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Updated daily, 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.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Evening Update

- RESULTS WANTED: We're looking for live event reports from last night's TNA show in Corpus Christi, Tex., and tonight's TNA show in Laredo, Texas. From ROH, we're looking for multiple reports from tonight's big New York City show at the Manhattan Center. From WWE, we're looking for a report from last night's house show in Springfield, Ill., and tonight in Johnson City, Tennessee.

- SNME Preview: WWE returns to NBC prime time TV with Saturday Night's Main Event at 9 p.m. EST for one hour. The hook is for Jenny McCarthy's fight against autism, with the wrestling matches consisting of Cena & Batista & Cryme Tyme vs. JBL & Kane & Cody & Ted, Jr. Also scheduled is a PPV-quality singles match between Jeff Hardy and Edge.

- MSNBC published an article on Jenny McCarthy's fight against autism and her appearance on SNME tonight after a radio host made negative comments about autism. "It’s really about showboating ignorance really," McCarthy told Access Hollywood. "I kind of took the high road and kept talking about healing, prevention." She joked that she would like to fight radio host Michael Savage in a WWE ring.

John Cena was interviewed for the story and said WWE partnered with McCarthy to draw more attention to her cause. "Jenny’s got a great cause," Cena said. "We can provide a bunch of eyes and ears, a bunch of people that might not know the ins and outs of autism." Article link.

- John Cena IGN.com interview

- Rhino IGN.com interview.

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Friday, August 1, 2008

Morning Update

- Results Wanted: We're looking for house show reports from tonight's events. The Raw brand is in Springfield, Ill., TNA is in Corpus Christy, Tex., and ROH is in Manassas, Va. ... ROH PPV #7 debuts tonight at 10:00 p.m. EST on InDemand cable systems featuring Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson & Austin Aries. We're looking for your feedback on ROH's latest PPV release.

- As expected, USA Network won the month of July in the cable TV ratings. The network averaged 2.94 million viewers for prime time TV, which was up from 2.64 million in the similar period last year. Monthly ratings break down.

- Apparently Monday night's SD/ECW house show in Macon, Ga. will feature a Georgia Street Fight between Triple H and Great Khali. The Telegraph newspaper in Macon has an ultra-serious look at the intense battle to be held at the Macon Coliseum. They don't have a sell-out right now, but arena officials believe they'll come close because WWE draws well. Article link.

- Frank Trigg says he's receiving training from TNA to learn how to be a legitimate pro wrestler to possibly make a career out of wrestling. "They're not trying to teach me stuff that just looks good for the camera,'' Trigg told Alex Marvez for his weekly column. ''I'm learning a legitimate-looking, strong style of pro wrestling so I can try and be a career guy in this. Whether I'm good enough and can figure out how to do this is the question.''

Trigg said he walked into the wrestling gig thinking it was "kind of dumb" to pretend to fight, but he learned to respect what goes on in the ring. "After doing it, this is absolutely one of the hardest things I've ever tried to learn," he said. "You have to have no selfish blood in your system or you will get destroyed. If you can't learn how to work with someone else, you're going to hurt them or hurt yourself. And that's going to hurt your career.'' Marvez column link.

- The latest on Hulk Hogan's "Kung Fu U" 3D-movie that we detailed earlier this year is that Kimbo Slice will also be appearing in the movie. Stereo Vision’s Chairman Doug Schwartz said, "We’re very happy to have Kimbo Slice co-starring in ‘Kung Fu U.’ He has an enormous media presence, and he’ll fit right in with our star Hulk Hogan, and the other cast members in our made for kids 3D movie. We hope to have ‘Kung Fu U’ in 3D in theatres by the fall of 2009." Article link.

***

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Evening Update

- WWE issued a press release officially confirming that Freddy Prinze, Jr. has joined the creative team. They list his role as a contributor to weekly TV and PPV programs. “Freddie Prinze, Jr.’s passion, energy and creativity make him an excellent fit for WWE,” said Chairman Vince McMahon. Press Release.

