[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Random Braun Strowman Gif:

Originally Posted by Observer Following the low ratings that Raw posted on Monday night, SmackDown again drew its lowest audience of 2017 this week. The show averaged 2.300 million viewers on Tuesday night. It's the second straight week that SmackDown has set a low for the year, with last Tuesday's episode averaging 2.493 million viewers. The most significant competition that SmackDown faced on cable came from the NBA playoffs. The Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards game that aired directly opposite the episode was watched by an average of 4.832 million people, and the Golden State Warriors vs. Utah Jazz game that aired later did 4.887 million viewers. SmackDown was fourth for the night in viewership behind the NBA games and Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News. It also finished fourth for the night in the 18-49 demo behind the basketball games and coverage.

In terms of viewership and ratings, Superstar Shakeup so far has been a bust for the WWE. Didn't help Smackdown also had to delay some of their plans due to RAW's ppv because of WWE's poor timing.

Originally Posted by Observer As was expected given that he's going on tour with Fozzy, Chris Jericho dropped the United States Championship to Kevin Owens on last night's edition of SmackDown. There was also an angle after the match where Owens laid out Jericho to give reason for his temporary absence. Fozzy's tour runs through May 28th and there are three other dates scheduled for June.

Originally Posted by Observer Hideo Itami's first match on television since returning from injury is advertised for tonight's episode of NXT. The show will also have a battle royal to determine the next challenger for Asuka's title.

For some reference, this is the episode Ember Moon got injured at. Happens during an attempt at an aerial move.

Originally Posted by Observer Corey Graves tweeted after making a veiled reference on commentary during 205 Live to a situation from earlier this year where a woman posted messages that Tom Phillips sent her on Instagram: "If you can't bust your best friends' chops, whose chops can you bust?"

Originally Posted by Observer The much-anticipated rematch between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega appears to be on the horizon. Okada called Omega into the ring to set up the match after successfully defending his title against Bad Luck Fale at Wrestling Dontaku. Their rematch would likely be earmarked for Dominion on June 11th, and Okada pointed to that being the direction in an interview after Dontaku. Next year's Wrestling Dontaku will be two shows that will take place on back-to-back days at the Fukuoka International Center.

Originally Posted by Observer New Japan Pro Wrestling revealed the participants and brackets for the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournament at this morning's Wrestling Dontaku show. The lineup features a number of talented junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world. Block A features New Japan regulars Jushin Thunder Liger, Ricochet, Will Ospreay, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. CMLL’s Dragon Lee and ROH’s Marty Scurll round off the list. Block B features Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, and BUSHI from NJPW. Volador Jr. from CMLL and newly independent wrestler ACH round out this block. This year's BOSJ is the 24th edition of the tournament. It will begin on May 17th at Korakuen Hall and culminate on June 3rd at Yoyogi National Gymnasium. New Japan World’s May schedule includes live shows on the 17th, 18th, 22nd, and 29th. For the shows that aren't live, tournament matches will be uploaded to the service the next day.

Originally Posted by PWI Triple H tweeted that Hacktivist's "Over-Throne" will be another WWE NXT Takeover Chicago theme song.

Originally Posted by PWI On the eighth episode of ‘Dinner With The King’, Jerry “The King” Lawler answered fan questions during the podcast and was asked about the House of Horrors match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton during Sunday’sPayback show. Lawler: "I was so looking forward to the House of Horrors match because I’m such a big horror movie fan. I’m such a fan of these kind of things. I was really, really excited about this. The WWE, they have the opportunity and they have the people to put together some really great special effects. I guess my problem was I got my expectations up too high. I guess I expected more scary stuff. I’m not scared of baby dolls.” During this episode, he also talks about if his commentary during the Attitude Era led to heat from any his fellow superstars. He mentions the Goldust promo never was a problem with Dusty Rhodes and Goldust and that Bret Hart and his family didn’t mind Lawler’s insults during their feud. He did add that Tazz didn’t like some of the commentary when he debuted in WWE during the initial ECW invasion. And that heat might still linger today.

Link to the podcast episode: http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed...-color/2179bd/

Originally Posted by PWI The UK Sun ran an article today featuring photos of The Undertaker and his wife, the former Michelle McCool, in New York City, entering David H Koch Pavilion Hospital for Special Surgery, which is considered one of the best orthopedic hospitals in the country. The implication in the article was that Undertaker was there for a hip surgery.

Link to the article: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34678...cool-new-york/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Chris Jericho has designed a special "#GOAT" t-shirt as a thanks to his fans, the Friends of Jericho, to honor the WWE run he's had over the past 16 months. Proceeds from the t-shirt will go to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The shirt can be seen below and can be purchased for $24.99 at this link. They also have the design on a tank top, a pullover hoodie, a poster and a coffee mug. Jericho shared the link on his Facebook page and wrote, "I'll see you all again soon, but in honor of the amazing run I had over the past 16 months in WWE, I've designed this official #GOAT shirt as a thanks to you, the Friends Of Jericho! As always, proceeds will go towards the support of Juvenile Diabetes Research, JDRF! Available for two weeks only! So, get yours NOW at represent.com/goat!"

Link to buy the shirt for those interested: https://represent.com/goat/chris-jer...-research-jdrf

Originally Posted by WrestleInc CBS Sports has an article here about Braun Strowman's father, Rick Scherr, and his softball career. It was noted that he count "possibly the greatest slow-pitch softball player of all-time" and is estimated to have hit over 1,800 home runs.

Link to the article: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/lo...-slugger-ever/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Sean "X-Pac" Waltman was arrested this past Saturday at the Los Angeles International Airport. Waltman was flying to the U.K. for an independent wrestling appearance when he was charged with felony drug possession for allegedly attempting to bring meth and marijuana through customs. TMZ Sports uploaded their full interview with Waltman regarding the incident, as seen in the video above. Waltman said that the substance that he had in his possession were candida cleanse capsules that he obtained from Vitamin Cottage, and not methamphetamine. He said that he was taking the capsules because he's had a yeast infection for the past year. Waltman, who has dealt with substance abuse issues in the past, said that he understood why people may not believe his tory.

Link to the video and more statements by Waltman: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...on-his-arrest/

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As noted, Adam Cole's ROH contract expired this past weekend. Cole has been with the company on-and-off since 2009. While there has been a lot of speculation that Cole will be signing with WWE, Dave Meltzer reported on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that "everybody wants Adam Cole right now." Meltzer noted that Cole going to WWE is not necessarily a lock, although he does believe that is where Cole will end up. He stated that New Japan Pro Wrestling is interested in signing him as well. Cole is scheduled to face Hiroshi Tanahashi at ROH's War of the Worlds pay-per-view on May 12th. It was noted that even though Cole's ROH contract has expired, he may still be used for other ROH shows and work independent dates unless he ends up officially signing with WWE.

Some other news includes:

• Popular video game Rocket League was announced to be the sponsor for WWE's upcoming Backlash ppv. https://www.onmsft.com/news/rocket-l...event-and-more
• Another indie wrestling company is currently facing backlash for running a charity show resulting in no money being sent to the charity involved. Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling is reported to have pocketed all the money raised from their recent Wrestling for Autism charity show. Also pocketed money meant to be paid to wrestlers who were contracted for the event. http://wtnh.com/2017/05/02/wrestlers...m-and-charity/
• Recent episode of Talk Is Jericho had Samoa Joe as the guest: http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...vince-mcmahon/