Well, I recently purchased the wrestling game on the PS4 which was released way back in 2019 called WWE 2K20 (My 1st wrestling game since WWE 12) in January meaning that I became a wrestling follower again for the 1st time since 2014 in which the last time I watched a bit of WWE but my favourite wrestler now has to be The Rock (Who is Dwayne Johnson now & most recently he is now the owner of the XFL (He took over from Mr McMahon) as well as he has a super hero movie that he is due to appear called Black Adam which is due to come out this year & he took over from the Terminator star & ex-California governor of Arnold Schwarzenegger (Whom he met before during an episode on either Raw or Smackdown in 1999) as the highest paid action movie star way back in 2012 or 2013) because it used to be Triple H (AKA The Game, the Cerebral Assassin, King of Kings), Shawn Michaels (The Heartbreak Kid, the Showstopper, the Icon, the Main Event & of course Mr Wrestlemania), the Undertaker (The Deadman, the Phenom & the Demon of Death Valley), John Cena (The Cenation Leader), Rey Mysterio (The Master of the 619, the Biggest Little Man & the Ultimate Underdog), Stone Cold Steve Austin (The Texas Rattlesnake), Ric Flair (The Nature Boy, the Dirtiest Player in the Game), Brock Lesnar (The Beast Incarnate), Edge (The Rated R Superstar, the Ultimate Opportunist & the Master Manipulator), Randy Orton (The Viper as well as The Apex Predator & The Legend Killer (Formerly at the time) & Batista (The Animal) over these years but I like both Roman Reigns (Who is a relative of The Rock & cousin of the Usos twin brothers of Jey & Jimmy) & Seth Rollins now (They did have old heads like Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the late Andre the Giant, the late Ultimate Warrior, Bret 'the Hitman' Hart, Flair, Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Undertaker, Triple H (Who is married to the daughter of Mr McMahon & sister of Shane, Stephanie McMahon), Cena (Who is the partner of Nikki Bella), Edge (Husband of Beth Phoenix), Orton, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, the Miz, Jeff Hardy, the Big Show, Kane, Daniel Bryan (Husband of Brie Bella), Brock Lesnar, Dolph Ziggler, Goldberg, Sting, Kurt Angle, Batista & Rey Mysterio (In the women's wrestling department with old faces like Trish Stratus for example as well as Lita, Beth Phoenix (The Glamazon who is the wife of Edge), Mickie James (Who was Becky Lynch's idol growing up), Maryse (Wife of The Miz), Alicia Fox, Natalya (Niece of Bret 'the Hitman' Hart) & the Bella twins of Brie (Daniel Bryan's wife) & Nikki, but now they have modern day superstars like Reigns, Rollins, Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Jinder Mahal, the Usos (Consisting of twin brothers Jey & Jimmy), Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens & Rusev (And in the women's section of the newcomers are Charlotte Flair (Daughter of Ric Flair), Ronda Rousey (An ex-MMA fighter), Becky Lynch (An Irishwoman who is part of the Four Horsewomen along with Bayley, Charlotte Flair & Sasha Banks), Sasha Banks (A female cousin of famous African American rapper Snoop Dogg), Bayley (Who was a fan of both Bret Hart & John Cena whom she met both of them when they took a photo of her & her wrestling idols), Paige (Who retired from wrestling due to injuries that she suffered in 2017 but they made a film that I've never seen about her when it came out in 2019 which is Fighting With My Family (The movie is about Paige (Her wrestling idol & mentor was in fact The Rock) & her brother trying to make it through the ranks in the world of professional wrestling), Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Tamina (Daughter of Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka who passed away most recently) & Asuka) but there used to be a wrestling tag team stable from our country of New Zealand called the Bushwhackers during the 70s & 80s period that I didn't know (And they have since been retired for a while).
