2006: I'm not complaining....

I wrote a piece last Dec. 31 (or thereabouts) that was quite negative in tone, and just thought I'd revisit it to see how I'm doing.

Was this year perfect for me, personally and professionally? Hardly. At times, it was a constant roller-coaster ride, and there were more than a few times where I was feeling just terrible. Yet, more often than not, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and for that, I'm thankful.

Sure, there were some truly awful moments this year for me, but I look at the positives: a place of my own, a stronger relationship with my son, my first girlfriend since I got married about a decade ago (that didn't quite come off right - you know what I mean), some real highlights at work, the best vacation I've been on ever (EVER!!!), a new online friend who is just incredible (no, not Justin Credible -- though that would be cool, too), and even on the "Bulldog" side of things, a fun new gig over at WWI and a cool little audio show.

So like I said, I'm not complaining. I look at the tremendous week I've just finished with my little boy, and I look back to last year at this time, and my quality of life (for the most part) is just so much better. Once again, I'm looking forward to challenges in the new year, but at least I'm not all "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out" the way I was with '05.

And just wanted to wish a happy new year to all of the BullBLOG readers, friends and family who have been so supportive. The best is yet to come!

Canadian Bulldog's 2006 Year-End Awards

Okay, I'm assuming that OO's YIR section isn't happening this year (we usually get our notice mid-December and there haven't been a whole lot of updates to the site lately). If that changes, I'll take this piece down, but here are my winners in all the major OO categories (I'm not going to get into all 30 or so for the purposes of this) as well as last year's winner in parentheses:

Best Wrestler of the Year: Edge (2005 winner: Shawn Michaels)
Runners-up: (1) Samoa Joe (2) John Cena (3) Big Show

Best Tag Team of the Year: LAX (2005 winner: America's Most Wanted)
Runners-up: (1) A.J. Styles & Christopher Daniels (2) Brian Kendrick & Paul London (3) America's Most Wanted

Best Female Performer of the Year: Trish Stratus (2005/2004/2003 winner: Trish Stratus)
Runners-up: (1) Mickie James (2) Lita (3) Maria

Best Feud of the Year: John Cena vs. Edge (2005 winner: Matt Hardy vs. Edge)
Runners-up: (1) DX vs. The McMahons (2) Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (3) Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

Best Match of the Year: John Cena vs. Edge at Unforgiven (2005 winner: Money In The Bank)
Runners-up: (1) Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. MNM at Armageddon (2) LAX vs. A.J. Styles & Christopher Daniels at Bound For Glory (3) Mick Foley vs. Edge at WrestleMania 22

Most Favorite Performer of the Year: Edge (2005 winner: Eddie Guerrero)
Runners-up: (1) Samoa Joe (2) John Cena (3) A.J. Styles

Feel free to send along your thoughts/complaints/etc.

Film Review - Rocky Balboa

First of all, hope everyone who celebrates it had a Merry Christmas. Even those who didn't.... heck, I spent the day hanging out with family at a (predominantly) Asian shopping mall east of the city that was still open yesterday, buying bootleg DVD's, etc. And then at night, I caught Rocky Balboa.

I am a sucker for this series -- the fight and training scenes, in particular are just so... inspirational. In that respect, this one delivered in spades.

Critics of the sixth installment in this series have said that Rocky Balboa is too similar to Rocky V, in that their hero is already long retired, and thus can't set the boxing world on fire. True enough, but I don't think that prevents him from telling an interesting story about aging and facing challenges.

The other criticism is I've read is that this one is too predictable. I will respectfully disagree. Now, it's not rocket science, figuring out the plot of a "Rocky" film, but I'll say that the entire Christmas Day audience watching barely said a word during the final fight scene - it was that compelling. Not to mention that the ESPN and HBO-style graphics made this one seem much more "realistic" than past Rocky's. A couple of nice cameo appearances as well....

I think the benefit of the Rocky films is the inspirational message you take away from it. I walked back from the theatre to my apartment after (I could have taken the subway, but it wasn't like it was really a far walk) in the rain, thinking "Wow, if Rocky could do this.... maybe I can accomplish whatever I want". Of course, by the time I got home it occurred to me it was only a film, but still, for a movie to instill that AFTER I've left the theatre is pretty spectacular.

If you're a Rocky fan and get what the franchise is all about, I'd recommend seeing this. Otherwise, it's probably not for everyone. One last thought... if Vince McMahon was able to create a successful underdog story that garnered this kind of emotion from fans? Money.

Happy Holidays!

Well, I've actually been trying to update the ol' BullBLOG for a couple of days now, but Blogger wasn't letting me in. Anyways, just wanted to wish everyone a happy holidays and a terrific new year. Thanks for reading....

Latest Non-ITR

Looking ahead to WrestleMania

De-flation ?

