Major News Update

As many of you probably know, yesterday Texas Congressman Ron Paul officially announced his candidacy for President of the United States.  This comes just two days after Newt Gengrich announced his own candidacy, and tonight, just minutes ago on his Fox News TV show, Former Governor Mike Huckabee announced he would NOT run.  As a Christian myself, I like Mike and it's a bit sad that he isn't running, even though I wasn't actually a supporter of his, he certainly would have been better than a lot the ones who are either running or are expected to run.     

The announcements are coming fast and furious now, the action is really heating up!  I'm definitely looking forward to the campaign, hopefully we can get a major focus on personal liberty issues like the right to play Poker.  We know that Ron Paul supports our right to play Poker when and where we choose, in 2008 he was the only major candidate in either party to do so.  Will we see some progress this year?  I certainly hope so,but  even if Ron is once again the only one, if we can at least get some major media attention on the issue and our rights, that will be helpful. 

Of course that's not the only major news out there.  Tomorrow the Eastern Conference Finals begins, the Bulls vs the Heat!  And of course, Game 7 in the Memphis vs OKC series!  Definitely looking forward to a big Sports day tomorrow!  And don't forget, I've still got my bigtime Preview for 'The Witcher 2' coming up, I've been playing the original Witcher a lot lately in preparation for the sequel's impending arrival on Tuesday, so I'll have a lot to say about that very soon!  In the meantime, have fun everybody!

TNA Impact Wrestling Review

Last night's episode of TNA Impact, now 'Impact Wrestling', was really awesome!  I hope everybody saw it, I wrote a Preview last night but couldn't post it here due to the technical problems the site had.  So much awesomeness on last night's show, I don't know where to begin!  Last night the 'Network Representative' was revealed, as well as Kurt Angle's mystery female partner for Sunday's Mixed Tag match, and boy oh boy were both revelations shocking and awesome!

Let's start with the Network Representative.  After weeks of wondering, finally it was revealed that the person who had been making Hulk Hogan and Immortal's life miserable, giving Sting that Title match against Jeff Hardy that led to him becoming Champion, and so much more, was none other than...epic  Superstar and hardcore legend Mick Foley!  Yes wrestling fans, one of the greatest Superstars of all time is BACK, and he's in charge of TNA!  Or should I say....he's in charge of Impact Wrestling, because his first act upon revealing himself as the Network Representative, was change the name of the show, from TNA Impact to Impact Wrestling!  Because, as Mick said repeatedly last night, it's about Wrestling.  This of course isn't just a smart move, putting the word wrestling in the Title so people who like wrestling know to tune in, but its of course a not so subtle shot at the WWE, who has recently gone so far as to literally ban the word wrestling from their TV shows.  For some reason the WWE doesn't want to be associated with the word wrestling (much the same way that KFC doesn't want to be associated with the words 'fried chicken', even though that's what they're famous for), so the folks at TNA decided that now was a better time than ever to be associated with the word wrestling, and they're right.

But the return of the hardcore legend, as incredible and awesome as that was, wasn't the only awesome return we witnessed last night, as Mick introduced Kurt Angle's tag team partner for Sunday's Mixed Tag match against Jeff and Karen Jarrett.  That tag team partner is none other than.....the Eighth Wonder of the World, Chyna!!  Can you believe it?  Chyna is back, and despite all the years she's been gone, she is seriously looking better than EVER!  A truly historic moment in wrestling, as both the Hardcore Legend AND the Eighth Wonder of the World make their returns to wrestling TV, and it's on Impact Wrestling!  So the match is now official, it's going to be Jeff Jarrett and his wife Karen vs Kurt Angle and Chyna!  I dare say that Chyna could defeat them both all by herself :) .  Having the Olympic Gold Medalist as her partner makes this a very one-sided, but super fun, matchup indeed!

Of course as amazing as all that was, there is more fun to report on from last night as well.  The 7 Time Women's Champion, Mickie James, was in Tag Team action with Miss Tessmacher, the up and coming Knockout, against Madison and Tara (Victoria from the WWE).  Mickie and Tara started it off, but they're friends now so Tara eventually tagged in Madison, who Mickie owned for a while.  Eventually Mickie tagged in Miss Tessmacher, who scored the pin with her impressive looking 'Victory Roll', and the dissention between Madison and Tara continued.  We'll find out at the PPV Sunday, during Mickie and Madison's Title match, whether that dissention is real and it leads to a breakup, or whether it's all an act designed to trick Mickie and cost Mickie her Title Sunday.  That's going to be very interesting to find out.

Finally, if you thought the night couldn't get any more awesome, you'd be wrong, how about a 25 Man Battle Royal awesome!  How about the Battle Royal is for the #1 Contenders spot at Slammaversary, which is I think, the PPV after Sunday's PPV!  That means that the winner of Sunday's PPV Main Event for the World Title, between Sting and RVD, will face the winner of the Battle Royal at the Slammaversary PPV, which I assume is the next one.  It was a long and awesome Battle Royal, ultimately coming down to Bully Ray (better known as Bubba Ray, one half of the Dudley Boys Tag Team) and Mr Anderson (previously Mr Kennedy in the WWE).  After some really good back and forth action, Mr Anderson eventually got the win, and FINALLY won the right to have the one on one Championship Match that he's wanted for so long!

So an epicly awesome Impact last night, sadly no Winterlina (Winter and Angelina) after last week's revelation that Winter has actually travelled through time to find Angelina, her long lost love, but that was pretty much the only thing missing from this otherwise SUPER loaded show, just amazingly awesome.  The Hardcore Legend is back!  The Eighth Wonder of the World is back!  And they're only on Impact Wrestling, so don't miss it Sunday, and don't miss it next week!  Impact Wrestling, it's Fan-Tastic!

Big Sports Night Tonight!

Tonight we Sports fans have a really good thing going.  Not only do we get Game 5 of the Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics series, a game that will feature either the Heat closing out the series, or Boston winning and then having the opportunity to tie the series at home, giving them a very real chance to advance, but in addition to that we get another classic Baseball game between two arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs and the St Louis Cardinals! 

First, to the NBA.  The Heat-Celtics series has been closer than the 3-1 series score appears, Boston could very easily be up 3-1 themselves, such has been the nature of the games, they've been close, Boston generally leads at least somewhat late in the game before ultimately losing the games they lose, and it's not out of the question that they could get hot and win three straight.  Of course the Heat, featuring all that incredible talent, could very easily win tonight's game at home and close out the series.  They've been so impressive, as you might expect of a team containing Dwayne Wade and Labron James.  Tonight's game could be really special, and I can't wait to see how it ends up!

On to the MLB, where the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry takes center stage.  This is actually the second game of the series, the Cubbies working hard to lose last night's game, and did so in reasonably impressive fashion.  Multiple fielding blunders helped them give up a bunch of runs, enough to overcome the impressive offensive performance they had against Cardinals Ace Chris Carpenter.  13 Hits and 4 runs against Carpenter, but Mr Kerry Wood and that legendary Cubs Defense stepped up their 'lets give it away anyway' game, and got the job done.  Despite having a good bit of talent, the Cubbies are pretty bad this year, as usual, and despite the fact that the Cardinals have a lot of weaknesses themselves, notably the fact that their stars seem to be getting real old real fast, it's quite reasonable to except a Cardinal win tonight, and sweep of the series, even though the Cubbies are at home.  As a Cubs fan myself, it's sad and frustrating to watch all that talent go to waste year after year, I honestly don't know how they manage to do it.  Is it the coaching?  Is it the sheer momentum of being perpetual losers that fosters a losing mentality year after year?  Whatever it is, it sure would be nice if something could change it, but right now I don't know what that would be.

