11/8 WWE in Nottingham, U.K.: Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk casket match, Rey vs. Batista vs. Matt Hardy

11/6 WWE in Brussels: Undertaker vs. Punk casket match, Christian vs. William Regal, Cryme Tyme vs. Hart Dynasty, of course

Overall, it was fun three-hour show. No Jericho (who was in Phoenix promoting WrestleMania 26 tickets), Batista, and Kane, but I was glad Taker and Rey were there. There was no match above the three-star level, as the wrestlers didn't take too many risks. However, it was nice to see the WWE sta...

11/7 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: Mysterio vs. Knox, Punk vs. Truth, Batista vs. Hardy

I'm not a huge fan at this point of Undertaker's gimmick. It seems played out, and reminding the audience that he has been around for as long as he has (19 years!) with basically the same gimmick for the most part (other that a few years as the biker American badass character) doesn't help. Howe...

WWE SUPERSTARS ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 11/5: Caldwell, Donofrio, Parks rate and review

Not a particularly memorable episode of Superstars, notably due to the involvement of Paul Burchill and Tyler Reks, but Chris Jericho and Finlay had an excellent match for Superstars to boost this to a thumbs up one-hour offering.

PARKS BLOG: Chris Jericho should know better

Chris Jericho is a smart guy. Just read his book, for example, and you'll know that he is one of the more educated pro wrestlers out there. He's done well representing the business in mainstream interviews and has brought that into his wrestling career, debuting a number of words on WWE TV tha...

PWTorch Newsletter #1115_16 (31 pages!): Hogan-Bischoff-TNA Deal Covered In-Depth - Keller, McNeill, and Powell, plus six pages of Eric Bischoff Torch Talk, and much more

This issue opens with Wade Keller's expanded "Cover Story" on the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff partnership with TNA. Keller's "BBL" editorial presents a scenario for how to best utilize Hogan. "Page 2 Buzz" with Jason Powell features his insight into the Hogan-Bischoff-TNA situation, p...

WWE News: What's on WWE Smackdown tonight - Batista vs. Matt Hardy, Punk faces the Truth

Tonight's edition of WWE Smackdown on MyNetworkTV will feature Batista vs. Matt Hardy after Batista was scripted to attack Hardy on last week's edition of the show. ...

WWE News: What's on WWE Superstars tonight - Chris Jericho vs. Finlay, Santino hi-jinks

Tonight's edition of WWE Superstars on WGN will feature Unified tag champion Chris Jericho vs. Finlay in a singles match. ...

TNA News: Rob Van Dam in-depth interview - says he's considering joining TNA

Former WWE and ECW champion Rob Van Dam says he's considering joining TNA after Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff signed up with TNA to help build the company's visibility. RVD isn't sure Hogan should be booking storylines or making matches, however. ...

WWE News: Chris Jericho captured on camera using offensive slur at public Q&A (w/VIDEO)

TMZ published a video of WWE wrestler Chris Jericho using an offensive slur at a Q&A session a few weeks ago when he was promoting the "Albino Farm" horror movie flick. ...

11/3 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Goldust vs. Regal, Ryder's POV, Burchill - Hurricane

After WWE put on a mostly bad week of tv last week, this week got off to a good start with a good Raw. ECW followed nicely, starting with the opening of the show. It was simple but effective follow up on what happened at the end of last week's show. Christian was good in being more serious in his chall...

WWE News: GLAAD responds to Chris Jericho's non-apology for using "anti-gay" slur

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) spoke out against WWE wrestler Chris Jericho today for his non-apology responding to being caught on camera using an offensive slur during a recent Q&A session. The video was circulated by TMZ, who spoke with GLAAD's presid...

11/4 WWE in Dublin, Ireland: John Cena vs. Jack Swagger WWE Title match, DX vs. Legacy, Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston

Seeing all the wrestlers in the opening battle royal (with the exception of DX and Cena) seemed to dampen the reaction some of them received later on when they came out for their one-on-one matches. Some of the lesser names were greeted with reactions, which suggested that seeing them once...

11/4 Wade Keller Hotline - The News: Latest on Hogan/Bischoff-TNA, plus ECW's dropping ratings, Ross comments on WWE from a distance (19 min.)

