Wrestling News & Rumors

[Evil Vito]

I didn’t mind Corbin in 2016 when they brought back the roster split. But at the same time they didn’t overuse him like they do now.

Cannot possibly imagine what they see in him to make him such an omnipresent part of programming.

[drave]

A lack of heels.

[Lock Jaw]

When Drew McIntyre/Baron Corbin/Bobby Lashley were the top heels of RAW I felt like we were in the bleakest of times

[drave]

hellish, one might say.


Doubtful I was watching, but glad I wasn't from the sound of it.

[Lock Jaw]

Just endless months of Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. some combination of those three

[Jordan]

I am a Corbin fan. He eats great cuts of beef and drinks good liquor, a true king!

[Evil Vito]

Originally Posted by Lock Jaw Just endless months of Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. some combination of those three

And it was only like a year and a half ago. I checked out around that time and just shook my head reading the results.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI On 6/26, WWE applied to trademark "Wrestle War" for G & S: Entertainment services, namely, a show about professional wrestling; entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing wrestling news and information through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information. Of course, Wrestlewar was the title of WCW PPVs held from 1989 through 1992, including the final chapter of the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat trilogy. WWE also applied to trademark "Bella Army" for G & S: Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered live and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment

Originally Posted by PWI On today's edition of "The Bump", Alexa Bliss discussed her upcoming WWE branded podcast, "Uncool with Alexa Bliss." Bliss said the concept of the show would be her interviewing celebrities and WWE personalities, discussing their life before they attained a level of fame. Bliss said that she has already interviewed her childhood idols on the show and that the podcast would be coming later this summer.

Originally Posted by PWI Batista tweeted the following, revealing his involvement with The Princess Bride remake on Quibi: I'm honored to work with @JasonReitman supporting Chef José Andrés' @wckitchen with @DavidSpade @RainnWilson @JasonSegel! Thanks to a $1 million donation from @Quibi, 100,000 meals were funded! Check out our homemade fan film the Princess Bride! https://t.co/HR27NkWesx pic.twitter.com/JqWksCt9B2 — Super Duper Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) June 30, 2020 From the preview, Bautista will be playing the role of Fezzik.

Link: https://twitter.com/DaveBautista/sta...87284105691139

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Becky Lynch was a guest on The Bellas Podcast to discuss her news of learning she was pregnant earlier this year, and some scenarios laid out to drop the Raw women’s title she held ... Lynch said that she pitched the idea of dropping the Raw women’s title to Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania 36, which was taped near the end of the March. Lynch’s pitch wasn’t taken as she defeated Baszler at the show. Lynch would reveal she was pregnant during the May 11th episode of Raw where the title was presented to Asuka following her win in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match ... Becky Lynch says she pitched to lose the RAW Women’s Title at WrestleMania 36/being pregnant while holding the title: "So, I don’t know about you guys but you know, you have your goals and you’re working towards everything but in the back of your mind, I always wanted to be a mother, I always wanted to have a family, and I knew that… just because — so I started wrestling when I was 15, and just everything, bodybuilding… is that a word? I do bodybuilding competitions, all kinds of stuff. So I just felt like I had probably damaged my body a lot. So, I knew, okay, I wanna try and have a baby before 35, and then I met Colby [Seth Rollins] and I was like, ‘Well, perfect. This is my person,’ and so this was always the plan because originally I was like, ‘Well, okay, I’ll wait until I’m done wrestling then I’ll have a family.’ Then I started thinking, ‘Wait. But wait, why do I have to do that? Guys don’t have to do that. Hell, I’ll just do it whenever the time feels right.’ So we started trying and I just thought it would take a long time, and it didn’t. We were super lucky. It happened before I would’ve expected and I was still the champ at the time which I actually thought I was going to lose the title at WrestleMania, which I also pitched but that’s neither here or there. But plans change. So yeah, when we came back from filming WrestleMania, I was feeling sick already and so this was even too early to take a test and so then I got the early response ones which are the ones with the lines and so, I took one of them and Colby didn’t even know that I took it and just one line popped up real quick but I didn’t even read the instructions so I was like, ‘Oh, it’s the negative line’ and I was like, ‘I am so not pregnant’ and I threw it into the bin and then we came back from the gym that night and I took it out and I was like, ‘Oh wait, hang on. There’s a second line here’ and so then I went to him and I was like, ‘Is that a second line?’ And then we Googled it and then it said it was like an evaporation line if you wait too long and so I was like, ‘Okay, that’s probably it.’" Ideas Becky pitched to creatively relinquish the RAW Women’s Title/wanted to do a tournament: "So then, it was like, ‘Is there a way that she [Shayna Baszler] can just beat me real quick?’ Colby’s like, ‘No! No! You’re not — no!’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re right.’ Then we talked a lot and then decided, ‘Well okay, what if there’s a tournament for the #1 contendership?’ So the people, they don’t know that they’re actually gonna be competing for the title and then right as they go to have that last match, whoever gets there at the end then I tell them, ‘This is for the title.’ But, Money In The Bank was happening at the same time so it was too confusing to merge the two so they just decided that they would do the Money In The Bank Ladder match and have that as the title match essentially but without them knowing." Becky not being a fan of WWE marketing her as “The Mom”: "Actually, but I really didn’t want to be marketed as ‘The Mom’. I told Colby, I was like, ‘Man, they’re gonna make me The Mom, I know it. I know it’ and he’s like, ‘No, they’re not.’ Soon as I said it, freaking t-shirt came out."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Tonight, AEW and NXT kick off their two-weeks specials of Fyter Fest and the Great American Bash with both sides loading up their events that have added intrigue following last week’s performance from NXT. Fyter Fest has been promoted for the last month with the significance of a pay-per-view but presented on free television. NXT revealed they would hold a double title match on July 8th going against the second week of Fyter Fest prior to branding both July 1st and July 8th as the Great American Bash, a name coined by Dusty Rhodes when booking for Jim Crockett Promotions ... For tonight, AEW has matches involving Cody, Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and MJF as its biggest stars on the show. The promotional pieces for Cody and Jake Hager show a simple but effective build and are the best candidate to headline the show. I can see them opening the show with the AEW tag title match as both shows need to start big to grab viewers and hopefully, hold onto them. NXT will also have limited commercial breaks that will invariably frontload the show. NXT has the added task of building up to next week’s episode that has the double title match while AEW has their card set for July 8th. The outstanding question regards Jon Moxley and whether he will be available or not for the match with Brian Cage, which would be taping on Thursday. NXT has picked up steam over the past week off the fumes of last week’s number and a strong list of matches they have revealed. When announced over the weekend, Io Shirai vs. Sasha Banks gained a lot of attention as a first-time match and could be a difference-maker viewership-wise. Creatively, I’ve found NXT to be in a rut where it’s broken away from its initial calling card of being a strong wrestling show with minimal outside elements. There is nothing wrong with episodes heavy on promos, skits, and content outside of Full Sail, but it hasn’t been riveting quality. The Undisputed Era’s feuds with Velveteen Dream and Dexter Lumis have felt like a drain on its audience, Roderick Strong is playing a paranoid character out of a different era and is the style of presentation NXT broke away from during the brand’s initial rise six years ago, and Rhea Ripley has fallen in the wake of the Charlotte Flair feud and almost feels like a call-up would be necessary to hit the “reset” button on her. It’s been offset by a strong introduction of Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux as a tremendous main event act and it was a major feather in the caps of Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor to perform so well in last week’s numbers with a quality match to boot.

John Pollock's thoughts on NXT's creative changes in recent times is pretty much similar to what I have had for a while now. In the past, whenever NXT booking felt like WWE, they had the workrate and pool of quality talent to minimize those issues. Now that they are leaning harder into WWE style booking mentality, that workrate isn't covering it up as much as before. Doesn't help that Road Dogg, Triple H, and HBK have been having a lot more involvement with the booking process than in the past.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former Impact Wrestling referee Kris Levin spoke to Nick Hausman of Wrestling INC regarding a 2019 investigation by the promotion regarding allegations of sexual harassment by an official. This was confirmed by Impact’s parent company Anthem Sports and Entertainment with a statement acknowledging the investigation and that an “external human resources consultant” conducted an investigation with the allegations “proven to be completely without merit” and no disciplinary action taken ... Levin spoke to Hausman about his interview with the third-party investigator: "I was called by a woman who said she was a neutral third-party investigator, hired by Anthem, in order to look into allegations of sexual harassment and putting employees in unsafe working conditions, messing with people’s contracts and things like that. I told her what I knew, under the guarantee that I would be doing so anonymously and off the record. She just said, ‘I need to build my case and need to know the context of this.’ I said if they find out, they’ll retaliate. She said, ‘No one will know.’ So, I told her everything. I testified in a way that paints the executives in a negative light. I had finally had enough and decided that I could bet on myself and didn’t need to be at a place that treated me so disrespectfully. So, in late December I messaged a handful of people from the office who I considered friends who I hadn’t involved in this just because it was outside of their purview. I gave a very ambiguous message saying I’m thankful for the time I had here and appreciate the friendship and all the opportunities but I’m parting ways." Levin stated that 20 minutes after sending this message, he received a call and was told they were going in a new direction and would not require Levin. This occurred at the end of 2019. It was later reported by David Bixenspan that the third-party investigator had a history of working for Anthem CEO Leonard Asper. Through e-mails he obtained, Bixenspan determined this was Michelle Hall, who listed working at Canwest (the company founded by the Asper family) from 2004-2010 as its Senior Vice President of People on her LinkedIn account. On the same account, there is no mention of work with Anthem. After the interview with Levin, Wrestling INC reached out to Impact Wrestling to respond to Levin’s comments and received a response that they don’t discuss or comment on internal matters and deny the allegations he had made. After that, Wrestling INC added that they received a follow-up, which may have included them on the e-mail by mistake and included Michelle Hall, who had an Anthem e-mail address

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling FS1 will be airing the 2018 Royal Rumble next Tuesday night in its WWE pay-per-view timeslot. This was the first year they held a women’s Royal Rumble and featured the debut of Ronda Rousey.

Originally Posted by Fightful Tessa Blanchard got let go by IMPACT, but it was a formality. On Fightful Select over the past week, and this morning in the Fightful Wrestling Weekly, it was reported that Tessa Blanchard's deal and departure from IMPACT had a lot more than met the eye. Even last month on various Fightful Podcasts, it was noted that many didn't not expect her at the Slammiversary show. In addition to this, Select reported that Blanchard has a non-disparagement clause tied to her contract, which has become standard for many promotions.

Originally Posted by Fightful The League of Nations came together in 2015 with Sheamus, Rusev, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio uniting to....do something. The group formed around Sheamus, who was fresh off his WWE Title cash-in victory over Roman Reigns at Survivor Series. What could have been a dominant faction in WWE was nothing more than a vehicle to help top babyface acts. "I just beat Roman for the World Title at Survivor Series, I didn't know I was cashing in until that night. The next day at Raw, they tell us 'we're putting League of Nations together.' This whole idea came from Jamie Noble. There was no idea or plan behind it. They just put the four of us together," recalled Sheamus in an appearance on Rusev's Twitch channel. Rusev noted, "The idea was four foreigners. That was the exact plan. 'Hey, we have four foreigners, lets put them together.' Great idea." The two continued, discussing the initial hopes for the group and how quickly they realized what was going to happen. "The four of us individually were doing good and were successful. You had four strong heels put together to make a weak faction. People talk about The Shield being dominant. We could have been a successful and dominant group. In our first match together on SmackDown, we basically lost a four-on-one match against Roman," said Sheamus. "When they pitched this idea, we legitimately thought, 'We have a shot. Look at us, we can dominate.' We have a four vs. one match and Roman beat us by countout. That's when we knew. It took us two days to find out 'Wow, we're not going to do good with this,'" Rusev said followed by a laugh.

Originally Posted by Fightful Kairi Sane's status with WWE was pretty complicated as of last month. Sane hasn't been on WWE TV since sustaining a cut to the head during a match with Nia Jax at the end of May, but there were already other plans for her at that time. Many have been asking about Sane's contract status. That, we haven't heard, but as of May, there were plans for her to return to Japan and serve as an ambassador for WWE in Japan. We have been provided no details as to how that would have affected her in-ring career with the company. We did ask if this role was to involve the long-rumored expansion into Japan for WWE and NXT, and were just told that there is no expansion at this moment due to the COVID-19 situation. We were not informed as to whether or not the original plans for Sane even got far enough to discuss that. In the weeks that followed, many have gone radio silent about Sane's status with the company. Many want her to continue wrestling, and all of those we've spoken had positive things to say about her. To be clear, we are unsure of how this situation has developed over the past month.

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE’s Live Events During COVID-19 Plans Update
• Renee Young Announces That She’s Writing a Cookbook
• AEW Fyter Fest & NXT Great American Bash Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Night one of AEW's Fyter Fest on TNT saw the show's ratings rebound from a series low last week. AEW averaged 748,000 viewers last night, up 18.2 percent from last Wednesday. In the 18-49 demo, the show was up 31.8 percent, averaging a 0.29 rating and matching its best number in that category since May 27. Dynamite finished sixth for the night on cable in the demo. Night one of NXT's Great American Bash was much higher than usual in the 18-49 rankings, finishing 13th on cable with a 0.22 rating. That was up 15.8 percent from last week and was the best number for the show since March 4. In terms of total viewers, NXT was up 0.8 percent to an average of 792,000, its highest number since February 19 and its second best of 2020. It's the first time since late November -- during the build to Survivor Series which featured wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown on the show -- that NXT has beaten Dynamite in total viewers on consecutive weeks. The total combined viewership of 1.54 million was up nine percent from last week and the highest number since May 27. It was back to usual in the individual demo categories with AEW beating NXT in every one except people over 50, where NXT had a big advantage with a 0.40 rating to Dynamite's 0.29. The best category for AEW was men 18-49, where they held a 0.37 rating to NXT's 0.29.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The viewership total would be AEW’s third-highest since April 1st trailing episodes of Dynamite on May 27th (following Double or Nothing), and June 17th. NXT’s Great American Bash special that promoted limited commercial interruptions (saved for the second hour of the show) averaged 792,000 viewers and 0.22 in the 18-49 demo. They were up 0.8% in viewers from last week and would be NXT’s second-highest viewership average in 2020 ... AEW saw big increases across the board in the demographics as a rebound from last week’s figures. Females 12-34 led the way with a 37.5% increase, females 18-49 improved by 33%, and the main 18-49 demo was up 32%. It was back to the usual pattern where AEW won all the key demos except for adults over 50, where NXT owned that category with a 0.40 to AEW’s 0.29. NXT had a big increase among males 18-49 with a 26% increase, and adults 25-54 were up 18% this week. The big loss was among females 12-34 which dropped by 20%, which was a demo they beat AEW last week.

Originally Posted by Observer In a move that was inevitable given the current state of the pandemic in the United States, AEW announced on Thursday that their Boston, MA, and Philadelphia, PA, Dynamite events will take place in 2021 instead. The rescheduled show set for Philadelphia's Liacouras Center on July 29th (originally set for April 22nd) will now take place on Wednesday, April 7th while the Boston show at Agganis Arena on August 5th (originally set for April 15th) will now happen on Wednesday, April 21st. In both cases, ticket buyers can hold their tickets for the respective shows or get refunds at their point of purchase. This will be the second time AEW has run both cities. At this point, AEW still has six live dates scheduled for the duration of 2020: St. Louis, MO, (October 7th); Milwaukee, WI (October 28th); Houston, TX (November 4); Rochester, NY (November 11th); New Orleans, LA (December 2nd): and Albuquerque, NM (December 30th).

Originally Posted by PWI All Elite Wrestling announced the following storyline suspension for Jake Hager: AEW has suspended @RealJakeHager for 10 days and fined him an undisclosed amount for striking an official following his TNT Championship match with @CodyRhodes at Fyter Fest on #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/ITF7JJDIAM — All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) July 2, 2020

May or may not have written him off due to the allegations against him despite not being actually named from the recent wave of allegations that hit the wrestling industry.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE's application of 'The Man' was abandoned by the USPTO because it was initially refused back in December while still under ownership by Ric Flair, and the 6-month window to respond just passed.

Originally Posted by PWI The trial regarding the lawsuit brought against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling by Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment (parent company of GFW) is still ongoing in Nashville, TN. Thus far, the only confirmed note coming out of the proceedings is that GFW and Jarrett have dropped their claims of Federal Trademark Infringement and Counterfeiting of the GFW brand as well as the allegation that Anthem created Unfair Competition under Tennessee common law by their usage of the GFW brand.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Both Faye Jackson and Brian Pillman Jr. were present backstage and at ringside for Fyter Fest. Pillman Jr. is a former MLW World Tag Team Champion and his last match with the promotion was in March for their joint-show with AAA.

Originally Posted by PWI Former Impact star Diamante was sitting in the crowd at last night's Dynamite.

Originally Posted by Observer Weekly Bunshun wrote an article detailing Hana Kimura’s experiences working on Terrance House prior to her death. It features quotes from Kyoko Kimura, Hana’s mother. Kyoko said that Hana told her she was being forced by Terrace House to behave more obnoxiously on camera and the staff were the ones that instigated the ring outfit incident that led to the cyberbullying.

Originally Posted by Fightful The Knox County Board of Health in Tennessee took a vote on Wednesday to mandate a mask ordinance for anyone inside certain buildings. The board voted 7-1 in favor of the mandate. The lone vote to not wear a mask? It had to be Kane. Kane (Glenn Jacobs) is the Mayor of Knox County and, as you can see by the picture above, hasn't been a fan of the face mask during the coronavirus pandemic. Kane wore a full mask in WWE for years before he started wearing a half mask that didn't cover his mouth or nose. He was eventually unmasked in 2003. When he would wear the mask again, it was the half mask, which would also be useless during the pandemic. Kane's stance on gloves is unclear.

Originally Posted by 411Mania A new report has details on the car accident that resulted in Velveteen Dream needing to visit the hospital. As reported on Friday, Dream was released from the hospital after his involvement in a car accident, and Wrestling Inc has some details on what went down. According to the site, the accident took place at about 4 PM local time when Dream allegedly failed to stop at a red light. That resulted in him hitting another car. The driver of the other car sustained injuries, but it isn’t known how bad they were. Dream was given a citation over the incident but will not appear in court.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling John Brody, WWE’s Executive Vice President, global head of sales and partnerships was the most recent guest on the SportsPro podcast. Brody discussed some of WWE’s plans to further expand their brand into Latin America and said there are some exciting things in the works that had to be delayed because of the COVID-19 outbreak. “So, I’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico over the last few years. Also, throughout Latin, been to South America and spent a good deal of time in Brazil. There’s a tremendous culture of fandom for wrestling, for WWE throughout Latin America. Its been an area where we see opportunity and growth. It’s an area where we’d love to be able to create a televised live event. Some sort of special live event in the short-to-medium term. Our fans have passion there. We deliver tons of content through YouTube and all of our other channels and we just watch the numbers continue to go up so, anywhere we have a particular fan-base that needs to be served, we want to try to super serve them and I think there are a lot of exciting plans that we’ll be unveiling for Latin America in the months ahead. Obviously, COVID makes you have to rejigger some calendars and we’re truly a global property so when you’re a global property, you actually have to be a global property. You need to have events all around the world. You need to create compelling storylines. You need to also make sure that when you’re doing something in Latin America that you do it in language. So we’re continuing to find ways to do that whether it’s through our network, through our live events, through our digital and social to make sure we feed this insatiable thirst for WWE.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Edge joined Booker T and Brad Gilmore for a 30-minute chat on the ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast. Edge is currently recovering from tearing his tricep during his match against Randy Orton at Backlash. Edge detailed when he knew he was injured and talked about some of the conversations he had with doctors in the P.C. after the match and his surgeon. “So we’re going through the match and contrary to reports, we did it once, straight through. Like 48 minutes or whatever it was, and in coming back, I kinda wanted to re-calibrate my style a little bit and really make it a Bret Hart-kind of feel to my matches. Lot less high spots, more grappling, more wrestling, more fighting for things, selling. The little things like we talked about, right? So, we were doing this match and we’re having a blast and we got a queue at one point. I think it was like 35 minutes and I was like, ‘Woah! Alright. Man, I’m feeling great. This is awesome.’ I did a springboard into the second RKO and I went, ‘Ohh… okay, I got the cold sweats and I feel like I’m gonna throw up.’ That’s usually a sign. Now, and that’s where it popped and I thought, ‘Okay well, you know, I think I got a little bit more in the tank to finish this out’ and then we got it finished. We tried to do a couple pickup shots to see how those would feel. Maybe try and [add] a different element to the match and I didn’t like them, but we were just trying something different. Got to the back, I was like, ‘I think something happened to my tricep. I don’t think it’s complete, but it feels like something,’ and they felt around, they said, ‘We think it might be a complete [tear].’ Now, by the time I got the surgery, surgeon said, ‘You know, you probably went in with it partially torn, because the tissue was already very diseased, and my elbow had been bugging me for probably about a month but it had only bugged me when I did chest or triceps so I just thought…”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Royal Albert Hall is going to go broke by March of 2021 if it doesn’t receive financial support according to the building’s Chief Executive Officer. Per News UK, the building has lost £12m ($14 million USD) due to being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Executive Craig Hassall said that hundreds of staff members may have to be laid off. “The Government support has been very oblique and vague. We have lobbied hard and consistently across the sector. But [Culture Secretary] Oliver Dowden’s roadmap for recovery has no dates and nothing firm. There is no guidance from Government on when we can open or how we can open. Without that it’s impossible for us to trade – and that means the whole sector.” Royal Albert Hall has played host to many pro wrestling events over the years. Most recently, WWE held the 2018 United Kingdom Championship tournament in that building and that tournament was won by NXT U.K.’s Zack Gibson.

Besides those events, the venue is also the main location for NXT UK tapings.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Bleacher Report Live posted their interview with AEW’s Wardlow. Wardlow revealed how his AEW signing came about and he credited Britt Baker for playing a role in him joining AEW. He also talked about working a quick match with Q.T. Marshall in front of Cody for only a few minutes before Cody decided to sign him. “I was in between training sessions and I had a voicemail and I checked it and it was really just everything coming together. Cody had heard my name from a couple different people all in the same week. One of those people being Britt Baker who came up together with myself in IWC in Pittsburgh. We kind of started at the same time and grew up together in the company. So she had mentioned my name, a couple of other people. So Q.T. Marshall gave me a phone call and told me they were gonna fly me down to Atlanta to take a look at me. I go to Atlanta, work with Q.T. for maybe five minutes in front of Cody before he offered me contract.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Per Pro Wrestling Sheet, the people invited to Fyter Fest that were seated in the hard cam’s direction were Daily’s Place or Jaguars sponsors. Those individuals also brought family and friends. The people seated in the upper bowl of the building were likely not tested for COVID-19 because they could not possibly come into contact with anyone in the backstage or ringside areas. Anyone who was in those respective areas were tested for COVID.

Originally Posted by Fightful WWE underwent more testing early in the week ahead of Great American Bash, with some wrestlers coming in very early for testing. WWE has indicated that social distancing, masks, and other measures will be mandatory moving forward, saying " “As a reminder, wearing masks, sanitizing and social distancing will be required at the Performance Center this week and going forward. You'll be required to wear a mask upon entering and we ask that you adhere to these requirements in order to minimize risks.”

TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: MLW Owner on Live Events Status, New Trademarks, New Japan Cup 2020 Night 7 Results
• SPOILER: Winner of Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee Possibly Accidentally Revealed
• More on Jon Moxley’s Fyter Fest Match Being Delayed
• Ember Moon Says She May Need Another Achilles Surgery

[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

[Fignuts]

What the fuck kind of name is Zicky Dice?

[erickman]

wonder if bully ray is going to impact, he would be the aces and 8s dude

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw ratings are delayed due to this past weekend’s Fourth of July holiday.

Originally Posted by Observer In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Triple H was asked about counter-programming and if NXT would still be putting on the Great American Bash if it wasn’t for AEW’s Fyter Fest: “It absolutely is part of healthy of competition. Anyone that thinks it isn’t, to a degree, is being naive to the situation. You saw that back in the day when Clash of Champions was counter-programming [to WWE’s WrestleMania IV in 1988]. At the same point, it can’t drive your booking decisions. Obviously there are counter-programming decisions, but I can tell you exactly how this came about. Almost all of these storylines were headed where they are now. There was a gap, timing wise, between In Your House and what will become the SummerSlam TakeOver, and you need a halfway point and a build. This is that halfway point. So it doesn’t change our decision-making process. I don’t counter-book, I book what’s right for NXT.

Basically almost a 180 on his earlier claims and stance about NXT not counter-programming AEW.

Originally Posted by Observer A major announcement by Taz has been announced for tomorrow’s Fyter Fest event. Tony Khan tweeted the following this afternoon: “Also tomorrow night at Night 2 of the Fyter Fest on #AEWDynamite on TNT, @OfficialTAZ & Brian Cage @MrGMSI_BCage will be interviewed by @tonyschiavone24, and Taz will make an announcement that I guarantee will send shockwaves through the world of professional wrestling!” Cage was originally set to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World title on the second night of Fyter Fest. However, Moxley has been at home following his wife Renee Young’s positive COVID-19 test. The match has been rescheduled for Fight for the Fallen, which will take place on the July 15th edition of Dynamite.

Originally Posted by Observer There are now four matches confirmed for night two of NXT's Great American Bash. WWE announced today that Johnny Gargano vs. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott will air on night two of the Great American Bash this Wednesday. The match was set up by a backstage segment on night one of the event. Gargano and Scott argued on last week's show after Scott tried to break up a backstage brawl between Candice LeRae and Mia Yim. LeRae vs. Yim in a street fight is also set for Great American Bash night two.

Originally Posted by PWI The ongoing trial brought against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Wrestling LLC by Jeff Jarrett and his company, Global Force Entertainment has been put on pause and delayed until the morning of 7/21, Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. informed all parties. The belief among sources we have spoken to is that a concern about rising COVID-19 cases locally led to the court pushing back the trial several weeks. The two sides will have a telephone conference on 7/10 discussing the case as well.

Originally Posted by PWI Multi-time NWA World Tag Team Champions and WWE Hall of Famers Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson jointly filed a trademark on their team name "Rock 'n' Roll Express" on 6/30.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling After TSN2’s airing of AEW Dynamite this Wednesday night in Canada, they will air four episodes of Dark Side of the Ring beginning at 10 pm Eastern. They will air the episodes covering the Montreal Screwjob, The Match Made in Heaven (Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth), The Killing of Bruiser Brody, and The Last of the Von Erichs. I would highly recommend the latter two, which were the strongest episodes of the first season

Originally Posted by Fightful Jay Lethal comments on allegations against him. In 2018, Taeler Hendrix came forward and alleged she was taken off ROH television for not sleeping with Lethal, who she managed during her time in the company. Triple H On Counter-Programming AEW: I Don't Counter-Book, I Book What's Right For NXT Related Article Triple H On Counter-Programming AEW: I Don't Counter-Book, I Book What's Right For NXT Lethal denied the allegations and ROH announced that they had launched an investigation into the matter, which nothing came of. On July 6, former Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein alleged Jay Lethal would sexually harass women in ROH and that ROH covered it up. Klein did not specifically reference the 2018 allegations by Hendrix, but said multiple women came forward regarding Lethal. Klein wrote on social media, "When [J-Rocc] harassed a female member of [ROH] locker room, he was told to leave and was not welcome back. ---- MULTIPLE women brought complaints & evidence of sexual misconduct/harassment by Jay Lethal. ROH ignored/covered it up. They only take action when convenient. They are hoping to use another “investigation” to wait everyone out until we 'forget.' Thank you, ROH for all of the truly wonderful things you do and have done. Now please address the bad behavior. Do better. Right now you continue to CHOOSE not to. It’s hard when your faves get called out. Imagine what it’s like to be targeted/harassed by that person & not protected because he/she is a 'favorite.' People can be talented, friend to many, good for community, & also take advantage of & abuse others. Not mutually exclusive. In fact, qualities that make it hard to accept that a “favorite” could do something horrible are the things they use to gain access to victims & escape accountability. They don’t usually wear a sign or broadcast their bad intentions." With allegations being brought up again, Lethal put out the following statement on Monday night: "It has always been my choice to use silence to keep my dignity, refrain from publicly attacking people I'm not fond of, and relying on who I have been as a person to speak for itself. I've also never wanted to sue MY platform to boost or give attention to any negativity. I do however know and realize that some people will sadly take my silence to mean something else. The #speakingout movement has given me hope that the industry that I've chosen to give my life to will become a better place. I've wanted to stand in support of all those brave enough to share their painful stories. Unfortunately I was afraid to due to the lies that are being said about me. I have never and would never sexually harass, sexually assault, rape or force myself on anyone. I would never use my status to deny anyone opportunities. Even now, it pain me to know that defending myself might somehow tarnish an important movement and cast doubt on real, troubling experiences." ROH has not commented on the matter.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE announced Tuesday that Kristina Salen is their new Chief Financial Officer, effective August 3rd and reporting directly to Vince McMahon. Salen replaces interim CFO Frank Riddick who stepped in when co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson were fired in late-January. The company has yet to replace their Chief Revenue Officer position. Salen comes with an impressive resume as the first CFO of Etsy from January 2013 through March 2017, helping grow the business from $895 million to $3 billion in gross sales over four years and executing their move to go public, according to the WWE release. Following that, she was in similar roles for UnitedMasters and Moda Operandi, both New York-based companies. She was the first woman named to the board of Endeavor (the former WME-IMG) in 2019, and also sits on the boards of SiriusXM and Cornerstone OnDemand ... As of this writing, WWE's stock price was down nearly 2% for the day to $45.48.

Originally Posted by PWI The forthcoming A&E documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin officially commenced production today. The plan is to broadcast the documentary this December. The Austin doc is one of several announced earlier this year, alongside docs on the lives and careers of Roddy Piper, Shawn Michaels and Booker T.

Originally Posted by PWI Scout Comics announced that they have published 1,000 variant tribute versions of Assassin and Son, the comic book written by former WWE stars Shad Gaspard and Marc Copani (aka Mohammad Hussan) available at this link with money raised being donated to Gaspard's family.

Link: https://www.scoutcomics.com/collecti...ssin-and-son-1

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The likes of Jordan Devlin, former OTT World Champion David Starr and Scotty Davis had allegations placed against them by way of the #SpeakingOut movement. Multiple promotions have cut ties with the aforementioned performers and the Over The Top Wrestling promotion based in Ireland issued a statement today regarding changes within the organization. They announced that Anne O’Brien is joining their team. Anne is going to lead the talent relations department and will be the designated contact for any issues that talents are dealing with. Anne is also going to work with the OTT Wrestling schools in Dublin and Belfast respectively. OTT management, staff and the performers will undergo Garda vetting, which is a background check conducted by the National Vetting Bureau. Joe Cabray is continuing on as the promoter of OTT. Roster members LJ Cleary and Kaydee McKeon Joyce are going to be working with Fight Factory Pro Wrestling in Ireland. Karen Glennon, who’s known as Session Moth Martina has also been appointed as a coach for OTT’s ‘School Of Wrestling NI’, formerly the ‘Wrespect Wrestling’ school. OTT acquired the school recently. The promotion is drafting a code of conduct for fans who attend shows. The full press release can be read on OTT’s official website.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On Monday’s edition of Raw, two new matches were added to the Extreme Rules event taking place on Sunday, July 19th. The event is now being branded as “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” with varying degrees of success for the performers getting that mouthful across in their promos on Monday’s episode.

Originally Posted by Observer MLW’s Jared St. Laurent issued a statement on Brian Pillman Jr.’s contract status: “Brian is not released and is fully aware of our schedule, which includes events October 3rd and December 5th pending the state of the pandemic. We put the health of our talent/staff and their family and our fans before bookings, which is why we are not running at the moment. We’ve been in contact with Brian to relay this. If he elects to perform elsewhere under the terms of his deal, he certainly has our full blessing to do so.”

Originally Posted by Observer Brandon Thurston is conducting a Pro Wrestling Favorability Survey. The goal of the survey is to understand "fan demographics, favorability of major brands, and possible economic effects on the wrestling business of COVID-19 and the #SpeakingOut movement,” and the results of it are intended to be used in future published work.

Link: https://forms.gle/wLC7QbDX6boLHMZB9


TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Kairi Sane Contract Update, Shayna Baszler Status Update, Nikki Cross on Facing Bayley
• More on WWE’s New Face Mask Policy for Shows at the Performance Center
• WWE Says Winner of “Eye for an Eye Match” Must “Extract Their Opponent’s Eye”
• Rey Mysterio Reportedly Working in WWE Without a Contract
• SummerSlam Will Take Place at the WWE Performance Center

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw on Monday did the second lowest audience number in modern history as well as tied for the second lowest in the main demo. The show did 1.69 million viewers, beating only the May 4 episode that did 1.68 million viewers. The 0.49 rating in 18-49 tied episodes on June 9 and June 30 for second place behind the May 4 Raw that did a 0.46. The total audience dropped three percent from last week, but stayed even in 18-49. The good news is that the first-to-third hour drop was 5.0 percent, much lower than usual, but that wasn't the key. That was due to a strong hour two. The first hour was the lowest hour one in modern history. The second hour increased greatly and hour three dropped ... The real story is that people tuned into the show late. This pattern used to be fairly regular in the summer months but has rarely happened this year. It could be holiday related ... Raw was 21st overall on cable, but fourth among non-news shows. In 18-49, Raw was fourth overall. Raw was first on cable in men 18-49 and teenage boys. In hour three, Raw dropped across the board. In looking at the key first-to-second hour increase, because it was hour two that saved the show from all-time record lows, there was a 10 percent increase in women 18-49, a three percent increase in men 18-49, a 19 percent drop in teenage girls, a five percent drop in teenage boys, and one percent increase in over 50, so it was women 18-49 who really saved the show from record lows. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 1.70 million 9 p.m. 1.75 million 10 p.m. 1.61 million For a comparison, the May 4 record low pattern was: 8 p.m. 1.81 million 9 p.m. 1.69 million 10 p.m. 1.55 million

Originally Posted by PWI Over the last few weeks, PWInsider.com has received questions asking about whether there's been any follow-up to former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio's May arrest in San Antonio, Texas for sexual assault, a second degree felony. PWInsider.com has learned there has not been additional movement in the case as of this writing, as the charges have not yet been brought before a grand jury. Once that happens, if the Grand Jury rules there should be an official indictment, prosecution would commence and move towards a criminal trial. Del Rio remains free on $50,000 bond and we are told that he has hired several defense attorneys to represent him. Del Rio, real name Jose Alberto Rodriguez Chucuan, 43, was arrested on 5/4 after the victim went to local authorities, stating that on Sunday 5/3 at 10 PM Chucuan allegedly became angry with her and physically assaulted her after accusing her of infidelity. When the victim would not admit to the infidelity, Chucuan allegedly slapped her "across the head" several times. The victim also alleged that Chucuan "forced her to wear a dress and dance for him" and that when she refused and he told her not to start crying because if she did, "he would take her son and drop him in the middle of the road somewhere." The arrest affidavit stated that the woman alleged Chucuan had sexually assaulted her and that she had her injuries documented via photographs. At the time, The FOX affiliate in San Antonio reported, "Police said Rodriguez Chucuan then tied the woman's hands with boxing straps, put a sock in her mouth and sexually assaulted her for several hours, using various objects. According to investigators, he also punched her in the back during the assault, causing visible injuries. The victim told detectives she does not remember much after he placed his hand around her throat." TMZ later reported additional details that brought the accusations into a much more disturbing light, stating that the victim reported the attack started at around 10 PM on 5/3 and that it lasted over 16 hours, ending on 5/4 on 2:30 PM. The victim went to the police the same day with TMZ's report noting that the responding officer saw bruises on her face, arms, legs and neck. The victim alleged that Chucuan attempted to burn her passport and smashed her laptop computer and cell phone. TMZ reported that the victim, "..also claims Del Rio attacked her, causing multiple injuries and left her, 'feeling woozy and dizzy from the hits to her head.' " The victim told police she was afraid and intended to leave San Antonio as soon as possible. If Chucuan is found guilty, the minimum prison sentence for sexual assault under Texas law would be 2 years with a maximum of up to 20 years. As a second degree felony under Texas law, sexual assault can also lead to a fine of up to $10,000, in addition to incarceration.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Farrah Akase, who has been translating the stories covering Hana Kimura’s suicide and the role that Fuji TV and Terrace House played has reported on the following from the second part of an article that includes comments from Hana’s mother, Kyoko Kimura: *Hana had been a fan of Terrace House since she was in her teen years *Cast members on the show were paid 100,000 yen per month, equivalent to $1,000 (U.S.) when they filmed outings with their friends they paid out of pocket *Their contracts were strict limiting their ability to leave the house until the producers allowed them, violation of the contracts came with heavy fines ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 (U.S.) *There was a scandal in 2014 where cast members went public with allegations of sexual harassment and staged scenes & relationships leading to Fuji TV canceling the series *They later began working with Netflix and the same director was used for both iterations of the series *The director was interviewed for the article and when asked about staging scenes, directed their questions to Fuji TV *Those working on the article spoke with Fuji TV president Ryunosuke Endo, who denied the allegations and wanted to know who provided the testimonies *Endo said they were still investigating the claims and cast members were asked for their full consent ahead of time *Cast member Kai Kobayashi spoke on the record for the article stating he called to apologize to Hana on May 15th (days before she died), he knew from the start the scene was staged and they were going to meet up when the coronavirus subsided The Unseen Japan Twitter account translated comments made by Kai Kobayashi to the Bunshun outlet regarding instructions he was given by an assistant director for Terrace House. Kobayashi says when he was filming a scene with Hana for their first date, they were jumping on a trampoline and the AD told him that it wasn’t interesting and told him “What if you feel her up or something?” with Kobayashi adding that such requests were “typical” on the show. The article added that Fuji TV is denying that staff instructed Hana to escalate tension during the costuming scene to help ratings, although those around Hana dispute Fuji TV’s assertion.

Originally Posted by Fightful Many, including Stu Bennett, have plenty of opinions on NXT UK's impact in the UK wrestling scene. Bennett, who wrestled in WWE as Wade Barrett, is one of many that did not think highly of the additional NXT brand in the United Kingdom. In an interview with 411 Mania, Bennett said NXT UK has not helped the wrestling scene in the region, saying that certain wrestlers benefited from it, but several promotions did not. "I wouldn’t say it's helped the UK scene. I would say it’s helped the wrestlers who have been signed, but outside of that, I don’t think it’s been beneficial. You’d have to look at the affect it’s had on some of the companies or some of the independents, the independent companies, who were thriving prior that versus now. So, I don’t think it’s been beneficial to the scene at all. I understand why WWE have done it. They want to have a stake hold there. It was not coincidental that NXT UK was brought out at the same time that WOS [World of Sport], which at the same time, was seen as a threat to WWE over in the UK. It wasn’t coincidental, however, it’s been portrayed by them, and I think we all know the truth behind that. Again, that’s business. I understand why they did it. I’m not casting them for doing that, but to portray it as beneficial to the UK as something benevolent is ludicrous. And as good as the product might, it’s certainly not something that’s helped the UK independent scene," Bennett said.

Originally Posted by Fightful Randy Orton appears headed towards a feud with the current WWE Champion. A prior report stated how Orton wanted to work with NXT stars but a new report from WrestleTalk's Louis Dangoor notes that Orton is likely feuding with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre for SummerSlam. Previously, Orton has reportedly thrown out the idea of working with NXT roster members including Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole. However, the new report states that although Orton doing an angle with either Ciampa or Cole is not in the cards for SummerSlam, it doesn't mean that WWE isn't open to the idea of exploring that in the future.

Originally Posted by Fightful More details on the new United States Championship belt design have been unveiled. Twitter user @BeltFanDan, who first reported that the new design that was created last December, would go on Twitter to talk more about the new design. Something that was noteworthy about the new design was that it was 3d laser metal powder printed ... In other WWE-belt design news, there have been new designs for the SmackDown Tag Team titles since WrestleMania 36, but they have yet to be officially unveiled and there's no word on if they will ever be unveiled. In addition, the NXT titles have new belts that are simply a larger version of the existing ones.

Originally Posted by PWI Nintendo of America announced that Super Nintendo game Natsume Championship Wrestling will be added to their Switch Online game library on 7/15. Natsume Championship Wrestling was released in 1994 and is an American conversion of Zen Nippon Puroresu Sekai Saiky? Taggu Dasshu which used the All Japan Wrestling license. 1986 Nintendo Entertainment System classic Pro Wrestling is already available on the service.

Originally Posted by PWI The cover for the WWE 2K Battlegrounds video game, which is being released this fall, has been unveiled: Presenting the OFFICIAL cover of WWE 2K Battlegrounds! Are. You. READY?! #WWE2KBattlegrounds pic.twitter.com/iY7MTrbUCy — WWE 2K Battlegrounds (@2KBattlegrounds) July 8, 2020 Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Yokozuna, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Steve Austin and Asuka join the previously revealed Andre the Giant, John Cena, the Rock, The Undertaker, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Big Show in the game. WWE Battlegrounds will be released on 9/18 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and more. The new official trailer can be seen below

Presenting the OFFICIAL cover of WWE 2K Battlegrounds! Are. You. READY?! #WWE2KBattlegrounds pic.twitter.com/iY7MTrbUCy

— WWE 2K Battlegrounds (@2KBattlegrounds) July 8, 2020

TPWW Frontpage:

• Matt Riddle Posts Video Response Denying Allegations Against Him
• AEW Fyter Fest & NXT Great American Bash Cards for Tonight
• Brian Pillman Jr. Comments on AEW Appearance & MLW Status

[drave]

Looks kinda fun tbh.

[Lock Jaw]

At the very least you can throw someone into an alligator. That has to be worth something.

[fundiddle]

is this finally the wwe game with a proportionate yokozuna? hard to tell since he's in the background in the promo shot and nowhere in the trailer


whoops, i forgot wrestlemania: the arcade game

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer In terms of total viewers, NXT won the latest installment of the Wednesday Night War, averaging 759,000 viewers to AEW Dynamite's 715,000. NXT on the USA Network was down 4.2 percent in total viewers from last week's night one of the Great American Bash. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged a 0.20 rating, down 9.1 percent. NXT finished 24th on cable in that demo. AEW Dynamite on TNT was down from the 748,000 viewers that the previous week's opening night of Fyter Fest averaged. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.28 rating, topping NXT again but down 3.4 percent from last Wednesday. The number was good for seventh place overall on cable in the demo ... As it does almost every week, AEW won in every demo category except for people over 50, where NXT had a huge advantage of 0.39 to Dynamite's 0.27. AEW had a similar advantage in men 18-49 with a 0.39 rating to NXT's 0.26. The other demos were all relatively close.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling While AEW’s overall viewership was down, they saw a big increase with adults 18-34 growing by 27% and males 12-34 improving by 23.5% this week. Its largest loss was among women 18-49 which fell by 15%. The show also had a one-minute overrun on TNT. NXT experienced a 15% loss with males 25-54, females 12-34 dropped by 12.5%, and males 18-49 declined by 10%. They did see an increase in the 18-34 demo, which was up 10%, so both shows saw gains in that category. A big factor over the past three weeks for NXT has been its 50+ audience. One month ago, they were averaging 0.35-0.36 in that demo, and are coming off weeks of 0.42 on June 24th (their highest head-to-head rating int that demo), 0.40 on July 1st, and 0.39 this week.

Originally Posted by PWI Q - Since the last few weeks of the AEW vs. NXT battle, I've seen fans on Twitter pointing out that NXT has won the last few weeks but others are saying AEW is winning because they win the demos. What's more important? A - From a network perspective, I can tell you that the demographics are more important. Everyone wants to win when they are in competition, but for a network, the demographics are far more important as that is the data that they deliver and promise to advertisers, who want to know that their products are seen by the highly desired younger audience. AEW on Wednesday night was #7 for the evening in the 18-34 demo - and was the tops in LOTS of other demos this week)- and I can tell you that from speaking to a lot of sources at Warner Media, they absolutely love AEW's performance and do so much that there's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about developing other ways to link AEW with additional corners of Warner properties. Anyone who dismisses the demo numbers is either uneducated to their importance or they are looking for an incorrect way to prove themselves right. If WWE Smackdown is last in the viewership in their timeslot but they win the demo, it's not like FOX is going to look at the series as failing that week - and it's not like WWE would then bemoan that Smackdown was in last place vs. NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. The argument that AEW is "doing bad" in, in any way, is just plain silly and not rooted in reality. As far as the overnight audience, it is important for bragging rights but it's also an outdated way of looking at things. For fans indoctrinated in the way we all used to track Raw vs. Nitro, it's silly to act like it's 1995. The overnight numbers are different now. Unless there is access to the +3 and +7 numbers via DVR viewing (which we don't have access to) and streaming #s, we don't know the final audience levels for the shows. So, the overnight numbers don't tell the story on viewership the way they did decades ago. Lastly, it's Twitter. Not exactly the place to go for nuanced, detailed breakdown or discussions!

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles on the topic of viewership vs. demos debate between AEW and NXT in recent weeks.

Originally Posted by PWI The WWE Network's R-Truth game show, simply titled "R-Truth's Game Show" will debut this Tuesday, July 14th. WWE previews for the show features WWE stars answering questions and completing tasks over videoconferencing with the eclectic R-Truth as the master of ceremonies. WWE filmed a pilot for the series back in May 2017 but it never went to series. WWE has now resurrected the concept.

Originally Posted by PWI Ring of Honor announced that next week's edition of ROH TV will pay tribute to STARDOM star Hana, who took her own life in May: Next week on ROH TV is a very special tribute episode celebrating the career of Hana Kimura We look back at Hana’s ROH matches, Her G1 Supercard match at Madison Square Garden, The stars of ROH share their favorite memories of Hana & more! TV Listings: https://t.co/7wgWAA43tX pic.twitter.com/SWFPYd2QG0 — ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) July 8, 2020

Originally Posted by PWI Last night, Taz resurrected his old FTW World Championship belt on AEW Fyterfest and bequeathed the Championship to Brian Cage, who going forward will be billed as the FTW Champion. Since that time, PWInsider.com has received numerous questions about the title and how it can be used in AEW. While I covered this somewhat in my Q&A this morning, here is the deal. The FTW belt was never owned by ECW, therefore it did not transfer over to WWE's ownership. In actuality, The belt was designed, created and owned by Taz, who came up with the original 1998 ECW storyline where he declared himself champion as a result of Shane Douglas refusing to defend the ECW World title against Taz. While Paul Heyman obviously gave Taz a platform and the push at the time, it was not something ECW devised for him nor was the belt something ECW commissioned. Taz actually holds the copyright on the actual design of the belt, which allows him to do whatever he wishes with the design and the FTW intellectual property within professional wrestling. If he ever wanted to merchandise the belt, such a replicas, t-shirts, etc. Taz would be well within his rights to do so. The belt that Brian Cage now holds is indeed the actual original FTW Championship belt. After FTW the belt was retired following the 1999 ECW Living Dangerously PPV, Taz retained ownership of the championship belt, which has been in his possession for the last 20-plus years.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Monday’s installment of Busted Open Radio. Harwood revealed that he and Cash’s appearance on Jim Cornette’s podcast was not well received by those within AEW and said that they were “the biggest heels in the locker room” once that podcast hit people’s feeds. “Just really quick off that, we did Cornette’s podcast not too long ago and we talked to Tony Khan and asked him if it would be okay if we did that, but no one else knew about that, and man when we got to TV, the next day after that podcast aired, we were the biggest heels in the locker room. Everyone, even our buddy MJF, everyone was so pissed off with us because they thought we went rogue and went on Cornette’s podcast to bury The Young Bucks and AEW. We were not a very well-liked pair in the locker room that day" ... Also during the podcast, Wheeler and Harwood spoke about their new finisher, “The Goodnight Express”. Harwood stated that they did not have to change the “Shatter Machine” name but they wanted to anyway and also, they’ve been using the spike piledriver on AEW programming and they did pitch to use that move in WWE, says Harwood. “So, the Shatter Machine and now we have to call it the Goodnight — we don’t have to but we enjoy calling it the Goodnight Express. It’s a move that obviously we took from parts of another great tag team. You may have heard of ‘em and we just incorporated [it] and put our own little spin on it. But, going to AEW with a spike piledriver, that’s something we always wanted to use in WWE. We even talked to Hunter about it. He said no. We had asked other people. Like we had asked Vince [McMahon] about it. He obviously didn’t want to use the piledriver at all and so we came to AEW and we started incorporating the spike piledriver just almost as a restart for us, and it’s something we want to incorporate into our matches. But for the Shatter Machine, no one has ever, ever, ever, ever kicked out of it. We learned that from listening to another great tag team that had the same kind of finisher with the same kind of premise. No one’s ever kicked out of it and we just want to take the spike piledriver and utilize it to its fullest extent and if no one can kick out of it, no one can kick out of that one as well. Just another move to the repertoire…”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Corey Graves welcomed Booker T onto the After The Bell podcast. Booker was open about the low ratings for WWE Backstage on FS1 and felt like the minimum number the show should’ve done was 500,000. Booker added that it may have helped if they covered independent wrestling on the program. “And my thing was, I was always weary weekly, just because the ratings wasn’t what I wanted. I said with my star power and all the rest of the guys on the panel, our star power together man, we shouldn’t have no less than 500,000 per week. That should’ve been the low number for us. For me, I don’t think it was enough thought going into something like that. Everybody was just f*cking loving it. I’m like, ‘Man we gotta get these numbers up,’ and I thought stuff like that [talking independent wrestling] would intrigue not just the casual WWE viewer, but people that’s really thinking about, ‘Man, what is this business really, really truly all about?’”

Expanding the show to cover other wrestling promotions would have been an interesting idea but probably would have meant just promotions WWE is affiliated with. Plus WWE probably wouldn't be happy after a while if they started talking about their competitors in a positive light.

Originally Posted by Fightful A month after it was announced that he signed a multi-year deal with MLW, Saieve Al Sabah asked and was given his release from the company. Earlier today, Sabah announced on Twitter that he is no longer with the company after asking for his release. Al Sabah was the newest member of Injustice, joining Myron Reed and Jordan Oliver on the June 4 episode of MLW Pulp Fusion. According to Andrew Thompson of Post Wrestling, Al Sabah has been voicing his displeasure with MLW Chief Operating Officer Jared St. Laurent and his connection to Chasyn Rance, who has been registered as a sex offender since 2014. Al Sabah believes that St. Laurent may be tied into or may know more information about the disappearance of Samantha Fiddler who was last seen at the Team Vision Dojo, where St. Laurent used to be a trainer for and Rance currently runs, in 2016. Thompson then reached out to St. Laurent, who said he hasn't been affiliated with either Rance or Team Vision Dojo in years. St. Laurent added that Al Sabah about a royalty check from a t-shirt sale that was only $5, but noted that he wasn't the one who gave Al Sabah that money and that he didn't know Al Sabah had a shirt due to his contract with MLW still not running. St. Laurent added that all of his 2020 dealings with Al Sabah were pleasant and that Al Sabah appeared to have been apologetic after negotiations between him and MLW fell through in 2018. St. Laurent added that Al Sabah was telling people that he was going to get him fired. Going back to the connection with Rance and Team Vision Dojo St. Laurent claimed he cut business ties with Rance and the school a decade ago Rance's legal issues were public, but would check in with the students at the school throughout the years to see how they were doing. In an update to this story, Chasyn Rance sent an email to Andrew Thompson of POST Wrestling, noting that St. Laurent was booking at Team Vision’s ‘I BELIEVE’ promotion until May 2018 “The last show MSL booked for BELIEVE was May 4, 2018. He started being too busy with MLW and distancing himself from I Believe Court’s request. I did for years try to distance my name and stop wrestling for a bit but that only made the internet calm down but made business slow down. When I wrestle on shows, business has gone up. It’s been an issue for the past 10 years. MSL did not book the June 1, 2018 card. I gave him my thoughts and he said good. He did not come to book anymore shows which was fine. I had a nice handle on things. He had quit previously at one point after my issues but came back when I brought business up and he didn’t have much going on. That was the NJPW/CEO deal 2 years ago. Last year with AEW/CEO, MSL was not booking. I didn’t quite get things pulled from me. I finally got an answer that it was best to lay low. I was in the area promoting and getting my 20 tickets to my students and assistants for that event,” said Rance's email. Alex Pourteau, the founder of the Pro Wrestling 2.0. Academy, reached out to Andrew to say that Samantha Fiddler, the missing person who was in a relationship with Teddy Hart at the time of her disappearance in November 2016, only trained at the school through the summer of 2016.

Originally Posted by Fightful Recently, NXT has played host to a lot of former superstars who cut their teeth on the black and gold brand and have now come back as part of the main roster to help elevate the brand. Triple H recently spoke with Yahoo! about how often he gets requests from alumni to come back to NXT and how he makes it work with the WWE schedule. "One of the things that I love about NXT is that there’s a bond and a family feel about it," Hunter began. "It’s something special when people are a part of it. It always reminds me of the pride people have in their college. When you graduate from college you have spent four years of your life there, that’s always your school, you’re proud of it, you wear the sweatshirts, you support the teams, still go to games. I think NXT is like that for a lot of talent. Sasha and Bayley call all of the time asking if they can come down [to Florida] and work. They’re on different brands, so I have to work within the creative components of what they already have, but I see it all the time." He continued, "When all of this went down, a lot of the stuff that was happening was Charlotte’s idea, her being a part of the brand, being there on a regular basis. Kevin Owens competing for NXT last year in WarGames was something he had been on me about forever, about wanting to come down and do something. Almost everyone who comes through the door and then leaves is asking if they can come back and be a part of it again. You can see it and feel it in the afternoon when they walk in. It’s like going back in time for them, the excitement level is high even though at its best it’s a smaller building and crowd then they are used to. It’s really cool to see."

Main roster Creative and Vince doing a terrible job handling NXT call-ups probably helps a lot on that view former NXT talent have. Already have some like Ciampa being vocal about not wanting to ever leave NXT since he saw what WWE did with his group of call-ups and got lucky he didn't suffer a similar fate due to injury.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE released an excellent video on Keith Lee dedicating his WWE NXT Championship win (which aired last night) to his trainer, the late Killer Tim Brooks. The video notes Lee flew back to Texas to see Brooks one last time five days before his passing.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Lana Says Both of Her Parents Have COVID-19
• Taz Brings Back the FTW Championship, Crowns Brian Cage as Champ
• Four Matches Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen Next Week
• Two Matches Announced for Next Week’s NXT

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter):

COVID-19 and its effect on UFC and pro wrestling continued to dominate the news this past week. WWE is recovering from an outbreak that caused changes to the taping schedule, a number of rewrites to television and numerous big names taken off this past two weeks of television ... WWE has not said anything, either in memos to talent, or the media, about its outbreak. Based on different reports, anywhere from 30 or more individuals with the company have tested positive, although the only names released officially are Young, who did so on her own, Kayla Braxton, and producers James Gibson (Jamie Noble) and Adam Pearce. The list of talent that hasn’t been at the Performance Center since the outbreak includes Dana Brooke, Carmella, Naomi, The Street Profits, Velveteen Dream, Austin Theory, Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Natalya, Nia Jax, Otis, Tucker, Mojo Rawley, Shorty G, Raquel Gonzalez, Sheamus and Sonya Deville. Of those, Bryan and Sheamus both appeared on Zoom on Smackdown from home so it was clear they were scripted originally for the show and didn’t come. That could be by choice, given Bryan’s wife is pregnant and he’s had issues with his immune system, or other reasons. Dream and Theory were both named in recent allegations. WWE officially has said there is no change in Dream’s status, and he was in an auto accident but had been not been on the show while he was in the middle of a program with the Undisputed Era, and his name was never mentioned in commentary during a Dexter Lumis match where he was part of the storyline. WWE hasn’t responded to any questions on Theory, whose name has also not been mentioned on commentary or his absence when Seth Rollins and Murphy been on TV been acknowledged. Natalya is known to have not tested positive but was pulled for precautionary reasons. Brooke, Carmella and Naomi hadn’t been booked on television prior, so they all just simply may not have been used. Jax also doesn’t appear to have a program going right now, although was the one to “injure” Charlotte Flair so disappearing from television right after wouldn’t seem to make sense either ... As of early in the week, Renee Young was fully recovered and “felt great,” so she should be returning to work fairly soon. She and Jon Moxley were both going to be tested once more this week and if the test is negative for both, he would be returning on AEW’s 7/15 show against Brian Cage. After a period when masks were strongly discouraged if not outright banned, WWE has gone full circle and instituted a new mask policy for its NXT wrestlers in the stands on television. On 7/3, which would have been after the Smackdown tapings that aired on 7/3 but before the Raw show that aired on 7/6, that was being taped that night, all talent working as extras in the stands were told that masks were mandatory and a fine system would be put in place. On the Smackdown show that aired on 7/3, most of the talent were wearing masks it appeared and they did far less crowd shots. But there were crowd shots. Early in the show, you could see two performers with no masks right in front of the hard cam. They were quickly removed from their position. Everyone else was wearing a mask although one person did not have his mask covering his nose. The new policy that went into effect the next day was a $500 fine for not wearing a mask the first time and a $1,000 fine a second violation. However, even though WWE confirmed that officially, NXT talent used as extras claimed to be unaware of a fine system for not wearing masks. There were several people on camera during the 7/8 NXT show not with masks, but that show was taped on 7/1, before the policy went into effect.

