Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Smackdown gif:
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Originally Posted by Observer
SmackDown averaged 2.738 million viewers on Tuesday night. That number is up from the 2.566 million the show did last week, which was against President Donald Trump's address to Congress, and closer to the strong number that SmackDown did two weeks ago when it averaged 2.792 million viewers.
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Originally Posted by Observer
Daniel Bryan and The Miz continued to blur the line between storyline and reality on Talking Smack last night. After Bryan said that he didn't want to be an actor like Miz claimed to be, Miz replied that Bryan wants to wrestle but can't because of his history of head injuries. Bryan then asked if it was because he couldn't wrestle or if WWE wouldn't let him, and said that we'll see in a year and a half.
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Originally Posted by Observer
There was also a continuation of the storyline between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon, with Styles confronting Shane after SmackDown went off the air.
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Link to the video and Micheal Hayes pulling a Foley for wacky wardrobe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O8qM47GNJY
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Originally Posted by Observer
A 12-foot-tall version of the WWE Championship was unveiled on the shore of Lake Eola in Orlando today in advance of WrestleMania 33 taking place in the city next month.
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Link to the image of the giant WWE belt:
http://i.imgur.com/yiXDTVC.jpg
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Originally Posted by Observer
Edge celebrated International Women's Day with a post on his Facebook account about his wife Beth Phoenix and her induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
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Link to the posting:
https://www.facebook.com/EdgeWWE/pos...54582874015186
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Originally Posted by CageSideSeats
Miz’s promo material from the March 7 SmackDown about John Cena & Nikki Bella’s relationship being “for the cameras” and designed to make them more marketable is based on real backstage WWE gossip.
When Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin gets added to the WrestleMania card, expect it to be some sort of gimmick match.
The line-up for SmackDown’s Women’s title match at Mania is left open in hopes Naomi can be cleared and Eva Marie’s schedule is open.
Continued mixed signals on The Hardys future, as they were reportedly spotted in Pittsburgh last week, leading to speculation they were there to take their WWE physicals.
While at the same time, Matt filed for a trademark on the “Broken” character, which would likely mean if they came to WWE, it would be with their old or a different gimmick.
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Some recent news and rumors from Cagesideseats about Mania and the Hardys-WWE situation.
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Originally Posted by Observer
The Hardys will face The Briscoes at ROH's TV tapings in Las Vegas on Saturday after the promotion's 15th Anniversary pay-per-view the night before.
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Originally Posted by PWI
Glenn Moore sent this item.
I am the co-host of Jerry “The King” Lawler’s new podcast called ‘Dinner With The King’. We launched today with the first episode and will be releasing a new episode every Wednesday. You can find more information and links here: www.podavenue.com/king
During today’s first episode, Jerry reveals he will be doing commentary during one WrestleMania match and appearing on the pre-show. He also goes over his new contract with WWE, including when and where he got the phone call from WWE on status back in December. It was later followed up by a phone call from Vince McMahon. |
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Originally Posted by PWI
The updated lineup for Wrestlemania 33 on 4/2 Orlando, Florida:
*WWE Universal champion Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar.
*WWE champion Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton.
*The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns.
*WWE United States champion Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens.
*WWE Raw Women's champion Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte.
*WWE Raw Tag Team champions Gallows & Anderson vs. Cesaro & Sheamus/Enzo & Cass 3/12 Raw winner.
*WWE Smackdown Women's champion Alexa Bliss defending her championship against the Smackdown women's roster.
*The fourth annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal - Apollo Crews, Mojo Rawley.
*POSSIBLY: Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal.
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Current Mania card at the moment. Probably between 3-5 more matches remaining before the final card gets revealed.
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Originally Posted by PWI
After all, as you mentioned many casual fans come back once a year to watch the big show (and some may even come back to watch The Big Show). In most businesses, the company would use that uptick in customers to expose those fans to the great things that they have to offer.
In WWE’s case however, they put older, part time talent in prime positions and do it at the expense of the guys that did all of the heavy lifting all year long. It makes no sense at all to me to with people tuning in once a year you give them a 50 year old who has still not worked more than a few minutes defending the WWE Title against a part time guy who has decimated the entire roster, except for the 50 year old guy.
Why would they do it? Well in the old days the explanation always given was, “We charge a lot of money for this PPV, we have to put names on it that the casual fans know in the top matches" ...
With the advent of the WWE Network, they don’t need to chase the PPV beast anymore. People can either get a free month of the WWE Network or just pay $9.99 for it and get the biggest show of the year. They are not chasing buys any more. I get that they want to have a big name match with Lesnar vs. Goldberg and I am fine with that. That match is a draw all by itself. It doesn’t need the Title attached to it. But it has one and Kevin Owens is now relegated to a grudge match with Chris Jericho. To me, it would have made much, much more sense to have the casual fan tune in and see, “Hey, this Kevin Owens guy is really good and he just beat Chris Jericho, who is a huge star!”
In the case of Smackdown, it looks like it will be Randy Orton taking on Bray Wyatt so they at least could have Orton lose and elevate Wyatt, but that does nothing for AJ Styles, who was the MVP of the brand all year and maybe of the entire company over the period.
So to recap, no I can’t come up with any good reason to sacrifice the hard work that Styles and Owens put in all year. I think Vince McMahon made a really bad decision in both of their cases. Maybe they will both have amazing matches and it will make the casual fan stay on to watch them but there would have been a much better chance of that happening if those fans tuned in and saw those two as long running champions.
Instead, they will tune in and see that nothing much has changed since last year and I predict a significant percentage of them will do what they do every other year: Take the rest of the year off from WWE until next year’s WrestleMania.
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From PWI's weekly Q&A articles about people being upset at part-timers hogging too much of the spotlight at Mania and why WWE can't rely on the casual Mania crowd to boost RAW/Smackdown for the rest of the year.
http://www.pwinsider.com/article/108...mania.html?p=1
Some other sheet news includes: