Mets Unsung Hero

By : Mike Rifkin

The New York Mets have gotten a lot of contributions throughout the first half of this season. David Peterson, Trevor Williams, Colin Holderman, Yoan Lopez, and Adonis Medina have contributed to help a pitching staff that has had some injuries. Offensively Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor have been fantastic. 

But the guy who has been doing it all for the Mets has been Luis Guillorme. Guillorme has been one of the team’s better defenders over the years, but this year he has gotten more playing time and has excelled. Guillorme has been stellar defensively creating a great combination up the middle with Lindor, but wherever he plays Guillorme has been sensational defensively. Guillorme’s offense has been good as well he has a slash line of .294/.372/.371 with Two Home Runs and Ten RBI’S. Guillorme has had a lot of big hits for the Mets this year including two in the series this past week against the Braves in helping the Mets win two of three. 

Everything Guillorme gives the team offensively is a bonus because he plays Gold Glove caliber defense at Second Base, Third Base, and Short Stop. As the first half comes to a close on Sunday I think it is fair to ask where would the New York Mets be without Luis Guillorme?

DONOVAN MITCHELL TO THE KNICKS A PIPE DREAM BUT A POSSIBILITY

By Mark Halpern

As pointed out to me by Mike Rifken (Host of SIN Podcasts) last night that the Knicks haven’t had a superstar on their bench since Carmelo Anthony. During our podcast last night, I stopped and thought for a few seconds, and he is right. We haven’t had a true Superstar player on the Knicks in a very long time. We have and had plenty of stars but no real Super Star. Donovan Mitchell would change that immediately in New York. As Dan Ryans says, “Bring him home,” and I agree 100% with him. However, it’s not just as simple as a phone call. He would have to be traded to them, which is where things become dicey.

     Everyone from ESPN-tiny affiliates has been putting together their version of what they think it will take to bring Mitchell here. The Knicks aren’t the only ones making offers, so time is of the essence. The Knicks did a fantastic job on draft night by acquiring numerous first-round picks in a multitude of trades. The Knicks have something many teams don’t, and that is a good crop of very young players to offer. These players are Quintin Grimes, Deuce McBride, Immanuel Quickly, and Obi Toppin. The Knicks also have some vets who they are willing to part with, and they are Julius Randle & Derrick Rose. The Knicks have said that R.J. Barrett is Untouchable (meaning they won’t move him under any circumstances.) 

    Instead of going Reporter by Reporter, Station by Station, and Analyst by Analyst of the trades they think should be offered. I will give you my offer, and you can compare it to yours and anyone else with an opinion on this matter. The first thing the Knicks will need to offer is draft picks. The Knicks have a lot of these, and they are all first-round picks. Considering we are talking Mitchell, here is my best offer. 

  1. 6 first round picks (covering various years)
  2. Immanuel Quickly 
  3. Quintin Grimes
  4. Julius Randle
  5. Obi Toppin. Note he is one player I want to see build into a superstar in this organization but to obtain the best, you have to offer the best you have to get it.

I think this offer is more than fair to obtain Donovan Mitchell. I know teams want McBride, but I hold his defense and shooting ability higher than others. We will see if the Knicks and Jazz can come to terms on a deal involving one of today’s biggest SUPERSTARS and that is how the old man sees it.

HOMERUN DERBY 2022

BY Mark Halpern

     We are just two days away from the most extraordinary event during the All-Star break, the Home Run Derby. This year’s field combines a bit of old and new players to the derby. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

PETE ALONSO: is your two-time defending Home Run Derby champ. He is not holding back on how excited he is to try and go for the 3-peat. He currently has 24 Home Runs at the halfway point, and we know that balls will travel better once the warmer weather comes. Pete is my pick to win this derby. Pete will be facing Ronald Acuna Jr.

Kyle Schwarber: Another powerful Home Run hitter. Kyle is the DH for the Phillies, and despite his awful BA .221, you should get noticed when you hit 28 home runs by the break. He has good power and sees through the ball. Kyle will be facing off against the great Albert Pujols.

Ronald Acuna Jr: One of my favorite ball players in the game who isn’t a New York Met. He is that 5 tool player we hoped he would be, but last year ended with a torn ACL, and he missed most of last year and a small portion of this season. He currently only has 8 home runs, but this young superstar can do much more than just what he accomplished. Especially returning from the ACL tear. Ronald will be facing off against Pete Alonso

Albert Pujols: This ball player doesn’t need any introduction. In 2001 Pujols came on the scene and made an immediate impact. His powerful swing and vision on the field are why he will be a future HOF. Albert gets one final chance to swing as hard as possible with no consequences. He should make a run even though, with playing time diminished, he only has 6 home runs on the year. Albert faces off against Kyle Schwarber. I have Pujols losing to Alonso

Juan Soto: This Washington National is one of the scarier participants in this derby. Soto is surrounded by rumors of whether he will remain a national or go somewhere else for a lot of money. Soto is an accomplished hitter who can hit all fields of play. His power and smooth swing make me think he will hit the farthest home run during the derby. Juan currently has 19 home runs on the year. Juan will face off against Jose Ramirez.

Julio Rodriguez: Can we make it official and give him the ROY title now. This young kid has transformed into an MLB star. Rodriguez takes everything seriously on the field. He is a great teammate and nice young welcome addition to the derby. Coming in with 16 home runs on the year, he is a young rookie with good power. Julio will be facing off against Corey Seager.