And enough about the wrestling stuff as I switch gears to the sailing that it has been an emotional & rollercoaster year after the America's Cup, had remained, New Zealand's cup (According to the voice of yachting Peter 'PJ' Montgomery) or more like the Auld Mug, was indeed, Aotearoa's again (As famously said by Scotty J 'Sumo' Stevenson) when Emirates Team New Zealand retained the holy grail of world sailing yet again just like in 2000 & the sport's oldest prize (Or should I say, the oldest trophy in international sport) of the America's Cup on St Patrick's Day at the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland during the 10th & final race (It was a day after Team New Zealand won race 9 to be on match point against the Italians in one of the greatest but classic, all-time America's Cup races in history that the New Zealanders overtook Luna Rossa just before the penultimate leg of the race compared to the worst race in race 8 where Team New Zealand thought that they we're going to pull it off against the Italians with an overtaking maneuver but we fell off our foils, therefore handing advantage to Luna Rossa until we got back up to speed again & then all of a sudden, the Italians thought that they had their chance to win but they fell off the foils & got a boundary penalty 4 times before we took the lead during the race while Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli where still off their foils & I thought we lost that race & had to stop watching it until Pops told me that he found out that Emirates Team New Zealand won race 8 (Although the race was shortened to 5 legs according to the race committee) to go 5 - 3 up in one of the weirdest races in the history of the Auld Mug (And poor old Luna Rossa that they cost their huge chance of winning the 8th race to once again square the ledger after their hopes & aspirations to keep America's Cup 36 alive had been ruined but this is like the deciding race in the America's Cup World Series in which the New Zealanders won back in December 2020) on course A against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli that I'm so proud that last year had became one of my standout America's Cup moments of all time (And it was better than our triumphs in 1995, 2000 & 2017 but I remember during the big day of sailing that me, Pops & Carole went to Thai Villa in honor of that celebration) but Pops prefers 1995 where New Zealand (Who followed in the footsteps of Australia in 1983 which opened the door for our country to take part when we 1st participated in 1987 in the challenger selection series after Australia had won the Auld Mug for the very first time) had 1st triumphed in the America's Cup in San Diego as his favourite (And Leon said during a comment that I remember at Mint Cafe that the dual America's Cup champion from 2003 & 2007 of Alinghi (Now called Alinghi Red Bull Racing under new management) is locked in a chance of competing in the America's Cup again after being sidelined for a long time since losing the Auld Mug to the Jimmy Spithill led Oracle (Founded & owned by the ever popular, world famous American billionaire of Larry Ellison compared to Swiss pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli who is the owner of Alinghi (And Arnaud Psarofaghis (Who was skipper of the NZ Sail GP team when both key men of Emirates Team New Zealand of Peter Burling & Blair Tuke were preparing for the Olympics last year) could be the ideal candidate as the new Alinghi skipper) in 2010) but New Zealand is the 2nd most successful country in terms of victories in the America's Cup with 4 (Ahead of Switzerland who won it twice & Australia who won it once but behind the United States of America (The most successful nation in the history of the Auld Mug & founder of the America's Cup (Back when it was known as the One Ton Cup in the early 1850s) which won it a record 29 times of the 36 America's Cup campaigns being held) & of course there were different stories at the last America's Cup where American Magic was the best of the challengers in the America's Cup World Series (Including a win against the defenders of Emirates Team New Zealand in race 4) then INEOS Team UK bounced back from disappointment in the ACWS to win every race in the round robin to go through to the Prada Cup final before Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli became champions of the Prada Cup after beating American Magic (Who got capsized during the race against the Italians therefore costing them a chance of winning in the miserable conditions & were out of action for 9 days due to repairs being made on the boat after a massive hole had opened up) comprehensively in the semifinal then INEOS Team UK in the final & of course the real winner has gone to Emirates Team New Zealand for our 2nd successful defence of the Auld Mug after infamously winning the best of 13 first to seven series against Luna Rossa 7 - 3 as well as going into America's Cup 36 as champions of the America's Cup World Series (The Christmas race had been cancelled as a result due to a lack of breeze) but my love affair of the America's Cup began in 1995 when I was in Whanganui hospital after almost losing a finger when I was trapped in the old style swimming pool & I started to remember the news that the 1st time New Zealand had won the America's Cup after winning race 5 in the best of 9 first to 5 series against Stars & Stripes aboard the Young America yacht in San Diego.
