[Emperor Smeat]

Dirtsheets sponsored by Braun's Road to Motherhood:

Originally Posted by Observer WWE announced today that the WWE Network would be available for the first time in mainland China. WWE and PPTV, a Chinese sports media streaming service that carries the company's programming, will be partners in getting the Network into the final major country in the world it isn't already in. The Network will be debuting on August 18th, in time for SummerSlam weekend ... Regarding the WWE Network in China, the price in that country will be 30 yuan monthly ($4.50) or a one year package for 198 yuan (just under $30). WWE and PPTV will split the revenue. WWE noted that the NBA has had some success with a subscription model in China.

Originally Posted by Observer The company is pushing that tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of the formation of DX, which debuted on the August 11, 1997 TV show. In honor of this, the WWE Network will be doing a weekly series called Flashback Fridays, starting at 3 p.m. Eastern, which this week being a marathon of DX material.

Link to the new show announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7g0Ori8DGs

Originally Posted by Pro Wrestling Sheet Pro Wrestling Sheet has learned Darren Young will soon be making his return to the ring … because he’s been cleared for action by WWE‘s medical staff. Sources tell us Young had his evaluation this week and passed as expected, therefore he’ll be able to make his return to WWE as soon as next week. Darren underwent surgery back in early February to repair his injured elbow. No word on when he’ll be back on TV, or if his relationship with Bob Backlund will continue, but our sources say he’s still scheduled to appear on the Raw brand.

Originally Posted by Observer Freemantle International, which is WWE's European DVD distributor, noted about the decision originally made not to release SummerSlam on Blu-Ray and that over the last two years, sales of WWE Blu-Rays have declined and there hasn't been enough demand to continue. However, the decision was made to release SummerSlam on Blue-Ray as a test. "We will closely monitor the performance of this release and it will directly affect our future Blu-Ray plans."

Originally Posted by Observer All Japan Pro Wrestling will be available on The Fite App starting Saturday. There are six shows available on VOD. They also have an Impact One Night Only show from the GFW tapings in Las Vegas on Friday night.

Originally Posted by Observer This year's Lucha Libre World Cup, which will feature talent from Lucha Underground and AAA, will take place on 10/9 and 10/10 in Tokyo.

Link to the announcement: https://twitter.com/luchalibreaaaJP/...87556384833537

Originally Posted by Observer Lio Rush's final match before he goes to WWE will be Saturday at the MCW Arena in Joppa, MD for Fan Appreciation night. Rush vs. his trainer, the Bruiser, will headline.

Originally Posted by PWI Alexa Bliss tweeted that she will be spending all day at ESPN tomorrow in promotion for next Sunday's SummerSlam: excited to spend the day @espn tomorrow stay tuned for more details #Summerslam #fixedit hahah — Alexa Bliss (@AlexaBliss_WWE) August 10, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI Deadline has officially announced Netflix has renewed "GLOW" for season two. GLOW tweeted the following: Here we #GLOW again... Season 2 is coming. pic.twitter.com/LXF8OIxcNG — GLOW (@GlowNetflix) August 10, 2017

Originally Posted by PWI Recently, you left Global Force Wrestling. There was a report that the company wanted a cut of your revenue from a non-wrestling-related television show. What’s the story there? Unfortunately, that story is kind of a mess. There are some valid statements that I’ve seen, but it’s really not as dramatic as people want it to be. Basically, Cody and I were very candid with what we were doing after WWE as far as contracts go. People are confused. I never signed the contract that people think I signed with Global Force stating that they got percentages. What I did sign was a tentative contract with Impact Wrestling when they were still Impact. That contract had a clause for me, because I was already working on some stuff in other areas of television. That clause basically said that if something else in television were to happen for me, they can’t be uncooperative. And if they were uncooperative, we would be able to part ways. And that is honestly what happened. So, I am filming something awesome in Atlanta, but I can’t say what it is.

