WWE Royal Rumble Recap & Thoughts

For those who follow me on Twitter, you noticed last night that I was tweeting about the WWE Royal Rumble event. So here is a recap and my thoughts on each match, too:

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge(c) defeats Dolph Ziggler
Edge winning this one didn't shock me, but it was funny to see Vicki Guerrero and Kelly Kelly brawling as the referee was down. Because of Vicki's rule of not allowing Edge to use his Spear finisher, it made for an interesting match. Well, when the referee was down, Edge took the opportunity to use the Spear anyway to win the match as Vicki was down on the outside, too. Edge is still a good draw, so it was wise to keep the belt on him for now.

WWE Championship: The Miz(w/Alex Riley) defeats Randy Orton
I wasn't so much surprised The Miz winning, but the way he won. The New Nexus got involved as they charged to ringside, but Orton threw Alex Riley into them on the outside which seemingly opened the door for the Viper to win when he hit the RKO on The Miz. But as the referee was down, CM Punk came from under the ring to hit the GTS on Orton while pulling The Miz over to make the pinfall. They transitioned very quickly to a Punk/Orton feud which looks obvious that is coming at WrestleMania.

WWE Women's Championship: Eve Torres defeats Natalya and Laycool(Layla & Michelle McCool)
Before the match started, the anonymous Raw GM announced that Eve was added to the match. Controversy ensued as McCool thought she should have won as Eve was the one that got the pinfall and won the title. Not sure where they're going with this, but the Divas will VERY likely get one match at WM.

Royal Rumble match: Alberto Del Rio wins
Early on, John Morrison definitely stole the show as he looked to be eliminated only to never have his feet touch the floor when he landed Spiderman-like on the barricade around the ring. He walked on top of the barricade, and leaped onto the stairs to keep himself in the match without both of his feet touching the ring floor! Very cool spot, but they still wrote him off to be eliminated anyway!

Former WWE stars Booker T and Kevin Nash aka Diesel made surprise appearances in this match. The Boston crowd even chanted "Let's go Diesel!" when he was in the ring, and he got over more than anyone involved in this match. The crowd booed loudly when he was eliminated. Booker T looked great as he had to battle all of the New Nexus when in the ring. The Nexus dominated for awhile which made the match a little boring for sometime.

John Cena came in, and got rid of the New Nexus even eliminating CM Punk. Honestly, I thought this is when Orton should have come in based on Punk costing him the title earlier in the night. They could have built it up more as he and Ziggler returned to compete in this match.

Kane was the No. 40 entry, but he wasn't in the final four. The final four participants(to the viewing audience): Cena, Orton, Wade Barrett, Alberto Del Rio. The Miz was at the broadcast table, and got involved to eliminate Cena when the referee wasn't looking. Cena was angry, and this is obviously leading towards a Cena/Miz match at WM.

Orton eliminated Barrett only to see Del Rio immediately throw the Viper out to win. But not so fast! Santino, who was down and never officially eliminated, delivered his Cobra finisher to Del Rio. But Del Rio recovered as Santino attempted to throw him over the top rope to the floor. Del Rio won the match, and yes, he came out in his trademark car with Ricardo Rodriguez making his announcement. He announced him as the winner, too.

I think Del Rio is a classic heel that the WWE has built up nicely. However, he doesn't have the drawing power as of now to main event the biggest PPV event in wrestling history. I don't have a problem with Del Rio winning as much as I do with whom else that draws better to be put in a main event caliber match at WM. Based on what happened with The Miz and Cena, it's more than obvious he'll challenge Edge for the World Championship. It wouldn't shock me if one or more people weren't added to this match for better ratings if they plan on having Del Rio win which would make him look stronger having beaten more than one person for the title.

After reading some tweets last night, many were NOT happy at all with Triple H not appearing on the card. If and when he returns, I'm not sure how he factors into a feud unless it is with Sheamus. But both of them faced each other at last year's WM, and Sheamus appears to be without a feud at the moment so I wouldn't rule that out either.

Based on what happened on this PPV, the WWE appears to be leaning towards the following matches for WrestleMania XXVII in Atlanta, GA:

The Miz(c) vs John Cena: This is a smart move since both have had similar paths with the mainstream media to get into the main event picture thus making it a top draw for the promotion. Cena is the biggest draw(whether people want to admit it or not), and he'll be in the main event somehow on this card. As for The Miz, I still don't buy him as a strong heel champion based on the storylines. Even with Riley, he's always getting someone else to help him win.

