The Unknown Poster

I dont think it was interviews with Bettman. Especially since those were with CBC and now Sportsnet controls HNIC. Plus, Bettman could have declined and yet he went on every single time and as much as he looked annoyed, he has said he enjoys the tough interviews. Ron got banished because some executive with SportsNet decided that to appeal to a young demo they needed style over substance.

His coming and going hurts him and the fact he's older now. Im not sure he realises he cant work like he did even five years ago. Aj vs Jericho is sort of a dream match and they tried to have an "epic" last week but Jericho is just a half second too slow now and having not worked together before, AJ wasnt in tune with Jericho. Their next match will be better. But Jericho has to accept he's not the worker he once was. Plus, he returned this time with that horrible segment with New Day. They needed to heat him up fast as a "top guy" for the Rumble so his push almost seems too much for his reactions. But I loved everything from the end of the AJ match last week to what he did this week. He's doing the subtle heel turn and his promo was gold. His delivery was perfect and different than his 90's throwback stuff he's been doing and even different from his Nick Bockwinkle inspired heel work from a few years ago. More promos like last night and he'll be a top guy again in short order. But if I was WWE, I'd see if ROH and New Japan would lend me some video from AJ for a package to put over his work. Re-imagining him as a rookie from Georgia (with hick accent) isnt the right way to get him over.

Jericho is doing a subtle heel turn so thats probably why reactions are muted. His backstage promo was tremendous. 100% gold. That's how you cut a subtle promo. If WWE script writers had written it, Jericho would have been yelling and flat out said he would be at Smackdown to interfere in the match. He made Styles vs Miz infinitely more interesting now and following the promo I actually set SD to record for the first time in years. Miz is good on the mic but that whole direction for AJ is awful. They have nothing better, among 50 writers than "well, he's small". You cant keep booking a guy weak and tell everyone repeatedly how small he is, even if he gets the win, and expect people not to have it ingrained in their minds that he's not a top guy. I like Titus so Im cool with the slow push but Tyler Breeze deserves better. I'd put Breeze and Miz together as a tag team and push them. Two guys who can talk and work and look the part? What's not to like. I loved Paul Heyman basically telling the fans off the top that he had a long promo. Paul is trying so hard to make sense of **** booking and add heat to things that have none. And then Steph comes along and tries to out promo the master. She's awful. At least she's not trying for face reactions right now. Line of the night was calling Hunter the Billion Dollar Trophy Husband. Surprised Hunter allowed that one. I did not like Brock taking out Ambrose at the end. Minus the Hunter involvement, it would have been good. But it was reduced to Hunter goading Brock into taking him out. So it makes Brock and Paul look naive and gullible and makes HEEL Hunter look like the master manipulator. I think I would have jazzed up the Ambrose/Brock confrontation at the start a bit. It was good in that it made Ambrose look brave but then he just walked away. I think I would have had Ambrose basically say he's heard all about Brock and everyone says he should be worried...but he needs to find out for himself and then pop Brock in the mouth and then get away. It would have made Ambrose sort of the cutesy "is he nuts or brave"...and then when Brock came out at the end, its with more focus and motivation...and then beat the piss out of Ambrose. Brock aint winning so he needs to be kept strong. The Divas. Well, at least the Divas are deep enough to get two segments. But goodness, the booking is horrendous. And the worst part is, they almost have something...so how, among 50 writers and smart guys like Hunter, Vince, Hayes, all the agents, Flair etc can they miss the target so often? Its almost like they are purposely muting Sasha's face heat. I liked what they were trying to accomplish but they did it in such a way that there was no "moment" for the fans to react to. Sasha should not have attacked Becky and Charlotte a couple weeks ago because it confused the fans. Okay, so be it. This week, they were rushing through all their spots because Sasha and Becky have had awesome matches but there was no time to build any pyschology here. You mute Sasha early by having the stupid Unity thing. Then the pushing and shoving for no reason which made no sense. Then Becky helps her with no thought process involved at all. A better set up would have been Unity interferring, costing Sasha the match. Becky, beaten up, slips to the floor and slowly begins leaving while Sasha angry tells Unity she doesnt need them. They begin beating the piss out of her. Becky looks back...hesitates, thinks about it...waits, waits...then hits the ring for the save. MegaPowers style. Becky and Sasha clean house and then almost comes to blows before shaking hands. That's way better and more dramatic. And thats only IF you want Sasha to be friendly with Becky and not a loner. Becky really got herself over lately so its a shame she'll be the odd woman out. Brie getting a push because Nikki is hurt is pretty stupid. Neither Nikki or Cena are on TV and yet writers are still kissing their asses. The big questions will be, what does WWE have in mind to heat up Roman. Because Ambrose and Brock are both more over and are both more interesting match ups for Hunter. But WWE is determined to take the #3 face and make him the main event. Hunter is a smart guy but I have my doubts even he can pull this off!

