What better time to start looking ahead at who the WWE Royal Rumble 2012 winner could be? With only two months to go, I think it is fairly easy to grasp what the lay of the land will be in January. Let’s break it down Vegas style and see who has the best chance of challenging for gold at WrestleMania 28!

I thought I’d have some fun and take a look at the chances that each top prospect has of winning the Royal Rumble using Vegas odds. Of course take these odds for what you will as I had The Rock listed as the biggest long shot of being the WrestleMania 27 Guest Host. Nobody ever accused me of being a savvy handicapper.

Of course things can and likely will change from now until the Rumble in terms of injuries, card placement, and even champions. However, to be fair I left current WWE champions CM Punk and Daniel Bryan off of the list.

John Cena - The obvious number one choice for any Royal Rumble win would have to be the former WWE champion John Cena. Surprisingly Cena has only won one Rumble, but the landscape has changed over the years. I think Cena wins the Rumble, defeats the WWE champion before WrestleMania 28, and defends the championship against The Rock.

Odds: -115

The Rock - Why not? The WWE could really throw the universe a curveball here by entering The Rock in the Rumble and having him win. What would happen with the John Cena match? Does he win and take his WWE championship match early (like Cena ..click here to read more

We are just days away from what many call the “number two” WWE pay per view of the year, the Royal Rumble 2012. This year’s Rumble will officially kick off WrestleMania 28 season with the winner getting a shot at the champion of their choice in Miami on April 1.

The road to WrestleMania will officially kick off on Sunday as one man will begin his quest to challenge for WWE gold at the big show in Miami. The 30-man Royal Rumble match will be accompanied by a handful of matches, one particularly that has an excellent chance at stealing the show.

CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE championship with Special Guest referee John Laurinaitis

These two guys have slowly produced one of the most fun series of matches since the Christian vs. Randy Orton rivalry last summer. I have never been a big Dolph fan but he has really turned me around in recent weeks. He is red hot right now and the prospect of he and Punk getting more time than their RAW matches is something that appeals greatly to me.

The big story here is that the WWE EVP of Talent Relations, John Laurinaitis is expected to screw Punk. He already told Punk flat out that this was his plan, while Punk on the other hand has threatened to beat him up if that goes down. I would expect some kind of chicanery here or at least a few blatant attempts to screw the champion.

I’d love to see Dolph win the title here. I ..click here to read more

One of the most fun parts of the WWE Royal Rumble are the surprise entrants. Some years have been better than others, but generally WWE fans are treated to a legend or two making a grand return. The 2012 Rumble should be no different.

Last year’s Rumble surprise entrants were two of the most exciting in awhile. Kevin Nash and Booker T returned to the WWE as surprise Rumblers, fresh off of their TNA Wrestling contracts. The crowd reactions to both were two of my favorite Royal Rumble 2011 memories.

I wanted to take a quick look at some surprise entrants for the 2012 Rumble. I tried to keep my choices limited to guys that could actually return to the Rumble. So someone who is under a contract elsewhere or medically unable to perform won’t make the list. So with that said, let’s make some predictions and try and narrow down the list of possible surprise WWE Rumble participants.

Christian - This was an easy one and probably the most likely to happen of anyone on the list. Christian has been out of action for several months due to injury. Reports are that the former WWE and TNA champion is ready to go and will be a surprise at this year’s event. Christian has always had a loyal fan following so it wouldn’t shock me to see the Peep Show get a standing ovation.

Roddy Piper - The rowdy WWE Hall of Fame wrestler is a veteran of the Royal Rumble, yet has never won one. Piper didn’t participate in many during his heyday so his participation has only been limited to a ..click here to read more

The latest issue of the Wrestling Observer newsletter reports the list of planned top WrestleMania 28 matches. There are no real surprises to astute fans that follow WWE news on the Internet, yet it is confirmation of a pretty solid WrestleMania 28 card.

Keep in mind that anything can change from now until WrestleMania 28 thanks to injuries or simply a change of heart by the WWE creative department. That said, theses matches tend to stick by this point with the exception of a slight change or two. So with that said, let’s take a look at the WrestleMania 28 card as reported by Dave Meltzer.

