. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...6_of_the_time/
• Zack Ryder recently revealed on Twitter the Z! True Long Island Youtube series will be returning from its long hiatus within the near future. https://twitter.com/ZackRyder/status/842083064490602500

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Happy 3:16 Day:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw on Monday was up less than one percent from the previous week to 3.23 million viewers, but the change in viewing patterns due to Daylight Savings Time were felt immediately. The first hour, which had been the highest rated for months, was the lowest rated this past week. That is part of traditional patterns so you really can't read anything into it. Because of that, with viewers coming in late, the third hour decline was less than in previous weeks, although hour three was down four percent from hour two. Ratings were delayed by two days due to a power outage at Nielsen over the weekend and they have been playing catchup all week ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.18 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.32 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.20 million viewers

Also had the rare occurrence of female viewers increasing every hour for this week.

Originally Posted by PWI The 3/14 edition of Smackdown Live brought in 2,628,0000, down from last week's 2,738,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer We now know who will be inducting Kurt Angle into the WWE Hall of Fame. WWE announced on Thursday afternoon that John Cena would be doing the honors. Cena debuted in WWE against Angle by answering an open challenge on SmackDown in June 2002, where Cena was portrayed as putting up a good fight before losing to Angle. After it was announced that he would be headlining the 2017 Hall of Fame class, Angle spoke to Sports Illustrated's Justin Barrasso and called it a "no-brainer" for Steve Austin to induct him. Angle later appeared on Live Audio Wrestling with John Pollock, where he said the decision wasn't up to him but believed WWE would listen to his input. He mentioned Austin, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and Cena as potential choices.

Originally Posted by Observer Right now the plan is for Nakamura to debut on the main roster very shortly. I’m not sure what date it will be, but the likely scenario is he loses to Bobby Roode at Takeover and starts immediately after, with Raw after WrestleMania being a good bet.

Originally Posted by Observer There were 80,709 fans through the turnstiles at AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania 32 says the Arlington, TX police department. Brandon Howard has a story.

Ends up being lower than previous estimates for the event's legit number which was 97k and 84k. Still breaks Mania III's legit number assumed to be 78k. Mania 33 still broke the gate revenue record mainly due to ticket prices being higher. Link with more details: http://www.fightful.com/exclusive-wr...ver-80000-fans

Originally Posted by Observer John Cena will be on the Tonight show on 3/22 to push WrestleMania.

"And I did get in touch with Vince recently. I wanted to be a producer. I thought the Network was phenomenal and a chance for me to go through all that old footage? Holy smokes, that'd been great. And I heard they needed a producer, but I never heard back from him. "I got in touch with them and Kevin Dunn called me and said, 'well, we have announcers. We don't need any other. Don't take this the wrong way, but we've got announcers that we want and they're younger guys.' And I said, 'I understand. Younger guys work for a lot less and you've got some good guys.' I said, 'Kevin,' and I can't remember who all I talked to, who all I sent texts to, I said, 'I don't want to announce wrestling anymore. I want to be a producer. I want to work on The Network.' "That's what I want to do. I want to produce. And he said, 'well, I'll get back in touch with you' and he never did. So that again tells me that… I don't know if you call that 'blacklisted' or not, but that's fine. But, again, to answer your question, I just don't know. I could probably do it again. My voice was going. It was I was screaming a lot, two hours and forty-five minutes on a pay-per-view, three hours on a Nitro, and then, taping a Thunder, about Wednesday, my voice was shot, so I don't know if I've got that in me anymore."

From a recent episode of Tony Schiavone's podcast show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...on-wcw-demise/

Originally Posted by Observer Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was announced today as the host of NBC's Saturday Night Live for the fifth time on May 20th. Johnson will join the "Five-Timers Club," a list of elite level celebrities that the show itself first started promoting in 1990. The club list at this point that Johnson will join consists of Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Candice Bergen, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito, Tina Fey, John Goodman, Elliott Gould, Tom Hanks, Buck Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, and Christopher Walken. Also noted is that the show itself is changing next month where it will air live nationwide. The West Coast since the inception of the show has gotten a feed to air at 11:30 p.m. local time after the news. However, SNL will move to 8:30 p.m. on the West Coast five weeks before Johnson hosts the show. The episode that Johnson is hosting will be the season finale.