So, in the last few days, I've received two interesting pieces of news:

1) My rent, for the first time ever, is going down next year.
2) When I went to renew my gym membership, they gave it to me for a lower rate for '07.

Not sure if there's any rhyme or reason here behind these moves, but I can't say I'm complaining. Even though the combined savings between the two are barely enough for an extra dinner each month, it's the fact that I've been SO used to everything (rent, expenses, even transit fares) going up on a yearly basis, that this news is quite welcome....

Latest ITR

My annual attempt at spreading yuletide cheer for whatsitcalled, Christmas.

Latest "Breaking News"

Vince Russo Guest-Writes Episode of "The Simpsons"


(Hey, if nothing else - you've got to appreciate my Simpsons-esque Vince Russo....

Buffalo Bash III / Latest ITR

So we headed down this weekend for our annual pre-holiday shopping trip to Buffalo, a/k/a "Stinktown".

As always, was a lot of fun, and picked up some decent deals on clothing ($21 -- including tax -- for a Gap winter jacket, and $9.99 for a pair of Starbury sneakers) as well as getting all the Chanukah and Christmas gifts left on our list.

In addition -- in my never-ending quest to find the best buffalo wings in town, we stopped by Frank & Teresa's Anchor Bar & Grille, apparently the home of the first buffalo wings ever (EVER!!!). My usual wing joint, at least for the earlier two Buffalo Bashes, was a place called Duff's Famous Wings, which I can't recommend enough.

Was Anchor superior to Duff's? In a word, no, though the restaurant itself had a much, much nicer atmosphere and the chicken itself was slightly tastier. But I likes me spicy (not suicidal, mind you) wing sauce, and Anchor's fell a bit short. Don't get me wrong, I'd have it again in a second, it just didn't measure up to the gold standard of Duff's. I also did pick up some "Texas Pete's" hot sauce at the local supermarket for my home winging needs; we'll see how it fares.

There's more about Buffalo Bash III, including comments from everyone involved, in the latest "Complete and Utter Bulldog", which is up now on Club WWI for members. Oh, and because I was away to plug it this past weekend, check out Inside The Ropes: The Holiday Gift Guide Edition.

And the winner of the "Guess The True Wrestling Story" Contest is.....

.... well, I'm not going to tell you here. But if you want to find out who won after nearly two months of hype, check it out right here.

My biggest problem with TNA right now......

.... is VKM, the former New Age Outlaws. For those who haven't been watching iMPACT, the two of them have declared "war" on "Paul Levesque", "Michael Hickenbottom" and "Vincent Kennedy McMahon" because they feel they need to stop with the DX storyline.

Firstly, why? I know that some people feel its overdone, sure, and even I have those moments, but try telling that to the "thousands of fans in attendance" who cheer them every week. It's not like they're clamoring for the return of, oh, say, maybe... Billy Gunn and the Road Dogg.

Secondly, why is TNA going there? If it was like WCW and WWF from way back when, both competing on the same night and with a pretty level playing field, fine. But they're not WCW (well, in theory). TNA airs on nights where WWE doesn't. True, they have five or six legitimate main-eventers at any given time, but they have a long way to go to match the star power of WWE... I mean, give them a world of credit: TNA has managed to go this far without having to have a Ted Turner backing them, and the names they've "taken" from WWE are guys who were ending their contracts anyways. But when they unnecessarily take shots at the competition, it makes their product look weaker.

But thirdly and most importanly, their invasion of WWE offices is moronic. When they "did the exact same thing" to WCW in the 90's (along with the love triangle that is HHH, X-Pac and Chyna)... they actually went to the WCW offices and knocked on their front door. They actually went to a WCW live event and made their presence known. It took balls to do that, and the fact that the cops/security got called in showed me that they were taking a risk.

It takes NO balls whatsoever to stand outside Titan Towers from a safe distance and call someone out (using pylons or whatever) when they know no one at WWE is going to respond. You think Vince McMahon is going to look at his window and say "Hey, TNA stars Kip and BG James are here, and they're saying we suck. Paul, Michael, meet me at the front. We're going outside to have a televised confrontation with these guys."

The thing that TNA did a year or so ago at Universal Studios with cookies and balloons took more guts than this. VKM, why don't you guys go up to the WWE doors and knock, at least? Or... I don't know, show BJ and Kip trying to get into the parking lot with a monster truck? Sure, you'd get kicked out, especially with a camera crew in tow, but at least that shows you actually TRYING to out-DX the original DX. This just shows me how fucking lame and unoriginal you all are (and TNA as an extension), while reinforcing WWE as the big brand.

The most unfortunate thing of all is that TNA is doing so well in other areas. They've developed legitimate stars like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and LAX, plus Christian Cage, Sting and Kurt Angle and starting to find their grooves now. When they focus on their own product.... it's definitely getting there. Picking a fight with DX that will never happen? Not exactly positive momentum.