[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Steve Blackman's quest to rid the world of cheese:

As noted, WWE United States Champion John Cena has been removed from several WWE live events and RAW tapings after WWE Hell In A Cell later this month. However, as of this morning, Cena still remained advertised for the WWE European tour. Since that report, WWE has removed Cena from the European tour. Cena has actually been removed from all WWE televised and live events until the December 30th WWE live event in Toronto. It should be noted that WWE only has a handful of events listed for December, so there is a chance that Cena might be added to more events that month. However, WWE has their full schedule for November and Cena is not advertised for any shows that month

Either he's dropping the belt very soon or the WWE didn't plan for the second Open Challenge series to be a weekly thing like the original.

Originally Posted by Observer Raw on 9/28 did a 2.32 rating and 3.32 million viewers (1.50 viewers per home), once again setting a new non-holiday mark for the show dating back to 1997, just under the 3.34 million viewers on 9/21 but well below the non-holiday record lows of a 2.42 rating set on 9/7 and 9/14. The new record low they heading toward, which would be the lowest including holidays, would be a 2.24 rating and 3.14 million viewers for a show that aired on Christmas Eve in 2012. The last time Raw did a 2.3 rating non-holiday was October 27, 1997, a night they went not only against the NFL, but also against a Nitro show that did a 4.6 rating. If you want to think of it in another way, Nitro, as horrible as it was in 1999, never came close to a 2.3 until the summer of 2000, and that was against a Raw show that did a 5.3 rating.

Originally Posted by Observer The key losses are in Males 18-34, where Raw is down a whopping 21.7%

Update to where RAW is losing the most viewers (and ratings) which also is the target demo for advertisers.

Originally Posted by Observer If you’re looking at how football has affected Raw and where, the 8/31 show was the last show without football competition, and did a 2.73 rating and 3.89 million viewers. So, if all things are equal (and they’re not, because viewership of TV is up since 8/31, so the affect of football is slightly greater than the stats comparing dates will bear out), we’ve had a 15.0% drop in ratings over the four weeks and a 14.7% drop in total audience. Usually football will cause about a 9-10% drop in ratings and audience so it is hurting Raw more this year than any year I can recall.

Scott Fishman of Channel Guide Mag spoke with Paul Heyman, who was discussing Lesnar's WWE appearances this month. During the interview, Fishman asked Heyman about WWE's declining ratings. "I think if there is erosion in the ratings then we are in a cycle within the industry where fans are going and looking for or finding other interests," Heyman said. "This is not dissimilar to any other forms of entertainment. The key has always been to replace those who leave, to bring in more fans at any time you are losing fans. At this particular point in time there is a search to find the new fan. I am not one who looks at the ratings every Tuesday and says, 'Well, we haven't replaced everybody that is left. The ratings didn't double.' I'm not expecting that type of increase tomorrow or the next week or the week after that. "Any business with longevity, and this is the one company in the business that has survived, deals with this. They survive because when there was an erosion of the audience and they had to replenish the audience, there isn't a panic. Panic is never the answer. Panic never brings up the ratings. A long-term solution is with a number of brand new stars, all in compelling situations with riveting storylines and new matchups. That is what will bring an upswing to the ratings ever so slowly to where the average rating goes up a little bit each month. Then a couple of years from now the erosion have taken place of the people that have left being fans and a new generation or group or crop of fans has come in. It's natural evolution of any form of entertainment."

http://www.channelguidemagblog.com/i...-to-hell-tour/

Originally Posted by Observer Bischoff said it never came off to him like Turner had a grudge against McMahon, and that he rarely spoke to Turner the entire time he was running WCW, saying he may bump into him briefly at a Christmas party, a corporate event or occasionally they were in the same elevator since they operated out of the same office.

On the supposed Turner vs McMahon feud that the WWE likes to hype up a lot for the MNW/Attitude Era.

Originally Posted by Observer Jesse Ventura is pushing the idea of being Vice President on the Bernie Sanders ticket, saying he thinks Sanders is the candidate most likely to bring our troops back from the Middle East, which Ventura said would be one of his political priorities. Sanders is an independent candidate from Vermont. Ventura has a slightly better chance of winning the Miss Universe contest than being Vice President.

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding last week’s notes about WrestleMania, this is the little we’ve been able to find out. Steve Austin on Twitter seemed to close the door to any idea of facing Lesnar, saying it wasn’t going to happen. As of right now, Rock vs. HHH is still one of the projected main events, so that takes Rock out of any possibility of facing Lesnar, and takes Rollins out of any possibility of facing HHH. Those in WWE close to the situation knew nothing about an Austin vs. Lesnar match. Every indication from Austin has been that he’s not going to wrestle again, and a few months back, when he did that promo on Lesnar and then I was told point blank he wasn’t going to wrestle at Mania and Vince was upset about the promo, that to me seemed to close the book on it. If there was ever going to be a place and opponent this would be it, but there was a good reason he retired in 2003 and has resisted all attempts to wrestle again.

Originally Posted by Observer The second part of the Eisenhower Fellowship that Stephanie McMahon got was from 10/4 to 11/22. Not sure of the dates she’ll be gone, but if she’s off television for a few weeks soon, that’s the reason. She missed a lot of TV during the first part.

Originally Posted by Obsever Regarding the item here last week about Carlito and returning, he was asked about it and said that it all depends on the money offer they make. As noted here, they made an offer that he considered low, and he turned it down, but he made it clear he’d come back with the right offer. The talks of unmasking Los Matadores and revealing them as Colons is still on the table.

Originally Posted by Observer There is talk of using Austin, Flair and Michaels to be an in-ring panel talking about who is going to win the climactic Lesnar vs. Undertaker match when they appear on the 10/19 Raw in Dallas, although that idea is likely to change many times between now and then.

Originally Posted by PWI The 9 p.m. airing of Impact on 9/30 did 275,000 viewers, up from last week’s 272,000 viewers. The replay did 69,000, down from last week’s 122,000 viewers. Overall, they did 344,000 viewers, down from last week’s 394,000 viewers. The 9/30 edition of Ring Of Honor did 127,000 viewers, down from last week’s 168,000 viewers.

Some other sheet news includes:

• WWE supposedly signed a promotional deal with indie fed AIW recently. Deal includes the WWE helping to promote an upcoming AIW event (or two). https://twitter.com/JohnThorneAIW/st...24785654050816
• This week's episode for TPWW's TLP podcast was recently released: http://tablesladderspodcast.podbean....st-123-300915/