Nightwing

Back from a long summer vacation. Finally... Anyways, maybe I'm the only one, but every time I watch a game, I feel like the wheels are going to fall off the Red Wings. They play so damn well early on, but they are still playing that lazy third-period stuff against teams that aren't out of it. After watching both games against Chicago, I'm just worried: They obviously have the talent to be dominant, but they aren't playing like that. And boy, the Ducks need some luck. Bert down, Schneider down, with Niedermeyer and Selanne watching on the sidelines. With all the rumors of a 'Clemens return' from either or both of them, I have no clue where I'd put them finishing right now. Also, my condolences to King. It's sorry to see a team that I thought would rise up after making some interesting moves in the offseason. But there's plenty of games left in the season.

I've seen many a fanboy bandwagon breakdown... but not due to a free agent signing like this.

Ouch for the Red Wings not getting Bertuzzi, but I suppose Anaheim was willing to pay for the risk and Detroit wasn't. If he pays off, Burke is going to look even smarter than normal and Anaheim have a serious physical force and scoring power in their front ranks. If it doesn't, I'm sure they'll deal fine. Are there any quality power forwards out there right now? That's one of the things the Wings really need right now, but I can't think of any offhand on the market. Holy Crap, the Kings make it so King can't cry anymore. No huge hirings, but a bunch of mid-range ones, and quality ones at that. Calder showed some glimpses of goodness with the Wings, so good luck with him. Man, the Wings sold every free agent they had to Southern California, didn't they?

I dunno how making it to the playoffs last time will help Buffalo and New Jersey out, especially when they lost two of their biggest players to in-conference rivals. In all honesty, I have trouble seeing both of them lasting past the first round... if they make it at all, with Toronto looking good enough to compete and with Philly and the Rangers looking ridiculously strong. I'm going to call the biggest winner as the Rangers. The team really showed a lot of promise in the playoffs, and adding Drury and Gomez to a winning mix, along with (from what I hear) having enough money to resign Shanahan, Lundqvist, and Avery was a damn impressive job. I think this team is definitely a contender for coming out of the East this year. Philly is up there, picking up a lot of talent, but Philly seems to pick up a lot of talent every year, and like the Rangers did for a while, no amount of finding talent can help a team that doesn't gel. Of course, the amount and quality of talent this year really stands out (Briere, Hartnell, Timonen, Smith), so I'll give them that: They went out and got the players they needed. If the team gels quick, they'll be frightening. I'm mixed on the Anaheim stuff. Scott's not retired yet, so if he doesn't, then Schneider's pick is instantly upgraded; him with Beauchemin gives the Ducks easily the most fearsome defensive corps in the league. Schneider's shot and scoring abilities are great, and using him on the second or third pairing will only help the Ducks, especially since they get so much scoring from the blueline. If Scott does leave, though, this just shows how irreplaceable he is. Niedermayer is a great defenseman who can score; Schneider's more of a good scorer who is a defenseman, and he falls a little short of the points production that Scott had in his years at Anaheim. If Teemu DOES retire, then that means a lot of trouble for the Ducks, because he was their big producer up front. I'm really doubting that he is leaving, as it doesn't seem like the Ducks are looking for a replacement for him, but I could be wrong. Detroit's one move makes me happy, and that's all I feel I need to say about that. Pittsburgh is looking better and better. Adding Sydor and Sykora will only help a team that basically went from "We're moving!" to "Possible Cup Contenders". Man, what happened to the Islanders? Seriously, they just got most of their good stuff bought out right from underneath 'em. It's like Nashville, only they weren't actually TRYING to sell them off. I have to say, after watching bunch of big markets flop last year, they are coming back in force. New York, Philadelphia, and to a lesser extent Toronto have all made good moves. Should be interesting to see if ratings and such drastically improve with these teams looking as good as they are right now.

Man, the first day of Free Agency, and a bunch big moves. Who are do you think are the big winners and losers right now? I'm not going to call any 'winners' yet, but the losers definitely have to be Buffalo and New Jersey. I mean, losing talent like Gomez, Rafalski, Briere, and Drury is not going to help either team, and with 3 of them going to in-division rivals for New Jersey won't help at all.

That does make up for it losing Schneider. I really liked the guy, but he's getting up in the years and getting a younger player that is a bit better defensively is definitely a good move on the Wings' part. And for those of you counting, this is Schneider's 7th team in 17 seasons. Talk about a journeyman.