Originally Posted by PWI As WWE announced yesterday, they will unleash the first ever edition of "Southpaw Regional Wrestling" on the WWE Network tomorrow. For those of you who have seen $5 Wrestling when it was being produced by Highspots.com, it's pretty obvious that this is at least somewhat inspired by that project. The idea is to do a take on old school Southern rassling in a comedic way. There was a pitch for Southpaw floating around within WWE as far back as September of last year. Luke Gallows will be reprising his "Sex Ferguson" character, which he portrayed on a few Highspots.com DVD releases, but the character will be rechristened "Tex Ferguson" on the Southpaw show.

“Southpaw Regional Wrestling is a concept of this … basically 1980s southern regional wrestling promotion or territory, and it’s a lot of stuff that the guys have been doing for years backstage to entertain each other. I know my character in particular has been an ongoing thing for the better part of a decade ... It was really us getting to kind of take the gloves off and use our… comedic style, if there is one. You’ll get the chance to judge for yourself, but you’ll see a lot of people step outside of the realm of what you’ve seen them do, character-wise, and as in-ring performers as a part of WWE. So it’s kind of a chance for everybody to let their hair down. I didn’t get to because I don’t have any, but everybody else. And we had a blast doing it, man. That thing drops tomorrow. I just watched the teaser myself, I was trying to get them to shoot me a link but they won’t do it.”

Recent interview Luke Gallows had with Fox Sports about this new parody wrestling show for the WWE. http://www.foxsports.com/wwe/gallery...ag-team-031617

Originally Posted by PWI Ric Flair's planned podcast return has been canceled.

Makes it the third podcast show that Ric Flair had to end.

Originally Posted by PWI There's been talk lately of Christy Olson, who does broadcasting for AfterbuzzTV getting looked at as a broadcaster.

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE digital album Uncaged II has been removed from its Amazon.com listing. The album was slated to be released tomorrow.

Originally Posted by PWI EVOLVE announced that Lio Rush would be working for the company over Wrestlemania weekend. Rush's ROH deal is up shortly and the word making the rounds is that he has given the company notice that he wasn't going to sign another exclusive deal.

Originally Posted by Observer Io Shirai (Masami Odate, 26), who is one of the two or three best woman wrestlers in the world right now, is in Orlando at this writing as part of a WWE tryout. In her case, this isn’t so much a tryout as her being there to do drills as WWE has been after her for months. But unlike the others at the tryout, the ball is in her court on whether to accept the offer or not. Unlike Kairi Hojo, who as noted last week has already signed her three-year contract, Shirai was invited to Orlando to check things out and then decide what she wanted to do. With Hojo leaving, if Shirai follows, and Mayu Iwatani retires, it would be a killer to Stardom, which had been the leading women’s pro wrestling organization in the world.

Originally Posted by Observer A lot of times people talk about how there’s no long-term planning but the WrestleMania 34 main event for April 8, 2018, which obviously could change, is set for Lesnar vs. Reigns for the Universal title. That doesn’t necessarily mean Reigns is beating Undertaker or that Lesnar will have a full one year run as champion, although both could happen. I have no idea of what the finish will be of Undertaker vs. Reigns. The goal is very much to make Reigns the next Cena, which was the plan for Santa Clara two years ago, until they decided to delay it based on fan reaction. The plan is to once again build for a year and have the big coronation at WrestleMania. The idea between now and then is for Reigns to be the face, not just when he wins the title, but to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company.

Would also fit previous reports by the Observer hinting the WWE had Reigns locked in a main event tier match for at least 4 Manias with Mania 31 as the start.