I always enjoy Bettman sparring with Ron Maclean. Lawless has had some friendly interviews with Bettman. He actually seems like he might be a fine guy to have some beers with and shoot the ****. There are times he shows a wit and sense of humor. But he's not a personable public speaker.

Before Chyna he had a different woman every night. It led to him being accompanied by Sable and leading to an angle with Sable's husband Mark Mero. He did the same basic gimmick in WCW and was going to be a pushed tag team with Regal before going to WWE. It was a good gimmick in that it played well to WWE's audience (being a Stamford based company). Hunter always had "it" and would have been successful but he owes a lot of his superstardom to being associated with Austin and Rock and having Mick putting him over. Oh yeah dating the bosses daughter didn't hurt either.

I dont know...I dont think we can lay much at his feet. The NHL has *tried* to improve the game. To me the obvious thing is the increase in talent and the increase in coaching and the increase in size of players and equipment. And sure, the NHL could have done more to police the equipment. I know they wont do much about the size because they cant increase rink size. They seem reluctant to increase size of the net which is a no-brainer. Too many traditionalists on the Board I guess. But Bettman knows which way the wind blows and knows what the owners will accept and wont. Like, a few weeks ago, I think it was Burke who raised a stink about increasing rink size. What a red herring. The league wont increase the net size slightly but they will retrofit every arena in the league? yeah sure. Just meant to distract the media and fans.

Back in about 1995 I worked at Grapes on Main. One night, huge line up, these two gorgeous, really done up girls come up to me and start hitting on me to get into the bar. They said they were from out of town and just passing through Winnipeg, were here for some photoshoot or something. Yeah sure, I though. The one girl said no really, we're models. For who, I ask? Penthouse. Yeah right. But it was a good hustle and they were beautiful so I let them in. Had a couple of drinks with the one girl and danced with her at the end of the night. I asked her what her stage name was and she told me Emerald Heart (or Dawn, cant remember). Anyway, I think nothing of it until sometime later when Triple H is doing the gimmick where he has a different girl on his arm every week and I suddenly notice the girl looks really familiar while the announcer refers to her as "Emerald Heart". There's my wrestling/porn connection...years before I was in the business. Here's a "local wrestling dirty trick" story. The history of wrestling is replete with dirty tricks at all levels (WCW ran a TV special opposite WrestleMania, WWE countered by creating Survivor Series to run opposite Starrcade and made PPV distributors promise not to carry WCW etc). Back in 2002, one of our competitors announced they were bringing in Sunny and her then-boyfriend Chris Candito. Welllll...this was a great idea! So my partner decided we had to do something to stop this. The show was to be held at a community centre and promoted as "family friendly". Sunny had been on the WrestlingVixxxens website so the decision was made to tip off local media and community groups that the promotion was bringing a known pornstar to a family show. We had a few connections with local media having just held a pretty big event ourselves. But as our then-President implored, "dont get caught". So our President had his office manager write up an anonymous "concerned citizen letter" and fax it to several media outlets. No one bit. Not one to let the natural course of action happen, my partner called our contact at the WPG Sun just to "say hi". Well the reporter smelled it a mile away and said "did you have anything to do with this". My partner said ofcourse not, but its a terrible thing, bringing this porn star here. The reporter said why, who cares? And that was pretty much the end of that. A side note is, Sunny and Chris no-showed the show. They claimed some excuse and promised to be there if the promoter re-booked them, which he did. My partner was talking to a fellow promoter we did business with in the US and when he mentioned this show, the other promoter said "if you want them to no-show I can have them booked down here that weekend. They will for sure blow off a weekend in Canada". Low and behold, they no show AGAIN. The promoter never tried booking them again. He turned to Davey Boy Smith. Another great idea. Davey brought his son Harry (who must have been 16 at the time). The plan was for Davey and Harry to work regular for this promoter. Unfortunately, they took Davey out and got him sauced on you-name-it and a couple of days later he was dead (not that Im making a link between the two....). Ah yes, local dirty tricks. So many.... Sorry for the long post. i could tell stories all day.

