TPWW's Official Dirty Sheets News Thread

[BigCrippyZ]

Originally Posted by Noid Lol, people should trying to use Heyman changing Lesnar's stuff as a reason to try and change other things instead of just complaining about it.

A huge portion of the roster is just happy getting their paycheck and being part of the team. I.e., they're like a college football player who, while talented, is happy being second or third string, or giving minimal effort or taking plays off even as a first string, and just likes the benefits (attention from girls, $ from bagmen, etc.) of being on the football team.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I love that after all they've been through, Heyman has so much pull with Vince.

[mike adamle]

Don't mind Smeat, Dave, he tries to pass everything the dirt sheets write as fact.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the RAW Women's Division Upcoming Doom:

Originally Posted by Observer After vacating the NXT Women's Championship, Asuka is officially headed to the Raw roster. The announcement was made on tonight's episode, with Corey Graves saying that Kurt Angle signed the hottest free agent in the industry. A video package hyping that Asuka would be coming to Raw soon aired, then Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax reacted to it in a backstage segment.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As seen on RAW last night, Braun Strowman left Brock Lesnar laying after being challenged to the ring by Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman made it a point during his promo to state that Lesnar is the underdog heading into his match with Strowman at No Mercy on September 25th. Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that the original plan was for Lesnar to retain the title at No Mercy. Lesnar's appearance on RAW last night was his last date before the pay-per-view, as Lesnar isn't scheduled for next week's RAW at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, which is the go-home show for No Mercy. Meltzer noted that it was WWE's call to not use one of Lesnar's dates for the go-home show and instead use it for last night's RAW. Strowman is scheduled for next week's RAW. Lesnar did film some material last night that will air on next week's RAW, so he will have a presence on the show despite not being there. As of this writing, Lesnar is not advertised for any upcoming RAW shows, including the post-No Mercy RAW on September 25th in Ontario, California.

Originally Posted by Observer The Big Show will be out of action for the foreseeable future with a hip injury. WWE put up a video on their Twitter account saying that Big Show suffered a right hip injury during the steel cage match against Braun Strowman on last Monday’s edition of Raw. Mike Rome cited a WWE.com article saying that Big Show realized something was wrong when he was thrown against the cage, breaking it and sending him to the floor. He also mentioned in the article that he felt something snap when coming off the top rope with an elbow, but worked through it via adrenaline. While that is the kayfabe storyline, the real situation seems to be that this was something being planned for a while, at least before Raw went on the air. James McKenna from Pro Wrestling Sheet mentioned that Big Show was getting surgery for a “slight hip issue” right before the Raw broadcast started last week. WWE’s video mentioned that Big Show was scheduled for surgery this week, but due to the events of Hurricane Irma it was instead pushed back to September 29th.

Originally Posted by Observer Mick Foley announced earlier today on Twitter that he was undergoing surgery to get his right knee replaced. He wrote, "I'm getting my right knee replaced in about five minutes! I'll check back when I kick out of anesthesia." Foley, a Hall of Famer, also underwent hip replacement surgery in April, which was the catalyst for his being replaced as Raw General Manager to set up the current run by Kurt Angle. Foley had been in tremendous pain last year and just traveling and getting through the airports to do his General Manager role on television had been extremely uncomfortable for him. He hasn't been on Raw since being "fired" from the position by Stephanie McMahon as their storyline came to a close in March.

Originally Posted by Observer After Maryse and The Miz announced that they’re expecting their first child on Raw last night, Miz wrote a post on Instagram promising to Maryse and the baby that he’ll be the best father he can be and thanking WWE for letting them break the news on television because the company is where they first met.

Link to Miz's announcement: https://www.instagram.com/p/BY9D51ln...-by=mikethemiz

Originally Posted by Observer This week’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University have also been postponed until Thursday due to the hurricane. They had been scheduled for Wednesday.

Originally Posted by Observer Kia Stevens (known as Awesome Kong and Kharma in pro wrestling) was one of the cast members from “GLOW” to appear on the Mae Young Classic red carpet broadcast on Facebook Live.

Originally Posted by Observer Rosemary has been cleared to return to the ring following the incident where she was injured by Sexy Star at Triplemania.

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/WeAreRosemary/st...10887422722048

Originally Posted by Observer OVW is running a benefit show for Matt Cappotelli at Davis Arena in Louisville on September 23rd to help support Cappotelli as he battles brain cancer for a second time. Jim Cornette confirmed that he’ll be at the show and signing autographs and taking pictures with those who donate.

Link to the OVW announcement: https://twitter.com/ovwrestling/stat...11582187175941 , Link to Cornette's announcement: https://twitter.com/TheJimCornette/s...08984237608960

Originally Posted by PWI Global Force Wrestling's Global Wrestling Network officially went live this evening at this link A video narrated by Josh Mathews lists the streaming service at $5.99 a month, promising that cost includes archived GFW/Impact/TNA content, discounts on live PPV events, discounts on merchandise, material from international partner promotions "coming soon" and an ad-free experience. Currently listed on the service are old episodes of Impact Wrestling, old TNA PPVs from 2004-2017, old One Night Only PPVs, both season of British Bootcamp, the Unfinished Business PPV series, the TNA Legends series and the TNA Greatest Matches series. No sign yet of Xplosion. The network is currently available via iOS and Android stores. Mathews' narration promises that the service is "coming soon" to Roku, X-Box and FireTV.

Link to GFW's Network: http://globalwrestlingnetwork.com/vi...016/67200292V/

Originally Posted by PWI GFW Creative team member John "Big" Gaburick confirmed during this afternoon's media conference call that former WWE and GFW champion Alberto el Patron would be returning to the company, finally, as of the 11/4 Bound for Glory PPV and the subsequent TV tapings to follow at Universal Studios Orlando. "We have plans for Alberto," said Gaburick. "We're excited that he's gonna be coming back at Bound For Glory" ... Patron has not appeared for GFW since their June TV tapings after the Orlando Airport incident involving girlfriend (and WWE star) Paige. That led to GFW stripping Patron of their championship and suspending him this past July.

Originally Posted by PWI Highlights from this afternoon's Global Force Wrestling conference call with Creative Team Members Scott D'Amore, Sonjay Dutt and John "Big" Gaburick: *Ross Forman started the call noting there are no updates on Jeff Jarrett or his status and asked that reporters not ask about him. * When asked, they did not address the GFW name situation and said they were putting their energies into the best creative possible for the company, no matter what it may be called. *On the Justin Barrasso story that Anthem is looking to sell GFW, they referred everyone to Ed Nordholm's comments last week shooting that down. They said there was no "backstage" reaction to the story. *They confirmed Low Ki is done with the company and noted he was on a short term deal. Ki walked out shaking everyone's hands and told D'Amore and Dutt it was one of the more positive experiences in his career. They did not close the book on a return down the line. *When asked about the status of Eddie Kingston, who all but disappeared after Anthem took over the company, Scott D'Amore admitted "we don't know" and said they would have to see where his contract stands and what plans are made going forward. *Gaburick denied there were plans for Rey Mysterio to work Bound for Glory. As PWInsider.com reported on 8/23, negotiations between those two sides ended without a deal.

Originally Posted by PWI The Raw brand will be holding two live events this December in New Delhi, India at the 16,000 seat Indira Ghandi Indoor Stadium, the first time the company has toured that country since launching its localized weekly series WWE Sunday Dhamaal in Hindi. WWE will run the stadium on Friday 12/7 and Saturday 12/8. It will be interesting to see whether the current WWE champion Jinder Mahal or the Singh Brothers, technically Smackdown talents, will be working that tour.

Originally Posted by PWI The current plan for WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops special is to film it on Tuesday 12/5 as part of the Smackdown Live taping in San Diego, CA at the Valley View Casino Center.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Speaking of Cena, Apple today revealed the iPhone X. The phone comes with a new facial recognition feature called Face ID, which lets users unlock their phone or use Apple Pay just by looking at it. That causes a problem for John Cena, as he tweeted the following: Sooo #iPhoneX about #FaceID ...ummmmm .... what do I do? — John Cena (@JohnCena) September 12, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• Ratings for both WWE RAW and Smackdown and possibly GFW Impact are delayed this week due to Nielsen shutting their data center in Tampa Bay, Florida on Sunday due to Hurricane Irma. No announcement was made for when the ratings data will arrive.
• WWE announced Vince McMahon will be a playable character for WWE 2k18. https://twitter.com/WWE/status/907604827064160256
• ROH announced The Young Bucks will be wrestling in two matches at their upcoming Death Before Dishonor PPV event. One match to defend their ROH Tag belts and the other match defending their 6-Man Tag titles with Hangman Page. http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/you...death-dishonor
• 205 Live star Jack Gallagher revealed he got married on Friday. https://www.instagram.com/p/BYye9d_l...rgentlemanjack
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Bobby Roode talking about his favorite moment from his TNA career, NXT made him interested in wrestling again, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...career-in-tna/
• ICW announced Kassius Ohno will be making an appearance at their next show this weekend and is challenging current ICW Heavyweight champion Jeff Cobb for the title. https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/...63377996156928

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Macho Man Approved Elbow Drop:

Originally Posted by Observer After winning the Mae Young Classic tournament earlier tonight, Kairi Sane will get a chance to become the next NXT Women’s Champion at the TakeOver event in Houston on November 18th. Triple H confirmed the news to ESPN following tonight's tournament finals. "[I'm] very excited that she's the first champion, and now the question is 'What's next for her?' I can tell you what's next for her," Triple H said. "On November 18th at the Toyota Center at the next NXT TakeOver, Kairi will be fighting to determine a new NXT Women's Champion." James McKenna of Pro Wrestling Sheet mentioned that Sane may be one of the participants in a multi-woman match to determine the next champion.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE posted video of Ronda Rousey’s appearance on the red carpet prior to the Mae Young Classic last night. When asked if she would be doing more with WWE going forward, she said the night was about Shayna Baszler and that she doesn’t want to be the kind of friend who ends up talking about herself all night. Rousey was also interviewed by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto after the event. She discussed how proud she was of Baszler and again said that she wanted to keep the spotlight on Baszler when not answering a question about what’s next for her. The Las Vegas Review-Journal asked Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Becky Lynch how Rousey would fare in WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Though Full Sail University will remain closed on Thursday in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, tomorrow’s NXT television tapings will go on as scheduled

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/FullSail/status/908054814298427397

Originally Posted by Observer PROGRESS Wrestling is running an eight-woman tournament on October 2nd to determine a number one contender for their Women’s Championship.

Link to tournament: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/...85495946780675

Originally Posted by Observer Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly's stable finally has its name. WWE Shop released the first shirt for the trio of former ROH wrestlers today, with their merchandise page calling them "The Undisputed Era." The name of the stable is displayed on the front of the shirt, along with the letters "CFO" for Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly. "Shock The System" is written on the back of it. This is the first time that the stable has been identified by name. They joined together and attacked Drew McIntyre as Adam Cole debuted at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn last month, which came after Fish and O'Reilly attacked SAnitY earlier in the night. Fish and O'Reilly had already debuted in losses to Aleister Black on NXT television prior to TakeOver.

Link to the new shirt: http://shop.wwe.com/the-undisputed-era/

Originally Posted by PWI This is the updated card for the WWE show this Saturday in Osaka, Japan. Jinder Mahal w/The Singh Brothers vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens for the US Championship Randy Orton vs. Rusev in a Last Man Standing Match New Day vs. Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin Naomi, Charlotte and Becky Lynch w/Asuka vs. Natalya, Tamina, Lana and Carmella w/James Ellsworth Sami Zayn vs. Aiden English Luke Harper vs. Eric Rowan

Originally Posted by PWI Alberto El Patron tweeted a press release noting that he will be taking legal action against Mexican promotion company XL Entertainment for not paying him and several other wrestlers including Blue Demon Jr, Latin Lover, Cibernetico and Tinieblas Jr. after they booked them to appear for Mexican promotion Federacion Universal de Lucha Libre (FULL) for shows in May this year. Prensa y aficionados al hermoso deporte de la #luchalibre #nomasestafadores #respetoalluchador @Multienfoque1 pic.twitter.com/ooaPJePwW1 — Alberto El Patron (@PrideOfMexico) September 13, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI Filming will commence on the second season of Netflix series GLOW on 10/16 in California, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The cast are scheduled to begin training and preparing for the season next week. The second season, like the first, will be ten episodes. Loosely based on 1980s female wrestling league The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the first season of GLOW was a critical success, telling the talent of a fictional troupe put together to film a TV pilot, which airs as the first season ends.

Originally Posted by PWI As we reported last night on PWInsider.com, the Global Wrestling Network launched last night, except it really didn't. While we heard from scores of readers that the streaming service had launched, what had actually happened is GFW made the service live as they were tweaking the infrastructure, making it possible for those who visited the site to begin streaming and watching all the content - for free. We are told that it was not meant to be a public launch in any way but that they were working on preparing the site for launch. The problem was, they didn't put the work behind a wall so that fans couldn't access the site. Once the company realized that word was getting around that the site was being used and that it was being reported it was live and operational, they shut down the entire thing.

Originally Posted by PWI The interview WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair tweeted about a few days back, where he was sitting in front of the camera, was for People Magazine. ESPN is putting the finishing touched on their Flair 30 for 30 documentary, which will air this November. There has been talk of doing an advance screening in NYC and the hope is Flair will be well enough to travel for that.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc It looks like WCW Thunder will finally be added to the WWE Network later this month, according to PWInsider. Episodes of World Class Championship Wrestling are also being added this month. 18 WCCW episodes from 1985 and 1986 were added just this week.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Earlier this month, it was reported that Baron Corbin's backstage heat stemmed from an argument with Dr. Joseph Maroon during a wrestlers' meeting in August. The latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has revealed yet another wrinkle in the situation that could explain Corbin's halted push. Corbin, a former professional football player, took exception to Maroon downplaying the link between concussions and CTE and started an argument with Maroon. The argument was described as awkward and uncomfortable, with many believing that Corbin should have addressed the matter privately rather than in the middle of the meeting. It's highly likely that WWE officials grew even more uncomfortable once they found out Corbin's involvement in a football players' concussion lawsuit against the NFL. "It also came out in the discussion that Corbin was one of the players suing the NFL in a concussion lawsuit, which makes things weird given he's now working as a pro wrestler," Dave Meltzer wrote in the Observer. "Plus WWE apparently wasn't aware of this fact until this past month."

Also, have you done any fun family bonding activities with your son Chad Gable? #TOUT

— 🌹 andrew 🌹 (@burstanddecay) September 13, 2017

This morning @WWEGable and I had a good grapple session where I taught him some takedowns I learned in my one season of jv amateur wrestling https://t.co/3J77zy4AnE

— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) September 13, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• Stephanie McMahon announced her autobiography book has been delayed indefinitely from its potential 2017 release date. https://twitter.com/StephMcMahon/sta...24297631698944
• 2K Games revealed the changes and details for WWE 2k18's MyCAREER mode. https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-mycareer
• Recent episode of Dinner With The King podcast discussed how WWE contracts work for indie dates, Lawler not having a will, and his burial plot being next to Issac Hayes. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-more.html?p=1
• PWI recently reported GFW still has plans for this year's Hall of Fame show to air on November 4th.
• Sasha Banks ended up missing out being at the Mae Young Classic Finals after the WWE decided to not give her an exemption from RAW's current tour of Australia.
• James Ellsworth recently cerebrated the one year anniversary of his Smackdown debut. https://twitter.com/realellsworth/st...82523669528578

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Low Blow Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by Observer Buoyed by the return of Vince McMahon to television, SmackDown on Tuesday night did its best viewership since April and the fourth highest number of the year. The show averaged 2.754 million viewers, good for second on the night on cable in both total viewership and the 18-49 demo ... SmackDown ratings were up seven percent from last week and were up almost four percent year-over-year.

Originally Posted by Observer After being delayed due to Hurricane Irma, ratings for this week's Raw are in -- and despite the opening night of Monday Night Football on ESPN, ratings were essentially even from the previous week. They were also up over eight percent from the same week in 2016. The show averaged 2.897 million viewers, down less than one percent from last week's average of 2.916 million. In both total viewership and the 18-49 demo, Raw was second for the night on cable behind the two NFL games on ESPN. Raw opened with 3.022 million viewers in hour one. It dropped slightly to 2.987 million for the second hour, then fell all the way to 2.699 million viewers for hour three. The drop of 10.7 percent from hour two to three was a worse drop than usual.

