MCNEILL'S TAKE VIP - MCNEILL FACTOR: Blaze of Glory: The Torch at One-Thousand (PWTorch #1000) Nov 28, 2007 - 1:57:11 PM

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By Pat McNeill, Torch columnist

"McNeill Factor"
Newsletter Headline: "Blaze of Glory: The Torch at One-Thousand")"
Originally published: December 1, 2007
From Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #1000

A Thousand Issues: It is hard to believe that we have reached a thousand issues of Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly. Wade Keller's wrestling newsweekly, originally written on an electric typewriter in 1987, is a worldwide touchstone for fans of the squared circle, with subscribers throughout the known world and even on the West Coast of the United States.

Sure, we could talk about the proud heritage of professional wrestling journalism in the space. But outside of Keller, Dave Meltzer, and a handful of other well-meaning writers, there isn't a proud heritage to discuss. This would also be a good point for a comprehensive look at PWTorch history, but since yours truly has only been here for 350 issues, that idea might not work out too well, either. So, time to resort to the sort of carpet-bombing essay this publication does so well. Here is Your Snapshot of the first thousand issues, featuring cool stuff this columnist found while scouring our quasi-comprehensive archive. Our VIP subscribers can follow along online.

Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter #250

Issue #250 - 10/30/93: The first quarter of our thousand-issue war on kayfabe ended with an in-depth breakdown of WCW's Halloween Havoc 1993. The show received a slight thumbs up on the basis of a really good Texas Death Match between Big Van Vader and Cactus Jack, and despite the fact that the three-hour pay-per-view had fewer clean finishes than your average episode of TNA Impact.

The highlight of this issue was Bruce Mitchell's column. Yeah, I know, you're shocked. It was titled “Where Does Hulk Hogan Go From Here?” Bruce asserted that Hulk Hogan in WCW would be a bad move for the Hulkster. Then again, this columnist once wasted Torch space writing about how the XFL was going to be a huge success. Mr. Mitchell closed out his column by chiding fellow columnist Mark Madden for “selling out” and accepting a gig on the short-lived “Real Wrestling Hotline.” Maybe Mojo Mitchell should have held his fire. In 1994, Madden sold out on a grander scale, and was hired by World Championship Wrestling.

Issue #400 - 8/3/96: The lead stories in this issue both involved Japanese wrestling. Former contributor John Williams covered the annual New Japan G1 Tournament, where Riki Choshu scored the upset. That major storyline was overshadowed by Jushin “Thunder” Liger's announcement that he had a brain tumor. Williams did double-duty by writing a column is the same issue about All Japan's attempts to boost sagging attendance by hotshotting their Triple Crown title onto a young wrestler named Kenta Kobashi.

For many of our newer readers, not only will they be surprised to learn that the Torch used to cover Japanese wrestling, but they will also be surprised to learn that Japanese wrestling was once worth covering. Japan used to be a haven for North America's best workers. Now All Japan and New Japan are struggling, and the New Japan vs. TNA feud hasn't exactly won over the Tokyo faithful.

The big North American story in this issue came from the World Wrestling Federation, where head writer Jim Cornette had booked himself into the main event of the scheduled September 1996 pay-per-view with a proposed Shawn Michaels & Jose Lothario vs. Vader & Jim Cornette tag match. Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels ended up vetoing the idea, giving WWF fans a great Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind main event instead.

Issue #550 - 5/29/99: Last summer's coverage of the Benoit murders was the saddest issue in the history of this publication. But Issue 550 was a close second.

On May 23, 1999, Owen Hart fell to his death during a World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view in Kansas City. The WWF failed to take adequate precautions to ensue Hart's safety during the stunt. The promotion wound up settling the case out of court with Owen's family for a total of $18 million. Of course, that came out later. The Torch's reporting of the tragedy still holds up today, and contains most of the details about the night and Vince McMahon's controversial decision to let the show continue after Hart's death. What made this a strong and valuable issue was Wade Keller, Bruce Mitchell, and columnists Jason Powell and Chris Zavisa trying to make sense of a horrible accident. Covering the rest of the “Over The Edge” pay-per-view, or even the other wrestling news of the week, seemed pretty senseless.

Amid the chaos in Stamford was a prescient paragraph in the WCW Newswire. Wrestlers were worried about WCW's inability to make headway against their competition in the Monday night ratings war, and Eric Bischoff seemed more interested in keeping Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Randy Savage happy than he was in changing the course of WCW booking.

Issue #700 - 4/12/02: This issue analyzed the effects of the WWE brand split, which was only a few weeks old in April 2002. Suffice it to say that the brand split was a lot better defined five years ago than it is now. Bruce Mitchell reviewed four wrestling books in his column......

..........

This Is The Place: At the end of the day, it doesn't matter which back issues you look it. Professional wrestling is a crazy business, one unlike any other. The Torch is one of the few places that gives you the truth. As we've learned, the truth is a weapon that wrestling promoters don't always want you to have at your disposal. See you in another thousand weeks.

The complete version of this article is available exclusively to PWTorch VIP Members as part of this week's new PWTorch Newsletter. The 16-page print newsletter is also published online at PWTorch.com's member's website each week featuring the VIP-exclusive Newswire, Wade Keller's cover story, Torch Talk interviews, other exclusive staff columns, Keller's VIP-exclusive PPV and TV reports with match star ratings, Wade Keller's End Notes, and more. VIP membership also includes:

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