[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI The 12/8 episode of Impact Wrestling on AXS TV, headlined by AEW Champion Kenny Omega appearing, brought in 221,000 overnight viewers, up from last week's 166,000 overnight viewers. That was up 33% from last week. The episode brought in 0.08 in the 18-49 demo and was 96th for the evening on cable and was the only AXS TV programming to hit the top 150 cable broadcasts that night. It just about doubled the demo.

Originally Posted by PWI As reported earlier, Impact Wrestling on AXS TV's audience rose 33% from last week based on the strength of AEW Champion Kenny Omega appearing. PWInsider.com can also confirm the episode's live-stream on Twitch peaked at 55,396 with an average of 42,953 viewers for the two hour stream. That would be over 13x the usual Twitch audience for Impact and was the 4th largest Twitch audience for anything yesterday. In comparison, yesterday's live NFL stream peaked at 30,000. The Impact on AXS repeat broadcast brought another 189,000 viewers on YouTube with 56,200 watching via Impact's Facebook page in the first twelve hours since the repeat was posted at 10 PM EST last night The company trended number one in the United States and number five in the UK yesterday. Impact TV doesn't air in the UK until tonight. The online segment of Josh Mathews interviewing Omega and Don Callis itself has over 140,000 views on Facebook and over 240,000 views on YouTube. On Instagram, the interview segment brought in 118,326 views (and climbing) while on Twitter, it has been seen 204,166 time (and climbing), so needless to say, last night was a big night for Impact.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE have applied to trademark "Karen Kwan" ... They actually applied for this back in October at the same time when they applied for a series of new names for their NXT talent, but this one just showed up in the USPTO database recently. It looks to be a new name either for NXT talent Karen Yu, or for the character being teased in the Xia Li/Boa storyline.

Originally Posted by PWI A number of the lawsuits filed by Joseph R. Meehan, known professionally in the world of pro wrestling as Joey Ryan, have been all been referred to the Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald and Magistrate Judge, Charles F. Eick under the United States District Court, Central Division of California; Western Division, Los Angeles. As previously reported by PWInsider.com, Meehan has filed numerous lawsuits in recent months, all denying any claims of sexual assault against him and alleging that the women who made the claims used social media postings to defame him, hurting his ability to make money as a professional wrestler through his performances, merchandise, Patreon account, the loss of his Bar Wrestling independent wrestling promotion, his Twitch channel and Cameo video messaging. In many of these lawsuits, Ryan is seeking sizable monetary damages. On 12/7, the court ordered Meehan to show why the legal actions should be continued and not dismissed for "lack of prosecution", which basically means a lack of movement in the cases. In many of the cases, but not all (former ROH star Pelle Primeau being the exception), there has been no response from the defendants or even a court record that the defendants have been successfully served. Meehan's attorneys have until 12/29 to file pleadings in an attempt to convince the court the lawsuits should continue. Should the defendants respond in court, that would also provide the court with a reason to allow the lawsuits to continue. Meehan could also file for a default judgment, which should the court grant it, could allow Meehan to legally go for whatever damages the court rules in favor of. If none of that happens, Meehan's lawsuits before the court could be dismissed.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE held another all hands on deck virtua meeting for employees yesterday out of Stamford, CT. We are told the majority of the meeting was focused on introducing Nick Khan and allowing employees to know more about him and what brought him to the company. Employees were also told that the new HQ location is moving along slowly but surely.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE announced they are seeking fans with rare memorabilia to share their collections and stories: WWE is on a quest to find lost, but not forgotten, wrestling memorabilia! It’s time to unearth your collection of prized wrestling possessions. Email memorabilia@wwecorp.com with a photo and tell us about your memorabilia. The rarer the treasure, the better the story! — WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) December 8, 2020 One would think this is in relation to their forthcoming A&E reality series.

Link: https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/stat...85053908217856

