Wrestling News & Rumors

[Fignuts]

Some guy

[Mr. Nerfect]

No one does. He wrestled for TNA.

[slik]

He seemed decent when I watched some random Impact ppv

re: Kross

[Simple Fan]

Kross is the shit. Hopefully he goes to AEW, him and Moxley would be a killer match and he's already shown his displeasure with Jon taking bits of his gimmick.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Moxley is basically doing a more polished version of his old CZW gimmick. It’s the serious side of his WWE one. Wtf is this stealing talk about?

[Simple Fan]

[James Steele]

...so Killer Kross invented video packages? Also, I cringed when he started talking. Such forced “I’m a serious badass.” vibe. Reminded me of Low Ki promos.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw last night did 2.28 million viewers, a number that has to be considered bad coming off a pay-per-view. It was up 1.8 percent from last week's number. The positive news is that the first-to-third hour drop was 11 percent, which is good based on recent history, although not good based on long-term history. The two big takeaways are that there was not a lot of interest in Stomping Grounds, as all metrics have shown, nor was there curiosity coming out of it in a big way, based on a first hour number that was very low coming off a PPV. However, the episode itself did retain the audience better than most this year, which is a combination of the show itself, and the interest level in the Ricochet vs. AJ Styles main event ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.39 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.32 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.13 million viewers

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Monday’s episode of Raw following the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view didn’t receive much of an increase in its viewership ... This week was their fifth-lowest average of 2019 and is the second consecutive week without sports competition indicating fans that checked out during the playoff season have not returned. It was their second-lowest pay-per-view bump of 2019 behind the Raw following Fastlane in March ... Here are the viewership averages following each pay-per-view from 2019 along with the percentage difference from the prior week: *Stomping Grounds: June 24 – 2,276,000 (+1.83%) *Super Showdown: June 3 – 2,405,000 (+9.8%) *Money in the Bank: May 20 – 2,521,000 (+10.3%) *WrestleMania 35: April 8 – 2,924,000 (+10.8%) *Fastlane: March 11 – 2,818,000 (+1.26%) *Elimination Chamber: Feb. 18 – 2,771,000 (+12.6%) *Royal Rumble: Jan. 28 – 2,703,000 (+9.8%)

Some more details on the tiny PPV bump WWE got for Stomping Grounds and how it compares to other PPV bumps soo far this year.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling From listener Ian, who attended Raw on Monday in Everett: I attended Raw last night. The commercial breaks started taking a toll on the crowd in the third hour. The crowd was dead during the Alexa/Nikki vs Naomi/Natalya match. Commercials were just WWE related clips or appearances on other TV shows. Iconics and Dana Brooke also came out during the break to cut promos. I still had a great time, but the commercial breaks were too much and made the three hours lag a little bit.

Originally Posted by Observer Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Jinder Mahal recently signed a new five-year deal with WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Zack Sabre Jr. retained both his RevPro British Heavyweight Championship and his spot in this year’s G1 Climax by defeating YOSHI-HASHI in the main event of this morning’s Kizuna Road show. After defeating IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa in a non-title match this morning, Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls said they want Tonga & Loa’s titles. Tonga & Loa vs. Robinson & Nicholls (in what was announced as a non-title match) is set for Southern Showdown in Melbourne this Saturday.

Originally Posted by Observer AEW stars Cody and MJF will be appearing at an upcoming AAA television taping. It was announced that the two will be teaming up to take on Brian Cage and Taurus at a television taping in Aguascalientes, Mexico on 7/18. There is a backstory, as it was Taurus who attacked Cody when he made his initial debut for AAA at Rey de Reyes back in April, cementing the relationship between AEW and AAA. While MJF and Cody have competed in Mexico in the past, this will be the in-ring debut for both in AAA.

Originally Posted by Observer Due to an injury, Colt Cabana won't be able to wrestle at ROH's Best in the World pay-per-view this Friday. The NWA uploaded a video today where Cabana announced that he won't be able to team with Nick Aldis against The Briscoes at Best in the World. Cabana is the current NWA National Champion, while Aldis holds the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Cabana's replacement will be unveiled on the Best in the World pre-show, which is airing at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Will Ospreay spoke to Marc Raimondi of ESPN about the comments made by Seth Rollins and their back-and-forth over the past two days: I just think it’s a little bit of friendly banter. I love Rollins. Rollins is the absolute don. Hey’s the man, you know what I mean? He’s one of the best wrestlers ever – period. But you asked the question. You asked, find me, someone, alive. As far as I’m concerned, I’m breathing. There’s oxygen in my lungs. I think the last time I heard about an amazing Seth Rollins match was his one against A.J. and if you can’t get a good match out of A.J. Styles, then I think you should leave the planet. I’m still here, I’m still breathing. And I think my run this year – not just in New Japan, in the indies and everywhere I’ve been – is I don’t half-ass anything. I don’t do a terrible TV match. I just go hard every single night. If you give me an opportunity to show what I can do, I do it.

Originally Posted by Fightful Undisputed ERA member and former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion Kyle O'Reilly was slated to wrestle at EVOLVE 129 and EVOLVE 130 this weekend. EVOLVE announced via their official social media platforms that O'Reilly would not be wrestling at the events this weekend and Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned that O'Reilly was pulled from the shows because he is dealing with a staph infection.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Aleister Black is set to work his first main roster pay-per-view singles match at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules event, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes. There's no official word on the match but Black's opponent as of earlier this afternoon was planned to be Cesaro. Black is currently on the SmackDown roster while Cesaro is a RAW Superstar.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler could be one of the hosts of the WWE studio show that is scheduled to begin airing on FS1 later this year, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes. The report noted that Fox officials have floated the idea of Lawler being a main part of the show to WWE. The feeling is that Lawler's image and voice will be familiar to fans, something Fox is looking for, likely to help bring viewers back to the product. There's no word yet on who might work with Lawler to host the show, but it was recently reported that Renee Young was "highly likely" to land the role of host.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Rusev's WWE contract is reportedly expiring relatively soon, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. There's no word yet on if Rusev is interested in leaving WWE, but it would not come as a surprise to many as it's believed that he is unhappy with his position in the company due to some of his comments in media interviews and on social media. Rusev is currently away from WWE as he recently requested some time off. There's no word yet on when he will be back, but it's likely just a short hiatus. Meltzer speculated that the hiatus has to do with Rusev being unhappy. It was also speculated that WWE could extend the length of the contract due to the time off by freezing it, which they do when a talent is out of action with an injury.

Originally Posted by Observer For AEW, the Leva Bates vs. Kylie Rae match for Sunday wasn't supposed to be announced and we're told it's probably changing. The plan is for a three fight preshow at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and the main show starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The preshow is Alex Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa in a hardcore match and a tag team title tournament match with Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian vs. Private Party vs. Trent Baretta & Chuckie T. There will probably be a third match announced this week which is the spot Bates vs. Rae would have.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling OTT held their WrestleRama card in Dublin on Sunday and featured WALTER facing David Starr. The spot within the match that has received added attention involved Starr taking the NXT UK championship, placing it on the mat and stepping on it. In another era, this would be a massive deal and it very well could irk those in WWE that WALTER was involved with the company’s championship being disrespected.

Originally Posted by PWI Wrestling DVD Network has released trailers for the upcoming The Miz: A-List Superstar and "Getting Rowdy: The Unreleased Matches of Roddy Piper" DVDs The 2019 WWE Money in the Bank PPV was officially released on DVD today in the United States with releases to come on 7/8 in Europe and 8/21 in Australia. The Super Showdown event from Saudi Arabia will be release on DVD this September.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Killer Kross Possibly Written Off of Impact?
• Seth Rollins Responds to Moxley’s WWE Comments: “Not Everyone Can Handle the Rigors of WWE”
• Various: Fan Mentions CM Punk During Raw Segment, Tyler Breeze at EVOLVE, Janela Injury Update
• Seth Rollins, Will Ospreay and Chris Jericho Get Into It on Twitter
• New Vince McMahon Edict: No More Wrestling During Commercials

[Evil Vito]

LOL a 5-year contract for Jinder Mahal.

[Blonde Moment]

Guess they want too keep him off of Impact

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWE Champion Phil "CM Punk" Brooks filed a lawsuit against ROH star Scott "Colt Cabana" Colton on 6/18 in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, PWInsider.com can exclusively report. The counter-suit, seeking $600,000 from Colton, was filed as part of Brooks' response to Colton's second, amended lawsuit against the former WWE and ROH Champion. Colton filed a lawsuit in August 2018 against Brooks in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, alleging unpaid legal fees and a breach of contract from Brooks stemming from the lawsuit that WWE physician Doctor Chris Amann filed against each of them in the fallout of Brooks' November 2014 appearance on Colton's Art of Wrestling podcast ... In his counter-suit, Brooks stated that he spent over $1.2 million on legal bills over the two-year period where The Loeb Firm defended himself and Colton against Dr. Chris Amann's allegations. The Amann case went to court with the jury ruling unanimously in Colton and Brooks' favor. Amann received zero damages. Brooks' counter-suit alleges Colton did not contribute anything towards their "attorney's fees and expenses incurred" in the Amann legal battle and that Colton "refused to contribute monies" towards the case, noting, "Colton's unjust retention of the benefits of receiving a high-quality, professional legal defense through the Loeb Firm paid for solely by Brooks without any reimbursement of Brooks violated fundamental principles of justice, equality, and good conscience." Brooks lawsuit noted that Colton makes money from his Art of Wrestling series through advertisements and sponsors, YouTube impressions and through the sale of merchandise Colton promotes on the podcast. It notes that within five days of the November 2014 CM Punk episode, that episode was streamed or downloaded 1.5 million times, the largest audience ever for that podcast series. Within a week, that number was up to three million. The implication is that despite the episode being the most financially successful podcast episode ever for Colton, he did not offer any money towards their legal defense ... Brooks is alleging that Colton breached his contract with Brooks by not reimbursing him, noting that he “conferred a benefit” on Colton by funding their legal defense against Dr. Chris Amann. Brooks noted in the lawsuit that he has paid $1,210,000 while Colton has paid zero. As noted, Brooks is seeking $600,000 “for general damages” as well as interest on such damages “as allowed by law”; costs of suit incurred and additional further relief that the court deems just and proper. Colton’s side must respond by 7/3 to Brooks’ lawsuit.

Originally Posted by Observer Guide Live asked Becky Lynch about Seth Rollins’ recent tweets and if their in-ring styles have started to rub off on one another: "No, to be honest with you, neither. None in either way. I've seen what he's been doing. That's completely him. He rightfully exposes the fact that we are the premiere wrestling show. We're constantly putting on matches, five-star matches time after time. I think that he just wants that to be noticed and appreciated. But that's got absolutely nothing to do with me, I don't know that I've rubbed off on him in that way. And in-ring, no. My style is my style. His style is his style. We're our own people, and then we can just fight side by side."

Originally Posted by Observer The fan who was involved in the Bully Ray incident at ROH State of the Art: Portland earlier this month attended SmackDown after Kevin Owens invited him to be his guest at a show the next time Owens was in town: “I had more fun tonight at the show than I have in a very long time. I’m humbled and grateful by the generosity of an absolute stranger. Never stop being there for each other. Never stop taking the high road. Never stop being the better man. Thank you @FightOwensFight”

Originally Posted by Observer In a video on DDP Yoga’s YouTube channel, Big Cass opened up on battling depression, anxiety, and alcohol issues and working to improve his life.

Link: https://youtu.be/7Qq_kaPSGgU

Originally Posted by PWI WWENetworkNews.com is reporting the following material will be this week's WWE Network Hidden Gems, including extremely rare footage from the old Amarillo territory featuring the Funk family: NWA Western States 02/01/1971 – Father Knows Best [Duration: 06:42] The patriarch of the Funk wrestling family, Dory Funk Sr., imparts some fatherly wisdom in this training session with Dory Jr. and Terry. USWA 11/03/1990 – Texas Royalty [Duration: 10:23] Long-time rivals square off once more when Terry Funk battles Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

Originally Posted by PWI PWInsider.com is working on confirming particulars but several counts in Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment's lawsuit against Impact Wrestling parent company Anthem Sports were dismissed this past Monday 6/24. We should have more details shortly. The lawsuit is still continuing.

Originally Posted by PWI All Elite Wrestling announced this afternoon that Chris Jericho will be appearing at the 7/13 Fight for the Fallen event in Jacksonville, Florida, which will stream live for free for Bleacher Report Live subscribers

Originally Posted by Fightful Oriental Wrestling Entertainment is expanding their brand to the United Kingdom this coming September. It was announced via the promotion's social media pages that they'll be launching a United Kingdom division and there will be OWE U.K. Champions along with a tag team division as well. In the graphic that was posted along with the announcement, an O.W.E Championship belt was featured but it was not specified whether that was the world title or the tag team title design. OWE has a working relationship with All Elite Wrestling and OWE will be represented this weekend at AEW's Fyter Fest show as Christopher Daniels goes one-on-one with former Dragon Gate Open The Brave Champion CIMA.

Originally Posted by Fightful Riki Choshu has had his final match in wrestling. 45-year veteran of the professional wrestling business, Riki Choshu had has final match today at Korakuen Hall as a part of the 'POWER HALL 2019-New Journey Begins' show. Riki ended his career with a loss when he, Shiro Koshinaka and Tomohiro Ishii took on Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiji Mutoh and Togi Makabe. Makabe pinned Choshu and after the match, the former 3-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion picked up a microphone and stated that it is time that he returns to his family after the years he has dedicated to wrestling. Choshu began his career in the 1970s and has wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan and U.V.A. in a career that has stretched over 40 years and on June 26th, Choshu ended his career by leaving the victory with Togi Makabe who is still pushing forward as an in-ring competitor.

Originally Posted by CageSideSeats On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned Rusev’s deal with WWE is up soon and he asked for a leave of absence from the company. On that same show, Meltzer also indicated the reason Baron Corbin is getting pushed the way he is is that Vince McMahon thinks women swoon over guys like him.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Many current and former WWE talents have recently complained about WWE and their creative process. Drew McIntyre has a different take on the perceived lack of opportunities. He spoke with Sam Roberts on Not Sam Wrestling about that and the journey he had back to WWE. "You look in the mirror, you know if you are not giving it everything you got," McIntyre stated. "There are a lot of people that are talented and do deserve more opportunities. But there are those not putting in the work and maybe in their head think they deserve this, this and this. I assure you, outside the company when it is 100 percent on you, it becomes your life. You have to give it all you've got 24/7."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Sunday's WWE Stomping Grounds pay-per-view reportedly did an estimated 9,800 pay-per-view buys in the United States, according to Wrestling Observer Radio. This would be a record-low number of buys for a WWE pay-per-view in this era. The previous low in the current era would have been 11,000 buys, reportedly for the recent WWE Super ShowDown pay-per-view from Saudi Arabia. It should be noted that almost no one buys WWE pay-per-view events these days due to the WWE Network, but around 10% of the viewership still buys them on traditional pay-per-view platforms. WWE pay-per-view events average around 15-16,000 buys in this era, with some of the bigger events doing around 20,000. WrestleMania 35 reportedly drew around 100,000 buys this past April ... An estimated 6,000 fans attended Stomping Grounds, which would have been one of the smallest WWE pay-per-view crowds in a long time. The paid attendance for the pay-per-view was said to be around 4,000 - 4,500 fans, and the Tacoma Dome can hold around 18,000 fans after production.