Originally Posted by PWMania WWE plans to hold another Draft sometime this year. However, it won’t be a full-fledged Draft like last year, but rather a series of trades to freshen up the WWE landscape. WWE plans on having Raw and SmackDown LIVE authority figures pick Superstars from the opposite brand, as well as NXT. Champions would not be eligible to be drafted, and Raw and SmackDown LIVE can “protect” certain Superstars. While there hasn’t been much discussion internally about which Superstars will switch brands in the next WWE Draft, AJ Styles to Raw and The New Day to SmackDown LIVE are two moves that Vince McMahon has brought up on multiple occasions during creative meetings.

Rollins also speculated to be moving to Smackdown as a potential trade.

Originally Posted by Observer Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal is off. It should be noted that O’Neal showed a photo of himself and he, in fact, was in great shape, so the idea that he hadn’t trained and was out of shape as Show had been saying wasn’t the case. It was very clearly a financial situation since negotiations had been continuing and they hadn’t agreed on a price. One would think that should have been done, and maybe it was done and one side or another changed, when they shot the angles for the match at last year’s WrestleMania and at the Espy Awards in 2016. But Show was confirmed as being in the Battle Royal.

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to the Observer, Mauro Ranallo didn't miss this week's Smackdown due to weather issues but implied it was something more serious instead. Speculation around the net involves Mauro suffering another mental illness since he has a history of it or being in the "dog house" by management.
• Recent episode of LAW podcast show had Kurt Angle as the guest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLTg5Kcp2sY%C2%A0
• According to the Observer, WWE is considering extending Goldberg's contract beyond this year's Mania due to being very happy how successful his run has been for the company.

[Cool King]

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball Originally Posted by PWMania While there hasn’t been much discussion internally about which Superstars will switch brands in the next WWE Draft, AJ Styles to Raw and The New Day to SmackDown LIVE are two moves that Vince McMahon has brought up on multiple occasions during creative meetings.

Oh sweet Jesus no.

[Ruien]

Should make AJ the new Taker for SD.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Southpaw Regional Wrestling Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by Inquisitr.com According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ranallo’s absence was not due to the weather. Host Dave Meltzer wrote that while WWE claimed Otunga was filming a movie and Ranallo was held back by the weather, “at least half of that was true, since Otunga was out filming a movie.” Co-host Bryan Alvarez asked what he meant, and Meltzer replied that he could not talk about it. Because Ranallo’s contract is supposedly running out, many suspect that he has stopped caring since he is on his way out. Others have noticed he had become a lot more flustered in recent weeks, often flubbing lines or getting names wrong. He constantly called the Elimination Chamber match “Hell in a Cell,” and has repeatedly referred to WWE Superstar Curt Hawkins as “Chad Hawkins.” Many also feel that the presence of Phillips at the announce table is throwing Mauro off his game. Phillips is seen as a replacement for Ranallo and a “message,” although it is much more probable that he is there to learn and eventually replace either Ranallo or play-by-play announcer Michael Cole. His absence was also met with criticism from some former WWE commentators. JBL also took a shot at his broadcast colleague, writing on Twitter: .@mauroranallo I made the show, everyone made the show, everyone. Maybe he shouldn't have bashed me if he wasn't going to show up. — John Layfield (@jclayfield) March 17, 2017 .@0fficialtaz @mauroranallo Great video-trying to shock me-We could have talked about it but you didn't show up for work. Everyone else did. — John Layfield (@jclayfield) March 17, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI Earlier today, explicit photos and video of WWE star Paige leaked onto the Internet and have been passed around on a number of social media platforms and forums. Paige issued the following via her Twitter account this evening: Personal and private photos of mine were stolen and unfortunately they were shared publicly without my consent. — PAIGE (@RealPaigeWWE) March 17, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI A site on the internet "reported" that Alexa Bliss had heat on her from WWE management. I hadn't heard anything like that one. On Twitter, Joe Cronin (@JoeCroninJCS) tweeted WWE's Brian "Road Dogg" James to ask if the story was true. James shot down the "story" tweeting: @JoeCroninJCS hell no! She is adored by EVERYONE. She's a star dude and everyone knows it. This is what's wrong w/the internet lol #bull???? — Brian G. James (@WWERoadDogg) March 17, 2017 That is such a loaded question Road Dogg! Seriously though, that's what you get with NEWZ site. Alexa Bliss responded: And this is why @WWERoadDogg is the best !!! #Awesome #lovewwe https://t.co/Dk72zK2WGn — Alexa Bliss (@AlexaBliss_WWE) March 17, 2017

