[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter For the first time since the Wednesday Night head-to-head battle started, WWE won the night on 11/20 with overall viewership although realistically if someone would be shook up by the results, it should be WWE ... NXT did 916,000 viewers (1.26 viewers per home) and AEW did 893,000 viewers (1.40 viewers per home). Head-to-head was slightly closer at 906,000 for NXT not including the overrun ... 52 percent of the NXT viewership was over the age of 50 as compared to 34 percent for AEW. NXT won the first three quarters overall and five of eight ... In the key 18-49 demo, AEW fell to 0.39, trailing the debates on MSNBC, the NBA on ESPN and lost the second hour to MTV War of the World’s Challenge. NXT did a 0.30 ... In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with Nick Jackson vs. Rey Fenix and did 912,000 viewers and 498,000 in 18-49. NXT opened with a Becky Lynch promo and Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley, doing 1,047,000 viewers and 430,000 in 18-49 ... The second segment saw AEW with Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida do 862,000 viewers, a loss of 50,000, and 472,000 in the key demo, a loss of 26,000. NXT had the end of Lynch vs. Ripley, an interbrand brawl, Ricochet vs. Matt Riddle and another interbrand brawl. It did 1,072,000 viewers for the peak, an increase of 25,000, and 450,000 in the key demo, an increase of 20,000. Even though NXT skews heavily post-50, the gains here were young, but still you had a far stronger star power hour losing in the key demo to Baker vs. Shida. The third segment saw AEW with the Dark Order and beginning of the Battle Royal doing 875,000 viewers, a gain of 13,000, and 497,000 in 18-49, a gain of 25,000 (meaning older losses). NXT did 918,000 for the beginning of Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Revival, a loss of 154,000 viewers. It also did 387,000 in 18-49, a loss of 63,000. The idea of a great match means a great deal to the AEW younger audience, but to the NXT older audience, what also promised to be a great match lost even in the younger demo, but heavily in the older demo. The fourth segment for AEW was the end of the Battle Royal and the beginning of the Chris Jericho interview, which did 973,000 viewers, an increase of 98,000. It did 556,000 in 18-49, an increase of 59,000. NXT had the bulk of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival, which did 851,000 viewers, a drop of 67,000, and 369,000 in 18-49, a drop of 18,000 ... The fifth segment for AEW was the Jericho interview, SCU coming out, the post match brawl and Luchasaurus vs. Peter Avalon, which did 1,004,000 viewers, a gain of 21,000. In 18-49, it did 582,000, a gain of 26,000. For NXT, it was the end of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Revival and beginning of Dakota Kai vs. Kay Lee Ray, which did 828,000 viewers, a drop of 23,000 overall. In 18-49, it fell to 363,000 viewers, drop of 6,000 ... The sixth segment for AEW was Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, which lost 196,000 viewers to 810,000. It also fell to 472,000 in 18-49, a drop of 110,000. For NXT, it was the bulk of Kai vs. Ray and beginning of Viking Raiders vs. Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. This did 876,000 viewers, gaining 48,000, and 391,000 in 18-49, a gain of 28,000. It’s very clear there was both switching off AEW and switching to NXT here. The seventh segment for AEW, the post-match of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz, and the Moxley vs. Allin intros, that did 806,000, a drop of 4,000, and 456,000 in 18-49, a drop of 19,000. For NXT, it was 840,000 viewers total, a loss of 36,000 and 362,000 in 18-49, a loss of 28,000. AEW’s final segment was Moxley vs. Allin, which did 899,000, an increase of 83,000, and 508,000 in 18-49, an increase of 52,000. NXT did 821,000 for Cole vs Dijakovic in the ladder match, a drop of 19,000, and 359,000 in 18-49, a loss of 3,000. The NXT overrun with the ladder match and the last T-shirt brawl gained 229,000 viewers to 1,050,000, but they were mostly older viewers as 18-49 after AEW ended did 447,000 viewers, an increase of 88,000 ... The overrun, largely the AEW audience that transferred to watch the end of NXT was 9,000 teenagers, 6,000 women 18-34, 12,000 women 35-49, 41,000 men 18-34, 35,000 men 35-49 and 120,000 over 50.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter C.M. Punk’s first full-night with WWE affiliation led WWE Backstage to an 80 percent increase in viewers with an 0.17 rating and 180,000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home) ... The four quarters were 195,000, 184,000, 175,000 and 165,000. If the show can maintain numbers close to 125,000 it would have to be considered a solid success given the station and the time slot. Reviews were positive of the show, largely built around him. Punk came across as honest, and not at all a shill. It was very clear the show still didn’t broach any serious topics, such as wrestlers who were wanting out or the Saudi Arabia trip which led to a number of wrestlers vowing to never go back.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The latest wrestler to ask for their release is Chris Girard (Oney Lorcan, 33). Girard changed his social media accounts to Biff Busick, the name he was using on the indie scene from 2009 until September 2015, when he signed here. He used his real name for a short period of time before taking on the Oney Lorcan name. He hasn’t wrestled since losing to Lio Rush on the 10/25 205 Live show. He had been unhappy for some time. Girard is a very intense solid worker. He was put into 205 Live and also worked with NXT, mostly as a tag team partner of Danny Burch

