On TV Tonight

I've just switched the television on and one of the first commercials I came across was one promoting a programme on 5 Spike tonight.

Street Hawk!

I used to love this series when I was a child.

I don't remember anything about it other than it was like Knight Rider, but involved a black motorcycle.

The younger version of me even wore a Street Hawk t-shirt!

Will I watch it tonight? I doubt it...

Scratchin' 2018 : Week 17

I have now completed the seventeenth week of playing a lottery scratch card every day this year.

After the 119 days so far this year, I'm £55 in the red.

This week saw me win on Monday (£1 profit), Saturday (£2 profit) and today (£1 profit).

Yesterday's Rumble

It was a weird day yesterday.

If you're a wrestling fan, you'll know that WWE held a Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. 

It was billed as the Greatest Royal Rumble and had a lineup worthy of a WrestleMania. It featured a ton of top stars working the packed card. 

Without any women, which was a big black eye, but that's a story for another time.

I wasn't too keen on the political stuff that was being forced down my throat - or burned into my eyes! - as I watched the event. It made me dislike the show.

What I will say, though, is it was peculiar to sit there watching an event from 4PM (for the pre-show) up to after 10PM my time. My WWE viewing is used to watching pay-per-view events from 12AM to the early hours of Monday mornings.

An odd show, at an odd time. That sums it up.

Calculating

The other day I wrote a post noting that somebody on Twitter had worked out that the 1,500th episode of WWE Raw will fall on May 2nd 2022. He also added that it would be Dwayne Johnson's fiftieth birthday that day.

He wasn't the only person who has been using a calculator recently.

So, not only do I know that Raw's 1,500th episode will air on The Rock's 50th birthday..

I also know that a lot has happened in 131,496 hours!

Draft Day 2018

It's Draft Day 2018 and I am SOOOOO out of the loop with the NFL that I don't know what has been going on lately.

This could be the first time since 2006 when I haven't bothered keeping up with the goings on as teams prepare to sign up new players.

I didn't even purchase any of the draft magazines that were offered to me this year. As soon as I received an alert from the website where I buy imported American football yearbooks, I thought to myself 'nah, not this time.'

The draft mags always come across as a waste of time as, by the time they're published and land on my doormat, there have usually been trades and the teams have moved up - or down - the pecking order. Therefore, the projections are out of whack.

That was a hard thing for me to write considering I want the print industry to succeed in the digital age!

As for the draft - I'll watch the first part of it as I usually do. I don't intend to waste tomorrow catching up with it as I do every year. I have WWE's Greatest Royal Rumble to keep an eye on tomorrow. That should be... interesting...

Return Of Plain Jane

I've had Neighbours on in the background as I've been at the PC today and something has bugged me while watching it.

Jane Harris is back in it.

She was the niece of Mrs. Mangel and was given the nickname 'Plain Jane Superbrain' because she was geeky. Back in the 80s, there was a big story in the series where Jane went from being 'plain' to a stunner.

It was a big thing in Neighbours canon, but the character is now back and she's reverted to being plain.

In fact, she's more like Mrs. Mangel now.

I think the writers have done a disservice to the people who were invested in the original story. I feel like I wasted my time watching her evolution if she was going to end up like her nan!

Yep, slow news day!

Calculating A Future Raw

Last night saw WWE air the 1,300th episode of Raw. Somebody on Twitter has worked out that the 1,500th episode will take place on May 2nd 2022.

And, to top it off, this will also be The Rock's 50th birthday.

Will be interesting to see if WWE does anything for that occasion!

Wednesday's Child Was Full Of No

Ahh.. another royal baby.

Today's news was sort of not welcomed by yours truly.

Not because I didn't care. It's because I wanted him to arrive in two days!

In 2015, I placed a bet on Princess Charlotte being born on my birthday. The bet was a winner. This year, I couldn't find betting markets where I could place wagers on the exact date, but there were markets where it was possible to bet on the day.

Seeing as my birthday is on a Wednesday this year, I had a punt on the baby arriving on any date that falls on a Wednesday.

If only he had a bit more patience!

Scratchin' 2018 : Week 16

I have now completed the sixteenth week of a 2018 challenge I have set myself to play a National Lottery scratchcard every day this year.

After today's scratch, I am £53 in the red after 112 days.