Edge(c) vs Alberto Del Rio: Unless more people are added to this match, this is the Smackdown! main event for WM. If this match stays as is, it won't be the last one on the card due to the lack of drawing power compared to The Miz/Cena match. Again, Del Rio is a great heel, but is still behind guys like The Miz and Punk in WWE. As for who maybe added to the match if that happens, I'm looking at guys like Kofi Kingston or Drew McIntrye(or both).

CM Punk vs Randy Orton: If built up correctly, this could very well be the match that steals the show. Orton is without a feud since he lost to The Miz, so him going against the New Nexus leader is a good move. Both are capable of putting on a solid, entertaining match.

The Undertaker will likely make an appearance on the card. I'm not sure if they book him against Kane based on their match in late 2010 or against the Corre(Wade Barrett's new group). He had shoulder surgery, and his availability is still in question. If he's good to go, the WWE will put him on the card.

Since Atlanta is close to where I live, I may attend WrestleMania for the first time in my life this year. The WM Access is a fan favorite, and so is the WWE Hall of Fame which will feature the induction of the "HeartBreak Kid" Shawn Michaels this year!

For anyone that are WWE fans who use Twitter, you can give my buddies True Avenger and The Yohnkosaurus a follow. They both tweet about sports and wrestling on there. Also, there's many WWE stars on Twitter to follow, too.

Those are my thoughts and recap for last night's Royal Rumble. We'll see how this builds up to WrestleMania XXVII in Atlanta, GA!

Thanks for viewing!

Royal Rumble promo photo courtesy of wikipedia.org and WWE.

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Stylish Blogger Award

I received this award from Karith who writes on Pinay Expat Blogger. I never thought anyone would think this blog is stylish, but rather a little dare I say....out there. Of course, then the question becomes where is "there" at? I'd say this blog is from parts unknown, but that still isn't an acceptable answer, is it? So what does where my blog came from have to do with this award? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Anyway, thanks Karith for passing this award to me which is the reason why this is being posted. Moving on.....

RULES FOR RECEIVING THE AWARD
Thank and link back the person who gave you this award.
Share 7 things about yourself.
Award 15 great bloggers you know.
Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Accepting this reward means sharing seven things about me...

1. As a kid, I was an avid baseball fan and had dreams of playing it when I grew up. Now my favorite sport to follow is American football.

2. The only time I've been outside my country was when I was 5-6 years old living in Guam since my dad was stationed there through the U.S. Air Force. I plan on going outside the U.S. in the near future.

3. I played basketball all throughout school and still do to this day when I can.

4. My blogging life actually began on Sporting News back in August of 2005 after they redesigned the site. Last summer, they eliminated the blogs and I didn't get a chance to retrieve my old entries from there. Though I still have friends that work for SN, I haven't been back to their site since that happened.

5. I started this blog under another name in 2008. I bought this domain later that year, and relaunched WBE in 2009. I also write on other writing sites to make a little more money, too.

6. One of my life goals is to visit as many professional and collegiate sports venues as I can. That also includes visiting some outside the U.S. My current job has allowed me to see many of them.

7. Another goal of mine is to write out some movie or television scripts(which hopefully one or more will be directly or indirectly related to blogging).

Here are 15 bloggers I'm passing this to(Actually, it is more than 15, but who's counting?):

Maxi
Caroline May Ling
Cacai M
Chuchie
Dhemz
Georyl
Gagay
Lulu
Shemah
Stacey Tee
Mariuca(MPG)
Levian
Lady Java
Kayeshayne
Fe
Czaroma
Ane
Clarissa
Kat
KittyKat
Genny
Jenny
SHY
Rose
Monica

To anyone else on my blog roll that I may have forgotten, you can feel free to post this, too. Thanks for viewing!

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Happy Birthday Monica!

Today is the birthday of my Malaysian blogger friend Monica, although it is nearly the 29th of January in her country as I'm typing this.

She won't be online for three weeks due to her celebrating the Chinese New Year away from home.

I met Monica through common blogger friends sometime in 2009. Her blog title called Turn-U-Off isn't what many probably think it is when you first see the title. In fact, it's quite the opposite as Monica is absolutely HOT in every sense of the word. Instead, her blog is almost entirely about her personal life and photography related to it and the places she's been. She's as sweet as they come, too.

