Man, I suck at blogging

I really gotta update this thing more.  I posted twice last fall after leaving it dormant for two and a half years, but then I once again left it alone and abandoned for over four months.

Damn, I’m really inconsistent with this whole blogging, online journal thing.  But I guess one of the reasons why this thing doesn’t get new entries that often is because my duties by day as a reporter/writer/photographer keep me busy, and I also started my own weekly column at the beginning of the year entitled, “The Ruttle Report”.  It’s my own little outlet for getting things off my chest and talking about things as I see them from my own view of the world; local issues, national ones, or even just those “slice of life” anecdotes.  The column has been really fun and I’ve received many compliments on it, which is always very kind and nice to hear.

Hell, one man even called me at home a couple of Fridays ago to tell me how much he enjoyed it, and I was blown away by the gesture.  Those kind of kudos aren’t necessary, but I’d be a damn liar if I said I didn’t enjoy them.  Everybody wants to be recognized at times for their hard work.

Which kinda leads me to one of the reasons why I’m not all that thrilled these days.  Every spring, there’s an awards competition and banquet that recognizes the best stories and photos from the past year in our weekly newspaper field.  All the papers in the province are asked to submit entries for what they feel are contenders, and I managed to come up with 17 submissions for consideration.  That in itself was baffling; I guess it always surprises me how much news comes out of such a small rural area.  I felt I did some fantastic work in 2016, especially on a vast and detailed story about a girl I know who works with horses and practices equine sports therapy.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, and I didn’t receive a single nomination at this year’s awards.  That makes the second year in a row in which my best apparently wasn’t good enough.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that despite what you believe could be a sure-fire winner, there are a lot of different opinions out there, especially those on any judging panel.  There are over 80 newspapers across the province, so there’s also a lot of stiff competition when it comes to these awards.  Evidently, there are a lot of other reporters, writers and photographers doing some great work.  My own co-worker received two nominations for special pieces that she wrote, and that’s cool.  Still, it kinda sucks when you believe that much in yourself, only for reality to hit you like a punch to the gut.

Switching gears, I guess the other realization I’ve come to recently is that there are people in your life who only appear to be your friend.  I’m not saying I had some falling-out with anyone in particular, just that I question what kind of friendship I actually have with some people to begin with.  For example, there are people that I know because of the connection they had to my mother’s bar.  However, now that it’s been closed since December – Ma’s retired and already bored, by the way – I barely hear from anyone connected to it anymore.  No texts, no calls, nothing.

It makes me realize that some people aren’t exactly your ‘friend’, they’re more or less people that you simply know through one connection or another.  Friends text each other, call each other, hang out with each other, and all that jazz.  Yet with some people that are in my life – or I guess ‘were’ in my life – it’s been radio silence for months.  I find it disappointing, and I’d once again be lying if I said it didn’t hurt my feelings at least a little.

On my end, I don’t really have any desire to reach out to any of them.  They either have relationships they’re busy with, or they’re prepping for kids that are on the way, or they’re hanging out with other couples, or BLAH BLAH BLAH.  At this point, I just end up feeling like a big third or fifth wheel in most group situations.  I also suppose that the closure of my mom’s bar filtered out the only thing I may have had in common with some people.

I guess the lesson here is that you need to keep your circle small.  Loyalty is everything, drama means nothing, and surround yourself with people who you may not be related to, but you feel like you are.  My absolute best friends on this planet are Kyle, Chris and Alex; that hasn’t changed for many years, and hopefully it never does.  And honestly, if some other ‘friends’ were to contact me out of nowhere, maybe some radio silence treatment is just what the doctor ordered.  If I’m not “good enough” to hang out with for the last few months, why would I jump at the chance to do it now?

Lives move on, I suppose.  People have a horrible habit these days of forgetting others.  We’re so wrapped up in our tech-based lifestyles or our own mundane drama and daily bullshit that we end up cutting people – ACTUAL living people with feelings, not just names behind a screen – out of our lives.

If certain people wanna forget about me or cut me out of their lives, they can consider themselves cut out of mine.  I’m done being the nice guy who puts up with this kind of bullshit.  Nobody deserves to have to dissect what THEY may have done or said to warrant being forgotten about by some people that you USED to have fun with.  But that’s the kind of personality I have; I’ll typically think that I’M the one who did something wrong in a situation, so I just let it fester in my brain.

Well, I’m done doing that.  People know my number, they know where I live, and I’m not a hard guy to find.  Don’t wanna reach out?  That’s totally fine, but don’t expect me to, either.

‘Likes’ and comments on Facebook are neat, but they’re not friendship.  Hell, I could write a whole Ruttle Report on the ridiculousness of social media supposedly “bringing people together”; in fact, I think that’s exactly what I’ll do for next week’s issue.

Wow, that felt pretty good to get all that built-up bullshit off my chest.  Maybe move on to some happier stuff, shall we?

I had a lot of fun last August when we shut down for our annual two-week summer break.  I took a long, winding road trip out to my old stomping grounds of Victoria, BC.  My mom and I had been out there in 2012, but that was only on one-day intervals before either hopping on a boat to my cousin’s huge home on Sidney Island or hopping on a plane back to Calgary.  On this trip, I went solo and drove the entire way.

That in itself was an adventure of its own.  First, I stayed in Calgary for a couple of days, visiting with my brother and his family, who also let me crash there, and then I started making my way further out west.  I gotta tell ya, I know that I’ve made the trip before when I was younger, but being much older now and able to realize the scope of what I was seeing, BC is fucking beautiful!  The trees, the forests, the blue and green bodies of water, the mountains; I kinda hate that I had to be the one driving through all of it because I could’ve stared at that kind of scenery for hours.

But I couldn’t do that because I’d be a dead man.  Driving in BC is gorgeous, but it’s also demanding and time-consuming.  You can’t really guesstimate how long it’ll take you to go from Point A to Point B because you have winding roads, tunnels, slow-moving corners in the mountains and hundreds of other vehicles out on the road with you.  It demands your total attention at all times.  Here in Saskatchewan, you can just get out on any highway, punch it to 100 km/hr and throw it in cruise control, but you can’t do that out in BC; way too much traffic and far too few straight roads.

After much driving, I was finally on the ferry over to Victoria, and before long I was checked in and lounging on the balcony of my sweet suite, lol.  I stayed at the Regent Waterfront Hotel, which is right by the harbour.  My view was spectacular; every night the sun would go down over some tall city buildings across the water.

I spent a few days in Victoria reconnecting with the city in which I used to live when I was a film school student between 2005-2006.  I did the touristy things such as checking out the aquarium in Sidney and touring the Royal BC Museum, and I also spent time at Fisherman’s Wharf and took some great snapshots out at the Ogden Breakwater Point.  I was also able to sneak in a quick lunch the day after my arrival with two fellow VMPS graduates, Shawn and Jesse; I actually lived in the basement suite of Jesse’s family’s home during our time there as students.  It was great catching up with them, even for just an all-too-quick lunch hour, and I made sure to get a pic with the three of us to commemorate it.

Before I knew it, the end of the week had arrived and I was on my way back to the mainland, homeward bound and wishing my trip hadn’t ended so quickly.

And since it DID seem to end so fast, I’ve decided to go back this coming August!  I’m calling it “Derek Does Victoria 2: Electric Boogaloo”.  I realize that sounds like a porno, which is exactly why I phrased it as such.

I decided to go back to Victoria because while my first trip out there was really cool, there are still some things I didn’t get to do while I was out there; I didn’t take a “beach day” and go swimming in the ocean somewhere, I didn’t do as much nature exploring as I wanted to, and there are some people who I didn’t get to see on my first go-around.  Hopefully, this “sequel” will tie up those loose ends.  I’m also staying at the same hotel!  Just can’t beat that view or location.

The other really cool thing that recently happened was seeing the WWE live over the February long weekend.  It was the Smackdown crew that came to the SaskTel Centre (it’ll always be Sask Place to me…), and the show was awesome.  I especially liked the main event; a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Title between Dean Ambrose (champ), AJ Styles and The Miz.  Ambrose took the win in about 20 minutes after a Dirty Deeds DDT on Miz.

Even cooler was after the show, as my friend Angelica and brother Brendon and I cruised over to the Saskatoon airport, where all the wrestlers were set to board a flight for California.  I’m such a stalker, I know, but it turned out to be the best idea ever.  We got there and figured that it’d be a bit of a wait for any wrestlers to arrive, but it turned out that many of them were already checking in!  We waited back and simply asked for autographs and photos as they came down the hallway.  I think I have photos on Facebook of over a dozen wrestlers, haha.  This kinda thing is something they’re used to all the time, but all the same, it was very cool of them to be so accommodating.  Some of them were visibly tired, and all the travel and wear and tear in the ring will do that to you, but it was awesome of them to take the time out for their fans.  We met AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, American Alpha, Baron Corbin, Natalya, D-Von Dudley, the Ascension, Aiden English, Heath Slater, and I even took pics with Miz’s wife Maryse and the legendary IRS!

It was definitely the coolest WWE experience I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot from someone who’s been a fan for over 25 years.

Were we the typical celeb stalkers?  I dunno about that; certainly there are much bigger, scarier “fan horror stories” out there than just a handful of fans at a small city airport.  And I do mean small; aside from us three, there were about five other people who thought of doing the whole “Catch them at the airport” routine.  Considering there was almost 8,000 people at the show that night, I’m surprised there wasn’t a large crowd, yet also glad for obvious selfish reasons.  But I do think that in any celebrity sighting situation, whether it’s wrestlers, actors, musicians, whoever it may be, fans just need to be polite and know when to keep their distance.  Say “please” and “thank you”, and I’m sure anyone would be happy to sign something or take a quick selfie.  I guess it helps to be Canadian and have those kind of manners built into your DNA.

Can’t wait until the next WWE show to do it all over again!

Moving forward, I’m also looking forward to some other things this summer, such as getting back up to Candle Lake.  I missed out on that last summer, which sucked because it’s one of my favorite places on Earth.  There’s a certain tranquility and peace of mind that comes with that place that can’t be described.  I’ve also decided that I’m gonna take this summer to really explore my province; even in AAAAALLLLL my travels as a roaming reporter, there are towns, villages and areas that I’ve never been to.  Should be a good spring and summer; one for making plenty of memories.

Anyway, I’ve ranted and raved enough for today.  See you in another four or five months, maybe?  (I’m joking, but considering my track record, maybe I’m not)

Later,
DWR

Kid, your mom died. Smile for the camera!

There’s a video that’s been making the rounds online recently that claims to really “bring the message home” about drug addiction.  It features a young boy being told that his mother has died from a drug overdose.

“This video really puts things in perspective”, the post says.

No, it doesn’t.  It continues to show that people in our society have no shame in doing whatever it takes to “go viral”.

It’s appalling that this would be filmed and put on the internet.  And I thought that police taking pictures of dead OD’d parents with kids in the car was bad….

Who consented to this?  Because I know it wasn’t that child, who doesn’t deserve to have his grief spotlighted in such a public manner.

Why does everything these days need to be twisted into something involving shock value in order to “put perspective” on an issue?  Why wasn’t this boy allowed to grieve in private, instead of having someone with a camera and a holier-than-thou attitude shoot it and put it on the web because of THEIR inflated idea of a moral compass?  Sometimes you just need to leave things be.  Not EVERYTHING is an opportunity for others to stand on a self-created pedestal and spread some message to make themselves feel important or responsible for any “movement”.

I didn’t ask to become involved in this young boy’s grief by way of viewing a video clip, and I’m not going to view it.  It’s not my right to watch this and then base a hollow opinion on his family or background, just as it wasn’t the right of anyone to record this and put it on the internet for millions of people to have access to.

I sympathize with this boy for losing his mother, especially in the manner that he lost her.  But I also fear that when he gets older, and forms a better understanding of the world around him, he’ll end up seeing this video clip and it could completely shatter him, mentally and emotionally.

This is absolutely disgusting, and there is no argument valid enough to change my stance on this.

Why do people need to take something so private and so fragile and put a blinding spotlight on it?  When will millennials stop shoving every issue up its own ass?

We all have a voice.

Holy shit, I can’t believe it’s been over two and a half years since I posted anything here.  Time just has a way of getting away from us, I suppose.

The last time I wrote in this space, it was just a few months after my father had died.  The family was picking up the pieces, and we’d just gone through our first Christmas without Jack, which was one of his favorite times of the year.

Fast forward to today, and I like to think we’re doing better.  That phrase, “Time heals all wounds” is somewhat true, but certainly not 100%.  I still think about old J.R. every day in some fashion, and I believe I always will.

Also during the past couple of years, I picked up a nagging, surprise-you-out-of-nowhere form of depression.  This is something that both does and doesn’t surprise me, when I think about it.  For one thing, I’m not happy where I’m at in my personal life; where others are either finding relationships, buying a new house, getting married and having kids, I mostly feel like I’m just spinning my wheels.  Professionally, things are great; I love being busy during the week and it’ll actually be ten years since I’ve been at this newspaper next March, but I certainly wish my paychecks reflected that.  I suppose everybody feels like that in their own jobs.

That all being said, I feel like an asshole for even thinking that this is even “real” depression.  There are obviously A LOT more people out there with A LOT more personal demons than I might have, so I don’t talk about it.  I just scribble up something funny and throw it on Facebook, sometimes when I really just wanna be taken more seriously.  The problem is that nobody likes to talk about that kind of stuff.  And I don’t blame them.  Bell can do a million of those “Let’s Talk Day” events that raise money for mental illness, but it doesn’t erase any stigma that may exist in your own social and family circles.  It’s hard to talk about this kind of stuff because it’s difficult to convey to someone just what the hell is bothering you to begin with, if that makes any sense?

However, I guess that I’m pretty fortunate in my case.  I’m lucky to have a lot more good days than bad.  But when those bad days DO come, oh boy.  The world outside my own bullshit doesn’t exist to me on those days; I’m just on auto-pilot if I’m out in public until I reach the sanctity of my home.  It’s to the point where sometimes, I think it’s affecting the friendships I have with people, or that I THINK I still have with people.  Sometimes I won’t text anyone to hang out because I think I’m bothering them, or that I’m a hassle to be around.

See?  Lost in my own bullshit again!

I’m happy to report that there ARE things in my life that I’m excited about.  It sure as hell isn’t all gloom and doom.  I’m glad that things are busy at work, as Outlook finds itself in the midst of a civic election and this new swimming pool facility is officially a go.  I’m also on the road over the next two weekends; this one it’s Regina for my buddy Kyle’s sister’s wedding celebration.  Next weekend it’s Calgary, where I finally get to see one of my favorite comedians perform, Jim Gaffigan.  (the Hot Pocket guy, or the pale guy you’ve been seeing in those Chrysler minivan ads with the 9,000 kids he has)

On top of that, I’m coming up with some ideas for a zombie movie I’d like to shoot next spring.  Kyle and I have talked about doing one for years now, and last weekend we were shooting the shit in his basement when we saw a poster for an upcoming screening in Swift Current of a zombie flick.  I guess it kinda inspired me, so I’ve been jotting down notes on possible storylines, shooting locations, epic zombie death sequences, all that fun stuff.  I’m also keeping a firm foot planted in having fun with it; it’s not exactly Scorsese material I’m gunning for here.  You get a bunch of friends together, throw some makeup on them, and shoot some footage.  I’d love to film it next May or June, and then maybe hold a screening where the proceeds go to a charity or some non-profit group.

Anyway, this up-to-speed post on where I’m at right now leads me to just why I decided to post in this blog space again.  I think it’s time I use it as a platform for anything that’s on my mind.  A space that separates Derek the Reporter from Derek the Person.  I have opinions on things, just as all of you do.  I have random thoughts on about a million different topics; again, just as all of you do.  So, that’s what this blog will be about; my random thoughts and opinions about this, that, and everything in between as we all spin about on this whirling planet called Earth.

No holds barred.

No punches pulled.

NO MERCY!

“Man, he got a little violent at the end, didn’t he?”

In the meantime, and in between time…..

DWR

Looking Behind, Looking Ahead

I’m reading the last entry on this blog, almost half a year old, and I just shake my head at the world of difference between then and now.

It’s dated July 25, and it’s now January 8, a week into the new year that is 2014. Seems that I just have a terrible time updating this space. But it’s not like my life is so exciting that there are scores of people glued to their screens waiting to hear of my daily goings-on to begin with.

The last few paragraphs of that post are what really get to me though, because they describe my family going through a time of change and adapting to my father, Jack Ruttle, starting a ‘new phase’ of his life by moving into a personal care home. It gets to me because my Dad passed away just a month later on the morning of Monday, August 26. As things sadly turned out, that new phase of Dad’s life was also a very short one. He was 80 years old.

These days, things like emotions can change in what seems to be such a brief instant. That last blog entry speaks about my then-upcoming summer break from work, in which I flew to Las Vegas for a few days of fun and sight-seeing. I had a blast on that trip, no doubt the biggest highlight of 2013 for me, but Dad’s passing just weeks later brought a very somber end to not just my own, but everyone’s summer. Adding to the sadness was the fact that Dad died on his youngest son Brendon’s birthday. It goes without saying that my brother will undoubtedly be filled with a lot of conflicting emotions every time his birthday rolls around every year from now on. And actually, it was only three days removed from my own birthday on the 23rd.

In the immediate aftermath of my father’s passing, one of my first thoughts was the realization that I was the last person in my family to have seen him alive. I take a world of pride in that. It was two days earlier on Saturday, August 24 and I drove down to the long-term care facility in Dinsmore for the afternoon to watch a football game with him. We just sat back, enjoyed watching the Riders take the lead, and we talked about a number of things, like my recent trip to Vegas, the harvest season, and the upcoming Labor Day long weekend anniversary celebrations for my sister Laurel and her husband Shawn. He seemed happy, like he always was whenever someone in the family stopped in to see him. After the Riders eventually won, I wheeled him into the dining room so he could have his supper and we said our goodbyes until next time. Of course, I had no idea that there wouldn’t be a next time.

When Dad died on Monday morning, I just remember that entire week flying by so damn fast because there was so much to do. There were only about a million phone calls to make, and then my family and I met with the funeral chapel on Tuesday morning, followed by more planning the rest of that day. Later that night, I fired up my laptop and eventually typed out my father’s eulogy, a task that I was seemingly the only one suited for, and one I was very honored to undertake. I’ll tell ya, even though it produced more than a fair share of fresh tears, writing a tribute to my father and his long life was a great exercise in grieving and keeping lifetime memories alive and well. I got the thumbs-up from my mother (and Jack’s wife of more than 30 years), and presented it to the minister who was set to perform the funeral service on Friday. In the meantime, there were other tasks ahead of my family, such as prepping the Conquest rink for the service and going through a mountain of photos to put on display.

It was Friday morning before any of us virtually had a chance to breathe, and I walked into the rink with my family in front of more than 200 people to help celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Dad. The turnout was really quite impressive, and it looked like it was standing room only. I know Dad would’ve been happy. I was relieved to hear that the eulogy I wrote went over very well with my family, as well as a ton of other relatives and those that knew my old man. A large group of us went down to the bar and had a few drinks in honor of Dad, my mother (and owner of the place) raising a teary-eyed toast to her husband.

Such was the week in August that encapsulated the passing of my Dad. His death was a shock to all of us, and yet it wasn’t at the same time, know what I mean? His health had begun taking a steep decline in recent times, especially those two months between June and August where the poor guy kept getting moved out of one home care space and into another. Dad went from Outlook to Dinsmore, back to Outlook, a brief stay in Elrose, and then finally back to Dinsmore in his final weeks. If there was any consolation during those moves, it’s that he got to enjoy plenty of car rides in some prime summer weather conditions out in rural Saskatchewan. His driving days were obviously long since finished, but he loved just getting to go for a drive around the countryside.

Today, we’re approaching nearly five months since Dad died, and I can’t believe this much time has already passed. Every time the 26th of every month arrives, it’s another reminder of the biggest loss in the Ruttle family. I especially missed my Dad during the Christmas season, since he loved that time of the year and getting to see all his kids and their growing families. My mom, brothers and I drove out to Calgary on the morning of Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with my oldest brother Jim, sister-in-law Daniela and their two kids. It was a quiet Christmas, an enjoyable one, but Dad’s absence was definitely felt. He should’ve been there, handing out presents and sitting at the head of the dinner table, as well as playing card games of Uno by his own rules. (“What? You can’t play a red 5 on a green 9? OK, fine…”)

As painful as losing my father was this year, and still is, 2013 did contain plenty of historic, much more positive and memorable highlights for me. The list basically comes down to three big things that stood out:

– My first Comic Con experience: Brendon and I drove out to Calgary to take in the city’s Comic and Entertainment Expo on the last weekend in April. I always had an idea of what to expect at comic and sci-fi conventions, but my first time at a Con blew those expectations away. There’s just a certain energy you experience at something like this, and I loved so many of the costumes that armies of people had on. Where else can you see Batman standing in line for a Coke, while the Terminator is using an ATM? It was almost overwhelming, but I played it smart and just took my sweet time trying to take it all in, from the trade show/exhibit booth aspects of it to checking out awesome things like the DeLorean from ‘Back to the Future’ or Han Solo encased in carbonite from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. From there it was time to check out the autograph tables and have photos taken with a multitude of stars over the course of the weekend, like WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Edge, Wil Wheaton, Stan Lee, John Carpenter, Misha Collins, Norman Reedus, the cast of The Walking Dead, Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage from ‘Game of Thrones’, and Nathan Fillion. Very cool, but also a very expensive weekend. Can’t wait to go back in a few months.

– Seeing WWE live once again: It’s always cool to see WWE action live and up close, especially when you score front row seats like I did (again). But this time was different because Brendon and I actually got to meet a few of them before the show in Regina on May 25 at a gym that was located right by the arena. Yeah, we unleashed our inner stalker and staked out the gym parking lot. Sure enough, we eventually see the likes of Sheamus, The Miz, Natalya, Wade Barrett, and Alberto Del Rio come out. We didn’t hound them or anything, and we were actually pretty polite as we asked each wrestler we saw for a quick photo, to which they all said yes. Very cool, and now I know where to go for more possible photos and autographs the next time WWE rolls into Regina for an event. Hey, some people go nuts over a favorite football player or musician; I get all ‘fanboy’ over my favorite wrestlers.

– Viva Las Vegas: My Las Vegas experience at the start of August. Memorable. Eye-opening. Life-altering. I’d waited to venture to this city for many years, a trip my friends and I talked about going on since high school. But there it was laying in front of me as my plane landed down – Sin City. I got there via direct flight from Calgary and grabbed my luggage, meeting up with my driver and heading over to the Platinum Hotel. I say ‘driver’ because that’s just what she was, as I kicked back in the plush seats of my private limousine and just took in the sights and sounds of this legendary city. My hotel suite on the top floor was amazing, with a king-size bed in the bedroom, two-person jet tub in the washroom, all the kitchen appliances I needed, in-room temperature control, and a balcony that provided me an incredible view of the Las Vegas Strip and landscape of the city. I couldn’t have been happier at that point, and I felt on top of the world. I love that feeling. But the vacation had even started yet. The next few days were filled with great food, even greater fun, and only about a billion photos snapped to try and capture it all. (Except for that one night out at the strip club. I figured they wouldn’t appreciate some jackass Canadian tourist in there snapping photos left and right.)

I think one of the best things to come out of that Vegas trip, aside from things like the Mob museum at the Tropicana Hotel or seeing Penn & Teller’s magic show (and meeting Penn) at the Rio, was that time each night when I’d pour myself a drink, step out onto my balcony, and just sit down with my own thoughts as the city of Las Vegas glistened with color and stood out before me. They were like moments of zen, and it was in those quieter moments that I did a lot of reflecting on life, both in general and my own, specifically. I got to thinking about the kind of person I want to be more, some things that I want to see change for me, and I thought a lot about the future. To be able to have that time to myself, relaxing on my balcony above one of the world’s most famous cities, is one of the reasons why I’m glad that I went solo on this trip.

Mixed in with a lot of smaller things, like lazy Friday afternoons at the office before a long weekend or just something like meeting some friends out for drinks, that’s pretty much been my 2013. There are things I have in mind for 2014, but I don’t wanna get into that right now. It’s just some personal stuff and professional goals kinda mashed together. I will share two things, though. In 2014:

– I will write a novel. I’ve got a notion to put together a string of short stories and compile them into one collection, but at the moment I have a very rough draft of a singular story idea that I don’t want to lose any momentum over.
– A second Vegas adventure will come to fruition, only this time with my friends. We’ve already started talking about it, and it’s just a question of when do we fly down there. Can’t wait.

And yeah, I’ll update this thing more often than once every six months or once a year. Promise.

It’s Been Too Long…

I can’t believe it’s been almost a full freaking year since I updated this blog.  Ridiculous.  Especially when I factor in current events, which definitely require a substantial entry in order to catch everybody up on all things Ruttle.

First off, I’m mere days away from being on summer holidays.  It’s that time of the year where the paper shuts down for two weeks at the beginning of August, and a period where a guy can recharge his batteries, catch up on some rest, soak in the summer sun, and just disconnect from any and all problems for the time being.  And like any summer break, you might hop in the car or on a plane and jet off somewhere exotic for a few days.

And in my case, I’m going to Las Vegas.

You read that right.  Vegas, baby.  Sin City.  Where a guy can spend hundreds of dollars hitting the slot machines and win it all back in one fluke swoop.  I’m finally, FINALLY venturing to this city, something my friends and I have talked about doing since high school, and I can’t wait.

So what are my plans?  My schedule?  Well, I’m done work after next Tuesday when the paper is published, and I’m just gonna rest and relax for a few days heading into the long weekend.  On Saturday the 3rd, I’m planning to drive out to Calgary and stay with my older brother for the night, and my flight to Vegas is Sunday evening at 6:30.  Direct flight, too.  I’m not having any of that connecting, ‘stop in Vancouver or Denver’ bullshit.  It’s nonstop or nothing for me, and the airport in Calgary more than provides that.  Saskatoon really needs to get their shit together in that regard.

So, I land in Vegas at about 8:15 local time.  From there, a LIMO is picking me up and taking me to my hotel.  Yup.  A limo.  Riding in style.

My accommodations await me at the Platinum Hotel, where the suites START at 950 square feet, and my room even has a balcony with a view of the Las Vegas Strip.  I absolutely cannot wait to get into my room, drop everything on the bed, and peer out across the city skyline from that perspective.  I plan to eat many of my meals out there and just drink in the sights.  (And drink in some booze)

So what are my plans for down there?  There’s a few things I’d like to see and do.  I wanna see Penn and Teller’s magic show at the Rio, a wax museum, and there’s a cool Mob exhibit/attraction that sounds cool.  As for anything else, I dunno.  A strip show?  Topless revue?  Why the hell not?  I mean, I gotta experience just why they call it Sin City.

Whatever I find myself doing, I’ve got four days to do it.  My flight back to Calgary is Thursday night, and it puts me back in Canada at about 12:30 am, going into Friday.  From there, I drive home the next day and simply reflect on a very memorable few days.

I’m really looking forward to this vacation.  I bought the entire trip on Expedia, and when I compared the site with simply buying my flight and hotel separately, the difference was staggering, and I’ll fortunately have a few hundred dollars to keep in my bank balance.

And yes, I’m going alone.  I can already hear you saying ‘You’re going to Vegas by yourself?  In August?  In that kinda heat?’  Yes, yes I am.  Call me a trendsetter, call me a trailblazer, call me a fool.  I don’t care.  I’m going and you’re not, so THERE!!!

Someday I hope my friends join me on a trip down there, provided this first adventure goes as planned and the experience is as incredible as I hope it’ll be.  That’s been the dream for many years.  ‘The Gang Does Vegas’.  Or a more likely scenario, ‘Vegas Shakes The Gang Upside Down Til All Their Money Falls Out, And Leaves Them In The Nevada Desert Sans Pants’.  Yeah, that sounds more like us.

