[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Kurt Angle officially joining the WWE Hall of Fame tonight:

Originally Posted by PWI Fans will be hearing a familiar voice calling at least part of Wrestlemania 33, PWInsider.com has learned. WWE has signed a new deal with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross that will commence will Ross returning this Sunday at Wrestlemania 33 to commentate Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar. We are told that the deal will see Ross used in something of a Legends deal for material on the WWE Network, documentaries, etc. while occasionally appearing on WWE TV to commentate bouts post-Wrestlemania. How often Ross would appear on WWE television remains to be seen. The new WWE deal would mean that Ross could not be involved the World of Sport revival when that series tapes its first episodes this May in Great Britain. Ross called the pilot on New Year's Eve last year and was involved with a lot of the creative and production. It appears that the possibility of Ross calling a series for ITV prompted the new WWE deal. For those wondering about Ross calling New Japan on AXS TV, we are told that his status with that series would not change with this new WWE deal. We are told that the new deal was offered and signed prior to the recent passing of Ross' wife Jan. One source stated the deal was done five weeks ago.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, the plan for WrestleMania 33 this Sunday was for the Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Goldberg match to close the show. WWE officials have apparently changed their mind. Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns will most likely be the last match at WrestleMania. WWE apparently made the change after gauging fan interest for the event, and Taker vs. Reigns is the most anticipated match on the card. Obviously Vince McMahon can always change his mind, but as things stand, Reigns vs. Taker will main event the show.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc It was confirmed on tonight's WWE Hall of Fame pre-show that the SmackDown Women's Title match was moved from the WrestleMania 33 Kickoff pre-show to the main card. Cathy Kelley noted that the change was made after fans took to social media and demanded it. The match will see Alexa Bliss defend against Carmella, Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Natalya and Naomi.

Originally Posted by PWI In what will be a must see show, Michael Hayes just announced the following. Just did Table for 3 with Bischoff and Cornette, 1st time Eric and Corny had spoke in over 24 years!!! Never been a Table for 3 like this!!! — Michael PS Hayes (@MichaelPSHayes1) March 31, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer There were a lot of technical issues with today's PROGRESS Wrestling iPPV, which was offered on WWNLive.com. WWN's Gabe Sapolsky tweeted that their website had a "denial of server attack" and apologized for the problems. Sapolsky said that they would offer free VOD to everyone who ordered the live only option and would extend another make good to those who ordered it with VOD. He told those who wanted refunds to stop watching it if they were and to send an email asking for one.

Originally Posted by Observer Jeff Hardy played down talks of an imminent WWE return in an interview with CBS Sports. He said that The Hardys' contracts with ROH run through the summer and that signing with WWE would be a long process with all of the testing that they do. If and when they do return to WWE, The Hardys obviously wouldn't confirm it in any interviews.

Link to the interview: http://sports.cbslocal.com/2017/03/3...ring-of-honor/

Originally Posted by Observer Tomoaki Honma underwent surgery for his cervical spine injury within the last few days and has begun rehab.

Originally Posted by PWI The 3/30 edition of Impact on Pop brought in 297,000 viewers, down from last week's 305,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Daniel Bryan spoke with Gorilla Position about wrestling at WrestleMania 34 and facing The Miz. You can also hear his comments in the video above. "Okay, if you can convince these guys [WWE] to let me do it, like, I'd love to do it." Bryan was asked about facing The Miz at that show. "Uh, yeah, although- I don't know if I'd really want to go against The Miz. [Laughs] Okay, just look at the people around here, you got Nakamura over there. AJ Styles. Ya know, ya got, all the different people, ya know? So, yeah, great story and that might be the match that people would most want to see because they'd love to see me punch him in the face, I'd love to punch him in the face, but they don't let me punch people in the face anymore. It's not my deal anymore."

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Sting, Ric Flair and Jim Ross were at the WrestleCon Kickoff Q&A yesterday. Wrestling Inc. was on hand for the event, below are some highlights from Flair: * Flair said that he has no problem with John Cena tying his record. * He argued with Vince McMahon about wrestling Sting on the last WCW Monday Nitro because he was not happy with his appearance. * The original Black Scorpion was supposed to be Al Perez, but he didn't want to get beat. * He said that he'd never get back in the podcast business again after the backlash he received for saying that Finn Bálor would never main event a WrestleMania. * Flair said that if Sting would've gone to WWE before Hulk Hogan, there would've never been a Hogan because Sting would've been so over. Jim Ross added that Sting was reliable and very athletic. * He feels that Jay Lethal should be in the WWE, and thinks that Seth Rollins is a better heel than he is a face.

