Wrestlemania 29 and Raw on April 8

I was going to post my Wrestlemania thoughts yesterday but decided to wait and see how the follow up Raw would be. 

The tradition has become that the Raw after 'mania has become just as much of an event as Wrestlemania itself. This year Raw proved to be the better show.

Let me say first that I had ordered the PPV online and had about 10 people over to watch, and the stream from wwe.com did not work all night long. I have e-mailed WWE since and explained how disappointed my guests were and I requested a refund. WWE has come back telling me that I was given an extra 48 hours to "enjoy" the event at my leisure. I've responded again explaining that the 10 guests I had over don't get that same luxury. Plus, the results are out and the excitement and surprises of watching a live event are now gone. Anyway, that battle for my $60 back goes on. But here are my 'mania thoughts. (Yes, we found another way to watch it but that is not the point is it? I paid for a service that I did not receive)

Intercontinental Championship: Wade Barrett vs The Miz

Short match as part of the pre show. Miz got the submission (with the figure 4) and won the title. I did not feel strongly either way. Until Raw when Barrett used his rematch clause and won the title back! So what was the point? Seems a little stupid to me.

The Shield vs Randy Orton, Sheamus and, The Big Show  

I actually enjoyed this match. I felt that the shield was kept strong and it was not at the expense of the WWE crew of guys. Ambrose got the clean pin on Orton which I thought was a nice touch to keep the shield strong. Afterwards Big Show knocked out Sheamus and Orton. It was a little confusing because Big show was a heel already and he just kind of eased off of it in this story line. So he didn't really turn on Orton or Sheamus he just kind of stopped playing nice. It was justified in the post show on wwe.com by Big Show. He mentioned that he tried to be a good guy and do the right thing but Orton and Sheamus screwed that up for him (or something to that effect) and that he just can't play nice anymore.

Mark Henry vs Ryback

It was a short match, which I feel it should have been due to the fact that these 2 can't go that long. In the end it was nothing spectacular and Mark Henry won. After that Ryback attacked Henry. Kind of defeated the purpose if you ask me. On Raw Henry wrestled Cena and got disqualified. Had Henry won that match he would have got a title shot. After the DQ Henry continued to attack Cena until Ryback came down and took out Henry. Ryback then took out Cena. So I guess it's a 3 way for the WWE championship coming up. I guess Ryback is also heel now? 

WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Hell No vs Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston

Team Hello No ended up defending the titles. I didn't feel that there was much to this match but the start was funny as Ziggler and AJ kissed and Daniel Bryan went for the pin right away. Just like last year when Bryan and AJ kissed and Sheamus used that to his advantage to win the World Heavyweight Championship. I was really hoping Ziggler and Big E would win this. On Raw Ziggler took advantage of a beat up Alberto Del Rio and cashed in his money in the bank to win the World Heavyweight Championship. To me that makes sense, you get the divas belt on AJ and then you have a group that has tons of gold. 

Fandango vs Chris Jericho

I expected this one to be the match of the night. It didn't end up being the match of the night but it was still good. Not a heck of a lot to say, Jericho put Fandango over

as expected and now WWE needs to follow up with making a star out of Fandango.

World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger

I really don't have much to say. The match was not exciting and Alberto Del Rio retained. It was just a back and forth between the 2 wrestler's submission holds.

The Undertaker vs CM Punk

I think that I was expecting this to be a let down. Punk was going to save this match for sure but I thought that Taker was just too old and beat up. I was wrong, this was the match of the night! Not too much to note. Punk did the old school to Undertaker and teased a tombstone which was countered. In the end it was a well worked match that kept myself and the crowd pretty excited. Taker continued the streak (as expected) and all is right in the world. On Raw Taker came out to do a little promo and The Shield interrupted him. They came down to ring side but as soon as they got there Kane's fireworks went off and Daniel Bryan and Kane ran down to the ring to back up Taker. The Shield retreated. I guess this means that Taker is sticking around for another match this year. That's pretty cool and I like the idea of the Brothers of Destruction working together again.

Triple H vs Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match

The stipulation was that if Triple H lost he'd have to retire. Brock had Paul Heyman in his corner and HHH had Shaun Michaels in his. 

