By Tony Donofrio, PWTorch specialist

WWE

-I'm very surprised that WWE is going to give away John Cena-Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules. Did I want to see a 12-month build? Absolutely not. However, less than a month build? In the age of microwave booking, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I just really feel a build towards something in May or June would have made more sense. The first match could have ended inconclusively and the second - a No Holds Barred re- match - could have happened at Summerslam. That doesn't mean that something similar is not in the works, but what's the rush with the first showdown?

I'm guessing this also means no Cena-Lesnar at WrestleMania next year, which is fine by me. There are plenty of fresh match-ups available now with Lesnar and The Rock in the fold. The only thing that WWE can't be happy about is that Lesnar hasn't brought the ratings with him...at least not yet. I guess time will tell if that starts to swing upward again.

-Someone that is seemingly always lost in the "who's missing from the WWE HOF" conversation is actually one that belongs in the celebrity wing. That man is Andy Kaufman. I'm assuming the hold-up is that Vince McMahon uses the celebrity wing to gain mainstream media attention and the fact that Kaufman has long since died means it won't garner that attention that Vince wants it to.

The sad thing is that Kaufman had a great mind for the business and anyone that has seen any real footage of him from Memphis wrestling should realize that everything Kaufman ever did there easily should garner a HOF induction. If you haven't seen those clips, there are many outlets to see them including the 1989 documentary "I'm From Hollywood," the "Memphis Heat" DVD, or the 1981 documentary currently on Netflix titled "Andy Kaufman: World Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion". If anyone deserves a push for the WWE HOF, it should be Kaufman. I'm starting my push today!

TNA

-Kurt Angle's Olympics dreams were officially dashed this week due to an MCL injury that will apparently take 4-6 months to rehab, although he still plans to work through the injury. As I've stated before, being from Pittsburgh it's hard not to want to support Angle. However, most saw Angle as a very long shot to make the team this year, let alone actually compete for a medal. Everyone loves a long shot and an underdog, but this injury screams of convenience that many believed would happen at the "right" time (or wrong time, depending on who you are).

Angle is still one of the best Olympians and pro wrestlers in the history of sports, in my opinion. But, it's still hard to really take him seriously anymore. If you have any doubts, follow him on Twitter. I've never seen anyone so in love with himself or his own work. Any compliment tweeted to him is almost certainly re-tweeted by Angle ad nauseam and to the point where it starts to monopolize my Twitter feed. Again, I feel bad speaking harshly about a great son of Pittsburgh, but these are things that have to be said.

-I would love for someone to explain to me why TNA gave away the return of the Motor City Machineguns on free TV. Granted, TNA has scaled down its tag division drastically in the past 12-18 months, but I would have figured their return would be something that they'd hope people would pay to see. Again, we are in what I like to call the microwave age of booking wrestling, but it still doesn't add up to me.

The MCMGs are one of the best tag teams in the 10-year history of TNA and I think their return could have been used at Lockdown to help create more buys for the show. Sadly, this just seems like another wasted opportunity for TNA to use something to make money that will be missed.

Independent Wrestling

-Slow week for Independent News...better luck next week!

Social Media Moment of the Week

If Kurt Angle's re-tweets weren't enough, now Scott Steiner has started a full-out Twitter war on Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan...mostly on Hogan. I won't go into the particulars, but to say the tweets are only suitable for mature audiences would be an understatement! With that said, I encourage you to indulge in Twitter at its finest by checking out the tweets for yourself @ScottSteiner.

Non-wrestling thought of the week

-Now that we are all but down to two candidates for the November U.S. presidential elections, I'd love to see some chatter on my Twitter account (@TonyDonofrio) about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney (yeah, it's time for Newt Gingrich to officially give it up). The only thing I know for sure is that it is now impossible to become president in our fair country if you have a "standard" name. But, all jokes aside, I love good political talk and would love to get some opinions going on my account. My only rules are to keep it clean and respect others's opinions when going back and forth and continuing to opine. The 2012 election is shaping up to be just as huge as the 2008 election and it should be interesting to see how things play out between now and November.

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Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for the Torch covering a variety of topics and promotions. You can reach Tony at TonyDonofrio@me.com or follow him on Twitter @TonyDonofrio

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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