[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Raw star Matt Riddle filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against him by Samantha Tavel (who wrestles as Candy Cartwright) before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division on 12/3. Tavel filed a lawsuit in October against Riddle, World Wrestling Entertainment, the now-defunct EVOLVE promotion and Gabe Sapolsky, seeking $10 million from each defendant, stemming from Tavel's allegations, which initially became public during the Speaking Out movement online during the summer of 2020, claiming Riddle allegedly choked and forced her to perform oral sex on him in May 2018. Tavel's lawsuit stated the incident took place on a bus that was leaving EVOLVE 104 in Summit, Illinois, hence the lawsuit was being filed before Cook County Court. It also alleges that Riddle effectively prevented her from being able to be booked for WWE dates. In the filing, Riddle stated that he and Tavel entered into an extra-marital affair in April 2017 after meeting while performing for EVOLVE at an event in New York City. They continued to maintain that relationship until Riddle's wife learned of it, at which point, Riddle claims he ended his relationship with Tavel. In his filing Riddle alleges, "Ms. Tavel had a hard time accepting the end of the relationship, and Mr. Riddle changed his telephone number more than once to avoid her calls. Mr. Riddle had no control over any employment relationship Ms. Tavel had with Evolve or WWE" ... In regard to Tavel's accusations, Riddle's filing, as you might imagine, denied any wrongdoing on his part, stating, "Mr. Riddle emphatically denies Ms. Tavel’s torrid tale. He and Ms. Tavel had a nearly three-year affair during which they engaged only in consensual sexual activity. In July 2019, Mr. Riddle ended the affair after his wife learned of the relationship. In June 2020, Ms. Tavel tweeted an accusation that he sexually assaulted her in a van while other wrestlers were asleep." Riddle's motion claims that Tavel's lawsuit should be dismissed because it fails to establish that the Circuit Court of Cook Count has jurisdiction over Riddle to begin with and that Tavel's specific allegations also fail to meet federal pleading requirements that bring them beyond speculation. Riddle's attorneys argue that the lawsuit fails to claim that Riddle's, "allegedly tortious activities were purposefully directed at residents of the forum" as Tavel is not and has never been a resident of Illinois. Riddle's attorneys also argued that since he does not live or own property in Illinois, he cannot fall under their jurisdiction. The motion to dismiss also argues that while Riddle was in Illinois performing for EVOLVE and that the alleged incident happened "on a bus leaving" the venue, therefore those duties would have been completed by the time he was alleged to have assaulted Tavel, so any professional connection to the State of Illinois had been completed. It also claimed that Tavel cannnot claim any connection to her "alleged injuries" (from Riddle's alleged sexual assault against her) and the State of Illinois. For all those reasons, Riddle's attorneys are claiming the lawsuit against him should be thrown out, as they are not strong enough under Illinois law to move forward and that neither party should fall under Illinois jurisdiction in court ... Riddle also specifically responds to Tavel's allegations that he assaulted her on 5/19/18 in Illinois following the EVOLVE 104 event. In response, Riddle stated that he did perform that evening at EVOLVE 104 in Illinois and that Tavel was at the event as well. Riddle stated that a videographer named Joseph M. Ranta transported numerous performers from the venue to their hotel in Michigan in his van (Tavel's claims have made reference to a bus, but her initial Tweet referred to a van with sleeping EVOLVE wrestlers), as there was another EVOLVE event in Livonia, Michigan the next day. Riddle's response featured an affidavit filed by Ranta as well as photos of the exterior and interior of his van ... Riddle is seeking a dismissal of the case.

