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Updated throughout the day from the corner cubicle, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and other items of interest from around wrestling.

Updated Friday, January 18

2:35 p.m. After watching three hours of TNA programming last night, I came to a conclusion that Mike Tenay and Don West have the ability to be a good announce team working together. Just like I believe TNA has the ability to present a serious wrestling show. First, the announcers. The current problem is how over-produced they are on Impact. During the regular Impact broadcast last night, I lost count of the number of times Don West said a line with zero emotion, as if he were a zombie reading from a terrible script. Then, he put in a really nice effort with Mike Tenay for the Angle-Nagata match.

West's strength is selling sports, not really bad TV wrestling storylines. His references to other mega-sporting events held in the Tokyo Dome worked on that JBL level of trying to build up a worked pro wrestling match as a significant sports competition. Mike Tenay, whose strength is establishing historical context, called a good match. He wasn't trying to put on a mad face about a "serious" storyline, or trying to sell the audience a bill of goods. He was calling a pro wrestling match, and it came across like he enjoyed the reprieve from calling bad TNA programming.

As for the two-hour Impact broadcast, I don't know if TNA has given up on trying to write a serious show or if they get more kicks out of booking a parody of a wrestling show by making fun of every wrestling cliché in the book. Regardless, the show needs to find an identity. They're not serious with the show until the main events, which will never sell anything because the one hour and 45 minutes leading to the main event is a complete farce.

TNA used to be an alternative wrestling show. Now, it's about jokes on WWE that three people find the humor in. The writing is like little brother trying to poke fun at big brother with the slimmest of hope that big brother will give any acknowledgement. Maybe if we name-drop every single WWE champion in history, they'll finally pay attention to us!

As for the wrestling content, TNA blatantly misled fans and wrestlers with the line about longer matches when they moved to two hours. They've just doubled the number of short matches and tacked on an extra five minutes or so to the main event. That's all. The storylines are still junk. The characters lack depth or change from heel to face and back again in the course of one show.

I believe the corrective step is to take the same vision for the Global Impact show that aired last night and apply it to ongoing TNA storylines. Instead of insulting the audience's intelligence with poorly scripted backstage segments, go for a documentary-style show that focuses on the wrestlers preparing for matches and interacting with other wrestlers.

Instead of airing a bunch of really short, throwaway TV matches, TNA could show highlight video packages of the matches and get reaction from the wrestlers before and after. Save the in-ring wrestling for the important matches that are going to be given proper TV time and build-up. Allow the wrestlers to earn full-match-length TV time with the agents evaluating the matches taped for the highlight packages, but not shown on TV.

If anything, it would help sell the PPVs, which are currently being sold by storylines and not wrestling match-ups. And the TV wrestling is generally short, unimportant, and filler in between backstage segments. Yet, TNA wants people to spend $30 on wrestling once a month.

Right now, TNA is trying to do a WWE-style TV wrestling show, but they've turned it into a parody of that style. All of the running gags and random cuts from Jeremy Borash live to a few days ago to taped earlier in the day, and Crystal running around with a microphone, is all very silly and pointless. A more cutting-edge, alternative approach would be to show a two-hour documentary-style show each week, with one important match each hour.

TV wrestling doesn't have to be presented as a farce. The wrestling doesn't have to be filler; it can be presented seriously, with respect for the wrestlers and in-ring action to gradually rebuild the PPV audience. Last night, TNA showed they are capable of delivering a fundamentally solid pro wrestling event with the Global Impact show. I would like to think they are capable of doing more than laughing at their own jokes.

Updated Thursday, January 17

11:05 a.m. SI.com has a story on a 13-year-old inline skating champion, Corey Gahan, who was given steroids by his father and a fake doctor to help him gain muscle mass and speed to win youth skating competitions. This was on the Wall Street Journal's Daily Fix yesterday, so the story has significant exposure on SI and WSJ.

The story is both a cautionary tale on the prevalence of steroids in youth sports and a disturbing look at what one parent was willing to do to give his son a competitive edge. If Corey won competitions, he was rewarded with video games and cars. If he lost, the father wouldn't talk to him.

The wrestling portion of the story relates to the fake doctor, John Todd Miller. He had a nice office in Florida with various diplomas suggesting he was a real doctor. He had a prominent photo of Paul Wight (Big Show) on his wall, suggesting that Wight was visiting Miller. Randy Savage and Brian Adams (Crush) visited Miller on August 27, 2002, the same day Corey came in for a consultation.

