Well, I've been telling wrestling stories about both The Rock & Shawn Michaels using the Sharpshooter made famous by Bret 'The Hitman' Hart as a signature move but the Rock's most iconic Rock Bottom finishing move that he had was in 2003 at Wrestlemania XIX when he was able to break the stranglehold against Stone Cold Steve Austin (The WWE hall of famer who was inducted by his old rival, the chairman of the WWE, Mr McMahon (Their rivalry between the Texas rattlesnake & Mr McMahon began in 1998 where Austin defeated the Heartbreak Kid of Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XIV for the WWE title (That rivalry ended in 2003 where Stone Cold had to retire) billed as the battle of Texas (Steve Austin hails from Victoria, Texas while Michaels comes from San Antonio in Texas) after losing on both occasions to him at Wrestlemania when he delivered not one, not two but 3 rock bottoms to Austin for the win meaning that Austin had to retire from wrestling through a serious head & neck injury that he had in 1997 but Randy Orton's most iconic RKO moment was against Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 31 in 2015 where Rollins (Who had to bounce back by successfully cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE title against the likes of both his ex-Shield stablemate Roman Reigns & the Beast Incarnate who was WWE champion at the time of Brock Lesnar in the main event) was setting up for his finishing move called the Stomp until Orton reversed it & went for the mid air RKO with success by picking up the victory & has been touted as the best RKO from out of nowhere ever (And special but honourable mentions like several WWE superstars that used The Rock's Rock Bottom finisher such as Becky Lynch (The Manhandle Slam as she calls it), Booker T (He uses his own version but is called the Book End), Brock Lesnar, Edge, Goldberg, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin & Triple H but there's also a few WWE superstars that use Randy Orton's RKO such as AJ Styles, Edge & John Cena).
And the Winter Olympics is finally away in Beijing in China as New Zealand win our historic 1st ever gold medal by the young 20 year old of Zoi Sadowski-Synott in the women's snowboarding slopestyle event (It took about 70 years for our 1st gold medal at the winter Olympics but it was in 1992 that the New Zealanders brought home our 1st medal with the famous skiier of Annelise Coberger won silver in Albertville, France 30 years ago way back in 1992) but she picked up silver in the women's big air after a fall in the 3rd run in the final then the big headlines in Beijing 2022 is bronze medalist from Pyeongchang in 2018 of Nico Porteous becoming New Zealand's 1st golden boy at the winter Olympics (And that's the 2nd time New Zealand have won a gold medal at the Olympic winter games (Sadowski-Synott was the 1st) when he won the freestyle skiing event meaning that New Zealand had our successful winter Olympics campaign with 2 golds & a silver to cap off in style here in Beijing.
And there is a new addition to my favourite foods list along with both Italian (Pasta has always been my favourite but I like pizza) & Indian (Although chicken tikka masala has always been my favourite but I like butter chicken by the way) which is Japanese because sushi is always my favourite Japanese food but I like bento boxes as well (And Japanese is added on my favourite foods list in 3rd behind Indian & Italian which is always on top) compared to the Italians who are football lovers as well as the Indians are avid cricket followers & of course the Japanese are always sumo wrestling lovers.
And it's been nearly 23 years since I 1st starting to remember what year it was when I was at school & it was in 1999 (Well, my memory is better than Pops because 1991 was my year of birth 8 years before I started to remember what year it was) but we're now into 2022 because I'm now a 30 year old (I'll be 31 on the 7th of June this year).
And reports from the final round of the Six Nations that Italy pulled off one of the upsets against Wales in Cardiff by the barest of margins for their 1st win in the Six Nations since 2015 against Scotland then France (Who are now established themselves as a world class rugby team (Especially their star halfback & last year's world rugby player of the year of Antoine Dupont) after their Six Nations triumph this year, a year out until the Rugby World Cup) would finally win a grand slam & the Six Nations title after 12 long years after they outmuscled England (Who were without their injured skipper Owen Farrell) in Saint-Denis then Ireland win a triple crown after they manipulated Scotland in Dublin.
And in tennis news such as Ash Barty, the 3 time grand slam champion, calls time on her tennis career due to the travelling that couldn't fit her as I heard a comment from Carole last night.
