TORCH TODAY – Tuesday, January 19, 2016

– LIVECAST ALERT: Wade Keller and Jason Powell of Prowrestling.net take your calls at 5:00 EST at PWTorchLivecast.com breaking down Raw and this week’s big wrestling topics.

– This week’s Super Tuesday schedule includes the final WWE Smackdown taping before the Royal Rumble, a TNA Hvt. Title match on Pop TV, the season premiere of Total Divas on E!, and WWE tag champs New Day on ESPNews’s SportsCenter broadcast. (Full Super Tuesday Preview) (We’re looking for a report from the Smackdown taping in Dayton, Ohio sent to [email protected])

– Jim Ross joining AXS TV to call New Japan’s library shows is a big step in the right direction for New Japan trying to get traction in the U.S. market. Ross’s voice attached to any wrestling project instantly adds credibility. It’s why a lot of people ordered the U.S. PPV broadcast of last year’s Tokyo Dome Show to hear Ross call wrestling again. Now, more U.S. viewers will be exposed to the top wrestling product in the world right now as an alternative to WWE’s current product. (Full Details on the Ross/AXS TV deal)

– Deadline reports that Televisa and Sony Pictures TV have ordered a 65-episode series on the Blue Demon lucha libre legend. Production is scheduled to begin in April in Mexico City documenting the legendary wrestler, real-name Alejandro Munoz Moreno, who died in 2000. (Full Report)

– Kurt Angle says he thinks C.M. Punk might only have one UFC fight because Punk’s body is beat up from taking wrestling bumps most of his life. Punk told the AP over the weekend that he’s approaching this as a career move to have more than one fight.

“I wouldn’t say he is a young 37, I think that he’s a beat-up 37, but he has been able to take the year off – that’s going to help,” Angle told Digital Spy. “I just don’t know how good he is. I know he’s training, but I don’t know how good he is as a fighter. He’s a great pro-wrestler, but fighting is a different story.”

– Results from the first two nights of New Japan’s “FantasticaMania” tour with CMLL wrestlers is at PuroresuSpirit.net. Included on Tuesday’s show was outgoing New Japan star Shinsuke Nakamura winning a main event six-man tag match.

– Looking for a travel guide to Orlando for the Royal Rumble? Donald Wood breaks it down at TravelPulse.com.

– There is an open casting call for the “Baywatch” movie, which stars “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson. The open call is scheduled for January 30 in Savannah, Georgia, where the movie is scheduled to be filmed this spring. (Info at WTOC.com)

– The Rock noted that he landed the #1 spot at the international box office for 2015. Rock’s reported revenue was $1.48 billion. Rock sent a message to fans along with the news.

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Only way to start this post is with THANK YOU. WORLD'S #1 INTERNATIONAL BOX OFFICE STAR. I was blessed with this title in 2013 and now again in 2015. $1.48billion is a lot of revenue to generate in our business in only one year, BUT it's also the important reminder that regardless of what we achieve in life, we always gotta keep striving for more, staying hungrier than the rest and being grateful around every corner. This cool global achievement doesn't happen without my amazing family, management, agents, attorneys, publicists, financial management, studio partners, fellow actors, Team Rock and the final two deserving personal shout outs – my dog #HobbsTheBeast and you… THE greatest f*cking fans in the world. Stay hungry and keep working your ass off because one day I want to see the news write a cool report about you and YOUR accomplishments. #LetsGetToWork #ChaseYourGreatness #SevenBucksProductions #1WorldWide #TimeForACheatMeal 👊🏾💯

A post shared by therock (@therock) on Jan 18, 2016 at 8:02pm PST

– The latest edition of wrestling artist Rob Schamberger’s painting series focuses on former NXT Women’s champion Sasha Banks.