WrestleMania 28 confirmed matches
John Cena vs. The Rock
Triple H vs. The Undertaker
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
Shaquille O’Neal vs. The Big Show
WWE world heavyweight championship match
WWE Divas match
WWE Money in the Bank

That makes for seven matches on what is generally a 10-match show. You could probably take a good guess as to who the Money in the Bank participants will be once the Royal Rumble finishes up and the WWE title matches are set. Meltzer also reports that Sin Cara is planning to return for WrestleMania. The original plan awhile back was a Sin Cara vs. Rey Mysterio match but Mysterio’s status is in doubt due to injury.

On paper it looks like a pretty decent show. The top three matches should be solid. Shaq ..click here to read more

Nearly fourteen years ago, The Rock turned heel and joined Vince McMahon’s Corporation Stable, in what was a shocking turn at the 1998 Survivor Series.  There are many similarities in the interaction between the Rock and Vince McMahon that you can point out in the feud between CM Punk and John Lauranitis.

In 1998, The Rock’s popularity propelled him to the WWF Championship. The Rock cut by far the best promos in the company, which quickly got over with the fans. The Rock’s increasing popularity and incredible fan reaction, effectively turned him into a baby face character, and he began to feud with Mr. McMahon.

A double turn occurred at Survivor Series, when The Rock defeated then-heel Mankind in the finals of the “Deadly Game” tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. At the end of the match, in a parody of the Montreal Screwjob, The Rock applied a Sharpshooter on Mankind.

CM Punk ended the June 27, 2011, Monday Night RAW with a historic, “shoot” promo that had the WWE Universe and internet insiders in a frenzy. Everyone was debating if it was a product of CM Punk airing out dirty laundry at the end of his contract or if it was a planned work, to start the often used superstar-authority storyline.  CM Punk name dropped Vince McMahon, John Laurinatis, HHH, and Stephanie McMahon to name a few, all individuals within the WWE Corporate Ladder.

With a Royal Rumble heel turn and alliance with John Laurinaitis, Punk can finally achieve some of the demands he was craving in his 2011 RAW promo. As a Corporate Champion he could become the face ..click here to read more

It has been a whirlwind of activity lately for the world’s largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion. The UFC continues to start 2012 with a roar of activity this weekend with their return to network television as the UFC presents UFC on FOX 2 from Chicago, Illinois. The main card features a trio of fights, capped off by Light Heavyweight and Middleweight title eliminator bouts. A late injury to former main event fighter Mark Munoz caused some card-shuffling, but many would argue that this has only made the card more exciting with more marketable bouts.

In the main event of the evening “Sugar” Rashad Evans continues his never-ending quest towards former teammate and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones when he takes on Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis. The co-main event of the evening sees a battle between two trash talking experts as Chael Sonnen battles Michael “The Count” Bisping. The final scheduled bout for the main card features former Middleweight contender Demian Maia taking on fast-rising prospect Chris Weidman. The undercard broadcast on Fuel TV features eight more bouts, several of which have serious potential for fireworks. But enough talking about it, let’s get right into breaking down these fights.

Preliminary Card Bout (Facebook): Middleweight Bout: Chris Camozzi vs. Dustin Jacoby

Chris “Kamikaze” Camozzi is a 25-year-old fighter from the Factory X Muay Thai and MMA Gym in Lakewood, Colorado. Camozzi is a former competitor on the eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. Camozzi is a well-rounded fighter whose best strength is probably his grit and determination. Camozzi is a very workmanlike fighter, his striking is technically sound, but he doesn’t really possess KO ..click here to read more

The Super Bowl opponents are set. The two teams that will face each other for the Lombardi Trophy at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on February 5, 2012 are the New England Patriots, and the New York Giants. It is a rematch of Super Bowl 42 where the Giants defeated the then undefeated Patriots in a monumental upset.

Through the next two weeks, the so called experts will be debating who is going to win. NFL Network will be showing starting this Saturday, all the Super Bowls. Of course, highlights of Super Bowl 42 will be played, particularly that David Tyree (who is out of the league) catch ad nauseum.

I will do a Super Bowl prediction/preview blog later. This blog is going to be about all the odds and ends coming out of the AFC and NFC Championship games that the national media (Fox Sports, ESPN, Profootballtalk) is making a big fuss over. There is a lot of stuff being said, and mountains being made out of molehills, and now a strangle backlash against one of the QB that is going on that I wanted to put my two cents in.

