[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

After a COVID-19 outbreak that has greatly affected the promotion, WWE has made a number of changes ... The outbreak caused a change in the tapings schedule and more taping this week. NXT was to tape its shows for 7/1 and 7/8 on 7/1, which it did. It was supposed to tape 7/15 and 7/22 on 7/2, which has been moved to an upcoming set of tapings. Smackdown and 205 Live for 7/3 and 7/10 was taped on 7/2, while Raw and Main Event for 7/6 and 7/13 was to be taped on 7/3. It was noted that it was a lot safer keeping the Raw brand tapings on one night and Smackdown on the other, because taping both the same night and doing different weeks on different days led to an outbreak that hit both brands hard. Keeping the brands on separate days means, in theory, if there is another outbreak, it would only affect one brand. The WWE outbreak affected AEW, as Jon Moxley, on his own, decided it wasn’t prudent to come for the taping on 7/2 for the second night of Fyter Fest, where he was to face Brian Cage for the AEW title. Moxley took a second COVID test on 6/26 in Las Vegas. He got the test result on 6/30 or 7/1 and it was negative. Moxley is expected to return on the 7/15 live show, called Fight for the Fallen, provided he tests negative on a third test that will be taken in a few days. Even with the two negative tests, Moxley noted he was around someone who tested positive for several straight days and after talking to doctors felt there was still a risk he could have it in its early stages where it would not come up in a test but could be contagious. He didn’t want to risk the safety of the AEW locker room or be responsible for a new outbreak. Renee Young, his wife, has been doing much better. As of midweek, she still felt funny and her chest felt heavy but overall felt a lot better.

The only names public from WWE who tested positive were Renee Young, who went public without telling WWE, and Kayla Braxton, Jamie Noble and Adam Pearce. It’s pretty much impossible to believe Noble or Pearce would have gone public on their own so it appears WWE wanted a few names out of people that the fans wouldn’t care about since they aren’t active wrestles. Due to HIPPA laws, WWE could not release the names of anyone who tested positive without their permission. Braxton did give them her permission in March to release her name but they did not. One anonymous WWE name told Wrestlinginc.com that the company has forbid any talent who contracted it to go public. It is known that they were not happy at all that Young posted what she did. It was said that the company would take care of all medical treatment and that the public relations department would handle all information to the public. Talent that had been appearing on television regularly of late that were not on the tapings included The Street Profits, A.J. Styles, Austin Theory, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Randy Orton, Natalya, Nia Jax, Otis, Tucker, Mojo Rawley, Shorty G, Raquel Gonzalez, Rey Mysterio, Dominick, Sheamus, Shorty G and Sonya Deville. What is known is that some of those names tested positive, at least one was held off for precautionary reasons, some asked for time off so as not to risk their families due to the outbreak, and some were not originally booked this week. There were no answers as to who fit into the latter two scenarios. The Mysterios were definitely booked to appear live and instead did a taped segment from home. One would think, but given WWE nothing is for sure, that with the number of positive tests being 6/23 to 6/25, that anyone who tested positive would be home until 7/8 at the earliest. What we do know is that Styles vs. Drew Gulak, advertised for 6/26, and neither Styles nor Bryan was at the show, and both were in the ring with Young being interviewed the week before, didn’t happen. Gulak was the only one of the four there. However, Styles vs,. Gulak was taped on 7/2. Sheamus’ segment with Jeff Hardy was pulled from 6/26 but also advertised on 7/2, so if that’s the case, Sheamus in theory would be off the list, as would be, at least in theory, who was on the list who appears on the 7/3 Smackdown or 7/6 Raw show. Regarding The Street Profits, if something happened to one, it would make sense for neither to appear. Theory was not even mentioned on Raw when Seth Rollins and Murphy were on screen ... It’s also known that Natalya did not test positive but was taken off the show because her husband, producer T.J. Wilson, was sick on the day of testing and even though he also didn’t test positive, when he was sick they took her off the show. Morgan, Rose, Deville and Lana were all on a boat trip together days before the testing. Lana was the only one on television. Some have noted that a major issue to some talent is how other talent is not taking it seriously enough. One person noted to us that they basically go to work, and to the store, and that’s it, while others are out at bars hanging out with no masks in close quarters, or boats, or hot tubs, crowded beaches, or gyms, with the risk they can get it, and bring it in the room ... Rawley and Shorty G had their match the week before agented by Noble. The Pearce name was also notable because of how closely he worked the week before with the major power players at the tapings.

