2023: A year of many firsts!

 The year 2023 was a very cool one with many firsts so here's my re-cap of the year:

JANUARY

Japan Trip #1

So I started the year 2023 in Japan, and I thought it was my one and only trip to Japan for the year. How wrong was I. The main reason for this trip was to support my brother's company (DDT Pro Wrestling) as they had a big show in Tokyo on the 29th of December. 

33rd Birthday

As per tradition, I visited the Pokemon Center. I had to drop by the Mega Tokyo Pokemon Center at Ikebukuro. Didn't really buy much. I also visited Kabukicho for the first time ever. I didn't know much about the place but I knew it was the setting in the game Judgement so it was cool to see places I had seen in the game in real life! 

I did get some packs, pulled some cool stuff that I can't play so it's all good. Ones for the collection. I suppose.

As for my number post that I like to do for every birthday, 33 was an easy one. Had to be Max Verstappen's Red Bull car right? What I didn't know was what he had in store for us in F1 this year. 

He destroyed the competition. The man won his 3rd world championship and broke all sorts of records: 

• Most wins in a season (19)
• Most podiums in a season (21)
• Most wins starting from pole position in a season (12)
• Most points scored in a season (575)
• Most hat-tricks in a season, Pole + Win + Fastest Lap (6)
• Biggest championship winning margin (290 points ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez)
• Most laps led in a season (1,003)
• Highest % of Laps Led (75.7%)

Wrestle Kingdom 17 - Not my first time, but my first time watching Tokyo Joshi (Japan's female wrestlers)

The other main reason I was in Japan was to watch Japan's biggest wrestling show, the annual Janaury 4 show at the Tokyo Dome known as Wrestle Kingdom! But before that, I got to see another DDT show at the Korakuen Hall on the 3rd and in the morning of the 4th, saw my first Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling show, also at Korakuen. Those ladies are tough! 

FEBURARY 

Other than serving my 9th Army reservist, nothing happened here. 

MARCH

First Trip to America in 9 Years

Land of the free, home of the brave! It felt nice to be back in the good ol' US of A! My last visit was in 2014 and well so many things have changed. One of the biggest firsts for me personally was finally getting to see my nephew and nieces from my dad's side of the family. The new generation of Manns are here! I tried to be the cool uncle to them.

First American Wrestling Pay-Per-View show!

I finally got to watch a American PPV show live!!! As a life-long wrestling fan, I've always wanted to watch one of the big shows live in person and when I heard AEW was hosting their annual Revolution show in San Francisco, I was in! 

And I must have struck gold. It turned out to be one of the best wrestling shows of the year! The 60-minute Ironman match between AEW Champion MJF and Bryan Danielson was really something else, had you at the edge of your seats for more than 60 minutes! I got to see two of my all time favourite wrestlers in action too, Chris Jericho and Christian Cage. Ok they lost but whatever. We got very close to the action when the women's 3 way match went to the outside and they started brawling right in front of us!

First time watching a televised wrestling show live!

Once again, thanks to AEW for letting me cross out something on my to-do list. AEW held their weekly taping of AEW Dynamite in Sacramento so I had to go catch it. It was interesting to see how they did a live TV episodic wrestling show in the crowd. 

They actually taped 3 shows in one. They did their Youtube show first (Dark Elevation), then the live show Dynamite that was airing live on TNT, and then their taped show that usually goes on air on Friday, so I could have easily spoiled that week's Rampage for anyone but I'm not that guy. The commercial breaks were a pain, I'll be honest. The matches were great, the promo segments were fun. We got to hear Bullet Club for the first time on AEW so that was nice. The main event had a title change so that was cool, even though I saw that title changing hands in San Francisco as well so, in the space of 4 days I've seen 3 different wrestlers as the TNT Champion.

First time watching an NBA game live

This was a cool first. I'm not much of a basketball fan because it's hard to watch their games when firstly the timing is off and we don't have it on TV here. But I've always known about the NBA, especially during my first visit to USA back in 1997. I knew all about Michael Jordan to the point that apparently, we saw Shaq O'Neal in a hotel in Los Angeles but I apparently didn't want a photo because it wasn't Michael Jordan. If that's true, big whoops on my part!

During my stay in Sacramento, my cousin did get me watching Kings games on TV whenever they were on and it was fun to watch! So it was really cool to watch one of their games live in person when they hosted the Phoenix Suns. Things were looking bad for them, they were losing after the first half but the Sacramento Kings made the comeback! They won the match and they did the thing! They lit the beam! I saw it, it was freaking cool! 