Originally Posted by Observer Lio Rush arrived in NXT at tonight's television tapings. Rush made his in-ring debut against Velveteen Dream, who was formerly his tag team partner in their pre-WWE days. Rush quickly got a standing ovation, but he lost when Velveteen Dream hit a hop-up elbow drop. The match was a result of Rush being attacked by Velveteen Dream earlier in the night when making his first appearance in NXT. That attack stopped Rush from facing Aleister Black, and Velveteen Dream continued his storyline with Black by taunting him after defeating Rush. WWE announced Rush's signing as he reported to the Performance Center in August. He finished up his indie dates shortly before that, including having his final matches for EVOLVE, CZW, and MCW. Rush previously left Ring of Honor in April.

Originally Posted by Observer NXT is taping its next round of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. Shane Thorne returned for his first match since suffering a knee injury in January as TM61 faced Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. Triple H also did a promo thanking everyone for being there after Hurricane Irma and saying that the area is NXT’s home as well. Shayna Baszler is backstage at tonight’s tapings.

Originally Posted by Observer Some live reports from the show in Hawaii indicated that Kofi Kingston may have suffered a knee injury in a match where The New Day defended their tag titles against Dolph Ziggler & Baron Corbin, though Kingston was able to get through it and finish the match.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network Flashback Friday tommorrow will take a look at Goldberg's 20-year career. Take a journey throughout the 20-year career of @Goldberg TOMORROW as @WWENetwork presents @WWE #FlashbackFriday! https://t.co/9nwHvlmHkn — WWE (@WWE) September 14, 2017

Link with list of the episodes for this week's Flashback Friday: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-for-tomorrow/

Originally Posted by PWI Jim Cornette also clarified that he will indeed be at the November Impact TV tapings post-Bound for Glory and that the two sides are negotiating on how many days he will actually be at the next set of TV as Cornette said he cannot be there for the full week. Cornette explained that his role was never intended to be long-term and full-time work and made it clear that as long as the company wants him involved Jim is open to it. Cornette was originally brought in to replace Bruce Prichard at the August TV tapings as Prichard had outside conflicts that week.

From a recent episode of Cornette's podcast show.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc After three straight weeks, there will be no in-ring confrontation between John Cena and Roman Reigns on RAW this Monday. Cena is not booked for Monday's No Mercy go-home episode of RAW in San Jose since he will be heading to China this weekend for Sunday's SmackDown live event in Shenzen. It is a 17+ hour flight from Shenzen to San Jose. As noted, Brock Lesnar is also not scheduled for Monday's RAW, while Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman are scheduled for the show.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc For today only, you can get 30% off select t-shirts at WWEShop.com by clicking here and using code TSHIRT30 at checkout. The sale ends Thursday, September 14th at 11:59 pm PT.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated recently interviewed The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson. Below are a few highlights: WWE sending them a cease and desist order to prevent them from using the "Suck it!" catchphrase: Matt: "They're bringing people back from the dead [Adam Cole, who was killed on their Being The Elite series]. They're sending out cease and desists written on toilet paper. And now they've taken our dear friend Hangman [Adam Page]. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it felt like they were trying to go to war with us." Nick: "The WWE apparently can bring people back from the dead. That shocked me to my core. I'm very happy for the ghost of Adam Cole though. I hope he makes millions of dollars one day."

More highlights and link to the interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...desist-letter/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc We noted before that WWE's "1997: Dawn of the Attitude" DVD and Blu-ray that comes out on October 3rd will feature a roundtable with Kane and WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels, The Godfather, Ron Simmons and Mick Foley. Renee Young will host the discussion. WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reports that the roundtable will have a runtime of 58 minutes and will make up the entire disc 1 of the set.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has a poll asking fans what other type of tournament they would like to see on the WWE Network - Tag Team, Women's, Heavyweight, Hardcore Rules, Six-Man Tag Team, WWE Germany Title or Celebrity. As of this writing, 43% voted for Hardcore Rules while 20% voted for another Women's tournament, 11% went with Heavyweight, 9% went with Tag Team, 8% voted for Celebrity and 6% voted for Six-Man.

Originally Posted by Observer Nordholm also revealed that Anthem did not have a concrete business plan upon purchasing the company, and that different avenues are still being explored to generate more revenue. He also confirmed that the company is struggling to break even. Although Nordholm did not touch on this in the interview, GFW/Impact moved to Skyway Studios last summer and split production with their warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee. The warehouse in Nashville is now closed and all operations are based out of Canada in another cost-cutting measu

Originally Posted by Observer Sane over Toni Storm was the originally penciled in finish before the tournament started, which was switched to a semifinal when the plans were made to go all out with Sane and Baszler with the Horsewomen angle. One person close to the situation said in the end, the idea was done early in the week to make the final night about Sane and save the Horsewomen angle for later with the decision to go with Sane being made most likely on Monday.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Vince getting busted open was planned. The hypocrisy of the angle was noted, as other wrestlers have been fined for blading. Batista was fined $100,000 for bleeding in a cage match with Chris Jericho in 2008. It is unknown just how the cut happened. While there is a chance that the blood could have been a result of a hardway shot, Meltzer noted that it was unlikely because you can't guarantee blood from a single headbutt. Meltzer wrote that people that he spoke to that have been in the business for decades believe that Vince bladed before the segment and covered it up with nu-skin, which would lead to the wound re-opening with a lot of blood. It was noted that you could see the difference in the skin where the cut was opened from a close-up freeze frame.

Originally Posted by Observer There was someone who gets all the WWE finishes that made a killing at SummerSlam because not enough smart money came for them to adjust the line, and also, none of the actual finishes were changed at the last minute. He did a $3.36 parlay on ten matches, all of which he got right, and won $45,600. That was a key thing where I mentioned after the show that a lot of the gambling sites were considering dropping WWE because insiders that knew could make a lot of money and that level money was ridiculous. The company that got hammered hasn’t done parlays in a long time, and won’t be doing them again. It was noted that the one guy alone may kill the landscape because companies don’t want to open themselves up for those kind of losses in what is usually considered a minor fun thing of having odds on pro wrestling matches. It also should be noted that there are WWE talents betting heavily which is where some sites recognize and switch the odds when those bets come in

Originally Posted by Observer Right now WWE has four clear major stars that they are protecting, Cena, Strowman, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. All are on the Raw brand, so the lip service to separate but equal which was said leading into the latest brand split during the summer of 2016 is clearly out the window. Of those big four who in some form are likely to headline WrestleMania, there are now no new fresh matches. Lesnar and Reigns has been the plan since March or earlier for the 2018 WrestleMania main event, but plans change regularly and there was a time when that match was moved to SummerSlam. Then, because Samoa Joe did so well in his originally scheduled one-and-done program with Lesnar, the decision was made to change SummerSlam to a four-way.

Originally Posted by Observer ROH Final Battle, which is traditionally the company’s biggest PPV show of the year, is officially on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. That should be the next PPV after the 9/22 show in Las Vegas Will Ospreay is returning to ROH in October. He’ll be working on the combined NJPW & ROH shows that month as well as the show in Philadelphia. He’s also working on most of the November shows

Originally Posted by Observer Eddie Colon (Primo), 34, who has been out of action since June due to knee surgery, should be back imminently. Epico has been kept off television although has been working the house shows regularly with Primo out of action. It is possible they could be the mystery team plugged into the Breezango storyline that has stalled and gone into reverse, although there are still those in the company who have said the plan when the storyline was first executed was Harper & Rowan back together, and they have also not been used on television in months

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 1 year anniversary of TJ Perkins winning the Cruiserweight Classic and becoming the new Cruiserweight Champion.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Miz recently passed the Honky Tonk Man to become the 3rd longest reigning IC champ in terms of total days in WWE history. Miz only needs another 87 days to pass Pedro Morales for most combined days all-time as IC champion.
• CBS Sports had a recent interview with the Young Bucks talking about their careers, the Hardy Boys, and Marty Scurll joining Bullet Club. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/09/...tling-sherpas/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Inaugural Inductee in the Sheamus Hall of Fame:

Originally Posted by Observer Kofi Kingston appeared to have been injured at last night's show in Honolulu. He slipped off the top rope during a tag title match against Baron Corbin & Dolph Ziggler and limped the rest of the way and needed to be helped to the back. Those in WWE say he has been cleared and will be working the rest of the weekend.

Originally Posted by Observer GFW's Bound for Glory on 11/5 is being moved from Orlando where it was originally scheduled. A new location will be announced on Monday. PW Insider reported it as Toronto.

Some details below regarding the reasoning for the decision via PWInsider

Originally Posted by PWI The belief among many sources is that Global Force Wrestling is finalizing plans to hold Bound for Glory in Canada, likely the Toronto area. We are told that it was an Anthem Media call, which makes sense as they own GFW now and are based in that area. The impression I get is that the post-PPV TVs would not be at Universal Studios Orlando, but somewhere in Canada as well. We are told this does not mean that GFW has pulled up stakes at Universal as a TV taping location going forward.

Originally Posted by Observer Lacey Evans (Macey Estrella) noted that her home was flooded and she suffered major losses due to Hurricane Irma. She said the worst was that all of her photos of her father were damaged and that was all she had of him.

Originally Posted by Observer Charlotte Flair will be touring and promoting a new autobiography of herself and her father which comes out Tuesday at these locations: 9/21 in Ridgewood, NJ at Bookends at 7 p.m. 9/27 in Orlando at Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m. 9/28 in Tampa at Barnes & Nobles at 7 p.m. 9/30 in Boise, ID at Barnes & Nobles at 3 p.m.

Some more details regarding the book: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...dates.html?p=1

Originally Posted by Observer AXS TV has an all-night G-1 2017 marathon. There will be a new show airing at 8 p.m. with the Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi match which was one of the best of the tournament. The first five G-1 episodes will then air from 11 p.m. Eastern to 4 a.m. Tickets are on sale now for ROH Final Battle on 12/15 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Hoosier Pro Wrestling on 10/7 in Columbus, IN at the 4-H Fairgrounds featuring Jimmy Valiant vs. Doink the Clown.

Originally Posted by PWI Mike Kanellis noted on social media that he's now hit two months of sobriety after overcoming a pain pill addiction. Congratulations to him. We wish him many, many, many more anniversaries of this nature: Today marks 2 months clean. I've never been more thankful for my wife,family,friends & everyone I work with ???????? #sobriety #RedemptionTour — Mike Kanellis (@RealMikeBennett) September 13, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI The 9/14 edition of Impact did 239,000 overnight viewers, up from the 227,000 overnight viewers that they did last week.

Good/Bad News with the Good being it increased but the Bad being its the 2nd least watched show of the year so far.

Originally Posted by PWI Have you ever had a source publicly reveal themselves? There were two, and they actually revealed themselves on Elite audio here well after the fact. Beyond that, no, and I won't reveal my sources, ever. The second you do that, it sends a message that you can't be trusted by those who are trusting you to keep them anonymous.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. Found it interesting mainly because of threads and posts within the year on TPWW about the distrust of anonymous sources, thinking they are cowards for wanting to be anonymous, and/or not understanding why they can't be revealed.

Originally Posted by PWI NXT will fill the vacancy for the Women's championship at Takeover: Houston with a Fatal Four Way.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Shayna Baszler was backstage for last night's WWE NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University and took time to pose for a few photos with fans before the show. She did not work the tapings and there's been no confirmation on her signing with the company but there is speculation on her status after Triple H welcomed both Baszler and Kairi Sane to the company with a tweet before Tuesday's Mae Young Classic finals.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc There will apparently be another Hell In A Cell match at next month's WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet reported on his podcast that the current plan is for WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day to defend their titles in the Cell against The Usos.

Link to the podcast episode: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/epi.../#.WbxIy9N95E4

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has a new Bayley "Huggers Gunna Hug" sweatshirt, as seen below. As Bayley mentioned in the post, starting today and through this weekend, WWEShop.com has 30% off regular priced merchandise and 40% off clearance merchandise. There is no promo code necessary, just use this link. Please note that the sale excludes title belts, the AJ Styles vest, the Finn Balor jacket, WWE 2K18, the MITB Blue briefcase and WrestleMania plaques.

Link to WWE Shop website: http://shop.wwe.com/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The next set of WWE NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University have sold out. They take place on Wednesday, October 4th and will be the final tapings before "Takeover: Houston" on November 18th. The tapings that took place this week should carry them through the October 18th episode.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Sasha Banks is featured on the latest episode of "Her Take" from Champs Sports. The interview was filmed at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The Boss talks to host Steph Lecor about her journey to WWE, the state of women's wrestling, sneakers, cutting promos and more. Sasha also does a "Her Take" segment and picks WWE NXT over RAW, Chyna over Sable and Steve Austin over The Rock. Sasha adds that she loves Austin and Rock but she picks Austin because he once "slid into her DMs" on Twitter to compliment her on a match.

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0rKR9klFKs

Originally Posted by WrestleInc There has been talk of bringing former NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain to the WWE SmackDown roster soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. No word yet on if WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering would get the call-up with Akam and Rezar. The AOP won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in November of last year and then won the NXT Tag Team Titles from DIY at "Takeover: San Antonio" in January of this year. They just lost the titles to SAnitY at "Takeover: Brooklyn III" in August.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair continues to recover from his recent hospitalization. As seen below, The Nature Boy received a visit from NBA legend Charles Barkley on Thursday: Look Who Popped In Today! Sir Charles ?? pic.twitter.com/GVl3elpDAH — Ric Flair® (@RicFlairNatrBoy) September 14, 2017

Originally Posted by Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated spoke with a source close to Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who noted that the photo was not posted by mistake. Levesque’s management style is to surround himself with bright minds, which is evident by the men in the picture ... A source close to SI explained Levesque is open-minded to different viewpoints, values the chance to hear them, and prefers a think-tank culture to bring wrestling into the future. He has built an unselfish environment at NXT, with people welcome to contribute whenever they see fit.

From a recent article about the mindset Triple H has for WWE's future compared to Vince. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/201...roode-triple-h


Some other sheet news includes:

• Hulk Hogan currently dealing with online backlash after tweets he made ridiculed those in Florida who were affected by Hurricane Irma. Claimed those who lost power and water shouldn't be complaining like "crybabies" since they should be lucky it wasn't worse for them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...of-power-water
• NBC Sports had a recent interview with Kairi Sane talking about being the winner of the Mae Young Classic, her elbow drop becoming famous in the wrestling world, and differences between Japanese and American audiences for wrestling. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...japanese-fans/
• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho podcast show had LU's Taya as the guest talking about the incident in AAA of her getting stripped of a title because of Sexy Star, why she left AAA, being upset with Vampiro in AAA, and Jericho banning Sexy Star from ever appearing on his podcast show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...m-his-podcast/

[Lock Jaw]

Would be cool for GFW to do an event in Saskatchewan and for them to use our production truck........ we did some MMA for the Fight Network once......

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by Observer Raymond Louis "Bobby" Heenan, generally considered the greatest pro wrestling manager of all-time, passed away this afternoon [Sunday]. He had been battling serious health issues for many years after contracting cancer first in 2002. Heenan was 72.

Originally Posted by Observer Jessica Solt, Bobby Heenan’s daughter, spoke to the Tampa Bay Times for an obituary on her father. The article notes that Heenan died of organ failures that were brought on by his battle with cancer.

Link to the article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituar...-at-73/2337830

Originally Posted by Observer WWE will be filming a lot of stuff backstage tonight on Heenan with everyone giving comments for what would likely be a documentary. I expect the Raw rating to be up slightly as that's usually the case when a figure of this level passes away. I would expect something big, or at least hope that's the case for tonight's show.