Was some website called SportsKeeda.

Originally Posted by PWI The 3/16 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 344,000 viewers, well up from last week's 292,000 viewers. That is great news for them.

Highest since the first week of November last year.

Originally Posted by PWI The reunited APA, Ron Simmons and JBL, will be inducting Teddy Long into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday 3/31 in Orlando, Florida. The updated WWE Hall of Fame class of 2017: *Kurt Angle, inducted by John Cena. *Rick Rude, inducted by Ricky Steamboat. *The Rock N' Roll Express. *Beth Phoenix. *Teddy Long, inducted by The APA. *Diamond Dallas Page. *Warrior Award: Eric LeGrand, inducted by Dana Warrior. There will also be new "Legacy" inductees.

Originally Posted by Observer The company was nominated for some Social Media Shorty awards. The award winners will be announced on 4/23 in New York: Best in Entertainment - WWE and WrestleMania Best Integration with Live TV - WWE Best Overall YouTube Presence - WWE Best Use of Comedy - John Cena Prank on the Cricket Wireless ad Best Brand Identity - Xavier Woods UpUpDownDown

Originally Posted by Observer Rusev will be out of action for about two months due to surgery on his left shoulder which I believe was on 3/9, although it was confirmed it was this past week. That continues the shoulder epidemic in the company. He’s been needing the surgery for some time and I guess it couldn’t go any longer since the timing of it, where he’d be off the biggest payoff show of the year, couldn’t be worse. That’s why Show squashed him so badly at Fast Lane and why they broke he and Mahal up for no reason without doing a feud. That’s also why Lana did a match in Florida a week ago

Originally Posted by Observer Women have been contacted for a new WWE tournament for the Network. This was the one originally set for January through March, but moved back when WWE prioritized the U.K. tournament due to the ITV television show. Talent has been called about clearing their calendars for a first round of tapings in the latter part of May

Originally Posted by Observer There has been a lot of talk around wrestling over the past few weeks that Jim Cornette will be the one to induct the Rock & Roll Express into the WWE Hall of Fame on 3/31. Some will be surprised about Cornette being at a WWE function, but I’m not in the least as he wasn’t going to turn down being part of honoring the team. Neither the WWE nor Cornette would confirm or deny the story

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE’s annual stockholders meeting will be on 4/20 ... It’s interesting that in management goals for 2017, the stated goal is not based on adding new subscribers to the network, but based on adding the average hours consumed per subscriber, which was a number that declined in 2016 from 2015 ... Listed as the company’s key goals in 2017 are to grow the WWE Network, although as noted, the main goal listed is to grow the average amount of hours consumed per subscriber, and not grow subscriber numbers; increase international revenue; increase “certain television ratings, social media metric; sponsorships and net promoter score,” increase revenue from new product initiatives and come up with actionable business initiatives to generate new revenue and social media followers in certain new markets.

Seems like the WWE might have finally given up on ever getting the 2-5 million goal for the Network if the new plans are to focus more on boosting viewing hours instead.