Originally Posted by BodySlam.net Tommy Dreamer had an entire podcast episode about depression. He shared his stories on the House of Hardcore podcast, because Tommy wants people to know that there will always be another day. That your world does not have to end because one day you feel like it should. Dreamer shares stories about his struggles in life, and gives two stories about the times he was suicidal ... "When ECW went out of business I was 29 years old. I had a lot of my money, my parents money, trying to float the company. Paul Heyman, who I thought me and him were super tight, he screwed me over big time. He was in the WWE, the whole time. I had turned down hundereds of thousands of dollars to go to WCW. And now was unemployed. I went from a $750,000 offer, and Paul Heyman crying to me, that if I leave ECW, it will go out of business. Meanwhile he was getting a paycheck from WWE. I don’t begrudge him, but then I did. I was depressed as depressed can be. I had women, I had fame, I had everything and yes it was the worst time of my life. It really was. I was doing indies, making decent money on the indies. But, I lived at home… This is crazy for me to admit it, but I am doing it for a reason, just like I admitted to other things previously. Wrestlemania Houston (X7) Paul Heyman told me I was going to debut. All this stuff, when they had TLC and Spike Dudley came in, and Rhyno came in, and Lita came in. That was supposed to be my spot and then uh, that got ixnayed. Then there was gonna be a hardcore 24/7 thing, that was gonna be “all about you”. That was when I was supposed to debut. I remember I did a show there, and I saw a sign that said “Guns Welcome” and I was in Houston. I did an indie show, and I said “What is this?” I’m from New York, what do you mean “Guns Welcome?” and they said “Oh you are allowed to bring a firearm into the venue. I was across the street from the Astrodome. When I tell you it resonated in my head so, so much. That I’ll tell you what I wanted to do. It’s sick that I think this. At Wrestlemania, I was gonna hop the rail and I was gonna whack Paul E. in the back of the head right at the announce table, then I was gonna whack myself. The ultimate martyr, I was gonna hit my pose crack, boom, pull the trigger. Because I was that insane. Don’t know if I would have went through with it, but that’s what I was thinking about everyday. I was like “I will go down in history.” Pop, boom. First they’d think it as an angle until I shot him. I was so severely depressed and so mental with rage, I needed help. That help came from a phone call from Jim Ross. Randomly I get a phone call from a number I didn’t know… I didn’t pick up, and I remember having these thoughts, and it was bad. I had a gun, I was psssh man. Could you think about the horribleness that I would have done for my legacy? I would have ruined Wrestlemania, which I love Wrestlemania. For everybody. These thoughts were so so crazed in my head. How dare that person, he screwed my parents over and I come from a mobster mentality. In my head I was like “I would become infamous.” Which is famous for the wrong reason. I’m glad I didn’t do it. But when that phone call came from Jim Ross. Again, just said leave a message. It said “Hey Tommy it’s Jim Ross, just want to let you know, we are still thinking about you, we are gonna get it done, just got to hang tight. Thank you. Think of how stupid I would have been, how dumb and how messed up my thoughts would have been if they would have come to fruition. I am so happy I didn’t do it, I am so happy that I did get that phone call, from someone who was a stranger, I barely knew the guy. There was another day, there has been a lot of other days."

TPWW Frontpage:

• EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Show to Stream Live on WWE Network
• Kenny Omega Says WWE Is “Trying to Undermine” AEW Fight for the Fallen Charity Show

[Mr. Nerfect]

I hope Rusev does leave. He would be a great pick-up for AEW.

[ClockShot]

Got a feeling the CM Punk-Colt Cabana lawsuit is going to get nasty.

[Fignuts]

Holy fucking shit at that Tommy Dreamer story.

[RP]

Originally Posted by Fignuts Holy fucking shit at that Tommy Dreamer story.

ya i woulda kept that one to myself

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter With popularity falling and the XFL debut looming, Vince McMahon named Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff new Executive Directors of the company on 6/27 ... The official changes are set for mid-July. These will be actual decision making characters and not television performers playing the role. The big question is what does this mean and how much autonomy will both men have. The only time McMahon ever turned creative over to someone in the past was when he brought in Bill Watts, a relationship that fell apart within weeks because Watts was told he would have complete control of direction, and then McMahon started overruling him immediately and he decided to quit ... One of the key points at the time, and there were many, is that Watts wanted to do a more believable wrestling style and felt Bret Hart fit that role best as champion, while McMahon had already decided to replace Hart in the role with Shawn Michaels. Heyman, 53, and Bischoff, 64, will both be more political, in the sense both aren’t going to be so headstrong that they’ll quit over being overruled and probably go in expecting it will happen constantly and it’s just part of the game ... Bischoff comes out of left field in a sense. Bischoff worked for McMahon in the past as a television General Manager character, but had no decision-making role. He was excellent in that role. Say what you want about Bischoff, and a lot can be said, but he has always been a great television heel character. As far as a guy in charge of creative, the move was stunning. It’s been noted that the move shows just how little McMahon has really paid attention to wrestling, since Bischoff was put in a similar role with TNA and the run was largely considered a disaster. A number of people who were in TNA while he was there were stunned, noting it showed just how little McMahon had actually followed the industry. In addition, Bischoff has very little familiarity with the current product, which was tough enough for Watts when he made his WCW comeback after five years away in a business that changed somewhat during the period he was gone, but hardly like the modern business is rapidly changing both in style and distribution. Bischoff, who had major financial issues in recent years, would have been an easier acquisition in that sense ... The question becomes the hierarchy of everything. When Bruce Prichard came back, the idea was said at first that he’d be the guy under Vince, which ended up not being the case. The hierarchy had been Vince McMahon as the top guy, with Paul Levesque and Kevin Dunn as the other main guys, and Dave Kapoor as Senior Vice President of Creative, as well as Ed Koskey ... With the investors call being a month away, and the promises that the house shows would turn around because they knew how to fix the problems, and the popularity would rebound when the stars came back from injuries, and neither happening, the timing of this announcement may be to pacify stockholders and curtail the recent stock declines ... McMahon also knows the live box office tells the real story and if the idea he really believed was that recent declines were due to some key injuries and the illness of Roman Reigns, Reigns is back, most of the key players are back, and crowds are declining with this past week being alarming and a shocking wake-up call. The irony is that for the second time, the first being in 2001, the crowd in Tacoma was part of a huge change in the creative of the business ... In addition, while Heyman has been at times a genius booker, Bischoff is not a booker. If his role is to change the look of the shows, or take risks with the product, that’s one thing. But he’s still going to need a guy to handle the nuts and bolts of multiple storylines, beginnings, middles, ends, building programs, going to the next programs, and allowing younger talent to move to the top, which are all weak points for him.

Originally Posted by Fightful Everyone was caught by surprise in regards to WWE's announcement today. We did, however, hear back from several wrestlers and employees of the company. Unanimously, across genders, roles, and positions in the company were very surprised by the news, and hadn't even heard of it coming. The first reaction was a longtime WWE wrestler wondering aloud why Triple H wasn't set for one of the roles, and another saying that was some of the immediate chatter that they had heard. Another wrestler compared it to Shane McMahon wanting to improve his spot in the company but being bypassed, but we should note, this was simply discussion and chatter about why Triple H wasn't moved into the role, without much to add to it. There was some pessimism to the announcement as well. One wrestler said that "Vince is still in charge, so that's all you really need to know," while another told us that the move couldn't possibly be worse than how things have went lately.

Originally Posted by Observer Jushin Thunder Liger will be facing off with three opponents in his CMLL farewell match. CMLL announced yesterday that Liger will face Caristico, Negro Casas, and Ultimo Guerrero at their show on Friday, July 19. The event is taking place at Arena Mexico in Mexico City. It will be a "Relevo CMLL" match. Two wrestlers will be in the ring at a time, with them being able to tag in and out. There will only be one fall in the match.

Originally Posted by PWI On Monday 6/24 United States District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw made several rulings in the Jeff Jarrett and Global Wrestling Entertainment’s lawsuit against Impact Wrestling’s parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Several of the rulings were in Anthem’s favor. Anthem had been arguing that they did not fall under Tennessee’s jurisdiction, despite three sets of discovery requested by the plaintiffs and having to produce over 12,000 pages of documents. Judge Waverly agreed with Anthem, ruling with prejudice that Anthem Sports was dismissed from that count of the lawsuit for failure to state a claim or a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Judge also ruled that Jarrett and GWE’s allegations of copyright infringement were also dismissed. Anthem had argued that since GWE and Jarrett failed to copyright and trademark their GFW Amped! TV tapes and since Jarrett provided a license for Anthem to use the tapes, there could be no trademark infringement. Anthem argued that by law, Jarrett & GWE should have filed their copyrights or have been refused registration in order to claim copyright infringement in court. Since neither had happened – as Jarrett does not have physical possession of the GFW master tapes, which Impact has already admitted they deleted – Anthem argued that claim could not go forward in court. The court sided with Anthem and dismissed that count. All the remaining allegations against Anthem remain and are moving forward.

Originally Posted by PWI Ryan Capp sent word that ATT UVerse has dropped Impact Wrestling home the Pursuit Channel as their existing deal to carry the channel ended last month. As noted yesterday, DirecTV is no longer carrying the channel in HD, either.

Originally Posted by Fightful Sports Illustrated reports that The Undertaker asked to work with Drew McIntyre.

Originally Posted by Fightful Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that FOX is spending $4 million a week to promote WWE while TNT is spending $500,000 a week to promote AEW.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Antonio Inoki, 75, the second biggest pro wrestling star in the history of Japan, announced this past week that he was retiring from politics. Inoki said it was due to health reasons. The exact nature of the health issue isn’t known, but Inoki has mostly been in a wheelchair the last several months, although he’s been careful to stay out of the public eye to where most aren’t aware of this.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The big story of the past week was the crowds. Stomping Grounds on 6/23 at the Tacoma Dome drew 6,000 fans, which is well below usual for a PPV show ... We don’t have the paid but it would be the smallest paid crowd for a WWE PPV show in recent memory. Raw the next day in Everett, WA, drew 3,500 fans. This was the smallest crowd for a Raw taping that I can recall. But the worst sign was Smackdown on 6/25 in Portland, OR, with 2,500 fans. Tacoma is not a historically strong wrestling city, although they’ve drawn huge crowds when wrestling was hot there. Everett is right outside Seattle (the arena in Seattle is being renovated so they went to Everett instead), but it’s not Seattle. Portland, on the other hand, has always been a very good wrestling market. For WWE to draw 2,500 fans, that is serious. When people compare this to 1999-2000 WCW, I’ve noted that company fell off a cliff with some of the worst creative ever ... Things will look better as the next PPV is in Philadelphia. But one-third of the lower deck and half the upper deck are not having tickets sold, and the secondary market price is $40 to get in. So it looks like about 8,000 at this point, which is weak, and you’d expect closer to 13,000. For SummerSlam, Toronto is mostly sold out with a strong secondary market asking price of $144 minimum and about 2,000 seats out. For All Out, it’s a $125 asking price with 895 seats out. Historically, when companies decline, the first place you see the decline is in the house shows. The house shows used to be the immediate barometer of how well you are selling your product, because you get your answer on that night. Television is different. Ratings tell you something, but people watch as creatures of habit often when they are losing a connection to the product. The decline that you first see at house shows historically you will see later in ratings. That’s not a good sign, since ratings have already been at record low levels and there was no bounce-back of note after the NBA playoffs ended. House shows haven’t been strong in a long time, really taking a hit when John Cena moved on. But it was never Death of WCW business. These numbers are very close to that level. And keep in mind the other difference, and that is because most tickets are bought two months or so before the show, rather than day off, this weekend is really a measure of interest level a few months ago.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter After years of contract signings and McMahon going back-and-forth on the subject and in the end, always pulling out, the WWE announced the first non-WWE event to air live on the WWE Network will be the Evolve 10th anniversary show on 7/13 at 8 p.m. from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia ... McMahon’s issue has always been the idea of seeing what he considers minor league wrestling on his major league platform. But this will be a WWE produced event, headlined by top-level WWE talent, so that issue isn’t there.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Konnan on his podcast said that Aerostar’s fall from the lighting grid was approved ahead of time. He said that he asked to do it again at TripleMania, because he wants to show everyone he can do it without being hurt, but they have told him not to. He also said that Pentagon Jr & Fenix would be signing deals where they would be exclusive to AAA and AEW Aerostar this past week after that big fall off the lighting grid and bad landing did a press conference (that was kept secret from the press, which is the epitome of weird) for the Forum in Los Angeles show, and then worked his scheduled shows on 6/21 in Tampico and 6/23 in Austin, TX, so he missed no time at all

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter El Hijo del Vikingo is now in demand from every U.S. promotion it seems, since he’ll have a visa soon enough and Impact, AEW and MLW all want dates with him

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan, is filing for an IPO. Some notes from the filing. Harold George Meij’s salary as Director or Bushiroad is $691,000 per year. That’s not clear if that’s including his pay as New Japan president or separate frm it. He was also given 452,000 shares of Bushiroad stock, meaning he’s a 3.01 percent owner of the parent company. Right now that would be worth another $5 million, and perhaps a ton more of the company goes public. Directors and Employees of Bushiroad, the parent company, get stock options. Those who work for New Japan do not. His contract would expire mid-to-late 2020 ... At the end of the year, Bushiroad as a company had $270 million in revenue, of which $46 million came from New Japan. 2018 was the most successful year financially for New Japan. They listed at that time New Japan World subscribers at 100,000. They listed 2018 attendance as 400,000 in 160 shows which is 2,500 paid per show. That would be a little under half that of WWE main roster and three times that of NXT

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter We were told that New Japan is in the process of starting an International Fan Club and that those fans would be able to get shots at getting good seats for the big shows. The whole thing has been a mess because when you get down to it, the most loyal fans outside Japan did get screwed or felt screwed. Ticket demand for the two Tokyo Dome shows is said to be far higher than anyone internally expected which is another issue, because if a lot of foreigners got tickets, then they’d get complaints from their Japanese fan base. We’ll have to see how this plays out but no matter what, you should have the attitude of cultivating your international fans who want to travel and they need to get this alleviated to where there is a smooth way going forward to get tickets to the big shows

