I be illin'

For those of who may have noticed the lack of activity here on this blog lately (or maybe you haven't?), I've been battling what, for me at least, has been a serious little illness. After four days of sitting at home, missing work, I went into a doctor yesterday and it was diagnosed as a viral infection and strep throat. Ugh!

So anyways, there won't be an ITR or "Complete and Utter Bulldog" show this week, primarily because I can barely stand straight and talk, although I did manage to send in a "Breaking News" bit before this all hit.

Hopefully, everything will be back to normal next week, and if not, I'll be dead.

Video Of The Week

Jake "The Snake" Roberts, in his best promo ever!

EVER!!!

Latest "Breaking News"

Kanyon Develops New Kennedy Assassination Theory

Latest ITR

Broadway Bound

Admit it: Vince McMahon is capable of taking his act to Broadway, and you know it. A failed bodybuilding federation, a failed football league, and two underperforming motion pictures speak towards a man whose one great success in life has emboldened him to suck at countless other unrelated ventures! So once you accept the premise, it's only natural to ponder the possible result. The Canadian Bulldog actually has the inside track on a few of the first forthcoming efforts from WWE's Musical Theatre Division. He's Broadway Bound (but NOT For Glory), and has a bunch of other neat stuff too (including getting to the bottom of the Regal Penis Incident from No Mercy), in the latest Inside the Ropes.

Other wrestling things I've bought recently.....

Even though I haven't posted these to the ol' BullBLOG in a while, doesn't mean I haven't been making WWE rich lately. In addition to the (admittedly pirated) Bash DVD, here's what I've bought in the last month or so:

-- Controversy Creates Cash by Eric Bischoff. Looking VERY forward to reading this one, even if Bisch has to take it easy on Vinnie Mac. I've always respected this guy's wrestling mind, and I'm sure he'll have some good answers for his many critics.

-- Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon. I've seen the biography portion, and it's another bang-up job by WWE. I still have yet to see many of the matches, but I'd seen some of them previously and know they'll be a fun watch.

-- WrestleMania 22. I don't know WHY I bought this, other than I have all the other mania DVD's going back to WM2000 (I haven't bothered with the repackaged ones yet; they're still far too expensive). Sure, there were some decent matches that I'll want to watch again, but damn, I still haven't watched WM 20 and 21, and I bought those right around their release dates.

-- History of the WWE Championship. Okay, this one was a birthday gift, otherwise I would've been way past my DVD budget this month. Again, I haven't watched the whole way through. It's an interesting concept (and I HAVE been waiting a while to get a DVD copy of Hogan - Bundy from WM2) but there are so many missed storylines and skipped history that it's not worth the effort. Great matches from what I've seen/remembered, but the presentation is a little lacking.

-- The Marine. I wish I could say SOMETHING nice about this film, but... really, I went to see because John Cena was in it. There weren't any redeeming values. It didn't even fit into the rare category of "so bad it's good," which would have been fine.

Okay, one funny story about The Marine: My brother and I walked into the theater on Sunday night and there was only one other person there at the time, a woman who looked to be in her mid-40's. She called over to us "Wrestling fans, huh?" We owned up and we had a nice little conversation for the 15 minutes or so before the film started (maybe three or four others came in). She explained to us that she was being "dragged" to this film, by her son. Only... um, her son never showed up. She just sat there the whole time by herself. It was weird.

Great American Bash '89! YESSSS!

So I've been searching for a copy of this event, literally for years, and thankfully, The Big Rybowski downloaded one for me this week. I had seen it originally a week or two after the original show aired (via "Hollywood" Stu Stone, for those keeping score at home), and it is still one of my favorite pay-per-views in wrestling history.

Why? It's hard to explain. There was just so much.... promise there in WCW (at the time, NWA) and this was the event that showcased it. There was Sting and Great Muta in possibly one of the most evenly-matched pairings of that era. There was Rick Steamboat and Lex Luger, who BOTH played their parts to perfection in their grudge match. There was Brian Pillman, essentially at the starting of his career, showing us high-flying moves that weren't the norm back then. And of course, there was the main event between Ric Flair and Terry Funk, which I remember as being THE SHIT at the time. I haven't watched that match again yet, but I'm quite certain it will hold up the test of time.

For every bone-headed, ridiculous show that WCW gave us over the years... this is the one that I can still look at and say "You guys did THIS ONE right." I would hold it up against practically any WWE or ECW show and it would put up a good fight.