From a recent interview Brandi Rhodes had with CBS Radio. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/111...t-gfw.html?p=1

Originally Posted by PWI WWE NXT will return to Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center on Saturday 8/19 for Takeover: Brooklyn III, featuring: *WWE NXT champion Bobby Roode vs. Drew McIntyre *WWE NXT Women's champion Asuka vs. Ember Moon *WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering vs. SanitY *Aleister Black vs Hideo Itami *Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas with Zelina Vega

Originally Posted by WrestleInc As seen below, Boom! Studios has released a new WWE SummerSlam 2017 Special comic with cover artwork from Rob Schamberger. You can use the link in the tweet to find the special in-stock at a comic shop near you. New @SummerSlam comic is the cure for the summertime blues-w/ tales spanning 30 years of history! Find comic shops: https://t.co/i2T8p4bLmw pic.twitter.com/xM392xoY3h — WWE Publishing (@WWEpublishing) August 10, 2017

Originally Posted by WrestleInc Regarding rumors on Dolph Ziggler's WWE status, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Ziggler has been off TV and pay-per-view because the company just has nothing for him creatively. The former World Heavyweight Champion is currently in the same blue brand boat as guys like Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Tye Dillinger, where officials have nothing significant for them to do. Ziggler worked several live event matches in July, usually losing to Shinsuke Nakamura, but his last TV match came on July 4th - the Independence Day Battle Royal that was won by AJ Styles. Before the battle royal, Ziggler's last singles TV match came on the June 20th SmackDown episode, another loss to Nakamura.

Also likely very busy dealing with the murder trial involving one of his brothers.

Originally Posted by Observer Everyone is hurt. Nobody has missed one match. Many are keeping their injuries secret. Tanahashi is working through a right biceps tear. Naito has a right shoulder problem, that got bad with matches with Zack Sabre Jr. and Togi Makabe, the latter where, in it playing no part of the match, he was clearly in a lot of pain. He’s said to be a little better going into the Tanahashi match, and potential final match with Okada or Omega. But he’s likely got his two hardest bouts to come. Yuji Nagata, at 49, the oldest wrestler in the tournament and perhaps the best, was physically wearing down and has back issues. Tomohiro Ishii has a knee issue. Okada may or may not have a neck issue, but in his match with Suzuki, worked like a guy completely banged up and his neck was taped, although it also played into the match. Omega’s neck had stiffened up, and there was a scary moment in his match with Seiya Sanada where he landed almost on the top of his head on the floor when Sanada was out of a position to catch him on a moonsault block on the guard rail. But while it clearly banged him up at the time, apparently he was fine from it after. Evil was knocked silly at least once, if not twice.

Health status regarding all the competitors in this year's G1 Climax tournament.

Originally Posted by Observer The medical report on Hiroshi Tanahashi torn right biceps is essentially what was reported. It was noted that in most cases with a distal biceps tendon rupture that one would opt for surgery to repair the arm. Tanahashi said that he couldn’t be out of action for the six months after surgery. The belief was that his brachialis muscle can compensate for the function of the torn biceps so the decision wasn’t that bad Katsuyori Shibata wrote that his doctor is very surprised about how well his recovery has gone. He also talked about being very depressed because it doesn’t feel like summer to him without being in the G-1 tournament

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has announced what will be a six-hour plus presentation for SummerSlam, a two-hour pre-show that starts at 5 p.m. and a main show from 7 p.m. until probably around 11:30 p.m. It’s almost a lock that a lot of the post-show talk will be regarding how the show went too long.

Originally Posted by Observer Lawler and Bill Dundee filmed a pilot for a proposed new television show called “Jerry Lawler’s Classic Memphis Wrestling.” The attempt to is sell it to a local station as a nostalgia show, since Memphis Wrestling was a television institution there from the 60s through the 90s, and particularly big from 1969 to 1987. Lawler talked about how he’d like the show to air on the WWE Network after it first has its run on Memphis television. He said he’s got a lot of the footage and claims that he owns it, although the ownership of the tape library has been in question for decades since Lawler sold the promotion and its IP, but the owners went bankrupt and nobody bought its IP in bankruptcy court

Originally Posted by Observer The reason the Hardys were off all the shows this weekend was because they couldn’t fully clear up whether Jeff Hardy would be able to cross the border given his felony drug conviction from years ago. They were working on it and time ran out, and he had to be pulled from the shows. Originally Matt Hardy was going to be in Toronto for Raw to shoot an angle with The Revival for their match, but with Scott Dawson’s injury, that was pulled from the show. The expectation right now, while not a certainty, is they’ll be able to clear it up in time for the next Raw Canada swing