Originally Posted by PWI Vice TV announced the following: VICE TV’S “DARK SIDE” FRANCHISE EXPANDS WITH TWO NEW DOCUSERIES FOCUSING ON FOOTBALL AND ’90s CULTURE “Dark Side of the Football” and “Dark Side of the ’90s” are in production and will debut on VICE TV in 2021 DECEMBER 8, 2020 - BROOKLYN, NY - VICE TV announces it is expanding its record-breaking docuseries Dark Side of the Ring into a franchise with two new series: Dark Side of the Football and Dark Side of the ’90s. Building on the meteoric success of Dark Side of the Ring, VICE TV’s highest-rated show, which was recently renewed for a third season, the two new Dark Side spinoffs are currently in production and will debut in 2021 ... Dark Side of the Football shines a light on stories that live in the shadows of America’s favorite sport. Gripping and compelling tales about the sometimes flawed men behind the face masks; the coaches, teams, and leagues who control their fates; and the untold story behind bizarre and tragic off-the-field events — facts that have been hidden to shield fans from discovering unsettling truths about the game they love. All told from interviews with the people who were there and know what really happened. The series is produced by 44 Blue Productions for VICE TV. Dark Side of the ’90s will reveal the soul of the decade through its most captivating pop-culture moments, trends and personalities, through interviews with people who studied the time period. Each episode will dissect the nostalgia, uncovering the surprising dark truths underlying the glitz, the glamour and the headlines. The series is produced by Railsplitter Pictures and Insight Productions for VICE TV.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Major League Wrestling’s first special since their ‘Restart’ began is scheduled for January 6th and it’s their ‘Kings of Colosseum’ show. In the press release about the event, it was noted that this event was originally slated to air on pay-per-view but it’s going to air for free on YouTube, Fubo Sports and Pluto TV as a thank you to the fans. “Times are tough for a lot of folks and we are so grateful for the incredible support from our fans,” said Court Bauer. “So, we decided to take this event originally slated to be a Pay-Per-View and give it to fans for free as a gift. We’re going to stack the card with title fights, top-ranked wrestlers, and make it a true tentpole for the league.” The first match for the event will be revealed on the 12/9 edition of FUSION that premieres at 7 PM EST. Thus far, MLW has presented World Heavyweight and Middleweight Title defenses on their FUSION show. They are currently in the mist of the Opera Cup tournament.

Originally Posted by PWI Joseph R. Meehan, known professionally in the world of pro wrestling as Joey Ryan, filed a request for a summary judgment against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling LLC before the Circuit Court of Davidson County, TN on 11/27, alleging that Anthem took too long to respond to his lawsuit alleging that the company breached his contract when they released him in the wake of a number of allegations voiced against him on social media. In a filing dated 11/27, Meehan requests judgment in his favor, citing that Anthem was officially served with the lawsuit on 9/24, later requested and received an additional 30 days to respond, but failed to do so in a timely manner. Anthem responded to the lawsuit on 12/4. In their response, Anthem denied all of Meehan's allegations against them, arguing that his contract indeed ran through August 2021 "unless earlier terminated", claimed that Ryan "misstates" the contents of his exhibits including his Impact contract, that Impact commented publicly about Ryan's exit "so that Anthem's audience would not expect immediate appearances by Plaintiff at wrestling events produced by Anthem", denied that they breached the terms of his deal. However, claiming Anthem ran over thirty days past their extension before filing their response, Meehan's attorney is arguing that since the company is "not an incompetent or a minor" but "failed and refused to answer" the lawsuit in a timely fashion, therefore Anthem is in default under the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure and there is "no reason to delay in entry of a Final Judgment" under those rules ... As noted, Meehan is seeking a judgment of ten million dollars against Anthem due to damages "he has suffered, which were caused by the Defendant's actions." He is also requesting he be "awarded reasonable attorney fees for the prosecution of this cause" and that the all costs be covered by the Defendant, Anthem Wrestling. He is also asking for any other "further and general relief" the Court may rule he is entitled.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Renee Paquette welcomed CM Punk onto her ‘Oral Sessions’ podcast ... CM Punk was asked what would it take for him to return to pro wrestling. He weighed both options that AEW and WWE could possibly give him and he leaned towards AEW because of the fresh matchups that are there. He also believes that if AEW was around when his fallout with WWE happened, the sports-entertainment company would’ve handled things differently. “Well, I think the landscape is currently much different than when I left, right? You could play the game where you’re like, ‘Oh, if AEW was an option, you would have gone right after you left WWE.’ If you’re gonna play that game, there’s no way they would have handled it the way they handled it with suspending me for two months and nobody contacting me and then, the next thing I know, I get release papers on my wedding day. That wouldn’t have happened if there was an AEW because then they probably would’ve approached me and been like, ‘Hey, your suspension’s up. Ready to come back to work? Like let’s work this out,’ you know? Or handle it like any other sports organization would’ve handled star pitcher f*cking going home. They’re not just gonna let him leave the team, they’re not gonna let him go to a rival organization. What would it take? Oh gosh. Without wanting to insult anybody on either side of the fence, any WWE talent, AEW talent, it would take, above all, an interesting scenario. A story that would be fun to tell. Also, just the stupidest amount of money. But they could save themselves a whole lot of money if they just presented a fun storyline. Now what that is? I don’t know. I’m a pretty picky guy, especially at this point. I think there’s more interesting people on the AEW side of things for me to wrestle but that’s just because I’ve never wrestled them before. Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, talking about your husband [Jon Moxley], I look at that and I go, ‘Well I wrestled him already, so it’s just less interesting than something new’ and on the WWE side of things, I don’t know that there’s anybody there currently that I haven’t wrestled that I’d be interested in wrestling.” While on the topic of WWE’s third-party edict, Zelina Vega being released and Xavier Woods signing to G4, Punk recalled stories of WWE keeping opportunities away from certain talents and funneling those to their selected top stars. “They would literally take every single request that came through and they would funnel it to the one person that they wanted to be the face of the company. I went — this is awesome. I went on a — it was a bachelor party for my buddy Jensen. We went to Pinball Factory here in Chicago, where they make a lot of the pinball games and a lot of people don’t know that Midway — is it Midway? Maybe, I don’t know. But anyway, so we were there and so the guy giving us the tour, the guy who owned the factory and all these pinball machines and this company, he was like, ‘Yeah, we wanted you on our WrestleMania-WWE pinball machine. They said no,’ and I was like, ‘What do you mean they said no?’ They were like, ‘No, don’t put him on that. We want this guy on it’ and we were like, ‘Oh whatever and we just did it.’ Still to this day, I’ll hear stuff like that, where people will be like, ‘Well we reached out. We had this offer for you,’ and they either never get back — it was like when THQ wanted me on the cover of the video game. I was forwarded the emails where they said, ‘No, no, no. Sheamus, Miz or John Cena.’ To their credit, Bryce [Yang], who is their head of all that stuff, he was like, ‘No, no, no. We want CM Punk. He’s like literally the guy right now and that might change in six months but we don’t care. He’s the popular guy.’ So, you know…”

