By Wade Keller, Torch editor

Undertaker and Paul Bearer (artist Joseph Borzotta, PWTorch.com)

Raquel Torresasks: Is Taker's contract close to its end and is that why he's been in and out of action?

WK: I don't know when his contract ends, but his work schedule shouldn't be read into as a sign he's retiring or leaving. He has had a deal worked out with Vince McMahon for years to work a light schedule. After all of his years in wrestling, he has earned enough tenure to negotiate a special agreement, and nobody resents it. His body is also ailing badly from all of his years in wrestling. He has bad hips which will need to be replaced and a number of other serious health issues that would prevent him from working a full time schedule even if wanted to.

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Dustin Romig of Lock Haven, Pa. writes: Okay, I have a bit of a grievance here. Every Friday since the baseball season started, I can't watch Smackdown because of a baseball game being on. What should I do?! I'm never home Saturday nights to see the replay on WB, and by that time its so pointless because I've probably seen the spoilers on the net anyway. I mean, if I see a link for spoilers I usually skip it because I love the excitement of seeing something ''fresh," but this Friday night baseball crap is killing Smackdown. I don't know if it is this way all over the country or not, but if it is like this a lot, maybe that is the reason for such bad ratings for Friday Night Smackdown. Just a thought anyway. Well, hopefully you can respond to this and let me know what's up.

WK: Local UPN affiliates in many markets preempt Smackdown for baseball during the baseball season, and the same is the case for NBA and NHL games during their seasons. Local affiliates get better ratings and thus better advertising revenue from the local sports than WWE Smackdown. In fact, in my market, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Smackdown has been preempted the last two weeks for movies because, during this four week stretch called May Sweeps, ratings are tracked and ad rates are set for the next six months for local programming. The local affiliate has determined that it can draw better ratings for the movies its airing, and thus draw a bigger audience for its local newscast that follows, and set higher ad rates for the next six months as a result. So Smackdown is being bumped to midnight on Saturday nights. Because my local affiliate won't be a UPN affiliate this fall, there is no sense of loyalty toward the UPN programming, either, so it makes sense for them to do that. The only solution for you (and I) is to use a VCR or DVR and tape the shows to watch at your convenience during the weekend. If you can avoid spoilers until Friday night, you can tape it and watch it when you can a day or two later. It's frustrating, but it's the trade-off for being on a broadcast network. WWE doesn't draw strong enough ratings to demand a better evening or avoid preemptions. If they drew better ratings, it wouldn't be an issue.

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Marques Stewart, Peace Corps Volunteer - Apia, Western Samoa: With the return of the ECW brand (possibly) this September, I think its about time that the WWE embraced a method of digital transmission outside of their sphere of influence - mainly start putting their shows on the iTunes music store. I think that it would open up a great new source of revenue for WWE and capitalize on the brand recognition and fan energy that the ECW name still retains. Odds are Vince would want to have first dibs on the content to go through WWE.com so what they could do is package Heat and ECW as shows that people can buy on iTunes the day after they air on WWE.com. And that way they could also do some major tapings for the ECW brand and deliver it that way instead of going through the PPV channel which could save them more money in the long run and give ECW a unique place where it can both flourish without having to worry about ratings or buyrates. Any thoughts?

WK: First of all, kudos for being a Peace Corps Volunteer! Right now, WWE is working on getting ECW a late night cable timeslot, but as a fallback plan, adding an iTunes option makes sense. I don't know the logistics of what percentage of revenue they'd have to share and whether it'd be worth their while to go through iTunes when they have their own WWE.com Unlimited product their pushing where they don't have a middle man taking a share of the revenue. There's no doubt, though, that being able to download ECW TV onto an iPod would be a nice option if they don't get a cable clearance.

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Background on Torch editor Wade Keller: Torch editor Wade Keller founded Pro Wrestling Torch in September 1987. He has been interviewed as a wrestling expert by dozens of TV and radio stations across the country; he has also been quoted in dozens of major newspapers and magazines across the world. Media entities that have featured Keller in stories covering wrestling include National Public Radio, Fox News Channel, ESPN Magazine, the New York Post, Entertainment Weekly, the All-News Channel, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post. He also hosted his own weekly two hour wrestling talk show on KFAN sport radio in the '90s. Over the past 17 years Keller has also interviewed, one-on-one, wrestling's top names for in-depth "Torch Talks" and feature articles including powerbrokers such as Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Jerry Jarrett, Bill Watts, Jim Cornette, Jim Crockett, Jim Herd, Paul Heyman, Ed Ferrara, Terry Taylor, Kevin Sullivan, Jim Ross, and Vince Russo; top wrestling stars such as The Rock, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Mick Foley, Matt & Jeff Hardy, Rick Steamboat, Jerry Lawler, Bill Goldberg, British Bulldog, Road Warrior Hawk, Jesse Ventura, and Hulk Hogan; and legends such as Lou Thesz, Gordon Solie, Bruno Sammartino, Roy Shires, Terry Funk, and Verne Gagne. He is also host of the nationally distributed Ultimate Insiders DVD series.

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