And on to the motor racing stuff that there was both young Kiwis lined up in Formula 2 last year such as Marcus Armstrong (Who is part of the Ferrari Driving Academy by following the footsteps of the late Chris Amon from Bulls who raced F1 for Ferrari in the 60's during the golden period) & former Toyota Racing Series champion Liam Lawson (Part of the Red Bull Junior team setup) who has been called up as test & reserve driver for Scuderia AlphaTauri (And if either Pierre Gasly or Yuki Tsunoda gets hurt or fell out of form, Lawson may be the ideal replacement by stepping in) in this years F1 season (And there hasn't been a Kiwi in the F1 grid most recently since Brendon Hartley (Who was the 1st New Zealander to compete in F1 since Mike Thackwell in 1984 when he made his F1 debut at the 2017 United States Grand Prix) in 2018 when he last competed in Formula 1 for Scuderia Toro Rosso (2 years before the constructor had to undergo a rebrand by renaming themselves as AlphaTauri) while the late Denny Hulme (Who was part of the big 3 of NZ motor racing during the golden generation in the 1960's along with the late Amon & the late Bruce McLaren (A Kiwi who was the founder of the British sports car manufacturer & F1 constructor of McLaren) is the only New Zealander to win the world championship way back in 1967) but there are reports that Australian race director Michael Masi got fired as a result after former 7 time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton (Whose hopes of competing in F1 again this year after missing out on his record breaking 8th F1 crown last year, is at peril after being given a stern warning from Red Bull Racing as well as his rumors of retiring from F1 just like multiple Super Bowl winning NFL player Tom Brady most recently) had been complaining to him whether Max Verstappen took off quickly after the safety car had been expired, but that's not the case as Verstappen emerged triumphant when he overtook Hamilton on the very last lap of the title deciding race in Abu Dhabi by picking up both the win & the title as well (1st Dutch driver in history to do so by winning the F1 world championship (Compared to Alex Palou of Spain becoming the 1st Spanish driver in history to win the Indycar series title as well as the man who ended his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon's hopes of a record equaling 7th American open wheel racing title (AJ Foyt still holds that record by keeping it intact & there was a New Zealand 1-2 last year at the 1st race of the Texas Indycar double header at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas with the 6 time Indycar champion of Dixon (He is 3rd on the all time list for most wins in American open wheel racing behind Mario Andretti (Who has 52 but is behind AJ Foyt as the current record holder with 67) with 51) winning the race ahead of fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin (A Team Penske driver who is a 3 time Supercars champion (Jamie Whincup's successor & Shane van Gisbergen's predecessor) & of course last year's Indycar rookie of the year award winner but both Dixon & McLaughlin are Kiwi racing car drivers who are married to foreign wives such as Dixon's wife of Emma Davies-Dixon who is a former Welsh as well as British track athlete while McLaughlin's wife is American (And Carly is the name of Scott McLaughlin's American wife) but there's Indycar news as McLaughlin secures his first ever win in Indycar (He had been on the top step 56 times in the Supercars Championship including 1 Bathurst 1000 victory in 2019 as well as winning 3 Supercars Championship titles) in the season opener at St Petersburg, Florida to kick off proceedings in the brand new 2022 season) last year therefore signifying Indycar's next-gen takeover) & is set to run car number 1 as a result of becoming the new world champion last year for the 1st time since Sebastian Vettel did that in 2014 & is being praised by both Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff & Hamilton as well for winning his maiden world championship).
And it has been 2 years since Brexit had occurred before the pandemic had started when the UK left the EU (And there used to be the Kolpak ruling in which a cricketer from either South Africa, Zimbabwe or the West Indies (Players like Grant Elliott, Kyle Abbott, Lance Klusner, Faf du Plessis, Andre Adams, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, Colin Ingram, Brendan Taylor, Ravi Rampaul, Rilee Russouw & Morne Morkel) join a English cricket county or a rugby player like Andrew Mehrtens (Who was born in Durban in South Africa but he acquired a South African passport as a result of a Kolpak deal) join a English rugby club to play for them but it no longer exists as of today) after 47 years of joining them.