Well, I was little late posting this, and I wanted to hire some guys to get a sign up for Monica's birthday. It turned me off completely to see they forgot the "Happy Birthday" quotation when hanging the sign up! So I told them to go ahead and put it up anyway since her face can completely turn people back on at a moment's notice of her! Hopefully, we'll get it right next time!


Happy Birthday Monica!

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Seminole Hard Rock Casino Pics!

In December of last year, I was in the Tampa area working on a new account for my company. I, along with four other co-workers, went to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa. I didn't win anything the first time visiting.

In January, we were sent back to the Tampa area to work again which allowed me to return to the casino. The first time I went, I didn't win anything although the other two co-workers that went with me did. Then last Tuesday, a bigger group of us went to the casino.

As luck would have it, I put in a $20 bill to play the Millionaire Sevens slot game there. I won $90 on just one play on it and later won about the same when I returned. Also, I won on the Mega Pay slot when I filled all but two of the 16 spots on the board. If I filled all 16 spots, then you win the jackpot.

On that same night, one of our co-workers won $200 on the Wheel of Fortune after betting 80 cents and getting 20,000X the amount on the wheel(no, that's not a misprint). If he would have put a max bet down, he would have won over $900,000! Two of the others won money that night, too.

All in all, I won about $300 the last night at the casino which is good for me. Here are some of the pics I took while there(pics were taken with my Blackberry phone, and some are blurred):


The sign above the entrance door into Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Guitar statues to the left of the entrance door.

The Seminole Hard Rock Casino sign just as you enter to park.

An old Pearl Jam poster advertising them at Memorial Stadium.

Memorabilia of Blues Traveler and Sheryl Crow located in one of the hotel lobbies.

Memorabilia of the Steve Miller Band in one of the hotel lobbies.

Entrance into the Hard Rock Cafe.

Inside the Poker machine area that has cool-looking memorabilia from the past and present on the walls.

I had to get a shot of the waterfall that is inside the casino. I love the logos inside of it, and it looks much better in person than in this pic!

I have a membership with the Seminole Hard Rock Casino which allows me to use my card at other Hard Casinos in Florida. We maybe going back there quite a bit in 2011, so it might be of good use again.

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Green Bay Packers Win First Super Bowl on January 15, 1967

On January 15, 1967, the first of what would be the most watched annual sporting event had taken place. It was on this day that the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers faced off against the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs in the first World Championship Game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In June of 1966, the merger was agreed upon between the National Football League(NFL) and American Football League(AFL) which led to this game being played for the first time. The NFL was originally founded in 1920 while this AFL started in 1960. Animosity between the two leagues had been brewing ever since the AFL was founded which included disputes over the draft rights to amateur players.

The World Championship Game date wasn't decided upon until around the time the merger was announced. Originally, the AFL Championship Game was to be played on December 26 while the NFL Championship Game would take place on New Year's Day in 1967. However, it was decided that a double-header with the league championship games would take place on New Year's Day, thus both league winners would have to wait two weeks to place one another.

The Green Bay Packers were coached by the iconic Vince Lombardi, who had won his fourth NFL Championship by beating the Dallas Cowboys 34-27 on the road to play in the World Championship. Green Bay had finished the 1966 regular season with a 12-2 record, and had won the NFL Championship the year before. The franchise had long moved on from their dismal years in the late 1950s before Lombardi took over in 1959.

In the AFL, the Kansas City Chiefs were coached by future Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram. The Chiefs went on the road to play the Buffalo Bills for the AFL Championship in a game they won convincingly 31-7. Kansas City finished the 1966 regular season with a 11-2-1 mark. The Chiefs had recent success of their own winning the 1962 AFL Championship. Their owner Lamar Hunt had founded the AFL, too.

Lombardi and the Packers were under immense pressure to win big in this game against Kansas City as the NFL was seen as the superior league, and the success of the Green Bay franchise.

At the time, CBS had the rights to cover the NFL games while NBC had coverage of the AFL. This led to a debate as to which network would carry this game. As it turned out, it was decided that a simulcast of the two networks would air the game. Only one network would carry the game after this until it happened again until 2007.

In the opening quarter of the game, the Packers struck first when quarterback Bart Starr threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Max McGee as they led 7-0. The Chiefs attempted to respond on their next drive, but kicker Mike Mercer missed a field goal.

