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'''Wade Keller''' is a wrestling columnist. He runs the '''Pro Wrestling Torch''' newsletter, widely regarded as one of the most influential newsletters in [[professional wrestling]], along with [[Dave Meltzer]]'s ''Wrestling Observer'' newsletter and [[Bryan Alvarez]]'s ''Figure Four Weekly''. |
'''Wade Jamal Keller''' is a wrestling columnist. He runs the '''Pro Wrestling Torch''' newsletter, widely regarded as one of the most influential newsletters in [[professional wrestling]], along with [[Dave Meltzer]]'s ''Wrestling Observer'' newsletter and [[Bryan Alvarez]]'s ''Figure Four Weekly''. |
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== Addressing recent drop in quality == |
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According to many readers, the Torch has slipped in quality over the past few years due to Wade's inability to fight off the common cold among other things. When questioned on the dip Wade had this to say: |
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''"I completely suck, I'm unreasonable, I have no sources anymore, I'm a jerk who doesn't work hard and overcharges, I'm an ecomonics major who's run a successful business for 20 years who doesn't understand financial analysis of this industry, who doesn't listen to his readers, who doesn't respond to his readers, but when I do respond to readers I'm being passive-aggressive or grandstanding.'' |
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== Partnership with ProWrestling.net == |
== Partnership with ProWrestling.net == |
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Recently Wade has partnered up on a new wrestling site with his friend Jason Powell. Asked to expound on the nature of the partnership with ProWrestling.net Wade said the new site was necessary because, ''"one thing I can't do is report news story after news story day after day, morning, afternoon, and night."'' |
Recently Wade has partnered up on a new wrestling site with his friend Jason Powell. Asked to expound on the nature of the partnership with ProWrestling.net Wade said the new site was necessary because, ''"one thing I can't do is report news story after news story day after day, morning, afternoon, and night."'' |
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== Wade Keller's Assertion of the Week == |
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Recently Wade was recognized for his first-rate wrestling analysis. Proving once again why he is truly the newsleader in the wrestling business. |
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'''Week of 10/21 -''' Suggests WWE may need to rig the Cyber Sunday vote to ensure legendary star and top-shelf worker Shawn Michaels, the company's most consistently over babyface for the past 4 years, does not suffer an embarassing defeat in the polls against perennial mid-carder Jeff Hardy. |
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'''Week of 10/28 -''' Suggests that HHH is the all-around weakest performer in terms of ringwork and promos ever to serve as the centerpiece of WWE since the Wrestlemania era began in the mid-1980s. States that HHH is worse in this regard than the Ultimate Warrior (to support this view, cites the fact that Edge and Christian mentioned on the Ultimate Warrior DVD that they liked Warrior's promos). For an encore, asserts that Diesel was in fact never the centerpiece of the company, despite a babyface world title run lasting over a year. |
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'''Week of 11/4 -''' "As for Cena's denials of steroid usage, the best way for him to silence critics is to agree to subject himself to all state athletic commissions voluntarily, and let any independent entity - including an investigation media entity - to test him randomly at any point for steroids and HGH with zero notice at any WWE event or appearance." |
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'''Week of 11/18 -''' MMA Torch - covering mixed martial arts since 1993. |
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'''Week of 11/25 -''' On the 11/26 Raw, Chris Jericho was ashamed of his own smile - and rightly so, because the smile is holding him back and hurting his drawing power. |
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'''Week of 12/2 -''' The #1 TNA/WWE Dream Match: Awesome Kong vs. Beth Phoenix, the Glamazon. |
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'''Week of 1/27 -''' HHH vs. John Cena is a match that has never been done at Wrestlemania. |
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'''Week of 2/4-''' After winning his courageous "once a year" battle with the common flu this week, Wade was still unable to work for an additional four days due to "internal clock" disruptions caused in part by the ravages of over-the-counter medication. After finally overcoming the demons of Nite-Time Sudafed, Wade sprang back into action with hard-hitting analysis of Brock Lesnar's UFC debut, announcing that Brock "didn't look good" and threw "unmanly" punches against Frank Mir. |
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'''Week of 2/10 -''' The brutal war Wade won two weeks ago against the common flu turns out to be something of a Pyrrhic victory, as internal clock problems resurface and cause him to miss four more audio updates. |
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'''Week of 2/17 -''' Claims that the reason the Mayweather angle hasn't garnered much press attention is because the mainstream sports media types resent the footage of Big Show on his knees with his hands behind his back taking a punch from a real athlete like Mayweather. |