Alright, I suppose if I want comments, I should give comments. Promo: FULMINATUS IZ TEH MSYTERIOS!1!! To me, this came off a lot like a WWE promo... in the best way possible. It's just easy to picture and has a great flow to it. I think the best comparison I can find is a lot of the old Goldust backstage skits when he was with the WWE: Wacky, yet its absolutely in character and not a waste of space. Excellent job. Match: Fulminatus vs. Calvin Wow, I never thought I'd see/read a wrestler come in with a Bratz T-shirt on. Then again, apparently you have had two Pokemon themed wrestlers, so it could be much, much worse. The promo down the ramp really works for the character, and it comes off naturally. Good job there. Your commentary is short and succinct. I guess I'm a bit monologuey, but it works for the match. The manila folder is just as weird as you described it, but its a great piece of your character. It kinda reminds me of that movie, Payback (Yeah, I saw a Ben Affleck film ), where he has all the things he needs, but doesn't know what to do with 'em. Plus, it gives some nice little gags for the commentating team to fill time. Overall, I like your wrestling as well. I read through it and it seemed pretty solid, though your finish is a bit ridiculous. It's definitely funny, and characterful... but I think you needed something a little more than eyepokes to do that. But otherwise, I thought all your selling was solid and the match worked well. I think the only thing you really need to work on is your writing style. You don't use exclamation points often enough, and you really need to. I saw it a few times, but I think you could have used it in a few areas because straight up periods sometimes just don't work. I suppose that's a small thing, but I want to give you at least one thing. Oh, and avoid using too many proper names with the wrestlers: Fulminatus needs some sort of nickname (Cardinal of Chaos, Deacon of Dischordia, etc...) at least three or four different little things that you can call him and interchange so it doesn't seem like you're reading the same thing over and over again. But again, I'm really just searching for things. My match! Woo! Any comments, especially on my flow, characterization, and wrestling in general would be appreciated. Promo: Mansonosity Runs WILD! Another good promo, with a good balance of serious and funny. I got a bunch of laughs out of Manson's 'accomplishments', 'Mansonites' (God, I thought you were going to call them your 'family' for a second). But it goes with the classic 'respect' sort of angle that we saw with Landon on the last show, except Manson doesn't get respect from Landon, who doesn't in turn get respect from Commissioner Tom. Wow, that leaves Manson in a bit of a spot, eh? There were a few references to the past that I don't really get (I just don't know who Todd Royal is ), but that didn't stop me from really enjoying this promo. House of Marvelous meets Mad Scientist Michael Wow, a lot of funny little promos tonight, but they all serve some sort of purpose, which is great: I hate it when the WWE does some stupid skit that doesn't do anything, and so far we are 3 for 3! Woo! But a great look at the mind of an up-and-comer in the tournament. For me, this promo gives me a great handle on your personality (I need to do one myself so I can, well, have more of a personality. ) But if there is a strong point, it's your character's dialog is fantastic: Seriously, the upper-crust and overly wordy lines your guy spouts out are just great. You really have a talent for writing this stuff. I'll try and get to the rest of the show a little later on tonight.

Yeah, I finally looked it up, and found a decent explanation of it. Essentially, it's not locking Basille out, but it's more of a "Who Blinks First" thing. Basille doesn't want to go unless he can definitely relocate it, but he hasn't gotten any sort of confirmation. Rather than just continuing to talk, Leopold is saying "Look, I have to know you are buying, even if you can't relocate". I can definitely see Bettman pressuring him into it, but in all honesty, I've changed my mind on a team in Hamilton. I suppose hearing enough of you and even a few family members from across the border talking good of it, I suppose you might as well give it a shot, especially with an owner that looks like he'll go Balls-Out on the team. What's not to like in that?

Has he been completely shut out, or there still that binding agreement thing in place? And just to ask, what do they mean by the binding agreement? That he can't move the Preds out of the city or what? I mean, I know he can still buy them out, but I don't really understand the scope other than it allows other guys to make offers.

Happy B-Day!!

Finished!

But the problem is that, frankly, there is very little that shows he was a cold-blooded killer all his life. From reports heard, it seems like that he was having problems before Eddy's death, and after Eddy died he lost that friend that he could confide and balance him. Combined with obvious troubles of raising a mentally challenged child, along with a marriage that wasn't going right, and the effects of current and/or past steroid use, and it seems like he had all these problems and no way of venting things. At least, that's a much more logical explanation than "He was just a dirty fucking child killer all along, and just hid it from everyone, including his other two kids and his previous wife", and DOES seem to be supported by what evidence we have currently. If anything, the more short-sighted answer is just condemning him outright without seeing the cause behind it. He was a very disturbed and troubled man, and most things seem to point at this.

Oh, I understand. I was just showing that I did take that into account.

