Well, here it is folks! My first ever blogpost. I've been meaning to do this for a while as a throwback to my old commentaries on www.newoldschool.50g.com, but as we all know, although it is still active, that site's progress had crashed and burned years ago. Feel free to check it out for a laugh and see what I was like back in 2003. Discretion is advised.

For the most part, I'll be posting about the random thoughts and ideas that come into my head. What I'm thinking about, what I'm doing, what I'm interested in. So 99% of these will be about professional wrestling. Just thought I'd warn you.

Now before I get onto my quick thoughts this week, I want to talk about today.

Today is a special day. For you see, today is Rememberence Day. I know most people don't get excited about today and truth be told, I even forgot about it until my mom called me this morning and asked me if I had the day off from school because of it.

WARNING! ADAM IS ABOUT TO RANT! YOU MAY SCROLL DOWN IF YOU WISH. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

You see, there was a time when people would have the day off from work and school to reflect and remember what all the men and women of my country sacrificed and had to go through for my freedom. I'm writing this blog today because of them. I know that seems trivial and trite but its those little, simple things that we take for granted. We can choose where we worship, what we eat, what we do. I've said it before, but I truley believe Canada is the greatest country on earth. I'm proud to be Canadian. We have so much freedom and we're given so much, and alot of that has to do with those who braved against the wars for us, both home and abroad.

I attended a memorial service today at Fleming where there were three veterns. I can remember going to school at St.Pats in Cobalt as a youngster and witnessing row after row of veterns sitting there, remembering. The hard fact of the matter is, these men and women are dying. Their time is almost up. In a way I'm sad, but grateful, and yet worried also.

Firstly, I'm sad but grateful. It is sad to know that these men and women are leaving and that future generations may never hear their fascinating stories, or know the true horror of what it was like in those trenches or having to wait while a loved one was over seas. However, this also makes me happy. My mother never served in the army. My dad or step dad never put i military service or went off across the globe to risk their lives for me. That makes me happy. I'm glad that there hasn't been a war since WWII in which all who could go, did go. We have a choice now. I respect and admire those in the military. They do things I couldn't do on my best day. They are a vital and important part of our country and our country would not be as great without them. I'm glad those people made the CHOICE to protect us. I'm 21. I could be over in Iraq. I'm not though, because of what happened less than 100 years ago. I never had to worry about losing my mom or dad or anyone else who loved me because they had to go fight some great evil in another country. Today, we are PEACEKEEPERS, and I think that alone shows what we as Canadians have learned from these awful wars. We are dedicated to keeping the peace, makign the world safe. I hope I never have to sit at a ceremony and see row after row of men and women who had to suffer, sacrifice, and give up themselves for my freedom again.

And yet I worry. In a school of hundreds, maybe one hundred stopped for the ceremony. Does it make those people bad people? No. It doesn't make me better than them either. It just make me think. It used to be we'd celebrate Rememberence Day by staying at home with loved ones and reflecting on what happend so long ago. Today, we go to school and work and offer two minutes of silence and if were lucky, time to go to a service. What about tomorrow? Will there come a day where we don't celebrate? Will there be a time when we don't REMEMBER Rememberence Day at all? Those who forget the mistakes of the past, are bound to repeat them. I read that quote and think about Iraq. How so many people were ready to barge into war. How so many were ready to begin the killing, the bloodshed, the loss of life. Maybe I should be more worried about things coming around full circle. Maybe I should worry about my great grandchildren talking to my son or daughter about what it was like for them to serve in the war against the new axis of evil. Maybe I should worry about them writing a journal like this.

The fact of the matter is, right now, things are good. We're free. But our freedom had a price. We should never forget that today is all about that price that we didn't need to pay. Nobody shoved a gun into my hand and said fight. Nobody forced me into a plane, dropped me into a trench, and told me to risk my life everyday so that people could walk by my memorial service years from now and not care. Wear my poppy? I haven't even been asked to do that much. I don't have to attend my service, I don't have to pay attention to the two minutes of silence. I don't have to do any of that. The ONLY thing I'm asked to do today is remember. And this morning, I couldn't even do that.

I hope you didn't forget today. But if you did, let this be a lesson. Let this be a reminder to you that it is very easy to forget, so that we should always keep in our minds why we are here. And what it took to get us this far. I would like to ask that today, whatever you choose to do, think about how things may have been different had we not had those people to fight for us. To die for us. How might your life be different if we still were fighting today?

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place;

and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing,

fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.

Short days ago We lived,

felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved,

and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, onto my thoughts on the world around me this week:

TNA's Genesis is this weekend and the card is shaping up to be somewhat of a sleeper payperview. The main really doesn't intruige me as much as the undercard does, with the the six man tag match of Dudleys (I mean team 3d, want to be careful here, with all the suing WWE is doing on fansites now, blogs may be next!) and Rhino against Double J and AMW being something I wouldn't get too excited over.