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'''Week of 2/23 -''' Suggests that the answer to regional tobacco-dependant economies in this country is that farmers should switch from tobacco to hemp, "a very durable product". |
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'''Week of 3/3 -''' The WWE fans didn't pop for the unveiling of Maria's Playboy cover because they consider Playboy to be exploitive. |
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'''Week of 3/10 -''' The latest Ring of Honor PPV had to be good because tough and objective critic Sean Radican gave it a 10/10. (Of the 5 PPVs ROH has aired to date, Radican has rated three of them 10 out of 10 and two of them 9 out of 10). |
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'''Week of 3/16 -''' Wade charged into this week guns blazing, but the silver bullet of absurdity was his contention that MMA and Pro Wrestling have the same rules except that MMA fighters can't come off the top rope. That wasn't the only speed bump Wade hit on the road to Wrestlemania, though, as he also announced that hype for the big show was flat due to WWE and its fans pining for the suspended Jeff Hardy; that Beth Phoenix should have been featured in a major Wrestlemania match that ought to have received six months of hype (though he could not be bothered to come up with Beth's opponent for this showcase affair); that Taker vs. Edge should have been booked with a "title vs. Undertaker has to take one year off" stipulation; and finally that John Cena's return to WWE should have been held off until Wrestlemania (where he should nevertheless receive a title shot). So a banner week for Wade. |
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'''Week of 3/23 -''' "Eric Bischoff created the noose that WCW hung itself with by firing Syxx. Any book that's written about the demise of WCW should focus on that. He was the bump taker and the glue that held things together." Also, here's hoping Mr. Fuji didn't listen to the Wrestlemania 7 Audio retrospect, because the shock when Wade informed us that he is dead might have been enough to kill him. |
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'''Week of 3/30 -''' Wade starts fresh. Also, eighteen months ago his tape recorder broke and he just hasn't felt like doing any Torch Talks ever since. For an encore, Wade is sick once a year again this week. |
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'''Week of 4/6 -''' "The Torch is about a lot of things, but one thing I can't do is report news story after news story day after day, morning, afternoon, and night, because my list of duties with the newsletter, audio, running the business, etc. alone takes more than 40 hours a week." |
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'''Week of 4/13 –''' Less than two weeks after this list caused Wade to freak out and totally overhaul his message board, Wade posts a minutely detailed list ridiculing the mistakes committed by ECW announcer Mike Adamle on his debut show. Wade compares Adamle to "that old guy they brought in to do commentary at Wrestlemania several years back." Presumably, Wade was referring to Art Donovan, who, in actuality, did play-by-play at the 1994 King of the Ring. |
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'''Week of 4/27 –''' WWE’s new Hardy Boyz DVD steals the concept of Keller's Ultimate Insiders by devoting one disk to Matt and one to Jeff. During the making of Ultimate Insiders, Wade got “dehydrated from sitting under the lights doing the interviews for 6 hours." By the way, Wade had no business relationship with Big Vision Entertainment. They just “helped each other out.” |
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BONUS: Also this week, Wade expressed great pride in having never watched the film “Goonies.” |
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Revision as of 20:06, 14 May 2008
Wade Jamal Keller is a wrestling columnist. He runs the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter, widely regarded as one of the most influential newsletters in professional wrestling, along with Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer newsletter and Bryan Alvarez's Figure Four Weekly.
Keller founded Pro Wrestling Torch (a/k/a PWTorch, or simply "The Torch") in October 1987, when he was a junior in high school. The newsletter is published weekly from his home office in Minnesota, as well as a website, PWTorch.com, which was launched in 1999. Keller's work includes weekly columns, news reporting and analysis, as well as interviews in both print and audio format. He works closely with wrestlers, promoters, and wrestling fans to gather the information for his features. The professional wrestlers he uses as sources are kept anonymous; as Keller explained in a recent post at the Torch's VIP Forum message board, "Dealing with sources is delicate. The idea that if I get info from one source off-record and then claim I've heard it elsewhere and print it would be dishonest. Sure, they might never know, but once you begin going down that road, you're bound to get caught. I assume whenever I get information off-record that my source is making it up to test whether I'll claim to them that I got it elsewhere. That keeps me honest and makes sure I always get it elsewhere on-record-not-for-attribution rather than off-record and thus confirm it's true. I get a lot of info I don't print because I'm told, 'Don't print this unless you hear it elsewhere.'"
