PWTORCH.COM
VIP SIGN-UP JUMP TO VIP
CONTACT US VISIT MMA TORCH




Select Next Article by Category





TAKE PWTORCH
WITH YOU!

PWTORCH IPHONE APP
Get our iPhone App (FREE!): Click Here
Or enter "PWTorch.com" on your Blackberry or other Smart Phone browser for mobile-version of PWTorch.


The Specialists
Smackdown Storylines and Feuds - Complete summary and analysis of Smackdown's feuds and characters
Sep 9, 2008 - 11:07:09 PM


By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

WWE Friday Night Smackdown
September 5, 2008
Upcoming PPV: Unforgiven (last episode before PPV)

SMACKDOWN STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the fiftieth edition of Smackdown Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)


WWE Champion TRIPLE H vs. THE BRIAN KENDRICK (w/ Ezekiel) vs. MVP vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. JEFF HARDY (3 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Triple H began to cut a promo about the Scramble, but Shelton Benjamin cut him off. MVP then got involved. Kendrick and Ezekiel surprised Triple H with an attack, prompting all the heels to team up. Jeff Hardy made the save, and the heels ultimately backed off.

-MVP and Shelton Benjamin competed in a singles match; the bout ended when Benjamin hit his Pay Dirt for the win.

-Brian Kendrick and Jeff Hardy battled it out one-on-one. The match saw Ezekiel pull Jeff spine-first into the guardrail, allowing Kendrick to hit The Kendrick on Jeff Hardy for the nice win.

-Triple H spoke with Eve during an interview about how he needs to focus on the obstacle in front on him until the next one comes along. Jeff Hardy interrupted to warn The Game, but Triple H finished the conversation by noting that a third strike means that Jeff would be "out of the game."

-In the main event of the night, Triple H faced The Great Khali in a Lumberjack Match where the lumberjacks consisted of the other four men in the Scramble Match (plus Ezekiel). When the lumberjacks tried to beat on Triple H, Jeff Hardy began fighting them. Triple H then beat Khali with a Pedigree, but Jeff Hardy closed the show by sending a message as he surprised Hunter with a Twist of Fate.

Analysis:

This week really helped three people in particular: The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, and Jeff Hardy. By the end of the show, these three guys had all the momentum. Brian Kendrick's win over Jeff Hardy really means something, despite the slight interference by Ezekiel. It's a strong sign of his push. Last week Kendrick exhibited his intellectual prowess; this week he showed that he too can be at the top of Smackdown's roster with his in-ring talent. His association with Ezekiel is interesting just from a visual perspective. These guys are like two wrestling opposites—perhaps the best of both worlds. Kendrick has the speed and agility, while Ezekiel has sheer power. Even though we haven't yet seen Ezekiel fight in the ring, we know that Brian Kendrick is more dangerous with him.

And then there's Shelton Benjamin. It's nice to see Shelton getting more mic time than usual in recent weeks. He was given an opportunity to further cement his gimmick with a brief video promo where he talked about being the most talented and most precious thing in WWE. Oh, and that he is the Gold Standard. He also won his match against MVP. Benjamin is one of those guys who could be a break-out star in time. His character still needs some work; he still has to find himself as a heel and appear comfortable in that particular role. The Game referred to him as a "cheap shot artist" this week, and that may be something to play off of.

Jeff Hardy comes off as a guy/character who can't really get much more detailed in his current form. Everybody knows him, he's been around for years, and he's massively popular. In the past year, he's gotten a lot more mic time than he used to, and his character recently underwent a pretty revealing and controversial storyline with MVP where real-life personal issues were brought to the surface—a trend that was continued this week with Triple H's on-air warning. Hardy just has to continue what he's doing and stay in the spotlight until the right opportunity comes along. From here, it's hard to tell where WWE can go in terms of his character's development. Perhaps they could explore the question about Jeff Hardy as the Charismatic Enigma—as MVP put it—"whatever that means."

