{"id":17067,"date":"2016-04-21T15:07:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T20:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=17067"},"modified":"2016-04-21T15:22:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T20:22:46","slug":"thursdayapril21torchtoday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/04\/21\/thursdayapril21torchtoday\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday 4\/21 Torch Today &#8211; Remembering Chyna, today&#8217;s Jim Ross Livecast Interview on-demand &#038; Ross writes on Chyna&#8217;s career, Conor McGregor latest, John Cena&#8217;s goal to grow WWE outside of WWE, XFL anniversary, JTG interview, Kevin Gill Show, NOAH Results, Video &#8211; Samoa Joe talks WWE transition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-651679836\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>TORCH TODAY &#8211; Thursday, April 21, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Chyna. Joanie Laurer<\/strong>. People have a variety of different thoughts when first hearing her name based on working with her, watching her\u00a0Attitude Era run, or thinking about her post-wrestling battles and turmoil. At her peak, she was one of the top stars of the Attitude Era. She started as a\u00a0complementary piece to <strong>Shawn Michaels<\/strong> and <strong>Triple H<\/strong>, then\u00a0became <a href=\"http:\/\/kurtanglebrand.com\/chyna\/\" target=\"_blank\">as big of a TV star as anyone else in the Attitude Era<\/a> along with fellow female star <strong>Sable (Rena Mero).\u00a0<\/strong>It&#8217;s unfortunate she struggled to find an identity and purpose while staying healthy after her wrestling career. <strong>Steve Austin<\/strong> and <strong>Eric Bischoff<\/strong> captured her story\u00a0quite well in Twitter posts on Thursday.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Crushed to hear that Chyna has passed away. In WWE she was over at the highest level. Very funny, sweet, and bad ass. She was awesome. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WWE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steveaustinBSR\/status\/723223544910344192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 21, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/EBischoff\/status\/723232283302359040<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorchlivecast.com\/2016\/04\/21\/next-pwtorch-livecast-jim-ross-talks-live-wwade-keller-at-100-est-thursday\/\" target=\"_blank\">At PWTorchLivecast.com<\/a>: <strong>Jim Ross<\/strong> joined PWTorch editor Wade Keller on Thursday afternoon for a discussion of <strong>Chyna<\/strong>, plus other hot topics from WWE and Ross&#8217;s outside-of-WWE projects.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/wwe\/story\/wwe-chyna-triple-h-jim-ross-an-appreciation-042116\" target=\"_blank\">Ross also wrote about Chyna at FoxSports.com<\/a> from the perspective of being in charge of Talent Relations when Chyna was at the peak of her career. &#8220;As the person who was\u00a0charged\u00a0with the\u00a0responsibility\u00a0of\u00a0putting\u00a0the Attitude\u00a0Era\u00a0talent\u00a0roster\u00a0together, I can assure you that no female added more to the presentation than\u00a0Joanie, thanks to the manner in which she was presented plus an incredible &#8216;look&#8217; that\u00a0separated\u00a0her from everyone on the roster,&#8221; Ross wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwpodcasts.com\/2016\/04\/21\/kevin-gill-show-88-teddy-hart-interview-apr-19-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\">At PWPodcasts.com<\/a>: Recap of the latest <strong>Kevin Gill Show<\/strong> podcast with special guest <strong>Teddy Hart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/mmatorch.com\">At MMATorch.com<\/a>: More coverage of the bizarre mid-week story of <strong>Conor McGregor<\/strong> announcing his &#8220;retirement&#8221; &#8211;\u00a0the story of a big-time fighter (McGregor) battling the promoter (<strong>Dana White<\/strong>) for control of a big-time fight card (UFC 200).<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>John Cena<\/strong> was part of a media conference call on Wednesday trying to prop up &#8220;American Grit&#8221; after the series got off to a poor\u00a0start last Thursday in terms of viewership. Included was Cena continuing to pitch his idea that he can grow\u00a0WWE&#8217;s brand presence through outside projects, such as the Fox TV series and regular appearances on NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Today&#8221; show.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3740494592\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cMy mission statement has always been the same: How can I extend the WWE brand as large as I possibly can?\u201d Cena said (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.app.com\/story\/sports\/2016\/04\/21\/john-cena-wwe-fox-american-grit\/83324564\/\" target=\"_blank\">as transcribed by the Asbury Park Press<\/a>). \u201cAfter close to 15 years of consistently competing nearly every single day, I don\u2019t want to say I\u2019ve exhausted that resource, but it\u2019s also time to take opportunities elsewhere when they can possibly broaden the outreach of the brand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>JTG<\/strong> talked to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/pancakesandpowerslams\/2016\/04\/20\/pancakes-and-powerslams-episode-212\" target=\"_blank\">Pancakes and Powerslams podcast<\/a> about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B01DKUW2L6\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B01DKUW2L6&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=pw075-20&amp;linkId=LNFEY2E6GU5REZS4\" target=\"_blank\">his new book<\/a> filled with more behind-the-scenes stories from his WWE run.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Today marks the 15-year anniversary of the <strong>XFL&#8217;s<\/strong> one (and only) Championship Game won by the L.A. franchise. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nfl\/story\/wwe-vince-mcmahon-xfl-championship-game-15-year-anniversary-042116\" target=\"_blank\">FoxSports.com<\/a> went inside the build-up to the final game and <strong>Vince McMahon&#8217;s<\/strong>\u00a0role overseeing\u00a0the league.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/realjoshwilcox\/status\/723233215188635649<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/puroresuspirit.net\/2016\/04\/noah-results-for-april-21-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\">NOAH Global Tag League Night 1 Results via PuroresuSpirit.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Video: <strong>Samoa Joe<\/strong> talked to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCD_0Hz0876LEnfGxhkTMaLA\" target=\"_blank\">Busted Open satellite radio show<\/a> about his first full run in WWE, the NXT roster, former TNA colleagues heading to WWE, and other topics.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Samoa Joe on joining WWE, working with Triple H, Roode\/Young in WWE and more\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7NigyfDdN6I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1786878661\"><div id=\"pwtor-3387533154\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>TORCH TODAY &#8211; Thursday, April 21, 2016 &#8211; Chyna. Joanie Laurer. People have a variety of different thoughts when first hearing her name based on working with her, watching her\u00a0Attitude Era run, or thinking about <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/04\/21\/thursdayapril21torchtoday\/\" title=\"Thursday 4\/21 Torch Today &#8211; Remembering Chyna, today&#8217;s Jim Ross Livecast Interview on-demand &#038; Ross writes on Chyna&#8217;s career, Conor McGregor latest, John Cena&#8217;s goal to grow WWE outside of WWE, XFL anniversary, JTG interview, Kevin Gill Show, NOAH Results, Video &#8211; Samoa Joe talks WWE transition\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[601],"class_list":["post-17067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quicknews","tag-torch-today"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/02\/RossBoxingCBSSports.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17067"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17073,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17067\/revisions\/17073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}