I want to close out this post with a teaser for my upcoming Preview of the amazing RPG Game due out next week, The Witcher 2.  It's got the potential to be this year's Game of the Year, it looks simply amazing, everything I've not only seen but read suggests it could truly be epic.  Here's just a small taste of what we have to look forward to next week when the game comes out.  We play as the man in the front of that picture, Geralt, the same man who was also the star of the original The Witcher game, which was so popular when it came out some time back.  I've also included a Preview Clip from Youtube as well, which features some actual gameplay from early in the game.  Look forward to my Preview of The Witcher 2, I'll be posting that soon!  In the meantime, feel free to comment as always, and have fun everybody!

Exciting News from SirGladiator!

First let me thank all of you for tuning into my blog every day, I do my best to give you high quality entertainment, as well as informative information, and I appreciate your support.  I have an announcement to make, its some good news, and some bad news, but the bad news isn't bad news for you, just me, so don't worry :) .  As you know, I'm a supporter of the Rights of Poker Players, and I'm also a fan of Video Games (see my previous review of the Dragon Age 2 game, and my commentary on the loss of Poker Players Rights, both still available here on the Main Page of the Site, if you haven't already done so), and I decided to create an entire website to cover and promote those very things!  Don't worry, I'll still be providing just as much high quality information here as always, especially because I really don't know how to create websites, Im just a regular person :) . 

So I now own a website, and if I ever learn how to impliment my vision of super-coolness and fun on it I'll let you know.  In the meantime, if anybody would like to reccomend anything for me in the comments, something to help me learn how to do a website, that'd be really swell.  If I learn how to do it I won't leave any of you hanging, you'll still get plenty of updates here, AND at my new site!  But again, that's not now, and it may not be anytime soon either, so rest assured that everything is going to still operate completely normally here at the Gladiator Blog!  In fact, I plan on giving you an update soon on a REALLY cool game called 'The Witcher 2' that is due out next week, and appears to be amazingly awesome, super cool, and even a potential 'Game of the Year' Title.  Of course there's plenty of competition for that Title, and the year is young, but trust me, while obviously I haven't played the game yet since it isn't out and all, so of course it could still suck, everything I've seen and read suggests this game is in fact the real deal, and I'm going to give you the lowdown on it really soon, so stay tuned for that!  Once again a big thank you to all my friends out there, every single one of you who read my blog, you guys are awesome!

Monday Night Raw

Last night's edition of Monday Night Raw was only so-so.  It opened with the new formerly-Smackdown wrestlers, Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio, and Rey challenging Alberto to a match for the right to face John Cena for the Title.  The Miz interrupted them, and said something about the two of them having a 'Taco Bell Parking Lot' match while he faced Cena.  But if you thought that was a bit racist, well, you hadn't heard from former TNA Champion Ron 'The Truth' Killings yet!  R Truth came down and said he wanted to 'spit some hate', and proceeded to do just that.  He talked for a while, insulted the other three men, then said that 'When an angry black man (that would be him) is talking, everybody should shut up', and that he was going to be the one to face 'That lily white John Cena'.  That would seem to make Miz's later comment about Rey and Del Rio being 'day laborers' pale in comparison, but maybe that depends on your perspective.  Is racism really necessary here on Raw?  I'd certainly like to think not.  But I suppose this is following TNA's lead, as you may know they've recently introduced a group called 'Mexican America', which brings out a Mexican flag, and they say things like they're taking America back for Mexico, etc. just insanely racist and stupid stuff.  It seems the WWE is taking a page out of TNA's playbook, as they have been known to do from time to time, usually on better ideas than this.  However this would not be the last time on this show that the WWE steals a TNA idea, more on that shortly.

The highlight of the show came in the next segment, which featured not only the Bella Twins, one of whom is the current Womens Champion, but also the returning Kelly Kelly!  She had been on Smackdown far too long, its so great that she's back on RAW.  This time it was in a tag match, with Eve as her partner.  After a nice little back and forth match, Kelly Kelly reversed an attempted Bella rollup for one of her own, and a 3 count victory!  After the match, it was time once again for Awesome Kong to come out and flatten somebody!  Once again, as last week, Kelly Kelly sat in the corner in fear as Kong, now 'Kharma' in the WWE, made her way to the ring.  This time she behaved more intelligently, as after Kong got into the ring she eventually slid out of it, keeping her distance from the huge woman.  The Bellas, even smarter still, simply ran away together.  You guessed it, that means that tonight's victim would be Eve!  She charged at Kong, only to be met with a clothesline that basicly knocked her out, while Kong chased Kelly Kelly around for a while.  Of course Kelly, being about a million pounds lighter, was able to win the battle of foot-speed, and get away.  That meant Kong had to settle for giving tonight's Impant-Buster to Eve, and she proceeded to do so.  Another dominant performance for the Two-Time TNA Womens Champion Awesome Kong, now known as Kharma in the WWE.

Now about that 'other' idea that the WWE stole from TNA last night, and believe me it's a doozey.  Michael Cole made the announcement that he was retiring from wrestling undefeated, but Jerry The King Lawler didn't want to hear that, he still wants to get Cole back in the ring!  So he offered first to 'induct Cole into the Hall of Fame himself' if Cole accepts his challenge (one wonders how Jerry would have the authority to decide who gets into the Hall of Fame, especially people who obviously aren't Hall of Famers, but wait, it gets better), he also offered to put on the line....HIS HALL OF FAME RING!!!!  Oh baby, you may have thought the days of Hall of Fame Ring storylines were over, but you would be WRONG!  Of course the challenge was eventually accepted, and now its going to be Cole vs Lawler once again, and Jerry's Hall of Fame Ring is on the line!  Any chance the WWE might actually go a step futher than TNA, and instead of simply 'suggesting' that the ring gives you Super Powers, maybe actually have lightning shoot out of it or something, special effects style?  We can only hope :) .

In the Main Event, it was Miz vs Rey Mysterio vs Alberto Del Rio for the #1 Contendership.  A good solid match, at the end we saw Alex Riley come down and interfere, pulling Rey off Del Rio following a 619 and top rope dive onto Del Rio, saving him from being pinned and allowing Miz to roll Rey up for a 3 count, and another shot at the Title!  John Cena then came down and announced that his Title match with the Miz at the PPV would in fact be....an I Quit Match!  His music played as he exited triumphantly, indeed the idea of John Cena saying I Quit does seem highly unlikely, so a HUGE advantage for Cena courtesy of this Stipulation! 

So all in all a so-so episode of RAW.   I thought the race stuff was in poor taste (to say the least), and I certainly didn't expect to see the WWE copying TNA so blatantly (but I guess with so many former TNA Superstars on the show it was only a matter of time), but there was still a fair amount of fun to be had last night also.  Its always awesome to see Kelly Kelly in action, its so great she's back on Raw.  It was good to see the Miz back in the Main Event, not just last night but at the PPV also.  After all, he's the Miz, and he's Awesome!  Or so I keep hearing anyway :) .  Definitely looking forward to seeing him continue his feud with John Cena, and I can't wait to find out who Kharma goes after next week!  No doubt Kelly Kelly will be in her sights again, can she keep escaping the extra-large woman's grasp?  We'll just have to tune in and find out!  Feel free to comment, or leave a question, or even both!  Thanks everybody!

Dragon Age 2 Review

For those of us who love Gaming, especially RPGs, Dragon Age 2 was a game we anticipated for many, many months.  The sequel to Bioware's most successful game of all time, Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2 was expected to be even better, and even more successful, than its incredibly impressive predecessor.  An upgrade to the graphics, an all new story with new characters and places to visit, etc. it was quite possible it could even be the Game of the Year!  Sadly, something happened on the way to that GOTY award, something less pleasant than having to walk the Deep Roads for hours on end.