Raw on 7/6 did the second lowest number in modern history overall and tied for second lowest in the 18-49 demo, making it two bad numbers in a row after the heavy talk and angles and little wrestling format started with the departure of Paul Heyman and ascension of Bruce Prichard. The show averaged 1,686,000 viewers and an 0.49 in 18-49 (637,000 viewers). The viewer number beat only the 5/4 show at 1,682,000 viewers. The 0.49 beat the 5/4 show’s record low of 0.46, and tied shows on 6/1 and 6/29 at 0.49 ... The story of the number was both good and bad. The first hour was, by far, the lowest first hour in history. However, there was a huge increase in hour two. The second hour beating the first was commonplace most summers, but this year it has only happened a few times. What it appears is with the holiday, some people tuned in late, and there was a normal 8.0 percent drop from the second-to-third hour. The key things in hour two that led to increases were Rey Mysterio & Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins & Murphy and Ricochet & Cedric Alexander vs. Bobby Lashley & MVP. There was a significant drop in hour three, headlined by Bayley vs. Asuka, which would have been the fourth lowest hour three in history. The first-to-second hour gains were not among teenagers at all and very minimal with men 18-49 (three percent) and over 50 (one percent), but most heavily in women 18-49, which gained 10 percent. In hour three, women 18-49 dropped a little six percent, male 18-49 dropped nine percent, teenage girls dropped 14 percent and teenage boys dropped 25 percent and over 50 dropped seven percent ... As compared to the same week last year, which had head-to-head competition from Home Run Derby, Raw was down 28.3 percent in viewers and 31.8 percent in 18-49 viewers. The show did 160,000 in men 18-34, the best number in that demo since 3/25. It did 58,000 in women 18-34, 273,000 in men 35-49 and 146,000 in women 35-49.

Smackdown on 7/3 did its record low on FOX with a 1.14 rating and 1,777,000 viewers (1.29 viewers per home) and an 0.4 (516,000 viewers) in 18-49, and 0.2 in 18-34. I think you can almost throw this out based on the date, but we’ll know next week whether it’s back to normal or not. The median viewer on Smackdown was 56.7 years old, the oldest skewing episode I’m aware of, and viewers per home were also down from usual. The show did 83,000 in men 18-34, 40,000 in women 18-34, 235,000 in men 35-49 and 136,000 in women 35-49. It’s only a one week pattern thus far so until next week, I wouldn’t put much stock in the number, as the show had been above recent lows for several weeks going into this. The holiday weekend likely hurt and President Trump made a speech that night which led to huge increases in news channels. For right now you have to look at the numbers, given only two other shows did 0.4s on network TV (granted all three networks ran nothing but rerun programming), it looks like the date and not as bad as it sounds. The 0.2 tied four other network reruns. The bad news is that on a night with nothing but reruns, Smackdown was the least-watched show on major network TV for the night. It still beat what FOX did on the same holiday weekend last year, which was 1.38 million viewers and 0.3 in 18-49, so up 22.3 percent overall and 33.3 percent in 18-49 ... We don’t have quarter hours for the show, but the Matt Riddle promo and Riddle vs. John Morrison match did 1.83 million viewers. A.J. Styles vs. Drew Gulak did 1.77 million viewers. Bayley & Sasha Banks promo, Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss and a Bray Wyatt-Braun Strowman hype segment did 1.83 million viewers. And Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kofi Kingston and the Jeff Hardy-Sheamus segment did 1.69 million viewers.

Week two of the Great American Bash vs. Fyter Fest battle heated up after the business results of 7/1 came out. WWE and USA had even fewer commercials and more picture-in-picture during the commercials, because minute-by-minute stats show viewers from each show migrating to the other at a fairly substantial rate when either show is in a commercial break. AEW and TNT also did more picture-in-picture than they’ve done previously for a taped show, but didn’t cut back on actual commercial time ... When it came to numbers, both shows declined overall and in 18-49 when there were reasons both should have increased. NXT had, in theory, its biggest television match of the year, Adam Cole with a 403-day title reign in a double belt match against Keith Lee, the hottest wrestler on the brand. That match was a big success drawing the best quarter for NXT all year and best 18-49 number as well, and spelled the difference completely in the overall number. Even though the main event always means more than depth on the show, there was a decline for the overall show from the prior two weeks, although perhaps that’s because of a boost from Bayley & Sasha Banks in multiple segments that wasn’t there this week. AEW had pushed Jericho vs. Cassidy hard for weeks, with strong angles. The reality is the angles didn’t do well. Cassidy is hurt greatly from lack of live crowds. Cassidy had done well in quarters, but it was also midway or once even somewhat late in the show. He hasn’t done well when booked as a main eventer, and there are merch movers and people who get pops and there are main eventers. They are all different animals. And Jericho vs. Cassidy did do well based on usual quarter eights for AEW in 18-49, and had the highest numbers in 35-49 of any segment on either show. His closest comparison historically is mid-80s heyday JCP Jimmy Valiant, who always got huge crowd reactions for his matches, but the promotion knew enough to keep him in the middle with mid-level heels, and always winning as opposed to headlining him against the top tier guys and losing. And it wasn’t even clear that was the main event ahead of time, as AEW had depth, but no match with any real stakes. Of course that was because the scheduled Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage main event had to be pushed back a week. NXT won overall viewers 759,000 to 715,000, but even with Lee vs. Cole, the important number saw them fall in comparison slightly, as AEW did 0.28 in 18-49 (364,000 viewers) to NXT’s 0.20 (262,000 viewers) ... AEW once again won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW did 89,000 viewers (up 39.1 percent from last week) to NXT’s 47,000 (up 9.3 percent). In women 18-34, AEW had 42,000 (down 4.5 percent) to 33,000 for NXT (down 19.5 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 162,000 (down 7.4 percent) and NXT had 118,000 (down 16.3 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 71,000 (down 20.2 percent) and NXT had 64,000 (down 9.9 percent) ... Perhaps the biggest surprise after the record low Raw is that Wednesday, with two major shows, did not beat Monday in 18-49, although it was close. Monday had 637,000 in 18-49, which was 433,000 men and 204,000 women. Wednesday had 626,000, which was 416,000 men and 210,000 women. In the main event segment, Cole vs. Lee did 922,000 viewers and 355,000 in 18-49, both above last week’s Io Shirai vs. Banks match. It was the highest overall viewer number for both shows, and the highest 18-34 and 35-49 number for NXT of the night. It still lost in the demo to Jericho vs. Cassidy, which did 675,000 viewers, and 362,000 in 18-49, which in the demo is a strong quarter eight for both shows. In overall viewers, AEW won all four quarters in the first hour. NXT won all four in the second hour. In 18-49, AEW won all eight quarters. In 35-49, AEW won all eight quarters. In 18-34, AEW doubled or more than doubled NXT in all of the first four quarters, won seven quarters, but lost 117,000 to 114,000 for the main event. Cole vs. Lee greatly boosted every age group and key demo as well as overall. The show opened with AEW overcoming the strong lead-in advantage, doing 785,000 viewers and 391,000 in 18-49 for the Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Private Party match. Both numbers were AEW’s high point of the show, and the overall highest point of the night for both shows in18-49 and 18-34. NXT had 775,000 viewers and 235,000 in 18-49 for Candice LeRae vs. Mia Yim in a street fight. In quarter two, AEW lost 90,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for Joey Janela vs. Lance Archer. NXT lost 94,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for the ending and post-match of LeRae vs. Yim. In quarter three, AEW gained 41,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Archer vs. Janela, a Darby Allin video and the Taz & Brian Cage interview with the FTW title. NXT gained 15,000 viewers and 9,000 in 18-49 for Bronson Reed vs. Tony Nese, the Robert Stone brand angle and the beginning of Isaiah Scott vs. Johnny Gargano. In quarter four, AEW lost 1,000 viewers and gained 6,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & FTR vs. Butcher & Blade & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix. It’s notable one of the best TV matches of the year really didn’t move ratings much. NXT lost 15,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for Scott vs. Gargano. In quarter five, AEW lost 30,000 viewers and 28,000 in 18-49 for Big Swole being turned away, a Nyla Rose squash and a Rose promo. NXT gained 76,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49 for Santos Escobar & Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza vs. Drake Maverick & Tyler Breeze & Fandango. In quarter six, AEW lost 13,000 viewers and stayed even in 18-49 for SCU vs. Brodie Lee & Stu Grayson & Colt Cabana. NXT lost 16,000 viewers but gained 10,000 in 18-49 for Mercedes Martinez vs. Santana Garrett. In quarter seven, AEW gained 3,000 viewers and lost 1,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the SCU vs. Dark Order, next week’s card, Britt Baker/Swole angle and the beginning of Jericho vs. Cassidy. NXT gained 75,000 viewers and 55,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Lee vs. Cole. In quarter eight, AEW lost 20,000 viewers but gained 12,000 in 18-49 for Cassidy vs. Jericho. NXT gained 106,000 viewers and 47,000 in 18-49 for Lee vs. Cole, but the long commercial free period helped here ... With the accidental leak of a photo of Lee holding two belts and confetti all around him that came out, there were people trying to push the idea that maybe they taped two endings or you never know. They did not tape two endings. Had they wanted to, they could have taped a different ending the next day to “prove” the news wasn’t real, but that would have been short-sighted, and blown up their long-term plans to build the 8/22 Takeover show, presumably around Lee vs. Karrion Kross for the title.

AEW announced Fight for the Fallen which will be live on 7/15 and feature Moxley vs. Cage, FTR vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix (which should be great), Kenny Omega & Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express and Cody vs. Sonny Kiss for the TNT title. NXT has countered with Io Shirai vs. Tegan Nox for the women’s title and Damien Priest vs. Cameron Grimes. Based on this, unless something big is added, this should favor AEW. But the flip side is they have both NASCAR and UFC to contend with, which will hurt both shows significantly.

Post Wrestling listed the WWE’s taping schedule through SummerSlam, which is now scheduled for 8/23 at the Performance Center. Vince McMahon had hoped to have SummerSlam as the first major arena show, and was willing to move it to September if necessary. As we’ve seen just in the last few weeks, schedule changes are plentiful for a number of reasons, whether pandemic changes and other things that may or may not end up happening. Clearly the decision at this point is that live events with crowds in September aren’t that likely so these are the current plans: 7/15 - NXT for 7/15 and 7/22 7/17 - Smackdown live or live-to-tape 7/19 - Extreme Rules mostly live 7/20 - Raw for 7/20 and 7/27 7/21 - Smackdown for 7/24 and 7/31 7/29 - NXT for 7/29 and 8/5 8/3 - Raw for 8/3 and 8/10 8/4 - Smackdown for 8/7 and 8/14 8/12 - NXT for 8/12 and 8/19 8/17 - Raw for 8/17 and Smackdown for 8/21 8/22 - NXT Takeover 8/23 - SummerSlam A few notes on how they are doing the schedule. They are not doing any tapings out of order. For example, they could save time and do tapings for Raw and Smackdown after SummerSlam before, but don’t want to risk it. In the old days, WWE routinely would tape television that would air after PPV shows before, but that was also when things were planned on long in advance. With the nature of closed sets, the spoilers aspect isn’t even an issue but the reality is they can’t trust themselves for carry out plans without the ability to change their minds prior to a PPV show. The other is, with the exception of 8/17, that the Raw, Smackdown and NXT crew will be kept separate. This comes from the recent outbreak where the brands were all affected in some way. There is still an issue with the same fans being used at all shows. Even though they will all be tested prior to every taping, there is still a large element of risk ... Hopefully the stricter standards by WWE now will mean that a second outbreak isn’t happening. But all groups, whether it’s Marc Ratner at UFC (granted, kept far away from everyone at the events and always masked), Ric Flair, Jim Ross, Jake Roberts and others are older than 65. With the exception of Ratner, all of whom have had health issues and were still regularly appearing.

There will be at least two taped cinematic matches at the newly named “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules” PPV produced by WWE on 7/19 from the Performance Center. Besides the Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman non-title match billed as a fight at the swamp, the plan right now is also to tape the Eye For An Eye match with Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins. The match has gotten a lot of attention in recent days, largely because the stipulation is stupid. They are billing the match as one that can only end when one person pulls the others’ eye out. The idea is to do a taped match and use some form of CGI effects to simulate an eye being pulled out as the finish. A key aspect of this match is that Mysterio, 45, has been appearing with WWE for the past few months without a contract. It’s notable because in this type of an environment, with competition, from a legal standpoint, Mysterio could show up on the 7/15 Dynamite show or 7/18 Impact PPV show and not on this show. Now, that isn’t going to happen and it shows the trust Vince McMahon has in Mysterio to book a guy in a key PPV angle who could legally walk out in mid-angle or no-show the PPV card. Mysterio has been working on the terms of his original 18 month contract. There have been negotiations. Essentially where things stand is that Mysterio had asked for a raise and been told that no raises were being offered, and that they had just let a number of wrestlers go. But given the company is expected by everyone who follows the business end to set a profit record this year due to the size of the television deals, he didn’t initially accept that reasoning ... The suspicion is that if he does sign a new deal, he shouldn’t lose this match, but that would require Rollins to take time off and wear an eyepatch until some sort of magical fixture storyline comes into play. If he doesn’t sign, it would make sense for this to be his blow-off as it has been months ... If it was just Mysterio, at this point he would just probably go to who paid him the best, which would probably coome down to either WWE, AEW or a Moxley/Jericho like deal of AEW and New Japan which he is a big enough star to get if that’s what he wanted ... But his son Dominick is a key to this. Dominick was forgotten about for months, but after Rey’s contract was up, knowing that Rey is going to probably care more about pushing Dominick and Dominick getting a break than perhaps anything right now, he was brought back for the current angle. While he hasn’t done a match yet, from a physical standpoint in the few instances he’s had to perform, from a timing standpoint, he’s looked great. And that may still be the factor as to why WWE is probably going to be the frontrunner to keep him ... There is also AAA, although he went there previously on a strong deal but I don’t think AAA has the money to be competitive for what he wants, even though one of his closest friends is the booker. AEW and AAA haven’t worked much together of late but a relationship is there and Kenny Omega is still AAA’s world champion.

Anthony Crupi on the sports business site Sportico when talking about FOX dropping golf, the reason behind it is that FOX has a buyout clause and in this case even with dropping the rest of the years of their U.S. Open coverage, they have pay a buyout clause of an estimated $51 million per year for the length of the contract plus NBC is paying go the PGA isn’t losing money even though NBC is paying significantly less. The idea is they are saving $42 million per year in rights plus production costs and they are trying to cut to pay for the higher NFL prices. Crupi said that cutting Smackdown before the end of its contract isn’t likely. Even though Smackdown is doing far less than expectations, FOX is up five percent in 18-49 this season and the median viewer age this season of 52.4. Smackdown has aged more than four years of late, making it the second oldest skewing wrestling show behind only NXT. It’s still slightly younger than the programming they had last year. They also noted that Smackdown costs $205 million per year while if they put two dramas in that time slot it would probably cost $220 million but they’d only get 22 new episodes and the reruns would draw poorly or they’d have to pay more for other programming. Plus FOX likes the fall synergy of NFL Thursday, wrestling Friday, college football Saturday and NFL Sunday. This past week may be a fluke, but there’s no way they made this deal thinking they’d possibly be looking at 0.4s. I don’t think pandemic numbers are a reflection of the show because it’s not the atmosphere the show is supposed to have, so decisions made on these numbers really would be foolish right now. The negative that we don’t know if the audience will bounce back when this is over, given this period is going to be lasting a long time

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for this past week were: 1. The Very Best of WCW Nitro; 2. WWE 365: Ricochet; 3. Raw Talk for 7/6; 4. NXT Great American Bash from 7/1; 5. Best of WWE: Ricochet; 6. Best U.S. championship matches; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five; 8. Every Undertaker vs. Kane match; 9. Backlash 2020; 10. Great America Bash 2007

First time in a long while NXT managed to be back in the Top 10 and also hold a high spot for the week even though it was for last week's episode. Before that it got so bad at certain times that Meltzer started tracking the Top 15 and even then there were occasions where NXT still didn't track.

New Japan Pro Wrestling, barring an emergency, will become the first major promotion in four months to run with a decent-sized crowd with shows on 7/11 and 7/12 at Osaka Jo Hall. Both shows are to be set up for 30 percent capacity which would be about 3,600 fans and will be a test if they can have that many people at a show and follow their strict protocols to make it safe. Both shows are said to be close to sold out ... The shows will air live with Japanese commentary at 4 a.m. Eastern early Saturday morning (1 a.m. late Friday on the East Coast) for the first show and at 2 a.m. Eastern time and 11 p.m. Pacific time late Saturday night for the second show, or about one hour after the UFC ends ... For the two shows in Osaka, all seats are priced at 10,500 yen (about $98 U.S.) so both events, if sold out, will gross about $350,000 apiece. The crowd response may not be at normal levels because unlike in the U.S., where this would never happen, management has asked fans not to yell and scream at the shows because that could spread the virus. All fans at the show have to go through a temperature check and masks covering mouth and nose are mandatory ... The semifinals of the New Japan Cup, with Okada beating Hiromu Takahashi and Evil over Sanada, took place on 7/3 at an empty Korakuen Hall. They did a four match show with the second hour airing live on BS Asahi at 8 p.m., billed as the first time in 34 years that New Japan returned to a live show in the company traditional (well from 1972 to 1984) time slot when the company had its most mainstream appeal. We don’t have any numbers for the show although we’re told the viewership number was considered a huge success. However, the show itself had its issues ... The Okada vs. Hiromu Takahashi match clearly had a purpose. They went 27:00, with the idea of getting Takahashi as much offense and as big a rub of hanging with Okada and having a classic match with him ... The idea was to go about 17:00 and then the show would go off the air and they would promote people to watch the remainder of the match on New Japan World, which was putting the show up live for free. So the idea was to use the first live show in recent memory to get people used to New Japan World. But that had its issues as well. With so many people signing into New Japan World, all at the same time, there was a crash in some places in Japan. We don’t know how widespread, but some were able to get on about five minutes later and saw the main event finish. Others couldn’t get on until after the match was over, leading to disappointment.

For those who follow ratings, a major story when it comes to sports in particular is that Nielsen had been planning on introducing new ratings in September that would combine home ratings with out of home viewing. The new ratings system that would measure places like restaurants, airports, gyms, bars and hotels has been delayed until January due to COVID-19 slowing up the process. Some prelim data with minor sports has shown six to seven percent increases and the belief the NFL games this fall would have shown 10 to 15 percent increases, perhaps more for prime time games and playoffs. Networks are furious because they just found out and were expecting major ratings increases for the fall season, most notably for the NFL. The problem is obvious. You can measure restaurants that have a football game on, but how do you measure viewership? Or a bar, or the airport? Do people who walk by count? Does everyone sitting there near the screen, even if paying no attention at all to the screen count? In some places like sports bars, everyone is watching the game so it should count. In other places, it’s on and few are paying attention. These ratings mean millions and even billions of dollars. For wrestling, the continuing decline was thought to be masked for one year with the change in systems, and now that delay won’t be until January.

CMLL: Julio Cesar Rivera on Informa, the CMLL weekly streaming update, said that the company was waiting to get approval from the government and the commission to start running again. He said until both groups sign off there will be no shows. He did say they plan on empty arena shows first with all the talent COVID tested. Arena Mexico has been open to tourists with temperature checks and health questionnaires. Fantasma, the head of the commission said that he did get date requests from Salvador Lutteroth, who is currently running the promotion (this is Chavo Lutteroth, obviously a request from the original Salvador Lutteroth would be a far bigger story) and he went to doctors. There’s really no answers yet. AAA: There are still no answers as to when they will start running again. AAA has an edge over CMLL in that CMLL’s big shows are at Arena Mexico, so they have to wait until Mexico City’s government and commission okay events. AAA is a touring promotion and can go to lower risk parts of the country first. But at this point there’s not even a hint of when this will be

Regarding Brian Pillman Jr., who debuted on Dark against Shawn Spears, he is under contract to MLW but there would be no issue from the MLW side if AEW wants to use him. His contract allows for that anyway whereas the newer MLW contracts are more restrictive. That said, Pillman Jr. has asked to get out of his MLW contract and was denied. MLW tentatively has dates scheduled for 10/3 and 12/5, but anything that far in advance is subject to change, and Pillman, if he doesn’t get a release, would in theory be expected to work those dates. MLW and AEW have worked out deals in the past such as with MJF, where he had signed with MLW, AEW used him since his contract allowed for it and he signed with them as well and worked MLW until the end of his agreement. Since MLW usually tapes Friday or Saturday, and AEW on Wednesday, there isn’t likely to be a date conflict.

As best we can tell, the only major wrestling company that requested a government PPP loan was Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC. On 4/5 they filed a request for a loan between $150,000 and $350,000 to retain 106 jobs

On the Tessa Blanchard situation, her [Impact Wrestling] contract expired around 6/30 (that isn’t for sure but that was the date we were told but it has expired) so she’s now a free agent. She had said that she wasn’t willing to travel and work during the pandemic. They wanted her to at least come in and drop the title on the 7/18 show. We were told that she offered a one-date price and whatever the number was, they turned it down, and then announced she was fired just days before her contract expired. Her boyfriend, Daga’s situation is unclear past he is still under contract and they don’t think her situation impacts his situation. He wants to work. The story we were told is that he was willing to work the last taping and was willing to try to get out of Mexico but he wasn’t booked and as best we can still, he’s not booked for the PPV and he’s not part of any of the current storylines

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer There were slices of good news, but it was mostly very bad news when it came to Raw's ratings last night. Raw averaged 1.56 million viewers over the three hours, the lowest in modern history. In 18-49, the show averaged a 0.48, which would be the second lowest in the entire history of the show. The previous record audience low was May 4 which did 1.68 million viewers and a 0.46 rating in the 18-49 demo. The positives are the audience skewed younger, as the demo number was only down two percent from last week while viewers overall were down seven percent from last week's show which was the second lowest audience and demo of all-time. The other positive and negative relates to audience drop. Like last week, the second hour beat the first hour, and the first hour-to-third hour audience drop was only five percent, one of the lowest figures of the last year. The problem was that the audience at the start was the lowest ever, and that all three hours set record lows for those hours. The 1.50 million viewers for hour three broke the all-time low hour mark of 1.55 million for the third hour on May 4. Raw was fourth overall in 18-49 behind 90 Day Fiance, Below Deck Mediterranean and 90 Day Other Way. It was first in males 18-49 and males 12-17. Overall, Raw was 28th overall for the night, and fifth among non-news shows. It was down 36 percent from the same week last year in total viewers and 40 percent down in 18-49. Virtually all the second-to-third hour drop was over 50, hence the demo not declining as much as the overall. The three-hours were: 8 p.m. 1.58 million viewers 9 p.m. 1.60 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.50 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer The latest service preparing to enter the streaming wars Wednesday will feature WWE programming. In a Tuesday story on Variety, NBCUniversal's Peacock service announced a total of 20,000 hours for premium subscribers with 100 of those hours being WWE content available in August. While they didn't list everything that will make up that 100 hours, series like WWE Untold, Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, and compilations like John Cena's Best WrestleMania Matches were given as examples. Recent editions of WWE Raw will not be part of the premium service ... Similar to the WWE Network, Peacock will also have a free tier, but there was no WWE programming listed. The service will be available everywhere consumers get their traditional streaming services with the exception of Roku or Amazon Fire TV.

Originally Posted by Observer Tony Khan spoke to the New York Post about Jimmy Havoc and Sammy Guevara’s suspensions: “I suspended them both. Very different situations. I just needed to address both. We are addressing both. I think Jimmy really needed the counseling. If and when he were to wrestle again, the most important thing for himself and everybody here is that he sought treatment and counseling. When he asked for that help, we’re gonna help him. With Sammy, I think the right thing to do was to suspend him. The comments he made were horrible. I can’t defend them. I can’t even comment on them because they’re unspeakably bad. He has also done a different kind of counseling and he’s in a different kind of counseling and it’s a different kind of coaching. Everybody here, male and female pretty much up and down the roster we talked to felt like Sammy had no history of this kind of behavior. Really people were shocked Sammy had said that. Certainly, it’s an old clip. I think the video was four years old. I had never seen that video and it’s something I would have addressed with him before Sammy started here. I never had an opportunity to address it because I didn’t know it existed and neither did anybody else or if they did nobody told us. For both of them, we really needed to address the situation before talking about what to do in the future afterward. I didn’t want to rush into making a decision on either person, so it felt like until I had all the facts suspending was the right thing to do. Then I could make whatever the right decision is. I knew the right decision wasn’t for those guys to just come to TV and not address this stuff.” Khan also discussed PAC’s status: “I really miss PAC a lot. Right now the border is not a great situation. As I understand it, if he were to go back to England, if he were to come here and he was able to get in, do a quarantine after travel then he would also, when he tried to go home, he’d be in a two-week quarantine before he could do anything. So it just doesn’t seem like a sustainable situation right now because PAC lives in England, so until travel is sustainable and he could do what he used to do, which is come here and stay and do a few shows and then go back to England and really commute across the Atlantic, it’s very challenging right now. Until it becomes safe to travel back and forth for PAC to make those trips internationally, until the border is really ready, I don’t think we can rush him back even though we’d love to have him.”

