Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

Updated throughout the day, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and issues from around wrestling.

Updated Wednesday, December 12

7:15 p.m. In this week's Torch Newsletter, we're putting together a few articles looking at the top WWE superstars in Raw history. I've made my Top 10 list, as found below. Drop your thoughts in Caldwell's inbox with your thoughts on my Top 10 or come up with your own list. Let's see what you got, but first, my picks...

1. Steve Austin
2. The Rock
3. Shawn Michaels
4. Mick Foley
5. Bret Hart
6. Triple H
7. John Cena
8. The Undertaker
9. Jeff Hardy
10a. Chris Jericho
10b. Chris Benoit

Vince McMahon and Jim Ross are certainly worth mentioning on the list for their non-wrestling roles. I couldn't make a decision on the final spot, so I cheated and picked two. To cut off the "what about Hogan?!" replies, I consider his prime years before Raw even existed, then on WCW Nitro, and that one great program with Shawn Michaels in 2005 wasn't enough to crack the Top 10.

3:40 p.m. The Times of India has a story on a 17-year-old boy in India killing another boy of the same age with an elbow strike to the throat. The report calls it "true WWE style," as the boy was a fan of wrestling on TV. He left the victim in a toilet for five days, and even helped the father of the boy file a missing person complaint with the police to cover up the killing.

A similar incident occurred in India a few years ago and there were threats to pull WWE programming from TV, or at least push it to a later timeslot. I never heard anything more after the previous incident, but today's newspaper report headlining with: "Inspired by TV, teen kills friend in 'wrestling style'" will rekindle some of that negative sentiment toward WWE's product overseas.

***

12:15 p.m. Earlier in the month, Yahoo revealed that WWE was its second-most searched term in 2007. AOL revealed its top search results for 2007 - Chris Benoit was the most-searched for news item of the year. WWE was the most-searched for sport of the year. (Well, it is sports entertainment.)

Although 2007 was a low mark for WWE in terms of TV ratings, as they regularly set 10-year lows in the second-half of the year, WWE created plenty of buzz on the Internet. Only problem is that it was usually negative buzz. There was a two-month span when Vince McMahon faked his death on Raw and news of Chris Benoit's murder-suicide received mainstream coverage everywhere. There was a lot of interest in WWE, but it didn't necessarily translate into people watching the shows or ordering PPVs. From WWE's perspective, the only bad publicity is no publicity, right?

- ESPN finished first among cable networks last week, thanks in large part to the record-setting cable numbers for the Patriots vs. Ravens game on Dec. 3. USA Network finished second with Raw grabbing a below-average total viewers of 4.83 million. Despite the drop-off, Raw still finished in the Top 10 among cable TV shows.

***

11:10 a.m. Last night's ECW was an above-average episode. It played out the same as most weeks, but the action in the Miz & Morrison vs. Yang & Moore tag match was a step above the usual tag team action featured on ECW. Jimmy Yang is unbelievably underutilized, so it was good to see him in a meaningful role. ECW could really have a very strong brand if they took all of the underutilized talent from Raw and Smackdown and gave them a significant role on ECW, similar to Shelton Benjamin.

Speaking of Shelton, I thought his promo was good. Not spectacular. The story was dated and didn't play to a mass audience, but his delivery has improved dramatically. He's going to tell you a story and you're going to listen. He's not rushing through it; just taking his time, and not screaming AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS like too many people do these days.

The booking of C.M. Punk continues to puzzle me on a week-to-week basis. He's just not treated the same way World Hvt. champion Batista is. (I was going to include WWE champion Randy Orton in that sentence, but he's not exactly piling up significant victories in meaningful matches right now.) More often than not, we see Punk flat on his back with someone else making a comeback (Kane last night), or not making a comeback at all.

It's really getting old for people to make predictions of victory in sports. Wrestling will always have that element because the writers have control of the finishes, so a prediction can be mixed in from time-to-time depending on how they want to present a character in a positive or negative light. Elijah Burke making a prediction about beating Batista was completely unnecessary. It made him look silly, as everyone and their momma knew Batista was winning that match. Burke is too valuable to the ECW brand to be turned into the butt of jokes.

***

9:30 a.m. Last night, ESPN aired a best of show for the "This is SportsCenter" ad campaign. Of course, that sent me to youtube last night to catch up on old times, including the classic Steve Austin chair shot from Dan Patrick. Then, there's the much older WWF clip with King Kong Bundy, Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Undertaker, and Paul Bearer. Probably a fanny pack involved there.

Somehow, I stumbled upon the legendary mistrials of Robocop and Sting from 1990. If you wonder why WCW went out of business, well, just take a look at how doomed WCW was during the Jim Herd era. Unbelievable how the Horsemen, Sting, Jim Ross, and Gordon Solie had to sell this.

