By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2009

3:00 p.m.

-- C.M. Punk sounded quite serious when he said he thinks the "Tribute to the Troops" show will better than the January 4 Impact. He obviously doesn't think highly of Impact's regular offerings - and it's hard to argue after last week's show featured a mud-wrestling match - but perhaps part of his thinking was to motivate TNA to deliver above-expectations. He talked about competition - the need for it and how everyone makes more money when WWE is driven to succeed when pushed by competition. Punk offered one of the first official "responses" to TNA before the Jan. 4 head-to-head competition, but it appeared to be partially driven by a desire to see his own company improve.

-- The St. Petersburg Times listed an advertisement for Monday's Raw with a dark match of DX & John Cena vs. Randy Orton & Big Show & Chris Jericho. WWE probably released the line-up months ago. Key line: "match scheduled to change."

-- "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero has an interiew with Alex Marvez talking about what he felt was a lack of diversity among WWE main eventers. He says he talked to TNA president Dixie Carter about improving upon that in TNA. "It's something I've been in discussion about with (TNA President) Dixie Carter because it's something I feel TNA needs to tackle even though I think they do a great job with diversity," he said.

-- Independent wrestler Dustin Starr, who has appeared on ECW TV as an enhancement talent, has a blog on his experiences with concussions in pro wrestling. "Let me tell you this – it was very, very scary. Since all of the news has gone around about brain damage because of wrestlers taking bumps, I’ve certainly been worried about it," he said. "That is part of the reason that I have tried branching out in the entertainment world via commercials, announcing, emceeing, writing. Those things are much easier on your head and body." Read Starr's blog on memphissport.net.

***

1:00 p.m.

-- This morning, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon's campaign was caught in its first official political mess based on the present and not McMahon's past over-seeing WWE. McMahon's spokesman Ed Patru initially tried to use the "Obama on WWE TV" card to play up an "endorsement" of McMahon for Senate. It turns out the Obama message for the "Tribute to the Troops" show was made available for any media entity to use on their broadcast focusing on the troops.

The unfortunate part of this story is that the U.S. troops are caught in the middle. WWE wrestlers and Vince McMahon have said all the right things about giving back to the troops, many of who are 18 or 19-years old and have families back home concerned about their well-being. But, Linda McMahon's camp used this seemingly-charitable yearly event as a political maneuver to boost McMahon's campaign.

It's also worth noting that Pres. Obama has campaigned for Democratic Senator Chris Dodd in Connecticut - the same Senator who Linda McMahon hopes to battle in 2010 if she can win the Republican nomination. McMahon should now know she's officially in the middle of a political battle after her campaign made one poor decision in an attempt to re-associate with WWE when it was convenient or potentially beneficial to her.

-- WWE wrestlers are talking to local newspaper outlets to promote this weekend's house show schedule. It's a busy schedule this weekend six total shows on Friday - Sunday. The Smackdown brand even has a fourth straight show on Monday night before the Smackdown TV taping on Tuesday night. They usually have Fridays off, but not this weekend. This stretch is followed by the annual Christmas-New Year's tour next week. From Friday, December 18 to Wednesday, December 30, there will be a total of 17 shows for the Raw, Smackdown, and ECW crews (including TV tapings).

Mark Henry talked to the Mobile Press-Register in Mobile, Ala. to promote Friday night's Raw brand show. Henry said the main event will be Triple H vs. Big Show in a Street Fight a/k/a Night Off.

Ted DiBiase talked to the Tifton Gazette to promote Saturday night's Raw house show in Albany, Ga. DiBiase joked he's a total "Southern gentlemen" despite playing a heel on TV. DiBiase also promoted "The Marine 2" coming out on December 29. Tifton Gazette interview.

The Sun-Sentinel has the information on the Smackdown brand's weekend tour of Miami on Friday night and West Palm Beach on Saturday night. TORCH READER ALERT: We're looking for house show reports from this weekend's shows sent to pwtorch@gmail.com.

-- Ric Flair is still a money draw. His new "Whoo!" scratch-off card has helped boost North Carolina Lottery revenue. Flair report.

-- Former WWE wrestler Kurrgan (part of the Oddities group during the Attitude Era) was profiled for his role in the new Sherlock Homes movie starring Robert Downey, Jr. that comes out on Christmas Day in the U.S. Kurrgan profile. Thanks to Robert Taylor for the tip.

-- Syracuse.com has a good story on Marc Mero's motivational tour talking about overcoming drug and alcohol abuse in the wrestling business. Mero story link.

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