Reaching The Fortress

I have finally reached the first checkpoint in my preparations for the 2026 edition of Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual.

It has been a slow process because I want to try and make everything perfect before I have to go through the editing stages further on down the line.

The part I completed today took me almost two months. I have a lot left to do but it feels like I've battled my way through the forest and have now reached the fortress. 

I have to get my way up to the top of the figurative landmark. It won't take as long as it took to get through the figurative forest, but it'll be more challenging.

Demolition Announced For The WWE Hall Of Fame, Enters Class Of 2026

Hell has once again frozen over in regards to the WWE Hall of Fame.

It was revealed today that the infamous tag team from the 1980s and early-90s - Demolition - is set to be inducted into the company's Hall of Fame during WrestleMania Week.

WWE announced the news today. As well as that, a video of The Undertaker informing both Ax and Smash of the news via a video conference was published on social media channels.

It's big news because Ax, real name Bill Eadie, has been on the outs with WWF/E since 1990. He had been in a couple of lawsuits directed towards the company across those multiple decades.

Demolition was a big part of WWF's tag team division during the bottom half of the company's initial boom period. 

Wearing studded leather and face paint, they were WWF's version of The Road Warriors - a popular tag team from companies the WWF was in competition with. The teams would eventually feud when Hawk and Animal, then going by the name of The Legion of Doom, entered the WWF in 1990.

In my opinion, it was the signing of Hawk and Animal which made the team of Demolition redundant considering how similar the two acts were.

As I stated, there was tension between the company and Bill Eadie (Ax) which got in the way of either party doing business together, aside from merchandising, from late 1990 through to today.

There's no word on whether Crush (Brian Adams), who was introduced as a third Demolition member in 1990, will be part of this induction. Adams' time in the team was short-lived but he's still part of Demolition's WWF story. I surmise, going by the press release, that only Ax (Eadie) and Smash (Barry Darsow) will be inducted as a pair. With that stated, Randy Colley was the original Smash in the unit. He only lasted a short time in that role before Darsow took over.

Adams and Colley are no longer with us with Adams passing away in 2007 and Colley dying in 2019.

Demolition will join Stephanie McMahon and AJ Styles who have already been revealed as members of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2026. The ceremony is scheduled for April 17th at Dolby Live at the Park MGM in Paradise, Nevada.

The One When I Write About McDonald's Friends Gimmick

Tasting KFC's new Cheesy Melt Burger wasn't the only interaction I had with limited edition products from fast food establishments in recent weeks. A little under a fortnight ago, I had a McDonald's meal which included a figure of one of the characters from Friends.

I'll share images of the statue below. First I have to ask.

Why? Why Friends? Why now?

I was alive during the American sitcom's peak, so I understand how big Friends was back in the day. I am also aware it still gets repeated even to this very day. It simply seems a bit surreal for McDonald's to run promotions about the series so far since it was 'new'.

Wouldn't it be like McDonald's running a MASH promotion in 2005 or something? 

The takeaway bags have Friends imagery on them. See immediately below:

I ordered a box of the new pizza mozzarella dippers They were nice. They came in a Friends-themed box. I also had a dip called Monica's Marinara to dip the sticks into. I surmise Monica is a chef or something in the series.

I was given free chicken nuggets as well (okay, Chicken McNuggets!). They came in a box with a caricature of Joey on the packaging. I guess he didn't share food with people in the programme.

I had a Big Mac meal. The characters come in meals including that burger as well as ones with 9 McNuggets and the McPlant burger. 

Here's what the box looked like from one of its sides:

Inside was:

David Schwimmer's character of Ross. Oh, and a monkey. I did some research and the monkey's name is Marcel.

I've had a look on eBay. People are apparently bidding on these things. That's interesting. I suppose it covers a lot of ground with fans of the programme (it was huge) wanting to get all the characters. And then you have collectors of memorabilia looking for complete sets. 

I still don't get why now. But I get why the company chose Friends.

A KFC Double

If you read yesterday's post, you would have seen I tried KFC's latest chicken burger - the Cheesy Melt.

Well, how's this for pure coincidence: last night's episode of Smackdown aired from Kentucky's arena which is named... KFC Center!

I chose the most opportune day to have picked KFC.

You can read about my enjoyment of the limited edition meal by following this link.

I Try KFC's Cheesy Melt Burger

I've seen a new, limited edition, chicken burger on advertising and - I must say - I'm keen to try it out.