Originally Posted by Observer Dalton Castle, who is under an exclusive ROH contract, is believed to have that deal expiring a few months. Independent promoters have noted that word has gone around that Castle will be available for dates later in the year, although that could be testing the waters. Castle's act will get over in NXT if WWE has interest in it. As far as the WWE main roster, who can tell anymore because the WWE main roster booking has marginalized so much good talent.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Bayley had a recently interview with The Kingston Whig-Standard mostly about her upcoming Mania debut. http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/2017...t-wrestlemania
• For those interested, Natalya's newest weekly article for the Calgary Sun was recently published online. http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/03/16...n-so-many-ways
• According to PWI, WWE will be releasing merch for Southpaw Regional Wrestling.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 15th anniversary of Rock vs Hogan at Mania 18.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Snickers and Sheamus:

Originally Posted by Observer Last night's Raw broke the record for the lowest audience to watch the show since 1997 on a night when they weren't facing major sports competition or it being a major holiday, with 3.04 million viewers. The previous record low outside of shows during football season, or going against either the NBA playoffs or the Olympics, or on a major holiday, was 3.07 million viewers for the February 13th show. What's bad is that leading up to WrestleMania, and before the NBA playoffs, ratings are often at their highest marks of the year ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.16 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.12 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.87 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer WWE posted a teaser for upcoming WWE 24 specials, which will be focused on Finn Balor, Goldberg, the 2016 Raw after WrestleMania, and Kurt Angle.

Pretty much foreshadowing Angle and Balor's return to the WWE. Link to the teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if_zXsDXQFY

Originally Posted by Observer Vince McMahon was involved in a car accident near WWE headquarters today, though TMZ reports that the accident was relatively minor and everyone is okay. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that "something went wrong" when McMahon was driving his Bentley less than a mile from WWE's home base in Stamford, Connecticut. On the 911 call, someone who witnessed the accident noted that the other car was a Toyota Camry. McMahon can briefly be heard on the audio when he was asked what type of car he was driving. The witness called it a "big" accident and both cars seemed to be significantly damaged.

Originally Posted by Observer Some of the best European-based wrestlers in the world will be appearing in a WWE ring for the first time during WrestleMania weekend. WWE announced on Tuesday that wrestlers from NXT, 205 Live, PROGRESS Wrestling, and ICW, as well as some from the UK tournament, will be wrestling in matches at WrestleMania Axxess. NXT matches have been part of the attractions at Axxess over the last few years. Of those that WWE is advertising, Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins, the South Pacific Power Trip (TK Cooper, Travis Banks & Dahlia Black), Toni Storm, and Jinny are from outside of the company. They will be in Orlando for the show PROGRESS is running on March 31st, which is part of WWN's weekend of events.

List of matches and dates in the link: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/pr...-axxess-232156

Originally Posted by Observer Following yesterday's announcement of Jim Cornette inducting the Rock 'n' Roll Express into the Hall of Fame, WWE revealed on Tuesday afternoon that Eric Bischoff would be doing the honors for Diamond Dallas Page. Bischoff and DDP have been longtime friends, working together in the AWA and again when Bischoff was in control of WCW. “I’m honored,” Bischoff said about inducting Page. “It puts a smile on my face because I know how much it means to him. This is the Holy Grail for him.” “His journey [in life] is similar to his journey in the ring,” Bischoff said. “DDP was the common guy, the everyman, a blue-collar guy from New Jersey. He represented something that the average person could believe in, in a way that was a little unique. [People thought] ‘That could be me. If I could just get that break, work a little harder, I could be that guy.’ That’s a very inspirational quality to have.” WWE hasn't yet confirmed who will be inducting Beth Phoenix, but all other members of the company's 2017 Hall of Fame class are accounted for.

Originally Posted by Observer Jan Ross, the wife of Jim Ross, was in a terrible accident yesterday and received multiple skull fractures. Jim Ross tweeted late last night, "My wife Jan, my little angel, was hit while rising her Vespa and has multiple skull fractures. She's in surgery now. We need a miracle." The Norman, OK, police department reported that Jan Ross was driving at 9:33 p.m. when she was struck from behind by a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis driven by a 17-year-old and was thrown from her Vespa. The car and her scooter caught fire. Jan was going to the gym, and was not wearing her helmet, and landed on her head causing multiple skull fractures. She was listed in critical condition before surgery.