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Ticket sales did improve a little in Dallas with the announcement of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sanada as the top three matches. Tanahashi vs. Okada would be the biggest Japanese vs. Japanese main event that New Japan has put on in the U.S. market. Still, they are around 4,000 as there are 1,000 seats remaining in a 5,000 setup. That’s well short of what they expected for the first G-1 show ever held outside of Japan ... Tickets for the Super J Cup went on sale on 6/24. The 8/22 show in Tacoma, WA had 50 tickets left out of 1,000 after the first day of sales and all the seats are sold out but at press time they had standing room available. 8/24 in San Francisco sold out immediately. The Long Beach finals on 8/25 at the Walker Pyramid had a lot of tickets left and they were only putting part of the building on sale.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Regarding the value of pro wrestling in the advertising community. Wrestling on cable is doing 60 to 80 percent what cable programming with similar sized audiences would do in ad sales and less than half of what network programming with a similar audience would get

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter An interesting note is that New Japan has filed for a trademark in the U.S. market for the term Death Rider for merchandise purposes. Them filing for the trademark is notable because it would mean Jon Moxley’s finishing move, the former Dirty Deeds, which was called the Death Rider in his matches with Juice Robinson and Shota Umino in New Japan, in theory couldn’t be marketed by AEW

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter At press time, WWE canceled a few shows on the November U.K. tour. No reason why at this point. The shows canceled were 11/5 in Nottingham, 11/6 in Birmingham, 11/8 in London and 11/9 in Minehead. This may have nothing to do with it, but it’s just weird from a schedule standpoint on 11/1 to have an afternoon PPV from Saudi Arabia and followed a few hours later by a live Smackdown. The London show at Wembley being canceled could be because they want all the talent at Smackdown that day which in theory would be in Manchester. But that wouldn’t explain the other moves. We’ve also been told that they are changing the Saudi date for that very reason we just mentioned and that the U.K. schedule has to be changed to fit that in

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter FOX has been testing out two new cameras that they want in use for the debut show on 10/4. They are also looking to invite a lot of celebrities which is one of the reasons the first show will be at the Staples Center. They want to kick it off with a bang like it’s the equivalent of a big boxing match and the place for real stars to be at. The idea in particular, since AEW will be debuting the same week 99 percent, is to make WWE look as major league as possible and to thus, make AEW from day one appear to be like a minor league group

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The stock closed at $71.11 a share on 6/26, giving the company a $5.55 billion market value. There has been a lot of change of sentiments of late regarding the stock. An article in Benzinga noted a few warning points. First, they expect a big sell-off after 10/4 because of the buy on hype, sell on results, and the hype that led to the big stock gains are that the FOX deal not just will lead to more revenue on rights fees, but create a new boom period for the industry. People within the stock market world are studying the actual business more and seeing the popularity weaknesses and reading past the excuses. Some expect more of a downturn when the new quarterly figures come up because house shows haven’t looked strong of late, and ratings are continuing to decline and with Reigns back, last quarter’s excuse for the bad first quarter can’t be used again. The second is a feeling that nobody in Wall Street at first considered, but now is a key thing on a lot of WWE’s buyers minds, which is the fear that the competition from AEW may be more than anyone anticipated.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff Are Now the Executive Directors of Raw and SmackDown
• Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela Is Now a “Non-Sanctioned” Match

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lots of interesting business news.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI Eric Bischoff will officially kick off his tenure as Executive Director of WWE Smackdown at this Tuesday's TV taping. Paul Heyman, obviously, Will be at Monday Night Raw, as he is every week. We are told that Paul Heyman and Eric Bishoff are already officially on the job and that their contributions and ideas will be implemented over time, so do not expect any immediate overnight massive changes.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling It was reported by Ryan Satin at Pro Wrestling Sheet that the changes will not be immediate with the two expected to ease into the roles. From a timing standpoint, now is the time to make that change where summer numbers don’t carry much weight and treat the summer as the acclimation period for the fall. The programming will be under a microscope, not just from the fans but also from Vince McMahon and therein lies the source of pessimism. The best course of action would be giving each the proper amount of leeway to succeed or fail on their own. Patience has never been a virtue for the company and sending these two out to produce results within 4-6 weeks will only lead to short-term shock value and would ignore the foundational issues this company is dealing with. They don’t need a band-aid, they need a blood transfusion.

Originally Posted by Observer Eric Bischoff canceled a Canadian tour on Tuesday over a new contract that would prohibit such shows so that tells you roughly when the deal was finalized.

Originally Posted by PWI Tomorrow is All Elite Wrestling's second show, Fyter Fest. The show will be available, for free, on Bleacher Report Live. All you need to do is go to the website, www.bleacherreport.com, and set up a free account. You can watch in a browser that way. They also have an app for both Apple TV and Roku. It's an easy download and set up. Our buddy Ben Mitchell sent word that he contacted B/R and they told him that the event will be archived after it airs tomorrow, so if you can't watch it live you can catch it later. Internationally, the show will air on FITE.TV.

Originally Posted by PWI Attorneys for Ring of Honor star Scott “Colt Cabana” Colton filed a response to former WWE Champion Phil “CM Punk” Brooks’ counter-suit against Colton Wednesday 6/26 in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois, seeking the counter-suit’s dismissal ... In regard to Brooks’ claim that he and Colton jointly hired The Loeb Firm to represent them in the Dr. Chris Amann lawsuit, Colton claims Brooks, “simply alleges that the parties jointly retained the Loeb Firm to represent them in the Amann Lawsuit and concludes, without any factual support whatsoever, that Colton "retained a benefit in the form of high-quality, professional legal services provided by the Loeb Firm...". Brooks' Counterclaim fails to describe a single act or service done or performed for or on behalf of Colton by the Loeb Firm in the Amann Lawsuit that Brooks purportedly paid for, let alone the reasonable value of same.” Colton also claims that it wasn’t until he was dropped as a Loeb Firm client and hired his own counsel that Dr. Amann’s claim of defamation against Colton was dropped, insinuating that Loeb hadn’t been able to accomplish that while representing Colton. In regard to Brooks’ claims that two years after the end of the Amann case that Colton has not paid Brooks back for his share of the $1,210,00 legal bill, Colton responded that Brooks, while testifying in the Dr. Amann trial, stated he told Colton that “I would make sure I took care of everything, because it was unfair that he's being lumped in and attacked. So I told him I would take care of it..." and that he would make sure that Colton was “100% covered" with respect to” Colton's attorney's fees. Colton’s side are arguing that testimony proves Colton was never expected to pay Brooks back ... Colton claims that Brooks agreed to pay all of the legal bills and had no issue doing so until asking Colton to cover a legal payment “Until I got paid when I fought.” It appears Colton turned down the request to make the payment - which may be where the schism between the two occurred ... *The motion also argued that Brooks paid the legal bill as a “friendly act” and that by Illinois law, it is “far too late” for the courts to get involved and make one side pay the other – pointing out that it was a year after Colton sued Brooks and after Colton’s third lawsuit filing (his second, amended version of the lawsuit) that Brooks opted to pursue the money he is allegedly owed ... Colton is claiming that Brooks’ counterclaim alleging they had a contract that would see Colton pay Brooks back half of the legal expenses “law fails as a matter of law” and requests Brooks’ lawsuit be dismissed.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE held their first of two shows at Sumo Hall in Tokyo on Friday morning ... There was also a ceremony where Hisashi Shinma was presented with the Legacy Award following this past year’s Hall of Fame ceremony.

Originally Posted by Dayton Beach News Jorunal Advance ticket sales are running ahead of last year, especially for a FyterFest Live AEW Wrestling Show in the Ocean Center’s arena at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jebailey said. “The wrestling event is going to be triple the size of last year,” he said. “At this point, we have sold about 1,000 more pre-sold tickets than last year. We had a lot of walk-ups last year and we expect that again this year.”

Originally Posted by Fightful During the pre-show for Ring of Honor's Best in the World event, Nick Aldis announced Eli Drake as the newest signing of the National Wrestling Alliance. Drake will team with the NWA World Heavyweight Champion against The Briscoe Brothers during tonight's Best in the World pay-per-view. Aldis needed a tag team partner after Colt Cabana suffered a leg injury and had to pull out of the bout. NWA teased Aldis' tag team partner all week before delivering on the pre-show.

Originally Posted by Fightful Fans were left disappointed at WrestleMania 35 when Baron Corbin ended the career of Kurt Angle. Many, including Kurt himself, wanted Angle's final opponent to be John Cena. However, due to the ongoing storyline, Corbin was announced as Angle's final opponent. Appearing on Busted Open Radio, Angle revealed how Corbin got the honor of beating Angle in his last match. "Baron and I worked a program after Jason Jordan went out. In my opinion, Vince McMahon said, 'If Jason is not gonna be around, we're gonna use Baron Corbin.' In a lot of ways, I think Baron ended up getting Jason's position. And rightfully so. I love Baron's progress and look. He's actually really good, and he takes care of you in the ring. He is a great worker, and he's continuing to learn. The whole concept of Angle vs. Corbin at WrestleMania 35 occurred because that's where we were going in the first place," recalled Angle. "Vince didn't know that I wanted to retire at WrestleMania. I gave him a list of guys that I wanted to wrestle and the person I wanted to wrestle at WrestleMania. Vince told me, 'I know who you want at WrestleMania [John Cena]. I was expecting you to go until WrestleMania 36 and I could have given you a different opponent, a guy you wanted. But we have been working this program for a year, and we're not going to drop it. If you want to retire this year, your last match will be against Baron.' I was cool with it, and I understood. Was Baron the right person? Probably not. But look at him now. I think he's the best heel in the business." Jason Jordan is the on-screen son of Angle but has not been on television since February 2018 due to a neck injury. There is no update on when he'll return to the ring.

Originally Posted by Fightful Glenn "Kane" Jacobs has transitioned from "The Big Red Machine" to the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. In August of 2018, Jacobs was officially sworn in as the Mayor of Knox County and just one month prior to that, he made his return to WWE programming to form a team with current SmackDown Live Tag Team Champion Daniel Bryan. This coming November, Jacobs will be releasing a memoir about his careers in wrestling and politics. The memoir is entitled, 'Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Liberty' and here's the synopsis for the book: "The wrestler-turned-politician hasn't hung up his wrestling boots yet. Politics is a contact sport and Jacobs is using his wrestling skills in that arena," the synopsis reads."My character Kane... it was always a character, you know, and you very rarely saw me, Glenn Jacobs, behind that character. This book is a glimpse into Glenn Jacobs, which I think a lot of wrestling fans will enjoy," Jacobs said. The memoir will officially be released on November 26th and is currently available to pre-order.

Originally Posted by Fightful Robert Roode, EC3, and Cesaro are calling themselves The Main Event Muscle Men. The trio teamed on this week's episode of WWE Main Event.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Another Heyman and Bischoff Update + Emails Advertising Their Roles
• Jinder Mahal Injured, Undergoes Knee Surgery
• WWE Live Results – June 28, 2019 – Tokyo, Japan – Kabuki Warriors Win Title Shot, Rollins vs. Nakamura
• AEW Releases Fyter Fest Cold Open Video

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, Baron Corbin is not a good heel. No one wants to see him lose, because they don't want to see him at all. Also, I literally have no memory of this apparent build to Angle vs. Corbin that made it a Mania essential.

[GD]

Did X-Pac have Corbin levels of heat? They were doing an okay job by booking him in short matches during his early days of NXT. It's all been downhill since then.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer The first Paul Heyman Raw saw an immediate 9.7 percent increase in ratings from last week and a turnaround from the usual ratings pattern. The key is that the first hour was up only three percent, which would probably be a combination of curiosity over the Heyman news and the big explosions and Bobby Lashley/Braun Strowman angle to start the show off strong. But this week, instead of declining, the second hour jumped big, and was 16 percent ahead of last week ... The third hour, built around Styles vs. Ricochet, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, the 24/7 title, and Maria Kanellis lambasting Mike Kanellis after their mixed tag, was up 10 percent from last week, but it was still a 12.4 percent drop from hour two. But comparing hour one to three, the five percent drop would be the lowest in a long time ... The first-to-second hour growth was strong across the board. The added viewers in hour two, usually a decline, were 10 percent in women 18-49, seven percent in men 18-49, 13 percent in teenage girls, and 15 percent in teenage boys. So this style was strongest with teenagers, the age group WWE television has had huge losses with over the past year. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.47 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.68 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.35 million viewers

Originally Posted by PWI Here are some notes from Eric Bischoff's latest 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff said he was overwhelmed by the positive response he’s received since the announcement, calling it the biggest opportunity he’s ever had in the wrestling industry. He’ll be heading to Connecticut full-time the week after the 4th of July holiday, calling the job a “deep dive” and a “23/7 job.” The podcast, 83 Weeks, will continue (with Conrad acknowledging that a week off here and there might be necessary), but the live shows will end at this juncture. 83 Weeks will continue to be based on nostalgia, and they’ll never talk about the current product. Eric also thanked Conrad for the podcast, claiming it gave him a new perspective and renewed energy about wrestling.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The opening of tonight's WWE RAW saw Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley work a Falls Count Anywhere match until Strowman put Lashley through part of the Titantron. This led to a big explosion backstage as WWE had pyro go off several times to add to the chaos. The announcers played up the seriousness of the situation as Strowman and Lashley were loaded up on stretchers by paramedics, then driven away in ambulances after the commercial. As seen in the photos and videos below, WWE really tried to make the angle feel real and dramatic. It looks like WWE may have done the stage explosion angle to make way for a new stage and set. @Wrestlevotes reported on Twitter that the company has been working on having a new stage designed and built. It was speculated that this angle may have been done to speed up the arrival of the new set.

Link: https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/sta...49777223077894

Originally Posted by Observer A-Kid is the first participant announced for this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angeles event. The announcement was made tonight on PWG's Twitter account. The Spanish-born wrestler has been wrestling since 2012, primarily wrestling for the WhiteWolf Wrestling promotion in Spain. In the years since his debut, he’s been making waves across Europe, wrestling for a number of top promotions including Defiant and RevoPro.

Originally Posted by Fightful At today's EVE Wrestle Queendom 2UK event, Independent star Charlie Morgan announced her retirement due to injuries. Morgan is just 27 years old and is a former EVE Champion. She has wrestled for various Independent promotions including SHIMMER, RISE, and PROGRESS. She also appeared on the Mar. 6 episode of NXT UK, losing to Nina Samuels.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated has released a snippet from his upcoming interview with Roman Reigns, and The Big Dog commented on Jon Moxley leaving WWE for AEW. Reigns said he will always have love for the former Dean Ambrose. "I don't think our working relationship is going to be what it used to be, but I'll always love that guy, he'll always be my close friend, and I wish the best for him," Reigns said. Reigns continued and said their love for each other will continue past the wrestling world. "We have a brotherhood, so I'm always cheering for him," Reigns said. "I've shared so many great moments with Ambrose, or Mox. We have love for each other well beyond the wrestling, and it will always be that way."

Originally Posted by Observer Today is Bret Hart’s 62nd birthday

Originally Posted by Observer On the post-Fyter Fest episode of Being the Elite, The Young Bucks offered Private Party full-time contracts with AEW after their match against Best Friends and SoCal Uncensored. Matt Jackson tweeted about the decision: “Literally right when Private Party stepped back through the curtain after their match at #FyterFest, Nick & I offered them full time contracts. Star making performances like that deserve to be rewarded.”

