2006

2006 is here, and there is a lot to catch up on. Let's start with the world of Video games, where the XBox 360 has come out, and it is indeed awesome. Hopefully as the year progresses, some truly awesome games will come out for it, there is obviously a lot of potential in some of the games such as the sequel to Morrowind, which is due out next month, as well as the sequel to the greatest all-female wrestling game of all time, Rumble Roses, also due out next month. Im also looking forward to Top Spin 2 and College Hoops 2k6 which are due out in April and March, respectively.

Id like to discuss now the world of Wrestling, as you may or may not know the Gladiator is a big fan of wrestling, he watched it a lot when he was litle, he went a while without watching it, but then he got back into it back around the high point of WCW, I watched them because they had the wrestlers I knew from when I was little, I watched them until they went out of business and then I went back to the WWF, now called the WWE. Over the last few years or so my favorites have included such Superstars as HHH and Stephanie, Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho (Chris was a favorite of mine back in WCW also). Currently I have two top favorite wrestlers, Rob Van Dam (I enjoyed watching him in ECW, and Ive been a big fan of his for years now) and Mickie James (who Ive been a big fan of ever since she debuted in the WWE late last year). I am currently hopeful that both of my favorites will be getting bigtime Title matches at Wrestlemania, with Rob Van Dam (RVD) facing the Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin, and Mickie James facing the Womens Champion Trish Stratus. Both matches do seem rather likely at this time, although right now the only confirmed Wrestlemania match is John Cena vs HHH for the World Championship.

RVD has recently gotten back from a major injury that kept him out of action for a super long time, his first match back he seemed to be suffering from some ring rust against Gene Snitzky, but after he won that match he went on to compete in the Road to Wrestlemania Tournament, in which the winner would get an automatic match against the Champ in RAW's Main Event at Wrestlemania. He defeated Carlito in the first match, showing no signs of rust whatsoever he put on what was possibly the match of the night, it was really awesome yo. The next week he defeated Chris Masters, before losing in the finals, a tripple threat match against HHH and Big Show (HHH won the match and thus is facing John Cena for the title).

RVD was probably the most popular wrestler in the history of ECW, he was 'Mr Pay Per View', his high flying moves are truly second to none. He uses a unique set of high impact moves that includes the 'Van Daminator' which involves his opponent holding a steel chair, and RVD kicking the chair into the face of the opponent via a really nifty style kick, the 'Rolling Thunder' which involves RVD bouncing off the ropes, getting a running start, and jumping into the air and 'rolling' over, landing on his back on top of his opponent, as well as his Finishing move, the 5 Star Frog Splash. Since coming to the WWE, he has remained a fan favorite at all times, even when he was on the side of the 'bad guys' in the whole ECW and WCW vs WWE storyline years ago, wrestling some of the most popular good guys in the WWE, including Matt and Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho, he was always cheered by the fans. He is without question one of the greatest athletes in the WWE to have never held the WWE Championship, and hopefully this year he will beat Shelton Benjamin at Wrestlemania for the Intercontinental Title, then go on to win the World Championship later this year.

Mickie James has, along with Trish Stratus, been involved in the longest running storyline in the WWE, and maybe the longest storyline in the history of the WWE Womens Division. It is widely assumed that this has been done to set up an awesome match between the two at Wrestlemania, which would actually be the second time the two have squared off, the first time being at the RAW PPV 'New Years Revolution' in early Janurary. While as a Mickie fan I was very disappointed in the ending of that match, as a wrestling fan it was the best match in the entire PPV by far, and if they face off again at Wrestlemania not only will it most likely be even better, but it could be the first time in the history of Wrestlemania that a Womens match is the best match of the night.

In the ring Mickie James is the most talented womens wrestler in the WWE, probably in the history of the WWE. Before coming to the WWE she competed in TNA, which is the only other Nationally televised Wrestling program in America (although it wasnt National at the time) and she competed not just against women, but against some of the very top men in the organization, including Jeff Jarrett himself. She even competed against the men in Hardcore matches, she proved she is every bit as talented as the best male athletes in TNA (and TNA athletes are widely regarded as even better than WWE athletes in terms of in-ring ability, TNA focuses more on in-ring action and less on the back stage entertainment segments), and she proved she deserved to be in Main Events normally reserved only for men. Like RVD, Mickie's unique set of moves includes a wide range of high flying moves, such as the 'Micarana', which is a particularly impressive form of a Hurricanrana, and some unique style kicks, such as the 'Mick Kick Combo' which involves delivering first a spin-kick to the midsection, followed by a kick to the chest, concluding with the most impressive kick of all, a roundhouse kick to the face. Her finishing move is the Tornado DDT. Since coming to the WWE, she has also displayed an amazing acting and 'Mic Skills' ability. In my opinion she is the only woman in WWE history to ever be better than Trish Stratus on the Mic, as Trish is an excellent speaker, at one point Co-Hosting one of WWE's Saturday Night TV shows.

Speaking of WWE Saturday Night TV shows; next month, March 18th, features the return after over a dozen years, of Saturday Night's Main Event! You may remember back when SNME was on the air, they had some really awesome matches, the show was so much fun to watch. Unlike in the past, when SNME was on from 11:30pm til 1am, in Saturday Night Live's time slot, next month it is scheduled to be on from 8pm to 10pm, 2 big hours in Prime Time! No matches have yet been confirmed for this event, but it should be very big, especially because it comes just 15 days before Wrestlemania!

Before I conclude today's update, I would like to announce that just like I won the Charlotte Chess Club 'Player of the Year' award in 2004, I did so again in 2005. I want to thank The Lord for the success I have had, and I want to thank the President of the CCC, National Master Leland Fuerstman, for once again granting me this honor. I greatly appreciate this award.