By Pat McNeill, PWTorch columnist

Can I have your attention, please?

I have just received an e-mail from the professional wrestling business. And I quote: “Pro Wrestling in North America is done for the rest of 2014. Sorry folks, park’s closed. The moose out front shoulda told you. Go take some time off from Raws and Impacts and networks and pay-per-views. We’re going to start fresh in January.”

Oh, you think I’m kidding? How about this? You know the WWE Heavyweight Title, the belt of Sammartino, Backlund, Michaels, Austin, and Rock? Yeah. The WWE Title, currently owned by Paul Heyman’s client Brock Lesnar? It won’t be defended for the rest of 2014, at least not the way it stands now. WWE can’t afford to pay Brock Lesnar to show up at Raw, Smackdown, Hell in a Cell, or even Survivor Series. Budget cuts, if you will.

And how about the TNA Heavyweight Title? Sure, it isn’t as prestigious as WWE’s title, but it’s been around for a decade and it has a vague sort of tie-in to the lineage of the old National Wrestling Alliance. Guess what? Not only is that title on ice for the remainder of the year, the entire Total Nonstop Action promotion is on ice. There are no TNA shows scheduled for the rest of 2014.

Again, budget cuts.

I could also go into Dragon Gate USA, a promotion that’s in mothballs because nobody (and I mean nobody) wants to pay Dragon Gate’s Japanese stars to come over to the United States, not to mention the cost of their work visas. We have had no DGUSA shows since WrestleMania weekend, and there aren’t any on the horizon.

I know, that’s old news.

The only way you’ll see a wrestling heavyweight title defended on an actual pay-per-view before the end of this year is to catch Ring of Honor’s Final Battle show in December. I like Ring of Honor, mostly because it feels like a throwback to a time professional wrestling actually felt important, but it doesn’t quite have the same feel as, say, Starrcade at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

By the way, ROH Final Battle won’t be at the Hammerstein Ballroom this year. Budget cuts.
The promoters aren’t the only ones cutting back. WWE wrestlers are making less money for their pay-per-view payout, because pay-per-view revenue is dropping, and because WWE Network subscription money doesn't seem to be factored into the equation. Many of TNA’s wrestlers are paid by the show. You don’t have to be Sheldon Cooper to run the math there.

So, whaddya say we all take the next twelve weeks off from professional wrestling? Go for a walk. Catch up on the new fall TV shows. Stay in for Family Game Night. Save your pennies and nickels, and we’ll hit the ground running when there’s something to watch. Maybe Christmas has been cancelled, but 2015 will be here before you know it.

RANDOM THOUGHTS...

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