We also know now that Triple H successfully defended his WWE Title in the Scramble Match at Unforgiven, so the only man who wasn't pushed nicely this week was MVP. Now that the promotion for a multi-person gimmick PPV match is over, it will be interesting to see where WWE takes this storyline. Who will step up next as Triple H's opponent? Jeff Hardy, Brian Kendrick, and Shelton Benjamin probably have good reasons for why they deserve a title shot. Hopefully we'll find out next week on Smackdown.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 8.5 [up 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Triple H: King Booker, Umaga, Jeff Hardy, Orton & JBL, Randy Orton, John Cena
The Brian Kendrick: n/a
MVP: Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Batista, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy
Shelton Benjamin: Kane, CM Punk, Money in the Bank, Kofi Kingston
Jeff Hardy: Umaga, Mr. Kennedy, Triple H, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, MVP

THE UNDERTAKER vs. Smackdown GM VICKIE GUERRERO (10 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Undertaker stood in mid-ring to talk about taking Vickie Guerrero's soul at Unforgiven. He mentioned putting her in a coffin and torching it, sending her to hell, where she will be reunited with Edge. I don't think that was a metaphor.

-A short-tempered Vickie Guerrero pulled up in a limo, scolding an employee who had fetched her wheelchair. She barked orders at other people to move vehicles from the garage.

-As Vladimir Kozlov and Big Show began to have an impromptu match, Vickie Guerrero, still fuming from earlier, entered the ring and demanded that both Vladimir and Show leave; they did. She then vowed to not live in fear anymore and demanded that Undertaker apologize at Unforgiven.

Analysis:

Threats abound as The Undertaker continues to prey on the woman he deems responsible for his own personal misery. It's still odd to see a clear-cut babyface who receives huge ovations from crowds get cheered for threatening a woman in such a way. He promised "endless agony" after torching her? It makes you wonder what he could get away with saying so long as it's against a heel. And it's even more curious when you think about how Vickie has been subtly taking on a semi-babyface persona in the past few weeks (since her reinstatement of The Undertaker, a babyface act in and of itself). This week seemed to be the end of that babyface turn experiment as Vickie assumed her more natural heel role; her demanding that the audience quiet down for the announcement she had prepared was clearly indicative of that.

One odd point about Undertaker's promo was how he seemed so confident that he could get away with destroying Vickie. At that point in the show—before Vickie even arrived and at which point the announcers had already discussed how she wasn't in the arena that night—how was he so sure that Vickie would even show up at Unforgiven, especially after those threats against her life?

Also, this week was a bit of a copout with last week's conclusion being nothing more than Undertaker scaring Vickie. He briefly alluded to this in his promo when he said the anticipation of death is far worse than death itself. When he said that, I assumed it was in reference to how last week he seemed to have just scared her. But as a follow-up to the cliffhanger ending last week, it was a bit disappointing.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 9 [down 1 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Vickie Guerrero: Undertaker, Batista
Undertaker: Mark Henry, Batista, Big Daddy V, Edge

WWE Divas' Champion MICHELLE McCOOL vs. MARYSE (2 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-Maryse bumped into Maria backstage in the makeup area. The insults started flying as Maryse criticized Maria's wardrobe, offering to send her authentic and customized clothes from Paris, but she wasn't sure they'd fit Maria's body.

-Maria faced the number one contender for the WWE Divas' Title, Maryse, one-on-one. The match ended when Maryse cracked Maria's head on the mat with a DDT for the win, gaining momentum as she heads to Unforgiven to face Michelle McCool.

-After the match, Michelle McCool met up with Maryse on the stage for a short stare-down. There was no outbreak of violence.

Analysis:

Nothing particularly interesting happened this week in this storyline. WWE continues to push Maryse, which may not be a bad idea. Her matches have gotten better, and she has viable character options if they decided to put more into her role beyond the surface-level arrogance that most heel divas end up exuding.

The matchup against Maria, on a booking level, was fine. There's nothing particularly weak about how WWE is putting this all together, but the downside is that nothing stands out as particularly strong. The brief meeting between McCool and Maryse was a nice way to close the segment just two days before Unforgiven. We know now that Michelle McCool ultimately retained her title at the PPV on Sunday, raising the question about the health of her rivalry with Maryse from here.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [up 0.5 since last week]

Previous Feuds
Natalya Neidhart: n/a
Michelle McCool: Victoria, Chuck Palumbo

VICTORIA vs. BRIE BELLA (2 weeks)

Summary Quick Shots:

-After losing to Brie Bella last week when the newcomer caught Victoria with an inside cradle, these two divas faced off for a second time this week. The match ended when Brie rolled Victoria up with a schoolgirl with a little bit of arm leverage on Victoria's throat for the win.