Originally Posted by Observer Sports Illustrated reported that WWE had passed on Rey Mysterio because of issues with his management team, citing Konnan in particular. While they had talked, we’d heard the Mysterio talking with WWE was overblown in the first place and that he was looking at GFW because it would allow him more freedom to do side projects and Mysterio at this stage of his career isn’t going to be able to work the WWE schedule ... Another aspect is Mysterio had a very good contract with Lucha Underground, and the fact he’s looking elsewhere when he was the biggest name in that company, is not a strong sign for Lucha Underground as you’d think they’d want to keep their biggest name and not have him sign with GFW. Mysterio had a great deal with LU, working a minimal number of matches and a deal that would have made him one of the higher paid wrestlers in the world, although the offer he signed was less then the numbers offered when he was first told about their interest, but was far more than he could get anywhere else and he could still work indies and such with that deal. But after a couple of years with no movie (never promised but it was part of the pitch), no house show touring, long delays between tapings, no merchandise to speak of and money issues in getting what he signed for, it looks like the money isn’t there for him to be able to be offered what his prior deal was. It looks like both sides are parting ways and that’s where the GFW talks came from Regarding the Sports Illustrated story, Konnan said he had not negotiated for Mysterio when it comes to WWE. The way the story was reported was that WWE had rebuffed Mysterio stating they had problems with his management team, specifically Konnan, although that story stated it was for Konnan not coming to WWE to do Max Moon after they spent all that money on the gimmick. That was 25 years ago and almost nobody except Vince who was in the company then is even in the company now. Konnan said that if Mysterio was wanting to go to WWE, and anyone in WWE saw his involvement as a negative, that he’d stay out of it and Mysterio would negotiate for himself

Originally Posted by Observer WWE officially announced Kyle O’Reilly as having signed, even though his appearing at the last TV tapings confirmed it. They didn’t make the announcement until his first match with Aleister Black aired. As for Adam Cole, even though Cole & Britt Baker won the Wrestle Circus tag titles from Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta on 8/5 in Austin, TX, Cole is headed here. It’s just a question as to how and when they introduce him. I don’t know that it’s happening at Takeover Brooklyn, but that’s certainly possible

"How Kurgan turned into an Oddity, after WrestleMania where [Austin] took the [world title] belt from Shawn [Michaels], I'm at the afterparty and Kurrgan's there with his wife and Kurrgan says, 'my wife is going to have me dancing. I'm going to get up and dance and I'm sure you're going to have a laugh.' And I go, 'dude, don't do it.' He's like, 'why?' I go, 'don't let Vince see you up dancing.' And he's like, 'well, my wife wants me to dance, blah, blah, blah.' I'm like, 'don't do it.' He got up, he's dancing, disco dancing, he's pretty good, but I'm not watching him. I'm watching Vince and I saw [him] catch [Vince's] eye and I'm like, 'he's not a giant anymore.' And within a month, he was in a tuxedo dancing and that's the night I learned 'don't do anything in front of Vince that you don't want to do in front of millions of people."

From a recent episode of The Steve Austin show with Don Callis as the guest. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...o-give-kurgan/


Some other sheet news includes:

• Sports Illustrated had a recent interview with Matt Bloom (Prince Albert/A-Train/Tensai) talking about the training process at NXT. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/201...finn-balor-nxt
• Newest article by Jim Ross on his official blog talked about the Bayley and Dawson injuries, WWE title match at SummerSlam, and WWE's UK show. http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...wson-injuries/
• According to the Observer, WWE is still interested in doing a 4 Horsewomen (WWE) vs 4 Horsewomen (MMA) feud and could start planting the seeds as early as next month.
• Also according to the Observer, WWE is about to suffer a severe drop in their 3rd largest tv market in terms of viewers due to a new TV deal made. The new deal for South Africa will move WWE shows from its regular channel to a pay channel. WWE is expected to suffer a drop as high as 80% in viewers as a result.