Even with this confidentiality code, one of Keller's yearly features is the Torch Talk, in which he conducts interviews with wrestlers. It is rare, in 2006, for Keller to have access to WWE contracted employees. However, it was not uncommon for Keller to feature interviews with wrestlers under WWE contract. For example, Keller interviewed The Rock in 2000, while he was under WWE contract. Several recent Torch Talks include Kevin Nash, Mick Foley, Sean Waltman, and Molly Holly. Keller is also the host of ”Pro Wrestling's Ultimate Insiders”, a series of interviews with prominent wrestling personalities that are released on DVD. The first edition featured Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, former writers for the WWE and WCW, while the second edition was conducted with Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy. The company that produced the DVDs is currently involved with the new Wrestling Society X promotion, which taped a pilot for MTV on February 10, 2006.
Current Torch staff members, as of August 2006, include Jason Powell, Pat McNeill, Bruce Mitchell, James Caldwell, and Sean Radican.
Nomenclature
Keller was asked, in early 2006, why he chose Torch for the name of his newsletter. His response: "I get asked that a lot, and I really don't remember. I was 16, I had seen another publication called that (non-wrestling related), and liked the symbolism of a torch providing light... ...in the dark corners of the wrestling world. I really don't know, but that sounds as good as anything....The idea of passing a light-source around and the Torch lighting the way and information passing from person to person, generation to generation, all makes Torch a fitting name for a publication."(Written by Keller in a post at the Torch's subscriber-only VIP Forum.)
When asked the significance of TDH Communications, Inc. (which holds the copyright for articles published on the Torch website), Keller jokingly said it stood for Total Discharge Head.
Addressing recent drop in quality
According to many readers, the Torch has slipped in quality over the past few years due to Wade's inability to fight off the common cold among other things. When questioned on the dip Wade had this to say:
"I completely suck, I'm unreasonable, I have no sources anymore, I'm a jerk who doesn't work hard and overcharges, I'm an ecomonics major who's run a successful business for 20 years who doesn't understand financial analysis of this industry, who doesn't listen to his readers, who doesn't respond to his readers, but when I do respond to readers I'm being passive-aggressive or grandstanding.
Partnership with ProWrestling.net
Recently Wade has partnered up on a new wrestling site with his friend Jason Powell. Asked to expound on the nature of the partnership with ProWrestling.net Wade said the new site was necessary because, "one thing I can't do is report news story after news story day after day, morning, afternoon, and night."
Wade Keller's Assertion of the Week
Recently Wade was recognized for his first-rate wrestling analysis. Proving once again why he is truly the newsleader in the wrestling business.
Week of 10/21 - Suggests WWE may need to rig the Cyber Sunday vote to ensure legendary star and top-shelf worker Shawn Michaels, the company's most consistently over babyface for the past 4 years, does not suffer an embarassing defeat in the polls against perennial mid-carder Jeff Hardy.
Week of 10/28 - Suggests that HHH is the all-around weakest performer in terms of ringwork and promos ever to serve as the centerpiece of WWE since the Wrestlemania era began in the mid-1980s. States that HHH is worse in this regard than the Ultimate Warrior (to support this view, cites the fact that Edge and Christian mentioned on the Ultimate Warrior DVD that they liked Warrior's promos). For an encore, asserts that Diesel was in fact never the centerpiece of the company, despite a babyface world title run lasting over a year.
Week of 11/4 - "As for Cena's denials of steroid usage, the best way for him to silence critics is to agree to subject himself to all state athletic commissions voluntarily, and let any independent entity - including an investigation media entity - to test him randomly at any point for steroids and HGH with zero notice at any WWE event or appearance."