Jose Ramirez: I am glad he has decided to join. Jose has been the most consistent player in the Guardians organization over the past few years, hence why he got his extension. Ramirez is not only a home run hitter with power, but he can spray the ball all over the diamond. Jose is my wild card for this derby. Jose will face off against Juan Soto, and this round will be fun.

Corey Seager: Over the past few years, Corey Seager has been a dominant player for the Dodgers. Corey decided to up and move to the Rangers on a massive 10-year deal. Corey has 22 home runs and is batting a meager .246. He is a very experienced ball player and can swing the bat well. Corey will face off against the rookie Julio Rodriguez.

     Over the past 5 derby’s, this one has the best lineup. A mix of rookies and old veterans whom all have the power to hit the ball a country mile and then some. Pete Alonso will defend his championship, but anyone participating has a chance. My Final Two will be Pete Alonso vs. Albert Pujols.

5 cities where the MLB should expand to.

By Lawrence Lang

With the recent talk of Major League Baseball wanting to expand to 32 teams, the question is, where does MLB go if they were to expand to 32 teams. Here are my top five cities that I think deserve an MLB team. Las Vegas and Montreal would be excluded since Vegas will most likely be the new Home of the Oakland A’s and Montreal be the new home of the Tampa Bay Rays if MLB approves the relocations of both Teams. For now, we leave both cities alone since they are the two major cities that would get a major league team again; let’s get to the list. 

5. San Antonio, Texas – Since 1888 baseball has been in San Antonio with the San Antonio Mission being there since the inspection of the Original Texas League and have been there ever since and are currently the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. San Antonio has other sports teams in the area as well. The Spurs( NBA) and Stars (WNBA). Now with Houston Astros and Texas Rangers being MLB teams in the league, would that make a case for a third team in the Lone Star State? Well, Travel could be one from San Antonio to Houston is about a three-hour drive, and going from San Antonio to Dallas is just over a four-hour drive. Also interesting enough, when looking at a Texas map, the three cities create a triangle so that it could make for a great major league baseball trip. Plus, you could cut travel time for the other half of Texas if they want to see Major League Baseball. Baseball does exist on the west side of Texas, with El-Paso having the Chihuahuas sister farm team to the Mission and Triple-A affiliate to The Padres. Having Texas Get another team would be cool, especially in San Antonio since they have had baseball since the 19th Century, and it has remained for over 134 years. It shows that baseball can last, and MLB should pull the trigger here. 

4. Indianapolis, Indiana – Now Minor League baseball is in Indiana having three teams that are affiliated with MLB teams. Fort Wayne Tincaps High-A affiliate to the San Diego Padres and the South Bend Cubs High-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs both play in the Midwest League. Then in Triple-A, The Indianapolis Indians are the Affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Indians were a part of the original member of the minor league American Association in 1902 and have been around ever since. Interestingly enough, the Indians play at Victory Field, a 15,000-seat stadium, and according to 2019 Attendance records, they were ranked fourth in attendance for the year. Now other sports do exist in Indianapolis. The Colts (NFL) and Pacers (NBA) are located here, and the famous Indianapolis motor speedway where the INDY 500 takes place. MLB can have a team here, especially if a minor league team is in the top five of attendees, and it also can bring some new rivalries in MLB. Detroit, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, Cincinnati, Ohio, and St Louis, Missouri are in the surrounding area. 

3. New Orleans, Louisiana. Interestingly, there is no Minor League Baseball team in Louisiana, and do you think either Baton Rouge or New Orleans would have at least a team? New Orleans is already a sports city with the Saints (NFL) and Pelicans (NBA). Adding baseball would be great because it would increase the tourist city’s revenue. It could also help bring minor league baseball to the state by adding the minor league teams in the state and having the teams in cities like Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and Shreveport. Plus, if baseball can succeed in New Orleans, the National Hockey League might also consider an expansion team for them. Also, could you imagine an MLB All-Star Game down in New Orleans it’s already a fun week to watch, but it would be a big party as well because we all know New Orleans like to party!

2. Atlantic City, New Jersey. Now here is an interesting case because Jersey does have its sports team. It just happens to be that it’s pretty much minor league baseball. Granted, you have the New York Giants (NFL) and Jets (NFL), who play in East Rutherford. Yes, we can debate why they aren’t called the New Jersey Giants and Jets different time and place for that. So for them, it’s a hop and skip across the Hudson River. The New Jersey Devils (NHL) lost to the Nets (NBA) when they went across the Hudson to Brooklyn. So with the NBA out of Jersey, let’s give MLB a shot. New Jersey ready does have minor league baseball in Lakewood. You have the Jersey Shore Blueclaws High-A Affiliate to the Philadelphia Phillies. Bridgewater has the Somerset Patriots Double-A affiliate to the New York Yankees. Augusta has the Susses County Miners, and Little Falls has the New Jersey Jackals. Both play in the Frontier League, a partner league to the MLB. Finally, the Trenton Thunder, a former Double-A affiliate to the Yankees, is currently not affiliated with any MLB team after the Minor League baseball realignment but is part of the MLB Draft league for top Collegiate players that are draft-eligible. So baseball can last in Jersey. Why hasn’t MLB pulled the trigger in Jersey yet? Atlantic City would be perfect because it would be a good trip for the family that wants to go to AC and not gamble. Plus, it brings life to a city that is just synonymous with gambling. Plus, the Trenton, Miners, and Jackals could be your minor league farm system, and everything would be all in the state, so it helps with that. Plus, you could have a beautiful ocean view wherever you put the stadium. Who wouldn’t want that view of the ocean and the sounds of baseball? It would have you feeling like you’re on cloud 9. Yes, the possibility of hurricanes is possible, but that is something that MLB already deals with the Marlins and Rays playing in Florida. Baseball can work here because baseball is doing well in other gambling cities like Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada.