First a note about which version to play.  Just like DAO before it, DA2 is definitely better on the PC, where you have access to mods, like the ones you're seeing in action in the above picture.  Merrill, the Elf who is closest to the camera, has tattoos covering her face, making her much less attractive than she otherwise would've been.  A mod took care of that.  Hawke, the middle character in the photo (and the Main Character of the game), has a custom hair color in this photo.  Finally, Isabella, the character farthest away from the camera, has a weird thing on her face, again needlessly taking away from her beauty.  That too is gone here thanks to a mod.  Happily, both the women in this picture (other than Hawke of course, who is the Main Character) are Romancable, Hawke can have a meaningful relationship with either one (however its worth noting that if you romance both at the same time, you don't end up choosing between them, you simply end up with Merrill by default, one of the many small mistakes DA2 makes that DAO did not).

Dragon Age 2 implemented a surprisingly large number of changes from the incredibly popular original.  Some changes are unquestionably for the better, such as an improved Crafting system, and better graphics.  Combat is faster paced, and the Skill Trees are updated, although they did remove certain popular Skills in an effort to 'streamline' the combat, skills such as Dual-Wielding for Warriors, and Shapeshifting for Mages.  Combat is indeed streamlined, gone are the 'Finishing Moves' of DAO, Dragon Age 2 now features enemies that explode when killed, a clear step backwards for the combat.  Another important change, which many see as for the better while others disagree, was adding Voice Acting for the Main Character.  This of course adds a cool new element to the game, but at the expense of the wide range of dialogues choices that you had in DAO, so is this an improvement or a step in the wrong direction?  That's a matter of personal taste. 

Certain other changes are obviously for the worse, as they actually removed the ability to have conversations your teammates in most locations.  You can talk with them in their 'home base' location, and that's it.  Of course in DAO you could talk with them anywhere, and there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to in DA2 either.  However the restrictions don't stop there, far from it.  You can't change your teammates weapons, or even their outfit!  Remember how you used to switch Leliana between a Bow and her Daggers?  Isabella can use Daggers, but not a Bow, even though Rogues are allowed to use either.  Likewise, Varric can use a Bow but not Daggers, it's simply absurd.  Of course customizing their appearance by changing their outfits was one of the more fun aspects of the original game, and that too is simply completely gone in DA2.  These changes were presumably made to make things 'simpler', and perhaps also to make the game feel more like another, less popular Bioware game, Mass Effect 2. 

So a lot of changes were made to the way the game is played, some for the better, many for the worse.  But how about the story, probably the single most important part of any RPG?  In the above picture we have Bethany in the front, and Hawke in the back.  Bethany, despite being the most attractive character in the game, was actually made Hawke's sister, and given a fairly minor role.  Despite the fact that the game was marketed heavily as having a major role for Hawke's family, Bethany is the only interesting character of the three (Hawke has a brother and mother as well, both of which die no matter what you do, a pattern that would be repeated throughout the game, of your decisions having no impact whatsoever on the story.  However just as inexplicably, the brother can live if you play as a Mage, but if you do that then Bethany is the one who dies no matter what you do, so in order to keep her alive you're actually not allowed to even play as a mage at all, simply unfathomable). 

The 'storyline' of the game, such as it is, involves Hawke escaping Lothering, an early target of the Blight, and travelling to Kirkwall, where she (or he, if you prefer playing as a male character) spends the vast majority of the game within the city limits, slowly amassing wealth and power, but all to no real meaningful impact whatsoever.  As Hawke gains in status and wealth, acquires a mansion, a servant, etc. she still is unable to actually protect her family or impact the story in any meaningful way, with the single exception of Bethany, who will live or die based on your actions.  Your actions do not, however, impact the main storyline, which, aside from Hawke gaining in status by doing certain quests, centers around a 'Mages vs Templars' feud.

Spoiler alert for this paragraph:  Sadly, the Mages vs Templars feud is incredibly uninteresting, because the Mages and the Templars are each mostly evil or crazy, or both.  The end result is you don't much care who wins, and that's a good thing in a sense because once again, your choices don't matter anyway.  Do you like the Mages?  Sorry, you've got to kill the head mage anyway.  Side with the templars?  Too bad, you still have to kill the head templar also.  And after killing both, the war simply goes on, as the game comes to an end.  You've accomplished nothing, your actions were mostly meaningless, there were some interesting side-quests that are far more satisfying than the Main Storyline, but by far the best part, and the reason you should play the game, is that despite the fact that Bethany is kidnapped for a large portion of the game (and that's if you've managed to keep her alive) you can finally get her back near the end, have a moving reunion with her, then have her around for those last few battles, before walking off into the sunset with her and the rest of your crew (most of whom you probably won't care about anyway, but thats OK because the game doesn't even tell you what happens to them at the end like DAO did). 

For all its flaws, Dragon Age 2 is still a lot of fun at times, and interesting things do happen occasionally.  It would be nice if, like its predecessor, your choices had a real meaningful impact.  Instead the main storyline plays out about the same as a typical Final Fantasy game, you watch it, you don't really influence it.  That's a shame, because most Bioware games get that part not only right but VERY right, your choices typically have a huge impact on the story.  Not so in Dragon Age 2, and that's too bad.  But when you can make a difference, most notably in saving Bethany from the various ways she can die horribly, its incredibly satisfying, and for that reason alone I would reccomend the game.  I would not reccomend paynig full price, but if you can get it for around 35 dollars or less I would say go for it, you'll have a lot of fun, just not nearly as much fun as the original.

The action is heating up!

It's been a while since my last post, a lot has happened both in general and for me personally, but now it's time to have some fun! You the fans get to have fun reading my hilariously incorrect predictions from the previous election, and then read about some of the exciting things that are happening now. Let's start by getting some bad news out of the way. As many of you know, recently there was a day now known as 'Black Friday', in which Poker websites were shut down, and scores of American Poker players were denied their basic rights as Americans, to play the game they love, Poker, on the Internet. It was an attack on American Freedom by big government, a bi-partisan attack whose groundwork was paved by Senator Frist and President Bush in 2006, and which was actually carried out by President Obama in 2011. This bi-partisan, anti-freedom agenda has resulted in many Americans losing their ability to earn a living doing a job they love, in addition to those who simply play Poker because it's fun and cool. We know that if there's one thing that Presidents Bush and Obama have in common, its a powerful ability to create policies that cost American Jobs, and this policy continues that tradition. I'll be providing more information about Poker, its status in America, and what you can do to help restore American Rights and Freedom, right here on this blog, so stay tuned for that.

On a happier note, Poker Player Rights Supporter, and Libertarian, Constitutional Champion, Congressman Ron Paul is now running for President! You may have seen his strong performance in the first GOP Debate a few days ago. That same night, a CNN Poll was released showing him performing better against President Obama than ANY other potential GOP Candidate! Another poll recently showed him closing in on the GOP leaders in the first Primary state, New Hampshire. As a man who stands up for Freedom, and isn't afraid to stand against leaders of either party when they're wrong, or stand with them when they're right, he is hated by many Washington Insiders, and loved by the People of America. As Congressman Paul continues his campaign to become President Paul, we'll have plenty of coverage right here, so please check in regularly to enjoy our updated coverage of the 2012 Presidential Campaign, and Congressman Ron Paul's major role in that campaign.

Of course I wouldn't want to sign off without mentioning something else, something fun that we all can enjoy, and of course that is Gaming! I've been playing a game recently called Dragon Age 2. It's by a company called Bioware, and as you might've guessed, its a sequel. I want to give you a review of that game, and I want to do that review justice by giving it its own post, so for now let me say that if you haven't gotten the game yet, you should try to find it on sale, once it's available at a reasonable price you should definitely get it. Its probably not worth a full price of 60 dollars, but 35 or 40? That's probably a fair deal. If you can get it even cheaper, then do so with confidence knowing you're getting a good deal! I'll explain why I feel this game is good but not as good as the original in a future post.

Thank you to everyone for reading my blog, feel free to leave a comment if you like, and if you'd like me to review a certain game feel free to request that as well, you never know, I might have played it and be able to review it too! Until next time, have fun everybody!

