Bitesize: #8

It's been four months since I did a Bitesize post. I don't try to do them too often, I'd rather do full articles, listings or reviews than to mix a few topics together into one post. I had intended on doing an article on my thoughts on The Undertaker vs Triple H for Wrestlemania again but it's getting a little late now and I haven't even started. But that will be a starting point for this Bitesize post.

In a nutshell (I would have delved more into this if it was the full article, but keeping short), have mixed feelings about Undertaker/HHH Part III. It's not about the quality of the match, but rather seeing the same spectacle yet again.

I loved Undertaker/HHH last year. It was fresh, the feud made sense and it was a cracking match. John Cena/CM Punk at Money in the Bank aside it was the match of 2011. I absolutely loved it. But this time round, what can they do that's different? Rumours are high that Shawn Michaels might be involved this year, probably as special guest referee. But why? What is to gain either way? It will be a great match yes, but for storyline purposes I just don't see why it should happen. If Shawn Michaels is involved as referee, it's bad no matter who wins. If Undertaker wins, and extends his Wrestlemania streak to 20-0 the streak still stands, and then what? I don't know if The Undertaker is actually planning on retiring if he hits 20-0, but if he is, why doesn't he have his last match against an up and coming guy? Or someone he hasn't wrestled at 'Mania before? And if Triple H wins, and the streak ends, then it makes Triple H look bad, for having to use Shawn Michaels in his corner to end the streak. And would The Undertaker retire then? Wouldn't it taint the streak a little this way? I don't know. I'm just not a fan of Taker/HHH Part III. If it happens it'll be a phenomenal match, quite likely the match of the card in terms of quality, but it just doesn't feel that good this time round, having done it last year and the storyline seeming a little stale.

What would I do instead? There is only one man that, schedules, contracts and agreements permitted, that would grab my attention for this match this year, and that is Brock Lesnar. I don't know how available Brock Lesnar is for a match at Wrestlemania, and if he would agree to it, but if it could happen, the WWE need to do everything in their power to MAKE it happen. Lesnar is finished in MMA, and it's possible he could come back to the WWE. He's never said never for coming back, and it would be a great pay-check for him if he came back. It would further boost the PPV in terms of star-power, proof of this is in Lesnar being the best box office draw in MMA by some distance in his time there. And of course, last year, an altercation occurred between Taker and Lesnar when Taker watched Lesnar lose his MMA bout against Cain Velasquez. It all depends on how available Lesnar is, and if he'd agree a match so soon. I reckon Lesnar could put on a good match at Wrestlemania. It's enough time between his last MMA fight, and with wrestling naturally being a lot less dangerous than MMA is, I'm sure The Undertaker, with his vast experience can protect him well enough for Lesnar not to get legitimately injured in the match. Lesnar is only 34 and was a phenomenal wrestler before he left the WWE, I reckon he could still go, and really well.

If Lesnar isn't available who else should take his place? I really don't know. For me, The Undertaker, at 19-0, and being so banged up that he can only have what seems like one match per year at the moment, he really needs to retire soon. It would have been better if The Undertaker took the year off, and then come back for one more match next year against John Cena. That is if Lesnar isn't available of course. John Cena has his hands tied with The Rock, so it's not an option this year. The Undertaker could have been inducted next year into the Hall of Fame, and Cena could challenge him when announced for induction. Hopefully Cena would be heel by then (we can all dream) and it would be a great match, completely fresh, and it would be The Undertaker's retirement match. Brock Lesnar and John Cena for me are the only two people who haven't challenged The Undertaker at Wrestlemania who are credible enough to take on the challenge.

