By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

One subject in the news is Jim Cornette noting to Power Slam that he believes WWE is in trouble when Vince McMahon retires. "Nobody's qualified to replace McMahon," he said. "Vince is one of a kind, a guy who will never come along again." He went on to talk about Triple H being a student of the business, but also having his quirks.

In fact, I just rewatched the Katie Vick skit the other day (because I have been dubbing my personal VHS tape collection to DVD). The Vick skit included Triple H simulating missionary sex with a corpse in a casket. It's long been considered a low-point in WWE's creative judgment in the 2000s (the disturbing Michael Cole-Heidenreich skit comes to mind, too). Even at that stage, Triple H had the clout to veto that, but he didn't.

It does worry me, the judgment he's shown over the years. He's belittled and undercut wrestlers lower than him on the roster. He might consider himself a "ball-buster" just having fun, but it has hurt the upside of various wrestlers and, frankly, made him look like a prick.

Jason Powell noted on a ProWrestling.net audio show once that one of his sources said Triple H lacks one key trait that Vince McMahon has - the ability to inspire people to perform hard in order to win his approval. That has always been a big part of McMahon's success - getting other people to work hard to win his approval.

I wonder if Triple H can be the type of leader who pats people on the back for a job well done, and the type of leader that wrestlers would work hard for. It's a transition he may be going through now as it sinks in that the industry he grew up loving and made a career in rests largely on his shoulders if something were to cause Vince McMahon to stop running the enterprise.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd put Steve Austin in charge of steering this industry for the next ten years. I agree with just about everything he has written or said about how to approach promoting the pro wrestling product. I think he has the experience, intellect, and instincts to get the things wrong with pro wrestling back on track. I'm not sure if that's a burden he would want or an opportunity he'd be given, though.

The chapter he wrote in his autobiography on his philosophy on the creative side of the industry is still one of the most poignant chapters of any pro wrestling book. I'd require the creative team and every wrestler to read it at least once or twice a year just remind them what this business should be like if the goal is to be as successful as possible.

CLOSING WORDS: Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you have a great weekend and we look forward to another great year at PWTorch here on our newly redeseigned website and, of course, our Apps on iPhone, Android, and Amazon devices. If you're reading this on our website, I hope you like the new look. We've made a number of changes to make viewing the site hopefully functionally and asthetically more pleasing, including reducing the number of ads on the site. Send along any feedback you have or suggestions for future changes or improvements.

I hope to posts more Blogs and Keller's Takes in the new year, so keep checking back for my thoughts on big and small news stories throughout the week.

Be sure to check out www.MMATorch.com tonight for live coverage of Brock Lesnar's big UFC main event fight.

You can always reach me at kellerwade@gmail.com. If you have a topic you want me to address in a future blog, send it me for consideration.

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Wade Keller is editor and publisher of PWTorch. He founded Pro Wrestling Torch as a newsletter in 1987, a newsletter still published weekly to this day with over 1,200 weekly issues. It's available on a subscription basis through mail order or digitally on the PWTorch VIP website. He hosts the PWTorch Livecast and records the VIP Keller Hotline every day for VIP members.

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