I will start with some of the complaining by the media, specifically Jason Whitlock who wrote in his Foxsports.com column, that the “best teams didn’t win, ” and “flukey plays decided the outcomes.” http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/AFC-Championship-Game-NFC-Championship-Game-were-big-letdowns-012412 Let’s see, being a horse racing fan, I know that anything can happen once those starting gates spring open. Sometimes the favorite doesn’t win. That is true, but I don’t think that happened here.

In the AFC Championship game, it should not have come to Cundiff’s foot. The Ravens scored only 20 points. The Ravens , much like the 2006 ..click here to read more

-My first running diary for pro wrestling since TNA Sacrifice 2010 nearly scarred me for life. However, much like Jake Roberts’ demons, I refuse to relent and I don’t go away that easily. No, I am here. And for the seven of you that read my work and get enjoyment out of it, I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!

-Unlike last year, instead of a four man crew, it’s been halved. Dave hasn’t had the temerity to watch wrestling since his hero, Bret Hart, staggered like a zombie at WrestleMania; whereas Rob has a case of the flu so bad, he’s been hacking up chunks of green. And we all thought he’d been watching TNA’s best of 2010. So it’s just brother Josh and I at his shack, and that means less questions from Rob (“When did Kane shave his head?!?” “….the first Bush administration….”)

-So we’re live in Boston for the 2011 WWE Royal Rumble, and we’re in HD! That never happens! Is this a first for WWE? Michael Cole rips off Brent Musberger with “You’re looking LIVE…..” No word if he’s going to cameo in The Waterboy just to hang out with Dan Fouts’ beard.

-Oh wow, Edge is jerking the curtain, defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Dolph Ziggler, accompanied by Vickie Guerrero and her surprisingly attractive ass. Seriously, if they didn’t give her the evil “Wicked Queen” make-up job, she’d be the third or fourth hottest woman in WWE behind Maryse, Kaitlyn, and Heath Slater.

-Vickie gets on the crowd’s nerves by coming out and reiterating the entire “NO SPEAR” angle for the crowd. ..click here to read more

It’s been over six month since Ring of Honor was purchased by the Sinclair Broadcasting group from Cary Silkin and the landscape & image of ROH has changed in the eyes of the wrestling fans over that short period of time. Many wondered if ROH would change with the ownership move and it clearly has as it molded itself into a wrestling company like the WWE or TNA & not a company like an ECW. Is that a good thing for ROH? Yes it most certainly is but it is no longer your “grandfather’s indy promotion” anymore either.

Whether you are a sports fan, music fan or in our case, a wrestling fan, you love to be the first to know something or see something/someone. Sports fans want to be the first to see a superstar in the making as I still talk about to this day the time I watched the Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice tear it up against my high school football team before he was in the pros. Music fans talk about all the latest “underground” music out there and who you need to listen to because they are a future star. In wrestling it’s the same thing as you want to see a talent before he or she becomes noticed at a larger wrestling audience and that was something Ring of Honor offered to you for almost 10 years.

Ring of Honor was part of the big independent wrestling boom of the early 2000s after ECW & WCW closed their doors and the WWE was the only game left in town. As time wore on many of those independents from that time ..click here to read more

There is a revolution going on right now in the NFL and it will affect your fantasy football draft. The tight end position has been redefined and if you are planning on waiting until the later rounds to draft your tight end, you will be left in the dust.

It is one thing for one team to take a position or formation and surprise opponents with a new wrinkle or two in the playbook. Some savvy fantasy players will see through the smoke screen and recognize it for the fad that it is. Others will jump all over it in next year’s draft only to realize that defenses have adjusted and defenses have solved last year’s puzzle. In my opinion, the evolution of the tight end in 2011 is no fad and can’t be ignored in next season’s draft.

I have been playing fantasy football for six years, (a rookie in some veteran’s eyes) and it has become something of a sick obsession. I start preparing for next year’s draft the day after the season ends, sometimes even in mid-season. So it should be of no surprise to you that I have been preparing next season’s draft for two weeks and one position that I keep wrestling with is tight end.

I played in three leagues last season, went to the championship game in all three, and won two of the Super Bowls. As excited as I was to win, it quickly dawned on me that I will be drafting last next season in two of those leagues, second to last in another. That is certainly not an advantageous season to say the least.

So I started mapping out my drafts and I immediately recognized a familiar dilemma, the tight end. ..click here to read more