he most prominent wrestling organizations in the world, can take a photo of each of them holding their title belts next to each other and cause a virtual meltdown in the world o

Manchester City managed to come away from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid with a clean sheet and Paul Dickov thinks they are in a strong position ahead of the return match in Madrid.Dickov has been impressed with the way City have transformed their performances in Europe after failing to get past the round of 16 in their last four attempts.I thought it was a really good result for City last night, Dickov told Sky Sports News HQ. City have been guilty in previous seasons of being a little bit naive in Europe, maybe going a bit too gung-ho. Against Real Madrid last night it was imperative they kept a clean sheet and going over to the Bernabeu next week I really do fancy City to score with the players theyve got in their team.Real Madrid were unlucky not to score but City and England goalkeeper Joe Hart was in fine form - keeping Pepe out from just six yards from what looked like a certain goalscoring opportunity.Hes been outstanding, he made two world-class saves last night and I have said before I regard Joe as one of the three or four best keepers in the world, Dickov said. Bale and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart shake hands at the final whistle The ex-City forward is confident his old side can progress and has tipped them to come up against future manager Pep Guardiola and Bayern Munich in the final, saying its written in the stars.If you look at Citys results in Europe this season, the five away games theyve had I think theyve scored 10 goals so that just shows you the way the way they set up away from home, hitting teams on the counter attack - it really suits how they play, Dickov added.If City can be nice and solid, the likes of Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne, whos been in great form, and obviously Sergio Aguero are a real threat. The one thing I can see City doing is scoring and I really fancy them and I think its written in the stars for a Bayern Munich and Manchester City final.Manuel Pellegrini will be aware his side must keep an eye on their league form as they look to secure their place in the top four this Sunday when they play an in-form Southampton, live on Sky Sports 1.Also See:Hart: City can do itKompany: Pressure on RealCity and Real share stalemateMissed chance for City?Custom Blues Jersey China .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Custom Al Macinnis Jersey . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts. http://www.custombluesjersey.com/ . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month. Custom Blues T-shirts . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Al Macinnis Jersey Large .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N.The world of wrestling in 2016 is unlike any era the business has ever seen. Theres more access to wrestling content, a wide variety of styles and programming to choose from and more opportunity to interact with wrestlers than theres ever been.In 2016, being a wrestling fan is fun.With events like the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, fans are more aware than ever of the kinds of top-level competition available in the world of independent wrestling, more aware of the next generation of up-and-coming-talent. Streaming networks like the WWE Network and New Japan World, plus numerous other wrestling services that have popped up in the past couple of years to provide live streaming, pay-per-views and on-demand content, have created an overwhelming amount of wrestling at everyones fingertips.WWEs third brand, NXT, has thrived in this environment, for many of the same reasons that organizations like Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and a number of other companies are doing so well and have for some time: NXT has stripped the product down to focus on the in-ring wrestling, using performers who are more than capable of showcasing charisma when called upon to wield a microphone.While NXT has piggybacked on a style forged by these long-standing independent giants and absorbed some of the wrestlers from these companies, theres not much in the way of bad blood among the performers. In fact, its quite the opposite, as the more eyes that end up watching a product like NXT, the more likely that some of the audience is going to dig deeper about the wrestlers, their origins and their styles.The more popular a thing like NXT or WWE gets with that style, the more popular Ring of Honor will get, said Adam Cole, the reigning Ring of Honor world champion, during a recent visit to ESPNs campus in Bristol, Connecticut. They all kind of feed off of each other -- its a great time to be a wrestler.The modern era of wrestling is also a great time to be an ROH talent, in particular. ROH has held a unique position within the world of wrestling for much of the past 14 years by being consistently ahead of the curve,? producing matches and casting a spotlight on wrestlers who have consistently gone on to the highest levels of the business. Of the 20 men to hold the ROH world championship, nine have spent significant time in the WWE (three have held world titles in the WWE and another won the NXT championship).Things are unquestionably also great for Cole, whos joined two unique fraternities in the past few months. Firstly, after defeating Jay Lethal, hes one of only three wrestlers to become a two-time ROH world champion. Just as importantly, hes joined the ranks of the most wildly popular factions in all of professional wrestling -- the Bullet Club.No single entity in wrestling better embodies how much fun wrestling is, and how much fun the wrestlers themselves can have, than the Bullet Club. Its current iteration features the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cole, Adam Page, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, The Guerillas of Destiny and Scott Halls son Cody, among others. Past members include Finn Balor, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows who, perhaps not coincidentally, have been associated with factions and catchphrases like The Club and Balor Club since joining the WWE.The Young Bucks and Omega (collectively known as The Elite, a subfaction of The Bullet Club) have done more to break down the long-standing imaginary walls that used to stand between wrestlers working in competing organizations. They unapologetically called out The New Day and challenged them on Twitter, enthralling wide swaths of wrestling fandom who salivate the same way abouut a New Day vs.dddddddddddd Elite interpromotional showdown as fans of a different era dreamed of a Steve Austin vs. Goldberg or Sting vs. Undertaker match in the Monday Night Wars era.While the likelihood of an actual match between the two factions while each is under contracts to different organizations is unlikely, Omega made a seemingly unlikely series of appearances on Xavier Woods Twitter account competing in a series of arcade video game challenges. The pair even made a very public appearance at CEO 2016, where they played Street Fighter V onstage in front of a sizeable audience.These kinds of interactions help reinforce that wrestlers are real people -- and that many of them are wrestling fans who got into the business because of how much they loved wrestling at a young age. The Elite takes things one step further, in fact -- they have their own show on YouTube, in which they talk about their travels all over Japan, North America and all over the globe.That social media presence and interaction isnt entirely altruistic, though, most of them tend to be genuine. Each of these interactions that fans can see could have easily happened behind closed doors or in a text message, but in 2016, being a big deal and getting over with fans on Twitter can have a real world impact on your popularity and standing within the wrestling business. Its another tool in the belt for guys who are going out there every night to try to earn for their families -- and fans get to be the beneficiaries.In 2016, pro wrestling isnt just great for the fans, said Cole. Years ago, the only place you were ever able to make a living in pro wrestling was the WWE, or if you got really lucky, maybe if you moved to Japan and you were able to get a top spot in New Japan. Now that so many companies are doing well and succeeding, and now that there are more places to work, it gives guys a choice to be creative, to pursue different things and to look for new challenges. As long as there are places where guys can work and make a good living outside of WWE, it creates this cool back-and-forth competition.Like normal people, those wrestlers have friends throughout their line of work, and a wide variety of social media accounts. Even as some of those friends move on and start working for other companies, the act of tweeting out congratulations for particularly momentous occasions or sending out photos of reunions has become fairly commonplace.We live in a modern era in which long-time friends, who just so happen to be the top champions in two of the most prominent wrestling organizations in the world, can take a photo of each of them holding their title belts next to each other and cause a virtual meltdown in the world of social media.Its just another in a long list of ways that independent wrestlers are able to help themselves in ways that didnt even exist a decade ago. While being unconventional or taking an unconventional approach to the business of wrestling used to get a lot of performers pigeonholed or limited their appeal, the world is much different in 2016.We live in a world where independent wrestlers can have a lot of fun, do things their own way and still advance their careers at the same time.For example, for a guy like Cody Rhodes to leave the WWE to come to the independents and try to make a name for himself, it shows you how much wrestling has changed this year, said Cole. You now have a better chance of making it in a company like the WWE if you have indy credibility. I never, ever thought I would say that. ' ' '