Originally Posted by Fightful CM Punk is one of the few people who have worked with Dana White and Vince McMahon during his combat sports career. Both Dana and Vince have similarities in their mindset and have successfully turned their respective businesses into billion-dollar companies while facing the criticism that comes with being the public face of those companies. Speaking to Renee Paquette on Oral Sessions, Punk was asked to compare the two headstrong leading men. "There are levels to it. They're both right-wing 'weirdos' because they obviously vote based on what's good for their pocketbook. I would say Dana is more generous. He does a lot of stuff for the fighters behind the scenes. There's a lot of locker room money thrown around that people don't know about. He gets a lot of flack. That being said, I do think fighters should be paid a lot more. A lot of that time when he lashes out when people complain about pay and unionization, it's because he knows, 'I just gave that guy $250,000 under the table but can't talk about it.' They should still get paid more and the fighters should get together and unionize anyway. Just like the wrestlers," he said. Following up on Punk's reply, Renee asked Punk if wrestlers will ever get together to unionize. He responded, "There's no such thing as 'the boys.' It's a trope. Once you're out of the bubble, you don't hear from anyone anymore. There will always be a handful of people that will undercut everyone just to get ahead. There are people who, by nature, are bootlickers and they love the taste. You're supposed to lick the boot, not eat the entire thing."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Bertrand Hebert, co-author of Pat Patterson’s biography titled ‘Accepted: How The First Gay Superstar Changed WWE’ was a guest on David Penzer’s ‘Sitting Ringside’ podcast. Pat unfortunately passed away last week and Hebert came on the podcast to discuss Pat’s life and in-ring career ... Patterson is known as the mind behind the Royal Rumble concept. An idea Pat had was to present a trophy to the winner of the Royal Rumble and that trophy would have the names and images of past winners on it. “Because in the book, Pat tells the story of the last idea he had about the Rumble. He wanted them to create the Pat Patterson Cup, and give the trophy, like the Stanley Cup in Hockey. A trophy that kind of looked like that where you could put champagne and put all the names of all the winners and all the participants on the ring. He wanted something like that for the Royal Rumble so I think it’d be amazing to create the Pat Patterson Cup for the winner of the Rumble and go back to the past winners and add them to the bowl and add the pictures and I think it’d be an amazing, amazing homage to Pat.” Pat was not as involved in the creative process over the past several years as he once was but one talent he was fond of was Chad Gable, according to Hebert. “I remember the last wrestler he was very high on was Chad Gable. He had just seen him and he was like, he had an idea about what moves, the way he should work and all that. But like, once again, he was not involved enough to have any kind of influence but, he had become a huge fan of Chad Gable and nobody can deny, except for the fact that he’s short and they made a whole gimmick out of it. But he’s an amazing talent.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On the most recent episode of Tama Tonga’s ‘Tama’s Island’ podcast, he dove into why he cut his hair off and shaved his beard. Tama feels that he was trying to appeal to the American audience while wrestling in Japan and once he made the change in appearance, he noticed more fanfare from the Japanese fans. “I wanted to grow. I wanted to evolve. I didn’t wanna stay the same. I felt like the look and everything was coming to an end, and… I knew it was cool. I didn’t wanna cut my hair, but at the same time I wanted to cut my hair. I didn’t wanna shave my beard but at the same time I wanted to shave my beard, and I came to a realization one day, this whole time, because I lived in America, because I watch American wrestling, because the people I associated with was all American wrestling, I was catering to the American fans. The look and the everything was an American style. It’s a badass, it’s what everybody wanted. It’s not, ‘Oh, you’re not badass if you don’t look badass,’ and finally I was like, ‘Yo…’ it took me so long and I was like, I live in Japan. I need to cater to Japanese fans and they don’t have the same taste as the American fans. So then I was like, ‘You know what? I need –’ I remember when I first came here to Japan, clean cut and everything and I was instantly over. I was instantly over and I was in magazines and I remember they did a spread on me and I was like what the f*ck? And I just didn’t get it. I thought they did this to everybody.”