At any point during the negotiation process, if the player has been in the NHL for longer than 4 years (less if the player signed his first contract after the age of 20), either the player or his current team may file for salary arbitration as a means of settling a contract dispute. At this point the player may no longer sign an offer sheet. The deadline to file for salary arbitration is July 5 with cases being heard between late July and early August. Salary Arbitration. Both the player and his current team submit their expectations for the player's salary for the coming year. The team cannot request a reduction in salary of greater than 15%. The arbitrator hears the case from both player and team and renders a verdict. The verdict sets the salary the team is required to pay the player. After the arbitrator's verdict is rendered, the team must make a decision within 48 hours of the verdict being rendered. If the team accepts, the player is signed to a new contract at the salary set in the verdict. Should the team decline, the player then becomes an unrestricted free agent. A team can take a player to arbitration once in his career. Players may request salary arbitration as often as they please.

Are people upset about the cap? I dont think thats widely held. I think when the cap talks come up its in regards to the UFA's and RFA's we need/want to sign and how close to that cap that makes us. Our low cap this year is sort of a false thing since it wont be nearly as low next season. As for Trouba, a bridge deal where he takes less than he wants for 3-4 years sounds great to me. if he becomes the #1 D playing on the left side, it makes Toby either expendable or if he likes it hear, he can sign a lower deal to stay. This is the benefit to Myers' contract is that, while it puts the Jets closer to the cap, it saves cash for other players.

Chyna's Playboy issue was great. She looked good. If I had to pick my favorite, it would be Maria Kanellis. Although I met Christy Hemme and she was gorgeous in person. Met Sunny too and she was very nice.

And while I defend him, I think he didnt try as hard to help the original Jets as he did other teams because he already had a soft landing spot for them in markets he wanted to grow (Minnesota and PHX). But he sums it up rather well saying you need three things: Arena, owner, fans. And the Jets really only had one of those, sometimes two. Never three. The only thing I remember him doing that was pretty negative was disallowing a large group ownership situation which was proposed to save the Jets. he later allowed it when the Oilers needed it. But what the Jets were trying to do was a **** show.

idle and silly speculation on his part. He's not taking into account Myers' diminishing cash on his deal plus Toby has one year (or is it two) left. Why would you trade a way a possible franchise D man because you cant afford $5m for an extra year? Never going to happen. The only way Trouba gets trades is if he demands it and holds out to do so...and even then, Kane wanted to be traded and ended up signing long term...because RFA's have little leverage.

Steven Stamkos is staying quiet in the face of a leak. The Tampa Bay Lighting captain is neither confirming nor denying a report by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the Tampa Bay Lightning tabled an offer with an average annual salary of $8.5 million. “I’m not going to comment on that,” Stamkos told the Tampa Bay Times‘ Joe Smith on Sunday. General manager Steve Yzerman and Stamkos's representatives at Newport Sports have yet to comment on the reported offer, which would give Stamkos a raise of $1 million per year. In light of centre Anze Kopitar, another potential unrestricted free agent, accepting an extension valued at $10 million per season, Stamkos will surely be looking for a contract that pays him more than the $8.5 million annually of the reported offer.

Big difference being the other major pro sports are big in the US and hockey isnt. By every metric, Bettman has been successful. The majority of reasons people give for hating him are generally not true.

