By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

-- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin noted on his latest podcast that it appears any chance of Vince McMahon and C.M. Punk doing business again is out the window after Punk signed with UFC.

Austin said that he thought there was a chance to have a "Jim Ross" type person serve as intermediary getting McMahon and Punk back on the same page.

"Right after I talk with Vince McMahon (on WWE Network) and I talked about maybe bridging the gap with C.M. Punk and Vince, he goes and does the deal with the UFC. It appears to me that, obviously, they are way further apart than I thought they were. And I knew things were bad, and I hadn't talked to C.M. Punk, but it's going to be interesting," Austin said in comments preceding the audio of his podcast interview with McMahon from December 1.

Following the live Network edition of Austin's interview with McMahon, Punk rejected McMahon's apology, then went on to criticize the company even further in the second podcast interview with Colt Cabana dated Thursday, Dec. 4. This followed Punk ripping the company in his first podcast interview with Cabana on Thanksgiving Thursday November 27.

[ LINK: Austin's latest podcast with the McMahon Network interview and commentary before and after the audio is HERE at PodcastOne.com ]

-- MMA fighter/pro wrestler Josh Barnett weighed in on C.M. Punk's decision to transition to UFC during a live interview on Tuesday night's edition of the MMATorch Livecast hosted by MMATorch.com editor Jamie Penick.

Barnett called it a "ballsy" move at the age of 36, but noted the athletic window in life is very small, so he supports Punk taking the chance to fight professionally. "If this is a chance he's got, this is the time to take it," Barnett said.

Barnett threw his hat in the ring as a potential trainer or just a confidant talking Punk through the process of transitioning from pro wrestling to MMA.

Barnett also talked about his role calling New Japan Pro Wrestling footage with Mauro Ranallo for AXS TV in January.

Barnett noted they have recorded "a good amount" of footage for the 13-episode series. He noted the series is designed to be an introductory type show for new wrestling fans, U.S. wrestling fans who might have heard a little about New Japan, or hardcore fans who want to hear English commentary on classic matches they've already seen.

The overall goal is to bring people "up to current" on what's happening in New Japan at the start of 2015. The implication was that New Japan plans to do more with their TV access point in the U.S. going forward.

[ LINK: Barnett's full interview talking Punk, New Japan, and the latest from MMA can be found HERE ]

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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