After two weeks of increases with a show built around Christian wrestling and Championship Monday, Raw, even with Ric Flair and Big Show pushed, fell to 1,735,000 viewers, which tied for the third lowest number in modern wrestling history. The 0.49 in 18-49 tied the 6/1 show for the second lowest number in the key demo in the history of the show. The record lows remain 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49, set on 5/4. Raw was 25th overall, fourth among non-news shows and tied for fourth for the night in 18-49. It was first in Males 18-49 and Males 12-34. Raw was down 9.7 percent in viewers and 7.5 percent in 18-49 from last week’s show. As compared to the same week one year ago, Raw was down 23.8 percent in viewers and 32.9 percent in 18-49 ... If this becomes the normal pattern, the key is now that instead of record low numbers while attempting to rebuild and create new stars, the show will be doing record lows while at the same time going to the past trying to use stars from the past to stabilize while not pushing younger talent. There is no guarantee the first method will pay off. There is a guarantee the second method won’t, and it was basically the mindset that killed WCW until it was too late, although WWE still has far less out of touch with the audience creative. This creative is just not making new stars.

Smackdown on 6/26, a show changed at the last minute due to COVID test positives, to be a tribute to The Undertaker, was up to a 1.37 rating and 2,174,000 viewers (1.32 viewers per home) and did the same 0.5 (685,000 viewers) in 18-49 the show has been doing weekly. The rating was up 2.2 percent. Viewers were up 4.9 percent. 18-49 was up 3.2 percent. The other three networks all ran rerun programming. Smackdown tied a repeat of Shark Tank and 20/20 on ABC for first place at 0.5. It was first in 18-34 and first in men 18-49, while tied for fourth in women 18-49 and tied for last in 50+ ... The increase over last week was for The Undertaker special as the first hour did 2,271,000 viewers which was Undertaker clips and the Undertaker vs. A.J. Styles Boneyard match from WrestleMania. The second hour did 2,076,000 viewers. Last year FOX with rerun programming did 1,318,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49, an increase of 64.9 percent overall and 25.0 percent in 18-49.

The summer period is pretty much where Smackdown is almost guaranteed to do better than what FOX had last year since its usually the weakest period of the year for FOX in terms of ratings.

For 6/27, in the key demos, AEW still won everywhere except Women 18-34. In total, AEW had 285,000 viewers to NXT’s 242,000, which is the closest of the year ... The show actually started at normal levels, so in 18-49, NXT grew and AEW fell tremendously as the show went on. NXT still had a major edge because its lead-in did 993,000 viewers while AEW’s lead-in did 342,000 viewers. The main event segment, where NXT had the Keith Lee win over Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano in a North American title match, and AEW had the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy angle, saw the huge win over NXT, by 852,000 to 557,000, as well as a win in 18-49 by 277,000 to 238,000. The two quarters of the main event were the first two quarters NXT has won in 18-49 this year. It was also the highest rated main event NXT had done head-to-head. The lowest quarter AEW had ever done prior to last week was 606,000 for the seventh quarter on 4/29, a figure they died on 6/27 in quarter four and full underneath in quarters seven and eight. The first quarter, with AEW having Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus in a lumberjack match, did 744,000 viewers and 379,000 in 18-49, which ended up as the high point of the show in both numbers. NXT had Cameron Grimes vs. Damien Priest plus Timothy Thatcher, which did 794,000 viewers but only 207,000 in 18-49. In the second quarter, AEW lost 62,000 viewers and 74,000 in 18-49 with Hikaru Shida vs. Red Velvet, the Shida-Penelope Ford brawl and the Cody and Jake Hager press conference. Even though they lost big, it was the only quarter AEW won in total viewers because NXT fell harder. NXT lost 118,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for Santos Escobar vs. Jake Atlas and the Undisputed Era psychiatrist segment. In the third quarter, AEW lost 35,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 with the Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss vignette and Janela & Kiss vs. Brodie Lee & Colt Cabana. NXT gained 66,000 viewers and 32,000 in 18-49 with Malcolm Bivens with Rinku & Saurav and a video package promoting the three-way main event. That’s the difference with AEW and NXT, is that AEW’s video packages to promote the future are necessarily evils but don’t do well in keeping viewers while NXT gained viewers doing its package. In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 41,000 viewers and 3,000 in 18-49 for FTR vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian. NXT gained 53,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter. In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 24,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for the ending of FTR vs. Daniels & Kazarian, the post-match brawl with the Young Bucks and Butcher & Blade, as well as a promotional package for Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends. NXT gained 19,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Karrion Kross vs. Bronson Red, an Adam Cole interview and Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah. In the sixth quarter, AEW lost 12,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for a Jon Moxley promo and Brian Cage vs. Joe Cruz. NXT lost 2,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis and a vignette with Robert Stone, Aliyah, William Regal and Rhea Ripley. In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 40,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for Matt Hardy vs. Santana. NXT lost 11,000 viewers but gained 15,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Balor. In the final quarter, AEW lost 31,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy angle. NXT gained 51,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Lee vs. Balor vs. Gargano.