Originally Posted by PWI WWE has offered a discounted rate for the WWE Network for the first time since eliminating their first month free promotion earlier this year. WWE Network is currently offering a month of the streaming service for 99 cents at this link.

Link for those interested: https://www.wwe.com/99offer

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling NXT is promoting their first episode of 2021 as “New Year’s Evil” on January 6th. Levesque indicated they will be doing more specials after the success of Halloween Havoc in October. This will be an interesting trend to watch in 2021 with both AEW and NXT building towards television specials periodically and attempting to replicate the success seen for Havoc and Winter is Coming. For AEW, the objective is clearly growing its audience and willing to take risks to do so. NXT has the task of figuring out its goal for 2021 whether it be taking chances and making changes to its presentation, or strictly maintaining its audience with its current product.

Originally Posted by Observer Former WCW wrestler Leonardo Carrera, better known as Damian 666, as well as his wife, are both hospitalized with COVID-19.

Originally Posted by Fightful Triple H says The Undertaker will soon be working with him to develop the future of WWE. Triple H is the mastermind of NXT, where he furthers along the future of WWE alongside such names as Shawn Michaels and The Road Dogg. Now that Undertaker's retired, Triple H says he and Undertaker are talking more about "The Phenom" working with NXT. "Well, you know I can tell you this that anytime Undertaker is involved here, anytime he's walked through these doors, everybody that's here is better for it," said Hunter on the post-show media call following NXT TakeOver: WarGames. "They all come out of here with a different perspective a fresh viewpoint and you know, he's one of the most knowledgeable guys in and that has ever been in the business. I believe, you know, myself I learn from him every time I'm around him." Hunter continued, "He is looking now, I believe to move into the next phase of his life. We've talked a lot about it. It involves being here. It involves the future. It involves getting more into that. I would like to believe he has earned the right to take a breath off of his retirement for a moment and we've actually just touched base in the last couple of days and that is something that, coming out of the holidays, we will certainly be talking about in 2021, which is just one more reason to be excited about next year with everything else that's happening is having him involved. I just can't stress enough how impactful that will be to everybody."

Originally Posted by Fightful GCW's December 5 show, which also served as a fundraiser to the wrestlers who competed there, raised more than $15,000.

Originally Posted by Fightful With AEW and IMPACT forming a partnership, many fans are wondering where AEW stands with NJPW. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer, "[Tony] Khan has been speaking to Rocky Romero regularly of late to try and open doors to New Japan, feeling the odds are better to do something with Harold Meij gone." Romero is heavily involved with NJPW US as a talent liaison and more for the company. Speaking on Talk N Shop, Romero clarified the report and just how often he speaks with the AEW President. "I guess Meltzer reported that me and Tony Khan are having calls all the time, like every week, which is not true. I'm not talking to Tony weekly. I've talked to Tony in the past, of course. No, [I haven't talked to Tony since AEW/IMPACT relationship]. I talked to Tony maybe a month ago. Maybe more. It's misleading in the fact that 'Rocky and Tony are having weekly phone calls,' which is not true, and who gives a fuck if I talk to Tony? What if he's my friend? No one knows the situation," he said. Earlier in the podcast, when Romero and Karl Anderson were discussing AEW and IMPACT working together, Romero commented, "My name is brought up like I'm part of this. People are excited and want to see the possibilities. 'Will New Japan join this situation?' I guess there's a lot of want for New Japan to be involved." Anderson expressed his excitement over the new partnership but said he doesn't know where it's going as of yet.

