Tuesday 1/12 Torch Today – Angle-Drew & title match on Impact, Bellas on ESPNews, Jake documentary released, Miz to appear on CW show, Ross blogs on Sting/HOF, big profile on Matt Morgan, Shane McMahon, NXT goalie, Punk in UFC video game, Rock’s “Ballers” birth, Videos – Schamberger and Joey & Candice

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor


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

TORCH TODAY – Tuesday, January 12, 2016

– How long will WWE be able to keep up the pace of big Smackdown matches following Raw, especially with a depleted roster? They will keep testing their endurance at tonight’s taping with three matches advertised. (NOTE: We’re looking for a report from the Cajundome sent to pwtorch@gmail.com)

  • U.S. Title match: Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio
  • Tables match: The Dudleys vs. The Wyatts
  • IC champion Dean Ambrose & Neville vs. Sheamus & Kevin Owens

– Week 2 of TNA Impact on Pop TV includes a big singles match of Kurt Angle vs. Drew Galloway as part of Angle’s “Farewell Tour.” The full line-up includes:

  • Angle vs. Galloway
  • KOTM Title match: Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young
  • Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne vs. Awesome Kong & Jade
  • Fallout from Ethan Carter III winning the TNA Title
  • Matt Hardy on Mr. Anderson’s new talking segment
  • TNA tag champions The Wolves & X Division champion Tigre Uno vs. Jessie & Eli Drake & D.J. Zema in a six-man tag match

The Bella Twins will be tonight’s guests on ESPNews SportsCenter with Jonathan Coachman during the 9:00 p.m. EST hour. Nikki and Brie Bella will be discussing next week’s season premiere of “Total Divas,” Nikki helping E!’s coverage of the Golden Globes, and the NFL Playoffs.

– The documentary on Jake Roberts is now available on iTunes. “The Resurrection of Jake Roberts” is priced at $14.99.

Jim Ross’s latest blog at jrsbarbq.com covers Sting’s WWE Hall of Fame induction, a recent podcast conversation with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, his pick of Jason Jordan to be a break-out NXT star, and more topics.

– You On Demand, the company founded by Shane McMahon that distributes Hollywood movies in China, has reshuffled its executive team. Shane is now Vice Chairman.

The Miz will be part of the next season of CW’s “Supernatural” show. One of the episodes will focus on the world of “small-town pro wrestling.”

BBC News profiled former European football goalkeeper Stuart Tomlinson, who continues to make the transition to “Hugo Knox” at WWE’s NXT Developmental system.

“Within a year of training to be a wrestler, I have performed in front of thousands of people. I watched this year’s Wrestlemania, where the crowd was 80,000, and I want to perform on those big stages,” Tomlinson said. “I would like to be remembered as one of the better wrestlers to come out of England. They might also say I was a footballer, too.”

– EA Sports has released the first look at C.M. Punk’s playable character in the “UFC 2” video game scheduled for release on March 15.

– Former WWE/TNA star Matt Morgan was profiled by Chaminade University in Hawaii on his journey from playing college basketball to pro wrestling and now to the sales industry after retiring. Morgan says he returned to the ring at TNA’s Slammiversary PPV in 2015 so that his young son could see him wrestle live. The in-depth profile piece is at GoSwords.com.

– The latest mainstream coverage of “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson at the Golden Globes is the story of Rock shutting down filming of the “Ballers” series when his newborn daughter was set to be born prematurely. “So, 3:00 in the afternoon, I am on the set of ‘Ballers.’ I get a text from my girlfriend who says, ‘We’re inducing at 6, baby comes tonight.’ It’s three weeks early. I pulled my director aside and said ‘Buddy, we’re shutting it all down.’ So for two weeks we shut ‘Ballers’ down. But it’s great. We’re back shooting now. Everything’s good.”

– Wrestling artist Rob Schamberger’s latest painting focuses on The Rock.

– The latest edition of independent wrestlers Joey Ryan and Candice LaRae’s YouTube show documents their travels to Japan for a recent tour. Included is a stop at Ribera Steakhouse, match footage, and their arena perspective on New Japan’s Tokyo Dome Show.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply