[Emperor Smeat]

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SPOILER: show

Originally Posted by Observer Cena vs. Undertaker has been planned for WrestleMania for months, and Undertaker has been training for the match. Undertaker will obviously be in New Orleans to confront Cena. The last word we got, which was on 4/3, is that from Vince McMahon's standpoint, the belief is that the audience knows he's going to show up and this is the "story" that brings him back to "kick Cena's ass". They are also of the belief announcing Taker in advance won't compel anyone to purchase the network, as anyone inclined is getting the network for the show anyway. This is Vince McMahon's story and he seems very happy with it. I think part of it is that Vince McMahon can say, `people are invested in the mere chance Undertaker will show up!"' If that means a match, or just a confrontation to build to a match next year, is hard to say, past that it was always scheduled as a match dating back several months.

Spoiler tags used since its related to potential Taker-Cena Mania plans.

Originally Posted by Observer With Low Ki out of the main event, a big replacement has been lined up for Matt Riddle's Bloodsport. Game Changer Wrestling announced tonight that Minoru Suzuki is replacing Low Ki and will be facing Riddle at tomorrow's (Thursday) show. No reason was given for Low Ki no longer being on the card. This will be the second time that Suzuki and Riddle have faced each other, with Suzuki having defeated him at Revolution Pro Wrestling's Global Wars UK show in Walthamstow last November. Suzuki will be in action at RevPro's event in New Orleans on Friday as he takes on Jeff Cobb.

Event aired earlier today but supposedly Low Ki claimed having a "neck injury" as the excuse for why he couldn't make it today. Speculation around the net is the real reason is due to him getting wasted and/or forgetting to board his flight on time.

Originally Posted by PWI Edge tweeted: Tomorrow on @EandCPod it’s kind of a big one. For #Wrestlemania we have The Hardy’s @MATTHARDYBRAND & @JEFFHARDYBRAND Suffice it to say we have A LOT of ground to cover with this one. Enjoy Hosers pic.twitter.com/TZIIwrVoMU — Adam (Edge) Copeland (@EdgeRatedR) April 5, 2018

Link: https://twitter.com/EdgeRatedR/statu...95218588327936

Originally Posted by PWI The 2018 WWE Hall of Fame Legacy Wing inductees are: *Former WWWF champion Stan Stasiak. *Lord Alfred Hayes. *Dara Singh. *Cora Combs *El Santo. *Jim Londos. *Rufus R. Jones. *Sputnik Monroe. *Boris "The Great" Malenko.

Originally Posted by PWI For the third year in a row, The Taz Show, hosted by former WWE and ECW star Taz will be broadcast a live, three hour special following Wrestlemania 34. The show will air from 11 PM - 2 AM Eastern. The show will be syndicated across a number of CBS Sports Radio stations including WFAN 660 in New York City, 670 The Score in Chicago, 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, 560 WQAM in Miami and 106.7 The Fan in Washington, DC. We should have a full list of stations shortly. For the first time ever, the show will also broadcast live on SiriusXM Radio channel 206 and of course, will stream live at www.TazShow.com.

Originally Posted by PWI On SiriusXM’s MMA Tonight yesterday, host Miesha Tate commented on former UFC Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s MMA losses being brought up as part of her Wrestlemania 34 storyline, noting, "I am so shocked that Ronda allowed that to happen. I just for some reason picture her having such a problem with that being in the script and knowing that that was going to be said ahead of time, I really feel like that deep down has to burn her cookies, but for whatever reason she’s not in the same position to pull as much weight around as she was in the UFC being she’s just starting her WWE career. So she probably just had to suck it up and allow for that to be said. But I guarantee you she did not like that at all.” Tate, also a former UFC Bantamweight champion followed up, "I still think if she had enough say-so, she wouldn’t have let it happen. I really know that she has a problem with this but I don’t think she had a choice.”