Originally Posted by Observer While speaking with TalkSport, Cody addressed a report that said CM Punk asked for an “astronomical amount” of money when he negotiated with AEW: “As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us.’ Yeah, of course there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money. But you also have to -- and this isn’t speaking to Punk specifically, this is speaking to recruitment and what we’ve learned in wrestling in general -- a lot of people think ‘these wrestlers are running this wrestling company.’ These wrestlers are doing everything they can to run the creative, the brand and the marketing and things, but there are some very smart and fiscally conservative people who surround us and flank us because this isn’t my money. At all. And I don’t want a situation that happened with WCW or Jim Crockett Promotions where we think we’re flying so high that we can do anything. No -- this is a business. And we have to turn a profit. The fact we were able to turn a profit as a company within only two years of being alive, very few other companies within wrestling -- it’s real limited, you can count on one hand who’s been able to do that versus who has bled money -- but in that situation the negotiations, I don’t think they ever got too serious. Doesn’t mean they won’t one day, but they never got entirely too serious. I think there is a good relationship there. I think I have a good relationship with Phil, I believe Tony does too and I’m not sure really when it comes to him, it’s not so much about the money. It’s about are you interested in doing this? Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Tetsuya Naito is releasing an autobiography on August 19th, 2020. In the book, Naito covers the start of Los Ingobernables de Japon, the New Japan Cup, becoming the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion and the ambition he had to become double champion.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The 2010 WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view was the focus of the latest ARN podcast. Conrad brought up how during this time period, Vince McMahon didn’t want his talents using chops because it would cause the crowd to “woo”, which is a signature of Ric Flair who was with TNA Wrestling at the time. “Well, to this day, people are woo’ing, and they’re woo’ing on TV shows that doesn’t even warrant a woo or have anything to do with wrestling, you know? It’s just one of those things that stuck. Chops have always been part of the business and just to suddenly, when so many guys use them — okay, it’s a tribute to Flair, okay. But if it’s part of a guy’s offense, I mean how do you take that away from him because they pop for a guy that works for a different company or may not work for any company? It’s just real discombobulated to me,” Arn Anderson said.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Conrad Thompson got Eric Bischoff and Tony Khan together for an hour-plus conversation that’s up on the All Elite Wrestling YouTube channel. Bischoff shared that while he was in WWE, he and fellow members of the writing team would watch AEW and NXT side-by-side. “One of the things that I think has distinguished your show from anybody else’s, even when I was in WWE last year when you guys debuted, I sat and watched both shows side-by-side. NXT and AEW and clearly I was working in WWE at the time and I was actually watching it in a writer’s conference room with a bunch of other writers and one of the first things I noticed was that you’re handling your production so much better. When I watch your show, even under COVID — that was pre-COVID obviously but even under COVID, the way you’re shooting your show, it’s tighter, your shots tend to be tighter, you embrace your venue as opposed to trying to camouflage it quite as much. It feels — and I said this like the next day. Somebody, somebody! If you can imagine, said, ‘What did you think?’ I told him what I thought. Your show feels more like live TV to me because it has that grit — don’t take this the wrong way, please. I mean this is as a compliment, but your show feels gritty enough to convince me it’s live, and you don’t strive to be so perfect that you lose that sense of live energy.” Following that conversation while discussing TV deals, Tony Khan revealed that initially, TNT executives were interested in WWE’s TV rights in 2018.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven was a guest on The Lewis Nicholls Show. Back in February, Raven appeared on an episode of AEW Dynamite in Atlanta. During the interview, Raven explained his cameo appearance on the show and stated that he would’ve liked to work with AEW in a larger role. “I live in Atlanta. That’s where the show was and I came by to say hi to a bunch of people and so they asked me if I would be a red herring for a cameo, you know? Sure. A, I don’t mind but B, what am I gonna say no? That’s just disrespectful. Plus, if it helped them out, it was fine. But I would’ve liked to work with them some more but, they… they basically have what they need as far as where my skills are utilized best, you know? Like in creative, they have their creative. They have a system and it works for them so, that’s great.”

Originally Posted by WhatCulture According to Fightful, Matt Riddle botched his debut on SmackDown. The 19 June episode was set-up to coronate AJ Styles as new Intercontinental Champion before the incoming Riddle interrupted him. During the pre-taped segment, WWE wanted to make sure that certain things happened. After Styles was "very funny" and bantered with Daniel Bryan about strapping the IC belt around his waist for him, John Laurinaitis crashed the scene via the Performance Center's PA system and repositioned everybody in-ring for Riddle's entrance. Apparently, it was vitally important that the ex-NXT man could be seen clearly by the hard cam. WWE wanted to make sure that everyone at home could see "he wasn't wearing shoes". Fightful also reported that AJ, Riddle and host Renee Young had lines written down in front of them on the table. At one stage, Riddle accidentally read one of the lines meant for Styles, recognised his mistake and stopped the filming with a quick, "My bad, bro". That cracked everyone up, with the possible exception of Laurinaitis. The WWE trainees in the "live crowd" all laughed because they're said to know Riddle's personality better than some on the main roster.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News reports that next Sunday, July 19 there will be content added to the "Undertaker: The Last Ride" section entitled "Tales from the Deadman." Not much is known about the special as of now, but one can assume that it will feature outtakes and bonus content from the critically acclaimed documentary series.

Originally Posted by Observer UFC has from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Wednesday night on ESPN and ESPN+. The prelims go head-to-head with AEW and NXT. Dan Ige vs. Calvin Kattar is the main event and the full show is covered in the current issue. Tim Elliott vs. Ryan Benoit and Jimmie Rivera vs. Cody Stamann, Molly McCann vs. Talita Santos, Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mournir Lazzez and John Phillips vs. Khamzat Chimaev are the top bouts. The main card starts at 10 p.m. Eastern. It being on ESPN means it will hurt the wrestling shows even more, because last time they ran on a Wednesday it made a big difference, particularly to AEW. But since it's only the prelims, it could be worse. Last time it went had-to-head it was an ESPN+ show only, which means really the hardcore UFC fans saw it but the casual fans didn't. There's also a big NASCAR race on FS1.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling In Canada this Wednesday, AEW will air on TSN2 at 8 pm Eastern while TSN5 will carry the UFC card beginning at 8 pm followed by a post-show at 12:30 am.

Originally Posted by Observer PWInsider reported Tammy Sytch was arrested again at 4:42 p.m. for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, eluding a police officer, and violation/contempt of a domestic violence restraining. She is being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution. Sytch was let out on parole in Carbon County, PA for DUI related arrests earlier this year and had been reportedly doing well with a high priced photo subscription service.

TPWW Frontpage:

• DDP Says That He and QT Marshall Have COVID-19
• WWE: Kevin Owens Influenced New Mask Policy, Best of Women’s Evolution, Updated SD Ratings
• WWE: The Miz “Cannonball” Ratings, R-Truth Game Show Debuts
• Charlotte Flair Explains Why She’s Taking Time Off From WWE

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Originally Posted by 411Mania On today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that Bianca Belair returned on RAW last night and teamed with Ruby Riott to beat The IIconics because Liv Morgan is currently away. The match was originally set to be Morgan & Riott vs. The IIconics. It’s still unknown why Morgan has been away from RAW since the end of June.

Originally Posted by PWI Ring of Honor released the following first look at this weekend's episode of ROH TV, which will pay tribute to STARDOM star Hana, who took her own life in May

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoPp6nW_mXM

Originally Posted by PWI The State of Pennsylvania filed a motion yesterday in Carbon County Court to revoke the February 2020 parole of WWE Hall of Famer Tammy "Sunny" Sytch, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The motion was filed in the wake of Sytch's arrest in New Jersey on the morning of 7/13 in Middletown, NJ. Sytch remains incarcerated at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, charged with with the following: *Operating a Motor Vehicle during a second license suspension. *Eluding a Police Officer. *Contempt/Violation of a Domestic Violence Restraining Order. Obviously, the State of PA sees Sytch's arrest as a violation of her existing parole. Court records indicate that until her 7/13 arrest, Sytch had been adhering to her parole requirements, including monthly payments of restitiution. A hearing has not yet been scheduled but if the court sides with the State, they may rule that Sytch be returned to Carbon County Correctional Facility to serve her full original sentence.

Originally Posted by PWI In regard to rumors we've been asked about regarding a Charlotte Flair TV series making the rounds, there is some truth to the story about her involvement in a television project, but no deal has been completed as of this writing.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling AEW presents “Fight for the Fallen” tonight from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, and will have a charitable component. This year, they are encouraging fans to donate to Florida’s First Coast Relief Fund and the Feeding Northeast Florida group ... While the competition from NXT is not as heavy this week, the larger question is the impact the NASCAR All-Star race is going to have, and the UFC prelims airing on ESPN. While the UFC main card doesn’t begin until 10 pm Eastern, UFC has been killing it on free television with their last Fight Night card on June 27th finishing #1 and #2 on cable that night with the main card and prelims. There are no stars on the prelims, but I don’t look at that as significant a factor as the UFC brand has drawn well on ESPN during the pandemic. NASCAR could take out a chunk of both AEW & NXT tonight, so those factors are ones to watch. It’s a precursor of what’s to come with so many sports leagues gearing up for their returns and seeing what effect the added sports competition has on all pro wrestling products and if UFC sees a dip from this phenomenal run of business on pay-per-view and cable.

Link for those interested in donating: https://www.betterunite.com/JaguarsF...covid-19relief

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Monday’s viewership for Raw ranks as the lowest in the history of the show (where data is available) falling beneath 1.6 million viewers. However, the 18-49 demo only fell by 2%. Because they have fallen to a baseline of dedicated viewers, there was less tune-out throughout the show with the larger loss in the third hour among males 12-34 which dropped 12%. So, even though fewer people are tuning in at the start of the show (indicating a lack of interest overall rather than the content turning them off), those that tune in are more likely to watch the entire show. It’s hard to make sweeping statements about the Raw viewership as their demo rating continues to be among the top shows on cable but you’d be foolish to ignore the major loss of audience during this period. If the USA Network chalks it up to the pandemic, you can make a reasonable case that it’s the largest factor but hardly a guarantee that whenever WWE can run major arenas with fans, that the lost audience returns overnight. Going a step further, if you’re going to throw your arms in the air and accept that the pandemic was going to negatively affect viewership, then this period may be viewed differently a year from now as a lost opportunity. Going with the notion that viewership will be down regardless, this was the time to double-down on new performers and getting the necessary experience to hopefully, have some fresh acts and more seasoned talent when fans return. This was the playbook that appeared in place for Raw over the past year since Paul Heyman’s appointment. It doesn’t mean a similar philosophy can’t be carried out by Bruce Prichard, but it comes down to Vince McMahon’s interpretation of why viewership is down and what vision he wants the show to reflect – are they just trying to stop the loss of viewers, or not concerned with numbers and building for the future? If it’s the former, then you’re likely to rely on established stars, save big matches for television, and book for that week’s audience rather than invest now with the hopes of it bearing fruit down the road ... It’s also a deeper question about how to create those new fans and what strategies are left? If there was a mandate to get Raw back over two million viewers, what is your plan? You could hot-shot for one major show and achieve that number but what about averaging two million viewers for a month? How long would it take to get to that status when Raw hasn’t hit that figure since the night after WrestleMania? We have gone through brand splits, trades, talent popping up on the other show, legends coming back, short matches on TV with more promo time, long matches on TV, show-long builds to a peak in the third hour, peaking for the second hour with less focus on the third hour, etc. The answer is that there isn’t a simple answer to get to the point where you find that breakout star that will lift business when they catch fire. The ability to take a talent with potential and properly build them into a draw has been an awfully difficult task for the company. Some times, you have to spot the potential and just go with it. Every talent will have his or her detractors, will have their weaknesses (not the “right look”, can’t work “main event style”, weak on promos, doesn’t have the “it” factor) and those are all ambiguous statements that often curtail risks being taken and shaking things up. Typically, fans respond to “new” and things feeling fresh where someone bursts onto the scene and catches fire quickly. Often, that flame gets extinguished or dies down because they aren’t all in, even though the crowd was ready. Long-term, Braun Strowman is not the guy to build SmackDown around. He was a band-aid solution to get the title off Bill Goldberg when the original challenger Roman Reigns was unavailable. If they were bound and determined to strap the rocket on someone – where an Adam Cole (or pick your star with main event potential) shows up on SmackDown and out of nowhere, challenges and beats Strowman, it would create that shock factor where lapsed fans would want to see what happened. At that point, you have people’s attention, so follow-up is key to retain those lost eyeballs. That is only one example and it’s not like there is a deep playbook of strategies but playing the long game with patience appears more logical than booking week-to-week and running in the same spot. It also comes with the risk of heavy investment on a vision with no guarantee it will bear fruit in six to nine months. If you want your viewership to average two million viewers per week, it will probably take months to create new habits for fans not watching Raw weekly and that comes down to an enticing program with characters they are behind and not having such a hard-and-fast rule on who gets over at the top. A lot of characters lose their edge on the main roster through poor attempts at comedy, limitations that handcuff them in match scenarios, and feeling like they are part of the WWE machine rather than individual stars that stand out on their own as a way to enhance the product instead of blend into it.

John Pollock had a very interesting take on WWE squandering a golden chance handed to them to fix their serious issues by not going all in on building for the future and instead still being stuck in their current mentality and band-aid approach to their declining ratings and star power woes.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics has an extensive study on television ratings and assessing the value of total viewers and the 18-49 demographic, which has become this hot-button issue largely spurred on by Tony Khan and Chris Jericho pointing out the reliance on the demo over overall viewers after Fyter Fest last week.

Link for those interested: https://wrestlenomics.com/2020/07/14...o-they-matter/

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling On that subject, AEW president Tony Khan gave the following answer to Justin Barrasso at SI.com regarding the television numbers and what is most important to them: "The key for us is TV rights. That is our primary revenue stream. Without a live gate, that revenue stream has become the lifeblood of our company. It’s very important for me to keep producing new shows and have those shows keep performing the way the way they want us to perform, which is performing well in the 18–49-year-old demographic. So far, we’ve been doing those things, and they’re very happy with us. Overall viewership is a nice, round number, and if you want to make the number sound as big as possible, you say the overall viewers. But the network looks at the numbers in the 18–49 demographic, that is what keeps us going. Over the past two weeks, Fyter Fest was a huge success. We look at that chart every week of where we rank in the 18–49-year-old demographic, and to be in the top seven two weeks in a row is a really good performance for us. It’s important to understand what the network actually looks at, so people will understand what we consider success. The key for us is to keep the demo number high."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling For Fyter Fest last Wednesday, the show did 0.44 with 715,000 average viewers and 407,000 in the 18-49 demographic. For SmackDown, the show did 1.25 with 1,892,000 average viewers overall with 607,000 in the main demo. Saturday’s UFC 251 prelims did 397,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo and 809,000 overall.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Jake Roberts posted that he underwent an operation this past Monday but didn’t specify what he was being treated for. On Twitter, he added that he still planned to be in Jacksonville for AEW this week.

Originally Posted by Voices of Wrestling FITE (@FiteTV) announced they will be streaming Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling on July 22 and DDT Summer Vacation 2020 on July 23 in both English and Japanese. English commentators are Sonny Onoo (both shows), Dan Madigan (TJPW) & Rob Hochman (DDT).

Originally Posted by Fightful With talks about a second Evolution pay-per-view happening, Tegan Nox already has an opponent or two in mind if that show were to become a reality. Right before she faces NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai on NXT, Nox spoke with Comic Book to talk about the growth of women's wrestling in WWE within the past decade. Speaking on a potential Evolution 2, Nox said she would love to wrestle in it and says if she had to pick an opponent, it would be Ruby Riott and Molly Holly if she had to pick a legend. "It's got to be Ruby Riott," Nox said. "She's right at the top for me, but if it's a legends dream match, obviously it's Molly Holly, but Ruby Riott is my next pick. I mean, she's incredible. She's such a good friend, and an incredible athlete and an incredible wrestler. She's my main pick that I want to wrestle, so Ruby Riott at Evolution 2."

Current rumor is Evolution 2 is happening shortly after SummerSlam.

Originally Posted by WrestlingHeadlines.com According to Fightful Select, rising star Ricky Starks, who has since signed with AEW, was offered $1000 a month by the NWA to remain with the promotion but passed. He was featured regularly on Powerrr and was a former NWA Television champion. The man he lost the belt to, Zicky Dice, has also left the NWA. Reports are that Dice was only being offered $250 a month, an amount he wouldn’t take either. Dice did eventually re-sign to the NWA for the remainder of 2020, but was recently granted his release. As for the women’s division…Fightful states that current champion Thunder Rosa is still under contract with the NWA. Whether she plans on re-negotiating has yet to be determined. Former women’s champion Allysin Kay is expected to remain in NWA, and still plans on working with them much further into the future.

Originally Posted by Fightful On the second night of Fyter Fest on July 8, instead of facing Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Brian Cage was awarded the FTW title by Taz. Although Cage will face Moxley at Fight For The Fallen on July 15, Cage will also defend the FTW title against Brian Pillman Jr. on the July 14 edition of AEW Dark. Speaking to Mike Johnson of PWInsider, AEW President Tony Khan spoke on where the idea to bring back the FTW belt came from. Khan said it was something in the works for weeks and noted that he personally thought it was great that Taz was the one who presented it to Cage and that it was not the first thing the duo did since joining forces in May. "Well, it was a few weeks ago. Taz told me he had it. And immediately, that's when the idea struck me to do this. Then I asked him to bring it down and get it down here and Taz's son, Tyler, who is a great kid, traveled down with it and came down and got tested, and joined us in the bubble. Tyler brought it and then we had it. Taz presenting it to Brian was a really important part of the presentation. I think Taz and Brian, it was good that it wasn't the first thing they did together, because they really had become associated. Brian was always supposed to debut in that casino ladder match, as soon as we got his diagnosis that he was going to be out until May," Khan said. "This thing had been planned for a long time for Brian to make the big intro, and make the big splash, and challenge Moxley. Brian and Taz, they've established a rapport on television. When Taz told me he still had the belt, it was a perfect thing to add to the story I thought. And so, a couple weeks ago, when it came up, I really jumped on it. Once I found out he had it, and we were able to use it, I wanted to make it a part of the story. I wouldn't have done it without his blessing. I mean, he's the one who told me he had it. So once he said he still had possession of it, and I checked, and we're cleared to use it, then, at that point, I was like, 'This is, to me, almost like a no brainer. It adds so much to the story, to the presentation of Brian. It's so much credibility, the FTW title.' I grew up watching ECW, as you know, and that belt meant a lot. Even though it's not a recognized championship, when it was defended, or when you saw it, it felt like it was part of the presentation of Taz as one of the top wrestlers in the sport and I think it can be the same thing for Brian Cage. So I was really excited about it, as soon as Taz told me he still had that belt, and then when I realized that we could use it. It was a few weeks ago," Khan said.

Originally Posted by Fightful Bret Hart's autobiography "Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling" is regarded as one of the best and most detailed wrestling autobiographies ever written. Though fans saw Bret's career play out in the wrestling ring, and behind the scenes in documentaries, it could have played out in a different television format. Appearing on New Day: Feel The Power, former WWE writer Michael Notarile discussed his meeting with Bret Hart and how he wanted to develop Bret's book into a television show. "When I met Bret, I met him before WWE and I wanted to develop his book into a TV show. Long story short, he had my email from a letter I wrote him when I was a kid. Somehow, my email got into his address book, he sent me an email about something, I think by mistake, and I wrote back and was like, 'I want to develop your book into a TV show.' This is before I worked at WWE," he said. Notarile began working with WWE in 2013. He continued the story, saying he met with Bret at a hotel in California after the two exchanged emails. "At this point, I thought it was a prank. I put my wrestling figure in my bag and was like, 'If he could sign the figure, how awesome would that be?' I'm at the hotel, looking around like, 'I'm definitely on a prank show.' Bret Hart walks in. It's real. We sit down, talking about the book and the whole time, in the back of my head, I'm like, 'I've got to get him to sign this wrestling figure.' How do I do it? I go, 'My mom was like, you should bring your wrestling figure and get Bret to sign it.' I go, 'Mom, I'm going to be professional, it's a meeting.' Bret's like, 'Oh, I would have signed the figure for you.' 'Great, I brought it, it's right here,' and he signed it." The Bret Hart TV show never came to fruition, but Notarile did get to work with Bret in WWE, helping him with a promo in Montreal in 2014. Notarile called working with Bret his third favorite moment during his WWE tenure behind New Day winning their first tag team titles and Xavier Woods' initial New Day promo where he recruited Kofi Kingston and Big E.

TPWW Frontpage:

• AEW Fight for the Fallen & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings
• WWE: Edge on AEW Competing with WWE, Kevin Owens on NXT Return Interest, Undertaker Series

* Smeat's note: There might mot be a sheets report tomorrow due to I'm going to be very busy with more important stuff during the usual time I read the day's sheet news and put together a report from various places.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Despite competition from both NASCAR on FS1 and UFC on ESPN, AEW Dynamite had its highest viewership since May and scored a big win over NXT on USA Network last night. Last night's Fight for the Fallen edition of Dynamite, which was headlined by Jon Moxley retaining his AEW World Championship against Brian Cage, averaged 788,000 viewers as compared to NXT's 631,000. It's the first time Dynamite has won the viewership battle in four weeks. The viewership for Dynamite was up 10.2 percent over last week's Fyter Fest night two show. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite averaged a 0.29 rating, up 3.6 percent from last week. That was also the best number for the show since May and it ranked fifth for the night on cable. NXT's viewership total was down 16.9 percent from last week. The last time NASCAR ran on a Wednesday night, it also affected NXT more than Dynamite. Dynamite and NXT both likely affected the UFC number as the main card had the lowest viewership total to date on ESPN with just 536,000 viewers. The UFC prelims averaged 434,000 viewers. The prelims aired opposite wrestling on the East Coast, with the main card going against it on the West Coast. The NASCAR All-Star race averaged 2.036 million viewers and finished third in the 18-49 demo with a 0.35 rating. NXT fell to 49th on cable in the 18-49 demo rankings with a 0.14, down 30 percent from last week. It's the second lowest number in that demo the show has done on the USA Network since debuting last October. AEW won every demo but people over 50, which is usually the case, but it was much closer this week with NXT averaging a 0.36 rating in that category to AEW's 0.30. AEW's biggest category was men 18-49, where they nearly tripled NXT with a 0.40 rating as opposed to 0.14.

Originally Posted by Observer Though the series finale aired last month, more "Undertaker: The Last Ride" content is coming to the WWE Network this weekend. WWE has announced that a bonus episode titled "Undertaker: The Last Ride: Tales from the Deadman" will premiere on the WWE Network on Sunday: You thought you’d seen the last Last Ride? Think again. The critically-acclaimed WWE Network series returns this Sunday as Undertaker shares even more stories from his legendary career on Undertaker: The Last Ride: Tales from the Deadman, narrated by Emmy-nominated actor and producer Timothy Olyphant. Get ready for some incredible behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the man himself, as Undertaker recalls stories about the origins of his character, his experience on an infamous plane ride, and even that time he fought The Godfather over a hat, all accompanied by never-before-seen animation. Don’t miss the return of Undertaker: The Last Ride, as 'Tales from The Deadman' premieres this Sunday, streaming immediately following The Horror Show at WWE Extreme Rules, only on WWE Network. In addition to airing on the live stream after Extreme Rules, "Tales from the Deadman" will be made available on demand on the WWE Network at 10 a.m. Eastern time on Sunday.

Originally Posted by PWI NWA President Billy Corgan posted the following on his Instagram account, shooting down rumors of the demise of the National Wrestling Alliance: "A quick note about the National Wrestling Alliance, which I fought for, and won ownership of a few years back. We are NOT shutting down. So please disregard any and all rumor to effect. The @NWA is not and will not be for sale, and those talent who are under contract remain under contract for a reason: which is that we at the NWA are trying to figure out a way to provide our great fans with wrestling content in a very, very tough environment. And, most importantly, keep our talent safe and the standard of production you’ve come to expect from us at a high level. Anything less, in my opinion, is unacceptable. So yes, appreciate the interest, appreciate the chatter, but don’t appreciate the unsourced rumors and speculation" The promotion shut down production in the wake of the resignation of Vice President Dave Lagana several weeks ago.

The rumor originated from some comments Raven made in a recent interview with Hannibal TV.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE star Jeff Hardy's scheduled court appearance in Moore County Court in North Carolina today regarding his October 2019 arrest for Driving While Impaired has been pushed back to Monday 9/28 as all court cases have been pushed back due to court closures stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Hardy was arrested the evening of Thursday 10/3/19 in Moore County, North Carolina. The police report for the arrest notes that authorities received a tip about a careless driver around 8:40 PM that evening. Authorities located Hardy's car in front of a liquor store and he emerged carrying a case of beer. Authorities followed the car and pulled him over after they "observed him weaving badly in his lane." Hardy had "what seemed to be dried blood on his nose", according to the police report and told officers that he and his wife "got into a fight." The police report stated that Hardy admitted to having two shots of vodka and admitted to being impaired. Hardy failed a field sobriety test and according to the report, he was "was uncooperative when asked for a breathalyzer or blood sample." A judge signed off on a search warrant, allowing officers to extract a blood sample from Hardy. Hardy's driver's license has been revoked pending the resolution of the case..

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former TMZ reporter Adam Glyn caught up with former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion Henry Cejudo. Cejudo was asked about the possibility of him appearing on All Elite Wrestling programming again, following his appearance at Double Or Nothing in May and Cejudo said there have been more conversations held between his team and AEW. “Probably the wrestling, probably the Boxing. But I meant it when I said I’m retired. There’s a boatload of money that could bring me back, but I think more importantly than money for me is legacy. Yeah we’ve been in contact with AEW. There’s a potential big pay-per-view event that they may want to hold but, there’s a lot. Even amateur wrestling man. I mean there’s so many options that I don’t really know which one to pick because they all seem a little appetizing to me, you know?”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Josh Matthews joined Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net on the Pro Wrestling Boom podcast. Matthews talked about the changes that have had to be made to IMPACT’s weekly programming on the lead-up to Slammiversary after the exits of Tessa Blanchard, Michael Elgin and Joey Ryan from IMPACT Wrestling. “Yeah, I would say everybody. Everybody involved. The guys in Nashville had to do more work. We had to do more V.O.’s, graphics had to be changed. All the little things that we try to do. The go-home week for a pay-per-view to me has always been a very easy week. It’s interviews like this for me. Everything’s done and that really wasn’t the case with this particular show. There was a lot of last minute scrambling and changing of things but it was one of those — we want to put the best product that we can out there publicly and we want to make sure that everyone’s happy with the faces that they’re seeing. So while the work needed to be done, it was done with a smile on our faces because we knew that we were doing everything that we could to give the best content that we possibly could provide.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Bleacher Report Live conducted an interview with Tony Khan to promote Fight For The Fallen. Khan spoke about the six-man tag team match between Jurassic Express (Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy) and The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks). Khan stated that with all the trios in AEW, there may be a trios tournament in the company some day. “These are two of the top trios units in our company [The Elite & Jurassic Express]. Six-man tags have been a huge part of AEW. Since the beginning, we featured S.C.U. against Strong Hearts at Double Or Nothing and we’ve done so many six-man tags. The aforementioned Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends, the Jurassic Express obviously and The Elite are two of the top units and we’ve got a bunch of dream units and I think we could some day have a great trios tournament of some kind. I also think that this could be one of the biggest matches in that tournament and we’re seeing it right now. If it were to happen, I think The Elite and the Jurassic Express could be the odds on favorites and they’re two of the most popular teams in AEW so I think it’s gonna be a really fun match and I’m really excited about it.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Charlotte Flair was a guest on Nikki and Brie Bella’s podcast ... During Charlotte’s segment of the podcast, she said that she hoped that while she was in NXT, a storyline involving herself, Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Stephanie McMahon came about. “Because I spent some time in NXT recently, I was really hoping that I could get into that with Triple H, being like the brat and then him being like, ‘I made you’ because of the whole NXT, but, maybe later down the road.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Newsweek chatted with Tegan Nox ahead of her NXT Women’s Title match on 7/15. Tegan was asked to speak about coming out as a lesbian. Nox said the reception was mostly positive and she received many messages from colleagues and friends of hers. “My life has always been a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation, but I felt like it was the right time, especially when you’ve found the right one you’re in love with. It was the right time to do that. The reaction has been great. There are a few people who obviously don’t agree with that, but 99 percent of the reactions have been positive. I’ve got texts coming through from so many colleagues and friends. It was nice. It’s great to see that there are so many nice people in the world.” One individual who Tegan Nox spoke with was Sonya Deville. Tegan shared that she spoke with Sonya before the picture went up and added that Deville has been a massive help. “I actually talked to Sonya before I even did this. She was a big, big help. She gave me her phone number and told me to text her if I needed anything. So we keep in contact quite a lot about it. She’s a massive help with the fans, because my family knew but my fans didn’t. So she helped me bring it out to the public.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WrestleZone spoke with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler of FTR. While speaking about if heels and babyfaces still exist in pro wrestling, Harwood shared his thoughts about how to get people emotionally invested in pro wrestling and he doesn’t think “great matches every week” is the key to drawing money in the sport. “I don’t know if I believe in ‘babyfaces and heels’. I don’t know. Before anybody is a babyface and before anybody is a heel—at least for myself and Cash—we’re men. We’re men and you’re either going to like us or you’re not going to like us and I think that attributes to your personality and your traits. You’ve got to build on those character traits. Ultimately I think getting emotionally invested is the way you make the most money, the way you draw the most fans, the most viewers. To have someone, one set of guys or one individual fighting another set of guys or an individual, and there’s a conflict of interest and the fans choose what side they believe in, what side they want to be on, I think that’s where we’re at in the world right now. I don’t think ‘great matches’ every week are the answer to pro wrestling and how to make money. There’s a conflict of interest and the fans are going to decide in their mind who is the good guy and who is the ‘bad guy.’”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Shane “Hurricane” Helms joined Chris Featherstone for a Facebook Live Q&A and the full video is up on the Sportskeeda YouTube channel. Helms was asked why he believes WWE’s television ratings have continued to drop for RAW and SmackDown and Helms accredited it to the lack of star power and fans. “Why are they falling? Because less people are watching. I just think, without an audience, you’re losing a big part of the magic of pro wrestling. I mean it’s hard to watch for me and I love it as much as anybody has ever loved pro wrestling in the history of the world, and it’s hard for me to watch, and they lost a lot of star power. It’s really an odd time. Not like I have my finger on the pulse by saying it’s an odd time. Obviously, everybody knows that but, it’s an odd time.”

Originally Posted by RingSideNews.com AEW Fight For The Fallen started off this week by announcing that Tony Schiavone wouldn’t be on the show. It was stated that his COVID-19 test didn’t come back in time so he was replaced by Taz. This was apparently a bigger issue than just one individual case. AEW has conducted blood tests to check for COVID-19. This is different from the swab tests in many ways. This week it caused an issue for the company. During Wrestling Observer Radio (transcription by Ringside News), Dave Meltzer revealed that Tony Schiavone wasn’t the only person who had issues with their COVID-19 test. He stated that some people had to take their test “multiple times.” Schiavone didn’t receive his test back in time so he couldn’t work the show. “There’s something that happened that I was told that people were tested multiple times. I don’t know the whole story, but Tony’s test didn’t come back so he was off the show. There were a couple other people who were missing. I don’t know the reasons why, but they were missing.”

TPWW Frontpage:

• Several Matches Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite and NXT
• WWE Planning Mid-December Deadline for WrestleMania 37’s Status in California
• Various: Tony Khan on Idea to Revive FTW Title in AEW, Details on Several NWA Contracts, Indies

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

New Japan Pro Wrestling was the first major company to shut down, the one that took their financial lumps as much as any other major company for doing so, and this past weekend became the first major to open up with live crowds with shows on 7/11 and 7/12 in Osaka Jo Hall. In the most unique year in pro wrestling, and life, the first two shows had a few themes. The biggest is the hope that putting nearly 4,000 fans in the building on two nights will end up being safe and they can continue to run shows before crowds. The second was the unique crowd reactions. New Japan asked the fans not to cheer or boo or make noise with their mouths, and only clap. And while there were exceptions, and some booing of Evil, the star of the weekend as far as booking, for the most part, the crowd was silent except for the constant clapping up and down the shows. From a storyline standpoint, it was the “Weekend of Evil.” Takaaki Watanabe, 33, known as Evil, defeated Kazuchika Okada in the finals of the New Japan Cup, turned on LIJ to become the top star of the Bullet Club, and then, with the help of the debuting Dick Togo, defeated Tetsuya Naito to win both the IWGP title and the IC title belts ... Besides Evil, also put over strong was the tag team of Dangerous Tekkers, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi, who defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi to win the IWGP tag team titles. There was no obvious challenger team coming off the title change. Another big move was that the next major show, Sengoku Lord, on 7/25 at the Dolphins Arena in Nagoya, will feature Evil’s first title defense, against Hiromu Takahashi. This is only the second time in company history that a junior heavyweight champion will challenge for the heavyweight title, with the first being Prince Devitt in 2013 against Okada. But they were in the process of moving Devitt out of the junior heavyweight category at the time. Hopefully they don’t do that with Takahashi, because the division should be his showcase for years to come since he’s the best New Japan has had for that role since the heyday of Jushin Liger ... Some thought Evil winning the Cup and the title was just Gedo replacing Jay White, who hasn’t been brought back due to travel restrictions, with Evil. But we were told months ago that this was scheduled to be a major year for Evil, so it’s probably the existing plan. Togo, who is now 50, started his career with Gedo & Jado in the old Universal promotion in 1991, at the time known as Sato. With much of the Bullet Club overseas, Gedo gave the gimmick a renewed push, adding Evil and Togo, and giving Yujiro Takahashi a big push for a program with Okada ... Another notable thing watching the shows. Because people were spread out basically in every third seat, but all over the arena, the place actually looked full on television. The usual idea is to pack a part of the building which leaves a part empty so even a 70 percent full show people knock for not being sold out, even if the crowd is healthy. The 7/11 show drew 3,318 paid fans and $325,000, and the 7/12 show did 3,898 paid and $382,000. Minoru Suzuki was pulled from both shows this weekend due to running a fever.

From a business standpoint, while not yet announced by anyone, the return to action of Bellator on 7/24 indicates a story that has been talked about heavily behind the scenes. Bellator is not advertising the show for DAZN and those in the promotion noted that the show is not scheduled at the time for DAZN. The belief within the industry has been that DAZN, with its heavy money problems, will be dropping Bellator when it is contractually able. This would make the first of these pie-in-the-sky deals with combat sports streaming to fall through, although the feeling is DAZN may also have to cut back on money earmarked for boxing. DAZN has added MLW, but that’s at a far lower price point. Some of this would be related to losses and also to issues with the pandemic ending live sports for the last several months, which DAZN’s subscription model is based on.

Between the stuff with DAZN and FOX recently dropped a lot of sports-related programming and PGA deal, could be seeing the start of serious cracks in the sports tv bubble. That could become a very worrying thing for WWE and AEW in a few years if things continue. A few years ago ESPN started cutting back on their own mega sports tv deals but that was more of Disney demanding ESPN to haul in their reckless spending and less due to ratings or ad money issues.

The fine system implemented by WWE for not wearing masks came from a conversation Kevin Owens had with Vince McMahon on 7/3 where he told McMahon he wasn’t comfortable returning under what were the current conditions. As has been noted, Owens’ wife’s grandfather passed away several weeks ago due to COVID-19 and his wife wasn’t comfortable with him returning after the recent outbreak which resulted in between 30 and 40 COVID positives and affected both the roster talent, the extra as fans, and backstage personnel. Patric Laprade, the author of the recently released Andre the Giant biography, who does French play-by-play for Raw, noted during his Les anti-pods de la Lutte podcast that the fine system in place came from Owens returning to work, noting to McMahon that he wasn’t comfortable with the extras serving as fans and a number of people backstage not wearing masks and of people being too close to each other. He was indicating he would leave but McMahon and him spoke on the subject. McMahon asked Owens what he thought he should do about it. This was after WWE had reversed its position of masks in the crowd, and it was made clear they expected talent to be masked but a few, the vast minority, probably about ten percent or so, ignored the doctrine. Owens told McMahon that he was the only person the talent in the crowd would listen to, not an agent, not doctors. McMahon brought up the idea of fining people if they didn’t wear masks but told Owens that he didn’t think it would serve as a deterrent. Owens said he thought it would. He noted that he was once fined for swearing on Smackdown, and after being fined, never did it again, noting when you are fined you remember not to do it again. McMahon also asked how much should be the fines and Owens said it should be enough that they get the message, but not so much that they can’t afford it.

Raw on 7/13 opened up with scary low numbers, and each hour followed with the record low numbers, but the good news is the 18-49 number didn’t drop nearly as badly. The show did 1,561,000 viewers and 0.48 in 18-49. The previous record lows, set of 5/4, were 1,682,000 viewers and 0.46 in 18-49, so the 18-49 number was the second lowest in history, and this was for the go-home show for the Horror Show at Extreme Rules PPV. Raw was 28th overall on cable for the night, and fourth in 18-49. It was fifth in total viewers among non-news shows. It was the highest ranked show on cable in Males 12-17, 18-34 and 18-49. The show was down 7.4 percent in total viewers from last week, which was previously the second lowest viewer number in modern history. The demo was down 2.0 percent from last week, which was the second lowest demo number also behind 5/4. The drops from last week causing the record low were under 18 and above 50 for the most part. The good news is that there was very little audience drop. The bad news is that there was little interest going into the show even with the tag of it being “The Night of Grudge Matches” and pushing a Bayley & Sasha Banks tag title defense against Asuka & Kairi Sane all week ... As compared to the same week last year, Raw was down 36.4 percent in viewers and 40.0 percent in 18-49. n me w The first hour did 1,580,000 viewers. The second hour grew to 1,599,000 viewers and the third hour did 1,504,000 viewers. The previous least-watched hour in Raw history was 1,546,000 for hour three on 5/4. As far as first-to-third hour drops, they were barely there which is very different from usual. Basically this indicated that they were down to the hardcores that will watch most of the show, and with a lot tuning in late, they stayed for the finish, aside from teenagers. In women 18-49, it actually drew 6.3 percent. Men 18-49 dropped 6.1 percent. Teenage girls dropped 11.3 percent. Teenage boys dropped 16.8 percent. Over 50 dropped 4.1 percent from the first to third hour, a figure almost unheard of low for that demo. The show did a 0.22 in 12-17 (down 18.5 percent), 0.29 in 18-34 (down 6.5 percent), 0.67 in 35-49 (same as last week) and 0.74 in 50+ (down 10.8 percent). It should be noted that in 18-34, Raw was down 52.5 percent from last year, where it did a 0.61.

Smackdown on 7/10 did a 1.25 rating, 1,892,0000 viewers (1.25 viewers per home, which may be an all-time record low for the show) and an 0.5 (607,000 viewers) in 18-49. The key is it grew 9.6 percent in ratings, 6.5 percent in viewers and17.6 percent in 18-49 from the record lows set the prior week. It shows two things. As expected, last week’s number was a fluke because of it being a holiday weekend. But it also shows that the regular number for the show is still low, and this show had advertised a television airing of a former PPV Universal title match with Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt. Granted, it was a nothing match, but it was still a PPV major title match that builds a main event on the upcoming show. Smackdown finished first in 18-49, but it was also the only first-run show on network television. . ABC and NBC reruns all did 0.4s. In 18-34, it did a 0.2, the same as every rerun show on ABC and NBC and in theory, based on history, Smackdown should dominate in that age group even against first run programming, let alone against reruns. In 25-54, it was second to a Dateline repeat. As far as total viewers, it was the least watched, losing to all reruns, the worst of which did 2,524,000 viewers. The median viewer age of the show was 56.1, which basically means of the viewers, 50 percent were above that age and 50 percent were below that age. Last year’s FOX’s reruns on the same Friday averaged 1,457,000 viewers and an 0.3 in 18-49, so it was up 30.4 percent in viewers and 66.7 percent in 18-49. The Miz TV segment with Miz, John Morrison and Jeff Hardy, -plus Miz vs. Hardy, did 2.00 million viewers. Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss did 1.86 million viewers. The Strowman vs. Wyatt PPV match and the karaoke deal did 1.95 million. The Naomi vs. Lacey Evans match and New Day vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro match did 1.81 million.

The most competitive Wednesday night of the year, with AEW and NXT both having competition from UFC and NASCAR, took place on 7/15. As expected, NASCAR won handily. The expectation is that AEW would be hurt worse than NXT by the competition, since the AEW audience skews younger, but that wasn’t the case. It also should be noted that starting in two weeks, with the NBA on Wednesdays, the competition will be tougher. ESPN will be airing Wednesday night doubleheaders games starting on 8/5 to where both the end of the first game and beginning of the second game will go head-to-head with wrestling. ESPN will also have Monday night games going against Raw and TNT will have Friday night games going against Smackdown. There will be some Major League Baseball competition as well, which varies by the week. AEW did 788,000 viewers and a 0.29 (380,000 viewers) in 18-49, for Fight for the Fallen. It was the company’s best number since 5/27. NXT did 631,000 viewers and 0.14 (186,000 viewers) in 18-49, the company’s worst numbers since 5/20 and the second lowest 18-49 number in the history of the show, doing just under half of what AEW did, largely because of terrible numbers with males under the age of 35. The NASCAR All-Star Race at 8:30 p.m. did 2,076,000 viewers and 0.35 in 18-49. The NASCAR All-Star Open at 7 p.m. did 1,516,000 viewers and 0.26 in 18-49. The UFC main show headlined by Calvin Kattar’s win over Dan Ige at 10 p.m., or after AEW and NXT ended, did 536,000 viewers and 0.22 in 18-49, which are the lowest numbers ever on ESPN for a prime time main card show, and probably ever. Running 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on a Wednesday was not going to do well. The UFC prelims, airing from 7-10 p.m., head-to-head with AEW and NXT, did 434,000 viewers and 0.17 in 18-49, by far UFC’s lowest numbers ever in prime time. With a huge show the prior Saturday and another show the next Saturday, and almost every Saturday, a large percentage of the UFC fan base decided to skip this show. In the 18-49 rankings, the NASCAR race was No. 3, AEW was No. 5, UFC main card was No. 16, UFC prelims were No. 37 and NXT was No. 49 ... AEW was up 10.2 percent in total viewers and 4.4 percent in 18-49 from last week. NXT was down 16.9 percent in total viewers and down 29.0 percent in 18-49. The key to the numbers was AEW doing strongly in males 35-49, and NXT doing disastrous in Men 18-34. AEW won every key demo but women 35-49 was surprisingly close considering the overall disparity in the other three key demos. AEW did 70,000 in men 18-34 (down 21.3 percent from last week). NXT did 6,000 in men 18-34, which is not a misprint (down 87.2 percent from last week). NASCAR and UFC were both strong in those demos. AEW did 52,000 in women 18-34 (up 23.8 percent) while NXT did 29,000 (down 12.1 percent). AEW did 191,000 in males 35-49 (up 17.9 percent) while NXT did 86,000 (down 27.1 percent). Those were also strong for NASCAR and UFC. AEW did 67,000 in women 35-49 (down 5.6 percent) and NXT did 65,000 (up 1.6 percent). In the main event segment, AEW with Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage for the AEW title drew the largest numbers of the night for either show, with 844,000 viewers and 407,000 in 18-49. NXT, with Io Shirai vs. Tegan Nox for the women’s title, did 652,000 viewers and 186,000 in 18-49, so AEW more than doubled NXT in the main demo in the final segment. The show opened with AEW has 826,000 viewers and 374,000 in 18-49 for Cody vs. Sonny Kiss. NXT had 693,000 viewers and 208,000 in 18-49 for a Keith Lee promo with Dominik Dijakovic to set up their title match, which was the highest viewership and 18-49 numbers for NXT of the night. Quarter two saw AEW lost 38,000 viewers and gain 6,000 in 18-49 for Pentagon Jr. & Fenix vs. FTR. AEW lost 73,000 viewers and 33,000 in 18-49 for Cameron Grimes vs. Damien Priest. Quarter three saw AEW lost 22,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Pentagon Jr.& Fenix vs. FTR and the post-match stuff with the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega and Butcher & Blade involved. NXT gained 5,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49 for a Timothy Thatcher vignette and Shotzi Blackheart vs. Indi Hartwell. Quarter four saw AEW lost 1,000 viewers but gain 4,000 in 18-49 for the Chris Jericho interview with the Inner Circle and Orange Cassidy angle. NXT lost 23,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for a Tegan Nox interview and the beginning of Lee vs. Dijakovic for both titles. Quarter five saw AEW gained 26,000 viewers and 2,000 in 18-49 for Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Jurassic Express. NXT gained 6,000 viewers and lost 13,000 in 18-49 for Lee vs. Dijakovic. The totals for this battle were 791,000 for AEW overall and 378,000 in 18-49 and 608,000 viewers and 179,000 in 18-49 for NXT. Quarter six saw AEW lost 48,000 viewers but only 5,000 in 18-49 for a Hikaru Shida interview, a Jon Moxley interview and Allie & Brandi Rhodes vs. MJ Jenkins & Kenzie Paige. NXT gained 33,000 viewers but stayed even in 18-49 for a Dijakovic angle with Karrion Kross and Thatcher vs. Denzel Dejournette. Quarter seven saw AEW gain 37,000 viewers and 7,000 in18-49 for the Nyla Rose interview introducing Vickie Guerrero and the beginning of Moxley vs. Brian Cage. NXT lot 31,000 viewers and 4,000 in 18-49 for a Robert Stone brand vignette with Killian Dain and the first part of Shirai vs. Nox. Quarter eight saw AEW gained 64,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49 for Moxley vs. Cage. NXT gained 42,000 viewers and 11,000 in 18-49 for Shirai vs. Nox.

The massive advantage NXT had with lead-in programming pretty much has evaporated these past couple weeks since they are no longer are starting with huge leads and also are losing those lead-in viewers a lot quicker. Also the first time in weeks that AEW beat out NXT for the main event which took away another of NXT's big advantages.

As expected, the first week of Fyter Fest vs. Great American Bash with DVR numbers saw AEW surpass NXT by day three in total viewers, up 925,000 to 911,000, and since the DVR numbers are fairly predictable, the gap almost certainly widened after day three. It’s a virtual lock the same will be the case for the second week. AEW virtually always has a 100,000 edge in DVR numbers, sometimes more by day seven. People will point to WWE Network but U.S. viewership for NXT is never at that level, plus USA never advertises NXT on WWE Network while the TNT App, a free service in multiple times more homes, airs AEW earlier than WWE Network airs NXT. TNT also advertises AEW on the TNT Drama app constantly. There have been two weeks since the start, 6/24 and 12/18, where including DVR viewership that NXT has had more viewers. There has been one week, 12/18, with DVR viewership, that NXT has won in 18-49. In 18-49, we do have the +7 numbers for the first week of Fyter Fest vs. Bash. In that demo, AEW was up 35.7 percent, normal levels for the show during the pandemic (372,000 to 505,000) while NXT was up 34.5 percent, way up from usual (284,000 to 372,000)

This is a two PPV weekend, with WWE’s Extreme Rules, now known as The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on 7/19, preceded the night before by Impact’s Slammiversary. At press time there are seven matches listed for Extreme Rules, three of which appear like they will be taped in advance. The theme matches are Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt in a Swamp match, to be done on location, Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio in an eye-for-an-eye match and Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus in a bar fight.

AAA: While none of this means much of anything today, the hope is to have a major TripleMania show in October outdoors in Monterrey, at the baseball stadium, the place where they held TripleMania Regia on 12/1. But it’s unknown when they’d be able to get Kenny Omega back in to defend his AAA world title

Will Ospreay revealed that a few weeks ago he battled suicidal thoughts. Ospreay has been very open in recent years about his battles with depression and when he did a show in San Francisco last year talked about it in front of the fans in a post-match interview. “Few weeks ago, I came very close to something I know I’d regret. I’m still dragging my feet but I’m getting better. I’m still smiling, barely but a smile nonetheless. Suicide isn’t an option even when you feel like you’ve dropped the world, learning and pushing forward to be better is an option. Thank you to the people that have ever made me smile or laugh and been there to pick me up. Because of you my heart still beats. I love you all.

Kyoko Kimura filed a complaint with the Broadcast Ethics & Program Improvement Organization on 7/15 regarding the death of her daughter. It also came out that a third anonymous member of the staff of Terrace House said that Hana Kimura once had to shoot a scene for the show while in a state of shock and hyperventilating. Kimura submitted documents saying the reality show was edited to show her daughter being a violent woman. She also claimed them having her shoot the scene while hyperventilating violated her daughter’s personal and human rights. She also claimed that her daughter followed instructions from the staff on how to act on camera led by vicious cyberbullying. Kai Kobayashi, her short-term love interest on the show who she knocked the hat off his head, said he was mad at the show because one of the staff members told him to grab her boobs while on a date because the date wasn’t interesting enough

Vickie Guerrero is now managing Nyla Rose. The most noteworthy thing is WWE didn’t trademark her “Excuse Me” phrase and she can use it. So here’s the deal. Guerrero was great in WWE as an annoying heel. People know her and now that she’s older she’s got the Georgia Hase (legendary Roller Games heel) vibe going or her. So she’ll probably be real good, but obviously it has to play out. WWE hates managers for the most part which is a negative attitude. But they are going so manager crazy here, especially since they are all names from the past and I still think it’s best to be different from WWE and not use too many ex-WWE talents because you don’t want the idea that so many companies have tried and failed with of loading up on ex-WWE people with the idea they’re the ones who have had TV time and are known, because that has never worked. A few is fine, but it should only be a few rather than be a company that people look at as some of my old favorites that WWE has no use for anymore

Lesnar is not scheduled for this year’s SummerSlam show. One of the reasons he put over McIntyre so strongly was because he was not coming back any time soon. Heyman has not been brought to television since he was let go as head of Raw creative. Most signs point to McIntyre vs. Orton as the SummerSlam main event

The one thing is that a lot of people say and do a lot of things and people forget in time. This being the one year anniversary of Fight for the Fallen, if you recall, WWE Network put on an Evolve show head-to-head. Granted, WWE had talked for years about putting indie shows on the network and has the rights to a number of libraries that it has done nothing with. There were the complaints of WWE counter booking, which is fine, although it also was a charity show. But WWE portrayed the timing as a coincidence, but any study of WWE history would tell you it wasn’t, since in the 80s they did the same thing and also claimed these arenas and dates were booked a year plus ahead and it was a coincidence. But the Evolve show got almost all positive responses, and did well in viewership, and here we are a year later, and WWE never did another show like it again.

Just like with their other partners or affiliates, WWE pretty much never really cared about EVOLVE but had zero shame in using them as a weapon against AEW and letting them take some of the heat for WWE's decision to counter a charity show.

The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week: 1. The Best of Women’s Evolution; 2. WWE Chronicle: Jeff Hardy; 3. NXT from 7/8; 4. Backlash 2020; 5. Every Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match; 6. Raw Talk; 7. Royal Rumble 2020

2nd week in a row where NXT ranked very well in the Top 10 after having a long stretch of them struggling to rank well.

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Originally Posted by Observer Raw last night did the second lowest audience in the modern history of the show and tied the May 4 episode for the lowest ever in 18-49. Overall, this could be considered the most sobering number in show history. The show averaged 1.63 million viewers and a 0.46 rating in 18-49. Total viewers were up four percent from last week's record low viewer number, and 18-49 was down four percent. Really it was a far worse number given it came a day after a pay-per-view that was designed for curiosity and to build Raw more than usual. It was also heavily built around the Randy Orton vs. Big Show unsanctioned match that had been promoted for weeks. The third hour, with Orton vs. Big Show, did a 0.42 in 18-49, the lowest rated hour in 18-49 in the show's history. In theory, next week's show with two title matches should do better, but that's a hot shot and even if it helps slightly, the pattern long-term is not good ... Still, television is changing. Raw was in 21st place overall, fourth among non-news shows. The only shows that beat Raw besides news shows in overall viewers were three episodes of 90 Day Fiance on TLC. The only shows that beat Raw in 18-49 were two of those episodes and Below Deck Mediterranean on Bravo, while the third 90 Day Fiance tied Raw for fourth place in the key demo. Raw had a stronger first hour audience based on PPV curiosity, likely related to the interest level in the Rey Mysterio match. Once that was covered, the audience first-to-third hour decline was 12 percent, a normal level figure, but higher than in recent weeks ... A comparison with last year this week is misleading. Last year's Raw this week was the Raw Reunion show with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels advertised as all appearing. Raw was down 47 percent in viewers, 60 percent in 18-49 and 76 percent in 18-34 from that show. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 1.74 million viewers 9 p.m. 1.61 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.54 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling There were three demographics that took a major hit this week. Adults 18-34 fell by 31% followed by females 12-34 dropping by 30%, and males 12-34 down by 25%. The rest of the demos lost between 3-7%, except adults over 50 that improved by 8% this week. There were enormous losses in the third hour despite the heavy promotion of both Orton vs. Show, and the Bayley vs Kairi Sane matches. In the third hour, adults 18-34 fell by 31% compared to the first hour, females 12-34 dropped by 28%, and males 12-34 were down by 27.5% in the closing hour. The audience that stuck around for the whole show were adults over 50, which only dropped by 2.5% in the third hour. Every other group had double-digit declines in the closing hour. Thus far, the strategy of putting big matches on television with a week of promotion has not produced results. This past Friday, SmackDown did 1,912,000 viewers for a show featuring AJ Styles vs. Matt Riddle for the Intercontinental title. It was up 12,000 viewers from the previous week but still ranks as the fourth-lowest episode of the series on Fox.

Originally Posted by PWI During yesterday's Ring of Honor Week to Week, Brody King cut a promo that made it clear he had broken off from Villain Enterprises without mentioning the name or even Marty Scurrl, so that's his direction going forward.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Recently on social media, a great deal of wrestling fans showed support for former two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi by creating the hashtag #NaomiDeservesBetter. This hashtag drew responses from the likes of Keke Palmer and celebrities alike who were made aware of Naomi and her work in WWE. During the Extreme Rules post-show episode of Booker T’s ‘Hall Of Fame’ podcast, he spoke about the recent support on social media for Naomi and explained why he is not a fan of the hashtag that was created in support of her. “That Naomi deserves a chance… they can go to hell with all these hashtags as far as I’m concerned, but I’m tired of hearing about ‘em. Don’t nobody deserve a chance, alright? First and foremost, you gotta earn your chance, your spot on the roster. This is not some kind of movement just to pull somebody up just because and I hate to sit here and say this, to even talk this way because I like Naomi. But, as far as the business goes, you get it on your merit alone. That’s it. It’s no buddy systems and I know somebody’s gonna hear me and go, ‘Well such and such got a buddy and that’s why they’re doing it.’ Yeah that may be true, but life is not fair. Sometimes, you gotta make your own breaks. Sometimes you gotta go out there and rise to the occasion when no one else thought you could and the thing is, it may not happen overnight. It’s a consistency thing that goes with that. No one expected me, including myself, to become a six-time world champion, but my persistence as far as going out to the middle of that ring and performing better than all those suckers in the locker room and the suckers in the locker room, they knew it, and the fans, they saw something different and the signs were there for Booker T on a nightly basis. That’s why I say the hashtag Naomi Deserves A Chance, whatever deserves better, I just don’t think that will serve her any purpose. People advocating for her in that way. The way that needs to be put out there from a advocating perspective is her advocating for herself when she goes out to the ring and performs on a high level and the world sees it and that right there, when you do that Naomi, you can not be denied. No one will ever say someone gave you anything and if it happened right now, tomorrow, someone blessed Naomi with the world championship, trust me, it would not feel like she did it on her own. It would have to be a movement for something like that to happen. I would’ve never wanted the world title if it was given to me that way. Me personally I wouldn’t have and Naomi, I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a thousand times. Naomi is perhaps more athletic than every female in that locker room and perhaps 99 percent of females in this business. But psychology and working is two different things, and I just hope and wish that I had my hands on her for one month. Naomi would look at this business a totally different way, and that’s just my thoughts on that.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Conrad Thompson and Eric Bischoff broke down Bischoff’s return to WWE in 2019 on the latest installment of 83 Weeks. Towards the end of their three-hour discussion, Bischoff was asked if he thinks WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is “out of touch” and Bischoff says it’s easy to say McMahon has lost touch if one does not understand the complexity of his job title. “They’ve spent 20 years developing the product and the platform they have that appeals to advertisers. It’s taken them 20 years to get there, or more, and now that they have it, they have to treat it with respect and they have to treat it very carefully and there are things I’m sure the WWE would love to do creatively that they just can’t because they know the blow back they’ll get from advertisers. It’s a little bit like producing an action movie for Disney. You gotta be really careful how you do that. That’s probably the best analogy I can give, and does that mean that he’s out of touch or does that mean he’s catering his business to his customer? The real customer, being the advertiser, because without the advertiser, there are no viewers folks. I know the viewers like to think they’re the most important thing in the world and in some respects they are, because it’s a direct connection to the advertising opportunity, but if the advertising community says, ‘Aht, Aht. I know there’s a lot of people watching your show, but we just can’t have our product associated with it,’ you’re dead. You’re done, and guess what? All those viewers who were so important, aren’t gonna be watching the product because they can’t live without advertising. So it’s easy to say so and so is out of touch, if you don’t understand the complexity of the business as a whole and just how significant those broadcast rights are and those broadcast rights will not exist without a really, really solid relationship and a confidence level amongst advertisers.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling IMPACT Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo joined Bully Ray and David LaGreca on Busted Open Radio. Purrazzo discussed her transition from NXT to IMPACT Wrestling and why she feels that the current version of her on-screen persona was never spotlighted in NXT. “I think the Deonna that you saw and the world saw at Ring of Honor and NXT [Deonna meant IMPACT] is truly who I am… The person that I’ve been able to put on-screen is the person I believe in, is the truest form of me, elevated, and at NXT, it was very much a runaround of like, ‘You need a character.’ ‘Okay, well that’s too much character. You have to be the real you, but the real you isn’t believable’ and I had just gotten to a point of there’s nothing I can do right and now I feel defeated in me, and coming here and just being like, ‘Screw what everyone else has said. Screw the connotations that came with me, screw the opinions and screw the negativity that I’ve been through. I’m going to bring out the person that loved professional wrestling, that wanted to be a professional wrestler since I was nine-years old and I’m gonna make that girl proud.’ I don’t care that WWE fired me or didn’t want me or didn’t think I was good enough. I think I’m good enough, and if IMPACT believes I’m good enough, if Ring of Honor believes I’m good enough, if Japan thought I was good enough, I’m good enough, and I just needed to get back to believing in me and believing in the little girl that’s wanted to be a champion her entire life.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling All Elite Wrestling ring announcer/backstage interviewer Dasha Kuret qualified for the regional finals of NBC’s ‘The Titan Games’

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling FOX Sports 1 will continue to air WWE content on their Tuesday night block, as noted in a statement that was issued to POST Wrestling. Tonight, FS1 is airing the 2016 SummerSlam pay-per-view and it was noted in the statement that it will not be their final airing of WWE content in the Tuesday night time slot. They’ll continue to have WWE content in that same slot through at least August 11th. “Tonight’s airing of SummerSlam will not be FS1’s final airing of a WWE in the Tuesday night timeslot, we will continue to have WWE content on FS1’s Tuesday nights through at least Tuesday, August 11”. Prior to WWE Backstage being cancelled, retro pay-per-view events would be the lead-in or the follow-up to the weekly one-hour show. Major League Baseball is returning to FS1 for the start of their 2020 season but their Tuesday slate of games do not kick in until July 28th, with the first game starting at 6:05 PM EST between the Yankees and the Phillies.

