You win some, you lose some.

Ok, first of all I am well aware that I haven't submitted a blip for many moons so want to wish everyone a very happy new year!

Secondly, as you are all aware... this is a wallet. Traditionally containing money, plastic or otherwise...

Now I'm going to tell you a little story all stemming from one of my Christmas presents that I received. Basically, I was given a birth chart showing how the stars and other aspects of astrology can affect my character both now, earlier on in life and later life. It obviously is not exact, but can provide interesting guidelines and some information in it I have taken to heart a bit.

One of the points was that I could eventually run into problems involving gambling, hence the wallet.

So I'd like to share with you a story about gambling which is to do with a sport I enjoy watching a lot. That is the sport of professional wrestling. I can already hear the groan go up from my Mum but I shall continue....

Back in the late 1970s and early 80s (which many consider the heyday of the sport) there were two companies that were front runners in the business, the World Wrestling Federation (later renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment after a lawsuit with the World Wildlife Fund) and the National Wrestling Alliance.

The WWF was run by the McMahon family and were seen as the breakaway rebellious group, the company who were trying radical ideas and new gimmicks for their workers. Ideas that were mainly coming from their chairman, Vince McMahon. Workers such as Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Andre the Giant were so 'over' (wrestling slang for popular) with the fans that many people were turning to them rather than the traditionalists of the NWA. Workers such as Ric Flair, Harley Race and Dusty Rhodes were the frontrunners here.

Slowly it became clear that the NWA was losing popularity as the traditional wrestling approach was growing stagnant and fans wanted something new. The other quite major thing they were losing was MONEY. The NWA, who were owned by Jim Crockett at the time, eventually knew that they would have to sell the company to ensure financial viability was kept.

Up step Ted Turner. The media mogul, owner of television stations TBS, CNN and TNT purchased the NWA and re-branded it as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and installed Eric Bischoff as chief producer. This shifted the balance completely, as with Turner's seemingly endless financial support, Bischoff's vast knowledge of the business and a prime-time TV slot WCW became the company that fans turned to for new, fresh ideas.

Before anyone knew it a period known as the Monday Night Wars began, both companies having TV shows on at the same time on the same night competing directly with each other. WWE had Raw, whereas WCW had Nitro. Over 5 years some of the most controversial aspects of professional wrestling took place with some very bitter, personal arguments being fought.

WCW, with all the money beat WWE in the television ratings war every week for 83 weeks. WWE at this time were turning into the modern day NWA, WCW were stealing their talent and their fanbase. On the 84th week, Eric Bischoff addressed the WCW Nitro crowd to say that he didn't bother to check the ratings anymore as he knew that WCW would always win. That week was the week WWE finally won.

And they kept on winning, and as WWE gained its popularity back by initiating the "Attitude" era, WCW were suffering big-time. Popularity slowly ebbed away. Eric Bischoff was sacked, then re-hired, then sacked again as WCW bosses didn't know how they could turn things around. After Bischoff was re-hired for a second time, he knew he would always have the financial backing of Ted Turner to keep the company afloat. He was wrong.

Turner pulled the plug on WCW, leaving it to stagnate for several weeks until it was taken off of television for good. Ironically, WCW's sets, rings, video library and all their copyrights were later bought by one Vince McMahon and the WWE.

So what I am attempting to tell you all is that money can always buy you happiness, but it will, more often than not, get you into a whole world of trouble.

Here endeth the lesson.