Monday 1/18 Torch Today – How much of a difference can Brock make?, Reigns vs. Rock?, Total Divas hype, fake-looking Cena & Nikki chat, TNA commentator feeds homeless, DiBiase on why he left WWE, Xavier interview, TX promotion suspends operations, Video – Joey & Candice

By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Brock Lesnar (art credit Travis Beaven © PWTorch)

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

TORCH TODAY – Monday, January 18, 2016

– Will WWE rebound from last week’s 2.36 rating against the college football title game? It depends on how much of the audience returns to Raw and how much individual drawing power Brock Lesnar still has. WWE brought Lesnar back last week and quickly turned him into just another roster member who had to back down to The Authority. Now, he’s on Chris Jericho’s “Highlight Reel” segment a week removed from Jericho doing goofy stuff with mid-card tag champs New Day. Is this a step up for Jericho or a step down for Brock? Hard to say until we see how it plays out. Regardless, WWE has to find/develop/dig up something epic for Brock to work with heading into WrestleMania Season to get the most out of Lesnar.

– WWE will be in Columbus, Ohio for Raw tonight. It will be a weary crew after a busy weekend schedule that split the crews in the Midwest and India. Perhaps the most interesting item of the weekend was Sheamus getting a babyface reaction at Sunday’s house show in Canton, Ohio. Seven matches into the show, apparently the audience was just excited to see a star in action. That’s how thin the roster is right now.

– While in India doing media interviews, Roman Reigns was asked a hypothetical question about his family member The Rock coming after his WWE Title at WrestleMania. “I expect The Rock would want to keep his pretty face intact for Hollywood. He better stay away from me in the ring. But honestly, anybody who wants to get into the ring with me and take the world title, just try!” Reigns told the Times of India. We’ll see if there’s anything to this comment.

– WWE NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS: The Raw pre-show is at 7:30 p.m. EST, then a new episode of “Legends with JBL” airs after Raw. The guest is “Road Dogg” Jesse James.

– Lone Star Championship Wrestling out of Houston, Tex. announced they are suspending operations indefinitely. Owner/promoter Chris Ronquillo noted that they are reorganizing business operations to produce a “bigger, better Lone Star Championship Wrestling live event.”

– WWE and E! are gearing up for the season premiere of “Total Divas” on Tuesday night. Alicia Fox talked to the Miami Herald about growing as a wrestler, especially on the mic. Also, E! released a video clip of John Cena and Nikki Bella having a dinner conversation that sounds completely fake in the form of a 35-second snippet. And, Paige talked to TooFab.com about her personal life and biggest competition in WWE.

– Former WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase recently commented on why he decided to leave WWE and walk away from pro wrestling.

– New Day’s Xavier Woods talked to Gadgets 360 about video games, New Day’s Tag Title run, and the group charging people $5 to touch Big E. in public. “And it kinda became a thing somehow – I mean, in the last one year we’ve gotten $38, no $40, which is not bad. It paid for dinner,” Xavier said.

– TNA commentator/wrestler “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) was profiled by Ch. 4 in Jacksonville, Fla. for helping feed the homeless in his hometown over the weekend. Burke, through his “Love-Alive charity,” provided food and assistance to local individuals facing a hard time.

– In Your Face Wrestling announced Kevin Nash for their big “Memories, Moments & Mayhem” show on March 12 in Albany, New York. (Event Details)

– Video of the Day: Part 2 of Joey Ryan and Candice LaRae in Japan on their recent wrestling excursion. This edition includes a look at Tokyo Disneyland.

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