PWI initially reported that this week would be the final week for WWE programming on FS1 due to the return of MLB games.

Originally Posted by Fightful Stu Bennett doesn’t foresee the NWA coming back anytime soon. Bennett, the former Wade Barrett, recently has been working as a broadcaster for the NWA, but the promotion is currently not running shows due to the ongoing pandemic. In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Bennett spoke on the future of the NWA and said he believes there won’t be any shows for the remainder of the year, saying it’s not the smartest idea to run events while there are spikes in positive COVID-19 cases and states still not opening up. “I think we were slowly getting closer to it. I was hearing rumors of kind of looking at October for something if things continue doing well and then suddenly the U.S. had this giant spike. I will be amazed, and this is not coming from someone in management, I would be amazed if NWA puts on a show at any point for the rest of the year just based on how all this stuff is spiking. I don’t think it’s going to be safe for anyone to put on a show and have a crowd out there. Don’t take my word for it. It’s Billy Corgan’s decision, but I would be surprised if something came out in 2020. Of course, I’m hearing rumors that a vaccine is getting closer and fingers crossed that we can get vaccines and things get back to normal as soon as possible. Until that happens, let’s face it, this thing isn’t going to get resolved. This virus is just going to continue spiking,” Bennett said. The NWA has also been subject to rumors of it either closing down or being on sale. Corgan, the current NWA President, recently shot down those rumors. The company cut ties with Vice President David Lagana after he was accused of sexual assault and reportedly offered releases to anyone who wanted one. The promotion had gone silent on digital platforms, not tweeting since June 24 and uploading nothing to its YouTube channel since June 18.

Originally Posted by PWI As PWInsider.com reported last night in our Elite section, Vince McMahon was very hands-on with the production of last night's Eye for An Eye match at Extreme Rules featuring Rey Mysterio against Seth Rollins, which Rollins won. The bout was taped yesterday afternoon at the WWE Performance Center in order for all elements that were needed to be produced properly but one aspect that was taped did not make the final edit, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Using prosthetic makeup, WWE shot an entire sequence that would have seen Mysterio's eye pop out, which as scripted was the moment that would have "led" to Seth Rollins vomiting on-screen originally. PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources that Vince McMahon hated the look of the effect and the sequence, so it was removed and edited out of the final broadcast of the Rollins vs. Mysterio bout.

Originally Posted by PWI There was a lot of discussion yesterday over whether Extreme Rules would close with the WWE Championship match or the Swamp Fight but in the end, the final decision was made to go with the Swamp Fight. The Swamp Fight was filmed Thursday night in Florida. The Eye for an Eye match was the only bout from the Performance Center that was not live on last night's Extreme Rules PPV. The match was taped earlier Sunday afternoon with Vince McMahon personally overseeing the proceedings, including picking out the specific weapons that were used in the match. McMahon was very involved with laying out the story of the match itself. Perhaps Vince's involvement explains the vomit as he's certainly not adverse to toilet humor ... The Raw Women's Championship finish was done specifically to try and drive viewership to tonight's Raw. The finish was changed over the course of the day and at one point, Asuka was scheduled to win via the Asuka Lock.

Originally Posted by PWI The early indications are that Slammiversary was the strongest Impact PPV in terms of online buys in a long time

TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: EC3 on Wanting WWE Release Prior to Pandemic, NJPW New Japan Road Results, Indies
• WWE: Mustafa Ali on WWE Return, Network Special Planned for August, Updated SD Ratings
• Impact: TNA Series? Another IPWF Throwback, Rusev, Aces & Eights, RVD, More
• Ric Flair’s Wife Has COVID-19, Flair Denies Having Disease Himself
• Rey Mysterio Hasn’t Re-Signed With WWE Yet

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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

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer AEW Dynamite averaged 845,000 viewers for last night's show on TNT, topping the 615,000 viewers that NXT averaged on the USA Network. The gap of 230,000 viewers was the highest since March 18, which was the first closed set broadcast of the pandemic era for either show. Dynamite was up 7.2 percent in total viewers from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show ranked fifth on cable with a 0.32 rating, up 10.3 percent from last Wednesday and matching Dynamite's best number since March. The 845,000 total viewers was the best for the show since the March 18 episode, which featured the long-promoted reveal of the Exalted One of The Dark Order and the debut of Matt Hardy. NXT was down 2.5 percent in total viewers from last Wednesday and had its lowest audience total since May 20. The show was actually up 21.4 percent in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 0.17 rating to finish 35th in the cable rankings for that category. The combined audience of 1.46 million viewers was up three percent from last week. AEW dominated the individual demo categories except for people over 50, where NXT had a slim advantage of 0.33 to 0.31. AEW doubled, and in some cases tripled, NXT in most of the other categories. Dynamite's strongest category was men 18-34, where they had an advantage of 0.44 to 0.23. In the men 12-34 category where NXT cratered last week, NXT was up slightly to a 0.04 rating as compared to AEW's 0.14.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling AEW increased in all but one of the key demographics led by a 40% jump among females 12-34 and adults 18-34 improving by 12.5%. The lone loss was with males 12-34 that fell by 5%. NXT was all over the place with their audiences dropping last week, so they experienced several rebounds. The largest was with males 12-34 which hit 0.02 last week and were up to a 0.08 rating this week that translates to a 300% improvement. Males 18-49 were up 64% and adults 18-34 were up by 60%. The big losses were seen with females 12-34 that fell by 55.5% and females 18-49 decreasing by 28.5%.

Originally Posted by Observer Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, next month's SummerSlam pay-per-view officially won't be taking place at its originally scheduled location. WWE posted a statement today confirming that this year's SummerSlam will no longer be taking place in Boston, Massachusetts. It was noted that SummerSlam will still stream live on the WWE Network on Sunday, August 23 and that "information regarding a new location for the event is forthcoming" ... NXT's next TakeOver special was supposed to take place in Boston on the night before SummerSlam. It will remain on Saturday, August 22 but is no longer being held in Boston. The event is now titled NXT TakeOver XXX.

Originally Posted by PWI PWInsider.com reported several weeks ago that the Performance Center will host Summerslam. However, we were told this morning that the company is "considering" other potential options, including at least one potential outdoor location, so stay tuned.

Originally Posted by Observer Despite not having any shows planned for the foreseeable future, Major League Wrestling is still getting things in shape for the future as Jacob Fatu has signed a four-year contract extension. Fatu had signed a one-year extension in November 2019, but ESPN's Marc Raimondi first had the news that the current MLW World Champion had inked a new extension that will keep him under Court Bauer's employ through late-2025 ... Fatu has been a pro since 2012 and won the MLW title in early-2019. His father is Sam Fatu, the former Tonga Kid in WWE. He was trained by his uncle Rikishi and his cousins are WWE tag team standouts The Usos. MLW's next live date is planned for October 3rd in Dallas, Texas, with a December date in Philadelphia two months afterward.

Originally Posted by PWI MLW Champion Jacob Fatu's new deal with Major League Wrestling gives the promotion exclusivity on Fatu through 2025 and would specifically prohibit him from performing for WWE and AEW. The original MLW deals talents signed only prevented talents from working for WWE but with the emergence of AEW last year, all exclusive MLW deals have been re-worked to become more exclusive in nature. Fatu is among a number of MLW talents who have signed new or re-worked contracts with the company, following MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Hammerstone, Richard Holliday, MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed and Salina de la Renta.

Originally Posted by Observer In an interview released Thursday, AEW president and creative lead Tony Khan talked with Sports Illustrated about his decision to bring Sammy Guevera back on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, ending his 30-day suspension. Khan confirmed that the suspension was unpaid with his salary being donated to the Women’s Center of Jacksonville. Khan said Guevara had to "earn" his reinstatement by taking sensitivity training. “I meant what I said about re-evaluating his status with the company based on his conduct. Sammy needed to make a lot of strides to keep his job and make amends for stuff he shouldn’t have said. None of us knew he said those things, and it’s stuff that was years old, but that doesn’t make it right," he said. The 26-year-old was suspended indefinitely on June 22nd after an inappropriate comment he made on a 2016 podcast regarding Sasha Banks was revived on social media during the #SpeakingOut movement. Khan said Guevara completed four weeks of "extensive sensitivity training" where he delved into "matters of tolerance, gender, race relations, and why people’s words matter. During his suspension, he was very contrite. I asked him to use that time to try and become a better person, and I think he did." Guevara returned to TV Wednesday as a surprise to close the show, rejoining his Inner Circle teammates in a beatdown of Jurassic Express. Khan said it was the right time to bring him back "because he’s shown that he’s very sorry and that he can change. He’s spent every day over the past month trying to prove that. I think Sammy was very happy to have an opportunity to apologize, publicly and privately, and do something to turn a terrible comment he made into something positive.”

Originally Posted by Observer It appears the expected AEW in-ring debut of Mike Tyson won't be happening prior to Labor Day as as the boxing great and mainstream sports star will instead be returning to the ring against another former great. Yahoo's Kevin Iole reported Thursday that the 54-year-old will return to action after retiring in 2005 against multi-division champion Roy Jones Jr. in an eight-round exhibition match set for September 12th at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The TV distribution platform is unknown at this time, but is likely set for pay-per-view given the names involved. ... Rumors of a Tyson return started earlier this year when clips of an in-shape Tyson training surfaced on social media. In doing media for an event earlier this year, UFC president Dana White said he heard Tyson was definitely coming back against a big name even though he wished he would stay retired ... Tyson had appeared at AEW Double or Nothing this May, presenting the first-ever TNT title to Cody Rhodes. The Wednesday afterward on Dynamite, he and an entourage got in a pull apart brawl with Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle which was expected to lead to a singles match at some point.

Originally Posted by Observer Eric Young made his first podcast appearance post-WWE on Busted Open Radio. Young acknowledged creative problems within the company, saying “It’s hard to get a word in. Even when you’re doing nothing, it feels like you’re just trying to fix people’s mistakes all day, there is no creativity. They want everyone to do things the same, be the same and bump the same and sell the same. And there’s millions of rules, which I’m sure you guys have all heard and talked about on the show at length, and people talk about on the internet and the secret rules. Those change daily and it’s just really hard to understand what’s going on and why it’s going on. The system is flawed.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Doc Gallows was a recent guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Doc revealed that during the Boneyard match taping between Undertaker and AJ Styles, Undertaker suffered a serious injury in-which he lost a lot of blood and a tendon of his was wounded as well. Undertaker did wear a bandage around his wrist during the airing of the match. “Man I don’t know. After seeing him there and seeing how tough and how hard he is, he definitely has one more in him. Early on in the shoot, he goes to throw that back-fist and his arm goes through the freaking window. It’s a laceration, there’s tendon, there’s blood and I mean a lot of blood and a lot of swelling, and if it were somebody else, they might’ve stopped that. There might have been serious medical attention but there wasn’t. He wrapped it with a towel, he took a ten second break and he’s back out there fighting and rolling around in the dirt. That’s a bad ass dude. That’s legit. I watched it with my own two eyes so, as far as that goes, in the right setting, I think yeah and I think it was great for those two to do it in that setting because you can’t have WrestleMania with AJ Styles and The Undertaker in a empty Performance Center. That’s a match that deserves — it deserves the crowd reaction that it would get. I said that at Slammiversary too. As much fun as Slammiversary was and as great as it was and as cool as it was and how I really think it was a big shot in the arm, the only thing missing were — when that Motor City Machine Guns graphic showed up at the beginning of that pay-per-view, that would’ve been a hell of a pop and it’s a shame. I told those guys, ‘It’s a shame you didn’t get to get that pop’ so it’ll be fun when the world opens up again to feel those reactions and stuff.” Gallows was asked about the tag team division in WWE, specifically the Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik). Gallows believes that the higher-ups in WWE don’t believe that tag team wrestling can draw money and he added that later down the line, he hopes to have a match against War Machine, not The Viking Raiders. “It used to [bother me seeing tag teams being misused in WWE] but I understand it. I mean, they [Viking Raiders] were a hell of a team. They’re a great team. We’ve had great matches with those guys. But, they’re War Machine-lite. We were Gallows and Anderson-lite. It’s the PG version, it’s the character version. Sometimes, in that company I feel like the people that are making the final decisions don’t have as much as modern touch, especially when tag teams are never a focus there because I don’t think that they actually believe tag team wrestling can draw money which I think has been proven all around the world not to be the case. But, it just is what it is. Those guys are characters. I hope they can make some good money for their families and pay off their houses and do all that stuff that you like to do as a wrestler so you can secure a good future for yourself but, at the end of those deals, there will be a place for War Machine to come and I’d like to stand across the ring from them again. The real War Machine. Maybe not the Vikings, you know?”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling IMPACT Wrestling’s Acey Romero guest appeared on the ‘Living The Gimmick’ podcast. Romero detailed IMPACT’s COVID-19 precautions and said that he’s felt safe at their tapings. “IMPACT’s been taking extreme measures. For starters, they recommend us two weeks before tapings to self-quarantine and then for tapings itself, we have our own hotel rooms now. Usually, we double up but we’ve been having our own hotel rooms which has been great, and then we get our temperature taken and we get our blood-oxygen levels taken. A bunch of more science-y stuff that I don’t even know about. But they take the measures. Gloves, the anti-bacterial stuff, all that stuff. E.M.T.’s. They take all the measures and they make sure after tapings that they’re checking on people to see how we’re all doing. So I always feel safe. I never felt worried about coming to work and getting… being at risk.” Romero admitted that IMPACT has not been doing COVID testing but reiterated that they are taking temperatures, establishing social distancing and keeping a limited number of people in the studio where matches are being taped. “Not full-blown COVID testing, as some would say. But like I said, they are doing their best. There’s only a certain amount of people that can be in the studio at a time while taping. Social distancing has definitely been put in play, and like I said, they’re checking on us as much as they can to make sure we’re doing well and are taking their precautions.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling As first reported by Fightful Select, former IMPACT World Champion Tessa Blanchard is sending back the IMPACT World Title belt. IMPACT and Blanchard cut ties in June. The following note comes by way of Fightful: “Tessa Blanchard and IMPACT Wrestling are on the outs, and reports have emerged suggesting that she demanded a large sum of money to return the title. Her side of things has disputed that, and mentioned that not only did Tessa not try to hold up IMPACT, but that the company only provided an address to send the belt this week. They claim the title is planned for a safe return.”

Originally Posted by PostWrestling AJ Styles went live on his Twitch channel on Wednesday night and shared his thoughts in-depth about Paul Heyman and why exactly he [Styles] wanted to get away from the RAW brand. Styles added that he’s heard from multiple people that they disliked Heyman and that Heyman was the one who threw Gallows and Anderson’s names to the wolves because he had nothing for them creatively. “So, it was said that I was so angry with RAW that Gallows and Anderson were released. I was so angry, that I said, ‘I don’t wanna be on RAW anymore.’ That’s not the way it went down, at all. It was the person who was in charge of RAW who lied to me to my face. Just the most believable lie I’d ever seen, directly to my face. I’m talking about Paul Heyman. Basically said to me — and here’s the kicker to this whole Paul Heyman thing; having put other guys over and Gallows and Anderson were getting beat by one guy and I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ And he’s like, ‘Hey, I need ya. Gotta trust me. We gotta get this guy over’ and of course that’s what you do. You help guys get over and be bigger [a] star of course but also, like hey, you can’t just bury us completely. I don’t mind losing. That’s not even a part of it as long as there’s a good story that comes behind it. But, he would be like, ‘Listen, you guys trust me. Trust me, trust me, trust me, and if you guys — everything I’ve done you wrong, you get on social media and you bury me. You bury me to every social media you can possibly think of.’ He said this to us, so it came down to Money In The Bank, I found out that my guys were getting released. I was upset and I wanted to go talk to Vince [McMahon] and [Vince was like], ‘It’s already in motion. It has already been done,’ and then Paul Heyman pulls me into his office and tells me he had nothing to with it. He knew nothing about it. Had he knew that Gallows and Anderson were gonna get released, he would’ve fought for him and that’s why they didn’t even tell him [they were] getting released. ‘I appreciate that. I understand. That makes a lot of sense. Well, I mean, listen, we understand what’s going on.’ The COVID, you should’ve seen headquarters. It was sad. It’s a huge building and there was hardly anyone there. So it sucks for everybody, I understand. Even Gallows and Anderson understand to a certain extent. I mean you’re talking about two guys who got released when they were in the main event of WrestleMania. At least one of them. Had one of the bigger matches for sure, but, it was later that I told a friend what was said and he told me what he knew was the truth which was basically, Gallows and Anderson weren’t even on the list, but Paul Heyman just spoke out abundantly like, ‘Hey, we gotta get these guys out of here. We don’t need ‘em, they’re getting paid too much,’ all these things, and the one thing Paul Heyman is good at is talking. He’s very convincing, very, and one thing led to another, Paul advocated for Gallows and Anderson to get released. It’s that simple. Their names wasn’t even on the list until Paul brought it up and I think that the reason why he did what he did — well there’s a couple reasons. He’s a liar. That’s what they do, but it was because he knew he had nothing he wanted to do with them, that he didn’t wanna do anything for them, he didn’t wanna help them become bigger stars. He didn’t wanna do any of that. So the best way to do that after everything he said to ‘em was boom, get ‘em out of there. That’s the real story, and the reason I went to SmackDown is because I couldn’t stand looking at him. I just can’t stand a liar. I’m a grown man, you’re a grown man. Why lie? You don’t even have to say anything. So, I just couldn’t stand to look at him and I was just like, ‘You know, if and when the opportunity if SmackDown’s available, I can’t be around Paul Heyman. I just can’t stand him. But if there’s ever an opportunity, I don’t mind coming over. That’d be great. I don’t wanna do anything now because if my son plays football on Friday nights, I wanna be there.’”

Originally Posted by Fightful Before Sonny Kiss became a star in AEW, he was known as XO Lishus in Lucha Underground. Kiss was apart of season four of Lucha Underground and one of the highlights of the season. Lucha Underground went through major issues following season four with season five never happening but talent still being under contract. Lawsuits ended up being filed and settled, which allowed the talent to finally get out of contracts and sign elsewhere. Though Kiss was not part of the lawsuit, he did have to deal with his Lucha Underground contract when talking with AEW. "Brandi slid into my DMs [Laughs]," said Kiss on Talk Is Jericho when asked about signing with AEW. "She messaged me and goes, 'Are you signed anywhere? We'd like you to come to our first show.' I was like, 'Yes, but I can still do other bookings.' [I was signed] to Lucha Underground. Thankfully, we were allowed to do everything but the other company [WWE] so I was able to still do it, but I didn't get my official contract [with AEW] until way after. That contract issue [with Lucha Underground] it was a nightmare. We were maybe making four grand a year. We couldn't sign anywhere else at all. There were times when I couldn't pay my cell phone bill, anything. [Fenix and Pentagon] were one of the first to get out and I was happy for them. I was one of the last. Cody was like, 'Don't worry, we'll still book you and make sure you're still here.' I didn't get my [AEW] contract until TV happened." Sonny went on to say that he thought Brandi's offer was for All In 2 and didn't realize it would be for an entirely new promotion. Fortunately, Sonny did get out of his contract and has become a featured star on AEW television.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Interview: Cody on TNT Championship, Sonny Kiss Match, AEW Culture, Rhodes Legacy, & More
• Darby Allin Reportedly Suffered a Concussion on Dynamite
• AEW: Sammy Guevara Returns, Eddie Kingston Debuts
• AEW Announces Women’s Tag Team Tournament
• Five Matches, Including Two Title Matches, Announced for Next Week’s AEW Dynamite
• Keith Lee Relinquishes NXT North American Title, Ladder Title Match Announced for TakeOver

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets (Observer Newsletter Edition):

Mysterio has still not signed a new WWE contract. At last word, as of a few weeks ago, he was asking for a raise and Vince McMahon was not offering one. That may have changed since the last word is that the sides are not far from a deal and McMahon and Mysterio would be meeting once again soon to try and finalize things.

A scheduled U.S. title match with Apollo Crews defending against MVP didn’t happen. They announced that Crews didn’t get cleared due to a bulging disc. In reality, he tested positive for COVID but they must have hoped he’d be okay for the show.

With their 90-day non-compete over and no longer under WWE contract, Karl Anderson (Chad Allegra, 40) and Luke Gallows (Andrew Hankinson, 36), the Good Brothers tag team, did a two-hour video interview with New Japan’s Rocky Romero and Ryan Satin that was released on 7/18. The interview focused mainly on their time in WWE and the decision to sign, as well as their firing in April and their future, signing with Impact Wrestling and their expected return to New Japan Pro Wrestling ... They also talked about being fired by WWE, and how this led directly to A.J. Styles demanding to be moved from Raw to Smackdown saying that he wouldn’t work anymore with Paul Heyman, who Vince McMahon personally told Styles was the person who made the decision to fire Gallows & Anderson. While obviously preposterous, since all cuts were made by McMahon, and reasons for the cuts fit into the categories of the people being cut for McMahon’s perception of not being difficult negotiations that ended up costing the company more than they originally wanted to pay them at a time when the rule was don’t let anyone leave for AEW, and it was those guys as well as the guys McMahon had decided he wasn’t going to use anymore who were cut.. This was the classic story we’ve heard for more than 30 years, when Vince would want someone gone. He’d use his head of talent relations as his buffer, whether it be J.J. Dillon, Jim Ross, John Laurinaitis or others in that role. The idea was that the talent believed Vince loved their work, and liked them personally, but the other person, fill in the blank, didn’t like them and were responsible for them being gone. After some time, Ross would tell talent that it wasn’t Vince, even though it was, but learned to use the term that creative couldn’t come up with anything for them, thus Ross avoided the heat on Vince or him, and used the nebulous writing crew as the scapegoat. Later he had Laurinaitis make calls, so talent thought it wasn’t a decision from Vince or Ross, but Laurinaitis or creative were the people they had issues with. But in any key decision in the company, it’s always Vince ... A lot of the reaction to the interview centered on the idea of how could they be so naive to think it was Heyman and not Vince, the reality is Anderson did say he knew it was still Vince’s call. Even Styles, while ripping Heyman publicly, also admitted he knew it was Vince’s call. Internally both stories have gone around, one that it was Vince’s call but Heyman didn’t fight to keep them, another that Vince had a list of people to cut and they were not on the list, bu after a discussion with Heyman about what he was doing for the future, decided to put them on the list. Some said it was not exactly Ross/Dillon having to play bad cop for Vince’s decision but in the end, everyone said it was Vince’s decision ... Gallows said when they got the word there would be layoffs, he told his wife he was highly confident they weren’t going to be cut. He said they realized McIntyre beat both of them at the same time in quick fashion on television, but Heyman assured both that doing so wouldn’t hurt them in the long run. He said as soon as they were fired, Brodie Lee texted them, “They f***ed you guys.” Anderson said when he got fired, he remembered HHH saying to them when trying to get them to sign,“I look at you and I see your kids. What if AEW doesn’t last? You know WWE will always be here.” “We had f***ed our friends and we knew that.” They also noted that some of the guys who were fired have been called about coming back but for much lower money and then turned it down. Essentially them promising to sign with AEW, and signing with WWE one day before a meeting scheduled with Tony Khan left bad feelings with the company. Another key is that with FTR being let go just before their contracts were to end, and AEW loaded with good tag teams, bringing FTR and Gallows & Anderson in at the same time, was not a move I’d have made even if what happened last summer hadn’t happened. Impact made them the same strong offer that they made them last summer, and agreed to allow them to work around their New Japan schedule when they made their deal with New Japan, which was pretty much imminent from the day they were let go. The situation isn’t perfect as the pandemic changed their lives. Without the pandemic, they would almost surely still be in WWE, but even if not, they’d be in New Japan on big shows starting this week. New Japan is expected to bring them back, but they first have to be able to get them into the country without two weeks of quarantine and also get back on their own feet as a company financially, which requires drawing the kind of houses they expected to be doing when they made their budgets. New Japan had a hiring freeze, since those in the administration took sizable pay cuts and the doctrine from the top was that nobody with the company will lose their job during the pandemic unless it’s the last resort ... Anderson said that in 2016, he didn’t think Levesque really wanted them as much as they wanted Styles. Actually the key is they wanted to stop New Japan from breaking into the U.S. and felt Styles was their key star, a move that kind of backfired since Omega, who ended up being a far bigger star in the spot than Styles ever was, was put in the Styles spot in New Japan and the company grew a lot bigger and more popular. The Young Bucks were very close to coming with them to WWE, but ROH made the Young Bucks the biggest money deal in the history of their company. Anderson said that he didn’t think Levesque even knew what they had accomplished in Japan, their tag title runs, tournament wins or that he had gone to the finals of the 2012 G-1 Climax tournament. Anderson said at first he didn’t understand WWE style. He also said that a lot of people told him and Gallows that they would get lost in the shuffle in WWE, but they were very confident they’d do well because of the level they had reached in Japan. He joked he would tell people who said they wouldn’t make it to the top in WWE, “Wanna bet?” and then noted they quickly realized they would have lost those bets ... Anderson noted that AEW had made them a very good offer in 2019, and that Impact also made them a great offer, a lot more than either of them thought they ‘d be able to make. He said the Impact offer for both of them was more than a lot of their friends make in WWE now.