Originally Posted by Observer With competition from both Monday Night Football and Dancing With The Stars, Raw dropped to 2.82 million viewers last night, a drop of three percent from last week ... The first hour did a stronger than expected number, which is likely at least partially due to curiosity regarding how the company would handle the death of Bobby Heenan. Both the second and third hours had far larger than usual drops and the third hour was the lowest rated hour since the end of the NBA playoffs. Raw still remained in second place on cable, trailing Monday Night Football, which did a strong 12.29 million viewers for the Detroit Lions vs. New York Giants game. Dancing With the Stars, which featured Nikki Bella, and was never mentioned on Raw for obvious reasons, did 10.71 million viewers. The first-to-third hour drops were the biggest among women, notably teenage girls which dropped from hour one to three by nearly 40 percent ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.12 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.84 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.53 million viewers

3 of the past 4 weeks have averaged 100k less viewers than the week prior. With the way the 3rd hour has been dropping, could be looking at sub-2 million being a trend by the end of the year.

Originally Posted by Observer Chris Jericho announced today an ambitious vacation type of rock and pro wrestling entertainment venture, called "Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea" that will run next year from October 27-31 from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas. The cruise aboard Norwegian Jade will feature both rock and pro wrestling entertainment events, including a Sea of Honor tournament presented by Ring of Honor and hosted by Jim Ross. Names listed as being on the cruise include Diamond Dallas Page, Mick Foley, Ricky Steamboat, Rey Mysterio, Raven, Konnan, Disco Inferno, Hurricane Helms, Lance Storm, Don Callis, and members of the Busted Open radio show. Musical guests will include Fozzy, Kyng, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons, The Vies, Jim Breuer (who will also do comedy) and The Loud and Rowdy, Shoot to Thrill, Blizzard of Ozzy and the Dave Spivak Project. The Sea of Honor tournament will have 12 ROH wrestlers competing in an outdoor wrestling ring.

Originally Posted by Observer Bound for Glory is headed to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Impact Wrestling announced today that the Aberdeen Pavilion would be hosting the pay-per-view on November 5th, with television tapings also set for the venue on November 6-10. When the word got out that the tapings were being moved to Canada, a number of people in wrestling inquired about the status of Jim Cornette, who has been all over the recent television shows as the head of authority for the promotion. Cornette hasn't been to Canada for years because he was turned away at the border in 2010 when they ran his record, which included a number of assaults, mostly stemming from incidents involving fights with fans who attacked him while he was a manager at matches in the 80s ... Because of that, Cornette won't be at the next set of tapings and is done with the promotion, which he said there is no heat over and it's just a matter of circumstances.

Originally Posted by Observer Ed Nordholm told the Ottawa Citizen that Impact Wrestling’s tagline is “Less Talk More Action.” The article states that the company hopes to get about 500 fans a night at the Aberdeen Pavilion for Bound for Glory and the subsequent TV tapings.

Link to the article: http://ottawacitizen.com/sports/loca...g-pay-per-view

Originally Posted by Observer Though details are still sparse, WWE is reviving the Starrcade name for a SmackDown live event during Thanksgiving weekend. The Greensboro Coliseum announced today that they would be hosting WWE Starrcade on November 25th, which would be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The venue at least partially hosted the first four Starrcade events from 1983-1986, with the shows in 1985 and 1986 being split between the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina and The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.

More details and planned card at the moment: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ww...e-event-243021

Originally Posted by Observer PWG announced that their next shows will be on October 20th and 21st as part of All Star Weekend 13. Ricochet tweeted that he won’t be at WrestleCircus’ first anniversary show on the 21st due to it conflicting with PWG. PWG also uploaded the preview video for the DVD of the first night of this year’s Battle of Los Angeles. WhatCulture announced today that several key staff members (Adam Blampied, Adam Pacitti, Ross Tweddell, Sam Driver, and Jack King) will be leaving the website to focus on other projects. Blampied was WhatCulture Pro Wrestling’s on-screen general manager and the promotion will reveal his replacement at their “Refuse to Lose” show on October 2nd.

Link to Ricochet's tweet: https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/sta...55814848290816 , Preview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD6t7wZx7j4 , and WhatCulture announcement: https://twitter.com/whatculture/stat...81043142725632

Originally Posted by Observer Revolution Pro Wrestling announced that this year’s Global Wars UK shows will be taking place in Bethnal Green on November 9th and Walthamstow on the 10th. Minoru Suzuki is the first wrestler confirmed for the shows.

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/909092595447603201

Originally Posted by Observer There is a WWE 24 documentary in the works covering Bill Goldberg's comeback from last year and earlier this year.

Originally Posted by Observer An hour-long documentary on Madusa called “Trailblayzer” will be premiering on the WWE Network after NXT on Wednesday. It will focus on her career and Hall of Fame induction.

Originally Posted by PWI Announced for the 2017 WWE Hell in A Cell PPV on 10/11 from Detroit, Michigan is: *WWE champion Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. *Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon inside Hell in A Cell. *WWE Smackdown Women's champion Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair. *WWE Smackdown Tag Team champions The New Dayvs. The Usos.

Originally Posted by PWI Ursula Hayden, who performed as Babe the Farmer's Daughter for the original Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and holds the rights to the original GLOW video library, filed a trademark on the term GLOW on 9/1. What is interesting is the description of the trademark, which would include the premise of the Netflix series of the same name, which is based on the original GLOW television series

More details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...tflix.html?p=1

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Bayley returned from her shoulder injury on tonight's WWE RAW from her hometown of San Jose, California. After Nia Jax defeated RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss in a non-title match, Bayley returned and ended up helping Sasha Banks to take out Jax and then Bliss. WWE has announced that Bayley is being added to the No Mercy card on Sunday, making the RAW Women's Title match a Fatal 5 Way.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The WWE NXT live event scheduled for Friday at the Mark Lance Armory in St Augustine, Florida has been canceled due to the National Guard using the armory for Hurricane Irma relief operations. NXT tweeted the following information for ticket-holders: Due to the Nat'l Guard activating after Hurricane Irma, the 9/22 LE in St Augustine is cancelled. For tix info email NXTTickets@wwecorp.com — WWE NXT (@WWENXT) September 19, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is Rene Young's (32), WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco's (71), and Eva Marie's (33) birthdays.
• WWE's newest book focusing on Ric Flair called "Second Nature" was released today.
• First gameplay trailer for WWE 2k18 was recently released. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX2ApPUn05c
• Anthem is currently rumored to changing the name of GFW due to possible legal issues related to Jeff Jarrett. Likely will be going back to the Impact Wrestling name.
• CBS had a recent interview with The Young Bucks talking about Marty Scrull in Bullet Club, talking with WWE stars, and not seeing a legal situation like the Broken Hardys occur with them in ROH. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...g-out-to-them/
• Former WWE writer Court Bauer revealed during a recent episode of The World According To Wrestling podcast show what the original plans for the post-Vince limo explosion story were prior to Benoit's actual death. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...hon-real-life/
• Mae Young Classic competitor Toni Storm became the first foreigner to win the 5 Star Grand Prix tournament in Stardom history. https://twitter.com/tonistorm_/statu...21751429136384

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Happy Rusev:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.51 million viewers and was down nine percent from the previous week ... However, this week's number was up nearly 10 percent over the same week in 2016. That's the third straight week that SmackDown has had a year-over-year ratings increase ... With the start of the broadcast TV season next week, and with CBS, ABC, and NBC all airing shows with audiences typically in excess of 10 million viewers, SmackDown should see a decline for the next few months.

Originally Posted by Observer In response to criticism that Jinder Mahal's promo from SmackDown -- where he was scripted to mock Shinsuke Nakamura's looks and race -- has received, WWE issued a statement on the segment to the Washington Post last night. “Just like many other TV shows or movies, WWE creates programming with fictional personalities that incorporates real world issues and sensitive subjects," the company said. “As a producer of such TV shows, WWE Corporate is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide" ... The statement was a response to some mainstream criticism the segment got, including the story that was being worked on by the Washington Post. The Washington Post article also included quotes from Dave Meltzer, who called the segment embarrassing for WWE and discussed the history of the foreign heel character in pro wrestling. “Wrestling was always in its own little world,” Meltzer said. “Now everyone watches it, and you can’t get away with those kind of old tricks. The fan base will blame it on the company and not on the heel.”

Even the New York Times got involved with the reporter who interviewed Jinder a while ago hinting Jinder lied about never accepting to do a racist-like promo in the WWE. Link to the Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-thats-too-far

Originally Posted by Observer In his first interview since last month's health scare, Ric Flair detailed just how dire the problems were and how decades of alcohol abuse led to the situation. Flair and Wendy Barlow, Flair's fiancee and formerly Fifi the Maid in WCW, spoke to People magazine last week at the physical therapy center Flair's recovering at in Georgia. "The day he told me he had a stomach ache and it was really bad and he didn't feel good and we had to go was the day that saved his life, because he was slowly dying," Barlow said about the day she took Flair to the hospital. The years of heavy drinking led to organ problems and his bowel was "dying" before being put in a medically-induced coma and undergoing surgery. Barlow noted that doctors told her that Flair only had a 20 percent chance of surviving the surgery. Flair said that he didn't know how bad things were at the time, but Charlotte told him that a doctor told her to go see her father because he wasn't going to make it ... “I didn’t think I was an alcoholic, but obviously I was," Flair told People. “I’ll never drink again. I never want to go through this again.”

Link to more stuff from the interview and video of the interview: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ri...k-again-243161

Originally Posted by Observer While we don't have much in the way of details on this, FloSports has sued WWN for $1 million over the idea that when they signed the contract with them, they were misled about their streaming numbers. The suit was filed in Travis County Court in Texas, the location where FloSports is based. The belief is that WWN is going to countersue. WWN matches this weekend will remain on FloSlam.

More details from website Fightful: https://www.fightful.com/flosports-s...s-during%C2%A0

Originally Posted by Observer All CMLL shows in Mexico City are canceled until anything changes due to the effects of the Earthquake on Tuesday that hit Mexico City. The government in the city has asked that all sports and entertainment events be canceled as long as the city is in a state of emergency. Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo are fine to be used after a government inspection, so wrestling will start back up when the state of emergency ends. It's notable that today in Mexico is the national holiday, Dia de Lucha Libre.

Originally Posted by Observer Daniel Bryan on Twitter emphasized he would be coming back to wrestle, saying on a scale of 1 to 10, his wanting to return when he's contractually able (one year from now) is an 11. He talked about wrestling members of the Bullet Club, the Young Bucks, Cody, Kenny Omega and Marty Scurll, as well as wanting to do a hair vs. mask match at Arena Mexico with Atlantis.

Originally Posted by Observer A Go Fund Me has been set up for Shayna Baszler's 33-year-old sister Eileen who is battling stage three breast cancer. She will need six months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and then radiation and hormone treatment.

Link to the fund for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme/eileens-breast-chance

Originally Posted by Obsever Booker T will be hosting a podcast on 9/24 at 9 p.m. at Lucky Strike Hollywood on the corner of Hollywood and Highland after the conclusion of the No Mercy show. Appearing with Booker T are Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Corey Graves and Dustin Runnels. All money raised will go to benefit victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Originally Posted by Observer Terry Funk told Jerry Lawler on his podcast that he sincerely means that he’s retiring from wrestling whenever he says it, but he loves wrestling too much to turn people down when they ask him to come back. He said that one of these times he knows that he’s going to “go to heaven.”

Funk's official reason for why he keeps unretiring a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRvAzXWVqSM

Originally Posted by PWI EVOLVE announced this afternoon that WWE 205 Live star Cedric Alexander will be replacing former ROH champion Davey Richards on this weekend's EVOLVE 92 this Friday 9/2 in Livonia, Michigan and EVOLVE 93 this Saturday 9/23 in Summit, IL. The promotion was able to secure Alexander through their relationship with WWE as Gabe Sapolsky has been at the recent NXT TV tapings working with Triple H. The revised lineups for this weekend, airing on Flosports, with the exception of Alexander's matches, which will not be part of the broadcasts.

Revised card for both EVOLVE shows: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...ekend.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI Ohio Valley Wrestling will hold a benefit event this Saturday 9/23 to assist former WWE Tough Enough winner and long-time OVW alumnus Matt Cappotelli with the mounting medical bills he and his family face as he battles brain cancer for the second time.

More details about the event: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...urday.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI ROH will return to PPV this Friday 9/23 with the 2017 Death Before Dishonor event, which will air via all traditional PPV carriers as well as the Fite app. The App is currently offering a $10 credit with ROH PPV pre-orders. The lineup for Death Before Dishonor 2017 PPV features: *ROH champion Cody Rhodes vs. Minoru Suzuki in Suzuki's first match in the United States in 25 years. *ROH Tag Team champions The Young Bucks vs. The Motor City Machineguns. *ROH TV champion KUSHIDA vs. Kenny King. *The Kingdom vs. Bully Ray & The Briscoes. *Winners challenge Six Man Tag Team champions The Young Bucks and Adam "Hangman" Page. *Las Vegas Street Fight: Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez. *Last Man Standing: Jay Lethal vs, Silas Young. *Marty Scurll vs. Chuck Taylor.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc According to WWE Network News, the first season of Southpaw Regional Wrestling will be coming to the WWE Network on Monday, September 25. The popular series is currently only on WWE's YouTube channel. No word yet on when season two will be coming to the Network

Link to the article: http://www.wwenetworknews.com/2017/0...o-wwe-network/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Paige started training at the WWE Performance Center on Monday as she looks forward to her return to the ring for WWE. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Paige has already received full clearance to return, she's just getting back into ring shape now. The former Women's Champion has been out of the ring for more than 1 year after having neck surgery. Paige On Why WWE Suspended Her, If She Does Drugs See Also Paige On Why WWE Suspended Her, If She Does Drugs Word is that WWE officials already have a storyline for Paige's return and that it will be for the SmackDown brand.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE officials are still interested in doing a Horsewomen vs. Horsewomen feud as multiple ideas have been discussed, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. One issue being discussed is making sense of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch being on SmackDown while Sasha Banks and Bayley are on RAW but that could be solved by having the match on a joint pay-per-view such as the Survivor Series in November. There's also been talk of doing a Flair vs. Ronda Rousey singles match at some point. It was previously believed that Ronda's first singles match would be against Stephanie McMahon. There are unconfirmed reports that Shayna Baszler has signed a contract with WWE. She was backstage for the first set of WWE NXT TV tapings after The Mae Young Classic finals but she was not used. After being booked strong in the tournament, the 37 year old was expected to sign with WWE when she stopped booking new indie dates.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The main event of this past Tuesday's SmackDown was originally scheduled to be a triple threat match with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Naomi, according to PWInsider. The plan was changed late in the day for Tamina to be added in the match.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc There was a lot of backstage talk at last night's WWE SmackDown in Oakland over the "that's too far chant" during WWE Champion Jinder Mahal's promo on Shinsuke Nakamura, where he referred to Nakamura as Mr. Miyagi, according to PWInsider. It's worth noting that the segment was not uploaded to YouTube. Another hot topic backstage last night was the low attendance. We noted before that the building was believed to be 30-40% full.

Originally Posted by Observer Part of the feeling is the company wants to rebrand itself and get away from the negativity associated with the TNA reign, and that as long as they are in Orlando, the feeling is they are TNA wrestling. The negative on this is that the few fans left watching regularly are likely die-hards of TNA wrestling, and with all the wrestling product available, particularly from WWE, it’s harder than ever before to get fans to watch non-WWE television because they can’t even keep up with WWE television, and it’s no longer the case where there’s any debate over product quality in fans’ eyes left, leaving the promotion in a very difficult position. As noted before, the long-term goal is to make Impact a Canadian company, due to some economic advantages, and also because Anthem is based in Toronto.

Some details on why Anthem wants to move Impact/GFW to Canada for future events.