And onto the cricket news such as the Perth Scorchers (Who couldn't afford to host a home game due to the COVID-19 omicron strain over in the Western Australia state & had its former Blackcap Colin Munro into the team (1st it was White Fern Sophie Devine who helped the Perth Scorchers women's side win the WBBL & now it is Munro's turn of becoming a Big Bash League winning player from New Zealand) win their record breaking 4th Big Bash League title against the defending champions at the time now, the Sydney Sixers in the final at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne in which was the best BBL game that I have ever seen on TV (But there is a new addition to the sporting rivalry in Australia between the Perth Scorchers & the Sydney Sixers in BBL cricket compared to Carlton Vs Collingwood in the AFL, the NSW Blues & the Queensland Maroons in rugby league's annual State of Origin series & the Ford Vs Holden (Now a defunct car manufacturer from Australia) rivalry during the days of the Australian Touring Car Championship (Before rebranding themselves as the Shell Championship Series then V8 Supercars before adopting its current name to the Supercars Championship) a night before into the tennis stuff, as female Australian tennis star & world number one Ash Barty triumphant over American Danielle Collins in the final to win her 1st ever Australian tennis open women's singles title in front of her adoring home crowd after 44 years since Chris O'Neil won it in 1978 then a day later it was Rafael Nadal's time to shine as he makes an incredible comeback after surgery & COVID-19 when he dispatched the US tennis open men's singles champion Daniil Medvedev (Who was the one who ended Novak Djokovic's hopes of a historic grand slam (Rod Laver was the last one to do that) by doing the Flavia Penetta when she famously beat Serena Williams in 2016) in one of the greatest but classic men's tennis matches of all time (Compared to Roger Federer-Tennys Sandgren in 2020 in Australia then Djokovic (Who had to pull out of this years Aussie Open due to being an anti-vax (He tried to enter Australia to compete but he had been refused entry & gone back home to Serbia since) against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the French Open last year & Medvedev vs Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Australian Open in the quarterfinals this year) although the fans attending the men's singles final had to stay up until 4am in the morning after that marathon match which lasted until 1am (And man they must have had sleepless nights as a result).
And the newly formed Super Rugby Pacific season is about to begin as MP of Moana Pasifika are locking horns with last years Super Rugby Trans-Tasman champions the Blues at Mount Smart Stadium in South Auckland (Ther has been a venue change with Forsyth Barr Stadium set to host it for night games (Along with the Wakatipu Rugby Club also set to host day matches) with the franchises now being based in Queenstown instead for the 1st 3 weeks because of our country of New Zealand now experiencing troubles caused by omicron) on the 18th of February but I'll provide updates to it about the results along with the upcoming 2022 Six Nations season when I post this blog that I'm doing & about to post it on St Patrick's Day 2022 but the Six Nations is back next week where Wales will have a chance to defend their title after their successful campaign last year (They won the championship last year after Scotland defeated France with South African born Scotsman Duhan van der Merwe crossed over for the winning try but didn't claim the grand slam as they lost to the French) but their main challengers who are looking to dethrone the Welsh are England who are the favourites in the competition due to being ranked the top northern hemisphere side in the rugby world & are looking to regain the crown that they won in 2020 (Which was a corona virus impacted year) as well as Ireland (It's been 4 years since the Irish last triumphed the Six Nations in 2018 where they had to beat England to achieve the Grand Slam in England on St Patrick's Day) & hosts of next years Rugby World Cup France (Who have never won the Six Nations championship in 12 years way back in 2010) could be the dark horses of the tournament after both sides triumphed over the All Blacks during the end of year rugby tests (1st it was Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin followed by the French at the Stade de France (Which will host the final of the 2023 RWC (They once hosted a final before way back in 2007 where South Africa emerged triumphant over the English (They would meet again in another final most recently in 2019 where the South Africans once again manipulated England in Yokohama in Japan in a repeat of 2007 by ending the utter dominance of the All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup (It was the English who terrorised New Zealand in that infamous semi) when they won their record equaling 3rd RWC title as I mentioned before in my previous blogs (And it has been countless blogs since the Springboks famously took victory at the most recent Rugby World Cup in 2019) in Saint-Denis a week later) last year.
And finally that I probably think that I'm in danger because of COVID-19 omicron with about 400 to 800 confirmed cases that I heard like last night & this morning (There was 2 here in Whanganui) when doctor Tania Phillips stayed at our place (And we're still on red under the corona virus framework here in New Zealand for the time being since late last month meaning that the change had become permanent & is likely to stay that way but if we remained on orange, the figures would have been easily high but it's getting worse due to the growing numbers).
So that is my 455th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 3rd of this year, stay safe & one love (And until next time it is bye from us), viva Ukraine.
P.S. And I would like to give a shout out to Cathey Middelplaats who I have not seen her along with Paige (She has a birthday next month on the 5th of April), the other John Mitchell, Nico & Luca since 2016 (The day after me, Pops & Jon Coburn went to my only live All Blacks rugby test match which was against Wales) by wishing her a 55th birthday yesterday but unfortunately, her son, one of Paige's brothers & one of my male cousins, Luca, is now a diabetic just like the now late Inga Tuigamala who passed away from it.