The SI article details Paul Wight's admission to investigators in October 2003 that he received steroids and the painkiller Nubain from the doctor. Some of Miller's other clients included Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, and the investigators obtained receipts that showed Benoit and Guerrero were paying Miller "$300 to $400 a week for testosterone and HGH."

At first, Corey didn't feel comfortable with the steroid and HGH program, but he felt more comfortable when the doctor, who he thought was legit at the time, encouraged the program and his father agreed to it. But, the selling point was when he saw the photos of famous athletes, including Big Show, on the "doctor's" wall. "Wow, what's going on?" Corey recalled. "Is [this] really how everyone does it?"

The influence of pro wrestlers on youths, especially young athletes, was one of the underlying themes that the Congressional committee headed by Mr. Waxman identified when suggesting an investigation into pro wrestling. With pro wrestling marketed towards families, especially kids, it's important for Congress to look at the influence larger-than-life athletes have on youths. It's not just wrestling, but also major professional sports where athletes are put on a giant pedestal.

The recent message sent from the likes of Andy Pettitte and Fernando Vina is to find a way to get an edge, then simply make a contrite apology at a later date if you get caught. The risk is what Marion Jones is experiencing. Everything that she accomplished has been stripped away.
Young athletes are watching. Whether it's pro wrestling or major professional sports, the messages being sent from athletes, the media, and Congress are important to prevent more tales like a 13-year-old steroid user, Corey Gahan, entrusting his body to a fake doctor and an overzealous parent because he believed what someone like Big Show was doing was the ticket to more success.

Updated Wednesday, January 16

6:25 p.m. Just this morning, as I was reading coverage of Congress questioning Major League Baseball's top brass on Tuesday, I thought to myself that we haven't heard from WWE in a few months on suspensions for Wellness policy violations. Right on cue, WWE announced suspensions of a few developmental talents just to keep everyone honest. No big names. Just two wrestlers looking to make the big time who were singled out for violations.

So, as MLB tries to damage control on accusations that they tipped off their big stars on drug testing dates, WWE sneaks in an announcement that they suspended no-name wrestlers to "send a message" that everyone in the organization is subjected to the same drug testing. Unless WWE isn't done announcing suspensions, it's amazing that everyone on the main roster passed this round of drug testing. Just plumb amazing. Good for them.

In any event, the wrestling industry should be sending Roger Clemens a thank-you card for taking the steroids and HGH story away from pro wrestling and moving it to baseball. The Congressional hearings set for next month were originally going to include baseball and pro wrestling. Now, it's just baseball.

Apparently, the lack of recent deaths in pro wrestling has decreased interest from Congress in finding out about pro wrestling's handling of performance-enhancing drugs. Maybe the individuals on the Congressional committees who were interested in wrestling have come to a conclusion that the industry has cleaned itself up in the last five months. Or, they would rather talk to big name ballplayers like Roger Clemens to guarantee plenty of TV time.

When you read interviews from Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell on the lengths they went to maintain their previous addictions, then read from Bret Hart's book where he details his experiences watching wrestlers find any way possible to continue their addictions, it's simply naive to believe pro wrestling can fully clean itself up without third party help.

Sure, the effort is there. WWE has a policy (albeit flawed) they are committed to. TNA will reportedly begin drug testing at the next TV taping on Monday. Wrestlers, such as Nigel McGuinness, are trying to educate themselves more on the risks involved in the business.

Hopefully it won't take another wrestler death to reinvigorate Congress's interest in pro wrestling in a reactionary measure. But, more wrestling deaths and serious injuries can be prevented if Congress takes the proactive approach of asking tough questions to wrestling's leaders.

At the very least, it would allow WWE to present a detailed and specific explanation of what they have done to help clean up wrestling. That would give wrestling fans and critics confidence in industry leaders who, to this point, have not answered the tough questions with specifics on their efforts to clean up wrestling.

***

11:15 a.m. Forgive my sleepiness when writing the headline for this entry. Must be the non-drowsy cold and cough medicine, not thoughts on ECW. Yeah, that's it. Last night's ECW wasn't a good show. It really wasn't. The crowd and announcers must have taken a dip in the cold and cough medicine, as well, because there was hardly any energy in the building. Joey Styles and Tazz were talking so softly that I thought they were afraid to wake up the audience.

As for the actual show content, there wasn't much going on after the good opening exchange between Edge and C.M. Punk. The Highlanders showed up randomly without a purpose. Their general ring entrance includes them looking around the building like the Repo Man, but it may have been a real reaction this week since they were trying to figure out where they were. Shelton Benjamin's match with Nunzio was...zzzz...sorry. Must have been the cough medicine again.