There are a few key notes on the ratings from the past week. WWE did three weak numbers overall. Raw and Smackdown were up from the prior weeks with total audience but given the PPV, coming off the PPV, Randy Orton vs. Big Show, it was the most disappointing number really in the show’s history. AEW had its best numbers in four months, since the debut of Matt Hardy and before the pandemic did a number of viewership. But what was noteworthy is that Wednesday night was the biggest night for 18-49 viewers, which has happened before but should never happen since Friday has all the advantages of being available in so many more homes and on a broadcast network channel. It’s more a shift of younger viewers. Also, for the first time in history, AEW was No. 1 for the week in a demo, and it’s one that one wouldn’t guess. AEW, with competition, had 58,000 women 18-34 this past week, ahead of 55,000 for Raw and 43,000 for Smackdown. In overall 18-34 viewers, AEW had 129,000, slightly below the 143,000 for Raw and 144,000 for Smackdown. But AEW also had head-to-head competition and without it, would have passed up both WWE main shows in the 18-34 demo already. Including NXT, Wednesday had 183,000 viewers 18-34 and 445,000 35-49. Monday had 143,000 in 18-34 and 455,000 in 35-49. Friday had 144,000 in 18-34 and 457,000 in 35-49.

To me, the 7/20 Raw ratings were the scariest in recent history. While overall numbers were up 4.3 percent, ths week’s show should have had a major increase because they had spent weeks building the Randy Orton vs. Big Show unsanctioned match like a major PPV match, and it came the day after a PPV where they pulled out Rey Mysterio’s eye and did a disputed women’s title match finish designed for next-day curiosity. The results were 1,627,000 viewers, the second lowest in the modern history of the show, above only last week’s 1,561,000 viewers, the record low. It did an 0.46 in18-49 (598,000 viewers), barely ahead of the all-time low (594,000) set on 5/4. The latter number was down 4.2 percent from last week. The third hour of Raw, featuring Bayley vs. Kairi Sane and Orton vs. Show, did the second lowest total audience for an hour in Raw history, behind only hour three of last week. At 0.42 in 18-49 (542,000 viewers), it did the lowest rating in that demo for any hour in the history of the show ... The show did 1,740,000 viewers in the first hour, which isn’t good but was well up from last week, probably due to curiosity coming off the PPV on Mysterio, since that angle did tremendous in casual interest by modern pro wrestling standards. But curiosity and controversy if the angle sucks often doesn’t mean much when it comes to ratings themselves. The second hour fell to 1,609,000 viewers and third hour to 1,535,000 viewers. Orton vs. Show itself did 1,580,000 viewers, just over the average for hour three. In the key demos, the show did 88,000 in males 18-34, 55,000 in women 18-34, 298,000 in males 35-49 and 157,000 in women 35-49. The 11.8 percent first-to-third hour drop was normal, but that’s misleading as most of the audience, 50 and up, didn’t drop. It was the younger audience that left during the show. Women 18-49 fell 23.7 percent from hour one to three. Men 18-49 fell 14.1 percent. Teenage girls fell 32.9 percent. Teenage boys fell 41.1 percent. But over 50 only dropped 2.5 percent as the show went on.

Smackdown on 7/17 did a 1.24 rating and 1,912,000 viewers (1.28 viewers per home) and an 0.5 in 18-49 (601,000 viewers) for a show built around A.J. Styles vs. Matt Riddle for the IC title. It was basically the same as the week before with the rating down 0.8 percent), total viewers up 1.1 percent and 18-49 down 1.0 percent. Smackdown was first in 18-49 for the night, but aside from an episode of 20/20, which did an 0.4 in 18-49, everything else was in reruns. 20/20 did 2,416,000 viewers. Ironically the two first-run shows, which did the best in 18-49, also did worse than all the reruns but one. Smackdown was last among viewers and 20/20 was third to last. The show did 101,000 viewers in males 18-34, 43,000 in women 18-34, 261,000 in males 35-49 and 196,000 in women 35-49 ... By segment, the open, plus New Day vs. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura and the beginning of the Alexa Bliss interview segment did 1.95 million viewers. The majority of the Bliss interview segment, plus Asuka & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks and a Bray Wyatt interview did 1.88 million viewers. Braun Strowman vs. John Morrison and Naomi vs. Lacey Evans and a Sheamus-Jeff Hardy interview angle did 1.92 million viewers. Styles vs. Riddle for the title did 1.81 million viewers. The median audience age was 55.4 years old, slightly younger than the past two weeks. Last year on this weekend the FOX network did 1,310,000 viewers and 0.25 in 18-49 with rerun programming so viewers were up 46.0 percent and 18-49 was up 100.0 percent.

On 7/22, AEW did its best numbers since 3/18, finishing in the No. 5 spot in 18-49 and doing 845,000 viewers and a 0.32 (409,000) in 18-49. NXT was No. 35 with 615,000 viewers (lowest since 5/20) and 0.17 (219,000) in 18-49. AEW was up 7.2 percent in viewers and 7.6 percent in 18-49. NXT was down 2.5 percent in viewers but up 17.7 percent in 18-49. AEW was third on cable among non-news shows in 18-49 and first with males 18-49. It was third in males 12-34 but won its time slot, as the two shows beating it were a Premier League soccer game at 3:10 p.m. from the U.K. on NBC Sports Network and 12 Oz Mouse on Adult Swim at midnight. NXT was No. 15 among non-news shows in 18-49, and No. 17 overall in male 18-49. Last week was hurt by NASCAR and UFC head-to-head which this week didn’t have. In two weeks, with NBA, NHL and baseball, it will be the real test of how it holds up against major sports. Next week has baseball and soccer. AEW once again won every key demo. In men 18-34, AEW had 71,000 viewers (up 1.4 percent from last week) and NXT had 37,000 (up 516.7 percent from the ridiculously low 6,000 of last week). In women 18-34, AEW had 58,000 viewers (up 11.5 percent from last week) and NXT had 17,000 (down 41.4 percent). In men 35-49, AEW had 210,000 (up 9.9 percent) and NXT had 114,000 (up 32.6 percent). In women 35-49, AEW had 70,000 (up 4.5 percent) and NXT had 51,000 (down 21.5 percent). AEW did a 0.15 in 12-17 (up 7.1 percent from last week), 0.18 in 18-34 (up 5.7 percent), 0.46 in 35-49 (up 8.5 percent) and 0.31 in 50+ (up 3.2 percent) ... NXT did a 0.04 in 12-17 (down 33.3 percent), 0.08 in 18-34 (up 54.3 percent), 0.26 in 35-49 (up 9.3 percent) and 0.33 in 50+ (down 8.3 percent).

AAA: Dorian Roldan held a press conference on 7/20 to say that the planned TripleMania date of 8/22 wasn’t happening. We pretty much reported that last week. He said he hoped they could do the show before the end of the year, but there is no new date and there’s no way he could know anything. He didn’t say anything about Monterrey but they are hoping to do a big show at the baseball stadium there on 10/10, which may be called TripleMania, or TripleMania Regia, as the big Monterrey show last year was called Roldan did announce an idea called Auto Luchas, a drive-in wrestling concept at Six Flags in Mexico. The idea is to have people come to shows and park in assigned places and watch from their cars, like drive-in churches and movies. The ring will be put higher than usual and big screens will be put up as well. Tickets will only be able to be purchased on-line, fans would be required to wear masks and stay in their cars. Merchandise will be sold including face masks. Cars will be limited to four people for a regular car and seven for an SUV. They will also broadcast commentary you can pick up via your car radio. They will take place on weekends with multiple shows per day, like a theme park stage show as opposed to a live arena pro wrestling event. There will be mostly singles matches, and some tags, rather than trios, to limit the number of people in the ring at one time. Only wrestlers from Mexico will be used due to travel restrictions. Roldan talked about streaming or airing the shows on television and said talks are positive about doing so but no deal is in place.

The Women of Wrestling group that was thought to be dead when AXS canceled the show, considers itself still alive. They are planning fall tapings for a television network and would announce the network at the tapings. Rumor has it as a station that was looking to get into pro wrestling in 2019 but missed out on making the deal

[AEW] They announced an eight-team women’s tag team tournament that will take place on Dynamite during the summer called The Deadly Draw. This is not to create women’s tag team champions, although I think women’s tag champions and trios titles make sense, particularly when the second show starts airing. The idea is to do an annual summer women’s tag team tournament, but the first year will be the test marketing and if it goes well, it will be, but if it doesn’t, it will be chalked up to a learning experience

Based on YouTube, the biggest [AEW] star is Jon Moxley. Moxley vs. Brian Cage topped 1 million views, which is what a top Raw segment usually does. His biggest segment, when they did the angle where he got his eye taken out, did 6.7 million views. His biggest match on YouTube was the Jeff Cobb match at 1.3 million views

Makes sense since Moxley and other ex-WWE guys have a big advantage of being more recognizable to general wrestling fans than some of AEW's newer stars that simply need time to build up their own name recognition to similar levels.

Right now, and this can change 100 times (it seemed television this week along changed that many times), the plan is for Edge vs. Orton in an I Quit match as one of the key matches for next WrestleMania. It was already scheduled for SummerSlam before the Backlash “Best in the World” match took place, but Edge’s injury made that impossible. Edge on Raw and Daniel Bryan on Smackdown both have significant creative influence. The term I was given is they were part of the writing teams of the respective shows right now. McIntyre vs. Orton was as of this past week the new scheduled SummerSlam main event. There have been rumors floating that Orton goes over and leads to a match with Edge, but that seems so counterproductive to take the title off McIntyre for Orton. The audience needs to see new people getting superstar pushes just to have the idea that things can change, because the idea that everything is always the same has been detrimental

What is notable is that Vince McMahon actually has said that since Mania is over and with a lot of guys missing due to COVID and other reasons, that this is the time where they have to make new stars, which seems to contradict most of what the actual creative is doing

Probably shouldn't have fired the one guy who was trying to put the pieces in place for the gradual build up of star power for potential new big stars.

The night before and all day on 7/20 they were rewriting Raw. The rewriting was such that the show started being taped three to four hours after it was scheduled, although they taped early enough that there were no issues getting it on the air on time. But it was a long day because they were taping seven plus hours, three more hours of Raw for 7/20, three more hours for 7/27, and Main Event shows for both weeks ... There was an idea for the show to reform the Nation of Domination. Both Ron Simmons (who did appear on the show in a quick cameo for no reason) and Mark Henry (who was not on the show) were brought in to kickoff that angle. We don’t know if they are going to do that or if it was dropped. We do know people who thought from a real life timing situation that redoing the Nation right now would be incredibly tone deaf, so a lot did want it nixedl

For what it’s worth, Wall Street estimates for the 7/30 quarterly call for WWE right now look to be $229 million in revenue and $12 million in profits. Keep in mind that all the cuts, because of the talent still being paid for 90 days, doesn’t have any effect and they still are expected to be well up in profits even with no arena events, from the same quarter last year

The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Extreme Rules; 2. Undertaker: Tales from the Dead Man; 3. Extreme Rules pre-show; 4. Best of Extreme Rules; 5. WWE Top 10 scariest matches; 6. WWE Now: Extreme Rules post-show; 7. Undertaker’s Last Ride episode five

Not a good sign for NXT to drop out that quickly from the Top 10 after stringing together a few weeks where they were ranking very well. Also mirrors their recent tv issues of not being able to capitalize on the momentum gained from the Great American Bash.

[XL]

Don’t know about anybody else but I could do without half of the news/rumours being more ratings talk.

[mike adamle]

Yeah I always skip over that ratings garbage

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by XL Don’t know about anybody else but I could do without half of the news/rumours being more ratings talk.

Between MMA/Boxing, notable deaths, and ratings stuff, that's pretty much been a huge chunk of Meltzer's weekly Observer Newsletters for almost a year now.

The tidbit involving Gallows and Anderson was the only real meaty section in this week's Newsletter for non-MMA, deaths, and ratings.

If more people are not interested in it being included, I have no issue with not including it for Friday's sheet reports. Saves me a bunch of time from copying and editing the stuff twice, one for the Frontpage's hidden sheets newsletter and one for the forum's weekly post.

[mike adamle]

I mean there's already a ratings thread shouldn't it go there instead of clogging up the interesting news on this page.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Meltzer takes the ratings way too literally, and I wonder if he does this because he can't help himself (an obsessive/autistic thing -- not making fun), or because it's deliberate misrepresentation so that he can create tension so he's always got something to write about.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by mike adamle I mean there's already a ratings thread shouldn't it go there instead of clogging up the interesting news on this page.

Usually kept it separate since its mostly just detailed data on stuff already talked about earlier in the week and quicker/easier to just stick everything in one post than dealing with multiple threads.

Only reason RAW and SD stuff gets included is due to both hitting historic low territory and SD still having some weeks left where it can be compared to whatever FOX had on prior to SD.

[XL]

I mean this in the most polite way possible Smeat, but do you get paid for posting the sheet news?

[Emperor Smeat]

Yes for anything that goes up on the Frontpage.

If I remember, Triple A needed some help with the Frontpage after Ryan Clark left over some personal issues and asked a couple of people if they were willing to help out in return for some money. I was one of the people picked because of all the sheets stuff I already was doing for the forums at the time.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Last night's Raw number, even though there were some bright spots as far as the first two hours not doing too badly, ended up as the second least-watched episode of the show in its history and third lowest ever in 18-49. Raw averaged 1.62 million viewers, down one percent from last week's second worst number ever. But this show was loaded between the Asuka vs. Sasha Banks Raw Women's Championship match and the Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler match which was pushed on television as for the WWE Championship before it was quietly changed to non-title over the weekend ... In addition, Raw set all-time record lows for the third hour, built around those two matches, which did 1.46 million viewers (breaking the single hour record low of 1.50 set by last week's hour three with Randy Orton vs. Big Show) and 0.41 in 18-49, breaking the all-time Raw lowest hour of 0.42 set last week. The show averaged a 0.48 in 18-49, the third lowest ever, because the first and second hours were up from last week in the key demo, an overall four percent increase from last week. Raw finished 19th overall and third in 18-49 ... Raw is down 30 percent from the same week last year overall, 35 percent in 18-49, and down 52 percent from last year in 18-34. The bad sign was the 14 percent first-to-third hour drop is more than the show has been doing in recent weeks. The drops were 28 percent in women 18-49, 16 percent in males 18-49, 88 percent in teenage girls (unheard of), and 52 percent in teenage boys (also unheard of) while only seven percent in over 50. There was something in hour two that was as big a turnoff to teenagers as anything in recent memory. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 1.70 million viewers 9 p.m. 1.69 million viewers 10 p.m. 1.46 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer Kris Statlander is recovering following surgery to repair a torn ACL. She posted a picture on her Twitter account this afternoon following her surgery. She had tweeted the day before that she was undergoing surgery today. Statlander tore her ACL in a match on AEW Dynamite that aired on June 10. The injury happened as she was going for a dive on Kip Sabian to the outside, injuring her knee on impact. It took place during a tag team match where Statlander teamed with Hikaru Shida to take on Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE issued a new storyline update on Rey Mysterio’s status following his Eye for an Eye match against Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules: “WWE Digital has learned that Rey Mysterio’s vision is improving slowly each day, and that his optic nerve is intact, completely secured and back in its socket. A timeline for Mysterio’s return to the ring is unknown at this time.”

Originally Posted by Oberver Cody tweeted that the TNT title belt design will be finalized on August 12.

Link: https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/statu...155670530?s=20

Originally Posted by Observer After being pulled from Sengoku Lord this past weekend as a precautionary measure, Tomoaki Honma and Yota Tsuji have been cleared to return by NJPW. NJPW announced on Saturday that Honma and Tsuji would both miss Sengoku Lord due to taping a television show with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. NJPW wrote that Honma and Tsuji were both in good health and weren't in close contact with the person who tested positive. Today, NJPW announced that Honma and Tsuji have both tested negative for COVID-19 and will be returning at Wednesday's non-televised Summer Struggle tour show

Originally Posted by Observer The top two matches for Summer Struggle in Jingu have been announced. In a press conference held this morning, it was confirmed that IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion EVIL will defend both titles against Tetsuya Naito ... Naito confronted EVIL at the end of Sengoku Lord last weekend, setting up the title match for next month. Hiromu Takahashi will also defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori on this card. It was Ishimori who attacked Hiromu after losing his double title match to EVIL at Sengoku Lord. Naito eventually ran in for the save ... Additionally, a new championhip, the KOPW 2020 title, will be determined in a fatal four-way match. Four matches will take place on August 26, with the winners advancing into this match. Competitiors fighting for the championship will name their stipulations and will allow fans to vote on the matches they would want to see. Summer Struggle in Jingu will take place on August 29 at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo.

Originally Posted by PWI Betty Gilpin, who plays Liberty Bell on Netflix's GLOW was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series the 2020 Emmy Awards. This is the second year in a row that Gilpin has received that nomination. GLOW also received nominations in two additional categories: *Outstanding Production design for a narrative program (half-hour) for the episode "Up, Up, Up" *Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama (Half-Hour) for the episode "The Libertines." These nominations would be for GLOW's third season ... Overall, the series has won 3 Emmys and has scored 18 nominations total.

Meanwhile WWE has been trying for years to get officially nominated and win an Emmy and has been empty handed for both.

Originally Posted by PWI When ROH begins taping empty arena content for their TV show, it will be in the Maryland area.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling vladTV released his full interview with New Jack. Towards the end of the interview, New Jack was asked if he believes WWE is a racist company, judging by the way they portray black wrestlers. Here was his response: “Yeah, because they always got the black guy doing stupid sh*t. They come out dancing and tap dancing and wearing dresses and eating cereal and all that silly ass sh*t…”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The Miz was a guest on the 411 Wrestling Interviews Podcast and stated that he and John Morrison are working a new song.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and new RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks, have made history and joined an exclusive list of Hall of Famers and Superstars in the WWE history books. With Banks' title win over Asuka on last night's RAW, Banks and Bayley became the first female Superstar duo, and the 5th pair overall, to join the list of teams who have held singles titles while also holding tag team titles together. Bayley and Banks are the only female team on the list. The other four teams on the list are Triple H and Steve Austin, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog, Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man.

Originally Posted by Fightful Bruce Prichard made headlines on his show Something To Wrestle when he said Nick Aldis lacked the "it factor" during his time in TNA. Prichard, who worked as head writer before taking on executive positions, worked with Aldis (Magnus in TNA) during his time in TNA from 2010 to 2013 and again in 2017. Aldis didn't take kindly to Bruce's comments and addressed Prichard on Busted Open Radio. "Bruce and I spoke on the phone and Bruce claimed 'I was talking about the Magnus character, I wasn't talking about Nick Aldis.' Well, his team uploaded a video and had a picture of me with the NWA Title and they used my name. So, he's full of shit," stated Aldis. "What he did was expose the fact that he hasn't been paying attention to anything going on. Anyone who has seen any of my shit over the last three years, everyone says 'you present yourself like a real pro wrestler.' For Bruce to say that, it just shows he hasn't been paying attention. Kinda like how when he was running TNA, he wasn't paying attention. He was asleep. He took a shot, gave a half-baked reason as to why he said it, didn't address it, and now he's getting an invoice. He likes to float things out as subjective and present them as facts. He lives in a past mentality where he thinks because he's in WWE, he can say whatever about someone and that's the only thing anyone will hear and that will be the opinion everyone shares. It doesn't work like that anymore." Aldis continued, pointing to Bruce's ratings failure in TNA and WWE. "By the time Bruce was relieved of his duties in TNA in 2013, he had viewership down to one million people. By the time I had the World Title at the start of 2014, we had the viewership figures back up to 1.3 million and peaked at 1.55 million, which is just shy of 1.56 million, which is the lowest Raw rating in history, which is the rating that came out the same week he decided to trash me on his podcast. Maybe that extra bit of rating that Raw got, that's the extra 'it factor' that I don't have. It can't be that his entire roster doesn't have the 'it factor,' if only I had the 'it factor' that those guys had, I could have got that extra half a fucking rating," said an agitated sounding Aldis.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling We have a story on the site about Monday’s announcement that DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH will be merging under a new banner called CyberFight and appears to be a direct response to the effects of the pandemic. The merger takes effect on September 1st with Sanshiro Takagi installed as its president. They explained that they would be separate divisions of the company with the in-ring style not changing and made it appear this was a way to fortify its business structure and make it more efficient rather than sweeping changes to the on-screen content. Takagi added that desire to run a proper Tokyo Dome card and hopes of overtaking New Japan, which are nice goals to have even though both would be characterized as very ambitious.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Earlier this month, WWE held a virtual shareholders meeting involving its executive staff for a company update. Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics has a great review of the call and below are some of the highlights: *Those on the call included Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul Levesque, Interim CFO Frank Riddick III, incoming CFO Kristina Salen, as well as executives John Brody, Jayar Donlan, Brian Flinn, Jim Johnstone, James Rosenstock, Brian Stedman, Michael Weitz, and other directors with the company *They noted advertising partnerships with Hyundai, Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Microsoft, and KFC. *Their response to COVID-19 has included shifting its corporate staff to working from home, a reduction in management compensation, lowering its headcount of employees through furloughs, a delay in its new headquarters, temporarily suspending its stock repurchase program, and drawing $200 million from a credit facility *They have approximately $500 million in liquidity to deal with the challenges *During the Q&A, Riddick stated the free version of the WWE Network has had “early positive results, but nothing definitive” – last week, Stephanie McMahon had noted network engagement was up 67% and you would have to attribute a sizable portion of that to the opening of the free tier and the promotion they did when the pandemic began where lots of content was made free *In a major shift from the George Barrios & Michelle Wilson era, Riddick said that they don’t believe a premium tiered system is an optimum approach to maximize the subscription value. Instead, they are going with the free model to bring in new subscribers with the hope of converting them while also developing “local currency pricing in select international markets” *The WWE UK Performance Center has been inactive since March when the pandemic hit and are seeking out solutions to create new in-ring content from the NXT UK brand *They are hopeful of running another event in Saudi Arabia before the end of 2020 but cannot guarantee that *They have a back-up plan in case they were not allowed to run shows in Florida *The cost-cutting measures in April had nothing to do with the XFL

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling During the shareholders Q&A ... From Paul Levesque on the role of NXT as either a feeder system or a third brand for the company, as well as its television numbers: "So I think if you were to look at the NXT brand, it would be both. While it is, as Frank mentioned earlier, a third global brand, along with Raw and Smackdown, and our partners at USA, it is also the place where we make new stars and increase our talent and stars for the future, of both Raw and Smackdown. So that is the pipeline, and that is the — if you wanted to say, ‘the feeder system’, it is that, but it also has become its own third brand. As far as the ratings go, I’m very happy with them, especially in the current circumstances. Everything is going well. We look at the long-term of that, not the short-term of that. And the long term is very exciting. We have a lot of stars. There are a lot of hungry young athletes, and the pipeline to bring in more as they continue to train and get better is very exciting. The future is very bright in that regard."

Originally Posted by Fightful Charlotte Flair was the Queen of WWE television in the months following WrestleMania 36, appearing weekly on Raw and NXT while being sprinkled into SmackDown as well. Charlotte had already proven to be one of the greatest female wrestlers of all-time when she won the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36 and she hopes the women in NXT took notice of what you can achieve through hard work and consistency. "I don't want to say that I've added more to NXT, I just hope the talent in that locker room at NXT go, 'this woman is NXT homegrown and look at what she's done in her career.' That's what I strive for. I don't say, 'do I added to the show, the locker room, am I getting girls over?' There's no right answer for that. My answer is, I hope the women in the locker room look at me and go, 'Damn, she's done it all and I want to do it too. What has it taken her to do that?' For me, the answer is consistency. Whether the storyline is for you or not for you, whether you're apart of it, you shine no matter what. It's not about how many moves, it's the story you portray and how you hold yourself. If you learn anything in a ring with me and we're trying to tell a story; remember the story and who you are as a character because that's what the audience connects with," Charlotte told Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Charlotte lost the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. She is currently off television due to complications with plastic surgery.

TPWW Frontpage:

• WWE: Vince McMahon on WWE’s Declining TV Viewership, Top Matches of 2020, Updated SD Ratings
• NJPW Announces Tournament and Details for New KOPW Championship
• Two Title Matches Announced for SummerSlam
• Kairi Sane Says Goodbye to WWE

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Hiromu Takahashi is off upcoming NJPW events due to a shoulder injury. NJPW posted on their website tonight that their medical staff has determined that Takahashi has suffered an injury to his left shoulder. As a result, Takahashi is off tomorrow morning’s card in Shizuoka and the July 31 card at Korakuen Hall. Despite the injury, NJPW wrote in their statement that they are still expecting Takahashi to return for his scheduled IWGP Jr. title match against Taiji Ishimori. That match is scheduled to take place at Summer Struggle in Jingu on August 29.

Originally Posted by PWI Variety has a piece today blaming Vince McMahon for WWE's audience erosion for Raw and Smackdown, and backing up their case with data. It covers many of the points that we have covered here on the site. You can read it by clicking here.

Link: https://variety.com/vip/amidst-wwe-r...es-1234712446/

Originally Posted by PWI Lightshed Partners, a top technology, media and telecommunications research firm based in New York City, released a deep analysis on the WWE stock yesterday, citing their belief that unless WWE turns their television ratings around, the company will not be able to maintain the level of rights fees they currently receive from NBC Universal and FOX. Noting that WWE has “dealt well with the pandemic, managing costs down while fulfilling contractual content obligations,” Lightshed noted that they believed the Raw and Smackdown ratings in June might have been a “ratings bottom" but it has gotten worse since then. A big piece of blame was pointed at WWE Creative and Lightshed’s analysis specifically pointed to the “ousting of Paul Heyman” from his position of Executive Director of Raw as an issue. The analysis points out that WWE’s ratings have declined despite the money being brought in by their current deals and with that pressure, the “margin of error” for the company is smaller than ever. It noted that COVID-19 has impacted ratings for professional wrestling, but both WWE NXT and All Elite Wrestling’s numbers have been up while Raw (10%) and Smackdown (8%) are down from last month and down 15% from April 2020 with Raw hitting all time low ratings multiple times this summer. On where the blame falls, the analysis notes, “COVID or no COVID, creative appears to be at the center of the issues. Vince McMahon has acknowledged things need to change multiple times. However, while there have been short lived experiments, the content appears to continuously return to a similar formula under his absolute control. McMahon went so far as to hire creative heads for Raw and SmackDown a year ago, with Paul Heyman heading Raw and Eric Bischoff heading SmackDown. Neither are in their roles a year later. Bischoff was fired after four months on the job and Heyman was relieved last month. The role is now consolidated under Bruce Prichard.” They also stated that one of WWE’s “largest problems” is an “inability to create new Superstars”, noting that WWE has always been defined by its top stars but recent years have not had that star power, noting Roman Reigns has been closest but hasn’t hit on the same level as talents from eras before. Lightshed noted, “More broadly, there really has been very little younger talent that have broken through at all on their way to replenishing even the middle level of stars in the men’s division. This has made the company more susceptible to injuries / absentees of major stars. Much of the talent with drawing power is aging. And, the big draws for major events have been in bringing back even older wrestlers such as Goldberg and The Undertaker. That is a band-aid, not a long-term strategy" ... Lightshed pointed out that WWE has a few years before TV rights have to be negotiated again, so WWE has a chance to “fix” the roster and suggested that Paul Levesque could be the one to help right the ship. They suggest the company might need, “A longer-term approach, even if ratings return more slowly, is probably the right prescription" ... The analysis noted that Lightshed is “torn on the right future for the [WWE] Network. We still believe those companies that can have [Direct to Consumer] relationships are far more better off in the current media ecosystem. Admittedly, though, we have grown more skeptical of the Network with time. It might just be that WWE doesn’t have the DNA to be great at DTC / grow it far beyond what it is today" ... The analysis went on to state that they cannot recommend WWE’s stock right now because there are “still simply too many critical questions surrounding the company” at the moment, specifically the company’s creative direction ... Lightshed pointed out that WWE’s main success are their television rights fees and that the stock “crumbled” earlier this year when international rights did not match what WWE garnered from the USA Network and FOX. Lightshed also expressed their doubts that FOX and NBC Universal will want to spend more money on WWE rights when the deals come due given the current environment and how WWE has performed. Pointing out how FOX has dropped sports properties and cut back on WWE programming and how NBC is “backing away” from pay-tv with an eye on streaming success with Peacock, their worry is that the landscape may not be there for WWE to repeat or enhance the success of their most recent deals.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Lightshed Partners, which is a technology, media, and telecommunications research firm, has put out a piece arguing that WWE’s media rights will decline if viewership continues to drop. It’s impossible to predict what the media landscape will be like come 2024 when the rights are set to expire with NBC Universal and Fox. While viewership erosion is always a concern, it will come down to how valuable WWE is viewed by the players at that time, which may as well be multiple lifetimes from now and again, impossible to predict. If the USA Network falls at the same level and Raw is propping up its prime-time viewership average, then Raw will be considered as valuable as it was in 2018 when they received the enormous contract. Conversely, SmackDown is still #1 most Friday nights in the key demo for a show that runs year-round and at a cheaper cost than a drama or comedy with fewer episodes per year.

