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Dirtsheets sponsored by WWE's newest signee and future mega star, Bouncy Ladder:

Originally Posted by Observer Zack Ryder's MRI report ended up being bad news as it revealed he's in need of surgery and is currently in Birmingham, AL, today for a knee operation. Ryder was injured on Tuesday night in Washington, DC, while participating in a battle royal that he ended up winning ... Mojo Rawley first came out to celebrate the win, but saw Ryder and could see he was hurt. Ryder had to be helped backstage, which was edited off the show because it was a rare taped episode of SmackDown. He was on crutches later that night. There is no word yet on the nature of his surgery, as minor surgery could have a relatively quick turnaround, but major surgery would likely keep him out for six to eight months.

Originally Posted by Observer On Thursday, Brock Lesnar was officially fined $250,000 and suspended for one year by the Nevada Athletic Commission for his two positive tests for hydroxy-clomiphene around the time of July's UFC 200. The term of the suspension will date back to July 9, the date of the second positive test and his UFC 200 fight with Mark Hunt. Lesnar won the fight via decision, but the results of the fight has been overturned and changed to a no contest. The $250,000 fine represented 10 percent of Lesnar's $2.5 million purse which is actually a low amount given the guidelines for much higher fines of fighters failing drug tests in the past. Lesnar tested positive in tests given on June 28 and July 9, but the result of the June 28 test didn't come back until after UFC 200. In subsequent interviews, Hunt has been furious that the fight was allowed to go on. The suspension would be recognized by athletic commissions throughout North America, meaning there would be states that still license pro wrestlers where Lesnar would not be allowed to appear until July. Although, with his limited schedule, it is unlikely to affect his WWE status.

Originally Posted by Observer WWE will soon be crowning the promotion's first ever United Kingdom Champion. It was announced at a press conference in London today that WWE would be holding a two-day tournament that will air live on the Network to determine the first UK Champion. The tournament will feature 16 wrestlers and will be held at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England on January 14th and 15th. Triple H made the announcement at the press conference and was joined by Michael Cole, William Regal, and Finn Balor. It was also revealed that former ROH star and behind-the-scenes talent Nigel McGuinness would be joining WWE to call the action alongside Cole and Regal.

Some more details and video of the press conference: http://www.f4wonline.com/wwe-news/ww...january-226546

Originally Posted by PWI Plans for the UK championship after the tournament: "We’re seeing what this will become. It’s not a science yet. The hope is it becomes its own weekly show, based out of the U.K., with U.K. talent. Those talents will still be able to perform within the [independent companies] RevPros, ICWs and Progress’s. As those talents are working [in the U.K.] and moving up [in the industry], we’re helping RevPro, ICW and Progress to grow and help cultivate their talent pool as well. Before it was a pipedream that you’d make it beyond the U.K. or the indie scene to the WWE. Now there’s a clear path to do it."

Part of an interview Triple H had with Newsday about the new UK plans. http://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-ww...d-trump-532455

Originally Posted by PWI The 12/15 episode of Total Divas on E! garnered 556,000 viewers. That was down from last week's 563,000 viewers, the third drop in as many weeks.

Already well on pace to topple last season as the lowest ever in Total Divas history.

Originally Posted by PWI Dwayne Johnson's Rock the Troops special on 12/13 on Spike brought in 516,000 viewers. A replay last night on BET saw the special bring in an additional 237,000 viewers. Last night's WWE Tribute to the Troops special on the USA Network garnered 1,383,000 viewers.

Tribute to the Troops this year broke the record for least watched prime time wrestling show in USA Network history. In terms of comparisons, last year's Tribute show had around 500k more viewers.

Originally Posted by PWI Jerry Brisco is the special guest this week on Sean Waltman's X-Pac 1,2,360, offering insight into Brock Lesnar's WWE signing, Hulk Hogan's first reaction to Kevin Nash and more. Plus, the Hall of Famer gets emotional when discussing his son's in-ring career. Here are the highlights from Jerry's interview: Jerry says he didn't mind the "stooge" label, but someone else did: Pat Patterson hated hearing that word. He hated it. I used to rib Pat all the time. I said, Pat you and I worked for twenty years in our careers trying to have a reputation as good workers. Now forever in the history of wrestling we'll go down as two stooges. He'd say, don't say that! I said, man you're labeled now. You're a stooge. Jerry confirms folklore that Vince McMahon brought Gorilla Monsoon to protect him on Black Saturday: That is true. That's exactly what happened. Gorilla made the trip down there and stood backstage, made sure the boss was OK. And he was OK...It wasn't just the WWF guys that respected Gorilla. He was respected throughout the industry as a standup guy and as a tough guy. Jerry reveals WrestleMania I almost ended much differently: We were ready to attack WrestleMania I with [Dick] Murdoch and [Adrian] Adonis for the title and get the titles. That's when Jack [Brisco] said, I've had enough. I'm forty years old and I'm finished. And he quit. He was one of those guys that when he walked away, he walked away. He never came back ... Jerry speaks candidly about son Wes Brisco's in-ring career: So Wes is working hard and he's trying to make it, and he's struggling like everybody else. It breaks my heart sometimes to see him, and I try to talk him out of doing what he's doing. I had a really long talk with Arn Anderson. I've got to give Arn some props on this. I was telling Arn Wes' struggles and I told Arn that I want him to quit. Arn said, what did he tell you? He told me doesn't want to. Arn said, what would you do? You know, he threw it right back at me. I'd do the same thing. He said, well there's your answer. Go for it.