Originally Posted by Observer The Rey Mysterio situation is very interesting right now. He's one of the biggest, arguably the biggest name on the free agent market right now. But he's also the most expensive to book. With both New Japan and ROH looking to expand, he'd seem like a great fit because he can work with so many of their guys, as long as it's a limited schedule. He looked great with Will Ospreay and Ricochet for What Culture a few weeks back. But his price is way above what ROH pays for anyone which is why nothing has happened there. We've never heard much about him and New Japan, but with New Japan eyeing running more on the West Coast, he'd be very valuable to them, but his price, which can be $10,000 per match, is more than New Japan is likely paying for anyone. He's getting enough bookings at that price to be making a good living on the indies, but he lives a superstar lifestyle and it's night like he's getting enough bookings to make the seven-figure annual WWE money he made. But at last word, all talks regarding him and WWE had also fallen through

Some other sheet news includes:

• Recent survey by the WWE asked fans their interest in non-WWE promotions for the Network, potential new features for the Network, and special goodies for a new pay tier on the Network. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ww...options-243191
• Ric Flair returned to his home today after a lengthy stay in a hospital due to his recent health problems.
• During a recent interview with In Touch Magazine, the Bellas Twins hinted they want to return to the WWE at some point next year and likely as a tag team.
• During a recent Q&A session on Twitter, Daniel Bryan revealed he currently is planning on resuming his in-ring wrestling career once his current WWE contract expires. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...eam-wwe-match/
• CBC's Q Radio Show had Chris Jericho as the guest talking about why Jericho feels Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is the greatest wrestling talent of all-time. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-greatest-all/
• This week's Flashback Friday episode for the WWE Network will focus on the Cruiser Division and be a replay of the entire CWC tournament. The collection set starts at 12PM EST and ends at 11PM EST. http://www.wwe.com/wwe-network-flashback-friday
• Anthem has officially changed the name of GFW back to Impact Wrestling with the Observer stating all references to GFW have been removed from press releases.
• According to the Observer, Toni Storm currently isn't expected to be signing a deal with the WWE either this year or next year.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Daniel Bryan's new persona:

Originally Posted by Observer The relationship between FloSports and WWN, Inc. took another turn for the worse this afternoon. Despite the ongoing legal situation, EVOLVE's shows in Livonia, Michigan tonight and Summit, Illinois tomorrow had been scheduled to stream live on FloSlam -- but that now won't be happening. WWN's Gabe Sapolsky announced on Twitter today that FloSlam won't be airing tonight's show. "FloSlam is refusing to broadcast tonight's EVOLVE event," Sapolsky wrote. "We apologize, but this is their decision. Please contact them for customer issues." Sapolsky added that WWN is doing their best to get tonight's show on their own website as soon as possible, which is how they used to offer events before their deal with FloSports began last year. No WWN events are currently listed on the FloSlam schedule. IPW:UK's Supershow 12, which will air on November 19th, is the only upcoming event currently listed.

Statement from WNN and updated announcement from FloSports in regards to the future of WNN on the service: http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/wwn-...chedule-243271

Originally Posted by Observer What looks to be an ugly split between WWN, Inc. (the parent company of EVOLVE, FIP, and Shine) and FloSports, which has been airing their events on its FloSlam platform, continued today with WWN's attorney making a statement alleging FloSports had failed to live up to their contracted obligations and called FloSlam a failing subscription streaming platform. FloSports filed a lawsuit for more than $1 million on September 15th in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas, alleging that WWN misled them by providing inflated numbers for how many people were ordering the EVOLVE events on Internet PPV, which caused FloSports to make a deal based on those numbers. Joshua Gavin, who worked for WWN, in a Fightful article backed up claims in the lawsuit.

Some details via PWInsider on the lead-up to the split between FloSports and WNN: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...vents.html?p=1

Originally Posted by Fightful.com “WWN induced FloSports to pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars based on data that was not only inaccurate and unreliable; it was just plain false,” reads the complaint. “When pressed for the data that backed up WWN’s spreadsheet of viewership, WWN originally claimed it had lost or deleted that information. Ultimately, WWN sent records listing many subscribers more than once and including purchasers of DVDs instead of broadcast services. Even with that artificial inflation of viewership, the numbers WWN attempted to account for were far less than those represented in its initial spreadsheet.”

Report from Fightful that backs up FloSports claims against WNN: https://www.fightful.com/flosports-s...records-during

Originally Posted by Observer Cyber Agent, a Japanese company that streams events, has purchased 100 percent of the stock of the DDT promotion. They will stream DDT events on AbemaTV.

Some details via tweets from an unofficial fansite for DDT wrestling: http://abload.de/img/ddtiglxa.png

Originally Posted by Observer Congratulations to Ryan Parmeter, who is Konnor of The Ascension, who announced his son, Elijah, was born today in Tampa.

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/KonnorWWE/status/911233695368978432

Originally Posted by Observer Impact will be taping segments for its TV show on 11/25 in Winston, Salem, NC at the Wrestlecade show that goes head-to-head with the billed Starrcade house show in Greensboro.

Originally Posted by pwi WWE announced this afternoon that Elias vs. Apollo Crews has been officially added to Sunday's No Mercy PPV and will be airing on the Kickoff Show.

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWE World, WWE Universal and WCW World champion Bill Goldberg was interviewed by the WWE website to mark the 20th anniversary of his debut in WCW today at this link. When asked whether he may be up for another return, Goldberg commented, "Ask your boss! [Laughs] Hey, man, never say never, dude. Stranger things have happened. I did sit [around] for 13 years and then suddenly appear back in the ring. Let's just say it ain't gonna take nearly the effort to get me ready again that it did last time. So, I'll see you on the rebound for damn sure." Goldberg has not wrestled since Wrestlemania 33, where he lost the Universal championship to Brock Lesnar.

Link with highlights and interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-to-wwe-again/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Flair appeared on The Dan Le Batard Show this week and admitted that his heavy drinking contributed to the near-fatal incident. "I just drank too much," Flair admitted. Flair stated that drinking was a way of life when he started in the business. Flair reiterated that he never drank before he wrestled, even on days when they did two shows, but he would drink heavily afterwards. As for his recent near-death scare, Flair said that he did the math and calculated how much he was drinking each day. "I've done all my math, [I was drinking] between 3,700 and 4,000 calories worth of booze — soda, splash of cranberry — in my body every day," Flair revealed. "Like 20 drinks a day."

Link with more details and interview itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...rink-each-day/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc A new thirty-minute episode of WWE Story Time will air on the WWE Network after Monday's post-No Mercy RAW goes off the air. Below is the synopsis: "Hear from a handful of WWE Superstars and Hall of Famers on how their journeys to stardom weren't without some challenges along the way."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE posted this rare Triple Threat between The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart today. The match took place after the September 22nd, 1997 RAW from Madison Square Garden went off the air.

Link to part of the match's footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0hNBaot3gU

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has a new poll asking fans where The Miz ranks among the greatest WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time. As of this writing, 38% put Miz in the top 5 while 32% put him in the top 10. 15% voted, "The A-lister is on his way to becoming the greatest. If he passes Pedro Morales for longest combined reigning champion he will be the best." while the other 15% went with, "The Miz is the best. He's singlehandedly kept the title's prestige alive during his last few title reigns."

Edge and Cena refer to each other as "shoe" because working each other was the equivalent of putting on an old shoe. They talked about the great chemistry they have together in the ring and how much they wrestled each other. Edge says Cena may have found a new shoe in AJ Styles. Cena praised AJ and Christian said Cena's chemistry with AJ was similar to his chemistry with Edge. Cena said AJ was the culmination of WWE signing very gifted performers in a physical aspect. Cena loves being given the chance to showcase guys like AJ, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Cena talked about some NXT callups struggling to adjust to the main roster and the scope and scale of a global audience. Edge used Nakmaura as an example of someone not finding it initially. Cena says that with a character like Nakamura you have to explain what the interesting is. He said he knows he's working hard on conveying to the audience better and on his promos. Cena says that while the roster is more gifted then ever he feels that with the absence of a marquee personality there is a giant grand canyon of relationship between superstar and audience and he doesn't know who are lot of these guys are. Cena said the amount of complacency is staggering. He said there has never been a better time to make a name for yourself in WWE with all it's platforms. Cena said every single day he goes out there and takes chances. Edge once again said establishing a dialogue with Vince is incredibly important. Cena said he thinks these guys feel like a piece of a system rather then a creative force. Edge said Roman felt out of his element up against Cena yet he still feels it was his best promo performances as he tapped into his emotion. Cena's biggest hangup with Reigns is his inability to connect with the audience. Cena says he has a respectful but definitive rivalry with Roman because they both want to be number 1. Cena wants to help Roman tap into his personality and emotion. Cena made a promise to himself that as soon as he feels himself getting a step slow in there he can't justify performing for the audience because he doesn't want to be that person, he hasn't gotten there yet but he has some talks with himself. He said he is still far from done with WWE. He feels like WWE is his home and feels massive amount of loyalty to Vince. He feels like it is time for guys to stand up and take it.

Link from r/SquaredCircle: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...e_on_edge_and/


Some other sheet news includes:

• WWE recently uploaded a video featuring Seth Rollins and Sting commentating on their match at Night of Champions 2015. http://www.wwe.com/article/sting-set...-360-interview
• WWE also recently uploaded a Bobby Heenan collection set to the WWE Network. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...twork.html?p=1
• Recent blog post by Jim Ross on his official blog talked about the passing of Bobby Heenan, Paige working towards a WWE return, and Lesnar-Strowman match for No Mercy. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...er-wwe-return/
• DC101 held a recent interview with Charlotte discussing her new book, NXT, how wrestling helped her life, and more. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-her-new-book/
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Stone Cold Steve Austin's first Stunner done to Vince McMahon. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...ned_vince_for/

[Mr. Nerfect]

Cena is not wrong.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets Sponsored by High Flying Appre... ehh Powerbomb Appreciation Day:

Originally Posted by Observer Coming the day after No Mercy, Raw got a small bump of three percent in the ratings to 2.90 million viewers as compared to last week ... Raw was fourth for the night on cable, trailing the NFL game with the Dallas Cowboys vs. Arizona Cardinals, the SportsCenter after the game, and Hannity on Fox News. There was a lot of competition as the NFL game did 13.69 million viewers, Dancing with the Stars featuring Nikki Bella did 8.67 million viewers, which is very low for that show, Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon both topped 17 million, and The Voice, The Good Doctor, and Kevin Can Wait all topped 10 million viewers. The second-to-third hour drop was far bigger among men than is normal, but was consistent in every demo. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 3.12 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.08 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.57 million viewers

In terms of demo rankings, RAW took the #4-6 spots trailing MNF, Sportscenter, and blood rival Love & Hip Hop.

Originally Posted by Observer While parodying DX’s invasion of Nitro, members of the Bullet Club “invaded” last night’s Raw by appearing outside of the building. Matt Jackson sent out a message inviting fans to meet them at a Hot Topic in Ontario, California and they then went to the venue. The invasion played into storylines from "Being the Elite” and was chronicled on the latest episode, including Cody Rhodes doing the speech from Independence Day.

Supposedly WWE was really upset this happened and revealing fans got free tickets because of poor sales for the show.

Originally Posted by Observer Triple H explained why he takes pictures with NXT wrestlers after big moments and posts them on social media: “You know why I take pictures with everybody? Because I'm more famous," he said. "When I do that, and I take a picture, just on Twitter alone I got six million people that see it when I tap that picture. I make them something bigger, and that's the attempt." He added that he helps them if he can and steps away when they don’t need it anymore.

Originally Posted by Observer Matt and Jeff Hardy, Elias, Ruby Riot, Drew McIntyre, Lars Sullivan, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson), Beth Phoenix, and Aleister Black were revealed as downloadable characters for WWE 2K18. 2K announced that WWE 2018 is currently in development for Windows PC and will be available on the same launch day as the versions for PS 4 and Xbox One. Shane McMahon discussed doing his own motion capturing for the video game.

Link to Shane's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNOoKp2nLpI

Originally Posted by Observer Ric Flair has gotten some publicity for saying in an interview for his upcoming 30 for 30 that he’s slept with 10,000 women in his life. “I wish I hadn’t said that because of my grandkids,” Flair told People. “I only love one now. I have never done anything since I met Wendy.”

Link to the interview: http://www.tmz.com/2017/09/26/ric-flair-10000-women/

Originally Posted by Observer Revolution Pro Wrestling announced a big first-time match between Tomohiro Ishii and Keith Lee for their November 9th Global Wars UK show at York Hall. Nick Jackson tweeted that over 100,000 Young Bucks shirts have been sold at Hot Topic in the last three months. Aaron Bentley has an article for Voices of Wrestling on a leaked email that Gabe Sapolsky sent to EVOLVE talent and Sapolsky’s reaction to finding out it was leaked.

Rev Pro tweet: https://twitter.com/RevProUK/status/912683749715914752 , Bucks tweet: https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/st...35330472914944 , EVOLVE article: http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/201...ertain-future/

Originally Posted by Observer Kenny Omega will defend his IWGP United States title stateside for the first time, as he will face YOSHI-HASHI at ROH Global Wars: Chicago on October 15th ... Ring of Honor had originally announced he would be defending the title back in August when it was first announced he would be wrestling on the tour. The next day, ROH released a statement saying that while he would be on the tour, they could not confirm if he would be defending the title or not. ROH officially confirmed yesterday that the title would be defended. Kenny Omega is scheduled for all four stops of the Global Wars tours, which include October 12th in Buffalo, October 13th in Pittsburgh, October 14th in Columbus and October 15th in Chicago.

Originally Posted by Observer Steve Austin was referenced on Rick & Morty, the sci-fi cartoon on Cartoon Network. On last night's episode, Rick's daughter started talking all tough and Rick started sarcastically calling her Stone Cold Steve Austin, and they later posted his picture on the Rick & Morty Facebook page.

Originally Posted by Observer Confirming what had been feared, WWE announced today that Jeff Hardy will have to undergo surgery for his shoulder injury. WWE noted that Jeff suffered a torn rotator cuff in the six-pack challenge main event on last week's episode of Raw and that it was a "full thickness tear of his supraspinatus tendon and a couple of other areas in the shoulder." Jeff will be undergoing surgery for the rotator cuff tear on October 3rd. He also told WWE.com that he has a torn labrum and said the doctors will figure out more about what else needs to be repaired when they do the operation ... Dave Meltzer reported on Saturday that Jeff initially injured his shoulder in July when taking a bump to the outside during the Iron Man match for the Raw Tag Team titles at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view but had been working on it since.

Timeline for his recovery is usually around 6 months but could be up to a year for worst case scenario.

Originally Posted by Observer According to those close to the situation, Cesaro did not get his teeth cracked or knocked out when he went mouth first into the post last night after taking a catapult into the corner spot by Dean Ambrose. What actually happened is that the blow caused Cesaro's front teeth to be jammed into his gums. According to someone familiar with this type of situation, the teeth possibly could be saved by having oral surgery to pull the teeth down and stabilize them, although that would require a root canal. But it was noted in a WWE.com post that Cesaro will see “a maxillofacial surgeon today, most likely removing the teeth and then having some implants made” and that they hope to have him back in action by mid-week. The injury took place at last night's No Mercy pay-per-view in Los Angeles where Cesaro & Sheamus were challenging Ambrose & Seth Rollins in a match for the Raw Tag Team titles. Cesaro wrestled much of the match badly bleeding from the mouth, and it appeared that his teeth had been knocked out

Originally Posted by PWI For those who have asked, all signs are that former WWE Divas champion Paige has been cleared to return to the ring. The belief is that although she was drafted to Raw in 2016 during the brand split, that will be ignored and she will return to the ring as part of the Smackdown brand next month. Paige has not competed for WWE since the summer of 2016, when she was suspended for the first of two infractions under the WWE Wellness Policy. Since that time, she has also undergone neck surgery, which she was just cleared to return from and well, a lot of, for lack of a better word, drama surrounding her relationship with Alberto el Patron.

Originally Posted by PWI Deadline.com reported this evening that Universal has acquired an as of yet untitled buddy cop comedy film that will star John Cena and comedian Kumail Nanjiani (who was excellent in The Big Sick) attached to star. This is the latest film project for Cena, who is putting his focus on Hollywood and is not slated for any WWE appearances until Survivor Series in November. Cena will be one of the stars for the forthcoming Transformers: Bumbleebee and has been rumored for the role of DC Comics hero Shazam! in the long-gestating feature film adaptation of that character, which has long had The Rock attached to play Shazam nemesis Black Adam.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Below is the updated confirmed card for the HIAC pay-per-view from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan: Hell In a Cell Match Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens Hell In a Cell for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles The Usos vs. The New Day WWE Title Match Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal SmackDown Women's Title Match Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya WWE United States Title Match Baron Corbin vs. AJ Styles Randy Orton vs. Rusev Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE's latest poll asked fans: "Could The Miz and The Miztourage have defeated The Shield?" As of this writing, "No. The Shield would have destroyed them" is leading with 89 percent of the vote.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, former TNA Tag Team Champion Crazzy Steve left Impact Wrestling earlier this year after WWE reportedly showed interest in him. Steve attended the WWE tryouts this past June, however Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio this week that WWE ended up not signing him.