Originally Posted by Observer With AAA revealing the card for Triplemania XXVII at a press conference today, we now know who former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will be facing in his professional wrestling debut. Psycho Clown, Cody Rhodes & Velasquez will take on El Texano Jr., Taurus and a mystery partner. Velasquez appeared at a press conference for AAA in March, with it being announced that he would be making his debut at Triplemania. It appears that Texano & Taurus' mystery partner may be Killer Kross. Triplemania will also feature a rematch from AEW's Fyter Fest event. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) will again team with Laredo Kid against The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & Kenny Omega. Triplemania will be headlined by Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. in a mask vs. hair match. The show is taking place at Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City on Saturday, August 3 and will air live on Twitch.

Originally Posted by Observer Ahead of the show airing on the WWE Network later this month, the card has been revealed for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration ... The full lineup for EVOLVE's 10th Anniversary Celebration is listed below: NXT Champion Adam Cole defending against Akira Tozawa EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. WWN Champion JD Drake in a winner-take-all match EVOLVE Tag Team Champions Eddie Kingston & Joe Gacy defending against AR Fox & Leon Ruff (w/ Ayla Fox and The Skulk) Matt Riddle vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak in a non-title match Anthony Henry vs. Arturo Ruas Babatunde vs. Colby Corino Curt Stallion vs. Sean Maluta vs. Stephen Wolf vs. Harlem Bravado in a fatal four-way match Josh Briggs vs. Anthony Greene (w/ Brandi Lauren)

Originally Posted by PWI Impact Wrestling signed D'Lo Brown to a full-time, multi-year deal as a Producer over the last day. Brown had been getting excellent reviews for his work in recent months and has already built a reputation for being someone who collaborated with talents as opposed to trying to push what worked for him as a worker onto their matches. A number of talents in recent weeks had pushed for Brown to be brought on. We are told the company is in the process of signing another Producer as well.

Originally Posted by PWI Riho had her farewell event in Japan today as she's coming to AEW full-time. At today's Gatoh Move event, Emi Sakura pinned Riho with a La Magistral Cradle. There was a cool moment after as the entire roster came to the ring and gave Riho a send off by picking her up and tossing her really high into the air.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Jacques Rougeau Sr. passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89. Johnny was the father of Jacques Jr., Raymond, and Armand and the brother of legendary fixture Johnny Rougeau. Jacques stepped away from wrestling while his brother was able to run the territory after Eddie Quinn left Montreal. Johnny would help usher in a boom period for the province of Quebec and led to Jacques Sr. returning. Jacques Sr. won the IWA International heavyweight title five times in Montreal and tag titles once with partner Gino Brito. He also wrestled for Pedro Martinez’s NWF promotion in New York and became their heavyweight champion in January 1973 when he defeated Waldo Von Erich in a tournament final after Johnny Valentine vacated the championship.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Diamond Dallas Page posted a note that his former sidekick Max Muscle (John Czawlytko) passed away last Thursday at the age of 56. He was a bodybuilder that got into wrestling in 1992 and signed with WCW the following year. He wrestled as ‘Big Bad John’ and later was given the ‘Max Muscle’ moniker. He was paired with Page as his bodyguard and is the role he is most remembered for. He worked for the company until 1997 and would wrestle sporadically after leaving. He made a return in October 2009 and wrestled twice for the Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence promotion in Fort Worth, Texas.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE fans in Glasgow, Scotland who had purchased tickets to a live edition of Raw this November at the SSE Hydro have been informed the event is being changed to a house show. An email alert went out Tuesday announcing that the show will no longer be televised but the lineup of talent from Raw will stay intact. There was no reason given for the change and refunds are available until July 28th. The show is set to take place Monday, November 11th during the promotion’s European tour. This follows several dates on the tour being canceled recently. It has been speculated on that this could be a conflict with the next show in Saudi Arabia. The events have been taking place on Friday afternoon since the deal began last year but the problem with November is that SmackDown will be airing live on Fox the same day.

Originally Posted by Fightful Dark Side Of The Ring producer Evan Husney and director Jason Eisener are awaiting clearance for a second season of the series and one of the stories that Husney feels could be reexamined is the story of Chris Benoit and the details surrounding the death of he and his family. Husney stated that if an episode about Benoit were to be made, they would need to speak with the right people and get those who were truly affected the most by the incident to recount what they believe occurred during the month of June in 2007 with the Benoit family. “I think that the Chris Benoit story is obviously a very dark story." Husney told Express Sport. “I think that it is a tragedy that is worth re-examining because there is a lot to be found out about the story since it happened. I think that if it were to be done then we would really need to have the right people to talk about it and we need the people that this incident really affected the most in order to tell it kind of appropriately. Because I think that story could have easily been told in an exploitative sort of way and so I think you just need to have the appropriate voices to be heard for that story in order to tell it properly. But I do think it is a story that is something that if done right is definitely necessary.”

TPWW Frontpage:

• Anderson & Gallows Reportedly Close to Re-Signing With WWE
• Maria Kanellis Is Legitimately Pregnant, Reportedly Told WWE After Signing New Contracts
• Raw: Paul Heyman’s Influence on Last Night’s Show, Corey Graves Saying “Holy Sh*t”
• Seth Rollins Apologizes to Will Ospreay for “Garbage Tweets”
• Impact Reportedly in Talks With AXS TV

[Fignuts]

Cool @ Riho coming to AEW full time.

Would be cool if they got Meiko for a few shows. Sendai Girls only has like 5 or 6 contracted wrestlers. They depend on freelancers and co-promotion to fill out their shows. AEW's women's division still needs more bodies, so a partnership would benefit both.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Despite the fact that Monday Night Raw this week had a healthy increase in the ratings, last night's SmackDown did not follow suit. The show averaged 1.89 million viewers on the USA Network, down two percent from last week ... This being the first week of July may have played a part in the low number. Tuesday's episode only dropped six percent year-over-year, much better than SmackDown has been doing.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Eric Bischoff was not at the SmackDown tapings on Tuesday night in San Antonio.

Originally Posted by PWI BeIn Sport announced today that they will broadcast a Major League Wrestling: FUSION marathon tomorrow: beIN SPORTS TO AIR DAY-LONG 4th OF JULY MLW: FUSION MARATHON WHAT: Tomorrow, July 4th, beIN SPORTS will air a Major League Wrestling Independence Day marathon special, offering fans day-long programming dedicated to some of the best MLW: FUSION matches in history. Catch up on all your favorite MLW fights - from MLW’s SuperFight and 2019 Battle Riot to epic title matchups including the World Middleweight Championship featuring Teddy Hart vs. Rey Horus. Tune-in throughout the day tomorrow and relive all the best moments from your favorite MLW stars. WHERE: Watch “MLW: Fusion” 4th of July Marathon this Wednesday, July 4th starting at 6:00 AM ET/ 3:00 AM PT on beIN SPORTS, availablenationwide via traditional and OTT providers including Charter, Dish, SlingTV, Verizon Fios, Cox, PS Vue, FuboTV, Liberty and Fanatiz, among others.

Originally Posted by PWI Maria Kanellis confirmed her pregnancy as announced on Raw with this Instagram post: Tough as a Mother. Becky Lynch responded to the announcement by saying, "You're Welcome" on Twitter.

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzdKHCQB_2C , https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/st...79393239437312

Originally Posted by PWI A scheduled Raw taping in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday 11/11 has been canceled, with the event being converted into a live event that evening instead. The current plan is to tape Raw for 11/11 on Friday 11/8 in Manchester, England . That event was already a TV taping for that evening's Smackdown Live broadcast , which would air live in Europe and air several hours later in the United States. WWE will now also tape Raw that evening in Manchester, with bell time changing to 6 PM local time. WWE has also canceled the 11/5 Nottingham, 11/6 Birmingham, 11/8 tour date in London at the SSE Arena. and 11/9 event in Minehead, England, so it may be that the next Saudi Arabia event will be that week.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc KENTA has had quite a year in professional wrestling, starting off 2019 as a part of the WWE 205 Live Roster and currently anticipating performing in NJPW's G1 Climax. The international superstar spoke with New Japan about what his experience was like transitioning to WWE ... KENTA's perception of his time in WWE is laced with hardship and struggle. Although his original intentions were to expose the world to the "strong style" that Japan is renown for, KENTA feels like that was lost in his effort to adapt to what WWE wanted from him. "It was a very tough five years. I got hurt, and beyond that I was really grasping for something during that whole time," KENTA said. "It's like, I came into the company to bring my style of wrestling worldwide, but what that actually became was bending and adapting to what the company wanted. That's important in a sense, but the strength and aggression that I bring to the table got lost. That's a real shame. "One person there might tell you 'do it this way', and then another would be 'no, no, do it like this'. That meant my own personal vision just crumbled away," KENTA continued. "There are people who can do very well in that environment, but I just couldn't. So when that 'what next?' question came up, I didn't ask anybody else what they thought. I just decided to focus on what I wanted to do. Otherwise there's no point."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits are still technically a part of the black & gold brand roster, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. This week's RAW appearance by Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins was not seen as their official main roster call-up, but they are still expected to appear on RAW at various times. Regarding Monday's appearance, Meltzer noted that there were a lot of backstage politics involved, although it wasn't specified what that meant. Meltzer also speculated that The Profits appeared due to new RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman having his "fingerprints" on this week's show. They may have appeared as a "Heyman move" to get new, fresh faces on the show. It was also noted that there could be an interesting situation brewing with Heyman and new SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff, with a potential "battle" over who gets the top NXT call-ups on their brand. There's also the potential issue with Triple H wanting to keep certain talents on NXT until he feels like they're ready to be called up. There's still no real word on how Triple H is fitting into the latest WWE creative shake-up with Heyman and Bischoff being hired, but there is an interesting layer added there with NXT and potential call-ups.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE officials have been very aware that they have lost touch with a key demographic - teenagers, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio. There's reportedly been concern that the company will completely lose their teenage viewers when AEW TV starts on TNT in the fall. WWE's recent attempts at an edgier product will work with keeping teenage fans and making new ones in that demographic. There was a feeling that they had to take this new edgier direction to help with the demo, and for other obvious reasons. Regarding Superstars that could connect with teenagers, Meltzer noted that there aren't many younger top talents on the main roster, but we could see some called up soon. The new push for WWE United States Champion Ricochet is likely being done, at least in part, to help with the teenage demographic. New RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman is said to be very high on Ricochet. Meltzer noted that Ricochet is a talent that can likely appeal to teenagers and that is a new goal for the company - to make sure teenagers don't go to AEW before their weekly TV show starts later this year.

Originally Posted by WWENetworkNews.com WWE Hidden Gems is back again this week – and with a bang. We can exclusively confirm two WWE Hidden Gems additions set to arrive on WWE Network tomorrow and they come from Jim Crockett Promotions. More specifically, they appear to be complete or near complete shows from the Great American Bash 1986 tour! ... 07/05/1986 – GAB 1986 Charlotte [Duration: 02:53:27] Ric Flair puts the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Ricky Morton in a Steel Cage Match as the Bash rolls into Charlotte. 07/26/1986 – GAB 1986 Greensboro [Duration: 02:41:09] The World Heavyweight Championship hangs in the balance as WWE Hall of Famers clash inside a steel cage when Ric Flair faces Dusty Rhodes.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

• AEW: Fight for the Fallen Price, Fyter Fest Recap Video
• Various: Drake Maverick’s Honeymoon Pt. 2, EVOLVE History, D’Lo Brown Signed as Impact Producer

* Unless this week's Observer Newsletter gets released tomorrow, probably not going to bother with a sheets report tomorrow due to the holiday and the likely lack of interesting news.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter While to an extent Vince-speak was still on display, the idea was there was more spontaneity, including Corey Graves saying “Holy shit” after the explosions, on the air, at about 8:10 p.m. Unlike angles that may happen and aren’t talked about again, or maybe get talked about once, this angle was constant brought up, by a number of talents, both babyfaces and heels, at the start of their promos. The term “hospital,” as the destination of the two, a formerly banned word in Vince-speak, was used at least twice during the show, although “local medical facility,” the Vince-speak word was also used. Vince McMahon and Ed Koskey were the ones running the production meeting, although it was clear the Strowman/Lashley segment, the Mike & Maria Kanellis segment were clearly Heyman ideas, which has been confirmed. Heyman is also known to be a strong advocate of Ricochet, who got his second television main event in a row with Styles, Aleister Black, Lacey Evans and many others, and one of his first moves was to bring in the Street Profits. The addition of Heyman and Bischoff comes for a variety of reasons and goes back several weeks. The key reasons were an expected negative reaction from Wall Street in the declining indicators of brand popularity, such as arena attendance, merchandise and WWE Network numbers based on he prior year ... The second is that competition. It’s no secret that WWE audience declines have been terrible with those under the age of 30,and whatever stability the audiences have are because the over-50 audience has stayed more steady. The problem is, the aging audience isn’t being replenished. Once person who is involved with the company noted to us months ago, that in the real world, you never meet anyone who is a fan today that wasn’t a fan in the attitude era. The basic idea is that for two decades, very few new fans are being made, and the business is being carried by the 24 year olds in 1999 who are now 44. And even worse, because the median viewer age, which actually was as low as 23 during the Attitude era, was 54 last year and is probably older than that now given the huge declines over the last year in the younger age group. While a lot of people are in denial about AEW, one person in the company noted to us that the most concerning thing are the stats that show that AEW fans are not WWE fans, and the belief is they come from two camps, those who despise WWE and want an alternative, and a new fan base they’ve created through social media and one-on-one marketing through appearances that is a younger audience that doesn’t care enough about WWE to hate it. The combination of declining indicators, and no matter what is said publicly, privately Vince McMahon isn’t fooled by fake stats and understands there are problems, Wall Street starting to figure it out, and the competition, most notably the All Out ticket sale demand in Chicago, have led to the moves ... In wrestling, the reaction to Heyman on Raw has been mixed, but more positive than negative.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Heyman and Bischoff will never have full control, because creative is one division Vince will never give up on. It’s will always be Vince’s company, but both will have enough input to either sink or swim. Part of this deal was also to lock both up, with the idea that both could provide help for AEW ... The most interesting aspect is that Bischoff was chosen for FOX, which has both major advantages and disadvantages, and those Paul Levesque wasn’t chosen. As far as why, that would be speculation, but FOX being a success is far more important in 2020 than NXT. Unlike Bischoff, Levesque has followed the modern scene, has put together far better shows on a regular basis than Bischoff ever did, knows the modern fans and the modern talent. One person involved with this noted that Bischoff has even less modern product knowledge than feared, but that doesn’t mean he won’t adapt, learn or be successful ... Still, Wall Street has largely praised the move ... Bischoff’s meeting in Stamford for the job was said to have taken place a few days after the 6/10 and 6/11 Northern California tapings. If there was a timetable of when the Bischoff deal was finalized, it looks to be around or before 6/25. We were told that day that Bischoff had just canceled a series of appearances in Canada citing that he had just signed a contract that would prohibit him from doing the shows. Many also questioned Bischoff getting the Smackdown position, because it’s actually the key position because it’s very much sink-or-swim. Even if Raw continues its declines, it’ll always be a fairly strong cable property that USA Network, which hasn’t made any hit shows in recent memory, needs to avoid becoming an also-ran network. FOX hardly needs wrestling. They believe they will be getting a reliable 52 week a year sports-like show that they can use to cross-promote their other major weekend sports. But the ratings demands for network programming are higher, and Smackdown has been, for the past 15 years, less popular than Raw ... But Smackdown should increase greatly and will almost certainly look good in a year in direct viewer comparisons. FOX is in nearly 120 million homes while USA is in 89 million. Also, FOX has a far greater base audience. Just staying the same, Smackdown should improve 34 percent in viewers starting in October just from the increase in homes, not to mention a second jump just based on being on a stronger station. Smackdown got a big bump moving from Syfy to USA a few years back, and this bump should be considerably larger. That will be offset by about 20 percent because of the move to Friday

Originally Posted by Observer Booker T, after agreeing to come, has pulled out of All Out. He evidently said when pulling out that he found out the WWE vs. AEW war was very real and he didn't want to be in the middle of it. I've been told to expect another major counter by WWE shortly

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has a two-for-one ticket offer out for the 7/14 Extreme Rules show at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Possible sign that Extreme Rules is selling lower than WWE expected. Doubt it will be as dire as Stomping Grounds was due to Philly being a stronger rasslin market than Tacoma.

