Nasty Nate

Didn't realize Slick Nic still had a year of junior eligibility left. I'm sure Chevy & Zinger saw what happened to Schiefele when he first debuted. He was pushed around the ice like a bully on a fawn. Schief grew up real fast - but he's 6'2" and 185, probably 195 next season. Petan is barely 5'9"... lots of physical guys in WHL but its mostly sloggers and deadweights who Petan manages to avoid.

UP - isn't the biggest booking dilemna in WWE 'How to book John Cena?'..... man I've never seen a company struggle to see how they book their top guy. He gets legit heel heat for just showing up and whenever he's booked against a heel-monster the monster gets all Cena's face heat and John is left holding the bag, trying to explain it away! The best thing Cena does is acknowledge the problem and just keep repeating his stock stuff. John's problem was when he first showed up on WWE TV as a fake-rapper, a la a cheap Eminem.... it stuck to him forever. John doesn't have a ton of nifty wrestling moves, most of his endings are like a Ric Flair textbook but he does get props from lots of people when they have him hoist up monsters like Show, Ryback, Mark Henry, etc. (all guys 325 to 450 lbs.) like sacks of potatos. Now they've got Heyman's newest protege doing the same!

Has Paul written a book yet? I think the only mountain left for Paul to climb is to do a massive face turn. But the "Paul Heyman" brand is so imbedded in HEEL-ism it would be a massive challenge to write it thru. Basically, he'd have to use his stable to 'kill' some other massive heels and do it with other guys who are just in the process of turning - aka The Shield..... Shield guys have also done extremely well but they're caught between heel and face right now and the only thing HHH could do was re-establish his old group to try to fake-bury them.

There are many examples of the beginning of the end for TNA but the most glaring might be not hiring Paul Heyman when they had the chance a couple of years ago. he is easily the best performer in the business right now. One certainly wonders if Brock would have gone to TNA with Paul in charge (with Spike owning their own MMA company and throwing money at former UFC guys, it would not be a stretch to predict the network would have gladly covered the costs for him). Heyman wanted to cut all the "legends" except for one or two special attractions and go with a youth movment. TNA disagreed and yet here we are a couple of years later and all the legends are gone and they are pushing (poorly) their "young" guys while Paul Heyman almost singlehandedly makes RAW amazing every week. There are many examples of the beginning of the end for TNA but the most glaring might be not hiring Paul Heyman when they had the chance a couple of years ago. he is easily the best performer in the business right now. One certainly wonders if Brock would have gone to TNA with Paul in charge (with Spike owning their own MMA company and throwing money at former UFC guys, it would not be a stretch to predict the network would have gladly covered the costs for him). Heyman wanted to cut all the "legends" except for one or two special attractions and go with a youth movment. TNA disagreed and yet here we are a couple of years later and all the legends are gone and they are pushing (poorly) their "young" guys while Paul Heyman almost singlehandedly makes RAW amazing every week. Paul Heyman is the best. Simply the best. When Vince was getting a high from humiliating his workers that was pretty epic, too. But Paul just has such a knack for inter-weaving the truth with the typical wrestling lies. I'm sure McMahon would love to televise Heyman's execution and squash him like a bug but the guy is money and one thing about Vince. Its all about the money! I think the only minor weakness in Paul's toolkit is he really can't take bumps anymore. Also, can't believe the guy is still in his 40s. Presents as such an old treacherous guy. If I had to rate the current WWE workers (including guys on the shelf): 1. Paul H. 2. Daniel Bryan 3. Bray Wyatt (freshest wrestling act since Stone Cold but totally different) 4. Phil Brooks (CM Punk) 5. Dolf Ziggler (even though they're trying to bury him) 6. Corporate Kane, Bautista,Triple H still pretty darn good for guys 40 to 50 yrs old. Trips can only do a select few physical matches a year but nobody does 'Reach and Withdraw' like HHH.

Petan will thrive if he's surrounded by a couple monsters with good hands. He'll bust if he's 3rd or 4th lined with a near-bust like Kane or fringers like Tangredi, O'Dell, Slater, Thorburn, Peluso, Wright, etc. He deserves at least 1 full year of AHL grooming, learning some of the little tricks necessary to complete an NHL tool-kit. Something Kane didn't get and now the results are exposing him.

Angel was indeed a WWE developmental worker but McMahon obviously didn't see enough - whether she looked a bit too hard for a beauty queen or possibly that 20" waist? TNA is teetering on the totter to be sure and sorry you got stiffed by their booking agent UP but I suspect nowadays performers like Angel do their own booking. Williams would go over huge in Wpg and I'm sure she's still doing select indy work to beef up her earnings. First time I saw Sarah Stock - what a revelation. One of the best workers around. I'd put her close to Angelina and Trish Stratus for telling a story. Perhaps close to Maryse Oullette.

