By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010

4:00 p.m.

-- Spike TV has put up a Countdown Clock on their current programming counting down the time until "Hulk Hogan Comes to TNA Live." Nice piece of marketing mixed with TNA/Hogan commercials during most commercial breaks on their current programming.

-- Daniels has an interview with MSN talking about Hulk Hogan, his recent World Title main event opportunity, and wrestling A.J. Styles. "My main goal is to stay in the world title picture," he said. "I've had two title shots in the last two months, and I'll keep wrestling guys like A.J. Styles and Kurt Angle, which is great now especially with the increased spotlight (from Hulk Hogan)." That basically summed up the interview. MSN interview link.

-- A local newspaper in Georgia has a report on Diamond Dallas Page returning to the ring over the weekend at "The Purks." The report also says Christy Hemme will be appearing at next month's show "to wrestle," although she announced in December she's retired from wrestling. Cedartown local report. Thanks to Robert Taylor.

***

3:00 p.m.

-- Hulk Hogan started today's big day for TNA by holding a backstage meeting with talent and staff at the Impact Zone. TNA president Dixie Carter classified it as Hogan "addressing the troops" before the show, which starts live in four hours.

-- Mr. Kennedy is suggesting he's watching WWE Raw and TNA Impact from home tonight. "Excited for a big night of wrestling. Haven't watched either show since I was fired. But they've finally managed to pique my curiosity," he posted on Twitter.

-- I've had the TV on USA Network off-and-on this afternoon and USA is certainly doing their part advertising tonight's Raw with multiple commercials focusing on Bret Hart. I watch a good share of crime dramas on USA during the week and they typically runs ads focusing on celebrity guest hosts on Raw, such as Piven, Shaq, and Seth Green, but they're going heavy with Bret Hart ads for tonight's Raw.

-- WWE is teasing a split between Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes with DiBiase turning face. Torch reader Bill Patton sent this note: Recently on WWE website's, they had a story with their "Crystal Ball for 2010" saying that Ted DiBiase has split from Legacy. This may just be the website inferring that Legacy has split due to the Randy-Cody bromance last week on Raw after Cody's win.

***

1:00 p.m.

-- A reminder for tonight is that TNA has an online press conference scheduled for 11:00 p.m. EST after the conclusion of tonight's Impact on mycontent.com. The Torch first reported the details last week, which are available here.

-- Gabe Sapolsky has a new blog fantasy-booking tonight's Impact debut on Monday nights. It's a good piece of marketing from Sapolsky to hook readers on the "What if Dixie Carter asked me to book Impact?" question, then plug his new Evolve promotion's first show on January 16. The fantasy booking idea starts with chaos, as Hulk Hogan cannot be found in the building and everyone panics looking for him. "I think everyone is expecting a nice, happy Hogan speech to start the show," Sapolsky says before diving into the chaotic scene. It's a good read. Sapolsky's MySpace blog.

-- About two months later...WWE acknowledged Mickie James's music ambitions in a story on their website today. Mickie signed with a country music label to release her first country music album in March. The timing is right with WrestleMania season about to kick into full gear. Read the December story on Mickie's album release.

-- Ring of Honor is moving up the start time of their TV taping in Philadelphia on Saturday night. The taping will take place at 4:00 p.m. due to the Philadelphia Eagles's NFL Playoffs being televised at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night.

***

11:00 a.m.

-- It's a big day for the wrestling industry today. WWE Raw is selling the return of Bret Hart in-the-flesh. TNA's theme for Impact is "turning TNA upside down" along with Hulk Hogan in-the-flesh. Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter have talked plenty about "big changes," but TNA's changes will progressively be rolled out, so don't expect a complete overhaul on Day One. The best way I can turn this into an analogy is that TNA is looking to re-model the product, but they're not going to tear down and start over. The big takeaways from tonight's Impact should be the "big surprises" and hopefully some darn good wrestling action, but the changes will be slowly rolled out as the entire organization tries to buy into what Hogan is selling.

Over the weekend in the public spectrum, the big names from TNA were on the interview circuit, while WWE stuck to promoting what they have: Hart, a tag title match, anticipation for a possible Hart-Michaels and/or Hart-McMahon confrontation, and Orton-Kofi. Very early in our Monday Night Wars Poll, more Torch readers are sticking solely with Impact compared to sticking solely with Raw, which reflects TNA with the advantage in the anticipation department with "big surprises" being advertised. The day is here and we'll have plenty of fall-out to cover tonight and the rest of the week.

-- Jeremy Borash is adding to the hype machine for Impact: "Have to bite my tweet lip. Can't believe who just walked into the hotel lobby. Guessing he isn't in Orlando to visit Epcot."

-- The Stamford Advocate published a massive story today weighing the issues on whether WWE should be subject to government regulation. There was no resolution, though, as the issue became stuck in the mud on that classic question on how to regulate a sport that's actually entertainment. We'll have a story on Tuesday looking at all the quotes in the story, which has a comment from just about everyone with an interest in the issue. Stamford Advocate report.

Wrestling author Irv Muchnick also weighed in on the Advocate's story, saying "There is much to discuss here about the tension between business development and moralism." Read his blog on Wrestling Babylon.

-- The new season of "Celebrity Apprentice" hosted by Donald Trump (the man you can thank for the guest-hosting concept on Raw) received press today for the official announcement of the contestants, including former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. WWE diva Maria and former WWE/WCW World champ Goldberg are also appearing on the show. The show premieres on Sunday, March 14 just in time for WrestleMania season.

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