The Real World's Championship #RoyalRumble

 

[VIDEO] I vaguely remember this as I anticipate this year's Royal Rumble of which overtime Ric Flair participated in his prime. This clip was likely on WWF's Wrestling Challenge where Bobby Heenan shows of the then WCW/NWA World Heavyweight Title or the Big Gold Belt. As a kid starting off watching wrestling I didn't view this as particularly shocking, but I knew the separation between the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling at the time.

The drama is that Flair was going through negotiations with WCW back in 1991. His stature with the company was fading owing whatever was going on with then WCW President Jim Herd. There is a clip out there where Herd strips Flair of the Big Gold Belt, but one problem. Flair wanted his deposit back per some form of stipulation, Herd never gave him his deposit back and according to Flair the Big Gold Belt got sent to the owner of the World Wrestling Federation Vince McMahon.

I wonder if this was controversial. Perhaps if a financial obligation wasn't met then this definitely made since, though certainly it has to be controversial since well this belt represents another wrestling company. I understand that at some point during this gimmick they started using a different title belt and sometimes they actually pixelated it adding to its credibility. The creative folks at WWF made this work and Flair remained with the company for two years before returning to WCW. And Flair had a couple of runs as WWF champion during that run.

I have to add the Alundra Blayze aka Madusa angle, this I don't really remember she came to WCW and threw into a trash can the WWF Women's Championship. That was controversial for sure and Vince McMahon didn't want a repeat of that so that's where the Montreal Screwjob comes into play by 1997. McMahon didn't want Bret Hart to take the WWF championship with him onto WCW TV and especially after he refused to do business with Shawn Michaels.

I think they chose the right promo person with Bobby Heenan to begin selling this angle. And it's sad that all the three men you see in this brief clip are all gone. Starting with Gorilla Monsoon, then Heenan, and then Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

The Reddit revolt against Wall Street #Meme

 Meme's are allowed here, I don't think I have limits on the subjects of meme's here. Especially those that sort of make a statement about real life as illustrated here. Don't understand, read this post over at "the blog".

For the record, Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, and Jamie Lee Curtis is one my favorite all time movies. The funniest scenes took place on Amtrak's Metroliner train. :P 

July 2016: Hollywood/Beverly Hills Tour

 

[VIDEO] This is the video I promised last nite. This is a reworked and edit video of that time I went on that Hollywood/Beverly Hills Tour in July 2016. I changed the music and added some photos of that tour and it was very fun & entertaining day to see the sites I rarely see. Perhaps see the homes of famous performers and even at one point our driver stopped to speak to a paparazzi. 

As it is winter right now in Chicago, heavy snow fell and it's very cold out it's great look back when the weather was much nicer and warmer. Yes for this video we are talking about California, however, here in Chicago the sun and warm weather will be back before we know it.

Enjoy.

WWE Network purchased by NBC

 Here's a tweet from none other than Stephanie McMahon who's touting this new development. Ultimately WWE Network programming will become part of the offerings to NBC's Peacock service. And I understand the price for joining Peacock will be much lower than the WWE Network's often touted price of $9.99

Excited for @peacockTV to become the new home of @WWENetwork in the U.S., helping to bring premium @WWE content (including @WrestleMania!!!) to a much broader audience and to provide the @WWEUniverse with a wide offering of live sports, news, film & TV! https://t.co/MPzcxjL3IV

— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) January 25, 2021

The Arn Show on Tom Magee

 

[VIDEO] Arn Anderson is a legend in the business and he had his match with Mega Man back in the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s. Mega Man Magee was noted as a future star however as Anderson noted Magee was limited in his ability as a wrestler. He fizzled out long before I started watching the then WWF.

As Anderson also noted the great match that Magee had with Bret "The Hitman" Hart was noted as a great match although since Magee was limited it was probably The Hitman who carried most of the match. Made sure to make Mega Man look very good which was his role. As it turned out The Hitman would be the next big star in WWE. You can watch this match on the WWE Network.

PREVIOUSLY Holy Grail: Lost match between Tom Magee vs. Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Virtual Railfan: Tucson, Arizona

 There's a new webcam from Virtual Railfan which you can enjoy on YouTube from Tucson, Arizona. Here you will see Amtrak's Sunset Limited stop on there east-west runs. Here's an introduction [VIDEO]

And here's the webcam itself a PTZ (point, tilt, & zoom - heh I learned through the above video what that meant for the first time). It's cool to see what goes on in this part of the state of Arizona since Tucson is further south. [VIDEO]

This is a one-month demo so if nothing else if you go to Virtual Railfan's website you will be able to view the live action there. Though even if Tucson doesn't stay on YouTube on a permanent basis it might be up as cam of the week every now and then.

Here's the Amtrak Sunset Limited schedule and another interesting note that also attached to this train is a section of the Texas Eagle. Texas Eagle has a section that would continue from Chicago through San Antonio, Texas and west into Los Angeles, California. That section would be attached to the Sunset Limited in San Antonio and send those passengers on their way west.

I believe I shared that example on here once of such a trip.

UIC - Halsted: December 2007

 

[VIDEO] Shot this video waiting for a train back into downtown from my Sony MiniDV camcorder. I see those old 2200 series cars with those "blinker" or what I call bus-style doors. Those cars were taken out of service during the 2010 and you would usually see them on the Congress-Douglas-O'Hare CTA blue line. Though at this point the Douglas route would become part of the CTA pink line which would be routed into the Loop Elevated tracks.

The UIC - Halsted stop is actually near the University of Illinois at Chicago and into the Greektown neighborhood along Halsted Street.