Election Predictions!

Here we are, this is the big post, the one where your friend and mine, the Gladiator, gives you his Official 2010 Election Predictions! Let's start with the House, since the polls are showing a double digit GOP Victory, with Gallup showing a Historic 15 point GOP House Victory, so it looks like the number will be huge. How huge? Well, I thought about going Race by Race, but seriously, House races are so tough to do going by that. I can't say for certain whether, for example, Barney Frank will win re-election in his seat, but I can say for sure that he might not, and that by itself tells you what you need to know to know that its going to be a huge number for the GOP. I'm tempted to play it Conservative, but with this Historic huge wave, I'm going to throw out my Conservative Prediction of 85 seats, which is what part of me is thinking, and say it's going to be 105 seat Pickup for the GOP, because in a historic wave like this you're really much more likely to miss low than miss high, so 105 seat pickup for the GOP is what I'm projecting.

On the Senate side, we know the polls show that the GOP will fall short of winning the Senate. We also know that whenever one party wins control of the House, they always, ALWAYS, win control of the Senate, and with this historic wave in their favor the GOP will take control of the Senate. So which state's polls will turn out to be wrong? That's the question. The easiest first answer is Delaware, because in truth there's been so little polling there lately, and what little there has been has tended to indicate very strongly a huge movement up by O'Donnell. I'm going to predict that O'Donnell wins in Delaware. I'm going to say that Manchin actually wins in West Virginia, he's run VERY far to the right, he's run as a Pro-Life, Pro-Marriage, Pro-Gun, Anti-Cap and Tax candidate, and most recently he's actually been complimenting Sarah Palin. This is a man who is literally to the right of multiple Republican Senate candidates, and yet he's the Democrat, so that's why he's going to win, he embraced the Tea Party's values when the other Democrats were running against it and getting beaten.

In other races, Republicans are about to sweep a ton of other races, you're looking at Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, and the Republicans are going to win them all. Connecticut is tougher, we know the polls show the disgraced Democrat still leading, but will a man who was caught lying about his war record, specificly by saying that he HAD one when he actually didnt, actually win a statewide election for ANYTHING, much less a prestigious Senate position? Louisiana voters are about to re-elect a man who was caught cheating on his wife with a prostitute, so maybe the sad answer is yes. I'm predicting that Blumenthal in CT, and Vitter in LA, will win their races despite the fact that voters should be ashamed of themselves if they vote for them.

Moving further west, its so close in California and Washington State. Sweet mercy. Obviously the polls continue to give the edge to the Democrat Incumbants in these states, but here again, the wave could push the Republican challengers over the top. I'm going to predict Republican wins in both states, going against the polls, going with the wave. Staying out west, in Alaska, it appears that Sarah Palin has helped Joe Miller to a comfortable lead out there, and with that scandal hitting hard just two days before the election he should win easily. If anybody hasn't heard, some local CBS reporters in Alaska were caught on a cell-phone, Jerry Brown style, but they didn't call Joe Miller a 'whore', they were caught conspiring against him, talking about trying to find an evil sex-offender in the crowd at an upcoming Joe Miller rally, presumably to make it look like Joe Miller=the candidate of sex offenders. They also talked about possibly using facebook to say 'Joe Miller got punched at rally' or some such, it was speculation on various ways of making Joe Miller look bad, really crazy, insane stuff. If you haven't heard that audio tape you should, its yellow journalism at its most entertaining, because it was caught on tape. That scandal means that Joe Miller will likely not just win, but win by double digits.

Its worth noting that at the beginning of this cycle, the Senate races actually seemed likely to go in favor of the Democrats, as there were more Republican seats up than Democrat seats, and there were some pretty seemingly vulnerable GOP seats, particularly in New Hampshire and Missouri. Those races are blowouts in favor of the Republicans, and seats that seemed totally safe for the Democrats like North Datoka and Arkansas are just totally blowout level gone.

So overall I'm going to say the GOP picks up 12 Senate seats, 105 House seats, and its just going to be a huge night for the GOP. But whether they win 12 and 105, or only 2 and 25, its going to be a super exciting night and I hope everyone here will watch Election Night, it's going to be Super Fun!

Election Time is Near!

It's almost time for your friend and mine, the Gladiator, to make his bigtime Election 2010 Predictions! As you may know, I was SPOT ON nailing the 2004 Presidential Election Predictions, and hopefully I'll repeat that with my 2010 Predictions also! Right now I'd say its looking pretty good for the Republicans, but of course there's still time for me to take in last-minute data and change my mind. Some of the late data however is really trending pretty heavily in favor of the Republicans, including some House races that nobody thought Republicans had a chance in, and of course Delaware where folks had erroneously written off Christine O'Donnell, who now has cut her 'Bearded Marxist' opponent's lead to just six points in TWO different polls, and those polls are some days old now so it's entirely possible that as I write this Christine is currently in the lead.

Of course Delaware isn't the only state with the polls showing wildly different results depending on who you listen to, other such states include West Virginia, Alaska, and California. I'm going to do my best to gather all the best information that I can, and make an informed prediction that all of you, the fans, can enjoy and hopefully look at when the results are in and say 'wow, he got them all right!' :) . In the meantime, I'd like to say please remember to vote, it's Election season, it's super fun and rockin cool!

One week to go!

With less than a week to go until Election Day, there's major league good news out of Kentucky, with a huge Democrat polling company now saying that Rand Paul is ahead by 13 points! You know if a major Democrat polling company is saying a Republican is way ahead, its safe to say he really is :) . Other polls show safe, comfortable leads for 'Mama Grizzlies' in South Carolina and New Mexico, where in each case the Republican is not only a woman but also a minority, which makes each win extra cool! These women are the future of the Republican Party, proudly endorsed by our next President, Sarah Palin, and they're going to lead their states back strong through the Obama Recession!

Things are really looking up now, no doubt you've probably heard that the polls are looking good, but what you may not know is they're looking REALLY good! I have some polling results from a new pollster who isn't getting much attention right now, because he's new and admittedly a Conservative, but he polls a THOUSAND likely voters in each poll, and he may in fact be the MOST accurate of any pollster! These little known polls reveal that in fact Election Night may be the most incredible night in a very long time! I may have more to say about th Specifics of these polls in the days ahead, but in the meantime its clear that this election is shaping up to be VERY nice, very nice indeed!

Great news!

As the countdown continues toward Election Day, there's just more and more great news all the time. As you are likely aware, the Tea Party recently scored major victories in Alaska and Delaware, defeating liberal Incumbants in record-breaking turnout Primaries. What you may or may not know is that in New York a Tea Party candidate defeated his Establishment opponent soundly, and now is within single digits of his liberal opponent in the General. The Tea Party is really scoring impressive wins, across America, but just like it doesn't matter how much you study until you actually take the test, or just like it doesn't matter how much your stock is worth until you actually sell, so too the true worth of the Tea Party popularity and success will be measured in November, not before. This is why we must all continue to support our good Conservative candidates all the way up to Election Day itself. We're on course for great victories nationwide, but we can't become complacent, let's not take anything for granted. Let's keep up the great work!

Welcome back!

It's been a while since I last posted here on my Gladiator Blog, but I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back! It's an awesome time right now, so much cool stuff going on, and I want to let everybody know that your friend and mine, SirGladiator, is back and ready to help keep everyone informed and having fun! Whether it's the world of Sports, Wrestling, Video Games, Current Events, so much to talk about, so much to learn about, so much fun to be had! So sit back, enjoy, and welcome back,to Gladiatorland! It's the Gladiator Blog, and we're here for you, the fans!

Backlash Preview

Tomorrow night is the WWE RAW Pay Per View Event 'Backlash' and there are 7 matches on the card. Clearly this is not a Wrestlemania Lineup, but theres still some pretty good matchups. Id like to take a look at all seven of them.