Where did he say this? Friedman is generally more sensible than that. Sounds like the usual "Winnipeg cant afford top players" nonsense. Makes ZERO sense to trade Trouba regardless of Buff's contract.

Well its current Sunny.... so make your own judgements.

Also Sunny and Vivid announced a deal for a porn called Sunny Side up. Am I allowed to link to the trailer?

Bret Hart announces he has prostate cancer: It is with great remorse that I feel compelled to speak truthfully to my friends, family and my millions of fans around the world. In the past few years, I've spent more than enough time paying the price for all those years trying to be the best there ever was as a professional wrestler. I executed excellently and my proudest claim was that I never seriously hurt or injured another wrestler in my 23 year career. I've paid a price for all that "fake" wrestling. Aside from a devastating career-ending concussion and numerous surgeries when I was younger, in recent years I've had two knee replacements, two hernia operations, surgery on my right elbow, and, just a few months ago, I underwent a four-corner fusion of my right wrist that even now makes it most difficult to write or type. Mark Helprin wrote: "We are all perfect clocks that Divinity has set to ticking when, even before birth, the heart explodes into a lifelong dance." I've had a great lifelong dance and I'm a survivor of many hard battles. I now face my toughest battle. With hesitation and fear, I openly declare myself in my fight against prostate cancer. In the next few days, I will undergo surgery with the hope of defeating this nemesis once and for all. My fans have always looked upon me as a hero and I've always done my best to live up to that in and out of the ring. I beat the odds when I suffered my stroke in 2002, but it is now yet again, that I draw upon the many adults and young children I've met throughout my life who courageously fought and usually lost in their battles against this deadly disease. One year ago, I watched a brave young man named Whesley fight brain cancer to the end. If I can find even an ounce of his courage to stand unafraid and face the tough road ahead of me, I will march toward this destiny with his spirit chanting in my ear. I make a solemn vow to all of those that once believed in me, the dead and the living, that I will wage my fearsome fight against cancer with one shield and one sword carrying my determination and my fury for life, emboldened by all the love that's kept me going this long already. Love is my weapon and I've got much of it around me all the time, for which I'm truly blessed and eternally grateful. My children, grandchildren, and my loving wife Steph have been and will constantly be at my side. I refuse to lose, I will never give in or give up, and I will win this battle or die trying. Most important of all, I hope I can take the fight to prostate cancer. To be a leader in awareness and to set the example for men everywhere who find themselves in my very same shoes, that prostate cancer can be beaten. B x

Such as expanded league, increased revenue, huge TV contracts, more Canadian teams?

And so it begins... TORONTO - Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi is accused of inflicting violence on three women — including Trailer Park Boys actress Lucy DeCoutere — while on dates with them. Ghomeshi, 48, faces sexual assault and one count of choking charges stemming from allegations about his conduct between Dec. 1, 2002, and July 2, 2003. Follow along on Day 1 of the trial...