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling This week’s viewership figures for AEW Dynamite, and to a lesser extent IMPACT, will be two of the more noteworthy television statistics in recent memory. The goal of AEW appears transparent – to take greater chances to improve its overall viewership. The combination of an inter-promotional angle, the arrival of Sting, and the celebrity involvement of Shaquille O’Neal all point to a big number for Dynamite on TNT. Last week was all about the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley match whereas this week will be an indicator of the buzz generated coming out of that show. The early signs on the AEW vs. IMPACT front appear to be strong with the most-discussed episode of IMPACT, possibly in years. While we don’t know how the show performed on AXS TV yet, the Twitch live stream figures blew away past IMPACT numbers. It was noted that IMPACT typically do around 3,000 live viewers for a Tuesday night airing with the final segment on Tuesday surpassing 50,000. While many see the one million viewership average as the next milestone for AEW to achieve on a weekly basis, the 0.42 demo number (543,000 viewers) in the 18-49 category was tremendous and will be graded with the most weight. To get over the hump and consistently average one million viewers, the most likely category that will need to gain traction is the over 50 audience, which is the one demo that NXT has owned since the two properties began airing weekly. The combination of Sting and Shaquille O’Neal would, in theory, be attractions that would cater to that demographic. The problem is that the over 50 audience has shown an aversion to the AEW product, at least when it comes to where most of those wrestling fans are going to spend their two hours on Wednesdays. The occasional novelty may draw curiosity but ultimately, it’s the totality of the product that will retain those viewers. The key to these “stunts” for lack of a better term is attracting new or lapsed eyes onto the AEW product with the hope that the shiny new toys in the storefront window will bring people into the store to discover all the others. A big reason for the surge in the WWF’s popularity was in 1998 was that when Mike Tyson garnered all the attention leading to WrestleMania 14, it was already a strong product with many rising stars that kept those eyes on the product beyond Tyson’s involvement. By WrestleMania 15 in 1999, there was no need for an outside celebrity because the regular crew, led by the Austin vs. McMahon program with The Rock in the middle was enough to outdraw the previous year’s WrestleMania based on its self-sustained popularity. The handling of Sting will be a test as he’s a performer that comes with pros and cons. The first hurdle was cleared instantly with a genuine surprise appearance met with great fanfare given the history of the character and a belief that there was juice left in the character when WWE opted to stop using him. The negatives include the reasoning behind that usage being halted as his neck problems are very concerning when coupled with his age of 61. In this era, there are enough creative ways to involve Sting where the risk is mitigated but typically, the “legend” role he would be assuming is best suited to 1-2 performances per year that require any physicality. As proven from his TNA tenure, he’s a tremendous speaker and can be utilized in a non-wrestling role. AEW has built a solid core audience that does exceptional for its place in the television landscape and relatively short existence. In that time, they’ve scored a renewal deal with TNT that allowed them ample cushioning throughout the pandemic and displayed a long-term commitment from their network partner. The struggle is now growing its audience – in an era where maintaining your audience has been something, we’ve been more focused upon. Short-term, it feels that AEW’s prime focus is directing people to Dynamite and putting must-see elements on the show as consistently as possible, and going outside its box with unique hooks for those not watching. While pay-per-view is a significant generator for the company, they have built a comfortable foundation of 80-100,000 homes that are conditioned to purchase a quarterly event. I don’t subscribe to the idea that one has to be sacrificed for the other – if the company presents a hot television product that drives viewership up, in theory, that should only amplify interest when a big pay-per-view is on the horizon. 2021 will only solidify that television is the most influential factor for all companies with other revenue sources serving as complementary ones. It’s still a way off before WWE and AEW are discussing television renewals but the foundation for those renewals are built today and ultimately, it’s best for the industry that both companies are sought after properties by television outlets.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Dorian Roldan spoke with Mas Lucha for an extended chat promoting TripleMania. thecubsfan at Lucha Blog recapped the interview. Roldan stated that AAA’s deal with Twitch ended earlier this year at the start of the pandemic believing that the promotion can have greater reach through YouTube and Facebook (which will be carrying TripleMania this Saturday). Due to streaming, it has led to theme songs being altered to avoid strikes against their account and videos being de-monetized.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Dave Meltzer is the guest on today’s Talk is Jericho discussing the life and legacy of Pat Patterson. Chris Jericho added that every year moving forward they will have a Pat Patterson Karaoke Night on future Jericho cruises. They released a clip from the interview regarding Patterson’s involvement in the Montreal screw job. From all accounts, Patterson was not aware of the plan, although the spot involving Shawn Michaels putting Bret Hart into the sharpshooter was attributed to Patterson. It was discussed by Jericho and Meltzer that the belief was Vince McMahon didn’t want any of the heat to transfer to Patterson, and he was protected from the fallout of the Survivor Series. Patterson was also instrumental in Michaels and Hart rising to become main event stars in the company, and there was the possibility that if Patterson was informed of the decision, he might have gone to Hart to warn him. To me, while it’s hard to imagine, I can buy that the idea of the sharpshooter spot and knowledge of the screw job could be separate. After all these years and the story being rehashed from every solitary angle, I feel it would have come out if Patterson had known. Not to mention, Hart forgave Earl Hebner all those years ago, he did business with Vince McMahon and ultimately, he would have forgiven Patterson too, so I don’t buy Patterson holding that secret all these years if he had been in on it.

Originally Posted by Fightful WWN Live is debut a new series entitled League Wars on December 20. The series is season based and will feature an independent wrestling promotion, or promotions, on each episode. Each season will consist of eight episodes and a finale, which will feature talent from all promotions that participated in the season in a one-night tournament to crown a League War Season Winner.

Originally Posted by WrestleTalk A former WWE star and IMPACT World Champion could be joining the promotion long-term after a brief return run earlier this year. EC3 was release by WWE this past April and returned to IMPACT at Slammiversary, had a pre-recorded match with Moose at Bound For Glory, then headed for Ring of Honor. Fightful Select is now reporting that EC3 has indicated to them that he’ll be “freed up” again when 2021 comes around, and he’s been on good terms with IMPACT and there seems to be interest from them in bringing him in long-term. According to the report, despite the good terms, he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to be put in a long-term deal or not. EC3 will be on the upcoming ROH Final Battle pay-per-view in a match against Jay Briscoe.

Originally Posted by Sportskeeda If you thought the creative issues surrounding Charlotte Flair's run with the NXT Women's Championship seemed a bit off, you would be correct. It seems as though there has been an internal struggle within WWE this year on how to book Flair. It now appears that all the heat that the WWE Universe placed on the NXT creative team for Flair's title run this year was absolutely misplaced. It's coming out that the RAW creative brand was to blame for most, if not all of it. Looking back on everything, this explains a lot. According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, it's being reported that the original plan for this year's WrestleMania was actually for Rhea Ripley to retain the NXT Women's Championship. However, the RAW creative team changed their minds and overruled the black and gold brand. So, whatever creative plans the NXT brand came up with for Charlotte, they were consistently being overruled and changed by RAW's creative team instead. If you thought going into WrestleMania that NXT was trying to force Bianca Belair into that title match to make it a triple threat match, you would also be correct. The idea was being pitched so Ripley could retain the title without Flair being pinned.

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