Drafting top 2 seems to be a dilemna to be sure. Look at last year. Bombers in a particularly tough spot cuz they traded their 2nd rd pick for Neufeld. If Neuf works out then its OK, but if he rolls his cankles again or can't be more than 'adequate' it further weakens an already weak o-line. If we can't control our destiny for a canadian o-line pick the backup plan is for Kyle to instruct Danny Mac and the scouts to find a monster import o-lineman that can be a total upgrade over mediocre guys like January or Douglas or the like.

Won't have to worry about Angelina Love going into WWE. She recently was re-admitted to TNA rasslin' - re-uniting with her old Beautiful People partner Velvet Sky. btw their re-unite segments are on youtube and are amongst the best promos ever cut by women in the sport. They also tried to re-unite with Madison Rayne but Madison rejected them and thus became their #1 target for destruction. No female in the business has ever been able to tell an in-ring story anywhere close to Angel Williams (aka Angelina Love) Trish Stratus and Lita are the closest. A couple of the Asian girls were also pretty darn good at it. I think McMahon looks at her and reasons that she's 32 yrs old, doesn't have that pudgy/soft look he likes (ie. Kelly Kelly) and that he doesn't want to put a 32 yr old over on his current crop of mid to late 20s barbie divas. And I don't think Angel wants to go to WWE and put everyone but the kitchen sink over. TNA isn't exactly super-viable but they have a bit more money now that they don't have to pay Hulk Hogan to limp into the ring. (WWE has that privilege now). But for Angelina Love it sure beats traveling to house shows all over North America (gyms, chuches, small halls) and letting the local Queenie kick her arse and go over on her. (of course thats the reason you pay a former champ who's now an indy worker to come to your territory; you want your local top gal worker to get some rub-over)

I suspect that O'Shea will have a strong voice in the choice, being as how he is the one to direct the team on the field.Definitely O'Shea will have a lot of input but it is ultimately Walters' decision. But Walters knows how badly and desperately his team needs a quality canadian hog. Problem made worse by the fact the 2 american imports they usually dress are borderline guys, certainly not dominant at their positions. (If you're gonna dress American OLs, just make sure they're monsters)

You forgot Bobby Hull iso. At one time he was coaching the Jets with an old Western Hockey league hack. Jets WHA never really had viable coaches and neither did Jets 1.0.... WHA Jets just had the best talent in that league w/ Hull, Hedberg, Nilson, Sjoberg, Ford, Daley, Nilson, etc. Didn't matter the back half of the roster and d-men 5 to 7 were pretty much Romper Room guys.

If there's a hint Lavertu or Focault are NFL bound (especially if Bombers pick them) then Quinn Smith has to be selected at #2. The basic problem is Tyson Pencer is still probably not ready for prime-time action. Although he's far stronger than Morley and a tad bigger, too he's just not experienced enough to make a difference. One on one meatball contact he'll give you decent protection and won't be defeated easily. Run some crosses or schemes at him and he'll be balling his eyes out. And so will we. If Pencer was available for this year's draft I doubt he'd be picked any higher than 2nd round - possible third. Just on potential. Same as he still is.

Despite MOS's proclamation about his #1 having to suit up immediately I suspect he'll start selling that idea down once the guy arrives at camp, whomever it may be. Its basically the same old wishful thinking the Bomber braintrust has been guilty of for many years!

If Klingberg played a full 80 game season for the Jets I'd project him with 7 to 12 goals. Which is far better than guys like Wright, THorburn, Tangredi, Slater, etc. produced. Lowry is unknown. He could score 10, he might get 15 or he could struggle in Maurice's doghouse when they tell him to learn to be a shut-down checker and he wants to be a scorer.

If Ladd has to be subjugated to 3rd line in Winnipeg then its definitely time for him to go. Winnipeg really doesn't have anyone who can replace Ladd for 2nd line unless we choose to fantasize that Carl Klingburg or Lowery will turn into supermen overnite!

I'm not a huge Ladd fan but I know enough about hockey that he's a quality 3rd line player that most needy playoff teams could use in a crunch. ie. Tampa & Detroit don't have guys like Ladd or enough guys like Ladd. In Wpg he's certainly one of our Top 5 players but thats a team thats 6 to 10 pts off a clingon playoff spot. Tampa could use his grit and Cooper wouldn't care less that Ladd's main kryptonite is he doesn't have an extra gear and tends to wash off his backcheck responsibilities way too early! Detroit could use same as their system is breaking down with too many AHL Griffins on their squad. Even with Babcock's great coaching systems - they don't carry enough weight and grit on the ice. Ladd would help - although Babcock would go crazy when he sees Ladd washing off his backcheck time after time. Eventually, Ladd and Babcock would be at each others necks and Ladd would be gone. In Winnipeg Ladd is safe as he's been deemed an untouchable and guys like Chevy, Noel, Maurice can't bug him about his backchecking.