  1. Like the other cities listed above, Nashville, Tennessee, has other sports to fill up Tennessee. Nashville, you have the Tennessee Titans (NFL) and the Nashville Predators (NHL), plus in Memphis, you have the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA). Nashville is perfect because the Titans and Predators are already successful in the city. Plus, they have existed since 1978. The MLB would be foolish not to pull the trigger here because if a minor League team can last almost for 45 years, then it can deffinietly work here as well. It works; it could make a case for the NBA to consider maybe putting a team here as well, then Nashville would have all four major sports. Currently, in Nashville, a minor league team called the Nashville Sounds is a Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. Nashville is already a tourist city with the Country Music hall of fame. Bumping the Sounds from Triple-A to an MLB team would probably boost revenue in the city, just a little as well, plus a payday in October. If the team were to make the playoffs, you could hit a three-run home run here and see the MLB team, the Titans, and Predators in a weekend getaway for sports. Now that to me sounds like heaven. 

We will have to wait and see what MLB decides to do regarding an expansion. Any city that gets a team deserves it. Hopefully, it succeeds because if you’re able to bring a team to a city that doesn’t have one or upgrade persay a farm team to major league status. It just means they are expanding the game to give everyone a chance to see major league ball players play. Once again, these five cities are my thoughts, and me thinking outside the box. These five cities could work if done right, but for now, it is a wait-and-see game from MLB.    

Making Noise In The Atlantic

By : Mike Rifkin

The Ottawa Senators have been a mess for a lot of reasons since losing in Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. The Detroit Red Wings had made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons until 2016. After finishing sixth and seventh in the Atlantic respectively they decided to rebuild their franchise but on the first day of free agency both Ottawa and Detroit have made moves in hopes of making noise in the Atlantic Division. 

Let’s start with Ottawa who got started last week before the first round of the NHL draft when they acquired 40 goal scorer Alex Debrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for draft picks. Debrincat can be a Restricted Free Agent after the season, but at 24 years old I expect the Senators to sign him to a long term contract. Pierre Dorion then traded goaltender Matt Murray who they signed to a six year contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs with draft picks for future considerations. To replace Murray they traded for Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild. Last season Talbot went 32-12-4 with a 2.76 Goals Against Average and a .911 save percentage with 3 shutouts. Murray was 5-12-2 with a 3.05 Goals Against Average and .906 save percentage. The biggest difference between the two goalies is availability Murray the past few years has been limited due to injury including last season only playing in 20 games, while Talbot played in 49 starting in 48 of those. Dorion struck again today by signing former Flyers captain Claude Giroux to a three year contract. The Hearst Ontario native has played over 1,000 games in the NHL posting 294 goals and 923 points. Giroux also brings a ton of playoff experience to a team looking to get into the playoffs. Adding Giroux to a forward core that includes Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Tim Stuzle gives Ottawa a deep lineup. The Senators have also been rumored to want to add a top four defenseman. 

Steve Yzerman didn’t mess around before free agency he traded for goalie Ville Husso from the Blues and gave him a three year deal. Husso went 25-7-6 with a 2.56 Goals Against Average, .919 save percentage and two shutouts. Husso will pair with Alex Nedeljkovic, who was acquired from the Hurricanes prior to last season. Nedeljkovic went 20-24-9 with a 3.31 goals against average, .901 save percentage and four shutouts. That will give the Red Wings a solid 1-2 punch in the net. The Red Wings started today by adding Michigan native Andrew Copp on a five year contract. Copp last year had a career high in goals (21), assists (32) and points (53) with the Jets and Rangers. Copp can be a top 6 player for the Wings as well as help the special teams as well. The Wings also added Dominik Kubalik and David Perron up front. Kubalik has had 30,15,17 goals in his three seasons with the Blackhawks. Perron has scored at least 20 goals in three of the last four seasons. He has also been a big time performer in the playoffs for the Blues. Perron and Kubalik both should help a Red Wings Power Play that was 16.3 percent last season. Perron is third in the NHL over the last three seasons in power play points per 60 minutes and Kubalik has 11 career Power Play goals. Adding these three forwards to a group centered around Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Jakub Vrana gives the Wings a deep forward group. On the backend the Wings signed Ben Chiarot to a four year contract. Chiarot is more of a defensive defenseman who has 31 career goals in 489 games. Chiarot along with reigning Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider gives the Wings a nice pair on the Blue line. Do I think Yzerman is done? No, I wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit looks to add another defenseman. 

It’s been a while for both of these teams since they made the playoffs. Now they are adding to groups that they are very confident in. Whether they make it this year or not both teams are building for big futures and taking their shot now. 

