By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009

5:00 p.m.

-- TNA president Dixie Carter provided an update this evening on January 4 plans for the live TNA Impact. "Having fun working with Hogan on the Jan 4 Impact show. Lots of exciting things being planned," she wrote on Twitter. One of the topics discussed on today's debut of the PWTorch Livecast was the poor timing of TNA not having a regular episode of Impact for over two weeks before the Monday debut to remind casual viewers of the Impact special. TNA is trying to counter-act that with constant hype for the Impact move and promises of surprises.

-- Diamond Dallas Page, one of the big names from the Monday Night Wars era, is making a one-time return to wrestling for a show on Saturday night in Cedartown, Ga. Former TNA wrestler Jimmy Rave is also booked for the show. The video below is DDP's promo promoting his appearance on the show. Show info.



-- The St. Cloud Times profiled former wrestling manager Paul Ellering and his daughter, Rachel Ellering, who is a three-sport high school athlete in Minnesota. Paul Ellering was most-known as the manager of the Road Warriors Hawk & Animal in the 1980s and '90s.

***

1:00 p.m.

-- TNA sent out a blast email this morning reminding wrestling fans of TNA's Monday debut next week. There was nothing new in the press release, but the original press release sent out earlier this month by Spike TV had Sting listed as one of the stars scheduled to appear. TNA has since removed Sting's name from the boilerplate information in the press release.

-- WrestleReunion announced over the weekend that Bret Hart's scheduled appearance at the fan convention has been changed to 12:00-2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30. Hart was originally scheduled for 2:00-4:00 p.m. It remains to be seen how involved Hart will be week-to-week in WWE storylines, but the Royal Rumble PPV takes place the following night clear across the country in Atlanta, Ga.

-- WWE's developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, announced today that Goldust and Eve will be part of FCW's January 15 show to kick off the 15-date Florida tour to start 2010. Current ECW wrestlers Trent Barreta and Caylen Croft will be in-action as the current FCW tag champs. Ticket and show info.

-- Last week, wrestling author Irv Muchnick marched through WWE and the McMahon Family's history of legal battles and issues, which received mainstream coverage in Connecticut, where former CEO Linda McMahon is running for Senate. Hartford Courant newspaper blogger Rick Green published an excerpt of Muchnick's conclusion today...

"Linda and Vince McMahon's story is a complex one of a stewardship whose excesses were far worse than baseball's. Depending on your perspective, the fact that pro wrestling is a pseudo-sport makes what has happened there either more or less excusable: more excusable because "that's entertainment"; less excusable because the consequence has been a public health problem - a pandemic of dozens upon dozens of avoidable deaths."

***

11:00 a.m.

-- One of the most interesting stories to follow in 2010 will be whether Paul Heyman returns to an executive or creative position with a major pro wrestling promotion. Heyman has been laying low with his various Hustle projects since leaving WWE in 2006 after becoming frustrated with the new ECW brand, but with so many different elements in play in TNA to start the coming year, perhaps the cherry on top would be Heyman's creativity coupled with Eric Bischoff's TV management experience and Hulk Hogan's name brand value.

We can only assume Hogan and Bischoff's involvement would give Heyman a stable environment to bring fresh, new ideas to a promotion that he's called WWE Lite in recent Hustle columns. The timing is right, the environment is right, and the talent roster in TNA is right where he could help make some stars by enhancing strengths and minimizing weaknesses, like in ECW.

Eric Bischoff had an interesting quote on Heyman in the Torch Talk with Wade Keller before Bischoff hooked up with TNA: "I like him. I think he's extraordinarily creative and reasonly undisciplined. (laughs) And if there was ever a confluence of his creativity and some reasonable discipline, it would be frightening. I'd love to work with him some day. I talked to him off and on over the years since he left and I left. He's strong-willed, very creative, very opinionated, articulate, intelligent, but a bit of a loose cannon."

-- A reminder that John Cena will be busy in Arizona next Monday night for the January 4 battle vs. TNA when he hosts the Fiesta Bowl college football game. The Arizona Republic published a story over the weekend on Cena as the grand marshal for the Fiesta Bowl parade, which takes place January 2. Cena story.

-- Former WWE wrestler Kurrgan (Robert Maillet) has been receiving attention this weekend for his key role in the new "Sherlock Holmes" movie that debuted over Christmas weekend and drew a very large sum of $65.4 million. One year ago in December 2008, we covered the story of Kurrgan KO'ing the movie's leading star, Robert Downey, Jr., in a fight scene during filming. I haven't seen the movie, but Torch reader Marc M. says Kurrgan has a "pretty big role as an enforcer type dude."

-- Carl DeMarco, the former head of WWE's international business, claims he did not have a falling-out with WWE, specifically Vince McMahon, that led to his recent departure. DeMarco says he left to pursue other business ventures.

"I had been there 14-plus years. It was great. I made friends all around the world," he told Tim Baines of the Toronto Sun. "But the last year and a half, I'd been getting the itch to do other things. And I was thinking, 'Do I want to wake up 10 years from now and wonder why I didn't try something else.' So I took a leap of faith." Toronto Sun profile on DeMarco.

-- Houston Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman listed WrestleMania 25 as one of the biggest events/stories of the 2000s decade that "shaped Houston." Hoffman said, "WrestleMania 25 at Reliant Stadium in 2009 was the biggest box-office event in WWE history. More than 72,000 fans bought $6.9 million in tickets to watch the Undertaker defeat the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels to continue his 18-0 WrestleMania streak."

Hoffman listed WWE's published attendance and revenue figures, but the actual attendance was around 62,000 and ticket revenue was $7.2 million. WWE over-sold the number of people in the arena, but under-sold the ticket revenue.

-- There is a recent video online of Orlando Colon working an angle with Primo Colon at WWE's developmental territory in Florida to promote a feud for the World Wrestling Council (WWC) out of Puerto Rico. The footage below shows the angle, but it's also interesting to see "inside FCW" for a look at the training facility. Also check out the cameo by former WCW wrestler Norman Smiley, who is one of the head trainers at developmental. Thanks to Javier Gonzalez.

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