The Cheesy Melt Burger is currently available from KFC stores here in the UK until March 22nd. The commercials show a cheese sauce being poured over an open burger which contains a hash brown, chicken fillet and lettuce. 

It's somewhat reminiscent of Christmas 2020, when the fast food restaurant introduced a burger which required the customer to pour gravy over the contents of the bun.

This time, the liquid ingredient is 'hot cheese sauce'. Which has me slightly worried,

I hope when the promotion states it's a  'hot cheese' they mean by temperature and not by spiciness. I cannot see any chilli pepper warnings on the pages of the KFC website plugging the latest product, so I think I'm safe.

I'm buying one for lunch. If all goes to plan, you'll see my reactions immediately below.

The order is in!

I ordered the Cheesy Melt Box Meal, so I had the fries, can of Tango and a chicken fillet with the burger. The packaging looked really cool. I know it wasn't the intent, but the font, resembling cheese, looked like something you'd see on the poster for a 1970s horror movie.

As I wrote in the preface, the customer is given a pot of the warm cheese to pour on. Here I am doing just that:

As you can see, it makes a mess. I don't think anybody could have done a better -- or worse! - job than I did with that.

It was guaranteed to be a mess from the start.

As expected, it was - yes, you guessed it - a mess.

It turned out to be an enjoyable burger. I suppose most of my thumbs up towards the product is because of  the gimmick of having to pour the hot cheese on yourself. By the way, it was 'hot' as in temperature and not spiciness. So, my suspicion was accurate.

One negative I'll add about the burger is this: I cannot see how anybody would want to eat that, and here's that word again, mess eating out. To me, it comes across as something you'd have to eat away from the public gaze. You know, in case you make a mess. Which you will. Because it's a mess.

So, to close - it was a mess.

A fine mess.

Surf 'N Turf Cat Stylee

I had a funny idea for this morning's breakfast. 

Surf 'n Turf.

Nope - not for my breakfast. Oreo's.

I had a spare chicken breast left over from last night's meal. I cut it up in the evening and left it in the fridge overnight knowing I would give it to Oreo to start off his day.

When it came time to fill his bowl, I opted for the wet fish flavour food and mixed it in with the bits of dry Purina. I then sprinkled the strips of chicken breast on top. 

So, he's getting some chicken and fish together today. 

He seems to like it. He's gone to the bowl four times since it has been placed down. That has to be a new record. 

Snoop In Swansea

Snoop Dogg has been all over my local and national news this week.

Nope, he hasn't gotten himself into any trouble. Well, not unless associating himself with Swansea City Football Club is a crime. That could be punishable in my neck of the woods, though.

Snoop is a minority owner of the Welsh club. He made an appearance at TheSwansea.com Stadium last night in what was, as noted, all over the news.

I suppose it' was a big deal.

And I write that as a lapsed Cardiff City supporter. 

Which leads me to something.

Every single time I have seen the names 'Snoop Dogg' and 'Swansea' together, I keep asking myself a question:

'HOW WOULD I HAVE ACCEPTED SUCH NEWS BACK IN THE DAY?'

There was a time in my life when Snoop Doggy Dogg and Cardiff City were some of my favourite things. I had a Snoop t-shirt which was worn almost every other day at one point in time. I bought his albums on their release dates on at least three occasions in which I can recall. That's how invested I was.

I was also a Cardiff City supporter. A lot more then than today.

I struggle to see how I would have been able to wear that t-shirt as often as I did if Snoop was a minority owner of Swansea City back then. 

I'd also like to get a shot at my rivals while I have the opportunity: Snoop didn't fly over to Swansea from the US especially. He had been over in Italy covering the Winter Olympics for NBC, so he made that stop on the way back from the Games.

With that said, the scenes from last night's appearance did look great. The crowd had Snoop-themed towels and were waving them in support for their guest.

That was definitely an idea inspired by Snoop's favourite NFL team - the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For those who don't know, now you'll know: Steelers fans have Terrible Towels and wave them each game day. Even though I don't support the Steelers, I once had a wish - long ago - to own a Terrible Towel of my own. I couldn't believe my eyes a few Christmases ago, when I was given one of my own (thanks Lisa and Jill!), 

I was curious to see if anybody had placed their, for want of a better name,  Snoop Dogg Swansea City Terrible Towels on eBay overnight. I found a couple. One was £83.90 and the other was £208.70. I expect more will pop up on the auction site over the coming hours. 

Swansea City and Preston North End drew the game 1-1 with Swansea's Liam Cullen scoring the equaliser in injury time to save his team's blushes in front of their partial owner.