There was only one successful card (if you call it that!) this week. It came on Friday in the form of a £1 break-even.

Bruno Doc On Monday

WWE has scheduled a Bruno Sammartino documentary to air on the WWE Network once WWE Raw ends on Monday night.

As noted in a couple of posts this week, Sammartino passed away at the age of eighty-two on Wednesday morning.

He is the longest reigning world champion within WWE's history.

It's on my 'to watch' list for Tuesday morning!

Arsene Is Out

Arsene Wenger will leave Arsenal at the end of the current season.

This was just announced by Arsenal.

As I've written many times over the years, even though Arsenal isn't my team, Wenger is one of my favourite coaches.

It'll be a shame to see him leave.

I know the clowns involved with the 'Wenger Out' campaign are rubbing their hands with glee right now. For them, I'll write the same thing I've done nearly every time I've written about the 'Wenger Out Brigade'.

Be careful of what you have wished for.

Sammartino Tributes

There has been an outpouring of respect shown to Bruno Sammartino who passed away yesterday at the age of eighty-two.

I wrote about him in yesterday's post. However, in today's post, I thought I'd put up a few things that I've seen online since the news broke.

First, here's something that Madison Square Garden did for Sammartino overnight:

MSG not only celebrated Bruno with the video tribute outside the building. It also post the following on Twitter:

The Mayor of Pittsburgh (Bruno's home) left a statement on the city's website. You can click on the image to expand it:

Not only did the Mayor of the City post a tribute. Some of the sports franchises did as well.

The Pittsburgh Penguins:

The Pittsburgh Steelers' general manager, Kevin Colbert, also made a statement on the passing:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was good friends with Sammartino:

Arnie also added:

I've purposely chosen respect from people and organisations outside of the wrestling business up until now. I thought I'd share the final two.

First, here's what WWE owner, Vince McMahon stated on the passing:

I wrote about the animosity that had existed between McMahon and Sammartino in my tribute to Sammartino yesterday. In the same post, I mentioned that - if it wasn't for Triple H being a peacemaker - it was unlikely that Sammartino would have had his final bow at Madison Square Garden when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April of 2013. 

Here's HHH's comment:

Bruno Sammartino Passes Away

I have been behind on a lot of things today. One of the tasks I kept putting off was writing today's post. I had no idea what I wanted to write about and made the decision, a few hours ago, that - as soon as I was back in front of the laptop - I would write about the first thing that came to mind.

It didn't go to plan. Well, not in the way I had anticipated.

I fired up the laptop and then noticed an email pop up in the corner of my screen. It was an alert from Twitter saying somebody had left a message.

F**k man. Bruno died.

If you've followed professional wrestling for any length of time, there is no doubt in my mind that you would have heard the name Bruno Sammartino.

Sammartino was a huge deal in wrestling. He won the WWWF (it was called World-Wide Wrestling Federation back then) Championship with a victory over 'Nature Boy' Buddy Rogers in 1963.

At the risk of not articulating the point across properly - being a world champion in pro wrestling during this period in the industry was a bigger deal than it is today. Titles - and reigns - meant a lot more to the promoter, and ultimately to the consumer. In today's wrestling, especially WWE, you see titles switch hands on a frequent basis.

Sammartino's reign lasted from the aforementioned May 17th 1963 win over Rogers right up to his loss to Ivan Koloff on January 18th 1971.

Yes, 1963 to 1971. A 2,803 day reign which will never be beaten in WWE. Ever.

There was another reign to come.

Sammartino regained the title in December of 1973. Becoming the first-ever two-time winner of the strap. This reign closed three-and-a-half years later following a loss to 'Superstar' Billy Graham on April 30th 1977.

Sammartino was hugely popular with the Italian-Americans on the east coast of the US when the WWWF was based only in that territory.

I always loved listening to Sammartino's stories whenever he would speak with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer. It was fascinating to hear stories of how his family hid from soldiers up an Italian mountain during World War II and how, upon emigrating to the US, turned to weight training and wrestling.

Equally fascinating were his wrestling stories where he recounted all those sellouts from Madison Square Garden and other venues he worked in the territory.

Which leads to the one memory I am sure many fans of contemporary professional wrestling will recall today.

Back during the late 1980s to early 1990s, Sammartino became a huge critic of the World Wrestling Federation and this resulted in a schism between he and the WWF's owners.

