[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Rasslin Mash-up gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network was up to 2.792 million viewers, the show's third-best showing since last July's brand split.

Around 166k more viewers than last week and 2nd highest viewed show this year for the brand.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE is booking Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, Wolfgang, Joseph Conners, T-Bone, Mark Andrews, James Drake, Dan Moloney Sean Gradwell, Saxon Huxley, Tucker and Jordan Devlin on its May tour of the U.K.

Originally Posted by PWI Defendants in the lawsuit filed by UFC fighter Mark Hunt against UFC, Brock Lesnar and UFC President Dana White have to respond to the lawsuit by 2/28 after being given a requested extension of time to respond to the suit, which was filed last month. Court records indicate that UFC was served officially with the suit, but does not note whether Lesnar was personally served. As PWInsider.com reported last month, Hunt's lawsuit in the United States District Court of Nevada alleges that, "Without Mark Hunt's knowledge or consent, the UFC conspired and caused Brock Lesnar, a doping fighter, to fight Hunt, a clean fighter, despite the fact that Lesnar used substances banned by the UFC, USADA and WADA. The substances, Clomiphene and 4-Hydroxyclomiphene, are known “Post Cycle Therapy” (“PCT”) substances believed to be used after a period of strength training with anabolic steroids or similar prohibited substances."

Other claims in the lawsuit includes damaged reputation because Hunt lost the fight and compensation in terms of money a fairer share of the fight purse due to Lesnar cheating.

Originally Posted by PWI TNA production company (and at least at one point, minority owner) Aroluxe LLC and Ronald Dean Harris (aka Ron Harris of the Bruise Brothers) were dismissed as defendants in the ongoing lawsuit former TNA production company, Audience of One Productions, LLC filed against [Elite subscribers, click here] TNA parent company Impact Ventures LLC and TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia on 2/6. The dismissal came at the request of Audience of One following a hearing on 2/3 that saw Aroluxe's Jason Brown and Harris each speak regarding why they should not be defendants in the case ... While Harris and Aroluxe had requested the lawsuit be dismissed, that request was dropped once Audience of One requested they be dropped as defendants. The court officially removed them without prejudice (which means that legal action could be opened against them again down the line, if Audience of One finds something over the course of the case that leads to them wishing to file new claims against them) and that each party would be responsible for their own legal costs. With the dismissals, Impact Ventures and Broadhead remain the only defendants. Audience of One's lawsuit alleges that TNA's Dean Broadhead and Impact Ventures worked to get them on board under the false pretense of using them full-time as TNA's production company, only to then fail to pay them in a timely fashion for work done, requiring the set up of an agreed upon payment plan. According to the lawsuit, TNA then allegedly stopped paying after the first initial payment installment was made. Audience of One is seeking $223,000 plus interest and post-judgment costs for breach of contract and for the defendants violating Virginia code. A Settlement Conference has been set for the morning of 4/5 in an attempt to settle the matter before going to trial.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE announced they would return to Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 6/30 and 7/1. Additional details will be announced in March.

Originally Posted by PWI The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured a piece on Bruno Sammartino reflecting on the passings of George Steele and Ivan Koloff at this link. Sammartino noted that he helped to discover each and that with all of the surgeries he's racked up over the years, he's often wondered when his own number would be up, but he's "functioning fairly well" despite the toll pro wrestling has taken on his body.

Link to the interview: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/r...s/201702220084

Originally Posted by PWI Attorneys representing dozens of former WWF/WWE contracted performers (as well as talents who worked for the company in the past on a per match basis) filed a motion with the United States District Court of Connecticut yesterday regarding the class action lawsuit regarding WWE's alleged handling of concussions and the classification of WWE performers as independent contractors instead of professional wrestlers, arguing that the court should not stop discovery when it comes to the case (as WWE recently requested) invoking a number of recent deaths, including Jimmy Snuka, Ivan Koloff and George Steele, as a primary reason to push forward. WWE attorneys have been attempting to stop discovery in case since the new class action suit was added to the existing lawsuits that were already ongoing, most recently filing a motion with their arguments to the court on 2/1. The plaintiffs' attorneys have been arguing that the plaintiffs (who filed their lawsuit in July 2016) were not yet suing WWE when discovery was halted on the existing, related cases, therefore the new plaintiffs could not have had time for the court to properly hear their charges.