That lead-in number from TNT might have been the lowest ever since AEW's debut. Also been a key reason why NXT has been able to win the first 1-2 segments in recent weeks because of their much stronger lead-in.

The biggest Wednesday night competition of the year took place as part of the two-week Fyter Fest vs. Great American Bash promotion. Both sides can claim victory in week one, with NXT having more viewers due to its huge edge over 50, but AEW winning solidly in the key 18-49 demo ... NXT did 792,000 viewers for a show built around Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks, which figured to be the strongest drawing match on either show and did a 0.22 in 18-49 (284,000 viewers). It was its second best overall number of the year and sixth best in 18-49. AEW did 748,000 viewers and did a 0.29 (372,000 viewers) in 18-49, good numbers but in a sense disappointing given the weeks of hype for Fyter Fest. AEW was No. 6 for the night in 18-49 ... NXT was No. 13, its best position in recent memory in the 18-49 listings ... NXT and USA in competition announced limited commercial interruptions on the show, and going with no commercials for the main event. That would have contributed somewhat to an increase in the show’s numbers but the minute-by-minute data isn’t available at press time to fully examine how much difference it made. Based on the usual loss of viewers during commercials, it would have made a minor difference in the overall ratings, not enough to change NXT winning in total viewers, but the gap would be a little closer ... NXT won the first two quarters in total viewers based somewhat on having a bigger lead-in. AEW won quarters three through five, and then as the build came for the NXT main event, it took back over. Still, even with a giant difference in viewers, with the Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks doing 900,000 viewers to the Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Best Friends match doing 645,000, AEW still had the edge in 18-49 by a 316,000 to 309,000 range. But AEW lost a huge amount of viewership in the last 45 minutes while NXT stayed pretty steady until a huge increase in the final quarter, with the no commercials playing a part in this ... AEW had the deeper show and better match quality, but NXT having a unique never-seen-before main event made a difference. NXT for that reason, should also win next week with total viewers, and has a good shot to come close in 18-49, with the Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee double title match on 7/8 likely going against Omega & Page vs. Private Party. AEW again has the deeper show but no match that can come close to Cole vs. Lee with the winner-take-all stipulations, in what is easily the biggest NXT match so far this year ... Still, AEW without weeks of hype did 770,000 viewers two weeks ago for a show headlined by Best Friends vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara, which also went against Bayley and Banks on NXT. The 0.29 was less than the 5/27 show. NXT’s 0.22 was its best 18-49 mark since 3/6, which was a lifetime ago. The combined 18-49 viewers of 656,000 beat Monday solidly, and fell just shy of the 685,000 for Friday, which has the huge network advantage ... The show opened with AEW having Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy vs. Wardlow & MJF, doing 799,000 viewers and 425,000 in 18-49. The 425,000 was the high point of the show for either group in 18-49. NXT had Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae vs. Mia Yim which did 839,000 viewers and 287,000 in 18-49. Quarter two saw AEW lost 72,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49 for a Lance Archer/Joey Janela quick brawl, a promo package and the beginning of Penelope Ford vs. Hikaru Shida. NXT lost 51,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for the end of the women’s four-way match and a Damien Priest interview. Quarter three saw AEW gain 60,000 viewers but actually lose 1,000 in 18-49 for Shida vs. Ford. NXT lost 86,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Timothy Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan, so this was where AEW took the viewership lead 787,000 to 702,000. Quarter four saw AEW lose 4,000 viewers but gain 7,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Cody vs. Jake Hager. NXT gained 62,000 viewers and 7,000 in 18-49 for Rhea Ripley vs. Robert Stone & Aliyah. Quarter five saw AEW gain 31,000 viewers and 19,000 in18-49 for the ending of Cody vs. Hager, a Darby Allin video and the beginning of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz. This was AEW’s peak overall number with 814,000. NXT gained 12,000 viewers but lost 8,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Roderick Strong vs. Dexter Lumis in a strap match. Quarter six saw AEW lost 90,000 viewers and 45,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz and the Jericho-Cassidy pull-apart brawl. NXT gained 8,000 viewers and lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Strong vs. Lumis and the Adam Cole/Keith Lee video package. Quarter seven saw AEW lost 15,000 viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 for plugging next week and the beginning of Omega & Page vs. Best Friends. NXT lost 2,000 viewers and 6,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Shirai vs. Banks. Quarter eight, and this is where the no commercials made a difference, AEW lost 64,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for Omega & Page vs. Best Friends while NXT gained 118,000 viewers and 40,000 in 18-49 for Shirai vs. Banks ... Cody, in promoting Fyter Fest on Busted Open radio, commented on the uniqueness of WWE using the name of one of his father’s creations, the Great American Bash, at the last minute to combat their two shows. It’s noted that his sister Teil, was very upset about it and said WWE should pay her mother royalties.