As for doing anything else on my two weeks off, who knows?  Other than Vegas, the ‘main event’ of the summer break, I think I’m just gonna take er easy.  Maybe the odd day down at Lake Diefenbaker, a good book in hand and a lawn chair on the beach.  Might even make my way back up to Candle Lake to the old cabin for a day or two.  And then there’s The Ex up in Saskatoon.  My brother Brendon and I had a blast up there last summer, and you know why?  It’s because we weren’t on anyone’s schedule and didn’t feel rushed.  So I wouldn’t mind taking that in again.

Above all else, this summer break is going to be about resting, relaxation, recharging my batteries, and reflecting on the past and the future.

The start of the annual holiday comes at a very bittersweet time, though.  My coworker Tim is leaving The Outlook newspaper and starting a new job and life in Humboldt.  It’s not by choice – apparently, our higher-ups are telling us the paper isn’t making enough money to pay three full-time people, and Tim opted to step away and start fresh somewhere else.  It really sucks, because in the six years I’ve worked with him, Tim has pretty much been the glue keeping things running around here.  He’s creative, outgoing, easy to get along with, and the paper in Humboldt is lucky to have him on their staff now.  I’m gonna miss Tim, and I fear his absence is really gonna be felt in certain situations.  I’ll miss his down-to-earth personality, I’ll miss his creativity when it comes to producing issue after issue, and I’ll definitely miss those lazy days at the office when I had nothing to cover and the phones weren’t busy, and we’d spend an hour or more just talking about anything and everything; movies, comics, current events, the way of life around here in a small town community.  I’ll miss it all.  Change sucks, but it’s inevitable.  You can either roll with it or get caught in the crossfire.  Take care of yourself, Tim.  It’s been nothing but a pleasure working with you for over six years to produce the best newspaper possible.  I’ll see you down the road, my friend.

Outside of work and on the home front, my family recently made the decision to put Dad in a long-term care facility.  You wanna talk about change, that has been a HUGE learning curve.  I don’t think any of us ever thought that Jack Ruttle would one day end up in a care home.  He’s Jack Ruttle, he’s JR, he’s the head of the family.  The man we respected from the day we shot out of our mother and feared when we knew we did something wrong as kids.  And now he’s this senior citizen with arthritis in his spine who gets around in a wheelchair and doesn’t live at home anymore.

At least this wasn’t something that just sprang on us out of nowhere.  I think we all knew this was coming down the pipe at some point.  It really all started back in January, just days after the new year began, and he was admitted into the Outlook Health Centre with a harsh chest cold that gave way to bronchial symptoms and even had Dad slurring his speech and acting delusional.  A short-form bout of dementia, they called it.  So he was in Outlook for about two months and came home in March.  Another two months went by, and he woke up on the morning of May 23 so weak that his legs couldn’t support himself on his walker, and he crumpled to the ground as my mom held him.  We called an ambulance to take him back to Outlook, and that was the last time Dad was ever inside his own house.

Last Sunday, he got a new change of scenery when the call came down to take him to Elrose, where they have a very large personal care home and a room was waiting for him when we got there.  I was impressed by the place, and Mom has heard nothing but good things about it, so I think Dad is in good hands in Elrose.  He’s actually on the top of the list for a room in Dinsmore, so there may be a day sooner or later that we get another phone call and it’ll be moving day all over again.  He spent two weeks down in Dinsmore’s facility and we were all impressed with it.  It’s closer to home, too.  For now, we have to make the hour-plus drive to see him down in Elrose, and we’ll adapt.

Dad’s old, and he’s just gonna get older.  That’s life.  He’s a guy who worked all his life to give his family the things he didn’t have growing up, and I’m eternally grateful to the man for that.  We always said that we’d never put Dad in a home, but we realized that it’s better to put him in the care of professionals every day than it is to try and manage him at home in Conquest.  With our busy lives, it would simply be unfair to just prop him in his easy chair in front of the TV, go off to work for eight hours, and expect that situation to work out for the rest of his life.  At least in this situation, we can make the time to visit with him and put all our attention on him, and we know that his needs are being met and taken care of.

So, it’s a time of change around here.  I just gotta roll with it and adapt.  I always do.  Life has a way of just spinning on and on without any sign of stopping, and you just gotta jump on and hold on with all your might.

And holding on I am.

Cheers,
DR.

Here For a Good Time

Night settles in on Sidney Island, BC.

Seems that it’s been awhile since I posted anything on the ol’ blog, so I may as well rant, rave and ramble about this past summer. What I did, where I went, you know the routine.

For the most part, I think this past summer was an improvement on last year, at least from my perspective. I mean, there were things last year that were cool and all, but in the bigger picture, I’d say the summer of 2012 provided a better highlight reel of long-lasting memories.

And when I say better than last year, I’m mainly talking about what I did on my two-week summer break from the office.

What I ran into last year was a lack of things to do and/or places to go, so my holiday time from work was largely spent kicking it around home and just enjoying being away from my professional life for two weeks. The one really cool thing I did was spent a night up at Candle Lake (recap located elsewhere on this blog), but everything else wasn’t quite memorable.

This year, I really wanted to make my mark with my summer vacation. I wanted to be constantly doing something, going somewhere, experiencing this and that, you know what I mean. I didn’t want to waste any days away just sitting around the house. Luckily, my schedule prevented me from doing so.

The following is a day-to-day log of my comings and goings on my summer holiday….

Tuesday, July 31: Uploading the last issue of the paper for three weeks, I’m elated as the clock strikes 4:30 and I cruise home, blasting CCR’s “Looking Out My Backdoor” (for some reason, a tradition I’ve had since 2010) and looking forward to that evening’s dinner. I have a head-start on my holiday due to the travel schedule over the next two days.

My “I’m on summer break and it’s time to spoil myself” meal consists of two (TWO) lobster tails, a juicy rib eye steak, fries and baby carrots. I am pleased.

Wednesday, August 1: I wake up at 7:30 and pack up my car, and by 8:00 my mother and I are on the road. The destination? Calgary, at least for today. The REAL destination? Victoria, BC, where we’ll meet up with my cousin Murray and cruise by boat to his home on Sidney Island.

The road trip is relaxed with sunny weather the entire way. Not many people are fans of driving for 6-7 hours, but I enjoy it. We get to my brother Jim’s in the late afternoon, and enjoy a BBQ supper after my other brother John arrives. We sit out on the patio for hours. It’s kinda nice.

Thursday, August 2: Getting up even earlier than the day before, we’re on the road before 6:30 to get to the Calgary airport in order to make our 8:10 am flight to Victoria. After going through the usual airport stuff, we’re eventually sitting on the plane, although Ma and I are split up; she’s in row 7 and I’m in row 12. Coincidentally, my uncle Vic and aunt Shirley are on the same flight as us. To pass the time, I watch some Olympics coverage on the small screen on the seat in front of me.

Landing in Victoria at 8:30 local time (like as if the flight was only 20 minutes), I grab our luggage and we meet up with Murray and Linda, who’ll return to the airport the next day to pick us up as Ma and I are spending the day and night in Victoria. I get the key to our car rental and this thing is a beauty – a 2013 Ford Escape with all the options. Like something Bruce Wayne would drive if he wanted to appear normal.

Cruising around, we get to The Butchart Gardens, a worldly known attraction that sees over a million visitors per year. Unique flowers, lots of pretty colors, tons to see, you get the deal. I knew Ma had always wanted to see it, so I made it a part of our itinerary.

After a stop at Walmart for a pair of sandals, we get to our room at the Travelodge and are quite impressed; cool view of the harbour and the room is large and spacious. After dinner (Chinese buffet), I drop her off back at the room and I venture out to a multiplex theater to finally see ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. What’s extra groovy? It’s in IMAX format. The film is incredible, and I mentally make another appointment to see it again after my return from the West Coast.

Friday, August 3 – Monday, August 6: These four days are the obvious ‘meat’ of the vacation, as Murray boats us out to Sidney Island on Friday, which is a cool trip by itself. Over the next few days, the island is a fantastic getaway from anything even related to back home. No internet, no cell service, and very limited TV options. Murray and Linda’s home is immense; something like 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and it’s built sorta like two living spaces in one home. My bedroom at the top of the stairs has an incredible panoramic view of the backyard.

And that backyard. Amazing. It ends with a cliff-like drop leading to the ocean, with chairs located just before the drop. Incredible view, and I find myself in this spot more than a few times over the next few days.

The rest of our time there is spent checking out the rest of the island, including a fellow homeowner’s stupidly extravagant home – all 11,600 feet of it (the guy wasn’t home, and we just checked out the exterior), as well as visiting and just enjoying the peace and quiet. Yes, I would’ve loved to go fishing, but Murray didn’t have his gear on the boat.

The most kick-ass consolation prize comes on Monday morning, when we all board Murray’s yacht for a daylong cruise. The thing is a work of pure art; with a decent haul of groceries, I’d gladly live on it for a month.

We cruise to Maple Bay and dock for lunch before coming back in the late afternoon. By that point, Ma and I are headed back into Victoria with Murray and Vic, who are meeting up with someone the next morning to go on a fishing expedition of their own. I would’ve killed to go, but Tuesday is the day we fly back and we couldn’t risk the chance of not getting back before our flight. Monday night is spent at a Days Inn right by the harbour. I catch up on emails and everything Web-related and reflect on the last few days. I’m happy.

Tuesday, August 7: After Murray picks us up, Vic treats us to lunch in the town of Sidney. Murray and I have some kind of seafood soup that can only be described as vegetable soup, but just a shitload of things from the ocean (prawns, mussels, clams, halibut, salmon). Good eating.

Dropping us off at the airport, hugs and handshakes are exchanged and now it’s back to just Ma and I. She kills time reading a book, I kill time online as we count down the time to our flight. When the dinner hour approaches, we enjoy ribs at the White Spot restaurant right in the airport and look at incoming/departing flights. We then see that our flight is delayed. This is apparently because of some stormy weather in Alberta, and almost right on cue, it starts raining where we are, too.

More time is killed browsing around the duty free shop, which really is a damn scam when it comes to BC, since the PST and HST is outrageous, lending credence to the acronym BC – Bring Cash.

We finally get on our plane, and Ma and I get a nice buffer zone between us when the young lady seated beside her offers to move to a different seat after noticing the sling on Ma’s right arm. It really isn’t any trouble, but I admit that it’s nice having as much room as I want to kick back and relax on the flight. I also have a window seat, which always provides some neat visuals at 35,000 feet. But for the duration of this hour-long ride, I’m reading ‘The Book of Awesome’. Cool read, and I find myself nodding and grinning in agreement with many of this author’s choices. The flight back to Calgary is relaxed, which is nice.

Wednesday, August 8: Leaving Calgary and making the trek back home, we stop at a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs chain in Airdrie. I remembered reading a while ago about that particular location, and when we passed it on our way to Calgary a week earlier, I made a mental note to stop in on our way home to try it out. I like it.

We get home at around 7:00, having picked up some KFC in Kindersley. We greet everyone back home, we unpack, and the trip is over.

The End.

Well, not quite. See, that was just the first week of my summer break. And I’m glad that’s how the BC trip worked out because I liked the idea of going away for a week, coming home and STILL having a week left to do whatever else I wanted. So the rest of my holiday was spent….

Thursday, August 9: Seeing ‘Dark Knight Rises’ a second time, but making it my brother Brendon’s first. Told you I’d see it again.
Saturday, August 11: Going to the Ex in Saskatoon, which I hadn’t done in five years. It was oddly relaxed, if you can call a massively crowded outdoor fair event like that relaxed. Brendon and I weren’t operating on any schedule, except for the wildlife show and the Collective Soul concert. Outside of that, we just took in the sights, probably ate way too much carnival food (gotta love them spud nuts), and the shows were awesome.
Sunday, August 12: Returning to Candle Lake for the day and night. I fished, I swam, and I took in the surroundings. Still gorgeous up there, and the only difference is now the old cabin is on the market, with a nice big ReMAX sign out front.
Tuesday, August 14: Cruising up to the city to pick up some Blu-ray releases, including ‘JAWS’ and season six of ‘Dexter’. That night, I slowly got myself back into reporter mode as I checked out the circus in Outlook held outside the Rec Plex. That night, I begin blazing my way through ‘Dexter’, episode by episode.
Wednesday, August 15: I finish ‘Dexter’ and begin the wait until season seven. Seeing how it’s my last night before returning back to the office the next morning, I just relax and reflect on an amazing two weeks.

THERE’S your ending.

So in short, a very groovy summer. I also turned 27 a week ago, so that’s cool, I guess. Plus the Labor Day long weekend is upon us, which I’ve always considered the last big hurrah for summer. Certainly not a shabby past month.

OK, I’ll shut up now.

Peace!

Owen Hart Died 13 Years Ago Today

Hard to believe that it was 13 years ago today that WWF wrestler Owen Hart tragically died in a horrible stunt gone wrong. Owen was being lowered to the ring in what was supposed to be a spectacular entrance from the arena’s catwalk way above during a live pay-per-view in Kansas City, until the harness clip snapped and he fell to his death, smashing chest-first into the top rope, which hurtled him into the ring.

I remember that night vividly, because it was the May long weekend and I was walking back from a friend’s house after having a bonfire and I turned on the TV. The local news was on, and when I saw Owen’s photo in the top right corner, I immediately knew something very bad had happened. And obviously, it did.

Monday Night Raw the following night was a tribute show to Owen, with matches interwoven with comments from guys on the WWF roster about their fallen brother. I watched with a lot of sadness that night, just like the millions of other fans around the world.

The aftermath was ugly as Owen’s widow, Martha, sued the WWF in a legal battle that finally ended near the end of 2000, when the company paid her just over $18 million. To this day, Martha has never agreed to sign over Owen’s likeness or give permission for him to be used in home video releases, video games, or even inducted into the Hall Of Fame.

Through it all, it’s always been a great shame that somebody with as much talent as Owen had died in the way he did. To my understanding, he was planning on wrestling for maybe another two or three years before calling it a career. He should’ve had that chance.

Owen’s funeral was on May 31, 1999. Almost 13 years to the day, I still have the funeral card handed out at the service.

Not an Oscar, but it’s a start

So last weekend was the annual convention for the SWNA (Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association) down in Regina, and as a finalist up for an award in the Better Newspapers Competition, held in conjunction with the convention, I was headed south for the weekend and put up in a free hotel room at the Delta, where everything was held.

To make a long story short, which isn’t my style if you know my writing, I actually won the freaking thing! I landed the Best Feature Story Award for my article on the late Lisa Rendall, a woman who was born and raised in this area and nominated as the Saskatoon Citizen of the Year on December 31, 2010. At the time, Rendall was going through Hell with the breast cancer she’d been fighting for over a decade, and sadly, it was winning. My article appeared in our January 13, 2011 issue, and although Lisa found herself physically able to attend her own award banquet two months later in March, she passed away in April.

Looking back now, I’m incredibly grateful that she gave me her time, and provided me with a look into her world as the disease ravaged her from the inside. I had no idea that the story I was writing would come back and benefit me with such a groovy accolade well over a year later.

I’m all for entertaining my readers, so I thought I’d throw together the entire weekend scenario as a journal-like series of events.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21

– I set the alarm on my cell phone to go off at 9 am, which it does with no problems, except for the craving I have for just a little more sleep. I set it for a half hour later, surmising that I’ll still have plenty of time to pack up, get ready and hit the road by roughly 11. Still, even though I’m really not asleep and just want the luxury of staying curled up in the warmth of my bed with my thoughts, I can hear Dad yelling from his chair in the living room that I “better get a move on”. Although cocktails aren’t until 5, dinner until 6, and the awards ceremony until 7, he must think my getting down to Regina will require a team of Clydesdales, plowing and pulling their way through thick forest while I engage in fisticuffs with the most diabolical of thieves, braggarts and shady individuals. Dad is just gonna keep hollering every few minutes until he hears my bedroom door open, so I just get up.

– I’m on the road to Regina by exactly noon, after a few errands in Outlook. These include hitting up the ATM, fueling up, and stopping at the Bargain Shop for a couple things. I’m looking for Brylcreem, but instead settle for some AXE version of pomade called ‘Clean-cut Look’. Whatever. I’m Regina-bound.

– Hitting the highway and throwing my Ford into cruise, my entertainment for this 2.5 hour drive is a blend of an mp3 disc I recently made and the best of the Howard Stern Show from the past week on Sirius. As I arrive in Davidson and hit up the A&W restaurant, I chow down as Howard wraps up an interview with John Cusack. The show never ceases to be that reliable driving partner, keeping me alert, making me laugh and passing the time when my job or other activities require me to hit the road.

– I’m in Regina by roughly 3 that afternoon, and after finally getting to my hotel and obtaining a parking pass while experiencing the superb downtown traffic the city has to offer (damn one-way streets), I’m on my way up to the 24th floor and open the door to my room. A Kong-sized bed and a cool view of the city are among the highlights of it, and even cooler is the fact that I’m not paying one dime for any of it – thanks, SWNA!

– Settling down from the day’s travel and after laying out my clothes for the night, I flop down on the bed and watch Storage Wars on A&E. At around 5:30, I start putting on my fancy evening wear – dark purple dress shirt, black pants, black dress shoes, a black/silver/red tie, and then I top it all off with a black zip-up vest. Hardly fancy when I think about it, but certainly better than sweatpants and a wrestling t-shirt, which was, obviously, my first choice.

– I find all the goings-on on the second floor of the Delta and begin the mingling process, shaking so many hands that they all seem to blend together. This is my first time at the yearly convention, so I figure a little networking is in order. There are faces I instantly recognize and new ones that I eventually meet, and then I find my table where Delwyn (my boss) is sitting and dinner begins shortly.

– What a feast! Roast beef, BBQ ribs, chicken breasts, fish, potatoes, veggies, the whole nine yards. Everything kicks ass.

– After dinner, the awards ceremony begins and my eyes are trained on the white board in the northwest corner of the room, which is showing the nominees in each category as MC Chris Ashfield (of the Whitewood Herald) reads them out. Winners come and go with each category that comes up, and the ‘Best Feature Story’ one is inching closer and closer as others collect their plaques for the best in advertising, photography, and so forth.

*Daniel Bryan mode* YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

– Here it comes. Ashfield begins reading out the nominees for ‘Best Feature Story’ and I see the front page of my article come up on the white board. The hair on my arms raises just a little at the sound of my name, and I turn my gaze down to my table, preparing myself not to win and trying to look gracious in defeat. The only problem with that is that Ashfield says my name a second time, just after he says ‘And the winner is…’. I win. My eyebrows raise, I silently mouth ‘Holy shit!’ and I make my way to the side of the stage, where SWNA President Alison Squires greets me with a smile, hearty handshake, and a photo is snapped. “Ended up being worth the drive, huh?” she asks. Indeed it has been.

– Handshakes around my table, and Delwyn is beaming. Obviously, I am too. I never expected to win, and designated myself to that comfy “Just cool to be nominated” position in the weeks leading up to this event. Actually taking home the plaque was by no means a certainty in my mind, so this is very, very cool.

– I’m a happy man. So happy that after the evening comes to a close, I go back up to my room, grab my little Canon Powershot and shoot a number of photos, including one of the plaque resting against a window that looks out onto the city of Regina at night. But not before I make the obligatory phone call home to announce my hearty triumph to the family. Ma sounds a little choked up after I tell her that I’m “coming home with more than what I left with”. Crazy dames, with their feelings and whatnot. All kidding aside, I’m more than a little proud to tell the woman who is arguably the biggest fan of my work that my peers in the paper business seem to share the same sentiment.

– I throw the photo of the plaque on Facebook and within mere seconds (not an exaggeration), I start getting a flood of “likes” and words of congratulations from friends, family and assorted acquaintances. Ah, the power of social media.

– Having had some time to celebrate by myself and put it out into cyberspace, I head back downstairs to the ‘hospitality suite’, which is a politically correct way of saying, “Hey, you in the purple shirt! Get in here and drink with us, cuz it’s open bar and we don’t work tomorrow!” Sounds good to me. I indulge in a few rum and Cokes, shake even more hands and find myself going over the Lisa Rendall article all over again. A lot knew her name because she was a longtime radio personality on C95 in Saskatoon, or else they knew her from the endless breast cancer fundraisers she organized over the years.

– One more rum and Coke (didn’t I say that two of them ago?) and I head back up to my room, where more comments have hit my Facebook page. I’m feeling good, but now a little hungry, so I order some wings and pizza from Domino’s. I devour the wings while watching Corner Gas, but I guess that’s all I needed, because the pizza goes untouched. It’ll have to make the trip home with me. In hindsight, I probably should’ve just gotten room service.

– I didn’t think of it when I was packing, but I’m now stuck with no form of white noise so that I can actually get to sleep. I’ve been this way for as long as I can remember – I just can’t sleep without some kind of background noise. I’ve used a fan in my bedroom for the longest time, but just this past week my sleep therapy machine arrived in the mail. I now get my beauty rest with the help of ocean waves, and sometimes the sound of a summer night. A word of warning to the future (ex)Mrs. Ruttle – you land me, you land my sleep machine.

SUNDAY, APRIL 22

– I ended up using the Food Network as background noise to lull me to sleep. Strangely enough, that didn’t make me dream of steak, pasta or seafood, though it’s not like I didn’t want it to. Even though I set my cell phone alarm for around 10, I’m up by 8. Weird how that happens. Must be the unfamiliar sleeping environment. Also funny is the fact that despite this bed being stupidly large, I stayed on only one side of it all night. Hmmm. Guess I could’ve invited one of the many lovely ladies clamoring to be my date for this gig. Ha ha ha…………..is he joking?

– I’m packed up again, checked out of the Delta and back in my car by a little after 11 am. But I’m not headed home yet, as I told myself that once everything in Regina was over with, I was gonna take a trip down to Rouleau, where Corner Gas was filmed. I make my way out of the city and arrive in ‘Dog River’ after a half-hour drive.

– This is pretty cool, now that I’m here. I’m staring at the Dog River police station, as well as the bar, and I snap photos. Finally, I make the actual Corner Gas station and Ruby Cafe set the main event of the early afternoon, getting many more snapshots. As it turns out, the inside of the gas station is being renovated because that’s where the memorabilia and gift shop is being moved to as of May 1. It was in the Dog River police station, but now people will actually drive out to Corner Gas to buy something related to Corner Gas, all because of their fondness for the TV show………Corner Gas. CORNER GAS!!!

– Back in the car, and I make my way back home. Again, Howard Stern and the gang keep me company, save for an hour or so when I’m blasting tunes good and loud. I arrive home a little past 4:30, and walk into a house full of people congratulating me once again, this time in person. Feels good. They hear all about the convention, the awards ceremony and my trip down to Rouleau, and it turns out they’ve been preparing a congratulatory supper. We sit down to steak right off the BBQ, seasoned potatoes, asparagus, and then a choice of either chocolate or butter pecan cake for dessert. Good eatin’.

Such was my entire Regina experience. I went, I saw, I ate, I won, I drank, I drank some more, I ate again, I slept, and I left. All in all, a great weekend. I suppose time will only tell if I am summoned to next year’s convention to defend my title. We’ll see.

For now though, I’m happy.

WrestleMania 28 – It Came, It Saw, It Delivered

For my money, WrestleMania 28 this past Sunday more than lived up to all the hype, promotion, pomp & circumstance when all was said and done.

Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker look to the crowd following an awe-inspiring clash. (Photo WWE.COM)

I would easily slot this in as one of the all-time best ‘Manias in history. No joke. If I had to give you my Top 5, I’d have to say that ranking goes 17, 19, 20, 24 and then 28, but that’s just the chronological order. If I rearranged them to go from absolute best to, well, the fifth best, then those ‘Mania editions are scattered in the form of 17, 20, 28, 19 and 24. So this year’s event is sitting pretty right in the middle of the greatest editions ever. Well, at least in my humble opinion.

I rank ‘Mania 28 as high as I do because, as I said, it more than delivered on all the hype. It exceeded my expectations and as a lifelong fan, I was incredibly satisfied with the overall show when it was all over.

I’ll put it another way. This is the first ‘Mania in years (since 24 in 2008) that I could sit down right now and watch all over again, from start to finish. That hasn’t been the case with the last few ‘Manias. There may be a great match here and there (in the case of 25, the greatest one ever), but the last few ‘Manias suffered from a lot of misses on top of the few hits. Last year is probably the greatest example of that, when the main event match for the WWE Championship – The Miz vs John Cena – was bland, off the mark, and more about what someone else NOT WRESTLING was gonna do other than the actual match inside the ring.

Was ‘Mania 28 perfect? No, but again, in my book it was the closest thing to it in a long time. But the matches that needed to deliver – CM Punk vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Title, The Undertaker vs Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match, and of course, The Rock vs John Cena – did just that, and then some. In an era where fans are lucky if a big-time match goes over 20 minutes, those three bouts consisted of nearly 85 minutes of bell-to-bell wrestling. Money well spent, in my book.

But enough marking out over the show in general. My thoughts on each of the matches….

1. World Heavyweight Title, Daniel Bryan (C) vs Sheamus: Here’s where the Internet is going ballistic. The match was over before it even began, because what WWE did was have Sheamus kick Bryan’s face off as soon as the bell rang and after Bryan was done kissing girlfriend AJ for good luck. The angle is that Bryan either didn’t hear the bell, or just didn’t care that it rang, and it cost him the World Title. It was over in 18 seconds. Of course, I was instantly disappointed to begin with, but as it sunk in more I realized that perhaps people would remember that moment MORE than they would an actual match that went maybe ten minutes at best. It kicked off ‘Mania with a bang and popped the crowd huge. Did I want to see Bryan and Sheamus have the match they should’ve had last year? Sure. But in the end, it was more about creating a moment than a match. And I think with how well he’s gotten over as a heel, Bryan isn’t leaving the Title picture anytime soon.

2. Randy Orton vs Kane: It had next to no heat or momentum going into the PPV, but on paper it’s still a match between two main event superstars. I liked this match and thought it was in the right position on the card. A solid undercard bout that got very physical, very quick. I was surprised that Kane got the win, because if I had to guess I wouldn’t have pictured this feud continuing. Looks that way, anyway. Far from Orton’s best ‘Mania outing, but it’s the best we’ve seen from Kane in a long while.

3. Intercontinental Title match, Cody Rhodes (C) vs Big Show: This one was short and sweet, for good reason. Cody looked good against the mammoth Show, who gave him more than his fair share. I didn’t see Show actually winning the gold, but I don’t hate it either. That was a cool tackle in mid-air when Rhodes went for the kick off the top rope. I wonder if Cody finally losing the Intercontinental Title after eight months is a sign he may be moving up the ranks to the World Title picture? I’m not sure about WWE pulling that trigger yet, but there’s nothing wrong with at least teasing it.

4. Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Eve & Beth Phoenix: Yay, it’s the annual Divas match at ‘Mania that no one cares about! Just kidding, but sadly it’s not really a joke. The last time the Divas division got any proper attention at the biggest show of the year was six years ago at ‘Mania 22, when Trish Stratus fought Mickie James in the payoff match to that really well done stalker angle. That being said, I didn’t hate this match. Listen, it was what it was – another match where a celebrity goes over an actual WWE star to gain even a morsel of mainstream publicity. That’s just the reality of it. The match itself was fair, and I actually applaud Maria for trying to work a match like an actual wrestler, even getting worked over at times and selling like a champ. That dumb bitch Snooki did jack shit in that farce of a match last year.

5. Hell in a Cell, The Undertaker vs Triple H (guest referee Shawn Michaels): Absolutely amazing. The whole presentation of this match fired on all cylinders; great entrances, awesome face-off, Taker finally revealing what his new hairdo looks like (a cool mohawk), and even playing Metallica’s “The Memory Remains” as the Cell was being lowered to start the match. The action was intense and told a fantastic story. Well, it HAD to. This was the last chapter in what can really be called a four-part epic, starting all the way back to ‘Mania 25 with Taker’s first classic with Michaels. I thought it blew away the Taker/HHH match from last year, and really mimicked the second Taker/HBK clash from ‘Mania 26 as it reached the conclusion. Taker himself looked healthier and even quicker with the full year off he had from action. Triple H looked better than he did in his matches late last year with CM Punk and Kevin Nash. And HBK as the guest ref was great in his facial expressions to really sell the drama. And of course, with a final Tombstone, the Dead Man went 20-0 in his winning streak following a 30+ minute blockbuster. Cool as that is, the post-match image of Shawn and Taker helping a defeated HHH to his feet and then the three of them walking up the ramp is one hell of a WrestleMania moment. The emotion behind it made me question whether we’ve actually seen the last of The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I really, really hope not.