- THQ, the video game distributor for WWE, took a big quarterly hit, completely missing analyst expectations for the quarter. THQ reported a net loss of $27.2 million, leading to a 12.8 percent loss in stock price on Wednesday.

THQ still remains optimistic going forward with a slate of WWE and UFC video game releases in upcoming quarters. Said CEO Brian Farrell: "We have a robust product slate of key titles scheduled to launch in each of the next several quarters, starting with de Blob in September; Saints Row 2 and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 in the holiday quarter; Red Faction Guerrilla, Darksiders: Wrath of War and WWE Legends of Wrestlemania in our fiscal fourth quarter; and UFC 2009 Undisputed in the first quarter of fiscal 2010." Company press release.

- Odd story considering the timing, but a Missouri woman is suing WWE and the University of Missouri for injuries suffered at a WWE event on May 19, 2007. Lawyers for WWE and the university are claiming the woman is at fault. Article link.

- ROH announced they are returning to Japan September 13 and 14 with shows at Differ Ariake in Tokyo. Sept. 13 is tentatively scheduled to feature Jacobs & Black defending the ROH Tag Titles against the Briscoes. Also, Nigel vs. Danielson for the ROH Title, Stong vs. Richards, and a six-man Dragon Gate match.. ... The Sept. 14 card will be announced next week.

Morning Update

- Jim Ross says the revelation of Mike Adamle as Raw GM was a shocker to the wrestlers backstage. "The naming of Adamle as Ras GM was universally considered a shocker by the Raw superstars," Ross said on jrsbarbq.com. "Some wrestlers were especially vocal regarding Adamle’s announcement which was kept as a well concealed secret." Ross adds that he had zero advanced notice he would be needed on the Raw broadcast. Blog link.

- The mainstream reaction to Freddy Prinze, Jr. joining the WWE creative time has been sparse and contained to a few raised eyebrows. Prinze has been at several WWE events, including the TV taping in D.C. on Monday night, and he's a celebrity blogger on WWE's Fan Nation website.

- WWE Raw from July 20 averaged 4.75 million live viewers to finish fifth and ninth on cable TV last week, propelling USA Network to another cable victory. The first hour averaged 4.5 million viewers to finish ninth, while the second hour jumped up to nearly 5.0 million viewers to finish fourth. WWE can take solace in the fact that Raw beat Yankees-Red Sox on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Top 20 cable ratings.

- Stacy Keibler was given the official paparazzi treatment when photos were snapped of her leaving the gym on Monday afternoon while talking on the phone. Apparently she's officially a celebrity now. Article link.

- ROH Notes: Since Ruckus won the Honor Rumble last weekend, he gets an ROH Title shot against Nigel McGuinness on Friday night in Manassas, Va. Yes, that Ruckus. ... Also added to Friday's show is Roderick Strong vs. Necro Butcher and Rhett Titus vs. Delirious. ROH Newswire.

***

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Morning Update

- REPORTS WANTED: We're looking for reports and/or notes from the TNA Impact tapings last night and tonight in Orlando. We're also looking for a taping report from WWE's Smackdown/ECW taping in Hershey, Pa.

- The big corporate story of the week, besides WWE officially trying to move into TV PG land, is WWE hiring John Saboor away from the Central Florida Sports Commission. Saboor had been with the Commission since 1994, and now he will take a position with WWE as senior VP for special events. Saboor was instrumental in bringing WrestleMania 24 to Orlando on the other side of the table from WWE. Now, he's taking a new opportunity from Vince McMahon.

"This is over a third of my life spent here at the sports commission, and this is not a decision that came easily for me," Saboor said. "But Vince McMahon and the senior staff at WWE have really set the bar high in the world of sports and entertainment. For me, it came down to this being a terrific chance to work with him and other senior staff to plan for the placement for their platinum events years in advance." Orlando Sentinel article link.

- WWE nearly sold out the Chevy Centre in Youngstown, Ohio for Friday night's Smackdown house show, with 6,200 claimed in attendance for the 6,500-capacity arena. WWE is talking about bringing TV to the venue with smaller HD equipment being purchased. Currently, WWE can only run larger arenas where HD capabilities are possible. Vindy.com article.