Originally Posted by Observer Perro Aguayo, who at his peak was one of the biggest draws in lucha libre, has passed away at the age of 73. Perros del Mal’s Facebook page first announced the passing. Both AAA and CMLL have since confirmed the news with their condolences. Aguayo started wrestling in 1968, mainly working for the now defunct UWA. He helped found AAA in 1992 and continued his run as a top star, with a three way feud between Konnan and Cien Caras drawing huge business. He jumped to CMLL as part of a retirement tour where he was successful in taking the hair of brothers Cien Caras and Mascara Año 2000. In 2001, he lost what was billed as a retirement match against a third brother, Universo 2000. Aguayo would return to lucha libre a few years later in 2005. His last match on record is a tag team bout teaming with Rayo de Jalisco to defeat Mascara Año 2000 and Universo 2000 in Tijuana on August 24, 2007. His son Perro Aguayo Jr., also a notable wrestler in Mexico who founded the Los Perros del Mal group, passed away in 2015 at the age of 35 following an in-ring accident that caused severe whiplash, breaking three vertebrae in his neck. Aguayo withdrew from public life following his son’s passing.

Originally Posted by Fightful NJPW has released part two of their interview with KENTA and he minced no words when he stated that if this run does not work out, he is done because he simply just wants to enjoy wrestling. "It took a lot of thought for me to decide to come here. Quite frankly, if this doesn’t pan out, I’m done. That’s the resolve I have going into this. I’ve deliberately chosen a situation for myself where I have no excuses, and that’s my mindset. That said, I want to enjoy wrestling. Plain and simple." He explained.

Originally Posted by Fightful Dustin Rhodes has 31 years of experience in wrestling and with the young roster that AEW has, he wants to pass on some of his tips and tricks to the next generation of pro wrestlers. While speaking with Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald, Rhodes stated that his way of passing on that knowledge would come by way of an All Elite Wrestling school that he plans on talking to AEW President Tony Khan about opening. “I think, and I was planning on talking to Tony [Khan] about this: I’ve been wanting to open up a wrestling school for quite some time, and I think Texas would be a good place for it and a good place for an AEW/Dustin Rhodes wrestling school to get these kids ready and I would be all for that. Yes, I definitely think they need a place, just like the other company [WWE] has the other place [Performance Center], and I think it’s important when you’re bringing in talent that is hungry and young, and need a place to train and learn and learn how to do things properly, learn how to speak properly, learn how to cut your promos and whatever else is offered. Yes, definitely. That is something that I think is 110% needed.” He said.

Originally Posted by Fightful Triple held what is being described as a "secret interview" with Sareee. Over the past several years, WWE has brought in a plethora of talents from the independent scene, other wrestling companies and promotions and have signed said wrestlers to exclusive deals. NXT founder and senior producer Triple H has done scouting for WWE and according to a report from Yahoo! Japan, while WWE was in Japan for their two house shows last weekend, Triple H held a secret meeting with the former JWP Junior Champion Sareee. The 23 year old Sareee currently wrestles for the 'World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana' promotion in Japan where she is the World Champion. Triple H spoke with Yahoo! Japan and told the publication that he was originally coming to Japan for business, outside of the tag matches he had with The Club and Shinsuke Nakamura at Sumo Hall. The report notes that Triple H held the aforementioned meeting at Sumo Hall and talked briefly talked about the meeting.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows have either agreed to, or actually signed their five-year contracts. Company sources say they are there long-term. But unlike with The Revival where the push with Shane McMahon and the tag belts are an attempt to keep them from going to AEW next year, Anderson & Gallows have reportedly made their decision, and are to be focused on in he new Club group with Styles. This, and the Styles turn, were said to be written out before Heyman was given power.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Fyter Fest drew 4,200 paid and about 5,000 in the building ... The show was considered a success on BR Live. The three-and-a-half hour broadcast averaged 140,000 viewers if you were to figure it like a television show. There were a total of 350,000 different viewers during the course of the live show and those numbers likely increased significantly with replay viewing. This is still very knew so establishing what this means is difficult. The 350,000 doesn’t correlate with YouTube numbers, since every view, including multiple by the same people, or just views inflated when YouTube sends you to a new video, isn’t the case here. We do know that AEW and BR Live had first talked about the idea of signing up more than 100,000 new subscribers to the channel, although after more input the feeling was that number would be higher. Not all 350,000 were new sign-ups, because there were 35,000 who signed up previously buying Double or Nothing on PPV. In addition, some of the 350,000, although likely not a high percentage, were already BR Live subscribers ... Outside North America, the show was broadcast on Fite TV, and did about 14,000 iPPV buys. That’s a very good number. Nobody expected Double or Nothing level of buys. Double or Nothing did 20,000 outside the U.S. but DON aired on ITV Box Office while Fyter Fest did not. The U.K. iPPV buys were up, but that’s also because you had the DON television buyers that, if they wanted to see this show, had to do so through Fite.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter A lot more will be learned in two weeks with Fight for the Fallen. The iPPV price will slightly higher since that will be part of the charitable contribution. In the U.S., it’ll be live on BR. At press time, five matches have been announced, headlined by Cody & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Young Bucks, plus Kenny Omega vs. Cima, Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian, Jimmy Havoc & Joey Janela & Darby Allin vs. MJF & Shawn Spears & Sammy Guevara, and Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie. There is a storyline with MJF and Spears on the same team, as MJF, even though a heel, is friends with Cody and helped him to the back and they showed Spears and MJF having words backstage after Spears had laid out Cody with the chair shot.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Ring of Honor’s Best in the World show on 6/28 from the UMBC Arena in Baltimore was far from a good night for the promotion. The show got the weakest reaction for any ROH show in recent memory, as the company has fallen badly from its spot as the No. 2 group in the U.S. that it had last year. Interest levels are down. The current programs and new champion Matt Taven hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. The PPV show appeared t have run long, leaving Taven vs. Jeff Cobb in the main event for the title to go just 9:45 and Cobb’s unbeaten streak ended cleanly with Taven’s climax. The feeling seems to be that Taven had to win, since Cobb is going into G-1 for the next month, and will likely lose several matches in his first tournament and the old-school feeling that it doesn’t look good for your world champion to lose repeatedly outside the promotion. But it’s been a tough creative period for the company after losing so much key talent, both in the ring and office ... The show drew 1,200 fans, which is better than ROH has been doing and a lot stronger than the advances going forward are. But in a 5,000 seat arena, there were visible empty seats everywhere. The early PPV numbers don’t look strong, as the previous show, the 17th anniversary show in March, did an estimated 2,800 television buys. The recent NWA/ROH Crockett Cup show did 2,600. This show was down to an estimated 1,200 based on early reports. Now, most ROH viewership will be on Honor Club and not traditional PPV, but it’s still a gigantic drop

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The other big news is the expected deal between AEW and ITV4. While not announced yet, because it can’t be finalized until TNT finalizes the time slot for the show. Wednesday 8-10 p.m. Eastern starting 10/2 is the current plan but that still could change, but at this point I’d say the odds that’s the slot are extremely strong. which would be 1-3 a.m. in the U.K. ITV 4 would be available in most of the U.K.’s 18 million television households. It’s not a powerhouse like ITV, and AEW’s first show, the one-hour Buy In pre-show for Double or Nothing, did 74,000 viewers as a one-off with little promotion, a number WWE shows rarely come close to. And going forward, they probably never will unless they can get a more widely distributed outlet. Sky was in about 8.6 million homes, while BT is in about 2.4 million homes based on figures at the end of May ... WWE’s popularity has fallen significantly, most notably in the last two U.K. tours where most of the arenas for live shows drew well under what they had been doing historically. Whether the lesser number of homes the show is in, and the viewership numbers that in theory would be cut drastically, lead to more of a decline isn’t known. Unlike in the U.S., where big live business is related to live big numbers of television viewers (it’s not as big a correlation as you would think, but there is some correlation), in the U.K., with far less viewership, it has remained the company’s No. 2 market and the major arenas until recently did sellout or near sellout business for the two annual tours. Impact, which had larger television viewing numbers for years, was never able to draw at anywhere near the level WWE did even with that advantage. Similarly, even though, if the ITV4 deal goes through, that AEW’s television numbers will be multiple that of WWE, that by no means makes them the No. 1 promotion in the market. WWE is still the market leader and has 30 years of live history. However, that television difference does put AEW in a strong position to pick up an audience that WWE will lose by going to the smaller platform and at least narrow a gap. Because of this, WWE is attempting to get other programming on a free-to-air station. Because of what BT has is an exclusive on the key shows, WWE is attempting to sell one of the highlights packages shows for a January start

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter AAA is now looking for help from AEW for the Madison Square Garden show. AEW seems willing to send them top guys for major shows, such as TripleMania, but their attitude seems to be to not want their own guys working in the U.S., at least in a place like Madison Square Garden, for somebody else’s show

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Davey Boy Smith Jr., who is under contract here, has had offers from both All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH since leaving New Japan. There has been AEW talk with him as Jim Ross has always been high on him. They have used guys like Jimmy Havoc and MJF who have MLW deals, but everyone expects when these deals are up that they would be gone. I don’t think once AEW has television they’ll want to use guys under MLW contract, but I also think they’ll make whatever exception they have to for MJF. For MLW, having a guy on AEW shows that they are pushing is a positive, to a point. If Smith is going to be in the MLW title picture, which is the case, he shouldn’t work AEW as just a guy, and that’s tough. Obviously with MJF it’s not an issue

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter A correction from last week. WWE didn’t approve the David Starr stomping on Walter’s NXT U.K. title belt. Nobody knew ahead of time. Walter and Starr made the call to shock people live knowing it would get over huge. As you can imagine, the reaction from WWE was not positive. Many wrestlers thought it was disrespectful and the higher-ups weren’t happy either

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The semi-main event of AAA TripleMania will be a rematch from Fyter Fest with the Young Bucks & Omega vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix & Laredo Kid. At one point the idea was to have Impact champion Brian Cage teaming with Pentagon & Fenix in this match, but wrestling politics got in the way. Right now AEW is going with the idea that if they are wrestling on outside shows, they are going to wrestle against partner promotion wrestlers (AAA or OWE at this point) and not wrestlers from other groups.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer WMC Action News 5 in Memphis ran a story on Glenn Moore, Jerry Lawler’s former podcast co-host, being accused of selling original artwork by Lawler and autographed T-shirts to fans and then not providing what they ordered. ‘I’m totally shocked by this behavior. I mean, we did like 90 podcasts together over a period of years. This is a guy I thought was a friend and I trusted him. I’m certainly sorry this has happened,” Lawler told WMC Action News. “We're gonna work to try to make this thing right. One way or another. Hopefully, we'll be able to get people's money back. If not, we'll get them the artwork they tried to buy." Lawler said Moore’s behavior changed after he lost his PR job in December and that Moore promised to make amends but doesn’t have the money to. Lawler also tweeted about the situation: “I'm sure many of you have heard that some of my fans have been taken advantage of through a dishonest scheme that I was never aware of. Let it be known that I am not doing art commissions nor do I have any memorabilia for sale. So, if someone promotes or advertises or contacts you for services on my behalf, IT IS NOT LEGITIMATE! I am working to get this unfortunate situation resolved as quickly as possible and I apologize to my fans that have been affected by this.”

Link: https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2019/...m-accusations/

Originally Posted by Fightful WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler announced today that he will be launching a new podcast entitled 'The Jerry Show' that will be co-hosted by Sean Reedy, who currently co-hosts the 'Booking Memphis' podcast with Jerry Jarrett.

Originally Posted by Observer Jon Moxley told ESPN about one of the differences between wrestling in WWE and NJPW: "[In WWE,] it's almost like Vince is in the ring with you, the producer is in the ring with you. It's like you have two little bubbles on your shoulder, like three heads in the ring. All of a sudden when I got in the ring [in New Japan], five minutes into the match I was like, there's no chatter. There was no producer-ref-Vince chatter. It was like silence. And I didn't expect that. I was like, 'Whoa, I'm alone again. It's just me in the ring.' And then I just started beating the [crap] out of Juice and I was like, 'Oh yeah, this is what I used to do.'"