Analysis:

It's interesting to hear the announcers talk about a "match-up problem," suggesting that maybe Victoria doesn't match up well against Brie Bella's style; it adds a new dynamic when thinking about their future matches. As for what we know, it looks like WWE's playing off the "newcomer upsets the veteran" storyline. The only other repetitive element that we saw both this week and last week (other than Brie Bella's win) is that she may frequently try to dash under the ring when she seems to be in trouble. Could it be a Finlay-esque maneuver—her using her surroundings, particularly the ring, to her advantage as an escape or to take a quick breather? Or could it be something else?

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5.5

Previous Feuds
Victoria: Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool & Cherry
Brie Bella: n/a


CONCLUDED FEUDS

(1) Michelle McCool vs. Natalya
(2) Jeff Hardy vs. MVP


POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) R-Truth vs. Chavo Guerrero & Bam Neely
(2) Big Show vs. Vladimir Kozlov
(3) Big Show vs. Vickie Guerrero


Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com. I greatly appreciate all the feedback that I receive, and I will respond to every email. Please insert a word in the subject line that deals with a wrestling topic or write something such as "WWE," "feud," or "Funaki" so that I know it's not junk mail.

Comment on this Article Below

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

(CLICK FOR COMMENTS RULES OR TO REPORT ABUSE)

ALSO DISCUSS MORE SUBJECTS IN OUR PWTORCH FREE FORUM

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET


For UFC NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO


MORE "The Specialists" ARTICLES
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.7 - Matt Hardy vs. ROH fans
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's moneyball, Eric Young wins a match, SuperJJ thinks he's Triple H, Matches too short (as usual)
CHARACTER MATTERS: Why The Game Doesn't Play with Me - The Flaws of Triple H's On-Air Persona
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 7/2 TNA Impact: Kurt Angle saw "The Hangover," Stacker2, A.J. Styles Eats a Lot of Cookies, Stacker2, Jeff Jarrett Has the Power of Flight
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's sit-down, Kurt Angle Plays the Game, Matt Morgan a Hit?, Samoa Joe muted, Bad acting, Raven MIA
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - TNA Impact 7/2: Paging Dr. Wayne Cowan, look at all those tag team titles, cool stats for wresters in debut matches in WWE vs. TNA
7/2 WWE Superstars Hits & Misses: Santino, Reks, Edge vs. Punk
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.6 - C.M. Punk vs. ROH
6/30 ECW Hits & Misses: A Look at the Total Re-Launch of ECW
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - 6/30 ECW TV: You See, Stereotyping People Put Smiles On Faces
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL: Mark Henry Returns From His Time Machine, Monday Night Raw Wants To Be Like Saturday Night Live, Why "Proven Commodity" Reigns Supreme
6/29 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: McMahon's Announcement, Miz vs. Cena, MVP vs. Triple H, Gauntlet
MAYER'S BLOG: Analyzing the "Re-Draft" - ECW is only supposed to be pillaged once per year, Looking at where Swagger, Hardy, Benjamin fit in
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 6/29 WWE Raw: Raw Trade Players to be Named Later, Spellchecking Signs, A closer look at Lilian Garcia, Can Big Show really bench press a VW?
ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - Wrestling Burnout, Suge Knight Shares Foxhole with Vince McMahon, Feuds That Won't Go Away, Yoda Teaches Young Skywalker About "The Cena"
PARKS BLOG: The Bash Hangout Report - Quick Reaction to Rey vs. Jericho, Hunter vs. Orton stretcher job, Miz's clean loss, McCool & Taker
NEWTH'S STORYLINE ANALYSIS - As The Bash airs, get analysis on how WWE handled the Punk-Hardy rivalry leading into the PPV
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - 6/26 WWE Smackdown: No good reason why McMahon was on SD, Name Game History of The Bash, English please, The Crusher
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Randy Orton vs. Triple H given away on commercial-free TV

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.