As long as USA Network (and FOX) keep failing to find a big hit program(s) that can do better than what WWE generates weekly and consistently for numbers, the amount of pressure on WWE to put in any real lasting effort to improve the quality of their shows will remain low.

Originally Posted by PWI With COVID-19 preventing a stockholders meeting in person, World Wrestling Entertainment held a virtual meeting on 7/16. The video of the meeting was uploaded to WWE’s Corporate site several days ago. This morning, I sat down to listen to the call. Below is my coverage ... They were asked about AEW taking their market share in ratings. Paul Levesque said there is a moment in time when something launches and it’s exciting and there’s some interest in that. He said it’s a big world and WWE continues to be focused on their product and stars. They have a very long track record of doing this successfully for many years and they will continue to do so.

Almost the same excuse and comments he gave months ago when he downplayed AEW's early success and them being any real threat to both NXT and WWE in general.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Cody was interviewed by ESPN’s Marc Raimondi to promote tonight’s match and discuss numerous topics associated with AEW. He said that he’d have a better answer in 4-6 weeks on the rumored third hour or second show for AEW to add and that it could feature talent both on and off the roster but designed to showcase people that always featured on Dynamite. Regarding Mike Tyson, he said there is a relationship with Tyson and AEW but only said that something would likely happen “if not now, then in the future”. Cody said they were at the finish line to sign Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows last year but the two made a business decision and denied there was any heat with them over what they did. He seemed high on the idea of pushing for AEW to sign Matt Cardona and Rusev noting the two have drawn money and have TV experience but did note the limitations of a two-hour show with so much talent already on the roster. He gave the following cryptic answer regarding the prospect of attempting to sign Rey Mysterio: "To me, the greatest luchador ever, of all time — hands down — is Rey Mysterio Jr. And he’s got friends here. Jericho and him are friends. Mysterio is not afraid to travel out there, either. He’s not a one-company individual. And I think Rey still has a lot left to give in terms of wrestling. That might be something that someone else is currently discussing with him at this point. You never know."

Originally Posted by Fightful Rusev is seemingly done wrestling. Since being released by WWE on April 15, Rusev has started streaming games online through Twitch. He's grown support with the Handsome Chatters and has become a Twitch partner. Now, it looks like this is his full-time profession. During a Q&A on his Twitch stream, Rusev was asked if he was done wrestling or if he would go back to WWE. He replied, "I'm done. I'm done, man. I'm just enjoying my Twitch. I'm a professional Twitcher, YouTuber, content creator." Later, when someone said Rusev was his favorite wrestler, he said, "I'm not a wrestler anymore. Can I be your favorite streamer?" Rusev's non-compete clause expired on July 18 and while many who were released in April have appeared on other programs or have hinted at continuing on with wrestling, Rusev has seemed rather content doing Twitch streams regularly.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Johnny Gargano spoke with Justin Barrasso at SI.com about tonight’s match with Roderick Strong and the competition with AEW for eyeballs on Wednesday nights: "I am very much a wrestling fan and very much of the belief that competition makes everyone better. I think both shows are great in their own ways, and I’m super happy that there is so much great content out there. As a wrestling fan, it’s a cool thing to be part of. I know a lot of people are very excited to see me and Roddy one-on-one. We are two guys that have been scratching and clawing for a very long time, and competition is going to bring out the best in us. We’re not tone-deaf, we know the stakes. We want to put out the best product possible, I want to put out the best product possible, and we’re going to go out there and put on a match you want to see."

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Stephanie McMahon was a guest on the Fluid Fan podcast with host Angela Ruggiero discussing her role as Chief Brand Officer and how WWE has responded during the pandemic. This wasn’t as in-depth or newsworthy as McMahon’s interview with AdAge last week. McMahon spoke of her performance background on television as a key to understand what the fanbase wants and made the point repeatedly about listening to its audience through their platforms. McMahon described their “ecosystem” of traditional terrestrial television that builds to their pay-per-view events that are anchored by “the big four” tentpole shows of the year with the ultimate one being WrestleMania. She added that due to the success of “The Last Ride” on the WWE Network, they are exploring opportunities to find a second window for the series, which I’m still surprised an outside network didn’t come and make a deal for that series given the subject matter and the need for fresh content during the pandemic. McMahon said today’s performers don’t always need to stay in-character and fans want to know the people behind the characters and they help the performers grow their brands. She said at the end that they tabled the idea of having their fans appear virtually on the WrestleMania broadcast but the feedback they got was people didn’t want that and shelved the idea and have also taken constructive criticism regarding the crowd sweetening on matches being inauthentic when they have gone overboard with it.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Game Changer Wrestling returns with another card at the Celebration Plaza Amphitheatre this Sunday at 5 pm Eastern airing on Fite TV. The card will be headlined by Joey Janela vs. ACH along with Nick Gage vs. Cole Radrick, AJ Gray vs. Chris Dickinson, Nate Webb vs. Mance Warner, KTB vs. Calvin Tankman, and Tre Lamar vs. Blake Christian. They have also announced that Ace Austin and Kylie Rae will make their GCW debuts on the show.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE’s The Bump held its first-ever “Bumpy Awards” on Wednesday’s show with a long list of awards handed out but they included the following at the midway point of 2020: *Tag Team of the Half-Year: Bayley and Sasha Banks *Best Rivalry: The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles *Best In-Ring Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton at WWE Backlash (the nominees included Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens at WrestleMania, Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles on SmackDown in June, and the men’s Royal Rumble match) *Best Cinematic Match: The Boneyard Match (The Viking Profits vs. The Ninjas was actually nominated) *Superstar of the Half-Year: Drew McIntyre

Originally Posted by Fightful Doc Gallows is hopeful that IMPACT could one day work with NJPW. During an interview with "This is Wrestling" on TSN 1200, Gallows spoke on signing with IMPACT and was asked whether or not this new contract that he signed with the company will be his last one, Gallows said it is not. "I’m in my prime. I’m not slowing down. I just want to grow this IMPACT brand as big as we possibly can and keep it pushing forward. Yeah, this ain’t my last wrestling contract. Oh hell no! I’m not going to stop," Gallows said. Now that Gallows, as well as Karl Anderson, have signed with IMPACT, Gallows is hoping that the company could enter a working partnership with NJPW. Both Gallows and Anderson wrestled for NJPW prior to coming to WWE years ago and they even held the IWGP Tag Team titles multiple times during their time wrestling in Japan. “I think it’s all about keeping momentum. I think there is more tag team championships in the future for us as a team. I think we’ll always be together but we can support each other through a singles run. One for him, one for me. That’s some stuff we’ve been talking a lot about. What we want to do is continue to grow IMPACT. I want IMPACT to continue to grow and get bigger and better so that when our friends are calling us and they got contracts up in other places we can go “hey we can do this for you over here. What do you think? Come jump on board, come have some fun, and come party with us?” I think it would be great. I would love to see New Japan and IMPACT form a working relationship at some point. I think it would be beneficial for both sides and I would really love to see that. Hopefully, (I) can be a part in making that come together," Gallows said.

Considering Impact's parent company kicked NJPW off of US television because of issues with Impact, Gallows probably has better luck hitting the Powerball jackpot than seeing a partnership between those two companies forming any time soon.

Originally Posted by Fightful The WWE 2K series will undergo a change this year as the realistic WWE 2K21 game won't be released due to the poor performance of WWE 2K20. Instead, WWE and 2K will release WWE 2K Battlegrounds, an arcade-style wrestling game with over the top action. Speaking to Sarah O'Connell, 2K Battlegrounds Executive Producer Sean O'Connor provided further details on the game. When asked about the development of the game, O'Connor said, "It's been in development for just under two years. We originally wanted to make a wrestling game that is accessible and easy to pick-up and play. Less serious, kind of over the top." He went on to note that there are over 70 WWE superstars, past and present, in the game. Each wrestler will have a different "class/style" that comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. Each wrestler will also have at least one alternate attire. There will be multiple environments in the game and location-based environments such as New York, Scotland, and the Everglades will have interactive elements. Jerry Lawler and Mauro Ranallo provided commentary for the game. There is a "story mode" in the game where the user takes a group of seven superstars led by Paul Heyman and builds them as the next legends. It's not a gauntlet-styles story and does include an overall narrative. Both Create A Wrestle and Create An Arena are present in the game.

Originally Posted by Fightful Although the NWA has yet to have a new show in months, one of its champions will be defending her title very soon. Mission Pro Wrestling announced that Thunder Rosa will defend her NWA Women's Title against Lindsay Snow at "Hell Hath No Fury" taking place on September 18 in Texas. Face masks are required and social distancing protocols will be in effect.

Originally Posted by Fightful Ember Moon wasn't a fan of the finish to the Raw Women's Title match on Monday. Sasha Banks became the new Raw Women's Champion on Raw, defeating Asuka when Asuka was counted out as she went to save Kairi Sane from being attacked by Bayley in the backstage area. As a result of Sasha's victory, she and Bayley now hold the Women's Tag Team Titles, SmackDown Women's Title, and Raw Women's Title. Taking to Twitch, Ember recapped Raw for her viewers and gave her thoughts on the outcome. "Why do we need two double champions? Is SummerSlam going to be like low-key Evolution with Sasha and Bayley wrestling for their singles titles and also for the tag titles? Is that a thing? Are we just reliving Triple H [& Steve Austin, Two Man Power Trip] from 2001? Sasha & Bayley have done a great job with a limited roster, but there are too many people sitting at home to tie up all the titles with two people. I was kinda upset -- the match was superb -- I don't like the fact that knowing, it was Kairi's last [appearance], I don't know if that's the way you go. I feel you make it more of a threat than just Kairi getting beat up backstage. I think you have Bayley beat-up Kairi and then have her with a forklift about to drop some cinder blocks. [Asuka] had [Sasha] in the Asuka Lock, all she had to do was sit back. It makes more sense if Kairi is in more of a life or death situation versus her getting thrown into stuff and stomped. I get we're supposed to be angry, and kudos to them for making us angry. No one wanted Asuka to lose, everyone wanted NXT Asuka back and having an undefeated streak. That's what WWE does. I fell for the ploy of 'I'm angry because I saw my friend Asuka lose the title in a crappy way.' Are we gonna have Sasha just lose the title to Lacey Evans or transfer Naomi over? They're building to SummerSlam, right? As a fan, I feel like I got ripped because once again, I don't get Bayley vs. Sasha." She continued, "I feel like I lost the match I wanted to see two SummerSlams in a row. Maybe they're waiting for a bigger live audience. Maybe it's because Charlotte is gone and Becky [Lynch] is on maternity leave. They're killing me because I really want to see that match. Not only that, but you're sacrificing all of your other superstars for two people. That's what it feels like to me. Maybe I misjudge what's happening. I like to be angry about wrestling. I'm just trying to figure out the next step. Apart of me is like, 'I don't know what's going to happen, 'which is great, but apart of me is like, 'I don't know if that was the right call.' For me to be so upset that I had to turn off Raw because back-to-back-to-back...that first hour and a half to me was infuriating from a professional and fan standpoint." Ember did clarify that she believes WWE is doing what they can with the circumstances and that she isn't present at the Performance Center, so she isn't privy to the conversations happening inside the PC and behind closed doors. She does feel that WWE could use this opportunity to have someone like Bianca Belair, Naomi, or a new tag team step up to Banks and Bayley to potentially take one of their titles.

Originally Posted by PWI THE NWO ATTACKS NITRO & TURNS REY MYSTERIO INTO A LAWN DART, FLAIR WINS FIRST U.S. TITLE, SLAUGHTER MAKES WWF DEBUT, HEENAN ANNOUNCES THE 'REAL WORLD CHAMPION' IS COMING TO WWF & MORE: 7/29 THIS DAY IN HISTORY ... 1996 - WCW broadcast Monday Nitro from Disney's MGM Studios in Orlando, FL featuring the following result ... Sting, Randy Savage, & WCW TV Champion Lex Luger fought WCW US Champion Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, & Steve McMichael (w/ Elizabeth, Woman, & Debra McMichael) to a double count-out at 13:23 when all the participants went backstage after Jimmy Hart came ringside and said Scott Hall & Kevin Nash were backstage ... late in the match, a cameraman showed Hall & Nash, holding a baseball bat, standing over Arn Anderson and Marcus Alexander Bagwell; moments later, Scotty Riggs came out of a trailer and was laid out as well; WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. then leapt from the trailer onto Nash but Nash caught him in mid-air and threw him head-first into the trailer; moments later, Savage jumped on the Outsiders' limo as they drove off; after the commercial break, ambulances arrived as Sting, Luger, Alex Wright, the Horsemen, Hart, and Eddie Guerrero tended to the injured; during the segment, Mysterio said that there were four attackers; Mysterio was unmasked after he was placed on the stretcher but covered his face with his hands; Wright left with Mysterio, telling Guerrero to stay for his match

TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: Doc Gallows on Differences Between WWE and Impact, NJPW News & Notes, Indies
• AEW Dynamite & NXT Cards for Tonight + AEW Rankings

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Despite the return of live sports in the form of Major League Baseball as competition, the total Wednesday night wrestling audience was up to 1.48 million viewers last night, 1.5 percent higher than the previous week. AEW Dynamite had the higher viewership this week with 773,000 viewers as opposed to 707,000 for NXT ... Dynamite's audience on TNT was down 8.5 percent from last week. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged a 0.30 rating, down 6.3 percent from last week. Dynamite ranked sixth on cable in that category. NXT on the USA Network was up 15 percent from last week in total viewers. In 18-49, NXT was up 5.9 percent, averaging a 0.18 rating and finishing 28th on cable in that important demo. The total audience of 1.480 million viewers was higher than the third hour of Raw this week and the combined 18-49 rating of 0.48 beat out the three-hour average of Raw, which was 0.47. Those numbers would've been unthinkable just a few months ago. The key to the NXT resurgence was in people over 50. After narrowing the gap to 0.02 last week, AEW dropped to a 0.27 in that demo, while NXT drew a 0.37. So the same number of people in that category (0.64 combined) watched both weeks, but almost 18 percent of them switched from AEW to NXT for whatever reason. AEW won every other category and the gaps were similar to what they've been in previous weeks. One notable category was females 12-34, where AEW averaged a 0.15 rating. Raw this week, in the same category, averaged a 0.14. So even with competition, AEW beat them

*** Full disclosure, for the past several months, whenever Bryan Alvarez would post a quick tweet about AEW & NXT's numbers, people would post gifs mocking the loser show or company. Wanted to start including them sooner since I found them pretty funny and creative but when NXT was on top for a few weeks, WWE/NXT fanatics and Anti-AEW trolls didn't supply any notable ones and were mostly boring and plain with their trash talk so I just waited instead. Plus been getting a bit bored with doing sheet reports and wanted to spice things up a bit.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling AEW Dynamite fell 8.5% in viewership with 773,000 viewers tuning and posting a 0.30 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was down 6.25% this week. Despite the drop, it was Dynamite’s third-highest viewership since May 27th and was higher than both Fyter Fest episodes. It was also the third-highest 18-49 rating for the show since April 1st. NXT saw increases in both categories with total viewers improving by 15% with 707,000 and a 0.18 rating in the demo that was up 6%. This was the first week that NXT has topped 700,000 viewers since the Great American Bash episodes earlier this month ... AEW was hit among males 12-34 which dropped 16% this week followed by the over 50 demo decreasing by 13% and males 18-49 dropping by 11%. On the other side, females 18-49 rose by 10% and females 12-34 improved by 7%. Among the key demos, NXT was up in every category except males 18-49. The biggest jump was seen among females 12-34 that increased by 100% to 0.08, so that category has stabilized after falling badly to a 0.04 last week. Females 18-49 were up by 40% and males 12-34 improved by 25%. Next week, both episodes will have competition with the NBA resuming play this week.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Coming out of the 7/29 edition of AEW Dynamite, a number of segments and matches were set up for the next several weeks of AEW programming ... Excalibur was not on commentary tonight and Taz filled in for him. Several videos of Excalibur saying the n-word surfaced and received a great deal of traction on social media.

Originally Posted by Observer Prior to their investors call Thursday afternoon, WWE released their 2020 Q2 numbers which showed a year-over-year decrease but a record year-to-date revenue record, buyoed by theiir TV contracts and some big savings with not running live shows. This was the first full quarter WWE hasn't been able to run live shows since the pandemic began. The company saw a year-over-year operating income increase to $55.7 million for the quarter, up from $17.1 million from 2019, thanks to running shows at the Performance Center and as the release said, "to a lesser extent...a decrease in accrued management incentive compensation." Additionally, net income, adjusted OBIDA, and cash flows were all up. Revenues for Q2 decreased to $223.4 million, down from 2019's $268.9 million with the company pointing to "unfavorable timing" for their February show in Saudi Arabia. Conversely, yearly revenue hit a company record $514.4 million, up 14% from the prior year. With both digital views and hours consumed increasing, WWE Network paid subscriber numbers ended the quarter up 6% to 1.69 million while the average for the quarter decreased to 1.66 million. WWE added their long-discussed new free tier over the past quarter. Another positive: while consumer products were down by roughly $1 million, ecommerce revenue doubled to $12.6 million. They cited new belt sales and video game revenue as helping in that area ... Other notes from the release and presentation: The lack of live events resulted in a $48 million drop year over year. WWE had to cancel 53 domestic shows and 23 international events in the quarter. The increase in subscribers marks the first time they've seen that since the fourth quarter of 2018. They achieved WrestleMania Week viewership records of just under 1 billion video views across digital and social platforms, up 20% from last year. Core content fees made up $132.9 million of the $200.1 million in media revenue for the quarter, up from $69 million from the previous year's quarter. Raw viewership was down 24% year over year, following USA Network's 26% year over year decrease while SmackDown was up slightly by 4% year over year while Fox's numbers were down 4% year over year. Notes from the Q&A portion (Vince McMahon, interim CFO Frank Riddick, Michael Weitz) VKM was asked about the "softness" of the ratings. He essentially blamed it on a lack of audience interaction, but said they can have better storylines, more compelling characters and more content that isn't in the ring that is interesting to viewers. VKM asked why NXT and AEW have bounced back from the COVID-19 downtick while Raw/SmackDown hasn't. He said because "they're new" and that it's up to WWE to make Raw/SmackDown more youthful. VKM asked about Heyman's firing from creative, he didn't really give much of an answer. He did say Paul Levesque helps on Raw and SmackDown when asked if he should help more given his success on NXT. They were asked about the EVOLVE wrestling purchase which was said to be a "content purchase deal" in very small size with no merger & acquistion elements attached to it. Asked if there are any options at looking at live shows outside the PC with fans, VKM curtly said they are looking at all opportunities currently.

Originally Posted by PWI While it appears plans for a multi-tiered WWE Network have been paused, perhaps forever, after WWE was initially slated to launch that project several months ago, PWInsider.com can confirm that independent wrestling content is still scheduled to be utilized on the company's streaming network. Several sources have stated that content involving several promotions is being planned for rollout on the Network. WWE has the rights to Great Britain's PROGRESS and ICW and recently purchased the EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA libraries from World Wrestling Network. The company also has a strong working relationship with Germany's Westside Xtreme Wrestling, so one would think those libraries are the most likely to be involved. There is no timetable for when the content will be released, but we can confirm there was work being done in recent weeks to prepare for its incorporation onto the Network, unless of course, there is another change in plans.

Originally Posted by PWI United States District Court of The Middle District of Tennessee Chief Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. officially declared a mistrial earlier today in the Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment vs. Anthem Wrestling (parent company of Impact Wrestling) lawsuit, PWInsider can exclusively confirm. As reported earlier today, Anthem filed for a mistrial after the verdict came in from the jury, claiming that Jarrett's attorney had prejudiced the jury by noting that Anthem's Ed Nordholm was not present on 7/20 for court proceedings and by bringing up numbers during the liabilities portion of the closing arguments when it had been stressed by the court that those were to be left for discussion when it was time to cover potential damages and punitive damages. Chief Judge Waverly set a 9/11 status conference to begin the process of setting up a new trial. He also ordered that the GFW Amped! tapes be preserved.

Originally Posted by PWI Q - Whatever happened to Austin Theory? A - He's still with WWE but has been pulled from TV. No one will confirm why, but his disappearance came after an allegation was made against him during the #SpeakingOut movement online.

From PWI's weekly Q&A articles. The other rumor regarding his absence involved him testing positive for the coronavirus but if that was the case, probably would have been back on tv by now or at least should be very soon.

Originally Posted by PWI For those who asked about Leon Ruff after WWE's Performance Center released a video on him yesterday, he has been signed to a NXT deal, the first of several EVOLVE talents who were signed after WWE acquired that company. WWNLive removed all Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE content from their website on 7/28. WWE is now in possession of those video libraries.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Ring of Honor’s Kenny King was a guest on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. King was candid and explained in detail about the portrayal of black characters in pro wrestling. King mentioned how black wrestlers are often times stereotyped and pigeon-holed while there are white wrestlers who are allowed to have fully fleshed out, three dimensional characters. “Well, I think — and it’s part of the roundtable and I said this during the roundtable and I’ll say it again. This is a conversation I had with Vince Russo about black talent and he asked me, ‘Why do you feel there’s been a lack of top tier black talent?’ And I said, ‘The finger goes directly at you Vince. It’s people like yourself who write the shows and you only write black talent from your perspective which is either gangsters or hustlers or pimps or these caricatures,’ right? When you look at Triple H, you look at Randy Orton, these are three dimensional fully fleshed out characters. Triple H can be the Cerebral Assassin, he can be The Game. He can be all these different things which allows you to say, ‘Damn, Triple H can be this main event talent because look how many layers he has.’ When you look at R-Truth who raps and… and if you know Ron Killings like I know Ron Killings, Ron Killings has multiple layers. There’s multiple more interesting things to Ron Killings than R-Truth, the rapper, dapper, dapper guy but we don’t never get to see that, we don’t get to connect with Ron on that level that we need to connect with him on that level that we need to [with] a world champion. You have to connect emotionally. I have to wanna care for your well being if I wanna see you as world champion or vice versa, depending on how it fits. But, if you’re not fully fleshed out, if my character — if I haven’t been allowed to show you all the things about myself that you need to care about or hate me, then that’s why these things fall flat so, where pro wrestling can continue the bridge in the conversation is in that case, right? And they’ve done it in certain cases but you know, why is Titus O’Neil’s — he’s a wonderful father and he’s this wonderful family man but that’s just his off-camera persona, and all these other things. Let’s start giving more detail and depth I think… and this is not just black people. Hispanics are stereotyped as Ese’s and Asians are always Ku Fung masters and all this same nonsense that happens over and over and over so, if we can just give these people characters. ‘This is Ron, and he raps but he also does this and he’s also this other stuff.’ Then I think, wrestling kinda mimics society so if we stop seeing black people as gangsters and thugs in wrestling culture, maybe we’ll stop seeing them as gangsters and thugs in regular culture. All of this kinda subliminal messaging, it all just kinda bounces off one another.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Davey Boy Smith Jr. spoke to Wrestling Inc. and told the publication that his contract with Major League Wrestling expires this December. He was hopeful that MLW could run shows with no fans and make talents take COVID tests but the organization is not running. Smith added that he’s unsure if MLW will be able to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic ... Smith Jr.’s father, The British Bulldog was set to be a part of the 2020 WWE Hall Of Fame class. The last that Smith Jr. heard was that the ceremony was going to take place SummerSlam weekend but the ceremony has been pushed back yet again. “With my dad going into the WWE Hall of Fame, we don’t know when that is going to happen. The last thing was they were pushing for SummerSlam,” he said of the Hall of Fame ceremony planning. “Now they are pushing that back. Things keep getting pushed back. That’s why I’m hoping MLW is able to survive this. I have my doubts for a lot of companies. It’s going to be a long time. We’re in a marathon, not a race here.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall’s ‘Nightmare Factory’ wrestling school will host development camps for those looking to become pro wrestlers starting on September 21st.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated chatted with Johnny Gargano ahead of the 7/29/20 edition of WWE NXT. Gargano shared that he and Tommaso Ciampa have tried several times to set themselves up to wrestle Shawn Michaels and Paul “Triple H” Levesque in a tag team match. “If we can still make that happen, I’ll still do it. That would be so great. Me and Tommaso have pushed in the past to wrestle Shawn and Hunter, and that is something that could potentially happen, or maybe something we’re just dreaming. But me and Tommaso against Shawn and Bret would be amazing. That would have been a really fun dynamic.”

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Ricky Starks was a guest on The Distraction podcast with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert. Ricky was asked if the reactions from wrestlers in the crowd during AEW shows are organic and Ricky stated that they are not told how to act or react to anything and it’s all a natural flow. “No, we just go out and we have a natural reaction to what we’re watching and that’s it. I would hate to be told what to say or what to do when I’m out there because I’m trying to watch what’s in the ring. Not really put something in motion.”

Would explain why they've felt or come across different than WWE's shows. Also doesn't help that Fightful and others revealed WWE's been using the PC's PA system to instruct talent for crowd reactions during shows. Based on production miscues, AEW seemly only tells their crowd when they go in and out of commercial breaks.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE has reportedly added a new pay-per-view to the 2020 schedule. While no announcement has been made, it was reported today by @Wrestlevotes that WWE has added the Payback pay-per-view to their schedule for this year. It's interesting to note that Payback 2020 is scheduled for August 30, which is just one week after the SummerSlam pay-per-view. It's also interesting that WWE has a Payback pay-per-view planned for August 30 as this is the date that the rumored Evolution 2 show may have taken place on. It was reported earlier this month that WWE was considering a second night of SummerSlam or an Evolution 2 special for August 30, the week after SummerSlam.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE is reportedly delaying an announcement on the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. It was reported today by @Wrestlevotes that WWE planned on announcing the 2021 Rumble date and location in early August. However, word now is that the announcement is on hold as details on the event are likely changing. There's no word yet on if COVID-19 is the reason for the Royal Rumble changes, but it seems likely. WWE has dealt with numerous schedule changes since the outbreak hit in March. There has been hope that WWE will be able to resume normal live events with at least some fans this fall, but that has not been confirmed.

TPWW Frontpage:

• AEW Announces Women’s Tournament Rules, Cameron Returns
• Zack Ryder (Matt Cardona) Appears on AEW Dynamite
• Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s Dynamite, MJF Challenges Moxley at All Out
• Three Matches Announced for Next Week’s NXT

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat The Sheets: *** Full disclosure, for the past several months, whenever Bryan Alvarez would post a quick tweet about AEW & NXT's numbers, people would post gifs mocking the loser show or company. Wanted to start including them sooner since I found them pretty funny and creative but when NXT was on top for a few weeks, WWE/NXT fanatics and Anti-AEW trolls didn't supply any notable ones and were mostly boring and plain with their trash talk so I just waited instead. Plus been getting a bit bored with doing sheet reports and wanted to spice things up a bit.

HAHAHAHA! They put AEW and NXT over the people because AEW won by a few thousand people! Hahaha! How funny and creative!



Yeah, they're the fanatics.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seriously, this bullshit circle jerk mentality is making me actively root against wrestling. I hope it goes even further into the ground so that the people standing around cheering subpar content are left with each other's flaccid dicks in their hands.