Originally Posted by PWI The Ring of Honor App, featuring the ROH Honorclub streaming service, is now officially available Android phones and Android TV. The ROH app for iOS as well as the ROH Channel for Apple TV and Roku channel remain in the review process by those respective platforms. They will be released as soon as possible but most likely not before Saturday's Supercard of Honor event.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former wrestler and manager Johnny Valiant / “Luscious” Johnny V (Thomas Sullivan) was killed on Wednesday morning after being struck by a truck. The accident occurred early in the morning in Ross Township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. News of the accident was reported by WPXI on Wednesday morning, stating that Valiant ran across the middle of McKnight Road around 5 am when it was still dark out and raining. McKnight is said to be a busy road and Valiant opted not to use the crosswalk section.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE tweeted the following: WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer “Luscious” Johnny Valiant reportedly passed away this morning at the age of 71. https://t.co/vNfhyVo3Pb — WWE (@WWE) April 5, 2018

Originally Posted by Observer Even though Angelico has been in Europe and wasn't used for the recently-completed season, he asked for his release and was turned down. Jack Evans also asked for his release but he was expecting to get it. It's notable that Evans & Angelico loved Lucha Underground when it started. Some of the people who signed the seven season contract were told that they would be doing two seasons per year, so they figured it was like a three-and-a-half year deal and they'd be working constantly as opposed to a seven-year deal with little work.

Originally Posted by Observer With 5,843 tickets sold, ROH’s Supercard of Honor XII show on Saturday night is now sold out.

Originally Posted by Observer ROH has booked the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA for a 6/30 show. I don't know if this is it, but there are plans to shoot for another big number this year with a loaded up show. There is a goal of doing a big show with the idea of beating 6,700 paid (which would be the most paid attendance for a non-WWE branded show in the U.S. since the death of WCW, which was the March 10, 2013, TNA Lockdown PPV show at the Alamodome in San Antonio, which was headlined by Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy for the TNA title in a cage match)

Originally Posted by Observer As of press time, the feeling is that Lesnar is finishing up this week. Until the decision is final, I don't consider anything in a situation with Lesnar done no matter how many times you get told he's really going to UFC. Part of this is a TV angle to get him booed where they all but told everyone he was leaving and even did a deal where they portrayed it like Heyman was talking to somebody in UFC. Besides, I think everyone knows that if he goes to UFC, it's only for a few fights and I can't imagine he won't be back because will be back. The Heyman situation is up on the air, although him saying that he and Lesnar won't ever be on Raw again if Reigns wins the title was a pretty strong statement indicating either they may change the finish (which, after three years, I'd be surprised, but then again, nothing should be a surprise), or he believes he's gone. Rousey does want Heyman to be her spokesperson and there is the political issue we've described as to why that probably won't happen because it doesn't fit their big picture narrative on why Rousey is there. The idea is for Rousey to be the babyface antagonist of Stephanie, and while Lesnar ended up a babyface, and not by design, with Heyman, the Heyman role is more of a heel. A lot of people think the fan base will turn on Rousey at some point, but she's also there because to the outside world, she's the biggest star in the company and she had incredible drawing power with women. The funny part of this is that based on the limited stats we have, on the Raw she's been on, younger men viewing is way up and women viewing is not

Supposedly Lesnar's actual WWE contract doesn't end till a few months later although Mania 34 is his last confirmed date for the deal.

Originally Posted by Observer As is the custom, on 4/9, WWE will be announcing updated WWE Network numbers. The key to this number is that it's heavily inflated by all of the $9.99 or less offers for three months, so actual paid should be way up, but that's not necessarily indicative of anything past lots of people signed up at the best time of the year when at the same time the price was lowered greatly. On TV, they were pushing like crazy you could see Mania free so I think the 4/9 headline will be the idea of topping the 2 million total subscriber mark and having people think that's a paid number. The actual comparison of the revenue up until a week before the show will be out probably in early May, which will give a lot better impression of how the network is really doing than the cold number and even the paid number because of all the bargain prices. The actual revenue comparison for Mania season and the churn won't be out until early August, by which time the Mania numbers (like the real attendance) are yesterday's news story. The real WrestleMania attendance number won't be out until August either, but the usual inflation is about 10,000, although the AT&T Stadium inflation was told to me by stadium itself as 8,000 but the police records and turnstile count indicate the attendance announced was exaggerated by 20,000