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, The Empress of Tomorrow (Asuka) celebrated her 36th birthday today.
• Maria recently announced on Instagram she is currently pregnant with her first child and is around 13 weeks into her pregnancy. http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ma...t-child-243451
• WWE officially announced Asuka will be making her RAW debut at the TLC ppv on October 22nd.
• ROH recently announced Cody Rhodes has signed a long term deal with the company and teased to be the richest in company history. http://www.f4wonline.com/ring-honor/...g-honor-243376
• Upcoming episode of Talk Is Jericho will have Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about Brian Pillman. Episode will be released on October 4th which is the 20th anniversary of Pillman's passing.
• 107.7 The Bone with Baby Huey & Bimbo Jimbo had a recent interview with Steve Austin talking about Lesnar-Strowman match, his heel turn at Mania X-7, if there can be another hot era for wrestling/WWE, and Cena-Reigns feud crowd reactions. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...mercy.html?p=1
• Like with recent WWE shows, yesterday's episode of RAW had lots of empty seats with the upper section being around 2/3rd taped off based on PWI's report of the show.
• Jim Ross' new book called Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling will be getting released on October 3rd. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...tails.html?p=1
• Former WWE women's wrestler Kaitlyn recently revealed on Instagram she is currently training to make a return to wrestling. https://www.instagram.com/p/BZZAgKIgM8i/

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by 205 Live's Road to Drewtopia:

Originally Posted by Observer Last night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2.542 million viewers, up one percent from last week despite going against strong competition from the broadcast TV networks. NBC and CBS both averaged over 10 million viewers with their season premiere episodes directly opposite SmackDown. In terms of cable competition, SmackDown was fourth for the night in total viewers and second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating.

Originally Posted by Observer After Karl Anderson began building up the match on Twitter, PWInsider reported that Anderson & Luke Gallows would be facing The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express at the WWE Starrcade house show in Greensboro on November 25th.

Link to The Club tweet: https://twitter.com/KarlAndersonWWE/...05455386365952 , PWI report: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...pdate.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI A number of WWE NXT stars are taking part in raising money for the Special Olympics as part of the annual event where they will take part in a plane pulling competition. For more information on how you can support and donate money to the cause, check out the Tweet embedded below: Please RT! Please donate below to help me and the @WWENXT superstars raise money for @soflinfo by pulling a plane!https://t.co/nCmbOcJJzx pic.twitter.com/4mAaxQOnZf — Donovan Dijak (@DonovanDijak) September 27, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI Several readers sent word that they had received messages from Amazon noting that Jim Ross' autobiography Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling would be delayed two weeks. In checking, we are told that was an error. The book is still slated to be released this Tuesday 10/3, chronicling the WWE Hall of Famer's career and life

Originally Posted by PWI On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore devote the show to discussing The Rock’s career, including his start in Memphis as Flex Kavana. Some classic Memphis wrestling audio, including the first few promos of The Rock, are played throughout the episode ... Roman Reigns becoming the “Face of the WWE” following match: "The reason for that match was, we talk about mythical passing of the mythical torch, I think that’s what that match basically represented. In WWE, you have to have, there always have been and always will be, a pecking order in the talent roster. And you usually have that one featured guy that is considered “the guy.” That, obviously, is a Vince [McMahon] decision on the final say-so on who will be "the guy." You have to feature him, or “push.” Sometimes if the fans don’t feel that person is ready for that big push, they resent it." Does this mean Reigns becomes the locker room leader? "Yeah, I think so. You know what is a funny thing in the business? When you get to be “that guy,” you suddenly no longer dress in the same locker room as all rest of the guys. You have your own bus. You have your own locker room. You’re not in the one big male talent locker room. There is a little bit of a fallacy in the fact of the guy that is “the guy” is the locker room leader; that is just not necessary real. A guy like Brock Lesnar; you never see Brock. He’s always on his bus or his own locker room. You never see him. He stays in there until basically it’s time for his match. He goes out and comes back, and then he’s gone."

Link to the episode: http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%...2RcfWKjZNzDSxA

Originally Posted by PWI For those who have asked about the Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory and TV taping pre-sale information for Ottawa, Ontario, here are the details: The pre-sale, which kicks off today at 10 AM Eastern, for both the 11/5 PPV and the subsequent TV tapings can be found by clicking here using pre-sale code IMPACTCANADA. The pre-sale runs through late Thursday 9/28. Bound for Glory Ringside tickets are priced at $40 with general admission (rows 4 back and bleachers) priced at $20 Canadian before all the usual ticketing fees. The TV tapings will be priced at $30 ringside with general admission at $15. Impact will be offering multi-night combination deals, including a three event combo where you pick the three shows you wish to attend and save near 20% on the total cost and a six event combo that saves you nearly 40%. The company is also selling VIP ticketing for the entire week exclusively at www.shopimpact.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday at 12 PM Noon Eastern.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Courtesy of WrestlingDVDNetwork.com, above is a new clip from WWE's "1997: Dawn of The Attitude" DVD that hits stores on October 3rd. The clip features Kane talking about his debut at WWE "In Your House: Badd Blood" in October of that year. As noted, the DVD features a roundtable hosted by Renee Young with Kane and WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Ron Simmons and The Godfather.

Link to the video: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...itude-era-dvd/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, this week's "Flashback Friday" programming on the WWE Network will feature WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino for his birthday. Below is the line-up: * 3pm EST - Old School, 3/17/1975: Old School Card from MSG features WWF Champion Bruno Sammartino defending against Spiros Arion. Killer Kowalski, Ivan Putski, and more. * 4pm EST - Tuesday Night Titans, 5/10/1985: Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Bruno Sammartino, Roddy Piper, Bob Orton, and Ivan Putski. * 5pm EST - Old School, 4/14/1975: Bruno Sammartino defends the WWE Title against Spiros Arion in a Greek Death Match. Greg Valentine makes his Madison Square Garden debut. (NEW) * 7pm EST - Legends with JBL: JBL sits down with Bruno Sammartino to discuss some memorable exploits from his extraordinary career in sports entertainment. * 7:45pm EST - WWE Story Time: Everyone has a story, and these WWE Superstars and Legends share tales from the good old days before they were shining in the WWE spotlight! * 8pm EST - Old School, 10/23/1978: Ernie Ladd challenges Bob Backlund for the WWE Championship. Blood is shed in a bout between Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham. (NEW) * 9:31pm EST - Table For 3: Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Bruno Sammartino - 3 Champions spanning 3 generations share amazing stories from their legendary careers. * 10pm EST - Old School, 3/25/1978: Old School Card from Philly features Bob Backlund defending the WWWF Title against Spiros Arion. Bruno Sammartino vs. Ken Patera and more.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Kurt Angle was asked on Twitter why WWE announces Nia Jax's weight when they don't do that for other female stars. Angle replied: Because she's proud of her weight. She's beautiful!!!!! #itstrue https://t.co/nS0UkIge6T — Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) September 25, 2017 Nia replied to Angle, tweeting: Aww thank you Kurt! #ItsDamnTrue ???? https://t.co/5JA1mo5Azo — Nia Jax (@NiaJaxWWE) September 26, 2017

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet After months of joking about it, and just one day after Bullet Club “invaded” Raw, WWE sent The Young Bucks an ACTUAL cease and desist letter over the “Too Sweet” hand gesture. Pro Wrestling Sheet has confirmed WWE reached out to the popular Ring of Honor/NJPW tag team to say they own the copyright to the “Too Sweet” hand gesture and have discovered that the brothers have been using it in other companies, as well as on merch. Therefore, WWE is demanding the Bucks stop using WWE intellectual property in-ring and on any merchandise immediately. If not, they may be hit with $150K in damages or more. They also want an agreement in writing saying the brothers wont use WWE IP again in the future. It’s unclear at this point whether The Young Bucks plan to fight this, but sources tell us they’ve consulted with a lawyer and will figure out what’s best in the days to come.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Randy Orton was revealed to be this week's guest for the Edge & Christian podcast show. https://twitter.com/Christian4Peeps/...46931981946882
• Bayley was announced to be competing at this year's Nintendo World Championships event next month. http://www.wwe.com/article/bayley-ni...pionships-2017
• 2K Games recently revealed all the DLC pricing for WWE 2k18. https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-dlc-revealed
• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho included a tribute to Bobby Heenan. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/BobbyHeenanTribute

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by The Art of the Clothesline:

Originally Posted by Observer Vince McMahon came in with a very distinct vision for No Mercy, that this show and what would happen in the two key matches were not about now, or the day, but about telling the story of getting to WrestleMania, which is all about Lesnar and Reigns being the two superior guys in the company, and nobody else is on their level. Lesnar is being kept super strong so Reigns beating him means the most. Reigns is put over everyone clean so he’s the strongest challenger possible. The idea was Cena would hit Reigns with every big move, over-and-over, and he couldn’t beat him, while Reigns would beat Cena with his usual stand-byes, the Superman punch and spear. Similarly, Lesnar would survive multiple Strowman powerslams, and win clean with one F-5. He also wanted Lesnar vs. Strowman to be kept inside the ring (other than the one spot outside the ring involving the post, but nothing with tables and such), which kind of exposed Strowman, who got over on doing stunts outside the ring. The mentality, whether it’s right or not, was the short-term not so great match (I’m sure he was expecting a far better crowd response for the main event when he had the vision but going in it was going to be a short match with one F-5 as the finish) was the small picture and the big picture was both guys being as strong as possible for Mania.

Originally Posted by Observer Samoa Joe did an interview with Sky Sports today and said he's undergone two operations. He suffered a torn meniscus and had surgery. He said he's actually needed the knee surgery since joining NXT but didn't have time to take time off. He also said he's had nasal surgery since he's broken his nose eight times and was only breathing at 60 percent and feels a lot better.

Link to the interview: http://www.skysports.com/wwe/news/14...ad-to-recovery

Originally Posted by Observer Ethan Page has left EVOLVE. Regarding rumors, given the timing, that he was the person who leaked the wrestlers memo out, we're told that has nothing to do with him and the belief it was leaked by a wrestler who doesn't work for the company. We were told that Page was going to finish up with WWN next week, but after how things went this past week, they decided to end it there. EVOLVE will headline the 10/14 show in Queens, NY at LaBoom with Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee in a last man standing match.

Originally Posted by Observer Fightful.com and Chris Harrington have an article on Samantha Rotunda, who is filing for divorce from Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), and has requested all of his pay records from 201 to the present. WWE agreed to produce his 1099's, booking contracts and some licensing contracts but claimed the cost of compliance with the subpoena would be between $247,500 and $483,000. On 9/22, the lawyers for Samantha Rotunda filed a motion in Superior Court in Stamford, CT saying that the WWE was acting in bad faith and attempting to intimidate the litigant from going through discovery and finding out her husband's true financial picture.

Originally Posted by PWI Our friends at www.Highspots.com sent word that all three nights of the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament promoted by California's Pro Wrestling Guerrilla are now available for pre-order in both DVD and Blu-Ray format at this link.

Link to pre-order: http://www.highspots.com/c/Preorders.html

Originally Posted by PWI Any word on WWN suing Flosports? I saw they made a lot of WWN content free this week, which had to be a way to hurt WWN, right? As of this writing, we have not heard back when we asked if a countersuit had been filed. To me, making that library free has to be a way to drive down its worth for WWN outside of Flosports and flip the bird at WWN. That decision, depending on what an attorney says, could be actionable in civil court. WWN could certainly claim damages, because why would I want to order Dragon Gate Open the Gabe Email Gate if I can stream it for free? WWN has 50 days to respond to the Flosports lawsuit, so we may have some waiting to look forward to. If and when there is a countersuit filed, we will cover the story.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Universal champion Brock Lesnar is currently advertised for the 11/13 WWE Raw TV taping in Atlanta, GA which is the Raw go-home episode for Survivor Series. Lesnar is not currently advertised for the PPV itself.

Originally Posted by PWI The top advertised matches for the annual 12/26 WWE event at Madison Square Garden are Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and WWE Tag Team champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro & Sheamus. Also advertised are John Cena, Samoa Joe, Miz, Alexa Bliss, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, Bayley and more.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, The Young Bucks revealed that they received a cease & desist letter from WWE after staging a Bullet Club "invasion" outside of this week's WWE Raw in Ontario, California. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported WWE claimed in the letter that The Young Bucks were using their intellectual property, mainly the "Too Sweet" hand gesture. WWE claims ownership of the hand gesture due to their purchase of WCW's intellectual property. Via the Young Bucks Merch Twitter account, they are now auctioning off their "Too Sweet" Ring Worn Tights on eBay with 100% of the funds going towards the Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation. "Too Sweet" Ring Worn Tights up for auction NOW! 100% of the funds are going directly to @childrensatl https://t.co/LYhVDXzWjy pic.twitter.com/UVVhmjdCCw — Young Bucks Merch (@YoungBucksMerch) September 28, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Above is a sneak peek at the WWE Network Collection for Asuka that premieres this coming Monday. As noted, the undefeated Empress of Tomorrow will make her RAW brand debut at the October 22nd TLC pay-per-view.

Link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU0ENLV571Y

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Figure Four Films & Paragon Pictures have announced the "Extraordinary Gentleman" documentary on WWE Superstar Jack Gallagher, to premiere on Sunday, November 5th in Manchester, England. Below are full details with an Instagram post from Gallagher, noting that the doc was filmed around the time of WWE's Cruiserweight Classic in 2016.

Announcement by Gallagher: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZl3sJYlpmA/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Daniel Bryan continued to fan the flames of speculation for his in-ring return during his and Brie Bella's latest Q&A session on Instagram (h/t Reddit). Bryan's hair is beginning to reach the length it was during the latter part of his WWE career, but it's not simply a fashion statement. Bryan said he hopes it would lead to Lucha Libre matches in Mexico. In the video, Bryan commented that his hair looked weird and Bella pressed him to reveal why he's growing it out. Bryan was coy at first, but then he revealed his plan. "We don't need to talk about why I'm growing my hair out," Bryan said. "It may or may not be because I want to do apuestas matches in Arena Mexico. It may or may not be that." "That's what he wants and that's what he keeps telling me," Bella chimed in. In Mexican wrestling luchas de apuestas, which translates to "matches with wagers," are a commonality where wrestlers in heated rivalries would put their masks on the line in a mask vs. mask match to put an end to the feud. Also common are mask vs. hair matches and hair vs. hair matches, both of which would suit Bryan just fine. "Imagine a hair vs. mask match vs. Atlantis, or a hair vs. hair vs. Rush," Bryan said.

Link to the Q&a session: https://streamable.com/fyonh

Originally Posted by WrestleInc We noted earlier how The Young Bucks revealed that they received a cease & desist letter from WWE after staging a Bullet Club "invasion" outside of this week's WWE RAW in Ontario, California. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports WWE claimed in the letter that The Young Bucks were using their intellectual property, mainly the "Too Sweet" hand gesture. WWE claims ownership of the hand gesture due to their purchase of WCW's intellectual property. The Bucks have removed all references to "too sweet" from t-shirts for sale on their YoungBucksMerch.com website and on their ProWrestlingTees.com store. The Bullet Club appeared outside of the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario after doing a signing at a Hot Topic store in the area earlier that day. The "invasion" was filmed for their "Being The Elite" series on YouTube as a continuation of recent storylines they had been doing on the show. The storyline, which essentially turned into reality, was brought on by two things - BC member Cody Rhodes no longer being able to use the Rhodes name since WWE claims it as their property, and The Bucks receiving a cease & desist letter from the owners of Comedy Central's Rick & Morty Show after they produced a Rick & Morty parody t-shirt.