Originally Posted by Observer Georgia Smith is joining the MLW broadcast team as a correspondent and will start at tomorrow’s tapings. Smith is the daughter of Davey Boy Smith and the sister of Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Originally Posted by PWI MLW today announced Gringo Loco vs. Zenshi for MLW: Kings of Colosseum at Cicero Stadium in Chicago. The event is a TV taping for beIN SPORTS on Saturday night July 6th with a 7 p.m. bell time.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The big show of the weekend is New Japan’s opening night of the G1 Climax from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. We will have coverage of the show throughout the night on Saturday and a POST Show with Wai Ting and I going live at 11 pm Eastern. Below is the full card, beginning at 6 pm Eastern on AXS TV and New Japan World outside the U.S.: *Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K in a non-title match *Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino vs. Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita *Jay White & Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi *Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi vs. Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger & Toru Yano *Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer – A BLOCK *EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale – A BLOCK *Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Sanada – A BLOCK *Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA – A BLOCK *Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – A BLOCK

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Lavie Margolin has researched Ring of Honor’s attendance figures at the halfway mark of 2019. In his study, he has ROH drawing a record-setting 35,729 people, which is a new record and up 10% from the same point in 2018 with an average of 1,489 per show compared to 1,412 in 2018. The bad news is what you would assume and how the health of their business looks dramatically different when you exclude the G1 Supercard from Madison Square Garden, which was the most successful show in company history and sold out immediately over WrestleMania weekend. If you remove the G1 Supercard, they have drawn 19,195, which is down 28% from the same point last year and are averaging 834 per show this year compared to 1,213 in 2018.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling This week marks 25 years since the beginning of the steroid distribution trial involving Vince McMahon and Titan Sports. David Bixenspan has obtained court records and other files related to the trial and is writing extensively about it. Bixenspan recently launched a subscriber-based newsletter called ‘Babyface v. Heel’ on Substack. His first piece of the ongoing series titled ‘The Boys Need Their Candies’ (a quote from Chief Jay Strongbow to Titan executive Anita Scales. CORRECTION: We had previously stated Pat Patterson was the one to deliver the line but it was Strongbow) is free to read and beginning next week will be available for $5 per month or $50 for the year. In the first piece, it looks at several memos and focuses on Scales, who was clearly against the usage of Dr. George Zahorian at their Pennsylvania shows while Patterson urged Scales to assign the doctor to an event on December 26, 1989. When Linda McMahon learned of a potential state department investigation involving Zahorian through lawyer Jack Krill, she called off the plans to assign Zahorian after initially backing Patterson’s request with Scales. The piece also contains testimony from Dr. Zahorian’s separate trial in 1991 and his affinity for the wrestlers that he prescribed and essentially became a pharmacy for these performers with quotations from Bret Hart’s 2007 autobiography that categorized the supply Zahorian was providing to the locker room.

Originally Posted by Fightful MLW founder Court Bauer is taking MLW on the road to new locations as they made their Wisconsin debut last month. The Chicago area has become a focal point for MLW and Bauer expressed those sentiments during an interview with Sportskeeda and shared that MLW has shows booked through 2020 in that area. "I guess it's a question that I wonder about. I think it's more like we are developing our hubs that we go to a few times a year since we tape TV typically once a month, we might have a rotation that includes Chicago, New York, Dallas and maybe like a Philadelphia, and that might be kind of our hubs." Bauer said. "They probably get the lion's share of events every year and maybe three to four events a year until we expand our schedule. Again, all traditionally historically-great wrestling markets, and so far very receptive to MLW. But Chicago right now, we have events booked through 2020 at Cicero Stadium. For our long-term or immediate future, Chicago's a priority."

TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: Maverick’s Honeymoon Pt. 3, CM Punk in Horror Movie Trailer, Next Impact PPV
• Two Tag Team Matches Announced for Raw
• MLW Announces First PPV, “Saturday Night SuperFight”

[Bad News Gertner]

Bix writes really good pieces. Tempted to subscribe.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer According to this unlisted video on WWE’s YouTube page, they will be taping Raw and SmackDown on September 9th and 10th, respectively at Madison Square Garden. This comes just days before AAA is scheduled to run the venue on September 15.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu1EKhgtBZI

Originally Posted by Observer Booker T talked about his situation with Starrcast, saying that he was unaware that the Conrad Thompson booking was for Starrcast, with Thomspon only saying it was an autograph signing, and that WWE had nothing to do with him pulling out.

Originally Posted by Observer Dragon Gate’s Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2019 event on July 21 will have English commentary from Rich Bocchini and Larry Dallas.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Kota Ibushi is dealing with a left ankle injury following his match with KENTA this past weekend in Dallas. Ibushi posted a photo of the swollen ankle that has significant bruising. On Tuesday, he said he was able to walk 100 steps on the ankle and is hopeful of walking 200 steps on Wednesday. He is scheduled to work in a six-man tag on Saturday’s G1 show and then has a tournament match against EVIL on Sunday in Tokyo.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was held off last night's Smackdown Live event with back issues. He will likely be kept out of the ring on tonight's Smackdown as well. The belief is that he will be OK to perform on Sunday's Extreme Rules PPV.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Alexa Bliss was kept off the show Monday as she had been sick throughout the week. She was scheduled to be part of the Beat the Clock Challenge and Nikki Cross took her place.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Rehearsals for the WWE’s studio show on FS 1 have begun with the show set to launch this fall on Tuesday nights.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Lavie Margolin has been tracking attendance figures for various promotions at the midway point of the year. Today, he looked at MLW, which has made significant gains compared to 2018. In the first six months of 2018, the promotion ran six live events compared to five in the same period this year. Overall attendance has increased 157% from 2,266 to 5,832 and that works out to an average of 377 per show in 2018 and 1,166 in 2019. The major difference is MLW’s decision to get out of Orlando where they had been running shows at the Gilt Nightclub, which is where all the 2018 shows during that six-month stretch took place from. This year, they have run Philadelphia, Cicero Stadium in Illinois (the promotion’s best market where they had 2,100 in attendance in March), two shows at the Melrose Ballroom, and ran in Waukesha, Wisconsin in June. This data doesn’t include this past weekend’s show at Cicero Stadium, which was said to be a sold-out event and took place after the six-month mark.

Link: https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status...09419112067072

Originally Posted by Fightful Former 4-time WWE RAW Women's Champion Sasha Banks took a trip to Japan and she posted photos of herself and fellow in-ring performers who she came in contact with during her trip. Banks also visited to the Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling dojo and Sendai Girls' was co-founded by former KO-D Openweight Champion Meiko Satomura. Meiko uploaded photos of Banks' workout to her Twitter page and noted that Sasha is working hard and it is very clear that she loves wrestling.

Link: https://twitter.com/satomurameiko/st...69391383998465

Originally Posted by Fightful Pro-Wrestling EVE co-founders chat about WWE's women's revolution. The conversation about WWE taking the reigns as the pioneers of the women's revolution in wrestling has been discussed on various fronts and many former and current female wrestlers have voiced their opinions on the topic. The latest to weigh in on the conversation was co-founder of the Pro-Wrestling EVE promotion, Dann Read. Dann Read and fellow co-founder Emily Read, were profiled by 'MancunianMatters' and were asked about the women's revolution in WWE and Dann explained his stance on why he thinks WWE's revolution is a lie. “This whole women’s revolution is a lie. Work is being put in, but the acceptance isn’t there on the scale the promotion and fans are trying to make it. A lot of it is all talk. They make themselves look good, but actually, it’s not better.” He said. Emily feels that there is a barrier in women's wrestling that hinders progression. She expressed that it is very telling that people who talk about WWE and the wrestlers they choose to feature are raving about those who are commercially beautiful. “It’s very telling that people who talk about WWE wrestling and the wrestlers they show are raving about what I say are commercially beautiful. Whereas women who maybe don’t fit in that box won’t be given credit by those people.” She explained. During WWE's Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia, Pro-Wrestling EVE hosted a stream of women's wrestling matches to counter no women's wrestling being featured on the Saudi Arabia show.

Originally Posted by PWI In what may be a sign that the second quarter WWE Network subscriber numbers are less than what WWE had anticipated, they expect quarter three subscriptions to drop precipitously or maybe a mix of both, WWE sent an email out today to addresses in their database, as well as current subscribers, offering the next three months of the WWE Network for just 99 cents. The email promotes that by signing up now, you would get Extreme Rules this Sunday, NXT Takeover Toronto, SummerSlam and the September 15 Clash of Champions events

Originally Posted by Fightful WWE looks like it'll have a bit of a youth movement as far as viewership is concerned if they have their way. Fightful Select learned that the word going around is that WWE is really focusing in on the 18-34 demographic this week, after numbers for teens in particular were way up for the first week under a new Executive Director regime. Those within WWE actually told Fightful that teen viewership was up by 37.5 percent, which we're working to verify. Those we've spoken to say that the 'lost generation' of 18-34 is going to be a major target going forward. Paul Heyman himself has been pretty transparent about his role in saying that Vince McMahon will always have the final say, and that changes from Heyman's side are going to take some time. We're told that Heyman sits in the middle of the production meetings among other writers instead of at the front of the room, and has spoken to several team members about Vince McMahon coming to grips with the fact that the program needs to be upgraded, and with that happening, true change could be on the way. The edgier nature of Raw was pitched as a "third hour" idea months ago, and was short lived. After the success of last week's episode of Raw under a new direction for the duration of the show, the company is hoping to recapture that magic, and the lost teenage audience. Some we've talked with are still taking the "wait and see" approach, but there is more optimism as it relates to things after last week's Raw.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Johnny Impact’s Contract With Impact Has Expired
• LAX Possibly Done With Impact, Has Offers From AEW and WWE
• Various: Raw Ratings Delayed, Huskus the Pig Boy on Raw, Jericho at Fight for the Fallen
• WWE: Gallows and Anderson, Sasha Banks, & November’s European Tour Updates

[BigCrippyZ]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat The Sheets: Originally Posted by by PWI In what may be a sign that the second quarter WWE Network subscriber numbers are less than what WWE had anticipated, they expect quarter three subscriptions to drop precipitously or maybe a mix of both, WWE sent an email out today to addresses in their database, as well as current subscribers, offering the next three months of the WWE Network for just 99 cents. The email promotes that by signing up now, you would get Extreme Rules this Sunday, NXT Takeover Toronto, SummerSlam and the September 15 Clash of Champions events Originally Posted by by Fightful WWE looks like it'll have a bit of a youth movement as far as viewership is concerned if they have their way. Fightful Select learned that the word going around is that WWE is really focusing in on the 18-34 demographic this week, after numbers for teens in particular were way up for the first week under a new Executive Director regime. Those within WWE actually told Fightful that teen viewership was up by 37.5 percent, which we're working to verify. Those we've spoken to say that the 'lost generation' of 18-34 is going to be a major target going forward. Paul Heyman himself has been pretty transparent about his role in saying that Vince McMahon will always have the final say, and that changes from Heyman's side are going to take some time. We're told that Heyman sits in the middle of the production meetings among other writers instead of at the front of the room, and has spoken to several team members about Vince McMahon coming to grips with the fact that the program needs to be upgraded, and with that happening, true change could be on the way. The edgier nature of Raw was pitched as a "third hour" idea months ago, and was short lived. After the success of last week's episode of Raw under a new direction for the duration of the show, the company is hoping to recapture that magic, and the lost teenage audience. Some we've talked with are still taking the "wait and see" approach, but there is more optimism as it relates to things after last week's Raw. Link: https://twitter.com/Laviemarg/status...09419112067072 Link: https://twitter.com/satomurameiko/st...69391383998465 TPWW Frontpage: Johnny Impact’s Contract With Impact Has Expired LAX Possibly Done With Impact, Has Offers From AEW and WWE Various: Raw Ratings Delayed, Huskus the Pig Boy on Raw, Jericho at Fight for the Fallen WWE: Gallows and Anderson, Sasha Banks, & November’s European Tour Updates

Honestly, the idea that younger talent being the focus will make a difference is stupid and shows how inept this company is. I don't give a fuck about the age of talent (within reason) as much as I care that 1. the matches seem more realisitic, 2. the matches and feuds have actual stakes and outcomes that matter, and 3. matches, feuds, and storylines are actually thought out, connected, make sense, and don't make me feel like an idiot for watching and enjoying them.

[Droford]

lol Im no longer in wwe's official target demographic although through the whole pg era i never felt like i was either

[RP]

I wonder if Alexa is out sick because she's getting an abortion

[ClockShot]

So, is Sasha Banks still with WWE and on "strike" still?

Must have a lot of time and money stashed away if she can take a trip to Japan and drop in on another promotion.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw on Monday did 2.35 million viewers, which would have to be considered good by modern standards, particularly against the Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby on ESPN did 5.35 million viewers. Raw was seventh for the night on cable, trailing the Home Run Derby, the Home Run Derby prelims, and news shows. It was down six percent from last week. Raw last year on Home Run Derby night was down nine percent and the year-to-year drop was five percent, one of the lowest in recent memories. The key was very little audience drop throughout the show, with only a 2.6 percent first-to-third hour drop. The key is once again that women stayed with the show and actually gained over the three hours, with women 18-49 gaining 7.7 percent throughout the show, a figure unheard of for modern Raw ... The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.38 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.35 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.32 million viewers

Originally Posted by Observer WWE Network News reported that an October 1993 WWF dark match between Sabu and Scott Taylor (Scotty 2 Hotty) will be added to the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section tomorrow. The Tazmaniac vs. Taylor from May of that year, which WWE previously released on DVD, is also set to be uploaded.

Originally Posted by Observer Yahoo Sports has an interview with R-Truth. He spoke about people in the 24/7 title picture coming up with their own ideas: “Guys like Drake Maverick, Jinder Mahal, EC3, these guys came up with their own gimmick with regard to the title. Drake Maverick came up with the poster idea on his own, he took that leap. The company takes notice of that. When the opportunity is there, you have to let your creative juices start flowing and reach and grab for it.”

Originally Posted by Observer Shotzi Blackheart vs. Brandi Lauren has been added to EVOLVE’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, which will air on the WWE Network this Saturday.

Originally Posted by Observer Jun Akiyama is resigning as president of AJPW, with the official announcement to be made on October 10. Akiyama said he’s going to focus on his in-ring work.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE and Quibi are teaming up for a new series called Fight Like a Girl. The sypnosis in the press release says that in each episode of the series Stephanie McMahon will "[pair] a WWE Superstar with a young woman struggling with a personal issue that has been holding her back. The WWE Superstars draw from their own life experiences, to help their trainees overcome obstacles and become tougher, stronger and healthier versions of their former selves inside and out.” Quibi describes itself as a “mobile-first media technology platform bringing together the best of Silicon Valley and Hollywood". It wasn’t made clear when the series will premiere on the platform. The show will he shot at the WWE Performance Center, with both WWE Studios and Critical Content producing the show. It will be executive produced by Stephanie McMahon, Susan Levison, Ben Zietren and Richard Lowell for WWE Studios, while Tom Forman, Jenny Daly and Jon Beyer are the executive producers for Critical Content.

Originally Posted by PWI We are told that Impact has been working on potental new logo designs for if and when they secure a new TV deal.

Originally Posted by PWI Yesterday's scheduled hearing for Zachary Madsen, the man arrested after attacking WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart at the WWE Hall of Fame this past April, was postponed until 9/9, PWInsider.com has confirmed. Madsen is now scheduled to appear in Kings Criminal Court in Brooklyn that day. This is the fifth postponement in the case. Madsen has been charged with two counts of assault in the third degree as well as trespassing after hitting the ring that was being used as the stage for the acceptance speeches to tackle Bret Hart, taking down the WWE Hall of Famer and his niece, WWE star Natalya Neidhart. In New York, Assault in the third degree is an A misdemeanor and can be punishable in up to a year in jail per count, should Madsen be found guilty.

Originally Posted by PWI TOKYO Princess of Princess Champion Shoko Nakajima is slated to appear at this weekend's Fight for the Fallen event in Jacksonville, Florida. “Fight for the Fallen” will air on Bleacher Report Live free at 7:30pm EST on this Saturday 7/13 and Internationallly on FITE.TV.

