[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the Wednesday Night Wars:

Originally Posted by PWI According to several sources who took part in today's TNA conference call with President Dixie Carter discussing the company today with TNA staff and wrestlers, there were no real explanations given regarding the current situation with Destination America. I was told that it was intimated that due to the nature of the contract between the two parties, neither TNA nor Destination America can publicly comment on their relationship. Regarding Ring of Honor being added to the Network, the impression given was that TNA, due to their relationship with DA, could not speak on the show until it was announced. I've heard from a few people who didn't buy that explanation and the general belief among those I've spoken to who were on the call is that TNA didn't know about ROH until it was announced. At times, once the call was opened up for wrestlers to voice their opinions, the call did get very heated. I was told that at one point, Carter told the wrestlers it was up to them to show the world why they were the best in the world and that they "controlled their own destiny." This led to some of the issues of the past year, including the move from Spike and the pay issues being brought up. I was told Carter responded as if the pay issues were in the past. I heard differing opinions from talents. One said that he felt better now that had the situation had been addressed as talents were no longer "in the dark" and they hoped everyone would get back to performing and not worrying. The talent referred to the call as a big "family blowout" in that now that everyone said their piece, there was a feeling of communication and now everyone could get back to work. Another called it a "circus call" in that once the floodgates opened for the talent, some of the talents began bringing up personal issues that would have been better dealt with in a one on one forum. Still another told me it was over 90 minutes of nothing of substance truly being addressed while noting the company was adamant they wanted things kept private while asking talents not to speak out and leak things. The Dixie Carter "email" story did not come up during the call, I am told.

The discussions between ROH and Destination America began months ago. ROH also talked with other networks and talked with Spike TV for potential special events. - With Samoa Joe signed to WWE NXT, there's already speculation that WWE will nix his ROH TV appearances now that ROH is airing on cable. The same rule could apply for Rhyno and other talents. Joe is currently scheduled to work the June 20th ROH TV tapings, teaming with AJ Styles to face Kazarian and Daniels. ROH is likely also awaiting confirmation on whether or not they will be able to use Joe on TV, if they haven't found out already.

Originally Posted by PWI Several readers have sent word that TNA talents have started sending out Tweets mentioning Ring of Honor coming to Destination America plugging they are the lead-in for TNA Impact Wrestling. From what I have been told, this is something TNA is doing on their own and not something that Destination America has requested of the company. There is no working relationship between TNA and ROH and this is not something the two companies came up with together. My belief is that it was a request that TNA management made of the wrestlers during today's conference call. It looks to be TNA's way of babyfacing an obviously embarrassing situation.

Here is what we have confirmed about Destination America signing a TV deal with Ring of Honor: *The series on Destination America will be the same series that is owned and distributed by Sinclair Broadcasting. The episodes will debut over the weekend for Sinclair affiliates and then air Wednesday on Destination America. *The relationship between Ring of Honor and Destination America relationship is something that has built over the last several months and I am told is independent of whatever is going on between the Network and TNA currently. *For ROH, and this is just my speculation, it provides them a national outlet to promote their talents, events and PPV shows. While TNA going from Spike to Destination America might have been seen as a step down, for ROH, it's the first time they've had any national TV exposure and this can only be seen as a big boost. I am told that Destination America wants pro wrestling content on their Network and they want to make the cable outlet a "destination" for that.

Speculated Destination America might try to reach out to as many promotions as possible to fill out their wrestling block in the near future. PWI speculated NJPW could even be in the cards if the offer is right.


Some other sheet stuff includes:

• Turns out Univision hasn't picked up a second season of Lucha Underground yet and a possible 2nd season still likely won't happen until early to mid 2016.
• RAW's rating ended up being the second lowest of the year but in the usual range for holiday-based week episodes. No real bad hourly drops but none of the hours were really strong either.
• Recent article from WWE.com involved a roundtable interview with Becky, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte from NXT about their goal to change how women's wrestling is viewed on the main roster. http://www.wwe.com/inside/wwe-divas/...table-27431291