Angels Need to Be Careful

By : Mike Rifkin

Every Season we expect the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to be a playoff team. And every year it is the same result they aren’t. The Angels just got swept in Baltimore by the Orioles and are now 38-49 fourth place in the AL West and seven games back of the third wild card. While seven doesn’t seem like a big number the only teams behind the Angels in the Wild Card race are the Tigers ( who are now only one game back of the Angels), Royals and Athletics who sold off a lot of their pieces prior to the season. 

The Angels fired Manager Joe Maddon in the midst of their 14 game losing streak in June and hired Phil Nevin to be the interim. New manager same story the team has posted an 11-20 record since Nevin took over including the four game sweep at the hands of the Orioles the Angels are 2-8 in their last 10 games. 

The Angels have a 3.93 team ERA so far this season, last season their team ERA was 4.69. Outside of Shohei Ohtani there isn’t a lot of trust in the rotation. Ohtani who is a unicorn has a 8-4 record with a 2.44 ERA, 111 strikeouts and an insane 12.3 strikeout to walk ratio this year. Ohtani was just named to the All Star team as a pitcher and will be the starting DH. The question is who would be behind Ohtani in the rotation? Now yes they tried to get big names like Max Scherzer and Gerritt Cole but they missed. They took a 20 million dollar shot on Noah Syndergaard who had thrown two innings the last two years prior due to Tommy John Surgery. Syndergaard is 5-7 with a 3.84 ERA now with the August 2nd trade deadline looming do the Angels trade Syndergaard or have they seen enough to attempt to extend him. Patrick Sandoval has a 2.95 ERA but Reid Detmers, Michael Lorenzen and Jose Suarez have ERA’s over 4 and that isn’t going to get it done. The Angels spent money on the bullpen this offseason as well. Ryan Tepera who signed a two year 14 million dollar contract leads the team with 15 holds but has an ERA of 4.19. Aaron Loup who in 2021 for the Mets had a 0.95 ERA signed a two year 17 million dollar contract has an ERA of 4.40. In the last two seasons Loup’s WHIP was under one and this year it is 1.37. The Angels also re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a four year 58 million dollar contract. Iglesias has a 2-5 record, 15 saves and three blown saves with an ERA of 4.50. 

The Angels offense averages 3.99 runs per game this season down from their 4.46 runs per game last season. Mike Trout last season was limited to 36 games with a calf injury, this year Trout is back to being Trout with 24 home runs and 51 RBI with a slash line of .268/.367/.600. Shohei Ohtani the reigning AL MVP has 19 home runs and 54 RBI with a slash line of .256/..342/.491. Anthony Rendon who the Angels needed to have a big year hit .228 with five home runs and 24 RBI but is out for the season with a wrist injury. Next year Rendon will serve a five game suspension for his role in the brawl with the Mariners. Rendon has played in 155 games with the Angels since signing a seven year 245 million dollar contract has .252 average with 20 home runs and 89 RBI. 

Add Rendon to the list of bad contracts of Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson among others the Angels have signed in the past who just haven’t produced for them.And while the Angels may have the two best individual players in Los Angeles they will continue to be second fiddle to the Dodgers.  It looks like another season where we will not get to see Mike Trout or Shohei Ohtani play in the postseason. Ohtani can be a free agent soon and with Trout in his prime and only playing in three playoff games the Angels need to put together a team that can win otherwise Ohtani won’t re-sign and Trout may end up asking for a trade.

TWIW – This Week In Wrestling (7/2 – 7/8)

By Jeff Knapp

This past weekend we saw 2 solid PPVs (premium live events) from both Impact Wrestling with Against All Odds and the WWE with Money in the Bank.

At Against All Odds, we saw some solid tag team work with the veteran Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) notch a victory over the Bullet Club members of Ace Austin and Chris Bey. “Speedball” Mike Bailey retained his Impact X-Division Championship when he defeated Trey Miguel, The Impact women’s tag team champions, Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie defeated Tenille Dashwood and Gisele Shaw to retain their titles. In a brutal match, Moose was somehow able to overcome Sami Callihan in Raven’s Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match. The main event didn’t disappoint as Impact World Champion Josh Alexander kept his title around his waist when he defeated another member of VBD, Joe Doering. This was a great match, Josh never lets me down and, in my opinion, this was Joe’s best match since arriving in Impact.

The next night at MITB we saw Liv Morgan claim that briefcase to with the Women’s MITB match agaisnt Becky Lynch, Asuka, Lacey Evans, Raquel Rodriguez, Shotzi and Alexa Bliss, where she went on to cash it in later that night against a beatup Ronda Rousey and finally reach the mountain top to become the new WWE Smackdown Women’s champion. I am so proud of her. The hard work has paid off and we are behind you.

Bobby Lashley defeated Theory to become the new US Champion. Later that night Theory was granted a spot, presumably by Vince McMahon into the MITB match, a match in which he also won. The crowd was besides themselves and I’m not sure if that was heel heat or go away heat. Fans ask for new, they get new and then boo, but he’s a heel, so I’m hoping it was because of that. 

Outside of the main event, the Men’s tag team title match between the Usos and the Street Profits was one hell of a match. The Uso are just top tier, and the Street Profits are just getting better and better. I wasn’t a fan of the 183 close 3 counts, but the ending with the shoulder up controversy was a great twist and should lead into something big, and I’m sure hard to top at Summer Slam between the 2 teams

We found out 3 of the matches for the next ROH PPV, Death Before Dishonor. Right now, the card has Wheeler Yuta defending his ROH Pure Championship against JAS’s Daniel Garcia, Samoa Joe will defend his ROH TV championship against the longest reigning ROH Champion, Jay Lethal and finally, FTR has issued a challenge to The Briscoes for a rematch with the ROH tag titles on the line. It will be hard to follow up their 1st match.