Following the dismissal of Tom Casiello, the position of Managing Lead Writer had been eliminated. The lead writer on Raw is Ed Koskey, on Smackdown Ryan Ward is the lead writer. Brian James (the Road Dogg) works with him and is being groomed for a bigger role since he’s close with Triple H. Koskey & Ward report to Triple H, who reports to Vince McMahon. Dave Kapoor, a former head writer (who was once Ranjin Singh as a TV character) is currently an assignment editor for both brands, deciding which writer or writers works on which promos or segments.

Originally Posted by CBS Sports On the current WWE locker room, he said: I remember walking into our locker room [as a rookie] and there's a few guys I can't even name, but you had a crew of guys that were very intimidating and commanded respect. You could also go to them and get advice, and you would get that advice. Nowadays, a lot of the younger guys, I find myself -- and I see other guys that have been around -- having to go to them with suggestions on how to make their 'product' better. Whether it's selling or facial expressions or just slowing down a little bit. But no, they're not coming to us. And I remember just years ago, you were always seeking out that advice. It's almost like some of these guys that have been in the indies 15 years think they know everything. That's probably the only negative difference that sticks out to me. On possible feud with AJ Styles, he added: He's at the top of my list, as far as guys that I look forward to working with that I haven't worked with before. Most definitely, 100 percent guaranteed, me and him would kill it every night. He's one of those guys that can do anything. I have certain things that I'm good at, too, and I feel like the mixture of both of our talents would really give the people something that they would never forget.

From a recent interview Randy Orton had with CBS Sports. http://www.cbssports.com/general/new...e-locker-room/

On the Hotel Room Scene: When I’m in the hotel room and I see Lana, it’s a “Pulp Fiction” moment. It’s John Travolta walking up to his boss’s door trying to talk himself out of it the entire time. For me, in this scenario, I was presented with a challenge that I had never seen before because for that time period, they didn’t want me to be Enzo. Enzo would have walked into the hotel room and started making Certified G jokes; with that being said, I had the mindset to go in there and just murder this right now, and be hilarious, and everyone is going to pop for it. I had an arsenal of material ready; but when I got there in the situation; the situation is that you deserve every beatdown that you receive. You walk into a hotel room with someone’s wife while she was naked. You said that you were going to stuff her turkey. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but of course he’s going to kick me in the “you know what,” so the next time I’m on television, we had to dial it back when I was put into that situation, so to garner those people’s sympathy, I started playing the shy..I don’t want to be here, and the second I walked into the situation I knew it wasn’t the right one, and I made a bad decision, and I wanted to get out of there. It wasn’t because I was scared of Rusev, it was because I didn’t want to do something with another man’s wife, and so, Enzo is a good guy at the end of the day. That was the role I was asked to play.

Part of a recent episode of the Sam Roberts podcast show with Enzo as the guest.

Originally Posted by Observer ITV is trying to get its guys signed since WWE is coming after their guy. They are looking at U.K. exclusive deals, at least as it pertains to television. Their idea, and this isn’t greenlit nor is the show officially picked up, but a working idea, is to tape again in mid-February and film 13 episodes in a short period of time, like TNA does, maybe 13 days or they’re even taping two episodes per day and getting it done in a week

Originally Posted by Observer The situation with Sexy Star and the Lucha Underground promotion has gotten interesting because they are back to backing Dorian Roldan, with the idea that people who leave AAA may not be used, which would also effect Fenix and Jack Evans. Everyone is waiting for the decision, but there is an issue as well with Sexy Star as she wants to box and they are claiming that based on her contract that they feel she needs their approval. Since Fenix’s new name, Rey Fenix, was also trademarked by AAA even though it was the name he started using after leaving the promotion, he’s changed his name again to Fenix El Rey. If he stays with Lucha Underground, he can still be Fenix there

Originally Posted by Observer TNA has told Sony Six that they will do the contracted tour of India this summer. Sony Six has been loyal to them even though they violated the contract by not doing a tour in 2016 when they didn’t have money. Right now they are on a tight budget, but at least everyone as best we can tell is getting paid on time

Originally Posted by Observer Finn Balor said that he’s targeting a return for WrestleMania after his shoulder surgery. He said he might be ready a few weeks before that. When asked about the Rumble, he said it’s not impossible, but certainly didn’t seem like he expected that to be the case

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has announced it is looking to raise $175 million in debt financing and may add another $26.26 million to that figure in 90 days, working through JP Morgan Chase Bank. It’s basically selling bonds, similar to what UFC did in originally working off debt, and even more so, WME IMG did this year to raise money for its purchase of UFC. The $175 million to $201.26 million they are attempting to raise would be paid back in 2023. Interest rates are negotiable but WWE would pay interest payments to the bond holders every six months until that time. However, what was different is that the WWE said that there are conditions where the equity the bond holders have could be converted into stock. That was something of a red flag to the stock market, because that happens, it would increase the number of shares out in the company, and would dilute the value of the existing shares, which would worry the existing shareholders.

Originally Posted by Observer Yet another name being hired for a coaching position at the Performance Center is Johnny Saint (John Miller, 75), who was one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all-time. Saint was the master of the old European style and has committed to being in Orlando for the next six months.

William Regal confirmed to us that there are "zero restrictions" on any of the wrestlers working for other UK promotions.

— WCPW (@WhatCulturePW) December 15, 2016

Some other sheet news includes:

• WWE announced they recently signed former ROH champion Nigel McGuinness to become a new commentator for the company.
• Michael Elgin recently revealed on Twitter he has left ROH although will still appear for the company for joint NJPW-ROH events. https://twitter.com/MichaelElgin25/s...35626730909696
• Neville revealed during today's WWE UK press conference he is currently dealing with an ankle injury as the reason for his lack of tv time recently.
• According to the Observer, NJPW is currently considering the idea of hosting the first 2 days of G1 Climax 2017 in the US. Long Beach, California is currently rumored to be the possible location.