Bold Predictions : Royal Rumble 2012

Here is the start of my new monthly feature where I will predict the outcome of every WWE pay-per-view match in 2012 by simply bolding the name of the person I believe will be victor.

I'll be keeping score throughout the year.

Royal Rumble 2012

John Cena .va. Kane

Daniel Bryan (World champion) .va. Mark Henry .va. Big Show

CM Punk (WWE champion) .vs. Dolph Ziggler

Royal Rumble winner - Shaquille O'Neal

Princess Picks A Winner

Remember Paul the Octopus?

The aquatic prognosticator found fame during the 2010 World Cup tournament when he had a successful run of predicting the outcomes of some of the games.

The predicting king has since died.

But, now there is a princess.

Princess - a camel from a zoo in New Jersey - has successfully predicted five out of the last six Super Bowl winners and had fourteen out of twenty regular and post-season games correct this year.

The predictions are made when the zoo owner - John Bergmann - writes a team on his hands and then holds them both out with a cracker in each. Whichever cracker goes first indicates the team that is picked.

Princess has selected the New York Giants to beat the Patriots at the Super Bowl next Sunday.

God, I hope she's right.

I Missed National Peanut Butter Day

It was National Peanut Butter Day in the United States the other day.

I would have liked to have known about the day so I could have celebrated it in style.

It would have been the perfect excuse to pig out on Reese's chocolates.

My Longshot Idea : The Rumble Winner Will Be A Superstar

I spent quite a while typing up a blog post on Tuesday night predicting who would win this Sunday's Royal Rumble. I ended the write-up with two names as favourites; Chris Jericho and Randy Orton.

The post was set to publish today (Thursday) but - since writing the thing up - I have changed my mind radically.

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that it will be someone more famous than Jericho and Orton who will walk out as winner.

There has been an emphasis that 'any Superstar' can enter the Royal Rumble this year.

Any superstar? How about a superstar that made their name outside of professional wrestling? Maybe someone like Shaquille O'Neal?

I kid you not.

There has been a rumour circulating - coming out of Shaq's mouth nonetheless - that this year's WrestleMania will feature a bout between the former basketball player and The Big Show.

What better way to kick-off the road to WrestleMania than have Shaq win the Royal Rumble? It's got sports center story written all over it.

If it happens, you heard it here first.

And if it doesn't - I told you it was going to be Jericho or Orton.

Cardiff City Heading Back To Wembley

Cardiff City booked their place in the Carling Cup final last night when they defeated Crystal Palace on penalties.Their opponents will be decided tonight when Manchester City take on Liverpool in the second leg of the semi-finals.

Liverpool are currently 1-0 up on aggregate. Can they hold on for ninety minutes against the current best team in England?

There is one image I cannot shake off and that is of Craig Bellamy scoring the winning goal against Cardiff in the final.

I hope my premonition is wrong - here's hoping that Manchester City wins tonight!

More Mania To My Collection

I'm now back up to date with my collection of WrestleMania on either VHS or DVD..

For the past two or three years, I haven't bought the DVDs of the event when they initially go on sale because I know that they'll be on offer months down the line. After all, I don't need to buy them immediately as - if I have seen the show live on TV - why do I have to get it straight when it is released?

It's only £8.99 at the moment so I grabbed the opportunity when I saw it at a decent price.

I now have approximately two months to claim that I have every single WrestleMania, it will be back to playing catch-up in April.

Joe Paterno

When Joe Paterno was fired from his role as head coach at Penn State University following the paedophilia scandal involving his assistant coach - Jerry Sandusky - I had a feeling he wasn't long for this world.

The eighty-five year old passed away yesterday after a battle with cancer.

I didn't want to wish ill on the man but I couldn't shake off the thought that coaching was his life so, when that was taken away, he was on borrowed time.

He had a record-breaking career but it can never be talked about without noting how Paterno kept quiet when it was brought to his attention that Sandusky was abusing children.

An ESPN article headline, that I saw yesterday, read:  'Paterno's legacy outweighs scandal'.

I'm not so sure about that.