Although the length of the contract hasn’t been revealed, Smackdown announcer Pat McAfee has signed a multiyear extension with the WWE. Let’s see if this motivates him to a victory at SummerSlam over Baron Corbin.

Over at Impact Wrestling, Killer Kelly is returning. She was a standout in NXT-UK and over at ROH as well.

WWE – RAW

It seems like every week I’m either saying Raw was pretty good, ehh or I’m glad I taped it. This week was the taped it scenario. 

AJ Styles defeated the Miz. After the match AJ was jumped from behind Ciampa. Not sure why he did this, where this is going or anything. The only thing I’m positive about is that either this will set up a tag match at SummerSlam between The Miz & Ciampa vs Styles and the newly signed and out for revenge Logan Paul.

The other 2 big matches of the night were the 6-man tag team match between Bobby Lashley & the Street Profits and Theory & the Alpha Academy in which Bobby got the massive spear on Gable for the victory. The other big match was the main event where we saw Becky Lynch get some manner of revenge against Asuka in a No Holds Barred Match. She devastated Asuka with a Manhandle slam off the top rope through a table for the pinfall.

NXT – Great American Bash

The Great American Bash showed all the NXT titles on the line except for the Women’s championship held by Mandy Rose. Speaking of Mandy, her Toxic Attraction sable mates put their NXT Women’s Tag Team titles on the line against Cora Jade & Roxanne Perez. After a back-and-forth match, Cora & Roxanne pulled off the upset and dethroned the Champions and are now your NEW NXT women’s tag team champions.

Speaking of Champions, The North American Champion, The A Champion, Carmelo Hayes defeated Grayson Waller in a highly athletic match. Say what you want about Waller, but he’s incredibly athletic. His main event status is in question, but he’s got many of the tools. Carmelo has to be one of the favorites to either dethrone Bron down the road or be called up sooner than later to Raw or Smackdown. I’m hoping he doesn’t since he can be a pillar of NXT 2.0 like Gargano was for the better version of NXT.

The next championship match we saw was for the NXT Tag Team Championship Match which pitted Diamond Mine vs Diamond Mine when The Creed Brothers faced Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp. In the end The Brothers pin Kemp for the win with that sliding clothesline.

Finally, in the main event NXT Championship Bron Breakker defeated Cameron Grimes when Grimes leaped off the 2nd turnbuckle and was speared by Bron for the pinfall. After the match former NXT-UK wrestler, Jordan Devlin, now going by JD McDonagh attacked Bron from behind and put him through a table to ebd the show.

AEW – DYNAMITE

I will never get tired of AEW starting things off on the right foot and this week was no different when Scorpio Sky defended his AEW TNT Championship against Wardlow. Sky had what seemed like the entire A.T.T. with him for this street fight, but he did want to go at it alone to prove he could defeat Wardlow. That didn’t happen. In the end, Wardlow connected with 4 powerbombs for the win and is not the NEW AEW TNT champion. He will be World Champion within 2 years.

Christian Cage comes out with Luchasaurus to cut a promo about Jungle Boy but is interrupted by Matt Hardy. This quickly takes a turn for the worse, in a great heel way, when Cage talks about how Matt rides the coattails of his brother, his wife, kids, uncle and anybody else. He brings up how he looks the other way with Jeff’s issues. Once again Christian shows how it’s done. I wish he was given this type of freedom on the mic in his WWE run.

Shane “Swerve” Strickland & Keith Lee were in tag team action and fought off a very tough Butcher and the Blade. After the match they are confronted by Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks. They are tired of hearing about who’s better when they know Hobbs and Starks are. Starks is a treasure on the mic. With that said, this brings out the AEW tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks. They talk about how they are the best, which causes FTR chants. The Bucks challenge both teams to a 3-way match next week on Dynamite.

After the 8-man tag team match between Leon Ruff, Bear Country & Fuego Del Sol and The Acclaimed & The Gunn Club, there is a fight between the Gunn Club and the Acclaimed. At one point it looks like Billy Gunn is going to take the sides of the Acclaimed, he takes them both out and shows that blood is thicker than water. Who else can’t wait for Platinum Max’s diss rap next week?

Just like AEW has an Interim champion, Stokely Hathaway mentions paying $1100 to Leila Gray to be Jade Cargill’s Interim baddie. Yes please. This beautiful lady has been busy, having time on WWE & AEW programming over the past few months.

In the main event, Interim Champion took on one of his toughest competitors to date, facing the House of Black’s Brody King. At one point, Jon looked out of it, but never count him out. In an amazing comeback, Jon ends up locking in an arching rear choak for the submission/ref stoppage.

IMPACT

Keeping with their strategy of starting the show off with action, Impact starts us off with a X Division title match. “Speedball” Mike Bailey successfully  defended his title against newcomer and former Dark Order member Alan Angels. Overall a great match, but how does a wrestler whose 1st match in a company is for a championship. 

After the match they were attacked from behind by VBD which brings out Eric Young who informs Deaner and Doering that the world belongs to him.

