This my RED-LINED version of Wade Kellers CYA/misleading and mostly just ridiculous attempt to give him and his site some credibility. Kellers recent post is laced with mis-directions and ill fated attempts to reframe the discussion in a way that keeps him clean.

 The problem, there is a story written on his site by one of his staff that he is attempting to avoid taking responsibity for. Its at the very bottom of this post. Read Wades b.s. and then read Caldwells story that started all this, and when you are done, ask yourself: Is Wade Keller guilty of posting false statments just to get hits? or is he such a bad business man, he allows others to post false stories on his site that he is unaware of (even as he defends them)? I used a red-line format because there were so many contraditions, lies and attempts to reframe the issue that I couldn't think of a better way to keep my response on point.

My notes in red caps: 

Eric Bischoff is attempting to hijack the real story of TNA the last week (and, really, the last year) with these embarrassing and unbecoming digs at various pro wrestling reporters who are critical of his work ACTUALLY, I JUST LIKE POINTING OUT WHEN YOU GUYS GET IT WRONG,.

PWTorch reported two stories about TNA last week: Impact was going on the road (which TNA confirmed the next day) and there had been consideration given to phasing out the X Division.

Other sites misreported that we reported that TNA had decided to drop the X Division.NOT REALLY, BUT NICE TRY. JAMES CALDWELL REPORTED IT ON YOUR SITE ON THURSDAY JAN 13. (SEE ATTACHED) Dixie Carter, Eric Bischoff, and other reporters have since said TNA is not dropping the X Division NO ONE SAID IT IN THE FIRST PLACE WHICH TAKES ME BACK TO JAMES CALDWELL’S FALSE STORY ON JAN 13. Bischoff today continued his apparent campaign to turn our reporting into nothing more than some personal grudge against him I NEVER SUGGESTED IT WAS A PERSONAL ATTACK ON ME. CAN YOU PROVIDE ANY COMMENTARY ON MY SITE WHERE I SUGGESTED IT WAS?  OR IS THIS YOUR WAY OF DODGING THE REAL ISSUE WHICH IS YOUR SITES LACK OF CREDIBILITY, THE FACT YOU PUBLISHED A FALSE STORY AND NOW APPEAR TO BE DENYING IT,  AND THE FACT THAT I CALL YOU ON IT?. It's not, and it won't become that, even with the games he's playing now.

PWTorch stands by our reporting that there was talk internally of phasing out the X Division early this year THAT’S NOT WHAT CALDWELL REPORTED ON YOUR SITE (SEE ATTACHED) AND THAT’S A WEAK AND TRANSPARENT ATTEMPT TO MISLEAD YOUR READERS BY NOT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FALSE STORY. We have more details which we weren't (and aren't) able to report in order to protect our sources UHH YEAH, RIGHT. 

Bischoff is calling us liars because we reported one thing, other media entities re-reported it inaccurately, and then they called us out for being wrong about something we never said I AM CALLING YOU A LIAR BECAUSE YOU ARE ONE.CHECK THE CALDWELL STORY FROM JAN 13 (SEE ATTACHED) ARE YOU DENYING YOUR SITE PUBLISHED IT? IF SO, YOU ARE EITHER THE WORST LIAR IN THE SCUM SITE BUSINESS OR YOU DON’T READ THE STORIES ON YOUR OWN SITE. EITHER WAY, THANKS FOR PROVING MY POINT IN ALL IF THIS . I WILL CONTINUE, JUST BECAUSE ITS LATE AND I AM HAVING A HARD TIME FALLING ASLEEP AND THIS IS ACTUALLY KIND OF FUN! Even if we had reported a decision had been made to drop the X Division, it'd be a mistake, not a lie. Words matter NO KIDDING. AND ALL I SUGGESTED CALDWELL DO TODAY WAS APOLOGIZE FOR THE FALSE REPORT. NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT YOU BEING A LIAR UNTIL YOU STATED ABOVE THAT YOUR SITE NEVER REPORTED THE STORY (SEE ATTACHED). We have made mistakes in our 23 history. We haven't lied. With all due respect to Bischoff, an item about the X Division isn't a make or break story for our readers or our livelihood NO BUT GETTING HITS ON YOUR SITE BY POSTING STORIES YOU KNOW ARE HOT BUTTONS IS HOW YOU MAKE YOUR MONEY-AND THAT’S MY ISSUE WITH YOUR SITE. THE “MISTAKES” YOU MAKE LIKE THIS AFFECT PEOPLES LIVES (THOSE THAT ACTUALLY HAVE JOBS IN THE BUSINESS), AND THE FACT THAT YOU CONSISTANTLY PULL CRAP LIKE THIS JUST TO GET HITS YOU CAN SELL TO YOUR ADVERTISERS MAKES YOU A PARASITE IN MY OPINION. If we were going to make up news, we'd go for something a little more titillating. 