Link with more details: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...e-young-bucks/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore is reportedly looking into starting a rap career. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that he would not be able to use that name outside of WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Billy Corgan will be taking over ownership of the NWA on 10/1. All of the NWA affiliate promoters won’t be able to use the name unless authorized by Corgan, and his ideas aren’t to use the name for indie promoters to use, although David Marquez’s group, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, will probably use the name. They did an angle on Marquez’s show where Tim Storm, who was the NWA champion, was confronted by Nick Aldis, which makes Aldis favored to get the title since Storm is from the old regime. Regarding the NWA on Demand streaming service and the Paul Boesch Houston wrestling library, that service will be discontinued next week. The site was run by Bruce Tharpe and he has to shut it down by 10/1. As part of the NWA sale purchase, Corgan owns the licensing agreement to market the Houston library and he would be in control of how to use it in the future. Valerie Boesch still owns the actual library. The reason the service was set up was because Tharpe had tried to sell the library to WWE, but the offer was so low that they felt more people could see it since WWE likely wouldn’t release most of it, and they could make more money on it from doing their own streaming service. But the number of subscribers to the service wasn’t significant

Originally Posted by Observer It’s not a definite thing, as the decision will be made over the next few weeks, but Cody vs. Dalton Castle for the title has a good shot at being the Final Battle main event. They did the injury angle in Europe for Castle and there have been hints for it so at some point soon Castle will be returning and will be doing a match or more likely a program with Cody

Originally Posted by Observer U.K. wrestler Johnny Moss was hired as a new coach at the Performance Center. He’ll be starting in about two weeks. Moss, 37, will both train wrestlers as well as work backstage on the touring shows. He had a hand in training Balor years ago. He has a U.K. farewell match on 10/14 in Whitehaven against Joe Coffey, and will be turning over his School of Hard Knocks and Hammerlocks to Josh Terry

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to the Observer, WWE management is considering the idea of former women's wrestler Kaitlyn making a return to the WWE within the near future.
• Enzo Amore is reported to be considering starting a rap career soon although Observer's Dave Meltzer stated Enzo can't use his WWE name for it.
• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Jack Swagger talking about why Ceasro should be a world champ, indies career, and almost considered a career in MMA. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...rite-wrestler/
• Pete Dunne and Will Will Ospreay were recently involved in an incident with fans at an event in Liverpool. Match between the two was delayed a bit when both started yelling at several fans for using homophobic slurs during their match. https://twitter.com/heelalexthomas/s...14546878435333
• Researchers recently identified a potential biomaker that could lead to CTE diagnosis being possible while someone is alive. Wrestling and football are among the biggest risks for CTE and both WWE and NFL have also been among the most vocal opponents about its severity. http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/health...ive/index.html
• According to the Observer, Mexican promotion AAA currently has no plans to use Sexy Star any time soon due to the incident and backlash involving her at TripleMania XXV.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Charly Caruso gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Monday Night Raw will be without its regular play-by-play voice on next week's episode. WWE.com announced in an article today that Michael Cole would be missing Raw on Monday to attend his son's wedding. Tom Phillips will fill in for Cole on play-by-play alongside Corey Graves and Booker T, which means that Phillips and Graves will be on commentary for both Raw and SmackDown next week. The article notes that it's only the second time in Cole's 20 years with WWE that he has missed a week of television.

Originally Posted by Observer For this coming weekend's house shows, Brock Lesnar is working the Saturday night show in Winnipeg, but he's not scheduled for Raw on Monday. This is Lesnar's last date with the company for a while. John Cena is off the house shows this weekend and will be off for several more weeks. Randy Orton is not working any of the SmackDown house shows this weekend but he is scheduled for Denver on Tuesday.

Originally Posted by Observer In the if you thought this was going to end quietly department, The Young Bucks have now come out with a Cease & Desist T-shirt. They are also auctioning off "Too Sweet" wrestling tights that were used in episode 47 of Being the Elite, with 100% of the sale price going to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, which they visited a few weeks ago when doing the TV tapings at Center Stage. The auction, which was last up to $1,775, is up on Ebay. Because of legal threats by WWE, they have decided not to wear the tights any longer.

Originally Posted by Observer Linda McMahon encouraged small businesses to be creative and innovative and that if they were, they could survive against the monster businesses. The irony of this coming out today is rich.

Link to Linda's statement: https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/n...iness-can.html

Originally Posted by Observer Judge Vanessa Bryant made a ruling earlier today regarding three different CTE lawsuits against WWE and Vince McMahon, saying the opposition lawyers have 35 days to amend their complaints and that she is requiring the opposing attorneys to submit affidavits from each plaintiff regarding the claims, under penalty of perjury. She said failure to comply will mean in 35 days she will dismiss all three suits.

More details via PWInsider: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-else.html?p=1

Originally Posted by Observer Kurt Angle did an interview with Fox Sports saying that he is being drug tested while in WWE, but he has not yet been asked to take a physical. He still believes he will be wrestling at some point.

Link to the interview: https://www.foxsports.com.au/wwe/wwe...a5978b22774afc

Originally Posted by Observer Rob Straus, who wrestled as Robbie E, has gotten his release from Impact Wrestling. He hasn't been used in a while and really the only thing he did of note lately with the company was represent TNA in a NOAH tag team tournament with Bram as his partner.

ROH, which has sold out its 10/12 show in Buffalo (just over 900 seats), is opening up 100 standing room tickets. Besides ROH regulars, also on the show are Kenny Omega, Yoshi-Hashi, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kushida and Hiromu Takahashi.

Originally Posted by PWI The 9/28 edition of Impact did 264,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 277,000 overnight viewers

Originally Posted by PWI While Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida has been the home for TNA/GFW/Impact Wrestling for much of its existence over the last 15 years, sources have indicated that while they may return there at some point, the company is focused on running other markets when they tape television. According to a well placed source, New York City, Toronto and Chicago are being eyed for future TV taping locations for 2018. At one point, Chicago was planned for a live event before the end of 2017 but the company decided to hold off on those plans. John Gaburick has been taking the lead in recent creative meetings and conference calls with talent. Ed Nordholm has had a much less reduced role in the day to day running of the company, PWInsider.com has been told as another Anthem executive has been far more involved overseeing things. Nordholm is still involved in the legal affairs of the company and the Global Wrestling Network. There will be a big push for Alberto el Patron when he returns. The 12/9 WrestlePro event in Rahway, NJ will feature a lot of material being filmed for Impact, so expect a lot of talents on that show. Eli Drake and Alberto el Patron have already been announced. Sienna will also be on that event.

More Impact details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-news.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI Where did Nigel McGuinness disappear to this week? He wasn't on No Mercy or 205 Live. In asking around, no one seemed to know except for one person who believed he had off for a personal commitment. It was weird timing, since the shows were in California, where McGuinness resides. If he's back on TV next week, it's a non-story. If he isnt, it's something we have to dig deeper into.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Originally Posted by PWI PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that a decision was made to hold off on the WCW Thunder series being added to the WWE Network. We were not able to 100% confirm why but it is likely because of the ongoing legal issues with Buff Bagwell and Scott Levy suing the company regarding the company not paying royalties on WWE Network material for content that talents would receive royalties for if it was released via physical media, such as DVDs. I speculated on this in an article earlier this week and this morning, confirmed the company specifically made a decision to not release Thunder (which is 100% ready to go, we are told) and instead release World Class Championship Wrestling episodes instead. WCCW was already slated to be the October "classic content" and we are told that the Network will be promoting the WCCW drop with an "Everything Bigger in Texas" theme. Sunday Night Heat, which was slated to be added before the end of the year, is also now on the backburner, we are told.

Originally Posted by PWI Also coming in October is a Hell in a Cell WWE Network Collection and new "Classic Content". It's interesting to note that the original preview listed a collection "The Corporate Stooges: Brisco and Patterson" but now that is nowhere to be found.

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to the Observer, the ban on wrestling events in Mexico City due to the aftermath of the recent earthquake there is expected to be lifted this Tuesday. CMLL has been unable to run any events in the city due to public safety reasons since September 19th.
• Website Joe.co.uk had a recent interview with Sami Zayn talking about traveling on the road, long term risks with high flying wrestling, and the status of El Generico. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...gh-risk-moves/
• Highlights from Randy Orton's appearance on the recent episode of Edge & Christian's podcast show: https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...n_ecs_podcast/
• According to fan reports, Kyle O'Reilly was involved in an incident with a fan which resulted in the fan getting kicked in the face and thrown out of the ring. It happened during a NXT house show in Tampa Bay. https://twitter.com/PrestigiousGfx/s...24879421931520 , https://twitter.com/AnnetteReid24/st...098728961?s=09

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Countdown till the Doom of RAW's Women's Division:

Originally Posted by Observer Even though the football competition was down, Raw fell five percent from the prior week last night, to the lowest rating the show has done since June 12th, during the NBA finals. The episode did 2.77 million viewers, the sixth lowest watched show of 2017 ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.95 million viewers 9 p m. 2.76 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.62 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer EVOLVE released a video teasing that their next two shows would be the end, with it saying that “everything evolves to dust.” Various images of destruction were mixed in with the video and Matt Riddle and Keith Lee’s faces were crossed out on today’s WWN Alerts, likely meaning that it’s leading to an angle.

PROGRESS Wrestling revealed that all three days of next year’s Super Strong Style 16 tournament will be taking place at Alexandra Palace, which was the venue that hosted their biggest show of the year this year. SSS16 will take place on May 5-7 in 2018. Wolfgang will make his PROGRESS in-ring debut in an Atlas title match against WALTER on October 29th. Revolution Pro Wrestling announced Tetsuya Naito vs. Marty Scurll for their November 9th Global Wars UK show at York Hall in London. Their show in Walthamstow the next day will have Toru Yano vs. Zack Gibson.

PROGRESS announcement: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/...60495397089281 , Wolgang debut: https://twitter.com/ThisIs_Progress/...10539588456448

Originally Posted by Observer Confirming what had been expected, WWE officially announced today that Shayna Baszler has signed with the company. The news was revealed in an article on WWE.com, with it noting that Baszler has begun training at the Performance Center. Baszler, a 37-year-old former UFC fighter, made her WWE debut in the Mae Young Classic after starting a career in pro wrestling in 2015. “I’m looking forward to getting out there and twisting limbs off and breaking bodies,” Baszler said in an interview with WWE.com. “I can't wait.”

Originally Posted by Observer The pro wrestling world lost one of its most treasured voices this morning. Lance Russell passed away at 91 years old after complications from a fall. He was hospitalized after breaking his hip in a fall on Friday, which was the second time he had fallen last week. Russell's daughter also passed away on Friday after battling cancer. We all send our thoughts to the Russell family during this difficult time. Aside from being the host and voice of Memphis wrestling, Russell was considered one of the nicest people to ever be part of the pro wrestling business. He was also a television program director, putting wrestling in its Saturday morning time slot in Memphis where it had tremendous success. Russell worked for WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling towards the end of his career as well. Jerry Lawler first announced Russell's passing on Twitter and the Russell family then confirmed the news. They thanked everyone for their thoughts and prayers and wrote that Russell was surrounded by family when he passed.

Originally Posted by Observer Kenny Omega's first stateside defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship will be available to watch live on iPPV. Ring of Honor announced today that they would be broadcasting Global Wars: Chicago on ROHWrestling.com for $19.99. That show will take place on October 15th, with Omega putting his US title on the line against YOSHI-HASHI as the most heavily promoted match. The main event of the Chicago show will be the Bullet Club team of Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks & Hangman Page facing Motor City Machine Guns, Jonathan Gresham & Jay White. Marty Scurll vs. Hiromu Takahashi is advertised as well.

Originally Posted by Observer The New York Daily News reported today that Shane McMahon had filed a lawsuit last year that accused the owner of a company based in growing marijuana of duping him out of $500,000. The gist of the story the way it was reported was that the son of Linda McMahon, the head of the Small Business Administration, had put up $500,000 for a large stake in EnviroGrow, which was a company developed to sell prefabricated modules for growing marijuana in states where pot is legal for medicinal and recreational use ... McMahon's lawsuit accused Palmieri of misleading him about the state of the company. The lawsuit said Palmieri told McMahon that the modules were the state-of-the-art in growing marijuana. McMahon invested in the company and went to Fort Collins, Colorado, to their manufacturing plant and according to the lawsuit, found it virtually nonexistent, and demanded a return of his investment money, and Palmieri refused.

Link to the report: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.3535458

Originally Posted by Observer PWInsider reported that Bradley Cooper has been offered the role of Vince McMahon in “Pandemonium,” which is the biopic on Vince’s life that is in development. The offer was apparently made weeks ago and it isn’t known if Cooper was open to the idea.

Link to the report: https://pwinsider.com/article/112622...iopic.html?p=1

Originally Posted by Observer Charlotte Flair told ESPN that she wants to face Ronda Rousey in the main event of WrestleMania next year. “I hope that's the main event of WrestleMania," Charlotte said. "That's my dream. I hope we can make it happen. She really opened the doors for a lot of women. Having that opportunity would be huge. I don't know what her goals are, but it's just cool that she wants to be a part of our world."

Link to the interview: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/2...a-ronda-rousey

Originally Posted by Observer DualShockers interviewed Breezango about how their team came together, their future in the SmackDown tag team division, and WWE 2K18. When asked about the team’s beginnings, Tyler Breeze said: “ Yeah, it had been brought up a couple times and it was one of those things where he was doing nothing; I was doing nothing; we were just tossed together to see what happens. I don’t even know if they were banking on us clicking the way we did. Especially stumbling upon something like Fashion Files that took off and people really enjoy it. It was, kind of, a lot of luck and one of those things you try real hard at.”

Link to the interview: https://www.dualshockers.com/wwe-2k1...iew-breezango/

Originally Posted by Observer The Young Bucks’ “Cease and Desist” shirt, which played off of the cease and desist letter that WWE sent them, is already the top selling shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees for the month of September.

Originally Posted by Observer Following the departure of some of WhatCulture's key staff members, What Culture Pro Wrestling will also be undergoing some changes before the end of the year. The promotion announced today that they would be rebranding as Defiant Wrestling in December. The first show under the new name will be a live iPPV called "WeAreDefiant" on December 4th at the O2 Academy in Newcastle, which will air on their new Access Defiant on-demand service and will be available on the FITE app. Stu Bennett, who was formerly known as Wade Barrett in WWE, was revealed to be the promotion's new on-screen general manager after former authority figure Adam Blampied was among those to leave WhatCulture earlier this month. Bennett will open their Refuse to Lose iPPV broadcast on October 2nd, which will be the last show branded as a WCPW event.

More details: http://www.f4wonline.com/indies/wcpw...-new-gm-243751

Originally Posted by Observer After 25 years between matches in the United States prior to challenging Cody Rhodes for the Ring of Honor World Championship at Death Before Dishonor earlier this month, it won't be quite that long until Minoru Suzuki's next trip back to the US. ROH announced that Suzuki would be on all four stops of their Global Wars tour next month. His matches will be: October 12th in Buffalo, New York teaming with Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. War Machine & Mark Briscoe. October 13th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in a singles match against Silas Young, which comes off an angle that was taped on the post-PPV television tapings in Las Vegas. October 14th in Columbus, Ohio, teaming with Archer & Smith Jr. vs. Toru Yano, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI in a Suzuki-gun vs. Chaos match. October 15th in Chicago teaming with Archer & Smith Jr. vs. Jay Lethal, Kenny King & Mark Briscoe. In addition to that, ROH revealed that KUSHIDA would be challenging for Cody's title at the Global Wars stop in Columbus and that Kenny Omega would be teaming with The Young Bucks in a six-man tag against The Kingdom in Buffalo.

Originally Posted by PWI Some updates on the lawsuit Scott "Raven" Levy and Marcus "Buff" Bagwell in regard to their allegations that WWE owes them royalties from usage of material featuring their work in matches and segments from WCW and WWE on the WWE Network, allegedly breaching their contracts by failing to pay direct sales royalties as well as WWE allegedly not paying within a 90 day window following the end of each financial quarter. On 9/29 attorneys representing Bagwell and Levy filed a notice with court that the pair are withdrawing certain claims that they alleged in the most recent version of their lawsuit. After information was exchanged between the parties, Bagwell and Levy stated that they would not be pursuing claims as a class action on "behalf of individuals who are parties to the following contracts and are part of the following alleged subclasses in this matter: (1) Titan Sports, Inc. d/b/a World Wrestling Federation Booking Contract fromthe signing period of January 1, 1993 until December 31, 1993; and (2) WCW, Inc. Booking Contract from the signing period of March 24, 2001 until January 1, 2004."

A couple more details: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...t-wwe.html?p=1

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As seen on last night's episode of WWE Monday Night RAW, Bray Wyatt teased finally introducing Sister Abigail, who was believed to be dead in storyline. Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that WWE will NOT be introducing a female character, but rather Bray Wyatt will wrestle at TLC as Sister Abigail. Wyatt will reportedly wear a different outfit, similar to Balor having a different look for The Demon gimmick.

Link to article: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/sis...ut-bray-wyatt/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE is emailing some former Network subscribers a promotion where they would get the Network free for three months, which would allow them to watch the remaining WWE pay-per-views for 2017 at no cost. This includes Sunday's Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, WWE TLC on October 22nd, WWE Survivor Series on November 19th, and WWE Clash of Champions on December 17th.

Current Network numbers must be well below what the WWE wants if they are giving away the rest of the year for free.

Today, I woke up to no less than 150 tweets asking me if I'm Sister Abigail.

RUN @WWEBrayWyatt #RAW

— Mika Rotunda (@MikaRotunda) October 3, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• Mickie James was announced to be getting inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame later this month. In terms of ancestry, she is part Powhatan. https://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/news
• UK's Metro held a recent interview with Bayley talking about her shoulder injury, if she's ambitious, and possible heel turn in the future. http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/03/wwe-st...offee-6974136/
• AV Club had a recent article trashing the WWE for rewriting Ultimate Warrior's hateful past and expanding the Warrior brand into more of their charitable works. https://www.avclub.com/on-raw-wwe-co...ocialMarketing
• Will Ospreay‏ was recently hit with a cease & desist order from the WWE regarding two of his shirts being sold. https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/stat...27586233618433
• According to the Observer, former WWE announcer Kyle Edwards (Arda Ocal) was at the site of last weekend's Las Vegas shooting but was unharmed during the incident.
• Also according to the Observer, both Dean Ambrose and Renee Young were in the city for the weekend but left prior to the shootings taking place.
• According to PWInsider, the site's Dave Scherer was also in the city at the time of the shooting but in a different location and unharmed from the night's events. He currently lives in the city.

[Sepholio]

Wait.....They are making Bray trans? Really confused about that whole angle r/n.

[#1-norm-fan]

Trans Bray Wyatt, you say? Hmm.

WWE so topical.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Smackdown Gif:

Originally Posted by PWI The 10/3 Hell In A Cell go home edition of Smackdown Live did 2,323,000 overnight viewers, down significantly from last week's 2,542,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer Shelton Benjamin's first match at a WWE pay-per-view since 2010 will be on the Hell in a Cell pre-show. It was announced on last night's go-home edition of SmackDown that Benjamin & Chad Gable would be facing The Hype Bros on Sunday. The match was set up in a SmackDown fallout video last week when an interview with Benjamin and Gable was interrupted by Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder arguing about losing to The Usos. Benjamin & Gable previously defeated The Hype Bros on an episode of SmackDown last month, with Ryder refusing to shake hands with the winners after the match. Though it had been advertised that Breezango's Fashion Files would be coming back on SmackDown last night, it will instead return on Sunday with a new segment airing during Hell in a Cell. There was also another stipulation added to Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens at the PPV, with it now being a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match. The Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan will host Hell in a Cell on Sunday. Here's the updated lineup for the show: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens in a falls count anywhere Hell in a Cell match WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defending against Shinsuke Nakamura SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day defending against The Usos in a Hell in a Cell match SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya defending against Charlotte Flair United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Baron Corbin Randy Orton vs. Rusev Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable vs. The Hype Bros (kickoff show)

Originally Posted by Observer NXT is taping its next set of television episodes at Full Sail University tonight. The shows will feature the final build to TakeOver: Houston. With Triple H in India to promote WWE’s December tour of the country, he’s missing the tapings for the first time ever. Road Dogg tweeted that he and Shawn Michaels are two of the people holding down the fort while Triple H is away.

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/WWERoadDogg/stat...08086912000001

Originally Posted by PWI Jeff Hardy underwent a successful surgery on his torn rotator cuff yesterday. Hardy is expected to be out 6-9 months from action.

Originally Posted by Observer Dave Meltzer tweeted that AJ Styles is being saved for dark matches after SmackDown so that the crowd doesn’t leave before 205 Live ends. The post-show dark match last night was Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura & Randy Orton vs. Baron Corbin, Jinder Mahal & Rusev.

Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/davemeltzerWON/s...96533427638272

Originally Posted by PWI During tonight's WWE NXT TV taping, it was announced the NXT Takeover: Houston event next month would be headlined by Wargames. Yes, as in Wargames: The Match Beyond, the bout created by Dusty Rhodes during the summer of 1987. The bout, a two-ring steel cage match with a roof over the cage, became one of the most popular signature matches for Jim Crockett Promotions. The match was held regularly in the late 80s and early 1990s for JCP's successor World Championship Wrestling before settling into an annual attraction that anchored the WCW Fall Brawl PPV. The bout was last held in September 2000 by WCW, but the concept was used by a number of independent promotions over the years. WWE had toyed with bringing the match to the main roster a decade ago, but instead created the original Elimination Chamber ... The Wargames match at Takeover will feature Sanity (Eric Young & Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong.

Originally Posted by PWI The scheduled book The Book of Booty: Shake It. Love It. Never Be It.: From WWE's The New Day, which was slated to be released on 10/31 has been delayed to a March 2018 release. PWInsider.com has been told the release was done, in part, to time it closer to Wrestlemania 34.

Originally Posted by PWI On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King,’ co-hosts Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore pay their respects and remember Memphis wrestling legendary announcer, Lance Russell, who passed away Tuesday morning. Russell passed way at the age of 91, and if it wasn’t for a phone call to Lawler, The King’s career would have never happened. Lawler and Moore share classic Russell audio clips from Memphis wrestling, and also share some stories. Below are some highlights: Lawler on Russell’s effect on his career and life: "You know, a lot of times when a loved one or a great, close friend passes away, you are left with the feeling that I never really got to say goodbye or I never really got to tell the person how I felt about them. But I’m happy in the fact that over the years, I did have several opportunities to tell Lance how much I thought I thought of him, how much I loved him, how important he was to me. Without Lance, there would be no me. And I knew that, and I had the opportunity to say that to Lance Russell. I loved Lance Russell. There’ll never be another person like him.” Should Lance Russell be in the WWE Hall of Fame? "I think he’s certainly deserving. Even though he didn’t ever work for the WWE, hey, WWE is putting a lot of people in the Hall of Fame that didn’t necessarily work for them. Which I think is a great thing. Even though it’s called the WWE Hall of Fame, they are opening their arms a little further; it’s more of a wrestling hall of fame. At least in my eyes, he’s the greatest wrestling commentator ever."

Originally Posted by PWI Some WWNLive updates: There has been no movement in the lawsuit FloSports has brought against WWN Inc. as of this writing. Court records do not indicate WWN has even been officially served. WWN has stated they will be counter-suing, but obviously cannot start that process until they are actually served. The October EVOLVE events will stream at WWNLive.com. EVOLVE is running 10/14 in Queens, NY and 10/15 in East Haddam, CT. There will also be ACW and SHINE events streamed on that platform this month. There is currently no Style Battle event scheduled. That promotion was launched as a special monthly event for the Flosports service. The plan was to hold the final tournament's "debut season" for the brand over Wrestlemania weekend in New Orleans, so they have tons of time to run the 8th event to cement the last finalist. WWN will be taking the month of November off from running live events. The initial plan was to run Houston over Survivor Series weekend, but the planned venue was badly damaged by Hurricane Harvey. There was talk of moving the shows to Florida, but it was decided the company would be better off taking off November and then run in early December. The company will end up taking about 6 weeks off in total from running events. "The End" video that was released yesterday was not teasing the end of the EVOLVE brand.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc John Cena is booked for several WWE live events in December. As of this writing, Cena is scheduled for several RAW live events after Christmas, as well as a SmackDown live event on December 30th. Below are the live events that Cena is currently scheduled for: * Tue. Dec 26: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (RAW) * Wed. Dec 27: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (RAW) * Fri. Dec 29: Times Union Center, Albany, NY (RAW) * Sat. Dec 30: Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL (SmackDown) As noted, Cena was advertised for The Survivor Series in November. WWE has since removed Cena from advertising for the show, so it appears as if Cena will not be returning to WWE until the end of the year.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Everything seemed to be relatively normal in WWE, then one day Austin Aries showed up with a banana in his pocket. It became a signature feature for Aries, and he never offered an explanation for the banana until now. In the latest episode of The Tomorrow Show, Aries said it all started during the 2016 WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony. "I'm just going to say this about the banana. The Hall Of Fame is long, okay? And I saw lots of people dressed to impress that night. Lots of nice suits. Lots of nice dresses. Let me tell you something, about three and a half hours in, I guarantee about 40 percent of that audience wished they had a banana in their pocket instead of a pocket square, because I got famished," Aries explained. "I was running low on some energy, and that pocket square wouldn't do me any good. But I got a nice little shot of some natural sugars and potassium, and then I just used my sleeve to wipe my mouth off. And I didn't need the pocket square. So sometimes the thing comes in handy in a pinch. You never know."

Link with more highlights: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...dea-came-from/


Some other sheet news includes:

• During a recent interview with TMZ, John Cena stated he has no desire to ever retire from the WWE since he considers the company as a family to him. http://www.tmz.com/2017/10/04/john-c...re-wwe-family/
• Eddie Kingston announced on Twitter he has recently left Impact Wrestling.
• UK's Daily Mail had a recent interview with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows talking about who they want to join The Club, their goals in the WWE, and their careers in Japan. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...d-to-the-club/
• Gamespot had a recent interview with Bobby Roode talking about being on Smackdown, WWE stars he wants to face in the near future, and Asuka going to RAW. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...her-dominance/

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

• Various News: SmackDown Dark Matches, Angle as Col. Sanders, Ric Flair.
• Daniel Bryan Helping Kane Campaign For Mayor
• WWE News: Matt Hardy Tease, Alicia Fox “Embarrassed” of Career, Baszler

[Maluco]

That hell in a cell card is awful

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Classic WCW Nitro Moment:

Originally Posted by Observer Today is the 20th anniversary of the death of Brian Pillman. I will be doing a podcast with Chris Jericho that drops tomorrow on the Talk is Jericho show covering Pillman. In addition, it was announced today that a biography called Crazy Like a Fox: The Definitive Chronicle of Brian Pillman 20 Years Later" will be released later this month on Amazon. The book covers Pillman's personal and professional life with interviews with members of the Pillman family, myself, Kim Wood (a former coach of the Cincinnati Bengals who was like his father figure), Bruce Hart Raven, Jim Cornette, Mark Madden and Les Thatcher.

Originally Posted by Observer The next WWE media investors call will be Thursday, 10/26 at 11 a.m. with Vince McMahon, Michelle Wilson and George Barrios. The WWE will announce the network subscriber number as of 9/30 at the call.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE bringing back War Games for NXT Takeover next month was reportedly a late decision. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that the original plan for next month's Takeover main event was Drew McIntyre defending his NXT Championship against Adam Cole. Also originally scheduled for the show was SAnitY defending the NXT Tag Team Championship against Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish. The War Games match, which hasn't been used since an episode of WCW Monday Nitro in 2000, will feature NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe) vs. Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish). Also at NXT Takeover, NXT Champion Drew McIntyre will defend his title against Andrade "Cien" Almas in the co-main event. NXT TakeOver: WarGames takes place on November 18th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc According to Deadline, Batista has partnered up with STX Entertainment to star in and produce a new action-comedy franchise. No other details were given on the upcoming project. Batista most recently appeared in Blade Runner 2049, which will be released in the U.S. tomorrow.

Link to the article: http://deadline.com/2017/10/dave-bau...49-1202182825/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Chris Jericho said he's asked all the time what his favorite match is from his career and his pick is against Shawn Michaels at No Mercy in 2008. Including the build-up, the match itself, and the finish, Jericho put it at number one.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ4JbVBFErg/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has a new poll asking fans which Superstar has done the most to grow the Women's Evolution - Charlotte Flair, Sasha Bank, Bayley, Becky Lynch, Emma, RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Asuka, The Bella Twins, SmackDown Women's Champion Natalya or other. As of this writing, 28% voted for Flair while 20% went with Banks, 14% voted for The Bellas, 11% for Bliss, 7% for Asuka and 7% for other. The rest received 4% or less.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The WWE 24 special on Bill Goldberg will premiere on the WWE Network after RAW goes off the air on Monday, November 13th. Below is a preview for the special.

Announcement by WWE: https://twitter.com/wwenetwork/statu...53037235412992 , Link to the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RJofJhxCY4

Originally Posted by Observer Due to the problems with the earthquake, the 9/29 and 10/1 Arena Mexico shows, as well as the 9/30 Arena Coliseo show, were canceled. The Mexico City government gave CMLL permission to start running again regularly on 10/3. The 10/3 return to Arena Mexico also drew poorly, barely 1,000 fans as people just aren’t ready to return to regularly going to wrestling. The feeling is that it’ll be a while that business will remain down due to the problems in the city. Tourists aren’t coming to Mexico right now and those who are coming aren’t going to wrestling, and that’s a lot of their crowd and people aren’t attending any events in the city in large numbers yet.

Originally Posted by Observer There will be casting being done on 10/20 and 10/21 with a TV pilot for what is being called a television show similar to Raw and Smackdown, but it will have an element of Lucha Libre to it. The casting call said that there will be a lot of outside the ring segments so they are looking for experienced actors. From what we understand, the people behind the promotion are Aroluxe, which formerly did the production and also for a time were funding TNA. Aroluxe is the company with Ron & Don Harris & Jason Brown in charge. The mentality behind it is that Lucha Underground was a strong concept but done wrong in the sense it was aimed at the English speaking audience primarily, and that this would be a Lucha Libre product with the attempt to sell it to Spanish language television. The production company is looking for both pro wrestlers and actors who have some pro wrestling experience. The idea is to use experienced wrestlers who are good flyers and workers, and use a few actors to do scenes with them with the idea of replicating the success of Dario Cueto ... They will be filming the pilot in December, probably in Nashville, and hope for a 2018 pickup and to run a promotion from there, which would include house shows. One of the ideas is the feeling was that Lucha Underground wasn’t going to continue so that they could go after all of that talent as the nucleus for a new group, but Lucha Underground isn’t completely dead, even though a large percentage of its talent wants to be released from their contracts since they haven’t gotten paid since last summer. Those with no pro wrestling experience have to have acting experience, be athletic, and willing to train ... The company involved is not named but the hint out was that it claims it has run both television shows and pay-per-view live that have run both nationally and internationally (they were behind TNA shows). The punch line to all this is they are interested in hiring Vince Russo as a television writer, for a Lucha Libre show aimed at the Hispanic audience.

Originally Posted by Observer Right now it looks like Lucha Underground may continue, but with much a much smaller budget. Eric Van Wagenen was on Afterbuzz TV and asked about the future of the show. He said he didn’t have any hard news but said it was a better than even chance there would be a season four and said that he expects a decision to come from El Rey sometime over the next month. Wagenen said that El Rey has a certain time frame to announce the renewal before they would lose the rights to the show and if that was the case, then they would shop it elsewhere. Making a new deal won’t be easy, as noted by the fact that since season one, they haven’t made a Spanish language deal and season one was viewed far more by the Spanish station (Unimas) than El Rey. His explanation is that MGM and El Rey have different opinions on the costs of the show. The reality of this is that El Rey wants the show, and they will pay something for the show, but nowhere near enough to actually fund the show. Up to this point, nobody has been willing to come through and fund the next season. The people who funded seasons two and three aren’t willing to put more money into it. He didn’t say this, but word of talks broke about two weeks ago that they have some funding to do a fourth season, but it is nowhere near the money they had in the past, which means lots of budget cutting will have to be done. Regarding the talent appearing on Impact, he said that was Dorian Roldan’s call (not mentioning him by name) and said he was at first against it, but is now no longer negative because since they aren’t giving the talent work right now and hope that everyone can get work elsewhere. Obviously that explains their ability to work with Impact in allowing talent to appear

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Meltzer noted that many of the stars that he's spoken to that are under contract with Lucha Underground want their release. Ricochet told Sports Illustrated in July that even though his contract with the company expired, his no-compete doesn't expire until 90 days after the conclusion of the third season. "My contract finished last June," Ricochet told Sports Illustrated. "I'm on the no-compete for the rest of Lucha Underground's season three, then I have 90 days after that. I can be on any TV as long as it's not American TV. I can work indies, I can do iPPVs, most anything, really, just not on American TV. I'm not sure about a Season 4 with Lucha Underground. I'm busy until October, and I might take November off to heal up again. I really want to work on my diet and get myself in the best shape possible."

Link to the interview from July: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/201...ovidence-diary

Originally Posted by Observer Even though The WWE did not contact or threaten them on it, The Young Bucks are going to dump the “suck it” stuff from their marketing. The cease & desist letter from WWE led to, just a few days later, them coming up with a “Cease and Desist” T-shirt showing them doing the hand gesture with censored being written over it, and then on the bottom saying “TOO SW#%T!” When they put the shirts for sale on 9/29, it led to the most first day sales of any t-shirt they had ever released and even though it was released with only two days left in September, it was the most purchased T-shirt on Pro Wrestling Tees for the month

Originally Posted by Observer The plan now is for Impact to tape from major markets with multiple shows in a row, such as New York, Toronto or Chicago, although many are skeptical of them taping outside of Canada. They are getting tax breaks for filming in Canada and the expense of New York or Chicago would be high for a company that right now isn’t in the position where they can make any money and is trying to cut budgets as much as they can. The company got itself into major financial trouble the last time it started taping on the road, but they were going into large arenas, which I don’t see them doing this time, and not doing multiple nights in the same building. Still, the product is cold and selling tickets won’t be easy

Originally Posted by Observer While it hasn’t been pushed hard on television, there are plans, or at least were as of two weeks ago, to induct a new Hall of Famer at Bound for Glory. Earlier this year the word got out that it would be James Storm, and given that Storm has been with the company from the start and is still there, and his played every role and done everything imaginable, he’d have been a good choice. The word going around is that it would be someone else

Originally Posted by Observer PWInsider reported that Cena will not be getting the part of Shazam! in the upcoming Shazam! movie. They reported Cena met with director David F. Sandberg last month, but is no longer in the running for the part. Dwayne Johnson has been talked about as playing Black Adam, but they reported he would not be in the first Shazam! film

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding the Dr. Christopher Amann lawsuit with C.M. Punk & Colt Cabana, Cabana was on Live Audio Wrestling and said, “The update is that it’s still going on, it’s costing me a lot of money, and that’s the extent that my lawyers will allow me to talk. So nothing breaking here. But just do know that it’s always on my mind. It’s always a very sad thing.” “It’s always in the back of my mind now, which is a little upsetting. But that’s the way of the world, I guess.

Some other sheet news include:

• Recent episode of Ring Rust Radio podcast show had Ted Dibiase as the guest talking about what he wants people to remember the most about his career, origins of the Million Dollar Man gimmick, and Bobby Heenan. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...on-dollar-man/
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 20th anniversary of Kane's debut in the WWF. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLT_1nySIsw
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Shinsuke Nakamura currently has the highest win percentage all-time in WWE history at 92.6% with El Torito in 2nd place at 91.8%. This only counts main roster matches and not anything from NXT or other development brands. http://www.profightdb.com/wrestlers-...rcentages.html
• Sami Callihan is currently rumored to be leaving Lucha Underground for Impact Wrestling within the near future, according to the Wrestling Observer.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE News: HHH Misses NXT, WWE/India, CFO$ Interview, Total Bellas
• John Cena No Longer Advertised for Survivor Series, Brock Lesnar Now Is
• Spoilers: NXT TV Taping Results – Oct. 4, 2017 – Four Weeks of Shows

[Mr. Nerfect]

Put the WWE Title on Nakamura and emphasize that fact. Point out that he is the best win-loss ratio in WWE history and keep him fucking strong.

[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Yummy brand Eli Drake Cakes now available at your local TNA/Impact/GFW/Impact store:

Originally Posted by Observer The Talking Audiobooks Podcast is teaming up with Novel Audio to give away 10 copies of the audiobook version of 'Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling' by Jim Ross and Paul O'Brien. Click here to enter. The deadline is 12:00 PM on November 6. Worldwide entries accepted.

Link for those interested: http://talkingaudiobooks.podbean.com...g-by-jim-ross/

Originally Posted by PWI WWE is working on a new series for the WWE Network titled 365, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The concept of the series is to review a year in the career of a WWE talent in a documentary style presentation. We are told the first episode of the series will focus on Kevin Owens, reviewing his career from 2016 to present. The first episode is slated to debut following the 2017 Survivor Series PPV on Sunday 11/19.

Originally Posted by Observer Three matches have been added to the 10/15 ROH iPPV from Chicago: Flip Gordon vs Will Ospreay, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Kushida & Cheeseburger and Toru Yano vs. Colt Cabana. ROH has also announced that Darryl Takahashi will be at every Global Wars show next week. Also new announced for 10/14 in Columbus, OH is Daniels & Kazarian vs. Jonathan Gresham & Jay White, 10/13 in Pittsburgh with Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Young Bucks vs. Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan for the ROH tag titles, Daniels & Kazarian vs. Trent Baretta & Chucky T, and Punishment Martinez vs. Adam Page vs. Josh Woods vs. Matt Taven vs, Kushida vs. Kenny King with the winner getting a shot at the TV title that night unless King wins the match.

Originally Posted by PWI Friday's "Flashback Friday" features the theme of "Friday the 13th" At 3 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from February 13, 2009 with the following description: "Jeff Hardy makes his return to address his sibling rivalry and quest to reclaim gold. Plus, a Fatal 4-Way Match main event and more!" At 4:30 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from November 13, 2009 which has the following description: "Y2J and The Undertaker meet one-on-one for the first time. Rey Mysterio and Batista sign the contract for their upcoming match." At 6 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from August 13, 2010 which features the following description: "World Heavyweight Champion Kane faces Kofi Kingston. Rey Mysterio battles Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler in the main event." At 7:30 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from September 13, 2013 which has the following description: "Big Show deals with the repercussions of defying Triple H on Raw. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton exchange verbal jabs on The Cutting Edge." At 9 PM Eastern, it will be the live stream debut of Smackdown from June 13, 2014 which has the following description: "WWE COO Triple H promises to update the WWE Universe regarding the WWE Championship Ladder Match at Money in the Bank." At 10:30 PM Eastern, it will be the following episode of " Swerved": "Boogeyman and Big Show experience technical difficulties, Rosa's patience gets tested, and Superstars sit down for a stinky lunch." At 11 PM Eastern, it will be the Beyond the Ring presentation of " Sting: Into the Light". At 12 AM Eastern on Saturday, it will be live stream debut of World-Class Championship Wrestling TV from October 13, 1984 which has the following description: "Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams take on Gino Hernandez and Jake Roberts. Plus, Buck Zumhofe, Tony Torres, and many more in action!"

This is for next week's Flashback Friday episode set.

Originally Posted by PWI Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions have registered to trademark "Impact Grand Champion".

Originally Posted by PWI The 10/5 edition of Impact did 251,000 overnight viewers, from last week's 264,000 overnight viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI With WCW Thunder and Sunday Night Heat being indefinetly held up from being added to the WWE Network, we are told that the company is planning for the reality series era of WWE NXT to follow World Class Championship Wrestling onto the VOD component of the streaming service. Those episodes would feature Daniel Bryan's official debut for the company (which, if you've read his autobiography, he wasn't thrilled about during that time period) as well as the introduction of a lot of talent including Heath Slater, AJ Lee, Titus O'Neil, Kaitlyn, David Otunga, Wade Barrett, a pre-EC3 Derrick Bateman and a pre-Bray Wyatt Husky Harris.

Originally Posted by PWI The NWA social media posted the following teaser of footage of NWA champion Tim Storm in advance of his appearance on this week's Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. As Dave Lagana explained in an interview this past Monday in the Elite section of PWInsider.com, this would be the beginning of the story for the NWA under its new ownership: VIDEO TEASER! See it first on our new IG and YouTube. Instagram - https://t.co/c4S0pV1sci YouTube - https://t.co/f0qSQoXyOC pic.twitter.com/jHVndunpzu — NWA Wrestling (@NWAWrestling) October 6, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Above is the latest WWE Network Pick of the Week with Asuka promoting her new WWE Network Collection. The Empress of Tomorrow says the RAW division is not ready for her and every Superstar in the division needs to watch her Collection to see their future. The undefeated Superstar is set to make her main roster debut at WWE TLC on October 22nd.

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igL191aKwak

Originally Posted by WrestleInc The next top indie star expected to sign with WWE is Fred Yehi, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion and FIP World Heavyweight Champion lost a Cruiserweight Classic qualifying match to TJ Perkins back in 2016.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has already released a new T-shirt called “Thrwish Thyborg” showing a photo of Cesaro from No Mercy with his front teeth jammed up into his gums, with the idea with no teeth he would talk with a lisp and that’s how Swiss Cyborg would sound

Link to the shirt: https://shop.wwe.com/cesaro-thwith-t...rt/7Y1001.html

Originally Posted by Observer There is no doubt Enzo was a key as the 9/26 205 Live show was up to seventh place last week in the most watched shows on the network. Usually 205 Live is around the same level as the NXT show from the prior week (which was 16th) and is always behind WrestleMania, which is beat this week. The top ten shows were: 1. No Mercy; 2. NXT from 9/27; 3. 1997: Dawn of the Attitude Era; 4. Storytime episode three; 5. Storytime episode two; 6. Hell in a Cell 2016; 7. 205 Live; 8. The NXT episode from a few years ago featuring Asuka’s debut; 9. Asuka undefeated streak; 10. WrestleMania

Some other sheet news includes:

• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Bruno Sammartino celebrated his 82nd birthday today.
• In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, today is the 4th anniversary of the Rhodes vs Shield tag match at Battlegrounds 2013. https://twitter.com/ProWrestlingMag/...87739485618177
• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had the Observer's Dave Meltzer as the guest talking about Brian Pillman as part of the 20th anniversary of his passing. https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Pillman-20YearsLater
• WWE and IGN recently partnered together on a Marvel vs Capcom Infinite tournament. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=p3KnFxxW-gU
• For fans of AVGN, the Nerd recently had an episode dedicated to mostly terrible NES and SNES/Gensis era wrestling games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=OOwfl8yY7nc
• Newest survey from the WWE asks fans on their feedback towards certain stars on the roster in terms of category ratings and overall familiarity with them. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-fans.html?p=1
• Website Give Me Sports had a recent interview with Lita discussing a possible tag team title for the women's division, working on the Mae Young Classic, and if she wants to join the Hardys again. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...new-wwe-title/
• During a recent episode of the Dan Lebatard show with Dana White as the guest, White revealed Brock Lesnar's current WWE contract doesn't end after Wrestlemania 34 but instead August 2018.

Some stuff from the TPWW Frontpage:

• Various News: Next WWE Indie Signing, Brian Pillman, Young Bucks / Suck It
• WWE News: Roode Almost Had Different Theme + Natalya / Total Divas
• Impact Results – Oct. 5, 2017 – Impact vs. AAA

[Mr. Nerfect]

God, that Cesaro shirt is awful. "Swiss Cyborg" is a cool nickname though.

[#1-norm-fan]

Not only is that an insanely dumb idea... That is not even close to what "Swiss Cyborg" would sound like with a lisp. Jesus.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just have to say: I really fucking hate Eli Drake. I don't know if another personality has ever rubbed me the wrong way as much as he does. He's the perfect example of how you can have mic skills but absolutely no charisma. His catchphrases are not catchy -- they fucking suck. It's annoying he would lampoon his own and think that it's witty. You came up with them and then though of words that rhyme?

Fucking hell, sorry, I just really hate the guy. Actually, it's probably babyface Miz Host of SmackDown bad. It's that completely phony, club promoter, "I think I'm really cool," being loud means you're funny cunt-up of a fucking personality. I would pay money not to watch him. He is an anti-draw to me.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Who is it here that likes him? Simple Fan? Fuck you, Simple Fan. This is one case where you're not allowed to like what you like. He is measles in human form. Fuck anyone that would allow him to spread. Get your kids vaccinated. Turn off on Eli Drake.

[Simple Fan]

Originally Posted by Noid Who is it here that likes him? Simple Fan? Fuck you, Simple Fan. This is one case where you're not allowed to like what you like. He is measles in human form. Fuck anyone that would allow him to spread. Get your kids vaccinated. Turn off on Eli Drake.

Sorry Noid but he's really my favorite wrestler right now. I mean he's a heel and your not supposed to like him so I guess he's doing something right. Although I believe you are stuck on one promo you heard from the guy when he was on his Dummy button. Has come a ways since then but that was still entertaining stuff. Damn though man, you are really passionate about wrestling and I'd love for you to find something that fits your taste.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Do we have a thread for wrestlers we just really hate irrationally. I want to ramble more about Eli Drake. Just look at him:



He looks like every insecure dude who hits his 30's, starts losing his hair, so hits the gym and takes cocaine to substitute for a personality. Then he comes off as urgent and needy to women and he can't understand why they won't fuck him because he works so hard at the gym and thinking of pick-up lines.

I mean he might genuinely be a sweetheart in real life. Good for him landing a job and whatever. I just fucking hate his guts and I'd cancel any television show he ever appeared on, even if it did have The Rock on it. And I'd burn them in a trash can. Any money he gets paid to be a professional wrestler is money that starving kids in Africa don't see. I want people to remember that when they hear him go "Dummy! Yeah!" five times until it catches on to the mike adamles in Florida that go along to that shit-show that they are supposed to repeat this crap too.

Fuck Eli Drake and fuck everyone that has ever invited him to a party so he thinks he's cool.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Eli Drake is like bad Alex Riley. And I have accepted that Alex Riley was not good. I was wrong about that. But give me A-Ry until I'm neck-deep in the Pacific Ocean's rising levels than five minutes of Eli Drake being the absolutely worst personality ever. I'd rather smear Vegemite on my balls until the yeast starts to burn through my actual testes, leaving me infertile and smelling like a lunchbox than know he is going to be on a show in the same town as me. The knowledge that he is there would ruin my life.

Am I making it clear how much I do not like Eli Drake?

[#1-norm-fan]

Goddamn. Tell us how you really feel, Noid.

[RP]

Noid's girlfriend was obviously fucked by Eli Drake.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by RP Noid's girlfriend was obviously fucked by Eli Drake.

Eli Drake couldn't fuck my girlfriend with Fandango's dick.

[Evil Vito]

Originally Posted by Noid Eli Drake couldn't fuck my girlfriend with Fandango's dick.

What if you had the opportunity to spit roast Becky Lunch with Johnny Curtis and all you had to do was watch a 5 minute Eli Drake match first?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by #BrotherVito DELETED What if you had the opportunity to spit roast Becky Lunch with Johnny Curtis and all you had to do was watch a 5 minute Eli Drake match first?

That says more about the overall attractiveness of Becky Lynch and Fandango than it does about Eli Drake.

[Lock Jaw]

I have literally never heard of Eli Drake before now.

[Droford]

Who was better

Eli Drake
Eli Cottonwood
Eli Blu

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Droford Who was better Eli Drake Eli Cottonwood Eli Blu

Holy shit, what a selection. Has there ever been a good wrestler with the same "Eli?" Might make for an interesting discussion: Worst wrestling name. Like, statistically, which names generate shitty wrestlers and which ones generate good wrestlers. I imagine that "Chris" is probably the best wrestling name.

Eli Cottonwood had the most potential by the way.

[Droford]

Originally Posted by Noid Holy shit, what a selection. Has there ever been a good wrestler with the same "Eli?" Might make for an interesting discussion: Worst wrestling name. Like, statistically, which names generate shitty wrestlers and which ones generate good wrestlers. I imagine that "Chris" is probably the best wrestling name. Eli Cottonwood had the most potential by the way.

Ric/Rick/Ricky
Flair Rude Steamboat Steiner Martel Morton