By James Caldwell, PWTorch columnist

UPCOMING EVENTS:

-- Friday, Jan. 2: WWE Raw/ECW brand in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
-- Saturday, Jan. 3: Raw/ECW brand in Lake Charles, La. and Smackdown brand in Tyler, Tex.
-- Sunday, Jan. 4: Raw/ECW brand in Baton Rouge, La. and Smackdown brand in Bossier City, La.

Torch readers: If you attend one of the upcoming house shows, be sure to send in a report to pwtorch@gmail.com.

RESULTS

1/1 TNA Impact "Best of" 2008 Recap show on Spike TV: (1) TNA tag team champions Beer Money, Inc. beat LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) to retain the TNA Tag Titles.

NEWS

WWE News: WWE's WrestleMania 24 special airing tonight on CNN's Larry King Live

CNN's Larry King promised to "pull back the curtain" on the world of WWE in early 2008 when Floyd Mayweather became involved in WWE storylines prior to the WrestleMania 24 PPV.

A replay of the Larry King Live "softball toss" with Vince McMahon, Chris Jericho, John Cena, Triple H, and Big Show will air tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST.

The episode focused on steroids, Chris Benoit, and WrestleMania 24, with the wrestlers eagerly defending WWE for cleaning up the sport of wrestling.

Some key quotes and lines airing on the replay tonight:

-- John Cena said he's not concerned about a drug problem in WWE. He said it's a matter of personal choice, and WWE does a fantastic job of taking care of current and former performers who come forth with a problem.

-- Triple H said he doesn't take painkillers because he can't stand them. "I've heard other guys say 'oh, the wrestling industry, you have to do it (take pills) to make it through'," he said. "It's a load of crap, because I know more guys that don't take anything than do take stuff. You know, it's a personal choice."

***

WWE News: Shawn Michaels says who he wants calling his final wrestling match; Ric Flair's New Year's partying

-- Shawn Michaels might be on the WWE Raw brand and Jim Ross might be on the Smackdown brand calling TV airing on Friday nights, but Michaels wants Ross to call the final match of his career, whenever that might be.

Jim Ross said on jrsbarbq.com that Michaels told him this personally, which he said might be "some of the nicest words any wrestler has ever said to me."

"When HBK retires, which hopefully won't be any time soon, he told me he wanted me to call his last match too," Ross said. "I asked what if I'm not on the air any longer and he said it didn't matter and that I could come back for one more match."

In a previous blog entry, Ross said he believes Michaels will call it a career around WrestleMania 26 in April 2010, which would be appropriate for a Smackdown vs. Raw inter-brand "dream match" with Ross calling the match.

-- Ross also commented on Ric Flair, who he says texted him on New Year's Eve to say "it was IMPOSSIBLE for the Nature Boy NOT to party on such a big night." No surprise there.

Ross added that he believes Flair will have a "headline-grabbing" year in 2009 due to the various projects he's working on as an independent wrestler of sorts. "Knowing many of the projects that Ric is working on leads me to believe that '09 could be a banner year for Ric in many areas," said Ross.

Link: Jim Ross blog on jrsbarbq.com.

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WWE News: Smackdown diva Natalya discusses training advice from Stu Hart; why she got into wrestling

WWE Smackdown diva Natalya (Nattie Niedhart) was the fortunate benefactor of being part of the Hart family if she wanted to get into the wrestling business. Having access to her late grandfather Stu Hart and his infamous Dungeon in Calgary certainly helped.

"He'd come down and watch me training in the Dungeon," Natalya told Rita Mingo for the Calgary Herald. "He took my training seriously and I appreciated his support. He believed in me."

Natalya says being surrounded by wrestling her entire life made it easy to want to be part of wrestling, especially with support from her mentors and uncles, Bret, Bruce, and Ross Hart.

"I'm the only female in the family to get into wrestling," she said. "It just seemed the natural thing to do. I was very athletic and had a flair for drama."

Link: Calgary Herald interview with Natalya.

***

ROH News: Latest Video Wire footage of Austin Aries attacking Tyler Black; steel cage match promos (w/VIDEO)

Ring of Honor posted the latest Video Wire hyping storylines for January, including promos from Larry Sweeney and Brent Albright setting up the January 31 steel cage match between Sweeney's group and Albright's group that will be taped for PPV.

Also on the video wire is footage from last Saturday when Austin Aries attacked Tyler Black and inexplicably helped Jimmy Jacobs after their bitter feud recently concluded. Also, Jay Briscoe provides a storyline health update on his brother, Mark's, knee injury.

VIDEO SELECTION below:



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TNA News: New Year brings new deal for Spike TV's parent company; status of TNA Impact

After yesterday's scare that Spike TV and other Viacom-owned networks would be pulled from Time Warner Cable after midnight this morning, the AP reports that a new agreement was reached at the last minute to prevent any disruptions in service.

Early this morning, Time Warner reached an agreement with Viacom to keep the networks on the air for the subscriber base. Terms of the agreement to meet demands on both sides for fees each side receives from subscribers were not disclosed.

Time Warner's CEO said he's sorry the dispute became public as both sides worked through negotiations. The temporary agreement means Spike TV will continue airing in the approximate 15.7 million homes Time Warner reaches, and TNA Impact will continue to air as regularly scheduled.

Link: Press release on Yahoo.

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