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Latest ITR

(And, just as a sidenote, the previous post here was # 666 on this blog. Had I only timed that to happen today -- Friday the 13th -- I would have truly been AWESOME!)

Since the first wrestling videogame hit arcades, computers, and consoles about 20 years ago, there have been both stand-outs and some duds. Canadian Bulldog is here to count down the Ten Best Wrestling Games (That He Could Find TOTALLY GENUINE Screenshots Of).

Inside The Ropes

Phone/Palm/Etc. Update

So in response to my blog entry from last week, this is what I (think) I've decided to do.

(1) I am going to go with Virgin Mobile for my phone service as soon as the Telus contract expires in December. It's a couple dollars more per month, but I'm not under any contract, ever. But I like the idea of giving my business to someone else. Now, they don't seem to have Palm-style phones, but that's cool. It's a small investment in order to give a nice F-U to Telus for their lack of loyalty to me.

(2) I'm going to buy a separate Palm, possibly used. A friend pointed out to me that having a Palm phone isn't always the wisest idea, because you're screwed if you lose the device. And, uh.... I've lost my phone enough times over the past year to put that theory to work.

(3) I already purchased a cheapie MP3 player over the weekend. For $40, it ain't bad -- I've already got 100 songs, plus it has a slot for an SD memory card, so I can add another 100 or so whenever the need strikes me. I've already tested it out at the gym twice (no skipping like my CD player does, even with its "anti-skip technology"), so it's a nice little toy.

In conclusion, yes, I'm paying way more for something I could probably buy all in one device, but this seems to make sense to me....

The greatest contest since "Roll Up The Rim To Win"

Announcing the "Guess the True Wrestling Story" contest over on World Wrestling Insanity. Win yourself a brand-new SUV, and lose weight while doing it*! Check out all the details in The True Wrestling Story of Sting.


* - not at all true.

Phone/Palm Woes

(Wow, a blog that's not plugging something for a change.....)

So I am looking to buy three electronic gadgets in the next little while. In order of importance:

(A) A new Palm or PDA (mine broke a while ago) and I need it to keep track of everything.

(B) A new cellphone (My contract with Telus expires in December)

(C) Some sort of MP3 player (though probably not an iPod, just because of price. And in truth, it's more a "want" than a "need" right now).

So I got to thinking about this and looked at devices that do all three. They seem to be too expensive. Then I started looking for ones that are phones/PDAs and found some options that are more reasonable.

As though they were reading my mind, someone from Telus called me on Sunday night, and reminded me of my contract coming up for renewal. They also suggested I'd get a discount on the phone upgrade because of my "loyalty" to the company since 2001.

I go to a Telus store, find a model I like that's priced at about $150 (provided I renew the contract for three more years). I asked for my discount on that phone and it was.... $150 under a three year contract. The hell?

The next day, I called up the company, told them I was confused because I was told I was getting a discount. They explained to me that they would offer me discounts on certain phones. The one I wanted; not so much. So I shopped around, and I can basically get the same phone for a similar price, but.... (and this is a big but), the airtime package I have at Telus (which I negotiated five years ago) would be FAR more expensive.

So, somewhat defeated, I head back to Telus to buy the f'ng phone at the same price as the "commoners". That's when they tell me this is a "data" phone, and even if I don't want to order data services on it (I don't), the monthly cost will be an additional $20, on top of my normal bill.

Furious now, I called up the company again and explained that no one ever told me this, and that all I want is the damn phone, not the data service, thank you very much. Telus claims they're already giving me a price break, because the phone normally costs $500 (!?!). I calmly explain that, if you've got $20 a month extra from me over 3 years... there's no damn discount at all.

So screw that. IF I stay with Telus (and reasonably, I don't want to lose my good airtime package just to make a point), I'm getting a free phone with no bells and whistles on it and then buying some sort of Palm Pilot separately. Unless, of course, someone out there has another solution for me that won't cost an arm and a leg?

Latest ITR

Controversy Creates $$

Eric Bischoff's new book is predicated on the notion that "controversy creates cash," and unapologetically tackles Bischoff's past as a lightning rod within the industry. So who else would we sic on Bischoff and his new book except for the Canadian Bulldog, who has tenaciously uncovered a few EXCLUSIVE~! excerpts to share with you folks today. Along with the inside look at Bischoff's autobiography, Bulldog also jumpstarts us in terms of previewing this weekend's No Mercy PPV, and has a ton of other good stuff, too. Check it out in the very latest edition of Inside the Ropes.

Latest "Breaking News"

Schoolteacher Returns Six Weeks After Retirement Under Mask