[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Even with an appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday's episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 fell in viewership. The show averaged 127,000 viewers, drawing a .06 rating in the 18-49 demo, down from last week's .08. That marked a drop of 11,000 from last week's 138,000 viewers which was the second highest in the history of the show thus far ... This was Punk's second appearance on the show. His first on November 19th remains Backstage's most-viewed airing at 180,000 viewers and a .10 in the key 18-49 demo.

Originally Posted by Observer The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line at TLC -- but The Viking Raiders' challengers haven't been revealed in advance. It was announced on tonight's episode of WWE Backstage that The Viking Raiders will issue a Tag Team title open challenge at Sunday's TLC pay-per-view. Erik & Ivar also issued an open challenge on Raw this week, with The Street Profits unsuccessfully challenging for the titles.

Originally Posted by Observer Two more matches have been officially confirmed for Impact Wrestling's first pay-per-view of 2020. Impact Tag Team Champions The North (Josh Alexander & Ethan Page) will defend their titles against Rich Swann & Willie Mack at Hard to Kill. Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards has also been confirmed for the PPV.

Originally Posted by PWI The Cauliflower Alley Club disclosed this afternoon that former WWF official and wrestler Rene Goulet passed away this past May. His passing was not officially announced until today, according to CAC: Goulet, real name Robert Bedard, broke into the business in the late 1950s in his native Quebec City. Like many stars of the era, he made his way through a number of territories, most notably the WWWF, where he held the Tag Team titles with Karl Gotch. Over the course of his career, Goulet worked for Verne Gagne’s AWA (as Sgt. Goulet), for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Eddie Graham’s Championship Wrestling from Florida and countless other territories. Goulet was considered an excellent wrestler in the ring and would often be entrusted with inexperienced talents to help carry them along. He was one of the first men to wrestle Ric Flair when Flair was breaking into the business in the AWA. He was usually used in a supporting role to make pushed stars look stronger. Goulet retired in 1986, at which point he became a road agent for the WWF, working there for the next decade before leaving the company in 1997. I believe his final match was a legends battle royal in East Rutherford, NJ. The nature of Goulet's passing was not disclosed. He was 86 years old.