This installment of the Wade Keller Hotline features a look at the latest news including the dropping ECW ratings, Jim Ross's comments on watching WWE TV from a distance, and the latest on the Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff-TNA situation, where there remain more questions than answers...

WWE News: Jim Ross blogs on DX and need for "new TV content," WWE's video game company reports earnings, WWE to report earnings tomorrow

WWE announcer Jim Ross posted two new blogs on his website scouting WWE TV from home while he waits out his recovery from a Bell's Palsy attack two weeks ago. Ross wrote about the need for "new content" on WWE TV and young wrestlers needing to understand how to present their characters. ...

SPECIAL AUDIO: Flashback to Bischoff-led Fusient Media Ventures buyout of WCW press conference - early 2001 (43 min.)

The following is a special audio presentation of the early 2001 press conference announcing the sale of WCW by AOL/Time-Warner to Fusient Media Ventura, a group led by former WCW President Eric Bischoff. This 40 minute press conference features a fascinating glimpse into a moment in tim...

TORCH TALK AUDIO with Eric Bischoff, pt. 4B: Plans if Fusient bought WCW, would he have announced in WWE, claims Vince McMahon's creativity is vastly overrated, more (25 min.)

The following is part four of the exclusive five-hour "Torch Talk" with former WCW President Eric Bischoff, who took it to WWE in the late-'90s during the Monday Night War. He later became an on-air WWE G.M. This is the second part of the fourth installment of the transcript running in the Pro W...

PWG News: Former WWE wrestler, TNA tag team, ROH World champion scheduled for PWG's "Battle of Los Angeles" tournament

PWG has not announced the first round match-ups in the tournament yet. The winner of the tournament will be the new PWG World champion after Bryan Danielson was booked to vacate the title on his final PWG show in September. ...

WWE News: Batista scheduled to present award at MTV Europe Awards Show

WWE wrestler Batista will be visible at the MTV Europe Award show in Berlin, Germany on Thursday night. Batista is scheduled to present the Best Song Award ...

Other News: Mick Foley and Colt Cabana joined by former WWE manager on comedy tour this week

Former WWE manager/agent "Brother Love" Bruce Pritchard will be joining TNA wrestler Mick Foley and ROH wrestler Colt Cabana on their stand-up comedy tour this week in the Boston area. ...

WWE News: SPOILERS - Smackdown TV taping report for Friday night's show

World Hvt. champion The Undertaker and Chris Jericho had a confrontation to promote their Survivor Series PPV title match also involving Big Show. ...

TORCH TALK AUDIO with Eric Bischoff, pt. 4A: Four big controversies discussed in depth - Bret Hart's treatment by WCW, rushed Hogan vs. Goldberg match, Syxx firing leading to WWE jump, deaths of many WCW wrestlers (30 min.)

The following is part four of the exclusive five-hour "Torch Talk" with former WCW President Eric Bischoff, who took it to WWE in the late-'90s during the Monday Night War. He later became an on-air WWE G.M. This fourth installment, recorded Sept. 14, picks up in the midst of a discussion about...

WWE News: ECW TV Notes - ECW Title match booked for next week, Former TNA wrestler debuts

WWE booked an ECW Title match for next week's show from the United Kingdom with ECW champion Christian vs. William Regal in Regal's home country. ...

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 11/2: Caldwell, McKinley, Parks rate and review

The new Raw theme song will be a old Sunny & Cher song apparently, considering it's now a variety show. Most of Raw was filled with stupid humor, but I like me some stupid humor.

CALDWELL'S ECW TV REPORT 11/3: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of the rest of ECW tonight

After Zack Ryder's odd segment with Rosa Mendes, WWE returned from commercial with Rosa Mendes in-ring announcing the following match. Well, before that, she cut a promo about how excited and nervous she is about guest-announcing ECW. She told us she's kinda amazing. A production assista...

WWE News: ECW TV preview - Christian & Yoshi vs. Kozlov & Jackson, LLP

Tonight's edition of ECW TV on Syfy will feature ECW champion Christian and Yoshi Tatsu vs. William Regal's group of hired henchmen, Ezekiel Jackson and Kozlov. ...

WWE News: USA Network announces victory over ESPN last week thanks to WWE Raw

USA averaged 3.47 million viewers in prime time compared to 3.09 million viewers for ESPN. USA included WWE Raw's strong showing with 5.59 million viewers in their press release explaining how the victory was won. ...

