[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Psycho Sid laughing at things:

Originally Posted by Observer After last week's post-brand split high-water mark of 3.11 million viewers for the second night of WWE's Superstar Shakeup, SmackDown ratings came crashing all the way down to 2.54 million this week. That's the lowest number the show has done since January 10th and well below what SmackDown has been averaging since moving to its live format on Tuesday nights.

Missed being the least viewed show of the year by around 11k and had the biggest weekly drop since moving to USA Network.

Originally Posted by Observer Daria Berenato and Macey Estrella both got new names at the [NXT]tapings. Berenato is now known as "Sonya Deville" and Estrella's new name is "Lacey Evans."

Originally Posted by Observer After they moved over from Raw in the Superstar Shakeup, Primo and Epico were repackaged as "The Colons" on television this week.

Originally Posted by Observer What Culture Pro Wrestling announced that Drew Galloway would defend his WCPW title in a 30-man Championship Rumble match at an iPPV on April 29th. His final date for the promotion will be the next day as he fulfills his commitments after re-signing with WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer Continuing to add members of Los Ingobernables de Japon to the War of the Worlds tour, Ring of Honor announced SANADA and BUSHI for the four shows. Tetsuya Naito and EVIL were both previously announced for the tour. The stops are in Toronto on May 7th, Dearborn on the 10th, New York on the 12th, and Philadelphia on the 14th. Christopher Daniels will defend his ROH World Championship against Matt Taven on the show in Dearborn.

Originally Posted by PWI On the sixth episode of ‘Dinner With The King’, Jerry “The King” Lawler talks with co-host Glenn Moore about his feud with Andy Kaufman. This episode if the first of a multi-part series about the famous pro wrestling vs. entertainment battle early 80s. The subject of Andy Kaufman and the WWE Hall of Fame came up and The King proclaimed that Kaufman rightfully deserves to be inducted. "I think that without a doubt he does. Probably the main drawback, or main hold up, or resistance to that is the fact that Andy never had a match in WWE. There’s definitely a place for Andy, at least, in the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. That match that Andy and I had, it almost supersedes any organization. It was just about wrestling, in general. If you look back and really consider all the facts, that match was so important in the way wrestling evolved after. That was the beginning of sports entertainment. That was the first time that wrestling and the entertainment world collided head-to-head and wound up working together.” He also talks about how Vince McMahon Sr. turned down Kaufman’s idea, and later was told by Vince K. McMahon that he was jealous that Lawler was able to work with Kaufman and gained all the publicity. He goes on to share audio from the beginning of his feud with Kaufman and how the match came to fruition.

Originally Posted by PWI World Wrestling Entertainment filed a motion seeking a summary judgment that would end the lawsuit brought against them by former WWE performer Vito LoGrasso and former WWE developmental talent Evan Singleton on 4/17 in the United States District Court of Connecticut. To review, previous lawsuits against WWE involving Billy Jack Haynes, Ryan Sakoda, Russ McCullough and Matthew "Luther Reigns" Wiese have all been dismissed (all are currently appealing that decision) while a lawsuit brought by Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton saw all of their claims against WWE tossed from court, with the exception of one claim - one alleging that in 2005, WWE "became aware of and failed to disclose to its wrestlers information concerning a link between repeated head trauma and permanent degenerative neurological conditions" - was allowed to move forward. Since WWE had created it's Wellness Policy in 2005 and LoGrasso and Singleton had wrestled during that period, the court ruled it was within reason that there was a possibility that WWE had a "greater knowledge" of the dangers via information cultivated via Wellness Policy data. So the court has allowed that aspect of the case to move forward so the matter can be determined, although depositions involving the Plaintiffs in that case have revealed holes in those claims.

Link with more details (Make sure ad/pop-up blocker is enabled since PWI's website is pretty bad in general): http://www.pwinsider.com/article/109...sions.html?p=1

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As seen in the video above, TMZ Sports caught up with Tommy Dreamer and Bubba Ray Dudley, who spoke about Shane McMahon. Bubba was asked if Shane was a good wrestler, and while Bubba said Shane isn't necessarily "in the traditional sense," Shane is great at "creating that holy sh-t moment." Bubba added that Shane is crazy and is always looking to steal the show. Dreamer added that Shane is technically sound, citing Shane's match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania 33. He also said that Shane should enter the UFC because he "is a real badass" and would fare well and would choke people out or knock them out. Bubba agreed, saying that Shane is like a rabid pitbull that would fight to the death and that "you would have to kill him to beat him."

Been laughing at the mental image of Shane throwing his terrible looking punches in a real fight.

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Jinder Mahal won the Six-Pack Challenge and became new #1 contender to WWE Champion Randy Orton thanks to an assist from The Bollywood Boyz. It appears they have dropped that gimmick and are now being called The Singh Brothers, Gurv and Harv. WWE posted this photo of the group backstage after the match:

Link to the Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTDDZjKgi0q/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Ember Moon may have suffered an injury at tonight's WWE NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University. A battle royal to crown a new #1 contender to NXT Women's Champion Asuka was taped for the May 17th episode ... During the match, Ember was knocked from the top rope to the floor. Our correspondent noted that she essentially did a suicide dive and nailed the guardrail with her shoulder. The match soon ended while Ember was seen crying at ringside. She was helped to the back by referees and medics.

Regarding WWE working on a deal with Anthem, WWE is not willing to give Anthem any royalties or budge on any long-term merchandise deals. WWE officials are hoping to make it a done deal with one lump sum and take full control of the gimmick forever. While they are hoping the “Broken” changes will begin once The Hardys drop the titles, they won’t begin things until the deal with Anthem is done. WWE officials realize that the current Hardy Boys gimmick will eventually run its course and they are bringing the “Broken” gimmicks to WWE as a way to capitalize off the brothers and make money with them longterm. On a related note, we reported after WrestleMania 33 how Jeff was banged up going into the big return match in Orlando. Hardy has been in pain since and continues to work banged up. Vince McMahon is reportedly interested in giving Jeff a main event singles run sooner than later. Vince has mentioned doing feuds with Jeff vs. Finn Balor and Jeff vs. current WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.

Link to the article: http://www.dailywrestlingnews.com/ww...-negotiations/

I was just in disguise tonight lads.... Specky Lynch. #SDLive pic.twitter.com/IxUWD4t0jp

— Becky Lynch (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 19, 2017

Some other sheet news includes:

• Sports Illustrated recently had an interview with Cody Rhodes talking about his time in the indies, Dusty Rhodes, and not being able to use the Rhodes name. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/201...week-wrestling
• Current rumor going around the net implied Lucha Underground is getting close to being done as a promotion. Supposedly company itself is very close to collapsing and in-fighting is going on with the company's owners.
• According to the Observer, WWE is currently upset with 205 Live in regards to overall public interest. Supposedly they are upset the most at the low viewership for the show with NXT performing better of the two Network exclusive shows.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday's Six Pack Challenge match was Jinder Mahal's first match on Smackdown since May 2014. Also his first tv win on Smackdown since October 2012.
• WWE is currently rumored to have spent around $5 million making the stage for Wrestlemania 33.