This came up in the NHL thread but its pretty important and deserving of its own thread especially as more stories come out discussing his "legacy". Personally, I dont know him so I cant say I like or dislike him as a person but I think the NHL is infinitely better for having him in that position. I worry that his extension expires at the same time as the current CBA and how that might embolden the PA to test a new commissioner if, in fact, Gary retires at that time. In fact, it seems odd they'd time it that way unless Gary agreed to stay on with the caveat that he wouldnt go through another war. I've heard some discussion of his legacy today and most people point to negatives, that he is unlikeable. Well, the NHL is larger, stronger with far more revenues, more teams, better TV deals, cost certainty, revenue sharing, stronger Canadian teams etc. Not every expansion or relocation was perfect but the massive southern expansion was overall a success. I'd say, time will judge Bettman as a very successful commissioner. NASHVILLE - Gary Bettman has been accused of being many things during his reign as the NHL’s grand poohbah. Party animal isn’t one of them. Imagine, then, the number of eyebrows that were raised throughout the hockey world when Bettman, while extolling the virtues of the seemingly endless frivolity going on here in the Music City, noted on Sunday that “the party went on all night.” Whoa. Hold it right there, Mr. Commish. Were you out frequenting one of the outstanding Honky Tonks lining nearby Broadway into the wee hours? It can’t be. If you had been out in that chaos, at least one member of the posse of hockey media here to cover all-star weekend would have spotted you through their bloodshot eyes. That being the case, how did you know the seemingly-neverending Nashville bash was going on around the clock? “I heard it,” Bettman said with a chuckle, showing a rare flash of humour. For the most part, what Bettman has “heard” for much of his lengthy tenure running the NHL is criticism and jeers, most of which have bounced off him like bullets off Superman. If you are one of the legions of Bettman Bashers out there, then you’ll be booing again at what you are about to read. Brace yourself. Gary Bettman, polarizing figure as he might be, has inked a multi-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season, which would complete a stint of almost three decades running the NHL. You might be giving that news the thumbs down. But obviously NHL owners certainly aren’t. They are the ones who have given Bettman the green light - both figuratively and financially - to lead the league into the next decade. It’s easy to see why the owners would want Bettman to remain in the captain’s chair. After all, the bottom line for these titans of business is the almighty buck. Always has been. Always will be. To that end, Bettman’s key to longevity on the job has been the fact that he has put money in the owners’ pockets. In his era as commissioner, the NHL has gone from a $400 million per year business to more than $4 billion. Bettman, 63, took over the post on Feb. 1, 1993 and will celebrate the 23rd anniversary on the job on Monday. Under his watch, the NHL has expanded from 24 to 30 teams and has slogged through three lockouts, including the ugly work stoppage of 2004-05 which wiped out the entire season and kept the Stanley Cup from being awarded. From a business standpoint, Bettman guided the league to a lucrative 12-year, $5.2 billion television deal with Rogers Sportsnet and a 10-year, $2 billion broadcasting pact in the U.S. According to a source familiar with the situation, Bettman signed the his extension back in September but kept it quiet, as is the norm when it comes to many things involving the commish. When asked about the reports of his extension during an appearance on The NHL Network Sunday afternoon, Bettman replied: “It’s not news to me. This happened many months ago. “We’re just excited as a group to be moving the game forward.” Interestingly, Bettman’s extension will expire in 2022, the same year the current collective bargaining agreement ends. The NHL can exercise its option to end the deal on Sept. 1, 2019. If it doesn’t, the NHLPA can pull the plug on it two weeks later. Bettman feels one of the strong points of the modern-day National Hockey League is a competitive balance between teams that are superior to the three other prominent North American sports leagues - the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. But Bettman’s detractors are more apt to point out the warts that sprouted during his regime. Indeed, Bettman absorbed a significant amount of heat from north of the border on Saturday when he announced that Los Angeles would be awarded the 2017 All-Star Game, opting not to give it to Toronto as part of the Leafs' 100th anniversary celebrations. With allegations flooding social media that he is anti-Canadian, it must be pointed out that that the league did return to Winnipeg. Of course, the Jets first left Winnipeg for Arizona in 1996, a move that also came under Bettman’s watch. That’s the way it works with Bettman - you either like him or you loathe him. However you feel about him, we do know this: he’s not going anywhere for a while. Deal with it. mike.zeisberger@sunmedia.ca

You made the point that he only handed the cup to a Canadian team once as if it's his choice or he's happy about it. The Canadian teams being healthy is very important to the NHL and Bettman knows that probably moreso than some of his owners. He was hired to grow revenue and expand the league. Which he did. He grew revenues massively and brought in cost certainty. He also got revenue sharing which the powerful owners didn't want as well as currency mitigation. He moved a big market US team to the smallest market in the league and in Canada. He's got Quebec as a bonafide contender to get a team. The anti Bettman stuff is funny when it comes to fans always hating the commissioner but when people try to have serious discussions about it it's just silly.

This is absurd. Just absolutely laughably Absurd. Gary Bettman picks the winner of the cup? Lol right. id go so far as to say Bettman was a leading reason as to how the jets returned. So this idea of Bettman as an evil person out to ruin the game is just completely moronic.