The Real Super Bowl Halftime Show

The Super Bowl Halftime Show has almost become as big as the actual game. Over the years, the biggest musical acts in the industry have performed mini concerts on a global stage while the AFC and NFC champions catch their breath before the start of the second half of the game. This year’s musical act is pop rock band Maroon 5. I am not a fan of the band and was most likely going to use the halftime show as a bathroom break and to restock my plate with food. That plan changed when World Wrestling Entertainment announced that they will bring back Halftime Heat this Sunday.

Halftime Heat is a wrestling match that occurs during the halftime show of the Super Bowl. It originated in 1999 when the Rock and Mankind battled for the WWE Championship in a very entertaining “Empty Arena” match. The match was fun to watch, and it allowed football fans to get their wrestling fix on Super Bowl Sunday. With the advent of the WWE Network as well as WWE’s various social media platforms, Halftime Heat is making its glorious return with a six man tag team match that features some of the best that NXT has to offer. The team of Aleister Black, Ricochet and Velveteen Dream will take on NXT Champ Tommaso Ciampa, NXT North American Champ Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. These are some of the best wrestlers that NXT has to offer and some of the most athletic guys in professional wrestling. 

If you are a wrestling fan like myself, make sure you check out Halftime Heat. The 1999 edition was a fun alternative to the halftime show, and this year’s battle between some of NXT’s best is sure to be very entertaining. Hopefully Halftime Heat does well and draws a big enough audience to convince WWE to keep it going for future Super Bowls. 

Royal Rumble 2019 Thoughts

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone shares his thoughts on the 2019 Royal Rumble event.

Sam Wyche Bobblehead Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Cincinnati Bengals Sam Wyche bobblehead.

Way Too Early Wrestlemania Prediction

Please note this was written before Reigns relinquished the Universal Championship and before Ambrose turned heel.

It's a little early to predict the main event of Wrestlemania, but I'm thinking the Shield will have a triple threat match with the Universal Championship on the line. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns have previously faced off in a triple threat match at Battleground 2016 in which Ambrose retained his WWE Championship over his Shield brothers in an exciting main event. That match was worthy of headlining Wrestlemania. It was odd for WWE to relegate it to smaller pay-per-view in the middle of the summer. Wrestlemania 35 will be the stage for the battle of the Shield round two. Here's how.

As I write this, WWE is building the card for Crown Jewel and teasing a Dean Ambrose heel turn. He most recently left Rollins and Reigns in the ring after being pinned by Drew McIntyre in a six-man tag team match that also featured Braun Strowman and Dolph Ziggler. I think Ambrose will turn into a full-fledged heel by the Royal Rumble but no earlier than Survivor Series. 

If it happens at Survivor Series, I can see him snapping should the Shield lose a match or perhaps he costs his team and is the reason they come up short. Either way, he will be the one to break the Shield. He will then battle mainly Seth Rollins through the Royal Rumble while also having a few encounters with Reigns. I think Reigns will be Universal Champion at Wrestlemania, but how will both Ambrose and Rollins join him in the main event? I have two scenarios. 

Option one has Rollins winning the Royal Rumble and putting his main event title shot on the line against Ambrose. The Lunatic Fringe will win the match via nefarious means and steal away Rollins' title match. Rollins will then be added to the match because of how Ambrose won and the Shield will be set up for a triple threat at Wrestlemania. Option two has both Ambrose and Rollins winning the Royal Rumble via a double elimination. Reigns, being the fighting champion that he is, will agree to face both of them at Wrestlemania and the Shield will headline WWE's biggest event of the year.  

