[Emperor Smeat]

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Originally Posted by PWI Paige was checked out by WWE doctors following her match at the Nassau Coliseum but we have not heard she was sent to a local hospital. The word backstage was that she suffered a stinger when she was kicked from behind by Sasha Banks. If that is the case, I would expect WWE will pull her from the remainder of the live events this week as a precautionary measure, especially given her history with neck issues.

Originally Posted by Observer After the first two matches took place on SmackDown this week, WWE has revealed the bracket for the United States Championship tournament. Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley and Xavier Woods vs. Aiden English are the two remaining matches in the first round. The winner of Ryder vs. Rawley will go on to face Bobby Roode, with the winner of Woods vs. English advancing to face Jinder Mahal.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whjd7kzki7E , Bracket itself: https://www.f4wonline.com/sites/www..../usbracket.jpg

Originally Posted by Observer Tuesday night's SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2,656,000 viewers, which was up three percent from last week and nearly matched Raw's ratings on Christmas Day the night before. SmackDown finished a higher-than-usual third for the night on cable and first in the 18-49 demo with a 0.82 rating. For the second straight week, SmackDown was down year-over-year as the December 27th, 2016 episode featured the return of John Cena on a stacked show. That episode is still the only show to beat Raw since the WWE draft edition of SmackDown that kicked off the brand split. SmackDown finished 2017 averaging 2.546 million viewers per week, up slightly from the 2016 average of 2.487 million for the live shows that started in July of that year. The 2017 average for those same five months was almost identical to the year-end average, coming in at 2.541 million. As a comparison, Raw numbers were down an average of 5.1 percent.

Originally Posted by Observer Tommy Dreamer announced these first round matches for his TV title tournament on 1/26 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia: Luchasaurus vs. Willie Mack vs. Matt Cross MJL vs. Crazzy Steve Brian Cage vs. ? Austin Aries vs. Matt Riddle Dan Maff vs. Ace Romero Kevin Kross vs. Little Guido Eddie Kingston vs. Bull James Alex Reynolds vs. Super Crazy Kenn Doane vs. Lisa Marie Varon Mike Mondo vs. Swoggle Scheduled for Evolve on 1/14 in Brooklyn is Keith Lee vs. Chris Dickinson for the Evolve title, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Walter and Timothy Thatcher vs. Fred Yehi. I saw Sabre vs. Walter in PWG and it was an incredible match. There will also be an eight-man Style Battle tournament earlier in the day with first round matches of Matt Riddle vs. Rayo, Shane Mercer vs. Kyle the Beast, Walter vs. Nick Gage and Joey Lynch vs. Joey Janela. Low Blows Wrestling Parties will have a Wrestle Kingdom party on 1/4 at Buskers on the Ball in Dublin. The party will run from 5-11 p.m. This will be the barometer to test interest in non-WWE parties that would continue in 2018. Rick Nash of Low Blows gave a preview for bandwagoners to catch up on everything they need to know about NJPW and WK12 next week.

House of Hardcore: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...hilly.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI For those wondering if WWE did anything special for the talent for working through the Christmas holiday, not only did the company throw a Christmas party for all of them after Raw on Monday, but we have also heard that WWE picked up the Chicago hotel bill for both the Raw and Smackdown rosters as a thank you for being away from their families over the holiday.

Originally Posted by PWI Legendary Japanese star The Great Muta will make a rare appearance in the United States on Friday 1/19/18 for PCW Ultra in California, teaming with Penta El Zero M to face Sami Callihan and Johnny Ultra. The event will air live on FiteTV for $14.99, which you can download for free for your cell phone or mobile device by clicking here.

Details and rest of the event's card: https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...n-fite-tv.html

Originally Posted by PWI Here are the first confirmed WWE DVD releases for 2018: 1/16 - WWE Tag Team Collection (4 animated WWE Studios movies) 1/23 - WWE Clash of Champions 2017. 2/6 - Best of Raw and Smackdown 2017. 3/6 - 2018 WWE Royal Rumble. 3/20 - Best of WWE NXT 2017. 4/3 - Raw 25th Anniversary. 4/17 - WWE Elimination Chamber & Raw PPV TBA. As previously reported on PWInsider.com, WWE has tentative plans for the following DVD releases as well: *Best of 2017 - PPV matches. *30th Anniversary of Summerslam. *A new title devoted to The Shield. *Best of the Hardy Boyz. *"Unreleased" Collections devoted to Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels. *A feature documentary on AJ Styles. *Shane McMahon's "Craziest Moments." *A collection of WWE 24 documentaries.

Originally Posted by PWI Next Wednesday's WWE NXT will be a two hour year in review broadcast. NXT will tape TV in Atlanta, GA at the former WCW Saturday Night home, Center Stage. Officially set for the 1/27/18 WWE NXT Takeover: Philadelphia event is NXT champion Andrade "Cien" Almas (with Zelina Vega) vs. Johnny Gargano. Speaking of NXT, Johnny Gargano noted on social media that he gifted his parents his first-ever NXT action figure for Christmas in advance of its official release. Gargano noted that growing up, his parents bought him lots of WWE toys and he wanted to return the favor. That is pretty awesome.