QUICK CLICK REFERENCE LISTING
-CLICK TO FOLLOW PWTORCH ON TWITTER!
-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PWTORCH IPHONE APP

-CLICK FOR OUR FREE PODCAST (#1 in iTunes!)
-CLICK TO GET INFO ON BECOMING A VIP MEMBER
-CLICK TO VISIT MMATORCH.COM
-CLICK TO VISIT PROWRESTLING.NET

-CLICK TO EMAIL PWTORCH EDITORS


PWTORCH READER POLL

TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
Name a replacement partner for Chris Jericho
Vacate the titles and book a tournament
Vacate the titles and book a battle royal
Vacate the titles and book a different "multi-team" match
Have Chris Jericho defend by himself in handicap matches
Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio for the IC and Tag Titles
  

VOTE IN OR SEE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS POLLS


ARE YOU VIP? SIGN UP NOW FOR $7.50 A MONTH FOR INSTANT ACCESS TO AD-FREE, BENEFIT-PACKED VIP VERSION OF PWTORCH.COM (see screen capture)
PWTORCH VIP HOME PAGE

INFO ON SUBSCRIPTION TO AD-FREE VIP SITE

INCREDIBLE BENEFITS!
Over 50 full-length audio updates per month (iPod compatible)... New weekly award-winning Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter (text and printable pdf versions) with latest exclusive insider news, new Torch Talks, great columns, Keller's cover story, much more... Hundreds of full-length back issues of PWTorch Newsletter from late-'80s to today... Ad-free access to PWTorch.com's Main Listing... VIP Forum with interaction with other subscribers and Torch staff... Torch Talk Library with text and audio of hundreds of interview installments from last 20 years... Great layout... Deepest archives on pro wrestling history anywhere... Keller's PWTorch Today PDF Bulletins with email alerts... VIP Email reports on major PPVs and TV shows... Staff Roundtable Reviews (text and audio) followiing major events... The best staff of writers and world class reporting since 1987... We'd love for you to join us and experience the most entertaining, authoritative, experienced staff of professional reporters and commentators in the business...

SIGN ME UP NOW!

Compare the value of four or five months of PWTorch VIP content to the price of just one PPV. Can you cut 25 cents a day from your budget to make room for PWTorch VIP?

AND NEW FOR 2009!
Monthly "Vintage Audio Torch Talks." We are releasing for the first time ever audio versions of our text Torch Talk updates, the historical first series of insider interviews ever. Wade Keller's newsmaking in-depth interviews with wrestling's biggest names are now being made available exclusively to VIP members. But you must be a member each month, as these are not archived, so they are replaced with a new one each month! This debuted in January 2009 with a 68 minute interview with the late "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. Who's next? Hulk Hogan? Eric Bischoff? The Rock? Goldberg? Jeff Hardy?

SIGN ME UP NOW!


UPCOMING EVENTS LISTING

Articles Grouped by Category
Torch Today
FOURTH OF JULY: Fun facts from the Great American Bash 10 & 20 years ago
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 2 of 2)
TORCH MONTHLY AWARD VOTING: Polls OPEN for best/worst in pro wrestling from the month of June (Part 1 of 2)
WWE News
WWE News: Quarterly WWE Raw TV ratings report - Comparing January-March to April-June "WM25 + KFC gimmick" season
WWE News: John Cena says where he will be in ten years, talks about "feud" against The Rock
WWE News: Tommy Dreamer interview, Hacksaw Jim Duggan working on a book, Breaking Point PPV update
TNA News
TNA News: Latest episode of the Spin Cycle with Sting, Jarrett, Cornette, Foley greatness (w/VIDEO)
TNA News: TNA video game franchise without a home after Midway Games bought out; Analysis of interesting domino effect involving WWE
TNA News: Sting talks Shockmaster with Jeff Jarrett, Jim Cornette (w/VIDEOS)
ROH News
ROH News: Lance Storm's first match out of retirement announced, details on second match against Chris Hero
ROH News: Notes on Toronto Gauntlet match, Nigel McGuinness below-average performances into storyline, ROH selling PWG DVDs
TOP FIVE STORIES - Weekend edition: Three WWE PPV title changes, WWE announcer leaving, Lashley blasts Sapp, Jerry Lawler's son arrested, "State of TNA" address
Other News
Other News: Torch Talk All-Star Lanny Poffo Video interview, great poem on taking out Hulk Hogan
Other News: Brian Blair denies hitting his children in Father's Day Fight; local news runs 911 call leading to arrest (w/VIDEO)
Other News: New clip of Rob Van Dam doing a stunt for his upcoming movie (w/VIDEO)
PPV Reports
THE BASH PPV COVERAGE: Listing of the Torch's WWE PPV coverage - Title changes, Jericho writes on Rey match, Miz on Cena match
RADICAN'S WWE THE BASH PPV BLOG 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Hunter PPV
CALDWELL'S WWE THE BASH PPV REPORT 6/28: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Orton vs. Triple H, Punk vs. Hardy
TV Reports
WWE VINTAGE COLLECTION TV REPORT 7/5: Awesome show - Tiger Mask '82, Randy Savage vs. Dynamite Kid, Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio
TNA EPICS TV REPORT 7/4: Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss, Infamous Sabu vs. Abyss "Barbed Wire Massacre" match
7/2 TNA Impact Recap by Wilkenfeld: The oddly-invincible Jeff Jarrett
Arena Reports
7/3 WWE in San Diego, Calif.: First-hand report on Edge's apparent injury, Punk vs. Rey Mysterio, Ricky Steamboat in action
6/27 ROH in Chicago: Austin Aries vs. Nigel McGuinness, KENTA vs. Black, Petey Williams looks odd, Crowd eats up Flair's generic promo
6/28 PWG in California: Joey Ryan vs. Necro Butcher, Davey Richards vs. Young Buck, Michael Jackson entrance themes
MMA / UFC Coverage
UFC News: Kimbo Slice, Rampage Jackson, Rashad Evans plus rest of cast of TUF 10 to be revealed...
UFC - ENNIS COLUMN: The Lay of the Lane - A look at MMA's top heavyweights from Brock to Mir to Carwin to Fedor to...
MMA: Plan a week of UFC and other MMA viewing with the Torch's viewer's guide including Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
KELLER'S TAKE
KELLER: How bookers, like Jeff Jarrett last night, show that they're the toughest SOBs in the world
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT TAKE 7/2: Thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
KELLER'S ECW ON SCI-FI REPORT 6/30: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, and quotebook
MITCHELL'S TAKE
MITCHELL SHORT: WWE Proving Once Again That Life is Easy...
MOJO MITCHELL'S 6/29 Raw Stream Of Randy Orton Faces ECW and Loses and That's The Main Event
Mitchell Short: Your Thank-You Note to WWE
MCNEILL'S TAKE
The Names Have Been Changed To Protect The Buyrates: McNEILL Previews WWE Bash 2009!
Redemption: McNEILL previews TNA Slammiversary 7!
MCNEILL BLOG: A Modest Proposal For Monday Night Trump
CALDWELL'S TAKE
CALDWELL: Analysis of WWE's roster shuffle from the 15-person trade - who benefited, which brand needs help
CALDWELL: Instant Reaction to key storylines on Raw and post-PPV developments
CALDWELL: WWE Smackdown/The Bash PPV analysis - Don't Mess with C.M. Punk's dynamic character
RADICAN'S TAKE
RADICAN: Torch readers sounds off on Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw (w/Radican Reax)
RADICAN: Mark Henry's shining moment on Raw leaves a bad smell in the room
RADICAN: A follow up on the Death Before Dishonor audio with Feinstein with notes on Special K angle, Punk-Raven feud, where's Misawa now?
The Specialists
DEROSENROLL's ROH HISTORY: Classic Feuds v.7 - Matt Hardy vs. ROH fans
GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: ECW brand's star power, identity, purpose extinguished by The Trade
HITS & MISSES - TNA IMPACT 7/2: Kevin Nash's moneyball, Eric Young wins a match, SuperJJ thinks he's Triple H, Matches too short (as usual)
Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: Historical perspective on Austin Aries's ROH Title victory - his journey from main event to mid-card back to main event
EDITORIAL: TNA needs to K.I.S.S. the King of the Mountain match to make it more appealing to TNA viewers
EDITORIAL: How WWE could have better handled the Vickie-Edge segment on Raw and caught up with the year 2009
Torch Feedback
Smackdown TV Reax #1: "Fresh match-ups, superstars, and storylines just create great TV"
Thursday Night TV Reax - SS/Impact: "X Division, we hardly knew ya after Abyss beat up the only two representatives who showed up"
ECW TV Reax #2: "Yoshi is already on the road to being the next Funaki at this point"
Ask the Editor
Ask the Editor: Wouldn't incorporating MMA-style holds into pro wrestling matches just be trying to be something it's not?
ASK THE EDITOR: Have the Michaels-Batista promos crossed a line with use of insider terms, references to "jobs"?
ASK THE EDITOR: Why do wrestlers in WWE refer to wrestling as "the business" and not "the sport"?
DVDs - VGames - Books
RADICAN'S ROH DVD REVIEW SERIES: 2/7 "Proving Ground: Night 2" (Danielson-Generico, Steen-Richards)
RADICAN'S TORCH DVD REVIEW SERIES: YouShoot with Sabu: Sabu opens up about working in WWE, incident with Kurt Angle, negotions with TNA, more...
RADICAN'S PWTorch DVD review: The Best of RVD TV Vol. 1: RVD trains MMA with a UFC fighter, talks the power of the mind with The Ultimate Warrior, discusses love on a beach with Samoa Joe
Torch Flashbacks
KELLER'S TNA IMPACT REPORT (5 Yrs. Ago): Eric Young headlines, Jerry Lynn, R-Truth, Dusty Rhodes, Sabu, A.J. Styles, Jarrett, D-Ray 3000!
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Bruce Mitchell Feature Column - The Fluke Death of Owen Hart - May 23, 1999
OWEN HART 10 YRS. AGO: Torch Newsletter #550 cover story on Owen Hart's death (PART TWO) - May 23, 1999
VIP Exclusive Features
7/5 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Cena says he wants to be doing same thing in ten years, but can he last? Plus Duggan, Dreamer, Raw, Submissions PPV (12 min.)
7/4 Bruce Mitchell Audio Show, part two: The Vickie Guerrero Injustice, Torrie Disrespect, Jericho Laments Schedule, Wrestler Twitters Going Too Far, Punk's Surprising Hardy Comment, TNA's Ho-Hum Kidnapping of Lauren (76 min.)
7/4 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Edge Injured, Jeff Hardy's Uncertain Future, WWE PPV Strategy, Wrestling on FX? (19 min.)
Torch Trivia
TORCH TRIVIA 2/28: Which wrestler backed out of a WWA PPV in February 2002?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/27: Who said this quote about Hulk Hogan's athleticism 11 years ago?
TORCH TRIVIA 2/25: What said this quote about WWE's mid-1990s drug testing policy?
Torch Instant Polls
TORCH WEEKEND POLL: What should WWE do with the Unified tag titles following Edge's injury?
FOURTH OF JULY POLL: What's your favorite July 4th "gimmick" in pro wrestling?
7/3 SMACKDOWN MICROSCOPE POLL: What related topic from tonight's Smackdown do you want to see analyzed Under the Microscope?
PWTorch Free Podcast
6/23 Nostalgia Audio with Brian Hoops: Former WCW rapmaster PN News joins Brian Hoops to preview upcoming Midwest shows (10 min.)
FREE AUDIO: Keller & Mitchell Discuss Randy Savage's Place in WWE History, Elizabeth's Strengths and Weaknesses
FREE FOR ALL TODAY - 5/31 Keller Hotline: Tons of info on Kennedy situation, immediate future, plus what top star's days in TNA are numbered, what's working against Kennedy getting big push in TNA, much more
Annual Obituaries
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 1999 - Muchnick, Rick Rude, Owen Hart, Renegade...
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2000 - Solie, Albright, Duncum, Tsuruta, Blue Demon, Al Costello
SPECIALIST: List of Deceased Wrestlers for 2001: Johnny Valentine, Terry Gordy, Chris Adams, Bertha Faye, Helen Hart