The question everybody will be asking is who will win this potential Wrestlemania 35 Shield triple threat match for the Universal Championship? We all know how the crowd reacts to Reigns as an individual star. While I wouldn't put it past WWE to have Reigns walk out with the belt, I feel like WWE will continue to push Reigns as an unstoppable underdog and having him lose the title will allow the company to continue to position Reigns in that role. Rollins has arguably been WWE's best in ring performer throughout 2018, and the crowd adores him. He gets one of the best pops in the company, and he will undoubtedly garner a huge reaction should he win. He's already done that however, as he walked out of Wrestlemania 31 with the WWE Championship. That leaves Ambrose. While all three have been World champs, Ambrose is the only one who has not won the title in a Wrestlemania main event and there would be no better way to solidify Ambrose as the top heel in the business by having him defeat his two former Shield brothers for the Universal Championship in the main event of Wrestlemania 35. 

That's what I think will happen at Wrestlemania. The Shield will implode, Ambrose and Rollins will somehow both get a title shot at Wrestlemania against Reigns, and Ambrose will walk away with the belt. In my option, WWE has been doing a good job on teasing Ambrose's heel turn. It has been a slow build and hopefully the payoff is memorable. Should it lead to a Shield triple threat at the showcase of the immortals, then it could result in some of the best storytelling WWE has ever produced. If this is the route WWE is heading, I cannot wait to watch it play out on television. 

Reds Caravan 2019

With the cold winter season officially upon us and the Cincinnati Bengals missing the playoffs for the third year in a row, there is no better way to get your mind off of the cold or the Bengals blues than the Reds Caravan. The annual event is a great way for members of Reds Country to meet some of their favorite Cincinnati Reds players, broadcasters, front office members, and alumni. Happening from January 17 through January 20, the Reds Caravan will feature four different tours spread across five different states. 

The North Tour will travel across Ohio and feature current players Sal Romano and Cody Reed. The South Tour will travel through Kentucky and Tennessee. The featured players on this tour are Tucker Barnhart and Curt Casali as well as highly touted prospect Taylor Trammell. The East Tour will travel across Ohio and West Virginia and feature Philip Ervin and Jesse Winker. The West Tour will travel across Indiana and feature Eugenio Suarez and newly acquired pitcher Tanner Roark. All four tours will conclude at the Florence Mall on January 20 with a special “Caravan Finale” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In conclusion, the Reds Caravan is great way for Reds fans who live outside of the greater Cincinnati area to meet Reds players and personnel. The caravan tour features autographs, photos, a question and answer session, and a raffle to win tickets to Opening Day. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public. If you love the Redlegs, then I highly recommend you attend one of the stops on the Reds Caravan tour.

Go Redlegs!

Loyola University Ramblers Sister Jean Bobblehead Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a Loyola University Ramblers Sister Jean bobblehead.

The Royal Rumble Winner Is...

The Royal Rumble is a few weeks away and the road to Wrestlemania has officially started. The buildup to WWE's biggest event of the year is usually a fun ride as surprise returns are mixed in with some of the biggest wrestlers being involved in some of the best storylines. One of the storylines that WWE produces every year is who the Royal Rumble winner will challenge at Wrestlemania in a world championship main event match. In my opinion, there is only one person who will outlast 29 other wrestlers and punch his ticket to the main event of the showcase of the immortals. That man is Seth Rollins. 

The architect had a fantastic 2018. Every time he stepped between the ropes, magic seemingly happened. He had excellent match after excellent match and became Monday Night Raw's resident highlight reel. He also became the biggest face on the red brand, garnering huge cheers from the audience whenever he entered the arena. After dropping the Intercontinental Championship to Dean Ambrose, Rollins has been calling out WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and the two seemed destined to collide at the biggest wrestling event of the year. They briefly crossed paths in 2015, and I think that a full and fleshed out storyline between the two would make for interesting television. 

That is why I think Seth Rollins will win the Royal Rumble. He had an amazing 2018 and showed that he can be the face of Raw and the company flag bearer in Roman Reigns' absence. The fan support he has his genuine, and the reaction he will receive should he win the Royal Rumble match will blow the roof off the place. Get ready WWE Universe. Rollins is going to burn it down in the main event of Wrestlemania 35.