Originally Posted by PWI For those who have asked why Gail Kim is on the same USO tour that WWE sent The Miz and Alicia Fox on, Kim's husband Robert Irvine is also on the tour. It's not a sign of Kim returning to WWE, although you'd be surprised how many emails we received asking if it was.

Originally Posted by Observer AXS TV is doing a New Japan marathon on 12/29, playing the three Omega vs. Okada matches from 8-11 p.m. Eastern and then 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. for West Coast prime time, and then airing Power Struggle from 2-4 a.m To show how bad things are in Puerto Rico, WWC has still not run a show since the island was crippled by the hurricane. CWA has run two shows since the hurricane and WWL is talking about coming back in February or March. The hurricane basically destroyed a wrestling industry that had been having regular shows for about 45 years. Young Bucks Merch is now a subsidiary of a new parent company called Killing the Business, and they’ve filed for trademarks on “Being the Elite” and “Killing the Business. The Kingdom has apparently signed exclusive ROH U.S. contracts as they did their final date for Northeast Wrestling on 12/17 Another person let go at Impact was Bob Rosen, who built and transported the rings, headed the ring crew and did various other functions.

In regards to Impact news, supposedly Rosen almost had a major heart attack while working for Impact recently and only took a break after management noticed how tired he was at work. Doctors found out his heart was 99% blocked and he barely avoided having a life threatening situation occur. He felt with the recent staff cuts, he couldn't take a break due to lack of manpower and his big reward for being that loyal was getting the pink slip afterwards.

Originally Posted by Observer Although there are rumors about Styles vs. Cena at Mania, I’m told that right now that is incorrect, and Cena is in a much bigger match than Styles. The only thing I was told is it will be clear within a few weeks what that match is. Bigger than a WWE title match seems to limit it to a non-regular or surprise guy and the only names I can come up with would be Undertaker, Batista, Goldberg or Hogan, and at Hogan’s age with his back problems, it would surprise me if he could get cleared even if the sponsors were okay with his returning. My guess is the top of the Mania card will be shot largely on the 25th anniversary Raw because that will be the show with the largest viewing audience of the year most likely

Originally Posted by Observer Canyon Ceman told the Los Angeles Times that in 2016, WWE was focused on signing people from China, but in 2017, it was the Middle East. The reasoning is he claimed they had 11 million Facebook followers in Egypt. Ceman claimed that the Performance Center gives wrestlers ten years worth of experience in three years. I’d love to see who is farther along, ten year vets working for legit promotions or guys who have had three years since starting at the PC. Ceman also noted that WWE could no longer do stereotypical Middle Eastern heels like the Iron Sheik and General Adnan. “Now you neither want to nor can you get away with that so easily,” he said. “There is evolving complexity over how to portray someone’s cultural heritage in a way that is respected, interesting and creates love or animosity in the audience.” Granted, they’re not Middle Eastern heels, but exactly how is Mahal or the portrayal of Rusev until a few weeks ago any different from the stereotypical Anti-American heels that date back to the beginning fo time

Originally Posted by Observer The most-watched shows on the WWE Network this past week were: 1. Clash of the Champions; 2. NXT on 12/20; 3. Beyond the Ring Holiday special with Mick Foley; 4. Survivor Series; 5. Best of Ride Along; 6. Table for three with Hardys and Balor; 7. WrestleMania 2017; 8. Royal Rumble 2017; 9. Ride Along with Rusev, Breeze and Fandango; 10. 205 Live from 12/19

Originally Posted by WrestleInc WWE has published an article naming the top 10 Superstars of 2017. The list looks like this: 10. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore 9. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar 8. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns) 7. Kevin Owens 6. The Miz 5. Jinder Mahal 4. The New Day and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Tie) 3. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss 2. Braun Strowman 1. WWE Champion AJ Styles

Some other sheet news includes:

• A former WWE Board of Directors was recently forced to resign from his duties at MLB due to a long history of inappropriate behavior and alleged sexual harassment while working in MLB's management.
• National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum recently awarded Gerald Brisco with their Outstanding American award.
• Observer reports Velveteen Dream is currently expected to return to NXT next month after mysteriously being dropped from TV post-Takeover WarGames event. Rumor going around speculates he got busted by the Wellness Policy and WWE wanted his suspension to be a quiet one.
• CBS Denver had a recent interview with DDP talking about the rumors of Vince going back into football, helping Justin Credible after being drunk at a recent indie event, and possibility of making another surprise Royal Rumble appearance. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-getting-back/

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Paige Pulled From WWE House Shows This Week After Injury Last Night
• Impact News: Next PPV, More House Shows Planned, GFW “Returns”
• Becky Lynch Returns at WWE House Show