But, most random segment of the show was Kelly Kelly coming to the ring in a bath robe, saying two lines, taking off the robe to reveal a bikini, and then leaving. Not that it was a bad segment for obvious reasons, but it was just so random. That was soon followed by Colin Delaney, who took another beating. It's like they're trying to show TNA how to do Shark Boy's gimmick by progressively reaching the point where Delaney is mummified in athletic tape and assorted bandages.

The main event match was fine, but the crowd had already been put to sleep by the rest of the show. Edge's dastardly deed on the outside was good for the storyline, as it put Edge in a position of control on Punk's show, and also gave Chavo the victory he needed without pinning Punk. After three non-clean endings to the series of Punk vs. Chavo matches, they could build to a nice blow-off match on PPV. It won't be at the Rumble, since the card is already full, but No Way Out seems like a good spot if they hold off that long.

As for Punk, his opening promo was intriguing. It was the first time he was scripted to say ECW was his show; that he was taking ownership of the program. Torch reader Shane McKinley suggested it could be the start of Punk getting too big for ECW, which I think would be a good progression for his character.

Punk has been portrayed as a lone wolf, so the storyline could be an uprising in the locker room where the ECW wrestlers (what's left of them) aren't in agreement with Punk's view of who's captain of the ship. They could build the uprising over a series of months leading to a loser-leaves-ECW match or something to that effect, leading to Punk switching brands. This week's show wasn't good, but they effectively advanced storylines for future weeks.

Updated Tuesday, January 15

6:50 p.m. ECW tonight has WWE's attempt to get the ratings back up to a respectable level with World Hvt. champion Edge hosting the "Cutting Edge" with guest ECW champion C.M. Punk. The segment is due for an interruption by Chavo Guerrero, but it will be good for Punk to gain some credibility with ECW viewers by interacting with Smackdown's world champion. If Raw is A, Smackdown is B, and ECW is C, then the champion of B rubbing off on the champion of C will help out Punk in the long-term.

On Raw, the video previews teased another Punk vs. Chavo match following Chavo's DQ loss last week, but wwe.com doesn't have anything official on that. I'm just holding out for another week of Colin Delaney's great subtlety.

- WWE.com is building up an injury angle for Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton after Hardy's swanton bomb at the end of Raw last night. The storyline is that both men stayed overnight in a Mobile, Ala. hospital for further evaluation. WWE's article poses some of the basic storyline questions of whether Hardy and Orton will recover in time for the Rumble, and whether Hardy took things too far to harm Orton.

It's the same angle they take when a babyface takes a beating on the show before a PPV. In this instance, they're asking the "can he recover in time?" question an extra week in advance to reinforce the level of risk Hardy took last night. It's another good piece of storytelling that started a few weeks ago and continued last night, so they don't end up rushing an injury angle the week before the PPV to put Hardy in jeopardy. Again, the key is the follow-up on next week's Raw.

***

11:05 a.m. I'm conflicted on how to evaluate last night's Raw. It was a peculiar and interesting show, complete with technical malfunctions, an abbreviated Flair retirement match, a mini-Rumble, and another big spot from Jeff Hardy. Based on the Raw Reax so far, you're also conflicted on how to evaluate the show. The range of overall show scores is from 1.0 to 9.5, with everything in between.

Here's the key to the show last night. How does WWE follow up on Orton vs. Hardy next week in the final Raw before the Royal Rumble? Next week, they shouldn't be in the ring. They shouldn't wrestle. They shouldn't do anything physical. A double stretcher ending after both men played it up like they were unconscious means both men should be licking their wounds next week.

The ending gives WWE plenty of options for next week, which Greg Parks and I discussed in the Raw audio after the show. Randy Orton could do a heel promo that he won't even defend the title at the Rumble because Hardy is too much of a risk to end his career, his life, and hurt his family. Vince McMahon, being a businessman in the storyline, could interject that there will be a title match, but he's keeping both men off TV so they don't kill each other before the Rumble.

Whatever direction they go, the key will be using the show-closing Swanton Bomb from Hardy to sell the PPV title match after Hardy tried to improve on his Whisper in the Wind dive from the previous week.

One of the other top stories from the show is Ric Flair's retirement program. Two weeks ago, Flair won an epic main event against Hunter. Last week on Raw, he was nowhere to be found, continued his program against MVP on Smackdown, but was back on Raw this week with no explanation of the MVP program. Then, they only aired three minutes of his "Career Threatening" match against William Regal, with Ross and Lawler having to earn their check trying to build up the significance of this possibly being Flair's final match.