Onto football now and Liverpool are in a good bout of form. We're taking on Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow and with Luis Suarez back as well, it's a big chance to make a big statement against the team currently in third place. I'll cover that match tomorrow on this site. Chelsea just drew today, and what with Arsenal and Newcastle winning, a win against Spurs would take us back to sixth, only two points behind Chelsea. It would be three points between the four teams fighting for fourth place, and we need to stay in this pack if we want Champions League football this year. Do I think we can get fourth place? Certainly. But it's really hard with Chelsea and Arsenal to battle against, and with Newcastle still arguably fighting above their weight, we have tough competition and need to continue with this vein of form to get there. I'm telling you now, a Carling Cup trophy and fourth place for me means an excellent season, coming on the back of our torrid season last year. And an FA Cup too? At this stage we can all dream.

As for replacing John Terry for the England captaincy? Steven Gerrard, simple. The man rarely lets the team down and while people might point at the World Cup as reason not to have Gerrard as captain, I think it'd be a tad unfair to put all the responsibility on Stevie G as the reason why England failed in that tournament. England weren't good enough and Germany were phenomenal. It's as simple as that. Rio Ferdinand has took himself out of the running due to the controversy that would occur if he was captain, what with Anton Ferdinand, his brother, being the reason behind John Terry being stripped from the captaincy for the second time. Gerrard has all the credentials and experience. It's the only option, in my opinion.

Onto games now. I just did my second Old School Game Review, reviewing the disappointingly forgotten Speedball 2. It was a great game and for some reason most people seemed to have forgotten about it. You can read that review here. Next on my list of games to review is Plants vs Zombies. I've been playing the PC version for years and recently downloaded the XBox Arcade version, so I'm still unsure what version I'll review. I'll probably compare the both, as there are differences between the two. I'll probably review that in the next week or two.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was released on Friday. When it was announced I was really excited by it. I looked at the trailers and it looked quite interesting. The Japanese reviewed it last month when it was released there and gave it rave reviews. Then it was released in the US a few weeks ago and it got mixed reviews. It's amazing, the difference in opinion between the West and the East when it comes to RPG games. I've got to be honest, based on how many reviews I've read on the game from the States and the UK, it seems to be the same issues that we have with the game here in the West. I don't think I'm going to get the game for a while yet, mainly because I can't afford it, but also because the issues with the game are relevant and put me off slightly. I'll still get it, I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan and I've got pretty much every offline release they have done. I'll eventually get it, and of course, review it when I'm ready to. It will be a very long time from now mind. If you haven't' seen it already, I reviewed the original Final Fantasy XIII on this site, you can read that here.

In music, I'll be reviewing Florence and the Machine's "Ceremonials", probably on Wednesday. Also planned is Kasabian's "Velociraptor!" album, and PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake". I did the latest in my monthly "Yearly Music Review" on Wednesday just gone, reviewing the year 1993. You can read that here, it's a good read on what was a difficult year to review. I've been preparing 1992 recently and it's looking like a fabulous year in comparison. Look forward to reading that at the start of March.

Rumours are high that Marilyn Manson has retracted his February release date of "Born Villain". As I've said a few times, I'm planning a Marilyn Manson tribute on this site. It will begin the day the album comes out, and stretch for two or three weeks, ending in the review of the new album. It's a tribute I've been looking forward to doing, for one of my favourite music artists of all time. If you're a Manson fan I hope you'll love it too. I'm sure you will.

On a personal note, I'm sure you've noticed by now but I appeared on TV two weeks ago. I was "John II" on Winter Wipeout. I had an amazing time, and I documented my entire experience, with going to Argentina, meeting Amanda Byram, seeing how the show is done first hand and attempted the course itself, including the big red balls. To read all about it, in its 31,000 word glory, click here.

I reached 6,000 pageviews in a month for the first time last month. My website has been growing slowly but surely, and I'm really happy with the support I've been getting for it. I put a lot of effort into this and it's what I want to do long term and maybe as a profession one day. Thank you all so much for sharing an interest in what I do. I really appreciate it.

I'll end it on that. I hope you all enjoy your Sunday night and I hope to see you back here tomorrow when I cover the match between Liverpool and Tottenham. Take care!

For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!