Ric Flair vs Umaga was the last match added to the card, and man alive is it ever a sad match. One of the greatest of all time against one of the more annoying and pathetic gimmicks on RAW. Its especially sad that it would seem that Ric Flair will be losing to this guy.

Carlito vs Chris Masters is another sort of 'who cares' type of match, the thing is some people actually like Carlito, but people just dont care about Masters. so I expect Carlito to somehow get the win in this match.

Kane vs Big Show is basicly all about Kane's upcoming movie, which comes out....when again? Oh yeah, right, May 19th, ive only heard that like a MILLION TIMES :). I expect Kane to win and continue his reign of terror in the weeks to come, as we prepare for the debut of his movie, which comes out, yes you guessed it, May 19th :).

HBK and God vs the McMahons. This storyline has had a great deal of evil in it lately, one hopes that the McMahons are defeated once again and that this bizarre feud comes to an end at Backlash.

Now we're getting to the important matches. First, RVD vs Shelton Benjamin for Shelton's Intercontinental Title AND Rob Van Dam's Money in the Bank Contract. This match is HUGE yo, both participants are putting up something very important. I expect RVD to win the match, and go on to Challenge for the RAW or Smackdown title at the ECW PPV in June.

Mickie James vs Trish Stratus for the Womens Championship. This is the only match on the card that is a true Wrestlemania Rematch. Mickie and Trish put on the greatest Women's Championship match of all time at Wrestlemania, it was in fact the best Wrestling match of the entire evening. I think their match at Backlash has the potential to be even better, particularly if Mickie scores the win using her awesome Tornado DDT that the fans love.

John Cena vs HHH vs Edge for the RAW Championship. I must say, this match is simply impossible to predict. Its entirely possible that we could see a return of DX at Backlash, obviously if that happens HHH will win. If that doesnt happen, its probably more likely that John Cena will win. Theres also a chance that Edge could sneak a victory somehow, so really its just unpredictable, and thus exciting!

So my official predicted winners are: Umaga, Carlito, Kane, HBK and God, RVD, Mickie James, and John Cena. I hope the evening at least comes close to being as fun and awesome as Wrestlemania, I think it definitely has the potential to be very entertaining.

Wrestlemania Review

Wrestlemania 22 had the potential to be one of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all time, with some very good buildup, and some very good matches. But did it deliver? That's what I will reveal in this Review.

Wrestlemania opened with the Tag Team match, which was a very good, close contest, it really seemed like Carlito and Masters might win, but in the end Kane and Big Show retiained the titles, to the surprise of many. A good match.

The second match of the night was the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which had some exciting moments, and at one point Ric Flair seemed to be legitimately injured, but he turned out to be OK. Lots of really cool high spots in this one, as of course there would be with bigtime high fliers in a ladder match. RVD ultimately scored the victory, and is now, in addition to being Mr Monday Night and Mr Pay Per View, is now Mr Money in the Bank.

The third match was JBL vs Benoit, and I will admit I didnt really care much about this match, I was glad it was as short as it was, and in the end JBL did win the match by using the ropes while pinning Benoit, and after the match paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero. JBL was a good friend of Eddie, and he won by cheating (reminiscent of Eddie's 'lie cheat and steal' gimmick) so it was a good ending to the segment.

The fourth match was Edge vs Mic Foley in what was a really awesome Hardcore match. The things they did in that ring were incredible, Edge tossed into the bed of thumb tacks, Both men bleeding a great deal, even Lita herself got a little bloody when Mic wrapped Mr Socko in Barbed Wire and used it on her (after using it on Edge). All sorts of major action in this one, the topper of course being the FLAMING TABLE, that Edge speared Mic Foley through for the victory. Incredible match, incredible performance by both men, definitely one of the best matches of the night.

The fifth match was Booker T vs the Boogeyman, but the most entertaining part happened before the match, an incredibly hilarious backstage segment with the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, Eugene, Golddust, and others. The greatest backstage segment of the night by far. The Boogeyman's entrance wasnt as impressive to me at Wrestlemania as it was at the Royal Rumble, maybe its because I had seen it before, or maybe it just wasnt as impressive. In any event, the match itself was Ashley vs (insert name of anyone here) level awful, and dragged on a bit longer than it should have, but the result was a bit of a surprise, with Booker T being the one who was pinned by the Boogeyman, not Sharmell.

The sixth match was the Women's Championship match, Trish Stratus vs Mickie James. The greatest buildup to a match ever, and as for the match itself, it was the greatest Women's Championship match of all time, hands down. Even though Mickie got some pretty loud crowd support on the final RAW before Wrestlemania, I still didnt expect her to have much in the way of crowd support at Wrestlemania. However, after the intro package played (I saw the package on wwe.com the night before the event), Mickie's music hit, and the crowd once again was quite loud for her. When Trish's music hit, she got a slightly less enthusiastic reaction, but still a very good one. The crowd was clearly into both competitors, and this awesome matchup. For the first few minutes of the match however, the crowd was largely silent. But after the two exchanged punches in the center of the ring, culminating in a dropkick by Mickie onto the leg that Trish had hurt early on in the match, and then Mickie began going to work on that injured leg, suddenly the crowd got into it. 'Let's go Mickie!' chants filled the stadium, and the announcers were beside themselves as they probably never expected this reaction from the fans. If they were surprised by that, they may have been STUNNED when, after Trish eventually broke free of Mickie's grip long enough to do her 'Whrly Bird' move, the crowd erupted into BOOS for the Women's Champion. The match became Rock-Hogan all over again, with the crowd booing everything that Trish did, and cheering everything that Mickie did, the crowd was into this match like no Womens match in the history of the WWE. When Mickie climbed to the top turnbuckle, and Trish went for her StratusFear move, the crowd booed, when it became obvious Mickie was going to counter it they cheered, and when they saw the counter, which I really cant describe, expect to say it was an amazing, RVD-like super-high flying top turnbuckle move that resulted in Trish landing inside the ring, and Mickie landing outside of the ring, when that happened the crowd EXPLODED, it was a truly remarkable move. For most of the match Mickie was working over Trish's leg much like Bret Hart back in the day, and then the move I just described was very RVD like. Toward the end of the match, when Trish went for the StratusFaction move (yes, its true, Trish Stratus has almost as many Wrestling moves named after her as I have Chess Openings named after me), Mickie's counter to that move was, well, very Ric Flair like. However, what she did immediately following the counter was, lets just say, totally Mickie. Shortly thereafter Mickie nailed Trish with the Mick Kick for the 1 2 3, and the crowd goes wild in support of the NEW Women's Champion, Mickie James! The greatest match of the night, the greatest Womens match in the history of the WWE, and never before have so many fans been so into any Womens match due to the nearly 6 month buildup to it, so they picked the perfect time to have the best WWE womens match ever.

Match number severn was The Undertaker vs Mark Henry in a Casket match, and it was pretty much as boring as one would've expected. The Undertaker did do several really nice moves toward the end however, to end the match on a high note to what would've otherwise been probably the most boring Wrestlemania match the Undertaker had ever been in. The match was too long, but the Undertaker wins and extends his Wrestlemania record to 14-0.

Match number eight was Shaun Michaels vs Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match. This match was much better than I imagine most people ever expected it to be. HBK dominated Vince, he teased the Superkick, teased jumping off a ladder, before finally jumping off a HUGE ladder, driving Vince through a table, and THEN nailed him with a Superkick, for the 1 2 3 ! A surprisingly good, and fun, match.

Match number nine was the Smackdown Main Event, and it was a pleasant surprise just how short this match was. Sadly for many people who were actually enjoying the match, it actually ran about 9 minutes, roughly the same amount of time the Women's Championship match lasted, even though this match had THREE competitors in it not two, you would've probably thought 15 minutes (or maybe even more) would've been a minimum due to the 3 man nature of the match. Sadly, Kurt Angle's title reign came to an end when Rey Mysterio pinned Randy Orton. But again, the shortness of the match took away from the patheticness of the ending, at least a bit.