WWE News: Edge interview - will he be back for WrestleMania?, reviews the Jericho & Big Show tag team

WWE wrestler Edge says he's progressing toward a full recovery from his severe ankle injury this summer, but he's not sure if he will be able to return in time for WrestleMania 26 in March. ...

11/2 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Miz vs. Bourne, Raw's Got Talent, Kofi - Orton, Cena vs. Jericho vs Show

Last week was a poor week for WWE tv on the whole. Raw was bad with the exception of the Kofi Kingston - Randy Orton feud. ECW had a great main event, but the rest of the show was poor. Superstars was solid as usual. But, Smackdown was also bad. It was good to see Raw start the week off on a better note. It wa...

WWE Raw Reax #2: "The major flaw of this show was the real lack of hype for Survivor Series"

The Michaels-Cena-Triple H build has been a living nightmare to watch. What's driving this story isn't the title, but a little person. This is the same person who is co-dependently obsessed with Chavo Guerrero. What was the point of turning the "even with odds the odds are even" title-at-st...

WWE News: ECW main event announced for Tuesday's ECW TV show

WWE announced ECW champion Christian & Yoshi Tatsu vs. Ezekiel Jackson & Kozlov for the ECW TV main event on Tuesday night's show airing on Syfy. ...

WWE News: Summary of the news, notes, happenings from Monday's Raw

No new matches were announced for the Survivor Series PPV on November 22. The card remains WWE champion John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H and World Hvt. champion The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho vs. Big Show. ...

WWE Raw Results 11/2: KELLER'S rundown of all matches and segments, plus analysis, star ratings, quotebook

I don't play close attention every week, but the opening WWE montage with clips dating back to Bruno Sammartino and Pat Patterson now features John Morrison among the all-time contemporary stars such as Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, and John Cena. Hulk Hogan and Mick Fole...

PARKS' WWE RAW REPORT 11/2: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of the Osbourne-hosted show

Straight to the arena they went, where Justin Roberts introduced “The Prince of Darkness,” Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon. They were in the ring as “Crazy Train” played. They had a single spotlight in the ring and King’s chair.

WWE News: WWE Week begins tonight on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" with The Miz, Big Show, Divas

WWE wrestlers and divas will be featured on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" this week in syndication and on MyNetworkTV's "Deal or No Deal" on Tuesday. ...

WWE News: WWE considering new movie featuring The Undertaker character

WWE is considering a movie based around the origins of The Undertaker character, reports PWInsider.com. The movie would reportedly be filmed in an Old Western setting similar to a Clint Eastwood or John Wayne movie. ...

10/30 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: Grisham & Striker, Mysterio - Batista, Kane vs. Jericho

I hated last week's episode of Smackdown. I didn't like this week's either, but at least the re-teaming of Todd Grisham and Matt Striker was a Hit when last week there were none. I loved these guys as the ECW commentators and was upset when WWE broke up the team to move Grisham to Smackdown to wor...

WWE News: Smackdown wrestler says he's healed from the Swine Flu

WWE Smackdown wrestler Shad Gaspard said today he has "officially recovered" from the Swine Flu. Shad made the post on his Twitter page. ...

WWE News: Jim Ross critically evaluates young talent on the WWE roster, critiques Jack Swagger (must-read interview)

WWE announcer and former VP of talent relations Jim Ross took a critical look at young talent on the WWE roster needing to work hard whether they're on a flagship show or WWE Superstars in an interview published this week. He said young wrestlers will prove whether they are capable of being i...

ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - WWE Smackdown: WWE Gives Into Matt Hardy's Demands to Showcase Acting Ability, Scott Armstrong's a Hulkamaniac, Rey and Big Dave Have a Moment

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 10/26: Caldwell, Mezzera, Parks rate and review

The show gets a relatively strong thumbs up based on the "hope for the future" factor with strong involvement from Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, The Miz, Jack Swagger, and Legacy.

10/28 VIP East Coast Audio - ECW: Solid show, WWE fails at explaining Sheamus leaving for Raw, Christian-Yoshi title match analysis (45 min.)

VIP-exclusive East Coast Audio review of 10/27 ECW TV: ECW followed up a solid show last week with another good output. GM Tiffany asserted her position when denying William Regal's bid for an ECW title shot, and then made herself look quite the fool when discussing Sheamus's departure fr...

