[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI William Regal tweeted the following: Serving as the General Manager or #WWENXT has been an incredible honor. To see the men and women of this brand over the last couple of months has been inspiring and invigorating. Tonight’s major announcement will be yet another step forward for @WWENXT. — William Regal (@RealKingRegal) July 22, 2020

This is either the announcement of the next Takeover for SummerSlam weekend, the rumored all-women Evolution 2 event, or him stepping down as GM based on how the wording of his tweet feels.

Originally Posted by PWI We are told Cody's Open Challenge will open tonight's AEW Dynamite broadcast. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager vs. Jurrasic Express will main event. Over the weekend on his Saturday Night Special broadcast, Chris Jericho noted the original idea for the "juicing" of the Inner Circle was for Orange Cassidy to drive an Orange Juice truck in and hose them down but Daily's Place wouldn't lend itself to that happening. AEW action figures are already popping up on shelves ar Wal-Mart ahead of their 8/3 release. You can order them at www.RingsideCollectibles.com as well.

Originally Posted by PWI FS1 has rescheduled their airing of SummerSlam 1992 from next week until Tuesday, August 4th at 7:00pm

Originally Posted by PWI Bobby Fulton's son posted the following on Fulton's Facebook page at his request. Fulton, who is currently hospitalized after having surgery to repair a bleeding artery, was misinformed that he had a recurrence of his throat cancer due to the wording that was used in the Emergency Room. He is, thankfully, still cancer-free. Fulton wrote: "Two powerful words IS and WAS. On Sunday morning I woke up and was spitting a large amount of blood out of my mouth. It really scared me, I called Ed Wilson and Josh Hines and they took me to the James Emergency Room. Upon getting back to the room, they gave me a CT Scan, when we got back to the emergency room, I was laying in the bed, and 5-6 people were surrounding me and they said we found the problem. There is an artery in your throat near your nose that the radiation that kind of messed up, and it is finally blown and that’s what’s bleeding, it IS right by where your tumor IS. I asked one of the people standing there does that mean I have cancer, one shook their head up and down yes. They said the artery IS where the tumor IS. They began discussing a plan to take care of this artery, they were going to destroy it and close it down. So I go, and as we’re going the artery IS where the tumor IS. So finally I asked, do I have cancer to another person, and they said we didn’t see any evidence of it (PRAISE GOD!). So I said to another person that they’ve been telling me the artery was near where the tumor IS. That person told me they should have used the word WAS and not IS. And I said, yes it makes a big difference. I’m thankful that at this time, I can say I’m cancer free. I’m thankful for all the prayers and all the love you all continue to show me. That’s why it is always important to choose your words wisely. There’s a big difference between IS and WAS."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Stephanie McMahon-Levesque spoke with Jeanine Poggi of AdAge on a series of subjects related to WWE’s handling of their business during the pandemic and adjustments they have made since March including testing procedures. She also went into details regarding social changes that the company is addressing internally, below are some notes from the discussion: -They considered it a responsibility to continue with their programming and brought up their job as “putting smiles on faces” -Adjustments during the pandemic have included how to shoot from different camera angles and also encouraging their announcers to fill more with their words rather than layout for an audience to react -They have placed a virtual ceiling into their programming as an example of augmented reality noting that the ceiling fan in the WWE PC doesn’t look the best and enhanced the audio with crowd sweetening and have taken feedback when they’ve overdone it with the canned audio -She said something very interesting about learning during this period that people want to connect with the individual and see them “less polished”, which has often been a criticism of WWE -McMahon repeated that the shows are voluntary noting that some wrestlers and crew did opt-out and they support that. They are doing more advanced testing rather than the rapid testing along with pandemic-level cleaning every night as well as mentioning the spray they are using that Paul Levesque brought up recently during a conference call -After people pass their test, they still have to go through temperature checks and fill out a form before they enter -She said that 21% of their audience is African-American and mentioned different initiatives that have been launched by talent including New Day wearing armbands, Montez Ford & Bianca Belair launching their site, and other examples adding that representation is important and said 40% of their current champions are African-American across their brands -They have had examples of African-American talent telling them something didn’t feel comfortable to them and they are willing to have those conversations and take that feedback -They don’t provide medical insurance for their independent contractors but cover all injuries and take care of those with alcohol and substance abuse issues -They have experimented with “cinematic matches” and noted that the usage of Metallica for the Boneyard Match was because the band’s music was going to be part of The Undertaker’s entrance at WrestleMania in its original planning -WWE Network consumption is up 67% during this period and an increase of their YouTube consumption by 70% -Joked that Vince McMahon was the only one that was still going to the office when discussing employees working remotely -They delayed the move to their new headquarters and are re-evaluating what they need as a company in this new reality