Match number ten was the other womens match, the Playboy Pillow Fight match, and while putting the Womens matches in spots #6 and #10 was very good placement, they got them BACKWARDS, as this match had no business being the penultimate match of the night. I imagine they did it to cool off the crowd and make the Main Event look better than it otherwise would look, because it would be following this horrible match. But the proper way to end the night would've been with the three Title matches the fans actually cared about. In any event, this match was far worse than I expected, multiple 'Boring' chants by the crowd, and I dont think there was even one use of any of the pillows, despite the fact that the NAME of the match is the 'playboy pillow fight' match. Torrie Wilson won with a rollup, mercifully ending this terrible match.

Match number eleven was the Main Event, and the Main Event was the RAW Championship match. As a match this would've been a fairly mediocre match, but this wasnt a match, this was an experience, due to the unbelievably hot crowd. It started with ring entrances that were both unique and unfathomably bizarre. These were not ring entrances that either competitor had ever used before, nor will they probably ever be used again. Both men actually had TWO sets of ring entrance music in fact. They both wore costumes as well. But despite their best efforts to make the crowd boo HHH and cheer Cena, Cena was booed out of the building, HHH got a lot of cheers as well, but unlike Trish-Mickie, in which the fans were cheering Mickie and booing Trish because they liked Mickie not because they disliked Trish, in this match it was more like they were cheering HHH and booing Cena because they disliked Cena, not because they liked HHH (although no doubt many did). The chants they directed at Cena throughout the match were very extreme (lets just say that John Cena's first name doesnt start with the letter f, but you might've thought it did if you listened to the crowd, if you know what I mean), this was a crowd that loves wrestling, and wrestling talent, and Cena's super long title reign despite his major lack of wrestling ability, did not go over well with this crowd. Its not an exaggeration to say that if the winners and losers of the matches in the WWE were determined solely based on the in ring ability of each wrestler, John Cena would lose to fully half of the women in the RAW Women's Division. In any event, the match was slow paced and would've been boring, but it was highly exciting thanks to the Chicago crowd who made this match very special indeed. Cheering everything HHH did, booing everything Cena did, and doing it with gusto, just like the Trish and Mickie match. The crowd made the match so much fun, and in the end when HHH tapped out to the most pathetic submission hold in the WWE, it wasnt as depressing as one would've expected it to be because the crowd had made the match far more enjoyable that it would have been on its own merits.

Overall the night was full of excitement, thrills, and tremendous entertainment. It was, in my opinion, the greatest Wrestlemania of all time. The crowd made a decent HHH vs Cena match great, and made a great Trish vs Mickie match the greatest Womens match of all time. Mic Foley finally had his Bigtime Wrestlemania Moment, going through a Flaming Table after what was already a great Hardcore Match. So many Bigtime Wrestlemania Moments thoughtout the evening, I hope everyone who hasnt yet seen Wrestlemania will order the DVD set and watch it, you'll be very glad you did, as Wrestlemania 22 truly was the greatest of all time!

Wrestlemania

Wrestlemania is just 2 days away. The Granddaddy of them all, the Super Bowl of Wrestling. Its the biggest event of the year, and this year's Wrestlemania could be one of the greatest Wrestlemanias of all time. The card is loaded with bigtime matches from top to bottom, and I would like to now give my analysis of the card, complete with my predictions for the results of each match. There are eleven matches on this year's card, according to the list of matches on the wwe.com website, and in order to add even more fun to this commentary, I will be discussing the matches in the order in which I would put them on the card.

The first match is the US Championship match, with Chris Benoit vs JBL. I dont watch Smackdown much, I dont really know much about this rivalry, and I really dont know who to expect to win. Clearly Chris Benoit is a fan favorite, and a former RAW Champion. Now on Smackdown, he isnt enjoying quite the same level of success he had on RAW, but he is the US Champion. JBL has been humiliated at the Royal Rumble, and beaten soundly at Saturday Night's Main Event, so it could be time for this former Smackdown Champion to pick up a big win. Theres a lot of logic in favor of each man's winning the match, but in the end Im going to pick JBL to win, due to the whole 'way overdue for a big win' theory. But I wouldnt be remotely surprised to see Chris Benoit make yet another opponent tap out.

The next match is the World Tag Team Championship match, with Kane and Big Show vs Carlito and Chris Masters. Now, obviously Kane and Big Show have been rather dominant, and they are just plain huge. But Carlito and Chris Masters have worked effectively together in the past, and could do so again. However, despite the fact that Kane and Big Show have been dominant lately, and it could be time for a change, and despite the fact that until recently I expected Carlito and Masters to win this match, what ive seen most recently leads me to believe that dissention in their ranks will cause them to lose the match, and start a feud with each other. So my pick to win this match is Kane and Big Show.

The third match is the Boogeyman vs Booker T and Sharmell match. The Boogeyman won his Royal Rumble match against JBL is very quick and decisive fashion. He pretty much always wins his matches quickly, because he isnt a very good wrestler, so Im hopeful this match also will be very short. I would expect the Boogeyman to pin Sharmell, thus allowing Booker T to avoid sufering the same humiliation that was inflicted upon JBL earlier this year. The Boogeyman's ring entrance is one of the very best, if not THE best, in all of the WWE, dont miss it. Missing the match itself is OK, as it will probably suck, but not his entrance :).

The fourth match is the Hardcore match, with Mic Foley and Edge. This match has been built up really well, with Mic using the thumb tacks and Edge using the flaming table, on Saturday Night's Main Event. On the last couple episodes of RAW, Mic has clearly taken the upper hand in the feud, which under normal circumstances would lead you to believe he was going to lose at Wrestlemania. But under these circumstances, we didnt even NEED that clue to know Mic Foley was going to lose the match, he is a mostly retired wrestler, Edge is a recent RAW Champion, on paper the match is just plain a joke, the outcome was known before the match was even officially announced. But its going to be a Hardcore match, a Mic Foley speciality, and Mic keeps saying he needs a great Wrestlemania moment, so I expect him to try one dramatic thing, such as what they teased on SNME, Mic being put through a flaming table. Now THAT would be one heck of a Wrestlemania moment. As for the result, of course Edge will win.

The fifth match is the Playboy Pillow Fight match, with Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle. This has been built up for a surprisingly long time, considering they're involved in a PILLOW FIGHT match, a match that normally needs no buildup at all. But I think the buildup was probably done mostly for the purpose of turning Torrie Wilson face, so that she can be another challenger for Mickie James' Title during any lulls in the Mickie-Trish feud. As for who is going to win the match, well, its two against one assuming Victoria is in Candice's corner, but Torrie may be due to get some payback, so again it could go either way. Since I have to pick someone, I will go with Torrie Wilson. Ultimately of course, as the RAW announcers themselves pointed out, the winners will be the fans.

The sixth match is the Casket Match, with The Undertaker and Mark Henry. The resultof this match, much like Edge-Foley, is a foregone conclusion, Undertaker never loses at Wrestlemania, and this year they didnt even give him an opponent that makes you think theres the SLIGHTEST chance that will change. Much like the Boogeyman's match, the most entertaining part of this match may be the entrance of the Undertaker.

The seventh match is the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, with Shelton Benjamin, Ric Flair, RVD, Fit Finlay, Matt Hardy, and Bobby Lashley. This match features a lot of bigtime talent, and could be one of the best matches of the night. The winner of this match has the opportunity to challenge the Champion of his show to a match at any time within one year of his winning the Money in the Bank match. Edge won last year's MITB match and cashed in on his title shot against John Cena, after Cena had just won an Elimination Chamber match against 5 other people. A beaten and still bloody Cena had no chance against a fresh Edge, and Edge won the Championship. That is the power of MITB, and why this match is very important. I think most of the smart money is on RVD or Ric Flair to win the match and become Champion some time down the line as a result (in fact, if Flair wins it, I think there would be a good chance that he could actually use it later on in the evening and walk out of Wrestlemania as RAW's newest Champion). My pick in this match is for RVD to win.