NEW JAPAN: The current backstage rules in place related to talent and staff for the live events right now are that talent undergoes temperature checks twice daily and has to keep a log of every person they’ve been in contact with between tests. They are tested constantly. Locker rooms are zoned and have staggered entry. All conversations are supposed to be limited. The previous buffet-style catering has been done away with. Instead, the promotion brings containers of food and beverages with the names of the individual on them. The ring and ringside area are disinfected between matches

Malaysia Pro Wrestling is going to offer a new form of pro wrestling. Malaysia Pro is being recognized by the government of the country as a legitimate sport as opposed to entertainment, by tweaking things to make it similar to a judging sport like figure skating or gymnastics. They are looking at doing a competitive sports show next year where the matches will be graded by judges and it will be competition. I’ve never heard of this idea being used, but in the past, both Nick Bockwinkel and Eric Bischoff have come up with similar ideas but were never able to get them off the ground. Both had approached me with those ideas at different times and Bockwinkel had asked me about being one of the judges

The NWA has released Zicky Dice. Dice had considerable locker room heat for not selling for people and when he was told he needed to improve his work and his attitude he asked for his release. William Corgan granted him that because the idea is they only want team players. The NWA, with David Lagana gone, is restructuring the company on both the business and wrestling sides, with veteran wrestlers taking on advisory positions and more collaboration between the office the wrestlers

Bully Ray’s contract expired and he wasn’t given an offer for a new deal because ROH isn’t offering people new deals right now. The company likes him but aside from Danhausen, because they build a storyline around it, nobody whose deals are up are getting new offers right now. There are expectations that once they start running things may change, including having interest in Alex Zayne, who had just started when the pandemic hit, and Tony Deppen

As part of the 7/15 Fight for the Fallen show, AEW and the Khan family are donating $1 million for COVID relief

The WWE purchase of the Evolve intellectual property and tape library is believed to have been finalized. It was more a question of when since we reported it those close said it was basically done at the time. WWE had already had a clause, similar to Progress and the other U.K. groups that it worked with, that WWE could buy the promotion for a set price whenever it wanted. PW Insider reported that somebody was interested in buying Evolve but that clause made it so they couldn’t sell without WWE’s agreeing to it because of the clause. But WWE at that point would have had to buy it themselves and agreed to do so. Sal Hamaoui, who ran Evolve with Gabe Sapolsky since its inception, will continue to promote shows under the WWN banner with his FIP, Shine and ACW brands. Gabe Sapolsky will not be involved any longer as he is expected to be working full-time for WWE as part of NXT creative. Some of the better Evolve talent may also get developmental deals. Basically, it appears they needed the money from the sale to pay back the money owed to fans and others for the costs of having to cancel all the WrestleMania week shows. So while this was probably inevitable at some point, it happened at this specific point because of COVID likely speeding up the process since over Mania week is when they would have gotten a large percentage of their annual income. The tape library sold includes that of the old Dragon Gate USA promotion. The promotion had been hanging by a thread ever since the Flo Sports deal fell apart in 2016 and was kept alive by its relationship with WWE, even though its fan base hated that it had become an NXT farm club. Lenny Leonard, who has announced for these groups for years, said that between the sale and the pandemic, there is a chance that he has called his last pro wrestling match

Sane, 31, is returning to Japan to be with her husband. This has been in the works for a while and the company has known about it since May if not earlier. Sane was injured by Jax legit by being thrown into the ring steps hard when she was too close to the steps to control her bump on a Raw match taped on 5/26, which had to be stopped and was edited before it aired on television on 6/1. That’s why she hasn’t been around since, although she is cleared and is scheduled to appear on Raw soon as she is listed for the 7/3 tapings which would be for 7/6 and/or 7/13. But the decision at the time was to not harp on the injury on television nor talk about it at all publicly which is why they never played it up and her name hasn’t been talked about. The idea in play before the Sane-Jax legit injury was to do a career-ending injury angle with her later when it was time for her to leave, which was to set up Asuka against that person at SummerSlam for the title. This is also likely changed since Heyman left, and the person who would have most likely (not confirmed) been put in that spot would be either Flair, who may or may not be back by then, or Baszler, who Vince removed from television. The only thing we know is the person who ended her career was not scheduled to be Jax. While there’s been no talk about it of late, there had been talk that once her contract with WWE was up that she would wrestle one more year in Japan and then retire

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Mark Henry; 2. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five; 3. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode four; 4. Backlash PPV; 5. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode one; 6. Best Raw matches of the decade; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode three; 8. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode two; 9. Best of Undertaker; 10. WWE top ten savage kendo stick attacks. NXT from 6/24 was No 11 and Raw Talk was No. 13