Updated Tuesday, December 11

6:50 p.m. I was pleasantly surprised to see the 4.4 rating in the usual timeslot for last night's Raw, as I predicted a 3.8 rating for those final two hours. The number shouldn't be surprising, though. WWE delivered an entertaining and memorable show that caught a big audience with its large net. There was a little bit of everything for everyone.

For newer fans, maybe it was the first time seeing legendary clips of Kurt Angle spraying the milk truck or DX invading WCW. For older fans, it was a nice trip down memory lane to remind them of why they sat through moments like Mae Young giving birth to a hand to see the classic Rock vs. Austin confrontations.

WWE was certainly helped by going up against a non-competitive Monday Night Football game that was pretty much over during the third hour of Raw. Now, the key is how much momentum they can carry over to next week without the nostalgia and party atmosphere.

***

5:15 p.m. Tonight on ECW, it's Batista vs. Elijah Burke in a non-title match. Batista hasn't been on ECW since the very early days of ECW on Sci-Fi when they taped TV in smaller venues to create a more intimate crowd setting. In August 2006, Batista faced Big Show at the Hammerstein Ballroom and he was booed out of the building. So, Batista should fare much better at the same venue where Smackdown is taped tonight.

Also tonight on ECW, it's Kelly Kelly vs. Victoria & Leyla in a handicap match. Smart move to get the more experienced Victoria in the middle of this to help out Kelly.

- There was an Impact taping last night in Orlando, but we haven't received a report on the show. The last taping of 2007 is tonight in Orlando, so if you attend tonight or attended last night's taping, please send in a report!

- The Black Anthem website has an in-depth look at WWE's overseas tour for the Tribute to the Troops show. Lots of details on the trip. We're just missing Rita Cosby.

***

2:45 p.m. Batista has an interview with the U.K. Sun where he comments on fellow WWE superstars, including Melina. He said: "It started out completely innocently, but I just fell in love with her. It’s been on and off for a long time and I still love her death. But I can’t see us getting married. I still don't think I'm over my ex-wife."

He said Randy Orton has found himself as a person and a wrestler. "He was lost for a while," Batista said. It's encouraging to hear that Orton is getting his personal affairs in check after really struggling the previous three years.

Batista's most critical remarks came for Great Khali. Regarding Khali's World Hvt. title reign, Batista said, "I didn't think he deserved the world championship. I don’t want to say it made me sick to my stomach to see the title in his hands, but it really did make me sick to my stomach."

I'll make the argument that, like Khali, the only reason why Batista became champion was because of his size. He has a certain big-man charisma that certainly helps and he was hand-picked by Triple H, but if he were 6'1" and 200 pounds with the self-admitted weak wrestling skills he had when he first came to WWE, I doubt he would have even sniffed title gold.

The full U.K. Sun interview can be downloaded at the link above.

***

9:35 a.m. Time to snap back to reality and I'll play the role of Debbie Downer today. So, now that the big Raw party is over, everyone's had a few (too many) drinks on the house, and everyone picked up another payday to spend...um...in a prudent manner, WWE has some business at hand. Namely, they have that PPV on Sunday. Ya know, the one where Randy Orton beats Chris Jericho, Triple H beats Jeff Hardy, and they set up Orton vs. Hunter V.105 at the Rumble.

But, after that, Raw will have to go back to developing the underneath storylines to boost up the top of the card. Which means devoting time to the tag division, Intercontinental division, and figuring out a way to keep viewers when Hogan, Austin, and Foley aren't on the show. Fortunately, they have a good crop of main eventers - the best line-up probably this year considering all of the injuries in 2007.

However, fans are going to look at the wrestlers like Michaels, Hunter, and Flair a little different now. They seemed to be tied more to the past on Raw last night than doing anything really special in the present going to the future. Another DX reunion. An Evolution reunion. Marty Jannetty returning for a main event in Shawn Michaels's place.

To the average viewer tuning in for the nostalgia show, it certainly didn't seem like the big stars of today who were big stars of yesterday are actually doing anything important right now. It certainly sent mixed signals on trying to a sell a PPV on Sunday. WWE will have to change that message on next week's Raw before going into the holiday programming leading to 2008.

Updated Monday, December 10

4:25 p.m. From the Cube inbox - Torch VIP member Joe Crowe asks...

When I heard tonight’s Raw 15-year anniversary would have stars from the past, some questions arose: How many "stars of the past" aren’t in TNA? Or dead? If these "stars from the past" are able to perform to some degree on Raw tonight, why can’t they have regular jobs in WWE? That’s rhetorical; I know why. The WWE has no further use for them, for political reasons, or the stars have "personal demons." But still, it would do an '80s and '90s wrestling fan good to see some of their old favorites contribute meaningfully again.

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

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

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

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