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.
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 regular weekly 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.
Controversy
Keller has been accused of unfair anti-WWE bias, and distorting facts to put his personal biases across.
