{"id":195427,"date":"2025-04-05T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=195427"},"modified":"2025-04-01T15:49:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T20:49:56","slug":"vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-855-april-2-2005-kevin-nash-torch-talk-begins-mcneill-on-angle-michaels-mitchell-on-real-pro-wrestling-start-up-luger-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/04\/05\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-855-april-2-2005-kevin-nash-torch-talk-begins-mcneill-on-angle-michaels-mitchell-on-real-pro-wrestling-start-up-luger-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #855 (April 2, 2005): Kevin Nash Torch Talk begins, McNeill on Angle-Michaels, Mitchell on Real Pro Wrestling start-up, Luger in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2893209251\" 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>SUMMARY of #855 cover-dated April 2, 2005:<\/strong> This issue includes a double-length first installment of the &#8220;Torch Talk&#8221; with Kevin Nash including his blunt thoughts on TNA&#8217;s future, its image, and its current booker, plus early stories as a young wrestling fan&#8230; James Guttman writes about the lack of many title defenses at WrestleMania this year&#8230; Pat McNeill writes about the lost opportunities in Kurt Angle&#8217;s quest to relive Shawn Michaels&#8217;s career in three weeks. He provides examples of other potential skits, including the &#8220;I&#8217;ve lost my smile&#8221; skit&#8230; Bruce Mitchell reviews the first edition of Real Wrestling and how dull it is&#8230; Wade Keller&#8217;s &#8220;End Notes&#8221; makes a bold prediction about Sunday&#8217;s WrestleMania main event, analysis of the comparative legacies of Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin, and notes on the Kevin Nash Torch Talk&#8230; The debut of Derek Burgan&#8217;s &#8220;Torch Buyer&#8217;s Guide&#8221; digest&#8230; Plus the Top Five Stories of the Week, WWE Newswire with a ton of notes on media interviews from WWE talents over the past week hyping WrestleMania, ETC. Newswire, The Big Story of Raw, The Big Story of Smackdown, The Big Story of Impact, Weekly Schedule, Torch Poll Analysis, and more&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/artman2\/members\/uploads\/2\/855TorchNewsletterPDF.pdf\">DIRECT LINK: PWTorchNewsletter #855<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/members.pwtorch.com\/torchbackissues04\/backissues04.shtml\">LIST OF ALL 2004 BACK ISSUES<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/members\/artman\/publish\/vipcatchall\/article_76799.shtml\">TUTORIAL ON DISPLAYING NEWSLETTER PDFS ON IPAD OR ANDROID TABLET<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>FULL NEWSLETTER TEXT AND PDF VERSIONS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO VIP MEMBERS\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"pwtorch-com_dynamic_incontent1\" class=\"fs-dynamic\" data-slot=\"complete\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\">\n<div id=\"pwtorch-com_dynamic_incontent1_slot\" data-google-query-id=\"CN-Bz8HL9IMDFbYFTwgdNNgI2w\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/15184186,22430266072\/pwtorch-com_in-content-narrow_position_0__container__\">NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM\u2026 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO WITH DIGITAL PDF &amp; TEXT NEWSLETTER ACCESS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>OR SIGN UP FOR HOME POSTAL DELIVERY OF WEEKLY PAPER COPY:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorch.com\/papercopy\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2132893900\"><div id=\"pwtor-2992054441\"><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>SUMMARY of #855 cover-dated April 2, 2005: This issue includes a double-length first installment of the &#8220;Torch Talk&#8221; with Kevin Nash including his blunt thoughts on TNA&#8217;s future, its image, and its current booker, plus <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2025\/04\/05\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-855-april-2-2005-kevin-nash-torch-talk-begins-mcneill-on-angle-michaels-mitchell-on-real-pro-wrestling-start-up-luger-in-jail\/\" title=\"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #855 (April 2, 2005): Kevin Nash Torch Talk begins, McNeill on Angle-Michaels, Mitchell on Real Pro Wrestling start-up, Luger in jail\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195428,"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":[43,1361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vipexclusivealerts","category-vip_newsletters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2025\/04\/TorchCover855_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195427","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195429,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195427\/revisions\/195429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}