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Updated two or three times per day, the Torch News Ticker delivers a stream of news and information from WWE, TNA, ROH, Japan, the independents, and whatever else pops up. Keep it open in a new tab and bookmark it every Monday! Promoters and readers: Send in news, upcoming events, interview highlights, or wrestling-related information to the Torch News email address, Wade Keller, and James Caldwell for inclusion on the Ticker. Contact link.

Weekend Update - July 19-20, 2008

- WWE's Great American Bash PPV is tonight featuring Triple H vs. Edge for the WWE Title and C.M. Punk vs. Batista for the World Hvt. Title. Hunter vs. Edge is expected to close the show. Rest of the card: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho, John Cena vs. JBL in a street fight, Mark Henry vs. Tommy Dreamer for the ECW Title, Miz & Morrison defending the WWE tag titles in a four-way deal, and Michelle McCool vs. Natalya for the first Smackdown Women's Title. We'll have live coverage on the site tonight and want your 0-10 scores on the show.

- Newsday's Alfonso Castillo published a preview of the Bash in Long Island, looking at the history of WWE PPVs and events at the Nassau Coliseum and the history of the Bash series dating back to the NWA concept event. Newsday article.

- LIVE REPORTS WANTED: We're looking for live event reports from Friday night's TNA house show in Tyler, Tex. and tonight's TNA house show in Little Rock, Ark. From WWE, we're looking for a report from last night's Super show in Springfield, Mass.

- C.M. Punk says he was born to be a champion and WWE fans haven't seen everything he can bring to the table. "I've always believed this would happen. I'm not trying to be cocky, but it was something I was born to be," Punk told Tim Baines of the Winnipeg Sun about becoming World Hvt. champion. "I don't think WWE fans have really seen anything out of me yet. I think I'm going to be able to talk people into buildings. Just give me the microphone and let me go with it." An interesting note from Punk that he was reading about the nutritional value in a can of Pepsi when his name was called during the June 23 Draft show. Interview link.

- CW president Dawn Ostroff made waves this weekend at the Television Critics Association executive conference when asked about dropping WWE from the TV line-up. She repeated the same lines from a few months ago to save face on giving up the top-rated show on the network. "It was a really tough decision and a bold decision to decide to take WWE off. It was not easy," Ostroff said. "The strategy of being able to brand this network was what we were thinking about." The strategy is, of course, marketing exclusively to women with the fall line-up. "It was all men and there was no duplication," she said about Smackdown's contribution to the network. "They didn't watch any other CW shows and vice versa." Zap2it.com article link.

- Ostroff didn't endear herself to critics by stiff-arming many questions, including concerns about CW's Sunday block of TV programming. Ostroff was most forthcoming discussing the WWE decision (which TV critics still don't agree with), but she failed to help critics understand the network's other decisions. Article link.

- Arizona Star has a really good article on championship belt-maker Reggie Parks, who has been custom-making wrestling, boxing, and MMA title belts for 40 years. Parks did WWE's belts until 10 years ago when WWE wanted to keep all royalties on replica belt sales. Parks now does big business handling UFC's title belts. His website has helped out as well. "Now we have orders going all over the place," Parks says. "Europe, Australia and Japan - any place that has wrestling fans. The business has just ballooned. It used to be three or four belts a month. Now we're working on about 20 belts at a time." Worth a read. Article link.

***

Friday, July 18, 2008

Morning Update

- Smackdown Preview: The final episode of WWE TV leading to the Great American Bash PPV will feature the Edge-Vickie wedding of the century. Also on the show is Hardy involvement in the main event, Umaga vs. Mr. Kennedy, and the set-up to a four-way tag title match at the PPV.

- A fan in Charlotte captured Ric Flair's non-televised farewell speech after the Smackdown taping last Tuesday. Check out the youtube clip before someone pulls it. Video link.