The podcast answer is pretty interesting considering he's already had 3 failed podcast shows.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Above is video from tonight's live "Bring It To The Table" with JBL, Peter Rosenberg and Corey Graves. The episode was shot from inside Camping World Stadium in Orlando, the site of WrestleMania 33. After making positive comments about Roman Reigns before, JBL says he's now hot about how the fans reacted. The SmackDown announcer said: "For all these internet fans out there that want to hate Roman Reigns and say, 'No, we're standing up because we don't like him...' Few people in the history of this business walk into an arena and everybody stands on their feet - everybody. I've seen it night after night after night. That to me is an absolute Superstar. Whether you love him or whether you hate him, Roman Reigns has earned his spot and I'm hot at all these little crybabies out there going, 'We just stand up and boo him because we really don't like him.' Oh, really?"

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVBq7Vnt4Iw

Originally Posted by Observer There are a ton of moves being made behind-the-scenes regarding WWE in the U.K. market in particular. I’ve noticed a number of people in the U.K. who were very happy with how the market was going who are worried about how the obvious war with ITV and WWE will change things. Again, the key is we don’t know ITV is in for the long haul. But if they are, the idea that promotions are going to have to choose sides like happens in Mexico. In Mexico, local promoters can book guys from one promotion but not the other is possible, if not likely to happen. WWE has put rules in play regarding its contracted talent, but the no streaming services may mean something for some companies, but for other companies, they can use the WWE talent with no restrictions

Originally Posted by Observer Bully Ray did an interview with The Sporting News and said the reason he never appeared as Bully Ray (a name he took out ownership of) in WWE was because of a character of a bully when WWE was working with Be a Star. That sounds weird because you could just do the character and not use the name Bully, since many of the heels in WWE and notably the heel authority figures are all bullies. He said Impact came at him hard with a significant money offer and he considered both ROH and Impact. He said that if Impact had communicated with him a little better he may have ended up there but his heart was with trying ROH and at the last moment he made the call

Originally Posted by Observer At press time, with more seats opened up after production has moved in, the only actually sold-out WWE events for the weekend are the NXT show on 4/1 and Raw on 4/3, both at the Amway Arena. Some seats were added for WrestleMania. On 3/28, there were 1,500 tickets left for WrestleMania, but by the next afternoon, more than 600 were sold and there were about 900 left. They put most of those new tickets on sale for $80, the lowest ticket price yet on the primary market. Smackdown has 500 tickets left. The Hall of Fame has 400 tickets left. What hurts the sales for the latter two is that it’s a soft market for those shows, in the sense that ticket speculators had assumed demand would be higher and they’d be able to get a good return on the tickets. You can get a better deal on the secondary market for all three shows and there are a ton of secondary market tickets out. The reality is the demand is lower than the supply for everything but the two sold out shows. The price of entry at press time for WrestleMania is $109, well under the previous lowest ticket price of $160. For Raw it’s $75, above the lowest ticket price. Takeover is $53. The Hall of Fame is $15 and Smackdown is down to $11. Last year’s hottest ticket on the secondary market by far, was the NXT show because WrestleMania was in such a large stadium that getting tickets wasn’t nearly as difficult. But that was all about the debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, who exploded the secondary market. This year, with Nakamura having had a year in the company, his title match with Bobby Roode is strong enough that NXT has exceeded the demand in the same building of both the Hall of Fame and, more impressively, Smackdown. It also shows that the reputation of the Raw after WrestleMania is not there at all at this point for Smackdown.

Gate revenue probably going to end up lower than what Mania 28 did which was the last time they were in Florida.

You got plans Saturday, @TheJimCornette? pic.twitter.com/fDEkVUFs2K

— Scott Dawson (@ScottDawsonWWE) March 31, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• For those with a FloSlam account and/or want to watch a really funny wrestling show, GCW held their Joey Janela Spring Break show last night which was one of the funniest wrestling shows I've ever seen. The Clusterf**k match itself was great for hilarious moments.
• Based on recent merch designs, WWE might be considering "The Vibe" as a catchphrase for Shinsuke Nakamura when he gets called up to the main roster. Image of his new shirt: http://shop.wwe.com/on/demandware.st...rge/W13224.jpg
• According to the Observer, former WWE ring announcer Justin Robert's upcoming book supposedly has several untold stories about the amount of harassing and terrible stuff done by JBL while he was at the company.
• During a recent episode of Sam Roberts podcast show, Big Show revealed this will be his final Wrestlemania and he will be retiring before the end of this year. Also revealed the issues with Shaq was more of a scheduling problem since Shaq wanted to show up just for Mania while WWE wanted him for all of Mania week. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...d_sam_roberts/
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, Vince McMahon once won a championship belt outside of WWE or ECW. Happened in August 2016 for Japanese promotion DDT for the Ironman Heavyweight championship and involved Vince's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star submitting Joey Ryan to become the new champion (#1147). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironma...nimate_objects