Originally Posted by Observer At yesterday's Rey de Reyes show in Monterrey, Jeff Jarrett was introduced during the show and AAA announced they established a working agreement with Impact. Also at the show, they unified all of their major singles titles in a three-way as Latin American champion Johnny Mundo beat AAA Mega heavyweight champion El Texano Jr. and AAA cruiserweight champion El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) and he now holds all three belts.

Would make it 3 companies Impact now has a talent swap deal with since getting new owners. The others being Mexican lucha promotion CRASH and Japanese promotion NOAH. Deal doesn't seem to include talent exclusive to Lucha Underground though.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE also announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would be on the June tour of the U.K. He was not originally scheduled for the tour. Nakamura is also scheduled for NXT house shows after WrestleMania. That doesn't necessarily mean anything but being added to an overseas tour as late as June would be a surprise if he was to be touring on the main roster.

Originally Posted by Observer ROH announced that Jushin Liger and Yoshi-Hashi are off the 4/1 show in Lakeland, FL. The company posted on Facebook that due to delay in U.S. visa processing, the wrestlers will be unable to attend the show as planned. They announced that Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa would take their place in a six-man tag, teaming with Hangman Page against six-man champions Mark & Jay Briscoe & Bully Ray. They also announced Volador Jr. & Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee & Jay White for the show, which sounds like a potentially great match.

Originally Posted by Observer Peter Kaasa posted on Facebook that he's taking a hiatus from wrestling due to medical evaluations taken after he was injured by the middle rope breaking during his match against Jaka at EVOLVE 76 in San Antonio. Kaasa wrote, "I have decided to take a hiatus from professional wrestling. I won't say retirement as I am not sure right now. Because of the rope breaking, I have a moderately bulging disc in my cervical spine that has been causing a lot of discomfort and pain and stiffness on a daily basis since the accident. To actually have gotten up after what happened in the ring that night was a miracle in itself let alone finishing the match and being able to still do all I am doing now." There were three incidents with the ring at that show, with the ropes also breaking twice during the Chris Hero vs. Keith Lee main event.

Originally Posted by PWI Matt Hardy took to Twitter today to comment on the situation between his family and Impact Wrestling. You can read his words below. My Soldiers have been loyal & supportive throughout my existence. Thank you. They know the truth--That the #BROKEN Universe is my PROPERTY. — #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017 The sincere, respectful & appreciative tweets I posted when my TNA contract was up- https://t.co/yJkKZF39Te & https://t.co/ZF0AzYmPKK pic.twitter.com/i3bt3eiZ1M — #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017 The condescending & disingenuous tweets posted by @EdNordholm when my TNA contract was up- https://t.co/tup39takni & https://t.co/Lsod77I1eY pic.twitter.com/sPJWhD60oK — #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017 FOLLOW the journey of #BrotherNero & I, LOYAL SOLDIERS..#HouseHardy will continue to make MAGIC & HISTORY while DELETING the opposition. pic.twitter.com/Wdd0JC96PU — #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) March 21, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Paige's father, Ricky Knight, commented on Facebook on Paige being hacked and her private photos and videos being leaked. He noted that he was worried for her mental well being. He wrote: "my last say on the scandal surrounding my daughter I have just spoken to her over facebook and I am worried for her mental health or worse ffs world get a grip she has not killed anyone robbed anyone she was having sex in a private situation between consulting adults and then has been betrayed by some low lifes as her dad I urge people to back off as I say I am very worried for her it will be no good backing her when its too late like many other celebrities who have left us." Paige's mother, Saraya Knight, echoed similar sentiments on Twitter, noting that their family was devastated and wrote that "the business we love will kill us it seems." Sat with my husband, he is sobbing, he can't even speak. I'm losing everything I love, the business we love will kill us it seems — SarayaKnight (@RealsarayaK) March 20, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Tonight's WWE SmackDown in Uncasville, CT was called by JBL, Tom Phillips and David Otunga as Mauro Ranallo missed the show for the second week in a row. Tom noted that Mauro is out sick this week. Last week it was noted that he missed the show due to the winter weather in the Northeast part of the country. There's been speculation on Mauro's status with the company after many questioned his excuse for missing last week's show. Mauro is usually pretty active on social media but he's been quiet since before last Tuesday's SmackDown.