Vince McMahon Jr. and Sammartino were at odds for many, many years. Then - in 2013 - with Triple H as a middle man, Sammartino accepted WWE's offer to be inducted into its Hall of Fame.

I wrote about it in a 2013 post titled 'Hell Freezes Over.' because, well, it was like hell freezing over!

The event was held at Madison Square Garden. Sammartino, just like all those years as champion, was the headliner at MSG.

For one final time.

It was a fitting way for the company to honour its longest-reigning world champion.

A cool moment was - at the end - as all the inductees took a bow, McMahon made his way over to Sammartino and they had their moment of closure.

For fans, such as myself, who knew the animosity between McMahon and Sammartino, this was an added bonus to the night's coverage.

From there, Sammartino did other projects for WWE like being a talking head on some of the company's DVD releases and made special appearances.

The news reports state that he passed away this morning. He is survived by his wife, three sons and four grandchildren.

John Cena And Nikki Bella Split

I guess I have to write a bit about the breakup between John Cena and Nikki Bella.

The story broke early yesterday morning and was, as crazy as this sounds (maybe it really shouldn't considering it's me we're talking about), it was the first news story I came across when I woke up.

That's how big a deal the news site I visit thought it was.

It's a shame, but it is interesting that the announcement was made twenty days ahead of their wedding and - on top - it was done a week after WrestleMania.

Seems to me like they had broken up a while back and waited for Mania to be in the rearview before their statements.

Cena left this on his Instagram after it became public:

Three Digits

In April of 2016, I published a post titled '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11... I've Lost Count' where I wrote about having watched that year's Grand National and - as a way to gauge how well my horse performed - I thought I'd count how many times the horse 'Rule The World' was mentioned.

If you know the result of the race, you're aware that my horse did indeed win the National in 2016.

I tried the same experiment on Saturday. This time, I was counting the amount of times my horse Delusionofgrandeur was uttered by the commentary team.

Unlike 2016, where I needed more than two hands and ended up losing count - I didn't even get to digit number four in 2018.

Scratchin' 2018 : Week 15

I have now completed week 15 of a challenge I have set myself in 2018 to scratch a National Lottery card every day this year.

This week's results weren't as good as last week.

I had one winner. This was a £2 return on a £1 Match 3 Tripler card.

As of today's post, I am, after scratching 105 scratchies, forty-five pounds in the red.

In A Name: 2018 Grand National Edition

Now and again, I've written posts where I've mentioned having bet on a horse, greyhound or even a reindeer(!) simply because the name has stood out to me when browsing through the list of runners.

I thought I'd have a go on today's Grand National.

What I haven't mentioned this week is that I've finally managed to watch The Last Jedi. As I've written in the past, Luke Skywalker was the first hero I ever had, so was very disappointed to see what happened to him at the end of the movie.

Yes, I know he could come back as a Force ghost, but that's beside today's point.

While looking through the list, and bearing in mind this was the week I caught the latest Star Wars, one name stood out.

Delusionofgrandeur.

As soon as I saw it, I was reminded of the scene in Return of the Jedi. Han Solo had been released from the carbon freeze and was speaking with Chewbacca in the dungeons of Jabba's Palace. He exposed his amazement that Luke Skywalker had become a Jedi Knight with the line '..I'm out of it for a little while and everybody gets delusions of grandeur.'

I have the horse at 100/1.

Bad Dudes

I don't own a Nintendo Switch.

I no longer have any intentions of buying a Nintendo Switch.

But....

Somebody who follows me on Twitter (I follow back) has been tweeting about a retro title that has become available on the system. As soon as I saw what it was, a smile crossed my face.

Apparently, Switch users can now play a game titled Bad Dudes .vs. Dragonninja.

I first came across this game while holiday in Malta during the summer of 1989. I was heavily into arcade games back then and one of my favourites was Double Dragon.

Bad Dudes was very similar to Double Dragon in that you had to walk the streets beating up your adversaries in order to save somebody.

I should have done some research before starting this post, but - if I recall correctly - in Bad Dudes, your mission is to save President Ronald Reagan.

I could be wrong, though! I might have mixed it up with another game from around that time.

Anyway, after the holiday was over, Bad Dudes made its way to the top of my Commodore 64 wish list. Along with Arkanoid - another arcade game I spent my time playing that summer.