The ppv's saving grace will come in the form of the one year rematch from vicory road of Petey Williams against AJ Styles for the X title, and the Elimination X match pitting team Sabin, Bentley, Dutt and Aries against team Daniels, Joe, Shelly and Strong. This one will be the show stealer. Abyss v. Sabu no dq will offer up a good ammount of violence while Monty Brown v. Jeff Hardy will be the first step towards Monty's eventual capturing of the NWA world title. Tea Canada v 3LK will be nothing new, but as always TNA's tag division will offer you enough that you will actually give a damm about the outcome. And of course we can't forget the big surprise...

Which brings me to topic #2: Jay Reso. Christian, Christian Cage, Captain Charism, however you know him, is now finished with WWE. He is almost a lock to be TNA's big surprise this sunday night. Now, rumour has it that Christian left because of his lack of push and low ball contract offer. Rumour has it that Chris Benoit is being offered a simillar low ball contract. It will be interesting to see what happens. My prediction? Benoit will stay on. He's very loyal to the WWE and is happy with where he is in the company. As much as people hate to admit it, Chris Benoit's career has already peaked, and he's in the downturn of his career, at least as WWE is concerned. What I think will come down to it is Benoit's fire for wrestling. If he still wants to accomplish more and continue to challenge himself, hopefully he'll have saved his money and can take offers from Japan, where he mentioned he may work again. If he's ready to slow down or even retire in the near future, he 'll want to sign with WWE again and slowly wind down his career helping new stars become main eventers and eventually becoming a road agent like his friend Dean Malenko. Of course as always these are just my opinions.

So what abut TNA? How would Chris Benoit fare if he headed to Orlando? I think it would be hard to argue that apon arrival Benit would become TNA's top dog. He epitomizes everything that TNA has come to represent. Hard hitting, in your face, no nonsense wrestling. A run as NWA World Champion could almost be garunteed for him. However, would that offer a challenge for the rabid wolverine? Possibly. I'm sure Benoit has wondered what kind of match he could have with AJ Styles, Petey Wiliams, Christopher Daniels or Samoa Joe. Plus, theres always the idea of a relaxed schedule to allow him more time with his family. I'm sure he'd pick up a few indy shows here and there (ROH would be shitting themselves to book matches of Benoit v. American Dragon. I can't blame them.) but he could let his body, especially his neck, get some rest. This question will be answered shortly when Benoit makes his decision.

This leads me to my final topic for this entry (and I'm sure some of you are happy to see it end) : In the last month or two we have seen both Chris Jericho and Christian choose to leave WWE. Jericho has left to pursue Fozzy and Christian left because of low money. Now talks of Benoit leaving are running wild. This leads me to think a few things. First of all, what kind of trouble could the world of professional wrestling be in if the WWE is starting to pay their wrestlers so little that they would rather try their luck with a much smaller company and wrk independants? And what does it say about the WWE when one of their top stars for the last five years is so burnt out on the company tht he chooses to not only leave the company but WRESTLING altogether to tour with a small metal band? Jericho said he may return but the fact that he left altogether paints a scary picture.

Or does it? Is it that the biggest wrestling company and therefore all of wrestling is collapsing? Or is it that the biggest company in wrestling has gotten SO big that it has lost touch with the common fan? I tend to believe the second choice. Independant wrestling is making a comeback. attendance for the most part is up all over north america and thanks to the cult followings of TNA and ROH, people are willing to pay money to see guys like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. No longer do promoters have to wait for a WWE star to leave the company to get a large crowd, no do they have to bring in a legend in the hopes that nostalgia is still alive withing their wrestling community. Groups like ROH and TNA allow their wrestlers to do indy shows because they know it means more exposure for their company. Do I think this means the territory days of the 60s and 70s are coming back? No. But as they say in the wrestling business, never say never..

Qucik Hits

• Bret Hart's DVD comes out soon. n the fence abut this one, but will probably pick it up because its Bret. I predict this one will get into the hot top 3 selling wwe dvd's of all time.
• Batista and Edge are both out with injuries right now. Christian just left, Benoit might be on the way out. WWE looks like the Titanic more and more. Think thats what TITAN sports stood for???
• Word is, TNA is thinking about replacing Scott D'Amore as head booker with Jeff Jarrett...My opinion....BAD IDEA!!!!
• Finally, TNA's primetime special only scored a 0.9 rating, which is about the same rating they get for impact on saturdays @ 11. Does this mean tNA has failed? Nope. Just that their not quite ready for primetime yet. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day, and it took WWE nearly 40 years to become the biggest and only game in town.

Thats all for me. Till next week,

CLASS DISMISSED!!!