Week of 11/18 - MMA Torch - covering mixed martial arts since 1993.
Week of 11/25 - On the 11/26 Raw, Chris Jericho was ashamed of his own smile - and rightly so, because the smile is holding him back and hurting his drawing power.
Week of 12/2 - The #1 TNA/WWE Dream Match: Awesome Kong vs. Beth Phoenix, the Glamazon.
Week of 1/27 - HHH vs. John Cena is a match that has never been done at Wrestlemania.
Week of 2/4- After winning his courageous "once a year" battle with the common flu this week, Wade was still unable to work for an additional four days due to "internal clock" disruptions caused in part by the ravages of over-the-counter medication. After finally overcoming the demons of Nite-Time Sudafed, Wade sprang back into action with hard-hitting analysis of Brock Lesnar's UFC debut, announcing that Brock "didn't look good" and threw "unmanly" punches against Frank Mir.
Week of 2/10 - The brutal war Wade won two weeks ago against the common flu turns out to be something of a Pyrrhic victory, as internal clock problems resurface and cause him to miss four more audio updates.
Week of 2/17 - Claims that the reason the Mayweather angle hasn't garnered much press attention is because the mainstream sports media types resent the footage of Big Show on his knees with his hands behind his back taking a punch from a real athlete like Mayweather.
Week of 2/23 - Suggests that the answer to regional tobacco-dependant economies in this country is that farmers should switch from tobacco to hemp, "a very durable product".
Week of 3/3 - The WWE fans didn't pop for the unveiling of Maria's Playboy cover because they consider Playboy to be exploitive.
Week of 3/10 - The latest Ring of Honor PPV had to be good because tough and objective critic Sean Radican gave it a 10/10. (Of the 5 PPVs ROH has aired to date, Radican has rated three of them 10 out of 10 and two of them 9 out of 10).
Week of 3/16 - Wade charged into this week guns blazing, but the silver bullet of absurdity was his contention that MMA and Pro Wrestling have the same rules except that MMA fighters can't come off the top rope. That wasn't the only speed bump Wade hit on the road to Wrestlemania, though, as he also announced that hype for the big show was flat due to WWE and its fans pining for the suspended Jeff Hardy; that Beth Phoenix should have been featured in a major Wrestlemania match that ought to have received six months of hype (though he could not be bothered to come up with Beth's opponent for this showcase affair); that Taker vs. Edge should have been booked with a "title vs. Undertaker has to take one year off" stipulation; and finally that John Cena's return to WWE should have been held off until Wrestlemania (where he should nevertheless receive a title shot). So a banner week for Wade.
Week of 3/23 - "Eric Bischoff created the noose that WCW hung itself with by firing Syxx. Any book that's written about the demise of WCW should focus on that. He was the bump taker and the glue that held things together." Also, here's hoping Mr. Fuji didn't listen to the Wrestlemania 7 Audio retrospect, because the shock when Wade informed us that he is dead might have been enough to kill him.
Week of 3/30 - Wade starts fresh. Also, eighteen months ago his tape recorder broke and he just hasn't felt like doing any Torch Talks ever since. For an encore, Wade is sick once a year again this week.
Week of 4/6 - "The Torch is about a lot of things, but one thing I can't do is report news story after news story day after day, morning, afternoon, and night, because my list of duties with the newsletter, audio, running the business, etc. alone takes more than 40 hours a week."
Week of 4/13 – Less than two weeks after this list caused Wade to freak out and totally overhaul his message board, Wade posts a minutely detailed list ridiculing the mistakes committed by ECW announcer Mike Adamle on his debut show. Wade compares Adamle to "that old guy they brought in to do commentary at Wrestlemania several years back." Presumably, Wade was referring to Art Donovan, who, in actuality, did play-by-play at the 1994 King of the Ring.
Week of 4/27 – WWE’s new Hardy Boyz DVD steals the concept of Keller's Ultimate Insiders by devoting one disk to Matt and one to Jeff. During the making of Ultimate Insiders, Wade got “dehydrated from sitting under the lights doing the interviews for 6 hours." By the way, Wade had no business relationship with Big Vision Entertainment. They just “helped each other out.”
BONUS: Also this week, Wade expressed great pride in having never watched the film “Goonies.”