If I had a Nintendo Switch, I would have purchased Bad Dudes as soon as I saw it available. Just because.

Waiting For Andre

I have read quite a lot of praise for the Andre the Giant documentary that aired in the USA the other night.

HBO produced it, so there's a good chance it'll make its way to Sky Atlantic over here in the UK.

I'll hold on for a few weeks to see if it hits these shores. If not, I'll have to go and find another way to watch it.

Either way - I'm going to find it. By hook or crook (if you know what I mean!).

A lot of the reviews I've read have stated that it'll even be of interest to people who don't follow professional wrestling or know Andre from The Princess Bride - the movie he became famous for outside of what was his regular profession.

I've always found the topic of Andre the Giant to be fascinating whenever I've read or heard stories about his life. Granted, sometimes I've had the BS detector beeping furiously as some of these, pardon the pun, tall tales were told, but - even so - he still makes for an interesting topic to cover. The reaction to Tuesday's airing proves this.

A Late One

I have just realised that it has just gone 9PM and I haven't written anything for today.

It's another one where I'm going to phone it in because I haven't got anything to write for now and I want to keep my streak of continuous posts going.

Another Week Without Raw

I woke up early this morning with the plan to watch last night's episode of WWE Raw.

If you've read a few posts lately, you'll know that I've had trouble with recording the programme because Sky Sports occasionally changes the channel that it airs live on. Well, seeing as it was the show after Mania, I wanted to make sure there was no mistakes this time. I checked everything before I went to bed.

However...

When I checked the DVD recorder was all set, I accidentally knocked a DVD and it fell behind my desk. I picked the DVD back up and left the room.

I sat myself down to watch the recording this morning, but it said there was 'NO SIGNAL'. I checked around and noticed that the SCART lead had fallen out of the back. I guess the DVD that fell behind my desk did it!

What a calamity. It looks like I missed so much, but have caught some of the highlights on the WWE website.

Post-Mania Post

It's that time of year again.

Where I am sitting at the computer with the birds chirping outside at ridiculous o'clock in the morning after watching another WrestleMania.

What a show.

I don't know if the previous statement is a compliment or me being negative.

There was a lot to dislike about it. However, some of the things that I disliked are because they shocked me as I was expecting other results to play out.

Hmm...

I'll have to sleep on it...

Scratchin' 2018 : Week 14

When I last posted a 'Scratchin' 2018' update last week, I was £42 down after playing a National Lottery scratch card every day so far this year.

I've scratched off another seven cards since then. Here's how I fared.

Monday - Lost £1
Tuesday - Made £2 Profit
Wednesday - Made Another £2 Profit
Thursday - Lost £1
Friday - Lost £2
Saturday - Broke Even With £1
Sunday - Made £5 Profit

The good week has turned the -£42 into -£37. I still have a long way to go!

Eric Bristow

I was surprised to read the news that Eric Bristow had passed away when I came across it the other night.

Bristow was one of those guys from my childhood who was a big star from the sport he represented.

He was a living legend in the early-to-mid eighties. Especially through my young eyes.

The Class Of 2018

Later tonight, WWE will host its 2018 Hall of Fame ceremony where new names will be honoured.

What I usually do on the day of the Hall of Fame is write a few words about each person. So, here goes.

Kid Rock
Rock star, Kid Rock, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame's celebrity wing. He has loosely played a part in WWE history by having some of his songs used as entrance music.

Hillbilly Jim
I am surprised that Hillbilly Jim wasn't already in the Hall of Fame! Jim was a farmer gimmick that was sort of popular back in the 1980s. His character was one of the good guys on Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling cartoon series back then.
Jim returned to WWE in the 1990s as a manager of The Godwinns.

The Dudley Boyz
Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley were part of 'The Dudley Boyz' faction in Extreme Championship Wrestling during the mid-to-late 1990s. From there, the duo moved to the WWF/WWE and won the tag team championships on numerous occasions before heading to TNA. The team returned to WWE for a brief run a number of years ago.

Ivory
Lisa Moretti started off her wrestling career working for the GLOW wrestling league in the 1980s. From there, she worked for other wrestling promotions before landing in the WWF in 1999 under the ring name of Ivory.
She spent many years in the company becoming WWE Women's Champion three times.