- Here's a surprise. Randy Orton has been nominated as a top heel for the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards UK edition. Orton is up against Idol judge Simon Cowell and SpongeBob SquarePants character Plankton. Article link.

- ROH has announced the main line-up for Saturday night's show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. ROH Title match: Nigel vs. Tyler Black vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio, NWA Title match: Adam Pearce vs. Brent Albright, Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, Austin Aries vs. Necro Butcher vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Go Shiozaki vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Roderick Strong vs. Eddie Edwards, Delirious vs. Chris Hero, and Briscoes vs. Jigsaw & Ruckus. Full line-up.

- Christian Cage is interviewed by IGN.com on his video gaming preferences as well as the new TNA video game. "When I came here (to TNA), one of the reasons I came was to join a company that was growing, and being able to step in right away and be a piece of the puzzle," Christian said. "I looked at it as a challenge, and to see how far its grown and how it's still growing seemingly by the day. ... This is a huge step for the company (launching the video game)." Interview link.

- Hulk Hogan is playing the blame game with former wife, Linda. In an interview with USMagazine, Hogan says Linda is his most formidable opponent. "You talk about dirty tricks: Brass knuckles, steel knuckles, cheap shots, tripping people up," he said. "I’ve never seen anybody in the wrestling business that has more dirty tricks than she does! I guess I taught her well." Article link.

***

Monday, July 28, 2008

Afternoon Update

- REPORTS WANTED: Thanks to everyone who sent in live event reports from this weekend's stacked line-up of shows. We're still looking for a few more reports, specifically ROH in Toronto and Detroit.

- Mickie James, under her former wrestling name of Alexis Laree, was the number one search on Yahoo yesterday. Apparently some photos from her past were discovered and posted online.

- Jim Ross details the business aspect of today's pro wrestling environment as it relates to wrestlers handling their finances as independent contractors. Ross presents solid opinions that should spurn some much-needed questions and research and investigation into the best financial options for wrestlers in 2008. Ross also says he will be calling the one-hour SNME broadcast that will be taped tonight in Washington, D.C. prior to Raw. Ross blog on jrsbarbq.com.

- ROH president Cary Silkin says Toronto will become a regular stop on ROH's tour schedule. Tickets are already on-sale for the Nov. 8 return. "We’ve always wanted to come to Toronto. Just the logistics of doing it, finding the right building, making it a good business decision to do it, we had to have the right components," Silkin told Slam Wrestling prior to the show on Friday.

"Those components came together this year and we got a fantastic reaction from the wrestling fans in Toronto. We’re going to have a New York City type of crowd tonight with respect to the numbers. We’re really happy, grateful and appreciative." Slam article link.

- Also on Slam Wrestling, Brian Elliott has a piece on "Kung Fu", one of the most popular perfomers on the British circuit in the '70s and '80s. He also had a stint in Stampede Wrestling in 1981-1982. Article link.

- Jamie Noble says he never imagined the wrestling success he would find after starting jumping on trampolines with friends at 15 years old. "You set high goals and have high expectations," Noble told the Register-Herald in West Virginia. "Sometimes things are going well and at other times you just want to throw in the towel.” Noble also discusses his West Virginia background that is exaggerated for his TV character. Article link.

- Ted DiBiase says that one of the major positive changes in the wrestling business is more accountability for WWE wrestlers, mainly through the drug testing policy. "Something I try to instill in my boys and all the wrestlers is character counts," DiBiase told Jim Varsallone of the Miami Herald. You can have all the athletic ability in the world. You can be the greatest at whatever you do, but if you don't have character and a decent set of morals, your talent will take you to a place where your character won't sustain you." DiBiase said he's used his own example of nearly losing his family to teach his sons what to value in life and in wrestling. Article link.

- THQ's marketing VP, Bob Aniello, says the new Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 series will be focused on delivering more content to each of the video game platforms they release the game. Whereas last year was just about co-ordinating efforts to push the video game across the Wii, X-Box, and PS3 systems. Worthplaying.com has additional screens from the fall release video game. Article link.

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