Kansas City would get the ball back in the second quarter, and would score this time to tie the game as quarterback Len Dawson threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Curtis McClinton. But the Packers would answer on their next drive as Lombardi called for his famous running play, the "power sweep" as fullback Jim Taylor scored on a 14-yard touchdown run.

With one minute remaining before halftime, the Chiefs cut the Green Bay lead to 14-10 as Mercer kicked a 31-yard field goal. The Packers took the 14-10 lead into halftime.

Observers and historians were surprised at how close the game was at halftime. The Chiefs had a belief they would come back to win the game. Green Bay had the lead, but many expected it to be bigger than it was at halftime. As the second half was set to begin, NBC began to encounter some problems.

The halftime show entertainment was provided by trumpeter Al Hirt as well as the marching bands from Grambling State University and the University of Arizona.

As the second half kickoff began, NBC could not return in time from a commercial break thus prevented the original kickoff from taking place. The officials had stopped the first kick and it was played over again once NBC was back on the air. NBC had been forced to broadcast the game over the CBS feed which they had no control on air.

The Chiefs had the ball first in the second half, and the offense proceeded to go into Packers' territory. On a third down pass play, Green Bay brought a heavy blitz that forced Dawson to throw an interception to safety Willie Wood, who returned it 50 yards to the Chiefs 5-yard line. On the very next play, running back Elijah Pitts scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Packers a 21-10 lead. The Packers would dominate the rest of the game.

Late in the third quarter, McGee caught another touchdown pass from Starr - this time from 13 yards away as Green Bay increased their lead to 28-10. Pitts finished off the scoring in the game with a 1-yard touchdown run past the midway point in the last quarter. The Green Bay Packers had won the first of what would be later called the Super Bowl.

Future NFL Hall of Famer Paul Hornung didn't play in due to a pinched nerve in his neck. As for McGee, he only caught four passes for 91 yards and a touchdown during the regular season before catching seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in this game. He replaced starter Boyd Dowler after he was hurt early in the game.

The MVP award went to Starr, who threw for 250 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. The Chiefs led in total yardage at halftime 181 to 164, but the Packers defense dominated in yardage in the last half with a 203-58 edge as Kansas City was held scoreless. In fact, Kansas City was intercepted on their first possession in the second half and punted six times thereafter, too.

Attendance at the game didn't sellout, and is the only Super Bowl to not do so. The Los Angeles area had a TV blackout for the game, but that didn't help increase attendance. An estimated 51.18 million viewers watched on television and CBS drew a rating of 22.6 while NBC drew an 18.5.

The Packers players had earned $15,000 for winning the game while the Chiefs players took home half of that at $7,500. In those days, a 30-second commercial cost about $42,000. The cost of a 30-second commercial at Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 cost nearly $3 million.

Later on, footage from the first Super Bowl had been destroyed due to the videotapes being reused over their content in what is called wiping. As a result, historians on the lookout for the footage although small samples of the first McGee touchdown catch and Taylor's touchdown run. NFL Films did have a camera crew present, and has most of the footage of the game that fans have seen reruns of on television.

During the postgame ceremony, CBS and NBC had to share the microphone as Pat Summerall of CBS and George Ratterman of NBC were on hand to present the trophy to the Green Bay Packers.

Though the Chiefs lost the first ever Super Bowl, Kansas City would go on to win Super Bowl IV as they defeated the Minnesota Vikings in that game. The Chiefs haven't returned to the Super Bowl since they last won it.

As for the Packers, their dynasty run of championships would remain as they would win Super Bowl II by defeating the Oakland Raiders in that game. That would be the last time the Packers won a Super Bowl until Super Bowl XXXI when they defeated the New England Patriots to win it for the third time.

Lombardi would step down as Packers coach after winning back-to-back Super Bowls before becoming the head coach for the Washington Redskins for one year. The Redskins were on the rise, but Lombardi would unfortunately be diagnosed with colon cancer which led to his death on September 3, 1970.

Lombardi received many accolades during his entire football career as player and coach including being a five-time NFL Champion, two-time Super Bowl Champion, and Pro Football Hall of Fame honors in 1971, the year after his death. Shortly after his death, his legacy as a coach had been fully cemented as the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Trophy by then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.

Many Hall of Famers in this game including Lombardi, Stram, Starr, Dawson, linebacker Ray Nitschke, cornerback Fred Adderley and safety Willie Wood.