The decision-makers in WWE seem to be in constant conflict on how much creative energy to put behind Flair's retirement angle. Regal wasn't damaged by losing to Flair on the show since Regal is presented more as an authority figure lackey than a serious wrestler. It won't damage MVP if Flair wins by count-out at the Rumble since MVP's strategy for keeping the U.S. Title has been to lose by count-out or DQ, but not lose the belt. Another interesting story to follow leading to and following the Rumble.

***

Updated Monday, January 14

6:10 p.m. Tonight's Raw will feature Ric Flair vs. William Regal in another retirement match for Flair. This comes two weeks before Flair's scheduled retirement match against MVP at the Royal Rumble. Also on the show, Shawn Michaels will be in a Royal Rumble qualifying match. The opponent has not been named yet.

- Not-so-funny story of the day goes to Batista, who was pulled over by a person apparently pretending to be an undercover officer after the Jan. 5 house show in Canton, Ohio. The story goes that the "officer" stopped Batista with a flashing red light, then asked for Batista's driver's license. Batista became suspicious when the "officer" didn't have police equipment that would indicate he's a cop. Story link

- E! has a story on the steroids probe that revealed big-name celebrities linked to the New York state attorney general's investigation into online pharmacy distribution. Mary G. Blige, Timbaland, 50 Cent, and Tyler Perry are among the big names linked to the steroid investigation.

One of the key distributors referenced in E!'s article is osteopath Gary Brandwein, who operated an online pharmacy out of his Boca Raton, Fla. office. He allegedly sold supplies of steroids, HGH, and testosterone to Chris Benoit prior to Benoit's death. After his operation was shut down, Brandwein pleaded not guilty to six counts of felony drug charges in New York state.

Hopefully, this news will shed light on the pressures facing entertainers, and not just athletes. When the drug issues in pro wrestling reached mainstream audiences this past summer during the Chris Benoit coverage, everyday people continually questioned why drug testing matters in pro wrestling if the match outcomes are predetermined, unlike in sports, where the games are presumably not scripted. (I say "presumably" because the officiating in the Colts vs. Chargers game yesterday was ridiculously one-sided for the Colts.)

In any event, what mainstream people have to get beyond is the idea that the steroid issue is only about home run records and big muscles. The real story is competition for roster spots, concert dates, main event matches, etc. Thousands of people were probably unbelievably confused when Mary J. Blige's name popped up on this new list. But, she's not in sports, and she doesn't have huge muscles, and she's not trying to break a record. What's going on?!

It's the competition to stay younger than the next thirty-something entertainer. It's the competition to get the endorsement deal. That's what people have to understand after being misled by mainstream reporting on steroids in sports. I remember one random person posting a comment on a drug testing story during the Benoit coverage this past summer. The sarcastic statement went something like, "But wrestling is entertainment, so I guess we should start testing movie stars and musicians?" And my immediate answer was, "Yes!"

Now that some well-known celebrity entertainers have appeared on the Signature Pharmacy list, it should open more eyes to the "why" behind steroid and HGH use. The real story isn't about huge muscles, but competition for roster spots, recovery time, and a more youthful money-drawing image.

***

Bret Hart book review - Part 2 of book

A few weeks ago, I tackled part 1 of Bret Hart's autobiography. Today, I'm tackling part 2. The timeline is February 1985 - June 1993 (the first King of the Ring on PPV). There was plenty that happened during this timeline, as Bret details his struggles to break through as a legit main eventer, to keep his relatives and marriage alive, and not to fall prey to the same party habits in WWF that were consuming and killing his fellow wrestlers.

The content in part 2 is great because it contains Bret's philosophies on the wrestling business intertwined with the wrestling stories. There are many times in the book when Bret tells a story, then offers a paragraph of philosophy that you have to take notes on when reading. Otherwise, you're missing plenty of great ideas on understanding more about the business. It's not just a book, but an educational resource.

Something I didn't pay much attention to until part 2 is how Bret revisits his thoughts on specific events, but often times doesn't explain when he revised his thoughts. When recounting stories, he sometimes writes his revised thoughts as an aside in the middle of a sentence. He might be in the middle of describing a story, then casually toss out ", which I regret" when describing a poor choice he made. The question is when that introspective thought came from. At the time? A few weeks later? A current regret when revisiting and writing the story for the book?

It's not clear in every instance, but the narrative flows so well that it's unnecessary for the book to be chopped into paragraphs of "story, italicized reflections, story, repeat" like so many other books. It's a challenge at times to pick apart Bret's thoughts and see where his past and current thoughts intersect, but the challenge isn't a distraction from following the stories and reading the philosophical commentary.