Ric Flair in Charlotte (7/15/08)


- Jim Ross touches on all of this week's news in his latest blog, including speculation on Batista winning the World Title from Punk to quickly end Punk's title reign. "I would not be shocked to see Batista win Sunday. However, that’s not to say I would be shocked with a Punk win either over the more established former champ," Ross said. "The good news in this uninformed, fence straddling review of this match is that I don’t have a clue as to how this bout will transpire which makes it all the better to watch."

Ross also comments on Flair's farewell speech, previews Smackdown, and discusses the anniversaries of Bruiser Brody and Bam Bam Gordy's deaths. It's been exactly 20 years since Brody's untimely death. Very good read this week. Blog link.

- Apparently TNA's blueprint, Matt Morgan, was officially announced on this week's episode of American Gladiators as "The Beast" character they've been teasing in commercials for months. Since ratings are down for the show, it's unconfirmed whether anyone watched the show to verify this. But, tvsquad.com reports that Morgan will debut on the July 21 episode of American Gladiators. Article link.

- Lex Luger will be giving his testimony on his conversion to Christianity at Carolyn Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga. on Sunday, July 27. Luger is currently undergoing rehab for his various ailments and stroke last year in Atlanta. Article link.

- THQ had a sneak peek at the new Legends of WrestleMania video game that will debut in April. WWE had a private showing at the E3 Convention in Los Angeles earlier this week, and THQ reported the main takeaway from the video game is that it's very simplified from the Smackdown vs. Raw series for non-regular video game players.

"THQ's been very up front about saying they hope this game appeals to videogame fans who might have fallen out of the pro-wrestling demographic," IGN writes. "If you haven't picked up a Smackdown because the controls seemed too complicated, you won't have to worry about that when it comes of Legends." Article link.

- The buzz for the 2009 version of Smackdown vs. Raw isn't as much as the Legends game. Cinemablend.com reports that the upcoming version plays very similarly to the past installments, as was demonstrated at the E3 convention. Article link.

- A report from In Touch magazine says Brooke Hogan is considering posing for Playboy, possibly for the annual WWE-related cover around WrestleMania season. Gossip link.

***

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Morning Update

- The July 7 edition of Raw was the most-watched TV show on cable last week. Viewers were tuned in after the momentum of C.M. Punk's title run, but the numbers indicate they tuned out this past Monday after the July 7 episode was universally panned. (Going up against the Josh Hamilton show at the Home Run Derby certainly didn't help matters.) For the week of July 7, USA Network had five of the six most-watched shows, with Raw averaging 5.8 million viewers. LA Times article.

- Rey Mysterio has been nominated for the "Most Extreme Athlete" category for this year's American Latino TV awards. The syndicated awards show will be broadcasted in select markets, starting with Los Angeles on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. PST. Press release.

- Videogamer.com had a chance to take a look at the new TNA Impact game up-close at Midway's private showing at the E3 Convention in Los Angeles. Their conclusion: "What we will say here is TNA Impact! is going to violently shake the wrestling game genre to its core when it's released this September." Strong words. Game review.

- An interesting WWE stock note. A fund named HBK Sorce Advisory, LLC recently bought 25,275 shares of stock. Records do not indicate whether Shawn Michaels was heading up the effort. Recent trading shows 53 percent of funds have recently bought shares, 15 percent have maintained shares, and 32 percent have recently sold shares. It's a better outlook that most entertainment-related companies.

- In other WWE stock-related news, Buyins.net announced that WWE has been added to the "naked short threshold list," which measures the failure of stock being delivered to the shareholder. WWE has apparently failed on 11,539 shares of stock since August 2007. They surpassed a benchmark in this area to find themselves on this list. Press release details.

***

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Morning Update

- Rest assured John Cena fans who might have been concerned about whether he's alive or dead. WWE's website posted a storyline-centered article following the ending of Raw that Cena "escaped at the last minute and was only grazed" as JBL tried to smash him with a vehicle. WWE is assuring readers that Cena will be at the Great American Bash to face JBL in a parking lot brawl.