The stuff about them piping in crowd noise since the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" confirms the suspension I had about WWE's shows since then since they've done a pretty poor job with it for matches. Feels even more fake or blatant than when they used to do it for taped Smackdown shows.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling ESPN has a feature on Orange Cassidy and his unique connection along with winning over skeptics since joining AEW. The article features comments from Cassidy, as well as Tony Khan, Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Jim Ross. Khan admitted he wasn’t too familiar with Cassidy and didn’t have big plans for him when AEW until he started spending time with Cassidy after his appearance in the Casino Battle Royal at Double or Nothing in May 2019. Khan added that’s he has become a big merchandise mover and that TNT is big fans of the character. Khan wanted to prolong Cassidy having his first “real” match when he faced PAC at the Revolution event this past February. The piece also discusses how it’s been more difficult for a character like Cassidy without a live audience during the pandemic.

Link: https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/...ly-even-trying

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On Tuesday’s episode of AEW Dark, Darby Allin defeated Robert Anthony and was attacked by Brian Cage after the match. Following Cage’s attack, Ricky Starks came out and attacked Allin. Cage and Starks bumped fists after their attack with Taz noting on commentary that it was “business” and he would explain on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Sky Sport in Italy has announced that All Elite Wrestling is coming to the network.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling This Friday’s edition of Lion’s Break Collision will feature the following four matches at 10 pm Eastern on New Japan World: *Jeff Cobb vs. Karl Fredericks *Rocky Romero & Rust Taylor vs. TJP & Clark Connors *Misterioso vs. Danny Limelight *Tom Lawlor vs. Alex Coughlin

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Major League Baseball begins its shortened season on Thursday as several leagues get ready to launch or resume their season. The NHL is set for a series of exhibition games and then begin its 24-team playoff format on Saturday, August 1st, and immediately go into the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Stanley Cup Finals are set to begin on September 22nd and end no later than October 4th. The NBA resumes its season on Friday, July 30th with 22 teams returning to play with the NBA Finals going no later than October 13th. The first round of the playoffs begins August 17th, the conference semi-finals start August 31st, the conference finals will begin September 15th, and the NBA Finals start September 30th. To get a sense of the response from advertisers, Fox Sports executive Seth Winter tells SBJ that 90% of its regular-season MLB package is sold. In the piece, Winter noted that they moved a lot of the advertisers who had paid for spots in the spring into the shortened season at the same rate. Among new advertisers, Fox is seeing a 5-10% increase with lots of spending from political parties ahead of the U.S. election, financial services, soft drinks, the retail & tech sectors have also been strong while areas like airlines, casual dining, automotive service, hotel, and travel have been softer.

