[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Representatives from seven Japanese promotions joined together today to take part in a government meeting regarding how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the professional wrestling industry in Japan. The meeting included representatives from NJPW, Stardom, AJPW, DDT, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and World Women’s Wrestling Diana. They met with Hiroshi Hase, the former pro wrestling star who now serves as Japan's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. Here's the list of those who attended the meeting: Hiroshi Hase (lower house minister, Liberal Democratic Party) Sports Board, Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry Representative (unnamed) Takaaki Kidani (Company director, Bushiroad Group) Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japan Pro-Wrestling) Naoki Sugabayashi (Chairman, New Japan Pro-Wrestling) Suwama (All Japan Pro-Wrestling) Takenori Fukuda (Representative Director, All Japan Pro-Wrestling) HARASHIMA (DDT Pro-Wrestling) Akira Takahashi (Operating Executive, DDT Pro-Wrestling) Naomichi Marufuji (Executive Vice President, NOAH Global Entertainment) Masashi Ishiguro (Head of Public Relations, NOAH Global Entertainment) Mayu Iwatani (STARDOM) Katsuhiko Harada (Representative Director, Bushiroad Fight) Yuka Sakazaki (Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling) Tetsuya Kouda (Representative, Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling) Kyoko Inoue (World Women’s Wrestling Diana) Taishi Fuwa (World Women’s Wrestling Diana) NJPW wrote that the representatives met with Hase "with the goal of presenting a request for coronavirus testing kits for wrestlers and staff in the industry, as well as support to cover pay for wrestlers as events have canceled under Japan’s current state of emergency in reaction to the virus."

Originally Posted by Observer There are a few changes to AEW's roster rankings this week. Cody has moved ahead of Chris Jericho and is now ranked second in the men's division. In the main event of last Wednesday's Dynamite, Cody defeated Shawn Spears to advance to the semifinals of the TNT Championship tournament. Britt Baker has fallen one spot in the women's division. She was ranked fourth prior to losing to Hikaru Shida on Dynamite last week. Best Friends have moved up two spots in the tag team division. They defeated Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa last week. Here are this week's full rankings: Men's division -- Champion: Jon Moxley (8-0 singles record in 2020, 13-2-1 overall record) Jake Hager (4-0 singles record in 2020, 5-0 overall record) Cody (6-1 singles record in 2020, 13-6-1 overall record Chris Jericho (0-1 singles record in 2020, 11-3-1 overall record) Kenny Omega (3-0 singles record in 2020, 19-7 overall record) Darby Allin (4-2 singles record in 2020, 9-9-1 overall record) Women's division -- Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1 singles record in 2020, 9-4 overall record) Hikaru Shida (7-1 singles record in 2020, 12-5 overall record) Kris Statlander (2-3 singles record in 2020, 6-6 overall record) Yuka Sakazaki (1-1 singles record in 2020, 1-4 overall record) Riho (3-3 singles record in 2020, 11-6 overall record) Britt Baker (2-3 singles record in 2020, 10-7 overall record) Tag team division -- Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0 tag team record in 2020, 19-7 overall record for Omega, 13-9 overall record for Page) The Dark Order (5-0 tag team record in 2020, 9-3 overall record for Evil Uno, 9-4 overall record for Stu Grayson) The Young Bucks (2-2 tag team record in 2020, 12-9 overall record for Nick Jackson, 12-9 overall record for Matt Jackson) Best Friends (4-3 tag team record in 2020, 10-14 overall record for Trent Barreta, 9-11 overall record for Chuck Taylor) SCU (2-3 tag team record in 2020, 16-7 overall record for Scorpio Sky, 16-6 overall record for Frankie Kazarian) The Lucha Bros (1-2 tag team record in 2020, 10-9 overall record for Pentagon Jr., 11-9 overall record for Fenix)

Originally Posted by Lucha Blog AAA is starting empty arena shows this Saturday at 8pm with plans of running them for the next four weeks. Will stream on YouTube and Facebook (oddly no Twitch.)

