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Updated Sunday, June 24 at 9:25 a.m. - by James Caldwell
-- VENGEANCE PPV PREVIEW: A PPV with so much potential turned into just another tri-branded PPV overshadowed by a Vince McMahon storyline on TV. This time, it was McMahon watching his own funeral, rendering the hype for Vengeance a complete afterthought ... The PPV line-up is loaded with nine title matches that add up a strong card. Of course, with nine matches, it's going to be like a TNA PPV where there isn't enough time for everyone ... I will be covering the PPV live inside the Toyota Center on the Torch VIP website with ongoing thoughts on the PPV. Check back tonight ...
My sleeper pick for match of the night is Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. the Hardys, but the trendy pick for MOTN is Chris Benoit vs. C.M. Punk. Don't forget about John Cena's Title match, as the drama will be heightened with King Booker in his hometown, Randy Orton probably KO'ing Mick Foley, and tension mounting between Cena and Bobby Lashley ...
Other matches include Edge vs. Batista for the World Hvt. Title, with Batista having his last chance at the belt. It seemed like a great stipulation to hammer home on TV the past few weeks to give the match serious consequences, but they glossed over that piece of information on Smackdown, as Edge was more concerned with the McMahon death angle during his segment, and Batista had no promo time ... MVP vs. Ric Flair for the U.S. Title is an interesting match because MVP hasn't shown the ability to have a great match with anyone beside Chris Benoit ... Santino Marella defends the IC Title against Umaga in a match with no hype, and only the interesting proposition of William Regal getting in line for a possible IC Title run himself ...
On the deep, deep undercard is Melina defending the Women's Title against Candice Michelle. If you recall, Candice indirectly earned this opportunity by defeating Melina in a pudding match last month ... Chavo Guerrero defends the Cruiserweight Title against Jimmy Wang Yang in a match with potential, but it certainly won't be given much time ... Smackdown's tag champions had zero TV time this week, but Deuce & Domino have an open challenge. You have to wonder if Eugene and Hacksaw Duggan are available ...
-- TNA HOUSE SHOW TONIGHT: TNA wraps up their four-night tour of New England with a show in Hampton, N.H. at the Casino Ballroom ... Top wrestlers include Christian Cage, A.J. Styles, and Rhino ... Torch columnist Sean Radican has a look at last night's house show in Lincoln, R.I. in his blog on the main listing ...
-- At last night's ROH PPV taping in Chicago, they announced that the third taping will take place in the same venue on Sept. 15 ... Results from last night included ROH champion Morishima turning Jimmy Rave into his personal rag doll, retaining the belt in short order, and then defeating Adam Pearce later in the show ... The main event was Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA in a re-match of their classic series from last year, with the fans chanting "Match of Year" after the match ...
-- TNA sent a text to Mobile subscribers last night that Ricky Banderas was at the Impact taping last week and Scott Steiner will arrive home from Puerto Rico tomorrow ... Related to the Banderas story, he was filming vignettes during the taping on Tuesday. What will be interesting going forward is how Konnan quitting TNA affects Banderas and whether they continue to bring him in for TV in Orlando ...
-- Jim Ross has a new blog entry on jrsbarbq.com discussing three-hour Raws, Harley Race's recent auto accident, Brock Lesnar in MMA, the upcoming football season, Paul Boesch's hand in the history of Houston wrestling, and more. Blog entry.
LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1039 (17 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller who attended Brock Lesnar's first UFC victory on Saturday night in the semi-main event in front of a record-setting crowd in his hometown. Keller's BBL looks at Lesnar's place in MMA and in what ways he seems more comfortable than ever... Bruce Mitchell's Memo examines the dilemma of Chris Benoit and the Hall of Fame... Sean Radican reviews the two latest TNA DVD releases... In-depth coverage of the TNA Hard Justice PPV including Keller's match report with star ratings and the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews... Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" with scoops and insider analysis... WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire with insider news, big story analysis, and notebook tidbits... Plus Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week, and more....
