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TORCH NEWS TICKER 10/2: Big night of TV, Impact preview, WWE financial analysis, USA Network wins quarter Oct 2, 2008 - 12:46:12 PM
- TV Notes: Big night of TV tonight. Not only is there the much-anticipated potential trainwreck U.S. Vice-Presidential debate on the major TV networks, but WrestleMania 24 will be airing on MyNet tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST to kick off WWE's debut on MyNet. Also, TNA Impact has the Impact Zone debut of Mick Foley on Spike TV. Choose wisely.
- Impact preview: Big story is Mick Foley officially joining TNA, but also Jeff Jarrett will address Kurt Angle's U.K. newspaper comments ahead of their match at Bound for Glory. ... Matches include Styles & Christian & Jay Lethal vs. Booker T & Team 3D, MachineGuns vs. LAX, Sheik Abdul Bashir defending the X Division Title against Eric Young and Jimmy Rave, and ODB vs. Angelina Love.
- Coinciding with Smackdown's move to MyNetworkTV on Friday, WWE is hosting a block party in New York City from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. The event will be at 1211 Avenue of Americas between 47th and 48th streets. Jeff Hardy, Zack Ryder, and Cody Hawkins are scheduled to appear. Contest winners could win a copy of the 2009 SD vs. Raw video game.
- USA Network won the third quarter cable TV ratings race to keep the streak going this year. Raw and the other four original prime time TV series averaged a 2.2 rating during the quarter, which is a 5 percent increase over last year's third quarter. Multichannel News report.
- WWE issued a press release earlier this week promoting the company's high dividend yield and strong growth potential to counter the major drop in the stock market on Monday. Financial websites bloggingstocks.com and seekingalpaha.com published reviews of WWE stock to see if WWE's press release holds water.
Bloggingstocks concluded: "I think WWE might indeed be a good long-term dividend play. I still think that CEO Linda McMahon needs to do what she can to improve the current cash-flow imbalance." Article link. Alpha concluded that WWE is an attractive stock if their business is not affected by economic downturns, which CEO Linda McMahon said just as much in in last quarter's conference call. Article link.
- UNLV's student newspaper published a satirical piece on Batista, JBL, and Santino Marella providing strong opinions on how to find relief in the struggling economic market based on their promo exchange on Raw. Good read. Article link.
***
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Afternoon Update
- Edge says he has no redeeming qualities as a TV character, so he loves playing the heel role on Smackdown. In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Edge also says he's learned from his injurious past to be smarter about when to return to the ring. "I was still so hungry then, all I cared about was getting back into the ring," he said. "But I don't know how I would react if something like that happened now." Article link.
- USA Today has a look at the ratings notes for last week, with WWE picking up 4.4 million viewers for the final episode of Smackdown on CW last Friday night. The show went up against the first of three U.S. presidential debates and held its own pretty well. USA Today article link.
- The Sun in the U.K. had a sneak peek at the forthcoming Smackdown vs. Raw video game that is due out this fall. So far, the 2009 version is getting strong reviews with upgrades to several features. Sun article link.
- Videogamer.com was on hand for the SD vs. Raw video game tour in the U.K. and they have an in-depth journal on the experience. Entertaining read. Article link.
- Terri Runnels is interviewed in the Miami Herald about her start in wrestling, her WWE run as Marlena, and current project to inspire people to write. Very in-depth interview with Jim Varsallone touching on a lot of her history and misconceptions. Article link.
- TNA Notes: TNA has a full weekend line-up on the East Coast, with shows in Lowell, Mass., Glens Fall, N.Y., and Plattsburg, N.Y. ... Line-ups for the weekend include Samoa Joe vs. Booker T, Beer Money vs. Machineguns, and Awesome Kong vs. Roxxi. Saturday's show in Glen Falls will feature a three-way TNA Title match of Joe vs. Booker vs. Styles. Weekend line-up.
- ROH Notes: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin have been pulled from the Oct. 24 and 25 shows due to a scheduling conflict. They're being replaced by former ROH champion Homicide and Hernandez of LAX. ... Jerry Lynn has joined the full-time ROH roster and Davey Richards will be returning full-time after spending the summer in Japan wrestling for NOAH. As a result, Oct. 25 will feature Lynn vs. Richards. ... Go Shiozaki has an FIP Title defense on Oct. 11 against Roderick Strong, then another defense on Oct. 24 against Austin Aries. ROH Newswire.
***
Monday, September 29, 2008
Afternoon Update
- ROH's "New Horizons" PPV debuted last weekend and we're looking for your feedback on the PPV. It re-airs on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. and Friday at 8:00 p.m. this week on InDemand.
- Kurt Angle is back at it this week, with the Daily Star in the U.K. publishing an interview with Angle when he was in town promoting TNA's tour in January 2009. Angle's TNA contract expires next year and he hinted he might go for MMA. "When my contract comes up I'm going to be doing some MMA, so there it is straight up. At present I am leaning toward TNA, but I will choose whatever company is in my best interests," he said.
Angle also commented on whether he would ever move back to WWE. "If I did go back, which is a very slim chance, my schedule would be a lot less," he said. I just can't do it, I've wrestled twenty two years in amateur wrestling and eight as a pro. It just won't happen." Angle was complimentary of Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H in a significant change of tone from interviews the previous two years. He also reiterated the points made last week about over-doing gimmicks and run-ins in TNA. Star interview link.
- Speaking of last week's comments made by Angle in the U.K. Sun, TNA is turning this into an angle with Jeff Jarrett set to address Angle's comments on Impact this week. Also, Mick Foley will officially join TNA with a live appearance in Orlando. Impact preview for Thursday.
- WWE's debut episode of Smackdown on MyNetwork TV will be hosted by Jim Ross and Tazz, according to Ross on his blog. Over the weekend, ads for the MyNet switch aired during the NFL coverage on FOX, specifically a five-second clip for Maria representing the divas during the Cowboys vs. Redskins game. Ross added that Todd Grisham will be back to hosting ECW this week after a tough week for him. Ross blog link.
- Stuart Synder, head of animation for Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network division, says a cartoon series based on WWE characters is a possibility down the line. “WWE has great action stars and they are really targeted to our audience,” he told Broadcasting & Cable. “There could be a marriage made in heaven in regards to an idea there.” Snyder was formerly an executive with WWE. Article link.
- MyFox in Houston published a story on The Miz & Morrison helping out Hurricane Ike victims at a local food bank in Houston last Wednesday. Article link.
- Chris Nowinski with the Sports Legacy Institute announced that former New England Patriot Ted Johnson has agreed to donate his brain upon death while having his brain monitored regularly until death to study the effects of concussions post-career. Johnson retired three years ago because of issues caused by concussions that have led to memory problems and depression. Article link.
- ROH Notes: ROH cancelled the two Florida shows scheduled for two weekends from now on October 100 and 11. "We apologize for any inconvenience, but this was ROH's only option at this time," ROH said on its website. ... In a storyline development, Larry Sweeney is pulling Adam Pearce and the NWA Title from ROH. ROH Newswire.
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AND NEW FOR 2009! Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?