WWE News: SPOILERS - Smackdown/ECW TV taping results from tonight's live taping (Refresh Often)

Byron Sexton was called up from FCW to handle the announcing duties in place of Matt Striker for tonight's show. ...

WWE RAW 10/19: "Place your Bets" Scoreboard after Week 9 - Review last week's scores before tonight's Raw PYB contest

Caldwell's Analysis: An exciting week of Place Your Bets last week. So many players came tantalizingly close to 3-point plays. Almost everyone picked Melina for (2), but many folks picked Cena instead of Hunter in (1). Good week of scoring this week. ...

Opinion: 10/10 VIP East Coast Audio - Smackdown: Undertaker promo analysis, Jericho loses twice, WWE axes Dolph-Maria (55 min.)

VIP-exclusive East Coast Audio review of 10/9 Smackdown: Smackdown was a slightly above average show. They have an intriguing underlying storyline going with Teddy, Vince, and Undertaker that is worth paying attention too. With the placement of the Raw Rebound, Jericho essentially lo...

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 10/2: Gall, McKinley, Parks rate and review

The promise of Cena leaving Raw was the best thing Monday’s show produced, as it may as well have been called “My Three Sons” this year.

Absurdity HITC PPV Review: John and Randy Do Their Performance Art, Triple H Takes A Snooze During The Main Event, And The Ninja Turtles Killed The Original HITC Concept

After tonight, one wonders what the layout for the next WWE Hell in the Cell DVD will look like. After all, their recent HITC collection promptly features bleeding wrestlers and deals with themes of hell, torture and barbaric human nature. Their next one will probably feature theatre geek...

10/2 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: The Party, Batista vs. Kane, The Rock, 8 Man Tag

This was a hard show to analyze as there was so much going on and so many good and bad moments, sometimes even in the same segment. But, I will start by saying that WWE did a great job of giving this show a big time special feel. From the opening montage, to the new opening video and song, to having Ji...

WWE PPV ROUNDTABLE 10 YRS AGO: Keller and Powell review WWE Unforgiven 1999 including haircut critiques, called spot cover-up

During the X-Pac vs. Jericho match, the camera focused on X-Pac as he called a spot to Jericho. No audio was picked up. Ross said X-Pac was "talking trash" to Jericho. Why bother with the cover-up anymore? Why not just say, "Oh, fans, that is an example of a wrestler calling a spot." If it's okay for...

Opinion: WWE News: SPOILERS - Second Smackdown TV taping report on Punk vs. Undertaker dark match, Punk's promo work

I was at the ECW/Smackdown TV taping in Hamilton last night. In addition to Devin Cutting's Smackdown review, after the show ended and Jim Ross departed, many of the fans left. Shortly afterward, a dark match was announced. ...

4/14 WWE ECW Hits & Misses: Morrison vs. Bourne, Tiffany - Swagger ...

WWE "ECW on SciFi" Hitlist: Christian vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Finlay ... ProWrestling.net Spoilers* ECW on Sci-Fi Tapings Results for April 14th, 2009 Impact Wrestling News LOOKING AT A 'BOURNE AND MORRISON REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON ... Pro Wrestling Insider

Opinion: CALDWELL: Summary of 3/23 WWE Raw - Orton stalks Stephanie, PG ...

I don't know how WWE convinced the TV ratings folks to grab a PG rating, but one review of this show would change that in a second. -- There were no additions to the Hall of Fame class. The final inductee will be announced on ECW TV tomorrow night. ...

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 2/23: Caldwell, Mitchell, Hoops, Mayer, Parks rate and review

This was pretty standard stuff. Shawn Michaels beat JBL, and who wants to see him against Bad Vlad Kozlov? Chris Jericho pulled another Roddy Piper-like memorable moment out of Ricky Steamboat, but there wasn't much to his Mickey Rourke rant.

PWTorch Newsletter Double-Issue (31 Pages!): Jericho, Christian, Best Managers, Diva-Playboy News, TNA PPV Roundtable, Starrcade DVD Review, WWE Reality TV, Worst Week Ever?, Ask the Editor, more (NEW: Buy this issue now online!)

This issue opens with a cover story on the Chris Jericho fan scuffle... Wade Keller's "Ask the Torch" column addresses Christian's return to ECW and a few other reader questions... Pages 2 and 3 feature a double-dose of Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" column packed with insider exclusive news... From...