6. Team Teddy vs Team Johnny 12-man tag match: This was the right place for this match. People needed to rest after the HIAC epic and there needed to be a good ‘buffer’ between it and the other two main events, so this was appropriate. By itself, I thought it was a fine mess of a multi-man match. Everyone got a chance to perform in the ring, and it even managed to pop the tired crowd once or twice. The right team won, that being Team Johnny representing John Laurinaitis, because it opens up a lot more storyline opportunities for the foreseeable future.

Punk calls for the GTS to end the match. It wouldn't work. (Photo WWE.COM)

7. WWE Championship, CM Punk (C) vs Chris Jericho: Excellent match. What I salivated over was the prospect of this being the best pure wrestling contest, and that’s exactly what we got. For over 20 minutes, Punk and Jericho tore into each other with various moves, strikes, holds and submissions in a match that started off slow, but gradually snatched the crowd’s attention and had them on their feet in the final moments. Just a great chemistry between these two, and I loved the several submissions attempts by both of them to try and end the match. It pulled the crowd in with every anguished yell and scream, as Punk or Jericho tried making the other tap out. Punk finally managed to get the win by submission, and I cannot wait to see how this story moves forward. If I had my way, I’d have Jericho win the gold at the next PPV, Extreme Rules, which is in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. Then a third match, the rubber match, somewhere else down the line. And I’d make it an Iron Man match. Book it, Vince.

8. The Rock vs John Cena: Epic. Historic. Once in a lifetime. That’s how WWE promoted this match, and the end result lived up to it. Great face-off when both guys got in the ring, which I was looking for to mimic that feeling of Rock/Hogan from a decade ago. Very back and forth in the beginning, which was the right move in order to show the fans that it could go either way and was too hard to predict yet. Rock was the absolute babyface throughout and Cena the heel, which surprised me because I thought that, like at ‘Mania 18 when Rock fought Hogan, a large portion of the fans would switch over to Cena and split the stadium almost 50/50. That wasn’t the case here. I thought Rock looked great in his first singles match in nine years; very fluid and bumping really well for Cena. And people can say what they want about John, but he brings his A game in big match situations. For a match that’s designed to only happen once, I liked the chemistry between them. It had some great near-falls and great drama in the end. I loved that the WWE brought back that old bit of the ref checking on a wrestler by lifting his arm to see if he’s conscious. The ref did that to The Rock when Cena had the STF submission locked in, and just like it always does, Rock’s arm staying up on the third check blew up the Miami crowd. From there, it built to the end where Cena got too arrogant and attempted his own version of The People’s Elbow. It bit him in the ass though, as Rock exploded and nailed the Rock Bottom for the huge win. That, I didn’t expect. A pleasant surprise to see Rock win this half-hour battle, even if it does produce many calls for a rematch some day. But I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen.

Rock vs Cena provided as much drama as was expected for this year-long anticipated match. (Photo WWE.COM)

Again, overall, this was just a fantastic PPV. Great wrestling, emotional storytelling, and memorable moments. All ingredients that a WrestleMania should always have.

On to ‘Mania 29 in Jersey…..

More Than Just A Match – Rock vs Cena

The world will be watching this Sunday night, April 1 from Miami, when the WWE finally unleashes what’s being called history-making, once in a lifetime, and the biggest main event in pro wrestling history at WrestleMania 28.

The Rock vs John Cena.

There hasn’t been a match that has divided millions of wrestling fans this much since….well, ever.

In one corner, you’ve got The Rock; the People’s Champion, the Great One, a leader of yesteryear’s Attitude Era, and someone who made the decision to “return home” after making a name for himself in Hollywood to set the stage for what’ll be one of the industry’s biggest moments in history. In the other corner, you’ve got John Cena; the Cenation leader, the WWE’s resident top dog for the past seven years, and a guy who will go down in history as perhaps the company’s most polarizing superstar of all time.

Now put them in the same ring and ring the bell, and indeed, it should be a monumental moment in history.

But before the main event begins, the story behind this Sunday’s epic Rock/Cena battle requires a little explanation, and a look back at their respective roads to greatness that tell an interesting tale.

2002

Fresh off his blockbuster match at WrestleMania 18 against Hulk Hogan, at this point The Rock was weaving in and out of WWE storylines as he juggled main event commitments with a growing number of Hollywood projects. He left for the spring, with the plan being that he’d return in July to win the WWE Undisputed Title and begin his Summerslam program with Brock Lesnar.

Meanwhile, on the June 27 episode of Smackdown, Kurt Angle issued an open challenge to anyone in the back. Out came some cookie-cutter rookie named John Cena, who exploded against Angle and took him to the limit before the Olympic gold medalist was able to steal the win. Cena impressed many backstage, including WWE Champion The Undertaker, who shook his hand and said “Good job.”

2004

Fast forward almost two years later. By this time, Cena was a fast-rising babyface in the middle of a feud with the Big Show over the United States Championship. They fought in the opening match at WrestleMania 20, with Cena winning the gold to the delight of the MSG crowd in New York City. His star was only getting bigger.

Elsewhere on the show, The Rock had returned in time for ‘Mania, teaming with Mick Foley against the Evolution stable of Randy Orton, Ric Flair and Batista. The Rock n’ Sock Connection lost, in what would be Rock’s last match for well over seven years. Afterward, he simply vanished from WWE programming. No goodbye speech, no teary final promo – The Rock was just gone.

2008

By this point, The Rock was a full-fledged movie star and seemingly content to leave his WWE persona and career in the past. He’d seen it all and done it all, so conquering Hollywood was the next logical step in his life. However, with ‘Mania 24 on the horizon in Orlando, Florida, Rock was a presenter at the Hall Of Fame ceremony the night before the PPV, where he inducted his grandfather and father. Rock seemed genuinely happy to be “back home” in the WWE environment, doing some very fun mic work as only he could and even taking a few jabs at Cena in the process.

Cena himself was stirring up a lot of debate online after he shot on The Rock during an interview in February. He questioned why Rock “couldn’t come back” and took him to task for claiming he still loved the business when he wasn’t a part of it anymore.

A few quotes from the interview:

“He is a genuinely nice guy and a fantastic human being.”
“What I kind of get peeved about, and this is my Achilles heel, is that I’ve wanted to do this my whole life.”
“Rock falls into that category. At one point he loved wrestling and wanted to do this all his life.”
“So explain to me why he can’t come back.”
“Simply put, it’s because he wants to be an actor and there’s nothing wrong with that. He’s very good and very successful. Associating with sports entertainment doesn’t do much for his acting career. I get it.”
“Just don’t fuck me around and tell me that you love this.”
“That’s the only thing that gets me really pissed off.”
“Our fan base have so much admiration for him, he’s got to respect that. He doesn’t give anything back.”

Many took this as Cena and even Vince McMahon’s way of trying to make some kind of match between Rock and Cena take place back then, but obviously it wasn’t to be at that time.

2009

Heading into ‘Mania 25, Cena ran his mouth again about Rock in an interview, this time actually challenging him to a match. From his side, Rock seemed to shrug it all off as Cena trying to make an angle for himself.

“”I’ve seen and heard all the things he’s been saying about me in the press. It’s honestly laughable and baffling at the same time,” said Rock.

PRESENT DAY

And now, we’ve seen the rest of their story play out since The Rock returned in February of last year. We’ve seen all the promos, we’ve witnessed a taste of the physicality, and it all comes to a head this Sunday night at WrestleMania 28.

So then, how do you pick a winner?

I think there are a ton of factors to consider no matter who you pick to win.

It’s easy to say that Cena should win because he’s been WWE’s top dog for years and is the current leader of today’s generation. In that regard, it’d be like a symbolic ‘passing of the torch’ scenario as someone from one era putting over the guy from today’s era. Very much like how Rock/Hogan ended in the first place a decade ago.

That’s all well and good, but here’s where I have a couple of issues. First off, I think that Cena’s stock has dropped considerably in the last couple of years and frankly, the WWE appears to have the next top guy in CM Punk ever since he started climbing the proverbial ladder since that infamous shoot promo last June. Sure, you can argue that Cena is still the company poster boy to a certain extent, but the fact is he was a much bigger name three years ago.

Second, because of the length of time he’s been on top, does Cena really NEED putting over by anyone else at this point? Does he still need to be ‘made’ by a top superstar, current or otherwise? No, he doesn’t. On his way to being solidified as #1, Cena defeated top names like Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, while going over others like Edge and Randy Orton before those guys became top tier talent. Today, Cena is actually the one who needs to help make tomorrow’s superstars. And he has with CM Punk, who as I mentioned is arguably the new #1 guy in the WWE.

The other scenario is having The Rock take the win. Could it happen? Perhaps as a sign of respect for someone who will undoubtedly headline a Hall Of Fame class one day, Cena will put Rock over. But more than that, we’re talking about a guy who, even with his long list of accomplishments and successes in the past, is still relatively young at age 39 and could still have more than a few matches before he finally decides to end his in-ring career. In a lot of ways, The Rock is NOT where Hulk Hogan was a decade ago; someone who was physically ailing and whose best years were long behind him. The People’s Champ could most likely wrestle full-time if he wanted to, and the thought of him tangling with the other stars of today makes for some other interesting match-ups.

Another factor in having Rock leave victorious is the rumor that there could be a rematch, or even a Best 2/3 series that would start this Sunday, continue at Summerslam this August, and finally end at next year’s ‘Mania. Interesting scenario, but I think it’s overkill.

One final take on this match’s conclusion is that, win or lose, Cena could finally turn heel and unleash a new villain for the modern age. If WWE were to ever pull the trigger on Cena joining the dark side, ‘Mania would be the place to do it.

OK, so what’s my opinion?

First off, I think the build to this match has been hurt at times. On Raw for the last month or so, it felt like there was this apparent mandate handed down by the WWE to NOT be serious about the ramifications of this match, and to just be ‘entertaining’. Bad jokes, silly raps, rock concerts that drag too long, and all of it done with a big, toothy smile. Only this past Monday on Raw did Rock and Cena get in each others faces and leaves the comedy behind, but I wonder if it was too late.

Still, besides on-air promos, there has been quite the build for this match, and WWE is going out of their way to stress that this is a “once in a lifetime” moment in history, the likes of which we’ll never see again. Whatever one might think about Cena or Rock, I believe they’re gonna go all out to give us a memorable match.

I also think The Rock is here in the WWE because he genuinely wants to be. The Web has been going nuts for months over his intentions and how he’s “just here for the money”. Does anyone actually think he needs the money? Did he even really need to come back in the first place? No on both questions. And I believe Dwayne Johnson always envisioned that he’d come back one day. He didn’t know when, and he didn’t know how, but I believe it to be true. Why else would he have just disappeared after ‘Mania 20 back in 2004, with no fuss made or one final promo from one of the greatest mic men in the business? Rock leaving back then actually helped open the door for Cena to become ‘The Man’ in the first place.

In the end, I actually think that very first scenario will play out, with Cena winning clean over Rock. I could see Rock thinking about his match with Hogan back in 2002 and theorizing that he should do business for John like Hulk did for him. One leader putting over another, and that proverbial torch being passed. If that’s what we see on Sunday, I’ll be OK with that. One thing that people aren’t talking about is the aftermath of the contest, which I think could be the most interesting part of the entire battle. No matter who wins, what will happen when the bell rings and ‘Mania comes to an end?

Guess we’ll find out on Sunday.

Dead Men Don’t Die – The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak

It’s something that gets discussed time and time again throughout the course of any given year, ultimately leading to the WWE’s version of the Super Bowl, WrestleMania. In the last decade, it’s become more of a draw with each passing ‘Mania and a cleverly-marketed concept that has shaped the legacy of one man.

The Undertaker’s flawless WrestleMania winning streak. Or just ‘The Streak’, as it’s most commonly known.

Nineteen matches, zero losses.

The questions seem to start as soon as one ‘Mania has ended for another year. Who will Taker fight next year? What’ll the storyline be? Will anyone actually break the streak? It creates a ton of debate, and everyone seems to have an opinion on who Taker should face next or why that person should actually be the one to defeat the Dead Man. This is nothing new, and that kind of rampant discussion will continue until the day Mark Calaway – the man behind the Phenom – finally decides to hang up the black leather trench coat and unlace his wrestling boots for good.

It’s hard to imagine WrestleMania coming and going without The Undertaker, even though that’ll be a reality in the next few years. He’s become so synonymous with the event that we just expect him to be there, no questions asked; it’s like expecting a light to work when we flip a switch.

Shawn Michaels can have the nickname of Mr. WrestleMania. The fact is The Undertaker IS WrestleMania.

He’s 19-0 at the Show of Shows. This Sunday, at WrestleMania 28 in Miami, The Undertaker faces Triple H for a record third time (2001 & last year), and this time they’re going all out in what I’m sure will be an epic Hell in a Cell match. Shawn Michaels himself is the special guest referee, making things that much more interesting and dramatic. The world can’t wait.

But that’s this Sunday. What I wanna do right now is take a trip back in time and revisit each of the Phenom’s victories at the ‘Showcase of the Immortals’, highlighting each of them as they helped shape Taker’s legacy and set the stage for what could become a picture-perfect 20-0 record in a matter of nights. Along with the ‘Mania number, next to that will be the names of Taker’s various victims over the years. So, without further ado, let’s hop in the DeLorean with Doc Brown and punch this bitch to 88 MPH….

1. WrestleMania 7 – ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka: Having debuted the previous fall in late 1990, Taker was a rookie in the WWF and given the task of being a slow-moving, lumbering, no-selling giant that was impervious to pain, no matter who dished it out. Even though this was the match that started it all, nobody knew that at the time, and this was just a bout to showcase Taker and have him beat someone of note, that being Snuka. Slapped in the middle of a 14-match card with a running time of just over four minutes, this match that began Taker’s winning streak wasn’t a big affair.

2. WrestleMania 8 – Jake ‘the Snake’ Roberts: This time around, Taker actually had a storyline heading into Mania 8 from Indianapolis. Roberts had been working with Taker in an effort to get inside the head of the Ultimate Warrior, who Jake was supposed to be paired with for a lengthy feud until Warrior got himself fired (the first of many times) from the WWF. Roberts moved on to harassing Randy Savage and his wife Elizabeth, and planned to blast the pair with a steel chair at one point on TV. Taker, finally realizing right from wrong, stopped Roberts and became a babyface, so this match came as a result. It was much better than the match with Snuka a year before because Roberts was such a master of in-ring psychology and he knew what would make the audience pop to get the biggest reaction. At one point, Taker rose up after Jake’s infamous DDT and began stalking him at ringside after Jake went after Paul Bearer. Roberts turned around and ate a Tombstone piledriver on the outside, and Taker rolled him back in to get the win.

3. WrestleMania 9 – Giant Gonzalez: Here’s where things get ugly. The Undertaker has always been credited as someone who could make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but even he couldn’t do anything to make Gonzalez look good. This feud started months earlier at the ’93 Royal Rumble, when Gonzalez debuted and attacked Taker as instructed by heel manager Harvey Wippleman. The match at ‘Mania sure wasn’t pretty, and ended in a disqualification win for Taker when Gonzalez used a rag soaked in chloroform to knock Taker out. The Phenom came to before he could be wheeled to the back and attacked the 8-foot giant, but nothing else could’ve saved this abomination of a match.

4. WrestleMania 11 – King Kong Bundy: The Dead Man missed ‘Mania 10 because of injuries and wanting to spend more time at home, which is interesting because if this hadn’t been the case, and if he also hadn’t missed ‘Mania 16 in 2000, he might already be at 21-0. Funny how history turns out like that. This wasn’t much of a feud for Taker, as he was just plowing over the minions assembled by Ted DiBiase left and right. Bundy was no exception. The match wasn’t exactly a five-star classic, but it wasn’t horrible, either. Bundy worked the slow, old school big man style and Taker took the punishment before coming back in the end. A forgettable match on what’s mainly remembered as a forgettable WrestleMania. The only Taker match in ‘Mania history, maybe even his career, to end with a body slam/flying clothesline combo, though.

5. WrestleMania 12 – Diesel: This is the point where I think the WWF realized Taker was a star attraction when it came to their biggest PPV of the year. There wasn’t any talk of his undefeated streak since this was only his fifth match at ‘Mania, but I think from this point on was where the company made sure that he had a big storyline and suitable opponent to properly showcase him. I really liked his feud with Diesel (Kevin Nash) because they were similarly built as two big powerful guys, but it was still quite a clash of personalities and styles. I remember Taker bursting through the ring at an In Your House PPV event in February during Diesel’s cage match with Bret Hart, pulling Big Daddy Cool under the ring, and then Taker producing a mock corpse of Diesel stuffed into a casket in the weeks leading up to ‘Mania. At this point, it was known that Nash was WCW-bound, so the older, smart mark crowd were convinced he’d do the job for Taker on his way out. I was young, so I wasn’t sure if the Phenom would be able to knock off Diesel. I remembering thinking how impossible it’d be for Taker to hit the Tombstone piledriver. As for the match itself, I thought it showcased both guys very well and it was quite balanced. Big man matches have a tendency to be quite slow and boring, but I thought this one broke that mold. I still love the repeated Jackknife powerbombs that Diesel hands out, and Taker just won’t stay down. The Dead Man eventually got the win, and yes, it was with the Tombstone as Big Daddy Cool’s head bounced off the canvas.

6. WrestleMania 13 – WWF Championship match, Psycho Sid: The year 1997 was a transitional one for the WWF, as they adopted more of a TV-14 approach to their programming as the year went on. Actually, it could be dated back as far as mid-1996 when Steve Austin won the King of the Ring and cut the infamous Austin 3:16 promo. As far as Taker went, his ‘Mania status went from being a question mark to battling Sid for the WWF Title when the original plans of Bret/Shawn flew out the window. Not a very good match, but notable for Taker’s first main event at ‘Mania, busting out the old school look of the classic grey gloves and boots, and of course, winning the Title in the end. I think the company was at a point where although they had guys like Bret and Shawn at the top, with Austin lurking just below the main event and waiting to break through, they needed someone who was reliable, a company man, consistent in their ring work and a top draw to carry the company on their back. Taker was that man, and I believe his championship run from March to August that year is one of the most underrated things out of those early Attitude Era days.

7. WrestleMania 14 – Kane: Definitely Taker’s best feud and storyline at that point. The build to this first of many brother vs brother matches went back to late ’97, when Paul Bearer informed Taker of his long lost brother Kane. The Big Red Machine debuted at Bad Blood in October, ripping the door off the Cell while Taker was fighting Shawn Michaels, and piledrove his brother into the canvas, beginning the feud. The build to this match at ‘Mania 14 in Boston was excellent, with Taker refusing to fight his own flesh and blood and Kane continuously attacking him to goad him into a match. When it finally happened, it was almost like seeing Taker fight himself since Kane’s style was incredibly similar to the Phenom’s. To this day, it’s my favorite ‘big man vs big man’ match because these two aren’t like normal big men in wrestling, as they have speed and agility on top of power. I love the spot where Taker goes for a dive on Kane on the outside, but ends up plunging through the announce table when Kane moves. It takes three Tombstones to put his brother away, but Taker finally does it. A post-match attack let viewers know the feud was anything but over, but this match is still their best to this day. Taker’s entrance is also a sight to behold.

8. WrestleMania 15 – Hell in a Cell, Big Boss Man: Unfortunately, this match was a step backward into that King Kong Bundy/’Mania 11 territory where it was just thrown together to get Taker on the card. This was in the glory days of the Attitude Era and Taker’s character was now a much more charismatic, Satan-worshipping heel who led a stable called the Ministry of Darkness (later the Corporate Ministry, a great example of overkill). The Boss Man was sent on orders from Vince McMahon to take the Dead Man out, and apparently the WWF thought Hell in a Cell would draw more interest to the feud between the warring stables (which hadn’t fused together yet). That wasn’t the case, and the prestige and reputation of the Cell took a hit with this watered-down, rather bland contest. Taker won in the end, and the two did the best they could with what they were given, but the match was a dud.

9. WrestleMania 17 – Triple H: And here began the first of what will be, as of Sunday night, three ‘Mania matches between these two. Taker missed ‘Mania 16 due to injury, but he returned later in the spring of 2000 and shed the Dead Man character in favor of, quite frankly, just being himself – an ass-kicking biker. Dubbed the ‘American Badass’, Taker began a feud with HHH leading up to ‘Mania 17 when The Game declared that he’d beaten everyone there was to beat. Taker took exception to that, and the match was made. This feud was great as it let Hunter be as dastardly and cruel as ever as a top heel, including trashing Taker’s bike and attacking him with a sledgehammer so badly that he needed staples to close the wounds. The match was excellent in the colossal Houston Astrodome stadium, as they tore into each other inside, outside the ring, and into the stands. One memorable image from this bout is Taker choke-slamming HHH off an audio-visual scaffold, and then dropping an elbow from the top of it. Another is Taker hoisting Hunter up for the Last Ride powerbomb, and The Game grabbing his trusty sledge up for the ride before bringing it down over Taker’s skull. In the end, the big biker got the win with the elusive powerbomb.

10. WrestleMania 18 – Ric Flair: Still a biker, but this time a heel again, Taker went up against Flair, who had returned to the WWF as a co-owner of the company after the WCW/ECW Alliance storyline ended following the Survivor Series in 2001. Taker kept goading the refusing Flair into a match, even at one point attacking his son David, until the Nature Boy had enough and accepted the challenge from ‘Big Evil’. Undoubtedly a contrast in styles, many point to this match as the one that got Flair out of his depressed funk following a long absence from the ring. Flair himself says a lot of what took place in WCW hurt his love for the business, and he didn’t have any confidence in himself to have a good match, but that Taker led him through it and went out of his way to showcase Flair and his abilities. It’s a fun match to watch, and the crowd pops huge when Arn Anderson runs in and drills Taker with a huge spinebuster, even if it didn’t put him down for the count. Ultimately, Flair ate a Tombstone and Taker’s ‘Mania record reached a pinnacle at 10-0.

11. WrestleMania 19 – Big Show & A-Train: Originally, this was supposed to be a tag team match and Taker’s partner was to be Nathan Jones (Google him), but it was decided that Jones wasn’t ready for a match at ‘Mania and it turned into a handicap match. Again, this was a match that was just kinda thrown together at the last minute to get Taker on the card, with no real storyline behind it. In fact, I think that entire year of 2003 was one of the most unremarkable times for Taker in his career. Taker fights the odds and gets the win here with a Tombstone on A-Train (Lord Tensai!), and then waves the American flag around. Nothing really special here, unless you were a huge fan of Limp Bizkit a decade ago and marked out when they performed Taker’s entrance theme live.

12. WrestleMania 20 – Kane: A rematch with his brother, and a return to the Dead Man character for Taker. Kane had ‘buried’ the American Badass at the Survivor Series months earlier when Taker was having a Buried Alive match with WWE owner Vince McMahon, and as the weeks wore on, there were signs that the Phenom was returning soon. The familiar GONG went off at the Rumble in January, distracting Kane, as well as weird happenings with arena lights and the ring at times. It all came to a head at Madison Square Garden for ‘Mania 20, as the New York City crowd went ballistic for the return of the Dead Man persona following a four-year absence. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I do remember feeling a little disappointed when he still just looked like the American Badass, just with longer, darker hair, a little make-up and the different entrance and attire. Whatever; at least he changed his look later on. That standoff right at the start of the match is still fun to watch, as Taker stares a hole through Kane, and the Big Red Machine refuses to believe he’s seeing his brother across the ring from him. The match is OK, roughly the same as we’ve seen from these two before. The intention was obviously to give fans the Dead Man’s ‘greatest hits’ to get the point across that he was the Phenom again, so in that regard it was a bit of a squash, but it gets the job done and the MSG crowd loved it. So did I.

13. WrestleMania 21 – Randy Orton: This is the point where the winning streak started to become acknowledged. Orton had just turned heel after a forgettable attempt at being a babyface, and he returned to his ‘Legend Killer’ roots, stating that he wanted to crush the legend of The Undertaker and destroy his flawless winning record. This was really just the beginning of what turned out to be a yearlong, epic feud between Taker and Orton. The build-up was great, as Orton was the brash, arrogant punk willing to do anything to get under the skin of the Dead Man, and Taker’s simple message to him was ‘Bring it’. There was a contract signing segment on Smackdown (those never end well) that saw Orton actually slap Taker across the face, and I’ll never forget the boiling rage Taker showed and the flames he made shoot up on the entrance ramp as Orton tried running away. The match itself was excellent and is still regarded today as one of Taker’s all-time best Mania bouts. It seemed for every move Taker tried, Orton had a counter, and near the end there was legitimate doubt over the Streak continuing. There’s a great spot where Taker tries a chokeslam, only for Orton to twist mid-air and drop him with an RKO. The Los Angeles crowd exploded. In the end, Taker was able to keep Orton’s father, Cowboy Bob, at bay and reversed Randy’s own attempt at a Tombstone, hitting his own and taking the victory. These two would go on to have a series of great matches with each other throughout 2005.

14. WrestleMania 22 – Casket match, Mark Henry: People may have marked out over Henry getting a World Heavyweight Title run late last year, but back in early 2006 he was just another big man with no direction. So they paired him with Taker and made it a Casket match for ‘Mania 22 in Chicago. Again, the company mindset seemed to be ‘Who can we pair Taker with this year?’ with no real motivation or deep meaning behind it. The Streak was never in jeopardy and I don’t think anyone actually believed Henry was going to win. I’ve read a few times over the years that the original plan for ‘Mania that year was to do Taker vs Kurt Angle for the World Title, but that got moved up to the No Way Out PPV a month prior. That would’ve been 100 times better than this uninspired contest. I’m a fan of Henry when he’s motivated, and his Title run last year was mostly well done, but he can be really unenthusiastic and even lazy sometimes, and this seems to be the case here as he and Taker have an ugly brawl of a contest. At one point, Taker hits his now-yearly dive over the top rope on the outside, and Henry barely makes the effort to catch him. Careless bastard. Taker actually managed to Tombstone him and roll him into the casket to win, putting an end to a match that lacked the kind of drama his match with Orton a year prior had.

15. WrestleMania 23 – World Heavyweight Title match, Batista: The difference a year can make. Going from mid-card casket matches to the World Title scene, the Dead Man was on a roll when 2007 began. He won the Royal Rumble, a first for him, after last eliminating Shawn Michaels in a showdown that seemed to set the stage for their own future epics at WrestleMania. Having his pick of whichever Champion he wanted to face, the Phenom picked Batista and made his intentions clear with a chokeslam. This set the course for their clash in Detroit, where over 80,000 people packed Ford Field. I remember being pretty pissed off that this match didn’t close the show, as it went on 4th on a card of 8 matches. Despite being right in the middle of the show, many people believe Taker and Batista stole it with their match, which started off fast as the Champion speared the Dead Man to the canvas. Exchanging power moves and trading control, the Animal at one point picked Taker up and drove him through the announce table with a powerslam, and nearly put him away with the Batista Bomb. Taker wouldn’t be denied though, and he eventually snatched Batista and hit the Tombstone to win the World Title. This was another example of a long feud just beginning, as these two met in several other matches throughout the rest of 2007. It also started the trend in which, I believe, Taker’s match was the overall best of the night whenever WrestleMania was said and done for another year.

16. WrestleMania 24 – World Heavyweight Title match, Edge: This feud was different than the ones with Orton or Batista, because it was actually close to a year-long WAIT before Taker could even get his hands on his opponent. Edge had cashed in his MITB contract on an episode of Smackdown in May 2007 following a cage match between Taker and Batista for the World Title, and immediately after Mark Henry had attacked Taker and left him helpless. Edge snuck into the ring, hit two spears and stole the World Title while Taker was on the shelf with a legitimate injury that killed any chance of a long run as Champion. Then, when Taker came back in the fall, Edge himself was out with an injury before he returned at the Survivor Series, posing as a cameraman and costing Taker the World Title, this time against the retaining Champion, Batista. Finally, Edge won the belt back in a triple threat match at Armageddon the following month and was Champion by the time ‘Mania rolled around in late March. It had been a long, frustrating wait, but fans finally saw Taker and Edge battle. Things started slow, but picked up after a few minutes, and soon they had the Orlando crowd on their feet with every trademark move and counter. Edge had a reversal for much of Taker’s arsenal, while the Phenom couldn’t seem to put the Rated R Superstar away whenever he did hit a signature maneuver, like a chokeslam, Last Ride powerbomb, and even a Tombstone, which saw referee Charles Robinson make a mad dash down to the ring that’s still hilarious to watch. The drama escalates near the end when the Edge-Heads (Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder – no doubt the only time you’ll ever see Long Island Iced Z remotely involved in a main event at ‘Mania) interfere and Taker manages to take them out. He turns, and Edge hits a spear. Taker kicks out, so Edge hits another one, but Taker grabs him and locks in the Hell’s Gate submission for the eventual win and, again, the World Heavyweight Title. Yet again, another feud where Taker and his ‘Mania opponent would lock up many more times after the big event.

17. WrestleMania 25 – Shawn Michaels: And here come the classics with HBK. What more can possibly be said about this match that nobody has said before? The only thing I can do is speak about it from my perspective, so here it is; this is, bar none, the absolute best match I have ever been witness to. I have seen some instant classics in my time, and there are others that are underrated gems, but this ‘special attraction’ match between Taker and Michaels is, in my book, the greatest match ever produced. What’s more is that it involves two men who are, arguably, the greatest workers of their generation. It’s 30 minutes of magic as they square off, starting off small with some mind games and just escalating from there. It’s just such a fantastic, well-told story that builds layer upon layer and makes you think they don’t have anything left, until Shawn or Taker kicks out of each signature move the other manages to hit. I still get chills every time I see Taker hit that sick-looking dive over the top rope where he lands on his head, and I remember seeing it live and thinking he was legitimately injured, and badly. Little did I know that this was only the half-way point of this contest, and there was so much more to go. So many great moments, like Shawn avoiding the Last Ride, only for Taker to finally grab him like he’s some pest and hit the big move. Or Shawn slapping Taker’s arm away and hitting Sweet Chin Music out of pure desperation. And of course, the first Tombstone of the match and HBK kicking out. Right there, THAT is my favorite Jim Ross commentary moment – “I JUST HAD AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE!!!” And the look on Taker’s face just says it all at that point. By the time HBK moonsaults into another Tombstone and Taker finally wins, that Houston crowd was tapped out, and rightfully so. The image of both men just sprawled out on the canvas when it was over is burned into my memory.

18. WrestleMania 26 – Shawn Michaels: The rematch of rematches. The ‘Mania 25 match really helped build the fire within Shawn to throw out the challenge to Taker for a rematch, and I liked that Taker played mind games with him and rejected the idea at first. So began the downward spiral of good ole HBK, who became obsessed with wanting another match with the Phenom, causing tension with best friend Triple H in the process and, ultimately, the end of DX. Eventually, Michaels had to resort to costing Taker his World Heavyweight Title in order to get his attention, and the match was set with one stipulation; if Taker beat Shawn, his career was over. HBK said yes, and it was on. The build to this match was arguably the best work that the WWE audio/visual production team has ever done, with incredible video packages that highlighted Shawn’s career and the meaning behind this match. As for the battle itself, the drama was amplified by about 1000% compared to their first epic. Even so, I personally think it didn’t come very close to matching ‘Mania 25. It’s still a great match, and maybe you just need to view it without drawing comparisons. Like I said though, the drama was so much higher with the knowledge that it was HBK’s final rodeo. And that’s just the thing – I don’t know if anyone actually thought Shawn had a chance of breaking the Streak, but when you watch the match you don’t really care about that. If I had to criticize one thing, it’s that the amount of finishers they traded back and forth seemed like overkill, what with the three Tombstones and three superkicks we see. I suppose if that’s the design Shawn wanted for his last match, you can’t really fault that. The end is definitely an iconic ‘Mania moment; Shawn, on his knees and all the fight drained from him, taunts Taker one last time and slaps him across the face. In a fit of pure rage, the Dead Man snatches HBK, launches him into the air and drills him with the biggest Tombstone piledriver we’ve ever seen, putting an end to the match, and to the 26-year career of Shawn Michaels. Fantastic drama.

19. WrestleMania 27 – Triple H: The match that I personally wanted to see. I’m not ashamed to admit that I marked out when Taker made his return following those ‘2/21/11’ videos last year, and then Triple H came out right after him. The second that Motorhead riff hit, I said, “God damn, we got ourselves a match at ‘Mania!” OK, I didn’t SAY that, but that was my instant train of thought. Loved the staredown between them and the silent, no-words-needed challenge that Hunter made to the Phenom, which he rejected with a smirk but then gave a resounding ‘Yes’ with a throat-slash gesture. It was on. I also loved the segment between Taker, HHH and Shawn on the go-home Raw before ‘Mania. The dialogue back and forth between the Dead Man and the Game was fantastic and said a lot about the history and the respect they shared. Then HBK showed doubt over whether Hunter could get the job done, and Taker smirked and left the arena. That whole segment, in my opinion, is some of the best promotion ever done for a big time match like that. If it were a class, it’d be PPV Promotion 101. As for the match, I thought making it No Holds Barred was a good way to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives that both men had at the time. Let’s not forget, Hunter hadn’t wrestled in almost a full year, while Taker was being called into duty very early after shoulder and hip surgery. Those two factors in play, I think this was a great, brutal contest that told an excellent story, and it’s the ONE MATCH that made me believe the Streak was in trouble. I actually thought it was over when Taker weakly grabbed Hunter by the throat in a comeback attempt, but The Game shook his head ‘No’ and hit the Tombstone himself. It wasn’t over, but I love that those two were able to create that kind of drama to make me think it was. In the end, there’s this other great image that doesn’t get mentioned anywhere, and it’s when HHH grabs Taker and pulls him into the middle of the ring, holding the sledgehammer. That, to me, is just an amazing image. The legendary Dead Man, down and out, desperately trying to escape his possible fate, and The Game grabbing him and saying ‘No, you’re not going anywhere – this ends now’. Then Taker managed to lock in Hell’s Gate, and eventually got the submission win. But only one of them was able to actually walk out of the Georgia Dome under their own power, and it wasn’t The Undertaker.

So now, this loooooooooooong list of opponents later, here we are. WrestleMania 28 in a matter of days, and the Dead Man faces another rematch with Triple H, this time in a Hell in a Cell match. And with HBK as the guest ref this time around, again amplifying the drama to another level.

What do I think will happen? That’s simple – The Undertaker wins. No question. You will find no long-winded conspiracies or possible screw-job theories here.

If there was ever any real discussion some day about breaking the winning streak, does anyone actually think an honor that huge and history-making would be given to someone who now works in the WWE front office? A guy whose best days are long behind him? A guy who now only puts on the wrestling tights a couple times a year? No, that just isn’t good business. Personally, I don’t want to see the Streak end. I think Mark Calaway should be able to retire with that kind of record because he’s someone who’s been loyal to the WWE no matter what, and most people point to him as the heart, conscience or life blood of the entire company. On the flip side of that, if the decision was ever made, either by Vince or Taker himself, to end the Streak, the guy who finally pins the Dead Man at WrestleMania should be someone right on the cusp of being that next top guy in the business, like the next Austin or Cena. Someone who the company has huge plans for, and someone whose superstar status could be made when he pulls off the impossible and defeats The Undertaker on the most important night of the year. In a nutshell, someone who would benefit from that kind of historical moment. And a part-time wrestler, full-time office employee like HHH sure as Hell doesn’t need that kind of benefit.

I couldn’t even begin to think about what will happen inside the Cell on Sunday night. I do think it will be a long, brutal epic, and we might even see the return of blood if Taker and HHH are allowed to, as Hunter himself said, go “all out” one more time. My personal belief is that with all this ‘End of an Era’ talk, the match is secretly going to be Hunter’s last bout. There are just a few things I’ve noticed in the build-up that make me believe this. All I really know is that the story should be tremendous, the action spectacular, and the end result the same.

20-0 for the Dead Man.

So then, where does Taker go after ‘Mania 28? I’d say he stays as that once-a-year star attraction and only wrestles at WrestleMania until he decides to call it a career. Or maybe he’ll surprise us all on Sunday and show a rejuvenation that wasn’t quite there last year, and wrestle a good handful of times in 2012. I find myself defending The Undertaker’s health a lot, and I’ll just say this; I think he’s a lot healthier than most people seem to think. Sure, a full-time schedule is obviously not gonna happen, but he’s the type of character who actually shouldn’t be exposed that often. He hasn’t wrestled since ‘Mania 27 last April, meaning that as of this Sunday, it’ll be almost a full year. Even with the worst injuries he’s ever had, he’s never taken more than seven or eight months away from the ring. I wouldn’t count him out of a few other matches in 2012, perhaps leading up to his next big ‘Mania match, which is rumored to be against John Cena. If that’s what we get, then ‘Mania 29 is already looking interesting. And the end result of that match will be the same, too. The Streak going 21-0.

Why?

Because dead men don’t die.

It Must Be WrestleMania Season

It’s late February, the winter weather has gave way to wet, slushy conditions and warmer temperatures in recent weeks, and online debate and discussion is running rampant over a certain huge event on the horizon for Sunday, April 1.

Yeah, it’s WrestleMania season alright.

The WWE’s Super Bowl-esque extravaganza takes place in Miami this year, emanating from Sun Life Stadium, where the NFL’s Dolphins call home. And with it being just a week before we’re into the month of March, the WWE has started kicking things into overdrive when it comes to shaping up the pay-per-view’s match card.

As it stands at the moment, four matches have been made official for Mania 28, while others are just speculation based on the direction that certain storylines are headed:

Confirmed
– The Rock vs John Cena
– WWE Championship match, CM Punk (C) vs Chris Jericho
– World Heavyweight Title match, Daniel Bryan (C) vs Sheamus
– Hell in a Cell match, The Undertaker vs Triple H

Rumored
– Intercontinental Title match, Cody Rhodes (C) vs The Big Show
– Divas Title match, Beth Phoenix (C) vs Kharma
– Zack Ryder vs Kane
– Team John Laurinaitis vs Team Teddy Long for 100% control of Raw and Smackdown
– Possible return of the Money In The Bank Ladder match
– Possible match involving the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal

Of the rumored bouts, there are some that can be considered more of a lock than others. For one, things between Raw general manager John Laurinaitis (Super Dave!) and Smackdown general manager Teddy Long definitely foreshadow some kind of multi-man match at WrestleMania, where one team would represent John and another represent Long. One theory floating around the Web is that WWE doing this kind of match with as many as 6, 8 or even 10 guys eliminates the return of the Money in the Bank Ladder match. If that’s true, then I think it’s justified because the PPV already has a major gimmick match as a main event – the HIAC match between Triple H and The Undertaker.

I’m excited for WrestleMania, that’s obviously a given, but I’d be lying if I said the show has been absolutely flawless in execution over the past three or four years, because it hasn’t. Every Mania comes with a set of unique challenges, ranging from the number of matches on the card, the match order and times, finding a suitable spot for any possible musical acts or performances, and dealing with the egos of talent who want at least SOME spot on the card to ensure a nice payday. And those issues have hindered at least a few past WrestleManias; in 2009, Mania 25 was ill-timed on a show that saw Kid Rock do about ten minutes of music while the Tag Title Unification match was bumped to the pre-show, and in 2010, Mania 26 had ten matches promoted and managed to get to them all, but as a result a couple matches were given peanuts as far as match time (Tag Titles bout got 3:30 minutes, while CM Punk/Rey Mysterio got 6:30 minutes).

So trying to find that balance is the key. They’ve already got the main event card locked in, so now WWE just needs to pepper the rest of the show with a solid undercard and carefully prep the match order. This might seem like an easy task, but when it comes to WrestleMania it’s crucial that you don’t tire the audience or get them burned out by simply scheduling the matches to go from the Divas Title bout all the way to the Rock/Cena main event. That’s where Mania 25 went wrong; the instant classic between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker was an absolute epic, and as a result the Houston crowd was damn near too exhausted to show any enthusiasm for the World Title and WWE Title matches that followed it, which is too bad because they certainly weren’t bad matches.

I think WWE should go with eight matches this year. I’d pick those first four I wrote under ‘Rumored’ and then come up with a match order that satisfies everyone. With four hours to work with on PPV, I believe eight bouts ensure that each one can get the proper time to work with. But until WWE officially announces the rest of the card, I just wanna get my thoughts out on each confirmed match that we know of.

Daniel Bryan (C) vs Sheamus for the World Title: I like both guys an awful lot, especially Bryan, but I fully expect this one to be changed into a triple threat match that throws Randy Orton into the mix because frankly, I think it needs the added star power of someone legit like Orton (well, WWE-legit). On their own, I know Bryan and Sheamus can have a very good match, as we’ve seen them feud over the US Title. In fact, most people remember that this same match was supposed to happen at Mania last year for the US gold, only for it to be – you guessed it – bumped to the pre-show. It shows how very far both have come in the last year, going from dark match to main event Title match, but I think the addition of Orton can make it really interesting and a hidden gem of a match among its higher-profile co-main events.

CM Punk (C) vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Title: For technical wrestling purists, this is the one they’re drooling over the most, myself very much included. I think Jericho’s return has left a lot to be desired, with the mysterious, dark-toned video clips signaling ‘the end of the world as we know it’, but then again we could be seeing the early stages of a bigger picture (Mania is still about six weeks away). But at its core, it’s about two guys who claim to be the best in the world and have the resumes to back up both claims, and Jericho says that Punk is a jealous, carbon copy of himself. It’s still early in their feud, because we have yet to see that first real 1-on-1 promo between them, but I think the ingredients are there to have a hell of a feud over the WWE Title. And of course, from a performance standpoint, all signs point to this being the best wrestling match of the entire night. We shall see.

The Undertaker vs Triple H in a HIAC match: I was originally against the idea of a second consecutive match between Taker and HHH. My predictions for the Mania 28 card were that Jericho was going to target Taker and his winning streak, and that Hunter would turn heel and become a corporate heel, putting himself in a WWE Title match against Punk. But that didn’t turn out to be the case, and now we’ve got Taker going up against an opponent for a record third time in Mania history, HHH. But I started liking the idea more and more following Taker’s sudden return on Raw the night after the Royal Rumble, and now that the stakes have been raised I’m very excited over the possibilities in this match. The Cell hasn’t been used at Mania since 1999, and in recent years the concept has lost a lot of prestige as WWE gave it its own PPV every year, with watered-down matches that hardly called for its use and really pulled back on the violence that Cell matches always resulted in. But I think Taker and HHH will undoubtedly bring the match back to sacred ground and prove that it should be used very sparingly. In fact, I think if there was any match that called for the return of blood, THIS would be it. Hunter said it to Taker himself, “We do this, we go all out.” I think that’s exactly what they’ll do.

The Rock vs John Cena: The match that’s a full year in the making. WWE certainly pulled off something different when they decided to book the main event of WrestleMania 28 the night after WrestleMania 27, and now we’re starting to see the build-up more intensified as the show is mere weeks away. I thought booking the main event 12 months out was weird at first, but quickly realized that WWE did it so they could accomplish two things; one, start integrating social media like Twitter and Facebook into the company to not only help build the feud over a year, but get millions of fans to feel involved, and two, give The Rock an out to return to Hollywood for the rest of 2011 without people asking why he left again. So I think it made sense in the long run. Now, this past Monday we saw Cena give a heartfelt shoot-like promo that threw many daggers at The Rock, which I thought was really well done. Why Cena can’t feel that same kind of passion any other time of the year, I’ll never know. So now, The Rock will be on Raw every week leading up to Mania, and I’m very interested to hear his response to the things Cena has said about him. I believe, of course, that a lot of what Cena or Rock say about each other is greatly exaggerated, but it never hurts to have a little real animosity leading to any huge match.

I don’t wanna try and come up with my win/lose predictions for WrestleMania right now because it’s way too early, but I’m sticking to my guns on the main event. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I think the Rock/Cena rivalry is the 2012 version of the Rock/Hulk Hogan feud from a decade ago. You’ve got Cena in the same position Rock was in 2002 – he’s won it all, done it all, and he’s the leader of today’s generation. Then you’ve got The Rock – not in a place where Hogan was ten years ago, but similar in spirit where he was a top guy in another era and who also accomplished everything in his time. The build-up and the match will definitely be different, but I do see it ending the same way, with Cena winning clean in what I’m sure will be a fantastic contest. And then, either at the conclusion of Mania itself or on Raw the next night, The Rock will fully endorse Cena as ‘The Man’ and put him over in a big way.

The Road to WrestleMania is definitely shaping up to be an interesting one with many twists and turns, and like millions of other people, I can’t wait to see where that road ends up on April 1.

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

Nice knowing you, 2011.

Another year has come and gone, and just as I’m sure everyone else says it, I’ll say it too – where the hell did the last twelve months go? Is it just me, or does it feel like it was only May or June a couple of months ago? Yet we’re over a week into 2012 already. Son of a bitch!

I work in a very lightning-paced environment. Now this requires some explanation, because I DO NOT mean that my two coworkers and I run around the office like tweens loaded up on Red Bull. In fact, there are days that seem to crawl by with little to no activity. No, I mean that this chosen profession of ours – the weekly newspaper gig – operates under a five business day cycle in which the ultimate goal is to be done with one issue on Tuesday afternoon and already try to have in mind what’s going in the next issue before the current one even arrives by courier to our back door. What might be the hottest topic of one week is just a memory after two or three more issues, and the cycle continues as I resume that voodoo that I do do.

It’s because of this that time seems to jet by without a moment’s notice, and 2011 is now in the record books.

With that, I feel it’s appropriate to try and make sense of the last 365 days and highlight some of the most notable occasions that I’ll take with me to my grave.

Overall, I feel that my 2011 was a pretty good year, all things considered. Work has been steady, and the raise I got near the beginning of the year was a nice boost to my morale in addition to my bank account. In non-office related news, my Stephen King project, “Mute”, saw some significant progress, though I’m still a good deal away from yelling “ACTION” on set. So far, the script has been finished for nearly a year, having been completed after an all-night write-a-thon and hitting ‘Save’ at roughly 5:30 am on Saturday, February 19. Perhaps the biggest chunk of the project’s budget was taken care of in October, when I snagged the camera I’m going to use to shoot it, as well as any other ideas in the future – a Canon Vixia HF M-400, one of the newest ones on the market. This came as a result of a car rally that my mom hosted at her bar (that’s Ma’s Tavern in Conquest, everybody!) that people paid $5 to take part in. It raised over $260, so it was a huge help in buying the camera. Yes, you read that right – people in small towns still help each other, and being neighborly is not a thing of the past.

Right now, I’m trying to get my hands on a few set pieces to use and hammering down locations, as well as working on getting the script to a few actors, although I do have my ‘deaf and blind’ hitchhiker cast, so that casting call has been heeded! If I were forced to reveal any kind of deadline, although there isn’t one and I’d only be giving myself a date that would be looming over my head, I’d say that I want to be finished shooting by the end of April and use May as my obsessive, two packs a day, mucho-cursing-from-the-basement editing period. Progress is slow, but it’s coming.

The recent Christmas and holiday season was a damn good one, at least from my point of view. We were done here at the paper on Wednesday, December 21 and had a sweet, mini-vacation of an eight day break before coming back on the 29th. From there, it was just two days of work before the New Year’s long weekend, and here we are, back into the groove once again.

My Christmas celebrations shaped up like this:

December 21: Done work for over a week, I celebrated by preparing myself a gourmet feast and popping the most enjoyable Christmas movie ever made into my PS3 – “Die Hard”. Consisting of a baked lobster tail, two seasoned chicken breasts, potato wedges and crab-stuffed shrimp, the meal cost a little more than grabbing a burger and fries (altogether, and glancing at grocery store receipts, it was roughly $38), but I had a holiday to ring in, dammit! Hardly the modest type, I snapped a pic and threw it on Facebook, claiming that I had just “won the Internet tonight” before chowing down.

December 23: The day before Christmas Eve, I got together with my gang of fellow rapscallions – Alex, Chris and Kyle – up at Alex’s condo in Saskatoon for a night of movies, cards and intelligent discussion and debate regarding the state of the world economy as we head into 2012. (Try and guess which one of those is complete bullshit. Oh c’mon, guess!) As plans have a way of changing, we ended up getting together a little later than planned, but all was well when Kyle finally got to Alex’s at roughly 8:00, having made the drive all the way from Swift Current, and a kudos to ‘Big Country’ for making the cross-province trip with no complaints. We had originally planned to watch a few movies, but once I brought out the cards, we ended up playing and sitting around Alex’s kitchen table all night, talking about anything and everything and listening to ’70s and ’80s classic rock (thank you, Sirius satellite online radio). Exchanging gifts, it turned out my friends decided to go the gift card route, as they doled them out from Best Buy, Walmart and HMV, respectively, and I think they were happy with the t-shirts I found for each of them, consisting of Ghostbusters, Mortal Kombat and Back To The Future, respectively.

Though there was no tree or turkey to tear into (we opted for Domino’s), the night was a huge highlight of my holiday, and I think it was something that all of us needed. Among the bigger news items to come out of it was the fact that Chris and his wife Kristin have found a house they want to buy and are currently in the midst of a mountain of paperwork and negotiations. Here’s hoping they get it, even if I’m just looking forward to the housewarming party. Hehehehehehehe, is he joking?

December 24: Running around and picking up a few last-minute things before all the stores close, I ran into an old chum of mine in front of the Co-op in Outlook, Kevin Guillet, who was down for his own massive family gathering out at the farm. Kev lives in Victoria, a former stomping ground of mine, and seems to be doing well for himself with film and video gigs here and there. Back at home, we had Christmas Eve celebrations over at my brother Perry’s, though by this time a stubborn and ill-timed nose congestion really decreased my enjoyment. We played Uno, ate food, joked around – a typical Ruttle family gathering. When everyone else either went home or back to their motel rooms, Brendon and I stayed behind and we all watched “A Christmas Story”. I hadn’t seen that movie from start to finish in years. After getting home, I wasn’t ready to go to sleep so some fat guy could break into my house and leave me a bunch of shit I didn’t ask for, so I watched “Christmas Vacation”, a must-see staple of the holiday season.

December 25: The main event. I was the last one to wake up – remember my duty to watch Chevy Chase attempt a family holiday at home – and open a few gifts, consisting of some new clothes, new bedding, couple of books, and some other stuff I can’t remember right now. I never asked for anything specific and made no list of any sort, so whatever I got, I had to be happy with. No complaints. We had our big family dinner, gift opening and all the aftermath at the tavern, which was an odd idea on paper but turned out great because it had tons of room. Again, more food, more games, lots of photos taken and yes, just as an Irish-Scottish family will partake in, plenty of liquid courage flowing.

The rest of my time off before heading back to work was spent unwinding and recharging my batteries, as well as blowing my nose alot and trying to get that cleared up. I also watched a ton of “Degrassi Jr.” and then “Degrassi High” on Netflix, which really took me back to my childhood when I watched the show on CBC after school every day. Someone send the guy who invented Netflix the finest bottle of scotch they can find, and send the bill to someone who isn’t me.

On December 30, I hit the city looking for some good shopping deals and came out of it pretty decent, picking up seasons three and four of “Oz” and the TRON: Legacy soundtrack for the magnificent total of just under $22, thanks to Kyle’s HMV gift card. I cruised over to Amazing Stories and bought a Batman comic collection I’ve been looking for forever, as well as a neat Freddy Krueger action figure, and he now stands on one of the shelves of my entertainment unit at home, guarding the place along with my larger figure of The Undertaker in all his finger-knived, red and green-sweatered glory.

After satiating my retail urge, I went and saw David Fincher’s North American remake of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”. Overall, I thought it was an incredible film, unique at times and very disturbing in others (rape is a heavy theme), but Fincher knocked it out of the park. I wasn’t exactly ‘wowed’ with “The Social Network” last year, but “Dragon” is Fincher at his best – directing an epic (nearly 2.5 hours) with real, gritty and dark drama that makes for some fantastic storytelling. Daniel Craig sure as hell isn’t James Bond here, and Rooney Mara – a relative unknown now getting some much-deserved attention – throws herself into a role that more than half the actresses in Hollywood don’t have the balls to try. As well, it doesn’t hurt that the opening credits sequence of the film is a total creative mind-fuck. Just gotta see it.

My New Year’s Eve was actually quite uneventful, to be honest. I don’t usually make a big deal out of it, as I consider Christmas to be more significant during that week-long time period where both events take place. I cooked up some skewered shrimp (or lollipop shrimp, as the marketing folks at President’s Choice call it), poured myself a rum n’ Coke or three and bounced back and forth between the South Park and Drew Carey Show marathons on TV. Man, what a bad boy I grew up to be.

Rewinding back to the summer months of 2011, I loved the Conquest Centennial long weekend celebrations back in July. I wore many hats over the course of those three days; reporter, photographer, proud Conquest resident, as well as a son, brother, nephew, uncle, and pyrotechnics supervisor as I blasted off a bunch of fireworks on the night of July 1. Saw some family, took in the events to celebrate my hometown’s 100th, and just enjoyed being in that environment.

I gotta say though, I think the village of Milden got it right with their own centennial celebrations just four weeks later. They kicked it off with a parade on Saturday morning that seemed to never end, and had a street dance that night, filling the prairie air with the sound of music. As fun as our own community’s weekend was, I wish we’d taken advantage of what we have and done the same things. Oh well.

In August, I took a day out of my two-week break from work and drove up to my late uncle’s old cabin at Candle Lake at the beginning of August. It was only for one day and night, and I was by myself, but I have to say that it was the best thing that I experienced last year, bar none.

My original intention was to just make a day of it and actually drive home late, but I’m glad I ended up staying overnight. Making the four-hour drive and armed with a loaded MP3 disc, a change of clothes and my trusty Canon PowerShot, all my old memories came flooding back to me almost instantly as I approached the cabin. This was a place where my family vacationed for many summers when I was a kid, and I hadn’t been up there in 11 years. Older, wiser, and experiencing a lot more in life since that time, I started to feel like a kid again as I saw all the same buildings and businesses that made my summers up there so memorable; the general store/laundromat that even in 2011 still rents out VHS tapes and VCRs, the walk-up fast food restaurant on the corner with vintage advertisements and a carnival-like color scheme, the mini golf course, the petting zoo, and everything else from the mechanic shop to the restaurant/lounge. There’s also quite a bit of new infrastructure up there, including more food services like Family Pizza, a clothing outlet, and even a health centre. What’s neat is the way Candle Lake has been able to adapt to the new century and capitalize on the economic boom and public demand, but a lot of things are still the same and seem to have not changed a bit. It’s an old school meets new school fusion that seems to work for everyone.

I got to the cabin and just took in the surroundings. It’s definitely an old cabin, and quite frankly you’re living a bit rustic when you’re up there, but it’s got power and four walls, so I was happy. I grabbed my camera and just took a drive around the area, taking in the sights and getting reacquainted after a decade-long absence. Saw some wildlife, checked out the trout pond used by those who just want a quaint and quiet day of fishing instead of the choppiness of the lake, and obviously, Candle Lake itself, which seemed no more bigger or smaller than when I was a kid. The water had a silvery grey color to its surface and was alive as it churned tide-by-tide to the shore.

I picked up some dinner, consisting of two medium pies from Family Pizza (pepperoni & bacon, shrimp & mushrooms), as well as a few things at the store before sitting down to watch some electrifying entertainment – whatever the hell was on either CTV or CBC. The cabin is equipped only with an antenna, so you’re stuck with whatever happens to be on those two channels. To hell with it, I say. In the middle of summer, you shouldn’t even be indoors at Candle Lake during the day. I watched the news and then went back down to the lake, relaxing in my lawn chair with my feet in the sand. It wasn’t long before I walked into the water, and doing so once again threw me back in time to when I was up there as a kid, splashing around with my brothers and tossing handfuls of wet sand at each other, which the other guy would take square in the chest and pretend he got shot.

I'll be back.

I fired off quite a bit of photos while both on the sand and in the lake, simply because my surroundings were begging me to. It was roughly 8:00 pm, and the sun was starting to call it a day. As it descended in the northwest, it created an incredible silhouette out of a bunch of tall trees, and the dimming light had begun to shine a light off the surface of the water. It literally looked like some painting a tourist would buy in a gift shop, so I snapped away. The lake is surrounded in this U-shaped section of land, and trees and lakeside cabins dot the properties, which has always made me jealous. I’d kill for a cabin right by the water up there, because I’d be driving up there all the time and nobody from around here would see much of me in the summertime. Christ, I wish I was there right now. No lie.

The next morning, I took one last drive down to the lake and just sat there for a little while; looking out at the beach, the water, the cabins all around the area, a few boats cruising around, and some family enjoying the day. I told myself that I’d be back a hell of a lot sooner than another 11 years, and I fueled up before making the long drive back home.

I intend to keep that promise. I don’t mean to get all soft and ‘deep’ on this, but I went up there to try and reestablish a connection that had gotten lost years ago. I wanted to feel like a kid again. In this hyperspeed world we live in, life jets by waaaaaay too fast at times, and we get lost in our daily lives that consist mainly of work and just waiting for Friday to come so we can recharge and get ready for another workweek. You have to wake up and smell the coffee. Step back and look at things from a different point of view. I went up to Candle Lake to try and reawaken some form of worry-free emotion in my gut that everybody had when they were growing up; to take in my former source of childhood memories and – even if only for one day – not worry about a fucking thing else on Earth and just do as Frankie says, and that’s relax. I’m happy to report that I was successful on all fronts.

And it seems that I got up there just in time, as the word going around my mom’s side of the family is that my aunt Hazel has told her kids to put the old cabin up for sale. Not that it’s worth much, and frankly it’s mainly the land that someone would be buying, but I still wish they’d reconsider and keep it in the family in some way. Hell, I’m sure my family would put some money into it and share it with someone. Time will tell on that front, but when I return to Candle this coming summer, I’ll more than likely be renting a cabin anyway.

From asking ‘Are we there yet?’ to renting my own cabin – yup, getting old sucks.

From there, I actually drove home into a somber affair. My aunt Mabel, on my dad’s side, had died in June and while there was a funeral service out where she lived in Cochrane, Alberta, the graveside service and burial was in Conquest in early August. As my clan tends to do, we managed to turn a negative situation into a positive, and the outpouring of relatives that I hadn’t seen in many years made it into a makeshift Ruttle Family Reunion as we celebrated Mabel’s life with enough food to feed two and a half countries and plenty of alcohol. Hey, it’s what we do.

Looking back, these events were really just a taste of what I encountered and experienced in 2011, but they were the ones that left the biggest lasting impression by far. I don’t know how your year was, but I can look back on mine and say it was satisfying on several different levels. Hope you can say the same.

With that, I don’t know what 2012 holds for me. I know what I’d LIKE to accomplish – getting “Mute” off the ground, shot/edited, and then submitted to film festivals around the country – and I know what I’d like to do again – return to Candle Lake – but that’s the mystery of a new year, I suppose. No idea just what will happen.

In the meantime, it’s nice to think about.

DWR

WWE: Where They Went, Where They’re Headed

Greetings from the office of a roving writer who apparently doesn’t know what it means to keep up a consistent blog. I know that I haven’t posted in some time – the last entry having been in August – so I think it’s appropriate to take a look back at 2011, now that we’re nearly a week into 2012.

This first post – there should be two today – will focus on all the big happenings in the WWE this past year. Yes, I’m a wrestling mark, you already knew that, but I thought I’d sorta resurrect my old “Blood On The Canvas” column and highlight the biggest headlines of 2011, while looking ahead to the new year.

February 14 – The Rock returns to the WWE.

The People’s Champ had been on the company’s TV shows twice in the past four years, but they were pre-taped segments and he had not appeared live and in person inside a WWE ring since 2004. That changed when at the end of Monday Night Raw, the lights went out in the arena, the audience started getting antsy, and a loooooong pause built the anticipation to see who would be the special guest host of WrestleMania 27. It was The Rock, who seemed genuinely happy to be back ‘home’ and proceeded to cut a 20+ minute promo in a segment that would go down as possibly the best superstar return ever in professional wrestling.

April 3 – The Undertaker and Triple H tear the house down at WrestleMania.

People had their doubts over how good this match would be, but the two longest-serving veterans of the WWE produced an instant classic of a battle at WrestleMania 27. Triple H had not competed in nearly a full year, and many questioned the health of The Undertaker, who had only been gone since late October with a shoulder injury and returned in February. However, with a great story told in and outside the ring, their No Holds Barred match was a half-hour war as announce tables, ring stairs, steel chairs and even Michael Cole’s ridiculous ‘Cole Mine’ sanctuary became victims of the onslaught. Nearing the conclusion, Triple H tried everything in his power to put the Dead Man away, including three Pedigrees, a barrage of chair shots to the body and even a crack in the head, which raised many eyebrows since blows to the head are a big no-no, per the WWE’s Wellness Policy. Taker would not stay down, and even grabbed HHH by the throat in a weak attempt to rally back. The Game was not to be stopped, and even hit Taker with his own Tombstone piledriver. Now I’ll admit, THAT made me think for three quarters of a second that the Streak was over. Taker kicked out, and when a shell-shocked Triple H grabbed his trusty sledgehammer as a last resort, the Phenom snatched him down to the mat and locked in the Hell’s Gate submission. The Game squirmed and struggled, but his strength was sapped from his body and he tapped out. And although he’d lost the match, Hunter was at least able to walk out of the arena on his own two feet, while Taker collapsed at ringside and had to be stretchered out. The Dead Man hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since.

April 11 – Edge is forced to retire from the WWE.

Edge, real name Adam Copeland, debuted in the company in the summer of 1998 and enjoyed an impressive rise up the proverbial ladder of the wrestling world, capturing everything from the Tag Team Titles (14 times) to the Intercontinental Title, and after becoming a main event talent going on to win the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Title a combined 11 times. In between all the title wins, he also made history as the only WWE superstar to win the King of the Ring, Money in the Bank contract, and the Royal Rumble. But the life of being a pro wrestler caught up to him, and on the April 11 edition of Monday Night Raw, he walked to the ring, still holding the World Heavyweight Title that he retained at WrestleMania 27 only eight days earlier, and announced that he had to call it a career in order to avoid risking paralysis or worse while performing, citing lost feeling in his arms relating to his past neck problems. This being wrestling, some fans thought it was a work of some sort, but it was all too real for fans of the Canadian superstar and Edge himself, who thankfully got to retire in good health and even as the World Heavyweight Champion.

May 20 – Randy Savage tragically dies after a heart attack & car crash.

Unfortunately, we as wrestling fans are all too familiar with loading up an industry news website and seeing headlines about some indie guy, or a past or present star’s untimely death. Nobody saw the death of the “Macho Man” Randy Savage coming, and it was a hard kick to the nuts of millions of fans around the world who grew up idolizing The Savage One, me included. He was driving in Florida on May 20 when he suffered a heart attack, which caused the vehicle to smash into a tree. Randy was 58. The news really shook up the wrestling world, and even made mainstream news since Savage was second only to Hulk Hogan as a globally known superstar responsible for the WWF/E’s rise to prominence in the ’80s. The WWE acknowledged his passing at their PPV that weekend, and then aired a very well-done tribute piece on Raw and Smackdown the following week. CM Punk even wore pink Savage-style tights during a match on TV and has since adopted Randy’s flying elbow drop as a signature move. And although all signs point to the Macho Man finally getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, lifelong fans such as myself hold it against Vince McMahon that Savage wasn’t inducted years ago. He should’ve been alive to accept the honor.

June 27 – CM Punk cuts a work-shoot promo on the WWE.

Though he’s had some big success in the WWE since arriving in 2006, CM Punk was never really given the ball and allowed to run with it. Yeah, he’d been World Heavyweight Champion three times and had feuds with talents like John Morrison, Jeff Hardy, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, but he always believed he could be that #1 top dog in the company like John Cena. On the June 27 Raw, he sat on the stage near the end of the show and in the biggest controversy of the year cut a promo that blurred the lines between fiction and reality, lambasting the company for dropping the ball with him and targeting figureheads like Vince McMahon and Triple H. He mentioned names that under the routine policy are strictly avoided, like Paul Heyman, and gave a shout-out to good friend Colt Cabana. He even said he likes to think that the WWE will be run better once McMahon is dead, and seconds later his mic was abruptly cut off. Whatever fans thought of the promo, whether it was an elaborate work or Punk venting real frustration, the end result was that it was a blend of the two, as Punk ended up winning the WWE Championship at the Money in the Bank PPV in July in the best match of 2011.

July 17 – Money In The Bank is WWE’s best PPV of 2011.

Even though WrestleMania is the company’s biggest PPV of the year, the end result has been iffy the last few years, and a bland and uninspired main event of The Miz vs John Cena sure didn’t end Mania 27 on a high note. Enter July’s Money In The Bank PPV, which wound up being the most enjoyable and downright best show of the year. Taking place in Chicago, the fans on that night made it seem like a Madison Square Garden atmosphere as they were loud, energetic and very invested in the show. CM Punk, the hometown hero was to battle WWE Champion, John Cena in the main event, but that wasn’t the only thing that raised eyebrows and made history as in the opening match, which was Smackdown’s MITB Ladder match, Daniel Bryan won after an awesome contest, giving the indie sensation a huge boost of credibility and paving the way for his World Title victory in December. Of course, the main event of Punk vs Cena was amazing and fantastic storytelling, as the match reached over half an hour in length and both men pulled out all the stops. Punk’s eventual victory blew the roof off the arena and set the stage for the Straight Edge Superstar’s permanent place in the main event picture.

November 20 – The Rock returns to action at Survivor Series.

The Rock returned to the WWE, but he hadn’t returned to the ring just yet. His upcoming match at WrestleMania 28 against John Cena still set in stone, The Rock ended up joining forces with Cena in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series, taking on the team of The Miz and R-Truth. If anyone had doubts about his abilities after nearly eight years outside the ring, Rock shut them up as he hadn’t seemed to lose a step and looked great mixing it up with Miz and Truth. It remains to be seen whether or not he gets in the ring one more time before Mania, as the Royal Rumble is only a few weeks away. Elsewhere on the card, CM Punk won the WWE Title again, this time from Alberto Del Rio in a very good match. Punk even had legendary announcer Howard Finkel introduce him prior to and after the bout.

December 12 – Kane returns under a new mask.

The Big Red Machine originally shed his mask in June 2003 and had been the bald monster ever since, but following an injury from Mark Henry on Smackdown in July, he came back on Raw in December, interrupting a match between Henry and John Cena. At first wearing some kind of outer metal mask, almost something the Predator would wear, he stalked to the ring and, instead of targeting Henry, chokeslammed Cena before taking off the metallic piece, revealing a newly designed face mask. He even has long black hair, although most of it must be a wig piece attached to the mask. Nevertheless, Kane seems more conditioned and monster-like than he has in years. It probably doesn’t hurt that the company can now market Kane masks again for the first time in over eight years. Ka-ching!

January 2 – Chris Jericho returns as the one behind the ‘It Begins’ videos.

Fuck it, I’m including it here, even if it was 48 hours into the new year. Jericho hadn’t been seen on WWE TV since September 2010, when he was written out of programming after Randy Orton punted him in the skull. In reality, his three-year contract was up and Chris just wanted a rest from the ring and a chance to further his other professional loves, like his rock bank Fozzy and grabbing some other showbiz gigs like Dancing With The Stars. In November, the WWE started airing viral video clips that spoke of a dark and cryptic nature, signaling of the end of the world and that ‘it begins’. The videos stated ‘he’ would come on the second day of 2012, which of course fell on the first Monday Night Raw of the new year. It turned out to be Jericho, who wore an electronic sparkling jacket and soaked up the adulation of the welcoming crowd. Perplexing about his return was that it was basically the same one as his 2007 return, and was hardly any sort of dark or apocalyptic event that the videos made it seem. But as Jericho seemed to milk the crowd and ham it up so much that it became creepy, with a disturbed and out-of-it smile across his face, it became clear that this was not the Y2J of old. He didn’t say a word, and exited the arena to half-boos from the crowd. The Internet exploded with half outrage and half praise for Jericho’s return, but clearly there is a much more serious story to be told as the weeks and months roll on.

As far as 2011 in the WWE goes, as well as the first big moment of 2012, that’s about it in a nutshell as far as history goes. Sure, there were really good moments and feuds, as well as some excellent matches on TV and PPV, but these were the biggest stories in the last twelve months. I can’t say for sure where 2012 will take the WWE, but with a confirmed WrestleMania main event of The Rock vs John Cena, as well as other speculated matches, it’s safe to say TV will be memorable as the biggest show of the year shapes up.

However, on the flip side of that coin is the interest to see if the company can create new stars before, at, and then after Mania to ensure that people stay tuned into the product following the biggest show and match of the year. It’s always awesome to see guys from the old guard stepping back into the ring (Rock, HHH, Taker, a future final match from Austin) but the company can’t rely on those guys forever, and they need to push this current crop of guys to the moon, and quit with the go-stop-go-stop-reset philosophy on pushing others (Alberto Del Rio being the prime example). They either need to be confident in someone to draw money and interest, or don’t be.

Should've been a Christmas card.

But it’s not all negative at the moment, and the WWE has actually taken great strides in the last half of 2011 to develop the new breed of main event superstars and tomorrow’s future legends. The current crop of title holders, consisting of WWE Champion, CM Punk; World Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Bryan; Intercontinental Champion, Cody Rhodes; United States Champion, Zack Ryder; Divas Champion, Beth Phoenix; and the Tag Team Champions, Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne, are a potent mix of experienced indie veterans who’ve finally hit it big on the biggest stage (Punk and Bryan) and those that have the ability to break through the proverbial glass ceiling (Rhodes and Ryder). There’s a great photo floating around the Web of this class of champions, and when I look at it, I get the sense that the WWE is on a really good path so far and they’re making some decent strides towards filling their talent pool deeper. I definitely look forward to seeing where these champions, as well as other guys like Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Sheamus stand when 2012 comes to an end.

Hopefully, in the case of Barrett, the WWE and its Smackdown brand makes its way to Saskatoon again, so I can make my simple, yet witty sign that says “Pade 2 C Wade”. Time will tell.

Undertaker Retires – How I’d Book It

In the web-obsessed age that we live in, where criticism flows like whiskey in Ireland, wrestling fans, and more specifically, WWE fans, can be a cold, stubborn, and demanding bunch. It seems that everyone over the age of 16 with half a brain and all the time in the world thinks they have what it takes to skyrocket the company’s popularity back to “the golden era” and draw better TV ratings and PPV buy-rates.

“This is what creative should do….”

“The angle should play out like this….”

“INSERT NAME HERE should go over, and here’s why….”

Everybody’s an expert, from the dirt-sheet writers who are simply website owners looking for traffic to those that visit them and proclaim what they read as the utmost truth. Personally, I take a lot of it with a grain of salt until I actually see certain events play across my TV, but it seems as though everyone has the “next great storyline” that the WWE should concoct, even if it means ripping off some old WCW angle from years ago or just recycling something else that’s been done before.

Sometimes, though, it’s the most simple idea that could generate mass attention that equals to a mountain of cash for everyone involved.

I don’t pass myself off as any wrestling expert – frankly, there’s no such thing – but as a fiercely loyal viewer and consumer for over 20 years, I believe I have a certain eye for the industry that perhaps many others don’t. Add to that the fact that I’m a writer by trade, and you’ve got a guy who lives his life frame by frame and believes that everyday society is just one big movie in itself. I’m a storyteller, and it’s the only thing I’m qualified to do.

That all being said, and at the risk of being forced to enjoy the taste of my own foot, I DO have a WWE storyline in mind that strictly as a fan, I would love to witness and would gladly part with my cash to see play out on PPV. It’s something that, to be honest, I’m surprised to see hasn’t been done or even discussed before. That’s because it’s so simple in premise, I’m shocked that the great, almighty Vince McMahon hasn’t even come up with it yet.

So, I pose the question to you, fellow die-hards….

What would happen, if the winner of the Royal Rumble chose NOT to go after the World Heavyweight Title or the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, but instead wanted to make history by defeating The Undertaker before the Phenom’s legendary winning streak becomes a golden 20-0?

Titles come and titles go, but the opportunity to shatter a man’s legacy before it becomes absolutely perfect comes around only once.

For over 20 years, the Rumble has been synonymous with a big-time title match at WrestleMania, be it Raw’s WWE Championship or Smackdown’s World Heavyweight Title. For some wrestlers, the path from the 30-man battle royal to the biggest show of the year paid off in spades and they walked out as Champion. For others, they went the distance, but didn’t get the job done.

My idea is to break away from that formula as the Undertaker looks to make history at WrestleMania 28, taking place next April in Miami, where his current 19-0 record could become a picture-perfect 20-0. It’s long been rumored that after it’s said and done, Mania could be the last we’ll ever see of the Deadman in the ring again, and Mark Calaway will be retired. If that’s the case, then I’d like to think his last match could be part one of a double main event, since The Rock vs John Cena has already been locked in for months.

So, when it comes to picking the man leading a lone crusade to topple the Undertaker on the biggest stage of them all, exactly who should the Phenom’s last opponent be? Some impressive talent who the office is really getting behind? A name from Taker’s long past, like maybe Mick Foley or even Stone Cold Steve Austin?

No, for the purpose of this storyline, I’m going with someone who’s only tangled with the Deadman a few times in his own illustrious career and someone who was once a rumored Mania opponent for him in years past.

Chris Jericho.

You can count the number of times on one hand that Y2J has squared off with the Phenom. It’s one of the more surprising things about the WWE environment, considering Taker is the company’s longest-tenured wrestler and Jericho’s own history goes back well over a decade. And yet, I can only think of the World Title triple threat match from Survivor Series 2009 – also involving Big Show – and the two singles matches they had on Smackdown in late 2009/early 2010 as the only recent times that the two have gone at it.

This fact kills any argument that it isn’t a fresh feud or match. The Shawn Michaels/Undertaker feuds that were a focal point of back-to-back WrestleManias weren’t brand new, as we’d seen those two have some epics in the past, but the Mania matches were heralded as instant classics. We’ve seen Taker tussle with HHH before, too, but that doesn’t take away the fact that his Mania 27 war with The Game was incredible. We’ve only seem Taker and Jericho in the ring on free TV a couple of times, so how big could it get if a real program was attached to it and allowed to build for a few months?

Jericho, much like guys such as The Rock, CM Punk, HBK and HHH, as at home on the microphone. He’s a master with his words and the guy can sell a bag of ice to the Eskimos. With the skills that he has, I know Jericho could make viewers believe he could have a chance at beating The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

With that all being said, what follows is the script – actually, more of a story outline – that I would put into action if I were tasked with booking The Undertaker’s match, last one or not, at WrestleMania 28….

JANUARY 23 – RAW

It’s the last week of TV before the first big PPV of the year, the Royal Rumble, and major hype goes into the Championship matches in addition to the 30-man, over-the-top battle royal itself.

With the main event over, those involved don’t stop fighting after the bell rings, and soon enough, the ring fills with babyfaces and heels from both rosters and the result is a huge brawl that gets the crowd worked up. It’s a preview of things to come this Sunday, as bodies soon start flying over the ropes and the ring becomes less crowded with each ejection.

With just a few faces and heels going at it, the lights suddenly go out, that familiar GONG goes off and the fans go nuts when The Undertaker stands in the middle of the ring. He eyes everyone still in the ring and then starts handing out hard right hands and big boots. Soon, the ring is empty except for the Phenom and the crowd starts chanting UN-DER-TA-KER.

Not seen since his epic match with Triple H at WrestleMania 27, the Deadman takes a microphone and speaks for the first time in almost a year.

“The last time that I was inside this ring, an epic battle had come to an end, two men lay sprawled out on the canvas, and pain had spread to every inch of their bodies. And yet, when all was said and done, only one hand was raised, the streak remained unbroken, and despite his best efforts, the title of Victim #19 belongs to Triple H.

But victory can come with a heavy price. When the bell had rung and the war had ended, eventually one of those two men managed to crawl to their feet and leave the battlefield under their own power. It’s more than a little bit humbling to say that that man was not The Undertaker.

The night after WrestleMania, Triple H stood in this ring and spoke of seeing the vulnerability in my eyes, at a level that no other man has ever seen before. In that match, with every swing of a chair and every ounce of physical destruction, I became, for lack of a better term, more human. That feeling of invincibility that I’ve carried myself with my entire career was replaced with the same pain felt by my opponent, and the others that have stepped into battle with me for over 20 years. I left my yard victorious, but at a brutal, physical cost when my body refused to keep me on my feet and I didn’t leave the Georgia Dome under my own power.

That war opened my eyes.

Since that night, and in my time away, the repercussions of last year’s WrestleMania caused me to face a question that’s been on my mind ever since…..

What happens when dead men become mere mortals?”

With that, the gong goes off and the Deadman leaves the arena as Raw goes off the air.

SMACKDOWN recaps Taker’s promo as the announce team tries to decipher the meaning behind what the Phenom said.

JANUARY 29 – ROYAL RUMBLE

The Rumble is in the home stretch as fans continue to count down the 10-second clock that predates each new arrival. In the ring, Randy Orton and John Cena fight off the likes of Sheamus and Wade Barrett, while others such as Kane and Mark Henry tussle like gorillas in the wild. Rey Mysterio and John Morrison do a little high-flying in trying to eliminate R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler, and it’s not long before they accomplish their task. Almost immediately, Morrison flash-kicks Mysterio to the outside, cementing the fact that the Rumble is indeed every man for himself on the Road to WrestleMania.

Soon, it’s time for #25 to make his presence felt and the fans in the arena count along. The buzzer hits, an agonizing pause gives way to endless possibilities, and the fans go ballistic when a long-absent superstar has finally come back home – Chris Jericho. Those still in the ring look to the entrance and produce that look of shock that only comes with a returning star in the Royal Rumble. Jericho takes a moment to soak in the atmosphere, but walks to the ring with purpose, stone-faced and ready to win at all costs. Seconds after getting in the ring, Y2J dropkicks Sheamus over the top rope and then targets Orton. The Viper tries an RKO, but Jericho pushes him off and hits the Codebreaker. Kane takes the opportunity to try and clothesline Orton out, but Jericho instead dumps both of them out.

After #30 makes his way out, the action whittles down to four men – Jericho, Cena, Morrison and Barrett. Cena tries an AA on Morrison, only for JoMo to land on his feet and kick John in the face. Jericho tussles with former protege Barrett and locks in the Walls of Jericho. Soon, Cena and Jericho are fighting, while Barrett connects with Wasteland on Morrison. Cena has Y2J against the ropes and clotheslines him over the ropes, but Jericho lands on the apron. Cena tries fighting Jericho off, but Y2J hits a low punch and sunset flips over John. Seeing his chance, Barrett levels Cena with a vicious clothesline from behind, knocking him out of the ring and the match. Down to only three men, Barrett stomps Jericho in the corner and rams his shoulder into his gut. Trying a clothesline in the corner, Y2J retaliates and Barrett eats foot. When Jericho tries the Codebreaker, Barrett catches him and maneuvers him into Wasteland. Before he can hit it, Morrison comes out of nowhere with a flying chuck kick that topples Barrett and Chris over the ropes. Jericho manages to hold on, though, and the former Nexus leader is eliminated.

Down to the final pair, Jericho and Morrison glare each other down before trading punches and offense. The action is fast and intense, as Morrison lands several forearms to Y2J and then a jumping calf kick. Going for a hurricanrana, JoMo eats a powerbomb from Jericho, who then tries a Lionsault and gets a gut full of knees. Morrison goes for Starship Pain, but Jericho lifts his legs and pushes John off the turnbuckle. Just as Morrison gets to his feet on the apron, Y2J lands a dropkick off the second rope that connects hard, sending John flying off the apron and enabling Jericho to win the Royal Rumble. The fans erupt, pyro explodes and just before the PPV goes off the air, Jericho looks at the WrestleMania 28 banner, makes a championship belt gesture around his waist, but then a dark grin spreads on his face and Chris seems to be saying “No”. What does he mean by that?

JANUARY 30 – RAW

At the top of the first hour, Jericho’s music hits and he comes to the ring as the announcers wonder which World Champion he’ll choose to face at WrestleMania 28. Picking up a microphone, he takes a moment to soak in the crowd noise before speaking in an intense, serious manner.

“I’ve been away from this ring for almost a year and a half, so I’m not gonna lie – it feels good to be back.

But I didn’t come back for you people. I chose to make the Royal Rumble the night that I returned because I have always been about making an impact and doing things that stand out above everyone else. It’s this quality that adds to the reality that I am indeed the best in the world at what I do.

I had to come back and do something that I’ve never been able to do before, and that’s win the 30-man Royal Rumble, and I did just that. So now, Chris Jericho is confirmed for that elusive main event slot, the world is seemingly my oyster and I have my pick of which Champion I want to face at WrestleMania.

(AUTHOR’S NOTE – I don’t know how the WWE is going to handle the Rumble in January, seeing how Daniel Bryan has stated he’s cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase at Mania for the World Title, whoever the Champion is at the time. I’m not writing that storyline, I’m writing THIS one and I’ll leave the MITB angle to creative.)

I came to this company over 12 years ago and have made a name for myself as someone who takes chances, someone who goes outside the norm and someone who creates history. I’ve done things normal superstars could only dream of – I’ve wrestled in all the major countries around the globe, I’m the first Undisputed Champion in this company’s history, I wrestled my idol, Shawn Michaels, on the biggest stage of the year, I’m a two-time bestselling author, and I’m not only a superstar in this company, but as a rock star all around the world! Making history is what I do, and that’s exactly what I intend to do at WrestleMania.

I want to tell the world, and all of those suits in ‘the office’ that as far as both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Title are concerned, I don’t plan to fight for either of them at WrestleMania.

I’m Chris Jericho, and that fact alone tells me and everyone else that gold will find its way around my waist sooner than later, but right now that’s not my immediate goal. I won the Royal Rumble, and that should give me the right to choose who I face at the biggest show of the year! Titles come and titles go, but the opportunity to shatter a legacy before it becomes absolutely perfect comes around only once in a lifetime.

Which is why I want The Undertaker at WrestleMania!”

The crowd goes nuts, the announcers are shocked and Jericho exits the ring as RAW goes to break.

FEBRUARY 3 – SMACKDOWN

The main event is a match between Jericho and Randy Orton, the man who punted Y2J out of the WWE in September 2010. After a good, 15-minute contest, Jericho takes advantage of some interference and hits the Codebreaker for the win. Jericho takes the mic afterward.

“WHERE’S MY ANSWER?!?”

FEBRUARY 6 – RAW

The show opens with Jericho in the ring, suit and tie on and holding a mic.

“It’s been a week since I announced my intentions for WrestleMania this year. I choose NOT to fight for the WWE Championship, and I choose NOT to fight for the World Heavyweight Title! I’ve already told you all that what I want on the biggest show of the year is a chance to make true history, a chance at doing something no man has ever done, and that’s destroy the streak of The Undertaker before it becomes 20-0! But all I’ve been is ignored so far. I am not leaving this ring until I have the match that I want!”

After a few moments and the fans start to boo, WWE COO Triple H’s music hits and he walks out on the stage.

“Chris, nobody knows better than me what it’s like to want to stand victorious over The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Hell, him and I took each other to Hell and back last year and I still didn’t get the job done.

The Board of Directors knows that you want the Deadman at WrestleMania, and that’s fine with us. We’ll do up the paperwork and make it official from a technical standpoint, but Chris, you know just as much as anyone else that it’s not a bunch of guys in suits that’ll make this match happen. You have to find The Undertaker yourself, Chris, and make your case. You have to stand up to him, get right in his face and convince him that you’re the man who has what it takes to break The Streak.