Often times over the past two+ years since I wrote the Bret Hart DVD review in the Torch Newsletter, I've been asked if I'd change any of the critiques I made on Bret's DVD. After reading through the first half of Bret's book, there are some critiques I would soften, but others that have been reinforced. I'll detail those in a second, but I have a much better understanding of where Bret is coming from on the things I critiqued him on.

One of the critiques I had in the DVD review was Bret taking credit for Davey Boy Smith's IC Title victory at Summerslam 1992 at Wembley Stadium. I thought that was one of the instances where Bret came across selfish on the DVD. In the book, though, Bret details how much of a complete screw-up Davey was leading to that match; how Bret laid out the entire match beforehand, then Davey forgot everything, and Bret captained the match to its epic conclusion. It was one of the many times Bret details his attempts to keep Davey, Dynamite Kid, and his brothers in line so they wouldn't self-destruct.

One of the critiques I had in the DVD review that was strongly reinforced by Bret's book was how he used his wrestling image to win favor in the court of public opinion. When I wrote the DVD review, I had countless emails from Bret fans who didn't appreciate anything negative written about Bret. Every single one of those emails (and I read all of them) was something to the effect of... "I met Bret in xyz city and he signed my replica belt" or "I'm a huge fan of Bret and I can't believe you wrote xyz about him".

After reviewing part 1, I received emails from Bret fans who are having a tough time dealing with the reality that Bret cheated on his wife and was a recreational drug user throughout his career. It's a tough pill to swallow for fans who loved the Bret Hart image, but didn't know about the person behind the shades. Is Bret a bad guy? Not at all. I commend him for being open in the book about his misgivings on the road. He's practically a saint compared to the rest of his colleagues at the time.

The problem is that fans have to be able to separate the character from the person. It's tough because pro wrestling puts on the façade of the show being real, which can conflict fans when they're asked to suspend disbelief for a certain period of time and believe in wrestlers such as Bret Hart. There is no separation of character from person on TV.

Bret was a master of motivating and empowering his ultra-loyal fanbase. They loved the character. They loved the image. Now, I'm hearing from fans who have read Bret's book that they're not sure how to feel. It's almost like that first moment when you realize wrestling isn't real. It's a fight or flight situation. Do you quit watching because you know the secrets? Or, do you appreciate what you thought was real as a great art form of scripted entertainment?

For a lot of Bret fans, it's a wake-up call that every wrestler is prone to the same mistakes and conflicts on the lonely road. Do fans turn against Bret for his actions? Or, do they support him for being honest as a tool for future wrestlers and fans to learn from his mistakes? I hope fans will see that Bret's honesty is a good tool for fans, wrestlers, and even parents. I don't believe Bret should be ripped for his misgivings, as there are numerous asides so far that I've read in the book where Bret acknowledges his mistakes and regrets the errors in judgment. Bret's book isn't just an educational resource about wrestling, but also about life.

Bret went through a lot of stuff personally and professionally during this '85 to '93 timeline. He saw the demise of his own hero, Dynamite Kid. He went through a troubled episode where Dynamite threatened to kill the entire Hart family. Bret's wife at the time, Julie, would have driven any man to the brink of insanity. In WWF, his struggles were magnified by the political games and broken promises from Vince McMahon. While his colleagues were shaking his hand and telling him he's the greatest in the ring, McMahon kept putting the brakes on the promised main event opportunities.

It wasn't until Vince's hands were tied in the early '90s during the steroid distribution scandal that Vince went with Bret as champion. All that work. All that sweat in the ring. All the broken bones. The missed dates at home. The holidays on the road away from family. OK, Bret, business is screwed, so now it's your turn.

The closing few chapters of part 2 detail Bret's first title reign in 1992 until WrestleMania IX in 1993. There, he was caught in the middle of a classic Hogan vs. Vince battle, with Vince eventually putting the WWF Title back on Hogan at Mania in the silliest title switch imaginable that I still laugh at when I watch on tape.

Vince and Hogan both seemed to be lying about what led to the title switch, and Bret didn't know who to believe. On pg. 320, Bret writes, "I wanted to know which of my supposed friends was lying to me." As Bret found out, there are no real friends when dealing with people in the wrestling business. Just empty promises. And with all that weighing on him, it carried over to his personal life where his struggles were magnified as he dealt with drugs, loneliness, and family problems.

I'll take a look at Part 3 in a few weeks when I complete that section, including a look at the evolution of Bret's relationships with Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.

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