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-- WWE announcer Jim Ross suggested sleep apnea could have played a part in Umaga being found unresponsive this morning, but that is unconfirmed. Friends within the wrestling industry feared he was dead earlier today. Umaga's family has yet to issue a statement on his condition.
Ross said on jrsbarbq.com: "He fell asleep and his wife apparently was unable to wake him. From all I read about sleep apnea, I have been diagnosed with it myself, it may be possible that Umaga had an undiagnosed case of sleep apnea which puts huge stress on one's heart because one stops breathing many times for several seconds every hour one sleeps."
-- TMZ briefly covered Umaga's grave condition with a note that he's "in really bad shape." Currently, "Umaga" is listed as a Trending Topic on Twitter reflecting fans searching for more information on Umaga.
-- Yahoo Sports had a brief item on Mark Cuban guest-hosting WWE Raw on Monday from Dallas. Yahoo Sports article.
11:00 a.m.
-- To sum up TNA president Dixie Carter's much-hyped interview in a sentence, she told hardcore wrestling fans on the Internet what they want to hear. I hear you on the lack of X Division focus. Yep, we're going to re-evaluate the entire company - nothing is sacred. The key to the entire interview, though, was Carter's admission that she's "a fan." Even if she is a fan of pro wrestling, she shouldn't say it publicly as the president of a wrestling promotion. There has to be good business sense behind decisions, and now she's exposed herself to new criticism for past, current, and future business decisions made by TNA.
The comment about being "a fan" of Sting opens her up to criticism of investing millions of dollars in Sting, who didn't take TNA to the next level. Which brings us to Hulk Hogan, who was brought in to "bring TNA to the next level." Her comment on Hogan being "one of the greatest minds in the wrestling business" didn't include an evaluation of Hogan's mistakes, controversial decisions, or use & abuse of creative control in WCW. Admitting to being a fan opens her up for very serious questions on whether she's making the right decision bringing Hogan to TNA or whether she's simply desperate to get TNA attention.
Her fandom also opens her up for criticism of how she's handled Kurt Angle, who she also is obviously a fan of based on her glowing optimism about Angle's future in the ring. She's putting the ball in Angle's court to decide when to hang 'em up, but how much of "being a fan" is blinding her judgment on Angle's health? We all know Angle will wrestle until he drops unless someone steps in. It doesn't appear that it will be Carter.
-- March 13 will be the date for the much-anticipated Manny Pacquiao vs. recent WWE Raw guest Floyd Mayweather in 2010's biggest boxing date of the year. There's a two-week gap between the fight and WrestleMania 26, but it gives WWE extra incentive to put together a very strong line-up in advance, as WWE doesn't want to lose potential customers who are only able to order one big PPV per month on tight budgets.
-- CZW emailed their card for next Saturday's show at the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia. The "Cage of Death" show on Dec. 12 will feature Sami Callihan in the main event. Callihan has been featured on ROH TV's weekly show on HDNet. CZW also has B-Boy vs. Eddie Kingston vs. Ego Fantastico vs. Jon Moxley in a four-way match.
-- NWA's Pro Wrestling Fusion based out of Florida has a new commercial for their December 19 show in Ft. Pierce, Fla. Dark City Fight Club and former WCW TV champion Prince Iaukea are scheduled to appear.
9:00 a.m.
-- Good morning! It's snowing in Texas. That's just not right. We have a lot to cover from TNA president Dixie Carter's 18-minute interview that TNA posted online last night after snippets aired on Impact. Check the main listing for our coverage later this morning. Also, WWE Smackdown airs tonight from the taping in Virginia on Sunday, which seems like years ago. Tonight's Smackdown has a main event of Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme and a confrontation between Batista and The Undertaker. The only real new match-up is IC champion John Morrison vs. Drew McIntyre in a non-title match.
WWE will also begin a three-week tour in the Southern U.S. starting tonight in Texarkana, Ark. WWE will be in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia until Christmas. WWE has three Supershows this weekend since wrestlers from all three brands are traveling back from Iraq. Saturday's line-up in Bossier City, La. will feature Triple H vs. Randy Orton, Christian vs. William Regal, and Cryme Tyme vs. Legacy. This is according to local coverage from the Shreveport Times. TORCH READER ALERT: We are looking for live reports from Friday in Texarkana, Saturday in Bossier City, and Sunday in Monroe. Send a report to pwtorch@gmail.com.
-- Last week, we ran a poll on which of the Big Four matches (and only four matches announced thus far) from the TLC PPV that Torch readers are looking forward to most. Not surprisingly, Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin grabbed 64 percent, as WWE is catering the build-up toward the Internet with the "show-stealing" verbiage.
On the other end of the spectrum, the World Title match between Undertaker and Batista only received four percent of the vote. I have a few theories on this. One, we've seen this match on big stages before. It doesn't seem new or fresh or "revolutionary," which is WWE's advertising verbiage for the TLC PPV. Two, Taker is banged up and Batista is limited on what he can do in the ring. It doesn't make for an intriguing match-up from an aesthetic standpoint. Three, a "chairs match" is the least intriguing of the four options - T, L, C, or TLC. Instead of dropping a bunch of elbows to the knee, Batista will drop a chair on Taker's knee over and over. Overall, Torch readers are seeing this as just another match-up of super-heavyweight that the audience has seen on Smackdown over and over again.
-- TNA posted their Shop TNA commercial this week after filming it at TNA headquarters in Nashville in November. It's one part "This is Sportscenter," one part "WWE: Get It?" from the infamous Super Bowl ad, and one part absurd. Velvet Sky hosts the commercial, which stars Kip James, A.J. Styles, Suicide, and Homicide. (Absurd Video One.)
Speaking of Kip, he's in TNA's "Webmatch of the Week" against Kiyoshi. The Xplosion match features typical cackling from Mike Tenay and Taz, Kip working babyface with the female tourists giving him the John Cena reaction, standard referee incompetence, the announcers making not-so-subtle penis jokes, and even more jokes about Taz not taking his job seriously. (Absurd Video Two.) And, finally, former TNA referee Rudy Charles sings Christmas carols in the latest installment of his new talk show. (Absurd Video Three.)
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