He also recently threw a dig at Triple H over H's comments about talent who speak out in public lack maturity and management willingly listens to talent concerns. Link: https://twitter.com/_StarDESTROYER/s...06261418921984

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There is talking of cutting back on NXT house shows, particularly in Florida, in 2020. The attendance has gone down pretty significantly in the last year. The talk is to cut back on Thursday shows because they are the weakest drawing night. According to one person familiar with the Florida scene, the issue is local burnout. There’s not one specific reason, but a number of things that they believe have hurt attendance, some of which has to do with the divergence of fans (the respectful fan vs. old school fan who comes to yell at heels and make noise and often drink a lot and try and rile up heels leaves both fans not having fun when you’re in a small building with so few fans). Then it becomes an issue with security, as if they let the old school fans go, the new school fans are mad the crowd isn’t respectful and it’s no fun, or they think the crowd is cheering match quality and not booing heels and it’s no fun. There are also issues of not advertising talent and attending shows with such few television names and mostly non-TV guys, and that has hurt as well. Plus, the key guys like Tommaso Ciampa, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and others don’t work the Florida house shows ever or infrequently due to the injuries, and there are weeks when there is the out-of-Florida tour and that cuts back on talent. And there aren’t the legit drawing cards like people like Balor, Nakamura and Ricochet were

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The 11/15 CMLL show at Arena Mexico drew 8,000 fans, although it was a two-for-one ticket special. That is basically Mexico’s Black Friday so there were all kinds of deals with two-for-ones and three-for-ones all over Mexico City. The biggest news was political. At the show they were honoring Tiger Hattori, who is retiring from New Japan at the end of the year. Chavo Lutteroth, the son of the original Salvador Lutteroth, who has now taken back over after the death of Paco Alonso, was out with his son. He has now turned the promotion over to his son. Sofia Alonso, who briefly ran the promotion until Chavo pulled her and started cutting people’s pay, which led to Rush quitting, was back. When her father was alive, she would have been front and center as the face of the promotion during the ceremony. Sofia hasn’t been around for weeks and she was there but never did anything related to the show. Chavo Lutteroth during the ceremony, talked about how his father built all of these arenas and if it wasn’t for his father, there would be no Lucha Libre. Generally, his father is credited with importing the pro wrestling that he saw in Texas into Mexico

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter For whatever this is worth, Marty Scurll is not advertised on Final Battle and given the tease on BTE, one would put AEW as the favorites to get him. His contract expires on 11/30. Scurll owns the rights to the name Villain Club, so he could bring it with him to AEW, WWE or New Japan if he or they wanted it. The belief is that Scurll’s two places he most wants to go are AEW, which many thought it was a given from the day it was launched and I’ll just say it was not a given but certainly always a chance, or New Japan, but New Japan could mean staying with ROH and working more New Japan. You can’t say WWE isn’t a contender, as he lives in Florida and he’d be a lock to be a top star in NXT, but the strong sense is that isn’t happening

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter [AEW] At one point there were plans to run a spring break at Club La Vela, which was one of the most unique Nitro shows of the year in its heyday, but that club is currently shut down between both a hurricane and a fire in recent years

Originally Posted by Observer AEW has revealed their third set of top-five roster rankings. The rankings are released on Fridays. The first set was revealed on the night before Full Gear, with the second set being released last week. Here are the updated rankings for each division: Men's division -- PAC (4-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall) Jon Moxley (3-0-1 singles record, 3-1-1 overall) Cody Rhodes (3-1-1 singles record, 4-2-1 overall) Hangman Page (4-3 singles record, 5-5 overall) Kenny Omega (3-2 singles record, 6-4 overall) Women's division -- Hikaru Shida (3-1 singles record, 4-1 overall) Britt Baker (3-2 singles record, 6-3 overall) Emi Sakura (1-1 singles record, 2-3 overall) Nyla Rose (2-3 singles record, 3-3 overall) Allie (1-2 singles record, 3-2 overall) Tag team division -- The Lucha Bros (4-3 tag team record, 5-5 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 6-4 overall record for Fenix) The Young Bucks (4-3 tag team record, 7-4 overall record for Matt Jackson, 7-5 overall record for Nick Jackson) Private Party (4-4 tag team record, 4-6 overall) Santana & Ortiz (2-1 tag team record, 3-1 overall) The Dark Order (3-2 tag team record, 4-2 overall)

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Kelly Klein has clarified some of the key points in her recent issues among Ring of Honor management. On Thursday, it was revealed that Klein had been notified that her contract would not be renewed after its expiration, which Dave Meltzer notes is on December 31st. Klein went into details about a concussion she suffered while in the UK with Ring of Honor and the help that Joey Mercury, who she stated was done with the company, provided her in canceling a booking in South Africa. Klein’s issue is that Mercury was technically done with ROH and the company did not have the proper people in place to take care of her while concussed and make proper decisions in her altered state from the concussion. Below are Klein’s statements regarding the matter that were posted Friday mainly to clarify she was not forced to wrestle while concussed by ROH and didn’t work the date in South Africa:

Link: https://twitter.com/RealKellyKlein/s...95416722968577

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Tickets for Joey Janela’s Spring Break IV went on sale today for their WrestleMania weekend event on Friday, April 3rd at The Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida. According to the Eventbrite ticket site, they have sold out the 2nd, 5th, and 6th-row ringside seats along with all the elevated seats on the risers. General admission seats are available at $35 but are standing room only and you can also get tickets front row ringside ($210), 3rd row ringside ($85), 4th row ringside ($80), 7th row ringside ($50), and there are luxury boxes available for $349. Spring Break has become one of the major events of the weekend. So far, the only announcement for the show is that The Great Muta will be on the card. The capacity for this year’s show is much larger than the set up in 2019 with The Cuban Club able to hold in the range of 3,500 – 4,000 in their courtyard.

Originally Posted by Fightful There is a huge mess associated with Kelly Klein, ROH Women of Honor Champion. She was informed Tuesday that her deal would expire without renewal, as she's dealing with a concussion. Fightful has spent the evening speaking with several in Ring of Honor talent, who seem to unanimously (at least based on who we spoke to) sympathize with Klein's position. Klein had been making $20,000 per year, and was rejected a raise to $24,000 initially. There were also several on the roster who mentioned the talent summit, implying they would speak out there, though no one specifically said they would. The two sides had been in negotiations that would have resulted in some back pay to the summer and a possible three-year deal higher than the raise she sought out, but there were snags along the way involving hotel room reimbursement and the like that we're told neither side would budge on. One ROH talent told us that Klein should have had a raise well before this, and knew of other talents who used the same negotiating tactics as her and prevailed, whereas she didn't initially. A lot of the women's deals have been constructed similarly in the past, to where they either make $500 per date or $20,000 per year. Initially a lot of the women's deals were for $12,000 per year when the division started before being bumped up. There were frustrations expressed among some talent that ROH officials actually put in writing that all the women on the roster made the same amount of money, with no wiggle room, and it was significantly less than their male counterparts.

Originally Posted by Fightful On the latest episode of his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, Cornette detailed his position and explained why the comment wasn't racist. Cornette started by saying NWA Vice President David Lagana called him to address the comment, wondering if he would apologize. "How can I apologize for something I didn't say? That these people are mad that I don't like their favorite wrestler, said I said. They're butthurt and they take it the wrong way and try to get offended. I can't apologize because I didn't say that. However, you can reprimand me for it and tell me how serious you're taking it. And that's the statement they put out. And I said I would continue to not do the things I didn't do," Cornette said in reference to the NWA apologizing on behalf of Cornette of his comments about suicide. "In this case, I said, 'David, this was a taped show. What did you think about it when you heard it?' He said, 'Well, it went right past me.' I said, 'You think?' 'They are so upset on Twitter.' That's another thing I've talked about with him before. If you give these people the idea that every time they complain about something, you'll just jump around apologizing whether it was said or meant in a bad way, then they'll do it all the time. He's already proven he will do that," he said. Cornette continued, "Someone said, 'If he hadn't said chicken, it would have been fine.' Well, a bucket of chicken sounds funnier than a fucking plate of sushi or ham sandwich. So it happened to be that, because it was funny. Ethiopia is a place where people are fucking starving. It's a starvation joke. Not a race joke. Whether it was a good joke or bad joke, it was a joke that's been told on TBS, USA Network, broadcast TV stations across America for the past 30 years. Suddenly, it isn't good for YouTube" ... Finally, Cornette did sort of apologize for the comment. "I didn't mean it in any racist way. I think the people that took it as racist must think that's the only things on peoples mind when they think of black people and chicken. For all the people overblown about this, fuck you. People who were mildly offended, I apologize because it wasn't meant that way. To anyone who was legitimately offended by a bad joke in a 'kinda sorta' way and would accept a reasonable apology as humans sometimes do; Yes, I'm sorry because I didn't intend it that way. For people who thought it was various stages of hilarious or just rolled their eyes, then I don't need to apologize. For people who think I was 'fuckity mcfuck cunt face' on television and professing Nazi ideology and expressing hate for a variety of people and I should be boiled in oil and have my fat sold for soap for a bad joke; fuck you. I don't care if you don't like me," he stated. The Ethiopian comment was the second time NWA had to issue an apology on behalf of Cornette. The first came when he "joked" about suicide on social media. When asked whether it was true that he resigned or if he was fired, Cornette stated, "[Lagana] didn't get a chance to fire me if he was going to because I got wound up, I was talking, he was listening, and I said, 'Fuck it, it aint fun anymore. You don't want this. I don't want this and I'm fucking sick of it and I'm fucking done.' And I hung up on him." Cornette also said the job was no longer fun due to the apologies he was being asked to give and felt he was distracting from what the NWA was trying to do.

TPWW Frontpage:

• More on Jim Cornette’s Resignation from NWA
• Former MLW World Champion Tom Lawlor Re-Signs With MLW
• Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein Fired By ROH