I did not really enjoy this match. There was so many suplex spots that it just got a little stupid. Belly to belly, belly to back...we started making jokes that the next suplex would be a back to back suplex. There were some chair shots, the stairs were used and, good old sledgy (as I call Triple H's sledge hammer) made an appearance. Triple H went through the Spanish announce table. Lesnar took out HBK with an F-5. Triple H applied the Kimura lock on Brock Lesnar a few times after Brock had done it to him already. The last 5 - 10 miniutes of the match were basically the 2 guys beating each other's arms up. In the end Triple H won, he doesn't have to retire.

WWE Championship: The Rock vs John Cena

Snooze fest! Honestly, it was a slow match that never really got going. John Cena won and is the new WWE champion as expected. Apparently Rock had torn his abdomen and adductor muscles right off the bone so maybe that played a factor. Either way it served the purpose, bring back Rock to get more eyes on the product.

Just another thought: The crowd at Raw was super hot, they deserve a lot of credit. When Ziggler cashed in and won the title I thought the roof was going to blow off that stadium, it's been a long time since that has happened. Also the match that was taken off the Wrestlemania card: Tons of funk with the Funkadactyls vs Rhodes Scholars and the Bella Twins was on Raw. So no 'mania payday but the match did happen. 

Kevin Kolb is a Bill

The Buffalo Bills signed QB Kevin Kolb yesterday.

If you recall Kevin Kolb was supposed to take over the reins from Donnovan McNab in Philadelphia about 6 years ago, or at least that was the intent the Eagles had when drafting him. He never quite made it, lost his job to the returning Michael Vick and ended up in Arizona after playing only 19 games in 4 years.

His 2 seasons in Arizona (as the starter) he ended up playing only 15 games, most due to injury issues. Last season he got 4 wins in his 6 games. Not horrible, but I think the real number that sticks out is his 8 touchdown passes with only 3 interceptions.

The rumors were very lively that the Jets and Raiders were both very interested in in bringing Kolb in, the likelihood is that it was meant to be in a backup capacity. If not a backup then a QB who could push for the starting role in an attempt to get better performances from the established starters. That's not the case in Buffalo.

So now the Bills have Kevin Kolb, Travaris Jackson and, Aaron Corp (was a practise squad member in 2012) on the roster fighting for the lead QB spot. It will come of no surprise that the Bills intend to draft a QB this year as well. Basically we are looking at an injury prone QB, a 30 year old who's best days seem to be behind him, a draft pick and, a 2012 undrafted practise squad player.

Sometime I seriously wonder what the heck the Bills are thinking. I get that there is no elite name out there to sign right now and, with as poorly as this team has played over the last 10+ years, the last thing that the Bills need to do is trade assets away to get a QB. I also get that there is no real elite QB in this year's draft, at least nothing like last year's draft. Here's what you do: just play the season. Use Travaris Jackson. Use your 2013 draft pick for a receiver (another position that is seriously lacking in Buffalo) and just play. It will be a brutal year but that will put the Bills in a spot to draft a highly touted QB or use that draft pick to trade for a good, established QB.

I don't really think this is rocket science.
This is fairly common practise. Why the Bills insist on getting "middle of the road" players at QB and having 5 to 8 win seasons just blows my mind. Now the Bills have invested another 13 million (over 2 years) to a QB who just doesn't isn't going to be god enough to be a game changer.
So annoying.

Chivas USA

It's really been bugging me that CD Chivas USA has said they will only be obtaining and playing Mexicans.  
I think the fact that the club has gone back to "Mexicans only" is ignorant and and frankly, won't work. It sure didn't work the first time. It's not that Mexico doesn't have a deep enough talent pool. I get it, the owner is a Mexican, owns a huge club in Mexico (Chivas de Guadalajara) and wants to develop talent to go to Mexico and win there. Here's the problem, MLS is not a development league. It's a teir 1 professional soccer league.
On top of that; EVEN if the league is seen as a way for American and Canadians to get more playing time to develop their national teams then why do we have a club developing for the Mexican national team? 
Sorry if that sounds like I hate people from Mexico, that's not the case at all. I just think this club, in it's current state, has no business in MLS. 