We see that HNM are backstage and need to see more from PCO, and need to see it happen tonight against Black Tarus. 

In one hell of a hard hitting match, the ageless wonder PCO picks up a much needed win over Black Tarus.

Digital media champion, Brian Meyers informs Bhupinder Gujjar that he’ll need to get past Johnny Swinger in order to face him for the championship. 1st off, this is where Impact loses me. The American audience has trouble with harder names, that was an issue I heard about hockey too with the Russian and other names that were difficult for us to pronounce and don’t roll off the tongue. Change it to just Gujjar. Why is Johnny Swinger even there? I can’t take anything he’s involved in seriously and just a fast forward moment.

Thankfully the main event arrived and we got Mia Yim vs Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockout’s #1 contender match. despite being the Virtuosa, Mia connected with eat da feet for the 1-2-3. After that Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace came out and congratulated her and walked away.

WWE – SMACKDOWN

Tonight’s show started off with the Head of the Table, The Needle Mover, The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, who is joined by The Usos and Paul Heyman. 

Paul talks about what Brock is like when he’s not only told what he can’t do, but what he’s like when he’s backed into a corner. He informs Roman what he will have to become in order to keep Brock down for 10.

As they are about to leave Theory comes out with his MITB briefcase and jogs around the ring. He later informs both Roman and Brock they will be in no condition to beat him when he cashes in after their match.

I try to give every new gimmick a try and sometimes it works out, like it did with the New Day, but this Maximum Male Models gimmick with Mace and Monsoor might be a mountain too large to overcome. 

In a match to prove he should challenge Gunther for the IC championship, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Ludwig, who in return gets forcefully chopped by Gunther 3 times as punishment.

Ronda Rousey comes out with a lip and still gets into a fight with Natayla, who taps out to a leg lock. Will we see Liv vs Ronda at SummerSlam or will it be a 3 way with Natalya?

In what was supposed to be Lacey & Aliyah vs Shotzi & Shayna, Lacey gets upset on how the crowd reacts to her and as she’s about to leave the ring in disgust, she lays Aliyah out with a Women’s right. I’m still trying to figure out why the crowd turned on her. I’m actually a fan of hers.

In the main event, with the winner getting a shot at Roman in Cardiff, Wales, Drew McIntyre defeated Butch, who was filling in for a “sick” Sheamus.

AEW – RAMPAGE  

In the opening contest, Eddie Kingston defeated Konosuke Takeshita in a hard hitting match. 

Kris Statlander and Athena were backstage telling Jade Cardgill they were ready to be the competition she’s been waiting for

Tully Blanchard Enterprises Gates Of Agony defeated Jonathan Gresham & Lee Moriarty when Gresham turned his back on Moriarty and joined TBE in a shocking act that nobody saw coming. 

In another tag team match Serena Deeb & Mercedes Martinez made very quick work of Christina Marie & Kayla Sparks. During the match both Deeb and Martinez were trying to show who was the better wrestler, which spilled over after the match when Deeb attacked Martinez and put her in the Serenity Lock.

In the Main Event Orange Cassidy defeated Tony Nese in which, if he lost would have had to sign Nese’s petition to remove Shane “Swerve” Strickland from AEW.

Blackhawk Rebuild

By : Mike Rifkin

When former Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman resigned in wake of the Kyle Beach lawsuit assistant GM Kyle Davidson took over and said he was going to rebuild this team. On Thursday he certainly decided to start that rebuild with two massive trades involving younger players. He traded 24 year old Alex Debrincat who last year scored 40 goals and moved 21 year old center and former third overall pick Kirby Dach.

Debrincat who has scored 41 goals twice in his career had a career high 78 points in all 82 games last season. Debrincat was traded to the Ottawa Senators for the seventh overall pick (Kevin Korchinski – defenseman), 39th overall pick (Paul Ludwinski – Center) and a 2024 third round pick. Davidson said on trading Debrincat “We feel as if this move sets the Blackhawks up for future success by giving us additional flexibility and future talent. Securing the first round pick tonight and an additional second round pick tomorrow allows us to fortify our prospect base with high end players who we expect to be difference makers in the coming years.” Debrincat is 24 years old and is a high end player so why make this move? If Debrincat who is a restricted free agent after the season had no intention on wanting to be a Blackhawk long term than that would make sense but that was never leaked. Guys who can score 40 goals don’t come along all the time, and when they do you have to pay them or they won’t play for you, but given Debrincat’s age it confuses me. The other part that gets me is planning for the future is a plan, but what about the team this upcoming season? 

Kirby Dach who was the third overall pick in 2019 had nine goals and 26 points in 70 games played last season. Dach was traded for the 13th overall pick (Frank Nazar – Center) and the 66th overall pick (Gavin Hayes – LW). As a rookie Dach had eight goals and 23 points in 64 games played. Dach then fractured his wrist playing in an exhibition prior to the World Juniors. He wound up playing 18 games after the injury and had two goals and 10 points. Here is my question on Dach before trading him did the organization have they put him in the best position to succeed? Because if you didn’t I would have a hard time moving a 21 year old Center.