Originally Posted by Fightful Roman Reigns is the first recipient of the ESPYS' WWE award. For the first time, at ESPN's ESPY awards, a WWE award was presented for the 'Best Moment' category and rounding out at the top of the voting poll was former Universal Champion Roman Reigns for his return to in-ring competition after stepping away from WWE in the Fall of 2018 to battle Leukemia. Included in the nominations for this category was Becky Lynch winning the RAW and SmackDown Live Women's Championships in the main event of WrestleMania 35, Kofi Kingston's WWE Title victory at WrestleMania 35 and Ronda Rousey winning the RAW Women's Championship at SummerSlam.

Originally Posted by Fightful You may remember a situation a few months ago that featured AJ Styles "debunking" Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer's claim that he had been sidelined with a hernia. Meltzer claimed that the news came from an internal injury report, which many doubted. As of last week, Fightful was able to corroborate that WWE does in fact keep a list of "inactive" talent. The document that Fightful learned of was a bit different than a standard injury report. Instead, it listed talent that were injured, and also included lists of talent that weren't able to be used for a specific week of TV tapings. For example, last week, Naomi and the Usos were listed as "on vacation," Finn Balor was included because he was in Ireland, Alexa Bliss was listed as having an "illness" keep her out Tuesday. There are also estimated return times listed, and updates on status'. From wrestlers having evaluations on their injuries scheduled, to a full on "no contact" list. The "no contact" list is particularly interesting, because it contains active performers such as Paige, but also, several other names like Scott Hall, who are never on WWE television. It's worth noting that Ronda Rousey wasn't listed whatsoever.

TPWW Frontpage:

• New Match Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen Pre-Show
• Interview: The Young Bucks on CM Punk, PAC’s Status, Chair Shot, WWE Talks, AEW Game, More
• Enzo Amore and Joey Janela Almost Got Into a Fight at a Blink-182 Concert
• Enzo Amore Posts a Video of His “Fight” With Joey Janela

[FDM]

Roman beating cancer was legitimate and not decided by Vince/writers.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer This week's SmackDown did the show's fourth-lowest ratings since moving to Tuesday night, coming in at 1.853 million viewers. Going up against the MLB All-Star Game on Fox, the episode was down two percent from last week and retained just 79 percent of the Monday Night Raw audience, which aired opposite the Home Run Derby. The All-Star Game did 8.14 million viewers. SmackDown also aired against NBC's America's Got Talent, which averaged over 9.8 million. It was a weak night in terms of cable TV viewership as, despite the near record low, SmackDown still finished seventh in overall viewership. It did fall to second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.53 rating, trailing Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Year-over-year, SmackDown was down 15 percent, one of the larger drops in recent weeks.

Originally Posted by Observer The field for this year's Battle of Los Angeles is now up to eight announced entrants. On Wednesday, PWG announced Caveman Ugg as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's from Sydney, Australia and is the second Australian wrestler announced for BOLA thus far, joining Mick Moretti. Ugg is the Pro Wrestling Australia Heavyweight Champion. He appeared stateside during WrestleMania weekend this year, taking part in the "Clusterf*ck" match at Joey Janela's Spring Break 3, part two.

Also recently announced for the field was Jake Atlas.

Originally Posted by PWI The original idea was Roman Reigns' opponent on Raw was to have an extra portray the role but over the course of the day, there was a pitch for Cedric Alexander to do the spots instead. We are told there will be a follow-up to Alexander's involvement on Raw Monday. While many of the backstage segments on Raw are pre-taped, all of the Street Profit segments were live as they aired this past Monday in order to keep their energy as vibrant as possible.

Originally Posted by PWI The latest book from Mid-Atlantic Wrestling historian Dick Bourne was officially released this week. The Mid-Atlantic Championship traces the history of the Mid-Atlantic Championship that was of the utmost importance to Jim Crockett Promotions in the Carolinas. Promotional material for the book notes, "In 1970, Jim Crockett Promotions introduced the Eastern Heavyweight title to their fans. Four years later they changed the name of the title to the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. Within these pages you will find a complete history of that title, including a detailed account of every title change from the establishment of the title until it was retired at the end of 1986. Plus great photos of the legendary champions.Featured also is a breakdown of all four championship belts that represented the title, broken down into the five distinct periods the belts were worn. Featuring Danny Miller, Jerry Brisco, Rip Hawk, Ole Anderson, Johnny Valentine, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Greg Valentine, Ken Patera, Tony Atlas, Jim Brunzell, Ray Stevens, Ricky Steamboat, Ivan Koloff, The Iron Sheik, Roddy Piper, Jack Brisco, Paul Jones, Dory Funk, Jr., Dick Slater, Ron Bass, Sam Houston, Ronnie Garvin, and many others!"

Originally Posted by PWI WWE issued the following: WWE® To Report Second Quarter 2019 Results 07/11/2019 STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WWE (NYSE:WWE) announced that it will report its second quarter 2019 results on Thursday, July 25, 2019, before the opening of the market. The Company’s Chairman & CEO, Vincent K. McMahon, and Co-Presidents, George A. Barrios and Michelle D. Wilson, will host a conference call beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss the results.

Originally Posted by Observer The return of Reigns after battling leukemia was voted Best WWE moment of the year at the ESPYs. It was pretty clear that would be the winner. The fact there is such an award is a real feather in the cap of WWE, because it’s best WWE moment and not best pro wrestling moment. For MMA, it’s not Best UFC fighter, it’s best MMA fighter

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The WWE web site did some stuff building up Undertaker vs. Sting which set all kinds of rumors going. From those on the inside, the belief is that the company would never risk Sting taking a bump given he never had surgery on his neck. He’s a 60 year old man with spinal stenosis and the idea of him wrestling is not even broached. It’s purely a web site project as it is not a promotion for the upcoming videogame either

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter WWE is advertising Undertaker vs. McIntyre for SummerSlam on 8/11 in the Toronto market. We’re told that is typical local market advertising and that is not the actual plan right now for the show. But in pushing Undertaker so hard, that would seem to indicate he’ll be featured on the show, which makes sense. If Undertaker was only working one summer event, it would be SummerSlam, so him coming back for Extreme Rules only made sense to set the table for a big SummerSlam match. The problem is that given the Extreme Rules match, the big match being built would seem to be against either McIntyre or Shane, unless somebody new (Wyatt?) gets involved in the Extreme Rules match

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter R-Truth said that it was pitched for him to show up at Maverick’s wedding where he won the title back wearing a wedding dress but Vince nixed the idea because he thought it would come across as trying too hard to be funny

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There are reports that Banks has been announced locally for a 7/22 house show in Tampa. When we asked about Banks returning soon, we were told it is “to be determined.” Banks and Vince talked a few months ago and the feeling was she’d be back by the end of the summer, but it was nothing official or is there an exact start date back at this moment. Banks was in Japan this past week training with the Sendai Girls promotion She did this on her own. Some speculate this is to get back into ring shape for her return. For contract reasons, if she’s going to wrestle, it has to be here, and they can freeze that deal forever, so the odds are strong she’s coming back unless she wants to retire. Her going to Japan to train indicates not looking at retirement

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The first Smackdown show with Bischoff influence is expected to be the 7/16 in Worcester, MA. Bischoff and his family were moving this week to Stamford. The funny thing is that within the company and the creative team, they’ve been told nothing. Bischoff’s name has almost never come up and nobody from the outside has brought the name up and they know no more than what they’ve read

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Vince McMahon was not at Smackdown in Manchester, NH, on Tuesday but he was on the phone constantly and he reviewed the show on the phone with people one hour before it started. Paul Levesque worked the Gorilla position. Bruce Prichard presented the show to the other producers. He started out with a rah rah speech which we were told came across very transparent. Ryan Ward is still the lead writer of Smackdown and will remain the lead writer unless Eric Bischoff tries to make a change, and most likely that will depend on whether Vince would allow it even if he wanted to. Prichard will be the one who acclimates Bischoff and is believed to be the person who pushed hardest for Bischoff. There was talk of people asking why Bischoff wasn’t at least at the show to watch how things are done before he starts full-time, and the same was said last week. His deal was to move in this week and start with the 7/16 show. It’s been noted to us that every week he’s not there puts him another week behind and the battles necessary to be the catalyst of change and improvement are going to take a long time

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Essentially what happened is that well before the announcement of AEW, NJPW was told by The Young Bucks and others, what the plans were and that they wanted to work together. New Japan’s response was to pull all the Americans that they thought were going to AEW off New Year’s Dash and beat everyone at the Tokyo Dome. Still, a meeting was scheduled after the Tokyo Dome. New Japan’s reaction was they were working with ROH, and they had to given the agreed upon Madison Square Garden show. But from that point it was cold. Even though Kenny Omega contractually can work for New Japan, New Japan has not attempted to book him and it’s to the point that the subjects of AEW and Omega are not allowed to be acknowledged by anyone in New Japan. While things can always change, really with just one phone call, the idea that people think an Omega vs. Kota Ibushi match will be at one of the Tokyo Domes in January is simply not the case.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter LAX is under contract for about a month. They’ve gotten significant offers from both WWE and AEW. No decision has been made. There are those in WWE who believe they will be starting in September there, but most close to the situation expect the decision will be AEW.

Originally Posted by Fightful It was officially announced to the world on July 7th that CMLL owner Paco Alonso passed away. Many were affected by the news as those who Paco provided opportunity and positions in CMLL to, took to social media to reflect on the life of Paco and their time working with him. With Paco Alonso's passing, his daughter Sofia Alonso is now assuming the role as President of CMLL.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc WWE officials may be changing some of the top SummerSlam plans due to the hiring of new RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman and SmackDown Executive Director Eric Bischoff. It was noted by @Wrestlevotes that anything WWE had planned in advance for SummerSlam was all subject to change once Bischoff and Heyman fully start their roles next week after Extreme Rules. This would allow Bischoff and Heyman to come in with a clean slate going into one of the biggest shows of the year. There's no word yet on what WWE has had planned for SummerSlam but one rumored match was The Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Two More Names Announced for AEW Fight for the Fallen
• WWE: More on Alexa Bliss’s Illness, Ramblin’ Rabbit on SmackDown
• Joey Janela Says He Started Enzo Amore “Fight,” Tries to Squash Things But Enzo Refuses

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling This is a big weekend for EVOLVE with their debut on the WWE Network and it prompted reporter David Bixenspan to unearth some information regarding two outstanding liens. In Bixenspan’s research, he found two liens from the New Jersey Division of Taxation listed for World Wrestling Network, Inc., totaling $14,901.72 from unpaid taxes since March 13, 2014. The company ran shows in New Jersey over WrestleMania weekend in 2013 in New Jersey and have not promoted shows within the state since. A clerk court confirmed the liens are still active and unpaid with $10,450.86 listed for World Wrestling Network. Inc. and $4,450.86 against WWN owner Sal Hamaoui. Furthermore, World Wrestling Network, Inc. was voluntarily dissolved on April 29, 2016, after a new company named WWN, Inc. had been formed the prior September.

Link: https://babyfacevheel.substack.com/p...n-isnt-exactly

Originally Posted by Observer The Huffington Post has a story about George Murdoch, the former Brodus Clay and Titus, and his text message to former Fox Nation co-host Britt McHenry. They were on a show together until this story surfaced in April, noting Murdoch had sent inappropriate text messages to McHenry in late 2018 through January of this year. Murdoch was not suspended and is still with the company, although he's been moved to a different show. I really don't see how they didn't can him over this. Really, with the nature of the messages, it looks bad that he's still there.

Link: http://ttps//www.huffpost.com/entry/...b02a5a5d57cd13

Originally Posted by Observer The lineup for ROH's Summer Supercard event is starting to take shape. Alex Shelley will be challenging for the ROH World Championship at the show. Matt Taven is the current champion and is defending his title against Jay Lethal at ROH's Manhattan Mayhem television tapings on July 20. After taking a hiatus from pro wrestling in July 2018, Shelley returned at June's post-Best in the World tapings and set up that he'd be challenging the winner of Taven vs. Lethal. Shelley, Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. The Kingdom (Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O'Ryan) is set for ROH's Mass Hysteria show on July 21. A CMLL trios match has also been announced for Summer Supercard. Caristico, Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. will team against Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero & Templario. Cavernario and Templario will be making their ROH debuts in the match.

Originally Posted by PWI Ring of Honor issued the following ... Reigning ROH World Tag Team Champions The Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) have signed to compete at Summer Supercard in Toronto on Aug. 9 ... G.O.D. will put their titles on the line against Jay and Mark Briscoe in a New York City Street Fight at Manhattan Mayhem on July 20. The winner of that match will then defend the titles against The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brawler Milonas) at Mass Hysteria in Lowell, Mass., on July 21.

Originally Posted by PWI Brian Cage and Melissa Santos got married yesterday in California. Among those in attendance were Joey Ryan, Kiera Hogan, Sami Callihan, Jessicka Havok, Nevaeh, Jake Crist, Su Yung, and Rich Swann.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling DEFY has announced that Brian Cage has withdrawn from their card on July 26th ‘due to injury’ and they announced a new match between Christopher Daniels and SCHAFF for the event at Washington Hall in Seattle that night.

Originally Posted by Observer MLW has announced Austin Aries' opponent for Never Say Never Aries vs. Ace Austin is set for the tapings, which are taking place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, July 25. This will be Aries' second match for MLW since returning to the promotion.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE will present a Extreme Rules preview show on their social media channels this Sunday at 2 PM with Cathy Kelley, Mike Rome and Kayla Braxton hosting, featuring appearances from WWE United States Champion Ricochet, Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin.

Originally Posted by PWI Another WWE digital series is headed to the WWE Network this Monday, July 15. "WWE Then & Now" is a short form digital series which sees a superstar or superstars look at their first promotional photo for the company and talk about the evolution from that point. So far, there've been six episodes done to date featuring the likes of Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, The Hardy Boyz, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Alexa Bliss.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling POST Wrestling has learned that there is another match expected for the WWE Extreme Rules show on Sunday with Kevin Owens set to face Dolph Ziggler. The match was always scheduled for the card and is expected to be announced before the show, which takes place from the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia

Originally Posted by Fightful Game Changer Wrestling is partnering with Black Label Pro wrestling and the two promotions will be presenting their '2 Cups Stuffed' show from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It has been announced by GCW that Mance Warner is slated to go one-on-one with WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler at the August 30th show.

Originally Posted by Fightful "The Animal" Batista had his final professional wrestling match at WrestleMania 35 against Triple H and it was after that match concluded that Batista took to social media to officially announce his retirement from wrestling. Batista had been asking for that final match with Triple H for years and it was finally put into motion in October of 2018. Batista has stated on various fronts and in a number of interviews that he would not disrespect his wrestling career by coming back to the sport as an in-ring competitor after retiring. While making the rounds on the media circuit to promote the 'Stuber' film, he spoke with GQ and talked about The Undertaker versus Goldberg match from WWE Super ShowDown. Batista reiterated that he contacted The Undertaker and asked him was he sure he wanted to go through with the match. Batista then went on to say that he would've said no to a WWE Saudi Arabia show, no matter who he'd be paired with.