The eighth match is the No Holds Barred match, with Vince McMahon and HBK. This match has had one heck of a buildup, months worth. HBK has been screwed repeatedly, and now its time for some payback. While it is possible for anything to happen in this match, especially if Vince finally succeeds in getting Bret Hart to make a Wrestlemania appearance, I think the most logical prediction is to say that its payback time for HBK, he will finally get his revenge on Vince McMahon. My pick is HBK to win the match.

That leaves us with the three major Championship matches, they are all highly anticipated and well built up, and could be reasonably put in any order at the top of the card I think, but since I can only pick one order, I will start with the match I think is the least looked forward to of the three, the Tripple Threat match for the Smackdown Championship. One of the reasons it isnt looked forward to as much as it could be, I think, is that there is a certain fear that Rey Mysterio will be handed the belt the night after Eddie Guerrero is inducted into the Hall of Fame, when either Kurt Angle or Randy Orton are both clearly more deserving of the title. Another reason, of course, is simply that its the SMACKDOWN Championship, not a Championship on RAW. But as for the match itself, it obviously contains a ton of talent. Kurt Angle is the best pure wrestler in the WWE, he is the current Smackdown Champion. Randy Orton is the #1 heel on Smackdown, and Rey Mysterio is a very high flying wrestler who has a lot of entertaining moves in his arsenal. I actually think theres a real chance that Rey Mysterio will not win the Title, but even if he doesnt, that doesnt make it easy to pick a winner. Kurt Angle and Randy Orton both could win this match (as, obviously, could Mysterio), its very hard to pick one, but since I have to, Im going to guess that the reason they didnt go with the Championship match people 'thought' was going to be Smackdown's Main Event this year, Angle vs Undertaker, is because they want Angle to keep the title. With that in mind, my pick to win the match is Kurt Angle.

The tenth match has been the best, and longest, built up of all the matches on the card, and in fact features even more total in-ring talent than the Main Event match itself. The Womens Championship features Trish Stratus and Mickie James. The Trish and Mickie storyline has lasted for over 5 months, and it has been very unique, creative, and unpredictable. Both of these women are highly talented in the ring, but it is their Microphone and acting skills that have made this storyline so incredibly popular with the fans. Both women have a wide range of very impressive signature moves, and there is a real possibility that this could be the match that steals the show. Trish Stratus is a six time Womens Champion, she has been Champion for well over a year now, which is the longest any woman has held the Womens Championship in many, many years. Defeating the most dominant Womens Champion in modern times in the most anticipated Womens Championship match of all time at the biggest event of the year would give Mickie James an unfathomably huge boost, one she has very much earned after all of her incredible performances during this storyline. Of course, the storyline should continue to play out in the months ahead, and ideally these two will meet in the ring at many more RAWs and PPVs over the course of the year, as they really are by far the two greatest women wrestlers in the WWE. My pick to win this match is Mickie James.

Finally, the eleventh match of the evening, the Main Event of Wrestlemania, is the RAW Championship match, with John Cena and HHH. This is another very hard to call match, with a lot of logic on either side. A lot of people love John Cena, a lot of people dislike him. It is not clear whether the Chicago crowd will be more pro-Cena or pro-HHH, despite the fact that Cena is the face and HHH the heel. Points in favor of Cena winning include the fact that HHH gave Cena a major beat-down on the final RAW before Wrestlemania, something that normally would be a sign that Cena was going to win at Wrestlemania. In addition, Cena is so very popular, at least with part of the audience. But points in HHH's favor include the fact that it has been thought that the plan for over a year has been for HHH to lose at the previous Wrestlemania, which he did, and then win at this one. Also in his favor is that while he is a 10 time World Champion, he hasnt won a title match in well over a year, he is very due. It isnt entirely out of the question that Cena could even turn heel during the course of the match, as Bret Hart did against Stone Cold Steve Austin many years ago. It really could go either way, but since I have to pick someone to win, I'm going to pick HHH.

Those are my Wrestlemania predictions and my analysis. There really are a lot of matches that could go either way, it should be a very exciting Wrestlemania. I hope it turns out to be one of the greatest of all time, it certainly has that potential!

!

Saturday Night Main Event

Tonight is the return of Saturday Night's Main Event, Live on NBC at 8pm EST! This show was awesome back in the day, and its been over a Decade since its been on the air. It used to be on at 11:30pm EST, in the place of Saturday Night Live, but tonight its return is in Prime Time! And the lineup card is loaded with awesomeness! I would like to give my analysis of, and predictions for, tonight's major Card.

Lets start with the Boogeyman vs Booker T. If you've never seen the Boogeyman's Ring Entrance you're in for a real treat, because man alive is it ever one of a kind. You'll probably also be in for a real treat in that the match probably wont last long, as the Boogeyman isnt particularly skilled at actually wrestling. He defeated former Smackdown Champion JBL at the Royal Rumble in I think less than 2 minutes, a highly shocking result. I expect a similar result tonight, whether or not the match will break the 2 minute mark I cant say, but I expect the Boogeyman to emerge the victor.

The Beer Drinking Contest between JBL and Stone Cold Steve Austin, well, I dont think you have to be an expert to figure out who's going to win this one :). Austin will win the contest, he will hit JBL with a Stone Cold Stunner, and celebrate by drinking even more beer!

HBK vs Shane McMahon in a Street Fight should be a really cool match. This has been built up by Shane McMahon attacking HBK with a steel chair, using the Van Terminator move on him Monday, and even having his sister Stephanie drug his water so he couldnt beat him in a match last week. Clearly it is payback time tonight. I expect HBK to ultimately win the match, although interference by Vince costing him the match would be a good way to set up the HBK vs Vince Wrestlemania match. Still, since I can only pick one, I have to pick HBK getting his revenge on Shane tonight by winning the match.

I expect the highest drama of the evening to come from the Womens Tag Team match, which features Trish and Mickie vs Victoria and Candice. I believe this is the match where Mickie is finally going to turn on Trish, something that has been anticipated for months, but has never happened. We're about 2 weeks from Wrestlemania, and Mickie attacking Trish and paying her back for all the times Trish mistreated her and didnt appreciate everything she did for her will set up the biggest Womens Championship match of all time at Wrestlemania. The only part of this match that is hard to predict is, how will it happen. Will Mickie turn on Trish during the match, causing Trish to be pinned by Victoria or Candice, or will Mickie wait until after she and Trish win the match, and then let her have it? Im hoping it will be the latter, but typicly in these types of situations it is more like the former. I cant decide which result to predict, so I'm just going to let Mickie turning on Trish one way or another be my prediction for this match, and if it happens it will indeed be the most dramatic thing to happen at SNME tonight.

Finally, the Main Event match, John Cena and HHH vs Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton in a Wrestlemania Main Event vs Main Event match. This is going to be huge, all the Main Eventers from Wrestlemania (which is just 15 days away, by the way) will be competing in this match that has the potential to contain a ton of awesomeness. HHH vs Angle, Cena vs Orton, HHH vs Mysterio, the potential matchups during this match are very exciting, plus the possibility of team members turning on each other during the match, since they are rivals after all! I expect some dissention in the Smackdown ranks to cost them the match, with Cena or HHH picking up the win, specificly I expect whoever is NOT going to win at Wrestlemania, Cena or HHH, to be the one who scores the victory.

Its a shame that RVD isnt on the Card, nor is the Undertaker, although I do believe we will see Taker during the show, as Mark Henry said last night on Smackdown that he would be calling the Undertaker out tonight. Clearly RVD is one of the most exciting wrestlers of all time, the crowd would've loved to see him in the ring with somebody he could really open up his playbook of awesome moves against, like Carlito or Benjamin.