Who knows what happens with the players the Blackhawks selected, but moving off two players in your own building who can be a part of this rebuild is something. Davidson also went on to say last night regarding future Hall of Famers and stars Jonathon Toews and Patrick Kane “ I think there is value in having guys like that can help mold and set the barand set the example for young players coming in. But that’s a two way street and they have to want to be a part of that.” Kane and Toews both are entering the last season of identical 10 year contracts. Both have been major reasons why the Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups and eventually both their numbers will be retired and both will go into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kane and Toews both have earned every right to stay if they want to. But for me I see Kane on the move for sure and Toews is a tougher situation to read but it is the beginning of a rebuild for the Blackhawks.

How Is Keith Hernandez Not A Hall Of Famer?

By : Mike Rifkin

On Saturday the New York Mets will retire the number seventeen in honor of First baseman Keith Hernandez. The Mets acquired Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals in 1983 for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. Hernandez was the first captain in team history and was a big piece when the Mets won the World Series in 1986. Now Hernandez is a color commentator for the Mets. This got me thinking why is Hernandez not in Cooperstown?

Hernandez has 11 gold gloves which is the most for a first baseman in MLB history. But that’s not Hernandez’s only accolade he is a two time World Series Champion, five time All Star, a batting champion and was a CO NL MVP in 1979 where he had 11 home runs, 105 RBI and had a slash line of .344/.417/.513.  Herandez’s career slash line was .296/.384/.436 with 162 home runs and 1,071 RBI and 2,182 hits. Now the power numbers aren’t great but Hernandez was top three in the following categories from 1976-1988 WAR(60.7), oWAR (46.9), OPS+ (132), RBI (1,022), Batting Average (.301), OBP (.390), hits (2,049), Doubles (407), and runs scored (1,076). To be honest I don’t know a ton on the analytics but if that is the way the game itself is going and the voters can see those numbers I am not sure how Hernandez isn’t in Cooperstown because surely he belongs.

TWIW – This Week In Wrestling (6/26 – 7/1)

By Jeff Knapp

One of the biggest nights in all of wrestling happened on Saturday 6/26 when AEW and New Japan gave us Forbidden Door. This was a great show from start to finish. Chris Jericho’s team picked up the win and now gets the one-man advantage going into Wednesday’s Dynamite “Blood and Guts” cage match.

PAC became the inaugural AEW All Atlantic Champion when he defeated Clark Connors, Malakai Black and Miro.

FTR defeated Rapongi Vice and The United Empire’s Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb to retain their ROH Tag Team Championships BUT also became the NEW IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

Will Ospreay defeated Orange Cassidy and retained his IWGP US Championship

The Switchblade Jay White retained his IWGP World Heavyweight championship when he defeated Adam Cole, Okada and Adam Page.

Claudio Castagnoli (FKA Cesaro) is now All Elite

Jon Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the Interim AEW World Champion. Moxley will then face CM Punk at some point to unify the Title.

Logan Paul has signed what appears to be a multi-year contract with the WWE that should take him into possibly 2024

Bellator MMA women’s fighter, Valerie Loureda has signed with the WWE and should be heading to the performance center very soon

WWE – RAW

This week we saw the return of the Doctor of Thuganomics, Mr. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect, Big Match John…John Cena. There were videos from Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, JBL, Steph McMahon and AEW stars such as Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho and Paul Wight. They mentioned his unrivaled devotion to Make a Wish and other charities and what type of person he is in and out of the ring.

There was a “last Chance” battle royal for the last MITB ladder match this Saturday that was won by Riddle.

On the women’s side there was a “last Chance” match for MITB which was won by Becky Lynch, who defeated Doudrop, Shayna Baszler,Xia Li, Tamina  and Nikki A.S.H.

Carmella made her case for winning the Raw Women’s championship at MITB. Bianca has it all, but we can’t count out the tenacity of Carmella. This match could surprise us this Saturday.

In singles action, Montez Ford defeated Jey Uso leading into their tag team title match this Saturday.

NXT

To start things off, we got a NXT Women’s tag team #1 Contenders match. Roxanne Perez & Cora Jade defeated Kayden Carter & Katana Chance and will now face Toxic Attraction at the Great American Bash

We find out that at the GAB, the North American Champion Carmelo Hayes will face Grayson Waller when Carmelo unknowingly signed a contract to the match thinking he was signing an autograph for his fans in Australia (Waller is Australian)

After Roderick Strong gets the loss in his 6-man tag with the Creed Brothers to Joe Gacy and his minions, there is a NXT Tag Team Championship made at the GAB between the Creed Brothers and Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp.

In the Main Event, the returning Nikkita Lyons took on NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose. This match was doomed when Toxic Attraction attacked Lyons causing the DQ. Will Nikkta be the one to finally dethrone Mandy? If she isn’t then who is?

AEW – DYNAMITE

Off the heals of Forbidden Door, AEW gives us Blood and Guts that is main evented by the 10-man steel cage tornado match, basically it’s War Games in a nutshell.

Until then Orange Cassidy defeated “All Ego” Ethan Page when Dan Lambert got involved and cost Page the win.

Luchasaurus crushed Serpentico when he came out with Christian Cage. Cage is on a roll and his heel promos have been homeruns, but we wouldn’t have expected any less from him. We are still waiting to find out what Cage said to cause Luchasaurus to turn heel and come out with darker ring attire.

Is there tension brewing in the Gunn family? After Max Caster & The Gunn Club lost to Danhausen & FTR, an argument between The Acclaimed and the GC ensued, and it ended when Billy Gunn finally had enough and shoved his son Austin to the mat. After that, Austin and his brother Colten left the ring alone. Facing off with FTR is almost an automatic loss anyways since FTR is the greatest Tag Team on the planet.