Full interview via TPWW Frontpage link below.


TPWW Frontpage:

• Tag Team Triple Threat Match Added to AEW Fight for the Fallen
• New Tag Team Match Announced and Cold Open Video for AEW Fight for the Fallen
• Batista Says He Tried to Talk Undertaker Out of His Match Against Goldberg
• Injury Updates: Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax

[Mr. Nerfect]

Batista is the best and was actually very good in Stuber.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Raw last night coming off the Extreme Rules PPV did 2.45 million viewers, a four percent increase from last week. Considering last week was against the Home Run Derby and this week came off a PPV, you would have expected a bigger increase, but the ratings pattern was extremely strong for the episode itself. The first hour was surprisingly low, but there was a big increase in hour two, and while hour three dropped, it was still ahead of one hour, which almost never happens ... If not for the weak first hour the overall gain would have been substantial. The three hours were: 8 p.m. 2.38 million viewers 9 p.m. 2.50 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.48 million viewers

Originally Posted by Fightful Fightful was able to confirm reports last weekend that The Good Brothers combo have re-signed with WWE for five years. Beyond that we're told that the former WWE Raw Tag Team Champions signed for a big money deal, even compared to some of the figures going around recently with new re-signings. We've reached out to several names within the company, including one that hadn't even heard that the team had re-signed in the days following the deal. That same name was sure that they'd be gone just a week or two prior when we spoke with them, and noted that New Japan Pro Wrestling and other companies had already showed interest. The feeling that we got from wrestlers we spoke to wasn't one of optimism, but rather one of saying they couldn't really fault Gallows and Anderson for setting themselves up for the future. One wrestler said "more confident in this company than I am. I wouldn’t hold my breath as far as tag teams getting an opportunity." Both Gallows and Anderson seem well liked based on the names that we spoke to, with one backstage employee particularly putting over their work in the gym, despite the fact that they weren't being booked.

Originally Posted by PWI Local advertising in New York City is listing the following matches for WWE's return to Madison Square Garden this September: * Monday 9/9 Raw taping - Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre. * Tuesday 9/10 Smackdown taping - Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton.

Originally Posted by PWI The AEW Fight for the Fallen event is available for VOD viewings on Bleacher Report Live. The event raised $150,000 to the Jacksonville Mayor's Victim Assistance Advisory Council and the hope is to make this an annual event ... The date 10/2 has been seen in the background of some recent AEW-related digital videos. That is a Wednesday, so it could be a clue to the debut of the TNT series.

Originally Posted by Fightful Tony Khan chatted with the media for nearly 30 minutes and during the scrum, Khan was asked about details concerning AEW television on TNT in October, specifically touring dates and venues. Khan responded by saying that more details about AEW TV will emerge before All Out on August 31 ... “It won’t be that long. It’s coming. It’s coming and we’re working on it. There will definitely be an announcement soon and I would say before -- we’ve got a lot to do before All Out, but we’ve also got some time before All Out to build some stories -- build up the Chris Jericho/Hangman title match, build up Kenny Omega versus Jon Moxley and build up Cody Rhodes versus Shawn Spears and build up more of the big matches that we have planned. So I think, I would say, well before All Out and I can’t give an exact date but certainly, it’ll be before All Out but we’re really focusing on getting to All Out and along the way, I’ll definitely have more information.” He said.

Originally Posted by 411Mania As we previously reported, Dr. Britt Baker suffered a concussion at AEW Fight for the Fallen. It was speculated, but unconfirmed, to be a kick from Bea Priestley that led to the injury. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that concussion was “significant” and “pretty bad.”

Originally Posted by Observer One half of the Lucha Bros has been confirmed for this year's Battle of Los Angeles. PWG has announced Fenix as the latest entrant for this year's tournament. He's the 11th wrestler to be confirmed for BOLA. Fenix made his PWG debut in the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles and was also an entrant in the 2016 and 2017 editions of the tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer Jim Ross noted that he was invited to attend next week’s Raw Reunion but politely declined: “Because some are asking, I was cordially invited to attend #RAWReunion by @VinceMcMahon but I politely refused. @TonyKhan left it up to me. Nonetheless I hope the #RAWReunion is a ratings success.”

Originally Posted by PWI As noted earlier this week on PWInsider.com, World Wrestling Entertainment is holding a tryout in Shanghai, China. Today, WWE disclosed the following names were taking part in the tryout: * Jiang Zhu, a 6-foot-3, 227-pounder Chinese talent who has wrestled for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. * Boxer Peng Qu, who stands 6-foot-3, weighs 210 pounds and holds a 14-2-1 professional record, considered to be one of China’s top boxers. * Sojiro Higuchi pka Jiro Kuroshio, who has wrestled extensively in Japan. * Alexis Lee, a 23-year-old billed as Singapore’s first female wrestler. * Yuan Gao, who wrestles for China’s We Love Wrestling. * Singapore Pro Wrestling co-founder “The Statement” Andrew Tang. * The Queen of Philippine Wrestling” Vernice Crystal Gabriel. Gabriel was at one point slated for the 2nd annual Mae Young Classic but was later removed from the tournament. Serena Deeb, Jessica Carr, Xia Li, and Jeremy Borash from WWE are over for the tryouts in Shanghai.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that former AWA, WWF, and WCW wrestler John Nord a.k.a. The Berzerker has been put on probation for five-years. Nord has been arrested seven times for driving under the influence of drugs, primarily from painkillers. The report added that Nord is in a wheelchair and dealing with ALS. There was a push from the prosecution for Nord to face prison time, but it was argued he would need to be in an assisted-living facility for the rest of his life. As part of the probation agreement, Nord is not allowed to drive and will return to court in three months to update the judge on his condition.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling After the first four nights of the G1 Climax, one of the glaring observations on the New Japan World broadcast has been the reduced role of Chris Charlton. On the two shows from Ota Ward Gymnasium, Charlton was present at the broadcast booth but largely to translate promos rather than call the matches with Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that this was not a call by New Japan but from outside forces. There has been a lot of support for Charlton because he has become a popular member of New Japan’s broadcast team through encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese professional wrestling, ability to recall backstories on the fly, and also pick up on the significance of a maneuver that may have some historical significance that tells a deeper story. He was not part of Monday’s show in Hokkaido but also wasn’t scheduled to be at all the G1 events this summer.

Originally Posted by Fightful Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the original idea for the next reunion special was to hold it on October 4 -- Smackdown's debut on Fox. Meltzer also noted on his show that Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz is not planned for next month's Summerslam card, despite their angle on Raw.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling We want to send our best wishes to Harley Race, who was hospitalized over the weekend and had to miss a convention appearance in Knoxville, Tennessee. Race was on his way to Knoxville and was undergoing some issues and needed to be checked out and had some tests run. As of Monday afternoon, he was still in the hospital, but his people didn’t release any specifics regarding what the health issue is.

Originally Posted by Fightful [Shawn]Spears has developed into one of All Elite Wrestling's top heels after the last two events, wrapping a steel chair around the head of Cody Rhodes and picking up a big six-man tag team win just a couple of weeks later. As his feud with Rhodes heats up going towards All Out, Fightful has learned of some plans for the former Tye Dillinger. Fightful Select has learned that Spears will be getting a manager, a fact that is slated to come to light officially on this week's episode of "Road To." We don't know the identity of the manager, or even if they'll be revealed. Before nicknaming himself "The Chairman," Spears attacked his former friend Rhodes with a steel chair at AEW's Fyter Fest, with a tweet later implying that he didn't appreciate Cody's comment that he was a "good hand." The two are slated to do battle on August 31 at All Elite Wrestling's "All Out" at the Sears Centre near Chicago.

TPWW Frontpage stuff:

• Eric Bischoff Reportedly Not Involved w/ Tonight’s SmackDown
• Finn Balor Reportedly Taking Time Off From WWE Next Month
• More on “Raw Reunion”
• Mickie James Undergoing Surgery Tomorrow, Out 7-9 Months
• Various: How Did Batista’s Movie Do? WWE Happy With EVOLVE Special

[Mr. Nerfect]

Seth vs. Drew sounds really boring. Kofi vs. Orton in MSG could be cool if they replay the stuff between them from MSG years ago.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Coming off of Sunday's Extreme Rules pay-per-view, SmackDown averaged 2.122 million viewers on Tuesday night, its highest total since the April 16 Superstar Shake-up episode and up a whopping 15 percent from last week. It was one of the larger one-week increases since SmackDown moved to Tuesday nights. The last increase this large was October 18 of last year, but that was SmackDown 1000, which was a special episode. Prior to that, it would be April 10 of 2018, which was the post-WrestleMania show. For a "normal" show, the previous highest increase would be October 24, 2017, which came the day after a SmackDown invasion of Raw. That episode increased 16 percent over the previous week ... Year-over-year, SmackDown was only down seven percent. Over the last few months, the decline from 2018 is in the single digits more often than not. Next week's rating should be higher than usual as well with some spillover from the Raw Reunion special the night before.

Originally Posted by Observer A Women's title match has been made official for NXT UK's next TakeOver special. NXT UK Women's Champion Toni Storm will defend her title against Kay Lee Ray at UK TakeOver: Cardiff on Saturday, August 31. The announcement was made on this week's NXT UK television episode.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE Network News reported that The Best of ECW 1992, volumes one and two and an ECW TV pilot from November 1992 will be added to the WWE Network’s Hidden Gems section tomorrow.

Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/...full-tv-pilot/

Originally Posted by Observer While speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Seth Rollins was asked if he cared to address critics who say he doesn’t have good on-screen chemistry with Becky Lynch: “I think those critics might be a little jealous. I think that’s where a lot of that stems from. I mean, if I’m a dude and I’m watching television, and I have a crush on Becky Lynch, I’m probably not going to be to fond of the guy who’s dating her either so I get that. We have such great chemistry I think it’s funny that people think we don’t. Either way it amuses me.”

Originally Posted by Observer World League Wrestling posted a statement on Harley Race’s hospitalization and are selling T-shirts to raise money for him: “An update that have been wanting to know about in regards to the boss's situation over the weekend. This past weekend, he was scheduled to attend the Knoxville Fanboy Expo. While traveling to Knoxville, he exhibited some signs that needed to be addressed by medical personnel. He has been in the hospital since Thursday evening and that's where he currently is. Due to privacy concerns, no specific information will be given out about his current health status or anything of the sort. All that can and will be said is that Harley Race was, is, and will always be a fighter. He doesn't know anything else and he hasn't thrown in the towel and he has promised that as long as it is up to him, that won't be an option. His health is obviously top priority and with that being said, all of his upcoming appearances will be immediately cancelled. All promoters have been notified about the situation and we here are currently trying to come up with a solution to rectify the situation the best way possible. Unfortunately, since this situation has taken place while traveling to a signing, he is currently in a hospital that is pretty far away from home that has his family there with him. So, in an effort to help out with the un-expected expenses, we are selling t-shirts of which profits will be given directly to the situation. The link to purchase the t-shirts is below. We appreciate the support whether or not you purchase a t-shirt. This is just a little extra help when it is needed. The price of the shirt that has an exclusive design for both front and back prints are $24.99 (plus S&H). All shirts are going to start to be shipped on August 9, 2019. Regardless, please continue to support Harley Race, The Harley Race Wrestling Academy, and World League Wrestling. All events and camps are going to take place as scheduled and we look forward to keeping it that way because that is what Harley Race would do. We look forward to getting him back home and continuing to have the Greatest Wrestler on God's Green Earth.”

Originally Posted by Observer Revolution Pro Wrestling is holding a tag team tournament, with the winning team advancing to challenge for the IWGP Tag Team titles at NJPW Royal Quest in London on August 31. The quarterfinals are taking place on August 4, the semifinals are being held on August 11 (and August 18 if scheduling requires it), and the finals will be at Summer Sizzler on August 30. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) are the IWGP Tag Team Champions.

Originally Posted by PWI All Elite Wrestling revealed on the Road to Double or Nothing that WWE Hall of Famer and founding member of the Four Horsemen Tully Blanchard will be managing Shawn Spears going forward. Obviously, Blanchard has a long history with the Rhodes family.

Originally Posted by PWI Eric Bischoff arrived in Connecticut this week and officially starts his job as Executive Director of Smackdown tomorrow in Stamford at WWE HQ.

Originally Posted by PWI When Mexico's Lucha Libre AAA debuts in Madison Square Garden on Sunday 9/15 and returns to Los Angeles at the Forum on Sunday 10/13, each of those events will be presented live on PPV via all major PPV providers, PWInsider.com has confirmed. These would be the first official AAA PPV on PPV in years, although the company regularly streams big events on Twitch.TV. We are told that the events will be presented on secondary PPV channels as they will run opposite the 9/15 WWE Clash of Champions PPV and a planned 10/13 WWE PPV event as well. WWE has a date in Anaheim, CA on 10/13 currently. AAA will now be in a position where the majority of promotion for those events will go to WWE, since they will be on a higher-tier PPV channel. PWInsider.com has also confirmed that AAA has hired New York City-based Tupelo-Honey Productions to be their PPV production team for the PPV broadcasts. Impact Wrestling is expected to provide some talent for the events. Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie and Tessa Blanchard appeared at the MSG press conference this past April.

Originally Posted by PWI According to the WWE Performance Center website roster page, there have been several WWE NXT name changes: *Brennan Williams is now known as Dio Maddin *Nick Comoroto is now Nick Ogarelli *The former Robbie E/Robert Strauss in NXT is now Robert Stone *Rachel Evers is listed now as Rachel Ellering, so she may be going back to using that name although on her twitter, she is still referring to herself as Rachel Evers.

Originally Posted by Fightful The Rock is a very busy man, especially with his latest film, Hobbs & Shaw premiering in theaters on August 2, but that didn’t stop the WWE great from appearing at the WWE Performance Center earlier today. Sami Zayn tweeted about The Rock’s appearance, as he was at the WWE Performance Center to have an injured shoulder looked at ... There is no word yet as to why The Rock was at the WWE Performance Center, but his last in ring appearance was a victory over Erick Rowan at WWE Wrestlemania 32.

TPWW Frontpage:

• Braun Strowman Signs New Four-Year WWE Contract
• Will Ospreay Cleared to Return From Neck Injury
• Updated WWE SummerSlam Card After SmackDown

[RP]

Originally Posted by Observer While speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Seth Rollins was asked if he cared to address critics who say he doesn’t have good on-screen chemistry with Becky Lynch: “I think those critics might be a little jealous. I think that’s where a lot of that stems from. I mean, if I’m a dude and I’m watching television, and I have a crush on Becky Lynch, I’m probably not going to be to fond of the guy who’s dating her either so I get that. We have such great chemistry I think it’s funny that people think we don’t. Either way it amuses me.”

Ya critics are so jealous over a woman who sounds like she has a bag of marbles in her mouth and walks around like she has a dick in between her legs. Seth is not very bright.