SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
TORCH TODAY – Friday, April 8, 2016
– At PWTorchLivecast.com: On-demand access to Matt Morgan’s interview with PWTorch editor Wade Keller from Thursday’s show.
– At PWPodcasts.com: Recap of this week’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast hosted by Colt Cabana with guest Silas Young.
– At MMATorch.com: Top MMA Stories of the Week.
– We have three reports from last night’s NXT show in Concord (Charlotte), N.C. featuring Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT Road show debut teaming with Finn Balor in the main event. (Reports HERE)
– After navigating the choppy waters of the Gawker legal battle (which is now entering the appeals phase), Hulk Hogan is trying to talk wrestling again to get his name out there for a potential WWE return. Hogan talked to Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso about the WrestleMania 32 show, praising Triple H for trying to work to 100,000 people in the building, and teasing a potential return for WM33 in nearby Orlando.
– “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was interviewed on TMZ Live this week talking about Hulk Hogan’s standing with WWE. Austin said it’s up to Vince McMahon if Hogan returns, although he does not think Hogan needs to wrestle again. Austin also talked up Broken Skull Challenge and his good relationship with CMT. (Thanks to VIP’er Kylin)
– Dana Warrior reflected on the two-year anniversary of Ultimate Warrior’s death. Dana said she never wrote an obituary for Warrior because “I think his spirt is too enormous to assign such arbitrary dates,” saying his legacy loves on “forever.”
– The New York Times published a messy article on WWE’s business as it relates to the NFL shifting some of its content away from traditional TV to online. The Times attempted to link WWE’s slumping TV ratings to the Network, which is an unproven correlation. (Our three-hour study shows it’s the three-hour Raw format eating away at viewership and USA Network losing steam in the cable universe.) The Times also downplayed Raw’s TV ratings slide as “down somewhat,” which is under-stating double-digit declines from 2014 to 2015 and now 2015 to early 2016. The overall narrative promotes WWE’s attempted marketing of “the Super Bowl being like the WrestleMania of the NFL,” trying to flip it from “WrestleMania being the Super Bowl of WWE.”
– The NWA officially announced Jim Ross as their 2016 Hall of Fame headliner. Also included are Nick Bockwinkel, Gary Hart, and more as part of the NWA Hall of Fame ceremony on April 11 in Las Vegas during Cauliflower Alley Club weekend.
– New Japan held their “Invasion Attack 2016” press conference Friday morning promoting Sunday’s big PPV. IWGP World Hvt. champion Kazuchika Okada and Naito shared the conference table promoting their title main event, Yoshi Tatsu talked about making his in-ring return from a serious neck injury, and international star Will Ospreay was introduced to the New Japan audience with Okada. [The presser, Ospreay interview, and Sunday’s event can be viewed at NJPWWorld.com ] [ Friday’s Japan News Summary at PuroresuSpirit.net ]
– The Reuters news service covered American women’s wrestler Kris Wolf (Kris Hernandez) making her way up the ladder in pro wrestling to make it to Japan. Kris, from San Francisco, was profiled as one of the few female wrestlers to make it to Japan on her own.
– Pro Wrestling Revolution announced a big female wrestling tournament on June 4 in San Francisco. PWR’s “Reina de la Revolucion” will be a one-night tournament at John O’Connell High School. [ More Details ]
– Video: WWE released a storyline-driven backstage interview with new IC champion The Miz and Maryse discussing their new run on WWE TV. Maryse did all the talking, while Miz stood by proudly listening to his wife talk them up.
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