According to John Pollock from LAW Radio podcast, Mauro is feeling ok and likely is going to take more time off.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that new contract offers have officially been extended to Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy by WWE — and all signs point to an inevitable return. We first reported that the two sides were in talks last month and The Sheet can now confirm that an actual deal is on the table for The Hardy Boyz to make a comeback in WWE. As we previously reported, Broken Matt is currently battling with Impact Wrestling over the use of his name/gimmick. The wrestling company believes they should be paid when it’s used, but Hardy doesn’t agree. The brothers are also the current ROH tag champs after signing a short-term deal. Still no word on whether WWE creative is looking to use their “broken” characters, but the legal side of things probably doesn’t bode well for a chance of that happening immediately.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc We noted before that Paige was the apparent victim of a hack on Friday as some of her private photos and videos were leaked online. There was a closed-door meeting backstage at Monday's RAW in Brooklyn to discuss the matter, according to PWInsider. Vince McMahon, Triple H, officials from Talent Relations and others were present. No details regarding what was discussed were revealed. On a related note, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that the company will not be taking action against Paige or Xavier Woods. Meltzer added that the company will just wait for the situation to blow over but if it doesn't, some sort of action could be taken if a sponsor or someone else prominent complains.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Jonathan Coachman revealed ESPN will be holding live coverage of Mania this year. https://twitter.com/TheCoachESPN/sta...17647080357888
• Christian revealed Goldberg will be the first guest for the debut episode of the upcoming Edge & Christian Podcast show. https://twitter.com/Christian4Peeps/...95106713722884
• WWE is currently holding a poll on their official website asking fans which Southpaw Regional Wrestling star they'd like to show up on either RAW or Smackdown in the future. http://www.wwe.com/polls/which-south...smackdown-live
• WWE, Puma, and Footlocker are currently partnering on a line of sneakers featuring classic WWE wrestlers. http://sneakernews.com/2017/03/21/ww...-release-date/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Breezella Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by WrestleInc PWInsider confirmed reports that Matt and Jeff Hardy have been in talks with WWE, and noted that "it's a matter or when, not if" the brothers return to the company. As noted, Pro Wrestling Sheet had reported that the Hardys and WWE were in "deep talks." According to PWInsider, the deal is only for Matt and Jeff, and not for Reby or Senor Benjamin. It was noted that one major issue that would have to be worked out is the schedule, as the Hardys likely don't want a full time schedule.

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned WWE and Sinclair Broadcast Group have recently discussed a potential buyout of Ring of Honor in secret … this according to sources. Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell us the companies have been talking since January and things have been slowly progressing, with the plan being a full takeover if the deal is made official. This would include the weekly TV show beginning to air on the WWE Network. No word at this point on whether every wrestler on the roster would continue working in ROH if it happens. Keep in mind, there’s no actual deal on the table right now and discussions are simply that. This means the buyout could always fall through if both sides can’t agree on specifics. Case in point, WWE had discussions with TNA last year about a buyout that never came to fruition.

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.647 million viewers, up about one percent from last week's rating ... The numbers may have been helped by the fact that both ABC and CBS ran repeat programming on Tuesday and ratings in the 8-10 p.m. block were down about 30 percent from normal levels.