Originally Posted by Fightful Sting made his AEW debut last Wednesday on Dynamite and he could be more than just a personality on the show. According to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, there are plans for Sting to have a match in AEW. Specifics of what the match could be were not revealed but Barrasso notes cinematic matches and tag team matches are a possibility. Sting has not wrestled since WWE Night of Champions 2015 when he suffered a neck injury after taking a bucklebomb from Seth Rollins. He announced his retirement during his WWE Hall of Fame speech in 2016. Barrasso notes that the partnership between Sting and AEW President Tony Khan will be "collaborative" and that Sting was impressed with AEW's professionalism, long-term planning and compensation. Moments after his return to television, AEW announced Sting had signed a full-time, multi-year deal with the company. Sting is listed on the AEW roster page as an active member with a record attached to his name and not as a coach like Arn Anderson or Tully Blanchard.

Originally Posted by Fightful According to a report from WrestleTalk, a number of names are being discussed for a potential match against Roman Reigns for next year's WrestleMania from Goldberg to Drew McIntyre to Big E in case The Rock can't make it to next year's show.

Originally Posted by Fightful WWE talent will reportedly have Christmas day off this year. According to Gary Cassidy of Inside The Ropes, WWE will not tape SmackDown on Christmas. December 25 falls on a Friday and instead of doing a live episode of SmackDown, WWE will reportedly tape the show beforehand. WWE has run live each week since entering the ThunderDome to allow virtual fans to enjoy and react to the on-screen product as it happens. It is not confirmed as to when WWE will tape the Christmas Day episode of SmackDown. It is also unknown if fans will be able to watch the show live via the ThunderDome or if WWE will use pre-recorded virtual fan footage like they've done for NXT events. WWE went live on Christmas Day in 2017 and one week later was live on New Year's Day in 2018. It is unknown if SmackDown will air live on New Year's 2021.

Originally Posted by Fightful To say that Chelsea Green has had a stop and start WWE career would be an understatement. Green made her WWE main roster debut -- again -- last month, only to sustain a broken wrist on Smackdown. After reports of a call-up from NXT as far back as May, Fightful learned that there were big plans for her with a former WWE Women's Champion, Mickie James. Fightful Select recently reported the following: We've been digging even more about Chelsea Green and her not being used prior to her ill-fated Smackdown debut, and a pitch that was going around about her. Originally, a big push was made and plans were put in order for Chelsea Green to almost emulate Mickie James' 2005-2006 "obsessed fan" storyline with Trish Stratus. The story had a pretty solid plan and we're told that several in creative were very excited about it, but it inexplicably got scrapped. The story that we've heard would have had Mickie James put in Trish Stratus' shoes from 15 years ago. It went a lot further than a pitch. We're told that Mickie James and Chelsea Green had actually filmed content to start the angle. Everything was a go, and plans were abruptly changed only hours before it was set to air. Green didn't appear on TV for months after. In addition, Fightful learned of several other tentative plans for Green over the course of the last six months that didn't come to fruition.

Originally Posted by Fightful The wrestling landscape was changed on last week's Dynamite, when it was revealed that Kenny Omega would appear on IMPACT wrestling. We've seen how things have unfolded with dream matches being discussed, but Fightful Select was able to report some initial reactions: Lots was made about IMPACT Wrestling working with All Elite Wrestling after Kenny Omega and Don Callis announced the former would be appearing on Tuesday's IMPACT show. Some within IMPACT Wrestling had heard of the news, but were told there wasn't much to it when they'd asked management about it at the most recent set of tapings. Several in AEW had also heard that Don Callis would be coming in to work an angle, but weren't sure the extent of it. Almost nobody that we spoke to expects a "full crossover" to come from it, but wrestlers in IMPACT are happy about the buzz cast on their show. This was not the first pitch between the companies, which we hope to have more on in the coming weeks. Omega was not at the most recent set of IMPACT Wrestling tapings, and most expect him to film his segment on Monday or Tuesday. IMPACT has some names flying in to do some work early in the week.

Originally Posted by PWI Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss are filming scenes for an episode of the revived Punky Brewster series for Peacock. The original version of the series featured a young girl and her dog, who were abandoned by her mother, taken in and cared for by Henry, an older man. The revived version of the series will see the grown-up version of Punky, played again by Soliel Moon-Frye now in the position to do the same for another girl. WWE Producer D-Von Dudley is also on set for the series, which likely means there will be some physical action involved. The series will debut in 2021 for NBC Universal's Peacock streaming service.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Current Card for ROH Final Battle 2020
• Full Card for NJPW World Tag League & Best of the Super Juniors 2020 Finals
• WWE: Mauro Ranallo on Leaving WWE, Rumored Charlotte & Andrade Plans, Update SD Ratings
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• Eva Marie WWE Update
• Jaxson Ryker Returns on WWE Main Event
• WWE Announces Nominations and Opens Voting for the 2020 Slammy Awards
• Shaquille O’Neal to “Address AEW” This Wednesday