I don't think anyone gives us 3 upper tier picks just for #2. They know there's incredible pressure on Wpg (or Ottawa for that matter) with their early pick as the tendency is to get greedy and end up with a bag of NFL air. If they go off the grid - then you potentially draft a bed-wetter like Etienne or that non-receiver we lost another #1 pick for to get 1st in supplemental. Bombers are caught between a rock and a hard cold NFL place - again!

Gotta go with an olineman unless they are officially told their pick is gonna go NFL if Bombers take him. btw - I believe all CIS players should be forced to play 1 + 1 in the CFL before going into the NFL draft.

Yes but if we take someone like a #9 Goosen at 2nd overall is that not any different than our off the board pick of Pencer or even Etienne when there were several higher rated players available? But that was a product of Joe Mack and a no-scouting system. Joe also ordered Kyle Walters to draft an NFL bound behemoth instead of a guy who could have started in our secondary from Day 1 in Mike Edem..... now starting in Montreal... I suspect Ottawa will pass on Tardif and we will too. Then its just whether Foucault - Lavertu or vice-versa. Unless Walters believes Goosen is gonna get 25% stronger, 10% faster and 15% bigger within a few months. Too bad we don't have a second round pick. Could use one now that we have real people scouting these youngsters, not a piece of trash like Joe.

WWE could also deal for Angelina Love's old partner in the beautiful people in TNA. She was almost as good a worker as Angelina.

Bellas are like the HHH twins of the divas division. All decisions go thru them. Well, at least til Stephanie spots them eating grease or with unshaved armpits. Then they're done!

I have no problem with HHH being in charge of 95% of the programming (Vince still holds the thumb) Heyman is so monsterous on the mike he can wake the dead. Its good Lesnar doesn't work a regular schedule cuz fans would lose interest in his rather droll personality if they allowed him to speak regularly. I agree Bryan vs. Brock is the natural step up the next couple years. And yeah, that Paige is a wonderful diva for 21 yrs old, just they probably brought her up a year early and her stick skills are still average. With all the divas taking pregnancy leave or just taking time off its time they brought back Giant Karma (Awesome Kong) and perhaps one of the greatest divas of all time, Angelina Love. Too bad they never succeeded in building Alicia Fox - that gal had Beyonce looks and was an above average worker but someone didn't like her. Only problem is despite her natural beauty and grace Angelina can look a bit tough - and Vince likes his divas looking soft. They lost their best heel diva Maryse (slightly better looking than even Angelina) cuz she just didn't want to abuse her body with 1000s of bumps a month. Angelina & Maryse would have been epic as crazy-girl heels, no?

WWE suffers from part-time itis - - - guys like Taker, Kane, Lesnar, Rock, etc. are too infirm or booked to Hollywood b-movies to be roster useful more than 2 or 3 weeks a year. Even the owner's son-in-law has to be used sparingly as a heel GM and a microphone-holder. WWE is panicking a bit cuz they can't get traditional face reactions for their superstar boy, John Cena. Even a mega-heel like Bray Wyatt is soaking up all Cena's heat. WWE doesn't know what to do other than tell Cena to look sheepish on TV. WWE is desperately trying to turn The Shield face. They don't have any natural opponents so the idea is to put the entire roster around them and have HHH and his old evolution gang render selective beatdowns. They're making HHH look mega-weak but with a strong mic.

Iso - the Jets go thru the same thing season after season. Pinning their hopes on inferior goal-tending and some really mediocre roster holes. What they do exceptionally well is explain the deficiencies and raise everyone's training camp hopes. From what I've seen from early NHL playoffs the Jets aren't even on the same planet as most of these NHL teams. Its a good thing they didn't make it as they'd be embarrassed by whoever they played - if they somehow could have slithered into the #8 seed. Wheeler is the only Jet who could have found a new gear. Maybe Frolik, too. Kane theoretically has another gear but his scoring luck is rotten. Trouba could use some playoff seasoning and we don't know how Mark Schiefele would grade out. Ladd would play his usual unemotional game and find ways to wash off his backcheck. The best thing for Pavelec though is to never be exposed to playoff intensity.

O well at least Claude got to rename Winnipeg's favourite sports show.... Hustler & Shooter

If I could write a book that summed up today's modern pro wrestling its title would be: HARVEY WHIPPLEMAN JUST PINNED THE ROCK!! OMG