Wednesday 4/6 Torch Today – Smackdown Taping Takeaways, Payback PPV hype video, Cena on TV today, Cena/USO, Goldberg/NASCAR, Ross to receive Cauliflower award, WWE returning to Hawaii, WM32 merchandising, WWNLive & NWA & PWG “Bowie” show releases

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

John Cena (photo credit Wade Keller © PWTorch)

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

TORCH TODAY – Wednesday, April 6

– Last night’s Smackdown TV taping was a very revealing show in the sense that WWE is lacking strong talkers and their newly-introduced NXT call-ups are going to need time to connect with the audience. The promo line starts with Chris Jericho, who was on-fire on the mic. After that, Becky Lynch had perhaps the best verbal night with a backstage promo vowing to win the Women’s Title somehow, someway, one day. Now, with a lot of part-time WrestleMania stars exiting, like Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, WWE is going to have to work very hard to fill three-hour Raws and two-hour Smackdowns when the majority of the roster simply is not over.

– WWE released a generic PPV hype video for Payback on May 1. The Wyatts handle the speaking, vowing “payback” on unspecified individuals. Based on what happened at WrestleMania, the options are The Rock (gone) and John Cena (injured). They did pick a fight with the League of Nations on Raw, so there’s that.

John Cena is scheduled to attend the 34th annual USO Awards event on April 19 in Washington, D.C. Former WWE guest star Jon Stewart is scheduled to emcee. (Event Details)

Cena appeared on “Good Day LA” and “Ellen” on Wednesday while in Los Angeles doing promotion for “American Grit.” Cena is scheduled to appear on TBS’s “Conan” show tonight.

Jim Ross is being honored with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Cauliflower Alley Club this coming week in Las Vegas. The NWA is presenting the award to Ross. (Fox Sports Report)

Bill Goldberg is scheduled to introduce NASCAR drivers a the Food City 500 race on April 17 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Fox Sports Report)

– WWE is returning to Hawaii for the first time in seven years on June 29. Shinsuke Nakamura, A.J. Styles, and Chris Jericho headline the show, which will take WWE to Japan for shows at the start of July. (Local News Report)

– Wrestling reporter John Corrigan published a report on WWE’s WrestleMania merchandising and promotional effort in Texas from the minute they arrived at the airport. (Interesting Article HERE)

– WWNLive has made their WrestleMania weekend shows available on-demand after returning from Texas. Details at WWNLive.com.

– NWA promoter David Fuller is finalizing details on the “NWA Parade of Champions” event to be released on-demand through Fite TV and physical media. (Full Details)

– PWG has now released the “Bowie” event from February 12 on DVD. The show featured Roderick Strong vs. Drew Galloway for the PWG Title.

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