Jay Lethal challenges ROH Television champion Samoa Joe to a match at the next ROH PPV, Death Before Dishonor. That will be worth the price of admission alone.

We are now ready for the main event, the dual ring inside a cage known as Blood and Guts. This match has The Blackpool Combat Combat Club & Friends (Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz) vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker)

The JAS has the upper hand very quickly the blood starts to flow. At one point a few of the men escape and go to the top where Eddie Kingston tosses Sammy Guevara off the top of the cage onto the table below.

During the match Santana severely injures his knee, and as of this writing there is no word on his condition, so I wish him a very speedy recovery.

In the final minutes we see Kingston locks a submission on Jericho while Castagnoli secures one on Menard while all 4 men are on top of the cage. Menard is the 1st to tap out to Claudio and that gives the BCC the victory.

The crowd was on fire for the entire match.

IMPACT

This is the go home show of Impact leading into this Friday’s Against All Odds PPV (It does seem like they just had a PPV about 2 weeks ago)

In a #1 Contenders match for the X-Division Championship at Against All Odds, Trey Miguel def. Chris Bey, Steve Maclin and Laredo Kid and will now challenge X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey.

Trey is an amazing talent and should be a corner piece to that division just like AJ Styles and others were at one point.

Most of the show consisted of them setting up the final card for AAO with with main events being Impact World Champion, Josh Alexander defending his title against Joe Doering and HNM will be in a 10 man tag match again, this time they face the Impact Tag Team Champions, The Good Brothers, AMW (for 1 night only) and…Heath

I have a funny feeling somebody may turn, but I will be honestly upset if Wildcat Chris Harris turns on them, since America’s Most Wanted was my favorite tag team in all of pro wrestling when they were at the height.

WWE – SMACKDOWN

The show starts off with the 6 men who have already qualified for the MITB match, which lead to many of the wrestlers from the back coming out saying why they need to be in that final 7th spot. 

Adam Pierce comes out and makes a battle royal to release some of the hostility and anger that is in and around the ring. After a hard fought battle royal, Happy Corbin sneaks back into the ring and eliminates Drew and Sheamus at the same time to win the match.

We get a preview of the Smackdown women’s championship match between Ronda Rousey and Natalyia. I am very excited for this match and believe this will be one of the best matches for either competitor. 

The New Day call out the Viking Raiders after getting attacked from behind last week only to be decimated again. I’m sure the announcers will be using the term “The new vicious viking raiders” for some time. I’m hoping they don’t add that to their logo too.

In a 6 woman “Raw vs Smackdown” tag team match, we saw Raw’s Alexa Bliss, Asuka, & Liv Morgan take on SmackDown’s Raquel Rodriguez, Lacey Evans, & Shotzi. It was great to see Shotzi and Liv get some great ring time and they are both deserving of the spotlight, but in the end Liv connects with oblivion for the 1-2-3 on Shotzi. Will she be miss MITB after this Saturday? 

At MITB there is not enough hype around the Tag Team Championships after the great in-ring promo between the Usos and the Street Profits. They stole each other’s tag lines and it was something to hear. You could feel the emotions in the ring and the Usos bring it everytime.

Maximum Male Models finally debuts. I assumed it was going to possibly be 1 or 2 men from the NXT roster in order to give them a chance. Here comes Eli Drake…I mean LA Knight…I mean Max Dupree who introduces us to…Mace and Mansoor? I got a kick out of the change to the name pronunciations and I’m secure enough to admit that Ma’ce is a handsome dude but it sounded like the crowd wanted no part of this. I give Pat McAfee for doing what he does best and his excitement saved this segment.

In the main event, we had a fatal 4 way for the final MITB spot this Saturday. We saw Madcap Moss defeat Ezekiel, Happy Corbin and The Miz when he took advantage of Corbin hitting end of days on Zek when tossed him into the ring post to pick up the win.

AEW – RAMPAGE

Things get started off with a 2 ring 20 man battle royal where 10 men to a ring until the final 2 men are left. The winner will get a title shot at Jon Moxley for the interim AEW heavyweight Championship this coming Wednesday on Dynamite. 

After choking out Darby Allin and hanging him from the outside the ring then dumping him to the floor, Brody King is declared the winner and has a date with Moxley this Wednesday.

AEW World Tag-Team Champions The Young Bucks faced Hiroki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi with the stipulation that if Goto and Hashi won, they would get a future shot at the tag team titles. 

In the end The Young Bucks hit a BTE Trigger followed by the Meltzer Driver for the win.

Next week we will see ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham in tag team action with Lee Moriarity vs 2 men from Tully Blanchard Enterprises. The world will witness one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the world.

The main event tonight we witnessed Toni Storm take on Nyla Rose. I along with the rest of the crowd was fully behind Toni Storm. Anybody who has her talent, but also has a tribute to Nikki Sixx of Motley Crew below her right eye gets my support.

In the end, Toni connects with a pendulum DDT on Rose for the victory.

After the match, Marina Shafir gets involved and attacks Toni until the AEW Women’s champion, Thunder Rosa hits the ring and helps clear the ring. 

Next week, I’ll cover Impact’s Against All Odds and WWE’s MITB PPVs.