-First of all, thanks to everyone who has written in willing to volunteer to help contribute to PWTorch.com. I've been blown away at how many of you want to help. It's going to take me a couple days to get through all of the emails. For those I did get back to right away, we have some great new features planned already, as our readership has shown me just in the emails I've gone through so far, such a diverse set of experiences and knowledge to draw from with some great new article concepts. I'll be putting together a list of the new contributors and a schedule of features in coming days so all of you know what to look for each day as we dramatically expand our content.
-Tonight on HBO, the season premiere of "Real Sports with Bryan Gumbel" advertises a segment on the pro wrestling industry and the "extreme lives and deaths" of the performers. There will also be a segment on "Pacman" Jones, although related to his pre-TNA problems. The show airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The pro wrestling segment has not been included in some more recent advertising, and the segment may actually have been dropped. Last I heard from the producer of the piece, he hadn't found the right wrestler he felt could carry the segment, so it may have been dropped or postponed.
-On WFAN 660 AM in New York City, N.Y. this morning, Chris Carlin and Charles McCord discussed the death of Brian Adams. Carlin came down hard on Vince McMahon for not pushing wrestlers unless they take steroids to get bigger and stronger. They talked about how it seems WWE never seems to be held accountable for it and doesn't take responsibility. They brought up Owen Hart's death, too. [Thanks to PWTorch.com reader Ken S.]
-Chris Benoit was advertised for an upcomin WWE event. During the Little League game on ESPN2 last night (Monday, 9:27 p.m.), the television showed a commercial for ECW in Trenton on Aug. 25 with Chris Benoit as one of the wrestlers scheduled to appear. [Thanks to PWTorch.com reader Bill Tull]
-Marc Mero was interviewed for "The Glen Beck" show this afternoon. It airs tonight. It's a short segment.
-Raw ratings are in, and we reported that earlier along my reaction to them. Just a couple more details: In the key demos, it drew a 2.8 among M18-49 and a 2.81 among M18-34. Overall viewership was 5.3 million.
-The NFL is taking steps to deal with concussions suffered by its players on the field. ESPN.com details it in Download Audio Sample:
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....