Ten years ago this month we were right in our reporting that the Fusient Media Venture deal to purchase WCW was unravelling and not going to go through, even while Bischoff and other major full time pro wrestling reporters were contending it was a done deal and there was "nothing to our story." We knew before him that his deal to buy WCW was falling apart. I know he's not still sore about that because after reporting on the highs and lows of his career for over 20 years, he granted me a five hour one-on-one "Torch Talk" at the end of 2009 I THOUGHT BY GIVING YOU AND YOUR STAFF ACCESS, AND ALLOWING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONTACT ME DIRECTLY TO CONFIRM OR DENY STORIES, YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY USE A LITTLE JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY-MY BAD. It was only when TNA suffered a humbling and humiliating 2010 ACTUALLY 2O10 WAS ONE OF MY BEST YEARS YET!, with Bischoff among the major players making big moves that flopped, that he began to discredit our reporting.

Bischoff, from multiple accounts, isn't in great standing in TNA at the moment. There are obviously doubters above him and below him in the hierarchy that he has contributed positively to TNA. This latest p.r. stunt is just an embarrassment to TNA and Spike TV. I can't imagine a cable executive I AM NOT A CABLE EXECUTIVE BUT NICE TRY ON THE SPIN. I AM A TELEVISION PRODUCER WHO ALONG WITH MY PARTNER JASON HERVEY HAVE ROCK SOLID REALTIONSHIPS WITH ALL OF THE MAJOR CABLE COMPANIES AND A MINIMUM OF 6 SHOWS IN PRODUCTION THIS YEAR. 2011 IS GOING TO ROCK!. spouting off like Bischoff has and ranting against commentators without ramifications. (He can just tell anyone who tells him to calm down that he's "just in character" and "they're all marks," not realizing we're not characters on his TV show and he's out of character when he talks about us.)

Bischoff said James Caldwell should "apologize" to his readers for "spreading false information" or "admit that their 'news' is nothing more than marks speculating." We won't, because it's not true.

What is true is that in 2010, TNA ratings were lower than in 2009 despite the added star power of Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Eric Bischoff himself, and other additions.

What is true is that last week, TNA popped a big rating at the start of Impact with a 1.41. Then, as was the case after their live Monday show last January, their foray into Mondays starting in March, and right after they popped a rating following Bound for Glory, the ratings tanked. They drove off viewers by the tens of thousands - make that hundreds of thousands.

1.41 
1.31 
1.28 
1.23 
1.29 
1.25 
1.07 
1.16

That type of quarter hour ratings trend is just not seen in the television industry often - at least not with shows that avoid cancelation without heads rolling. It's a repudiation of what TNA offered viewers that they lost that many over the course of the show rather than building toward the first teaming of Matt & Jeff Hardy in years as their main event.

What's also true is if I were TNA or Spike TV, I would be embarrassed by having an executive writing this on Twitter regarding established members of the media in the industry he resides. Bischoff on Jan. 13 on Twitter: "Wade Keller can be the mayor of the Village of Idiots, and when Dave Sherer finds his penis under 50 pounds of fat he can be Barney Fife!"

Not that Scherer needs me to defend him, but Bischoff's problem with his report is that he said Impact would be live in Fayetteville, N.C. on Feb. 24. Scherer, it seems to me given what I've heard about this, at worst made a totally logical honest assumption that was wrong. TNA is running an Impact on a Thursday night in a new town. They never tape on Thursdays. If he assumed it was live, but in fact they're actually taping the follow week's Impact head-to-head with a pre-taped Impact airing on Spike, that's an honest mistake. It's hard to blame anyone for thinking TNA wouldn't do that and if an Impact is taking place on a Thursday, it'd be live.

As much as Bischoff wants this to be personal - and he'll apparently go to almost any length to make our commentary on TNA's shortcomings into some sort of personal grudge - it's not personal. Well, maybe to Eric it is. But to us, Eric is one of hundreds of people we cover every week, one of dozens of executives over the years who have a mix of success and failures that we've written about. And we've always attempted to cover them fairly and accurately. TNA in the last 13 months has repeated so many of the mistakes that WCW made in its final years it makes me want to scream sometimes - and that frustration is reflected in my commentary NO, YOUR FRUSTRATION IS BECAUSE YOU NEVER GOT A JOB IN THE WRESTLING BUSINESS REGARDLESS OF HOW HARD YOU AUDITION EVERYDAY. But let's not confuse "personal grudge" with "dumbfounded frustration.LET ME HELP YOU WITH THIS: ACCORDING TO MY THESARAUS “DUMBFOUNDED IS: ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: blend of dumb and confound. DUMB IS PRETTY STRAIGHT FORWARD, BUT CONFOUNDED IS A LITTLE MORE COMPLEX:2 (often be confounded with) mix up (something) with something else so that the individual elements become difficult to distinguish. THERE YOU HAVE IT, YOU ARE DUMBFOUNDED AS A RESULT OF BEING DUMB AND CONFOUNDED BY THINGS YOU MIX UP AND THEN CANT DISTINGUISH, I'm sad for the public display Eric has put on in an attempt to distract from the facts of what's gone wrong with TNA the last 13 months. I'm not mad, though. I learned that getting mad at executives who lash out at you for commenting on their failures is a waste of energy dating back to WCW's first V.P., Jim Herd, back around 1990.

(And based on the reader feedback on Bischoff's own Facebook page where he posted about our reporting, there's a lot more frustration with TNA's product than our reporting at this point.) HERE’S THE STORY FROM YOUR OWN SITE. CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR YOU EXPLAIN HOW SOMEONE ELSE REPORTED THIS AND BLAMED YOU FOR IT: