Atomic

It's not really "another guy" when he's been here for 3 years

The Rock was awesome. Too funny. He can get away with anything.

Book em Lou!

Is it? Who else did we miss out on? There's salary, city, and team. We can compete on salary. City? Well, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto will naturally have the edge. Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa are probably more appealing to the outsider as well. As for the team? We've missed the playoffs 6 of the last 7 years. Doesn't take a PhD to figure out why players with options might be reluctant to sign here.

Not sure Messam is suited for a full time role but his salary demands are probably in that area. If we could get him cheap, sure. But he is more of a complimentary piece.

My thoughts exactly. Whether in the ring or on the mic, he wows me every time. Great point Iso!

Aside from the WWE title, Kalisto also won the US back from Alberto. I'd also like to point out that I nailed all my predictions except for HEATH SLATER winning the Rumble, but that's only because he wasn't in it. If he was in, I'm sure he would have won. Must have been a last minute change or something. ... ... ... HEATH SLATER BABAY!!!!

Ambrose Owens was spectacular. Rumble was kinda silly with Reigns hiding in the back and the Wyatts re entering the ring to eliminate Lesnar. But a good showing from AJ Styles and thank god Roman didn't win. That crowd was ready to riot. Disappointed there weren't any "classic" wrestlers to enter the Rumble, or any real surprises. I thought it was a pretty good show overall. Better than last year. Would have liked to see a little better ending to the Rumble, as it was obvious Ambrose wouldn't win. Jericho vs HHH would have been a nicer ending, or even Bray vs HHH.

Last minute predictions: New Day retains. Kalisto beats ADR. Charlotte retains. Ambrose retains. Royal Rumble winner and new WWE champ: HEATH SLATER BABAY!!!

Rumors are back to saying Reigns will win. I don't think I could stomach that.

Any predictions for Royal Rumble surprise entrants? Would love to see Papa Shango, Kevin Nash, or one of my old favourites, Steve Blackman.

I don't know about Portage Place specifically but I work downtown and it is very lively during the day. The underground Winnipeg Square is particularly busy and security does a good job of keeping the vagrants moving. Of course you still have homeless people coming through but they aren't allowed to linger.

Great reading, thanks. Some points: Loved Pro Wrestling the game. You're talking about Starman and The Amazon. Starman was always my guy. Spawned the hilarious and popular "A Winner Is You!" phrase due to a mistranslation. I still think there has always been a degree of up-and-down movement for stars outside of the mainstays like Hogan. Look at Edge. Came in with The Brood (Gangrel and Christian) which eventually died, he kinda sat around the mid card for a long time, then eventually became one of the biggest stars in the company. I do get what you're saying though and obviously there are problems with the booking. That 8 man tag on RAW was a disaster. WTF was the point? No build up, no excitement, and on top of that the match itself was god awful. Awful, awful, awful. But I still think there is potential there with Bray! Just ditch Rowan and Strowman and have Bray and Harper as a tag team maybe? They are both great, IMO.

Cena gets the huge push and look what happens. All the super fans hate him. And I don't buy your point about leeway. The Wyatts just finished a feud with ECW where they dominated and they've beat up Reigns, Big Show, Lesnar etc and you're still sitting here saying they're buried. Fairly recently they beat Reigns, Ambrose, and Jericho at a PPV. Yeah, the guys who are now world champ, IC Champ, and Y2J is Y2J. So they lost to Taker and Kane... Big deal. You call that being buried? Seems like exactly the leeway you're talking about.

Great thread title

Shockmain is a badass name

You can't push everyone at the same time though. You can complain about the Wyatts and Tyler Breeze being buried but if they were getting a push it means someone else is being buried and then the fans complain about that. There are only so many title feuds to go around and someone has to lose in each one and it can't just be jobbers all the time. Breeze vs Ziggler was okay... But then what? I don't know. It can't be easy booking the never ending story that is the WWE.

Cool angle!!

Really? I wouldn't mind it, I like his character and I think there is still lots of potential for the Wyatt family in general. If not HHH, Lesnar, or Reigns, I don't know who else is even a remote possibility. And I don't want to see it on HHH or Reigns to be honest.

Triple H looks most likely. Can't see them putting Reigns over so hard that he goes 1-30, that's a little much. Dark horse candidate for me is Bray Wyatt. They're building up to something there and I'm hoping it's not the rumored Braun Strowman vs Lesnar at WM32...

There is a huge supply of receivers in the States and I believe that almost all of them that find their way up here could be successful in the right circumstances. But its just not that easy. Every receiver in the CFL has just tasted the first defeat of their career, likely, when they got cut from the NFL. So the challenge is finding guys with the right attitude and the mental strength to overcome that without being cocky. And the mental aptitude to adjust to the CFL game. And on top of that, they have to be patient. So how do you quantify all that from watching film and/or a couple camp sessions? Maybe, just maybe, you can have a short conversation with the player himself or one of his coaches but can you learn enough from that? Hell, athletically, all these guys are good enough. But the things that separate the good from the great... That's the tough part. I don't believe it's "easy" at all to recruit for receivers or any other position group for that matter. Because "good enough" doesn't win the Grey Cup.

Everyone knew Rogers was going to the NFL already, signing somewhere was just a matter of time. And when is the last time the Stamps have signed a big free agent? Dressler to Winnipeg isn't a given but I'd be shocked if he landed in Calgary.

Age doesn't matter in the CFL with non guaranteed contracts that are generally only 1-3 years in length. What good is it to sign young players when they can just leave in a year anyways? Give me the better, more established player over the young one with potential any day.

Huge, huge win on the road with an incredibly depleted lineup in a back to back. God bless Hellebuyck!

I respect the opinions of guys like Mackenzie and Dreger but they are wrong just as often as they are right, if not more often. Not that they are lying or blindly speculating but things change on a daily basis behind the scenes. Dreger reports that LA and Kopitar are miles apart and two days later he signs. I understand the difficulty in signing both Buff and Trouba but how much money are we willing to shell out on potential for guys like Scheifele and Lowry? At 20-25 points a season should we be concerned about Lowry at all?? Can't let these young guys bend us over just because we've put some development time into them. There are always new prospects coming up.