Halloween 2015 - The New Joker (Jared Leto Version)

When it comes to Halloween, you gotta play up your strengths.  When I had long blond hair, costumes like He-Man and Hulk Hogan were no-brainers.  This year I was thinking, who has braces, or metal in their teeth, and the new Joker hit me.  While I've got the braces, might as well take advantage of them.  My 2015 Halloween costume is the new Jared Leto version of the Joker from next year's Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

My day started out drawing Sharpie tattoos all over me.  

I think I pulled off the look.  This ain't Jack Nicholson's Joker.

The new Joker is quite different than anything we've seen before.  I did the Heath Ledger Joker Nurse from The Dark Knight the year that movie came out in 2008.  The new one is a very different costume.

It was very fun being such a creepy character.

Chad went as Stone Cold Steve Austin.  He really nailed the look.

We sure love Halloween.

While walking around the South Side of Pittsburgh, I spotted this lady and recognized the costume right away.

She was dressed up like the movie Daisy Duke.  The Jessica Simpson version.  She was very happy that I knew who she was supposed to be.  Little did she know that she was dealing with a Dukes fanatic dressed like a Batman villain.

At the different bars I went to, I spotted some great costumes.  Here is a Gotham Rouge's gallery consisting of Catwoman, Red Hood, and Two-Face.

This guy put a lot of effort into his Harvey Dent costume.  I had a nice conversation with him about the new DC movies.

This guy did a very nice Punisher.

I thought this Wilson costume was very unique and interesting.  Then I saw about three more of them over the weekend.  Must have been on pinterest or something.

The first night I didn't see any detailed Batman costumes.  There were a few like this couple, but no great Dark Knights.

The second night I went out, on Halloween Saturday, the bar I went to held a Batman themed Halloween event.  I had no idea.

There were a lot of Jokers, but they were all Heath Ledger versions.  I was the only Jared Leto there. There were a few Harley Quinns but this was the only Suicide Squad version.

Here is a Harley Quinn from the Arkham series of video games.  Man, are those great games.

The Joker she came with was another Ledger version.  I'm a stickler for details, so I would have tried to match her with an Arkham Joker.  I stood out in a crowd of Jokers.

This a very well done Nightwing from Batman.  There sure were a lot of Batman theme costumes at this bar.  I was in the right place.

They weren't all Batman costumes though.  This guy sure was freaky.

This is a great group costume.  They were a Corona six-pack.  They all stayed true to the theme and drank Coronas all night.

This was a very nice Chewbacca costume.  Leia looked great too.

I finally found Batman.  What a costume.  This guy sure has a lot invested into this outfit.  I've seen him before at comiccons in the area.  He found the perfect Halloween party to attend.

He was accompanied by a nearly as impressive (but not quite) Batgirl.  They were definitely the hit of the evening.  When the contest rolled around, the finalists were the Corona bottles, Chewie, a Snoopy, a group from the the movie Dodgeball, the awesome Batman, and yours truly.  There were at least twenty Jokers there, but only one was called up on stage.  HA HA HA HA!  It was a good group of finalists and I was a little surprised I made it up.  But not too surprised.  I did feel like Chad and his Stone Cold costume should have made it.

In the end, just like in the comics and movies, Batman won.  I couldn't compete with his movie quality costume.  He was a fun guy and deserved the win.  As a finalist, I took home a smaller prize. I'll take it.  Another award winning costume.  

While I was on stage, I threw playing cards out into the crowd.  On Friday night, I played solitaire with them in the bar,  It made for a good picture.  A lot of people took some snapshots of me playing.  

Halloween isn't all about costume contests at bars.  Here are my favorite trick or treaters.  These Morphsuits are really cool. 

This is some high quality photobombing.  If you can't tell, I'm really excited to see Jared Leto's take on the Joker in the new DC movies next year.  2015 was another great Halloween.

WWE Monday Night Raw in Pittsburgh 3/9/2015

Me and Chad went to WWE Raw Monday night and had a blast.  We had great seats right behind the announce table and we were basically on TV all night.

The shows leading up to Wrestlemania are always the best.

About half through the show we realized a kid right behind us was holding up a sign that read Chad.  It was plainly visible on TV.  It was perfect.

Dean Ambrose has become one of my new favorites.  He is extremely entertaining.

Brock Lesner is a spectacle.  Always great to see the champ.

Sure, she is a bad guy, but I love Stephanie McMahon.

John Cena looking a little pervy.

Several of my predictions didn't come true.  Undertaker did accept Bray Wyatt's challenge, but not in person.  There was a cool fire show involved, though.

Some WWE fans are against him, but I am a Roman Reigns fan.  This guy has it all.  He could use a little work on the mic, but he will make a great WWE Champion come Wrestlemania.

Randy Orton is great.  He did a "face turn" on Raw which means he switched from bad guy to good guy.  But he is sort of a Stone Cold face which means he still does bad guy things like flick his opponent off all while the crowd cheers for him.

The show ended with Randy Orton completely physically dismantling Seth Rollins.

He beat him in the ring, in the crowd, and around the barrier.

This was a great move to see in person.

The Viper stalks his prey.

I was right behind the announce table when Randy hit Rollins with the RKO on the table.  It was great.

After the show, Rollins got carried out of the arena on a stretcher.  I love this stuff.

Chad enjoyed himself.

There was a "dark match" after the show went off the air.  A dark match is a match that isn't shown on television.  It ensures the fans go home happy.  John Cena fought Bray Wyatt.

Cena is the ultimate good guy and got the win.  Everyone had a great time.

But enough about the wrestlers, this is my blog.  Let's talk about me.  As soon as the show started, me and Chad started getting texts that we were on TV.  I kept an eye on the camera and knew when it was rolling.

Let's just say I was on TV a lot.

Didn't know this guy.

A lot of people thought this was our sign.  If I was going to have a sign, it would have my own name on it, and probably an 01.

I'm just saying.

Here's a picture of me taking a picture shown above.

Here's another.

Enjoying myself...

Really getting into it...

"KILL HIM RANDY!!!"  (You can actually hear me screaming this)

Hmm, wonder what I snagged a picture of here...

Me and my colleague Michael Cole, reporting for World Wrestling Entertainment.
 

Yep, I was on TV a lot.  If you watched RAW, you saw me.  It was a lot of fun.

Our Twitter friend, Frankie Smith (@franksamillion, an awesome name) sent this picture.  He paused his DVR on it without trying.  It's a surreal picture that includes Randy Orton, Booker T, the Wrestlemania sign, and me.  It is a great picture.  I love it.