Go-Karting

I can now add a fourth country I've got to race a go-kart in. Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and now USA.

First time going to a concert with more than 1 guest

Not my first gig, the first one was for Johnny Marr but this was my second one. This was different though because I wasn't watching one group, I got to see three! The first was Saint Asonia, their lead man Adam Gontier, you may have heard him formerly from Three Days Grace. Next up was Skillet, and it's a group I'm familiar with. They've had their songs played on WWE shows and games. The headliners were Theory of a Deadman, and I've heard of them as well and they killed it. All 3 made a fan out of me that night.

APRIL

I was still in the good ol' US of A for April but not in San Francisco. Now I was in Los Angeles, and it was my first time there since 2012 but my first time in LAX since 1997!

First Wrestling Convention

I will say this, being at a Wrestling Convention event was something else. Every where I looked, I saw a wrestler I recognised, whether it was from my chilhood days or the ones I'm watching on TV now. It was a list of whos who honestly! Hell I could probably write a list of wrestlers I saw there:

• Mark Henry
• Matt Hardy
• Wardlow
• Chavo Guerrero (He said hi to me, that was cool!)
• Brian Cage
• Ron Simmons
• Aja Kong
• Julia Hart
• Anna Jay
• Billy Gunn
• Adam Cole (Got a picture with him)
• Dr Britt Baker DMD
• Samurai del Sol (He's friends with my brother so I got to say hi to him)
• Allie Katch
• Effy
• Maki Ito
• Mizuki
• Hikari Noa
• Matt Cardona
• Sean Waltman (I so badly wanted to take a picture with him, I was a big 1-2-3 Kid and X-Pac fan)
• Bret Hart (I mean, he was my favourite growing up, I had to see him)
• Scott Steiner (I did the Steiner Maths promo in my head as he walked past me)
• Rob Van Dam
• Matt Sydal
• Orange Cassidy

Not just conventions, they also had shows going on, and I saw the DDT Goes Hollywood show on the 31st of March

First Ring of Honour Show

I'll be the first to admit, I never watched ROH that much. But since they're now owned by Tony Khan (AEW owner), most of their wrestlers are contracted to AEW so you could say it was a mini-AEW show as well as evident by the show's card. Was a pretty good show to be fair and they did have some special guests, including Hiroshi Tanahashi from New Japan! 

First NXT Show but also my first live WWE Special show

I mean we were in the same city as where WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling show in the world, was being held so of course I was bound to watch something WWE related and the first one was their junior series called NXT. They had their Stand & Deliver show at the famous crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center). Not a bad show to be fair, the ladder match a the main event were highlights. 

First live WWE Monday Night RAW show!

I finally got to do it! I’ve been watching Monday Night RAW since I was a little kid so finally getting to watch a show I’ve been watching every other week for the last 20+ years is a cool experience. 

Plus it’s the Monday Night RAW after WrestleMania in Los Angeles. It should be good right? Nope, sadly we caught one of the worst RAW ever. I blame Vince McMahon for that. I still had fun though!

MAY

First Regional win! My biggest result yet in Pokemon!

I’ve made a post all about it but yeah, this was super cool. Before this, my only real big result in Pokémon was my top 8 finish at the 2019 Singapore SPE so to win a regional league was an awesome feeling. I had been working my hardest to achieve a result like this and for an event to finally go my way, the pain from many failed attempts was worth the wait for this win!

JUNE

First Top Cut Finish at a Nationals + First Worlds Invite!

Again, I’ve made a post for this but long story short. I knew I had a real chance to make it to Worlds if I made top cut of this event. And I actually did just that and with a deck that I didn’t play a lot with as well. Scoring back to back top cut finishes at major events was very unexpected but maybe somehow somewhere I’d like to think I’ve earned it. 

It also meant I finally got my first World Championship invite after years of trying. Of course I waited for the invite structure to get a lot more harder for us Singaporeans to actually get that first invite! I finally made it to the promise land, no more what ifs! This also means now I have to get ready for Japan Trip #2 for the year…while a 3rd trip was also being talked about because of something I heard.

JULY

First overseas TPC Japan event

Because of our new system, we don’t have any chance to actually go overseas to play the game unless we decide to play in TPCi events (we can only earn money from their events, no points or invite). So when the Asia Open was announced for Kuala Lumpur, I had to go!

It was nice meeting all my Malaysian friends and was super cool to see a lot of us making the trip over ad well. I had fun in the event, got a 5-3 score. Bo1 stuff happened so I had to accept it.