Two weeks ago, Taker came out on Raw and said that he was questioning himself and his own abilities. He’s never done that before. The question, Chris, is what are you willing to do to capitalize on that?”

SMACKDOWN that week recaps the Jericho/HHH promo on RAW.

FEBRUARY 13 – RAW

In action this week, Jericho is on his way to victory in a singles match when suddenly a loud GONG is heard in the arena. The arena erupts, Jericho is distracted, and it allows his opponent to roll him up and steal the win. Shocked, Jericho is in near-hysterics following the loss and marches to the back.

FEBRUARY 17 – SMACKDOWN

Again in action, Jericho gets back the win against his RAW opponent from four nights prior. Immediately following the match, the GONG is heard again, and this time the lights flicker in the arena. Jericho looks around and is going nuts at ringside. Grabbing a mic, he screams, “WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?” before leaving.

FEBRUARY 19 – ELIMINATION CHAMBER PPV

During the last PPV stop before WrestleMania, Jericho cuts a promo before each Chamber match, addressing the fact that he was making history at WrestleMania by being the first Rumble winner to actually decline his Championship match privilege. The main event is for the World Heavyweight Title inside the Chamber, and following Jericho’s tirade he begins walking up the ramp to leave. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes the stage and lights it on fire, knocking Jericho on his ass as technicians rush to put out the flames.

FEBRUARY 20 – RAW

Jericho comes to the ring, microphone in hand.

“OK, I’ve had enough of this. I know very well that the Deadman does mind games, and he does them very well. But you know what it really shows me? It shows me his fear. It shows me that The Undertaker has to resort to playing tricks and trying to get inside my mind, instead of giving me a straight answer. But hey, Deadman, I’ve seen it all before! These idiots have seen it all before! If you want to do something different, then I suggest you simply walk out to this ring and face me like a man!”

With that, the lights dim, the music plays and out comes The Undertaker as the fans go ballistic. Not taking his eyes off Jericho, Taker soon stands face-to-face with Y2J in the middle of the ring.

“Now do I have your attention?” asks Chris. The Phenom just stares daggers into him.

“Good. Deadman, for weeks now, I’ve been coming out here in front of all these idiots and looking for my match at WrestleMania, but you’ve been avoiding the challenge! I won the Royal Rumble and I told everyone that I wanted to make history, and I did that by turning down a guaranteed World Championship match on the biggest stage of them all. I said what I wanted, and that’s your legacy, Deadman! I want the opportunity to destroy something before it becomes epic – the Streak! I want to be known as the man who prevented absolute perfection when it comes to your WrestleMania winning streak and cripple it before it reaches 20-0!

Deadman, you’ve walked into WrestleMania 19 times before and come out victorious every damn time, but this is the year that Chris Jericho becomes the one, as in 19-1! Nineteen victories, one agonizing defeat. All you have to do is agree to it. So what’s it going to be, Phenom? Will you concede defeat and back down from the man who is the best in the world at what he does, or defend your streak and face ultimate humiliation on the biggest stage in history?”

Taker stares into Jericho’s eyes for a few moments as the fans are getting riled up. He peers out into the audience, looks back at Jericho, puts a microphone to his mouth and says “I ACCEPT!” The crowd goes nuts, and the announcers talk about the blockbuster match just made for WrestleMania 28.

“You just made the biggest mista….” Jericho starts replying.

“I WASN’T FINISHED!” growls the Deadman. “Jericho, you’ve been coming out here, week after week, and trying to get my attention. You’ve accomplished that, because I’m standing right here and our battle at WrestleMania has been made. The lines in the sand have been drawn – it’s the Deadman, the Lord of Darkness against the best in the world at what he does.

You talk about making history, Jericho, and I believe that it’s being made right in this very ring. You see, everyone in this arena and everyone watching at home is seeing something that many have talked about witnessing for years – Y2J, the Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla, Chris Jericho squaring off against The Undertaker. You and I have been battling others for years in this company, but for one reason or another, our paths haven’t crossed very often. Jericho, by winning the Royal Rumble and having the nerve to call me out in my own yard, you’ve burned your own path into the darkness, and it leads straight to WrestleMania!

I’ve walked into the biggest stage on Earth and come out victorious 19 times before. Things will be no different this year, other than the number 19 going one notch higher and making the Streak 20-0! Chris Jericho, you may be the best in the world at what you do, but I’m the best in ALL worlds at what I do!”

The fans cheer and Jericho looks a bit unnerved, though trying not to show it. Taker looks like he’s going to leave, but stops and bows his head, like as if he’s wrestling with himself on whether or not to reveal something.

“There’s just one more thing I need to say, and to be quite honest, it’s more than a little humbling to try and reveal. I stood in this ring a few weeks ago and posed the question of ‘What happens when dead men become mere mortals?’. The answer is simple, they become human. They become vulnerable. And the truth is that I have become vulnerable and more human in recent years. The battles have produced many scars, and the wars have taken their toll. Nearly a year ago, I couldn’t leave this ring under my own power, and that sent a message that was powerful and clear to me: I’m not the same Undertaker I used to be. I’m not impervious to pain, and each victory inside this ring comes with a heavy price.

I’ve had a long time to think about where the Deadman lies in the future of the WWE, and my return since last year’s WrestleMania has rejuvenated me to a certain extent. It’s been a very long time since I’ve returned to Death Valley, and I believe that’s what I need to do in order to prevent further damage to my physical self and to my abilities. On April 1st, Chris Jericho, I’m going to unleash Hell on Earth and take my 20th victory, but WrestleMania will be the last time that anyone sees The Undertaker.”

Jericho is shocked, the crowd is speechless and you can almost hear a pin drop in the arena as RAW goes to break.

Smackdown that week, as well as the following week’s RAW recap the promo and the announcers are still trying to wrap their heads around The Undertaker’s claim that Mania 28 will be his last appearance in the WWE. Current superstars and past legends give their take on the Phenom’s final WrestleMania in impressive video packages, and several of them hype Jericho as cunning, manipulative and somebody who just might be able to break the streak.

MARCH 2 – SMACKDOWN

Jericho kicks off the show and it’s the return of the Highlight Reel. His guest is Kane, who Taker defeated twice at WrestleMania. Jericho speaks of these losses suffered by the Big Red Monster, and speaks about the bitter feud he had with the Phenom in late 2010 over the World Heavyweight Title. He notes that Kane helped bury his brother twice before, but he just keeps coming back. Kane says that despite his past actions, there will always be a deep respect that he has for his older brother and questions what Jericho can do to defeat the Deadman at WrestleMania. Chris says that Taker said it himself; he’s vulnerable and more human that he ever has been before, and Jericho will capitalize on that.

A match between he and Kane is set that night. The Big Red Monster throws Y2J around like a rag doll in the opening moments, but Jericho slams Kane’s right arm on the ring steps outside and focuses on it throughout the match. In the end, Kane tries a chokeslam but his arm gives out, and Jericho gets the win with the Codebreaker. Y2J celebrates in the ring, but suddenly, The Undertaker rips through the ring canvas and chokeslams him as the crowd explodes. Jericho rolls from the ring and backs out of the arena as the Phenom taunts him.

Over the next couple of weeks, more video packages hype the match and the fact that it’s Taker’s last battle. Jericho holds more Highlight Reel segments on both Raw and Smackdown with names from Taker’s Mania past:

MARCH 5 – RAW: Jimmy Snuka. Jericho berates him for being Taker’s first victim and brags about pinning Snuka himself at Mania 25. Ends with Jericho attacking Superfly and locking him in the Walls of Jericho.
MARCH 9 – SMACKDOWN: King Kong Bundy. Ends with Jericho smashing a chair over Bundy’s back.
MARCH 12 – RAW: Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Good promo from Jake about Jericho having to be in the right mindset to even match Taker’s intensity in the ring. Ends with the Walls of Jericho on Roberts.
MARCH 16 – SMACKDOWN: Randy Orton. They go over the match he had with Taker at Mania 21 and Jericho noted that he’s one of the elite names that came the absolute closest to beating Taker. Orton says that there’s no way of preparing for the Phenom at Mania and you just have to experience it. Jericho tries attacking but Orton retaliates, and the two have a match later that night that ends in a DQ win for Orton after his own Mania opponent interferes.
MARCH 19 – RAW: Shawn Michaels. Great back and forth between the two details HBK’s attempts to defeat Taker at Mania 25 & 26. The segment ends with HBK telling Jericho, “I’ve tried twice in a row, and I ended up on my back looking up at the lights. What makes you so different, Chris?” To which Y2J replies, “Because unlike you, I have nothing to lose. Not my livelihood, not my manhood and not my storied career. Two years ago, Shawn, you had everything to lose. This year, the tables are turned and it’s The Undertaker that gets everything taken away from him. I am the best in the world at what I do, and at WrestleMania, The Undertaker will know that because I’m ready to go to Hell to prove it to him.”

MARCH 23 – SMACKDOWN

Jericho has a match that he wins and he begins to celebrate. The lights go out, the gong is heard and Taker is standing behind him when the lights come back on. Jericho knows this and instead of running, he slowly turns around and meets the Deadman face to face. After a few moments, he smirks and taunts Taker with his own throat-slashing gesture. The Phenom gets pissed and goes for a chokeslam, but Jericho kicks him down low, flooring Taker. Grabbing a chair, Y2J cracks it over Taker’s back and drops it several more times over his upper body. Jericho leaves the ring and Taker glares at him while leaning on the bottom rope.

MARCH 26 – RAW

On the final RAW before WrestleMania, Jericho and Taker meet in the ring in what’s billed as a “Last Words confrontation”. Jericho comes to the ring in a suit and tie, followed by The Undertaker. What follows is a fantastic, go-home promo between both men that makes a final sell for their war at WrestleMania. (I can’t script everything, and I wouldn’t even want to try, but I’ll try with their last words toward each other down below)

Jericho: “Here’s the reality, Deadman. You’re vulnerable, you’re more human than ever before, and you’re a mere mortal. Yes, you’re bigger than me and you’re stronger than me, but nobody except me has ever had the chance to face you in the state that you’re in. You’ve become what you always strived not to be, and that’s one of us, Deadman. Just a man, and nothing else. I’m prepared to do whatever I have to in order to win on Sunday. I’m telling this to your face because I want you to know what you’re facing when our match at WrestleMania is over. Your legacy, your legend, your streak, and your career is coming to an end, and when that final bell rings, I am going to be the one holding the gun that killed it all.”

Taker: “Make no mistake, Chris Jericho – I don’t underestimate you. I’ve seen, and even felt, your abilities firsthand. I’m not going to deny some of the things that you say; the truth, as I’ve said before, is that with each battle I step into, I’m feeling the pain any normal warrior would feel and the scars just keep adding up. But I am, and never will be, just any mere mortal! Just ask any one of those that make up 19-0 – Jake the Snake, King Kong Bundy, Big Daddy Cool Diesel, my brother Kane, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Triple H! They all claimed to have that one little thing nobody else did that would allow them to break the streak, and one by one, they all came crashing down. Jericho, I know you’re going to kill yourself trying, but you will never kill The Undertaker! I’ve said before what I plan to do after this match, Chris Jericho. When WrestleMania comes to an end, I will return to Death Valley. I will find my eternal resting place and I will give my black soul to the Dark Lord to do as he will with it. I’ve made peace with that outcome because it’s a choice that I’ve made, however unpopular it may be. Chris Jericho, at WrestleMania, you will face the beast, the Last Outlaw and the spirit of 19 other souls as YOU become #20! Chris Jericho, at WrestleMania, YOU…………………….AND I………………..WILL REST…… IN…… PEACE!”

Smackdown recaps this segment and then, it’s WrestleMania time!

APRIL 1 – WRESTLEMANIA 28

A lengthy video package plays before the match, going back as far as Taker’s condition following Mania 27 and all the way through to Jericho winning the Rumble and declining a shot at either World Championship. Following the clip, Jericho makes his way to the ring, determined but not overly cocky as he looks to the colossal crowd in Miami. The lights go out, the druids come out and Taker follows suit as the fans go nuts. He stands in the ring across from Jericho, both men not taking their eyes off the other. After a few tense moments, the bell rings.

THE UNDERTAKER VS. CHRIS JERICHO

The match plays almost like Taker’s matches against Orton and HBK in the past; Jericho avoids many high-power moves and counters some of Taker’s arsenal. It’s obvious Jericho has done his homework and brought his “A” game for this one. It’s a game of catch as catch can for the opening minutes, but Jericho runs right into a hard boot when he runs the ropes, and the impact sends him to the outside. Taker hits several right hands and drops Jericho on the ring steps chest-first, followed by the ring apron legdrop across the throat. Back in the ring, Taker hits a backdrop and then picks Jericho up over his head, dropping him with a gorilla press slam for a two-count. Taker further punishes Y2J with several slams and then hits the Old School forearm. Taker tries for a Tombstone, but Jericho hammers his kidneys and hits a neckbreaker. Moments later, Chris has Taker against the ropes and hammers at him, but when he runs at him, the Deadman launches Jericho out of the ring with a backdrop! When Y2J gets to his wobbly feet, the Phenom comes flying over the top with the Air Deadman splash!

Moments later, Taker rips the announce table apart and calls for a chokeslam, gripping Chris and lifting him up. At the last second, Y2J rakes Taker’s eyes and shoves him hard into the steps as the Phenom bangs his knees and flips over them. Jericho works over the knees and gets Taker back in the ring, clipping the Deadman when he gets to his feet. Jericho is in control over the next few minutes, concentrating on the injured body part and reversing Taker’s attempts at various maneuvers. When Taker desperately tries another Tombstone, Jericho even hits a German suplex for a close two-count.

15 MINUTES LATER……

Jericho has gotten control back after Taker’s second wind and has just superplexed Taker off the top rope. Jericho was busted open minutes earlier after Taker booted the ring steps in his face, but the Winnipeg native isn’t down for the count just yet. Y2J groggily goes for a cover, to which Taker kicks out. Punching at Taker’s skull, Jericho throws him to the ropes but the Phenom ducks a clothesline, scoring with his own as he flies off the other ropes. Both men are down but get up moments later, trading punches back and forth. This is turning out to be another classic Undertaker match at WrestleMania, and the emotion is through the roof with the knowledge that this is his last appearance. Taker wins the punch battle and drives several rights into Jericho’s face before dropping him on the turnbuckle with Snake Eyes. Coming off the ropes for a big boot, Jericho ducks and grabs Taker’s legs, locking in the Walls of Jericho. The Deadman yells in anguish as Jericho screams for him to tap, blood caked on his face and looking like a psychopath. After what seems like forever, the Phenom makes it to the ropes, forcing Chris to break the hold. Both men are wobbly on their knees and Jericho makes a mad dash for Taker, who responds with a chokeslam for a close two-count.

A moment later, Jericho tries the Walls again and Taker kicks him off, but when the Deadman comes at him, Y2J connects with the Codebreaker out of nowhere! Jericho makes the cover, and at the last millisecond, Taker kicks out as the fans go nuts. Jericho can’t believe it, but he stays on Taker, bringing down several right hands to Taker’s skull. He tries a running forearm, but Taker drops down and Jericho ends up hitting the ref, who falls out of the ring. Jericho then walks into another Tombstone attempt, but he dropkicks Taker’s knee out from under him. Chris kicks at Taker’s knees and then goes for the Lionsault, but Taker repositions his body so that he grabs Jericho’s head on impact and locks in the Hell’s Gate submission! Y2J squirms and tries to wiggle out of the hold, but after a few moments he’s tapping out. No win for Taker though, as the ref is just coming to on the outside. He lets Jericho go and both men try to get their bearings. The Phenom crawls towards the referee, trying to revive him. Meanwhile, Jericho rolls from the ring and grabs a video camera. When Taker gets to his feet, Jericho smashes it into his skull. The ref comes to his senses and sees Chris covering the Phenom, counting 1………..2…………….Taker kicks out! Jericho is livid.

When Taker is on his knees, Jericho kicks at him and taunts him, making the throat-slashing gesture. He picks Taker up and is going for the Tombstone! After a moment, the Deadman manages to reverse it and connects with the Tombstone himself! He makes the cover and miraculously, Y2J kicks out! Taker can’t believe it!

The two get to their feet and trade punches before Chris kicks Taker’s knee, backing him into the corner and hammering at him. Standing on the second rope, Jericho screams at Taker to stay down and give up, punching and choking him. Suddenly, Taker lifts Chris up and launches him, driving him into the mat with the Last Ride. Taker is too injured to go for the cover, though, and clutches at his knee. Jericho sees this and, after using the ropes to get to his feet, he lunges at the Phenom, looking for another Codebreaker. Thinking quick, Taker manages to hold onto Jericho and spins him around, turning the finisher into another Tombstone and driving him headfirst into the mat! Taker makes the cover, and the ref counts 1…………….2………………………3! The stadium full of people erupt, the announce team puts the match over as an instant classic and both Taker and Jericho are out of it on the mat.

Jericho rolls from the ring and leaves as the gong goes off and Taker’s music hits. He rises up as the fans cheer and looks around, soaking in the adulation. A graphic on the arena screen reads “20-0” in gold and Taker gets to his feet. The music stops, and the Phenom looks around at the crowd, who begin chanting “THANK YOU, TAKER” loudly. Taker nods to them, acknowledging the praise and bowing to one knee in the center of the ring. He does this to each side of the stadium before leaving the ring.

Walking up the entrance, Taker’s music is easily drowned out by the chants and cheers as the 20+ year WWE legend makes his final exit. When he stops near the curtain, the music stops and he does the one arm salute with his back turned. Doing things differently, he then turns around and acknowledges the fans one more time. After a few moments, the stadium lights go out and a lone spotlight is on Taker.

Suddenly, PAUL BEARER walks out with the urn as the fans cheer. He and Taker stare at each other and Paul makes a motion with the urn. Taker turns back to the fans and he seems conflicted on whether he’s made the right decision to return “home”. After a moment, he nods to Bearer, who raises the urn. Taker bows to one knee, raises his arm high and the spotlight goes out. The sudden sound of heavy thunder is heard in the stadium and the spotlight comes back on. Where two people were just standing on the entrance way is a smoking, charred, black mess of steel.

The Undertaker is gone.

Macho Madness Sedated – Remembering Randy Savage

“Then we figured out we could park them in front of the TV. That’s how I was raised, and I turned out TV.” – Homer Simpson, parenting poster boy

There are some people in this world who you have to give credit for helping to raise you in a way your parents never could. Sure, Mom and Dad got us up for school, they fed us, dressed us, took us on summer trips and put a roof over our heads, but with all they did do, sometimes it was the work of complete strangers that got us through our day, that made us believe in something besides everyday ‘right and wrong’ values and gave us that fantastical look in our eyes that said ‘This is unbelievable, and I will never be the same again’.

In short, we had other heroes and they were the ones on TV. Just as Homer said, they had a part in raising us and molding us into the people we became.

The “Macho Man” Randy Savage was one of those people.

I’ve been a pro wrestling fan damn near my entire life. If you know me, then you know that’s obvious. It’s been so many years that I can’t even remember exactly how I got into it. My oldest brother Jim must have something to do with it; maybe he was watching some episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event or Superstars of Wrestling at the turn of the 90’s and I just happened to be crawling around in my diaper or something. I honestly couldn’t tell you. Regardless of its origins, when I got the wrestling bug, it stayed with me.

The first of the WWF’s colorful, bigger than life stars that caught my eye was indeed Randy Savage – the Macho King, Macho Man, Macho EVERYthing who soared off the top rope with flying elbows, left us either scratching our heads or shaking them in disbelief with his interviews and ended up as the perfect anti-Hulk Hogan to get behind and watch with awe and admiration.

Nothing against Hogan personally; he ushered in the mainstream popularity of the WWF and helped create the big boom period of the 80’s, but he was a one-trick pony. He had his legions of fans, so be it. They didn’t care that he only had three or four moves and that every single match he had was the same. They bought into the same story time and time again; Hogan showing off some power moves, the heel finding a way to beat him down, Hogan busting out his Hulk-up routine, big boot + legdrop and SCENE. Fans needed someone else to hit the WWF in a big way, and Savage did just that.

As I type this, it’s now been a little over three weeks since Randy’s shocking and untimely death on May 20. He was out driving in his home state of Florida when he reportedly suffered a heart attack, causing him to lose control behind the wheel of his Jeep and crash into a tree. It’s now been reported that Randy did indeed suffer an attack and his wife, Lynn, took the wheel and swerved the Jeep out of the path of a motorcyclist and a bus. Randy’s brother, Lanny Poffo, confirmed this report online and stated that it was almost “a beautiful way to die”, as it was believed to be quick and painless for Savage and his wife managed to save the lives of more than one person in the midst of all the chaos. Lynn sustained only minor injuries in the crash. Though the two had been a couple for a long time, Randy and Lynn had only been married for one year. Savage was 58 years old.

What’s interesting about the legacy that Randy left behind is the fact that it may not have happened at all, if he had his way. After all, Randy’s first love was baseball and while growing up, he played and practiced religiously before he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as a catcher straight out of high school. He was sent to the minor leagues in order to develop his skills and mainly played as an outfielder in the farm systems of the Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. Randy had dreams of making it as a pro, but sadly for him, he just wasn’t able to cross over into the big leagues and accomplish his goals.

Ultimately, wrestling called to him and the rest, of course, is history.

When it came to his career in the WWF, Savage enjoyed a position that from the very beginning was a fair share of the spotlight. Signing with the company in June of 1985 (two months before I was born – neat), Randy debuted on TV in a campaign to recruit a manager, which saw several top pros in the field throw their names into the hat, including Jimmy Hart, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and “Classy” Freddie Blassie. In the end, he said no to all their offers and went with Miss Elizabeth – a sweet, stunning and flawless-looking woman that in reality, and outside the surreal world of wrestling, was Randy’s wife.

Beauty & The Beast, indeed

This was new to wrestling at the time, bringing in a woman and having her manage a top-profile name, or any male wrestler, for that matter. Managers were supposed to be guys like Heenan and Hart – devious weasels who took a cheap shot at opponents or slid in a foreign object to seal the win. They weren’t supposed to be beautiful, elegant, wear lavish dresses and look as innocent as a baby deer. Yet that was Miss Elizabeth, and together with the Macho Man, they broke down barriers and created some magical and timeless moments on TV and PPV over the following few years.

Nothing was ever average about the career of Randy Savage (rhyme!) – he was a star from the moment his presence hit TV screens across the world. A lot of times, and this is no more true than in today’s WWE, wrestlers would debut in the company and were almost looked at as… unfinished products, I guess would be the right words. They had to fine-tune their image, tweak their on-screen personalities here and there until they got the right fit and became bona fide superstars. When Bret Hart debuted, he was Buddy the Heartthrob, then just went by his real name and almost became a jobber for life before he was paired with Jim Neidhart and The Hart Foundation was born. When The Rock debuted as Rocky Maivia, fans turned on him within months and he desperately needed a change, so he turned heel, became “The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment” and made history as one of the top draws in pro wrestling.

Savage required nothing of the sort. There were no tweaks and no fine-tuning under the hood of his wild, unpredictable and egomaniacal persona that hooked viewers and fans from the start. He carried himself like he was Gorgeous George, worked the crowd into a frenzy like Muhammad Ali and used the ring like masters such as Ricky Steamboat, who, as it turned out, obviously became one of his greatest opponents.

And speaking of that, no tribute to Randy Savage would be complete without touching on his memorable Intercontinental Title bout with Steamboat at WrestleMania 3 in 1987. Many have argued that this match is overrated by today’s standards, but it can’t be denied that for its time, it ranks as one of the best. For nearly 15 minutes, the Macho Man and The Dragon fought in and out of the ring in a mesmerizing, high-flying and yet technical display that brought the colossal house to its feet for every near-fall, of which there were plenty. Known as a stickler for detail and perfection, it’s widely been reported over the years that the two practiced and rehearsed the entire match at Savage’s home in Florida prior to WrestleMania.

The extra effort paid off. Savage, the IC Champ, unloaded on Steamboat with his full arsenal and yet, amazingly, the Dragon just would not die. Finally, Steamboat was able to surprise Savage with a small package pin when Randy went for a body slam and the place damn near exploded when the ref hit the mat a third time. A new Champion was crowned, the bad guy got his comeuppance and it was storytelling at its finest.

Most lifelong wrestling fans say the match outshined the main event that night, Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant for the WWF Title, and I agree. Hogan/Andre was what drew people to the event, but when it was over, it was the Savage/Steamboat contest that left an indelible mark.

This seemed to be par for the course in Randy’s WWF career – he may not have been the main event all the time, but he produced the better matches than a lot of what Hogan was doing in the top money spot. In my book, Savage outperformed and outshined the main events at WrestleManias 3, 7 and 8. That last one still perplexes me to this day; what the hell was Vince McMahon thinking putting on Hogan vs Sid Justice last, as compared to the brilliant story told in Savage vs Ric Flair for the WWF Title? Ridiculous!

The Mega Powers. They soon exploded.

The Macho Man enjoyed nine years in the WWF, amassing a legacy that has stayed with wrestling fans all their lives. Among the many highlights and matches:

– Winning the 1987 King of the Ring (hence the nickname Macho King)
– Going through four opponents to win the vacated WWF Title at WrestleMania 4
– Forming the Mega Powers with Hulk Hogan (including that awesome-looking handshake)
– Holding the Intercontinental Title for 14 months (try pulling that off in today’s WWE)
– Reuniting with Miss Elizabeth following his loss to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 7
– The wedding to Elizabeth at Summerslam 1991
– Winning the WWF Title from Ric Flair at WrestleMania 8

And then, one day, the Macho Man had all but disappeared from WWF airwaves. Fans tuned in to Monday Night Raw or Saturday afternoon’s Superstars, Wrestling Challenge or Maple Leaf Wrestling (for us up North) and no longer was Savage standing at ringside and welcoming us to the action alongside Vince McMahon. Gone was the flamboyance and the charisma, gone was that unmistakable voice that commanded attention and, Hell, even gone were the garish sunglasses, outfits and cowboy hats.

Where did he go? Where was Our Macho King? What happened to The Savage One?

He went South and signed with Ted Turner’s WCW, that’s what.

Since the time Savage made the switch over to ‘Dubya C Dubya’, the reasoning behind it has never been made clear. In response, fans have long debated the mystery surrounding Randy’s WWF departure in late 1994; he felt disrespected and misused when he was demoted to doing commentary, he had an argument that ended with McMahon slapping Savage (and vice versa has also been reported), and the other big rumor that many still refuse to live down – that Savage had sex with an 18-year old Stephanie McMahon.

I, too, have heard that last one many times over the years. It’s definitely a shocker in a business where much more scandalous things have gone down both in the ring and outside it. I don’t believe it, though. Savage was by no means a perfect human being and I’m sure he would’ve been the first to tell you that he’d done some low-ball things in his life, but sleeping with the boss’s just-legal daughter isn’t one of them. Besides, even if he had, do you really think a guy like Randy would’ve tucked his tail between his legs and run for his life down to WCW for fear of what Vince would do?

No, I’m more inclined to believe the first reason stated, that Randy felt he was being misused and disrespected by being used mainly as a color commentator. I’m no insider expert, but if you’ve ever read Bret Hart’s autobiography, he says that Savage called McMahon in the middle of the night, drunk, and said he was signing with WCW. Vince apparently couldn’t talk him out of it and had no time to make Randy a counter offer. McMahon took it as a personal slap in the face and ever since then, Savage’s name was only brought up in the offices of the WWE a handful of times in the near 17 years until his death.

All smiles, but Savage belonged in the ring

I don’t agree with the way he did it, but I see Savage’s viewpoint in the whole ordeal. In 1994, he may have been 42 years old, but he could still put on a great match and yet was being held by the short leash by his boss. The last ‘big’ thing the Macho Man did in the WWF was wrestle Crush at WrestleMania 10 in a mid-card bout – not exactly on par with matches against Steamboat and Flair. McMahon apparently saw an expiration date on Savage’s in-ring career and it had passed, though no one bothered to tell Randy. I can’t say I’d deal with the situation in the same way Savage did, but apparently, something drastic had to be done if he wanted to see the inside of a ring again and continue performing. I won’t say McMahon is entirely to blame for how it went down, but maybe if he sat down and listened to Savage vent his frustration instead of silently phasing him out, their relationship would’ve been much different than it turned out to be.

