By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

Updated Tuesday, October 28 - evening update

- Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling. Oh my. I watched the second episode this afternoon while reading a lawsuit by rappers vs. Cena, the guy who parodied the A-Team, and I just couldn't handle that much drama. I'll have a take on Week 2's episode, including Brian Knobs channeling his inner Chris Farley and Eric Bischoff creeping everyone out, tomorrow on the site.

- WWE tapes ECW and Smackdown tonight in San Diego, California. I don't know about you, but every time I hear San Diego now, I think about the movie, "Anchorman," Rey Mysterio, and the Padres. Mainly Will Ferrell giving his opinion on the origin of the name San Diego.



Ah, San Diego. On the Smackdown side, they'll be taping a casket match with Undertaker against any number of mystery opponents. Since the show will air on Halloween, I'm voting for the Repo Man and his mask. Or even Boogeyman, who I'm guessing will be on ECW tonight following a series of "He's Returning" vignettes. If you attend the taping in Saint Diego tonight, be sure to send in a taping report to pwtorch@gmail.com.

- Checking the Raw polls from last night, what a shock on the MVP choice by the Torch readers. 45 percent picked Evan Bourne as MVP of last night's show. Closest to Bourne were C.M. Punk & Kofi Kingston, who picked up 12 percent.

Here's what we know about Bourne right now. He has "it." Whatever that "it" factor is in the subjective world of pro wrestling, he has it. Fans who follow wrestling very closely, such as you reading this Daily Word, love him because he's an undersized wrestler with speed, athleticism, a personality, and he came through the independent scene. Casual fans, especially the kiddos, are digging him for being a breath of fresh air and delivering the "wow" factor to keep them tuned into broadcasts.

I will be very curious to see what the sixth-quarter hour rating looks like from last night's broadcast. WWE gave Bourne and Rey their own quarter-hour, with only one commercial break, so we'll be able to tell what kind of response TV viewers had to their spectacular match.

As for the 0-10 score poll, we have 68 percent of votes tallied in the 7-10 range. A very strong vote for last night's Raw, and our reader Reax came in at the same level. The energy level last night really carried the broadcast and helped deliver some compelling TV for once on Raw. Things were becoming very stagnant and predictable.

We won't see an over-night jump in the ratings, though. The show scored a 2.9 overall rating to match last week's poor effort, but WWE is going to experience a lag in Raw viewership after delivering three weeks of below-average TV. WWE has to re-build brand loyalty to the show and we won't see that reflected in just one week of stellar TV. It will take a few weeks of great TV and maybe one bad Monday Night Football game to get viewers back on USA Network with regularity.

- OK, ROH fans, it's okay to breathe again. After this past weekend's chaotic mess on Saturday where Gabe Sapolsky was fired, police were called to the Edison show for a parking lot brawl, and the new ROH booker, Adam Pearce, was in Mexico losing the NWA Title, all heck broke loose on Sunday and Monday.

We don't know about the longevity of ROH. We don't know if Pearce will work out as head booker handling egos in the locker room. We don't know if ROH has a TV deal in the works. We don't know if they will be able to retain their PPV distribution deal beyond the new year. Plenty of questions, but ROH shouldn't automatically be written off.

Pearce will certainly rub people the wrong way. He's an old-school wrestler and he's an old-school man's man who isn't going to coddle wrestlers and he's going to tell people what he thinks without a filter. I've been in a locker room where he chewed folks out left and right when light tubes were exploding into the crowd during a stunt-bump hardcore match. In a laid-back, passive-aggressive California locker room, he wanted to take charge of a potentially dangerous situation when no one else wanted do make a big deal.

Pearce comes from a different generation than many of the younger wrestlers in the ROH locker room. He'll be respected by some for taking a tough approach to his booking philosophy, but he'll turn off a good portion of the locker room at the same time.

First time out for the new ROH without Sapolsky is November 7 in Montreal. They have a very strong main event centered on their Canadian tag team champions, El Generico and Kevin Steen, in a four-way ROH Title match involving ROH champion Nigel McGuinness and FIP champion Go Shiozaki. Check out the video preview below.



- We have some independent highlights to cover for some events coming up. Forgotten Championship Wrestling is bringing an old-school, "bare bones" approach to its show on Nov. 15 in Brooklyn, N.Y. featuring former WWF wrestler Jim Powers. Powers, a former Young Stallion with Paul Roma, was recently in the news for "assisting" Scott Hall out of the Iron Sheik's roast when Hall. Also on the card are Romeo Roselli and the Hawaiian Tropic Girls. Fun for the whole family with more information at the FCW website. ...

Jersey All-Pro has a big show coming up on Nov. 15 in Jersey City, N.J. featuring The Briscoes, LAX, and F.B.I. The main event is JAPW champion Kenny Omega defending against B-Boy. A video preview of the show is below. Warning: classic case of independent show "lighting" for certain segments.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WRESTLING PODCAST LOG: Patrick from Tough Enough on Ross & Booker's shows, Austin talks hot topics, Jericho/Mr. Belding, Flair/Madden, Taz, Cabana, more

WRESTLING PODCAST LOG: Heyman talks to Chael Sonnen & Austin, Flair & Steamboat, Cornette to Jim Ross & Roddy Piper, Cabana, Jericho, Taz, more

WRESTLING PODCAST LOG: Jericho talks to Ventura, Cabana to Hawkins, Austin/Barnett, Ross/Danny Davis, Booker/Vickie, Piper/Valentine, Flair, Taz, more