WWE's (and AEW and Impact to a degree) inability to grow and gain a strong viewership foothold during the coronavirus pandemic is about to come back to bite them very hard.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On this date in 2001, the WWF presented its most successful non-WrestleMania pay-per-views ever with the Invasion card from the former Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. While the storyline was a disaster both in hindsight and at the time, the novelty of a pay-per-view built around inter-promotional matches was gigantic for the fanbase. After initially targeting a WWF vs. WCW dream scenario following the former’s purchase of the company in March 2001, it was quickly extinguished with a horrendous main event between Booker T. and Buff Bagwell in Tacoma, Washington on the July 2, 2001 episode of Raw. There was such negativity to the segment that Vince McMahon second-guessed everything to the extent of giving up on WCW as a standalone entity that they had booked tour dates for. The following week, they rescued the angle by injecting ECW into the invasion with Paul Heyman revealed as the mastermind working alongside Shane & Stephanie McMahon. They blew through months of ideas in one memorable episode of Raw ending with the formation of “The Alliance” as ECW’s intellectual property was not controlled by the WWF this early. A forgotten aspect to the hype surrounding the pay-per-view was the go-home episode of Raw that built to the climax of Steve Austin coming to the aid of Team WWF and signaling a return to his babyface character after months of forcing his heel persona on television that negatively impacted business without a strong babyface foil. The pop for Austin’s run-in during the final segment of Raw was monstrous and I’ve always credited a portion of the success of that pay-per-view to that closing angle with Austin. Six days later, they turned Austin back as a heel joining The Alliance and the invasion fizzled throughout the summer and fall before finally yanking the plug at that year’s Survivor Series. The following year, the company tried its own spin of the promotional war by splitting Raw and SmackDown for the inaugural brand split. This concept received more time and patience than the invasion but still showed the weakness in the company’s ability to execute a true split and create their own competition. However, all the key components that would have enhanced the invasion angle slowly made their way to the WWF afterward. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, and Bill Goldberg would arrive over the next 18 months after ending the invasion. It was part of the problem that WWF didn’t see any big stars on the WCW roster they had at the start with The Alliance propped up by established WWF talent. The Invasion card featured a five-man Alliance team of Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T., Rhino & The Dudley Boyz vs. Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho & Kane. The card drew a reported 760,000 buys and displayed a massive demand from the audience for the concept of WWF vs. WCW, even with a watered-down version of who fans saw as WCW’s franchise stars. The conclusion to the dream scenario of WWF vs. WCW at the Survivor Series in 2001 was 450,000 buys and an Alliance teams consisting of Austin, Angle, Booker T., Rob Van Dam, and Shane McMahon that says everything right there.

Found this article interesting considering the repercussions of WWE's botched handling of the Invasion storyline not only costed them a huge chunk of WCW fans who had crossed over after WCW shut down but also a huge chunk of their own viewership. Think around a third of their overall viewership left for good shortly after the Invasion storyline ended.

Originally Posted by Fightful According to multiple SEC filings, Vince and Stephanie McMahon along with Triple H have sold portions of their WWE stock. The filing notes that Vince, the Chief Executive Officer of WWE, has sold 12,762 shares of class A common stock at $46.26, which is roughly $590,370. Executive Vice President Triple H sold 10,628 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $491,651 while his wife, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, sold 11,167 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $516,585. Executive Producer Kevin Dunn also sold a portion of his class A common stock, disposing of 21,809 shares at $46.26, which is roughly $1,008,884. EVP Bradley Bradley Blum (6,735 shares), SVP Brian Nurse (146 shares), and SVP Mark Kowal (2,613 shares) also disposed of portions of their stock, all at $46.26 a share.

Originally Posted by Fightful Kairi Sane is looking to wrap up her time in WWE, but Monday wasn't the last time that we've seen her. Fightful has been told that Kairi is set for next Monday's Raw as well, but weren't told in what capacity. Both episodes have since been filmed. WWE has made a big effort to retain Kairi, and pitched several ideas to keep her on the payroll, and more specifically, away from other companies. Many of these ideas included her returning to Japan to work in a variety of capacities from an ambassador to a trainer.

Originally Posted by Fightful Adam Pearce appears to have recovered from COVID-19. Posting on social media, Pearce tweeted a picture of him holding the NWA title with a drawing that is supposed to reference COVID-19 and had the caption #AndStill. This comes after Pearce announced on June 25 that he tested positive for COVID-19. Pearce is the latest to have recovered from COVID-19 as Kayla Braxton has also returned to WWE television recently after testing positive for COVID-19 a second time. Pearce works as a producer for WWE. He was the second person to disclose a positive COVID-19 test since it was reported in late June that multiple people in the company tested positive for the virus. Renee Young disclosed on Wednesday night that she tested positive for the virus. It is unknown the exact number of people who have tested positive in WWE. WWE talent are not required to disclose positive COVID-19 tests.

Link: https://twitter.com/ScrapDaddyAP/sta...50492341866497

And the TNA belt Moose is using is a eBay counterfeit made in Pakistan.

— Dan Beltzer (@BeltFanDan) July 20, 2020

TPWW Frontpage:

• AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight
• Chris Jericho’s Wrestling Cruise Postponed Until October 2021
• WWE Reportedly Planned to Relaunch the Nation of Domination
• Curt Hawkins Appears on Impact