Though the first Super Bowl had struggles in terms of attendance and television coverage, it didn't deter the league from eventually making it into the most watched sporting event in the world. The NFL has become the most profitable professional sports organization in the U.S., and the Super Bowl is viewed by almost every country in the world today. There is always a beginning, and the NFL-AFL World Championship Game planted the seeds to what we all know now as the Super Bowl.

Thanks for viewing and I hope you enjoyed this Sports History Flashback!

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

Also, Happy Birthday to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was born on this day in 1929. He definitely has to be mentioned here.

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Blogging With Children Starring Shydub!

Note: This is NOT to be taken seriously, and is only for fun. Please check the credits to see the bloggers I listed on the poster.

Blogging With Children
Starring: Sheila Worthington as Shydub, Joe Worthington, Jake Worthington, Justine Worthington
Cameo Appearances by Rose Cotrill and John Cotrill
Director/Writer: David Funk
Chief Editor: Demcy Dias
Studio Coordinator: Lulu Post
Comment Manager: Mel Arailla

This movie is a parody of the popular television show Married With Children that was shown in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Except the main character is the mother with a husband as well as a son and daughter. Rose and John Cotrill are their neighbors, but not the same kind of neighbors in Married With Children.

Narrator: Blogging. Children. And oh....marriage. Shydub is a stay-at-home mom of children and is married to her husband. It is an everyday adventure for the Worthington family as she is determined to advance her career as a blogger. She's a good one at that.

(Scene shows Jake getting his head shaved bald then shows him watching television)
(Scene then shows Justine in the swimming pool and then playing in the snow)
(Scene then shows Shydub blogging before the kids are running around the house with toys scattered everywhere)

Shydub: Okay, time to sign off my blog!

(Scene shows the kids running around with Shydub and later her husband chasing them with a camera)

A family-friendly movie that all can enjoy if you're a blogger or if you have children. World Blogging Entertainment presents Blogging With Children. Coming in 2011 to theaters everywhere!

Previous Blogger Movie Posters:
Double Standard Starring LAINY
Seismic Blogging Starring Monica
Hit Me! Starring Dhemz
WOAFS Starring Mariuca
Bionic Blogger Starring Stacey Tee
SPAMMERS starring Mileka
Pynk Candy starring Sharon Chong
I Love/Hate America Starring Bingkee
Lady Java The Movie
Hideaway starring Chuchie
LOL! starring Cacai Miller
Lester's Legends starring Ryan Lester
Walking Newspaper Starring Gagay
Disconnected Starring Elai

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Make Money at Shutterstock

Shutterstock is a service where you can submit photos for sale, and they pay you each time they're downloaded. You can sign-up for free to get started.

So if you take a lot of photos and own a digital camera, then chances are that you can make some money off of them. So if you're interested in making extra money and have photos you can upload for sale, then give Shutterstock a try today!

Follow the link below to find out more and sign-up at Shutterstock:

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Mariuca Wins FSCB To Close 2010!

It is now 2011, but it comes as no surprise as to who finished 2010 by winning the FCSB(First Commenter Scoreboard) on Basic Bloganomics!



Mariuca(the creator of the FCSB) won for the 8th time(including one tie) in 2010 by finishing first in the month of December. She'll receive 2,000 EC credits to the account of her choice while also having her pretty face on the slider for January. So yeah, you'll see her face twice on the slider for two of her websites! BTW, be sure to checkout her brand new site that she started today at Makan-Makan @Mariuca.

The FCSB standings in December 2010:
Mariuca: 6
Monica: 5
Lady Java: 2
Gagay: 2
Caroline May Ling: 2
Shydub: 2
Bluedreamer: 2
Bill V: 2
Frank: 1
Chuchie: 1
Georyl: 1
Rose: 1

Here are the monthly winners for 2010:
Note: I didn't have one in October due to changing the commenting system and not being able to retrieve comments for that month.
January: Monica
February: Mariuca
March: Mariuca
April: Mariuca
May: Mariuca
June: Mariuca
July: Mariuca
August: Caroline May Ling, Mariuca, Monica
September: Monica
November: Monica
December: Mariuca

For those that don't know about the FCSB, I award a point to the first three commenters on an entry for that given month. The one with the most points at month's end will be featured on this site's slider and receive ad space or EC credits.

So now the question is: Which three commenters will start off 2011 by being the first to comment on this post and receive a point for doing so! Go!!!

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