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 2/9: Caldwell, Parks, Stevens rate and review

WWE wasn't going to be able to cover for the lack of legit hype for the Elimination Chamber match in one week, so they did the best they could with the six-man tag match showing John Cena in jeopardy to hopefully translate to Cena in jeopardy defending the World Title at No Way Out.

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 12/29: Caldwell, Keller, Mitchell, Parks rate and review

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 12/22: Caldwell, Mitchell, Parks rate and review

Chris Jericho vs. C.M. Punk carried the in-ring portion of the show, while Trish Stratus's one-off return was a memorable moment to make this a strong "thumbs up" show. WWE was also effective in continuing to bridge the gap to Royal Rumble with a few extra weeks in-between PPVs.

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE REVIEWS 12/15: Caldwell, Mitchell, Parks rate and review

Good show coming off Armageddon. They effectively advanced storylines and tied together some loose ends in a credible fashion before setting the stage for the next two weeks of TV to determine the next contender to John Cena. The main event was heavy on Randy Orton, which was perfectly fine...

WWE NO MERCY ROUNDTABLE 5 YEARS AGO (10-19-03): Keller, Mitchell, McNeill, Powell rate and review PPV event

Nice of Mr. McMahon to use his 58 year body as a living tribute to the late Michael Hegstrand... It’s a shame that Vince’s Wedding Present hype overshadowed what turned out to be a solid effort from everyone on the roster. All eyes were on John Cena, who came through with the best match of the night w...

McNEILL At The Bar For WWE Unforgiven 2008

 - We have a pantsuit alert as Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero and Big Show trick Undertaker into an ambush and leave him laying. ...

WWE Raw Reax #2: "This was my first time seeing this Evan character. Wow! I do like the high flying."

First off, I was surprised to see two tag matches last for than five minutes on TV. The six man tag with Manu, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes vs. Cryme Time was very well done. I like that they are giving team "priceless" a lot of TV time. With Randy Orton playing some mind games makes all this interact...

CALDWELL'S WWE RAW REPORT 9/1: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of ...

WWE High on Ron Killings, NFL Players at RAW, More Notes Impact Wrestling News KELLER'S WWE RAW REPORT 9/1: Final hype for Unforgiven, Jericho ... Pro Wrestling Torch 8/31 WWE in St. Louis, Mo.: Full Raw and Smackdown taping results ... Pro Wrestling Torch

Podcast: C&R Audio Update 8/17: Caldwell and Roe discuss Smackdown and preview Summerslam (5 min. clip)

In a 5-minute sample of the latest 45-minute installment of the C&R Audio Extravaganza, James Caldwell and Mike Roe discuss the Aug. 15 Smackdown in-depth and preview the hottest blockbuster of the summer. Considering Caldwell finally watched Smackdown for the first time in a month...

Opinion: WWE Raw Reax #3: "I only tune into Raw about once or month or so, and this is the same show I saw last time."

So much for all the talk of Smackdown being the new "A" show. I wasn't around for the Attitude Era, so this may not be saying much, but this was easily the best television show I've ever seen. The first twenty-five minutes were just perfect, and the show kept moving at such a quick pace. I was impre...

Opinion: 6/27 WWE Smackdown Hits & Misses: Triple H - Edge, MVP, Hardy vs. Edge, End of the Show

This was by far the best match of the night, probably the best match on WWE television this week. It had some very good action. It surprised me a bit how much offense Matt Hardy got in on Edge, but it was a nice surprise given how little offense he has been getting in his matches lately, even when he...

Smackdown Storylines and Feuds - Complete review and analysis of the show

Who would have thought that after One Night Stand—after everything was said and done—that Edge would once again be holding the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown while The Undertaker suffers (or enjoys) an indefinite leave from WWE? The stipulation of the title match on Sund...

WWE RAW ROUNDTABLE FLASHBACK (5 Yrs. Ago): Keller, Powell, McNeilll, Mitchell rate and review episode

DVD REVIEW: "The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling"

In the WWE-produced “Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling,” we’re given the idea that the Texas-based wrestling promotion was responsible for a bit of good wrestling action, some innovative TV production ideas, and, most of all, some of the most heartbreaking st...