Originally Posted by PWI John Cena will be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight on NBC. The Big Show will be on Conan with Conan O'Brien on TBS promoting Wrestlemania 32. Shane McMahon will be on ESPN Sportscenter at 9 PM Eastern tonight promoting Wrestlemania as well.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE continued to make Hall of Fame announcements on Wednesday by revealing that Natalya would be inducting Beth Phoenix. The two are good friends and teamed together in the ring before Phoenix retired. “There’s nobody that I can think of that deserves to be in the WWE Hall of Fame more than Beth Phoenix,” Natalya said in an interview with WWE.com. “She’s a pioneer for women in our division. Beth did extraordinary things for women in WWE.” Phoenix tweeted about the news, "When it comes to friends, she is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. @NatbyNature thank you #DOD4Ever"

Originally Posted by Observer Paul Heyman and his Heyman Hustle website are partnering with Yahoo to produce content leading up to WrestleMania.

Originally Posted by Observer Zack Sabre Jr. will face Drew Galloway at EVOLVE 82 in Queens, New York on April 22nd and Lio Rush at EVOLVE 83 in Brooklyn the next night. Those matches will be for Sabre's EVOLVE title if he's still champion after WrestleMania weekend. Marty Scurll will face Kyle O'Reilly for Revolution Pro Wrestling on May 7th. Will Ospreay vs. Jimmy Havoc at PROGRESS Chapter 46 this Sunday will be a "Fans Bring the Weapons" match. PROGRESS posted details about what the procedure for the match will be.

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWE announcer Arda Ocal aka Kyle Edwards announced he was launching a new podcast for the MSG Network today. Since leaving WWE, Ocal has been one of the hosts of The Hockey Show on the cable network: Announcing new podcast! Drops every Wed on @iTunes & @MSGNetworks website. Check out ???????????????? 1st guest, @FlaPanthers lawyer @WWECreative_ish! ???? pic.twitter.com/ZPQm8e6H1c — Arda Ocal (@ArdaOcalTV) March 22, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI On the second episode of Dinner With The King, hosted by Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore, The King gives an update to the possibility of the Memphis wrestling library being available on the WWE Network in the near future. “Yes, I do own [the library]. There’s just some controversy about USWA footage, which would have been from ’88 to ’96. But all the other, from ’77 to ’88 and from ’96 on, yeah, I own that footage.” When asked about the library being on the WWE Network, his answer was, “Yes, absolutely. Without a doubt.”

Originally Posted by PWI WWE has released WWE 24: Wrestlemania Monday on DVD and Blu-Ray. Listed as a "director's cut", promotional material for the 3/21 release notes, "The Raw after WrestleMania has become one of the most anticipated nights in sports entertainment. New Superstars emerge, familiar faces return, and the WWE Universe feels the fallout from The Showcase of the Immortals. For the first time ever, get a behind-the-scenes look and follow both WWE Superstars and spectators alike as they experience one of WWE’s most exciting events of the year."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc At tonight's SmackDown Live, WWE announced to the live crowd that their next show in the state of Connecticut will be the return of the Bad Blood pay-per-view. It will be a RAW exclusive show, and it will take place on July 9th at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. This marks the first WWE pay-per-view to take place at the XL Center since Vengeance in 2004. The first Bad Blood pay-per-view took place on October 5, 1997, and marked the first-ever "Hell In A Cell" match, which saw Shawn Michaels defeat The Undertaker after Kane made his debut and interfered. There were two more Bad Blood pay-per-views - in 2003 and 2004 - which were RAW exclusive shows.

A Priest gave my wife Jan her last rites tonight. My little Angel is gone. 🙏🙏

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) March 23, 2017

JR had posted on his blog details of the accident and how much she meant to him prior to getting horrible news tonight. Link to the blog posting for those interested: http://jrsbarbq.com/blog/51427


Some other sheet news includes:

• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Bray Wyatt and topics including Bray wanting Bo Dallas to join the Wyatt Family. http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017...n-kyle-oreilly
• Cena revealed the next season of his American Grit show will premiere on June 11. https://twitter.com/JohnCena/status/844696271118090241

[KIRA]

Feel bad for JR stuff like this just comes from outta nowhere and it must be hard.