I was young at the time, so I didn’t really care whether the Macho Man was wrestling in the ring or on commentary, I just wanted him on my TV. So when he left the WWF, I checked out WCW from time to time, though it was difficult as it seemed to bounce around the Canadian TV schedules. For the most part, he seemed to be a big fish in a little pond and trading the WCW World Title with Flair until the big nWo angle started. Savage was key in that, since he was the one that suffered the “backstabbing legdrop” from Hogan in the first place that kicked the angle off in July 1996.

From that point, the focus went on Hogan, Eric Bischoff and the nWo stable, and although Savage ended up as a member of the heel group, he was more or less just a face in the faction. His WCW career from that point was pretty much situated in the mid and upper card position. I do remember one memorable feud that Savage had as part of the nWo; his rivalry with “Diamond” Dallas Page that spanned most of 1997 and elevated Page up the ranks as a top name in the company. The fact that Randy put him over immensely in that time is something that Page hasn’t forgotten since, and in the days following Savage’s death, Page uploaded a video tribute to him that many have put over as one of the best memorials done by someone in the business.

Savage’s last run with WCW following a return from knee surgery wasn’t all that memorable, but he was at the top of the food chain as he feuded with Kevin Nash over the World Title, winning it for all of one day at Bash at the Beach 1999. He was still a heel, and this time walked around with three valets in the form of Miss Madness (aka Molly Holly in WWE), Madusa (Alundra Blayze) and his girlfriend, Gorgeous George (Stephanie Bellars). But things didn’t last that long and Team Madness soon disbanded. Savage’s last appearance in WCW was on the May 3, 2000 edition of Thunder, where he took part in a battle royal for a World Title shot at the next PPV.

With his career in the ring seemingly over, the Macho Man moved on to other forms of showbiz that kept his name in the mainstream media. There was his standout appearance in the 2002 blockbuster, Spider-Man (“BONESAW IS RRREEEAADDY!!!”), and then a rap album (yup) released in 2003, of which included a tribute track dedicated to Curt Hennig, who had died in February that year. There was also the title track, Be A Man, which was a diss track aimed at Hulk Hogan, who Savage was rumored to have long-standing heat with. The album turned out to be a bust and Randy was definitely no rap artist.

At the end of 2004, Savage was summoned to the ring one more time in an angle with TNA Wrestling (NWA-TNA at the time) which saw him team up with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles in a six-man tag team match against the Kings of Wrestling – Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The match was at the Turning Point PPV in December, but was hardly a big affair; Savage’s only involvement was coming down in the final two minutes – having been kidnapped and stowed away by the heel trio – and handing out punches left and right before countering Jarrett’s sunset flip for the win. No double axehandle smashes, no flying elbows, and for some reason he was decked out in jet black from head to toe. It also turned out to be Savage’s very last match, as he and Jarrett couldn’t agree on the finish to a proposed Title match at the following PPV and he left the organization.

From that point on, the Macho Man became a recluse as far as the wrestling radar goes. Aside from the odd interview here and there, and those were indeed rare, he was content to just live his life in Florida and enjoy being retired. Known as someone who’d been smart and invested wisely, Randy didn’t need the money and he’d had his time in the spotlight. He married girlfriend Lynn in May of last year and he seemed happy with how his life had turned out, a far cry from the darkness that has surrounded recent wrestling tragedies in the last few years.

And then, as we all know, that life sadly came to an end with a violent halt.

Gorilla Monsoon @ WM7: "What a woman, and what a man!"

In the days following Savage’s death, tributes poured in from all over as fans, former colleagues and current stars of the ring remembered Randy and the impact he made in wrestling. Top heel CM Punk did a Savage-like flying elbow at WWE’s Over The Limit PPV two days after he’d died, and the following night on Raw donned 80’s-era Macho Man tights in tribute. The WWE aired an impressive memorial piece that did its best to highlight the endless flurry of matches, Title victories and epic moments that he’d created in his career. Even Vince McMahon wrote a piece for TIME Magazine that immortalized Savage, highlighting the colorful persona and charisma he carried himself with, labeling him “one of the building blocks of what is now WWE” and closing it by naming him as one of the greatest performers in wrestling.

Personally, I really liked the tribute piece that WWE aired and I got a real kick out of seeing CM Punk memorialize Savage in his own way, but in the end it leaves a small, bitter taste in my mouth. Sadly, I just feel it’s too little, too late. It certainly appears as though McMahon has eased up on his hard feelings toward Savage and that he’s brought some form of closure to the longtime bad blood between them, but it shouldn’t have taken one of them to die for that to happen. The Macho Man has deserved to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for years, and McMahon knows that. One of the first thoughts I had when I heard that Randy had died was that fans would never see him take the stage to accept his place in wrestling history where he rightfully belongs. It’s something that I’ll personally hold against Vince McMahon for a long, long time.

So just what kind of impact did Savage leave in the WWE, WCW, pro wrestling in general and basically anywhere that he touched a top rope? I’d have to say that he was timeless. The Macho Man was the potent mix of wild persona and legitimate athlete that could be a superstar in today’s landscape if he had jumped in Doc Brown’s DeLorean and punched it to 88 mph. Describing Randy as being ahead of his time would be putting it lightly. He was a general inside the square circle and someone who, much like guys like Bret Hart and Curt Hennig, could have a 4-star match with a wet mop. Probably 90% of the time, Savage’s matches were the most exciting bouts on the card on any given night because you never got the same match out of him twice. He could adapt, leave you wondering what he’d do next and brought out the best in his opponents every time he stepped into the ring.

Randy Savage was The Showstopper before the nickname ever found its way to Shawn Michaels.

It’s hard to say goodbye to your heroes. I think that’s the biggest reason why three weeks have passed and this written tribute has taken that long for me to finish, because I wasn’t sure what all I wanted to say or how much of it I cared to share. Many people had their own articles uploaded all over the Web only a day or two after Savage had died, like it was some competition to see who could say ‘Rest in Peace’ first. I couldn’t, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t.

It’s hard saying farewell to them, but it’s even harder to watch our heroes fall like the normal human beings that they were. The icons of our childhood are supposed to be immortal and indestructible – they aren’t supposed to die like everyday people do of a heart attack or a car crash. Seeing Randy Savage perish like anyone else just puts another nail in the coffin of my youthful memories, and it’s a harsh reminder that some stories don’t have happy endings.

It pains me to know that I’ll never meet the Macho Man, as he was one of only two people that would’ve left me absolutely starstruck and my hands likely trembling with shot nerves. (The other person being The Undertaker) Sure, he lived all the way down in Florida and I’m up here in western Canada, but a dude could dream.

Savage left the ring nearly a decade before he passed, but there was always the slight possibility that he and the WWE could do business together somewhere down the line. A Hall of Fame induction, some part-time role on TV or maybe a guest referee spot at WrestleMania. That won’t happen now, and if Randy does go into the Hall of Fame next year, fans worldwide will be robbed of seeing Macho Madness reign supreme one last time. And that shouldn’t be the case.

The flying elbows have been grounded.

The wild, growling voice has been silenced.

The madness has come to an end.

Goodbye, Hero.

Randy Mario Poffo,

Always to be remembered as…

“The Macho Man” Randy Savage
November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011

‘Supernatural’ Season 6 Dark & I Liked It

This post has **SPOILERS** in case you haven’t seen the season finale of Supernatural. You’ve been warned.

In short, I was very pleased with the season six finale of Supernatural last Friday. Of course, I don’t just do “in short”, as most people who know me will attest to, so allow me to rant and rave on everything Dean and Sam-related that we’ve enjoyed these past eight months.

First off, aside from the actual episode itself, I liked what The CW network did with the schedule. Smallville was having its series finale be a two-hour event, so they delayed the pre-finale episode of Supernatural and gave the show its own two-hour send-off with back to back episodes. With that formula, I thought it was a satisfying one-two punch that held nothing back and kept moving forward to the final knockout.

Second, I liked that I was watching the episode in real time on its home network along with its legions of other fans. I only first got into the show a little over a year ago by finally doing what I had always meant to do and pick up the first four seasons on DVD. I blazed through each set in what had to be record time and by that stage, season five had just ended on TV. I was left with the entire summer to go by without anything new to watch on the Winchester front until the fifth season hit stores. Again, on the day of its release I picked it up and burned through it (watching the finale, Swan Song, twice) and was right there in my living room to see the season six premiere.

So now, onto the last pair of episodes themselves…

I’ll admit that in all we heard, and didn’t see, about the war in Heaven going on from Castiel, Balthazar and Raphael, it turned me off and I wasn’t a fan of it. I know that Supernatural has always had just the smallest air of religion and issues about Heaven and Hell surrounding it at times, but nothing really excited me about this supposed battle going on above our heads and in the skies. Add to that the fact that nothing about any war was ever SHOWN on our TV screens, and it just added to my indifference about the whole thing. Of course, that can be attributed to the show having a more limited budget than others, but the production team has found ways around that before to give us some incredible imagery in the past.

Moving on…

I was very impressed with the first hour of the finale and it showed that age-old problem that Dean and Sam have run into in the past, and that’s having to sacrifice something even if it emotionally rips you apart. It’s a rather obvious issue that would come with their careers – these are guys that hunt monsters, demons and every other thing on the list, after all – but that doesn’t make the pain go away or hurt any less.

Dean, Sam and Bobby are trying to locate a guide to Purgatory that horror author H.P. Lovecraft used to possess, but the episode takes a swerve when Lisa and Ben (Dean’s former attempt at a normal family life) are kidnapped by Crowley (suave-speaking British demon in charge of Hell, for you noobs). Castiel is no help since he’s at odds with the trio about the whole Purgatory thing (Cas making a deal with Crowley and wanting to open it to ingest 50,000 souls to try and end the war in Heaven, the gang arguing that it’ll just unleash a shitload of monsters on Earth), so they get his angel bro Balthazar to help them out.

In the ensuing battle to get Lisa and Ben back, a twist comes where she turns out to have a demon inside her. Then, under the bastard’s power, Lisa stabs herself and things don’t look good. Dean exorcises the demon and carries her out of there, getting Sam to speed to a hospital. In the room, Castiel shows up and even though he and Dean are still at odds with each other, he heals Lisa to the point where her injuries aren’t life-threatening. Before Cas leaves, Dean gets him to do one last favor, and that turns out to be wiping Lisa and Ben’s memories of him.

This was a surprising move, I thought, but not unlike Dean to try and protect people he loves at all costs. Watching him stand in the doorway of Lisa’s hospital room and having Ben look up at Dean and ask ‘Who are you?’ probably raised more than a few eyebrows. Dean making up a story of accidentally running his car into Lisa and landing her in the hospital is really powerful stuff, especially when he starts to break down and is pretty much biting his lips to stop himself. It’s scenes like this that really show the talent that Jensen Ackles has as an actor. In the six years Supernatural has been on the air he’s progressed so much, even though he was very good to begin with.

The season finale itself in hour two started off suspenseful as it looked like Sam was on the run from the cops and then it was realized that he had no memory. Of course, this turns out to all be in his head, as Castiel has opened up Sam’s mental wall that was blocking out his memories of Hell in the hopes that it would distract Dean and Bobby from trying to stop the opening of Purgatory. Inside his head, Sam is running into different versions of himself; the soulless, cold-blooded asshole that slayed more than just monsters for nearly half of season six, and then the version that remembers being in Hell. To move forward in this mystery, he has to kill these clones and therefore, he gains all these memories back.

No doubt, in season seven there’s gonna be some real fucked up psychological issues that Sam will have to face.

Meanwhile, Dean and Bobby have no choice but to leave Sam out cold on a bed since they’re still at war with Castiel and Crowley and again enlist Balthazar as backup. When Cas realizes his brother has been helping the pair, he kills him. Later, dude. And when it comes to his business partner Crowley, Cas decides to pull out of their deal and that obviously pisses the King of Hell off to no end.

Dean and Bobby show up to the building where Cas is going to perform the ritual to open Purgatory, but they’re not alone as Crowley and new partner Raphael arrive in style, creating a black whirlwind that ends up flipping the Impala over onto its side with Dean and Bobby inside. Christ, seems Dean does nothing but do fix-ups on that thing every season.

Inside, Cas realizes his arch-angel nemesis is Crowley’s new investor and seems somewhat complacent by this fact. Dean and Bobby crawl out of the car wreckage and make it into the building just to hear Cas confess that he’d already performed the ritual.

I thought this was a cool revelation and it reminded me of the conclusion of Alan Moore’s graphic novel ‘Watchmen’ when the antagonist tells the good guys that he already pulled the switch on his diabolical master plan. Some baddies are just plain smarter.

So anyway, just like how Lucifer did to him at the end of last season, Cas simply snaps his fingers and Raphael literally explodes. He allows Crowley to live as Cas “has plans for him”. Sam shows up in time and tries sticking a blade through Cas in a last-ditch effort to…..well, try anything, I guess, but that doesn’t do shit. The episode ends with Castiel telling Sam, Dean and Bobby to kneel before him or be wiped out, for he is their New God.

Of course, I’m really just giving you the basics on what happened. It’s some pretty heavy stuff if you haven’t been watching this whole season.

Overall, I really liked the finale and my earlier indifference on the whole Heavenly War stuff was really chipped away by the time the credits rolled. It made me care much more about the overall big picture of what I was seeing. Season seven is gonna be interesting, and I’m sure there are a lot of heartbroken Castiel fans now that he’s somewhat of a main villain, at least for now.

So how would I classify the entire past season? In a word – dark. It was more suspenseful, more violent, more bloody and more unforgiving than probably anything we’ve seen on the show, period. And I liked it. To me, it fits Supernatural to a T, especially since these characters are older and they’ve seen and encountered virtually everything there is. The show itself is also getting up there in age and it can’t all just be Dean and Sam hunting down the Monster of the Week. There were obviously a few lighter episodes than most in season six, but overall it just seemed like the show was painted over in jet black, and I’m not saying that was a bad thing.

It’s always darkest before the dawn, there’s a silver lining at the end of the tunnel, all that jazz.

It wasn’t all good, though. I didn’t think it was a perfect season by any means. (Truth be told, I think the first three seasons were the show’s best, though four and five were certainly memorable.) I wasn’t particularly impressed with season six’s premiere episode, and I outright hated the entire “inside joke” episode that actually cast Dean and Sam as their real-life selves, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, and didn’t really go anywhere.

Still, even though I have to say season six was the show’s weakest, there was more good than bad and as I said, I liked the darkness that it had at most times. The show sometimes does one too many jokes for my tastes, and luckily by the time season six rolled around, I think the writers felt the same way and did away with a lot of it.

I’m looking forward to the seventh season of Supernatural, and I’m also curious to see if this will be the show’s last. There’s talk online that Jensen and Jared are actually signed up for a possible season eight, but that isn’t confirmed. If it comes to an end a year from now, I wouldn’t be disappointed because I’d hate to see Supernatural become redundant and just going through the motions. The key to a great send-off will be whether the producers announce their intentions of ending the show so that they have enough time to finish the story of the Winchester brothers.

Either way, I’ll be along for the ride.

Later,
D.

Rated-R Forever – Edge retires from WWE

Over the last couple of months, it seems that the phrase “Anything can happen in the WWE” has been ringing loud and true. Fans are now starting to expect the unexpected, and the WWE has delivered that in spades.

We saw The Rock return after seven years.

Stone Cold Steve Austin is teasing some form of in-ring return of his own.

Even Jim Ross is being allowed back behind the commentary table.

Add to all of that the fact that a rock-solid WrestleMania has come and gone, where fans saw The Miz keep the WWE Championship, an intense stare-down between Attitude Era leaders Austin and Rock and an instant classic between The Undertaker and Triple H.

Yes, it’s been quite a time to be a fan of WWE and wrestling in general, (uh-oh, I said the dreaded W-word!) but last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw was shocking and headline-making for all the wrong reasons.

Edge, real name Adam Copeland and an 11-time World Champion in the WWE announced his retirement from the industry.

Saying goodbye on Raw - April 11, 2011

Citing increasing numbness in his arms due to past neck and spinal injuries, Edge took a microphone and told the fans in Bridgeport, CT that doctors have told him to retire if he wants to save his body from any further harm or damage. The fans in the arena were shocked, viewers at home were shocked and the Internet exploded with everyone trying to decipher if this was an angle or a storyline.

Even I took it with a grain of salt. After all, this is pro wrestling we’re talking about. We’re led to suspend our disbelief on everything we see on TV and the only truth that WWE will sell you is what’s good for the company. But as I’ve interacted with other fans about it and thought about it even further, I believe what I was told last night. Edge’s long tenure inside the ring is over.

Nobody wants to see their favorite Superstar’s career come to an end, but it’s a harsh reality. Edge said it himself last night; when it comes to what these men and women do in the ring, a lot of people dismiss it as “smoke and mirrors”, but the truth is that their bodies take the worst punishment of all. I don’t see NBA players doing splashes and dives off of 15-foot ladders, I don’t see NFL guys playing with a torn quadricep in their leg and I sure as hell don’t see hockey players enduring as much brute force as being thrown off a 20-foot cage through a table. But hey, they know how to fall, right? Fuck. You.

Edge is making the best decision for himself by walking away while his body is still intact. Is he at 100%? Far from it. This is a guy who missed out on two WrestleManias because he was at home recovering from a broken neck in 2003/2004. Add to that a list of knee injuries, a broken arm here and there, torn muscles in his upper body and the most recent big injury, a ruptured Achilles tendon, which is described as the worst injury to try and come back from.

By anyone else’s standards, Edge is still a fairly young guy at 37 years old. But considering he’s been doing this for almost two decades, he’s very much a veteran warhorse. He’s stepping away relatively healthy and with his body intact, but I can imagine he still feels the effects of his long career every morning when he wakes up.

I kind of liken this situation with the same one Stone Cold found himself in back in 2003. Nobody could’ve suspected that Austin had wrestled his last match at WrestleMania 19, where The Rock pinned him in the final match of a trilogy between the two. But like Edge, Austin had a history of neck problems and he was forced to step away. Eight years later, and just a week after successfully retaining the World Title at WrestleMania 27, the same issues are forcing Edge to walk away from his career while he still can.

I almost hate that this isn’t a storyline. Edge is one of my all-time favorites, and I don’t want him to retire. But on the flip side of that coin, I admire and respect him for making this decision before some freak accident happened in the ring. He’s getting out before he’s bitter, broken and confined to a wheelchair (COUGH Dynamite Kid COUGH Superstar Billy Graham COUGH). You have to respect that.

As for everything outside of the ring, you have to admire the kind of person that Edge is. He’s the kind of guy that speaks his mind and offers no excuses on his own mistakes, such as opening discussing his experimenting with steroids and the whole Lita/Matt Hardy fiasco from 2005, which WWE turned into a memorable storyline and feud.

And look at the career that Edge has had. If it doesn’t scream HALL OF FAME, then nothing does. Where does Edge rank on the list of all-time greats? If we were looking at a list of 50 wrestlers, I personally wouldn’t have any hesitation at putting him in the top 15. (the WWE’s “official” list of 50 top superstars ranked him at 19)

What makes for a top star? Three things – being able to talk, possess standout in-ring work and an ability to draw big money on all levels. Edge has done that time and time again. He’s leaving at a time where he’s still on top. Hell, until the Smackdown tapings tonight where he’ll relinquish the belt, he’s STILL the World Heavyweight Champion!

The guy has had a one of a kind career in the WWE. Among some of the biggest highlights:

– revolutionized the Ladder match with Christian, the Hardys and Dudleys
– provided countless highlight reel moments with the epic TLC matches (spearing Jeff Hardy from 15 feet in the air at Mania 17)
– won the 2001 King of the Ring
– became a standout singles star after the brand extension on Smackdown in a series of matches with Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero
– won the Tag Titles with childhood idol Hulk Hogan on July 4, 2002
– won the first Money in the Bank
– after cashing it in against Cena, ratings for Raw increased dramatically
– main-evented WrestleMania 24 and Summerslam against The Undertaker in 2008
– lost the WWE Title and then won the World Title in the same night at No Way Out in 2009
– returned from the Achilles tendon injury to win the Royal Rumble in 2010
– currently the man with the most title wins in WWE history, with a total number of 31 championships to his name

Retains the World Title at WrestleMania 27

Those are just a spoonful of the things that Edge has accomplished in his 13-year career in the WWE. He’s done it all. He can kick back on his back porch with a cold beer on a hot day and be more than proud of the matches, moments and memories that he gave fans over the years.

So then, what happens now? Tonight, Edge is scheduled to surrender the World Title at the Smackdown tapings in Albany, NY and I can imagine he’ll say one last goodbye on the show that he’s been the face of for the last few years. Knowing that his forced retirement is legit, I won’t be surprised if I shed a few tears myself when the show airs on Friday night.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we’re only the fans. I can only imagine the hurt pride that Edge must be feeling himself. But at the same time, he had a career only a select few guys will ever have in pro wrestling, and for that he should be thankful and grateful.

I know I am.

Edge for the 2012 Hall of Fame. Make it happen, McMahon.

WrestleMania 27 Delivers (for the most part)

Last night was WrestleMania 27, with over 70,000 packing the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

I paid $29 and watched it at a multiplex theater in HD with about 300 other WWE fans. Always an amazing experience. I was grabbing some pizza from the concession and ran into several other fans, sporting garb such as John Cena and Undertaker t-shirts (such as the one I wore myself, see my photos with the Trailer Park Boys for reference). I also wore my Bret Hart cap and Edge pendant, so I was pretty much the stereotypical WWE mark for one night only.

Called it!

Overall, I thought Mania 27 delivered on the hype. There were a few decisions made that I didn’t agree with, and of course it had its share of filler, but for the matches I was looking forward to the most, WWE hits a huge bull’s eye, in my book.

Taken from the WWE Parallel Universe page on Facebook, my overall thoughts on each bout at WrestleMania 27:

Edge vs Del Rio: Nobody could’ve suspected this would go on first, but they had the task of getting the crowd fired up and I think they delivered. Strong match and I was surprised to see Edge retain. I thought for sure Christian was turning heel, especially when he brought out the weapons to smash up Del Rio’s car. Guess not.

Rhodes vs Mysterio: Glad to see Cody get the win here. Solid match with some good action, and I loved that stalling superplex that Cody did. Must’ve had Rey upside down for at least 10 seconds. THAT’S how you create your own WrestleMania moment.

Loved seeing Rock and Austin interact. Attitude Era FTW!

8-Man Tag: Waste of time. The Corre has the Tag and IC Titles, and no heat at all. Feel a little bad for them, but hey, at least one faction made it to Mania. Nexus sat at home.

Savage vs Steamboat 2011

Orton vs Punk: Great match. Very physical. Punk is not a “sports entertainer”, he’s a WRESTLER and he goes out of his way to let people know that. I think he pulled a great performance out of Orton and it’ll be a match that sticks out on Randy’s resume. Loved the submission attempts by Punk, especially the Anaconda Vice. Cool RKO spot to finish it.

Lawler vs Cole: This was the Mania 27 version of Bret/Vince last year. Went on far too long, and what the hell’s the deal with reversing the decision? If they cut short the beer celebration, let Lawler win the match with no reverse decision and shaved 5 minutes off the match, we would’ve got the US Title match. Forgettable contest.

Nothing short of incredible.

Taker vs HHH: Absolutely epic. Blew away my expectations. Those two destroyed each other. Loved seeing Taker get airborn with that splash on the outside as I wasn’t sure he’d ever do that again after Sim Snuka didn’t catch him at WM25. Spinebuster through the Spanish table was brutal.

I loved the last five minutes because it was amazing storytelling. Last year, Taker told HBK to stay down and last night HHH told Taker the same thing.

I have to say, for a SPLIT SECOND I thought the streak was over. When Taker grabbed HHH by the throat, only it was a weak attempt and HHH Tombstoned him, I thought it was over. HHH enduring Hell’s Gate while trying to grab the sledge was fantastic. Taker collapsing after it was over and being carted away was great drama. Just an incredible match.

Personally, I thought it was a better match than Taker/HBK 2 from last year, but not quite on the level of WM25. Then again, it’s two very different styles coming from HBK and HHH. Taker is the greatest of all time. He’s the true Mr. WrestleMania.

6-man tag: The buffer match. Couldn’t care less about it.

Miz vs Cena: I liked the video packages hyping the two, but Cena’s entrance was terrible and the Georgia Dome crapped all over it. I see Cena’s now pimping red kiddie gear.

I wanted to like the match, I really did. In the end though, I just thought it was average, and average is not what you pull out at WrestleMania. And I’m not deliberately picking on him, but Cena just seemed to be off his game. Like it was a bad day at the office. Miz looked fierce and determined, as he should’ve, but Cena just looked kind of there like he wasn’t putting his full effort into it. Did anyone else notice this?

I thought it was a bold move going for the fake double countout finish, but The Rock restarting the match was obvious. Then Cena eats a Rock Bottom and Miz is still Champ. That made me happy. Show closing with Rock was the right move because he was at the center of all the hype and promotion.

It’ll be interesting to see what develops on Raw tonight.

Overall, I thought it was a very strong WrestleMania. I enjoyed it more than 25 and 26. There were a couple things I didn’t like and it’s too bad the US Title match got cut, but far more positives than negatives in my view. The WWE Title match should’ve been so much better and Cena has no excuse for going through the motions (at least in my opinion), but it was cool to see Miz go from opening Mania last year to main eventing it last night. It shows that WWE can still make superstars.

Overall, I’d give it an 8/10. Though I was looking forward to a couple matches on the undercard, I was watching this mainly for Taker/HHH and The Rock’s involvement and I was not disappointed at all. Great show.

The overall opinion as far as the net is concerned is that Mania 27 suffered from the same would that 25 did in 2009, where one match was so epic that nothing was going to top it. Because Triple H and The Undertaker produced such an instant classic, the WWE Title match between The Miz and John Cena suffered from an exhausted crowd. Aside from that, the match was very sub-par to begin with and Cena was going through the motions, for which he has no excuse. Miz completely outperformed him and he was the right man to walk out with the WWE Title. At least in that sense, I was happy with the WrestleMania main event.

In a nutshell, it was more enjoyable than the last two Manias, but 24 still holds up very well as far as being the last epic WrestleMania. I think 27 will go down as the show that gave back to the older fans and was a bit of a throwback to the Attitude Era, which pleases viewers like myself. In my view, it deserves every bit of success that WWE hopes it reached, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was able to break the one million PPV buyrate mark.

Raw tonight is definitely gonna be interesting.

I’m out,
DR

WrestleMania 27 winners + losers

With nine matches on the card, I think WrestleMania 27 has a good balance of solid undercard bouts mixed with top billing main events. As always, it’s a 4-hour show and depending on what they want to accomplish, WWE will sometimes cram as many matches as they can on the card. Personally, I think getting into double digits when it comes to the number of matches is really pushing it. As I’ve said before, today’s audience can be very fickle and stubborn. Some people don’t want to to sit through 3 or 4 undercard matches that they aren’t as excited for as they are the main events. Secondly, the more matches on the card, the less time that some of the bigger ones will have. Nine matches in four hours will mean that each main event will get ample time to create lasting Mania moments, while the bouts on the undercard should have a few extra minutes to try and steal the show.

So without further Apu, these are my predictions for WrestleMania 27 this Sunday.

1. United States Title – Sheamus (C) vs Daniel Bryan: There isn’t any real hype surrounding this one. It’s really just a way to get these two on the Mania card, but I like the fact that the US Title is being defended at Mania for the first time in four years. But who knows? These two could come out and put on a sleeper hit of a match even if they were only given six or seven minutes. And despite this being a bout with no heat behind it, it’s still awesome to see someone with the reputation of Daniel Bryan make it to the biggest PPV on Earth in his first year in the WWE, especially considering the whole “Tie-Gate” fiasco from last June. Sheamus has apparently been in the proverbial doghouse with management in recent months, but him beating Bryan for the US Title a couple weeks ago on Raw was a step in the right direction. Frankly, this one is hard to call. Sheamus could retain and keep the title for a lengthy run, or WWE may want to kick Mania off with a title switch and put Bryan over as being a top player someday soon. I’m going with Sheamus retaining, but I think Bryan will have a great showing and I’d love to see the audience give him some form of ovation.
WINNER: Sheamus, retains US Title

2. 6-Person Tag Team match – John Morrison, Trish Stratus & Snooki vs Dolph Ziggler & Lay-Cool: I don’t have high hopes for this. Nobody does. This is the prerequisite “Let’s pay a celebrity with a briefcase full of cash to give us publicity” match that usually comes with WrestleMania every year. Its spot should be near the beginning of the show so that it’s out of the way and we can forget about it while we gear up for the main events and other undercard matches. I don’t watch Jersey Shore, although I know who Snooki is, and she seems to me like a stuck up and catty bitch who has no business being famous and involved in WWE, let alone WrestleMania. Whatever. It’s just a shame Morrison and Ziggler are the ones who have to put up with this bullshit. You gotta think that they would’ve been two of the odds-on favorites to win the Money in the Bank Ladder match if WWE decided to hold one at Mania this year. And although it’s nice seeing Trish Stratus back on WWE TV, has she even been allowed to say two words on the microphone? Nope. Gotta give Vickie Guerrero all the promo time! Same goes for Michelle McTaker! Lord, just please end this mess in 5 minutes or less.
WINNERS: Morrison & the women

3. Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes: I like what these two may produce with this match. The objective behind Mania 27, as far as Vince McMahon is concerned, is to begin making the transition from the current crop of main event talent in WWE to making tomorrow’s top stars. Guys like the Undertaker and HHH won’t be around for much longer and McMahon is only now starting to realize that he needs more wrestlers who audiences will invest their time and money in. Cody Rhodes is one of those guys. I freely admit that when he first debuted in the WWE and for his first couple of years in, I was no fan of his. Didn’t like his look, didn’t like his voice and he didn’t stand out in the ring, in my book. Since his move to Smackdown a while back, I’ve seen major improvement and he’s definitely a guy to watch in the future. I like this whole deranged personality he’s taken on since Mysterio smashed his face with his knee brace, and I think Rhodes will walk out with a major upset and we’ll see this feud continue over the next couple of “B” PPVs.
WINNER: Cody Rhodes

4. 8-Man Tag Team match – The Corre vs Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella & Vladimir Koslov: To me, this is the 2nd filler match of WrestleMania. I would be a lot more enthused about this one if WWE had went with what I originally wanted, and that’s Diesel taking the place of Marella and Koslov. This didn’t even need to be an 8-man tag if Big Daddy Cool were involved. What the hell are Marella and Koslov even doing in this match? Does creative think 70,000 people are gonna go nuts over Santino doing that stupid Cobra stunt? (I don’t even call that a move, let alone a finisher) People can criticize Kevin Nash all they want; the fact is that people went ballistic over his return at the Royal Rumble in January, and he looked good for the three minutes he was in the battle royal. It was also Corre leader Wade Barrett who eliminated Diesel, who then stared down Big Show on his way out. Plus, Mania is in Atlanta, where Nash spent a huge chunk of his career in WCW. Finally, when I was growing up I was a huge Diesel fan; I cut the fingertips off every pair of black gloves I got my hands on and would Jackknife powerbomb my younger brother on a pair of mattresses whenever the mood struck me. How cool would it have been to see everything come full circle, both for Nash himself and his longtime fans like myself? You can’t deny that it would be quite the sight to see Nash get a hold of someone small like Justin Gabriel and Jackknife him to oblivion. Anyway, enough daydreaming on my part, I guess. I pray that The Corre takes the win here, because something big has to happen for these guys since the group has the Tag Team and Intercontinental titles.
WINNERS: The Corre

5. Randy Orton vs CM Punk: I’m really looking forward to this one. It’s not that this is a new match – we’ve seen Punk and Orton go at it before – but it’s a new dynamic in that Punk’s the heel and Orton’s the babyface. In my book, Punk is the strongest guy on the microphone in the entire WWE because he believes what he says and that comes through to the viewers. He doesn’t do lame, schoolyard comedy and he doesn’t seem to try too hard to get his point across or mimic someone more popular (COUGH Miz COUGH). Which is why I’ve really bought into this rivalry he has with Randy Orton. Bringing up the footage from September 2008 of Orton punting Punk in the skull and forcing him to relinquish the World Heavyweight Title was a bold move and at the same time, it makes perfect sense. WWE’s usual practice is to never bring up something that happened over a year ago, so looking back on something that happened over 2.5 years ago was nice to see. Though WWE has really dropped the ball with the whole New Nexus stable, having Orton plow his way through all of them to get to Punk was a smart way to get the audience invested in the feud. I was glad to see Punk gain a lot more heat heading into this match on the last two episodes of Raw, and for me this is the toughest match to predict a winner. Whoever does come out on top, the angle could still continue over the next couple of months. I’d love to see these two get a good chunk of time, something like 15 minutes to really try and steal the show. I’m going with Orton to walk out the winner, but Punk may even attack him after the bell to continue this feud.
WINNER: Randy Orton

6. Stone Cold Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee, Michael Cole vs Jerry “The King” Lawler: I’m not a fan of Michael Cole playing an active part in WWE programming. Don’t like the guy and I never will. And I don’t mean “He’s a heel so I’m being geared to dislike him”. I mean I hate his voice, I hate his face and he comes off as being someone with a huge ego when he gets a small taste of the spotlight. And if you read the 80 million ‘news’ sites, recent reports are saying that Cole indeed has grown a huge ego since taking on the role of a heel commentator. Hell, the guy even called Josh Matthews a faggot on Twitter. Man, I would’ve paid to hear Cole get his ass chewed out by McMahon over that one. Anyway, we all know what this match is gonna be – a platform for Cole to have the shit kicked right out of him by Lawler. WWE has done a great job of keeping the distance between Lawler and Cole, with The King never able to get his hands on the little SOB. So at Mania, I expect nothing less than a severe ass-whipping and a Stone Cold Stunner to go along with it.
WINNER: Jerry Lawler

7. World Heavyweight Title – Edge (C) vs Alberto Del Rio: Given enough time, this could be off the charts. Despite being on the same roster and given a massive push since debuting in the WWE, Del Rio has never had that much physicality with Edge aside from one match on Smackdown last November and fighting for the World Title a month later at the TLC PPV. I really like that because the biggest matches at WrestleMania should mainly be between guys who will produce a the most unpredictable matches. We shouldn’t know what we’re gonna see in the main event at WrestleMania, and with Edge/Del Rio, we don’t. This one has been given a ton of great build-up since Del Rio won the Royal Rumble two months ago. Would it have been cool to see the heavily rumored match between Edge and Christian instead? Absolutely. But WWE has a ton of faith in Del Rio and he’s getting top marks across the board, it seems. I have to question WWE’s logic in having Christian go over Del Rio back to back in matches on Smackdown recently after he returned from injury. I thought it took away a lot of Del Rio’s heat heading into Mania, but him standing over a beaten Edge and Christian on Raw this week was at least a way to try and make up for that. Del Rio has big Brodus Clay in his corner and Edge has his lifetime buddy Christian. Obviously, those two are gonna get involved and when it comes right down to it, I see a new World Champion being crowned after Captain Charisma turns on the Rated R Superstar.
WINNER: Alberto Del Rio, NEW World Heavyweight Champion

8. WWE Championship – The Miz (C) vs John Cena: Obviously, this one is getting a ton of buzz based on the fact that The Rock will be involved in some form. One thing I wish WWE had established is exactly WHAT Rock’s role in the match is, because I’m sure Miz and Cena don’t want a bunch of people in the Georgia Dome looking at the entrance and waiting for Rock to come down in the middle of their main event title match. We’ve seen Miz and Cena mix it up a lot in the past, but obviously this is a different time and different dynamic in that it’s Wrestle-Fucking-Mania. I’m no Cena fan, but when he wants to, he can really turn it up in the ring and The Miz has come so far in the past year in all facets of his career. Christ, last year he was OPENING WrestleMania, and 12 months later he’s main eventing it. Love him or hate him, that says so much about him and the faith that WWE has in him to be an elite top superstar. I don’t expect it to be a classic of any sorts, but it should definitely be dramatic. One thing I’ve been tinkering around in my head is the prospect of WWE trying to mimic WrestleMania 13 in some form – Cena playing the part of Bret Hart as he shows a viciousness against the Miz much like the Hitman did to Stone Cold. I’m not saying turn Cena full-blown heel or Miz babyface, but something besides the boring “Cena trying to persevere” formula. As for the ending, who really knows? Rock may get involved in deciding who walks out the Champion, or he may wait until it’s over. One thing I do know – Miz is keeping the WWE Title and Cena is eating a Rock Bottom. I’m going with Miz retaining for two reasons; first, because he’s been treated like such a third wheel in this whole drama between Cena and Rock and second, because Cena doesn’t need the win whereas Miz does. There’s only so many times John Super-Cena can defy the odds and walk out of WrestleMania with the title in his hands. Sunday is not one of those times.
WINNER: The Miz, retains WWE Championship

9. No Holds Barred match, The Undertaker vs Triple H: Besides the presence of The Rock, this collision is what sold me on this year’s WrestleMania. I cannot wait for this match. I was one of the first people that started saying that HHH and Taker should have a match at Mania, but it seemed everyone around me was saying “No, HHH has to fight Sheamus to get his revenge for taking him out” and “Taker is facing Wade Barrett because the Nexus helped bury him alive”. I didn’t buy those matches for two reasons; first, with his career likely winding down in the next year or two, Undertaker should only be facing guys at Mania who are either top guys like himself (Cena, HBK, HHH) or are about to break through the proverbial glass ceiling. Second, because with the way Mania was taking shape, it lacked that one blockbuster, special attraction match. This is it. The two longest-tenured veterans in the WWE locker room are gonna rip each other to shreds at the biggest show of the year and for my money, THIS is the main event much like Taker’s epic with HBK was in 2009. I think if the scenarios play out as I think they will in the World and WWE Title matches, this is the best choice to feature as the show closer. It’ll be much different than Taker’s matches with HBK in the sense that instead of David v Goliath, it’s simply two powerhouses going at it, which is a welcome change of pace. I’m interested to see how these two shake off the ring rust they likely have. Taker hasn’t wrestled since last October and HHH has been on the shelf longer than that, having been out of the ring since last April. Hopefully these two are given a lot of time, like a good 20-25 minutes to tell their story and produce the kind of carnage we’re sure to see. I loved HBK’s involvement in the build to this match, especially how he showed doubt over whether his best friend HHH could beat Taker since he couldn’t in two years. I think it’ll be brutal, epic and storytelling at its finest. And of course, Taker will notch the WrestleMania streak to 19-0.
WINNER: The Undertaker

This is gonna be epic

With last night being the final episode of Raw before the Granddaddy of ’em All, every wrestling fan is salivating at the reality that’s facing us – WrestleMania is merely days away.

The WWE put their best foot forward on Raw, which was the go-home show before this Sunday’s huge extravaganza, and the show was jampacked with as much hype and promotion as they could do in two hours. When it comes to the Road to WrestleMania, it’s a time in which I’ll forgive WWE for showcasing as little actual wrestling as they care to in favor of hyping the biggest matches and hottest feuds going into the event. Last night was a classic example of that, as two of this year’s main events – The Undertaker vs Triple H and The Miz vs John Cena – got some major last-minute hype and the segments were something that we’re gonna see on highlight reels for years to come.

I love WrestleMania. It’s my Super Bowl. Well, it’s OUR Super Bowl (wrestling fans around the world) and the one night of the year where it feels like “the end of the season” when it comes to the WWE – except nothing ever stops in this company. Regardless, all the feuds, storylines and rivalries lead up to this very show and everything year-round is built around it, which is kinda why it feels like a 4-hour “season finale” of sorts.

I take great pride in being born the year WrestleMania was first unleashed on the world: 1985. And there have been an endless amount of legendary matches and moments in its 26-year history. Among the biggest:

– The match between Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and the Macho Man Randy Savage as well as Hulk Hogan bodyslamming Andre the Giant at Mania 3
– Savage winning a one-night tournament for the vacant WWF Title at Mania 4
– The epic Ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon at Mania 10
– The one-hour Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Michaels at Mania 12
– Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart’s brutal and bloody Submission match at Mania 13 that kickstarted Austin’s rise to the top, as well as laying the foundation for the infamous Attitude Era
– Austin and The Rock battling for the WWF Title in the main event of what many call the best WrestleMania ever, 17
– The match pitting wrestling’s past against wrestling’s present, Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at Mania 18

Those are only some of the biggest matches and moments in WrestleMania history. And every hardcore fan has their own personal favorites.

When it comes to this year’s show, there’s a lot of hype surrounding not

FINALLY...

only the big matches, but the man hosting the entire event – The Rock. WWE is banking on the fact that The Great One can help draw a huge buyrate for Mania 27 and do much better than last year, when Mania 26 produced about 885,000 PPV purchases. And if the ratings for Raw the last few weeks is any indication, WWE may just get their wish and then some, as the return of The Rock has resulted in higher numbers of viewers week in and week out on TV. He was one of the top stars in the Attitude Era, so I think a lot of people who grew up watching him and then tuned out are getting back into the WWE product. I think that’s awesome. Of course, the key will be how WWE capitalizes on the success of WrestleMania and KEEPS those people tuning in when it’s over.

And of course, one of the biggest things that gets debated heading into every WrestleMania is the match order. It’s a tricky formula because you’re playing with the emotions of the crowd. Twenty years ago it was pretty basic; it simply went from low card matches all the way up to the biggest main events to close the show. Today’s audience is different though, I’m sad to say. They need to be taken on a ride that lets them rest for a few minutes in between and near the end. WWE needs to figure out a good balance that will accomplish two things – appease the egos of the wrestlers involved and ensure the crowd is just as excited for the main event as they were for the opening match. There have been several notable victims of bad match placement where one match that should’ve been the show closer ended up in the middle of the PPV: Mania 8, where the WWF Title match between Ric Flair and Randy Savage was the 5th match out of 9 and a terrible match between Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice ended the show and Mania 18, where many felt the epic showdown between Hulk Hogan and The Rock should’ve ended the event, including Chris Jericho, who defended his WWF Undisputed Title against Triple H in the last match.

Many people also said after the fact that the match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 should’ve ended the show after WWE gave viewers a pretty lackluster main event in the form of Triple H vs Randy Orton. It wasn’t that the match was bad, but rather it was booked poorly and there was a largely shared feeling of “That’s it?” among fans and critics.

Tomorrow, I’ll post my analysis of each match and my predictions of who will come out on top in each of them. I have some theories on a couple of them that may raise some eyebrows, but it’s WrestleMania – everything’s open to speculation.

I’m out,
DR

Feelin’ fine

Though I can’t attest to the mental state of actor/party animal/tiger blood drinker Charlie Sheen, I can relate to his life-loving, free-spirited nature right about now, as things are looking up in Ruttle country these days.

You and me both, buddy!

First off and best of all, I got a raise at work. Even better, it was for more than I originally saw myself getting. For this, I am extremely happy. I’m very grateful that I get to make a decent living at what I love, and let’s face it, what I do best. I get to talk with people, attend all sorts of events all over the place (for free) and craft stories around my experiences. For a guy living in small town Saskatchewan, it’s a catch of a job.

Second, and also in relation to my job, I’m looking at two very big cheques coming my way when it comes to going “out in the field”. I attended five days of the recent Brigitt Blanchard murder trial up in Saskatoon, another trip up to attend Lisa Rendall’s Citizen of the Year banquet and a trip to Elbow last month to take a photo. This really racks up the miles on my trusty Ford Fusion, and I get compensated 45 cents per kilometer. Suffice to say, I’m looking at more than $500 for driving a car that’s very fuel efficient in the first place. Can you say profit?

Third, my Stephen King film adaptation is really coming along, which is explained in much more detail below in another post. Right now I’m just looking for actors to get interested in the script and I’m trying to put dollar figures together to determine what kind of budget I’ll be working with. And then I start raising that dough.

Finally, I’m just looking at the next few months with a lot of positivity. Bad days come and go as they will but despite everything, spring is in the air and snow is starting to melt, which always seems to better your attitude. I’m also thinking about summer plans, of which I have none set in stone other than a hopeful trip up to Pratt Lake with the guys and a road trip to Insert-Place-Here.

In short……WINNING!
D

So much to tell

I know it’s been awhile since my last post – two months and eight days, to be exact. Frankly, this blog got lost in the back of my mind as work has been very busy and I’ve been pushing myself into overdrive when it comes to this project I hope to get underway in the spring.

That project of course is my film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, Mute. I’m pretty happy with how things are going right now and I’ve come to realize that I can shoot this sucker for much cheaper than I originally anticipated, which is the ultimate plus for any starting filmmakers. New information has come to light as far as technology goes, and the dollar figures behind it are much lower than I thought they would be. WINNING!

I could ramble on and on and make this post War and Peace-like in its length, so instead here are just the main bullet points when it comes to this film:

– I finished the script at 5:30 A.M. on Saturday, February 19. I sat down on Friday night knowing that I wanted to be completely done before I went to sleep, and I ended up putting my head on the pillow at the same time that some people wake up for the day. Thus is the life of a driven, stubborn and sometimes frustrated writer.
– The script came in at 26 pages, roughly eight pages less than the original story itself. But that’s adaptation for you. The general rule of thumb in screen-writing is that one page = one minute on the screen.
– A readthrough of the script with Kyle took a little over 30 minutes. This confirmed my suspicions when I sat down to write Mute in the first place that I would end up with a film over half an hour in length, especially when you include opening and closing credits.
– I still have yet to sit down and try to come up with an actual budget as

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

far as equipment costs and expenses go, but I have found the camera I want to buy and use: a Canon VIXIA HF M400, a small but incredibly effective camcorder that’s getting rave reviews online. One of the features that sticks out to me about it is that it has no internal memory. Some may be irked about that, but that means no data or footage can become corrupt inside the camera and totally screw it up because you’re only using external memory cards. The worst that can happen is something on the card gets screwed up, but the camera will be fine. So you delete off the card and move on.
– I’ve started a Facebook page for Gang 04 Films, and I’m at the blockbusting number of 20, yes 20 whole fans! A small number for now, but I’m a shameless promoting son of a bitch so I hope that number grows ten times higher eventually.
– I’ve put out a casting call for anyone interested in reading the script, and also included my intentions with Mute and capitalized the part in which I tell people that this is a NON-PAYING film. Wannabe actors are doing it for the experience, a credit on their resume or they just didn’t have anything better to do!

So that’s pretty much where I’m at with Mute. Script is done, I know what camera I wanna use and I’m trying to get the word out to actors via Facebook. Actually, I’m sitting here looking at the screen and just got an idea that I’m slapping myself for not having before. I think I’m gonna type up a simple “Hey, are you an actor looking to be in a film?” notice and post it in local businesses in the area.

Why the Hell didn’t I think of that a month ago?

Anyway, I’m out. As far as this post goes.
D

Gang 04 Films: Start of a legacy?

You know, right around the start of 2011 I kept thinking I should get on here and write out this long, tedious entry about all the things I wanna do in the new year and what I think the next twelve months will bring in my life. But I say to Hell with that. Work is work, life is life and at the end of the day, getting the most out of both is an ongoing process for everybody, regardless of what you do.

I will say that looking back on the year that was, 2010 sure produced a lot of great memories for me.

When it comes to my job, it’s amazing how fast-paced this gig reveals itself to be when I think of any specific issues of The Outlook. Stories come and go and despite the feeling of accomplishment over one or two particular issues, it’s onto the next within a couple days. Just before we left for the New Year’s holiday weekend, I put the last remaining touches on our annual Year in Review feature, and it was dumbfounding to realize just how fast time has passed. I was reading my coverage of the Kraft Celebration Tour’s stop in Outlook, and couldn’t believe that it’s now been almost five months since that took place.

Outside of the office, it was still a Hell of a year. Among the highlights:

– Our family getting a new TV after all these years at the end of January. (the old box design one still works though) In fact, it was the day of the Royal Rumble that we set it up, and then we watched said Rumble.
– Watching Shawn Michaels wrestle his last match ever at WrestleMania 26 against The Undertaker in the main event. My usual Mania routine of seeing it on the big screen at Galaxy Cinemas in Saskatoon was thwarted by a flu that bit me something fierce, but it was still an epic battle and an emotional moment to see a childhood hero call it a day.
– An epic Canada Day celebration at my mother’s tavern here in Conquest. Along with celebrating the birth of our nation, it was a Rider Tailgate Party as the team kicked off their season in Regina against the Montreal Alouettes. Free hot dogs, warm and sunny weather, watching the game outside and to top it off, fireworks at the end of the night. Only in a small town.
– The Dallas family reunion also held that same July long weekend was a blast. We had it at the farm where my mom and her siblings grew up and it was cool seeing some family that I hadn’t talked to in years.
– The biggest highlight for me was in early August when I hit the road and drove to Calgary for a few days. Originally, brother Brendon was going to come with me but there’s something to be said for road-tripping it alone. The Calgary Zoo, the old Hart family home, Owen Hart’s grave, seeing those things and doing everything else was such a good time and I’m definitely thinking of making it a yearly trip. Or if not Calgary again, then somewhere else but still going it alone.
– Seeing one of my best friends get married just days after getting back from Calgary was also a huge thrill, and again one of those things that drills into your head just how fast time flies by. Chris and Kristin were made for each other and they deserve all the happiness on Earth.
– Meeting John Paul Tremblay, Robb Wells and Mike Smith, AKA Julian, Ricky and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys after their Saskatoon show on October 21 was excellent. Approachable, down to Earth and very laid back guys.

So, those were among the bigger things that made for a memorable 2010. What’s on the horizon for 2011? Well, one big thing will be in July when Conquest holds its centennial celebrations. My hometown is turning the big 1-0-0 and I expect a party of the most historic proportions. That’ll be cool to experience and I myself intend to give the event as much coverage as possible.

The other thing is a project I’ve been at work on for the last few months; a film adaptation of the Stephen King short story, “Mute”.

Back in August – in fact, on my 25th birthday – I received news via email that I had written permission from King’s office to go ahead with an adaptation of the story. In short, it was a very cool birthday present and I was extremely pumped to have this opportunity.

Flash forward to today, and I’m in the last few stages of writing the script and doing all the things that filmmakers do in the pre-production stage; looking at equipment costs, figuring out a budget, scouting shooting locations, those sort of things. I’m happy with how the script has taken shape and feel that I have something special that hopefully opens some doors of future opportunities.

My goal is to be completely finished the script by the end of this month and begin potential casting. The great thing about creating your first real film project is that you aren’t on any deadlines and the only time you’re eating up is your own. That doesn’t mean I don’t wanna get tearing into this film, because right now I’m targeting May for my shooting period. That gives me February, March and April to get everything else done, such as raising the budget, hiring the actors and confirming my locations and shooting schedule. And about a billion little other things that’ll no doubt accompany these tasks.

In addition to almost being finished with the script, I went ahead and created a Facebook fan page for my production company name, Gang 04 Films. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever learned about independent film making, and honestly it’s just good common sense, is that you have to create a buzz about your film and yourself. Get your name out there and hype your movie as the best thing since Led Zeppelin. So that’s what I’m trying to do. Hopefully I get a good crowd of people wanting to take this crazy ride I’m gonna get on called “shooting a ridiculously low-budget film” and create a stir. Time will tell.

With that, I bid you good day.

I’m out,
D

Gang 04 Films

The Holiday Highlight Reel

Christmas has come and gone and it’s now in the record books. This past week definitely seemed to fly by, as they always tend to when you’re off from work, but with so much going on at the same time, it was definitely a full seven days.

As I said before, we were done work on Wednesday, December 22 and we’ve had the last seven days off before coming back today, Thursday the 30th. What’s cool is that we’re here today, tomorrow but then taking Monday off for a long weekend since it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow! Neat way to get back into the office mindset but have some extra time to recharge the batteries for a new year.

Things were hectic that night of December 22, as I hadn’t packed for Calgary yet and had gifts to wrap. Ultimately, I just sorted out the clothes I wanted to take and instead chose to relax with the knowledge of knowing that work was a blissful week away and watch Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase. A holiday classic, indeed. Only now though do I realize that I neglected that other soulful Christmas movie, Die Hard.

Again, hectic was putting it lightly the next morning as everybody was running around packing, showering and making sure we didn’t forget anything before the drive out to Calgary. I thought it was pretty cool that I got an early Christmas present, but it only made sense before making the trip as it was exactly what I’ve sorely needed – a new coat. A new black leather coat, to be precise. And then my mother handed me her credit card and told me to reactivate my Sirius radio subscription as a last-minute present. Finally, Mom handed me a check for $100 for creating posters and doing promotion for all the past events at her bar in the last year. Needless to say, I was a happy SOB and we hadn’t even drove out to Calgary yet.

The drive was good and actually, the weather for the entire trip was fantastic. The days were sunny and the roads were dry. My brother and I stayed at my oldest brother Jim’s in Calgary while Mom and Dad stayed at a motel since Dad’s mobility is still a bit of an issue. (Long story short: he had knee replacement surgery in July and at his age of 77, it was probably a few years too late and for now he gets by with a rolling walker)

Brendon and I made that Hart House trip on Christmas Eve, driving out there in the afternoon to discover that the home had indeed been sold and some presumably rich-as-Hell family is living there. Unfortunately, this meant that Brendon could not get the up-close-and-personal look at the house that I got in August, but he seemed pretty happy and fired off a few photos that he’ll no doubt make his Facebook profile pictures.

We visited the grave site of Owen Hart as well and did a little snow removal around the tombstone and on the memorial bench. Again, I’d been there back in August but this trip was for Brendon, not me. It was obvious that someone or some people had been there, as there were new flowers in the vase connected to the grave and plenty of footprints in the snow. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Owen’s widow Martha and their kids, and maybe even big brother Bret “the Hitman” Hart.

Supper on Christmas Eve consisted of lasagna (FTW!), garlic toast and Caesar salad and the entire Ruttle clan showed up to Jim and Daniela’s. Once the crowd over there dispersed, brother John and sister-in-law Vaurie had a bonfire at their place, which is only about 10 minutes from Jim’s.

Before everyone started arriving back to Jim’s on Christmas Day, my family and I pried open our own gifts and the following was what I received:

– new leather coat (see above)
– a digital photo frame
– a couple new t-shirts
– book, The Catcher in the Rye
– electric heated seat for my car
– DVD, WWE’s Best PPV Matches of 2009/10

So yeah, quite a good haul and I sure as hell wasn’t expecting additional stuff like the $100 check, six months of Sirius radio or the Saskatchewan Roughriders BBQ accessories, which I got in the annual gift exchange game our family always does.

Eating, drinking, games, rinse, repeat, you get the drill when it comes to Christmas. I played pool, threw darts and every once in awhile, checked out the Comedy Network’s Christmas Day marathon of The Big Bang Theory.

Originally, I was planning on coming back Boxing Day to go to the annual dance held in Outlook, but this year I said to Hell with it. Did some more visiting, ate some more food and actually went to a movie that night. I saw True Grit, which I had been anticipating for months. Luckily, my expectations were met and I think it’s an amazing film with some great performances. The Coen brothers won me back after seeing that horrible and disjointed Burn After Reading.

These last few days after getting back on Monday were just spent hanging out in preparation for coming back to the office this morning. Like I said, it’s not bad since it’s already Thursday and we’re taking a long weekend to celebrate New Year’s.

I’m hoping to get around to putting pictures into my digital photo frame so I can have it here in my office. Just something I can look at when those little insanity moments start to pop up every now and then. That’s one thing I’ll be doing this long weekend, along with ringing in 2011 and thinking about the changes that might lay ahead.

Because they are coming.

Later,
D