Wade Keller (born May 22, 1971) is an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

journalist who runs the ''Pro Wrestling Torch'' newsletter. Keller has hosted ''The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast'' on

PodcastOne LiveOne (formerly known as LiveXLive) is a Los Angeles-based streaming platform that provides livestreams of concerts and festivals, curated radio stations, podcasts, and original artist video and audio content. History LiveXLive LiveXLive was ...

since 2017.

''Pro Wrestling Torch''

Keller founded ''Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter'' (aka ''PWTorch'', or simply ''The Torch'') in October 1987, when he was a junior in high school. The newsletter is published weekly from his

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

home, with the content also published to an accompanying website 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 ''Pro Wrestling Torch Livecast'' was broadcast via

BlogTalkRadio BlogTalkRadio was a web-based platform that allowed podcasters and radio sites and talk show hosts to create live and on-demand talk format content for distribution on the web and podcast distribution channels. It offered a web-based 'studio' tha ...

until 2017. One of the first Keller's yearly features is the ''Torch Talk'', in which he conducts interviews with wrestlers. 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 DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. The first edition featured

Vince Russo Vincent James Russo (born January 24, 1961) is an American professional wrestling writer, booker and pundit. He is notable for his tenures with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop ...

and

Ed Ferrara Edward Ferrara (born November 22, 1966) is an American retired professional wrestler, writer and agent for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), often co-working alongside Vince Russo. He is most ...

, former writers for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

and WCW, while the second edition was conducted with

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...

and And or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar and computing * Conjunction, connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a Boolean oper ...

Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he a former List of TNA World Tag Team Champions, three time TNA Wor ...

. Another was conducted with ECW and

XPW Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion owned by Rob Zicari and operated by Extreme Gifts. The promotion is known for its deathmatch style. From 2000 to 2002, XPW held an annual death match tourna ...

wrestler

New Jack Jerome Young (January 3, 1963 – May 14, 2021) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name New Jack. He was best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingn ...

''MMA Torch''

Wade Keller also created and oversees ''MMA Torch'', a website devoted to the world of

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

(MMA). The site has been around since the early 2000s and was one of the first sites to ever devote coverage to the world of MMA. He has interviewed

Dana White Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who is the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at . Out ...

, original

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

matchmaker

Art Davie Art Davie (born April 5, 1947) is a business executive and entrepreneur formerly active in Southern California advertising circles. In 1993, he created and co-produced the tournament which became the televised Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 19 ...

and UFC announcer

Mike Goldberg Mike Goldberg (born November 24, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, play-by-play commentator currently working with BYB Extreme Fighting Series and ProBox TV, both alongside color commentator Paulie Malignaggi. He is mainly known for his ...

. Before the ''MMA Torch'' website was launched, Keller's MMA coverage was included in the pages of the ''Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter'', including coverage of the first UFC pay-per-view. The site provides news, interviews, analysis and opinions as well as a message board feature.

Personal life

Keller is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. He and longtime partner Cory have a son named Bowie. Keller is also a lifelong practitioner of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

Awards and accomplishments

* George Tragos/Lou Thesz International Wrestling Institute ** Jim Melby Award (2015)

References

External links

Official website

Pro Wrestling Torch

The Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast
at

PWTorch Livecast
at