Originally Posted by PWI WWE has announced that they have officially postponed their annual meeting of shareholders, which was set to take place tomorrow. Expect other WWE announcements as the day continues.

Originally they announced they would hold a meeting but then immediately adjourn and announce a new date for it due to coronavirus issues.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE announced the following: WWE and Ad Council partner to launch national PSAs to raise awareness during COVID-19 pandemic As an extension of Ad Council’s ongoing efforts to ensure the American public is receiving critical and vetted information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the national nonprofit has partnered with WWE to launch a new suite of PSAs featuring WWE Champion Drew McIntyre, NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston that stress the importance of practicing good hygiene during these unprecedented times.

Originally Posted by Fightful Will Ospreay sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview ... While on the topic of a potential working relationship between AEW and New Japan, Ospreay feels that it won’t happen because of NJPW’s partnership with Ring of Honor and thinks that AEW and New Japan don’t necessarily need each other. “I don’t know. I think the main reason is we’re kind of in bed with Ring of Honor right now and I think New Japan has a very big loyalty to the guys and once again, people need to remember New Japan at one point we’re going to file for bankruptcy, and they stayed loyal to the guys and they were able to bring it back up and then when Ring of Honor wasn’t doing its best and was on the down, New Japan was one… even there were times where I thought it was questionable maybe. Like I don’t really know, but New Japan have still been like, ‘Oh no. We’ll help out every now and again. We’ll still use some of your guys so like, put them on the show. Hopefully it’ll increase their value a little bit.’ Guys like Jeff Cobb for example. But I don’t know. I just think it’s… the way I always see it is do we really need each other? I think from fans’ perspective, there are a lot of dream matches. We could probably book like a nine-match dream card right now just sitting here, but I think it’s more or less of the — AEW, and I’m saying it like, I love everything [that] AEW’s doing. I think it’s fantastic. It’s fine, it’s doing everything great. New Japan is doing everything great. We don’t really need each other. There’s nothing that can benefit either group. I don’t really know. Maybe we could argue that New Japan on TNT would probably help out a little bit but I just think… there’s something there and for me personally, I want it to happen but I’m not like, ‘Ahh! It must happen.’” Ospreay and Van Vliet dove into Ospreay’s Twitter back and forth with Seth Rollins from 2019. Ospreay said that according to people that he knows that are close to Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman was the one who told Rollins to apologize for the tweet about making more money than Ospreay. “I mean, I heard rumors — once again, these are only rumors but I’ve heard rumors that Paul Heyman told him to apologize. Paul Heyman’s a big supporter of mine and once again, Paul Heyman is Paul Heyman. I heard that he told Seth to apologize. I don’t know if that’s true or not but like, there’s kind of rumors going around backstage and I’ve got guys who are friends with Seth Rollins in New Japan who have told me this and I’m like, I don’t know if that’s true but it sounds about right.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling ESPN has a feature story up on their site and Boxing promoter Bob Arum is the focus of the piece. With the recent news that the state of Florida has deemed WWE an “essential business” so they can continue to run live shows, Arum said he’ll be in contact with WWE about potentially running events at the Performance Center and has discussed the idea with Todd Duboef who’s the president of Top Rank. “It’s very, very interesting, and we’re going to be in touch with them. There’s a possibility to use their facility to maybe do events without a crowd. We’re very close with Vince [McMahon] and the WWE. So let’s see, but we’re still not talking before June.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling According to a report from WrestlingINC, MJF, The Young Bucks, PAC, Big Swole, Fenix, Pentagon Jr., Nyla Rose and “Hangman” Adam Page were not a part of the recent AEW TV tapings, thus will not be appearing on Dynamite over the next several weeks.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The 2010 TNA Lockdown pay-per-view was covered by Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson on the latest 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff shared his thoughts about the six-sided ring and what he thought of it when he first came into the company. Bischoff stated that the idea behind keeping the ring at the time was to attract viewers who were surfing through channels, hoping that the six-sided ring caught their eye. “Because it was f*cking stupid… it was stupid. Here was the logic that I heard and I’m not gonna name names, alright? But here’s the logic that I heard: ‘Yeah! But when people are flipping through the channels, they’re gonna see that six-sided ring and stop and go, ‘Hey, what’s that? Maybe we should watch it.’ That was the entire psychology and strategy behind the six-sided ring. You’re hoping to build an audience because people are clicking — first of all, people don’t click through channels anymore. You punch in your number, you scroll up and down. I mean, even in 2010, it was an absurd rationale and psychology if you will, or strategy to come up with a six-sided ring for no other reason than to capture an audience that may be surfing channels or as it was put, clicking through channels and stop because they were going to see something that looked odd to them. Think about that. That’s pretty f*cking stupid, right?”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Christian joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore on the Hall Of Fame podcast and during the Q&A portion of the show, Christian was asked if Edge’s WWE 24 documentary made him consider a return to the ring. Christian was clear about his concussion issues in the past and added that he’s medically disqualified and doesn’t know how he’d even go about getting cleared. “I mean, it’s one of those things, right? It’s a completely different injury. You know, I’m pretty content with all that I’ve accomplished in WWE. I pretty much accomplished everything I wanted to do except main event WrestleMania and let’s be honest, how many people actually get a chance to do that? I’m 46 years old, and I had some concussion issues. It’s just a matter of… I don’t see it happening. I’m medically disqualified. I’m just not sure how I would ever get cleared.”

Originally Posted by Fightful WrestleMania 37 could be in trouble. According to the Los Angeles Times, an internal Los Angeles Fire Department email went around that discussed placing restrictions on large gatherings in the state for up to a year. Kurt Angle Released By WWE Related Article Kurt Angle Released By WWE Mayor Eric Garcetti indicated in a conference call that “large gatherings such as concerts and sporting events may not be approved in the city for at least 1 year" according to the email. Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar confirmed the mayor’s comments to the Times, saying, “The mayor was generally referencing studies of current and historical data and best practices for safely reopening our economy." There is no timeline for Los Angeles to resume hosting large scale events. WrestleMania 37 is scheduled to take place on March 28, 2021 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Construction has continued on SoFi Stadium, though work has been altered due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is unknown at this time if WrestleMania 37 will be affected.

Originally Posted by Fightful Before going on a hiatus for the foreseeable future, AEW taped months of content in Florida and Georgia. The tapings took place on a closed set at Daily's Place (Florida) and the Nightmare Factory (Georgia) before AEW suspended live operations. "When we first started, Brandi was adamant that we have a medical team. I rarely swing by the trainer's room but we also have a physio team. All the perks of a high-end wrestling company. She picked out Doc Sampson, who is famous for saving Jerry Lawler's life after his heart attack. He does not take shit from anybody. He set in a really rigorous amount of guidelines and everyone was able to follow them. You're quarantined in a hotel so we can keep the numbers under ten at the actual arena and then you're sanitizing a car steering wheel, the ropes are being sanitized, you're getting your temperature checked, you're getting quarantine questions a page long. You had to limit the people who are older individuals or people with immune illnesses of some kind, they can't be present because we don't want to put them in any risk, so we're doing interviews remotely. It's been an extreme challenge, but I wanted to be able to answer all challenges. Certain people really stepped up. Tony Khan, more than anybody," he said.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Next week’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring on VICE will focus in on the assassination of Dino Bravo and below is the trailer for the forthcoming episode:

TPWW Frontpage:

• Florida Governor Discusses WWE Being an “Essential Service,” Responds to Criticism
• Ratings: Dark Side of the Ring, WWE Backstage, WWE on FS1, Total Bellas
• WWE Releases Rusev, Angle, Rowan, Lio Rush, EC3, Anderson, Gallows, Maverick, Slater, Kanellis, More (Live Updates)
• WWE Furloughs Nine Producers, Including Lance Storm, Shane Helms, Finlay, More
• WWE Announces Upcoming Talent Cuts and Employee Furloughs
• Donald Trump Names Vince McMahon to a Council to Advise on Re-Opening the Economy