- TV TAPINGS: WWE tapes Smackdown/ECW tonight in Charlotte with Ric Flair expected to make a non-televised appearance at the very least. We're looking for a report from tonight's taping. ... TNA tapes this week's Impact in Orlando tonight. If you attend the taping, we're looking for a report on the events and how TNA handles the World Title situation.

- DVR viewing numbers from the June 23 Raw Draft show indicates there wasn't as much DVR viewing as a typical edition of Raw. Only 4.5 percent of Raw's total viewership came after-the-fact on DVRs, which is below their average of 7.5 percent. The reason is that more people watched the show live on Monday, with the significant 6.0 million viewer total for the final hour of the Draft show. Raw was still in the Top 10 for overall DVR viewing on cable for the week of June 23. DVR viewing numbers.

- WWE announced preliminary details on the new "Legends of WrestleMania" video game that will be coming out in April 2009. IGN.com published the details, screenshots, and a trailer on the game that will include a WrestleMania Tour story mode that allows the game player to wrestle in significant WrestleMania matches from the past. IGN article link and WWE press release.

- Mickie James will be appearing on an upcoming episode of "Psych" on USA Network to continue USA's strategy of synergy between their top-rated TV shows. No word on when the episode will air.

- Bizarre story of the day goes to a man from Staunton, Va., who broke the rib of a woman after giving her a gutbuster across his knee. It gets better. The woman (not the man) was then arrested when she reported the incident to police because she had an outstanding felony warrant. The incident occurred on July 8 when the man and woman were having a "friendly wrestling match" and after finishing, the man delivered the post-match attack with the gutbuster. With the woman on the ground, the man then kicked her and fled the scene. Article link.

- Apparently there is a major match-fixing scandal for the sport of cricket in India, which has led to two suspicious deaths of people privy to information. Merinews.com now poses the question of whether such sports as WWE are fixed as well. Here's the allegations about a "fight" involving Great Khali: "Many believe that even the fights in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) are fixed and the great Indian Khali lost his bout because there was a huge amount at risk from the Indian fans who were sure of Khali's victory in the WWE competition going on in America, but the result went against the wishes of Indian fans and Khali lost the fight in the ring." Article link.

***

Monday, July 14, 2008

Afternoon Update

- Jim Ross says he'll be meeting up with Ric Flair in Charlotte tonight prior to the Smackdown/ECW taping on Tuesday. Whether Flair makes an on-screen appearance remains to be seen, as Flair might just make an appearance for the live audience.

In his latest blog, Ross also dives into the issue of employee vs. independent contractor as it relates to how wrestlers are classified by wrestling promotions, mainly for tax purposes. "One can make a valid argument that all wrestlers should be full time employees of their respective employers which I would endorse but I also don’t know all the legal issues or costs involved in accomplishing such," Ross said. Good read. Blog link.

- Charlotte Observer is giving away a pair of tickets to the SD/ECW taping on Tuesday. Just need to demonstrate your "pro wrestling pride" to win the contest. Contest details.

- Chris Jericho says he's been working on his second book since April, and he'll start writing what he's recorded on tape in October. "I'm covering the trials and tribulations I went through in WWE and the path that led me to come back," Jericho said in an interview published by the Daily Star in the U.K. "I figure I must have a pretty good story to have written two books before I'm 38. It's a testament to the life that I have." Jericho says he won't benegative in the book because there's no reason to do that when he says he's already won at the end of the story. Interview link.

- A news site in Ghana picked up on the story of Kofi Kingston being billed from Jamaica despite being from the West African country of Ghana. Key line from an article: "Apparently, handlers at the WWE determined that Ghana is a nonentity where international stature is concerned, but that Jamaica is. ... The money, we find, is very good, even if all the national credit must go to Bob Marley’s Jamaica." Article link.

- Mr. Kennedy and Minnesota Vikings center Matt Birk helped the Republican National Convention succeed in having 10,000 volunteers register for the Convention in St. Paul. Kennedy and Birk were featured in local TV spots encouraging volunteers to sign up. Article link.

***

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