Originally Posted by PWI The Nielsen company released their rankings for the most social TV shows of 2019 with WWE programming landing three spots in the top ten. Monday Night Raw was #2 for the year, behind only HBO's Game of Thrones with an average of 1,944,000 interactions over 46 episodes. Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and FOX Deportes was listed as #3 with an average of 1,409,000 interactions over 30 episodes. Smackdown, during its time on Tuesdays on the USA Network, was counted as a separate series and landed at #6 on the list with an average 1,144,000 interactions over 39 episodes.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Santana and Ortiz sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview ... Also, Ortiz recalled when he and Santana were about to turn down a deal from WWE. He said part of the agreement was that it was guaranteed that after NXT, they were headed to either RAW or SmackDown with the incentive that instead of moving to Florida, the two could continue residing in New York. “We were about to turn down WWE, and we sat down and we were like, ‘Alright man, we don’t want to burn a bridge.’ We never want to burn any bridge anywhere we go, because that’s not how you do business. You should keep every avenue open. So he [Santana] had this whole spiel. He was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re gonna say so we don’t burn a bridge’ and then we go, and then we get cut off and they were like, ‘Listen, just really think about your decision’ and then we stopped and we hang up the phone and we were about to turn them down and then we sit there and we’re like, ‘Damn, they’re making this really hard for us…’ Yes, it was for NXT with the guarantee to eventually go to the main roster. So we were just like alright man, dang. But honestly, what the ultimate decision was, we were like, ‘Do we wanna just be a part of something that’s already established? Or do we wanna be a part of something new and make history?’ Because no matter what happens with AEW… again, we’re here to make it successful but no matter what happens, we will always be a part of the first-ever main event on the first-ever television of AEW. We were like, ‘Do we want to be a part of history, or fade into black?’ And even best case scenario, we’re just gonna be small fish in an ocean. There’s so many people there, it would be an uphill battle. Not saying that we wouldn’t be able to do it because we’re confident in our abilities, but, we could be a part of history. We could be a part of change and we could be a part of change that literally, you’re seeing the change. We were just talking about this before the camera went on and it’s changing wrestling for the better. No matter what happens with this company, wrestling has changed for the better and it’s continually changing for the better and we were like, ‘Man, we want to be a part of history.’”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Ric Flair was a guest on WrestlingINC’s WINCLY podcast and was asked for his thoughts about Corey Graves’ comments concerning Charlotte Flair that were made on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. Flair said he is not too pleased with how Charlotte is being booked but does agree with the sentiments that she is the best that the company has to offer in multiple categories. “I am not happy with the way they’re doing it, but then again, I have nothing to say about it and I guess what I don’t like is she’s been put in that role where number one, I hate… and this is important that people [are] finally getting this through their head. They never will. Number one, I need to be left out of the equation. She has surpassed me in talent, and she’s never gonna be around for 40 years which is one of the reasons that I’m still — if I’m a household name or whatever you call me. It’s because I was in the business for so long, you don’t walk away from 40 years of TV, and I think if they look at it as she — well say she’s like her dad. Number one, she’ll do anything they want her to do because she’s a pro just like I did. She won’t drag her feet. She’s so damn good. So damn good, and much better than anybody else that they could do it if they want, because the next day she’ll rise up and be who she is, and I don’t think she’ll ever be bored with a storyline. Does that make sense? And not participate at its fullest. So that part is wrong on Corey [Graves’] part, but as far as her being the best athlete in the company, he’s spot on. As far as her being in the Hall Of Fame already, he’s spot on, and as far as her being the biggest star, she’s the face of the women’s division.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Following the December 9th edition of Monday Night RAW, Randy Orton did an interview with WWE.com and it was mentioned that three-fourths of Evolution (Triple H, Batista & Ric Flair) are Hall Of Famers and he was asked will he soon be heading into the WWE Hall Of Fame: “Sooner or later? I’d say later. I still got a few more bumps to take in a WWE ring before I’m ready to step into the Hall Of Fame, but sh*t, I don’t even know how that works. Like, I gotta be nominated or something? People say I’m a future first-ballot Hall Of Famer but I don’t know. There’s a lot of time between now and then so who knows what could happen. One day if I’m fortunate enough to be in the Hall Of Fame, it’ll be one hell of an honor but I’m in no hurry to be in the Hall Of Fame right now.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas suggested that it might be time for WWE to induct a referee into their Hall Of Fame.

Link: https://twitter.com/jimmykorderas/st...708760064?s=20

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert interviewed Scott Norton and Norton had some positive things to say about All Elite Wrestling and GCW’s Joey Janela: “I love Joey. I’ve had three matches with Joey, and that dude is a stud. He’s the toughest little son of a b*tch that’s come down the line. He’s not a little guy, but he’s not a big man. I banged on that little… that’s a tough son of a b*tch. I’m so happy for Joey. He’s one of the good guys and he’s doing really well in our business. He’s an outstanding professional wrestler and a hell of a guy.”

Originally Posted by Fightful Booker T comments on Luke Harper's recent WWE release and has an idea where he should go next to succeed. During a recent episode of "The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore," the WWE Hall of Famer said Harper's look wasn't something he was much of a fan of, but did admit that he is tremendously talented. When looking at Harper's skillset, Booker believes that he could not only have a run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but be someone that could be like a modern Stan Hansen, who had a big run in Japan for years. "I didn't think the overalls was ever going to get over with me or anything like that. Was he talented? Very, very talented. Was he a guy that you couldn't wait to see next week? He didn't put himself in that position for that to happen, but what I see with Luke Harper is, when I look at that box and I look at that picture, what I see in Luke Harper is Stan Hansen. I see Japan written all over this kid. I see New Japan. I see this guy working over there for many, many years getting paid because they love big Americans like Luke Harper in Japan. I see Luke Harper having a great career even after WWE, making perhaps more money than he ever made in his life. Some people are made for Japan, are made for that lifestyle. If Harper can be like a Stan Hansen in Japan, he could make a lot of money. I just see New Japan written all over for him," Booker said.

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