And it has been a year since I bought the Xbox One S console at EB Games as a tribute to Buck (My late pet dog that I used to love until he got put down for 2 separate dog biting incidents (Including one on a mower lady & the other on my dear half brother Jansen (I was in disbelief & nearly got heartbroken when Jans had his near death experience (And it must have been the scent that they picked up as a result) as well as he got traumatized by that incident (It is very similar to my late brother Wiremu's cot death in 1993) & has had mental health issues since (He had both vehicle accidents which is one by a scooter near a school grounds last year & the other was a car which fell onto a ditch also last year) since January last year) because that was the reason why I started playing on the Xbox One was the Forza Motorsport 7 game (I've got 4 games now, such as Forza 7 as I mentioned before as well as the 1st 2 original Star Wars Battlefront games (Both the 2004 version of Battlefront & the 2005 version of Battlefront II (Which is by far, the best Star Wars game I have ever played in my whole life & I was channeling my inner Star Wars geek the other day since I own both the movies (Which is the Star Wars original (Part of the pre-Disney era), prequel (Also part of the pre-Disney era along with the original trilogy) & sequel (Part of the Disney era since its acquisition by Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012) trilogies) & games (Both the 1st 2 Battlefront games that I mentioned before & now the Star Wars Jedi Knight games on the PS4) since) via the original Xbox & a Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown game via Xbox 360 (I played it on the PS3 before).
And finally that there was a story that Quade Cooper immediately blew the kick off by kicking it out on the full at the beginning of the game when he started the match with a mistake during the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi final match between the 2 great Trans-Tasman rivals of the Wallabies & the All Blacks (The AB's won in the end & had finally beaten the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup after losing to them on both occasions in the semifinal in 1991 & 2003 to set up a final showdown with France (Who defeated Wales by the barest of margins in the other semi after Welsh skipper Sam Warburton's moment of madness when he got red carded by an Irish rugby referee of French origin, Alain Rolland (Who never got to referee in a final but South African Craig Joubert (Who refereed in the 2nd semi of the 2011 tournament between Australia & New Zealand) got the nod with Rolland being overlooked) for a lifting tackle on French winger Vincent Clerc which was deemed to be a highly controversial decision made by the ref (And it was described by Nick Mullins in commentary as one of the most controversial decisions in the history of the RWC but I thought Warburton got yellow carded but it was a send off offence instead (But Wales could've won if Warburton didn't get the red card because he could've spent 10 minutes in the bin) but the match will always be remembered when world class All Black second-five Ma'a Nonu had a blinder when he scored an absolute scorcher for New Zealand's one & only try of the match after AB's fullback Israel Dagg (Who also had a blinder as well) set it up) but there are a lot of storylines to ponder in next years Rugby World Cup in France where the host nation are looking to end 36 years of hurt after reaching the final 3 times but lost on all 3 occasions while the defending champions South Africa (The world's toughest rugby playing nation to play against by far, due to their overwhelmingly dominant forward pack since they won the last RWC in Japan) who are hoping to become the 2nd rugby playing nation (After the AB's in 2015 after previously winning it in 2011 but will the ongoing success story as well as the dynasty & the age of the Springboks (Who have their key number 1 player Duane Vermeulen (The toughest player that former Argentina captain who is now playing for the Crusaders of Pablo Matera had ever faced) in the team (And there is another one who is an incredibly, exceptionally good player which is Boks second rower Eben Etzebeth (Part of the twin towers of the South African rugby locking stocks along with Lood de Jager) as well as a truly inspirational young leader of South Africa in the form of the last Rugby World Cup winning captain of Siya Kolisi & of course, the world class hooker who took over from Dane Coles is Malcolm Marx (He mainly is a bench player since the South African selectors prefer Bongi Mbonambi as a starting hooker) after he performed so well in a dramatic come from behind victory against the AB's last year on the Gold Coast in Australia during the last round of the Rugby Championship) at the Rugby World Cup continue if they win?) to successfully defend the RWC after their highly successful campaign at the most recent tournament in 2019 & to become the most successful rugby playing nation in Rugby World Cup history with 4 because they are on 3 (They won in 1995, 2007 & 2019 most recently as I mentioned before) at the moment along with New Zealand then England who are expecting to go one better than in 2019 & end a 20 year drought since they last triumphed in 2003 as well as the All Blacks are looking to return to glory after our failed bid of winning a 3rd straight RWC in the semifinal against England (Who had their 1st win against New Zealand at a Rugby World Cup in the semifinal in 2019 (When the English made all the correct maneuvers & it was no mistakes that time of going through to the final) after losing to them on 3 occasions in 1991 (In the opening game of the tournament), 1995 (Including the late All Black Jonah Lomu showing his class when he famously scored 4 tries (Including one when he ran English player Mike Catt over to score in one of the historic but memorable, iconic moments of the RWC) en route to the final) & 1999 (It was Jeff Wilson who scored the opening try then the late Jonah Lomu perhaps in which he mesmerized the English defence to go over for the try) in 2019 (And are seeking for our attempt along with the South Africans to win a 4th Rugby World Cup (We won it 3 times in 1987, 2011 & 2015) to become the most successful rugby playing nation in Rugby World Cup history) & of course, Australia, who haven't triumphed since 1999 & are hoping to end a 24 year hoodoo, will be looking for their 3rd RWC crown (And what about Ireland? Well, they can end their quarterfinal jinx (Their best result was always the quarterfinal in 1987 (Against Australia), 1991 (Australia yet again), 1995 (It was France who beat them), 2003 (It was the French once again), 2011 (It was against Wales in which the Welsh dominated), 2015 (Argentina were the ones who pummeled them) & 2019 (And of course the All Blacks who smashed them) Because they have never reached both the semis & the final before at the Rugby World Cup (And is one of 21 nations (Including Argentina (Their best finish was a 3rd place in 2007 in which they walloped the French the last time France had hosted the RWC (They hosted it along with some matches being played in both Scotland & Wales), Canada (They reached the quarterfinal in 1991 when they went down to New Zealand), Cote D'Ivoire, Fiji (Their best result was the quarterfinals in both 1987 (Including that they had to qualify for the quarterfinal by the highest number of tries scored) & 2007 (In which they edged the Welsh to book a quarterfinal place), France (I've mentioned them before that they appeared in the final 3 times but failed to win each one of them), Georgia, Italy (The only tier 1 rugby nation yet to appear in the knockout stages), Japan (Their best result was the quarterfinal stage in 2019 in which the eventual champions the Springboks decimated them after infamously losing to the Japanese (Who made history back in 2015 when they drilled the South Africans in rugby's biggest boil over or should I say the greatest upset of all time in international rugby (And I mentioned James 'Buster' Douglas's win over 'Iron' Mike Tyson in a heavyweight championship boxing bout in Tokyo, Japan 1990 in one of sports greatest upsets as well as the miracle on ice when the strictly amateur US team pulled off the grand daddy of them all as they famously outplayed the fully professional Soviet Union side at Lake Placid in New York during the winter Olympics in 1980 in my blog that I did in November last year) in the Brighton miracle in 2015), Namibia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Samoa (They appeared at the quarterfinal stages in both 1991 & 1995 under the name Western Samoa), Scotland (They were semifinalists in 1991 in which they finished 4th after losing to the AB's in the 3rd & 4th place playoff), Spain, Tonga, the United States, Uruguay, Wales (3rd was their best finish in 1987 after beating the Wallabies in Rotorua during the 3rd & 4th place playoff game with a match winning sideline conversion by Welsh player Paul Thorburn) & Zimbabwe) that have appeared at a Rugby World Cup but have never won a tournament before (And 4 nations have triumphed at a RWC before such as Australia, England, New Zealand & South Africa).
So that is my 456th blog of the year 2022 (MMXXII) & my 4th of this year, stay safe & one love, viva Ukraine.
P.S. And I would like to give a huge shoutout to my dear female cousin of Paige Holly Williams (I once told her that she is a fan of decorations & she always listens to any music a lot especially the radio stations that she has heard according to the email that I sent to her compared to my female Malaysian best friend of Sophia Ong (Who currently lives in Upper Hutt now along with her Welsh husband & Shaia (Her son now because he was born last year) being a self-proclaimed fan of Final Fantasy (Her favourite character is always Rikku) along with Johnella) who is turning 28 10 days ago to wish her a happy belated birthday so best wishes (And I haven't seen her along with her mother & my biological aunty Cathey Middelplaats (Who still lives in Petone with her husband & her 2 sons) since 2016 (That was a day after me, Pops & John Coburn watched the All Blacks test against Wales at Sky Stadium (Known as Westpac Stadium at the time) in Wellington) as well as her step father the other John Mitchell & her brothers Nico & Luca (Who Pops told me last month that he is a diabetic now) but I mentioned in my previous blogs that both alternative rock & heavy metal are my favourite rock or metal music genres but I like nu metal especially from those big 3 bands such as Korn (One of Sophia's favourite bands along with 3 Doors Down, Nickelback & Linkin Park), Limp Bizkit & Linkin Park (That's one of Sophia Ong's bands that she used to like during her UCOL days because she was a huge fan of it) as well as grunge like Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam & Soundgarden & also that the new Transmission Gully route that Dad & Raewyn had driven up before has opened up when I told Pops today.
