[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Becky channeling her inner Sting:

Originally Posted by Observer With the WWE brand split imminent, there has been talk of doing individual Raw and Smackdown Pay Per Views/WWE Network Special Events similar to what they did during the last time they split brands. Until now, that was purely speculation. The PPV schedule that has been going around is legit. So there are apparently nine more PPV/WWE Network Special Events remaining in 2016. Battleground, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series will remain dual branded.

WWE ended up confirming the leaked list as being true on their website in regards to the rumor of Clash of Champions replacing Night of Champions.

Originally Posted by Observer Raw is Monday night in Tampa and is the only show of the week with John Cena scheduled. Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday night in Tampa, with a skeleton crew because a number of wrestlers are laving after Raw for Honolulu. There will be a tour of Japan and Hawaii that starts Wednesday night in Honolulu (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Usos, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, A.J. Styles, Chris Jericho).

Originally Posted by Observer Shinsuke Nakamura & Finn Balor team up against Samoa Joe & Austin Aries on Sunday's WWE house show in Orlando. This will be Nakamura, Joe & Aries' main roster debuts. Balor has done main roster shows in the past. Nakamura will also be working main roster shows in Honolulu and Tokyo this next week. Asuka's main roster debut will be on Wednesday night in Honolulu.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE is taping NXT tonight at Full Sail University which includes Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Finn Balor. Lots of last minute changes based on who is and isn't getting called up. If key people lose unexpectedly, that may be a hint.

Originally Posted by Observer During an appearance with Hannah Storm on ESPN SportsCenter Thursday, UFC strawweight and Dancing With The Stars runner-up Paige VanZant alluded to the fact she's not going to be appearing at WWE SummerSlam this year. She said that she loves WWE and would love to work with them, but that she's focused on her training for a fight that she announced during the interview. The 22-year-old also said that she declined to be in the Kickboxer reboot because filming would have got in the way of training.

In terms of scheduling, Summerslam is on August 21st while her next MMA fight is on August 27th.

Originally Posted by PWI The 6/23 edition of Smackdown did 2,145,000 viewers, up from last week's 2,073,000 viewers.

Originally Posted by Observer The Fight Network in Canada announced another new wrestling show, WrestleCentre, which will air at 2 a.m. on Wednesdays after the Tuesday night block of Impact, TNA’s Greatest Matches, and ROH. There will be a special 90 minute debut show on 7/14 before the 7/19/20 weekly show debut. WrestleCentre is based in Halifax.

Originally Posted by Kurt Angle's Facebook page In response to some of your questions today regarding the WWE, and all of the media fanfare about it the last few days, I want to, once again, say that our confidential conversation never discussed the brand split. A few wrestling sites seem to have put a spin on this by twisting some words around to fit their agenda, something that I have no control over. What I CAN control is my own life, and my life isn't only wrestling. I do not expect to be in wrestling much longer. I AM excited about my future. Thank you.

As noted, this week on UFC Unfiltered hosts Matt Serra and Jim Norton welcomed WWE Superstar turned UFC Fighter, CM Punk, to the show. Among other things, Punk discussed the differences between WWE and UFC and he talked about how the best talkers in WWE history improvise their promos ... Moreover, Punk admitted that he would work lighter on talents he did not like because he wanted to avoid being accused of purposely hitting people harder than necessary. "The people you actually wind up beating the s--t out of, those are your friends. If I was wrestling a guy I didn't like, I would make sure to go out of my way to not f--king stiff the guy because then there's a problem because he's like, 'oh, you did that on purpose'. If I f--king clock my friend in the face or kick him in the nuts or step on his hand or something like that, it's just funny. You can laugh about it afterwards." ... In Punk's view, the best professional wrestling promos are improvised. While some performers need to be scripted, others should be given the freedom to be themselves. "I think the good ones, the interviews and the promos people remember, those are improv. Now, [professional] wrestling's just overscripted to death. It's almost like they have a chokehold on it. Some guys need to operate that way and I feel like some people need to let loose and be themselves. You've got a whole room of guys writing for you. They don't know you. They don't know where you're coming from. They don't know your perspective or your character and stuff like that. And if you're out there being disingenuous and saying words that three other people wrote, I always felt that the crowd could tell and then they're going to pay attention to their phones or s--t on whatever segment you're in. So yeah, I was always a fan of just kind of doing my own thing."

So all those nut shots Taker gave to Lesnar was just his way of being friendly . Link with more highlights and the podcast itself: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-too-scripted/

Bret “The Hitman” Hart spoke about Roman Reigns‘ WWE suspension today in the latest episode of The Sharpshooter Podcast on Bret Hart Radio ... On whether or not he was surprised by the news of Roman Reigns’ WWE suspension: BH: I am surprised. I was kind of hoping he could somehow make a good run at being champion. I think in a lot of ways he never got the fair shake that he deserved. Failing the wellness policy could be a number of things. If it was for steroids or something like that… muscle enhancement, or whatever you want to call it. If it was that category or not. I don’t think he needed it, for one. It is what it is as a policy. I’m all behind the policy. There doesn’t need to be any of that in wrestling. I don’t know if there is a double standard where some guys are allowed to take certain things and some guys aren’t. There’s sort of a thin line between being found guilty and being found innocent. I have no idea. As far as I know the drug policy in WWE is pretty legit. As far as I know, unless someone tells me otherwise, everybody is tested. You have to know you’re going to get tested so what are you ever going to get dirty for? It turns out you get tested and it’s steroids or let’s say it’s something as minuscule as having a toke on a joint at a birthday party. It could be something really small or insignificant. The fact that they sacked him over it is kind of a shock to me. The rules are what they are. In the 90s when I was champion and they started a very serious drug policy. Everybody had to comply. Including Lex Luger and the bodybuilders. They had to comply to it. It was the same thing. You just can’t take any chances. Where it is today and how intense it is. I know that drug test is pretty intense. They test you for everything from pills to… just about everything.

Link to the podcast episode and more highlights from the show: http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/7211...n-the-90s-more


Some other sheet news includes:

• Former wrestler Kelly Kelly had a recent interview with The Tomorrow Show. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/102...-more.html?p=1
• In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, while the powerbomb can be traced back to the 1950s and Lou Thesz, Thesz himself might not have been its actual creator due to lack of concrete evidence. Every variation of the move though has an established inventor though.
• According to reports, WWE has some early problems with attendance for yesterday's Cruiserweight Classic tapings due to a car accident that occured on one of the main routes to the arena.
• Recent episode of Court Bauer's podcast revealed former ROH star Roderick Strong has recently signed a deal with the WWE. http://fightnetwork.com/news/6562128...uer-pollock-2/
• WWE revealed the cover star for WWE 2k17 will be revealed during next week's RAW: https://twitter.com/wwegames/status/746480967238488064
• For those interested, the Talk Is Jericho podcast show with Nancy Benoit's sister as its guest was released today: http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/pro...93&pid=1658885
• Ricochet/Prince Puma is currently denying rumors of Lucha Underground offering him a big contract in order to stay.