MS Walk

So, I'm participating in the 2013 MS Walk (Cambridge region) this year.
In the past I have done the bike event, which has been a blast, but this year our team is going to try the walk.
It's a 10k walk and it should be a lot of fun. I've already started my training by utilizing the treadmill in the gym in my building.
If you wouldn't mind having a look at my pledge page, and maybe thinking about giving a couple dollars to the cause, or letting more people know about this with a tweet ?
Anything you can do to help spread the word.
I appreciate it very much.

WWE '13

I'm sitting here enjoying WWE '13's attitude era mode. The mode is this year's "career mode" as opposed to the Road To Wrestlemania mode that has appeared in the past few games.
I gotta tell you, this game is ruling my life right now.
All the memories of the Austin/McMahon feud, the sudden but meteoric rise in popularity of the rock, the Monday night wars, the 3 stages of Foley, the brothers of destruction, ect, ect, ect.
It was, without a shadow of a doubt, a very entertaining time in wrestling. A time when it was cool to watch the WWF and WCW. A time when Tuesday morning in Canada meant you stayed up as late as you could watching both Nitro and Raw just so you could be in the conversation on Tuesday.
Reliving this era in professional wrestling at a time when I'm having a hard time enjoying the product both TNA and WWE put out really fires the passion back up and makes you feel like you want to be a wrestler again. These years, the attitude era, is where it all started for me. It's why I have a singlet, knee pads and, boots collecting dust in my closet. It's why I was driven to spend hundreds, no thousands of dollars chasing a dream.
Pop culture was just littered with wrestling between 1995 and 2000. WCW and WWE went for it and in the end, WWE won. Boundaries were pushed, hardcore wrestling was born, story-lines took the center stage and, if only for a while wrestling was loved by almost everyone.

I'm really enjoying reliving these moments from such an important part of my life. If you loved wrestling when WCW and WWF were battling it out then you really should pick this game up.

Back to the game.

The Bills in Toronto Series

I'm sure by now you've heard it a few times. Eric Wood, the center for the Buffalo Bills, expressed how much he dislikes the Bills in Toronto series. If you haven't heard it yet: check this out.

So, before I spill my opinion let me make this very clear: I'm a big Bills fans living in Toronto and I love this city.

I agree 100% Eric. I strongly dislike the Bills in Toronto series. I was very excited as the announcement of this series. I even attended the first 3 games.

Here's why I don't like the Bills in Toronto series:

1. The Price. Simply put, the price is insane. Tickets start at $48 (now that prices are reduced) for nose bleeds but quickly go up to $95 in the upper bowl! The most expensive ticket is $225.00. I spent about $200 going to a Bills game this year in Buffalo and that included my hotel, gas, ticket, beer and, sausages for tailgating. 
2. Toronto is not a Bills city. I wish that it was, don't get me wrong. When these games come around you see Steelers, Dolphins and, Patriots jerseys all over the place. I really have never felt that Toronto is a Buffalo Bills city. 
3. As a result of #2, the in-stadium atmosphere sucks. When the Bills score there is no "Buffalo Bills shout" with the crowd. There's very little noise at all. As a result of that, the poor Bills have absolutely no home field advantage. It's just a neutral site game. 
4. Game day experience. Out-of-stadium experience if you will. When you head to Orchard Park it's like entering a whole new world. The town is shut down, there are footballs everywhere. BBQs are cooking everywhere you turn with people washing them down with beer.Everyone is there for a good time and they are there to be your friend. It's a community. Nothing like that exists in Toronto.

Now don't get me wrong. I strongly believe that the NFL could thrive in Toronto, that is if we had our own team and an NFL stadium! As it stands today Rogers is doing nothing but hurting Toronto's chances of landing an NFL team by doing this. They pad the attendance with free tickets and they still can't fill the place. It's a joke. It's a NFL game in a baseball stadium, nothing else at this point. 

I'd love to hear some feedback though. Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

Danny Califf

TFC picked up defender Danny Califf in the re-entry draft today.
Yup, the same Danny Califf who TFC had all but acquired last season in a trade, which ended up being cancelled because Danny said he would not report to TFC. The reason he gave was that he was not interested in playing for a team outside of the USA.

The tattooed defender was brought back to MLS in 2010 as the captain of the upstart Philidelphia Union. He ended up at Chivas USA last season after the TFC trade fell through but he was no longer in the plans in LA.

Should be interesting to see if he'll report to Toronto this time around.