{"id":209658,"date":"2026-01-31T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=209658"},"modified":"2026-01-02T17:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T23:33:44","slug":"vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-898-february-4-2006-spike-tv-offers-tna-prime-time-slot-dawn-marie-torch-talk-royal-rumble-coverage-mitchell-on-michaels-bret-caldwell-on-und","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/01\/31\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-898-february-4-2006-spike-tv-offers-tna-prime-time-slot-dawn-marie-torch-talk-royal-rumble-coverage-mitchell-on-michaels-bret-caldwell-on-und\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #898 (February 4, 2006): Spike TV offers TNA prime time slot, Dawn Marie Torch Talk, Royal Rumble Coverage, Mitchell on Michaels-Bret, Caldwell on Undertaker, Michaels Career"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1336010137\" 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 #898 cover-dated February 4, 2006:<\/strong> This issue includes a Cover Story breaking the news that Spike TV is on the verge of officially offering a primetime slot to TNA Impact&#8230; Wade Keller&#8217;s &#8220;This Week&#8221; feature column makes a case for why what&#8217;s good for Brock Lesnar could be bad for wrestlers in the future&#8230; Wade Keller&#8217;s &#8220;End Notes&#8221; editorial also makes a case why Brock Lesnar could change the face of pro wrestling if things go his way this year&#8230; Pat McNeill&#8217;s &#8220;McNeill Factor&#8221; examines the next threat to wrestler safety and health&#8230; James Caldwell&#8217;s &#8220;The Perspective&#8221; column looks at the historical performance of Undertaker in PPV main events and whether he can call himself a PPV draw or a PPV dug when it comes to buyrates&#8230; Bruce Mitchell&#8217;s feature column spoofs a recent wrestling newspaper column and interview with Shawn Michaels regarding his comments on Bret Hart&#8230; Part two of the Torch Talk with Dawn Marie features her fond remembrances of her early ECW days&#8230; WWE Newswire details the exclusive inside story on Shawn Michaels&#8217;s plans to slow down after WrestleMania&#8230; A detailed Royal Rumble report including the Roundtable Reviews, Reader Reax, and Keller&#8217;s star ratings&#8230; Plus TNA Newswire, &#8220;Big Story&#8221; reports on Raw, Smackdown, and TNA Impact, 1996 Backtrack, the Top Five Stories of the Week listing, and more&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/artman2\/members\/uploads\/3\/898TorchNewsletterPDF.pdf\">DIRECT LINK: PWTorchNewsletter #898<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/category\/vipexclusives\/2005-back-issues\/\">LIST OF ALL 2005 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<p>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><\/p>\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-385817533\"><div id=\"pwtor-3300306124\"><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 #898 cover-dated February 4, 2006: This issue includes a Cover Story breaking the news that Spike TV is on the verge of officially offering a primetime slot to TNA Impact&#8230; Wade Keller&#8217;s &#8220;This <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/01\/31\/vip-2005-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-898-february-4-2006-spike-tv-offers-tna-prime-time-slot-dawn-marie-torch-talk-royal-rumble-coverage-mitchell-on-michaels-bret-caldwell-on-und\/\" title=\"VIP 2005 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #898 (February 4, 2006): Spike TV offers TNA prime time slot, Dawn Marie Torch Talk, Royal Rumble Coverage, Mitchell on Michaels-Bret, Caldwell on Undertaker, Michaels Career\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209659,"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-209658","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\/2026\/01\/TorchCover898_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209658","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=209658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209660,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209658\/revisions\/209660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}