Monthly Archives: September 2015

EDITORIAL: Austin says no to Lesnar match, and he’s right and Sting and Undertaker are wrong

Will people believe Steve Austin now? If you missed it, yesterday on Twitter he emphatically that he is not wrestling Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32 and called the speculation “bullshit reporting.” With what happened to Sting at Night of Champions and after seeing how physically spent Undertaker was after his recent matches, especially against Brock Lesnar, I don’t understand how any Steve Austin fan would want to see him, at… Read Article →

EDITORIAL: What was the Vince McMahon Tweet about “E is for Entertainment” above New Day dancing with The Authority all about?

So what did that Tweet from Vince McMahon mean, the one where he said “E is for Entertainment” above a gif of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon dancing goofily with The New Day on Raw?My first thought was that he got a kick out of it, thought it was entertaining, and decided as one of his handful of infrequent monthly Tweets, to point out that this is part of the WWE… Read Article →

EDITORIAL: WWE’s jarring portrayal of Bellas as both awful people and wonderful people is a poignant example of what’s wrong with their agenda

Is it wrong to root for an awful rating for Monday Night Raw? Whatever can happen to invalidate WWE’s vision for last night’s program, the better. I recorded a 60 minute rant-filled Wade Keller Hotline last night for VIP members detailing one frustration after another with the WWE philosophy on display last night. I’ll talk about one in particular here. WWE went to the trouble to portray Nikki and Brie… Read Article →

EDITORIAL: Hogan pleads his case and explains how he was pushed to resign from WWE

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, which PWTorch assistant editor James Caldwell summarized at PWTorch.com today, Hulk Hogan said the following in his defense: “They’ve known me for over 30 years and they know I’m not a racist, so they should have went to the source. I don’t use the word, ever, except for in that moment of anger.” Hogan needs to get his story straight. Didn’t he tell ABC’s “Good… Read Article →

EDITORIAL: What “hotshot” options does Vince McMahon have to solve Raw ratings woes?

With Raw ratings down, and Monday Night Football’s double-header looming, could Raw fall below 2.5 on a non-holiday, something that hasn’t happened since before the Attitude Era boom period? If it does, should Vince McMahon be concerned enough to look for options he normally wouldn’t consider? If so, it could be a really fun fall, but realistically, what could be done? I wrote in last week’s PWTorch Newsletter (available online… Read Article →

RANDOM THOUGHTS: 2016 Dream Matches for Kurt Angle, Jericho vs. Owens last night, Smackdown ratings “rebound”

-The WWE house show in Edmonton last night was a little stronger in terms of star power depth than last weekend’s shows. Seth Rollins defended against Roman Reigns in the main event; the match got a mixed review from our correspondent (link to detailed PWTorch.com report). Chris Jericho was a special attraction, beating Kevin Owens in what was called “easily the best match of the night.” The New Day defended… Read Article →

NEWS ANALYSIS: Women to headline NXT Takeover, Hogan’s latest moves, Hall’s latest advice

-Sorry I missed posting here yesterday. I hope that doesn’t happen too often, but I was preoccupied much of the day getting the new PWPodcasts.com website ready to officially launch today. If you haven’t yet, check out the new site which features in-depth reports on top pro wrestling podcasts. So many big names and influential voices are talking at length every week on their podcasts, I wanted to create a place to… Read Article →

NEWS ANALYSIS: Hogan’s one-man show, Angle’s retirement from ring, ROH’s ratings on Destination America

-Hulk Hogan is following the lead of Mick Foley and Jim Ross, scheduling his first one-man show on Nov. 14 in Sheffield, England (full PWTorch story here). This makes sense as the next step for him. WWE isn’t interested in working with him for now, and perhaps for a long time. His racist comments coming out, I’m told, were more or less the excuse they were looking for to distance… Read Article →