[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by the evolution of Taker in video games:

Originally Posted by Observer According to the WON, there’s a lot of discussion in WWE about Finn Balor and Bayley’s viability when they make it to the main roster. The site reports that several people have been talking about their media appearances where they’ve said they’re happy staying in NXT. In Balor’s case, there’s a lot of talk about how NXT is relying heavily on Balor to have big main event matches, with concern that he’s breaking down his body too much with the brand’s expanding touring schedule. Balor is thirty-four and with more touring expected this year, the worry is that NXT is supposed to get him ready to be able to make it to the main roster, not break him apart before he gets there. As for Bayley, the feeling is that she’ll either be the biggest female star in WWE history or will flounder on the main roster, with no in-between. Some in the company see her as a female John Cena in terms of her ability to do charity work and bring in younger fans, particularly younger female fans. WWE has never had a strong audience among young girls outside of the few periods where they were strong across all demographics. There’s concern that any attempts to contrive situations on the main roster like the young superfan Izzy, which helped promote Bayley in a big way, could lead to a backlash. There’s also talk that Bayley’s current character plays well as a “big sister” type for young fans to idolize, which has an inherent shelf life. If the company waits too long to pull the trigger she could outgrow that image.

Originally Posted by WWE Which NXT Superstar had the best 2015? What was your favorite NXT match of the year? You will be able to make your voice heard on these topics and more, starting tomorrow! WWE COO Triple H announced on Twitter that the first NXT Year-End Awards in WWE history, recognizing the best NXT had to offer in 2015, will be presented on the Jan. 13 edition of NXT on WWE Network. The NXT Universe will be able to cast their votes exclusively on WWE.com, beginning New Year’s Day at 10 a.m. ET in six categories. The awards are: Overall Competitor of the Year Male Competitor of the Year Female Competitor of the Year Tag Team of the Year Match of the Year TakeOver of the Year Polls for the inaugural NXT Year-End Awards open tomorrow, Jan. 1, 2016, at 10 a.m. ET on WWE.com and close on Jan. 6 at 10 a.m. ET. Don’t miss the chance to help your favorite NXT Superstars win these prestigious honors!

Originally Posted by Observer TNA Impact for November averaged 244,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. show and 84,000 viewers for the midnight show. Spike in November last year averaged 960,000 viewers, so it was down 74.6 percent for one show, and down 65.8 percent when you add in this year’s number that combines two airings vs. one airing last year on Spike.

Originally Posted by Observer Hiroshi Tanahashi on his podcast was talking about how New Japan and the Japanese industry’s biggest problem, which is obvious from an outsider perspective, which is the television situation. While cable and satellite exist in Japan, it’s nowhere close to as widespread as in most other countries, cable in particular. So while there are small stations that wrestling is on, and the hardcore fan who has those stations is served, with the exception of New Japan on TV-Asahi for 30 minutes at 2:30 a.m., it’s essentially like Lucha Underground on El Rey. There is no other promotion in Japan that’s even available on TV in as many homes as New Japan is in the U.S. on AXS ... He also noted that the 30 minutes of TV in a bad time slot is a hindrance and with 60 minutes they’d be able to get more exposure, particularly of the mid-card guys and junior heavyweights.

Originally Posted by Observer The U.K. promotion 5 Star Wrestling has a huge series of shows on 1/13 in Newcastle at the Metro Arena (11,000 capacity), 1/14 in Sheffield at the Arena (13,500 capacity) and 1/15 in Liverpool at the Echo Arena (12,000 capacity), using Rey Mysterio, A.J. Styles, Colt Cabana, PJ Black, Johnny Mundo, Carilto, Jay Lethal, Magnus and Rockstar Spud as the top stars. Mysterio vs. Styles for the first time ever in a singles match is scheduled for Sheffield. This will be very interesting because, as noted, no U.K. group, even with imports, has ever been able to draw more than 4,000 fans to a show in decades

Originally Posted by Observer Cena’s regular appearances on the Today Show, including being a guest host on both 12/28 and 12/29, is part of NBC Universal’s attempt to change the image of pro wrestling given they’ve got so much riding on it, since the USA Network, which has long been the most profitable station in the empire, starts this week with five of its 21 weekly prime time hours as WWE programming. So it’s very important to be able to sell those hours to better sponsors than what they have been able to in the past, particularly they need the perception of it being okay to sponsor to offset the audience decline. Cena got good reviews coming off of “Sisters,” where he plays a drug dealer. Regarding Cena, his ability to do comedy is being noticed in Hollywood, along with his look, and he’s probably going to get more offers. As expected since they are loading up on the first Smackdown show on the USA Network on 1/7 (taped 1/5 in Laredo), is that Cena will be on that show.

Originally Posted by Observer It is confirmed that TNA will be doing a live PPV on 1/8 from Bethlehem, PA, just three days after what is the first show on Pop TV being promoted. Apparently due to the cancellation of the New Orleans show several months ago, followed by the cancellation of the India tour, that they needed product for the international special commitments in a hurry, and this was the date they were scheduled for a taped One Night Only show in the U.S. as well. With nothing taped (since a lot of the taped product with the tournament ended up being used to fill up months of Impact programming), they had to do a live show. The problem is that the TV taped on 1/6 and 1/7 will air after the PPV, meaning they either give away title changes ahead of time, avoid using belts on champions for a few days at the tapings, or do a PPV where no belts change hands and no major storylines that have to be followed up on take place

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE has just announced today its first WWE-brand network special for the year, "Road to WrestleMania" show on Saturday, March 12, from the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. Nothing has been announced for the card as of yet, but usually there is some sort of a hook for these shows. Toronto would be the fourth WWE-brand network special thus far, with a North American exclusive PPV show added last year with an Elimination Chamber theme, as well as shows in Tokyo and Madison Square Garden built around Brock Lesnar matches.

Some other sheet news includes:

• Outside of 1 match booked, Kurt Angle will be taking all of 2016 off from wrestling although won't make a decision on retirement until 2017. Wants at least one last appearance in the WWE and a possible retirement match with Daniel Bryan if possible. Think he's locked for the WWE Hall and likely for the 2017 class as the earliest possible.
• Starting early next year, the WWE will change how it handles medical insurance with the biggest being them no longer as the sole provider. Everyone on the roster and those wishing to get hired needs to also have a separate provider by the time the new changes take effect.
• According to the Observer, WWE could start announcing members of the 2017 Hall of Fame class as early as January 11th since ticket sales for the event starts on January 15th.
• Also according to the Observer, Dana Brooke has been dealing with an injury recently with the WWE unwilling to reveal what it is. Could be a concussion based on recent past announcements of the injury type.
• Rey Mysterio rumored to be unofficially staying with AAA once his current deal expires since his new Lucha Underground deal might also be tied to AAA.