By James Caldwell, Torch columnist

James Caldwell reports on various news from around wrestling during the weekend.

Updated Saturday, December 15

3:15 p.m. WWE Smackdown on the CW from last night averaged the usual 2.7 rating on a first hour 2.6 and second hour 2.8. The show finished ahead of FOX's 2.4 for fourth place on the night. CW also finished fourth on the night in the adult 18-49 demographic with a 1.5 rating.

- So Hood magazine has a positive review of The Condemned DVD, giving it three out of five stars. From the review: "If you're looking for tons of action, then this is a must see. Prisoners on death row are sent to a remote island for a fight to the death. Last man standing gets to go free. It’s purely an adrenaline action packed movie. My only gripe is the camera in some of the action scenes. It was like the cameraperson had too much coffee that day.

According to IMDB's database, Condemned has grossed $22.3 million in video rentals as of Dec. 2. The final box office number from May was $7.3 million. It's generated a total of $30.0 million in gross box office receipts and video rentals, with DVD sales not accounted for yet.

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10:30 a.m. WWE doesn't have live events scheduled this weekend ahead of the Armageddon PPV in Pittsburgh on Sunday. MVP will be making an appearance tonight at the Circuit City in Pittsburgh at 800 Chauvet Drive from 6-8 p.m. TNA was scheduled for two shows this weekend in Monterrey, Mexico, but they cancelled the mini-tour due to poor advanced ticket sales.

- New Japan has updated the line-up for the New Japan vs. TNA card on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome. TNA is bringing a camera crew to the event to film matches for the "Global Impact" show that will air on Thursday, Jan. 17.

TNA matches include: Yuji Nagata vs. Kurt Angle for one version of the IWGP Title, Tomko & Giant Bernard vs. Steiners for the IWGP Tag Titles, Wataru Inoue vs. the recently fired (in the storyline) Christopher Daniels for the IWGP Jr. Hvt. title, Team 3D vs. Makabe & Yano, Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abyss, and Christian Cage & A.J. Styles & Petey Williams vs. Milano Collection A.T. & Minoru & Prince Fergal Devitt. The six-man tag match sounds like a comedy match of the year candidate, and definitely needs to air on the Global Impact show.

- Victoria posted a bulletin on myspace claiming that on the recent European tour, she broke Michelle McCool's nose backstage, as opposed to in the ring during a match. Michelle wrote on her blog about the injury: "I fractured my nose leaving me with two awesome black eyes and a lumpy, bloody, swollen nose. ... Now I don’t like to give Victoria ANY credit whatsoever, but she did land a great clothesline straight across my face and that takes talent."

Victoria commented in her bulletin post on the frightening plane flight into Switzerland. She wrote: "All I could think is, if this plane crashes, will I still be physically able to take the Women's Championship from Beth Phoenix? Although after much consideration, I have decided yes, I can be in a plane crash and still beat Beth Phoenix." She was apparently channeling Ric Flair and Chuck Norris with that final statement.

- On Thursday morning, Toyota Center in Houston put tickets on sale for an event featuring Smackdown and ECW on Wednesday, Feb. 6. It's interesting because the email I received from the arena's mailing list didn't list the event as a TV taping. Yet, on the arena's website, they include the following description: "These two shows will be taped back-to-back under the same roof on the same night!"

It's also interesting that WWE has scheduled Raw in Austin, Tex. on Feb. 4, according to the Erwin Center web site, but the Austin show nor the Houston show are listed on the wwe.com schedule of events. So, WWE hasn't confirmed the existence of either show officially.

- The Miami Herald as an article on MVP returning to Florida last night for a Coastal Championship Wrestling independent show. Also making appearances were Jimmy Snuka and Deuce, Dustin Rhodes, Phi Delta Slam, and The Patriot. MVP didn't wrestle, but he cut a promo about returning to his roots on the independent circuit and getting trained at the Bodyslam University in South Florida.

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