We don't know where the bruises were placed on the kid. All we have is the CMI report, which may or may not be true. He even says that the arm wasn't mentioned, but he says that there was the implication. And nothing like that has been mentioned by the police yet. And you can say "You're getting into semantics", but looking into where his body is placed, its an absurd position to try and choke someone out from. It only makes it harder if you are doing what you said (Sliding your forearm across) because you are not really using your other arm anymore. Not only that, but it'd require him to flip his son over and likely shift his entire body around. Again, I call bullshit. It doesn't make sense, even for someone who isn't making sense in the first place, and to me it sounds like someone is trying to make a story. Not to say that CMI is trying to, but perhaps his sources are. This was posted by the administrator of the wrestling classics board. "My information is that the bruising matched what the cops and the DA saw when they watched Benoit wrestle on tape after the autopsy and that the identification was made by them and communicated to the media. Not made BY the media. The way it was said to me was unequivocal that it was the CCF. It wasn't mentioned specifically about the arm, but the clear implication is that yes it was on the arm as well. If I can get clarification I will."

Well, as it seems, I'd say that that was a different person. I mean, all the information coming out seems to point as losing Guerrero as being a catalyst for problems that may have been hidden or at least kept at bay. Judging him completely off this dark episode is a bit unfair, though it shows how many problems the man really had. "A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own." - Thomas Mann

We don't know where the bruises were placed on the kid. All we have is the CMI report, which may or may not be true. He even says that the arm wasn't mentioned, but he says that there was the implication. And nothing like that has been mentioned by the police yet. And you can say "You're getting into semantics", but looking into where his body is placed, its an absurd position to try and choke someone out from. It only makes it harder if you are doing what you said (Sliding your forearm across) because you are not really using your other arm anymore. Not only that, but it'd require him to flip his son over and likely shift his entire body around. Again, I call bullshit. It doesn't make sense, even for someone who isn't making sense in the first place, and to me it sounds like someone is trying to make a story. Not to say that CMI is trying to, but perhaps his sources are.

That's very true, but that's not really a 'Crossface', is it? I mean, what the heck is he doing with his other arm, then? Nothing, really. I mean, at that point, he'd probably just put his hand behind the kid's neck and turn it into a rear naked choke. Anything with a 'Crossface' is you going across someone's face or their chin with both your hands. Remove that, and it's not a crossface anymore. Of course, someone from the outside might note the difference, so perhaps people who don't know wrestling might say it's a crossface. But you'd think that if there was even a chance of him killing his retarded son with his wrestling finishing move, at least one major cable network would have picked up that story.

Well, the damage to the neck more like it. If he's pulling back trying to smother him with his hands, he'd be putting a ton of torque on the neck. While that may, in itself, be unique, it'd be mentioned by now. Him having his neck torqued, strained, and probably (judging by his size and Benoit's strength) even broken would have been a detail the police would have released by now.

I still have extreme doubts about it being the Crossface, as the Crossface doesn't fit anything like a chokehold and it'd leave bruising relatively similar to someone being strangled with their hands. I don't care what vague facts he's been right about (And that's about it, really. The 'proof quotes' Downhome posted only get one detail mentioned, and the Saturday thing has been mentioned for quite a while now...), the Crossface is not only absurd to physically set up in that situation, but isn't in any way, shape, or form a 'chokehold'.

He tapped out to angle a few times, if I remember correctly. In particularly, the leg scissor anklelock.

But the Crossface isn't a really a 'chokehold', and if it were used that way, Benoit would have to lower his hands to pull across the kid's neck. I mean, that sounds more along the lines of a Dragon Sleeper or even a regular Sleeper, where it's the arm and not the interlocked hands that are putting all the torque/pressure on the body. So I call bullshit on the Crossface. It'd leave some sort of hand marks just because he's pulling his hands across your face (or in this case, your neck).

I'm not angry... I'm just really disappointed. Seriously. I mean, what he did was absolutely horrible, no question. But from everything that's been said here, I can see how Eddy's death would send him down this self-destructive path. From things being said, I'd say that the Chris Benoit that did this was not the Chris Benoit that people have watched for so many years, but just a shell of his former self. The fact that it got so far as to come down to this is just sad. Understand, I'm not trying to justify his actions, but I think that it goes beyond him just murdering his family in cold blood. He had deeper problems that should be looked at and need to be understood; who says this can't happen again in a business that is, for the most part, is small and closely knit. I think the WWE really needs to make sure that Chavo gets proper care, especially after losing a close relative and a close friend basically out of the blue in two years.

What's the difference between the Light Heavyweight Title and the Cruiserweight Title?

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