Jeff Jarrett
Jeff Jarrett was born into a wrestling family. His career began in the mid-1980s when he worked for his father's promotion - Continental Wrestling Asssociation (CWA) and later worked for the USWA. In 1992, Jarrett was called up to work for Vince McMahon's WWF. He spent a few years working there before heading to work for the competition - WCW. Jarrett returned to the WWF after a stint in Ted Turner's company, but ended up back working for World Championship Wrestling in 1999 after having a falling out with Vince McMahon.
After WCW went under, Jarrett along with his father, Jerry, set up what would later become TNA Wrestling.

Mark Henry
Mark Henry signed for the World Wrestling Federation in 1996 at a time when he was competing as a powerlifter for Team USA during the Atlanta Games. He has been employed with the company ever since.
He has won many singles and tag titles during his career. I'd say his biggest accomplishment - inside a wrestling ring - was winning the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011.

Goldberg
Bill Goldberg is the headline act of this year's ceremony. He was a huge star during the peak of World Championship Wrestling after coming in and embarking on a streak of wins. The greatest moment, during this undefeated run, came on an episode of WCW Nitro, which was filmed in the Georgia Done, where Goldberg defeated Hulk Hogan to become WCW World Champion.
Following the closure of WCW, Goldberg sat out the rest of his contract. Once this ended, he spent a year in WWE before leaving for many years. He made a return to the company in late 2016 where he scored a shock victory over Brock Lesnar in the main event of the Survivor Series. From there, he went on to challenge - and defeat - Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship before dropping the title to Lesnar at last year's WrestleMania.

A 1979 Diary

My parents showed me something really cool today.

It was a diary from 1979 which was owned by my grandmother.

The book was really small, but she was able to keep a good record of her life throughout.

I was obviously intrigued to see what was written on the day I was born. I was mentioned! I also noted that she wrote about me on the day I came home. I was 'gorgeous'! 

There was also a day when my nan played Scrabble with my cousins. 

You can see how much of a difference it was between now and then. I noticed a lot of her friends (people who were neighbours when I was growing up) were brought up. The community spirit from those days was shining through those pages as I looked through.

Ray Wilkins

I have just found out that Ray Wilkins has passed away at the age of sixty-one.

Wilko is a legend in football. Not just from his time as a player, but also in his later career as a coach.

I never met him, but father did and he told me that - from all of the personalities that he came across in his job - Wilkins was one of the nicest he had met.

Such a shame that he didn't pull through..

Constantine Will Be A Legends Regular Next Season

I found out yesterday that DC's Legends of Tomorrow has been renewed for another season.

This wasn't the best part of the news. What I also found out when reading about the renewal is that John Constantine will be a regular character on the new season when it airs over the autumn.

Constantine is an exorcist who showed up in Arrow a few years ago. He has also appeared in a recent episode of Legends.

Anyway, after watching him in Arrow, I spent a few weeks watching Constantine's own series - Constantine (Obviously!) - on Amazon.

The series only lasted one season, but a cartoon of it was made recently with Matt Ryan, who played the live character also providing the voice.

I'm looking forward to seeing him regularly. It's a shame he wasn't around for all of the current season because there is a spiritual kind of theme going on this year and it would have been a perfect fit to have him in for it for the long haul.

'I'll Knock, You Talk'

I found a funny picture online the other day.

It was of two matchstick men children standing outside a headteacher's office. One of the boys had a speech bubble which read 'I'll knock, you talk'.

Underneath the drawing was a question asking 'did this ever happen to you?' and I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

I can't recall how many times I found myself in that sort of situation back during my school days. Not because it was infrequent, but because I lost count. Especially during my junior school days.

One such example I can recall, where my partner in crime suggested he knock first and I do the talking, was when I agreed to carry the workload because I knew - if left up to him - I would not only do the knocking, but also the talking!

Scratchin' 2018 : Week 13

When I last posted a Scratchin' 2018 update a week ago, I was £48 in the red after scratching a National Lottery scratch card every day so far this year.

The good news is I am no longer £48 in the red as I had a few winners this week.

Thursday's card had £2 under it. I followed up the next day with a £10 ticket.

The bad news? Well - I am still obviously in the red. As of today, I'm £42 down.

As it's April 1st, I've started a new series of cards. This time, I have mixed things up with three different versions - Lucky Bug, Match 3 Tripler and the £2 cards with a jackpot of £250,000.