AUGUST

First Pokemon World Championships event + Japan Trip #2

I’ve also done a post for this. I’ve travelled to Japan 7 times now before this but the 8th one was not just to travel around like usual but mainly to compete in Yokohama. 

Worlds 2023 was an experience I will never forget. I got to play in a bo3 event again! I was proud of my effort, I was one win short of making Day 2. And all I wanted was to get at least 3 wins! I couldn't have done it without every helping me and cheering me on this whole time.

Probably my biggest hightlight was getting to meet all my overseas friends for the first time and also the players who I looked up to and I just had to say hello to them, and it was a nice feeling that most of them knew who I was, I was not expecting that! It felt really good to hang out with a lot of you, some for the first time and just talk like we've known each other for years...because we have! I've known most of my friends for years but this was my first chance to meet most of them. I hope there will be another chance to meet most of you soon, because there are still a lot of you I still have not had the chance to meet yet!

First time in Yokohama

Oh year, Worlds was in Yokohama and the funny thing is, for all the times I've been to Japan, I've never actually step foot in Yokohama before. It was a cool place and I wished I had more time to check it out. I was still staying in Korakuen so I had to make an hour trip just to get to Yokohama for Worlds for all 3 days! Hoping to visit Yokohama again sometime soon. They have a big ferris wheel to and you know me, I must go on it!

SEPTEMBER

Finally completed Pokemon Scarlet

So yeah, I didn't actually finish the game for the longest time haha! I was too consumed by everything that I simply forgot to finish the game. I finally did in the early days of September...that's 9 months longer than probably everyone else haha! But the ending was really cool. I didn't expect the professor to end up being an AI because the real one died. And then that battle. And that music.

And seeing Larry again. Freaking Larry. He's a gym leader and an Elite 4 member??? He gave me my hardest gym battle, imagine my horror seeing this bugger again haha!

Singapore Grand Prix - First F1 race of the year not to be won by Red Bull (and the only one)

Went back to my usual seats at Stamford Grandstand but went for the Combo deal, which meant I had 3 different seats for all 3 days. And well you all know the story. This was the best race of the year, maybe because it's the only one Red Bull didn't win this year but the 4-way battle for the win with no Red Bulls invovled was a fight for the century, won by Carlos Sainz. But man, I was hoping to see Lando Norris get his first win here. McLaren winning in Singapore, that's the dream for me.

OCTOBER

Oh you can skip, I did fuck all here. Nothing important happened. Went to a nice American-style diner for my brother's birthday but that was about it.

NOVEMBER

Japan Trip #3 - Including visits to 3 places for the first time

3rd visit to Japan. The first reason for me was to watch my favourite wrestler Chris Jericho make his debut for my brother's company, DDT Pro Wrestling. I had known about this for months now but I had to keep quiet about it. Keep it kayfabe people! I got to meet most of the DDT roster during this time too which was nice, including Konsuke Takeshita who now wrestles for AEW. We also had dinner with the new DDT Universal Champion MAO, he's a funny guy. 

First visit to Toyama

Spent two days there, nice quiet place! Kenchomae Park is a must visit. I saw the best looking Starbucks near the Fuganungakansui Park, that place was a nice area to just stroll around. Kurobe Gorge was something else, we had a 1-hour ride on these mini trains that you to Unazuki-Onsen. I didn't go for the onsen, I wasn't ready for the cold. 

First visit to Kanazawa

Spent a few days here as well. Kanazawa Castle by day was a cool place to check out. By night, it becomes a TeamLab exhibit, I highly recommend it if any of you are in Kanazawa. Tried Turban Curry as well, apparently a local special there, and yes it is yummy! They have a Pokemon Center near the central area too so that's another new Pokemon Center I have visited.

First time staying in Osaka

Not my first time in Osaka but the first time I was there, it was only for about 3 hours. I loved that place, it was freaking cool. It can get a little crowded near the popular spots which is something I'm not a fan of, I don't like going to crowded places, I can get a bit claustrophobic. I got to visit the famous Bar Unknown in Namba, it's a store that has sponsored some of the best players in Japan. 

Osaka Castle is amazing, it's a must visit. Sure, you do have to walk up 8 floors inside the castle and getting to the place itself can be quite the walk but trust me it's all worth it once you reach the top. There's a small DDT show in Osaka that day too, so of course we had to go check it out.   

DECEMBER

Hmm yeah same story in November, did nothing much here.. Ok, well not nothing, I did get my seconds points finish with my new favourite deck, Charizard ex. If you give me a reason to play Charmander in a deck, I'm all in on it! On to the next year, which is probably right now when you're reading it. So thank you for reading and I hope you have a great 2024!