Bengals Recap 2018

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone recaps the 2018 season of the Cincinnati Bengals. 

2018 Cincinnati Sports Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The city of Cincinnati had a very interesting year with its three professional sports teams. There was some good, some bad, and some ugly as FC Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Cincinnati Bengals all competed in their respective sports to bring a championship to the Queen City. So how was 2018 for each team? Let's take a look.

Let's start with the good. FC Cincinnati by far had the best year when compared to the Reds and the Bengals. They once again set numerous attendance records and strung together a 23 match unbeaten streak that culminated in a United Soccer League Regular Season Championship. Despite bowing out of the USL Cup playoffs in the second round, their season was a smashing success. Forrest Lasso won the USL Defender of the Year award, Emmanuel Ledesma won the USL Most Valuable Player award, and Alan Koch won the USL Coach of the Year award. The biggest prize the team won was its expansion spot in Major League Soccer. MLS officially awarded FCC an expansion franchise on May 29, 2018, and the team will begin MLS play in 2019.

Moving on to the bad, we have the Reds. 2018 was supposed to be a season that saw the team make strides and show that the rebuild was actually working. Instead it turned out to be a very forgettable season as the Redlegs once again finished at the bottom of the National League Central Division. The lack of pitching plagued the team all season as inconsistent performances from both the rotation and the bullpen proved to be the franchise's Achilles heel. The hitting on the other hand was pretty good all year as Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett, and Eugenio Suarez were the backbone of the Reds lineup and earned spots on the National League All-Star team. Jesse Winker and Scott Schebler became reliable at the plate as well and Jose Peraza showed great progress both in the field and with a bat in his hand. The team did fire Bryan Price early in the season and named Jim Riggleman as interim manager for the remainder of the season. Under Riggleman, the Reds were hot for about a month but ultimately still played poorly for a majority of the season. David Bell was named manager once the season concluded and two blockbuster additions in Turner Ward and Derek Johnson have been added to Bell's coaching staff. Most recently, the team announced they will part ways with Billy Hamilton which could lead to top prospects like Nick Senzel and Taylor Trammell getting some big league playing time in 2019.

The ugly unquestionably goes to the Bengals. 2018 was a year that started out with immense optimism as the team jumped out to a 4-1 start with an offense that looked unstoppable. The defense was another story however as they continued to turn in poor performance after poor performance. They were so bad that the team's brand new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was fired during the middle of the season. Head coach Marvin Lewis took over defensive duties but little improvement was made. The team was ravaged by injuries as Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, and Tyler Eifert all wound up on the season ending injured reserved list and guys like Joe Mixon and Gio Bernard missed a few games due to knee problems. The team as a whole looked uninspired and unprepared in games against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Cleveland Browns, and the Denver Broncos. As I write this, the Bengals are most likely going to miss the playoffs and Lewis is rumored once again to be on the hot seat. Many Bengals fans fear that the recently fired Browns coach Hue Jackson was rehired by the Bengals to be the heir apparent to Lewis. Overall, 2018 was a disastrous year that reminded Who Dey Nation of the dark decade that was the 1990s.

In conclusion, 2018 was a mixed bag for Cincinnati sports. FC Cincinnati had a very successful season and is currently preparing to begin MLS play. The Reds had a bad season but have renewed fan optimism by hiring a new manager and hitting the reset button with the coaching staff while their prospects appear to be making exciting strides at the minor league level. The Bengals are looking like a mess and are in desperate need of massive shakeup to revitalize the franchise. Hopefully FCC builds upon its 2018 success in 2019 and both the Reds and Bengals are able to right the ship and get back to their winning ways. With three professional major league sports teams, maybe one of these teams can bring a championship to Cincinnati for the first time since 1990.

2018 Cincinnati Reds Garden Gnome Unboxing

Ryan of Cincy Fan Zone unboxes a 2018 Cincinnati Reds garden gnome.