So clearly tonight's return of Saturday Night's Main Event to NBC, in Prime Time, has the potential to deliver an incredibly entertaining two hours of awesomeness, I hope everybody will watch and enjoy the show!! And I hope my predictions arent off too badly :).

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.

XBox 360 Mega-Preview

Greetings everyone, its been a long time since I updated my blog! I'd like to take this opportunity to give you the fans a major preview of the upcoming XBox 360, the first of the Next-Generation game systems, which is coming out November 22nd. Now Im sure you've heard of the 360, and you've probably heard about some of the sweet awesomeness, but Id like to give you some specififcs about the upcoming games, many of these specifics you're probably hearing for the first time, right here.

Let's begin with some titles that are slated to be 'Launch' titles, that is, games that may in fact be out the very same day as the 360 itself (Nov 22nd). Being a man of the people, Id like to start with a title that probably all of you are familiar with, Madden. Madden NFL 06 is indeed scheduled to be out the same day as the 360, and in case you're wondering just how similar it will be to the Madden 06 for the XBox and PS2, I assure you there are profound differences. It is being redesigned in a number of meaningful ways. For one, the voice of John and Al is being replaecd, by a radio-announcer, who will be biased in favor of the home team, giving the game a totally unique flavor right off the bat. Of course the graphics will be markedly superior, but you already knew that, right? :). Personally, due to the NFL 2k series, I havent gotten a Madden game in like, 2 or 3 years, but with no NFL 2k game out this year, and Madden NFL 06 as a Launch title, and looking off the hizzle, Im definitely going to pick this bad boy up on Launch Day.

Of course, the title that is probably the most anticipated Launch Title, maybe the most anticipated game of the YEAR, and the game that has a real chance to be the 2005 Game of the Year, on any game system, if it lives up to the hype, is the sequel to the ultra-popular 'Morrowind' game, titled 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion". This game sports graphics never before seen in any RPG (Role Playing Game), it has voice-acting by Wonder Woman herself (Linda Carter) as well as Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), as well as others. Keep in mind that its predecessor Morrowind was arguably the greatest game of all time, when it first came out. Dont be too surprised if this game also captures that title, it will definitely be a game I pick up on Launch Day.

As for a Basketball, I'm looking forward to NBA 2k6, as I am a big fan of the 2k series of basketball as well as football. College Basketball 2k6 is another game I definitely am looking forward to, but no word yet on a release date for that one. The 2k5 version was tons of fun, and I still play it, its super awesome.

There are other games that have gotten a lot of positive press lately, including Perfect Dark Zero, and Kameo: Elements of Power. I dont know yet if these games are the Gladiator's cup of tea, but whether or not they turn out to be games I will pick up, they definitely look like they have real potential to be outstanding, and big hits with the fans.

The Gladiator is a fan of the sport of tennis, and as such I really enjoyed the XBox game Top Spin. I think it was the top selling tennis game of all time, it was very highly rated at the time of its release, so naturally I am planning on picking up Top Spin 2 for the 360 on Launch Day. With an all new lineup of Superstars, this game could be the greatest tennis game of all time.

I could go on for quite a while about the sweet awesomeness that is the XBox 360 and its many, many games, but I would like to close this article by mentioning two upcoming 360 games, neither of which are due out remotely soon, quite frankly its possible that neither game will even be out in 2006, but both are very much in development. The first is a sequel to, interestingly enough, an outstanding Playstation game, Rumble Roses. If you recall, Rumble Roses is an all-women wrestling game, lots of fun, super awesome graphics, interesting storylines, and the sequel will hopefully be even better!

The other game is an action-RPG from Bioware, and if I didnt say another word about it you should already be in eager anticipation :). Bioware, makers of 2003 Game of the Year Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the very popular 2005 release Jade Empire, both of which were super awesome games, these guys really know what they're doing, and now they have a totally new game they're working on, called 'Mass Effect'. The game has a sci-fi setting, and while the game still has a long way to go until completion (right now it looks like the game will probably be released some time in early to mid 2007), so not too many details are known, the fact remains these guys are at the top of the action-RPG world right now, it seems that everything they touch turns to gold, so Im really excited about this brand new, hot project from Bioware.

Thats all for this mega-preview of the XBox 360, we're less than a month away from Launch, I look forward to continuing to learn more about these and many other games for the 360, I hope you are as excited as I am to get a 360 and enjoy the sweet next-gen awesomenses!!

Video Game Review

I'm sorry I've taken so long between posts. I hope everyone is doing very well! I would like to share with you, the fans, my review of a new game I have played a lot lately. I read a lot about it before I decided to try it for myself. Some sources said that it was extremely awesome, one website gave it a 99 out of 100, another a 5 out of 5. But others said it was only good, not great, giving it a score only in the 80s, out of 100. So who was right? I wanted to judge for myself. So a couple weeks ago I began playing the game, Jade Empire, which was made by Bioware, the makers of the 2003 Game of the Year Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Let me begin by saying that this is indeed a very unique gaming experience. The conversations in the game, between your character and others, are very similar in format to those in KOTOR, in that you very often have multiple choices of things to say, and that can effect the game powerfully in one way or another. This is a tremendous amount of fun, and its a very good thing they kept that. The rest of the game, particularly the combat, is completely different. It is action-based, not turn-based, and it again is just a tremendous amount of fun. For starters, there are a very wide range of styles to choose from, and you can switch during a fight. There are faster and slower styles, and as you might imagine the slower ones are the most powerful. There are close range and long range styles, there are styles that cause status effects instead of damage, etc. There are also quite a lot of fun and interesting 'side-quests' that you can do, which are optional quests you can do if you want to, but dont have to in order to finish the game, and like some other Role Playing Games, the toughest opponent in the game is actually the Arena Champion, which is a totally optiona opponent. But defeating him is very much worth your time and effort, as you obtain his fighting style, which is the best in the game. The Graphics are outstanding, the music is very understated but quite solid, the voice acting is superb. You can, just like in KOTOR, play as a 'good' or 'evil' character, or anywhere in-between, giving the game that extra replayability. All in all, I feel Jade Empire is indeed a great game, and a must have for anyone who owns an XBox.

2005

This is my first Blog posting of 2005. I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and I hope this year is even better than 2004, which I hope was awesome for everybody!

Since my last posting, in which I revealed to you, my friends, that I had been named the 2004 Charlotte Chess Club Player of the Year, I have since won the very last CCC tournament of 2005, by a full point over my nearest competitor. And yes, the final game of 2004 was a Newton Sicilian, won by yours truly :).

I look forward to playing in some major tournaments in 2005, and hopefully doing well. As you may know, I beat a major Grandmaster, and drew the then-US Champion. I have also beaten the now-current US Champion, and I hope to one day be able to say that I beat the World Champion also :).

Props and shout outs go to some of my friends who had an amazingly awesome year last year. I would like to start with my friend Hikaru Nakamura, who won the US Championship, after ALMOST winning the World Championship! Clearly he will probably one day become World Champion, he has all the talent that you need to get there, and he has that winning drive that you need to succeed.

Shout out to my friend Tom Rohrbaugh, who landed a SWEEET Managerial job at a Target in Chicago. Big bucks, big title, you earned it, you da man!

Props to my friend Greg Wilder, who is not only an awesome player of Magic the Gathering Tournaments, but also is quite possibly the #1 designer of MTG Decks in all the world today! Way to go dude, you're at the top, and you're still going higher!

Too many of my friends won big bling-bling in the world of poker for me to name each of them, so shout out to all of you, you know who you are, and you rock!!

Here's hoping that 2005 brings us all more success than ever before, and in the case of us single dudes, a really NICE girl too! No more mean girls for the Gladiator or any of his friends! Yay!!