More details about recent updates from the on-going concussion lawsuit: http://www.pwinsider.com/article/107...march.html?p=1

Billie Kay may have suffered an injury at tonight's WWE NXT TV tapings from the University of Central Florida. After losing a quick match to Ember Moon via the Eclipse, trainers ran out to check on Billie. She ended up leaving on her own but was holding her neck and crying. It appeared she was injured by Ember's finisher. That match should air on March 8th but it wasn't clear. Below are photos from the end of the match: Trainers out to help Kay pic.twitter.com/K9Y23aO7tK — JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) February 23, 2017 Billie is up. Being helped to the back. pic.twitter.com/FMF3iOyRiu — JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) February 23, 2017

Originally Posted by Observer WWN, which is the Evolve family of promotions, is going to crown a champion that will be recognized throughout all of its promotions on the 4/1 show in Orlando. The idea is that every WWN promotion will send a representative into a multi-person elimination match to crown the first champion, who will defend the title in all of the groups

Originally Posted by Observer Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm met with ITV in the U.K. on 2/16 in Leicester, UK. We’re told the meeting went well. ITV is looking at launching World of Sport as a regular weekly television show, but they want to work with wrestling people to monetize the brand and get global distribution of the show. Anthem could put the show on The Fight Network and has connections for distribution, such as places that have deals with TNA as well. I don’t know how all the meetings worked out but ITV was looking at Anthem to put some money in, get some responsibilities, in exchange for owning a percentage of the promotion

Originally Posted by Observer The reason ref was Marty Elias was digitized in the Hardys match with Super Crazy & Psicosis from Tijuana on Impact was because Lucha Underground threatened them with legal action because the ref had appeared on their show. The funny part of the legal threat is that AAA was at about the same time trying to cut a deal with TNA to keep them from working with The Crash, even though AAA works with Lucha Underground, and the key guy in charge of both is Dorian Roldan. Dorian Roldan had contacted Jeff Jarrett about working together, since the word had gotten out that Jarrett was working a date for Konnan later this month. Then, after their talk, TNA got a legal letter from Lucha Underground threatening a lawsuit because Marty Rubalcaba (Elias) who they have under contract and they consider their intellectual property was to appear on the TNA television show. The funny part of this is that TNA wouldn’t have really been that concerned because as one person noted, they get lawsuit threats all the time, but Lucha Underground also sent the letter to The Crash Promotion, Konnan, and Pop TV, and because it went to Pop TV, it became an issue with TNA. So for the first time I can ever recall, the referee had to be digitized out on a pro wrestling show. Needless to say that TNA wasn’t happy about how one day the company wants to work together and the next they threaten a lawsuit over a referee. Technically, Lucha Underground would be in the right.

Originally Posted by Observer In something of a surprise, since Galloway’s contract is done this month, before the next tapings, but TNA hasn’t talked with him regarding a new deal as of yet. Nick Aldis (Magnus) was offered a contract to return. He hasn’t signed the deal. The Hardys are very much up in the air. They are committed to dates through April. They have told indie promoters when it comes to dates starting in May that they can’t commit until they figure out their next step. Their contracts either have just expired or will be expiring within the next week. WWE has made it clear they want them while avoiding any direct negotiations with contracted talent

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding the WWE Network and deals with U.K. promotions, they are still on the table. Vince McMahon changed his mind so many times that the delay in announcing anything could have meant he did so again. But we’re told the delay is that WWE told ICW to get their house in order as it regarded trademarks and music and perhaps that WWE first wants to make its announcement about its own weekly television series in the U.K. An example of this is that Drew Galloway’s entrance music will be specific to ICW and the WWE Network when the deal goes through, and he’s had Psycho Dalek finishing a new custom entrance track that he debuted last week on the What Culture iPPV show

Originally Posted by Observer Evidently on the 2/14 Smackdown show in the Wyatt vs. Cena vs. Styles main event, the booked finish was Styles losing the fall. Cena pushed that he should lose the fall. Given the Styles lost at the end in the Chamber match and Cena is far more bullet proof, another clean loss would have hurt Styles far more than another clean loss would have hurt Cena, plus Styles is staying and Cena is leaving in less than two months so it makes sense. All the McMahons were gone that day. It works both ways. Years ago, when the Nexus angle was strong, a number of people blame Cena for not listening when several of the guys insisted that Nexus had to go over in that first match, and they didn’t

Some other sheet news includes:

• During a recent set of NXT tapings, Finn Balor revealed he will be making his in-ring return within the next 2 weeks.
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Glacier's debut in WCW. Website Vocativ had an article about the circumstances leading to WCW dropping the character a year later. http://www.vocativ.com/falsestart/40...ood-runs-cold/
• ROH is currently holding a 35% off sale on DVDs as part of their 15th Anniversary celebrations. www.ROHWrestling.com.
• During a recent interview in Japan, Kota Ibushi revealed some tweaks to his Tiger W mask will likely be made so its easier for him to wrestler in it. Also hyped up his upcoming match against Okada. https://twitter.com/reasonjp/status/834866572078374912
• Based on past incidents, WWE might end up dropping future mentions of "The List of Jericho" for PR reasons after a recent school incident and Jericho being named as the inspiration for it. A middle school student created a "Kill list" in the vein of Jericho's list and outed Jericho as the inspiration for his version of it. http://www.mynews13.com/content/news...poinciana.html
• According to the Observer, Naomi suffered a similar knee injury as Seth Rollins and a same recovery time needed for it.