Originally Posted by Observer Dave Bautista was saying that he had been talked with about being Rousey's partner, which does make sense given the spot was originally earmarked for Dwayne Johnson

Originally Posted by Observer Drew McIntyre was shown in a video bench pressing 400 pounds a few weeks ago, which is more than he could ever do before, which indicates his arm has healed up from the torn biceps suffered in his Takeover match back in November where he lost the NXT title to Andrade Cien Almas. He is pretty much ready to return, and it's just a question of when and how they want to introduce him. Actually with the time off, he's probably healthier than he's been in years because all the regular nagging injuries heal up when you're off

Originally Posted by Observer WWE stock closed on 4/3 at $35.50 per share, giving the company a market value of $2.739 billion

For some comparisons, UFC was valued at $4 billion when it was sold to new owners last year.

Originally Posted by Observer With nothing major new except the in-ring, the 205 Live show on 3/27 with a four-way main event was the second most-watched show of the WWE on the WWE Network, notable because the prior week with the Ali vs. Gulak match to determine who went to Mania, it wasn't even top ten. The top ten this week were: 1. NXT on 3/28; 2. 205 Live on 3/27; 3. Mixed Match Challenge from 3/27; 4. Photo Shoot: Kofi Kingston; 5. NXT from 3/21; 6. Fast Lane 2018; 7. Royal Rumble 2018; 8. WWE 24: Empowered; 9. WrestleMania 33; 10. WrestleMania 30

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has a new poll asking fans who will steal the show at WrestleMania 34. As of this writing, 27% voted for Daniel Bryan while 25% voted for WWE Champion AJ Styles, 18% for Ronda Rousey, 9% for Seth Rollins, 5% for Finn Balor, 5% for Asuka, 5% for Mustafa Ali, 3% for Cedric Alexander, 2% for SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and 2% for SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos.

Originally Posted by Observer On WWE’s poster for the WrestleMania 34 matches, John Cena vs. The Undertaker is listed with a question mark asking if Undertaker will accept his challenge. It says they can’t guarantee that the match is happening.

Link: https://twitter.com/kimberlasskick/s...42094796386305

Originally Posted by Observer With today marking eight years since the match took place, WWE uploaded The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania XXV for free on YouTube.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdM5lGZZJ54

Originally Posted by Observer After meeting with the Louisiana athletic commission about WrestleMania week, Gabe Sapolsky tweeted that piledrivers are the only moves that will be an issue: “Just met with commission, all the ‘banned’ moves beyond piledrivers is much ado about nothing. We are going to tear the house down at the WWNLive Experience!”

Link: https://twitter.com/BookItGabe/statu...43020328247296

Originally Posted by Observer In a feature done by ESPN, Matt Riddle opened up about potentially signing with a bigger company: “Right now I think we're at a time where we don't need one main company to be our backer. I do know if I was at a bigger company I would be seen by more people, but at the same time would they present me the way I want to be seen? Can I be Matt Riddle? Can I be the King of the Bros? Can I be that guy, or do you want to change me? I'm not really trying to change. I like who I am. I like being me."

Link: http://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/2...s-wrestlemania


Some other sheet news includes:

• In honor of Wrestlemania 34, Psyonix studio and WWE are partnering together on a new WWE themed DLC for Rocket League. Content update for the game will arrive this Sunday prior to the start of Mania 34. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...unday.html?p=1
• Also in honor of Mania week, Pro Wrestling Tees is currently holding a 20% Off sale starting today and lasting till April 9th. https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/
• Website NOLA.com had a recent interview with Paul Heyman talking about his relationship with Vince, ECW, and his One Man show in New Orleans tonight. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-nola.html?p=1
• According to the Observer, Vader's recent heart surgery lasted around 7 hours with 10 clogged arteries discovered by doctors.
• Fox Sports Australia had a recent interview with Buddy Murphy talking about being frustrated over the direction of his NXT career and being hesitant on joining 205 Live. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...ed-in-wwe-nxt/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• JR & Lawler Will Commentate on Andre Battle Royal + More Kickoff News
• Dana White Confirms CM Punk’s Next UFC Opponent
• Videos: WWE Action Figures, WrestleMania Dream Matches, Jeff Jarrett